Wednesday May 8, 2024 
Defensive Driving Class at Gilead Lutheran Church, Brunswick on October 5
Gilead Lutheran Church will host a 6 hour defensive driving class on Saturday, October 5, from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM. This is a NYS DMV approved class that will offer a 10% reduction off your auto insurance and up to 4 points off your NYS driver’s license! Exciting and interactive PowerPoint presentation and never a test to pass the course!
Cost of this class is just $30 per person and must be paid at the door. Doors open at 8:30 AM. Lunch items will be available for sale for an additional cost.
Gilead church is located at 308 Brick Church Road (Route 278), Troy, New York 12180. We are handicapped accessible and have loads of free close parking. SPACES ARE LIMITED and will sell out fast -again- at this price!! To reserve your seat please call John at 518-279-9552. Please drive safely!
ALL proceeds from this class will be donated to the church.
France Magnifique
La Fédération Franco-Américaine du NY is sponsoring a trip to France, featuring the 75th Anniversary of D-Day & Normandy, April 23 – May 7, 2020. Rates include round trip air from New York, air taxes and fees/surcharges, hotel transfers, and 20 meals. Highlights of the trip: Paris, River Seine cruise, Normandy, Omaha Beach, Le Mont St. Michel, Loire Valley, 2-night Chateau stay, winery tour, Lyon, Les Halles de Lyon, Paul Boscuse Market, Avignon, Creme Brûlée Cooking demonstration, Nice, Monaco. Plenty of time to explore on your own. For more information, pricing or a brochure, call Lisa at Plaza Travel at 518-785-3338 or lisa@nullplazatravel.net.
EG Fire Company Announcements
East Greenbush Fire Company President Michael F. Lansing II proudly announces the recipients of the Barbara J. LehmannMemorial Scholarship Program for 2019. Through the Barbara J. Lehmann Memorial Scholarship Program, the East Greenbush Fire Company provides scholarship grants to qualified applicants seeking to advance their education in their chosen field of study. The 2019 recipients are Michael Preston, Adam Riley and Nicholas Cullum. Michael is entering The University of South Caroline and will major in Sports Management. Adam will be attending Springfield College majoring in a Physical Therapy curriculum. Nicholas will begin his studies at the College of Southern Maryland majoring in Fire Service Technology. The East Greenbush Fire Company commends these three college freshmen for their admirable academic achievements and pursuit of higher education.
Rensselaer County Recovery Helpline
1-833-467-3123
Do you need help with substance use issues? Are you interested in volunteering for the helpline? The Rensselaer County Recovery Helpline offers information, local resources, and referrals for individuals and their families regarding substance use issues. The toll-free line is available 7 days a week from 9am-9pm. Each volunteer chooses shifts of 4 hours at a time to be on-call. When someone calls the number, a volunteer answers on their own smartphone, and can enter information to a database on their own computer, allowing for easy and quick access to resources. The information is sent to one of the 9 leaders, who will then assist the caller. If you or someone you know needs information, resources, or a referral for a substance use problem, call 1-833-467-3123. For more information, or if you are interested in volunteering, contact Renscohelpline@nullgmail.com
Feel Good
Memoirs of an Amnesiac: Mrs. Clitherow
My parents came to Averill Park from England in 1950. Before then my mother had never seen snow or felt 90-degree heat. As a young girl, she was told by a fortune-teller that she would move to America; so she accepted the hardships. Luckily, we met an elderly English lady who lived in the area: a Mrs. Daisy Clitherow. For Mom every visit was a mini-vacation back to the Old Country.
Mrs. C. lived in the hills above Hoags Corners, along a wooded lane off Greenman Hill Road. Just driving there felt like an adventure. Like many cottages in England, her place here had a name: “Summerhill”. Maybe that was because she lived here only during the warm months. She spent Winter with a grown son.
She was a refined lady. But while taking tea outside on her veranda, she kept a rifle handy for picking off critters in her garden. There was a strength about her which may have come from living in England during WWII, where people faced food shortages and the constant threat of attack. She and my parents had lots of war stories to share.
Mrs. Clitherow knew the secret for making a proper cup of tea. And sometimes she would tell your fortune by “reading” the loose tea leaves in your cup. At first, my brother and I were too young for that, so she’d hand us each an antique flashlight and invite us to get bottles of soda from her cellar. As we got older, she let us fire her rifle (under supervision). Once every Summer we would bring quart jars and fill them with the wild blueberries which grew all around her cottage. Mom turned them into pies, the kind you remember.
Mrs. Clitherow passed away some time after I graduated from high school. I never heard details, and I’d rather picture her alive anyway. She had a kind face and a jolly laugh.
Ron McKee
Averill Park
Boy Scout Troop 2526 Return from Summer Camp
Boy Scout Troop 2526 returned early August from a week at Camp Read Scout Reservation in the Adirondacks near Brant Lake. Twenty-eight scouts attended and stayed in tents. We went to merit badge classes, learned new outdoor skills, played games, and generally had fun. Every evening, the camp offers different special events, and our Troop did everything! We participated in a counselor hunt, and rode a zip line, then dropped into a pond. We ate cream pies as quickly as possible without using our hands in a timed contest (and swept first, second, and third place!). Many of our scouts competed in a triathlon, where we had four relay teams consisting of an archer, a runner, and a swimmer, and we took first place! We made a pasta dish in a Dutch oven cooking contest. Our troop made its own flag in an artistic competition where we won first place! Most of our troop even woke up early and jumped in the lake for the Polar Bear Challenge. We also performed songs and skits at a campfire before the entire camp. Finally, as a troop, we attended vespers, a peaceful non-denominational service where scouts reflect on their experience. This gave us a brief moment to think about what is important to us during a very busy week.
On Friday, we challenged the camp staff to a game of Ultimate Frisbee, and we won! It was so much fun, and anyone in our troop who wanted to play participated. Together we developed teamwork and built friendships that should last a long time. At the end of the week, our troop won the Best of Scout Skills (BOSS) Award.
As the Senior Patrol Leader of Troop 2526, I want to thank all of the scouts who attended. We had a great group that got along well with one another, and supported each other through all of our events. I also want to thank the adults who helped make this camping experience possible. Thanks to a great summer, and a beginning to a new scouting year! If you’re interested, consider joining us!
-Tyler Michaels
September
September marks the ¾ point of the year;
The September of our lives is similar, in some ways:
September is never sure whether it is Summer or Fall.
We, too, are confused:
Are we old…or just getting older?
Whatever, September suggests that a lot of time has passed,
And there is a lot less time left.
September suggests that there are things to be done:
Birds think of migrating; Animals feed voraciously to pack on weight.
As the great thinkers, however,
We are often content to just sit in the sun and ponder,
Or, maybe read a book!
While our counterparts in nature are in a hustle,
It should bother us, not, to let Fall projects turn into Spring projects.
September is a month to be enjoyed;
Worry, not, about things that may go undone.
Tend only to the important stuff:
Family, friends and those in need.
What say, we all enjoy this September like never before;
Who knows…We could have precious few left!
Llyod Barnhart
Averill Park
Letters to the Editor
On the Silly Season and Eric Wohlleber
Once again, as happens this time every year as election day approaches, we citizens who must decide who should hold the public offices that are intended to keep our various levels of government functioning efficiently and effectively to protect and safeguard our lives, health, liberty, and property, which is what we have governments for in this country, although so many of our office seekers and holders seem to be entirely ignorant of that, making it about them, instead, are entering into what is known colloquially as the “silly season,” so named because this is the time of year when we are treated to all kinds of claims and boasts and promises from those seeking office, which takes me to a piece of election-year political propaganda that ended up in my mailbox, wherein was claimed that Eric Wohlleber of Poestenkill is running for a seat on the Poestenkill Town Council to “ensure that town government is responsive to the residents and that we are providing the proper services to build a bright future.” As someone who has lived in this town now for seventy (70) years, and who has had contact with this same Eric Wohlleber concerning the Jacangelo Garbage Reception Station in Poestenkill that is operating as a public nuisance according to our code as written, as a resident of this town and a voter, I would step forward and challenge Mr. Wohlleber on that statement about “ensuring that town government is responsive to the residents,” because that is an empty statement and an insult to our intelligence. Mr. Wohlleber had his opportunity over these last several years as a sitting councilman to ensure that town government is responsive to the residents, and he not only failed to do that, but has gone further to ensure that the town totally ignores the residents of the residentially zoned area of the Town who are subjected to the nuisance of the Jacangelo garbage transfer station on a daily basis. So, people, in a word, his word is worthless. Vote for him at your peril.
-Paul Plante
Poestenkill