Saturday April 20, 2024 
Mere Shadows
Maybe you noticed them…
Three old friends of mine
Sitting in lawn chairs
Right alongside the parade route.
One was ex-Army…
One was a Marine;
The other was an ex-Air Force bomb jockey
With 100 missions under his belt.
They were overdressed for the day
In tattered uniform remnants and memorabilia.
They were basking in the moment;
Replaying service history in their minds.
They were the first to stand
When the colors passed,
And the anthem was sung.
Proud to be Americans !!
You never would have guessed
By just looking at them
That they were once young and tough;
Fine specimens of All-American manhood.
In addition to their military service,
They all had been hard workers
With strong arms and backs;
All had been stellar athletes.
But now, they are mere shadows
Of their former selves.
Their personal histories
Are known to only a few.
Yes, you would never guess
Who/what they had been, but
I need not guess;
I knew them back then !!
Lloyd Barnhart, West Sand Lake
Words that Scare Me
Murder makes my blood run cold
Blood bath strikes my very soul
Maniac sends me under my bed
Preceded by homocidal redoubles the dread.
Decapitated conjures up childhood fears
Gravestone always brings me to tears.
Please don’t ever say violent death
Mutilated corpse takes away my breath.
In spite of my fears of these words that alarm me
I admit a good murder mystery never fails to charm me.
Sylvia Honig
Correcting Mrs. Sabo
Yes Mrs. Sabo, the November election will determine a Town Board seat. It’s unfortunate that you and slate of Democratic Committee candidates, including one in Cohoes, have done nothing to help our town board candidate in his pivotal June primary. I note neither you nor your team has donated to his efforts. Numerous members of the Democratic Committee’s official slate have donated money allowing the purchase of signs and mailings to voters. Your decision to primary committee seats hurts the candidate.
No Mrs. Sabo, no one has attacked you or your family. Your efforts to take over the town committee rest solely on your inability to accept the committee’s refusal to endorse your failed run for supervisor last year. We correctly believed the duties of supervisor would conflict with your state job. When the State informed you prior to the Primary last year that you could not run nor serve if elected, you ignored a directive dated June 19,2019 ,to cease all campaigning. You concealed that letter from the voters and the committee and continue to conceal it and the facts it demonstrated. “You are hereby directed to cease and desist within 24 hours of receipt of this letter your campaign to become Supervisor”, stated Alan Lebowitz, Deputy General Counsel. You ignored and concealed a 4 page ethics opinion May 31, 2019 detailing the numerous ways your state job conflicted with the office of Supervisor. You were disciplined suspended and lost that job.
When you recruited your slate of candidates, you kept them in the dark. You permitted the distribution of a petition falsely listing a Wynantskill address for a candidate who moved to Cohoes, deceiving voters as to his residence. Your “Team Cohoes” omits his name on your list of candidates, but he’s still on the ballot because of you.The Democratic Committee won 5 of 6 races it assisted in last year. The team includes dedicated people who help win campaigns while putting ethics first when selecting candidates.
C.B.Smith, Wynantskill
Meeting of the Barnes Road Neighborhood Association
We live across the street from the proposed party barn business on Barnes Road. Our barn is across the street from our house. We have a farm. We have worked and invested in our farm, and are raising our children here, in the confidence that being in an AG district and an AG/Residential Zone offers a safe place to do so. We and our children have to cross the road to tend to our belted cows and do the chores. The idea of putting a large commercial scale party operation here on Barnes Rd, in a formally recognized AG district, is ridiculous.Bailey’s driveway is close to our house and directly across form one of our pastures. Commercial operations do not belong out here.
At the hearing we mentioned that the June Farm operation down on Parker Rd is a real problem for us in moving equipment and getting the hay in. Think what a hundred cars each Saturday and Sunday right next to our farm will do to our work. And consider the dramatic change all that noise and activity would make here. When he bought that property he knew he was in an AG area. He now seeks to change that for the rest of us.
Finally, let us ask you: would you want something like that next door to you?
We can think of few things less compatible with the neighborhood. We think we are as entitled to rely on the zoning here as anyone else and urge the Planning Board to reject this request to introduce a large commercial party spot onto this neighborhood.
The Planning Board meeting now scheduled for June 3 is closed to the public. We expect to meet with our neighbors at Town Hall before the meeting to demonstrate our resolve to fight this.
Respectfully submitted, April Middleton
Vote For Defreestville’s Future
As candidates for the North Greenbush Democratic Committee representing District 6 (Defreestville), we are proud to be supported by Councilwoman Mary Frances Sabo. Mary Frances has been a breath of fresh air for our town. In just two years, she has taken on a number of initiatives, including improvement of the trails in the Rensselaer Tech Park, correcting problems with town zoning, building a dog park, strengthening government ethics rules, and most recently committing North Greenbush to be a Climate Smart Community. She has regularly attended meetings of the Defreestville Area Neighborhoods Association (DANA) and has demonstrated that she is willing to address issues that are important to our community.
Mary Frances has focused on getting things done for the residents of North Greenbush, and she has done so with civility, honesty, and respect for all. With the recent election of Jack Rogers to the Town Board, Democrats are now one seat from having a majority that will take on issues like reducing traffic, modernizing town government and better planning for our future. We look forward to working with Mary Frances to support Democratic candidates with a POSITIVE message. We’ll do this by listening to residents and keeping them informed about town issues. Working together, we can change the politics of North Greenbush and make it an even better community.
The primary election is being held on June 23rd. You can vote in person at Town Hall on that day, though we recommend exercising your right to use absentee ballots and vote by mail. Early voting is also possible from June 13 – 21 at the Holy Cross Armenian Church 255 Spring Ave in Troy. For more information, go to www.TeamNG.org.
Justan Foster
Brian Zweig
Candidates for North Greenbush Democratic Committee
District 6 (Defreestville)
Puzzled
I’m puzzled why Americans are becoming so unwelcoming of people from other countries.
Cuomo, McLoughlin , Russo, Donnelly, all elected leaders, are all of foreign heritage.
Our First Lady, Melania Trump, immigrated to America at the age of 31 from Slovenia where she was born.
My generation was taught that immigrants make America a great nation.
I still believe that to be true.
Owen Goldfarb, Poestenkill
In The Summertime
Summertime is finally here
Waiting for memories to be made
And cold weather to disappear
Memorial Day has passed
But its true meaning is here to last
So pack up a picnic and head for the beach
Outdoor fun is now within reach
The sweet scent of lilacs is everywhere
There’s nothing on earth that can compare
Fire up the grill and prepare your favorite meal
It’s not about how you look it’s about how you feel
Now’s the time to put out the American flag with pride
Patriotism is something you need not hide
I pray for all the men and women who protect this land
Let’s get together and give them a hand
Freedom is something that should be free
But if you don’t defend it there is no guarantee
A new season has begun
In the country where every battle
It has fought it has won
When I see red white and blue
I thank God I live in America
Where dreams can still come true
Donna Masters, Troy