The Peru Gazette

Bishop Robert Cunningham will lead Diocese of Syracuse

See the Press Republican’s online report

By John T. Ryan 

It’s very clear that the Sunday, April 19, 2009 fundraiser for Tyler Haudberg and his family was a tremendous success.  People from all over the North Country crowded the Peru VFW throughout the afternoon.  Lisa Gonyo, one of the event organizers, said she was overwhelmed by the community’s response. Hundreds of businesses and individuals donated merchandise, money and time to the effort. The Peru Knights of Columbus served over 500 spaghetti dinners while bands provided great music and people purchased bake sale items and bid on donated auction items. Congratulations to the organizers of this wonderful event and to everyone who contributed in any way. As usual, North Country residents demonstrated generous support for someone in need! See more Photos

By John T. Ryan

An enthusiastic Clinton County Democratic Party Chairman Martin Mannix spoke to a Town of Peru Democratic Party meeting on Thursday, April 16^th at St. Augustine’s Parish Center. Noting President Barrack Obama’s election and the fact that a Democrat carried overwhelmingly Republican Essex County in the recent Congressional Special Election Mannix said,  “I think it is a great time to be a Democrat in the State of New York and in Clinton County. Times are changing.”  Read more »

The Peru Central School District Board of Education has two special board meetings slated for the week of April 20th. The first special meeting is set for 6 PM Monday, April 20th in the community room, when the Board will promptly re-convene in executive session to interview candidates for Primary School Principal. No public session business is on the agenda for that evening’s special meeting to interview candidates.

Read more »

Peru Central’s Board of Education is set for the full range of monthly business at its regular meeting, Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 6 PM at the community room, adjacent to the high school’s main entrance. An executive session associated with collective bargaining and the performance history of particular employees will take place immediately following the 6 PM start. The school board is slated to reconvene for public session business at 7 PM. It’s anticipated the school board will: Read more »

By Don McBrayer

Peru Resident Don McBrayer helped out with the Tea Party held at Trinity Park on April 15, 2009 in Plattsburgh and submitted this report. There were many local voices who expressed concern about taxes and the growth of the federal government in Trinity Park yesterday.  Ron Wood Sr., Cortland Wood, and Carl Kokes performed a variety of patriotic songs. I estimate about a hundred and fifty people were there. For my part I helped Bill Ferris of Big Apple Audio with the staging and the sound system. I believe the attached photos were all taken by Bill Ferris.

Thanks to information from a frien our homepage is now linked to the National Weather Service rather than to Yahoo Weather. The National Weather Service site gives a concise seven-day forecast and one-click detailed data. Just look under our community links on the right side of the homepage for “Peru Weather.”

Click here for the story

By John T. Ryan

The Town of Peru Zoning Board of Appeals will conduct its monthly meeting on Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at the Peru Town Hall at 7 p.m. Code Enforcement Office Paul Blaine states that Patricia Pugh of 15 Campsite Rd. is seeking an area variance for a 16’ X 17’ shelter for her horse and goats. Blaine reported that the shelter has been erected without the required building permit Read more »

Easter eggs represent the new life of the people springing from the Resurrection of Christ and a large number of children turned out for this morning’s Easter Egg Hunt at St. Augustine’s Church. The Easter Bunny arrived at the end of the 10:30 Mass and led the children to the parish center where the eggs were hidden in the many classrooms. St. Monica’s Court 2598 of the Catholic Daughters of America sponsored the event. (See more photos)

The Town of Peru has announced its Sunday night summer concert series.  Our community will have another season of fine entertainment at the Little AuSable Park Gazebo. Concerts begin on June 28 and continue through August 9, 2009.  Concerts start at 6 and end at 8 p.m.

•  June 28 – Hot Rod Lincoln – “Genuine House Rockin’ Music”
•  July 5 – Inisheer – Traditional Irish, Celtic Music
•  July 12 – Roy Hurd – Adirondack Folk Music
•  July 19 – Flashback – 50’s, 60’s Rock & Roll, Easy Listening
•  July 26 – The Castaways – Country, Classic Rock, Folk, 50’s – Present
•  August 2 – Back Porch Band – Bluegrass, Country, Acoustic
•  August 9 – Beartracks – Bluegrass, Country, Acoustic
•  August 16 – Too Tall String Band – Adirondack, Celtic, Country, Bluegrass

In case of rain concerts will be held at the Peru Community Church Fellowship Center.

Bring chairs & blankets. No alcoholic beverages allowed. Concerts are brought to you by the Town of Peru!

Many children enjoyed the Easter Eggs last year

By John T. Ryan

On Easter Sunday, April 12th, St. Augustine’s Parish will hold its 2nd Annual Easter Egg Hunt after 10:30 Mass.  Follow the Easter Bunny over to the Parish Center for the Easter Egg Hunt. There will be two age groups: 5 and under and 6 to 10. The event is sponsored by Catholic Daughter’s of the Americas, Court St. Monica 2598. 

________________________________________________________________________

By John T. Ryan

It has been several years since the Peru Town Board went out to bid for liability insurance coverage. They decided to do so this year and the town will be saving almost $15,000 and receiving increased insurance coverage.  The Counselors opened bids at their March 23rd meeting, studied the issue for a week and convened a Special Meeting on Monday, April 30, 2009 where they voted to contract with Northern Insuring for liability insurance coverage even though Latremore Insurance submitted a $2,600 lower bid.  Read more »

Rev. Alan Shnob, Pastor of St. Augustine’s Parish congratulates Maryann Keenan and Larry Ewald Sr., recipients of the 2009 Golden Rose Award in recognition of their many years of dedicated service to the parish.  They received their awards at a recent Sunday Mass. 

The Peru Gazette previously published a story on the April 19th fundraiser at the Peru VFW to benefit Peru resident Tyler Haudberg and his family.  The Press Republican published a similar story on March 30th. Hopefully everyone in our town will turn out in a spirit of unity to support this family in need!

By John T. Ryan

The New York State Association of Realtors released its February 2009 existing single family home sales survey on March 26, 2009.  Clinton County’s sales totals declined 40.6% from February of 2008 with nineteen homes sold in 2009 compared to thirty-two homes sold last year. Statewide sales were down by 26.8% during February 2009 compared to last February’s sales. February sales in Essex County increased in 2009 by 27.3% from eleven to fourteen homes.  Clinton County’s median home price declined by 27.6% for the month, while Essex County’s median price increased by 34.9%.  These prices are such a small sampling of long-term prices they do not appear to represent overall real estate value trends.

On Sunday March 29, 2009, the Press Republican reported on its front page that Peru Town Supervisor Donald Covel has been arrested on seven new official  misconduct charges and one charge of obstruction of governmental administration.  The charges were not unexpected. They relate to a September 2008 indictment and Mr. Covel’s refusal to plead guilty to a lesser charge. See previous story

By John T. Ryan (Corrected March 31, 2009 – The March 30 Board Workshop involved the recently passed Work Boiler Law not the proposed outdoor burning law.)

Counselor Cortland Forrence’s announcement that he will be resigning in a few weeks overshadowed other important business at the Town Board’s March 23, 2009 meeting.  After several weeks of meetings and workshops, the Board opened bids for the town’s 2009 liability insurance contracts and found they will be saving between $14,700 and $17,000 this year with increased coverage.  The Board, however, did not award the contract at Monday’s meeting. Northern Insuring Inc. and Latremore’s Insurance submitted sealed bids for opening at this meeting. Northern Insuring submitted a bid of $57,657. Latremore’s bid was $54,999.  Last year Northern Insuring charged the Town $71,992. Counselor Powers motioned to award the bid to Latremore’s. Supervisor Donald Covel seconded the motion. Counselor Powers voted “yes.” Counselor Cortland Forrence voted “no” Read more »

According to a front page story in the March 27th Clinton County Free Trader Today the Peru Free Library has received a $67,000 grant that will fund installation of solar panels, repairs to the roof, replacement of  the furnace and front sidewalk.  Read the story

By Rodney Brown

Updated March 28, 2009. (A link to the Draft Open Space Plan appears at the end of Mr. Brown’s story)

On Tuesday, March 31^st at 7:00pm the Committee to Implement the Comprehensive Plan, along with consultant Nan Stolzenberg of Community Planning and Environmental Associates, will present a draft document titled “Town of Peru Open Space Plan” at the Peru Town Hall.  The meeting is open to anyone interested in learning more about the contents of the plan and its implications for the future of the Town. Read more »

The Peru Central School District Board of Education’s winter-spring 2009 series of budget development workshops focused on establishing a budget plan for the 2009-2010 fiscal year continues 7 PM on Tuesday, March 31st in the community room adjacent to the Peru High School main entrance. 

 Tuesday’s workshop will feature an update from the Superintendent of Schools regarding a conservative approach to budgeting expenditures and budgeting revenues for next school year, given the prospect of a freeze or reduction in state aid for next school year.  

The Board of Education will examine any update from Albany received at Peru Central since last week’s budget workshop. Peru Central’s Superintendent and school board will engage in discussion with the School Business Administrator regarding early forecasts of revenues and corresponding impacts of those revenues on the property tax and on longer term financial planning. 

The school board and Peru Central Superintendent of Schools A. Paul Scott invite and encourage residents to attend the March 3rd budget development workshop, and will welcome their ideas and suggestions.

By Rachel Daly 

To be back in Nicaragua this year was quite a feeling. We arrived in the middle of the night on an antiquated but functioning bus, and as the compound came into view, there was comfort just in seeing it again. I was ready to be back with the Nicaraguan people I had come to care about so much.

At first glance, everything appeared the same, but I soon learned that it wasn’t quite so. Read more »

The Adirondack Brass Quintet will be performing at the Peru Community Church Fellowship Center on Friday, April 3, at 7:30 pm.  Tickets are $8 general admission, $5 for students and seniors and $15 for a family.  Quinitet member Janet Geldert described what the audience can expect. “We will be playing a wide variety of music.  We will include baroque, classical, blues, show tunes, jazz, folk songs, and ragtime.  There will be music most people will recognize (such as St. Louis Blues, Londonderry Air, and Maple Leaf Rag) as well as pieces that may not be so familiar (such as a toccata and fugue by Bach, or the Voluntary on the Old 100th). Most of the pieces to be performed were not originally written for brass quintet, but were transcribed for that instrumentation.  It should be a fun evening, with something to please each audience member.”

The quintet members are: Matt Pray and Bill Long, trumpet; Janet Geldert, horn; Andrew West, Trombone, and JoLee Yeddo, tuba.

By John T. Ryan

Peru Town Counselor Cortland Forrence surprised the few people remaining at the end of the March 23, 2009 Council meeting when he announced that he would be leaving the Council sometime this year. Forrence said, “I don’t have the time to keep up the schedule of meetings that are necessary to fill the position.”  I haven’t turned in my resignation yet, but I will be sometime in the next maybe month or two before I leave.” Forrence said he had deliberated over the decision for a long time and that he just didn’t have the time or energy to continue on. He said he thought it would be best to find someone who has the time and energy to continue on.  Forrence said it will be up to the Town Council to fill the position or to wait until the next election.