The Peru Gazette

Area is one of 13 identified by East Branch Restoration Plan

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Oven Baked Chicken
Rice/Gravy
Salad
Dessert

Served take-out only, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., at St. Augustine’s Parish Center, 3030 Maini St., Peru, NY 12972

All are Welcome!

Nurse-led effort beautifies stretch of Idaho Avenue, removes potential safety hazards 

PLATTSBURGH, NY (10/12/2023) – Employees at The University of Vermont Health Network-Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH) are volunteering their time to clean up a 1.4-mile stretch of Idaho Avenue beginning at 10 a.m. this Sunday, October 15.

The effort is part of a sponsorship of the Town of Plattsburgh’s Adopt-a-Highway program. This past May, the group held its first cleanup, picking up enough garbage to fill up several large bags that the town then disposed of. In addition to beautification, the team can help keep the area safe by removing potential safety hazards like plastic bags that can clog drains and cause chemicals to seep into water supplies with highway storm run-off. Trash can catch fire or block a motorist’s view if caught in the wind. And discarded containers may become breeding grounds for mosquitoes that spread harmful diseases if they are not picked up.

The cleanups, which will continue over the next two years, are spearheaded by nurses on the Progressive Care team at CVPH.

“We come to work every day to provide the care our patients need, and that care extends into the community,” CVPH Progressive Care Assistant Nurse Manager Katie Morrow, BS, RN-BC, PCCN, CMSRN offers. “We’re all proud of where we live and work and want to do what we can to make this place we call home even better.”

Participants will wear the required safety gear and use trash-collecting materials the town provides. Safety information will also be provided to everyone taking part in the cleanup. The Town of Plattsburgh’s Highway Department will pick up the collected garbage.

The CVPH Progressive Care team’s Adopt-a-Highway agreement is one of more than 2,400 in place across New York State, covering approximately 5,000 miles.

AGENDA – Call Meeting to Order, Pledge of Allegiance, Roll Call

4. MOTION/DISCUSSION:  To Accept Reports from all Departments: (Water/Sewer/Valcour; Highway; Town Clerk; Dog Control; Youth Department; Code/Zoning; Supervisor’s Report; Court; Website; JCEO; and Banking Reports) 

5. MOTION:  Approval of Minutes for the Regular Meeting of September 25 and the Public Hearing of October 4, 2023.

6. Community Input. 

7. RESOLUTION/DISCUSSION:  File Local Law #1 of 2023 for Flood Damage Protection. 

8. RESOLUTION/DISCUSSION:  Purchase of Property Near Sewer Plant.

9. RESOLUTION/DISCUSSION: Contract with AES, Northeast for the New Water Source Proposal.

10. RESOLUTION/DISCUSSION:  Change Zoning on a Portion of Davey Drive to Neighborhood-Commercial.

11. RESOLUTION/DISCUSSION:  Hire Telling & Hillman, PC for Single Audit for the 2021 Fiscal Year.

12. RESOLUTION/DISCUSSION:  To Prepay Jointa Lime Company to Allow CHIPS 2023 Paperwork to be submitted before the November 3, 2023, Deadline for Payment in 2023.

13. DISCUSSION:  Other Business. 

14. DISCUSSION:  Public Comments on Agenda Items Only.

15. RESOLUTION/DISCUSSION:  Pay Bills – October 2023

16. MOTION:  Adjourn to Executive Session.

17. MOTION:  Return from Executive Session. 

18. MOTION:     Adjourn.

The Town of Peru lifted the “Conserve Water Order” this afternoon – October 12, 2023.  

1. Call Meeting to Order
2. Pledge of Allegiance

3. Roll Call

4. MOTION/DISCUSSION:  To Accept Reports from all Departments: (Water/Sewer/Valcour; Highway; Town Clerk; Dog Control; Youth Department; Code/Zoning; Supervisor’s Report; Court; Website; JCEO; and Banking Reports) 

5. MOTION:  Approval of Minutes for the Regular Meeting of September 25 and the                                     Public Hearing of October 4, 2023.

6. Community Input. 

7. RESOLUTION/DISCUSSION:  File Local Law #1 of 2023 for Flood Damage Protection. 

8. RESOLUTION/DISCUSSION:  Purchase of Property Near Sewer Plant.

9. RESOLUTION/DISCUSSION: Contract with AES, Northeast for the New Water Source Proposal.

10. RESOLUTION/DISCUSSION:  Change Zoning on a Portion of Davey Drive to Neighborhood-Commercial.

11. RESOLUTION/DISCUSSION:  Hire Telling & Hillman, PC for Single Audit for 2021 Fiscal Year.

12. RESOLUTION/DISCUSSION:  To Prepay Jointa Lime Company to Allow CHIPS 2023 Paperwork to be Submitted before the November 3, 2023 Deadline for Payment in 2023.

13. DISCUSSION:  Other Business.

14. DISCUSSION:  Public Comments on Agenda Items Only.

15. RESOLUTION/DISCUSSION:  Pay Bills – October 2023

16. MOTION:  Adjourn to Executive Session.

17. MOTION:  Return from Executive Session. 

18. MOTION:     Adjourn.

Town of Keene  – Essex County
Wilderness Rescue: On Oct. 4 at 8:08 p.m., Ray Brook Dispatch received a call about a beacon device activated to communicate a diabetic emergency. The 35-year-old from Minnesota self-administered insulin but could not test his blood sugar. At 11 p.m., Forest Rangers and a Wilmington/Keene Valley Paramedic reached the subject between Basin Mountain and Little Haystack. Rescuers helped the subject and their hiking partner back to their vehicles. When they arrived at 12:20 a.m., the patient’s blood sugar was back to a normal level.

Town of North Elba – Essex County
Wilderness Rescue: On Oct. 7 at 4 p.m., eight Forest Rangers responded to a report of three hikers stranded behind high water at Indian Falls. The hikers from Pennsylvania were descending Street Mountain when they encountered the water. Rangers used an inflatable rescue boat to pull the hikers safely across before helping them to their vehicles. Resources were clear at 6:18 p.m.

Town of Long Lake – Hamilton County
Wilderness Search: On Oct. 8 at 5:35 p.m., Ray Brook Dispatch received a call from 12 hikers lost on Owls Head Mountain. The group hiked a hunters’ trail into a beaver pond but veered off the trail on the way back. The hikers, who range in age from 14 to 75, had minimal clothing layers and food and did not have any headlamps. Dispatch identified the coordinates that put the group a couple of hundred yards east of the trail. Forest Rangers Curcio and Sabo hiked two miles, reached the group at 8:45 p.m., provided extra clothing and headlamps, and safely walked them to the trail and their vehicles. Resources were clear at midnight.

Town of North Elba Rescue

Rangers find lost Hamilton County hikers

Community calling for more discussions to find a solution that helps everyone

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Champlain Area Trails (CATS), an accredited land trust, hosted 15 volunteers from as far as Georgia, Virginia, and Illinois during the first week of October to improve trails at the SUNY Plattsburgh’s Twin Valley Outdoor Education Center in Essex/Lewis, New York. The volunteers participated through the American Hiking Society’s Volunteer Vacation program, which provides all-inclusive trips for volunteers to help maintain and build trails.

For many, this was their second or third time volunteering with CATS through the program. “The teamwork and fall colors of the Adirondacks keep bringing me back,” said Anthony Quinn, a volunteer from Vermont. “CATS’ mission to connect people with nature and promote recreation is inspiring.”

Since 2009, CATS has created 78 miles of trails, protected 983 acres of land, and hosted hundreds of hikes, outdoor education events, and volunteer activities. The organization attracts thousands of visitors each year to experience the natural beauty of the Champlain Valley.

“We are grateful for the dedication of volunteers who travel from near and far to help improve our trails and keep them safe, accessible, and enjoyable for all,” said Chris Maron, Executive Director at CATS. “Their work is instrumental in helping us achieve our mission of making trails, saving land, connecting people with nature, and promoting economic vitality in the Champlain Valley.”

The volunteers worked for a week at Twin Valleys, clearing brush, removing fallen branches, creating a new connector trail at Whipple Mountain, and beginning a trail going to a viewpoint on Payne Mountain. In addition to the trail work, the volunteers enjoyed the area’s scenic vistas, fall foliage, and outdoor recreational opportunities that CATS works to protect and promote access to.

“The Adirondacks in the fall are stunning,” said Dan Greenberg, a first-time volunteer from Raleigh, North Carolina. “Knowing I’m helping to maintain access to this natural beauty for others to enjoy makes the trip especially rewarding.”

CATS hosts volunteer activities, public hikes, outdoor education programs, and special events encouraging community members and visitors to enjoy the Champlain Valley’s forests, fields, and scenic vistas. Engaging their participation helps support its work to provide healthy outdoor recreation in the Champlain Valley. You can visit CATS’ calendar of events and support its mission of protecting land and making trails by visiting champlainareatrails.com

The public is invited to this free event

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the townhouses will be rented to families who make at or below 80 percent of the county’s median income, which is about $80,000 a year.

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PLATTSBURGH, NY (10/11/2023) – A Nurse who provided compassion and comfort to the grieving family of a North Country icon has been honored as the first recipient of The DAISY Nurse Leader Award at The University of Vermont Health Network-Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH). Lee-Ann LaBombard, RN, was presented the award recently during a surprise ceremony with her colleagues at the hospital.

LaBombard was nominated by Ashley Pray, a granddaughter of the late North Country trailblazer and founder of Rulfs Orchard in Peru, Bob Rulfs.

“Lee-Ann has such a helpful, kind, and above all else, a caring demeanor about her,” Richner wrote in her nomination.

She came to know LaBombard after getting the devastating news in June 2022 that her beloved grandfather was admitted to CVPH and was not expected to make it. Richner rushed to the hospital to be with “Grandpa Bob” and met up with a large contingent of family already there.

“Our family is quite large. My grandparents had four children, and then there are 12 grandchildren. So you can imagine we can be quite the crowd when gathered together,” Richner says.

Many of the family members came together at the entrance next to the Emergency Department. But it wasn’t an area that was conducive to privacy. And it wasn’t nearly as close as Richner and the rest of the Rulfs family wanted to be to their legendary loved one. At that time, COVID visitor protocols were in place but the CVPH Welcome Policy offered some flexibility to care teams to accommodate families during the last hours of their loved ones’ lives.

That’s where LaBombard, as a Patient Advocate Manager, came in. Richner contacted LaBombard, explaining the situation and the hope that the family could be closer to Rulfs as he received end-of-life care. After speaking to his doctors and the nursing unit’s leadership team, LaBombard opened up the solarium to the family.

“Lee-Ann went with us up to the floor and made sure that we were settled and as close to my grandfather’s room as we could be,” Richner recalls.

LaBombard, a registered nurse, requested a Comfort Cart for the family, so they had some light refreshments and continued checking in with Richner and other family members to ensure they had what they needed.

“I am and will be forever grateful for Lee-Ann and everything she did for our family. She made sure that I could be close to my grandfather during his final hours with us,” Richner adds. “Lee-Ann was a comfort for us during a very sad time for our family.”

“Everyone who ever met Grandpa Bob at Rulfs has a memory of him, from visiting him at the orchard to kids taking field trips there and picking pumpkins,” she continues. “I think the community would be happy and thankful to know that Lee-Ann made it possible for Grandpa to have his family with him during his final time on earth.”

LaBombard was presented with a certificate commending her as an extraordinary nurse leader during the award presentation. Like all honorees, she also received a DAISY Award pin and a beautiful and meaningful sculpture called “A Healer’s Touch,” hand-carved by artists of the Shona Tribe in Zimbabwe.

CVPH launched the DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses in 2018 as a way to recognize and reward licensed nurses for making a meaningful difference in the lives of their patients. This year, the hospital has added the DAISY Awards to recognize nurse leaders and nurse-led teams. Nomination forms and boxes are located at each of the hospital’s main entrances and online at UVMHealth.org/CVPHDaisy. Patients, families, and colleagues may nominate nurses. A committee reviews nominations and awards a deserving nurse each quarter, a nurse leader twice a year and a nurse-led team annually.

The award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s mission to recognize the extraordinary, compassionate nursing care they provide patients and families every day. The DAISY Foundation is a national not-for-profit organization established by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes. Patrick died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), a little-known but not uncommon auto-immune disease (DAISY is an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System). The care Patrick and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and patient families. More information is available at DAISYfoundation.org.

Editor’s Note. The CVPH new releases initially stated that Ashley Richner nominated Lee-Ann Labombard. They later corrected it to read Ashley Pray.

A great game between Peru and Plattsburgh highlights the latest NBC5 Play of the Week

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Graffiti was found throughout various notable locations in the Lake City

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Waterville, Maine: The North Atlantic Conference (NAC) announced today that SUNY Cobleskill sophomore men’s cross country runner Nik Recore, Peru, N.Y., Peru High School, has been named the NAC Men’s Cross Country Runner-of-the-Week for the week ending October 8, 2023.

The Fighting Tiger team captain was the team’s top finisher at the 2023 Hamilton College Invitational on Saturday placing 17^th overall in a 77-runner field by covering a soggy 8000-meter course in a time of 28:38.6 to lead Cobleskill to a fifth place finish in an eight-team field at the event.

Cobleskill will next be in action on Saturday October 14 when they travel to Springfield, Ma. to compete at the 2023 Golden Bear Invitational hosted by Western New England University beginning at 10:30 a.m.

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The Alexander String Quartet stands among the world’s premier ensembles, having performed in the major music capitals of five continents. The quartet is a vital artistic presence in its home base of San Francisco, serving since 1989 as Ensemble-in-Residence of San Francisco Performances. Widely admired for its interpretations of Beethoven, Mozart, and Shostakovich, the quartet’s recordings have won international critical acclaim. 

Founded in New York City in 1981, the ensemble quickly captured attention, initially winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition in 1982, and then becoming the first American quartet to win the London (now Wigmore) International String Quartet Competition in 1985. The members of the Alexander String Quartet are recipients of honorary degrees from Allegheny College and St. Lawrence University, and Presidential medals from Baruch College (CUNY).

The Alexander String Quartet has performed at Lincoln Center, the 92nd Street Y, the Metropolitan Museum, Jordan Hall, the Library of Congress, and appeared as guests at universities including Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Lewis & Clark, and UCLA. Numerous overseas tours include the U.K., Czech Republic, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, France, Greece, Republic of Georgia, Argentina, Panamá, and the Philippines. Their visit to Poland’s Beethoven Easter Festival is beautifully captured in the 2017 award-winning documentary, Con Moto: The Alexander String Quartet.

The Alexander String Quartet performs at the historic Saranac Methodist Church on Route 3 in Saranac on Sunday, October 15 at 3:00 pm.  The program features masterpieces from the first half of the 20^th century: Jean Sibelius’s String Quartet in D minor, Op. 56 “Voces Intimae” (1908-9) and Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 68 (1944) plus a contemporary work by British-American composer Tarik O’Regan: Gradual (2016, rev. 2022).

General admission at the door is $20; seniors and students $15; children under 12 free; family rate available.  Current public health guidelines are followed. For further information telephone 518-293-7613, e-mail ambrown.hillholl@gmail.com or visit hillandhollowmusic.org

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Election Day is Nov. 7

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