The Peru Gazette

Source: Watertown Daily Times | A sweet deal: Gillibrand and Schumer announce additional $1M in maple funding

Source: Cuomo-Nixon primary sparks new debate over school funding formula

On Tuesday, August 7, 2018 Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21) issued the following statement:

“I am honored that President Trump has accepted my invitation to visit Fort Drum and the brave men and women of the 10th Mountain Division on Monday,” said Congresswoman Stefanik. “As a Member of the House Armed Services Committee and the Chair of the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, I am honored that the President will sign the historic National Defense Authorization Act in our district at Fort Drum. I am proud of the partnership with this Administration to begin rebuilding our military and the President’s visit is an important opportunity to highlight this achievement and to thank our men and women in uniform for their service. I look forward to welcoming President Trump to Fort Drum and continuing to work to ensure our troops have the resources they need to keep us safe.”

There is an African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child,”  We, the officers and members of Peru Memorial VFW Post 309, knew we needed the communities’ help to raise the funds needed to purchase a new furnace and hot water system.  We wish to express our gratitude to: the event organizers and members, who went from business to business requesting donations; area businesses, who donated food and numerous items for our chicken barbecue and auctions; local distributors, newspapers and broadcasters, who assisted with our promotional advertising and prizes.  

Also, our sincere appreciation to our members, area residents and volunteers, who contributed in multiple areas; such as:  donating personal and home crafted items for the auctions, baking homemade items for the bake sale; and donating your time and talents before and during the Benefit.

Finally, thank you to every member and area resident, who supported our August 5, 2018 Furnace Benefit by sending a donation, by attending our event and purchasing a dinner, buying an auction or raffle ticket and/or bidding on auction items.   Thank you, again, to our area residents and businesses for proving that “A community working together can raise the funds for a furnace.”

Gratefully,

Peru Memorial VFW Post 309

Bill Lefebvre, Commander

Rick Cornish, Sr. Vice Commander

Furnace Committee Co-Chairmen:

John Mashtare

Dave Gordon

Glenn Miller

By John T. Ryan 

Peru –  Washington Street is undergoing a major expansion. For the past several weeks the William Sawyer Construction Company of Milton, Vermont has been installing the infrastructure to service 13 new homes.  Developer Bill Sawyer said, “The first home is sold and we plan to construct two spec homes this year.”  Construction of the first home is expected to begin in a few days. 

Sixteen years ago Sawyer and his cousin Allen Turner broke ground on their first Washington Street home. Twenty-one more homes followed in quick succession. Residents love the street’s youthful family atmosphere, appreciating home values and relatively quick resales.

Re/Max North Country Agent Karen Gosnell is the listing agent for the new homes.  She commented, “Bill Sawyer has a great reputation. He gets repeat business.The first home is sold to a family he built for previously.” Gosnell is confident that buyers will like the new homes. She explained, “There will be public water, sewer and natural gas and Bill plans to install street lights. They are close to the school and there will be sidewalks, so people can walk their dogs and kids can ride their bikes.” Allen Turner will supervise the actual home construction as he did for the first twenty-two homes. 

The homes will range from 1,700 to 2,100 square feet and will be priced in the $250,000 and up price range depending on the buyers choices.  The lots are about one-half acre. Gosnell said today’s slightly higher interest rates seem to be encouraging rather than discouraging buyers. She said, “Many people are saying ‘If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it sooner rather than later.’” 

Washington Street is part of the 75-acre Orchard View subdivision. When this phase is completed there will still be room for twenty-seven more homes. 

Source: Saranac Lake gets $10 million for downtown | Local News | pressrepublican.com

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Source: Lake George Music Festival upcoming – Sun Community News & Printing

Today is Homestead day at the Plattsburgh Farmer and Crafters Market on Durkee. There’s a large crowd enjoying the many items being offered for sale. Almost everyone had had one or more bags full when they left. Here are a few random photos taken this morning about 11.

Click here for an assortment of market photos. Also see our Peru Gazette Facebook page.

From the office of Congresswoman Elise Stefanik 

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Source: Peru officials eye cameras after park break-in – Sun Community News & Printing

Source: Drought, rabies, algae — Moriah officials wonder what’s next – Sun Community News & Printing

By Marque Moffett

On May 15th, when Peru Central School District voters approved the 2018-19 school budget, they approved a budget that included the expenditure of up to $80,000 to hire a School Resource Officer. What does this mean for the community? It means our school administrators can move forward with plans to hire an active duty Sheriff’s Deputy to work full-time on school grounds. 

The idea of hiring a School Resource Officer, or SRO, was first brought to the school board by Dr. Thomas Palmer, a self-described “safety guy” who took on the role of Superintendent of Peru CSD on January 2^nd of this year. In the wake of several high-profile mass shootings, including one that occurred in February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the Board of Education approved the position and worked with school officials to fund an SRO for the 2018-2019 school year. 

Funding challenges

In a year when the district is facing an estimated $1.6 million increase in healthcare premiums, funding a new position was a challenge. Demonstrating their commitment to bringing an SRO to Peru, board members approved several cuts to staffing and programming, but kept the new SRO position in the budget. It is possible that up to $50,000 could be recouped from the state via a piece of legislation known as S7811A, which would establish a School Resource Officer Program and would also establish an SRO aid program to reimburse school districts outside the city of New York $50,000 for the hiring of an SRO. 

Having already been passed in the State Senate, Bill S7811A is now in the hands of the Education Committee of the NY State Assembly, which will not meet again until the new Assembly convenes in January 2019. Asked during an interview whether the district would undertake any advocacy for the bill, Dr. Palmer urged community members to call our legislators to voice their opinions, saying, “The greatest supporters in our district are the parents, the tax-payers…Voters and taxpayers have a lot of power.” Dr. Palmer is hoping community members will use that power to help the school defray the costs of hiring an SRO. 

Role of SRO

Since gaining the approval of voters, the Peru CSD superintendent and administrative team have been working with Sheriff Favro and other members of the Clinton County Sheriff’s Department to finalize contractual language and to identify a deputy that best fits the needs of our district. 

In finding a good match for our needs, Dr. Palmer and his team are looking for some key characteristics. First and foremost, the district wants an SRO who can build relationships with students of all ages and who can be a trusted resource for them on campus. Emphasizing this point, Dr. Palmer stated, “Our SRO is not intended to be a “gotcha” for kids. It’s to help support kids. It’s about respect and it’s about building those relationships and hopefully, we don’t ever have to have a situation.”

Second, the district is looking for an SRO who can be a good partner to the district’s faculty, staff, and administrators by serving as a member of the district’s safety team and providing a law enforcement perspective as emergency response plans and safety protocols are reviewed and updated.

Finally, the district wants an SRO on site in the event of an emergency. Because the SRO will be a full-time, active-duty police officer, he/she will be armed while working on campus. In describing this, Dr. Palmer emphasizes, “The SRO is not a hired gun. It’s not with that intent. It’s another resource. It never hurts to have another person. We want kids to be making good choices.”

Overall, Dr. Palmer wants community members to know the motivation for hiring an SRO is “much more than just the end result of having someone on staff that would have to handle a difficult situation. We’re trying to be proactive and prevent rather than reactive. We want people to feel their children are safe.”

Once hired, our SRO will be a Clinton County Sheriff’s Deputy working in partnership with our school district. The SRO will be a resource for all grades, will have an office in one of the school buildings, and will report directly to our Superintendent, Dr. Palmer, for all school-related business. 

Dr. Palmer anticipates that the SRO will be hired early enough that he/she can spend a few days on campus this month before students return in September. Community members will be notified via social media and on the school’s website when the hiring process is complete. Additionally, Dr. Palmer would like to schedule a town hall meeting to provide parents and community members an opportunity to meet and talk with the SRO in the early weeks of the school year. 

Individuals interested in speaking with our representative in the NY State Assembly about this issue should contact Assemblyman Billy Jones at 518-562-1986. Community members can also reach out to members of the NY State Assembly Education Committee by following links from the committee’s website: http://nyassembly.gov/comm/?id=12.

Source: Stefanik: No issue with teen tracking | Local News | pressrepublican.com

Source: City, seeking to expand tax base, eyes town land – Sun Community News & Printing

Strong Tourism Numbers are being seen for the 2018 Summer Season

Plattsburgh, NY (8/1/2018) – Governor Cuomo’s office recently announced that New York State’s investment in tourism is paying BIG dividends.  I Love NY released their Economic Impact Study showing the effect tourism has on New York State, the region, and Clinton County.

New York State Tourism

• The industry generated $8.5 billion in State and local sales taxes, saving each NYS household roughly $1,172 in taxes
• Visitor spending was at $67.8 billion (up  5% from 2016)
•  US domestic markets supplied 70% ($47.2 billion) of visitors while international travelers made up 30% of visitors spending ($20.4 billion)

Empire State Development President, CEO & Commissioner Howard Zemsky said, “The state’s tourism industry continues to reach unprecedented heights, supporting job creation, small business growth and regional economies statewide. Through events like the Adirondack Challenge, we continue to encourage visitors to plan a trip and experience all there is to see and do in New York State.”

Clinton County Tourism
Along with the state tourism spending breakdowns, the study also shows how the counties in the Adirondacks are stacking up.  Once again, Clinton County Tourism boasts some very impressive economic impact numbers for 2017, contributing greatly to overall tourism spending and to local and state sales tax.   This shows that the county is a very viable player in the tourism make-up of the Adirondack region:

• $136,424,000 in tourism spending (up 5% over 2016)
• Collecting over $7,502,548 in state taxes (up 3% over 2016)
• Contributing over $9,354,516 in local taxes (up 7% over 2016)

These numbers are ahead of 2016 and show that our Canadian visitors are still crossing the border to consume goods.  This speaks volumes to the ideology that the Adirondack Coast is a value-added destination and a long-standing tradition for our neighbors to the north.

Kristy Kennedy, Director of Tourism at the Adirondack Coast Visitors Bureau and North Country Chamber of Commerce as well as The Tourism Promotion Agency for Clinton County via I Love NY, states, “These are welcome numbers for Clinton County tourism.  They speak highly for the marketing programs we are implementing daily and show our strong relationship with our Canadian visitors. I could not be more pleased to see the strong showing for Clinton County and can only imagine the positive numbers 2018 will bring.”

2018 Statistics for Clinton County to date

Here is what we are seeing so far (January – June):

• Clinton County Sales Tax is up 6% over last year’s collection
• Clinton County Sales Tax collection is up 8% over 2018 projections
• May passenger car crossings at the border in Champlain were up 11% over 2017
• June passenger car crossings at the border in Champlain were up 9% over 2017
• Occupancy Tax collection is up 12% over last year (a record year)
• The ILNY Gateway Information Center at Beekmantown (Exit 40) visitations are up 128%

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From the Office of Tedra Cobb

Yesterday, Tedra Cobb filed 3,976 petition signatures for an independent nominating line with the Board of Elections in Albany, NY. The line is named “CD 21 Unites,” which means Tedra Cobb will appear on the ballot in two places because more than 9,000 people have signed petitions to put her there.

“Nearly 4,000 people took the time from their busy lives to sign a petition to add my name to the November ballot because they are sick and tired of being misled, ignored and disappointed by this Congress,” said Tedra Cobb.

Source: Republican Marc Molinaro runs as underdog against Cuomo for governor

Source: BREAKING NY21: National GOP officials paid teen Stefanik ally nearly $1,000 | NCPR News