The Peru Gazette

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Plattsburgh furniture store could be cited for code violation – AdirondackDailyEnterprise.com

By Don McBrayer

Despite the biting cold, dozens of children welcomed the arrival of Santa at the 26th Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony. The crowd began to gather at the Peru Gazebo a little before 7PM taking part in Christmas carols and awaiting the annual lighting of the Christmas Tree.

This year the honor of flicking the switch belonged to Kay Barber, a 10 year member of the Youth Commission.

The entire event is organized by the Peru Youth Commission headed by John Flynn. Mr. Flynn gave special thanks to the members of the Highway & W/S Department for their help in setup and decorating. He also thanked the Peru Community Church for the use of the Fellowship Center and the Peru Fire Department for safely delivering Santa.

Like clockwork, as the children sung “Santa Clause is Coming to Town”, Santa arrived via firetruck precisely at 7PM. He then led the children inside so they could tell him their Christmas wishes.

Drinks and snacks were served as neighbors sang along to music provided by Tim’s Tunes. Children of all ages engaged in activities, visited with friends, and enjoyed an evening of merriment.

It may be 10 degrees outside, but that can’t chill the warmth in the hearts of Peruvians during the Holidays.

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Sorry for the late posting! Your editor was out of town for Thanksgiving! 

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Rod Driscoll served on the Peru Central School District’s Board of Education for 10 years (2002-2012). He was board president for the last seven of those years.  Driscoll is an educator by profession. He teaches psychology, economics and government at AuSable Valley High School and was recently elected as President of the AuSable Valley Teachers Association. Many people also recognize him as a member of the “Too Tall String Band.” Adele Douglas of The Peru Gazette interviewed him at his home.

Why did you decide to get involved in the BOE? “I felt it would be good to have an educator on the Board.  At that time our school had many problems. We were in the paper a lot going through a difficult transition after the Air Force base closed. Read more »

This year, the Annual Peru Historian’s “Open House” will be combined with an exhibit at the Clinton County Historical Association Museum, 98 Ohio Ave. (the “4 chimney building” on the old base) titled, “Peru’s Busy Past”. The exhibit’s Grand Opening will be Sat., Dec. 8th, noon to 3:00 PM.  All are invited.  Refreshments will be served.

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By Adele Douglas

Town employees Mike Hanlon and Rob Wright installing the new sign for the Town’s new park.  Thanks to Kris Bruno for volunteering  and building this impressive sign.  The post was designed and manufactured by John Trombly of Modern Mechanical Fabricating in Champlain.  The design elements represent both saw blades and log sections, to reflect the almost 100 years that this site was home to the A. Mason and Sons Lumber Mill.

Highway Superintendent Mike Farrell takes a phone break while building the additional trail section along the edge of the Little Ausable River.  Now complete, the park hosts a nice 1/3 of a mile circuit around the perimeter of the park for walkers, joggers, cyclists and strollers.  So if you’re looking for a place to learn how to ride a bike, or looking for a place to walk or jog in a car free environment, this is it.  Thanks to Niki LaPlante for helping lay out the additional trail segment.

There are some beautiful sections of the Little Ausable River in the Park and the Town’s working to increase access to, and visibility of, the river.

The 1836 Heyworth Building under a rainbow.  Ann Wilke snapped this and the following photo.  Thanks to Ann and Lynn for cleaning-up trash along the connector trail to Little Ausable Park, keeping an eye on the park, and watering the newly planted shrubs, which was a pretty demanding job through the heat of this summer.

Bucky Beaver hasn’t been seen in the past couple of months but was seen daily for most of the summer. There were also a number of kids who played in the river.  One reported that a fisherman caught a nice brown trout in this stretch, pretty amazing considering how low the water was most of the year.

Thanks to partial funding from the State through a Parks grant, the bulk of the work was performed  last year by Fuller Excavating.  Over the summer  the finishing touches  were put on the Park by local, mostly volunteer efforts. Don and Adam McBrayer cleared a connector trail to Little Ausable Park.  Peru Lions and Kara McBrayer planted the gardens.  Town Park crews installed benches, interpretive signs, a garbage can and picnic tables. Don and Kara McBrayer, with guidance from Bob Gallinger, installed edging around the gardens  and planted 100 lilies.  Town Supervisor Pete Glushko and councilman Brandy McDonald kept an eye on the park with regular patrols while Councilman Jim Douglass kept all the various improvements  moving along.

Next year’s plans include improving the connector trail between Heyworth/Mason Park and Little Ausable Park under the Rte 22 bridge.  This with improve the connection of the new park to the hamlet and allow users to avoid having to cross busy Rte 22.

At the back of the park Mike Farrell has built the connection to the beginning of the Little Ausable River Trail.  It is anticipated that this 1.5 multi-use trail to Sullivan Park will be built next year.  While awarded partial Federal funding in 2006, it took until this year to develop a design plan that was acceptable to DOT and FHWA.  Over that period the proposed budget has increased so the Town is pursuing additional grant funds.

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