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Ski, Snowshoe, or Hike the Sophie’s Lair Trail in Willsboro - Sat. Feb.16
PO Box 338 Elizabethtown NY 12932 Postal Patron
There are 3-7 miles of easy trails on mostly level terrain through a variety of forest communities. Afterwards, enjoy drinks and dinner at the Turtle Island Cafe or Essex Inn. Cost of hike $5/person. Details at: ChamplainAreaTrails.com or call 518.962.2287
202217
Published By Denton Publications Inc.
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MYCAPTURE PHOTO GALLERIES
See photos from all the game action last weekend.
HOMES EVERY WEEK! Valley News
February 9, 2019
suncommunitynews.com
• EDITION •
State-funded broadband build-outs making progress — but for lawmakers, anxiety lingers Essex County forms task force to monitor developments By Pete DeMola EDITOR
ELIZABETHTOWN | Local residents are beginning to see the fruits of state-funded broadband expansion efforts. Chazy & Westport Communications announced last week completion of a project that expanded broadband to 620 homes and businesses in Clinton and Essex counties. Beneficiaries include Westport, Wadhams, West Chazy, Chazy and Sciota, as well as southern portions of the towns of Essex and Lewis. Speeds will be at least 100 megabytes per second, the minimum required by the state in all but the most rural areas, where speeds have been set at 25 mbps. The projects were supported by $2.8 million in state grants, joining $705,000 in private funding.
While other carriers have bypassed the Adirondacks over the cost-prohibitive nature of building out “last-mile” networks in rural areas, the state assistance has allowed the provider to deploy nearly 111 miles of new and upgraded fiber-optic cable in their franchise area. “It was going to take us 20 years to do what we did in two years,” said Joe Forcier, the company’s vice president.
SLIC UPDATE
Slic Network Solutions has completed the “vast majority” of their network construction in Keene aside from small portions delayed by road conditions. The provider is replacing approximately 22 miles of legacy coax plant with fiber and upgrading the backbone of their newly-obtained Keene location. “Barring more disruptive storms, we expect to complete the network construction in the next couple of weeks and to begin installations by the end of this month,” Slic CEO Kevin Lynch told The Sun on Monday. The provider stands to wire communities across Essex (Chesterfield, Elizabethtown, Essex, Lewis, North Hudson,
Adventure percussion performance coming Performances slated for Feb. 16-17 at Hand House By Kim Dedam STA FF W RITER
Jane Boxall shares an adventure in percussion at the Hand House on Feb. 16 and 17, part of the Piano by Nature music series.
ELIZABETHTOWN | Adventure Percussion arrives here this month with Jane Boxall, renowned musician and drum performer. Boxall is set to take the Hand Hall living room stage with a special Piano By Nature performance Feb. 16 and Feb. 17. “Jane Boxall is a master at combining her unique variety of musical elements into absolute moments of beauty and wonder, and these concerts will stop at nothing short of mesmerizing all who are in attendance,” said Piano By Nature co-founder Rose Chancler. “She has hundreds of fans around the globe, and if you see her in performance you will instantly know why.” » Boxall Cont. on pg. 3
Photos provided
Verizon workers install fiber-optic cable on Route 3 in Plattsburgh on Friday, Jan. 25, 2019. Providers are making progress on state-subsidized broadband build-outs. But despite pledges that the program will cover 100 percent of the state, local officials continue to worry some households may be left behind. Photo by Danielle Rock Schroon, Ticonderoga, Willsboro) and Clinton counties, including the Town of Plattsburgh, Altona, Dannemora, Ellenburg and Saranac, as part of the next phase. Those projects are in the engineering phase, said Lynch, which involves collecting utility pole data for the facilitation of the “make-ready” process — or securing space for fiber — and the interconnection with existing networks. “We have multiple crews from various engineering organizations coupled with internal resources gathering information along 400-plus miles of rights of way throughout these counties,” Lynch said. “Once the designs are finalized and approved, construction will begin and we will be working all out to complete these projects within the established timeframes.” Slic also recently completed the purchase of Gore Mountain Cable, which will be “integrated and upgraded” with their Warren County grant funds, which will provide service to Johnsburg, Stony Creek, Thurman and Warrensburg. By leveraging the grant, approximately 600 additional homes in Johnsburg and North Creek may have access to fiber-to-the-home, said Lynch, and will “tangentially benefit” the state’s universal broadband initiative.
ZOOMING OUT
The updates come exactly one year after Gov. Andrew Cuomo touched down in Plattsburgh to announce the third and final round of grant awards as part of the New NY Broadband Program. In all, the North Country has received $154 million in subsidies touching virtually every community in the region. » Broadband Cont. on pg. 3
Essex County eyes coroner program reforms Proposed new laws follow disputes over territory, response time By Pete DeMola EDITOR
ELIZABETHTOWN | Essex County is proposing a pair of local laws governing the county’s coroner system. A proposed set of statutes introduced Monday would offer sweeping changes to the largely-unregulated program, including how coroners are dispatched to retrieve the deceased, how remains will be transported and how tasks are logged.
LONG-SIMMERING ISSUES
The proposed reforms come six weeks after Coroner Frank Whitelaw criticized his colleagues in an interview with The Adirondack Daily Enterprise, calling them “lazy” and questioning their reliability and availability, citing years of pent-up concerns.
Coroners are elected officials who are dispatched to unattended or unnatural deaths. They pronounce the person dead and transport them to either a medical facility or funeral home. At present, four coroners cover an at-large coverage area regardless of where they live. Whitelaw told the newspaper he was frustrated at being dispatched all over the county to retrieve remains despite his colleagues being geographically closer. Many were unavailable, he said, or didn’t answer their phones. He also lamented the lack of county-provided training to accommodate new drugs like fentanyl, which authorities have said presents new threats to first responders. As such, he was ready to resign. Without mentioning names, Essex County Manager Dan Palmer said one coroner made $32,000 in 2017, attending 54 of the 65 deaths that necessitated their response. “The others are nowhere near that,” Palmer said. » Coroner Cont. on pg. 5
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Sales For The Week Of February 7th - February 13th
MEAT SPECIALS
Smoked Pork Chops .................................................$4.99 lb. Lean Beef Cubes for Stew........................................$4.29 lb. Italian Sweet and Mild Sausage ...........................$2.99 lb. Top Sirloin Steak ......................................................$5.99 lb. Meatloaf/Meatball Mix (70% Beef, 30% Pork) ...$3.99 lb.
ESWG SETS RECORDS
Over 2,100 athletes compete at annual winter games
» ESWG Cont. on pg. 2
Synchronized skating was one of several on-ice events that were part of the Empire State Winter Games. Photo by Keith Lobdell
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HOURS: MONDAY - FRIDAY 6AM-8PM SATURDAY 7AM-8PM • SUNDAY 7AM-7PM
FROM OUR DELI
Provolone Cheese.....................................................$3.99 lb. Olive Loaf ...................................................................$5.99 lb.
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Russet Potatoes ...........................................................89¢ lb. Iceburg Lettuce .....................................................$1.79 head Granny Smith Apples .................................................59¢ ea. Local Macintosh Apples .......................................... 2/$1.00
3609 Essex Road, Willsboro, NY 12996 • Phone (518) 963-8612 • Fax (518) 963-4583
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