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February 15, 2020
Times of Ti
suncommunitynews.com
• EDITION •
Storm batters Southern Adirondacks
Medicab defendants sentenced
Power lost for weekend and beyond By Tim Rowland STAFF WRITER
SCHROON LAKE | A weekend storm that provided a triple threat of snow, ice and sub-zero temperatures disrupted life in the southeastern Adirondacks, leaving thousands without power and drawing comparisons to a legendary ice storm that hit the Champlain Valley more than 20 years ago. While much of the park dealt with heavy snow, Southern Essex County and points south also saw ice and freezing rain, which brought trees down on power lines, roads and railroad tracks. Emergency Services Director Don Jaquish said about 80 passengers on Amtrak’s Montreal to New York City route were temporarily marooned when their train hit a fallen tree near Crown Point. An Essex County woman lost her home to a falling tree and was hit by a limb herself, although she escaped serious injury. Linda Beers, Essex County director of public health, said county workers went door to door checking on the elderly to make sure they were OK. Much if not all of North Hudson and Schroon were without power as temperatures fell precipitously Saturday night. With power out a day or more, Schroon Supervisor Jeff Subra said generators began running out of gas — but gas stations were having their own problems. A generator at a local Sunoco failed, leaving lines of residents and Northway travelers lined up for fuel. The station was able to bring in another generator to power the pumps, and Stewart’s was eventually able to get backup power for its pumps as well. Subra said National Grid did a good job responding to the emergency in the face of widespread outages. The fire company worked hard as well, and the town hall, fire company and school opened their doors to serve as warming stations for those without heat. “It was a big storm with a big effect,” Subra said. See STORM » pg. 6
Defendants arrested as part of a criminal probe into Medicaid fraud appeared at Northern District of New York United States District Court in Plattsburgh in May 2018. File photo
Prosecutors say taxi owners defrauded government By Tim Rowland STAFF WRITER
TICONDEROGA | Three Ticonderoga taxi owners were in court last week for their roles in defrauding Medicaid of millions of dollars by billing the government for trips to medical care providers that were never made, according to New York Inspector General Letizia Tagliafierro and U.S. Attorney Grant C. Jaquith. Law enforcement officials said taxi owners paid bribes and kickbacks to Medicaid beneficiaries who used their medical transportation
service, commonly known as medicabs. Medicaid typically picks up transportation costs for people who cannot afford to get the doctor on their own. Last week’s court action was the result of a sting in May 2018 that netted 13 arrests. At the time, Essex County District Attorney Kristy Sprague said that “Corrupt practices within the medical transportation business have been spreading for years like a cancer in our county and throughout the region.” Among those appearing before a judge last week were: — Arshad Nazir, 55, of Ticonderoga, the owner of Capital Medallion, Inc. (doing business as Avalanche Taxi), who was sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy in United States Court of the Northern District of New York in Albany to one year and one day in prison and ordered to repay $450,000
in restitution ($50,000 of which he paid Feb. 5). The New York Department of Health paid Nazir’s company at least $2.45 million for Medicaid-funded transportation between 2014 and 2018, according to a government press release. He pleaded guilty a year ago, admitting to a variety of frauds against Medicaid and the New York Department of Health. — Khurram Gondal, 39, of Ticonderoga, owner of Four-Way Taxi Inc., Green Mountain Medical Transportation Inc. (doing business as Green Mountain Taxi), Capital Cab Corporation, and All NY Taxi & Limo Inc. who was sentenced by Judge McAvoy to time served and two years’ supervised release. He was ordered to pay $60,000 in restitution ($20,000 of which he paid Feb. 6). See SENTENCING » pg. 6
State cuts landfill funds Supervisors say $300,000 snub ‘just wrong’ By Tim Rowland STAFF WRITER
ELIZ ABE T HTOWN | Essex County Supervisors have asked Gov. Andrew Cuomo to reinstate $300,000 that was cut out of the state budget, money used to help offset the cost of trucking garbage to a Franklin County landfill. The payment is part of a deal made 25 years ago, when the Pataki administration outlawed landfills within the Adirondack
Park. That ruling hit Essex County particularly hard, since it’s the only county entirely within the Blue Line. “We’re the only county in the state that isn’t allowed to have a landfill,” said Moriah Supervisor Tom Scozzafava. “For the governor to pull this $300,000 is just wrong.” In 1995, the county was looking to open the second cell of a relatively new landfill in Lewis when the state order came down, said Essex County Manager Dan Palmer. Essex County sued the state, and as a result of the ensuing settlement, the state agreed to an annual payment to help defray the cost of sending the garbage to another county. The payment is not contractually guaranteed, but this is the first time it has failed to be part of the state budget, Palmer said. See LANDFILL » pg. 6
The Blue Ridge Motel’s new owner Tammy Brown stands in a room as painter Steve Marnell looks on.
Photo by Tim Rowland
BLUE RIDGE REBIRTH North Hudson motel to build on Exit 29 activity By Tim Rowland STAFF WRITER
NORTH HUDSON | Before the Northway was bulldozed into the eastern Adirondacks, the two-lane Route 9 through the park was bristling with mom-and-pop motels that served the vacationing public. When the interstate arrived, many of these hotels faded or
disappeared altogether. One that didn’t was the Blue Ridge Motel in North Hudson, a product of the 1950s that continued to thrive thanks to the nearby Frontier Town theme park. But when the attraction closed 20 years ago, a reliable stream of motel customers died along with it. Still, Blue Ridge soldiered on, and earlier this year it was purchased by Blue Ridge Hospitality, LLC, a company owned by Tammy Brown, whose longtime family home was located just to the south of the motel. See BLUE RIDGE » pg. 7
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Waste from the Essex County’s transfer stations must be trucked to an out-of-county landfill at substantial cost. Photo by Tim Rowland