Annual ‘Giving Tree’ initiative returns
By KAtE Hill Staff Writer
Caz Life and the Caz-
Cares food pantry and clothing closet are partnering this holiday season to support local families through the community’s annual “Giving Tree” initiative.
Giving Trees are set up at 13 locations throughout the village this year.
Each tree features ornaments labeled with gift requests from local children of all ages.
Customers are encouraged to select an ornament, purchase the listed item, and donate it to help make a holiday wish come true.
Unwrapped gifts should be dropped off at Community Bank at 48 Albany St. by Friday, Dec. 6, the day of the Annual Cazenovia Holiday Stroll and Village Tree Lighting.
“Families can drop off any gifts the night of the tree lighting,” said Com-
munity Bank Senior District Manager Barbara Houghton, who chairs the Giving Tree initiative. “We will be open with Santa as our special guest after he lights the tree.”
All dropped-off gifts will be delivered to CazCares for distribution to its clients.
A QR code to an Amazon Wish List is available for shoppers who prefer to purchase a gift online and have it shipped directly to CazCares.
“We started a beautiful [event] five years ago that community members look forward to,” said Houghton. “[Parents] bring their kids in to pick out a tag each year, making it a family tradition. I have been part of this since it started. Someone from CazCares approached me the first year because they were running short on gifts, and I just loved everything about it and helped it grow by
asking local shops to hand out tags for the month of November. The Chamber, now Caz Life, has helped make this special every year by promoting and supporting this wonderful cause. . . . Christmas is about giving, and this community sure knows how to give. It makes me so proud to pull up with many carloads of gifts, knowing we are making a difference for our local families.”
According to Houghton, the event typically benefits over 100 families.
Giving Tree gift tags are available at 20|EAST, H. Grey Supply Co., the Brae Loch Inn, Cazenovia Abroad, Cazenovia Jewelry, the Cazenovia Public Library & Museum, Community Bank, Miori Martial
Caz Life is the events and marketing committee of the Greater Cazenovia Area Chamber of Commerce (GCACC). Its members work to foster local business development, promote tourism, and implement effective marketing strategies to enhance the vibrancy and economic growth of the village.
To learn more about Caz Life, visit cazenovialife. com or email hello@cazenovialife.com. For more information on the GCACC, visit cazenovia.com.
CazCares is located at 101 Nelson St., Cazenovia. Learn more at cazcares. org
Local investors to acquire Caz College campus
The historic Cazenovia College campus, a cornerstone of the community for 200 years, is officially set to embark on a new journey. Under contract for purchase by a local team known as 9 Fresh, the property will soon be transformed into a dynamic innovation and community district.
Led by locals Kate Brodock, Hardeep Bindra, and a third General Partner, 9 Fresh includes a dedicated team — with additional members
Anne Halsey, Lisa Cole Burnett, Travis Barr, Linda Morgan, Matt Cashatt, and Brian Davis — with expertise in real estate, venture capital, law, economic development, and business. They’re deeply connected nationally and internationally and intend to bring their collective network to the project in full force.
“We’re incredibly excited about the possibilities this project brings to Cazenovia,” said Brodock. “We have an opportunity to prove out a model for transforming a college campus into a powerful community asset that serves not only local interests, but enhances them with global thought capital and expertise op -
portunities. We want to honor the legacy of the campus while creating something new, something that allows our entire community to grow and benefit. We see a strong future collaboration with the village and town, which is already in action as we work together on this project.”
Their vision for the campus goes far beyond traditional property redevelopment. Imagine a space that combines business and innovation, living and leisure, and community engagement to support regional economic growth and job creation.
Residents and visitors can interact in multiple settings and on multiple footings, enjoy flexible housing and lodging options, and convene in various retail, dining, and public areas.
“We’re grateful to Kate and the entire group for their vision and leadership in assembling this successful bid,” said Mayor Kurt Wheeler. “Our primary goal since the college announced its closing has been to gain local control of the campus so we can shape our own destiny. I look forward to working with the team to best serve our
community’s interests.”
The new district promises to boost economic development in the region. With job creation as a main of their mission, 9 Fresh is planning to introduce initiatives that will encourage regional growth, providing a significant positive impact on the local economy.
“This is a project designed to build lasting value for Cazenovia, one where businesses, residents, visitors, and investors all benefit,” said Bindra. “We’re proud to be leading this effort as locals who are deeply invested in Cazenovia’s future, and we’re committed to creating a vibrant community-first environment for all.”
The team has a couple of large backers, and are also including local investors, as they see this as one of the primary initial ways for the community to be involved in their collective vision.
They’re excited to open up additional opportunities for listening and collaboration with community stakeholder involvement, and have opened the door for conversation by way of their website, 9fresh.co.
Local climate leaders gather for summit
By KAtE Hill Staff Writer
On Nov. 16, the United Climate Action Network (UCAN) presented its annual Climate Action Leadership Summit at the Cazenovia Public Library.
UCAN is a grassroots organization in New York’s 22nd Congressional District that advocates for environmentally sustainable policies at the local, state, and national levels and engages with businesses, schools, and other local community organizations to advance environmental literacy and sustainable practices. Since 2017, UCAN has brought together a cross-section of local individuals, groups, and governmental bodies in conversation, education, planning, and actions to confront the climate crisis.
About 30 community leaders gathered at the 2024 climate summit to discuss their work on climate-smart projects, learn about other local and New York State initiatives, network, and develop goals for the coming year.
BOE mulls adding ‘clean’ diesel buses to fleet
By KAtE Hill Staff Writer
During the Nov. 18 Cazenovia Central School District Board of Education (CCSD BOE) meeting, Christine Goossens, transportation advisor at Leonard Bus Sales, delivered a presentation on “clean” diesel buses titled “Understanding Vehicle Emissions.”
CCSD Assistant Superintendent/School Business Official Thomas Finnerty introduced Goossens and explained why the district invited her to speak.
He stated that for the past five years or so, CCSD has purchased nothing but gasoline buses. However, the administration would now like to consider clean diesel as an alternative to gasoline.
According to Finnerty, electric buses, another alternative, are currently cost-prohibitive at $400,000 to $500,000 per bus.
“For the next couple of years, we’d like to consider possibly entertaining the idea of clean diesel to give us an option,” he said. “Because right now, we have one provider for gasoline, so that kind of locks us into ‘one provider, one price,’ whereas clean diesel is an option with a few other providers.”
Goossens, who handles Central New York for Leonard Bus Sale, began her presentation by clearing up some common misconceptions about diesel emissions.
She addressed the idea that gasoline engines are cleaner than diesel by first noting that gasoline and diesel engines both have exhaust emissions.
“Where one leads, the other falls short,” she said. “I’ll show you some slides on different emissions that come out of the tailpipe and what those levels are. [Today, both] are well below the [US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)] standards for on-the-road vehicles.”
She also distinguished between on-road vehicles, such as diesel buses, and off-road vehicles, such as diesel farm Diesel buses l Page 9
CazenoviarePubliCan
Arts, The Brewster Inn, Alolo Tennis, Heartstone Bakery, By Kelly, and Cazenovia Ballet.
Submitted photo
Caz life and CazCares are partnering to support local families through the Giving tree initiative.
Kate hill
On Nov. 16, a select group of community leaders and professionals gathered at the Cazenovia Public library for the annual Climate Action leadership Summit sponsored by the United Climate Action Network.
Byrne Dairy presents preliminary proposal for Cazenovia location
By KAtE Hill Staff Writer
On Nov. 11, the Village of Cazenovia Planning Board considered a preliminary site plan proposal for a Byrne
Richard l. Peer, 96 Korean War veteran
Dairy retail store and fueling facility at 2349 US Rt. 20. The applicant, Sonbyrne Sales, Inc., is the convenience store division of Byrne Dairy. Sonbyrne’s senior executive
Richard Loy Peer, 96, passed away Nov. 1, 2024, after complications from a stroke.
He was born on July 9, 1928, in Lancaster, Ohio, to Alvay Ray Peer and Florence Knight Peer.
He was predeceased by his wife, Edna Jane Peer, and his grandson, Ray Hurd.
He is survived by his daughters, Carol Jane Humbert (Paul) from Florida, Lauri Ann Peer (Jim) and his grandson, William Charles Hurd III, from Florida.
Richard was an army veteran and
Helen Cunney, 84
Wife, mother, grandmother
Helen Cunney, formerly of Cazenovia, passed away peacefully with her loving family by her side on Nov. 9, 2024.
Helen was born in Brooklyn on October 28, 1940, she was the daughter of John Dunn and Helen Byrne Dunn. She moved to Washington D.C. after graduating from The College of New Rochelle with a bachelor’s degree in economics and was employed by the Federal Reserve Bank.
vice president, Christian Brunelle, represented the company and presented an overview of its preliminary proposal.
Before the presentation, Rich Huftalen, chairman of the planning
fought in the Korean War.
After several years of many colleges, he was a biology teacher at Greenwich High School for 10 years.
He then moved to Cazenovia and took a job with Bristol Laboratories in Syracuse as a research scientist, spending decades researching cancer.
When he wasn’t in the lab doing what he loved, he was an avid skier and bicyclist and enjoyed any form of exercise. There probably isn’t a person in Cazenovia who, at one time or another, saw him jogging around every day.
He also had a love for photography and Cornell football games.
His legacy will live on through the
She met her husband while attending Graduate School at The Catholic University of America and they raised their family in the D.C. Metro area until relocating to Cazenovia in 1980.
She continued to raise her family in Cazenovia and enjoyed living closer to family.
Helen found comfort being involved with her church, her dogs, tennis, her bridge group, reading, traveling and sightseeing, good food and coffee.
She always looked forward to having a glass of wine with her friends and family and sharing laughs.
board, announced that it was the board’s first meeting with Brunelle and that all members had received a copy of the applicant’s initial proposal.
“We haven’t had any conferences with Byrne
yet,” Huftalen said. “As part of this project, we will be setting a public hearing where the public will be invited to weigh in. Written comments in advance of that are always welcome.”
Brunelle began his presentation by stressing that Sonbyrne is a family-owned and -operated business that does not have franchise locations. “These are all com -
She remained in Cazenovia for over 40 years.
Helen was predeceased by her husband G. Vincent Cunney in 2004. She is survived by her children: Michael H. Cunney (Liz) of Warwick, N.Y.; Karen McDermott (Bill) of FL and NJ; and Paul V. Cunney (Lindsay) of Merrick, N.Y.; six grandchildren, Michael G. and Robert H. Cunney; Connor McDermott; Alex, Ella and Olivia Cunney; her sister, Teresa Hudson of Cazenovia, as well as her nephews, cousins and their families.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, at Michael E. Brown Funeral Services in Cazenovia at 11 a.m., with burial to follow in St. James Cemetery.
Calling hours are 5 to 7 p.m., Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, at the funeral home, 2333 Fenner Road in Cazenovia.
In lieu of flowers contributions can be made to The Mustard Seed, 6 Green St. Cazenovia, NY 13035 or online at stjamescaz.or g Cremation arrangements were made
To send an online condolence, visit lsvpmemorialhome.co m
by Lazear-Smith & Vander Plaat Memorial Home, 17 Oakland Avenue, Warwick, N.Y.
Richard l. Peer
Helen Cunney
pany-owned and -operated stores,” he said. “I opened my 77th store last Wednesday, in Waterloo, NY, with three more under construction — [one in] Morrisville and [two in Rochester]. . . . I actually work for the Byrnes myself; Mark and Carl are the [third-generation owners]. I’ve been there 27 years, and I sit on the board of directors for all the companies — Byrne Dairy, Ultra Dairy, and Sonbyrne.”
Brunelle next discussed the proposed Cazenovia Byrne Dairy site, describing it as the “farthest northeast parcel” in the village and noting that it is separated from the McDonald’s site by one parcel.
The project site is in the Village Edge North (VEN) zoning district along the village’s easterly boundary, north of US Rt. 20.
According to the village code, the district consists of parcels currently developed for commercial retail uses and vacant land that could support future commercial development.
“The purpose and intent of this district is to encourage future commercial development while also providing an effective land use transition to the residential/agricultural and open space lands to the east in the Town of Cazenovia,” the code states.
In the VEN, retail is a permitted use, but the sale of gasoline requires a special use permit.
“A stand-alone Byrne Dairy could go
here as a permitted use; however, [I’d prefer] that we do not build any more Byrne Dairy [stores] without fuel,” said Brunelle. “We stopped doing those. . . . It’s just not feasible to open [one] without fuel. Everyone wants to stop to get their fuel, coffee, ice cream, milk, deli sandwich, and box of cereal. That’s why we have kind of evolved, and that’s why we’ve survived and flourished and built all our stores around Central New York.”
Pointing to the site plan, Brunelle showed the board that the proposed project would take up only part of the 13.45-acre parcel, which is narrow in the front and widens considerably in the back.
He also explained why the drawing includes a “future driveway” despite his company having “no plans whatsoever” to develop the back part of the parcel.
“I don’t know what is going to go there,” he said. “When I did my layout with my engineer, I wanted to make sure that if we did something back there in the future or somebody approached us for the remaining [approximately] 10 acres, we didn’t have this all blocked off, [requiring them to] have to find different access.”
The 4,232-square-foot store would resemble other new Byrne Dairy stores with a green metal roof, “aged ivory” siding, a farm market look, and porches on the south side facing Route 20 and the west side facing the village.
“Pretty much all the Byrne Dairy [stores] in Central New York that you
see, the green-roofed stores, are the same exact footprint,” said Brunelle.
The proposal calls for a fuel canopy with four fuel dispensers and eight fueling positions. There is no plan to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
The site’s two underground fuel tanks would be state-of-the-art and approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
The site would also include 41 parking spots, an aged ivory-colored dumpster enclosure in the back, and LED and dark-sky-friendly compliant lighting.
Brunelle remarked that although the drawing shows three red maples — five feet tall at planting — along the front of the site, he would welcome input from the board.
“You tell me what kind of trees and how many you want along the front of the store, and I’ll do it,” he said. “I’m very open. . . . If the board wanted to have me throw a few spruces or whatever along the [side of the site], let me know; that’s perfectly fine with me.”
Like other Byrne Dairy retail stores, the Cazenovia location would be open 24/7.
According to Brunelle, Byrne Dairy has a 45,000-square-foot warehouse in Auburn, NY, allowing it to supply its own groceries to its stores.
“The people that distribute [our groceries] are Byrne Dairy workers, and they drive Byrne Dairy trucks,” he said. “Therefore, I can dictate deliveries. . . . I have been known to restrict
delivery hours. If I was in a village or really tight city, I could restrict them to certain hours [by saying], ‘No deliveries before 6 a.m. and none after 10 p.m.’ Same thing with fuel. [We] control the deliveries.”
The presentation also touched briefly on proposed driveway locations, traffic investigations, and ideas regarding signage types and positions.
After the planning board and other meeting attendees had the chance to ask questions and share their initial reactions to the proposal, Huftalen set a public hearing for Monday, Dec 9, at 6:30 p.m.
“At that time, we will take all public comment,” he said. “I’d encourage people who are interested to take a look at the plans that are here now. . . . We will try to get any written comments or questions in front of Mr. Brunelle sooner rather than later. I appreciate everybody taking the time, and I appreciate the intent to invest in our community.”
Anyone from the public is welcome to stop by the village clerk’s office Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., to view the preliminary proposal materials.
In addition to submitting questions and comments to the village, community members are invited to contact Brunelle directly at Christian. Brunelle@byrnedairy.com.
For more information about the village planning board, visit villageofcazenovia.com/planning-and-zoning/ Learn more about Byrne Dairy at byrnedairystores.com.
Eagle Newspapers is here to help readers share their milestone celebrations, including birth announcements, engagements, weddings, anniversaries and milestone birthdays. The deadline to submit an announcement is 10 a.m. the Friday before publication. Announcements of up to 250 words with a photo cost just $50, with an additional 15 cents per word over 250 words. Announcements will be posted to eaglenewsonline.com within 24 hours of receipt of payment. To submit a milestone announcement, email Alyssa Dearborn at adearborn@eaglenewsonline.com, or call 315.434.8889 ext. 305.
Give thanks
Next week many of us will be celebrating Thanksgiving with friends and family.
We will gather and indulge in a feast of turkey and other staples of the holiday season and perhaps enjoy a slice of pie or two or other indulgent desserts.
Many will look forward to watching football or the Macy’s Parade, or be eagerly anticipating hitting the stores early to go shopping for Black Friday sales.
Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate and be grateful for what we have as part of a tradition that goes back hundreds of years.
The idea of Thanksgiving goes back well before the Pilgrims made it to America and can be traced to harvest festivals and religious observations.
These observances were held in America as early as 1607 in Virginia.
But it was the celebration in Plymouth that has become woven into the tapestry of our country.
With the help of the Native Americans, particularly Squanto, who taught settlers how to catch eel and plant corn, in 1621 the Pilgrims had their first successful harvest and celebrated with a three day feast.
But the idea did not become the tradition we now know for some time.
The holiday was celebrated off and on from 1789 onward, when George Washington issued a proclamation at the request of Congress.
It was not until the presidency of Abraham Lincoln that the modern holiday really came to be.
In 1863, during the Civil War, Lincoln proclaimed a national day for giving thanks.
History tells us it was a letter from writer and editor Sarah Josepha Buell Hale that caught Lincoln’s attention.
Hale had been working for many years, writing to five presidents to encourage the establishment of a national day of thanksgiving.
With roots in Plymouth, the day was celebrated in New England, but every state set its own date and the day was largely unrecognized in the southern part of the country at that time.
Establishing this day, was seen as a unifying event in the midst of the Civil War.
From there, the holiday and its traditions began to truly take shape, with regional variations, but with every president since Lincoln affirming the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.
This changed with Franklin Roosevelt, who in 1939, declared the fourth, rather than the last Thursday of November, which had five weeks that year, as Thanksgiving Day.
Facing the Great Depression, it has been reported, Roosevelt believed this move would give merchants more time to sell Christmas goods at a time when the idea of promoting Christmas merchandise before Thanksgiving was considered to be in poor taste.
This created divisions among political lines and in 1941 Congress introduced legislation fixing the date to the last Thursday of the month, but the senate introduced an amendment calling for the celebration to be on the fourth Thursday, which generally is the last Thursday of the month.
This is a long and at times tangled history to get to the modern celebration, but no matter its roots, it is important to remember the root words, thanks and giving, and to take a few moments to give thanks for those things we are fortunate enough to have and consider those who are not as fortunate and give something back.
As the start of the holiday season, a time when many of us are looking to support charitable organizations, this is a good time to consider a donation to a local food pantry or church organization that helps feed those who struggle with food insecurity and pass along, even in some small way, the blessing we are fortunate enough to have to others.
FAll ExCURSiONS
On Fall weekends when the air was crisp and my Dad was itching to go to the country, we would load up the 1942 Ford and head north to Putnam County to spend two days at our grandmother’s rustic and unoccupied bungalow.
Ramblings from the empty nest
ann Ferro
The expedition would begin early on Saturday morning. Mom and Dad had been awake for a while. It took some strategic planning because there were six of us, not counting Tippy, our dog.
Off we would go, packed into the small car with what supplies were needed to carry us through an experience thought to be made exciting by the absence of the modern trappings of life in Brooklyn as we knew it.
By this time the cistern at the bungalow had been drained of water and, of course, anything needing water had to be accommodated by other means.
This meant paper plates and cups, a few gallon jugs of Brooklyn water and what was jokingly known as the “potty,” a ceramic pail with a toilet seat.
I stop typing now and think that, as children, we never acknowledged the work that my mother put in for these two days, which included managing the “potty.”
Mom would have packed food for the trip that didn’t require much, if any, cooking.
Dad would have scrounged up some hardwood for the pot belly stove and, failing that, the fuel would come from his seemingly inexhaustible supply of pallet wood. Refrigeration was not a problem.
There was a refrigerator at the bungalow, but it was usually so cold that anything that required refrigeration could be safely placed out on the porch. And there had to be clothing changes for all of us.
Ann, Kathleen, Richard, Joan, Mom and Dad, our dog Tippy and all of this cargo …we were prepared for a trip of only 60 miles from 55th Street in Brook-
Send your events to Alyssa Dearborn at adearborn@ eaglenewsonline.com. Notices must have the date, time and location of the event. The deadline for submissions is 10 a.m. on Friday for the following week’s editions.
THROUGH DEC. 10
Toys for Tots Toy Collection Fulton Police Department, 141 South 1st St. The Fulton Police Department and the City of Fulton will collect toys for local children in need. Accepting new, unwrapped toys.
FRIDAY, NOV. 22
CLD&J Music Series: Name that Tune
7 p.m. Community Library of Dewitt and Jamesville. Enjoy an evening of music trivia and name that tune!
SATURDAY, NOV. 23
St. Patrick’s Fall Bazaar
10 a.m.-2 p.m. 1341 Murray Dr., Chittenango. Enjoy a fun day of food, basket raffles, music, bake sale, and turkey raffle.
Viennese Delicacies: the Syracuse Vocal Ensemble
7:30 p.m. Erwin Church, 920 Euclid Ave. Travel back in time to 18-19th century Vienna and enjoy sacred and secular vocal performances. $15 for adults, 18 and under are free.
SUNDAY, NOV. 24
Viennese Delicacies: the Syracuse Vocal Ensemble
3 p.m. St. Joseph’s Church, 5600 Genesee St., Camillus. Travel back in time to 18-19th century Vienna and enjoy sacred and secular vocal performances. Cost of admission is $15 for adults, 18 and under are free.
THURSDAY, NOV. 28
Turkey Trot 5K and Fun Walk/Run
9:30 a.m. Gorge Trail, Clark St. Parking at Burton St. Elementary School, Cazenovia. Join the Cazenovia Preservation Foundation for a family friendly race.
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lyn, three blocks from the Atlantic to Ogden Road in Carmel, N.Y.
The trip took us along the Gowanus Parkway to the Brooklyn Bridge with a stop for a bag of freshly roasted peanuts, along the West Side Highway to Route 6.
The Smithwick sextet would entertain itself with a series of rounds, singing “Frere Jaques” and “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” over and over. Mom took the soprano, Dad the baritone and the rest of us filled in as the spirit moved us.
It was part of the protocol for such trips to take a break. There was a pull-off next to one of the reservoirs that supply New York City with water where we would stop and have some nourishment. Mom would magically produce our vittles out of the trunk.
We ate saltines slathered with cream cheese and jam, washed down with home squeezed orange juice while Tippy, our dog, enjoyed a drink from the lake.
A quick stop at the little IGA in Lake Carmel, a fill up at O’Brian’s gas station where Dad would get all the recent local news and we were minutes away from our destination.
While Mom and Dad unpacked the car, their offspring felt the need to run wild, yelling as loudly as possible as they gambled through the woods behind the house.
We were “free,” and although it wasn’t summer, we had the memories of the two weeks we spent with our grandmother.
And joyous memories they were - of barefoot walks to pick berries, swimming in the lake, fishing, building sand castles and playing canasta, pickup sticks and bingo on the porch on rainy days. There were thoughts of the sultry nights catching fireflies, or lighting bugs as they were called, and building forts in the woods.
This late autumnal visit held its own cache. Isn’t it odd that the inside of a dwelling could be colder than the outside temperature?
As Mom was busy stashing the
weekend’s provisions, Dad would be busy lighting a fire in the pot belly stove. What fun!
Settling in meant turning on the electricity, such as there was, and planning the afternoon.
It might be a hike along the stream that ran in the woods across the road we called the “back lane,” a futile attempt at fishing off the rickety dock at the bottom of Ogden Road or, if it was really cold, we might just huddle around the stove and play pickup sticks or rummy.
Whatever, it was simple and thoroughly engaging for our child minds. When we were older and all could read, Dad began to teach us how to play poker.
In the evening, Dad would be outside, building a fire in what passed as a fireplace. Made of broken cinder blocks, some stones from the woods and a discarded grate, it served our grandfather as the source of heat to boil water so that we could wash dishes and clothing in the summer.
Now it was the center of our evening feast. There would be hearty sandwiches, fruit and potatoes.
But these were not just any potatoes - they were the potatoes of dreams.
Carefully wrapped in aluminum foil, they were baked in the coals of the fire. Kitchen chairs were assembled around the overturned large metal pan in which we took baths in the summer.
We would be wrapped against the night chill with afghans which were abundant in the nooks and crannies of a building without closets.
It was de rigeur to celebrate when Dad put the jacketed potatoes in the fire…not on the grate, but in the fire. It was a rite for a time and place that has long disappeared.
We would eat, maybe sing more songs in what we thought was harmony as Dad checked for done-ness and when pronounced done, using fire tongs, Dad would remove each now blackened potato to the top of the ersatz metal table. We’d wait until the wrappings could be safely removed and one,
Fall l Page 7
DEC. 3-28
Associated Artists of CNY Exhibit Fayetteville Free Library. The exhibit will display work in a variety of mediums including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture and fiber. A reception for the exhibit will be held on Dec. 7 at 2 p.m.
SATURDAY, DEC. 30
Shop Local Holiday Market
9 a.m.-3 p.m. American Legion, 26 Chenango St., Cazenovia. Benefits Cazenovia Community Preschool. Shop gifts, crafts, and more.
SATURDAY, DEC. 7
Syracuse Chorale Winter Concert
7 p.m. Holy Cross Church, 4112 East Genesee St., Dewitt. Featuring music by Bernstein, Mendelssohn and more. Tickets for the concert are $15. Attendees who are 18 and under get in free.
SUNDAY, DEC. 8
Brass and Bells Holiday Concert
3 p.m. United Church of Fayetteville, 310 E. Genesee St. This concert of holiday music will feature both the Syracuse University Brass Ensembles and the UCF Handbell Choir. A free-will offering for Haiti
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Education Mission will be accepted. Non-perishables for the food pantry are appreciated.
SATURDAY, DEC. 14
Bones East Holiday Concert 2 p.m. Dewitt Community Church, 3600 Erie Blvd. Featuring a trombone ensemble playing holiday music.
SATURDAY, DEC. 21
TACNY Junior Café Scientifique
9:30 a.m. The MOST, Downtown Syracuse. A continental breakfast will be offered at 9:15 a.m. Featured topic of the program will be “Crush Course on Clinton’s Ditch”. Following the program, attendees are welcome to explore the museum. Free.
THURSDAY, DEC. 26
The Great Salt City Blues Concert 7:30 p.m. St. George Church Hall, 5083 Onondaga Rd., Syracuse. The area’s best musicians will pay tribute to Blues Hall of Fame members. Food and beverages available. Cost: $30 in advance, $40 at the door. Visit brownpapertickets.com.
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
HOOSiER FOOtBAll HyStERiA
Already it’s begun. Oh, joy.
Just as soon as one divisive and strifeful political season concludes, another starts, this time involving college football teams and a certain new 12-team playoff they’ve put together.
And it hasn’t taken long for the lobbying to commence, mostly from schools associated with the letters S, E and C and their all-powerful media mouthpieces pleading for their full representation in whatever emerges on Dec. 8.
They don’t care if it obscures, or even ruins, the rise of one unlikely contender whose very presence was exactly what those who grew the playoff from four to 12 had in mind, if they truly care about the sport.
Absolutely no one guessed that the biggest game in Columbus in November would involve someone other than a visiting team in Maize and Blue, but that’s what we’ve got on Saturday, Indiana meeting Ohio State.
Yes, Indiana. As in the Hoosiers. As in the place where basketball is religion, and football just fills time in the fall until everyone heads indoors to Assembly Hall.
l From page 6 Fall
Random Thoughts Phil blackwell
Never before has Indiana started 10-0, or even had 10 victories in any season. The last Rose Bowl it reached? January 2, 1967, less than two weeks before the first Super Bowl, and only because a great Michigan State team was forbidden by rules at the time to go back-to-back.
Credit most of this to Curt Cignetti, the ambitious and talented coach who arrived in Bloomington from James Madison, brought a full complement of players along and has helped the Hoosiers rip most everyone it has faced.
Granted, it wasn’t too difficult of a schedule, and the likes of Nebraska, UCLA and Michigan weren’t as good as projected, but still…this is Indiana we are talking about.
Typically, such a wonderful story would go front and center in the college football narrative, the kind which gives long-struggling programs everywhere a reason to believe that they, too, can turn it around.
Ah, but not in 2024. Not in CFP times. Especially not when there’s plenty of detractors in high places ready to stomp all over this remarkable resurrection.
It’s already started, the talk of having two and three-loss teams from the SEC into the playoff, possibly at the expense of conference champions who’ve earned it more and, worse yet, potentially robbing Indiana should its only blemish come at the Buckeyes’ expense.
An 11-1 Penn State? Just fine, even though it lost at home to Ohio State. An 11-1 Indiana? Any excuse to exclude them even if its lone blemish might come against those same Buckeyes, but on the road.
Also note from where the SEC push arises. Often they’re ESPN commentators. Of course. Guess which megaconference has a megadeal with ESPN?
Hint – it’s not the one with the Hoosiers as a member.
What happens to Indiana will prove quite instructive as to the CFP’s legitimacy.
If the point is to truly expand the opportunity beyond the usual suspects, then the committee will have no problem fairly assessing the Hoosiers and, if they’re among the 12 who have earned their place in the field, great.
But the growing “get as many SEC teams as possible” chorus may sway the committee. If so, it only punishes
an outsider who is part of a conference that (gasp!) plays nine league games instead of eight, which makes it automatically more difficult since Big Ten teams are not wasting a Saturday in November playing a cash-grab cupcake as SEC teams do.
Even if it’s inevitable in a small playoff format that a team or two will feel left out no matter where they are from, the noise from the outside can be managed if it involves a fourth or fifth SEC side rather than an Indiana or, in even the most extreme scenario, a champion from the ACC or Big 12.
Thus, for everyone’s sake here’s hoping that these happy Hoosiers push almighty Ohio State (oh sorry, the Ohio State) start to finish, leaving no question as to their legitimacy, and not give the CFP an excuse to exclude.
The chance for real growth in college football involves making sure everyone in the country, at the very least, can believe that their work merits recognition. Indiana has done that restorative work, now ready to find out if a just reward awaits them.
Phil Blackwell is sports editor at Eagle News. He can be reached at pblackwell@ eaglenewsonline.com.
can remember it now, eons of years later. The fire would become embers and even the afghans wouldn’t be enough. We’d retreat to the almost warm house, climb into our beds, wearing all of our clothes except our shoes, and listen to “Gunsmoke” on the radio.
In the morning it was off to church, a quick breakfast at Wilcox drug store, then back to the cot-
tage for exploration in the woods and preparation for the ride home. It was so simple, a time and a way of living that has almost passed except now, when assembled with our children and their children, we fire up the collected wood on
the beach at camp, roast marshmallows and sing songs to the warm summer nights. No aluminum wrapped potatoes, no afghans against the cold night air, but family and simple fun. What a treasure.
Thanks Dad.
Ann Ferro is a mother, a grandmother and a retired social studies teacher. While still figuring out what she wants to be when she grows up, she lives in Marcellus with lots of books, a spouse and a large orange cat.
Years ago in HistorY
By CiNDy BEll tOBEy
who works for Mr. Meredith at Fernwood Farm, south of the village, drove to town to do some shopping and hitched his horse “Old Prince” for many years the express horse, in the public sheds in the rear of the Cazenovia House.
Upon returning to the sheds about 10 or 15 minutes later he found his horse and wagon gone. Mr. Googin returned home and about three o’clock in the morning the horse came home dragging a broken wagon.
Deputy Sheriff Hulbert was notified and he traced the rig over the hill to Pompey Hollow, and about two miles
from there he found where the parties had run into the corner of a barn and wrecked one wheel of the wagon.
Here the rig was evidently abandoned and the horse returned home. A man was seen later in the vicinity where the rig was abandoned.
The same person was earlier in the day looking for a chance to get to Delphi, and as he was in an intoxicated condition, it is thought that it was he who appropriated the horse and wagon.
100 years Ago – Nov. 20, 1924
Winter came to Cazenovia with a bang on Sunday. Residents, returning home, however late, Saturday night found the air cold but with a beautiful moon sailing through the heav -
ens. Sunday morning there was a good covering of snow which had fallen between five and six o’clock. Sunday afternoon and evening there was a regular blizzard.
Cars were in the ditches all along the roads.
The Aldrich bus due here at 5 o’clock went into the ditch at Tog Hill where it remained all night.
The fall of snow was the first real snow storm we have had this winter.
80 years Ago – Nov. 23, 1944
The biggest Christmas card of the season will appear in The Cazenovia Republican on Dec. 14.
It will be addressed to all the Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and other Service Men and Women from the Cazen -
ovia, Fenner, Nelson three township community all over the world. And it will be signed by everyone in the community who notifies us to include his or her name on the list.
It won’t cost you a cent to have your name included among those sending Best Wishes to our Boys in Service –unless you want to pay the moderate sum of 50 cents which is being asked towards defraying the cost of publication.
60 years Ago – Nov. 19, 1964
It has been two weeks now since the shuttle buses have been running to Syracuse at 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. to give our boys the opportunity to skate their hearts out for the honor and glory
The event was organized by Phil Rose, Mary Bartlett, Geoffrey Navias, Nancy Paolozzi, Jimmy Golub, Anne Saltman, Carmen Druke, and Ethan Gormley.
“We are all concerned about what is going on across the planet and locally, so we have gathered here,” said Rose, who opened the summit. “Just look around; we are not alone. We are working together. . . . What we want to do [today] is say, ‘What do we do next? How do we make change in the coming year that will impact the environment?’”
Keynote speaker
NYS Sen. Rachel May spoke to the group via Zoom about some of the climate-related work being done at the state level.
She said that although she does not know how the recent election results might change things, she believes New York is in a good position to continue working hard to fight the climate crisis by addressing issues within the state’s purview.
“Just coming off a campaign, the biggest complaints we get have to do with NY enacting sweeping policies that really ought to be done at the federal level,” she said. “[For example], it makes it hard for our businesses [in] NY to comply with the rules we are setting if they are not rules that other businesses in other states are having to confront. I get that, but I also feel like NY is one of the largest economies in the world; we should be using the leverage of our economy to jumpstart a lot of technology and innovation and to make sure we are leading and not following, especially given that a lot of states aren’t taking any action at all. So, I remain committed to it, but I will say that politically and economically, it can be really hard to keep pushing within NYS when the environment around us is not on the same timetable we are on.”
May pointed specifically to the issues surrounding the New York State mandate that all new school buses purchased must be zeroemission by 2027, and all school buses operating within the state must be zero-emission by 2035.
“I was enthusiastic about it because I thought, ‘This is a way we take the power of this state and this large economy [and] send the message that we want the innovation, we want the cost to come down, we
want the businesses to create these buses in a way they can be used,’”
she said. “But we can’t force school districts to break their budgets if the price doesn’t come down or if the cost of the infrastructure [needed to] charge the buses is too high. We are trying to find a middle ground on that while still pushing really hard and still trying to send the message to the industry, ‘This is your job; get [electric] school buses that are affordable, and produce them at scale . . .’”
May added that she is committed to making it much easier in NY to use, charge, and pay for personal electric vehicles.
The senator next discussed her office’s work to make the electrical grid more efficient.
She has a bill to advance gridenhancing technologies, which maximize electricity transmission across the existing system. Another bill would reduce the time it takes to bring new renewable energy resources onto the grid.
May also sponsors a sprawl prevention act that exempts or limits environmental review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR) for the construction of certain new residential units to avoid creating unnecessary housing sprawl.
She explained that if a developer is trying to build an apartment building, the project must undergo an intensive examination under SEQR to ensure that it won’t have negative environmental impacts, such as damaging wetlands or stirring up toxins in the soil.
May expressed her view that while it is good that SEQR aims to protect the environment, the process is excessively lengthy and complex.
“[It includes a lot of issues] that are not negligible but open these projects to lawsuits,” she said. “What you end up with is [local people fighting] these projects, and the result is the projects don’t get built in communities where there is capacity, where there is public transportation — where they ought to get built. Instead, the developers give up and go do sprawl development way out in cornfields somewhere that requires people to do far more driving. They take up a lot of open land, and they are environmentally far worse than what the project would have been if it could have been built in [an already developed area]. . . . This is a tough one because as an environmentalist, I don’t want to weaken our environmental review laws, but I do feel we are not doing the right
Winter Sports Schedule
thing when it comes to approving housing projects at a time when we desperately need to approve housing projects.”
May said she is trying to enlist as many other environmentalists as possible to engage with her bill to help push it through.
Another of the senator’s focuses is native plants and landscapes, which help stabilize soils, prevent flooding, and filter the water that flows into waterways.
She has been working to increase the availability and use of native perennial plant seeds across the state.
May dedicated the remainder of her presentation to NY’s waste reduction efforts.
“Waste doesn’t have any benefits to it; it’s just one big environmental cost,” she said. “You could almost argue that the climate crisis itself is a waste crisis. It’s about waste carbon getting into the atmosphere, waste heat getting into the oceans. Just grappling with the waste we create is absolutely essential to anything that we do moving forward.”
She added that politically, waste reduction is “a bit of a tough sell,” not because people do not understand that waste is bad but because most of the population does not have to deal with the waste at its end of life.
May explained that municipalities are typically pretty good at dealing with waste, and their leaders prioritize its removal.
“New York City is a star in this area; they are really good at getting the waste out of the city,” she said. “[Most] the population of the state and most of the legislators in the state legislature are from NYC, so they don’t see waste as the urgent issue that I think some of us do. In my district, the waste from NYC gets trucked up here to Seneca Meadows Landfill.”
May outlined two approaches to waste reduction in NYS
The first is through extended producer responsibility (EPR), a policy approach that makes producers responsible for their products throughout their entire life cycles, including at the post-consumer stage. The intention is to shift the burden away from municipalities and taxpayers and to incentivize manufacturers to incorporate environmental considerations into their products.
“They take responsibility up front, and they try not to produce such toxic materials, they try to make them in a way that they can be recycled, reused, or recovered
Good Luck Athletes!
in one way or another,” explained May, who later added that her colleague Senator Pete Harckham has a bill for EPR for packaging.
May also advocates for updating and enhancing the state’s 40-yearold bottle bill.
Her Bigger, Better Bottle Bill would raise the deposit from a nickel to a dime to incentivize the return of bottles. It would also expand the list of containers requiring a deposit.
“We need to figure out a way to incentivize every stage of the process to have a reason to care about our being able to collect as many bottles and cans as possible,” she said. “We are working on that, and we are working on tweaking the law for next year to see if we can get it to the point that we have something that works really well. . . . This is going to be a big push this year to try to get the bottle bill [through]. I couldn’t get it last year, partly because the leadership, at a time of inflation, wasn’t interested in raising a deposit that would make people’s grocery bills look higher, which I totally understand. [However,] I’m hoping that maybe moving forward, we will have an opportunity to do that.”
May concluded by saying she hopes to see the Bigger, Better Bottle Bill and the EPR for packaging passed together, and help is needed to push them through.
Climate resources/community partners
Through brief presentations, summit attendees were informed about the climate-related work of several local organizations/community partners. Rose highlighted the Fenner Renewable Energy Education (FREE) Center at the Fenner Wind Farm, which gives tours and educates visitors about the benefits of renewable energy.
Supervisor Kyle Reger spoke on behalf of the Town of Cazenovia, Supervisor Jim Cunningham represented the Town of Nelson, and Saltman highlighted some of the accomplishments of the Village of Cazenovia and the Cazenovia Area Community Development Association (CACDA).
Led by executive director
Lauren Lines, CACDA works to enhance the area’s economic vitality and preserve its rural, historic character. The organization helps secure grants to fund community projects, promote agritourism, and protect agricultural land. With CACDA’s administrative and grant-writing assistance, the Town and Village of Cazenovia and the Town of Nelson are now 1-Star and 2-Star Clean Energy Communities, each qualifying for $60,000 grants through the NYS Energy Research and Development Authority.
Nelson, a Climate Smart Community and Clean Energy Community, plans to use the grant funding to install a solar array at the town office building. Cunningham, who also serves as chairman of the Madison County Board of Supervisors, actively works to protect Nelson’s two lakes and conserve the area’s soil and water resources through conservation planning, design, and implementation.
The Town and Village of Cazenovia are both Bronze Level Climate Smart Communities and Clean Energy Communities. The town plans to use its grant to purchase an electric truck, and the village plans to install electric vehicle charging stations in multiple locations and heat pumps at the police and fire stations and Burton Street Park. It will also purchase an electric offroad utility cart.
Other Cazenovia achievements include transitioning to LED streetlights in the town and village,
By Phil Blackwell
Cazenovia High School’s 2024-25 winter sports schedule, with all dates and times subject to change.
Boys Basketball
Dec. 3: at Canastota, 7 p.m.
Dec. 6-7: at Sherburne-Earlville Tournament
Dec. 9: Mount Markham, 7 p.m.
Dec. 11: Skaneateles, 7 p.m.
Dec. 14: PSLA Fowler (at Henninger), 6:30 p.m.
Dec. 17: at Syracuse ITC, 6:30 p.m.
Dec. 20: at Syracuse Academy of Science, 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 29: Waterville (at Nexus Center, Utica), 12:15 p.m.
Jan. 10: Westhill, 7 p.m.
Jan. 13: Solvay, 7 p.m.
Jan. 17: at Cortland, 6:45 p.m.
Jan. 22: Mexico, 7 p.m.
Jan. 24: at Jordan-Elbridge, 7 p.m.
Jan. 28: Phoenix, 7 p.m.
Jan. 30: at Chittenango, 7 p.m.
Feb. 4: at Phoenix, 6:30
Feb. 7: Jordan-Elbridge, 7 p.m.
Feb. 14: Chittenango, 7 p.m.
Girls Basketball
Dec. 7: at Canastota, 4:30 p.m.
Dec. 10: at Central Square, 6:45 p.m.
Dec. 13: Oswego, 7 p.m.
Dec. 19: Bishop Grimes, 7 p.m.
Jan. 3: Canastota, 7 p.m.
Jan. 7: Hamilton, 7 p.m.
Jan. 9: Westhill, 7 p.m.
Jan. 11: at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, 5 p.m.
Jan. 14: at Homer, 6:45 p.m.
Jan. 18: at Port Byron, 1 p.m.
Jan. 21: at Mexico, 6:45 p.m.
Jan. 23: Jordan-Elbridge, 7 p.m.
Jan. 27: Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, 7 p.m.
Jan. 29: at Skaneateles, 6:30 p.m.
Jan. 31: Phoenix, 7 p.m.
Feb. 3: Skaneateles, 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 6: at Jordan-Elbridge, 7 p.m.
Feb. 8: Central Square, 3:30 p.m.
Feb. 11: at Phoenix, 6:30 p.m.
Feb. 13: Mount Markham, 7 p.m.
Ice Hockey Home games at Morrisville State IcePlex unless otherwise noted
Dec. 2: Whitesboro, 6:30 p.m.
Dec. 3: at Mohawk Valley, 8:30 p.m.
Dec. 10: Watertown IHC, 6:30 p.m.
Dec. 12: at West Genesee, 6:30 p.m.
Dec. 13-14: at Ontario Bay Tournament
Dec. 17: at Cicero-North Syracuse, 7:35 p.m.
Dec. 20: at Windsor, 6 p .m.
Dec. 26-27: at Cortland-Homer Holiday Tournament
Dec. 30: Clinton, 2 p.m.
Jan. 3: at Syracuse, 7 p.m.
Jan. 8: Mohawk Valley, 6:30 p.m.
Jan. 14: at Baldwinsville, 7:15 p.m.
Jan. 15: Fayetteville-Manlius, 6:30 p.m.
Jan. 20: at CNY Fusion, 6 p.m.
Jan. 22: Ontario Bay, 6:30 p.m.
Jan. 27: Baldwinsville (at Colgate 1956 Alumni Arena), 6:45 p.m.
Feb. 4: Rome Free Academy, 6:30 p.m.
Boys, Girls Indoor Track
All meets at SRC Arena unless otherwise noted
Dec. 14: Jack Morse Kickoff Meet, 9 a.m.
Dec. 20: Oscar B. Jensen Memorial Relays, 4:30 p.m.
Jan. 4: George Constantino Memorial, 9 a.m.
Jan. 11: John Arcaro Memorial, 9 a.m.
Jan. 18: Fred Kirschenheiter Memorial, 9 a.m.
Jan. 25: OHSL Championships, 4:30 p.m.
Feb. 8: Section III Class B-1 Championships, 9 a.m.
Feb. 25: Section III State Qualifying
Meet, 4:30 p.m.
March 8: NYSPHSAA Championships at Ocean Breeze Complex, Staten Island
Wrestling
Dec. 4: Canastota, 6 p.m.
Dec. 7: at Morrisville-Eaton Duals, 9 a.m.
Dec. 10: Southern Hills, 6 p.m.
Dec. 14: at Phoenix Round Robin, 9 a.m.
Dec. 19: at APW/Pulaski, 6 p.m.
Jan. 8: at Phoenix, 6 p.m.
Jan. 11: Cazenovia Invitational, 9 a.m.
Jan. 14: Sherburne-Eariville, 6 p.m.
Jan. 15: Hannibal, 6 p.m.
Jan. 21: Central Square, 6 p.m.
Feb. 1: OHSL Tournament, 9 a.m.
Feb. 8: Section III Class C Championships at General Brown, 10 a.m.
Feb. 15: Section III Division II Championships at SRC Arena, 10 a.m.
Feb. 16: Section III Girls Championships at SRC Arena, 9 a.m.
Feb. 27: NYSPHSAA Girls Championships at MVP Arena, Albany Feb. 28-March 1: NYSPHSAA Boys Championships at MVP Arena, Albany
Kate hill
On Nov. 16, a select group of community leaders and professionals gathered at the Cazenovia Public library for the annual Climate Action leadership Summit sponsored by the United Climate Action Network.
Summit l Page 11
Caz runners finish in top 30 at state cross country meet
By PHil BlACKwEll
A season full of victories at the individual and team level for a pair of Cazenovia cross country runners all led to last Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships. Lily Kogut and Jake Woolbert would both compete in the state Class C races at Queensbury High School, near Saratoga Springs, and both would record top-30 individual finishes.
Kogut had finished second in the Section III Class C meet Nov. 9 at
installing a solar array at the village water plant, subscribing town municipal electric accounts to community solar, embedding a commitment to sustainability into the Town of Cazenovia Comprehensive Plan, and completing a drainage infrastructure project on Ridge Road.
Gormley, a climate justice organizer, spoke about Citizen Action of NY, which works with the statewide coalition NY Renews to organize communities to fully implement NY’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, make corporate polluters pay, and hold utilities accountable.
Emmet Owens discussed how the Cazenovia Lake Association (CLA) works with numerous partners to protect the environmental and recreational sustainability of Cazenovia Lake. The CLA’s contributions include implementing a two-pronged effort
Mount Markham to Skaneateles’ Lucy Fleckenstein, and now they were sectional All-Star teammate, joined by Mexico’s Aubrey Herrington and the Adirondack duo of Johannah Northrop and Cora Hinsdill.
Going 19 minutes 33.8 seconds on the 3.1-mile Queensbury course, Kogut would take 22 nd place, less than 10 seconds from finishing in the top 20 as Hastings’ Caitlin Thomas won in 17:53.8.
All of this was part of a strong Section III team effort as, with 277 points, it was third just behind the 229 of Sec -
to control Eurasian watermilfoil, introducing a boat cleaning station at the Lakeside Park boat launch, identifying and reducing sources of nutrients and sediment entering the lake, and participating in the Citizens Statewide Lake Assessment Program.
Agriculture and Horticulture Resource
Educator Maryellen Sheehan described how Cornell Cooperative Extension of Madison County helps farmers, producers, local businesses, landowners, community groups, and county residents to manage and care for the land and understand how local environments are potentially affected by climate change.
Navias recounted how UCAN began eight years ago with weekly meetings at Dave’s Diner. Since then, the organization has held eight energy fairs and five climate summits.
Chuck Tomaselli spoke about his role as the Climate Restoration Alliances Ambassador to Rotary International and his involvement with the Environmental Sustainability
tion VI and 235 from Section I.
Six different sectional runners finished in the top 25, led by South Jefferson eighth-grader Ellie Roberts getting ninth place in 19:08 flat and Fleckenstein (19:10.7) in 10 th place. Hindsill was 13 th (19:15.9) and Northrop 19 th (19:25.4) as, in between them, Roberts’ teammate, Annabelle Renzi, was 15 th in 19:16.5 helping the Spartans to a third-place team finish. Herrington posted 20:46.9.
Woolbert ran with a sectional AllStar team which included Skaneateles’ Tritan Boucher, Oneida’s Tyson
Rotary Action Group. He specifically highlighted a global campaign to have Rotary International take on climate restoration as its next global initiative once it has completed its mission of eradicating polio from the planet.
Cazenovia Preservation Foundation (CPF) Executive Director Jen Wong discussed the work of the accredited land trust, which conserves over 3,800 acres of open space, habitat, and agricultural land; considers climate resiliency, biodiversity, and habitat connectivity in its conservation project planning and land stewardship practices; participates in municipal and comprehensive land use planning; provides support for site selection of proposed renewable energy projects; and offers free educational programming on a range of natural history topics.
A glossary of local organizations engaged in environmental work was distributed during the summit and will be available on the
Fuller, Marcellus’ Liam Eldridge and Westhill’s Edward Popp. Finishing in 16:43.7, Woolbert made his way to 26 th place. He was just behind the 16:35.5 from Fuller and 16:35.8 from Boucher as Eldridge was 32 nd in 16:56.5 and Popp (17:00.2) also finished in the top 40. Schalmont’s Carter Flowers won the individual state title in 15:32.5. Chittenango girls cross country runner Natalie DiGennaro was in a tough state Class B race where she posted a time of 21:10.2 to take 81 st place overall in a field of more than 120 runners.
UCAN website. The document includes a description and contact information for each organization.
Breakout sessions
During the breakout sessions, participants split into five groups — “Water,” “LargeScale Renewable Energy Projects,” “Legislation,” “Transportation,” and “Plants, Forests & Land” — to brainstorm potential climate action initiatives and goals for 2025.
Following the work session, the groups reported on their conversations.
“We will take all this information and create a follow-up report, which you guys will all get,” said Bartlett. “We will have a followup meeting where we are going to present the report, and then we will decide on two or three things to really focus on for 2025.”
To learn more about UCAN and how to get involved, visit unitedclimateaction.org or email cazrenew@gmail.com
