Fair’s not-so-wild horses reined in before the rain

by DAVID LEE

On the midway at the Columbia County Fairgrounds in Chatham, workers set up the carousel on Tuesday evening, August 31. According to Gary Patterson, who has worked on the ride for 20 years, the carousel was fabricated near Buffalo 60 years ago. It and the scrambler are a couple of the oldest rides on the midway. The carousel has 30 horses and takes about 4 hours to install. Mr. Patterson, in the truck, hands horses to Elvin Martinez (l) and Renato Lopez (r), who hold them for Coby Mangum (c) to install on their posts. The 180th Columbia County Fair began Wednesday and runs through Monday, September 6. Tickets and information are at www.columbiafair.com. Photo by David Lee

At ICC: masks, classrooms but locked lockers

by EMILIA TEASDALE

KINDERHOOK—Ichabod Crane School Superintendent Suzanne Guntlow presented the schools reopening plans for 2021-22 at the August 17 school board meeting. Students will be required to wear masks, stay in cohorts and use social distancing, much like they did last year.

One major change for this school year will be that students will be back in the buildings full time.

During the 2020-21 school year, the middle and high schools were on hybrid schedules, with students attending two days a week and having three days of online learning. Toward the end of the school year, 6th and 7th graders were able to go back four days a week. The primary school and students in 4th and 5th grades met in-person five days a week.

“We really saw that kids do best when they are in school,” Ms. Guntlow said at the meeting. Read more…

Hudson plans teacher raise, union has concerns

by JEANETTE WOLFBERG

HUDSON—Grading policy, substitute pay, and school reopening plans dominated the Hudson City School District (HCSD) Board of Education meeting August 16.

The Policy Committee is writing a new grading policy in line with the district’s goal to be a more “restorative” district, with language “supportive of teachers,” explained Board member Lucinda Segar.

“What about supportive of students and parents?” suggested Board member Selha Graham. Helping children with remote learning really brought parents into the lessons, she said. Read more…

Ancram wants faster action on slower hamlet speed limits

by DIANE VALDEN

ANCRAM—You’d think that after a few decades of wrangling with the state Department of Transportation (DOT) over everything that’s dangerous and wrong with the Ancram hamlet intersection and getting only meager corrective action, the Town would give up.

But here we are in 2021, 35+ years after this reporter started covering Ancram and County Route 7/State Route 82 intersection issues and town residents and officials are still at it.

Perhaps “slow and steady” will win the race—like how a driver needs to travel to make it safely through the intersection. Read more…

Omi eyes artists’ spaces in Chatham’s ‘culture zone’

by EMILIA TEASDALE

CHATHAM – The Chatham Town Board held its monthly meeting on Thursday, August 19 under the pavilion at Crellin Park. At the meeting board members approved a survey on the Comprehensive Plan update, heard an update on the Albany Turnpike Bridge traffic light, and listened to residents about their issues with a new project being reviewed by the Planning Board off state Route 66 in the town just outside the Village of Chatham.

Art Omi, a not-for-profit arts center with a 120-acre sculpture and architecture park and gallery in Town of Ghent, has an application in front of the Town of Chatham’s Planning Board “for Site Plan Review and Special Use Permit” for Art Omi Pavilions. According to the May minutes of the Planning Board, Francis Greenburger, founder and chairman of Art Omi Inc., said this had been a “longtime idea” for the organization’s world-renowned artists program.

At the Chatham site, artists would influence their own “pavilion design.” The plan is for about 12 pavilions, which would range from 2,500 to 5,700 square feet. “The entire project is designed so the affected acreage maintains its natural state as much as possible,” according to the Planning Board’s minutes. Read more…