My Mistake

Captain Pat sent me a comment and I think I might have deleted it.  Sorry about that Pat.  He basically said that things were going well but he felt a little tired and would post more comments in the near future.  Please post your comment again Pat, I promise I will not delete it again................

Mingya ! What a twisted web they weave ?

This just added:  The Rumor was started by the same person that it was about..... MINGYA

I picked this up from Dotster's site about the new DPW superintendent.  What is going on with our Village Board?  Tell me this isn't so?  Let the comments flow and lets de-bunk this rumor.

It's a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi Roger sleeps with the fishes.

Renzi Prison Comments

If there is one topic I might have a PHD in, is anything that might have to do with prisons. Dave Renzi's understanding of the prison plan can be summed up as only what his campaign manager has explained to him.  Holy $hit Dave, if you do not know how the NYSDOCS or the NYS Civil Service System works: let me give you some free advice......zip-it and open your ears and listen.  We do not need you feeding fuel to the flames with your idiotic shoot from the hip "I know everything comments".
Darell is not responsible for any of this.  Any consolitdation has to do with the NYSDOCS Commisioners response to Gov. Patterson's request for budget reductions...............

What I Did this Weekend

Normally I do not post non political stuff on this blog.  I use the sister to this blog Abay Life for slide shows and stuff.  With all that is going on locally and in our country, it might be nice to take a little break from all the bad news and look at what we have in our "back yard".  These are some random shots that I took over the weekend, island treasures if you will....................

Back From R&R

Your comments made over the weekend have reviewed and published.  Some comments have been rejected.  Calling people A$$h0le$ is no way to get your comment posted. 

Away

I will be away from the blog for the weekend.  A little R&R for pg.  I will return to the blog on Sunday noon.  Hopefully I will have tons of comments to read and approve.

Why? Why would this blogger waste his time with me?

J.Burke said...

Bobby Cantwell is not only the best candidate, but he is willing to risk his entire campaign to make sure he runs a fair and honest campaign. He turned down not only help from the Albany Republicans but also hundreds of thousands in funding because they wanted to go negative.
Can Addie Jenne say the same? Riiight. She has had trouble raising money from the Democrats I spoke with up there so DACC stepped in and threw her $200,000.
A vote for Russell, is a vote for NYC.
-J.Burke
http://www.TheFrontlineCoalition.com
The Home of the New York Conservative Blogger
September 25, 2008 10:42 AM

The above is a comment that I received is in response to The Poll>>>>>>>Tie.  How did this guy find my blog?  Why would he bother with me?  I am just a small town political hack and  not a very good one at that.  {To TF @ DD......I am not worthy......not worthy at all.} The blog that Mr Burke runs is huge, gigundous, making mine just a speck of flea poop.  I spent some time pondering the visit to my blog by this guy.....I just wonder what his intent was.  Did he visit  to educate my small number of readers and the author?  Or maybe to flex his huge moosles in an attempt at .........whats the word.......oh yeah.......intimidation.

pg

The Poll>>>>>>> A TIE

I started this poll 6 days ago and it concluded tonight.  The question I asked was:

If you Had to Vote today, Who Would You Choose?
Addie Russell for the 118th River District Assembly
Bobby Cantwell for the 118th River District Assembly

I will admit that the polling started out  very slow but picked up momentum.  Here are the results:  44 of you voted and the end results were:

22 Voted in Favor of Addie Russell [D]

22 Voted in Favor of Bobby Cantwell [R]

Law of Diminishing Returns

Most of the seasoned posters on this blog will know what this topic means.  If ya don't, lemme splain it to yas.  I will use the Renzi Campaign fund as the model.  The Republicans have forked over $710,902 for Dave Renzi who btw is running for NY State Senate.  Renzi is running against Democrat Darrel Aubertine, who has been given $87,711 for his campaign.  According to the WDT, Renzi has 8 times more campaign funding than Aubertine.  The Siena Poll came out today and the results are interesting:  51% of the people polled will vote for Darrel Aubertine and only 31% will vote for Dave Renzi.  With the money spent on the Renzi campaign the Republicans would have hoped that the poll results would have at least been reversed making Renzi the victor of the poll.  That was alot of money not wisely spent, hence the law of diminishing returns......not getting what you expected from spending that amount of campaign money.  As the returns diminish to zero, then the Republican investors get very desperate and want to show something for their investment in Renzi..............now the investors get aggressive...............and that boys and girls is how negative campaigning starts

Officer Pitts

I received the comment below and thought to myself, this is not your typical anonymous said statement.  So before I published it, I called Mayor Robb to ask him if anything happened today between Chief Mullaney and Officer Pitts.  The Mayor told me that the Village Board relieved Officer Pitts of his duties today.  The Mayor also stressed that Chief Mullaney did not make this decision.  Let me repeat this for some of this blogs slower and dim posters.......The Village Board Made This Decision.... NOT Chief Mullaney
There are no details about the removal of Mr. Pitts from his position today,  Mayor Robb stated that this is a personel issue and no specifics can be discussed with the public.


Anonymous said...



Officer Pitts was FIRED today by the Chief. What is wrong with this Village Board?


September 24, 2008 5:55 PM

Back to the 118th River District Race

I have tried to be impartial and open minded when it comes to the Russell/Cantwell race.  With the appearence of this negative attack on Addie it amazes me at some of the conclusions that anonymous said commentors have made over at Danger Democrat.  Accusing the blog owner, Ted Ford of being responsible for the creation of the anti-Addie site for the explicit purpose of making it look like it was created by a Republican Cantwell supporter........this is just plain BS!  This is not within TF's moral range to do this type of stuff.  What is that matter with any commentor that would try to make any of you believe this.  This type of crap disgusts me............

Time to Take a Step Back

There is alot going on in our community politically.  I have some information that just makes me want to stop for moment and take a breath...............and think...........and reflect.  My friend [and yours] our former Mayor, Pat Simpson as you all know, is in need of a liver transplant.  Pat had some complications this past week but is now in stable condition and doing well.  Please take a moment each day and keep Pat in your prayers or thoughts, that he may soon overcome his illness.

pg

Water Meters to be installed at Town Arena

The Old Village Ice Arena now owned by the Town of Alexandria will have water meters installed at the 5 sources that supply water to the facility.  The meters will be installed by the Village to monitor the water usage at the rink.  The purpose of the meters is not to generate a water bill for the town.  Mayor Robb wants to be able to report back to the Village Residents how much water is being donated to the Town.  The mayor stressed that no water bill will ever be sent to the Town.


WDT article link.

Tonights VB Meeting 9/23/08

The Audio for the meeting is here!

Two Village employees tender resignations:

Officer Jonathan Pitts effective September 28th, to take a position on the Watertown PD.

DPW Superintendent Roger Jobson effective October 8th, to take a position with the NYS DOT.

Both will be greatly missed.  Good luck to both of you!

pg

Local Political Signs

All sorts of political signs line the roads .  Here is the first one I have seen for Village Trustee.

VB Meeting

The Village of Alexandria Bay will hold a regular board meeting


on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 5:30pm


at the Village Municipal Complex

Politico Comments

Some conversation is happening over at jeffcowebboard hopefully we can kick it up a grade level or 2.  Or maybe not..  The king of  I Know You Are But What Am I

An afternoon on the River with Addie

Some Pictures....

.......are worth 1000 words!

Cruisin with Addie

 The audio from Addie's cruise is available. 

 

An Invitation from Addie

I took the liberty of "lifting" this invitation from Addie's blog.


.........On Sunday afternoon, we'll be boarding the Bonnie Belle at Bonnie Castle for another fundraiser. If you're in the mood for a beautiful cruise through the Thousand Islands and want to support my campaign, its only $30 per person or $50 per couple. The boat leaves at 4PM, so come and enjoy the scenery, some finger foods and there will be a cash bar as well.



I hope to see you all on the campaign trail.


-Addie
 
The place to be is at the docks at Rum Runners
 
pg

Addie Jenne Russell For Assembly

Cross Blogging with DD

I met TF from Danger Democrat.  It was a pleasure and honor to meet Ted.  Here is DD's perspective on todays event.  Well TF, I think we covered that event from every angle.

Addie Russell

Addie speaks to the group.

Click the above link for the audio

Darrel Aubertine

Darrel says a few words at todays River Roast

click the above link for the audio

River Roast

Some random pictures from todays event at the Clayton Pavilion.  Great food and even better company.  This event was hosted by the River Town Democrats and was organized by Pat Youngs.  Nice job Pat!

Olly Olly Oxen Free

Come out! Come out!  Where ever you are.......

Come On Addie, it is OK to come out in the Open............Please Do Not Hide Anymore

Polls

I have learned from experience that Blog Polls tend to piss people off.  I have launched a few and oh well, that is the nature of the beast............just opinions.........folks.  So here is one that is intended to get some of you off your apathetic dead butts and get you thinking.  Who do you want?  If you want to back your vote up with a comment then dump it here.  Lets go everybody, that includes Dem, Rep. and Indie's alike and everyone in between..............

Sorry for The Inconvenience

I use a counter to keep track of visits to the blog. They released a new version and it had some glitches which sent some of you to a google search page. The problem has been resolved.  And sorry to disappoint a few of you who were wishing the blog was down..........

River Roast Reminder

The organizers of this fund raiser really would like to see more people from Alex Bay attending this event.  I called Pat tonight to let him know that I was coming.  He mentioned that he had only heard from a few of us.  The $30 seems like alot of money but it goes to the Russell and Aubertine Campaigns and the rest is used to feed and entertain us.  A bargain for your stomach and think of the opportunity to meet lots of people including the candidates!  Make your call tonight and see ya there on Saturday.

Please RSVP to Pat Youngs by Sept. 15th at 396-2053 or call Democratic HQ at 788-4590

Another Sign

This one should be replaced.  Do we have enough cash in the sign budget to purchase a new one of these?
This sign has been replaced with a new one.  Looks Great.........Thanks

School Zone

Beware, the 15 mph school zone is larger than you might realize.  The speed zone changes from 30 mph to 15 mph on Walton St at the entrance to the School Bus garage and ends just past the intersection of Walton and Bolton.  All of Bolton is 15 mph as well as Cornwall.  The 15 mph School Speed Limit is enforced 24/7/365.

Maybe some nice looking high visibility signs might be a good idea.

Something that might attract a drivers attention and remind them that they are entering a school zone.  I realize that flashing yellow lights over the signs might not be in the budget this year, but new signs would be helpful in reminding local and out of town mortorist that they are driving in a school zone.

Small Town America

I found a link to this new blog over at DD.  Decided to pay them a visit, as TF says they eminate from Waddington.  I found an interesting Topic titled Cantwell? Can't Tell.  It appears that the blogger [a Democrat like myself] had a chance encounter with Bobby.  It is an interesting account with a twist at the end.  Check it out.

pg

River Roast 08

The RiverTown Democrats cordially invite you to Roastin, Roastin, Roastin on the River.  A scrumptious festival of pork loin, turkey, salads, beans and salt potatoes. All of that yummy fare prepared by roastmaster Ronnie Mason.

This fund raiser will equally benfit the candidacies of Darrel Aubertine [48th State Senate] and Addie J. Russell [118th Assembly].

Saturday September 20th beginning at 11 AM

At the Clayton Pavilion [behind the Arena]

$30/person [ask about kids' prices when you reserve]

Music, entertainment, speeches and of course, great 'Ronnie Mason' style food.  Its too good to be called cuisine.

Please RSVP to Pat Youngs by Sept. 15th at 396-2053 or call Democratic HQ at 788-4590

Darrel Aubertine

48th District Senate race holds only one choice for me and he is the only choice.  Darrel Aubertine.  I might be torn on the Assembley but not on the Senate Race.............

In case any of you are wondering if I have lost my marbles and think it is not potically kosher for a person to support widely across party lines..............check this Link Out

Darrel said " it's not about Democrats and Republicans......it's about US"...........

Retort

The topic of the parking meters has drifted below newer topics.  My friend Curmudgeon made this retort to an anonymous said comment

Anonymous said...

"be nice to the tourists"
Alexandria Bay locals and owners are probably the most hostile people I've ever met in a tourist town. They wonder why all the people with lots of money avoid the town like a virus..
September 8, 2008 11:29 AM


Curmudgeon replied:
to anon...where and when exactly, do you observe all this hostility? I'm in the village 12 hours every day, and know most of the "locals and owners" and I gotta tell you, I don't see the hostility.
Can you give an example?
Who are the, people "with lots of money?" Where do they go? Do you mean celebrities or just run-of-the-mill rich folks?
Do you have something to say? Feel free to air you gripe.
I'm going to ask the blogmeister to start a new thread on this topic, see where you want to go with it. I want you to help the hostiles make our village, "The Aspen of the East."

cur
September 11, 2008 4:41 PM

VB audio August 26 & September 9

Took awhile to get together with Dotster, but I will be adding audio from the VB meetings.  The following link is from the VB Meeting on August 26th  and the VB meeting on September 9th .

Again a BIG thanks to Dotster over at ABAY.COM for helping me with setting this all up and hosting the audio

Audio From Tonights Dedication

Audio is on this page

Tonights Dedication PFC Jack Sweet

Larger Photos Here

Jack Sweet Monument Dedication

Thursday September 11th at 6:00 pm in the Village of Alexandria Bay Park.

More Info can be found here.

Life In The Sandbox

Help, I fell and..................

A letter was written by a tourist who fell on a sidewalk in the village.  The person described the location as being in front of a pizza place at the corner of Church St.  It was an oddly written letter describing his/her fall on a trecherous sidewalk.  They asked that the sidewalk be fixed before someone else got hurt.  While listening to the Mayor read this letter, an image of a location came to my mind.  I was not the only one who had this little revelation.  I automatically assumed that it was the sidewalk in front of Slice of the Bay.  But as it turned out it was the sidewalk in front of the Korner.  Later in the meeting Trustee Sweet asked that Roger Jobson [Village DPW Supt.] have his men repair the sidewalk in front of Slice of the Bay.  Evidently they damaged it when looking for a non-existent water shut off earlier this spring.

A musical Break

After all that annoying  rapid fire posting from tonights VB meeting............

Republican Nominee's

The Republicans running for VB Trustee are:

Cindy Chaltain for 2 year term
Kay Doheny for 2 year term
Richard Drake for 1 year term...............This would be Richard from BCYB

L.W.R.P.

Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan will be presented in a public hearing during the early part of October.  Check out the Village web site for the hearing date and time. 

Old Chamber Building

The VB set a cap for advertising the sale of this property at $500.00.  The VB wants to try and sell this property without a realtor.  The parcel will be advertised in area papers from here to Rochester.  In addition the ads will be placed on the Village website and on Craiglist.  Good luck............just hire a realtor.  Save the 500 hundred bucks and put it towards road salt or hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza and beer at the next few VB meetings.  Maybe some more of the D or R candidates might show up to the meetings.  BTW some of the usual spectators were absent tonight,  where were you?

Executive Session

I asked the question:  What is the criteria for executive session discussions?  Attorney Gebo gave me what he called the short version explanation.  I will give you the watered down version.  Executive Session is for topics of personnel, labor negotiations, or litigations.  Evidently there was a billing dispute between the owners of the Harbor Villa's and the Village of Abay.  This was going to end up in litigation but an agreement was reached.  Disputes heading towards litigation like this one are discussed in executive session.  This was not your typical water bill dispute.

The VB assumed that the public would understand that this was a potential for litigation.  I asked that they place a remark in the meeting minutes stating briefly why something like this was in executive session.  For example: Harbor Villa water dispute [possible litigation]

Frozen Dip

There was some talk tonight about the Polar Bear Dip.  Maybe a full weekend event instead of just a one day event.  Sounds like just what the Doctor ordered for a Cabin Fever!

1 Market Street

The Village now has posession of the deed to this parcel which is also known as the Odd Fellows building site.  First order of business is to replace the sidewalk and then to do some grading to the foundation.  What will be done with that property?   That will be discussed in future VB meetings. 

Parking Lot?  Skate Board Park? Small Park?  Sell it?  TBD

Salt is Bad For You

......and for Village and Town Budgets.  Actually it could gobble up a local budget eating into surplus money.  It all depends on the winter.  The VB wants the salt reduced in the sand mixture.  Last year the cost of salt for roads was $41.00 per ton, this year it will cost local towns and villages $129.00 per ton.

Debate

Addie and Bobby have agreed to a Debate , to be held sometime in October.  More details to follow as they become available.

Tuesday, September 9th

At 5:30 pm there will be a Village Board Meeting. 
Remember, the first part of the meeting is for public concerns/opionions............and no you can not voice them anonymously.

Homage to a Comment

I have not done this in a while.  Elevating a dumb comment from the cinders of the basement up to the ground level.  This is in response to the topic A Sign Of Support.

Anonymous said...

I told his father and other republican officials the other day having you support Cantwell in this town is not in Bobby's best interest. With you supporting him everyone will vote for someone else. You are so well liked here.......

Can you imagine.......the rantings of lil ole me could actually cost anyone votes?  Can you appreciate the ramifications if this were true!!!!  So, if I put both parties signs in my yard,.............  then there would be no winners??  How cool is that...............and ridiculous

Sign Of Support

Yes I am whining,  I have been wanting to put a sign of support in my yard for quite sometime..........!  I took what my wife refers to as the 50 cent tour around Abay on Saturday.  I found ONE Bobby Cantwell for Assembly sign in the village.  I thought to myself.......how did that get there.........and where is mine?  Is anyone from the Cantwell Camp reading my blog, other than the person that called my house one night?  How did that ONE sign sneak into the village?  Why would they only bring one sign.  Is gas cheap enough to make multiple sign placement trips?

My property is divided into TWO parcels, ample room for TWO signs.  Lots of traffic on my street.

Addie Russell is more than welcome to place one of her signs on my property.  If I have a vacancy, she can place TWO signs

pg is p.o.

Pushmi-Pullyu

Am I a defector or a supporter of the Democratic Party?  TF probably thinks I am out of my mind, a liberal fence rider and not to be trusted.  My bipartisan support must make some Republicans and Democrats furious. 

I have known Bobby for years.  He married my niece so that makes him family.  I went to their wedding and have attended many of the family functions.  They have been through several family tragedies that would have torn some families apart.  A cohesiveness remains within that family and Bobby always remains upbeat and positive. He has a knack for social networking which will work to his political advantage.

I just met Addie Russell the other night at our local Democratic Caucus.  I discovered some of her family history.  She is a local girl with ties to our river community.  Addie has a legal background with a strong working knowledge of politics on local, state, and federal levels.  We talked about the recurring issues that are on everyones minds.  Addie repsonded to my questions quickly and accurately.  At the end of our conversation, I felt that she had the same concerns and priorities that are shared by my family and friends.

To this date there has been some political posturing with a few press releases and public appearences by both candidates.  As far as I am concerned, neither one has said or done anything within the campaign to gain a lead in my book.  The race is on and it is neck and neck.

pg

Independent Gets The Boot

Don Lucas out of the race!  

Addie Russell vowed to fight for the "valid and pressing issues" that Mr. Lucas raised "about the depletion of north country waters."

Democrat Events For September

Democrat Joke Off and Bar B Q  Saturday the 6th

From Richard Drake:

The Rivertown Democrats is hosting a Pig Roast at the Clayton Pavilion, September 20th 2008, at 11:00 AM, cost is $30.00 per person, please contact Pat Youngs 396-2053.

The Jefferson County Democrats is hosting a Support Addie Russell Boat Ride, on the Bonnie Bell, at 4:00 PM September 21st 2008. The cost is TBD, please contact Pat Youngs at 396-2053 for more information.

The Clayton Democrat Caucus will be at 6 PM on September 26th at the old Clayton Municipal building.
More information as it is available........

Addie Russell

Addie is a Democrat running for the 118th Assembly District, and was a special guest at tonights Caucus.  If you downloaded the audio of the caucus, then move the slider bar on your audio player to 21:51 to hear her speak. 

I bet you are wondering what pguston is going to say about her casual talk with the small crowd of Democrats.  I bet ole TF at Danger Democrat is wondering too.  I am sitting hear listening to the audio and can not help but ponder this: "what kind of a political mess have I gotten myself into".  I have a picture and a link to the Republican candidate on the right.  Above that link I have put the cliche` crossing party lines.  What happens when you cross that line?  Can I change my mind and skip back over again?  Or should I stick to my commitment, blindly plugging away for the other guy.  This is truly a quagmire.  That is such an uncool word for an almost 50 guy to use. 

I had a chance to speak to Addie after the caucus and I found her to be very sincere and easy to talk with.  She put herself through law school by working summers in ABay at several different restaurants.  She lives in Theresea and grew up in Philadelphia. 

I strongly urge all of you to listen to the candidates closely.  Attend functions so that you have an opportunity to ask them questions.  Encourage your candidate to participate in a debate.

More later..........

pg

Tonights Democrat Caucus

The audio can be found here.  

Richard Drake nominated for a 2 year term
Helethea Roy nominated for a 1 year term
Steve Jarvis nominated for a 2 year term


I was asked to run, but I declined.

The article in Today's WDT can be found here.

River Town Democrats

WDT article about pooling the political resources of small communities along the St. Lawrence River.  I wonder what other resources could be tapped and shared in our River Community?  Now that would be a novel idea..........

Abay DEM Caucus

Reminder in the WDT

Boating with Bobby and Friends

I recieved this email from the Cantwell Camp.  Sounds like a good time.

Democrat Supports Republican

I borrowed this from TF over at DD.  Great topic at DD!
This is the sign I want for our yard!!!!!

Parking Meters

I could not believe what I saw today!  I have always known that the meters were free on Sunday's.  But I never knew that the meters were active on american holidays.  The 2 most prominent holidays that I am concerned about are 4th of July and Labor day.  The 4th is a give away since the Village shuts down all of the meters on Church St and makes them No parking- tow away zones for the evening fire works.  At the last VB meeting the board voted unanimously to extend the monitoring of the meters till Sept 15th which is a 2 week extension.  Since we have this extension, the Village could certainly over look the Monday Labor day holiday and give the meters and the staff that patrol them the whole day off.

 If you click on the picture of the meter it will zoom to a larger image, you will notice that the days for meter exception are Sundays and Holidays.  Holidays has been scratched off with a sharpie marker.  How about this........ Parking enforced with the exception of Sundays and all Holidays.............both American and Canadian Holidays..... Instead of calling it Holidays it could be called Tourist Appreciation Days.

pg

Thoughts?  Comments??