Ticonderoga News

Here’s a bit of interesting history I just found. On November 22nd 1783 the last of the defeated British military set sail out of New York for home under terms of the Treaty of Paris. The story goes that the humiliated Brits raised a Union Jack at Bowling Green in lower Manhatten and greased the wooden flag pole and cut the rope holding the flag so the flag could not be lowered. Libertypole link: http://independence.nyhistory.org/museum/images/cm_new/gen/424px/1920_130.jpg

Chris Kaiser could take his time, but that would take away the challenge. Instead, he's planning a three-day paddle from Lake George to Ticonderoga and back with a goal of raising $10,000 for Luzerne's Double-H ...Almost 50 years to the day after Diane did the first swin of the lake

Gasoline companies would face fines up to $10,000 in New York state for establishing price zones based on demographics under a proposal that passed the Legislature.

MINEVILLE -- A Mineville home was destroyed by fire Friday night.

Flames erupted inside a residence at 123 Pilfershire Road around 10 p.m. and quickly consumed the structure.

Area firefighters arrived to the home within minutes of when the fire was reported, but were unable to save the residence.

Volunteers with the Mineville-Witherbee, Moriah, Port Henry, Crown Point, Westport and North Hudson fire departments spent nearly five hours battling the fire and trying to determine what sparked the blaze.

A motorcyclist traveling in a group of more than 20 bikers died Saturday after colliding with a sport utility vehicle in Hague, the State Police said.

A Ticonderoga man was arraigned in Elizabethtown Court July 31 facing charges of fifth degree welfare fraud and offering a false instrument for filing, both class A misdemeanors.

Walter Wiktorko, 39, allegedly submitted an application for the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) that contained false information. In doing so, he allegedly received $480.00 in benefits to which he was not entitled.

Wiktorko appeared for his arraignment before Town Justice William Garrison, pleading not guilty and requesting counsel.

Investigator Gerald Allwell of the Essex County Department of Social Services Fraud Investigation Unit said that although welfare fraud is a fairly common crime in Essex County, cases where HEAP are the only benefits fraudulently obtained are rare.

According to Allwell, the county will likely seek restitution from Wiktorko equal to the benefits he obtained, plus interest.

Usually, Glen Carlsen walks out the front door in the morning and sees his American flag hanging from a pillar on the front porch of his Goodwin Avenue home.

But Thursday, he said, the flag was on the ground between his porch stairs and a pile of wood.

"So I picked it up, and this is what I found," Carlsen said Thursday, holding the half-burned flag in his hands.

Carlsen, who has flown a flag since he moved into the house 3-1/2 years ago, suspects some person or group of people burned the flag the night before.

An elderly woman drowned after going wading in Schroon Lake Tuesday night. Family members reported Elizabeth A. Weiner, 81, of 18 Hurd St., Cazenovia, missing after she failed to return around 6:30 p.m.Tuesday.

She was found at 7:55 p.m. in the lake behind the Davis Motel, near where her family has a summer camp.

She was discovered 10 feet from shore, unresponsive and face down in two feet of water, according to the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Police said the Schroon Lake Rescue Squad was called but no lifesaving measures were taken, because Mrs. Weiner was deceased.

Investigators said Mrs. Weiner left her camp to go wading by herself in Schroon Lake. She was a seasonal resident of Schroon Lake, police said, and known to be a non-swimmer.

WESTPORT -- This year's Essex County Fair will see the return of the popular barbecue pit and the introduction of an interactive firefighter training show for children.

Fair Manager Irwin Bordon, who just took over the event, said they're also taking special precautions to make sure cars and trucks don't get stuck in the parking lot if it rains.

The 160th Essex County Fair starts at 9 a.m. today with an open draft horse show. Admission is $10 a person and includes rides provided by Dreamland Amusements.

"There's a lot that's new this year," Bordon said. "The new firefighter training show is interactive for the kids. They crawl through a smoke-filled building. They'll take kids right out of the crowd."

TICONDEROGA -- A car knocked down a power pole here and closed a dead-end road until the pole could be removed by National Grid.

Luke Foley, no age available, of New Jersey was driving a 2006 Jeep on Baldwin Road at about 2 p.m. Tuesday when he lost control and crashed into the pole, Ticonderoga Town Police said.

The pole and its power lines came down across the road, police said, blocking traffic for up to an hour until it could be removed.

Foley was not injured, and a female passenger in his car, who was not identified, had minor bruises. Ticonderoga Emergency Squad treated her at the site.

The car was heavily damaged and was towed, police said. Ticonderoga Fire Department was also called to the crash.

GLENS FALLS - A local man was arrested Sunday after he assaulted a woman and threatened to kill her, police said.

Benjamin E. Fortner, 25, was intoxicated as he grabbed and began shoving his girlfriend's friend, Brandy A. Waite, of 122 Warren St., police said. As she was being attacked, she was holding a child and tried to hand the child to her friend, police said.

Fortner, of 16 Montcalm St., knocked the woman to the ground of a second-floor apartment, police said. He then got on top of her, refusing to let her stand up, and threatened to kill her and her family, police said.

Before attacking the woman, police said, Fortner also threw things around the apartment, hitting a second child, a baby who lived there.

The woman managed to get away from him and run out of the house, police said. By that time, another person took the child to a neighbor living on the first floor, police said.

One person was in critical condition Monday after two boats crashed into each other on Schroon Lake Sunday night.

Old-time push mowers finding favor with some for environmental reasons, financial and health reasons.

ADVANTAGES

One of the advantages to using a non-motorized mower is the cost. Purchase prices, for example, range from $80 to $150. And there's no gas, oil, spark plugs, filters, tune-ups and blade replacement.

Push mowers are lighter in weight and easier to store.

Environmental concern is the primary motivation for many to purchase a push mower. Studies show the minimum amount of air pollution from operating a gas mower for an hour is the equivalent to driving an automobile 100 miles.

And the Environmental Protection Agency says an estimated 17 million gallons of fuel, mostly gasoline, is spilled each year nationwide by people refueling lawn equipment.

One person was in critical condition Monday after two boats crashed into each other on Schroon Lake Sunday night.

Deborah Mars -- a Ticonderoga native -- stepped down earlier this year as president of the board of trustees after disagreements with the fort's longtime executive director, Nicholas Westbrook.

TICONDEROGA, N.Y. - Fort Ticonderoga, one of the nation's oldest and most significant historic sites, is so financially strapped that its trustees are considering selling off some of the fort's vast collection ...

A young woman taking pictures at Ticonderoga's Lower LaChute Falls had to be rescued Wednesday after she found herself trapped amid rising water.

Flooding in an area just south of the Port Henry village line caused one-way traffic on Route 9N/22 Wednesday.

The section called "the rock cuts" is prone to flooding, and the New York State Department of Transportation has installed special collapsible signs there that can be opened to warn of water on the road.

Traffic there is expected to be restricted to one lane until a nearby stream goes down.

Several roads in Essex County were closed due to flooding after severe thunderstorms moved through Wednesday, but most had reopened by evening.

In Port Henry, McKenzie Brook was running very high, and local officials were keeping an eye on it. A DOT project is currently under way to raise the McKenzie Brook Bridge on Main Street (Route 9N/22) to alleviate flooding.

Former Whitehall Town Clerk Janet Jillson took nearly $93,000 of town money between 2003 and 2007, the state Comptroller's Office announced today.

Jillson, who resigned as clerk in December 2007, returned $64,800 in the form of personal checks, according to the state audit released today.

There was little to no oversight of Jillson’s activities and "very weak controls over cash transactions," the comptroller’s office said.

In the wake of Jillson’s sudden resignation late last year, the Town Board passed a measure requiring at least two signatures on town checks.

Read more about this issue in tomorrow’s online and print editions of The Post-Star.

Many of the people who spoke at a hearing Tuesday on expanding Ticonderoga's hamlet to follow a local stream didn't think it was a good idea.