Blogs > Fresh Ink
The Saratogian Managing Editor Barbara Lombardo talks about journalism in general, The Saratogian specifically and other issues that strike her fancy.
Monday, May 6, 2013
Replacement car seat covers that aren’t compatible with the
specific vehicle could be dangerous, especially if the covers block the opening
for the side air bags.
“It literally could break your back,” explained Marv Schulz
in a recent call to me. “I don’t want to see anybody get hurt.”
Schulz is owner of Pit Road Racing Collectibles on Geyser
Road. It’s also a Budget truck rental business. In addition, Schulz is a
licensed inspector of vehicles for insurance companies; state law requires a
visual inspection when owners are switching carriers.
As part of that inspection, the insurance companies want to
know if there are air bags; they aren’t concerned about seat covers. But Schulz
is.
“A lot of people don’t even realize there is a side bag,” he
said. That includes countless people who aren’t switching insurance carriers
but are just buying replacement seat covers.
Schulz estimates that he performs the insurance inspection
on more than 200 vehicles a month and that about 10 percent come in with covers
that were not meant for the car.
“It’s a very dangerous situation,” he said.
It’s been bothering him for a while, and he finally asked me
to help spread the word. So here we are. There’s no law governing replacement
seat covers, and maybe we don’t need yet another law. But that places the
burden on the vehicle owner to make the safe choice when buying replacement
seat covers.
Thanks, Mr. Schulz.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Saratoga Center for Family offers advocacy, education, therapy — and needs your help
Journalists take pride in giving
a voice to people in need, with hopes of inspiring readers to action. But some
stories are so private that they can be told only in generic terms — such as
those involving children who are victims of abuse or neglect.
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| The Ballston Avenue building in Saratoga Springs served some 400 children and their families in 2012. Photo by Erica Miller/emiller@saratogian.com |
That’s one of the
challenges in raising awareness and encouraging donations for groups like the Saratoga
Center for the Family, a nonprofit, countywide organization that last year
provided therapy and healing to 400 children and their families in the building
you’ve passed a million times on Ballston Avenue, between SPAC and Price
Chopper.
As reporter Jennie Grey explains,
“the Center for the Family focuses on building healthier families in Saratoga
County and beyond, helping those struggling with trauma, depression, anxiety
and disruptive behavior disorders who have experienced physical, sexual and
emotional abuse. Victims of assault, human trafficking, domestic violence,
divorce and bullying come for healing.”
There can be no so-called
poster child for the organization. Yet the need is there, and the services can
be provided only with the generosity of people who will never know the children
and families they are helping. So I’m trying to help spread the word.
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| The Saratoga Center for the Family offers a welcoming environment to children and families. Photo by Erica Miller/emiller@saratogian.com |
Next Wednesday is the
Saratoga Center for the Family’s annual Celebrating the Power of Hope event, a
cocktail party with food and entertainment and the silent and live auction that
are components of so many worthy fund-raisers. Auction items include a one-year
downtown Saratoga Springs parking space, two Southwest airlines tickets, and box
seats for a day at Saratoga Race Course during the 2013 season.
The event will recognize
Raymond O’Conor, former president of Saratoga National Bank and Trust Company,
for his continued support of the center and the community. It will take place
from 6 to 9 p.m. April 24 at Longfellows Restaurant. Cost is $75 per person for
age 36 and older, and $50 for 35 and younger.
Learn more about the organization
and the Celebrating Hope and Power event at www.saratogacff.org
or by calling 587-8008.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Kids: Write about Saratoga, win ice cream
Students in grades 2 through 8 in Saratoga County are
invited this month to tell The Saratogian about what makes summer special.
The contest is part of Saratoga 150, celebrating a milestone
anniversary of horse racing in Saratoga.
Select essays will be published in The Saratogian and winning
writers will receive Stewart’s ice cream certificates.
To enter, students should ask an adult to share a special
memory or experience of Saratoga in the summer and describe what they had to
say in 150 or less. Email your essay to 150contest@saratogian.com by April
30. At the top of the entry, writers should include their name, grade, school,
teacher’s and parent’s names, and a contact phone number.
The contest is designed as an exercise in interviewing and
writing.
Entries will be considered in three categories — grades 2
and 3, 4 and 5, and 6 to 8. Winners in each category will be awarded ice cream
certificates of $25 for first place, $15 for second and $5 for third.
.
Monday, April 1, 2013
City police going after drug traffickers
The Saratogian’s online and front-page centerpiece story this
morning pulls together piecemeal reporting that had been done since December
about local drug arrests.
The story is not over. But it was time for reporter Lucian
McCarty to put into context the otherwise disparate stories of what police are
doing to pick off drug traffickers in and around Saratoga Springs.
The first piece broke in last December as a more or less
routine story. A 47-year-old Milton man was arrested on a warrant that Saratoga
Springs police said was part of an ongoing investigation into cocaine and other
drug trafficking. He was charged with four felonies — two counts of
third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and two counts of third-degree
criminal possession of a controlled substance —and two counts of seventh-degree
criminal possession of a controlled substance, misdemeanors.
Over the next three months, a total of 18 people were
arrested in six raids in connection with drug trafficking as part of an
investigation that includes the Saratoga Springs police, neighboring law
enforcement entities, and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.
What’s been seized, police say, includes an undisclosed
amount of cash, 245 bags of heroin, 4.5 ounces of cocaine, two ounces of crack
cocaine, three pounds of marijuana, and hydrocodone, oxycodone, suboxone and
liquid PCP worth between $30,000 and $40,000 on the street.
Serious quantities of drugs are passing through the city,
and some of it is staying right here. Police Lt. John Catone says drug addicts
drove a 33 percent increase in burglaries and 10 percent increase in larcenies
reported last year. To their credit, police are clearly trying to go after the
bigger fish. Members of the Saratoga Springs Police Department and the Saratoga
County District Attorney’s Office have the credentials of DEA agents, enabling
them to follow the trail of drugs and money, as McCarty reports. People with
information about drug dealing should call the SSPD’s anonymous line at
584-TIPS.
The use and sale of illegal drugs in Saratoga Springs and
surrounding locales could be the basis for a whole special report, which we’ve
discussed in the newsroom as a project to tackle. For now, The Saratogian had
the responsibility to begin to tell the bigger story by acknowledging the
efforts of police and tying together the arrests thus far.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Life, death, and words of comfort
Prayer and the support of community provide comfort when a
loved one has been lost, as was evident yesterday at Temple Sinai in Saratoga
Springs, where people gathered for the evening service led by Rabbis Linda Motzkin
and Jonathan Rubenstein to honor the memory of Gloria Mandelbaum, the mother of
Rhoda Pickus.
Two readings from the book used for the service touched me for
their poetic reminder of the circle of life. They are relevant, regardless of
one’s religious beliefs. These are the excerpts:
From the prayer book: “All that we prize is but lent to us;
and the time comes when we must surrender it.”
And, adapted from “Touching Peace,” by Thich Nhat Hanh: “One
day as I was about to step on a dry leaf, I saw … that it was not really dead,
but it was merging with the moist soil and preparing to appear on the tree the
following spring in another form.”
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