Fresh Ink

A quick trip to Woodstock for best Aimee Mann concert so far

2012-01-24T00:22:00.002-05:00

Their chamber of commerce leaflet calls Woodstock the most famous little town in America. Maybe they’re right. Personally, I’m not into the tie-dye. But my husband and I had a lovely overnight to Woodstock this past Saturday.

The impetus for the trip was a chance to see Aimee Mann at the Bearsville Theater, a cool, friendly venue that would be great in Saratoga. My husband introduced me to Aimee Mann’s music after the movie “Magnolia.” I love her distinctive voice and quirky, albeit sometimes gloomy, lyrics.

I must have been one of the first to jump online to order tickets, because we were front row center. Aimee Mann was almost as close to us as you are to the computer screen you are reading right now. Well, maybe 10 feet away, tops.

This was the fourth time we saw her in concert, and it was our favorite. We saw her one summer in Albany’s Washington Park. We were poured on awaiting the start of the concert, but then the skies parted, our clothes pretty much dried and the concert was quite good. We also saw her in Northampton, and though we had a good time, that night neither the crowd nor Mann seemed really into it. We also saw her Christmas show one year at the Egg.

Anyway, the Bearsville Theater show was our favorite, and she seemed to be having fun, too. In addition to her “standards,” she played about three songs from an upcoming album, all good. She joked that people who go to concerts don’t want to hear new stuff, and thus suggested this would be a good time to go to the bathroom.

Before the show, we noticed Aimee at the The Bear Café, but restrained ourselves from jumping, pointing, hugging or asking for autographs. The Bear Café is fine dining in a lovely but unstuffy setting adjacent to the theater. As someone who enjoys thinking about food, the delicious duck confit will be as much a memory of Woodstock as the concert, and I loved the concert.

Fearful that the night of the concert would be the first big snowstorm of 2012, I booked us a room at the Wild Rose Inn rather than worry about whether we’d have to make it 80 miles home, or even 10 miles to the Saugerties Comfort Inn. Naturally, the weather was fine. But so was the B&B.

We’ve been in the area before, without staying overnight, for the Levon Helm Ramble. Luckily we got to enjoy this close-up with the former drummer from The Band while he was still able to do quite a bit of singing. How fun to be in an intimate setting with great musicians.

"Red Tails" recognizes heroes like Saratoga Springs' own Clarence Dart

2012-01-19T23:35:00.003-05:00

I am so excited about Friday afternoon’s debut of the George Lucas movie “Red Tails,” starring Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr. I hope it will sear into the public memory the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the African-American World War II fighter pilots who served bravely and with dignity in the face of racial indignities.

My special interest is because one of those men is a member of our community who is dear to my heart, Clarence Dart.

Clarence and his wife Millie raised their family in a cozy Saratoga Springs home that I was lucky enough to move next door to some 30 years ago. It was several years before I realized this modest man flew 95 missions — and was shot down twice — as a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen.

I wasn’t the only one slow to recognize a hero in our midst. It wasn’t until 2007 that the Tuskegee Airmen were honored with a Congressional Gold Medal. Fortunately, Clarence Dart and family members were among those present for the long-overdue recognition. Various local ceremonies honoring Clarence Dart have since followed.

I tweeted Wednesday about the upcoming movie and, an admitted Twitter novice, I was astonished at the endless string of tweets with the #redtails hashtag. I am in good company, nationwide.

“It’s important to have a movie like this,” said Clarence Dart’s son, Warren, a Maple Avenue Middle School teacher, in an interview with Saratogian reporter Paul Post. “I wouldn’t know this history if my father wasn’t a Tuskegee Airman. They didn’t teach it when I was in school. It wasn’t talked about.” You can read Paul Post’s story and see a trailer of the movie on The Saratogian website at http://saratogian.com/articles/2012/01/19/news/doc4f17934bcf713697231442.txt

The plan for Friday afternoon is for Clarence, 91, to be accompanied to “Red Tails” by his 10-year-old grandson, Gregor. A film about black fighter pilots is called “Red Tails” because the segregated pilots set apart their planes by painting the tails red. I hope the debut will be a red letter day.

Why you didn't get a Christmas card

2011-12-29T22:02:00.000-05:00

This is the basically true story of why you didn’t get a Christmas or Hanukkah card from the Lombardo family, with apologies to Clement Clark Moore.

‘Twas four days before Christmas, and all through the house
Not one card had been written; I felt like a louse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
And above them stood cards sent by folks far and near.

I should have been nestled all snug in my bed,
But tackled our Christmas and Hanukkah cards instead.
I dug out the address book and holiday stamps
And settled down to write cards till my old fingers cramped.

Next morning, I “mailed” them with a bit of a clatter
In the box on my porch, thinking what will it matter.
But someone swooped by, lively and quick,
And stole all the cards – and it wasn’t Saint Nick.

Leaving mail in the open was naïve if not crazy,
With a mailbox on the corner, I was really just lazy.
Some Grinch who was grabbing for gift cards or cash
Ripped off all the cards and dumped them as trash.

One envelope did hold a year-end donation,
So I thought I should notify the city police station.
First I webwised my bank to note payment should stop,
Then I called the dispatcher, who sent over a cop.

Worries about the stolen check started to mount.
What if some crook could rip off my account?
The bank mailed me a form that would give them the sway
To doublecheck signatures on checks sent their way.

Two days after Christmas, I went to the bank
With the bank form in hand, feeling slightly a crank.
When what to my wondering eyes should appear
But the stolen check, with a bit of a tear.

“Does this look familiar?” the teller implored.
It was found taped that morning to the bank’s big front door!
Thank you, kind person, who gave of their time,
Thus closing the book on this holiday crime.

The holiday season has truly been fleeting;
The time’s past for Hanukkah and Christmas greetings.
But this doesn’t mean the Lombardos don’t care.
So I’ll wish you all now: Happy, healthy New Year!

2011-12-15T12:52:00.001-05:00

Treating people with disabilities with dignity: Saratogian staffers recognized by NYSARC

2011-10-18T15:24:00.004-04:00

Two Saratogian staffers, reporter Suzanna Lourie and photographer Erica Miller, are among journalists statewide who will be honored Friday at a gathering of NYSARC. I'm so proud to have The Saratogian recognized by this group.
NYSARC describes itself as "a family-based organization working with and for people who have intellectual and other developmental disabilities."
That is a wordy but more accurate description of an organization that, when established in 1949, was commonly known at the Association for Retarded Children, and then retarded citizens. They have successfully purged "mentally retarded" from their lingo because of its negative and inaccurate connotations. And they are fighting a winning battle to raise community consciousness about how to thoughtfully and accurately refer to people with disabilities.
An abbreviated version of NYSARC's mission is "to improve the quality of life for people who have intellectual and other developmental disabilities and their families in every manner possible, including but not limited to: education, training, rehabilitation, family support, recreation and guardianship."
The statewide organization has annual media awards to recognize photographers and print and broadcast stories that further the goal of "awareness through communication."
County branches of the organization submit local work for the judging. The winners are invited to an awards luncheon that is part of NYSARC's annual convention. I'll be joining Erica and Suzanna. Their work, as well as many others submitted statewide, are examples of how the media can and should inform the public and while treating people with disabilities with dignity.

Bonnie, bonnie week in Scotland after bumpy start with bird strike

2011-10-10T19:15:00.005-04:00

“You take the high road and I’ll take the low road,” has been on the tip of my tongue for days. No, it is not the athem for journalists. It’s the famous tune from Scotland, and I’m still on a high a lovely week in the highlands — including a mini-Minnehaha-like tour of Loch Lomand, the lake with the bonnie, bonnie banks.

Our whirlwind Taste of Scotland was with Mary Huber’s Edventures. All 11 on the tour had traveled with Edventures before and knew one another; Jim and I enjoyed Florence, Lucca and Rome in 2008.

Our “Edventure” quickly became an “adventure” when shortly after takeoff from Newark we had a bird strike. “I heard a noise and saw fire coming out of the engine,” said the fellow sitting in the window seat next to me.

The pilot said we were heading back to Newark rather than cross the Atlantic with one good engine. No argument there. He explained that our plane, loaded with fuel, was heavier than normal for a landing and the fire engines and ambulances that we’ll see on the ground will be there merely as a precaution. Okey dokey.

Everyone was calm, though I did a few extra rounds of the “sh’ma,” the No. 1 Jewish prayer. We landed safely and, luckily, an identical jet, sans birds, was available. So off we went, only two hours late. Not bad.

Scotland was unseasonably warm and dry, with just enough mist in the mountains to make it picture-perfect. The pines, fall foliage and rolling hills are reminiscent of the Adirondacks, though only one peak, the Ben Nevis, would qualify for 46ers. Sheep are everywhere, up and down the hills — supplemented here and there by goats and cattle. And the winding roads (with everyone driving on the wrong side!) were often one lane wide, if that.

Saratoga County’s town of Edinburgh probably has its share of sheep, goats and cattle. But Scotland’s city of Edinburgh — pronounced Edinburrah — is a walkable city with lots of friendly people, castles, museums new and old, pubs, fine dining, streets lined with gray stone homes, many hundreds of years old. I loved the way everyone sounded like Sean Connery (and we saw the school where he delivered milk and Ian Fleming, the James Bond author, was a student).

A huge piece of Scottish history involves the April 16, 1746 Battle of Culloden, which is explained at a fantastic visitors center through the eyes of both sides — those favoring the British government led by the Duke of Cumberland and the Jacobites, led by Charles Edward Stuart, who hoped to return his family to power. The dual storytelling technique would work equally well at the Saratoga Battlefield or Gettysburg.

The interactive visitor center accomplished what our otherwise patient guide, Morag Brodie, could not, despite two days of trying to get a bit of Scottish history straight in our thick American heads. In our defense, no one in Scottish history has one name. William Wallace is Braveheart, played by Mel Gibson. Check. But over the centuries, monarchs had more name changes than Prince. Roman numerals bounced backwards and forwards. And it took a while for the bulb to light up about the Jacobites (Latin for followers of James): Charles Edward Stuart and Bonnie Prince Charles, are the same guy.

The food in Scotland was quite good, with fresh salmon and top-notch beef. Breakfasts included fried or poached eggs with roasted tomatoes and mushroom on the side. I finished off a serving of haggis but couldn’t do more than a teeny forkful of black pudding. The only whiskey I had was a glass of 18-year-old Glenlivet at the end of the distillery tour. Sorry, but it’s not my kind of drink. Good news, the cosmopolitans at the bar in the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, with a piece of orange peel instead of the usual lime, were delicious.

Highlights of the trip were the scenery, the boat ride on Loch Lomand, Stirling Castle and Glamis Castle, St. Andrews, and walking around Edinburgh.

Reporters shouldn't turn over notes and video outtakes lightly

2011-09-23T19:30:00.003-04:00

Lucian McCarty was doing his job as a multi-media reporter on the day one man stabbed another in a “road rage” incident in Wilton. He interviewed people, wrote a story, and shot a video.
The video shows the track of blood in the parking lot leading into the Wilton CVS and contains an interview with the clerk who saw the stabbing victim and called 911.
Good work, McCarty.
Next thing I know, I’m handed a subpoena (as head of the newsroom) commanding me (yes, the subpoena includes the phrase, all in capital letters, “WE COMMAND YOU … ”) to appear before the Saratoga County Grand Jury with a copy of the video, including all out takes.

Anyone can see the video on The Saratogian website. But the outtakes? Um, I don’t think so.
A journalist should not impede an investigation or a court proceeding. And sound case law precludes a news organization from being forced to disclose material that it gathers. Exceptions to the rule would be based on this reasonable three-prong test: that the items or information sought is highly material to the case, is critical to the litigant’s claim, and is not otherwise available.
The Saratogian argued that the material sought by the prosecution did not pass that test, and the demand was modified to require only a disk of the video as it appears online.
That was a fair solution. Reporters routinely take more notes and more video footage than they end up publishing. It would be an unnecessary and excessive intrusion for reporters to be expected to work under the cloud of having to turn over their notes or outtakes. Nothing we could have provided would have helped or hindered the case.
Being subpoenad for video was a new experience for us here at The Saratogian. The first time I received a subpeona, I was a rookie reporter ordered to appear before the grand jury for something I wrote. My publisher at the time hired an attorney, a move that blossomed into a relationship (between the publisher and the attorney) and a 30-plus-year marriage.
No romance is in the cards this time around. The subpoena was withdrawn — and my current publisher is already married.

9/11: We need to remember; we can't forget

2011-09-10T17:46:00.001-04:00

Sunday morning, Anne Kauth, the Saratoga Springs teacher whose husband, Don, died in the World Trade Center attacks, is scheduled to be at ground zero for the 10th anniversary 9/11 observances.
“I guess it’s time,” she said to me the other day.
Her youngest child, Cecelia, now 25, is completing a cross-country bike ride in memory of her father. The ride raised some $25,000, which will provide bicycles for a whole village in Africa.
“I’m very proud of her,” Kauth said. “She’s been through a lot.”
She was quick to add that she’s proud of all of her children. Kathleen, the Olympic ice hockey player, was in the limelight a lot over the years.
Sunday afternoon, family and friends of Don and Anne are scheduled to join up at a get-together being put on by Don’s firm at the zoo in Central Park. I am hoping that we’ll be able to connect at least through texts during the day.
I feel kind of creepy asking to let The Saratogian intrude on so personal and heart-wrenching a day. She understands this is my job and graciously shares her cell phone number, with the warning that she’s not the greatest at texting.
I cannot imagine having lived through so terrible and public a loss as that experienced by the Kauths and thousands of families like them, or by people like Leslie Miller, whose son Taylor gave his life in the fighting since 9/11.
I remember the morning of 9/11 I was getting ready for work and my husband told me a plane hit the World Trade Center. I turned on the 13-inch TV in our bedroom in time to see the second plane hit the tower. The rest of the day in the office, everyone glued to the TV, was a blur of horror and the adrenalin rush of publishing the biggest news of my lifetime.
Ten years? Can it really be 10 years?
A wonderful, original and moving novel is “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” the story of a precocious New York City boy’s quest following his father’s death in 9/11. It reminds me that it is too easy to mistakenly underestimate the long-term effects of an event on someone, especially a child.
Like Cece Kauth.
I just finished previewing many of the stories being published in special edition that will be the front of The Saratogian’s Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011 edition. It’s not easy to look at some of the images from the Associated Press. It’s hard to read some of the stories without choking up. Editor Paul Tackett has designed a dramatic package of local stories, many of them written by reporters who were barely in high school, if that, on the day of the attacks. Interviewing people who suffered a loss in 9/11, and having responders recount their stories, has been education for them, I think. That’s a good thing.
What we can’t remember, we need to learn. We need to be reminded, touched, and humbled, and, in the process, inspired to go on.

Publishing in the midst of whipping winds and power outages

2011-08-28T12:06:00.004-04:00

It feels like a race against time: Get the pages to the printer before the power goes off.

For the moment, knock wood, The Saratogian is up and running and so is The Record in Troy, where our printing press is located. I am grateful for everyone who makes the effort to put the news together, and for the carriers who brave the wind and rain to deliver our papers come heck or literal high waters.

I’m in the newsroom right now with Online Editor Emily Donohue and reporter Michael Cignoli, who have been updating Saratogian.com, tweeting and facebooking. Erica “Storm Tracker” Miller has some fantastic shots of trees down on Broadway, at the track and elsewhere. Here is an uprooted tree leaning on a power line on Clement Street near Clinton Street from this morning, and a fallen tree in front of the former Border's on Broadway in Saratoga Springs. Luckily, Erica got her Starbucks fix before power went out on that side of the street. This afternoon, things are hopping at Uncommon Grounds, which just filled an order of a bag full of bagels and a holder of coffeee. Those cardboard four-cup holders don't hold up in a tropical storm. But thanks to David L., wearing rain-soaked hat as Son rather than Competing Reporter, for making the run grub run.

Now Matt Donato and Gabe Weintraub are putting together Monday's Pink Sheet -- yes, so far there's racing Monday -- followed by an abbreviated sports section. Angela Valden and Chelsea Kruger are cranking out the remaining news pages.

Join the conversation and let us know how you are coping today.

On Saturday, my husband and I rode back to Saratoga from Colgate along the relatively scenic Route 20 (scenic compared to the Thruway), with green hills, leisurely grazing horses oblivious to Travers Day pressure, and ginormous silver windmills as still as a photograph. A storm is headed this way? Pshaw.

Torn between being the Editor and the Mom, I gave my son Joe my cell phone charger Saturday when we dropped off the stuff that didn’t fit in his car (guitar, golf clubs, broom, Tide). Sure, he had weeks to buy himself a new charger. Yes, he told me he’d just order himself one online. But for my own peace of mind, I thrust mine on him. “Just do me one favor,” I said. “Answer when I text.”

Dumb, dumb, dumb. Now my own phone is down a power bar and I am sweating out the specter of missed communication.

Joe didn’t need my charger, with three housemates who also have phones. He’s 21 and can take care of himself. So explain to me why I left a flashlight equipped with two fresh batteries on his kitchen counter without saying a word about it.

Well, the trees are whipping outside The Saratogian’s Lake Avenue windows. Time to post and get moving on tomorrow’s pages and keeping http://www.saratogian.com/ up to date.

School newspaper a welcome addition to Saratoga Springs High School

2011-08-19T22:59:00.002-04:00

It’s great to have a job you can get excited about. That’s how I feel about journalism. It has so many rewarding moments, enough to somehow compensate for the downsides. Rik Stevens, the upstate New York editor for the Associated Press (and a former Saratogian staffer), told students in the class I teach at University at Albany that his journalist father, learning that his son would be following in both his parents’ footsteps, accurately predicted that he’d “hate the hours, hate the pay, but love the work.”

It’s great to see other people excited about journalism, too. I am so glad that Saratoga Springs High School will not only be reviving a school newspaper this fall (hard to believe a school of this size and caliber has been without one), but will also be offering journalism classes.

Earlier this month, a press release came to The Saratogian about the rigorous 2011 Reynolds High School Journalism Institute program hosted by Kent State University in Ohio in July. Flipping through the release, I found the local connection: One of the participants in the competitive program affiliated with the American Society of News Editors Foundation was Jill Cowburn, a teacher at Saratoga Springs High School. Reporter Suzanna Lourie quickly interviewed Cowburn for a news story, which is where I learned the former New York Times television company documentary-maker and producer, who student-taught at Shenendehowa High School, would be introducing a journalism program at the high school. Sixty-three juniors and seniors have already pre-registered for three sections of Introduction to Journalism.

The school newspaper, she said, would at least at first be online only. That’s not only a money-saver, it’s in keeping with journalism’s digital revolution.

My immediate response was to email Cowburn offering a partnership with The Saratogian on this new venture. I was thrilled by her enthusiastic response – as well as by the enthusiastic response from newsroom staffers interested in participating. And, as Cowburn noted in her email to me, this will also provide “some great mutual opportunities for engagement in the community.”

Clearly, Cowburn understands Journalism 101 in 2011.

As Lourie noted in her story, Cowburn recognizes that “all students can gain from journalism’s core critical, creative and analytical skills.”
“Most won’t go on to be journalists, but regardless, they will be more informed consumers of media,” Cowburn said.

And better citizens, I would add. A win for everyone.

A night with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center can be a life-changer

2011-07-29T23:41:00.003-04:00

I think I saw the conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra -- of 2031 – at tonight’s performance at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

An exuberant boy in sneakers with flashing blue lights stationed himself on the walkway at the lower end of the lawn at the foot of the center screen. Inspired by Beethoven’s lively Symphony No. 7 in A major, the boy mimicked conductor Charles Dutoit, adding his own arm waves and body twirls.

He made my night, and I was already having a lovely night.

The boy’s family was only a few yards back. At the end of the concert, they all wandered off before I could catch up with them. I wanted to tell them how great it is to see people bringing kids to the orchestra. It baffles and saddens me that with free lawn admission for kids (and free ice cream courtesy of Stewart’s on “kids night”) more people don’t experience the richness of live orchestra (and before that, ballet). (You have until Aug. 13, folks.)

I arrived around 7:30 with my lawn chair, umbrella, tomato and mozzarella salad and bug spray. With the discount from my sustaining membership, I bought the least expensive inside seat ($31 reduced to $23) as “rain insurance” rather than the $20 lawn ticket. Turns out the clouds passed and I was able to stay the entire evening on the lawn, where I could see and hear the orchestra as well as the star-filled sky.

The star that drew me to SPAC this evening was on the stage: The gracious and talented Saratoga Springs native David Hyde Pierce narrated “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra,” a charming piece that literally introduces the listener to the four sections of the orchestra and the instruments within them.

In a pre-recorded interview on WNYT, he talked about how terrific it was “to a grow up in a small town with an incredible emphasis on the arts.”

I felt the same way at SPAC Thursday night, when my husband and I joined up with my neighbors, the Dart family, for “A Symphonic Night at the Movies.” The entire film “Casablanca” was shown on the six screens while the Philadelphia Orchestra performed the score – a very cool idea that drew plenty of people for inside and the lawn. The weather cooperated, too.

At tonight’s concert, SPAC President Marcia White said in her welcoming remarks that coming to SPAC as a child was a life-changer for David Hyde Pierce, who was a musician before becoming an actor.

Who knows, maybe it will turn out to be a life-changer for the little boy in the sneakers with the blinking blue lights.

New owners, same mission: Local content

2011-07-15T23:02:00.004-04:00

Beverly McKim, the editor of WG Life, a weekly paper The Saratogian publishes for the Wilton- Gansevoort area, was first in the newsroom to notice the email sent at 2:15 p.m. Thursday to all employees of Journal Register Company.

“We’ve been sold,” she said.

She read aloud the email from John Paton, the CEO of The Saratogian’s parent company, announcing that the Journal Register Company had been bought by Alden Global Capital.
“That’s a good thing,” he wrote of the sale, noting that the hedge fund had already been an investor in the company and has other newspaper company investments. “They know what we do, they like what we do, and today they are putting their money behind our efforts. Today’s announcement is a ringing endorsement of your efforts and demonstrates Alden’s confidence in our business model. Importantly, it also positions us well to continue to pursue our Digital First strategy and expand our company going forward.”

I believe him. I believe in our company strategy and the management team Paton has pulled together, which he said will remain in place. And I believe in The Saratogian and care about the communities it serves.

Paton’s email admittedly caused a bit of a distraction Thursday afternoon, Googling Alden Global Capital and following the emails of a handful of JRC employees in other states who “replied to everyone” to vent about long hours, low pay, outsourced jobs and feeling underappreciated and being frustrated by technology that falls far short for a company whose turnaround has centered on the mantra “Digital First.”

Those are frustrations with which I think many people in the news business, and not just those in JRC, can identify. Paton responded evenly, cc’ing everyone, in emails acknowledging the company’s goals, shortcomings and challenges, and asking simply, “Is your preference that the company remain bankrupt then simply go out of business?”

The Journal Register Company came out of bankruptcy under Paton’s leadership. He reinvented its mission and totally turned around its image, in a positive way, within the news industry. Evolving into a company that sees the future and has a future hasn’t been painless and we’re really still in the early stages of the changes that are in store. Paton has said time and again that the key to the company’s survival is to “invest in our core competencies, which are content and sales, and look hard at reducing our infrastructure costs.”

One of our Community Media Lab bloggers posted the news of The Saratogian’s sale and expressed uneasiness about being owned by out-of-town investors.

Actually, The Saratogian has been owned by out-of-towners since 1934, when Col. Walbridge sold The Saratogian to the Gannett Company. I wasn’t around then. But I was there 60 years later, when Gannett was unloading some of its smaller properties and sold The Saratogian to the Journal Register Company, which saw a synergistic opportunity because it already owned the Record in Troy.

Funny thing at the time was that local people were worried about us not being a local company anymore – not realizing The Saratogian hadn’t been locally owned since 1934. That meant we were doing our job at The Saratogian then, as now, and that our owners, then and now, know that The Saratogian’s niche in this competitive market is local content. And now, thank goodness, we are emphasizing digital first.

So what happened in the newsroom after we learned about the sale, Googled the company and read the emails?

Online Editor Emily Donohue created a “family tree” to help online readers understand at a glance the connections between victims of the explosion that leveled a house in Washington County Salem.

Photographer Erica Miller filed her day-after photos of the disaster, and reporter Michael Cignoli wrote his second-day story and filed a video taken at the scene, as a young girl creates a memorial with a stuffed animal beneath a tree and an emergency responder explains how they will go about determining the cause.

Betsy DeMars, the assistant managing editor, consulted with reporter Paul Post about his story and video on SPAC’s alcohol crackdown and edited reporter Lucian McCarty’s update on the Family Court case involving the accidental shooting of a 12-year-old boy.

Chelsea Kruger edited the obituaries that would appear online and in Friday’s print edition, then moved on to the police and courts column.

Nicole Russo, the sports editor, convened her crew, including with horse racing writer Mike Veitch, for an all-systems-go meeting in advance of next Friday’s start of the 2011 Saratoga Race Course meet and the season debut of the daily Pink Sheet.

In short, everyone continued to do what we do every day – gather and report your local news. And that’s what we intend to keep doing.

It Pays to Be Kind to Tourists. Really.

2011-07-08T12:50:00.003-04:00

Yesterday morning I meandered my way to work through Congress Park, noticing that the still-brown ducklings have grown but the mama ducks still hover and marveling at that protective instinct with which I so strongly, sometimes maybe too strongly, identify.
I watched two women taking turns photographing each other in between the giant urns not far from the Canfield Casino, and gladly agreed to take a couple of shots of the two friends together. I stopped to look at the area near the Canfield Casino that on Aug. 5 will officially become the Marylou Whitney Rose Garden in honor of the philanthropist, socialite, horse owner and business woman who for decades has been the Queen of the Spa City.
I guess I look local and approachable, because a couple to ask me whether the Casino was the Visitor’s Center. I pointed to the park entrance, where they’d find the Visitors Center across the street, gave them a 30-second explanation about the Casino and encouraged them to check out the building, including the Saratoga Springs History Museum. I asked what brought them here, and they said they were from Virginia, visiting family in Albany. They were just checking out Saratoga Springs for fun, they said, heading into the Casino.
“Ask me,” I thought to myself, “I’m local.”
Joe Dalton, who retired a year ago at the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce’s longtime president, was always telling anyone who would listen about the importance of being friendly to tourists. I couldn’t agree more. We all represent this place, and can enhance (or diminish) the visitors’ experience. If this sounds sappy, tough. It’s true and you know it, from the times you are playing tourist somewhere else. Being friendly and helpful is well worth the effort.
I mention the chamber because today it has re-launched Dalton’s “Ask Me, I’m Local,” a Be Kind to Visitors campaign. Admittedly, “Ask Me, I’m Local,” makes me think of phrases like Don’t Feed the Tourists or Kiss Me, I’m Irish, especially since the pin that the chamber is pushing is green and white.
I don’t need to sport the “Ask Me, I’m Local” pin. Apparently I already reek of local yokel. But don’t let that stop from you from getting in on the action. You can find the pins at various downtown banks and other locations, along with a shiny fact sheet listing key activities and contact info. The sheet was also inserted into Friday’s Saratogian and can be downloaded at http://www.saratogian.com/ by clicking on the Ask Me I’m Local button down the righthand side of the page, or clicking here.

Share your horror stories about horrible bosses -- and win two movie tickets

2011-07-05T12:07:00.001-04:00

I’ve been lucky. I’ve had many bosses over the years, but not one who was really, really horrible boss -- at least not so horrible that I’d really want to commit murder.
How about you?
Would winning two tickets to the movies make you feel any better?
In anticipation of Friday’s opening of the movie “Horrible Bosses,” we’d like you to share your employer horror stories with Saratogian readers. Eliminate names to protect the not-so-innocent, but include yours – if you dare. We’ll print some of your sagas, and one downtrodden employee will be the random winner of two Regal tickets.
Submit your brief tales of woe to news@saratogian.com by 2 p.m. Thursday. Employees of The Saratogian newsroom are not eligible!

Onion-Corn Debate Should Make Taxpayers Weep

2011-06-24T11:03:00.001-04:00

Onions.
They can bring tears to your eyes. But the debate between state senators and assembly members over whether to make corn or onions New York's official vegetable is enough to make a person weep.
With all the major issues on the Legislature's plate, lawmakers ought to be embarrassed to be serving up something so trivial.
I like the suggestion on gotham.com to combine the veggies and compromise on the cornion. It could turn out the only legislation that they actually agree on.
Add lima beans and we could have sufferin' succotash with a kick -- and a kick, out of office, is the only cure for what ails the Legislature.

Secret Gardens Tour this Sunday

2011-06-23T21:01:00.001-04:00

Every year I vow to have my best garden ever. Even when that’s true, I still have miles to go before attaining anything close to a “wow” garden – like the kind that will be on the Sunday (June 26) Secret Gardens Tour.
If you missed The Saratogian preview of what’s on the tour, check it out at http://saratogian.com/articles/2011/06/11/life/doc4df38244c3f3b328146982.txt.
I’m a member of Soroptimist International of Saratoga County, the local branch of a professional women’s public service organization. The garden tour is one of two big fund-raisers that the club organizes to benefit programs such as Project Hope and Power, a series of classes that help local domestic violence victims obtain their legal and financial independence.
The tour, in its 17th years, is two weeks earlier than usual because the Soroptimist International’s international conference is taking place in Montreal, close enough for Saratoga members to attend. The garden tour is so labor intensive that we couldn’t have members heading to Montreal and still staff the garden sites. The date change will allow for some new views of perennials that bloom in June.
Tickets for the tour will be available at the Saratoga Springs Visitor’s Center beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday. The tour runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Learn more at www.sorotopimistsaratoga.org.

From one yearbook editor to another: Hold your head high

2011-06-15T19:35:00.003-04:00

The creation of a high school yearbook is the year-long labor of love and dedication of a handful of students. It culminates with the distribution of the books, as eager students leaf through pages to see themselves and their friends and gather signatures on the end papers. I know. I was editor of The Torch at Voorheesville High School, Class of 1972.
The experience brought together many challenges of publishing that served me well as a backdrop for the newspaper business. Planning the content. Selecting a theme. Setting up photos. Selling advertising. Making deadlines. Designing the book. Laying out the pages. Proofreading. Making fixes. Proofreading again. Handing your baby over to the printer, fingers crossed. Finally, distribution day, hoping that fellow students will consider this a keepsake worth keeping. And that was, for me, on top of a full class load, applying to college, cashiering at the Grand Union, and other activities.
The yearbook was, for me, a big responsibility, taken seriously, and produced with care. That’s exactly the way it’s been this year for Britta Moberg at Saratoga Springs High School.
When I saw her listed as co-editor of the yearbook, I smiled. I know her! And I wondered, where did she find the time? During the fall semester Britta was an intern in The Saratogian’s composing room, where ads are created. She saw her involvement in the yearbook as an opportunity to get even more experience in graphic arts. Not to mention lessons in organization, management, accountability and a heck of a lot of hands-on work.
Adult assistance, she told me today, came from longtime yearbook adviser Ed Brandt. She described for me how Brandt painstakingly proofread the yearbook, insisting on quality work. This was the first year all the photos were placed digitally. Somehow, the altered smile of one senior was overlooked on the screen and on a black and white proof of the page.
I can see how that can happen. It’s not something you’d be looking for among the hundreds of pictures. Yet when you open printed book and look, out jumps what appears to be an amateurish attempt to put a yellowish blob on a couple of teeth. Living in the glass house of publishing, I am reluctant to throw a stone for missing this.
Speaking of throwing stones, shame on the online commenters who are blasting the yearbook students for the doctored picture. Yes, it appears to be an “inside job,” and the culprit should be held accountable. The incident was regrettable for the girl whose portrait was doctored, for the boy who was inadvertently “cut out” on the reverse side -- and also for the disappointed students who worked so tirelessly and selflessly to publish this yearbook.

Now it's a story: Police chief admits sexting

2011-06-09T23:14:00.003-04:00

Last night I explained to you why I killed a story about a vague accusation about a local public official. I assured you that is there was indeed a story to be told, you’d read it in The Saratogian. This afternoon, you did, online. And it will be across the front page of Thursday’s print edition.

The story is Saratoga Springs’ Weinergate: The city’s police chief, Christopher Cole, sexted lewd messages and photos of his “private parts” to a woman he was seeing. At least one photo of himself was taken while in his office in City Hall.

It’s not a crime for one consenting adult to “sext” to another. But it’s dumb as heck. And it raises a number of questions:

What possesses a city’s top law enforcement officer to think it’s OK to text sexually explicit pictures of himself, to anyone, ever? What does he think he is, a congressman?

Why did the woman, who started the ball rolling by sexting Cole a boob shot, decide she wasn’t having fun anymore?

When the woman tried to complain to the police department’s spokesman, why did he merely refer her to Public Safety Commissioner Richard Wirth rather than report it immediately to Wirth, the City Council member who oversees the police and fire departments?

When it was clear the cat was out of the bag, Cole’s offense was a quick defense – a press release admitting to an error in judgment and noting that the sexting was with a single, 39-year-old woman and that the picture sent from his City Hall office was taken during his lunch break.

My professional dealings with Cole left me with the impression that he has been doing a good job. His lack of common sense is disappointing. As one online commenter said simply, “Don’t tweet your meat.”

Wirth called this a case of two consenting adults "having a personal, adult relationship.” Not exactly. The police chief is a public figure who’s accountable for his behavior and is never really off the clock. Unwelcome sexting could be harassment. And the handling of the attempted complaint needs to be publicly explained. The case is far from over. This is an embarrassment – for Cole, for the police department, and for Saratoga Springs.

When is a story not a story -- even if it's on TV?

2011-06-08T22:42:00.000-04:00

Earlier this evening I assigned a reporter to write a story.
Five minutes ago I killed it.
It was, it turned out, a non-story. But I want to tell you about it because I expect to get calls tomorrow asking why we are “protecting” a local official.
Here’s what happened. One of the TV news channels had a short report during tonight’s 6 o’clock news saying an investigation was under way into possible lewd messages from a high-level local public official. Because the person named is in The Saratogian readership area, we needed to look into it.
The reporter called the person’s boss, who basically said he had received no complaints, official or unofficial, about anything of the kind. The boss said a TV reporter had called asking about alleged lewd messages, that he hadn’t heard anything about it and said he’d look into it (hence the “investigation”).
Now what?
The reporter wrote the story, and it was missing something: Substance. It was tantamount to putting the person in the position of denying a vague, anonymous and unofficial allegation. Would you like to be in that position, in print?
We have an obligation to serve our readers, responsibly. When something appears on TV about our community, we know some people will look to their local paper for more information. Sometimes, like this time, the only story is that there was a story on the TV -- and that’s just not enough. If there is indeed nothing to the story, we will have avoided smearing someone’s character. But if it develops that there is something to the story, rest assured we’ll pursue it and print it.

Watch Saratoga's Pia Carusone: Sky's the limit for Gabrielle Giffords and astronaut husband Mark Kelly

2011-05-16T13:05:00.003-04:00

I was about to rush out the door to get to the office to do Monday morning’s payroll paperwork. Yes, we actually get paid for this labor of love ... if I get the paperwork in on time. But when I realized the launch of Endeavor, the last of the U.S. space shuttles, was minutes away, I stayed put and clicked on the TV.

I wanted to watch, to hold my breath and to say the silent Hebrew prayer that I also use on takeoffs and landings when I’m on a flight, in coach. It was a hold-your-breath moment not because it was the last shuttle launch and not because Ballston Spa schoolchildren had a stake in the mission (though that does add to the excitement), but because it was commanded by Mark Kelly, the husband of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

You just have to root for her. You have to.

Saratoga Springs native Pia Carusone, Giffords' chief of staff, was all over the news this morning as her spokeswoman. She told NBC's Today show that the congresswoman was "really excited" to see Kelly blast off and was "obviously happy she was able to make it."

"It's a good day for everyone here," Carusone said in the interview.

Giffords and Kelly traded their wedding rings for the mission, and all six of Endeavour's astronauts are carrying "Peace-Love-Gabby" bracelets in Giffords' honor. “She’s wearing one herself,” Carusone said, adding that bracelets are something all of their family, friends and staff have taken part in.

Giffords was shot in the head in January at a meet-and-greet event for constituents. Carusone said she is progressing medically and in rehab. She was expected to return to Houston this afternoon to continue rehab, according to CNN. “She is doing very well,” Carusone said in her Today show interview.

But she still has a long road ahead. So we’ll just keep rooting.

Cadbury eggs, cannolis -- diet starts anew the day after Easter

2011-04-25T11:26:00.007-04:00

I am halfway through my first-ever Cadbury cream-filled egg. Make that three-quarters. Hold on a sec.

Gone.

Several weeks ago, more than a month before Easter, I bought one Cadbury cream-filled egg at the Stewart’s on North Broadway, where I filled up the tank using my Price Chopper Advantage points to save maybe 50 cents a gallon off of what I thought then was a ridiculous amount for gas but what seems today like a bargain.

Anyway, I snagged the egg at the checkout, remembering that once upon a time my husband casually mentioned that he liked them and remembering that when I wait for the day before Easter to buy Easter candy, the shop cupboards are bare. I didn’t want to take that chance.

Then, during the week before Easter, I heard the new WGY morning gang drooling in Cadbury anticipation and coincidentally needed once again to deposit my paycheck into my gas tank. So at the checkout I bought a second egg and stashed it away, to find out for myself what all the cream-filled fuss is about.

I had to eat the egg tonight, which is the end of Easter Day -- not for religious reasons, since I am Jewish and Cadbury eggs have, I am confident, nothing to do with the real Easter story, but because Skidmore College’s Dr. Paul Arciero, who is conducting an exercise and nutrition study in which I am a participant, gave the group his blessing to stray – but only on Easter.

Actually, I started Easter morning with a cup of cottage cheese and a fabulous cannoli from the wonderful new Rainy Days Cafe and Bakery in my husband's hometown of Mt. Morris, N.Y., so the diet was pretty well shot by 10 a.m. I’ve been meaning to write all about Dr. Arciero's 16-week study since it started 12 weeks ago, and I will write about it (as I vow to redouble the nutrition efforts, effective immediatey), but not today. Today is about Cadbury cream-filled eggs.

Now that I’ve indulged, I can say with assurance that the best thing about a Cadbury cream-filled egg is that the ingredients and information about nutrition, if there is any, are printed in type too small for the naked eye, or even the eye adorned with lineless trifocals, like mine. Plus, the printed information is folded and crinkled around the egg-shaped egg, ensuring its illegibility. And it is impossible to gently peel the world’s thinnest foil that is the egg’s wrapper without it shredding in your fingers, eliminating whatever miniscule chance you had of reading it.

It’s probably all for the best. Next time, I’ll stick with the cannoli. Um, I mean the cottage cheese.

Civil discourse: Canceled for lack of interest

2011-04-11T09:35:00.000-04:00

Really. Civil discourse: Canceled for lack of interest. No kidding. Only one town official RSVP’d for a free seminar offered by the League of Women Voters of Saratoga County and The Saratoga Vital Aging Network. Every city and town council had received an invitation to attend “Keeping Civil Discourse Civil,” a nationally recognized program that trains community leaders to deal constructively with tough conflicts, enabling them to find common ground. So the event, which was open to the public but geared toward public officials, has been canceled. “We naively thought that in the wake of the shootings in Tucson our public officials would welcome techniques for dealing with inflammatory rhetoric and engaging in meaningful dialogue about controversial issues,” Barbara Thomas, president of the league, told me Friday afternoon.The event was intentionally scheduled for an evening that did not conflict with a Saratoga Springs City Council meeting.The lone town official, by the way, was from Milton. Kudos to the one person who thought the event was worth one evening.Civil discourse is more than common sense and courtesy. Being able to communicate constructively and work through differences to achieve goals are skills. Some people are better at it than others, and there isn’t anyone who couldn’t benefit from at least some training.Too bad the public couldn’t vote on which public officia

"Sound of Music" a delight -- catch it April 10 in Schuylerville

2011-04-09T17:33:00.003-04:00

“The Sound of Music” presented by Schuylerville Community Theater this weekend is a real delight. I went because my friend and colleague Beverly McKim and her husband, Dale, were in the cast. But as good as they were, especially Dale -- who can’t help but command the stage, whether singing or just acting – the whole cast of kids and adults oozed talent. All of the youngsters did well, but Anna Belden as Gretl, the youngest of the seven von Trapp children, was a scene-stealer. Even if I hadn’t known a soul in the cast, I would have found the show truly entertaining and well worth the $20 admission. You still have time to catch the show at 7:30 tonight (April 9) or at 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon (April 10) at the Schuylerville High School Auditorium. Just head east out Route 29 (Lake Avenue); it’s less than 10 miles from downtown Saratoga Springs. Read more about the show at http://www.saratogian.com/; Thursday's What's Happening section featured the families involved in this community theater production.

Weekend in Santa Fe and Southwest's Sun Roof Surprise

2011-04-05T14:30:00.002-04:00

My gal pals had a two-Margarita advantage on me by the time I shuffled into the Santa Fe Hotel bar Thursday evening, tugging a carry-on bursting at the seams. I missed happy hour, but at least I didn’t miss my connection. Storms added an hour to the Albany-to-Orlando flight and delayed the Orlando-to-Albuquerque leg of the journey by another three. On the bright side, the roofs of both 737s remained intact the entire trip. That’s better than an extra bag of peanuts. Though only a long weekend, this was a real getaway – no checking e-mails. So I didn’t know about Southwest's sunroof surprise until Saturday evening when I went to the hotel business office to print out the boarding passes for Sunday’s trip home. Right there only AOL home page was the news. Swell. Well, we figured, the planes on Sunday would be really, really, really safe. Duct tape fixes everything. For the first time, I paid close attention to the location of the emergency exits and the procedures for breathing through the oxygen mask, blowing into a life preserver, and kissing your butt goodbye. The Santa Fe weekend was the latest girls’ get-away for me and my former Saratogian friends Paulette and Ruth. We mean to do it every year, usually meeting in the east, though the last trip, 27 months ago, cleverly caught Chicago during the worst ice storm of the season. So this time we picked a warmer venue and a shorter trek for Ruth, who lives in California. Got an e-mail Monday morning from Paulette saying her connecting flight was delayed about six hours. She didn’t pull into her driveway in Pittsburgh until 3:15 a.m. – almost 24 hours (give or take, given the time change) after we’d hopped onto the shuttle from Santa Fe to Albuquerque. Next time, we agreed, we’ll meet somewhere we can all fly direct. Paulette might even drive. No more six-hour layovers. And no more missing happy hour. If Southwest keeps its planes in one piece, we’ll be all set.

A disappointed Ohio State University grad asks, Gee, President Gee, are you kidding me?

2011-03-10T11:17:00.003-05:00

This morning I sent the e-mail below to the president of Ohio State University, where I received my master's degree in journalism. I'll let you know what I hear from him.
There are a lot of grays in life, but some things are black and white. It's no challenge to do the right thing most of the time. What counts is whether you do the right thing when the consequences are ugly and regrettable. For all I've read on the subject, OSU Football Coach Jim Tressel failed by that measure.
Worse was the OSU President Gordon Gee's flip response. There is also a five-page letter to the NCAA from Gee that amazingly concludes that what Tressel did was "indecisiveness ... as opposed to a blatant disregard of NCAA legislation. ... We recognize that he should have forwarded this information in some manor to the appropriate institutional officials. With the exception of this mistake, he is a man of integrity and high moral standards."
What happened, in a nutshell, was that OSU football players sold their memorabilia to a tattoo parlor owner, in violation of NCAA rules, and one may have receive a break on tattoo services. Not the worst thing in the world, but violations. Tressel has been informed of the violations. He not only did nothing about it, and then didn’t own up to it when it came to light.
The students are going to miss five games – next season. The coach is going to miss a mere two games – next season. The school can’t jeopardize this season’s bowl game, of course. The coach is also being fined $250,000, a sizable chunk of change, but then again, he has a multi-million-dollar contract.
It’s swell to have a winning college football team. But when this is the way violations are shrugged off by the people in charge, everyone loses.

You can read and see lots more on this topic on the website of the Columbus Dispatch.
Here’s my e-mail to President Gee. I will update you when I get a response.

TO: Gordon Gee, president OSU
FROM: Barbara Lombardo, managing editor of The Saratogian and 1977 OSU master’s graduate
DATE: March 10, 2011-03-10
RE: Coach Tressel and your comments.

As a graduate of Ohio State University, I am aghast – a word I don’t think I’ve ever used before – at what has been reported as your response to whether Coach Tressel would be let go.
Here are the words you are reported saying: "No. Are you kidding? I'm just hoping the coach doesn't dismiss me."
Are you kidding? Who is running Ohio State University? How can you justify that remark?The relatively minor punishment for Tressel was bad enough. I am stunned that you could say something so flip and, in my judgment, inappropriate.
I have the OSU journalism program and some of its fine professors in the 1976-77 school year to thank for much of the knowledge and confidence I gained while obtaining my master’s degree. I am the managing editor of a daily newspaper, and I intend to share my comments and your response with my readers, in print and online.
I can be reached at this e-mail address, blombardo@journalregister.com, and by telephone at 518.583.8711.

Charter change and reader's views

2011-03-08T12:57:00.001-05:00

Note: This blog post was accidentally posted onto a different Saratoga staff blog -- The Document Library on Jan . 17. It still exists there, and now it's here as well.

A reader's view about the proposed change to the Saratoga Springs City Charter has generated a number of comments, including some inaccuracies about The Saratogian's position on the topic.

For decades, The Saratogian has criticized the five-headed monster that is the commission form of government for many reasons, particularly the lack of a point person for action, information and accountability; the inefficiency of a system with departments that can't or won't and don't have to work together; and for a City Council whose members are both legislators and administrators.

If you want a simple example, try to find out whether there's a snow emergency in effect, who calls it, and who calls it off. The public should have one place to call for questions, not be bounced from one department to another by well-meaning people who are hamstrung by an inefficient system.

That said, The Saratogian editorialized against the 2006 charter change referendum, which ultimately failed. The newspaper has not editorialized on the specifics of the current proposal.

It's easy to observe and criticize the deficiencies in an existing system. It's more complicated to determine whether a proposed, long-term replacement to the current form of government would be an improvement. The Saratogian is not taking its responsibility lightly, and does not want to cavalierly weigh in on the merits and shortcomings of the latest proposal.

Another issue that's being discussed is how many words are allowed in letters and reader's views. We state "preferred lengths" as a guide. We never give more or less space to a reader's submission based on the newspaper's editorial position on an issue. The editor who is placing letters and reader's views on the printed page is trying get them in quickly, erring on the side of giving people a chance to have their fair say, and thus encourage intelligent and civil discourse. If you feel you haven't been given that opportunity, talk to me.

Border's closing a loss to downtown Saratoga Springs

2011-03-08T12:56:00.002-05:00

Note: This blog post was accidentally posted onto a different Saratoga staff blog -- The Document Library -- on Feb. 22. It still exists there, and now it's here as well.

I am bummed about Border’s closing the store on Broadway in Saratoga Springs. I was lulled into the false hope that a store that always looked so busy would surely not be a victim of the corporation’s bankruptcy.

My family has done its part to support the store throughout its decade or so on Broadway. My husband, an avid reader and buyer of books and CDs, broke down not long ago and joined the new super duper Border’s rewards program that requires you to pay a fee to enjoy deeper discounts. It turned out to be a good deal.

This past weekend, the vultures were snaked around the almost the entire first floor, through the magazine section and practically out the door, to get their lousy 20 percent off. Hello, everyone, where have you been?

You can talk the talk about how great it is to have a vibrant downtown. But you have to reach into your pockets, too. That goes for all the other shops, locally owned or chain, that combine to make for such an appealing downtown.

I remember when the site of the Border’s building was a defunct fast food place called the Red Barn, and the building was indeed a fake red barn. For a while it was the home of Pope’s Pizza, before their move to Washington Street. There was some controversy at the time about razing the ugly old barn and whether the two-story brick structure would fit in. Of course it fit, and it was a vast improvement over the fast food joint.

Border's hasn’t been a perfect bookstore; it didn’t do enough, for instance, to carry and push books that were being favorably reviewed in the New York Times. That was a marketing error, in my estimation. But you could usually find what you were looking for, or the friendly staff would help you find or order it.

No question about it, this is a tough time for book sellers. The Lyrical Ballad on Phila Street will continue to be a hidden treasure for pre-loved books. But it will be sad to not have a popular bookstore on Broadway. Border’s has been more than a bookstore, it’s became a downtown landmark and gathering place. There have been some rumors around town that Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, Vt., was looking at Border’s. Wishful thinking.

Vacant spaces come and go on Broadway, and most of them don’t stay empty for long. I hope that will be the case with Border’s. That’s a big building on a prominent corner to be empty for an extended time.

Condolences to the family of 19-year-old Alex Grant

2011-03-08T12:06:00.001-05:00

Shortly after this blog was originally posted, praying against the odds for a happier ending, the body of 19-year-old Alex Grant was found.

My heartfelt sympathies to his family.

What else is there to say? I have been following the search for the missing college kid as a newspaper editor -- and as a parent of two young men who are not much older than this fellow. I can only begin to imagine what his family is going through.

The Associated Press tells journalists that a male is referred to as a “man” at 19. True enough. But a 19-year-old has barely graduated from teenager-hood, is barely out of high school. A 19-year-old is a young man, but he’s someone’s kid. And, if my 81-year-old father is as typical as I think he is in this regard, you never stop worrying about your kids.

The condition that Alex Grant was in when last seen on videotape in the wee hours of Sunday morning does not encourage confidence about his safety. Three days later, I was hanging on to the hope that he would somehow be OK. It was not to be.

There are many unanswered questions pertaining related to this tragedy. We will be trying to answer them on our news pages. For now, I offer my sympathies to the Grant family.

At The Saratogian, we're here for you -- literally

2011-03-04T13:22:00.001-05:00

One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about working at The Saratogian is its location in the heart of downtown Saratoga Springs.
The Saratogian’s 100-year-old building is literally a stone’s throw from City Hall; a block from restaurants and coffee shops for all tastes and budgets and time frames; and just under a mile from my home.
The newspaper’s owners, the Journal Register Company, has affirmed its commitment to making sure the local newspaper maintains a local presence.
That’s no small thing nowadays in the rapidly evolving world of journalism. The advent of “mobile journalism” means that reporters are equipped with the technological tools to report in words and pictures from virtually anywhere, on the spot.
Mobile journalists have a competitive edge in a digital first world. They don’t have to “go back to the office” or even call in. They can post stories, pictures and video online from wherever they are, and spread the word via social media.
Mobile journalists also present a cost-savings to media companies. Although the tools of the trade aren’t cheap, a company can save money by eliminating a physical base of operations.
That’s the bottom line for the Times Union, which the other day announced that it would soon be closing its Saratoga Springs office, which has been on the second floor of a downtown building. While acknowledging the significant cost savings to the Hearst Corp., the Times Union’s positive spin is that the newspaper will maintain its presence in Saratoga Springs with its “mobile journalists.”
Homeless journalists, if you ask me.
The demand is always increasing (from both readers and bosses) for the immediacy of digital reporting from the field. But at The Saratogian, our feet on the street eventually lead back to our quaint corner building with the cool Superhorse in the lobby at 20 Lake Ave.
Having this place to hang our hat, charge a Flipcam, make calls, interview people, edit video, upload photos, and meet people is not just important for Saratogian employees. It’s important for the community, too.
Community members have never been shy about stopping by, to drop off a news item, place a classified ad, chat with reporters or editors, attend a blogging lesson, be interviewed, have a picture taken or pick up some extra copies of the print edition.
That’s another one of the things I’ve always enjoyed about working at The Saratogian: There’s a real sense of ownership in the community when it comes to their hometown paper. Having a physical presence is an important part of that relationship.

News from public agencies should come by e-mail, not U.S. mail

2011-02-10T13:41:00.002-05:00

The New York Racing Association publishes an attractive, oversize calendar with cool racing shots, key NYRA dates highlighted, and big boxes for the dates in which to pencil in all your appointments.
A whole bunch of us in the newsroom each received one last month. Mine is hanging a couple of feet from my desk, because the pictures get me in the mood for racing and the dates are nice and big, so I can see them at a glance.
Not to sound ungrateful … but it cost $2.24 just to mail one calendar. No idea what the calendars cost to produce, and I’m admittedly not inclined to turn this into an investigative report. Instead, I’m just wondering how many small ways NYRA can trim its spending. After reading this, I bet that next season they’ll be saving at least $2.24.
The lesson of how small savings can add up could be learned by countless public agencies and private businesses. At The Saratogian, we still receive snail mail from public entities, usually state departments, with press releases and reports that could be distributed virtually for free online. They almost all end up in recycling.
I think I’ll start a little pile of the public press releases and reports that come by U.S. mail and share them with you. They’re a waste of paper and a waste of our tax dollars. At least my NYRA calendar is being put to good use.

Mika Brzezinksi and My Dad -- a perfect afternoon

2011-01-31T12:45:00.005-05:00

Saturday afternoon was a win-win for me.

I was among the 300-plus people lucky enough to be charmed in person by Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” at the Soroptimist Cabin Fever luncheon at the Saratoga Springs Holiday Inn. She was entertaining and impressive. And nice! Even before being introduced, as the event was just getting under way, she unexpectedly and spontaneously stood on a chair and auctioned off a signed poster of herself and a signed book, which went for $500 and $200 respectively, all going to the day’s fundraiser. By the way, she took a run through Saratoga Springs Saturday morning, and announced to the audience that she plans to come back with her family.

Someone who was at the event e-mailed me unhappy that the caption with the photo from the event that The Saratogian published Sunday made mention of her spilling caviar on the crotch of a world leader as a kid. That was my caption, in which I also tried to capture the more serious gist of her talk. But a lot of it consisted of entertaining stories growing up as the daughter of a national security adviser and a sculptor. (Hey, I didn’t mention her mom’s road kill meal in the caption.)

One of the especially interesting aspects of “Morning Joe” is the way news is discussed intelligently but not “objectively” in the traditional news sense. You know who’s a Democrat, a Republican, a Conservative, and it’s OK. In fact, it’s good. They aren’t pretending to be objective. And they are civil in their give and take.

The other reason this was a “win” for me was that my dad, Jerry Shrager, a big Mika fan, was able to attend the luncheon. He got a book (addressed, at his request, to “Barbara’s Dad”) and a hug. If I can figure out how to do this, I will attach the picture to this blog entry!

Internships are priceless: Read on for becoming one at The Saratogian

2011-01-27T13:45:00.003-05:00

I’m a huge proponent of internships, and we’re proud to offer them at The Saratogian. So if you or someone you know might be an intern candidate, stick with the posting to the end.

As an undergrad at SUNY Binghamton, as soon as I realized I was hooked on journalism, I hooked up with the managing editor at the morning paper in Binghamton for an internship.
I interned at the Sun-Bulletin twice, actually.

The first time was during a semester, for credit. Then I interned full-time during the summer after receiving my political science degree and before embarking on my master’s in journalism at Ohio State University. I received a stipend that maybe covered my one-quarter share of an apartment, but the experience: priceless. One of my big stories was about the then-new Legionnaires' Disease. I also remember an accident where five people were killed. I remember crying as I worked on the obituary of a child. I remember the managing editor making a show of deep-sixing a resume from an applicant who'd spelled Binghamton with a P between the m and t. I remember the banter in the newsroom, where I felt very much at home.

Now, during the hiring process, when I sort through the dozens of resumes of would-be members of The Saratogian newsroom, I always look at whether the applicant interned somewhere, anywhere, during high school and especially college.

Some schools require internships and help place you; in those cases, it’s important for me to find out how the applicant performed in the internship. It’s even more impressive when they get an internship on their own; it tells me they are hungry for the experience.

Either way, I tend to check with the internship supervisors. Did the intern show promise? Were they reliable? Did they show initiative? Were they eager and quick learners? Did they “get it”? And if the internship wasn’t in journalism, did they demonstrate the potential necessary for a place in a newsroom?

Besides looking for applicants who have been interns, The Saratogian offers a variety of internships for high school and college students.

We’re always looking for interested, promising students who’d like exposure to the world of local media.

If you’ve gotten this far in the blog, help me to spread the word. The Saratogian offers a variety of internships to high school and college students. They can be specialized internships or can be designed to offer a sampling of experiences.

All Saratogian internships are unpaid and must be for school credit, and the school must provide a certificate of liability insurance. Internships are limited and competitive, and may be for all or part of a semester or season. We’re flexible and willing to work with the student and the school. We’ve had great success with students from Saratoga Springs High School, Schuylerville High School, Skidmore College, SUNY Plattsburgh, University at Albany and other high schools and colleges.

Here are some of our basic internships:

Online Journalism: Work with the online editor to enhance the media company’s multiple websites and use of social media. This could include the creation and uploading of video. Knowledge of HTML is not necessary. Contact Online Editor Emily Donohue at edonohue@saratogian.com or 518.583.8729 ext. 213.

News Reporting: Be part of the newsroom reporting team, writing stories in the newsroom and reporting on stories in the field. Applicants must be good writers interested in learning more about news reporting and writing on tight deadlines. Contact Managing Editor Barbara Lombardo at blombardo@journalregister.com or 518.583.8711.

Magazine Internship: Learn what it takes to create a monthly magazine in print and online. Internship could include planning, editing, writing, page design and proofreading. Contact Assistant Managing Editor Betsy DeMars at bdemars@saratogian.com or 518.583.8729 ext. 335.

Sports Internship: Be a part of The Saratogian’s sports department and learn what it takes to produce a print and online sports section. Contact Sports Editor Nicole Russo at nrusso@saratogian.com or 518.583.8729. ext. 334.

Advertising Department: Learn what’s involved in consultative sales in a multi-media advertising environment, including print, online and video. Also, learn how the advertising department interacts with other departments, including the newsroom. Contact Advertising Director Lauren Rose at lrose@saratogian.com or 518.583.8707.

Graphic Arts Department: Learn what it takes to create advertisements, promotions and news graphics under deadline pressure for a print and online media company. Contact Pre-Press Manager Christopher Brown at cbrown@saratogian.com or 518.583.8733.

Photography: Learn what it takes to be a photojournalist taking still pictures and video on deadline for online and print publication. Contact Photo Supervisor Erica Miller at emiller@saratogian.com or 518.583.8729 ext. 223.

Arizona shooting sends shockwaves nationwide

2011-01-08T23:48:00.001-05:00

It is 11 p.m. Saturday. I have CNN on the TV next to the computer. My prayers are with the victims and their families and friends in the horrific shooting at U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Gifford’s “Congress on Your Corner” visit in Tucson. I hope there will be no additional deaths.

Accessibility is a given for our politicians. During her tenure as the representative for this sprawling 20th congressional district, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was diligent about meeting with all sorts of people. “Congress on Your Corner” is a great way to talk with and listen to constituents, and no doubt contributed to her popularity with voters. Her successor, Scott Murphy, held them as well.

Today, this district’s brand new congressman, Chris Gibson, is with his family in the D.C. area, at a retreat with new House members. His office released a statement expressing sadness and extending their thoughts and prayers.

What else must Gibson and his wife – and every other politician -- be thinking? Will today’s shooting put a chill on informal gatherings? I hope not. What do you think?

Perhaps nothing can stop a crazy person. But crazy talk by supposedly sane people – hateful political verbal violence – must not be condoned. How do you know when you’ve gone to far? After the shooting, Sarah Palin pulled off a website a graphic showing gun crosshairs at political targets in the country, including Gabrielle Giffords’ district, with the heading “We’ve diagnosed the problem …. Help us prescribe the solution.”

Of course Palin didn’t mean people should be shot. She had nothing to do with the shooting. But it’s an example of the kind of vitriol that can encourage some nut to take literally.

“Congress on Your Corner” has become such a commonplace event, the media stifle a yawn when a longtime congress member announces yet another get-together at the local grocery store. But the truth is, they are important exercises in democracy, good for both the politicians and the people. They must continue, and they will – but the cloud of today’s mass murders will hover.

CNN is reporting optimism about Giffords’ chance of survival. My fingers are crossed. Saratoga Springs High School grad Pia Carusone, Giffords’ chief of staff, was en route to Tucson this evening from Washington D.C., to be with her boss as she fights for her life, and to be with her colleagues – one of whom is among the dead in this terrible tragedy.

MSNBC Morning Joe's Mika Brzezinski coming to Saratoga Springs

2011-01-03T13:57:00.000-05:00

My husband turned me on to Mika Brzezinski, the self-described sidekick on "Morning Joe," MSNBC's relaxed roundtable of the news of the day, on channel 49 between 6 and 9 a.m. She's smart, lively, personable, sassy and funny.
So I was glad when she was booked at the speaker for the Jan. 29 Cabin Fever Luncheon, a major fund-raiser of Soroptimist International of Saratoga County, the professional women's service organization of which I am a longtime member. We were lucky to get her.
And when someone on the Cabin Fever committee called to ask me who from The Saratogian could interview her, I said, "Me."
Mika managed to squeeze in about 10 minutes via cell phone while she was in a car, graciously continuing to chat as she had arrived at her destination. We covered a lot of ground in a short time, and her answers were frank and thoughtful. She's someone who would be fun to talk to not so much on the fly, if she ever slows down long enough.
Well, lucky for us, she'll be speaking and answering questions at the luncheon, at noon Jan. 29 at the Holiday Inn in Saratoga Springs. Here's a bald-faced plug: Go to http://www.soroptimistsaratoga.org/ for the order form.
To find out what Mika and I talked about, check out The Saratogian in a couple of weeks.

Presence trumps presents on holidays

2010-12-31T17:11:00.001-05:00

This afternoon, on New Year’s Eve Day, my son David mentioned that he was getting himself Jerry Benjamin’s book, “Tales from the Sausage Factory.”
Bad mother! I had meant to get it for him for Christmas. When I couldn’t wrangle a signed copy, I let it slide … right out of my mind.
Don’t sweat it, he said.
I can’t help it.
Even though though our two boys are now men -- ages 21 and 23 -- I still take a cue from Santa and make a list for Christmas presents. Unlike Santa’s, my list isn't divided into naughty and nice, but simply "Dave" and "Joe." They have mostly different interests, so they usually don't get many of the same things. I list the gifts for each, trying to achieve equality in both number and relative value. I’ve been doing it since at least one of them was old enough to notice.
Knife set equals massage certificate; slippers equal guitar accessories; Wilco album equals Sausage book … ooops.
I just didn’t get into shopping.
The person for whom the day carries the most religious meaning, my wonderful husband, reminds me that he is not materialistic and assured me that he doesn't care about the presents. I know this to be true. Yet I still feel sorry that I didn’t have a “wow” gift under the tree for him.
Since I’m Jewish, it wasn’t until I married a Catholic that I started to celebrate Christmas. One of my favorite traditions is the decorating of the tree: Light eggnog cut with skim milk (still not all that light), a CD of Christmas songs, and a happy/tearful hanging of the four ornaments hand painted by my mother-in-law, who died much too young, when Joe was only one and she was only 59. My most treasured ornament is the one she painted of our brown house with a little boy (David) puffed up in a snowsuit out front.
I was so happy and fortunate to have both boys and my husband together for the holidays. That was really my greatest gift (though I intend to hold David to his promise of tennis lessons).

A terrible tragedy in Wilton

2010-12-23T19:48:00.002-05:00

Two 12-year-old friends in Wilton are fooling around, and one accidentally shoots the other dead. There are so many things that can and will be said about this tragedy, but the only word appropriate now is condolences. My heart goes out to the two Wilton families.

Here's how to find Emily's cookies

2010-12-07T14:49:00.005-05:00

This original post had the link to Emily's cookies that was good only after you've confirmed the purchase. Thanks to the readers who alerted me to this error. To get in on a good thing, check out the corrected link at the end of the file. Her lemon stars were a big hit at the Christmas party, but I'm still partial to the coconut macaroons. And she's preparing a line for upcoming seasons. What says Presidents Day better than a sugar cookie shaped like Abraham Lincoln?

When Online Editor Emily Donohue came aboard the Good Ship Saratogian, first as an intern and later as a reporter, I knew she knew something about desserts, having worked for Ben and Jerry's during her school years. Plus, I figured anyone who could work for Pat Pipino would have no problem working for me.
She became the Twitter Queen as county reporter, and this fall stepped up to the position of online editor when Steve Shoemaker left for the web world of Ithaca academia.
Little did I know that Donohue was not only a social media whiz, learning, doing, innovating, and training, but she's also a fantastic baker. That's a plus in a place where we work for food.
This morning she had two trays in the cafeteria beautifully arranged with scrumptious cookies — glazed stars, gingerbread men, pinwheels, fat peppermint sandwiches, glazed almond chai bites, signature cranberry and coconut macaroons. They looked too good to eat -- which didn't stop me or anyone else, of course.
Now I know what I'm bringing to the office holiday party -- cookies by Emily.
Here's her website if you're looking to impress without the stress: http://cookiesbyemily.wufoo.com/forms/cookies-by-emily/

Watchdog journalism a community effort

2010-11-30T17:55:00.002-05:00

Tonight the Saratoga Springs City Council is expected to wrap up a 2011 budget, one way or another. At The Saratogian, we are talking budgets, too. At 8 a.m. this morning, the publisher, ad director, circulation director and I talked with our corporate bosses about our plans for content and revenue for the months ahead -- and the focus of course is on growing our digital audience even faster than it Is growing now.

Whatever strategies we use to draw readers, there's only one thing that will keep them coming back: Good content. A big part of that, I believe, is watchdog journalism, holding our officials and institutions accountable. Even the smallest news organizations can do it -- but it isn't fast or easy. However, with your help, readers, we can do a lot.

Share your ideas, issues, photos and videos -- you are the eyes and ears of the community. The other day a reader sent photos of DPW trucks asking why there were so many if the commissioner was saying there was only one on the road. We looked into it and got an answer, and responded; in this case the commissioner misspoke or was misunderstood. Still, it was a heads up move by the reader and worth the time to pursue.

Keep 'em coming.

Thanksgiving Day: So many reasons to be grateful

2010-11-25T02:13:00.000-05:00

I am writing this on Thanksgiving Eve as one by one the newsroom empties, our small crew of writers and editors wrapping up and heading home to family, pets, happy hour or Price Chopper. Still plugging away diligently are Paul Tackett and Angela Valden paginating news pages, Kyle Leach and Nicole Russo working on sports, Emily Donohue mapping out which stories will run when over the next few days, and the newest newsroom member, Lucian McCarty, banging away stories for tomorrow. New guy pulled short straw for Thanksgiving Day reporting, too.

I am thankful to be working with so many interesting, enthusiastic, talented and hard-working men and women during this incredibly exciting and challenging revolution of how news is told.
Actually, I’m thankful that I’ll be having Thursday off and sharing the day with 10 members of my family, including my father.

I’m glad that one of my sons, David, will be there, and hoping that we’ll be able to catch my other son, Joe, on Skype from Spain. I have to finish this up because I promised David I’d be home in 35 minutes so he can come over and we can fight over how to brine the turkey and I can complain how the dust in his supposedly former bedroom, where his Uncle Ron and Aunt Darlene will be sleeping tomorrow, was thick as the Sahara.

Among the many things to be thankful for is the good news that my friend Kathy Dollard, a fellow graduate from Voorheesville High School, Class of None of Your Business, has finished her breast cancer treatment and is feeling good — so good that she has a bike-riding trip planned for Italy in the spring. OK, Class of 1972. We each have a husband and two sons of about the same age, and keep in touch not nearly enough. Her attitude from the discovery of her cancer in a routine mammogram through all the treatment was typical, positive Kathy. Perhaps you are lucky enough to know people like her, too.

Also on the mend and in my thoughts are Joe Condon, whose voice many of you more mature readers, like me, know from his many years on area radio, especial B95.5. He thought he’d ducked heart surgery, but his heart had other plans. He’s getting better, though. Ditto with Ed Lewi, the amazing PR man. Those are both guys whose only ticker trouble should be having hearts that are so darned big.

I can think of many more things that I’m thankful for, especially family and friends who have been through some tricky times. So this will be continued.

We have a rare early deadline on the night before Thanksgiving, in part to allow time for inserting of all the advertisements in the Thursday paper, which is as much a tradition as green bean casserole and a big, fat turkey — which, as promised, is about an hour away from being Zip-locked into a bag of water, salt, sugar, lemon and oranges.

Hope your Thanksgiving is a happy one.

Black Friday: You may love shopping, but that means someone else has to work

2010-11-24T09:31:00.002-05:00

I'll confess to having gone once with my father-in-law to Wal-Mart on a Black Friday morning out in Geneseo, when he wanted to buy a flat-screen TV, but it was at the relatively civilized hour of 7 a.m., still in plenty of time to get a bargain for a mere 32-inch set but not so early as to be labeled crazy.
Shopping before dawn, now that's crazy.
I'm in a business that never closes, so I know what it's like for myself and my staff to have to work before, during and after holidays, sometimes days and sometimes nights, when most people are enjoying long weekends. There are many other fields when we expect people to be there when we need them -- police, fire, medical. Somebody's monitoring the water and sewer plants, somebody's selling gas, somebody's fixing a power line.
What bothers me is that in order for people to be able to shop, other people have to work. Yeah, we are all happy to have jobs. But there's something wrong when we can't declare that places that don't HAVE to be opened will let their staffs have the time off -- to be with their families, to travel, or to just sleep through the night.

iNeed Your A-ssistance with iPad

2010-11-21T20:03:00.003-05:00

I have a cool new toy and I am hoping you'll help me play with it.
It's an iPad.
The Journal Register Company, whose news companies include The Saratogian, is sending an iPad to each of its top editors. Mine came about a week ago, and I've just begun to fool around with it. I've been following the "reply to all" among editors sharing tips about the apps they've found useful.
But I think the iPad should be much more than a tool for doing my job. It should be a window (sorry, mac) into how people seeking and finding information, so I can better envision how The Saratogian be positioned at an essential source.
This afternoon I met a friend for coffee downtown and asked her for a pen to jot down an idea for The Saratogian website. "Where's your iPad?" she said. "You should be carrying it around, and you'll never have to borrow a pen."
Good point.
So, readers, what are your suggestions for my new iPad?

Saratogian Community Media Lab inaugural session something to brag, and blog, about

2010-11-18T22:28:00.002-05:00

I am so psyched. Tonight was the introductory session of The Saratogian Community Media Lab. Ten interesting local people came to the news building to learn about becoming more involved in The Saratogian as citizen bloggers.

The purpose of the Community Media Lab can be boiled down to four goals:
1. To improve the community, as citizen bloggers shape Saratogian coverage with their ideas, blog content, and frequent communication with news staffers.
2. To provide a forum where readers can turn for topical and provocative information and opinions.
3. To help bloggers improve their craft through training provided by a combination of Saratogian staffers, fellow Community Media Lab members, and other local experts.
4. To help bloggers expand their reach through social media, cross-promotion, giving their posts exposure in print and online outside the blog, and adding blog-enhancing features like links, photos and videos.

An introductory session for another group of potential Community Media Lab members is scheduled for a couple of weeks from now. When it all shakes out, I hope to have a solid dozen active Community Media Lab members who will work with us to take blogging up a notch at saratogian.com and be an advisory board of sorts for content.

The Community Media Lab is not about simply taking existing blogs and placing them under a new heading. That wouldn’t wash with John Paton, CEO of Journal Register Company, which owns The Saratogian. It wouldn’t fool you for a minute, either. Although some of the CML bloggers are familiar, their relationship with The Saratogian is new. For instance, CML members have a standing invitation to join in on our nightly news conference, which is where the editors decide on the top stories for print and online. They will be receiving training on social media, along with members of our staff. We’ll have quarterly get-togethers with staff and bloggers, and in between we'll have CML updates.

Topics of particular interest to the bloggers at our inaugural session included politics to the left and right, the environment, good government, tourism, parks, technology, and leaving behind big city life for Saratoga. We kicked off the Community Media Lab earlier this week by introducing "Shine a Light" by Maggie Fronk, who is brand new to blogging but well-versed on issues of domestic violence and women’s safety on a local level and beyond, as executive director of Domestic Violence and Rape Crisis Services of Saratoga County. In addition to her post under the Community Media Lab button on saratogian.com, you’ll find a video of Fronk talking about this new venture with The Saratogian.
I want to publicly thank Online Editor Emily Donohue for her role in the Community Media Lab and all things online for The Saratogian, including her frequent and patient one-on-one social media tutorials for yours truly. I also want to acknowledge Joe Rocha, whose multiple hats include that of editor of Ballston Spa Life, which appears weekly in print and at bspalife.com, and who will be assisting bloggers with refining content, and reporters Mareesa Nicosia and Patrick Donges, who write popular business and city news blogs. All three are Community Media Lab Support Staff, along with Assistant Managing Editor Betsy DeMars and Advertising Director Lauren Rose, who jointly write a Media Moms blog.
Emily Donohue assured the group tonight that short, interesting and frequent posts appeal to readers, and that a blog entry need not be 700 words. Since I’m approaching that, I think it’s time to wrap up.
One more thank you is in order, to Sandy and Tom Lewis. Tom has been in the forefront of local blogging, showed me Twitter long before I appreciated its potential for reaching new audiences, and had a number of helpful tips tonight for fellow Community Media Lab members. Sandy gets a thank you for baking what Tom promised would be the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had. They were gone at the meeting in no time flat, and Tom was right — which means there’s at least one thing he and I will always be able to agree on.

Be a volunteer: Find out how on Monday, Nov. 22

2010-11-16T11:36:00.002-05:00

Want to find out how to make this an even better place to live by being a volunteer? Want to learn about the many opportunities for volunteerism in our community?
I hope you'll stop by the Saratoga Hilton (the hotel attached to the City Center) between 1 and 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 22 for the Volunteer Fair.
Representatives from groups that touch many areas of interest will have tables set up to explain what they do and ways in which you can become involved. It's a great idea for some one-stop shopping about volunteer opportunities. Interested in the arts? Issues about aging? Education, youth, heath, history, museums, human services, recreation? Animals? People with disabilities? Land preservation? All of those and more will be represented.
So many of the great things happen in the Saratoga area are the result of volunteers. Volunteering is such a rewarding and painless way to give back to your community. It's a great way to meet new people. And, since you're selecting your areas of interest, it's fun.
All you have to do is your most valuable commodity -- time --as much as you can work into the rest of your life.
Spread the word to others who might participate.
The Volunteer Fair is yet another program sponsored by the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce that focuses on encouraging people to make a difference through volunteerism. For more information, call 584-3255.

MSNBC Morning Joe's Mika Brzezinski coming to Saratoga Springs

2010-11-13T10:24:00.000-05:00

Mika Brzezinski: She's smart, sassy and funny. And she's coming to Saratoga Springs on Jan. 29 as the speaker for the 2010 Cabin Fever Luncheon fund-raiser hosted by Soroptimist International of Saratoga County.
Honestly, I can't wait. I'd be going even if I weren't a Soroptimist (which is almost as hard to spell as Brzezinski).
My husband turned me on to Mika, as he is a longtime fan of the lively "Morning Joe" show that she co-hosts with Joe Scarborough. She's the daughter of former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, a graduate of Williams College, and an experienced journalist.
Proceeds from the event are used by Soroptimist for projects and programs that benefit the lives of women and girls, such as Domestic Violence and Rape Crisis Services of Saratoga County's Project Hope and Power.
While the traditional Cabin Fever Luncheon audiences have been mostly women, I think men should enjoy hearing her in person, too. Hope to see you there on the 29th! Check out SoroptimistSaratoga.org for details.

Condolences to family of Lois Collins, former Saratoga Downtowner owner, patron of opera, a founder of local Soroptimists

2010-11-11T11:27:00.002-05:00

My condolences to the family of Lois Collins, who passed away Nov. 4. She and her late husband, Gene, were familiar faces in Saratoga Springs for many years, in part because they owned the Saratoga Downtowner Motel on Broadway for 21 years starting in 1979.
As noted in her obituary (available today at www.saratogian.com, where you can leave message), Lois’s love for local arts and opera were all the richer for her volunteerism and enthusiasm. I knew her as a founding member and guiding light for the Saratoga County chapter of Soroptimist. She poured her heart into the Soroptimist mission on the local, national and international level.
The obituary captured the essence of her personality: "Lois had a way of making people feel at home and comfortable. Her enduring smile, generous nature and positive outlook will be sorely missed by all that knew and loved her."
A service will be held at 3 p.m. Monday, Nov. 15, at the Gerald B. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery, in Schuylerville, where Gene, who died in 2007, is buried. Local arrangements are by the William J. Burke & Sons/Bussing & Cunniff Funeral Homes (518-584-5373).

Way to "bee" fun at Home Made Theater

2010-11-09T10:11:00.000-05:00

I was glad to catch the final performance of Home Made Theater's production of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." My only regret is that I didn't see the delightful show sooner, so I could have pitched it in this blog. A talented ensemble seemed to be having almost as much fun as the audience (three of whom were recruited to be in the bee, which is apparently part of the shtick).
How funny to see Laurie Poltynski, who was first to show up at the theater with her parents, on stage for a good portion of the show! You're a pretty good speller, Laurie. Come on over to copy edit with me.
This coming weekend is Victor L. Cahn's solo "Sherlock Solo." Call 587-4427 or homemadetheater.org for details.

Boo hoo, bye bye evening light

2010-11-07T14:30:00.000-05:00

Oh, how I hate the time change.
It's not as though I normally get out of work while it's still light out. But the odds are reduced from sometimes to never when the clocks move back an hour.
Sure, it's hard to drag out of bed when it's cold and dark. Morning light through the window is a good thing. It's cold, but not so dark. Still, I vote for doing away with the annual time change. It's no fun. And it's too hard to keep track of.
Is anyone out there happy about losing the light at night?

Editorial endorsements: It's OK to for 'em or against 'em

2010-11-05T14:28:00.001-04:00

Years ago I asked my then-publisher why a particular elected official was friendly to him but downright nasty to me.

"I told him you write the editorials," he said with a grin.

True enough. He forgot to mention, however, that he had final say on the position, as well as approval over the ultimate wording.

There have been times, especially in writing editorial endorsements, when the "paper’s position" is not mine. That’s OK. It’s like being in a debate club: The editorials need to be persuasive and intelligent, whether or not the writer agrees with the position.

A former Saratogian reporter and editor, who’s been in the Syracuse daily’s newsroom for years in various capacities, this fall became its editorial page editor. As is the case here, the publisher in Syracuse has final say on the endorsements. That makes perfect sense. The person ultimately responsible for the publication should yea or nay the editorial positions. The tipping point may be positions on specific issues, overall political philosophies, and whether the candidate demonstrates energy and leadership.

Writing the editorial endorsements is seldom easy. Challenges include being consistent in reasoning from one race to the next, acknowledging the good intentions of so many candidates, and, frankly, not having conducted enough original research to thoroughly examine the candidates’ strengths, weaknesses and potential.

Why endorse? Not every paper does. I posed the question to my journalism class Tuesday night. One student explained it well, saying readers should be able to turn to the newspaper endorsement for an informed opinion, to help them decide who to vote for — or against.

Waiting for the polls to close

2010-11-02T19:05:00.003-04:00

I am writing this from a classroom at the University at Albany, where on Tuesday evenings I teach Introduction to Reporting and News Writing. The students, meanwhile, are banging away at their keyboards, having just come back from interviewing poll workers at one of the on-campus polling places and a couple of voters. The workers, they reported, are lonely: the on-campus turnout could be counted on two hands, two feet -- well, not much more than that.

I like this bunch of students. They are engaged, they are doing good work, and no more than one student ever falls asleep at the same time. It's a tough gig, a three-hour night class. They don't know it yet, but they'll be getting out a bit early so that I can head back to The Saratogian to help with our election night coverage.

We had an interesting discussion earlier in the class about whether newspapers should endorse candidates. No consensus. But they agreed that citizens should be able to turn to an editorial endorsement for an informed opinion, with which they can agree or not. One student worried that an endorsement colors the perception of the publication's news coverage. I hope that has not been the case for The Saratogian.

By the way, I was voter No. 92 at my polling place at about 10 this morning, and everything went smoothly. My fingers are crossed that the same holds true for this evening as the results are reported, so that we can report them all in our print edition. We'll stick around to update the website with things that happen after the paper goes to press.

You don't need a battery to read a book

2010-11-01T02:52:00.000-04:00

You don't need a battery to read a book. That's my mantra.
For now.
I don't know why, but I was startled to learn that one of my book club members -- the president of the club, no less -- is using a Kindle. Kindling is what you use to burns books, not read them.
Then I noticed a young woman in the next row on the plane home from Spain "reading a book" on a Kindle. I guess she was reading. I guess it's a book. But it looked like a dark Etch-a-Sketch with extra buttons.
Confession time: I like the idea of being able to bump up the size of the type. I LIKE THAT A LOT. And I was wowed when I realized you could click to look up a word.
I can't tell you how many times I've come across a word that I meant to look up. I can tell you how many times I've actually gotten off my duff to lug out a dictionary: Almost never.
You can probably also "underline" stuff, which will make it easier to refer to things at book club. Like things about Little Bee's "savior" said made her not so likeable, even though she really did save Little Bee's life. We'll talk about that next week. The club president will no doubt have electronic notations all over the place. Show-off.
I still like the feel of a book.
Besides, a paperback is cheaper to replace than a Kindle when it slips into the tub.
And though I frequently run out of steam when reading at night, a book never, ever needs a battery.

You can leave Saratoga, but you can't get away from potato chips

2010-10-29T16:31:00.000-04:00

The Sept. 28 editon of The New York Times Magazine section on foods featured "Saratoga Potatoes, 1904."
Saratoga Springs, known in its previous heyday for health, history and horses, also claims to be the place where potato chips were invented. Marylou Whitney's ties to the tasty treat are chronicled in her own potato chip cookbook.
The NYT piece by food writer Amanda Hesser briefly recounts the origins of Saratoga Chips. I don't think people really think about potato chips as one of region's claims to fame. But it came to mind earlier this month when preparing to visit my son Joe in Madrid. I wanted to bring something "Saratoga" as a gift to his host family.
So I headed to Putnam Market, where I picked up some of Bill Higgins' fabulous garlic aiolis. And, as an impulse, I also grabbed one of those cute blue boxes of Saratoga chips.
The garlic was something special. The chips, I think, not so much: Almost every bar and eatery we stopped in (and there were several), our drinks and sandwiches were served with a healthy handful of not-so-healthy potato chips. Their country of origin, I don't know.

Quick post on trip to Madrid

2010-10-26T16:20:00.000-04:00

Hola!
That’s pretty much how much Spanish I’ve known my whole life (thanks to Sesame Street) and that’s about how much I know after returning from a wonderful week in Spain. Si! Spain!
Oh, I can also order a beer, a red wine, a plate of fried eggplant, a serving of marinated octopus, a sampling of dried ham, coffee with milk, and a doughnut that you dip in a chocolately pudding-sauce. And I can ask for the check.
My husband and I chose Madrid because that’s where our son Joe is spending the fall semester of his junior year. He couldn’t have picked a livelier, cooler place. Multiply Caroline Street and Broadway by 10,000, replace the perpendicular streets with roomy plazas and narrow, winding streets, and add about 3 million people, and there’s Madrid – teeming with people well into the evening, with countless little restaurants and outdoor cafes to grab a drink and a snack.
The younger drinking age and the fact that they seem to serve a little something with every bar order seems to result in more controlled partying than what we have here “in the states.” I’m glad Joe will turn 21 before he returns home.

Wanted: Saratoga area bloggers who care about the community

2010-10-14T18:57:00.000-04:00

Do you have an interest in improving the community – and are you willing and able to dedicate your time to writing about issues important to area residents?
We are creating a Community Media Lab, an informal partnership between you and The Saratogian. Think of it as a stable of thoughtful residents with varied interests who will become regular bloggers on The Saratogian website.
We’ll provide training and feedback on blogging and some of the basics of reporting and writing. We’ll also invite you into the newsroom, to get to know our staff, to learn how decisions are made about news coverage and presentation – and to give you opportunities to participate in that discussion and to bring ideas to the table.
This is, after all, your community and your newspaper.
The Community Media Labs are also being established at other newspapers owned by the Journal Register Company. The company recognizes that we’re in a digital-first world and that the people to turn to for ideas, opinions and news about local issues are the people affected by them. We’ll also have access through JRC to talented people who can help everyone hone their blogging skills, including yours truly.
If you’re interested, send me an e-mail at blombardo@journalregister.com with you name, contact information, areas of interest, whether you’re already blogging, and any questions you have. I look forward to hearing from you.

Taking time to appreciate the wonders of life, including siblings

2010-10-11T22:30:00.004-04:00

In the Oct. 12 installment of The Saratogian's special Breast Cancer Awareness Month special sections (on pink paper, wrapping the regular news, sports and classifieds), breast cancer survivor Lisa Morahan says she hopes everyone takes the time to observe the wonderof a rainbow, like the one that graced the sky last Thursday.

I happened to see it, too, and pointed it out to the workmen on the never-ending construction job next door so they could enjoy it as well. I felt the same way this evening, admiring the sliver of a moon. It is well worth taking the time to appreciate these gifts. After all, life is short.

On Sunday, my siblings and father and I met in Queens for the unveiling of my uncle's tombstone, a Jewish tradition that comes a year or so after the deceased is laid to rest. After some prayers and words of remembrance, as we headed back to our cars, my father and his sister had just enough time to start a little squabble among themselves. Really? At 80 and 81 (they're only 13 months apart)?

Our next stop was down the road, to their mother -- my grandmother's -- grave. My father and aunt were very close to their mother for all of her 88 years, and though she's been gone for 30 years now, I know Dad talks to her frequently. "So," I asked him as we left the cemetery and headed toward my aunt's house. "Did your mother have anything to say to you today?"

"Yes," Dad replied without missing a beat. "She told me not to fight with my sister."

The rest of the visit was as beautiful as a rainbow.

Getting the story without a finger in Paladino's face

2010-10-05T19:49:00.002-04:00

When I was a rookie reporter I interviewed a guy in the construction business who, with a wink from people in City Hall, appeared to be averting the requirements for competitive bidding of a project by breaking the bills into smaller increments. I had the invoices from City Hall to back up the story.
But I couldn't get the guy to admit he had done something wrong.
He offered me a drink (which I declined), he tried to tell stories about his business, he did everything except admit to what the evidence showed. I not only didn't get the story, but I missed a family dinner (one of many over the years, it would turn out).
I returned to the newsroom beaten, in tears.
My city editor at the time tried not to laugh. The editor's point was, the guy's refusal to answer WAS his answer. It wasn't the answer I wanted. But it was an answer. And that's what I had to write. The reader would then make of it what they would.
That lesson came to mind the other day when I watched the videos of the confrontation between the NY Post's Fred Dicker and GOP gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino. In my opinion, their behavior was inappropriate as journalists AND to someone who would like to be the top executive of New York state.
My experience in following Dicker is that he's an aggressive, solid investigative reporter who doesn't play favorites. He's broken stories over the years in the Post that I wish we'd had at The Saratogian, his alma mater from before my time here.
He was absolutely right to demand that Paladino provide proof to back up his assertion that Andrew Cuomo had cheated on his wife. Too many journalists seem too timid, inept, part of the herd or co-opted to ask a basic, important follow-up to make a politician accountable for their claims.
So the question should have been asked: Where's your proof?
And Paladino's answer, that he would reveal his proof at the appropriate time -- well, that's his answer. It was a lame answer. And, in fact, he later backed off the accusation. But for that moment, that was his answer.
A finger in his face was not necessary. If it served any purpose, it showed how Paladino responds to aggressive questioning. Kinda scary.

Glad to be able to keep health coverage for 23-year-old son

2010-10-01T10:13:00.001-04:00

The cost of providing health care to its employees is a huge expense to business owners, regardless of the employees' share of the tab. It's a cost that has been growing by leaps and bounds year after year, long before the health reform was enacted and before Barack Obama was president.

One of my sons has been working two part-time jobs since graduating college. The part-time status comes with no benefits -- no paid vacation or paid sick time and, most critical, no health coverage. So I'm really glad that young adults are now allowed to remain on their parents' health insurance until age 26.

It's not a perfect situation; it's an expense to the employer providing the coverage. And the law doesn't help young men and women whose parents aren't on a family health plan. But given the economic realities of the job market, and the cost and importance of having coverage, I'm grateful for the age 26 rule. As the very least, it buys some peace of mind and time.

Trip to U.S. Open opens possibilities for playing tennis

2010-09-30T13:16:00.000-04:00

I have confessed in the past that my tennis prowess … well, I can’t honestly link the words "my tennis" and "prowess" in one sentence. Let me begin again.

I have confessed in the past that I stink at tennis. But, ever the optimist, I think I can get better. Gwen Ritchie has given me new hope.

As a member of a ladies’ tennis league, my greatest attributes are Y membership and appearing on time, Head in hand (although, it turns out, held with way too stiff a wrist). I enjoy the evening of play, though my failure to find my way to a court the entire summer during the league break suggests that tennis is neither my forte nor my passion.

All that began to change, a wee bit, on Sept. 1 when I went on a Y-sponsored day trip to the U.S. Open.

The excitement began a few weeks earlier, when a friend called asking if I’d like to join her on the trip. A hundred bucks for the whole day. The U.S. Open? In person? Sounds like fun. Uh, what sport would that be again? Oh, tennis. Sure!

My husband supplied me with magazine and newspaper articles about who to watch and why, which my friend and I perused on the bus ride, checking off names against the day’s U.S. Open schedule supplied, along with water bottles and energy bars, by the Y’s Rolland Leblanc.

On the bus were some familiar faces, many of whom made this trip an annual outing and all of whom knew from the get-go what sport they were going to see and who they would see competing.

The event was a real education for me. It was fantastic to see up-and-coming and famous tennis players doing their thing right in front of us. We were sweating in the shade-free stands in 90-degree sunshine, yet the players seemed unaffected, serving at 90 mph or faster and playing for hours on end. U.S. Open spectators could walk among the various stadiums and courts to see parts of the many matches going on simultaneously. The site is adjacent to the old planet Earth and towers from the 1965 World’s Fair (and the movie "Men in Black) and the new Mets baseball field, where you could see the impressive memorial to Jackie Robinson through the locked gates.

One of my high points, however, was on the bus back to Saratoga Springs, when Gwen Ritchie of Wilton, well known to local tennis aficionados of all ages, agreed to give me a lesson the following week.

"What do you need help with?" she asked. "Everything," I answered, hearing no disagreement from my bus trip friend, with whom I’d played only once. My friend was unable to teach uncoordinated me how to use my foot and racquet to bounce the ball from the ground to my hand, never mind how to actually play. Rather than strain a friendship, we silently agreed to leave my tennis training to a professional. And this was my chance.

Since then and this column, Gwen and I met twice, which I guess makes me an intermediate. I intend to pick up the pace when she returns from knee surgery.

Meanwhile, my weekly ladies tennis league has resumed playing. The first night, I arrived a full five minutes early, managing to stretch my calves. I didn’t embarrass myself – not too badly. I showed up on time. I didn’t pull anything. And a few times I even remembered how to hold the racquet. The ladies in my league are as fervent as I in wishing Gwen a speedy recovery.

Dusting up questions about Saratoga Springs Public Works services

2010-09-28T17:25:00.000-04:00

Monday morning started with a clean sweep, literally. The Saratoga Spring city truck with the huge round brush swept along the curb of my street. It was before 8 a.m., and I was out raking and tromping on my newly reseeded strip of front lawn.

What I didn't understand was why another DPW truck, a small dump truck, was parked on the street with its motor running. Just as I decided to ask the driver what he was doing, the truck pulled away. A few minutes later, however, it was parked around the corner, and I could hear the motor. So, rake in hand, I decided to inquire.

A very polite and friendly fellow at the wheel explained that his job is to collect the dirt from the sweeper when the sweeper if full. He said he needs to keep the motor running so that his CB radio will be working when the sweeper driver needs to reach him.

I'm in favor of swept streets, but I've got to wonder: Is this always the way it's been done, and is it the best way? It clearly involves a lot of just sitting there. How much gas is used (not to mention the air pollution created) by the running motor? How often are all of the city streets swept? What does this and other DPW services cost?

These and similar questions are ones that DPW Commissioner Skip Scirocco should be prepared to spell out when the 2011 proposed city budget is presented on Oct. 5.

It was disconcerting to learn the other day that he says a lack of DPW staff prevents the city from having the front of the Canfield Casino in Congress Park swept on weekend mornings, even though smokers at night-time parties dump butts outside the building.

When and where to sweep (or do repairs, or pick up yard debris, and so on) are decisions that relate to human resources, management and priorities. There is no shortage of desired services.

End of summer, beginning of Seeding the Lawn season

2010-09-27T08:41:00.003-04:00

Just finished part of my annual Exercise in Futility -- the perennial reseeding of the strip of lawn in front of our house between the sidewalk and the street.
This would probably not be a once-a-year project if we (1) watered the shadeless strip once in a while or (2) filled the space instead with some sort of ground cover that survives drought, neglect and, in winter, a cover of salty, dirty snow.
We did neither. So the dry, hot summer left the lawn looking like hay.
My son David helped rake up the dregs, and this morning after I spread the seed-starting fertilizer and seeds from a bag with the words "sunny" in yellow.
Now it looks like rain. I'm hoping for enough to keep the sensitive seeds moist, but not so much that the seeds are washed into the gutter.
I called Allerdice to ask what I ought to put on top of the newly seeded dirt to keep the seeds in place. An as-usual friendly and helpful man at the store said that he uses a roller, but it also works just to tromp all over the dirt in my sneakers.
"It won't hurt the seeds," he assured me."I've been doing it for years."
Hmmm. OK. But if he's so good at growing lawns, why does he have to keep doing it?

A little Adirondack Mountain with a big reward

2010-09-22T13:22:00.000-04:00

Reaching new heights means different things to different people.

The new height for me this past weekend was Kane Mountain, which might have more modestly and appropriately been named Kane Hill. Climbing Kane, at 1.8 miles roundtrip, does not qualify me to start checking off Adirondack high peaks. No competition for Ray O’Conor.

Still, the "I Love New York" guidebook describes the ascent as "moderate," not "easy." And I did break a sweat.

This was an attempt by my six-member book club to exercise our bodies after exercising our minds over a high-carb brunch. I began first out of the gate, striding along in hiking boots that hadn’t seen a trail since 1999. Like the horses I usually lose on at Saratoga Race Course, by the halfway point I went from front-runner to bringing up the rear by more than a few lengths.

But I made it. And best of all, I was first up to the top of the fire tower. The reward was lovely: a panorama of lakes, peaks and rolling hills turning yellow and red. Taking in such a view on a beautiful fall day is one of my favorite things.

A salute to ethics: The boy in the picture wasn't giving the finger

2010-09-20T12:27:00.000-04:00

He was not giving the finger.

Really.

Looks are deceiving.

The Neighbors page in The Saratogian on Thursday, Sept. 16 ran a big, bright, happy picture of orange-shirted 8-year-olds in the Northeastern Youth Football League excitedly mugging for photographer Erica Miller at the grand opening celebration of Schuylerville High School’s turf field.

Reactions to the picture started coming in before dawn — because one of the boys appears to be offering the one-finger salute, if you get my drift. The Saratogian’s beleaguered circulation department customer service reps weren’t the only ones catching flak over the apparently devilish digit.

“My brother-in-law texted me at 6:45 in the morning,” Steve Dunkel told me when I called him today to try to put the brouhaha to bed. “It’s big misunderstanding.”

Dunkel is president of the Old Saratoga Athletic Association, which oversees the youth football team. And he was right.

Photographer Miller took a series of pictures of the kids in rapid succession, and turned in for publication the one that was best composed and most appealing — without giving a second thought to the possible misinterpretation of this particular frame. Her pictures clearly showed the boy in question had given the V-shaped peace sign and was in the process of lowering his hand when the unfortunate frame was shot, making it look like he was an 8-year-old wise guy.

“Some kids I could see. Not this kid,” said Dunkel said, who has reassured the boy’s parents.

Despite the inarguable innocence, we removed the picture from The Saratogian website. Even though there was a reasonable explanation, a picture must speak for itself. And this one said the wrong thing. Had we noticed the problem in the first place, we wouldn’t have run it.

Dunkel feels a little guilty about the whole thing: “I was the one who told them to give the No. 1 sign.”

Next time, we’ll have to be sure they hold their hands in place until the final photograph.

Online, forever? Publishing arrests on the Internet

2010-09-15T15:16:00.001-04:00

The parent of a 25-year-old who had been arrested in Saratoga County earlier this year for possession of marijuana called me this week to ask about taking the posting off The Saratogian website.

It was, after all, a relatively minor crime. And the case has been adjourned in contemplation of dismissal -- ACOD in court jargon -- meaning that if he stays out of trouble for six months, the charge will be dismissed.

So what should we do? My inclination is to add an editor's note updating the story with the ACOD and then, should the charge ultimately be dismissed, update the story again saying so. This is how we've handled it when a similar issue occurred over the past few months. That's what I did in this case.

Another option would be to completely remove the story from the website upon dismissal of the charge. But isn't that like rewriting history? Isn't the story still floating out there in cyberspace, without the updated news? So wouldn't it be a disservice to not provide the Internet with the updated, correct information.

The father's major concern was that when you google marijuana and his son's name, the arrest pops up, and that when potential employers see the post they will automatically rule out his application. In bigger cities, such arrests wouldn't make the papers, in print or online. Not so in the Capital District.

I'd be interested in hearing from employers if that's really the case. Are you googling applicants? How do you weigh what you find?

Meanwhile, for what it's worth, parents ought to send this file to any kids out there -- almost grown, fully grown, and old enough to know better -- for a warning about the repercussions of getting into trouble with law, even for a relatively minor infraction, in the Internet age.

Hola! Joining Skype to see son Joe in Spain

2010-09-13T12:40:00.002-04:00

This weekend I visited my younger son Joe in Madrid, where he is spending the first semester of his junior year of college. Saw him, his host family, the apartment he's living in, and the lovely view from their ninth-floor terrace.
All on Skype.
When I was a kid, this is the way I thought telephones would be in the future. And now it's here.
Some of you have no doubt been Skyping for a while. A few weeks ago I ran into someone on Broadway who told me how she keeps in touch with her grandchildren on Skype. Hey, I thought, if she can do it, I can do it.
All it took was buying a little video camera to hook onto my laptop and then nagging my older son David into showing me how to set it up. We did a practice Skype, with him in the kitchen and me in the the living room.
Then, on Sunday, Joe and I hooked up at 9:30 in the morning here and 3:30 in the afternoon there. Saturday had been the annual "stay up all night" day in Madrid, so he had actually been up until about 6 in the morning and had just gotten up when we connected. It's a real event, he claims.
We're planning on really visiting Joe during the semester to see, as my husband says, how our investment is doing. Emails and telephones are great. But it's pretty cool to be able to see, in real time, the person you're talking to -- on another continent yet. And, for a mom, there's a measure of reassurance that comes from being able to look my son in the eye and see that all is well.

A little Adirondack Mountain with a big reward

2010-09-02T12:29:00.000-04:00

Reaching new heights means different things to different people.

The new height for me this past weekend was Kane Mountain, which might have more modestly and appropriately been named Kane Hill. Climbing Kane, at 1.8 miles roundtrip, does not qualify me to start checking off Adirondack high peaks. No competition for Ray O’Conor.

Still, the “I Love New York” guidebook describes the ascent as “moderate,” not “easy.” And I did break a sweat.

This was an attempt by my six-member book club to exercise our bodies after exercising our minds over a high-carb brunch. I began first out of the gate, striding along in hiking boots that hadn’t seen a trail since 1999. Like the horses I usually lose on at Saratoga Race Course, by the halfway point I went from front runner to bringing up the rear by more than a few lengths.

But I made it. And best of all, I was first up to the top of the fire tower.

The reward was lovely: a panorama of lakes, peaks and rolling hills turning yellow and red. Taking in such a view on a beautiful fall day is one of my favorite things.

Will blog post be a charm for reuniting owner with lost Chamilia and Pandora bracelet?

2010-08-24T16:41:00.003-04:00

A colleague here at The Saratogian found a lovely and expensive charm bracelet today (Aug. 24) in downtown Saratoga Springs. It has Chamilia and Pandora charms on it.
If this sounds like something you lost, call 583-8715.

Weeding emails from 1,846 to 248 ... make that 267 ...

2010-08-20T13:23:00.000-04:00

Late last night, during the Colbert Report, I completed a week-long goal of reducing my email in-box from more than 1,800 files to fewer than 250.
By morning, it was back over 270, but, ever the optimist, I'm hoping to stay on top of the endless incoming pile. Just like I try to keep the actual desk clean. Ha.
Dozens of emails arrive in my inbox every day, and hundreds have been staying there. Many are from you, readers, with suggestions and questions. Many are from my boss, also with suggestions and questions, as well as follow-up notes, directives, attaboys and, once in a while, a what were you (or someone on your staff) thinking. Until recently, many were for opportunities to improve my sex life were I a male in need of a little (or big) boost. And there are dozens of press releases, some of great interest, some of no local value, and a lot that fall in between.
My email address recently changed from blombardo@saratogian.com to blombardo@journalregister.com (Journal Register Company owns The Saratogian). The switch was made because lots of emails being sent to the saratogian.com address weren't getting there, and the senders weren't receiving bounce-backs or undeliverable mail notices. I miss the saratogian.com brand in my email address, but it's worth the tradeoff to know I'm getting your emails. The challenge now is to keep up with them.

Cliche contest: How many can you count?

2010-08-18T14:19:00.001-04:00

It seems to be a rite of passage for every reporter to cover an event while precipitation was apparent and to tell readers that "rain did not dampen the spirits of ..."
So I realize this is the pot calling the kettle black.
But when this press release came in from Assemblyman Jim Tedisco's office last week, we in the newsroom couldn't help but chuckle over the strained horse racing references. I counted five. How about you?

TEDISCO: FINISH LINE NEAR FOR AQUEDUCT DEAL
Approval of VLT operator will boost Saratoga, protect horse racing industry
Statement from Assemblyman Jim Tedisco
(R,C,I-Schenectady-Saratoga)

“The race to save horse racing in Saratoga and get Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs) at Aqueduct Race Course is about to cross the finish line – which is welcome news for taxpayers, the historic Saratoga Race Course, and the entire thoroughbred industry.”

“After being kept at the starting gate for nine years, Saratoga needs this deal to happen and all that’s left is for the Assembly Speaker to pick the horse. We need to make sure that the $25 million that will be set aside from this deal is wisely spent and will keep Saratoga and thoroughbred racing alive and well.”

“Saratogians deserve a big win here and not more scratches.”

Every letter is important in a job application letter

2010-08-16T16:00:00.000-04:00

When I was an intern in the newsroom of the Sun-Bulletin in Binghamton, N.Y., the city editor made a show of depositing into the circular file every job application that was sent to "Binghampton."
The lesson was not lost on me.
Now, as managing editor, I receive dozens of unsolicited job applications a year, and dozens more in response to specific postings. I've been trained not to dump applications but to save them for a couple of years.
Well, the two years are up for the "Dear Ms. Picus" letter from a job applicant who had written directly to The Saratogian's human resources manager. The problem? Her last name is Pickus, with a K.
If you can't proofread a cover letter for a job in a newsroom, what hope is there for you as a reporter writing on deadline? (A sloppy application letter is a bad sign for any job, actually.)
The Picus letter is now in that big circular file in the sky, with all the would-be reporters in Binghampton.

A night in Lake George; an afternoon in Williamstown

2010-08-15T08:13:00.001-04:00

I'm a shameless hometown booster, but I want to tell you two fun things my husband and I did out of town (but not too far afield) in the past week.
First, we made our second day trip this summer to Williamstown, Mass., for a play at the terrific Williamstown Theater Festival. This time it was "Our Town," the famous play by Thornton Wilder that I don't remember ever seeing. The "stage manager" -- essentially, the narrator -- was Campbell Scott, the son of George C. Scott and an accomplished actor in his own right. After the show we discovered Mezze, a relaxed, fine dining establishment that would do well in Saratoga. Williamstown is only 60 miles from Saratoga Springs, and a pretty drive through the Berkshires (so long as you don't hit rain and fog, like we did last year, on that winding mountain road).
Second, we met old pals who vacation every year in Lake George and joined them for the first time on the dinner cruise about the Luc St. Sacrement. Been on the Minnehaha over the years, but never the big ship and its two-hour cruise. It takes you 14 miles up the 32-mile lake, about as far as the Sagamore Hotel, and then back. You travel mostly through the residential section of the lake, so you see a fair view of the mountains, as well as a lot of big, cool lake homes on the shore and a waterside view of Camp Chingachgook. Took a photo to show my niece, who camped there for a couple of weeks this summer.
Music on the cruise was a little corny at times, but how can I complain about a guy named Lombardo (pretty sure he said it was Dan Lombardo)?

A perfect summer evening: Under the stars at SPAC with the Philadelphia Orchestra

2010-08-13T00:54:00.004-04:00

Here's my idea of a perfect summer night in Saratoga Springs: Sitting back in a lawn chair on the grass at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, watching the stars appear while the Philadelphia Orchestra performs Gershwin.
That was Wednesday night.
The weather was beautiful -- a comfortable evening, not too humid. I was glad to see a big crowd, inside and on the lawn. Don't know how many were lured by the post-show fireworks donated by SPAC board member Ed Lewi and his wife, Maureen. That was icing on the cake for fireworks fans.
My husband and I are "sustaining" SPAC members -- a fairly basic membership that helps support SPAC and provides perks like early sign-ups for shows. One perk this year was two free amphitheater tickets to a specific performance of the New York City Ballet or the Philadelphia Orchestra. I picked the Gershwin night, and was glad. And even though the free seats were good ones (in the back of the lower level, right in the center), my husband and I opted for the more informal night on the lawn.
I try to make it to a couple of ballets and a couple or orchestra performances each season. Usually I like the lawn. This year I sat inside twice for the ballet, and I must admit, it's a different experience -- sitting closer to the stage and inside, I was more engaged. But the lawn is still good, especially with the benefit of the screens.
Well, as of this writing, there are six more opportunities to see the orchestra at SPAC. Next Saturday, the final night, is the famous 1812 overture followed by fireworks; that evening used to be an annual tradition for ours and another family, until the kids got too old to corral. But I hope it instilled in them an appreciation for the music and for SPAC.
Remind me sometime to tell you about meeting members of the Philadelphia Orchestra in a hot tub in Ohio, in the spring of 1977.

NYRA volunteer v.p. belatedly reveals Pataki pay-to-play "request"

2010-08-03T13:16:00.002-04:00

How much would you pay to be a state appointee to the New York Racing Association?
Oh, that's right -- you're not supposed to pay anything. You're not supposed to be asked to pay anything.
Not legally, not ethically.
Well, here's an unpleasant peek into the real world.
This morning Jim Heffernan, the vice chairman of the New York Racing Association, and I were panelists at a seminar sponsored by the Saratoga Institute on Racing and Gaming Law. It's part of Albany Law School's program of continuing education for lawyers, and it also serves as a forum for non-lawyers interested in racing-related issues.
Our hour-long panel had to do with NYRA, its financial situation and its relations with the horsemen and the media. The questions were mostly softballs, and the answers explanatory as opposed to controversial. -- until Heffernan volunteered to tell the story about how he got to be on the NYRA board.
I think it was his intention to show how you didn't have to be politically connected or a racing blueblood to be on the board.
But he inadvertently revealed a dirty secret. He explained how he had taken the initiative to apply to the governor's office for a NYRA seat, believing his affinity for horse racing and his track record as a successful businessman with a specialty in restructuring would make him an asset to the board. I think he is right.
Anyway, eventually he moved up the ranks of applicants to the point where someone representing then-Gov. George Pataki told him Pataki would like to appoint him -- and that it would cost him a $100,000 donation to the Pataki campaign.
He said he told the man that was $99,000 too much, alluding to a fund-raiser to which he’d already contributed.
He didn’t cough up any money, and he got the appointment anyway. He did only one thing wrong: Not exposing the pay-to-play directive.
As Heffernan told the story, it took all my self-control to not grab the mike to start questioning him, which wasn’t my role on the panel. Besides, a man in the back of the room did it for me.
What the politician asked you to do was illegal, the man said. Did you report it? Why not?
Heffernan conceded that he did not report it, and didn’t really have an explanation for letting it slide.
Here’s my guess: A pay-to-play “request” is shrugged off as political business, and after rejecting the request he saw no reason to rock the boat and get knocked off the NYRA short list. He was “asked” to make a donation, he refused, and he got the appointment anyway. My impression, and the conventional wisdom, is that Heffernan is doing a heck of a job in this volunteer board position.
Besides, nothing was in writing or tape-recorded. His complaint could have been reduced to a he said/she said dispute. He did say the man is no longer in government, for whatever that’s worth, which is not much.
The end results: A good person is serving the public well. But the system never changes when flagrant violations of the law, not to mention ethics, are waved off as politics as usual.

A son's appendectomy and a midnight trip to Boston

2010-07-29T09:38:00.000-04:00

For years I wrote a weekly column in The Saratogian in which I often shared the lighter side of the familiar trials of raising two boys. Now one, Dave, is a college grad whose entertainment blog appears on The Saratogian website, for whom bad publicity is any in which his name is misspelled. The other, Joe, is a college sophomore who, unlike his brother and despite being the lead singer and composer of a band in high school, would just as soon not be mom's column subject.

Sorry, Joe.

Last month, he called home one Saturday afternoon to report a bad stomach ache. Must have been bad, to call home. He's in Boston for the summer, teaching music to city kids at a nonprofit organization called the Hyde Square Task Force.

Mother of the Year called sister-in-law, the relative closest to a doctor and the matriarch of a family famous for intestinal ailments, who said their speciality is diarrhea, but suggested Gas-Ex. Joe made the trek to his neighborhood CVS for the medicine. But a couple of hours later, the pain was much worse. His girlfriend came home from work in the nick of time and a trip to an emergency room was in clearly in order.

Long story short, at Beth Israel Hospital, they removed his appendix around midnight, as my husband, other son and I headed to Boston -- arriving just in time to see him in the recovey room. What was amazing was how laproscopic surgery made it possible for him to go home the next day and return to bike riding and tennis less than two weeks later.

Funny how I felt too busy to take a trip to Boston, but had no hesitation about going at 10:30 at night -- especially when Joe said, "Are you coming?" You bet we are, I assured him. How old is too old to want to be at your kid's side?

Who'll have the last white and blue license plate?

2010-07-26T21:24:00.002-04:00

I'm hoping it will be me.

Just received my registration renewal forms from the DMV. There are three options: Renew for $53.50. Renew and get the "new" blue and gold plate with a new plate number: $78.50. Or, the third and final choice, renew and get the new plate with the same old number: $98.50. Ninety-eight fifty! Give me a break.

I haven't backed or fronted into any frozen snow banks or parking lot concrete blocks lately, so my current plates are not cracked, bent or in any way noticeably damaged. I am not inclined to donate an extra $35 of my income to our dysfunctional state for the privilege of changing plate color. I placed quote marks around "new" above, because the blue and gold are just a retread of the old combination.

And I resent have to practically double the cost of renewal just to keep my old plate. It's tempting to have one less new thing to have to remember. But to be honest, I'm never sure I correctly remember the plates I have now. And so long as I have a key that makes the car honk at me, who cares?

Ed and Maureen Lewi, masters of promotions, turn over reins to Mark Bardack

2010-07-19T11:57:00.000-04:00

I was a guest at a recent retirement toast and roast for Saratoga Springs resident Ed and Maureen Lewi. As one speaker at the party noted, Ed and Maureen did not run an ad agency. They did much more. They are promoters. They come up with ideas. Some are wacky, most work. And many are big things, that Saratoga Springs have come to be known for, like the Hats Off and Final Stretch downtown music festivals that bookend the racing season.
Also, the party helped me see them through another lens, as parents. One of their sons, Joey Lewi, shared tales about growing up as a Lewi kid -- including sharing a piano bench at SPAC with his brother and Michael Jackson, then with the Jackson Five. Hope that made up for the times he and his brother had to dress up as characters in Storytown.
The Lewis have sold their successful Ed Lewi Associates marketing firm to the very capable Mark Bardack. Mark has worked for them for a dozen years; his good work is familiar to those of in the media inundated by Bardack press releases and publicity pitches. He and his team at the firm are respected for the quality of their work, integrity, helpfulness and reliability. I wish him well.

Wanted: Liberal blogger for Saratogian site

2010-07-18T09:24:00.001-04:00

A reader named "Patriot" asked me why The Saratogian doesn't have a left-leaning blogger to offset Tom Lewis's far one.
My answer: I'd LOVE to add one on our site.
If you have any suggestions for a LOCAL blogger who would fit the bill, or you write one yourself, Patriot, please email me at blombardo@journalregister.com (which replaced my saratogian.com email). I knew about Tom's blog and invited him on board, hoping it would generate discussion AND that a counter-blogger would step up.
And, yes, Patriot, I agree with you that the "mainstream media is left" is a lot of garbage.

Way to go, Saratoga County's Will Clarke: Good luck in the Special Olympics!

2010-07-16T09:33:00.002-04:00

A 17-year-old from Greenfield Center, Will Clarke, is competing starting Sunday in the national Special Olympics in Lincoln, Nebraska.
He's one of fewer than 10 kids in all of New York state to make it to this national competition. What a fantastic opportunity.
I am so happy for him and his family. I don't really know Will, but his mother, Roberta Nahill, and I are in the same book club, and sometimes she will mention how her son has been running. And running. And running, sometimes outdoors, sometimes at the Y. He might do one or two five-mile loops a day, Roberta told Sam Hollingsworth in a story on The Saratogian website.
http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2010/07/16/sports/doc4c3fb7f800df8564501471.txt

It was heartening to read about the coaching and encouragement Will has been getting from 2007 SSHS grad and neighbor John Farley (now a Siena runner) and Special Olympics track and field coach Larry Shapiro at the Skidmore College campus.
Good luck in Nebraska, Will!
For more information on the Special Olympics, including how to compete, please contact Larry Shapiro at 371-3374 or Gean Pokrzywka at 587-3208. New York’s Special Olympics headquarters, located in Schenectady, can be reached at 388-0790 for more information.
Will has Asperger’s syndrome, which WebMD describes as a developmental disorder with some traits of autism: "For example, they may have poor social skills, prefer routine, and not like change. But unlike those who have autism, children with Asperger's syndrome usually start to talk before 2 years of age, when speech normally starts to develop. Asperger’s syndrome is a lifelong condition, but symptoms tend to improve over time. Adults with this condition can learn to understand their own strengths and weaknesses. And they can improve their social skills."

Only 90 minutes to Williamstown, Degas and Picasso

2010-07-12T10:12:00.001-04:00

I enjoy live theater, and my husband and I try to get over to the Williamstown Theatre Festival at least once during their summer season. On Saturday, July 10, we saw an excellent production of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." Funny! One of the stars was the guy who played an editor on "The Wire" (and a nerdy husband on a casino commercial). Years ago, we saw Christopher Reeve and Terri Garr in a play; the audience was invited to a "cast party." I couldn't work up the nerve to say a word to Christopher Reeve.
Before the show, we stopped at the terrific Clark art museum. A special exhibit through mid-September shows how Picasso was influenced by Degas. It includes many examples of work by both artists that clearly demonstrates the Degas influence.

See you on the not-so-secret, wonderful garden tour

2010-07-11T07:00:00.000-04:00

Keep your fingers crossed for a sunny Sunday! More than 600 people have bought tickets to the Secret Gardens Tour scheduled for today (July 11). It's a major fund-raiser by Soroptimist International of Saratoga County, to benefit Domestic Violence and Rape Crisis Services of Saratoga County and other projects to benefit women and girls. I've been a co-chairwoman and committee member of the Secret Gardens -- NOT because of my gardening skill, sad to say.
I'll be volunteering Sunday afternoon at a home on Woodlake Drive with Tina Morris, whose gorgeous Pinewood Avenue garden was on the tour last year. I'm hoping to pick up some tips from Tina. And I'm sure I'll be inspired by the gardens on this year's tour. (Tickets are $20, available at the Saratoga Springs Visitors Center starting at 11 a.m. Sunday; see more info in the Secret Gardens descriptions published by The Saratogian last month.)
Last Monday, I spent the entire day digging up weeds, making barely a dent. I am so appreciative of the homeowners who put invest their time, effort, money, and more effort to create beautiful, creative gardens that they so generously open up for Secret Gardens Tour participants to enjoy. (Hey, if you have any suggestions for next year's gardens, let me know. I'm on the committee again. STILL not because of my own gardening.)

Get your butt over to the ballet

2010-07-10T21:59:00.004-04:00

I don't know much about ballet, but I know enough to go see a world-class company when its performing right in my own city.
I lucked out picking Friday night to see the New York City Ballet at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center -- there was a break in the weather. It was warm, but you didn't feel as though you were melting into you seat. There was even the occasional breeze that passed through.
I'll leave the reviews to Jay Rogoff, who has been previewing and reviewing the season for The Saratogian with insightful and accessible commentary.
I'll tell you that I enjoyed the variety of Friday's lineup: Mozart music for the first segment; cool, weird Red Angels; a funny dance that seemed to be an insect-like woman bugging a man; and, last but not least, Leonard Bernstein's sailors on leave.
At 18 bucks for a lawn seat, and kids under 12 free, I can't imagine why people miss this opportunity. We're already down to a two-week schedule ... and you have only one week left.

Hey, who's kid is that in the police blotter?

2010-07-07T23:06:00.003-04:00

Every so often a familiar name pops up for a misdemeanor in The Saratogian police blotter — familiar because the parent is someone well-known locally, perhaps because of an elected office.

The question then arises, do we print that the person charged is the son or daughter of so-and-so?

The general answer, I think, is no.

Why not? Unless there's a compelling public reason to say so, what's the justification for singling out the children of elected officials — especially adult children, and especially for misdemeanors?

There's no rule book for handling these instances, and the treatment varies among area publications. A publication must be consistent and fair. So let me ask you this: If your child is arrested, should your name be in the story?

Ben Franklin Day at The Saratogian: A ‘Declaration of Independence’ from newsroom software

2010-07-02T18:02:00.004-04:00

The Sunday, July 4 edition of The Saratogian should look the same as always — if all went according to plan.
But it wasn't put together in the usual way.
Most of the news and photographs on the pages, and the layout of those pages themselves, were prepared for publication without using the usual newsroom software for writing, editing, toning, cropping and paginating.
Instead, all this work was done using free software available to anyone on the Internet. And yes, it was hard work. The proprietary software is designed to be efficient, reliable and relative fast for the task of producing a daily newspaper. The free substitutes, not so much.

So why did we do it? Crazy? Maybe. Tired? Definitely. Proud? You bet.
The free software experiment is part of the Ben Franklin Project of the Journal Register Company, which owns The Saratogian, 17 other dailies and a slew of weeklies and has been expanding its online presence with a content-driven, digital-first mentality that reflects where the world of communication is today and where it’s headed.
Part of the Ben Franklin Project is to push us newsies into active engagement with the public as a matter of course in planning, developing and reporting news. The buzzword is crowdsourcing. While it’s not a new concept, the Internet and social media in particular eliminate any excuses about reaching people and making citizens part of the process of shaping their news. That’s the ongoing part of the Ben Franklin Project, which recognizes that our No. 1 product is news content, whether you’re in print or online.
The Ben Franklin Project’s one-shot deal is the preparation of all daily newspapers in the Journal Register Company using free software for publication on the Fourth of July, a symbolic declaration of independence from proprietary software. Last month, a weekly and a daily in the company did it successfully, so the bar was raised for today. It’s a bit of a publicity stunt within the journalism industry, and it’s working. The industry has taken note of remarkable strides in attitudes and practices of the Journal Register Company spearheaded by John Paton, the CEO who has taken the company out of bankruptcy and is leading it into a digital-first world.
The Ben Franklin Project also demonstrates that the technology to publish is out there for anyone to use.
But between us, producing today’s paper wasn’t easy for the newsroom. News Editor Paul Tackett has been working days and nights, on top of his usual job, to set up most of today’s pages in a layout program called Scribus. In the community, Tackett may be an anonymous editor, but you know him through his compelling page designs.
For today’s paper, Tackett has duplicated the familiar components of The Saratogian from scratch, with the goal being that you won’t know the difference between the look of today’s paper and tomorrow’s. Likewise, photographers Erica Miller and Ed Burke have used free software instead of Photoshop for their pictures, and the reporters have filed their stories in Googled Docs instead of Microsoft Word. Online Editor Steve Shoemaker is posting video and stories to a free website, in addition to the regular site at saratogian.com.
It’s been a team effort involving other departments of The Saratogian as well as the newsroom.
We in the news industry take great pride in publishing, no matter what the circumstances – and news companies have faced natural disasters much more challenging than anything John Paton or Ben Franklin could throw our way.
Just wanted to share with you the story behind today’s newspaper, to publicly commend The Saratogian team, and, as always, to invite your comments.

Barbara Lombardo is managing editor of The Saratogian. E-mail her at blombardo@journalregister.com or comment on her blog, Fresh Ink, at www.saratogian.com.

Kudos to Judy Ekman as she leaves the Prevention Council of Saratoga County

2010-06-22T09:51:00.004-04:00

This evening Judy Ekman will be the recipient of well-deserved thanks and good wishes from a relatively small sampling of the many, many lives she has touched during her 30-year career in substance abuse prevention and making ours a better, healthier, safer community.

The people she helped the most won't be there. I'm referring to the countless kids and their parents whose paths crossed Ekman or the programs she fostered, maintained and supported.

Most of the people at this evening's send-off will be those who have worked with her over the years. She has been great at creating community coalitions. As Prevenion Council board member Stephen Toussaint told The Saratogian in today's print edition and online (at http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2010/06/22/news/doc4c201eaf93d12673257324.txt), Ekman brought together people representing "a broad spectrum of the community" to work toward common goals."

She leads by example, at once quiet, friendly and firm. She is a warm and wonderful person who has made a major, positive difference in so many lives.

READ/RUN a great way to support literacy volunteers in Saratoga Springs and capital region

2010-06-06T16:40:00.000-04:00

People come through time and again when there are neighbors — or strangers — in need. Even in tough economic times, individuals step up when government funding is cut back.
And when there’s a way to get actively involved in a fun way, that’s all the better. Now more than ever, grassroots fundraising events rely on increased community participation and support.
Take, for instance, Literacy New York Greater Capital Region, the local branch of what used to be called Literacy Volunteers of America — and its June 13 fundraising Read/Run in Saratoga Springs.
The group provides free services for about 400 students of varying ages in Saratoga, Warren, Washington, Albany and Schenectady counties with an annual budget of $450,000 … er, make that $390,000. Its total annual budget has just been cut by more than 13 percent, because the state has cut its funding for the organization by almost 40 percent, which is roughly $60,000. United Way continues to be a major revenue source.
The state aid reduction is tough to argue with given the state of the state’s budget. But it makes operating all the more challenging for the literacy group — as well as countless other nonprofits that depend at least in part on public funding.
Cutbacks force organizations to think creatively about ways to share resources and avoid duplication of effort. The Literacy group is no stranger to that concept. It’s been a while since the individual countywide literacy groups merged into regional entities, thus reducing administrative expenses.
About a quarter of the current students live in Saratoga County. Most are people trying to obtain the GED; others are trying to find a job, keep a job or get a better job. Even with its existing budget, the literacy group has students on waiting lists and don’t expect to be able to create more matches until the fall at the earliest. More than 30 people are waiting for tutoring in Saratoga County; the organization tries to push up on the list those who are preparing for their GED.
Tutors volunteer their time, but there’s still the administrative cost involved in assessing student needs, setting up their programs, training tutors and ongoing supervision of the matches. And besides help with reading, there is a lot of training in English as a second language as well as tutoring in math and financial literacy.
The beauty of next Sunday’s Read/Run is that it ties in with its mission, has a broad, family-oriented appeal, raises awareness for the group, and involves a lot of people. More than 80 volunteers include literacy tutors, Girl Scouts, retired teachers, National Honor Society students and employees of area libraries, SEFCU, State Farm, Banana Republic and other businesses. There will be cartoon characters and characters from literature along the route. The Saratogian is proud to be the media sponsor.
While funding for Literacy New York and other agencies decreases, the demand for their services is on the rise. Literacy programs are an excellent investment. But while the programs are free, it costs money to provide them.
As Nancy Holzman, coordinator of the June 13 event and director of Resource and Community Development for the group, notes, the gap left by government cuts means grassroots fundraising events are more and more critical to the survival of community nonprofits. Support, she says, can take many forms: financial sponsorship, donations goods and services, volunteerism and — last but not least — event participation.
You can do any of those for the Literacy New York Read/Run. Go to www.readrunforliteracy.org to find out how.

Everyone loves Compton's ... and you're not too old for The Scene

2010-06-04T11:05:00.005-04:00

The summer season sees the return of The Scene, a publication of The Saratogian that's separate from the print product. A new print version is distributed every other Wednesday at a number of locations in and around downtown Saratoga Springs, and the website is available for your enjoyment and comments at thesaratogascene.com (and at saratogian.com in the entertainment dropdown).

The latest edition, which came out June 2, includes a feature on the crew that satisfies the 3 a.m. munchies at Compton's on Broadway. The popular breakfast and lunch place is hopping when most of us are into REM sleep. My favorite at Compton's, during normal brunch hours, is eggs over easy and a large OJ. But some days Bev McKim and I can't resist splitting a chocolate milkshake.

Upcoming editions of The Scene will include a story by and about Maggie Doherty, a Saratoga Springs High School grad who sings with Zach Rossi and is a journalism student at Hofstra. Other SSHS grads contributing to The Scene are Kathleen Ronayne, the incoming managing editor for the school newspaper at Syracue, and David Lombardo, whose other writing gigs include the legislative observer Statewatch and an "Entertainment Daily" blog.

Tell The Saratogian what stories and topics you'd like covered

2010-06-01T15:31:00.001-04:00

A revolution is under way, and it’s happening in a newsroom near you.

Join us.

A familiar old face is serving as our standard-bearer — Ben Franklin — a symbol of innovation, an informed, active citizenry and an invigorated press.

The press? Make that the “news media.” The role of the media as a catalyst for positive change has always been paramount. The Internet is making it easier to shine a light on issues and to pose and implement solutions.

Long before personal computers were commonplace, readers have generously given their time as Saratogian advisory board members, critiquing coverage, suggesting coverage topics and serving as citizen ambassadors for the hometown paper.

Now you can serve as advisers, sources and participants with the click of a button. The buzzword is “crowdsourcing,” and we want to embrace it as a way to plant and sow the seeds of coverage that you are interested in and possibly knowledgeable about.

What topics, broad or specific, would you like us to focus on for short- and long-term coverage? Are you willing to be a source or can you suggest someone else who might be?

Based on your suggestions, we’ll come back to you, asking for help on more specific topics, as the reporting process becomes a collaborative effort.

The other day, our reporters tossed around a few topics that seem to pique local interest: running a successful small business in Saratoga, recreation options in the city, historic properties and their preservation, the cost of our schools and the efficiency of city government. Choose from or add to these topics.

We have already begun work on a project that has been on the radar lately because of a couple of cases involving well-known citizens: Alcoholism. The number of AA meetings per week in our towns will surprise you. If this is a topic to which you would like to contribute ideas, tips, data or firsthand experiences as this project takes shape, let us know.

We will also be diving into the impending vote to change the form of government to a system with a city manager. Care to help us with that one?

In the old newspaper days, fear of tipping off the competition would make me reluctant to tell the world what we’re working on. Today, I want to reach out to the world and tap into everyone’s energy and knowledge. We need each other.

OK. We need you. After all, anyone can publish. Which brings me to the Ben Franklin project.

The July 4 edition of The Saratogian will be created, as much as technically possible, using only free software available over the Internet. We will be writing stories, uploading and editing pictures, laying out the pages and writing headlines using free computer programs that can be found by anyone with the initiative to look for them. The other 17 dailies in the Journal Register Co. will be doing the same thing.

It’s an exercise (already accomplished by two of JRC’s publications) that acknowledges the digital world and a revolution of company culture. With arrogance and fear of the Internet behind us, JRC, under the new leadership of CEO John Paton, is determined to be regarded as a leader in the news industry.

It’s exciting to be part of a can-do, forward-looking culture. And a little daunting. After all, the Ben Franklin project — independence from newsroom proprietary computer software for Independence Day — will, even if for just one symbolic day, be a time-consuming project added to an already full plate.

Hey, maybe you can help us figure out the best free word processing, design, photo and page layout programs to try. Any suggestions? Anyone out there who can give us a hand with Scribus?

Add your comments to the online version of this column. And check out our newest blog, The Saratechian, which reporters Mareesa Nicosia and Emily Dohonue, our Twitter Queen, started last week.

Something new can be energizing, too.

As Ben Franklin said, “All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable and those that move.”

We’re on the move. Join us.

• Learn more about the Ben Franklin project at http://jrcbenfranklinproject.wordpress.com/about/

• Follow The Saratechian blog at www.saratogian.com.

Journalism loses a gem with passing of Jay Gallagher

2010-05-26T18:19:00.002-04:00

A top-notch reporter on the New York state scene for years, Jay Gallagher was a first-class journalist and a truly decent human being. He'd been battling pancreatic cancer for a while, documenting his experience on a blog. It was with sadness that I learned of his death, and as a tribute of sorts I'd like to share with you his obituary, below, which was provided by the New York News Publishers Association.

It was my privilege to know and work with Jay while he was with Gannett News Service. The Saratogian was a Gannett newspaper prior to becoming part of the Journal Register Company. As a member of the Gannett group, The Saratogian published legislative news originating from the Gannett News Service's Albany bureau, so Jay's byline was frequently in The Saratogian. His work was insightful and analytical, the benefit of years of experience, a sharp mind and a dedication to the craft. And he was a really nice guy to boot. My condolences to his family.

Obituary for Jay Gallagher (1947-2010)
Jay Gallagher, award-winning journalist and passionate observer of New York state government for more than a quarter century, died Monday from pancreatic cancer. He was 63. Jay's dogged determination to bring depth to his reporting led to "The Politics of Decline," his 2005 book which linked political machinations to economic decay across the state.

Gallagher was born on April 30, 1947. More than most, Jay had ink in his blood. His father and uncle worked as reporters and editors at newspapers in Salem and Lynn, Massachusetts; Jay was was born in Beverly and raised in nearby Danvers. As a boy he became a rabid follower of all Boston sports teams, especially the Red Sox. In his online memoirs, he wrote of his first visit to a ballgame in 1953: "If I ever get to heaven, my arrival could be no sweeter than that moment I saw Fenway Park.''

While earning a bachelor's degree at Colby College (Maine), he met the woman who would give him a happy life, Emily Kreinick, of Brockton, Mass. After their graduation and marriage in 1969, Jay took his first reporting job at the Waltham (Mass.) News Tribune, then moved on to the Providence (R.I.) Journal. He worked there until a fateful work strike and a day on the picket line. After refusing to pipe down when a police officer ordered, Jay was arrested and quickly determined he'd move on from Rhode Island. He next spent eight years at the Rochester (NY) Times-Union, then joined Gannett News Service's New York Capitol Bureau in 1984. Named bureau chief in 1989, Jay coordinated state coverage for Gannett's eight statewide newspapers for the next two decades.

He covered the administrations of governors Mario M. Cuomo, George E. Pataki, Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson. He wrote the weekly New York Angle column, a staple in many Empire State newspapers. He also shepherded the careers of many journalists and student interns who worked at the Gannett bureau. He was a regular panelist on "New York Week in Review,'' a statewide public-television show, and has appeared on the CNN show "Inside Politics'" and "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer'" on PBS. In the last year, he became a co-host on "The Capitol Pressroom," a statewide public radio program.

Among the numerous awards Jay received for his coverage of state government were the 1998 and 2004 New York Newspaper Publisher's Association Award for excellence, the 1997 and 2004 Legislative Correspondents' Association award for outstanding reporter, and the 2002 beat reporting award from Capitol Beat, the national association of state capitol reporters, and the 1993 New York Common Cause award for best commentary on New York state government. He was a favorite among fellow reporters and a staple at the LCA's annual theatre shows.

During this time, Jay and Emily raised daughters Janice and Ellen. Jay passed on his love of politics to both daughters: Ellen works to promote the integration of immigrants into communities across the country, and Janice is a PhD student in Political Science, focusing on human rights and international law. His friends knew countless hours of rooting for his beloved Boston teams from the Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics to the New England Patriots.

In 2003, Jay stepped back from daily reporting to tackle the question of how New York's intractable political problems contributed to its economic decline. Growing out of a series of in-depth news articles, Gallagher's book, "The Politics of Decline," (Whitston, 2005) detailed government's major failures: the failure to address the loss of manufacturing jobs, to stop runaway Medicaid costs and to find a balance in funding for public education system. He laid the blame not only on special interests and the lack of political leadership, but also an apathetic public.

Jay always took care to balance work with his personal life. He was a big sports fan, and also liked hiking, kayaking, and cross-country skiing with his family. He was a passionate and competitive tennis player, until a bad hip forced him to switch to golf. In high school, he played on the hockey and football teams; in college, hockey and track. And he always attended all the girls' athletic events, even doing a stint as co-head coach of a girls' soccer team with daughter Janice.

Jay's diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in June 2009 came as a shock. But he immediately began to chronicle his fight in a blog carried by several New York newspapers. With wit and grace, he took his readers through the ups and downs of chemotherapy, conflicting medical opinions and wrenching family decisions.

Jay was predeceased by his parents, Joseph and Hazel Bromley Gallagher and his sister Anne Bromley Pramas of Dracut, Mass. He is survived by his wife of almost 41 years, Emily Gallagher, his daughters, Janice Gallagher of Ithaca, N.Y., and Ellen Gallagher (and her spouse, Allyson Goose) of Somerville, Mass. and his brother, Neil Gallagher, of Berwick, Me.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be made to Friends of Five Rivers, 56 Game Farm Road, Delmar, NY 12054 or the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany Endowment Trust, 405 Washington Ave, Albany, NY 12206.

The memorial service will be held on Tuesday, June 1 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 262 State St in Albany. Doors will open at 7pm and the service will start at 7:30. For further updates please check Jay's blog at http://jaygallagher.blogspot.com

Ben Franklin would be proud of Journal Register Company experiment

2010-05-20T17:19:00.002-04:00

The letter below went to all the employees of the Journal Register Company, the parent company of The Saratogian, from CEO John Paton, who in a very short time has done remarkable things to turn around the image of JRC in the news industry.

Anyone can publish nowadays, as you well know. We in the news business take pride in doing it well, with credibility and consistently.

Paton created what is called the Ben Franklin project: Can you produce a newspaper using only free, online tools? Can you?

Two of the newspapers in the company became the sites for this experiment. And they did it!

I'll be writing more about this and what it means in the days ahead. I'm learning about it myself. There's lots of info about it that you can Google if you want to jump ahead. Below, I'll share the letter from Paton, which includes the challenge to all of the JRC newsrooms.

FROM CEO John Paton:

We did it.

On April 21 we launched the Ben Franklin Project. Our ambitious idea was - from content creation to sales, ad order entry and customer relationship management - to actually produce and print products using only free, web-based tools. We were to bypass costly proprietary systems and the legacy editorial process by going straight to the web and the audience in our communities. And we were to do all of this at one of our dailies and one of weeklies within 30 days.

Well, we did it – in 29 days.

The amazing staffers at our daily, The News-Herald in Lake County, Ohio and our weekly at Montgomery Media's Perkasie News-Herald reinvented almost every process it takes to produce a website and newspaper and involved our communities every step of the way.

See VP of Content, Jon Cooper’s post on The Ben Franklin Project site http://tinyurl.com/2dccaup for details on how our brilliant and innovative colleagues just pulled off what must be a first for our industry.

Our journalists dove deep into their communities to find out what they wanted and collaboratively developed stories. Working the crowd and the cloud they worked on stories including blighted neighborhoods and dangerous intersections.

Our production folks bravely dropped all of the familiar tools of our industry and figured out how to do their jobs with no budget just a connection to the web.

The result has been groundbreaking for our Company as we have changed our focus and culture from legacy based to Digital First.

I don’t know if Ben Franklin would be proud but I sure am. The Journal Register Company is now a company to be watched and that is because of you.

So, what next?

How about starting Monday, and 30 days from then, every one of our 18 daily newspapers pulls off another Ben Franklin Project? What do you say?

What happens when Girl Scouts grow up?

2010-05-20T09:49:00.003-04:00

Tonight (May 20) I will be speaking, briefly, to people who are supporting Girl Scouts by attending the regional organization's annual dinner. My talk will be about seven minutes on the news media's role -- and our responsibility as a society -- in fostering an informed citizenry.

I'll be in excellent company. Five women, including a high school student, are being honored as Women of Distinction. You surely know at least some of them: Jane Wait, Janice White, Janine Dykeman, Patricia Hale and Sarah Rubenstein. Read a little about them in today's Saratogian: http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2010/05/20/news/doc4bf49293609c2800835226.txt

I was surprised last week to learn how many sister Soroptimists had been Girl Scouts, but didn't know it. I think Girl Scouts deserve more recognition than they get for instilling a commitment ot community service. And I do love the Thin Mints.

Blocks away from the would-be Times Square bomber

2010-05-11T22:13:00.002-04:00

While the street vendor called police about the smoking vehicle in Times Square, two friends and I were just a few blocks away, watching the Kentucky Derby on a TV in an Irish pub in Manhattan's West 50s. It wasn't until 8:30 p.m., as we were walking down Broadway back toward our hotel that we realized something was going on. But what?
The Times Square area was cordoned off and non-committal police were stationed along the barriers. Hundreds of New Yorkers and visitors were milling about. The mood at that point was not the least bit panicky, just curious. "Bomb scare," was all we could pick up.
We took a detour to the hotel and turned on the TV as soon as we got to our room. But it took days for the story to really unfold.
I was impressed by the quick and excellent police work in tracking down the suspect -- but disturbed by how close the would-be bomber came to getting away. There is system to snag suspects trying to board a plane -- but it works only if the steps are followed, without fail. What happened to the employee of the airline who should have prevented the suspect from boarding the plane? Thank goodness the final backup system revealed the suspect to be a passenger -- before the plane took off.

University at Albany grooming tomorrow's journalists

2010-05-08T18:55:00.001-04:00

The only sounds I can hear as I write this are the soft clickety-clicks of 20 keyboards, the muffled roar of the air conditioning, and the hum of fluorescent lights.

I am in a classroom in the Science Library at the University of Albany where the students taking Introduction to Reporting and News Writing are taking the final exam. This one class on Tuesday nights is a little sideline from my full-time-plus job here at The Saratogian.

It's been gratifying to work with some young men and women who "get it" -- they understand how to ask questions and pull together a news story, they are excited about the work, they have talent and potential. One is going to be an intern in The Saratogian sports department this summer; another will be doing some writing for The Scene, our summer downtown entertainment tab.

Then there are some who for the life of them can't punctuate a quote. "That drives me nuts", the teacher said. ARGGGH!!! Yet I can't help but like even the ones who seem to be in the wrong place -- if they are trying.

If they come away with nothing else this semester, I hope they've learned, from me and the guests who were kind enough to speak to the class, that journalism is a labor of love. As Rik Stevens, the AP news editor and former Saratogian writer and editor tells the class, his father, also a newsman, long ago told him, "You'll hate the hours, hate the pay, but love the job."

Join the May 26 Memorial Day parade in Saratoga Springs

2010-05-06T13:47:00.000-04:00

Everyone knows that Memorial Day is a Monday near the end of May. But the day to commemorate it with a parade in Saratoga Springs is the prior Wednesday -- this year, May 26.

American Legion Post 70 is organizing the parade and looking for marchers. I'm trying to help get the word out.

This is not the long, sparkly marching band parade we've gotten used to having in Saratoga Springs near Flag Day, courtesy of the Elks. This is a simpler, somewhat more serious and shorter gathering that works its way down from North Broadway to Congress Park, where it ends with a service memorializing American veterans.

The event will support the establishment of the Guardian House, which will be the only shelter for homeless women veterans in the state. The community is being asked to support the effort by buying a Guardian House T-shirt for $10 from either the American Legion on West Avenue (call 587-0236) or the VFW on Excelsior Avenue (call 584-9686).

Meanwhile, organizations interesting in joining the parade should call Jim Coyne or Judy Boyce at 584-4737.

Dick Brooks was Saratoga Springs' old-school journalist

2010-05-04T18:29:00.003-04:00

For three decades, Dick Brooks was everywhere in downtown Saratoga Springs, notebook in hand, getting the skinny on who was doing what in City Hall. Sure, he had his favorite sources and his critics, but no one could resist finding out what "one wag was heard to opine," a phrase often found in his weekly column.

In later years, he disappeared, local contacts severed or lost. Bad habits and bad health were his sad undoing, and he died Saturday in a nursing home in Bennington, Vt. I hope there will be a good turnout for his funeral Friday at St. Peter's Church.

My first beat at The Saratogian in 1977 was City Hall, and Brooks was already on board as the seasoned columnist.

He taught me to stop at the door of the City Council chambers and take in the scene -- who's sitting with whom, how big is the crowd, what's the mood -- and to sit in the audience, rather than at the table set up for reporters. Better to be closer to the real people who you might need to catch up with during or after the meeting than to be separated and basically trapped with the other reporters.

He also beat this rookie, week after week, with scoops in his column that I tried but failed to get all week long. He charmed the secretaries and got longtime pals to save the juicy stuff for him. Though we worked for the same publication, we were competing for city news. There was no contest.

But it was fun. It was memorable. And no matter how technology changes, there will always be the need for people with a passion for digging out the news and reporting it.

Welcome to Heather Kisselback, new exec for Prevention Council of Saratoga County

2010-04-23T12:02:00.004-04:00

Parents can’t protect their kids from every risk, as mentioned in the earlier post about prom time. But parents need to set ground rules for such things as curfews and to make expected behaviors clear. Along with consequences.
Of course, you can't expect to start parenting two weeks before the prom. It's a lifelong challenge that starts with Day One.
Need advice along those lines? I’ve always found the nonprofit Prevention Council of Saratoga County a great resource for the community.
Judy Ekman has done so much over the last two decades to establish the Prevention Council and its offshoot, the Saratoga Partnership for Prevention, as the place to turn for education, information and hands-on programs to promote a community safe from substance abuse and other dangers.
Newly retired, Ekman will no doubt remain a resource.
I am pleased to congratulate Heather Kisselback as the newly appointed executive director. By all accounts, Kisselback has, as Prevention Council board president Michael Smith told The Saratogian, the "background, knowledge and energy" for the job.
Welcome, Heather. http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2010/04/18/news/doc4bca777430a0b457805551.txt

Kudos to PTSO offering post-prom party

2010-04-23T09:50:00.006-04:00

Just received the press release announcing that the Saratoga Springs High School Parent-Teacher-Student Organization will host the eighth annual Post Prom Party from midnight to 3 a.m. May 16, following the May 15 junior-senior prom.

Some kids will turn their noses up at something organized by adults. I think it's a great idea to offer, as the release states, "a fun and safe alternative to other post-prom activities" for students and their dates.

The PTSO is seeking donations, 100 percent of which goes toward the event. Monetary donations can be made to: SSHS PTSO, 1 Blue Streak Blvd., Saratoga Springs, N.Y., 12866. Donated items, such as door prizes and food, are also welcome, and arrangements can be made for pick-up.

Here's the rest of the info from the release:
Eligible students can attend even if they don’t go to the prom. Advance tickets will be available for $5 each when prom tickets go on sale or at the door for $7. Raffle prizes include tickets to the Great Escape, movie tickets, I-pods, a digital camera, mini recorders, gas gift certificates, video game systems, and more. The goal is for each student to go home with a prize.

For more information, contact Bonnie Nicolosi at 587-4272 or bonnie.nicolosi@coldwellbankerprime.com.

Laura Chodos earned Saratoga Springs Rotary award

2010-04-22T11:25:00.004-04:00

I was delighted to learn that Laura Chodos is the recipient of the Saratoga Springs Rotary Club's Senior Citizen of the Year award. (See complete story at saratogian.com.)

Chodos (second from right in photo) would be an excellent pick for Citizen of the Year, regardless of her age.

I remember someone telling my then-55-year-old mother-in-law that he wished he has a quarter of her energy. "You do!" she retorted. Likewise, Laura Chodos at 83 years old still demonstrates the energy and passion for public service that leave most of us in the dust. She's equally adept at coming up with ideas and, as Superintendent Janice White noted at Wednesday's ceremony, rolling up her sleeves and leading by example.

When she's trying to get something going, she's the nicest noodge. And she's selfless and unassuming to boot.

"She has the ability to get people together and have them focus on issues ins a real work-group," noted John Nelson, who nominated Chodos for the award.

Congratulations, Laura, on a well-deserved honor.

Skidmore College and '4-20'

2010-04-21T12:11:00.003-04:00

Last year, The Saratogian checked out what was happening at Skidmore College on "4-20," a national event "celebrated" primarily on college campuses by smoking pot out in the open with impunity. The doings at Skidmore were mild, especially compared to some other big schools elsewhere. But it was still a story -- and the giant octopus bong made for memorable pictures. How much of a story was open for debate, and there was plenty of that. Some readers were appalled that such a thing occurred, while others found it laughable that college kids smoking pot was considered news. Still others condemned The Saratogian for being party-poopers and for letting a minority of students cast Skidmore in a negative light.
The same divergence of opinions exists a year later, though in recent months people across the country are increasingly willing to accept the concept of legalizing marijuana for medical uses.
Anyway, we revisited the Saratoga Springs college's campus at 4:20 on 4-20 and found, well, just a bunch of kids sitting around. It's the kind of followup you really have to do after having played it on the front page the year before.
This year, students were on notice from the college that an outdoor pot party would not be well-received. No tents or other enclosures were allowed on the lawn. So whatever pot smoking was going on that day wasn't happening then and there.
Who knows, some day it may become a legal recreational drug. Maybe.
Some comments on the saratogian.com story likened "protesting" the illegality of pot by smoking it out in the open to the civil disobedience of Rosa Parks. No matter what you think of the legalization of marijuana, the civil rights movements and Roas Parks should not be trivialized by such a silly comparison.

Have a traffic gripe in Saratoga County? Click it and we'll try to fix it

2010-04-20T09:42:00.002-04:00

On the saratogian.com home page you'll find a new feature that makes it super easy for you to pinpoint aggravating and potentially dangerous traffic issues in our area.
When you see it, click on the spot and add your comments.
We'll bring the issue to the attention of the appropriate agencies and report back to you in the print Saratogian and online.

Funny Cide, horse-drawn carriages and vacations

2010-04-19T10:34:00.002-04:00

Horses are always on our mind in Saratoga Springs, for good reasons. And Tuesday, April 20, is the 10th birthday of Funny Cide, the surprise Kentucky Derby winner partly owned by local resident Jack Knowlton. Reporter Paul Post is working on a story about how Funny Cide is enjoying retirement.

I am just back from a vacation in Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., where horses were everywhere in the cities' historic districts -- pulling carriages with tourists.

A horse-drawn carriage sounds fun and maybe even romantic. But walking by the horses on vacation, I couldn't help but notice how tired and sad they seemed. The question of whether an impending air show would spook the horses in Charleston led to a dispute between city officials and carriage owners. The concern seemed not so much about the well-being of the horses, but about the safety of people around them.

Coincidentally, Sunday's New York Times ran a piece about whether horses that draw carriages receive adequate time off to roll in the grass.

Well, I have 561 unread e-mails to check, stacks of newspapers and paperwork to catch up on, and a staff to bug.

How late should the Saratoga Springs bars stay open?

2010-04-16T14:56:00.001-04:00

For all of my adult life I've lived in Saratoga Springs, and I've always enjoyed walking downtown for an evening out. But those evenings start and end a lot earlier than they used to.

More often than not, I've had a drink and dinner and am back home by, say, 9 p.m., which is earlier than the time I used to head downtown to begin a night out. The corner revived by the City Tavern used to be where a guy sold late, late night pizza that, at that hour, hit the spot.

But enough memory lane. Let's talk about now, about the wee hours of the morning.

Should the bars continue to stay open until 4 in the morning? Should they close at 2? The fatal hit-and-run on St. Patrick's Day (really, early the next morning) has brought this perennial question to the fore. What do you think? What do you recommend for closing time, and why?

Where the boys are: Albany's Fort Orange Club

2010-04-14T13:33:00.000-04:00

Had a meeting last week at the Fort Orange Club. It's wedged in downtown Albany amid the imposing structures of state government, near the edifice of an Education Department building and just behind the Alfred E. Smith building (which growing up reminded me of the headquarters of the Daily Planet).

Inside, it's hush-hush, stately yet understated, with chairs and books bound in leather, dark-wood paneling, and the requisite antlered deer's head, evoking images of overweight, cigar-chomping white guys gathering to eat, drink and ponder their plunder.

To be fair, the room was comfortable, the service friendly, the Cobb salad loaded with fresh chicken breast and bacon, and the oversize macaroon lived up to its reputation as a dessert worth saving room for, or making room for. Members needn't worry about indulging in dessert, as the club touts a new health facility for both men and women who can drop in to work out, wash up, and get back to business.

We wondered why the working fireplace was flanked by a real ax rather than the usual tongs and a poker, but didn't ask. Mary Miller of the New York News Publishers Association and I figured it was a macho thing.