Archive: Around Town

In recognition of their efforts to promote accessibility and inclusion for children and families with sensory integration challenges, two members of the Tompkins County Public Library staff have been recognized with the 2016 Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies/Keystone Library Automation System and National Organization on Disability Award.

Youth Services Librarian Kate DeVoe and Library Assistant Kelly Doolittle were selected from a distinguished pool of nominees from throughout the United States for their innovative efforts to create programs and services for patrons with sensory processing disorders and sensory integration challenges.

State Senator Mike Nozzolio recently nominated Frank J. Pullano, a distinguished local veteran, Frank J. Pullano, as an inductee into the New York State Senate Veterans Hall of Fame. Frank Pullano who died in February was posthumously inducted today during a special ceremony at the State Capitol for his service to our Nation.

"As State Senator, I was pleased to honor Frank Pullano's memory by inducting him into the New York State Senate Veterans Hall of Fame," said Senator Nozzolio. "His commitment to our country and dedication to honoring the service and sacrifice of our veterans was exceptional and he will be remembered for all he has done his entire life for local veterans."

"What do you make here that's better than anywhere else?" I ask Sara, my server. I don't know if she had ever been asked exactly that question before but she had answers at the ready!

"The Philly Cheese steak is the best anywhere and the "Grilled Cheese Gone Wild" is great, but our "Fargo Burger" is the best!" Nothing like showing a little pride in your work!

A Lansing High School student was killed Friday in a car crash Tompkins County Deputies say was caused by another Lansing student, distracted by texting when she plowed into another car.  While empty beer cans were found in the car, a field sobriety test showed the texting driver had no alcohol in her system.  Two other students suffered major injuries, including one with severe brain damage.  The driver who was texting had only minor injuries.  Virtually the entire Lansing High School population witnessed the aftermath at the scene of the accident on the school campus near the bus garage.  Except that this was not a real accident -- it was staged the day before the High School prom to encourage students to make responsible decisions, especially when driving.

"Going into it I thought of it like another play that I was in," says Emily Georgia, who played the role of the texting driver.  "But once you get into the car, covered in fake blood, it really felt like reality, not just an act.  Being the one that was texting, it had a big impact on me, especially after.  I was definitely more aware of what I was doing when I was driving.  I took the 'dead girl' home that night after the car crash, and I was super-anxious the whole time."

The Tompkins County Solid Waste Division is pleased to announce the opening of a new collection station at the Recycling & Solid Waste Center for fats, oils and grease (FOG) left over from prepared foods.

The FOG collection station is part of the newly redesigned food scraps drop spot at the facility at 160 Commercial Avenue in Ithaca. This station will allow residents easy access to properly dispose of their household cooking oils, animal fats and grease in an environmentally safe manner while diverting this liquid waste from the local water supply.

Cayuga Medical Associates (CMA) is proud to announce that Internal Medicine of CMA has achieved recognition in the NCQA Diabetes Recognition Program (DRP). This recognition shows their peers, patients and others in the diabetes community that they are part of an elite group that is publicly recognized for their skill in providing the highest-level of diabetes care.

Participation in a NCQA Recognition Program demonstrates that the practice or clinician values quality health care delivery and the latest clinical protocols to ensure that patients receive the best care at the right time. Clinical staff of Internal Medicine of CMA recognized includes John-Paul Mead, MD; Cynthia Jones, MD; Marianne Varn, NP; Elisabeth Cotton, MD; Humaira Hassan, MD and Walter Margie, MD.

At Cayuga Medical Center's Annual Community Meeting at the end of April, the Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes (CRCFL), was awarded the 2nd Annual Community Partner Award. The award was given by John Rudd, president and CEO of Cayuga Medical Center to Bob Riter, executive director for CRCFL, for the compassionate relationship that the Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes has with Cayuga Cancer Center's patients and clinical staff.

Volunteers from the Center staff the hospital's "Cancer Resource Room" on a daily basis. Operated by Cayuga Medical Center, the CRCFL volunteers provide daily support, information and respite to people with cancer and their loved ones. The volunteers also comfort patients and families in the chemotherapy, and radiation oncology areas providing snacks, an empathetic ear, and information about resources available from CRCFL and the community.  CRCFL recruits and trains all their volunteers, most cancer survivors themselves.  In addition, the staff at CRCFL regularly visit the hospital to meet with staff, and talk with patients and their families.

The Career and Technical Education Center at TST BOCES recently held its annual Recognition Ceremony to identify first-and second-year students who excelled in the classroom and met high standards in academics, skills and ethics.

The event, which was attended by dozens of proud family members and friends, honored the top first-year and second-year students from each CTE program. Several other awards were also presented throughout the evening, including scholarships and the Rotary Club Student of the Year.

As far as I could see, there was no evidence of pumpkins. With the name "Pumpkin Hill", there had to be a story. Research is on my to-do list.

Passing the garden bursting with blooms of all colors and scents, the experience of Pumpkin Hill is beyond any expectation. Greeted with genuine smiles, we were led through the antique farmhouse to our table in an open room – there used to be a wall here, but now just the aged studs and signs from the past.

Tomorrow morning (Saturday, May 14th) every kid in Tompkins County can get a free book.  Teachers, too -- they can pick up books for their classrooms or to give to children they teach.  Area teacher's union members raised over 2,000 signatures to obtain 40,000 free books with reading levels ranging from Kindergarten to 12th grade.  Teachers from every district in Tompkins County will be on hand Saturday to give the books away.

"We have 40,000 free, brand new books coming to the BOCES campus to be given away on Saturday morning," says Lansing Faculty Association President Stacie Kropp.  "Any families, any kids, any teachers, any parents, grandparents, any school person can get books for free.  Stacks of them."

If your idea of a sword maker is of a master craftsman painstakingly working in a rustic blacksmith shop in a story about kings and wizards, you aren't too far off the mark.  Well, maybe not so much the kings and wizards part, but the art of knife and sword making is still alive today, drawing on millennia of technique and experience.  Tony Greenly is working toward that mastery in a hidden-away blacksmith shop in Lansing, spending this year building a portfolio of hand crafted steel blades.

"I am taking a modern approach at a 10,000 year old tradition of making knives in a very bespoke hand made way, and putting a lot more time into it than most modern people do now," he says.  "I love working with the metal.  I love creating these patterns that you don't get to see until the very end.  The whole process is building this thing from a couple of layers to thousands of thousands of layers that are intricately working with each other.  And colors and the different types of steel -- it's beyond fascinating for me."

On a chilly April afternoon, LACS students grab shovels, spades, cardboard and a wheelbarrow and head outside. Some scoop mulch, while others begin transplanting bulbs and laying cardboard at the front of the building, preparing to plant shrubs where weeds once overtook the garden. A few students empty compost buckets and check on the protective barriers of mulch and ground cover they placed around recently planted trees.

The students are part of the LACS Green Thumb Committee, which received an IPEI Teacher Grant this year to purchase equipment and reforest the land around the school. Throughout the year, local horticulturist and LACS neighbor Pamela Markham has been teaching students about plant growth and helping them weed, remove invasive species, and prep the grounds for new native plants and trees.