Archive: Around Town

Image courtesy of David BordenOn Thursday, October 2nd, 2014 at 6PM The History Center in Tompkins County and the Bob Moog Foundation unveil David Borden's Moog modular synthesizer as a welcome addition to the 'Switched On: The Birth of the Moog Synthesizer' exhibit.

Borden, founder of Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co. and Cornell University's Electroacoustic Music Center, to  As part of the unveiling, Borden offered insight into the provenance of this unique piece of electronic music history and share anecdotes on his time working as a composer and musician with Bob Moog and R. A. Moog, Co.

The Fine Arts Booster Group (FABG), an affiliate of IPEI, announced the Sunshine Grant, which will support Ithaca City School District (ICSD) secondary school students in the instrumental music program who have financial needs thanks to an anonymous donor.

Lansing Cub Scout Pack 48 started off the new Scouting year with a NasCub Rally.  The event was held in Myers Park on Sunday, September 21st.   The afternoon was race-car themed, with the first to fifth grade boys having an opportunity to make a neckerchief slide with checkered flags, to make a clothespin car and to eat a race car.

The oldest Cub Scouts from the Webelos 2 den opened the proceedings describing the importance of cooperation (the Cub Scout theme for September) during racing.  The business part of the meeting included highlighting some of the Cub Scouts who participated in summer activities.  Zachary and Nicholas Hwang, Dominic and Nathaniel Ronsvalle, Mike Morgan, Andrew Knapp, Stephen Geise and Ryan Fish earned their 'Summertime' pin by attending at least one event in June, July and in August.  Some of the boys helped at the Lansing Lions BBQ in Myer's Park on July 4th and some helped at the Relay for Life event at Ithaca College on July 12th.  Many boys went to one of the camps available over the summer or participated in the Rain Gutter Regatta event at the end of August.

The Shops at Ithaca Mall and Cornell Cooperative Extension will host an Energy & Waste Reduction Expo from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, with approximately 10 businesses and agencies who'll provide visitors with information about how they can reduce their utility bill and carbon footprint in their homes, businesses, and farms.
 
The list of vendors includes NYSERDA, who is also a sponsor for the event, as well as Halco, Historic Ithaca, Restore (Southern Steuben Habitat for Humanity), Taitem Engineering, Tompkins Solid Waste, and ZeroDraft.

Every 13.3 minutes someone in the United States commits suicide.  More than 39,500 lives are lost to suicide each year.  Experts estimate that a suicide attempt is made every minute, with nearly one million people attempting suicide each year.  It the United States suicide is the 4th leading cause of death among adults 18 to 65 in age, and the second leading cause of death among teenagers.  16% of these suicides are committed by people over 65.  A few years ago Crystal Howser and Stacy Ayers decided to try to do something about the problem.  In its third year, their most recent Out Of The Darkness Community Walk on September 20th attracted over 373 walkers this year and raised $19,161 for suicide prevention.

"This is a public health issue that does not discriminate by age, gender, ethnicity, or socio-economic status," Howser says.  "That's a key point we tell people.  People say, why did that happen to so-and-so... they're rich, they're famous... they're still suffering from an illness."

Prince is a 7 year old lap cat who was abandoned in Ithaca and brought in by a caring person. He is a very friendly guy; anxious to meet people, begging for petting and attention, jumping into the closest friendly lap - you get the picture! Doesn’t everyone dream of the cat they can pick up and hug without it running away? Well this guy here loves that type of thing and is said to be “incredibly affectionate and cuddly!” If this sounds like your kind of cat, come visit Prince today and give him a home he can call his own!

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The Lansing Town Board and Friends of Salt Point were recognized Saturday for the work they have done to transform Salt Point into a bird and birder-friendly nature park.  This year's meeting was hosted by the Cayuga Bird Club in the Village of Lansing.  The certificate was awarded at the New York State Ornithological Association 67th Annual Meeting at the Ramada Hotel.  The Town was represented by Lansing Supervisor Kathy Miller, and Friends of Salt Point by Katrina Binkewicz.

"I regularly see families with children and baby carriages enjoying a stroll around the trails at the Point," says Donna Scott, who was among the nominators. "People can easily hike in and enjoy a big picnic on the pretty lake shore and many have done that. And since Salt Point is one of the few shallow-water refuges for birds on all of Lake Cayuga, the more natural lakeshore of Salt Point and the new plantings and meadow provide a lot of diverse habitat for birds of all kinds."

Dave Heck is getting the word out about the hydrilla infestation in southern Cayuga Lake.  Heck has been distributing printed information to help boaters identify hydrilla, keep their boats clean, and to inform them on the correct actions to take when they find hydrilla.  Over the past few weeks he visited both the Lansing Town Board and Village of Lansing trustee meetings to thank the municipalities for their cooperation in helping to get the message out to the public.

"Dave is our leading Hydrilla Hunter along Cayuga Lake's east shore," says Cayuga Lake Watershed Network Steward/Executive Director Hilary Lambert.  "He has been checking for hydrilla along the Lansing shoreline now for three or more years, and has made it his summertime mission to educate lakeshore residents, visitors and town governments about why we do not want hydrilla to spread up the lake."

Vietnam Veterans of America's chapters 377 Fingerlakes, 704 Auburn and 480 of Owego held the 24th annual Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Day Watchfire in Myers Park Friday.  Each year past, present and future service people gather in the Lansing Town park to celebrate POW/MIA Day, and to symbolically guide unaccounted-for soldiers home.

"The watchfire is historical symbol of guiding those who are lost after a battle to friendly territory," said Mike Moran, who finished his four year stint as First Lieutenant in the Army, and as Major after 17 years in the Reserves.  "Since the end of the Viet Nam war 942 missing have been identified and returned.  1,641 are still unaccounted for.  Captain William Phelps, United States Air Force, from Cortland County is still missing.  We continue to identify and return the remains from other wars.  We all served knowing that no man would be left behind."

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Tom Reed met with staff and patients at the DaVita Dialysis Center in Ithaca Wednesday, a leading provider of dialysis services that treats patients with chronic kidney failure and end stage renal disease. Among the topics discussed was the Chronic Kidney Disease Improvement in Research and Treatment Act of 2014, which would include dialysis as a service provided by the National Health Service Corps in shortage areas and revise Medicare payments for dialysis services for patients with end stage renal disease and acute kidney injury.

"We care for patients faced with the challenges of living with kidney disease," Reed said. "Quality care and access to care are important in ensuring that patients have access to the best possible treatments. We must care about patients in a fair and responsible way to deal with their ailments and diseases."

At the annual meeting of the Ithaca Public Education Initiative (IPEI) board on September 22, President Terry Byrnes welcomed five new board members and moderated the election of officers and approval of the annual budget.

Thanks to the continued generosity of the community, IPEI is able to support educational experiences for Ithaca students and teachers through its five grant programs. This year IPEI is introducing a new funding opportunity—Connecting Classrooms Grants—designed to encourage collaboration and innovation within the Ithaca City School District (ICSD) and positively impact and actively engage students.

School is supposed to be out on Saturdays.  But that didn't stop folks who came to have a look at the Eight Square School House on Saturday.  The landmark one-room schoolhouse is celebrating its 200th year, and in some ways it is as vital a school as it was 200 years ago.  Eight Square School House and Youth Education Director Carle West takes students back in time for a day in an 1892 school.

"The kids become totally immersed in the 1890s time period," she says.  "They dress for the day.  They bring a period lunch.  They have no computers.  They have no cell phones, and they don't miss them.  At the end of the day we ask them what they liked and didn't like about the day.  Mostly we hear that they didn't like the outhouses.  They love the well and pump.  They pump their own water to wash their hands, and they like the pen and ink lesson.  Most of the kids like all of it."