Archive: Around Town

Hi, I'm Ozzie, an 8 year old Terrier/American Pit Bull mix! I sadly came to the shelter way back in November of 2013, after my owner couldn't care for me anymore, but I'm in good spirits and can't wait to find my next home. I'm already housebroken and super easygoing, and I love to go for long meandering walks through the fields. My ideal home would be a quieter one where there are no young children or cats. I do, however, get along great with other dogs! I'm such a special guy and will bring so much joy to my new person. Could that lucky person be you?

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The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin released county health rankings Wednesday for most counties in the United States. Tompkins County was ranked the second healthiest county in New York State.  The rankings represent a weighted summary of a number of measures that represent how healthy a county is and what influences the health of the county.  And the rankings help everyone to see that where they live, learn, work, and play influences their health and the health of their community.

Researchers used mortality and morbidity measures to assess the level of overall health or 'health outcomes' for New York by county: the rate of people dying before age 75, the percent of people who report being in fair or poor health, the numbers of days people report being in poor physical and poor mental health, and the rate of low-birth weight infants.  The top five counties in New York State were Livingston, Tompkins, Rockland, Putnam, and Saratoga.

Genoa, N.Y.  – Local farmer Brandon White has directed $2,500 to the Genoa New York Fire Department. Funded by America’s Farmers Grow Communities, the donation will help the department purchase tools and provide training for farm safety and farm-related accidents.

Thanks to the support of farmers across the country, more than $3.2 million is being directed to nonprofits in 1,289 counties in 39 states.

Architects and village officials joined Mayor Donald Hartill Monday in cutting a ribbon officially acknowledging the opening of a new $1.3 million municipal office building in the Village of Lansing.  The 2500 square foot building includes offices for the Mayor and Planning Board Chairman, a clerk's office, code enforcement office, and an office for the DPW, as well as a spacious meeting room and a kitchen.

"It's very nice to actually have a village office as opposed to the addition to the pump station for Bolton Point," Hartill said.  "It's going to bring a sense of community. Instead of (the old Village Office attached to) the pump station for Bolton Point we now have a real building.  The mayor has a desk and an office for the first time."

Lovely little Victoria was brought to the shelter back in June, by someone who found her wandering the streets of Freeville. We know nothing about her background, but she certainly has gotten along with her roommates and is content to be petted and admired. Given the right home, we feel sure that Victoria will develop into your Queen of Hearts, and since she is only about a year old she can rule for many glorious years. Is your home the realm just waiting for this beautiful monarch?

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To accomodate all the classes in the Lansing High School schedule the week is made up of A-Days and B-Days with different schedules on each.  This week the school added C-Day, a day of non conventional classes taught by community members as well as students and others in the school community.  The purpose was to build community and break down barriers between students.

"This is a labor of love put together by the Race, Class and Gender class that Ms. Ivery Teaches," said Principal Coleen Ledley.  "Typically we have A or B Day in the high school.  Along with that the themes are Care, Career, Creativity, Cool, Compassion, Civility and Community, a different take on the Seven Cs.

The Ithaca Public Education Initiative (IPEI) has awarded $8,015 in its third quarterly round of Red and Gold Grants for the 2013-14 school year. The 19 new grants will assist teachers, administrators, students, and community members with projects that strengthen and enrich education across the Ithaca City School District (ICSD).

“We are always astounded at how teachers are able to utilize a small grant to make huge impacts in the classroom,” said IPEI Executive Director Chris Sanchirico.  “For this round, IPEI grants are funding everything from practical needs like clay for artwork to a multi-school/grade level dinosaur project that integrates music, art and science.  We are proud to play a role in providing such great opportunities to enhance learning in our school district and thankful for the community support that allows us to do so.”

If there’s one thing for sure, it’s that the three year old Victory Garden Program of Tompkins Community Action has shown that a direct and successful way of improving access to healthy food is to support home gardening.  Not only do families learn skills that last a lifetime, but being involved in gardening adds benefits beyond the end product of vegetables.

The program has served over 140+ households (450 people) of modest means who are served by Tompkins Community Action and who live in the towns and countryside of Tompkins County, particularly those experiencing persistent poverty.  The major goal of the program is to provide the initial seedlings needed to start a family garden and to offer gardening coaching.  Households with no garden space take home seedlings and 5 gallon containers filled with Cayuga Compost to grow a container garden. Gardeners also receive a handbook with information about the plants they have chosen and a list of community resources available to trouble shoot plant, garden, pest and critter problems.

On several occasions recently I've been asked what's happening with the broadband initiative. It's great that people are asking since the questions indicate that folks are interested and want the high-speed connection when it is available.

The expected date for completion of the project infrastructure has always been six months after the State funding has been made available, but we'd hoped it would be a faster process. The project is underway, utilizing Clarity's investment and private loans, but there is a limit to how much can be done until State funds are available for reimbursements. However, most rural residents in Lansing and the rest of Tompkins County will be able to access robust Internet service in the near future. The reasons for the current timeline lay both in the process the state follows with a grant like this one, and also with Clarity's efforts to find ways to cover the original territory despite the reduction from the original request that was applied for in 2012.

Lansing Middle and High School students traveled to Broome Tioga BOCES on Saturday, March 8th for the Region 12 Odyssey of the Mind Tournament. Lansing had five teams competing in the tournament; there were three teams representing fifth grade, one team representing grades 6-8 and a team representing the high school.

Brenda Meade's fifth grade team competed against fourteen teams to solve the problem 'The Not-So-Haunted House'. In this problem team's created and presented an original performance that included a 'pop-up-style' not-so-haunted 'house' where four special effects take place. The intent of the special effects will be to scare others, but they will produce a different result instead. The performance will include at least one character that experiences the special effects and a narrator who relays the experiences to the audience. It will also include a surprise ending. The special effects will be scored for originality and engineering.

Foodnet Meals-on-Wheels Lead Cook Gary Armstrong says, “Our mac ‘n cheese is an all-time favorite among our participants.”  Now anyone who attends Foodnet’s Mac ‘n Cheese Bowl can sample it at Ithaca High School, Saturday, March 22 from 12 noon until 4 p.m. Armstrong promises it will be delicious and nutritious.

Foodnet macaroni and cheese will one of sixteen 'flavors' of mac ‘n cheese as Tompkins County restaurants and caterers vie to have their mac ‘n cheese identified as the best in town. This friendly competition is to raise funds for Foodnet Meals on Wheels, a daily meal delivery service for elderly citizens who face obstacles with transportation and meal preparation.  Ticketholders are sure to enjoy many tasty options. Tantalizing choices include bbq mac ‘n cheese, smoked cheese with clam, medicine man mac ‘n cheese and many others.

Lansing Middle School Principal told the Board Of Education monday that he will be retiring after the current school year.  Thomas has served as principal for eight years.  In an emotional announcement he told the Board he does not want his retirement to become a drama that overshadows the remainder off the school year, but says he wants to give the board time to find a qualified replacement.

"My time in Lansing has been wonderful," he says.  "The last eight years have been, by far, the best in my professional life of 35 years.  I'm not done yet.  The most important thing to me is to finish school and to make sure that wee have a wonderful end of the year at the Middle School.  I will not be absent and I will not be using sick days.  None of us coming into school will be doing anything but our very best."