Archive: Around Town

Hey there, my name is Billy. I'm a five-year-old beagle/ mix. I'm a friendly fellow who is looking for a loving home, so please come and visit me at the SPCA to see if i'm the right dog for you!

Visit the SPCA Web Page

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United Way of Tompkins County (UWTC) has celebrated its 90th Community Campaign exceeding the $2,151,000 goal by raising $2,160,733.  This milestone was shared with volunteers, donors, and community supporters today.

Gregory Hartz, President & CEO of Tompkins Trust Company and outgoing Chair of UWTC Board of Directors, welcomed 165 guests to the Annual Campaign Victory Celebration and Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast on Thursday, April 26th at the Country Club of Ithaca. His remarks included recognition of all the dedicated volunteers and generous donors, including the Corporate Cornerstone Partners, whose gifts are covering all of UWTC’s administrative and operating expenses, so that every dollar given by donors goes directly to support health and human services and programs.

Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services (INHS) has presented the 2012 Florence Hoard Beautification Award to Sheryl Swink for her decade of volunteer work with Ithaca Community Gardens/Project Growing Hope.  The award was presented by Paul Mazzarella, INHS Executive Director, on Thursday April 12 at the agency’s annual meeting at the Women’s Community Building.

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Community Foundation of Tompkins Count Executive Director George Ferrari, Board of Directors Chair Mariette Geldenhuys, and board member Randy Ehrenberg came to Lansing Wednesday to learn about what is important to Lansing residents, and how the foundation can help the community reach its goals.  Nine Lansing people came to talk about community goals and challenges and to learn more about grant opportunities.

"We're really here to hear from you," Ferrari said.  "What you see as needs, opportunities, challenges, assets, ways that we can partner with everyone in the Town of Lansing to help you achieve the goals you have for your town."

Hey there, my name is Mudslide. I'm a four-year-old domestic shorthair/ mix. I'm a friendly girl who is looking for a loving home so please come and visit me at the SPCA to see if i'm the right cat for you.

Visit the SPCA Web Page

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The SPCA of Tompkins County received a challenge to raise $25,000 before the end of May from an anonymous donor. Donations have been very slow during the first quarter of the year, only at 70% of goal. The challenge donor wanted to help the SPCA overcome what is turning out to be a national trend in reduced giving.  She offered to match, dollar for dollar, gifts up to $25,000. The challenge mailing, highlighting a shelter dog rescued last year, Oscar, will be in community members’ mailboxes this week.

Aurora, New York—Wells College is proud to announce that extraordinarily accomplished and often-recognized Wells alumna Karen Frankel Blum '67 will give the Commencement address at the ceremony this spring. Ms. Blum received the 2010 Wells College Alumnae Award for her contributions to the field of law, especially for her work in the area of Section 1983 civil rights, and the College warmly welcomes her return to deliver the Commencement address for the class of 2012.

An outstanding scholar and teacher, for the past 20 years Karen Blum has been a nationally-recognized authority on Section 1983 Civil Rights Litigation and Qualified Immunity for the Federal Judicial Center. Since 1974, she has also served on the faculty of Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Mass., where she is currently an Associate Dean and Professor of Law, and teaches Civil Procedure, Federal Courts, Civil Rights and Police Misconduct Litigation.

'Noises Off' will be presented on May 4-6 with performances on Friday and Saturday at 7pm, Sunday at 2pm in the renovated theatre at Trumansburg High School, right next to the Grassroots fairgrounds. The clever script by Michael Frayn tells the story of a slightly incompetent troupe of actors struggling to perform a play within the play.

“The audience sees the characters in the play ‘Noises Off’ rehearsing and performing a play called ‘Nothing On’ – sometimes even from the backstage view," says Director Joey Steinhagen.

This year the Lansing Community Library is doing something different: the annual vote will be held in the library, separate from the school vote.  The election is set for next Wednesday, April 25th from 9am to 8pm.  Three new trustees will be elected and voters will decide whether to make a modest increase in the library budget.  The rise will amount to about fifty cents for the average property owner.  Trustee Barbara Barry says is is much needed.

"It is mainly because our expenses are going up," she says.  "Each year we have salary raises.  We have the same pressure that the schools and other government organizations have had... pension requests from the State have gone up.  This year we had to take some money out of our special fund in order to pay for the pensions.  We couldn't pay for the whole thing ourselves."

The Lansing Town Board and its Gas Drilling Oversight Committee invite residents to another in their series of Shale Gas Development Educational Forums. This forum will be Friday, April 27 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Community Room of the All Saints Church, 347 Ridge Road in Lansing. Featured speakers will be Deborah Rogers and Sandra Steingraber. Rogers, a financial analyst from Fort Worth, Texas with firsthand knowledge of the shale gas industry, will speak on the Economics of Shale Gas Development. Sandra Steingraber, a Trumansburg resident, ecologist and recipient of the Heinz Award for Environmental Health Writing, will speak about Health Issues Related to Shale Gas Development. All are welcome at this free event.

After 27 years of speaking out against hate and its consequences Holocaust survivor Fred Voss gave his last public presentation in honor of Yom HaShoah (World Holocaust Remembrance Day) Wednesday at Lansing High School.  Voss was 18 when his family's home and store was attacked on the infamous Kristalnacht, and his family was fortunate to escape Germany after that.  67 members of his and his wife's families were not so fortunate.  They were taken to concentration camps and killed.

"There is very little that I could have done," Voss replied when one student asked whether he would have done anything differently in hindsight.  "We saw it coming, but the Jews in Germany had such patriotism, they were so German.  That was one reason why my father refused to leave.  His argument was, 'Hitler is not even a German'.  We had hope that it wouldn't happen, but it did happen.  But don't ever give up hope."

I was shocked to learn that rates of heart disease are ten times higher in northern Europe than in southern Europe - and that rates of the same types of cancers vary as much as tenfold around the world. The more studies undertaken, the more the results point to three variables: the foods we choose, how much physical activity we perform, and how much we smoke. These factors account for huge variations in the rates of many diseases including cancers, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and of course obesity and being overweight.

Since this is a food and wine column, I’ll leave it to you to quit smoking, if you do smoke, and to get out of that comfy chair (no, not quite yet – finish this column first, please) and take a brisk walk and do some pushups. Meanwhile, I’m going to try to suggest a pathway to a healthy diet.