Archive: Around Town

Ask IMOAsk IMO

 Lansing's Advice Column

Dear IMO,

My co-workers and I are fed up with our boss. He is incompetent on every level. We’d like to see him removed from his position, but are unsure how to go about it. Do you have any advice?

CJ

Dear CJ,

There are several ways to do this, but you and your colleagues must decide which works best. Generally, you need to know who to trust in the office. Once you have decided the “who” part, you ought to sit down as a group, outside of the workplace and on your own time, and list the grievances you find most harmful to your work and to the company.

The Town of Lansing collected 3,200 tires on its tire drop-off day last Saturday (6/24).  The Town held the drop-off day to make it convenient for New York State residents to legally dispose of old tires, as well as pick up some cash.  The Tompkins County Soil And Water Conservation District sponsored the event along with the Town Higway Department, collecting $1.00 per standard auto and pickup truck tires and $2.00 for larger tires.

Lansing graduated another class at the 58th Annual Commencement in the High School gymnasium last Friday.  The ceremony was a celebration of the 86 graduates, but also of a missing classmate, Katy Dhimitri.  Many of the speakers spoke fondly of Katy, remembering her life and the profound effect they had on them.  The ceremony started with the Lansing Central School Orchestra playing "Pomp and Circumstance" as district officials and the graduates entered through traditional flowered arches, borne by younger classmates.

David KadenDavid A. Kaden was installed last month as Associate Minister of the First Congregational Church of Ithaca. He began working at the church following a year long search process for a member of a team ministry. Pam Sweringa,chair of the Search Committee, expressed that "Kaden is an outstanding candidate who will greatly enrich the life of our church by bringing his youthful energy and enthusiasm, his sensitive heart for pastoral care and spiritual development, and his keen and sharp mind to thoughtful and inspiring sermons as well as educational and fellowship programs for people of all ages."

Kaden grew up in the Northeast, the son of a pastor in the Reformed Church in America. He attended Messiah College in Pennsylvania where he studied business and urban economic development. Kaden and his wife, Jacquie, worked for a year with World Impact Inc. in Newark, NJ, a faith-based economic development organization. He explained that “Economics is theory and formulas, but ministry is people. I care about people and their needs and this challenging experience affirmed the call of God upon my life and made my gifts for ministry apparent.”

The School Capital Project Facilities Group got into the nuts and bolts of items in their meeting Wednesday. King & King Architect Kirk Narburgh walked the group through 12 items that they had previously determined to have high impact on the schools, but at a high cost.  Together the twelve items could cost as much as $13,444,000.  For each of the items the group considered alternatives from total replacement to doing nothing.

Wednesday (6/22) marked a landmark for Lansing's 8^th Grade when they recieved diplomas for completing Middle School.  Principal John Gizzi gave the class advice before presenting the class with diplomas and then passing them on to High School Principal Michelle Stone.  Stone said, "I only have room for 84 of you... oh, I'll take you all because you're all kind of cute."  Refreshments were served on the lawn after the ceremony.

Don't be afraid to plant in summer. Plain and simple. People like to joke about our weather--that it's unpredictable, that there's no such thing as a 'normal' or 'typical' year, that we get more than our fair share of overcast, cloudy, rainy weather even in the frost-free months, etc. Last year, we endured 10 weeks of rainless weather, and granted, during that time, it might have been wise to hold off on planting.

But consider that most plants begin to establish themselves within a week or so after you put them in the ground. If, during that time, we have even one rain event, the chances of your plant becoming well-established go way up. Most critical to summer planting is a good initial soaking at planting time. One short cut you should never take is to skip watering a newly installed plant. It's always worth the extra effort to drag the hose over and soak new plantings. Even if you are planting in soil that's already damp, or you're gardening on a drizzly day. Soaking a new plant settles the soil around the roots, and minimizes the time until your plant's roots are taking up water from the soil directly surrounding it.

Last week fifth grade social studies students had a treat -- they got to spend two days studying each others' brochures and posters about U.S. states and regions.  Maureen Trowbridge and her students transformed her classroom into a 'USA Museum'.  The walls were lined with posters students made about six regions, and four tables were set up with brochures kids made about individual states.  "Right now they're making connections between the individual states and what puts them in that region," Trowbridge  says.


The text book Trowbridge uses divides the country into six regions.  The class studied the South and the Midwest together to learn note taking skills.  Then she assigned groups of students one of the remaining four regions.  The groups created posters.  Finally individual students were assigned a state and created a brochure about it.  "It's really through the brochures and the posters that some of the kids will learn about the other regions," Trowbridge explains.  "They like to see each others' work.  This allows them not only to see their own work, but they see the work of all their peers."

Just as a sizable crowd stepped into the Chamber of Commerce parking lot for a ribbon cutting ceremony for its new building addition, the sun came out.  This unusual Ithaca phenomenon was a good omen for the future of commerce in Tompkins County.  "We're really excited to be opening this to the visitors to our community and to show them what our community is all about," said Chamber President Jean McPheeters.  "We're very excited that this is the representation of the business community in our area, and how fabulous it is."

Cutting the ribbon (left to right): Doug Levine, Jodi VanVleet, Kevin Berkley, Tim Joseph, Fred Bonn, Paul Tatar, Kyle Tuttle, Jean McPheeters, Donna Pinnisi, Suzi Munoz, Louise Felker Holl, Michelle King, Traci Wells

Pirates, songs and sea stories descended on Lansing Town Hall Saturday as the Lansing Community Library Center kicked off this year's Summer Reading Program.  In keeping with this year's theme, "Books, A Treasure," the kick-off event was all about everything Pirates, including a treasure chest filled with gold coins (gold-foil-wrapped chocolate coins, that is).  The program was "Merry Mischief" with Wayne and Marilyn Fuller, a couple of pirates with songs, stories and jokes to promote the reading program.  "Do you know where we learned all these songs?" Marilyn asked the kids.  "In the library!"

Friends of the Michelle and Denis Mogil family held a benefit party Saturday to help raise funds to restore their house, which burned down April 1st.  "We wanted to raise some money to reach those final costs.  We collected some raffle items from local businesses and a few people brought down some items and every hour we're having a drawing," said AnnMarie Hautaniemi.

Saturday was a beautiful day for weeding for the girls of Lansing Cadet and Senior Girl Scout Troop 560.  Haley Georgia and Alyssa Wasenko were found weeding the reading garden at the Lansing Community Library Center in partial fulfillment of their Plants interest Project Patch.  Their trowels bent out of shape as they aggressively dug out the weeds.


"They went to a program in Binghamton," says troop leader Bobbi Wasenko.  "They learned about propagating plants by other than seed, ie. tubers and bulbs.  It was put on by a combination of people from the Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Garden Club of Binghamton.  They heard a master gardener on what a master gardener does, job opportunities in gardening etc.  They did All About Birds.  They had people from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Wild Birds Unlimited, so they worked on two badges that day.  It was fun."

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