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LAST WEEK'S WEATHER Hi Lo Pep Tues. 36 26 trsn Wed. 46 32 O.OSr Thurs. 40 25 trsn Fri. 33 18 0.5sn Sat. 42 25 0 Sun. 25 15 1.50sn Mon. 24 2 0 VOL. 136 NO. 38 A PARK NEWSPAPER COURIER * FREEMAN, (USPS M5-460) POTSDAM, N.Y.-TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1988 24 PAGES Welcome minor hockey players and parents. See Con Elliott's column, sports pages, this week. 35 CENTS Trustees Hold First Dec. Annual Meeting ORGANIZED CHAOS\ - Waste Stream Management's Richard Grover described the scene at WSM's Parishville facility Saturday perfectly. About 35 volunteers from Alpha Epsilon Pi, a Clarkson University fraternity, and Work on Waste, an environmentalist group, helped sort containers, label, number and drill drain hole* in them. The conUiners are for the Potsdam recycling project which is slated to begin Dec. 19, with distribution of containers to begin on Dec. 12. There are 3,000 containers in all: 1500 blue boxes and 1500 white buckets, one of each for each residence In the regular village garbage collection ser vice. (Thorn Pardoe photo) BYTHOMPARDOE Potsdam's Village Board of Trustees held its first December annual meeting Monday following the swearing in of new Village Justice Thomas Wheeler. The trustees also passed a local law to change the towing fees for il- legally parked vehicles. Although the annual meeting is usually routine, Monday night marks the first time the annual meeting has been held in December The annual meetings was held in April, but since the village changed the election dav of 'Milage ii\ \.. \n' i-ii.:,.-; ;, '.vini>:itit \> r.i liii.iwi.o tin! .i.«u i also changed. Wheeler's swearing in was short and to the point; Village Mayor Paul Claffey did the honors and Wheeler then left. This Thursday will be Wheeler's first day in court as the new village justice. Trustees Hugh Sprague and Helen Brouwer were both sworn in last week in the village clerk's of- fice. According to village clerk Margaret Robinson, Sprague was sworn in Nov. 29 and Brouwer was sworn in on Dec. 2. The board unanimously approv- ed a new local law to change the towing fees to $35 from $25 for vehicles illegally parked on village streets. The law comes as a result of a public hearing Nov. 21 to discuss the proposed law. At that public hearing, little opposition was expressed to the law. In his comments to the board, Mayor Claffey discussed his pro- posal of an assessment review board to be appointed by the village board and whether or not the village should continue with the present assesment system of using the town assesor for village land assessment. According to Claffey and village attorney Peter Lekki, if the village wants an assessment review board, the village board must hold a public hearing on a local law to was done, according Burns, iir response to a report from Cornell University several weeks ago that the asbestos content of the sludge was \between one and five per- cent.\ Burns said he was skeptical of those findings, considering that one to five percent of the sludge would mean about 600 tons of asbestos a year went through the village's sewers. Since asbestos is a very lightweight material, Burns said he doubted if there were even 600 tons of the hazardous material in the en- Mre village School '^'ifft&tA No Health Despite teachers' concerns over cancer diagnosed in several of their colleagues, Potsdam Central School officiate say there is no health risk at the A.A. Kingston Middle School. This comes after a meeting last Tuesday of teachers at the school and Dr. Jon A. Kay, the school district physician. Teachers at the school said they were concerned that there might be a health risk in the school, after three teachers there were diagnos- ed with cancer in the past year, middle school Principal Michael Loconti said. Loconti arranged Tuesday's meeting with Kay after, faculty with their concerns, Loconti said. Loconti requested on Tuesday before the meeting that a Courier- Freeman reporter not come to the meeting of the teachers and Dr. Kay. He said the teachers would want the meeting to be very candid and open, but that with the press there the teachers might feel un- comfortable and not speak as free- ly- Loconti did agree to speak with a reporter after the meetmt^-^ According to Loconti, at the meeting the teachers addressed their concerns to Kay, who told the them that the cancers are unrelated, and therefore have no link to any perceived health risk in Two Injured In Separate Accidents; Truck Totalled BYDENISERAYMO Monday just wasn't Roy Waite's day. • The 51-year-old driver for the Racquette River Volunteer Fire Department in Unionville was in- volved in two bizarre accidents with a 1969 fire tanker truck within 20 minutes of each other. At 12:40 p.m., the department received, a call to give mutual stand-by aid to the Potsdam Volunteer Fire Department while they battled a fire at the Wayne G. Williams home in Sanfordville. While Waite was pulling the truck out of the fire station to res- pond, a dangling hose from the truck tangled around John Rose, a firefighter standing near the sta- tion house door, and pinned him between the wall and the truck. Rose was freed and taken to Canton-Potsdam Hospital by •Potsdam Volunteer Rescue Squad where he was treated for injuries to the upper left leg and hip. - At 1 p.m., while continuing on his 'way to Potsdam for stand-by, Waite was rounding a corner on the Sissonville Road when the water in the tanker shifted causing Waite to lose control of the tanker and tip- ped it over. A passenger in the truck, 25-year- old firefighter William Enslow, slightly injured his hand in the mishap and was taken to Canton- Potsdam Hospital and treated for shoulder pain and a cut to the hand. Waite, of Route 4, Potsdam, received a few scatches and bruises in the incident, but was not seriously injured. \I still can't believe I only got a few bruises,\ he said. \It was just a freak accident,\ he added, \we hit a patch of ice on the road and flipped it over and John was Just in the wrong place at the wrong time. \John was standing near where i the radio is and the hose caught him and he got pinned in the door I amb. I guess he got a couple of msted ribs,\ he explained. Waite said he has been a firefighter for 20 years, \but I've never had an accident of any kind. It sure was bizarre.\ He said the tanker truck was totalled, \but I'm sure once the paperwork is squared away, the in- surance will take care of it. It was a 1969 truck and we wanted to get a new one anyway. We just want a good working truck.\ \I'm kind of discouraged right now about everything,\ Waite said. \I just can't figure out how come I only got scratched. I guess the good Lord was looking out for me yester- day.\ The fire itself was at the home of Stockholm Village Justice Wayne G. Williams in Sanfordville. The call came into the West Stockholm Fire Station at 12:19 p.m. Damage was limited to the front portion of the house, mainly in the living room and the upstairs attic. The cause has been listed as a possible faulty heatilator in the fireplace. Drug Awareness Meeting Tonight Potsdam Central School PTSA will hold a drug-alcohol awareness meeting at 7 p.m. tonight (Tuesday) in the A.A. Kingston Middle School cafeteria. Speakers will be the drug- alcohol awareness team of teachers, administrator, and community representative (Kenneth Brafman, Timothy Donahue, Connie Harper, Susan Stacey, MaryLynn LaClair, Doug Huntley and Stephanie Shelly) who recently completed training in drug awareness. The 7 p.m. meeting is preced- ed by a 6 p.m. PTSA executive committee meeting. Everyone is Invited. p reporter after the meeting, said there are actually five cases of cancer, but that two of them were diagnosed several years ago. The tumors, ac- cording to Kay, are all in different organ systems, and have no rela- tionship to each other. \These cancers (in the faculty members) affect different organ systems and bear no relationship to environmental factors,\ Kay said. The teachers diagnosed with the disease were not named. Loconti and Kay said the cluster- ing of cases is a result of the \law of averages.\ Kay noted that one in four Americans will die from cancer, the number two killer in the U.S. He also said that there were no diagnoses of cancer in faculty members at the school for several years prior to the three Student Returns To Face Charges In Theft Of Car BYDENISERAYMO An 18-year-old Clarkson Univer- sity student, accused of stealing a car and driving it to Utah last month, turned himself in to Potsdam Village Police Friday night. Indragit Bhattacharyy, of Calcutta, India, was arrested about 11:30 p.m. when police got a call from him and David Smith, another resident of Condon Hall on the campus, saying that Bhat- tacharyy wanted to turn himself in. \He knew we were looking for him,\ said police. \He called from Clarkson and said he was there. We went and got him and he was very cooperative.\ Police said the investigation is continuing, but \we don't expect any more arrests.\ Bhattacharyy was charged with grand larceny and is being held in St. Lawrence County Jail in lieu of $5,000 bail. He was arrested in Coalvllle County, Utah Nov. 28 for possession of stolen property after he fell asleep in the stolen car during a snowstorm. He was discovered by road crews working to clear the roads and ar- rested by the Sheriff's Department in Coalvllle. He was held on $5,000 bail in Utah on the stolen property charge and was waiting to be extradicted back to New York last week. Charges against him were drop- ped in Utah, officials there said, after New York police decided not toextradicthim. \We didn't go get him. He just wanted to come back to school,\ said police. He came back to Clarkson, turned himself in, was charged with grand larceny and taken to county jail. He is scheduled to appear in court at a later date. {»••••;* >l lie 'iti n _ ject, which Is scheduled to begin In the next week. She said that the boxes and buckets are ready for distribution on Dec. 12, with the first pickup of household paper goods, clear glass and tin cans to begin the following Monday, Dec. 19. Fire Lanes Village Codes Enforcement Of- ficial Herbert G. Crump addressed the board about the problem of blocked fire lanes in the village. Crump said that as a member of the volunteer rescue squad he feels that life safety is an important issue. Crump showed the board several pictures of areas where fire lanes are ignored around the downtown area. He also gave them a letter signed by members of the fire department expressing concern over the problem. \It is imperative to have these lanes open,\ Crump said. If fire lanes are blocked by parked cars, it would make it difficult for emergency vehicles to respond to calls. Crump also cited a 1984 order from the mayor directing the chief of police to stop ticketing cars for parking in fire lanes. According to Crump, the village codes require a building to have at least two exits leading from SSr^** of using the assessment or getting a village time coin- he K «SteIf period of cidence. \It's the law of averages,\ said. Potsdam Central School Superintendent Gary Snell said Friday that the school administra- tion is \certainly concerned\ about the teachers' fears. He said the school will take water samples at the school, perform radon testing and do other tests to make sure there is no health hazard at the middle school, but he said, \we don't suspect anything.\ \We're doing this out of concern for students and faculty,\ he said, adding that he also believes the cases to be \just coincidental.\ One thing Snell stressed however, was that parents be reassured that there is no health risk. \The children are safe,\ Snell said. that what he calls The \equalisation rate snafu\ creates inequity and causes village residents to pay higher town and county taxes. Claffey said that he and Ad- ministrator Robert R. Burns wrote a letter to the New York State Equalization Board, the agency that determines the rates statewide, asking them to reevaluate the village's equaliza- tion rate. He said he didn't know when he would get a reply. Trustee Hugh Sprague said that he felt the board should wait and see what happens when the Town of Potsdam finishes the reassessment of all town properties, which is ex- pected to be finished by 1991. NO Asbestros Burns reported to the board that a report from Upstate Labs in Syracuse has come back, reporting that the village's sewage sludge has \no asbestos\ in it. The report Crump asked the mayor \ >' i- '<&&: and to I have better rtti lanes. Claffey made the motion and the board unanimously passed the resolution. Other Board Business The board also passed a resolu- tion directing the village attorney, Peter Lekki, to proceed with legal action against David Rokh, 13 Grant St., as a follow up to a notification order from the code en- forcement officer. According to Crump, Rokh has two non- conforming structures on his pro- perty and has been ordered to tear them down, which he apparently has not done. Lekki said the legal action will probably be minor and will involve forcing Rokh to demolish the two sheds. The board approved a resolution authorizing the treasurer to adjust the police department's budget to increase appropriations for over- time wages in • the amount of $12,000, and deduct the increase from the full time wages account. The change accounts for. ad- justments for the investigator's position that will be left open until May 1989. The board authorized the treasurer to increase the museum's appropriations in the amount of $350. The museum pur- chased a Thatcher milk bottle with a private donation from John Ramsdell and matching funds from the Corning Foundation. The board also passed a resolu- tion authorizing the village clerk to solicit bids for 500 Rockwell SR-2 remote reading water meters. Ac- cording to the board's agenda, a resolution to standardize on the Rockwell meters was passed on May 18,1987. Driver Charged A Gouverneur woman was charg- ed with failure to yield right of way following an accident Monday afternoon at Sandstone Drive and Clarkson Avenue. Potsdam Village Police said Pat- ti L. Andrews, 27, was driving west on Sandstone Drive, attempted to turn left onto Clarkson Avenue, and drove into the path of a car driven by Lyndon D. Smith, 41, Massena. Smith had been driving east on Sandstone Drive. Both drivers were taken to Canton-Potsdam Hospital by Potsdam Volunteer Rescue Squad, police said. Both had neck injuries, according to police; Smith also had leg Injuries. HOUSE FIRE — West Stockholm volunteer firefighters, and volunteer* from Potsdam and Brasher-Wlntbrop responded quickly to a fire at the home of Wayne G. Williams, Rt. 11, Sanfordville, Monday afternoon. The fire was reported by a passerby, and caused damage to the front portion of the home. (Betsy Baker photo) In The Courier •Arts Page 7 •Church Page 10 •Classifieds Page 21-23 •Editorials Page 4 •Events Page 2 •Letters Page 4 •Local News Pages 1,5,13 •Obituaries Page 10 •Sports Pages 17-20 •Weddings Page 6
