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Image provided by: Guilderland Public Library
The Altamont Enterprise — Thursday, October 27., 1983 McKownville (Continued from Page *) about six feet apart, of (doubtful stability. The single rider was to pedal the bicycle and turn a motorboat-type propeller. The most expensive locking boat was the Katz Meow II, a side wheel paddleboat made out of (Chipboard and polyethylene sheeting, withithe side paddlewheels turned by a pedal mechanism made out of sections of old iron pipe. The $25 limit for this Iboat was achieved only by the builders having access to a very .good jjurtkyard, ifor (the boat appeared very well-rnade lor ithe price. The imost primitive (design was a pontoon Iboat still Ibeing manu- factured when we left. It (Consisted of iplastic milk cases into each of which was placed an inflated teash bag. The cases were lashed together with laundry irqpe ito iform itwo pontoons, and (between ithe pontoons was a (deck idf scrap lumber. The (crew assured \us that blowniup ttrash bags were \a proven floatation (device.\ The paddles for ithe icrew were snow shovels. There was little (question ithat ithis craft met ithe price limitation. The several hundred (Spectators and 'TV crew who were there enijqyed an event which was justifiably (Called a celebration, a (Celebration ©f (Cleverness, high humor, foolishness, a beautiful (day, and a river which has so much potential as a recreational re- source and which, at least ( on that (day, 'had some of that potential realized. We drove away scheming i.of how \we (Could build a $25 iboat \wbich \wouldlbe a suitable eompeti- itor innextyeaf ^celebration. JBo ito it, Mind (Olympians, \jDear ©rammie and Roppi, ©id you 'have a good time in Buffalo? While you were .there, I took a sail von a ship called the Clear- water.. I got to steer the ship: We put up the sail. When we put out ithe itrawl net we caught abigloganditwoiish and some clams. There are some ithings 1 mill tell you about later! )Love, Ashley\ Ashley's (dad went along also, as part of an touting by Westmere .fourth graders a week ago last Saturday. The total party included 25 fourtli [graders and 24 teachers and parents,- plus one principal. Mr.Oearywaslqya'llydressedina IbrightiredWestmereSchodlsweat- shlrt. The (trip was (organized toy Mrs. J. Robinson. TheiClearwater was Ibuilt in 1969, paid ifor toy public contributions, and is a replica of the early 19th century sloops which used ito carry cargo alongthe Hudson prior to ithe invention of ithe steamboat. Since 1969 the sloop has travelled up and down ithe Hudson River,, with a iregular crew tof 12 and a volunteer (Crew idf six to eight ((which (Changes weekly));, giving educational (cruises and spawning festivals,, and, in general, focusing ithe attention (Of ithe public ton ithe Hudson River and ( on its problems and potential. Wk Iboardfed ithe Clearwater at ithe iCastleton Boat Yard. tQnce (On'board, we»qulcMy found ithat ithe .crew was highly experi- enced in educational cruises for school (Children. The three-hour Mp offered an impressively well- thought (Out variety >of activities for all participants, The sloop Sbegan the cruise by motoring (Out from the Castleton yard a little way, while (the crew described 1 , inspected and then launched the trawling net, to pull in whatever happened to be in the river. This part of the show was a mix of instruction and high comedy, featuring Al, the first mate, and Meg, the education director. On an earlier cruise that day, the trawling net had caught six kinds of fish, including a baby sturgeon, •a rare find which the crew had netted only seven times this year. But while we watched, Aland.some volunteer fourth graders pulled in acatch dominated by a very heavy seven!oot log, and disentangling it from ithe met (distracted Ithe crew from getting excited about what- ever else was caught iin ithe net. Then all of us visitors acted as crew and helped hoist ithe mainsail up the 80 foot mast. Hudson River sloops had unusually large sails, and ithe (Clearwater was (quite imagriif icerit with its square-jagged .mainsail and jib filled with wind. Once ithe sails were raised, the visitors Ibrdke tup into five groups,, and visitedifive stations around ithe ship. Our group began at the itiller. The sloop uses very little in ithe way (Of .mechanical aids,, so we found handling ithe itiller iin a brisk wind, tunder Captain Peg's gui- dance,, rather a hit ;of work. The wind was straight out of ithe north, and fairly gusty, and since (the river runs north-south and is fairly narrow, ithat kind of wind offers a (Challenge ito a iboat wishing to sail north, as we (did. Sailing upwind, we had to tack frequently, and adjust ithe (tiller regularly ito 'keep ithe Iboat on an even keel when a gust «f wind hit. After looking at someplankton.at ithe second station, our group went ito inspect ibelow deck, led toy (Charlie, a retired state worker and volunteer crew member finishing Ms first week ton ithe crew. He gave IUS a nice exposition .of ithe history tof ithe river and of ithe ships on it. HenoteditatlSdbertFuItondid not invent the steam Iboat, and that the recognition Fulton received was (Obtained toy political favoritism. Hemeritlonedithat ithe Albany area was .one of the last bastions of a 'kind of feudalism — the estates awarded to the patroons who originally settled this area were not broken up until the 1830s and '40s after some civil strife. He showed ius where the crew slept, and said that whenever possible, they slept on ithe deck. We could understand why. The fish caught from the river were keptin a couple of aquariums at the fourth station. A crew member there showed us a strange river fish called a hog choker. It lodked a toit like a small ray, swimming with its toody parallel to ithe surface of the water,, rather than perpendicular, like most fishes. It is toom with an eye on the top and an eye on its bottom side, tout the bottom eye soon atrophies and the fish gets a new eye on the top. We all admired the three eyes. The other station was on '((Continued .on Page & Empire State Youth Orchestra Announces 1983-84 Season Concert Dates Political Advertisement The Empire State Youth (Orches- tra will (Open its sixth concert season ©n Sunday, (Nov, 20 at;3 p.m. with a special performance at ithe Palace Theatre, Albany, with the Open Mime Dance Company, Featured on the prqgram will be a Mew York \E-Motions The various emotions that all experi- ence are portrayed through music which encompasses many popular musical selections from the classi- cal repertoriry and are further enhanced by mime and dance. The orchestra will also perform \Les Preludes\ by Franz Liszt. This prqgram is sponsored in part by a grant from the )New York State Council on the Arts — decentralization committee. On Saturday, April 28, the orchestra will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Egg with the world premiere \The Frog Prince\ composed by music direc- Potitlcal Advertisement tor Wietoria Bond and narrated toy Bob McGrath of \Sesame Street.\ Also featured on this prqgram is pictures at an exhibition by Moussorgsky, Concert time is 8 p.m. in the Egg. The final program in this series will be on Saturday evening, June 2, at 8 p.m. in the Union College Memorial Chapel, Schenectady, The featured work will be \Sym- phonic Fantastique'' by Hector Berlioz. The orchestra is offering a discount on admission by pur- chasing the series of three con- certs. For information call 861-87:53, Individual tiekets may be purchased at any Community Box Office. In addition to its regular coneert series the youth orchestra will be busy with other projects this season. ' On Sunday, Dec. 4, the orchestra will onee again perform the WRGB Christmas concert at the Palace Theatre. Proceeds will benefit the leukemia ward at Albany Medical Center, For the second consecutive year the orchestra has been invited to perform in the Prestigious International Festival of Youth Orchestras at Washington, B.C., coming up next March 28-30, Two special daytime programs for school children are slated for next spring, one in the Troy Music Hall and one in Proctor's Theatre, Sehenectady, This is part of a continuing program aimed at introducing young persons to classical repertory and enticing them to participate in an instru- mental program in the school system. Music Director Victoria Bond will be on the podium for her second full season. Political Advertisement ^\ 5 i \i IN COUNTY BUDGET?? yS The §taie Comptroller, Edward Regan (Republican) issued an audit report early this year. Result: Reganfe staff found Albany County's surplus to be less than the average surplus of other counties throughout the state. Do you spend every dollar of income or do you prudently plan for unexpected emergencies? (2) INADEQUATE COUNTY FUNDING FOR SENIOR CITIZENS?? On three occasions in recent years the County advised the Town of Guilderland that funding was available. Each time, the answer was the same: \Thanks but no thanks.\ The Town has never made any application for funding to the County — Does that tell you anything about the Town's committment to senior citizens? RE-ELECT Your County Legislator, TOM CALLAGHAN and insure Wjft^liN «*\ To A Third Term In Giiiideiiaitfr S?P'| The Countv Legislature DEMOCRAT and CONSERVATIVE .£'!.?<-'.' ,1^ _./<.' ..'it\ -i. . „11.'u,.i 1 . ji.miuw.ii'i'u.'i.iiauUu' ).»•'. ^I.J\JI'\.J r '»'c'uwj!\\ii.\m^ mam
