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fVess-ReDublican — Wednesday, March 21,1979 3 System in financial trouble High powered These AALD linemen found themselves with too much power Tuesday when their work near the Diamond In- ternational Paper Mill caused an electric surge which blacked out the city for 15 minutes. (PR staff photo by Tom Woodman). Spring lights city rm PLATTSBURGH — With the warm sun drying mud puddles and spring only a few hours away a 15-minute power failure in Platt- sburgh Tuesday afternoon did little to darken the moods of residents or business people. The short-lived blackout did bring excitement into the lives of Municipal Lighting Department workers who had to locate the source of the problem while fielding questions from the curious. As it turned out, the problem was quickly pinpointed in a substa- tion relay which switched off in much the same way as a house cir- cuit breaker goes off when it is hit with too much power. The surge of power, or load shift, was caused by work on elec- trical lines near the Diamond International Paper Mill. The power went off in the eastern loop of the city at 2:11 p.m. and was returned about 2:25 p.m. Among the institutions which lost their power were the college, the city police station, the Press- Republican and the Municipal Lighting Department. Accident victim in serious condition Trash customers drop like flies By LOIS CLERMONT Staff Writer PLATTSBURGH — Unless some modifications are. made, the new garbage collection system could put the city about $52,000 in the hole by the end of the year. That estimate is the result of a meeting of public works department chiefs and the city's committee to investigate garbage pickup— Chair- man Ward 3 Alderman George Poitras, Ward 2 Alderman William LePage and Ward 1 Alderman Dick Baughn. The new garbage system, whereby people are now charged for a service which was free, has been in trouble from the start. The vote to pass it into existence wasn't unanimous and about the only thing that aldermen agree on now is that something has to be done. The formula was a simple x plus y equals z, \x\ being the amount the city budgeted for garbage collec- tion; M y,\ what the user's charge would bring in; and \z the total cost of the service. The only problem was that the ci- ty was taunting on cugtomewr^70fr to be exact. On the first day of the service, only 4,396 were registered for pickup. That number has dwindled to 3,422 and as the customers have dropped out, they have taken with them a good share of the \y\ factor. So, where the city had figured on making about $2,820 with the ser- vice charge every week, only $2,053 City finances holding up PLATTSBURGH — Two months into its tightrope walk ot the 1979 budget, the city's expenses were down but so were revenues. City Chamberlain John Colver's report for January and February showed general fund expenses six percent below projections, Also, snow removal costs were $26,441 below the same period last year. 'This is a good beginning because this budget, as adopted, is very tight,\ Colver writes. He said the other fund budgets are within the 16-percent projection for the two-month period. Colver said in his report that the revenue side of the general fund didn't \look so good.\ Revnues were running 4 percent behind last year. Sales tax revenues were $88,800 behind because of the reduced percentage the city is receiving from the county. Colver said the new budget is \now more dependent\ on real pro- perty taxes, but only 12.6 percent of those taxes had been collected at the end of February because it's so early in the year. \General fund expenses and revenues are going to require cons- tant monitoring in order to keep them in balance this year,\ Colver said in his report. In the first two months, the city reduced its total debt by $23,400, he said, but as the capital (or longterm) projects start up in the spr- ing, \more temporary borrowing will be required.\ He said that any more borrowing must be \carefully analyzed in view of today's market and the city's total debt of $11.6 million.\ is actually coming through. Poitras, who presented the report to the other council members at ex- ecutive session Tuesday, said that based on public work's figures, the city stands to lose $104,000 a year with the new garbage collection system. The \x\ factor, what the city budgeted, makes up for about half of that. That still leaves another $54,000 to be made up to cover the cost of the garbage system. Poitras said the city would have to charge 30 cents more per week for the service to make up that money. He wasn't recommending that the city do that, just showing what it would take to get finances in hand. He said the committee was recommending that the mayor and aldermen meet with City Chamberlain John Colver and the public works department to hash out some more-accurate figures because the ones he was using were just estimates. \There is an awful burden of paperwork and a lot of complain- ing,\ Poitras said. \We (the com- mittee members) think it's time we better sit down with everyone and decide what we can do.\ He said the public works depart- ment-inrd some suggestions about how costs could be cut and the pro- gram simplified. All the aldermen are sure to have some ideas about ways to streamline the system. But' Ward 1 Alderman John Stewart was the only person to bring one up at the executive session. He said the city might look into a flat monthly or yearly charge for the service. \When we started fooling around with the cans and labeling what cans go where and what belongs to what person, when it started getting so~compltcatetf, that's when most of the people started dropping out,\ he said. Mayor John lanelli first said he would set up a meeting for Thursday night after the common council session but later said it may be held Monday instead when a discussion of labor problems is also scheduled. likely By TOM WOODMAN Staff Writer PLATTSBURGH — A final deci- sion is not likely to be made for at least a week but it now looks like Clinton County night spots will not be required to close their doors at 2 a.m. The two members of the Clinton County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board are waiting for further in- formation from restaurant and bar owners but their sentiments, as exp- ressed Tuesday, are running in favor of retaining the 4 a.m. closing time. The Plattsburgh Common Council has requested the ABC Board to re- quire 2-a.m. closing in an effort to reduce vandalism downtown. The city's position has-been supported^ by the Downtown Development Association. ABC Board member Michael Col- lins said Tuesday that he was op- posed to the earlier closing hour because he didn't feel it would help stop vandalism and might financial* ly hurt tavern owners throughout the county. \I personally don't think chang- ing the closing time will help very much downtown/' he said. \I would think the responsibility for that is with the police department.\ James Andre, the other member of the board, said he hadn't yet made up his mind but his doubts about the city's request echoed Col- lins' words. \It doesn't appear that changing the hour will solve the problem. The *police~TUveTcr enforce the or- dinances and tighten up on restric- tions.\ He also feels that the problem is not necessarily located in the bars. From reports he has received he believes many of the broken bottles which litter_the streets never came from a ba7rinsfeaS7 they are the type which is sold in six packs by retail stores. The ABC Board is now waiting for an economic impact statement from the Clinton County Hgtel and Restaurant Liquor Dealers Associa- tion. Carl Armstrong, the president of that association, has sent the ABC Board a letter showing the results of a preliminary study. The figures are based on asampl- ~\t!Tg of esiffbttstimertts which Arm- strong feels would be most affected. He said a conservative estimate shows that 35 bars would lose $600 a week if they had to close at 2 a.m. This works out to be a yearly gross income loss of almost $1.1 million in -the county. The sales tax on this amount would be $76,400 a year. He goes on to say, \The Mayor's opinion that this loss would be made up by people establishing earlier drinking habits, may have some validity to it but hardly to the degree that he envisions. Several of the bars, my own included, cater to shift workers who simply have no opportunity to begin drinking before 1:30or2 a.m. \ State,towns take aim against local flooding By JAMES KWSELLA Staff Writer AUSABLE FORKS—\We want the Ausable (River) 10 behkve,\ was how Town ot Black Brook supervisor James George began the Tuesday night meeting on the flooding problems in that river, and a tentative plan on bow to do just that was approved by the end of the meeting. The meeting ot supervisors from five of the towns affected by the river's flooding—Black Brook, Ausable, Jay, Wilmington and . Chesterfield—and representatives from the state Department of En- vironmental Conservation and the Adirondack Park Agency was ap- parently si^cesshilindevising a which should rfeduce Uic flooding in a manner satisfactory to all concerned, George said. The process for the permit to work on the*river islands which are causing much of the flooding will begin tomorrow, he said, at the DEC'S regional headquarters in Ray Brook. Between seven and 10 islands will be affected, George said. One small island near AuSable Forks will pro- bably be totally removed, while other islands will have timber and brush completely removed from them. . Several of the islands also will be \shaped said Russell Wcgc, DEC engineer. Parts of these islands will be removed to facilitate river flow, he said. Although many of the town super- visors began the meeting by saying they wished to see the complete removal of two or three islands in the river in their towns. Wege later said such indiscriminate removal could make the flooding worse. \You can't apply one method to different situations,\ Wege said. He explained the widening of the Ausable River in certain locations would slow down the river's velocity and allow even more ice to pile up. The work-&f clearing the islands CHAMPLAIN — A Rouses Point youth remained in the intensive care unit of the CVPH Medical Center in serious condition Tuesday night because of injuries fie sus- tained during a car accident recent- ly. - . Andy Kho received internal in- juries and broke his leg when a car he was riding in lost control hitting a pole. The accident occured Satur- day night on the Mason Road in Charoplain Randy 3ulr15$7T7. of Mooers and four other passengers were also hurt. But the injuries were not of a severe nature, according to state police. The passengers included Sandra Le Blanc, 16, of Cham plain, Marina Al&mdar, 17, of Rouses Point, Laurie Sullivan, 16, of Rouses Point and Richard Collins, 16, of Rouses Point. The car was destroyed. State police believe unreasonable speed was xhe csuse of the accident, but as of Tuesday the cause of the mishap was still under investigation No tickets had been issued as of Tuesday. City fears downtown building a hazard PLATTSBURGH — The city's try- ing to Mod contractor Louis Pugh because tbe athntmstratieirs afraid that the building be owns oo Margaret Street is becoming a public hazard. The building has been vacant since the Cumberland Hotel fire It stands near the now-vacant lot where the hotel once stood and was damaged in the fire that resulted in (he rasing of the Cumberland. Tbe city received a letter express- ing concern thaf someone wocW be hurt in the btuiding %ince there is •access through broken windows\ and because one lock is to feeble thmi \a strong 12-year-okf couki break it.\ The letter recommended that the building be secured, the locks changed and the windows boarded up It also said that tbe contractor had left debru and dangerous wire mesh on the site after demolition of the Cumberland Hotel Tbe city's checking into condem- Mtioe proceeding! and trying to locate an elusive Pugh. Confirmation candidate inquiries set Sooday at ll:«a.m. -Winter's wrath PLATTSBURGH - Msgr Robert Fanner will today q&tstx* coca- oi Our Laity of Victory who will participate m the ting conftrmatjoa services ao Friday at * p.o can- oo The last remains of winter were ix>tkeable at the Port Kent ferry docks Tuesday afternoon, ice from Lake Champlain had pushed its way through,a fence and onto the with Jt stones and p*oto by Steve loading area tak ng concrete *P-R staff -wilfprobably begin in June or July, George said. He said he thought the state agencies had given the super- visors \more ot a leeway than ever before\ in dealing with the flooding problem. George attributed the increased leniency to to a realization of the in- creasingly frequent flooding on the river in the past several years. Flooding on the Ausable River could not be \eliminated although remedial work could and should be done, said Frank Dwyer, program coordinator for the flood protection section of the DEC. . - - - \There's no real engineering solu- tion\ for~seasonally frozen rivers like the Ausable. he said. With the unpredictabity of weather and river conditions, the best engineers could do would be accomplish some clear- ing and then watch the effectiveness of that work over one or two years. Broken windows reported in city PLATTSBURGH - City police : are investigating several reported\\ 7 \ incidents of win'dows broken by BB- guns. There have been windows shot out recently along Cornelia Street and Morrison Avenue by what is believed to be slingshots or BB- guns. The police are asking that people : contact the station immediately if their windows are shot out instead • of waiting till the next morning Local man arrested in bottle-throwing KEESEVILLE - A Keeseville man accused of throwing beer bot- :re$ through the windows of Gary's Bar has been arrested on a charge of fourth-degree cnmin*] mischief Randy Roger Poland age 21 was arrested Monday and was ar- raigned before Acting Vuiage Jusuce Robert Mitchell He was released on S20C bail Poland is scheduled tx> appear before Viiiage Justice Axxirew Duoc today Damage ic t2ie window* is estimated a: (201 %
