{ title: 'Tribune-press. (Gouverneur, N.Y.) 1973-1990, November 30, 1988, Page 1, Image 1', download_links: [ { link: 'http://www.loc.gov/rss/ndnp/ndnp.xml', label: 'application/rss+xml', meta: 'News about NYS Historic Newspapers - RSS Feed', }, { link: '/lccn/sn93063671/1988-11-30/ed-1/seq-1/png/', label: 'image/png', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn93063671/1988-11-30/ed-1/seq-1.pdf', label: 'application/pdf', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn93063671/1988-11-30/ed-1/seq-1/ocr.xml', label: 'application/xml', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn93063671/1988-11-30/ed-1/seq-1/ocr.txt', label: 'text/plain', meta: '', }, ] }
Image provided by: Northern NY Library Network
;t summer. Historical All Eyes On Basketball - Pa s es 10 - n atrttmne Northern New York's Greatest Weekly A Town & Country Newspaper VOL. 102 NO. 15 - GOUVERNEUR, N.Y, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1988 16 PAGES - THIRTY-FIVE CENTS Village West Side Program Takes Effect The West Side Neigh- borhood Improvement Program, funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, will begin operation in Gouverneur on Dec. 1. A community meeting to explain the program will be held at 7 p.m., Thurs- day in the courtroom on the second floor of the municipal building. Representatives of the village and its community development consultant will be present. The West Side Neigh- borhood Improvement Program has been estab- lished to promote the repair and rehabilitation of housing in the target area (see map). The pri- mary objective is to eliminate any conditions which might become hazardous to the health or safety of the occupants of homes in the neighbor- hood. Insulation and - weathetization and other repairs or improvements will also be encouraged. Program funds will be used to provide a local rehabilitation coordina- tor who will help quali- fied property owners to identify needed work in their homes, to arrange with local home improve- ment contractors who will perform the necessary work, and to assure that all work is properly done. Funds are also avail- able to help qualified property owners pay for these improvements. Fi- nancial assistance will be available in the form of cash grants based on the cost of the improvements and the income of the property owner (or tenant in the case of rental property). Property owners in the West Side Neighborhood target area (north of Main Street) are being en- couraged to attend the community meeting. $10,304 Given To Fix Eagle The fund raising campaign to help fix the broken eagle, started Sept. 14 by the Tribune-Press continues to draw contributions. Community donations received to date including the $1,000 given by the Tribune Press to launch the campaign, and some donations made to the village, bring the total to $10,304.85. The Fix The Eagle Fund has had a tremendous reception from the public, and the Tribune is pleased to be part of the great community spirit that has developed following the tragic vandalism to the village landmark. Individuals, businesses, and a number of civic groups have rallied to help the effort. Thanks to everyone. Here is a list of the latest contributors to date: Helen and Charles Hyatt Lillian M. Carney Bob and Patty Carney Theresa Jacque? Susie Reynold* and Carhe GardneT George E. Bunh Welby and Ruth Reynold* Junior Girl Smut Troop 2fifi Rosftie f» Main St., Gouv. Hamnon. Tenn Kearney Rd.. Gouv. Orange City. Fla Gouverneur Gouverneur $25 $25 $20 820 $10 *so $20 $5.40 VilUgt of Gouverneur, West rNNgrtPOITtOOQ merit Program, target area map. SHORE LINE RIVE! SHEET Prison 'Nays' Winning Out In the fourth and final week of the prison poll conducted by the Tribune-Press, the number of responses in favor of a prison in Gouverneur outweighed the number of respondents opposed to a prison. In the final week of the poll. 15 persons indicated they would favor a prison, while 12 said they did not want a prison here. The positive responses received in the past week, however, did nothing to alter the overall mood of readers responding to the poll. The total responses pver the past four weeks show 68 in favor. 131 opposed, and one undecided. The Tribune would Kke to reiterate that the poll was an informal survey of local residents' views. Respondents were not required to give their name. They did. however, have an opportunity to comment on the issue. Those comments will be made available to village and town officials, to use as they wish. Results of an Election Day poll conducted at local polling places, showed 551, or 48 per cent of the d£fiiG with 634. or 52 per cent opposed Villas* Mayor Laura M. Slate ha* stated the village and town wiJQ work on plans to visit a oediixsi a&d & ruaxunmD security JXTUK&L, and to bost an informational iijartinf with i to Fixing Rt. 812 Still Dream; No Work Done ' •- ; - * At Your Leisure Making Meal Hot ChocolaU :•* VOLUNTEERS smooth th« poured concrete to ensure a level surface for incoming helicopters that wHI transport Tribune Photo Helipad Work Set In Concrete After several weeks' delay, members of the Gouver- neur Fire Department were able to complete pouring of concrete Friday for a helipad near the sewage treatment plant on Route 58. Work on the 50* by 50' landing pad began last month, but rain and cold weather prevented volunteers from completing the job. said Jerry W. Peck, chairman of the helipad committee for the fire department. Volunteers poured the last two sections of concrete Friday. The work that remains on the project is installing the electric lights. Meanwhile, in the past month, a number of donations have been received for the helipad, helping the firemen to reach their fund-raising goal. Mr. Peck had estimated the cost of the helipad at $2,000 for lighting and $3,000 for concrete. Donations as of the end of last week brought the total funds to £5.200. Bringing the fundraising goal over the top were donations by Kinney Drags of Gouveraeur. $1,000 Gouverneur Taic Company. $500: TMT Contractors. Inc.. $100: and Upstate trucking. S100. Previous donations were received from the Kiwanis Gub. $500: Green Funeral Home. $500. James River Corp . $200 Cives Steel Co. $500 United Steel Workers Local 49\^. $200 Gocvernerrr Rotary Club. $50O RM. Conklm Insurance.. HOC. and the Gocverawr Chamber of Cocnaerce. $1 .COC Thing* Far December Page 6 Congrats Uomr. Athletes AS Northern Teams 10 High School Play ~WUdeTmie*'cmDec2,3 By Lisa L. Reape 'The road is long, with many a winding turn./' Those words, taken from a popular ait song from a few years ago, aptly describe the eight- mile detour route local motorists must take, thanks to the closure of a section of Route 812 at Balmat. Unfortunately, it's a tune drivers may find themselves humming well into the next decade. Although it's been more than two months since area residents gathered at a public meeting on the road closure, some think scarcely a day has passed as they view the lack of progress that has been made on the project. At that time, residents learned it may be another four years or more before the state Department of Transportation completes a one-and-a-half mile stretch of roadway around a ottUopwd section of Route 812. Although the funds needed to finance the project have been committed for the project, the DOT expects it will be Fall 1991 before design work for the reconstructed highway is complete. On that timetable, construc- tion would begin in late 1991 or early 1992. And the DOT could not guar- antee the work would be completed in one con- struction season. L. Raymond Powers, regional design engineer for the DOT, told residents at the meeting in September that the design process was being held up by concerns over possible health risks at the site. The design work is de- pendent on certain soil tests at the site, but the team of workers the DOT had contracted with for the job stopped the tests when they became aware of the talc dust and other substances at the site that could be hazardous. Until the DOT received a status report from the state Health Department on whether the site posed any health risks for workers, all work on the site came to a halt Earlier this month, the Health Department issued its findings. The report indicated that because of the presence of waste products from the mining operation by Gouverneur Talc Company, any sur- face work at the site would require workers to wear coveralls. Any sub- surface work, such as drilhng or extensive dig- iging. would require that workers wear a face mask in addition to coveralls, Mr. Powers said. Although the DOT now knows what precautions to take while the soil testing and the sub- sequent road construction is underway, so far, no work has resumed at the site. 'The next step is aoils exploration, which will determine the depth of the bedrock and the soil Mr. Powcn takL He added that work will be vet- years. formed by the DOT's regional soils group, and is expected to get under- way this fall. When the soils report is completed, design engineers will again be able to tackle the design questions of the new road- way. One of those questions will be to decide whether it is necessary to move a family currently residing on the north side of the detour road, to make room for the relocated section of the road. The possi- bility of having to move that family is part of the reason the design process may not be completed until 1991. As Mr. Powers explained in September, state law has built strict timeframes into the process for acquiring land right-of-ways whenever the state is involved in a project. That right-of-way process gives the affected landowner time to move. \The next step is soils explora- tion, which will determine the depth of the bed- rock and the general soil con- ditions.\ — L. Raymond Powers Meanwhile, local motor- ists will have to continue using the designated detour route, or the shortcut many residents take on Fullerville Road. A plan proposed by Gouverneur Talc Com- pany General Manager George Erdman that the state explore placing a median around the cracked pavement and open one lane of traffic on Route 812 just is not feasible, according to the DOT. Mr. Powers said a state geologist inspected the abandoned mine shaft under the road in Septem- ber, and determined the earth is still moving. \Because of the un- stable nature of the situa- tion/' Mr Powers said, the DOT could not agree to reopen even one lane of traffic. \Even if the soil stopped moving:, it's likely it would begin moving again, especially with traffic traveling on the road. Because of the lia- bility potential, the DOT decided that 'the interim plan) was out of the question \ The DOT closed the section of Rnute 812 at Balmat in October 1987 after a sinkhole that developed due to an abandoned mine shaft owned by the Goovemeur Taic Company caused a portion of the road to collapse. The DOT had already begun desigr. work in early 198* to relocate the roadway because of the history of accidents that have occurred there over the
