When we conceived The Lansing Star we planned to produce 48 issues per year. That would mean that we could take an occasional break to catch up, visit family or even take an occasional vacation. But it would also mean there would be no issue those weeks. This is one of those weeks.
But that doesn't mean there is no Star. Not only do you get two weeks instead of one to read the current issue, but Lansing weather and movie times are automatically updated. Check the Search and Archives pages to find past articles. Check out the Authors page for books by Lansing authors.
We're a small operation, so the only way we can figure out to take breaks is to skip an issue here and there. We have some ideas for the future about filling in those gaps, but for now we hope you can wait an extra week for our next issue.
Thanks for your continued support. We'll be back with our December 5th issue and all the news from home.
The Lansing Post Office doesn't typically offer drive through service, but an elderly driver in an SUV didn't get that memo. Around 3pm Thursday a Ford F150 plowed through the front window wall, narrowly missing customers lined up at the counter. Post Office Clerk Steve Funcell says he was waiting on a customer when he heard a loud crash as the SUV flung window panels from the front of the store to the counter, stopping about a yard from where customers were standing.
"I was waiting on a customer," Funcell says. "I had two customers in line and I was looking down at the keyboard. All of a sudden there was a loud crash. I looked up and there was a big Ford F150 4x4 parked in the Post Office lobby."
Special Update...
Ithaca, NY Monday November 24 - Ithaca Postmaster William C. Hrynko says that while the U.S. Postal Service intends to reopen the Lansing Post Office as soon as possible, there is still no word on how long it will take. "Unfortunately we don't know," he says. "Mr. Rubenstein had his adjusters and insurance people out there as well as his contractors. It could be a while."
Hrynko said that the intention was to leave the box section open, but with questions about structural integrity of the storefront it was not deemed feasible. All operations have been moved to the Warren Road Post Office. "They go to either the info booth or stand in line and we retrieve their mail," he says. "We have a makeshift box section in the back."
Why Voters Will Vote To Spend Zero On Two School Capital Projects
On December 8th the Lansing School District is going to ask taxpayers to vote on whether to spend no money. Two propositions will ask for approval for two distinct capital projects at zero additional cost. "We have to rebuild trust with the community," says Superintendent Stephen Grimm. "One of the ways to do that is to build a project that is not going to be an additional tax burden. The next piece of that is to try to implement a financial plan that maps out our long term educational and infrastructure needs."
Grimm began working in the district shortly after the failure of a $20 million capital project in 2007. He decided to take a different approach to addressing failing equipment and infrastructure needs. The first project is an energy performance contract that will upgrade a variety of equipment and pay for itself with a combination of energy savings and state aid. The second project uses $410,509 of EXCEL (Expanding Our Children's Education and Learning) funding that was previously reserved for Lansing along with other state aid plus money from an existing capital reserve fund to replace the roof on the elementary school.
In its second year the Village of Lansing's deer population management program is alive, but limping. The effectiveness of the program is in jeopardy because acreage within the Village that meets the criterion for a hunt is limited. Negotiations with Murray Estates, also known as Sundowns Farm, for a bow hunt there broke down for the second year in a row, leaving very few other eligible properties.
With Sundowns out of the picture again this year, the Village obtained only 10 Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) tags from the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). "I don't think it's going to make any difference in the herd if we take out ten deer," says Village Trustee Lynn Leopold. "I saw 35 on Sundowns. That's probably a sixth of the total herd in the Village. It's not less. Taking out ten right here means that vacuum will be filled very quickly by other animals."
The Rogue's Harbor Inn is having a party on December 5th, the 75th anniversary of the 22nd Amendment, which repealed Prohibition. But this isn't just any party -- it's a period costume party that also marks the reopening of the inn's ballroom.
"(Events Coordinator) Sandra Pierzinski discovered that date on the horizon, and we said, That's it!" says owner Eileen Stout. "Because Rogues never stopped serving. Prohibition didn't stop the Rogues Harbor Inn, and I suspect that was the time when Rogues got its name."
Lansing Athletic Hall of Fame Selection Committee Chairman Marty Christopher announced the 2008 inductees who will be inducted into the Hall Of Fame at a January 31 ceremony. Christopher says the committee is breaking from tradition this year by inducting three football teams. "We are inducting the untied, undefeated teams coached by deceased Hall of Fame Coach Stan Sobus from 1956, 1957, & 1958," says Christopher. "They combined to win eighteen consecutive games over the three seasons, each sporting 6 & 0 records."
Individual inductees are Jason I. Eade, Ronald "Ron" Eastman, and Beverly {Longhouse} Hartz. Eade is a former Cross Country, Indoor Track & Field, and Outdoor Track & Field Coach. Eastman was a former athlete from the 1950s. He was a prominent sports contributor to boys & girls programs for more than 20 years. He graduated from Lansing High School in 1959. Hartz was a star in multiple sports who graduated in 1979.
Lansing's parks are undeniably gems not only for the Town, but there is always more that can be done to enhance and maintain them. Park Superintendent and Recreation Director Steve Colt has been applying for grants recently to bring new features to the parks. Last summer he received a Celebrations Grant, offered by Tompkins County to promote tourism, that was used to pay for two signs promoting Concerts In The Park and to help pay some of the bands. This year the County has more money than it gave out, so they are holding a smaller second round of grant proposals.
"I'm no professional grant writer, but I had some luck with that one," Colt says. "So I'll try it again here with the short version. This is an opportunity that they don't have every year. It is nice of them to make it available. "