CANCER FUNDRAISER PRINCETOWN — Peaceful Acres Equestrian Center, 3740 Rynex Corners Road, will hold a fundraiser for Cyndy and Kelly McKay, a mother and daughter both battling breast cancer, with events 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday . The “Look Up and Breathe Challenge Walk” will begin at the Pattersonville Firehouse at 10:30 a.m., with a 1.5 mile walk uphill to Peaceful Acres. A breakfast will be offered 7 to 11 a.m. at the Firehouse. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., there will be information and activities at the farm including breast cancer education booths, pony and horse rides, carriage rides, a bake sale, raffle and silent auction, a barbecue by the Three Chicks Restaurant, and music provided by acoustic guitarist Justin Paden. Challenge Walk sponsor forms are available at participating Stewart’s Shops. Proceeds will help offset medical expenses for the McKays.
PRINCETOWN ‘Ideal public servant’ dies Muriel Peterson served 3 stints as town supervisor
I had the pleasure to meet Ms.Peterson on a few occasions and also attended a Princetown town meeting. She was a very nice person and my condolences to her family. She will be missed.
Muriel was a wonderful person. Kindhearted and one tough cookie at the same time. She was a tireless advocate for P'town and frequently for D'burg. We stuck together. I WILL SO MISS MY FRIEND, Goodbye Muriel, you will never be forgotten.
Princetown — Muriel H. Peterson, 75, of Princetown, p a s s e d a w a y Thursday afternoon, October 4, at Ellis Hospital, after a short illness. Born in West Fulton, on January 19, 1932, she was the daughter of the late Fulton and Georgina (Kinney) Woodman. A graduate of Cobleskill Schools, she received her master’s degree in 1953 from SUNY Albany. Muriel was employed as a substitute teacher in several area schools and later retired as a secondary English teacher from the Schalmont School District in 1987. A tireless volunteer, she had served as a 4-H and Cub Scout leader, a Sunday school teacher on the Schalmont School Board, a Schenectady Military Affairs Council Volunteer and a Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children Volunteer. Muriel was also a die hard New York Mets fan and a member of Princetown Evangelical Presbyterian Church. After her retirement from teaching, she turned her focus to service in her beloved Princetown Community. A Princetown resident since 1952, her mantra was to serve all of the people regardless of political affiliation and to improve their lives. It was not unusual for her to become personally involved in problem solving for a resident. Muriel was the Supervisor of the Town of Princetown from 1996 to 1999, 2002 to 2003 and 2005 to the present. She was a former Town Clerk from 1990 to 1995, a former Town Council member, a former Town Planning Board secretary, an Election Inspector and Board of Assessment Review member. She assisted in the Organization of the Princetown Seniors, the grant application to Metroplex for financial aid with Route 20 water extension and the federal audit of water for 2001 to 2003. Muriel was the wife of the late Leonard Peterson, whom she married in 1955. She was the devoted mother of the late Wayne Peterson and is survived by her daughters, Cynthia Tygert (Kent) of Princetown and Sandra Brown (Jody) of Delanson and her son, Richard Peterson (Marilyn) of Duanesburg. She was the loving grandmother to Jennifer Greer (Adam), Christina Tygert, Benjamin Peterson, Chelsey Charpentier, Keith Tygert, Spencer Peterson and Tyler Brown; and her great–granddaughter and the apple of her eye, Arden Greer; a sister, Catherine Seifert of Scarborough, Maine; a close nephew, Gary Gray of Algonquin, IL; and several other nieces and nephews. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday morning October 9, at 10 a.m. at Princetown E v a n g e l i c a l P r e s b y t e r i a n Church, 3662 Gifford Church Road, Duanesburg. Calling hours will be held at Bond Funeral Home, Broadway & Guilderland Avenue, Schenectady, on Monday evening from 5 to 8 p.m. Interment will be in Schenectady Memorial Park. Contributions may be made in Muriel’s memory to the Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children, 144 Barrett St., Schenectady, NY12305. Broadway & Guilderland Ave. Schenectady • 346-8424
PRINCETOWN Supervisor’s death scrambles races on Town Board BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net
Doug Gray is running for re-election as a Town Board member, but will serve the next two months as Princetown’s supervisor. The 58-year-old heavy equipment operator resigned his board seat and was unanimously appointed interim supervisor. He replaces long-time supervisor Muriel Peterson, who was set to retire from the position in December until her death earlier this month. “I just want to carry on what [Peterson] was doing,” he said of his plans for the short stint as supervisor. Board members had initially considered leaving Peterson’s position vacant until after next month’s election. But the town attorney advised them such a move would be illegal. The town’s deputy supervisor could have occupied the position until after elections. But in an odd twist, the board majority decided last year to abolish the non-voting position, which was occupied by Nicholas Maura Jr. He is now one of two candidates for supervisor. The board’s two Conservatives and one Republican voted to eliminate the position after Maura burst out in anger during a board meeting. The outburst was directed at Norm Miller, now the Republican candidate for supervisor. The incident reportedly began when Miller questioned the lack of highway department reports from Nicholas Maura Sr,, the father, who is now running unopposed for reelection as highway superintendent. Maura maintained the majority was politically motivated in forcing him out of town offi ce. Though Peterson supported reinstating the deputy supervisor position, the board failed to do so before her death. Gray, a Democrat, became a logical choice to serve as interim supervisor because Peterson gave him the authority to pay town bills when she became gravely ill. TOWN BOARD RACES Aside from the supervisor’s race, there are two seats up on the town board. Carol McClaine, a Conservative, is not running for re-election. Miller, 66, will make another run at supervisor, after two unsuccessful campaigns against Peterson in 2003 and 2005. He served in the U.S. Air Force for 33 years and now owns a consulting business. Miller is a member of the town’s Comprehensive Planning Committee and said he supports finishing the document as quickly as possible. He said the addition of a water line and talk of a sewer line along the Route 7 corridor means substantial development could lie just around the corner. “We have to move forward, but we have to move forward in a wise direction and manage the change,” said Miller, who is also running on the Independence and Conservative lines. Maura, 49, is a certified public accountant and co-owner of a local construction company. He won a one-year term on the board in 2004, but lost his bid for a full term in 2005. If elected, Maura said he’d bring back the type of leadership Peterson maintained in the town for so long. He decried the town board for being too political in recent years instead of working for the well being of Princetown. “We want to take the politics out of small town government,” said Maura, who is running on a ticket with Gray and fellow Democrat Rose Norkus. “We want to get in there and get it back to the small town it used to be.” Gray was elected to the board in 2004 after his father Evan Gray died nine months into his four-year term. Like Maura, he said he wants to continue Peterson’s initiatives, such as the District 2 water line and holdiing the line on spending. “I want to keep things in line,” he said. Opposing him is Melanie Whiteley, the daughter and deputy of town clerk Cathy Hasbrouk, who is running on the Republican and Conservative lines. Whitely, 32, is a part-time worker with the state police and the cooperator of the Indian House Farm stand. A lifelong resident of the town, she said she wants to keep a fiscal policy of having no town taxes, while maintaining Princetown’s rural character. “I want to see us take a proactive stance in what we want our town to become,” she said. Joining her on the Republican and Conservative ticket is Victor Benson, a member of the town’s Zoning Board who also served a brief stint on the Planning Board. Benson, 46, said his number-one priority would be to maintain a conservative fiscal policy and to keep the town’s government small. “We are a rural town and it’s what attracted me and a lot of people to Princetown,” he said. “I’m definitely committed to keeping it that way.” Norkus, a counsel to the state Senate minority leader, is running on the Democratic and Working Families line. The 65-year-old member of the town planning board is making her second bid for the offi ce after being defeated in 2005. Norkus said her experience in both state and local government would make her an ideal choice for a seat on the board, especially with retirement approaching soon. She said she supports the rights of property owners and would try to lessen the burden of taxes. “I’m a busy person,” she said. “And my mother always said if you want to get something done give it to a busy person.”
ELECTION RESULTS PRINCETOWN With 17 absentee ballots to be counted, all of the Princetown races were too close to call. But voters appear to have supported Democrat Nicholas Maura Jr. over Republican Norman Miller to replace longtime Supervisor Muriel Peterson, who died in October. Maura served under as Peterson’s deputy supervisor until an argument with Miller during a Town Board meeting prompted the Conservative majority to eliminate the position. Democrat and interim Supervisor Doug Gray also appeared to win a seat on the board along with Republican Melanie Whiteley, the daughter and deputy of town clerk Cathy Hasbrouk. They beat Republican Victor Benson and Democrat Rose Norkus. If Maura and Gray retain their seats, the board makeup will remain similar with two Democrats, two Republicans and one conservative. Maura’s father, Nicholas Maura Sr., will serve another term as highway superintendent after running unopposed. Princetown voters soundly rejected a proposition to make the highway superintendent position appointed rather than elected.
People of Rotterdam, we need to start working along with the people of Princetown to help keep taxes down in both of these towns and to finally take Schenectady County out of the top 10 taxed counties in the nations. It's going to be a lot of hard work, but if we start at the town lines, we could start to make a difference through the entire county.
SCHENECTADY COUNTY Princetown race down to the wire Absentee ballots could tip election BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net.
Norm Miller is hoping that history repeats itself for his challenger in the Princetown supervisor’s race. The Republican candidate came out of Tuesday’s election trailing Democrat Nicholas Maura Jr. by 14 votes, with 18 absentee ballots yet to be counted. He said the close race harkens back to the 2005 election for Town Board, when Republican Robert Myers bested Maura’s totals by 12 votes after everything was tallied. “[Maura was] beaten by the absentee ballots,” Miller recalled Wednesday. With the county election commissioners now reviewing the vote totals, the race for Princetown supervisors is among the few too close to call. Other races with less than decisive outcomes include the battle for Niskayuna supervisor and the fi ght for the last county Legislature seat in District 4, according to elections officials. “Everything else was fairly decisive,” said Art Brassard, the Republican election commissioner. In District 4, Republican Angelo Sanatabarbara is protecting a 174-vote lead over Democrat Robert Godlewski, with 277 absentee ballots outstanding. In Niskayuna, Democrat Joe Landry guarded a 160-vote majority over Republican J. Briggs McAndrews, with about 220 absentee ballots to be counted. Elections officials are now ensuring the accuracy of the machine totals and are not expected to start counting absentee ballots until Friday, The election results could be certified by late next week. But if voting trends hold true, it’s unlikely there will be any changes in the District 4 or Niskayuna races even though it is a mathematically possible. Brassard said absentee ballot voting typically follows the same trends set at the regular polls, meaning the probability they will reverse the unofficial results is unlikely. “It would be unusual for someone to get a deviation from that,” he said. In fact, the mathematical possibility of a reversal in Princetown is even more remote than both the Niskayuna and District 4 races, Brassard said. But because so few votes were cast in the race, he said there’s a greater chance the absentee votes could buck the trend. Miller remains hopeful Maura’s slim margin will bleed away when the absentee votes are counted Friday. He said he’s identified 10 of the outstanding ballots in his favor, meaning he’d only need another four out of the remainder to tie. “I’m very optimistic,” he said.
PRINCETOWN Tally shows win by 5 votes Loser objects to supervisor’s father in highway job BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Michael Lamendola at 395-3114 or lamend@dailygazette.com.
Democrat Nicholas Maura Jr. pulled off a squeaker to capture the Princetown supervisor’s race, according to unofficial results released Friday by the Schenectady County Board of Elections. Maura defeated Republican Norman Miller by five votes, 358-353, after the board opened 17 absentee and one affidavit Friday. Maura was ahead by 14 votes at the close of balloting on Tuesday. The loss was Miller’s third for the supervisor’s position. Miller said he found it “very, very frustrating that they were so negative in what they had done.” He said Democrats circulated a letter highly critical of him and containing falsehoods on Monday. He said even though the race is over, “the issue that comes up in the town and does not go away” is that Maura’s father, Nicholas Maura Sr., has never filed a written report on how the town’s Highway Department has spent $1 million over 20 years on the town’s road. The senior Maura is Princetown highway superintendent. He secured a seventh two-year term Tuesday as an unopposed candidate. He provides the board with monthly verbal reports. Miller, 66, said the “state comptroller should come in and look at this. That is one of the first things I would have done as supervisor. That is $1 million in taxpayers’ money that is not accounted for.” Miller also questioned whether a conflict of interest exists to prevent the supervisor — the son — from monitoring the highway superintendent — the father. Maura Jr., 49, said there is no conflict of interest. “We don’t need to monitor him. It is a voted position that the people put in. He is independent of the Town Board. The board gives my father $50,000 per year and he has fixed every road in the town with it and has done the right thing for years,” he said. “It’s just playing politics.” Maura called the Board of Election’s latest results close, but to be expected in a small town like Princetown. He is looking forward to starting his new job Jan. 1. The term is for two years and the part-time position pays approximately $6,000. He will be part of a five-member board consisting of two Republicans, two Democrats and one Conservative. “It’s a good mix, a good representation. Everyone is there,” Maura said. “I will be able to work with this group. I don’t have a problem working with anyone.” Prior to the election, Maura served as deputy supervisor. However, a majority of the previous board voted to eliminate the position, forcing Maura out of a job. He called the move politically motivated by Miller. Former supervisor Muriel Peterson died in October while in office, and the board appointed Douglas Gray as interim supervisor. Gray won a Town Board seat on the Democratic ticket Tuesday, while Republican Melanie Whiteley took the other seat. -
Miller said he found it “very, very frustrating that they were so negative in what they had done.” He said Democrats circulated a letter highly critical of him and containing falsehoods on Monday.
Gee, the dems do this in Princetown too, huh?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
We love our lone democrat on the board in Duanesburg. She is a clean campaigner and an honorable woman.
And only in Duanesburg would you find this type of politics. Clearly people who are elected to serve the people and a commuity they love! Good job!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
PRINCETOWN Residents can comment on Route 20 development New water line offers potential for growth in area BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Michael Lamendola at 395-3114 or lamend@dailygazette.com.
Residents along a 4-mile stretch of Route 20 between Giffords Church Road and Route 158 will have a chance to comment on future development of the area at a 6:30 p.m. meeting Thursday at the Cider House Restaurant, 6700 Dunnsville Road. Officials from Princetown and Guilderland are seeking comments as part of a study mapping future land and transportation uses along the corridor and to ensure town plans, codes and development guidelines support these uses. “We’re trying to understand what the community and the landowners are comfortable with in this area of the corridor. The idea is to see how best to plan for growth,” said Melissa Barry, a planner for Behan Planning Associates. Behan is conducting the study with a $32,000 grant from the Capital District Transportation Committee. Approximately 1 mile of the Route 20 study area is within Schenectady County and the remainder in Albany County. The Princetown portion is mostly commercial while the Guilderland side consists of small farms, forests and modest homes. Barry said the study is timely because Princetown installed a water line from Route 406 along Route 20 to the Albany County border this summer, increasing the potential for development in both counties. “Princetown and Guilderland officials realize that water is a big factor in how growth occurs in that corridor,” Barry said. Princetown Supervisor-elect Nicholas Maura Jr. said the study will help control growth along Route 20, which is one of Princetown’s main commercial strips. “If you don’t plan ahead what you put in an area, you get run over and have a mix and match of houses next to commercial buildings,” Maura said. Princetown expects to incorporate study results into a comprehensive plan it is developing, Maura said. “If you don’t have a plan, people can build whatever they want on their land. If you have a plan, you can control growth. We want to keep the town rural,” he said. Guilderland will use study results to update two comprehensive plans it has. Barry said the meeting will offer an overview of the study’s goals and will allow participants to look at maps and provide ideas on the type of growth they want along the corridor. Behan invited approximately 300 people living along the corridor to the meeting. “It is up to the people who come to the meeting to decide what will happen,” Barry said. Some of the topics to be covered are: Improving traffi c flow, preserving farmland, developing guidelines for commercial and residential development and creating bike and pedestrian trails. Gene Brosseau, a retired engineer and a Princetown volunteer representative on the study committee, said he believes town residents want to keep their portion of Route 20 focused on small commercial businesses, rather than attract big box development. “I assume they want to preserve the character of the area, maybe attract more small businesses, a senior citizens home, a grocery store,” Brosseau said. Barry said the study should be completed by the spring.
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