It's been a while since I wrote about the 1968 General Plan, but I've finally scanned in the section on the local economy. You can read it in clearer (1125KB PDF) or selectable form (1035KB PDF). Dryden in 1968 had already begun its transition from a rural town focused on farming and industry to a more suburban town with greater...
This week's Dryden Courier visits last Saturday's Farm City Day, with a picture of a horse-drawn hay ride and coverage of the displays and activities as well. They also have an article and photo about work being done at the Dryden School District's elementary schools. There's still a build to come at Dryden Elementary School on August 27th. Inside, there's...
The sign by the hydroponic lettuce facility changed recently, and now includes a web site address where you can find out more about what goes on across Route 13 from the old NYSEG building. New sign for hydroponic grower. Hydroponic growing facility along Route 13....
There's all kinds of Dryden news in this morning's Ithaca Journal. They have a story on the Dryden Youth Conservation Corps' work on trails in the area, including a bridge at 4-H Acres, signs at the O.D. von Engeln Preserve in Malloryville, and information for a kiosk on the Jim Schug trail. The Town of Dryden Youth Commission oversees the...
This morning's Ithaca Journal looks at a study on yields from organic farming and finds that their results - solid yields and higher soil quality - match up to local experience. They quote Troy Sherman of Dryden: “It's challenging. Anyone can go out and spray. Switching to organic was pretty frustrating, but we stuck to it and our yields are...
Since the 4-H Fair is close by, I'm stopping there periodically to take pictures. This morning, I stopped inside the pole barn to visit the animals. Cows resting, people talking. Goats saying hello. The scoreboard in the barn. I was especially happy to see The Fair Focus, a daily paper about the fair written by 4-H participants. It gives a...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports on the 4-H Fair running through Saturday, to be held at 4-H Acres (map). The schedule looks packed, with animal shows, all kinds of contests, and plenty of food including a pancake breakfast and barbecue. I stopped by the 4-H Fair this morning for the opening ceremony. Kids and adults said what they hoped to...
I've wondered a bit about the Tompkins County Coalition for Change, not having been able to find much about it. Tom Hatfield, the Dryden Republican Committee chairman and the apparent spokesman for the group, was on WHCU this morning to talk about the group with Casey Stevens. It's the first detailed explanation of the group I've seen, so I figured...
Thursday night's public hearing on the proposed Town Comprehensive Plan demonstrated residents' concerns and hopes for these guidelines for future development in the Town of Dryden. The first speaker, after Supervisor Steve Trumbull had opened the hearing, noting that this process had been in the works for at least seven years, was Ken Miller, a farmer who has spoken at...
The Dryden Courier leads with an article on Dryden High School students placing at the New York Olympics of the Visual Arts. (The article is available online from the Ithaca Times.) There's a picture of students modeling a Louis XVI ball costume that took second place in Fashion Design, and an article inside that looks at the recent school board...
On Monday afternoon, I went to see a presentation up on Mount Pleasant that may hold some promise for both agriculture and open space in Dryden. Cornell scientists have been working with various kinds of grass, working to find ways that grass can be burned in stoves for heat or in other systems for both heat and power. Wood pellet...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports that Timothy Troy of Etna, accused of leading police on a chase through Collegetown and Dryden, may face more severe charges as his case is referred to a grand jury. The SPCA will be having a St. Patrick's Day celebration today (map) from noon to 5:30pm, including "Celtic music, 'lucky' green punch, treats, and $17...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports that Timothy Troy of Etna, accused of leading police on a chase through Collegetown and Dryden, may face more severe charges as his case is referred to a grand jury. The SPCA will be having a St. Patrick's Day celebration today (map) from noon to 5:30pm, including "Celtic music, 'lucky' green punch, treats, and $17...
On the opinion page of today's Ithaca Journal, Dryden Superintendent of Schools Mark Crawford writes about the changing mission of schools and the challenges of living up to it. Crawford writes of Dryden: I would also like to mention that in our Dryden community, as in other local communities, bridges have been and are being built by churches, service clubs,...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports on last night's public meeting to discuss the possible annexation of an area north of Dryden to the Village. Dryden Mutual Insurance has applied to be annexed to the Village, and there are large questions about sewer and water service in the area. Annexing parcel by parcel is a slow process that costs a lot...
This week it looks like I'll manage to cover the Dryden Courier while it's still available, unlike my way-late reporting of the previous two weeks. There's lots in it this week. The lead article look at the Help A Needy Dryden Student (HANDS) program, which began informally as the work of math teacher Howard Clafin, "has quietly diverted unused portions...
This morning's Journal reports that Mao-Sheng Lin was convicted of kidnapping in a robbery of the Song Tao restaurant in November 2003. Lin had disappeared after posting $200,000 in bail and was returned from Texas in November 2004. Two other suspects pleaded guilty earlier. An article on students raising money for tsunami aid includes a list of student projects at...
This morning's Ithaca Journal looks at a new after-school program in McLean, giving kids more to do in the hamlet. Lack of transportation keeps kids in the area after school, and there isn't a place for kids to hang out in McLean. The program will offer tutoring, open the gym, and have pizza on Tuesday and Thursday nights. A Cornell...
This week's Dryden Courier is stuffed full of Dryden news. The front page leads with coverage of Dryden Middle School's presentation of The Pirates of Penzance, including both a picture and a story on the musical and its production. An article on the Etna Fire Department's troubles quotes Town Board member Steve Stelick extensively, saying: "They just have nobody to...
A week from tonight, the Dryden Town Historical Society will be taking a close look at the organization behind Dryden Dairy Day: the Dryden Grange. Mary Hornbuckle sent this notice: The Dryden Grange The Grange is the nation's oldest national agricultural organization with grassroots units in 3,600 local communities in 37 states. It was formed in the years following the...
Congressional candidate Jeff Miller came to Ithaca yesterday and spoke to a group of us from the 24th Congressional District. (At one point we'd considered having the event in Dryden, as he was going from an event in Cortland to one in Owego, but since the district goes across the lake to Trumansburg and Geneva, Ithaca made sense as a...
The minutes for both the September 9th and September 24th Town Board meetings are available. I missed the September 9th meeting, so it's good to catch up. Highlights include: A very quiet public hearing on increased costs for upgrading the Bolton Point water works, which were eventually approved. Neptune Fire Chief Ron Flynn introduced a new Director of Operations for...
Today's Ithaca Journal explores the many issues around land-use planning and agriculture in Dryden. The article looks at farmers' concerns about disappearing ag land, their financial needs, and different possible ways of addressing the issue. There's also an article on 14-year crossing guard Margie Albern, who helps kids cross the street safely at Cassavant Elementary School in McLean. Elia Kacapyr...
The Dryden Planning Board met Thursday night, first approving a subdivision and changes to an existing subdivision, and then focusing on two of the more difficult parts of the Draft Comprehensive Plan, agriculture and trails. The first item on the agenda was a public hearing about a proposed subdivision at approximately 200 Hunt Hill Road (map). Kent Moore wanted to...
An Ithaca Journal article on a celebration of 100 years of the Tompkins County Pomona Grange discusses how only two of its founding nineteen local granges still exist: Enfield Valley and Dryden. The Ithaca City School District is studying why only 254 of 298 students repeating classes finished summer school, while the Dryden district had 32 of 33 finish and...
I was away last week, so I'm covering two issues of the Dryden Courier in one article. Both issues focus on farming issues and the start of the school sports seasons. In the September 8th issue, Courier reporter Tony Hall looks at the difficulties caused by increasing costs on the Dryden elementary school renovations and the challenges of extending the...
As I just mentioned, there will be a meeting to discuss agriculture and planning in the Town of Dryden on Monday, September 13, at the Dryden Veterans Memorial Home (map) from 7:30pm to 9:30pm. Debbie Gross, the Dryden Environmental Planner, sent me the material they've sent out, including a letter to farmers (7KB PDF), a revised "Plan Recommendations" chapter (100...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports that the Dryden Town Board voted unanimously to support the purchase of conservation easements on local farms. Farmers will apply to the state through the Town of Dryden and with the help of Cornell Cooperative Extension, and will receive 75 percents of the assessed development value of their farms in exchange for a conservation easement...
This morning's Ithaca Journal reports that the Dryden Veterans Memorial Home was robbed last weekend. Thieves broke into a video lottery machine and an empty safe, and cut phone lines. Farm disaster aid is available for farmers whose crops were damaged by high winds and rain last month. Applications are available at the Farm Service Agency offices in Tompkins and...
Governor Pataki's budget vetoes struck TC3 and Cornell yesterday, as the governor vetoed all capital funds for higher education, including $10.6 million for TC3's expansion and $12 million for Cornell renovations. A legislative override seem uncertain, though there's definitely some anger in Albany. I suspect the Senate will wait until after the Republican National Convention to do anything in any...
This week's Dryden Courier has fairly little about Dryden in it. Even one of the front page articles takes place over in Mecklenburg. On the bright side, the lead article on Dryden has a lot of detail on an important happening. Monika Roth of Cornell Cooperative Extension gave an initial presentation at last week's Town Board meeting on the possibility...
The August Town Board meeting was relatively brief and not very dramatic. Only three board members (Trumbull, Stelick, and Hattery) were there. It included: Nancy Zahler and Liz Vance presented on the Tompkins County Recreation Partnership, discussing Dryden's participation, the distribution of participants within Dryden, and some options for changing the Partnership structure. Households participating in Recreation Partnership programming. John...
While I was traveling, my lovely wife Tracey visited last week's 4-H Fair, camera in hand. Here are a few of her highlights. Bean art makes kids smile. A goat looks out from the hay. 4-H is more than dairy cattle....
At last night's Town Board meeting, the board heard five different public hearings, as well as two points of citizen's privilege. (The Recreation Partnership discussion was apparently postponed.) The first hearing was on an application by Andrew and Elaine Morenus for a special permit to operate a home appliance and furniture rental business, Home Necessities, at 234 Johnson Road (map)....
If you read this in the next hour, you have time to get to a dairy walk at 9am this morning exploring how Lewie and Steve Stuttle "have successfully combined pasturing with high milk production on their farm in Dryden." In the same set of briefs, the Ithaca Journal reports that the Conservation Board is looking for a new member....
For the second time this year, the Planning Board didn't have a quorum, so the meeting was purely discussion of the Draft Comprehensive Plan's agriculture section with the crowd of farmers and farm representatives who were there. (The three public hearings on Etna subdivisions had to be postponed.) The discussion began with a general distribution of photocopies, some of which...
This morning's parade had all kinds of floats, bands, and fun. Kids got lots of candy thrown from floats, and afterwards the crowd moved to Montgomery Park where tents offered ice cream, food, and all kinds of displays and games. Dryden Central School Band marching at Dairy Days Tastee Treat car Tractors of Yesteryear Dunk tank at Montgomery Park I...
This morning's Ithaca Journal is overflowing with Dryden news. That's not unusual on Wednesday, when the Our Towns section features Dryden and Groton, but today there's news throughout the paper, much of it even good. A cow greets readers at the top of the paper, pointing them to to an article on Dryden Dairy Day, a schedule for Dryden Dairy...
Last night, the Planning Board approved a subdivision modification, scheduled a hearing for a subdivision, and had a sketch conference on yet another subdivision, before talking about the agricultural parts of the Draft Comprehensive Plan. The first discussion dealt with a request by Anne Marie Card to change a 1989 subdivision on Annee Lane (map). The modification took one parcel...
Since the Ithaca Journal instituted the Our Towns section, Wednesdays have consistently been a busy day for Dryden news. Today's paper includes: a story on beyondmeasure, the Dryden High School a cappella group that recently recorded a CD (and recorded it at Masterview Soundcrafts, along Route 13 in Dryden); Cathy Wakeman's Dryden Town Talk, which looks at honors the Dryden...
Thursday night's Planning Board meeting included a sketch conference for a proposed sudivision on Sheldon and Wood roads near Etna (map) as well as continued discussion of the Draft Comprehensive Plan's sections on hamlets and agriculture. The Planning Board welcomed new member Jim Crawford, and approved the minutes from the previous meeting, the first minutes to appear on the town's...
Today's Ithaca Journal reports on growing activity in the Democratic primary for the 24th Congressional District, which includes Dryden. Brian Goodell of Lansing is running against Jeff Miller of New Hartford, near Utica. Congressman Sherwood Boehlert, who currently holds the seat, is himself facing a primary challenge from Dr. David Walrath. The Journal also examines a Cornell report on damage...
Cathy Wakeman reports the formation of a Red Hat Society. Requirements for membership are "being an older, retired woman, and wearing a red hat". She also reports on the Dryden Senior Citizens and the Christmas dinner at the Dryden Veterans Memorial Home. In other news, the Tompkins/Schuyler County Farm Service Agency (FSA) field office is taking applications forthe Conservation Reserve...
I made it to last night's informational meeting on the Town's Draft Comprehensive Plan, held at the Dryden Town Hall. (The hearing on annexation was at the Village Hall, at the same time, and there was a bit of confusion.) There were about 25 people at the start, and probably 35 people total were there at some point. Barbara Caldwell...
Ever wonder what the brightly-lit greenhouse across from the NYSEG building is? The NYSEG site has information on various projects they're supporting, including a PDF on Controlled Environment Agriculture. They're growing Bibb lettuce in there, apparently, and you can buy that lettuce at Wegmans. I haven't seen it anywhere else yet, though. NYSEG is also supporting a fish farm in...