Books of local interest

Erica Moulton, Adams, has self-published two books. The first, titled “What Happened,” is a story of 12-year-old Virginia who was “robbed of her childhood at the hands of a neighbor.” The guilt and secrets of what happened that day follow Virginia as she attempts to navigate through her troubled life battling addiction and self-mutilation. The book sells for $2.99 on Amazon’s Kindle store.

The second is “Miss Non-Perfectionist: Stories of Failure to Achieve SuperMom Status,” which is available for 99 cents in Amazon’s Kindle store. This book is a compilation of the author’s best blog posts from her site Penny Pinching Parents, pennypinchingparents.wordpress.com. Ms. Moulton takes everyday situations and finds humor among the chaos.

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North Country Books has released “Adirondack Trail of Gold” by Rochester resident Larry Weill.

The book mixes historical fact with fiction. It is loosely based on the saga of Robert Gordon, a British loyalist who fled the violence of the American Revolution and moved to Canada, where he died in a hunting accident after the Revolution.

“Legend tells us that somewhere en route, he hid a massive cache of gold worth more than six million dollars,” according to the novel’s synopsis. “Over a century later, the famous woodsman known as Adirondack French Louie was thrown into the middle of a search for Gordon’s treasure.”

French Louie Seymour was a Canadian who went to the Adirondacks and spent about 30 years as a hunter and trapper until his death in 1915.

The novel notes that French Louie found the gold, “only for it to be lost again.” Mr. Weill’s story concerns two fictional friends who go on a quest to find the lost gold.

The book sells for $24.95 and is available at online bookstores and the publisher’s website, www.northcountrybooks.com.

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M. James Daily, Watertown, has self-published, through CreateSpace, the collection of stories “Tales From the Campfire.”

“The stories are steeped in drama, nostalgia, humor and romance,” according to Mr. Daily’s book synopsis. “These are stories of lawmen, preachers, rangers, Indians and even a modern-day hermit. They tell about heroines and heroes in that land of yesteryear.”

Mr. Dailey has published two other books: “Pea Soup for Seniors” and “The Brighter Side.”

“Tales From the Campfire” sells for $13.95 and is available at online bookstores. The author said copies also are available at the Popcorn N More store at Salmon Run Mall.

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The History Press has released “Wicked Adirondacks” by Dennis Webster, Utica.

The book highlights some “insidious crimes and nasty escapades of notorious lawbreakers.” For example, members of the infamous “Windfall Gang,” led by Charles Wadsworth, terrorized towns and hid out in the mountains until their capture in 1899. The book also tells of serial killer Robert Francis Garrow and the creative methods crooks have tried to sidestep forestry laws.

Mr. Webster also wrote “Wicked Mohawk Valley” and “Haunted Mohawk Valley.” He is a paranormal investigator with Ghost Seekers of Central New York.

His new book sells for $19.99 and is available at www.historypress.net and other online bookstores.

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North Country Books, Utica, has released “The Puck Hog: Volume 2” by Christie Casciano, illustrated by Rose Mary Casciano Moziak.

The author, a television news anchor in Syracuse, is the mother of two youth hockey players.

The first volume of “The Puck Hog” was released in 2010. The subtitle of the sequel is “Haunted Hockey in Lake Placid.” It concerns main character Sophia’s team needing a miracle against the “mighty Canadian team.”

The book sells for $11.95 and is available at online bookstores and on the publishers’s website at www.northcountrybooks.com.

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A former Port Leyden resident has self-published, through lulu.com, a second book of memories from his years growing up in the Lewis County village. Steve Newvine is a senior program manager for a California utility company. His new book, “Grown Up, Going Home: Reconnecting with My Hometown,” is available at online bookstores for $22.95 or from the Port Leyden Community Library.

Featured in the narrative are stories about the last senior class to graduate from Port Leyden Central School before it merged into the South Lewis Central School District and memories of his uncle, a Vietnam War veteran, who was killed six months after returning home from the conflict.

Community Foundation establishes second youth philanthropy council

POTSDAM — Philanthropy is a trend in Northern New York growing just as popular with youths as fashion and social media.

Teenagers’ desire to help their neighbors and improve their communities has spread throughout Jefferson County over the past three years since the establishment of the Northern New York Community Foundation’s Youth Philanthropy Council at Watertown High School, and more schools want to become involved. Because of that, the Community Foundation has dedicated an additional $10,000 to establish a second Youth Philanthropy Council, this time at Potsdam Central School. The total awarded for the 2013-14 school year is $20,000, with the other $10,000 for recommendations to be made by the Watertown council.

“We’ve met with administration at the (Potsdam) school, and the plan is to have representatives from the Watertown council — both students and advisers — go to the school to help work with them to develop a model to work with,” said Rande S. Richardson, Community Foundation executive director.

Potsdam Central High School students will be selected for the new council by the end of this school year, and the hope, Mr. Richardson said, is to have the council begin work by the start of the next school year. He said that although the model at Watertown High School has worked well, the foundation hopes to empower Potsdam Central students to design their own program.

Potsdam Central High School Principal Joann M. Chambers said more information will be given to faculty at a meeting today.

“I just see so much potential in this, certainly in the leadership development opportunities for our students,” she said. These kinds of opportunities are what keep kids engaged in school. This is real. They’re given an adult task here.”

Potsdam Central was chosen as the St. Lawrence County Youth Philanthropy Council site since the foundation already has a partnership with the district. The Potsdam Educational Opportunities Fund, which is administered by the foundation, was established last year to support enhancements to the school.

Because schools have seen the success of the Youth Philanthropy Council in Watertown, their students, too, want in on the action. The Community Foundation is exploring how to include delegates from other schools, but Mr. Richardson said the foundation also doesn’t want the councils to grow too much too quickly.

“I think I echo sentiments of the board when I say this is the most well-received program we’ve had the past five years,” he said.

Through the Youth Philanthropy Council in Watertown, students have made recommendations totaling $22,500 to the foundation’s board of directors. Projects supported through those recommendations, which were approved by the board, include improvement to sports fields, hemoglobin machines for school-based health centers, playground construction, and upgrading of space at local nonprofits, among many other categories. [Read more...]

Summer camp not far away

One of the area’s most popular summer camps, Camp Wabasso, has opened registration for Summer 2013 campers, with an early bird price incentive. [Read more...]

Local wines, liquor and beer on the way

The Clayton Distillery, located in a new 2,560-square-foot facility at 40164 Route 12, opened on April 1. Owned by Michael L. Aubertine, who engineered and led the construction of the micro-distillery, broke ground for the project in July. The distillery will produce vodka, gin, limoncello and what Mr. Aubertine calls moonshine, a bourbon that has not been aged. Mr. Aubertine will set aside barrels of bourbon to age at least three years before they’re sold. [Read more...]

Save the date: Opening days scheduled for summer favorites

As warmer weather approaches, seasonal offerings throughout the north country come out of hibernation. We’ve compiled a short roundup of seasonal favorites and included their opening days:

  • Horne’s Ferry: Wednesday, May 1
  • Old McDonald’s Farm: Wednesday, May 1
  • I Love My Park Day: Saturday, May 4
  • Antique Boat Museum, Clayton: Friday, May 10
  • Seaway Trail Discovery Center, Sackets Harbor: Friday, May 10
  • Boldt Castle, Alexandria Bay: Saturday, May 11
  • Singer Castle on Dark Island: Saturday, May 18
  • Fort Henry & Upper Canada Village, Kingston: Saturday, May 18
  • Clayton Island Boat Tours, Clayton: Saturday, May 18
  • Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake: Friday, May 24
  • Tibbett’s Point Light House, Cape Vincent: Saturday, May 25
  • Almanzo Wilder Homestead, Malone: Sunday, May 26
  • Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce Farmers Market: Wednesday, May 29
  • Enchanted Forest Water Safari, Old Forge: Wednesday, June 12

NNY Community Foundation honors Macsherry with Spirit of Philanthropy Award

Mary H. Macsherry

The Northern New York Community Foundation’s 2013 Spirit of Philanthropy Award is being presented posthumously to Mary H. Macsherry, a Watertown and Alexandria Bay resident who died in December.

Mrs. Macsherry, who was 94, was chosen because of her “years of generaous and caring work on behalf of many area causes and organizations,” a Community Foundation press release stated. [Read more...]

As season approaches, Antique Boat Museum exits ‘hibernation’

Photo by Brad Miller, courtesy Antique Boat Museum.

Spring has just arrived, but summer is close.

It seems even closer when you have a countdown.

Clayton’s Antique Boat Museum kicks off a 49 day countdown campaign on Friday to celebrate the 49th annual opening of the museum. The museum opens on Friday, May 10. The “Out of Hibernation” campaign will “unlock, or wake up, some of the unique artifacts and displays at the museum through various social media initiatives,” according to a press released.

To drum up interest, the museum is taking to Facebook and Twitter to give away speedboat passes and other prizes for those who ‘like’ the museum’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/antiqueboatmuseum, or ‘follow’ the museum on Twitter, @ABM1000Islands.

Opening weekend, scheduled for Friday, May 10, to Sunday, May 12, at the boat museum, 750 Mary St., will include a free book for the first 25 paying visitors on Friday. All Daughters Day, an event aimed at mothers and daughters that features presentations, tea and other family activities. On Sunday, Mother’s Day, mom gets in free with paid admission of a child as well as a free flower for the first 25 mothers through the gate, sponsored by Gray’s Flower Shop.

In other ABM news, Michael J. Folsom, founder of the Sailing Seaway Clayton summer event and the Ship Watcher, a 1,000 Islands shipping blog, has been named director of marketing and communications. He is joined by Margaret E. Hummel, who has been promoted to events manager at the museum. Ms. Hummel joined the museum in April 2011 as events and marketing coordinator.

Effort to lure bookstore to Watertown gains steam as organizers get word out

Cathy M. Anderson displays Thursday the Facebook page she created to recruit a bookstore to the Watertown area. Photo by Norm Johnston/Watertown Daily Times.

After launching a Facebook page last summer to drum up support, a group of book lovers remains focused on luring a big bookstore, such as Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million, to Watertown.

The group now is making alliances with economic development specialists in the community to back the cause. [Read more...]

Maggie Rizer welcomes second baby boy

Photo courtesy Instagram/Maggie Rizer.

Late Friday evening supermodel, and north country native, Maggie Rizer took to her Instagram and Twitter accounts to announce the birth of her second baby boy, Quinnlann Clancy Mehran.

Ms. Rizer posted a photo, left, with the caption “Our little Mighty Quinn.”

Quinn is Ms. Rizer’s second child with husband Alex Mehran. Ms. Rizer gave birth to son Zander  on Nov. 23, 2011. The family splits their time between their homes in San Francisco and outside of Sackets Harbor on the shores of Lake Ontario. [Read more...]

North country maple producers celebrate with open houses

Lucas and Joseph Schrodt showed off the equipment at Pierce’s Sugar Spigot on Route 812 in the town of Croghan during last year’s Maple Weekend festivities.

Curious about how sap from maple trees gets transformed into maple syrup, candy, cream and other sweet treats?

To help celebrate the state’s annual Maple Weekend, 14 maple producers in St. Lawrence, Jefferson and Lewis counties will host open houses Saturday and Sunday and March 23 and 24. Most will demonstrate the syrup-making process and have products available for sampling and sale. Some sites will offer activities such as horse and wagon rides, walks in the woods, buggy rides and face painting. [Read more...]