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Oswego Bookmobile Repaired, Ready To Roll Into Summer

OSWEGO, NY – Once upon a time, in a far away land called Ohio, a little bus sat in a dark garage all alone. It wished that it had some children to keep it company.

In the spring of 2011, its wish was granted as a contingent of volunteers traveled from Oswego to visit the vehicle. They christened the little bus the Oswego Bookmobile and drove home.

Shortly before the fateful trip, a group of volunteers had convened to brainstorm ways to reach children who weren’t participating in various programs offered throughout the community and through the schools, according to Terie Delahunt-Daino, one of the organizers of the bookmobile project. The group concluded that some children were missing wonderful opportunities based on where they lived and the only solution was to bring programs to them, she explained.

A bookmobile was their answer.

Oswego’s bookmobile operates differently from traditional bookmobiles. It delivers free books that don’t have to be returned. The bookmobile also delivers encouragement, modeled reading and activities to complement reading.

In its very first year, the project reached more than 1,200 children and distributed 3,859 books. Last summer, even more youngsters visited the Bookmobile as it rolled around to several locations.

Vandalism nearly thwarted the Bookmobile’s 2013 before it started.

While in storage over the winter, the bookmobile (among many other vehicles) was damaged.

The batteries were taken out of the bookmobile, and several other vehicles as well. Nothing else was reported missing.

“The five new deep-cycle batteries were ripped out of the bookmobile – leaving damage to the wiring left behind. They weren’t careful,” Delahunt-Daino said. “The school district stepped up to repair the damage and get us back on the road.”

Anyone with information about the crime, which probably took place in December, is asked to contact the Oswego Police Department at 315-342-8120. Any individuals wishing to remain anonymous may also contact the Oswego City Police Department’s tip-line at 315-342-8131, or email crimewatch@oswegony.org

Recently, the mended Bookmobile hit the road to visit several elementary schools to get the youngsters excited about summer erading.

Each week, the Bookmobile will offer themed activities to go along with a specific selection of books, including dinosaurs, mysteries and aviation. One week will also feature live snakes, lizards and turtles.

“Supose you get on the Bookmobile and you just can’t find the book you want to read,” volunteer Donna Myles asked the students. “We’re going to let you create a wish list this year and we will go out and try to get the books you want; so you will get one book that you really, really want.”

The Bookmobile will also be taking part in the movie nights (one in June, July and August) in East Park.

It will also visit Hamilton Homes, Oak Hill Park, Maiden Lane Trailer Park, YMCA Daycare and the farmers’ market among others.

While many gently used books are donated to the program, the steering committee continuously purchases new books to keep up with student demand and to provide books that are currently high interest, Delahunt-Daino noted.

The Oswego Bookmobile, also known as Driving Books Home, is a community based project that is guided by SUNY Oswego, the Oswego City School District, the YMCA and Oswego Public Library.

All services and books provided by the bookmobile are free.

For more information about the bookmobile project, visit www.oswegobookmobile.org visit their Facebook page or call the bookmobile office at 341-2033.

John R. Clark Sr.

Word has been received of the death of John R. Clark Sr.

He was predeceased by his parents, Joseph F. and Olga (Yablonski); his twin, Joseph F. Jr.; and his wife, Scherie (Symborski).

He is survived by his children: Maria A. Przybyszewski and John R. Jr.; his brother, George M.; his lady, Cheryl L. Joyce; her children, Bill and Sibyl Carnal; and many grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

A lifelong resident and LeMoyne graduate, he tried accounting, tax consulting and computer programming as co-owner and operater of Control Systems Automated Accounting for more than 25 years, retiring to the woods before his 50th birthday.

John was proud of his home economics, conservation and the ability to live comfortably with little resources.

“instead of studying how to make it worth men’s while to buy my baskets, I studied rather how to avoid the necessity of selling them.”

A lover of old tools, old ways and cabin fever, the time of his life was spent with Milady of the Lake, the Woods and the Snow: finding all the lovely ways to burn.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,
to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not
learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover
that I had not lived.”

He enjoyed the cameraderie of sport and  played at basketball, softball, handball and tennis, and assisted in the rebirth of the Leprechauns in the 1970s.

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it
is because he hears a different  drummer.  Let him step to the music
which he hears”

On return to the city in later years he was lured to the internet and talked about books as johnr60 and vented opinions on local politics as jc.

The local tavern knew him as a confirmed reprobate, and ne’er do well prognosticator, while  he was  well-read, a critic and philsopher who  enjoyed debate with any who would listen and many who would not.

“And malt does more than Milton can
To justify Gods ways to man.
Ale, man, ale ís the stuff to drink
For fellows whom it hurts to think:”

Instead of flowers or contributions, mourners who wish,  might like to someday sponsor a beverage for the person on their left.

Maybe someone will miss him.

“The laws of God, the laws of man
He may keep that will and can
Not I: Let God and man decree
Laws for themselves and not for me;
And if my ways are not as theirs
Let them mind their own affairs.
Their deeds I judge and most condemn
Yet when did I make laws for them?”

Cayuga CC Board acknowledges receipt of no confidence vote by unions

The Cayuga Community College Board of Trustees has received a May 16 statement on a no confidence vote taken by three of the represented groups of College employees – Faculty Association, Administrative Professional Group, and the Educational Support Professionals.

The board will discuss this matter during a special session at 6 p.m. May 20 in the college’s Business Industry Center in the James T. Walsh Regional Economic Center on the Auburn Campus, 199 Franklin St.

Both the board and college president Daniel P. Larson are expected to make a statement at that meeting.

What’s New at Old Fort Ontario

OSWEGO -  In 2013 Fort Ontario State Historic Site will be open to the public from Saturday to October 13.

Visiting hours will be Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The fort will be open seven days a week during the peak of tourist season from June 26 through Labor Day.

Fort Ontario State Historic Site opens May 18 and will host a variety of special events, including a French and Indian War living history event on June 29 and 30. This year marks the 250th anniversary of the end of the French and Indian War, and the beginning of Pontiac’s Rebellion which ended at Oswego in 1766 with the Treaty of Fort Ontario.   Re-enactors from around the United States and Canada will converge on Oswego to recreate the failed French attack on Fort Ontario in 1759 which helped seal the fate of France’s North American Colony.

Fort Ontario State Historic Site opens May 18 and will host a variety of special events, including a French and Indian War living history event on June 29 and 30. This year marks the 250th anniversary of the end of the French and Indian War, and the beginning of Pontiac’s Rebellion which ended at Oswego in 1766 with the Treaty of Fort Ontario. Re-enactors from around the United States and Canada will converge on Oswego to recreate the failed French attack on Fort Ontario in 1759 which helped seal the fate of France’s North American Colony.

Admission prices will remain the same as last year; $4 for adults, $3 for seniors and students age 13 and above; children age 12 and under will be admitted free.

A wide range of special events are planned at the fort this year including a guided tour of the Post Cemetery on opening day, May 18 at 1 p.m.

Curator Jennifer Emmons has been researching the lives and deaths of the 77 soldiers, officers and civilians buried in post cemetery, which was moved to its current location in 1903.

The history and personal stories of those buried in the post cemetery reflect Fort Ontario’s significant role in world events from the French and Indian War through World War II.

Fort Ontario’s active role in military history continues today as the 444th Engineer Company, 479th Engineer Battalion, maintains a United States Army Reserve Center on the 75-acre Fort Ontario Military Reservation National Register District.

After World War II, the military reservation was divided into five sections; one part went to NYS to be developed as a historic site, a section to the Fitzgibbons Boiler Works, a small section to Lakeshore Trucking (railroad sidings), a parcel to the Army Reserve, and a large section to the city of Oswego on a 99-year lease to be used for educational, transportation, and recreational purposes only.

Recently historic park manager Ron Healt joined the fort’s management team and will oversee maintenance and major infrastructure improvement projects at Fort Ontario projected to continue through 2016.

Work in 2013 will focus on the two officers’ quarters and involve replacing or repairing window sash and cases, storm windows, shutters, doors, floor joists, sills, chimneys, roofs, gutters, revetments, and drainage.

Officers’ Quarters Two will be furnished this year, but Officers’ Quarters One will remain mostly unfurnished as building rehabilitation continues.

Having completed improvements in the two underground stone rifle galleries facing Oswego Harbor; for the first time since the early 1950s all three underground stone rifle galleries and two artillery casemates will be open to the public.

Stone for the galleries, casemates, and walls of the fort came from a quarry located near the location of the post cemetery.

Contrary to popular opinion, the fort’s stone walls were not destroyed in battles. In reality, improvements begun in 1863 ended in 1872 when Congress ceased funding expensive construction on Great Lakes posts when Canada and the United States signed a treaty calling for an unarmed border.

In May 1872 the civilian workmen under contract to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers packed up their tools and left the fort’s walls unfinished.

Over the winter the Friends of Fort Ontario purchased reproduction tin plates, cups, bottles, knives, forks, spoons, faux foods, crockery, utensils, and other items to recreate a US Army kitchen-mess room as it may have appeared at Fort Ontario in 1868.

This new period room interpretation will be unveiled on opening day.

On most US Army posts of the 19th century, kitchens and mess rooms (dining areas) were located in separate rooms in a barracks, but at some older posts such as Fort Ontario, cooking and eating functions were combined.

The 1868 kitchen-mess room, with its reproduction benches and tables, is designed so that it may be converted into an audio-visual room for power point lectures and programs in minutes. The room will also be used for school group lunches and historic food-related programming and fundraising events.

Fort Ontario State Historic Site is located at the north end of East Fourth Street in the city of Oswego.

For more information on the fort and its programs and events contact Paul Lear at (315) 343-4711 – Paul.Lear@parks.ny.gov] or check the Friends of Fort Ontario or State Parks websites at www.fortontario.com and www.nysparks.com

Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Collecting Great Lakes Research Data

UPDATE:

Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Mission Complete
The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, or AUV, brought to Lake Ontario by the Great Lakes Research Consortium at SUNY-ESF, Great Lakes Observing System, and New York Sea Grant for an intensive data collection mission completed its mission Thursday – with the exception of reaching shore.

AUV Mechanical Technician Russ Miller from the Cooperative Institute of Limnology and Ecosystems Research at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor triangulates the signal from the AUV from aboard the TowBoatUS retrieval boat provided by the Port Authority of Oswego. Photo courtesy of New York Sea Grant

AUV Mechanical Technician Russ Miller from the Cooperative Institute of Limnology and Ecosystems Research at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor triangulates the signal from the AUV from aboard the TowBoatUS retrieval boat provided by the Port Authority of Oswego. Photo courtesy of New York Sea Grant

The AUVs are often retrieved by boat, so, when the AUV battery power ran out after making the turn for shore, the project partners called on the Port Authority of Oswego for retrieval assistance.

The Port Authority is believed to be the only Port Authority in the U.S. to offer the TowBoatUS towing, salvage and marine assistance service.

The AUV was safely back on shore by 6 p.m. after 10 hours in the lake collecting thousands of datapoints for analysis of nearshore-offshore interactions related to the thermal bar – a seasonal temperature barrier.

The 42-pound, 6-foot-long submarine-shaped instrument uses side-scan sonar and a full payload of sensors to collect data on temperature, turbidity, depth, pH, current, oxygen levels, nutrient levels, and other factors.

From left: AUV Mechanical Technician Russ Miller from the Cooperative Institute of Limnology and Ecosystems Research at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Port Authority of Oswego TowBoatUS Captain Bernie Bacon, and Great Lakes Research Consortium Director Dr. Greg Boyer of SUNY-ESF with the AUV returning to shore. Photo courtesy of New York Sea Grant

From left: AUV Mechanical Technician Russ Miller from the Cooperative Institute of Limnology and Ecosystems Research at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Port Authority of Oswego TowBoatUS Captain Bernie Bacon, and Great Lakes Research Consortium Director Dr. Greg Boyer of SUNY-ESF with the AUV returning to shore.
Photo courtesy of New York Sea Grant

OSWEGO, NY – Exploring the waters of Lake Ontario has gone hi-tech.

Before it could be launched, the AUV had to be carefully lowered to the shore.

Before it could be launched, the AUV had to be carefully lowered to the shore.

An autonomous underwater vehicle was in Lake Ontario shortly after 8 a.m. today (May 17) for an approximately 7-hour mission. The high-tech, remote-controlled equipment will produce intensive data for analysis of nearshore-offshore interactions, fish productivity in Lake Ontario, changes to the lower food web, and algal abundance.

As of 4:45 p.m., it was heading back to shore.

Russ Miller, AUV operator, Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS) Regional Association, described the unit and its mission.

Mike Satchwell, senior research specialist with SUNY ESF, helped Miller deploy the unit into the lake.

Dr. Greg Boyer helps explain the AUV's design and mission as Russ Miller prepares the unit for launch

Dr. Greg Boyer helps explain the AUV’s design and mission as Russ Miller prepares the unit for launch

“This isn’t that long of a mission. So, he probably has it set about as fast as it will go to collect data,” he said.

The 42-pound AUV is 6.5-feet long and resembles a small torpedo.

It has side scan sonar, multiple sensor payloads, 10 Beam Doppler Velocity Log for bottom tracking, and EcoMapper technology for high-resolution water quality monitoring, Miller said.

The 2013 mission in Lake Ontario will focus on measuring water temperature, organic matter in the water and algal abundance, he said.

The AUV generates data to computer chip, including 3-dimensional survey maps on such factors as temperature, turbidity, depths, pH, current, video images, oxygen levels, phosphorus/etc. levels, conductivity, and more. Miller monitors the information on shore from his laptop.

Mike Satchwell launches the AUV under the watchful eye of Russ Miller, center, and Dr. Greg Boyer.

Mike Satchwell launches the AUV under the watchful eye of Russ Miller, center, and Dr. Greg Boyer.

“It’s going to be collecting data every second it’s out there. If it gets in trouble, it is smart enough to know to come back to the surface and go home,” Miller said.

The AUV’s mission in Lake Ontario is high-tech monitoring of how the thermal bar – a seasonal/spring temperature barrier – impacts nutrients in nearshore aquatic environment.

“This research is conducted as part of the Cooperative Science Monitoring Initiative between the US and Canada called for under the Clean Water Act of 1972, explained research leader Dr. Greg Boyer, chair of the SUNY ESF Department of Chemistry and director of Great Lakes Research Consortium. “Once every five years, the CSMI rotates through the five Great Lakes to conduct intensive monitoring activities; 2013 is Lake Ontario’s year. The focus now has shifted from the offshore waters to nearshore-offshore interactions, fish productivity in Lake Ontario, and changes to the lower food web.”

Data collected in 2013 will be evaluated with original survey data collected in 2008 (NYS Dept of Environmental Conservation Nearshore Nutrient Study).

In 2008, they discovered there was a thermal barrier, which was forming right across the mouth of the river. It is a seasonal/spring temperature barrier that impacts nutrients in nearshore aquatic environment.

“That was blocking nutrients from going off shore, trapping them on the beaches,” Dr. Boyer explained. “The problem with 2008 is we saw it once and then the weather changed and we couldn’t get back out there because the weather was so rough. What we’re doing this year is bringing in an autonomous underwater vehicle and it will go on four locations up and down the lake; looking for the formation of that thermal barrier.”

Russ Miller plots the AUV's underwater course

Russ Miller plots the AUV’s underwater course

The Great Lakes represent a huge and valuable ecosystem, natural environment, economic engine, recreational resource and public water supply, he said.

To help drive policies related to the system, scientists are studying the dynamics of the individual lakes and Great Lakes Basin in its entirety. Technology facilitates the gathering and analysis of intense biological, chemical, geological, and other data.

The AUV will be able to collect more than 100 times the data collected in the 2008 study, Dr. Boyer said.

“It’s pretty exciting. It’s really cool technology. We can program to go around, it’s fun to see it go,” he said. “The autonomous underwater vehicles represent the next wave in environmental sampling of our Great Lakes. No longer do we need to put two people in a boat and send them out for a day putting instruments in and out of the water. We can program these AUVs to leave from shore, go out, travel up and down in the water column, collecting thousands of data points and then return home.”

New York Sea Grant has provided funding for several research projects by Dr. Boyer, including a current project on algal bloom in Sodus Bay, the results of which will help natural resource managers and marina operators.

The AUV launched earlier this week at Sodus Bay, Rochester and Oak Orchard.

This AUV visit to Lake Ontario is made available through the Great Lakes Observing System with support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 2, New York’s Great Lakes Research Consortium member schools, i.e., SUNY Colleges at Brockport and Oswego and the College of Environment Science and Forestry in Syracuse; and New York Sea Grant.

Dave White with New York Sea Grant at SUNY Oswego, left, watches as Russ Miller checks the data on his laptop. At right is Dr. Greg Boyer.

Dave White with New York Sea Grant at SUNY Oswego, left, watches as Russ Miller checks the data on his laptop. At right is Dr. Greg Boyer.

“The Great Lakes system forms a unique ecosystem, natural environment, economic engine, recreational resource, and public water supply. The evolution of technology greatly facilitates the scientific study of the dynamics of the individual lakes and the Great Lakes Basin in its entirety. This first-time underwater research on Lake Ontario provides the opportunity to synthesize intense biological, chemical, geological, and other data for use by multiple stakeholder groups from natural resource and fisheries managers to marina operators and angler associations,” said Coastal Recreation and Tourism Specialist Dave White with New York Sea Grant at SUNY Oswego.

It’s the first time the unit has been in Lake Ontario, he said, adding, “So, we have all the issues of their first time deployment.”

“Probably most of the summer we will be working on the data,” Dr. Boyer said. “At this stage, what we’re trying to figure out is does this barrier really form, and if it does, that changes our thinking a little bit in terms of how nutrients move from the river, the watershed to the offshore.”

The focus this year is on offshore fisheries, White said.

The AUV glides beneath the waves as it begins its mission

The AUV glides beneath the waves as it begins its mission

“The algal bloom has become a critical issue in Sodus Bay and other areas. It is a visible economic impact; in Sodus the past three years, they have had major algal blooms. People don’t want to swim in it, they don’t want to boat in it, they don’t want to go to the restaurants. So it really begins to have an economic impact,” White pointed out. “It’s one of the thing that this piece will be looking at. Is that (thermal) barrier stopping things from going out into the lake and keeping them at the near-shore? Offshore vessels can’t get into the near-shore. So the AUV adds a really important piece to the research.”

A bouy (Great Lakes Observing System) was also deployed on Thursday right off the Oswego Harbor area – a real time data buoy. People will be able to go online 24/7 and read the data coming off that buoy. There will be one off Rochester, Sodus and Oneida Lake,” White said.

“It’ll send back data in real time that can be accessed online,” Dr. Boyer added. “We’ll be able to see what is going on right at the time it is happening. You can track different things across the system.”

Learn more at www.nyglrc.info

Adyson Marie Landphere and Alexis Lynn Landphere

Adyson Marie Landphere

Adyson Marie Landphere

Adyson Marie Landphere and Alexis Lynn Landphere were born in Oswego Hospital on April 30, 2013.

Adyson weighed 4 pounds, 14 ounces and was 17 inches long.

Alexis weighed 4 pounds, 9 ounces and was 18.75 inches long.

They are the twin daughters of Andrea M. Dingman and Brandon M. Landphere, of Oswego.

 

 

 

Alexis Lynn Landphere

Alexis Lynn Landphere

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Oswego Bookmobile Repaired, Ready To Roll Into Summer

Oswego’s bookmobile operates differently from traditional bookmobiles. It delivers free books that don’t have to be returned. The bookmobile also delivers encouragement, modeled reading and activities to complement reading. Vandalism nearly thwarted the Bookmobile’s 2013 before it started.

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John R. Clark Sr.

Word has been received of the death of John R. Clark Sr. He was predeceased by his parents, Joseph F. and Olga (Yablonski); his twin, Joseph F. Jr.; and his wife, Scherie (Symborski).

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Cayuga CC recognizes the Class of 2013 at its 59th annual Commencement

For Cayuga Community College graduate and Commencement speaker Brian Knapp ’13, this day almost never came. On August 4, 2008, nine days before his 21st birthday, he was driving his Marine commander through the country side of Afghanistan when they vehicle drove over an improvised explosive device. He sustained a traumatic brain injury and struggled to remember simple words like “gate.”

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Charles I. VanHorn, 85

Charles I. VanHorn, 85, of Red Creek, passed away on Saturday May 18, 2013, at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse.

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Barclay: It Is Time To Put More Teeth Into Assembly’s Ethics Committee After Latest Public Scandal

Assemblyman Will Barclay said today the ethic’s oversight in the state Assembly is inadequate and needs to be reformed in order to protect the public’s interest, not political interest. Barclay is planning to put forth legislation that will create in law an Assembly standing committee on Ethics and Guidance that will be independent of the Assembly Speaker.

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