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Feb 04
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Library bears brunt of wreck
Judy Smith, Deborah Kenyon and Mary Fonda survey the damage to the library children's section after a car accident Monday afternoon.
The Clay County Progress, Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Throwing the book at someone has a new meaning after a single car accident sent shelves and books flying at the Moss Memorial Library.
About 4:30 p.m. law enforcement officers responded to reports that a car had crashed through the library wall on the Main Street side of the building. No one was injured, but the library will remain closed until structural repairs are completed, librarian Mary Fonda said.
Fred Ogden, 80, of Waynesville, told the North Carolina Highway Patrol trooper that his foot slipped off of the brake while he and his wife were parking. Fonda said. His foot became lodged between the brake and the gas and the car crashed through the exterior wall, buckled the interior wall and crunched the white metal shelf support.
No citations were issued.
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Jan 09
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Belly dancers show no skin
The Independent – January 9, 2009
Rensselaer, NY – Stop by the Rensselaer Area Senior Center any day of the week to find a bunch of senior citizens doing anything but acting their age. You’re more likely to find a flurry of activity from Tai Chi and yoga, to line dancing or belly dancing. There’s bowling and aqua aerobics, music and laughter everyday.
On Tuesdays you’ll find a group of ladies, often dressed in long skirts with headscarves and jingly belts involved in a belly dancing class. Often considered a dance of seduction, belly dancing is more like a folk dance, an ancient art form that for centuries has been a celebratory dance people would do to commemorate special occasions such as weddings, the birth of a child or community festivals in the Middle East.
Seniors Olive Felio, (l-r) instructor Lynn Buell, Irja Riano and Phyllis Kearbey practice belly dancing every Tuesday at the Rensselaer Area Senior Center, a lively dance class with a Middle Eastern twist. Photo by Catherine Sager.
It is a dance that men, women, and children do for fun, not necessarily as a performance for the entertainment of an audience. Just like at a wedding reception where guests might do waltzes, the electric slide, Macarena, or even the chicken dance. But for the participants of the Rensselaer Senior Center, it’s just one of many activities offered to active seniors.
“It’s a great way for seniors to get a workout,” said Lynn Buell, dance instructor. “It combines low-impact steps with gentle flowing movements, but is a surprisingly effective form of exercise.” Ms. Buell says the measured movements involve all major muscle groups and help with circulation, posture and balance. The music is soothing and the movements are so graceful and repetitive that it’s a stress reliever, she said. And it’s easy to learn. Anyone can do it. All that’s needed to know are a few simple steps. With slow and gentle movements, it’s the perfect exercise and a unique form of dance that doesn’t require a partner.
Gloria Fonda, the director of the center, wants it known that all Rensselaer County seniors 60 years or older are invited to visit the center. The center is an active, vibrant community where seniors can gather to take a class, catch up with friends or have a hot lunch every day at noon, for a suggested donation of $2.50. She said there is no fee for any activities on the calendar at the center at the corner of East and Herrick streets.
“It’s through the [Department of Aging] agency’s genuine concern for the health and welfare of our elders that the center serves so many so well,” said Ms. Fonda.
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Nov 23
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Three from Harvard receive American Rhodes Scholarships
The Harvard University Gazette, November 23, 2008
Two Harvard College students and a Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) doctoral student have received Rhodes Scholarships. Thirty-two Americans were chosen from among 800 applicants for the scholarships to the University of Oxford in England.
Kyle Q. Haddad-Fonda
Kyle Q. Haddad-Fonda, Issaquah, Wash., is a senior at Harvard College where he majors in history and near-Eastern languages and civilizations. Well-versed in Mandarin and Arabic, the Pforzheimer House resident conducted research in China and Egypt for his senior thesis on Sino-Arab relations. Haddad-Fonda was captain of the Harvard 2008 National College Bowl Championship team and plays the harp in the Mozart Society Orchestra. He plans to do a doctorate in Oriental studies at Oxford.
“I’m absolutely thrilled at the prospect of studying at Oxford next year,” he said, “and humbled by the caliber of the other students who went through the process as well.”
Haddad-Fonda said an early interest in geography and “the world and understanding other places” led him to his concentration. Current events, like the recent deal between Iraq and China in excess of $3 billion that will allow China to develop an oil field southeast of Baghdad, he noted, point to the increasing importance of Sino-Arab connections.
While at Oxford, he plans to continue his research and explore how this and other connections have developed in recent times.
“It’s a topic that is very current and very important. And it’s something that I want to understand and to understand in a historic perspective as well.” (…)
Elliot F. Gerson, American secretary of the Rhodes Trust, in a press release called the Rhodes Scholarships “the oldest and best-known award for international study, and arguably the most famous academic award available to American college graduates.” The scholarships were created in 1902 by the will of Cecil Rhodes, British philanthropist and African colonial pioneer. The first class of American Rhodes Scholars entered Oxford in 1904; those chosen this weekend will enter Oxford in October 2009.
Gerson said 3,164 Americans have won Rhodes Scholarships, representing 309 colleges and universities. The number of Harvard College students who have won American Rhodes Scholarships is now 323, more than from any other college. That number does not include Rhodes Scholars who were Harvard students who were citizens of other countries, and also does not include scholars who were selected while attending Harvard’s graduate schools.
In addition to the 32 Americans, Rhodes Scholars will also be selected from Australia, Bermuda, Canada, the nations of the Commonwealth Caribbean, Germany, India, Jamaica, Kenya, New Zealand, Pakistan, Southern Africa (South Africa, plus Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, and Swaziland), Zambia, and Zimbabwe. About 80 Rhodes Scholars are selected worldwide each year. Some countries have not yet announced their Rhodes Scholars.
The value of the Rhodes Scholarships varies depending on the academic field and the degree (B.A., master’s, doctoral) chosen. The Rhodes Trust pays all college and university fees, provides a stipend to cover necessary expenses while in residence in Oxford as well as during vacations, and transportation to and from England. Gerson estimates that the total value of the scholarship averages approximately $50,000 per year.
2 from region named Rhodes scholars
The Associated Press, by Dan Robrish, Monday, November 24, 2008
An Issaquah man who is studying history and Chinese and Arabic languages at Harvard University is among this year’s winners of the Rhodes Scholarship.
Kyle Q. Haddad-Fonda joins Mallory A. Dwinal, of Gig Harbor, and 30 other men and women from across the United States in winning the prestigious scholarships for study at England’s Oxford University.
The winners – announced publicly on Sunday – were picked from 769 applicants endorsed by 207 colleges and universities nationwide. The scholarships are the oldest of the international-study awards available to American students. They provide two or three years of study at Oxford University in England, commencing in October.
Haddad-Fonda, 22, grew up in Bellevue and graduated from Lakeside School in Seattle, where he studied Chinese and learned to play the harp. He plays in Harvard’s student orchestra and served as captain of the school’s College Bowl team, for the academic-oriented quiz competition along the lines of “Jeopardy!”
His senior thesis at Harvard focused on China-Arab relations in the 1950s. He plans to pursue the British equivalent of a doctorate in Asian studies. (…)
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Sep 02
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Atlantic Energy Solutions Exceeds Expectations for Fonda-Fultonville Schools
Ascribe News – September 02, 2008
Minneapolis, MN – Atlantic Energy Solutions announced that its guaranteed savings projections for the Fonda-Fultonville School District have been exceeded by over 25 percent.
Energy Efficiency Excellence
The Co-Generation project was the first off-grid Co-Generation plant approved by the New York State Education Department and built by an Energy Services Company (ESCO) in New York State. In addition, Atlantic Energy Solutions was able to help provide the school district with a grant of over $500,000 from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the company said.
Tim Brock, CEO, of Atlantic Energy Solutions, said, “As a result of the sharp increase in utility rates over the last several years, businesses have been aggressively searching for new ways to become energy efficient. Co-generation plants have emerged as a cost-effective alternative, resulting in thousands of dollars in savings”. Brock went on to say, “The most gratifying part for my job is to see such huge savings realized for each and every one of our customers.”
In the Fonda-Fultonville project, the company said, Atlantic Energy Solutions installed four 330KW gas driven generators that produce 100 percent of the school’s electrical needs. This enables the school to produce 100 percent its own electricity and frees them from being connected to the local utility electric grid. The heat that is generated from the units is recycled into the facility’s heating and cooling systems, resulting in an additional 55 percent savings on its total energy budget.
The Co-Gen units, manufactured by Cummins and the control system, manufactured by Invensys, produce electricity from natural gas while simultaneously providing heating and cooling for the buildings as well as heating the pool year around, saving the district thousands of dollars annually, the company said.
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Aug 30
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Lawyer violated stream protection law, police say
The Daily Freeman – August 30, 2008
Mount Tremper, CT – A Mount Tremper man was arrested after operating a backhoe in a protected stream, despite repeated warnings from state Environmental Conservation Police to cease his activities, police said Friday.
Esopus Creek in Mount Tremper
On Aug. 6, Environmental Conservation Police received a complaint from the Shandaken Town Zoning Office about a backhoe in the Esopus Creek, which is protected by the state, off Plank Road. Police charged Algernon Reese, an attorney, with the misdemeanor of disturbing a protected stream, punishable by up to a year in jail or a $10,000 fine, and released him with an appearance ticket for Shandaken Town Court.
Police received another complaint on Wednesday, and found Reese again working at the stream with construction equipment and a small team of contractors. Police said Reese obstructed Environmental Conservation Officer Vernon Fonda‘s investigation, and was arrested.
Reese was charged with the misdemeanors of obstructing governmental administration, disturbing a protected stream, and violating a general prohibition against pollution. “The charges are pending, and he’s right back there 20 days later,” said Lt. Deming Lindsley. “The blatant disregard for what the law indicates makes us very concerned.”
When Fonda attempted to interview the contractors, Reese prevented him, saying he represented them as counsel and forbade them from speaking to him, Lindsley said. Lindsley said that it appeared that Reese was trying to control the stream and prevent flooding from reaching his property. His property lies in the Esopus floodplain.
“He’s put in concrete barries, built mounds, dug trenches,” Lindsley said. “He’s fighting against Mother Nature.” Lindsley said Reese had been “observed comitting violations” for nearly 10 years, but had used his skills as an attorney to fend off accusations. Reese was arrraigned in Shandaken Town Court and released on $5,000 bail.