WNYT-TV, Albany, NY – 07/20/2010 – Subrina Dhammi
 170-yr-old Church in Fonda to be Demolished Fonda, NY – For the first time in about 170 years, there will no longer be a place of worship at 42 W. Main Street in Fonda. In 1842, a group of methodists built a small wooden church at that address. It was so popular, they had to expand a year later. “Then on April 12th, 1912 there was a fire that started in the drug store next door,” said Fultonville Village Historian, Ryan Weitz. He’s also the unofficial Historian for the village of Fonda. Weitz is putting together a piece on the history of the old church. At 18 years old, he’s the youngest Historian in New York State. He was appointed to the position when he was 15 years old.
After the fire, Weitz says the church was built again, this time it was brick. The building was vacant from 1967 to about 1986, when the Village Bible Church bought it. Then in 2005, the House of Zion moved in. Today, the stained glass windows on the historic structure are gone. Tarps flap in the wind, covering the openings. The doors are locked. And the sign displayed, letting everyone know what kind of church this is, is gone.
On Monday, the entire building is expected to come down. “It’s a shame to see an old building like this be torn down for the expansion of a gas station and small convenience store,” said Weitz. The Stewart’s store two doors down at 38 W. Main street is often congested. The parking lot is small and gas pumps cramped. Stewart’s approached the land owners of 40 W. Main Street, and 42 W. Main Street, which is where the church is located. Both agreed to sell the land.
The most recent congregation at the old church, was Messianic Christianity, lead by Pastors Richard and Denise Allen. For the past five years, they’ve rented the building. “It’s such a beautiful building, and it still had some life left in it,” said Pastor Denise Allen. Messianic Christianity combines the teachings of both Christianity and Judaism. “We had 3 pastors ordained as Messianic Rabbis in that building, and that’s historic,” said Pastor Allen. She will continue to hold services at a church she built on her property at 580 Dillenbeck Road in Palatine Bridge. The small white building has a blue border, and the letters are decorated with glitter. Flowers surround the entrance. No more than 30 people can fit inside the church at one time. “Some people say gee, we never met anyone like you, I say thank God, it’s ok to be different.”
If you want to find out more about Pastor Denise Allen’s church, email her at Deniseallen01@aol.com
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\\ tags: Churches, News, Village of Fonda
September 2011 Interview in Melroze Magazine.
slashfilm.com – June 1, 2010 – Hope Davis (About Schmidt), James Rebhorn (Independence Day, The Game) and Olga Fonda (Love Hurts) has been cast in Shawn Levy’s futuristic robot boxing movie Real Steel. No word on what roles they will play.
tvrage.com – Olga Fonda was born Olga Tchakova on October 1, 1982. She is 28 years old. She was married under the name Olga Fundamynsky until 2008. Born and raised in Moscow, Olga came to the United States at 14 years of age. She has been seen in several small uncredited upcoming roles in films including Little Fockers, Crazy Stupid Love, and Reel Steal.
Olga Tchakova has made it to Hollywood and adopted one of its famous last names: Fonda.
 Olga Tchakova has made it to Hollywood and adopted one of its famous last names: Fonda. Some people might remember her as a 14-year-old exchange student at Winthrop High School in 1996-1997 who came from Uhtka, just above the Arctic Circle in Russia. She later returned to attend the University of Maine at Augusta. Now she’s in a much warmer place and making her way as an actress and model as Olga Fonda. “Living in Los Angeles has given me an opportunity to pursue my dreams and has been able to open the doors to unlimited possibilities,” she said recently via e-mail.
Fonda’s introduction to America began with the Auclair family in East Winthrop. “Well, first of all, I was able to learn English,” she said. “I was also introduced to the beauty of the American culture through my lovely host family, my teachers and all of my friends in Maine. They believed in me and encouraged me to always follow my dreams.”
Fonda now speaks English with a hint of a Russian accent. “Her English is really great,” said Debora Hillier (formerly Auclair), who was her host mother. “From the third month she was a chatterbox; she has such a wonderful command of languages.” Several members of her former host family joined her recently in Boston for the East Coast premier of the movie “Love Hurts,” where she appears as Valeriya. “Olga plays a Russian ballerina love-interest of the young star,” said Hillier said. “She very convincingly breaks his heart as she did to a few of the Winthrop boys.”
“Love Hurts” premiered at the Strasbourg International Film Festival, the Temecula Valley International Film and Music Festival in California, the 15th Annual Boston Film Festival, La Femme Film Festival in Los Angeles, and the Savannah Film Festival. Fonda said it will be screened at the Orlando Film Festival and the Big Apple Film Festival and has a theatrical opening in Los Angeles on Nov. 13. More info about “Love Hurts” is at www.lovehurts-movie.com .
Hillier, her husband Jim Hillier, and her son, Paul Auclair, attended the Boston Film Festival where the movie won Barra Grant the best director award and took the best comedy award at the Boston Film Festival. “Lovely Olga wanted to be a model,” Hillier said. “It was her aspiration and she never lost sight of that goal.”
At the UMA admissions department, Kristen Duplessis recalled Fonda as a bubbly, outgoing work/study student. “She was very successful doing student tours,” Duplessis said. “She’s such a sweetheart.” At UMA, Fonda majored in financial management. “I want to thank everyone at Winthrop and at UMA for letting me become a part of the exchange program and welcoming me into their schools, community, lives and hearts,” Fonda said. “It was an unforgettable experience and I will cherish the memories and friendships I have made in my heart forever.” When she’s back East, Fonda tries to visit her friends in Winthrop and Augusta. Hillier is hoping she can make it to Maine for a visit this year, and Fonda, too, said she hopes to be back soon.
Fonda still models for television and print commercials. She stands about 5-foot-8, and spent time modeling in Japan, Italy and the United States. She has appeared in “Nip/Tuck,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Melrose Place,” “Entourage,” and in many television commercials and advertising campaigns, including print ads in “Vogue,” “Bazaar,” and “Cosmopolitan.” “I am looking forward to continue working with creative and dedicated directors and actors,” Fonda said. “There is so much that I want to do, people to meet, places to visit. I want to do it all! As an actress, I would love to take the audience through the journey of a story in the most believable way.”
links: Olga Fonda on IMDB, Facebook, Wikipedia
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\\ tags: Entertainment, Hollywood, West Coast
By Daily Mail Reporter – Last updated at 1:47 AM on 3rd May 2010
 Trim: Jane Fonda launches World Fitness Day at the weekend looking as fit as ever It takes more than hip and knee replacement surgeries to stop the queen of the workout video. Jane Fonda defied her 72 years at the weekend, sliding into her 1980s leotard to host the first annual World Fitness Day in Atlanta, Georgia. The Oscar-winning actress looked as trim as ever as she demonstrated her trademark exercise moves in the tightly-fitted yellow and black number.
‘I’m part of a demographic that’s kind of ignored,’ She said. ‘We have to go into it with guns blazing and be as healthy as possible.’ The appearance comes just a year after she was photographed being pushed round New York’s JFK Airport in a wheelchair. Fonda had knee replacement surgery last year after wearing of the cartilage in her left knee left bone rubbing on bone. The surgery followed a hip replacement five years ago and years of painful back problems. In the past she has succumbed to plastic surgery, going under the knife for breast implants and cosmetic surgery to remove the bags under her eyes. But more recently she has insisted she is determined to grow old gracefully and naturally and has spoken out about cosmetic surgery.
Fonda became a Hollywood star after her appearance in Barbarella in 1968. But she is arguably more renowned for her vast exercise empire, making millions in the Eighties and Nineties from her gyms, keep fit books and videos. She famously encouraged her viewers to ‘go for the burn’ – which they did, by the millions. Her first exercise video, ‘Jane Fonda’s Workout’ released in 1982, remains one of the highest selling fitness videos of all time.
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\\ tags: Celebrity, Entertainment, Events, SouthEast
Empire Super Sprints – April 25, 2010 – by Dean Reynolds
The “Track of Champions” continues to thrive in Upstate, NY under the promotions of Ric and Laura Lucia and the race directing of Marty Beberwyck. While many tracks are pulling back the reins with the state of today’s economy, Fonda Speedway goes on the offensive by adding bigger events with a very aggressive schedule for 2010.
 Be prepared to experience real racing action and actually feel the thunder at the track of champions! Fonda Speedway boasts over 50 years of championship dirt track racing just off exit 28 of the New York State Thruway at the Montgomery County Fair Grounds; less than 30 minutes from Albany. This famous egg shaped half-mile oval has seen the likes of Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Shirley Muldowney, Pete Corey, Steve Kinser, Brett Hearn and Jack Johnson just to name a few. Fonda’s history dates back to 1927 since the AAA days. NASCAR Grand National division toured Fonda in the 50’s with Petty, Baker, Johnson and others visiting the small hamlet. The ¼ mile dragstrip opened in 1958 (Closed in 1969) with the legendary Shirley Muldowney starting her career in Fonda.
For the better part of four decades now, big block modifieds have called this half-mile, odd shaped oval home. Lazzaro, Corey, Johnson, Lape, Coville, Romano are names of Fonda lure with names such as Varin, Delorenzo, a second generation Johnson, Trombley, Camara and others play host to big crowds weekly.
In 2010, Fonda will once again kick off and close the full point season for the Lucas Oil Empire Super Sprints with the 7th annual Earl Halaquist Memorial on May 29th and the crowning of the 27th Anniversary champion on Sept. 25th as a part of the historical McDonald’s Weekend. Also, Fonda will play host to the All-Star Circuit of Champions sprint cars, where many ESS teams will be on hand to support, for the first time ever the Lucas Oil Late Model Tour, the Thunder Series for mods with Utica-Rome Speedway and tribute nights for the late Lou Lazzaro and Dave Lape.
ESS drivers of local interest will be Cory Sparks, Jami Russell, Jessica Zemken, Warren Alexson, Jared Fink, Mark Zemcik, Tyler Rice and many-time Fonda Speedway champion Bobby Varin who will make another appearance in a winged sprint car on each night. Fonda is also the closest to several New England racers such as Anthony Cain, Russ Bennett and Billy White.
ESS Facts – Fonda Speedway:
ESS Events Run: 8
Different Winners: 7
Most Wins: Justin Barger (2)
Last Event Run: Sept. 26, 2010
Most Recent Winner: Lance Yonge
Fonda Facts:
Location: Exit 28 off of I-90, Montgomery County Fairgrounds
ESS Date(s): May 29th and Sept. 25th
Track Promoter: Ric Lucia
Track Phone: (518) 853-4235
Website: www.fondaspeedway.net
Sites of Interest:
Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown (45 min. away).
The famous Howes Caverns in Howes Cave (30 min. away)
Historical Fonda Speedway display at the local McDonald’s right in Fonda
City of Albany just 30 min. away.
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\\ tags: Events, Landmarks, Sports, Village of Fonda
Gioia Fonda transforms gutter garbage into art
By Stephanie Rodriguez on 4-22-2010
Ordinary hurricane fence morphs into happy orange flowers, familiar green baskets that once held strawberries transform into whimsical city skylines and forks found abandoned in Sacramento’s gutters glisten brightly. These are Sacramento City College assistant art professor Gioia Fonda’s recycled treasures. And her art. “I feel that people aren’t being as creative as they could be with their trash,” Fonda says. “There are possibilities in objects. A lot of things could be repurposed.”
 Sacramento City College professor Gioia Fonda snuggles to one of her quilts, some of which are made with repurposed plastic bags. Fonda’s den of creativity once filled a large space in Verge Gallery and Studio Project at 19th and V streets, but now is awaiting construction of walls before its move into a new location downtown near S and Seventh streets. Her studio brims with random objects found during her daily bicycle commute. While seated at her workstation, Fonda appears wholly comfortable surrounded by a world of recycled bliss.
On the ground, a white ceramic owl anticipates a fresh coat of paint. Boxes labeled “froo-froo fluff” and “Valentine crap” rest neatly on shelves. Hand-painted sheets of construction paper wadded into balls, then pierced with string, hang over a doorway. There’s more: A patch of cotton-candy-pink fur is pinned to one wall. A tin caboodle chock-full of gel pens beckons even the most artistically challenged. A small table bears an assortment of dull and bent silverware. A tiny pile of snipped paper bits lay interwoven on her desk.
Scanning the entire room, Fonda jumps up and grabs an object she proudly presents as a “weed tiara.” “Everything looks better with spray paint,” Fonda says, matter of factly, while holding what appears to be a chunk of flattened tumbleweed. “One day, I just decided to spray-paint it pink and then, another day, I decided to glue a little sequin on the tip of every [branch].”
A simple weed, flattened by numerous cars and blown into the gutter in front of her art studio, now sparkles with new purpose. “When things are cheap, I’m more likely to take a risk and try something new than if I spend a lot of money on art supplies,” explains the blond 36-year-old of her attraction to found art and collage. She says that her family always looked at things “a little differently.” “For me, it’s second nature.”
She points out a deity sitting on a shelf lined with orange lace, safely surrounded by an old picture frame, silently surveying the studio. An artificial-grass fan is attached to the deity’s back, forming a green aura, while an old ink pen and pair of scissors stand guard at its sides. Multicolored paint chips, scraped from Fonda’s palette, lay as an offering at the deity’s feet.
“[My mom] thought it would be funny to give me this little goddess, my ‘studio goddess,’” Fonda says, smiling. Her mother, Chloe Fonda, is also an artist. “Most of the paintbrushes I have were hers when she was in school. She kept good care of them, and I take OK care of them, and they are still usable 50 years later. “I think there’s a sense that you should use things and take care of them for as long as you can.”
Students in Fonda’s collage-and-assemblage classes quickly learn this lesson, too, and items such as an ordinary gum wrapper, lying in a crumpled-up ball on the ground, becomes their art. Fonda’s intention is to show students that they can save money by visiting thrift stores or by simply taking a second look at, say, the plastic bag bread comes in. “My motivation isn’t always saving the Earth, although that’d be nice,” Fonda admits. “[But] everything could be useful somehow. It could be turned into something.”
Fonda’s passion for recycled collage and assemblage has produced notable projects. “Gioia is one resourceful woman,” says Sacramento City College’s art department chairwoman Emily Wilson. “A piece that comes to mind is a quilt she made entirely out of used plastic shopping bags. She created a piece of artwork with intricate pattern and vivid color made entirely out of what most of us would consider trash.”
Fonda started collecting plastic bags from different bodegas around Brooklyn during her studies at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She saved them by making a book of plastic pages. Two years later, they reappeared as the quilt. “When I use plastic bags, I can kind of experiment, and it’s freeing to me,” Fonda says while unfolding her plastic masterpiece, which rustles softly. Certain squares of the quilt are very familiar: the swirly “S” of Safeway, red Target circles, even the intense yellow of a Sacramento City College bookstore bag. “I was just thinking I had so many plastic bags, and they were such beautiful colors … what could come of it?”
Fonda says that her fear of driving is the reason she commutes by bike, but that pedaling through Sacramento puts her at the street level, which makes it easier to find objects for future art projects. “I used to go on walks with a friend [and] her dog, and she would be laughing at me for how many times I bent down to pick things up,” Fonda says. “My pockets would be full by the end of the walk.”
Fonda, who has also participated in state fair competitions for recycled art, feels everyone is capable of repurposing an object, but everyone should also push the aesthetic potential a little more. “If somebody wants to start out, just look around,” she advises, thinking. “Like all those AOL discs that come in the mail all the time. We gotta think of a project for those!”
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\\ tags: Achievements, Nature, Schools, West Coast
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