Soft Paws: Blessing of the animals

In Columns, Columns - Greenville, The Greenville Pioneer

October 26, 2023

By Charlene Marchand

For Capital Region Independent Media

Pet owners brought in their furry friends for a blessing by the Rev. Gary Paul Gelfenbien. Contributed photo

The warm, empowering, prayerful blessing of the animals recently at CGHS/SPCA was filled with hope and gratitude and protection, everyone’s spirits not dampened by the rainy day from the heavens.

Thank you to the Rev. Gary Paul Gelfenbien for his blessings, which touched every heart and encompassed all beliefs.

Each animal was personally blessed, along with photos of those unable to attend.

Father Gary raised all of our animals in the shelter up for protection and new, loving homes. I think appreciation for the feast of Saint Francis is pretty universal. I share with you the prayer of St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

~ St. Francis of Assisi
Patron Saint of Animals, Merchants and Ecology

Feel free to call us with any questions at 518-828-6044 or visit our website at www.cghs.org. Our food bank is open to any from the public in need of pet food or for those wishing to donate food from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Spay/neuter clinics for cats are $86 male or female, including a rabies vaccination and a 5-in-1 feline distemper combination vaccination. Nail clipping services are available every Saturday from 10-11 a.m. at the shelter for a donation of $10 for cats and $15 for dogs (currently prepaid only).

Charlene Marchand is the chairperson of the Columbia-Greene Humane Society/SPCA Board of Directors. She may be contacted at cghsaaron@gmail.com.

Weekly Gardening Tips: Gifts for gardeners

In Columns, Columns - Greenville, The Greenville Pioneer

December 14, 2022

By Bob Beyfuss

For Capital Region Independent Media

Shopping for holiday gifts is often a chore many people struggle with each year. I think the ideal gift is something that the receiver would love to get, but is sometimes not willing to buy for themselves!

The other ideal gift is something that will be used, over and over. Fortunately, we gardeners are pretty easy to shop for, since our hobby can utilize all sorts of cool stuff! Last week I wrote about maintaining garden tools, but if a tool is broken, buying a new one is a great gift.

Good quality hand tools, such as shovels, rakes, hoes, trowels, pruning shears, loppers, etc. can be quite expensive, but cheaper tools may even be a better choice. If the gardener has kids that may lose the tool, or is an absent-minded old fart like me, losing, or seriously misplacing, a $60 pair of hand shears is tragic, but losing a $10 item is not so bad.

My friend and fellow columnist Dick Brooks, who writes “Whittlin’ Away,” is famous for misplacing tools. For guys like Dick and me, having five hand-pruning shears almost guarantees that we will be able to find one when we need it! I keep two in my car, two in my shed and at least one in my kitchen at all times. I also keep a Cornell pH testing kit in my car, because I never know when I will need to test someone’s soil.

The same is true for gloves. I buy five or six pairs of cheap cotton gloves at the dollar store and keep them stashed in every pocket of every jacket I own. I arrived in Florida with two pairs stuffed into the jacket I wear most often back home. Losing one of a $45 pair of nice, leather gloves is very upsetting, but quite common. Your gift recipient will not take offense at getting several copies of useful stuff!

If your gardener uses any sort of pesticides, organic or not, it is a good idea to own at least one set of chemical-resistant plastic gloves for mixing and applying these chemicals. Plastic, protective eye goggles are really quite inexpensive and they don’t last long, so owning a half dozen pairs of these is not a bad idea either.

Garden stuff does tend to disappear, perhaps ending up in the same dimension as odd socks, pens, books, magic markers, paper clips, staples, pencil sharpeners and other stuff you rarely need, but can never locate when you do need them.

Garden accessories are also great gifts that may follow the same guidelines. Two years ago, at the peak of the COVID-induced shortages of everything, I managed to ruin my plastic watering pail and I could not buy a replacement. My good neighbor had the foresight to get two of them for me, when they finally reappeared. Now I can usually locate one or the other, most of the time.

If you cut a lot of wood for heat, or do some forest work, you might use a peavey, a cant hook or log roller. These handy tools can cost upwards of $150 each and as much as $350 for high quality, aluminum-handled tools. All these tools are back savers and chain savers. The older I get, the more I realize that leverage is a wonderful thing! Plastic wedges are relatively inexpensive, but if they keep you from getting your saw pinched and stuck even once, they are wonderful!

Last week I raved about the virtues of electric chainsaws. I did not mention how inexpensive they can be. Mine cost about $120, at a big box store, and even with the added cost of batteries and the charger, the total cost was less than $250.

Please don’t buy a chainsaw for anyone without also buying the required safety gear. Chainsaw chaps cost about $50 to $80 and they are really worth every penny. Helmets with face masks are only needed when felling trees, but eye protection is always needed and ear protection is also needed for gas-powered saws.

All chainsaw cuts are serious. You cannot get “nicked” by a running chainsaw. Severing an artery may result in unconsciousness in as little as 15 seconds and death within minutes. You should never even start any chainsaw without wearing protective gear, including chaps!

One of my pet peeves is watching amateurs using chainsaws, cleaning up after a storm. Most of the time, none of these well-meaning individuals wear any protective gear whatsoever. TV reporters should not even show these people on TV. You will never see firefighters battling any sort of fire wearing flip flops and shorts. Unsafe and dangerous behavior, in the aftermath of a hurricane or some other disaster should never be shown on the six o’clock news.

Voters to decide on $34.2M school budget

In News, News - Greenville, The Greenville Pioneer

May 1, 2023

By Melanie Lekocevic

Capital Region Independent Media

GREENVILLE — Voters will head to the polls May 16 to determine the fate of the proposed $34,227,771 budget for the Greenville Central School District.

The tentative budget, adopted by the board of education on April 17, includes a tax levy increase of $438,414, or 2.57%, compared to the current school year, and allocates an additional $530,329, or 1.57%, in increased spending.

Included in the proposed budget are academic support coaches and interventionists that were hired in 2021, which have led to academic progress for students in need of support, District Superintendent Michael Bennett said in the annual newsletter to community residents.

“Since the addition of these supports, we’ve seen substantial progress both in learning outcomes and instruction quality,” Bennett said. “Academic supports, such as interventionists in math and reading, as well as curriculum focused academic coaches allow us to target students who do not have deficits severe enough for a special education classroom, but whose needs go beyond the scope of what classroom teachers are able to provide.”

The proposed budget also includes the purchase of new snow-removal equipment for the district’s transportation department.

The district has been hard hit by inflation and rising costs, Bennett said.

“Like many others, Greenville Central School District has seen an increase in everything from tax rates to fuel prices, energy costs, and classroom materials due to inflation,” the district superintendent said. “Despite these challenges, we are proud to have managed to keep the budget-to-budget increase to 1.57%, while maintaining all of our contractual services.”

Under the proposed budget, the 2.47% tax levy increase is below the tax cap — the maximum allowable tax levy increase without being required to get a supermajority of voters, or 60%, to approve it. The state mandated tax cap is determined through a complex formula and fluctuates from year to year.

The tax levy increase was 2.25% for the 2022-23 academic year budget, and 1.15% for the year before that.

Three candidates will also be on the ballot vying for the two open seats on the board of education. The candidates, in order of their appearance on the ballot, will be Kelly Hubicki, Robert Pondiscio and Eric Herbstritt.

Herbstritt is running for re-election to another term on the board, and Hubicki and Pondiscio are newcomers. Incumbent board member Duncan Macpherson is not running for re-election and his term will expire June 30.

Also on the ballot will be a resolution authorizing the district to purchase two buses at a maximum cost of $195,736.

When they head to the polls May 16, voters will also give thumbs up or down to the proposed 2023-24 budget for the Greenville Public Library. That proposed spending plan includes an increase of $500, from $43,411 this year to $43,900 next year.

The budget vote and board of education election will take place Tuesday, May 16, from 1-9 p.m., in the cafeteria at Scott M. Ellis Elementary School, located at 11219 State Route 32 in Greenville.

Voters are eligible to cast ballots if they are a U.S. citizen at least 18 years of age, a resident of the district for at least 30 days prior to the vote, and must be registered to vote.

Soft Paws: Blessing of the animals

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