July
• State Police arrest Joey M. Paul, 28 on murder charges on July 1 after she allegedly shot her boyfriend, Matthew K. Furlani, also 28, with a rifle in their shared home at 82-1 Church Street in Schuylerville. Police charge her with murder in the second degree and send her to Saratoga County jail without bail. • The Route 67 Country Store and Café holds its 3rd Annual Benefit Car Show. This year’s event raises money for the Charlton Historical Society. • Democrat Madelyn Thorne kicks off her campaign for state senator in the new 49th Senate District. • The 171st Saratoga County fair kicks off on July 17. The event typically attracts between 80,000 and 100,000 visitors to Ballston Spa over the course of the week. • A three day Phish concert at Saratoga Performing Arts Center results in more than 50 traffic citations, thirteen arrests and the seizure of a large quantity of drugs including cocaine, heroin, LSD, ecstasy, mushrooms, hash, marijuana, nitrous oxide and bath salts. • The Saratoga Race Course hosts its 32nd open house and shortly thereafter, opens for the season on July 20. • An early morning fire on Friday, July 20, at Bishop Hubbard Apartments at 54 Katherine Drive, Halfmoon prompts dozens of residents to flee the building as fire companies battle a fire that is believed to have started above an electrical room in an attic space. • Two men escape injury when their floatplane capsizes while taxiing on Saratoga Lake.
• The “Tempered by Memory” 9/11 memorial settles in at High Rock Park in Saratoga Springs, ending much debate over where the statue will be located. A dedication ceremony is held later in the year. • The Ballston Town Board holds a public hearing on a local law that would put limits on freestanding solar panel arrays. About 50 people attend the hearing with eight people voicing opinions both for and against the proposed law. The board later passes the law in a 3-2 vote with Supervisor Patti Southworth and Councilman Jeremy Knight dissenting. • GlobalFoundries announces a 90,000-square-foot expansion of Module 1 at the Fab 8 campus in the Luther Forest Technology Campus in the Town of Malta. August
• The Village of Ballston Spa holds the 5th Annual Ballston Spa Film Festival on Aug. 3 and 4. A total of 39 films are shown in multiple venues around the village. • Longtime Saratoga County Republican Committee Chairman John “Jasper” Nolan announces his retirement after 27 years of heading the committee. • Town of Ballston Councilman William Goslin calls for a review of Town Supervisor Patti Southworth’s hours worked at a Town Board agenda meeting — not for being too few, but rather for being too many for the part time post. In question is Southworth’s Standard Workday and Reporting Resolution for elected officials, which the board unanimously approved at a July 3 meeting. The system is intended to report to the state the “standard work days” for elected or appointed officials for the use of the state retirement system. • Brian Vecchio, 18, of 110 Brookline Road, Ballston Spa, is sentenced to up to fours years in state prison. Vecchio was convicted of criminally negligent homicide, a felony, in connection with a January crash in the Town of Providence that claimed the life of Ballston Spa High School student Noelle S. Johnsen, 17, a passenger in his vehicle. • New York State Police reports a single-engine plane crash in the Van Vranken Road area of Clifton Park. According to police reports, the plane was occupied by two people at the time of the crash and officials confirm that one occupant is deceased. The other occupant is said to be in critical condition. • Ballston Supervisor Patti Southworth reports her personnel file missing and files a report with Saratoga County Sheriff, who start an investigation. • The Town of Malta holds a workshop on adopting new form-based code zoning in the downtown area. A form-based code zoning plan would create more specific regulations than what’s in the current code, under which many projects have to be examined individually as planned development districts. • The Saratoga Lake Protection and Improvement District introduces draft legislation that calls for owners of motorized boats and docks to register with the district every year and for boaters to pay for day or week use passes. The fee would raise revenue to supplement the group’s efforts to manage non-native aquatic vegetation and also control the number of docks on the lake and their impacts. • The lower portion of a 4.6-acre Saratoga Springs-owned property on Saratoga Lake is opened to picnicking, fishing and non-motorized boat use. Years after grand plans presented, only a small portion of the park is complete. • The Shenendehowa Central School District’s Board of Education adopts a Comprehensive Sexual Health Curriculum that clears the way for Planned Parenthood representatives to return to the classroom as guest speakers after the group was controversially barred from the schools. September
• Ellms Family Farm in Ballston Spa hosts Hero Rush, a 5K race for first responders with up to 20 obstacles simulating scenarios presented at emergencies. • The Epilepsy Foundation of Northeastern New York holds its 4th Annual Saratoga Stroll for Epilepsy in Saratoga Spa Park. • The 2012 Saratoga Wine & Food and Fall Ferrari Festival is held on Sept. 7, 8 and 9 at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. • A formal dedication of the “Tempered By Memory” sculpture takes place. On hand for the ceremony are members of the Saratoga Springs police and fire departments, Mayor Scott Johnson and Saratoga Arts Council Director Joel Reed. • County Public Health Committee members hear a report from Maplewood Manor Director Diane Brown concerning financial problems at the nursing facility. According to the report, there are 39 empty beds at the facility, nearly 15 percent of the total capacity, and the county-run facility is expected to lose $10 million in 2013. • Saratoga County Clerk Kathleen Marchione narrowly wins the 43rd Senate District Republican primary over incumbent Roy McDonald. • Cappiello Farm is sold to a private buyer after the Ballston Town Board passes on a chance to buy it. The lost chance to purchase the farm occurs during a public hearing in which names and accusations are hurled back and forth. Following the public hearing, the Cappiello family withdraws their offer. October
• Lane Rowe, 11, tries to stop a minivan that contained three other children from rolling into traffic on Blue Barns Road in Ballston and is killed. His death is mourned by the entire community. • The HVCC TEC-SMART campus in Malta holds an Educational and Interactive Nanotechnology Day for elementary school students in the area. • The Ballston Planning Board holds a public hearing on a proposed asphalt plant to be built in the Curtis Lumber Industrial Park on Route 67. Most of the public comments indicate an opposition to the proposal, with traffic concerns being the main objection. • Saratoga County receives three proposals from private companies hoping to run the Northumberland landfill, which has sat unused since being finished in 2001. Any deal would provide the county with needed cash. The proposals are being considered by the County Landfill Subcommittee. • Brent Dickinson, 33, of Saratoga Springs, is sentenced to up to three years in prison after being convicted in March of making threats against schoolchildren in Saratoga County. November
• Iraq veteran Jason Moon holds a free Veteran’s Day Concert at the Christ Community Reformed Church in Clifton Park to raise awareness of post traumatic stress disorder, of which he suffers. • Republican Kathleen Marchione wins the 43rd Senate District seat in the 2012 election. In the 49th District, Republican Hugh Farley was reelected. In the 112th Assembly District Republican James Tedisco was reelected. In the 113th Assembly District Republican Tony Jordan kept his seat, while in the City of Saratoga Springs voters defeated a proposal to switch city government from the charter style to a city manager style. • Taylor’s Heroes holds its second annual Rock of Ages Birthday Bash at Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs. The event is in memory of Taylor Miller, a Saratoga Springs High School graduate who was 19 when he was killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. December
• The Gateway House, a hospice house in the Town of Milton, holds an Ugly Christmas Sweater Run to raise funds for its hospice project. • Ballston Spa School District voters approve an $8.9 million referendum to fund the second phase of renovations to multiple district buildings. • An updated version of the tentative Saratoga County 2013 budget is presented at a public hearing at the county offices, and it lowers the proposed property tax hike to 1.6 percent. • A candlelight vigil is held at the Shenendehowa High School Athletic Field for Chris Stewart and Deanna Rivers. The wo students were killed in a Dec. 1 crash on the Northway when their vehicle was struck by a vehicle driven by Dennis Drue, 22, of Clifton Park. Two other passengers, Matt Hardy and Bailey Wind, were injured in the accident. • Malta residents unhappy with plans for two roundabouts — one near an elementary school — voice their opinions at a public hearing. The roundabouts would include one near the Chango Elementary School in Round Lake and are part of the planned Round Lake Road improvements proposed by the Town of Malta. • The Town of Ballston Highway Department announces plans to unionize. At a Town Board meeting Supervisor Patti Southworth said she anticipates no issues with negotiations. Southworth and Councilman Bill Goslin disagree on whether the department is unionizing over restrictions placed in the Highway Department budget for 2013. • The Vischer Ferry Preserve receives a $5,000 grant from the 2012 Greenway Council Community Grant Program. The money will be used to create a gateway as part of the new public access project planned for Ferry Drive. • Officials from the Village of Ballston Spa and the Saratoga County Fair reach an agreement to keep the fair in the village. The agreement establishes a mass gathering permitting system, paving the way for the fair to be held at the Ballston Spa Fairgrounds for years to come.