Home and Away

 

Brian Farrell, contractor (518-795-7784) and musician, and one of our newer members, spoke to us last Thursday about his recent trip home to Dublin. Like many Irish families, his has members scattered over the world. Like many reunions, his was bittersweet, with a sister battling cancer and friends still caught up in the "Irish stereotype" of alcohol abuse. He returned with enhanced appreciation of the strengths and support of family love.

In other business, President Dwight Havens presented Bob Bonney with his two-sapphire Paul Harris Fellowship pin.

Supervisor's Report

 

While Cynthia Young was our speaker on Thursday, this photo is from the next day, Feb. 16, when she was sealing a purchase of development rights deal with Malta Avenue Extension resident Miles Cornthwaite. The deal was negotiated under Cynthia's predecessor as town supervisor, Mark Hammond. Cynthia and Miles (former chairman of the town Planning Board) are both longtime members of the Malta Sunrise Rotary Club, which she continues to serve as treasurer.

Cynthia talked about that and other issues coming up in her first several weeks as supervisor, including the forthcoming passive park on the former Mangino's property on Saratoga Lake (also a Hammond project), and new water districts. She said the town has applied for a grant to build a sidewalk on Route 9 in front of Malta Gardens, and that NYSERDA is trying to sell property it owns near GlobalFoundries for clean light industrial use. She also said Saratoga County is considering using the former State Farm property in Malta south of Route 67 and west of Northway Exit 12.

South African Perspective

 

The Rev. Andries Coetzee, interim pastor of the Presbyterian-United Church of Christ in Saratoga Springs, was our speaker on Thursday. 

He described living in South Africa as Nelson Mandela was freed from prison and the apartheid system of racial discrimination came to an end. He said it was a system of "white supremacy" and described himself as "a recovering racist," comparing the condition to that of an alcoholic in recovery.

In other business, the club voted to purchase two $100 bricks at the veterans monument near Town Hall to memorialize deceased members Al Schmidt and Earl Greenleaf, and to benefit the Malta Veterans Appreciation Program.

We voted last week to donate $100 to the Ballston Spa School District after-prom party.