Woerner's World

 

Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner spoke at our meeting Thursday (while Larry Levine, Cynthia Young, Paul Phillips and the rest of us listened, sometimes engaging in give and take).

As usual, Carrie went on talking for those who stayed after the meeting ended, displaying her customary expertise about the workings of the state Capitol. This time was mostly analysis of the budget passed last month. On education spending, for example, the governor wanted to eliminate the "hold harmless" provision protecting some districts' aid, but the Legislature kept it.

Most of the talk and discussion was about health care and its knotty problems, including very high malpractice costs for doctors, and a lack or workers at all levels of the health care system.

250 Years Later

 

Sean Kelleher, right, in friendly discussion with fellow historian Paul Perreault at this morning's meeting. Kelleher, the longtime Town of Saratoga historian, is a member of the board of the Saratoga County History Center at Brookside Museum in Ballston Spa, and also serves on the county's 250th commission marking the anniversary of the Battles of Saratoga.

The 250th anniversary of the 1777 battles (fought three weeks apart) won't be for another three years, but the commission is marking other events in the meantime. Late next year, for example, will mark the 250th anniversary of Col. Henry Knox's midwinter trek hauling cannons from Ticonderoga to Boston, which helped drive the British out of that city. It will be marked by events in upstate New York through Massachusetts.

The commission has also been focusing on the role of women in war, including Lady Harriet Acland, wife of a wounded and captured British officer in the Saratoga campaign, who displayed extraordinary courage and devotion.