A Grandma Needs Your Help!

Rockin' At Witherbee's

Tonight (Thursday) it's open mic night at Witherbee's and on Friday, The Gregson Brothers will rock it old school style. Brothers Barry and Blair, both on guitar, started playing together in Schroon Lake back in the early 1970s.

“We used to do gigs at the old Leland House, where the Hudson Headwater Medical Center is today,” Barry told us. By day, Barry is a master furniture artisan, whose works are on display at the Adirondack's Rustics Gallery.

Barry says their early influences were the Beatles, Crosby, Stills and Nash, the Doobie Brothers and the Allman Brothers. So it’s no surprise that songs from those bands, “as well as a few originals and some from Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen” will make up their sets.

The band takes requests. “If we know ‘em, we’ll play ‘em,” Barry said. Jioning the Brothers for this gig are Dave Ochel on bass and Robert Lenue on drums.

Witherbee’s. Friday, June 24.  7:00 – 11:00 pm.

A Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On…

That shakin’ is not Elvis, but William --  and it's all about Shakespeare!

Following up on the success of their inaugural season, the Adirondack Shakespeare Company is again making Schroon Lake their headquarters for their Summer Festival Season.

The first Schroon Lake performance by Adk Shakes, as the company is known, is July 24 at the Boathouse, with many performances scheduled here and at other Adirondack locations  through August 7^.

This year’s Company consist of 13 actors and a stage manager, from as far away as New Zealand (via NYC), Alabama, California and Pennsylvania, Artistic Director Tara Bradway told Schroon Laker.

“It’s Shakespeare in the raw. We don’t do a lot of rehearsing. Everyone comes prepared. Without a director,  the performances are less about technical direction  or costumes and more about the actors’ performances,” Tara said.

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Breaking News: Schroon Lake School Budget Passes

We have just learned from a tipster that voters approved Schroon Lake Central’s revised budget by a vote of 188 to 133 Tuesday.

The first budget was overwhelmingly rejected in May by a vote of 269 to 190. The new budget was $89,000 more and included less staffing cuts and restoring some sports and after school activities.

The increase was offset by a $50,000 grant arranged by Sen. Betty Little (R-Queensbury) to restore positions that had been cut in the first budget. A Federal grant raised an additional  $29,000. The school also saved $10,000 by directly hiring a speech therapist instead of contracting through the state.

The amount to be raised by taxes in the revised plan and the defeated budget is the same: $5.86 million, an increase of 2.28 percent. 

Will Today's School Budget Vote Get an "A"?

We were heartened to learn the real reason why May’s Schroon Lake Central School’s budget was voted down. According to an exit poll, voters nixed the budget because of what it was lacking – not because it was excessive. From the Press Republican:

(In the) exit poll by community volunteers, many of those who voted against the budget said it wasn't because of any tax increase, but because popular staff members and programs had been trimmed.

So the School Board came up with $89,000 more in revenue and reinstated some of what was cut in the failed spending plan.

The new budget reflects less cuts and more teacher face and classroom time for students, as well as JV basketball and combined cheerleading and summer school transportation being reinstated.