I sent Joe Suhrada an e-mail today.  I didn't reference this link, but I did state that there was word out of a possibility of a branch of Uncle Sam's opening.  I asked him if it was a possibility.  I didn't get an answer yet, but I'm sure he'll get back to me.  For any of you up in the hills without cable, there was a nice little 3 minute or so commercial for Uncle Sam's on Capital News 9 this morning.  Don't know if it's on their website or not, but they did a little piece on the store.  

I was really just teasing about Uncle Sams.  I don't think he could sell enough chocolate to make it worth his while.  Don't get me wrong it would be a wonderful thing but I don't think it would be possible.  Thanks for planting the seed Kevin

http://timesunion.com/AspStori...../2008&TextPage=2
Marv Cermak

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Gibby's Restaurant, a 56-year-old Route 7 landmark, closed last Sunday for about a six-week vacation that will end on Feb. 4. The place is located on Quaker Street near the Schenectady and Schoharie county line.

Glen Glindmyer, owner, chief cook and bottle washer, has worked there for 40 years. Besides providing breakfast, lunch and dinner, Gibby's is also a popular meeting place for rural residents.

"We had a good year, but it's time for us to take a break,'' said Glindmyer, who also will undergo minor hand surgery during the vacation.

I believe that Gibby's closes each year for a period of 4 to 6 weeks beginning just before the
Christmas Holiday.  The food and service is great!  Fantastic baked goods - homemade pies, cakes, etc.
I look forward to their return in Feb.

I like their ham dinner! If you haven't gone, make sure you do since it is a great little place that much reminds us of better times gone by.

Gibby's is a landmark and has been for years and I've had many a good meal for a reasonable price there. If you leave there hungry it's your own fault.

You are correct Brad, they do close down every year for 4-6 weeks.  I have withdrawls every time they do.  The food is awesome.  Their hot beef and turkey sandwiches are the best I have ever had anywhere.

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DUANESBURG
Student study concludes landfill is fouling stream
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

    A smelly, orangish stream flows into the Normans Kill near the former Duanesburg landfill.
    “It’s really hard to miss,” remarked Corey Arndell, a senior from Duanesburg High School, pointing to a photo of the substance leaking from the creek bed’s rock.
    Arndell is among a group of 20 area high school students from the Schoharie River Center’s Environmental Study Team, which concluded the discharge is polluting the creek. After analyzing the water quality and types of life at several sites along the creek, the students believe the discharge is originating from Duanesburg’s decommissioned municipal landfill along Feuz Lane and Dump Road.
    The roughly 15-acre dump stopped accepting trash in 1991 and was capped the following year at a cost of $1.5 million, about half of which was funded through a state Department of Environmental Conservation grant. As part of the closure plan, contractors installed a system that was aimed at collecting leachate from the landfill in tanks, which were then supposed to be periodically pumped out by the town.
    In 2001, DEC officials discovered a pipe leading to the creek, which they claimed had been discharging leachate for about eight years. The contaminated water that was supposed to be collected in a catch basin had never been pumped out prior to the investigation.
    Town officials denied having any knowledge of the pipe and instead faulted the contractor — Kilby Brothers of Rensselaer County — that capped the landfill. At one point, DEC investigators paid an unannounced visit to Town Hall and removed about eight boxes of records pertaining to the landfill.
    But nothing ever came of the investigation and the town records were never returned, recalled Supervisor Rene Merrihew, who was on the Town Board when DEC investigated the matter in 2002. What she found even more perplexing was that a department official didn’t seem concerned about the mas- sive orange stain that appears to originate from the closed landfill.
    “He said the pipe wasn’t the cause of the stain,” she said. “He wasn’t concerned [about the orange discharge].”
    The students were first approached by a town resident, who claimed the contamination had been leaking for years into the creek. John McKeeby, the Schoharie River Center’s executive director, said the resident provided photo documentation that shows sludge leaking into the creek for more than 30 years.
    In September, the students visited four sites upstream and downstream from the suspected site of contamination. Each site was tested for water quality and analyzed for life forms such as insect larvae.
    While the upstream sites had bountiful amounts of life, the site studied nearest to the orange-colored discharge was marked by a general lack, indicating contamination, explained Ben McKeeby, a senior at Duanesburg High School.
    “If you find more leeches than stoneflies, you’re going to fi nd a problem with the water,” he said.
    Further analysis revealed higher counts of E. coli and coliform bacteria in the water near the discharge area, which commonly means sewage.
    The Normans Kill feeds the Watervliet Reservoir in Guilderland, which supplies thousands of Capital Region homes with drinking water. DEC officials did not return a call for comment Monday.
    The students presented their findings during the Hudson River Watch’s annual Clean Water Congress in November and won several awards for thier work. They intend to give a presentation on their work during the Town Board meeting Thursday, with a recomendation that the discharge be tested for heavy metals.
    “Our concern is that no one really knows what’s going into that creek,” John McKeeby said. “You have a dump that .............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00902

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Old Duanesburg landfill the culprit in creek contamination

    Re Jan. 6 article, “Student study concludes landfill is fouling stream”: As you walk downstream along the Normanskill Creek from below the Depot Road Bridge, it is easy to notice the beauty of the creek that surrounds you. The creek has numerous waterfalls and scenic overhangs along its banks. The water is clear, and occasionally a crayfish or minnows dart by your feet. But as you round a particularly picturesque bend in the creek, you glimpse a fl ow of bright orange seeping from the adjacent bank and turning the water into rust orange where it enters the creek.
    This is the scene where the Normanskill Creek runs along the old Duanesburg sanitary landfill. It has also become the new study site for the Schoharie River Center Environmental Study Team.
    The team began study of the site early in September. It chose four sites along the creek to study — two were upstream from the leachate, one was at the leachate and the fourth was located just downstream from the leachate. The results indicated that overall water quality decreased below the leachate site. This was concluded after studying the macroinvertebrate populations (insects living in the creek that make up the basis of the freshwater food chain), water chemistries and bacteriological data.
    According to the data, total coliform was highest just downstream from the leachate site. Testing parameters such as alkalinity, nitrates and conductivity were highest at the leachate site. The team also measured a decrease in macroinvertebrates downstream from the leachate site. Tests for heavy metals and other pollutants were not completed because the team lacked the expertise and equipment.
    These findings are significant because the Normanskill Creek is a primary water source for the Watervliet reservoir, which provides drinking water for Watervliet and Guilderland.
    This brings into concern what Duanesburg has been doing about the landfill since it was mandated to be closed in 1992. Leachate from the landfill is supposed to drain into a collection system and then be pumped out by the town; somewhere along this progression, something is missing and the leachate is draining into the Normanskill Creek.
    These findings could indicate a potential health risk to residents along the creek or those who receive their drinking water from the Watervliet Reservoir. This landfill was mandated to be closed and contained; this breach in protocol is not acceptable, especially because it places people’s health at risk. A solution of draining the discharge wells for the landfill was already put in place when the landfill was closed; all that’s needed now is for the town to take care of its part.

    BEN MCKEEBY
    Burtonville
The writer, a Duanesburg High School senior, was a member of the environmental study team.

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar04002

once again we see the repubs with no care for the kids and pollutting the water which can poison the elderly and other residents over there

The article does not reflect the $21,720 the town paid to Adirondack Environmental Services for quarterly testing and engineers for analysis.  We also spent approximately $3,000 pumping and hauling the leachate from the tanks.  We saved about $8,000 in cost over the previous year because we can haul it to our own sewer district treatment plants rather than to Albany or Amsterdam.  All the quarterly reporting and analysis is copied to DEC.  I'm sure we would have heard from them if there was a problem.  

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  All the quarterly reporting and analysis is copied to DEC.  I'm sure we would have heard from them if there was a problem.  

Hey, you guys/girls did you job. The rest should fall on the DEC. The DEC must be reps too, huh Sal?

All the above requirements were stipulated by DEC when it was closed in the 90"s.  The fact that we "did our job" does not make me feel any better if there is a problem with the creek water.  It is our (I mean all of us elected officials or not) moral duty to keep our streams clean.  I look forward to further discussion with DEC and we will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure the stream is clean.
That said, the study was done by testing four different sites from just west of the hamlet to a few feet past the landfill.  The first and second sites upstream from the landfill indicated ecoli and coliform.  Probably a result of failing septics.  DEC will more than likely be in touch with individual landowners if that is the case.  The town is of course responsible for the landfill area.  The orange stain they refer to I was told is iron and is not a source of pollution.  The kids tested on two seperate days, the first was clear sunny weather and the second was after a heavy rain event.  I wonder if that could make a difference.  Seems it would.  They also agreed they do not have the resources or knowledge to do any comprehensive testing.  This is a subject better left to the experts at DEC rather than high school kids and elected officials.  IMHO

Coliform in ground water is not uncommon in agricultural areas.  If found in a underground water source, it can be treated (i.e., killed) with chlorine.  Ecoli is a more significant concern.  The source is often failing septic systems.  

In areas with heavy soil (such as Duanesburg), raised bed (e.g., Wisconsin Mound) septic systems from which
the fluid discharge evaporates to the air rather than seeps into deep (sandy) soil are routinely required by
the health department.  The code that was in place years ago was not as demanding as that in effect today.

If the contamination is originating at private property owners failed septic systems, they should be required
to pay for the necessary repairs.  The mound system that was installed at my home cost ~$15K.

I agree with Rene that the determination of contamination and the identification of the source is best left
to those who have education and experience in the field.