Archive: Around Town

New Roots Charter School celebrated its fourth graduation commencement Friday, June 26th at 6:30pm at the State Theater of Ithaca. Friends of New Roots attended and celebrated the Class of 2015. The program featured diverse musical performances showcased the New Roots Guitar Ensemble, the New Roots Steel Drum Band, reflections on New Roots education by graduating seniors, and a ceremonial "passing of the torch" to the Class of 2016.

The Class of 2015 is recognized for having initiated the school's International Humanitarian Law and Videography clubs, which have become credit-bearing elective courses.

84% of youth in Tompkins County feel safe in their neighborhoods.  86% feels safe at school.  83% participated in extracurricular activities, and felt they could ask their parents for help with a personal problem.  77.5% of Tompkins County youth, in grades 7 through 12,  responded to the latest Communities that Care® Youth Survey last fall, and a summary report of the results was recently released by the Community Coalition for Healthy Youth and the Tompkins County Youth Services Dept.

The survey is a combined effort of Community Coalition for Healthy Youth, TST BOCES, Alcohol & Drug Council, Tompkins County Youth Services Department, and Dryden, Groton, Ithaca, Lansing, Newfield, and Trumansburg School Districts and New Roots Charter School.  It is administered every other year, and organizers say that many schools have participated four times since 2008.  It That means that analysts can begin to see trends in youth opinions and behavior.  Kids answers are anonymous to make a higher probability that they will answer honestly.  That means that there is a higher probability of quantifying the bad news as well as the good.

by Rochelle Davis

Dear Visitor, hello! I'm Bobby Norbu - although a female - and I wound up here at the SPCA when my person had a new roommate move in who turned out to be allergic to me. Sniff. She reported correctly that I am friendly, and that I love to cuddle and meet people. I've always been an inside girl, and I appreciate a good window where I can sit and watch the interesting things that happen outside. I guess the only thing that might keep you from taking me home at once is that I'm not very fond of other felines. Perhaps I just want to be your One and Only. Can you picture us together?

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Dillon Davis-TiradoIthaca resident Dillon Davis-Tirado won first place in TCAT's selfie contest in celebration of the 10th Annual National Dump the Pump Day held Thurs., June 18.

The contest called for submittals from TCAT passengers taking photos of themselves "selfies" on a bus or near a TCAT bus. National Dump the Pump Day is sponsored by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) to encourage people to park their cars, and instead ride public transit or use other alternative transportation.

"The world's smartest people ride TCAT, along with their smartphones," said H. Roger Segelken, a charter member of TCAT's Citizens Advisory Committee, who came up with the idea for a "selfies" contest. The committee is a group of TCAT riders who provide input and suggestions to TCAT.

Dillon, who is entering his junior year at Wells College where he is studying creative writing and journalism, took a picture of himself, (shown below), in front of the oldest bus in TCAT's fleet (an Orion in service since 1991). His caption was: "With the classic TCAT!"

Rev. Dr. David A. Kaden will be Senior Minister of the First Congregational Church of Ithaca beginning in August, announced John Zollweg, president of the Church Council, after a unanimous vote at a special Congregational Meeting on June 28 calling him to the position.

He served as Associate Minister of the First Congregational Church from 2005-2009 before pursuing additional advanced studies.  In his candidacy sermon, Rev. Dr. Kaden shared that he has preached in many churches since 2009, but speaking from the pulpit at 309 Highland Road felt like "coming home".

Next Thursday starts another great lineup for the Music in the Park series.  This year seven bands are booked for the Thursday series in Myers Park, and two for the Friday series at the smaller venue at Ludlowville Park.

"Every year seems to be bigger than the year before it," Colt says.  "There is an awful lot of talent around here.  It's a very unique area for a lot of different genres of music. 

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Many volunteers descended on Salt Point to give it a spring face-lift. Cargill volunteers- John Alnutt, Darren Reeves, Rick Powers, John Galbraith, Steve Mosch, and Ron Butts- worked hard on Wednesday, June 17, finishing up the Knot Weed control project. They had a few hours to spare so they also weeded and mulched the trees in the picnic area and trimmed deer damaged branches from the cedars.

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The Rotary Club of Ithaca welcomed five individuals who have recently joined the service club. These community members volunteer in Tompkins County and bring professional experience from the business and not-for-profit sectors. Ithaca Rotary’s motto is “Service Above Self.” Membership is open to all who share in this belief; new members are accepted year-round.
 
“The Ithaca Rotary Club is delighted to welcome these individuals,” said Rotary Membership Chair Ron Provus. “Our members come from all walks of life and have a wide variety of interests to match those of Rotary. As members of Ithaca Rotary, individuals give of their time and skills to positively impact the needs of our community.”

by Rochelle Davis

Beautiful Celeste was surrendered to the shelter by her finder because Celeste could not get along with his first cat. Truth to tell, she would prefer to be the only feline in the home, so if you are looking to adopt a single, beautiful cat, by all means consider Miss Celeste. Her previous owner reports that Celeste loves to be with people, but is happy to be independent and entertain herself as well. He also says that Celeste loves to sit and look out a window, which makes us think that she would undoubtedly love a window that shows a bird feeder (in winter or all year) and/or a bird bath in summer. Come meet this beautiful girl today!

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Tompkins County Public Library, in partnership with Cornell University's New Student Reading Project, has announced the selection of "Slaughterhouse-Five," by Kurt Vonnegut, as the 2015 Community Read.

Published in 1969, "Slaughterhouse-Five" is recognized as Vonnegut's most popular book--blending science-fiction with historical facts, notably Vonnegut's own experience as a prisoner of war in Germany during the Allied firebombing of the city Dresden in early 1945.

Ithaca, New York – June 23, 2015 – Harper Lee, the bestselling author of the Pulitzer Prize winning classic, "To Kill a Mockingbird," has a new novel being released on July 14th called "Go Set a Watchman."  In celebration of this new release, the Barnes & Noble Ithaca, New York store will be hosting a "To Kill a Mockingbird" all day Read-a-Thon on Monday, July 13th starting at 9 am and ending at 9:00 pm.  This highly anticipated new book is a historic literary event as it is the earliest known work from Harper Lee.  It features many of the characters from "To Kill a Mockingbird" some twenty years later.