The Whitehall Times will again be joining with the high school journalism class to bring you From the Railroader Staff, a bi-weekly look at what the school writers are talking about and a chance to give everyone a different voice other than my own.

There are a number of students who will be taking part in this, and I thank them all in advance for what they will have in the paper.

Posted by Keith Lobdell at 05:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It was the uprising that wasn't.

There were a lot of people who attended the special meeting of the Whitehall village board on Wednesday, thinking that they were going to shaft now Sgt. Richard LaChapelle in salary. Instead, the board did exaclty what they had to do and will pay the Sgt. $17.50 an hour.

One thing that stuck out to me was an exchange between Don Hart and the other members. When Hart asked why the previous Sgt. was paid so much in 2005, the question got thrown back in his face since he was the one that seconded the motion to pay $17.50 then. Hart, to his, credit, later stepped up and admitted that, in hindsight, he did not know what he was voting on then.

 Also, trustee Walt Sandford made a point that there needs to be more communication in the village. He feels that not everyone gets all of the informaiton that they need in a timely manner. Whether or not it is true, everyone on that board should make sure that they are as up-to-date as possible on everything that is going down of importance in the village.

Posted by Keith Lobdell at 05:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last night I went to get a picture of the Hampton Volunteer Fire Department, and asked Don Sady if he was going to run for the position of town supervisor. He said that he was, deciding that he could either stay as the deputy or start doing the job himself.

Sady has been the deputy supervisor since I got here and is now the acting town supervisor. He joins the race with Bill Gage, who was looking for the Democratic nomination. Gage said if he did not receive it, then he would conduct a write-in campaign.

Posted by Keith Lobdell at 01:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I went to the cross country meet and soccer game yesterday and saw some good events.

At the cross country meet, I was on the back side of the golf course taking pictures and it looked like a North Warren kid was going to catch up with Curt Thompson on the uphill. That was not the case though, and by the time I got back down to the clubhouse Curt had a solid lead and was able to cruise to the finish line in first place.

The First four runners had storng top 10 finishes, but the North Warren team had the depth needed to pull out a pretty close win.

At soccer, the 4-1 score was a little misleading because the Railroaders controled the tempo of the game throughout. The lone goal came when, as I'm told, Katie Paddock did her best sweep the leg technique on a Hadley-Luzerne player, giving the oppositon a penalty kick which they hit.

Offensively, Brittany St. Clair has scored four of the team's seven goals, with Shelby Cuomo scoring two and Mary Foote tallying the other goal. Cuomo leads the team in assists with two.

Next up for me sports wise will be the football game Saturday. See you there.

Posted by Keith Lobdell at 01:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I lost track of my weekend, so here we are after the village board meeting talking football (a welcome relief).

It was a 32-0 blanking of the Railroaders in Salem Saturday under the clouds and between the raindrops.

The team had its chances in the first half, but the whistle was against them. I can't make any statement about the holding call that denied Kevin McDonald the first score of the season, but the illegal forward pass call was a joke. Almost as bad as getting called for throwing the ball in the air on the game tying touchdown (My college team won because of that, but it was still a bad call).

The second half...not so much. The secondary was exposed, and the post game meeting had one theme - get in better shape. It didn't help that the Salem defnders were confusing Tommy Pollinger for a pinata, leading to the team calling on backup Brice Cook. Pollinger took three very hard hits in the game. That could not have been a fun Sunday morning.

This week the team plays Bishop Gibbons. Here's for better weather and an understanding of what is and isn't a backwards pass.

Posted by Keith Lobdell at 04:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The village board meeting is over, and Whitehall will have a new police chief on Sept. 22 in Matthew Dickinson.

The meeting started with a standing room only crowd at the beginning of the meeting, but most lost steam as the board went into executive sesison somewhere around 8 p.m. Basically, only the main players (and yours truly) stayed through the session, which was followed by the vote and appointment.

After the vote was when the fireworks started. There was plenty of stuff being thrown out and yelled and accussed. However, what it really boiled down to was six months of frustration and tension between a group of people finally coming to a head.

There was a lot of loud talk, but no action (fortunately, which would have been kinda ironic since they were talking about the police department).

Everyone had valid points as to why they did or did not vote to appoint, but now is when the old politcal statement of getting behind the nominee should come into effect.

Posted by Keith Lobdell at 03:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Whitehall girls soccer team got off to a 1-0-0 start with a very impressive 2-0 win over Hudson Falls tonight.

Shelby Cuomo got the scoring started late in the first half when she got the rebound off a shot from Paige Mason, and Cuomo set-up the second goal when she dribbled in to about 5-yards out and sent a perfect cross to Brittany St. Clair, who connected from short range.

On both goals, the midfielders started the play by gaining control of 50/50 balls. St. Clair started the momentum on the first goal, and Mary Foote got control of the ball and started the second goal scoring play in motion by finidng Shelby.

The team also answered the goalie question with a strong performance from Brittany Sheldrick, who stopped a penalty kick two minutes into the second half and made another sprawled out save later in the half.

While the seniors did what seniors do, the duo on the left side of sophomores Brianna Cook and Paige Mason showed a lot of promise. Cook showed that she can control the ball in the midfield, and Mason could turn out to be the top offensive threat of the future for the Railroaders.

Overall though, the game ball would go to Sheldrick. The teammates I talked to said that she gave the whole team a boost of confidence with her performance in goal. They'll need it against a tough team in Greenwich Friday. This is a tough non-league schedule, and even if there are a few set-backs, this schedule will get them ready for the sectionals.

The next soccer game I will be at is next Friday against Glens Falls. Good luck on Friday.

The next overall gameday for me will be in Salem for the football season opener. I'll write when I get home.

Posted by Keith Lobdell at 01:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Whitehall 2008-09 athletic campaigns officially kicked off with the golf team hosting Hadley-Luxerne at the Skene Valley CC last night.

Hillary Fenton halfed her nine-hole match against Josh Densimore, and picked up the only 1/2 point for the railroaders. The squad was made up of five new golfers than the team that won he Adirondack League Eastern Division title last season.

The golf team will be traveling to Fort Edward today for a 4:15 p.m. start. This is different from the original schedule beacuse there was a conflict with a golf tournament that is being held at Skene.

Also today, the girls soccer team "kicks" off its 2008 season against Hudson Falls at 4:15 p.m. on the elementary field. The girls team has a very tough non-league schedule, which should prepare them well for another deep run into the Section II tourney. It starts tonight. I will be at the game and have a recap tomorrow morning.

Posted by Keith Lobdell at 05:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sorry about the time away from my blog - there were reports that it was down and some other things, but I am back and just in time for the sports seasons to begin and the first day of school.

For the most part, things went pretty smoothly as kids got their schedules and made it to their classrooms on the first day of school in the elementary and high schools. Everyone seems excited for the new year to start.

If anyone knows of anything that is going on in the classroom that is newsworthy, drop me a line and we'll try to get it in the paper.

Posted by Keith Lobdell at 05:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)