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TUESDAY, NQV!:MB£!*21,1995 FHANKLIN CLINTON •MIX PAGE 13 PRESS-REPUBLICAN By USA FORREST StaffWriter Sora-Placid Bureau LAKE PLACID - There was a difference between the Colden cottage fire and other cases of ar- son — people could have died. Leslie Moccia was home with her husband and three children about 10:25 p.m. when she spot- ted flames heading in their direc- tion along a carpet of dried pine needles. She immediately called the Lake Placid Fire Department, whose members battled the blaze into 'the early morning hours be- fore it was under control. \We all could have been killed. Suppose it had been an hour later, when we were asleep? I don't even like to think about it. \It was incredible. We couldn't breathe. A tree 10 feet from our door caught.\ She said smoke and embers blew into their house when they opened the door. Soon the fire leapt to the other side of the house, catching bushes along a clubhouse path on fire. Not until Oct. 28, did people living in any of the leased cot- tages or their homes at the old Lake Placid Club feel threatened by arson. Three large fires — at Theanoguen,\ the main club building, and the Mount Whitney ski lodge — and many small ones occurred in the vacant buildings. When the arsonist struck* there was no danger to human life because the fires were not near occupied homes. But Colden cottage was not a vacant condo left by its seasonal occupants, and it did not stand off by itself. A stiff wind that turned a small fire into a major blaze threatened neighboring build- ings, and the Moccia family could have lost its home. Moccia is most concerned about another cottage which lies between Colden and her home. It LAKE PLACID CLUB FIRES Here's a chronology of unsolved fires and arson attempts on or near the Lake Placid Club property Oet It, Iff 1: A small fire contained to an entrance hall in the east wing of the hotel, discovered at about 1130 a m Oat. M, 1991: An unidentified cottage was found doused with gasoline Oct 11, 1991: Police chased a person dressed in dark clothing through the prop- with gasoline ' i ^ Nov. 5, 1991; t&e^ogttett iMge, the second-largest structure oa the property, destroyed by a noontime lire. H*v. 5^1991? Neoga ^cottage was found doused wjith gasoline. May & %Wts A^ minor, noontime, gaso- hne«fueled Ire was extinguished on the froi^ staiW/ofOB.sUtattts, a cottage that ha* b<*n subdivided from the take Placid ciuh.j * >; Nl .;^ tion, ; ,$, itss* id|a s tsi ovmed modern co ;^^ at wasi AligC^199Jfc Al ».itt> fire in an interior wa\l of the hotel-was contained to minor driftage,* Oet. i. \mil k fciajor; fire hits the 500- room hotel, leading to its partial demoli- pro^p|y. ; ,Y; :;ii ,;:, AsmaU fire is discovered Fi*»j a former cltifr can- y socialite Marylou Whitney. |»|9j, 19?5J Fire destroys the'pdreh of Larches cottage. May *9, 199$: The club's Mount Whitney Ski Lodge is destroyed by fire. Oet. 20, 1995: Colden cottage destroyed by fire. survived the Oct. 28 fire, but only through the efforts of firefighters. It has been vacant for years and is one of biggest of the old multi-storied structures in the area. She is afraid the building, mostly used for storage, will be a target for arson. \We see people next door dump stuff. There's people and dogs going in and out of there all the time. Trucks pull up, carpets get unloaded. It's so dry. There's old mattresses in there. I don't see why the fire department doesn't condemn it.\ The Moccias put their concerns Fritz, the smartest schnauzer in Moriah' ' Staff Photo/Lohr McKinstry Fritz the Dog sits at his card table in Frank Moynihan's Moriah Corners barbershop. The little schnauzer also counts to 10 and can dance. Canine whiz kid wows town ByLOHRMcKINSTRY StaffWfjter Soulham Esum Bureau MORIAH — He plays cards, counts to 10 and drinks from a frosty mug. He also wags his tail. \Fritz the smartest schnauzer in Moriah,\ is what his master, West Road barber Frank Moynihan, calls him. When a visitor arrived, Fritz ran around the chair in Moynihan's barbershop. He danced on his rear legs. A little bark escaped his mouth. \That's good, Fritz,\ Moynihan said. He gave Fritz a dog biscuit. The little black-and-gray schnauzer jumped up on his chair in front of the tele- vision, which was showing a sports chan- nel. A hand of cards had been dealt for him on a small card table. His paws deftly mov- ed the cards around. \He plays solitaire,\ Moynihan said. \He'll paw the cards over, but he may not know what he's doing. If he played poker, though, I'd play with him.\ He held out another biscuit for Fritz and began counting up from one. The little dog looked at the biscuit, but didn't move. When Moynihan reached 10, his jaws shot forward and tiny teeth gripped the treat. It disappeared into Fritz's mouth. \He doesn't take it until 10,\ Moynihan explained. \He's very talented. I work with him half an hour a day. \He caught onto some tricks, like danc- ing, in about 10 minutes.\ Fritz came from Cindy Brown's kennel in Lake Luzerne. \She raises German schnauzers,\ Moynihan said. \My wife's German, and she wanted one. They're bred more often in England,-now.\ Wearing a Las Vegas baseball cap, Fritz shook hands with Moynihan. \His groomer, Lin Scuderi, claims he can understand you,\ Moynihan said. \I don't know if he can, but he certainly is tal- ented.\ \Fritz is a famous dog,\ Moriah resident Catherine LaFountain said. \People go to Frank's barbershop just to see Fritz.\ \Every customer wants to see him do his tricks,\ Moynihan said. \Fritz gets a lot of biscuits that way.\ He said Fritz goes shopping and walking with him and his wife and has more than 100 toys. He loves to play ball and some- times seems to be daydreaming. Fritz also watches TV. \He likes sports,\ Moynihan said. \He likes beer, but he doesn't drink that much. Just a little saucer. He can hold it, but he gets a little frisky.\ Moynihan notes there's one other thing the little dog does well. \He can eat,\ he said. \He can sure do that.\ Shed fire called 'a good save' By SUSAN TOBIAS Contributing Writer MOOERS — Firefighters sav- ed a brick home owned by Ed : ward Pracher on North Star Road Monday afternoon after fire erupted in an attached shed. Located across from the Clin- ton County Landfill Convenience Station, the house was built in the early 1900s, with the addi- tion added about 20 years ago- The fire started with an elec- trical heater, said Christopher Bulriss, second assistant chief of Mooers Fire Department. \The owner was in the house at the time of the fire and was tipped off something was wrong when the circuit breaker went off,\ he said. \It's a good thing he investigated it because we were able to make a good save.\ Bulriss said the fire call came in at 3:19 p.m., and fire was showing at the peak when they arrived. Fire officials figure about $10,000 worth of damage was done because of the loss of prin- ting equipment stored in the sh- ed. \I don't know that much about printing, but someone at the scene said it looked like a pretty old machine,\ said Bulriss, Mooers stations 1 and 2 were at the fire, with mutual aid pro- vided by Altona, Hemmingford and Rescue Hose 5. Champlain Fire Department stood by at Sta- tion L_ Mark Bechard, deputy coordinator fpr Clinton County, •was also ajttheifire> : ! 'Muiuaji 1 aidhelped a lot for us,\ said Bulriss. \We really ap- preciate them all.\ Pracher was not able to be reached for comment, Lost hunters get happy ending ALBANY (AP) — Four hunters lost at night in the Adiron- dacks were found in stable condition and didn't suffer hypothermia or frostbite, the Times Union of Albany reported. Two separate rescue crews began searching about 10 p.m. Saturday on West Mountain in Warren County and Black Mountain in Washington County, both about 50 miles north of Albany. Raymond J. Sheerer, 19, and his friend Michael Corlew, 17, both of Queensbury, were missing near West Mountain, police said. \Evidently they got turned around in there and didn't have any flashlights. They couldn't get out when it got dark,\ said Ranger Werner Schwab. Rangers located the teens around 2:30 a.m. by firing a sidearm and following the direction of a shot heard in return, police said. Rangers along with members of local fire departments and volunteers, then took off to meet another rescue crew looking for Robert Shaw of Wilton and his step-son, Jay Hughes, 30, on - Black Mountain, about 25 miles away. Ranger Steven Ovitt said the mountainous weather can be deceiving. \It's nice in the morning and people go in farther than they would if it's nasty. Then it gets stormy and da%k*quicker than people are used to,\ he said. on record through their attorney and wish the property could be deemed exempt from historic designation. The designation prevents the structure from be- ing torn down. Moccia said the State Police visited her and asked questions, but nothing has happened since. She is afraid to leave her children home alone and is con- stantly on guard. There are some police patrols, but her fear of another fire threatening her home and family lingers. \We could have all perished, and that building still sits here.\ Recycling fever hits Malone pair Tons of paper saved from dump By DEE BROWN Staff Writer Malon* Burtau MALONE - Bengt Ohman tugged on his fashionable green fleece jacket. \This is made of recycled plastic.\ Nancy Reich said she bought a scarf made of the same material, recycled plastic. Somehow that wasn't surpris- ing. Ohman and Reich are both concerned about the environ- ment, and both are involved in recycling. Joint effort Ohman is chairman of Rotary's Environmental Committee, and, Nancy, director of Franklin County Community Action Agen- cy, is also a Rotarian par- ticipating in the recycling effort. They have combined the resources of their two organiza- tions and, since March 1991, tons of paper have been recycled. \I was up over 480 tons when I stopped counting in May, that we had collected,\ Ohman said. And add to that the 300,000 pounds that has been collected since May. Money used for community The paper is sold for recycling, with the profits shared equally by both organizations. \Any revenues that we get go back into the.community. That is the key to everything for the public. Here, e.very penny goes back into the community,\ Ohman said. Reich said some of the money has allowed them to contribute turkeys for the free dinners of- fered on Thanksgiving. \So the money that we get from selling the newspaper goes back into the community. For Community Action, we'll con- tribute to buy the turkeys, and we'll do that in Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake as well, depen- ding on what the need is.\ Special needs Rotary gives help to organiza- tions, while Community Action's focus is on low-income individu- als. The funds help the agency assist individuals or families who have a special need that can't be met through other social pro- grams. Reich gave an example: A woman lost her glasses in an ac- cident and didn't have the $250 for a hew pair. The agency, Rotary and other groups kicked in and were able to help her. Rotary's\ share goes to help Literacy Volunteers, Lifeflight, DARE Program and scholar- ships. Other programs helped are exchange students and general requests for support. Rotations and Community Action volunteers will be col- lecting Saturday, Nov. 25, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., in the Seaway Plaza on Finney Boulevard, People can bring newspa- per, glossies, inserts, office paper arid junk mail. They should be put in separate brown bags and not tied. Telephone books and cata- logs can be taken, as well as corrugated cardboard, con- tainers such as cereal and beverage boxes. At the collection at the end of December, they will be accepting gift wrapping in addition to the regular items. Help The recycling effort goes beyond just the two organiza- tions. Reich and Ohman both agree they are not doing this alone. \It's amazing when you start looking at all of the pieces and all of the folks who have helped out,\ Reich said. \When we needed something, people were willing to help out. Every single person who drives up and has the patience to wait for us to unload on a Saturday morning — I mean those people really need to be thanked because without them, obviously, we wouldn't be successful,\ she said. Ohman said that between 850 to 950 cars are counted at each collection on the last Saturday of the month. On average, 22 tons are collected, and people even come from St. Lawrence County. Holding for better price Joe Poissant has let them use a storage facility for the paper. This is important because the price of recycled paper is down, and they are waiting for the price to go up before they sell more. John McCarthy, Community Action Recycling coordinator, said the prices have dropped drastically. In August, newsprint earned $75 a ton. Now it's down to an average of $35 a ton for all the paper they collect. Books donated In an unexpected turn of events, the groups learned there were hardcover books that a library and schools wanted to give them. Instead of having them shred- ded, Ohman said, they turned them over to a Rotary Club near Ottawa, which shipped them to the Jamaica and the Philippines to help children learn to read. More than 1,000 pounds of books were sent. Ohman said the goal is to keep the paper out of the landfill. REGIONAL ROUNDUP St. Lawrence University picks new president CANTON — Daniel Sullivan, president of Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, has been named president of St. Lawrence University, college officials announced Monday. Sullivan will replace Patti McGill Peterson, who has resigned effec- tive June 30, 1996. Sullivan, a 1965 St. Lawrence graduate, has been president of Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., and a sociology professor there since 1986. Before that, he was assistant professor of sociology and senior research associate at Cornell University.
