The Indian Lake Dam repair tour

                                             John Callaghan

John Callaghan, the Director of the Hudson River Black River Regulating District (HRBRRD) that operates and maintains many dams in Northern New York State, including the Adirondacks, was kind enough to arrange for the Indian Lake Association board members to see the ongoing repairs and maintenance that is underway on the 126-year-old Indian Lake dam. We were able to meet and talk to the engineers who are responsible for the repairs and modernization, creating a new concrete walkway along the top of the dam, filling and closing off all leaks in the dam's walls, and replacing the sluice gate and log gate so they can be opened and closed more efficiently. Director Callaghan and the engineers were very willing to answer all our questions and explain everything that we could see, and we left feling very confident that the job would be completed successfully, no matter what it will take. Check out the images of the tour in my photo gallery.

Donald Trump is driving me insane!!!

I can’t stand it any longer!!! Every time I see or hear Donald Trump spewing ridiculous lies about what he did and did not do, and about the horrible things he accuses the democrats and the President to have done, I immediately think of what little children on the playground would shout back when verbally abused with accusations and names like “doody-head” : “I know you are but what am I?” He is in fact actually guilty of, and responsible for everything he accuses his enemies of having done to the country and to himself. He has accused his accusers of:

1. Voter fraud
2. Worsening the federal deficit
3. Destroying democracy
4. Deserving of impeachment
5. Being too old to be re-elected
6. Rigging the 2020 election

Meanwhile, during his presidency he:

1. Promoted increasing fossil fuel production by opening huge areas of protected American wilderness to oil companies in the western US and Gulf of Mexico while also promoting the coal industry, using phrases like “beautiful clean coal”! And one of his idiotic campaign phraises is “Drill baby drill!!””
2. Downplayed the COVID pandemic and undermined the authority of medical experts like Dr Anthony Fauci
3. Supported the gun lobby and manufacturers and refused to make any effort to promote gun control legislation
4. He describes voters for his opponents as “liars, cheaters, frauds, crooks, perverts, and thugs, perverts and weirdos”

Many people laughed back in 2016 when, as Donald Trump was beginning his run for the presidency he stated, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay?” He promised to “drain the swamp” of political corruption. By 2024 he urged potential voters in Iowa during an arctic deep-freeze to “vote, even if you pass away from it”. Amazingly, the voters in Iowa voted for him overwhelmingly! It would be one thing if he was just a raunchy, obnoxious, redneck stand-up comedian, but it is entirely another for a potential republican United States President.

Since being voted out of office in 2020 he has further devolved from erstwhile President of The United States to a malevolent, self-absorbed, lying liar, who apparently has sold his soul to demons like Vladimir Putin, Kim Jung Un, and Adolf Hitler. Every effort that is made by legal authorities to punish him for his malevolent, self-serving assault on democracy is to him merely a “witch hunt” perpetrated by his enemies. He has become “the swamp”. The sad and scary thing is how many people in this country find his behavior acceptable, and are willing to vote for him again.

During the primaries, he insulted, ridiculed and berated his opponents, with especially disgusting comments about Nikki Hayley. She was the last opponent to stand up to him and point out his many weaknesses and character flaws. He is appealing to the segment of the US population that is understandably frustrated with the decay of our political system, especially his stooges in the US House of Representatives who have only one interest-to follow him likes mindless lemmings toward the brink of congressional collapse and a non-functioning democracy. He must be stopped.

Come visit me tomorrow at the Shirt Factory!

Tomorrow I will be at the Shirt Factory from 10AM to 5 PM to participate in the first annual Book Fair for local authors, sponsored by the Black Walnut Book Store on the main floor of the Shirt Factory on Lawrence and Copper Streets in downtown Glens Falls. I will be selling all four of my books an a couple DVDs of Seneca Ray Stoddard's travelogues. Be there!

I'm not giving up on the idea of convincing the state to install a hydroelectric powerplant in the Indian Lake dam!

The need for clean energy is getting more apparent every day, and the fact that our state has passed legislation for new clean energy projects with the CLCPA makes the decades-long efforts to install hydro generation turbine(s) in our beautiful dam seem to be a no-brainer. yet, within some branches of the state government, there is resistence, even within the Department of Environmental Conservation! It seems they are concerned that, since there are many dams in the Adirondacks that do not currently generate electricity, the communities that have a dam would all want generators in their dams. Many or most of them are too small or unstable to be candidates, but others would be theoretical candidates.

The Indian lake dam has been shown repeatedly to be an ideal dam for hydropower generation, especially since it is currently undergoing the most thorough and expensive restoration and reinforcement it has ever undergone in its 126-year history. By 2025 it should be able to undergo whatever work would be necessary to generate hydropower. What is needed is a grass roots campaign to push the state to use the CLCPA to allow for the day that our beautiful dam could provide electricity for much of Hamilton County, which historically suffers more power outages than any other county per capita. Hopefully the efforts of the Indian lake Association will result in reversing this attitude. Stay tuned!!

Status of the Indian Lake Association's quest for hydropower for the Indian Lake and Abanakee Lake dams

Yesterday's Indian Lake Association (ILA) summer meeting was a great success, thanks to the planning of ILA President Glenn VanNorstrand, whose idea it was to have the meeting in the morning with a catered breakfast, before members are lured into their boats and onto the lake for the day. We even hosted several members of the Lake Abanakee Residents Association, who were impressed with the meeting. Helen "Cookie" Glass, our newest board member, handled the census taking and guest admissions.

Thanks also to to John Callaghan, Chairman of the Hudson River Black River Regulating District (HRBRRD) for his excellent talk to the attendees! He was kind enough to address the 87 members of the Indian Lake Association and guest members of the Lake Abanakee Homeowners Association who attended the annual ILA summer picnic meeting. He eloquently and clearly described the nature of the upcoming repair and maintenance work on our dam which is scheduled to begin this fall, which will resume through the fall of 2024. He patiently answered every question and left the audience reassured that the job will be done with minimal impact on lake water levels. When completed, the dam will be much sturdier, easier to operate, and no longer leaky, and it will sport a kayak take-out/put-in path for paddlers looking to run the headwaters of the Indian River in the future.

John Callaghan addressing the crowd

In answering questions from the audience, he assured them that, although the RD is not looking to have a hydroelectric powerplant inserted in the soon-to-be-restored dam, the dam could definitely be adapted for that purpose in the future.

 

 The 87 attendees of the 2023 ILA breakfast meeting in Byron Park, Indian Lake

I am too stubborn to give up on the idea of bringing hydroelectric power to the Town of Indian Lake! Some people are starting to call me Dan Quixote, but I am not chasing windmills- I am chasing a hydroelectric generator!!

Stay tuned....