CAYUGA COUNTY NEWS

Latest Cayuga County News, Events and Opinion

Cortland, NY -- It's harvest season for the Cortland Drug Task Force.

On Wednesday, members of the task force, along with members of the Chenango County Sheriff's Department, located about 140 marijuana plants growing in Cincinnatus, Willet and Cuyler in Cortland County. Marijuana plants were also located in the Chenango County town of Pitcher.

The investigation is continuing, and arrests are expected.

The task force is composed of the Cortland County Sheriff's Department, Cortland City Police Department, SUNY Cortland Police Department and the New York State Police.

Seneca Falls, NY -- Seneca County sheriff's investigators arrested a Fayette man on Wednesday, charging him with raping a 16-year-old female from Ohio he met over the Internet.

Ray D. Keefer, 50, of 3529 Route 89, was charged with rape and being a fugitive from justice. He was arraigned in Seneca Falls Town Court, where bail was set at $50,000 cash or $100,000 bond.

Keefer is being held at the county jail in Romulus.

Seneca County investigators said Keefer was arrested on a warrant issued in Westerville, Ohio, for interference of custody. Keefer had driven to the central Ohio city, just north of Columbus, to visit a teenager he had met on the Internet, investigators said, and returned to New York with her.

The teen had left home without permission and was deemed a runaway, investigators said. Keefer and the girl had sexual relations at Keefer's home on three separate occasions, police said.

Keefer is to reappear at a later date for further court action. The teen is being held as a runaway at the Hopewell Detention Center, in Canandaigua.

Both will appear in an Ohio court to answer charges there.

Debra J. GroomLeslie Bergenstock, 5, of Fleming, finishes off her vanilla ice cream during kindergarten orientation Wednesday morning at Cayuga Elementary School. In front of her are the cardboard school buses that contained school supplies for the children

Cayuga, NY -- Fifty-three kindergartners who will enter school Sept. 3 got a sneak peek at their new school during orientation Wednesday.

They got the chance to see their classrooms, meet their teachers, ride on the school bus with their parents, learn bus safety, go through the lunch line to get some ice cream and play some games, color and do puzzles.

Superintendent Linda Rice was on hand to greet the pupils, as was new Cayuga Elementary principal Sheila LaDouce.

"The students enjoy this and so do the parents," Rice said. "Many of the parents tell us 'I haven't ridden on a bus in years.' And it's so important for us to welcome our little ones."

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Auburn Memorial HospitalDr. Patricia Taylor

Dr. Elisabeth Mashinic comes to Auburn from private practice in Ithaca, where she conducted contract work for the Schuyler County Mental Health Clinic in Watkins Glen and the Seneca View Skilled Nursing Facility in Montour Falls.

Dr. Stanley Poreba was interim medical director at the Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake prior to coming to Auburn, and Dr. Patricia Taylor was the staff psychiatrist at Orange Regional Medical Center in Goshen

Union Springs, NY -- The project to refurbish the Old Stone Schoolhouse in Union Springs has been approved by the state Education Department, Superintendent Linda Rice said Wednesday.

Approval came Tuesday. Rice said now the district can go out for bids on the work.

She said she now will meet with Glenn Woodbury, department manager with C&S Companies, of Salina, the design and engineering firm on this project, and others to "set up the the budget and meeting strategy" for the project. Then we can go out for bid."

Voters in the Union Springs school district overwhelmingly approved the project in a 281-37 vote Dec. 11. The district will spend no more than $300,000 to renovate the 1853 building.

The building, which at one time was the one-room schoolhouse for children in Union Springs, will be made into a media center and classroom and production space for the video production class at the high school. The building also could be used as ameeting room for school functions or for the community.

The building, which sits prominently on the front of the school campus on Route 90, hasn't been used for about 25 years, and it has been deemed a safety and fire hazard. If voters had not approved the renovation, the district would have had to tear down the building or renovate it for storage. It was used as classroom space until about 1980 and then as storage.

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Auburn police are asking the public to help identify a man suspected of passing counterfeit bills on Saturday at the P&C supermarket on Genesee Street.

The suspect entered the store shortly before 11 p.m. and purchased items using a counterfeit bill. The suspect was given real money back as change from the cashier.

The suspect then purchased additional items and paid for those additional items with another counterfeit bill and again was given real money back as change.

The counterfeit money was discovered by a store manager during the nightly money audit.

The suspect is described as a male, age 20 to 25 years old, wearing blue jeans, a white baseball cap with a possible letter "A" on the cap and a green and white striped shirt.

Anyone with information on the identity of the subject is asked to call lead investigator, Det. Kyle Platt, at 255-4702 or the Auburn Police Department desk at 253-3235. Calls can remain anonymous.

Auburn, NY -- Welcome to Wednesday.

Here's the news from today's Post-Standard:

Auburn city officials are having a meeting today to discuss mapping the city's immediate and long-term future. Also in city news, longtime city secretary Jane Westlake is retiring Friday.

The Auburn school board voted Tuesday to return all the donations people made to pay for the local share of the synthetic turf that was proposed for Holland Stadium. And, Kate O'Connell was named to head the county's mental health services.

Also, check out my report from the New York State Fair for Tuesday -- which was Beef Day. If you want to see some photos from Beef Day and read some more about my beef adventures, go to my farm blog at www.blog.syracuse.com/farms

Today in history: The second debate between senatorial candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas took place today in 1858 in Freeport, Ill.; President Lyndon Johnson was born 100 years ago today near Stockwell, Texas; British war hero Lord Louis Mountbatten and three other people, including his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas, were killed today in 1979 off the coast of Ireland in a boat explosion claimed by the Irish Republican Army; and one year ago today, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced his resignation after a controversy over the firings of nine U.S. attorneys and Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said in a statement he was not involved in any inappropriate conduct when he was arrested at the Minneapolis airport.

One final note, this will be the last day I will do this page for all of you in Cayuga County. I am being transferred to our office in Oswego County as of next week. I have thoroughly enjoyed doing this for all of you and I hope it has made it easier to find our stories on line.

Have a great Wednesday.

Auburn, NY -- The Auburn school board voted Tuesday night to return all the donations made to the district to help pay for the installation of synthetic turf at Holland Stadium.

The district had raised about $150,000 to pay for the local share of the synthetic turf installation, which was supposed to be part of a $15.68 million capital construction project in the district.

The board directed business administrator Marianne O'Connor to write checks to return the money along with thank-you notes for everyone who donated.

Plans for the capital project and a vote to approve the project were put on hold after the regular 2008-09 school budget was defeated twice.

The school board's long-range planning committee said at its recent meeting that the turf issue is dead for now. The district still may need to do a construction project to address other issues that were in the proposed project dealing with safety and health of students.

The committee directed the district's architect, clerk of the works and Superintendent Joseph D. Pabis go through the proposed capital project and figure out what in it has to be done. Pabis said the work will take a few weeks.

Board member and vice president Salvatore "Sam" Giangreco said a capital project won't be put before voters during this 2008-09 school year.