eizzo@adirondackdailyenterprise.com It’s a local election year. Voters in many Essex County towns will elect town supervisors, clerks, councilors, highway superintendents and tax collectors this November. Two local towns, Jay and Keene, will have primaries in June, for both the Democratic and Republican parties. Independent candidates can circulate petitions to get on the ballot starting today. Independent candidates have until May 25 to file those petitions, according to the county Board of Elections. Independent candidates are common in this area, so the list of people running for office is likely to grow. The primary elections in Keene and Jay will be June 22.
aflynn@lakeplacidnews.com
LAKE PLACID Lake Placid Police Department officials are looking for the community’s input as they and a consulting firm draft police reform legislation for the village in time for a state-mandated spring deadline. People may submit questions, comments and suggestions to Olio Consulting Group, of Ballston Spa, by emailing olioconsultingny@gmail.com. Also, a limited-seating “listening session” was held Wednesday evening, Feb. 10, at the Lake Placid Conference Center. “There’s not a lot of speaking from our point of view,” Lake Placid Police Chief Bill Moore said Friday, Feb. 5. “It’s more that we’re listening.”
Hope for the Forum
Bravos to George Pensel for considering the Lake George Forum for an expansion of his boat-selling business, Boats by George. Boat sales were reportedly strong during the pandemic, as people who had tired of being cooped up indoors sought ways to recreate outside safely. Formerly a hockey rink and more recently a big, underused space, the Forum is an attractive venue in a great location. It seems ideal for a boat sales showroom. If Pensel buys it, he intends to sink a lot of money into renovations and to seek some tax breaks from the Warren-Washington Industrial Development Agency. Although we are sometimes skeptical of the need to give tax breaks to established, successful businesses, we see the value in helping Pensel bring to vibrant life what is now a frequently empty building in a prominent location leading into Lake George.
Associated Press ALBANY A white former police officer has been charged with falsely reporting a gunfight with a group of Black youths at his camp in the Adirondacks while he was off duty last summer, the Essex County District Attorney’s Office said Thursday. Sean McKown was arraigned last week on four misdemeanor charges, including falsely reporting an incident and illegally discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, District Attorney Kristy Sprague said in a news release. “The charges filed stem from allegedly false reports of an incident (which did not occur) that were allegedly made to 911 by Sean McKown,” Sprague said in a statement. “The discharging of the firearm charge was also allegedly shots fired within 500 feet of a dwelling by Sean McKown, with no specific dwelling or victim named.”
Dec 10, 2020 A former cop has been charged with filing a false police report and using his firearm after a confrontation with a group of Black kids in the Adirondacks this summer.
Officer and K-9 handler Sean McKown, with retiring K-9 Jeter, right, and Jeter s son and replacement Loky outside the Cohoes Police Station Wednesday Sept. 9, 2015 in Cohoes, NY. (John Carl D Annibale / Times Union)Sean T. McKown, who was still on the Cohoes police force at the time of the incident, was off-duty at his summer home in Elizabethtown. On the night of June 6, McKown called police to allegedly report that he had been shot at by a group of Black kids.