Public rallies in support of Tupper Lake resort

Here's George Earl's report on yesterday's Adirondack Club & Resort public hearings:

The L.P. Quinn Elementary School cafeteria was packed Wednesday afternoon during public hearings over the proposed Adirondack Club & Resort project in Tupper Lake.

Dozens of community members, business owners, politicians and other leaders from throughout the Adirondacks spoke during the hearings. The overwhelming majority were in support of the Adirondack Club and Resort project proposed for the Big Tupper ski area.

Melissa McManus of the Tupper Lake Revitalization Committee asked the state Adirondack Park Agency to send a message that “appropriate development can happen here, that Adirondacks are still open for business and that there is in fact hope for Adirondack communities like Tupper Lake.”

Sheehan, Valesky do battle over Hornbeck

The battle to get Minerva boat-builder Peter Hornbeck seated on the Adirondack Park Agency Board of Commissioners has gone public in central New York as Democratic state Senator David Valesky and Adirondack Council spokesman John Sheehan are trading jabs in the region’s press.

On Monday, Sheehan blasted Valesky in his own district’s largest newspaper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, for his role in stalling Hornbeck’s appointment.

Sheehan noted that the Democrat’s lack of support for Hornbeck’s nomination is at-least partially the result of the complaints of a member of the minority opposition party, Republican Senator Betty Little.

“What is New York State Sen. David Valesky thinking? At the request of a minority-party senator who doesn’t even live in the Adirondack Park, he is opposing the governor’s latest nominee to the Adirondack Park Agency,” Sheehan writes.

And he didn’t hesitate to take a shot at Little either.