The Altamont Enterprise & Albany County Post

05/30/2026

Sculpture is as old as humankind. The three-dimensional art reflects people across time and cultures in all parts of the world.

T. E. Breitenbach and his wife, Debra Barnes Breitenbach, are launching a sculpture park this week. The seven-acre preserve is near the castle where they live.

Breitenbach built the castle with his own hands largely from materials he found on the land. His father, an architect, bought over 100 acres on the edge of the escarpment just above the village of Altamont and the family moved there from Queens when he was 10. Castle Breitenbach is situated on 30 acres his father gave him, making a similar gift to his brother.

The sculpture park, at 809 Township Road, will be open Sunday afternoons, June through August, from noon until 4 p.m. and also by appointment. Why should anyone come?

“Art is good for the soul,” said Breitenbach, “whether you look at it or make it yourself. It doesn’t have to be really good or anything — it’s still good for the soul.”

Read the editorial here: https://altamontenterprise.com/05282026/art-can-open-your-mind-and-add-color-your-life

05/23/2026

The Voorheesville Central School District and its teachers’ association recently agreed to a new three-year contract that increases pay 9 percent over the life of the agreement, triples paid parental leave, overhauls nurse compensation, and provides a clearer structure for benefits payouts.

Read more at https://altamontenterprise.com/05152026/voorheesville-teachers-sign-new-three-year-pact

05/22/2026

The Altamont Memorial Day parade’s grand marshal, Dr. Clair Russell Hesselton, waved to the crowd — he was paralyzed in 1972 during his fifth tour of duty in Vietnam and has been a steadfast advocate for veterans with disabilities.

Altamont residents paraded as members of the Van Aernam family. Patriot Jacob Van Aernum served as a captain during the Revolutionary war. He died in 1832 and is buried in a family plot on Brandle Road.

Albany County legislator Jeff Perlee, who chairs the county’s USA - 250 Commission, delivered a speech during the ceremonies on May 17 in Orsini Park. Read the speech at altamontenterprise.com/opinion

Voorheesville's Memorial Day parade will start down Maple Road at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 23, fireworks at 9:15 p.m.

The HIlltowns Community Memorial Day parade will start at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 25, from the Berne senior center to Berne-Knox-Westerlo.

Photos by Michael Koff

05/21/2026

The Voorheesville Planning Commission on May 5 approved a training facility for 28 South Main St. that will offer indoor batting cages, pitching lanes, both baseball and golf simulators, and plans for an outdoor turf field.

The plan for Links & Diamonds is to convert the approximately 6,200-square-foot single-story masonry warehouse on South Main Street into a membership-based athletic training center.

Read more: https://altamontenterprise.com/05072026/batting-cages-golf-simulator-okd-voorheesville-warehouse

05/20/2026

With 604 ballots cast, district residents in Voorheesville approved next year’s school budget by a 429- to-177 margin, or about 71 percent to 29 percent. Voters by a similar margin also approved the purchase of a 72-passenger diesel school bus, a 64-passenger electric bus, and a new Chevrolet Suburban.

The Voorheesville Public Library’s proposed $1.44 million budget for next year passed by an even larger margin, 463 votes to 143, or about 76.4 percent of ballots cast; running unopposed, Samantha Bailey was declared winner of the open three-year seat on the library board.

Incumbent school board member Argi O’Leary earned a third four-year term, receiving 475 votes.

With 604 ballots cast, Voorheesville School District residents approved next year’s budget by a 429- to-177 margin, or about 71 percent to 29 percent.

05/20/2026

Both the school and library budgets in Guilderland passed handily on May 19; neither was over the state-set levy limit, requiring only a simple majority to pass.

Pictured above: Intently watching election results are, from left, Guilderland School Board member Nina Kaplan, Superintendent Daniel Mayberry, and library Trustee Matthew Grunert.

It was the first Guilderland budget for Mayberry and the last library budget for Director Pete Petruski, who resigned abruptly this month after two years at the helm.

“We are grateful for the continued support of the Guilderland community and for its continued support of our students and staff,” Mayberry said in a statement. “Approval of this budget helps the district continue delivering valued programs and services for the year ahead. While financial challenges remain, we are committed to thoughtful planning, transparency and working together as we look to the future.”

Rather than making unpopular across-the-board cuts of 5 percent, the school district closed a gaping budget gap by taking $2 million from its savings.

The budget passed with 69 percent of the vote: 1,355 to 617. All tallies reported in this story are the unofficial results announced on Election Night.

The $133.9 million budget for next year is about $7 million more than this year’s spending plan, a 5.27-percent increase.

About $87 million will come from local property taxes, a 3.42-percent increase over this year. About two-thirds of the budget is covered by property taxes and most of the remaining third is covered by state aid. The state has run past its April 1 deadline for adopting a budget so Guilderland based its state-aid estimates on the governor’s proposal.

Voters also passed a bus proposition with 69 percent of the vote: 1,365 to 600.

The district will spend up to $1.7 million to buy five 65-passenger school buses, three 35-passenger buses, two 29-passenger wheelchair-equipped buses, a Chevy Tahoe, and a tractor.

05/20/2026

The Berne-Knox-Westerlo tax levy will increase 3.77 percent, which is the district’s levy limit so only a simple majority was needed for the budget to pass.

The tax levy will increase 3.77 percent, which is the district’s levy limit so only a simple majority was needed for the budget to pass.

05/12/2026

A chlorine leak Tuesday morning at the New Salem Water Treatment Plant in New Scotland forced workers to evacuate the building, sending one employee to the hospital as a precaution, but did not affect the public drinking water supply, the facility’s owner, the town of Bethlehem said in a statement.

On May 12, at about 10 a.m., according to a release from the town of Bethlehem, operators at the the New Salem Water Treatment Plant identified the leak coming from a 150-pound cylinder used in the chlorination step of the treatment process.

05/05/2026

A lawsuit filed against a Guilderland High School history teacher has taken a new turn because of an April 30 decision by the Appellate Division’s Third Judicial Department.

The parents of Riley Rohauer filed the suit against the Guilderland Central School District and teacher Jon Kauffmann on their daughter’s behalf in 2022, claiming Kauffman had hit Riley in 2019 when she was 15.

“Now I’ve taken away every excuse not to talk to me in mediation,” the Rohauers’ lawyer, Peter Scagnelli, told The Enterprise this week.

Read more at https://altamontenterprise.com/05052026/appellate-court-negligence-can-be-added-suit-against-gcsd

05/02/2026

Ten years after the town moved a historic barn across Route 85A to save it from demolition, the project faces a looming impasse: The exterior is finished, the money is gone, and fully half of the 7,200 square-foot building remains an unfinished shell sitting on bare ground with no heat, no plumbing, no electrical systems, and no floor.

Read more at https://altamontenterprise.com/04202026/public-funding-gone-hilton-barn-project-drags