Facing Out: The Week’s Most Interesting News

October 28, 2023

The Corning Tower peaks through the clouds on a calm morning in Albany, N.Y.The Corning Tower peaks through the clouds on a calm morning in Albany, N.Y. John Bulmer

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

October may be the month of hauntings and ghost stories, but one member of our extended Behan Communications family has made paranormal investigating a full-time, year-round career.

Steve Brodt, son of Behan vice president John Brodt and his wife, Lisa, is the owner of Haunted Nights, a Glens Falls, N.Y.-based business that hosts public paranormal investigations at some of the best-known haunted locations across the country. Like the Rhode Island home made famous by the blockbuster move, The Conjuring; the sprawling and mysterious Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, Calif.; the former Indiana State Sanitorium; and, closer to home, Wilson Castle in Proctor, Vt.  Along with fellow investigator Dylan Stevens, Steve also produces and stars in the Haunted Nights video series on YouTube, where those of us skittish about investigating the unknown for real can experience it vicariously … and in broad daylight. Here’s a profile of Steve published by Shoutout DFW, a Los Angeles-based website dedicated to celebrating artists and small businesses. And if you’re in the mood to check out some haunted places yourself, USA Today has some suggestions.

MASTER CRAFTS: Cathy Zdunek was a competitive whitewater slalom racer with a problem — the boats on the market were no good, too heavy to maneuver through churning rapids. So she and her husband, Stan, built their own. Other competitors admired their work and a business, Slipstream Watercraft, was born in Broadalbin, a small upstate New York town where they and a small team of employees produce ultra-light canoes that are renowned for their smoothness and quality. Customers include five world champions and the New York State Rangers, who value their light weight and maneuverability. The Zduneks were away from the business for more than a decade, but now, though in their 70s, Stan Zdunek told North Country Public Radio they only plan to retire when they “can't walk or breathe.”

DEEP THOUGHTS: Lake George, N.Y., draws more than a million visitors a year, many attracted by its clear, refreshing water and the rugged, mountainous scenery that surrounds it. (Area business leaders are determined to keep it that way). Far fewer experience it the way journalist Mike Gormley has — from deep enough to mute the motorboats, drifting with curious fish and where, at night, the beam of a dive light “knifes through the darkest dark you’ll ever see. There’s just so much to experience.” Fortunately for the rest of us, Gormley is a gifted guide to this underwater world of shifting terrain and sunken vessels. “There’s a lot more to say about going under in the Adirondacks including the camaraderie of divers, the friendly questions from beach goers as you walk through them in a strange getup, that incredible view of autumn colors atop a sheer cliff you can only get to by water, and the spiritual touch of floating through a lively ecosystem, but without the blackflies and gaggle of tourists,” Gormley writes in Adirondack Explorer. “It all adds up to a little-known world of life and natural art, proving the beauty of the Adirondacks is far from skin deep.”

DUSTY BAKER began his life in baseball as a young teammate of Hank Aaron and ends it more than half a century later as a respected and successful elder statesman who, as a manager, led five different teams to the playoffs, capped by a 2022 World Series win as manager of the Houston Astros. He won two other pennants as a manager — one with Houston, one with the San Francisco Giants in 2002 — and one World Series as a player, with the 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers. He played 19 years in the major leagues, retiring with a .278 career batting average and 242 home runs. He announced his retirement from managing at 74, his 2,183 wins in the regular season the seventh-most in baseball history.

Photo of Middle Falls in Letchworth State Park in Genesee County, N.Y., south of Rochester.The fall colors are popping around Middle Falls in Letchworth State Park in Genesee County, N.Y., south of Rochester. Nancie Battaglia

WELCOMING VISITORS: Adirondack tourism was pummeled by the pandemic in 2020, but you’d never know it from the eye-popping numbers just published by New York State. Despite a 15% dip in 2020, tourism spending in the Adirondacks grew 141 percent between 2019 and 2022, which “highlights visitors’ continued preference for outdoor and rural vacation destinations.” As editor and seasoned observer Tony Hall pointed out in the Lake George Mirror, the state’s report found the Lake George region, which represents 39% of the Adirondacks’ tourism economy, generated $859 million in tourism spending in 2022 and the highest number of jobs – 8,174 – in the Adirondack Park. Speaking of tourism, Adirondack Architectural Heritage (AARCH) recently celebrated the winners of the AARCH Preservation Awards, which honor exemplary historic preservation work throughout the region.

ENJOY RESPONSIBLY: It’s not often that one has an opportunity to compete for a bottle of whisky worth more than $1 million, but here we are. Auction house Sotheby’s is offering a 96-year-old bottle of single malt from the distiller Macallan with an estimated sale price of up to $1.4 million U.S. Advance bidding begins on Nov. 1 and concludes Nov. 18, just in time for Thanksgiving. “The Macallan 1926 is the one whisky that every auctioneer wants to sell and every collector wants to own,” said Jonny Fowle, Sotheby’s global head of spirits, as reported by The Associated Press.

SCUTTLING SKITTLES: New York could follow California in outlawing several food additives that are found in popular brands, most prominently the rainbow candy Skittles. The ingredients Brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, red dye No. 3 and titanium dioxide — are linked to various cancers, chronic disease and mood disorders. The New York State proposal would give manufacturers five years to get the banned ingredients out of the recipes of products sold in the state or face fines.

GREAT FILMS IN PLACID: Forget for a bit the beautiful colors outside. Slip into a dark theater for this weekend’s Lake Placid Film Festival. Among the films to be screened is “I Write to be a Better Person,” a documentary about author Russell Banks, who happens also to have been a co-founder of the Film Festival. The Dennis Mueller documentary is still in progress, so audiences will be able to see an early cut. Also, “A Dreamer’s Search” depicts Rockwell Kent’s move from New York City to Alaska. Kent lived and worked in Jay and AuSable Forks.

A FESTIVE TIME: The 32nd Annual North Country Festival of Trees is returning to the historic Queensbury Hotel in Glens Falls, N.Y., November 24-27. The Festival benefits the Prospect Center, an affiliate of the Center of Disability Services, transforming the Queensbury into a holiday wonderland with beautifully adorned trees, wreaths, kissing balls, centerpieces, gingerbread houses, hats and other items, all available for purchase. Saturday and Sunday start with Breakfast with Santa.

01_Nuggets.jpgHIGH, NEIGHBOR: Reverie 73 NY has received a permit to operate what would be the first recreational use marijuana dispensary in Saratoga County, N.Y., where its neighbor would be a barbecue restaurant. The dispensary would replace a house on the lot, assuming the state issues a license, but the restaurant won’t immediately benefit from the proximity — consumption of the product on site will be prohibited.

BURNING TROUSERS: Congressman George Santos is back in the headlines this week, this time after claiming his 5-year-old niece was kidnapped from a New York City playground and held for 40 minutes by two Chinese men. Shockingly, the NYPD told The New York Times, “We found nothing at all to suggest it's true. I'd lean into, ‘he made it up.’ ”

SAYING GOODBYE: A few animals that had become public figures for one reason or another crossed the rainbow bridge this week. King Tut, a gentle giant of a horse who had helped control crowds for nearly two decades as part of the Saratoga Springs mounted unit, died after suffering from kidney failure, the Albany (N.Y.) Times Union reported. In Portugal, a guard dog named Bobi, nearly buried alive at birth, died at 31 years, 165 days of age, the longest-lived dog on record. His owner earlier told The Associated Press that Bobi’s secret to a long life was good food, fresh air and lots of love. Last but not least: Esther the Wonder Pig, who inspired children's books and had over 2 million devoted social media followers. Steve Jenkins and Derek Walter adopted Esther in 2012, not realizing their new four-pound pet would grow to over 600 pounds, too large for their small home. They moved to a 50-acre farm, where Esther got her own bedroom and a king-size mattress and where Jenkins and Walter started Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary to care for rescued chickens, cows, sheep, and donkeys. Esther's friendship with her fellow animal housemates, particularly pit bull mix Shelby, became a hit online. Her life inspired The True Adventures of Esther the Wonder PigEsther the Wonder Pig, and Happily Ever EstherEsther was 11.

02_Lives.jpgRICHARD ROUNDTREE turned a $500,000 movie into a $12-million box office force in 1971, helping save the studio, MGM, from bankruptcy and demonstrating, with his role as detective John Shaft, that there was an untapped audience for movies with Black actors in the lead. It set the tone for a decade of what became known as Blaxploitation filmmaking, a term Roundtree grappled with, telling The New York Times in 2019, “it gave a lot of people work. It gave a lot of people entrée into the business, including a lot of our present-day producers and directors. So, in the big picture, I view it as a positive.” Though best known as John Shaft, he worked regularly over a career that spanned a half-century. He died of pancreatic cancer at 81.

MARIE E. MARKOWITZ grew up in Brooklyn, the granddaughter of Italian immigrants, and used her gift for teaching to serve children in some of the most impoverished areas of the Dominican Republic and later Mexico. “With a Jewish name, a cross on her necklace, imperfect Spanish spoken with a slight Brooklyn accent and at times seen with a 600 lb sow in tow, Marie stood out as a bit of an enigma,” her family remembered in her obituary. When she returned to the United States, she went to law school at night and was admitted to the bar. She served the seriously ill and dying and domestic violence and rape victims, and in 2011, began working for children as an attorney in Warren County Family Court. Amazingly, she also was a competitive shooter and NRA Pistol Instructor, expert scuba diver, hiker, skier, biker, sailor, pilot, and HAM radio operator. And she found time to belong to a close-knit book club. A rare neurological condition ended her remarkable life of promoting family, diversity, human rights, and community service at 67.

ANTHONY HOLDEN, journalist and author, wrote well-received books about Shakespeare and Sir Laurence Olivier and articles about Brigitte Bardot and Rudolph Nureyev that earned a modicum of fame and fortune, but not until he wrote about the deteriorating relationship between Princess Diana and Prince Charles did he hit the royal jackpot of denunciation, vilification and infamy. Holden wrote in 1988 that the prince “no longer understands her — nor even, it seems, much likes her,” and that the princess seemed bored with him. The book was serialized in The Sunday Times of London and ignited a tabloid frenzy. He died of a brain tumor at 76.

03_Almost Final Words.jpg“That is absolutely disgusting and it’s sad. It’s sad that we sit here and watch this time after time after time and nobody does anything about it. It’s a sad day — it’s a sad day for our country. It’s a sad day in this world. And until we decide to do something, the powers that be, this is going to keep happening. And our kids aren’t going to be able to enjoy what the United States is about because we don’t know how to fix a problem that is right in front of us.”
—    Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown, opening his postgame comments Wednesday by discussing a mass shooting that left at least 18 people dead in Lewiston, Maine

04_signoff.jpgEMBRACING THE IMAGE: A group of Floridians is organizing the “Florida Man Games,” a contest that will feature such events as the Evading Arrest Obstacle Course, beer-belly wrestling and cash-grabbing in a wind booth and pokes fun at the state’s reputation for producing strange news stories involving guns, drugs, booze and reptiles — or some combination of the four.

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Principal Author: Bill Callen

Sincere thanks to our contributors: Ryan Moore, Leigh Hornbeck, John Brodt, Troy Burns, Kristy Miller, Mary Beth Behan, John Bulmer and Nancie Battaglia.

FACING OUT is what we do. We help companies, organizations and individuals work effectively with their most important external audiences – their customers, their shareholders, their communities, the government and the news media.  www.behancommunications.com

Facing Out features news and other nuggets that caught our eye, and that we thought might be of value to you, our friends and business associates. Some items are good news about our clients and friends, others are stories that we hope will leave you a bit more informed or entertained than you were five minutes ago. As always, we welcome your ideas and feedback. 

Let’s make it a conversationmark.behan@behancom.com

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