Facing Out: The Week’s Most Interesting News

July 13, 2024

People across the U.S. sought refuge from sizzling temperatures this week; it’s hard to beat this option. Nancie Battaglia

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

The beautiful lakes and mountains in the Adirondack region of New York have long been a draw for visitors, but it took the dedication and commitment of individuals to build the infrastructure that keeps tourists fed, housed and entertained. On July 31 at The Carriage House at Fort William Henry in Lake George, the Warren County hospitality community will honor seven people who have dedicated their lives to welcoming visitors. 

The public is welcomed and encouraged to join in the celebration, with proceeds from ticket sales supporting a scholarship at SUNY Adirondack for students from Warren County in the school’s hospitality management program. Tickets are available on the Fort William Henry website.

The third annual Heroes of Hospitality event, which includes a social hour and buffet dinner, will recognize the contributions of the late Charles R. Wood, the founder of Storytown, now the Great Escape and a leading philanthropist; the late Robert F. Flacke, Sr., the longtime president of Fort William Henry Corp., part of an extraordinary lifetime of leadership and accomplishment in the public and private sector; the late Lake George Town Supervisor and lake advocate Dennis Dickinson; Vincent Crocitto II, current Lake George Town Supervisor and owner of the Holiday Inn Resort in the Village of Lake George and other hotels; Gene Merlino, Lake Luzerne Town Supervisor and former owner of the Lamplight Inn in Lake Luzerne; Sam Luciano, president of Fort William Henry Corp., where he has worked 40 years; and Rebecca Wood, president of the Six Flags Great Escape Theme Park.

Last year’s event raised $5,000 you for the next generation of outstanding hosts and leaders, doubling the year before. Let’s help them double it again.

WOEBEGONE LAKE: A parent and homeowner whose family draws water from a part of Lake George, N.Y., near where a state agency applied a chemical herbicide is having trouble explaining to her 5-year-old why they’re no longer drinking tap water. In a searing commentary for the Albany Times Union, Margit Geist asks, “Who in their right mind would deliberately dump a chemical into Lake George? A lake that year after year has been called the cleanest lake in the U.S.? Why would this lake all of a sudden need chemical intervention?” She also takes issue with the dismissive approach to public concerns by the agency that applied the chemical, which, she writes, failed to notify adjoining property owners about the application. Seems the folks at the agency could use this bit of friendly advice: In the wise words of author Ryan Holiday, “A regular person might be able to get away with being rude or catty, a public figure cannot.”

VARSITY BLUES: Americans seem to be in a sour mood about almost everything these days; combine that with national news about campus unrest and political pushback, as well as soaring cost of attendance, and it should come as no surprise that only 36% of U.S. adults say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education, according to a poll by Gallup and the Lumina Foundation. In 2015, it was 57%. “It’s so expensive, and I don’t think colleges are teaching people what they need to get a job,” a 59-year-old driver for a car service told The Associated Press. “You graduate out of college, you’re up to eyeballs in debt, you can’t get a job, then you can’t pay it off. What’s the point?” Most students who make it as far as the Johns Hopkins University medical school won’t have that problem, at least not when it comes to their medical training. Bloomberg Philanthropies this week announced a $1 billion gift to cover the full tuition of medical students from families earning less than $300,000.

(RE)TRACTOR SUPPLY: Tractor Supply Co., the national chain that provides mainly rural communities with agricultural, home improvements and pet supplies, has also trumpeted itself as a supporter of environmental protection and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Now Tractor Supply has bowed to pressure from conservative groups to drop environmental, DEI, and Pride support. It says it’s refocusing the company on rural priorities. At the Tractor Supply in rural, politically conservative Ray Brook., N.Y., that philosophical shift has caused controversy. Employees feel betrayed and are quitting. 

RINSE AND REPEAT: Torrential rains swept the Adirondacks and Vermont, blowing out bridges, dams and roads and stranding local people and vacationers. That was last July. This week, climatological history repeated itself almost to the day, when the remnants of Hurricane Beryl rolled through. Several deaths and a collapsed apartment building were among the reports of devastation in Vermont. Flooding also hammered parts of the Adirondacks and caused widespread property damage.

SUMMER READS: Two Adirondack reads are getting national attention this summer. “The God of the Woods,” by Liz Moore, is a story about a child who disappears from an Adirondack summer camp – the same summer camp from which her older brother disappeared 16 years before. Could her own wealthy family be involved? And what about the local people who work at the camp? The other book, “HUM,” by William David Thomas, is young adult fiction about a kid who makes a wintry journey across the Adirondacks with a llama that he steals from a zoo.

SARATOGA’S OLYMPIANS: Upstate New York has a long history of producing Olympic athletes. A partial list includes skier Andrew Weibrecht, luger Chris Mazdzer and speed skater Amy Peterson Peck. The Paris Olympics are no different. Rowers Kristi Wagner, 31, and Lauren O'Connor, 25, will represent the U.S. The women belong to the Advanced Rowing Initiative of the Northeast (ARION), a high-performance program that's part of the Saratoga Rowing Association. Wagner will compete in Paris in the double sculls with partner Sophia Vitas; O'Connor is rowing in the quadruple sculls with teammates Teal Cohen, Emily Delleman and Grace Joyce.

Take a bow, Indian Lake, N.Y.; your cool, calm waters and stunning surroundings delivered peace and relaxation yet again. Tara Hutchins

TRAVEL MILESTONE: More than 3 million people were screened through airport security in a single day for the first time ever, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration reports, which no doubt comes as a surprise to anyone who has ever traveled through Chicago or Atlanta, which feel like they have 3 million people at any given time. At least none of the people who flew that day, as far as we know, were served spoiled food, which caused a Delta redeye from Detroit to Amsterdam to divert.

MIRAGE VANISHES: The Mirage Hotel and Casino set a new bar for Las Vegas when it opened in 1989 with pricier rooms, a 40-foot man-made volcano that erupted nightly, a dolphin habitat, 20,000-gallon aquarium behind the front desk and Siegfried & Roy and their white tigers. But in a town where there’s always a premium on newer, bigger, better, the Mirage failed to keep up. Rather than sink hundreds of millions into an overhaul, its parent, MGM Resorts International, sold it to Hard Rock International for nearly $1.1 billion in 2022. Hard Rock plans to renovate the entire place and add a guitar-shaped tower where the volcano and lagoon now sit, with 600 suites and another pool. The casino will be on the Strip, rather than set back like it is today. Construction begins this fall, with opening set for 2027. 

A SHATTERED LEGACY: Fans of the late Alice Munro, considered one of the greatest short-story writers of all-time and a Pulitzer Prize winner, are grappling with the shocking news that the beloved author stayed married to her husband for years after learning he had sexually abused her youngest daughter when she was a child, a crime for which he was convicted. “You realize you didn’t know who you thought you knew,” her fellow Canadian author, novelist Margaret Atwood, wrote in an email to The New York Times.

PHYSICIAN, HELP THYSELF: Prosecutors in Brooklyn allege the former head of emergency medicine at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, whose base salary was over $250,000, embezzled more than $1.4 million by using the medical school’s business credit card to pay for such things as travel, personal trainers, college tuition for his children, catering, liquor, electronics and luxurious doggy daycare, as well as $115,000 in cash advances.

MIRACLE BABY: A 1-year-old child crawling along a roadside in Louisiana was rescued by a trucker and turned over to authorities, a day after his 4-year-old brother was found dead in a lake and his mother was arrested. The Associated Press reported the local sheriff said the baby had numerous bug bites but otherwise appeared to be in good condition.

BOTTLE BAN: A New York state law to reduce plastic waste from one-use containers will ban small bottles of “hospitality personal care products” like conditioner, shampoo, bodywash and moisturizer in hotels with 50 or more rooms beginning on Jan. 1, 2025. Hotels with 50 or fewer rooms will come under the ban in 2026. North American properties operated by Hilton and Marriott have already moved away from the little bottles, opting for wall-mounted dispensers.

GENERATING JOBS: GE Vernova this week announced it would invest $22 million at its facility in Schenectady, N.Y., to manufacture new advanced generators, expected to result in 150 new jobs. The company made a $50 million investment 14 months ago and hired 200 people.

HOLLYWOOD AND HUDSON FALLS: The involuntary manslaughter trial of actor Alec Baldwin started this week in Santa Fe, N.M., the charge stemming from an accidental shooting on a movie set in 2021. Baldwin’s legal team is led by Luke Nikas, a Hudson Falls, N.Y., native who is on his former high school’s Wall of Distinction and went on to graduate from Harvard Law School.

SHELLEY DUVALL was, as The Associated Press described her, gaunt and gawky, not the prototypical Hollywood star, but she was just what legendary director Robert Altman was looking for, first casting her as a 20-year-old junior college student in “Brewster McCloud.” She would star in several other Altman films, including “Thieves Like Us,” “Nashville,” “Popeye” (as Olive Oyl, opposite the late Robin Williams), “Three Women” and “McCabe & Mrs. Miller.” She is perhaps best remembered for the part of Wendy Torrance, the wife who watches terrified as her husband loses his mind in the horror classic “The Shining.” She produced and hosted several children’s TV series in the 1980s, receiving two Emmy nominations. She retired from show business for two decades before a final appearance in a 2023 indie horror film. She died, at 75, of complications from diabetes.

DAVE CASEY was a longtime teacher and coach in Glens Falls, N.Y., whose impact can be measured in part by the number of Halls of Fame he’s in — the Adirondack Hockey Hall of Fame, Capital Region Football Hall of Fame, The Glens Falls Grandstanders Hall of Fame, and the South Glens Falls Bulldog Pride Hall of Fame, in recognition of his performance as a three-sport athlete. He was the rare three-season coach, winning more than 1,000 games over 91 combined seasons in football, basketball and baseball. He also turned a master’s degree in athletic training into a 14-year run as the athletic trainer for the Adirondack Red Wings when they were an American Hockey League franchise in Glens Falls, and served as chairman of the Adirondack Hockey Hall of Fame. He died at 76 after a short illness.

JAMES INHOFE represented Oklahoma for more than three decades in Congress, first in the House and, from 1994 to 2023, in the Senate, where he chaired the Armed Services, Environment and Public Works committees. Inhofe was a fierce advocate for federal spending in his home state, especially on infrastructure. “Jim’s diligent stewardship of massive infrastructure projects transformed life across the Heartland,” former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. “His relentless advocacy for American energy dominance unlocked new prosperity across the country and his laser focus on growing and modernizing the U.S. military strengthened the security of the entire free world.” Inhofe also was a climate change skeptic, calling it “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people” and famously bringing a snowball to the floor of the Senate to make his point. He had a stroke during the July Fourth holiday and died at 89.

JIM TALLON represented Binghamton in the New York State Assembly for 19 years, serving as majority leader from 1987 to 1993 and chair of the Assembly Health Committee from 1979 to 1987. He even spent three days as Assembly Speaker in 1991. He later chaired the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and served as a member of the New York State Board of Regents until 2017. Tallon “deeply understood that healthcare needed to be accessible and affordable, and spent his years in public office fighting to ensure care for our most vulnerable,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said. He was 82.

JOE BONSALL was the tenor voice behind “Elvira,” the 1981 crossover smash that reached No. 5 on Billboard’s Hot 100 as well as the top of country charts. He and his fellow Oak Ridge Boys were country music’s leading vocal group for half a century, with 17 No. 1 country songs and 34 in country’s top 10. “For 50 years, Joe Bonsall was the Oak Ridge Boys’ sparkplug,” said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “He was as exciting a performer as any who ever hit a gospel or country stage.”  He died at 76 of complications of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

“That kind of anticipation of wanting it but also being turned off by the wait to get it? It’s what positions us in a good spot. We are the solution to your problem.”
— Robert Samuel, whose New York City business, Same Ole Line Dudes, provides people who will stand in lines so its customers don’t have to.

AMMO ON THE GO: Grocery store shoppers in Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas, and soon Colorado, can purchase ammunition from vending machines that, according to the company that owns the machines, are as “quick and easy” to use as a computer tablet.

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AUTHORS AND CONTRIBUTORS: Bill Callen, Mark Behan, Ryan Moore, Leigh Hornbeck, Troy Burns, John Brodt, Kristy Miller, Tara Hutchins, Claire P. Tuttle 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 conversation: mark.behan@behancom.com