WESTERLO — Keith Wright likes being Westerlo’s highway superintendent.

“It’s not the same every day,” he said. “There’s always something different.”

Wright, who is 58, will have worked for the highway department for 20 years in June; he was foreman for six years and was appointed to the top spot 10 months ago.

WESTERLO — Theodore Lounsbury grew up in town, in Dormansville, and Westerlo is where he chose to stay.

“I’ve always loved it,” he said. “Everyone knows everyone else. It’s where my wife and I are raising our two kids.”

WESTERLO — Councilman William Bichteman said he was “terrified” at his first town board meeting.

A question was asked, and Bichtemen felt he wasn’t well informed to answer.

Since then, he has spent a lot of time making sure he is well versed on a wide variety of town issues, he said.

A 17-year-old was taken by ambulance to Albany Medical Center after being extricated from her car on Oct. 10; police say the car was T-boned by a school bus after the 17-year-old failed to yield the right-of-way.

Using a police dog to detect illegal substances in students' lockers is, as the superintendent proposes, meant as a preventative measure, not to catch students, she says.

Just as John L. Schoolcraft's 19th-Century mansion is being restored, piece by piece, town historian Alice Begley has assembled the story of his life.

In the 19th Century, her father learned to dance on logs rolling down a Nova Scotia river. Vera Brooks, who turns 100 on Oct. 4 has navigated her own life with equal finesse and good balance.

If Albany County ever became like a war zone, its sheriff wants to be ready. He's added an armored truck to the county's fleet of free Army surplus vehicles, and also has plans for a $20 million interoperable countywide radio system.

Many aids and monitors work part-time for the school district just to get health insurance for their families, according to a Guilderland negotiator. For their next contract, the unit's president says, they will push for health benefits after retirement.

Tahlia Hadley will never forget the warmth of the elderly woman, a stranger, whose home she painted. Now the youth minister for St. Madeleine Parish, she is organizing a Christian work camp to help the needy in Guilderland next July.