Community leadership is the heart of journalism practiced by The Altamont Enterprise. With our news coverage, we strive to inform our readers so they are empowered to make changes in their own lives and in their community.

So we were gratified to once again this year win the New York Press Association’s award — both first and second place — for Community Leadership. While most of the contest awards are given in categories based on circulation, Community Leadership encompasses newspapers across the state of all sizes.

The annual contest drew 2,440 entries this year and was judged by the Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers Association.

The second-place Community Leadership award recognized the Enterprise’s extensive coverage of the pandemic as it played out locally and is a credit to every single staff member, some of whom persisted in their work despite risking their own health. Office manager Ellen Schreibstein continued her work from home and Holly Busch kept the papers circulating.

Perhaps most stunning of all, a large number of our readers, seeing ads diminish as businesses were shut down, contributed more than our standard subscription rates to keep the newspaper functioning.

“Very compelling and informative series …,” wrote the judges. “Well written and presented. Very important to your readers.”
Editor Melissa Hale-Spencer covered daily press conferences — on weekends, too — on both the county and state levels as well as hospital briefings and sorts through the maze of emerging scientific research to file multiple useful stories every day.

She is greatly helped by our photographer, Michael Koff, who not only takes pictures at the various briefings and events but records them. (Koff is young and healthy while Hale-Spencer is old with multiple underlying health conditions.)

Meanwhile, our two beat reporters, Noah Zweifel and Sean Mulkerrin, have turned their attention to report on how the pandemic affects everyday life including medicine, farming, business, education, worship, and more. Sadly, they also write heartfelt obituaries of those who have died of the disease.

The best features and news stories are published each week in our print edition along with a weekly summary Hale-Spencer compiles (she’s now up to Week LVII) on the most important coronavirus news. Hale-Spencer also writes editorials, pushing for information when needed, and other times raising morale and community spirit.

Readers have repeatedly told us, in the torrent of information and misinformation swirling around them, The Enterprise is a steady, trusted source for what they need to know to cope with and survive the coronavirus.

The first place Community Leadership award followed a longstanding mission of The Enterprise, which often covers local news — like the sale of Picard’s Grove — not covered by any other media.

The award was for a series of stories and editorials written by editor Melissa Hale-Spencer and illustrated with photographs by Koff and artwork by Carol Coogan.

“Very interesting and thorough story series about the farm’s long history,” wrote the judges for Community Leadership. “Well done. I enjoyed the detail and storytelling.”

The same series won second place for In-Depth Reporting.

“This writer is an excellent journalist who dives deep into a story, and takes ownership of that story. She did so much work on this,” wrote the judges of Hale-Spencer, who won the In-Depth Reporting award last year for a series on Rikers Island inmates at the county jail.

The Enterprise discovered in February 2020 that Picard’s Grove, a piece of land that for generations had served as a community gathering space at the foot of the Helderbergs, was going to be sold to a developer.

Hale-Spencer obtained court documents that raised some serious questions about how the sale was being handled. The woman who owned the property was declared “incapacitated” and placed in a nursing home; the lawyer handling her affairs was poised to quickly sell the property for much less than it was worth and to have the historic home and barn demolished as well.

Hale-Spencer delved in, talking to family members, neighbors, local historians, and to the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy. She also obtained assessment records that showed the true worth of the property. The newspaper editorialized on the need to save the property from development.

The conservancy had been working to get conservation easements on nearby parcels to preserve the corridor for important environmental reasons. But, as the director first told Hale-Spencer, the not-for-profit organization was used to working with property owners who had an interest in donating their land or easements to protect it.

However, once The Enterprise broke the story, many residents expressed interest in saving the property and were willing to make donations. Hale-Spencer stayed on top of the story, which no other media covered.

She was able, even in the midst of the shutdown caused by the pandemic, to keep up with court decisions that, partly because of her coverage, the judge acknowledged, appointed an attorney to look after the property owner’s interests.

A local couple ultimately bought the Picard’s Grove property — for more than the developer was going to pay. By October, the property was secured for generations to come.

Editorial pages

While community leadership is the heart of our journalism, the editorial pages are our newspaper’s soul. On these pages, the community can talk to itself as individuals exchange views, share problems, and seek solutions.

In these polarized times, where people are often getting news in an echo chamber of their own views, the Enterprise opinion pages provide a common meeting ground.

The Best Editorial Page competition spans papers of all sizes across the state; The Enterprise was given what the judges, who focused largely on design, termed “a strong honorable mention.” They wrote, “The designers have a knack for catching a reader’s eye, pulling them into content worthy of reading.”

We are grateful to have columnists who, in turn, inspire, provoke, and entertain us:

— Dennis Sullivan whose “Field notes” mixes philosophy with poetry and makes us think in new ways;

— John R. Williams whose “Old Men of the Mountain” blends wit and wisdom;

— Mary Ellen Johnson whose painstaking research for “A Glimpse of Guilderland history” makes local history relevant today;

— Jesse Sommer whose “So swears the New Scot” embraces the personal while challenging the status quo;

— Mike Nardacci whose “Backroads geology” column shows how to understand the science behind scenes that we gaze on every day;

— Frank Palmeri who uses his “Thinking about things” column to provide a sometimes humorous, sometimes serious slice-of-life look at his world; and

— Mike Seinberg whose “Skewed view” is often provocative as he lives up to his column’s name.

The editorial page, illustrated by Coogan, is the centerpiece for the opinion pages. This year, Coogan once again took top prizes for her artwork.

She won first place for Graphic Illustration in a category dominated by computer-generated art. The judges wrote, “This is a talented artist with great illustrative skills.”

Their praise was for her March 1, 2020 illustration of an editorial on renewable energy in which she portrayed a man in a boat, marooned on a parched earth.

Coogan also took second place in the Editorial Cartoon contest for her March 12 drawing of a personified planet Earth wearing a mask. The drawing, illustrating an editorial the week the World Health Organization declared a pandemic, became the Enterprise’s icon for our COVID-19 coverage.

“What a truly prophetic image, published so early in the pandemic, at least in the United States,” wrote the judges. “So very true then, and still true almost 11 months later.”

The Enterprise also again won first place for Hale-Spencer’s editorials. The entry consisted of three editorials, each of them illustrated by Coogan with headlines by Rich Mendoza: 

— Jan. 9: “If the law is trampled, justice will languish” on the Berne Town Board’s demotion of farmer Emily Vincent on the town’s planning board, based largely on Zweifel’s reporting. The editorial made clear that, not only was the demotion illegal, it was not in the best interests of the town. The townspeople backed Vincent in a fundraising effort so she could bring the matter to court where the judge decided in her favor;

— Feb. 6: “In the sale of Picard’s Grove, what’s done in haste will be repented at leisure,” which sounded the alarm on a lawyer’s plan for a quick sale that would not benefit the community or the woman who owned the property, whom the court had declared “incapacitated”;

— June 25: “The government of the people means us. Let’s get at it,” which was one of a number of editorials pushing for Albany County’s clean-air law.

“These editorials take on controversial subjects,” wrote the judges. “They get results, too. The writer is a clear-cut winner in this category as a bright journalist with watchdog instincts.”

Crime, Police and Courts

Finally, The Enterprise took first place for Coverage of Crime, Police, and Courts. The entry consisted of five stories:

— Jan. 2: “‘Abandoned’ boy, 16, charged with felonies, will have case heard in Family Court,” by former Guilderland reporter Elizabeth Floyd Mair, who now works for Albany County. The story highlighted a gray area in the state’s new Raise the Age legislation by detailing the court experiences of a Voorheesville youth who stole the purse of a 16-year-old girl;

— Jan. 9: “Anxious mom tracks missing son to Thacher where he is rescued after jumping,” by Sean Mulkerrin. All of the local media covered the dramatic rescue of a young man who had attempted suicide by jumping off of a Helderberg cliff, quoting what the county sheriff said at a press conference. Mulkerrin  uncovered more — the heroics of the young man’s mother; it was her persistence that saved his life as he languished for several frigid days at the foot of the cliff;

— Feb. 6: “‘He sees treasures’ where neighbors see trash” by Floyd Mair, telling the story of an Afghan shepherd and refugee who landed in town court because his yard was filled with trash, which he saw as treasure;

— Aug. 27: “Chief McNally sees police reform as ‘super positive’” by Melissa Hale-Spencer. As Guilderland prepared to start its work on police reform, Hale-Spencer profiled the town’s new police chief and his views on the need for reform in the wake of George Floyd’s death;

— Nov. 26: “‘The little people won’: Residents’ lawsuit halts Pyramid projects for now” by Mulkerrin, part of an ongoing series following the twists and turns of litigation involving Crossgates Mall and its parent company. In this story, Mulkerrin took an in-depth look at Albany County Supreme Court Judge Peter Lynch’s decision in favor of Westmere residents who brought a suit to stop Pyramid from building a Costco and large apartment complex near their neighborhood. 

“Excellent depth of reporting that goes beyond what happened to deliver insight and context,” the judges wrote of Enterprise coverage of crime, police, and courts. “Readers are getting more than they bargained for with this local journalism.”

— Melissa Hale-Spencer