ALTAMONT — Attending legislative committee meetings every week from February to May earned Jane Kirstel honor last week.

The American Association of Retired Persons recognized her work as a member of the organization’s volunteer state legislative patrol.
"We just want the senators and assembly members to know we are there and we are watching," Kirstel said of her work.

Her group, all dressed in red, remains silent during the committee meetings, she said; they just want their presence to be known.
"The issues that they’re working on are dear to me because I’m old," said Kirstel, 76, of why she chose to get involved with AARP when she began looking for volunteer work last year.
"I think the drug companies are swindling us," she said of prescription drug costs, one of the most important issues to her.
She learned a lot during the 2007 session, she said, and was a little surprised by the honor. "It was award enough just to go," she said.

— Saranac Hale Spencer