More than 1,500 absentee ballots were counted on July 2 to determine the winners of the Democratic primary for Albany County Court Judge.

Until this year, the two alleged victims of Gerald Miller had been unable to take legal action against the former priest who gave sermons in Altamont and the Hilltowns. The passage of the Child Victims Act has allowed them to move forward with this, said their attorney.

“When you throw up your diploma and your cap, you have commenced to ‘we,’” said Berne-Knox-Westerlo Superintendent Timothy Mundell, at the Class of 2019’s graduation on Saturday.

Nicole Carr, the Class of 2019 valedictorian at Berne-Knox-Westerlo, enjoys drawing comics. One revolves around a character she said somewhat resembles her. Another is titled “Meet Stu,” about her cat named Stuart.

“You can’t skip chapters,” advises Adrianna Fahd, the Class of 2019 salutatorian at Berne-Knox-Westerlo. “You have to live through everything, even if it’s hard.”

Madison Love, who will be a senior at Berne-Knox-Westerlo in the fall, hopes to eventually train dogs professionally, and is in the process of training her own service dog now.

To fund the trip, Troop 1482 is collecting new or gently-worn shoes to be delivered to the organization Funds2Orgs, which pays for collected shoes that are then sent to developing nations.

Agreements were made between the union representatives and the two Republican town board members; the three Democrats on the board were unaware of the months-old changes until last month.

“A lot of these people have no family left — except for us,” says Jill Martin, speaking about homebound Hilltown patients. Martin is a nurse practitioner who hopes to open her own practice in the fall after her current employer, CapitalCare Family Practice Berne, shuts its doors at the end of this month.

There are currently 1,719 Democratic absentee ballots submitted for the Albany County Democratic primary. If more than 642 are in favor of Holly Trexler for County Court Judge, the race could go to her, even though Andra Ackerman currently has the lead according to the unofficial tally.