The Westerlo Democratic Committee, in a town where voters skew Democratic, is backing three GOP town board candidates for November.

Tim Lippert was Berne voters’ choice for the Democratic nomination in a town board race, but Anita Clayton, who has right-wing support, won the vast majority of absentee ballots, bringing what at first looked like a blowout down to the wire. 

How do you help a tree to grow? To be healthier? To live longer? 

The answer lies in human history as it’s captured by Rensselaerville author and arborist William Logan in his 2019 book, “Sprout Lands: Tending the Endless Gift of Trees,” which has just been awarded the John Burroughs Medal. 

Superintendent Timothy Mundell handed out just under 50 diplomas to Berne-Knox-Westerlo graduates at Tawasentha Park, in Guilderland, as part of ceremony that highlighted the conviction and resilience of a graduating class that, like the one before it, had many of its senior-year rituals thwarted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Berne Town Board members Joel Willsey and Bonnie Conklin solicited advice last week from the New York State Department of Transportation on steps to take to address dangerous guardrails, narrow shoulders, and fast drivers along state routes 85 and 443.

Timothy Lippert, who was endorsed by the Berne Democratic Committee, got 66 percent of the votes over Anita Clayton, a Democrat endorsed by the Conservative Party, in the Democratic primary race for a vacant town council seat, according to unofficial election results. 

The laws are “based on the themes” of Westerlo’s new but not-yet-adopted comprehensive plan, said Westerlo Town Board member Matthew Kryzak at a public hearing this week.

In a resignation letter dated June 15, former Westerlo Supervisor Bill Bichteman wrote, “For as much as I care about Westerlo, it’s too large a sacrifice for anyone to endure.” His last day was June 18. 

Richard Tollner, of Rensselaerville, who says he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest in the 1970s, filed a pre-action discovery petition against the Diocese of Albany, which would allow his attorneys to acquire information that is “material and necessary to [an] actionable wrong,” according to court documents.

Cheryl Baitsholts, who had been Berne’s dog-control officer until the GOP-backed board replaced her in 2020 without clear reason, has again been passed over for the position. It’s been open since the board’s 2020 appointee, Jodi Jansen, resigned suddenly in April.