Mission

The Altamont Enterprise & Albany County Post is the newspaper of record for Guilderland, New Scotland, Berne, Knox, Westerlo, and Rensselaerville. Our mission is to find the truth, report it fairly, and to provide a forum for the open exchange of ideas on issues important to our community.

About The Enterprise

The Enterprise has been covering Guilderland, New Scotland, and the Hilltowns in Albany County, N.Y. since 1884. Editor D. H. Crowe wrote in the first issue of The Enterprise: “Today a guest visits the citizens of Knowersville [as Altamont was called then]. An unknown, strange guest. Not a visitor of flesh and blood but a silent speaker of true things that will each week go to every home where its presence is welcomed.”

The Enterprise is no longer an unknown, but we are still a speaker of true things. We can come into your home in the traditional way — on newsprint, through the mail — or like this — through your computer or mobile device.

“We seek the truth and print it” is our byword; that’s what we do week after week. We report local news not available elsewhere, fairly and in-depth, and we provide a forum for the open exchange of ideas important to our community. By informing citizens, we empower them.

For instance, how do you decide whom to vote for in local school board or municipal elections? We supply thorough coverage of the issues and in-depth profiles of the candidates and their views so you can choose who best suits you.

The Enterprise has been recognized for its outstanding work with scores of awards from the New York Press Association over the last quarter of a century — for coverage of education, agriculture, sports, government, crime and courts, and the arts, among others, and for obituary writing, as well as receiving awards for community leadership. In recent years, we have ranked several times among the top 10 weekly newspapers in the state. The Enterprise has also won the Golden Quill Award from the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors for the best editorial and numerous times has had editorials named to the top twelve internationally.

We are following a tradition our first editor started when he asked, “Will the people of Knowersville and the surrounding towns support and sustain a journal which is ready for a square knockdown with wrong each week?”

For well over a century, the people have not only sustained us but also contributed to a lively community dialogue by responding to our news stories and pieces on our opinion pages. Citizens and community leaders — including school superintendents, police chiefs, elected municipal and state representatives, and head coaches — have helped solve problems and right wrongs by contributing to our editorial pages.

We are an independent weekly, owned by editor Melissa Hale-Spencer, digital editor Marcello Iaia, and Gary Spencer, Melissa's husband — all award-winning journalists who live in Guilderland.

We help make separate people in diverse places into a community in the way we cover local news. We provide news and features you can’t get other places. Read our pages, and you’ll learn about your neighbors. You’ll also be able to find out about local events in our community calendar and about shops, restaurants, and services from our advertisers.

We’re hoping yours is one of the homes where, as Editor Crowe wrote so many decades ago, our presence is welcomed. We look forward to communicating with you each week.

Melissa Hale-Spencer,

Editor