ALTAMONT— A local business has taken on what many larger companies have yet to do: clean a house and be good to the environment.

GUILDERLAND — James H. Lee of Albany “was called to Heaven,” his family wrote, on Thursday, April 28, 2016. He was 86.

“Jim (aka Lee) was a wonderful, kind, gentle, and caring man,” his family wrote in a tribute. “He was a devoted husband, father, father-in-law, and grandfather.”

ALTAMONT — Avlon (Christine) Eldred — a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother — died peacefully in her sleep on Friday, May 20, 2016, with family by her side.

 She was an active member of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion posts.

As the town works to define “abandoned” in its law, three properties ravaged by fire remain vacant — a mansion reduced to rubble, a motel that still stands, and the shell of a home.

ALTAMONT — Businesses evolve with the times as favorite gathering places in the village have new life.

The protest on May 14 against oil trains looked very different from the point of view of the women who rappelled from a train trestle and the first responders charged with getting them down.