Maryellen Gillis, President Helderberg Family and Community Organization

The Berne Town Board held a public hearing on a new animal-control law this week and received mostly minor suggestions for alteration from a public that seemed largely pleased with the proposed regulations. 

KNOX — Helen Keene Oettinger was a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother who loved to garden, paint, and travel.

She died peacefully on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2022, at Our Lady of Mercy Life Center in Guilderland. She was 96.

At Knox’s inaugural 2022 meeting, more information came spontaneously to light about why the town fired three transfer station workers in 2019 — two of whom sued the town and later settled.

In an otherwise perfunctory meeting, the Berne Town Board made two key appointments on New Year’s Day: Albert Thiem to the town board, replacing former councilwoman Bonnie Conklin, who resigned; and former State Supreme Court Justice and convicted felon Thomas Spargo as chairman of the zoning board of appeals.

Richard Filkins, Westerlo

Anita C. Clayton, Berne

Sean S. Lyons, Supervisor Town of Berne