WESTERLO — Ralph Lloyd Filkins, an inveterate volunteer fireman and an early Thacher Park police officer, died on Saturday, Christmas morning, Dec. 25, 2021, at the Daughters of Sarah Nursing Home. He had enjoyed a visit from his family the day before. He was 82.

RENSSELAERVILLE — Dorothy Reinhart, who loved her family and was a friend to many, died peacefully on Monday, Dec. 20, 2021. She was 86.

She was born on April 14, 1935 in River Vale, New Jersey.

Aaron Carr, a junior at Berne-Knox-Westerlo, has been awarded a $1,000 grant to build his hardscaping business.

Hardscaping is landscape architecture, building, for example, walls or paths as part of a landscape.

KNOX — The Knox Town Board has decided not to opt out of New York State’s marijuana law. That means pot shops and parlors can come to town.

Mary-Jane Araldi, Westerlo

Local governments are the closest to the people they serve and therefore the most attuned to their needs.

Helen M. Lounsbury Galicki, Berne