Dwindling Family Farms
        Family farms in Ticonderoga County have been dwindling steadily for more than 40 years now, and agricultural officials say there is no comeback in sight.
        "Our image is that the family farm is the backbone of America, the ultimate expression of American values, " Jeff Mackey, professor of sociology at Ticonderoga College said.
         " UNfortunately, the family farm is becoming as rare as the dinosaur, " he said.
           That is certainly the case in Ticonderoga County, where in 1985 the U.S. Department of Agriculture said there were more than 800 working farms. A farm defined by the Department as land on which 1,000 of farm produce was made could have been made during this year.

New Hotel Referendum
       Residents of Elizabeth City will be asked in June whether they approve of using public funds for a new downtown hotel and convention center, even though there is no specific recommendation for such a project.
        In a technical compliance with a recommendation from the sate Department of Elections, the Ticonderoga County Election Commission on Thursday voted to put the referendum on the ballot.
        It will be on the June 5 ballot, and only city residents will be able to vote. It will simply ask yes or no vote on whether public funds should be used for such a project.
        Although city commission members approved an ordinance to prohibit any public funding for a hotel and convention center shortly after the petition was certified, sate coordinator of Elections Bailey Throckton said the referendum still must be held.
        "Putting this on the ballot is appropriate, " Ticonderoga County Commissioner of Elections McKenzie Martin said at Thursday's meeting of the commission.

Ten Commandments Legal Battle
          Officials seeking to keep the Ten Commandments mounted in the Ticonderoga County Courthouse lost the first round of  a federal  legal battle over the display Thursday.
          Attorneys representing the county sought unsuccessful to convince U.S. District Judge Verdie Johnston that Midville attorney John O'Kelly had no standing to sue over the display because he isn't a Ticonderoga County resident or a regular user of the courthouse there.
          Manford Mabley, an attorney with the Religion and Justice Institute and co-counsel for Ticonderoga County, and O'Kelly shouldn't be allowed to sue because he had only visited the courthouse once before the American Civil Liberties Union filed the suit on his behalf.
          Mab;ley argued that O'Kelly didn't have "frequent, direct contCT" with the display and therefore had suffered no specific injury.

Baseball Coach Chance

          Rickey Rust is trying to look at the bright side after being forced to resign as baseball coach at Ticonderoga County High School.
          "I've already had one offer to be an assistant and there's no doubt in my mind I'll end up somewhere," he said. "Everything happens for a reason and this will end up being a positive for me."
         Rust was head coach at County for 12 years.
         During the stretch, the Beavers won either regular-season district titles or district tournaments six times.
         Ticonderoga won 177 games during the Rust tenure, an average of nearly 15 per season.