BOSTON – Beautiful Charlotte is a happy, smiley, 14-month-old baby. She lights up watching Cocomelon on TV. Mom Emily says she’s always like this; a dream come true. But protecting this precious
WOOSTER, Ohio — For Rita Dush, Christmas trees hold many meanings.
“Stewardship of the land, beauty, and happiness for families,” said Dush, owner of Pine Tree Barn in Wooster.
At the barn, there is a list of different types of trees that take a while to grow. “It’s usually about eight years before we harvest,” said Brad Moore, Pine Tree Farm’s nursery manager.
It also takes time to pick the perfect tree. Once customers pick, they cut them down, shake out the pines and wrap them up to go. Though the tree may last a month or two, the joy carries forever.
“It’s the Christmas spirit — you make families happy. You see little kids that are happy,” said Moore.
It’s not just the amazing experiences and memories that last for customers. For Dush, Pine Tree Barn holds a deeper meaning.
She lost her husband two years ago today. Roger and Rita built Pine Tree from the roots of Roger’s family farm, Yuletide Tree Farm, 40 years ago. They never expected it would be as big as it is today, but they made a promise to each other.
“We knew we weren’t going to live forever, and we both wanted some farm to continue. That’s why I’m still doing it, and I’m sure if I were him and he were here, he’d be still doing it too,” said Rita.
And so every smile she sees on the farm brings her joy.
“It’s wonderful, absolutely wonderful, especially with the little kids, but they’re smiling and happy and bouncy,” said Dush.
Rita sees eight years of work, when Roger was by her side, brought to life.
“It gives me a reason for being, I miss him,” she said.
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The farm is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, and they have a gift shop and restaurant on the property. For more info on Pine Tree Barn click here.
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BRICK, N.J. (CBS) — Two people in Ocean County were arrested for animal cruelty and child endangerment Friday night, police say. Officers responded to a house in Ocean County following an anonymous complaint about a possible puppy mill.
When officers arrived they rescued nearly 200 animals, but for at least two dogs help was too late.
Police in Brick, New Jersey were at a home on Arrowhead Park Drive on Friday at 7:30 p.m. where they were met by the residents, 49-year-old Aimee Lonczak and 58-year-old Michele Nycz.
During the initial interview, officers could smell a strong animal odor coming from the house. They were permitted to enter the home where they were met by an abundance of neglected animals.
Inside, there were dogs and cats in crates stacked up on top of each other.
Police called for assistance from the hazmat team as the house was covered in feces. That is also when they found two dead dogs inside the house.
It took rescuers about 10 hours to remove all animals who were sent to a number of area shelters.
A responding veterinarian also sent at least eight animals for emergency veterinary care.
Further investigation also revealed that a 16-year-old teenager, Lonczak’s daughter, was living in the house. Lonczak and Nycz were arrested for animal cruelty and child endangerment.
The investigation is ongoing and additional charges may be filed.
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LAKE GEORGE — The Village Board is expected to announce a moratorium on any new commercial property water hookups in the town outside of the village in order to conduct a 10- to 12-week water study.
The board will vote on the resolution at its December meeting. The moratorium is proposed for six months.
According to a news release from the village, the board hired C.T. Male Engineering to conduct a study of the village’s water system to evaluate options for the growing needs of the area.
Lake George Town Supervisor Dennis Dickinson said Richard Schermerhorn’s plans to develop housing at the former site of Water Slide World was a driving force in deciding to conduct the study.
“We’ve had some interest from developers for large water usage projects and the village has enough water, but they want to make sure they can get to the volume needed for these projects, so that prompted us to have the water study done,” Dickinson said.
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The village of Lake George water filtration system currently serves over 1,800 residents and businesses in the town and village of the Lake George. The town and village boards have agreed to conduct a study looking at options to continue to provide water services to the growing development in the area. (Dec. 2022)
While the town and village both operate water filtration plants, the town-operated facility in Diamond Point serves fewer than 100 residents with a well water system, while the village plant serves over 1,800 residents in the village and town with more than 1,400 water service connections.
Currently, the village water is pumped directly from Lake George by a pump station on Beach Road to a modern water filtration station on Ottawa Street and distributed throughout the system.
The village supplies users north to Hearthstone Park on Route 9N and south to Route 9L, as well as on the east side of the lake.
The village news release not only cited the plans for the old Water Slide World site, but also the recent conversion of the old Ramada Inn into residences and multiple other condo developments on Route 9L and Bloody Pond Road, as reasons to conduct the water study and explore options for services.
Demolition was ongoing this fall at the former home of Water Slide World, after real estate developer Richard Schermerhorn purchased the property with plans to build housing on the site. The plans, while not yet submitted to the town of Lake George, are a driving force behind the decision for a townwide water study.
“Village officials are concerned that the current filtration plant will not be able to service the expected higher volume and have joined with the Town Board to finance the $43,000 study. The study is expected to take 12-14 weeks,” Tuesday’s release states.
The study is meant to examine the present capacity of the system, point out areas of concern or possible limitations and provide conceptual designs of improvement to continue to accept additional customers in the planned areas of development.
“We do not want to hinder growth in the town of Lake George,” village Mayor Bob Blais said. “We want to be able to service all customers that wish village water in the town-outside-village and at the same time maintain an adequate reserve for the village.”
Jana DeCamilla is a staff writer who covers Moreau, Queensbury, Warren County and Lake George. She can be reached at 518-903-9937 or [email protected].
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SENNETT — A 6-year-old girl may have saved her father’s life last month with a 911 call.
Alivia Schroeder was acknowledged by the Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office Thursday after she called county 911 dispatchers when her father Maison Schroeder had a seizure Nov. 17. She was greeted by officials and personnel at the county public safety building in Sennett, accompanied by Maison, her sister, Layla, and her grandparents, Stephen and Kathy Gould.
Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck named Alivia a junior deputy and gave her a certificate.
“You’re my hero,” Schenck told her.
Denise Spingler, the county 911 administrator, reading from a different certificate, said “In recognition of your heroic actions in calling 911, you remained calm and provided the dispatcher with all of the appropriate information to help your dad. Your call amazed us and we are all so very proud of you.”
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Alivia’s eyes lit up like fireworks when Spingler gave her a red balloon that said “911” on it and a bag that included a Squishmallow stuffed animal, a coloring book and crayons. The girl later spoke with Deputy Nikki Loveless, who responded to the scene, Denise Cornelius, communications training officer with the county 911 center, and McKenna Loerzel, a dispatcher who is training at the 911 center. Cornelius and Loerzel, who took Alivia’s call, lauded the girl’s calm composure.
Alivia Schroeder, 6, is recognized by Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck and then Denise Spingler, the county’s 911 administrator, for making a 911 call for her father Maison Schroeder, when he was having a medical emergency in November.
After Alivia had her picture taken with the different personnel, she and her family were brought to the 911 center, where she was introduced to other 911 dispatchers, as Schenck again called her a hero. Aliva was also able to sit in a dispatcher’s chair. Later, Alivia, holding onto the balloon tightly, and her family chatted with the sheriff, Spingler, Cornelius, Loveless and Loerzel.
When Loveless was told around 11 a.m. Nov. 17 that a 6-year-old was on the line calling on behalf of her unresponsive father, her heart sank, she said. Emergency medical personnel were on the scene when Loveless arrived, and after Maison was transported by ambulance, she stayed with Alivia and Layla until Stephen and Kathy arrived, as Maison and his daughters had been staying with them. Loveless lauded Alivia’s response to the situation.
“Imagine being 6 years old and being calm and collected. They said she was giving good information, but you still want to get there (to the scene),” Loveless said.
At one point, Alivia was asked who taught her how to call 911. She said it was her mom, Sara Green. Maison said he started having seizures in adulthood and they became worse over the last year. He was laying in a recliner at Stephen and Kathy’s home in Aurelius when this seizure happened and blacked out. In a soft voice, Alivia explained when her father began seizing, she found her dad’s cell phone plugged into a charger next to him.
When Cornelius and Loerzel received Alivia’s call, she told them that her was father was drooling and shaking. They asked if he was breathing, and Alivia said yes. Since he was in a recliner, the girl hit a button which made the chair recline, opening Maison’s airway. Cornelius and Loerzel noted they could hear Maison breathing on the call. He began waking up as responders arrived. Loerzel, who began with the center in September, and Cornelius said Alivia gave relevant information, such as her name, her father’s name and said they were at her grandparents’ house and gave her grandfather’s name.
“You were super, super strong, you knew exactly what to do and you do it,” Spingler said to Alivia.
Maison said Alivia told her friends about the situation at school the next day. He praised his daughter’s intelligence and said he’s “thankful every night” for Alivia possibly saving his life.
Cornelius said she was impressed by how Alivia and Loerzel handled the situation, and talked about the importance of educating children about emergency calls, including giving dispatchers the address of where the emergency they are calling about is occurring.
“It just shows that people should educate their kids about 911,” Cornelius said.
Gallery: Six-year-old honored by Cayuga County Sheriff for calling 911 to help her dad
Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck awarded Alivia Schroeder, 6, an honorary junior deputy sheriff certificate for calling 911 when her father Maison, left, needed medical help in the family’s home.
Alivia Schroeder, 6, is pictured with, from left, Deputy Nikki Loveless, her father, Maison Schroeder and sister, Layla, 911 dispatchers McKenna Loerzel, Denise Cornelius, 911 Supervisor Denise Spingler, and Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck.
Alivia Schroeder, 6, right, sits in the chair of 911 dispatcher McKenna Loerzel, left, with her sister, Layla, at the 911 center at the public safety building in Sennett.
Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck awarded Alivia Schroeder, 6, an honorary junior deputy sheriff certificate for calling 911 when her father Maison needed medical help in the family’s home.
Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck awards Alivia Schroeder, 6, an honorary junior deputy sheriff certificate for calling 911 when her father Maison, left, needed medical help in the family’s home.
Alivia Schroeder, 6, right, sits in the chair of 911 dispatcher McKenna Loerzel with her sister, Layla, at the 911 center at the public safety building in Sennett during a Dec. 1 event to honor Alivia for calling 911 when her dad was having a medical emergency.
Staff writer Kelly Rocheleau can be reached at (315) 282-2243 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @KellyRocheleau.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Children in state custody are spending months in Tennessee hospitals because the Department of Children’s Services has no place else to put them.
The children have been medically cleared but tie up hospital beds that could be used by others, especially during times of heightened demand.
One child spent more than nine months — 276 days — living at a children’s hospital after he should have been released.
Some hospital officials tell NewsChannel 5 Investigates they are becoming a dumping ground for kids DCS cannot place.
The Children’s Hospital Alliance of Tennessee (CHAT), which represents children’s hospitals statewide, said in a statement the children “account for many hundreds of additional days in which hospital care is not needed.”
TennCare covers the cost of hospital care for children in DCS custody but would not disclose how much taxpayers are spending on the extended stays.
The Department of Children’s Services said these kids are hard to place in foster care, and because they are medically fragile, they cannot stay in DCS office buildings like some other children have been doing.
It often starts in a pediatric emergency room.
A DCS caseworker takes a child to the hospital with a true medical problem.
Usually the children have just been removed from an abusive or neglectful home.
But once the hospital says the child can leave, DCS says they have no place for the child to go.
State Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville, was disturbed by the details we showed her.
“Our state is failing. I think we’ve failed these children and we’ve quite frankly failed DCS,” Campbell said.
Examples include a 10-year-old with Muscular Dystrophy who stayed for 103 days at the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville.
DCS could not find a placement for the child after his mother died of COVID and his father could not care for him.
Another 10-year-old with severe autism was housed for 51 days in the same hospital.
He was eventually sent to a facility out of state because DCS did not have a place for him.
And an insulin-dependent diabetic stayed for days because hospital notes reveal “DCS would not take (the child) to office due to insulin shots required.”
“To choose between office floors and hospitals is not a reasonable choice,” Sen. Campbell said.
DCS left a child with a mental health diagnosis at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital for 270 days.
The child occupied a room from May of 2021 through February of 2022.
The agency left another child at a hospital in Johnson City for 243 days, long after the child should have been released.
DCS Commissioner Margie Quin, who took over the agency in September, told Gov. Bill Lee, R-Tennessee, during budget hearings the agency has been getting calls from hospitals concerned about kids staying long-term.
“These are youth that are extremely difficult to place,” Quin said.
“They are staying 100 days in hospitals, and they are not acutely ill, but they can’t stay in an office, and they are not appropriate in transitional homes,” Quin told the Governor.
DCS has a shortage of foster care homes and as a result has been forced to have some children sleep in office buildings.
A DCS attorney said “children in wheelchairs can also be hard to place. The hardest situations are those with both medical and behavioral/mental health needs.”
Commissioner Quin requested more than $8.7 million to fund “Assessment Treatment Homes” that would be located across the state and would keep some of the medically hard-to-place kids.
“They really need specialized care, and we just don’t have programming for them,” Commissioner Quin said in the budget hearing.
Sen. Campbell can’t believe the state is often choosing between office floors and hospital rooms.
“Let’s be responsible and give the money to DCS that we need to take care of children,” Campbell said.
“Our state has more money right now than we’ve had in decades, in reserves, and there is absolutely no reason why we can’t make sure that we are taking care of our most vulnerable,” Campbell said.
Lee signaled in the budget hearing that he was willing to fund requests from DCS for more money.
But even if the budget request is approved, it is months away from helping — raising questions about what can be done now.
“These are issues we should absolutely be able to deal with in the Department of Children’s Services without sending kids to the hospital,” Senator Campbell said.
Here is the full statement from the Children’s Hospital Alliance of Tennessee (CHAT):
“Children’s hospitals serve as the safety net for the physical and mental health and well-being of children and adolescents. For about a decade, children’s hospitals, in TN and nationally, have seen a significant increase in the number of youth presenting with a primary mental health diagnosis, because of the lack of readily available services and a fragmented delivery system for those services.
Another group of children finding themselves admitted to the children’s hospitals in our state are those in DCS custody. These youth are often brought to pediatric emergency rooms because of a true medical or behavioral need. However, when they are ready for discharge, DCS teams are challenged with finding appropriate placement options, thereby delaying discharge. While these children remain in hospitals, it ties up resources that could be used by other children. Lengths of hospital stays across the state range from several days to months, with one children’s hospital reporting the longest stay of 276 days.
Collectively, these patients account for many hundreds of additional days in which hospital care is not needed. DCS frequently cites limited to no placement options and struggles with insufficient resources to adequately staff and support these children in their care. New DCS Commissioner, Margie Quin, recently acknowledged the issue of long hospital stays for some children and has outlined a plan to tackle this and other issues DCS faces through important measures such as more funding and increased training and increased support for case workers.
Mary Nell Bryan, President of the Children’s Hospital Alliance of Tennessee, said, “The Children’s Hospital Alliance of Tennessee appreciates that the employees of the Department of Children’s Services work hard to address challenges in finding foster homes for children who are medically fragile or dealing with chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes.. There are sometimes not enough appropriate places for such transfers to happen quickly. We appreciate that Commissioner Quin has requested more funding and outlined a plan that includes increased training and increased support for case workers. The work of DCS case workers and other DCS staffers is vitally important. As can also be said about those who work in hospitals, while this work can present challenges, it is also extremely rewarding. We urge families to consider fostering children who are medically fragile or who are dealing with a chronic condition such as diabetes.”
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LEXINGTON COUNTY (WACH) — Chief Terrence Green would like to notify the Town of Lexington community that there will be road closures and detours during the afternoon of Sunday, Dec. 4 for the Town of Lexington Christmas Parade in downtown Lexington.
These road closures and detours will begin at 1:00 p.m. with the closure of West Butler Street, from Columbia Avenue to North Church Street.
Additional closures include Haygood Avenue and part of Meetze Street to allow those involved in the parade to stage and prepare their floats.
The Lexington County Extension Office parking lot, located at 605 West Main Street, will also be closed throughout the day for float setup and staging.
The Christmas Parade will use the route of Haygood Avenue to West Main Street/US-1 to
North Lake Drive/SC-6. The best viewing of this parade will be along West Main Street from Haygood Avenue to the intersection of Main Street at Lake Drive.
To prepare for the 3:00 p.m. start of the Christmas Parade, West Main Street, from Columbia Avenue to North Lake Drive, East Main Street at Harmon Street, North Lake Drive at Dreher Street, and South Lake Drive at Fort Street, will close at 2:45 p.m. All traffic will be detoured around the parade route until the event is complete.
The main roadway detours will re-open at approximately 4:30 p.m. At the same time, West Butler Street, from Columbia Avenue to South Church Street, will remain closed until all parade floats and participants have been cleared from the roadway.
It is advised that attendees arrive early to find a parking space and seating along the parade route as this is always a well-attended event. Please find parking in public parking lots near the event as those who park in private business parking lots take the risk of being towed from the property at the owner’s expense.
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Thomaston police are investigating after thieves allegedly stole two Ford Mustang cars totaling nearly $200,000 from the Southern Ford of Thomaston dealership.
A Ford Mustang GT500 Heritage and a blue Ford Mustang GT500 were both taken overnight Friday.
“It’s really a special car, we are one of the lucky dealers that have it,” General Manager Chip Richardson said. “The Heritage was a numbered car; less than a thousand of them were built and everything was certified on it.”
According to Thomaston Police, the thieves broke into the showroom and took not only the cars but the keys to most of the cars in the lot.
“I don’t think this was someone coming to do a joyride, they knew what they were looking for,” Chief Mike Richardson said. “And I don’t think these are going to be chopped up anywhere, they’re heading somewhere.”
The thieves disabled the security cameras, according to police.
For those that run the dealership, it’s incredibly disappointing.
“We’re a small country town and normally nothing happens,” Chip Richardson said.
Investigators are asking anyone with information to call Thomaston Police.
There is a $1,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest.
Copyright 2022 WANF. All rights reserved.
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ASHFORD, CT (WFSB) – An animal control officer reported that a child was bitten by a raccoon in Ashford.
“It was wrapping its arms around my leg,” she explained. “It really hurt.”
State police said they responded to the incident on Fitts Road to assist the officer.
Video of the incident was captured by a surveillance camera:
A girl was attacked by a raccoon in Ashford. The family gave Channel 3 video of the attack.
It happened around 7:55 a.m. on Friday.
“I was going out to get on the bus and a racoon was there and tried to attack me,” said 5-year-old Rylee MacNamara of Ashford. “It didn’t want to go off of my leg.”
Rylee MacNamara said she and her mother suffered some bite marks and scratches before her mother was able to yank the animal off her.
Panicking, Logan, Rylees mother, screams for help.
“It’s a rabid racoon, get some help!,” said Logan.
The raccoon ran off into the woods after she threw it off.
There’s no word yet on if the animal was rabid.
“I thought maybe she slammed her finger in the door. I definitely wasn’t expecting to see a racoon wrapped around her leg,” Logan said.
The two went to the hospital, received rabies shots, and were back home in a couple of hours.
“We just kind of panicked at first. I was more scared than anything,” said Logan.
Neighbor, Jessica Gessay, isn’t surprised this happened.
“These woods around here… I fear them. There’s things out here. Animals, wild animals things like that,” said Jessica.
“It’s disturbing that it would be that close to our houses,” added Dave Frank, Ashford.
Animal control spent Friday morning in the woods to try and track down the animal. However, it was nowhere to be found.
The Macnamara’s might take it into their own hands by setting traps around the house.
Rylee and Logan will head back to the hospital every couple of days for the next two weeks to get more shots.
They Macnamara’s also say their kids won’t be allowed outside alone in the near future.
An animal control officer reported that a child was bitten by a raccoon in Ashford.
An animal control officer reported that a child was bitten by a raccoon in Ashford.
Copyright 2022 WFSB. All rights reserved.
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