« The disparity on crack-cocaine sentencing | Main | LA: With Jobs to Do, Louisiana Parish Turns to Inmates »
July 05, 2006
NY: Town That Rejected Supermax Prison Opens a Museum
Note: Tupper Lake was Gov Pataki's first choice site in 1997 for a supermax prison. The local chapter of the Sierra Club was instrumental in the defeat of that notion. One might speculate that it was the defeat of the prison that paved the way for Tupper Lake to create a museum. There are 18 state prisons in the 'upstate' region of the Adirondacks, a place referred to here by one writer as 'little Siberia'. ________________________________________________
Pataki, Clinton celebrate new Adirondacks museum
July 4, 2006
TUPPER LAKE, N.Y. -- It's the largest park in the lower 48 states. Now the Adirondacks have a new museum that explains what made them worth preserving. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Gov. George Pataki helped celebrate Tuesday's opening of the $30 million, 35,000-square-foot Natural History Center of the Adirondacks in Tupper Lake.
Friends of the new museum called it something else _ the Wild Center. "What better way to pay homage to the majestic Adirondack Park than through the spectacular Wild Center," Clinton said in a written statement. "This is truly a world-class museum that will help educate and inspire people for generations to come."
The center was designed to teach the public about the park's ecosystems, and offers lessons on every aspect of the region's natural history. Betsy Lowe, a former public-affairs officer for the Department of Environmental Conservation, first thought of the idea for the center in 1998. The concept broke ground in 2004 with the support of various nature enthusiasts.
"It takes a whole community, a region, to make a museum like this happen," said Lowe, now the center's managing director. "I think the museum will give back in really nice ways."
Pataki said the park would be a welcome addition in the state and would attract visitors of all ages.
"I am proud that New York state has been such a strong supporter of this project," he said in a statement. "And I commend the hard work of all who helped transform the idea for the museum into this magnificent community venue."
Lowe was named project manager of the museum, but she had plenty of help. Obie Clifford, the eventual board president; nature-lover Nellie Staves; Chamber of Commerce President Jon Kopp; Sandra Strader, who became mayor of Tupper Lake and others, helped raise money raised money and support the museum concept until its completion.
"Hopefully, people will continue to make appropriate management decisions for the Adirondacks," Lowe said. "It starts with that love for the Adirondacks, which we all have already, but this will build on that." Visitors to the nature center will find tanks full of fish, turtles and otters. TVs offer loops of educational information and children can be participate in hands-on play with animal artifacts.
The museum also includes an outdoor amphitheater, a movie theater, various exhibits, aquariums, a hiking trail, a cafe, an observation tower and 31 acres of preserve.
The 6 million acre Adirondacks are a mix of public and private lands. Tupper Lake is 115 miles north of Albany.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--wildcenter0704jul04
,0,505019.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork
Posted by lois at July 5, 2006 05:00 PM