Big News, Pt. IV – the "St. Lawrence Valley"

The biggest story of 2008 in this neck of the woods is an easy one: Darrel Aubertine winning his Senate seat…twice in one year! The former Assembyman defeated Republican Will Barclay in February in the most expensive and vicious campaign the North Country has ever seen. The special election was called to replace powerful Senator Jim Wright, who took a job with an energy lobbying firm (he had chaired the Senate Energy committee).

The result was a major upset. The 48th Senate district is overwhelmingly Republican; you have to go back, at least, to the 19th century to find a Democrat in this seat.

Then Aubertine defended it last November, defeating Watertown lawyer David Renzi pretty convincingly. The two campaigns consumed St. Lawrence and Jefferson county politics like nothing I’ve seen in my (paltry, I know) eight years here.

So here’s my quickie list of the other big stories of 2008 in my reporting. Like Brian, I’m leaving out the big statewide stories, like Spitzer, the presidential election, the state deficit, etc.

– wind power fuels big windfalls and deep divisions, from Ellenburg and Burke to Cape Vincent, Hammond, and Galloo island.

– summer concerns over the skyrocketing price of heating oil and natural gas, and the push to find alternative energies in agriculture, like switchgrass and wood pellets.

– the DEC’s pending ban on open burning, including burn barrels.

– the International Joint Commission decides to support a water levels plan on the St. Lawrence River that’s very similar to the 50 year-old one. Then the IJC does an about-face, and bags that plan for a more environmentally friendly solution.

– the never-ending pressure of ongoing deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan for Fort Drum’s 10th Mountain Division. The headquarters is in Iraq now; the 3rd brigade is deploying now to Afghanistan.

– the economic crisis takes its toll on North Country industries, like Corning, General Motors, and tourism.

– passage of the Great Lakes Compact helps preserve fresh water from export.

– the Stanley Cup comes to Ogdensburg!!

Tune in to The 8 O’Clock Hour tomorrow morning for our wrap-up of the news of 2008…

BTW, I put that region name – the St. Lawrence Valley – in quotes because I’m referred to as the St. Lawrence Valley reporter. But “outside the Adirondacks” stretches from Watertown and Fort Drum to the Thousands Islands, St. Lawrence County, Akwesasne – even into Franklin and Clinton counties. Lots of territory to cover!