News from NY's Finger Lakes

[Flying Horse]

Fort Drum Remembers: Housing history.
With all of its history, since 9/11 and before, Fort Drum needed a place to house it all... and someone to take charge. The man who now runs it would have never even considered it - had it not been for 9/11 attacks.

FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- On that day in September, Kent Bolke was serving in the US Coast Guard. He waited and waited until that call finally came…two years later. He would be headed to the 1000 Islands to help install new homeland security measures. And it was on that trip, that he found his future.
"We decided to come down and visit Fort Drum and I saw the statue. I thought man, this is a division that has its history and understands its history. That statue later led me to, when the position came open at Fort Drum, that I decided to become the curator here," said Kent Bolke, 10th Mountain Division & Fort Drum Museum Curator.
The museum has become the place to look back on everything 10th Mountain and Fort Drum, and a whole lot more. The museum hits upon all major time frames in history, including the War of 1812 that brought the Army to the North Country, World War II and even the quiet years that followed. It also features Somalia, Haiti and of course, the current conflicts.
"Then we start to talk about OIF and OEF. Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. The 10th Mountain Division were some of the early units into both these operations," said Bolke. But Bolke says this museum, isn't just words on a plaque, but rather a trip back in time. "We're not really going to present the overall, this unit went this date and this unit did that mission and such. What we're going to show is what living conditions were like. What equipment did they wear? What did they use throughout history," said Bolke.
It's all about educating the soldier, history repeating itself, learning about the past and mixing in the future. "My mission is soldier education. That is the primary mission of this museum. It's to let soldiers learn from their history. We have exhibits on display right now that talk about IED's and show you captured enemy weapons and give you an idea of what the fight's going to be like when you're there. We're working on an exhibit right now that's actually going to move beyond history and actually show you what you need to expect when you go to the fight," said Bolke.

[Flying Horse]

Local woman takes 2nd runner up at Miss American pageant.

A Rochester woman, Kaitlin Montedid, very well at the Miss America Pageant last night, taking 2nd runner up in Las Vegas. She is an advocate for safe and supportive academic, social, and professional environments. As Miss New York, she will travel the state throughout the next year to talk about the dangers of bullying, abuse, and harassment.
Laura Kaeppeler from Wisconsin was named Miss America

[Flying Horse]

York basketball player speaks out about former coach.

Mike Falk was relieved of his coaching duties after he was accused of trying to lead a huddle chant of "1.. 2.. 3.. Tourette's." This happened as his team was playing against LeRoy, a district with about a dozen students who recently suffered from mysterious physical tics. As this student told YNN in this exclusive, none of the players thought the joke was funny.
Chris Jackson says it wasn't funny, and after months of dealing with a mystery illness that's hit more than a dozen students, no one in LeRoy was laughing either. When school officials in York heard about the remark, Falk was relieved of his coaching duties.
"I'm sorry for anything he said,” said Chris.
Falk is also an eighth grade math teacher at York. After the incident in LeRoy, parents have been calling on the district to fire him. Some parents have even accused him of bullying their children. "I think he deserves some of the negative attention - this isn't the first time he's screwed up in the past few years."
Chris Jackson says his team did nothing wrong, but the negative attention has had a damaging effect on his teammates. "No, I don't think everyone's gotten past it, but I think they try to bury it deep, work harder and get better," said Chris.
Jackson expected his coach to be a role model; to set a good example. He says Falk let him down. "I expected more of the guy, and I got cut short." Jackson said the new coach has been a "breath of fresh air." The team is starting to play better.
The attorney for the York school board has advised the board that based on the incident in LeRoy alone, there is not a case for termination.

[Flying Horse]

Miss New York visits hometown to talk bullying.

She represented beauty and grace before the world as 2011's Miss New York. Wednesday, Kaitlin Monte used her crown for another cause. "I believe in being bold. It's okay to wake up in the morning and be terrified that you're not going to get this right. It's okay to go into a test and be scared you're not going to get the grade you want, but don't let that stop you from giving it everything you have," said Monte, to a room full of students. She motivated students at Rochester STEM high school as she spoke about the topic of bullying.
"I thought I was going to be bored but it wasn't like that, I enjoyed it," said Royality Gavin, sophomore. "She's really down to earth,"
Over the next four days, Monte will take her anti-bullying platform to six schools in the Rochester area. "My fight against bullying, my fight to empower young people, is something that comes from me," said Monte. Monte also uses the stage to encourage students through her own non profit she started called Project Empower.
"Project Empower is a non-profit I started this year to help kids increase their scope of the world. We do career readiness, life readiness, we give them hands on opportunity to learn about the world outside of their school walls," said Monte. Monte has until June before she passes along her crown. After that, she says, the confidence that came with it is one she'll continue to promote.
She'll be at East Rochester High School Thursday. Anyone in the community will have the chance to meet Monte and discuss anti-bullying initiatives.

[Flying Horse]

Miss New York visits hometown to talk bullying.

She represented beauty and grace before the world as 2011's Miss New York. Wednesday, Kaitlin Monte used her crown for another cause. "I believe in being bold. It's okay to wake up in the morning and be terrified that you're not going to get this right. It's okay to go into a test and be scared you're not going to get the grade you want, but don't let that stop you from giving it everything you have," said Monte, to a room full of students. She motivated students at Rochester STEM high school as she spoke about the topic of bullying.
"I thought I was going to be bored but it wasn't like that, I enjoyed it," said Royality Gavin, sophomore. "She's really down to earth,"
Over the next four days, Monte will take her anti-bullying platform to six schools in the Rochester area. "My fight against bullying, my fight to empower young people, is something that comes from me," said Monte. Monte also uses the stage to encourage students through her own non profit she started called Project Empower.
"Project Empower is a non-profit I started this year to help kids increase their scope of the world. We do career readiness, life readiness, we give them hands on opportunity to learn about the world outside of their school walls," said Monte. Monte has until June before she passes along her crown. After that, she says, the confidence that came with it is one she'll continue to promote.
She'll be at East Rochester High School Thursday. Anyone in the community will have the chance to meet Monte and discuss anti-bullying initiatives.
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