POTSDAM, N.Y. (10/21/2010)(readMedia)-- As the SUNY Potsdam volleyball team heads into its second-to-last weekend of regular season competition, players and coaches won't soon forget where it all started just over two months ago.

The Bears, who host this weekend's State University of New York Athletic Conference Pool Play event, began preseason training in Costa Rica on Aug. 4. It was the first international trip of any kind in the program's history.

WATERTOWN -- Rande S. Richardson, executive director of the Northern New York Community Foundation, announced grants were approved this week totaling over $100,000 in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence Counties.

For St. Lawrence County organizations, grants totaled $45,000, including $25,000 for the Frederic Remington Art Museum in Ogdensburg, in support of their centennial campaign, and $20,000 in support of Canton-Potsdam Hospital’s “Constructing Healthier Communities” campaign and the expansion of cancer treatment services.

The jobless rate in St. Lawrence County dropped by half a percent from August to September, but that still leaves the county with highest jobless rate among counties in the state outside of New York City, according to figures released this afternoon by the New York State Department of Labor.

In Jefferson County, the rate went up slightly.

The proportion of unemployed workers on benefits in St. Lawrence County stood at 9.4 percent in September, down from 9.9 percent in August. In September 2009, the rate in the county was 8.9 percent.

NORFOLK -- Norfolk-Norwood Figure Skating Club hosts a Halloween rock-n-skate 6:30 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23 at the Norfolk arena.

Wear a costume and be eligible for prizes.

There will also be a bake sale and more.

POTSDAM – The Orchestra of Northern New York will perform a Mozart, Barber and Schumann Celebration featuring internationally acclaimed clarinetist Jon Manasse Saturday, Oct. 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Hosmer Concert Hall, SUNY Potsdam.

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Samuel Barber’s birth, the Orchestra will open the concert with his incomparable Adagio for Strings. One of his best known works, the Adagio is frequently played in times of remembrance and was played at the funerals of both Princess Grace of Monaco and Albert Einstein.

By CRAIG FREILICH

With the state Senate almost evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, the race between Democratic incumbent Darrel Aubertine and Republican challenger Patty Ritchie could determine which party is in control of that body next year.

Aubertine was a dairy farmer for decades in his hometown of Cape Vincent before being elected to the state Assembly in 2002. He was sent to the Senate in a special election early in 2008, and re-elected in the regular election that fall.

The Greater Ogdensburg Chamber of Commerce announced the winner of the 2010 Citizen of the Year, Charles Kelley.

Kelly has been an outspoken advocate for Ogdensburg and St. Lawrence County for his entire 56 year career with the Ogdensburg Journal/Advance News. As the publisher and editor of newspapers in Ogdensburg, Massena, Potsdam, Canton and Malone, Chuck is well known as a passionate believer in the North Country.

CANTON – Hundreds of little ghosts, goblins, princesses and super heroes will be winding their way through the village Saturday, Oct. 23 at the annual Phantoms in the Park pre-Halloween celebration, sponsored by SUNY Canton and the Canton Chamber of Commerce.

The event will begin at 1 p.m. with the Trick or Treat parade from the Village Park to the downtown merchants, where children will be treated to sweets and other goodies from participating businesses.