1. education
2. school

The Journal
C
THURSDAY
November 20, 2014
Our Community
OFA Key Club Seeks Performers
Find Different Ways
To Add Beef To Your
Holiday Menu
COMMUNITY EATS, C2
The Ogdensburg Free Academy Key Club is looking for
Northern New York’s most
talented performers for its annual talent show on Dec. 18 at
the OFA Senior High Gym.
The talent show will offer
three divisions for elementary
students, middle school and
high school performers. The
show begins at 7 p.m.
Admission is $3 for students
and $5 for adults.
Our fall and spring talent shows have helped put the spotlight
on many of St. Lawrence County’s top young performers.
Key Club President Ashley Sovie
The Ogdensburg Free Academy Key Club’s Talent Show is
the city’s oldest student talent
show.
“For 20 years, the OFA Key
Club’s Talent Shows have
helped young people from
across Northern New York
develop their skills and show
what they can do on stage,”
said Key Club President Ashley Sovie. “Our fall and spring
talent shows have helped
put the spotlight on many of
St. Lawrence County’s top
young performers.”
For two decades, young
people from schools across
Northern New York have
taken the Ogdensburg stage
to entertain audiences with
the best in student performances.
Trophies will be awarded
to the top three in each division.
All funds raised will be
used to help students attend
the state leadership training
conference in Albany.
To enter, contact Ogdensburg Key Club Advisor James
Reagen at jimreagen1@gmail.
com or call 315-393-2154.
PIANO A FIRST FOR MWCS
Make Sure That You
Are Prepared For An
Emergency
OUTDOORS, C3
BRIEFS
Fire Chief Meeting
MORRISTOWN - The
St. Lawrence County Fire
Chief’s Association will
hold its bi-monthly meeting on Nov. 20 at the Morristown Fire Station.
Cocktails at 6 p.m.;
roast beef dinner at 7 p.m.
Please mail reservations
by Nov. 15 to P.O. Box 570,
Russell, NY 13684.
Memory Tree
HAMMOND - The
Hammond annual
memory tree lighting
will be held Dec. 7 at 6
p.m. at the Hammond
Fire Hall. Entertainment
and refreshments to follow.
All are welcome.
Anyone wishing to
remember a loved one
can do so by sending $1
to Village of Hammond,
PO Box 188, Hammond,
NY 13646.
PHOTO BY AMANDA PURCELL
Black Friday Sale
Madrid-Waddington Central School sophomore Josh Barkley tests out the school’s new grand piano.
CHMC Gift shop will
hold a Black Friday sale
from 9 a.m to 4 p.m. , Nov.
28. Twenty percent off all
gift items including Alex
and Ani and Vera Bradley.
All proceeds benefit the
CHMC auxiliary.
Christmas Jewelry
MORLEY — The
members of the Morley
Library Association, Inc.
would like to invite all
their friends, neighbors
and supporters to a before Christmas jewelry
shopping party on today
at 6 p.m. at the Morley
Library.
Local jewelry makers, 2 Mama Birds will
display and sell their
unique handcrafted
jewelry pieces as well as
sweaters, scarves and
other goodies from their
shop.
Check out some of
the specialty jewelry
pieces to be offered at
this event on the website
and Facebook page of
2 Mama Birds and then
enjoy a relaxed, friendly
evening of shopping and
refreshments at the Morley Library.
Go to http://
www.2mamabirds.com/
or https://www.facebook.com/2MamaBirds
or call Carol Woodward
at 386-4642 for more information.
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Events
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Waddington Couple Helps Raise Money for School’s Piano
By AMANDA PURCELL
MADRID – A couple from
Waddington is looking to
give back to the school that
educated their two daughters by helping to purchase
a grand piano for the music
department.
Judy T. and Lawrence E.
Jones, of Waddington, will
be raffling off hand-blown
glass ornaments, a Christmas tree and tree skirt to
raise money to help support
the cost of a new piano at
Madrid-Waddington Cen-
tral School.
“We fund raise every year
for school programs,” Mrs.
Jones said. “But this year it
is going to be extra special
since it will be 50 years since
I graduated from MadridWaddington.”
Mr. and Mrs. Jones said
their daughters, Stefanie A.
Jones and Michelle M. Keel,
benefited from the music
program at Madrid-Waddington.
“They were involved in
NYSSMA and all of the plays
every year,” Mrs. Jones said.
“But those are all things that
take extra money in the budgets and that money is not
there now. I think these programs are going to become
more and more dependent
on private donations as time
goes on. If we can be the
start of that, then so be it.”
Mrs. Jones said it is imperative for the community
to support schools and nonprofits.
“I think when you invest
in our child today you’re
also investing in our future,
as well,” Mrs. Jones said.
“What better way to do that
than through the music and
the art program? Those are
very important skills for a
student to have.”
The glass ornaments were
hand-blown by glass artist Tim Tiernan. The handembellished tree skirt was
crafted by Marcia Tiernan.
The piano, which was
purchased earlier this year,
sits in the school’s auditorium.
Previously, students and
teachers relied on electric
keyboard for choral, band
and musical performances
and rehearsals.
“To my knowledge this is
the first time the school has
had grand piano,” Principal Eric Burke said Tuesday.
“We have a phenomenal
music program and a ton of
talented students, This will
be an excellent complement
to their abilities.”
See MUSIC C2
Ogdensburg Elected Prohibition Party Candidate For Mayor In 1892
In 1892, Ogdensburg established itself as one of America’s leaders in the national
campaign against alcohol by
electing a Prohibition candidate for mayor.
Charles W. McClair, owner
of Ogdensburg’s successful
Ford Street clothing and hat
shop, Seaman & McClair, believed in Prohibition enough
that he left the Republican
Party in 1884 to join the fledgling national political temperance organization.
After almost 50-years of agitation by religious and social
organizations who had argued against the social decay
they believed was caused by
alcohol, saloons and drunkenness, supporters of a ban
against the manufacture and
sale of alcohol broke off from
the national Republican and
Democratic Parties by form-
James E.
REAGEN
Tales From the Oswegatchie Delta
ing their own national Prohibition Party. Organizers determined that the best hope
for forcing national leaders to
support their cause would be
to run candidates for local,
county, state and national offices to demonstrate the widespread support their cause
could generate.
Mr. McClair joined with St.
Lawrence County’s leading
Prohibition advocates and
agreed to serve as a candidate
for office.
In 1892, McClair generated
national interest by running
and winning as the Prohibition candidate for mayor.
McClair’s victory shocked
Republicans and Democrats
alike who had agreed to put
aside partisan politics in local elections. The “Establishment” had chosen Mayor
John E. Hannan, a prominent
Democrat and President of
the Ogdensburg Coal and
Towing Company, to run for
reelection on the non-partisan “Citizens Party” ticket.
Ogdensburg’s saloon keepers, restaurant owners and
those who enjoyed an occasional drink were shocked
to learn that McClair had defeated the popular mayor 600
to 544. The Ogdensburg Re-
publican Journal suggested
that local advocates for Prohibition, like McClair, had been
quietly supported by voters
who supported the striking
Pennsylvania coal miners
who were battling industrialist Thomas Mellon and 8,000
National Guard members in
1892, costing the Ogdensburg
coal company owner the local
election.
While McClair as mayor
could not ban alcohol in Ogdensburg, his election demonstrated that supporters of
Prohibition had moved from
the church halls to the ballot box and were becoming a
growing force in state and national elections.
McClair had been born
in Macomb on March 26,
1847, attending local district
schools. At 15, he began working as a clerk at a general store
until the Civil War broke out.
In 1868, responding to
President Lincoln’s call for
young men to enlist to save
the Union, McClair joined the
Cavalry, serving until the end
of the war.
When he came home, he
studied at the Gouverneur
Academy and then moved to
Ogdensburg where he went to
work for Nathan Frank, owner
of Frank’s Department store,
the largest and most prominent retailer in St. Lawrence
County.
After learning the clothing business for seven years,
he formed a partnership with
R. L. Seaman in 1876 and
launched his own dry goods
business under the name of
Seaman & McClair.
In 1889, he bought out SeaSee OGDENSBURG C2