Press Release: SSIRP Awarded $500,000 State Grant to Restore Sherburne Inn

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Chris Hoffman, Vice President

Save the Sherburne Inn Restoration Project, Inc.

POB 1102

Sherburne, NY 13460

607-674-2279

cehoffman2009@twcny.rr.com

thesherburneinn.org

STATE AWARDS SSIRP $500,000 TO RESTORE HISTORIC SHERBURNE INN

[December 11, 2013 – Sherburne, NY]  On December 11, Save the Sherburne Inn Restoration Project (SSIRP) was awarded a $500,000 grant from the State of New York to restore the historic Sherburne Inn.  The grant was part of $81.9 million awarded to the Southern Tier Regional Economic Development Council, and part of $715.9 million awarded to the ten regional economic development councils across the state.  Of the 87 projects funded in the Southern Tier, only 22 received more funding than SSIRP.  A total of 8 funded projects are located in Chenango County.  

Kathleen Yasas, president of the SSIRP Board of Directors, was informed of the award by a call from Senator James Seward’s office.  “A little over a year ago we were all wondering how we were going to keep The Inn from being torn down" Ms. Yasas said.  "Today, I received a phone call telling me that the State of New York believes in our project to the tune of half a million dollars!  Needless to say, we are very excited. We have a long way to go, but this is a momentous first step.”

Conceptualized as an economic driver for the Village and Town of Sherburne, Chenango County, the Southern Tier, and New York State, SSIRP plans to reopen The Inn with sleeping rooms, event space, conference space, a farm-to-table restaurant and bar, a tavern, and retail space for such things as a bakery and coffee shop, a gift shop, and salon.  Temporary and permanent part- and full-time jobs will be created both during the restoration and after The Inn has been re-opened.  

The project coincides with several of the focal points of the State’s economic development priorities:  downtown revitalization, historic preservation, tourism, and local agriculture.  

For more information on The Sherburne Inn and SSIRP, visit www.sherburneinn.org. SSIRP is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

It's A Wonderful Life

There was no Jimmy Stewart. There was no basket full of cash spilled onto a table to get George Bailey out of trouble. And there was no little girl telling her daddy that every time a bell sounds an angel gets his wings. But there is no question that angels were close by on Friday night, when The Sherburne Inn opened its doors for the first time in more than decade to welcome over a hundred people to gather and celebrate the rebirth of an historic landmark.

Those of us at Save The Sherburne Inn Restoration Project have spent the past 14 months thinking, meeting, talking, planning, and convincing others that the future we see for The Sherburne Inn is a bright one. On December 6, 2013, not much convincing was needed. On Friday evening, SSIRP's first fundraiser was held at The Inn, a building that only months ago was slated for possible demolition. People from Sherburne and its surrounding communities walked through The Sherburne Inn's doors to see a holiday wonderland. White twinkle lights on a live Christmas tree, gold and silver balloons, crackling logs in the fireplace, white vases filled with pine; garland and candles and all manner of winter delights were only part of what made the evening so special. The displays of food were remarkable: cheeses and desserts, breads and meats, vegetables and fruits and wine and beer and fresh-brewed coffee. There were live and ticket auctions, with baskets and other items donated not only by local individuals, but by Chef Charlie Palmer, author Andy Straka, Nike, and The New York Knicks. The lights of The Inn glowed both inside and out, although those lights had great competition: the faces of guests glowed even more with the realization that The Sherburne Inn is in fact coming back to life. 

It seems that is should be easy enough to thank an entire community, especially one as small as Sherburne. We could take an ad out in the paper, I suppose, and say "Thank you!" Such an ad, though, cannot begin to express our true appreciation for what has transpired over the past few weeks in getting ready for the December 6 fundraiser, and indeed, for the months prior when donations of money and services and good will have poured in. There is the person from Long Island who has sent not one, not two, but three checks, the last arriving in a Christmas card where she wrote "Thank you for taking such good care of my hometown!" There is the lady from Maine who watches our progress in The Sherburne News and who has sent two checks with notes of glad tidings. There are the people who have donated time to cleaning the building, and decorating the building, and making sure the fireplace is working and the water is flowing. There are those who send notes of encouragement through the mail and on Facebook. Those who call to say "Keep up the good work!" There are the politicians who commend us, the historic preservation representatives who tell us we are an example for others who want to save important landmarks, the local contractors who are eager for us to start work, and the local farmers who wait with great anticipation for us to open a restaurant where food will be tasty and healthy and fine (and local). There is the graphic designer who donates his services, the webmaster who donates his, the auctioneer, the mason, the businessmen who all take time away from paid work to help us go forward. There are the "elves" who cleaned and decorated and moved furniture, volunteers who could have stayed home but instead showed up with mops and brooms and muscles. There are, in fact, too many people to thank with a simple newspaper ad. The outpouring of support has been beyond our wildest dreams because The Sherburne Inn is part of everyone's dream. We at SSIRP weren't sure of that in the beginning. We are sure of it now.

Someone, who it was I'm not sure, once referred to The Inn as "that pile of bricks on the corner." I hope that person drove by The Sherburne Inn on Friday night. What he or she would have seen was nothing short of a miracle: lights shining brightly through once-dark windows, people inside smiling and toasting, music and laughter and life, a revival of our rural culture. People of this wonderful community stepped up on Friday night and said "We believe!" They were there for us at SSIRP, for others who will someday dine and sleep and rejoice within the walls of a building that is anything but just "a pile of bricks;" they were there for themselves, making new memories in a place that guards and celebrates the memories of a century, a special place in the physical heart of Sherburne -- and in the emotional hearts of our townspeople -- that was almost lost. 

No, Jimmy Stewart wasn't there. But angels were most certainly all around, those who walked through The Sherburne Inn doors on Friday evening in support of this journey, and those whose spirits are still there, one hundred years later.

As guests drifted away on Friday night, gentle snowfall began decorating our village. It was the perfect ending to a perfect night, and the beginning of a wonderful new life for The Sherburne Inn.

Looks Like I'm in Trouble Now!

Per the email below, which I received on Saturday, it seems the FBI is planning to arrest me. This may be the funniest swindle yet. I guess the scammers are giving up on "Give us your personal information so we can transfer Prince Yaba Daba Doo's estate riches to your checking account" and are going instead for the "You're in trouble now, Missy!" angle.  This fellow is telling me -- in slightly less than the King's English -- that I'm going to lose all my property and will go to jail for life on money laundering, drug trafficking, and terrorism charges unless I send some guy in Nigeria $98, which apparently will clear the whole thing up. I've read this a couple of times and still can't quite figure out what I supposedly did to cause this dilemma for myself. Of course, the "fbi agent" is going to send a letter to the mayor so he can further yell at me and close my bank account prior to my arrest. Heads up Mr. Acee, hope you'll give me a call when the letter arrives.

Anti-Terrorist and Monetary Crimes Division
Fbi Headquarters In Washington, D.C.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
J. Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20535-0001 Website: www.fbi.gov

Attention, this is the final warning you are going to received from me do you get me?

I hope youre understand how many times this message has been sent to you?.

We have warned you so many times and you have decided to ignore our e-mails or because you believe we have not been instructed to get you arrested, and today if you fail to respond back to us with the payment then, we would first send a letter to the mayor of the city where you reside and direct them to close your bank account until you have been jailed and all your properties will be confiscated by the fbi. We would also send a letter to the company/agency that you are working for so they could get you fired until we are through with our investigations because a suspect is not suppose to be working for the government or any private organization.

Your id which we have in our database has been sent to all the crimes agencies in America for them to inset you in their website as an internet fraudsters and to warn people from having any deals with you. This would have been solved all this while if you had gotten the certificate signed, endorsed and stamped as you where instructed in the e-mail below you sent to us and am using this medium to inform you that there is no more time left to waste because you have been given from the 3rd of January. As stated earlier to have the document endorsed, signed and stamped without failure and you must adhere to this directives to avoid you blaming yourself at last when we must have arrested and jailed you for life and all your properties confiscated.

You failed to comply with our directives and that was the reason why we didn't hear from you on the 3rd as our director has already been notified about you get the process completed yesterday and right now the warrant of arrest has been signed against you and it will be carried out in the next 48hours as strictly signed by the fbi director. We have investigated and found out that you didn't have any idea when the fraudulent deal was committed with your information's/identity and right now if you id is placed on our website as a wanted person, i believe you know that it will be a shame to you and your entire family because after then it will be announce in all the local channels that you are wanted by the fbi. As a good Christian and a honest man, I decided to see how i could be of help to you because i would not be happy to see you end up in jail and all your properties confiscated all because your information's was used to carry out a fraudulent transactions, i called the efcc and they directed me to a private company who could help you get the process done and he stated that he will endorse, sign and stamp the document at the sum of $98.00 usd only and i believe this process is cheaper for you.

You need to do everything possible within today and tomorrow to get this process done because our director has called to inform me that the warrant of arrest has been signed against you and once it has been approved, then the arrest will be carried out, and from our investigations we learnt that you were the person that forwarded your identity to one imposter/fraudsters in Nigeria when he had a deal with you about the transfer of some illegal funds into your bank account which is valued at the sum of $10.500,000 usd.

I pleaded on your behalf so that this agency could give you till 11/30/2013 so that you could get this process done because i learnt that you were sent several e-mail without getting a response from you bear it in mind that this is the only way that i can be able to help you at this moment or you would have to face the law and its consequences once it has befall on you. You would make the payment through western union money transfer with the below details.

NAME: Uzoukwu Cletus
ADDRESS: Lagos Nigeria
TEXT QUESTION: For
ANSWER: You
AMOUNT: $98
SENDERS NAME: =======

Send the payment details to me which are senders name and address, mtcn number, text question and answer used and the amount sent. Make sure that you didn't hesitate making the payment down to the agency by today so that they could have the certificate endorsed, signed and stamped immediately without any further delay. After all this process has been carried out, then we would have to proceed to the bank for the transfer of your compensation funds which is valued at the sum of $10.500,000 usd which was suppose to have been transferred to you all this while.

Note/ all the crimes agencies have been contacted on this regards and we shall trace and arrest you if you disregard this instructions. You are given a grace today to make the payment for the document after which your failure to do that will attract a maximum arrest and finally you will be appearing in court for act of terrorism, money laundering and drug trafficking charges, so be warned not to try any thing funny because you are been watched.

Thanks for your co-operation.

Robert Mueller

 

Anti-Terrorist and Monetary Crimes Division

Fbi Headquarters In Washington, D.C.

Federal Bureau of Investigation

J. Edgar Hoover Building

935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20535-0001 Website: www.fbi.gov