OUR HISTORY

The first issue was four pages (two sheets front and back) on 8-1/2 x 11 inch paper and run off on a ditto machine in Emil Seerup’s home. He was able to get some financial backing from a group of Hague residents calling themselves Citizens Group of Hague. The paper was sent to all Silver Bay Property owners and all Hague year-round residents. The Silver Bay Property owners helped with a $100 donation and have continued their support with contributions through the years.

In the August 1972 issue, added to the publishing information was, “It is mailed free of charge to all residents of Hague.” In April 1974, that statement was removed, but Mr. Seerup continued to mail it to all residents and accepted contributions from them. V. [Virginia] Shattuck started with his list of year-round households and checked monthly with postmasters in Hague and Silver Bay to add new residents and remove those who had died or moved away. The same procedure was used for part-time residents, adding new readers as they requested it.” 

In the January 1982 issue, on page 1, an article on the tenth anniversary of The Hague Chronicle included this information: “He (Seerup) published a 4-page paper each month on his own Ditto machine. Different colors of paper were used over the years, canary yellow, white, pink, green and buff, depending on what was available.”

According to an article by Seerup titled “Improved Printing” [The Hague Chronicle, April 1974, V. III, No. 4, page 1], the early issues, from January 1972 to April 1973, were “reproduced on a spirit duplicator, which we obtained from the Citizen’s Group of Hague. This machine was capable of doing a creditable job on the first 150 copies but the rest of the copies would tend to be illegible. In April, 1973, we acquired an old mimeograph machine from the Christmas Club, which was moving out of Ticonderoga. The machine was of ancient vintage, but in relatively good condition except for a crack in each of the drums which, you may have noticed, caused a line or two here and there to be obliterated. Efforts to repair the old drums or get new ones were unsuccessful.”  He continued, “(now) …our printing problems are over. The Silver Bay Association which has an Off-Set press on which they print their brochures, letterheads and related printings, has offered as ‘a contribution to the Hague community’ to print future issues of the Chronicle.” Seerup added, “The material is being prepared as heretofore including the off-set master. SBA will print the required copies and return them for mailing. Working together, we should be able to do a better job for the community.”

The minutes of a special meeting on June 30, 1980 state that the purpose of the meeting was to “amend the constitution and by-laws dated January 1, 1980.” The amendments were necessary to comply with requirements of the IRS for 501 (c) (3) status. Directors re-elected at the meeting were Dottie Henry, editor; Mig Broderick, publisher; Alison Craig, secretary; and Jack Kennedy, treasurer. Thanks to the efforts of Jack Kennedy, the Internal Revenue Service advised in July 1980 that the application for tax exemption had been approved and The Hague Chronicle would be a “publicly supported organization” with donations being tax-deductible. Jack served as treasurer for a number of years until ill health forced him to resign, at which time Penny Bolton volunteered for the job. A 1980 summary report from the treasurer indicated contribution income from 221 readers of $2,314.50 and expenses of $2,042.56. “However,” it was noted, “we have not received a 1980 contribution from 155 persons who gave in the past.”

According to Dottie Henry, “At that time we were using mimeograph stencils and Silver Bay kindly let us run the copies off on their mimeograph machine until Mr. Terzian donated one to us at which time Jim Broderick and Ev Lee did the duplicating in the Town Hall. An electric typewriter was one of our first purchases in 1980. We (Dottie and Jack Henry with Dolly and Jack Kennedy) made a trip to Lake Placid after the Olympics to purchase a surplus one.”  In December 1980, Dottie wrote, “Our thanks for the manual work to Ev Lee and Jim Broderick for running the machine and to Erv DeGraff, who so efficiently operates a stapler, Jane Parmley, Flo Lee, Clifton West, Marion Shoemaker, the Cockrells, Lisa Henry, Jack Kennedy, Martha White, and Jack Henry, who have helped from time to time in collating, stapling, stamping, and sorting.”

In the January 1984 issue, Mig Broderick, editor, wrote, “We – Dottie Henry, Mig Broderick, Alison Craig, and Billie DeGraff – have worked hard to bring a picture of the day to day life in Hague. Georgina Lindquist has joined our staff to cover Town Board news.” She also expressed thanks to Jack Kennedy, treasurer, Penny Bolton, assistant treasurer and Ev Lee and Jim Broderick, mimeo operators. She mentioned that there was a mailing list of about 600 with 350 out-of-town and 250 locally mailed. Silver Bay ran the mailing labels off from their computer.

Also in 1984, Mig Broderick wrote the following (unpublished) tribute to Dottie Henry: "I never met anyone like her before. The gal types, must be one hundred words a minute, laughs, talks, then answers the phone - has time for serious business or a joke or two - this publisher of The Hague Chronicle. She listens. She discusses, she gets to the nitty qritty of every problem. She gathers news - she works far into the night to satisfy a few readers. Besides all her managerial skills, the human factor is utmost in her mind. Knowingly, she would slight no one. We all make mistakes, say things we don't mean, but Dottie Henry, as publisher of The Hague Chronicle is a team worker. She will do the hard job, realizing the staff cannot please everyone, but try she does and successfully gets out our Hague Chronicle every month." 

That same year, Mig also wrote the following (unpublished) tribute to Alison Craig: "Alison is chief political and "difficult subjects" analyst - a main staff writer for The Hague Chronicle, She is brilliant, feisty, bristles at incompetence, tries to be objective when her honesty calls out for righteous indignation. She presents her subject in a clear, concise, manner and succeeds. She is tireless in attending meetings, (is a) volunteer Planning Board member and can write funny or serious pieces - descriptive Lake (George) phenomenon or some background for needed tax reforming, making all her articles readable . She cares about Hague. She wants the best of everything for her home town. Her standards are high - we need more Alison Craigs."​

In 1989, Dottie Henry wrote, “The current staff is made up of the following VOLUNTEERS: Dorothy Henry, publisher; Mig Broderick, editor; Alison Craig, Georgina Lindquist, and Billie DeGraff, correspondents, Penny Bolton, treasurer and Fran Clifton, telephoning.” The volunteers who helped collate, staple, stamp and mail each issue included Ethel Andrus, Claire Best, Erv DeGraff, Jean Feibusch, Maureen Garrison, Alma and Carl Jantzen, Katie Koenig, Georgina and Everett Lindquist, Julia and Aaron Middleton, Ida Moore, Audrey O’Brien, Marion Shoemaker, (and) Corbee Skahan” along with other occasional helpers."  Mig Broderick and Dottie Henry worked closely as editor and publisher from 1979 until 1989, when Mig retired as editor after the sudden death of her husband, Jim. Dottie became both editor and publisher, and by July 1998, the staff included Mary Jo Keeler, assistant, and Mitzi Fillare, treasurer, in addition to a number of monthly volunteers.​​

Alison Craig and Dottie Henry were the only remaining members of the board in December 2002. Dottie called a meeting for the purpose of adopting a new constitution and by-laws and the election of seven directors for 2003. They replaced the old constitution and by-laws “in their entirety.” Elected as directors of the organization were Ethel Andrus, John Barber, Michele Gautreau, Dorothy Henry, George Ianson, Mary Jo Keeler, and Judy Stock. Officers elected were Judy Stock, publisher, Dottie Henry, editor, Mary Jo Keeler, secretary, and George Ianson, treasurer.

As reported in the February 2005 issue, the annual meeting of The Hague Chronicle volunteer Board of Directors took place on January 25, 2005 at the Hague Community Center. The board accepted, with regret, the resignation of Mary Jo Keeler, who moved away from Hague. They then elected Nancy Young Trombley and Chris Ianson to the board. Treasurer George Ianson reported 2004 income of $11,978.56, expenses of $11,390.13, and a closing balance of $8,729.42. The suggested annual donation remained at $12. Publisher Judy Stock reported that the current mailing list totaled 728 of which 228 were mailed locally. Many comments were received from readers with appreciation for keeping them informed. Dottie Henry at one time noted, “One year we were really out of funds and I suggested in the December issue that maybe everyone could send us $1 in addition to their regular contributions. We have never been in the hole since.”

In November 2007, Judy Stock took on the duties of editor. She continued to try to increase the volunteer base so more duties could be spread around. Pat McDonough joined the Editorial Staff and became a board member in 2008 and in 2009, Jim Henderson volunteered to do the job of layout editor. Janet Hanna volunteered to work on special projects. In 2010, Jan Whitaker became the data base manager. In 2011 Bob Whitaker was elected treasurer and Ginger Henry Kuenzel was also elected to the board.

Electronics simplified the process when Judy began receiving all articles via email. She edited them and emailed them to Jim for layout. He returned the files to the publisher for final review and proofreading, and then they were uploaded to Staples, where they were picked up just before mailing. The mail crew then met at the Community Center to staple, fold, tape, label, stamp, and sort.

In addition to all the volunteers mentioned previously, our mailing crew has — over the years — included volunteers Leonard Bass, Cathy Burdick, Ed Crabbs, Lee Dame, Elaine Deana, JoAnne DeFranco, Mary Lou Doulin, Janet and Jon Hanna, Nancy Harrigan, Toby Hatfield, Janet Hoffay, Mary Keefer, Rudy Meola, Doris Moran, Gertrude Raczkowski, Nancy Wotton Scarzello, Betty Van Sleet and Marguerite West.  Stan Burdick volunteered his professional service as our cartoonist from May 2004 to November 2015. 

In January 2011, we published the first issue of V. 40. On August 21, 2011 we celebrated this 40th year of publishing with an afternoon of exhibits, a program and a Strawberry Social at the Hague Community Center.

2012 saw the creation of our Facebook page and in February 2013 we launched this website.

In May 2016, Bobbi Bryant Taylor took over as editor and in April 2017, Chris Quinn took over as layout editor. Each month a support staff of five helped to get the issues done: Judy Stock, Pat McDonough, and Tina Barth King as proofreaders; Sandy Powell as board meeting reporter; and Clare Best as print distribution coordinator.

Additional recent staff has included these volunteers who have helped in various ways: Seddon Beaty, Dorothy Brauner, Maureen Cherubini, Mona DiMarco, Diane Dickson, Enid Engler, Bill Gourley, Judy Gourley, Gladys Graser, Donna Henderson, Pat Hintze, Mary Keefer, Kathi Ramant, Sandy Rypkema, Judy Schultz, Connie  Smith, Joan Steitz, Marilyn Turnamian.

In 2018, we mourned the loss of two of our ardent supporters, Former Layout Editor Jim Henderson and Town Board Member Mike Cherubini. 

In 2022, Editor Bobbi Bryant Taylor stepped up to the role of publisher, sharing her editing duties with two assistant editors, Ginger Henry Kuenzel and Jodee Keller. 

In 2023, after almost seven years of writing them, Mike Strutz retired as the author of the column “Water Quality Matters” and Connie Smith retired as the author of the column “Naturally Speaking."

When she was elected to the Planning Board, and after over six years of attending meetings and writing up notes for articles about them, Sandy Barth Powell stopped writing up notes of the Planning Board and Zoning Board meetings.

Bobbi Bryant Taylor took on all of the duties assigned to the publisher and editor.

Although no longer designated as “Assistant Editors,” Ginger Henry Kuenzel continued to write and contribute articles on lake wide news and Jodee Keller continued doing the calendar.

Linda Fusco came on board, writing articles about the Property Owners of Silver Bay (which now includes Sabbath Day Point, Silver Bay, and Hague), as well as timely articles on educational and environmental issues.