Week of 12/19-12/25

The chase for a suspect who allegedly robbed a Colonie bank ended in the southbound lane of Route 50 near East Avenue in Saratoga Springs Thursday evening.
The suspect was 62-year-old Daniel Freeland of Baltimore, Maryland. It is alleged that he entered the Capital Bank & Trust in Newton Plaza on Route 9 in Loudenville wearing a fake grey beard and possessing a loaded gun. Freeland then demanded money from the teller and fled the bank with approximately $7,000.
He then got into his red SUV and headed north on I-87. Police spotted him around Exit 14 and he eventually exited the Northway at exit 16. He then headed south on Route 9 and onto Route 50 where the chase ended when he struck another vehicle and flipped over. There were no serious injuries in the crash.
The accident that occurred around 4:30 p.m. closed down Route 50 for several hours after the crash.
Freeland is charged with first degree robbery, second degree possession of a loaded firearm and third-degree grand larceny.

Local group sues after site of proposed rec center passes
The Saratoga Springs Planning Board approved the site plan for the proposed indoor rec center on Thursday, Dec. 18 leading to a local group filing a lawsuit to stop the facilities' construction.
The seven member board approved the site plan by a vote of five to zero - two of the members did not vote. The approval of the site was the final step in the process. City officials will now be able to look for a contractor to build the 33,000-square-foot
facility.
However, city plans hit a bump in the road on Monday when a group known as The Friends of South Side Park filed papers in Saratoga County Supreme Court in Ballston Spa that says the city did not obey rules and regulations to move such a project forward.
The lawsuit lists three reasons for its filing that include the city's environmental review process; an incomplete site plan that was approved by the city's Planning Board and a violation of the city charter for not placing the facility on its six-year capital program.
The city must respond to the charges by Jan. 14.

Bars to be sued in DWI crash
The wife of a drunk driver who killed a local teenager in June has filed a lawsuit against two Saratoga Springs bars.
The lawsuit that was filed in Saratoga Springs Supreme Court by Melissa Arpey, wife of Michael Arpey, alleges that her husband was "unlawfully served alcohol" by staff at It's Confidential and the Saratoga City Tavern.
On June 4, Arpey traveling north on Route 9N crossed the road's center line striking a car driven by 17-year-old Saratoga Springs High School student Edward Loomis. He would
have been a senior at the school
this year.
Loomis was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, while Arpey was pronounced dead at Saratoga Hospital later that morning. Arpey's blood alcohol content was 0.23 at the time of the crash - nearly three times the legal limit.
Arpey's wife Melissa is now suing for lost wages her husband, a construction worker, would have earned from the time of his
death until the time he would
have retired.

AMD to file site plans
Now that Advanced Micro Devices has received the proper zoning approvals it intends to file for site plan approval to build the $4.6 billion computer chip factory in January.
Before the company can move forward with plans to construct the facility, the site plan will have to be approved by the Malta and Stillwater Planning Boards It will likely take up to a few months for the site plan, which will look at parking, lighting, signage and the overall appearance of the facility, to recieve approval from the
two boards.
The company currently hopes to start clearing land in March and break ground on the new facility in June.
Fire Department to
continue providing
protection to Milton
The Ballston Spa Village Town Board approved a five-year contract with the town of Milton that will allow the village's fire department to provide protection
to the town's southeast section
on Monday.
The town currently pays the village of Ballston Spa $135,000 a year for fire protection in the neighborhood, but that number will jump to $150,000 under the new contract.
The money will be used to purchase and maintain equipment and various other costs the village incurs in order to run the department. The village's fire department is currently staffed by a group of volunteers hailing from the Eagle-Matt Lee and Union fire companies.

Fugitive facing multiple rape charges commits s
uicide in Cohoes
apartment
A former police officer from Pennsylvania wanted for multiple rapes in York, PA and Baltimore, MD killed himself in his Cohoes apartment Monday mourning after authorities arrived there to arrest him.
Michael L. Johnson, 40, shot himself once in the chest and again in the head at his 2 Mohawk St. apartment around 9:30 a.m. when U.S. Marshalls and Cohoes police arrived on the scene to arrest him after federal and state officials pursued the fugitive for close to two weeks.
Authorities were able to pinpoint his whereabouts in the Capital Region through a signal that was detected from his cell phone.
Before committing suicide he was wanted for one rape in Baltimore and two in York. Johnson is said to have posed as a police officer in order to detain prostitutes and rape them.
Johnson who recently appeared on an episode of America's Most Wanted is not believed to have any connection to the area.

Fines to rise on false alarms
Operators of alarm systems in Saratoga Springs will be paying closer attention to their alarm protection systems in the future after city officials announced a service fee for false alarm responses
by police and fire departments
in 2009.
City officials recently amended an ordinance on emergency alarm systems which will allow them to charge a fee to people operating alarms that are falsely triggered. Residents and business owners will now be allowed two free false alarms per year before they are fined a $50 fee for a third or fourth false alarm violation. After
that false alarms will cost
operators $250.
The fines are expected to bring in approximately $50,000 to the city in 2009.

Price Chopper president named retail executive
of the year
Neil Golub, President and CEO of the Golub Corporation, the parent company of local supermarket chain Price Chopper, was recently named Retail Executive of the Year by industry magazine Grocery Headquarters.
The magazine calls the 70-year-old Golub "the architect of a bold growth plan that includes more stores with cutting-edge departments, expanded warehouse space and a new headquarters building in its hometown of Schenectady, N.Y."
It goes on to state that "Golub understands the focus necessary to remain relevant today." And calls him a ""a blend of enthusiasm, boardroom smarts and merchandising savvy."
The Golub Corporation operates 116 stores in upstate New York, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. The company is currently planning a multi-year project that will add more than a half-million square feet of warehouse space near its present headquarters, including a new 275,000-square-foot general merchandise warehouse, a 100,000-square-foot addition to the grocery warehouse, an 89,000-square-foot addition to the perishable warehouse and a new 40,000-square- foot resource recovery center. They also intend to build a 240,000 square-foot facility that will open in Schenectady in late 2009 and serve as the company's new
headquarters.