PLEASANT VALLEY – Councilwoman Mary Albrecht of Pleasant Valley showed town youths that government is more than just town hall on Wednesday by giving kids a chance to help stock trout in Wappinger Creek. The trout are from the New York State hatchery in Sullivan County and are distributed in Dutchess County by state employees assisted by members of the Federation of Dutchess County Fish & Game Clubs (the Federation).
Albrecht is one of the advisors to the town’s “Junior Board” program that gives the town’s youth a voice from their viewpoint. It also exposes the kids to a number of different government functions besides just town hall.
Children must be in the seventh grade to participate Albrecht said, noting that most of them participate until becoming high school freshmen. “The kids have toured the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, the Dutchess County 911 center, and spent a day at the Pleasant Valley Fire Department,” Albrecht said, noting that the club also helps with the town’s Festival of Lights and Easter Egg Hunt along with other activities. “Today, with the help of Bill Conners, the Federation, and the New York State DEC, they are getting the opportunity to help stock trout in the Wappinger Creek right behind town hall.”
Seventh-grader Lucas Whitten, 12, is an avid fisherman according to Albrecht. On Wednesday he joined a group of his fellow club members in getting buckets of one and two-year-old trout from the hatchery truck to the creekside volunteers who put the trout in the creek. Admitting that he never thought he would be doing this as part of the club, Whitten said, “I think this is really pretty cool.”
Conners noted that Wednesday’s stockings in the Wappinger Creek were the second round that resulted in the release of one and two-year-old trout into the stream.
