Les Armstrong for Greene County .com has been established to provide up-to-the-minute information for the community of Durham, Greene County, New York.

Leslie (Les) Armstrong, a life-long resident of the Town of Durham Hamlet of Cornwallville, graduated from Cairo-Durham High School in 1977 and went on to earn an Associates Degree from SUNY Cobleskill. 

In 1986 Les married Debra (Mullaney) of Freehold. The couple has two sons, Dakota and Hunter, both of whom have been lifelong students of the Cairo-Durham School District, Dakota having gone on to college and Hunter presently continuing his high school studies.

Les ran a local small contracting business for almost a decade.  In 1996, Les started Armstrong’s Elk Farm on his family’s farm. Beginning modestly with only five animals, the Armstrong's herd now varies between thirty and forty head of prize-winning elk.

[In 2003, the Daily Freeman published an article about the Armstrong's elk farming business, which can be opened in a new browser window or downloaded as an Adobe PDF file. Photos of the working elk farm can be viewed at the Photo Gallery. Armstrong's Elk Farm is also featured in the books The Catskills Alive! by Francine Silverman and Let's Take the Kids: Great Places To Go in New York's Hudson Valley by Joanne Michaels and Mary Barile and has been highlighted by Travel Hudson Valley/Hudson Valley Voyager in its Quick Guide to Great Specialty & Gourmet Food Sources and New York Metro Parents Magazine -- Parenting Publications of America's 2009 Editorial Awards Competition Gold Award Winner -- in its Best Bets. Armstrong's Elk Farm has also been featured in the film Elk In America, winner of the Gold Remi Award for Cinematography at the 2007 Houston International Film Festival Worldfest -- the oldest Independent Film & Video Festival in the World, founded in 1961 by award-winning producer/director Hunter Todd to present a quality film festival for Independent filmmakers -- and narrated by actor Stacy Keach.]

Les then added taxidermy as a service to support the area's critically important outdoor sports tourism industry; this provided Les with the means to allow him more time at home to raise his family. 

Les is a member of The North American Elk Breeders Association and has served as Board Member of The Northeast Deer and Elk Farmers Association. Les is also a New York Deer and Elk Farmers founding member and serves the organization as Board Member and Vice President working on the passage of a number of bills currently before the New York State Senate and New York State Assembly.

Summer 2009:

On the Steps of the
U.S. Capitol Building Washington D.C. for Meetings with Congress as an Officer of the North American Deer and Elk Farmers Association

[Les Armstrong: 4th Row, 2nd from Left]

Photo Credit and Source: North American Deer and Elk Farmers Association Summer 2009 Edition Cover Story

Les is also a long-standing member of the New York State Farm Bureau; for more than a decade, Les has been active on legislative issues including Livestock Health as well as issues benefiting New York State Wine Producers, Apple Producers, Dairy Farmers, Maple Producers, and Livestock Farmers.

The New York State Farm Bureau is a non- governmental, volunteer organization financed and controlled by families for the purpose of solving economic and public policy issues challenging the agriculture industry. Farm Bureau's "grass roots" policy development process continues to ensure that the organization represents the majority position of its membership. Policy development begins at the county level with problem identification and culminates at the New York Farm Bureau Annual Meeting with a resolution addressing the issues.

In addition, Les is a member of the New York State Conservation Council (NYSCC) and is an active member of the Big Game Committee working on behalf of sportsmen and outdoors enthusiasts on issues that come before the New York State Legislature in Albany.

Les also belongs to the North American Hunting Club and the Norton Hill Wildlife Club. His activities include active participation on fundraising committees, helping to ensure the success of these grassroots organizations of outdoors enthusiasts. In addition to working on planning outdoors activities for the organizations, Les participated in the Norton Hill Wildlife Club's lobbying efforts in partnership with NRA, FNRA, SCOPE, NYSCC, and the Greene County Sportsmens Federation.

Hudson Mohawk Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc. (HMRC&D) Board Member since 1997 and Vice President since 2007; Les has been with the organization for more than ten years. The HMRC&D is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization that promotes regional, economic and natural resource conservation development in six Upstate New York counties and is currently involved in a livestock processing initiative helping small farmers overcome the challenges of getting their livestock processed; a venison donation program; a farm to school program; the education of livestock and horse owners on grazing land conservation; increasing rural fire protection; and exploring alternative energy and bio-fuel resources. Past projects have included the installation of dry hydrants, promoting pastured poultry, and the development of the Hudson River Lighthouse Coalition which seeks to connect tourism, historical and lighthouse trails, educational interpretive centers and materials to promote, protect, restore and preserve the lighthouses of the Hudson River. The Hudson Mohawk RC&D is one of 375 RC&D areas across the country that was created by a provision of the 87th Congress' Federal Food and Agriculture Act of 1962 under Public Law 87-703. Technical and financial support for projects comes from a variety of public and private sources including funding from the United States Department of Agriculture administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Les is co-chairman of the Forestry and Wildlife Committee for HMRC&D; was instrumental in establishing the Venison Donation Coalition which provides food to homeless shelters and food pantries statewide, including three food pantries in Greene County; and serves on the Rural Fire Protection Committee which presented the first ever International Standards Organization (ISO) series of Fire Company trainings on improving ISO Ratings, saving Greene County's homeowners significant percentages on their homeowner's insurance with followup meetings scheduled for Fall 2009.

Solar Water Pumping Station for Farms and Livestock

Photo Credit: RC&D

Les was appointed to the HMRC&D by Greene County Soil & Water Conservation District, and in 1999 Les received the Agricultural Accomplishment Award  for "dedication and effort to develop and promote alternative agriculture in Greene County."

Through his work with the HMRC&D, Les has helped farmers start farms in Schoharie, Delaware, Montgomery, Chenango, and Oneida Counties and throughout Greene County.

For more than a decade, Les has worked closely with New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Locally, Les is active in a number of community organizations.  He has also spent countless hours coaching Little League and All Star baseball teams, developing programs with the Boy Scouts of America, and supporting numerous extracurricular activities at the Cairo-Durham schools.

Durham New York
[Map Courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau]

Growing up on his family farm and working the land has given Les a deep appreciation for the great outdoors, the community, and the beauty of Durham.

Les is deeply committed to issues of protecting the environment, living sustainably, developing a strong and vibrant local economy and working hard to ensure a bright future for the Town of Durham and Greene County as a whole.

Vote in person from 6am until 9pm
at the East Durham Fire House


Are you serving in the U.S. Armed Forces? Are you a student living away at school?

If because of your military service or your studies you will be away from Greene County on Primary or General Election Day, make sure that you arrange to vote by Absentee Ballot! Cast your vote, and make sure your voice is heard! More information on how to obtain your Absentee Ballot is provided below.

To verify that you are a registered voter and to see where your assigned polling place is located, visit the New York State Board of Elections website at https://voterlookup.elections.state.ny.us/votersearch.aspx

Persons serving in the military may vote from their designated Home of Record regardless of where they may be stationed or for how long. If that Home of Record is in Greene County New York, you may register and vote in local, state and federal elections by completing an application and sending it to the Greene County Board of Elections. Your application will register you and also serve as your absentee ballot application and will be valid for two federal elections. Applications are available from your Voting Assistance Officer on base, or you can visit the Federal Voter Assistance Program at www.fvap.gov for forms and information. Always be sure to share any change of address information with the Greene County Board of Elections at the following address:

Qualifications to Vote by Absentee Ballot

• Unavoidably absent from your county or, if a resident of the city of New York absent from said city, on Election Day;
• Unable to appear at the polls due to illness or disability;
• A patient in a Veterans’ Administration Hospital;
• Detained in jail awaiting Grand Jury action or confined in prison after conviction for an offense other than a felony

How to Vote by Absentee Ballot

• Applications for Absentee Ballots are available from the Greene County Board of Elections at 411 Main Street, 4th Floor, Catskill; Phone 518-719-3550.You may also download a PDF version of the New York State Absentee Ballot Application Form from http://www.elections.state.ny.us/NYSBOE/download/voting/absentee.pdf
• Upon completion, applications must be mailed no later than the seventh day before the election OR delivered in person no later than the day before the election to:

• You may also request an Absentee Ballot by sending a letter to your county board of elections. The letter must be received by the Greene County Board of Elections no earlier than 30 days and no later than seven days before the election. The letter must contain the following information:
  
  - the address where you are registered;
  - an address where the ballot is to be sent;
  - the reason for the request;
  - and the signature of the voter.
  
  An application form will be mailed with your ballot. The application form must be completed and returned with your ballot.
• If you cannot pick up your ballot, or will not be able to receive it through the mail, you have the right to designate someone to pick it up for you. Only that person designated on your application may pick up and deliver your ballot.
• If you are permanently ill or disabled, you have the right to receive an Absentee Ballot for each subsequent election without further application. Simply file an application with your board of elections containing a statement which describes the particulars of your illness or disability. The Board will review the facts stated, and if satisfied, will mark your registration record. You will then automatically receive an absentee ballot for every election until your registration is canceled.

Source: http://www.elections.state.ny.us/Voting.html#AbsenteeVoting