According to a report in the Albany Times Union, “the Capital Region is New York state’s boomtown, with six of the 15 fastest growing communities.”
Topping them all is Half Moon, the town where Keith Raniere lived until he fled to Mexico.
A Times Union analysis of the latest population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau show Halfmoon [where many NXIVM members live] leads the state when it comes to percentage growth in population between 2010 and 2017.
The town’s 2017 estimated population of 24,436 is up from 21,517 in 2010.
But a lot changed in 2018.
Half Moon’s most famous resident, Keith Raniere a/k/a The Vanguard, was arrested and forcibly relocated to a Brooklyn jail. He can’t come home. In fact, the gvernment has moved to seize his sex lair at 8 Hale Drive.
Another resident, Allison Mack, was arrested and forced to reside in California with her parents on home arrest and $5 million bail. Clare Bronfman, the funder of the sex slave cult, relocated to New York City to be close to her imprisoned Vanguard. She may also be arrested and reside there more permanently in the women’s section of the prison.
Emiliano Salinas, Alex Betancourt, Sara Bronfman – the other big money of NXIVM- all have houses here and all are nowhere to be seen.
Betancourt put his home up for sale. India Oxenberg and Nicki Clyne – the two most prominent DOS slaves – left Half Moon for New York City to work and await arrest, possibly hoping to exonerate Raniere and possible taking the fall for him too.
More NXIVM members are likely to be arrested and some will be relocated to Brooklyn jail if they don’t get, or can’t make bail.
Probably more than 100 NXIVM members have left the cult since the scandal exploded; some are getting as far away as they can from cult central. Half Moon used to be called “NXIVM Village” by the cult insiders.
Will this exodus of people from NXIVM – both voluntarily and involuntarily – cause Half Moon to lose its first place growth ranking?
I doubt it. If Half Moon gets cleansed of the cult, it may see a new infusion of non-cult residents. As one neighbor told me, “Having Keith Raniere in our town is a shitty thing to have happen.”
Now that he’s gone, Half Moon is really a most excellent place to live.
***
Apropos of that – and because at Frank Report, we like to encourage arts and especially poetry – we are pleased to publish a poem submitted by one of our readers, Sylvie Stultus.
It’s called:
India’s Song
Everybody’s high on consolation
Everybody’s trying to tell me what is right for me, yeah
My Vanguard mentored me in his sex lair
But it’s plain to see that they can’t comfort me
Sorry, Allison, for the imposition
I think I got it (branded), I got the strength to carry on, oh yeah
I’ll give more collateral and a quick decision
Now it’s up to me, ooh, what will be
He’s gone, he’s gone
Oh I, oh I
I better learn how to face it
He’s gone, he’s gone
Oh I, oh I
I’d pay the devil to take the fall for it
He’s gone, and he’s gone
Oh why, what went wrong?
Get up in the morning, look in the mirror
I’m thin as a toothbrush hanging in the stand, yeah
My face ain’t looking any younger
Now I can see I would soon have been – out of the harem
He’s gone, he’s gone
I better learn how to face it
he’s gone
I’d pay the devil to trade places [with him]
He’s gone
Oh why, what went wrong?
Think I’ll spend eternity in the prison
Let the carb-rich foods choke my thoughts away,
And pretty bodies help dissolve the memories
If he’s free they can be what I was (was) to (to) him
He’s gone, he’s gone
I better learn how to face it
He’s gone
Like the devil, you can’t replace him
He’s gone
Oh I, what went wrong?
I can’t believe that he’s gone
I’d get branded on my forehead with his initials to give him tribute
Frank Parlato 
Janine Morrison 
J.J. O'Hara 
Richard Luthmann 
Marie White 
Paul Serran
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The Feds will only sieze a few houses in the NXIVM compound. The rest will go at fire-sale prices as the cult collapses.
If Laura and Lana Darby can raise some capital, they could buy, sage, and flip quite a few properties.
Maybe put a fraction of the profits into a cult-recovery center?
Knowing what I know now, I (Laura) would never purchase again in Knox Woods. First there is dealing with the personalities of a homeowner’s association and the board that goes with it (I at one time served as President of ours and it is a thankless job and not worth the trouble). Everyone winds up hating each other :). Second the units have forced air which works okay in the south but not well up in the Northeast where temperatures fall below freezing. Thirdly, the insulation is crap. (heck I am honest). As an old boyfriend would say… Michaels Group cob job with some of the construction elements. Our mom’s dad built houses and they just don’t build them like he did anymore.
However, the units are great starter homes, located in a great school district with anything you could want within a short car ride. You do need a car to get around town and traffic can be rough especially on Saturdays and Sundays when everyone is out shopping.. The roads are not what I would call bicycle safe/
NYC, Montreal or Boston are just three hours away if you want big city experience, and the cost of living is a lot lower than what you would find downstate.
I have access to a huge plot of sage a friend grows in her community garden plot to make smudge sticks with (I have thyme and strawberries going right now) So how about a symbolic march thru Knox Woods to exorcise Keith and all the other bad ju ju when the final arrests are made? Maybe a drum circle too? We can gather at the intersection of Flintlock, Hale and Independence and drive out the bogeyman. Maybe then march to Nefarious Nancy’s and have a group hug chant? I’ll bring the Kombucha too 🙂
Oh and we need to make Voodoo troll dolls of Keith and do bad things to them 🙂
New York’s Capitol district, centered on Albany, is actually quite a Tech Hub.
It is marketed as the Tech Valley and is full of computer chip fabrication plants.
It is too bad that moral imbeciles like Keith Raniere, Allison Mack and Claire Bronfman have given the region a black eye.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tech_Valley
This is correct ! About ten miles up the road in Malta is Global Foundries home of Fab 8 and down the road is Suny Polytech’s SUNY Poly Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering.
For most Capital Region residents the mention of Allison Mack and Keith Raniere wont even bat eyelashes. Even with news coverage many people still have no idea that a LGAT organization that contained a sex cult was operating in Halfmoon.