Students' documentary premieres at festival

WESTFALL - Three students of Delaware Valley High School, seniors Ryan Balton and Nick Troiano and 2006 graduate, Brett Fuchs will present a documentary titled, “Controversy on the Delaware: A Look Upstream at the Tocks Island Dam Project,” at the Black Bear Film Festival’s Free Film Salon on Sunday, October 13. The film will air at noon as part of the Envirofest, which will be located up the street from Milford Theater in “The Garage.” In the aftermath of the ravaging 1955 flood, the Army Corps of Engineers set out to construct a dam across the Delaware River. The Tocks Island Dam would create a lake and recreational area consuming 70,000 acres of farmland and residential property. The video documentary exposes the grassroots environmental movement by local residents and the stand they took against the project. The Balton, Fuchs, Troiano triumvirate originally produced the video for the National History Day competition. At the regional competition in March 2006 at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, their senior group documentary entry received first place and a near perfect score. After participating at the state competition and showing the video at the Columns Museum, they realized the importance of sharing the fascinating but obscure history of the Tocks Island Dam Project. The three are known in the community for their leadership and participation in DV’s video news program Broadcast Del Val, the school newspaper, The Del.Aware, Web site DV World, Model United Nations, Odyssey of the Mind, Relay for Life, and other activities.