This Ice Cream Has Big Mission

2-26-10

Gillette Took Treat On Road; Now He’s Back

By LAURA COX

It was once a Burger King.
For a short time last year, it was Country Buffet.
As of mid-May, the low-slung building on Main Street will be a showcase for Griff Gillette’s Polar Bear Ice Cream, introduced locally last summer.
A second location is due to open in June in Cooperstown.
Not only does Gillette aver his produce will be delicious, he vows to launch the “greenest” restaurant in Otsego County.
“We are going to be the first restaurant in Otsego County to be 100 percent eco-friendly,” he said, “using only renewable, sustainable products.”
Spoons, straws, napkins, toilet paper, cleaning products and uniforms will all be made from renewable resources that compost in 25-100 days, Gillette said.
The result:  Zero impact.
All of his serving ware is made of sugar cane fibers, corn, potato starches, and plant based materials that are renewable and grow back within 100-250 days.
As introduced last summer during the city’s Fourth of July celebration, Gillette’s ice cream, all natural ingredients, is made in a single-batch freezer, five gallons at a time.
The ice cream is frozen CARSO/From A-1
were out there,” said Carson.  The 10th Mountain Division is called the “’Tip of the Sphere.’ It’s the first unit to go into a particular area to keep it secure.”
The Rule of Law Mission?
“Any productive society has an established legal system that the people have confidence in,” said Carso, “so lawyers are the best people to work with other lawyers to help establish a strong legal system.”
Language was a key issue.  Very few of the Afghan lawyers spoke English, so interpreters were often used while training attorneys.
“The mission went very smoothly when they spoke English.  But with the interpreter, it was much more of a challenge for us.  There are certain legal ideas and unfamiliar terminology that were difficult to translate, but we made do, and I think we were successful.”      
Living conditions were another challenge.
“We lived in tents, lived in huts.  Our walls were rather makeshift – just burlap bags filled with sand.  The shower and bathroom facilities were pretty primitive; the villages did not have electricity,” he said.
Another challenge was simply surviving, as both bases he was assigned to were targets of Taliban fire.
“I started to notice that the really heavy stuff would come on full moons. During the summer season in Afghanistan, there is virtually no rain and not a cloud in the sky.  So the full moon would just light up the entire area.  And night gave the insurgents some cover, and the full moon would allow them to see what exactly they were firing at.”
Carso saw no deaths, but many people were injured.  And he had a close call.
“I was at a landing zone getting on a helicopter, and that was a typical time the insurgents would fire at us – to hit the helicopter.  That was the closest call for me.  I was actually being shot at and had rockets being fired at me.  But fortunately for me, they weren’t very accurate.” Carso said, smiling. 
He returned to the States on Dec. 23.  He has come back with many memories, the most fond of which involves what he calls, “the people side of things.”  Carso’s unit is headquartered in The Bronx and in five weeks, he will report for drill.  He’s in the Reserves for another five years and, if he gets the chance, may volunteer again.
By then, “I’ll be 48 years old, and the Army is a young man’s game.  Out there, there were times when I felt it in my bones, lugging around 40 pounds of body armor and an M4 and all the gear ... can get pretty tiring,” he said.