Brand New County
Single-Member Legislative Districts Drawn As GOP Majority
Keeps Right On Planning...
By Paul Smart
According to a new plan approved by the state Supreme
Court and okayed by the county legislature last week,
Shandaken will become part of a new legislative district
come November. And complicating matters, legal requirements,
including an accompanying ballot referendum on the same
issue pushed through by county Democrats via petition
this past winter, will require similar legislative elections
for each of the next two years as well.
The new plan was required in a 2001
ruling by state Supreme Court Justice Vincent Bradley
after county Democrats sued the Republican majority
when they created a seven-district legislature to reflect
2000 census figures, a federal requirement. The new
district resulted in a 24-9 split in the GOP's favor.
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A Scholarly Save
Onteora Holds Onto Schools, Choosing
To Save
Through Multiple Staff Cuts
By Violet Snow
As the Onteora School Board, voting
6-1, officially confirmed last week's decision to
place before the voters a 2003-2004 budget of $40,300,804,
trustees heard from teachers, administrators, and
parents who protested the staff cuts estimated at
thirty-six to seventy-nine employees that will accompany
the forthcoming budget reductions. The adopted budget
slashes $2.2 million in staff and materials but because
of contracted cost increases entails a rise of five
percent, with an estimated average tax increase of
8.73 percent. Some
of the savings derive from a planned consolidation
of the Woodstock and West Hurley Elementary schools,
with grades K-2 slated to go to West Hurley and grades
3-6 to Woodstock.
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Casino Plans?
Representatives for the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma
recently unveiled conceptual plans for the Catskills
Casino Resort, a 950,000-square foot gaming
hall and hotel the tribe hopes to build in the
town of Wawarsing on Route 209, at a site where
Horse Shows in the Sun has recently currently
operated.
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SUMMER, READY TO GO... Bud's
Hot Dogs, located on Route 28 in Boiceville, got started this
past Saturday, although the weather's still not quite up to
par for such businesses. Over the coming months look for more
outdoor entrepeneurs to come out and set up shop..
Goodbye To The Todds?
The Legislature's ChairTakes A New Job & Tries
Holding On To His Watershed Gig
By The Olive Press Staff
Shandaken resident Ward Todd, the Chairman
of the Ulster County Legislature and one of our town's three
legislators, has resigned to take a job as chief executive of
the Chamber of Commerce of Ulster County. Also his wife Jane,
a Shandaken town board member and director of the SHARP Committee,
has also decided to forego political office to better focus
on her work as a fundraiser and not-for-profit administrator.
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Pointing To The Water...
Elaine Ralston: Our Prof Dowser
By Tree McIlhenney
In her fourteen years as a professional water dowser,
Olive resident Elaine Ralston has never come up dry.
She has located water veins for numerous well drilling
outfits and builders, identified sources for pitcher
pumps to quench the thirst of hikers along the Appalachian
Trail
and on several occasions has restored water flow to
the seemingly dry wells of frustrated homeowners.
"If I am going to drill a well in an area that
I know has a poor water supply or the customer needs
a large quantity of water, I give Elaine Ralston a
call," James Eckerson of the Milton-based Artesian
Wells has said. "She is the only professional
dowser I have ever used and
I've never had reason to look for another."
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