(News Briefs January 4, 2007)

New At DEC…
Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Denise Sheehan sent a letter to all 3,400 DEC staff members on Friday, January 12, saying her last day would be the following Wednesday, January 17, after which she plans to pursue a career in local government. She had been at the agency’s helm for about two years and while she wasn‘t criticized for her time at the job, the DEC itself became something of a campaign issue from those calling for it to be ramped up, instead of down.
Carl Johnson, acting executive deputy commissioner for the DEC and the man who recently issued a decision on an appeals process from Belleayre Resort developers Crossroads Ventures, will serve during the interim until a new commissioner comes on board. He took on a similar role two years ago when former DEC Commissioner Erin Crotty left the position for private employment.
Names mentioned as Governor Spitzer’s new DEC Commissioner have included his top environmental advisor while Attorney General, former NYPIRG officer Judith Enck, Open Space Institute executive director Joe Martens, both of whom have deep knowledge of Catskills and Hudson Valley issues, along with two Manhattan-based men.
It was not only expected, as of press time, that someone with non-Downstate ties be named for the job, but that a decision be announced on Thursday, January 11.
To date, Spitzer has announced all his administrative appointees on Thursdays…

Why The Flood?
The Ashokan Reservoir did not contribute to the sudden rise that caused the Esopus Creek banks to overflow on April 3, 2005, leading to widespread flooding that displaced some 300 families in Ulster County, according to a study just released by the U.S. Geological Survey that will be looked at by FEMA to determine whether new flood insurance rate maps are needed for the region. The report noted that snow melt combined with rainfall was the culprit in the Esopus Creek flood.
Average daily measures for water flowing into the Ashokan Reservoir are 5,595 gallons per second; in Mount Marion, along the Lower Esopus, it is 3,517.5 gallons per second, according to the Geological Survey. The creek flows another five miles through Saugerties before reaching the Hudson River. During the April 2005 flood, flows reached a peak of 419,000 gallons per second going into the reservoir and 228,750 gallons per second at Mount Marion. Studies show water levels peaked at about 1 a.m. April 3 going into the Ashokan but it was not until 9 p.m. that the creek reached its crest at the monitoring station at Mount Marion. The report points out that the lower Esopus would have already risen when the reservoir overflowed.

The Merger…
The Kingston Hospital and Benedictine Hospital have announced approval of a Memorandum of Agreement that represents the first major step of advancing the goal of creating a corporate affiliation between the two hospitals. The purpose of the MOA is to confirm the mutually agreed elements of an alignment between the two hospitals under a common corporate “parent” and to establish a mutually acceptable process and timetable for finalizing the alignment.
The Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century, known as the Berger Commission, has mandated the two hospitals create an affiliation and has given the two hospitals until December 31, 2007 to create a plan under which a new corporation would be created to oversee the two facilities.
The plan assures that Benedictine Hospital remains a Catholic hospital and adheres to the ethical and religious directive and that The Kingston Hospital remains a non-sectarian hospital. The new parent company will be a New York not-for-profit corporation under New York State Public Health Law.

Jail Time!
Ulster County lawmakers are considering forming a committee to investigate where the overdue and over-budget Ulster County Law Enforcement Center went wrong, looking into what caused the new jail to fall almost three years behind schedule and more than $30 million over initial budget estimates. The initial estimate for the project was $53 million, but bids came in at $71.8 million. To date, $87,160,030 has been set aside for the project, according to County Administrator Michael Hein. And the county still is negotiating several outstanding claims from contractors that could push the total cost to more than $100 million.
When Democrats took control of the Legislature in 2006, in large part because of voter dissatisfaction with the jail project, they vowed to get to the bottom of what caused the problem. But action on that promise has stalled. But now Ulster County Legislature Chairman David Donaldson has said the time is right to investigate the situation because the project is almost complete and contractors basically are off the job. Donaldson said the creation of the committee is not a political move but a true effort to get to the bottom of the problem in open session, not in court papers. Legislature Minority Leader Glenn Noonan balked at that argument, saying the Democrats’ current call for a committee stems from a Jan. 6 Kingston Freeman editorial on the project. He added that the best course of action would be to remove the matter from the Legislature completely and put it in the hands of an independent commission. If even one legislator is on the commission, the report it eventually issues will be biased and partisan, he said.
Newly sworn-in Ulster County Sheriff Paul Van Blarcum, a Democrat, also said he would prefer an independent commission to look into the project, but said he is glad that it’s being investigated.
Now the big trick is to figure out what to do with the (hopefully) soon-to-be-vacated old jail.
Stay tuned...

Same Sex Benefit The Ulster County Legislature, on a mostly party-line vote, agreed to provide health insurance benefits to same-sex domestic partners of county employees. The benefits will essentially be equal to those currently provided to spouses.
Several employees in the county Social Service department had joined in a lawsuit, claiming current county policy violates the state’s Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act. The suit was put on hold pending outcome of the recent legislature meeting.
An amendment to delete all references to ‘same-sex’ and expand the measure to cover all domestic partners did not get a second, although several legislators claimed they understood the point Kingston Legislator Frank Dart was trying to make.
Some Republicans questioned the legality of granting the benefits by resolution, rather than include the proposal in the next contract negotiations.
The measure passed 19 to 13.

UCDC Search
The Ulster County Development Corporation (UCDC) has started a search to recruit its next President & CEO, having named a seven-member CEO Search Committee to seek a replacement for the position which became vacant following the resignation of Chester J. Straub, Jr. in December. The Committee consists of private and public sector members from Ulster County: Patricia Brooks, Brooks & Brooks Land Surveyors; Thomas Collins, Commercial Associates Real Estate; March Gallagher, Ulster County Industrial Development Agency; Ron Marquette, AVR Realty; Hector Rodriguez Ulster County Legislature; Ward Todd, Chamber of Commerce of Ulster County; and Robert J. Ryan, Jr., Ryan Insurance, who will lead the Committee. The new President & CEO will be responsible for implementation of goals, policies, and initiatives for a countywide economic development strategy. Recruitment ads have been placed in regional and national trade and business media, as well as three internet job sites. Resumes will be accepted through January 24, 2007. The Board expects the search to conclude within four months. Details on the scope of the position and search process are posted at: http://www.ulsterny.com/pages/fullstory.php?newsid=79
Stop Recidivism!
Ulster County Legislator Leonard Distel of Ellenville has been appointed to chair a new task force to establish services to allow offenders to transition back into society as productive individuals once they have been released from prison. The program is aimed at reducing recidivism.
Distel, a retired corrections officer, said most prisoners are not prepared for life outside prison when they are released.
“It’s a program that is going to make the attempt to take selective inmates and place them back into their respective communities providing them with employment and getting them involved in their local areas,” he said. There will be professionals in the committee.
Distel said they want to help former inmates “who are tired of doing it the old way and want to move on and lead a productive life.”

Tax Exempt?
The Ulster County Assessors Association is urging homeowners not to wait until the March 1 deadline to file for property tax exemptions, noting that if one misses the March 1 deadline, chances are they will not receive the exemption. Residents should check with their town’s assessor because, although exemptions are governed by state law, they can vary among local municipalities. Not-for-profit organizations and agricultural exemptions are the most common requiring annual renewal, but exemptions like the Senior Citizen Limited Income Exemption and the enhanced STAR Exemption also must be filed annually.
A pressing deadline is the one for the STAR rebate check - Jan. 20 – which must be certified by the municipal assessor before the information can be sent to the state. There is nothing local assessors can do if a resident misses that deadline, the UCAA says.
Any property owner who will be 65 or older by the end of 2007 can apply for senior exemptions this year.

Sales Down
The number of existing single-family homes sold in the Hudson Valley and Catskills were down in November 2006 as compared to the same month in 2005.
According to the New York State Association of Realtors, the only county in the region that saw an increase in existing homes sales was Columbia County with a more than 12 percent gain.
Home sales fell by 26.7 percent in Dutchess, by 23.5 percent in Delaware, by 22.9 percent in Rockland, by 22.6 percent in Putnam County, by 19.4 percent in Ulster County, by 15.5 percent in Westchester County; and by 12.5 percent in Sullivan County. There was no change reported in Greene County.
The highest median selling price for an existing single-family house in the region was in Westchester County, at $595,000. The lowest was in Delaware County at $127,000. In Greene County, the median price was $169,750; in Sullivan County, the median price was $185,000; in Columbia County, the price was $227,000; Ulster County, the price was $259,500; in Orange County, $315,500; in Dutchess County, $325,000; in Putnam County, $415,000; in Rockland County, $482,000.
Statewide, the number of existing single-family homes fell from November 2005 to November 2006 by 14 percent.

Flu Inhaler
A new formulation of an inhalable flu vaccine that can be stored refrigerated instead of frozen won federal approval. FluMist is now approved for healthy people ages 5 to 49, though the company seeks expanded approval for use in children as young as 1 as long as they don’t have a history of wheezing or asthma. MedImmune said the new formulation should be available in August, in time for the 2007-2008 flu season.
Meanwhile, after years of flu vaccine shortages, health officials in Ulster and Dutchess counties report having a surplus of the vaccine this year with most or all of their clinics already completed. Curtis Allen, a spokesman with the Centers for Disease Control, said there simply is more vaccine available this year than ever before. Manufacturers, to date, have produced 102 million doses, Allen said; in previous years, the record was 83 million.
The flu vaccine is recommended for children ages 6 months to 5 years, people 65 and older, people who give care to those two groups, and anyone with a chronic illness. Allen said those recommendations cover more than 200 million people, but 200 million people have never been vaccinated in any given year.
Allen said the CDC is in the midst of a public education campaign to inform people that the vaccine is good until July and that it’s worth getting it even late in the season, since 13 of the last 30 flu seasons peaked in February or later, with one season even peaking in May.
Ulster County will offer the flu vaccine through January. Those interested should call (845) 340-3070.

Dead Recruits
The US Army is to apologize to the families of officers killed or wounded in action who were sent letters urging them to return to active duty. The letters were sent to more than 5,100 Army officers listed as recently having left the military. But this figure included about 75 officers killed in action and about 200 wounded in action.
More than 3,000 members of the US military have died in Iraq since the war began. Casualties have also been suffered in Afghanistan since the US invasion.
“Army personnel officials are contacting those officers’ families now to personally apologize for erroneously sending the letters,” the army said in a statement, noting that the database normally used for such correspondence with former officers had been “thoroughly reviewed” to remove the names of dead and wounded soldiers.
“But an earlier list was used inadvertently for the December mailings,” it added.

Invasion!
A partnership is being formed to pool resources and funding to research and combat the threats of non-native invasive species to the Catskill region and educate the public about them. The Catskill Regional Invasive Species Partnership, or CRISP, was formed to address non-native invasive species. These species cause damage across the United States and threaten to destroy Catskill forests and streams that provide valuable economic, recreational and ecological benefits, according to a press release from the Nature Conservancy.
Alan White, the Catskill Mountain Program Director for the Nature Conservancy, said the Catskill region is “already experiencing negative consequences such as limited stream access and reduction in species diversity from well-established plant invaders, like Japanese knotweed.” He said other invasive species of concern include diseases such as sudden oak syndrome and insects like the hemlock wooly adelgid, which kills hemlock.
By forming the partnership, various concerned individuals and agencies will be able to work together to research and obtain funding to deal with the invasive species, White said. He said the key is to have the agencies work together, rather than compete for funding. White added that the Catskill Regional Invasive Species Partnership includes the Nature Conservancy, state Department of Environmental Conservation, state Department of Transportation and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.
Any individuals, organizations or agencies with an interest in invasive species research, education or management, or those affected by them, are welcome to join the Catskill Regional Invasive Species Partnership. To receive the sign-on letter or additional information, contact White at awhite@tnc.org.

Well Grants…
Certain low- to moderate-income individuals or families may be eligible for money to construct, repair or improve household water well systems through 1 percent interest loans from the Foundation for Affordable Drinking Water. The Foundation was established through the National Ground Water Association. Qualified applicants can borrow up to $8,000 at 1 percent interest for a term not to exceed 20 years. To qualify, households must: Own the home and use it as the principal residence. Have as the primary drinking water source an individual household well system located on the property of the home. Must meet income eligibility requirements. Be located in a city, town or unincorporated area with a population of less than 50,000..The Foundation will not underwrite a loan once a project is underway or has been completed. Most new home construction projects are not eligible. Another important aspect of the loan program is to educate loan recipients on the importance of regular well maintenance and annual testing of their well system. Complete information, including application forms and requirements and income eligibility limits, can to accessed by going to www.ngwa.org and clicking on the link for Foundation for Affordable Drinking Water. Applications and additional information can also be obtained by contacting the Foundation at 800-551-7379, or going to www.wellowner.org and clicking on “Financing.”

No Listings…
The White House and the Secret Service quietly signed an agreement last spring in the midst of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal declaring that records identifying visitors to the White House are not open to the public. The Bush administration didn’t reveal the existence of the memorandum of understanding until last fall. The White House is using it to deal with a legal problem on a separate front, a ruling by a federal judge ordering the production of Secret Service logs identifying visitors to the office of Vice President Dick Cheney .
In a federal appeals court filing in December, the administration’s lawyers used the memo in a legal argument aimed at overturning the judge’s ruling. The five-page document dated May 17 declares that all entry and exit data on White House visitors belongs to the White House as presidential records rather than to the Secret Service as agency records. Therefore, the agreement states, the material is not subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
In the past, Secret Service logs have revealed the comings and goings of various White House visitors, including Monica Lewinsky and Clinton campaign donor Denise Rich, the wife of fugitive financier Marc Rich, who received a pardon in the closing hours of the Clinton administration. The memo last spring was signed by the White House and Secret Service the day after a Washington-based group asked a federal judge to impose sanctions on the Secret Service in a dispute over White House visitor logs for Abramoff.
The White House and the Secret Service declined to comment.

Streamside…
A new publication, Catskill Streams and You, Living Streamside in the Catskill Region, is now available for homeowners in the New York City Watershed, encouraging residents to get involved in community and watershed stewardship programs and activities, from stream cleanups to tree planting. One particularly active group – the Broadstreet Hollow Landowners Association in the Town of Shandaken, Ulster County — is profiled in the brochure.
Property owners who live along the main stem of basins where stream management plans have been adopted or are being developed will receive Catskill Streams in the mail. These basins include the West and East Branches of the Delaware River, and the Batavia Kill, Stony Clove, West Kill, Broadstreet Hollow and Esopus Creeks. The publication will also be available at public events where the Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC) and other co-sponsoring organizations offer information on their programs. Copies may also be ordered by emailing Jenn Grieser, DEP Stream Management Project Manager, at jgreiser@dep.nyc.gov.
Catskill Streams was a joint production of the CWC, the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Watershed Agricultural Council, the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) of Ulster and Greene Counties and the Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD) of Delaware and Greene Counties.
A new partnership website, http://www.catskillstreams.org/ is due to go online this spring. It will provide complementary information on stream processes, preventing erosion and contamination of waterways, and hazard mitigation in floodplains. The website will include a calendar of stream-related activities and events, as well as a library of stream management plans and other documents. There will be separate pages with descriptions, maps and other information specific to major stream basins in the Catskills (East and West Branches of the Delaware River, the Schoharie, Esopus and Rondout Creeks, and the Neversink River.)

State’s Rights?
A little-noticed change in federal law packs an important change in who is in charge the next time a state is devastated by a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina. To the dismay of the nation’s governors, the White House now will be empowered to go over a governor’s head and call up National Guard troops to aid a state in time of natural disasters or other public emergencies. Up to now, governors were the sole commanders in chief of citizen soldiers in local Guard units during emergencies within the state.
Over objections from all 50 governors, Congress in October tweaked the 200-year-old Insurrection Act to empower the hand of the president in future stateside emergencies. In a letter to Congress, the governors called the change “a dramatic expansion of federal authority during natural disasters that could cause confusion in the command-and-control of the National Guard and interfere with states’ ability to respond to natural disasters within their borders.”
The change adds to tensions between governors and the White House after more than four years of heavy federal deployment of state-based Guard forces to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, four out of five guardsmen have been sent overseas in the largest deployment of the National Guard since World War II. Shortage of the Guard’s military equipment - such as helicopters to drop hay to snow-stranded cattle in Colorado - also is a nagging issue as much of units’ heavy equipment is left overseas and unavailable in case of a natural disaster at home.
The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 forbids U.S. troops from being deployed on American soil for law enforcement. The one exception is provided by the Insurrection Act of 1807, which lets the president use the military only for the purpose of putting down rebellions or enforcing constitutional rights if state authorities fail to do so. Under that law, the president can declare an insurrection and call in the armed forces. The act has been invoked only a handful of times in the past 50 years, including in 1957 to desegregate schools and in 1992 during riots in south central Los Angeles after the acquittal of police accused of beating Rodney King.
Congress changed the Insurrection Act to list “natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident” as conditions under which the president can deploy U.S. armed forces and federalize state Guard troops if he determines that “authorities of the state or possession are incapable of maintaining public order.”

Car Seats…
Most of the infant car seats tested by Consumer Reports “failed disastrously” in crashes at speeds as low as 35 mph, the magazine has reported. The seats came off their bases or twisted in place, the report said. In one case, a test dummy was hurled 30 feet.
Of the 12 car seats tested, Consumer Reports said it could recommend only two, and it urged a federal recall of the poorest performing seat, the Evenflo Discovery.
To be sold in the United States, an infant seat must perform adequately in a 30 mph frontal crash, and Consumer Reports found that all but the Discovery did so. But it noted that NHTSA crash tests most cars at higher speeds - 35 mph for frontal crashes and 38 mph for side crashes.
The magazine tested the type of seat that faces the rear and snaps in and out of a base.