(News Briefs November 22, 2007)

Home Sales Drop
The sales of existing single-family homes in the Hudson Valley and Catskills dropped significantly, again, in September when compared to the same month last year, the New York State Association of Realtors reported. The largest decline in home sales was in Sullivan County, where over 38 percent fewer homes were sold. Sales dropped in Delaware County by 27 percent, by over 23 percent in Dutchess County, by 22 percent in Ulster County, by over 21 percent in Orange County, by over 21 percent in Rockland County, by 10 percent in Putnam County and by over eight percent in Westchester County.
The median price of existing single-family homes ranged from $710,000 in Westchester County to $102,500 in Delaware County. The median price in Dutchess County in September was $345,000; Orange County, $335,000; in Putnam County, $450,000; in Rockland County, $90,000; in Sullivan County, $170,000; and in Ulster County, $256,000.

County Budget
There is a big difference between the 39 percent property tax levy increase that hit Ulster County residents two years ago, and the 3.6 percent increase proposed for next year. Perhaps that explains a relatively brief public hearing on the budget held last week when only five people spoke. Four commented on the need for adequate funding for favored programs and institutions, The fifth said he was in favor of everything.
The county legislature is reviewing the budget and tentatively plans to vote on the 2008 budget December 12.

Talking Land
At SUNY Ulster Saturday, November 10, about 200 landowners and conservationists gathered to learn about the benefits of land preservation, discussing the balance between protecting land and trying to use it in a productive manner that provides both sustenance and shelter and allows for the sort of breathtaking viewsheds that are one of the major draws for local tourism, second homes, and continuing new residents..
The land protection conference was sponsored by many grassroots groups including the Wallkill Valley Land Trust, the Mohonk Preserve and the Esopus Creek Conservancy. Workshops covered topics such as conservation easements, protection of farmland and working forests and financial incentives to protect land.
Ezra Milchman, the national director of the Land Trust Alliance, an organization that works with 1,600 land trusts, was the keynote speaker at the conference, noting that about 5,000 acres of land are lost to development on a daily basis. And while land is needed for housing and farming, he said it also needed to be preserved – so humans are not so encumbered by one another.
“I believe land is needed to feed our souls as much as it’s needed to feed our families,” he said.

Auction Closed
Saturday will be the end of an era for Fleischmann’s.
It is said that all good things must come to an end, and for Ed Roberts, who has run Roberts auction on main street for the past 31 years, that statement is coming true now that he and his wife, Sandra, are shutting down the auction house for good.
While it certainly marks a big change for the Roberts’, the entire community and beyond are sure to notice the void that will be left behind where fun filled Saturday nights used to be.
For over three decades, Roberts Auction has packed them in on Saturday nights for what is almost a type of a party, where Ed hosts the evening with his trademark microphone. Folks from all walks of life sit in the folded chairs provided, waiting for a chance to bid on the goods up for grabs that evening. The goods range from an old baseball to the highest end dining room set. In between there’s plenty of stuff available: paint for your house, a sofa for your den, lamps, tools, all of it stacked all over the building, except for the concession stand in the back where you can get coffee, soda, and an assortment deep fried stuff that makes the wintertime auctions all the more fun.
And there always seems to be a TV, or two, sitting near Ed’s pulpit, turned on and tuned in to entice buyers.
So why is this all ending? Ed says it’s just getting to be too much. Sandra will tell you it’s that two heart attacks is enough for her hubby and she doesn’t want to see a third. In general, the way Ed describes it, those Saturday night events are just the tip of the iceberg, work wise.
“We’re closing reluctantly. It’s getting to be too much. It’s hard to find people who want to work.”
The work he’s talking about is the daunting task of emptying out houses of the goods that he has been commissioned to auction off. According to Roberts, there have too many occasions where he shows up to empty a house only to discover that his helpers have not shown up. Rather than delay, Roberts fills his truck up alone, dragging sofas, dining sets, dishes, carpets, and everything else that makes up a household.
Ed’s daughter in law, Donna Lynn Roberts, was getting ready to take her mother in law on a vacation to Ireland Monday when she took time out to talk to about her in-laws, the auction barn, and those Saturday nights.
“He’s 65 now,” she said. “The basic reason it’s closing is that his isn’t good. There are a lot of repairs needed and it’s just getting harder and harder for him.”
She’s not sure how her father in law will pass the time now that he is retired. The auction, she said, has been his life.
“It’s all he does…he does it seven days a week,” she added.
On Saturday the final auction will have a special treat. Ed said a party for all the customers, some who have been coming since he opened, is planned. The party is for all those who will miss Saturday nights at the auction in Fleischmanns.
But don’t ask when the party starts. Ed doesn’t know.
Before any champagne is opened, everything for sale must go, just like it has since he opened.
“There’s nothing left when I say goodnight,” he said.

Executive Bid
Ulster County Administrator Michael Hein will run for Ulster County executive. The announcement, not unexpected, was made last week that he will make the announcement that he will seek the Democratic nomination from the steps of the Ulster County Court House in Kingston. The county’s new charter provides for that post to be elected this time next year. County voters last fall approved a change to the county charter creating the position of elected county executive, much like the system in place in Dutchess, Orange, Putnam and Rockland counties.
No Republican has officially stepped forward to announce his or her intention to run. Other possible candidates at present include Kingston resident Alan Wikman and the possibility that State Assemblyman Kevin Cahill will throw his hat into the ring.

Save the Mountain
The new consortium of local environmental groups working with the Sierra Club to disseminate information about the impact and facts involving the proposed construction of the Bellayre Resort is sponsoring two new presentations of the movie “Resort to Madness - Taking Back Our Mountain Communities” on Tuesday, November 27 at the Rosendale Cinema, showtime 7 PM, and on Saturday, December 1 at. 7:30 PM at the Woodstock Community Center. The free screenings will be followed by a discussion about the proposed Crossroads Ventures’ Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park, subject of a recent Agreement in Principle announced by Eliot Spitzer, with maps and plans of the actual development. Questions from the audience will be part of the discussion. The panel will consist of Judy Wyman, Chair, Friends of Catskill Park; Rich Schaedle, Chairperson, Catskill Heritage Alliance; Julie McQuain, Chair Hardenburgh Association of Residents and Taxpayers; and Carolyn Zolas, Chair, Watershed Committee, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter.
The full Agreement In Principle, all exhibits and information are available at www.SavetheMountain.net Call 845-586-4425 or 679-8672 for more info.
The Save the Mountain coalition showed the “Resorting to Madness” documentary to packed houses on Saturday, Nov. 17 at Casey Joe’s Cafe in Arkville. Much discussion was concentrated on the economic harm such a development can incur, instead of the environmental harm the resort would cause;
Meanwhile, the resort’s developer, Dean Gitter, spoke last week at the Ulster County Chamber of Commerce breakfast where he assured listeners that he still had no plans to put in a casino in the Catskills.

Local Funding!
The House of Representatives has approved Congressman Maurice Hinchey’s request to authorize increased funding for the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area. Under the Celebrating America’s Heritage Act, the Hudson River Valley NHA, which includes much of the Catskills, would be eligible to receive $15 million in federal funds as opposed to the previous cap of $10 million. Hinchey is the author of the legislation that created the Hudson River Valley NHA in 1996.
In addition to increasing funding for the Hudson River Valley NHA, the bill also would establish six new NHA’s, increase the funding authorization for eight other existing areas, require a feasibility study for a potential new area, and make technical changes in the establishing legislation for several additional areas. National heritage areas – generally local, community-driven preservation projects – are intended to help preserve and interpret the unique geologic, natural, and human history of a county, town, or region in a comprehensive manner. The legislation passed in the House also includes language to create a Niagara Falls NHA in New York. The state also is home to the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.
The Hudson River Valley NHA seeks to increase public awareness and understanding of the area’s historical significance; support regional historic preservation projects; provide educational grant programs; safeguard nationally significant natural and cultural resources; promote and coordinate partnerships between heritage sites and local communities; and encourage appropriate local and regional economic activity. The Hudson River Valley NHA extends from Waterford, just north of Albany, to the northern border of New York City and has been acclaimed by the National Park Service as “the landscape that defined America.”

Xed-Mass Trees?
Two rainy summers followed by drought have produced a shortage of some Christmas tree varieties in New York, especially Fraser firs, one of the most popular choices, according to growers.
“We’ve had it three years in a row now. Two with excess rain and now a drought. Mother Nature can’t seem to get it right,” said Robert Norris, a tree farmer and executive secretary of the Christmas Tree Farmers Association of New York.
Nationwide, there are approximately 22,000 farms producing Christmas trees on roughly 447,000 acres, according to the Missouri-based National Christmas Tree Association. Last year, Americans purchased 28.6 million Christmas trees, down from nearly 33 million in 2005. Pennsylvania has the most Christmas tree farms with nearly 2,200.
New York ranks among the leaders in all three categories: fourth with 1,650 farms; fifth in acreage with 32,600; and seventh in production with approximately 619,000 trees harvested annually.
New York tree farmers grow about a dozen of the nearly three dozen varieties of Christmas trees, Norris said. In recent years, Fraser firs have accounted for about 25 percent of Christmas tree sales in the state, he said. The other top seller in New York is the balsam, which is native to the state. “There shouldn’t be any shortage of balsam,” Norris added.
While wet weather can cause fungus and disease, the dry weather that plagued upstate New York this summer - about three inches less than normal from June through September - will cause stunted growth and less vibrant evergreens, growers said.
Meanwhile, 18 Ulster County family owned and operated tree farms where visitors can select their favorite tree and cut it down themselves have banded together for a new metro area media blitz.. “Here, the tradition of finding that one special tree remains as alive and well as the trees themselves,” reads the press release.
Ulster County Tourism has a free, Cut Your Own Christmas Tree Directory with information about hours of operation, the types of trees and other items available at each tree farm. To receive one call, 1.800.342.5826 or visit www.ulstertourism.info.

Almost Soccer
The Ulster County Community College’s men’s soccer season ended November 11 when
Richland College (Texas) beat the Senators, 1-0, in a sudden overtime surprise at the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III championship at Herkimer Community College’s Wehrum Stadium. TheRichland Thunderducks captured their second straight national title and fifth in six years, while denying the Senators their third NJCAA crown and first since winning back-to-back championships in 1977 and ’78. Three Ulster players ended up making the All-Tournament Team. Ucc ended up 21-3-1 for their season.

Charter Talk
On Wednesday, December 5, Dr. Gerald Benjamin, distinguished professor of political science at SUNY New Paltz and chair of the Ulster County Charter Commission, will speak on the structural concept of a charter form of government that has been adopted in Ulster County. The Honorable Alfred B. DelBello, former lieutenant governor of New York and former Westchester County Executive, will address the practical applications that may be expected. The program, part of the Ulster Community College Foundation’s Howard C. St. John Distinguished Lecture Series, endowed by Ulster Savings Bank, includes a breakfast presentation at 7:30 a.m. and a student session at 9:50 a.m. Both sessions are free, but reservations are required by phoning (845) 687-5262.
In May, 2008, Dr. Gerald Benjamin will assume the directorship of the newly formed Center for Research, Regional Education and Outreach at SUNY New Paltz. For the past 12 years, he has served as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Formerly he served as director of the Center for New York State and Local Government Studies at SUNY’s Rockefeller Institute of Government and as research director of New York’s Temporary State Commission on Constitutional Revision. In 1988 and 1989 he was principal research advisor to the New York City Charter Revision Commission.
DelBello is widely recognized as an expert on issues pertaining to local government. He was elected city councilman and mayor of Yonkers, as well as county executive of Westchester County and lieutenant governor of the State of New York. During his term of office, he created and administered 10 regional economic development councils throughout the state. As Westchester county executive, he distinguished himself by reducing property taxes for three years in a row, achieving the highest investment credit rating of any government in New York State and establishing several departments and boards that were responsive to county needs. He is presently chairman of the board of directors of the Westchester County Association, a member of Governor Spitzer’s Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness and chairman of the board of directors of the Westchester Land Trust.

Better Records?
Problems tracking oversight in planning and constructing the Ulster County Law Enforcement Center led county lawmakers recently to endorse a plan to standardize meeting minutes for all legislative panels. The proposed policy was reviewed by the county Legislature’s Efficiency, Reform and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, which was told that the investigation into the $95.2 million jail project was made difficult because lawmakers in charge of the project were able to manipulate the paper trail.
Legislators noted that better minutes about county policy over major projects could have been used to dispute jail investigation testimony from former County Attorney Francis Murray, who said lawmakers did not have authority to be watchdogs over the jail project even though a resolution calling for legislative oversight over capital projects was adopted by the Legislature in 1987.
I n a Nov. 1 letter, Legislature Chairman David Donaldson, D-Kingston, asked the committee to endorse the recommendation, which he said would help keep future lawmakers from being self-serving.
“It was established at hearing that (former county Chairman) Ward Todd kept minutes for at least one committee he chaired,” Donaldson wrote. “It was further established that he freely edited those same minutes. Multiple drafts of a single meeting were presented.”
Donaldson added that “it is unclear whether those edited minutes were widely circulated. Yet, it is abundantly clear that the subjectively revised recollection of one committee member, albeit the committee’s chairperson, became the permanent record of the committee’s meeting.”
Committee members plan to review the effectiveness of recording devices before making further recommendations. They said there would be a digital recording that would be available to the public via the county Web site.
Donaldson said the former Republican majority of the Legislature apparently violated state records retention laws by failing to keep recordings made during full county Legislature session.
“It appears as if session tapes were routinely reused or discarded until January 2006, when a concerted effort was made to retain them,” he wrote.

Youth Summited
From November 2 to 5 upwards of 6,000 young people from all over the country met on the campus of the University of Maryland in College Park at the “first-ever national youth climate summit.” Over the course of two and a half days they took part in close to 300 different workshops on a range of topics including anti-racism and anti-oppression, a central priority for this burgeoning movement of “hope for the world,” organizing strategies and tactics on the climate issue on college campuses, community-based, statewide and national organizing and legislative approaches on the climate issue, ways to end the US addiction to coal and oil, media and messaging, skills trainings, spirituality and faith and environmental sustainability, civil disobedience and direct action in the climate movement, and direct corporate campaigning.
One of the political high points for me was when, during a major plenary session Saturday night, a “we want more” chant went up from some of those in the crowd of thousands during the speeches of Congresspersons Ed Markey and Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House. Markey is the chair of a special House committee on global warming set up by Pelosi earlier this year.
“We don’t just want policy fixes, or simply a change in leadership in the White House, higher fuel economy standards, or 80 percent emissions reduction by the year 2050,” noted a statement released from the summit. “This movement is about more than just politics. This movement is about more than just supporting clean energy sources. This movement is about recognizing the patterns of consumption, patterns of thought, patterns of behavior that have led to the social ills we see today. It’s about rediscovering the value of our resources, the value of our neighbors, the value of life on this planet.”

Too Much TV
Americans aged 15 to 24 on average spend two hours a day watching TV and only seven minutes on leisure reading, reducing their chances for high-paying jobs and community service, according to a report by the National Endowment for the Arts. 61 percent of those holding managerial or professional jobs were proficient readers, said the report, citing a 2003 U.S. Education Department survey. Some 70 percent of the people rated as poor readers felt their lack of skills had limited their job opportunities.
The number of adults who read should be increased to improve both the quality of their lives and the future of their children, said Dana Gioia, chairman of the arts endowment, which compiled the report from studies conducted by the Education Department, the American Association of School Librarians and Statistics Canada.
The report concluded that 57 percent of those who had proficient reading skills had performed volunteer work, compared with 18 percent of the people with poor skills. It also found that the better a person’s reading skills, the more likely that person voted in the 2000 election. The Education Department study showed 84 percent of proficient readers voted, compared with 62 percent of those with basic skills and 53 percent of those with poor skills.
Gioia visited Woodstock and the area last year.

Aid Workshop
The Onteora High School Guidance Department is hosting a Financial Aid Workshop on Tuesday, October 4 at 7 PM in the High School Chorus Room. Important information about financial aid for post-secondary education will be presented. The workshop is considered essential for college-bound seniors and their parents, although all are invited to attend. For further information call 657-2373.

Local Designs…
The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development has received a $30,000.00 grant from the New York State Council on the Arts for Architecture Planning and Design throughout the Catskills. The funds will go to the Catskill Center’s Community Development Program, which has been instrumental in organizing communities at the grass-roots level by providing technical assistance, hosting workshops and assisting with architectural planning for Main Street Revitalization efforts across the 6 1⁄2 county Catskill region. Building upon those successes the center has hired a new Regional Planner, Peter Manning, and is now poised to provide planning assistance across county lines for projects like transportation corridors, cell tower law and placement strategies, comprehensive planning, inter-county tourism initiatives, scenic byways, historic preservation and training local planning boards (now mandated by state law).
For more information, please visit www.catskillcenter.org.

Free Screening!
Writer and director Nicole Quinn and producer Sophia Raab-Downs will present their recently completed film, Racing Daylight, in the Vanderlyn Hall Student Lounge at Ulster County Community College in Stone Ridge on Thursday, November 29, at 7:00 p.m. The showing is free and open to the public. Told as three short films in two different times, the movie is a ghost story, a murder mystery and a love story. The locally produced film stars David Strathairn, Jason Downs and Melissa Leo, with supporting performances by Giancarlo Esposito, LeClanche Durand and Sabrina Lloyd. Music is by Sarah Plant, an Olive resident. Also present at the screening will be the film’s art director, Jaf Farkas. Director Nicole Quinn was a guest of last year’s SUNY Ulster Artist-in-Residence Nina Shengold. For information phone (845) 687-5262.

Sharpshooters?
A 4-H Youth Club, the Sharp Shooters, is looking for new members, and would like to organize a carpool from Kingston, Saugerties, or New Paltz to Phoenicia. Youth between the ages of 10 and 18 are welcome to join. Sharp Shooters meets at the Phoenicia Fish and Game Association on Route 28 at 7:00 pm every first and third Wednesday of the month. Youth learn gun safety and basic shooting skills in rifle, shotgun, air pistol, archery, and muzzle loader. They are also taught living history as it relates to shooting sports. Instructors are trained and certified by NYS 4-H. All equipment and ammunition is provided. There is a fee of $5.00 to become a junior member of the Phoenicia Fish and Game Association. If interested in joining the Sharp Shooters 4-H club and/or being part of a carpool, please contact Kristen Wilson, 4-H Resource Educator, at 845-340-3990 or kew67@cornell.edu For more information about Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County programs and events call 845-340-3990 or visit our website http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/ulster

Terror Watched?
The US terrorist watch list includes more than 755,000 names and continues to grow, the US Government Accountability Office said last week. The list exploded from fewer than 20 entries before the September 11, 2001 attacks to more than 150,000 just a few months later, after the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) was created in December 2003 to keep tabs on terrorist suspects, according to the GAO, the non-partisan investigative arm of Congress.
Including known pseudonyms of suspects, the list’s 755,000 names as of May 2007 represents, in fact, around 300,000 people, according to TSC estimates.
Describing the list as “quicksand” that traps innocent people for the sake of security, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has called on the US Congress to step in.
Meanwhile, more than 15,000 people have appealed to the government since February to have their names removed from the terrorist watch list that delayed their travel at U.S. airports and border crossings, the Homeland Security Department says. The complaints have created such a backlog that members of Congress are calling for a speedier appeal system that would help innocent people clear their names so they won’t fall under future suspicion. Among those who have been flagged at checkpoints: toddlers and senior citizens with the same names as suspected terrorists on the watch list.
The Homeland Security Department says it gets about 2,000 requests a month from people who want to have their names cleared. That number is so high that the department has been unable to meet its goal of resolving cases in 30 days, says Christopher White, spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, which handles the appeals. He says the TSA takes about 44 days to process a complaint.
In February, the TSA launched the Traveler Redress Inquiry Program, a one-stop shop for people to appeal links to the watch list, which flags anyone with potential ties to terrorism. The list has more than 750,000 names.