News Briefs 4/9/2009

The Budget & Us
So the state budget finally passed, with few of the key provisions that had our readers enthralled making it to the end as state property tax freezes and other matters moved to the backseat to make room for a new “tax the rich” fix geared towards New York’s downstate pockets of wealth.
Millions of dollars in union-paid ads, an influential left wing of the Democratic Party and the loss of Republican control of the state Senate contributed to an overhaul of Reagan-era income tax brackets under the 2009-10 spending plan totaling $131.8 billion that was adopted, leading some to believe that much was put forth as a smokescreen to pull upstate legislators onboard in the final rounds.
The final figure is $10.5 billion more than the current budget, or about 8.7 percent at a time with minimal inflation. Most of that, however, is use of $7.2 billion in federal economic stimulus funds.
General fund spending, which excludes federal money, is projected to increase no more than 1 percent, to about $54 billion.
The Legislature used federal stimulus money to restore about half of the more than $1 billion in cuts Gov. David Paterson proposed in his December budget. Schools would get only slight increases in aid, although Paterson’s proposed cut of 3.3 percent - or about $700 million - was fully restored.
Gone will be the STAR rebate checks taxpayers have been receiving. But $170 million in spending for legislators’ pet projects, key for re-election years like 2010 (and always a strong source of funding for regions such as ours) will be untouched.
The final budget deal overhauls the state’s income tax rates to get $4 billion from wealthier residents who have been paying about the same rate as a family making $40,000 a year. The agreement will increase the current top rate of 6.85 percent. Residents making more than $300,000 but less than $500,000 would face an income tax rate of 7.85 percent. Those making more than $500,000 would see a rate of 8.97 percent.
Of interest to the increasingly photogenic Catskills and Hudson Valley, the state’s television and film industry will get $350 million in tax credits to help trim the cost of production in the state and give breaks to investors.
Also key on a local basis was the grassroots political effort that helped prevent the Hudson River Valley Greenway Communities Council and Conservancy from being merged with other state agencies in budget-cutting moves.
The Greenway is a state agency created to facilitate development of a voluntary regional strategy for preserving scenic, natural, historic, cultural and recreational resources while encouraging compatible economic development and maintaining the tradition of home rule for land-use decision-making. Through voluntary participation in the Greenway, communities in 13 counties - including Ulster, Dutchess, Columbia and Greene (and a growing number of towns here in the Route 28 corridor) - can receive technical assistance and funding for local land-use planning projects that support the goals of the Greenway program.
Republican Senator John Bonacic, meanwhile, spoke for his party, shut out from final talks for the first time in decades, called the spending plan “the big ugly,” saying it will chase business out of the state with higher taxes and fees.
“This budget is like bad fish; it’s going to smell worse and worse every day,” he said. “”As a result of the budget, New Yorkers will pay more for things we use each day - cell phones, electricity, health insurance, hospital services, and auto insurance, to name just a few.”
Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, meanwhile, spoke for the Democratic majority when he trumpeted, following the budget’s passage, the manner in which the budget closed a $17 billion deficit and “enacted a spending plan that maintains funding for education while reflecting the State’s fiscal challenges. With Federal assistance, the budget includes an additional $1.2 billion for schools statewide and restores many of the proposed cuts in the Executive Budget.”
“Despite an unprecedented deficit, the Assembly put forth a plan in which the needs of our families take precedence above all else,” said Cahill. “Not only is it unacceptable to jeopardize the future of our children, but any reduction in state-aid would further burden property tax payers, which is the last thing we should to do in this economic climate.”
Under the budget, aid to Onteora School District, said Cahill, will rise by $439,194 over recent projections tied to Paterson’s proposed cuts. And cuts to the Environmental Protection Fund, utilized to aid in the protection of Catskills lands, will end up not being as severe as originally announced.
The Assemblyman also praised reforms, within the budget bill, to the state’s staunch “Rockefeller Drug Laws,” as well as expansion of the state’s “bottle bill” for refunds.
Yet to be decided will be the exact roll-out of stimulus dollars for local “bricks and mortar,” or “road and bridges” projects, prioritized by the county last month but still under the control of the governor.
In March, Ulster County Executive Mike Hein, also Chairman of the county’s Transportation Council, announced that cumulatively, governments within Ulster County would be receiving an estimated $20.7 million in federal stimulus funds for transportation initiatives. The announcement followed the adoption of a prioritization list by the UCTC of the infrastructure projects submitted under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
Approximately $17.6 million will be allocated to 10 first-round highway, bridge and pedestrian projects located throughout the county; and another $3.1 million to 8 transit projects. Five second-round projects, totaling approximately $15.7 million, were also approved in the event that one or more first-round projects could not proceed, or the state found other means of funding them
Among the approved Round 1 Highway, Bridge and Pedestrian Projects put forth by Hein was $2 million for Route 28 Paving from Route 375 to the Delaware County Line, along with another $2.2 million for general paving work on state highways throughout the county… most of which seemed likely to go to projects in the county’s southern half. Round two projects also included another $11.2 million for Route 28 repaving.
Let’s see what happens on the state level, next.
Annual Meeting
The Catskill Watershed Corporation will hold its 12th Annual Meeting of member towns Tuesday, April 28 at 6 p.m. at CWC offices, 905 Main Street, Margaretville. Results of the election of representatives from Schoharie and Ulster Counties to the CWC Board of Directors will be announced.
In Ulster County, Olive Town Supervisor Bert Leifeld is seeking re-election. Leifeld, who currently serves as the CWC’s Vice President, was not challenged in the election process said CWC Attorney Tim Cox, and was therefore nominated by all of the Ulster County watershed towns. Beginning on the 28th, Leifeld will begin his second, four year term.
Ulster County’s other delegate is Mike Shultis, the former supervisor of the Town of Hurley who lost a reelection bid two years ago, who will serve two more years on the CWC Board.
The CWC board consists of 15 members, 12 of them elected officials of West-of-Hudson watershed municipalities. Delegates are elected to the board by supervisors of the 39 townships in the watershed. The board includes six members from Delaware County, two from Ulster County, two from Greene County, and one each from Sullivan and Schoharie Counties. In addition, the board includes a representative of the city, appointed by the Mayor of New York; a representative of the state, appointed by the Governor; and a representative of the environmental community, also appointed by the Governor.
Gauge Update…
New York City Department of Environmental Protection officials have agreed to keep open three stream gauges, including two that provide flood information, for an additional six months, but have not changed plans to discontinue use of 53 gauges as a budget-cutting requirement.
U.S. Geological Survey officials said one Ulster County gauge on the Rondout Creek above Red Brook at Peekamoose will be maintained even though it is not required by the National Weather Service for real-time water levels.
In a report on the significance, federal officials wrote the Ulster gauge represents a good starting monitor for early runoff levels because of the 1,740-foot elevation.
Two of the gauges to remain in service for the additional time are in Delaware County – and tied into the Delaware River watershed basin — and are used for National Weather Service flood forecasts.
In a revised U.S.. Geological Survey list, 25 gauges of the total 53 planned to be discontinued are currently used to provide flood modeling or forecast data to the National Weather Service. In all there are 11 gauges to be discontinued on June 30; 31 on Sept. 30; 3 on March 31, 2010; and 8 on Sept. 30, 2010.
U.S.. Sen. Charles Schumer in a press release said the decision to keep three gauges operational for an additional six months is not enough to protect residents and property downstream along the Rondout and Esopus creeks.
“This is a step in the right direction, but only one-tenth the way to what is needed,” he said, preparing to visit Boiceville this week for a brief speaking event at the Five Arches Bridge. “The bottom line is that the DEP has a responsibility to Catskill and Hudson Valley watershed communities to fund these gauges to guard against flooding, measure water levels and provide crucial data to the USGS and local authorities. We will continue to work with communities and local governments to prevent cuts.”
Back To Earth!
There’s a host of fun outdoors events happening over the coming two weeks, tied to the concurrence this year of Easter and Passover and all their pastoral themes, Earth Day, and the final advent of flower shoots, foliage, and warmer weather.
Among the fun…
The Ashokan Center in Olivebridge is hosting an “Honoring the Earth” celebration on Saturday, April 18, lending focus to Earth Day on the 22nd, Arbor Day on the 24th, National Environmental Education Week from April 12-18th and April’s No Child Left Inside Days. It will all go down from 10 am to 5 pm at the Ashokan Center’s campus with a special early morning bird walk at 6:30 am being offered by pre-registration. At 10 am the official opening ceremony will be led by Barbara Threecrow followed by a discussion about “Where We Are in the World Today.” Throughout the day there will be naturalist led walks and hikes, forest and watershed ecology programs, Native Earth Skills, fiber arts and traditional crafts, Earthball games, and music from Ashokan co-founders Jay Ungar and Molly Mason. For more information and to sign up for the bird walk visit Ashokan Center’s website at www.AshokanCenter.org, or call (845) 657-8333 x14.
For Easter, there will be egg hunts on Saturday, April 11 at 10:00 AM in Olive (organizers stressing this is for the town’s children, only) at David Park in West Shokan, 11:00 AM for anyone at the Parish Field in Phoenicia (put on by the M.F. Whitney Fire Company), and at 12 Noon for all ages at the Forsyth Nature Center in Kingston. On that day there will also be a special Earth Day Street Fair at the United Methodist Church on Clinton Avenue in Kingston.
In addition, the 4-H Feathered Friends Poultry Club of Ulster County invites families to attend their sixth annual Spring Fun Festival on Saturday, April 11 from 10:00am to 4:00pm at the High Falls Fire House just off Route 213, rain or shine. All proceeds will go to support 4-H Feathered Friends Poultry Club community service projects. Activities for the day will include a treasure hunt, children’s crafts, face painting, Easter egg coloring plus informative sessions for parents and children alike that will include how to raise poultry in your backyard. Bunny Basics workshops for those interested in raising rabbits will take place at 11:00am and 2:00pm. Visitors can also learn more about Ulster County 4-H youth clubs, including this summer’s 4-H Career Explorations three-day conference for youth entering grades 8-12, taking place June 30 – July 2, as well as how to participate in the 2009 Ulster County Fair. This event is supported by the Cornell Cooperative Extension Ulster County 4-H Youth Development Program.
Finally, on Saturday, April 25, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County’s Master Gardeners program will be offering up its own day-long Garden Day 2009 in Vanderlyn Hall at SUNY Ulster in Stone Ridge from 8:30am to 4:00pm. This year’s theme, “The Frugal Gardener,” features an array of experts speaking about a variety of the hottest trends in gardening via 16 hands-on and how-to classes. Keynote speaker Margaret Roach will open the program with her presentation entitled, “Making a Garden for 365 Days a Year”. Seating is not guaranteed for all classes on day of event so reservations are requested. For a complete listing of classes and details and registration form contact Master Gardener Coordinator, Dona Crawford at 845-340-3990.
Get on out and celebrate! No excuses…
Pure Catskills!
The Watershed Agricultural Council (WAC) is soliciting proposals from farmers, business owners, local agencies, individual consultants and community organizers who coordinate and host events that raise awareness and appreciation for local agriculture. The WAC, through its Pure Catskills Buy Local campaign, will be providing sponsorship awards of up to $3,000 per event, with a total of $50,000 available for the region. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection provides funding for this sponsorship program, now in its third year. Pure Catskills event sponsorships are intended to support community-based efforts to connect communities with local farms by eating local food.
Eligible events will incorporate the addition of local food elements to traditional community events such as meals, fairs and festivals or educate the public on the preparation, availability and work of local farmers in producing of foods locally. Eligible events must take place between May 1 and December 31, 2009. Communities eligible include those in Delaware, Greene, Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster counties.
A minimum of three Pure Catskills Buy Local Campaign members must participate in each event. Members include local farm and food-based businesses and organizations that produce local food or support the development of a vibrant local food system in the Catskills region. Members can be found at www.purecatskills.com and include hundreds of farms, farmers markets, restaurants, retailers and community organizations. Those enrolling by April 15 will receive a listing in the Farm Fresh Guide, a print publication distributed regionally and due out in May. Application materials are available online at purecatskills.com and applicants are strongly encouraged to access these materials through the website. All applications must be postmarked by April 27. Faxed and emailed applications will not be accepted.
For more information on this opportunity, contact Challey Comer at ccomer@nycwatershed.org or (607) 865-7090, ext. 217.
The WAC is funded by The New York City Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Forest Service, and other federal and foundation sources.
For more information, visit www.nycwatershed.org.
Plastic Bag Law
Ulster County lawmakers were set to decide this week, as we went to press, on the setting of a public hearing on establishing a 10-cent per bag charge for each plastic shopping bag used at cash registers when packing items for customers. The proposed 6 p.m. May 6 public hearing was endorsed by the county Ways and Means committee last week but some lawmakers contend residents who can least afford the additional fee will be the most affected.
Lawmakers on the county Environmental Committee contend the law will combat plastic bags “along streets and roads, and they often find their way into waterways including the Hudson River via drains, streams, and sewage pipes.”
Committee members added that “plastic bags biodegrade very slowly, and in fact, over time break down into smaller, more toxic petro-polymers which eventually contaminate soils and waterways. As a consequence their microscopic particles can enter the food chain.”
Under the proposed law, fees would be charged by “each sales outlet, store, shop or other place of business ... which operates primarily to sell or convey food or merchandise directly to the ultimate consumer.”
The law would include carryout food businesses that have either 5,000 square feet of retail space or are part of a chain that has five or more stores. Penalties would be a civil fine of $250 for the first violation and $500 for subsequent violations.
During a Democratic caucus several lawmakers said the law would create problems for small stores that pay more for paper bags and there would be additional storage and shipping costs because of additional weight. Supporters said the law could help develop cost-effective home budgeting practices.
Energy Policies…
Senator Kevin S. Parker, Chair of the Senate Energy Committee, and Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, Chair of the Assembly Energy Committee, recently announced legislation to re-establish in statute a state energy board charged with crafting a comprehensive state energy plan for New York. The new State Energy Plan will provide for the oversight and guidance to ensure the success of the new initiatives sparked by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The legislation charges the board to develop and regularly update a comprehensive plan to identify and meet the State’s future energy needs. An earlier State energy planning statute expired in 2003. Currently the State is engaged in an energy planning process pursuant to an Executive Order of the Governor.
Senators Parker and Cahill said funds from President Obama’s Federal stimulus package give New York a “unique opportunity” for economic growth and the creation of new “green jobs.” They also said that the new legislation enables New York “to better ensure affordable service, oversight and accountability of providers, and focus on New York’s long-term energy needs.”
The new law will require comprehensive studies of the state’s energy needs. The plan will include assessments of the following: regional and statewide analyses of power generation, transmission and distribution; reliability and affordability; short and long term fuel forecasts; renewable energy technologies and distributed generation; environmental justice and public health; efficiency and conservation; transportation; residential, commercial and industrial construction; emergency management; and economic development.
The bill will empower the Board to hold hearings, adopt rules and regulations and issue subpoenas. It would require all major utilities to file information necessary to the development of an Energy Plan. It would direct the Power Authority of the State of New York and the Long Island Power Authority to participate in the planning process and to submit strategic, operating and capital plans. The bill would also require state agencies to report on the progress made to implement identified energy plan policies and priorities and progress made to attain energy plan goals. The first plan will be due on January 1, 2013.
Let’s see if they can help with the frozen high cost of home heating oil, and even worse problems in the liquid propane markets this past year…
Climate Change!
SUNY Ulster will host a presentation on Mohonk Lake Climate Change by Benjamin I. Cook, Ph.D., NOAA Postdoctoral Scholar of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, from 4:30 to 5:30 P.M. on April 16 at Burroughs Hall 120 on the Stone Ridge campus. It is the final lecture in the four-part campus “2020 Vision for the Catskills” sponsored by the Catskill Institute for the Environment. The event is free and open to the public.
Dr. Cook of the LDEO, a leading research institution at Columbia University, will present a case study on a Catskills environment based on species sightings and weather records.
The 2020 Vision for the Catskills Lecture Series held this spring continues the dialog on environmental issues and human interactions confronting the Catskills in the coming decade. The lecture series follows up on issues presented in the fall of 2008 when NYS DEC and CIE hosted the first “Catskills Environment and Economy Day.” Prior lectures presented at local colleges explored invasive species management, technological information and research tools.
For more information, contact David Lemmon at (845) 687-5239 or by email at lemmond@sunyulster.edu or visit www.catskillinstitute.org.
Recent climate change news has brought forth new evidence that a nearly ice-free Arctic Ocean in the summer may happen three times sooner than scientists have estimated, with the Arctic now estimated to be possibly losing its ice cover in summer in as few as 30 years instead of at the end of the century. So much more open water could be a boon for shipping and for extracting minerals and oil from the seabed, but it raises the question of ecosystem upheaval.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration funded the work.
CasiNO?
Empire Resorts, owner of Monticello Gaming and Raceway, recently announced that it has signed a new 40 year deal with Concord Associates to keep open its current harness racetrack and video lottery machine operation in Monticello while it also develops twin facilities at the planned-to-be built Concord Hotel and Resort, saying they expect the state to approve an additional license for the new racing and gaming venue when the Concord project is completed.
Empire will receive a $2 million annual fee that increases by five percent every five years over the 40 year term; an annual percentage fee over the 40 years equal to the greater of $2 million or two percent of gross gaming revenues, including from future legalization of Indian gaming projects; a payment of $25 million upon any sale or transfer of the Concord gaming facilities. Concord will provide Empire with a least $4 million a year in additional net cash flow.
Concord will also fund, after opening of its harness track, 100 percent of the amounts payable to Empire each year to the Monticello Raceway horsemen and breeders with respect to their share of VGM revenues.
Hanlon said Empire Resorts’ existing business at the raceway “may now be further enhanced by pending legislative approval in the near term of electronic table games, including electronic versions of blackjack, roulette, and craps.” He said in the event there is a legalization of commercial gaming, either on the state or federal level, Empire “would be well positioned to take advantage of any (or both) of these opportunities.”
Quite a distance, we must say, from the imminent casinos of a few years back…
Bad Resort!
The Nevele Hotel in Ellenville has been charged with failing to secure workers compensation coverage for its workers, a crime that carries fines of up to $50,000, Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright announced in recent weeks. The hotel was sentenced by Judge Bruhn to pay restitution, costs, penalties and charges in the amount of $35,277 to the Workman’s Compensation Board and to pay an additional fine of $5,000. An additional condition of the plea is that if the hotel violates this law again, they could be resentenced, in which case the fine could be up to $100,000.
The New York State Worker’s Compensation Board had already sanctioned the Nevele Hotel three times before for not having workman’s compensation coverage. The most recent violation involved an employee who was injured at work while the company did not have workman’s compensation coverage. The case was investigated by the New York State Worker’s Compensation Board Office of the Fraud Inspector General and Compliance Unit, the New York State Insurance Department’s Fraud Bureau, and the New York State Insurance Fund. The case was then prosecuted through the joint efforts of the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office and the New York State Insurance Department’s Fraud Bureau via the insurance department’s fraud prosecution program.
“It is important that employees in Ulster County be protected and that businesses here comply with this law,” said Carnright. “The businesses and taxpayers of Ulster County should not have to pick up the hotel’s cost for its injured workers.”
Beaten Back…
New York Regional Interconnect announced last week that it is suspending its efforts to site a power line in New York. It was seeking the okay to run the line from Oneida County to Orange County, but met with much opposition on the local government and community level.
A statement from the company said that while it “remains committed to transmission development in New York State, it is suspending its current participation in the New York State Public Service Commission Article VII process” for its project.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently overruled the interpretation by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) of federal regulations that would have potentially allowed the agency to overrule state objections and permit the construction of power lines, such as the one proposed by New York Regional Interconnect (NYRI).
NYRI’s proposal to construct massive new electric transmission lines through Chenango, Broome, Delaware, Sullivan and Orange counties met with stiff opposition from grass roots organizations and politicians ranging from Republican State Senator John Bonacic to Democratic Congressman Maurice Hinchey, who argued that the project was not needed to meet New York’s electricity needs and would adversely impact local communities and the environment along the proposed routes while taking private property through eminent domain for a private corporation.
In its ruling released February 18, the Fourth Circuit struck down the FERC’s December 2006 interpretation of Section 216 of the Federal Power Act — a provision put in place by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, finding that FERC’s interpretation of the agency’s authority under Section 216 was “expansive” and “contrary to the plain meaning of the statute.” In a strong rebuke to FERC’s decision, the Circuit ruled that, “The statute (Section 216) does not give FERC permitting authority when a state has affirmatively denied a permit application within the one-year deadline.”
Trooper Case…
An upstate judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the widow of a state trooper from Greene County who was killed in a 2007 shootout in nearby Margaretville, ruling that a county probation department’s delay in issuing an arrest warrant did not contribute to the trooper’s death.
The family of Trooper David Brinkerhoff claimed St. Lawrence County officials were negligent when they allowed fugitive Travis Trim to remain free despite multiple probation violations.
Brinkerhoff, 29, was killed by friendly fire during a gunfight in a farmhouse on April 25, 2007. He was in a group of troopers that stormed the Margaretville home where Trim, 23, was hiding the day after shooting, but not seriously injuring, another trooper. Trim was killed in the shootout.
State Supreme Court Justice David Demarest dismissed Barbara Brinkerhoff’s lawsuit, concluding the delay in issuing an arrest warrant for Trim “was not a factor which indirectly produced this tragic result.”
Mrs. Brinkerhoff and her infant daughter, Isabella, filed a lawsuit last August seeking unspecified damages against the St. Lawrence County Probation Department. In a notice of claim filed in February 2008, the family indicated it was seeking $100 million. The lawsuit contended that if St. Lawrence County officials had properly handled the warrant, Trim could have been arrested months before Trooper Brinkerhoff was killed.
Demarest said in his ruling that while the delay of the warrant may have allowed Trim to remain at large, it was Trim’s shooting of another trooper that prompted state police to confront him in the Margaretville house.

Stop Driving?
Scientists are creating tests to show when it’s time for people with early Alzheimer’s disease to stop driving. Typically, specialists say, patients gradually scale back their driving, avoiding busy freeways or night trips or left-turn intersections.
Working on ways to help similar patients, a team in Iowa has developed an intricate behind-the-wheel exam: A 35-mile drive through rural, residential and urban streets in a tricked-out Ford Taurus able to record just about every action the driver takes, much like an airplane “black box” does. Lipstick-size video cameras were positioned to show oncoming traffic, too. Researchers recruited 40 people with early-stage Alzheimer’s who still had their driver’s licenses to take the road test, and compared how 115 older drivers without dementia handled the same trip.
On average, the Alzheimer’s drivers committed 42 safety mistakes, compared with 33 for the other drivers. Lane violations, such as swerving or hugging the center line as another car approaches, were the biggest problem for the Alzheimer’s drivers. They performed 50 percent worse. And overall errors rose with increasing age whether or not the driver had Alzheimer’s, an extra 2 1/2 mistakes for every five years of age.
But some Alzheimer’s patients drove just as well as their healthier counterparts. Here’s the key: Researchers also checked whether any of a battery of neuropsychological tests given beforehand accurately predicted who would drive worse - and some did.
Flunking simple memory tests didn’t make a difference. Standard neurologic tests of multitasking abilities did, ones that assess if people’s cognitive, visual and motor skills work together in a way to make quick decisions. Examples include showing patients geometric figures for a few seconds and having them draw the shape from memory, or drawing paths between a sequence of numbers and letters. Alzheimer’s patients who scored average or better on those types of written tests were likewise no worse behind the wheel than other older drivers - but those who scored worse than average tended to commit about 50 percent more errors on the road.
More research is needed but the ultimate goal is an easy doctor’s-office exam to help guide when patients should give up the keys.
K To Register
Kindergarten Pre-registration and screening for the 2009-2010 school year will be held in the Onteora Central School District during the month of April. This event will be held for all three elementary schools. Registration will be held on the following dates and places:
Monday, April 20 and Tuesday, April 21 (backup date – Monday, May 4) at Phoenicia Elementary School.
Wednesday, April 22 and Monday, April 27 (backup date – Wednesday, April 29) at Bennett Elementary School.
Thursday, April 23, and Tuesday, April 28 (backup date – Thursday, April 30) at Woodstock Elementary School.
Parents of children whose names appear on the district kindergarten census lists will be contacted before or during the week of April 13th to set up a Preregistration/screening appointment. Parents who are not contacted by this week and believe their child is eligible for kindergarten in September should contact the Registrar at 657-6383.
To be eligible for kindergarten, a child must be 5 years old by December 1, 2009. For Pre-registration, parents must bring identification, the child’s original birth certificate as evidence of birth date, immunization and health records, and proof of residence. A physician’s certificate proving that the child is properly immunized must be presented at registration or at some time prior to the first day of school in September of 2009.
In order to assist parents, the Ulster County Health Department periodically operates immunization clinics. Information about the scheduling of these clinics may be obtained by contacting the Health Department. Students entering Kindergarten in September, 2009, must have a physical within one year prior to the first day of school attendance in 2009. Parents may opt to have the physical done by the School Physician in school.
Bad Loans…
Banks nationwide hold $41 billion in loans to directors, top executives and other insiders, a portfolio that experts say should be stripped of secrecy. Insider lending to directors is particularly troublesome because it could cloud the judgment of people charged with protecting shareholders and overseeing bank management, the experts say.
At Charlotte-based Bank of America, those loans more than doubled last year, to $624.2 million - the biggest dollar jump in the country. The largest of them likely went to three directors or their companies. The surge came during the third quarter as credit markets froze, the government prepared to infuse banks with billions in tax dollars and the board approved the purchase of troubled Merrill Lynch.
Bank of America ranked fourth on the list of biggest insider lenders. At the top was JPMorgan of New York, which held $1.48 billion in insider loans, mostly by directors or their companies. At No. 2, Charlotte-based Wachovia, which was sold to Wells Fargo of San Francisco at the end of 2008, finished the year with $747 million in insider loans. All of the loans were held by the bank’s directors or their companies, with just five holding the largest.
Insider loans, ranging from home mortgages to multimillion-dollar lines of credit for big companies, are legal but are largely shrouded from public scrutiny. Banks don’t have to explain increased insider lending. They don’t have to disclose individual loan amounts or terms for any insiders, including executives. Directors and their businesses, often the largest insider borrowers, are completely shielded. Directors must approve insider loans greater than $500,000, so they sometimes vote on loans for each other or the executives they oversee.
Insider favoritism is against the law. Bankers and regulators say the loans are subject to greater scrutiny to ensure insiders aren’t getting better terms and are creditworthy. But top corporate governance experts contend that insider lending carries serious potential for conflict of interest among bank officials and must be stripped of secrecy. They argue that lending to directors, the watchdogs of management, must be revealed so shareholders can gauge their independence.
Seven of the 10 banks with the largest insider loans received a total of more than $50 billion in the banking bailout late last year, banks’ federal filings show.
The majority of the nation’s 8,000-plus banks make insider loans, some very small. At the end of last year, banks had $41 billion of insider loans, up 5.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the filings.
Most publicly traded companies were banned from making insider loans in 2002, part of the regulatory rush following the collapse of Enron and other accounting scandals. But banks were excluded from the ban, partly because they’re in the business of lending and also because the loans have been subject to extensive regulation for more than 25 years.
The loans were blamed for bank problems during the nation’s S&L crisis in the 1980s.
Keep an eye on this…
Be Kind To All
The recession may lead to more than just financial problems, it could lead to an increase in domestic violence, according to federal, state and now even county officials.
An increase in reported cases of domestic violence is of concern to officials in Ulster County and how to educate and inspire a more progressive attitude toward the violence was the topic of a recent forum in Kingston where Investigator James McCoy of the New York State Police Ulster County Family Violence Unit spoke of a large increase in the number of domestic incident reports from 2007 to 2008. According to McCoy, based on the amount of reports so far this year, the increase in those reports from 2008 to 2009 will far surpass that of previous years.
“We have a domestic violence problem here in the United States which is of epidemic proportions,” said Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright before he emphasized the need for action with some startling statistics.
“We estimate that approximately 6.2 million Americans every year are victims of domestic violence,” he said. “There are more women who are victims of domestic violence than women who are injured in car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined. Approximately four women a day are killed as a result of domestic violence across the United States.”
Carnright said about half of all men who commit domestic violence against female partners also abuse their children and one out of every 20 individuals 60 years or older is the victim of elder abuse.
Go To Jail!
One in every 31 U.S. adults is in the corrections system, which includes jail, prison, probation and supervision, more than double the rate of a quarter century ago, according to a report released by the Pew Center on the States. The study, which said the current rate compares to one in 77 in 1982, concluded that with declining resources, more emphasis should be put on community supervision, not jail or prison.
The United States has the highest incarceration rate and the biggest prison population of any country in the world, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Most of those in the U.S.. corrections system - one in 45 - are already on probation or parole, with one in 100 in prison or jail, the Pew study found.Those numbers are higher in certain areas of the country, and Georgia tops all states with one in 13 adults in the justice system. The other leading states are Idaho, where one in 18 are in corrections and Texas, where the rate is one in 22. In the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., nearly 5 percent of adults are in the city’s penal system.
This was the first criminal justice study that took into account those on probation and parole as well as federal convicts, Pew said.
The numbers are also concentrated among groups, with a little more than 9 percent of black adults in prisons or jails or on probation or parole, as opposed to some 4 percent of Hispanics and 2 percent of whites.
Pew compiled the report as states consider cutting corrections spending during the recession. The research group said that by changing sentencing laws and probation programs states can lower incarceration rates and save money.
Penitentiary systems have been the fastest-growing spending area for states after Medicaid, the healthcare program for those with low income. Over the last 20 years their spending on criminal justice has increased more than 300 percent, the study found.
During the last 25 years prison and jail populations have grown 274 percent to 2.3 million in 2008, according to the Pew research, while those under supervision grew 226 percent over the same span to 5.1 million. It estimated states spent a record $51.7 billion on corrections in fiscal year 2008 and incarcerating one inmate cost them, on average, $29,000 a year. But the average annual cost of managing an offender through probation was $1,250 and through parole $2,750.
Hero Luncheons
Seven Ulster County restaurants have agreed to host special Red Cross Hero luncheons as part of the year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of the American Red Cross Ulster County Chapter. Luncheon parties at Mariner’s Harbor, Kingston; The Peekamoose, Shandaken; New World Home Cooking, Saugerties; White Wolf, Ellenville; The Plaza Diner, New Paltz;, Holiday Inn, Kingston and Mariner’s on the Hudson, Highland, will showcase the wide variety of great dining opportunities in the county and support the work of the Ulster County Red Cross. Luncheons will all be priced at an affordable $25 with all non-food costs being donated to the organization’s year-long Century of Service celebration.
Each participating restaurant has agreed to prepare a special single entrée luncheon in April. Leaders from local businesses, politics and social organizations will become Red Cross Heroes by replacing the restaurant’s wait staff for the event. The Heroes will donate their “tips” to the Chapter. In addition to the non-food cost of the luncheon tickets will be donated to the Chapter.
Mary Beth Mills, whose Peekamoose Restaurant in Shandaken is known as much for its community support as for its great food, was the first to sign on.
“This is a really great idea,” she said. “A great way to give back and lots of fun for everyone involved.”
Dates for the luncheons are April 10 the Plaza Diner in New Paltz; April 16 at White Wolf in Ellenville; April 17 at the Holiday Inn in Kingston; April 23 at Mariner’s Harbor in Kingston; April 24 at Mariner’s on Hudson in Highland; April 25 at Peekamoose in Shandaken and April 30 at New World Home Cooking in Saugerties/Woodstock. The luncheons begin at noon and end no later than 2:00 p.m.
For more information or to register for the luncheons, please visit www.ulsterredcross.org or call the Red Cross office at 338-7020.

Bad Trout News
This past winter, Gary Shaver’s Beaverkill Trout Hatchery in the Sullivan County community of Lew Beach was barred from delivering trout for stocking, at least this year, after his fish had tested positive for three pathogens—Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis Virus, Aeromonas salmonicida, and Yersinia ruckeri (Enteric Red Mouth). Shaver’s fish have long been used to stock a number of local creeks and streams, including that which runs through Woodland Valley just outside Phoenicia.
Then, on March 13th, Shaver suffered a massive heart attack and died before he could be admitted to the hospital.
“The poet might weave limpid lines about the sublime beauty of nature—its gentle rains, the verdant mountains, the fiery sunsets. But try to wrench a living from the tempestuous, unpredictable vagaries of nature and you will soon discover that it is a hard road to travel in the best of circumstances,” wrote the organizer of the WV trout stocking each Memorial Day weekend, Mike O’Neill, in announcing the news this past week. “It takes a special person to carry it off, and Gary was just such a person—one with heart and solid resolution, and a droll sense of understated country humor that saw him through when others might falter. But this terrible year, this annus horribilis, was too much, even for him. To his wife Betty, mother Gloria, his children Sherry, Fred, Kevin, and Lisa, their spouses and their children, we send our profound commiserations, and love.”
Save a catch for Gary…
Stream Cleanups
The Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC) will once again support groups and individuals who clean litter and other debris from stream banks in their neighborhoods. Youth and school groups, church organizations, civic and business associations, neighborhood groups and teams of friends are encouraged to scour stream and riversides for trash and to dispose of it properly. The CWC will provide trash bags, gloves and tokens of appreciation for those who choose to serve their communities in this way. Call Mary Jane Oppenheimer at 845-586-1400 to arrange to get these items.
Volunteers might wish to do a cleanup in observance of Earth Day April 22, or to coordinate their efforts with National Stream Clean-up Day sponsored by Trout Unlimited on June 13. For information on this event, part of TU’s 50th anniversary observance, go to www.tu.org.
American Rivers is also calling for groups to participate in a National River Cleanup effort this spring. To register your cleanup activity and to get more information, go to www.americanrivers.org
State Of News?
“Imagine someone about to begin physical therapy following a stroke, suddenly contracting a debilitating secondary illness.”
This is how the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism describes the “State of the Media” in its 2009 report.
The one sunny area in the news business, according to the report, is the fact that cable “shined” in 2008. Its audience grew by 38 percent. CNN, Fox News and MSNBC gained viewers and expected to see record profits. But… if cable news is more profitable than before, that’s because, increasingly, it features less and less news, the report found.
According to the report, obsessive, often irrelevant horserace coverage of the election eclipsed all other news. It accounted for 59 percent of the cable newshole in 2008, while coverage of the economy accounted for only 10 percent. (That number is opposed to 36 percent and 15 percent, respectively, in the media overall..) Meanwhile, coverage of Iraq War fell everywhere, but it positively crashed on cable, where it fell nearly 90 percent, and ended up accounting for just 2 percent of overall coverage.
However, while CNN, MSNBC, and FOX’s audiences may be hungry for news, they may not be satisfied with the product they’re getting. According to PEJ’s report, a mere 44 percent of the public believed that news organizations (over all) “protected democracy” in 2007, down from 60 percent in 2001, directly following the September 11th attack.
Meanwhile, a bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate recently that would let newspapers become tax-exempt non-profit organizations as long as they don’t endorse political candidates. A subsequent Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey showed 37 percent of Americans favoring federal government subsidies to keep newspapers in business, with 43 percent saying it’s better to let the papers go out of business, and 20% not sure what to do.
Nearly two-thirds of Democrats (65%) and 50% of unaffiliated Americans think the failure of the U.S. newspaper industry is a national tragedy. Forty-one percent (41%) of Republicans feel the same way, but 45% don’t agree.
Half (51%) of Democrats support subsidies for newspapers, but 66% of Republicans think it’s better for the papers to fail. Adults not affiliated with either party are fairly evenly divided.
Adults ages 30 to 64 are far more inclined to let newspapers go out of business than are those older and younger than they are.
Good thing you’re reading this newspaper, eh?