News Briefs 5/7/2009

Swine Flu?
Flyers were sent home to parents in the Onteora school district this week alerting them on the H1N1 Swine flu virus that allegedly originated in Mexico and spread quickly throughout the United States including New York State in recent weeks. The contents of the flyer outlines precautions to take.
“At this time, the State and local health departments have advised us that students can continue to come to school, as long as they are not sick and do not think they have flu symptoms,” it read.
The administration urges parents to be vigilant, making sure that any child with flu-like symptoms stay home. Symptoms include a fever of over 100 degrees, sore throat, cough, runny or stuffy nose. Additional symptoms that may be experienced with swine flu, includes muscle pain, fatigue, vomiting or diarrhea.
The administration would also like parents to teach their kids to exercise common sense precautions; including how to wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, use a hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol, avoid touching one’s mouth, nose or eyes, and cough or sneeze into a tissue or into the inside of one’s elbow.
Recent reports have tied the recent outbreak to a Smithfield Ham-owned pig farm near the city of Perote in the Mexican state of Veracruz, where hundreds of residents came down with the flu’s symptoms in early April, long before it was reported in Mexico City April 24.
Virginia-based Smithfield Farms shifted operations to Mexico after it received what was, at the time, the most expensive fine in history ($12.6 million) for violating the US Clean Water Act at its U.S. pig facilities in 1985, where it was reportedly dumping hog waste into a river that flowed into the Chesapeake Bay. When the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into effect on January 1, 1994, Smithfield opened a new subsidiary in Mexico…

Maples Going?
What would the Catskills be like without maple trees? That’s one question worth asking now that yet another invasive species seems to be closing in on the region.
Like the gypsy moths have in the past, the Asian long-horned beetle is now expected to make an arrival. These bugs, which showed up in Brooklyn harbor about a decade ago in packing crates from China, have been found since on Long Island and parts of New Jersey. While they have not been found in the Catskills yet, DEC officials worry that they might end up here via the crates and other items that downstate visitors to the region bring with them. Should that happen, it has the potential to have a bigger impact on local forests than Dutch elm disease, chestnut blight and the gypsy moth combined.
Red and sugar maple trees, the preferred host for Asian long-horned beetles, dominate forests in the Catskills. And locations with outbreaks are close enough to the Catskills to pose a threat, officials say.
Asian long-horned beetles are about one to one and a half inches long, black and shiny with white spots and have long, distinguishable antennae that are banded with black and white. The beetles attack many different hardwood trees, including all species of maple, birch, horse chestnut, poplar, willow, elm, ash, mimosa, hackberry, sycamore, mountain ash and London plane. The female beetle chews depressions in the bark of trees to lay 35-90 eggs that hatch within 10 to 15 days. The worm-like immature beetles then tunnel under tree bark and bore into healthy hardwood trees, feeding on living tree tissue during the fall and winter. After pupating, the beetles emerge through exit holes during the spring and then feed on tree exteriors for two to three days, then mate.
Unseasonable yellowing or drooping of leaves when the weather has not been especially dry are signs that the Beetles are present.
Last June, the state Department of Environmental Conservation banned the import of firewood into the state unless it has been kiln-dried. The regulation also prohibits the movement of untreated firewood within the state more than 50 miles from its source.
The DEC was set to hold a special conference and workshop at its Belleayre Mountain facility on Wednesday, as we went to press, on the latest menace. The Catskill Watershed Corporation was co-sponsoring the event.
Combined with warnings from scientists about the effects of climate change on what trees grow in the region, diseases affecting the local hemlock population, and the current news about Didymo invasions of the Esopus and other local trout streams, it seems much of what we’ve grown accustomed to in our Catskills is about to change.
Stay tuned…

County Surplus
Ulster County ended 2008 with a $4.1 million surplus and a fund balance of $23.7 million. Officials said the surplus, which came despite midyear warnings that the county could face a nearly $300,000 deficit by Dec. 31, helps position the county to better weather the current economic downturn.
According to the 2008 county financial report, the county’s fund balance rose by 20.9 percent, from the $19.6 million on hand at the end of 2007.
“What this really boils down to his sound budgeting and aggressive fiscal management for the taxpayers of Ulster County,” said County Executive Michael Hein. “We are better prepared to face the serious challenges that will undoubtedly impact the people of Ulster County.”
Last July, when he still was Ulster County administrator, Hein warned the county could face a budget deficit of nearly $300,000 by the end of 2008. At his recommendation, the county Legislature enacted a hiring freeze and authorized Hein to take other measures to reduce spending.
Hein was elected in November as the county’s first executive and began his new job on Jan. 1.

Route 28 Fixup!
Governor David Paterson finally announced that he has certified an additional $6.1 million for transportation projects in the Hudson Valley through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), including $2.2 million for a project to repave approximately four miles of Route 28 between Route 212 and Route 214 in the Town of Shandaken, Ulster County.
The top layer of worn, deteriorated pavement will be removed and replaced with new asphalt and fresh pavement markings to extend the service life of pavement. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2009.
Nevertheless, some have been arguing in town meetings that more should have been requested… little minding the fact that more WAS asked for, by everyone across the state.
As well as the fact that more is still expected, including additional funds for sewer systems and other municipal projects, in the coming year.
Such, we guess, is the nature of modern-day political discourse.

In Boiceville?
Work crews are in the thick of a hamlet tear up in Boiceville, where the collection system for a $12.2 million sewer system is being installed.
“Collection system” is engineer speak for the pipes that go under the streets, parking lots and yards throughout the hamlet and hook up to the treatment plant being built on the lower end of the Boiceville business district near the firehouse.
The project appears to be running like clockwork, with workers and heavy equipment moving about and causing only minimum disruption to the every day business of Boiceville as well the Onteora High School/Middle School.

CWC’s Big Meet
Self congratulations detailing each of the Catskill Watershed Corporation’s programs were the primary focus at the regional agency’s12th Annual Meeting of member towns April 28 in Margaretville, where Donald (Mike) Brandow, supervisor of the Town of Conesville, joined the CWC Board of Directors as a replacement for long-time Schoharie County representative Charlie Buck of Jefferson and Berndt Leifeld, Town of Olive Supervisor, was re-elected as one of two Ulster County representatives on the Board.
Board officers were also elected: Georgianna Lepke, President; Michael Flaherty and Berndt Leifeld, First and Second Vice Presidents; Mike Brandow, Secretary, and James Eisel, Treasurer. Most were incumbents.
Highlights of 2008 that were touted included the repair, replacement and maintenance of 356 residential septic systems in the five-county West-of-Hudson New York City Watershed; the distribution of low-interest loans totaling $2,015,623 to 23 businesses; the expenditure of more than $9 million to plan and develop seven community wastewater projects for Watershed hamlets; completion of 20 stormwater control projects; the award of 12 stream corridor management grants to protect properties in flood prone areas; dissemination of $135,000 in grants to 27 schools and organizations in the watershed and in New York City to enhance watershed education; and approval of four Local Technical Assistance grants which will help seven communities prepare comprehensive plans and other assessments
Special projects mentioned for the past year including the renovation of an historic inn in Delaware County under the CWC’s Business District and Historic Structures Fund; the setting up of an exploratory project to determine the value of grass pellets as a fuel source under the Catskills Studies Fund; and the creation of a new website to promote the tourism and business potential of the Catskills region, which will be launched this summer.
Presentations were made at the meeting by Bill Rudge, Natural Resources Supervisor for Region 3 of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, who discussed the recent discovery of invasive species in local streams; by Paul Rush, Deputy Commissioner of the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, whop talked about the upcoming opening of the Cannonsville Reservoir for non-motorized recreational boating; and by Gary Gailes, Chairman of the Water Discovery Center Board of Directors, who noted that Robert Kennedy, Jr., chief prosecuting attorney for Riverkeeper, has agreed to chair the non-profit’s Leadership Team as former DEP Commissioner Marilyn Gelber has agreed to serve on its National Advisory Board. Gailes also noted that talks are moving forward with the American Museum of Natural History to establish an educational collaboration with the Center.
For more information on all items, visit www.cwconline.com

Gun Control
Bills that would require renewals of handgun permits and a system to tag and track spent shell casings have touched off the first gun-control battle in years in Albany, drawing numerous letters against any form of second amendment infringement from local residents who then asked that their missives be withheld once the state legislature started passed the new laws last week.
The Democrat-controlled Assembly approved the permit and tag and track measures on April 29. They now face a strong chance at becoming law in the newly Democrat-controlled state Senate.
The differences between those in favor of and those against the new laws not only have split on largely Upstate/Downstate lines, but also on age considerations. Talk about mirroring some of the battles moving through our own region in recent years.
Before the Assembly vote, students rallying in support of the measures were mostly minorities from the New York City area. A clear majority of the opponents lobbying lawmakers were middle-aged white men from upstate wearing National Rifle Association caps, according to the Associated Press.
One of the proposed laws would require New York handgun licenses — which currently are issued for a lifetime — to be renewed every five years. The second would require semiautomatic handguns sold or made in New York state to be configured to “microstamp” identifying information on shell casings.
Those favoring the laws spoke about peers they knew who had died of urban gunfire. Upstaters against the new laws protested that there are already enough gun restrictions, such as requirements not to show your licensed handgun in public, to show a permit when one buys ammunition, and computerized federal background checks when a person buys any firearm.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, whose chamber passed mandatory re-licensing 87-58 and microstamping 94-47, told the rally held the day after their vote that it was part of a package of “intelligent gun legislation.” He called it “insane” to just sit back and accept gun violence like the Columbine school massacre 10 years ago and the killing of 13 people in Binghamton earlier this month.
New York City, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties already require handgun permit renewals every three to five years. Microstamping legislation died last year in the Senate, then controlled by a Republican majority.
The State Senate is now expected to pass both measures and have them to Governor Paterson for his signature’s by the legislative session’s end this summer. The laws would affect new guns sold or made in New York starting in 2011.

Stream Gauges…
Talk about the story that never quits… It now turns out that federal sources have been found to pay for the continued operation of flood gauges in the region that had been slated to lose funding by the end of the year, according to an official with the National Weather Service.
Following negotiations earlier this year, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection agreed to a one-year extension on the use of 17 gauges it had planned to discontinue. The gauges had been used to monitor streams for the agency’s reservoir system.
Several geared for closure beyond those 17 have since found funding either from the State of Pennsylvania, if they’re in the Delaware or Susquehanna watersheds, or other sources.
U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey also recently noted that a meeting was conducted earlier this week with the U.S. Geological Survey to discuss long-term funding through congressional appropriations.
“These stream (gauges) require a minimal upfront investment and pay off in huge ways by providing flood forecasting and warning that help prevent the loss of life and property,” Hinchey said.
If this what they call zero-based budgeting in effect?

Olive-Hosted
The Central Catskills Collaborative held an open meeting that featured the regional planning work of students in the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry at SUNY-Delhi who have undergone extensive inventory and mapping exercises along the Route 28 Corridor at the Olive Free Library last Thursday, April 30.
“This work is based on the idea that the long-term health and well-being of the Central Catskills communities depend on mutual support and collaboration, and that these aspirations are aided by the perspective of regional planning and the visualization of community design alternatives,” noted Margaret Bryant, Professor of Landscape Architecture, about her students’ work.
Members of the Central Catskills Collaborative have been working with the students to bring life to community-supported design concepts.
“The Town of Olive has identified a site along Route 28 in Shokan for a park that will aid regional tourism promotion,” noted CCC member and Olive Town Board Trustee Helen Chase of the new studies. “The students have advanced this project significantly by sharing their invaluable expertise with the community.”
The work being conducted will form part of the foundation for corridor vision exercises to be led by SUNY ESF and the Catskill Center later this year. All of these efforts are designed to assist the Collaborative in its Route 28 Scenic Byway nomination effort, which was recently awarded $50,000 from the Catskill Watershed Corporation.
For more information on the Central Catskill Collaborative, please visit www.centralcatskills.org/ccc.

House Sales?
The slump in sales of existing single-family homes may have hit bottom, and March figures appear to bear that out in the Hudson Valley and Catskills counties where some sales numbers increased substantially.
Statewide, according to the New York State Association of Realtors, home sales jumped by 14 percent in March compared to February. Sales rose in Columbia, Orange, Rockland, Ulster and Westchester. In Columbia they rose by 12 percent; in Orange, they rose by 27 percent; in Rockland, they went up by five percent; in Ulster, they rose by almost 67 percent; and in Westchester, they increased by 19 percent.
The numbers stayed the same in Dutchess, but fell by 12 percent in Greene County, by 16 percent in Putnam County; and by 23 percent in Sullivan County.
Selling prices fell by 24 percent in Columbia County, by nine percent in Dutchess; by six percent in Orange; and by 14 percent in Putnam.
Prices jumped by 51 percent in Sullivan County, by 15 percent in Rockland County, by 10 percent in Westchester and Greene counties, and by six percent in Ulster.

Septic Class
The Catskill Watershed Corporation will conduct a free class in Olive Saturday, May 16 on septic system operation and maintenance.”Your Septic System: What Every Homeowner Should Know” will be offered from 10 a.m. to Noon at the Olive Free Library (Ulster County) on Route 28A. Pre-registration is not required. A free water saving kit will be provided for each household attending the class. The class includes a short video and a slide program covering types of systems and how they work; basic biology and soil filtration concepts of wastewater treatment; health and environment effects that can result from failed septic systems; roles and responsibilities of homeowners, regulators, engineers and contractors; basic maintenance requirements of septic system components; how to protect against inflow and infiltration; the case against septic system additives and improper pharmaceuticals disposal, and troubleshooting when problems develop.
For more information, call the CWC at 845-586-1400. CWC programs and projects are explained on the corporation’s web site: www.cwconline.org.

No Child No More?
Education Secretary Arne Duncan is currently traveling to 15 states to hear comments about No Child Left Behind, the controversial education law championed by former President George W. Bush and passed 8 years ago with a stalled re-upping process two years back. President Barack Obama has pledged to overhaul the law, but he has been vague about how far he would go, or whether he would scrap it altogether.
‘’I don’t know if `scrap’ is the word,’’ Duncan told reporters last week. ‘’Where things make sense, we’re going to keep them. Where things didn’t make sense, we’re going to change them.’’
Duncan gives the law credit for shining a spotlight on kids who need the most help. No Child Left Behind pushes schools to boost the performance of low-achieving students, a group that typically includes minority kids, English-language learners and kids with disabilities. Yet he also has many criticisms of the legislation, joining a multitude of opponents who insist the law’s annual reading and math tests have squeezed subjects like music and art out of the classroom and that schools were promised billions of dollars they never received.
Critics also say the law is too punitive: More than a third of schools failed to meet yearly progress goals last year, according to the Education Week newspaper. That means millions of children are a long way from reaching the law’s ambitious goals. The law pushes schools to improve test scores each year, so that every student can read and do math on grade level by the year 2014.
Duncan said the federal government should be ‘’tight’’ on the goals, insisting on more rigorous academic standards that are uniform across the states. And he said it should be ‘’much looser’’ in terms of how states meet the goals.

Teen Troubles…
Ulster County Executive Mike Hein, in partnership with SUNY Ulster, the Ulster County Adolescent Substance Abuse Task Force (ASATF), and the Ulster County SAFE Coalition (School, Agency, Family and Educators Coalition), is sponsoring “Wake Up Call: A Call to Action on Adolescent Substance Abuse” Conference on Tuesday, May 12, starting at 8:00 AM in the Student Lounge at SUNY Ulster in Stone Ridge. It is the first of its kind in Ulster County to bring together schools, colleges, service providers and parents to raise awareness and create a direction to address this issue for our youth.
For more information, contact Cheryl Qamar (845) 340-4174 or Jack Bennett (845) 458-7406.

Chancellorized!
West Shokan’s Stephen Elmendorf was one of two SUNY Ulster students who have been honored for their academic achievement and community service with the 2009 Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence. Elmendorf and John Rell III of Saugerties were among 238 college students from SUNY campuses throughout the state to be recognized by SUNY Vice Chancellor and Officer-in-Charge John J. O’Connor with the award.
The students received a framed certificate and medallion that is traditionally worn at graduation. Both local students also were inducted by O’Connor into the international academic honor society for two-year college students, Phi Theta Kappa. After graduation in May, Elmendorf and Rell plan to continue studies at four-college colleges. The two also have been recipients of Ulster County Community College Faculty Association Scholarships.
Elmendorf is a computer science major interested in pursuing artificial intelligence and software engineering. He works as a senior Web site designer and is a volunteer providing Web design and development services to the Westminster Presbyterian Church and technology services to Redeemer Broadcasting. He also is Web designer for the engineering club at SUNY Ulster and a computer science tutor.
The Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence was created 12 years ago to recognize students who have best demonstrated, and been recognized for, the integration of academic excellence with accomplishments in the areas of leadership, athletics, community service, creative and performing arts or career achievement. The average Grade Point Average (GPA) for all SUNY recipients this year is 3.77.

Health Care?
Questions about the hot topic of the moment, health care reform and which plan would most greatly benefit ordinary Americans, both the insured and uninsured alike, will be the main topic of a Thursday, May 14, forum discussion starting at 7:00 PM at the Elting Library in New Paltz,where local citizens will be given the opportunity to explore and discuss universal health care proposals currently being debated in Congress.
Among these options is “Enhanced Medicare for All”, otherwise referred to as “Single Payer”, which advocates a fundamental change in the way care is financed. According to Art Richter of Citizens for Universal Health Care, “It’s the only plan on the table thus far which both insures universal coverage and reduces the costs of health care.”
Medical student Ryan McIntyre will speak on behalf of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), a national organization of over 16,000 physicians which supports a single payer national health insurance program. Medicare-for-All will be explained and critiqued against other health reforms bills which advocate more incremental changes.
The session will conclude with ways that citizens can make their voice heard on health care policy.
For information call: Teresa Dixon at (845) 255-4815 or John Chiardia at (845) 255-7539.

Hedges Hedged?
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should be given authority to regulate what hedge funds can buy and how much money they can borrow to maximize bets because registration falls short of what’s needed to police the $1.33 trillion industry, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said this week.
“It’s probably not enough just to register hedge funds” with the SEC, Schapiro said. “It may well be necessary to put in place particular kinds of rules.”
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s plan to overhaul financial oversight in response to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression would force hedge funds to register with the SEC, subjecting firms to new disclosure requirements and inspections by agency staff. Schapiro said the SEC’s authority should be broader, so it can impose further restrictions on funds as “situations evolve.”
Schapiro said “it’s certainly possible” that the SEC would consider forcing hedge funds to publicly disclose short- sale positions, imposing restrictions on leverage and restricting what the firms can invest in.
“We’re not at the point where we’ve made decisions about those things,” she said, adding that the SEC would first consult with other government agencies.
The U.S. Senate recently voted to give the SEC $20 million in additional funding next year to hire 60 investigators after Schapiro said the agency lacked resources and it drew criticism for missing Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.

General’s Orders
The Army general who led the investigation into prisoner abuse at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison has accused the Bush administration of committing “war crimes” and called for those responsible to be held to account. The remarks by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who’s now retired, came in a new report that found that U.S. personnel tortured and abused detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, using beatings, electrical shocks, sexual humiliation and other cruel practices.
“After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes,” Taguba wrote. “The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.”
Taguba, whose 2004 investigation documented chilling abuses at Abu Ghraib, is thought to be the most senior official to have accused the administration of war crimes. “The commander in chief and those under him authorized a systematic regime of torture,” he wrote.
The group Physicians for Human Rights, which compiled the new report, described it as the most in-depth medical and psychological examination of former detainees to date.

Bearly Spring…
It seems it was only a week or so ago that snow was still falling in the Catskills, but that hasn’t stopped one local nuisance from appearing, even though that nuisance is usually associated with post Memorial Day offenses. State conservation officials are urging people to take precautions.
Of course, such words don’t matter to Urus Americanus, the culprit in question.
Most know them as the American Black Bear, those big stinky galoots that roam the area in search of good eatin’ in local trash cans and sometimes local kitchens.
Approximately 1,800 bears live in the southern bear range of New York, which includes the Catskills and parts of central and western parts of the state. Bear populations, particularly in the southern bear range, have been increasing in number and expanding in distribution over the past decade.
Black bears will become a nuisance and can cause significant damage if they believe they can obtain an easy meal from bird feeders, garbage cans, dumpsters, barbecue grills, tents, vehicles, out-buildings or houses. When bears learn to obtain food from human sources, their natural foraging habits and behavior are changed.
For the past few weeks the evidence that these bruins have come out of hiding is apparent. Garbage is strewn about on many roads and yards and there have been a few sightings locally as well.
Bears that become accustomed to obtaining food from humans will often become bold and assertive in their quest for food, potentially leading to property damage or dangerous situations for humans. Unfortunately, this often results in DEC having to euthanize the bear, echoing the adage, “a fed bear is a dead bear.”
These problems can be minimized by taking these simple precautions: Never feed bears. If you believe that bears are being fed, intentionally or unintentionally, immediately report it to DEC. Keep food away from the outdoors of your house. And check with the DEC to see what they suggest.