9/24/2009

CWC Takeover?
The Shandaken Town Board is looking to take themselves, and therefore politics, out of the mix that has been the Phoenicia sewer dilemma. The board agreed to hear details about the possibility of handing over the $17 million fund provided by New York City for the hamlet’s long-promised wastewater project to the Catskill Watershed Corporation, which is handling the sewer installation in Boiceville, in hopes that CWC can find a way to get a system designed that is acceptable to the majority of Phoenicia residents.
Despite some concernsvoiced at the recent town board meeting where this came up, the neighboring town of Olive’s system is nearing completion with hardly a complaint... and came to pass via a smooth referendum process.
To date Shandaken, and Phoenicia, has been the only community that has rejected the city’s sewer financing offer, by a relatively close vote three winters ago.
Stay tuned...

Local Energy!
Comments are being filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in opposition to the City of New York’s plan to use what is known as the “Traditional Licensing Process” to try and obtain a license for the City’s use of their reservoirs for hydropower, implying that such a strong green effort should not be treated in typical bureaucratic fashion.
The Delaware County Electric Cooperative is seeking to develop hydro based energy from the City reservoirs, which the City is now saying it wants to undertake at four of its reservoirs – Schoharie, Neversink, Cannonsville, and Pepacton – on its own.
Talk about turf battles.
“The hydro power capable of being generated by the City’s reservoirs could have tremendous benefit to our region,” said state senator John Bonacic in a statement. “A slower, less public process is clearly not in the best interest of the people of the watershed and surrounding communities… Our local officials are rightly concerned that a hydro power project could be developed in their back yard , without a real opportunity for them to participate and in a way which does not guarantee the best local benefits.”
In addition to Senator Bonacic, United States Senator Charles Schumer and Congressman Maurice Hinchey have also weighed in urging the City to move faster.
At least the discussion’s finally moving…

Whispered...
There has been a rising amount of campaign whispering of late about an alleged investigation by the NYS Attorney General into the Shandaken Town Board, and in particular Supervisor Peter Di-Sclafani. That talk spilled over into the town board meeting on September 15 when Big Indian resident Al Frisenda urged the board to hold of on passing a produce stand law becausehe said he believed that the town board’s handling of that matter is a prime focus of the investigation. Asked how he knew there was an investigation, Frisenda said he had been in contact with two people that had been contacted by the Attorney General’s office for questioning. While one of those people went unnamed, the other was Al Higley, the operator of the farm stand in Mount Tremper that created the need for a produce stand law in the first place, and someone that has been battling the town board over the proposed law.
Lee Park, a spokesman for the Attorney General, said Monday that the office does not comment on its activities, real or imagined, in any way and neither confirmed or denied that an investigation is underway.
When polled, no one on the town board had been contacted by the Attorney General. And word was that the other peson “contacted” had in fact been another local resident who had originally contacted the state with complaints, none of them apparently criminal in nature.

Flu Shots!
The Ulster County Health Department will hold its annual seasonal influenza and pneumococcal vaccination clinics beginning on Monday, September 28 in Kingston, and including a stop in Olive next month. No appointments are necessary, and county residents may attend any site which is convenient.
All Ulster County adult residents aged 18 and over, who want to reduce their risk of becoming ill with influenza or of transmitting influenza to others are encouraged to receive the seasonal flu vaccine. The high-risk group is particularly encouraged which, includes people 50 and over, as well as adults aged 18 and over who have heart disease, chronic broncho-pulmonary disease, renal disease, diabetes mellitus, other chronic metabolic disorders, severe anemia and/or compromised immune function, and others who are at risk of influenza-related conditions such as pregnant women. Influenza vaccine is also recommended for home care providers and others (including household members) who may be in close contact with high-risk individuals.
Senior citizens who have Medicare Part B benefits will be able to obtain their vaccinations through Medicare. The recipient must be entitled to Part B coverage on the date of service, Medicare Part B must be the primary insurance coverage, and the Medicare Card must be presented on the date of service. For those not eligible for Medicare Part B coverage, there will be a $20 charge for influenza vaccination and a $35 charge for pneumococcal vaccination, payable at the clinic.
Individuals who were immunized last year are NOT protected against this year’s type, and should receive the new vaccine.
The first flu shot session takes place on Monday, September 28 from 9:00 AM to 12 noon at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 207 Albany Avenue in Kingston; followed by similar morning hours on Friday, October 2 in the Trudy Resnick Farber Building at 50 Center Street in Ellenville; on Monday, October 5 at VFW Post 8645, 101 Rte. 208 in New Paltz, on Wednesday, October 7 at Ulster Town Hall in Lake Katrine; on Friday October 9 at Town Hall, 284 Broadway, Port Ewen; on Thursday, October 15 at the Saugerties Senior Center, 207 Market Street, Saugerties; on Monday, October 19 at the Hurley Reformed Church, 11 Main Street, Hurley; On Wednesday, October 21 in the Woodstock Rescue Squad Building, 226 Tinker Street, Rte. 212 in Woodstock, and on Tuesday, October 27 in the Ashokan Legion Hall, 26-28 Mountain Road in Shokan.
For recorded information about dates and times, please call the Ulster County Health Department Flu Hotline at 340-3093. Information can also be obtained at www.UlsterCountyNY.gov/health.

Unemployment?
New York State’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate climbed from 8.6 percent in July to 9.0 percent in August, its highest level since April, 1983, the State Labor Department reported recently. New York City’s rate also increased, jumping from 9.5 percent in July to 10.3 percent in August, its highest level since May, 1993.
“Our latest labor market report indicates that employers in New York State cut jobs at a more modest pace than employers nationwide and our statewide unemployment rate remained below the nation’s rate. However, the number of unemployed New Yorkers in August reached its highest recorded level,” said Peter A. Neenan, Ph.D., Director of the Division of Research and Statistics.
In regional trends, the new stats show that in the Kingston area, the number of nonfarm jobs has decreased by 400 since August 2008, or 0.6 percent, and the number of private sector jobs has decreased by 1,400, or 2.9 percent. The area’s unemployment rate was 8.1 percent in August 2009, compared with 8.1 in July and 5.7 in August 2008. In the Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown area, meanwhile, the number of nonfarm jobs has decreased by 6,400, or 2.5 percent, for the same year-to-year period, and the number of private sector jobs has decreased by 6,400, or 3.1 percent. The area’s unemployment rate was 8.1 percent in August 2009, compared with 8.2 in July and 5.4 in August 2008. In more affluent Putnam-Rockland-Westchester, the number of nonfarm jobs has decreased by 11,200, or 1.9 percent, and the number of private sector jobs has decreased by 10,500, or 2.2 percent. The area’s unemployment rate was 7.3 percent in August 2009, compared with 7.3 in July and 5.0 in August 2008.

Watershed Talks
Four hundred years after Henry Hudson, can we paint a clear picture of the ecological health of the Hudson River and its tributaries, including the entire Catskills part of the river’s vast watershed?
Such matters will be discussed next week, on September 29 and 30, at a State of the Hudson River Watershed Conference: Ecological Status of the Waters of the Hudson River and its Tributaries to be held at the FDR Museum’s Hyde Park Vistor’s Center.
This conference will summarize what we know about current conditions and trends in the ecological integrity of the region’s running waters, and examine key policy and management issues related to those trends. It will also explore the question of which environmental indicators best communicate ecosystem health for environmental policy makers, managers, and the general public.
The conference program is intended to promote a regional discussion on development of a periodic “vital signs report” on the waters of the Hudson River watershed.
The conference is the seventh annual meeting of the Hudson River Watershed Alliance (HRWA), and is being coordinated by HRWA and the Hudson River Environmental Society (HRES). Co-sponsoring organizations and agencies include Estuary Training Program of the NYSDEC Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, U.S. Geological Survey, Clearwater, The Nature Conservancy, Hudson River Estuary Program of the NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation, Scenic Hudson, Hudson Basin River Watch, National Park Service, and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
For more details please visit www.hudsonwatershed.org or www.hres.org.

Cauliflower!
The Seventh Annual Margaretville Cauliflower Festival, to be held in the Margaretville Village Park Saturday, Sept. 26, will feature two new attractions: Catskill Forest and Wood Products exhibits and demonstrations; and a tent full of farm-related fun for youngsters. The festival, sponsored by the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce, is free and will be held rain or shine from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Entertainment, art, cooking demonstrations, history exhibits and much more will also be featured.
Celebrating the agricultural heritage of the region, the event this year will highlight the connection between farm and forest with displays and exhibitions coordinated by the Catskill Forest Association and supported by the Watershed Agricultural Council’s Forestry Program. Festival goers will also enjoy demonstrations of horse logging, timber milling, firewood processing, apple cider making and chainsaw carving.
The free Festival (cauliflowerfestival.com), which runs rain or shine from 10 to 4, pays tribute to an era when cauliflower production played an important role in the region’s social and economic life.
And what about the festival’s key subject and its use as a food?
Instructors and students from the SUNY Delhi Hospitality Dept. will prepare cauliflower and rice pudding, butternut squash soup and other delectables. Jenny and Dick Liddle, who raise grass fed beef on their Halcottsville farm, will prepare a beef dish using cauliflower. Cauliflower soup, quiche and wraps, and more traditional fare like hot dogs, barbecue and fried dough, will be available from local restaurants and food vendors. Maple syrup and cider making demos will be conducted by Catskill Forestry Association (CFA staff), while maple memorabilia loaned by the VanBenschoten family will be on view.
Meanwhile, in the History Tent, the Historical Society of the Town of Middletown will host “When Cauliflower Was King,” an exhibit that explains the cauliflower growing industry which flourished from the 1890s through the 1950s, and lasted into the 1990s. Cool nights, mild days, and mineral-rich soils produced premium grade cauliflower and Brussels sprouts which were sold to markets throughout the Northeast, providing supplemental income to small dairy farmers in the Catskills.
The Cauliflower Festival is supported by the A. Lindsay and Olive B. O’Conner Foundation, Pure Catskills program of the Watershed Agricultural Council, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, and many Chamber business members and individuals.
For more information on these and other festival highlights, go to www.cauliflowerfestival.com.

Beware The Knees
. During their lifetimes, an estimated 45 percent of Americans will develop knee osteoarthritis, a common kind of arthritis that wears away cartilage cushioning the knee joint, according to a study in the journal Arthritis Care & Research. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and University of North Carolina researchers based the findings on data from 3,068 people age 45 and older in North Carolina.
Obese people had a higher risk, with the extra weight putting additional stress on the knee joint. While 35 percent of normal-weight people got osteoarthritis of the knee, 65 percent of obese people developed it, along with 44 percent of overweight people, the researchers said.
Many factors can cause arthritis — namely genetics, sedentary lifestyles and joint injuries. There were no significant differences in risk associated with sex, race or education level, the researchers said.
In addition, a report by an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services showed that hospitalizations due to osteoarthritis rose to 735,000 in 2006 from 322,000 in 1993, mostly due to an increase in knee replacement operations. From 2000 to 2006, knee replacement surgery rates rose 65 percent, while hip replacement surgery rates rose 21 percent, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Osteoarthritis, also called degenerative joint disease, is the most common type of arthritis. It can affect any joint but most often affects the hands, hips, knees and spine. It worsens over time and there is no cure. The pain can be disabling and doctors may recommend joint replacement surgery.

Ah! Kindness…
Up in the Big Indian/Oliverea valley, local moms and entrepreneurs Calandra Cruickshank and Dana Valdez of have created a grassroots economic plan designed to benefit families, local merchants and over one million US non-profits, aiming to alleviate some of today’s most pressing economic concerns. Www.CommonKindness.com is their new, free website that leverages online coupons to create an innovative and socially responsible “economic stimulus plan” to help people save money while stimulating business sales and generating sustainable funds for non-profit organizations.
The idea is simple: Historically, a stimulus done as a cash payment or tax rebate will only result in about 17 percent being spent on consumer goods or services. But when incentives are offered in the form of redeemable coupons or discounts, about 57 percent of consumers are likely to make a purchase.
CommonKindness offers consumers thousands of national and local coupons and brand discounts. Each time a person prints a coupon with www.CommonKindness.com, funds are generated from advertising fees paid by the companies posting their coupons. CommonKindness shares 60 percent of its profits with the charities and causes coupon clippers select from a list of over 1 million non-profits included on the site.
“People can save an average of $1,300 a year on their groceries and other purchases by clipping coupons with CommonKindness,” said Cruickshank, who has also authored a piece on the new effort for Huffington Post. “Our ‘coupons with a conscience’ allow people to ‘give back’ to non-profits they are passionate about, from their child’s soccer team to a national non-profit, even when they may not have extra money to donate or time to volunteer.”
Www.CommonKindness.com was founded in 2009 by a board of ‘kindness-oriented’ executives and philanthropists seeking a socially responsible company to support, including founding chairman Andrew McGovern Martin, who was also founding chairman of several successful businesses and non-profit organizations, including SmartFood, inc. and Annie’s Homegrown.
For further information visit the website or call 254-4535.
Also, coming up in a future issue… The two Olive schoolgirls, Correy Mcglyn and Natalie Rubin, who were selling their jewelry at Olive Day so proceeds could go to the Make A Wish Foundation and have since started their own foundation, visible at charms4children.webs.com.
Doesn’t altruism feel good?

Housing Help
NYHousingSearch.gov, a free, online housing listing & locator service, has been launched by the state’s division of housing & community renewal to help landlords & renters fill and find vacancies for locally affordable housing. The website offers property owners & managers a free place to advertise available housing, and tenants seeking rentals a place to find it. Landlords or tenants can also use the service by calling its toll-free call center at 1-877-428-8844.
Also, middle-class New Yorkers may soon be able to hire contractors to do $13,000 worth of home improvements like adding insulation and buying new furnaces, storm windows and water heaters — and never cut a check to the contractor. The new bill awaiting action by Gov. David Paterson would create a revolving loan fund that allows consumers to pay off the project costs over time through their residential and business utility bills, benefiting at the same time from savings from the energy efficiencies. Contractors would be paid from the loan fund, which the Legislature wants to prime with $112 million of state proceeds from selling carbon emission permits to businesses that pollute. Passed recently by the Senate 50-8, the bill gives the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority six months to start the program
Program specifics, including contractors, financing mechanisms and loan rates, have yet to be determined.

Gas Drilling?
Finally, the regional outcry against natural gas drilling in the Catskills and surrounding areas seems to be having an effect on the businesses actually seeking permits to hunt for fast-fading energy sources.
One of the leading players in the brouhaha, Chesapeake Appalachia, LLC, is asking for more time on its application to withdraw a large amount of water from the West Branch of the Upper Delaware River to facilitate Marcellus Shale natural gas prospecting on the Pennsylvania side of the river across the river from Delaware County NY. A public hearing previously scheduled on their permit request by the Delaware River Basin Commission for Wednesday, September 23, in Pike County PA, will now be rescheduled to a later date at the request of the applicant.
The public comment period on the revised draft will remain open beyond September 30; and the Commission will no longer be considering the Chesapeake docket at its October 22 business meeting.
Now, for the state of New York’s process of deciding parameters on how far it will go to protect the region’s vast watershed concerns…

That Murder...
Daniel L. Malak entered a “not guilty” plea to the 1996 Samsonville-area bludgeoning death of 15-year-old Joseph Martin through his attorney before Ulster County Judge Deborah Schneer on September 10. The other person accused in Martin’s death, Alexander Barsky, pleaded guilty to manslaughter last year. Martin, Barsky and Malak all attended Rondout Valley High School at the time of the killing.
Malak, 29, was indicted on Sept. 1 by an Ulster County grand jury for second degree murder for allegedly bludgeoning Martin to death in March 1996. The former Kerhonkson resident is currently serving 20 years to life in state prison for the 1997 shooting death of New York City resident George Allison, 62, at Allison’s weekend home, also in Samsonville.
Martin slipped out of his Samsonville home, near the Rochester-Olive town line, after dark on March 25, 1996, to meet Malak and Barsky, ostensibly for a night of comet watching, and he never was seen again. Investigators questioned both Malak and Barsky at the time but didn’t charge either of them. Both told police that Martin never showed up at the intended rendezvous spot. Martin was classified as a missing person for the next 12 years but under renewed police questioning in May 2008, Barsky, a 27-year-old Brooklyn resident at the time, admitted his role in Martin’s death and was charged with second-degree murder.
Barksy pleaded guilty in August 2008 to a reduced charge of manslaughter, and because he was 15 when Martin was killed, he was sentenced to only 3-1/3 to 10 years in state prison.
Barsky said in court that he and Malak intended to “hurt” Martin because Martin had stolen money from Barsky a few days earlier. Barsky said Malak devised a plan to lure Martin to a makeshift cabin in the woods, and he said Malak struck the first two blows to Martin’s head with a 2-foot-long metal pipe. Barsky said he then struck the unconscious Martin in the head twice more. Barsky told police he and Malak hid Martin’s body in a cave-like indentation among some rocks near the intersection of Schwabie Turnpike and Samsonville Road in Kerhonkson. Barsky then said during a court appearance last year that he came back to the spot several years later, retrieved Martin’s bones, took them to New York City and dumped them in several trash cans.
If convicted of murder, Malak, who also was a juvenile at the time of Martin’s death, could be sentenced to a minimum prison term of 7-1/2 years to life and a maximum of 15 years to life.

Gun Buyback
A first-time gun buy-back program held by the City of Kingston recently was deemed a success by event organizers after the city’s police department collected a total of 27 handguns, shotguns and rifles in a five-hour span, with all but three of the guns turned in illegal and four or five actually loaded.
“That is that many less for our officers to face,” Keller said. “The concealed weapons, the handguns and smaller shotguns - those are the ones that we want the most. It’s better for the neighborhood and for our officers to have those weapons off the streets.”
The handguns will be turned over to the state Police and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms before being destroyed. The rifles were to be destroyed immediately.
Moses Edwards, a chaplain and representative of the Chaplain Crisis Response Ministries of Kingston and Newburgh, brought the buy-back idea to Keller and was overjoyed with the response.
Those who have objected to the program, including the Federated Sportsmen’s Club of Ulster County, have suggested it would reward criminals who should not have had the weapons to begin with and called it “a showy, political, feel good event.”
A spokesperson for the organization said funds would be better spent educating people in the proper use of guns.

Doctors Opinion…
Most U.S. doctors favor having both public and private options in a reformed healthcare system, a survey published this month says. When given a three-way choice among private plans that use tax credits or subsidies to help the poor buy private insurance; a new public health insurance plan such as Medicare; or a mix of the two; 63 percent of doctors supported a mix, 27 percent said they only wanted private options, and just 10 percent said they exclusively wanted public options.

Sustainability
The Hudson Valley Educational Consortium (HVEC) is offering four sustainability-related, continuing education business courses this fall. These new courses, which will cover how green practices impact a range of industries including transportation, purchasing and food service, will be available to Hudson Valley residents regardless of their geographic location. Sullivan County Community College will video teleconference the classes to the other HVEC member-colleges – SUNY Orange, Rockland and Ulster – where participants will be able to interact in real-time with the instructors and students at all of the locations.
The first course, Sustainable Transportation: An Introduction to Electric Cars, will run on Thursdays, October 15 – November 19, from 6 – 8:30 p.m. and is designed to provide participants with an understanding of modern electric cars. This class will be of most interest to consumers who want to learn how transportation can fit into a more sustainable lifestyle, fleet owners looking to better understand the economic benefits of electric vehicles and automobile technicians interested in servicing and repairing these types of cars.
Other courses scheduled to be offered as part of the fall series include: Environmentally Preferable Purchasing, set for Mondays, October 19 – November 16; An Introduction for Leading Sustainability Initiatives (Green Change Management), scheduled for Tuesdays, October 20 – November 17; and Greening Food Services, set for Mondays, November 23 – December 21.
In addition, SUNY Ulster is now offering a National Sustainable Building Advisor Certificate Program, in nine two-day sessions over the course of nine months, ispecifically for design and construction professionals, architects, tenant and developer representatives. The class meets Fridays and Saturdays, one weekend per month from October 16, 2009 to June 12, 2010. This training prepares professionals to take the CSBA exam, which provides the nationally recognized Certified Sustainable Building Advisor designation. NaSBAP, the national provider of the SBA Course, works with SUNY Ulster to offer the course at the Business Resource Center in Kingston, NY.
For a complete list of sustainability courses, or for more information, contact SUNY Ulster’s Continuing and Professional Education Office at 339-2025 or visit www.sunyulster.edu/sustainability.

Re-Training!
SUNY Ulster has been awarded five SUNY Workforce Development Grants totaling more than $200,000 to conduct training that will help local businesses increase their competitiveness. These awards, through the college’s Continuing and Professional Education Department, will benefit a consortium of 16 companies as well as member companies of a manufacturing association, Elna Magnetics, Viking Industries and Boice’s Dairy. The participating businesses submitted applications in partnership with the college and committed to pay a percentage of the cost of training.
Community colleges across six counties partnered with the Council of Industry of Southeastern New York to obtain funding for a Hudson Valley Manufacturer Training Consortium grant. The partnership, led by SUNY Ulster, includes Sullivan, Orange, Rockland, Dutchess and Westchester community colleges, and will work to coordinate regional training for members of the non-profit association of manufacturers doing business in the Hudson Valley. The training is expected to benefit 215 employees in 22 companies and will include facility manager implementation, lean manufacturing, project management, strategic planning, accounting and finance, technical sales training, and global business and leadership strategies.
A second grant totaling more than $50,000 was awarded for training a consortium of Ulster County businesses made up of: Cerebral Palsy of Ulster County, Charles River, Emergency One, Fala Technologies, Gateway Industries, Health Alliance of the Hudson Valley, Hunter Panels, PartSearch Technologies, Precision Flow Technologies, RUPCO, SunWize Technologies, Stavo Industries, Toucan Hats, Ulster Savings Bank, Wolf-tec and Woodstock Percussion of Olive.
Training will vary by company and include a management and supervisory program, technical training in analytical and electrical engineering, and computer classes. Some 380 employees at the firms are projected to participate in the training programs that are expected to lead to business expansion, job creation and economic development.

Local Filmmaking
So what’s truly local in the upcoming 10th Annual Woodstock Film Festival, unspooling around the area from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4?
Sure, there’s Against the Current, the one about a man, haunted by a tragic loss in his past, who swims the length of the Hudson River from Troy to New York City, as well as Woodstock-based producer Joe White’s latest, The Perfect Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll with Lukas Haas, Peter Fonda and Ruby Dee. October Country, a documentary, is based in the (sorta) nearby Mohawk Valley. The funny geo-caching comedy Splinterheads, with some great new star turns by young comic actors, was partly shot in New Paltz and High Falls. And 2B writer/director Richard Kroehling, now based in Cold Spring, spent several summers in Phoenicia and maintains a mountain geaway outside Asndes, from whence he says he still draws his greatest inspiration.
The true power of the local, though, may currently be in the realm of the festival’s many shorts, screening throughout its schedule.
Miranda Rhyne’s The 4th of July Parade is a touching mother and daughter story shot all around the Hudson Valley in Woodstock, Saugerties, Kingston, and Catskill. A Horse is Not a Metaphor is by longtime Woodstock resident Barbara Hammer. The Bell, based on an Emerson poem, stars local children and was filmed on location at the Woodstock Day School. Knife Point, directed by Delaware County native Carlo Mirabella-Davis, was filmed farther up the Route 28 corridor near Delhi. Music We Are, a documentary by Woodstock resident Mirav Ozeri, provides a rare look into the creative process of legendary jazz drummer Jack Dejohnette of Silver Hollow. And finally there’s Stooge, directed by Woodstock native Mickey Breitenstein with cinematography by Will Lytle, a fellow Onteora Graduate and a former student in the Indie Program.
And did we not mention Michael Lang, producer of the latest on his franchise, Woodstock Then and Now? You get the idea…
Check out the fest’s website for further information and a full catalogueat www.woodstockfilmfestival.com.

Interlocks…
A dozen Ulster County Magistrates are currently sending teens ticketed for alcohol- and drug- influenced driving offenses to the locally-based AWARENESS Alcohol Program, which was created by teens as a result of a fatal Onteora district car crash on prom night in May 2007. The group is pushing for use of the interlock ignition system among teens sent to them, which requires convicted drunk drivers to breathe into a device before their cars can start.
The New York State Senate recently adopted a bill requiring such interlock devices for convicted drunk drivers across the state. Assembly and Executive Branch action is currently pending.
When approached by the teens who coordinate the AWARENESS Alcohol program, National Interlock Service saw the need for such a program and provided systems at no cost.
“We are looking for funding from the insurance and beverage industries to expand this program,” said Shultis. “Our goal is to be able to place an Ignition Interlock in any teen’s vehicle that agrees to an ignition interlock voluntarily to prevent underage DWI from occurring.”
For more info visit www.hvinet.com/awareness2 or call 845-417-1483.

Solar Talk…
The Ulster County Chamber of Commerce will host a breakfast program on solar energy from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29 at the Holiday Inn on Washington Avenue. The guest speaker will be Rick Lewandowski, chief executive officer of Prism Solar Technologies.
Prism, a partner in The Solar Energy Consortium, is a privately held company that manufactures solar modules, which use advanced holographic optics to increase output, while lowering the cost by reducing the number of solar cells in its modules. The company was formed in 2005 and recently moved into a 93,000-square-foot building at the former Plasmaco property in Highland and is at the vanguard of the fledgling solar energy industry in Ulster County, which has received considerable federal funding in recent years, as well as new partnerships aimed at boosting solar module efficiency, including the regional Solar Energy Consortium.
Call 338-5100 to register.