The Olive Press

Sunshine Inside Despite All The Other News, Graduation Goes Off With The Usual Good Cheer

By Gary Alexander
After a threatening morning sky forced activities into an overflowing gymnasium, the Onteora High School Class of 2004 graduated 139 students on
June 26th.
The ceremonies, which began with a processional performance of "Pomp and Circumstance" by Elgar and the "Star Spangled Banner" by Joshua M. Slovensky, featured a Salutatory Address, modeled on a Dr. Seuss rhyme by Allison Kari Bender, which good"naturedly roasted faculty and classmates before bidding them bon voyage.

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Models Heat Up Hearings
Water Issues Run Hot For Crossroads; Ski Expansion Plans Stay Hushed

By Brian Powers
In the ongoing conference to identify which issues connected with the proposed Belleayre Resort will be later dealt with in trial "type hearings, the Catskill Preservation Coalition's expert witness lineup continued to pound away at the proposal, while in the lead item of procedural news, presiding Judge Wissler has denied the CPC's motion to force his agency to release expansion plans for its Belleayre Mountain Ski Area, contiguous with the proposed resort.

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CWT Clarifies
            Seeking to clarify or reverse an apparent position by the Coalition of Watershed Towns backing the proposed Belleayre Resort, its counsel, Jeff Baker, said at the project's hearings last week that "We are here in this process not either in favor of, or in opposition to the Crossroads Ventures proposal, but simply to protect the broader interests of the watershed communities."
            Baker's comment at the resort's hearings was made the morning after a heated June 21 CWT meeting dominated by the subject, whose tone was set by Olive Councilman Bruce LaMonda: "Quite a long time ago you said we weren't going to take a position on this thing. I don't think we should take a position on any particular project. Our mission is to keep the DEP in line," said LaMonda. "We should be a neutral group on this."
            Noted but not read into the record by Chairman Pat Meehan at the meeting's outset were comments highly critical of the coalition's recent resolution on the project from Hardenburgh Supervisor Jerry Fairbairn, and reflecting similar comments from Marbletown Supervisor Vincent Martello. "We find it ludicrous" wrote Fairbairn "that the committee would consider this resolution without majority support from its membership-We strongly oppose any CWT resolution that specifically supports any individual economic entity whatsoever-We strongly feel that this resolution supporting Crossroads Ventures individually exceeds the parameters of the CWT's mission and its long-term goals."
            As to the source of any other misperception of the organization's position, "I'm sure I gave the wrong impression," coalition co-counsel Kevin Young told the CWT meeting, referring to remarks he'd made at the resort hearings. "I apologize for that." The following day at the hearings, Baker also clarified that "the CWT is not taking any position on the issue of alternatives."

ISSUES CONFERENCE TIMETABLE

PHOTO OP... It may have been held indoors for the first time in years, but that didn't stop everyone from enjoying themselves immensely at the Onteora High School graduation on June 24...

Picking At A Bone...
New York City Refuses To Play Ball With Route 28A Speed Limit Designations

By Gary Alexander
A proverbial "bone of contention" between New York City and Olive is being
picked at again.
In May, a letter from New York City's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Assistant Counsel, Melissa Solomon, to Olive town supervisor Brendt Leifeld purports to deliver the final word on the speed limit along 19.82 miles of Route 28A south of Ashokan Reservoir. The letter states that, despite protests of Olive officials that the road is illegally posted with 35 mph speed limit signs, "the City alone had the authority to pursue a change in the speed limit on Route 28A..."
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Patriotism...

Mother, Daughter
And A War In Iraq

By Paul Smart
Patti Gibbons moved to the Route 28 corridor in 1969, when her father took a job teaching at the Phoenicia School and she herself was ready to start into 7th grade. She moved away after finishing up at Ulster County Community College in the late 1970s, eventually settling in Kingston, where she still lives.
Patti's daughter, Megan Clark, is fresh"faced at 20, just out of the Army in Iraq, and wishing more than anything that she could find a way of raising the daughter that's due in September somewhere up here in the mountains.

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