An additional
Public Hearing on the proposed Belleayre Resort has been scheduled
for Thursday February 19th from 4pm to midnight at the Onteora
School.
Written comments should be addressed to Alexander Ciesluk,
Jr. NYS DEC, 21 South Putt Corners Road, New Paltz, NY 12561-1620
Before February 24th.
Email: afcieslu@gw.dec.state.NY.us
Special
Belleayre Resort Supplement
Replacing Hal Rowe
Slowly But Surely, Onteora Whittles Down To Two Selections
For New Superintendent
By Violet Snow
The Onteora school board has selected two finalists from among
33 applicants for the job of superintendent of schools. Both
candidates will visit the district in the next two weeks to
meet with various stakeholders of the district and answer
questions from the public. Board president Marino D'Orazio
said the candidates are highly qualified, and the board members
are happy with their choices.
Justine Winters is superintendent of schools at the Webetuck
Central School District in northeastern Dutchess County. She
has been an assistant superintendent at Wappingers, principal
of both elementary and middle schools, and a teacher.
Carol Pickering is currently assistant superintendent for
instruction at Hyde Park Central School District, north of
Poughkeepsie, also in Dutchess County. She has worked as a
principal, a district director of music, and a music teacher.
Continue>>>
Taking It To Albany
Local Couple Testify at State Hearing on Dangerous and Reckless
Drivers
By Tree McElhinney
"Tragic, yes, accident, no," was a phrase used more
than once by Olivebridge residents Cindy and Brian O'Connor
to describe the loss of their 15-year-old son Kevin who was
killed nearly two years ago by a driver who may have blacked
out or fallen asleep at the wheel. The O'Connors were addressing
members of the New York State Assembly during a public hearing
in Albany last week that was organized by Assembly Speaker
Sheldon Silver, Codes Committee Chair Joe Lentol and Transportation
committee Chair David Gantt in an effort to examine ways to
eliminate deaths and injuries caused by reckless or negligent
drivers.
"The first step is to insist that the word Œaccident,‚
not be used," Cindy O‚Connor told members of the
Assembly, when dealing with automobile deaths or injuries
caused by motorists who are impaired by fatigue, are not taking
care of known health conditions, or are under the influence
of sedating medications. "An accident implies that the
event was not predictable or preventable."
Since the tragic loss of their son the O‚Connors have
become strong advocates for changes to the state's criminal
and civil laws that would address the complex issue of driver
responsibility and culpability and hopefully assist in preventing
additional motor vehicle deaths and injuries.
Continue>>>
|
Public Hearings... Crossroad Venture's Dean
Gitter spoke at each of the two public hearings on the proposed
Belleayre Resort. In Margaretville, right, he was politely received,
while in Boiceville, inset, he was booed and heckled. Press
agent Fred Winters can be seen at far right.
Lining Up Against
Public Hearings Batter Crossroads As City Gears Up To Battle
The Resort's DEIS
By Paul Smart & Violet Snow
The long-awaited public hearings on Dean Gitter's proposed $300
million Belleayre Resort got underway in the last two weeks,
with large numbers of opponents stepping forward to lambaste
the planned complex of hotels, golf courses, condos and retail
shopping set to straddle the ridgeline around Belleayre Mountain
and Big Indian, and a growing outcry from project supporters,
mostly business owners and government officials, saying their
side isn‚t being properly heard.
In Shandaken, the battle lines between pro and con could reach
a new crescendo this coming Tuesday, February 3, when both a
final public hearing under the review run by the state Department
of Environmental Conservation and a project presentation by
the resort‚s Mount Tremper-based developers, Crossroads
Ventures, occur simultaneously.
According to Shandaken Supervisor Bob Cross, Jr., the 7 PM meeting
at town hall that day was set up at the behest of Crossroads
Ventures. After receiving the developers' request to make a
presentation to the combined Planning and Town Boards, who will
be undertaking site plan review and a New York City-funded study
of the project‚s economic and quality-of-life effects,
Cross said he sent it on to the Planning Board, who placed the
matter on the agenda for their Tuesday night workshop meeting.
The scheduling conflict will preclude Shandaken officials from
attending the public hearing. A similar presentation was made
to the Middletown Planning and Town Boards in Margaretville.
The final public hearing for the project, also set for February
3rd , is an extension of the hearing originally scheduled for
January 15 at Onteora High School but postponed till Jan 21
due to inclement weather.
Continue>>>
Locally Altruistic
Frank Nazzaro's Samaritanism
By Paul Smart
Frank Nazzaro feels he picked up his altruism from his immigrant
forebears, who never refused anyone a space at the table, no
matter what they had. Because they carried with them always
an understanding of the hardships lived by all immigrants to
this nation at one time, as well as by most who went through
the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Most of all, Nazzaro understands the difficulties that can face
anyone choosing to live and work full-time in the Catskills.
He describes how he got away for a while - as far as Woodstock
and Red Hook, with construction jobs ranging as far away as
Montreal and Ohio - but ended up buying his grandfather's property
and farming. Times when a car would break down along 28, forcing
him to walk several miles home in the bitter cold, wondering
whether he could make it. And times when the income just wasn't
matching the bills and belts would have to be tightened past
the comfort level.
All of that's now part and parcel of Nazzaro's strange but truly
commendable, almost holy altruism. His way of giving and, once
given out, still giving a bit more.
For years now, Frank Nazzaro has been donating a large portion
of the produce he grows to the poor. It started with gifts to
Family of Woodstock, the region's pioneering social services
not-for-profit founded by Michael Berg, who Nazzaro claims as
a longtime friend. Eventually, he started buying large amounts
of food from the many stores that have been closing out throughout
the region - Grand Unions, Jamesways, K-Marts, Ames (the list
goes on) - and stockpiling the goods for later distribution.
But that was all just a warm up.
Continue>>>
|
