Dear Editor,
The controversy in the Onteora School District and Ulster County over the so-called “Large Parcel Law” has been presented to the public through a filter of distortion, anger and even outright lies. Recently, your newspaper printed a Letter to the Editor penned by a group of Town of Olive residents that gave a decidedly one-sided and biased review of a meeting held in my Kingston District Office on November 9, 2004.
This gathering was scheduled at the request of a few constituents to discuss their concerns with the Large Parcel Law. A significantly larger group arrived. Immediately upon commencing the meeting, it became apparent that some visitors were more interested in using this forum to hurl accusations and angry statements than to calmly converse and share thoughts. I let my guests know in no uncertain terms that abusive behavior would not be tolerated, and if that were to be their game plan, we would conclude the appointment. After that, the tone changed for the most part with the exception of one individual. The meeting continued for nearly an hour and a half. The conversation ensued with folks from various walks of life who shared an important mission — relaying their thoughts and experiences as Olive homeowners affected by local decisions to adopt the Large Parcel method of apportioning school district and county taxes. For my part, I explained the history, details and reasoning behind the law.
As our talk concluded, the group left on a cordial note. In an effort to address questions raised during our discussion, I followed up with a letter to each attendee summarizing the content of our meeting and providing answers to their queries. A generic copy of this correspondence is available for review at www.assembly.state.ny.us on my home page under “Publications.” I urge all readers to visit this site or phone my District Office at 845-338-9610 with questions or concerns.
Accusations that “a more articulate and wealthy community in the Onteora School District have applied pressure and that I am following rather than leading” are pure fiction. I have in the past and will forever diligently and proactively represent each and every individual, community and entity in the 101st Assembly District based on my convictions, beliefs and the facts surrounding the issue. Tirades and charges, even when cloaked in the protective anonymity of unnamed third parties, as one person sought to do, will not advance understanding in any way.
I remain committed to serving the needs of all in my constituency. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to respond.
Kevin A. Cahill
NYS Assembly 101st District

Dear Editor,
In early October the Town of Olive sent over one thousand signatures in a petition asking for help in amending the Large Parcel Bill. By deleting the word “reservoirs” or by adding the phrase “all concerned municipalities would have to agree to this alternate means of assessment,” the Large Parcel legislation would return to its Legislative intent as stated in Senator Larkin’s letter.
Copies of all these 1,000+ signatures of citizens of Onteora of voting age were sent to Assemblyman Kevin Cahil1 (D), Senator John C. Bonacic (R), and to School Board President Marino D’Orazio. Luckily these petitions and signatures were sent certified mail from the Town Office in West Shokan; otherwise we would never know that they reached their intended destinations. To this date none of the three have even had the courtesy to respond.
Are these representatives embarrassed in the parts they played in raising Olive’s school taxes 60% and county taxes 91.3 %? Aren’t the citizens, and voters, of Olive at least acknowledged?
We are waiting for your responses.
Hopefully, the Board of Education realizes the damage it has wreaked upon the budget and is regretting its meddling in local assessment. Otherwise, Shandaken with 75 % of its land under-assessed by the State of New York might be next. Why did the
Board not request Shandaken, whose reval was a decade older than Olive’s, to give its fair share?
By the way, the Onteora School Board has always had the right to be the assessing agent of all towns in the School District. Why just use the power against Olive’?
Neglectfully, our legislative representatives have opened a can of worms that has towns greedily lusting after state land in Shandaken and revenue sharing of the Ulster Mall Complex.
Whatever happened to Home Rule? Doesn’t “sharing of wealth” smack of socialism’?
Bruce La Monda
Olive Town Board

Dear Editor,
An Open Letter to Kevin Cahill: A few things do not add up concerning the oppressive Large Parcel Bill enacted by the Onteora School Board. State Senator John Larkin is generally known as the prime sponsor of the Large Parcel Bill and was directly quoted as saying in a written letter dated June 1, 2004 "that the law was not intended to apply to reservoirs..." The other co-sponsor is Assemblyman Paul Tonko who is head of the energy office (and not head of reservoirs, or water supply). The Large Parcel Bill itself states that its purpose "...is to reduce the wild swings both up and down that occur for all assessed properties when a municipality has a high value property whose assessed evaluation is in flux from year to year". THIS IS NOT THE CASE WITH PUBLICALLY OWNED RESERVOIR PROPERTIES WHOSE EVALUATION STATUS IS STABLE. Why was the bill changed? Who forced the Onteora School Board to make this terrible decision which by causing a huge rise in Olive's School Taxes is hurting our children, the townspeople of Olive, and is straining community relations with our neighboring towns?
Mr. Cahill, you were once a true representative of all the people. Some say that a more articulate and wealthy community in the Onteora School District applies more pressure and that you, Mr. Cahill, are following rather than leading. Please reconsider your position on the Large Parcel Bill and realize that the Town of Olive bears a tremendous burden that is NOT shared equally by the other towns in the Onteora School District. Let us please keep in mind that only a few other school boards in the ENTIRE state of New York elected to even use the Large Parcel Bill!! None involved reservoirs!
Helen M. Boice, Marlene Colgate
Joe Piscopo, Henrietta Wise
Olive, NY

Dear Editor,
On December 14, I attended the Ulster County Chamber of Commerce breakfast at which Dean Gitter of Belleayre Resort notoriety was the featured speaker. I have witnessed Mr. Gitter’s angry rants many times; this time he crossed a new line.
Playing on a terrorist theme, he claimed resort opponents were conducting a “holy war” against him, called them “environmental jihadists”, made reference to “fundamentalist environmentalists”, called the New York City DEP’s representatives “hired assassins”, and apologized if he had offended any members of the Taliban present.
After this full, frontal attack on everyone who doesn’t agree with him, he proceeded to list ways in which “they” have “misused” the environmental review process, which, of course, is the only reason his resort isn’t built yet. Right? Wrong.
For example, he made every effort to leave audience members believing that the DEC had already given a green light to his project, but were then thwarted when those apparently omnipotent “environmental holy warriors” intervened. (Note: the DEC has given no such green light to this project.) And Gitter cried foul because the all-volunteer Shandaken Planning Board was not chosen as lead agency, despite their complete lack of experience reviewing anything much larger than a house. He dismisses the fact that reviewing this massive and complex development proposal, sited on a mountaintop in the middle of the NYC watershed and the Catskill Park, might be beyond the planning board’s abilities. He claimed the board had never taken more than a few months to review a project, implying that his development would be well on it’s way by now (I wonder why?) if that wicked NYCDEP and those “environmental fundamentalists” hadn’t gotten in the way.
Gitter cited grievance after grievance and for each he created a story which not only omitted relevant information, but misrepresented the facts, the process, and the people involved.
He concluded by claiming that the SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review) process had been “broken” through “misuse” and attributed that to the “environmentalist holy warriors”, agencies such as the NYCDEP, and the dreaded public having wangled their way into the process.
It is clear that his outrage is not because SEQR is not working, but because it IS working. It is just not working to his advantage. SEQR, in this case, is providing the checks and balances it was designed to provide, and which are critical to determining the impacts of a project of this size and complexity. And it is just those checks and balances that people like Dean Gitter would love to eliminate.
Judith Wyman
Chichester, NY

Dear Editor,
I was frankly astonished the other morning to hear Dean Gitter characterize the opponents of his Bellayre project as zealots and to compare them with terrorist organizations. I hardly think that failing to conform to Mr. Gitter’s vision of the future merits that type of comparison. I think his project is on too large a scale, will pollute the Esopus creek, create a traffic nightmare along Route 28 and will have a very limited economic impact on the area. This does not qualify me as a Bin Laden operative.
I fear Mr. Gitter is making the same mistake in this region as the current administration is making in determining our foreign policies: isolating those who don’t agree with us, branding them as enemies and then attempting to force our will upon them. This strategy will have no better success regionally than it has nationally. Perhaps Mr. Gitter should consider choosing dialogue over division.
Bill Colagrande
Phoenicia, NY

Dear Editor,
I sat through the Ulster County Chamber of Commerce breakfast and listened to Dean Gitter refer to opponents of the proposed Belleayre Resort as 'environmental jihadists', make reference to New York City Department of Environmental Protection's 'hired assassins' and apologize to any members of the Taliban who might be present.
Is this the level of dialogue that the Ulster County Chamber of Commerce wants to promote? There was no opportunity to question Mr. Gitter about his relentless accusations and no announcements to indicate that other points of view on the subject would be presented at future breakfasts.
Let us hope that the Chamber makes certain that those Mr. Gitter vilified are given equal opportunity to present their side of the matter in question. There is a need here for civil and balanced dialogue.
Doris Bartlett
Shandaken,,NY

Dear Editor,
After reading the two articles on the death of high school student Jaimison Wooten I felt compelled to write.
When the death of a student occurs, no matter what the situation and circumstances, I suggest school districts and superintendents concentrate more on finding why and what happened and less on immediately stating, “No fault of ours.” For the family it gives comfort knowing something is being done. To the community it builds trust and for the district its shows compassion.
Hyde Park School District, please focus on finding out the facts and truth. Only the truth will set you free.
To the family of Jamison Wooten, I am so sorry for the sudden loss of your precious son. I know your pain. May God give you the strength to take one day at a time - and many days’ moments at a time.
Cindy O’Connor
Olivebridge, NY

Dear Editor,
On the white plastic fence that borders a field on Route 28, between Riseley Road and Mount Pleasant Road: It is quite an absurdity and affront to our Catskill Mountain sensibility.
Gitter doesn’t have to see it, but we do. The view is over a half mile of white plastic fence bordering a field with Mount Tremper in the background. I would call it surrealistic if it wasn’t so tacky, 1ike a movie set for a Hollywood musical. Are the people whose idea this was afraid of the beauty and mystery of the Catskill Mountains? The fence is saying, “this is not a field in the Catskill Mountains, this is Gitter’s field.”
This is an attempt to suburbanize the Catskill Mountains. It is a microcosm of what will happen to the mountain in Gitter’s Belleayre Resort. Destroy the mountain, plasticize it, suburbanize it, that way we will control it and he will call that progress.
Is there a parallel here with Bush trying to force his idea of democracy on the Iraqi people?
Gerard Manley Hopkins ends a poem with, “Let them be left, wildness and wet; Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.”
Robert Jacobson
Mount Tremper, NY

Dear Editor,
At a recent meeting of the Ulster County Legislature it was proposed that the Ulster County Health Department's 2005 Tobacco Mini-Grant Program funding be radically reduced from its current level of $150,000 to $44,500. This proposed action would have devastating effects on the health and well being of our most precious resources, our children. The artistic and educational anti-tobacco programs of over a dozen direct service providers would be curtailed or sharply reduced.
These tobacco education mini-grant funded programs have provided creative and innovative approaches to educating young children about the hazards of smoking and have benefited thousands of elementary school students throughout Ulster County in an extremely cost effective manner. As Ulster County has chosen to utilize its tobacco settlement funds for other ventures and projects, the Health Department Tobacco Mini-Grant Program was one of the few methods for distribution of county funds that directly went to tobacco education programming for our children.
As a tobacco education Mini-Grant recipient for the past four years, Smoke Out Productions has provided educational anti-smoking puppet productions in dozens of our county elementary schools and community functions. We have educated and entertained thousands of students, teachers and parents about the hazards of smoking and of second hand smoke with our carefully researched shows.
Smoke Out Productions and the other Tobacco Mini-Grant recipients are proud of their contributions to the anti-smoking efforts of the Ulster County Health Department and the Ulster County Legislature and we look forward to producing and providing in-school educational programs for the students of Ulster County in 2005. We ask that the Tobacco Education Mini-Grant Program budget not be reduced.
Steven Gottlieb, Director
Smoke Out Productions

Dear Editor,
A Ball of Gold
( With apologies to Stephen Crane)

A man was pursuing the reservoir.
He stopped a stranger in Woodstock
and asked,
“Where is the Ashokan Reservoir?’

Turn right and then left onto Route 375,
Then go west for ten miles or so.
When you are in the Town of Olive,
Make any left hand turn and there it is.

Another man was pursuing the reservoir.
He stopped a villager in Shandaken
and asked,
“Where is the Ashokan Reservoir?”

Turn left onto Route 28
And go east for ten miles or so.
When you are in the Town of Olive,
Make any right hand turn and there it is.

Another man was pursuing the reservoir.
He stopped a gentleman in Olive
and asked,
“Where is the Ashokan Reservoir?”

Well, if you turn left or right,
Your will see the Ashokan Reservoir,
For it is the heart and soul of our town.

And when you cannot see it any longer,
You will be in either Woodstock or Shandaken!
Carol LaMonda
Olive, NY

Dear Editor,
In a recent editorial, The Olive Press complimented former DEP Commissioner, Chris Ward with getting the value of the Ashokan Reservoir raised by the Office Of Real Property Service (ORPS) and stated that the “local politicians” did nothing.
Well, from someone who attended every meeting with ORPS both locally and in Albany, I can tell you nothing is further from the truth. It was the Town of Olive Town Board who initiated the appeal process that got the value or the reservoir raised.
In fact, the New York City DEP sent their attorney to Albany to vigorously oppose our appeal. I know this for a fact because I was there with Supervisor Leifcld. This appeal was carried out by our attorneys, and I don’t recall Woodstock or Shandaken offering to help with any legal fees as long as they “coveted”’ our tax revenue.
Even though we feel the value of the Ashokan Reservoir is still too low, we have made some headway and are continuing to give ORPS current information about property values done by the NYC DEP’s own appraisals. Throughout last year’s process, we felt the Onteora School Board would realize the progress we were making with ORPS and with our institution of Olive’s reval and not enact the “Large Parcel Bill.” However, the school board decided to become the “equalizcr of taxes” and consequently suffered a failed budget this past year and, in all likelihood, will as long as the “Large Parcel Bill” exists for the Ashokan Reservoir.
In closing, I can tell you that NO ONE has helped the Town of Olive except for the Town of Olive itself. We feel we are no longer a town, but a Colony of citizens suffering under “Taxation Without Representation.”
Bruce La Monda
Councilman Town of Olive
Editor’s Note: In our attempt to wish Mr. Ward well on his departure, we overshot our enthusiasm. Thank you for bringing our attention to the oversight. We stand with our community and keep working to report this painful story as it evolves, hopefully towards an eventual denouement better than the current situation.

Dear Editor,
It is with pleasure that we wish the residents of the Olive area a joyous and peaceful holiday season. This time of year, individuals throughout our community will renew honored traditions with family and friends. Our thoughts turn gratefully to those who give so much to our communities.
Please accept our warmest and most heartfelt wishes for a safe and happy holiday season and may the New Year bring success and fulfillment to all.
Robert Parete
Peter Kraft
Richard Parete
Ulster County Legislators
District Three
Towns of Olive, Marbletown and Hurley