(News
Briefs April 27, 2006)
OCS Super Search
The Onteora Central School District Board of Education has
employed Richard Lerer Educational Consulting Services to
assist them in the recruitment and selection of a new Superintendent
of Schools. Dr. Lerer spent 40 years in public education in
New York and served as District Superintendent of Schools
for the Southern Westchester BOCES for 16 years and Superintendent
of the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns for seven. In 1994,
he established his own firm to provide Executive Recruitment
and Management Training Services for School Districts and
has achieved a proven record of success in conducting over
60 superintendents’ searches and is known for his ability
to identify leadership needs and priorities of the district
and then find the right person to meet those needs.
Dr. Lerer is scheduled to meet with the community at large
on Tuesday, May 2 8:00 p.m. at the Bennett Elementary School
Cafeteria. On Tuesday, May 2nd, and Wednesday, May 3rd, Dr.
Lerer will meet with District Administrators, Teachers and
Non-Instructional Staff, Community Groups, PTA Leaders, High
School Students and Union Leaders. Dr. Lerer has already held
a preliminary meeting with the Board of Education. These meetings
are all being held to identify the issues and challenges to
be faced by the next Superintendent of Schools and the desired
experiences and personal characteristics necessary for success.
During April, advertisements will be placed on the AASA Web
Site, in Education Week, and in the New York Times. Letters
requesting nomination of candidates will be sent to over 1,200
agencies and individuals throughout the United States including
over 120 Graduate Schools of Education, over 700 Superintendents
of Schools in New York State as well as Superintendents of
Schools in Bergen, Essex, Morris and Union Counties in New
Jersey, Fairfield County in Connecticut, and the 50 Executive
Directors of the State Associations of Superintendents of
Schools.
The deadline for applications will be May 18th and Dr. Lerer
plans to present a slate of finalist candidates to the Board
early in June. The Board will then begin to conduct its own
interview and reference checking process and will be in a
position to make a decision by the beginning of July with
the new Superintendent starting on August 15, 2006.
Cellular News
Although a Radio Frequency exposure standards assessment report
by the Pinnacle Telecom Group of Cedar Knolls, N.J. states
that their commission was for Site 2655 on Tonshi Mountain
in Olive, attorney Robert D. Gaudioso of Snyder & Snyder,
LLP of White Plains affirms that the report refers to the
proposed Masterpage telecommunications tower at the peak of
South Mountain in West Shokan. Gaudioso will represent the
Nextel Corporation of Delaware on
Monday, May 1st, when they present their plans to add a dozen
antennas to the assemblage planned for the tower at a pubic
hearing to be held at the Olive Meeting Hall on Bostock Road
at 6pm.
Nextel’s directional antenna panels will cover 360 degrees
of the horizon, according to Gaudioso, and operate within
the 851 MHZ to 940 MHZ range with a capacity for 20 channels
per sector. The 22 packages loaded on the tower also include
entries from IWO Sprint, which operate in a considerably range
of the electromagnetic spectrum, as well as Verizon, Masterpage
and other unnamed carriers identified only as Carrier #1 and
Carrier #2.
The original Masterpage application in 2001 met opposition
from residents concerned about the despoiling of the viewshed,
adverse health effects manifest by changes in human cells
and
biofunctions, zoning and landowner right-of-way challenges
and other barriers before receiving a court order for the
issuance of a permit from U.S. Northern District Judge Norman
A. Mordue last year.
The short Environmental Assessment form filed with their application
answers a simple “no” to questions like “Is
there, or is there likely to be, controversy related to potential
adverse environmental impacts?” “Other impacts
(including changes in use of either quantity or type of energy?)”
“(Adverse effects to) fauna, fish, shellfish or wildlife
species, significant habitats, or threatened or endangered
species?” or to “Aesthetic...or other natural
or cultural resources, or community or neighborhood character?”
Each of these answers and others raised objections from residents
and wildlife officials who challenged the application originally
but have since fallen silent or, in the case of DEC Regional
Forester Frederick Gerty, retired.
Masterpage is also putting in a cell tower in Shandaken that
is currently far below service expectations... until the Olive
tower goes up. More is expected.
Gitter Again...
Despite his public calls for a meeting to discuss possible
compromises, Belleayre Resort developer Dean Gitter’s
still without any sit-down offers from other parties…
and maintaining his belligerence towards the environmental
community, New York City, and the state DEC Administrative
Law Judge overseeing his proposal to put in a massive resort
with double golf courses, hotels and a multitude of condos,
town houses and private homes along the Belleayre ridgeline.
Representatives for the agencies Gitter says he wants to talk
with, and offer a vague, un-detailed “40 to 45 percent”
downsizing to, have noted that were the developer serious
about what he’s talking, he’d have made actual
proposals in writing via his attorneys instead of attempting
to circumvent the current proceedings regarding his proposal.
“”Mr. Gitter sure is making a lot of noise about
wanting to talk. Maybe next Dean will fly an airplane over
the Catskills pulling a banner saying ‘Let’s Talk,’”
said Catskill Center director Tom Alworth, head of a coalition
of a dozen national, state and local environmental organizations,
of the refusal to meet with Gitter before local newspapers’
editorial boards with no lawyers at hand. “We hear him
and we too are willing to talk.But, obviously we don’t
agree on the terms of those discussions. Mr. Gitter walked
away from Congressman Hinchey’s proposal, which we supported
then and we still support. We’ve been saying all along
that if he is serious about talking, his lawyer simply needs
to pick up the phone... remember, we’re still in a legal
proceeding where the facts matter... this isn’t a game
of monopoly; we insist on sticking to the facts of this case
and the more we do that the more uncomfortable Mr. Gitter
is.”
Gitter has to date gone before the Kingston Freeman and Albany
Times Union editorial boards to say that he was prepared to
“reduce the environmental impacts of major elements
of the project by between 40 and 45 percent,” but Alworth
called that a concession without meaning or substance.
“The state judge who heard all of the facts ruled that
this project, in particular the eastern side of this project,
raises serious environmental issues, and regardless of what
the developer says or does, they will not be ignored,”
Alworth said, referencing state Adjudicatory Law Judge Richard
Wissler’s 2004 ruling that Gitter face a trial-like
process determining the correctness of a dozen of his environmental
mitigation claims. Gitter has appealed the judge’s rulings.
“In front of the editorial board is not a place to discuss
projects. The ‘Let’s just go to a back room here’
is not going to happen, and it’s inappropriate.”
U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley, has proposed a “lower
build” alternative in which Gitter would build nothing
on the east side of the property, with the state buying 1,242
of the 1,960 acres the developer has accumulated at market
price, but Gitter has rejected that suggestion as economically
infeasible.
Meanwhile, Gitter also went back to the Middletown Town Council
in person recently to ensure that they passed a resolution
in support of his compromise talks, even though they’d
bowed down for doing so a first time around
IDA Changes?
The Ulster County Industrial Development Agency has started
coming under fire with its recent turning down of a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes
plan for the proposed Hampton Inn in Ulster on Route 9W. The
request followed an hour-long public hearing that drew opposition
to the tax break, including a petition signed by 118 residents.
Town officials, meanwhile, spoke on behalf of the motel noting
that other PILOT agreements adopted by the IDA in the town
of Ulster have included Kingston Block and Masonry in 2003,
Dutchess Beer in 2002, and SunWize Technology in 2001, and
that the new Marriott Courtyard hotel on the opposite side
of Ulster Avenue will receive a tax break.
On Monday, April 24, the IDA held a public hearing about changing
its structure to start questioning the sorts of development
it would support in the changing county.
Stay tuned…
Calls For Help…
Area Catholics have begun circling the wagons around St. Francis
de Sales parish, targeted for church closures by the Archdiocese
of New York. St. Francis de Sales Church was jam-packed for
Easter services, and has formed a committee to save the parish,
registering all who have visited the church or its satellites
at any time as parishioners, as well as handing out sample
letters to the archdiocese, which last month announced its
plan to sell off two mission churches in the parish - Our
Lady of Lourdes in Allaben and Our Lady of LaSalette in Boiceville
- and convert the main church to a mission of St. John’s
Roman Catholic Church in West Hurley.
Gene Gormley, chairman of the Save the Parish Committee in
Phoenicia, has said he was hopeful that the archdiocese’s
plan was drafted without a full understanding of the parish’s
circumstances. To address that, the committee will provide
information to the archdiocese that Gormley expects will lead
to a reversal of the plan.
The Archdiocese of New York serves the pastoral, religious
and educational needs of 2.5 million Catholics in 409 parishes
in the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island
and in Dutchess, Putnam, Orange, Rockland, Sullivan and Westchester
counties. Currently ministering within the archdiocese are
686 archdiocesan priests, 812 priests of religious communities,
and 271 priests from other dioceses, as well as 354 permanent
deacons.
Stream Cleanups!
The Catskill Watershed Corporation will once again support
groups and individuals who clean litter and other debris from
streambanks in their neighborhoods by providing trash bags,
gloves and tokens of appreciation for those who choose to
serve their communities in this way. Call Kim Ackerley at
845-586-1400 to arrange to get these items. The NYC Department
of Environmental Protection is coordinating the clean-ups
at the Ashokan Reservoir May 6 and June 3; the Schoharie Reservoir
May 20 and Sept. 9; the Pepacton Reservoir August 26, the
Rondout Reservoir September 16 and the Neversink Reservoir
September 30. Call Amy Flavin at 845-340-7530, or e-mail aflavin@dep.nyc.gov
for more information on how to lend a hand with those projects.
Volunteers might also wish to coordinate their efforts with
National River Clean-up Week sponsored by America Outdoors
May 13-21. Go to americaoutdoors.org/nrcw/natao10.htm.
Planning Woes…
The state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
has stated objections to the height of a proposed condominium
tower that the New Jersey-based Teicher Organization wants
to build on the site of the arking lot at the end of Wall
Street in Uptown Kingston. The agency has said the project,
at a proposed 12 stories, would harm the historical nature
of the Uptown area, in particular the adjacent National Register-listed
Stockade Historic District and the Senate House State Historic
site.
“The structure will overwhelm the primarily two- to
three-story historic neighborhood,” the letter stated.
Kingston Mayor James Sottile, a strong supporter of the condo
project, said opponents will use “any tactic they can
to kill it.”
The condo building, as planned, would comprise more than 200
residential units, shops at street level and an underground
parking garage with 600 spaces, 300 of which would be set
aside for public use.
Harv Hilowitz, Teicher’s regional manager, said that
there are no plans to reduce the proposed height of the building.
He also said the developer is compiling a list of environmental
issues that will be addressed as part of the planning process
and that public hearings will be held.
Medicare Runout
Medicare beneficiaries — those with low incomes and
those with few health problems — are the slowest to
sign up for the program’s new prescription-drug coverage.
Most beneficiaries currently eligible for the plan will face
higher costs if they sign up after the May 15 deadline. Premiums
will rise by 1% a month after then. The Bush administration
estimates that about 7 million eligible Medicare recipients
have not signed up for drug coverage. Some outside groups,
such as the Kaiser Family Foundation and Avalere Health, a
health care research company, put the figure at 14 million.
Meanwhile, 48 of the 100 senators urged Republican leaders
and the Bush administration in recent weeks to allow people
more time to sign up for the Medicare drug benefit beyond
the May 15 deadline. The administration has extended the enrollment
period for some low-income people whose incomes are below
150 percent of the poverty level - $14,355 for an older person
who lives alone, $19,245 for a couple. But administration
officials said they lack the legal authority to extend it
for everyone. Mark McClellan, the Bush administration’s
chief Medicare official, said plenty of help is available
across the country for people wanting to sign up before May
15.
With the deadline approaching, private insurers and the government
are making a last-ditch push to sign people up and declare
the venture a success. Already, though, the massive effort
has produced clear winners and losers among businesses and
seniors.
The early winners include some of the nation’s largest
health plans, which are peddling the drug coverage. After
a rocky start in January, the plans have snagged roughly 15
million new customers and healthy government subsidies. Also
buoyed: drug makers, which are reporting increased demand
for some products used by seniors, such as drugs. Dozens of
smaller health insurers, meanwhile, are seeing only minimal
enrollment gains, and independent pharmacists are criticizing
the lower payments and suffering cash-flow problems.
Suing The Gov
New York state’s Senate and Assembly on Friday warned
they would sue Republican Gov. George Pataki if they cannot
settle a constitutional budget clash involving the Governor’s
vetoing of policy changes the legislature made to his budget.
Pataki also vetoed the lawmakers’ ‘clean-up’
bill which aimed to fix the problems.
New York’s top court has said lawmakers can only raise
or cut how much programs spend. But the legislature modified
some of Pataki’s programs in his budget, such as crafting
a new property tax rebate out of his education tax credit.
Pataki aides say the latest vetoes, which followed last week’s
$2.7 billion of vetoes, are largely focused on what they see
as the unconstitutional action taken by the legislature, said
one of the aides.
Pataki cut the legislature’s budget for the fiscal year
starting April 1 to $112.8 billion from $115.5 billion. The
governor’s new vetoes included the $1.7 billion property
tax rebate, Medicaid programs and a few other items.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, estimating
Pataki has now vetoed $5 billion of items, told reporters
that no progress toward a compromise had been made. If such
an accord is not reached, the Senate will override the governor’s
vetoes, Bruno said. “And if the governor thinks that
is unconstitutional, then we’ll litigate.”
Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, in a statement,
said Pataki has set the stage for lawsuits whose outcome will
not be known until long after his term ends. “The constitutional
arguments he has laid out are wildly off base, extraordinarily
arrogant and an unmitigated abuse of power.”
Hit And Run…
Joseph Gilsinger, 40 of Park Road, Chichester, was charged
April 14 with a felony count of leaving the scene of an accident
where he allegedly struck and killed a man on a bicycle, 43-year-old
Richard “Ricky” Shultis of Hurley, before driving
away and not reporting the accident. According to town of
Ulster Police, a piece of plastic torn from Gilsinger’s
truck, and eyewitness reports, helped authorities track down
the perpetrator. Police say Gilsinger was driving a dark blue
1990 Dodge Dakota the evening of April 12 when the vehicle
struck Shultis as he rode his bike near the Hess gas station
on Route 28 in Ulster. The pickup left without stopping. Shultis
was pronounced dead a short time later at Benedictine Hospital
in Kingston.
An anonymous tip from a caller who read about the accident,
complete with vehicle description, led police to Gilsinger.
Police found the vehicle, a 1990 Dakota, outside Gilsinger’s
home and located Gilsinger, a general contractor, at a job
site in Olive, where he was taken into custody and later was
arraigned.
Sheriff’s Race…
With Ulster County Sheriff J. Richard Bockelmann’s recent
announcement that he will not seek another term, ending a
36-year career in law enforcement, the sole announced candidate
in November’s election for his position is Shandaken-based
Sheriff’s Deputy, Sgt. Paul Van Blarcum, the Democratic
candidate for sheriff.
Van Blarcum has been blaming the sheriff for involvement in
cost overruns and a two-year delay in opening the Ulster County
Law Enforcement Center, but Bockelmann, 55, said that criticism
played no role in his decision not to seek-election.
Van Blarcum ran for sheriff eight years ago, losing to Bockelmann.
News reports have opined that Republicans are thinking of
running State Police Lt. Kevin Costello against Van Blarcum.
UPAC Bardavon!
The Ulster Performing Arts Center's (UPAC) board of directors
in conjunction with the Bardavon's board of directors,have
announced their intention to enter a management agreement
between the two historic theaters.The specifics of the agreement
are being finalized and officials at both UPAC and the Bardavon
are confident that the plan to collaborate is in the best
interests of both theaters and that the final management agreement
will be signed in time for an effective May 1 date. The Bardavon
will assume all day to day operational activities at UPAC
including programming of shows at the historic 1500 seat Broadway
Theater.
The decision to enter discussions between the theaters began
several months ago. An operational assessment study commissioned
by UPAC and funded by the Dyson Foundation in 2005 concluded
that given the pervading economic challenges facing many nonprofit
arts groups, a collaboration or mergerbetween arts organizations
was a logical and beneficial strategy. After several months
of study and due diligence officials from both theaters have
determined that a management agreement combining resources
in order to develop audiences is in the best interest of the
performing arts in Ulster and Dutchess counties.
During this transition, the UPAC staff will continue to work
under the Bardavon's management team. UPAC members will continue
to get their benefits for all shows brought to UPAC by the
Bardavon. At present the Bardavon has booked at UPAC: Natalie
Merchant, Pete Seeger, Jay Ungar & Molly Mason in a Benefit
for Bill Vanaver on May 21, Pat Benatar on June 18, John Hiatt
and the North Mississippi All-Stars on July 16 and they will
open the Hudson Valley Philharmonic's 2006-07 symphony season
with an All Mozart concert at UPAC on Oct 7. The Bardavon
has also booked a series of daytime performances at UPAC which
will be offered to students in all Ulster County school districts.
The Bardavon is actively working to book other major headliners
into UPAC for the 2006-07season.
Debit Scandal
In possibly the biggest incident of debit card hacking theft,
thousands of U.S. consumers have been told that their bank
accounts may have been compromised by computer hackers who
stole debit information and personal identification numbers
(PINs) from their bank accounts. During the past few weeks,
banks across the country quietly informed consumers who may
have been victimized by the breach, which occurred more than
a month ago.
Litan said that 200,000 to 300,000 consumers may have had
new debit cards issued, and the banks reportedly monitored
account activity for the consumers at risk. But some consumer
groups questioned why the notification letters were not more
specific about the details of the breach, such as whether
it was a specific merchant whose security was compromised.
“The letters seem to be pretty vague. They’re
not being told where the breach occurred. The notices tell
them that something happened, but it won’t tell them
where or how,” said Gail Hillebrand of the nonprofit
group Consumers Union. “If you’re a consumer,
it would help to know which retailer made your information
available, because maybe you wouldn’t want to shop there
again.”
Unlike credit cards, which by law hold consumers responsible
for only $50 in the case of theft, card issuers can hold debit
card holders responsible for up to $500 when their money is
stolen. Electronic money transfers, including debit card transactions,
are governed by a Federal Reserve Board regulation known as
Regulation E. One of its stipulations puts the onus on consumers
to report irregularities with electronic transfers. If consumers
fail to notify card issuers about breaches in a “timely
fashion,” the card issuer could hold the consumer responsible
for up to $500.
Tourist Advisors
Ulster County Tourism is seeking nominees for a Tourism Advisory
Board that will be appointed by the Legislature later this
spring.
On April 5, the Tourism Office and the Ulster County Legislature
sponsored a Tourism Advisory Conference that garnered significant
input on the County’s tourism promotional efforts from
the tourism industry. In addition, 29 people were either nominated
or volunteered to serve on the Tourism Advisory Board.
The mission of the Tourism Advisory Board is to create a mechanism
for the tourism industry to provide feedback, share expertise,
communicate needs and help shape the future efforts of the
Ulster County Tourism Office. Ideally the board will have
a diversity of industry representation as well as geographic
diversity. The board will meet monthly and will elect its
own leadership. Feedback from the Tourism Advisory Conference
will be provided to the Tourism Advisory Board to help shape
the board’s initial agenda.
Nominations should be emailed to pmcc@co.ulster.ny.us or can
be made over the phone by calling the Tourism Office at (845)
340-3566.
Men & Sex
Around the world, middle-aged and elderly men tend to be more
satisfied with their sex lives than women in the same age
group, a new survey says. Substantial majorities of people
who are married or who have a partner remain sexually active
throughout the second half of their lives, according to a
survey of 27,500 people aged 40 to 80 in 29 countries.
“There was very little effect of age on sexual well-being,”
though other factors such as health problems or depression
had a substantial impact, said lead researcher Edward Laumann
of the University of Chicago in a telephone interview.
The survey published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior looked
at how they viewed their sex lives, their health, and their
happiness. It found that a greater proportion of people in
Europe, North America, and Australia, where men and women
have more or less equal relations, enjoyed sex physically
and emotionally. A smaller percentage of people reported satisfying
sex lives in male-dominated cultures in poorer countries,
the research showed. But the gender gap persisted around the
world.
“There’s a systematic disparity between men and
women, where men are on the average substantially —
or about 10 points — higher in their levels of satisfaction
as women in that country,” he said.
“Pleasure is not part of the story” in sexually
conservative cultures in the Far East — China, Indonesia,
Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand, Laumann said. “Procreation
is the rationale for sex. Many women ... characterize sex
as dirty, as a duty, something they endure” —
and often stop having it after age 50.
But roughly two-thirds of adults in Western nations reported
their sex lives were very to extremely satisfying —
though some countries appeared happier than others. Roughly
four out of five middle-aged to older Austrians, for instance,
rated their sex lives highly, while considerably fewer adults
in France and Sweden shared that sentiment. In the United
States, about three-quarters of men and two-thirds of women
reported they were very satisfied with the physical and emotional
aspects of their sex lives.
Hang It Up!
The use of mobile phones over a long period of time can raise
the risk of brain tumors, according to a study by the Swedish
National Institute for Working Life, which looked at mobile
phone use of 2,200 cancer patients and an equal number of
healthy control cases.
Of the cancer patients, aged between 20 and 80, 905 had a
malignant brain tumor and about a tenth of them were also
heavy users of mobile phones.
“Of these 905 cases, 85 were so-called high users of
mobile phones, that is they began early to use mobile and/or
wireless telephones and used them a lot,” said the authors
of the study in a statement issued by the Institute.
Published in the International Archives of Occupational and
Environmental Health, the study defines heavy use as 2,000
plus hours, which “corresponds to 10 years’ use
in the work place for one hour per day.”
There was also shown to be a marked increase in the risk of
tumor on the side of the head where the telephone was generally
used, said the study, which took into account factors such
as smoking habits, working history and exposure to other agents.
He said his study was the biggest yet to look at long-term
users of the wireless phone, which has been around in Sweden
in a portable form since 1984, longer than in many other countries.
Wal Mart Health?
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., at the center of debate over corporate
responsibility for health care, offered recently to use its
cost-cutting expertise to help make the health care system
more efficient. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer,
the largest private sector employer in the world, has added
a lower-priced health care plan for employees that it is offering
as a prototype for the U.S. Government.
Wal-Mart said health care is a national problem and required
a joint effort from government, corporations and workers to
find ways to make the system more efficient. The retailer
said the key is to figure out what is driving up health care
costs — just as Wal-Mart does with its vaunted supply
chain network — and then wring inefficiencies out of
the system.
Wal-Mart tracks expenses so closely that cardboard boxes at
its distribution centers bear a message reminding employees
that each box costs the company 75 cents.
The retailer offered up its information technology expertise
to help develop a system for keeping electronic medical records
as another means of reducing costs. Wal-Mart also said that
lessons could be learned from health clinics it is opening
in dozens of stores around the country, many of which serve
uninsured patients who would otherwise go to the emergency
room — a major drain on health care resources.
GOP Platform…
Protection of marriage amendment? Check. Anti-flag burning
legislation? Check. New abortion limits? Check.
Between now and the November elections, Republicans are penciling
in plans to take action on social issues important to religious
conservatives, the foundation of the GOP base, as they defend
their congressional majority.
In a year where an unpopular war in Iraq has helped drive
President Bush’s approval ratings below 40 percent,
core conservatives whose turnout in November is vital to the
party want assurances that they are not being taken for granted.
“It seems like for only six months, every two years
- right around election time - that we’re even noticed,”
said Tom McClusky of the Family Research Council. “Some
of these better pass.You notice when it’s just lip service
being paid.”
In answer, the House has approved an amendment to the Constitution
to outlaw flag burning and passed a bill to crack down on
the practice of minors’ crossing state lines for abortions
to evade legal limits in their own states. And Senate Majority
Leader Bill Frist, a possible presidential candidate in 2008,
announced early this year that the Senate would consider those
and the anti-gay marriage amendment that has failed in both
chambers despite Bush’s endorsement.
House Republican officials close to the scheduling process
said the marriage amendment is headed for a House vote in
July. An amendment banning flag desecration is also set to
come up in June.
Gas Prices!!!
With the average U.S. retail price of gasoline surging about
a dime a day over the past few days before we went to press,
we checked on Sunday what the best prices locally would be.
But much of the information we culled, it turned out, was
already obsolete by Monday noon.
The oil industry has been saying that its pump prices reflect
higher crude oil costs as well as regulatory ethanol-blending
requirements. Yet there has been growing talk of hitting the
major oil companies, which have boasted record profits in
the last year, with a windfall surplus tax to force them to
rein in what they are doing.
On a national basis as of last Friday, San Diego had the highest
average price for self-serve regular gas at $3.12 a gallon,,
while the lowest price was $2.54 a gallon in Boise, Idaho.
But that was before another 10 cent hike over the weekend,
with more expected in the coming weeks.
Regular unleaded is up over 75 cents or 35 percent from a
year ago. Still, it is shy of the all-time high reached last
September, in the aftermath of Gulf of Mexico storms that
disrupted oil and gasoline production.
Locally, Country Store in Phoenicia had medium grade at $3.059,
Sunoco in Boiceville had regular at $2.989, Shokan Mobil had
super at $3.149, Hunter Gulf was at $3.129 for regular, Woodstock
Gulf was at $3.049 for regular, Tannersville Citgo was at
$3.059, as was West Hurley Getty. The lowest price in the
area was a Citgo in Kingston at the corner of Sawkill Road
and Washington, going for $2.859.
Deb Whitaker, the manager of the Phoenicia Country Store,
says the high prices are hurting other sales.
”People are spending more on gas, and less on things
in the store.” she said.
Whitaker added that even though people spend more on gas,
they are buying less gas. As a result gas deliveries have
been cut back.
”We haven’t had a truck here since thursday, she
said.
Stay tuned and drive economically!