Olive Newsbriefs
CWT or CDT?
Is it the Coalition of Watershed Towns? Or is it the Coalition
of Delaware County Towns?
Delaware officials are up in arms again with the New York City
Department of Environmental Protection, even to the point of
holding closed door sessions to talk over suing the Big Apple
and dropping out of the watershed deal that Delaware and four
other counties inked in 1997. But sources say that it is not
going unnoticed by DEP brass that all the yelling coming out
of the watershed is from within Delaware's borders, while
Ulster, Greene, Sullivan, and Schoharie appear satisfied with
the relationship, save for an occasional flare up.
Meanwhile the Coalition of Watershed Towns, a regional advocacy
group assembled to protect the interests of those in the Watershed,
appears to be reflecting the attitude of Delaware and not the
other four. Coalition officials met recently with DEP
Commissioner Christopher Ward to discuss issues. A report on
the meeting is expected at CWT's October 18th meeting,
set for 6pm at the Catskill Watershed Corporation Building in
Margaretville.
In related news, Delaware officials have outlined several issues
that may require some legal action including: Home rule ˜
one of the issues generated by the public hearings on the Belleayre
Resort at Catskill Park project, proposed by Crossroads Ventures,
LLC. Easements ˜ DEP's alleged contention that
they do not have to comply with the subdivision process, which
Delaware fears may result in property that cannot be developed
in the future. Proposed changes in the Watershed Rules and
Regulations under the filtration avoidance agreement. Guidance
documents issued by the DEP which were intended to assist in
applying for permits, but which contain more stringent requirements
than the original regulations call for, adding cost to the projects.
Land purchases, including an instance in Schoharie County
in which a restaurant that required an upgraded septic system
was encouraged to close and sell the property to the city.
New DEP SEQRA (State Environmental Quality Review Act) department
to assess state forms.
Jurisdictional!
Last Thanksgiving a police officer with the New York City Department
of Environmental Protection issued an Ulster County resident
a ticket for passing in a no passing zone on Route 28. It is
doubtful that the officer knew at the time that his action would
become a critical part of the ongoing argument over whether
DEP police have authority outside their territory, which according
to local authorites would be only on DEP land.
Next week, on October 12 in the town of Hurley, town justice
John Parker will consider the merits of the argument. Ulster
County District Attorney Don Williams told reporters this week
that other cases could be impacted if DEP cops are found to
not have authority to issue tickets. Williams reportedly said
that if DEP cops are not permitted to issue traffic tickets,
it could have a far-reaching impact on much more serious cases.
He speculated that If the DEP is found to not have the power
to make a stop and issue a traffic ticket and do so anyway,
and later find a body in the car or find evidence of substantial
drug dealing, the admissibility of that evidence would be in
question, even though the evidence is related to crimes way
more serious than running a stop sign.
Attorneys for the defendant argue that state law limits the
type of law enforcement actions that can be taken by police
and claim DEP cops have to be within their geographical area
of employment.
In Delaware County, District Attorney Richard Northrup received
approval this month to file a formal appeal on the question
of DEP's jurisdiction to the highest court in the state.
His request for the appeal was based on Judge Carl Becker's
decision last spring in which he ruled for a second time that
DEP police do not have police authority in Delaware County.
In a prepared statement issued in April 2004 Northrup said "The
issue of the authority of the DEP police to act has far-reaching
implications extending not only to every town within Delaware
County, but to the several other counties in which a portion
of the watershed is located."
One Down-
Kenneth Pasternak, one of the three major investor's in
Dean Gitter's Belleayre Resort project, suffered further
difficulties this past few months when Knight Trading Group,
the stock company he founded and made his riches through, settled
investigations with U.S. regulators and reached an agreement
to take a charge of $79 million. It's stock prices have
since plummeted. The probe that led to the fall was related
to institutional trading activities from 1999 to 2001. Under
the terms of the agreement with regulators Knight will give
back about $41 million in institutional trading profits, and
pay $13 million in interest and $25 million in penalties. It
is unceryain how that will effect Pasternak's own pile.
In 2002, Knight had said the SEC was conducting a formal investigation
into allegations by a former employee that it was involved in
improper trading. In an arbitration claim, the employee contended
Knight traders placed their own orders for stock before carrying
out customer orders, a practice known as "front running."
In March, Knight said it received a so-called Wells Notice relating
to its equity unit and former Chief Executive Pasternak, who
stepped down in January 2002. Civil actions are still pending,
and could cost Pasternak and Knight even more.
Closed Jail
Legislative meetings on the new county jail, officially known
as the Ulster County Law Enforcement Center, have recently been
closed to the public in a move by construction manager Bovis
Lend Lease's new project manager, who said that having
the public there was "useless" and not conducive
to his goal of completing the building.
Technically, the meetings do not fall under the state's
Open Meetings Law because they are not meetings of a public
body, such as the Legislature or a standing committee. But even
so, they have been attended by the public, press, and contractors
working on the job, and attendance has grown since news broke
last Spring that the $71.8 million project could be as much
as $21 million over budget. The meetings have been held in the
Legislature chamber of the Ulster County Office Building. They
are now being shifted to the construction company's trailer
on Albert Street near the job site.
At the last public meeting on the project it was revealed that
Bovis' stated completion date of March 2005 was impossible
to meet, and that delays could add another year to the project's
completion. County legislative leaders have said that they agree
with the new meetings schedule and plan, although Olive legislator
Robert Parete has called the new meetings scheduled are improper
because of the amount of public money flowing into the project.
Onteora Movie!
"School Board Blues," a memoir that documents the
Indian Mascot controversy and school board upheaval that deeply
divided Onteora Central School District and ended up as a national
story with coverage in Newsweek Magazine, the New York
Times and on CNN, produced by former school board member Meg
carey and her husband Tobe, will be premiering at the upcoming
Woodstock Film Festival in mid-October. Edited from nearly 400
hours of material and featuring music by satirists Mikhail Horowitz
and Gilles Malkine as well as internationally acclaimed musicians
Robbie Dupree, Artie Traum, and Jimmy Weider, the film will
have its World Premiere on October 14 at the 5th annual Woodstock
Film Festival For more information, contact: Tobe Carey PO Box
194 Glenford, NY 12433, (845) 657-2914 or video@hvc.rr.com.
Hospital Shifts-
The board of directors of Kingston Regional Health Care, parent
company of recently beleaguered Kingston Hospital, has voted
to take over operations at the 51-bed Ellenville Regional Hospital
provided Ulster County lends the hospital $600,000 and a federal
bankruptcy court approves the deal.
In June, county lawmakers approved a short-term cash infusion
of $200,000 to the hospital, which the hospital has not yet
drawn from. A second vote of the Legislature will be required
to appropriate the remaining $400,000 to the hospital, at which
point the county would take ownership of the hospital; and the
land on which it sits. But several lawmakers have balked at
the idea of taking ownership of the Ellenville building, viewing
it as more of a liability than an asset. They have suggested
the county approve the loan without taking ownership of the
facility. According to Kingston Hospital, other conditions in
the agreement include an agreement from Westchester Medical
Center, the current owner of Ellenville Regional Hospital, to
forgive any debt it holds for the facility; and a commitment
from the Catskill Watershed Corp. that it will stand behind
a $1 million loan offer made just before Ellenville Regional
Hospital filed for bankruptcy in November. The county's
loan also hinges on contributions of $100,000 from the town
Wawarsing and $50,000 from the village of Ellenville.
Strangely, Kingston Hospital previously ran the Ellenville Hospital
before.
New Casino?
Neighbors of the old IBM Recreation Center near Ulster Landing
off State Route 32 just north of the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge
across the Hudson have started complaining of late that they're
being offered option agreements to sell their properties, suggesting
that a large development, very possibly a casino, is being planned
for the Town of Ulster property. Town and county officials have
reported that property owners have told them they are being
offered amounts over the assessed value for their properties
by New York City attorneys- a phenomenon similar to the
amassing of lands for what is being proposed as the Belleayre
resort in the town of Shandaken. One of the neighbors said he'd
signed confidentiality clauses to enter into a three-year option
with an unnamed New York-based firm- and he knew others
who had done the same. State legislation approved in 2001 allows
for three Indian-run casino to operate in the Catskills region,
including Ulster County. Local officials have said they had
heard residents were being offered, and paid, $100,000 a year
for three years under the option deal and being offered more
than $1 million apiece for their parcels.
Charter Time-
Ulster County's new Charter Commission has started setting
itself an agenda and time frame for examining county government
with the possibility of eventually rewriting the way it works.
The 11-member commission elected unanimously in mid-September
to spend six months researching the effectiveness of the current
mode of government in terms of non-charter forms of county government
used elsewhere in the state, as well as a possible shift from
a legislative to an executive model for local governance. In
February the commission will begin to look at ways of using
its research to decide if the county needs a charter, and then
what structure the charter should take. Drafting of a new charter
would start next summer, should such a decision be reached.Commission
chairman Gerald Benjamin, a former legislator and SUNY professor
of government has said that said he'd like to hold commission
meetings throughout the county, particularly when the commission
begins holding public hearings on a draft charter a year from
now. The current plan calls for a final proposal to be formally
made to the county legislature in February of 2006.
Louis Klein, a former Legislature chairman, was named as the
committee's lawyer and deputy chairman. The commission
was formed through a resolution passed by the Ulster County
Legislature in August.
Airline Spies-
The federal Transportation Security Administration said Tuesday
is currently planning to require all airlines to turn over records
on every passenger carried domestically during the month of
June so the agency can test a new system to match passenger
names against lists of known or suspected terrorists. The data
will vary by airline, but always include each passenger's
name, address and telephone number and the flight number. It
may also include such information as the names of traveling
companions, meal preference, whether the reservation was changed
at any point, the method of ticket payment and any comment by
airline employees, like whether a passenger was drunk or belligerent
in encounters with airline personnel. The goal, the agency said,
is to reduce the number of passengers selected for more intensive
screening, including "wanding," pat-downs and hand-searches
of carry-on luggage, and to increase the chance that people
on government watch lists will in fact be searched. Under the
current system, the airlines check their passengers' names
against government lists of suspicious people. But, the government,
fearing that the lists could fall into the wrong hands, does
not give the airlines all the names.
When Congress created the T.S.A. almost three years ago, it
ordered the agency to come up with a better way to screen passengers;
the one used now was invented by Northwest Airlines in the mid-1990's
as a way to pick which luggage to screen, in response to the
1988 Libyan bombing of a jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland.
The existing system, Capps 1, relies on factors like paying
cash for a ticket and booking a one-way flight. The government
says the new system "should" snag only a third that
percentage.
At Onteora-
Onteora school board members agreed unanimously at their September
21 meeting to seek bids to perform immediate repairs as reinforcement
for the Onteora Middle-Senior High School auditorium roof at
a cost up to $40,000. The move came partly in response to a
recent state advisory that all school districts should be looking
at the structural systems within their roofs to make sure they
didn't have a situation that was dangerous. The district
also announced that similar problems could exist at Phoenicia
Elementary School, although repairs there weren't imminently
needed since that roof was not under the same pressure loads.
Cured?
A billboard claim that homosexuality is curable, put up by a
conservative Christian group on state Route 299 in New Paltz,
was refused this month by a local billboard-owning company that
didn't want the controversy, especially given the notoriety
the town reaped easrlier this year when Green Party Mayor Jason
West started wedding gay couples, only to be eventually stopped
by court order. According to local accounts, the Truthful Witness
Campaign, a project of the New York Christian Coalition, had
planned to rent a billboard to post an advertisement provided
by the Connecticut-based Stephen Bennett Ministries that would
feature a black-and-white photograph of Bennett with his wife
and two children alongside the statement "Wonderful husband.
Loving father. Former homosexual. Jesus Christ changes lives."
Truthful Witness Campaign, formed in response to West's
weddings, was in the process of raising the $4,000 needed to
rent the billboard from Highway Displays Inc. owners of over
600 billboards in the Hudson Valley, when officials from the
company said they would not allow the ad because of its content.
The campaign has since said it is in discussion with media giant
Clear Channel about renting one of its billboards instead.
Carter: Withdraw
Former President Carter said recently that violence in Iraq
could be greatly reduced if the U.S. government set a date to
withdraw its troops. "The main thing that sustains violence
there is the apparent long term presence of U.S. troops,"
he said. He added that he would like to see troops withdraw
as early as next year if Iraqis show they can establish self-government.
He also said he would be willing to visit Iraq to help establish
a democratic government. The center has worked in recent years
to broker peace and monitor elections in nations including Venezuela,
Indonesia and Sudan.
Carter called former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein a "horrible
man." But he said government officials used "deliberate
misstatements" to link Saddam to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
and exaggerate the international danger he posed. The town hall-style
meeting came just days before Carter will celebrate his 80th
birthday on Oct. 1 and served as an unofficial kickoff to the
celebration.
The BIG Melt-
Glaciers in Antarctica's most rapidly warming region have
quickened their pace following the collapse of a Delaware-sized
ice shelf in March of 2002, according to a new study led by
the University of Colorado at Boulder and a related study by
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Satellite images taken
before, during and after the break-up of the Larsen B ice shelf
show that several of the glaciers are now moving at up to five
times their previous speed, while other satellite data show
that the glaciers also have thinned significantly since the
disintegration of the Larsen B. Scientists say the recent events
underscore the potential for sea-level rise as a result of climate
warming over the Earth's polar caps. The area, located
at the far northern tip of the Antarctic just south of Chile
and Argentina, has seen a rise in mean annual temperatures of
up to 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 60 years ˜ faster
than almost any region in the world. In the past 30 years, ice
shelves in the region have decreased by more than 5,200 square
miles.
Large Nostrils?
Large nostrils count more than a big nose when it come to smelling
power, said German scientists after completing a three-year-long
study aimed at treating smelling disorders. Researcher Julia
Vent from the University of Cologne examined 95 noses of men
between 25 and 58 over three years to learn more about the link
between nostril size and odor sensitivity and surgical methods
to alleviate disorders. "We found the bigger the nostril,
the better the smelling power," said University of Cologne
spokesman Christoph Uhlhaas. "It is not just outer size
that counts." The results also found the right nostril
is often more sensitive than the left.
Memory Walk
Walking regularly at age 70 and beyond can help keep the mind
sharp and ward off Alzheimer's disease, according to research
suggesting that what is good for the heart is also good for
the brain. While some previous studies found that physical activity
might stave off mental decline, the new findings, contained
in two studies, show that the activity does not have to be super
strenuous. In more good news for older people, another study
suggests that the benefits of a Mediterranean diet rich in fish,
olive oil and fruits and vegetables extend into old age, increasing
longevity even in men and women in their 70s, 80s and 90s. One
study, involving 2,257 retired men ages 71 to 93, found that
those who walked less than a quarter-mile a day were almost
twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's or other forms
of dementia as men who walked more than two miles daily. Previous
studies have linked mental exercise, such as crossword puzzles
and reading, with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's. The new
research shows physical exercise helps, too.
Bad Health-
The health of U.S. children is worse in virtually all categories
when compared to children in other industrialized countries,
according to new research which suggests we cam only improve
the health of American children by changing some of our health
care policies and adopting new Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendations
concerning how child health should be viewed and developing
information systems that better reflect the health needs of
children and their distribution in the population.
According to the study, twenty-four countries ranked better
than the United States in infant mortality rates in 2000. Out
of 191 countries, the United States ranked 33rd in its death
rate for children under age 5. The United States, out of 187
countries, ranked 68th in immunizing children against diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus;
89th for polio; and 84th for measles. U.S. teens ranked 18th
out of 28 industrialized countries in a self-reported survey
of not feeling healthy.
Partial explanations for the United States' low rankings
may be the country's income inequity and inadequacy of
the health services system. The United States is the most income-inequitable
country among the industrialized nations. Past studies have
shown that geographic areas that are more income-equitable have
better health and that the ill effects of social disadvantage
and income inequality can be partly reduced by better primary
care services.
More Cutting?
Blaming the state Legislature for adopting an out-of-balance
budget with massive future-year revenue shortfalls, Gov. George
Pataki's budget director is again calling on administration
heads to economize in the current fiscal year and to submit
no-growth budgets for next year. She told agency heads to submit
their proposed budgets for the 2005-06 fiscal year by Nov. 5
and to make them no larger than current-year spending. The agency
proposals will be the basis of the executive budget proposal
Pataki will make to the Legislature in January 2005. The budget
director said state agencies have to save $400 million in the
2004-05 fiscal year to ensure that the $101 billion-plus budget
the state Legislature finally adopted on Aug. 11 is in balance.
She also projected the revenue shortfall for fiscal 2005-06
at between $5 billion and $6 billion and at more than $7 billion
for the fiscal year after that.
Pataki and the Legislature continue to bicker over $235 million
in spending and more than $1 billion in borrowing that Pataki
vetoed out of the 2004-05 state budget. The state Assembly last
week failed to override the vetoes. State legislative fiscal
analysts insist the Legislature-initiated budget is in balance
for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2005, and that the revenue
gap for fiscal 2005-06 is closer to $3 billion than $6 billion.
Druggy Loophole!
A regulatory loophole is allowing pharmacy companies to bill
government health programs twice for the same drugs, according
to whistleblower lawsuits challenging the payments. The complaints
are about a practice called "restocking," in which
pharmacies resell drugs returned by hospitals or nursing homes.
The medications often were for patients who had died. A majority
of states allow the return of medication still sealed in its
original packaging and stored in a controlled environment to
prevent millions of dollars worth of expensive drugs from being
destroyed needlessly. The savings, however, are not always passed
along to buyers.
In a case recently decided by a federal appeals court, a former
administrator at a subsidiary of the pharmacy company Omnicare
alleged the firm was cheating the Medicaid program by charging
it twice - the sale and the resale - for restocked drugs. The
3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this month called such double
payments "disturbing," but said it could not find
anything in New Jersey's Medicaid rules requiring the
company to give a full refund for restocked drugs.
"We are constrained by the lack of a regulation,"
Judge Jane R. Roth wrote in the court's decision. "We
believe that Congress and/or the New Jersey legislature might
serve Medicaid well if this lack of regulation were corrected."
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services, which oversees the Medicaid program, said each state
may set its own rules regarding refunds for returned drugs.
Maybe Reprieve
A reprieve may be on the horizon for municipalities faced with
the loss of thousands of dollars in traffic ticket revenues.
The state Assembly voted recently to rescind legislation that
redirected to the state fines paid by motorists ticketed for
speeding but who plead guilty to non-moving violations. State
Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno has said his house will
pass the legislation when it reconvenes in November. The fate
of the new legislation will then rest with Gov. George Pataki,
who proposed the legislation as part of his 2005 budget proposal.
The state Legislature approved the bill last month as part of
the state's $101.3 billion budget. The change diverted
to the state a;; the town fine money paid when a person is convicted
of a non-moving violation, such as parking on the pavement,
if the initial charge is speeding. By shifting the revenue stream,
Pataki said the state would raise an additional $23 million
annually. But local officials said the change, which took effect
Sept. 1, would wreak havoc on municipal budgets this year and
could mean hefty property tax hikes next year.
Cancer Dogs
It has long been suspected that man's best friend has
a special ability to sense when something is wrong with us.
Now the first experiment to verify that scientifically has demonstrated
that dogs are able to smell cancer. And although experts say
it's unlikely that pooches will become practical partners
in cancer detection any time soon, the results of the study
are promising, showing that when urine from bladder cancer patients
was set out among samples from healthy people or those with
other diseases, the dogs - all ordinary pets - were able to
identify the cancer patients' urine almost three times
more often than would be expected by chance alone.
It is thought that a dog's sense of smell is generally
10,000 to 100,000 times better than a human's. The idea
that dogs may be able to smell cancer was first put forward
in 1989 by two London dermatologists, who described the case
of a woman asking for a mole to be cut out of her leg because
her dog would constantly sniff at it, even through her trousers,
but ignore all her other moles. It turned out she had malignant
melanoma - a deadly form of skin cancer. It was caught early
enough to save her life.
Ah- Investing!
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge had investments last year
in a number of companies with contracts with his department
and others who want to profit from homeland security, a new
list of his assets shows. He held assets valued from $100,000
to $815,000 last year, according to information he supplied
in a filing with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Figuring
out the exact value of his assets as reported on the financial
disclosure form made public by www.politicalmoneyline.com is
impossible, however, because of the broad price ranges Ridge
can assign to his investments on the disclosure form.
Ridge reported investments in: Microsoft, which in July 2003
won a $90 million contract with the department to provide desktop
computers and server software; Unisys, which in August 2002,
the company won a $1 billion contract with the Transportation
Security Administration (TSA) for information technology managed
services; General Electric, which this year undertook airport
pilot programs with TSA for its EntryScan3 walk-through explosives
detector; Sprint, which completed work this year on a new network
for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center; Raytheon, a
subcontractor to Accenture on a $10 billion contract for DHS'
entry-exit program, U.S. VISIT, as well as a subcontractor to
Northrop Grumman on its Homeland Secure Data Network contract;
the pharmaceutical companies Baxter International, Merck and
Pfizer, all of which have had a stake in a smallpox vaccine;
and Oracle, which has its own "Homeland Security Team"
generating homeland security business.
Flunked Colleges
A new, independent report card flunks America's colleges
in a key subject for many students and parents: affordability.
While noting progress in areas such as student preparation,
the biennial study by the National Center for Public Policy
and Higher Education drops the country to an Œ'F''
in affordability from the Œ'D'' it received
in the nonprofit group's report two years ago. Among individual
states, only California, Utah and Minnesota earned higher than
a Œ'D.'' California still had the top
grade of any state, but its Œ'A'' from
2002 fell to a Œ'B'' in the latest report
after sharp tuition increases. The report card evaluates states
on the performance of their private and public four-year schools
and community colleges in five categories, with grades ranging
from A to F. The report card, titled Œ'Measuring
Up 2004,'' grades affordability in part by comparing
net college costs with the average family income in each state.
By that measure, the study claims, college is becoming less
affordable in most states.
Same Sexed Up
Both sides of the same-sex marriage issue are claiming victory
based on a recent by State Supreme Court justice Michael Kavanagh
in which he refused to invalidate the 200 same-sex marriages
that have taken place in New Paltz since February 2004 to the
present. But he did say that he was "inclined" to
uphold the request to make the temporary injunction permanent
against New Paltz village trustees who became "marriage
officers" last spring, barring them from performing any
more same-sex marriages.
New Paltz village mayor Jason West solemnized the first group
of marriages and then was prevented from continuing the process
when a restraining order was leveled against him by a fellow
village trustee in March and upheld by Kavanagh on June 7. The
marriages have continued to take place in various locations
in New Paltz and have been performed by members of the Unitarian
clergy.
Fat Kids-
Overweight children are three to five times more likely to suffer
a heart attack or stroke before they reach 65 than slimmer youngsters,
an international charity, the World Heart Federation, said recently.
Diseases previously seen only in adults are now being diagnosed
in hefty children, who are likely to also be overweight or obese
as adults. Unhealthy lifestyles including high-calorie diets,
dwindling exercise and hours spent in front of the television
or computer have contributed to a surge in childhood obesity.
The federation added that it hopes that, by making the link
between children and heart disease and by showing how poor diet
and lack of exercise in youth contribute to it, people will
be shocked into doing something about it.
An estimated 10 percent of children, or at least 155 million
youngsters worldwide, are overweight or obese, according to
a report by the London-based International Obesity Task Force
(IOTF). Doctors have called for a revamp of nutrition in schools,
including a rethink of what is served in cafeterias and sold
in vending machines.
Furthermore, reports released in recent weeks have discovered
that excessive eating and piling on the pounds when young could
also be warning signs that children will develop bulimia as
adults. But picky eaters are unlikely to suffer from the binge-and-purge
eating disorder. An estimated 5 to 10 percent of women worldwide
suffer from bulimia or anorexia nervosa, an illness in which
patients are obsessed with being thin and terrified of gaining
weight. There was no difference in childhood eating patterns
associated with anorexia nervosa.
No Halliburton!
Nigeria has placed an embargo on Halliburton Energy Service
Nigeria Limited because of its negligent conduct in the loss
of two ionizing radioactive sources in 2002; all contracts between
Halliburton and any government ministry or agency will stop
until further notice. Halliburton was accused of doing too little
to help Nigerian authorities recover the equipment, which was
eventually traced to Germany. Halliburton is also accused of
failing to cooperate with government efforts - "among
other infractions." Officials refused to say if the other
reasons include local bribery scandals that have prompted investigations
of Halliburton in Nigeria, France and the United States. Halliburton
spokeswoman Cathy Gist said that the company was working with
the Nigerian government "to resolve issues related to
the sources in question," but declined further comment.
The ban effectively shuts the Halliburton subsidiary out of
the oil industry in Nigeria. Nigeria, Africa's leading
oil producer and the world's seventh biggest exporter,
is also the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports. Last year,
Halliburton admitted in a filing to the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission that its KBR subsidiary paid a Nigerian
tax official $2.4 million in bribes to get favorable tax assessment.
Education Slip
A growing number of nations are doing a better job than the
United States in getting young people through high school and
college, a study found. Among adults ages 25 to 34, for example,
the United States is 10th among other industrialized nations
in the share of its population that has a high school degree.
Eighty-seven percent of U.S. adults in that age group have at
least a high school education. But nations such as Korea, Norway,
the Czech Republic and Japan have had faster growth in high
school completion, and have passed the United States on the
way up the rankings.
The 30-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
develops the yearly rankings as a means for industrialized nations
to measure their education systems against those of their global
peers. Although titled "Education at a Glance,"
the yearly report has ballooned into a 450-page compilation.
In the study, the older the population, the better the United
States fares. It remains first in high-school completion among
adults age 55-64 and 45-54, and fifth among adults age 35-44.
Dome Homes-
Dome homes all over the United States, including one under construction
in Kerhonkson, will be open for tours the second weekend in
October as part of the fourth annual Fall Dome Home Tour.
The local Monolithic Dome home located at 105 Dymond Road in
Kerhonkson will be open for tours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on
Sunday, October 10th. Monolithic Domes are round, steel-reinforced
concrete buildings known for their energy efficiency, durability
and strength. In addition to meeting FEMA standards for near-absolute
protection from hurricanes, they can cost as much as 50 percent
less to heat and cool than traditional structures of the same
size. The tour is designed to raise awareness about these types
of homes. For directions or more information on any of
the properties on the tour, visit www.monolithic.com/dometour.
Heritage Summit
On Monday, October 4, Congressman Maurice Hinchey will sponsor
a one-day Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area Summit
at the Henry A. Wallace Center in Hyde Park, which will bring
together community leaders, historians, business leaders, elected
officials, educators and other interested citizens in an effort
to highlight the region's important historical legacy
and develop strategies for promoting this rich heritage to foster
economic development. The Hudson River Valley National Heritage
Area extends from Waterford, just north of Albany, to the northern
border of New York City and has been acclaimed by the National
Park Service as "the landscape that defined America."
The Summit will serve as an opportunity for those in the area
to recognize our region's national significance and identify
options and action steps for promoting future economic growth
in a manner that respects the region's history, cultural
legacy and natural resources.
The Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area Summit is sponsored
by a number of regional businesses and organizations and is
being organized by the Public Forum Institute, a nonpartisan,
not-for-profit organization that has considerable experience
with similar efforts throughout the United States. For additional
information, or to register for the Summit, please visit www.publicforuminstitute.org.
or contact Holly Braly at (202) 467-2778 or holly@pfidc.org.
Allergies Test
German doctors have developed a simple test to diagnose allergies
with the same accuracy as laboratory screening in less than
one fifth of the time and cost. FastCheckPoc, developed over
six years, consists of a small plastic box containing a sensitive
paper membrane. Two droplets of a patient's blood, mixed
with a special solution, are spread onto the paper to test for
signs of 12 main food stuff and inhalation allergies. Scientists
said they developed the test to increase effective treatment
by cutting down on expensive and time-consuming lab tests with
a 30-minute test.
Reel Teens $
Reel Teens is sponsoring a unique way for teens who are making
films and videos to impact their fellow teens in a major way-
via three college scholarships will be awarded in the amounts
of $2,000, $1,000, and $500 for the three best films or videos
about statutory rape- specifically sexual misconduct by
an authority figure (an acquaintance, parent, guardian, older
brother or sister, relative, teacher, clergy, police, etc.)
toward a minor, and the sexual exploitation of an underage person.
The film or video should be no more then 40 minutes in length.
It could be fiction, nonfiction, animation, or even a PSA.
A panel of judges will award prizes to the 3 best videos produced.
There is no entry fee for this competition. All videos must
be made by teenagers. All entries should be submitted on 1/2
inch VHS, SVHS or DVD format. Entries must be received by December
31, 2004 in order to be eligible for prizes. An application,
(www.reelteensusa.org) should accompany each video submitted
and be mailed to Reel Teens, P.O. Box 1246, Woodstock,
NY 12498. For more information go to the web site, call 845-246-1598,
or e-mail reelteens@attglobal.net.
Insurgency Facts
There are three main Sunni groups, and five separate factions
within them; two Baathist groups; and two Shiite insurgent organizations,
according to a recent issue of the Baghdad al-Zawra in Arabic
˜ a weekly published by the Iraqi Journalists Association
and translated into English by the CIA. The groups are comprised
of individual cells that are only loosely affiliated, a supposition
endorsed by military intelligence officials. A significant percentage
of the foot soldiers of these groups, however, are nationalist
Iraqis who simply want the occupation to end, and who are likely
getting paid to fight.
"The majority of these groups do not know their leadership,
the sources of their financing, or who provides them with weapons,"
the Sunday's report stated. A senior U.S. commander in
Iraq agreed with that assessment.
