News
Update: Maurice Hinchey was quoted addressing the results
of an Agreement in Principal brokered and announced by Governor
Eliot Spitzer as being "much too intense" and talking
of the Belleayre Resort’s claims for regional economic development
as benefiting only "the investors and a few others."
Continue>>>
SIGNING
ON... Doris Bartlett, who narrowly lost a race for town
board in 2005, was appointed January 2 to fill the vacancy left
by new Supervisor Peter DiSClafani’s rise by a 3-1 majority.
Spitzer’s
Deal Questioned
Belleayre Resort & Expansion Scoping Ends As First Lawsuit
Cries ‘Unfair!’
1/17//2008
By Paul Smart
The battle over what the basic “scoping” parameters
governing the State Environmental Quality Review Act’s
review of Dean Gitter’s proposed Belleayre Resort is
now officially over, with state Department of Environmental
officials stating that around 250 written comments had been
received by the agency as of its January 14 deadline. But
the January 3 filing of an Article 78 lawsuit against Governor
Eliot Spitzer and various partners involved in his “Agreement
in Principal” for project approvals involving state
tie-ins to its Belleayre Ski Center holdings suggests not
only deepening opposition to what was only a few months ago
being depicted as a shoo-in, but also a possible scuttling
of the entire process, if allowed to proceed.
Continue>>>
Calmly
We All Start Over
New Town Board Takes Office, Names Bartlett As One Year
Council Appointment
1/17/2008
By Phoenicia Times Staff
January 2nd saw the beginning of a new era in Shandaken,
which started at town hall that evening with the well publicized
reorganization session of the Town Board. The room was crowded,
as usual, but lacked the intensity and animosity that had
become prevalent at similar sessions for quite some time.
Save for former Supervisor Robert Cross Jr. noticeably distracting
reporters with whispers and written notes, there was little
left of his tenure. Former deputy Supervisor Jane Todd,
who lost her bid to take over the town’s top job,
was not present nor was retiring councilman Joe Munster.
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FINALLY...
Some old-style snow fell before the big MLK ski weekend,
but would it be enough over the coming years to maintain
a winter ski season in the Catskills?
Chipping
Away At Deceit
Olive English Teacher Takes On The War, Interviewing
Scott Ritter In Her Classroom
1/17/2008
By Gary Alexander
Only the school’s principal and the class he
had arrived to address had been apprised of his visit
as the burly man in neat civilian garb approached
the station of U.S. Marine recruiters in the hallway
of Coxsackie-Athens High School and the astonished
marines snapped a wide-eyed salute to the intruder.
He returned the salute wordlessly, without breaking
stride, leaving the recruiters still standing at attention
as he passed on to enter a classroom further down
the hall.
Continue>>>
Let
Yourself Be Heard
January 26 Community Forum Set To Hear All Sides Of
Onteora’s Middle School Plans
1/17/2008
By Lisa Childers
The Onteora school district community is encouraged
to attend a forum at the middle/high school on
Saturday, January 26 from 11am to 2pm. This is
the time for the public to weigh in on issues
around the future of the district, but discussions
will be limited to the school board’s proposed
five-through-eight middle school model, and not
necessarily it’s overall costs, or ties
to the closure of an ONteora elementary school,
likely to be Bennett at present.
Continue>>>
Climatic
Discrepancies
State Warns Of Warming Trends On One Hand, Pushes
Skiing On The Other
1/17/2008
By Paul Smart
Climate
change and the way it’s getting double-speak
from government officials, including our own state’s,
gets an accidental highlighting in the coming
weeks as folks gather around the nation to discuss
what needs to be done to lessen the pending disaster,
physical and economic, of global warming on the
one hand. And on the other, as folks continue
to trumpet the state’s decision to increase
its investment in winter sports in the Catskills
via both the annual Belleayre Snowball, honoring
Governor Elliot Spitzer January 26, and the state-owned
ski resort’s fifth annual Winter Festival
Week, slimmed down to five days of discounts for
the year.
Continue>>>
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