Newsbriefs

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10/11/2007

Sewer Renewal?
A State Supreme Court Judge has ordered that New York City must pay for all costs associated with privately owned wastewater treatment plants built to comply with City watershed regulations forever.
Hearing the news, Phoenicians that shot down a city sewer plan for their hamlet last winter said they knew that they should hold out for a better deal, and now wonder if this legal decision sets up an opportunity to get one.
Boiceville, on the other hand, took the city’s offer for a sewer deal this year. Since the deal is already signed it is expected that Boiceville will not benefit.
In a September 26th decision, acting Delaware County State Supreme Court Justice Michael V. Coccoma that the Department of Environmental Protection must pay for the operation and maintenance costs for upgrades the company made to a waste water treatment plant installed by Worcester Creameries at it’s Mountainside farms dairy operation on Route 30 in Roxbury.
“The City cannot pass its financial obligation to provide exceptional quality drinking water onto the Coalition of Watershed Towns…..it is a cost the City, and it alone, must endure,” Coccoma wrote.
Mountainside Farms and the Coalition sued the City last year because the sides could not agree on how long the City would pay the costs. The City only wanted to be responsible for the next 30 years. The City also refused to pay for costly equipment replacement to the system, claiming they were only responsible for the initial design and construction of it.
But Coccoma ruled that it is all the City’s responsibility, according to the 1997 watershed agreement.
“The only practical interpretation… is that it requires the City to pay for all capitol equipment regardless of whether it was original or replacement,” Coccoma wrote.” Any other interpretation would defeat the general purpose of the watershed agreement, i.e., to protect and ensure the City’s water supply without filtration. This could only accomplished by, through and with the cooperation of the Coalition of Watershed Towns, who agreed to act in good faith and take all necessary and appropriate actions, PROVIDING it was at the City’s expense.”
“Simply put, the City, and the City alone, is responsible for all costs associated with its filtration avoidance measures,” Coccoma said.
The Coalition of Watershed Towns, a regional advocacy group, agreed to fight the City after the owners of Mountainside Farms came to the Coalitions Executive Committee last year complaining that the City was not being cooperative.

Big Deal, Not.
Under pressure from residents in communities downstream from its Neversink, Pepaction, and Cannonsville Reservoirs, DEP has agreed to begin very modest water level reductions in those bodies to help mitigate future flood damage and stabilize the aquatic environment of the Delaware River. It's not the thought however, but the volume that matters say some 12,000 people who've signed petitions demanding that the City permanently reduce capacity in those reservoirs by 20%, in the wake of major flooding in the southern & western Catskills in 2004, 2005 and 2006. The newly announced system-wide reduction of 35 million gallons per day represents about one-fifteenth the water volume the agency moves daily into the Ashokan Reservoir via the Shandaken Tunnel and the Esopus, and a vastly smaller portion than that of the 3 affected reservoirs' capacity. Most residents of the area appear to doubt that in a flood situation, the reductions will prove to have been in any way meaningful. Holding capacity in the Ashokan was not effected by the recent announcement.

Come On In
The Shandaken Planning Board wants to see some people.
At their meeting last week board members asked code enforcement officer Glenn Miller to inform the owners of some local businesses that they need to appear before the board to discuss their operations.
Board members say that an informal review of those businesses indicate that new activity on the properties constitutes a change of use, so therefore the board must review the projects to make sure that everything is being handled correctly.
In particular they mentioned the expansion of Sweet Sues restaurant on Main Street in Phoenicia, where the eatery is expanding into a shop area that was only a retail establishment and never a restaurant. They also want to investigate the new equipment rental business opened recently by Farmer Jones on Route 28 in Shandaken.

Tabloid News
Two separate but equally tabloid events allegedly occurred at the Onterora Junior/Senior High School last week. On Wednesday, October 3, a preliminary hearing was held in town of Olive Justice Court after a developmentally disabled minor was charged with a sex crime following an incident at the High School.
A 16-year-old boy is accused of sodomizing another developmentally disabled 16-year-old male student in a restroom at the school on state Route 28. He is charged with a felony.
On Friday, October 5, an 18-year-old male, Justin Angelakis of West Hurley, was arrested for trafficking cocaine, a controlled substance, in and around the High School and charged with felony attempted sale of a controlled substance after being taken into custody at the high school by town of Olive police and the Ulster Regional Gang Enforcement Narcotics Team task force, an URGENT detective said. Angelakis was arraigned in Hurley Town Court by Justice Parker and sent to the Ulster County Jail on $5,000 cash bail.
URGENT will continue to investigate and reports that further arrests are possible.
The names of both boys involved in the sodomy incident are being withheld, as both the alleged victim and the suspect are underage. Olive Town Justice Timothy Cox ordered a competency hearing for the suspect. Published reports in the Daily Freeman state that School district records provided by the family of the suspect say he is classified as “mentally retarded.”
Onteora school district Superintendent Leslie Ford declined to comment on the specifics of the case, citing confidentiality rules.

Casino Watch
Bring back the glory days of Sullivan County and the Catskills with its resorts and hotels and that would be the basis for an economic rejuvenation of the region, according to state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who spoke recently at an annual “Power Breakfast” of the Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce.
The part-time Sullivan County resident, who calls Manhattan home, said each region in the state must create its own identify and niche for economic development. And for Sullivan, Silver believes he has the formula.
“I believe we can recapture the glory days of the legendary Catskill resorts and that’s why I advocate for the establishment of resort casinos in this region.”
The problem is that US Interior Secretary Kempthorne will not sign off on the St. Regis Mohawk casino proposal for Monticello Raceway. When asked what could be done to move that project forward, Silver said, “We can change the President, which will change the secretary.”
Seems people are putting the Catskills in their deepest economic development sights.

Identity Theft
A former home health care aide from Kingston faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison after pleading guilty October 2 to credit card fraud and aggravated identity theft, both felonies, for stealing the identity of a 77-year-old Phoenicia woman under her care to obtain credit cards.
Barbara M. McClinton, 45, obtained identifying information about the woman while she was employed as a home health care provider for her in 2005, according to Glenn Suddaby, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York.
McClinton used the information to obtain at least three credit cards, with which she bought $30,000 worth of items, including three cars, car insurance, cell phone services, gas, food, and clothing, Suddaby said.
McClinton pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Gary L. Sharpe.

Heavy Charges
State Police at Kingston have charged a Phoenicia woman with second-degree manslaughter in connection with a two-car accident on State Route 28 in the Town of Olive on August 11 that claimed the life of the other motorist.
Carol Williams’ vehicle crossed the road and struck the other car head on, police said. Jose Hurtado, 78, of Roxbury, died from his injuries.
A police investigation led to the charges against Williams, which also include driving while intoxicated and failure to keep right.
Williams, 48, who was severely injured in the crash, was arraigned and released in her own recognizance to reappear in Town of Olive Court.

Police Theft
As a result of an audit by the State Comptroller’s Office, a Delaware County Sheriff’s Department clerk admitted to stealing at least $28,752 in public funds. Auditors also could not account for an additional $22,985 because of the irregular nature of computer transactions.
“The Delaware Sheriff’s Department did not have safeguards in place to protect public funds, and now more than $28,000 has been stolen and another $23,000 could be missing,” Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said. “This is the taxpayers’ money. It should be protected. My office will continue to cooperate with District Attorney Richard Northrup and Sheriff Thomas Mills to ensure that every dollar is recovered.”
The audit was conducted at the request of Sheriff Mills.
In August, office clerk Julie Pietrefesa, who worked for the department from January 2003 to December 2006, pled guilty to stealing $28,752. Auditors found that $23,203 of this money came from civil fees collected by clerks that were not recorded in the computer receipt system or deposited in the bank.
Auditors found that Pietrefesa was able to take $5,549 in wage garnishment payments because management did not periodically review garnishment allocation records. In New York, sheriff’s departments process court-ordered civil judgments. In some cases, moneys are withheld from a person’s wages and given to sheriffs’ departments to pay creditors of these civil judgments. Pietrefesa misappropriated wage garnishment payments withheld from other county employees to pay her own personal civil judgment.

Kids Health!
New York has joined six other states to file suit against the Bush administration, challenging stricter eligibility rules for the government health insurance program that covers poor children. Separately, New Jersey filed a similar suit against the administration.
The protests from the states come in the wake of President Bush’s veto of legislation that would loosen those rules and increase federal funds for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or Schip. The bipartisan bill would expand coverage to 10 million children from the 6.6 million covered now.
More than 40 states urged Washington to act quickly to reauthorize funds for the program, which was the subject of angry debate in Congress over how much the federal government should contribute. In their legal challenges, the eight states contend that the new eligibility rules, which went into effect in August and limit coverage to children living at or below 250 percent of the poverty level, will either force out children in the program or leave tens of thousands without coverage who would be eligible.
In August, federal health officials informed states that they could no longer receive federal matching funds for children in families living above 250 percent of the poverty level, except under special conditions that the states say would be almost impossible to meet. Three weeks ago the federal health officials denied a request by New York to insure more children by covering those in families with incomes up to 400 percent of the poverty rate, or $82,600 for a family of four.
“Despite every effort to negotiate in good faith, the Bush administration did nothing but put roadblocks and poison pills in our path,” Governor Spitzer said at a news conference yesterday. “The president was out of touch with the reality on the ground.”
Maryland, Illinois and Washington have joined New York in the lawsuit, with Arizona, California and New Hampshire filing amicus briefs in the case.
Watch this one as it proceeds into the jaws of the coming elections...

Flu Clinics!
The Ulster County Health Department will hold its annual influenza and pneumococcal vaccination clinics at several locations throughout the county beginning on Tuesday, October 30. No appointments are necessary, and county residents may attend any site which is convenient.
County residents who are at greatest risk for influenza-related conditions are encouraged to receive the flu vaccination. This high-risk group includes those over the age of 50, as well as adults aged 18 and over who have heart disease, chronic broncho-pulmonary disease, renal disease, diabetes mellitus, other chronic metabolic disorders, severe anemia and/or compromised immune function, and others who are at risk of influenza-related conditions. Influenza vaccine is also recommended for home care providers and others (including household members) who may be in close contact with high-risk individuals.
Senior citizens who have Medicare Part B benefits will be able to obtain their vaccinations through Medicare. The recipient must be entitled to Part B coverage on the date of service, Medicare Part B must be the primary insurance coverage, and the Medicare Card must be presented on the date of service. For those not eligible for Medicare Part B coverage, there will be a $20.00 charge for influenza vaccination and a $35.00 charge for pneumococcal vaccination, payable at the clinic. County residents enrolled in Medicare Managed Care programs should consult with their primary care physician prior to presenting at one of the Health Department’s sites.
Dates and places for clinics, which run from 9 AM to noon, include October 30 at the Saugerties Senior Center, November 2 at Ulster Town Hall, November 7 at the Woodstock Rescue Squad Building, and November 9 at Hurley Reformed Church.
For recorded information about all dates and times, which also include sites in the south and west of the county, please call the Ulster County Health Department Flu Hotline at 340-3093. Information can also be obtained through www.co.ulster.ny.us/health.

A Passing…
Former New York City Department of Environmental Protection spokesperson Geoffrey Cobb Ryan passed away peacefully on August 24th, 2007 at the age of 74 with Betty Hamilton and his brother Chilton by his side.
Ryan, a longtime aficionado of the Catskills, was an avid birder and conservationist and devoted an incredible amount of time and effort to the Audubon Society. He helped found New York City Audubon Society; served as chair of the Audubon Council of New York State; was Vice Chair and a charter member of the Audubon New York Board of Directors and a member of the Board of the National Audubon Society.
A special service is set to take place for him at the Prospect Park Audubon Center in Brooklyn the morning of Monday, October 15.

Meteor Redux
On what started as a normal Saturday night one week ago, residents of a small, remote Peruvian town saw a bright light streak across the sky, heard a resounding bang and suddenly found themselves at the center of a media frenzy.
Initial suspicions of an airplane crash quickly spiraled into widespread reports that a meteorite had plummeted to Earth and left a smoking, boiling crater whose supposedly noxious fumes were reported to have sickened curious locals who went to peer at the hole.
But it turns out none of the hysteria was deserved. If noxious fumes did emanate from the crater, they were most likely the result of a hydrothermal explosion that could have actually formed the crater, or were released from the ground when the meteorite struck, if in fact one did, according to many geologists. Some health officials even suggest, now, that the symptoms described by the locals, the large number of people reporting symptoms, and the apparently rapid spread have all the hallmarks of a case of mass hysteria.
“The Peruvian event seems to be a rare case where we may be witnessing collective anxiety that is approaching near hysteria,” said Benny Peiser, a social anthropologist at John Moores University in England.
So much for the Andromeda Strain.

Network!
The next meeting of the Shandaken Women’s Network, set for 6 to 9 PM on Tuesday, October 16th at the home of Melissa Thongs in Shandaken, will not only feature a free potluck dinner and networking meeting, but the group’s annual Election of and Executive Committee and Officers for the coming year. The meeting will focus on introductions within the membership and discussion of future directions for the network. Melody Newcombe has volunteered to serve as President, Angel Ortloff as Vice-President, and Ann Byer will help with the Welcoming Committee. Volunteering to continue to serve on the Executive Committee are Dolly Shivers (Treasurer and Welcoming Committee), Elly Wininger (Membership), Judith Boggess, Liz Horn, Diana Mae Munch, and Julia Blelock. Additional volunteers are welcome. Please contact the SWN for directions and reservations (by email:eservations@shandakenwomen.net or by telephone: 688-7057). For more information, please visit the website of the Shandaken Women’s Network (www.shandakenwomen.net).
The purpose of the Shandaken Women’s Network is to establish a place for women in business and involved in community affairs to network and support each other’s endeavors. Membership is open to all women who live or work in the communities that make up the Catskill Region, east of the Delaware Watershed. They meet the third Tuesday of each month, except January.

Success Patterns
Mid-Hudson Pattern for Progress hosted a conference recently that focused on how municipalities can benefit from shared services and how they can get funding from the state when they do so. Many municipalities around the state already have reconfigured services for fire and police departments and tax assessors’ offices, but Pattern President Jonathan Drapkin said there is much more that can be done to inform municipalities of their options for saving taxpayer moneys.
“The short of it is that as taxes continue to increase, and residents and businesses feel more pressured staying in New York, the question is what are we going to do about it? One of the options is to continue to look at shared services, collaboration of services and consolidation of services,” Drapkin said. “It may not work everywhere, but when you can do it well, you can provide services at least at an equal level, sometimes even an improved level, at a less cost to the taxpayer.”
Three years ago, the state introduced the Shared Municipal Services Incentive grant program, which allocates, on a yearly basis, around $14 million to communities that foster shared services.
Communities looking to benefit from the grant program were urged to contact the state Department of State for more information and also to do some research of their own.
The conference was held at SUNY New Paltz.

5 Million Lost
When Congress asked about 5 million executive branch e-mails that went missing, a White House lawyer pointed the finger at an outside IT contractor. The only problem? No such IT contractor exists, according to sources close to the investigation of a possible violation of the Federal Records and Presidential Records acts.
White House Office of Administration Deputy General Counsel Keith Roberts told the House Oversight Committee on May 29 that “an unidentified company working for the Information Assurance (IA) Directorate of the Office of the Chief Information Officer was responsible for daily audits of the e-mail system and the e-mail archiving process,” according to committee chair Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif. That briefing came about after it was confirmed by the White House in April that millions of e-mails had vanished from Executive Office of the President (EOP) archives from 2003-2005.
Waxman requested that the White House provide his committee by Sept. 10 with an internal Executive Office of the President report on the e-mail system it said it prepared following the discovery of the missing e-mails, as well as the identity of the contractor responsible for daily audits and archiving. That deadline has come and gone with no response from the Bush administration on Waxman’s request.
The offices of the president and vice president are required to preserve all official communications, including e-mail, by the Presidential Records Act, a Watergate-era law which establishes that such communications are the property of the American people and cannot be destroyed. The Federal Records Act covers the archiving of communications by other parts of the executive branch.
Contrary to the White House’s statements to the Oversight Committee, several sources, including an IT company currently doing contractual work for the Executive Office of the President, have said that no outside company had a managed services contract to audit the Executive Office of the President’s e-mail archiving system daily during the period when the e-mails went missing.
Meanwhile, the Oversight Committee is also investigating the use of Republican National Committee e-mail services by White House staff members, following allegations that RNC e-mail was used for official communications to avoid archiving under the Presidential Records and Federal Records acts. The Bush administration has countered that RNC e-mail was used to comply with the Hatch Act’s provisions against campaigning with public resources by federal civil servants.

CWC Grants
The Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC). Board of Directors has approved grants for five municipal planning projects in the Schoharie Reservoir basin. The projects will be undertaken as part of the CWC’s Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) and are intended to curb future stormwater problems and turbidity in the basin.
Grants totaling $500,000 were awarded at the Sept. 25 CWC Board meeting. Funds will go to the Town of Windham to compile a Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) to identify the impacts of and mitigations for reasonably foreseeable future development; the Town of Roxbury to do a Comprehensive Plan addendum and a GEIS; the Town of Conesville for a GEIS for the Manorkill area; and the Town of Jewett for a Stormwater Analysis. The Town and Village of Hunter and the Village of Tannersville will team up to prepare a GEIS for the Route 23A corridor through the town.
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection is funding the LTAP projects under terms of a 2006 SPDES permit issued by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation to the City for its discharges of turbid water from the Schoharie Reservoir via the Shandaken Tunnel into the Esopus Creek and Ashokan Reservoir.
In other action at its monthly meeting, the CWC Board approved a $1 million low-interest loan to Numrich Arms Corp. of West Hurley, Ulster County. The funds will help pay for a new 26,000-square-foot warehouse on the company’s Williams Lane property to lease to affiliate Numrich Gun Parts Corp., the largest supplier of gun replacement parts in the world employing 75 people. The building will be use to store the company’s175,000-item inventory.
The CWC board also approved a Special Education Program grant of $19,700 to Calliope Creative Foundation for a video documentary on this summer’s Mountaintop to Tap Trek by 12 high school students from New York City and Sidney. The video will be produced by Delhi Stories, Inc. and will be screened at an upcoming opening of a CWC-funded exhibit of student photographs and writings from the 100-mile trek.
For more information on the non-profit Catskill Watershed Corporation and its environmental protection, economic development and education programs, go to www.cwconline.org, or call 845-586-1400.

Wood Guy!
There’s a benefit auction this weekend to help out Mary Jane, the widowed partner of George the Wood Guy, who died recently. The auction will be at the St. Francis De Sales Parish Hall on the east end Phoenicia’s Main Street and features a cornucopia of goods and services. All proceeds go to help out Mary Jane. Auction previews are set for Friday, October 12 between 4 and 6PM and again on Saturday from 4 to 7 pm. The auction immediately follows at 7 on Saturday only.

Business Kudos
Kevin Brady of Precision Flow Technologies in Saugerties has been named Businessperson of the Year in Ulster County and is among the eight recipients of the 2007 Ulster County Business Recognition Awards.
The awards, whose recipients are featured below, will be given out Thursday evening during a dinner at Wiltwyck Golf Club in the town of Ulster.
Sponsored by the Ulster County Development Corp. and the Chamber of Commerce of Ulster County, the awards honor individuals and companies that have made significant contributions to the county. Business of the Year honors will go to Herzog’s of Kingston. The special Heart of Ulster County Award will be presented to Anita Williams Peck of Williams Lake Resort in Rosendale. Best Small Business of the Year winner is seven21 media center of Kingston. The Arts Society of Kingston has been named Best Cultural Business of the Year. The Best New Building Project of the Year award is going to the Tischler Dental in West Hurley. The Kingston Health Pavilion will receive the award for Adaptive Re-use Building Project of the Year. Best Tourism Business of the Year honors are going to the Emerson Resort and Spa of Mount Tremper.

Library Help!
Tax dollars apportioned to Ulster County libraries in 2007 by the county legislature will be used to purchase premier knowledge resources according to Ulster County Library Association President Lynn Ridgeway. In past years, funds have been distributed to individual libraries to defray the cost of programs and various expenses. This year the funding will be spent to benefit all libraries and their cardholders in the same way.
“This represents a change in method by which member libraries are usually supported,” said Ridgeway, who is also a library trustee with the Plattekill Library. “In the past, libraries received a check, now they will be receiving services equal to, or greater than, the amount of money they would have received.”
The Association has purchased annual subscriptions including the Historical New York Times, HeritageQuestOnline, and NetLibrary downloadable audiobooks with the $57,500 received in July.

Power Power!
Huge transmission lines could soon skirt Civil War battlegrounds, historic districts, and the Appalachian Trail following a federal order that designates national corridors in two key regions of the United States with fast-growing electricity needs.
The corridors are designed to make it easier for utilities to get approval for power lines in areas where the electric grid is congested. They allow the US Energy Department - not states - to be the final arbiter of where the lines are built.
The move, which some feel is related to troubles being met by an entity trying to build new lines through the lower Catskills in Delaware and Sullivan counties, is certain to spark a fresh round of lawsuits and inject vigor into congressional debates about new energy legislation, critics say, especially over provisions for the new eastern corridor. At stake is the reliability and cost of electric power in the Northeast, its embrace of green energy, and the ambience of hundreds of thousands of rural acres from New York to Virginia.
Arguing that the US badly needs new transmission lines to prevent future power shortages and possibly even blackouts, federal energy officials say newly designated “national interest electric corridors” in the Mid-Atlantic states and the Southwest are a much needed insurance policy.
“These National Corridors serve as an important indication by the federal government that significant transmission [power] constraint or congestion problems exist,” Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said in a statement. “The goal is simple - to keep reliable supplies of electric energy flowing to all Americans.”
But opponents, including the governors of New York and Virginia, state regulators, and others, say it’s anything but simple. The newly designated corridors hold potential to push power lines through some of the most scenic and historic areas of 11 states. They would also undermine Northeast states’ bid to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by causing them to rely more on cheaper coal-fired power from the Midwest, rather than cleaner but higher cost electric generators fired by natural gas.
Under provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is allowed to preempt local and state zoning laws when it designates a “national interest electric transmission corridor.” It also permits the use of federal powers of eminent domain that would require landowners to sell their property.
Mark Brownstein, a managing director at Environmental Defense, a New York-based environmental group, says his group is examining the possibility of a lawsuit. The new corridor border divides Appalachian coal reserves and large urban populations on the East Coast. “It seems no accident these corridors are exactly along the borders of states that have committed to reducing greenhouse gases,” he says.

After-School
Ever notice how much energy Jr. High kids have? Now there’s a new opportunity for them to blow off steam and do constructive work after school. The new educational facility at the Reservoir Church in Shokan is hosting an after-school program of non-sectarian activities in support of families in the Onteora School community. The program consists of an hour of homework help, and an hour of fun activities. It will run from 3:00 to 5:30 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays when school is in session until mid-June.
The Youth Activities Director is an athletic senior from Saugerties High School , Leland Radovanovic. The facilities are new and include a large hall, spacious classrooms, a full kitchen, a playing field, and sports and cooperative game equipment for indoors and outside. The school has scheduled a bus stop at the driveway on the Northwest side of Rt. 28 for safe access to the program.
The program is supported by a grant and is led by a volunteer committee of certified teachers. Marilyn Wakefield taught at Rhinebeck Schools, Gloria Sumner at Kingston , and Carol Lamonda and Jim Ulrich at Onteora. The study supervision will be provided by adult volunteers. The Reservoir Church offers its facilities for free, and a nominal fee will help pay the Youth Activities Director.
The RAP program coordinator, Jim Ulrich, says, “This program could grow to include more grades, and become a great asset to the school and to families, but only if it gets the participation and support of the community now in the beginning.”
Families who are interested should call Jim for an application: 657-8314.

At The Fair…
An alert off duty parole officer and a quick thinking Sullivan County Sheriff’s deputy apprehended a level 3 sex offender at the Grahamsville fairgrounds on Saturday, October 6. New York State Parole Officer Wayne Martin, who was off duty with his grandchildren, spotted Gary Fulton , 29 of Liberty, a parolee and level 3 sex offender, near the stage where awards were being presented to children who had participated in the Pumpkin Parade. Martin alerted Sergeant Luis Alvarez of the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Patrol who was standing nearby, monitoring the crowd. Sergeant Alvarez took Fulton into custody without incident. Fulton was charged with violating a condition of his parole that requires that he has no contact with children under the age of 18. His presence at the Pumpkin Festival is still under investigation. Fulton was sent to the Sullivan County Jail pending further action by the State Board of Parole.
Sullivan County Sheriff Michael Schiff said the public was never in any danger. “This event in Grahamsville was well covered by sheriff’s deputies, state troopers, and the DEP Police,” he said.

Register Now!
Local residents planning to register to vote in the Nov. 6 election must have their registration forms in the mail by midnight Oct. 12, the state-mandated dateline in all counties. Residents who already are registered in their home county but have moved to a new address within the county should notify the Board of Elections of the move.
Also coming up is the need to request absentee ballots. Applications for these ballots must be postmarked no later than Oct. 30.
Ulster County currently has 33,863 Democrats, 33,829 non-enrolled voters, 30,607 Republicans and 3,708 members of the Independence Party. Voter turnout in Ulster County for the last all-local election, in 2005, was 50-55 percent.

New Flood Maps
Ulster County residents are invited to review the county’s new flood maps at an “open house” that will be held by federal and state floodplain management personnel on Tuesday, October 23.
Experts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) will be on hand to answer residents’ questions about the maps, their risk for flooding, flood insurance and development standards in flood zones.
FEMA is mid-way through a five year initiative to update all the nation’s flood maps. The Ulster County maps were recently issued in a preliminary format. There will be a formal three month appeals period before the maps are finalized. This round of flood mapping in Ulster County will only include the areas outside of the New York City water supply Watersheds.
The “open house” will be held in the Legislative Chambers of the Ulster County Office Building from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. The County Office Building is located at 244 Fair Street in Kingston. Driving directions and other information can be obtained at the following website: http://rmc.mapmodteam.com/RMC2 or by calling FEMA’s Regional Management Center-2 at 212-478-1800.

Attend This…
“Creating Desirable Communities” will be the featured topic at Catskills Local Government Day Wednesday, Oct. 17 in Margaretville. David Ivan, Michigan State University Extension Director and Economic Development Specialist, will give the lunchtime address at Hanah Country Inn, where the annual gathering will be sponsored by the Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC) and the New York State Department of State (DOS).
Municipal officials and staffers, planning and zoning board members, economic development coordinators and other interested citizens are welcome to attend. For an agenda and registration materials, go to www.cwconline.org/special/gov_day, or call 845-586-1400.
David Ivan’s presentation will be a lively look at some of the 225 communities he recently surveyed in 10 Midwestern and East Coast states to determine how the most successful ones manage to fill storefronts, capitalize on art and cultural heritage, engage citizens and attract young professionals. Ivan’s presentation will be followed by a panel discussion, “Beyond Facades: Realizing Our Main Street Potential.” Speakers will include Linda Overbaugh of Heart of Catskill Chamber of Commerce explaining how the Village of Catskill has diversified its retail base; Victor Dadras of Dadras Architects of New York City and Liberty, on the topic of “Saving Historic Buildings for Commerce,” and Nan Stoltzenburg, of Community Planning and Environmental Associates of Berne, NY offering advice on “Turning Vision Into Action: Tools to Help You Get There.”
Several morning workshops are also scheduled for Code Enforcement Officers, financial managers and other municipal officials. Topics include Intermunicipal Cooperation in Building Code Enforcement, Enforcement of Zoning and Other Local Laws, Information Security for Municipalities, and Shared Services: Benefits, Examples, Encouragement and Funding. Two two-hour sessions on planning issues may satisfy the new state training mandate for planning and zoning board members.
Space is limited for these workshops so those interested are advised to register without delay. For more information on the non-profit Catskill Watershed Corporation and its environmental protection, economic development and education programs, go to http://www.cwconline.org/, or call 845-586-1400.

Rather Interesting
If the court accepts former CBS anchorman Dan Rather’s suit against his network over the reasons for firing him being politically based, it will set in motion an “inexorable mechanism” that will grind out answers to other questions as well.
In making his case, Rather will be trying to establish beyond reasonable doubt that George W Bush never completed his required service in the Texas Air National Guard. Moreover, Rather's suit will seek to demonstrate that the documents used in his 60 Minutes II piece were not inauthentic and that he and his producers acted responsibly in presenting them and the information they contained - and that that information is true. Indeed, no credible source has refuted the essential facts of the story.
Rather has made plain that he is uninterested in a cash settlement. He has filed his suit precisely to be able to take depositions... including top officials in the White House and mainstream media.

Home Sales...
The number of existing single-family houses sold in the Hudson Valley and Catskills in August fell when compared to the same month last year, the New York State Association of Realtors reported.
The largest drop in sales was in Sullivan County, with over a 63 percent decline. Orange County fell by 19 percent and Dutchess County lost 16 percent.
There were some smaller increases in sales. Westchester County grew by under five percent, and Ulster and Putnam counties, by over one percent each.
Delaware County saw a 14 percent increase in sales of existing single-family homes. Statistics for Columbia and Greene counties were not available.
Home prices fluctuated with the median price of an existing home selling in Westchester County in August for $730,000. In Putnam, they sold for $407,500; in Dutchess, for $350,000; in Orange County, $326,000; in Ulster County, $259,500; in Sullivan County, at $193,500; and in Delaware County at $108,000.
Statewide, existing single-family home sales bell by 7.6 percent.

Dangerous Cells...
Using a mobile phone for more than 10 years increases the risk of getting brain cancer, according to the most comprehensive study of the risks yet published.
The study - which contradicts official pronouncements that there is no danger of getting the disease - found that people who have had the phones for a decade or more are twice as likely to get a malignant tumour on the side of the brain where they hold the handset.
The scientists who conducted the research say using a mobile for just an hour every working day during that period is enough to increase the risk - and that the international standard used to protect users from the radiation emitted is "not safe" and "needs to be revised".
They conclude that "caution is needed in the use of mobile phones" and believe children, who are especially vulnerable, should be discouraged from using them at all.
The study, published in the latest issue of the peer-reviewed journal Occupational Environmental Medicine, is important because it pulls together research on people who have used the phones for long enough to contract the disease.
Cancers take at least 10 years - and normally much longer - to develop but, as mobile phones have spread so recently and rapidly, relatively few people have been using them that long.
Official assurances that the phones are safe have been based on research that has, at best, included only a few people who have been exposed to the radiation for long enough to get the disease, and are therefore of little or no value in assessing the real risk.
Last month, Britain's largest investigation into the health risks of the technology, the £8.8m Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research (MTHR) programme - funded by "government and industry sources" - reported that "mobile phones have not been found to be associated with any biological or adverse health effects".
But its chairman, Professor Lawrie Challis, admitted that only a small proportion of the research had covered people who had used the phones for more than a decade. He warned: "We cannot rule out the possibility at this stage that cancer could appear in a few years' time."
He said the investigation had discovered "a very slight hint" of increased numbers of brain tumours among those exposed for more than 10 years, and called for more research.
The new study - headed by two Swedes, Professor Lennart Hardell of the University Hospital in Orebro and Professor Kjell Hansson Mild of Umea University, who also serves on the MTHR programme's management committee - goes some way to meeting the deficiency.
The scientists pulled together the results of the 11 studies that have so far investigated the occurrence of tumours in people who have used phones for more than a decade, drawing on research in Sweden, Denmark Finland, Japan, Germany, the United States and Britain. They found almost all had discovered an increased risk, especially on the side of the head where people listened to their handsets.
Five of the six studies of malignant gliomas, cancers of the glial cells that support and protect the nerve cells, found an increased risk. The only one that did not still found an increase in benign gliomas. Four of the five studies that looked at acoustic neuromas - benign but often disabling tumours on the auditory nerve, which usually cause deafness - found them. The exception was based on only two cases of the disease, but still found that long-term users had larger tumours than other people.
The scientists assembled the findings of all the studies to analyse them collectively. This revealed that people who have used their phones for a decade or more are 20 per cent more likely to contract acoustic neuromas, and 30 per cent more likely to get malignant gliomas.
The risk is even greater on the side of the head the handset is used: long-term users were twice as likely to get the gliomas, and two and a half times more likely to get the acoustic neuromas there than other people.
The scientists conclude: "Results from present studies on use of mobile phones for more than 10 years give a consistent pattern of an increased risk for acoustic neuroma and glioma." They add that "an increased risk for other types of brain tumours cannot be ruled out".
Professors Hardell and Mild have also themselves carried out some of the most extensive original work into tumours among long-term mobile phone users and have come up with even more alarming results. Their research suggests they are more than three times more likely to get malignant gliomas than other people, and nearly five times more likely to get them on the side of the head where they held the phone. For acoustic neuromas they found a threefold and three-and-a-half-fold increased risk respectively.
They have also carried out the only study into the effects of the long-term use of cordless phones, and found this also increased both kinds of tumours. Their research suggests that using a mobile or cordless phone for just 2,000 hours - less than an hour every working day for 10 years - is enough to augment the risk.
Professor Mild told The Independent on Sunday: "I find it quite strange to see so many official presentations saying that there is no risk. There are strong indications that something happens after 10 years." He stressed that brain cancers are rare: they account for less than 2 per cent of primary tumours in Britain, though they are disproportionately deadly, causing 7 per cent of the years of life lost to the disease. "Every cancer is one too many," he said.
He said he uses a mobile phone as little as possible, and urges others to use hands-free equipment and make only short calls, reserving longer ones for landlines. He also said that mobiles should not be given to children, whose thinner skulls and developing nervous systems make them particularly vulnerable.
The danger may be even greater than the new study suggests for, as Professor Mild says, 10 years is the "minimum" period needed by cancers to develop. As they normally take much longer, very many more would be likely to strike long-term users after 15, 20 or 30 years - which leads some to fear that an epidemic of the disease could develop in the coming decades, particularly among today's young people.
On the other hand, the professor points out that the amount of radiation emitted by phones has decreased greatly since the first ones came on the market more than a decade ago, which suggests that exposures and risks should also be falling. But he still recommended choosing phones that give out as little radiation as possible (see below), and pointed out that people are now also exposed to many other sources of radiation, such as masts and Wi-Fi systems, though these emit much less than mobile handsets.
Britain's official Health Protection Agency - which has taken a cautious view of claims that radiation from mobile phones, their masts and Wi-Fi installations can damage health - admits that the study "may be indicative" of a risk, but says that "such analyses cannot be conclusive".
The Mobile Operators Association said: "This is not new data for the World Health Organisation and the many independent expert scientific committees who state that there are no established health risks from using mobile phones that comply with international guidelines."
Both sides agree that there is need for more research. Professor Mild said a possible link between mobile phones and Alzheimer's disease should also be examined, since "we have indications that it might be a problem" as well as a possible link with Parkinson's disease, "which can't be ruled out".
In the meantime, the scientists want a revision of the emission standard for mobiles and other sources of radiation, which they describe as "inappropriate" and "not safe". The international standard is designed merely to prevent harmful heating of living tissue or induced electrical currents in the body - and does not take the risk of getting cancer into account.
Professors Hansen and Mild serve on the international BioInitiative Working Group of leading scientists and public health experts, which this summer produced a report warning that the standard was "thousands of times too lenient".
The BioInitiative report added: "It has been established beyond reasonable doubt that some adverse health effects occur at far lower levels of exposure ... some at several thousand times below the existing safety limits." It also warned that unless this is corrected there could be "public health problems of a global nature".
Case Study: "Mobiles Are the Smoking of the 21st Century; They Need Health Warnings"
Neil Whitfield, a 49-year-old father of six, developed an acoustic neuroma in 2001 after years of heavy mobile phone use, on the left side of the head, to which he had held his handset. He says he had no family history of the disease and that when he asked a specialist what had caused it, the doctor had asked him if he used a mobile.
"I was on it four hours a day, easily" he says. "When I held it to my head, I could feel my ear getting warm."
He adds that he completely lost his hearing in his left ear and was off work for 12 months. Unable to go back to his old job in marketing, he became a teacher, suffering a £20,000 drop in income.
"It has had a devastating effect on my family," he says. "Mobile phones are the smoking of the 21st century; they should have health warnings on them. You would never buy a child a pack of cigarettes, but we give them mobiles which could cause them harm."
Warning: Your Model Might Be Dangerous
Exposure to radiation, shown as Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) levels, varies widely in different models. Manufacturers and the Government have ignored the Stewart report that urges they be clearly marked on phones and boxes. They are thus hard to find, though the Carphone Warehouse catalogue includes them. An easily accessible list of phones and radiation exposures is published in Germany, where low-radiation models, defined as having SAR of 0.6 or under, are encouraged.
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