11/8/2007
Crime Spree?
Police are looking for help in their investigation into
a rash of burglaries that occurred in Shandaken along
the route 28 corridor early last Saturday morning. According
to Fred Holland, a Detective with the town of Shandaken
Police Department, three break ins were reported. Holland
said Russ’s Country Kitchen, an eatery in the Phoenicia
Plaza was robbed of about $700 in cash. The Phoenicia
Diner, just west on the highway about one mile from Russ’s,
was also broken in to and about $60 was stolen. Several
miles further west in Big Indian the Mattress Barn was
burglarized. Holland said about $150 was taken from there.
The Diner and Russ’s had doors forced open with
what appears to have been a crowbar. Holland said that
while those two incidents are related, there is not yet
substantial evidence to connect the Mattress Barn break
in, although police believe it to be related.
Besides the Shandaken Police Department, New York State
Police and the Ulster County Sheriff’s Department
are working on the investigation. Holland said all three
incidents occurred between Midnight and 6 AM on the morning
of November 5. He urges anyone that noticed anything at
all suspicious during those hours to contact police at
(845) 688-9902.
County Budget
Ulster County’s tentative budget for 2008 calls
for increased spending of about 3.4 percent up to $326.2
million, up from an adopted 2007 budget of $315.6 million.
Paying those bills will require a 3.65 percent average
increase in the county property tax.
While the announcement was greeted as surprisingly positive
pre-Election Day good news for Democrats who control the
legislature, Republicans expressed skepticism about the
figures, saying county administrators have created overly
optimistic revenue projections to enable them to arrive
at and present the low tax increase. And they note that
while total spending is projected as $326.4 million for
all 2008, costs to date in 2007 already total $326.5 million,
according to the county’s own figures.
And there are gaps in the math. For example, the figures,
as announced, make no accounting for the fact that contracts
will have expired at year’s end for all of the county’s
five bargaining units, representing some 2,000 employees.
Total salaries, not including benefits, now total about
$90 million. Thus, if the workers receive only a 3 percent
increase, in line with the last negotiated settlement
with the CSEA, it would total about $3 million additional
spending, not including benefits. Those benefits currently
cost about $35 million annually.
With each percentage point of property tax increase equaling
about $700,000 in the budget, including a figure of $3
million from contract settlement in the tentative budget
would have increased the projected property tax increase
to about seven percent.
County administrator Michael Hein said the county will
pay for the contract settlement by dipping into the county
fund balance - a.k.a. budget surplus - which is being
projected to be about $17.5 million by the time the books
are closed on 2007. That figure is within the state comptroller’s
recommended 5 to 10 percent of the general fund, but that
balance could come close to falling below the comptroller’s
recommendation when the salary increase and benefits are
figured in. Hein said he felt it was “inappropriate”
to put a settlement figure into the actual budget because
he said that would indicate the county is not negotiating
with its employees in good faith. Hein also denied being
overly optimistic, and said the modest increase budget
news was possible because “We have been wringing
the towel dry,” to garner savings from county operations.
There must still be public hearings on the tentative budget
and tweaking by the county legislature before it is approved
as a final budget. That approval must occur by mid-December.
Bear Season…
The regular season for black bear hunting in the Catskill
Mountains region is starting two days early this year,
on Nov. 17. The early start - which coincides with the
start of the regular deer season in the area - is aimed
at increasing the Catskill-area bear harvest to limit
population growth and range expansion.
Black bear populations have been on the rise statewide
in recent years, particularly in the southern and central
Catskills, the DEC said. With the growing numbers of bears
has come an increase in the number of bear-human conflicts.
The DEC said it has had a growing number of reports of
bears causing property damage.
State wildlife biologists estimate there are as many as
7,000 black bears in New York, up from about 5,000 in
1995, the last time a detailed estimate was compiled,
Roy said. Last year, hunters took almost 800 black bears
statewide, 365 of them from the Catskills. Since the bow
hunting season for black bear started on Oct. 13 this
year, more than 80 bears have been taken from the Catskills,
according to the DEC.
The extra two days of hunting are expected to significantly
increase the number of bears taken, in large part because
bear and deer seasons will begin concurrently. When deer
hunters take to the woods, they tend to scare the bears
into hiding, making them more difficult to find when the
season starts later.
The Catskill bear season change doesn’t affect the
start of regular bear hunting season in the state’s
two other main bear hunting areas - the Allegany area,
which starts Nov. 24, and the Adirondacks, which starts
Oct. 20.
Play Fest!
On Saturday, November 4, the second, all-new installment
of The Skin of Our Shorts, concluding this year’s
Actors & Writers fall season, will take place at the
Odd Fellows Theater, Route 213, Olivebridge, with shows
at 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. The program comprises short plays
that are wry, poetic, side-splitting, twisted, and theatrically
incorrect by company members Katherine Burger, Mikhail
Horowitz, Adam LeFevre, Nicole Quinn, Laura Shaine, David
Smilow, and Mary Louise Wilson, and special guest Edwin
Sanchez.
Doors open half an hour before curtain. The theater is
small and often fills up, so come early and pack a flashlight
for the short walk from the firehouse parking lot. Although
admission is free, donations are welcome. Sorry, we cannot
take reservations. For more information about Actors &
Writers, call (845) 657-9760 or visit the company’s
website at www.actorsandwriters.com.
Sodomy Case
A developmentally disabled minor will face an Ulster County
grand jury within 45 days following a hearing in Olive
Town Court, District Attorney Donald A. Williams said
last week. The suspect’s parents said their son
has been accused of sodomizing another developmentally
disabled minor in a bathroom of the Onteora High School.
The 16-year-old suspect was charged with a felony sex
crime by state police at Ulster on Sept. 25, according
to police records. The alleged victim also is a 16-year-old
male. The suspect’s parents said he has been in
the Ulster County Jail since the time of his arrest. The
county is not releasing the names of the suspect or the
alleged victim because of their ages.
More Charges
Two grand jury cases tied to a fatal DWI following the
Onteora High School prom last Spring have inched forward
recently, with accused driver Zephyr Dresser-Peck, charged
with a number of counts including vehicular manslaughter,
pleading not guilty and set to go to a pre-trial hearing
next month, and Alan and Gail Zwiebel, owners of the home
where the deceased, Andrew Lipson, and Dresser-Peck supposedly
stopped for an after-hours party, likely not to be charged
when the grand jury returns for its final report on November
16
Stay tuned…
Storage Sheds...
A proposal to build seven storage buildings in the place
of PetFare on state Route 28 just west of Shokan's business
corridor was approved last week by the town of Olive Planning
Board.
Planning Board Chairman Drew Boggess said about 50 people
attended a public hearing Tuesday on the matter prior
to the vote.
"The number of people at a typical public hearing
in Olive ranges between zero and two," Boggess said
Saturday. He noted that of those that attended, only about
15 people actually spoke about the project and the hearing
portion of the meeting lasted about an hour. The way Bogges
saw it, the speakers were evenly mixed between those in
favor of the project and those against.
Following the hearing, the board voted to ignore recommendations
by the Ulster County Planning Board about the project.
The county Planning Board felt the application from Rob
and Russell Oakes was incomplete.
According to Shokan resident Allison Irwin, information
mailed to neighbors of the proposed site show the plan
is to put up eight approximately 100-by-30-foot storage
sheds for a total of 23,400 square feet for a self-storage
facility adjacent to current sheds on Ridge Road.
Irwin said she was aware the issue was viewed as an incomplete
application by the Ulster County Planning Board. Irwin,
who opposes the project, said she felt the board should
not consider the plan as an isolated proposal but rather
as an expansion of the Oakes' existing business.
"If this is supposed to be integrated into the other
area, there should be plans that discuss both together.
This would mean over 4 acres with 16 storage sheds,"
she said.
Irwin said she believed that the Oakes' brothers needed
to appear before planners again to discuss the landscaping
design for the project.
Boggess would not discuss that, saying he felt it was
inappropriate to comment on a case that was currently
before the board. He did say that there were "conditions"
placed on the project, but would not explain what they
were.
"I'll let the minutes of the meeting show what happened,"
he said.
Irwin fears the project will damage the aesthetics of
the community because the site of existing storage business
run by the Oakes brothers was entirely covered by crushed
stone. She believes it would be unsightly if the same
thing were to be done with the new project.
Local Shots
The Ulster County Health Department will host an additional
influenza and pneumococcal vaccination clinic at the Town
of Olive Legion Hall on Mountain Road in Shokan. the clinic
will take place on Thursday, December 13, from 9 am-12
pm. For more information on other clinic dates and locations,
please call the Ulster County Health Department Flu Hotline
at 340-3093. Information can also be obtained through
our website: www.co.ulster.ny.us/health .
Heating Hikes
It could cost Hudson Valley residents $181 million more
in home heating costs this winter, according to US Senator
Charles Schumer, who recently announced efforts to increase
funding for federal assistancethis winter.
Schumer said those hardest hit will be the people who
can least afford it.
“Middle and higher income families are going to
have to chose between putting on an extra sweater or putting
an extra $100 in the college tuition fund,” he said.
“But, the problem is with the low income, and particularly
the elderly, the choices will be far more noticeable day
to day. Because, you put the thermostat above 60 degrees
and they might not have enough to eat the next month.”
Schumer urged the president to release the remaining $150
million in the Low Income Heating Assistance Program so
that people will be able to afford the rising costs of
heating their homes this winter.
Meanwhile, local residents should be aware the 2007-08
Home Energy Assistance Program began as of November 1.
Starting now, families and individuals may apply for HEAP
benefits at one of two locations:
Senior citizens (60 and over) are asked to apply at the
Sullivan County Office for the Aging, 1st Floor, County
Government Center, 100 North Street, Monticello, NY. The
contact person at the Office for the Aging is Francine
Sunshine, 794-3000, ext. 5000.
All other Sullivan County residents are asked to apply
at the Sullivan County Department of Family Services,
Travis Building, 16 Community Lane, Liberty, NY. The contact
person at the Department of Family Services is Brenda
Hornbeck, 292-0100, ext. 2302.
Turkey Days
Thanksgiving’s coming with community events as much
on people’s minds at the moment as family dinners.
On Saturday, November 17, Phoenicia Rotary will be holding
its annual community dinner form 2:00 PM on at the Parish
Hall in Phoenicia.
Then Family of Woodstock will be holding its 32nd annual
Thanksgiving Feast at the Woodstock Community Center on
Rock City Road from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Thursday,
November 22. There will be music and decorations and delicious
food. The meal is free and everyone is welcome.
As in years past, both events request donations of freshly
prepared food and beverages. Volunteers are also needed
to help set up, serve and clean up.
To donate, to volunteer, or for further information, contact
Jerry bender, for the Phoenicia event, at 688-5132, or
contact Family at 679-2485 or 338-2370.
Internet Limits
Internet Service Providers urgently need to roll out the
next generation of net addresses for online devices, internet
pioneer Vint Cerf has said.
Every device that goes online is allocated a unique IP
address but the pool of numbers is finite and due to run
out around 2010. A new system, called IPv6, has been awaiting
roll out for 10 years.
Unless IPv6 is switched on in the coming years, some devices
might not be able to go online, Cerf has warned. “The
rate of consumption of available remaining IPv4 numbers
appears to be on track to run out in 2010/11.”
Mr Cerf is about to step down as chairman of Icann, the
body which oversees the net, and is also Google’s
chief internet evangelist.
Rx Nightmares
Nearly 2 million low-income Medicare participants could
be switched to different insurance plans for their prescription
drug coverage next year. Millions more will have to shop
around if they want to avoid double-digit increases in
their monthly premiums.
The reassignment of the poorest beneficiaries and the
higher premiums for many others are just two reasons why
seniors and the disabled may want to look into other plans
as the Medicare drug benefit enters its third year, according
to both the government and AARP, among other entities.
The shopping season officially begins Nov. 15 - the first
day of an open enrollment period that continues through
Dec. 31.
Advocacy groups warn the benefit’s 24.5 million
participants to take nothing for granted even if they’re
happy with their current coverage. Under the drug benefit,
Medicare subsidizes insurance plans that cover an enrollee’s
prescription drug buys. The government pays insurers extra
for covering the very poor. The plans adjust their coverage
to reflect the changing marketplace. They change which
drugs they will cover for safety and financial reasons.
They also make adjustments to the monthly premiums they
charge customers, trying to maximize demand for their
product and profitability.
On average, Medicare Part D plans will charge a monthly
premium of $28 in 2008, but the premiums vary widely across
the nearly 1,800 plans around the country. The premiums
range from $9.80 for a basic benefit to $107.50 for enhanced
coverage.
About a quarter of the poorest beneficiaries don’t
pay any monthly premium. They will still be entitled to
that extra benefit next year, but they will have to get
their coverage though other plans meeting Medicare’s
requirements for offering coverage to low-income beneficiaries.
Medicare officials sent letters in recent weeks to nearly
2 million people to inform them that they will be moved
to a new plan.
The poorest participants can switch their drug plans at
any time, so if they get a reassignment notice from the
government, they should make sure their new plan covers
all their medicine, Nemore said. They can do that by consulting
1-800-Medicare, or by contacting the State Health Insurance
Assistance Program, which has counselors in every state.
But it’s not only the poor facing major changes,
officials note. Enrollment in the drug benefit is highly
concentrated, and some of the most popular plans will
charge considerably higher monthly premiums next year.
For example, the most popular plan, the AARP Medicare
RX Preferred Plan, will increase its monthly premium by
16 percent. Humana Inc. will increase the premium for
its standard plan by 71 percent. And the AARP Medicare
RX Save Plan will jump 65 percent, according to Avalere
Health.
The open enrollment season lasts until Dec. 31, but officials
warn beneficiaries that it’s safer to make a decision
sooner rather than later, if they want to be sure their
new coverage is in effect when they pick up their first
prescriptions in January.
Also of interest is the news that errors on bills for
doctors, medical tests or hospitals can result in overcharges
that run from a few dollars to tens of thousands of dollars.
Nora Johnson, director of education and hospital billing
compliance for Medical Billing Advocates of America, estimates
“eight out of every 10” hospital bills she
scrutinizes contain multiple errors. And while bills from
doctors’ offices and labs tend to contain fewer
mistakes, consumers can still end up paying unnecessarily.
Six out of 10 Americans with health insurance said they
are paying more out of pocket for medical expenses, according
to a recent survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute,
or EBRI. And the higher costs are hurting their household
finances, with one-third reporting difficulty paying for
basic necessities.
Be careful…
Ulster Soccer
Ulster County Community College men’s soccer team
waded through rainy conditions caused by the remnants
of Tropical Storm Noel to come away with a 2-0 victory
over Suffolk in the Region XV championship game on November
7. It was the Senators’ fourth time playing in the
title game and their third crown in the last eight years.
Ulster (19-2-1) advances to host District 21 championship
against either Springfield Tech or Bunker Hill. A victory
this week would put the Senators into Saturday’s
national semifinals at Herkimer.
No Difference
A comprehensive global study of abortion has concluded
that abortion rates are similar in countries where it
is legal and those where it is not, suggesting that outlawing
the procedure does little to deter women seeking it. Moreover,
the researchers found that abortion was safe in countries
where it was legal, but dangerous in countries where it
was outlawed and performed clandestinely. Globally, abortion
accounts for 13 percent of women’s deaths during
pregnancy and childbirth, and there are 31 abortions for
every 100 live births, the study said.
The data also suggested that the best way to reduce abortion
rates was not to make abortion illegal but to make contraception
more widely available. In Eastern Europe, where contraceptive
choices have broadened since the fall of Communism, the
study found that abortion rates have decreased by 50 percent,
although they are still relatively high compared with
those in Western Europe.
Anti-abortion groups criticized the research, saying that
the scientists had jumped to conclusions from imperfect
tallies, often estimates of abortion rates in countries
where the procedure was illegal.
The study indicated that about 20 million abortions that
would be considered unsafe are performed each year and
that 67,000 women die as a result of complications from
those abortions, most in countries where abortion is illegal.
In Uganda, where abortion is illegal and sex education
programs focus only on abstinence, the estimated abortion
rate was 54 per 1,000 women in 2003, more than twice the
rate in the United States, 21 per 1,000 in that year.
The lowest rate, 12 per 1,000, was in Western Europe,
with legal abortion and widely available contraception.
Worldwide, the annual number of abortions appeared to
have declined between 1995, the last year such a broad
study was conducted, and 2003, from an estimated 46 million
to 42 million, the study concluded.
Climatic News
A milestone, a landmark and “the political center
of gravity is finally shifting on global warming.”
Those were the accolades that greeted a Senate subcommittee’s
recent of a bill to cap greenhouse gas emissions, mostly
because it is the first of a dozen such measures that
might have a chance of becoming law.
The approval vote - 4 to 3 - means the bill will be debated
in the full Environment and Public Works Committee. Formally
known as America’s Climate Security Act and informally
by the names of its sponsors, Senators Joe Lieberman and
John Warner, the bill is different from earlier efforts
because of its details on how a U.S. plan to cap carbon
emissions and trade credits for them would work. But Sen.
James Inhofe, the Oklahoma Republican who is skeptical
about global warming, said the measure would put a heavy
economic burden on U.S. citizens and the Bush administration,
who has opposed mandatory limits on carbon emissions,
arguing that they could hurt the U.S. economy and urging
voluntary measures instead, has been aid to be poised
to veto any such bill should it be passed.
In more cutting climatic news of late, New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg has proposed a national “pollution
pricing” plan that would tax companies directly
for the greenhouse gases they release.
“If you really want to reduce carbon emissions,
tax carbon at the source, which would mean at the mine
head, at the oil well, whatever,” Bloomberg told
more than 100 other mayors at a climate summit sponsored
by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Bloomberg suggested a fee of $15 for every ton of greenhouse
gas companies emit, with the money used to reduce payroll
taxes and finance tax credits for companies that reduce
their greenhouse gas pollution.
Meanwhile, the action on both fronts has seen interesting
developments.
On the one hand, a new report from two think tanks focused
on national defense is saying that climate change could
be one of the greatest national security challenges ever
faced by U.S. policy makers. The report raises the threat
of dramatic population migrations, wars over water and
resources, and a realignment of power among nations.
During the last two decades, climate scientists have underestimated
how quickly the Earth is changing - perhaps to avoid being
branded as “alarmists,” the study said. But
policy planners should count on climate-induced instability
in critical parts of the world within 30 years. And it
notes that while climate change is likely to breed new
conflicts, it already is magnifying existing problems,
from the desertification of Darfur and competition for
water in the Middle East to the disruptive monsoons in
Asia which increase the pressure for land, the report
said.
The report was compiled by a panel of security and climate
specialists, sponsored by the Center for Strategic and
International Studies and the Center for a New American
Security.
On the other hand, a New York Times story on climate change’s
effects on winter sports centers, published in its tourism
pages November 1, featured a photo of our own Belleayre
Mountain Ski Center.
Time to take this seriously, eh?
Indoor Pool!
A public meeting seeking input for a community indoor
swimming pool and recreation complex planned in Arkville
will be held Thursday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. at Margaretville
Central School on Main Street, Margaretville. Construction
of the recreation facility is expected to begin in spring
2008. Organizers are soliciting comments and ideas from
the public as they begin the design process. Members of
the building committee anticipate that the pool and recreation
complex will be utilized by residents from about a 25-mile
radius of Arkville/Margaretville.
The community pool project will be built by the not-for-profit
Catskill Recreation Committee Inc. Frost Valley YMCA,
located in Claryville, will operate the facility. Arkville
residents Kingdon Gould Jr. and his wife, Mary, are the
driving forces behind the venture. One of their sons,
Caleb, also serves as a Catskill Recreation Committee
board member.
“We welcome any comments and ideas from community
residents,” explained Kingdon Gould Jr. “We
want to make sure that we meet the needs of as many people
as possible.”
Suggestions received at the November 15 meeting will be
taken into consideration in the final design process.
A second community meeting will be scheduled on a weekend
for the convenience of part-time residents.
Anyone who cannot attend a meeting, but would like to
send comments, is invited to direct them to Karen Rauter,
Frost Valley YMCA’s director of communications and
marketing. Comments can be mailed to Karen’s attention
at Frost Valley YMCA, 2000 Frost Valley, Claryville, NY
12725 or e-mailed to: pool@frostvalley.org.
Larry Speaks!
The Film Program at Bard College presents an evening with
writer, director, and producer Larry Fessenden on Tuesday,
November 13 . The program, free and open to the public,
begins at 8:00 p.m. in the theater of the Avery Arts Center,
and includes a screening of Fessenden’s most recent
film, The Last Winter, as well as a question-and-answer
session with him.
Fessenden, an Olive resident, is the writer, director,
and editor of the award-winning art-horror movies Habit,
No Telling, and Wendigo. He has operated the production
company Glass Eye Pix since 1985, with the mission of
supporting individual voices in the arts. Fessenden is
the recipient of the Someone to Watch Award at the L.A.
Spirit Awards.
For additional information, call 845-758-7253 or e-mail
sforza@bard.edu.
New Wilderness
The Eastern New York Chapter of The Nature Conservancy
has purchased a 76-acre parcel of land located in the
Greene County Town of Lexington to be preserved in its
current state. The group paid $400,000. The property,
consisting of evergreens and mixed northern hardwoods,
is surrounded on three sides by the Catskill Forest Preserve
and is located within the New York City Watershed. The
region surrounding the parcel, known as the Westkill Wilderness,
is recognized in the 2006 State Conservation Plan as a
Priority Conservation Project.
“The acquisition adds acreage and improves access
to the Catskill Preserve,” said Katie Dolan, the
chapter’s executive director. “As a side benefit,
it protects several small tributaries of West Kill Creek,
a source of drinking water for New York City.”
Dead By Creek
State Police are trying to learn the identity of a woman
whose body was found off SR 23A in Prattsville, just over
the mountain from Shandaken in Greene County. The woman
is described as between 30 and 60 years of age and is
estimated to be approximately five-feet, six inches tall
and about 200 pounds.
An autopsy is being performed to determine a cause of
death and her description is being matched against missing
person cases from the surrounding areas. State Police
at Catskill are asking anyone with information on this
case to call them at 518-622-8600. All calls will remain
confidential.
New SWN Prez
Melody Newcombe has been elected as President of the Ulster
County Wide Shandaken Women’s Network. She brings
a life time of business, marketing, sales, public speaking,
leadership and organizational skills to the women’s
network and region. She resolves to help other business
women in the region to gain new skills to help grow their
businesses as well as commits to helping to network women
to link businesses so that all may prosper.
Newcombe has been featured on the CBS-TV National Geographic
Society Special “The Hidden World”, the NBC-TV
special “The Cicada Story”, WNET-TV special
“Dining Out on Edible Wild Foods” and has
appeared on national and local television throughout the
United States. She has also been featured on National
Public Radio “Weekend Edition” and on WDST
for her innovations on organic food marketing and farming.
She founded the Community Supported Agriculture project
in Kingston in 1989, which provided freshly harvested
organic produce to over 200 families every week for 6
years. As past acting Vice President of the Northeast
Organic Farmer’s Association she organized the first
organic farming conference ever to be held at Cornell
University.
Prior to her farming and gardening career, Melody Newcombe
was a documentary filmmaker and environmental educator.
She consulted and taught at Mohonk Mountain House in New
Paltz, NY, Eliot Pratt Education Center in New Milford,
CT, Ridgewood and Ho-Ho-Kus Public Schools in New Jersey
and numerous other schools, organizations and nature centers.
Newcombe has been involved in the Shandaken Women’s
Network for the past 10 years as a member. She has been
Treasurer for one term, Program Director for 2 terms and
on the Board of Directors for many years.
The Shandaken Women’s Network organization is a
large network of entrepreneurial women whose purpose is
to establish a place for women in business and/or involved
in community affairs to network and support each other’s
endeavors. The organization is open to all women in Ulster
County and beyond.
The Ulster County Shandaken Women’s Network announces
the first of its fall series featuring ‘Women of
the Catskills’. Angel Ortloff will be the featured
speaker at the November 20th dinner meeting from 6 to
9 p.m. at La Duchesse Anne Restaurant in Mt. Tremper on
the corner of Route 212 and Wittenberg Road. Ortloff is
the inventor of the healing ‘Levitating Wand’TM
and is a NYS Licensed Massage Therapist as well as life
long professional pottery maker and artist.
As a breast cancer survivor, she developed the ‘Healing
Wand’ to gently bring back mobility and strength
after surgery. The ‘Wand’s is now used by
countless women in both preparation for surgery and post
surgery. The ‘Women in the Catskills’ Series
will continue on December 18th from 6 to 9 p.m. at the
Copperhood Spa on Route 28 in Shandaken and feature Pauline
Oliveros, founder of the Deep Listening Space in Kingston.
For further information go to www.shandakenwomen.net.
Or call Newcombe at 688-5472.
Income Split
The richest Americans’ share of national income
has hit a postwar record, surpassing the highs reached
in the 1990s bull market, and underlining the divergence
of economic fortunes blamed for fueling anxiety among
American workers. The wealthiest 1% of Americans earned
21.2% of all income in 2005, according to new data from
the Internal Revenue Service. That is up sharply from
19% in 2004, and surpasses the previous high of 20.8%
set in 2000, at the peak of the previous bull market in
stocks. The bottom 50% earned 12.8% of all income, down
from 13.4% in 2004 and a bit less than their 13% share
in 2000.
The IRS data, based on a large sample of tax returns,
are for “adjusted gross income,” which is
income after some deductions, such as for alimony and
contributions to individual retirement accounts. While
dated, many scholars prefer it to timelier data from other
agencies because it provides details of the very richest
- for example, the top 0.1% and the top 1%, not just the
top 10% - and includes capital gains, an important, though
volatile, source of income for the affluent.
The IRS data go back only to 1986, but academic research
suggests the rich last had this high a share of total
income in the 1920s. Scholars attribute rising inequality
to several factors, including technological change that
favors those with more skills, and globalization and advances
in communications that enlarge the rewards available to
“superstar” performers whether in business,
sports or entertainment.
In an interview yesterday with The Wall Street Journal,
President Bush said, “First of all, our society
has had income inequality for a long time. Secondly, skills
gaps yield income gaps. And what needs to be done about
the inequality of income is to make sure people have got
good education, starting with young kids. That’s
why No Child Left Behind is such an important component
of making sure that America is competitive in the 21st
century.”
Plame Finale
Remember Plamegate, which we kept harping on until it
all sort of disappeared in a class D.C. shifting of attention
to other matters? It now turns out that the wife of former
Ambassador Joseph Wilson outed by the Bush Administration
as revenge for her husband’s questioning of WMD’s
information in Iraq was involved in operations to prevent
Iran from building nuclear weapons.
“Our mission was to make sure that the bad guys,
basically, did not get nuclear weapons,” Plame finally
revealed in recent weeks in information later corroborated
by the CIA. Plame also indicated that her outing in 2003
had caused grave damage to CIA operations, saying, “All
the intelligence services in the world were running my
name through their databases” to see where she had
gone and who she had met with.
According to current and former intelligence officials,
Plame-Wilson, who worked on the clandestine side of the
CIA in the Directorate of Operations as a non-official
cover (NOC) officer, was part of an operation tracking
distribution and acquisition of weapons of mass destruction
technology to and from Iran. Speaking under strict confidentiality,
intelligence officials revealed heretofore unreported
elements of Plame’s work. Their accounts suggest
that Plame’s outing was more serious than has previously
been reported and carries grave implications for U.S.
national security and its ability to monitor Iran’s
burgeoning nuclear program. ...
Oh well…
Ski Season?
Okay, so Newsday called Belleayre one of the best ski
centers in the Northeast the same week that the New York
Times put a picture of the state-owned ski center on a
page illusrating the threats Global Warming are making
to the entire ski industry.
Belleayre Mountain Superintendent Tony Lanza noted that
Newsday, a large publication based on Long Island, is
at least as important as the New York Times to skiers.
Belleayre is scheduled to open this Saturday, November
10, “weather permitting.”
“Whether the chairlifts are operating or not, the
mood is set for snow and the staff at Belleayre is ready
to kick off the season with their annual Tap Into Winter
Party,” reads Lanza’s ebulliant press release
for a weekend calling for rain. “You won’t
want to miss the fashion show, free ski/snowboard waxing
to the first 50 customers, drink specials, free hors d’oeuvres
and much more. “
Talk about “Thinking Snow!”
In Memoriam, Ed
Edward J. Ocker, of Shandaken, NY, passed away on November
2, 2007 at Mt View Nursing Home in New Paltz. He was 92.
Born in Rifton, NY, on Christmas Eve of 1914, he was the
son of the late Edward J. Ocker and Ada Jones Ocker. In
the 1930's, he worked at building many of the Catskill
Mountain fire towers with the Civilian Conservation Corps.
During World War II, he worked at General Electric in
Schenectady. After the war, he fished, hunted and trapped
to support his family as well as working as a mechanic
at Doc Smith’s Garage in Kingston. He then joined
the Hudson Valley Carpenters Union. He worked on many
projects throughout the Hudson Valley including the Newburgh-Beacon
Bridge, the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge and many of the
New York State Thruway Bridges. He also built several
houses in the Shandaken and Phoenicia area from 1955 through
1965. Mr. Ocker was a past member of the Shandaken Fire
Department and two local fish and game clubs. He also
served two terms as Town of Shandaken Highway Superintendent.
He remained an active outdoorsman well into his 80's.
In the mid 1990's he twice drove to Alaska, an area he
had always wanted to visit.
He was predeceased by his two wives, Stella Colwell Ocker
and Helen Brown Ocker and by brothers Bill, Charles, John,
Frank, Jim, and Louie Ocker and a sister, Marie Ocker.
Survivors include three sons, Donald of Venice, Florida,
Edward and his wife Susan of Leesburg, Florida and David
and his wife Susan of Beverly, West Virginia, two grand
children and six great grandchildren, one brother, George
of Binghamton, NY, and several nieces and nephews.
Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Simpson-Gaus
Funeral Home in Kingston. A private memorial service will
be at the direction of the family.
