Newsbriefs

12/4/2008

Auerbach Wins?
A final tally of voting machines, absentee and affidavit ballots completed Monday, December 1 gave Democratic Ulster County comptroller candidate Elliot Auerbach an apparent victory over Republican James Quigley by 150 votes.
While Auerbach is cautiously optimistic, and has noted how his opponent congratulated him on his apparent win, Quigley asked for another recount on Wednesday, December 3.
All of the absentee and affidavit ballots were counted in front of both elections commissioners and deputy commissioners.
“We don’t expect any surprises from the recount,” Auerbach said. “It’s a strategy my opponent and his legal team are going to employ, and I’m not surprised.”
After Election Day, Auerbach was down by 755 votes, but during recounting and tallying of absentee ballots, he inched ahead.
Auerbach won three of Olive’s normally Democrat-heavy districts, taking District 4, Olivebridge, by 262 to 184 votes, Boiceville (District 5) by 201 to 185, and District 3, Samsonville, by 219 to 206. Quigley won in Shokan (District 1) 315 to 292, and West Shokan (District 2) 204 to 190. Both districts also narrowly defeated the new Charter proposition a year ago. Overall, there were 1055 Democratic line votes, 838 Republican votes, 124 Independence Party, 122 Conservative Party, and 109 Working Families Party votes.
In Shandaken, the Republican decisively lost each district, coming closest in District 2, Shandaken, where Quigley won 119 to Auerbach’s 136 votes, and farthest away in Phoenicia, where he got 139 votes to 314 for Auerbach. Overall there were 733 Democrat, 410 Republican, 55 Working Family, 54 Independence and 53 Conservative party votes in town.
On election night, Quigley had led countywide 36,621 to 36,036 in an unofficial voting machine count, but fell behind when paper ballots were counted.
With the apparent win, Democrats capture the two new elected offices created by adoption of a county charter. Current County Administrator Michael Hein was a clear winner, for county executive, on election day.
Auerbach, 56, is the former mayor and current village manager of Ellenville.

Mercury Rising
Less than two years after the bald eagle was removed from the federal government’s endangered species list, an environmental organization in Maine has found an alarming accumulation of mercury in the blood and feathers of bald eagle chicks in the Catskill Park region of New York. The levels are close to those associated with reproductive problems in common loons and bald eagles elsewhere in the Northeast, although the New York and national populations of bald eagles have been growing strongly in recent years. The same study showed that about one-quarter of the feathers of adult birds also had elevated levels of mercury, suggesting that the toxin builds up in the raptors faster than they can get rid of it.
Peter E. Nye, who has run the New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation’s bald eagle restoration program for three decades, said that mercury contamination was a concern but that he was “not ready to turn on the siren and cry wolf.”
In fact, he said, the state’s 145 resident pairs of bald eagles produced 188 chicks last year, a 23 percent increase from the year before.
In New York, the eagle population has grown from one nesting pair in the 1970s to 145 pairs this year. But the bird is still listed as threatened in the state.
There may be another reason for concern. Lynda White, eagle watch coordinator at the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland, Fla., which monitors active eagle nest sites, said that because eagles are so sensitive to contamination — evidenced by their tragic link to DDT — they are good barometers of environmental health.
Eagle chicks elsewhere in New York also were tested for mercury. But levels were not as high as those in the Catskills, which is home to several huge reservoirs that store drinking water for New York City, 110 miles away.
The city’s water is tested regularly, and so far the mercury poses no known threat to people who drink it, city officials say. But the mercury makes its way into worms and organisms eaten by fish, in streams and ponds as well as the reservoirs. The fish are then consumed by eagles (and sometimes by people, although New York has issued advisories
limiting the amount of fish from the state’s lakes and rivers that can be consumed safely).
The Catskills region receives some of the severest mercury contamination in the country, in large measure because of prevalent wind patterns that regularly carry harmful smokestack emissions from the Midwest. The Nature Conservancy, which has protected swaths of the Catskills, financed this study as well as previous works on mercury contamination in the region.

County Budget!
By the time you are reading this the Ulster County Legislature will have met on Wednesday, Dec. 3 to pass judgment on a final 2009 spending plan. As of press time, the big question was whether they would buck a proposal from current County Administrator and incoming County Executive Michael Hein and raise spending while dropping the tax levy lightly.
According to a budget memo released last week, a series of changes by the Legislature’s Ways and Means Committee to Hein’s proposed $345.9 million budget increased spending by 0.06 percent, to $346.1 million, making for a year-to-year rise in spending of 6.5 percent over the current 2008 budget of $325 million.
Under the new plan, the tax levy, or the amount to be raised by property taxes, would increase by 2.68 percent, to $74.4 million, from the current tax levy of $72.4 million. The $74.5 million tax levy proposed under the Hein plan would have increased the amount to be raised by taxes by 2.95 percent over the 2008 tax levy.
The budget includes $220,000 for contract agency funding, with additional funding for the Ulster County Library Association, of which such local facilities as the Olive Free Library, the Phoenicia Library and the Morton Memorial Library in Pine Hill, are members.
Aware that these are trying times, Hein has assembled a 21-member Economic Development Transition Task Force, which includes business and community leaders, and has given the task force one month to give to him proposals to address the economic needs of the county.
Declaring the future of Ulster County hangs in the balance, Hein said last week he has pulled together “the best and brightest” the county has to offer to help him develop an economic agenda for the county.
“I believe the future of Ulster County is at stake,” Hein told reporters at a press conference.” I’ve asked this group to provide to me a list of important economic initiatives they think need to take place to ensure that Ulster County is positioned to move forward both in the short-term and the long-term.”
The Task Force includes Maira Blaustein, head of the Woodstock Film Festival, Marketrek head Mark Braunstein, Melissa Everett of Sustainable Hudson Valley and Ward Todd, a Shandaken resident and President of the Ulster County Chamber of Commerce.
Ulster County’s economy has had trouble recovering from the loss of jobs at IBM and other manufacturers over the past 15 years. Other businesses, including those in or related to tourism, also have suffered, Hein said.
Business growth has been so poor in Ulster County that in 2006 the Business Council of New York issued the county a failing grade.
Stay tuned…

Join Together?
Tony Lanza, the irrepressible Superintendent of Belleayre Mountain Ski Center, has become quite the cheerleader for his competition of late. While the operators of Hunter and Windham Ski centers continue to complain about Lanza’s State-owned slopes being unfairly supported by taxpayer money, and refused to go in on a regional ski pass that would have allowed holders to enjoy all three places (choosing to have a two-slope pass, only), and they have called for an audit of Lanza’s operation, Lanza now goes out of his way to talk up the offerings over in Greene County.
Lanza, who usually never mentions Hunter and Windham in his well known publicity announcements, now says that when he gets a chance he goes skiing over at Hunter and Windham, and talks to reporters about how good the conditions are at those facilities.
It remains unclear why Belleayre’s biggest fan is now a booster for the other guys, but could he be marching to orders out of Albany to be nice with those private sector complainers?

Spitzer Redux...
A congressional committee is investigating the circumstances that led to the sex scandal causing the downfall of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and whether the case was politically motivated. At the same time, the man many believed to be the former gov’s chief nemesis, former State Senate GOP Majority Leader Joe Bruno, is also again under investigation. And the locally-based woman who was charged with working for the agency that procured Spitzer prostitues was given a year’s probation, allowing her to return to some normalcy in her life.
Regarding Spitzer’s downfall last March, the House Financial Services Committee seeks to determine whether federal agents misused their expanded powers under the Patriot Act. Spitzer was in Washington at the time he was nabbed with a prostitute, ostensibly to testify before part of the Financial Services panel. Now, that committee demands to know how and why the Democratic governor popped up on the radar of criminal investigators.
Officials have said a number of unusual money transfers by the governor triggered a “suspicious activity report” within the banking system. Eventually, that report led to a full-blown criminal investigation of Spitzer. The congressional committee seeks details of the case to the extent that it shows how effective the suspicious activity reports have been in catching terrorists and their financiers and would like to know exactly how the Spitzer case started.
“It is a concern that we have that (the law) could be used for political reasons,” a committee spokesperson said.
Spitzer, a married father of three, met a prostitute the day after Valentine’s Day in the Mayflower hotel and resigned a month later, ending a promising political career. The committee is hoping to hold a hearing next year on what led to the case, though much of its schedule is up in the air, given the uncertainty surrounding the nation’s financial crisis and what sort of stimulus efforts the new Congress will try to make as soon as they arrive in January. Spitzer, a former Attorney General, had published an Op Ed piece that some say predicted the recent economic downturn just before his downfall, and is said to have been researching irregularities in the financial system during his trips to Washington.
Federal investigators, meanwhile, are pursuing a criminal probe of former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and have called people familiar with details of his activities to testify before a grand jury in Albany in recent weeks. The actions of the United States Attorney for the Northern District’s office suggested to at least one of the parties subpoenaed that prosecutors in the roughly three-year-old case are authenticating documents produced by witnesses for the FBI.
Several subpoenas were issued in recent weeks and shortly before the November elections, according to recipients and people close to individuals receiving the orders, which required secret testimony at the U.S. Courthouse in Albany. High end horse traders, lobbyists and former public officials have been called to testify, according to people close to those witnesses.
The federal investigation involves many aspects of Bruno’s public and private life. The former Republican leader, now leading a consulting company in Latham and registered as a lobbyist, had operated his own consulting business, served a Connecticut investment house and bred horses during his tenure in the state Senate.
Besides the horse transactions, federal prosecutors have been interested in union funds from New York labor groups invested with Wright Investors Service of Milford, Conn., a firm that employed the senator for more than a decade. The probe has also looked at land deals involving Bruno and economic development grants he arranged.
In July, Bruno stepped down from the Senate after 32 years in office. A person familiar with the probe said it appears the federal government is building toward a climax in the case.
As for the local connection to Spitzer, the woman who helped arrange trysts for the escort service that provided Spitzer’s prostitute was sentenced to a year of probation for her part in the scandal. Tanya Robin Hollander, who currently works locally under her married name. had pleaded guilty on Aug. 25 to a prostitution conspiracy and could have faced up to a year in prison.
Judge Deborah A. Batts said Hollander, who was hired for her short-lived job after answering an ad on Craigslist, played a less substantial role than the government had asserted. The judge also factored in a Nov. 6 decision by federal prosecutors not to charge Spitzer.
Hollander, who served as a booking agent, is the first defendant to be sentenced in the case of the Emperors Club VIP, a prostitution ring that arranged sexual encounters for wealthy men around the world for prices as high as $5,500 an hour.

Don’t Get Sick
Chronically ill Americans suffer far worse care than their counterparts in seven other industrial nations, according to a new study by the Commonwealth Fund, a New York-based foundation that specializes in international comparisons. The results of the study, published by the journal Health Affairs, belie the notion held by many American politicians that health care in this country is the best in the world. The new survey of 7,500 patients in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Britain and the United States focused on patients who suffered from at least one of seven chronic conditions: hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, lung problems, cancer or depression. More than half of the American patients went without care because of high out-of-pocket costs. They did not visit a doctor when sick, skipped a recommended test or treatment or failed to fill a prescription. The uninsured suffered most, but even 43 percent of those who had insurance skipped care because of costs.
Americans also were most likely to report wasting time because their care was so poorly organized. About a third reported that medical records and test results were not available when needed or that tests were duplicated unnecessarily. A third experienced a medical error, such as being given the wrong medication or test results. Some 40 percent found it very difficult to get after-hours care without going to an emergency room.
The United States did comparatively well in some areas, such as providing relatively prompt access to specialists and clear instructions to patients leaving the hospital. But the nation’s overall performance was abysmal. By contrast, Dutch patients reported far more favorable experiences with their health care system, largely because the Netherlands provides universal coverage (through individual mandates and private health insurance), a strong primary care system and widespread use of electronic medical records.

New Citizens!
On Friday, November 21, over 35 new citizens from Turkey, Ireland, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago and other countries across the globe raised their right hand and sworn their allegiance to the United States in the year’s second naturalization ceremony, held at the Ulster County Courthouse and conducted by County Clerk Nina Postupack.
It was the first times in 16 years the ceremonies were actually held in Ulster County. Prior to these two events this year, new citizens had to travel to New York City to take their oath of allegiance.

Onteora Winner!
An Onteora High School student’s short animated film, “Making Friends,” emerged from among more than 1,000 entries to win the Barcelona International Television Festival’s Creative Prize, one of the festival’s top two awards. The winner was senior Robin Richardson, son of the Indie Programs Executive Director Russell Richardson. The father-son tandem traveled to Barcelona for the Nov. 11-13 screenings.
The younger Richardson’s described the two minute-movie “Making Friends,” which also won the audience award at the Real Teens Student Film Festival and took first place in the Hudson Valley Film Festival’s animation category, as the story of “blobs who meet … go for a bike ride, and make friends.” The intent of the film was to convey a feeling of happiness and joy, he said.
“Humans,” another short animated film Richardson made with fellow Indie student Kaela Smith-Chaves, took second place at Barcelona. The 44-second film was also screened during this year’s Woodstock Film Festival.
The Barcelona International Television Festival, organized by UNICEF and the European Observatory on Children’s Television, accepts films between 30 seconds and 60 minutes in length and is a competition among young filmmakers. Richardson’s competitors were generally college film students.
After graduation, Richardson said he plans to study film in college. He is applying to Bard College and has also considered film schools in England.

Gas v. Water
Congressman Maurice Hinchey is pressing for the passage of a bill he coauthored that would close a legislative loophole which exempts hydraulic fracturing for oil and natural gas exploration and drilling from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). While New York State law currently provides regulatory oversight for this process, such oversight varies considerably from state to state. The bill, H.R. 7231, would reinstate basic federal standards for hydraulic fracturing under the SDWA and enable the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) to protect drinking water supplies in states with little or no regulations.
The hydraulic fracturing loophole was included in the Bush administration-backed Energy Policy Act of 2005, which Hinchey strongly opposed and voted against. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates the underground injection of fluids into groundwater through the Underground Injection Control (UIC) program. Some oil and gas production activities are already regulated by this program, such as enhanced recovery and waste injection. Hydraulic fracturing was not originally regulated by the UIC, but in 1997 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that hydraulic fracturing should be regulated under this program in a case regarding the contamination of a drinking water well. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 legislatively reversed that court decision.
Hydraulic fracturing — also known as “fracking” — involves injecting fluids into a well at extremely high pressure to crack open an underground formation and then prop open the new fractures in order to facilitate the flow of oil and gas out of the well. More than 90 percent of oil and gas wells in the U.S. undergo this treatment with many undergoing it more than once over the life of the well.
“Congress must pass this bill to reverse the harmful provision in the Bush-administration sponsored Energy Policy Act of 2005 that created the hydraulic fracturing loophole,” Hinchey said. “We have an obligation to protect all Americans from the potential of our precious drinking water becoming severely contaminated.”
Fracking fluids often contain highly toxic chemicals. A portion of the fluids are brought up to the surface, but a portion remains underground. Underground sources of drinking water could potentially be contaminated during the fracking process or from chemicals left underground. Hydraulic fracturing is already suspected of endangering drinking water in many places, including Colorado, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Alabama, Wyoming and New Mexico.

Gay Boycott
In the wake of Californmia’s Proposition 8 passage, gays across the country have been mobilizing towards a widespread gay boycott planned for December 10, following the example of immigrant boycotts designed to counter anti-immigrant sentiment two years ago. JointheImpact.com, a Seattle-based site that was created after the election to organize protests, has been at the center of the effort alongside www.DayWithoutAGay.org and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.
“People, we figure, will have no assistance at libraries or gym class and will madly butcher their hair,” reads one description of the proposed boycott’s effects. “Subaru dealerships shouldn’t bother opening. Entertainment journalism will take such a hit, TMZ will have to report hockey scores.”
The philosophy behind the immigrant worker strike in 2006 was to show the public how much they relied on the services of the workers. Here, hopefully, America will realize how much of the economy is supported by LGBT dollars and efforts… an important step in the voting public recognizing just how significant a population they are marginalizing.
December 10, it turns out, is also International Human Rights Day.

Hacking Votes
The video “Hacking Democracy”, which shows how optical scan computers, even with paper ballots, can be secretly hacked without a trace, will be shown at the Kingston Library, 55 Franklin Street, at 7 pm on Tuesday December 9. The video will be followed by attorney Andi Novick’s explanation of why op scan, or any other computer voting, does not square with the NY State Constitution, which demands an “observable, transparent, and secure” system that computers cannot comply with. She will also update the public on a pending legal case to ensure that legislators adhere to the Constitution and will detail the enormous costs a switch to computers would entail now and over the years vs keeping our levers.
The event is being sponsored by the American Association of University Women, the program is free, and questions from the audience will be encouraged.
For more information: contact Irene Miller at 518 678-3516.

No Burning?
Woodstock Town Board members are considering whether they should restrict outdoor wood-burning furnaces and whether they should have a role in considering waivers to the proposed law. And concern that the proposed regulations required too much Town Board involvement were discussed during a public hearing recently.
Councilwoman Liz Simonson said the law would create regulations that local officials could not keep up with.
“We can’t get the building inspector to enforce numerous provisions in our zoning law now, so how is he going to enforce this?” Simonson said.
The law was proposed by town Supervisor Jeff Moran, who said outdoor wood-burning furnaces are considered the least energy-efficient means of heating a building and create emissions that affect neighbors but are not covered effectively under state law.
“I think it’s important to protect our environment from unregulated, poorly maintained, poorly operated wood-burning boilers,” he said.
Under the proposed law, there would be a 5-acre minimum for an outdoor wood-burning furnace with a 500-foot setback requirement. There also would be height limits for the units’ smokestacks. Additionally, “only firewood and untreated seasoned hardwood lumber (would be) permitted in any outdoor wood-burning boiler,” the proposed law states.
Penalties under the law would be $500 per day and up to 30 days in jail if a “violation is found to involve any strictly prohibited fuels.”
Officials said owners of existing units would be required to apply for a permit if the law is passed.
Wonder if such legislation would make it up the Route 28 corridor?

Snowballed?
Congressman Maurice D. Hinchey will be honored with the Spirit of the Catskills award at the 23rd annual Snowball at Belleayre Mt. Ski Center on January 31, 2009. The Congressman, who has been a passionate advocate for the Catskills region since the beginning of his career, was chosen unanimously for the honor by the members of the Coalition to Save Belleayre who sponsor the award and the event at which it is presented.
In making the announcement, Coalition Chairman, Joe Kelly said “We can’t think of anyone who more exemplifies the Spirit of the Catskills than Congressman Hinchey, who has been representing us in either the New York State Assembly or the House of Representatives in Washington since 1974.” According to Kelly, Hinchey was selected for the honor largely, but not entirely, because of his strong support for Belleayre Mt. Ski Center.
The Snowball, sponsored by the Coalition each year, benefits the operation of the Belleayre Conservatory, a non-profit organization that presents more than 15 performance events at the ski center each summer.
More information on the Coalition to Save Belleayre is available by going to the group’s website at www.CoalitionToSaveBelleayre.org and more information about the summer music festival is available at www.belleayremusic.org.

Employment…
The latest state Labor Department figures released indicate unemployment continues to rise in the Hudson Valley at the same time as there is modest job growth.
Unemployment rose at least one percent in October when compared to the same month in 2007 in every county. Private sector employment increased over the year by 1,200, or 0.2 percent, to 762,600 in October 2008.
Employment gains were largest in educational and health services (+2,900), natural resources, mining and construction (+1,000), and professional and business services (+900). Job losses were recorded in manufacturing (-1,500), financial activities (-700), leisure and hospitality (-700), and trade, transportation and utilities (-600). The government sector added 1,700 jobs over the year.
On November 7, the government said the U.S. unemployment rate rose to 6.5 percent in October, the highest rate since March 1994. But, more worrying for economists, the number of people working part-time for economic reasons jumped 645,000 in October to 6.7 million. That has convinced some economists that the United States is staring at a recession at least as deep as the 1980s contraction.
“No higher figure has been seen since the 1982 recession, when a record 6.86 million people were working part-time for economic reasons,” said Tony Crescenzi, chief bond market strategist at Miller Tabak & Co in New York. “The surge is of course a sign of the times: people are working part-time to make ends meet.”
Analysts reckon the situation will deteriorate further in the months ahead and expect the jobless rate to peak at anywhere between 8 percent and 10 percent.
While jobs are still available, the bulk tend to be part-time and are poorly paying. And for those who can find full-time positions, employers are likely to offer less-attractive packages.
A survey by the Society for Human Resource Management released on November 7 found that the majority of companies in the manufacturing and services sectors were keeping wage and benefits packages flat for new hires.

Oceanic Shifts
The world’s oceans are becoming acidic more quickly than climate change models predict, according to scientists who claim it will have a dramatic impact on marine ecosystems. Water samples collected around an island in the eastern Pacific over the past eight years showed seawater had acidified more than 20 times faster than scientists expected. The effect could be devastating for shellfish and other crustaceans, because acidic waters dissolve calcium carbonate used by the organisms to make their protective shells. Oceans absorb about a third of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by human activities. When the gas dissolves in water, it forms carbonic acid, which alters the ocean’s delicate chemical balance.
The increasing acidification of the oceans is likely to have impacts that run throughout the marine ecosystem, because the organisms most affected are at the bottom of the foodchain. According to computer models of the local marine life, the rise in acidity is likely to cause substantial falls in the numbers of mussels and large goose barnacles, while algae and populations of smaller barnacles may increase. In turn, the changing distribution of these organisms will have effects on marine life that feed on them.
Last month, researchers warned that a new global deal on climate change would come too late to save many of the world’s corals. A report from the Carnegie Institution at Stanford University in California found that carbon dioxide emissions are likely to acidify seawater enough to cause widespread damage to major reefs, including the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Even stringent cuts designed to stabilize greenhouse gas levels still put more than 90% of the world’s reefs in jeopardy.

Watch This One…
When Dan Rather filed suit against CBS 15 months ago - claiming, among other things, that his former employer had commissioned a politically biased investigation into his work on a “60 Minutes” segment about President Bush’s National Guard service - the network predicted the quick and favorable dismissal of the case, which it derided as “old news.”
So far, Rather has spent more than $2 million of his own money on the suit. And according to documents filed recently in court, he may be getting something for his money.
Using tools unavailable to him as a reporter - including the power of subpoena and the threat of punishment against witnesses who lie under oath - he has unearthed evidence that would seem to support his assertion that CBS intended its investigation, at least in part, to quell Republican criticism of the network. Among the materials that money has shaken free for Rather are internal CBS memorandums turned over to his lawyers, showing that network executives used Republican operatives to vet the names of potential members of a panel that had been billed as independent and charged with investigating the “60 Minutes” segment.
Rather attracted the ire of Republican bloggers and talk radio in particular after the segment, which was broadcast on a weekday edition of “60 Minutes” in September 2004. It purported to have unearthed evidence about favorable treatment extended to President Bush during his Vietnam-era service in the Texas Air National Guard.
In September 2007, Rather filed a $70 million lawsuit charging that CBS had violated his contract and that the investigation was compromised. A New York State Supreme Court judge has since jettisoned parts of the suit, including Rather’s contention that CBS had engaged in fraud. But the judge has permitted Rather to go forward with the core of his case, including his argument that CBS had limited his work as a correspondent after he left the anchor desk and, in the process, damaged his reputation. The case is on track to go to trial soon, possibly early in the new year.
Among memorandums turned over to Mr. Rather’s lawyers by CBS was a long typed list of conservative commentators apparently receiving some preliminary consideration as panel members, including Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge, Ann Coulter and Pat Buchanan. At the bottom of that list, someone had scribbled “Roger Ailes,” the founder of Fox News.

Home Sales!!!
Sales of existing single-family homes continued their downward trend in October when compared to the same month last year, according to the New York State Association of Realtors. The only bright spot in the entire region was Sullivan County, which posted a 110 percent gain in sales. Delaware County saw a more than 10 percent increase. All other counties in the region continued to slide downward.
The biggest decline in home sales was in Greene County at 51 percent. Orange County fell by 32 percent and Columbia County dropped by 30 percent. Westchester home sales fell by more than 16 percent while Rockland dropped by 15 percent and Ulster fell by 10 percent.Putnam and Dutchess counties both fell by five percent. Statewide, year over year sales fell in October by just under 12 percent.
Median selling prices continued to fall in October. In Columbia County, they fell by 22 percent to $193,750; In Delaware County, they grew by 10 percent to $122,000; In Dutchess County, they fell by 20 percent to $275,000; In Greene County, they fell by 10 percent to $159,000; In Orange County, they fell by 15 percent to $271,500 In Putnam County, they fell by seven percent to $335,000; In Rockland County, they fell by six percent to $460,000; In Sullivan County, they fell by two percent to $147,500; In Ulster County, they fell by seven percent to $224,250; In Westchester County, they fell by 14 percent to $575,000.

Obituary...
John J. Broekema Sr., 72 of Rt. 212 in Mt. Tremper, died at home on Sunday November 23, 2008. He was a life long resident, who was the first provider of cable TV service in the Town of Shandaken in 1986-1987. He owned and operated the Mt. Tremper Video Limited from 1964 to 1993. He was an authorized Zenith sales, service and repair technician. He was a Life member of the Onteora Hose Co. In Mt. Tremper, and served as the District Mechanic of the entire Phoenicia Fire District, encompassing all three companies. Years ago, he was a mechanic for James S. Ford & Son. He was knowledgeable at restoring old bulldozers, and enjoyed restoring antique automobiles. He was a veteran of United States Army having received the Good Conduct Medal.
He was born December 13, 1935 in New York City the son of the late Leo Diegnan and Cecelia Broekema. Surviving are his wife of 47 years, Barbara Kolis Broekema. Two sons: Jay of Kerhonkson, and Donald of Roxbury. A daughter Deborah Baldwin of Willow. Five grandchildren and several nieces and nephews also survive. A memorial service was held on Saturday November 29th at the Onteora Hose Co. Meeting Hall, Mt. Tremper. Private burial will be in the St. Francis de Sales Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the Shandaken Animal Volunteer Effort at POB 67 , 12480.

Green Hike?
A hike focusing on Green Technology will be held at Frost Valley YMCA in Claryville on Saturday, Dec. 6 starting at 9 a.m. Visitors will learn about Frost Valley’s composting efforts, use of solar power and the other environmental design features that have been implemented at the camp. For info: (845) 985-2291.