Follow Up on the News
Trustee Laurie Osmond was chosen as Onteora district school board president, with Ann McGillicuddy taking the role as Vice President. Both received unanimous votes from the five-member board at the Middle/High School. The new fiscal school year began with swearing in Osmond, who already served a one-year term, and newly elected trustee Tony Fletcher. The board immediately discussed opportunities to reduce burnout, such as time management and a better sharing of duties.
“School boards will sometimes have presidents that will serve for a six-month term instead of a years term,” Osmond said. “I think we all want to minimize burnout and spread the opportunities for leadership as much as possible.”
The board agreed that in six months, they will evaluate where they stand and whether this procedure might be necessary. They also discussed ways to shorten school board meetings with a 10pm target time for adjournment. This past year has seen meetings extend past the midnight hour.
The board decided that it will use an application process to fill the seats of recently resigned trustees Michelle Friedel and Richard R. Wolff. The two have one-year left on their three-year terms. Fletcher said he wants outreach to the community with board members canvassing individually so they can get more public interest. He said anyone interested, but afraid to try, could only serve up to the required year pont and choose not to seek reelection.
“I would really like us to craft an advertisement that is really positive,” he said.
The board will choose two new members at its September 8 board meeting. Whoever is chosen will remain on the board until the next election, May 18, 2010. The two lowest vote getters in that school election will immediately take Wolff and Friedel’s remaining terms until June 30, followed by a new three-year term.
The point of contention for the evening came from the ongoing debate over souvenirs given to senior students in the form of a double shot glass. But the souvenir itself was only part of raised hackles generated from the public and board member Donna Flayhan who noted that it was the manner by which the district handled the complaints, with some feeling that the District Superintendent Leslie Ford ignored them, offered people no choice but to seek media attention via public outcry.
Others said they believed the matter should have been handled through purely administrative means and stayed in the district.
“Using the media to verbally and publicly humiliate the district and its employees is not ethical or professional,” said High School graduate Tara O’Connor. “It only adds to negativity to the entire district.”
She suggested creating a policy to address allowable souvenirs or tweak an already existing one.
Parent Christina Edwards said she called the district seven times wanting to speak with someone about the shot glasses, but received no response.
“My original phone calls were to try and be part of the solution and it wasn’t until after the un-returned phone calls that it escalated the way it did,” she said.
Flayhan said that when she first received complaints about the shot glasses she asked Superintendent Leslie Ford who the advisors were and how it happened.
“That was never answered, not even addressed, not acknowledged,” Flayhan said, noting as she asked for a district apology and accountability.
Osmond said that the procedures involved needed revisiting, but because it was not district money used, the oversight slipped through the cracks.
Trustee Dan Spencer said that the issue effected people in different ways but the overiding concern was the way the situation had been handled in the public domain.
High School Graduate William Melvin said the prom where the souvenirs were distributed as keepsakes was very successful, well attended and without incident.
“We American’s are hypocrites,” he said, explaining how the venue for the Belleayare Bash, a non-alcohol party for seniors, is “saturated with ads for alcoholic beverages.” He added that some of the music played promoted alcohol drinking and Onteora holds a tradition of buying glass souvenirs for seniors.
“Last year it was tumblers and the year before that beer mugs,” Melvin said.
Ford said that the district will be looking into better oversight and making changes so it does not happen again.
Ford also told the board that they are not budgeted for an additional teacher to split the fifth grade class at Phoenicia Elementary, where traditionally the school’s fifth and sixth grades only have one class each.
Spencer noted that such matters would have to be addressed as such situations become more normal in coming years,
Osmond disagreed that enrollment was declining, pointing out that current enrollment is increasing and this particular class is larger than usual.
“If you look at that fifth grade,” she said, “we are not seeing a decline, we are seeing an increase,” she said, explaining that over the years, that class has continued to increase in size, while the incoming Phoenicia Kindergarten class is currently at 33 students.
Woodstock Principal Bobbi Schnell was asked to weigh in on her school’s population since West Hurley closed, combining two populations. She said this year’s Woodstock kindergarten class maxed out at two classrooms with 23 children each. The same class going into first grade has increased to a maximum of 25 students per classroom. Schnell said there is a waiting list so far of two children who would have to attend another school in the district if the class size does not reduce.
Flayhan said a possible solution to the oversized Phoenicia class is to mix grades, noting that the elementary school has done it before.
Fletcher said that the county’s class size average is 22.1 students per classroom, and he is not comfortable going over that mark.
Parent Tim Rands, who has two kids at Woodstock elementary where he has seen class size and space problems since West Hurley Elementary closed, said most of the current Onteora board members have kids at the Phoenicia school, and reminded them that they were elected to serve the whole district.
Russell Richardson, Director of the INDIE program asked the board what the future holds when it comes to the relationship between the program and Onteora. He said if INDIE becomes only an after-school program, providing no credited curriculum through the school district, he worries enrollment will drop.
The board budgeted $50,000 for INDIE to continue as an after-school program in a newly located Woodstock site. The original INDIE building on Route 28 in Boiceville is no longer available for use.
Ford said she was meeting with Richardson to fine tune the fall program.
In other news… Fletcher suggested assigning an arts task force to explore and identify all of what goes on in the district that is art related. He asked that the district use the large community of people directly related in the arts to the district’s advantage.
Fletcher, an author, also drafted a letter of congratulations on behalf of the board, for 2009 graduating students.
The board agreed to continue it as a yearly tradition.
It was a clear-skied morning the day following Kenny’s arrival in Kingston by day boat from New York City, her first time to the area, and Sherret walked his paramour up from his family’s place on Chase Mountain, in Olive, up and over Winchell’s Notch to the place the couple still refers to as “Two Views.” There, he gave her a ring, asking her to share his life.
Later, en route to Woodstock, each commented to the other about the beauty of this region’s nature, and how they’d life to some day live here full time, raise kids, and share in shaping its future to match that beauty that was so key in kindling their love.
29 years later, Chase was a key player in the 1969 founding of what has become known as The Catskill Center for Conservation & Development… as well as its first director. That was back when a combination of young and older conservation forces, the Rockefeller administration’s setting up of an Adirondacks commission, and fears of growing development pressures led to various local efforts to introduce regional planning to the Catskills, which then as now was prone to mismanagement due to the numbers of conflicting jurisdictions in control of its future.
A Catskill Commission was set up of academics in the state university system to study what was what in the region. Then, as one of its first acts, the Catskill Center commissioned its own study of the region from Williams College, which was completed by its first autumn. Based on its findings, and Chase’s lobbying efforts, the state set up a governor’s appointed commission to study the Catskills, based in Stamford and funded in 1973. But due to internal battles among local powers, including a still=strong resort and hotel lobbying effort from Sullivan County, it ended up essentially disbanded within three years.
Undeterred, the Center stepped back from the idea of an Adirondacks-like centralized planning entity and focused on smaller projects, publishing studies, saving buildings from the old Delaware County mill that would become Hanford Mills to Thomas Cole’s house in Catskill. They helped fight the introduction of gambling into the area, as well as use of ridgelines for the creation of complex hydro-power systems. They championed the indigenous culture, as well as the region’s natural resources.
And all in its first decade…
Later, there would be battles over designation of the Catskills as one of the world’s United Nations-recognized biosphere regions, at a particularly dark time in the nation and region’s history of isolationism, as well as the development pressures tied up with the proposed Belleayre Resort project, which the Center eventually signed off on, causing even more backlash.
But through it all, its educational and cultural programs, as well as its aid to local towns and counties on numerous planning and environmental issues, has been paramount… and quietly lauded by all who have come in contact with what was an organization and is now truly a regional institution.
And now it all comes to a head, of sorts, with the big bash planned for Saturday, July 18 from 10:30 am –to4 pm, when The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development will celebrate its founding forty years ago with a family festival at the Delaware & Ulster Railroad Park in Arkville, just following its annual meeting.
Headlining the festival is Grammy-nominated, kid-friendly Trout Fishing in America, followed by traditional mountain music from hometown favorite, The Tremperskill Boys. The event also features Professor Robert Titus’ Antiques Rock Show, raptors, kids activities, fly-fishing lessons, and a specially priced ride on the aptly-named Rip Van Winkle Flyer.
“We invite the public to join us, as we celebrate the Catskill Center’s origins. Since 1969 we have been working to reverse centuries of environmental degradation and decades of economic decline,” notes Executive Director Lisa Rainwater. “The Catskill Center prides itself on being the first regional organization to have understood that the needs of people and nature are not mutually exclusive. Today, we call it sustainability. Forty years ago, we called it the Catskill Center!”
Kids will be enchanted by the spellbinding storyteller Teri Schlobohm, and afterward can enjoy being decorated with their favorite Catskills critter at the Face Painting booth. Then folks can trot on over to the petting zoo to get up close and personal with animals big and small and learn about the remarkable lives of about our region’s magnificent birds of prey. The arts & crafts tent, activities, and fly-fishing lessons will pique the whole family’s curiosity – and might even lead to a life-long love of craftsmanship, wildlife management, or the art of fly-fishing.
In recognition of our four decades of service in the Catskill Mountain Region, the Catskill Center will be bestowing its prestigious Alf Evers Award for Excellence on four exemplary Catskills businesses that contribute to our local economies, serve as sustainable business models, and provide fantastic cultural opportunities to local residents and visitors: Apple Pond Farm and Renewable Energy Center, The Belleayre Conservatory, Merrick Tackle, and Catskill Craftsman.
In celebration of their shared fortieth anniversaries, chef and proprietor John Novi of the Depuy Canal House in High Falls will also be offering a special anniversary dinner for avid train buffs who present their souvenir railroad ticket stub for dinner. .
Entertainment and activities are free and open to the public. But reservations are encouraged for the fee-based train and meals activities by calling 845-586-2611, ext 103 or e-mailing membership@catskillcenter.org
For a full schedule of events, as well as more information on this member-supported, not-for-profit organization that strives to protect and foster the environmental, cultural, and economic well being of the Catskill Mountain Region, visit www.catskillcenter.org
And be prepared to recognize its roots in love a Catskills’ lifetime back.
“Late blight is the same disease that caused the Irish Potato Famine in the 1840’s. Such widespread occurrence in Northeastern U.S. this early in the growing season is extremely rare… You need to act quickly to protect your garden-grown tomato and potato plants and to make sure that your plants don’t become a source of spores that could infect commercial farms, as late blight spores are easily dispersed by wind. Of particular concern are plants purchased at box store garden centers. If your plants do have late blight, DO NOT put them in your compost pile. To prevent disease spread, seal them in a plastic bag and put them in the trash.”
Fine, but then it began hitting. In the Greene County village of Catskill, an entire community garden was wiped out in a matter of days. Tomatoes started disappearing from farm stands.
“The bad news is we are starting to find late blight almost everywhere on both conventional and organic farms,” e-mailed Cornell Cooperative’s John Mishanec from his Albany office on July 7. “Scout your tomatoes/potatoes every day. Look deep into the canopy. Even as late as midday, the leaves stay wet with overnight dew. Spots are big, the size of a quarter. A very good diagnostic sign is there will also be big black spots on the stems as well. The earlier you find the disease, the better chance you have of keeping it in check.”
Mishanec added how, “Old timers, when they found late blight, would kill a 30 foot circle around the infected plant. In the days before systemic fungicides, that was the first thing growers did to help stop/slow the spread of the disease. If you are organic, pull out infested plants and put them in plastic garbage bags so as not to spread spores in the field. The earlier you find the disease, the better chance of keeping if from spreading.”
Or spray, he and others have added.
Meg McGrath at Cornell recommends when you first see symptoms you apply Curzate plus Previcur Flex plus Bravo on a seven-day cycle. Or best of all, fixed copper…
“Good fungicide coverage is critical,” Mishanec writes. “Pathogen spores can be moved on equipment and workers, therefore spray and work in affected fields last and clean equipment between fields. As soon as harvest is complete disk down your fields.”
Yipes.
But then Catskill’s community garden organizer Fawn Potash found that most of the stuff Cornell was recommendaing wasn’t available to non-commercial growers. She said that Story Nursery in Freehold seemed to be aware of the blight and have some dust and spray on hand. But larger entities such as Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Walmart, “try to sell you a product for early blight, which doesn’t have the copper ingredient.”
“Chain stores don’t order their own stock and are dependent on corporate decisions,” she said she found out when asking that orders be put in to help save the crops being lost from those who bought their bedding plants in the first place, in many circumstances. “Timing is very important with this fungus. The Catskill Community Garden’s tomatoes were wiped out in 2 weeks, with neighboring gardens up the hill affected as well. Any tomatoes or potatoes showing signs should be uprooted, bagged and taken to the transfer station. Any remaining tomatoes or potatoes should be doused with a copper based solution after each rain. Potatoes can be additionally protected by piling dirt over their greens.”
It turns out that the infection started spreading from large bedding plant enterprises dealing with the Northeast that are based in the south. Now that it’s here, it’s not effecting plants grown from seeds… yet. Although its spores do travel fast.
If you have plants that show signs of late blight, the original Cornell Extension release announcing all this reads, one should contact Dona Crawford or Teresa Rusinek at offices in Kingston asap, by calling 845-340-3990. Any samples brought into their offices at 10 Westbrook Lane in Kingston will be inspected for free immediately. And dealt with.
Talk about changes, on top of the pests getting at our maples, ash and streams.
For more information and pictures of late blight visit www.hort.cornell.edu/lateblight.
And keep your eyes open…
Preparations for Shandaken Day, set for the Big Indian Park on August 29th, were outlined, including a couple of fundraising ideas including $2 wooden nickels that would bring the bearer great discounts in participating shops around town. Also a new recreation opportunity for townsfolk has surfaced. Both Town Tinker and FS tube rentals in Phoenicia are giving Shandaken residents a local rate of only ten dollars to go tubing on the Esopus.
The board opened two bids and awarded a renewal of the town’s insurance policy to its longtime broker, dropping the annual cost to $74,000 by switching from one to another A+” rated carrier with no changes in coverage. According to Supervisor DiSclafani, this will save town taxpayers $8,000 this year and $25,000 next year. The move followed complaints last month that DiSclafani did not actually put the coverage out to bid. In the end only two bids were received.
A technicality has since derailed the bid award temporarily. DiSclafani said Tuesday that the company’s policy requires a sidewalk district, which Shandaken does not have yet. A special meeting, he said, has been called for July 15th, after press time, to discuss how to proceed.
The town moved forward with two Requests For Proposals, one for design work on about $100,000 worth of stormwater retrofitting for Pine Hill, another on a preliminary design for a City-funded wastewater treatment system for Phoenicia, using the newly available MBR technology as its primary operating system. Return dates for both RFP’s are set for August 30.
Jack Jordan, a Pine Hill resident who’s expected to run for town board this year, complained that the $17.2 million granted to Phoenicia for the project by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection was gradually being whittled down by what seems to be an endless stream of studies and new plans, even though such costs are being requested by the city funders.
Three years ago a conventional system was designed but Phoenicia voters turned it down. Last year DiSclafani commissioned preliminary design of an alternative system that used vegetative reed beds, but DEP refused to approve it. This latest system, boasting new technology, is actually recommended by DEP.
Mike Ricciardella, who opposes the sewer plan because although the City is paying to build it they are requiring Phoenicia to pay for part of it’s operation, wanted to know if the town could also do a study to see if Phoenicia would be better served by a septic maintenance district. Ricciardella believes the maintenance district, an option provided by the City, wouldn’t cost Phoenicia anything.
The town’s Glenbrook Park Cell Tower came up for discussion due to the lack of any signal providers setting up on the year old structure. DiSclafani said it wasn’t for lack of trying. The towers owners, he said, have been trying to make deals with providers and he himself has been on the phone, but so far nothing has happened.
Various housekeeping matters were addressed: Summer Rec counselors were hired and busses arranged for two field trips. The Assessor’s office hired a temporary part-time clerk at $7.50/hr. using funds freed up when Rose Rotella, one of the assistant assessors, recently stepped down.
About $7,700 was appropriated from the town’s DEP-provided Good Neighbor Fund for renovations to the paramedic building.
The proposed produce stand law, in the making for many months, remains in limbo. DiSclafani said it is still being modified.
Farmstand owner Al Higley returned the town’s refund of fees paid last year; he and the board continue to disagree over whether an agreement between them was reached last summer. According to Higley, he doesn’t object to the town’s proposed farmstand law, only to certain restrictions in it.
Asked by Chuck Perez what the status of the proposed law was, DiSclafani said “we haven’t decided yet.”
Neda was shot by pro government forces in Iran. The video of her dying was caught on film. Although it is disturbing, I believe that everyone should watch it.
“Don’t be afraid Neda, don’t be afraid,” someone pleads. For a second I hold my breath. She might be okay I think. But as soon as her eyes roll back in her head and the blood starts coming out of her mouth and then her nose, the pleas turn into “Don’t leave, don’t leave Neda.”, And then you know you just watched this poor helpless girl die.
Neda is the voice behind the Persian people. Neda stands for freedom. Neda stands for liberty. Neda stands for equality.
I’m a Persian American. I’m proud of my heritage.
I’m proud of the freedoms afforded to me in this country and that’s what all Persians want. Freedom, Equality and Liberty.
The news from Iran hasn’t gotten any better. In fear of reprisals and the oppression that is being perpetrated in Iran I wont mention my sources but here is some news coming out of Iran.
The government has hired Hezbollah members and outsiders. They are not Iranian. They are being brought into the country to kill and beat the protestors.
The Basij are known as Iran’s moral police. They beat you if you don’t follow the rules set forth by the religious government. From some of the information I have been getting they are waiting for the injured to come to the hospitals and then quickly herd them into vans and poof they are gone. Sounds like the killing fields to me.
The government has killed more people than has been reported.
Journalists have been kicked out or detained. They are constantly trying to block feeds from Facebook, Twitter and Youtube and to the web. Email and correspondences are being watched and filtered.
The bulldogs are out. The threats coming out of the leadership in Iran is distressing. They call for executions, and the suppression of any form of public discourse.
Neda means voice or call in Farsi. Her death should not be in vain. Her name should be the voice of the Persian people. Her call should be a call to freedom, a call for international support for the Persian people.
The symbolism and irony behind her name is uncanny. She is a hero, an innocent killed by the bullets of tyranny. She will always be my hero, now. She also represents the many other nameless heroes that have met the same destiny, for people are getting killed daily for trying to stand up to the oppression and intimidation taking place in Iran.
Neda exemplifies to the world that the people in Iran stand for peace and want nothing more than to coexist peacefully with the world. They don’t want to live under the oppressed laws of a few men. They don’t want to annihilate whole countries. They don’t support terrorism.
Help them.
It is Persian custom to mourn the death of someone on the 3rd, 7th, 40th and 1 year anniversary of someone’s death. I ask you to think about Neda on those days. Light a candle, wear black. Anything. Don’t let Neda’s death be in vain. The 3rd already passed. The 7th day fell on June 27th, the 40th is on July 30th. Neda is on my mind.