Newsbriefs

7/16//2009

Efficiency Grant
You’ve got to hand it to those savvy politicians who know how to work today’s world of grants. They’re starting to bring in the dough.
An almost half-million dollar grant will enable Ulster County and seven municipalities, including Shandaken, to streamline operations by eliminating waste and duplication of services. Governor David Paterson came to the County Bridge and Highway Department recently to join with county and local officials to make the announcement.
The $481,000 Local Government Efficiency program grant will fund a more efficient process for the deployment of highway department equipment through the purchase of new GPS equipment that will determine where each vehicle is, where it is going, and at what speed.
“This type of legislation will reduce waste. It will lower the cost of doing business and it will also reduce property taxes,” Gov. Paterson said.
The governor said they expect the grant will save Ulster County taxpayers $4.7 million over the next 10 years.
The original municipal partners sharing in the grant are the towns of Esopus, Kingston, Marbletown, New Paltz, Shandaken, Shawangunk and the Village of Ellenville. Between them, and the county, the GPS system will track 51 municipal and 190 county vehicles. Additional municipal partners are the towns of Gardiner, Hurley, Lloyd, Rosendale and Wawarsing. The county match is $53,000.
Other grants for local government efficiency include $24,750 for Greene County to fund a Mountaintop Ambulance Shared Services Feasibility Study.

Rape Charges
State Police at Kingston arrested an Arkville man on a charge of having sex with an underage girl at a motel in the Town of Shandaken last week. Carlos Peralta-Perez, 30, was charged with third-degree rape, endangering the welfare of a child and unlawful imprisonment in the second degree. He was arraigned and remanded to the Ulster County Jail on $20,000 cash bail or $40,000 bond.
Two others were arrested pertaining to the case. Jorge Hernandez-Avila, 25, of Fleischmann, and Rebecca Alvarado, 19, were charged with endangering the welfare of a child and unlawful imprisonment in the second degree.
Police said both suspects assisted the girl and her juvenile brother sneak out of their home and drove them to the motel where the sexual encounter occurred. Both were arraigned and remanded to the Ulster County jail in lieu of $10,000 cash bail or $20,000 bond.
Town of Shandaken Police assisted State Police in the investigation.

Pest Control!
On Tuesday, July 21st, a training session on the identification and survey for Asian long-horned beetle will be co-hosted by The Nature Conservancy, NYC-DEP, USDA, and the NYS Department of Ag & Markets. This training will be from 9am-4pm, beginning at the Woodstock Firehouse and ending at Kenneth Wilson State Park. Space is limited and reservations are accepted on a first come/first serve basis with a preference to those who will be able to train others. A second session open to general volunteers will be held on Wednesday, July 22nd at the same locations and same time. This training will build upon the increasing awareness of forest pests, particularly with the recent discovery of emerald ash borer in New York. The training is designed for those who will survey the Catskills and surrounding areas for possible forest pest outbreaks (i.e. ALB or EAB). Those interested in identification, survey, and risks of forest pests, especially our forests' first defenders including arborists, foresters, road crews, hikers, hunters, campers, birders, scouts, and other outdoor enthusiasts should consider attending. We hope to provide continuing education credits to certified foresters and pesticide applicators. Below is an agenda for this training session. Please contact Troy Weldy (e-mail: tweldy@tnc.org; phone: 518-690-7841) to reserve your space.

Affordability?
Ulster County government recently released a three-county assessment of housing needs for the period 2006-2020. This study of housing availability in Orange, Dutchess and Ulster counties, titled “A Three-County Regional Housing Needs Assessment,” states, “With housing price declines expected in the near-term period, residents may see some temporary relief in terms of affordability… At the national level, affordability indicators as of February 2009 indicate that pressures have subsided to some degree due to price declines. This relief, however, is likely to be short-lived. Once the national economy recovers from the current downturn, affordability pressures are likely to reemerge and increasingly burden both owner and renter households.”
The most important product of the three-county study, a “fair-share” distribution of responsibility for affordable housing units by municipality, analyzes the housing situation in each municipality. Through fair share, local governments will be put on notice about their obligations in regard to affordable housing. Every municipality in the three counties can adjust its land-use laws and make other changes in order to comply.
For the purposes of calculating affordability, the three-county needs assessment study uses the 2006 median Ulster County house price - at $244,665 near the peak of the market.
County planner Dennis Doyle, who played a principal role in reviewing the three-county housing needs assessment study, contends that the affordability gap for potential buyers of affordable homes hasn’t diminished with a weakening real estate market. With a tight lower-end for housing supply, rising interest rates, more cautious lenders, an ominous situation in regard to property taxes and extremely volatile energy prices, the drop in prices hasn’t shrunk the affordability gap for buyers.
Doyle sees the rental situation as more promising. “No matter where we are in the downturn, all three counties will become more difficult for affordability,” he argues. “You can afford to rent.”
According to a 2007 Ulster County survey, the vacancy rate for rental housing from 2000 through 2007 had never been higher than 1.8% - a seller’s market. Since that time, however, the rental market has loosened considerably, and there is more tenant choice. But Doyle’s Ulster County’s planning office says that the 2008 preliminary housing survey indicates a vacancy rate of 2.47% for non-subsidized housing - still tight. Experts say a local rental vacancy rate of 5% is the historic indicator of a balance between landlord and renter.
He points out that in the world of limited housing choices, that rising vacancy rate could be a game-changer. Rents tend to stabilize and eventually to drop when vacancy rates are high.
The needs assessment study identifies as most vulnerable those buyers or renters with half the median household incomes or less. Based on 2006 data, renters with an annual household income of $26,174 would find themselves $164 short of the median rent of $738 per month. The number of unbuilt “affordable” rental units in Ulster County, 2473 in 2006, were projected to be 3586 in the year 2020.
More in the coming months…

Forest Opps
Private landowners with forestlands in Delaware, Greene, Schoharie, Ulster, Sullivan, Dutchess, Putnam and Westchester Counties can apply for the 2009 Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) through July 17. Earlier this month, the Watershed Agricultural Council (WAC) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) were jointly assigned $200,000 in EQIP funding, to be directed specifically to clean-water and land conservation projects in the New York City watershed region. EQIP is a voluntary conservation program that provides financial and technical assistance to landowners willing to implement practices that improve natural resources on privately owned forestland.
NRCS is partnering with the Watershed Agricultural Council’s Forestry Program to deliver the two EQIP Focus Areas. “Through EQIP, forest landowners can apply for financial and technical assistance in either the Forest Management Focus Area and the Forest Wildlife Focus Area,” explained Tom Pavlesich, Forestry Program Manager at the WAC. “Applicants interested in improving forest management through forest health thinning, crop tree release, controlling invasive or undesirable species or controlling erosion on forest trails and landings can apply to the Forest Management Focus Area. Landowners interested in improving habitat for at-risk shrub or forest-dwelling bird species can apply to the Forest Wildlife Focus Area. WAC Forestry Program foresters will work with applicants from eligible counties to plan practices and prepare an EQIP application that can include thinning or removing trees for forest health, pruning mast trees to increase wildlife food, or planting trees and shrubs for wildlife food and cover.”
“For watershed landowners, the EQIP funding will subsidize conservation measures that ultimately improve water quality,” added Fred Huneke, WAC Chairman. “Trees and forested lands are Nature’s water filters. In the NYC watershed, we work extensively with the New York City Department of Environmental Protections, U.S. Forest Service and U.S.D.A. on keeping surface water clean for drinking. This latest infusion of federal funding impacts both our local communities and our nine-million neighbors downstream.” Each year — as part of a voluntary, landowner conservation program — the WAC receives funding from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP) to put practices similar to those proposed by NRCS into place.
Landowners can apply for EQIP at their local USDA-NRCS office. Landowners must have established property records with their local USDA Service Center Agency and submit a completed EQIP CPA1200 form prior to receiving assistance from the Watershed Agricultural Council’s Forestry Program. The program is competitive, and applications are ranked based on national and state identified resource priorities and their overall benefit to the environment. All applications must be received by the local USDA NRCS office no later than July 17 to be considered for the fiscal year 2009 funding. For additional conservation program information please visit http://www.ny.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/.
Call them now!

Oh, Dean…
Ulster County lawmakers recently removed longstanding county health director Dean Palen from his position, freezing he and his wife/assistant’s pay pending investigation of several questionable financial matters, and established a salary range for the county’s next director of health, clearing the way for County Executive Mike Hein to fill the slot.
In a 20-9 vote, legislators approved a pay range of between $125,000 and $150,000 for the position, which under the county charter must be filled by a physician. That approved salary range carries a lower top salary than the $175,000 originally proposed for the position, but more than the $140,000 top salary sought by the Legislature’s Republican minority.
Hein later removed Dean Palen as the county’s health director, replacing him in the interim with Nereida Veytia, a registered nurse who had been the county’s director of patient services. He said at the time that removing Palen, who is not a doctor, from the post would help the county streamline its permitting process and bring new technologies into the department.
Palen, whose annual salary was $102,847 at the time of his dismissal, was appointed public health director in 1994, when the county Legislature was controlled by Republicans.
Days after Palen’s dismissal, though, Hein announced the discovery of 150 uncashed checks totaling some $32,000 in a safe behind the desk of Palen’s wife, Deborah, who until recently worked as Palen’s administrative assistant. In addition to the checks, which were made out to the county and dated as far back as 2000, the safe contained health permits for businesses such as restaurants and camps that were filled out but never issued as well as about $300 in cash, Hein said.
As a result of the discovery, Hein called on County Comptroller Elliot Auerbach to conduct a complete audit of the Health Department. Auerbach has said his investigation will focus, among other things, on whether the public was put in any danger because of the division’s failure to issue permits to businesses that are required to have them. Hein also turned the information over to Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright for investigation.
Several state audits over the years determined that a number of restaurants and camps throughout the county operated without permits under the Palen’s tenure. Palen is best known locally for his role in facilitating the acquisition of the Pine Hill water system by developer Dean Gitter in 1999.

Snorers Beware
People who snore are more likely to develop chronic bronchitis, the hacking cough most often associated with cigarette smoking or breathing polluted air, Korean researchers have reported. But why snoring might lead to bronchitis is not clear, said a team led by Inkyung Baik of Korea University Ansan Hospital in South Korea.
The report, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, covered 4,270 men and women between 2001 and 2006. Of the group, 314 came down with chronic bronchitis.
“We collected information on snoring at baseline and identified incident cases of chronic bronchitis during a four-year follow-up period,” Baik’s team wrote.
After taking into account whether those in the study smoked or were otherwise at risk for bronchitis, the investigators concluded that people who snored five nights a week or less were 25 percent more likely to develop bronchitis than those who never snored.
The risk was 68 percent higher for those who snored six to seven times a week. “Our findings provide support for the hypothesis that snoring is associated with chronic bronchitis,” the researchers wrote. It could be that snoring vibrates the upper airways, stressing them and leading to inflammation, the researchers said.

Confidence Up?
We may be a bit soggy, but by no means all wet…
Consumer confidence is up 18 percent in the Hudson Valley during the second quarter of the year compared to the same period last year. The Quarterly Consumer Confidence survey released Wednesday by the Siena College Research Institute shows the index was 52.9 in the second quarter 2008, compared with 62.5 during the second four months of this year.
The Hudson Valley ranks third in the state behind New York City and Albany.
The New York State Association of Counties, meanwhile, Wednesday issued its June Economy Watch, which said the state is continuing to experience “significant downward trends” in its overall economic condition.
State leaders need to leverage funding from the federal stimulus plan to stem any further decline in the economy, retain current jobs and attack new business and employment opportunities, said NYSAC President Sarah Purdy, who is Yates County administrator.

Jobless Grads…
The tough economy and tight labor market have tarnished the luster of a bachelor’s degree for young college graduates seeking employment. New monthly survey data from the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston finds that during the first four months of 2009, less than half of the nation’s 4 million college graduates age 25 and under were working in jobs that required a college degree. That’s down from 54 percent for the same period last year.
“I’ve never seen it this low and we’ve been analyzing this stuff for over 20 years,” said center director Andrew Sum.
The problem is most acute in the 25-and-under age group among Asian female graduates and black and Hispanic male graduates. The survey, of 60,000 households, found less than 30 percent of Asian female grads, 32 percent of Hispanic male grads and just over 35 percent of young black male grads working in jobs that require a bachelor’s degree.
Research has shown that college graduates who take jobs below their education level not only earn less, but also can take years to match the earnings of graduates who land career-track employment upon graduation. These so called “mal-employed” workers also compound the unemployment problem by taking jobs that non-college graduates and even high school students are often qualified to hold.
The problem of “mal-employment” - working outside one’s field of education, training and choice - has increased sharply for young college grads since the recession began and all signs suggest the trend will continue for the foreseeable future.
Employers expect to hire 22 percent fewer graduating seniors for entry-level positions this year than in 2008, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. And 17 percent of surveyed firms said they’d trim college hiring even more this fall.
Meanwhile, on a better note, many students struggling with federal loans could soon lower their monthly payments or eliminate them altogether. Under the Income-Based Repayment plan, available starting this month, college graduates can cut their monthly payments down to a rate tailored to their income and family size. The initiative was started by the Project on Student Debt, a nonprofit organization funded by the national Institute for College Access & Success.
The biggest difference in this new initiative is that it’s available to more students than its predecessor, officials said. According to the new program, students pay 15 percent of the portion of their income that is above the federal poverty line, Irons said. Some don’t have to pay at all. Graduates whose income is less than 150 percent of the federal poverty level are exempt. The original initiative only applies to students who receive loans through the Federal Direct Student Loan Program, which is offered by the UI.
Maybe it’s simply better to keep learning…

Sustainability
Ulster County has received a $49,000 grant from the Hudson River Greenway Council to help it work its municipalities to identify and develop land use tools and investments to ensure that future growth occurs in a compact, sustainable and environmentally sensitive pattern. The goal is to use information on existing infrastructure, zoning and comprehensive plans and policies in each community to identify “priority growth areas” and their appropriate land uses.
“Communities that define where they want growth will reduce delays currently associated with the planning process, without compromising environmental review,” said County Executive Michael Hein.
“The best thing we can do to pursue smart environmental planning is to integrate conservation planning with development planning,” said Amanda Lavalle, coordinator of the county Department of the Environment. “By knowing the appropriate places on a town or county scale for development, we can better evaluate other areas and protect them when appropriate.”

Election Charges
Ulster County lawmakers have finally agreed on a formula for charging localities for elections services provided by the county. The resolution, which passed earlier this month in a 24-5 vote, is fairly identical to one rejected in May, with one key difference — the county will now pay travel costs for elections inspectors to attend county-run training programs.
Legislature Majority Leader Brian Cahill said that in the past, the county Board of Elections had offered sessions throughout the county, but will now only offer training at the Board of Elections.
“Transportation is problematic in terms of the mileage,” said Cahill, D-town of Ulster. “That was the sticking point and we relieved them of that by agreeing to pay mileage.”
The effort followed an outcry last year when the county attempted to charge municipalities a total of $1.25 million for administering the 2008 elections. A last-minute change in November lowered that amount to $932,669, but still caught many communities that had completed or were completing their 2009 budget off guard.
Under the proposal, the Board of Elections must provide a tentative billing amount to each town by Aug. 15 of each year and an actual bill by Dec. 15.
The county will pay up to $15,000 for inspector training each year at a rate of 58.5 cents per mile as well as $125 for each inspector for primary elections, $200 for general elections and $20 for a chairperson in each district.

Falls Fall 2
In the second accident within a month at Kaaterskill Falls, a hiker slipped and fell approximately 55 feet to the rocks below. Despite the long fall, state police said the man managed to survive with a few broken bones, ribs and some bruises. He was then transported to Albany Medical Center without further incident by helicopter.
The cause of the accident was initially reported as a combination of the hiker leaving the clearly marked trail, and wearing what were described as “improper footwear.”
This was the second serious fall in a month at Kaaterskill Falls. The first, on June 13, proved fatal to a Georgia man, 32-year-old Jeremy W. Mullins. A similar cause was given for that fall as well when he slipped on loose shale and mud as he descended from the top of the falls. He plunged 60 feet to the rocks below.

Hosts Needed
From Sunday, August 2nd until Sunday, August 9th, the Woodstock Playhouse is looking for donated housing for two residency team directors from Children’s Stage Adventures. The team will be arriving that Sunday to bring their participatory residency to the Woodstock Playhouse for one week. CSA will cast 50-60 local kids in an original musical production based on the Hans Christian Anderson fairytale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” – with a wild west twist! The professional theatrical team will lead this week-long residency through to two performances on Saturday, August 8th at 11:00am & 2:00pm. As part of the Playhouse contract with CSA, the Playhouse must provide housing for the two team directors in two separate rooms. Meals are not part of the hosting. If you’d like to help the Playhouse with this fun filled venture – or if you know somebody that would like to host - please contact the Playhouse by calling the box office at 845-679-4101 and leaving a message.

Green Building!
Hudsonia, the nonprofit environmental research institute based at Bard College, is offering a one-day workshop July 21 for developers, environmental consultants, engineers, biologists, site managers, regulatory officials, and policy-makers who want to include biodiversity concerns in land use planning and site design. The workshop will be from 5-8 p.m. at Norrie Point Environmental Center in Staatsburg, by the Hudson south of Rhinebeck.
The workshop will cover threats to native biodiversity from current development practices in the Hudson Valley siting and design measures to minimize harm to sensitive habitats and species; remote biodiversity assessments using readily available materials to identify biological resources of concern; the strengths and limitations of current “green” certifications; and examples of innovative and effective projects and programs initiated by developers and municipalities.
Participation is limited; registrations will be accepted on a first-come-first-served basis. Contact Andrew Meyer (ameyer @ bard.edu, 845-758-0600) for more information, or see Hudsonia’s website (hudsonia.org/events).

Healthy Eating
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County’s Eat Smart New York Program will be offering the new program “Healthy Nutrition Habits”, a free six part series beginning on Wednesdays, from 1:00pm to 2:00pm. Sessions will take place at the CCEUC Extension Education Center located at 10 Westbrook Lane in Kingston. The sessions will run on Wednesdays August 5,12, 19, 26 and September 2 and 9.
This program is open to all food stamp participants and low to moderate income families and individuals residing in Ulster County. Sessions will include various topics including food budgeting, serving sizes, learning about food groups, eating healthier by making better food choices, food safety and more! Participants will gain valuable kitchen skills through hands-on food demonstrations with CCEUC Nutrition Program Educator, Danielle J. Garris. One on one session’s in the home can be arranged for those without transportation.
All participants who complete six sessions of the program will receive a Certificate of Completion from the Cornell Cooperative Extension Ulster County’s Eat Smart New York Program.
For more information or to attend please call Barbara Grumberg at 845-340-3990.

Jails Redux…
A new study recently released by the Center for Research, Regional Education and Outreach at SUNY New Paltz concludes Hudson Valley counties are being forced into unnecessary jail construction at the cost of taxpayers.
The problem is that the very mechanism for deciding the issue of construction is geared to autonomous, disconnected, county-based solutions to housing needs. The state Commission of Correction, which wields a hammer in deciding county compliance with state standards for local jails, effectively looks at each county as a free-standing actor, thus favoring a corresponding free-standing solution to jail needs.
There are built-in inefficiencies to this approach. For instance, women can’t be housed with men – or vice versa – nor can a youthful offender be boarded with adults. Meanwhile, the vast majority of prisoners are adult males. That means the balance of a county’s jail housing unit of, say, 15 or 20 or more cells can be effectively taken out of service by a single prisoner in a protected category.
By the SUNY analysis, the current and future needs of Hudson Valley counties for jail space is already accommodated by existing jail bricks and mortar. The report encompassed the incarceration needs of Ulster, Dutchess, Greene, Columbia, Sullivan, Orange, Putnam, and Rockland counties.

Hydrokinetics!
Remember last year when we reported new research into utilization of the New York City reservoir system and its portage tunnels as a possible energy supplier for the region?
Well, on July 9, the Senate Appropriations Committee provided $60 million for the Water Power Research and Development program at the Department of Energy in the Fiscal Year 2010 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill. This funding level for marine and hydrokinetic technologies is $30 million above the President’s budget request. On July 7, the House Appropriations Committee approved $30 million for the program including a set aside for up to $3.5 million for conventional hydropower .
“Four years ago, there was no federal recognition of marine and hydrokinetic energy technology. Because of the hard work of our Congressional supporters and OREC members, a new ‘Water Power R&D’ program at DOE has been created and initial funding to support the needs of this nascent industry has begun to flow,” stated Sean O’Neill, President of the Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition (OREC). “The commitment from President Obama, this Congress, and the Department of Energy shows growing confidence in the direction we’re heading to provide clean renewable energy from the waves, tides, thermal differentials, and currents — not only in the oceans but in free moving fresh water and irrigation canals. We have seen more than a ten-fold increase from last year’s Presidential budget and growing support and excitement in Congress which is turning into tangible results for this industry.”
As Congress continues the FY 2010 appropriations process, OREC will maintain its efforts to work closely with our supporters in the House and Senate to ensure the highest possible level of funding for marine renewable energy technologies.
Stay tuned…

Language Skills?
The libraries of the Mid-Hudson Library System are excited to announce the addition of the Mango Languages online language-learning system to the web sites of all local libraries in Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Putnam & Ulster counties. Mango is free of charge to all library patrons, and is a fun, fast and convenient solution for learning to speak a foreign language, focusing on teaching actual conversation skills for a wide variety of languages. Each lesson combines real-life situations and audio from native speakers with an easy-to-follow interface and simple, clear instructions.
Because it’s completely web based, library patrons can learn anywhere they have an internet connection — at the library, a coffee shop, or even at home in bed. It’s so effective and easy to use, you’ll be speaking a new language after just one lesson! Mango Languages currently offers 12 language courses — Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Greek, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, ESL for Polish speakers, ESL for Spanish speakers, and ESL for Brazilian Portuguese speakers.
To access Mango grab your library card and visit your local library’s web site: http://midhudson.org/libraries/ and look for the “Mango Languages” button or “HOMEACCESS.”

Gold Medalist!
Vernon Robert Depee, grandson of Robert and Marguerite Cross of Woodstock and son of Vern and Bonnie Depee (graduates of Onteora H.S.) participated in and won the first place gold medal honor in the SkillsUSA Internetworking competition June 25 in Kansas City, MO.
SKILLSUSA is the national organization for students in trade, industrial, technical and health-occupations education. It sponsors the SKILLSUSA Championships annually to recognize the achievements of career and technical education students and to encourage them to strive for excellence and pride in their chosen occupations.
The Internetworking contest consists of three main parts – networking design, general networking knowledge and hands-on evaluations. The networking design problem tests a contestant’s ability to design functionality, scalability, adaptability, and manageability of an internetworking system. The online written portion tests the student’s complete knowledge of internetworking concepts. The hands-on component demonstrates the abilities of the contestant to make cables, troubleshoot network systems, configure routers and switches and to deliver customer service in a technical assistant center environment. The contestants find errors in WAN and LAN networks; do n ISP configuration using routers and switches; talk a technician through an error they are having on their network; and take an online, certification type test. The national contest is based on the most current CCNA certification.
Vernon participated in the Post Secondary level national competition in Kansas City after winning first place in the same category of the North Carolina State SkillsUSA competition in Greensboro, NC in April. He is a Computer Science sophomore at North Carolina State University and is currently an Intern at Cisco.

Arts Benefit...
Local artists, musicians, shop keepers and service providers are coming together on Sunday August 2, 2009 from 12-6 pm at Davis Park in West Shokan , New York to raise funds to offset the mounting medical bills that are accumulating for breast cancer survivor Maureen Odenwald, a 1980 graduate of Onteora Central High School who now lives in Tucson, AZ. Odenwald, a 47 –year old dog trainer and animal behaviorist, who lost medical coverage last year, had her second mastectomy in April and is facing two more surgeries this summer.
Musicians including Dorraine Schofield and Friends, The Pontiacs, The New Lazy Boys and others will provide a full day of music, and local restaurants and grocers are providing food and beverages for the day. A Silent Auction of goods and services, including a hand made quilt, a therapeutic massage, a gift package from the Emerson Inn and Spa, and a vacation rental in Vermont, and more; will be offered to the public as will a special raffle for an original oil painting of the Ashokan Reservoir by Olivebridge artist, Kate McGloughlin. Tickets for this raffle can be pre purchased by phone by calling 845-657-8761. To make your donation by mail: Please make checks payable to: Maureen Odenwald, and send to D. Odenwald, PO Box 114, Rte 28A West Shokan, NY 12494, or to place your donation on your credit card, call Kim Tisch-Houska at Threads of Time on the Boardwalk in Phoenicia, 688-7173. For further information or to volunteer your time or service, please call Kate at 845-657-8761, Peggy at 657-6632, or Kim at 688-7173or Siobhan at 399-1432.

Plastic Dangers
Hormone-like chemicals in plastics, pesticides and other products pose “significant concern for public health,” possibly causing infertility, cancer and malformations, a medical society has announced.
There is strong evidence that chemicals that interfere with the hormone system can cause serious health problems, according to a scientific report from the Endocrine Society. Although scientists still have many questions about the chemicals, the report says that it’s important for people to take a “precautionary approach” by reducing their exposures.
The new report is the latest in a growing number of statements from scientific groups warning of potential harm. Although the Food and Drug Administration says BPA is safe, Canada last year declared the chemical to be toxic. The USA’s National Toxicology Program last year also expressed “some concern” over BPA’s effects on the brain, behavior and prostate gland in children before and after birth. In 2007, a group of 38 leading researchers published a statement noting serious risks from BPA.
The Endocrine Society decided to release the scientific statement - the first it has ever issued - because these chemicals “affect everyone,” says society president Robert Carey. The report notes that 93% of Americans tested have been exposed to BPA and says the society wants to provide accurate information to lawmakers and regulators. Beyond summing up the latest science, the report also catalogues what doctors don’t yet know and lists the sort of research that still needs to be done.
The report notes that hormone-disrupting chemicals behave differently than other toxins. For most toxins, the danger is in the dose, with larger doses posing more risk than small ones. Because the body is exquisitely sensitive to hormones, even small doses can cause serious problems, especially if babies are exposed during critical development windows, such as before birth. For hormones, the timing of exposure is often far more critical than the amount.
Disturbingly, the damage from hormone-disrupting chemicals can sometimes be passed on to future generations.

Grand No More
Ulster County’s largest hotel, the 428-room Nevele Grand Resort in Wawarsing closed its doors this week; whether it will ever reopen is unclear. Apparently unable to sell the 500-acre property for a reported asking price in the $20 million range, owner Joel Hoffman of Stratford Business Corp has yet to release a formal statement on the closure, which appears to leave about 120 employees, many of whom say they have been unpaid for 3 weeks, out of work. According to some, the hotel’s 75 golf carts had been recently disposed of, and last week John Deere repossessed its mowers and tractors, which hadn’t been run in over a month. Stratford acquired the hotel 9 years ago for $15.8 million, and in recent years has been beset by cash flow problems and creditors, along with a lawsuit from Hoffman’s former partner seeking millions in unpaid business committments. It had also been fined $40,000 by the state in April for failure to carry worker’s comp insurance. The hotel, in its better days, was once a major destination for fine food, golfing, and celebrity entertainment and had more recently been marketed as a spa-resort. It has also been discussed, informally, as a potential spot for a casino in recent years, which would take the pressure off similar proposals that have been mentioned deeper into the Catskills.