Newsbriefs

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7/29/2010

Fisticuffs!
The longtime Town Clerk for the Town of Shandaken was arrested last week following an alleged scuffle between her and the Deputy Town Clerk in the town's offices in Allaben.
Laurilyn Frasier, 59 of Phoenicia, was arrested on Tuesday, July 20th after a complaint was made to the Ulster County Sheriff's office that Frasier had pushed her deputy, Jacqui Gugleilmetti. Frasier was charged with Harassment 2 second, a violation. She was issued an appearance ticket returnable to the Town of Shandaken Court at a later date, police said.
Reports from sources that were in town hall during the incident indicate that the two women were engaged in a verbal disagreement immediately before the alleged shoving.
Frasier has been Town Clerk for over 20 years, most recently being re-elected in 2008 to a four year term.
DEP Sues Again
The town of Shandaken was informed last week that the New York City Department of Environmental Protection has filed a lawsuit challenging this year's tax assessments of parts of the wastewater systems in Pine Hill and Chichester. Supervisor Robert Stanley said he is looking into whether or not the lawsuit represents a violation of trust between the DEP and watershed towns.
DEP has over the years filed many lawsuits against several of its watershed towns over assessment values. The towns cannot afford to keep defending themselves against the lawsuits ever since a city-funded defense fund at the Catskill Watershed Corporation was depleted over a year ago, so last year an agreement was made between the DEP and the Coalition of Watershed Towns on how waste treatment facilities would be assessed from here on. The idea was that the DEP would agree to no longer challenge assessments.
Jeff Baker, the Attorney for the Coalition, said this week that the matter must be researched because it remains unclear whether the collection systems being disagreed about fall under the agreement.
City Protested...
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection held three meetings in recent weeks on the proposed 10-year extension of their watershed land-buying program. Meetings included a July 13 Delaware County session in Delhi, a July 14 gathering in Tannersville, and a July 16 hearing in the Sullivan County Town of Grahamsville. All except for the Greene County event, home to Coalition of Watershed Towns Chairman Dennis Lucas, who negotiated the current acquisition plan over recent years, were sometimes boisterous and filled with rancorous complaints about New York City's century-old role in the region.
The Land Acquisition Program, as the DEP calls it, is the key to New York City's plan to avoid building a multi-billion-dollar plant to filter its drinking water, most of which is collected in upstate reservoirs in the Catskill-Delaware watershed. The idea is simple: The city will buy as much land near the reservoirs as it can from landowners who are willing to sell. That land will remain undeveloped, and will act as a giant buffer between the city's water and pollutants.
If New York City reaches its peak acquisition goals, said a Denning town clerk in Sullivan County, only 4.2 percent of Denning's developable land will remain.
In Delhi, where about 40 turned out, Delaware County Board of Supervisors chairman Jim Eisel called the program a "shotgun approach," and said that the plan was an attempt to give vast tracts of land to environmentalists.
Dean Frazier, the commissioner of the Delaware County Department of Watershed Affairs, said that the DEP's plan for land acquisition did not take into account the amount of money landowners could make by leasing their land to gas companies for hydraulic fracturing. "Natural gas should be part of the cost-benefit analysis," he said.
Andes resident Jack McShane, a former president of both the Catskill Forest Association and the Catskill Landowners Association, said that he mostly supported the land acquisition program, but was concerned about assessments, restrictions on bluestone quarrying, and gas drilling.
Neversink resident Dick Coombe, a former Assemblyman, suggested all city reservoirs be opened up to boating, that biking trails be created around the reservoirs and farm stands and bed and breakfast houses be promoted to create a local economy that uses New York City's water supply as a centerpiece.
"I would just urge you all to remember that we have rights and dreams here also," Coombe told the DEP. "We need a livelihood in the watershed. You're getting our water, so it's important that we get your economic stimulus."
New York City's Department of Environmental Protection already owns approximately 100,000 acres in the watershed and plans to solicit 440,672 additional acres and acquire as much as 96,948 acres in the Catskill-Delaware watershed by the year 2022. That includes more than 20,600 acres that the city hopes to buy or conserve through easements in Sullivan and Ulster counties. The DEP said those projections were perhaps slightly inflated to account for the highest possible effects on local economies.
The quality of drinking water supplied to New York City and dozens of neighboring upstate communities depends primarily on the quality of the streams and rivers which feed the water supply reservoirs. These source waters are vulnerable to degradation and contamination from various watershed land uses, development activities, and assorted land management practices.
Dave Tobias, deputy chief of the DEP's bureau of water supply, said the city can only pursue some properties. Solicited parcels must include wetlands, stream buffers, or other water features. They must also include 10 or more acres and slopes of at least 15 percent.
And, perhaps most importantly, the city cannot force local people to sell.
"Those who don't wish to speak to us don't have to," Tobias said.
The DEP also might amend a long-standing agreement with watershed towns that prohibited New York City from grieving its assessments until 20 years after the purchase date. The city has proposed changing that to 30 years, Tobias said.
New York City paid more than $2.4 million in taxes to watershed towns last year.
Voicefest!
It's only a few weeks until the first annual Phoenicia Voicefest gets underway over the weekend of August 13 through 15, and much is happening already. The entity recently established an advisory board, under the chairmanship of pianist Justin Kolb, with Deborah Voigt, Garry Kvistad, and composers George Tsontakis, Robert Manno, and Robert Cucinotta among its first members, all renowned within classical music circles.
It's also been announced that festival founders Maria Todaro, Louis Otey and Kerry Henderson will help open the Ulster County Fair at 6:00 PM on August 4th, singing "America the Beautiful" as county and state officials open the fair. Before that, there will be a fundraising dinner at the Emerson Resort on Saturday, July 31st featuring Todaro, Otey and Henderson, along with tenor, Christian Reinert. Pianist Karen Delavan will accompany them. Formal dress is required. Tickets can be purchased by calling 688-2451.
The festival is still looking for volunteers for now and the festival weekend for its various local events, which will involve all of Phoenicia. For further information e-mail info@PhoeniciaVoiceFest.com or call 888-214-3063.
Visit www.phoeniciavoicefest.com for further information.
The Economy?
Some signs of the local economy are good, others not so.
Sales of existing single-family homes rose dramatically in the Hudson Valley during the second quarter of 2010 as compared to the same period last year. While the largest gain was in Westchester County, where there was a 69 percent hike, Ulster County saw a 42.9 percent hike, year to year, while Dutchess sales rose 32.4 percent and Greene County sales went up 21.7 percent. Sullivan County had the smallest gain in sales from April through June with a six percent increase. Prices there fell from $138,000 last year to $134,000 this year.
The federal government has extended the closing deadline to receive a tax credit from April 30 to September 30, and that is also helping the condition.
In food prices, the weekly cost of feeding an Ulster County family of four was $207.13 during the week ending July 23, a decrease of $1.95, or one percent, since the previous survey two weeks earlier.
Meanwhile, however, average retail gasoline prices in New York have risen 1.5 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.84 per gallon Sunday. This compares with the national average, which has increased 2.4 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.74, according to NewYorkStateGasPrices.com.
Including the change in gas prices in New York during the past week, prices Sunday were 16.3 cents per gallon higher than the same day one year ago and are 2.9 cents per gallon lower than a month ago. The national average has decreased 0.5 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 25.5 cents per gallon higher than this day a year ago.
Hang in there...
Beaver Follow
In a follow-up on the July 13 beaver attack story out of Shandaken, during which at least one beaver attacked and bit two swimmers and two people tubing in the creek about a mile upstream from Phoenicia, Shandaken Police has reported that their officers shot at one of the beavers, and the active beaver dam along the creek was destroyed while searching for the animals. Detective Fred Holland later said police believe one beaver was wounded by a gunshot. He said the beaver was shot by a man involved with the search who had been authorized to fire by an official of the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
A week later, the police said no beaver has been found. "We believe the beaver is deceased," noted Shandaken Polie Department Officer in Charge James McGrath.
If a beaver is found, the Department of Environmental Conservation wants to test the animal or its remains for rabies, added agency spokeswoman Wendy Rosenbach.
Rosenbach said there is no reason to believe the animal or animals involved in these incidents are rabid. She noted that any animal will become aggressive if it feels threatened.
Anyone who finds a beaver carcass in the Phoenicia area should notify the Shandaken Police Department at (845) 688-9902.
Heating Oil?
Governor David Paterson signed a bill aimed at pollution from home heating oil into law last week that aims at lowering the sulfur content of home heating oil in New York State by mid-2012. No. 2 oil is the most commonly used by households across the state, so the ultra-low sulfur oil is expected to significantly reduce air pollution that causes health problems like asthma and can shorten lives.
The bill that passed yesterday was hard-fought, and opponents are already seeking to punish the legislators who voted to pass it. A news blog devoted to the heating oil industry reports that voters in Sen. Darrel Aubertine's upstate district have received automated phone calls that tell them the bill-which Aubertine voted for will raise their heating costs by $900 this winter. Similar attacks are ongoing in other state legislative fights.
A] spokesman for Sen. Aubertine refuted the assertions in the automated phone calls, stating that, "This won't do anything to your bill....The bill calls for the reduction of sulfur to make the fuel more efficient and it will save money... The cited increase of $900 is a completely false number that seems to be made up."
Spilled Oil...
The fast-growing stack of lawsuits filed against BP over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill will likely soon be consolidated before a single federal judge. The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation was to convene this week in Boise, Idaho, to hear arguments to combine the suits and avoid the legal chaos that could engulf what promises to be one of the biggest civil suits since the 19-year, $250 billion court fight over asbestos.
Attorneys for both sides favor the consolidation, although they disagree on which federal court and judge should get the case.
BP and its partners in the Deepwater Horizon venture prefer Houston, where BP's American headquarters, Transocean and Halliburton are all located.
Attorneys for the fishermen, hoteliers and property owners have asked that the case be assigned to federal judges in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. But most are pushing for New Orleans, where the majority of the suits have been filed. The Justice Department, which is conducting separate civil and criminal investigations, also weighed in in favor of New Orleans.
"As for the oil spill, we shall forgo a cascade of words like 'catastrophic' and 'cataclysmic' as they simply do not do justice to the magnitude of the economic, health, and environmental devastation wrought up on the nation's waters," Justice Department lawyers said in a June 16 brief. "The proceedings regarding liability for this event will potentially be of unprecedented proportions."
The assemblage of attorneys in Boise was expected to be so large that the seven-judge panel already has extended the allotted time for arguments. The panel is expected to assign the case to a federal judge by mid-August.
Mike Papantonio, a Florida attorney representing fishermen and property owners, said sending the case to Houston would be, for BP, "like having your mother and father on the jury. If you took the oil industry away from Houston, you'd have a tumbleweed town."
BP, in turn, argued in court papers that the federal court in New Orleans is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina and is already overburdened with several other large, complex cases.
The BP case has attracted some of the most prominent attorneys in the plaintiff bar, including those who sued Exxon after the 1989 spill of the Exxon Valdez tanker in Alaska. In the three months since the Deepwater Horizon well blew out, attorneys have scoured the gulf to sign up clients and filed more than 250 suits in eight states. Among the claims are several class actions, which could potentially involve thousands of plaintiffs.
At least three suits have been filed using the federal RICO law (which stands for Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations), which was originally passed to give prosecutors a tool to fight organized crime.
"Exxon Valdez was pretty easy: one company that owned one ship," said Jeffrey Fisher, a Stanford University law professor who argued the Exxon case before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the fishermen. "With BP, here's a much more complex web of business interests involved in the well. You can follow that right on down the line, to the number of claimants and the number of kinds of claims."
Val Exnicios, a New Orleans attorney representing the Louisiana commercial fishermen's union in its suit, said the case could end up like the asbestos litigation, which is the longest-running multijurisdictional case in the country.
"In my 21 years in practice, I have never seen a case that has potential to be as large in economic terms," Exnicios said. "I can't even imagine what."
But BP's money may not flow as freely as the oil from its runaway well. In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down the punitive damages in the Exxon Valdez suit to $500 million - a fraction of the original jury award of $5 billion, which a federal appeals court had cut to $2.5 billion. The 1990 Oil Pollution Act, passed in the wake of the Exxon Valdez spill, caps damages at $75 million, although since BP's well blew out Congress has been working to raise it retroactively to $10 billion.
Additionally, the $20 billion victim compensation fund set up by BP is expected to reduce the number of court claims, much as the 9/11 victim fund did.
Gas Drilling!!!
As we went to press this week, a final vote was expected in Albany on whether or not the state sets a moratorium against gas drilling, or fracking, until a new federal EPA study is completed in the coming year, Sen. John Bonacic said he was one who would now be voting in favor of a moratorium.
In the week before, a coalition of environmental advocacy groups called on the state Legislature to approve the bill that would suspend for 11 months the issuing of new permits for hydrofracking to extract natural gas from underground rock formations. The group held a news conference in Albany headed by the group Frack Action and largely assembled by Ulster County Legislator Susan Zimet, D-New Paltz.
The message they all had was the same. State Assembly and Senate members must approve the 11-month delay in natural gas or oil mining in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations and, if they don't, members will work to vote them out of office.
Folk singer Pete Seeger, a Beacon resident, took time away from his 69th wedding anniversary to travel to Albany and performed a new song he wrote about the environment.
Meanwhile, advocates of gas drilling started touting a new study they had funded that purported that, "Natural gas production in the Marcellus Shale region-if developed-could create 280,000 new American jobs and add $6 billion in new tax revenues to local, state and federal governments over the next decade," adding that the fracking phenomenon was, ""One of the biggest opportunities to create jobs and increase America's energy security lies within the Marcellus Shale region," according to American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard, president.
The information war over the natural gas drilling practice commonly has been heating up as filmmaker Josh Fox's film "Gasland," winner of the special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival last winter, has been shown to huge audiences throughout the area and started airing regularly on HBO.
Energy In Depth (EID), an information service created and funded by the oil and gas industry, recently posted "Debunking Gasland," a point-by-point argument against the Fox's startling discoveries. EID paints Fox as a "purveyor of the avant-garde" who is guilty of "flat-out making stuff up."
Fox and his team of researchers and scientists have responded with a report affirming claims made in the film. In a letter released with the report, Fox states that EID's debunking relies on "smear tactics" to further the industry's "attempts to shut down questions about their practices."
An 18-month study by the journalists at Propublica uncovered more than 1,000 cases in which water supplies were affected by fracking practices. Propublica has revealed that companies drilling in Pennsylvania have been regularly fined for environmental accidents including the spilling of hazardous chemicals.
And then there is the June 3 blowout incident in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. Last week, Pennsylvania state officials confirmed that "blowout preventers" in a fracking well failed during a cleanout operation, causing a blowout that spewed natural gas and thousands of gallons of fracking liquids across the area, contaminating a spring and a stream.
John Hanger, Pennsylvania's environmental secretary, said during a press conference last week that the blowout could have been "catastrophic" had any of the gas ignited. Hanger went on to announce a total of $400,000 in fines leveled against well operator EOG Resources and its contractor, as well as the department's decision to allow the firm to continue drilling.
Stay tuned.
Buy First Home?
Rural Ulster Preservation Company (RUPCO) is administering a Community Development Block Grant on behalf of Ulster County to assist first time homebuyers with grants for closing costs, down payment, and post closing repairs. This program is available to prospective first time buyers that are mortgage qualified and have an accepted binder and earn less than 80% of area median income ($50,600 for a family of 4). Eligible properties are located within Ulster County excluding the City of Kingston.
Interested qualified buyers should contact RUPCO at 331-9860, extension 226, for more information and applications. First time homebuyers that are not mortgage qualified but interested in RUPCO's homebuyer education and counseling program can also call 331-9860, extension 220, and sign up for an orientation of program offerings.
Art Grifter...
An auctioneer convicted of stealing more than $27,000 from a renowned Woodstock-based muralist's estate has been sentenced to prison. Greene County Court Judge George J. Pulver Jr. imposed a two-and-one-third-to-seven-year sentence in state prison on Anthony Bonneau, 46, former owner of T's Family Auction.
In April, Bonneau was convicted of third-degree grand larceny after a three-day jury trial. The jurors found that Bonneau had indeed swindled the family of James Michael Newell, a prolific artist and muralist during the 1930s Works Progress Administration.
During the sentencing Pulver referred to Bonneau as "a swindler, a drifter, an auction house grifter."
Newell's granddaughter, Valerie Ducos, had contacted Bonneau in 2009 after being referred by a long-time friend. Ducos, formerly a resident of Woodstock and now residing in Cairo, intended to sell some of her late grandfather's belongings, including original mural boards Newell used to create such works as "The Evolution of Western Civilization," a fresco mural displayed in New York City public schools depicting the transformation from prehistoric societies to modern civilization. Other belongings that were auctioned included paintings from Newell's collection, sketches, furniture and other household items.
At first, Bonneau told Ducos that he could sell the items for $1 million, claiming he had sold Picasso paintings in Europe and had vast experience in selling artwork.Then he reduced the sale price, as the location of the auction changed from New York City to the Holiday Inn of Kingston to Woodstock and ultimately to the Cairo firehouse.
"I did hope to get $100,000," Ducos said previously, "but there was nobody in Cairo. There were maybe 20 to 30 people at the auction in Cairo."
Ducos said proceeds from the money raised at auction would have been put toward the care of her 81-year-old mother Patricia, who suffers from dementia.
Several of Bonneau's friends and family were among those attending the auction on Oct. 25, 2009, with family members purchasing auctioned items.
Bonneau had raised $40,455 from the auction, though Ducos never saw any of that money.
Bonneau took a 30 percent commission of $12,136 and additional fees, leaving only $27,363 for Ducos, which she was never paid.
"He's a really good con artist," Ducos said. "He had the money. The DA subpoenaed Bonneau's bank records and he had the money in his account, and he chose to keep it."
Along with Pulver's sentencing judgment, Bonneau was ordered to pay $27,363 in restitution and a $1,368 surcharge.
Drug Raids...
Four people have been arrested on drug related charges following a several month investigation into the sales and trafficking of heroin at 50 North Street in Kingston.
The investigation by the URGENT task force branched out into the towns of Marbletown and Woodstock and surrounding areas. Police raided the residence of Terry Mantia, 59, at 855 Lapla Road in Marbletown armed with a search warrant and found several glassine envelopes containing heroin, cocaine, scales and chemical agents used in the packaging and sale of narcotics. Anthony Messina, 25, of Boiceville, and James Monarch, 39, of Olive Bridge, were also there; Messina possessed cocaine and heroin and Monarch had a hypodermic instrument.
Tristan Boss, 36, of Woodstock, who was also there, had 371 glassine envelopes with heroin and a substantial amount of cash on him, police said.
Several other people were detained at that address, but where questioned and released.
Mantia and Boss were charged with drug related felonies. Messina was charged with misdemeanor drug possession and Monarch was charged with criminal possession of a hypodermic instrument.
The raid and arrests were made on Friday, July 23.
Constance Wins!
A rural school district that canceled its prom rather than allow a lesbian student to attend with her girlfriend has agreed to pay $35,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit the ACLU filed on 18 year old Constance McMillen's behalf. The district also agreed to follow a non-discrimination policy as part of the settlement, though it argues such a policy was already in place.
A benefit concert in Woodstock last month in honor of McMillen raised more than $30,000. Proceeds from "All Love, All Woodstock" were to be divided among McMillen's college education fund, the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and AIDS Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, and Onteora High School's Gay-Straight Alliance. The benefit, held June 25 at the Bearsville Theater, featured Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Ronnie Spector.
Besides musical performances, the event featured an auction that included celebrity swag and autographed memorabilia from actors and musicians, as well as a $1,000 package from the Woodstock Writers Festival that included dinner with author Julie Powell
McMillen said the victory came at the price of her being shunned in her small hometown of Fulton, Mississippi.
District officials said in the settlement offer that they didn't believe they violated McMillen's rights.
Christine P. Sun, an ACLU lawyer, said the case has "inspired countless other people around the world to stand up for what's right."
McMillen eventually withdrew from Itawamba Agricultural High School and finished her senior year at a school in Jackson, Miss. She has since moved to Memphis, Tenn., where she plans to attend Southwest Community College in the spring, majoring in psychology. She said she'll use the settlement money for her college education..
McMillen's case gained national attention and she was featured on talk shows and served as a grand marshal for New York's Gay Pride Parade, among other events. She also visited the White House.
Climate Change...
Our nation's capital just endured its hottest June since records began in 1872, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. So did Miami. Atlanta suffered its second-hottest June, and Dallas had its third hottest. In New York, the weather was relatively pleasant: only the fourth-hottest June since 1872. Then again, New York is on pace for its hottest July on record.
Yet when United States senators and their aides file into work last week, on yet another 90-degree day, they decided to do approximately nothing about global warming. The needed 60 votes weren't there, at least not at the moment.
All the while, the risks and costs of climate change grow. Sea levels are rising faster than scientists predicted just a few years ago. Himalayan glaciers are melting. In the American West, pine beetles (which struggle to survive the cold) are multiplying and killing trees.
According to NASA, 2010 is on course to be the planet's hottest year since records started in 1880. The current top 10, in descending order, are: 2005, 2007, 2009, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2004, 2001 and 2008. Furthermore, the first half of 2010 was the hottest six-month period recorded globally with temperatures around the globe 2 to 3 degrees Fahrenheit above averages.
Hot is the new normal.
Last June, the House passed a cap-and-trade bill. It set a national cap on carbon emissions and required companies to have permits for such emissions. To keep emitting as much as they had been, companies would have to buy permits from more efficient companies.
Republican leaders, though, were only too happy to cast cap and trade as "cap and tax." In the process, they helped scare away senators who had long supported this very idea, like Lindsey Graham. The sad paradox is that cap and trade - which trusts in the efficiency of markets - was originally a Republican policy, signed by the first President Bush to reduce acid rain, and disliked at the time by many liberals.
See everyone in September...
Morton Library!
The Pine Hill Library has announced a number of Summer Programs for local children and young adults. "Make a Splash" - for children in Grades K- 8 - will focus on "Animal Friends" this summer, highlighting books about animals. Story time reading will be each Saturdays from 2 to 4 PM.
Local performer, Melody Newcombe will entertain the children at the library on July 29, from 4 to 6 PM.
"Making Waves" - for young adults ages 13 to 18 - will feature "Into the Wild", the book and movie as well as a documentary about the life of Christopher McChandless, a young man who decided to leave his parents and live in the wild. On Saturdays there will be informal gatherings at the library to talk about insights and reactions to the book and movie. The book has to do with the dangers of leaving home and going out into the world without being fully prepared, but also about having the courage to follow one's dream and travel to meet new people and have once in a life-time experiences. Participants need to sign up at the library for this program and have their parent check out the movie or have their parent's consent before checking out the movie since it is R rated due to it's mature content.
See you all at the Library!
Farmstand Crash
As happens in small towns like ours, people have been asking about the two car accident on Route 28 July 2 at the entrance to an already controversial farmstand in Mount Tremper. According to Shandaken Police Officer in Charge James McGrath, two cars were headed east when one was preparing to cross the highway and enter the parking lot of Hanford Farms. The driver of the second car then rear-ended the vehicle as it was making the turn.
McGrath said one driver was brought to Kingston Hospital complaining of neck pain.
Hanford Farms has been the subject of controversy for several years, with critics complaining that the operation has grown too large and represents a traffic hazard. It is currently being studied by the Shandaken Planning Board as the key to new town laws addressing similar businesses in Shandaken, as well as for possible ways of finally making it fully legal.
Re-Store Catskills!
Artists in the Central Catskills have a new challenge: create a store with only an empty storefront, two days, and a $1,000 budget. The Re-Store Design Challenge storefronts will be selling their designs as they open for "business" from August 21 to September 19 on Main Street, Roxbury, and votes will help choose the winning team (and a scholarship or grant for that team's participating student member.)
Three design teams will compete to be the best, brightest and most creative retail designs ever imagined in the Catskills. Design team leaders Andrew Williams (architect), Donald Hill (interior designer), and Sean Scherer (artist and entrepreneur) have now chosen their design "sous chefs" to complement their own skills with some additional artistic heavy lifting as they tackle their Re-Store concepts for the former Enderlin Gallery spaces on Main Street Roxbury.
Learn more about it all at the Re-Store Design Challenge facebook page or call sponsoring organization, The MARK Project, at 586-3500. Funded in part by the A. Lindsay & Olive B. O'Connor Foundation.
Tennis Tourney...
From Friday, July 30 through Sunday August 1, the Delaware County community of Fleischmanns will host the Second Annual Catskills Cup at Fleischmanns Park, including three days of tennis, beginning with a free junior tournament on Friday with BBQ and free live music in the evening with the Catskill Mountain Boys and Esquela. On Saturday, July 31, the all-day adult tournament includes a gala Hall of Fame dinner, with music by zydeco roots band, L'il Anne and Hot Cayenne. The tournament offers two men's divisions, one for players 55 and over and an open division, a women's open division and mixed and open doubles divisions. Tournament semi-finals and finals conclude on Sunday, August 1. Proceeds benefit Fleischmanns park and community programs. Entry fees include Hall of Fame dinner tickets. Non-players may attend the gala dinner and concert for a fee, as well. Sign up or reserving dinner tickets by calling 254-5341 or visiting www.tenniseveryone.com.
SUNY Streams!
Four students from SUNY Ulster's Environmental Studies Program have been assisting this summer in stream management projects in the Catskill region. Student interns Tiffany Runge of Boiceville, Anthony Lombardo of Saugerties, Beth Dickinson of Elmira and Stacie Howell of Highland have been working with the Catskill Streams Buffer Initiative (CSBI) of the Delaware County Soil and Water Conservation District to improve streamside habitats.
The SUNY Ulster students, along with interns from SUNY Delhi, have removed invasive plants and planted native vegetation along streams.
Students from both colleges have participated in summer projects in the New York City watershed for several years that are funded through a contract between the Catskill Region Soil and Water Conservation Districts and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.
Meanwhile, SUNY Ulster's "real-world classroom" model and interactive learning approaches will be featured at a conference showcasing successful teaching at community colleges across the state. The college has been selected to give presentations at the Upstate Successful Teaching Conference on Oct. 22 in Syracuse hosted by the Institute for Community College Development.
Sean Nixon, assistant professor and coordinator of the school's graphic design program, will speak on "YOU + the Classroom that Never Sleeps" about how students are sharing their design work with the community using the Internet and social media tools. Hope Windle, instructional designer, also will present at the event about interactive learning.