Newsbriefs

7/30//2009

28 Stimulated
There’s $2.2 million in Federal Stimulus dollars headed to the Town of Shandaken, where electronic road signs signal the beginning of a repaving project on route 28. The signs, located just West of Phoenicia and east of Mount Tremper, announce that the project will begin on August 10th.
According to DOT officials, the plan is to repave approximately four miles of Route 28 between Route 212 and Route 214 in the Town of Shandaken, Ulster County. The top layer of worn, deteriorated pavement will be removed and replaced with new asphalt and fresh pavement markings to extend the service life of pavement.
All well and good, but local officials say the project doesn’t go far enough.
It was over a year ago that local residents began publicly complaining about the highway, warning that it is so bad that it must be fully repaired. This month Town Supervisor Peter DiSclafani prepared the following petition:
“The condition of State Route 28 throughout the Town of Shandaken is a danger to public safety. Except for a two mile section at the eastern entrance to Town in Mount Tremper, Route 28 has not been paved for over 20 years,” it states. “The section of road from the Mount Tremper bridge to Route 42 is in such a state of disrepair, it is impossible in some sections not to veer into the on-coming traffic or onto the shoulder. Though it is a Department of Transportation ‘designated bike path,’ the shoulder has missing pavement for most of the roadway and is unsafe for those on bicycles. In addition to Town officials and County officials, the Village of Fleischmanns, the Village of Margaretville, the Town of Andes, the Town of Olive, and the Town of Middletown representing the Central Catskills Collaborative, along with the Town of Shandaken, have contacted State officials numerous times to urge the repair of the entire road. We, the undersigned, believe the stretch of Route 28 running through the Town of Shandaken is dangerous and unless the State acts to repair the deteriorated pavement, lives could be lost. As Shandaken depends on year-round tourism, it is imperative for the safety of travelers and for the attractiveness of our Town, for Route 28 be in good repair. We urge Governor David Patterson and Acting Commissioner Stanley Gee to act quickly to add this project to the capital list for 2009/2010 to repair and repave this entire section of Route 28.”
DiSclafani recalls that earlier this year it was announced that $13 million had been allocated for the repaving of Route 28, but Ulster County officials reallocated most of those funds to projects in more populated areas of the county.
On July 27, DiSclafani said it is odd that Route 28 is in much better shape starting in Delaware County, just over the County line at Highmount. That is also the beginning of another Department of Transportation jurisdiction.

Seeking Trustees
The Onteora School Board is preparing to begin the process of re-filling their ranks to make a full, seven member body. The board has been plagued with resignations over the past couple years, most recently with the departure of Michelle Friedel and Richard Wolff, both Town of Olive residents two years into three year terms, who sent word through written notice last month that they were stepping down for personal reasons.
Due to those resignations, the Board invites residents looking to support the education of children in the district to apply for the vacant Trustee positions, for the period from September 8 2009 until May 18, 2010.
Those interested in the positions should be prepared to be considered in full view of the pubic eye, says Board President Laurie Osmond, similar to the way the Board found a candidate to replace Ralph Legnini, the trustee that resigned in February after serving seven months of a three year term.
“We did nothing in private,” said Osmond, referring to the process that led to the appointment of Mount Tremper resident Dan Spencer, who voters later elected in May to keep the post.
Osmond added that candidates are expected to provide a brief written summary explaining why they feel best suited for the job. Then at a school board meeting, trustees will ask candidates questions. The questions will be prepared in advance, but Osmond said it is not clear whether the questions will be given to candidates prior to the interviews.
After that process, the board will discuss the candidates and vote on who to appoint.
It should be noted that while this process has been developed to pick the best two candidates, there was no competition for school board seats in the general election last May when three seats were available. Along with Spencer, Osmond was re-elected and Mount Tremper resident Tony Fletcher was okayed for the third open seat, all for three year terms.
“As a Trustee you are expected to attend board meetings twice a month, and can expect to spend periods of time outside of these meetings in conversation, in study, and attending other meetings, “ Osmond said. “ According to the New York State School Board Association, a Trustee should expect to spend an average of six hours a week on school board issues, though actual hours can be longer than this.”
Candidates must meet the following qualifications: be a citizen of the United States, at least eighteen years of age, a literate, legal resident one year prior to election, they cannot be an employee of the district, they cannot have an OCSD board member in the same household, they may not simultaneously hold another, incompatible public office and they must not have been removed from a School District office within one year preceding the date of election to the Board.
The meeting to interview the candidates has been set for September 8th at the Woodstock Elementary School.
Anyone interested should send a brief resume and statement of interest to the District Clerk via email at: districtclerk@onteora.k12.ny.us or mail or fax to: Onteora Central School District, 4166 State Route 28, PO Box 300, Boiceville, NY 12412; 657-6383 x250 phone or 657-8742, fax.

Wooden Nickels!
Preparations are underway for the 6th Annual Shandaken Day Celebration, set to take place in Big Indian Park on Saturday, August 29, 10AM until 6PM this year, with special events including the unveiling of a new 14 foot statue honoring Winisook, the “Big Indian of local lore,” and special Native American opening and closing ceremonies set in addition to the usual assortment of kids games, food booths and other fun.
Also new, and key to the events this year is a new Shandaken Wooden Nickel program, an effort to raise funds for Shandaken Day and promote business into the end of September. For $2 a patron may purchase a Wooden Nickel with the Shandaken Day Moniker on it as either a souvenir or, from the Festival on, for redemption at local participating businesses for a discount equal to or greater than that initial $2. The business with the highest redemption of nickels will receive a plaque commemorating their achievement at a Shandaken Town Board meeting in the fall.
To date, participating establishments where Wooden Nickels can be purchased include Belleayre Plaza and the Pine Hill Arms in Pine Hill, Peekamoose Restaurant and Morra’s Market in Big Indian, Brio’s Restaurant and the Sportsman’s Alamo Cantina in Phoenicia, and Hanover Farms in Mt. Tremper, as well as in the Shandaken Town Clerk’s Office at the Shandaken Town Hall.
Shandaken Day is held in different hamlets each year to “highlight, educate and re-invigorate interest in some of Shandaken’s geographic points of interest” according to its current organizing committee. This year, the event’s focus is on the hamlets of Big Indian and Oliverea.
To participate in the event or for further info, phone 254-5318, 254-6705 or 688-5004.

Job Losses
The Hudson Valley lost another 18,300 jobs year over year in June, bringing to 746,400 the number of people who have become unemployed in the last 12 months, the state Labor Department reported recently. Putnam is feeling the least relative pain, with a 7 percent jobless rate last month. At the bottom, Sullivan and Greene, close to 9 percent.
Employment gains were seen only in educational and health services, where 3,400 new jobs were created.
Labor Department analyst John Nelson said we have not yet hit rock bottom. “As we move forward as those layoff announcements continue to mount, it’s definitely a clear sign that this market deterioration is far from over,” he said.
The largest declines were in trade, transportation and utilities with 6,200 jobs lost; manufacturing, where 3,600 cuts were made; professional and business services, which lost 3,100 jobs; leisure and hospitality, which lost 2,500 jobs; construction, where 2,400 positions were cut; financial activities, were 2,100 jobs were lost; and information, which saw 1,100 job losses.
The government sector added 300 jobs over the year.
On a county by county basis, Ulster’s unemployment rate was at 8.2 Percent in June, as compared to 8.8 percent for Sullivan and 8.9 percent for Greene counties.

Mosquitoes?
The heavy June and July rains across the Northeast have left standing water in bird baths, clogged gutters and other places were mosquito larvae thrive. As a result, scientists are noticing a bumper crop of the bloodsucking insects in many areas.
Mosquitoes make an appearance each spring as melting snow and spring showers create plenty of standing water, which mosquitoes need to reproduce. Larvae die as the puddles dry up.
This spring brought a deluge of rain that continued for weeks, however, causing trouble for farmers, landscapers and anyone else who works outside. It was the wettest June on record in Atlantic City, N.J., and the second-wettest in New York City.
The New Jersey State Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Mosquito Control estimates that’s the pest population in the suburbs of New Jersey increased by 50 percent compared to the Five year average. In New York, it increased by 150 percent.
According to the Northeast Regional Climate Center (NRCC), which serves the 12-state region, the emergence of adult mosquitoes typically occurs after the accumulation of 230 base 50°F daily degree days… which has occurred throughout the entire region this year, including high altitude areas such as the Catskills usually spared heavy mosquito presences.
They and Cornell Extension of Ulster County have noted, moreover, that mosquitoes are more than an annoyance. They also can become a health threat because they transmit the West Nile virus and Eastern equine encephalitis.
West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne infection that can cause serious illness, and in some cases, death. West Nile virus was first found in New York State in 1999. Since 2000 there have been over 254 human cases (26 deaths) of WNV statewide.
The chances of a person becoming ill with WNV, the state Department of Health says, are small. Most people who are infected with the West Nile virus will not have any type of illness. It is estimated that 20% of the people who become infected will develop West Nile fever: mild symptoms, including fever, headache, and body aches, occasionally with a skin rash and swollen lymph glands. In many individuals, these symptoms are so mild that they go unnoticed or undetected. The symptoms of severe infection (West Nile encephalitis or meningitis) can include headache, high fever, neck stiffness, muscle weakness, stupor, disorientation, tremors, convulsions, paralysis, and coma. It is estimated that one in 150 persons infected with the West Nile virus will develop the more severe form of the disease.
Prevention of mosquito-bites is the most important way to reduce your risk of mosquito-borne diseases such as WNV. To help protect yourself from mosquitoes and West Nile Virus, wear long sleeves, pants and socks, and minimize outdoor activities between dusk and dawn, when mosquitoes are most active.. Consider using insect repellent on exposed skin, and follow label directions… or take Vitamin B, which is said to help, as is a dab of rosemary and a dab of ey=ucalyptus applied to the skin.
Mosquitoes can breed in any stagnant water that lasts more than four days. To reduce the mosquito population around your home and property, health officials advise residents to take the following steps to reduce or eliminate standing water: Dispose of tin cans, plastic containers, ceramic pots or similar water-holding containers; drill drain holes in the bottoms of recycling containers that are kept outdoors; make sure roof gutters drain properly, and clean clogged gutters in the spring and fall; turn over wading pools and wheelbarrows when not in use; change the water in bird baths twice a week; dispose of used tires; clean vegetation and debris from the edges of ponds; clean and properly chlorinate swimming pools, outdoor saunas and hot tubs; use landscaping to eliminate standing water and make sure windows and doors have screens in good condition.
If you have additional questions, contact your local health department. You can also direct questions about mosquitoes, West Nile Virus or encephalitis to the State Health Department at arbobml@health.state.ny.us and questions about insect repellents to the Environmental Health Infoline at 1-800-458-1158.

Bears: Beware!
A maimed sow defends her cubs in Woodstock. A Chichester cub gets moved on to Oswego. Greene County Encon Officers euthanize five bears in a season, and Ulster officials two.
Bears are curious and spend a great deal of time exploring for food, which can bring them close to humans, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation. They also are intelligent and learn from experience. If an activity results in food, the bear will repeat that activity. If an encounter with a human is negative, or does not result in a reward such as food, then bears will learn to avoid humans and have no reason for contact with them.But when bears learn to obtain food from humans, they can become bold and aggressive. Additionally, bears’ natural foraging habits and behavior can be changed when they receive food from humans, either directly or indirectly.
Usually solitary, bears that receive food from humans can end up being concentrated in areas, causing stress, injuries from physical conflicts and the spread of diseases. When feeding on garbage or campers’ supplies, bears also will eat unhealthy materials such as soap, shaving cream, insect repellent, food packaging and more.
The issue of feeding bears is so serious, the Department of Environmental Conservation will issue warning letters to anyone found doing so. And if those letters are ignored, the offenders can face a fine of up to $250 and/or 15 days in jail.
In the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Region 3 area — which includes Ulster, Orange and Dutchess counties — there have been 265 complaints about bears this year, said spokeswoman Wendy Rosenbach. Add to that three dozen in Greene County, and a similar amount in neighboring Delaware County, and one lesson becomes clear… Be serious about bears. Beware!
“Removing attractants is the big thing,” Rosenbach said of avoiding problems with bears. She said taking down bird feeders and not feeding family pets outdoors will help prevent bear problems because problematic encounters usually occur when bears are looking for food.
For more information about black bears and avoiding problem encounters, go to the Web site www.dec.ny.gov.

Biomass Opps
The Watershed Agricultural Council (WAC) is currently seeking applications from large energy consumers (over 75,000 square-feet) including schools, housing complexes, college campuses, manufacturing facilities or entire communities that are interested in exploring biomass heating options for their buildings. Studies will evaluate the potential for meeting a facility’s energy needs with available by-products of the region’s forest products manufacturing and forest management activities. Selected applicants will receive a detailed assessment of the economic, environmental and technical feasibility of installing a high efficiency, low-emissions biomass boiler system to accommodate wood as a renewable fuel option.
In early 2009, WAC worked with Richmond Energy Associates — a professional consulting firm with extensive experience in wood energy systems — to conduct preliminary biomass heating assessments at several facilities including three public schools in the Catskills Region (ONteora included). The study, titled Biomass Opportunities in the Catskills, showed that shifting 85% of their heating load to wood chips would save users roughly two to three times the current prices paid for conventional fuels. This generates immediate fuel cost savings and helps to achieve quicker paybacks versus other renewable energy installations. Discussions with potential chip suppliers also suggest that the region could support several appropriately scaled biomass heating applications. At this time, WAC is offering another opportunity to research additional facilities and communities that could benefit by making the switch to regionally-sourced, low-carbon fuels.
Selected applicants will receive a site visit from an experienced wood energy specialist working under contract to WAC. The contractor will survey the facility, collect appropriate energy consumption data and prepare a written report which will detail the technical and economic feasibility of integrating a biomass boiler system including: Options and estimated costs for installation of an appropriately scaled biomass energy system; projected savings (including a “payback through savings scenario”) compared to existing fuel; amount and general specifications of biomass to be consumed annually; the supply, availability and accessibility of raw material to fuel the system (including the amount and condition of material generated in the vicinity of the site, source of material, cost estimates of material purchase and delivery, and potential contractors that can deliver the biomass); potential sources of funding for the biomass system including state construction aid, energy service contracts, carbon offset banks and federal programs; a summary of emissions control technologies and review of permits that may be required; potential reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions as compared to existing energy source; and recommendations for additional energy efficiency measures that will compliment a biomass system.
The costs for this assessment will depend on the complexity and level of detail required. At this time, no cap is being placed on the level of funding available. However, preference will be given to applications that address an opportunity to connect multiple buildings into a district heating loop (rural communities, office complexes and college campuses) and/or require year-round heat or process steam. The project is focused on facilities in Delaware, Dutchess, Greene, Putnam, Schoharie, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester Counties. All project proposals must be received by the Watershed Agricultural Council no later than September 16, 2009 to be considered.
WAC is funded by New York City Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the US Forest Service Northeastern Area State & Private Forestry and other federal and foundation sources.

Wind Power…
Hunter town supervisor Dennis Lucas is hoping a wind turbine tower will be installed at his municipality’s closed landfill by the beginning of October — the first step in possibly creating a wind farm there to help defray local energy costs.
Lucas is working with the Greene County Industrial Development Agency and a Massachusetts manufacturer called Mass Energy to locate a residential wind turbine at the old dump. He said the wind tower would be placed at no cost to the town and would be a trial project to understand and produce a three-way agreement between the municipality, the manufacturer and Industrial Development Agency. If the agreement works out, it could lead to the town using more of the old landfill property for a wind farm.
Lucas warned, though, that creating a wind farm is expensive… and potentially troublesome with a public that’s been known to have difficulties with such entities occurring elsewhere in the Catskills.. But by partnering with the Industrial Development Agency and Mass Energy, he says he hopes the town might be able to make the project financially feasible, as well as more popular, by being more localized.
The trial tower would be about 50 feet high and is expected to produce 10 kilowatts of electricity — enough to power the town’s wetlands aeration system, which currently is run from the electric grid. The tower, which Lucas described as looking like “a giant erector set,” will have wind energy collectors on multiple singular shafts, as opposed to towers that have just one propeller.
The trial tower and the potential for a larger project in the future are the results of a joint effort by the town of Hunter and its land use consultant, Rene Van Schaack of Natural Resource Solutions, Lucas said. He said Van Schaack also is the town’s wetlands operator and works for the county Industrial Development Agency.
Lucas said the wind tower project fits in with the town having adopted the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s “Climate Smart Communities” pledge to reduce the municipality’s public service carbon footprint.
A public hearing on the proposed regulations will be held at Hunter Town offices on Route 23A in Tannersville at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 18.

And Hydro, Too?
US Senator Charles Schumer has asked the New York City Department of Environmental Protection to speed up talks with Delaware County Electric Cooperative regarding that group’s efforts to build hydroelectric plants at four reservoirs in the Catskills – the Schoharie, Cannonsville, Pepaction and Neversink. The plants, which would use water from the reservoirs’ regular releases to generate electricity, could be used for economic development or sold to provide revenues to the cooperative’s members in Sullivan, Delaware, Otsego, Chenango or Schoharie counties. The plants would have minimal impact and not affect the quality or quantity of drinking water, the senator said.
Schumer has said hydro plants would be an added benefit of generating revenues for New York City, as well as a potential future source of energy for watershed communities such as Shandaken and Olive, as well as potentially with all municipal water and possibly sewer systems.
Flush or those lights might dim…

Join Together!
Towns and counties seeking state and federal grants can enhance their chances by demonstrating long-term planning, identifying hardships and presenting solar energy projects, grant consultant Glenn Gidaly told the Ulster County Supervisors Association recently.
“With the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Agency, almost every town and village in Ulster County is eligible for rural development funding,” Gidaly said. “They have more money this year than they’ve had in four years. A lot of it is stimulus money, but they also got a big increase in the federal budget. They have money for water and sewer, town and village halls, fire departments with both low-interest loans and outright grant money.”
He added that new criteria include ‘green’ infrastructure, smart-growth issues, proving that a project is cost-effective, and join projects between municipalities.
Meanwhile, a bill to expand the Hudson River Valley Greenway has passed in both houses of the Legislature and is headed to the governor’s desk for his action. The bill would allow municipalities in the areas of Ulster County located within the Catskill Park to be reinstated to the Hudson River Valley Greenway. Through voluntary participation in the program, these communities will once again have the option of taking advantage of Greenway’s technical expertise and funding to protect the natural beauty, safety and ecological balance of the area in ways that encourage and stimulate economic growth.

Gas Fracking…
Public outcry at a hearing on a natural gas exploration permit held in Bethlehem, Pa on July 15, which would have allowed a gas drilling company to draw one million gallons of water from the river per day, has resulted in the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) voting to postpone a decision on the permit until sometime in the future. The DRBC specifically said the postponement was due to the large amount of public comment, coupled with some 500 letters regarding the matter. The commission’s next meeting is on September 22.
In May, the DRBC announced that it had determined that gas-drilling activities might result in substantial negative impacts to the watershed and that DRBC staff was beginning a process to create new rules specifically related to gas drilling.
A spokesperson for Chesapeake responded that the company looked forward to working with the regional agency and the public in forwarding its application.
The New York City Department of Environmental Preservation (DEP), which has responsibility for releases from reservoirs that feed the Upper Delaware River, has written to the DRBC saying that any water withdrawal permit, or permits, should be structured so that the applicants may withdraw only when the DEP is not releasing water from the reservoirs to maintain targeted flows in the river.
Gas fracking, as what’s being proposed is called, seeks to develop natural resources under what is called the Marcellus Shale, a massive geological formation that stretches under much of the Catskills, as well as much of the New York City watershed.

Bad Gardens
Gov. David Paterson has called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to designate as agriculture disaster areas 17 New York counties, including Ulster, Dutchess, Columbia and Greene, due to crop damage caused by the seemingly relentless rains.
“Weather conditions have made this an extremely difficult season for New York’s farmer families,” Paterson said in a press release issued July 27. “Too much rain has washed away crops, which have also been damaged by hail stones, and now the harvest is suffering from the effects of late blight.”
Since early this spring, New York farmers have experienced a host of weather-related problems — most notably excessive rainfalls — that have damaged crops. Excessive rain presents a host of problems for farmers, ranging from difficulty working in the fields due to mud, to the introduction of pests, fungus and rot associated with wet growing conditions, to the loss of quality and quantity of crops harvested. Crops most heavily affected by the rain this season include hay, field crops and annual vegetable crops.
If the 17 counties are declared a federal agricultural disaster area, farmers will be eligible to apply for low-interest emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency.
Get your pencils ready…

Historic PH?
The Pine Hill Community Center will be hosting a community meeting for all residents of Pine Hill and the surrounding communities on Thursday, August 6 at 7:00 PM. The purpose of the meeting is to begin exploring the possibility of designating Pine Hill an Historic District. Erin Tobin from the Preservation League of New York State will be the guest speaker and will explain about and answer questions about Historic Districts. The meeting will be held at the Pine Hill Community Center at 287 Main Street, Pine Hill. Call 254-5469 for info.

Family Granted
The state Office for the Aging has announced a $25,000 grant to Family of Woodstock for the agency’s Staying in Place program, which comprises skilled and experienced older adults who initially participated in the Senior Recreation Program established in Woodstock. The group will partner with other existing civil, social service and arts organizations in the area to design and implement a comprehensive support system that will allow older adults to not only continue to live in their homes but continue to be contributing, active members of their communities.
Also, unemployed residents of Ulster County may now qualify for new emergency financial aid from The Salvation Army over the next four weeks as the result of a donation from the Target department store chain. Residents who have lost their jobs since September 2008 can apply for grants of up to $1,500 per household to put towards rent, utility bills or mortgage payments. The money is available until August 21, 2009.
Applications can be made by calling for an appointment with Doug Rockwell at The Salvation Army in Kingston, 845-331-1803/1804/1805. To qualify, applicants need to show proof of residency and length of unemployment, along with evidence of need in the form of rent, utility or mortgage bills.

Only In Texas?
The Christian right is making a fresh push to force religion onto the school curriculum in Texas with the state’s education board about to consider recommendations that children be taught that there would be no United States if it had not been for God. Members of a panel of experts appointed by the board to revise the state’s history curriculum, who include a Christian fundamentalist preacher who says he is fighting a war for America’s moral soul, want lessons to emphasize the part played by Christianity in the founding of the US and that religion is a civic virtue.
Opponents have decried the move as an attempt to insert religious teachings in to the classroom by stealth, similar to the Christian right’s partially successful attempt to limit the teaching of evolution in biology lessons in Texas.
One of the panel, David Barton, founder of a Christian heritage group called WallBuilders, argues that the curriculum should reflect the fact that the US Constitution was written with God in mind including that “there is a fixed moral law derived from God and nature”, that “there is a creator” and “government exists primarily to protect God-given rights to every individual”.
Barton says children should be taught that Christianity is the key to “American exceptionalism” because the structure of its democratic system is a recognition that human beings are fallible, and that religion is at the heart of being a virtuous citizen.
Another of the experts is Reverend Peter Marshall, who heads his own Christian ministry and preaches that Hurricane Katrina and defeat in the Vietnam war were God’s punishment for sexual promiscuity and tolerance of homosexuals. He told the Wall Street Journal that the struggle over the history curriculum is part of a wider battle. “We’re in an all-out moral and spiritual civil war for the soul of America, and the record of American history is right at the heart of it,” he said.
Social studies teachers will meet shortly to consider the panel’s views and make their own recommendations to the board of education which has the final say. The board is dominated by conservatives who appointed Barton and Marshall to the panel.
Other states will be watching what happens in Texas carefully as the religious right campaign seeks new ways to insert God in to the classroom after the courts limited the extent to which creationist theories could intrude on the teaching of biology.
Barton, a former vice-chairman of the state’s Republican party, has also said that Texas children should no longer be taught about democratic values but republican ones. “We don’t pledge allegiance to the flag and the democracy for which it stands,” he said.

Charter School…
The application for The Charter School of Tomorrow to have been built at Tech City outside Kingston has been withdrawn by its board of trustees, but only temporarily. Andrew Taylor, the applicant and chief executive officer of a nonprofit organization called Learner First, said the application with the State University of New York was pulled because the SUNY Charter School Institute wanted more research conducted regarding “the legalities of online learning and charter schools in New York.”
The board hopes to resubmit the application in January, Taylor said.
The Charter School of Tomorrow, if ultimately approved, would emphasize the arts and technology, and Taylor has described the education model the school would use as a hybrid of face-to-face instruction and remote deliveries, such as online courses, that would allow educators to offer Advanced Placement and college credit courses not available in the region’s public schools.
Questions about the application arose because the proposed school is “cutting edge,” said Valerie Carelli, the vice president and chief financial officer of Learner First, which would bid to provide administrative services to the school if the proposal is approved. He added that there would be no problem moving ahead with the face-to-face classes but that the applicant decided to delay the process because it is committed to keeping the online component in place to best “prepare kids for the future.”
Online skills will be required for the jobs of the future, and online courses are an increasing trend in college, Carelli said.

Senate Reforms
Our local State Senator, John Bonacic, recently announced his role in the troubled State Senate’s adoption of rules reforms that he says he has been pushing for several years, even when his Republican Party was still in the majority.
The reforms include an avenue for members pushing for votes on bill, so such decisions do not rest solely with the Senate Majority Leader, the dividing of member item funding for districts between both parties, and not just in the hands of the majority; budget hearings starting in October to help plan regional budget priorities, as well as county and town budgeting processes; and video and web casting of Senate committee meetings and posting of Senate Committee documents online.
“The new rules will ensure that state resources will be distributed more fairly and equitably to our communities,” Bonacic said in a press release. “If these reforms enable votes on these issues which matter greatly to New Yorkers, then the last month of the Senate stalemate, however frustrating, and unseemly uncomfortable, may have been worth it.”

Health Questions
Nearly 100 eating establishments in Ulster County operated for years without permits from the county Health Department, according to the preliminary results of an audit of the department that saw County Executive Michael Hein releasing a list of checks for permit renewals that were sent to the Health Department by food establishments across the county but never deposited. The checks, along with some cash, were found in a safe at the Health Department last month, the day after Hein dismissed county Public Health Director Dean Palen.
The safe was behind the desk of Palen’s wife, Deborah, who worked until recently as an administrative assistant in the department. In the safe were more than $32,000 in undeposited checks, unprocessed health permits for such businesses as restaurants and camps and $300 in cash.
As a result of the discovery, Hein called on the county comptroller and district attorney to investigate the Health Department’s Environmental Sanitation Division.
In a press release accompanying the list, Hein said that due to the ongoing county comptroller’s audit, it would be “inappropriate at this time to draw conclusions from this information.”
County Comptroller Eliot Auerbach said his investigation also has revealed unprocessed septic permits, building permits, permits for the disposal of offensive materials and licenses for trash haulers in Ulster County. In a 2007 audit, the state noted that 127 of the 827 eateries in Ulster County operated without permits. That number rose to 155 in 2008, according to the state.
The state also found that public water supplies, including the Pine Hill Water System whose sale to developer Dean Gitter Palen was instrumental in approving, were allowed to operate without proper treatment systems, and that public swimming pools, campgrounds, camps and hotels/motels operated without permits.
“It’s an understatement to say it’s a Pandora’s box we opened up,” Auerbach said. Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright has said he is awaiting the results of the comptroller’s audit before deciding whether to launch his own probe into the matter.

Past Lives!?!
Past Life Regression with Readings is the theme of the fundraiser Lorry Salluzzi of Lanesville will be hosting at Infiniti Chiropractic in Woodstock, behind Violette Restaurant, pn Thursday, August 13. The idea is to benefit Healthcare is a Human Right, which in turn supports free Holistic Clinics for clients and staff of Family of Woodstock and the communities of Woodstock, Phoenicia, and Family’s Darmstadt Shelter in Kingston.
For more info email Lorrysallu@yahoo.com or call 688-5672.

Overbuilt…
The U.S. Embassy in Iraq, the government’s largest overseas diplomatic mission, is significantly overstaffed and needs to be downsized to reflect the reduced American role in the country, according to a new State Department report.
“There is a clear consensus from the top to the bottom of the embassy: The time has come for a significant rightsizing,” says the report by the department’s inspector general.
In addition to downsizing the embassy, the report recommends ending the Provincial Reconstruction Teams by 2011, which have been the prime U.S. tool for rebuilding civilian life in Iraq’s provinces.
The American Embassy in Baghdad became a symbol of the Bush administration’s ambitions to remake Iraq. A huge new structure was built on the banks of the Tigris River, at a cost of more than $700 million, and hundreds of civilian experts from agencies across the U.S. government were deployed to help with reconstruction. The report says that with former President George W. Bush’s emphasis on Iraq, the embassy was permitted to grow largely without regard to the usual budget constraints on U.S. missions overseas.

How Rich?
How rich are the rich these days? Here’s the latest truism: The wealthiest 1 percent have never had it so good. According to government figures, those 1 percenters’ share of America’s total income is the highest it’s been since 1929, and their tax rates are the lowest they’ve faced in two decades. Through bonuses, many 1 percenters will profit from the $23 trillion in bailout largesse the Treasury Department now says could be headed to financial firms. And most of them benefit from IRS decisions to reduce millionaire audits and collect zero taxes from the majority of major corporations.
Nice!

College For All! Hidden in recent policy battles is the fact that with recent funding decisions from the White House, the nation’s community colleges are now front and center in the nation’s economic recovery plan. With a price tag of $12 billion over 10 years, the new goals are to modernize community college facilities, to increase the quality of online courses, and to ensure that more students complete their programs. President Obama, in his State of the Union speech last February, urged every American to obtain at least one year of training past high school.
The bulk of the money, $9 billion, would be spent on competitive challenge grants to community colleges and states aimed at encouraging two-year colleges to experiment with strategies to create and improve programs that prepare students for good jobs and improve program completion rates. Other key proposals include $2.5 billion in federal seed money for renovating community college facilities, with a goal to spark $10 billion in spending, and $500 million to develop online courses that would be available free to the public through community colleges.
White House officials said the plan could be funded at least in part with the $4 billion a year it estimates it could save by ending a long-standing government-subsidized college loan program.
A report by the president’s Council of Economic Advisers identified a number of areas related to job training that could be strengthened, including more flexibility for class schedules, better alignment between high school and college coursework, and stronger collaboration between educators and employers.
The economic report also offered an overview of employment trends over the next few years, noting, for example, that “analytical” and “interactive” skills that typically are not addressed at length at the high school level will become increasingly important to employers. It also said occupations that require only an associate’s degree or some sort of vocational training not only are growing faster than jobs that require no training beyond high school, but also are projected to grow slightly faster than occupations requiring a bachelor’s degree or more.
Among the workplace trends it forecasts: health care will remain a large source of job growth; the decline in manufacturing is expected to moderate, with the aerospace and pharmaceutical industries projected to create many jobs; the construction industry is expected to recover, generating a demand for skilled workers such as electricians and plumbers; and employment growth will be strong in industries devoted to the production and distribution of clean energy.

Synthetic Brains!
The world's first synthetic brain could be built within 10 years, giving us an unprecedented insight into the nature of consciousness and our perception of reality.
Scientists working on the Blue Brain Project in Switzerland are the first to attempt to "reverse-engineer" the mammalian brain by recreating the behaviour of billions of neurons in a computer. Professor Henry Markham, director of the project at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, has already simulated parts of the neocortex, the most 'modern' region of the brain, which evolved rapidly in mammals to cope with the demands of parenthood and social situations.
Markham's team created a 3D simulation of around 10,000 brain cells to mimic the behaviour of the rat neocortex. The way all the cells connect and send signals to each other is just as important as how many there are.
The artificial brain is already revealing some of the inner workings of the most impressive 1.5kg of biological tissue ever to evolve.
Stay tuned... for both the research and possible retail ramifications of this.