Newsbriefs

9/25/2008

Bard At OCS?
The Onteora Central School District Board of Education will be hosting Leon Botstein PhD, President of Bard College, for an upcoming community forum where the noted educator will present his views on middle school and secondary education on Wednesday, October 1st at 7pm at Woodstock Elementary. This is one in a proposed series of educational forums the District intends to hold this year, designed to elicit a variety of views on various educational ideas and models and stimulate community discussion.
“Onteora enjoys a strong working relationship with Bard College through our student teaching initiative,” Onteora Superintendent Leslie Ford has said. “Dr. Botstein has provided insight and inspiration to all educators during county professional development activities. We share a common passion for student learning and a focus on consistent, innovative change.”
“Everything should be about our kids and their education. We get one chance at that as they move through our schools,” OCS Board President Ralph Legnini stated. “As important as other issues are, they should not override this basic focus of our district. That’s why I feel it is important to initiate these educational discussions for our community.”
Botstein, an internationally renowned educator, musicologist and Grammy-nominated music director of the American Symphony Orchestra and Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, has been President of Bard College since 1975, where he also holds the Leon Levy Chair in Arts and Humanities. Dr. Botstein is a frequent contributor on education to publications such as The New York Times, Newsweek and others.
Bard College, located in Annandale-On-Hudson, NY, currently operates two
ground-breaking public High Schools in conjunction with the New York City Department of Education, serves as consultant to a group of Middle Schools in the South Bronx, is in the process of opening a charter school in California’s Central Valley, and also conducts teacher training through its Master of Arts In Teaching Program.
The October 1st meeting will be open to the public, and will feature a question and answer period following Dr. Botstein’s presentation.

Ski Pass?
Ulster County Legislature Chairman David B. Donaldson is proposing that Ulster, Greene and Delaware Counties combine to institute a “Catskill Regional Ski Pass” that would allow skiers to ski at any of the ski centers in the Catskill Region.
“This type of ski pass and promotion are long overdue,” Donaldson said, noting that he had already written letters to Greene and Delaware County officials asking them to join forces with Ulster in promoting skiing this winter. “We should be competing with Vermont, New Hampshire, Colorado and Utah, not with each other.”
Donaldson, who earlier this year called for a boycott of Greene County ski areas, said that leaders of the three counties should meet with tourism leaders and ski center operators to develop and promote a “Catskill Regional Ski Pass.”
“This approach has been proven to increase the skier base in a region and would make for better marketing, which would make us more competitive against other ski regions in the state and the country,” Donaldson said. “I strongly believe we could work out the details and it would be quite beneficial to all concerned.”
When “Ski the Catskills” was formed in 1982, all of the areas in the region participated and all of the venues offered discounts on a single “Ski the Catskills” card which was sold for many years. In addition, the state ski areas of Belleayre, Gore and Whiteface had a combined ski pass that was very effective, according to Donaldson.
“Our tourism directors have been successfully cross-promoting each other for years,” Donaldson said. “While our region did not let the ski effort evolve into something greater, the Colorado ski areas and other regions around the ski world did and the effort has proven to be very successful. This year’s Vail “Epic” ski pass allows skiers access to Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly and the Arapahoe Basin. This program spans states! No single ski area alone can possibly compete against this sort of marketing.”
Donaldson said the owners and management of Belleayre, Hunter and Windham ski areas should meet to discuss ways to bring more skiers to the area instead of fighting over the existing numbers.
“As leaders, it is time for us to lead the way to more positive and cooperative efforts,” Donaldson said.

Stream Growth…
On September 18, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County held a public meeting in Phoenicia to announce the expansion of its stream management program from the upper Esopus Creek to include all streams in the Ashokan Watershed through a new five year contract with New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
After several years of developing stream management plans, the program will now begin implementing recommendations from the plans over the next five years of the grant. With the expanded effort, additional resources will be available, including technical staff from Ulster County Soil and Water Conservation District, a larger office in the watershed, and a $2 million implementation fund. As the program moves to this broader scope, Cooperative Extension will engage a watershed-wide set of streamside landowners and interested groups in the process.
Michael Courtney, Interim Project Coordinator for Cooperative Extension, gave a brief history of the Stream Management Program development to date and a discussion of the current vision for the Program’s future. Questions and answers and discussion followed.
Since 1997, DEP has contracted with Soil and Water Conservation Districts in Ulster and Greene Counties as well as the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center and other contractors to develop management plans for streams in the Ashokan Reservoir Watershed. Three Stream Management Plans have been completed thus far for the Broadstreet Hollow, Stony Clove, and Esopus Creeks. Project Advisory Councils, consisting of representatives of the myriad agencies and interests in the streams, did a great deal of work providing broad input into the individual stream management plans.
“Because of the relationships built and the effective work done with the Esopus Advisory Council in particular, it makes sense to retain the involvement of these representatives in some manner as we move forward with organizing at the watershed scale,” stated Courtney referring to plans by the project management team to develop a new Watershed Advisory council for the Ashokan Basin.
Work remains for prioritizing the recommended actions in those plans for implementation on the watershed scale. It is also likely that funds could be matched with other sources to multiply the resource. How to involve the many people interested in a structure and process for prioritizing actions is still being worked out by members of the previous Esopus Creek Project Advisory Council. As this process is further developed, additional feedback will be sought from interested groups and landowners in the watershed. The group plans to have a clear process for prioritizing and funding the many possible projects by the end of 2008 so that projects can be considered for funding in 2009.
Cornell Cooperative Extension Ulster County has also hired two new staff members for the Ashokan Basin Stream Management Program. As of October 1, Elizabeth Higgins will begin as the new Project Coordinator, replacing Jeremy Magliaro who moved on to a new position in Albany last May.She was formerly a Policy Analyst for Winrock International in Arlington, VA. and director of the Center for Rural Development at Louisiana Tech University. Most recently she has managed the Family and Consumer Science Program at Cornell Cooperative Extension Ulster County.
In August, Laura Weyeneth started as a new Watershed Educator who will work with Extension Educator Michael Courtney on education and outreach programs in the Ashokan Watershed. Laura comes with great enthusiasm and skills, previously working with the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission and the Student Conservation Association as an educator on invasive plants.
For more information about the Ashokan Basin Stream Management Program, contact Michael Courtney at 845-340-3990 or by email at info@esopuscreek.org.

Homecoming
Onteora High School will hold its annual Homecoming Day on September 27 from 10:00am till early the following day, starting off with a Varsity Boys Soccer Team contest against Rhinebeck, DECA food table, along with tables sponsored by Onteora’s Band, SADD, French Club, Sports Fans along with many others. At about 11:30 a Parade of Athletes for all Onteora Middle School and High School Fall Athletes and their coaches will take place. Athletes should come in uniform and line up at the Bennett End of the football field at 11:15.
Onteora’s Varsity Football team takes the field for a game time kick-off at 1:30 against Red Hook High. At half-time there will be a performance from the Winter Color Guard and the Onteora Band. Also, at half-time all Seniors and their parents are requested to be on the field for Onteora’s Traditional Senior Recognition. At this time Onteora’s Homecoming King and Queen along with their court will also be introduced. Half-time will conclude with the announcement of the 50/50 Raffle and the winners of the Sports Fan Raffle Table.
he day will conclude with Onteora’s Homecoming Dance at 8:00pm with DJ Pure with the Extreme Team DJ’s And Morgan Hill Sound. Photos will be streamed live onto the website… how’s that for sophistication!

Heating Help!
The federal government Wednesday released over $12.1 million in funding that will assist low-income New Yorkers pay home heating bills during the upcoming fall and winter months. The new heating funds, which come from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), were approved by Congress nearly a year ago, but just was released by the White House.
“While major energy corporations continue to rake in record profits, millions of Americans are looking ahead to the winter months, fearful that they may be forced to go without heat in their home because it’s just too expensive,” said Congressman Maurice Hinchey. “The release of more than $12 million in LIHEAP funding today for New York will certainly help, but more must be done.”
Hinchey said he will continue to work to pass an additional $3.1 billion in home heating aid for low-income Americans.
LIHEAP helps pay the winter heating bills or summer cooling bills of low-income and elderly people on fixed incomes. Two-thirds of the individuals and families that receive LIHEAP assistance have incomes of less than $8,000 a year.
The Woodstock Library will be hosting a special Library Forum with a focus on assistance programs for the winter to come. The program will be on Saturday, September 27th at 5 pm in the Woodstock Library. A panel of informed individuals led by Ulster County Legislator, Don Gregorius, will be there to discuss and answer questions about heating subsidies, and agencies that can help in case of a crisis.
Informational brochures will be available.
Members of the panel will include David Donaldson, Chairman of the Ulster County Legislature, Michael Hein, Ulster County Administrator, Roberto Rodriguez, Ulster County Commissioner of Social Services, Michael Berg, Executive Director of Family, Don Gregorius, Ulster County legislator District 2 and Brian Shapiro, Ulster County Legislator District 2.

Ethics Fight
With John Parete’s decision to retire as Ulster County’s Democratic elections commissioner unlikely to break the county Legislature’s impasse over a proposed ethics law, Legislator Brian Shapiro said he’s ready to abandon his effort to bring comprehensive ethics legislation to the county. Instead, he said, he may suggest the Legislature’s Laws and Rules Committee introduce “a stripped-down, bare-bones version of the ethics law that would allow the public to submit concerns to the Board of Ethics.”
“I don’t want to see three years go to waste,” said Shapiro, a Woodstock Democrat who heads the county’s Board of Ethics.
Wrangling over the inclusion of language that would ban county officials, department heads or county commissioners from holding office in any political party has stymied the adoption of a county ethics law. It also has set the Legislature’s Democratic majority to quarreling among itself, with Parete - who also is chairman of the county Democratic Committee and has two sons who serve as Democratic legislators - in the middle.
The bill before the Legislature doesn’t include the proposed ban, but controversy over the provision has made it impossible to even have the measure, as written, brought up for a vote.
Earlier this month, the county Legislature voted 18-11 to send the measure back to its Laws and Rules Committee - for the fourth time - for reconsideration of the provision.
Supporters of the ban have accused opponents of trying to protect Parete’s dual positions. Opponents have accused supporters of trying to exact political revenge against Parete by forcing him to surrender one of the posts. Both sides deny the others’ claims, and Parete’s announcement this week that he will not seek reappointment as election commissioner has done little to change the minds of legislators.
The county’s current ethics law is little more than a financial disclosure form

CWC News…
A change in eligibility requirements for the Catskill Watershed Corporation’s Septic Rehabilitation and Replacement Program means that nearly 900 additional homeowners may be eligible to participate. Letters have been mailed to some 880 people whose properties are within 200 feet of a watercourse in the latest extension of the program eligibility distance. The voluntary program has widened progressively, from 50 to 100 to 150 feet, and now to 200 feet from a watercourse. Properties within 500 feet of a reservoir stem are also targeted.
Homeowners in the New York City Watershed in Delaware, Greene, Schoharie, Sullivan or Ulster Counties whose properties fall within the eligibility distance may sign up to have their system pumped out and inspected. A call to the CWC to arrange an initial visit with technical staffers is the first step. Participation is entirely voluntary. Those who sign up agree to have their system examined. If the system appears to have failed, or is likely to fail, the CWC will reimburse full-time residents 100 percent of the cost of replacement. Part-time or non-resident property owners will be reimbursed 60 percent of eligible repair or replacement costs.
Your one-or two-family residence or home-business combination must use less than 1,000 gallons of water per day. Systems installed in conjunction with construction of new homes are not eligible for reimbursement.
In addition, homeowners who can prove their septic systems were repaired or replaced between July 2, 1999 and December 31, 2007, regardless of whether those systems are located in the current priority area, may be eligible for reimbursement for those repairs. Call the CWC at 1-845-586-1400 (toll free (1-877-928-7433) to request a reimbursement form. You must also produce contractor receipts and proof of construction approval from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
For more information on these and other programs designed to assist homeowners and businesses in the New York City Watershed, please call the CWC, or go to www.cwconline.org.

Lark In The Park
The annual Catskill Park “Lark in the Park,” which began during the 100th anniversary of the Catskill Park back in 2004, will be held Saturday October 4th - Monday October 13th with coordination by the Catskill Mountain Club and Catskill Center for Conservation and Development.
Hikes will cover all aspects of the region, with a majority in our central Catsklills area.
There will also be a special event taking place from 12 noon to 2 PM at the new Ashokan Center in Olivebridge
For further information on all events, please call 586-2611 or visit www.catskillpark.org

Benefit Time
A community benefit has been scheduled for the Shannon Ryan family of Olive on Saturday, October 4, 2008, at Davis Park in West Shokan. Ryan was recently burned in a woodsplitter accident and has no insurance.
The benefit will run from 12 noon until 5 pm with music provided by Dorraine Scofield, Plan B, and The Pontiacs. Hamburgers, hot dogs, rolls, beer and soda have been donated by local businesses and residents. Plus, there will be a potluck buffet table for anyone who wants to bring a dish. Another local resident will have his adobe oven at the event baking his famous wood fired pizza for all to enjoy. There is a $25.00 per person suggested donation which will include musical entertainment, food, and refreshments.
Also included in the event will be a Bake Sale and a Silent Auction. Generous Olive residents have donated everything from apple pies to Teddy Bears and paintings and hand crafted furniture to a septic system pump out.
For information on donating or helping out on the day of the event please call Jennifer Vines at 657-2827. Anyone who can’t attend but would like to donate, please make your check payable to Shannon Ryan and mail it to my office at Town of Olive Town Clerk, PO Box 96, West Shokan, NY 12494.

Local Economy
The August unemployment rate in the Hudson Valley rose from 3.8 percent last year to 5.3 percent this year, the highest rate for that month in 14 years, the state Labor Department announced this month.
The Wall Street crisis could further erode the job market as many of those high-paid Wall Streeters live in the Valley. “Any fallout on Wall Street is likely to be echoed in our community,” said Labor Department analyst John Nelson.
Any number of industries could be impacted from professional and business services, to retailers, to leisure and hospitality, to construction, he said.
New job growth fell off dramatically year over year in August with the Putnam-Rockland-Westchester area gaining 4,100, Dutchess-Orange gaining 700 jobs and Ulster County gaining 100 jobs.
Greene County lost 500 jobs; and Sullivan, Delaware, and Columbia County each lost 200 jobs.
Unemployment in the counties rose significantly in August. Sullivan and Greene counties each had 5.8 percent rates of joblessness. Ulster had 5.7 percent; Delaware, 5.6 percent; Dutchess-Orange had 5.5 percent unemployment; and Putnam-Rockland-Westchester had 5.1 percent unemployment.

Merging Courts…
A special commission studying New York’s court system has said that lawmakers should reduce the number of local justice courts from the current 1,250 statewide and increase requirements for becoming a town or village justice. The commission said the array of courts has grown over two centuries without a rational assessment of state or local needs, imposing unnecessary costs on taxpayers. And the inefficiency of requiring prosecutors, deputies and troopers to go to various courts “results in a reduced quality of justice,” said attorney Kerry Dunne, who chairs the commission.
“There’s an enormous amount of duplication and redundancy in many areas of the state,” Dunne said. The commission proposed county review panels to decide with state oversight whether local courts should be combined, estimating that could lead eventually to a reduction of 27 to 44 percent. Towns and villages would decide whether they need each of their justice positions.
The panel of 31 lawyers, judges, academics and others was appointed in 2006 by state Chief Judge Judith Kaye and visited 100 town and village courts, some in each of New York’s 12 judicial districts.
The commission also recommended giving all litigants and defendants the option of having a judge who is trained as a lawyer. That would require a new state law.
The commission concluded that the more than 2,100 town and village justices, including those who are not lawyers, are “adequately dispensing justice” in more than 2 million cases annually while collecting more than $210 million in fines and fees.
However, they urged more training, as well as a requirement all justices must be at least 25 years old and have at least a two-year degree from an accredited college. Incumbents would be exempt from the new requirements. The commission said there must be minimum standards for court facilities to ensure all are safe and fit for judicial proceedings, noting many had no security or screening whatsoever.
The local courts hear traffic, various misdemeanor criminal cases and small claims and handle arraignments of felony defendants. Dunne said some convene in highway barns and garages. They are funded locally.
Kaye said the commission’s proposed new courtroom standards and training requirements can be implemented administratively. The Office of Court Administration estimated the cost of improvements at more than $112 million if no courts are combined.

Casino No?
With work beginning a new Concord hotel, racino and racetrack, a full-blown casino in the Catskills appears a dead issue. US Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne killed a proposed Native American casino at Monticello Raceway. Kempthorne leaves office in January, when the next administration is sworn in.
But Sullivan County Legislature Chairman Jonathan Rouis said the issue may not be as dead as some think.
“I think we’ve spent the better part of 30 years holding onto that slim possibility, so I don’t think it’s dead, I would say it’s remote,” he said.
Rouis said any future possibilities would depend upon who is elected President in November and whom he chooses as Interior secretary.
Kempthorne is opposed to allowing casinos on off-reservation lands that are placed in trust.

Cauliflower Time!
Jumping frogs, rumbling tractors, a barrel train and a mystifying magical performance will add to the fun at the Sixth Annual Margaretville Cauliflower Festival Saturday, Sept. 27 from 10 to 3 in the Village Park.
The event is free and is held rain or shine. It is sponsored by the Greater Margaretville Chamber of Commerce.
New this year is a Tractor Parade that will form at Lauren Davis’ farm adjacent to the Village Park. at 11:45 AM, when about a dozen tractors will roll through the park, led by Grand Marshall Leonard Utter, a former Millbrook farmer and current Middletown Town Supervisor.
Performing in the magic tent twice during the day will be magician Arthur Martello. He has been a member of the Society of American Magicians and the International Brotherhood of Magicians (Order of Merlin) for the past 35 years.
Once again the Catskill Mountain Antique Engine and Machinery Club will give rides to children aboard their Barrel Train. There will also be horse drawn surrey rides around the park.
Kids will be delighted by close encounters with Jason’s Frogs, Bugs and Animals. Pee Wee the frog, Tickles the hedgehog, Spike the bearded dragon and assorted other creatures will exhibit their distinctive personalities while being ferried in a wagon about the festival grounds.
Larger critters will be featured at the Strich family’s petting zoo, where you may get to stroke goats, donkeys and bunnies. They will also give pony rides, accepting donations for the care of the rescued animals sheltered at their Woodchuck Springs’ farm in Halcottsville.
And did we forget an art show and, best of all, loads of cauliflower in various guises, in celebration of that time when the sturdy vegetable was once the economic mainstay of so much of the region?
Go...

Political DNA
Scientists studying voters in the US say our political views may be an integral part of our physical makeup. Their research, published in the journal Science, indicates that people who are sensitive to fear or threat are likely to support a right wing agenda. Those who perceived less danger in a series of images and sounds were more inclined to support liberal policies. The authors believe their findings may help to explain why voters’ minds are so hard to change.
In the study, conducted in Nebraska, 46 volunteers were first asked about their political views on issues ranging from foreign aid and the Iraq war to capital punishment and patriotism. Those with strong opinions were invited to take part in the second part of the experiment, which involved recording their physiological responses to a series of images and sounds. The images included pictures of a frightened man with a large spider on his face and an open wound with maggots in it. The subjects were also startled with loud noises on occasion. By measuring the electrical conductance of the volunteers’ skin and their blink responses, the scientists were able to work out the degree of fear they were experiencing - how sensitive they were to the images and sounds.
The researchers say there is no political relevance to their research - but feel it may help explain why it is so hard to change someone’s mind in a political debate.
“People haven’t just thought about things differently,” the report surmised. “They feel things differently.”

Worldly Ulster
SUNY Ulster’s International Programs Director Richard Cattabiani announced that the college has been awarded a grant from the Fund for Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE) for the development of programs to improve education and community resources for special needs children in Mexico. The prestigious grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Education, is part of a North American initiative for cooperation and exchange among the United States, Canada and Mexico in the areas of education and professional training. The grant of $300,000 will be shared by SUNY Ulster and the University of Arizona and their international partners in Canada and Mexico over a period of three years. The American institutions, in collaboration with Canadian educational partners, will help Mexican universities create community-based family resource centers for special needs children. A resource center, currently being built in Ciudad Obregón in the northern Mexican state of Sonora, will be the first project of the North American collaboration. The center may later be replicated in other regions in Mexico.
Under the FIPSE grant, SUNY Ulster will work on this project with the University of Arizona (the largest research facility in the southwest) as well as two Canadian schools, the University of Manitoba (the largest higher education institution in Canada) in Winnipeg and Red Deer College in Alberta, which serves a large population of indigenous peoples. The North American consortium will aid two universities in Mexico, the Instituto Tecnologico of Sonora and Universidad Panamericana in Guadalajara in improving training for teachers and other professionals who work with special needs children. The communities that surround the schools will benefit from the creation of family resource centers. According to Cattabiani, an author of the grant proposal, “There is increasing evidence that the number of children with disabilities is growing worldwide, and there will be increased demand to provide health education and social services at the community level to children with disabilities and their families.”
The grant to SUNY Ulster came about, in part, as a result of a five-week study made by seven early childhood education teachers, administrators and teacher candidates from the Instituto Tecnologico of Sonora of the operations of the SUNY Ulster Children’s Center in Stone Ridge. Under the guidance of Emily Vosper, now-retired center director, the Mexican educators observed and were impressed by the practices and philosophy of the Center, which provides childcare for children of students, faculty, and staff of the college and members of the community.

Global Warming
Countries across the world will have to dramatically increase investment in dams, pipes and other water infrastructure to avoid widespread flooding, drought and disease even before climate change accelerates these problems, experts have warned. Investment needs to be at least doubled from the current level of $80 billion a year, an international congress was told last week, and one leading authority said spending needed to rise to 1.5% of gross domestic product just “to be able to cope with the current climate” - one thousand times the current level.
The warnings follow a summer of dramatic events, from hurricane flooding in the Caribbean and the east coast of America to desperate measures in drought-stricken Mediterranean countries, including importing water by ship.
Rich nations suffer huge under-investment, but the threat of poor infrastructure to populations in developing countries is even greater, said Dr Olcay Unver, director of the United Nations’ Global Water Assessment Unit.
So serious is the problem that next year the UN’s World Water Assessment Report will make one of its main messages the need for investment to “accelerate substantially”, said Unver.
“You can’t justify the deaths of so many children because of lack of infrastructure or lost productive time of people [who are] intellectually or physically incapacitated because of simple lack of access to safe water or sanitation,” he added.
Dr Glen Daigger, senior vice-president of the International Water Association, said there was growing evidence that spending on clean water and sanitation was the single greatest contribution to reducing disease and death. The UN has identified dams for hydropower and irrigation as leading drivers of sustainable economic growth in developing countries. “Water and sanitation is clearly a better investment than medical intervention, but it’s not sexy,” added Daigger.
Last year the World Bank called for investment in water infrastructure to more than double from $80bn to $180bn over the next 20-25 years to cope with population growth and climate change, which are expected to leave about 4 billion people living in “water stress” areas - deemed to have insufficient water to meet daily needs. Conditions would be particularly severe in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, said the bank. Water pollution and the threat to coastal areas of erosion, sea level rise and storm surges are also growing concerns.
However, experts meeting at the IWA conference of 2,700 water professionals in Vienna suggested the true scale of the problem could be much higher.
Among the proposals to reduce costs, water users would have to accept different grades of water, including a lower grade in gardens and toilets, said Professor Alexander Zehnder, of the Alberta Water Research Institute, Canada. “Why are we spending a lot of money to clean the water and then we piss in it?”
Earlier this year the American Society of Civil Engineers said the US needed to spend $1.6bn over five years to repair all its crumbling infrastructure, and gave the worst assessment of all to the water sector. Federal funds for drinking water were less than 10% of what was needed.

Union Time?
The National Labor Relations Board recently impounded the ballots of nurses at Benedictine Hospital in Kingston minutes after the close of voting to join the New York State Nurses Association. Hospital management has asked the NLRB in Washington to review an August ruling by the board’s regional office that granted the RNs the right to an election.
Benedictine management contends the potential bargaining unit would be inappropriate because it does not include RNs from Kingston Hospital. The two healthcare facilities are in the midst of a merger.
While the NLRB reviews the case, the union is proceeding as if the bargaining unit has been approved, said spokesman Mark Genovese.

Still Golden
A proposal to privatize the county-owned Golden Hill Health Care Center fell flat recelty, with several Democratic members of the Ulster County Legislature vowing to fight any plan that would take the county out of the nursing home business.
The lawmakers were responding to recommendations by the Long Term Care Committee of the Ulster County Blue Ribbon Healthcare Services Advisory Panel to replace the county’s aging 280-bed nursing home on Golden Hill Drive in Kingston with two privately run facilities.
Steven Kelly, president and chief executive officer of Ellenville Regional Hospital and chairman of the special committee, said the Golden Hill Health Care Center, built in the mid-1970s, doesn’t meet current codes, lacks handicapped-accessible toilet rooms, has an insufficient number of toilets, lacks proper fire doors and resident room doors and has significant infrastructure problems.
To renovate the existing building, he said, would cost about $44 million, with $33 million coming from the state and $11 million from the county. But he said the committee had serious questions about whether the building could realistically be renovated and what would happen to residents while the renovations were taking place.
Rather, he said, the county should combine the nursing home property with the former jail site, which is on the same property, and sell the properties to a developer “for razing and building of a new” residential development.
Kelly said the committee felt the best solution for the aging nursing home would be to find a private sponsor to build new state-of-the-art facilities. One facility, he said, should remain in the Kingston area, but the other should be built in the southern part of the county, where there currently are nursing homes.
While 25 percent of the county’s population lives in the southwestern portion of the county, only 7 percent of Golden Hill’s residents come from that area, Kelly said.
Legislator Robert Parete, chairman of the Legislature’s Health Services Committee, said he intends to form another committee to review the subcommittee’s report and recommend a course of action.
“My chief concern is caring for the senior citizens in Ulster County,” said Parete, D-Boiceville.

Stolen Bike
A Boiceville man was arrested on a petit larceny charge Tuesday after he got on a county bus with a bicycle that had been reported stolen earlier, Shandaken town police said.
Edwin Gonzalez, 44, of Boiceville was arrested on the misdemeanor charge at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, police said.
Police said Gonzalez stole another man’s bicycle from Main Street in Phoenicia, then was stopped as he attempted to leave the area on an Ulster County Area Transit bus. Olive town police saw the stolen bike affixed to the front of the bus and stopped the bus, turning Gonzalez over to Shandaken police.
Gonzalez was sent to the Ulster County Jail in lieu of $1,000 bail.