Newsbriefs

8/14/2008

GOP Caucus
Shandaken Republicans have set the date for their caucus, the annual event where party members choose which candidates to endorse in the upcoming elections. So far the only person to have announced interest in running on the GOP line in the town’s only local race, a one year position on the town Board currently held by Democrat Doris Bartlett, is Phoenicia resident Tina Rice.
Rice is 40 years old and lives in Woodland Valley with her husband and two children. She is currently employed by the New York State Thruway Authority, working as a toll collector at the Kingston exit. A founder of the town’s ski program, she said that she decided to run because she felt the current administration might be playing fast and loose with the taxpayer’s money, pointing out a recent revamp of the Route 28 sign showing the way to the Hamlet of Mount Tremper where Supervisor Peter DiSclafani operates a restaurant called the Catskill Rose. She describes herself as “a fair person with no secret agenda,” and says she was not chosen to run by any of the special interest groups in town, but decided to run herself.
“I can only be who I am…I’m not hand picked by anyone, so that’s that,” she said.
The caucus will be held at 6PM on August 19th at the Glenbrook Park Pavillion in the hamlet of Shandaken.

Fined...
Local Businessman Harry Jameson was fined $250 Tuesday for his role in the much publicized trucking away of Phoenicia Hotel remains. Dave Gutierrez, also named in the matter, was fined $600 according to Jameson, who spoke to reporters outside the courtroom moments after the decision was rendered by Town Justice Mike Miranda.
Last month the Department of Environmental Conservation issued tickets to the two local men involved in what DEC alleges was the unlawful disposal of remains of the hotel.
The charges, which were misdemeanors and violations, are leveled at Harry Jameson, the owner of Romer Mountain Park in Woodland Valley and David Gutierrez, owner of Woodstock Landscaping and the contractor that demolished the remains of the structure. DEC Police charged Jameson with operating a solid waste management facility without a permit after some amount was debris was trucked off the hotel site to Jameson’s property.
Gutierrez was charged with unattended open burning, open burning without a permit and open burning for commercial purposes. He was also charged with two counts of unlawfully disposing of solid waste. While much of the debris remains on the site in huge pile, some amount was allegedly trucked off site to Jameson’s property.
Jameson said he paid the fine and plans to just put the matter behind him.

Heating…
Worried About the Upcoming Heating Season? A presentation on New York Energy $mart Programs will be put on by The Catskill Center for Conservation & Development in Arkville on Monday, August 18th from 6:00 to 8:30 pm at its main offices on Route 28. The session is set up for homeowners and business owners to learn about the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority’s programs to help state residents save money & energy, including cash incentive and low interest loan programs.
New York Energy $martSM programs are designed to lower electricity costs by encouraging energy efficiency as the State’s electric utilities move to competition. Margaretville Energy $mart Partnership is a program of the Village of Margaretville and the Greater Margaretville Chamber of Commerce.Register by August 15: For info contact Mid-Hudson Energy $mart Communities, 845-331-2238 or e-mail Patrice Courtney Strong, patricecourtney@gmail.com
The local effort mirrors, and will include information on, similar activity starting to take place on a national and state basis, including Governor David Paterson’s recent call for the immediate creation of an emergency task force on home heating issues, especially as pertains to seniors and others on fixed incomes.
County officials recently held a “home heating summit” to solicit input and concerns from local government representatives, non-profit agencies, businesses, religious organizations and others in response to rising energy costs. At the summit’s conclusion, county Administrator Michael Hein said a working group will be established to use information gathered during the event, as well as from other resources, to respond to the problem. That response will be delivered to the Ulster County Legislature in September, Hein said. The working group will consist of people from several county departments, as well as Family of Woodstock, the United Way and the American Red Cross.
Diane Reeder, executive director of Queen’s Galley, a non-profit organization that runs a food kitchen at Washington Manor in Kingston, has said her group served 1,200 meals a month two years ago and now serves more than 7,000. She added that if her organization cannot afford to heat its building this winter, it will have to close.
Meanwhile, area oil suppliers are playing cat and mouse with their annual prepayment and budget plans, with some getting mailings out already while others wwait for a possible dip in prices.
“Applications are going out this week,” said a representative at Kosco, the fuel company near Kingston. “Customers have until August 14 to return them. We’ve set a fixed price of $4.699 per gallon. You can opt for downward protection by paying an insurance fee of 20 cents per gallon - the price will follow the market down. We used to eat that fee, which we have to pay when we get the oil off the barge. But with prices so high, we can’t absorb it, so we’re padding it to the customer.”
Heritage has four different payment plans that vary according to the time span of the payment spread (all at once, four months, or ten months) and to whether the price is capped or will go down if the market goes down. Their rate is $4.759 per gallon, discounted to $4.709 if paid in cash or by Internet-check, plus a ten- to forty-cent per gallon surcharge depending on the plan chosen.
Calls to Bottini Fuel, now merged with Colonial Oil and Gas, were not returned as of press time. Its website, bottinifuel.com, mentions a payment plan but does not indicate when applications will be available. It does provide a list of government energy assistance programs and Salvation Army offices for those in need. Dependable Oil in Shokan is banking on a further price reduction and is holding out to send out its prepayment and budget plans.
Meanwhile, business is booming at Cracker Mill Hearth and Emporium, the Shokan seller of wood, gas, and pellet stoves, but the proprietor did not sound happy.
“We’re selling three or four more stoves per month ahead of what we usually sell this time of year. June was like September. People are upset, particularly older people who filled up their mostly empty tank this spring and had to pay $800 or $900. They can’t afford it.”
More funding needs to be made available though the federal government’s energy-assistance program because of high fuel oil prices expected this winter, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and state Assemblyman Kevin Cahill have said in recent weeks, with the U.S. Senator speaking last week at Family of Woodstock’s New Paltz site and Cahill talking from a state conference on Heating in Niagara Falls.
Schumer said Hudson Valley residents will spend approximately $275 million more in home heating oil costs this winter than they did last winter. He also said an estimated 3,100 senior citizens in Ulster County will use the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or HEAP, to help pay for their home heating costs. To ensure that seniors and other residents stay warm, Schumer said he was working on two pieces of emergency legislation to provide additional money to the state through HEAP; one calling for a second economic stimulus package that would increase HEAP funding by $1.25 billion nationwide, to a total of $3.78 billion; the other to increase HEAP aid by $2.53 billion, for a total of $5.1 billion.
Schumer said that, based on recent oil prices, the average senior could have to spend between $720 and $1,260 more for fuel oil this winter than in the winter of 2007-08.
He noted that HEAP used up all of its 2007-08 money by February last winter, and said if funding levels are not increased, the funding for 2008-09 could run dry by Christmas.
Cahill said the state has to balance its budget and deal with property taxes but that the most important issue is making sure residents can afford to heat their homes this winter. He said if HEAP is not enhanced, people will freeze in their homes this winter. He said the state Assembly already has taken action to address the issue by passing legislation that calls for $550 million to enhance HEAP and for the income eligibility level for the assistance program to be increased to 80 percent of the state’s median income. That would mean a family of four would be eligible for HEAP assistance if the household’s income was $55,500 or less, Cahill said. He added that the Assembly’s legislation also calls for $250 million for energy-conservation measures.
There currently is no companion bill in the state Senate.
Cahill, who chairs the Assembly’s Energy Committee, said the legislation would be funded by a 2 percent gross receipts tax on large oil companies, a retroactive measure to recapture windfall profits from when sales tax on gasoline was capped at $2 in 2005 and by prohibiting oil companies from passing along the additional costs to consumers through price increases.

Gas Politics
The Riverkeeper environmental group has called on Governor David Paterson to designate the New York City Watershed in the Catskills permanently off-limits for natural gas drilling. The organization said it agrees with the state’s decision to update its environmental review for gas drilling in New York’s portion of the Marcellus Shale formation.
The process of extracting the natural gas from the shale could potentially throw the natural balance out of kilter and cause pollution to the water supply and that, said Riverkeeper staff attorney James Simpson, and could force the EPA to impose a very expensive water filtration system on the Watershed.
“Should the (filtration exemption) be revoked, New York City would be forced to build extremely expensive filtration plant. The cost is now estimated at $10 billion with $300 million annually to operate the plant,” he said. The current exemption is “the best way to guarantee clean drinking water for New York City as well as safe Watershed protection.”
“It’s important to look for new and alternative sources of energy, but not at the expense of drinking water quality, not at the expense of New York’s watershed areas and not at the expense of city taxpayers to the tune of billions of dollars,” said New York City Councilman James Gennaro, chairman of the city council’s Environmental Protection Committee.
There will be a regional symposium on “Gas Leasing: Negotiating & Protecting Your Interests” held on Tuesday, August 19, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Sullivan West High School Auditorium in Lake Huntington, sponsored by the Sullivan County Division of Planning & Environmental Management, the Chenango County Farm Bureau and the Cornell Cooperative Extension. It will focus on what landowners need to know before signing a lease with a natural gas company, particularly how to protect their property and insuring financial interests, and what gas drilling will mean for your community. Featured speakers will include Dr. William Pammer, Jr., Commissioner of the Sullivan County Division of Planning and Environmental Management; Bradd Vickers, President of the Chenango County Farm Bureau; Christopher Denton, Attorney-at-Law; Don Zaengle, a consulting petroleum geologist; and Jim Leonard, CPA. The panel will address the gas development process in Central and Southern New York.Registration for this symposium is required. Interested parties must register with the Sullivan County Division of Planning at 845-794-3000, ext. 5028, by no later than 4 p.m. on Monday, August 18.

Ownership?
Ulster County was recently awarded $750,000.00 to expand homeownership opportunities within the County. The funding is the result of the County’s application for assistance to the New York State Office of Community Renewal. The program is expected to assist 33 households within Ulster County and provide nearly 5.2 million dollars of additional private equity funding. The program is designed to provide gap financing and minor rehabilitation to lower housing costs to levels affordable to those making less than 80% of the area’s median income. In addition, home ownership counseling is included to ensure that those assisted remain in their homes once purchased. The Rural Ulster Preservation Company (RUPCO) was instrumental in the preparation of the grant and will provide program delivery for the County.

Home Sales
The sales of existing single-family homes in the Hudson Valley and Catskills regions continued their double-digit decline in the first six months of the year, according to the New York State Association of Realtors. The largest decline in year over year sales was in Sullivan County, which saw a 43 percent drop off in sales. Rockland County was second with a 32 percent decline. Ulster and Orange counties each saw just under 31 percent declines. In Westchester County, sales of existing houses fell by over 28 percent. They dropped by 23 percent in Putnam County, by 22 percent in Columbia County, 17 percent in Dutchess County and by over 12 percent in Greene County.
Year over year in June, Columbia County had the largest decline in existing single-family home sales with an almost 46 percent decline. The drop in Sullivan County was 44 percent, followed by under 42 percent in Orange, 39 percent in Ulster, 31 percent in Westchester, 29 percent in Rockland and Putnam Counties, 23 percent in Delaware County and over 13 percent in Dutchess County.
In June, the most expensive houses sold in Westchester at a median price of $675,000. Homes in Rockland sold for $445,000; in Putnam for over $347,000; in Dutchess for just under $314,000; in Orange County for $295,000; in Columbia County for $280,000; in Ulster County for $255,000; in Sullivan County for $210,000; and in Greene County for over $166,000.

Watery Lawsuit
Following months of battling a proposed 360,000 gallon, 50 foot tall water tower next door to her home, a Flieschmanns women has filed a lawsuit against the Village and the Town of Middletown to stop it.
Anita Rubin, who lives on Paradise Camp Road, directed press inquiries to her attorney.
The Village has been mulling the water tower plan for over two years, working with Delaware Engineering, the firm that built the Village’s sewer system. Trustees have described the project as a back up system for the Villages water supply, which lost some capacity a few years ago when the village sold two wells. While the Villages supply that comes from natural springs is said to be adequate, the water tower is said to be capable of supplying one to three days of water to the village in the event of some catastrophe. It would also increase water pressure for the Village.
That may be all well and good, but on July 11th Attorney Ken Ayers filed a lawsuit against the Village, Middletown and landowner Arnold Bernstein because his client feels the process used to determine that the tower is needed was shoddy.
Ayers said the Village improperly prepared the environmental study of the project and concluded that it was not harmful. He said the Middletown Planning Board then used that study to justify granting a special use permit to build the project on Bernstein’s land. He also says that in exchange for allowing the project on his property, Bernstein gets a 16 foot wide, 1000 foot long private road built on his land at taxpayer expense, thus opening up the property for possible sub-division purposes. He also said the Village could increase the size of the tower almost threefold if it saw fit, and that the Middletown planning board refused to place any conditions on the permit issued despite cries from Rubin and other neighbors to restrict the addition of any other apparatus, like cell towers, on top of the water tower.
Worse, Ayers said the project, paid for in part by a $1.7 million grant, would also require a $1.3 million loan. To pay that loan back the Village would hike water rates from the $200 a year to $299 per customer.
Rubin said that despite all this, much of it has been kept quiet.
“Not many in the Village know what this will cost them in the long run,” she said.

Bad Cop…
An Ulster County grand jury has indicted a former county deputy sheriff on charges he sought sexual favors from a girl under the age of 17 in exchange for ignoring a crime, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Jeffrey P. Geskie, 27, of Hurley, was indicted on charges of receiving a bribe and committing a criminal sexual act, both felonies, and official misconduct, a misdemeanor. The offenses are alleged to have occurred in High Falls on June 2. Authorities at the time said the sexual acts were in exchange for Geskie not filing trespass and other charges against the girl, who has not been identified.
“While in uniform, while on duty, he elicited sexual favors from (the girl) in return for looking the other way on criminal charges,” Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright said in a prepared statement.
The girl’s attorney, Joseph O’Connor, said at the time that his client essentially was forced to perform a sex act because Geskie used threats against her. Among other things, O’Connor said, Geskie told the girl she would be thrown in jail and that he would notify her future college of her wrongdoing if she did not oblige. Geskie was arrested by the state police and resigned from the Sheriff’s Office soon after.
The June arrest was not the first time Geskie found himself in legal trouble. In two lawsuits, he was accused of violating the civil rights of two people in incidents that occurred in 2004, 2005 and 2007.

Vols Wanted…
The Hudson Valley Ombudsman Program is seeking bright, motivated people who would like to make a difference to residents in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. If you have a few hours each week to volunteer, you can become an Ombudsman and play a crucial role in resolving conflicts and maintaining a high quality of life and care for residents of long-term care. The Hudson Valley Ombudsman program offers free training and ongoing support in exchange for your good will and life skill. A new training session will begin in September. For more information and to apply, contact Bette Ann Moskowitz at the Ulster County Office for the Aging: (845) 340-3456, or (845) 452-5600 (Ext. 301).

Arctic Melt
Ice at the North Pole melted at an unprecedented rate in recent weeks, with leading scientists warning that the Arctic could be ice-free in summer by 2013. Satellite images show that ice caps started to disintegrate dramatically at the end of July as storms over Alaska’s Beaufort Sea began sucking streams of warm air into the Arctic. As a result, scientists say that the disappearance of sea ice at the North Pole could exceed last year’s record loss. More than a million square kilometres melted over the summer of 2007 as global warming tightened its grip on the Arctic. But such destruction could now be matched, or even topped, this year.
This startling loss of Arctic sea ice has major meteorological, environmental and ecological implications. The region acts like a giant refrigerator that has a strong effect on the northern hemisphere’s meteorology. Without its cooling influence, weather patterns will be badly disrupted, including storms set to sweep around the edges of the Atlantic Ocean. Other environmental changes are likely to follow. Without sea ice to bolster them, land ice - including glaciers - could topple into the ocean and raise global sea levels, threatening many low-lying areas, including Bangladesh and scores of Pacific islands. In addition, the disappearance of reflective ice over the Arctic means that solar radiation would no longer be bounced back into space, thus heating the planet even further.
On top of these issues, there are fears that water released by the melting caps will disrupt the Gulf Stream, while an ice-free Arctic in summer offers new opportunities for oil and gas drilling there - and for political disputes over territorial rights.
What really unsettles scientists, however, is their inability to forecast precisely what is happening in the Arctic, the part of the world most vulnerable to the effects of global warming. ‘
When we did the first climate change computer models, we thought the Arctic’s summer ice cover would last until around 2070,’ said Professor Peter Wadhams of Cambridge University. ‘It is now clear we did not understand how thin the ice cap had already become - for Arctic ice cover has since been disappearing at ever increasing rates. Every few years we have to revise our estimates downwards. Now the most detailed computer models suggest the Arctic’s summer ice is going to last for only a few more years - and given what we have seen happen last week, I think they are probably correct.’
‘It does not really matter whether 2007 or 2008 is the worst year on record for Arctic ice,’ he added. ‘The crucial point is that ice is clearly not building up enough over winter to restore cover and that when you combine current estimates of ice thickness with the extent of the ice cap, you get a very clear indication that the Arctic is going to be ice-free in summer in five years. And when that happens, there will be consequences.’

Part-Time…
The number of Americans who have seen their full-time jobs chopped to part time because of weak business has swelled to more than 3.7 million - the largest figure since the government began tracking such data more than half a century ago. Furthermore, the resulting loss of pay is now being seen as a primary source of pain for millions of American families, reinforcing the downturn gripping the economy. Paychecks are shrinking just as home prices plunge and gas prices soar, furthering the austerity across the nation.
On the surface, the job market is weak but hardly desperate. Layoffs remain less frequent than in many economic downturns, and the unemployment rate is a relatively modest 5.5 percent. But that figure masks the strains of those who are losing hours or working part time because they cannot find full-time work - a stealth force that is eroding American spending power.
All told, people the government classifies as working part time involuntarily - predominantly those who have lost hours or cannot find full-time work - swelled to 5.3 million last month, a jump of greater than 1 million over the last year. These workers now amount to 3.7 percent of all those employed, up from 3 percent a year ago, and the highest level since 1995.
The loss of hours has been affecting men in particular - and Hispanic men more so. Among those who were forced into part-time work from the spring of 2007 to the spring of 2008, 73 percent were men and 35 percent were Hispanic. Some 28 percent of the jobs affected were in construction, 14 percent in retail and 13 percent in professional and business services..
The growing ranks of involuntary part-timers reflect the sophisticated fashion through which many American employers have come to manage their payrolls, say experts. In decades past, when business soured, companies tended to resort to mass layoffs, hiring people back when better times returned. But as high technology came to permeate American business, companies have grown reluctant to shed workers. Even the lowest-wage positions in retail, fast food, banking or manufacturing require computer skills and a grasp of a company’s systems. Several months of training may be needed to get a new employee up to speed.
More part-time and fewer full-time workers also allows companies to save on health care costs. Only 16 percent of retail workers receive health insurance through their employer, while more than half of full-time workers are covered.
Many experts see the swift cutback in hours as a precursor of a more painful chapter to come: broader layoffs. Some struggling companies are holding on to workers and cutting shifts while hoping to ride out hard times. If business does not improve, more extreme measures could follow.
Stay tuned…

Live & Laugh…
Anne Cardinale, Director of the Ulster County Office for the Aging reminds seniors that the 11th Annual Live, Laugh & Learn Senior Conference Day of Workshops will be held on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at the Business Resource Center, 1 Development Court, Kingston.. The registration fee is $5 and includes refreshments. The program has many workshops - registration begins at 8:30 AM. The classes run from 9:15 AM; the last class ending at 4:40 PM. To register and obtain additional information, please call: Ulster County Office for the Aging at: (845) 340-3456.

Developments…
A revised proposal for a housing and golf development on the Carvel property will preserve vistas along state Route 199 and drastically reduce the overall number of homes, representatives of the builder have told members of the Pine Plains Planning Board last week.The concept for the Carvel site development, a partnership between the Durst Organization and Landmark Land Co., initially was presented to the board in 2003 calling for 951 homes spread across approximately 2,200 acres on both side of the Pine Plains-Milan border with a major golf resort at its center. After strong opposition was voiced by many community members, Durst and Landmark presented a modified plan.
Exactly how many homes are proposed to be built under the revised plan remains to be seen. Carvel representatives presented conflicting numbers during recent meetings, ranging from 648 to 724.
The golf course also been reduced - from 27 holes to 18 holes - and proposed roads have been reduced from 60,000 feet under the old plan to 45,000 to 48,000 feet in the new plan.
“Our modified plan reflects many of the concerns that were voiced ... and we believe we have crafted a plan that is financially viable and preserves the beauty and the environment of the Carvel site while delivering financial resources to the surrounding community,” Alexander Durst said in a statement.
Meanwhile a giant development in eastern Maine located on 3,300 acres of remote wildlands on pristine Schoodic Peninsula, described as a green community where homeowners and visitors would enjoy views of the ocean and of mountains rising up from the sea five miles away on Mount Desert Island, is starting to face major opposition from a variety of directions.
“The vision is to figure out how to re-establish the connection between individuals and their natural environments and reconnect families in the process,” said Mike Saxl, spokesman for the Winter Harbor Properties investment group that’s proposing the development.
However, conservation groups and officials at adjacent Acadia National Park say the plan for up to 1,000 homes is out of scale and out of character with the unspoiled peninsula, known for its rugged pink granite coastline and breathtaking views.
Winter Harbor Properties is made up of more than 20 investors, mostly from Europe, said Cecelia Ward, who lives in Florida and is overseeing the project.
The development, in the works for 2 1/2 years, calls for clusters of housing lots, two upscale hotels with restaurants, and a golf course billed as environmentally friendly. The homes would have solar power and green septic systems, and they’d be designed to blend in with the surroundings, developers say.
Ward, Saxl and others representing Winter Harbor Properties have been meeting with town officials, conservationists and residents to discuss the project.
“We want to be a good neighbor and partner and we’re trying to find ways to do that,” Saxl said.
Could there be lessons learned here? …

IMPACT Funds
Ulster County has received a new state crime-fighting award of $351,232 to fund its Operation IMPACT actions, including $101,500 for the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office; $97,500 for the Kingston Police Department; $97,160 for the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office; $45,072 for the Ulster County Probation Department; and $10,000 for the Ellenville Police Department.
With the help of Operation IMPACT, according to the officials concerned, crime in Kingston is down 39 percent for the first five months of 2008, following a 14 percent decrease in crime between 2006 and 2007. Violent crime is down 53 percent. Property crime is down 37 percent and violent crime is down 53 percent. But firearm-related crimes are up slightly (four reported through May of 2008 compared with three in the same period of 2007) in Kingston.
In Ulster County, crime this year is generally trending down, with a decrease of 2.3 percent reported for the first five months of the year. Violent crime in the county is down more than 20 percent.
In addition to DCJS, the following state and federal agencies participate in the Ulster County IMPACT initiative: the New York State Police; the Division of Parole; the U.S. Attorney’s Office; the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and the federal office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In addition, Professor Ling Zhou of Marist College serves as a crime analyst for the Ulster IMPACT partnership.
Operation IMPACT grants fund personnel, including crime analysts, assistant district attorneys, field intelligence officers, probation officers and investigators. The grants also support technology, such as mobile surveillance cameras, crime mapping software, digital fingerprinting equipment and laptop computers.

Arts Grants!
The Ulster County Legislature, Ulster County Arts Council and Dutchess County Arts Council recently announced 2008 awards from the Ulster County Cultural Services and Promotion Fund (UCCSPF) of $47,500 in finances provided by the Ulster County Legislature. 23 applications were received requesting a total of $126,077, with 12 organizations receiving awards ranging from $2,500 - $7,000. A broad array of projects were funded including audience development initiatives, new programs that will help established arts organizations reach underserved populations, and public art projects which will draw tourists and visitors to communities throughout Ulster County.
Awards were given to The Arts Community, the Arts Society of Kingston, the Ulster Performing Arts Center (UPAC), High Meadow Arts, Historic Huguenot Street, Pine Hill Community Center, Shadowlands Theatre, Shandaken Theatrical Society, Unison Arts & Learning Center, Woodstock Chamber Orchestra, Woodstock Film Festival in partnership with the Center for Creative Education, and the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild.

Families Needed
Welcome a young person from Brazil, Japan, Germany, Morocco, or one of over 60 countries into your home. Share your home and change the world. Host an exchange student from Youth For Understanding USA. Students are scheduled to fly to the US throughout August and many are still awaiting news of their host families. Provide them a once in a lifetime opportunity—host for just 90 days to get them off to a good start! Call 1-866-493-8872 or visit our website www.yfu-usa.org to find out more information on becoming a host family or support volunteer with Youth for Understanding.

FEMA Hub?
US Senator Charles Schumer has joined Congressman John Hall to urge the Federal Emergency Management Agency to establish a Northeastern Regional Disaster Hub in Orange County. The lawmakers pointed to the Hudson Valley’s proximity to air, rail and interstate highway transportation options making it an ideal location for an emergency center that would serve high-risk areas including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC.
FEMA is currently examining its overall assets and capabilities and is exploring establishing a hub somewhere in the Northeast.
Schumer and Hall suggested to FEMA a location in the Town of Wallkill as a regional hub. The agency already has a Primary Entry Point station in the Town of Wallkill and that location could work for a new hub, the lawmakers wrote in their letter to FEMA Deputy Administrator Harvey Johnson.

Farm Camp!
Frost Valley YMCA is holding a Family Farm Camp which will be held from Sunday to Friday, August 24-29. Families will spend the session in yurts at Frost Valley’s working farm and participating in a series of agricultural-based activities. This special offering is limited to five families.
Guests will be participating in traditional farm crafts such as wool spinning and candle-making. They will also be tending the gardens, working with the animals and cooking with the vegetables that they harvest. Horseback riding, swimming and many other activities will also be enjoyed.
Frost Valley’s long-running Family Camp will also run from Sunday, Aug. 24 through Friday, Aug. 29.
For more information, call (845) 985-2291, ext. 205, or visit www.FrostValley.org.

Firefighters…
Several states have passed laws to encourage people to become volunteer firefighters and to make it easier for volunteers to pull away from work, and to keep employers from punishing employees who leave to fight fires or respond to emergency calls, according to the National Volunteer Fire Council. Also, Congress is considering separate measures that would give volunteers greater tax exemptions for mileage and help volunteer departments with rising fuel costs.
In West Virginia, which has lost about 2,000 volunteer firefighters in the past eight years, legislators are studying proposals that include a scholarship for volunteers and a type of pension plan. And measures approved this year in state legislatures include the passage of a law in Colorado that bars large employers from firing employees who leave work to respond to emergencies, a new law in Nebraska that bars employers from punishing employees who arrive to work late because they have responded to emergencies, and Louisiana and Pennsylvania law that offers volunteer emergency responders a $100 income tax credit.
In other words, hope still exists…

Obituary
Benito H. Barcone, 83 of Spruceton Road in nearby Westkill, died Saturday August 9, 2008 at his residence. He made his home in the Wittenberg - Bearsville area from 1950 to 1985. He founded Empire Music in 1948 and was instrumental in the music movement in the late 1960's in Woodstock. The Hunter-Tannersville School was the first school he serviced many years ago. He has enjoyed travel throughout the world, loved to restore old cars, and was a train enthusiast. He was a United States Navy veteran having served in three different theaters in World War II. He earned the American Theatre Medal, Asiatic Pacific Medal, the Victory Medal, and the European African Middle Eastern Theatre Medal with one star.
He was born April 2, 1925 in Connellsville, PA son of the late Henry and Amelia Caretti Barcone. Surviving are his wife of 58 years, Mira Lee Kelley Barcone, a son Tim of Westkill, a brother Eugene of Santa Fe NM, and a sister Elaine Van de Bogart of Woodstock. 4 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren also survive. He was predeceased by his son Peter in 2002.
A Memorial Service to Celebrate the Life of Mr. Barcone will be held on Saturday August 16th. Gathering will be at 11am and the ceremony will begin at 12 noon at the E. B. Gormley Funeral Home 87 Main St. Phoenicia. Friends will be received on Friday from 6-8pm at the E. B. Gormley
Memorial contributions may be made to the Destroyer Escort Historical Museum POB 1926, Albany 12201.

Police Blotter
The Shandaken Police report the arrest of a Shokan man on numerous felony charges. Martin Sletten, age 58 of Twin Oaks Drive in the Town of Olive was arrested after Shandaken Police got a 911 call for an assault on August 3. Police allege that Sletten pushed his way into the residnce of a Mt. Tremper man and once in the residence displayed a knife in a threatening manner and stole property from the resident. Sletten was charged with Burglary in the 1st degree, a class B felony, Robbery 1st degree, also a class B felony, Unlawful imprisonment 1st degree, a class E felony and Menacing 2nd degree, a classs A misdemeanor. Sletten was arraigned in the Town of Woodstock Court and remanded to the Ulster County Jail on $25,000 cash bail to reappear in Shandaken at a later date. The Shandaken Police were assisted at the scene by DEP Polce and the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office Detective Unit.

Reunion!
The Onteora High School Class of 1983 has scheduled its 25th Reunion for October 10-11, 2008. Members of the class are requested to visit the Reunion Web site at groups.yahoo.com/group/ocs83reunion for Reunion details and registration. Any information regarding classmates whose contact information is unknown is also requested and may be provided through this same Web site. Phone calls are also accepted at 845-702-8629.

New History
Making Mountains: New York City and the Catskills, os a new book by noted environmental historian David Stradling, from the University of Washington Press. The work shows the transformation of the Catskills landscape as a collaborative process, one in which local and urban hands, capital, and ideas have come together to reshape the mountains and the communities therein, with environmental, economic, and cultural consequences. Look for it in local bookstores...