Newsbriefs

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2/15/2007

Ambulance Blues
The Shandaken town board continued to battle residents about its handling of the ambulance squad at its monthly meeting on February 5. This time questions were raised about another hasty hiring for the department.
The Board was forced to table a plan to hire Certified Ambulance Group Inc., of Rocky Hill, Connecticut after people wondered if the hiring would cost taxpayers too much.
With no real answers on hand, the board decided to do a little research and revisit the idea at the next meeting.
The Ambulance Department was turned upside down last month when the town board replaced long time squad leader Jerry Pearlman with Peggy Vitarius. Last month it appeared that Vitarius, who is paid $15,000 a year, had taken on those responsibilities. The resolution calling for the hiring of Vitarius stated that her responsibilities included “Personnel, Billing, Scheduling and Record keeping.”
It was Vitarius that requested the town hire Certified Ambulance Group for a fee of nine per cent of all bills received and 25 percent of all collection accounts.
Supervisor Robert Cross Jr. estimated that it would translate into about $13,000 a year for the company.
When audience members demanded a breakdown of costs, the board decided to enter into executive session to discuss the matter privately. They returned and announced the idea would be considered some other time, probably on February 22nd at a special 3pm town board meeting.
“Who’s going to be doing the billing?” asked Phoenicia resident Carol Shalaew.
“We’ll be discussing that with Peggy (Vitarius)…” Cross replied.

No Water Deal...
The Fleischmanns Village Board of Trustees has no plans to make a deal to sell potable water to Crossroads Ventures at this time. That’s what was made clear at a February 12th meeting of the Trustees who, along with John Brust of Delaware Engineering, fielded questions about their intentions with Crossroads and also about a water tower project underway in the Village that would increase the Village’s storage capacity for potable water.
The Board has made no commitment to supply water to the Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park, a golf/spa project now being promoted by developer Dean Gitter, according to Village Mayor Kathy Wilbur.
Wilbur said that Crossroads representatives have had discussions with the trustees but that is all that has happened.
She also recalls there was talk of some arrangement made between Crossroads and a previous village administration, but that there is no evidence that there was any valid commitment at that time either.
“There is nothing in writing anywhere about it,” she said.
Last week Crossroads spokesman Paul Rakov said they hope to make a deal with the village.
“We would look to the Village of Fleischman’s for an arrangement that would provide potable water to the Wildacres part of the resort,” he said. “As a result, we would pay a significant amount of taxes to the town for the use of this water, lowering taxes for area residents and safeguarding their water supply.”
It should be noted that Delaware Engineering, besides representing the village, is also involved with the golf resort project. In a report issued last year, Delaware Engineering states that the village only needs a maximum of 300,000 gallons of water a day, but the draft lease agreement prepared by Delaware Engineering for property owners that may host the Fleischmanns water tower allows for a water tower capable of holding up to one million gallons of water.
Brust insisted that it has not been decided where the tower will be built, claming there are three possible locations under consideration at this time.
He did clear up the confusion over how the project would be paid for. He said the funds, made up of grants and no interest loans, were secured a year ago. The $2.6 million has already done lots of work on the water system, he said, but he did not state specifics. The water tower, he added, is the second phase of the water supply rehabilitation project.

Jail To Open!
After years of waiting, and millions of added expenses, the state Commission of Correction has granted Ulster County “provisional” approval to open the long-overdue jail at the county’s new Law Enforcement Center in Kingston. The approval is conditional on a final site review next week, but is expected to go through.
The jail was originally to open in April 2004. The Sheriff’s Office moved into the building last fall, but the new jail remains unopened nearly three years after the original target date. At the same time, the estimated cost of the project has nearly doubled, from a projected $53 million to what is expected to be over $100 million by the time things are done.
Inmates are expected to be moved into the new jail from the current facility on Golden Hill Drive “within the next several weeks.” Then comes the hard jobs of figuring out what to do with the old jail, which some have suggested could be leased to private incarceration companies, as well as how to use all the new space set aside for housing overflow inmates from other counties. The new Ulster County Jail has a state-authorized capacity of 427 inmates, although it will only have 270 when they are moved in from the old jail shortly. With the added capacity, Sheriff Paul VanBlarcum has said that later this year he will authorize boarding out-of-county inmates.
“Probably six to nine months we will run it with just our inmates, get all the problems straightened out, get our staff used to running this type of facility,” he said. “The Commission on Corrections will come back down and evaluate us to make sure we have the amount of staff we should have, and they will give us the okay to start boarding inmates.”
Ulster County Legislature Chairman David Donaldson said, in the interim this past week, that getting the new jail open will create an immediate cost savings because the county no longer will have to pay other counties to house overflow inmates.
Logistics of a full-fledged probe into what went wrong to get the county in its current position have yet to be worked out. But stay tuned…

OCS Coach Fired
When a popular and successful high school coach is suddenly and unexpectedly replaced with only the bewildering comment that it’s "for the best," many people are certain to be mystified. None of them, however, are as mystified as the coach himself.
"I have no idea why he’s doing this," said Onteora track coach Mike Boms when reached for comment. "I’ve never been written up for anything. I asked if it was for personal reasons and he (Onteora Athletic Director Michael Kocher) said ‘no.’ I asked if it was for professional reasons and he said ‘no.’ Then why? He said it was ‘for the best.’ The best for whom?"
The 56 year-old Boms has run a track program for 27 years which some have characterized as the "best in the county." His record boasts over 200 victories. When you gaze at the trophies and plaques in the high school hallway, you’ll see a tally of twelve championships since he took over the program from Coach Joseph Ahouse in 1984 (after serving as assistant coach since 1979.) There’s almost as many second place finishes honored on the walls and only once in all of those years has his track team finished below third place in the 16 team Mid-Hudson Athletic League.
After Onteora’s clinch of the MHL championship last year, the third in the last five years- to go along with consecutive Section 9 championships in the past two years, Boms’ peers in the league voted him Coach of the Year.
. "Well, we want to go in a different direction," Boms recalls Assistant Principal Gabriel Buono telling him last week. "A different direction? What does he want to change? He told me ‘Don’t take it personally. You’ve done nothing wrong. You’re not being fired. We’re just not reappointing you.’ It’s a formality at Onteora that you reapply for the position every year. I’ve done that for 27 years and I’ve been the only applicant."
Boms recalls that in December, when he turned his budget request for next season over to the athletic director with notification that he wanted to coach again next year, Kocher mentioned that should there be a second applicant, Boms would have to go through an interview process. He thought that odd coming from an administration which knew him so well but it wasn’t until he played his phone messages on February 7th that the significance of that remark registered fully.
The brief, strange message from Buono, which Boms saved, said that the assistant principal had consulted with the athletic director and that they had "decided to go with Joe Cahill and build his resume. Sorry it didn’t work out for you."
"It’s mind-boggling to me that, after 28 years at Onteora, you can’t say ‘Mike, give me a call. I need to talk to you about something," Boms said. "And the timing of this, with a new superintendent, who doesn’t know me, coming in from California, is a bit too convenient. I made an appointment to see (Superintendent) Lesley Ford on the 20th of February. There’s a school board meeting at the high school that night and I’ve requested to speak to the board."
"I was promised an interview if there’s another applicant, yet I was dismissed without an interview," added Boms, who teaches biology at SUNY New Paltz and Mount St. Mary’s College in Newburgh, where he turned down afternoon teaching positions for next year because he expected to be coaching at Onteora. Having taught science, chemistry and biology at the local high school until June of last year- when he accepted a retirement incentive offer- Boms was also active in Onteora’s student government program, yearbook organization and running the A+ Technology course in computer repair- a class which he started himself and which includes certifying graduates through official channels in Albany. Along with coaching track (and for varying stretches, football, field hockey, weigh lifting and modified girls’ basketball), his typical day at Onteora started at 7:30 am and ended around 6 pm. Still, he said the incentive package was the only reason he retired.
When reached, Mike Kocher said that he was "not at liberty to make any comment" and referred all inquiries to Dr. Ford. Caught at end of a long meeting during her first day as Onteora Superintendent Leslie Ford could not confirm that the Boms matter was on the agenda for the school board meeting but indicated that all personnel issues were confidential and would not be publicly discussed.
Neither Onteora Principal Barbara Rubin nor Assistant Principal Gabriel Buono returned calls but Joseph Cahill, the heir apparent of the coaching position, did say he didn’t think the change-over would include any cutbacks to the athletic program.
Cahill, who is in his first year of teaching physical education at Kingston High School and looks forward to his second year as Boms’ assistant coach in the 2007 Spring track season, has been running track himself in high school and college for the past 9 years of his life and earnestly comments; "It’s something that I love."
In his view, Cahill aded, Boms was "pretty darn successful" as a coach.
"I know the kids are going to miss him," Cahill said.

Expo YMCA
Nearly 500 representatives from 16 countries attended Expo YMCA 2007 at Frost Valley YMCA in Claryville in January, traveling to the area from more than 200 YMCA locations, including Chile, Spain and Mexico. The event ran from January 8-12.
Last year, Frost Valley was chosen by the YMCA of the USA to run the YMCA National Camping Conference in January 2007. With new YMCA of the USA President Neil Nicoll at the helm, the decision was made to run an Expo series instead, combining different facets of the YMCA into super-conferences.
“Frost Valley was elated to have been chosen to host this event,” remarked CEO Jerry Huncosky. “The Expo was a huge success and it was very well received.”
Among those in attendance were 11 Frost Valley staff alumni. Returning to Frost Valley for the Expo were: Peter Jones, now at Camp Jones Gulch; Peter Swain, Camp Fuller; Tara Murgatroyd, YMCA Camp Marston and Raintree Ranch; Jason Marker, Hopkinton YMCA; Ryan and Chloe (Bergman) Annetts, Camp Leaders; Rhonda Jacobs, SUNY Cortland; Sue (Konisberg) Kelly, Madison YMCA; Colin Campbell, Fairview Lakes YMCA; Sarah Stevens, Portland YMCA and Toby Hettler, YMCA Camp Shady Brook.
Established in 1901 as one of the nation’s first summer camps, Frost Valley YMCA is located in Denning.

EMC Changes
Rosendale resident John Maylie has been named as new chairman of the Ulster County Environmental Management Council, Legislature Chairman David Donaldson said this month. Maylie has been an EMC member since 2004 and has over 10 years experience in volunteer work in environmental, planning and zoning issues in the Town of Rosendale and College Township, PA. His recent environmental work includes developing the implementation of stormwater management practices for the Town of Rosendale to meet MS4 requirements. He has coordinated with the DEC, Ulster County Health Department and the town attorney to finalize into code the Stormwater Management and Illicit Discharge Laws in Rosendale. He is a member of EMC’s Open Space Committee that has been assisting both EMC members and Ulster County Planning Board employees in developing draft plans.
Maylie just completed three years of active participation in Rosendale’s efforts to update the town’s Comprehensive Plan. He is also currently participating in the creation of the Rondout Creek Watershed Council. He is a member of the Town of Rosendale’s Zoning Board of Appeals.
Legislator Brian Shapiro, chairman of the County Legislature’s Environmental Committee, said with the new direction Ulster County is taking by establishing a Department of the Environment for the first time, Maylie’s “leadership will play an important role in this effort.”
Ulster County Legislature Chairman David Donaldson recently announced that records for about 20 years worth of work by the county’s Environmental Management and Water Quality Management Agency are missing, a potential hurdle for tracking grant money as the county seeks to reorganize the agency. The office, located in Ulster County Community College’s Kelder Center, was locked shortly before the release of reports that outlined financial questions concerning the agency on Jan. 10.
“Apparently, some people have keys,” Donaldson said.
The missing files were discussed during the recent reorganization meeting of the Environmental Management Council, which serves as an advisory board to the environmental agency. Last month, the County Administrator’s Office took temporary control of the agency, which was spotlighted by County Auditor Lisa Cutten and an independent audit for possible financial abuses.

The CIC Again?
A 20-year-old plan to build a $7 million tourism facility geared toward coaxing visitors to explore the Catskills is getting new attention with a new administration in Albany.
The Catskill Interpretive Center was an idea forged in the late 1980s under former Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo. After years of planning and more than $1.5 million in site preparation at a 62-acre site for the in Mount Tremper, the project was suddenly scrapped when Republican George Pataki took over as governor in 1995. Since then, locals have tried time and again to renew interest in the project. Other uses of the site have been suggested as well, such as a glorified rest stop.
Nothing came to pass. Along the way locals dubbed the paved entrance to the site "the bridge to nowhere." The vacant property, now used by folks walking their dogs, has become a "day use area" under the control of the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Within days of Democrat Eliot Spitzer being sworn in as governor in Albany, the Interpretive Center again became the topic of public discussion. On Jan. 3, the Ulster County Legislature unanimously supported the construction of the project.
Last week in Shandaken, the town that would host the center, the Town Board unanimously passed a resolution asking the state to once again set aside funds to complete the project.
Tom Alworth, the executive director of the Arkville-based Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, which played an integral role of the planning of the project, was pleased to hear local governments voicing opinions. He also hopes those opinions are listened to in Albany.
"We are hopeful that the new governor will see this project as part of his commitment to economic prosperity in rural areas," Alworth said Tuesday. "There is no better way to help our local economy than to better educate the public about resources like the (Catskill) Forest Preserve, which will improve their experience here and encourage them to return."

Ag Districts…
In accordance with the NYS Ag & Markets Law Section 303-b, Ulster County will accept requests from March 1st to March 30th from landowners desiring to have their agricultural lands to be included within a certified agricultural district. Landowners seeking inclusion into a certified ag district must submit a completed Ag District Review Worksheet with tax map identification number(s), a copy of the relevant portion of the tax map, and a description of the land within this thirty-day period to: Lydia Reidy, Chair, Ulster County Agricultural Farmland Protection Board, 10 Westbrook Lane, Kingston, NY 12401. The Ag District Review Worksheet and a free brochure explaining ag districts are available through Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County. To receive a worksheet, a brochure or more information about the review process, please contact Mike Fargione, Agricultural Resource Educator, 845-691-7117 or via email: mj22@cornell.edu. Information is also available on Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County’s website: http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/ then go to Agriculture page and click on Farmland Preservation Tools.

Comptroller…
The State Legislature defied Gov. Eliot Spitzer and chose one of their own to be the new state comptroller, picking Assemblyman Thomas DiNapoli, a Long Island Democrat with 20 years of state government experience but virtually no financial credentials, over the governor’s lead choice, Martha Stark, the New York City finance commissioner who was among three candidates recommended by a special state panel set up with the legislature’s approval.
Ulster County Assemblyman Kevin Cahill voted for DiNapoli and said he disagreed, from the start, that a panel of private citizens “with no constitutional authority should essentially have veto power over this decision of the Legislature.”
DiNapoli, elected 150-56 during a joint session of the Legislature, succeeds Democrat Alan Hevesi, who was re-elected in November but resigned in December after pleading guilty to using state workers to chauffeur and run errands for his wife.
Spitzer on Wednesday called the selection of DiNapoli, instead of one of the recommended finalists, “a stark reminder of all that is wrong with our Legislature and its leadership.”

County Transport
Ulster County residents are saying they’d like public transportation that can take them beyond county borders because of the changing nature of the region’s economy. Their comments came out loud and clear at a recent public hearing for a new proposal to build a center that would connect pedestrians and local buses, such as those operated by Ulster County Area Transit and Trailways, which operates more distant routes. The hub also would welcome Kingston Citibus, ShortLine and taxis, according to the Ulster County Transportation Council. The proposed hub will likely be situated somewhere near the Thruway interchange, Col. Chandler Drive and the Washington Avenue corridor in Kingston.
Other comments at the recent meeting also brought up the eventual possibility of restoring a passenger train to the west side of the Hudson. And possible shuttle services to rail service across the river, as well as new plane service from Stewart International Airport outside Newburgh.

Flood Controls
There were more questions than answers at the first public input session on the Delaware River Basin Interstate Flood Mitigation Task Force draft recommendation held in Delhi recently. Many in the Hudson basin have eyes on the new process for future flood mitigation on this side of the New York City watershed.
Two problems stood out. Municipal officials said changes in flood area classification could affect tax rolls, and compliance with new mandates could strain municipal resources. The other key issue was the creation of a sound policy of managed releases, rather than what some see as the current policy of random spillage.
A new document outlines the current flood planning and can be viewed at www.state.nj.us/drbc/Flood_Website/taskforce/index.htm. Three more hearings are scheduled, in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. The public comment period on the draft report runs through February 28.
Meanwhile, in Holland – where more than two-thirds of the Netherlands’ 16 million population lives below sea level, and Dutch policy makers expect a rise in sea level of around 80 centimeters (30 inches) in the next 100 years — engineers are considering creating “breaker islands” off the country’s North Sea coast as a possible defense against rising sea levels caused by global warming.
That would help protect against storm surges such as the one in 1953 that drove water near the Dutch coast more than 4 meters (13 feet) above normal levels, breaching defenses and killing more than 1,800 people. The tragedy set off a massive 40-year building project that made the country’s water defenses among the strongest in the world. But the country’s undersecretary of Transportation Melanie Schultz now says the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina was a “wake up call” that more work remains.
The meeting in Amsterdam brought together experts from the U.S., Netherlands, China, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, and Greece, among others, to trade ideas and discuss ongoing projects in regions that are threatened with flooding.
The Dutch government approved a new $21 billion increase in spending on water defenses and water quality improvements over the next 20 years in December. The country also spends $660 million annually on maintaining its intricate existing system of sea and river dikes which have been built and improved for a millennium.
And we still haven’t fixed the New Orleans levees?

Casino Time?
A Monticello casino is near the top of Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s to-do list, his point man on gaming issues says.
“This is on our radar screen,” said Richard Rifkin, special counsel to the governor and Spitzer’s adviser on the casino proposals in the Catskills.
Last month, the feds gave environmental approval for a $600 million, St. Regis Mohawk casino at the Monticello Raceway.
Spitzer now must concur with the findings, and reach a revenue-sharing agreement with the Mohawks. But Rifkin said the governor’s first priority is the state budget. The casino will be on hold for about two months during the budget process.
“He generally supports the idea of casinos in the Catskills,” Rifkin said. “I haven’t had a chance to brief him on all the elements of the Mohawk proposal. There is a definite interest in casinos in the Catskills.”
Spitzer met privately Monday with Sen. John Bonacic, R-C-Mount Hope. The two talked about the Mohawk casino, health care and property taxes. Bonacic later said there was no likelihood any further casinos would be placed in Ulster County, because of local opposition here.

EPA Dredging?
Construction of a multi-million dollar facility designed to process and treat contaminated sediments dredged from the Hudson River is on track to start this spring, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced recently. The facility, which will remove water from the dredged sediment before it is transported out of state, must be constructed before dredging can begin. The agency expects the construction of the facility to take between 18 and 24 months… itself years pushed back from the process’ original start date.
Due to “several obstacles beyond EPA’s control,” according to the office of Regional Administrator Alan Steinberg – who was also called in to “look into” local developer Dean Gitter’s proposal to build the Belleayre Resor last summer — including legal actions from polluting suspect general Electric and “the seasonal nature of dredging, it has become necessary to extend the start date for dredging until the spring of 2009.”
The 110-acre processing and treatment facility will contain a 1,500-foot wharf area, over five miles of rail lines, 12 filter presses to squeeze the water out of the PCB-contaminated sediment, and an on-site facility that will treat the remaining water. It will employ more than 100 workers, many of whom are expected to be hired from the local area. GE recently awarded a contract to a local company to prepare the infrastructure for the facility.
Beginning in 2009, dredging of the Hudson River will be conducted in two phases. In the initial one-year phase, about 10 percent of the anticipated total volume of PCB-contaminated sediment will be dredged from the river. The remaining phase of the dredging is expected to take five years. The dredging will help restore the Hudson River using approaches designed to minimize impacts on local communities throughout the life of the project.

Autism Growth
The largest U.S. study of autism has found that the troubling condition is more common than previously understood. About one in 150 American children has autism, U.S. health officials said this month, calling the troubling disorder an urgent public health concern that is more common than they once thought. The new numbers are based on the largest, most convincing study done so far in the United States, and trump previous estimates that placed the prevalence at 1 in 166.
The difference means roughly 50,000 more children and young adults may have autism and related disorders than was previously thought.
“This is a greater national health care crisis than we thought even yesterday,” said Alison Singer, spokeswoman for Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest organization advocating services for autistic children.
The study should fuel efforts to get the government to spend hundreds of millions of additional dollars for autism research and services.
“This data today show we’re going to need more early intervention services and more therapists, and we’re going to need federal and state legislators to stand up for these families,” Singer said.
Autism is a complex disorder usually not diagnosed in children until after age 3. It is characterized by a range of behaviors, including difficulty in expressing needs and inability to socialize.
The study was not an effort to find the cause of autism, still a point of debate. While many advocacy groups blame the vaccine preservative thimerosal, scientists are putting more focus on possible genetic causes, according to a recent Stanford University study.

Climate Classes
Children in the United Kingdom will be put on the front line of the battle to save the planet under radical proposals to shake up the way that geography is taught in schools. The plans, published last week, will ensure that, for the first time, issues such as climate change and global warming are at the heart of the school timetable. Pupils will also be taught to understand their responsibilities as consumers - and weigh up whether they should avoid travel by air to reduce CO2 emissions and shun food produce imported from the other side of the world because of its impact on pollution.
Details of the new initiative emerged as global warming is thrust to the top of the political agenda today with the recent publication in Paris of a long-awaited report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Written by more than 2,000 scientists, the report is billed as the most definitive assessment yet of climate change.
Alan Johnson, the British Education Secretary, said urgent action needed to be taken to avoid the worst-case scenarios and that educating children about the dangers of climate change was vital. “Children have a dual role as consumers and influencers,” he said. “Educating them about the impact of getting an extra pair of trainers for fashion’s sake is as important as the pressure they put on their parents not to buy a gas-guzzling family car.”
Under the new blueprint, education for sustainable development - covering issues such as energy saving and recycling - will be a compulsory part of the curriculum. Other topics to be studied include looking at the impact of the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.
Mr Johnson said: “It is inconceivable that young people growing up today should not be taught about issues like climate change - it has enormous relevance to their lives. Children not only learn about our future, they shape it”.
Meanwhile, in our own country, scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by a lobby group funded by one of the world’s largest oil companies to undermine the recent climate change report. Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasize the shortcomings of a report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Travel expenses and additional payments were also offered.
In New York State, a plan has been put forth by Gov. Eliot Spitzer to create a new Climate Change Office that would put New York on the leading edge of national efforts to curb global warming. Tucked in the governor’s inaugural $120.6 billion budget is a proposal to add 12 climate experts to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Currently, there are two — one works full time and one part time. If approved by the Legislature, the office would become only the second state-level climate change bureau in the nation, behind California.
The office’s new employees would initially focus on implementing and expanding the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a seven-state initiative to reduce carbon-dioxide releases from power plants and other sources by 2009.
Exxon set the record for the largest annual corporate profit of $39.5 billion last year even with a 4% decline in fourth-quarter profit resulting in part from an 18% drop in refining margins, according to the company’s profit report.

USB Buys…
USB Agency Inc. Tax & Financial Services, a subsidiary of Ulster Savings Bank, recently announced their acquisition of Mountain Business Services in Shokan. The new office, located at 3048 Route 28 in Shokan, will continue to offer a full range of personal and business tax services, according to Robert Baker, AVP/Financial Services Officer at USB Agency Inc.. Payroll and bookkeeping services will also be available at the Shokan location.
“Our acquisition of Mountain Business Services perfectly complements our existing Ulster Savings Bank branch in Phoenicia by offering tax preparation, payroll, bookkeeping and other value-added services,” said Mr. Baker. “It increases resources available to our staff and expands opportunities for us to serve our clients between our Phoenicia and Kingston bank branches.”
Familiar faces will continue serving area clients – current Mountain Business Services staff will remain with USB Agency Inc., including Doris Bartlett and Bonnie Ford, who will serve as Manager and Assistant Manager, respectively, at the Shokan location. Ms. Bartlett and Ms. Ford bring over 32 years of experience to this new relationship with USB Agency Inc.
For more information, please contact Mountain Business Services at (845) 657-2455.

So Long, Cal...
Calvin M. "Cal" Cunningham, Ulster County's first county administrator, died Friday at Kingston Hospital.
Cunningham, 74, died from a heart attack Friday evening, his wife, Marion, said Sunday.
Cunningham was hired as administrator in 1980.
Former county Legislature Chairman Thomas Roach, who hired Cunningham, recalled Sunday that it was a time of change for the county. The Republicans had just taken control of the Legislature on a platform of a county administrator, he said. After an "almost national" search, the Legislature hired Cunningham, who was the deputy county executive for Suffolk County in Long Island. Most recently, he served as a member of the Ulster County Charter Commission.
Politics and local government weren't always the goal for Cunningham. He was born in Kings Park, Long Island, on March 7, 1932, son of the late Michael and Anna Cunningham. Originally, he trained at Kings Park Hospital and served a few years as a registered nurse.
Mrs. Cunningham said the pay for nurses at the time wasn't much and Cunningham earned his master's degree at C.W. Post College. He entered politics in Long Island, serving as the commissioner of Parks and Beaches in Smithtown and then Suffolk County deputy county executive before coming to Ulster County.
Cunningham left his post as county administrator in mid-1987 to take a position as director of the United Way. He served for years on the planning board in his adopted hometown of Woodstock.
Among the boards he served on were the Ulster Federal Credit Union, of which he was the chairman, the Ulster County Charter Commission, the Consumer Advisory Board of Verizon and the Children's Home of Kingston. He was also a former director of Kingston Hospital and a former member of Kingston Kiwanis. He was named volunteer of the year of New York State Credit Unions and man of the year for Gateway Industries.
He was a communicant of St. John's Roman Catholic Church in West Hurley. Survivors in addition to his wife, Marion Streit Cunningham, include two daughters, Karen, of Albany and Kenda Moody, of Sullivan, Mo.; his stepmother, Elizabeth Cunningham of Kings Park; a stepbrother, Vincent Nicoletti of Kings Park; a stepdaughter, Phyllis Streit of Kingston; a stepson, Robert Streit of the Bronx; and three grandchildren and nieces and nephews. A son Kevin Michael Cunningham, and two sisters, Patricia Bandino and Ann Petty, died previously.
The funeral procession will form at 9:15 a.m. Friday at Lasher Funeral Home, Inc., 100 Tinker St., Woodstock. At 10 a.m., a Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. John's Roman Catholic Church in West Hurley. Burial will be in Woodstock Cemetery.