Follow Up on the News
“They’re going to Belleayre this year instead,” said Town Clerk Laurilyn Frasier.
For years residents have criticized the town’s recreation program because kids had to ride on a bus and hour one way to get to Minekill. While there is a swimming pool, there is no with shade to speak of, leaving kids in danger of sunburn and heat stroke.
The Belleayre Beach at Pine Hill Lake opens for the season May 26 at 10 am. Located in Pine Hill at the base of the mountain, the Belleayre Beach offers lifeguard supervised swimming, pedal boat, rowboat and kayak rentals, fishing, hiking, and pavilions with grills for family picnics. The first two weeks of the season the Belleayre Beach will be open weekends and holidays from 10 am- 6pm, opening daily for the summer on June 9.
New this year, be sure to ask about guided hikes on trails at Belleayre Beach and up on Belleayre Mountain for all levels of hikers. Advance reservations and private hikes can be arranged by calling 845-254-5600 x 469.
Another new offering this summer at Belleayre is a series of Free Nature Education Programs. Pesticides and Wildlife will be given by DEC Wildlife Pathologist Dr. Ward B. Stone on June 23 at 7:30 pm in the Overlook Lodge. Check www.belleayre.com for information about future programming.
I n other Belleayre news, Belleayre Mountain is gearing up for summer with the opening of the Sky Ride and the Nature Center as well as the kick off of the Belleayre Music Festival, all on June 30 . T he inaugural concert of the year will be the Belleayre Orchestra playing Mozart in the Mountains, concluding with a Fireworks Finale. Visit www.belleayremusic.org for the complete schedule... which includes Doo-Wop Legends the Coasters, the Platters, and the Drifters, or what’s left of them; Dr. John; Roberta Flack, several operas, Abdullah Ibrahim, Dianna Reeves, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, the Alvin Ailey Dance Troupe, and Blues Traveler.
As the summer winds down the annual Shandaken Day is expected to kick it back in gear. It will be held on Saturday, August 25th, but this year organizers have moved the shindig to Pine Hill. Councilman Robert Stanley, a key member of the organizing committee reported recently that all plans are moving forward nicely, however there will be no parade for Shandaken Day.
Those who want one can enjoy the Memorial Day Parade in Phoenicia this Monday…it starts at 10 am in front of Gormley's funeral home on Main Street.
And those wanting fun further afield should both keep an eye on our listings in this paper, which includes activities everywhere from Cooperstown to Bard, from Bethel to Albany and all that’s in between.
Never been to the Maverick Festivals in Woodstock? Go. Or tried Margaretville’s Fireman’s Festival over the 4th of July weekend? It’s fun. And how about more than one county fair this year... Ulster and Dutchess are great, in August, but we also love Schoharie County’s Sunshine Days in July, and the Delaware County Fair in August.
Best of all, explore your town. Visit our museums. Ride the train. Tube the creek. Eat at local restaurants.
Enjoy the coming months while you can... after all, it’ll be winter again before you know it.
Though that’s good, too...
Two More For Olive
There were no long lines for the 2007-2008 budget vote at Bennett elementary school, as occurred in years past since the Large Parcel Legislation was enacted in 2004. But this was mostly due to an added ballot machine brought in to deal with the volume of Olive voters.
Despite attempts to the contrary, the district’s proposed budget managed to pass at a comfortable margin. A separate proposition to buy new school busses, however, went down, narrowly, based on a solid Olive “no” to the proposal.
New Superintendent Leslie Ford was pleased voters came out to support the budget of $46,775.318 or a 4.77 percent budget increase, which passed by 1222-1010 votes.
“I am so pleased that the students have received the support of the voters and I am very thankful for everyone who turned out to vote today,” Ford said after the tallies were released following the closing of the polls Tuesday night.
Olive was the single district to defeat the budget by 514-437. In Shandaken, the budget passed 220 to 174; in Woodstock by 307 to 165 votes, and in Hurley by 258 to 157 votes.
Proposition two, asking voters to purchase four buses to replace four that have high mileage and frequent maintenance needs, was defeated by 1108-1086 votes. In Olive, voters went against it 558 to 381; in Shandaken, the no vote was 199 to 183; in Woodstock, the proposition passed 189 to 171; in Hurley it passed 233 to 180.
Michelle Friedel won the most votes of 1470, Richard Wolff came in second with 1313 and D’Orazio came in last with 976 totaled votes cast.
Broken down town by town…
In Olive, Friedel won 925 votes, Wolff received 888 and D’Orazio got 94 votes.
In Shandaken, Friedel got 131, Wolff won 107 and D’Orazio won 299 votes.
In Woodstock, Friedel won 158 votes, Wolff received 111 and D’Orazio won 366.
In Hurley, Friedel got 256 votes, Wolff won 207 and D’Orazio received 217.
Friedel gave a whoop when she saw the total votes and thanked the community for “all their support.” D’Orazio had been leading as the early results of Shandaken, Hurley and Woodstock came in but then faced easy defeat, similar to the race that put MaryJane Bernholz, Cindy O’Connor and Rita Vanacore on the board two years ago. Last spring, a last-minute Olive write-in candidate, George Haug, came very close to winning a seat on the board, and easily swept his own town.
Also after results were announced on the 15th, Wolff smiled relived and said, “Thank-you Olive.”
D’Orazio said he has enjoyed his tenure as a board member. Responding to his loss he said, “This is democracy in action, the voters have spoken.”
After the board approved the votes cast, D’Orazio welcomed the new members.
“Congratulations to Richard and Michelle, welcome on board,” he said to the two officers who step up to the plate July 3, when the board will also choose a new president from its membership, only one of whom has been in office for over two years. “You guys are going to be invited immediately to participate in a number of things coming up.” This year Woodstock had its lowest turnout ever with less than 500 votes cast, while Olive brought out the most voters, averaging well over a 1000. The school district in total has approximately 11,250 registered voters.
Current plans call for seven percent of the profits to go to Phoenicia Elementary School, where there are hopes of reviving a gardening project abandoned several years ago. Boyer was enthusiastic about the prospect of a Phoenicia School garden, where students could be taught to grow food and bring it to market. “They’ll learn about the economics of it,” said Boyer, who feels that growing and eating locally are an important option. One enhancement to the school garden might be construction of a hoop house (a plastic greenhouse) so growing can take place during the school year.
The Neighbors Garden Market is patterned after a highly successful initiative in Connecticut, in which Martin was involved. Pierrette Kim of Good Deeds has been organizing the local effort and has gotten interest from some restaurants that may purchase excess produce for their kitchens. “The idea is to bring the community together,” explained Kim. “People can get fresh local produce and eat organic rather than having to buy things grown with chemicals.”
In addition to local vegetables and fruits, the Black Bear will be carrying an array of organic produce, enabling the Boyers to buy larger quantities of the items needed for the café kitchen. “We’ll also sell our prepared foods, like soups and salads,” said Boyer, “and we’ll offer groceries—cereals, flours, coffee, teas, organic milk, soy milk, and other items. We’ll have local specialty foods from farms in Ulster and Delaware Counties: jams, jellies, vinegars, mustards, artisan breads, organic meat, eggs, and dairy. And we may start baking more, like our apple cider doughnuts. We’ll be staying open until 8:00 for dinner.”
Kim is arranging for Cornell Cooperative Extension to offer weekend workshops on organic growing, and the café plans to sponsor a pumpkin festival in the fall. They expect to have more live music as well, now that renovation has taken down some of the partitions and opened up the space, and they will continue selling gifts, toys, pottery, and local crafts, as well as Boyer’s lyrical paintings. “We’re trying to see what the community wants, what people need,” said Boyer. “We’re not trying to get rich, just survive.
“While this is a difficult time for everyone, the mission churches will always have a special place in our hearts,” said Father Tran. “We pray that people will come together to heal the hurt and to move our faith community forward in the coming years.”
These Masses are scheduled for Memorial Day weekend: Saturday, May 26 at 5:00 p.m. in Allaben, and Sunday, May 27 at 9:00 a.m. in Boiceville. All parishioners and the entire community have been welcomed to help celebrate a remembrance of the mission churches.
Lanza, who says the investigation followed complaints
to the inspector general from disgruntled Belleayre employees, criticized
the office's report and said there were factual inaccuracies in it. Lanza
also tried stressing that while the matter was referred to the state Ethics
Commission, that body reviewed the report and took no action against him.
The Inspector General's Office, which reports to the Attorney General,
did not return calls about the matter it announced in a press release,
but its May 9 report said Lanza, who with a personal friend owns a house
in the nearby village of Fleischmanns, rented the house between 2004 and
2006 to the Boston Concession Group, which has a contract with Belleayre
to operate its ski shop and food concessions. The Concession Group used
the house for its employees who work at Belleayre, and made rental payments
to Lanza totaling $14,500.
The report also concluded that the "Belleayre Trolley," a state-owned
shuttle bus used to transport skiers from Fleischmanns to Belleayre, made
trips solely for the purpose of carrying the employees residing in Lanza's
house to and from work.
Lanza said he would continue to use the trolley as he sees fit. "It's
my decision," he said.
The investigation found that since 1995, Belleayre has deposited about
$33,000 it receives annually in concession revenues into a checking account
established and managed by Artemisia, an advertising firm that had been
employed by Belleayre. In 2002 Belleayre decided to do its own promotional
activities and ceased using Artemisia's advertising services. Despite
this change, Belleayre asked Artemisia to continue managing the checking
account, for which Belleayre paid the firm $200 a month.
While the report called it an "unusual and irregular arrangement,"
it also noted that the account was only used to pay travel expenses for
Belleayre employees who took business trips to ski shows, and to reimburse
employees for incidental advertising expenses they incurred.
"Our examination of all checks written on the account from Jan. 1,
2002, to the present did not disclose any suspicious activity regarding
the expenditure of funds," the report stated.
Lanza, who was hired in 1999, said the Artemisia checking account was
established in 1983, 16 years before his time on the mountain. Regardless,
the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which operates Belleayre,
has informed the Inspector General's Office that its use of the checking
account will immediately cease.
The report also said no vehicle use records are maintained by Lanza or
other Belleayre employees who are assigned state vehicles. The Department
of Environmental Conservation has vowed to implement procedures to correct
that.
Walter Ayres, a spokesman for the Ethics Commission, confirmed Thursday
that the commission reviewed the report and took no action other than
to hand the matter over to the Department of Environmental Conservation.
At this point, Ayres said, the commission is no longer involved.
Lanza on Thursday said that was proof that he was in the clear.
"Why did the Ethics Commission do nothing about it? Because there's
nothing there, that's why," he said.
Maureen Wren, a spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental Conservation,
said the agency is reviewing Lanza's conduct, but has not yet made a formal
determination.
L angdon Chapman, a spokesman for state Sen. John Bonacic, R-Mount Hope,
was unaware of the report on Thursday.
"From a skier's perspective, Tony's been the best thing to happen
to Belleayre since snow," Chapman said. "However, DEC should
investigate, and if there is a problem take action."
Meanwhile, Orville Slutzky of Hunter Mountain shook his head and noted,
simply, “You’d think they would have got him on something
more than that. “
Stay tuned...