6/7/2007
Dems Decide…
Ulster County Democrats handed their nomination for the
District Attormey position opening up with the decision
by incumbent Don Williams not to run again to Assistant
Ulster County Public Defender Jonathan Sennett in an upset
caucus vote Monday night at the Hillside Manor in Kingston.
Vincent Bradley Jr., with three major endorsements before
the event, had been considered the favorite going in to
the party convention.
Sennett, who has a law practice in New Paltz, won on a
second ballot by roughly 230 committee members attending
the convention at the Hillside Manor. Sennett received
13,164 votes in the weighted count, followed by Bradley
with 10,875.5.
State Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, D-Kingston, had urged
Democrats to back Bradley, who came out on top in the
first round of votes with 10,245.5 to Sennett’s
7,702.5 and 7,071.5 for Assistant District Attorney Julian
Schriebman. However, a majority of the votes was required
to win the nomination, requiring a second round between
the two leading candidates.
Sennett said his nomination means “hopefully, that
the Democratic Party and committee members took a look
at the issues and merit of my experience and candidacy
and got behind me in the end.”
He had been the first candidate to come forward in the
district attorney race, before incumbent Republican Donald
Williams announced he would step down.
One Republican - Holley Carnright - is running for the
position.
Democrats also nominated 29 candidates for county Legislature,
with the only controversy erupting in District 8 (Gardiner-New
Paltz-Shawangunk), where first-term Legislator Peter Liepmann
was denied renomination. Liepmann vowed a primary.
Ulster County Republicans, meanwhile, lined up candidates
Tuesday night, June 5, to run for the county Legislature
as well as endorse Carnright. Their meet was at the same
Hillside Manor location.
With four incumbent legislators retiring this year, the
GOP, which currently holds 12 seats on the 33-member Legislature,
nominated 28 candidates, leaving five slots open.
Unofficial nominees for the Legislature include Shandaken’s
Brian Grant and Woodstock’s J. Sam Mercer for District
2 and no candidates in District 3.
Overall, Democrats hold a 21-12 majority over Republicans
(with non-enrolled Tracey Bartels in their caucus) but
left open four slots.
Cassel Resigns
Dr. Laurie Cassel, principal of Bennett Elementary School
for 14 years has resigned. She will be moving onto Ulster
County BOCES as Deputy Superintendent in New Paltz and
will work closely with Superintendent Martin Ruglis.
“It is sad and exciting at the same time, the feelings
that are flooding through me.” Cassel a resident
of Woodstock, is from New York City. She has her Phd in
education from Fordham University, Masters in Special
Education from Columbia University and an undergraduate
in Psychology from Purchase.
She said working at Bennett has been a “blessing
and a gift.”
Phoenicia Threats
Phoenicia resident Joseph Rainwater 42 of Woodland Clove
Road, was arrested recently on charges of first-degree
reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a loaded
firearm, and criminal possession of marijuana, all felonies,
and second-degree menacing, a misdemeanor. He was sent
to Ulster County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail.
According to Shandaken police, Rainwater swerved his vehicle
into the path of another vehicle as if he was going to
hit the other vehicle. The driver of that vehicle, whom
authorities did not identify, drove around looking for
Rainwater, ultimately finding Rainwater’s vehicle
parked in the driveway of Rainwater’s Woodland Clove
Road home. As the driver told Rainwater to stop harassing
him, Rainwater produced a .223-caliber M-16-type assault
rifle and pointed it at him. Police said the driver told
them that as he started to drive away, Rainwater fired
a shot at him. The driver reported the incident to police.
Authorities said Rainwater also called authorities to
report harassment. He was arrested after admitting that
he fired the weapon.
A search of Rainwater’s home, executed by the Shandaken
town police and the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office,
uncovered a “grow operation” and about two
pounds of marijuana. Police also found three other semiautomatic
rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Mark Sklar, 55, Rainwater’s roommate, was also arrested
and charged with second-degree criminal possession of
marijuana, a felony, and unlawful growing of cannabis,
a misdemeanor, police said. He was arraigned and released.
Jail Probe
The investigation into cost overruns and construction
delays at the new Ulster County Law Enforcement Center
will include an examination of how the project received
its initial approval and will allow people to call a hotline
to provide information about any phase of the work. The
review will last 16 weeks and cost $90,200. Among other
things, it plans to look into the events leading up to
the hiring of construction manager Bovis Lend Lease, which
was done without a vote by the county Legislature.
Bovis was paid $3.5 million for work it did on the project
before being fired by the county Legislature in March
2006.
The committee will use its authority to issue subpoenas,
if necessary, though it has been noted that court cases
involving payments to contractors already have provided
substantial documentation. The investigative committee
also expects to determine whether 10 previous oversight
committees functioned correctly and whether relationships
between contractors and county officials were proper.
Votes by the Republican-run county Legislature in July
2002 increased the estimated $53 million cost of the project
to $71,838,195, once all contracts were awarded and legal
fees were added. The total had risen to $84.39 million
by the time the Democrats became the Legislature’s
majority party at the beginning of 2006. The amount since
has climbed to $95.2 million and is expected to top $100
million once outstanding claims by contractors are settled.
Reservoir News
Olive is doing battle with the City of New York over existing
and future road closing around the reservoir. At the June
town board meeting, Supervisor Bert Leifeld announced
that the town has filed a lawsuit against the City to
show cause why Monument Road remains closed. There is
no resolution of the case in sight he said.
Meanwhile, the board is working to make sure similar mistreatments
of local travelers don’t occur next year when the
City, which owns the roads and bridges around the Ashokan
Reservoir, begins repairs and replacements of bridges.
In particular, the proposed closing of the Railroad Bridge
on Reservoir Road for a three week period next year is
“completely unacceptable,” Leifeld said.
A letter has been sent to the City’s Department
of Environmental Protection requesting that an alternative
plan be developed.
Councilman Bruce LaMonda said the town needs to treat
the city like the bad neighbors they are.
“We need to send a stronger message to the City,”
LaMonda said, vowing to support legal action against DEP
should they try and get away with anything less than what
was promised years ago by DEP officials when there were
discussions about the replacement of the dividing weir
at the south end of reservoir. The entire span, which
stretches over the reservoir and is major link between
the Route 28 corridor and the southern potion of Olive
near the Marbletown and Rochester borders, is slated for
work in 2010.
The board believes they must get details about the projects
etched in stone now, though. The DEP, LaMonda said, has
promised to keep at least one lane open during the construction
phase, but there is now iron clad agreement. He said if
they refuse to keep traffic flowing while they work on
the railroad bridge on reservoir road than it’s
possible they would do the same thing at the dividing
weir.
“They’d like us to think they’re good
neighbors, but they’re not,” LaMonda said.
Watershed Study
A total of $30 million to study and implement improvements
to the and Upper Delaware River Watershed and Susquehanna
River was included in the congressional Water Resources
Development Act of 2007 recently. WRDA, which was recently
passed in the Senate and the bill will now go to a House
and Senate Conference Committee to resolve differences
between the House and Senate versions of the bill, authorizes
the Army Corps of Engineers civil works projects, including
flood mitigation, navigation, ecosystem restoration and
shoreline protection projects. Under the authorizations,
the Corps partners with local sponsors to conduct the
projects. A project authorization in WRDA is a necessary
first step towards securing funding in an appropriations
bill at a later date.
The Upper Delaware River and Susquehanna provision in
WRDA will authorize the Corps to work with New York State
and local governments to develop a watershed management
plan for the Upper Delaware River and Susquehanna watersheds
and to carry out flood mitigation and ecosystem restoration
projects that are consistent with the plan. The types
of projects that can be carried out under the provision
include bank stabilization, wetland restoration, soil
and water conservation, and flood damage reduction. The
provision authorizes $30 million for these purposes, with
a 65/35 cost share between the Corps and non-federal sponsors.
The provision streamlines the process by which the Corps
studies and conducts flood mitigation projects. After
developing a watershed management plan, the Corps will
be able to move forward on projects without a new authorization
from Congress—a step that is usually required, and
which often adds years to the time it takes to complete
projects.
Local government watchers are now anticipating similar
moves for flood mitigation in the Hudson-side of the watershed
in the coming years.
Autism Lawsuit
More than 4,800 claims have been filed against the federal
government during the past six years alleging that a child
contracted autism as a result of a vaccine. The first
test case from among those claims will be the subject
of an impending hearing in a little-known “People’s
Court” - the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
For the parents filing a claim, there is the potential
for vindication, and for financial redress.
The test case addresses the theory that the cause of autism
is the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in combination
with other vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal.
That preservative, which contains a form of mercury, is
no longer in routine childhood vaccines. However, it is
used in influenza vaccines.
One of the parents who has filed a claim against the federal
government and has great interest in the case is Scott
Bono of Durham, N.C. His son, Jackson, 18, has autism.
While acknowledging the findings of the IOM’s study,
Bono believes those findings were preordained by the federal
government.
He said that parents of children with autism have been
marginalized, but they see specific outcomes in their
children that are consistent with exposure to mercury.
And those outcomes did not present themselves until after
they received their vaccinations. In short, the children
tell the story better than the numbers, he said.
In July 1999, the U.S. government asked vaccine manufacturers
to eliminate or reduce, as expeditiously as possible,
the mercury content of their vaccines to avoid any possibility
of infants who receive vaccines being exposed to more
mercury than is recommended by federal guidelines.
Autism is characterized by impaired social interaction.
Those affected often have trouble communicating, and they
exhibit unusual or severely limited activities and interests.
Meanwhile, classic symptoms of mercury poisoning include
anxiety, fatigue and abnormal irritation, as well as cognitive
and motor dysfunction.
The report from the Institute of Medicine pointed to five
large studies, here and abroad, that tracked thousands
of children since 2001 and found no association between
autism and vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal.
Members of the National Autism Association see drug manufacturers
and the federal government as working too closely together
to the point that the federal government is working to
protect the industry from liability. The association says
its mission is to raise awareness of environmental toxins
as causing neurological damage that often results in an
autism or related diagnosis.
Bono, a member of the association, said he doesn’t
believe his son was intentionally poisoned.
“I just want someone to step up and say, ‘You’re
right, this did happen,”’ he said.
During the hearing, lawyers for the parents were expected
to present their expert testimony during the first week.
Then lawyers representing the federal government were
expected to present their case. The hearing was to be
open to the public. Officials planned to post transcripts
on the court’s Web site about 24 hours after each
day’s proceedings.
Da New Judge!
Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced this week his recommendation
of 52 year old law clerk Christopher E. Cahill of Ulster
to fill the shoe’s of his former boss, the late
Justice Vincent G. Bradley, on the state Supreme Court
after sifting through a field of 11 Ulster County attorneys
who applied for the appointment in January. The Governor’s
nomination, one of four around the state, is expected
to be taken up by the state Senate before its scheduled
adjournment on June 21. Senate confirmation is necessary
for appointment.
Cahill, who said he will be a candidate in November for
a full 14-year term, still faces nomination at a Third
District judicial convention to be held in Albany in early
September. The seven-county Third Judicial District includes
Albany, Rensselaer, Greene, Columbia, Sullivan, Schoharie
and Ulster counties. There are three openings for Supreme
Court justice.
Cahill, a Rochester native, is a graduate of Hamilton
College and SUNY Buffalo School of Law. He and his wife,
Kimberlee, a special education teacher in the Saugerties
school district, are the parents of two sons, one a junior
at Union College, the other a junior at Kingston High
School.
The post of state Supreme Court justice pays $136,500
per year. Cahill’s current position, which he retained
after Bradley’s death, pays $122,000 a year.
Trespass Rights
A local effort to have the state Department of Health
decide access rules for New York City watershed property
have been delayed by the censure of state Supreme Court
Justice Cathryn Doyle, resulting in a new judge on the
case. The decision to censure was issued Feb. 26 by the
state Commission on Judicial Conduct, which found Doyle
had provided “inconsistent, misleading and evasive”
information during the investigation on her role in a
campaign trust for state Supreme Court Justice Thomas
J. Spargo.
But Hunter Town Supervisor Dennis Lucas said lawyers for
the town and New York City have been told that a decision
in the access case will be made based on arguments made
before Doyle was removed.
Hunter town officials filed the case last year after New
York City filed charges against a man for trespassing
onto watershed land adjacent to private rental property.
Lucas said the watershed memorandum of agreement terms
require city officials to get state Department of Health
approval for rules dealing with access to watershed lands.
“These policy makers within the Department of Health
are directly accountable to the people of the town of
Hunter whereas those within New York City’s Department
of Environmental Protection are not,” he said.
Lucas added that rules about hiking on New York City property
without a permit were harmful to the local tourism industry.
City officials did not comment on the change in judges
for the case, but Department of Environmental Protection
spokeswoman Natalie Millner previously responded that
“these rules were carefully developed over an extended
period and in close consultation with watershed stakeholders.
They were legally and properly adopted.”
The trespass case that spurred the town of Hunter suit
was ultimately dismissed after a ruling in Hunter Town
Court that proper signs were not posted.
Playfair Auditions
The Shandaken Theatrical Society in Phoenicia is holding
auditions for Play Fair 2007, a festival of short plays
by local playwrights. Actors aged 14 and up are needed
for a wide range of parts in fun pieces without the huge
time commitment of a major production. Auditions will
be held Tuesday, June 19, and Wednesday, June 20, at 7:00
p.m. at the STS Playhouse, Church Street, Phoenicia. Actors
will read from scripts provided. Performances will be
August 24, 25, 26, 31, and September 1 and 2. For further
information, call Violet at 688-2916.
Stressed Out?
Mothers of young children who feel they lack emotional
support or help in caring for their children have more
than three-times the risk of mental health problems compared
to their peers who feel adequately supported, a new study
shows.
More than one third of the 1,747 mothers participating
in the study reported at least one parenting stressor
that boosted their risk of mental health problems, Dr.
Ritesh Mistry of the University of California, Los Angeles
and colleagues note in the American Journal of Public
Health. “If parenting stressors such as those examined
here are to be addressed, changes may be required in community
support systems, and improvements in relevant social policies
may be needed,” they conclude.
Mothers of small children are known to face a substantial
risk of mental health problems and their mental health
has a “strong influence” on their child’s
health and development, the researchers note.
Mistry and associates conducted the study to determine
how certain parenting-related stressors might affect mothers’
mental health and whether these stressors were related
to financial and social factors.
The mothers of children 4 to 35 months old completed a
five-item questionnaire to assess their general mental
health. Women who reported feeling a lack of emotional
support (they had no one to rely on for day-to-day emotional
help with parenting) represented nearly 14 percent of
the total sample and were 3.4 times more likely to report
being in poor mental health, the researchers found.
Roughly 12 percent of mothers who said they lacked functional
support in caring for their children (they had no one
to care for their children when they needed a break) had
a 2.2-times greater risk of poor mental health.
When asked about time spent with their child, 37.2 percent
of mothers said they spent too little, 11.2 percent said
they spent too much, and 51.6 percent said the amount
of time they spent with their child was just right. While
mothers who said they spent too little time with their
children had a slightly increased risk of poor mental
health, those who said they spent too much time had a
3.5-times greater risk of mental health problems.
Overall, mothers who reported having one parenting-related
stressor had triple the risk of poor mental health, while
having two or more stressors increased risk nearly 12-fold.
Improving family leave policies and making high quality
child care more “affordable and accessible”
could help ease the stresses on parents identified in
the current study, they add. They conclude by calling
for further research to investigate how such stresses
affect fathers’ mental health.
Health Aide Hell
A home health aide was arrested May 23 after she made
purchases exceeding $30,000 by using the identity of an
elderly client in Shandaken, town police said. Barbara
Marie McClinton, 44, of Kingston, was charged with aggravated
identity theft, access device fraud, mail fraud and bank
fraud, all federal felony charges after being arrested
on a federal warrant from the U.S. Postal Service. Shandaken
town police said they received a complaint in December
2006 from a 77-year-old woman who said numerous collection
agencies had been contacting her with regard to purchases
she said she had never made. An investigation determined
that the woman’s identity had been stolen and used
by her former home health aide to open credit card accounts
and make purchases. The investigation was a joint operation
with state police at Ulster, the U.S. Postal Inspector’s
Service and the Office of Investigations of the Social
Security Administration.
McClinton was arrested at her home and taken to Albany,
where she was arraigned in U.S. District Court and released
on her own recognizance.
Stream Meeting…
A watershed community meeting will be held Saturday, June
23, 2007 at 9:30 am at St. Francis DeSales Catholic Church
Parish Hall on Old Route 28 (Plank Rd.) Phoenicia. Upper
Esopus Creek Watershed residents are invited to help organize
stream restoration and monitoring projects together and
get involved in care of local streams. In particular,
restoration and/or maintenance of streamside vegetative
buffers will be discussed. A short stream walk will follow
the meeting, and will include observing invasive species
such as Japanese knotweed as well as looking at previous
stream restoration efforts. Activities will end at 12:30
pm. For more information contact Esopus Creek Stream Management
Plan at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County
at 845-340-3990
Caging Politics
As more information comes out in congressional hearings,
some things about the firing of U.S. attorneys become
murkier and others clearer. So far, testimony and documents
from congressional hearings reveal that the Justice Department
under Alberto Gonzales, with prodding from White House
political adviser Karl Rove and others, targeted “battleground”
states with closely contested 2006 elections - among them
Missouri, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Nevada and Washington
- as “hot spots” for voter fraud investigations.
The Justice Department apparently also fired U.S. attorneys
who refused to go forward with baseless investigations
and prosecutions in these states.
Meanwhile, investigative journalist Greg Palast, who spoke
about his research at SUNY New Paltz in recent weeks,
has met with Congress about his evidence. Almost simultaneously,
one of the attorneys in the mess – former Karl Rove
aide Tim Griffin of Arkansas – resigned from his
controversial US Attorney post.
Palast has charged that Griffin and others picked by Gonzalez
at Rove’s urging had been working at”caging
voters, a term GOP operatives came up with for keeping
portions of the electorate who would otherwise vote Democratic
away from polls.
Palast has obtained a series of confidential emails dating
from the 2004 presidential election, in which Griffin
transmitted so-called “caging lists” of voters
to state party leaders. Experts have concluded the caging
lists were designed for a mass challenge of voters’
right to cast ballots. The caging lists were heavily weighted
with minority voters, including African-American homeless
men, students and soldiers sent overseas.
Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee investigating
the firing of US attorneys, stated that, despite Griffin’s
resignation, “We’re not through with him by
any means” and indicated that he thought it unlikely
that Griffin could carry out this massive caging operation
without the knowledge of White House Deputy Chief of Staff
Rove.
Palast first reported on the emails from Griffin containing
vote caging lists for BBC’s “Newsnight,”
prior to the 2004 presidential election.
Affordability...
Mid-Hudson Pattern for Progress is tackling an issue that
affects us all – affordable housing for our communities.
A conference on the issue will be held on June 12th at
the SUNY New Paltz campus. The conference is designed
to help Hudson Valley decision makers, community leaders,
government officials, corporate and not-for-profit administrators
understand the housing crisis troubling the region and
how to best address it.
Any municipal legislative, planning, or zoning member
is invited to attend the conference at the reduced rate
of $30. Westchester, Ulster, Dutchess, and Orange Counties
have endorsed the conference for 2 hours of credit towards
the state mandated requirements. For further information
please visit Pattern’s website at www.pfprogress.org.
Not Winning
The man who commanded US-led coalition forces during the
first year of the Iraq war says the United States can
forget about winning the war.
“I think if we do the right things politically and
economically with the right Iraqi leadership we could
still salvage at least a stalemate, if you will - not
a stalemate but at least stave off defeat,” retired
Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the highest-ranking
former military leader yet to suggest the Bush administration
has fallen short in Iraq. said in a recent interview.
“I am absolutely convinced that America has a crisis
in leadership at this time,” Sanchez told Armed
Forces Press after a recent speech in San Antonio, Texas.
“We’ve got to do whatever we can to help the
next generation of leaders do better than we have done
over the past five years, better than what this cohort
of political and military leaders have done,” adding
that he was “referring to our national political
leadership in its entirety” - not just President
George W. Bush.
Sanchez called the situation in Iraq bleak, which he blamed
on “the abysmal performance in the early stages
and the transition of sovereignty.”
Sanchez took command in the summer of 2003 and oversaw
the occupation force amid an insurgency that has sparked
a low-grade civil war in Iraq. He was in the middle of
some of the most momentous events of the war, among them
the dissolution of the Iraqi army and barring millions
of Baath Party members from government jobs: two actions
seen as triggering the rebellion among Sunni Muslims,
who fell from power with Saddam.
The US ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, reacted on
Sunday to Sanchez’s comments by insisting: “It’s
just way premature to be talking in terms of victory or
defeat.”
Men’s Sweat?
For women, apparently there’s nothing like the smell
of a man’s sweat. Researchers at the University
of California at Berkeley said women who sniffed a chemical
found in male sweat experienced elevated levels of an
important hormone, along with higher sexual arousal, faster
heart rate and other effects. They said the study, published
in the Journal of Neuroscience, represents the first direct
evidence that people secrete a scent that influences the
hormones of the opposite sex.
The study focused on androstadienone, considered a male
chemical signal. Previous research had established that
a whiff of it affected women’s mood, sexual and
physiological arousal and brain activation. Its impact
on hormones was less clear. A derivative of testosterone,
it is found in male sweat as well as in saliva and semen.
It smells somewhat musky.
The researchers measured levels of the hormone cortisol
in the saliva of 48 female undergraduates at Berkeley,
average age of about 21, after the women took 20 sniffs
from a jar of androstadienone. Cortisol is secreted by
the body to help maintain proper arousal and sense of
well-being, respond to stress and other functions.
Cortisol levels in the women who smelled androstadienone
shot up within roughly 15 minutes and stayed elevated
for up to an hour. Consistent with previous research,
the women also reported improved mood, higher sexual arousal,
and had increased blood pressure, heart rate and breathing.
For comparison’s sake, women also smelled baking
yeast, which did not trigger the same effects. The researchers
used only heterosexual women in the study out of concern
that homosexual women may respond differently to this
male chemical.
Film Shoot…
Have you ever wondered what it would look like if all
the things you produce and consume in your lifetime were
piled up outside your door? All your clothes, all your
electrical goods, all your worldly goods laid out before
you? The impact each and every human has on the planet
in an average lifetime will be told in a documentary,
The Human Footprint, set to shoot during June and July
in Ulster and surrounding counties.
The documentary, which is produced by National Geographic
and a UK-based Production Company, is seeking crew and
cast members. A first casting call was held recently in
Woodstock but others are now being planned.
For more information about the Hudson Valley Film Commission
or the filming of The Human Footprint, please call Laurent
Rejto, Hudson Valley Film Commission, at 845-810-0131.
Widening Gaps
With the number of nonwhite Americans above 100 million
for the first time, demographers are identifying an emerging
racial generation gap. That development may portend a
nation split between an older, whiter electorate and a
younger overall population that is more Hispanic, black
and Asian and that presses sometimes competing agendas
and priorities.
“The new demographic divide has broader implications
for social programs and education spending for youth,”
said Mark Mather, deputy director of domestic programs
for the Population Reference Bureau, a nonpartisan research
group. “There’s a fairly large homogenous
population 60 and older that may not be sympathetic to
the needs of a diverse youthful population.”.
The Census Bureau estimated that from July 1, 2005, to
July 1, 2006, the nation’s minority population grew
to 100.7 million from 98.3 million; that is about one
in three of all Americans. The new figures also suggest
that many states are growing more diverse as minorities
disperse.
As a result of immigration and higher birthrates among
many newcomers, the number of Hispanics grew by 3.4 percent
nationwide and Asians by 3.2 percent. Meanwhile, the black
population rose by 1.3 percent, and that of non-Hispanic
whites by 0.3 percent. More than 20 percent of children
in the United States either are foreign-born or have a
parent who was born abroad. Nearly half the children under
age 5 are Hispanic, black or Asian.
Over all, the median age of Americans reached 36.6 years,
another record high. It ranged from 27.4 among Hispanics
to 40.5 among non-Hispanic whites. The census counted
more than 73,000 centenarians (about 14,000 men and 59,000
women) and also 78 million baby boomers (those born from
1946 to 1964), who, as they turn 60, are helping to drive
the racial generation gap.
And while growth rates fluctuated, many states are becoming
more racially and ethnically diverse. The changes have
potential implications for national politics.
In Nevada, where the share of whites has declined to 59
percent from 66 percent since 2000, the voting-age population
has soared 25 percent, with minorities accounting for
63 percent of that increase. Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee
have recorded the greatest percentage gains in their Hispanic
population since 2000, with the biggest numerical gains,
predictably, registered by California, Texas and Florida.
The biggest percentage increases in black residents were
registered by Maine, South Dakota, New Hampshire and Idaho,
and in Asian residents by Nevada, Arizona and New Hampshire.
In New York and Maryland, the departure of non-Hispanic
whites has accelerated since 2005. (California has lost
nearly 100,000, more than any other state). In the same
period, New York and Michigan have recorded a loss in
black residents. (Louisiana, in the wake of Hurricane
Katrina, recorded losses across the board.)
According to the latest figures, 80 percent of Americans
over age 60 are non-Hispanic whites, compared with only
60 percent among those in their 20s and 30s, and 58 percent
among people younger than 20.
Dr. Mather said the widest racial generation gaps were
found in California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico
and Texas. In Arizona, minorities account for more than
half the people under the age of 20, but only one in six
who are 60 and older.
The smallest gaps were found in Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine,
New Hampshire, Vermont and West Virginia. He also noted
that the three most homogeneous states — Maine,
Vermont and West Virginia — spent the highest proportion
of their gross state product on public education.
“There does seem to be a correlation,” he
said.
Ah, Katrina…
As the winds and water of Hurricane Katrina were receding,
presidential confidante Karen Hughes sent a cable from
her State Department office to U.S. ambassadors worldwide.
Titled “Echo-Chamber Message” - a public relations
term for talking points designed to be repeated again
and again - the Sept. 7, 2005, directive was unmistakable:
Assure the scores of countries that had pledged or donated
aid at the height of the disaster that their largesse
had provided Americans “practical help and moral
support” and “highlight the concrete benefits
hurricane victims are receiving.”
Many of the U.S. diplomats who received the message, however,
were beginning to witness a more embarrassing reality.
They knew the U.S. government was turning down many allies’
offers of manpower, supplies and expertise worth untold
millions of dollars. Eventually the United States also
would fail to collect most of the unprecedented outpouring
of international cash assistance for Katrina’s victims.
Allies offered $854 million in cash and in oil that was
to be sold for cash. But only $40 million has been used
so far for disaster victims or reconstruction, according
to U.S. officials and contractors. Most of the aid went
uncollected, including $400 million worth of oil. Some
offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups
such as the Red Cross. The rest has been delayed by red
tape and bureaucratic limits on how it can be spent.
In addition, valuable supplies and services - such as
cellphone systems, medicine and cruise ships - were delayed
or declined because the government could not handle them.
In some cases, supplies were wasted.
Overall, the United States declined 54 of 77 recorded
aid offers from three of its staunchest allies: Canada,
Britain and Israel, according to a 40-page State Department
table of the offers that had been received as of January
2006.
“There is a lack of accountability in where the
money comes in and where it goes,” said Melanie
Sloan, executive director of the public interest group,
which called for an investigation into the fate of foreign
aid offers. She added: “It’s clear that they’re
trying to hide their ineptitude, incompetence and malfeasance.”
In a statement, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said
that the U.S. government sincerely appreciated support
from around the world and that Katrina had proved to be
“a unique event in many ways… As we continue
our planning for the future, we will draw on the lessons
learned from this experience to ensure that we make the
best use of any possible foreign assistance that might
be offered.”.
Representatives of foreign countries declined to criticize
the U.S. response to their aid offers, though some redirected
their gifts.
Of $454 million in cash that was pledged by more than
150 countries and foreign organizations, only $126 million
from 40 donors was actually received. The biggest gifts
were from the United Arab Emirates, $100 million; China
and Bahrain, $5 million each; South Korea, $3.8 million;
and Taiwan, $2 million.
Army Oil!
A new study ordered by the Pentagon warns that the rising
cost and dwindling supply of oil - the lifeblood of fighter
jets, warships, and tanks - will make the US military’s
ability to respond to hot spots around the world “unsustainable
in the long term.” The study, produced by a defense
consulting firm, concludes that all four branches of the
military must “fundamentally transform” their
assumptions about energy, including taking immediate steps
toward fielding weapons systems and aircraft that run
on alternative and renewable fuels. It is “imperative”
that the Department of Defense “apply new energy
technologies that address alternative supply sources and
efficient consumption across all aspects of military operations,”
according to the report.
Weaning the military from fossil fuels quickly, however,
would be a herculean task - especially because the bulk
of the US arsenal, the world’s most advanced, is
dependent on fossil fuels and many of those military systems
have been designed to remain in service for at least several
decades.
Moving to alternative energy sources on a large scale
would “challenge some of the department’s
most deeply held assumptions, interests, and processes,”
the report acknowledges.
In Ellenville?
Village officials are trying to speed the process to have
smaller businesses locate in Ellenville by removing certain
impediments in the review process. Code Enforcement Officer
Brian Schug said during a public hearing Tuesday that
some potential business owners have been reluctant to
go through the lengthy process and the stringent Planning
Board review.
The change in the law would allow designated members of
the village administration to decide issues involving
parking and traffic flow, which Schug said are clearly
defined in local codes. These decisions could be made
without approval from the Planning Board. Mayor Jeff Kaplan
said the village initially had very loose code definitions
on who needed review, and a few inappropriate decisions
were made. Codes were "tightened up" accordingly,
he said.
A public hearing on the matter is set for June 11. Talk
about precedent...
