September
28, 2006)
Asked To Leave
Developer Dean Gitter has been busy lately showing off
his revised plans for the controversial golf resort he
wants to build on the Ulster/Delaware County border. Last
week the businessman hosted no less than three events
to discuss his efforts to downsize the project that has
been under review for the past six years.
However, he is only showing the plans to a select group
of officials and community members, and ran into trouble
in the town of Middletown last week, where the town clerk
feels he was duped into scheduling a catered, invitation
only party in the town hall for just such a shindig last
Thursday, Sept. 21.
It never happened though. Just one day before the event
took place the Town Supervisor cancelled the event on
the advice of Town Attorney Carey Wagner.
“It just wasn’t a good idea to have it in
the town hall,” said Supervisor Len Utter Wednesday,
shortly after making the decision. He said he had already
informed Gitter, who quickly moved the meeting place to
the headquarters of the Margaretville Telephone Company.
Russell Schebesta, Middletown’s Town Clerk for the
past 26 years, was concerned about how things might have
gone at town hall, located in Margaretville, where Gitter
had booked space between six and nine pm. In charge of
okaying the request, Schebesta said the session was not
booked by Gitter staffers but by the Town Supervisor’s
secretary, who informed Schebesta that Gitter wanted to
hold “a public information session” to display
and discuss his new plans for the 1900 acre Belleayre
Resort at Catskill Park. Schebesta okayed the event, but
said he found out later that it was really for only a
select group.
“It was supposed to be a public information meeting,
instead it’s invitation only,” he said. “There’s
a grand canyon of difference between the two.”
Not Running...
According to Councilman Robert Stanley, accounts of his
candidacy for Supervisor have been greatly exaggerated.
The rookie councilman said this week that despite the
rumors, he has no intention of running for the top spot
in town government next year. Stanley contacted reporters
shortly after the September town board meeting to clear
things up. .Following the session, the town’s official
paper published an editorial which contained a thinly
veiled accusation that Stanley was letting his ambition
get the best of him. Nonsense, he said, and added that
he’s very happy in the seat he currently has as
a councilman and intends to stay there for the next three
years.
"I'm not running," he said
Dam Update
A year-long process designed to stabilize the New York
City-owned Schoharie Reservoir’s Gilboa Dam is currently
scheduled for completion in mid-December, a little ahead
of schedule, according to the City’s Department
of Environmental Protection Commissioner Emily Lloyd.
To achieve the stabilization, a complicated process involving
the installation of 79 anchoring cables drilled into bedrock
costing upwards of $24 million, the city not only installed
water release siphons and cut a chunk out of the existing
dam, but opened its water release tunnel emptying into
Ulster County’s Esopus Creek full-throttle for the
past nine months via the so-called Allaben Portal.
Responding to area concerns about mass flooding brought
about by the stabilization project, which was triggered
after city and state standards were updated to take into
account the sorts of changing weather patterns that have
resulted in recurring floods throughout the region in
recent years, as well as such national disasters as last
year’s Hurricane Katrina devastation of the city
of New Orleans, Lloyd added that the city DEP will also
be searching out ways to use the City’s reservoirs
to assist in flood management throughout the region.
Last March, Lloyd committed the DEP to extending a snow
pack-based flood management program, running from December
through March, to the Pepacton and Neversink reservoirs
on the Delaware River, as well as the Schoharie. In the
coming months, she said in the recent announcement, the
Department “will be seeking to develop additional
spill mitigation programs” throughout the watershed
area, including the Ashokan, which many downstream of
it along the Esopus have blamed for a series of recent
floods.
Lloyd’s statements came during a press conference
held with Schoharie County Board of Supervisors Chairman
Earl Vanwormer on Monday to announce that the DEP has
committed to funding a full $370,000 for an early warning
system and emergency flood planning costs, including the
installation of new floodgates at the Gilboa Dam.
A full scale, four-year reconstruction of the dam that
had been scheduled to begin in 2010 has been advanced,
Lloyd said, and will begin in 2008 at an estimated cost
of $300 million. The full-scale reconstruction project
will bring the decades-old structure up to State standards
for new dam construction.
At one point, in an attempt to deflect possible flood
damage from snow melt-off and the Spring’s heavy
rains, the DEP opened up old flood channels on the Ashokan
Field Campus in Olivebridge, ostensibly closing down the
facility, which later went up for sale (still pending),
for several months.
Concerns about raised water levels along the Upper Esopus
Creek were voiced by a number of Shandaken landowners,
and the town’s supervisor, at a public hearing held
by the DEP in Olive last winter. Similarly, concerns about
high Ashokan Reservoir water levels on downstream flooding
in Marbletown, Hurley, Ulster and Saugerties led to the
formation of an ad hoc committee of those town’s
supervisors that have been meeting to discuss mitigation
over the past year.
28 Repairs!
At its recent hearing at the Olive Meeting Hall, the State
Department of Transportation announced a decision to make
repairs to Route 28 in Boiceville without closing the
highway and detouring traffic.
Flooding last June damaged a culvert under the highway
near Dancing Rock Road, but the pipe is so deep underground
the job is expected to take up to two months to complete.
The project, expected to begin in November, will be done
in sections so at least one lane can be open to traffic
at all times.
Engineers estimate that a 140 foot wide excavation is
needed to dig down to get replace the culvert at it deepest
point, which 50 feet underneath the eastbound lane.
Drivers of smaller vehicles will be encouraged to use
the small side roads to avoid the construction zone, but
large trucks will need to continue to use Route 28, as
none of the side roads are large enough to accommodate
them.
The project cannot begin until other DOT crews complete
work on Route 223A in Greene County, which suffered severe
damage during thee same flood last June. If DOT cannot
begin the Route 28 project next month, the project might
be put on hold until after the New Year, officials said.
Super Search II
The Onteora school board is once again interviewing candidates
for
school district superintendent. Board president Marino
D’Orazio said
that they are scheduled to interview two candidates.
“I do not know too much about them,” he said,
“we found them through our consultant and they are
both superintendents.”
One is coming in from California and the other is from
New York, but D’Orazio did not have any other information
available. He said, “if these two don’t work
out, than the search continues.”
If the school board considers the two new candidates a
viable option, than they will present them to the public
sometime in the near future.
Richard Lerer Consulting Services have led the search
for superintendent. Lerer found Justine Winters to replace
Dr. Hal Rowe who retired in 2004. Winters retired, due
to cancer and passed away in May. The school board recommended
two candidates in June, but neither were chosen due to
negative feedback from the public.
In other matters, the school board has set aside a couple
of hours on Wednesday, October 4 for a Board Retreat,
after which they will move into a special session, open
to the public, where they will discuss the setting of
goals for the coming year. The retreat will take place
in Central Administration offices, meeting in the High
School Cafeteria... both in Boiceville.
Re-Discovered
“The Catskill Water Discovery Center will be a one
of a kind center—and the world-class architectural
design will reflect that,” reads the website description
of the multi-million dollar project set for a presentation
to the Woodstock area curious at the Woodstock Artists
Association and Museum this Thursday, September 28, at
7 pm. “With roofs rising to mountain peaks, stone
works and flowing water, the building will actually be
a miniature example of the way the watershed works.”
The “free presentation” will likely mirror
a series of similar events last Spring in Shandaken and
Middletown where a model of the $20 million proposed museum
by West Hurley architect Joseph Hurvitz was shown, expecting
the fact that the entity has since been renamed The Water
Discovery Center in the Catskills.
The project, slated for 44 acres of land in the Delaware
county community of Arkville, was originally based on
an idea by local developer Dean Gitter, who insisted that
a watershed museum be funded by one million dollars of
New York City money under the 1997 memorandum of agreement.
At the time Gitter, who was alleged by a Sullivan County
Planning Director to have come to fisticuffs over allocation
of the included museum funds, had yet to announce his
plans to build the controversial thousand-room Belleayre
Resort, still pending.
The original Watershed Museum, presaged by a briefly existing
Visitor’s Center located at Gitter’s Catskill
Corners complex in Mt. Tremper (later renamed Emerson
Place), was to have originally been built in Shandaken
adjacent to his planned resort. When the then Shandaken
town board refused to release saved town funds of approximately
$400,000, received as part of the City-Upstate MOA agreement
as “Good Neighbor Monies,” the project decided
to move across the town and county line to Arkville. Around
the same time, Gitter divorced himself from direct involvement
with the project.
Most of the city’s original $1 million commitment
was lost after organizers failed to build the project
within the time frame originally agreed upon in 1997.
In 2004, it was announced that $5 million was needed to
really do the job right and a major fund raising campaign
was launched. But when funding proved elusive. it was
decided by Board president Gary Gailes, a former consultant
to, and associate of Gitter, that funding would flow more
freely if the plans were expanded... and the budget quadrupled.
The Catskill Water Discovery Center is now envisioned
as 20,000 square feet of exhibit and classroom space,
plus a sculpture garden, art gallery, amphitheater, restaurant,
and a network of nature trails.
Refreshments, if the past is any indication, will likely
be served.
Health Help?
Consciously seeking not to repeat last year’s 37
percent tax increase, the County Legislature is currently
entering its annual budget process seweking to find savings…
possibly via its allocation of health benefits. Chairman
David Donaldson has submitted a plan he says could knock
four percent off the property tax rate by rolling back
health care costs to $17 million, the county’s 2005
spending levels… without a reduction in access or
quality of health care.
Donaldson said the savings would come largely through
doubling the current $10 health care co-pay for county
employees. He said for many county employees, there could
actually be a net savings because by increasing the co-pay,
the premium for membership in a health plan will go down.
Employees pay 15 percent of that premium.
County Manager Michael Hein endorsed Donaldson’s
outline of the potential savings, and Republican Minority
Leader Glenn Noonan appeared to give Donaldson’s
plan a perhaps begrudging endorsement.
The increase applies to all county employees, though managers
still can recoup much of the expense through the County
Plus Plan. Employees covered by MVP will not see a change
in prescription co-pays. Inpatient service co-pays also
will be applied to health maintenance organizations, with
the highest at $500 for CDPHP and MVP 20. However, Donaldson
said employees will not see a change in net cost for inpatient
services because the county plans to reimburse employees…
and a hardship fund will be established for union members
who cannot carry the added expense.
The county’s 358 Medicare-eligible retirees, meanwhile,
will be required to apply for Medicare and use the county’s
insurance as a supplement.
“This is similar savings to having 100 people laid
off,” saidl Hein. “This kind of thing can
save jobs and really protect the property owner, which
is our real goal.”
Even so, Donaldson still expects layoffs after the county
2007 budget is released Oct. 19. He said health-care cost
reductions will shave 4 percentage points off an anticipated
30 percent tax increase for 2007.
Onterora Merits
Two Onteora students, Matthew V. Panico and Jonathan L.
Perrin, are among about 16,000 nationwide to be named
this month as National Merit Scholarship semifinalists.
The semifinalists will be considered for some 8,200 Merit
Scholarship awards, worth $33 million, that will be offered
next spring.
To be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, semifinalists
must advance to the finalist level of the competition
by fulfilling several requirements. About 90 percent of
the semifinalists are expected to attain finalist standing,
and about half will be selected as Merit Scholarship winners,
earning the Merit Scholar title.
More than 1.4 million 11th-graders in nearly 21,000 high
schools entered the 2007 National Merit Program by taking
the 2005 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying
Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.
The nationwide pool of semifinalists, which represents
less than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes
the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number
of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s
percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
To become a finalist, a semifinalist must have an outstanding
academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and
recommended by the school principal and earn SAT scores
that confirm the student’s earlier qualifying test
performance. The semifinalist and a school official must
submit a detailed scholarship application, including the
student’s self-descriptive essay and information
about the semifinalist’s participation and leadership
in school and community activities.
Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their
skills, accomplishments and potential for success in rigorous
college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic
origin or religious preference.
Charter Talk
Ulster County residents had a chance recently to hear
different opinions on the proposed county charter that
will be on the ballot in November. The event, which attracted
approximately 50 people to Temple Emanuel in Kingston,
wass presented by the League of Women Voters. The featured
speakers, Gerald Benjamin, chairman of the former charter
commission and a former Legislature Chairman, and William
West, a former Legislature chairman and Woodstock town
supervisor, offered opposing points of view on the proposed
charter. Both are Republicans.
Benjamin, dean of liberal arts and sciences at SUNY New
Paltz, said the county needs a new form of government
to keep up with changes in the county’s economy,
population and way of doing business. He said the proposed
charter answers the demands of the public, which include
full-time leadership, a locus of authority, proper fiscal
oversight and accountability, and a fail-safe system.
West favors the idea of a charter, but opposes the current
proposal, which he said “emasculates the legislative
branch and gives dictatorial powers to the executive.”
West suggested a county management system headed by a
county manager who is not involved in politics and already
familiar with the day-to-day duties of managing a large
entity. He encouraged listeners to vote against the proposed
charter and support a management system instead.
Benjamin said an elected executive could better carry
out initiatives than a county manager, with strong leadership
skills and a political knowledge needed to bring people
from different points of view and backgrounds together.
West argued that the proposed charter would foster a corrupt
and powerful political machine, since department heads
serving at the pleasure of the incumbent executive will
try to bolster his or her re-election.
“The driving force of a career in politics is to
get re-elected,” West said. “This is not the
good government we would all like to see.”
Residents raised questions about the amount of power a
county executive might wield and why the Health and Mental
Health department boards were demoted to advisory roles
in the proposed charter.
Benjamin said the elected executive will have a controller
looking over his or her shoulder for fiscal accountability,
as well as a Legislature to oversee operations.
County Honorees
Mark Braunstein of Saugerties-based Markertek and Tower
Products has been chosen Businessperson of the Year by
the Ulster County Development Corp. and the Chamber of
Commerce of Ulster County. Braunstein was cited for one
of the six Ulster County Business Recognition Awards to
be presented at the second annual ceremony Oct. 19 at
the Wiltwyck Golf Club. Others to be honored are: Sono-Tek
Corp., Business of the Year; Skate Time 209, Small Business
of the Year; Shadowland Theatre, Cultural Business of
the Year; The Birches at Saugerties, Building Project
of the Year; and the Woodstock Film Festival, Tourism
Business of the Year.
The awards recognize individual and business leadership,
as well as investments and contributions to the economic
future of Ulster County and the Hudson Valley, according
to Chester J. Straub Jr.. president of the Ulster County
Development Corp., and Ward Todd, president of the Chamber
of Commerce.
For reservations and additional information about the
awards dinner, seating for which is limited, call Linda
Clark at (845) 338-8840, ext. 10, or e-mail her at lclark@ulsterny.com.
Paul’s Wins…
Democratic Ulster County Sheriff candidate Paul Van Blarcum
defeated Republican Kevin Costello in two primaries Sept.
12 – for the Conservative and Independence Party
lines. Van Blarcum appeared on the ballots and Costello
was a write-in candidate.
Van Blarcum is hopeful this will be the forerunner to
a November general election victory. “I think it
shows the broad range of support I have in the community
and in different parties,” he said. “It’s
a good upbeat result for our campaign.”
Van Blarcum is a long-time member of the Ulster County
Sheriff’s Office. Costello is a retired state police
BCI lieutenant.
County Benefits
The County Legislature is currently reviewing a proposal
to extend its employee health benefits to domestic partners
of county workers is under rigorous review by the Domestic
Partnership Assessment Subcommittee. Under the proposal,
gay, lesbian and heterosexual couples who have lived together
for at least a year and are financially interdependent
would be eligible for benefits. A legislative subcommittee
looking into the benefits extension is mulling whether
to rely on two, rather than three, proofs of financial
interdependence as evidence that a couple is living together,
as a means of appeasing conservatives who oppose the extension.
Albany, Westchester, Suffolk, Tomkins, Rockland, and New
York counties currently offer a domestic partner benefit
program. None has yet reported a significant financial
impact. Also, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service has ruled
that if a domestic partner does not qualify as an employee’s
dependent, excess health insurance coverage is considered
a taxable fringe benefit. The IRS also says that an employee
can only elect to provide coverage for a domestic partner,
and not for any children of that partner.
Heath Committee Chairman Robert Parete, D-Boiceville,
has said the issue is “not a pro-gay or pro-lesbian
issue, nor is it a pro-heterosexual issue, but a way to
make benefits available” to more county employees.
District two representative Brian Shapiro has added that
although domestic benefits would be of “interest”
to gay and lesbian couples “for obvious reasons...
This would all go away if New York State did the right
thing and let gay and lesbian couples get married.”
Best Spa?
The Copperhood Inn & Spa on Route 28 in Shandaken
has been voted one of the 10 favorite spas in the world
for most affordable spa by Spafinder.com visitors and
Luxury SpaFinder Magazine readers, which together attract
millions of spa consumers annually.
“Spa-goers have spoken, and they’ve placed
The Copperhood Inn & Spa at the very top of their
lists for affordability,” said Spa Finder, Inc.
The Copperhood Inn & Spa is a member of a prestigious
group of 24 Destination Spas throughout North America
and Asia and as such meets specific criteria for membership
and is committed to providing a health renewing experience.
Copperhood Inn & Spa, on the eve of 25th year of operation,
like all Destination Spa Group members, offers a complementary
balance of fitness, healthy spa cuisine, life enhancing
programs and relaxation. Paired with the European influences,
superb facilities and subtle elegance of the Inn, Copperhood
offers a unique Destination Spa experience. Copperhood
Inn & Spa is located at 709 Rt 28 Shandaken NY 12480.
Phone 845 6882460.
Turner Return?
White supremacist Hal Turner of New Jersey may be headed
back to Kingston, NY again. Earlier this year, he led
a protest over a fight in the city, in which a black youth
beat up a white youth.
Ulster District Attorney Donald Williams said last week
that he would recommend that the assailant serve six months
of weekends in the county jail.
Turner has been pushing for harsh penalty for the black
youth, claiming the attack was racially motivated. And
now, as a result of the DA’s recommendation, Turner
may be coming back to Kingston.
“Anyone know of a good place to have lunch (for
50) in the Kingston, NY area?” he wrote on his website
recently.
Joseph Williams, 17, admitted in Ulster County Court on
that he punched Robbie Hedrick in the face last Oct. 7
near the Broadway high school. Wiping tears from his eyes,
Williams told Judge J. Michael Bruhn he made a mistake
and was sorry.
Williams pleaded guilty to felony assault for the attack
on Hedrick - which left the victim with an eye injury
and broken facial bones - and misdemeanor assault for
striking KHS student Thomas Doyle during the same incident.
Doyle suffered cuts and bruises.
Bruhn said he expects to order Williams to pay restitution
to the Hedrick and Doyle families.
“Hopefully, this will be a lesson learned,”
Bruhn said to Williams.
The fight at the high school last October caught the attention
of New Jersey-based white supremacist and Internet radio
host Hal Turner because the assailant is black and the
two victims are white. Police - and ultimately the grand
jury - declared the fight was not racially motivated,
but Turner insisted it was and said Joseph Williams should
be charged with a hate crime.
Turner held a rally on Broadway in front of the high school
on Nov. 19, drawing about 40 supporters, 200 counterdemonstrators
and 200 police officers. Some of Turner’s backers
wore Nazi uniforms and swastikas.
More TVs
The average American home now has more television sets
than people. That threshold was crossed within the past
two years, according to Nielsen Media Research. There
are 2.73 TV sets in the typical home and 2.55 people,
the researchers said.
With televisions now on buses, elevators and in airport
lobbies, that development may have as much to do with
TV’s ubiquity as an appliance as it does conspicuous
consumption. The popularity of flat-screen TVs now make
it easy to put sets where they haven’t been before.
Half of American homes have three or more TVs, and only
19 percent have just one, Nielsen said. In 1975, 57 percent
of homes had only a single set and 11 percent had three
or more, the company said. And in the average home, a
television set is turned on for more than a third of the
day - eight hours, 14 minutes, Nielsen said. That’s
an hour more than it was a decade ago. Most of that extra
TV viewing is coming outside of prime time, where TVs
are on only four minutes more than they were 10 years
ago.
The average person watches four hours, 35 minutes of television
each day, Nielsen said. But while people are watching
more television, ratings for the big broadcast networks
have declined steadily. That’s a function of the
greater number of channel choices available in each home,
the company said.
Job Stats…
The number of jobs created year over year in August in
the Hudson Valley and Catskills regions grew by over 9,000,
according to statistics from the state Labor Department
released this month. At the same time, the unemployment
rates for many counties inched up by a few tenths of a
percentage point.
John Nelson, a Department of Labor analyst said the regions’
economy is doing very well.
“When industries like the financial activities sector
and the professional and business services are doing well,
that’s a very good indication that our region is
doing fairly well,” he said. “Professional
and business services, they added 2,200 jobs, and not
to be out done, educational and health services, they
added 3,000 jobs over the past year.”
The largest job growth was in the Putnam-Rockland-Westchester
area, followed by Dutchess-Orange, and then Ulster County.
Greene, Columbia and Delaware counties all had job losses.
Gay Conference
Hot-button topics such as same-sex marriage, gay and lesbian
youth, sexual health and aging will be showcased in seminars
and workshops at “Come Out & Find Out,”
the first-ever conference devoted to issues facing the
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning
(LGBTQ) community of The Mid-Hudson Valley.
“Come Out & Find Out” will take place
on Saturday, September 30, 2006, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
at the Holiday Inn, 503 Washington Avenue, Kingston, NY.
The event is sponsored by the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community
Center Inc. and co-sponsored by Stonewall Communities.
“The LGBTQ Community must still struggle to attain
the rights accorded all other Americans,” said Ginny
Apuzzo, President of the Board of the Hudson Valley LGBTQ
Community Center, Inc. “We remain second-class citizens.
The Come Out & Find Out conference was designed to
provide people with the knowledge, legal tools and inspiration
to move forward to achieve this goal. Once our community
center has a home — and we’re very close to
realizing that dream — the services and information
offered at this conference will be available year-round
at the center. Gay or straight, we welcome you to attend
Come Out & Find Out.”
The Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center, Inc., was established
in 2005 and currently seeks a permanent home in Kingston.
Already, 600 individuals and families have registered
as Center members. The Center would provide social services,
as well as cultural outreach and advocacy on issues important
to the entire Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community. Center events
and fundraisers are held throughout the year, including
an upcoming Halloween party on October 28 in Stone Ridge.
Cancer Options
Breast Cancer Options, a local nonprofit organization
with a mission of making sure that women with breast cancer
get the support and information they need to make informed
health choices, especially at a time when they are under
stress is holding a “A celebration of life”
Breast Cancer Awareness Fundraiser and Silent Auction
on October 7, at the Bridgewater Bar & Grill, 50 Abeel
Street, Kingston, featuring the band Sonando.
Breast Cancer Options serves the counties of: Ulster,
Columbia, Greene, Dutchess, and Sullivan and in many areas
provide the only services that exist for women with breast
cancer. Services include 10 breast cancer support groups
located throughout the Hudson Valley, Companion/Advocates
(trained breast cancer survivors) to accompany newly diagnosed
women to initial medical appointments, weekly e-news (BCO
News) updates and sign-up is on their website and an annual
Complementary Medicine conference, held in the spring
featuring MD,s and healthcare providers who are experts
in the field. In addition to all of that, a Healthy Lifestyles
calendar is published yearly featuring information on
risk reduction, chemicals consumers should avoid and a
list of products they are in, diet, stress reduction,
detoxification and other relevant information. The 2006
calendar can be seen at http://www.breastcanceroptions.org
(click on Healthy Lifestyles) and can be ordered by phone.
It is free except for shipping charges.
For information or to pre-register for the fundraiser:
845/339-HOPE (4673) www.breastcanceroptions.org
Truth Honored
U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton has reintroduced legislation
to honor Ulster County-born abolitionist and women’s
suffragist Sojourner Truth, who was born into slavery
in the area that is now Esopus in 1797. She gained her
freedom in 1826 and spent much of her adult life preaching
against slavery and for human rights and woman’s
suffrage.
“It is past time that we honor a woman who, despite
all the hardships she faced, was a tireless advocate for
women’s rights,” Clinton said in a prepared
statement.
Clinton received both praise and criticism for her call
in 2005 to add Truth to the Portrait Monument of Lucretia
Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, all
primary leaders in the fight for women’s suffrage.
The National Organization for Women donated the sculpture
by Adelaide Johnson in 1921, the year women gained the
right to vote.
The new Senate’s bill will give the Joint Committee
discretion on where to place the bust of Truth, but it
will likely be in the Capitol Rotunda.
Government Day
Guest speakers at the upcoming Catskills Local Government
Day will discuss how some communities in the region are
utilizing and promoting renewable energy to fuel municipal
operations. This timely topic will be the focus of the
afternoon session at the Sixth Annual Local Government
Day, to be held Thursday, Oct. 19 at Hanah Country Inn,
Margaretville. Registration deadline is October 12. For
an agenda and registration materials, go to www.cwconline.org/special/gov_day
or call the Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC)
at 845-586-1400.
