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Budget Well Heard
No Frills Means We Find The Means To Handle The State & Fed's
Overages
By Paul Smart
Inside are the current budget figures being discussed
for the 2004 year by the Shandaken Town Board. The figures are
still flexible, especially as regards the Highway department,
whose numbers are still quite sketchy, according to the town when
they sent this over.
The town's full budget for the coming year will likely be in the
S3.6 million range, including $1,592,052 in appropriations for
the town‚s general fund, outlined below; about $1,542,546
for the town‚s Highway fund; and another $490,000 or so
for the town‚s various special districts, including water,
lights and fire protection.
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Our Father
Pastor Berean's Long Journey
By Paul Smart
Father Christopher Berean feels that moving to Phoenicia to take
over the St. Francis de Sales Parish last January, following the
departure of seven-year pastor Father Hector LaChapelle, is something
of a worldly dream come true. Having grown up in New Windsor,
near Newburgh, and served as an assistant pastor in Woodstock
and Saugerties, he‚s long been familiar with the Catskills
in general, and Phoenicia in particular, as one of his favorite
places.
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ALL LINED UP... Shandaken's town board
and supervisor candidates all came out on Sunday, October 19,
for a Shandaken Women's Network/League of Women Voters debate
that proved civility really is possible in this town, with the
right moderator and timekeeper on board.
The Great
Debates
GOP Defend Funding Questions As
Fingers Pointed At "Special Interests"
By Paul Smart
.............Mysteries rippled the
otherwise placid outcome of the October 19 Shandaken Women's Network/League
of Women's Voters debate between town board and supervisor candidates.
On the one hand, much talk was made about the "special interests"
effecting town politics, without any definition other than Democrat
board candidate Howie McGowan's witty comment that the term tended
to be used in relation to those disagreeing with someone's personal
beliefs.
On the other hand, GOP candidates said they had no control over
statements accompanying, even defining, their candidacies when
questioned about "Citizens for Progress," the unregistered
political action committee funding a stream of mudslinging ads
supporting Republican candidates that was targeted by noted Kingston
Freeman Hugh Reynold's October 18 political analysis column as
being a disingenuous front for Dean Gitter's pro-development forces.
The Sounds of Autumn
An Old Tradition Gets Underway With The New Panther Mountain
Picking Circle
By Anthony Rice
For more than a year, some of the Catskills' finest musicians
and songwriters have been gathering to make acoustic music one
evening a week in an old converted ski lodge near Phoenicia.
In and of itself, this may not be newsworthy. Gathering and
sharing "Mountain Music" with others has long been
considered a cultural past-time for musicians in the Catskills.
Such events, whether spontaneous front porch blue grass "jam
sessions" or polished performances in area venues, are
one of the blessings of living in the Catskills.
What perhaps sets this weekly gathering apart from others has
been the focused purpose and intention that‚s sustained
its steady growth the last eighteen months. Its founders, Dennis
Havel, a Woodland Valley woodworker, and Harry Jameson, one
of Phoenicia‚s premiere river tubing outfitters, wanted
to create a Œmusical circle‚ that not only served
its participating musicians (as opposed to an audience), but
foremost nurtured a sense of "community" for its participants.
For them, this meant that no one musician would be more important
than the circle. By subordinating their own needs and
wishes, or "checking their egos" at the door, musicians
would better serve their group's best interest.
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