April 8, 2004 - Home - Editorial - POV - Masthead - Contact The Phoenicia Times - Letters to the Editor

Play View From Space for BIG SAVINGS!

 

WORLD-CLASS FISHING... Nick Strickland made his way all the way up from Maryland to fish the Esopus on Opening Day last week. It's sometimes too easy to forget just what a treasure we have in our local streams.

News Briefs

Hot Time, Old Town
A Reval Presention And New Threats Of Meeting Evictions Mark 200th Anniversary


By Phoenicia Times Staff
             At the Monday town board session, the board and a packed audience heard a presentation about a possible town wide revaluation, discussion about the ongoing dispute with New York State"s claim that it pays too much tax on its holdings in town, and the infamous large parcel tax bill currently before the Onteora school board. And along the way there were cross words between two supervisors, a call for a town-wide property cleanup, and a blessing for the town"s 200th birthday.
            Most left the meeting knowing maybe a little more about the revaluation proposal then before they came in, but with many remaining questions. Supervisor Robert Cross Jr. insisted that the meeting, which featured Dorothy Martin from the Ulster County Office of Real Property, was strictly informational and that no decisions to enter into a reval will be made anytime soon.

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Changes In Midstream
Planning Chair Replacement Tosses Beth's Experience  For Green Horn

By Phoenicia Times Staff
The current power-wielding majority on the town board stuck to its guns Monday when it refused to reappoint Beth Waterman as planning board chair. Instead, in a 3-2 vote down party lines, they appointed John Horn to preside over the planning board, even though Horn has been on the board only since last month.
During discussion prior to the vote, Waterman was praised by several supporters who urged the town board to reconsider a decision made in January to remove Waterman. During the same discussion there was no public support for Horn, although Waterman's backers acknowledged that his credentials as a former Mayor of the Westchester County Village of Pleasantville and a licensed engineer might be enough to make him a qualified choice.
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Running out of time Proposed Belleayre Resort Information Page

Written comments about the proposed Belleayre Resort should be addressed to Alexander Ciesluk, Jr. NYS DEC, 21 South Putt Corners Road, New Paltz, NY 12561-1620 The DEC will be accepting written comments until April 23, 2004.

Email: afcieslu@gw.dec.state.NY.us

Lingering Questions
Supervisor Admits The Todd Issue Won't Go Away, It's Just Premature...

By Paul Smart
            Ethics issues linger on in town, with supervisor Robert Cross Jr. accidentally making the dark cloud hovering over recent ethics committees findings even darker when he forgot his promise to read portions of the findings aloud at Monday's town board meeting.
            Last month the three-member ethics panel issued a report that, according to cross, clears councilwoman/deputy supervisor Jane Todd of any conflict of interest with matters pertaining to Crossroads Ventures. Todd was accused of conflict by a citizens group called Friends of Catskill Park because Todd owns property adjacent to the Crossroads proposed golf resort site in Big Indian.
            At the end of Monday's session Judy Wyman, chair of Friends of Catskill Park, asked Cross why he didn't read the report. Cross  said he was sorry, that he forgot he said he would. Wyman did however press Cross into again promising to read parts of it at the next official session.
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Easter Sun
Centering With Art and God
By Paul Smart

Leslie Wray's home looks out over the central Catskills. On a recent weekday, April light dances around the main room as her three children, Daniel, Melody and Donovan, watch a Baby Bach video and dog Bo seeks room on someone's, anyone's lap. Tall hemlocks rustle in the wind. A neighbor's been by all morning helping out.
This is country life at its best∑ languid and homey, neighborly and yet rich with opportunity and intelligence. Well-rounded.
How did Leslie Wray get here?
She started off in a close-knit lakeside community in Northwestern New Jersey. Loved art from kindergarten on. Remembers what it was like to be encouraged in her interests, both by parents and teachers and the students of the other classes where she would take her creations for Show and Tell. And also loved the feelings of closeness and warmth, of understanding and a different kind of love that she got from her family's church when growing up.
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