Newsbriefs

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(from June 8, 2006)

Shiny New Truck
He may not have gotten the raise he wanted this year, but at least Shandaken’s highway superintendent will get a new set of wheels. Keith Johnson, who was elected as highway superintendent last November, was this month given permission to use highway department funds to purchase a brand new Ford pickup truck to use during his duties. On Monday the town board authorized him to purchase the vehicle for $23,323.
Johnson, a longtime local excavator/logger who also volunteers as the Chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals, asked taxpayers earlier this year to up his salary to what his predecessor got upon retiring last year.
When Dick Merwin bowed out last December, he was making $40,154 a year and was the highest paid public official in the town. Knowing Merwin was going, the town board adopted a 2006 budget showing the salary for whomever Merwin’s replacement was to be only $36,000.
Once elected Johnson had second thoughts about the cut in pay and wanted the salary upped to Merwin’s 2005 rate. However, getting a raise after the budget had been adopted is not that simple. The Town Board had to actually adopt a law to give Johnson a financial boost. But when they did they gave him an increase only to $38,000.

Churchly Appeal
On May 25, a 10-member committee from St. Francis de Sales parish met with clergy & lay officials of the Archdiocese of New York, appealing plans unveiled March 28 to consolidate the parish and close 3 local Catholic churches. The group gave a Powerpoint presentation outlining the move’s local impacts, parishioners also had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with members of the Archdiocese’s Realignment Committee.
“We felt very good about the conversations we had,” said parish committee Chairman Gene Gormley, “but there’s no way to know what impact our discussions may or may not have.” Church officials gave no indication as to when final decisions would be made.
“We’d better say our prayers,” said Gormley. “It’s in the hands of the Lord now.”

OCS Report Card!
The New York State Education Department has released its’ 2004-2005 annual school report card, which shows the academic progress of school districts throughout New York State. Overall the Onteora school district is considered to be in good standing, but the middle school reveals some areas that are in need of improvement. The three elementary schools all safely meet State requirements and the high school has a higher than average graduation rate.
Onteora middle school grade eight mathematics is in year two of a school requiring academic progress. Test scores for middle school English language arts (ELA) fell below the state performance index for the first year.
When the student population is split into two categories of general education and special education, the separation reveals only special education does not meet the standards. Assistant superintendent Deborah noted that the school has recognized this gap and is working on teaching assistant training for students who struggle and are using different strategies for academic intervention services.
“As a district we can look at their population’s performance and see if it warrants correction and that is an area in need of improvement that we identified in our long range educational plan,” said Fox. In 2004 the administration conducted a study titled the Comprehensive District Education Plan (CDEP). Once the study was complete, academic areas of weakness in the district were recognized as a need for improvement. Four areas were targeted: English Language Arts and Math in grades Kindergarten through eight, students with disabilities, and technical integration.
Fox added that she believes the current budget cuts in special education will not have an effect on overall test scores regarding students with disabilities. “If the IEP (individual education plan) request mandates that more services are needed, than we provide those services weather it is with our own staff or through BOCES services, the most cost effective way that we can,” she said
Commenting on the State mandated tests and the overall education for students, Fox said, “this is a snapshot of how a student is doing in a particular grade, it is three hours of one whole school year.”
According to Onteora High School principal Barbara Ruben, 82 percent of the Onteora class of 2005 graduated with a Regents diploma (State education statistics have the school listed as 86 percent graduating with a Regents diploma). Including non-regent diploma students, 93.5 percent graduated in total. She believes the success rate is a combination of several factors. Good quality teachers and staff with a wide range of instructional programming, including support services for students with special needs. She also noted the importance of, “parents who are involved in their children’s lives.”
The Onteora school district website has easy to read charts on the latest test scores. Go to http://onteora.schoolwires.com/onteora/site/default.asp and click on CDEP. The New York State education web site has test comparison charts to other schools in the area and breakdown of test scores on all schools in the state, including student populations, cost per pupil, graduation and drop out rates. Go to http://www.nysed.gov/ and click on school report card.

Conventional!
The Ulster County Republican and Democratic party conventions took place Monday night, June 5 in Kingston, with the GOP at the Holiday Inn where 20-year state policeman Lt. Kevin Costello of Tillson was named a candidate for sheriff against the Democrats’ Paul Van Blarcum, who was named at the Hillside Manor. Retiring Sheriff Richard Bockelmann was blasted by Dems, lauded by Republicans.
VanBlarcum, of Shandaken, said he would like to see new, innovative leadership in the Sheriff’s Office and fix the inefficiencies that he said “plague the department,” notably the trouble that the county is facing with the new county jail, which he described as a $20 million problem turned by Republicans into a $100 million disaster.
In other matters, Republicans nominated state senator incumbents William Larkin and John Bonacic and incumbent Assemblymen Thomas Kirwan and Clifford Crouch for two-year terms, along with Schoharie County clerk Peter Lopez for retiring Assemblyman Daniel Hooker’s five-county 127th Assembly District. They did not nominate candidates to run against Assemblyman Kevin Cahill or Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley and will not be able to decide a gubernatorial candidate to face Democrat Eliot Spitzer until Primary Day in September.
Democrats spoke of themselves being in a strong position after last year’s legialstive victories, and lauded Spitzer as well as Van Blarcum and their unopposed incumbents. They will put up Susan Zimet, an Ulster County legislator from New Paltz, to oppose Bonacic, Kelly Keck against Crouch; Scott Trees in the 127th Assembly District; and Lee Kyriacou to oppose Kirwan in the 100th Assembly District. They do not have a candidate against Larkin.

Goodbye, Justine
On May 27, hundreds of people attended the memorial service at United Methodist Church in Woodstock for Superintendent Justine Winters. She passed away of cancer on May 18 at the age of 59. In attendance were family, friends and co-workers from Onteora and Webatuk school district. Reverend Dr. Tom Kim led religious services and spoke about meeting Winters for the first time about a year ago. He read from an email she sent him discussing her cancer, faith, and family and how much she hoped to attend services, if she was well enough, having been a member of the Methodist church her entire life. Family, life long friends and colleagues spoke of her energy, leadership and direction. Trustee Marino D’Orazio spoke about first meeting Winters when he was still president of the school board and how comfortable he felt with her easy manner. Photos in the front reception area depicted her with friends and a loving family. Books depicted her career as a dedicated leader of education. It was noted how Winters passed away in her home with her family by her side. A burial and memorial service will be held in Seal Harbor, Maine.

Our Jail Saga…
The 46-page report commissioned by Ulster County in June 2004 to document what went wrong in the planning and construction of the county Law Enforcement Center grown in cost from an approved $150,000 to $1.16 million. The $1.16 million in payments apparently included time spent by Hill International in developing the 46-page report, which was presented to Ulster County legislators behind closed doors on April 25. But County Attorney Joshua Koplovitz said a detailed explanation of the costs has not been provided during the four months he has been in office.
“I think that’s a waste of taxpayer money,” he said. “It’s an embarrassment.”
County officials have released about half of a computer presentation of the 46-page report given by Hill International during a special county meeting April 25.
Legislative Chairman David Donaldson, D-Kingston, blamed Republicans - who controlled the county Legislature until the end of 2005 - for allowing the problems that have caused the Law Enforcement Center’s cost to balloon from an original estimate of $53 million to more than $86 million, with the final cost predicted to top $100 million. The project also is more than two years behind schedule and still has no target completion date.
“We inherited this mess, and we’re trying to clean it up,” he said.
County officials have intended to use the Hill International report to settle claims filed with the county by contractors who are seeking money related to the project’s delays. Koplovitz said the county is considering suing some of the contractors based on 25 pages being withheld from the public from Hill’s 46-page report.
Now Ulster County officials are considering whether a single agreement can settle the more than $20 million in contractors’ claims, with Donaldson saying that he hopes to schedule a meeting among county leaders and representatives of the 10 contractors who have filed claims against the county for money above and beyond what they originally were to be paid for work on the new jail.
Richard Parete, who chairs the county’s Law Enforcement Center Project Committee, has said that he is concerned that the legal strategy is being developed without the input of legislators.

Pillar Killer
It is called “Bt”( Bacillus Thuringiensis) and it’s being touted as an environmentally friendly thuricide that will protect vegetation from being eaten by all those caterpillars that have invaded the region. Bt is a naturally occurring bacterial disease of insects. Bt insecticides are most commonly used against some leaf- and needle-feeding caterpillars. Bt is considered safe to people and non-target species, such as wildlife.
The insecticidal activity of Bt was first discovered in 1911. However, it was not commercially available until the 1950s. In recent years, there has been tremendous renewed interest in Bt. Several new products have been developed, largely because of the safety associated with Bt-based insecticides. Unlike typical nerve-poison insecticides, Bt acts by producing proteins (delta-endotoxin, the “toxic crystal”) that reacts with the cells of the gut lining of susceptible insects. These Bt proteins paralyze the digestive system, and the infected insect stops feeding within hours. Bt-affected insects generally die from starvation, which can take several days.
Shandaken Supervisor Robert Cross Jr. had the foresight recently to order 10 cases of the stuff, which the town sells to residents at cost. For $10 residents can get a 16-ounce bottle of the liquid at the Supervisor’s office.
So far many have taken advantage off the program.
“We’re down to two cases, but we’re trying to order more,” Cross said.
Cross said most people are using it to protect their favorite flowers, bushes, specimen trees and fruit trees.
Four tablespoons of the BT are mixed with a gallon of water and then sprayed on the leaves of the plant to be protected. Cross said spraying only needs to be done once.

Artists Sought...
The Pine Hill Community Center is seeking artists with working studios in Shandaken to participate in our second "Artist Next Door" studio tour program. Artists must be available the full day on Sunday September 10. Selected artists will be compensated for their participation. Please call 845-254-5469 or e-mail info@pinehillcommunitycenter.org for details.

Feel Safe Now?
In a report that outlines why it cut back New York City’s share of antiterrorism funds by roughly 40 percent, the Department of Homeland Security was so critical of some highly viewed local measures — like Operation Atlas, in which hundreds of extra police officers carry out counterterrorism duties around the city each day — that the Police Department and other city agencies must now seek further federal approval before drawing on the money they were given to pay for those programs.
City and state officials have insisted that they made no mistakes and are being the recipient of election-year politicizing of security funding.
New York City received $124.5 million from the Department of Homeland Security, about 40 percent less than the $207.5 million it received the year before. Many smaller cities around the country, like Charlotte, N.C. and Omaha, NE, saw their shares increase sharply.
“We tried to do an analysis of some of the moneys and whether or not they were given out for political reasons, and in fact in many of the places where they got money — but arguably there’s no threat — there are close elections either at the Senate level or the House level,” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said of the process. “Now, whether that was their motive I have no idea.”
The White House tried to minimize the effect on New York. The grants will be reconsidered each year and could change if “some grand and unforeseen need arises,” said Tony Snow, the White House press secretary. “The point of homeland security, as I said before, is to provide security for the entire homeland,” he said. “And certainly no disrespect meant to New York with $124 million for this coming year.”
The report, obtained yesterday, pointed out opposing views held by cities and the federal government over how antiterrorism money should be spent and, as an extension of those views, how terrorism should be fought. City officials have used federal money to subsidize continuing costs, like paying overtime to officers. The federal government, on the other hand, wants the grants to pay for semi-permanent safeguards that can increase security over the long term, like improvements in communications systems, better gas masks and increased training.
Elected city officials were especially stunned that the report said New York had no national monuments or icons. Members of New York’s Congressional delegation presented a united front in pledging action to change the allocations. Representative Peter T. King, a Republican and chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said he would hold hearings to investigate the process, while Senators Charles E. Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton, both Democrats, wrote letters to Michael Chertoff, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, demanding a full explanation.
“We have a counterterrorism center that would deal with all of the potential scenarios that we have been studying that we have to be prepared for that could be dramatically affected by any cut in funding,” said Fire Commissioner Nicholas A. Scoppetta. “It’s as though Washington is not going to be convinced of the need until they have another terrible incident in a place like New York or Washington.”
Hurricane-ravaged New Orleans will receive half of what it got last year - $4.6 million, down from $9.3 million - although Homeland Security said the money was to help cities grapple with catastrophic disasters from Mother Nature and terrorists alike. But several cities saw boosted bottom lines, including three that didn’t get any money last year. Fort Lauderdale, Fla., won $9.9 million for 2006 after receiving what Rep. Rep. Clay Shaw Jr., R-Fla., called a paltry share last year compared with Miami.

Older Celebs…
The 2006 New York State Senior Citizens of the Year Representing Ulster County, in conjunction with “Older Americans,” celebrated during the month of May, were recently announced, with former IBMer Leona Norton, a dedicated member of the Ulster County Office for the Aging Advisory Council for over five years and an active volunteer at the Reformed Church of the Comforter and member of the City of Kingston Mayor’s Task Force, was recognized for her years of community service. Norton has been President of the Colonial Gardens Senior Citizens Club for almost ten years, is a member of Retired Volunteer Senior Citizens (RSVP) program in Ulster County and has been a volunteer at the City of Kingston Visitor’s Center for many years. Alleda Ellsworth, a retired elementary education teacher and President of the Ulster County Alliance, was named for her years as a senior advocate and a community activist. The two were honored during a reception at the Governor’s Mansion in Albany on Wednesday, May 10.

Poison Ivy!
Another reason to worry about global warming: more and itchier poison ivy.
The noxious vine grows faster and bigger as carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere rise, researchers have recently reported. And a CO2-driven vine also produces more of its rash-causing chemical, urushiol, conclude experiments conducted in a forest at Duke University where scientists increased carbon-dioxide levels to those expected in 2050.
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas - a chemical that traps heat similar to the way a greenhouse does - that’s considered a major contributor to global warming. Greenhouse gases have been steadily increasing in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution.
Compared to poison ivy grown in usual atmospheric conditions, those exposed to the extra-high carbon dioxide grew about three times larger - and produced more allergenic form of urushiol, scientists from Duke and Harvard University reported.
“The fertilization effect of rising CO2 on poison ivy ... and the shift toward a more allergenic form of urushiol have important implications for the future health of both humans and forests,” the study concludes.

Wellheads…
Local government officials, environmental representatives and concerned citizens are invited to a one-day Aquifer and Wellhead Protection workshop Thursday, June 22 at Belleayre Mountain Ski Center’s Discovery (Lower) Lodge in Highmount. Registration deadline is June 12. The fee is $35 which includes workshop materials, continental breakfast and lunch, but the Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC) will cover the registration fee of participants living and/or working in any town in the Catskill-Delaware Watershed west of the Hudson River. To register and arrange for this special benefit, contact Myra Fedyniak at Ulster County Environmental Management Council/Water Quality Management Agency (EMC/WQMA) at 845-338-2479, or mfed_ucemc@yahoo.com. The workshop runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and is designed for members of town and planning boards and environmental commissions; building and health inspectors; water supply operators and others interested in the critical issue of water protection. Workshop participants will receive a workbook with BMP information, model zoning ordinances and case studies. The event is sponsored by EMC/WQMA in cooperation with the CWC, Lower Esopus River Watch, Greene County Soil & Water Conservation District, and Delaware County Planning Department.

Future Whopper!
Taxpayers will soon get a surprise bill that could exceed $1 trillion for the cost of paying future medical benefits for state and local workers who retire. Retiree medical costs are the biggest long-term challenge that state and local governments face. By comparison, state and local pensions have an unfunded liability of about $500 billion.
State and local governments have set aside $2.5 trillion to help pay pension benefits for 19 million civil servants and 7 million retirees. But they have set aside almost nothing to pay for retiree medical benefits.
“Taxpayers will revolt when they realize the enormous cost of this,” Minnesota State Auditor Pat Anderson says. She says the financial burdens on local governments will be so great they will put pressure on the federal government to nationalize health care.
New accounting rules require that governments, starting next year, put a price tag on the value of medical benefits promised to civil servants when they retire. The federal government also has a $2.3 trillion unfunded liability for medical and disability benefits promised to civil servants and military personnel who retire. The costs are not the nation’s biggest financial problem. Medicare has a $33.4 trillion unfunded liability. Social Security has a $4.6 trillion shortfall.
The new accounting rules don’t require governments to do anything about retiree costs. But governments will come under pressure from lenders and others to act. “If this problem is ignored, that will be a negative factor when we determine credit ratings,” says Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Parry Young.
Corporations implemented a similar accounting rule in 1993. The result was a drastic reduction in the number of companies offering medical benefits to retirees.
Governments have less freedom to cut retiree health care because most benefits were negotiated in union contracts. Public employee unions plan to fight attempts to reduce retiree medical benefits.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg plans to set $1 billion aside this year for retiree benefits.

Torture Okayed…
The Pentagon has decided to omit from new detainee policies a key tenet of the Geneva Convention that explicitly bans “humiliating and degrading treatment,” according to knowledgeable military officials, a step that would mark a further, potentially permanent, shift away from strict adherence to international human rights standards.
The decision could culminate a lengthy debate within the Defense Department but will not become final until the Pentagon makes new guidelines public, a step that has been delayed. However, the State Department fiercely opposes the military’s decision to exclude Geneva Convention protections and has been pushing for the Pentagon and White House to reconsider, the Defense Department officials acknowledged.

Faked News?
Federal authorities are actively investigating dozens of American television stations for broadcasting items produced by the Bush administration and major corporations, and passing them off as normal news. Some of the fake news segments talked up success in the war in Iraq, or promoted the companies’ products. Investigators from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are seeking information about stations across the country after a report by the non-profit group Centre for Media and Democracy detailed the extraordinary extent of the use of such items.
The report found that over a 10-month period at least 77 television stations were making use of the faux news broadcasts, known as Video News Releases (VNRs). Not one told viewers who had produced the items.
The FCC has declined to comment on the investigation but investigators from the commission’s enforcement unit recently approached CMD for a copy of the group’s report.
The range of VNR is wide. Among items provided by the Bush administration to news stations was one in which an Iraqi-American in Kansas City was seen saying “Thank you Bush. Thank you USA” in response to the 2003 fall of Baghdad. The footage was actually produced by the State Department, one of 20 federal agencies that have produced and distributed such items.
Many of the corporate reports, produced by drugs manufacturers such as Pfizer, focus on health issues and promote the manufacturer’s product. One example cited by the report was a Halloween segment produced by the confectionery giant Mars, which featured Snickers, M&Ms and other company brands. While the original VNR disclosed that it was produced by Mars, such information was removed when it was broadcast by the television channel - in this case a Fox-owned station in St Louis, Missouri.
Bloomberg news service said that other companies that sponsored the promotions included General Motors, the world’s largest car maker, and Intel, the biggest maker of semi-conductors.
The FCC was urged to act by a lobbying campaign organised by Free Press, another non-profit group that focuses on media policy. Spokesman Craig Aaron said more than 25,000 people had written to the FCC about the VNRs. “Essentially it’s corporate advertising or propaganda masquerading as news,” he said. “The public obviously expects their news reports are going to be based on real reporting and real information. If they are watching an advertisement for a company or a government policy, they need to be told.”
The controversy over the use of VNRs by television stations first erupted last spring. At the time the FCC issued a public notice warning broadcasters that they were obliged to inform viewers if items were sponsored. The maximum fine for each violation is $32,500.

Teen Taxes Up!
The $69 billion tax cut bill that President Bush signed recently tripled tax rates for teenagers with college savings funds, despite Mr. Bush’s 1999 pledge to veto any tax increase. Under the new law, teenagers age 14 to 17 with investment income will now be taxed at the same rate as their parents, not at their own rates. Long-term capital gains and dividends that had been taxed at 5 percent will now be taxed at 15 percent. Interest that had been taxed at 10 percent will now be taxed at as much as 35 percent.
The increases, which are retroactive to the first day of the year, are expected to generate nearly $2.2 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, which issues the official estimates.
Bush pledged in 1999 to veto any bill that raised taxes. In response to a question about the tax increase on teenagers in the new legislation, the White House issued a statement that made no reference to the tax increase, but recounted the tax cuts the administration has sponsored and stated that President Bush had “reduced taxes on all people who pay income taxes.” Challenged on that point, the White House modified its statement 21 minutes later to say that Mr. Bush had “reduced taxes on virtually all people who pay income taxes.”

Rural Men…
Seat belt use is reaching record levels, so just who are the holdouts who fail to buckle up? Often they are young men who live in rural areas and drive pickups, the government says.
About 48 million people do not regularly put on seat belts when they are on the road, says the latest report on seat belt use by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, noting that men account for 65 percent of the more than 31,000 people killed each year in passenger vehicles, that 58 percent of those killed who were not wearing a seat belt crashed along rural roads; that about seven in 10 people who died were unbelted in crashes involving pickup trucks; and that more than six in 10 people age 8-44 who were killed inside a passenger vehicle were not buckled up.

Phone Jammer!
The Republican operative who came up with the idea of jamming Democratic and union get-out-the-vote phone lines on Election Day 2002 is back in the politics swim. Charles McGee, vice president of political and corporate communications at Spectrum Monthly & Printing Inc., sent out an e-mail recently inviting Republican candidates to a free “GOP Campaign School” hosted by the company, which publishes Republican mailers and fliers.. A flier about the class called it a “nuts and bolts boot camp” to give participants “all the tools you need to win.”
Hundreds of hang-up calls placed by a telemarketing firm tied up phone lines set up by the state Democratic Party and the Manchester firefighters union for more than an hour the morning of Election Day 2002, when then-U.S. Rep. John Sununu defeated Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen in a tight U.S. Senate race. McGee, the former executive director of the state Republican Party, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the phone-jamming scandal and served seven months in prison. He was released last November. Two other people have been convicted; a fourth has been indicted.
Spectrum head Richard Pease hired McGee about a year after he stepped down from the Republican State Committee over the phone-jamming allegations. Pease kept the job open while McGee was in prison.
“It’s a sad day in Republican politics when one of the leaders of a criminal conspiracy to disenfranchise New Hampshire voters is given the opportunity to teach young Republicans all his tricks,” said the state’s Democrats’ spokesman, Damien LaVera. “You’d think that Republicans in New Hampshire would be working overtime to lift the ethical cloud that hands over their tainted campaign tactics...

Bad Economy
After years of talking about the Goldilocks economy - not too hot and not too cold - all of a sudden it appears the little rascal just got mugged by the three bears. While the economy began the year growing at a strong pace, activity seems to have hit the skids in the spring.
Factory orders fell in April. The five-year housing boom is cooling, with home sales falling and price gains slowing. In the biggest shocker of all, the government reported Friday that businesses created just 75,000 new jobs in May - 100,000 fewer than expected.
If the onslaught of weaker economic data was not bad enough, there also are signs that long-dormant inflation may be starting to be a problem, and not just in the pain from $3 per gallon gasoline. The core rate of inflation, excluding food and energy, is now above the 2 percent upper limit favored by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues who have noted how slowing economic growth and rising inflation raise the specter of stagflation.