Columbia County Board of Elections Democratic Commissioner Virgina Martin provided the following corrected election results for the Town of Taghkanic tonight at 7 p.m. "The results we gave you last night had a series of errors due to the complexity of the election and the high number of write-in votes that were cast," she wrote. "We expect to be able to provide official results countywide for the machine votes (lever machine votes including write-in votes cast on the lever machines) by tomorrow (Thursday)."

UNOFFICIAL Columbia County Primary Election 2009 Results
9/16/09
Town
of
Taghkanic
District
1

Supervisor
IND
1C
Elizabeth
L.
Young

2
IND
2C
Lorea
Hoffmann
13
Total
Votes/Voters

15
Twn
Clrk/Tax
C
IND
3C
Cheryl
E.
Rogers
5
IND
3C
Audrey
Koran
(write‐in)
9
Total
Votes/Voters

14
Twn
JusÒce
WFP
4E
Raymond
Dalrymple
(write‐in)
1
Total
Votes/Voters

1
Twn
Council

IND
5C
Tom
Kiely

3

(vote
for
2)
IND
5C
Joyce
Thompson
(write‐in)
9
IND
6C
Larry
Kadish

13
Total
Votes

25
Twn
Council

WFP
5E
Joyce
Thompson
0

(vote
for
2)
WFP
5E
Tom
Kiely
(write‐in)
1
WFP
6E
James
Romaine
(write‐in)
1
Total
Votes

2
Hwy
Super
IND
7C
Edward
E.
Waldron

3
IND
7C
Tom
Youhas
(write‐in)
9
Total
Votes/Voters

12
Hwy
Super
WFP
7E
Edward
Waldron
(write‐in)
1
Total
Votes/Voters

1
CommiŞee
DEM
8A
Diane
M.
Rodriguez
96

(vote
for
2)
DEM
9A
Cheryl
E.
Rogers
29
DEM
10A
Gary
L.
Stoller
100
Total
Votes

225
L:/Columbia Co. Candidates 2009
6:49 PM

Columbia County Board of Election Democratic commissioner Virgina Martin says they are recanvassing machines, and should have a count after 6 p.m. tonight. But final results will not be announced before Tuesday, as absentee ballots still are allowed to arrive from the post offfice. In the Democratic contest for District 1 in Hudson, incumbent Carole Osterink trails challenger Geeta Cheddie by two votes, while Sarah H. Sterling leads Cheddie by seven votes currently. The Register-Star previously reported six uncounted absentee ballots, but Martin would not give a specific number.

Wal-Mart closed its giant store in Greenport today and opened an even larger marketplace across Fairview Avenue in Greenport today. The empty store sits next to Price Chopper and Fashion Bug.

UNOFFICIAL Columbia County Primary Election 2009 Results
9/15/2009

UPDATE: Note Taghkanic votes have been corrected. Board of Elections officials provided different totals at first, now corrected.

City of Hudson
Ward 1 - District 1
Alderman
DEM
Geeta Cheddie
44
DEM
Sarah H. Sterling
51
DEM
Carole Osterink
42
Total Voters
137
Ward 4 - District 1
Supervisor
IND
4 Wiliam Hughes
IND
0
Total Voters
4
Supervisor
CON
Samuel Santiago
4
CON
1 Wiliam Hughes
Total Voters
5
Town of Canaan
District 1 and 2
Supervisor
IND
Richard Keaveney
13
IND
OTB
0
Total Voters
13
Supervisor
CON
Richard Keaveney
8
CON
OTB
0
Total Voters
8
Canaan District 1
Committee
REP
Susan C. Johnson
27
REP
Jo-Anna R. Michalek
49
REP
Gary Flaherty
33
Total Voters
109
Town of Copake
District 1 and 2
Twn Justice
IND
Brian J. Herman
19
IND
Wiliam Kane
17
Total Voters
36
Assessor
IND
David Gordineer
14
IND
Loredana Delventhal
16
Total Voters
30
Town of Livingston
District 2
Committee
REP
Geoffrey T. Bagnal
32
REP
Donald R. Kline
80
REP
Benjamin Scrodin
65
Total Voters
177
Total Voters
177
Town of Taghkanic
District 1
Supervisor
IND
Elizabeth L. Young
2
IND
Loretta Hoffmann
13
Total Voters
15
Twn Clrk/Tax C
IND
Cheryl E. Rogers
5
IND
OTB
9 (originally was told 10) Audrey Koran
Total Voters
14 (originally was told 15)
Town Justice
WFP
OTB
(originallly was told 1 Tal ackson)
WFP
OTB
1 Raymond Dalrymple
(originally told 1 Joe Romaine)
Total Voters
1 (originally told 3)
Twn Council
IND
Tom Kiely
3 (originally was told 12)
IND
Joyce
 Thompson
 write‐in
9 (originally was not listed at all)
IND
Larry Kadish
13 (originally was told 14)
IND
OTB
0
Total Voters
26
WFP
Joyce Thompson
0 (originally was told 9)
WFP
OTB
1 James Romaine
1 Tom Kiely
Total Voters
2 (originally was told 11)
Hwy Super
IND
Edward E. Waldron
3 (originally was told 14)
IND
Tom 
Youhas
 (write‐in)
9 (originally was not listed)
OTB
0
Total Voters
14
WFP
OTB
1 Edward Waldron
WFP
OTB
10 Tom Youhas
Total Voters
11
Committee
DEM
Diane M. Rodriguez
96
DEM
Cheryl E. Rogers
29
DEM
Gary L. Stol er
100
Total Voters
225
L:/Columbia Co. Candidates 2009
10:50 p.m.

A 180-mile "Walk for Peace" passed through Hudson today on its way to Kinderhook. The group included Jun Anju-san, an internationally known Buddhist who helps run a Peace Pagoda (one of only two in the U.S.) at the walk's destination in Grafton, New York. This walk left NYC on Sept. 11, and will arrive in Grafton Sept. 22. It will leave Kinderhook tomorrow for Schodack Center, and then goes to Albany, Niskyuna, Colonie, Scotia, Ballston Lake, Waterford, and Troy. For more information contact Jules at 201-566-8403.

Click here to listen to or download mp3 of Barry Henck speaking at Eco Faire.
Barry Henck, from Central Hudson Gas & Electric, speaking Sun. Sept. 13 at the Cairo Eco Faire in Cairo Town Park, streamed live on WGXC Online Radio. The Eco Faire, which was put on by the Cairo Chamber of Commerce.

Click here to listen to or download mp3 of Ruth Gutman speaking at Eco Faire.
Ruth Gutman, Community Advocate for Rip Van Winkle Tobacco-Free Action of Columbia and Greene Counties, speaking Sun. Sept. 13 at the Cairo Eco Faire in Cairo Town Park, streamed live on WGXC Online Radio. The Eco Faire, which was put on by the Cairo Chamber of Commerce.

Click here to listen to or download mp3 of Andy Turner speaking at Eco Faire.
Andy Turner, the Executive Director for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Greene County, speaking Sun. Sept. 13 at the Cairo Eco Faire in Cairo Town Park, streamed live on WGXC Online Radio. Turner is also on WGXC's Radio Council, the board overseeing the community radio station. He speaks about sustainability at the Eco Faire, which was put on by the Cairo Chamber of Commerce.

The Germantown Community Farm hosts its Annual Fall Skillshare and Party Sat. Sept. 26 for feasting and dancing, workshopping and romping, all streamed live on WGXC Online Radio. We will indeed be hosting a contra dance, a local rock band, and several DJs on into the night. We'll be fleshing out the schedule and workshop descriptions over the next couple weeks, so keep posted.

Practicalities:
Camping is welcome and limited accommodations are available in the barn and house (please let us know ahead of time!) Bring camping gear, a flashlight, and your own dish. Please try to carpool as parking is very limited. We are suggesting a donation of $5-$20 just to cover our costs, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds! Please let us know if you are interested in volunteering during the event. We need help with childcare, parking, cooking, clean-up and would love even just an hour committment ahead of time from a few people. Please contact us!

Schedule:
Saturday September 26th
8am: Breakfast in house
9:30-11am: workshops
11:30-1pm: workshops
1-2:30pm: lunch
2:30-4: workshops
4:30-6: workshops
6:30: dinner
7:45: contra dance!
10:oo: Saber Coup rocks out
11:30pm: DJs!

some of the workshops you may choose from (desriptions forthcoming):

DIY bicycle repair with Margaret DeBona
Tools for a Lifetime with Charles Picard
Anarchist Beekeeping with Sam Comfort
Webstreaming and Podcasting with WGXC staff
Mushrooms in the Permaculture Landscape with Rafter T. Sass
Saplings and Scrap into Super Structures with Matt Bua
Thai-style Curry with Traci Picard
Uncovering Your Inner Strength - Core Strengthening excercises with Trevor Roush
Setting Up Sound for a Live Event with WGXC staff
Writing a Great Press Release with Melissa Weidman
Yoga with Carol
The World of Metal with Luli Heintz
Live webcast of workshops and performances on WGXC Online Radio at www.WGXC.org.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_XkYdvVSzU&hl=en&fs=1&]
Michael Davis, a senior at Cairo-Durham High-School, made this Main Street document during his summer 2009 employment with WGXC. WGXC: Hands on Radio is a community-run radio station and media project that re-envisions radio as an innovative platform for local participation. WGXC is a project of free103point9, a non-profit arts organization focused on Transmission Arts, or artists that use the radio spectrum in their work.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD7cJH1xYZw&hl=en&fs=1&]
Jordan Smith, a senior at Cairo-Durham High-School, made this Main Street document during his summer 2009 employment with WGXC. WGXC: Hands on Radio is a community-run radio station and media project that re-envisions radio as an innovative platform for local participation. WGXC is a project of free103point9, a non-profit arts organization focused on Transmission Arts, or artists that use the radio spectrum in their work.

(Alice Tunison, center, with Cairo Town Clerk Tara A. Rumph, and board member Janet Schwarzenegger at the Aug. 19, 2009 Cairo town board meeting.)

Susan Campriello follows up her story about the Cairo Democrats failing to have a caucus and nominate any candidates, even though incumbent Town Board member and Democrat Alice Tunison approached them at the last minute for an endorsement, with additional reporting on her blog on the Daily Mail's site. Campriello e-mailed State Board of Elections Deputy Special Counsel Paul Collins, who tells her Tunison, or Cairo Democrats who feel disenfranchised, could appeal to Greene County Democratic Committee Chairman Tom Poelker for a caucus. But they would have to do it today, as notice of a caucus must be filed with the Town Clerk and Board of Elections at least ten days before the caucus is to be held. Notice must also either be published in a newspapers at least one week before the caucus or posted in ten public places at least ten days prior to the caucus. And that all would have to happen today to meet the Sept. 22 deadline. So Tunison's faithful better spell her name correctly on the write-in ballots, as she has decided to press on without the Democrats.

State Senator James L. Seward (R/C/I-Oneonta) will be in Catskill, Sunday, Sept. 13 attending a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Catskill Central School District’s enhanced secondary facility at noon. The ceremony will take place during the fourth annual Parents, Partners and Pancakes event. Congressman Scott Murphy (D-NY20) will be nearby on Saturday Sept. 12, with two events in Dutchess County. First, at 11 a.m. he has a "Growing Small Business Workshop" with representatives from the Small Business Administration, the New York Business Development Corporation, and the Empire State Development Corporation at Arlington High School, 1157 Route 55, Lagrangeville, NY. Then, at 1 p.m. he has a "Congress-On-Your-Corner in Pleasant Valley" at Pleasant Valley Town Hall, 1554 Main Street, Pleasant Valley, NY.

New York State Senators James Seward (R-51, in Greene County) and Stephen M. Saland (R-41 in Columbia County) both voted for the Green Jobs/Green NY bill last night. The vote was 52-8 (search for A8901) in favor if the bill which has now been returned to the NY State Assembly. The bill does the following:

1. The bill, (S.5888) is a Job Creation program that pays for itself through energy savings and revitalization of economically distressed communities.

2. The landmark program will create 14,000 permanent jobs while significantly reducing energy costs for an estimated 1 million homes and business, curtailing the dangerous effect of greenhouse emissions on the environment.

3. Green Jobs creates a program where middle-income home and business owners can make their property more energy efficient to save money on their heating and cooling bills.

4. The program will provide $112 million in capital funding for job creation and workforce training, energy audits, program administration and a credit enhancement for critical private sector capital investment. GJ/GNY will front the cost of the work, enabling property owners to afford energy efficient retrofits that will cut energy usage by 30-40% yielding immediate savings on their monthly energy bills. Owners will repay the cost over time through on-bill financing on their utility bills, but their overall bill total would still be lower than what they pay right now.

5. Local contractors, certified to perform the retrofits will be able to expand their crews, creating new and permanent jobs in green construction and additional jobs in local businesses and manufacturing that serve those new workers.

6. By targeting the bill to middle income homeowners, the program has a statewide impact. Green Jobs/Green NY serves homeowners who make too much to qualify for Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) money but don't make enough to afford energy saving retrofits. Upstate, where the median income is lower, the cut-off for WAP is so low that most people can't qualify, but they can for Green Jobs/Green NY.

7. Green Jobs/Green NY costs taxpayers NOTHING. The program doesn't take any money out of the state budget; it save homeowners money on their utility bills and creates thousands of jobs that bring money into the local economy. Funding for the program comes from carbon auction funds which are required to fund energy efficiency. This program uses that available money to save millions of New Yorkers money on their utility bills while putting thousands back to work for good.

8. The greatest barrier to energy efficiency and green job creation is the ability of residential and business property owners to afford the work. The Green Jobs/ Green NY programs breaks down that barrier through the infusion of up-front capital with NO on-budget cost to the state.

Hudsonic%20Series%2C%20No.%201.wmv

Listen and watch environmental video above.
Hudsonic Series, No. 1 by Sam Truitt
Land Trust Site, Ravish Road, Greenport, Columbia County
09.10.09, ca. 8:54 am (1.29 minutes)
2.4 MB, WMV

Check out that headline in The Register-Star by the usually smarter writer Francesca Olsen. If you read deep down in her story you see why the officials are stressing a future building purchase: they don't want you to think about the tax increase they just passed. Five paragraphs in Olsen mentions "Local laws renewing an additional half-percent of mortgage tax and an additional $2 per $1,000 of additional transfer tax on real property were also enacted." Finally, seven paragraphs in, Olsen quotes Rick Rielly, president of the Columbia-Greene Board of Realtors, saying, “These are taxes, any way you look at it.” Olsen doesn't even dare to say who voted for the tax, only that, "The renewal of taxes passed, with Supervisor John Musall, D-Hudson 1, abstaining, Supervisor William Hughes, D-Hudson 4, voting no on the additional transfer tax, and Supervisor Ed Cross, D-Hudson 2, voting no on the renewal." Cross voted no on both taxes.

UPDATE:
Here is who voted for the mortgage tax:
Ancram's Thomas Dias; Canaan's Richard Keaveney; Chatham's Jesse DeGroodt; Claverack's James Keegan; Clermont's Raymond Staats; Copake's Reginald Crowley; Gallatin's Lynda Scheer; Germantown's Roy Brown; Ghent's Lawrence Andrews; Greenport's John Rutkey Sr.; Hillsdale's Arthur Baer; Hudson's 4th Ward-William Hughes, 5th Ward -Bart Delaney; Kinderhook's Douglas McGivney; Livingston's Philip Williams; New Lebanon's Margaret Robertson; Stockport's Leo Pulcher; Stuyvesant's Valerie Bertram; Taghkanic's Elizabeth Young. The same group voted for the transfer tax, except for Hudson's William Hughes, who voted against.

(Michael Davis and Jordan Smith interviewing NY State Assemblyman Peter Lopez Aug. 22 at the Catskill Community Center.)

Click here to listen or download DJ set from WGXC summer 2009 employees and Cairo-Durham High seniors Michael Davis and Jordan Smith recorded for WGXC Aug. 29, 2009..

Hudson's Slink Moss plays songs about dogs Sat. Sept. 5 at Spotty Dog Books & Ale in Hudson with Chicago's Uncle Billy helping on keyboards and other guests on vibes and banjo.

In the analog past, before the June 12 switch to digital television, Ch. 6 TV stations could be heard on 87.7-FM on radios. A handful of Ch. 6's, including Freedom Broadcasting’s WRGB-TV based in Schenectady, continued to broadcast on the radio after the digital switch. But Inside Radio is reporting that the Federal Communications Commission is ordering the station off the FM dial. WRGB-TV general manager Robert Furlong says, “We do not have FCC authorization to transmit an analog signal. We only have authorization for a digital signal at this time.” Furlong reports WRGB's coverage area has shrunk with the digital switch.