[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="The Columbia Greene Community College campus in Greenport was originally designed by the late Frank Lloyd Wright protege Edgar Tafel, and Carole Osterink from The Gossips of Rivertown, points us to an obituary for Tafel in The New York Times."] [/caption]Columbia-Greene Community College is moving forward with nearly $2 million in capital projects as its board of trustees passed a resolution seeking bids for the work on Monday, according to a report in the January 26 Register-Star. The work calls for new roofs on the arts center and technology building, renovations of the locker rooms and bathrooms in the arts center and a recoating of the campus’ water tank. The cost of the projects is pinned at $1.9 million and will be paid for by $950,000 from the State University Construction Fund and matching funds from Columbia and Greene counties which, based on each county’s proportional representation in student enrollment, is set at 55.6 percent, or $528,200, for Columbia County, while Greene plans to pay the remaining 44.4 percent, or $421,800. Construction is expected to begin this coming summer and may be completed in time for the fall semester. The call for improvements at the campus was prompted after a comprehensive study from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Tannersville Main Street, as seen on the Hunter Chamber of Commerce website."][/caption]When one party doesn't field any candidates in a local election, as occurred with Republicans in the Greene County Village of Tannersville this month, the pressure's on for all the drama to happen in the Democratic caucus... which DID occur this past Monday, January 24, according to a story in the Daily Mail. There, the veteran reporter Jim Planck reports, the big surprise was the approval of a full slate of newcomers for the village's three open positions, including a 30-year old taking the mayor's slot from Lee McGunnigle, who's held the position on and off for decades. As it turns out, local businessman Jason Dugo, who owns a Main Street dog grooming business, will now be the Dems' mayoral candidate, and Jeremiah Dixon and Christopher Hack will run for two trustee seats. Dugo said the three want to bring a new vitality to the community for both residents and visitors. Last week, party caucuses in the Village of Catskill resulted in two cross-endorsements, one of an incumbent Democratic trustee, the other if an incumbent Republican village justice. The region's village elections are March 15.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Long Island)"][/caption]Word is out that Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos may not comply with the promise he made that Republicans in the state senate would support an independent commission to redraw senate and assembly district lines for the 2012 elections. Henry J. Stern, the former New York City Parks Commissioner, reports on the development in his NYCivic blog, noting that the story has o appeared in City Hall News, a weekly publication.

"The entire Republican caucus in the Senate endorsed New York Uprising's proposal for an independent non-political redistricting in October," Stern writes in a piece entitled "Pants Heating Up." "The GOP Senators and candidates for seats held by Democrats were recognized for their decision by being authorized to use the New York Uprising logo and the designation "Hero of Reform". The approval by the group headed by former Mayor Ed Koch was valuable to Republican candidates, who won control of the Senate by the narrowest of margins, 32 to 30. Several of the seats won by Republicans were carried by margins of a few hundred votes. 29 Republicans agreed to the pledge, the total number of Republicans serving in the senate at that time. One Republican passed away early in July."

Mayor Koch has written several letters to Mr. Skelos, proposing a meeting to discuss compliance with the commitment to an independent commission, but has not received a response. Other politicians say that when the Republicans were in the minority in the State senate, from 2009 through 2010, it was easy to make promises which would never have to be kept unless and until they won control of the senate. They did win control in December 2010 when the last race, in Nassau County, was decided in favor of the Republican challenger over the Democratic incumbent, who had lost at the polls and appealed to the courts, which found no reason to interfere with the decision of the voters.

The United States Constitution (Art. 1, Sec. 2) requires a census to be taken every ten years, and the congress to be reapportioned pursuant to the results of the census. As a result of the 2010 census, New York State will lose two seats in Congress (going from 27 to 25 districts). Under the 1930 and '40 censuses, New York held 45 of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. In the following seventy years, the New York delegation shrank by 44 per cent. Since present trends in the movement of population to the south and west and away from the rust belt and blizzard states are expected to continue, it is reasonable to assume that New York will suffer a further loss of House seats in 2020 and the years beyond.

Within the state, the population loss came upstate rather than downstate (New York City and suburbs) so the northern seats should be vulnerable. In the 111th Congress, there were only 3 Republicans in the 29-member delegation. In the 112th Congress, which has just begun its work, there are 8 Republicans, following a turnover of 4 seats upstate and one on Staten Island.

It is the State Legislature that draws the lines of the new Congressional districts. Since the Senate is Republican and the Assembly Democratic, it is likely that the results will represent a compromise between the political leaders of both major parties. Governor Cuomo has stated that he will veto any redistricting legislation that does not contain a provision for an independent districting commission. It will require some twisting for the three men in a room to reach agreement.

If they do not agree, the state courts will eventually take over the redistricting process (unless federal laws are violated). The court will bring in independent experts to draw the lines, subject to judicial review and approval. Equitable and reasonable district boundaries are usually unacceptable to both political parties. After the rivals see what the court has done, the Republicans and Democrats scurry to make a deal to create or abolish districts so as to protect their favorites and discommode their known enemies, rivals or potential adversaries.

The leaders of the Assembly and the Senate can use their power of districting to reward or punish legislators who do not obey their instructions, or who demonstrate undue independence in voting and sponsoring legislation. The leaders also determine the legislative payroll; giving ordinary members more or fewer staff members, depending on their fidelity to the wishes of the powers that be. They also award member items, for local improvements and expenditures, again on the basis of political subservience rather than community need.

Once in place, speakers or majority leaders are extremely difficult to displace, and a failed attempt at a coup, which happened in the Assembly in 2000, can result in the political destruction of the plotters, and a period of exile for those aware of their intentions.

This political dance must be performed at the same time as the Legislature grapples with a $10 billion budget shortfall. The fact is that honest, impartial districting does not cost any more than gerrymandering, so the issues we discuss are not questions about money. They are, however, issues of power, and those are often more difficult to resolve than situations were people can simply be bought off, some quite cheaply as a matter of fact.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Holcim's waterfront dock in Hudson, as seen in a commentary piece by Carole Osterink on her Gossips of Rivertown blog on January 26."][/caption]The legal back and force over the waterfront dock property owned by Holcim, formerly St. Lawrence cement, returned to the front page of the Register-Star this morning, January 26, with a story about how the attorney representing Holcim U.S. Inc. says the cement company is maintaining its stance that no income is generated from the parcel, even after claiming that a document serving as evidence of such was sent in error. Holcim is grieving the $4.5 million assessment it received on its deep water port dock for 2010/2011, which the company is claiming is actually worth $1.5 million. Pursuant to a court order issued by Justice Patrick J. McGrath, Holcim provided the city with an income and expense statement on Nov. 30, 2010 as part of the grievance process.

The statement reflected that there was no income generated from the parcel, which Connor called “bogus,” since the property is leased to O&G Industries for the shipping of aggregate material, as well as Cargill Inc., which unloads and stores salt at the dock (a settlement the city recently reached with Cargill, however, has ordered that all salt storage at the dock must cease within a year and a half).

The Times Union reports this morning, January 26, about how arms enthusiasts and gun-control advocates used an annual gathering of shooting-sports participants at the state Capitol yesterday, January 25, as a backdrop to bolster their arguments. "The fact that, legally, Mr. Loughner could get a gun should give us all great pause," said Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel, D-Great Neck, referring to Jared Loughner, the 22-year-old Tucson man charged in the Jan. 8 shooting spree that left six dead and 13 wounded, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat, adding that she hoped participants in the Sportsmen & Outdoor Recreation Legislative Awareness Day would use the event to "focus on advancing sensible legislation that will keep the public safe by preventing guns from getting into the hands of the mentally ill, criminals and terrorists." Gun rights advocates contend what's needed to prevent another Tucson is better enforcement of existing laws rather than micro stamping or other crackdowns. "All they do is wait for a tragedy, pull it off the shelf and talk about it," National Rifle Association Political Affairs Director Chuck Cunningham said before addressing several hundred participants from around the state at the annual sportsmens' event. Cunningham and others said gun rights are actually stronger than they were a year ago, both in New York and nationally.

In New York, Cunningham noted, the state Senate is back under Republican control, meaning that measures such as micro stamping are less likely to pass.

"There's a firewall for freedom in the state Senate to stop something from happening, and they've sent some real reinforcements to Capitol Hill at the federal level," Cunningham said in a radio interview.

He later praised New York congressional delegation members whom he described as pro-gun, including Republicans Chris Gibson of Kinderhook and Ann Marie Buerkle of Syracuse, as well as Democrat Bill Owens of Plattsburgh.

Cunningham criticized New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a staunch gun-control advocate, referring to him several times as "Mayor Blame" and alluding to the trouble he drew after the botched street clearing efforts during last December's historic blizzard.

"He's not after illegal guns. He's after your guns," Cunningham said, adding, "That's a real snow job."

Underlying much of the talk was the debate over micro stamping.

The proposal would force gun makers to inscribe a microscopic identifying number on the firing pin of each handgun they produce. The number would be impressed on each shell casing or cartridge every time a gun is fired.

Supporters such as Schimel, as well as numerous police organizations, say that would create a stamp that could then be used to match spent cartridges or shell casings with a given weapon.

Opponents, though, say micro stamping is unproven technology and it would add to the cost of firearms.

A micro stamping law could even cost jobs, said James Rabbia, plant manager for the Remington firearms company, which has a factory in Ilion, Herkimer County.

Unlike lots of upstate factories, Remington has been expanding lately, adding some 100 jobs to its nearly 200-year-old plant last year. They've gotten a new military contract and have started manufacturing a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun in Ilion.

Were micro stamping to pass, Rabbia said Remington would simply sell the .45s outside of New York state rather than add the stamping procedure. Or they might pull production out of Ilion. Like Cunningham, Rabbia said, "I think there's less chance this year," of a micro-stamping law becoming reality.

While micro stamping hasn't made it through the Senate, it has come close. Last year, Democrats who controlled the Senate laid the measure aside at the last minute after it became apparent there weren't sufficient votes, as upstate Democrats, who count lots of hunting enthusiast among their constituents, wouldn't support it.

The "no" vote came despite a push by Bloomberg, who is also a top contributor to GOP senators.

This year, Bloomberg's lobbyist Micah Lasher said micro stamping "remains an important priority for the mayor."

Schimel said she is in the micro-stamping fight for the long haul. "I've been at this for 17 years, so I never stop. I'm always optimistic."

Almost as if keyed into the President's State of the Union speech yesterday, and its talk of giving our nation a new "Sputnik moment" in terms of new energy and other forms of technological innovations, the head of The Solar Energy Consortium said that the Mid-Hudson Valley can become a hub of solar energy manufacturing despite recent setbacks, and he called on locals to keep faith in the effort. The Daily Freeman reported on January 26 that Vincent Cozzolino spoke at a recent breakfast meeting of the Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce at the Kingston Holiday Inn, saying the region’s fledgling solar energy industry created 534 jobs in Ulster County in 2010 and 808 across the state. Cozzolino also called for continued support of the industry, which he has estimated will take three years with an annual $5 million federal contribution to become self-sustaining, and called for renewed advocacy on its behalf by the Chamber of Commerce, efforts for which the chamber’s president, Ward Todd, later said will begin immediately. Cozzolino spoke in the wake of the announced closing of a solar energy firm in Dutchess County and layoffs at one in Saugerties.

He put the number of layoffs at Precision Flow Technologies at “40-ish,” but said on Tuesday that the Saugerties-based company also added 10 jobs in another division.

He said Precision Flow had been producing eight machines per week that build LED equipment but that number dropped to three per week during 2010.

Last year’s demand was driven by a “bubble” created when the Chinese government decided “it wanted to get into the LED business” and offered a 100 percent subsidy for buildings and equipment, Cozzolino said.

Cozzolino described Precision Flow as still being a “strong company” and said the business recently added a “solar metrology” division when it acquired a small company that makes solar inspection tools. Precision Flow “beefed up” the small staff to 10, he said.

At the time of the layoffs, Precision Flow officials would not comment on the situation.

After becoming one of four subcontractors under a $2.8 million congressional earmark administered by Saratoga County-based C9 Corp., Precision Flow officials said they would build a 40,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at TechCity in the town of Ulster and increased job-creation estimates from 190 to about 375.

Regarding the ailing SpectraWatt, in southern Dutchess County, Cozzolino said on Tuesday that officials have been meeting with representatives from “many companies” that hope to buy the East Fishkill-based photovoltaic cell manufacturer.

SpectraWatt in December filed a notice with the state Department of Labor that its plant was closing and its 117 employees would begin to be laid off on March 20.

Cozzolino, who is co-chief executive officer and founder of The Solar Energy Consortium, has said that, despite the notice, SpectraWatt is looking for ways to avoid closing, and regional business, government and solar energy officials are trying to help.

Separately, Cozzolino took issue with a recent New York Times commentary (http://ow.ly/3J3uQ) in which Harvard economics professor Edward Glaeser argued green energy cannot produce a large number of manufacturing jobs because China’s cheap labor force will attract them even if innovation comes from the United States.

He also contested Tuesday’s Freeman editorial (http://bit.ly/hNatDe) that argued “a good, hard and honest reassessment of the potential of any solar energy industry to generate lasting jobs here might well be in order.”

“Let me tell you, grandpa and great-grandpa never had that in their repertoire: ‘I’m going to take these manufacturing jobs and send them to China,’” Cozzolino said to applause. “They just didn’t think that way. They thought about how they had to get more efficient.”

Because solar technology will continue to evolve, Cozzolino said, American innovation can keep the jobs here.

The Register-Star has a stunning story this morning, January 26 -- it turns out that 24 percent of people in Columbia County receive some sort of service from the county Department of Social Services. And that doesn’t count the nearly 1,000 people with pending applications. And it turns out that the news isn't all that new. In October 2009, DSS released caseload stats reflected the same thing: 24 percent of the population relied on the agency in some way, whether for food stamps, medicare, child support, etc.

“This morning, our lobby, again, was wall-to-wall folks applying for assistance,” DSS Commissioner Paul Mossman told the Board of Supervisors’ Human Service committee Monday. “It’s been like that for 12 months. You can see almost all the programs have gone up in numbers.” The number of adults using DSS services rose about one percent from 2009 to 2010 — 11.382 in 2009 and 12,045 in 2010. The number of people on food stamps/safety net rose 32 percent, from 492 people in 2009 and 651 in 2010.

Pending applications over 2010 were in the high hundreds all year. They reached their lowest point in September, with 730 pending applications. In December there were 995 pending, the highest all year.

Mossman said he thinks the numbers will continue to rise, since many unemployed county workers are due to run out of unemployment benefits soon and the job market hasn’t made any dramatic changes in the last year.

The state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance gives DSS a heads-up by sending them the numbers of local people whose unemployment benefits are due to run out. Between October and December 2010, 88 people were due to lose those benefits.

“These are people who have exhausted their extensions,” Mossman said. “Potentially, if they can’t find any source of income, the likelihood of them coming in and asking for some sort of assistance is going to be good.”

Also during the committee meeting, Mossman reported the most recent number of homeless individuals DSS provides housing for; as of December 2010, 83 people — 61 adults and 22 kids — are being housed in an average of 55 area motel rooms. This is a slight decrease from November 2010, when 89 people were housed in motels by DSS.

DSS Director of Income Maintenance Lynn Kutski said Columbia Opportunities has been able to permanently house a couple of previously homeless families.

Mossman said DSS is still looking to lease apartments in the county as a first step away from using motels exclusively. He said no specific apartments were earmarked at this time and the agency would plan to house single females first.

The National Weather Service has posted a Winter Weather Advisory through tomorrow dawn for Dutchess County, plus flood warnings and a possible storm in the metro area. Otherwise, Wednesday's NWS forecast says it will be mostly overcast, occasional snow showers, and not quite as cold as it's been, with a high near 36F this afternoon. Winds will be NE at 5 to 10 mph. That chance of snow is 40 percent. Tonight, a 90 percent chance of snow showers adding up to an inch, and a low of 26 degrees.

Town meetings tonight
TACONIC HILLS SCHOOL DISTRICT Grievance Hearing at 6 p.m., Regular Meeting at 7 p.m.


Astronomical bodies
TIDES Hudson: High, 7:51 p.m./Low, 2:37 p.m.
SUNRISE/SUNSET 7:15 a.m./5:01 p.m.
MOONRISE/MOONSET 12:31/4:32

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel, D-Long Island. Photo from her Facebook page."][/caption]The 2nd Annual Sportsmen & Outdoor Recreation Legislative Awareness Day is taking place today, January 25, and our Asemblyman Pete Lopez is attending. The "day" has already been the subject of a warning press release from a state legislator. The Times Union's Capitol Confidential reports that Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel, an advocate of tighter gun control and the sponsor of legislation requiring microstamping on bullets, called on members of the state Rifle & Pistol Association to be mindful of the mass-shooting in Arizona as they host their legislative day of action.

In light of the tragedy in Tucson, Arizona, it is my hope that discussions at the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association’s (NYSRPA) Legislative Awareness Day will focus on advancing sensible legislation that will keep the public safe by preventing guns from getting into the hands of the mentally ill, criminals, and terrorists. The tragedy of Arizona is a case study of all that is wrong with American gun laws. Citizens must demand more of their federal and state legislators to protect them from rampant, unnecessary gun violence.


Unfortunately these shootings and their increasing frequency have cast a cynical pall over the public as they wring their hands that nothing can be done. Each day 34 people are killed by gun violence in the United States. New York, which has more stringent gun regulations than Arizona, is always under attack by the gun lobby to weaken its existing laws and prevent the passage of new gun crime prevention bills. We in the New York State legislature owe it to our citizens and police officers to place their public safety needs first. The Second Amendment should not protect people like Jared Loughner to purchase a gun. This must be the legislative session when enacting sensible gun legislation is an urgent priority.

More on all the gun talk, and whether it was quieter than last year, on tomorrow's Newsroom...

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Ice on the Hudson surrounds the Athens Lighthouse."][/caption]The Coast Guard has begun icebreaking operations on the Hudson River to allow the flow of oil and other barge-carried goods to continue through the rest of winter. Oil barges navigate up the Hudson between New York and Albany and the ice must be broken up to allow them to continue their travel, said Petty Officer Thomas McKenzie in a Mid-Hudson News Network story on January 25. “Approximately 300 vessels transit the Hudson River during the winter months carrying five million barrels of petroleum products to the communities of the north region that includes home heating oil impacting hundreds of thousands of people who live in that area,” he said. “The Coast Guard does maintain a presence on the river during ice breaking season which runs from December 15 until the end of March.” The Coast Guard also conducts daily reconnaissance flights, providing updated information about ice conditions, which is them transmitted to waterway users. The price of fuel up and down the Hudson Valley, when not locked in through special offers usually made the previous summer, fluctuate wildly based on the river's condition and cost of ice cutting.

The Times Union reports that the governor said that the increasingly popular circuit breaker mechanism for capping local property tax payments -- a graduated means of lessening tax burdens based on incomes that seems to be a growing favorite of state legislators -- served a "different purpose" than his proposed two percent property tax cap that didn't instill "fiscal discipline for the local governments where spending is out of control." "The rate of spending is unsustainable -- that is a fact," Cuomo said. "We cannot sustain it here on the state level or on the local level. A circuit breaker will say, well, you can't sustain it for some people. No, you can't sustain it for any people."

Pushing back against Cuomo's campaign for a basic two percent cap on property taxes, several groups and their legislative allies are saying a cap should be paired with an extension of rent regulations or the use of income taxes to ensure less relief for the wealthy and more relief for lower-income people. Under Cuomo's plan, a school district or municipality's property tax levy couldn't increase more than 2 percent or the rate of inflation -- whichever is less -- excluding payments for capital construction or legal settlements.

A growing number of legislators are pushing for the addition of the "circuit breaker" that would provide some level of relief for people with lower incomes. One measure, supported by the New York State Property Tax Reform Coalition, would offer a 70 percent rebate of property taxes that reached above a certain percentage of household income -- 8.5 percent or less, after a few years. And yet few seem willing to go up against the governor head to head on the issue... at least yet.

Cuomo has an impressive coalition supporting his cap, including the Committee to Save New York, a coalition of business groups and major Manhattan real estate owners that is airing television advertisements and doing other "public education" in support of a cap. That campaign was conceived as a counterpoint to many public-sector labor interests that will lobby against the tax cap. One such group, New York State United Teachers, pledged this weekend to spend $425,000 to fund organizers at the Alliance for Quality Education.

Cuomo has begun traveling the state hoping to associate his own popularity with local legislators who stand with him. But still, many lawmakers who oppose the cap remain unconcerned and are holding firm.

A few weeks ago, Columbia and Greene county Assemblyman Pete Lopez questioned whether the 2 percent cap plan was more than a "sound bite" and asked to see more meet to the governor's proposals, including mandate reliefs and something akin to the circuit breaker, if not it. He said he was awaiting grater details in Cuomo's upcoming budget proposal, expected in the coming weeks.

Many are expecting a property tax cap to fail in the state Assembly, which remains dominated by New York City Democrats whose constituents do not face the same sort of property tax issues as residents Upstate.

New York is the most-unionized state in the nation, according to new U.S. Census Bureau data reported in the Albany Business Journal this week. The Census Bureau reports that 24.2 percent of New York workers belonged to unions in 2010. It is the highest rate of any state, followed by Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, California and New Jersey, home to 1.96 million union members, second only to California, which had 471,000 more union members.

Still, the data and story continue, union rates dipped in New York, a small part of a nationwide drop in union membership. And labor’s power faces big tests this year as state legislators tackle an $11 billion deficit, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo calling for limits on state spending as well as pay freezes for state union members. 2009 marked the first time the U.S. had more public-sector union members than private-sector union members. The trend continued in 2010, when 7.6 million public-sector workers—or 36.2 percent of employees—belonged to a union. There were 7.1 million private-sector union members, which meant that just 6.9 percent of private-sector workers were in a union. Public-sector workers earned a median weekly wage of $917, according to the Census Bureau. It’s $200 more than the median weekly earnings for their private-sector counterparts.

The South remains the least-unionized section of the country. North Carolina once again had the lowest rate of union members, with 3.2 percent of workers in the state belonging to a union. The next-lowest rates occurred in Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia.

From The Daily Freeman: After all the talk of toned down rhetoric and a new bipartisanship in our government, it seems things are snapping back to control politics quicker than you can say "gerrymandering." The Daily Freeman reports this morning that the Republicans who control the Dutchess County Legislature have chosen that they will redraw the county legislative district lines instead of a previously chosen citizens committee, as is being suggested for the state legislature. Republican legislators on Monday managed to muster the votes needed to override Dutchess County Executive William Steinhaus’ veto of a GOP-backed measure putting the redistricting process back into the hands of county lawmakers. The measure passed, 17-8, after Legislature Chairman Robert Rolison, R-city of Poughkeepsie, and Minority Whip Angela Flesland, R-town of Poughkeepsie, switched their votes.



The two had originally voted in favor of the 2009 law adopted by the Democratic-led Legislature that created a citizens commission to redraw the county legislative districts.It takes the votes of 17 of the 25 members of the county Legislature to override an executive veto. All the Democrats, along with Republican Marge Horton, R-East Fishkill, voted against the override. Similar redistricting will be occurring in Ulster County this year, as it shifts to a smaller-sized legislature, as well as on a state and national level.

A pair of Ulster County men have been arrested and accused of shoplifting televisions from the Catskill Wal-Mart after allegedly putting two 32-inch LCD high-definition televisions into a cart while in the Catskill Wal-Mart, police said, and walking directly out of the store with them just before noon.

The Daily Mail reports on January 25 Timothy L. Schledee, 19, and Joshua Bellman, 21, both residing in Lake Katrine, were both charged by Catskill Police Department with petit larceny.

An employee returning from break in the parking area saw the men on his way back into the store, police said. The employee was alerted that the men had not paid for the TVs and ran after them in the parking area. Police said the men saw the employee racing toward them as they loaded the trunk of their green Pontiac with the goods. They only had time to load one TV before speeding off, police said. The employee was able to report a description of the vehicle to police.

Later, the Saugerties Police Department found a vehicle matching the description driving in the village of Saugerties and apprehended the men. Both were returned to the Catskill Police Department and charged. They were arraigned in Catskill Village Court and remanded to the Greene County Jail in lieu of $300 bail or $1,000 bond.

The great Scottish poet Robert Burns got an early sendoff for his 252nd year Saturday night at the Peint o’ Grwr in the Columbia County town of Chatham. Where pipes were played, his poetry was read and his favorite food was eaten, all in honor of the great Scottish poet’s birthday on Jan. 25, 1759.

Fair fa’ your honest sonsie face,
Great chieftain o’ the puddin-race!

begins Burns’ “Address to a Haggis,” as quoted in a story on the event in today's Register-Star.

Well are ye wordy o’ a grace
As lang’s my arm.

Both original and a vegan version of haggis were served, John Mason reports, with the latter consisting of lentils, mushrooms, carrots, nuts, oats, spices and the beef-like yeast extraction, marmite. Traditional haggis consists of sheep’s heart and liver, onion, oatmeal, suet, spices and salt. Also on the table, to soften those loads, were rutabagas and mashed potatoes with green onions. Tom Hope, who owns and runs the pub, said he went through 30 pounds of potatoes, 20 pounds of rutabagas, five pounds of haggis and 10 pounds of vegan haggis.

Then, horn for horn,
they stretch an' strive:
Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall’d kytes belyve,
Are bent lyke drums;
Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
"Bethankit!" 'hums.

For the full story click here...

When the money gets tight, Greene County has a history of going after those who might be scamming it for aid. The Daily Mail reports that Greene County has established a compliance board to review potential hiccups in its Medicaid system and try to cut down on what it sees as Medicaid abuse and waste that may be costing the county tens of thousands of dollars every day. The board will work to oversee public health care providers at the county level, hoping to make an impact on the billions lost to Medicaid fraud, abuse and waste statewide. Back in the 1990s, when war was declared on welfare as we knew it then, the county started regularly publicizing arrests made for any amount of welfare fraud, from a few hundred dollars worth of extra food stamps on up.

The new board, approved last week, will meet a minimum of twice a year to review the work of the county’s health care providers, the Greene County Center for Behavioral Wellness and Greene County Public Health Nursing Service. Legislator Joseph Izzo, R-Catskill, will chair the county’s compliance board, which will constitute members of the legislature’s health committee: Legislators William Lawrence, R-Cairo, Kevin Lewis, R-Greenville, Chris Pfister, D-Athens, and Sean Frey, D-Durham.

Locally, Greene County pays $153,049 each week to New York State for Medicaid treatments, said Greene County Department of Social Services Commissioner Kira Pospesel. That weekly payment is expected to climb to $157,931 beginning in March 2011, she said, and will escalate further after federal aid disappears.

Most Medicaid "fraud," state officials say, can actually be attributed to bookkeeping errors and other things.

No one had yet come forward as of Monday night to claim the $122,100,000 winning Powerball ticket sold at the Clothespin Laundromat at Catskill Commons on U.S. Route 9W, said an official with the New York state Lottery Division in a report published in the Daily Freeman out of Kingston this morning.

“It’s not unusual for a person to wait a day or two to let it sink in,” said Carolyn Hapeman, a lottery spokesperson.

As of Monday evening, laundromat owner Bhasu Patel said he also had not learned who had won.

The ticket sold in Catskill was the sole winning ticket for the top jackpot prize. Hapeman said ticketholders have a year to come forward to claim their winnings. The amount the winner or winners will get will be reduced by taxes and also depends on whether the ticket was for a lump sum payment or 30 payments over 29 years.

“Maybe the winner doesn’t want anyone to know,” Patel was quoting as saying from the laundry he's owned for years. “He’s going to have a lot of cousins he never knew he had before.”

Forgean about a debate of issues in the Village of Catskill for the March 15 election with local Republicans deciding Monday to cross-endorse the sole Democratic candidate this season, Trustee Joseph Kozloski, and Dems having already cross-endorsed the GOP's William Wooton for Village Justice, the race is ostensibly over. The Daily Mail reports that the decision paves the way for all but guaranteed third terms for the two candidates, and emerged after the Catskill village Republican party failed to recruit a candidate interested in the trustee position. "As with the Democratic caucus, some Republicans questioned whether cross-endorsing was a good idea," reporter Doron Tyler Antrim wrote. "But considering it was the only option, the debate was brief."

In nearby Athens, meanwhile, local Republicans meet tonight to decide who will face a full slate of Democrats running for two trustee positions, the mayor's office, and a village justice slot (despite the village facing a referendum on whether to combine justice services with the surrounding Town of Athens). At a caucus last week, Dems gave the nod to Mayor Andrea Smallwood for a third term, Trustee Robert June is up for his second term, and newcomer Anthony Patsky is making his bid for village trustee, replacing current Dem Trustee Tom Sopris. Running for Village Justice is David Cole, seeking a second term in that post. Today is the last day for a party to hold a caucus. Village trustees serve three years. Justices serve two years.

Want to know how cold it was yesterday? Cold enough to stop Amtrak train service on their Empire Service line between Albany and New York City on Monday after signals, switches and other equipment froze in the sub-zero temperatures. That decision forced some passengers to find other ways to get around, and left some stranded on trains. And service on the Ethan Allen running between Rutland, Vermont and New York City was also suspended, but other long distance runs toward Buffalo/Niagara Falls and Montreal remained running. Metro North between Poughkeepsie and New York, meanwhile, did keep running Monday, although some problems were reported on the system's New Haven lines. For more information, go to amtrak.com or call 1-800-USA-RAIL.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="The Maetreum of Cybele, a Palenville-based pagan group, were just served foreclosure papers by Greene County for nonpayment of taxes in the midst of a legal battle over their tax exempt status involving the Town of Catskill. Photo from the group's website."][/caption]A pagan group that wants the town of Catskill to recognize it as a religious organization may lose its Palenville home before the end of the year, according to a Watershed Post story about how Greene County is beginning a foreclosure process that could exile the Maetreum of Cybele, a pagan community that owns the former Central House hotel on Rte. 23A in Palenville, before the two court cases are decided on whether the town practiced religious discrimination in recent years when it refused the non-profit's tax exemption status. The County's Treasurer's Department has started proceedings against the Maetreum for $13,835 in unpaid taxes and interest on the Palenville property. On January 15, Ellen Crouse, the Greene County Director of Taxes, sent the Maetreum a letter demanding payment in 60 days. The group has been fighting the town of Catskill over property taxes since 2007.

The town of Catskill granted the Maetreum, who have federal 501(c)3 tax exemption status, tax exemption for 2006, but then denied the exemption in 2007, claiming the property did not conform to the real property tax law’s definition for an exempt not-for-profit religious organization. The new town treasurer, Peter Markou, previously served as the Catskill town superintendent.

Crouse told the Watershed Post last week that if the tax bill remains unpaid, the foreclosure process on the Maetreum's property could begin in late February.

Cathryn Platine, the spiritual leader of the Maetreum, was shocked by the arrival of the foreclosure letter. In the fall, the Maetreum's lawyer filed a motion requesting that the foreclosure be postponed until the lawsuits had finished. In November, Greene County Attorney Carol Stevens seemed to agree to put the foreclosure process on pause in a letter now posted on the Watershed Post website.

"The county attorney wrote our attorney two months ago stating that no foreclosure proceeding would begin until after the two legal cases ongoing were decided," Platine said. "Given everything that has gone on before, this cannot be taken as a miscommunication."

Crouse said that the county's plans to foreclose are not final, and that she did not know whether the county had agreed to pause the foreclosure process.

Foreclosure or no, the Maetreum's legal battle shows no sign of flagging. Platine said earlier this month that she would take the case to federal court if necessary. But the Maetreum's war chest is being drained by the conflict.

"So far we have held our own with some help from Pagans out there but we are getting in over our heads on fiances," Platine has written. "We are poor. My only income, for example, is SSI disability for job related back injuries. Yet even without resources, in the past six months we have provided four people with needed housing assistance and food. We seriously need help. We need donations and they are fully tax deductible. We need support from the Pagan community spiritually and magickly. Please, no curses but bindings and reveals would be in order. And of course energy for us because this is beyond draining on our own internal resources."