[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Hudson Islamic Center, site of an alleged hate crime this past center, as seen in an image from a Times Union story about the incidence."][/caption]A year-end report on the state's hate crimes, which went up this past year according to Greene County native Sean Byrne, Acting commissioner for the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, showed two such cases investigated in Columbia County for the past year and not convicted, plus three investigated, with two arrests, in Greene County. In the Hudson Valley/Catskills region, there were 70 reported cases, which are almost double the 38 incidents reported in 2008. Westchester County reported the greatest number of incidents at 23, with five arrests last year; followed by Rockland County with 16 incidents and 12 arrests; Orange County with nine incidents and six arrests; Dutchess with eight incidents and no arrests; Ulster with five incidents and four arrests; Sullivan with four incidents and three arrests; and Putnam having one incident with two arrests. Hudson Police Department investigated two incidents that were initially labeled hate crimes in 2010: a May 3 arrest with charges of third-degree assault (hate crime), an E felony, for an attack on a 29-year-old man in the Seventh Street Park in Hudson allegedly due to the man’s sexual orientation and the arrest of three men for allegedly spray-painting racist graffiti on the outside of the Hudson Islamic Center that goes to trial in May 2011.

Details of the Greene County crimes were not available as of press time.

Statewide, the most prevalent hate crimes, at 37 percent, were anti-Jewish, following by 21 percent being anti-black, 12 percent being anti-male homosexual, and six percent being anti-Hispanic.

For the Register Star's account, click here.
For Mid Hudson News Network's, try here.

Next up in the Lafarge cement plant expansion review process unfolding in the southern Albany County community of Ravena, but drawing in increasing numbers of concerned citizens and environmental watchdogs from Columbia and Greene counties, is a January 6 report on a Harvard School of Public Health study of the effects of heavy metals pollution on persons living within a ten mile radius of a plant such as Ravena's. Dr. Michael Bank, principal investigator for the Harvard School of Public Health will report on group results on blood and hair tests of 185 volunteer individuals tested May 15 and 16, 2010 at Pieter B. Coeymans Elementary School in Ravena. The study came about when several local residents in Ravena formed Community Advocates for Safe Emissions (CASE), who then approaches the noted school about a study to put better perspective on a state Department of Health look into the cement plant's history, in light of its current request before the state to expand and allegedly better clean up its activities. Lafarge was recently named one of the state's top air polluters. The Register Star has a story on the study and what's happening at Lafarge out today.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Wind power is already in existence in the Catamount Ski Center and Hancock areas."][/caption]While a new study reports there’s enough wind energy in New England to supply 24 percent of its electricity needs by 2020, wind turbine projects already in the works locally could supply more than enough electricity to power all the homes in Massachusetts Berkshire County, a Berkshire Eagle analysis reports today, suggesting new energy sources for the Hudson Valley, as well. The news comes just as rumblings have started from incoming Congressman Chris Gibson about opening up our region to nuclear plants, and several key environmental activists in the region have started working on theories that no matter how far we go with renewable sources of energy, we don't have enough to replace carbon-based systems currently in use.

If all four of the wind farms currently planned for the Berkshires are completed and become operational -- representing 97.5 megawatts of power -- they could generate enough electricity to power more than 73,000 homes. According to the most recent figures reported by the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, there are 55,200 occupied housing units in Berkshire County.

With enough wind power to supply electricity for 73,000 average homes, and 55,200 occupied homes in Berkshire County, an Eagle analysis shows that wind power will exceed the residential power needs of Berkshire County and provide enough of a surplus to power 7,800 more homes.

The four wind energy projects in development in Berkshire County are:

- A 30-megawatt, 20-turbine farm planned for Bakke Mountain in Florida and Crum Hill in Monroe would generate enough power for 22,500 homes. Construction is expected to begin by late 2011.

- Minuteman Wind LLC is working on a 12.5-megawatt, five-turbine project on West Hill in Savoy -- enough to power more than 9,375 homes. That project is still in the permitting stage.

- Patriot Renewables is in the early phase of study for a project that would include 12 to 16 wind turbines, with a possible total capacity of 40 megawatts -- enough for 30,000 homes.

- The Berkshire Wind project has completed construction of 10 wind turbines in Hancock and New Ashford with a capacity of 15 megawatts -- enough electricity to power 11,250 homes. It is expected to begin operation within three months. While it is owned by members of the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co., which will sell the equivalent amount of energy generated by the turbines to users in central Massachusetts, the actual power will flow to the closest users in Berkshire County.

The other three wind farms will generate electricity for general use on the public utility grid.

Meanwhile, a study commissioned by regional grid manager ISO New England and conducted by GE Energy Applications & Systems Engineering, showed that land and ocean winds are strong enough to supply 24 percent of power used in New England by 2020. The study also noted that major upgrades to the grid and infrastructure are needed to handle that much more wind power.

One megawatt is enough to power 750 to 1,000 homes. Presently, New England produces 270 megawatts of wind power, with about 2,800 megawatts more of offshore and onshore wind proposed in the region.

But to reach the 24 percent figure, a 44-fold increase in wind power generation would have to be installed -- up to 12,000 megawatts worth of turbines and an investment of $19 billion to $25 billion is needed for new transmission lines, said the ISO’s president and chief executive, Gordon van Welie.

Renewable energy experts have responded with skepticism that such a goal is possible.

Reaching 24 percent wind power "would be a pretty lofty goal to get to by 2020," John Norden, the ISO’s director of operations, said.

But he said his agency must think ahead, in case public policymakers require dramatically higher reliance on wind power. The question is, Norden said, "If [policymakers] headed in that direction, and they headed in that direction quickly, would we have a problem in terms of operating the system?"

The two-year New England Wind Integration Study measured wind potential and aimed to determine exactly what’s needed to link future wind power producers to the grid.

According to Tyler Fairbank, president of local renewable energy developer EOS Ventures in Hancock, there won’t likely be many more wind energy projects in the Berkshires because there aren’t many more sites that have either the wind resources, potential for interconnectivity or the potential for successful permitting.

"These are complex issues that really make it a challenge for a developer to want to get involved with a wind project," he said.

Fairbank said that while it is possible to grow wind power in New England to the point that it provides a quarter of the power needs, he was skeptical that it could be achieved by 2020.

"Is it technically possible? Perhaps," he said. "But my gut reaction is that, because of the practicalities involved, it is a remarkably ambitious concept."

The GE Energy study said more research is needed to see if it’s even possible to make the massive upgrades to the transmission system that would be required. It also highlighted the need for adequate power generators that can be ramped up and down quickly to ensure the regional power supply stays steady and reliable as wind speeds vary.

More wind power would improve the mix of fuels the region relies on for energy, and can be a reliable source of renewable energy at a stable price, Van Welie said during a recent conference call with reporters.

It can also help the region reach mandates to increase renewable energy and efficiency. Taken together, the six New England states have a collective goal to meet 30 percent of their power needs from renewable sources and better energy efficiency by 2020.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="The Ashland Fire House and town hall burned on January 11, 2010. It is now being rebuilt. Image from statter911.com."][/caption]Early last January, the far western Greene County mountaintop town of Ashland saw its firehouse/town hall burn to the ground by dark of night. Now, according to a new report in the Daily Mail, a new facility is underway... not quite as big as everyone originally wanted, but better than what was. And, combined with work to complete a new New York City-funded sewer system, the first signs of real progress the town (which supplied the Farmers Museum in Cooperstown with many of its historic structures) has seen in some time. It's a nicely-written piece, as usual, from Mike Ryan.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Gov. elect Andrew Cumo and his daughters."][/caption]So we suggested you pass up on the low-key and relatively private Cuomo inauguration tomorrow for the new governor's first State of the State speech at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center on Wednesday, January 5. So how to get tickets now? Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo’s transition team has announced that members of the general public can enter the lottery for tickets to the January 5 State of the State speech at www.nystateofstate2011.com. In a break from tradition, the speech will be held in the Empire State Plaza Convention Center. Those seeking tickets are asked to register before midnight on Saturday, January 1. The ceremony begins at 1 p.m. It will be televised live on YNN, public television stations as well as streamed live on the Internet.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, pictured here in Vogue Magazine this fall, is settinmg her eyes on a bigger home in D.C., and taking over the house she grew up in in Albany."][/caption]It turns out that after selling her upstate New York home for a whopping $1.3 million earlier this month, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and family are moving into her mother's old home in Albany and are looking to purchase a bigger home in Washington, D.C., the NY Daily News is reporting. "The Gillibrands have two young children. They have been looking for a bigger house in D.C. I think they wanted to free up some cash to pay for it. And Albany is where Kirsten's roots are," a source told the paper. The senator's broker, Nancy Felcetto of Halstead Hudson Valley, added that: "The commute to D.C. was getting very tedious for the senator. It's much easier from Albany." The Gillibrands sold the five-bedroom home, which includes a guest cottage, located on Mt. Merino Road in Greenpoint, N.Y. to Time magazine editor Rick Stengel for $400,000 less than the $1.7 million asking price. The home sits on 13 acres of rolling hills next to the Hudson River. Rhinebeck Realtor Harry Hill, who brokered the deal for Stengel, had no comment.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="The town of Athens has adopted new leash laws for the new year, which other Greene County towns are now pondering."][/caption]This has been a week of year-end meetings, just as next week -- and particularly this Saturday and Sunday -- are when local municipalities all undergo their annual "reorganizations," choosing new department heads, naming key functionaries, and distributing political rewards as quietly as possible. The Register-Star reports this morning that at a year end meeting in Copake, the subject of a new bus route for eastern Columbia County came up in discussion before the town board Thursday night, December 30, along with last-minute financial transactions and a decision "to begin a program recognizing employees or citizens who formulate cost-saving procedures for the town." Over in Greene County, the Daily Mail is reporting on a year-end push in Athens for a new local law regulating how dogs are to be licensed. The new regulations will go into effect on January 1. The Copake public transit talk arose when Supervisor Reggie Crowley cited an e-mail he received from a resident recommending that the town or county acquire one of the trolley buses that will no longer be utilized in the city of Hudson, then talked of a discussion he had with county Board of Supervisors Chairman Roy Brown and county Tourism Department Administrator Ann Cooper about creating a bus loop around the eastern part of Columbia County, mainly geared toward tourists who use Amtrak and never leave the county seat. Everyone liked the idea but worried that the soon-to-be-available trolleys don’t go over 30 mph. For the full stories click on The Daily Mail or Register-Star links.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="An historic street scene from Greenville, NY, culled from the faux=community sites at Epodunk.com."][/caption]Hats off, this final day of the year, to The Watershed Post for hooking us up with the Daily Yonder, a blog about rural issues, and its recent publication of an interview with three experts on small towns: Bart Finzel, Jane Leonard, and Dave Engstrom -- all based in Minnesota, and brought together by the Center for Small Towns, but striking chords in the WGXC community by addressing small towns' odds for survival and even transcendence these days. This is the sort of discussion we need more of here, in place of the constant bickering about things taking place in capital cities elsewhere. On small town/city viability:

Engstrom: The common thread of the most vibrant and vital small cities I know is a common vision of the future and to preserve the past.

Leonard: Viability also depends on the can-do spirit of the people. A town considered very small—under 500, for example—could be a vibrant regional center if it is in a very rural area with even smaller towns or hamlets around it and has some essential places and services—a post office, church, community center, food, gas and hardware.

On the forces that threaten small towns:

Engstrom: From my observation, the biggest systemic threat is related to population decline, and specifically among younger age groups. As the population in small cities declines and grows older, there is less consumer activity, causing a decline in retail business. Also, school districts with fewer students fuel the local economy less. It’s a vicious cycle once it starts. The decline in retail and business activity leads to a glut of Main Street retail buildings, which drives down property values and eventually leads to a decreased tax base.

On what helps a small town survive:

Leonard: How young people are regarded by a community is key. If enough people hold a mindset that young people don’t have a future in their small town and that belief is instilled from an early age, then the town is on a downward spiral. If kids are embraced, supported and encouraged to be a part of the community’s present and future, then that community is investing in its own future.



On the surprising disconnect between rural and urban places:

Finzel: As a professor in a small town, I find it remarkable to witness students with urban sensibilities truly connect with the realities of rural places. Some students are empowered by the connection. Others go home. Students from urban areas take 24-hour shopping, a Walmart or Target, a cinema multiplex and a variety of dining opportunities for granted. Moreover, as their family ties to rural areas have lessened with each generation, their knowledge of small places and their ability to imagine a life without urban amenities have diminished. After a time, urban students who stick it out find that those in small towns make the most of their limited menu of options: friends cook for one another and create their own entertainment; problems are solved by coming together, rather than making a phone call to a service provider; goods and services are provided by local sole proprietors, barter or not at all. Students learn that nothing can be taken for granted in a small community. Doing for oneself and one’s community is necessary. A sense of shared responsibility is cultivated.

Finzel: I do not necessarily agree that the migration away from small towns is entirely the result of market forces. Although small-town decline is partially the result of limited opportunities, farm programs added to population loss by supporting a limited number of commodities and contributing to larger farms, fewer farmers and less-viable small towns. Other structural issues, such as health insurance being far more expensive for small firms than for large firms, have also contributed to out-migration.

Regarding small-town support, providing assistance to the relatively small economic entities that are the backbone of small towns—rural hospitals, micro enterprise, community banks, cooperatives, small farms benefiting from the local food movement—will be most successful. Regulatory reform and subsidies directed at very small firms in the federal health care reform bill should also enable small firms—and small towns—to retain talented employees who might have migrated to larger firms with a better health insurance plan.

On The outside forces that help small towns survive, currently endangered in New York state and elsewhere:

Engstrom: If we are going to preserve small towns as a way of life, there is an absolute need for some sort of property tax equalization to provide assistance to communities in need. So the loss of state aid payments, such as Local Government Aid, for small cities is a huge problem. Some communities have a very poor tax base, and paying for services like police protection would require a much higher-than-average tax levy [if LGA were cut]. Some small cities do not receive LGA because their tax base or tax capacity is very high—like those in the lakes region with high-end homes.

Leonard: Local leadership is a necessity for long-term survivability, but external resources and external leadership matter a great deal. These days, we face a crisis in confidence in ourselves. We justify decreasing state aid as a way to hunker down until the storm passes. But hunkering down doesn’t work when we are going through dramatic, long-term transformations that require proactive leadership and resource investments coordinated across local, state and national levels.

We made a pledge when this nation was founded out of 13 colonies: e pluribus unum—“out of many, one.” In practice, at national and state levels, it means we strive to contribute equitably to the commonwealth to ensure reliable and consistent levels of basic services and infrastructure across our states and nation. This “commonwealth” is the base upon which further community and economic development can happen.

On whether small towns will ever be popular places to live again in this country.

Finzel: Small towns that exist because they provide essential services are, I suspect, unlikely to make a comeback because major services will continue to migrate to regional centers. But small towns that are built on a set of shared beliefs or aspirations, be it a desire for sustainable communities or the chance to fully engage in all aspects of a community, will be attractive in the future. This depends critically on leaders gathering residents together to articulate a shared vision. It will also depend on whether the town welcomes newcomers, creates opportunities for retirees to return and fosters a degree of promise in the future.

The advantages of small-town life—the cheap and abundant housing stock, the community’s role in child rearing, the relative security of knowing your neighbors, the opportunities for self determination and self-expression—will continue to be attractive to some. My thinking is that we are near bottom in terms of out-migration from small communities.

Today is the final day of 2010. In 1923 the chimes of Big Ben were broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC on this day. In 1695 a window tax was imposed in England, causing many householders to brick up windows to avoid the tax.


Weather
WARMER More melting. It might not fall below freezing at night.


Astronomical bodies
TIDES Hudson: High, 11:31 a.m./Low, 6:18 p.m.
SUNRISE/SUNSET Catskill: 7:24 a.m./4:33 p.m.
MOONRISE/MOONSET Catskill: 3:50 a.m./1:19 p.m.


Birthdays
DECEMBER 31: Anthony Hopkins, Donna Summer, and Paul Westerberg.

In one of David Paterson's last acts as Governor, he today pardoned three more immigrants who could have been deportated because of their criminal convictions. "After announcing the creation of a special pardon panel to address anomalies and injustices emanating from the often arbitrary manner in which Federal immigration laws are implemented, we received more than 1,100 applications," Governor Paterson said. "I wish time had permitted us to act on more of these requests, as injustice is prevalent. The individuals pardoned today committed past offenses but have paid their debts to society and are now making positive contributions to our society." On Christmas Day he pardoned 24 other immigrants, and today Khamsay Chanthavilaychit, Aqustin Prado, and Clint Ramos also avoided deportation.
Paterson's press office says:

• Khamsay Chanthavilaychit received a pardon for an August 2003 conviction for the Class A misdemeanor of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree, for which he was sentenced to a three-year term of probation. Chanthavilaychit was brought to this county at age two, as a war refugee from Laos, and he has been gainfully employed for the last 16 years. He is currently facing removal after being placed in proceedings when he applied for and was denied naturalization.
• Aqustin Prado was convicted of the misdemeanor offense of seventh-degree possession of a controlled substance in 1993, for which he was sentenced to a conditional discharge and performed five days of community service. In the 17 years since this conviction, he has led a law abiding life, is a home owner, and is married and the father of two young daughters.
• Clint Ramos was convicted of four counts of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree in June 2001, and he was sentenced to five years on probation. At the time of his conviction, Ramos was severely drug addicted, but he has since overcome that addiction and has been a sponsor for more than 10 persons in recovery. Ramos has become an award-winning costume and set designer and is well-known and respected in the New York Theater community. His pardon application has received overwhelming support from numerous members of that community, who describe him as a brilliant and innovative artist as well as an asset of real value to the American theater.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Empire State Plaza"][/caption]New York Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo will break from tradition and deliver his first State of the State address outside of the state Capitol and instead give the January 5 speech in the Empire State Plaza Convention Center. The move that has the Albany press corps in a tizzy today, and Cuomo is quoted in the Albany Business Review as saying that he expects a larger-than-usual crowd. Moving to the convention center will allow members of the public to attend for the first time; and tickets will be distributed through a lottery. “The change in setting is a metaphor for the change we must undergo as a state,” Cuomo said on Wednesday. “We must reconnect with the people and rebuild a relationship of trust.”

Governors use the State of the State message to lay out the broad points of their agenda and budget for the upcoming year. The speech is typically held in a packed Assembly chamber, with no general-public seating. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and incoming Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Long Island) applauded the change in venue. Cuomo’s address will also be televised. Details on the ticket lottery were not released as of press time.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="The Berry Farm in Chatham has also been honored by County Bounty as a significant locavore farm."][/caption]Yes, we are still an agricultural area! The Register Star reports this morning that the Columbia County Farm Bureau was recognized earlier in December as a recipient of the American Farm Bureau Federation’s National Farm-City Award for the county’s effort in developing a program for agricultural education that also received the 2010 New York Farm Bureau Promotion & Education Award.

Farm-City programs successfully educate on the interdependence among agriculture-the people who grow the food and the people who eat it. The Columbia county program involved school age children growing a “Pizza Garden.” The garden had a round shape and each “slice” contained a different vegetable or herb. The students managed the garden through design, germination, planting and finally recipe creation from the harvested produce and the project culminated with the students presenting their recipes, tangy baba ghanoush and a cucumber/tomato salad to attendees at the Local County Bounty event in Columbia County.

The New York Farm Bureau is the statewide lobbying/trade organization that represents thousands of farm families. Its members and the public know the organization as “The Voice of New York Agriculture.” New York Farm Bureau is dedicated to solving the economic and public policy issues challenging the agricultural community.

The new award was announced during National Farm-City Week in November and the group was formally recognized at the New York Farm Bureau State Annual Meeting in Melville, Dec. 7 to 9.

“Our Farm-City Council partners at the state level play a critical role in helping non-farming consumers understand the vital importance of U.S. agriculture to our economy,” said National Farm-City Council Chair Al Pell. “We’re pleased to honor several state organizations for their outstanding work in accomplishing the Farm-City mission.”

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Snow stops NYC, help called in from us Upstaters. Image from NY Daily News."][/caption]Reports of massive mess-ups with the first snow emergency of the season keep sluicing in from around the listening area, including some from the socked-in parts of rural Columbia and Greene counties. But mostly from Catskill and Hudson where word of emergency parking restrictions, and accompanying towing procedures, saw frustration from folks who didn't see signs going up about what to do until after their cars were impounded. All of the local hubbub, however, dims next to continuing reports about the mess down in New York City, where entire streets and neighborhoods have yet to be plowed. In today's Daily Mail, there's even a story about how local EMTs have headed down to help in the Big Apple, a local first since the tragic days following 9/11. "According to Greene County EMS Coordinator Dan King, the state Department of Health requested 20 additional ambulances on behalf of the city," reads the story. "On Tuesday, the towns of Catskill and Coxsackie stepped up to the plate, each sending one ambulance with a combined crew of four — three EMTs and one ambulance driver."

From some observation levels, the silver lining to all this is that it takes our minds off calls for shrinking government and other economic worries and puts them back on the travails of day to day life. Which we guess may be one of the reasons we still have winter after all these years. For the full story read The Daily Mail.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="A Coxsackie Transport shuttle bus"][/caption]From what we were hearing, through riders and drivers, the last of the Hudson City trolleys was to run today. We had our tape recorders ready to get the sound of that last ride... but then Hudson Mayor Richard Scalera said yesterday that the buses will continue to run for at least two weeks into January 2011 since the new schedule has yet to receive approval from all parties involved — and likely won’t until next week, since the parties are on vacation. Or at least that's what the story in today's Register-Star is saying. Hudson okayed the elimination of its bus service in its 2011 budget due to declining ridership and revenues, then formulated an alternative plan to continue offering bus service — at little or no cost to the city — by consolidating with Columbia County and Coxsackie Transport to combine the former Hudson trolley stops with the county’s Greenport Shopping Shuttle. The mayor’s office devised a new schedule for the bus route last week, which decreases the amount of loops the bus would make around the city and adds four crucial stops to the traditional Greenport Shopping Shuttle route. City residents will still be able to take the bus out to Greenport retailers on Fairview Avenue, but the schedule will now incorporate additional stops at Columbia Memorial Hospital, the Department of Social Services, the Crosswinds housing project and Hudson High School. As a result of the increased amount of stops, the bus will only loop around Hudson five times throughout the day, instead of looping eight times as the trolley service normally would. But apparently that schedule still needs approval by the Columbia County Commissioner of Planning and Economic Development Ken Flood and Coxsackie Transport owner Wayne Parks, both of whom are on vacation for the remainder of the year. Scalera added that the new schedule should be promoted for at least a week before any full transition takes place.

Town meetings tonight
TOWN OF NEW BALTIMORE New Baltimore Town Board will hold a special meeting on at 7:30 p.m. at the New Baltimore Town Hall, 3809 County Route 51, Hannacroix, NY. The purpose of this special meeting will be discussion of end of year topics.
2011 For 2011, the Cairo Planning Board meets the first Wednesday of each month, and holds their monthly workshops the third Thursday of each month at Cairo Town Hall, 512 Main St., Cairo. 518-622-3120. The Greene County Planning Board will meet on the third Wednesday of each month in 2011 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 427 of the Greene County Office Building at 411 Main Street in Catskill. All meetings are open to the public.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Talk show host John Gambling. Photo from WOR."][/caption]On the radio
GOVERNOR DAVID PATERSON 8:10 a.m. live interview on WOR 710-AM's "The John Gambling Show" in NYC.


Weather
WARMER Melting.


Astronomical bodies
TIDES Hudson: High, 9:28 a.m./Low, 4:20 p.m.
SUNRISE/SUNSET Catskill: 7:24 a.m./4:32 p.m.
MOONRISE/MOONSET Catskill: 2:40 a.m./12:38 p.m.


Birthdays
DECEMBER 30: Rudyard Kipling, Paul Bowles, and Patti Smith.

[caption id="attachment_6302" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Photo from CLC taken Nov. 30, 2010 at land being protected by William and Deborah Cohan in Ancram."][/caption]Four Columbia County property owners permanently protected 185 acres of their properties on Dec. 29, according to Columbia Land Conservancy (CLC). The non-profit group holds the conservation easements on the properties and now protects more than 21,000 acres of land in the county. Joe and Diane Haley donated the development rights on 110 acres in Ghent and Claverack in addition to the 98 acres they have already protected. In Ancram, William and Deborah Cohan protected their 75-acre property. "Growing up on Long Island in the 1950's, my wife and I saw first hand the result of unplanned development and its impact on farming and the natural world," says Joe Haley, in a CLC press release. "To preserve this land for future generations gives us a great sense of gratitude." Both properties are working farms, and part of the Haley property is leased to Hawthorne Valley Farm. The United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) determined that the Cohan property has eleven acres of "prime soils" and fifteen acres of "soils of statewide importance" which grow hay and corn.[caption id="attachment_6303" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Photo from CLC taken Dec. 9, 2010 of Joe and Diane Haley\'s protected land."][/caption] “My wife and I decided to put our land into a conservation easement because we wanted to preserve its astonishing natural beauty forever. Its essential purpose is farmland and provides a means to enjoy the simpler things in life,” explains William Cohan.
Both properties include protected wetlands: the Haley land includes portions of a 33-acre New York State Department of Environmental Conservation designated Class 2 wetland, and the Cohan property has two acres of a larger 75-acre Class 2 wetland. Both conservation easements will protect waterways. The North Creek, deemed a Class C(TS) trout spawning stream by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation runs through the Haley property for approximately 1,500 feet. A tributary to the Roeliff-Jansen Kill runs through the Cohan property for approximately 2,700 feet. The Cohan property is part of a larger 3,000-acre “Neighborhood Conservation Block” that includes seventeen other properties permanently protected with conservation easements. The area is highly prominent from Route 82 with visible meadows, open hillsides, hedgerows, and bodies of water. The 110 acres of Haley property is directly attached to 98 acres owned and previously protected by the Haleys and this expanded easement property is located across the street from another 47 acres which the Haleys also protected and sold subject to a conservation easement. The property owners donated the development rights of their property to CLC and this ensures that the property is permanently conserved. The property owners retain title to their property, pay property taxes, and can sell or pass the property on to heirs. They can still farm on the land, and are not required to allow public access. CLC now holds 150 easements that protect 21,135 acres.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="185" caption="An Ignition Interlock Device"][/caption]How successful is Leandra's Law, the new statewide measure that went into effect this past August as a means of protecting kids under the age of 16 from being driven by anyone under the influence? The original idea was simple: Impose harsh penalties on first-time offenders who drive drunk with children in their vehicle, with up to four years in prison and a mandatory court order to have an ignition interlock system installed on any vehicle owned or operated by the driver for at least six months, requiring that driver to blow into an alcohol sensor before the engine can be turned on. But according to a story in the Daily Mail by Colin DeVries, it turns out that the devices aren’t being installed. And out of six such cases in Greene County, none have resulted in the proper use of the interlocks, which were also meant to buffer county coffers. “What we’ve found — and what seems to be the trend across the state — is people are disposing of their cars,” said Greene County Probation Department Director Alan Frisbee in DeVries' story. The revenue forecast changed, it goes on, after manufacturers were ordered to cover the fees for offenders who couldn’t afford it. Then potential revenues took another hit when offenders were simply claiming no ownership of vehicles. Offenders would transfer ownership of their cars before conviction to prevent installation of the interlock devices. They were circumventing the fee structure and the alcohol sensor. For the full story see The Daily Mail.

The Holcim cement company, formerly St. Lawrence Cement, has filed a grievance challenging the assessment it has received on its waterfront property in Hudson, and according to the Register Star, City Attorney John Connor has sent a letter of objection to Holcim’s attorney claiming the company’s income and expense statement regarding the parcel is inaccurate and “patently false.”

Connor said 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 as part of the grievance process.

The income and expense statement, sent to Connor by Holcim attorney Bruce J. Stavitsky of Clifton, New Jersey, indicates that no income is being generated from the parcel — “Which I think is bogus,” said Connor, since the city is aware that the property is being leased to O & G Industries for the shipping of aggregate material, not to mention Cargill Inc., which unloads and stores salt at the location.

As St. Lawrence Cement, the company proposed a 2.2 million ton, $300 million coal-fired cement plant near the banks of the Hudson River in Hudson and Greenport in the late 1990s, a fight they later gave up in 2005 after much local, regional and eventually statewide opposition. The company was "acquired" by Holcim in early 2008 and aside from some major layoffs at its Catskill plant for the current holidays, and its being listed as one of the state's top polluters by the federal Environmental Protection Agency in recent weeks, has managed to stay out of the local news in recent years. For the full story, read the Register-Star.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="198" caption="Sen. Stephen Saland"][/caption]The Register-Star has a story today on moves by Hudson Democratic Chairman Victor Mendolia to file a complaint against Columbia County Fire Commissioner James Van Deusen. with the Columbia County Board of Ethics, if he can find a county employee or elected official to do it. The idea, as outlined in the story from John Mason, seems to be to augment a similar complaint against New York State Sen. Stephen Saland, R,C,I-Poughkeepsie, on charges that the legislator "used his position to pressure local fire companies into publicizing their support for him in his recent run for re-election," which was filed with the state Legislative Ethics Commission by Mendolia and Hillside Firefighter Lloyd Hamilton.

Mendolia and Hamilton had learned of Saland’s request that fire companies in Dutchess and Columbia counties place expressions of thanks to him on the signs outside their fire stations prior to Election Day. Hamilton learned of it when he saw his fire company’s sign bore the words, “Firefighters for Saland.” Mendolia learned of it when he was given a letter from Van Deusen to various Columbia County fire chiefs.

Van Deusen is also a Republican councilman for the Town of Claverack. Mendolia also volunteers as a recorder of meetings for WGXC, for whom he will also be hosting a regular weekly program. For the full story, which hits pretty heavily on the sometimes not-so-subtle conflicts of interest in our local politics throughout the region, click here.

Renowned poet and prisons activist/teacher Janine Pommy Vega died quietly in her sleep the evening of Thursday, December 23 at her home in Willow, just outside of Woodstock. Born February 5, 1942, Vega grew up in Union City, New Jersey and headed for Manhattan to become part of the "Beat Generation" at the age of fifteen, inspired by Jack Kerouac's On the Road and the poems of Allen Ginsberg. In 1962, Vega moved to Europe with her husband, painter Fernando Vega, returned to New York, and then moved to California, after his sudden death in 1965. Her first book, Poems to Fernando, was published by City Lights in 1968 as part of their City Lights Pocket Poets Series. During the early-1970s, Vega lived as a hermit on the Isla del Sol in Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian-Peruvuian border. In total she wass the author of eighteen books and chapbooks since 1968, and was heavily anthologized. Her first CD, Across the Table, recorded in Woodstock, and from live performances in Italy and Bosnia, came out in November, 2007. She was the Director of Incisions/Arts, an organization of writers working with people behind bars, and had taught inside prisons for more than twenty-five years, most recently teaching a course in poetics for the Bard Prison Initiative.

And she came as a woman
You remember?
Once as a mother, plucking out
the heartstrings, tender
merciless she came
...wearing jewels
the Dog Star and the Hunter for a belt
Large-eyed and generous she
swooped with beak and talon
mercy dripping from the branches,
You remember?

So she wrote in her poem, "The Bard Owl."

Vega spent the last 11 years with poet Andy Clausen, tending her end-of-the-road garden when she wasn’t traveling the world performing.

At a 2000 talk as part of The Moth storytelling series at Joe's Pub in New York, she spoke about her favored physical activity of long walks, and coming across the Andes... the sort of self-challenging she spent a lifetime thriving on, and basing her cathartic art in.


She is best eulogized through her own poetry...

To You On The Other Side of This

You cannot take away this morning
of lilacs, the soft air in the willow tree
and his life again in the little backyard
with his red wooden truck, playing
until it was time for our snack and his packet
of M&Ms until lunch.
You can't take away the eager teenager
bounding down the steps and out to his friends
or his messy room with the socks strewn everywhere
and the drum set awaiting his return
his love of music and magic, the card tricks and rubber
wolf mask, his practice pad alive with
riffs and paradiddles,
the wide excited smile of him sharing the bill with
Tito Puente at the Union City dive.

Your stupid fear, shooting at an interloper in your
ill-timed gas station stick-up, with your gun exposed
as though you'd been caught ex coitus in a phone booth
with your pants down and your eyes still glazed.
The horrible purple flower at his neck, where the blood
flowed: killed on contact.
And you're lucky you did not meet me then
the wild grief in me would've torn you, tall as you are
and strong, limb from limb
I would've knocked you to the ground and choked the life
from you, taken it from you like you did from him.
You're lucky you did not find me then, trembling
with hate and retribution.

Months passed. You have taken away
his forward momentum, but not himself
his spirit still alive in the midst of my grieving.
You crossed over into the mystery of someone else's life
stopped by your hands
And no one will join you in the ring as you wrestle
with that.

They asked if I want the death penalty.
Will it bring my son back?
Let nothing cushion the truth, I say
of having flung up into the face of the sky
his precious life, as though it were an afterthought
Let nothing stop the growth of consciousness
in you, I say, until you reach the place of owning
what you did, and feel the relentless weight of it
on your soul, like an iron anvil.
killing you will stop all that. It will make others
responsible for your justice, when it comes from
within, more terrible and intimate than a faceless
judge and cold contrivance of execution.
May you live, I say, as long as it takes for you to own
what you did, may the coldness turn to grief,
and the grief call out for judgment,
May the judge in you be just, and the fearful mystery
of your penance unfold within.