Wondering what to do New Year's Day? Thinking it might be fun to head up to Albany for the big inauguration, memories of James Taylor playing Spitzer's big bash, or the giant Concourse party from Pataki's hooplah dancing in one's head?

Fergedaboudit... Here's what's happening...



On Friday, December 31, 2010: Governor-elect Cuomo and Lt. Governor-elect Duffy take oath of office in private event at the Executive Mansion.

On Saturday, January 1, 2011, things kick off at 8:30 a.m., at the Capitol, when Governor Cuomo and Lt. Governor Duffy go to work and hold an executive staff meeting. At noon, in the Governor’s Reception Room ( known as the War Room), Capitol, it's the actual Inauguration; Governor Cuomo, Lt. Governor Duffy, Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman will be sworn into office. The place holds a few hundred, at most. From 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., in the Executive Mansion, Governor Cuomo and Lt. Governor Duffy will receive the public at the Executive Mansion. Tickets will be required for this event.
Finally, on Sunday, January 2, 2011, Governor Cuomo and Lt. Governor Duffy will attend Mass; and then head to work in the State Capitol.

Tickets to the open house will be made available to interested New Yorkers who register by going to www.nyinaugural.com . In the event that the number of requests exceeds the number of available openings, attendees will be randomly selected by lottery. Registration ends December 23 at 11:59 p.m.

The Executive Mansion Open House will be held from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on January 1, 2011. Registrants will be notified of their selection via email or phone by December 30 and receive a ticket at that time.

All adults over the age of 16 wishing to attend must have a ticket. Each individual receiving a ticket will be allowed to bring any children from their household. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Guests are reminded that bags, backpacks, luggage, parcels, briefcases, and like articles will be strictly prohibited from the event sites. Further, weapons of any kind will not be permitted on the premises. Guests with prohibited articles will be turned away at the entrances and no storage or “check-in area” will be provided for such items.

A major operation to crack down on illegal deer poaching from Montauk to Buffalo has led to charges against 137 individuals for more than 250 offenses, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced this week. The initiative, dubbed, "Operation Dark Night," focused on the illegal taking of deer by use of artificial light -- a practice commonly known as "deer jacking." This involves nighttime wildlife crimes where poachers shine a spotlight on a deer feeding in fields to "freeze" the animal long enough to shoot it -- killing deer when they are most vulnerable. This fall, DEC undertook the largest coordinated anti-deer jacking initiative in the state's history. During a seven-week period, ECOs were assigned to saturation patrols in targeted rural locations in every part of the state except New York City, with stakeouts taking place at all hours of the night. During the seven-week operation, DEC officers charged 137 individuals with more than 250 misdemeanors and violations. This included 10 instances of killing a deer at night with the use of a spotlight or other artificial light and 79 instances where a hunter was caught using a light but had not yet killed a deer. By region, 124 misdemeanors and violations were filed in the Adirondack Park and surrounding North Country, 48 were filed in the Capital Region and Catskills, 47 in Central New York, 24 in Western New York and 9 on Long Island.

For the full story click HERE.

The State University of New York system needs to be able to raise revenue apart from its governmentally-approved budget to survive and thrive. “Unshackle SUNY,” is how State University of New York Chancellor Nancy Zimpher put it this week in a breakfast talk to the Ulster County Chamber of Commerce in Kingston, according to Mid Hudson News Network today. She noted how she is looking to give the system, which includes the state's community colleges as well as a host of four year and graduate colleges around the state, more freedom to pursue various means of raising revenue in order to close gaps in the budget that have been creating problems for SUNY institutions statewide.

“We have asked last year for revenue generation capacity so that we can fill some of those gaps by our ability to be more efficient,” she said. “We’ve talked about public and private partnerships that are revenue generating. We’ve talked about a rational tuition policy. We’ve talked about relief in the procurement process, because it is very expensive and delays our ability to be efficient.”

Zimpher spoke at a time when the federal and state government have been talking about the need for college educations on the one hand, and speaking about budget cuts to those same institutions on the other.



Planning for the cost of college is something that SUNY wants its students to be able to do and rational tuition policy is the way to give them the ability to do that, she said.

“Rational means more planning, more predictable, and also indexed to average tuition around the Country.”

Zimpher said that SUNY is working closely with their stakeholders and the Governor’s staff to find solutions for getting SUNY the necessary relief it needs to generate enough revenue to hopefully close their current gap.

The chancellor also said the SUNY system is committed to being a major economic engine for the state as well as its key to revitalization.

According to Zimpher, one of the assets the SUNY system has is that they are quite literally in most New Yorkers’ backyards, being no more than approximately 30 miles away from any community in the state, and this will prove instrumental in collaborating with regional chambers of commerce and economic development councils to provide communities with the skilled graduates they need.

With a network throughout the state already established, Zimpher said the SUNY system is in an ideal place to assist and guide economic development on a local level.

"We want to tell the story that first of all we are a big employer, in most of our communities we are the largest employer. Secondly, we spend money. We buy goods and services and this cranks money into the economy. Third, we produce graduates. Fourth, because of our science and innovation, we create jobs.”

In working with individual counties, such as Ulster, Zimpher said that “strategic benchmarks” would have to be set so that progress can be monitored and impacts can be measured in milestones.

Zimpher emphasized the importance of taking action and told those at Wednesday’s breakfast that if the SUNY system couldn’t be New York’s economic engine, then she didn’t know who could.

Mid-Hudson News reports a Leeds man committed suicide early Thursday after a fire deemed suspicious broke out in the house where he lived at 330 Valley Road, near Athens' Green Lake, according to the Greene County Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriff’s Office found both the ranch-style home and a nearby barn on the property ablaze. Sheriff's officials said Steve Svidro, 49, who ran a maintenance and painting business, lived in a basement apartment, and his mother lived upstairs. Police said Svidro ran from the scene and that his mother told police he had guns and was a “sharpshooter,” according to the report. Greene County sheriff’s deputies found Svidro near Black Lake Road in Leeds with what they described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head around 10:30 a.m. UPDATE: The Daily Mail says, "It is believed the incident stemmed from family problems." SECOND UPDATE:The Daily Freeman has a gripping account of how things went down, including details such as the mother's witnessing her son dousing her house in accelerants, while she was in it, and the police dog search for the missing son.

Paul Crossman in The Chatham Courier reports voters in New Lebanon have for a second time rejected a proposal to renovate and expand the Town Hall, 191 no votes to 128 yes votes. At the first vote in late June, a similar measure was defeated 182 to 88, out of the 1,400 registered voters in New Lebanon, Crossman reports. “I was disappointed in the outcome because I thought we had the best deal for our residents to preserve a historic structure and to have a building we could be proud of,” said Supervisor Margaret Robertson. “In the next two years, New Lebanon is going to be booming and we wanted a Town Hall that could serve our needs.” The $724,100 project included no new taxes for residents.

The House Republican Steering Committee assigned Congressman-Elect Chris Gibson (NY-20) to serve on the House Agriculture and Armed Services Committees in the 112th Congress, according to Gibson's press representative. “It is an honor to be selected by the Republican Leadership to serve on two committees that are of critical importance to our district, the Agriculture and Armed Services Committees,” Gibson, who hails from Kinderhook, said in a prepared statement. “New York farms have been struggling, particularly in recent years, to remain profitable in an increasingly competitive marketplace. The rural nature of our district relies heavily of the profitability of our family farms. On the Agriculture Committee, I will be an ardent and strong champion for our farmers to ensure that they are treated fairly, particularly in regards to how their products are priced." Democrat Rep. Scott Murphy, who Gibson is replacing, also served in the same committees.

After a week's trial, Salvatore Cascino and his Bronx-based waste hauling company were found not guilty yesterday, December 15, of endangering public health, safety, or the environment after being indicted for hauling waste to a Route 9G property in Clermont. This decision, according to Andrew Amelinckx of The Register Star, came on the heels of another charge against the defendants being thrown out by Judge Jonathan Nichols on Tuesday after the judge determined the prosecution had not proved that Cascino or his company were operators of the facility, as was charged.

Cascino, 70, of Larchmont, Westchester County, and Bronx County Recycling were indicted by the state Attorney General’s Office in April on charges of operating an unpermitted landfill and fourth-degree endangering public health, safety, or the environment. The AG’s Office accused both parties of illegally dumping more than 70 cubic yards of solid waste and releasing petroleum into the environment at an unpermitted facility off Route 9G, just south of Firehouse Road, in Clermont between Dec. 31, 2007 and July, 2009.

Dennis Schlenker, representing Cascino, told the jury there was “one essential question” they needed to answer— “whether Salvatore Cascino recklessly released petroleum (at the Clermont site).” Earlier, he raised questions surrounding the site inquestion's long-term informal use as a local dumping ground.

Cascino is still facing two other sets of charges — a 209 civil case in Dutchess County that alleges he Cascino and a locally-based company caused destruction of a protected wetland and dumped construction debris without obtaining the required state license, and a criminal case in Albany County filed this past summer for allegedly filing false documents with the state to hide illegal disposal of solid waste.

Cascino, 70, has also been in conflict with local and state authorities for years for dumping on his Copake Valley Farm property in eastern Columbia County.



The attorney said that his client, who “absolutely denies the charges,” was “cloaked in the presumption of innocence.”

“The prosecution carries the burden of proof,” he told the jury, “and there are many, many reasonable doubts in this case.”

According to Schlenker, the problems with the case included the way in which the Department of Environmental Conservation collected evidence at the Clermont site as well as the amount of petroleum they found there.

The DEC executed a search warrant at the Clermont site, owned by William Cole, Sept. 29, 2009. “They dug 10 holes to determine what was going on at this property,” he told the jury, adding that the selection of the holes was arbitrary.

At several of the holes they took samples, one of which later tested at .0065 parts per million of petroleum.

“That’s all they could come up with,” said the attorney.

This minuscule amount, said Schlenker, played directly to the idea of recklessness, a necessary element of the crime that had to be proved in the case, intimating that the small amount of petroleum released didn’t add up to reckless behavior.

“Did Salvatore Cascino know or act recklessly in dumping oil on that property?” he asked. “There’s no evidence of that.”

Another issue in the case, according to Schlenker, was the history of the Clermont site. Before Cole bought the property in 2005 it had belonged to Carl LaMunyan who operated a landfill on the southern portion of the property. Before that, said the attorney, the land was owned by the Pulver Gas and Oil Corporation.

He brought up several witnesses’ testimony describing the landfill in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The attorney said that 21 years ago there were old vehicles, some buses and a vehicle junk yard that appeared to be growing on top of the landfill, as well as a number of other materials there, basing his statement on a letter written in 1989 by Ward Stone, a DEC wildlife pathologist, to another DEC employee.

“The site had been a junkyard since the 1940s” said Schlenker.

According to Schlenker, the northern parcel, where his client had dumped fill, had problems as well.

“They want you to believe it was pristine … an 18-hole golf course where they played the US Open on it,” said the attorney. “It was not.”

He discussed how leachate — earlier described by Richard Forgea, the region 4 solid waste engineer for the state DEC, as any liquid that is contaminated by waste and flows either under or above ground — could have contaminated the north parcel due to migration, or the movement of toxic chemicals.

The LaMunyan site, said Schlenker, had never been remediated, the property was not enclosed and Cole had brought in fill from at least two other sources before Cascino began transporting material there.

“It was an open site. We don’t know who was dumping there,” he said. “It was never remediated and now they want to make Mr. Cascino the scapegoat.”

The attorney also found fault with the testimony of one of Cascino’s drivers, Charles Spadaccini, who was a prosecution witness and testified, along with trucker Arthur Wilcox, that he had transported “dirty dirt” that smelled like petroleum from the Bronx to Clermont at Cascino’s behest.

Schlenker referred to Spadaccini as “the gentleman who didn’t know the difference between Monday and Tuesday,” because the witness couldn’t remember what day he had last spoken to the prosecution.

“Would you make any important decision in your life based on the testimony of Charles Spadaccini?” he asked the jury.

Bronx County Recycling attorney closes

Donald Kinsella, the attorney representing Bronx County Recycling, also had problems with the way the DEC collected evidence in the case.

Kinsella took exception with the prosecution’s first witness, Richard Dana, a DEC employee in the agency’s crime scene investigation unit, saying that he took a number of small samples from the site and commingled them.

“At least on CSI on TV they would have tested each sample,” he said. “It’s elementary.”

The attorney went on to say that the DEC never tested loads of dirt going out of Bronx County Recycling; that the prosecution didn’t shown how the petroleum got to the Clermont site; and provided no proof that Bronx County Recycling put it there.

Prosecution defends its evidence

Assistant Attorney General James Woods, who prosecuted the case along with co-counsel Catherine Leahy-Scott, said that there was more than enough evidence to convict in the case.

He said besides the soil taken from one of the holes that tested positive for petroleum, there was testimony that two drivers, Wilcox and Spadaccini, brought up at least “22 loads of dirty dirt” on Cascino’s orders. Later saying that “the drivers made it clear that the dirt was contaminated.”

“We wouldn’t be here if it was a small spill or minute amount,” he told the jury, also reminding them that there was “no threshold” on the release of hazardous waste.

Woods said that hole number seven dug by the DEC smelled like petroleum and tested positive for the substance.

“This is not CSI. This is not TV and this technique is an accepted procedure,” he said.

Cascino’s actions were reckless, Woods said, since he knew that dumping the waste could lead to petroleum being released into the environment at Cole’s property.

As for the idea that leachate from the old landfill could have found its way onto the northern parcel, the prosecutor said that it “was without merit.”

Forgea testified that any migration of leachate would have gone from east to west and not south to north.

The theory that someone else put the petroleum there, he said, was likewise without merit.

“There wasn’t one shred of evidence,” he told the jury.

Woods ended his argument as he began his opening summations on Dec. 8, by saying the case was about “greed and convenience”

He said that Cascino had told Cole that he would provide fill for Cole’s property, which the owner was trying to level, because “he had an overcapacity problem” at Bronx County Recycling. Cascino, said Woods, dumped at Cole’s site instead of having to take it to a permitted landfill.

Jury deliberates

The jury was out for a little more than eight hours before delivering its not guilty verdict.

One of the jurors, Charles NeJaime, of Valatie, told the Register-Star after the trial ended that he and the other jurors didn’t believe the prosecution presented enough evidence to convict Cascino.

He said among the problems was the site’s history, saying that had it been a “pristine, virgin piece of land” instead of an old landfill, it might have made a difference.

NeJaime said that he and the other jurors wouldn’t have let someone get off for littering, but that in the end there just “wasn’t enough evidence.”

Schlenker, after hugging his client, said that he was “very, very happy for Cascino.

“It’s been a long, tough road,” he said. “He’s a gentleman and he has always been a gentleman.”

Schlenker went on to say that he had the utmost respect for the two prosecutors, who he has known for a long time.

Woods and Leahy-Scott refrained from commenting, referring all inquiries to the AG’s press office.

Even with Cascino’s victory Wednesday, he is still facing two other cases — a civil case in Dutchess County and a criminal case in Albany County.

A lawsuit was filed against Cascino by the AGs office in July 2009 alleging that Cascino and his town of Dover-based company, Ten Mile River LLC, caused destruction of a protected wetland and that the company dumped construction debris from Bronx County Recycling on its 18-acre property in 2003 without obtaining the required state license.

In June Cascino and Bronx County Recycling LLC were indicted on felony charges for allegedly filing false documents with the state to hide illegal disposal of solid waste.

The indictment filed by the AG’s Office includes three counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010. According to the indictment, Cascino failed to list that unauthorized waste was received at Bronx County Recycling on three annual filings with the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

First-degree offering a false instrument for filing is a class E felony and is punishable by up to four years in prison.

That case is being handled in Albany County Supreme Court before Judge Thomas Breslin.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Gov. David Paterson"][/caption]Gov. David Paterson has suddenly suggested that a few of the hundreds of state workers slated to be laid off on Jan. 1 might get their jobs back -- but his explanation of how that might occur raised plenty of unanswered questions, according to today's Times Union... reporting from the lame duck governor's statewide travels, where he seems to be giving wholly different speeches and comments in each setting.

Paterson brought up the possibility of giving folks jobs back during a 90-minute forum hosted and webcast live by the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. After describing some of the factors that led to his decision to lay off almost 900 workers, the governor said he would spend time over the holidays looking at "some of the more egregious situations."

"We may have more savings that we thought," Paterson continued. "And perhaps people who were going to be put in very difficult situations, a few of them, we might want to give them their jobs back."

Could we be witnessing a Dickensian personality crisis?



"When you say a few, are you talking dozens, hundreds?," asked one of the forum participants.

"No, you know, I'm just saying special cases where people have diseases, or numbers of children that will go without health insurance, that kind of thing," Paterson said. "They would be impacted more severely than -- I mean, it's going to be a severe impact for anyone to lose their job, and I feel terrible about it."

Paterson's spokeswoman Jessica Bassett said no additional details were available. "I will let the governor's comments speak for themselves," she said.

It's unclear how Paterson or the agencies under his control would go about weighing the relative health and domestic economic hardships of state workers headed for layoffs -- or if such a scheme would comport with current civil service law and labor contracts, where seniority tends to rule the day.

"I don't even know how to respond to that, to tell you the truth," said Steve Madarasz, spokesman for CSEA, after hearing the governor's statement. He noted that public employee unions have argued for months that layoffs are unnecessary and would exacerbate the effects of the state's fiscal downturn.

Layoff notices went out last week to workers around the state. The original target number was 898 jobs, although officials said the final amount will be slightly lower.

The Greene County Legislature adopted a $99.3 million spending plan for 2011, representing a 2.7 percent tax levy increase, at its end-of-year meeting in Catskill on Wednesday, December 15, according to a story in The Daily Mail today. Expenditures were reduced to $99.3 million from the tentative budget’s $99.7 million due to a bookkeeping change, reporter Colin DeVries reports Interim Greene County Administrator Daniel Frank saying. A $325,000 health care reimbursement revenue item was eliminated and appropriations for employee health insurance were reduced in each department, although it was pointed out that these changes will not result in any drops in employees’ health care coverage. The budget carries a $19,959,977 tax levy, a $539,646, of 2.7 percent, increase from 2011.

Legislators Christian Pfister, D-Athens, and Forest Cotten, D-Catskill, were the sole votes against adopting the budget, with Pfister noting that there should have been more meetings about the process, and numbers, involving all legislators and the public. Joseph Izzo (R-Catskill) voted for the overall budget but earlier voted against reductions in the county contracts for libraries, the Greene County Cornell Cooperative Extension, and the Greene County Council on the Arts. He also said the issue of community college chargebacks was handled badly.



Recent additions to the budget — $125,000 for community college chargebacks and $25,000 for tourism promotion — increased the tentative budget’s 2.1 percent tax levy.

County lawmakers have agreed to shoulder the chargeback expenses, which are currently levied on individual towns, over a five-year period. In 2011, the counties will be cover 20 percent of the chargebacks for students attending community colleges outside of the Columbia-Greene Community College boundaries.

Legislator Joseph Izzo, R-Catskill, voted against the measure Wednesday, stating more thought needed to be put into the college chargebacks.

“I find it’s financially irresponsible on our part to not notify and keep the town informed of this particular issue,” he said. “I’ve received positive comments from the town on this particular resolution but again, it’s the process I do not care for and is the lack of communication between us and the towns.”

Izzo was the sole vote against the legislation, which will result in the county covering 100 percent of the towns’ college chargebacks by 2015.

The 2011 budget does not include salary increases for employees and features $900,000 more in state-mandated retirement contributions, and a $1.5 million reduction in Medicaid assistance.

The budget includes $25.7 million in outstanding debt, including $3.3 million remaining from the 2003 county office building bond, $5.4 million left in road and bridge improvements from 2003, and $12.2 million for the recent state-mandated county courthouse renovation.

Legislators Christian Pfister, D-Athens, and Forest Cotten, D-Catskill, were the only to vote against adopting the budget.

Pfister commented that the budget process should have been more interactive among legislators.

“I assumed we would have multiple meetings over the course of the process,” he said, adding he was disappointed with the lack of workshops and minimal discussion on specific department impacts.

“I’m not speaking so much for the present but again I’m speaking to the future,” he said. “I hope that the legislature has more discussion on some of these significant issues.”

Though Izzo voted for the overall budget, earlier he had voted against reductions in the contracts for libraries, the Greene County Cornell Cooperative Extension, and the Greene County Council on the Arts.

He believed there should be a plan to deal with their economic losses before simply slashing funding.

The complete budget is available for public inspection at the Greene County Office Building, 411 Main St., Catskill.

Town meetings tonight
TOWN OF CHATHAM Regular town board meeting third Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 488 State Route 295, Chatham. Agenda for meeting here.
TOWN OF GHENT Regular Town Board meetings are held the third Thursday of each month, at the Ghent Town Hall. There will be a public hearing at 7 p.m. before the meeting to consider the enactment of a Local Law amending Chapter 71 of the Town of Ghent Code to provide for licensing of dogs in accordance with the new provisions of Article 7 of the New York State Agriculture and Markets Law and to amend the provisions regarding dog impoundment fees.

Friday morning meetings
VACANT WALMART Columbia County Capital Resource Corporation special meeting to discuss the possible acquisition of the former Walmart building. 8 a.m., at CRC offices, 4303 Route 9, Greenport.
KAZ Columbia County Industrial Development Agency special meeting at 8:30 a.m. at the IDA offices, 4303 Route 9, Hudson, to consider a resolution approving the termination of the Installment Sale Agreement and Payment in Lieu of Tax Agreement between the IDA and Rual Mfg. Company, Inc. (the "Company"), now known as Kaz, Inc., relating to property at Route 9 in the Town of Greenport.

Applying for liquor licenses
THE SALOON OF EAST DURHAM, at 2212 Route 145, East Durham.
GABRIEL'S PIZZA & GRILL, 94 Main St., Philmont, in Town of Claverack.

Weather
WARMER Upper twenties during daylight. Flurries?

Birthdays
DECEMBER 16: Margaret Mead, Philip K. Dick, and Bill Hicks.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="170" caption="Shannon Hayes, Radical Homemaker."][/caption]Shannon Hayes led a "Radical Homemaker" lecture at St. Mary’s Church, in Hudson Nov. 5, and WGXC made an audio recording. The lecture, sponsored by the Living Learning Collaborative at Four Winds Farm, was part of a tour Hayes was on talking about ecological living, self-reliance, sustainable farming, and sustainable cooking. Click here to listen to the mp3 recording, or copy and paste the following url into your computer's media player:
http://www.wgxc.org/media/uploaded_files/2010/12/RadicalHomemakerslecture_StMarys_WGXC_110510.mp3

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="114" caption="Tim Gordon. Photo from his Assembly page."][/caption]Jimmy Vielkind in Capitol Confidential reports lame-duck Assemblyman Tim Gordon, an Independent from Bethlehem beaten by Republican Steve McLaughlin in November for the 108th District that represents northern Greene and Columbia counties, wants the Assembly to print three bills he is introducing in his last weeks in office. The bills will most likely be ignored by the Assembly. “At this point there have been no decisions to print any bills, other than pre-filing,” Sisa Moyo, a spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, told Vielkind. “There have been no decisions to do anything else. We’re pre-filing for next session.” The Assembly rules say bills put forward after the last Tuesday in May must be introduced by the Rules Committee on the member’s behalf.

One of the bills seeks to control the phenomenon of "tracking," the new political tool that sees one campaign sending out someone to follow an opposing candidate relentlessly. Many know the practice from Senator Jim Webb's use of tracking video of his opponent, Sen. George Allen, whose use of a derogatory term for Indian-Americans, "Macaca," is said to have swung that close race in 2006. In Gordon's case, McLaughlin's campaign ran video of Gordon ripping out his opponent's campaign signs at night.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="211 Union Street in Hudson is where the once-famous General Williams Jenkins Worth of Fort Worth and Lake Worth fame was born. Although a hero of since-forgotten or politically-discredited U.S. military campaigns of the early 19th century, the classic home's renovation is being handled with great care by the powers that be in the City of Hudson, lending a beacon for preservation to all in the WGXC coverage area."][/caption]Gossips of Rivertown continues its reportage on a planned renovation for the birthplace of one of Hudson's most famous historical figures, noted West Point commandant, Indian Fighter and Mexican-American War General Williams Jenkins Worth with a notice this morning about how a public hearing on the changes being proposed for 211 Union Street has been rescheduled to 10 a.m. Thursday, December 23, in City Hall. Immediately following the public hearing, the city's Historic Preservation committee will hold a special meeting to decide whether to grant or deny a certificate of appropriateness to the project. What is being proposed is rebuilding the front wall as a "veneer wall" and eliminating the Italianate door surround to bring the building back to what might have been its original Federal appearance. It's an interesting stream of a story on just how such deep histories as ours in this area can be saved, including the careful steps needed, along with community consensus, to really get things done. Click here to read the story in Carole Osterink's blog.

The New York State School Boards Association is gearing up to battle Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo’s proposed property tax cap, according to a story in yesterday's Albany Business Journal about a new NYSSBA report released Monday that says school districts across the state would face a combined $3.3 billion budget shortfall over the next four years if Cuomo convinces the Legislature to cap tax levy increases at 2 percent or at the inflation rate.

“A hard tax cap would clearly threaten the quality of public education by forcing drastic cuts in classroom teachers and academic programs,” said Timothy Kremer, executive director of the NYSSBA.



Salaries, pension costs and health care coverage alone are expected to increase by more than $1 billion per year, while the cap would limit tax levy increases to $229 million a year, according to the report.

The report analyzes data from 668 school districts throughout the state except for New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers.

During his gubernatorial campaign, Cuomo released a platform that called for a property tax cap on school districts and local governments as one means to curb spending increases. Pension costs have spiraled out of control, he said.

Cuomo outlined a cap on property taxes that had only a few exceptions. And he highlighted that New York schools pay 71 percent more per student than the national average. Still, only about 67 percent of its students graduate from high school, he said.


Read more: School boards association to fight Cuomo’s property tax cap plan | The Business Review

The US Census Bureau’s American Communities Survey shows that Greene County has the lowest household median income in the entire Hudson Valley region. The 2005 to 2009 report contains estimates in a number of categories of data and officials emphasize that true numbers will be available with the full 2010 census which has yet to be released. We have listed some of what's been found already, including educational achievement, poverty level figures, basic industry and commuing trend data, as well as who's identifying with what, ancestry-wise.



Income data released from the latest surveys show Putnam County at the top in the Hudson Valley, with a median household income of $88,036, Rockland Countyat $82,368, Westchester County at $79,585, Orange County at $69,255, Dutchess County at $68,472, Ulster County at $57,485, Columbia County at $54,573, Sullivan County at $48,586, and Greene County at $46,213.

Population figures for the area were at 62,217 total for Columbia County, with 56,951 listed as white, 3,099 as black, and 1,962 as Hispanic; 292,187 in Dutchess County, with 235,182 white, 27,836 black, and 25,759 Hispanic; 49,071 in Greene County, with 44,369 listed as white, 3,040 as Black and 2,527 Hispanic; 376,548 in Orange County, with 297,557 whites, 36,184 Black and 59,983 Hispanic; 99,111 in Putnam County, where 88,544 are listed as white, 2,193 as black, and 10,000 as Hispanic; 297,298 in Rockland County, with 229,106 white, 33,701 black and 38,500 Hispanic; 75,921 in Sullivan County, with 63,442 white, 6,467 black and 8,900 Hispanic; 181,510 in Ulster County, with 160,559 white, 10,444 black, and 13,237 Hispanic; and finally 949,050 in WEstchester County, where 671,487 are listed as White, 141,378 as Black, and 177,306 as Hispanic.

In terms of education, 27.6 percent of adults in Columbia County had a B.A. or higher, compared to 19.2 percent in Greene County.

Industry-wise, 24.7 percent worked in education, health care, or social assistance in Columbia County, 11.2 percent in retail, 9.9 percent in professions, 9.1 percent in construction, 8.3 percent in public administration, 9 percent in manufacturing, and 5.9 percent in the arts or tourism. In Greene County the breakdown was 24 percent in health, education and social services, 10.7 percent in construction, 10.4 percent in retail, 10.3 percent in the arts or tourism, 9.2 percent in public administration, and 9.7 percent in professional work, which category includes waste management.

20.7 percent of of Greene County's employed worked in government jobs, and 9.7 percent characterized themselves as self-employed. 21.5 percent were employed in government in Columbia County, with 10.4 percent listed as self-employed. Health insurance and full employment figures were not included in the data.

77.3 percent of workers in Columbia County said they drove alone to their place of employment each day, versus 7.9 percent who carpooled, 5 percent who walked, and 2.5 percent who took public transportation. In Greene County, the figures were 79.6 percent driving alone, 9.2 percent carpooling, 3.3 percent walking, and under 1 percent taking public transportation.

Poverty-wise, 12 percent of all in Greene County are listed as living below the poverty level, with 19,5 percent of all kids under the age of 5, 15 percent of everyone under the age of 18, and 65.5 percent of families headed by a single woman with children under the age of 5. In Columbia County, 9.5 percent of all people are living under poverty level, with 14 percent of all children under the age of 18, 7 percent of those under 5 years old, and 24.7 percent of households headed by single women with kids under five at such levels.

7.1 percent of Columbia County families were listed as speaking languages other than English at home, with 2.6 percent speaking Spanish. In Greene County, there was also a 7.1 percent figure for those speaking other than English in their homes, with 3.2 percent speaking Spanish.

In the odd category of Ancestry, which did not include non-European categories other than "Arab," Columbia County saw 7.5 percent of its residents identify themselves as American, 7.4 percent as Dutch, 11.6 as English, 5.7 percent as French, 23.7 percent as German, 19 percent as Irish, 15.9 percent as Italian, and 5.9 percent as Polish. In Greene County, 12.3 percent identify themselves as American, 6 percent as Dutch, 8 as English, 3.5 percent as French, 19.1 percent as German, 20.4 percent as Irish, 18.5 percent as Italian, and 4.2 percent as Polish.

More on all these figures as they come out, and we get to them, over the coming months.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Fracking: How it works."][/caption]The Obama administration supports a full study of the effects of gas drilling in the watershed that provides drinking water for Philadelphia and New York City, but it doesn't want to wait until it's finished for drilling to begin... according to a story in yesterday's New York Times. Gen. Peter "Duke" DeLuca of the Army Corps of Engineers outlined the position in a letter written to Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) in late November but only received this week and released on December 14.
Hinchey and local environmentalists want the commission to keep its drilling moratorium until its staff does a "cumulative impacts" study, a process that could take years. Drilling supporters want the commission to move ahead as quickly as possible and dislike that the commission has blocked drilling in eastern Pennsylvania and New York State while drilling continues rapidly in the rest of the region and country. The Delaware River Basin Commission, controlled by the governors of Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware and New Jersey along with DeLuca, last week issued proposed regulations which would allow drilling to resume once they are finalized after several hearings during a 90-day comment period. The proposed new regs backoff from earlier, stricter proposals on Marcellus Shale drilling but are still more restrictive than existing rules in the rest of Pennsylvania, according to The Times. Proponents of such drilling see it as both an economic development boon and a means towards a new energy source. New York City and Philadelphia have rallied against drilling out of concern it could contaminate their water supply. Many are also concerned that the immense water needs of the industry could lower river levels and restrict water supplies. The region under which the Marcellus Shale lies reaches into the western Catskills and southern Mohawk Valley.
For the full story click HERE.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="The Columbia County Courthouse in Hudson, where the trial of Salvatore Cascino and Bronx County Recycling saw Judge Jonathan Nichols toss one of two charges related to alleged illegal dumping against the defendents, based on their counnsel's argument that the Clermont site involved had long been used for such purposes."][/caption]One count of a two count indictment against Salvatore Cascino and his Bronx-based waste hauling company was thrown out by the judge after the defense rested its illegal dumping case in Columbia County Supreme Court in Hudson Tuesday. Andrew Amelinckx of the Register Star has been on top of the unfolding courtroom drama, gripping in a modernist environmental sort of way, and reports from yesterday's action that Judge Jonathan Nichols Nichols, dismissed the first count against the defendants, agreeing with the defense's point that neither Bronx County Recycling nor Cascino had commenced operation of a new facility when they dumped at the Clermont site. The state attorney general's representative disagreed, equating dumping with commencing an operation. “When disposal takes place,” he argued, “you have the operation of a facility.” The judge countered, however, that based on the prosecution’s logic, anyone who dumped at the site was operating a solid waste management facility. The defense interjected that it was William Cole, as owner of the property, who should be considered the operator. It came out that Cole was given immunity from prosecution in the case.

The judge is allowing the second charge, endangering public health, safety, or the environment, to go to the jury.

Tuesday's defense witnesses for the Clermont-based case included two DEC officials, longstanding wildlife pathologist Ward Stone among them, who had investigated dumping at the site in the 1980s and 1990s. The defense argument is basically that the dumping under fire was a longtime accepted use, making it difficult to discern the origins of polluting matter such as gasoline, which they say was in negligible amounts.

The trial continues today at 10 a.m. with final summations and the jury deliberating on the one count left in the case.

For the full story click HERE...

[caption id="attachment_5439" align="alignleft" width="174" caption="Dollar General store opened mid-December on Fairview Ave. in Greenport. Photo by Tom Roe."][/caption]A Dollar General store opened this week on Fairview Ave. in Greenport. A two-mile stretch of that road also includes a Yankee $ store, a Dollar Tree, a Big Lots!, a Goodwill, a Salvation Army, and signs where Save a Lot and Just a Dollar stores used to be. The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported last week that "Dollar General reported $11.8 billion in sales with more than 8,800 stores in fiscal year 2009. Competitor Family Dollar reported $7.9 billion in revenue in its fiscal year ending Aug. 28 and has about 6,800 stores. Dollar Tree, which has about 3,800 stores, had $5.2 billion in revenue in fiscal 2009, which ended Jan. 30."

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="170" caption="Melissa Leo. Photo from Wikipedia."][/caption]Nominated
GOLDEN GLOBES Local residents nominated for Golden Globe awards include Melissa Leo, Robert De Niro, and Steve Buscemi (who have at least part-time residences in Ulster County), and David Straitharin (Dutchess County) per The Daily Freeman.


On the air
DAVID PATERSON The outgoing governor keeps up his recent spate of radio appearances/job tryouts today, appearing first at 11 a.m. on an Editorial Board Roundtable Hosted by the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle with a live webcast of the streamed at: www.democratandchronicle.com and a 4 p.m. in-studio interview on WSYR 570's Jim Reith Show. To listen, go to: http://www.570wsyr.com/main.html.


Town meetings tonight
TOWN OF CAIRO Regular town board meeting third Wednesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 512 Main St., Cairo.
GREENE COUNTY LEGISLATURE Monthly meeting, expected to vote on $99.8 million 2011 budget. 6 p.m., 411 Main St., Catskill.
CITY OF HUDSON Planning commission meeting (tentative) at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 520 Warren St.


Weather
COLD Below 20 degrees all day. Occasional snow showers, forecast around one inch.


Birthdays
DECEMBER 15 Alan Freed, Tim Conway, and Dave Clark.

The New York State Board of Elections released the 2010 general election results, now certified by State Board of Elections. Except that the 7th Senate District and 100th Assembly District are still in litigation, so they aren't exactly the final results. Follow the jump for details.



The election totals showed that Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, the Democrat-Independence-Working Families candidate for Governor, won election over Republican-Conservative-Taxpayer candidate, Carl P. Paladino, by a plurality of 1,363,515 votes.

In addition to certifying the election of Governor-elect Cuomo and Rochester Mayor Robert J. Duffy as Lt. Governor, the Board of Canvassers also certified the election of Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli and State Senator Eric T. Schneiderman as Attorney General. Also the Board certified the re-election of United States Senator Charles E. Schumer and the election of United States Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand to the 2-year unexpired remainder of the term of former Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The Board, which met in the offices of the New York State Board of Elections, also certified the state's 29 Congressional contests, the vote for 61 of 62 State Senate races and 149 out of 150 Members of the Assembly and for contests for State Supreme Court Justice in various Judicial Districts. For details please see the Board of Elections website, www.elections.state.ny.us. The 100th Assembly District and the 7th Senate District results are still in litigation and will be certified at the earliest opportunity following the completion of all court actions.

The Board of Canvassers is comprised of the four commissioners of the State Board of Elections. Serving as joint clerks to the Board were the two co-Executive Directors of the State Board of Elections. The State Board of Elections is responsible for the preparation and tabulation of the election results as certified by the local County Boards of Elections for certification by the State Board of Canvassers.

Attorney General Cuomo and Mayor Duffy polled 2,610,123 votes on the Democratic line, 146,646 votes on the Independence Party line and 154,847 on the Working Families Party line for a combined total of 2,911,616 votes.

Mr. Paladino and Chautauqua County Executive Greg Edwards, candidate for Lt. Governor, polled 1,290,017 votes on the Republican line, 232,264 votes on the Conservative Party line and 25,820 votes on the Taxpayers line for a combined total of 1,548,101 votes

Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins received 59,928 votes, 9,928 more than the required 50,000 votes needed to qualify the Green Party as an official party for the next four years. The Green Party will hold the sixth ballot position in future elections. As a result of the balloting, the Conservative Party, which polled 232,264 votes for its gubernatorial candidate, will move up to the third position, the Working Families Party will move up to the fourth position with 154,847 votes and the Independence Part will drop to the fifth position with 146,646 votes.

Libertarian Party candidate, Warren Redlich, received 48,386 votes, missing the 50,000 vote mark for official party status by 1,614 votes. Jimmy McMillian of the Rent is 2 Damn High Party received 41,131 votes. New York City Councilmember Charles Barron of the Freedom Party received 24,572 votes. Anti-Prohibition Party candidate Kristin Davis received 20,429 votes.

Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli was elected to his first full term after having been appointed to replace the former Comptroller Alan Hevesi who left office in the middle of his term. Mr. DiNapoli's plurality was 202,245 votes. DiNapoli received 2,089,739 votes on the Democratic line and 182,983 votes on the Working Families Party line for a combined total of 2,272,722 votes. Harry Wilson, the Republican-Conservative-Independence candidate received 1,674,402 votes on the Republican line, 243,491 votes on the Conservative line and 152,354 votes on the Independence line for a combined total of 2,070,247 votes. Julia A. Willebrand, Green Party candidate, received 104,469 votes. John Gaetani, Libertarian candidate, received 27,897 votes.

State Senator Eric Schneiderman, Democratic-Indepedence-Working Families candidate for Attorney General, defeated Staten Island District Attorney and Republican-Conservative candidate Dan Donovan with a plurality of 570,180 votes. Schneiderman received 2,174,058 on the Democratic line, 126,556 votes on the Independence line and 178,850 votes on the Working Families line, for a combined total of 2,479,464 votes. Mr. Donovan received 1,627,799 on the Republican line and 281,485 votes on the Conservative line for a combined total of 1,909,284 votes. Carl E. Person, Libertarian candidate, received 36,547 votes and Ramon J. Jimenez, Freedom candidate, received 18,128 votes.

United States Senator Charles E. Schumer, seeking his third six-year term, polled 2,686,606 Democratic, 177,462 Independence and 183,707 Working Families votes for a combined total of 3,047,775 votes to defeat Jay Townsend who received 1,239,537 Republican and 240,800 Conservative votes for a total of 1,480,337 votes. Colia Clark, Green candidate, received 42,341 votes. Randy A. Credico, Libertarian-Anti-Prohibition candidate, received 24,869 votes.

Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand was elected to complete the remaining 2 years of the unexpired 6-year term of former Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton who accepted the President's nomination as U.S. Secretary of State. Senator Gillibrand was appointed by Governor David A. Paterson to fill the interim term. Senator Gillibrand received 2,479,310 Democratic, 175,631 Independence and 182,648 Working Families votes for a combined total of 2,837,589 votes. Joseph J. DioGuardi, Republican-Conservative-Taxpayers candidate received 1,582,603 combined votes. Celia Lawrence, Green candidate, received 35,487 votes. John Clifton, Libertarian candidate, received 18,414 votes. Joseph Huff, Rent is 2 Damn High candidate, received 17,018 votes. Vivia Morgan, Anti-Prohibition candidate, received 11,785 votes. Bruce Blakeman, Tax Relief candidate, received 4,516 votes.

The 2010 General Election brought out 4,756,679 voters throughout the state. This represents a turnout of 44.5 % of registered voters. This is the fourth lowest turnout for a gubernatorial election since 1932. (1. 2006/38%; 2. 2002/41.7%; 3. 1998/44.1%)