Estocia Berry, long-time president of the Columbia County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), died Wednesday morning at the Pines at Catskill Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation. She was 85 years old. Berry’s niece, Rae Banks, said Berry -- who lived on Columbia Street in Hudson -- suffered from congestive heart failure and lung cancer.

Friends and family of Berry described her as a strong leader who worked tirelessly to localize national issues. Alan Skerrett, a WGXC programmer and Radio Council member who took over leadership of the Columbia County NAACP when Berry resigned in the early 2000s, told the Register-Star today that everyone who worked with Berry stood by her side and dedicated themselves to helping her.

Before she came to Hudson, Berry served in various state government positions in Albany, including providing administrative support for four different governors. She then went on to help organize the office of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, and also worked as the secretary to the chancellor of the state Board of Education. Locally, Berry served as chairperson of the Mayors’ Advisory Board during Richard Scalera’s first two terms and sat on Columbia-Greene Community College’s Multicultural Committee.

Funeral services, being handled by Bates and Anderson Funeral Home of Hudson, will be held Monday at Shiloh Baptist Church at 14 Warren St., according to the funeral home. Visiting hours are from 10:30 a.m. to noon, with services being held at noon. Interment will take place at Cedar Park Cemetery in Hudson.



“When Estocia was NAACP president, she had officers that worked with her and they were very loyal to her — they were at every meeting, and did things with her,” said Skeritt. “When I was NAACP president, I couldn’t get someone to stay on as a treasurer for more than a couple of weeks... I never had officers who were willing to be accountable and responsible, but she had people who worked with her for many years.”

Skeritt has since “put the chapter into inactive status.”

“(Berry) had been very supportive to me and my efforts to keep it going, but she also realized it was kind of short-lived,” said Skeritt. “People liked her, and I don’t have that kind of energy we had 30 years ago, especially when nobody is joining in the fight with you.”

Rae Banks said before she came to Hudson, Berry served in various state government positions in Albany, including providing administrative support for four different governors. She then went on to help organize the office of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, and also worked as the secretary to the chancellor of the state Board of Education.

Berry also served as chairperson of the Mayors’ Advisory Board during Richard Scalera’s first two terms and sat on Columbia-Greene Community College’s Multicultural Committee.

“Estocia Berry was a longtime upstanding citizen in the city of Hudson,” said Scalera. “She was a great community activist and a great friend — somebody that helped the city enormously with taking on the responsibility of that position (NAACP president).”

Scalera said Berry was equally revered and treasured among both blacks and whites.

“She was a very outspoken woman, and fun to deal with,” said Scalera.

Berry’s long-time friend and ally Mary Lou Groll called Berry “a great person, a great organizer.”

“She was so active,” said Groll. “She was determined ... We need more people like her in the community, because she was certainly a go-getter.”

Groll said one of Berry’s proudest accomplishments during her time as NAACP president was her organization of yearly awards dinners for young people who did well in school. “That was a big thing,” said Groll.

“Just her whole personality ... You knew exactly how she felt about things,” said Groll. “It was an honor to know her, work with her and be a friend of hers.”

Alderwoman Sheila Ramsey, D-Hudson4, remembered Berry as “a dedicated worker and president of the NAACP for a long time.”

“She worked very hard and was very conscientious,” said Ramsey. “She was willing to listen and take on any issues she thought needed to be addressed.”

Darryl Banks, Berry’s nephew, said while Berry’s commitment to the community was plentiful — “She used the community itself as a microcosm of what the organization represents,” he said — she viewed everyone as her family, first and foremost.

“Family is the word for Sto — there’s no question about that,” said Darryl Banks. “That extended beyond relatives. Humankind was her family. She was that kind of person — very globally oriented with people. She could warm up to them right away, and vice versa.”

Funeral services, being handled by Bates and Anderson Funeral Home of Hudson, will be held Monday at Shiloh Baptist Church at 14 Warren St., according to the funeral home. Visiting hours are from 10:30 a.m. to noon, with services being held at noon. Interment will take place at Cedar Park Cemetery in Hudson.

Want a sense of how the next year's reapportionment battles are going to look across the region, let alone the entire nation? Consider today's story, from Mid-Hudson News Network, on what's happening in neighboring Dutchess County, where the heavily-Republican legislature overturned a law, adopted last year, to create a nonpartisan citizen's panel for drawing new district lines for itself... after midnight, and a seven-hour meeting, no less. Democrats objected, noting the late hour, and noting that all but one of the citizens who had intended to speak during public comment, had long since left. Republicans countered that elected officials knew better about what their districts needed. Democrats came back, winning several GOP members to their side -- but not enough -- by pointing out how the citizen's commission (such as many states adopted) called for Democrats to appoint two members, Republicans to appoint two, and for those four to appoint a fifth person who was from neither of those parties.

The legal change passed 14-10. Stay tuned for more such re-alignments across the board in coming weeks...



Leading the charge was Legislator Michael Kelsey, who noted he is the first Republican to represent his district since the last reapportionment. Kelsey said this gives the redistricting authority back to where he claims it belongs: the county legislature.

“I think that like we just passed this budget, that some of the authorities given to us are non-delegable. We should not be delegating to private citizens to adopt the county budget, nor should we do that to draw the lines,” he said. “We are the legislators who knock on doors, we know the streets, we know the roads in the towns we represent. This redistricting should not be a partisan political thing. It should have a fair process and the legislators are the best ones to do that.”

The Republicans currently have a lopsided 18-member majority on the 25-member legislature.

This is the “highest form of a political game,” said Democratic Minority Leader Sandra Goldberg.

“What the Democratic majority did a year ago was to try to take the partisan aspect of drawing district lines out of a political arena. Yes, it called for two Democrats … It actually called for Democrats to appoint two, the Republicans to appoint two, and for those four to appoint a fifth person who was from neither of those parties.”

Three Republicans … Chairman Robert Rolison, Majority Whip Angela Flesland and Marge Horton … sided with the Democrats in the final 14 to 10 vote to repeal last year’s local law and turn control of redistricting back to the legislature.

ALBANY -- The Times Union reports this morning that a national report has named the Capital Region one of the fastest growing areas in the country for technology jobs. The CyberCities 2010 report, released Wednesday by the TechAmerica Foundation in Washington, D.C., found that the area's strength is its research and development labs -- such as Albany NanoTech and GE Global Research in Niskayuna, and found 21,274 high-tech jobs in the Capital Region with average annual pay of $78,000, which is $37,000 more than the average local private-sector salary. The most significant finding was that the Capital Region is the third-fastest growing high-tech area in the country, behind only Oklahoma City and Huntsville, Ala, and is 19th nationally, as a region, in terms high tech employment opportunities.

Interestingly, the largest technology work force is in metro New York City, not Silicon Valley in California. And Washington, D.C., is also ahead of Silicon Valley. The New York City area has more than 300,000 high-tech workers, while Washington, D.C., has 293,000 workers, which is roughly 70,000 more than Silicon Valley.



"To be recognized as a national leader in high-tech job and wage growth is testament to the success of New York's pioneering nanotechnology strategy," said Alain Kaloyeros, chief executive officer of the University at Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, which operates Albany NanoTech.

The CyberCities report, which evaluated 2009 data, found 21,274 high-tech jobs in the Capital Region with average annual pay of $78,000, which is $37,000 more than the average local private-sector salary.

The most significant finding was that the Capital Region is the third-fastest growing high-tech area in the country, behind only Oklahoma City and Huntsville, Ala.

That's on a percentage basis. Albany created only 341 high-tech jobs in 2009, but that was a 1.63 percent increase, enough to rank it third.

Oklahoma City had 5.44 percent job growth in the tech sector, creating nearly 1,000 jobs in 2009.

Interestingly, the largest technology work force is in metro New York City, not Silicon Valley in California. And Washington, D.C., is also ahead of Silicon Valley.

The New York City area has more than 300,000 high-tech workers, while Washington, D.C., has 293,000 workers, which is roughly 70,000 more than Silicon Valley.

High-tech employment in all the major tech cities, including Boston, declined in 2009, according to the report, which makes Albany's gains that much more striking.

The Capital Region is actually ranked No. 19 on the list of cities with the largest number of employees in high-tech research labs, at 7,731, although the area lost 150 jobs in that area in 2009. That's double the number of tech R&D jobs in Austin, Texas, -- no surprise, since hundreds of jobs from the Sematech semiconductor research consortium have moved from Austin to Albany as the group relocated its headquarters and major programs to Albany NanoTech over the past several years.

And the Capital Region is likely to improve even more as GlobalFoundries completes its $4.6 billion computer chip factory in Saratoga Springs.

The report classified tech jobs as those in the computer, telecommunications, software, electronics and engineering fields. Medical equipment manufacturers were also included, as were biotech research labs.

The CyberCities report counted only 75 semiconductor manufacturing jobs in the Capital Region as of 2009, but once GlobalFoundries starts hiring toward its goal of 1,600 workers by 2013, that number could increase dramatically. Albany would then rank near the top 10 regions in the country in terms of semiconductor manufacturing employment.

CATSKILL — The Daily Mail reports this morning that the village of Catskill has won a small claims lawsuit that argued its decision to partially close Main Street to accommodate the seasonal farmers’ market negatively affected business at DiStefano’s Barber Shop. In a terse judgment, the story runs, Cairo Town Justice Tanja Sirago said the village “has been found not liable for any costs” laid out in the suit. Shop owner Pete DiStefano was seeking $3,000 in reparations, less than the amount he purports to have lost as a result of the road closure. DiStefano said Wednesday he was “bewildered” by the lack of reasoning in the court’s decision and that the outcome of the case “empowers” the village to do what it pleases.

The market — known officially as the Catskill Regional Farmers and Artisans Market — was held on Saturdays for 20 weeks starting in June, and the Village announced its move from Catskill Point last winter. The regular event became a gathering place for village residents throughout its run, and was deemed by all involved as a success.



DiStefano called the decision a “sad day for merchants of Main Street.”

DiStefano was not joined by any other business owners in the lawsuit, but a letter endorsed by more than a dozen merchants seeking a remedy to the situation was entered into evidence.

“I went there for them, too,” DiStefano said.

The letter stated “closing the street causes harm rather than good.”

The market — known officially as the Catskill Regional Farmers and Artisans Market — was held on Saturdays for 20 weeks starting in June.

It was announced months prior to the opening that the market, held for many years at Historic Catskill Point, was to be relocated, although village officials and market organizers were still hammering out the details.

In court papers, DiStefano said in April he told Catskill Village Vice President Jim Chewens a relocation to Main Street was welcome only if the road remained open. Closing the road, he said, would “inhibit vehicular traffic from passing any of the businesses, thus doing harm to those businesses.” He added detours would “frustrate and annoy people trying to use Main Street.”

It was announced in May that part of the road — two blocks from Church Street to the municipal marking lot — would be closed to traffic.

DiStefano told the village board of trustees of his intentions to sue Aug. 23.

In the court papers, DiStefano provided financial data showing a significant decline in business on weekends in June through October of this year as compared to the same period in 2009 — a sign, he says, that the road closure hurt his business.

The market was open from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. On Saturdays, the barber shop is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

DiStefano represented himself in court. The village was represented by attorney Peter Lauricella.

By Gus Murphy

The Columbia County Board of Supervisors meeting Wednesday evening was recorded by Victor Mendolia. It includes adoption of a budget with increase in Columbia County sales taxes. Click here to listen to an audio mp3 file of the board meeting and votes, or copy and paste the following url into your computer's media player:
http://data.wavefarm.org/2010/12/ColCtyBdofSupemtg_120810.mp3

Before the vote, the Supervisors held a Public Hearing on the Proposed Columbia County budget. Click here to listen to an audio mp3 file of the public hearing, or copy and paste the following url into your computer's media player:
http://data.wavefarm.org/2010/12/PublicHearingonProposedColCtybudget_120810.mp3

Martin Roby also recorded the meeting, and has excerpts broken down on his web page here.
Pledge.mp3 (1.6M)
public_comment_budget_2010_december.mp3 (21M)
resolution_flurry.mp3 (17M)
roll_call.mp3 (1.7M)
sales_tax_discusion.mp3 (43M)

Supervisor Elizabeth Young, R-Taghkanic, was absent from the meeting. Those who voted “yes” on the sales tax resolution included: Art Bassin, D-Ancram; Jeff Braley, R-Austerlitz; Richard Keaveney, R-Canaan; Jesse DeGroodt, D-Chatham; Robin Andrews, D-Claverack; Raymond Staats, D-Clermont; Reggie Crowley, R-Copake; Lynda Scheer, R-Gallatin; BOS Chairman Roy Brown, R-Germantown; Larry Andrews, R-Ghent; Ed Nabozny, I-Greenport; Art Baer, R-Hillsdale; John Musall, D-Hudson1; Bill Hallenbeck, R-Hudson3; William Hughes, D-Hudson4; Bart Delaney, R-Hudson5; Kevin McDonald, R-Livingston; Margaret Robertson, D-New Lebanon; Leo Pulcher, R-Stockport; Valerie Bertram, R-Stuyvesant. Voting "no" on the sales tax resolution was Pat Grattan, R-Kinderhook, and Ed Cross, D-Hudson2. Register-Star's Francesca Olsen writes an article about the vote here.

Five supervisors voted “no” on the $5,579,000 Columbia County budget: Grattan, Crowley, Cross, McDonald, and Hughes. Supervisors who voted “yes” included: Bassin, Braley, Keaveney, DeGroodt, Robin Andrews, Staats, Scheer, Brown, Larry Andrews, Nabozny, Baer, Musall, Hallenbeck, Delaney, Robertson, Pulcher, and Bertram.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="Audience at CRC meeting about Columbia County using vacant Walmart in Greenport for a variety of uses. Photo by Victor Mendolia."][/caption]
Ken Flood, the CEO of Capital Resource Corporation (CRC) (who is also Columbia County Planning/Economic Development Commissioner), led a discussion Wednesday evening about turning the vacant Wal-Mart store on Fairview Ave. in Greenport into an operations center for Columbia County government. This might mean moving all of the Department of Social Service operations out of Hudson to Greenport. The CRC's Public Information Session was packed with locals who wanted questions answered or had opinions to share. Listen to an mp3 audio recording Victor Mendolia recorded here, or copy and paste the following url into your computer's media player to listen to the meeting:
http://data.wavefarm.org/2010/12/PublicMeetingaboutColCountyusingvacantWalmart_HudsonElksClub_120810.mp3

In addition to moving all DSS operations from 25 Railroad Ave, they current proposal moves the following depts/agencies:

From 325 Columbia
Environmental Health/ Health Dept
Mental Health
Healcare Consortium
Office for the Aging

From 401 State St
Planning
Tourism
Youth Bureau
Stop DWI
Central Services (with Storage Facilities)
DPW/Facilities

From 610 State St
Probation
Public Defender
County Historian
Backup 911

From 4303 Rt 9
Col Cty Economic Development Corp

Following these moves, the Board of Supervisors offices and boardroom, Human Resources, Civil Service, Accounts Payable, Payroll, County Attorney, Budget Officer, and Board of Elections are proposed to move to 325 Columbia Street joining the District Attorney's office which is already there. Hudson Mayor Rick Scalera suggested recently that the homeless who are put up at great expense in local motels could be housed at this location with job services. Mr. Flood was also soliciting other ways the building could be used.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="500" caption="Ken Flood of CRC led a presentation about how Columbia County might use the vacant Walmart in Greenport. Meeting held at Hudson Elks Club_120810. Photo by Victor Mendolia"][/caption]

Carole Osterink in The Gossips of Rivertown reports the next meeting is:

"A special meeting of the CRC, at which they may make the first (nonbinding) decision of a series of decisions about this acquisition, has been scheduled for Friday, December 17, at 8 a.m. at Columbia Economic Development Corporation office, 4303 Route 9 (the Holcim building)."

Engineer says there's no getting over some decrepit bridges
Debora Gilbert in The Columbia Paper goes on a tour of decaying Columbia County bridges with Dean Knox, Director of the Engineering Division of the Columbia County Department of Public Works. The bridges in need of repair in Columbia County they visit include Gallitanville's single-lane Mill Hill Road Bridge, the Pleasant Vale Bridge in Clermont, and Copake's Miller Bridge on Empire Road, which will reopen this month.

DEC accepting applications for Urban Forestry Grants
Municipalities, public benefit corporations, public authorities, school districts and not-for-profit organizations that have a public ownership interest in a property or are acting on behalf of a public property owner may apply for grants through the state's Environmental Protection Fund, from $2,500 to $62,500 depending on municipal population, with a 50/50 match requirement. Eligible projects include tree inventories and management plans, tree and shrub planting and maintenance, and green infrastructure projects such as green roofs and rain gardens. Communities impacted by the Emerald Ash Borer, an invasive and damaging beetle, can also seek funding for projects that include removal of at-risk trees or new tree plantings. Additionally, $1,000 "Quick Start Arbor Day" grants - with no match requirement - are available to help communities generate support for a tree program with an Arbor Day celebration. Applicants may obtain all necessary instructions and forms at www.dec.ny.gov/lands/5285.html. Grant applications must be postmarked by Feb. 10, 2011, and sent to: NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Urban Forestry, Division of Lands and Forests, NYSDEC, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-4253. For more information, call DEC at (518) 402-9425.

Saratoga Race Track may close?
Jimmy Vielkind in Capitol Confidential quotes Larry Schwartz, the NYC Off Track Betting chairman and secretary to Gov. David Paterson, saying there’s a “definite possibility” that the Saratoga Race Track will close as a result of the shutdown of Off Track Betting (OTB). The OTB corporation shut its doors at last night because it is out of money, and a restructuring plan was not approved by the Senate. “I think that’s a definite possibility. I’ve been talking with both the thoroughbred industry and the harness industry. They’ve indicated real concerns to me,” Schwartz told the Times-Union blogger. “I think this is going to have a devastating impact to horse breeders because 40 percent of the fund that they get to cover their expenses…has been eliminated.”

Designs to showcase look of new facility
Doron Tyler Antrim in The Daily Mail reports design plans for the new Cairo public library will be unveiled tonight with a booksigning by three local authors from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the current library, in Cairo’s municipal building at 512 Main Street. Writers include Hudson Talbott, author and illustrator of “River of Dreams;” retirement consultant Patrice Jenkins, author of “What Will I Do All Day?;” and Chet Meyer, co-author of “The Tooth Fairy Legend.”

Town meetings tonight
Public Information Meeting on State DOH Public Health Assessment of Lafarge's Ravena Plant at 7 p.m. at Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk High School, 2025 Route 9W, Ravena.

Birthdays
Dec. 9 birthdays include Redd Foxx, John Cassavetes, and Kirsten Gillibrand.

CATSKILL — The Daily Mail reports this morning that the 40,000-square-foot, 372-room Friar Tuck hotel is back on the negotiating table after another bidder, who had until Monday to make a down payment on the 170-acre resort property, failed to complete the deal, according to Michael Shaughnessy, executive vice president and chief lending officer of Ulster Savings Bank, the primary mortgage holder of the resort. The successful bidder of a Nov. 16-18 online auction, whose identity was not released, has not come through with their winning $2.58 million bid. Shaughnessy said the bank will now entertain offers from nine other groups that have expressed interest in the hotel property. A similar failure to close occurred last year at this time. For the full story click here.

ALBANY -- The prolific and spot-on Brian Nearing of the Times Union reports today that state and environmental groups are warning the federal Environmental Protection Agency against releasing a plan they claim could allow more PCBs to remain behind in the Hudson River. Both the Department of Environmental Conservation and a coalition of environmental groups wrote the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week, warning against a potential plan that could allow more PCBs to be capped over and left on the river bottom. But a spokesman for General Electric Co., which is running and paying for the massive Superfund cleanup, said both the state and the river advocates are wrong and misunderstand the plan that EPA is expected to release on Monday.

GE plants in Fort Edward and neighboring Hudson Falls discharged PCBs into the river for decades before the lubricant and coolant was banned by EPA in 1977. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are considered probable carcinogens. The last decade was filled with heated battles, regionally as well as in Washington, as to how to treat the cancerous pollution in the state's main river.

The current EPA Regional Director for the region is Judith Enck, formerly in charge of environmental matters for the governor in Albany.



"GE is not advocating capping as a substitute for dredging," said spokesman Mark Behan on Tuesday. He said EPA is poised to release a plan to remove 97 percent of PCBs in the project's second phase, which will start this spring. He said there would be less capping in this plan than there was in the project's first year in 2009.

However, four environmental groups that claimed to EPA that the plan could leave behind more PCBs than originally envisioned under EPA's 2002 cleanup agreement. The Dec. 1 letter was signed by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Riverkeeper, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater and Scenic Hudson, all of which sent representatives Tuesday to EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C, in a eleventh-hour bid to change the plan.

"EPA is perhaps heading in the wrong direction," said Althea Mullarkey, a policy analyst with Scenic Hudson and a member of EPA's Community Advisory Board, which has been following the cleanup project.

She said the plan would allow for fewer dredge passes through PCB contamination, and the increased capping off of PCBs that were missed. Leaving capped PCBs on the river bottom would be like sweeping dirt under a rug, she said, because the rocky caps would have to be effective indefinitely in a river that has powerful currents, often exacerbated by rain or snow melt.

Those same concerns were raised in a Dec. 2 letter to EPA Deputy Administrator Robert Sussman by Deputy DEC Commissioner Stuart Gruskin, who warned federal officials "will be heading in the wrong direction" by allowing GE to leave behind PCBs that otherwise could be dredged out.

"We do not believe that GE's desire to save money is an appropriate basis" to leave behind PCBs, the letter stated. DEC spokesman Yancey Roy declined further comment Tuesday, saying Gruskin's letter spoke for itself.

EPA spokeswoman Mary Mears confirmed that the letters had been received, and said the agency had reached no final decisions on its plan, including capping. Once EPA issues its plan, GE will have 30 days to decide whether to will continue the project. EPA has vowed to continue the work if GE leaves.

GE plants in Fort Edward and neighboring Hudson Falls discharged PCBs into the river for decades before the lubricant and coolant was banned by EPA in 1977. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are considered probable carcinogens.

Behan also said a September 2010 report by a panel of experts on the first year of dredging recommended more capping could be used to prevent the escape of PCBs into the water and keep the project on schedule.

That report found that "more efficient and extensive use of capping would improve productivity and reduce resuspension," adding that additional capping done in the first years set a precedent for more capping in future years.

Mullarkey said GE was taking that part of the report out of context because it applied only to specific dredging situations where PCBs in fine-grained river sediments were in hard-to-reach areas like rock bottoms. She also pointed to part of the panel report that found capping used to isolate PCBs that could have been dredged "should be avoided" in the project's second phase.

The expert panel found that problems in the first year of dredging, including unacceptable PCB levels in the river around the dredging, were caused in part because GE and EPA did not have accurate maps of how deeply PCBs were buried, and some hot spots turned out to be much deeper than expected.

"Everything is about getting better measurements of the PCB contamination" Mullarkey said.

ALBANY -- The Times-Union reports this morning that Greene County's two private ski areas in Hunter and Windham have again started to take on neighboring, state-owned Belleayre Mountain ski center, in Ulster County, claiming their state competition is dumping too many free tickets to draw skiers. And this at the same time tyhat the state-owned region is shifting most of its employment from full- to part-time and seasonal, with deep staffing and other spending cuts gaining political traction in the deep Catskills, as reported HERE..

The two ski areas, it is reported, used the state Freedom of Information Law to obtain Belleayre's records on free and discounted tickets during the two previous ski seasons, which showed the state facility was giving away about 10 percent of its skier visits for free. That's about five times what a privately owned ski center might do with promotional free tickets, according to Scott Brandi, president of Ski Areas of New York Inc., a group that represents the state's ski mountains, including Hunter, Windham and Belleayre.



"I have heard the complaints and the defenses of all the parties here," said Brandi. "There has been a lot of finger-pointing." He said a "detente" among Belleayre, Windham and Hunter, which banded together just last month to give away free tickets to promote the state's $1.1 billion ski industry, apparently has fallen apart.

Now, both Windham and Hunter are hoping to draw a bull's-eye on Belleayre as a taxpayer-supported, money-loser that is giving away too much product during a time of austerity, and want the new administration of Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo to take notice.

"Everyone does some free tickets, but our numbers are 20 percent of what Belleayre does," said Russ Coloton, president of Hunter Mountain Ski Bowl. "For a long time, the state has been buying business. If this was an international company, it would be called dumping."

According to Belleayre records, Belleayre gave away nearly 16,000 free tickets last year, out of about 169,000 skier visits, and posted a $1 million operating loss. The year before, Belleayre gave away about 16,700 free tickets out of 154,700 skier visits and posted a $76,000 operating loss.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation, which has operated Belleayre for 40 years, said the free tickets were about 7 percent of the total -- a figure that would still be about triple what a private ski mountain might do. It was not immediately clear why the figures differed.

"Giveaways are employed by ski mountains in all areas," said DEC spokesman Yancey Roy, "It's a way to attract new and repeat customers. It can also stretch the limited dollars Belleayre has for advertising by working in partnership with commercial entities. This is not unlike the current ongoing promotion Hunter has with some Capital Region filling stations that allow frequent gasoline customers to earn free ski tickets."

Roy added that Belleayre, unlike Hunter and Windham, does not have lodging on its mountain, and must use "a variety of promotions to attract skiers."

About a half-hour away, at Windham, General Manager Tim Woods said it is unfair that he has competition "flooding the market with inexpensive product. They are showing an increase in skier visits because of this predatory pricing."

He noted that Belleayre also is charging significantly less for a lift ticket than either Windham or Hunter. Belleayre charges $54 for an adult weekend daily lift ticket. Windham and Hunter charge $68 and $65, respectively.

"I hope the state will take a look at this, in their quest to get us out of the financial situation that we are in. They should be looking at every avenue," Woods said.

He said Belleayre should be allowed to give away promotional tickets like any privately owned mountain, but not as many as has been done.

He also suggested that the state Olympic Regional Development Authority, which already runs the state-owned Whiteface and Gore ski mountains, might take over Belleayre. ORDA would not be able to run the mountain at a deficit, because the authority does not have access to state general funds to soak up red ink, Woods said.

HUDSON - The generational battle pundits have started talking about, where American seniors start fighting its young for funding and other benefits, surfaced in full glory in the form of a full house at Hudson’s City Hall this week, where dozens of city and area residents turned out on December 6 to urge officials to find a way to keep senior yoga and exercise programming in the budget for next year. Lindsay Suchow reports in today's Register-Star that the city’s monthly Youth and Aging Committee meeting, usually a quiet one, erupted after it became known that the Hudson River Bank and Trust Foundation had decided to no longer allow the $500,000 grant it bestowed on the Youth Department a few years ago to be used for senior programming.

“The money was earmarked for the youth of the city,” Youth Commissioner Gerald Wood said, explaining the move by the fund, which had found that most of the seniors taking yoga could afford to pay its costs. The department has since promised to pick up some of the difference from its own coffers.

“It’s kind of like we’re the unwanted group, and the kids get everything,” said one senior of the decision.

According to the Register-Star, Hudson City Democratic Chairman Victor Mendolia noted that there “shouldn’t be a war between the youth and the seniors,” but asserted that the difference in funding between the age groups is disturbing.

“We have to look at this with new eyes," Mendolia said. "Our population is aging, and we have a duty to our elders to support them.”

For the full story, click HERE.

CATSKILL - The Daily Freeman and Daily Mail each have stories this morning about last night's Catskill Town Board meeting, where one of the highlights seems to have been a request from Heart of Catskill Association Executive Director Linda Overbaugh that the town restore its portion of a joint funding agreement among the promotion group, the village, and the town that the town cut off in the current year's budget.
Association chairman Angelo Ruggiero asked that funding be returned to the $8,000 level last paid by the town in 2008. The town contributed $8,000 annually from 2001 through 2008, dropping the contribution to $7,000 in 2009 and eliminating participation altogether this year. Councilman Robert Antonelli, R, led opposition to the funding based on the fact that HOCA raises money each year from its Cat'n Around Catskill art promotion that it then donates to local not-for-profits and participating artists. a

HOCA, which also identified itself as the Catskill Chamber of Commerce, was formed in 1993 for promotion of local businesses, the marketing of vacant buildings, and the attraction of tourism to the town.

By meeting's end, it was agreed that the organization would return with complete accounts of its annual expenditures, as well as all income, and then revisit the funding request.

For the full story, click HERE.

RAVENA - As if in anticipation of tonight's public hearing on LaFarge Cement's plans in Ravena, as well as tomorrow's look-see on Phase 1 of an ongoing state Department of Health study of those plans, the Register Star this morning runs an unattributed piece on a national coalition of community environmental groups that has come together to support efforts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to clean up toxic air pollution from over 100 cement kilns atround the country, including those in the Hudson Valley. The story notes how the EPA estimates the pollution limits will avoid up to 2,500 premature deaths, prevent thousands of heart and respiratory incidents, and save billions of dollars in health costs every year starting in 2013 when the rules take effect... while the Portland Cement Association—an industry trade group representing 41 of the biggest cement companies in North America— is challenging the EPA’s protective rule.

Friends of Hudson, which came together to challenge growth plans by St. Lawrence Cement in Columbia County last decade, is prominently mentioned. St. Lawrence has since changed its name to Holcim.

“The Lafarge plant in Ravena has been operating for almost 50 years without the proposed emissions limits and has perpetrated the myth that it is perfectly safe and legal,” Susan Falzon of Friends of Hudson is quoted in the piece. “We’ll never know just how much damage has been done to the public health and the environment, but we know that without EPA limits these companies will continue to pollute with impunity and continue to expose the public to unnecessarily high levels of dangerous emissions.”

A public information meeting about proposed changes at the Lafarge plant will take place at the Ravena High School at 7:00 PM on December 8 and a legislative hearing is scheduled for January 20, 2011. Going forward, the DOH is seeking public input on the report and will hold public meetings. A public hearing on Phase 1 of the new DOH study takes place on Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 7 pm at the RCS High School Auditorium.

For the full story click HERE.

Final Daily Freeman printed in Kingston

This YouTube video shows the final Daily Freeman newspaper printed in Kingston Dec. 6. They moved printing to Troy, eliminating 58 jobs and claiming to save the paper $500,000.

New Lebanon voter referendum Dec. 11
The Town of New Lebanon holds a voter referendum to grant the town authority to finance $435,000 for the construction and renovation of the Town Hall on Sat. Dec. 11, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Church of The Immaculate Conception, US Rt. 20, New Lebanon. All registered voters of New Lebanon are eligible to vote yes or no to grant the Town authority to finance the construction and renovation of the Town Hall. Register-Star has a story here on this election. Currently, the board rents space to hold meetings and other business.

Town meetings tonight
Columbia County Board of Supervisors’ Public Information Session on CRC proposed purchase of Wal-mart and move of County agencies to Greenport at 5 p.m. at Elks Lodge, Harry Howard Avenue
Columbia County Board of Supervisors’ Public Hearing on the County budget. 7 p.m. at 401 State St., Hudson.
Columbia County Board of Supervisors’ meeting to vote on the County budget. 7:30 p.m. at 401 State St., Hudson.
LaFarge Environmental Impact Statement Public Information meeting at 6 p.m. Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk High School auditorium, 2025 Route 9W, Ravena, NY.

Birthdays
Dec. 8 birthdays include James Thurber, Delmore Schwartz, and Sammy Davis, Jr.

[caption id="attachment_4905" align="alignright" width="224" caption="Gary Schiro, Ex. Dir. of Hudson Opera House, and Helen Fruscio, Dir. of Berkshire Creative at Hudson Opera House 121010."][/caption]WGXC recorded audio of the "Creative Economy" workshop at Hudson Opera House at 6 p.m. Mon. Dec. 7 with Helena Fruscio, Dir. of Berkshire Creative. Fruscio spoke about her efforts in the Berkshires to support a thriving creative economy of artists and writers and musicians. She was introduced by Col. Cty. Chamber of Comm. Pres. David Colby, Hudson Opera House Exec. Dir. Gary Schiro, and Hudson Common Council Pres. Don Moore. Several other Hudson politicians attended and spoke, as well as other local businesspeople. Listen to an mp3 audio recording by clicking here or copy and pasting the following url into your computer's media player:
http://data.wavefarm.org/2010/12/CreativeEconomyWorkshop_HudsonOperaHouse_WGXC_120710.mp3

New York landowners, farmers, and forestland owners have until January 14, 2011 to apply for 2011 conservation program funding from the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service, including the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Initiative (CBWI), the Agricultural Management Assistance Program (AMA), and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP). These conservation programs were authorized by Congress under the 2008 Farm Bill to provide funding and technical assistance to landowners who voluntarily implement conservation practices. These practices improve natural resources and wildlife habitat on privately-owned agricultural land and forestlands. The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) offers funding assistance in the form of engineered structures, such as manure handling facilities, and conservation practices such as grassed waterways. Focus areas within the EQIP program include livestock waste, cropland, and grazing. Private forestland owners have opportunities to improve forest health and productivity under the woodland program focus area. The Chesapeake Bay Watershed Initiative (CBWI) assists producers to help minimize excess nutrients and sediments in order to restore, preserve, and protect the Chesapeake Bay. In New York, the Bay program offers funding and technical assistance to producers in the priority areas of the Upper Susquehanna Watershed. The Agricultural Management Assistance Program (AMA) focuses on improving irrigation efficiency. A primary goal of the program is to assist agricultural producers in mitigating risk through production diversification or installation of conservation practices. The Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) focuses on improving habitat for at-risk shrub-dwelling birds. Additional funding for this program was received as part of the New England/New York Forestry Initiative. Another focus within the program is establishing and enhancing grassland habitat for declining bird species, pollinators, and other wildlife. Applications for EQIP, CBWI, AMA, and WHIP are competitive and ranked based on national, state, and locally identified resource priorities, and their overall benefit to the environment. Interested landowners can apply for all programs at their local USDA-NRCS office. For sign-up details or additional conservation program information contact your local USDA-NRCS office or visit www.ny.nrcs.usda.gov.

Lynn Sloneker at Unmuffled is reporting at 4:58 p.m. via Twitter that the Columbia County Assistant District Attorney John Hillman withdrew the charges against Hudson High School Assistant Principal Tom Gavin for threatening Hudson High Assistant Principal Steven Spicer during a Nov. 22 Hudson school board meeting. Spicer filed a complaint of second-degree aggravated harassment against Gavin, Nov. 24 about the incident. Sloneker tweets, "Hudson Police Commish said he separated the two men, yet DA says Gavin 'was not in alarmingly close proximity' to Spicer," and "Security recording failed to show physical contact or finger-pointing, according to the DA." Register-Star story the next day here.

I pulled up
and parked in
the employee of the month
parking space
but a guard
came out
and immediately told me to
get the hell out
before there
was any trouble.

The lines were written by Dennis Lucas Jr. in his 1992 collection, 13 Ways Of Looking At A Crow, which many thought came as close as one can to defining a contemporary Catskillian lyrical style.

Dennis Michael Lucas Jr., 42 of Hunter, passed away last Thursday, December 2. He is survived by his parents Jane and Dennis Lucas of Haines Falls, their town's former postmistress and current supervisor, as well as head of the regional Coalition of Watershed Towns.

Lucas grew up in Hunter, attended Hunter-Tannersville Central School and graduated in 1986. He then attended and graduated from Brooklyn College with a B.A. in English. Dennis lived in Brooklyn, NY, New York City and Oceanside, CA before returning to the area.

He was a poet/essayist/singer/songwriter and musician but above all a humorist, read his obituary in the Daily Mail this week. IN addition to his 1992 book of poetry and a 2000 fictional work, Cliffhanger Notes, Lucas was a regular contributor to Chronogram and other area publications.

"He was a talented guy but he had troubles with coping with all life throws our way," said his father this week. "We're losing the war on drugs."

The river is moving.
The black-bird must by flying.
The kite is stealing groceries.
The crow must be at the movies

So he wrote. And so he touched many lives, here and everywhere he landed.

Calling hours and a Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, Dec. 11 at Aston-Basagic Funeral Home, Main St., Hunter, NY 12442 from 1-3 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Mtn Top Friends of the Library, the Hunter Library or Greene County Mental Health.

Thanks to a small group of visionary donors, a new project is taking shape in the Village of Catskill's vacant storefronts with exhibitions from Master of Fine Arts programs (and one or two strong Bachelor of Fine Arts programs) near and far, all set to draw major collectors to the area and raise the viability of the local business-side real estate market. Run by the Greene County Council on the Arts, RSVPs have been received from Bard College, SUNY New Paltz, Vassar College, Columbia University School of the Art Institute of Chicago with invitations still out to the School of Visual Arts, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and SUNY Albany. Main Street building owners have been generous in donating spaces, with five interior exhibitions and four window display sites available so far.

This project offers art schools space for their MFA students and alumni to exhibit their work for a four month period. Fawn Potash, the GCCA’s Visual Arts Director (and, for full disclosure, this poster's wife) is serving as the project coordinator, marketing three high profile collectors’ receptions to local, regional and national media. Catskill’s new radio station, WGXC-FM, has committed to broadcasting interviews from the opening events. A soft opening is anticipated in mid January with a dance party reception in early March with work on view through April. The second round of exhibits will be installed in May, up through August.

More as this great new project unfolds...