Kevin Schwebke, 26, of First Street in Catskill, a corrections officer and part-time Cairo police officer, was arrested Wednesday for fraudulently accepting $34,000 in workers' compensation benefits, according to the New York State Insurance Department. Schwebke started collecting workers' compensation benefits in 2009 after suffering job-related ankle injuries while working as a corrections officer at the Coxsackie Correctional Facility, officials maintain. During the same time period, he was employed as a part-time police officer with the Town of Cairo Police Department. Schwebke is accused of accepting workers' compensation lost wage benefits and falsely stating that his physical condition left him unable to work while at the same time collecting a salary as a police officer. The police department was unaware he was collecting the benefits. If he is convicted, Schwebke could be sentenced to up to seven years in prison, according to the NYSID. He was released pending action in Albany County Court.

POUGHKEEPSIE – Mid Hudson News Network is reporting that the regional environmental organization Scenic Hudson has received a $60,000 grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to develop strategies to increase funding for its agricultural land preservation efforts, with the organization's president, Ned Sullivan, saying he will work with partner organizations to protect 25,000 agricultural acres in Dutchess and Columbia counties.

“Hudson Valley has a thriving agricultural economy worth $530 million a year and it supplies fresh produce to the region and also to New York City, but those farms are being lost,” he said. “Before the economic downturn, some 50 acres a day were being lost to sprawling development.”

Sullivan said state funding for farm preservation has virtually dried up because of the economy, but he hopes to work with Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo next year to develop preservation strategies.

HUDSON - Andrew Amelinckx of the Register-Star has another of his well-written and researched crime stories in this morning's paper all about how the former president of the Hudson Little League was arrested by the New York State Police Thursday for allegedly embezzling close to $10,000 from the non-profit organization. According to the story, Gerald L. Smith, 46, of Greenport turned himself in to the State Police at Livingston around 3 p.m. Wednesday — his birthday — was arrested and charged with one count of third degree grand larceny, a class D felony. According to Inv. Marcus Walthour of the State Police, Smith stole the money, more than $9,000 — during the period between Jan. 1 and Dec. 1 of this year. Smith was the president and treasurer of the Hudson Little League during the majority of that time, according to Walthour. Holding both positions was against the by-laws of the organization, said the investigator, so they voted in a new president, on November 1. For the full story, click here. What is it about our fire departments, youth programs, and other such public positions that tempt so many in such ways, anyway? Look for future coverage of these issues when WGXC-FM goes on the air in the new year.

HUDSON - Talk about a holiday season story to grab eyes: The Register-Star reports this morning that a 65-year-old Hudson man as won a $1 million scratch-off game and that Robert Robinson, born in Jamaica but living in Hudson for 50 years, is the first person in New York to win the $1 million prize on the new $1 million Cash Bingo instant game which became available in stores on Nov. 2. A retired machine operator with MTA Metro North who has been playing the Lottery for 30 years, Robinson purchased his winning ticket on Friday, Nov. 19 at Tams on Fairview Avenue in Greenport and was presented an oversized check at a special ceremony at the Crossgates Mall in Albany Thursday morning, December 2.

ALBANY - There's blowback starting against all the proposed cuts already happening, or being proposed, to public services... both around the country and right here in New York State. The new Alliance for New York State Parks, which lists recently-resigned NYS Parks Commissioner Carol Ash as a key adviser, joined Parks & Trails New York on Thursday, Dec. 2 to release a report calling for a halt to staff and funding cuts that, they argue, have once again placed certain state parks at risk of closure... possibly including some in our immediate area. They are saying they want enhanced capital spending for facilities, to the tune of $1 billion over the next decade, and a dedicated funding stream to protect that support from the shifting winds of politics, as has happened in a number of other states. The NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, according to a story in today's Times Union, has lost as many as 1,500 employees over the past two years, or 21 percent of the agency’s permanent staff. The full story can be found here.

Meanwhile, Laura Northrup is also reporting in her column on state workers in today's Times Union that the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFL-CIO) has launched a campaign called “Stop the Lies” that aims to defend the good name of civil servants, and stop the past year's screaming diatribes against state and federal workers, who as they say, "work hard for their money." The AFSCME has issued an open letter to “state worker haters,” and a video explaining their new campaign that comes in both an easily digestible 1-minute version and a nearly six-minute-long extended remix. See both HERE. This is on top of ongoing outcry against state cuts to Belleayre Mountain Ski Center workers in the Shandaken/Margaretville area of the central Catskills, in Ulster and Delaware counties, caught HERE by the Watershed Post, pulling from stories in The Daily Freeman out of Kingston and Daily Star out of Oneonta.. Expect much more of these sorts of battles over the coming year as the axe falls, or gets waved in the direction, of other key public programs... and then our basic public benefits. Some are already starting to say that what we're seeing now is the start of the same wave of protests now rocking Europe... whether we like to think ourselves in the same world as them or not.

RAVENA - Lafarge Cement has started stressing its completion of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for its plant renovation plans in Ravena, simultaneous to the state Department of Health's release of the first phase of its study of current and possible impacts at the site. "Overall, the new plant will reduce Lafarge's environmental footprint," Environmental Manager John Reagan said in an article in today's Ravena News-Herald, Catskill Daily Mail, Chatham Courier and Hudson Register-Star in response to DEC's announcement. "It will be cleaner, more efficient and the emissions from most chemicals will decrease. Greenhouse gases per ton of product will decrease as well... It will enable the Ravena plant to be sustainable and remain a competitive cement manufacturer well into the future." The new story, released just days after we blogged an earlier story by Hawke about the state Department of Health's releasing the first ground-laying phase of its own report on the existing plant, and growth plans, seems to answer complaints we heard from Lafarge advocates who questioned WGXC's use of a headline suggesting that the DOH was being "soft" on Lafarge, which we explained was written in reference to standing charges by the citzen's watchdog group Community Advocates for Safe Emissions. At the same time, the new emphasis on the DEIS completion also anticipates a possible backlash against Lafarge's plans that we warned its advocate was likely to come from Columbia County veretans of the St. Lawrence cement plant fight of a few years back, as well as Greene County veterans of the movement that questioned the building of the Athens Generating Plant. Reagan, as quoted by Hawke in today's story, pointed out the project has been two years in the making and represents an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of manhours, and added how the new $300 million project could bring a financial boon to the area, providing 800 hundred temporary construction jobs as well as another 1,300 related to the modernization process and "a return to current levels of roughly 180 employees." Lafarge eliminated 37 jobs in early January, 2009, leaving it at the 180 current level it is now referring to as what it wants to maintain. A public information meeting about the proposed plant will take place at the Ravena High School on December 8 and a legislative hearing is scheduled for January 20, 2011.

Find the full story by clicking HERE...

By Gus Murphy.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="250" caption="Roberta Davis, from Columbia County Democrats website."][/caption]Democrats say Roberta Davis elected Columbia County Coroner
The Columbia County Democrats' website is crowing that Roberta Davis has beaten Republican Deborah Simonsmeier, citing an unofficial count of absentee ballots:
Roberta Davis: 1,062
Deborah Simonsmeier: 671
"The margin is well ahead of the dozen or so votes she was behind on Election Night," the Democrats' website says, and would make her Columbia County's Third County Coroner with Angelo Nero and George Davis M.D. Mrs. Davis ran on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines.


Murphy votes for tax cut
Outgoing Congressman Scott Murphy voted Thursday for a permanent extension of tax cuts that apply to every family’s first $250,000 of income. The tax cut passed the House of Representatives 234-188, and is expected to be filibustered by Republicans in the U.S. Senate. Republicans there want to extend the tax cuts to all incomes, while Democrats believe families with higher incomes then $250,000 should be taxed more to pay down the debt or stimulate the economy. Chris Gibson, who defeated Murphy in November and takes over the District 20 seat in January, is out of the country, and could not be reached about how he would have voted on the bill.


Slopes open this weekend
Windham Mountain starts their 50th anniversary season Saturday at 8 a.m., according to their Facebook page. "Last weekend’s snowmaking held up and Team Snow had the system charged up at midnight," the site says. Windham opens with two lifts, three trails, two boxes, and three rails this weekend. Hunter Mountain's website says "anticipated opening Sun. Dec. 5."


Audio from Hudson special school board meeting Monday
WGXC's Alan Skerrett and Joan Geitz attended the special Hudson board meeting Monday, and made an mp3 recording you can listen to by clicking here. Read several different accounts of the meeting here.


Birthdays
Dec. 3 birthdays include Octavia Hill, Jean-Luc Godard, and Bobby Allison.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="280" caption="Greenville Mountain View Pioneer cover 120310"][/caption]Greene County Jail Lt. Kenneth Leis and Robert Warrings, the man the officer shot in the backpack while both were hunting Nov. 20, "were closely acquainted prior to the incident," according to sources of Andrea Macko in the new Greenville Mountain View Pioneer, which broke the story originally and has no website. So here is the sequence of events that Greene County Sheriff Greg Seeley tells Macko requires no investigation "that would pertain to the Sheriff's Office or his course of work":

Robert Warrings is hunting on Blackhead Mountain in Cairo on opening day of bear and deer season, when he shot a bear, presumably making a loud noise. While tracking the bear he was shot by trained lawman Leis, someone who knew Warrings well (both live in the Town of Cairo, according to the Pioneer). Leis hit Warrings in his backpack, which stopped the bullet, while other shots whizzed past Warrings' head. Leis claims he was shooting at a fisher cat, which is legal to trap but not shoot. Warrings told investigators he confronted Leis following the incident, according to the Pioneer. Department of Environmental Conservation spokesperson Maureen Wren tells Macko the DEC is conducting an investigation. Seeley says the Sheriff is not investigating anything regarding this case. The Daily Mail reports Seeley said Leis was promoted to jail lieutenant about five months ago.

HUDSON - Andrew Amelinckx of the Register-Star writes today of a pre-trial hearing that was held in Columbia County Supreme Court yesterday, Dec. 1, for the much-watched case against a Bronx-based waste hauler and his company who authorities say was illegally dumping waste in Clermont. It was decided, in the hearing, that prosecutors will be allowed to bring up several other instances of alleged illegal dumping at other sites if the defendant, Salvatore Cascino, takes the stand in his own defense during the trial that begins Monday, Dec. 6 in Hudson. Cascino, 70, who lives in Westchester County, is facing one count of operating an unpermitted landfill and one count of fourth-degree endangering public health, safety or the environment. Both charges are misdemeanors with the maximum penalty of up to two years in prison... and there are other cases pending, in other courts, that allege Cascino has similarly dumped in Cpake and other locations, as well as use of a false instrument and violation of standing orders. A lawsuit was filed in 2006 in state supreme court by the town supervisor of Copake, which alleged that Cascino, who operates locally under the LLC titles of Copake Valley Farm and 13 Lackawanna Properties, violated the town’s zoning ordinances by spreading waste on farmland. Cascino was found guilty of civil and criminal contempt by the Columbia County State Supreme Court in June 2009 by violating a temporary restraining order brought against him by the town of Copake in November 2006. It was also ruled on Nov. 3 that Cascino violated town zoning law and the building code, with a judge ordering him to dismantle all illegal structures he has erected on his property and to cease all dumping activity there. Successful prosecution of the case is seen as a means of stemming similar use of local properties for dumping, breaking a longstanding vision of our counties, by some, as a wasteland open to any use.

For the full story click HERE.

CAIRO - Doron Tyler Antrim reports in today's Daily Mail that the Cairo Zoning Commission agreed Tuesday night to six preliminary changes to its draft zoning map — moves made in response to public comments asking for an expansion of those lands available for future commercial development. The seven-member group also cut out the town's sole industrial zone as unnecessary, and stopped at a greater expansion of commercial zones, which one of its members labeled "overkill," by expanding mixed use districts along the town's main corridors. The zoning commission’s next work meeting is set for Monday, Dec. 13 at 6 p.m. in Cairo Town Hall where changes along the Route 23 corridor, as well as on the town's Main Street, will be on the agenda. The commission also announced recently that it’s extending the public comment period on the law until Jan. 10, 2011. Copies of the proposed law, Cairo's first (with many reghional eyes on how it flies) are on file in the town hall and public library at 512 Main Street. All the documents, as well as the public comments, can be viewed online at www.planningbetterplaces.com/cairo.

For the full story click HERE.

CATSKILL - The intrepid Colin DeVries of The Daily Mail has a must-read piece spelling out the findings of a comprehensive 82-page needs assessment report, drafted by Soule Consulting Services of Hamilton and commissioned by the Greene County Economic Development, Tourism and Planning Department, that was presented to the Greene County legislature last month. The report looks into, and urges, a coordinated and efficient countywide transit system "that may one day shape the future of transportation throughout Greene County." The report notes the many deficiencies of the current county transit systems, spread between six county agencies and departments and largely focused on client-specific transportation, while presenting an objective to streamline the network and cut wasteful spending by moving towards a single, publicly accessible system. The report suggests that consolidation and upgrading could end up saving the county $150,000 a year off a total annual operating cost now identified as $2.68 million a year, with $862,752 coming from county coffers. DeVries goes on to note, however, that Greene County Legislature Chairman Wayne Speenburgh has said there has been little discussion about the study since the presentation in early November, and that he did not expect an earnest transportation discussion among lawmakers until the start of the next year, at earliest.

The complete transportation needs assessment materials are available for download at http://greenebusiness.com/planning/transportation.

For the full Daily Mail story, click HERE.

We like Mid-Hudson News Network's story today about the Coast Guard starting to pull its buoys out of the Hudson River... a "seasonal retrieval of navigation aids that guide mariners" that happens due to "decreased vessel traffic and to minimize damage from ice and severe winter weather." It's all handled by the 49-foot vessel BUSL, commanded by BMC Christopher Sheppard, which started its slow-paced job pulling the agency's 90 to 100 navigational aids in early September and replacing them with "winter can and nun buoys as far north as Troy" by late December. "When the river freezes, the Coast Guard use icebreaker vessels to keep a channel open for commercial boat traffic," the piece concludes. Talk about reminding us all of the constant lyricism the Hudson provides us all, no matter the political shenanigans and other news that transpires along its banks, and far inland... or the re-occuring flooding.

For full story click HERE...

GOP says Martins is a lock, Dems want recount
Rick Karlin in Capitol Confidential reports, "Senate Republicans are all but declaring Jack Martins the victor in the 7th SD [Senate District], noting that he’s got a 438-vote lead over incumbent Craig Johnson and there are only 135 absentee ballots that had objections which still need to be counted." Yesterday the Associated Press reported that Democrat Antoine Thompson conceded defeat to Republican Mark J. Grisanti in the 60th state Senate District in Buffalo, placing the New York State Senate in a 30-30 tie with two races undecided. Democrats, though, are not giving up on Craig Johnson, as they were in a Nassau County court Wednesday in what could potentially lead to a hand recount. "They note that the mandatory audit of 3 percent of the voting machines has yielded a 40 percent error rate according to the local Board of Elections," Karlin reports. "They are seeking a hand re-count, noting that this could set a precedent for elections under the new ballot scanning devices. It’s what Johnson’s spokesman Rich Azzopardi termed 'uncharted territory.'" In the other race, Westchester Democrat Suzi Oppenheimer is up about 300 votes over Republican Bob Cohen at this time. A tied assembly would probably favor the Democrats, although Republicans plan a court challenge to the Lt. Gov.'s tie-breaking vote. Our area Assembly representatives are Republican (Marc Molinaro, Pete Lopez, and Steve McLaughlin), so there could be more local pork if the GOP takes over.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="175" caption="Martin Van Buren, from Wikipedia."][/caption]National Guard honors President Martin Van Buren Friday in Kinderhook
Brigadier General Anthony P. German, Chief of Staff for the New York Air National Guard, will lay a wreath at former U.S. President Martin Van Buren's grave in Kinderhook to mark his 228th birthday Friday. Dec. 3. This is an annual event honoring the eighth President, Martin Van Buren, a Columbia County native who died on July 24, 1862 in Kinderhook. The ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 3 at Kinderhook Cemetery, County Route 21, Kinderhook.

Local movie news

"Higher Ground," a film partially shot in Ulster County towns Kingston, Ellenville, Stone Ridge, and at Rondout Valley High School in Kyserike, and directed and starring Ulster resident Vera Farmiga, will compete at the Sundance Film Festival, Jan. 20-30 in Park City, Utah, according to The Daily Freeman.... [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="185" caption="Mark Ruffalo in GQ."][/caption]The Washington Post gossip column yesterday squelched the rumor circulating the internet that actor Mark Ruffalo, who also has a residence in the Catskills, is on some sort of government watch list because of his outspoken views against natural gas hydraulic fracturing. In an interview in GQ Ruffalo said he was on a terrorist "watch list" for the state of Pennsylvania and implied it had something to do with his promotional work for the political documentary "Gasland," about natural gas hydraulic fracturing. From the Post: "Marie Finn, a spokeswoman for the state's Office of Homeland Security said they have no idea what he's talking about; they don't have a "list," and Ruffalo's never been mentioned in any of their information bulletins. "We are not sure how this originated," she said. We asked the actor's publicist to help us all straighten this out; sadly, she said, he's not available for comment." Perhaps it was a slight idea to sell additional copies of GQ?

Birthdays
Dec. 2 birthdays include K. Veeramani, Penelope Spheeris, and Amin Saikal.

But we didn't need to tell you that. WGXC staff have witnessed a tree on a house in Hudson (at intersection of Fairview Ave. and Columbia St., around 2 p.m.), have seen one lane blocked by a tree on State Route 23 in Claverack just east of the intersection with 23B (around 3 p.m.), and witnessed both north and south-bound lanes of Route 145 in Cairo closed just where the road meets Route 23, with excessive water runoff on the road. There are many other accidents, trees down, and large amounts of water on the roadway, and the temperature is dropping and the last of the precipitation tonight may be snow. Currently, National Weather Service has two warnings in our area: the Flash Flood warning in Greene County ends at 6:15 p.m., and the Flood Warning continues until 10 a.m. Thursday in both counties. UPDATE: At 9 p.m. Route 145 in Cairo is back open, the precipitation has stopped, and the region is drying out.

WASHINGTON - Politico reports today that according to their sources, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is "moving forward with a net neutrality order at the agency’s December meeting, setting the stage for a likely fight over the contentious web rules on Capitol Hill."

Genachowski released the agenda for the FCC’s Dec. 21 meeting at midnight Wednesday, going right up to the wire to share his plans within the customary three-week time frame for circulating orders prior to an open meeting.



"However, details of Genachowski’s plans are still vague. The agenda released by the agency says only that the FCC will consider 'an order adopting basic rules of the road to preserve the open Internet as a platform for innovation, investment, competition, and free expression,'" according to the Politico report. "The rules, the agenda said, 'would protect consumers’ and innovators’ right to know basic information about broadband service, right to send and receive lawful Internet traffic, and right to a level playing field, while providing broadband Internet access providers with the flexibility to reasonably manage their networks.'”

Also, the agenda did not make clear whether the FCC's proposal will require open-Internet principles to extend to wireless networks as well as traditional wireline networks. It’s also unclear whether the proposal will call for reclassification of broadband, as public interest groups have called for. As a result, it is so far difficult to immediately gauge where the various stakeholders will stand on the order.

Hearing of the agenda, Congresisonal Republicans immediately reiterated their warning that the FCC should not move forward with any net neutrality order, according to Politico, and vowed they would work to topple any FCC-led net neutrality order by reintroducing a bill to prevent the FCC’s policy making process.

Democrats, meanwhile, are lining up behind the FCC's actions, vowing to protect the openness of the Web as it current exists.

Now, has anyone mentioned Wikileaks in this convesration, besides a growing litany of Fox pundits' calls for Julian Assange's execution? Or how this all fits into the new Congress' complete focus on the economy?

Stay tuned...

For full story, click HERE...

Hannukah (from the Hebrew word for "dedication" or "consecration") is often known as a Festival of Lights, and a Jewish equivalent to Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Eid. The holiday marks, according to Wikipedia, the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem (Second Temple) after its desecration by the forces of the King of Syria Antiochus IV Epiphanes and commemorates the "miracle of the container of oil". According to the Talmud, at the re-dedication following the victory of the Maccabees over the Seleucid Empire, there was only enough consecrated olive oil to fuel the eternal flame in the Temple for one day. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days, which was the length of time it took to press, prepare and consecrate fresh olive oil.



According to Wikipedia, Hanukkah is also mentioned in 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees. The first states: "For eight days they celebrated the rededication of the altar. Then Judah and his brothers and the entire congregation of Israel decreed that the days of the rededication... should be observed... every year... for eight days. (1 Mac. 4:56–59)" According to 2 Maccabees, "the Jews celebrated joyfully for eight days as on the feast of Booths."

The lighting of candles in a menorah, hopefulling facing a street or other places where it can be seen publicly, starts tonight and proceeds through the coming eight days... along with meals of latkes (potato pancakes), sufganiot (jelly- or cheese-filled doughnuts), and cheesy foods.

Tonight, on the first night of Chanukah, all three of the following blessings are recited. On all subsequent nights, recite blessings number 1 and 2.

1. Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us to kindle the Chanukah light.

2. Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who performed miracles for our forefathers in those days, at this time.

3. Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has granted us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this occasion.

After the lights are lit each evening, recite or sing the following:

We kindle these lights to commemorate the saving acts, miracles and wonders which You have performed for our forefathers, in those days at this time, through Your holy priests. Throughout the eight days of Chanukah, these lights are sacred, and we are not permitted to make use of them, but only to look at them, in order to offer thanks and praise to Your great Name for Your miracles, for Your wonders and for Your salvations.

NISKAYUNA - Brian Nearing at the Times-Union has stayed on the cascading news coming out of the Knolls Atomic Power Labs since it was announced that cleanup of older buildings dating from the facility's use as a developer of nuclear power in the 1940s and 1950s resulted in radioactive water being spilled into the Mohawk River, which in turn feeds into the Hudson. First, he covered the cover-ups, or excuses used by various state and federal agencies as to why local towns, several of which use the Mohawk for drinking water, were not alerted to the October 25 spill for at least a week. Then he noted how clean-up workers had been pressured to finish their jobs quicker than originally planned, resulting in a lack of care, and near panic, at the sensitive site.

Now, Nearing writes that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is investigating a potential "air release of radioactive material during the botched demolition of a Cold War-era research building" at Knolls. "EPA was not releasing details but confirmed that the investigation centers around the Sept. 29 open-air demolition at the contaminated Separations Process Research Unit," Nearing quotes an agency spokesperson.

Work at the site has been halted since Nov. 19 as the U.S. Department of Energy considers changes to the 2-year-old project to remove the contaminated buildings, which were used in U.S. atomic weapons research and have been closed since 1953.

The partially demolished H2 building, where researchers developed a process known as PUREX to extract weapons-grade plutonium and uranium from spent nuclear reactor fuel, is now covered with tarps to prevent further contamination from escaping.

For the full story, click HERE...

The Times-Union's Capitol Connection leads with a piece about the long-awaited Defense Department report released Tuesday, in which the Pentagon says gay service members can openly serve in the armed forces without damaging the military’s strength or undermining its missions, and the party-line statement from Rep.-elect Chris Gibson, R-N.Y., a retired Army colonel and Iraq War veteran, who is saying that everyone needs to spend more time “digesting” the Pentagon’s conclusions and talking with top enlisted members before making any big changes to the Clinton-era policy.

“There has to be a period where we have a dialogue with the leadership of the United States military, the top enlisted members in the Army, the sergeant majors and also the top general officers,” he said. “This isn’t something that you can get a five-second synopsis of and then take a position on.”

No mention from Gibson, or others in the new Republican House majority or strengthened Senate minority, about the months and years DADT has been a key issue so far.

Of most interest in the TU story are the now-predictable but still-revealing way in which ensuing comments break down into an argument over whether homosexuality should be accepted or not by our society.

See full story HERE.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350" caption="This Greenport Wal-Mart is empty since the new larger store opened down the street last year. Photo by Tom Roe."][/caption]Carole Osterink in The Gossips of Rivertown reports:

"This afternoon [Tuesday, Nov. 30], Columbia County Planning/Economic Development Commissioner Ken Flood, the CEO of CRC [Capital Resource Corporation], presented the proposal to the Board of Supervisors Space Utilization Subcommittee, and what's being proposed is that all county offices -- 300 county employees -- be consolidated in the old Wal-mart building. Only the agencies and offices that are required by law to be located in the county seat would remain in Hudson, and those offices would be moved to 325 Columbia Street, putting 401 State, 610 State, as well as 25 Railroad Avenue 'out of commission.' The proposal also involves leasing the leftover space in the vast old Walmart building to not-for-profits and start-up companies that cannot afford to lease commercial space, to create a business incubator or, as Flood called it, a 'job growth center.' Flood talked about the 'synergies' created by having all county offices under one roof. Responding to this talk of synergy, Fourth Ward Supervisor Bill Hughes asked 'Why not put DSS [Department of Social Services] with a homeless shelter?' and made the point that this seemed to be an obvious synergy. When the meeting had been adjourned, Mayor Rick Scalera reiterated the idea that combining DSS with a homeless shelter in the building seemed obvious and would solve a lot of problems. Social Services Commissioner Paul Mossman responded, 'You expect the county to own and operate that?' Why not? It makes more sense than the way the concept of "congregate housing" is now being implemented. A meeting to solicit public comments about the proposal will be held next Wednesday, December 8, at 5 p.m. at the Elks Club. More details of the proposal are provided in the Register-Star article: 'County mulls new home for DSS.'"