Both the Catskill Daily Mail and Kingston Daily Freeman are running Michael Virtanen's front page Associated Press story on the failure for punishments, of parents or students, to stem absenteeism in our schools.

Virtanen's piece references a report commissioned by the state's Office of Children and Family Services that says that hauling parents into family court is not the best way to combat a rising tide of kids who chronically miss school.

"In New York City, 'chronic absenteeism' — when a student misses at least 20 of the 180 days in a school year — afflicts 40 percent of high school students and educators currently refer cases to social services for neglect," the piece notes. "Under New York law, chronic school absence is a trigger for complaints to the Office of Children and Family Services. Referrals can lead to family court, foster care or probation-like PINS supervision."

Professor Robert Balfanz, at Johns Hopkins University, said his research has shown that about half the students just decide to skip school, a quarter are avoiding something negative such as a bully or uncomfortable class, and another quarter stay out for life issues like work or baby sitting.

Now, a new study by the Vera Institute of Justice — commissioned by the state office of Children and Family Services — backs up the agency's belief that going after parents for educational neglect isn't effective. The report says chronic absenteeism seldom means teens are abused or neglected at home but instead suggests they stay out for other reasons and schools need to find ways to re-engage them.

Talk about a great idea... although statewide, many programs geared towards such re-engagement -- such as the INDIE program in Ulster County's Onteora District -- have been cut entirely in the past two years of drastic school budget cuts.

Seem another new byproduct of our new austerity budgets, on all levels, is rearing its ugly head...

For the full AP story click HERE.

For the report itself, click HERE.

SAUGERTIES - Patricia Doxsey has a great story in today's Kingston Daily Freeman about a case that has Saugerties restaurants, and fans of its Tango restaurant right at the village's center, on the edge of their seats. It involves siblings Analia and Emilio Maya, who are under threat of deportation despite her marriage to a former village policeman, with whom she has had a child, and the help of their adopted home town's congressman, Rep. Maurice Hinchey.

"The Llife the two had created for themselves in America came crashing down on Nov. 17, 2009, when armed immigration officers arrested Emilio Maya for an 'immigration violation' and hauled him off to a jail in Pennsylvania to await deportation. Immigration officials also served Analia with a notice to appear in federal court to face a deportation hearing," Doxsey writes. "Now facing a Feb. 11, 2011, deportation date, Emilio is pinning his hopes on public support and congressional intervention to allow him to stay in this country. Analia, meanwhile, has an appointment this week with immigration officials. After an interview, the officials will decide whether her marriage is legitimate or a scheme designed to secure U.S. citizenship."

The Mayas’ saga began in 1998, when they entered the United States from Argentina under a program that allowed them to stay in the country for 90 days without a visa. But the two remained beyond the 90-day limit, living and working here illegally... and eventually bringing their parents over to help start their popular eatery, first in West Saugerties and then in the center of town, where the whole family has become extremely popular.

A documentary about the two, and how they worked with federal authories as informants in exchange for staying in the U.S., is scheduled to air on the Discovery Channel in December, and Emilio said he is scheduled to give interviews to other news organizations in the days after that documentary airs.

Hinchey introduced a bill to grant the two permanent resident status but it has not moved from a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, and now appears to be dead, given the House's pending change from Democratic to Republican hands.

For the full story, which speaks to the complications of immigration in our country these days, click HERE.

By Gus Murphy

The stalwart folks at The Watershed Post alerted us to a recent editorial in the Washington Post by longstanding GOP Congressman Sherwood Boehlert of central New York, in which the current adviser to the Project on Climate Science suggests chilling out the anti-intellectualism his party's slipped into over the past decade.

"The new Congress should have a policy debate to address facts rather than a debate featuring unsubstantiated attacks on science," Boehlert writes. "We shouldn't stand by while the reputations of scientists are dragged through the mud in order to win a political argument. And no member of any party should look the other way when the basic operating parameters of scientific inquiry - the need to question, express doubt, replicate research and encourage curiosity - are exploited for the sake of political expediency. My fellow Republicans should understand that wholesale, ideologically based or special-interest-driven rejection of science is bad policy. And that in the long run, it's also bad politics."

Boehlert points to recent weather disasters, national and international, as well as the hyper-partisanship of incoming senators and congressman, as well as the on-the-sleeve politics of those now vying for head of the House's energy committee, which is seeking to trump any considerations of climate change with "drill, baby, drill" policies.

"Why do so many Republican senators and representatives think they are right and the world's top scientific academies and scientists are wrong? I would like to be able to chalk it up to lack of information or misinformation," Boehlert writes. "There is a natural aversion to more government regulation. But that should be included in the debate about how to respond to climate change, not as an excuse to deny the problem's existence. The current practice of disparaging the science and the scientists only clouds our understanding and delays a solution. The record flooding, droughts and extreme weather in this country and others are consistent with patterns that scientists predicted for years. They are an ominous harbinger."

For the full editorial, click HERE.

Windham Mountain's Facebook feed reports they turned on their snow guns today and will continue to make snow throughout the weekend if temperatures allow. While a predicted warming may thwart their plans, skiing and riding is hoped for by Saturday, December 4.

Links to local municipalities, and their regular meeting schedule.
*=fact-checked for 2012

Town Meetings sorted by night of the month

First Monday of the month
ANCRAM Conservation Advisory Council at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 1416 County Rte. 7, Ancram (329-6512).
ATHENS Town Board meeting at 7 p.m. at 2 First Street, Athens (734-3636).
CAIRO Town Board meeting, 6 p.m., Cairo Town Hall, 512 Main St., Cairo (622-3120).
CATSKILL Recreation Committee meeting, 7 p.m. at Catskill Town Hall,
439 Main St., Catskill (943-2141).
CLAVERACK Planning Board meeting, 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, Church Street, Mellenville (672-7911).
CLERMONT Town Board meeting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 1795 Route 9, Clermont (537-6868).
TAGHKANIC Zoning Commission meeting, 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall, Route 82, Taghkanic (851-7638).

First Tuesday of the month
CATSKILL Town Board meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 439 Main St., Catskill (943-2141).
COPAKE Park Commission meets at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 230 Mt. View Road, Copake (329-1234).
DURHAM Town Board meeting at 7:30 p.m. at Town Building, 7309 State Rt. 81, East Durham (239-8260).
LEXINGTON Town Board meeting at 7 p.m., at Municipal building, 3542 Route 42, Lexington, (986-6303).
LIVINGSTON Zoning Board of Appeals meeting at 7 p.m., at Town Hall, County Rte. 19, Livingston (851-9441).
COLUMBIA COUNTY Finance Committee meets at 5 p.m. at County Office Building, 401 State St., Hudson.

First Wednesday of the month
GHENT Planning Board meeting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, P.O. Box 98, Ghent (392-4644).
GREENE COUNTY Meetings for Human Services, Health, and Education Committees at 6 p.m. at County Building, 411 Main St., Catskill (719-3270).
GREENPORT Town Board meeting at 7 p.m. at Greenport Town Hall, 600 Town Hall Drive, Hudson (828-4656).
HUDSON Hudson Common Council Youth & Aging Committee meeting, 6 p.m., and Arts, Entertainment & Tourism Committee meeting at 6:45 p.m. at City Hall, 520 Warren Street, Hudson (828-1030).
LIVINGSTON Planning Board meeting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, County Rte. 19, Livingston (851-9441).

First Thursday of the month
ANCRAM Planning Board meeting at 7 p.m., at Town Hall, 1416 County Rte. 7, Ancram (329-6512).
AUSTERLITZ Planning Board meeting at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall, 812 Route 203, Spencertown (392-3260).
COPAKE Planning Board meets at 7 p.m., at Town Hall, 230 Mt. View Road, Copake (329-1234).
GHENT Planning Board meeting at 7 p.m., at Town Hall, 2306 State Route 66, Ghent (392-4644).
KINDERHOOK Zoning Board of Appeals meets at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 4 Church St, Niverville (784-2233).
WINDHAM Town board meets at 8 p.m. at Town Hall, 371 State Rt. 296, Hensonville (734-4170).

First Friday of the month

Second Monday of the month
ASHLAND Town Board meeting at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, Main Street, Ashland (734-3636)
CATSKILL Village meeting at 7 p.m. at the Firehouse, 1 Central Ave. (behind Walgreens) (943-3830).
COPAKE Environmental Committee meeting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 230 Mt. View Road, Copake (329-1234).
GREENE COUNTY LEGISLATURE holds Buildings & Grounds, Conservation, Public Safety, Highway, Government Operations, and Finance committee meetings at 6 p.m. at County Building, 411 Main St., Catskill (719-3270).
HUDSON Informal Common Council meeting at 7 p.m., City Hall, 520 Warren Street, Hudson (828-1030).
HUNTER Village meeting at 8 p.m.
NEW BALTIMORE Town meeting at 7:30 p.m. at 3809 Rt. 51, Hannacroix (756-6671)/
PRATTSVILLE Town meeting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 14517 Main St., Prattsville (299-3125).

Second Tuesday of the month
CAIRO Planning Board meeting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 512 Main Street, Cairo (622-3120).
CHATHAM Planning Board meeting, 7 p.m. at 488 Route 295, Chatham (392-3262).
COPAKE Board of Ethics, 7 p.m.; Comprehensive Planning Comm., 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 230 Mt. View Road, Copake (329-1234)
COXSACKIE Town board at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, Reed St., Coxsackie (731-2727).

Second Wednesday of the month
VILLAGE OF ATHENS Board meets at 6:30 p.m at the Athens Community Center, 2 First St., Athens (945-1551).
CLERMONT Planning Board meets at Town Hall at 7 p.m. at 1795 Route 9, Clermont (537-6868).
COLUMBIA COUNTY holds a full Board of Supervisors meeting at 7:30 p.m. at 401 State St. in Hudson.
COPAKE Resource Advisory Committee meeting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 230 Mt. View Road, Copake (329-1234).
GHENT Planning Board Application meeting and Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, 7 p.m. both at Town Hall, 2306 State Route 66, Ghent (392-4644).
HUDSON Planning Committee meets at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 520 Warren Street, Hudson (828-1030).
JEWETT Town meeting at 7 p.m., at Municipal Bldg. 3547 Co. Rt. 23C (263-4626).
KINDERHOOK Town's 9 & 9H Corridor Committee meets at 7 p.m. at at Town Hall, 4 Church St, Niverville (784-2233).
KINDERHOOK Village Board meeting and budget hearing, 7 p.m. at 6 Chatham Street, Kinderhook (758-9882).

Second Thursday of the month
CHATHAM Village meeting at 7:30 p.m. at Village Hall, 77 Main Street, Chatham (392-5821).
COPAKE Town Board meeting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 230 Mountainview Road, Copake (329-1234).
GALLATIN Town Board meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 667 Route 7, Ancram (398-7519).
GREENE COUNTY Finance & Audit committee meets at 5 p.m. at County Building, 411 Main St., Catskill (719-3270).
KINDERHOOK Planning Board Workshop meeting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 4 Church St, Niverville (784-2233).
LIVINGSTON Town board meets at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 119 County Route 19.
STUYVESANT Town board meets at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 5 Sunset Drive, Stuyvesant (758-6248).
TANNERSVILLE Village trustees meet at 7 p.m. in their Village Hall on Route 23A.
WINDHAM Town board meets at 8 p.m. at Town Hall, 371 State Rt. 296, Hensonville (734-4170).

Second Friday of the month
HUDSON Historic Preservation Commission at 10 a.m., 520 Warren Street, Hudson (828-1030).

Third Monday of the month
ATHENS Town meeting at 6:45 p.m. at Town Hall, 2 First Street, Athens (734-3636).
AUSTERLITZ Comprehensive plan meeting at 7 p.m., at 812 Route 203, Austerlitz (392-3260).
CANAAN Planning board meeting at 7 p.m., at Town Hall, 1647 Route 5 South, Canaan (781-3144).
GERMANTOWN Town Board meets at 7 p.m., at Town Hall, 50 Palatine Park Road, Germantown (537-6687).
GREENE COUNTY 6 p.m. meetings of Government Ops and Finance committees, plus party caucuses at County Building, 411 Main St., Catskill (719-3270).
GREENVILLE Town Board meeting at 7:30 p.m. at Town Offices, corner of routes 32 and 81, Greenville (966-8276).

Third Tuesday of the month
COLUMBIA COUNTY Health and Medical Services Committee meets at 4 p.m. at 401 State St. in Hudson.
DURHAM Town Board meets at 7:30 p.m. at Town Building, 7309 State Rt. 81, East Durham (239-8260).
HILLSDALE Meeting at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall on Main Street (325-5073).
HUDSON 5 p.m. Finance Committee meeting; 7 p.m. Regular Common Council meeting at City Hall, 520 Warren Street, Hudson (828-1030).
HUNTER Meeting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 5748 Route 23A, Tannersville (589-6150).
LEXINGTON Town board meeting at 7 p.m., at Municipal Building, 3542 Route 42, Lexington, (986-6303).
TAGHKANIC Planning Board workshop meeting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall on Route 82 in West Taghkanic (851-7638).

Third Wednesday of the month
CATSKILL at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 439 Main St., Catskill.
COLUMBIA COUNTY Human Services meeting at 4 p.m. at County Office Building, 401 State Street, Hudson.
GHENT Planning Board session at 7 p.m., at Town Hall, 2306 State Route 66, Ghent (392-4644).
GREENE COUNTY Legislature meeting at 6:30 p.m. at County Building, 411 Main St., Catskill (719-3270).
HUDSON Zoning Board of Appeals meeting at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 520 Warren Street, Hudson (828-1030).

Third Thursday of the month
ANCRAM Board meeting at 7 p.m. in Town Hall at 1416 County Rte. 7, Ancram (329-6512).
CHATHAM Town Board meeting at 7 p.m. Town Hall, 488 State Route 295, Chatham (392-3262).
COLUMBIA COUNTY Public Safety Committee meeting at 6 p.m. at County Office Building, 401 State Street, Hudson.
COPAKE Comprehensive Planning Committee meeting at 7:30 p.m., at Town Hall, 230 Mt. View Road, Copake (329-1234).
DURHAM Town board meeting at 7:30 p.m. in Town Building, 7309 State Rt. 81, East Durham.
GHENT Town Board meeting at the Ghent Town Hall, 2306 State Route 66, Ghent (392-4644).
HUDSON Common Council Economic Development Committee meeting, 6 p.m. at City Hall, 520 Warren Street, Hudson (828-1030).
KINDERHOOK Planning Board meets at 7 p.m. Town Hall, 4 Church St, Niverville (784-2233).
WINDHAM Town board meets at 8 p.m. at Town Hall, 371 State Rt. 296, Hensonville (734-4170).

Third Friday of the month

Fourth Monday of the month
CATSKILL Village board meeting at 7 p.m. at Firehouse near Catskill Commons (Wal Mart) (943-3830).
COLUMBIA COUNTY Board of Supervisors’ Economic Development/Planning/Tourism/Agriculture/Transportation Committee Meeting, 5 p.m at 401 State St., Hudson.
HALCOTT Town meeting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 813 Route 3, Halcott Center (845-254-9920)
HUDSON Common Council Police Committee Meeting, 6 p.m. at City Hall; Fire Committee Meeting at 6:45 p.m., at City Hall, 520 Warren Street, Hudson (828-1030).
PHILMONT Local Development Corp meeting at 7 p.m., Village Hall, 124 Main St., Philmont (672-7032).
STUYVESANT Planning Board meeting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 5 Sunset Drive, Stuyvesant (758-6248).

Fourth Tuesday of the month
GREENPORT Planning Board meeting, 7:30 p.m. at Greenport Town Hall, Town Hall Drive, Hudson (828-4656).
HUDSON Common Council Economic Development Committee meeting, 6 p.m. at City Hall, 520 Warren Street, Hudson (828-1030).

Fourth Wednesday of the month
ATHENS Village meeting at 7 p.m. at Community Center, 2 First St., Athens (945-1551).
CAIRO at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 512 Main St., Cairo (622-3120).*
COLUMBIA COUNTY Public Works Committee at 6 p.m. at County Office Building, 401 State Street, Hudson.
HUDSON Common Council Public Works Committee meeting at 6 p.m.; Legal Committee meeting starts at 6:45 p.m at City Hall, 520 Warren Street, Hudson (828-1030).
HUDSON Development Corporation meeting (tentative) at 2 p.m. at 1 North Front St., Hudson (751-1044).
KINDERHOOK Historical Committee meeting at 7 p.m., Town Hall, 4 Church St, Niverville (784-2233).

Fourth Thursday of the month
CHATHAM Village Board meeting at 7:30 p.m. at Village Hall, 77 Main Street, Chatham (392-5821).
COLUMBIA COUNTY Budget/Salary Committee at 10:00 a.m.
Public Works Committee at 6 p.m. at County Office Building, 401 State Street, Hudson.
COPAKE Zoning Board of Appeals meeting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 230 Mt. View Road, Copake (329-1234).
GERMANTOWN Planning Board meeting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 50 Palatine Park Road, Germantown (537-6687).
STUYVESANT Greenway Committee meeting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 5 Sunset Drive, Stuyvesant (758-6248).
WINDHAM Town Board meets at 8 p.m. at Town Hall, 371 State Rt. 296, Hensonville (734-4170).

Fourth Friday of the month
CLERMONT Zoning Board of Appeals, 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall, 1795 Route 9, Clermont (537-6868).
HUDSON Historic Preservation Committee at 10 a.m. at City Hall, 520 Warren Street, Hudson (828-1030).

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="258" caption="Hudson High, from their website."][/caption]John Mason in Register-Star reports on the special meeting of the Hudson Board of Education 7 p.m. this Monday to discuss recent events in Hudson schools and school board meetings. From the Register-Star:

"During the week of Nov. 15-19, there were 'four assaults and two other highly disruptive incidents with large crowds,' High School Co-Principal Tom Gavin told the school board Nov. 22. At least seven students were suspended, at least five superintendent’s hearings were scheduled, and the school was shut down into a shelter mode for the final two periods of Nov. 18’s scheduled half-day.'

Then on Nov. 22, Gavin reportedly threatened another assistant principal [Steven Spicer] during a school board meeting, resulting in Gavin's suspension. "A board resolution that evening to create a community task force to address the problem failed by a three-to-two vote.... Peter Meyer, who proposed the resolution, Jeff Otty and Peter Merante voted yes, Elizabeth Fout and Mary Daly voted no, and [Board President Emil] Meister abstained," Mason reported. There are currently 30 comments from the public on the original Register-Star story about the school board incident. The larger story reported at unmuffled, the blog with the Twitter feed that first reported the incident between assistant principals, is how an audit by the Office of the State Comptroller found the Hudson City School District failed to claim eligible special education services of nearly half a million dollars during the 2008-09 school year, meaning the district lost an estimated $115,064 in reimbursement revenue, according to a report released late last week. Perhaps that will be addressed at the meeting in the cafeteria at John L. Edwards Primary School, 360 State St., behind the Hudson Library.

Just as both Catskill and Hudson start to look at new ways of spurring economic development by reworking their waterfronts, the Register Star has a front page stry today on Scenic Hudson's new guide for such work.

"Communities throughout the region recognize that Hudson River waterfronts offer rich opportunities for economic development, recreation, environmental health and scenic beauty. These multiple values make the valley’s Hudson waterfronts hotspots for revitalization. But they also can create battlegrounds where competing priorities must be resolved," the paper writes. "Scenic Hudson has created a new, practical how-to guide with strategies that can bring interested groups together to reinvent our precious waterfronts into powerful community assets."

"Revitalizing Hudson Riverfronts: Illustrated Conservation & Development Strategies for Creating Healthy, Prosperous Communities” aims to help local officials, planners, developers and concerned citizens realize the full potential of their shorelines. Written to be helpful to riverfront communities of all sizes, “Revitalizing Hudson Riverfronts” presents an economically sustainable and environmentally sound vision for waterfronts throughout the valley.



The Scenic Hudson publication illustrates for communities how to create publicly accessible, pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use waterfronts in municipal centers while protecting ecologically important natural areas and iconic views. The book offers tools that will enable municipalities to focus on development in areas with existing infrastructure close to transportation hubs and concentrate water-dependent commerce along the river—marinas, maritime museums, fishing operations, etc. Strategies in the guide are aimed at attracting visitors and permanent residents to downtowns, spurring new business opportunities.

The guide may be one of the first published to include strategies to help municipalities prepare for and head off the impacts of sea-level rise associated with climate change.

“Revitalizing Hudson Riverfronts” includes practical strategies to help communities minimize damage to private property, public utilities and facilities as sea levels rise with climate change. By keeping critical infrastructure out of the way of rising sea levels, implementing green stormwater technologies and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, communities can lower risks and costs to their citizens while improving access and natural resource health along the river.

One of the book’s most important recommendations is to create a continuous riverfront greenway corridor extending inland to the 100-year floodplain. In addition to providing public access to the river, the greenway would allow for the conservation of critical wildlife habitat and offer a buffer from flooding and storm surges. The book also points to resources for restoring and rehabilitating wetlands and other natural areas, and safeguarding the quality of groundwater, critical for protecting communities’ drinking-water supplies.

“Revitalizing Hudson Riverfronts” features six chapters, 80 photographs and 30 drawings and maps that vividly illustrate strategies discussed in the text. It also offers links to dozens of additional online resources as well as an appendix of local ordinances that have helped communities across the state create more economically vibrant, environmentally healthy waterfronts.

The book is available online at www.revitalizinghudsonriverfronts.org.

The Watershed Post has an update on a story that's been percolating around the region for years, involving the rural Delaware Electric Cooperative's wish to adapt European technological advences to New York City's reservoir system upstate, generating local power via mini-generators in gravity-fueled waqter tunnels.

Implications ae that the system could eventually be adapted to all municipal water and sewer systems for energy creation. Talk about powering the lights every time one flushes!

"After being courted for years by an upstate electric cooperative seeking to develop hydropower on city-owned dams, the agency that runs New York City's water supply says it finally wants to tango. But it may be too late," the Watershed Post reports this morning. "In a press release issued on Monday, the agency announced that it is looking for partners in the private sector to help them develop hydroelectric power on four reservoirs: the Schoharie, Cannonsville, Pepacton, and Neversink."

The obvious candidate to build the generators would seem to be the Delaware County Electric Cooperative, a nonprofit, cooperatively-owned electric utility that has long sought to develop hydropower on the reservoirs, and that has been in negotiations with the DEP for years over the issue. A 2008 proposal by the DCEC to use water already spilling over the dams to generate up to 63 megawatts of power earned strong political support at both the local and state level, including support from Congressman Maurice Hinchey and U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer.

But after a long and unsuccessful effort to convince the DEP to allow it to develop the reservoirs, the DCEC has little stomach to do further battle with the agency. In an interview with the Watershed Post yesterday, CEO Greg Starheim said that while the DCEC has not made a decision on whether to respond to the DEP's open call to developers, he doubts the cooperative would want to enter into another round of negotiations with the city.

“This has been an enormously costly and time-consuming proposition for our membership. I don't see that as a very viable and smart thing for us to do,” he said.

And though the DEP appears to be welcoming private developers with open arms, Starheim has little faith that the agency has any real interest in developing power on the reservoirs.

“The city has considered hydroelectric generation at some of the facilities in the past, going back thirty years ago. And they've always abandoned those pursuits,” he said. “We have tried extensively to negotiate with the city and have not been successful.”

For the full story click HERE.

Responding to a Freedom of Information Law request, the state Department of Environmental Conservation has provided the Adirondack Enterprise with a list of DEC positions that are slated to be eliminated by the end of the year. The list includes 134 positions, including 45 from the state-run Belleayre Mountain Ski Center in the Catskills. The DEC has about 3,150 employees before the layoffs, according to the state Division of Budget.

Apart from the Belleayre changes, where the state is saying it is adamant about shifting all but 13 employees from fll to part=time and seasonal employment, the only regional cuts are in Albany and Saratoga.

These proposed cuts are part of Gov. David Paterson's workforce reduction plan that includes laying off about 900 state employees to save $250 million.

The DEC cuts are in addition to the 260 employees who took advantage of the early retirement incentive offered this year. If the layoffs happen, that would mean the DEC's workforce would lose 394 employees statewide this year, between the layoffs and early retirement program.

This layoff list is likely not the final one. More positions could be affected because employees with seniority have the ability to "bump" other people with less seniority, state Division of Budget spokesman Erik Kriss said.

Next up, DMV, Parks and other departmental cuts closer to our Columbia-Greene home here...

For the full list and story, click HERE.

Text message helps pair alert rescuers after canoe overturns in Tivoli Bays
Daily Freeman story about rescue.

Seafood raised on land
New York Times story on Local Ocean, a Hudson business that raises sea fish in a former industrial building.

Trading on sentiment at Dominick Dunne’s estate sale
New York Times story on the Stair's auction last weekend in Hudson.

Paterson on WAMC
The outgoing Governor of New York takes questions from the public on the radio, and speaks out against hydraulic fracturing.

Shopping: Pookstyle peps up Park Row
Rural Intelligence covers opening of new store in Chatham.

Birthdays
Nov. 26 birthdays include George Segal, Tina Turner, and Chuck Eddy.

When you phone 911, the expectation is that bad situations will be made right again…and fast. But it’s not always so. Human mistakes happen, including communication breakdowns and simple misunderstandings. Response times get muddled by darkness, weather and, occasionally, even semantics. There are matters of confusion that arise over jurisdictional responsibilities.

Consider the death of 21-year-old art student Christopher Brennan in the Shandaken woods on November 1. It was decided, when they found his body two days later, that he succumbed to exposure. And it left both the young man’s father and a local property owner searching for answers and questioning the system.

This all in a story I have written for The Woodstock Tmes, to be found by clicking HERE...

ULSTER COUNTY -- A report today from Jay Braman of the Kingston Daily Freeman, on the state's refusal to shift stream on its plans to make a majority of full time jobs at state-owned and Department of Environmental Conservation-run Belleayre Mountain Ski Center part time and seasonal , indicates a growing intransigence on the state's part towards the 900 plus job cuts it is instituting as cost-saving measures over the coming month.

"Despite protests from local residents and officials, the state says it isn’t reconsidering its plan to turn as many as 45 full-time employees of the Belleayre Mountain Ski Center into seasonal workers who will be laid off when the current ski season ends," Braman writes. "Although Belleayre is owned and operated by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, that agency’s spokesman, Yancey Roy, said it’s not the one wielding the ax.

Erik Kriss, a spokesman for the state Division of the Budget, did not mince words, Braman reports.

“There hasn’t been a change in the plan, and there won’t be,” Kriss said when asked if the department had reconsidered the plan after last week’s Assembly Oversight Committee hearing on the matter.

More than 50 local residents and supporters of Belleayre Mountain had traveled to Albany last week to protest the elimination of so many permanent jobs at the ski center.

According to Joe Kelly, the chairman of the Coalition for Belleayre, the result leaves the ski area where it was when he started pushing for its expansion, and better treatment, 43 years ago.

Which further raises questions about whether the state will ever complete the "Agreement in Principal" former governor Eliot Spitzer signed with a local developer to help spur the creation of a mega-resort at the mountain, stalled since 2007 as all parties seek to complete cooperative planning for the Belleayre Resort, as well as a DEC expansion, as well as concurrent environmental review.

Braman quotes state legislators covering the Belleayre area vowing to continue their fight for the state-owned ski center, which has long been pegged as an economic development engine for the central Catskills.

But from what the Office of Budget's season, such actions may end up being more political than ultimately beneficial.

For the full story click HERE.

Kathy Stevens, the founder and director of the Catskill Animal Sanctuary in Saugerties, has an essay about her turkeys, and the video above, perfect for Thanksgiving viewing, up on Huffington Post. H/T Watershed Post.

ATHENS - Melanie Lekocevic of The Daily Mail reports today that officials in the Village of Athens voted 3-2 recently to dissolve the Athens Village Court and send all their cases to the Town Court, and that other moves ae underway towards consolidations of the two municipalities.

There have been similar discussions in the Village of Catskill in recent years. Greene County alspo maintains village giovernments in Coxsackie, Hunter and Tannersville, where consolidation talks have been rarer and more sporadic over recent decades.

The decision in Athens, Lekovic reports, was split in a 2-2 tie, and Mayor Andrea Smallwood served as the tie-breaker by voting in favor of the move. In addition to Smallwood, Village Trustees Herman Reinhold and Gail Lasher voted for the resolution, with Trustees Robert June and Tom Sopris voting against it. The winning rationale was that the move will save the village money. Opponents wondered whether town judges would know village residents coming before their courts as well.

In 2009, the court brought in $10,185 in revenue – mostly from fines and tickets – and spent $15,556 on expenses, meaning it operated at a $5,371 deficit. Expenses include the cost of salaries for the two court employees, social security, retirement contributions, supplies, the court’s software service and the like.

The court will be dissolved effective March 31, 2011.

Once that happens, village court cases will be heard by the two town justices, currently the Hon. Connie Pazin and Hon. James Robinson. The village would still receive the revenue generated by village cases.

The majority of village court cases involve speeding tickets, DWI and domestic violence. Smallwood said she spoke with the town justices and they said they would be able to pick up the additional workload.

Smallwood added that the village would form a “consolidation committee”, and would ask the town to appoint several of its members, to look at other ways in which the two municipalities could trim costs by consolidating services.

For the full story click HERE.

CATSKILL - Colin DeVries follows up on last weekend's report about an accepted bid out of auction for the closed-down and bankrupt Friar Tuck Inn in Kiskatom with a report in today's Daily Mail that notes sources connected to the auction are now saying that a binding deal has not yet been made.

Michael Shaughnessy, executive vice president of Ulster Savings Bank, said Wednesday that the potential buyer had 15 days from the close of auction to decide on the purchase.

“We’re still waiting,” he said during a phone interview yesterday noting that more details could emerge about the potential purchaser by Monday, Dec. 6.



Though a single bid of $2,580,000 was declared the winner after the auction closed Nov. 18, multiple groups are still “vying” for the hotel, according to auction firm Jones Lang LaSalle. Mark Von Dwingelo, auctioneer of Jones Lang LaSalle, said there was “a ton of interest” and that there was no firm deadline to close the deal, though the auction terms call for closing within 30 days of bidding.

Among the groups interested, Von Dwingelo confirmed local speculation that a “religious-oriented” group was among the prospective buyers. It was originally reported the prospective buyer was a real estate investment group. The auction did not include the contiguous timeshare properties currently involved in a Chapter 7 liquidation proceeding.

The Friar Tuck resort, which became a popular regional resort after its founding in 1971, has been in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings since spring 2009. The bank repossessed the property in April following a failed Chapter 11 reorganization process.

The $2.5 million bid will result in a loss for Ulster Savings Bank, Shaughnessy said. More than $3.2 million in mortgage debt to Ulster Savings Bank was cited in bankruptcy court filings.

DeVries adds that a court-ordered live bankruptcy auction held in November 2009 yielded only a phoned-in $4.5 million bid from Caterpillar Lawn Service, Inc., an Oklahoma City entity with a shaky tax history and little-known assets. Owner of that Oklahoma business, Joseph Abbo, a residential real estate agent, said he was interested in getting into the Northeast resort business but could not come up with the millions of dollars he promised. The deal, orchestrated by local real estate company Win Morrison Realty, eventually failed after weeks of negotiations.

Similar efforts to sell the Nevele Hotel outside of the Ulster County village of Ellenville have been similarly sent back into limbo in recent years, but usually because of legal, zoning and facilities problems that arise during closings.

And efforts to sell a number of larger hotels in Sullivan County have ended up nowhere as buyers drop following acceptance f their bids.

For more on this story in the Daily Mail, click HERE.

Michael Gormley has a major Associated Press story out today that's carried top and center by the Kingston Daily Freeman trumpeting the fact that the proportion of New Yorkers with health insurance provided by their employers has plummeted, according to a new study. At the same time, government-subsidized care is taking on a record load, slowing the state’s economic recovery and likely leaving more families uncovered for at least months.

The rising cost of Medicaid-paid health care is a major driver of the state government’s rising deficits, which are forcing cuts in education and other services and prompting layoffs that further slow the economy.

Meanwhile, the private sector is sagging under the cost of providing health care, with 66 percent of companies saying they are struggling a great deal or somewhat to maintain coverage for employees. One in five companies avoided hiring because of healthcare costs, according to the study’s survey, and one in four companies either reduced or froze wages to pay for health care.

The report from the New York State Health Foundation said just 58 percent of New Yorkers are now covered by employer-sponsored health care. That’s down from 69 percent in 2001 after decades of gains.



Although 70 percent of employers continue to offer healthcare coverage in New York, fewer employees are eligible for the coverage, more costs have been shifted to workers often faced with fewer choices of care, and fewer employees are choosing to buy into coverage that’s available.

The study also found that in 2009, health insurance premiums increased by 7.3 percent in New York state and that 66 percent of companies in the state said they were struggling to provide health insurance for their workers. The foundation was created with charitable funds from the Legislature’s approval of the privatization of Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield a decade ago and aims to increase access to affordable, high-quality health care.

The study released earlier this month found employer-based healthcare coverage is about 10 percent higher in New York than the national average and an average co-payment for a non-preferred drug rose form $19 in 2001 to $46 in 2009.


The federal law is expected to expand coverage to 32 million Americans who now are uninsured. It also greatly expands the Medicaid program for the poor.

A year ago, 4.3 million New Yorkers received health coverage through Medicaid and its many programs that serve the poor, the working poor, and children under the Family Health Plus program. Now there are 4.7 million receiving Medicaid-paid services.

For the full story, which seems to back up previous calls for strengthening rather than weakening health care reform, and adding a "public option," click HERE...

[caption id="attachment_4232" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="by Gus Murphy"][/caption].

Sheriff lieutenant shot hunter Saturday in Cairo
Andrea Macko in The Greenville Mountain View Pioneer reports the hunter, Robert Warrings of Cairo, who was shot on Blackhead Mountain Saturday, was shot by Greene County Sheriff's Lieutenant Kenneth Leis. [The Pioneer does not have a website to link.] Macko says a spokesperson for the New York Department of Environmental Conservation says Leis told authorities he was shooting at a fisher cat, a small animal that can be trapped but not shot. "According to sources, Leis fired several shots at Warrings, some of which came very close to Warrings' head," Macko wrote. "Sources also said Warrings confronted Leis after the shots were fired and that the two men, who were acquainted prior to the incident, exchanged words." Leis hit Warrings in his backpack, which saved him from injury.

Toddler's father seeks $11 million from town and county
Andrea Macko in The Greenville Mountain View Pioneer (no website) reports John Davies, the father of the toddler who drowned this summer at an unlicensed day care facility in Greenville is suing the town and Greene County for $11 million. Davies' suit claims the town and county allowed the unlicensed operation of the facility, failed to investigate complaints or inspect the facilitiy or follow rules for child care facilities.

Taghkanic taxes going up 11 percent after town left state fund
Debora Gilbert in The Columbia Paper reports the Taghkanic town board approved an 11 percent tax increase with the 2011 town budget November 16. She writes:

"Expenditures next year include an $18,256 for the town's contribution to the state unemployment system due to the firing of an individual who was earning the salary as a machinery and equipment operator though he did not have a commercial driver's license. The license is a state requirement. The town's liability, which was not discovered until the individual filed for unemployment and the board started receiving bills from the state Labor Department, arose because the town opted out of paying into the state unemployment fund. As a result, when a claim is filed it is on its own for its share of the payments. A search to determine the history of the opt-out decision, which may have been made in 1996 or before, has so far proved unsuccessful. The roughly $30,000 that could be paid out by the town over two years in unemployment claims effectively erases any gains by the Town Board's last minute belt-tightening measures. Cuts included slashing all salary increases, cutting library contributions in half, cuts to consultants, and the elimination of funds for town beautification and celebration. The total town expenditures for the general fund and Highway Department come to $1.1 million. The amount to be raised by taxes next year is $670, 162, up from just over $600,000 in the current fiscal year. The tax rate in the new budget comes to $2.07 per $1,000 of assessed value, up from $1.86 in the current budget."

Rensselaerville passes budget with slight tax decrease
Andrea Macko in The Greenville Mountain View Pioneer (no website) reports the Rensselaerville town board passed its 2011 budget Nov. 17, with a tax decrease of one-tenth of one percent. The 2011 budget is $1,933,618, down from $2,038,029 in 2010. Councilwoman Marion Cooke voted against the budget, while the Supervisor Marie Dermody, and council members Gary Chase, Dale Dorner, and John Kudlack approved. Cooke questioned borrowing money from the highway fund for the general budget. The board also passed a motion unanimously to freeze spending, though the story does not say for how long.

Birthdays
Nov. 25 birthdays include Ba Jin, Bucky Dent, and Erick Sermon.

Toby Rogers of the Daily Mail has a great story today that gets at some of the surreal oddities of the deigital age as it bashes into local politics. In New Baltimore, it turns out, Town Councilman Art Byas told Rogers on Tuesday that he "obtained the private information of 54 town employees from Sally Russo, who originally received the inadvertent email from Town Supervisor Susan O’Rorke."

"It was a turnabout from Monday’s town board meeting, where Byas declined to explain how he got the information," the story goes on. “Two people gave it to me, one of them was Sally Russo.” Byas said Tuesday.

Byas said at Monday’s regular Town Board work meeting that he has not destroyed the email accidentally sent by O’Rorke in October to seven town employees and Russo, who was the only unauthorized person who received it.

Russo could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Byas, one of two Republicans on the town council, who said he does not have an email address, refused to explain to the board how exactly he got the information. He said his attorney advised him not to divulge to the board or the public at large just how or why he obtained the information.


Councilman Chris Norris asked Byas on Monday if he had destroyed the information as Town Attorney David Wukitsch requested of everyone who had received it. Byas replied: “My attorney advised me not to.”

At the Nov. 8 meeting, Byas requested an executive session with the other board members. Councilman Christopher Norris said he could not comment on what happened in the executive session.

Town Clerk Janet Brooks also said she could not comment on the executive session.

Norris asked Byas at the end of the public part of the Nov. 8 meeting if he had the emails in his possession. Byas acknowledged he did, but was waiting “on my attorney’s advice” on how to handle the matter.

O’Rorke, who has apologized to every town employee affected by the matter in writing and in public, was instructed by Wukitsch to tell all members to delete and destroy all copies of the email from their computers.

Everyone said they had, except Byas. O’Rorke said she also got in touch with the state Attorney General’s office over the matter. An Attorney General’s office representative is expected to be present at the Dec. 1 meeting.

Even if Byas was told to destroy the email, he said he would not have anyway. “If everything is destroyed, there is no evidence of anything,” he said.

Byas also said he is out of the loop on some things because O’Rorke has blocked access to his mail. “She illegally held my mail for a month,” he said.

Councilwoman Barbara Finke said Tuesday that if the entire matter had been handled correctly from the beginning, the board wouldn’t be saddled with the issue now.

When asked if she felt comfortable with Byas keeping and the information instead of deleting it, Finke said, “I don’t know if he has the information or not. If his attorney told him not to destroy the information, I can’t override that.”

When asked to name his attorney, Byas said, “I don’t want to say. It’s a private attorney.”

O’Rorke said she is puzzled by Byas’ behavior since the email was inadvertently sent and a public apology was made. “If Art is so concerned about the privacy of the town’s employees, then why would he leak it to the media?” O’Rorke said.