The application deadline is May 15, 2010.  Visit www.accord-kerhonkson.com for an application.

 

Bret Adams Memorial Scholarship for the Performing Arts

The Bret Adams Memorial Scholarship for the Performing Arts is funded by Mr. Adams' partner, Paul Reisch and their son Anthany Rojas.  The $1,500 scholarship will be awarded to a graduating high school senior from the Town of Rochester who has demonstrated a strong dedication and serious interest in the performing arts.  The scholarship will be awarded under the auspices of a Scholarship Committee appointed by the RRA. 

Mr. Adams was a successful literary and talent agent and a long time resident of Accord.

 

Rochester Residents Association Community Scholarship

The $1,000 Rochester Residents Association Community Scholarship will be awarded to a graduating high school senior from the Town of Rochester who demonstrates leadership and academic promise.  The scholarship will be awarded under the auspices of a Scholarship Committee appointed by the RRA and is funded by the RRA's members.

The Board of Assessment Review of the Town of Rochester will hold its annual Grievance Day on Tuesday, May 25, 2010 between the hours of 4:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at Town Hall, with a scheduled adjournment on Saturday, June 5, 2010 available only by appointment for property owners who wish to and are unable to meet on May 25th.

 

Town Assessor Cynthia Stokes will maintain an appointment schedule for taxpayers, however, appointments are not required for the May 25th session of Grievance Day; appointments for the June 5 session must be made on or before May 25th and all necessary grievance complaint forms must be filed on or prior to May 25th. 

 

Taxpayers who wish to file an assessment complaint may obtain complaint forms from the Assessor’s Office or download them from:

http://www.orps.state.ny.us/ref/forms/pdf/rp524.pdf  with associated instructions at:

http://www.orps.state.ny.us/pamphlet/complain/howtofile/whattodo.pdf

 

It is not necessary for taxpayers to present their complaints in person.  Completed complaint forms may be mailed to the Assessors Office, Town of Rochester, PO Box 65, Accord, NY 12404, however, correctly completed complaint forms must be physically received by the Assessor’s Office prior to 8:30 p.m. on May 25, 2010.  Submissions may also be made by fax (626-3702), however, we cannot guarantee receipt and it is the taxpayer’s responsibility to ensure that the form is received by the specified deadline.

 

For more information, property owners may contact the Assessor’s Office at 626-0920

The life and legacy of sculptor Bradford Graves will be honored with the Bradford Graves Sculpture Park, which will open May 1 in Kerhonkson.

Graves created horizontal slabs and totemic blocks, showing an appreciation for ancient sculpture and structure, while nodding to his idea of the placement of stone. Some of his most famous works are part of the series "This Mirror Can Crack a Stone." At the park, a "Mirror Pavilion" will show how Graves (died 1998) compares somewhat closely to prehistoric man.

Graves had shown in New York City primarily, and recently in Woodstock. In 2009, the Samuel Dorsky Museum in New Paltz offered some of his work.

The park is off Route 209 in Kerhonkson. It'll be open until October, and by appointment. Admission is free. Call 626-4038. You may also visit www.bradfordgravessculpturepark.com

OSI acquired the 300-year old 140 acre farm (also known as the Sykes Farm) on Route 209 in Accord.  The farm, which extends to Airport Road and includes the former “airport”, from Whitfield Road, will be kept in agricultural production and the two stone houses are expected to be sold with conservation easements that will protect the land from further development.  To date, OSI has protected more than 100,000 acres in New York State, including the Lundy Estate in Wawarsing, as well as 3,200 acres in the Rondout and Wallkill Valleys.  Overall, OSI has assisted in the protection of an additional 1.7 million acres in Maine, NH, NJ, NC and GA.  OSI recently joined with local partner Rondout-Esopus Land Conservancy to work together on local projects.  Visit www.osiny.org for more information

ROSENDALE – The Pepsi Refresh Challenge website has posted that the Rosendale Theatre Collective as "Ranked First in the $50,000 challenge" for their "Refreshing Idea for Arts and Culture." The Collective's presence on the Pepsi site, formerly a place to vote, now states that "the Collective is a finalist for the grant" along with posting that "Voting ended on April 30th."

This $50,000 grant award is projected to make the Collective's vision of purchasing the Rosendale Theatre a reality.

The Pepsi Fresh Challenge project started when the company decided to abandon its $33-million advertising plan for the 2010 Superbowl. Instead of paying for expensive commercial time during the Superbowl's airing, Pepsi decided to put its money towards a more magnanimous purpose — to help small, community-minded businesses.

In January, Pepsi started accepting grant applications from individuals, non-profits and pro-social businesses deciding to accept only 1,000 ideas on a monthly basis. Grants are being awarded to the top vote-getters at each month's end. Then the process starts "fresh" again with the beginning of the next month.

With their "community cause" affirmed as "I want to Preserve a local movie theater and revitalize our main street," the Rosendale Theatre Collective entered the contest and was chosen as a competitor in the April Challenge.

The need for daily voters spread like wild fire. Emails were sent out and forwarded as well as many Facebook announcements. The Collective's own website posted the quest complete with a YouTube video featuring activities they wished to keep going in the beloved theatre. The pursuit for voters mushroomed throughout the community — the country — and the worldwide web.

When the Collective first vied to purchase the theatre in the fall of 2008, they vowed to preserve what the theater had provided the community, keeping with the Cacchio family's history of supporting independent filmmakers, artists and civil and human rights organizations. The family had provided high-quality art films, and provided a community venue for local organizations to hold fundraising events, with the Cacchios, most of the time, offering the venue at no cost.

The Collective's top finalist ranking in the Pepsi Fresh Challenge is not the only reason that it will soon meet its goal for a down payment on the theatre purchase — it's also due to many months of fundraising efforts, private donations and selfless volunteerism to preserve the theatre's status as a cultural center and heart of the town's businesses.

For more information, volunteer or make a donation — go online to www.rosendaletheatre.org. (Shawangunk Journal 5/6/10)

KYSERIKE — Over the last two years, the number of homeless students in the Rondout Valley school district has nearly quadrupled, according to district officials.

During a presentation to the Board of Education on Tuesday, Deputy Superintendent Timothy Wade said in the 2007-08 school year, there were six homeless students in the district.

That increased to 19 in 2008-09, he said, and to 23 in 2009-10 for a district that serves a total of 2,450 students.

Wade believes the state of the economy has fueled the increase in the number of students without permanent homes, and, following the meeting, Wade said he expects the trend to continue.

Trustee James Ayers noted the figure does not include younger children who are not yet school-aged.

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act requires school districts to identify homeless students and provide assistance. When the district finds out students are homeless, Wade said they are put on free or reduced lunch, and guidance counselors can help out with supplies.

Homeless students can include those who live in transitional shelters, abandoned structures, or those who have lost their permanent homes and are “doubling up” with another family, perhaps if their homes have been foreclosed on, said Wade.

The most significant cost associated with helping homeless students is transportation, noted Wade.

When most of them find temporary housing, they can be moved to another school bus at no additional cost.

However, the Department of Social Services assigns out-of-district housing to a family, and in that case, Wade said the district must provide transportation up to 50 miles until the family finds regular housing. He said those students are generally seniors who are close to graduation.

In the current school year, six of the 23 students fit into that category. To take students to MidWay of Ellenville, a transitional housing site, for 71 days, it cost the district $13,627, he said.

For 68 days of transportation to the Budget 19 in Kingston, it cost the district $13,051, and for four days to the town of Kingston, it cost $768.

Following the meeting, school board President Gail Hutchins said it is “horrifying” to hear so many more students are in families without permanent homes.

Hutchins said while 50 miles may sound like a long distance to take students to schools, she can empathize because “when your whole life is falling apart around you, sometimes you need consistency.”  (Freeman 4/28/10)

The Rondout Valley Central School District Board of Education voted 7-2 at its April 13 meeting to adopt a $61 million operating budget for the 2010-11 school year.  Voters will vote to accept or reject the budget at a School Budget Vote on May 18^th.  If voters reject the budget, a $58.8 million contingency budget will be in effect.

 

The budget includes the elimination of 14 positions at all three school levels (elementary, middle and high schools), mostly through attrition.  It also includes a 4% pay hike for teachers and staffers and allocates $4 million for its unrestricted fund balance, eliminating the surplus in that account and restoring it to the statutory 4%.  The budget also proposes to hire a full-time grant writer at an annual salary of $83,000; opponents suggested sharing a grant writer with an adjacent district or assigning the task to existing administrators.

 

Despite the series of annual budget increases, enrollment at the district has declined steadily. In 2000, there were 3,007 pupils, while in 2005 there were 2,823.  An enrollment study commissioned by the district projects enrollment of 2,291 students in 2010-11, 1,989 in 2015 and 1,736 in 2020. 

 

 

To obtain an absentee ballot application for the budget vote and school board election, visit: http://www.accord-kerhonkson.com/SchoolDistrictAbsenteeApplication.pdf

KYSERIKE — The four candidates vying for three open seats on the Rondout Valley Board of Education agree that getting a handle on the district’s finances is a top priority.

Michael Redmond, who served on the school board for three terms before he lost a re-election bid last year, is the lone challenger to incumbent trustees William Oliva, Christopher Kelder and Lennart Berg. Each of the three seats to be filled has a three-year term.

 

“THE MAIN issue is balancing costs with declining enrollment,” said Berg, 46, who was elected to a one-year term last May and is the board’s current vice president. Berg said the district needs to perform a cost-benefit analysis of its programs to determine what is working and what is not, an approach he said will address both costs and student achievement.

In the first 10 months of a transition from former district Superintendent Eileen Camasso to current Superintendent Rosario Agostaro, Berg said, a framework was put in place to evaluate programs on a cost-per-pupil and cost-per-building basis. He said he expects that analysis to be done over the next year.

Berg noted the district’s elementary schools have different programs and that district officials had not previously looked at costs at the building level.

Berg chairs the board’s Budget Committee and Policy Committee, and he is a member of the Technology and Facilities committees.

The director of education services at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park and former vice president of operations for Kozy Shack Enterprises, Berg holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Siena College. He and his wife, Christine, a temporary teacher at Rondout Valley High School, have a son who is a sophomore at the school.

 

KELDER, 44, who is seeking a second term, said financing public education in New York state will continue to be a challenge in the foreseeable future. Looking for efficient ways to provide the best possible education to students while controlling spending is Kelder’s top priority, he said.

He also said the district has to look at restructuring the way it operates and look into better use of technology.

Kelder sits on the school board’s Health and Wellness Committee. The owner of Kelder’s Farm, he is a member of the Rondout Valley Growers Association, the Kerhonkson-Accord Chamber of Commerce and the Ulster County Farm Bureau.

A 1983 Rondout Valley High School graduate, Kelder earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Cornell University. He lives on Lower Whitfield Road in Accord with his wife, Jacqueline, a teacher at the Kingston school district’s Zena Elementary School, and his son and daughter, who attend Rondout Valley High School.

 

OLIVA, 60, a former board president, said the Rondout Valley district is facing the same problems as many others across the state — shrinking revenues and rising costs.

Noting the district’s enrollment has dropped about 18 percent in the last five years, Oliva said managing a shrinking organization is not easy and will require “difficult decisions going forward.”

To both control costs and improve student achievement, Oliva said, “we will have to be innovative and ruthless” and learn to do more with less. “Everything has to be on the table,” he said.

He pointed to the need to improve the district’s graduation rate. According to the state Education Department, Rondout Valley’s four-year graduation rate among students who were freshmen in 2005 fell to 77 percent from 79 percent for the 2004 group.

Oliva is a retired certified public accountant and aerospace engineer who worked on the Apollo and Skylab projects from 1970 to 1972.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of New York and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.

The five-year full-time Stone Ridge resident is the district’s representative to the Ulster County Board of Cooperative Educational Services and chairs the Curriculum Committee. He is a member of the Rondout Valley Business Association, the Marbletown Land Owners Association, the Marbletown Preservation and Investment Commission and the Marbletown Hamlet Development Subcommittee.

He and his wife, Josephine, the special projects coordinator for Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz, have two daughters, ages 28 and 30.

 

REDMOND, 64, noting that the district’s per-pupil expenditure is set to increase by nearly $2,000, to $27,295, in 2010-11, said controlling spending is his top priority. He suggested the district hire an efficiency expert to evaluate operations from top to bottom.

“Taxpayers can’t afford it,” Redmond said. “They’re losing their houses and jobs.”

Even so, the retired New York City reservoir supervisor said he would never vote against a school budget because a contingency budget “hurts the children.” Unlike many others, Redmond said, he can afford to vote in favor.

Redmond also is opposed to cutting school sports, calling the idea “absurd.” He said sports are important in the effort to fight youth obesity.

As a former school board member, Redmond said, he served on the Budget Committee, chaired the Master Plan Facilities Committee and took the lead on high school capital projects. He said the high school’s new science and technology wing and the hiring of Agostaro have put the district on the right track.

Noting that candidates elected to the school board last year were endorsed by the teachers’ union, Redmond said it is important that teachers are represented on the board but there also needs to be a diversity of opinion among trustees.

Redmond is a veteran of the Vietnam War, having served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1965 to 1969. He has taken courses at Ulster County Community College and is a softball umpire.

He and his wife of 44 years, Judith, a retired registered nurse, have a 42-year-old son and a 43-year-old daughter. Their five grandchildren are all Rondout Valley students.

 

The Rondout Valley school board election and budget vote will be held from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. May 18 at the district office on Kyserike Road in Kyserike.

 

 

May Meeting

The attorney for the Town filed a response to the recent suit by Mombaccus Excavating, Inc. seeking to invalidate the revised zoning code and zoning map adopted by the Town in 2009.  Supervisor Carl Chipman reported that Mombaccus’ suit was “filled with misleading statements and innuendo.” Mombaccus owns and operates a gravel mining business on 269 acres on Rochester Center Road, which it claims are covered by existing mining regulations (not town law).  The parcel was recently combined from a number of smaller parcel that had previously been zoned agricultural and never commercially mined and 90 acres of which currently receive an “agricultural” tax exemption.  The suit further alleges that Mombaccus was not provided adequate opportunity to express its views on the proposed zoning law adoption, a fact disputed by Town Board member Tavi Cilenti who indicated that he offered Mombaccus president Keith Kortright a position on the task force that was charged with drafting the proposed laws but that Kortright declined the position.

 

 

April Meeting

The Town Board adopted a local law to require that all town-owned vehicles display a

permanent decal with the town seal on the vehicles’ two front doors.  There have been questions about complaints about unmarked vehicles and mis-identification of official vehicles.  The most vocal opponent of the law was Highway Superintendent Wayne Kelder, who said that the identification issues could be resolved without a law.  Mr. Kelder had been asked without by success by the Town Board on many occasions over the past several years to clearly identify his department’s vehicles.

The Town Board accepted the (lowest) bid of Valley Appraisal Service to conduct a town-wide property assessment.  Work will commence in May.

Mike Callan was re-appointed to the Environmental Conservation Commission.  Haley Swift and Juliette Graham-Hayes were reappointed to the Youth Commission and Alice Schoonmaker and Ward Mintz were reappointed and Gina Crevello was appointed to the Historic Preservation Commisssion.

Groundbreaking for the Town’s Veterans Park is expected to take place on Memorial Day.

KERHONKSON — The Ulster County Sheriff’s Office has arrested four people on a variety of charges following a large fight on Saturday around 10 p.m.

Deputies said they were called to the scene of a fight at 40 42nd St. involving multiple suspects at the location within the town of Wawarsing.

They said they arrested the following individuals in connection with the incident: Jack D. Williams III, 23, of 57 Samsonville Road, Apt 12, Kerhonkson, for felony criminal mischief and violation harassment; James S. Howard, 20, of 106 Glen Wild Road, Rock Hill, for felony criminal mischief; Tabitha J. Williams, 26, of 106 Glen Wild Road, Rock Hill, for violation harassment; Glen A. Peck, 25, of 219 Sundown Road, Kerhonkson, for felony reckless endangerment, misdemeanor reckless driving and violation harassment.

Deputies said a physical altercation took place in the street over a custody issue of a child in common between one of the suspects and the alleged victim. One of the suspects and the victim then left the scene in a vehicle and the other suspects threw rocks at the vehicle, causing damage, according to police. They said Peck, driving the vehicle, then attempted to strike the other suspects with the vehicle.

Jack D. Williams III and Howard were arraigned before town of Wawarsing Court Justice Charles Dechon and both were sent to Ulster County jail on $1,000 cash bail and ordered to return to court on April 30.

Tabitha J. Williams was issued tickets to appear in town of Wawarsing court on May 14. Peck was arraigned before Justice Dechon and released on his own recognizance with tickets to appear in Wawarsing Town Court on April 30.

Deputies were assisted at the scene by state police and the Kerhonkson Accord Ambulance Squad.

 

Two women and a man were charged after a violent argument between neighbors on Saturday in the Town of Rochester.

Ellenville troopers were called to 100 Cherry Lane in Kerhonkson. Troopers say Liza Belmont, 30, started fighting with William Vanwagenen, 31, and Tara Blanchard, 24.

Troopers described the events this way. Belmont reportedly brandished two hammers and swung at Blanchard and smashed out several windows of Vanwagenen's truck. Vanwagenen came outside and fired two shotgun blasts in the air. Belmont got into her car and attempted to run over the other two, and Blanchard then smashed out her window with a metal pipe. Belmont sped away in her car, returning home. The fight stemmed from a previous incident, troopers say.

When troopers arrived, Vanwagenen handed troopers a rifle, which wasn't the shotgun he originally used. Troopers searched the home and found three marijuana plants and about three pounds of marijuana, drug paraphernalia, grow lights, scales and three rifles.

Belmont was charged with felony criminal mischief and several misdemeanors. Vanwagenen was charged with misdemeanors related to criminal mischief, menacing and drug possession. Blanchard was charged with criminal mischief, a misdemeanor. All were issued appearance tickets and released.  (TH-Record 5/5/10)

Kerhonkson man pleads guilty to starving two dogs, barred from owning animals for three years

KERHONKSON — A Kenhonkson man is barred from owning or possessing any animals for the next three years as part of his sentence after pleading guilty in Rochester Town court last week to starving two dogs, the Ulster County SPCA said.

German Ruiz, 21, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty and was sentenced to three years probation. (TH-Record 4-12-10)

Many in Sullivan, Ulster stuck on dial-up

It's the modern equivalent of the telephone, post office and library rolled into one. Yet, despite billions of dollars of available grant money and mandates from the president and governor, thousands of local residents must live without high-speed Internet.

The lack of access in parts of Sullivan County towns like Bethel and Neversink and Ulster towns like Marbletown and Kerhonkson — areas less than 2 hours from New York City — costs residents lucrative jobs and priceless time, thanks to agonizingly slow, inefficient and unreliable dial-up and satellite connections:

An Ulster illustrator for the Wall Street Journal must drive a half hour to a Starbucks to connect with his New York office.

Links

Maps of broadband availablity Cell phones could speek connection

So you're fed up with dial-up and you've had it with satellite. And a connection to high-speed Internet seems as likely as winning the lottery.

What's a disconnected soul to do?

If you can get cell phone service where you live, you might be able to access a high speed connection with an air card, otherwise called a USB card.

You simply plug it into your computer or laptop and access the Internet through a cell phone connection.

The price, according to a Verizon spokesman, ranges from about $40 to $60 per month, not including the initial cost of the card, which ranges from about $10 to $80.

Mobile hot spots are also available that essentially allow you to connect several computers or laptops to a high-speed connection through cell service. The initial cost for that is about $50, with a monthly service fee.

Call your cell-phone provider for details.

 

Steve Israel

A graphic designer in the Sullivan hamlet of Willowemoc must drive miles to a Chinese restaurant in Livingston Manor to download a program too big for her satellite connection. A young woman in northern Sullivan quits her publishing job because she can't get online fastest enough.

High-speed Internet is also a crucial factor in whether a company moves to — or leaves — a business-hungry county like Sullivan.

Neversink Glass Co., an architectural metal and glass subcontractor in White Lake, almost left the county's industrial park because its satellite connection couldn't download architectural drawings.

After the homegrown company pressured the county and Time Warner Cable, Sullivan's hub for industry was wired.

"We threatened to move out," says Craig Steele, Neversink's project manager. "I mean, this is the industrial park, for God's sake. I hammered away until we got it and they finally gave in."

A lack that could cost lives

Students with dial-up or satellite can't do as much homework as their peers with fast connections.

Some grammar-school kids in the Onteora School District in Ulster County can't even access a common language program, Rosetta Stone, despite living near sophisticated Woodstock.

The lack of high-speed Internet in places like the Ulster County Town of Denning or the Sullivan Town of Rockland may even cost us lives.

Ambulances at accidents or on emergency calls may soon be able to send pictures of X-rays to hospitals so an emergency room will be ready with treatment — if there's high-speed Internet.

"It's one of the most significant quality-of-life issues we have," says Pattern for Progress CEO Jonathan Drapkin, who was a member of an Orange County task force to study where, in the relatively well-wired county, Internet is needed.

"High-speed Internet is the backbone of the modern economy," says Marge Gallagher, deputy director of economic development for Ulster County, which not only applied for the stimulus money, but is now angling for one of Google's ultra-high-speed network grants.

"It's no longer just a nice thing to have," sums up Dave Salway, director of the state's broadband grant program, which has awarded some $77 million in grant money in New York state. "It's a necessity. It's a report card sent home with kids. It's medical records for a loved one. It's essential."

Behind the eight ball

Yet while scores of statewide entities ranging from Chemung and Otsego counties to the St. Regis Mohawks, Sullivan County Community College and the Sullivan Town of Mamakating have applied for stimulus money for high-speed Internet, one of the neediest, Sullivan County itself, didn't.

This, despite the fact that residents like nurse Kitty Vetter and Carolyn Bivens of the Town of Neversink have petitioned town, county and state officials for three years.

In fact, Sullivan is only now applying for a $65,000 grant to map areas that need broadband — something Ulster did months ago, when the grants first became available and County Executive Mike Hein ordered town supervisors to map the underserved areas.

Sullivan County Manager Dave Fanslau blames the county's lack of resources to compile the information needed for the grants — "technical plans, detailed analysis, how to move the broadband to the area" — for the slow start.

Vetter is more blunt.

"They dropped the ball," says the R.N. active in the state nurses association who can't download programs from her colleagues because of her dial-up connection in Willowemoc.

"They did miss the opportunity to get startup money," says Michael Shuipis, director of network development for ION, a telecommunications company that teamed up with municipalities and organizations throughout the state to win a grant that will bring high-speed Internet access to areas as diverse as Hancock and parts of Port Jervis and Monroe.

Hoping for another chance

Fanslau says Sullivan is preparing to apply for the next round of stimulus grants — although the state's Salway says officials are "debating whether there will be another round."

And without those grants for Internet access, communities without broadband may be up a creek without a connection.

Despite the federal money and mandates, high-speed Internet access isn't required — or regulated — by the federal government.

Giant cable TV providers like Time Warner Cable don't have to serve rural, underpopulated areas and Verizon has reached the end of its national plan for fiber expansion.

When towns try to negotiate agreements with cable companies that also provide Internet service, like Time Warner Cable, the requirement is usually at least 20 homes per mile — a density unheard of in most rural areas.

Bottom line?

One industry analyst uses some not-so-high-tech language to describe the future plight of the unconnected.

"As a practical matter, you're screwed," says Dave Burstein, editor of DSL Prime magazine.

 

Editor’s Note:  Time Warner Cable has not responded to multiple letters sent by the Town regarding its cable franchise contract renewal.

 

The Town has responded by letter to Time Warner’s notification of intent to seek renewal of its cable franchise contract and requested detailed information on existing service.  Once this information is received, the Committee will work to develop a list of areas that meet state Public Service Commission minimum density where service is not provided.  We have obtained recent maps indicating where service is provided and will work to update these maps.  Once all this information is gathered, we will initiate renewal discussions with Time Warner Cable with the goal of obtaining the widest possible service area expansion.  If you do not have service at present, you might get an estimate (or updated estimate) from Time Warner to bring service to your home.  If you do get a written estimate, please mail a copy to:  Cable Committee, PO Box 257, Accord, NY 12404.

Garrison Art Center features two extraordinary artists in its galleries March 5-28, 2010, Leonda F. Finke and Astrid Fitzgerald.

In the Gillette Galleries Astrid Fitzgerald will debut her new assemblages, enhanced by the saturated colors and geometric forms of her large canvas hangings.  The artist’s discovery on her property of a treasure trove of old copper pipes and rough-cut lumber, among other aging items of construction, inspired the assemblages.  With the help of time and the wise artistic vision of Fitzgerald, these somewhat rough objects combine to become this quiet and spiritually elegant collection.  

Dr. Roger Lipsey, noted art historian, editor and author of numerous books will present a talk on Fitzgerald’s work on March 21, at 3pm in the Art Center’s Gillette Gallery.

His viewing of a few of the featured works piqued his interest, and the following initial commentary offers a brief review specific to this body of work.

“Astrid Fitzgerald's assemblages explore the relationships between a surprising and fresh notation for everything buoyant and untouched in us (the blue-green rods, steady and vibrant) and everything else of which we and the world are made (the containments, ties, and other elements in the assemblages).The rods imply a moderately complex order inside: joyous in color, disciplined and definite nonetheless. The containments and ties are not negative presences, as if they deny brightness. Are they a figure for 'how things are'? Every inside has an outside, all living relationships are dynamic interactions.

Carbon Monoxide detectors are now required in all homes and residential units under a State law that went into effect on February 22, 2010.  Existing one and two family residences are required to have one CO detector installed on the lowest storey of the home having a sleeping area. 

If an alarm is activated, call 911 and leave the home.  Windows and doors should be shut and there should be no effort to ventilate.  The Fire Department will test the home with a more delicate CO detector to determine the source of the CO leak – if the home has been ventilated, it is more difficult to locate the source of the leak.  CO detectors are available from any hardware or home goods store.  (From BSL 2/19/10)

The Town Board made the following appointments on 2/4/10:

Board of Assessment Review:  Bruce Schoonmaker

Board of Ethics:  John Cross, Jeff Davis, Tony Spano, Veronica Sommer

Environmental Conservation Commission:  Michael Callin (member and Chair), Laura Finestone, Vice Chair.

Historic Preservation Commission: Maggie Dulka, Walter Levy: Alice Cross (Chair), Jeanne Green, Vice Chair

Youth Commission: Jessica Knapp, Mary Lee, Sue Matson, Haley Swift; Barbara Zaccai, Chair, Pam Stocking, Vice Chair.

Zoning Board of Appeals: Bea Haugen Dupuy (Member and vice chair), Brian Drabkin, Chair

Planning Board: Shane Ricks (member and vice chair); Mel Tapper, Chair

KERHONKSON — Suffocating under more than $26 million of debt, the Hudson Valley Resort & Spa has declared bankruptcy in a last-ditch effort to avoid foreclosure.

Owners of the resort filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January, just as the holder of their largest mortgage finished a foreclosure case against them.

Chapter 11 could allow the owners, who operate under Everyday Logistics LLC, to reorganize debts and keep the hotel.

The 323-room resort, formerly known as the Granit Hotel, has stayed open while its owners and lenders battle in court.

Eliot Spitzer (he is not the former governor of New York), one of the Hudson Valley Resort's managing partners, said he couldn't talk about the bankruptcy when contacted at his Monsey office this week.

"This does not affect the actual operation of the hotel," said Spitzer, who owns the property with his partner, Michael Steinberg. "I think we'll be all right when it's all over."

Spitzer and Steinberg owe more than $25 million on six mortgages. They purchased the hotel, its 18-hole golf course and the 400-acre property in 2006 for $18.5 million. Its full-market assessed value is $5.8 million.

The first signs of trouble came in September 2008, after the owners failed to make mortgage payments for four months.c

In court papers, Spitzer said the economic recession cut the resort's revenues.

Kennedy Funding, holder of a $9.8 million mortgage, foreclosed on the property in September 2009. A judge delayed the appointment of a receiver — an independent party to sell the property — until Jan. 7. But Spitzer and Steinberg filed for bankruptcy that same day to stall the foreclosure.

Tom Genova, a bankruptcy lawyer in Poughkeepsie, said bankruptcy is sometimes used to renegotiate mortgages when neither side will benefit from foreclosure.

"If the bank forecloses, what do they get? They get a hotel in the middle of winter in Kerhonkson," Genova said.

Hudson Valley Resort & Spa is the largest private employer in this mountain town, with some 150 people on its payroll. The resort owes the Town of Rochester nearly $40,000 in taxes.

"My greatest concern is for the employees," Rochester Supervisor Carl Chipman said. "A lot of families depend on that place for income."

Spitzer and Steinberg had grand plans to make the resort a Marriott-branded hotel and build 300 upscale homes on the property. They contracted with PGA champion Vijay Singh to redesign the golf course. None of those plans materialized.

Henry Zabatta, who owned the hotel when it was the Granit, is familiar with the scenario that's unfolding. Zabatta went bankrupt on the hotel in 1997 with a $5 million mortgage and said the current owners paid too much for it.

"I don't know who brokered that deal, but it was highway robbery," he said. "You can't possibly operate a hotel in this region with that much debt." (TH-Record 2/19/10)

 

ACCORD — A 37-year-old man was in jail Saturday after punching and kicking his girlfriend, holding a loaded gun to her head and trying to flee with the couple’s three young children, according to police.

The Ulster County Sheriff’s Office said Michael John Hasenflue became involved in a dispute with his girlfriend about 11:15 p.m. Friday in his home at 4653 U.S. Route 209 in Accord. During the fight, Hasenflue punched and kicked the woman and then put a loaded .22-caliber pistol to her head, deputies said. He then tried to leave with the children, they said.

The Sheriff’s Office said deputies arrived in time to find Hasenflue still in the driveway with the children, and he was taken into custody.

The children — all of whom were infant or toddler age — witnessed the incident but were not physically harmed, deputies said. The Sheriff’s Office did not identify the girlfriend and said they weren’t sure whether she and Hasenflue lived together.

Deputies said the injuries suffered by the girlfriend during the fight were minor and that she was treated at a local hospital and released.

During their investigation, deputies said, they discovered Hasenflue was a convicted felon and that the pistol he used on Friday had been stolen from a vehicle in Saugerties last July. They declined to specify the previous felony.

Deputies also reported finding crack cocaine on Hasenflue at the time of his arrest.

The Sheriff’s Office said Hasenflue was charged with felony counts of criminal possession of a weapon, menacing and criminal possession of stolen property; and misdemeanor counts of assault, criminal possession of a controlled substance and endangering the welfare of a child.

He was arraigned in Marbletown Court and sent to the Ulster County Jail without bail. He is to appear in Rochester Town Court at 6 p.m. Wednesday. (Freeman 2/20/10)

KINGSTON -- The Ulster County Legislature will accept requests from March 1 to March 30, 2010 from landowners wanting to have their agricultural lands included within a NYS Certified Agricultural District.

Landowners seeking inclusion into a certified agricultural district must submit a completed Ag. District Inclusion Worksheet with tax map identification number(s), a copy of the relevant portion of the tax map, and a description of the land to Virginia Craft, Ulster County Planning Department, 244 Fair Street, P.O. Box 1800, Kingston, NY 12402-1800 within this 30 day period.

The Ag District Inclusion Worksheet and a brochure explaining agricultural districts are available through the Ulster County Planning Department’s website at: www.co.ulster.ny.us/planning/ then select Agriculture and click on Annual Agricultural District Inclusions. 

Agricultural District Law adopted by the New York State Legislature in 1971 provides for the creation of Agricultural Districts to protect and promote the availability of land for farming purposes.  Lands within districts are protected from unreasonable local regulation of farm practices, the acquisition by public entities through the use of eminent domain, and the advance of public funds to construct facilities that encourage non-farm development.

Land used in agricultural production within an agricultural district is not subject to special assessments, ad valorem levies, or other rates and fees for the financing of improvements such as water, sewer or non-farm drainage.

Ulster County has four certified agricultural districts containing over 67,000 acres of farmland.  (MidHudsonNews.com)

CENTRAL VALLEY — For two years, the New York State Thruway Authority has been warning drivers that this day of "heartache and pain" would come.

And now it has.

On Monday, the Thruway Authority will close five lanes in the center of the busy Woodbury Toll Plaza for eight weeks to complete the final phase of its $90 million project to introduce highway speed E-ZPass there — and possibly create a bottleneck for as many as 50,000 customers a day.

"We deliberately chose a time of year that has the lowest usage and if you aren't experiencing delays with the construction now, you are unlikely to over the next two months," said Herb Litts, assistant director of the Thruway's New York division.

John Paul Cunningham, the division's construction engineer, noted that the old 5 mph E-ZPass lanes are capable of processing about 600 cars an hour and the four new 65 mph ones about 2,000, and then said: "So, to get there, we're going to have to go through a little heartache and pain."

The engineers, speaking at a media briefing Monday, said the temporary configuration at the toll plaza will be four northbound ticket lanes on the far east side and six southbound ticket lanes on the far west side.

The northbound lanes include the dedicated lane for traffic entering from the Harriman Toll Plaza and Route 17, a lane that will be opened to all northbound traffic on Friday afternoons and other high-volume periods to reduce congestion. Then, all six of the southbound lanes will be open more often to keep traffic moving, too.

Demolition work comes first

Litts said the Thruway's contractors, in the first week, will remove the five toll booths and demolish the old pavement around them. In the second through fifth weeks, they will extend the Jersey barriers that isolate the E-ZPass lanes — two in each direction — through the toll plaza, pour new pavement and erect the overhead gantry for electronic toll collection equipment.

In the sixth week, Thruway personnel will install the toll-collection equipment and, in the seventh and eighth week, test it. The schedule is aggressive, the engineers said, but still has some wiggle room for weather-related delays.

Construction began in 2007 and, at its height, extended over 10 miles as the highway was widened to accommodate the segregated E-ZPass lanes for through traffic. Now, the work zone has shrunk to a fraction of a mile north and south of the toll plaza in preparation for this eight-week sprint to the finish line.

"The plan is that when we open on May 2, we're open," Litts said. (TH-Record 3/2/10)

 

KINGSTON - Electricity has been restored to more than 130,000 Central Hudson customers as of this morning following two storms that interrupted service in the largest storm event in the utility’s history, the company says.

Central Hudson crews worked through the night and fresh teams were in full force today continuing to tackle the approximately 900 small, localized outages that remain. Utility officials still predict that the majority of customers will have their service restored by Wednesday at midnight, as the utility continues to mobilize a fieldc force of 1,000 people.

Of the less than 20,000 customers that remain without service, outages were located by county approximately as follows: Dutchess: 5,500; Greene: 200; Orange: 7,600; Putnam 200; Sullivan: 500; and Ulster: 6,000, according to the company.

The restoration has now largely shifted from the repair of major facilities and distribution networks to a labor- and time-intensive phase of restoring electricity one neighborhood or street at a time and often even one customer at a time, the company said. New cases of trouble continued to be identified as crews work through neighborhoods, and officials urged residents still without power to contact Central Hudson to report their power condition.

“This storm broke all the rules. It was unprecedented in the amount of heavy, wet snow dumped on the region,” said utility spokesman John Maserjian. “There was quite a bit of damage and widespread damage — virtually every town in the Hudson Valley was affected by this storm.”

Maserjian said the utility has brought in crews from other utility companies and private contractors to help bring power back to customers who have been in the dark for nearly a week.

“We’re working with a contingent five times our normal staffing,” said Maserjian. “We’ve made a lot of improvement and we’re quite encouraged, but we still have a lot of work to do.”

The Ellenville Central School District was closed again on Monday, but Wawarsing Town Supervisor Leonard Distel said students would be back in the classrooms today.

On Monday, while more than 1,000 town residents remained without power, Distel modified the state of emergency in that community, saying conditions in the town had improved to the point where most roads were passable. Several roads, however were opened to single-lane traffic for emergency vehicles only. Roads open to single-lane emergency vehicle traffic only are: Steam Hollow Road in Greenfield Park; Hart Street in Napanoch; Divine Street in Kerhonkson; Yeagerville Road; Oak Ridge Road; Lackawack Road; and Cragsmoor Road.

Ulster County Emergency Management Director Art Snyder said there were other town roads across the county that remained closed, including some in Hardenburgh, where the snow was too deep for the plows to move. He said because many of the homes in those areas were seasonal, there was no real way to determine how many may be occupied. But, he said, there was “not an imminent concern at this point” about the welfare of those who might be stranded in homes in those areas.

Snyder said the shelter at Hawk Health and Wellness Center at SUNY New Paltz closed Monday, but the shelter at the Kerhonkson Firehouse would remain open through noon today.

Central Hudson will continue to distribute dry ice and bottled water, however the site in the village of Ellenville has been moved to the Napanoch Firehouse from the parking lot adjacent to Provident Bank. Additional distribution sites are at the Central Hudson facility on state Route 299 in the town of Lloyd and at the town of Rochester Community Center. (Freeman 3/2/10)

LESS THAN five months after opening to the public, the Walkway Over the Hudson is in danger of being shut down during the winter months and having its hours scaled back the rest of the year, according to Gov. David Paterson’s office.

Paterson’s office says dozens of additional parks and historic sites — including the Walkway, Minnewaska State Park in Ulster County and the Senate House Historic Site in Kingston — could close or have their services reduced unless state lawmakers draw funding for their operations from New York’s Environmental Protection Fund.

The proposed closings and cutbacks would be in addition to the 79 sites targeted by the governor earlier this month to help close the state’s multibillion-dollar budget gap.

Minnewaska would be shut down under the latest proposal, while the Walkway Over the Hudson, which connects Ulster and Dutchess counties on an old railroad trestle, would be closed entirely from December to March and two days a week from April to November.

The Walkway — a pedestrian span more than a mile long that rises more than 200 feet above the Hudson River — opened to the public on Oct. 3 after 20 years of efforts to convert the former Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge into a public park.

Also targeted for closure is the Staatsburgh State Historic Site in Dutchess County, the Senate House in Uptown Kingston and the Clermont State Historic Site in Columbia County.

But those sites and 47 others could be spared, according to Paterson, if the state Legislature agrees to fund them with $5 million from the state Environmental Protection Fund.

To close an $8 billion budget gap in his proposed 2010-11 budget, Paterson cut $29 million from the Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation budget. He included an additional $4 million in revenues to be generated through increased fees and $5 million to come from the Environmental Protection Fund.

State lawmakers across the region blasted Paterson for the proposed closings and accused him of playing politics with the state parks system.

In a press release dated Wednesday, state Assemblyman Kevin Cahill called the proposal to shut down the Senatce House “an insult to our heritage,” and he said he was “outraged” that the governor “is continuing to play politics with institutions so integral to our regional character and economy.”

Cahill, D-Kingston, also criticized Paterson for turning to the Environmental Protection Fund to pay for park operations.

“The very act of holding the Environmental Protection Fund hostage is not only bad politics, it diminishes confidence people have in it as a dedicated fund for environmental protection and conservation,” Cahill said.

Assemblyman Marc Molinaro questioned whether the state would actually realize the savings projected by the closures, saying some level of spending will be required to maintain those sites even if they are closed.

Molinaro, R-Red Hook, said the state could save an amount equal to or exceeding that proposed to come from the Environmental Protection Fund by eliminating some appointed positions and closing down homes maintained for some prison superintendents, but he warned that in order to address the state’s budget crisis, unpopular decisions will have to be made.

That was a sentiment echoed by State Sen. John Bonacic, R-Mount Hope, who said that while he hoped some of the closings could be avoided, the Legislature’s first priority has to health and safety.

At a glance

Among the parks and historic sites targeted for closure or service reductions unless the state Legislature approves drawing money from the Environmental Protection Fund are:

ULSTER COUNTY

Minnewaska State Park, close

Senate House State Historic Site, Kingston, close

DUTCHESS COUNTY

Staatsburgh State Historic Site, close

Walkway Over the Hudson, close from Dec. 1 to March 31; close two days a week from April 1 to Nov. 30

COLUMBIA COUNTY

Clermont State Historic Site, close

Lake Taghkanic State Park, reduce swimming season

(Freeman 2/28/10)

 

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