Good Friday Morning,

The weather report for the weekend is as typical of winter around these parts as one can get. Highs around 40 with lows in the mid-to-low 20s and mostly sunny. Trust me when I say that this is the time to take a hike in the woods. The leaves are down so you can see some distance through the trees, the rise and fall of the land, the rocky outcroppings that underlay our landscape, old foundations, ponds… the usually hidden base fabric of the Highlands.

A note of warning though: it’s still hunting season thus you either wear blaze orange and carry a police whistle or venture to discover our State Parks such as Wonder Lake in Kent/Patterson, Fahnestock in Kent/Philipstown and Putnam Valley, or Hudson Highlands State Park that runs the length of Philipstown from north to south. There’s also Donald Trump State Park at the very foot of Putnam Valley. These crisp, clear days allow good walking without too much sweat.

Wear layers. Tell someone where you’re going. Bring your camera and have some outdoors fun.

For those who have been in Iceland studying the interior of a volcano whose name no one can pronounce, it was reported in various sources yesterday that Senator Vincent Leibell is no longer a State Senator (as of today) and will not be taking office as County Executive come January 1st. That job will be held by whomever the County Legislature appoints. I’ll bet the “Democrats For Leibell” are a little red-faced this morning and if Greg Ball and Anthony Scannapieco are gloating right now, well, they kinda deserve it. What I want to know is if the Senator knew about this during the campaign. If so, there’s a real problem on top of everything else.

Anyway, I’ve volunteered for the position and though I did come in a solid third in that race I’m pretty sure they’ve got their eyes elsewhere. Off the top of my head I would hazard a guess between MEO or Sam Oliverio or Frank DelCampo, though Sam does have other full time obligations. And I’ll bet Bob Bondi, who is ‘consulting with his family’ is hoping for an extension and possibly even his sidekick, John Tully, is hoping for the appointment. My personal preference would be Dan Birmingham but I’m guessing that’s not in the offing. If they’d just give the job to Paul Camarda they could save everyone a lot time.

Vinnie is going down. Bill Hustis is going down. Bondi went down but now may be back. Charlie Williams went down. Everyone is going down but there are no happy endings. It sure is strange around here.

There’s been slight chatter about taking down road signs and “un”naming things that have the Senator’s name on them but I would use caution here: Like him or not, his political power and largesse has made much happen here that would not have happened without him and those signs are credits to his name and should remain as such. It would be foolish to erase that history as we do owe the guy the credit he deserves for the good things and the millions of pork dollars he’s brought to the county.

A group has begun an online petition directed at the Camarda Carmel Town Board to deny zoning changes that would permit developments such as Union Place. You can find that petition online here. The copy reads:

“We the undersigned residents of the Town of Carmel oppose any/and all zoning changes or variances requested by the applicant, related to “The Smart Growth Village” in the Town of Carmel, Putnam County, New York, referred to as “Union Place”; located on 300 acres of undeveloped land and which is comprised of a mix of uses including rental (180 units), market rate & senior housing (300 units), corporate, professional and retail space (total 1,043,600 sq ft nonresidential floor space). The project is a marked departure from the Carmel Comprehensive Plan, is zoning code non-compliant and presents a project that will eliminate the last piece of Mahopac’s historic and cultural past, named Mahopac Farm, and irrevocably change the face and landscape of the gateway to our community. “

Please don’t see this as partisan as it’s only a fact: If you’ve been downsized, laid off or otherwise not working and you and/or your family have been living on unemployment, thanks to Republicans in Congress your life is about to suck even worse than it does now.

Holding unemployment benefits hostage until Democrats agree to give multi-millionaires tax cuts, Republicans refuse to budge on the matter using you as pawns in their game. If you were un- or under-employed on election day and you voted for Nan Hayworth I’ll bet you’re feeling a bit like a Log Cabin Republican today. No, don’t bother writing them – they never write back.

The wonderboy at Wikileaks is being sought out over an alleged rape charge in Sweden that we all thought had been killed the last time he released a bunch of information, that time about the war in Iraq and how we were doing such a fine job of dealing with the enemy and losing control of that country city by city, town by town.

In his latest foray he has caused a world-wide diplomatic embarrassment epidemic and those in power cannot abide by being told they just held a press conference with their fly’s open.

While the prospect of a car accident, small airplane crash or a fatal mugging are on the lips of embarrassed diplomats and heads of state everywhere, even US members of congress have called for his head – and his death. What amuses me most is that in one quick stroke he’s done more for freedom of information and transparent government than the ‘baggers have done in the last 18 months of their incessant campaign for… open and transparent government.

This guy should be winning awards and support from anyone who believes the workings of government should be open to all. After all, as I reported the other day, it’s become apparent that – for a change – the US comes out looking pretty good.

So what if we think Russia has become a mafia state? It’s true! and anyone will tell you so. So what if every Arab nation has encouraged the US to launch a military attack against Iran? And we learned that Iran was smuggling weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon – in Red Crescent ambulances. It’s true, no? So why the embarrassment?

If you’d like to see the full range of diplomatic cables released for yourself, and you should, visit this website which is active right now. This may change as the US Government has tried to suppress this information and does so on a daily basis. The harassment has gotten so out of hand that Senator Joe Lieberman, no friend of freedom, has introduced legislation that would make it illegal to release the name of any US intelligence source. The legislation being so broad that any journalist who reported on US diplomatic activities would come under the law thus shutting the door on truth.

Here’s an example: In a cable dated February 2009, from the Kuwaiti Interior Minister on how to deal with prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay:

Jaber told the Ambassador:  "You know better than I that we
cannot deal with these people (i.e. the GTMO detainees).  I
can't detain them.  If I take their passports, they will sue
to get them back (Note:  as happened with Al-Ajmi.  End
note.)  I can talk to you into next week about building a
rehabilitation center, but it won't happen.  We are not Saudi
Arabia; we cannot isolate these people in desert camps or
somewhere on an island.  We cannot compel them to stay.  If
they are rotten, they are rotten and the best thing to do is
get rid of them.  You picked them up in Afghanistan; you
should drop them off in Afghanistan, in the middle of the war
zone."

But Wikileaks has been cautious in that it has regularly redacted people’s (read: sources) names from the cables it’s been releasing this time around so the law makes no sense other than to pressure others.

Lastly, the rape charge. It’s clear – and it’s been clear – that Anna Ardin, the woman at the center of all this, has admitted that she’s been making the whole thing up, even to the point of deleting Tweet messages praising Julian just before she charged him. Why, then, one might ask, are European governments all in a rush to persecute Mr. Assange? That’s a silly question! Because they’re all standing around with their pants around their ankles looking as stunned as Senator Larry Craig caught in a gay porn video.

A little holiday music from Roy Zimmerman:  See the video here and yes, it’s more than safe for work.

• Friday, December 3
  • Follow the Waters: Educational Workshop
  • Sea2Sea Summit Winter Edition
  • Greg Brown – Live at the Towne Crier
• Saturday, December 4
  • Santa in Peekskill
  • Holiday On The Lake
  • Lecture with Art Cohn
  • Brewster Tree Lighting and Holiday Concert
• Sunday, December 5
  • AMVETS Breakfast
  • Sterling Forest Hike
  • Frozendale Days
  • Memorial Concert for Art Kamell
  • Forum and documentary “Gasland”
• Into The Future
  • Tuesday, December 7
    • PC Leg Vote on Peekskill Hollow Road
  • Wednesday, December 8
    • Public Hearing on Incentive Zoning – Putnam Valley
  • Saturday, December 11
    • Community Free Day at Dia Beacon
    • Axoltol
    • Holiday Potpourri
    • Phil Ochs Night
  • Sunday, December 12
    • Shaupeneak or Black Creek Hike
  • Monday, December 13
    • Conference on Water Resources and the Regional Economy
  • Friday, December 17
    • A Christmas Carol – a New Adaptation
  • Saturday, December 18
    • Breakneck Ridge Hike
    • Gallery Talk: Larissa Harris on Andy Warhol

Friday, December 3

Follow the Waters: Educational Workshop

10:00 AM – 3:30 PM You are invited to an educational workshop about laws and regulations related to water resources, designed to provide an introduction to the legal framework surrounding water in NY State. This workshop will provide an overview of selected Federal, state and local laws affecting water resources management.  This information will be presented in the context of several case studies about local watersheds illustrating challenging water resources management and protection issues in the mid-Hudson region.  It is designed for an audience of interested decision-makers and citizens who do not have formal legal training.  The results of this workshop, including feedback from participants, will be used to guide future development of related educational programs and online resources. We will trace the flow of water through local watersheds to examine which laws and regulations apply at various points along the way.  This project was made possible through financial support from the New York State Environmental Protection Fund. Space is limited.  RSVP to Simon Gruber, sgruber100@verizon.net.  There is no charge for this workshop. Location: New Windsor, New York

Sea2Sea Summit Winter Edition

6PM Bates Dining Room – Sarah Lawrence College – Performances, Open Mic at 7PM at the Black Squirrel. Saturday, December 4, workshops and performances beginning at 9:30AM and running all day. See http://sea2seasummit.wordpress.com/ for more information.

[Ed note: the website is impossible to read thanks to college students thinking they're cool. But, if you press CTRL-A on your keyboard the lettering and words will appear a little easier against the background.]

Greg Brown – Live at the Towne Crier

8:30PM at the Towne Crier in Pawling. It’s $40, $45 at the door assuming you can get in but I have to tell you, had I known Greg was going to be in town I would have sold the dog to get the do-re-mi for the tickets. Rarely does a performer grow so well and age so lightly as has Greg Brown. Formally best known as a frequent guest on “A Prairie Home Companion” as that show remained its sappy, stale self, Mr. Brown forayed off into a folks/blues style of performance that is a rare find. The last time Greg was in the area was in April of 2008 and here’s part of the review I wrote of that show:

At just around 9PM Greg took the stage. Yes, funky hat, red bandanna,
dark glasses, over sized pants, baggy jacket and all and from the moment
his fingers touched the guitar and the vibrations from his vocal chords
hit the electronics in the mic, the rest of the evening was magic. It
was a much better show than I had anticipated and as his set ran for
almost 2 hours, more than fulfilling.

“The blues are just bad people feeling good” – GB

For the next two hours it was story song after story song with a few
older melodies dropped in here and there but you had to pay attention
sometimes to recognize what they were for their recorded forms were
altered to a degree giving the impression that they too were in the
evening’s story song pattern. And the early folkie stuff? Now it’s all
blues. The aged standard “Good Morning Coffee”, his second number, was
interwoven with a story about waking his wife up one morning with a
fresh cup of coffee that kept us all laughing and wondering, is Iris
DeMent really that rapacious in the mornings? Pour warm water over the
beans so they don’t scald? She must be tough.

Sometimes it was hard to tell when his intro to a song ended and the
song itself began and all the while his blues guitar rang true. Brown
claims he doesn’t work from a set playlist, that it doesn’t work for him
and that all the patter was nothing but filler giving him time to decide
what to play next. True fans would have known from the way he tuned what
was coming next even, as I wrote before, if the folk was relegated to
history and the same songs reborn as the blues.

The rest can be found here.

Saturday, December 4

Santa in Peekskill

Noon – On the streets in downtown Peekskill. A Ferris Wheel for rides, a tree lighting and choral music at 4:30, Santa with live music and hot cocoa at 5:30 and the film, “It’s a Wonderful Life” at the Paramount at 8PM. See www.downtownpeekskill.com for more details.

Holiday On The Lake

Noon- 8:15PM – Carmel. Christmas stories at noon at the Reed Library, Caroling, face painting and more at Cornerstone park, at 3:30, a Christmas Concert at Drew Methodist at 5:15, parade through the Hamlet at 7PM and tree lighting at Lake Gleneida just after.

Lecture with Art Cohn

5PM Lecture with Art Cohn, the co-founder and Executive Director of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. Join Putnam County Historical Society for a lecture with Art Cohn, the co-founder and Executive Director of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum at Basin Harbor Vermont. Cohn’s talk will outline the significant chapters of the region’s history and illustrate what is currently known about the collection of shipwrecks in Lake Champlain and the just emerging story of shipwrecks in the Hudson River.

The Putnam County Historical Society & Foundry School Museum is located at 63 Chestnut Street in Cold Spring. Free for members and donors, and $5 for the general public. Space is limited; reservations are strongly suggested. Please call 845-265-4010 or email.

Brewster Tree Lighting and Holiday Concert

7:30PM – Holiday Concert at the United Methodist Church 83 Main Street, Brewster, NY following the tree lighting at 5PM at the Southeast Museum. Join the Putnam Chorale and a Brass Quintet in a musical celebration of the season. Carol singing for the audience. Child friendly and free. For information call 845 279-7500

Sunday, December 5

AMVETS Breakfast

9AM – Noon. A variety of breakfast foods including pancakes, grits, brownies, eggs , french toast and more. $10 for adults, $5 for kids. VFW Post 9257, 4 Fairfield Dr. Patterson

Sterling Forest Hike

Hike the entire Sterling Ridge Trail from Route 511 to 17A at fast pace, about 9 miles. Visit the fire tower with great panoramic views.  Leader: Barry Skura 914-779-0936 Bskura@optonline.net

Frozendale Days

11AM – 6PM Community celebration of winter and the holiday season, with free movie at Rosendale Theatre, live music, food, origami and ornament making, puppets, library lighting, art exhibits, Santa, and much more fun for all ages! Plus the Annual Winter Gift Sale with one-of-a-kind, locally hand-made gifts including pottery, jewelry, art prints, eco-savvy fabric gift bags, knitware, hula hoops, note cards, coloring books, chair massage and gift certificates, and more!  Skip the mall and support community and local art and commerce! Downtown Rosendale. Frozendale2010@gmail.com

Memorial Concert for Art Kamell

2PM – 5PM With David Amram, Pete Seeger, Congressman John Hall, Rick Nestler, David Bernz, Chris Ruhe the Howland Wolves and others! At the St. Lukes Episcopal Church gymnasium, Rte 9D, Beacon.

A Memorial concert to benefit the organizations Art Kammel loved: Doctors Without Borders, Pastors for Peace, School of the America’s Watch and the United Farmworkers. We are working on the details, the musicians’ line-up, etc. but the flyer won’t be ready till next week and I wanted you to know NOW about this very special event. So please put Sunday, Dec. 5h, 2-5 pm on your calendar and come out to enjoy great music and memories of one of the most wonderful people it has been my pleasure and privilege to know. Contribution: $20 (though no one will be turned away.) Contact Judy Allen for more information.

Forum and documentary “Gasland”

5PM – Rock Tavern, NY. A forum and documentary about with natural gas drilling process called (“fracking” or “hydrofracking”). This is a controversial topic in New York State. The State Senate has issued a temporary moratorium in New York State and the Assembly has yet to vote.

There is an optional potluck at 5:00pm, with the forum and film to follow.

Speakers at the forum represent both sides of the issue. They include Wes Gillingham, Catskill Mountainkeeper; Paul Hartman, representing Chesapeake Energy Corp.; Nadia Steinzor, Marcellus Shale Regional Organizer; Laurie Stuart, Upper Delaware UU Fellowship; and meeting chair, Michael Edelstein of Orange Environment.

“Gasland” (2010, dir Josh Fox, 107 min, http://www.GaslandTheMovie.com/ )

A prize-winning documentary exploring the health and environmental risks associated with natural gas drilling.

From the movie blurb: When “… a gas company offered Fox $100,000 to lease his family’s Pennsylvania land, he decided to educate himself on the topic of natural gas drilling. What he discovered shocked him into filming a documentary. Flammable tap water, chronically sick citizens, and contaminated air were among the ills found in communities where natural gas fracking has been occurring.”

There is limited space, so RSVPs are recommended. Contact / RSVP: Verne M. Bell at 845 569-8965, or via email address below. Cost: Free. Location: Unitarian Universalist Meeting House, 9 Vance Rd (off Rt. 207) Rock Tavern, NY 12575

Into The Future

Tuesday, December 7

PC Leg Vote on Peekskill Hollow Road

7PM – From PVRC: Well folks, this is really the final vote (approval) by the Put Co Leg on the PHR. The full leg meeting on Tuesday, Dec 7th at 7PM will see the fruition of all our hard work and victory for historic designation and protections for the PHR. The certification (of residents along PHR) of far over the requisite 50% plus road-frontage has been given to the real property department and accepted at the 11/16 physical services committee meeting, along with the thru-truck ban, which has a great chance of passing as it has gotten good support and recognition as a critical part of protecting the PHR and the residents who live along and travel on PHR. There have been several near disasters recounted by Sam Oliverio caused by huge speeding trucks over-the-line that I think brought the real danger of their presence to the other Leg members, and his continued support among others in the Leg has been important.

Please save the date and plan to attend this historic implementation of the Put Co Historic Protection Law we got passed last year re: including PHR under that law; I’m sure other roads will follow if the public works for their roads to be protected as well as PHR. Our future strength will be gauged by attendance and our resolve to continue to watch and work to protect the PHR from idiotic and wasteful attempts to make it into a high-speed “urban minor arterial” in gov-speak gibberish; it is our neighborhood road and we will not accept any other way of characterizing it or as a widened and straightened “escape” route for the Indian Point nuc plant or thru-truck by-pass.

Please try to attend, bring a friend and tell/email others about the full leg meeting date and time to be a part of this victory. Thanks.

Wednesday, December 8

Public Hearing on Incentive Zoning – Putnam Valley

6PM at Town Hall. From PVRC: The attached revised Incentive Zoning Law will be open to public discussion at Town Hall on Wednesday, December 8 at 6:00 P.M.  This law will forever impact the development of the remaining large tracts of land in our town.  We urge you to read the attached document and come to this meeting to comment on its content.

Saturday, December 11

Community Free Day at Dia Beacon

11AM – 4PM – On Community Free Days, residents of neighboring counties Columbia, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Ulster, and Westchester are invited to visit Dia:Beacon free of charge. Please bring a driver’s license or other government-issued ID for entry into the museum.

Programs are also open to the general public and are free with museum admission.

12:00pm
Introducing Dia:Beacon
Susan Sayre Batton, Managing Director, Dia:Beacon will discuss the transformation of Dia:Beacon from a Nabisco Box Printing factory to a museum and introduce key aspects of Dia’s renowned collection and distinctive history.

1:00-1:30pm
Guided tours and family tours
Tours will include recently reinstalled galleries dedicated to the work of John Chamberlain, Walter De Maria, Imi Knoebel, Agnes Martin, and Robert Ryman, as well as the special exhibition, Franz Erhard Walther: Work as Action.

2:00-4:00pm
Premiere screening of “New School,” a film on contemporary Hudson Valley artists, followed by a conversation with the filmmaker and featured artists Ty Marshal is a filmmaker who currently serves as the coordinator of Creative Arts Academy at the Community Folk Art Center in Syracuse, New York. Through a series of brief interviews, Marshal has profiled over twenty Hudson Valley-based artists ranging in background from emerging to established.

Axoltol

2PM – A Reading of a new play by James Sheldon by “The Two of Us” production company and directed by Thomas Gruenwald. At the Hudson Valley Academy of Performing Arts on Route 82 just east of the Taconic Parkway (Ancram, Hudson exit) in Taghkanic. Please RSVP by e-mail or phone (845-677-4446) as admission is free but there is limited seating.

Ax·o·lotl
1)   The Aztec god of lightning and regeneration who led the first humans to earth from the underworld.
2)   A species of Mexican salamander that retains its juvenile features, including gills and fins, into adulthood.
3)   A new play by James Sheldon set on a remote island in the western Pacific where ancient meets modern, loyalty meets temptation, and myth meets illusion.

Holiday Potpourri

7PM – The Holiday Show – Performances by children and adults. Ogden Nash’s Bestiary, Music of the Season In Santa’s Password bad boy Jace wants to get the Christmas he thinks he deserves, so he hacks into Santa’s list of who is naughty and nice and the results surprise him. At Arts on the Lake 640 Route 52 Lake Carmel, NY

Phil Ochs Night

7PM – Phil Ochs, born in El Paso, Texas on December 19, 1940, grew up in a non-political middle class family.  He formed his political beliefs while in college and started putting them to music, eventually dropping out and heading for Greenwich Village.  In 1966, after years of singing at open mikes and passing the hat, he performed a sold-out solo concert at Carnegie Hall.  Most of Phi’s topical songs were very political, some humorous and some very serious.  Among the best-known are: “Changes,” “There But For Fortune,” “I Ain’t Marching Anymore,” “Draft Dodger Rag,” “Small Circle of Friends.” and “When I’m Gone.”

Phil performed and traveled around the world.  While in Dar Es Salaam, he was mugged and lost the top three notes of his vocal range. This event seemed to send him on a downward spiral.  His last years were troubled ones. He suffered from manic depression plus an affinity for the bottle.  He committed suicide on April 9, 1976 at the age of 35.

Come hear performers- John Flynn, Joe Jencks, Magpie (Greg Artzner and Terry Leonino), Nancy Tucker, and Pat Wictor as they keep alive the music of Phil Ochs.

Contact Walkabout Clearwater for more information.

Sunday, December 12

Shaupeneak or Black Creek Hike

Esopus. Hike or snowshoe, depending on weather conditions. Specific length of hike and location will vary according to group and weather conditions will range between 2-4 miles. Please e-mail Leader: Mary Trish Cina, Trishmary37@aol.com 845-339-7170 for meeting time and place.

Monday, December 13

Conference on Water Resources and the Regional Economy

The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and the Hudson River Estuary Program, in partnership with the SUNY New Paltz Center for Research, Regional Education and Outreach, the Hudson River Watershed Alliance will host a conference on Water Resources and the Regional Economy. Confirmed Speakers are Maurice Hinchey, Region 2 Administrator Judith Enck, and NYSDEC Assistant Commissioner for Water Resources James Tierney. Expected audience: Municipal staff, engineers, planners, environmental groups, and volunteers involved in green infrastructure and low impact development planning projects. For more information and regular updates visit: http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/4920.html, or email hrep@gw.dec.state.ny.us and put “Water Conference” in the subject line. Location: SUNY New Paltz, Student Union Building, Multi-Purpose Room. Fee, $35 includes lunch.

Overview: The conference will seek to create a shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities confronting the Hudson Valley as we manage our water resources. It will foster a dialogue among the many partners whose engagement can help us move forward in a positive direction for the benefit of the region, its watershed and its people. We will look for opportunities to both support the economy and conserve the environment, recognizing the many ways that water contributes to human wellbeing. The conference will focus on two key questions:

1. How can our water assets and infrastructure be
part of a strategy for economic prosperity and
quality of life in the Valley?

2. What actions do we need to take to safeguard our
unique water assets so they are sustained and not
depleted?

Friday, December 17

A Christmas Carol – a New Adaptation

7:30PM – Pied Piper Children’s Theater. Staging the holiday classic for the second year in a row at the White Pond Center, the Pied Piper Players will be performing an original adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” in December, 2010. John and Bonnie Ryerson, veterans of stage and screens large and small lead a cast of local actors in this fun, fantastical romp through one of the most revered stories of the season.

John Ryerson delivers a forceful performance as Ebenezer Scrooge, the man forever changed by ghosts of his past, present and future.  Seasoned actor Andrew Walters reprises his role as a pitch-perfect Bob Cratchit. Jessica Bulzacchelli, a PPYT veteran youth actor, returns as the Ghost of Christmas Past with her usual exuberance and sense of fun.  Peter Alexander lends a sense of mystery and foreboding to both Jacob Marley and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come again this year.  Jeff Davis also returns as the bombastic Ghost of Christmas Present, and Bonnie Ryerson rounds out the lead players as the wonderful Belinda Cratchit.

Primarily a youth ensemble company, the Pied Piper Youth Theater will treat audiences to performances by adults in this production, many of whom are parents of the young actors in the troupe.

Repeats Saturday, December 18 at 7:30PM and Sunday, December 19 at 3:00PM. Tickets are $10 adults and $5 children 10 and under. For more information or to set up an interview, please contact Bonnie Ryerson at 845-878-9780 or email Bonnie at bonnie@pipertheater.org www.pipertheater.org

Saturday, December 18

Breakneck Ridge Hike

Difficult. Hosted by Scenic Hudson. The most rigorous rocky routes up Breakneck Ridge.  Please contact leader for details: Skip Doyle at info@EsopusPreservation.org. Location: Route 9D, Beacon

Gallery Talk: Larissa Harris on Andy Warhol

2PM: Andy Warhol, Shadows, 1978-79 at Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries, Free with admission. Larissa Harris is curator at the Queens Museum of Art, where she is developing programs to take place during and after the museum’s planned expansion, to be completed by 2012. From 2004-2008, she was associate director of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT where she worked on new projects by Michael Smith, Damon Rich/the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), John Malpede, and John Bell; and established new initiatives including a visiting artist series, student residency program, and a residency for Boston-area artists. She is also half of a partnership called The Steins, which produces occasional, extremely brief exhibitions in basements in the Lower East Side.

I have a cold. I’m in a bad mood. But it’s nothing a freshly backed loaf of banana bread (w/brown sugar, raisins and sunflower seeds) and enough orange liqueur can’t handle.

Luckily, I wrote the column below over the weekend.

And it’s not the Anniversary, but we’re close. It’s somewhere around here and so we shall celebrate today anyway!

It’s now more than a decade that News That Matters has been around in one incarnation or another.

Remember back in the olden days when we published at Yahoo and then made the move to Google and then to a comprehensive newsletter published three times a week and a website all our own?

Three websites. Four, actually.

You can find News That Matters at PlanPutnam and at Blogger and Posterous, both as “No Country For Sane Men“. And if you’re on Facebook you can find us there, too.

It’s a little crazy living in the USA right about now and with extremism coming at you from mostly right-angles like a warped isosceles triangle, and you need a source that can dissect the news and get it to you in ways you can genuinely understand. And that’s what we’re here for.

PlanPutnam/News That Matters is also this county’s premiere organizational tool and you know that to be true from the many issues and the many victories we have under our belts. I don’t need to list those successful battles for you know what they are and you know your lives are better for it – and that’s the point.

In case you have forgotten where we’ve been, here, in no particular order, are some reminders culled from the last few years:

The Thirty-Eight Billion Fee

This happens every day to thousands of people across the nation and while Bank of America is the most hideously evil of the lot, many banks play this game and billions of dollars are pulled from the economy and go to subsidize executive bonuses, stock dividends, the purchase of Congressmen and Senators, nifty automated teller machines that work so slowly you have to shave again by the time you’re done using them and which cause traffic tie-ups on Friday evenings that CBS radio reports along with, “…and it’s 40 minutes to The George.”

Chickens, Roads and Highways – A Special Report

As first proposed, the issue was one of safety but the project plans say that PHR is as safe as any other road. Then there was the idea that you’d be able to drive from Kent to Peekskill faster and yet, the accidents that have happened generally did so for people traveling way above the speed limit or tailgating. Then it was planned growth in the project area rated at 2% a year which would by 2029, create traffic and backups similar, I guess, to Route 22′s. But a quick look at a map shows that to be so wrong words cannot describe it.

The Tilly Foster Saga Continues…

What will it cost for taxpayers to cover the utility bills, heating, cooling, electricity, etc., and to maintain the walks and roads in all weather conditions vs. the amount of monies generated from sales taxes? I just don’t believe anyone could raise those kinds of funds through sales taxes alone from the Farm. So why not have a profit sharing arrangement? But that’s not in the contract. While Ann Fanizzi, the contract’s most ardent supporter, dreams that Mr. Whipple will build a bed & breakfast and turn the main lodge into full service restaurant, the county will need to foot the entirety of the utility bills and the maintenance of the roads and walkways leading to and surrounding them. I wish I had such a deal with my landlord!

What Being Sick Costs The Nation

When you are sick and on the job your productivity is down which results in a decline in efficiency. When you are sick and cannot work, especially in a job without paid sick days, the local economy is affected. And what happens when you wait until you simply cannot go on and your illness has advanced? How much money is pulled from the economy then? What of your home and family? Will Verizon or Comcast or NYSEG understand when they don’t get paid because of the cost of dealing with an illness that might have been easily treated at the beginning but that has now gotten out of control? They might. But you’ll be sending smoke signals and watching a blank TV screen by candlelight.Will your town’s tax collector say, “No problem Mrs. Smith, pay us when you can”?

Verizon’s Billing Mysteries

FCC Line Charge. This charge also is known as the Federal Subscriber Line Charge, the Federally-Ordered Subscriber Line Charge, Federal Line Cost Charge, and the FCC Subscriber Line Charge. In reality it’s the missing portion of your basic line charge mentioned above. That $8.79 fee should be, if Verizon were open and honest about their charges, $15.20. But they get to “cheat” to give you the impression your actual costs are lower and that the Fed is responsible for $6.41 of it. They’re misleading you and getting away with it.

Shooting Gazelles – Ball supports “Canned Hunting”

Yet, Assemblyman Greg Ball supports this type of hunting, claiming on the floor of the Assembly that if the New York bans the use of exotic, non-native animals from canned hunts held within the state that the next step is that the state will ban the shooting of white -tailed deer, then the state will take away everyone’s guns and finally we’ll all have chips in our backs. (see the video clip here). He also claims he represents ‘thousands of hunters in his district’ whom, one might assume, has given him their blessing to fight for this abominable practice in their name.

Contractors Ripped Off By Putnam County (NY)

In a previous issue I mentioned that a county Legislator suggested that if I had trouble paying the fee that maybe I shouldn’t be in business. Maybe he’s right. Maybe the economy sucks and those fees amount to a hardship. Or maybe no one should have to pay for the right to earn a living in Putnam County.

News That Matters: The Walkway Edition

Kudos need be sent to the organizers of this event. It’s massive scale and scope must have taken thousands of hours and untold patience. Everything ran so smoothly! Even with tens of thousands of people, thousands of cars, city buses, a dozen marching bands, scores of performers, several parades and assorted marauding clowns, trapeze artists and jugglers, (and yes, you can toss in a bevy of politicians,) there wasn’t a hitch to be seen. In fact, even the weather – which promised rain – cooperated beautifully.

Racists Rear Their Ugly Heads in Putnam Again

The misinformation contained in the copy on the website is astonishing in its one-sided shortsightedness and includes a link to an outside website where, if Mexicans were Jews, would read, “Die Juden sind ünser unglück”. No matter that the Comptroller of the State of Texas, among others of equal high position across the nation claim that undocumented workers contribute more to the system in taxes than they use, and that recent immigrants – legal and illegal – have *created* tens of thousands of new jobs, this linked website continues the same lies, mistruths and…. shit. It’s just pure White Supremacist shit.

Kent’s ‘panhandle’

Early maps show Philipstown being more recatngularish from when it was divvied up among the Philipse Family. The 1892 USGS map shows the current westernmost line of Kent, the line that runs along the Philisptown Pike (Route 301) AND the *old* town line as well. That line is missing from the 1941 map which has the current town lines in position.

Questions:

1) When did Kent acquire Hortowntown and,
2) Why?

[Ed note: this article was posted on October 3, 2006 and has still not been answered!]

Tales from the Trail

Why? Well, I added up all the possible promised blocks of votes and it turns out – at best – they represent about 15% of the voters. That’s right: the special interest groups and the armchair politicians and the folk who are in this only for the [insert turgid reference here] added together leave the remaining %85 of the voters unrepresented. But, for such a small group, they sure are organized! And Loud. And they have money.

A TEA Party on the Hill

For the past several weeks the region had been bombarded by an ever-increasing barrage of signs, snail mails, emails and robocalls announcing an event that was either a “RibFest!”, a People’s Convention, a Free BBQ or a rally for Greg Ball and Steve Katz… it all depended on which signs you saw or which advert you read or which phone call you got as they all had slightly different information and I reported on this confusion several days ago. But that didn’t seem to bother the 300 people who attended on Saturday.

Selecting an ESCO

Over half of NYSEG electricity supply customers who didn’t voice their choice last year don’t know their current supply pricing option. And while that may suck for them, it’s been great for us. We thank those customers for not having degrees in Advanced Rocket Science and praise their inability to figure out what their options are. NYSEG has always firmly believed that offering you the best choice is a simple matter of confusing the heck out of you. We are proud to continue that tradition because, face it, you have no choice!

Corporate Welfare, Putnam Style

If I were a better writer and could match the skills of even the most middling of authors, life in Putnam County would make quite excellent reading. But so few publishers would believe what I had written as genuine they’d have to place my book in the fiction section of bookstores and the fantasy section of libraries. But I can assure you that what we experience here as residents is real and genuine even though it reads – and too often feels – as if we’re living in a 1950′s Central American Banana Republic. In only a very few other places around the world, perhaps in one of those central Asian “stans” no one can pronounce, could we write about the depths of malfeasance that passes for government in our bucolic 240 square miles. If Voltaire or Shalom Aleichem were alive today even they could not have surpassed the fantastical mysteries and ironies that abound in our every day lives. Welcome to Putnam County, New York.

Controversy in Pawling? It Depends

At a meeting on July 2nd, 2008, Supervisor Coursen mentioned, after yet another round of public and pointed criticism from Mr. Carey, that the minutes from a recently held Comprehensive Plan meeting had not yet been posted to the town’s website due to a backlog on the Planning Board clerk’s desk. With the meeting continuing on, Supervisor Coursen rose from the dais to get a glass of water when Mr. Carey met her on the side and offered to come into town hall and post those minutes on his own. While that’s a nice thing to offer, what responsible entity would allow a political enemy, especially – and note this – the chair of a political party, access to a town’s website?

Pulte Homes, Adam Levy and Justice Putnam Style

Pulte Homes, Adam Levy and Justice Putnam Style: For what the Town of Carmel and Putnam County has done over the years to Lori Kemp you’d think agents from the human rights court in the Hague would descend from the heavens and arrest anyone who has ever sat on a board in that town. But that didn’t happen for too seldom do those who deserve justice get actually it.

The Great Tefillin Scare

On a short-haul flight the other day a 17 year old kid put on his tefflin to pray. A flight attendant asked what he was doing, “praying,” he replied. She notified the pilot. In the flight attendant’s description she said “…it had wires running from it and going up to his fingers,” What she didn’t know was that they go directly to God! but, I digress…

Breaking News: Putnam’s Most Out Person Accused of Autophobia

In a stunning revelation, Putnam County’s most ‘out’ political figure was accused by an alleged staffer from the Nan Hayworth campaign of making accusatory slurs against himself based on his sexual orientation.

Remember when…

From the Patterson Crossing Scoping Session: January 2005

A Walk on the new Cornwall Hill DEC property: Summer 2004

Choices for Sustainable Living Conference: November 2005

Putnam Valley Dems Election Night Celebration: November 2005

FrOGS Announces NAWCA Grant: October 2002. Dave Tobias and Mike Griffin.

Croton Watershed Meeting: October 2004

Charlie Silver – Chief Watershed Scientist, Jim Tierney – Watershed Inspector General,
Peter Lehner, Chief Environmental Attorney. All work for the State Attorney General’s Office

And some Pictures of the Day shots: (Click on them – they get bigger!)

Ice Pond

Dean Road DEP property

Bear Mt. Bridge from Anthony’s Nose

Glynwood from Fahnestock State Park

Daniel Nimham Pow Wow

Thunderstorm over eastern Putnam from Shenandoah Mt.

Bull Hill (Mt. Taurus) from Round Hill in Fahnestock Park

The Kent “Cow”

Collaborative Concepts Out door Art Exhibit at Saunders’ Farm

There more. There’s nearly eighteen-thousand articles and posts since we began and that we’ve lasted as long as we have is a testament to my insanity – and your perseverance. Let’s keep that going.

Since July 18, 2000

10637 messages at the old Yahoo site
3508 messages at Google.
3738 messages posted to PlanPutnam/News That Matters

17,883 posts/messages/comments!

You’re going to need me for the next four years.

JmG

A hearty welcome to FG and other new readers this fine morning.

Today marks the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan in which upwards of 80,000 civilians were killed outright and another 60,000 succumbed to injuries over the following few months.

The County Executive Race Free-For-All: I’ve recently become aware that my name has been tossed around at the brewster10509 blog as a possible write-in or independent ballot line candidate for County Executive. I do appreciate the support but really, I have enough trouble paying the bills and cannot take time off from that struggle to go head-to-head against Senator Leibell or MaryEllen Odell nor would anyone in their right mind want to get involved with that mess.

Besides, can you imagine me running this county? Sheesh. By the time I was done there’d be passive solar homes, windmills and mini-hydro plants everywhere, green roofs as code on commercial construction, bike lanes along Routes 301, 311, 312 and Peekskill Hollow Road, one quarter fewer county employees, sustainable manufacturing and a corporate office park or two along the Route 84 corridor in Kent employing hundreds of highly skilled workers and a hundred acres or more at Tilly Foster growing rapeseed or switchgrass to power the county truck fleet. No one would want anything like that.

Note to licensed contractors in Putnam County: That bi-annual tax you pay to the county for permission to work here is, for some of you, about to go up. Forget that the recession has decimated many of us financially, and that those fees are paying for a department from which we contractors earn no benefit. The county has decided that in order to educate you about new laws concerning phosphorus reduction they’re going to increase those fees to charge you for their as yet to be determined educational program. At least that’s where the legislative committee is now… stay tuned!

But if you feel you’ve been fee’d and taxed to death already and would like to start a coalition of contractors willing to stand up and fight back, please, contact me.

The current Board membership consists of a variety of men and women with a commitment to preserving open space within Putnam County. The mission of the land trust is threefold: land protection, stewardship of protected properties and public education on natural and environmental issues. While not called upon to be experts in the field of environmental studies, all contribute their own unique personal skills abilities and talents to get the job of land protection done.

If you’re interested – and you should be – visit their website for more information.

Median Property Taxes Paid on Homes was $3622 ranking NY in 4th place. In New Jersey it was $6320 for a first place ranking.

Taxes as a % of home value in NY was 1,14% ranking us 17th. Texas came in 1st place with 1.76% and New Jersey was in 2nd place at 1.74%. 3rd place went to Nebraska at 1.72%

Taxes as a percent of income: New York was in 6th place at 4.74%, New Jersey came in 1st at 7.02% and 3rd place went to Connecticut at 5.27%

And, as far as inside New York goes, Putnam ranks 4th behind Westchester (1st), Nassau (2nd) and Rockland (3rd) and though our median property tax bill is $7,324, in Westchester it’s $8,890, in Nassau, $8,628 and Rockland, $8,430.

So this campaign season when you hear candidates saying that Putnam pays the highest taxes in the nation or the state you’ll know you’re being lied to. Pay attention because you’re going to hear it!

The other day I reported that I had a received a “press release” from one “putnamcountywatchdog” that was, based on its wording, in support of Mary Ellen Odell’s campaign for County Executive. I sent a note back to the sender asking for identification and received nothing. I then posted the same question to MEO’s facebook page and Brittany Pritz, a volunteer, wrote to say that she didn’t know who the sender was either.

I generally do not forward or report the contents of emails and releases sent to me whose sources are not verifiable and if PCWD continues sending these anonymous posts he’ll only do his candidate harm. There should be no shame in being public… unless you work for Vinnie Leibell. Just tell me and I promise to keep it under my hat.

It’s such a lie that Poltifact has given President Palin yet another “pants on fire” rating for this boner. Keep in mind that it was the Bush tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of the year, which so short-changed the government that it can be pointed to as one of the chief reasons the Federal deficit is so outstandingly high. That, and a trillion a year to defense and defense related expenditures… we cannot forget those…

Politifact writes in their report:

Sarah Palin said she wrote her notes on her hand so the “liberals” couldn’t say she got her numbers wrong when she appeared on Fox News Sunday. Well, we’re independent fact-checkers, and we still found accuracy issues with the former governor’s statements on the expiring Bush tax cuts.

You can – and should – read the rest here.

Read it now because you’re going to be hearing this from Nan Hayworth and the FOX Courier until your ears fall off and Richard Nixon rises from the grave – and it still won’t be true.

Rather than deal with intentional inaccuracies, perhaps they might just say, the State of Gaza since it has its own government, runs its own affairs, has a standing army and, aside from thousands of Iranian trained guerrillas, there is only one foreign soldier on their soil, Gilad Shalit, kidnapped inside Israel and held in confinement in Gaza since June 25, 2006.

In January of 2009, Israel agreed to release 1000 Palestinians from their prisons to secure Mr. Shalit’s release but Hamas refused. In June 2009, an Israeli human rights group, B’Tselem, no friend to the Israeli government, tried to publish an advertisement in the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds asking for his release but the paper’s Gaza-based cousin, Palestine, refused to run it. And just this year ten-thousand Israeli’s marched from Shalit’s hometown to the Israeli Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem, a distance of more than 100 miles, in an attempt to pressure the government to secure a return for Gilad to his friends and family. Across Europe, churches and cathedrals and even the Coliseum in Rome dimmed their lights in support.

When Hamas isn’t busy restricting the media or outright killing reporters they don’t like, we have a general idea of what life is like for the average Gazan, western-style nightclubs included, but we know nothing about the condition of Mr. Shalit or the conditions under which he is being kept.

In June of this year, Human Rights Watch, also no friend of Israel’s, called the treatment of the 23-year old soldier “cruel and inhuman” saying “it illustrates the UN definition of torture and violates the international rules of war by prohibiting him from having contact with his family or visits from the Red Cross.” In fact, the Red Cross has been forbidden to visit Mr. Shalit in all this time.

This sabbath, light a candle for Gilad Shalit, a pawn in this terrible conflict, so that he will not be forgotten.

Things To Do:

• Today:
  • Public Listening Session on the President’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative
  • Vaneese Thomas at Arts on The Lake
  • Wild Orange/Goat Feed
  • Anything Goes
  • Remedy w/Mike Latini
• Saturday, August 7
  • Clearwater Volunteer Work Day
• Sunday, August 8
  • Back To School Exhibit
  • Talk on Bannerman Castle
• Into The Future:
  • Saturday, August 14
    • Stony Kill Farm Hosts Butterfly Festival
  • Tuesday, August 17
    • Pre-Primary Candidate’s Forum
  • Friday, August 20
    • Love in Translation
  • Saturday, August 21
    • Tour the Frank Lloyd Wright Home
  • Saturday, August 28
    • Gallery Talk at Dia:Beacon: Tobi Maier on Imi Knoebel
  • Sunday, September 12
    • Ride to Remember Jeff Coursen

Today:

Public Listening Session on the President’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative

9:00 AM – 12:00 PM Please join senior representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other federal agencies for a public listening session on conservation, recreation and reconnecting people to the outdoors. The session will be held Friday, August 6, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon in the Hudson River Valley. The public listening session and discussion are an opportunity for leaders of the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative to hear from you and other voices in the Hudson Valley about solutions for building a 21st-century conservation and recreation agenda and for reconnecting people with the outdoors. This event is free and open to the public. Pre-register by Tuesday, August 3 by sending an email to joseph.heller@ny.usda.gov with your name, the name of the organization with which you are affiliated, if any, and your telephone number. Include in your email your primary area of interest by noting your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice of the Concurrent Breakout Listening Sessions listed as follows: (1) Conservation of working farms, forests, and coastal areas. (2) Reconnecting people with the outdoors through recreation and education. (3) Creating a healthy river: Conserving and restoring important habitat and blueways. (4) General session for those who do not want to designate a specific topic.  If you have questions, please contact Joseph Heller at (845) 883-7162, Extension 104 or joseph.heller@ny.usda.gov. Location: Marist College, Student Center. Poughkeepsie, NY.

Vaneese Thomas at Arts on The Lake

7PM “A real woman with a real, big natural voice is coming through.” – San Antonio Express. Vaneese Thomas R & B Sisters of Soul will be joined by Paul Mariconda (keyboards), Phil Hamilton (guitar), Perry Gartner (drums), Paul Adamy (bass) Tim Ouimette (trumpet), Bill Harris (sax), Angela Clemmons and Kati Mac (vocals) this Friday at 7. Scheduled for the lawn at the Lake Carmel Cultural Center, 640 Route 52.

Bring a lawn chair or blanket. (Concerts move indoors if there is rain.) Tickets are $10 (member discounts apply and if you mention News That Matters at the box office you can get in for $7.50!).  Children are free.  Purchase in advance or at the door. Food, sweets, drinks and t-shirts will be available starting at 6:30.

Wild Orange/Goat Feed

8PM – Wild Orange: On a tropical island in the late 1700s, a sea captain and a female Caribbean warrior spar over love, war and revolution. By Parul Uhry Newman and starring, Steve Andersen and Teresa Nash.
Goat Feed: On the day of independence in South Africa, a goat farmer and his longtime worker fight over land rights. By Samuel Harps and starring, Forest Hamilton, Donna James, Ron Schnitter, Emily Schnitter and Marie Hannye-Scurato. At the Shades Repertory Theater at the Haverstraw Youth Theater, 64 New Main Street at Hudson Avenue in Haverstraw Village. Suggest donation $15. Write to info@shaderep.com or call 845.675.8044 Shows tonight and Saturday. Repeated next Friday and Saturday.

Anything Goes

8PM – Brewster Theater Company. With original book by PG Wodehouse, Guy Bolton, Howard Lindsey, and Russel Crouse, the musical Anything Goes first opened on Broadway in 1934 starring the incomparable Ethel Merman.  More than 70 years later, the show still retains its appeal. Along with the broad, occasionally slapstick humor is mixed a dose of romance aboard the ocean line SS American bound for London from New York. Billy Crocker is a stowaway in love with heiress Hope Harcourt, who is engaged to Lord Evelyn Oakleigh. Nightclub singer Reno Sweeney and Public Enemy #13, Moonface Martin, aid Billy in his quest to win Hope. At the Brewster High School Theater. 50 Foggintown Road (at Route 312). Performances repeat tomorrow (Saturday) at 8PM and Sunday at 2PM. Tickets are $18 for adults/$15 Students and Seniors.

Remedy w/Mike Latini

9PM – Remedy, a local band with Mike Latini will be at Murphy’s Bar, 355 Kear Street in Yorktown. There’s a pay one price fundraiser going on so head on over and between sets tell Mike you read about it here.

Saturday, August 7

Clearwater Volunteer Work Day

11AM to 4PM Volunteer Work Day at the Clearwater office, gardens and grounds. We will be doing some clean up and small projects in and around the office and grounds, as well as working in the gardens. Please click here to sign up

Sunday, August 8

Back To School Exhibit

2PM. Belle Levine Arts Center in Mahopac. Putnam Arts Council’s upcoming exhibit, Back 2 School, showcases the work of PAC instructors and their adult students in a special Gallery show at 521 Kennicut Hill Rd. Mahopac. This exhibit, developed by the PAC Visual Arts Committee, is our 5th exhibit in 5 months.

Come meet the artists Sunday August 8, 2-4pm and see some of the creative visions developed here on the hill.  The Show is open to the public Tuesday – Friday from 10-3 and Sundays 1-4 through August 22. For info on this and all programs, classes, concerts and more, visit putnamartscouncil.com

Talk on Bannerman Castle

4PM Bannerman Castle is the Subject for Next Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries Sunday Author Series. Authors Thom Johnson and Barbara Gottlock will share the stories behind their book and the facts surrounding this castle-like, island arsenal. The program is free and will be held at the Gallery, 199 Main Street in Beacon, NY. You can pre-register online at www.bire.org/events. Just select the event from the online calendar and click on the link to register. Call the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries at 845/838-1600 for more information.

Into The Future:

Saturday, August 14

Stony Kill Farm Hosts Butterfly Festival

10:00 AM – 2:00 PM . Environmental Education Center celebrates their annual Butterfly Festival. Butterflies, caterpillars and chrysalises will be the focal point at this free public event, during which a screen tent will temporarily house live butterflies for the day. Families can take turns entering the tent to get close to monarchs, eastern tiger swallowtails, spicebush swallowtails and great spangled fritillaries. The butterflies will be released during a ceremony at the closing of the event. Other activities throughout the day include butterfly crafts, nature games and learning about insects, thanks to AmeriCorps members of the Student Conservation Association. Visitors are invited to explore the paths of Stony Kill’s perennial garden to view more butterflies. Volunteers who maintain the gardens will be on hand to share information about gardening for butterflies and other wildlife. For more information, please call 845-831-8780, ext 300. Visit www.dec.ny.gov/education/1833.html for a listing of scheduled programs and activities at Stony Kill.
Location: Stony Kill Farm, 79 Farmstead Lane, Wappingers Falls, NY 12590.

Tuesday, August 17

Pre-Primary Candidate’s Forum

7PM at the Mahopac Library. Presented by Concerned Residents of Carmel & Mahopac. Candidates whose names will be on the Primary ballot within the Town of Carmel have been invited to participate on the panel.  The moderator will be Joe Montuori, who so ably moderated several of CRCM’s previous forums. Candidates not on the ballot for the primary will be allowed one minute each to introduce themselves.

Friday, August 20

Love in Translation

A one-act play written by the students in Lora Lee Ecobelli’s acting class at Arts on the Lake in Kent. With Jon Barb, Laura Bellizzi, Suzanne Bohmer, Kathie Freston, Nadia Laffan, Alicia Morgan and Zulie Losada. Suggested donation is $5. Performances will be on Friday, August 20 and Saturday, August 21 at 8PM and on Sunday August 22 at 3PM. This play is a project of the Blue Horse Repertory Company Student Workshop and, as far as this editor knows, no union actors were harmed in its production.

Saturday, August 21

Tour the Frank Lloyd Wright Home

Join the Putnam Arts Council for an exclusive tour of the stunning Frank Lloyd Wright home on Petra Island on Lake Mahopac on Saturday, August 21, made possible through the generosity of owners Joseph & Barbara Massaro.  Limited to 40 participants (2 groups of 20), tickets @$60 for members/ @$65 general are a must and include transportation out to the island.  All proceeds benefit the programs of the Putnam Arts Council.  Tours begin at 11am. Reserve a spot today @ 845.803.8622 or email to kc@putnamartscouncil.com

Saturday, August 28

Gallery Talk at Dia:Beacon: Tobi Maier on Imi Knoebel

1pm. Tobi Maier is the curator at Ludlow 38, the downtown satellite space for contemporary art of Goethe-Institut on New York’s Lower East Side. He was previously curator at the Frankfurter Kunstverein and also collaborated on Manifesta 7 (Rovereto, Italy) as curatorial adviser (2006-2008), and was curatorial intern at the 27th Biennial of Sao Paulo (2006). He holds an MA in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art in London. At Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries, 3 Beekman Street, Beacon, NY 12508. Call 845 440 0100 or visit www.diaart.org.

Sunday, September 12

Ride to Remember Jeff Coursen

11AM – Motorcycle Ride. 1PM – Picnic at the Pawling Fire Department (South Street in Pawling, just north of route 55) A 100 mile motorcycle ride and picnic to remember Jeff Coursen’s dual passions: Motorcycles and helping alcoholics and addicts overcome addiction. Everyone’s Welcome! The Event and Picnic are sponsored by Jeff Coursen’s family and friends. Your tax deductible donations will benefit St. Christopher’s Inn, a treatment facility that has been providing hope and compassionate care to alcoholics and addicts for 100 years. For more information and to register contact: Ed and Mary Mahaffey at The Annex Florist Pawling, 28 Charles Colman Blvd, Pawling NY 12564 845.855.9612 or email: ridetorememberjeffcoursen@gmail.com

A special thanks to all of you who are working to get Peekskill Hollow Road designated as an historic road under our county’s new law. If you live on a road that you might like to see protected from over development, useless widening and other make-work issues, check out the new law and see if it could apply to you.

The Yankees got their butts kicked last night. The Angels beat them 10-2 in 9 innings. That’s what you get when you charge $4 for a hot dog, $23 parking and $100 bucks for a halfway decent seat.

As usual, Friday is our Things To Do Edition and if you don’t send me your Things To Do there won’t be any!

Local Briefs:

Politics As Usual

Two of Putnam’s Town Supervisors and four from outside the county have stepped into the political ring by stepping out of their roles as Supervisors and stepping in to roles as Republican operatives by endorsing State Senate candidate Mary Beth Murphy over fellow Republican Greg Ball. One has to wonder how much pressure outgoing Senator Leibell had in the matter. Still, the pressure is on the Ballster as the establishment seeks to place a more compliant Republican in the race, one that won’t question or argue and will toe the party line quietly. But then, Westchester Legislator Mike Kaplowitz is also in the race and those Westchester Supervisors who bowed to the current Senator could be in a difficult position if the fellow from Westchester wins the seat. Makes me think that sitting elected officials should probably stay out of these things.

Flying the Noisy Skies

Politicians all over the valley are busily trying to find ways to grow service at Stewart Airport. And while that may be good for those of you who travel to Orlando or St. Louis, those living under the flight path will have a different take on the matter. Several years ago a coalition of citizen’s groups stopped plans to make Stewart the world’s largest air cargo facility which would have had flights into and out of the airport every 3 minutes, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Now we’re back to this. Proponents claim new jobs and prosperity will be the result, opponents say that those living in northern Putnam County and southern Dutchess might as well move back to the Five Towns and Rockaway. I’m wondering if the same politicians will find the funds required to sound proof homes and schools, hospitals and businesses so that we don’t have to yell at each other every three minutes day in and day out. For those of you who have lived near an established airport… well, you know what I’m talking about.

How Can We Keep From Singing?

Pete Seeger is singing once again, this time about hydrofracking and a recording made just yesterday of him singing a new song at a press conference in Albany is here. The recording comes from midhudsonnews.com.

This photo (assuming it comes through from shorpy.com), shows Pete singing for Eleanor Roosevelt in February of 1944 at a Valentine’s Day party marking the opening of the United Federal Labor Canteen in Washington.

Remember when you weren’t afraid to use the word “labor” when referring to your work or the work of others? To the eight-hour day and unlocked fire escapes and decent lighting and retirement plans and all that other icky socialist stuff?

Peekskill Hollow Road

The effort to designate PHR as an historical road is well underway with the petition drive in full swing. If you want to get involved give Vic Tiship a call at (845) 661-8007 or email at elfstone@cloud9.net

Incentive Zoning or Giving Away The Farm

This evening the Putnam Valley Town Board will discuss the issue of “incentive zoning” which is zoning designed to, oh, like, um… allow Paul Camarda to build Patterson Crossing at the intersection of Church and Oscawana without the hassles. If you think this is a cool idea, do not go to the meeting at town hall this evening as you’ll be bored, Bored, BORED! But if you feel that relaxing your zoning codes to allow commercial development is a bad idea then please go the meeting and tell Bob T I sent you. According to the release I got the meeting is at 6PM, an ungodly hour for those who live in town but work away.

News Shorts

• The US Senate has finally voted to extend unemployment benefits for more than 2 million Americans whose benefits had run out. The vote was 60-40, all 40 being Republicans. Republicans claimed they wanted to help out hungry families but could not if those dollars added to the deficit. Fine. So, why didn’t they tap into the $700,000,000,000 the DOD budget? A few less cruise missiles there, a few more full stomachs here at home. It’s as simple as that.

• Oh wait. There’s more. Arizona Senator John McCain said that he was proud to block the extension of unemployment benefits and then went on to call for tax breaks for American corporations such as Raytheon who, he says, makes “wonderful missiles”. He was also upset that Democrats wanted to use Federal dollars to hire more teachers and thought that money would be better spent building weapons.

• USDA employee Shirley Sherrod was fired from her position with that agency over a tape made by Andrew Breitbart that alludes to what he calls a racist speech. But the section of the tape he distributed is out of context, like the ACORN tapes… Why do these people have to lie and manipulate? Are they really that personally insecure?

• In case you’re wondering why you can’t figure out which agency is in charge of our alleged war on terror, which one is charged with wiretapping your phone, putting you on the Do Not Fly list and which one sends you to Guantanamo or renditions you off to Syria or Jordan for treatment that would make Josef Mengele blush, you’re in good company! The Washington Post reports (see article below) that there are an estimated 854,000 people in 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private organizations who are involved.

• Future President Palin used the words, “refudiate” and “misunderestimate” on her twitter feed. Apparently English isn’t the official language of Alaska. And though she claims that Shakespeare made up his own words and thus she could too, she sure ain’t no Michael Chabon.

• Who is Lindsey Lohan and why is she going to jail?

• A rural school district that canceled its prom rather than allow a lesbian student to attend with her girlfriend has agreed to pay $35,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit the ACLU filed on her behalf.

• New Hampshire State Rep candidate Ryan Hurdough wrote the following in a letter to the Concord (NH) Monitor:
  “For far too long white Americans have been told that diversity is something beneficial to their existence. Statistics prove that the opposite is true. New Hampshire residents must seek to preserve their racial identity if we want future generations to have to possibility to live in such a great state. Affirmative action, illegal and legal non-white immigration, anti-white public school systems, and an anti-white media have done much damage to the United States of America and especially New Hampshire. It is time for white people in New Hampshire and across the country to take a stand. We are only 8 percent of the world’s population and we need our own homeland, just like any other non-white group of people deserve their own homeland.”
  

Try as I might I cannot make this stuff up.

And now, The News:

Nature Conservancy gets funding for its Delaware Basin Restoration Initiative

MidHudsonNews.com

MOUNT KISCO – The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has granted the Nature Conservancy $450,000 to fund a comprehensive conservation plan for the Delaware River Basin, including the Upper Delaware in the Sullivan and Orange County and Northeastern Pennsylvania area.

Ellen Weiss, spokeswoman for the Nature Conservancy Eastern NY Chapter, said the money will be used to protect the freshwater system.

“The money will be used to develop a comprehensive Delaware Basin Restoration Initiative where we will identify opportunities to protect and improve water quality and habitat as well as a blueprint for the region’s conservation organizations and agencies,” she said.

The Delaware is the longest undammed river in the eastern United States. The Delaware River Basin drains over 13,000 square miles and supports almost 15 million people with clean drinking water.

Read More

Coalition calls for delay in approving hydrofracking until studies are complete

ALBANY – A coalition of environmental advocacy groups Tuesday called on the State Legislature to approve a bill in both houses that would suspend issuing new permits for hydrofracking to harvest natural gas for 11 months. That would provide the time to further study the process.

The group held a news conference in Albany headed by the group Frack Action and largely assembled by Ulster County Legislator Susan Zimet of New Paltz.

The message they all had was the same. State Assembly and Senate members must approve the 11 month delay in natural gas or oil in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations and if they don’t they will be voted out of office.

Actor and Sullivan County resident Mark Ruffalo gave an impassioned plea for the moratorium.

Read More

Congressman John Hall for Veterans and the Environment

By Michael Boyajian

We are often quite aware of our soldiers when they are fighting for us overseas and in harm’s way but we often forget about them when they return home in dire need of medical treatment.  Not Congressman John Hall.  During my recent interview of the congressman he reported that he has been battling on behalf of veterans for many years.

In fact a few years ago he passed a bill unanimously through both houses of Congress during the Bush Administration that provided timely care to vets upon their return home.  However once piece of that legislation was left out because some thought it would cost too much.

Well, as of last Tuesday that is no longer the case.  Upon the tireless work of Congressman Hall President Obama signed an executive order that fast tracks veterans who are diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder so that they receive the help they need without the need of intensive documentation and details of battle situation.  All that they need is a medical diagnosis saying that they suffer PTSD and they will receive treatment and in some cases compensation if it effects their ability to work.

Read More

EPA takes new look at gas drilling, water issues

HARRISBURG, Pa. – So vast is the wealth of natural gas locked into dense rock deep beneath Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Ohio that some geologists estimate it’s enough to supply the entire East Coast for 50 years.

But freeing it requires a powerful drilling process called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” using millions of gallons of water brewed with toxic chemicals, that some fear could pollute water above and below ground and deplete aquifers.

As gas drillers swarm to this lucrative Marcellus Shale region and blast into other shale reserves around the country, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is taking a new look at the controversial fracking technique, currently exempt from federal regulation. The $1.9 million study comes as the nation reels from the Deepwater Horizon environmental and economic disaster playing out in the Gulf of Mexico.

The oil and gas industry steadfastly defends the process as having been proven safe over many years as well as necessary to keep the nation on a path to energy independence.

Studies have “consistently shown that the risks are managed, it’s safe, it’s a technology that’s essential … it’s also a technology that’s well-regulated,” said Lee Fuller, director of the industry coalition Energy In Depth.

“A fair study,” Fuller added, “will show that the procedures that are there now are highly effective and do not need to be altered — the federal government does not need to be there.”

But because of the oil spill, conservation groups say the drilling industry has lost it credibility and the rapid expansion of shale drilling needs to be scrutinized.

Read More

London and Paris: a tale of two bike-hire schemes

It’s not the best of starts. I’ve only been in the saddle of this new bicycle – the centrepiece of London’s cycle hire system, set to launch on 30 July – for two minutes and I’m already being flagged down by a policeman. What have I done wrong, I wonder nervously. Did I cut across someone when changing lanes on the approach to Westminster Bridge? Should I be wearing a helmet? It’s been three decades since I passed my cycling proficiency test, and there’s been very little serious cycling in between.

The policeman points to the spot on the curb when he wants me to park up. “What have I done, officer?”

“Oh, nothing,” he says. “I just wanted to ask what the bike was like to ride. Do you think it will be popular?” Squeezing the brakes and ringing the bell, he’s like a wide-eyed boy in a bike shop. I offer him a go. “I can’t,” he says. “I’m on duty.”

It strikes me, during this rather surreal exchange, that at least the bike isn’t suited to being a getaway vehicle. It weighs more than 20kg, and has three gears: Sloth, Tortoise and Ageing Elephant. It’s designed for leisurely ambling rather than APD (aggressive pursuit of destination), which is clearly the default setting of every other cyclist on the road today. The looks of disdain and irritation are palpable as they continually whizz past me.

Read More

The War on Terror: A hidden world, growing beyond control

These are some of the findings of a two-year investigation by The Washington Post that discovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America hidden from public view and lacking in thorough oversight. After nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe is so massive that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.

The investigation’s other findings include:

* Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.

* An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.

* In Washington and the surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September 2001. Together they occupy the equivalent of almost three Pentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings – about 17 million square feet of space.

Read More

Palestinians in the Arab World: Why the Silence?

by Khaled Abu Toameh
July 20, 2010 at 5:00 am

http://www.hudson-ny.org/1422/palestinians-in-arab-world

When was the last time the United Nations Security Council met to condemn an Arab government for its mistreatment of Palestinians?

How come groups and individuals on university campuses in the US and Canada that call themselves “pro-Palestinian” remain silent when Jordan revokes the citizenship of thousands of Palestinians?

The plight of Palestinians living in Arab countries in general, and Lebanon in particular, is one that is often ignored by the mainstream media in West.

How come they turn a blind eye to the fact that Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and many more Arab countries continue to impose severe travel restrictions on Palestinians?

And where do these groups and individuals stand regarding the current debate in Lebanon about whether to grant Palestinians long-denied basic rights, including employment, social security and medical care?

Or have they not heard about this debate at all? Probably not, since the case has failed to draw the attention of most Middle East correspondents and commentators.

Read More

News That Matters welcomes our new readers and registrants this morning.

Andrew Cuomo came to Putnam County yesterday and local Republicans, both high and low, came out to fawn over the man who is a better Republican than Rick Lazio. You gotta love it.

Remember all that tree cutting we reported about along Peekskill Hollow Road last week? You remember, Vic Tiship sent out an alert and you all wrote/called County Legislator Vinnie Tamagna about it? Right. Well, the work stopped at the Putnam Valley line and first impressions were that the alert stopped the work. (By the way, the county has still not returned my call about that). But there may be more to this story and there may be a Town of Kent connection to the whole affair. It’s been said that the Town complained to the county that they did no work along Peekskill Hollow road and to prove the county could do work they sent out the crews on steroids. I’m not necessarily buying that for I cannot believe that the county would be that vengeful but as I find out more I will let you know. If you have any insight on the matter please write.

And, while we’re talking about Peekskill Hollow Road, you’ll also remember that the county had passed an Historic Roads law and the process of including PHR in that law is now underway. Supporters need the approved signatures of 50%+1 of the linear feet owned (around 16,800 ft) along the road in order for PHR to be included in the law and granted protections that would have prevented the tree cutting we saw last week from taking place. Keep in mind, this is not 50%+1 of the property owners, but of the land owned. There is a difference.

If you’d like to help out that project you can download a blank copy of the petition here and then bring it to the Farmer’s Market at Tompkins Corners on Friday’s between 3-6PM and hand it to Dell or Eric.

August 2nd is fast approaching and if you’ve forgotten (and it’s easy to with everything else that is going on), that’s the day that Carmel’s Lori Kemp goes before Judge Spofford to answer the harassment charges against her.

Though we’ve generated many, many letters to the District Attorney’s office, the judge himself has shown no inclination to chastise a smirking Frances O’Reilly, Ms. Kemp’s former attorney, for his admitted refusal to adequately represent her, (where most judges would have dope-slapped him from  here to law school and back), and our letters, phone calls and personal meetings have all failed to persuade The Machine that this case is unfair, unjust and plain old dumb, we don’t hold much hope that justice will be served on that day.

But the county, er, The Machine, is in a bind for they cannot win for winning.

If the judge should find Ms. Kemp guilty of the charge the public will know they have no rights to protect their property from interlopers so long as they come under the protection of wealthy developers and their elected cronies. If by some miracle the charges are dropped or Ms Kemp is able to prove in court that she has rights, the public perception will be that The Machine will harass anyone that gets in the way of blasting the shit out of our mountains and hillsides for personal gain and profit and leveling our county as certainly as mountain top removal has done – and is doing – to the fabled green and rolling hills of West Virginia.

Tonight

Open House Poughkeepsie

5:00-7:00 p.m., Hudson River Housing’s Middle Main Revitalization OPENING RECEPTION, Art and Cultural Exposition “Open House Poughkeepsie.” The reception will take place at Clinton House. Art exhibits will be on display in Main Street storefronts during the two week period.  For more information about Casperkill – Fall Kill Creek Week contact Jennifer Rubbo at (845) 454-7673 or jen@clearwater.org or Emily Vail at (845) 437-5313 or emvail@vassar.edu.

History Walk: Potable Water in an Estuary

5:30 PM  The Importance of the Spring to Prehistoric People at Maple Grove Historic Site, 24 Beechwood Avenue, Poughkeepsie. Walk through the field at Maple Grove to the spring-fed stream with archaeologist Lucy Johnson, who will discuss the Native American presence in the region and the importance of Hudson Valley tributaries and coastal springs.  For more information about Casperkill – Fall Kill Creek Week contact Jennifer Rubbo at (845) 454-7673 or jen@clearwater.org or Emily Vail at (845) 437-5313 or emvail@vassar.edu.

Saturday

Bird Walk at Vassar Farm

8:00 AM   Members of the Ralph T. Waterman Bird Club will lead a walk on the Farm and provide information on resident birds of the area. For more information contact Jennifer Rubbo at (845) 454-7673 or jen@clearwater.org or Emily Vail at (845) 437-5313 or emvail@vassar.edu. http://dutchesswam.com/2010-events/additional-information-for-ralph-t-waterman-club-bird-walks

Build Your Own Rain Barrel Workshop

1:00 p.m.This will take place at the newly opened Fall Kill Partnership Gardens, located in the back of the Family Partnership Center, 29 N. Hamilton Street, Poughkeepsie. Rain barrels capture runoff from rooftops during storms. Three other workshops will take place throughout the month of July in Rhinebeck, Pawling, and Beacon. The registration fee for the workshops is $15. Spaces are limited. To register, contact Vicky at vcb4@cornell.edu or 845-677-8223, ext. 153.

Sunday

Hike Around White Pond

11AM – the Kent CAC will lead a Hike around White Pond. We’ll meet at the NY State Multiple Use parking area on White Pond Road off of Farmer’s Mills Road. The hike will traverse the historic dam, skirt through the hemlocks, chestnuts, and tupelos in the deep woods, tiptoe across a stone wall above a swamp, and finally follow along the road with the open water and big sky. Don’t forget to bring your lunch and water for the hike. Also, you may wish to bring a bathing suit for a dip in the clean, cool waters of White Pond after the hike.

This is a moderate hike that takes about three hours including a lunch break and stops to learn local and natural history. Expect to see day lilies and Indian pipes, enjoy the sweet fragrance of the swamp azalea, and lunch overlooking the lake. If bad weather forces us to cancel the hike, we’ll send an e-mail like this one and post the news on the Kent CAC programs page about an hour before the scheduled start. For further information contact hike leader Beth Herr <mailto:herrszur@comcast.net>

Into the Future:

Tuesday, July 20

Indian Point Hearing

2PM – 7PM Colonial Terrace, 119 Oregon Road, Cortlandt Manor. Attend public hearing sessions on July 20 to voice your support of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) recent decision to deny a critical water quality certification for the Indian Point nuclear power plant.

DEC denied this certification because Indian Point is violating state water quality standards: the once-through cooling water system kills over a billion fish every year, including endangered sturgeon, and releases huge amounts of hot water back into the Hudson.  Radioactive water leaks from the plant have contaminated the state’s groundwater and slowly leach to the river.

However, Entergy is scrambling to try and overturn DECs decision.  They’ve launched a massive PR campaign to try and convince the public that complying with the law and doing what is best for the environment is not necessary.  Entergy has also requested a hearing to have DECs determination reversed.  Before moving forward, DEC will host meetings on July 20 to solicit comments from the public on this critical issue.  We already know Entergy is going to try and pack the house by paying people to show up for this hearing.  We need to make sure our voice is heard and that someone speaks up for our communities and for the river.

Wednesday, July 21

Swim for the River and FLOW: For the Love of Water.

6:30 PM at Staatsburg Library (70 Old Post Road) in Staatsburg: Swim for the River and FLOW: For the Love of Water. Swim for the River is a documentary on Chris Swain’s journey to become the first person to swim the entire length of the Hudson River, from the Adirondacks to New York City.  Along the way, Swain meets many people who are working to protect the Hudson River from a wide variety of threats. This is a great film for kids. FLOW looks at the worldwide future of our water resources and the people who try to protect them. More info on this and other Dutchess Watershed Awareness programs can be found here http://dutchesswam.com/