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Good Tuesday Morning,
Coming in August is the Daniel Nimham Intertribal Pow Wow. This event, one of the largest events in the county, runs over two days and attracts thousands of visitors from across the region. Organized and run by volunteers led by Gil Tarbox of Kent and his Nimham Mountain Singers, this event is a notable bright spot during the late summer season and has helped put Putnam County on the regional tourist map. The pow wow is also one of the few events that actually earns money for the county through fees charged to vendors at the event.
Putnam County used to be a bit more helpful with the Pow Wow but with budget cuts and an apparent shift away from cultural events and towards sporting events instead, that support has lagged over the years and the pow wow finds itself in need of a little financial assistance this year. A donation to their efforts would be helpful and is tax deductible. If you can help them - and I hope you can - please contact Gil Tarbox at gil@nimham.com My article yesterday about Energy Policy hit a positive nerve with a lot of people writing to say they agreed. So, let's get the ball rolling! I'll leave the floor open for your suggestions as to which aspect of energy conservation we should tackle first and then we'll get to it. Should we focus on bringing local agriculture to market or try to get the Town of Kent to put solar panels in front of their new Town Center? Should we get the county to commission a wind survey or a needs assessment for mass transit? Any and all ideas are welcome. Just write me offline to keep the clutter down.
 The image to the right is one taken in the Town of Southeast. As you can see, stormwater management issues there have been dragging. It's not like this is a new situation since the sender, Brian Alberghini has been posting pictures of this pond for 6 years and it's just not getting any better. Brian writes:
"Well after leaving the 4-H Fair I arrived to home sweet home. After the rain stopped I saw this. The amazing thing is that I started sending out photos of this back in 2001. SO as you can see the storm water management efforts in Southeast have come a long way. This is what happens when uncontrolled development happens on excessive slopes with out the proper management techniques. It is also what happens when no one cares. So please forward this on to your local politicians, I am sure that those of you who receive this have more friends in higher places than I have. Maybe someone has the email addy of someone in Washington and wouldn't mind sending this on. Or maybe I just need to contact the EPA directly and show them the 6 years of mud in the pond. Oh and by the way to the Southeast officials reading this keep in mind that once this pond is completely filled with sediment and there is no place else for the water to go, the road will go next. You see the hydraulic pressure on the culvert is enough to cause a whirlpool, you have seen the photos before, and that will eventually erode the road bed and then undercut the road. You already repaved the road within the last two years do you want to do it again? Just a thought. It might be cheaper to just clean out the pond which is filled by sediment from property other than mine and the Town has used this as a storm water retention pond."
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Dutchess County will be hosting a seminar on the invasive mile-a-minute vine this evening. The program begins at 7PM at the East Fishkill Town Hall, 330 Route 376, just before you enter Hopewell Junction.
The Putnam Valley Planning Board meets tonight at the Town Hall on Oscawana Road at 6PM after a 5:30 PM work session.
The New York Times reports that Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has signed a bill that officials say will make the state a leader in the production and use of biofuels. The law requires that all diesel and home heating oil sold in the state contain at least 5 percent biofuel by 2013. In a first-in-the-nation provision, the state will also waive its 23-cents-per-gallon gasoline tax on fuel made from cellulosic ethanol, which is derived from woodchips and other biomass but not corn. That fuel is not yet commercially available.
The Office of National Drug Control Policy has released another report warning people that the marijuana you're smoking today is more powerful, and hence more "dangerous", than that you smoked when you were younger. Whenever the ONDCP feels it's being ignored (and especially around budget time,) it releases a report like this but rather than be taken as a warning it serves instead as a billboard - "Get A Better High - Today!" They're still hard pressed to prove anyone has died from smoking the new nuclear weed because no one has, nor has anyone been injured in a manner say, similar to a heart attack from red meat or an addiction to prescribed pharmaceuticals, or have their livers rot out from ingestion of legal drugs like alcohol.
And lastly, The White House is projecting a $500,000,000,000 debt for 2009. I'd say, get high and let your grandchildren worry about it.
Now that you're all happy, here's the news:
- Researchers Map Out America's Deadliest Roads
- Record deficit expected in 2009
- Does the First Amendment allow you to call someone a "fascist"?
- Funds for Highways Plummet
- EPA tells staff don't talk
- Gov’t Report: Political Meddling Worsened Immigration Backlog
Researchers Map Out America's Deadliest Roads July 28, 2008) — Would you be surprised to learn that nine people died last year on the highway you take to work everyday? Or would you be shocked to see that six teenagers died within five miles of your home in fatal car accidents? With the help of the interactive maps developed by University of Minnesota researchers, you can learn those facts and more by simply typing in your address.
Researchers in the Center for Excellence in Rural Safety (CERS) have mapped out every fatality in the nation with details on each death, so now you can see the "dead man's curve" on your commute or the "devil's triangle" in your backyard.
"When drivers type in their most common routes, they're shocked how much blood is being shed on it," said Tom Horan, research director for CERS. "When it's the route you or your loved ones use, the need to buckle up, slow down and avoid distractions and drinking suddenly becomes much more personal and urgent."
The researchers will unveil the interactive maps on Monday, July 28th at the Hilton Sonoma, 3555 Round Barn Blvd., Santa Rosa, Calif., as part of their annual conference on rural safety.
Enter your address at http://www.saferoadmaps.org and you will see a map or satellite image of all of the road fatalities that have occurred in the area. Plus, users have the ability to narrow down their search to see the age of the driver, whether speeding or drinking was a factor, and if the driver was wearing a seatbelt.
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Record deficit expected in 2009 By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The White House has increased its estimate for next year's deficit to nearly $490 billion, a record figure that will saddle the next president with deepening budget problems in his first year in office, a report due out Monday shows.
The projected deficit for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 is being driven higher by the continuing economic slowdown and larger-than-anticipated costs of the two-year, $168 billion fiscal stimulus package passed by Congress, said two senior administration officials with direct knowledge of the report. In February, President Bush predicted the 2009 deficit would be $407 billion.
The budget update shows this year's deficit headed under $400 billion, at least $10 billion less than projected, according to the two officials. That's partly because tax revenue held up reasonably well despite the weaker economy.
The rising deficit for 2009 marks a sharp turnaround for Bush's fiscal legacy. He inherited a $128 billion surplus when he came into office in 2001. It soon turned to red ink because of a recession, the Sept. 11 attacks and the war on terrorism.
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Does the First Amendment allow you to call someone a "fascist"? An administrator at the Town of Greenburgh Recreational Facility (Westchester County) kicked a patron out this public building after being called a "fascist" and "junior Mussolini." Does that give the patron a First Amendment claim? Yes, and no. The speech is protected under the First Amendment, but the patron loses for other reasons.
The case is Williams v. Town of Greenburgh, decided on July 22. I wrote about the due process holding in Williams here. (I also represented the plaintiff in the district court and on appeal). Williams also plead a First Amendment claim because he was thrown out of the facility after calling the administrator these names and generally commenting on the administrator's management of the facility.
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Funds for Highways Plummet As Drivers Cut Gasoline Use
By CHRISTOPHER CONKEY
July 28, 2008; Page A1
An unprecedented cutback in driving is slashing the funds available to rebuild the nation's aging highway system and expand mass-transit options, underscoring the economic impact of high gasoline prices. The resulting financial strain is touching off a political battle over government priorities in a new era of expensive oil.
A report to be released Monday by the Transportation Department shows that over the past seven months, Americans have reduced their driving by more than 40 billion miles. Because of high gasoline prices, they drove 3.7% fewer miles in May than they did a year earlier, the report says, more than double the 1.8% drop-off seen in April.
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EPA tells staff don't talk By DINA CAPPIELLO – 17 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is telling its pollution enforcement officials not to talk with congressional investigators, reporters and even the agency's own inspector general, according to an internal e-mail provided to The Associated Press.
The June 16 e-mail tells 11 managers in the EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, the branch of the agency charged with making sure environmental laws are followed, to remind staff to keep quiet.
"If you are contacted directly by the IG's office or GAO requesting information of any kind...please do not respond to questions or make any statements," reads the e-mail sent by Robbi Farrell, the division's chief of staff. Instead, staff should forward inquires to a designated representative.
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility obtained the e-mail and provided it to the AP. The group is a nonprofit alliance of local, state and federal professionals dedicated to upholding environmental laws and values.
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Gov’t Report: Political Meddling Worsened Immigration Backlog by Paul Kiel - July 28, 2008 5:40 pm EDT
Today’s Justice Department report is clear and damning: A number of former department officials, including then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' chief of staff, "committed misconduct" and broke the law in using a political filter to fill non-political positions. Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' former right-hand man, and Monica Goodling, formerly the White House liaison at the department, get the brunt of the criticism, and though investigators are clear that the scope of the behavior was wide, they say the most serious impact was on the country's immigration courts.
The report is the second of an ongoing series by the Justice Department's inspector general and Office of Professional Responsibility in response to the U.S. Attorney firings scandal. Investigators interviewed more than 85 individuals and reviewed thousands of documents as part of the investigation.
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