News That Matters
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"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book." - Groucho Marx

Good Tuesday Morning,

Today in 1945, Japan officially surrendered to allied forces ending the Pacific phase of the second world war.

There is a new Picture of the Day posted to the PlanPutnam website. This one is of the Glynwood Farm in the middle of Fhanestock State Park taken yesterday evening just before sunset. Clicking on the image to the right will bring you to the full-sized picture (1meg) ready to use as a desktop background on your computer screen.

Ah! You forgot it was Tuesday... that's what those Monday holidays will do to you. Yesterday was another one of those remarkable days when the weather is so perfect you wish it could be like that every day.

Congressional candidate Kieran Lalor has an interesting take on the Presidential election. He seems to think Governor Palin is running for President and links to articles that compares her to Senator Obama. Is there something about John McCain's health he knows that he's not telling us?

Presidential candidate Ron Paul is holding meetings in Minneapolis this week where he expects some 10,000 supporters to join him in what amounts to a counter-convention. Republicans are not happy...

Republicans began their convention last evening in St. Paul, MN after seeing hurricane Gustav spare New Orleans and loose strength as he slammed into the Gulf Coast yesterday morning. Federal officials, still stung from their massive failure of just three years ago, breathed a huge sigh of relief. What has been remarkable is that Mayor Nagin learned lessons from Katrina and the city administration is now so tightly organized that they were able to evacuate the entire city in a matter of a couple of days. Kudos to him and his administration.

But another storm yesterday was taking place on the streets outside the Xcel Convention Center in St. Paul. Police there using tear gas, concussion grenades, pepper spray and other "non-lethal" methods which included large wooden clubs, fought with a tiny band of demonstrators, a split-off from a larger group of some 10,000 anti-war protesters led by the father of a soldier killed in Iraq, that marched peacefully in the city yesterday afternoon.

Police were also arresting reporters (reports say 5) covering the events with the most notable being Amy Goodman, whose "Democracy Now!" daily radio and television program represents the only national independent news outlet in the United States. Charged with "conspiracy to riot", Goodman, 51, dressed in business attire with official RNC press credentials around her neck and nose bloodied by manhandling, was hauled off by police and released a few hours later though the charges against her still stand. Here's the video of that arrest. You tell me if you see her conspiring to riot.

Delegates entering the convention center had to go through strict security details, down to the point where personal papers in folders were inspected. “Are you planning to distribute this material?” people were asked. Apparently, the distribution of unauthorized printed materials is not allowed. One elderly man who was passed through security was then surrounded by police and questioned vigorously about his health. “Sir, have you undergone some unusual medical procedure lately?” one deputy asked him. In the end it turned out that implanted seeds from a recent prostrate cancer treatment had set off alarms. Is that unusual?

But that's not the Big News coming out of St. Paul. The Big News was that Governor Palin's 17 year old daughter is several months pregnant which is something the entire world seemed to know but that somehow slipped past the vetting committee for Senator McCain. Why this is news - or even that it matters - to anyone is beyond me. What matters is Governor Palin's dismal environmental record, not that her daughter was a little loose with her affections. We ask this question in today's poll.

Please vote.

Closer to home the police are also busy, this time 'protecting' Senator Vincent Leibell's wife and family as a result of robocalls made by the Ball campaign over the weekend which urged people to call the Senator at his private, unlisted number. (See story below.) The need for police "protection" at the family manse seems a tad overdone and too dramatic for me to take seriously. And, it reminds me of the time Paul Camarda's lawyer came to a Kent meeting telling the board his wife and family felt personally threatened by an email post that had nothing to do with him, his family or anything even remotely related to them. Still, Americans love the drama of these things... I think we can save the tax dollars and have the cops do something a bit more, um, cop-like and leave the Leibell family in peace. Sure, Ball's supporters are an <insert polite word here> bunch but they haven't yet resorted to physical violence. Rest easy Senator.

Last week, when the news broke about that 'order of protection' thing, he blamed the Degnan campaign for spilling the story. I reported here that I didn't think the campaign would get into something like that, and I still don't. So the Assemblyman decided to blame someone else and that someone else turned out to be Senator Leibell. Even I know which giants you can tackle and which you cannot. However, while that may not be far off the mark, as I am reminded of the Leibell - D'Ambrosio imbroglio of two years ago, it is still wrong to drag private lives and families into the mess. For the record, I feel the same way about the Order of Protection thing. It's a non-issue.

In a remarkable act of senseless bravado however, according to the NYJN article, the Assemblyman urged receivers of his robocalls to, "Do me a favor and call state Senator Leibell today at his home at 845-878-3270," "Call Senator Leibell and tell him to stop invading you in your home with this garbage."

Whose home was invaded? Yes, it's become that silly.

The Assemblyman also reported to the Poughkeepsie Journal that he held a "town hall meeting" last Friday in Pawling at which 60 people attended. But the reality is that news reports claim as little as two dozen (which is not the same as five dozen) and the meeting was not a Town Hall meeting - it was a "debate" sponsored by a gun club to which Assembly candidate John Degnan never received a formal invitation. This is the kind of behavior that matters.

In better news... The County Legislature meets at 7PM this evening for their regular monthly business meeting. Item #5q on the agenda is the allocation of $325,000 of East of Hudson funds to assist in the purchase of development rights for the Ryder farms in Southeast. It's a no-brainer, really. But there's always the chance that the County Executive will see things differently so please, come to the meeting this evening to show the Legislature that you support this action and that open space, water quality and local agriculture mean something to you. The Physical Services Committee is also presenting their positive recommendations on a whole slew of other quality of life actions some of which include further work on the Putnam County Trailway, an inter-municipal agreement among Putnam's towns for Stormwater issues, and monies to revamp the septic replacement program which will assist in cleaning up our lakes and waterways.

We might actually be getting some much needed rain this coming weekend if forecasts stay true. Hurricane Hannah, now slogging her way through the eastern Caribbean may hit drought stricken Georgia and South Carolina in a few days then work its way up the coast as a tropical depression, arriving in our area on Saturday night. Pray for rain!

And now, the news.

Leibell home guarded after Ball reveals unlisted number
Putnam Valley stops driveway work
Rainwater collectors work to ease shortages
For Retirement Savings, Solar Power Is a Better Bet Than the Stock Market
California Seeks to Curb Sprawl
Coney Island's Astroland Faces Shut Down

Leibell home guarded after Ball reveals unlisted number

Susan Elan
The Journal News

PATTERSON - Putnam County sheriff's deputies are guarding the home of state Sen. Vincent Leibell, R-Patterson, following a barrage of telephone calls to the unpublished home phone number of the senator's wife, Helen, which was included in an automated telephone message delivered Friday by Assemblyman Greg Ball.

"We believe it is in the best interest of the senator and his family to provide for their safety and security at this time," Putnam County Sheriff Donald Smith said yesterday.

Smith did not say whether an investigation of Ball's "robocall" campaign was under way. But Smith said the deputies' detail would continue.

"We will re-evaluate the situation in the days ahead based on the latest information available," he said.

Leibell said yesterday that his wife's phone was flooded with calls Friday from constituents who received Ball's automated phone message and phoned their home after seeing her name and number appear on their caller IDs.

Read More

Putnam Valley stops driveway work

Barbara Livingston Nackman
The Journal News

PUTNAM VALLEY - Building a driveway to enter a vacant lot is not as simple as it may seem.

Rima Adorno of Yorktown learned this the hard way last week when Putnam Valley slapped her with two stop-work orders for digging an 18-foot-wide opening at Oscawana Lake Road across from the town's park.

She is due in Town Court this week on charges of violating at least four town zoning codes.

Officials say she failed to get a grading permit on steeply sloped property, conduct an environmental review, submit an erosion- and sediment-control plan and get site-plan approval.

Adorno did get a driveway permit Aug. 12 from Putnam County Highway Department because the driveway connects to the county road. Her husband, John, told town staffers he thought he was abiding by local laws and reminded them that the parcel, when held by previous owner Alexander Kaspar, was part of Cimarron Ranch in the agricultural district. John Adorno operates Yorktown-based Universal Construction, a remodeling company that does masonry and new construction.

Read More

Rainwater collectors work to ease shortages

By MALIA WOLLAN

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Tara Hui climbed under her deck, nudged past a cluster of 55-gallon barrels and a roosting chicken, and pointed to a shiny metal gutter spout.

"See that?" she said. "That's where the rainwater comes in from the roof."

Hui is one of a growing band of people across the country turning to collected rainwater for non-drinking uses like watering plants, flushing toilets and washing laundry.

Concern over drought and wasted resources, and stricter water conservation laws have revitalized the practice of capturing rainwater during storms and stockpiling it for use in drier times. A fixture of building design in the Roman empire and in outposts along the American frontier, rainwater harvesting is making a comeback in states including Texas, North Carolina, and California.

"We call it 'the movement that's taking the nation by storm,'" said Robyn Hadley, spokeswoman for the Austin, Texas-based American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association, whose membership has jumped by more than 40 percent this year.

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For Retirement Savings, Solar Power Is a Better Bet Than the Stock Market

Early Adopter Octogenarians Join National Solar Tour

Of the 30,000 people who live in Phoenix's Sun City West retirement community, there are two senior citizens who have a particular affection for the sun -- even the scorching, 107-degree heat it brings to Arizona's dog days of summer.

Apparently, the affection is reciprocal. Through photovoltaic and solar thermal technologies, the sun is bringing the eighty-something couple noteworthy financial and social rewards.

The celebrated early-adopter octogenarians -- Newt and Inez Stevens -- moved to Phoenix from Alamosa, Colorado this past November to provide Inez (who at one point needed forced oxygen to help her breathe) with a lower elevation and a more temperate climate.

Today, Inez, a former nurse, is breathing easier. She and Newt, her husband of 55 years, are surrounded by family, beautiful vistas, golf courses and hundreds of active, engaging seniors. They are living large.

But their living expenses -- even with today's runaway energy costs -- are small.

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California Seeks to Curb Sprawl

Bill Links Funding
For Development
To Lower Emissions
By ANA CAMPOY
September 2, 2008; Page A6

California lawmakers passed a bill aimed at cutting carbon-dioxide emissions by rewarding cities and counties that prevent urban sprawl and improve public transportation.

The bill's proponents and transportation experts say it is the first measure in the nation to link government transportation funding with urban planning and CO2-reduction goals. Senate Bill 375 contends that cutting back on driving is as critical in the fight against global warming as producing cleaner fuels and more-efficient vehicles. Transportation experts say they expect the bill to become a model for state and national policy makers.

Under the new bill, regional planning authorities will have to develop realistic plans to meet emission-reduction targets in order to receive transportation funding and lighter regulations for builders. Compact projects built close to public-transportation options are rewarded with fewer regulatory hurdles.

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Coney Island's Astroland Faces Shut Down

POSTED: 9:17 am EDT September 2, 2008

NEW YORK -- This summer could mark the end of Coney Island's historic Astroland amusement park. But years of back-and-forth bickering among a developer, city officials and ride operators over the park's future leaves residents wondering -- is the closure threat real this time?

The owner of Astroland, near the Brooklyn boardwalk, says she'll shut down Sunday for good if the landowner doesn't offer a two-year lease. Carol Albert, who sold the land in 2006 to Joseph Sitt's Thor Equities, says park employees need more job security.

"They're emotional wrecks -- it's hard to live on a precipice like this," says Albert, adding that several workers resigned recently.

Coney Island, once billed as America's Playground, was the most popular resort destination in the country in the early part of the 20th century. It evolved into an entertainment fixture, alongside two other local creations: the hot dog and the roller coaster.

Albert's father-in-law, Dewey Albert, unveiled the outer-space-themed Astroland park in 1962. Now looking ahead to its 47th summer season, Astroland has 75 year-round employees and 275 seasonal workers.

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