| News That Matters Good Monday Morning, Today is Patsy Cline's birthday. Crazy! Astroland, Coney Island's last remaining amusement park is closing for good after 46 years. Welcome this Monday to the new readers we've picked up in the past week. I'm looking forward to your contributions to this daily column.
I spent the better part of Sunday manning the Stormwater Committee's tent at the Kent Community Celebration hosted by Bill Heustis and Kent Recreation. It was great. I mean, really, really swell. In between educating 165 residents (we keep track of such things) about stormwater and helping their children to fish* in our portable plastic pond, (see image) there were lots of politicians to talk to. *No live fish were injured in the process. Unca Vinnie and Supervisor Doherty and the rest of the Kent Town board (Lou was on vacation) and candidates for pretty much everything else were on hand. We even had a visit from Assemblywoman Sandy Galef who came with Kent's Democratic Committee Chair Paul Spiegel.
The Boy and Girl Scouts, DARE, the County Office for the Aging, the Kent Public Library and other community groups had tables and displays and thousands of people came out on what was a spectacular day. Kent Recreation ran a very, very smooth operation and should be congratulated. Bill Heustis and I rarely agree on anything but on this he gets all the credit and well deserved praise. The 4 inches of rain we received from tropical storm Hanna were enough to flood some basements and knock power out to a number of people in the area (including mine) but it wasn't enough to overflow the reservoirs... that's how dry this summer has been. If you have semi- and ripe tomatoes on your vines, they will probably start to split today or tomorrow from that rush of water. Harvest those you can before you loose them. It seems a former neighbor of mine is in trouble again, this time for burglary, (in the past it was numerous DWI's and the like,) and he needs help he's not going to get sitting in the county jail and certainly not in state prison. If there's anyone out there involved in the criminal system, please write me offline and let me know what, if anything, I might do. Driving around last week I saw all these young kids hanging out on street corners in the mornings. With all the talk about people standing on street corners looking for work, I just assumed they were undocumented child laborers whose parents had overstayed their work and student visas from a variety of eastern European countries. Mahopac is full of them and so is my laundromat. But someone told me that schools had opened again and they were just waiting for the bus. My bad. It's a good thing I didn't call Immigration! Primary day is tomorrow. I'll save the speech... you know where it will go anyway especially in the 99th Assembly District race. My dear Republican readers, (yes, all 4 of you,) just make me proud to live in Putnam County so that I don't have to explain to my friends in Connecticut, Westchester, Dutchess and other places near and far that, "we're not all like that". Take the hint. Okay?Last evening I received an email plea to vote for Carmine DiBattista in the Republican primary for the 8th County Legislative district and then I came across this little video on the 'net. It's Carmine at his democratic and professional best. If you can stomach the assault, he's publicly berating and humiliating a voter for daring to question the town board. Back a month or so at a candidate's forum at the Mahopac Library run by CRCM, a Carmel [ding!] resident's group, Dini LoBou had the nerve to answer a question asked of her by saying, "I don't know". That was refreshing. And I believe that if given the chance she'll be a quick learner on the Leg.
If you live in the 103rd Assembly district in Dutchess County and are a Democratic party voter, the primary race there is between, well, it doesn't matter. Jonathan Smith deserves your vote. So, Governor Palin Won't Talk to the Press? Report: McCain ally may block Palin probe: JUNEAU, Alaska, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- A Republican Alaska legislator has taken steps that Newsweek reports could derail a probe of Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of the state public safety commissioner...Don't worry. I'll get to Joe Biden soon enough. In another "Ad-word" incident in the NYJN: in a report about cancellations of events due to Hanna on Saturday, the word "community" brings up another ad for.... ExxonMobil and the words "management" and "job(s)" brought up an advert for... McDonalds. The latest issue of Environment DEC is out and can be viewed online here. Lastly, the Carmel Planning board will be meeting on Wednesday, September 10th at 7PM and two of the items on the agenda are about Pulte Homes. You know, the guys that clearcut an entire hillside, ran across private property and have made the lives of too many people absolutely miserable? Something smells rotten in Carmel and it's coming from Pulte Homes and various Carmel boards... If you care about your town, be at that meeting and do not be quiet. And now, the News:
5 seek GOP line to replace 2 Putnam legislatorsBarbara Livingston NackmanThe Journal News Five candidates are gearing up for Republican primaries Tuesday in two Putnam legislative districts where current officeholders are not seeking re-election. Robert McGuigan of Mahopac and Terry Intrary of Kent, two longtime faces on the nine-member Putnam County Legislature, are ending their tenures. Those seeking to replace them say they want to reduce property taxes, control county spending and preserve the region's rural character. One candidate in Mahopac sparked controversy when he said he held a 17-year "no-show" job in Westchester County. Read More Putnam lawmakers: Ryder Farm in, anti-rodeo law outSusan ElanThe Journal News The Putnam County Legislature this week threw its financial support behind a bid by Ryder Farm in Southeast to gain a Farmland Protection Implementation Grant that would protect it from development. The nine-member board also rejected a proposed local law intended "to prevent abuse and cruelty to animals used in circus and rodeo performances" in Putnam. Since its introduction about five months ago, the rodeo bill has generated passionate debate locally and prompted comments from as far away as California. The 6-3 vote opposing passage of the bill leaves it up to the towns to decide whether to permit rodeos and circuses and how to regulate those that do take place. "The bill is dead," Legislature Chairman Tony Hay, R-Southeast, said Thursday. "But I am convinced by the presentations from both sides that the animals are abused," added Hay, author of the failed bill. Legislators Dan Birmingham, R-Brewster, and Sam Oliverio, D-Putnam Valley, also made passionate pleas for its passage at a meeting attended by about 40 residents at the Historic County Courthouse in Carmel. Most of the six legislators who voted against it said it is a home rule issue. Read More Officer's watch at town meetings irks someBy Marcela Rojas • The Journal News • September 8, 2008SOUTHEAST - These days, it is not uncommon to see a sheriff's deputy at a Town Board meeting watching over what has arguably become the most contentious gatherings in Putnam County. The uniformed set has not gone unnoticed, with some complaining that their presence, requested by some town officials, is unwarranted and intimidating. Residents and some Town Board members have said authorities started regularly attending Town Board meetings and work sessions in late July at Supervisor Michael Rights' request after his second drunk-driving arrest. "They never came before that," said Southeast resident Edwin Alvarez, a Planning Board member. "I personally think it is unnecessary. We disagree with the supervisor and (Councilman) Dwight (Yee), but there is nobody here that wants to do physical harm to them." The matter came to a head after Southeast resident Karl Lebitsch was ejected from an Aug. 21 meeting. Lebitsch said he was wrongly accused by Yee of calling him a liar and when he stood up to defend himself, a sheriff's deputy escorted him out. Read More Constituents are ready to consolidate governmentBy NICK HALLLegislative Gazette Staff Writer Mon, Sep 8, 2008 A willingness to see the structure of their local governments change if it would result in a savings in taxpayer dollars was expressed by 89 percent of 824 of Assemblywoman Sandra Galef’s constituents who responded to a question posed in a newsletter she mailed out in the spring. Galef, D-Ossining, last Tuesday said her constituents in northern Westchester and Putnam counties got back to her with hundreds of ideas on how local governments and school districts could save money. And Galef said she could tell from the responses she got that “people are really ready for change and are willing to make those tough decisions to help keep more money in their pocketbooks to pay for daily expenses.” Read More L.I. School District OKs $1.2 Million Solar PanelsSMITHTOWN, N.Y. (AP) -- Some Long Island schools are getting a massive installation of solar panels.The panel systems are part of a $6 million energy conservation project approved by the Smithtown school board last month. They'll cost $1.2 million. They'll be installed at 10 of 14 school buildings in the district. The Long Island Power Authority says 16 local school districts have installed solar panels or will install them soon. The Smithtown solar panel system is estimated to pay for itself with energy savings within five years. It should be installed by the end of the year and should last 25 years. Read More What's the bottled water situation?In 2007 we drank about 50 billion bottles of water in the United States. It takes 17 million barrels of oil to make all the bottles we use in this country [for water], and the making of those bottles generates 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide. The backlash against bottled water in 2007 wasn't about the water or privatization or pollution or any of that--it was about the carbon. It was all about oil. [A man passes on the street with two bottles of Fiji water in his handcart.] Fiji water. How can anyone walk around with that now? Fiji has become the poster child of the carbon footprint. It comes 5,000 miles over the ocean, and then it goes onto trucks. I mean, I desperately would love to taste Fiji water, because everyone says it's really good and really different, but I can't buy it. To me that's like a Hummer.Read More Voter Registration by Students Raises Cloud of ConsequencesBy TAMAR LEWINPublished: September 7, 2008 The widespread practice of students’ registering to vote at their college address has set off a fracas in Virginia, a battleground state in the presidential election. Late last month, as a voter-registration drive by supporters of Senator Barack Obama was signing up thousands of students at Virginia Tech, the local registrar of elections issued two releases incorrectly suggesting a range of dire possibilities for students who registered to vote at their college. The releases warned that such students could no longer be claimed as dependents on their parents’ tax returns, a statement the Internal Revenue Service says is incorrect, and could lose scholarships or coverage under their parents’ car and health insurance. After some inquiries from students and parents, and more pointed questions from civil rights lawyers, the state board of elections said Friday that it was “modifying and clarifying” the state guidelines on which the county registrar had based his releases. Student-registration controversies have been a recurring problem since 1971, when the 26st Amendment lowered the voting age to 18 from 21, and despite a 1979 ruling by the United States Supreme Court that students have the right to register at their college address. Read More Fighting for the Right to Drink Beer on His StoopBy MANNY FERNANDEZKimber VanRy was sitting on his stoop in the Prospect Heights section of Brooklyn, drinking a beer and sending e-mail messages on his BlackBerry, when a police car slowed to a stop on the street in front of him. It had been a pleasant evening for Mr. VanRy, 39, who lives in a four-story, 20-unit co-op building with his wife and two children. He had watched Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s speech at the Democratic convention on television, helped put his sons to bed and washed the dishes. The time was 11:52 p.m., the date was Aug. 27, and the beer, for the record, was a 12-ounce bottle of Sierra Nevada. The police officer in the driver’s seat said something to Mr. VanRy. He left the stoop, walked to the car and, several minutes later, was handed a small pink slip — a $25 summons for drinking in public. Read More At Both Conventions, a Band Salutes AnarchyBy DAVID CARRST. PAUL — On Wednesday night, Republican delegates fresh off Gov. Sarah Palin’s vice presidential nomination speech at the Xcel Energy Center here formed a conga line of taxis, buses and private cars to Minneapolis, where post-convention parties were firing up. At almost the same time, a huge crowd was emptying out of the Target Center after a political show of a different sort — a concert by the band Rage Against the Machine. A small fraction of those people, perhaps 200, decided to take over the intersection of First Avenue North and Seventh Street. Traffic snarled, and delegates watched in waiting traffic as riot-clad police pushed the spontaneous, vocal protest up Seventh Street. A delegate from Texas said, “Those guys, again?” Yes, again. For two weeks straight, both in Denver and in Minneapolis, Rage Against the Machine, a rap-metal band formed in 1991 and known for its big noise and ferocious politics, formed an ad-hoc convention in opposition to both major parties. Although the band has been a significant commercial success — three of its albums in the 1990s attained multiplatinum status — radical politics have always been baked into their music. Read More From: St. Paul's Police Protest the PressIn St. Paul, two student photographers and their advisor from the University of Kentucky were held without charge for 36 hours. The ACLU of Minnesota ID'd several other journalists, bloggers and photographers from Rhode Island, California, Illinois, Florida, and other parts of the country that also were arrested. Many others were gassed or hit by pepper spray.Perhaps the most prominent arrest was that of journalist Amy Goodman, anchor of the daily television and radio news program, "Democracy Now!" Police had taken two of her producers into custody as they were trying to cover the news. Goodman went out looking for them, but didn't get very far. She was stopped, slapped into handcuffs, and hauled into a detention center, along with almost 200 hundred other people. They had come to demonstrate, she had come to report on them. Read the full article here Marijuana Ingredient May Fight BacteriaBy HENRY FOUNTAIN Criminal Case Dropped Against Bicyclist Body-Checked By OfficerPOSTED: 9:30 am EDT September 5, 2008UPDATED: 12:51 pm EDT September 5, 2008 NEW YORK -- A judge dismissed charges Friday against the bicyclist who was body-checked and knocked to the pavement by a New York City policeman in a widely viewed YouTube video.. The case earned national attention after a video of the event popped up on the popular sharing website, YouTube. A lawyer for the biker, Christopher Long, said he was confident a criminal complaint against cyclist Christopher Long will be dropped. The policeman was stripped of his badge and gun after the July video showed him violently knocking Long to the ground in Times Square. The officer said Long tried to hit him with his bike. Long was with the group Critical Mass, which holds a monthly ride to protest urban reliance on vehicles. Around that same period, two other videos surfaced showing New York City police whacking men with batons. Read Original |
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Monday, September 8, 2008
News That Matters - September 8, 2008
