Independently Greene

IRISH LUCK DEPT. According to a published foreclosure order, the venerable Shamrock House of East Durham will, next Wednesday (7/8/09) at 9am, in the interim county courthouse that formerly was St Patrick’s Academy in Catskill, be placed on the auction block. That event would be ruinous for what is touted on the establishment’s web site ( www.shamrockhouse.com) as “the nearest thing to Ireland this side of Galway Bay!!” Defendants in the action (lien amount said to be $514,000) are descendants of Patrick Kellegher, who worked on the Long Island Railroad and co-owned a bar in Queens NY before he ventured north back in 1938 and bought what then was called The Central Hotel. But that auction evidently will not take place, at least in the near future. Contacted by telephone by a Seeing Greene reporter, Jon Kellegher, who is one of the cited defendants, denied that the auction will occur, referred his caller to “Albany attorneys” that he did not name, and abruptly hung up. The court-assigned referee, Daniel W. Peckham of Prattsville, said today that he had just received notice that the auction has been postponed, owing to the fact that the trustees of Shamrock House Incorporated have filed for bankruptcy.
-----The plaintiff in the foreclosure action (advertised as an “SEQ Chapter sale”) is not a bank but rather a New Jersey company, Gaffken & Barriger Fund LLC, that is itself the target of lawsuits by investors who claim they were bilked in connection with the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

IN SUSPENSE: The project of transforming Catskill’s former Washington Irving Elementary School into a residential condominium complex. According to the County Clerk’s office, as reported in The Daily Mail (6/27/09), Rhinebeck Savings has sought court judgment requiring sale of the property in aid of recovering at least part of Estate Capital LLC’s mortgage debt of more than $2 million. Various sums also are owed in taxes and in debts to contractors. The project had envisioned 11 one-bedroom units along with penthouse units, facing west to the mountains, on the fourth floor. It was not far away from completion. The Flach brothers made a success of that kind of project in Coxsackie.

ALSO DEFUNCT is the Eddie Bauer clothing store chain. And no wonder. They put out a catalog whose cover says “ULTIMATE SALE” and, below, in smaller letters, “Only happens twice a year.” Which is the only reason it is mentioned here.

GAY PRIDE. The “River Pride” march down Catskill’s main street (to whose renovation gays have contributed heavily) and the subsequent party at Dutchman’s Landing last Saturday was the first of its kind in a surprisingly large territory: south of Albany, north of New Paltz, and looking far to the east and west. Overt hostility was absent. Some elected officials attended and made themselves conspicuous. One attended from inside his car.

KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND evidently will face at least two Democratic challengers in her bid to win a full term in the United States Senate. Her main challenger would be Carolyn Maloney, who represents “silk stocking” constituents (upper East Side plus part of Queens in New York City) in the House of Representatives. Her candidacy was virtually declared, first to the New York Daily News, by Paul Blank, her newly hired campaign strategist (from Trippi & Associates). A formal announcement is foreshadowed in about ten days.
------The other prospective challengeris Jonathan Tasini, 53, whose political keyword is “progressive” and whose background is treated on his website (www.jonathantasini.com ) and in a (more enlightening) Wikipedia entry. His June 11th announcement of candidacy attracted scarcely any publicity at the time. According to a fund-raising appeal circulated on his behalf earlier this week by a Michael Leone, Mr Tasini is running for the Senate "to both support [President Obama] and to push him to steer our country in an even more progressive direction.” And Mr Tasini aims to replace in the Senate “someone who has taken money from Big Tobacco, embraced the NRA, and who is awash in corporate cash.”
-------This bid for senatorial eminence would Mr Tasini’s second try. In the 1990 primary elections he ran for the Democratic nomination for Senator. He received 17 per cent of the votes; the others went to Hillary Clinton, Ms Gillibrand's predecessor.
------Bill Clinton will be the keynote speaker, according to news reports, at a July 20th fund-raiser for Representative Maloney, but has said he is not taken sides on the nomination battle. He headlined a Gillibrand fund-raiser last year.
-----Rep. Charles Rangel has stoutly defended Ms Maloney’s right to run in the primary (a right that nobody has denied) without explicitly endorsing a candidate. He also has wondered aloud why President Obama takes an active interest in this New York contest (on behalf of Ms Gillibrand). Politically, says Mr Rangel, such activity is “not astute.”
-----That assessment is wrong. A politically astute President tries to forestall any contentious, expensive primary election battle that could damage the winner sufficiently to cause a loyal co-partisan to lose the general election. Among political events in 2010, Republican capture of a United States Senate seat from the State of New York would be, for the Obama Administration and for the Democratic Party, the most shocking.
------Astute Republicans will try to recruit a moderate, attractive, electable senatorial candidate, quelling internal clamor for a “true conservative.” They may also funnel money to quietly to Maloney and Tasini.
------Astute Democratic strategists will decide that if Maloney does enter the contest, then support should be funneled quietly to Tasini, while additional contestants—including Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of Long Island—should be recruited.

HENRY HUDSON’s voyage of discovery aboard the Halve Maen, with his crew of about 18, “gave the Dutch a claim to land between the French areas to the north and English colonies to the south. In 1614 Fort Nassau, a trading post, was built near present-day Albany; in 1624 New Netherland was formed, the only 17th century colony n North America with a diverse population, and the only one in which women had legal rights to own property.”

Greene Scoops

SCOOPED OUT.. Catskill's new “peace, love and ice cream” parlor won’t be Scoop Me for much longer. That name, as it turned out, was taken. The new name for this annex to the MOD café is peculiarly apt:

"CATS' CAST HAILS CATSKILL CAT-TUE

The musical "CATS," performed earlier this year at Catskill High School, will be performed anew this weekend at Columbia-Greene Community College. www.DragonFlyPerforming Arts.com

SEEING THOMAS. Meanwhile, an original play about the Catskill life of Thomas Cole, founder of the game-changing Hudson River School of art, opens tonight (6/19) night at Catskill Point, as written and directed by Joe Capone. www.greenetourism.com Further performances will be given Saturday night, Sunday afternoon, July 3, July 5, and the weekends of July 10-12 and 17-19.

HENRY HUDSON's voyage of discovery aboard the Have Maen, with his 18 men, "gave the Dutch a claim to land between the French areas to the north and English colonies to the south. In 1614 Fort Nassau, a trading post, was built near present-day Albany; in 1624 New Netherland was formed, the only 17th century colony in North America with a diverse population, and theonly one in which women had legal rights to own property."
www.halfmoon.mus.ny.us

FUEL CHANGE.. This week, for the first time in recent history, regular gasoline could be bought in GreeneLand for less than the State-wide average. At $2.76 per gallon, the adjacent Hess and Cumberland Farms stations across from Catskill Commons charged less than the State average of $2.82. At about the same time, the nation-wide average on regular was $2.69, the East Coast average was $2.66, and the California average (noted here just to make us feel better) was $3. Elsewhere in GreeneLand, the two bridge approach stations were charging $2.81 (Citgo) and $2.82 (Getty) while full-service Cenco (=Haines Tires) on Maple Avenue was at $2.80. Meanwhile, we duly note that the deal advertised by Price Chopper—insert your Advantage card in the slot at a Sunoco pump, get a 10-cent discount on up to 20 gallons if you’ve spent $50 or more with the card—really works. What is more, Sunoco’s habit of charging more than GreeneLand competitors seems to have been reversed. At two Sunoco stations here, the posted prices of regular gasoline were $2.68 and $2.69.

IN TANZANIA. “Sister R, Sister A and another nun were mugged on their way to church early on Sunday morning…, knocked over for the few shillings they were carrying for the collection plate. You would think nuns (and they are all in their 70's) who have devoted their lives to caring for the country's afflicted would be immune to being preyed upon, but they have to live in a walled compound and keep dogs to patrol the yard just like any other mzungu who live out here.” --from GreeneLander Deirde McInerney’s notes in connection with organizing medical care in Tanzania.

CHEATING? When she copied off another student’s test paper, says little Danae in the comic strip Non Sequitur, she wasn’t cheating. She was “information gathering” as part of an “enhanced studying program” that is “results-oriented, geared to produce the desired bottom line of test scores.” Punitive detention makes her “a victim of student rendition.” Instead of repenting, she plans “to get a lawyer” to “justify what I’m doing.” That would be consistent with Daddy’s wish that she “act more adult.”

Greene Rooms

------GreeneLand’s foremost resort (by size and self-advertised stature) is bankrupt. As reported in The Daily Mail (6/13), company lawyer Sean Serpe submitted a petition on May 31 requesting Chapter 11 protection from creditors for the Friar Tuck, and a hearing was slated for yesterday in Federal Bankruptcy Court in Albany. Among the Tuck’s creditors are Ulster Savings Bank ($3.1 million), tax authorities ($400,000), a fuel supplier ($266,000), and food providers. Proprietors Rosario and Ricky Caridi hope to keep the place going and, says Mr Serpe, “we’re very bullish” about that prospect.
------Yeah, right.
------The Friar Tuck offers support for the hunch that in GreeneLand’s hospitality industry, size relates inversely to quality. Our most capacious hostelries seem to be the most atrocious. Such is the pattern, at any rate, that emerges from reviews that travelers contribute to Trip Advisor and similar information centers. The 425-room Tuck catches the most frequent and most, uh, eloquent of pejoratives.
------“Run down, in need of updating, strange people around….” That is the start of a
positive assessment of the Tuck. “True, no clock, hairdryer or iron” in the room; and “the TV was really small”; and “the walls are thin and I could hear the neighbors’ TV clear as a bell”; and the hallway is “spooky”; and in the game room “we played pool on a level table but no chalk for our cue sticks; and “half the video games were broken”; and at dinner the white wine came to our table uncorked and unchilled, without an ice bucket. Still, the Tuck’s “creepy and eerie” atmosphere, evoking “The Shining” or “The Twilight Zone,” “endeared the old place to us.”
-----That assessment strikes a contrast of sorts with

*“falling apart”
*“dirt, smelly rooms, moldy walls”
*“wouldn’t stay again”
*“ugliest, dirtiest, smelliest hotel I've ever stayed in!”;
*“staff look like a bunch of zombies”
*”…TOTALLY let down by just about EVERYTHING we encountered”
* DISGUSTING, DIRTY, and UNSAFE”
*”…deteriorating mess. Several of the electrical sockets did not work or were simply missing with just a hole in the wall. The air-conditioning was virtually non-functional. There was inadequate lighting and some of the lamps were burned out. The TV reception was poor. Garbage was piled up in the hallway and not disposed of for days. The buildings were damp and smelly. The food was horrible.”
*“RUN AWAY!”

------Are those comments representative? We cannot know for sure, since only a few lodgers take the trouble to record their experiences. A broader canvass of reviews, however, does dispose of the notion that only the disappointed or miserable travelers speak up. Several GreeneLand resorts inspire esteem. Even love.
-----The venerable, capacious Sunny Hill resort in Freehold is a sterling example. Some families have been vacationing there for 15 years and longer. Sunny Hill proves that bigness does not necessarily beget tawdriness. Moreover, other GreeneLand resorts that remain from days past—Pollace’s, Lange’s Grove Side, Acra Manor—attract preponderantly favorable reviews.
-----Windham seems to be blessed with lodgings that win high praise from visitors. That applies not only to the cozy little places (Catskill Lodge, Catskill Maison) but also to the 31-room Hotel Vienna (“adorable”; “cozy”; “hated to leave”; “heaven in the Catskills”) and the 90-room Thompson House (“fabulous place with fabulous people”; “our new favorite hotel”; “Having your kids tell their friends it was better than Disney was evidence enough”).
------Hunter’s hostelries, on the other hand, attract mixed reviews. The Hunter Inn and Scribner Hollow Lodge have inspired strong praise (“absolutely amazing”; “can’t say enough good things”; “”charming”; “best dining in the region”) as well as strong put-downs (“hell hole”; “Dirty! Disgusting!! Smelly!! Noisy!”; “ruined trip”; “total ripoff”). As for the new Kaatskill Mountain Club, visitors have warned of thin walls and, more broadly, of “Hampton Inn standard at a Ritz Carlton price.”
------In ability to inflict pain on travelers, meanwhile, one GreeneLand establishment comes close to matching the Tuck. This challenger is the biggest place for transient visitors: the 73-room, Catskill-based, ironically named, Quality Inn. Thus:
------“Extremely disappointing.” “Dump.” “Beyond filthy.” “Gross.” Top of the line for “most disgusting, filthy hotel.” “Should be condemned.” “I should have slept in my car.” “I can’t believe that the Board of Health doesn’t shut them down.” “Worst Night of My Life.”
------Backing those summary judgments are specifications. Rueful Quality Inn visitors tell of “sickly sweet smell” and “stench of urine” in rooms, “noisy air conditioner,” “no hot water,” “Dingbat in charge,” “soiled sheets,” “toilet clogged constantly,” “bathroom floor sticky,” “one ice machine in July for the entire hotel,” “black mold all over the shower curtain.” And so on.

JOB STORY. While the rate of unemployment grew in New York State from April to May, and hit an 18-year high, it actually declined fractionally in GreeneLand. The May figure here, 8.5 per cent, was fractionally below (=better than) the April figure of 8.7%. Those numbers are higher than for the State as a whole (8%) and for neighboring counties (Columbia at 7.4%, for example) but they still record fractional economic improvement. Similar fractional improvements occurred in a few other counties (Rensselaer, Schoharie, Niagara, Warren…), although the April-to-May trend, nation-wide and State-wide, was worse.

AFRICAN STORY. "Sister A works at a government camp for the outcasts of Tanzanian society, lepers and albinos. Lepers are confined to these camps because of their disease and albinos because they are ritually slaughtered and dismembered by people who believe in witchcraft (google albino murders and see for yourself) ..... The government barely gives the camps enough money to feed the outcasts and Sister A brings them food and medicine. The lepers suffer obviously.... The albinos suffer because the sun does terrible damage to their skin and they all have skin cancer, so she brings them sunscreen and creams that the camp apparently cannot afford. They can afford it, says Sister A, and she says something in Swahili that Sister R translates for me [as] the local term for graft. Translated literally it means "take for yourself first" . By the time funds allocated to these camps actually get there so much has been siphoned off there is hardly anything left."

---------from GreeneLander Deirdre McInerney's blog about organizing medical treatment in Tanzania.

June Greenery

“THE EXTREME VIOLENCE, brutality and utter cruelty of your actions,” said Greene County Judge George Pulver Jr to Travis Augustine, have earned you “the maximum sentences allowable by law”: 25 years to life in State prison for murder, two to four years more for each of two property thefts, and two years of “local incarceration” for aggravated cruelty to animals—all to be served consecutively.
-----While meting out those sentences last Tuesday, in his temporary courtroom in the former St Patrick’s Academy, Judge Pulver recalled that when, in July 2008, at 23 years of age, Augustine perpetrated the crimes for which his GreeneLand jurors found him guilty last month, he already was a felony offender. This time “You murdered a human being in cold blood by shooting her in the head…, you repeatedly shot her dog in the head causing its death, you dug a grave and interred the two bodies and then went about your blissful lifestyle without an ounce of apparent remorse—all the while using your deceased victim’s vehicle and debit card.” Moreover, “the person whose precious life you took—Martha Conners—had befriended you, and provided you with resources and a homestead and had encouraged you to abandon your life of drugs.”
-----In choosing to impose the maximum allowable sentence for murder, Judge Pulver made a decision that he has reached only twice before. On March 31, 2000, he imposed the maximum on Daniel Horan, who had deliberately rammed his car at high speed into Elizabeth DeWald, who was walking home from a baby-sitting job in Windham. On February 13, 2002, Judge Pulver gave the maximum to Daniel Rodriguez, who had taken part in the Latin Kings gang murder of John J. Huntt.

COLE FOR KIDS. "Last week we received about 120 nine- and ten-year-olds over two days who were the 'guinea pigs' for our newly designed school group programs. We rotated them through five stations around the site doing a different hands-on activity at each station. [Each station or module has been "designed to engage three different age levels," so we have fifteen different ways to engage and educate kids here]. Each one required creative hand-outs such as time lines and site maps to fill in, and fun learning objects ranging from compasses to plastic food. The looks on their faces were something to see. The teachers couldn't believe that this was the very first time we had tried it out."
--E-mail message from Director Elizabeth Jacks to Trustees of Thomas Cole National Historic Site.

HOOKED. "Striped bass days are numbered," says a Daily Mail headline (5/12/09) over a Dick Nelson column saying "Today the fish is considered abundant and the Hudson River migration alone has been estimated to exceed 50 million." That information dovetails nicely with results of this year's striper contest run by Tom Gentalen: 564 participants, 1000 hits per day on the Fishing Reports page of the River Basin Sports web site, $11,460 in entry fees dispensed as prizes, catches measuring over 46 inches and 40 pounds.

TOTALLY TOTS, the multi-room section of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum that opened last September, has been cited by the museum’s executive director as the main cause of a huge jump in attendance and in members. The credit goes to designing GreeneLand-based installation artists Carol May (no kin to this here blogger) and Tim Watkins. More recent installations, says Mr Watkins, are an assemblage of “sea-like forms that gently dance in wind currents” in the indoor atrium of the University of Florida’s dental clinic, and, for an elementary school in Portland ME, a sculpture that "uses wind, sun and water to cause movement." Then there's a Colorado project....

HAPPENING, on just one GreeneLand Saturday:

Spring Rush, Catskill High School Business Club’s walking/pedaling/paddling event. (www.welcometocatskill.com ). Libraries Expo and book sale at Historic Catskill Point. “Homes Along the Hudson,” a tour of sites arranged by the Greene County Historical Society, with headquarters (registration, maps…) in the Freightmaster’s Building at Catskill Point.(www.gchistory.org ). Cat sculptures on the sidewalks of Catskill; bears in Cairo. Two art show openings in one place: Greene County Council on the Arts headquarters. (www.greenearts.org). National Trails Day at, and from, the Mountain Top Historical Society’s campus in Haines Falls, with guided hike to North Lake area followed by party and book signing (Robert Titus, The Other Side of Time). (www.mths.org ). Hike to Sunset Rock and the Catskill Mountain House, with guidance from the Thomas Cole National Historic Site (www.thomascole.org), inaugurating Carol T. Savage Art Trail Docent Program. Instructional workshop on “silvopasture” (blending high-value timber with high-quality forage and livestock cultivation) in Acra. (www.agroforestrycenter.org) . Nickel social at Catskill Senior Center from 11am. Antique farm machinery shows in Ashland and New Baltimore. www.greenetourism.com. Ceremonial lighting of the Hudson-Athens lighthouse (an event that offers the perfect pretext for touting the word pharology). Jazz talk and performance (Ralph Lalama; John Hart) at Athens Cultural Center from 7pm.

TICKS “DO NOT FLY, jump or hop like fleas. They climb up on vegetation and wait for vibrations indicating a passing animal. When they feel the vibrations they extend their claw- like legs and grab onto anything that brushes by…such as a deer, a dog, a cat or your pants leg…. The tick's mouthparts resemble a many-barbed dagger that surrounds two thin straws. The barbs look like tiny fishhooks, which is why the tick is to hard to yank out once attached. One straw secetes saliva to thin blood and also contains a substance that dulls pain, which is why people do not ever feel the tick. The other straw sucks up blood. When the tick becomes fully engorged with blood…bacteria that are in the tick’s gut get into the salivary glands and then they are injected back into you! This is why it is important to pull the tick out and not apply any sort of substance that will make the tick release its grip.” As for tick repellants, look for products whose active ingredient is permethrin.

–Bob Beyfuss, Cornell Co-operative Extension (via Daily Mail, 5/23)

May's End

SURVIVOR. Lt. Shane Oravsky, that mild, unassuming young man who graduated from Catskill High School back eight years ago, has survived 12 months of forward combat duty in Afghanistan. Survived mountainous ten-day foot patrols when each soldier carried a 140-pound backpack plus his weapons. Survived the loss of his best West Point buddy, blown apart by enemy fire. Survived a firefight when his out-numbered platoon went black on ammo. Survived the failure of communication gear during an ambush, and with it inability to call in air support. Survived the strain of driving slowly on rough roads, trying to spot trip wires attached to bombs up ahead while being exposed to sniper attacks. Survived the passage of a rocket-propelled armor-piercing grade into his Humvee and out between his feet, without exploding. Survived the shock of having one friendly informant murder another, just to rise in the pecking order. Survived tribal feuding among allies. Survived attacks by men wielding U.S.-made weapons that had been left behind after the anti-Russian insurgency. Survived the rigors of being under-manned and exposed, of receiving orders from ignorant rear-echelon commanders who were comfortably ensconced in huge secure compounds. So, having completed his Afghan tour, having collected a Bronze Star for risking all to save his unit from annihilation, and having visited his Catskill family and his friend Tess, Lieutenant Oravsky is enrolled in Captain's Career force training in preparation for more dangerous small-unit operations.

MESKADA. That's the title of a feature film to be shot starting next week in GreeneLand. As conceived by writer-director Josh Sternfeld, it's a police drama set in a county where "class tension and resentment reaches [sic] a boiling point when a wealthy Hilliard child is killed during a house robbery gone wrong and the main suspects' trail leads back to the downtrodden, dying town of Caswell." Some extras, at $100 per day, are still needed. For more information, see "Meskada" on Google; read the Daily Mail story (Andrew Amelinckx, 5/27); e-mail meskada@gmail.com.

GENDER GAP. Evidently the boys of GreeneLand still are slackers. Among Greenville High School's top ten graduates, eight, including Valedictorian Emma Lord and Salutatorian Kimberly Fabian, are girls. At Cairo-Durham, nine of the ten top scholars in a class of 120 are female. Among Windham-Ashland-Jewett top ten (out of 40), however, six graduates are boys. As for Coxsackie-Athens, And at Catskill High School, the disparity was small. The four boys almost matched the girls numerically, and Valedictorian Kedong Wang scored to full scholarship to Princeton University.

NOT OVER. Although scheduled performances of River of Dreams ended last Sunday (in the Catskill High School auditorium, amid tumultuous applause and joyous weeping), the troupe will perform extracts in Beacon next week. And there's a prospect that this musical adaptation of Hudson Talbott's eponymous book will come back to life in New York City.
The cast of 50 GreeneLand kids has been invited to perform in Manhattan's Battery Park, as part of the official launch of Hudson Quadricentennial festivities. From the finale as composed by Frank Cuthbert: "May your dreams come true and sail with you upon the river of dreams."

GASOLINE PRICES have hit a new high. At the start of the week, the nation-wide average price for a gallon of regular was $2.435. On the East Coast, it was $2.294. Those figures went up in subsequent days. And in Catskill on Thursday, in at least one case--Cumberland Farms in Jefferson Heights--the price jumper from $2.51 in the morning to $2.58 in the afternoon.

TOMORROW. At Hunter Mountain resort, the Mountain Jam festival swings into its second day & night (www.mountainjam.com) while at the Catskill Mountain Foundation's nearby Doctorow Center,Theater Ten Ten performs the Gilbert & Sullivan light opera, "Ruddigore."
In Tannersville, the Rubber Duck race starts at 11am (www.mentgroup.com) and so does the festival. In Cairo, the town-wide yard sale coincides with "unveiling"of 40 bears (& butterflies) and with recent reports of live bear sightings. In Freehold, guitar duo Tequila Mockingbird performs at Ruby's Hotel while just down the road, the Freehold Country Pub hosts a Greenville Beautification Project fund-raising gala (966-4183). In Catskill, a new ice cream parlor, Spoon Me, opens at 396 Main Street (as adjunct of the MOD cafe) while across the street, at 396 Main, Kurt Andernach displays his handiwork in his new custom furniture shop, Somersault Woods. Then, in the evening, Historic Catskill Point will rock to the sounds of the Columbia Memorial Hospital splendid annual ball.

"HERE TO STAY"= message on the big West Bridge Street sign of car dealer Sawyer Chevrolet.

Cats Up

Cata-Lite, Pawmodoro's, Cement-Tom, Kitty Van Winkle, Dog Cat-cher, Tom Cat Cole, Hudson Hornet, Old Kaatskillian, Halve Moon Nauticat, Purr-lessque Dancer and dozens of other fiberglass felines are now up in downtown Catskill. Here, as created by Cheryl Lickona, Chad Weckler and Rob Roy McGregor, is Cat-tue of Liberty.

INS OUT. The 852 voters who turned out for Tuesday's Catskill Central School District elections chose new candidates for Board seats over incumbents. With three seats to be filled, Beverly Cotten (464 votes), Jennifer Osswald (456) and Kevin Allen (407) out-polled Board member Eric Holsopple (358) and Board President James Garafalo (313) as well as newcomer Justin Somma (215). That result coincided with overwhelming support (607-266) for the proposed $37million district budget (as well as support for the Public Library budget). Our sources had anticipated that if Mr Garafalo and Mr Holsopple were defeated, the proposed plan of expenditures for 2009-10 also would be rejected. Instead, the participating voters responded to complaints, voiced by some teachers and staff members, to the effect that the Garafalo-led Board supported unduly heavy-handed District governance.
----The Catskill result resembled what took place in two other GreeneLand school districts. In Hunter-Tannersville and Cairo-Durham, voters gave substantial support to the proposed 2009-10 budgets but not to incumbent Board members. Eric Thorpe out-polled Board President Brian Wilson, 395 votes to 178, in H-T, while in Cairo-Durham, although Board President Carl Kohrs won re-election, Board member Christopher O'Connell lost his seat to newcomer Robert Criswell.
-----In GreeneLand's other school districts--Coxsackie-Athens, Greenville and Windham-Ashland-Jewett--the budget proposals won heavy popular support and so did incumbent Board members who sought re-election.
-----In all six school district elections, the participants, as usual, made up fractions of the eligible voters. The fractions were larger in Coxsackie-Athens and Cairo-Durham than in Catskill.
-----(Most of the hard facts cited above were drawn from The Daily Mail and The Daily Freeman. People who operate those newspapers managed to get the election results and deliver them in print by Wednesday morning when the polls closed late on Tuesday).

DIG IT. Catskill's Garden Clubbers wish to identify, photograph and reward extraordinary new or improved gardens. Prizes of $50, $100 and $150 will be conferred. To play the game, take a Before picture soon of a target site, then get to work and in August take an After picture. Deadline for submissions is September 1. (518)943-1971.

DOUGHS UP. At River Street Bakery, freshly opened recently at Brandow's Alley in Catskill, choosing is a chore. Rustic Tuscan or Rosemary Round bread? French (white flour) or French country (whole wheat flour)? Honey Whole or Kalamata or Sourdough? Vanilla currant or Jalapeno scones?

IRISH UP. Music, dance, food and (presumably) blarney are slated for this weekend's Irish Festival at--where else?--the Quill Irish Cultural & Sports Centre. www.east-durham.org

THAT MUSICAL. "River of Dreams" opened last Friday night in the Catskill High School auditorium and won huge applause along with plentiful sentimental weeping. For good reasons.
Fifty GreeneLand school kids celebrated the Hudson River, in keeping with a book written and illlustrated by a local notable, by means of songs composed by a local artist, under the supervision of a GreeneLand-based Hollywood/Broadway veteran. The project is the subject of an incipient documentary. Performances willtake place Friday and Saturday nights (from 7pm) and Sunday (from 4pm). Admission is free. Be early.

PORT OPEN. Restaurateur Frank Guido, tired of leasing his 1 Catskill Point property to luckless and/or hapless operators, is directly in charge of the newly named Port of Call there. A "pre-grand opening" party on May 13th brought in a huge crowd, and business has been brisk ever since, at least for dinner.

DRUG BUST. So this GreeneLand woman goes in ex-husband's house, in keeping with share-the-children agreement. Spots a sack of cocaine, which reminds her of why she divorced Ex. Pours it down toilet. Flushes. Tells him what she has done. But it wasn't his property. Owner comes to retrieve $40,000 (market value) stash. "Sorry, " says Ex, who then gets busted--in nose, mouth, eye, knee, crotch….

School Board Elections: Catskill

------ On Tuesday (5/19), voters in GreeneLand's six school districts will make formative decisions about money, about leadership, and hence about the education of most of the county’s children. Experience indicates that those decisions will be made by rather small minorities of eligible voters. And yet the money involved exceeds one hundred million dollars. We will focus here only on the Catskill Central School District.

------ Participants in the Catskill district election (High School gymnasium, 6am-9pm) will vote Yea or Nay on a proposal to spend, for the public education in 2009-10 of about 1800 students, almost $37 million. And they will choose among six candidates for three positions on the district’s governing board. (Also to be decided is the fate of a proposed $439,580 budget for the Public Library. Please vote Yes).

THE NEWSLETTER

----- Every year, just before election day, registered voters receive from the district office a “Newsletter” which blends, information (terms of the proposed budget, candidates’ self-written profiles) with advocacy. The current Budget 2009-2010 Newsletter. Reflecting Educational Excellence begins with an open letter to “Dear Community Members” that is published under the headline “Budget Reduced Almost $500,000 Programs Maintained.” Although its third sentence begins with the words “I am pleased to report” the letter is signed by James Garafalo, the school board’s president, and by Kathleen P. Farrell, the superintendent. Anyhow, its author(s) voice(s) gratification over current “academic growth,” strength of community support, and progress on major construction projects.

Subsequent parts of the Newsletter offer some details on categories of proposed expenditures, on revenue sources, on anticipated staffing changes, and of tax implications. Contemplated in the proposed budget is a $484,564 reduction in total outlays, accomplished chiefly by a big cut ($1,130,450, or 22%) in “General Support.” That expenditure category is not identified further in the Newsletter, but is distinguished from (in descending order of financial weight), Supervision & Instruction, Benefits, Special Education, Debt Service, Transportation, Pupil Services, Community Services, and Interfund Transfer.

------To meet these costs, according to the Newsletter, there would be an increase in State & Federal aid (up $251,208, to $16,017,963) as well as in local tax levy ($163,870, to $15,870,107). Those increases evidently are necessitated by the contemplated absence of “Repair Reserve” revenue, which in the current budget is said to be $900,000. Locally generated revenues (from property taxes and equivalents) would cover about half of the cost of Catskill district public schooling.

A COMPARATIVE SLANT

To gain perspective on the cost of public education here, it helps to make inter-district comparisons. To that end, relevant information can be gleaned from a portion of the data that every district administration provides by law to the State Department of Education. Included in these exhaustive “Report Cards” are outlays per pupil.

Figures published by the Education Department reach only to the 2006-07 school year. They differentiate between General Education and Special Education outlays. With regard to General Education, the per-pupil figure for Catskill in 2006-07was $9125, which is slightly below the State-wide figure of $9485 but higher than the figure for other districts that, in relation to a “Need-to-Resource-Capacity index,” are similar to Catskill. The latter figure was $8377. Meanwhile, with regard to Special Education, the local outlay per pupil in 2006-07 was $25,973, which is higher than the State-wide figure ($23,898) and the similar-district figure ($8377).

------Catskill school district differs from the others in GreeneLand in the financial, Need/Resources, classification. It is classed as being “high” in needs relative to local resources, whereas the Cairo-Durham, Coxsackie-Athens, Greenville, Hunter-Tannersville and Windham-Ashland-Jewett districts are rated on that measure as “average.” At any rate, for 2006-07 the $9125 Catskill district outlay per pupil in General Education compared with $7203 for Cairo-Durham, $8154 for Coxsackie-Athens, $8258 for Greenville, $10,767 for Hunter-Tannersville, and $11,894 for W-A-J. Catskill’s $25,973 outlay per Special Education pupil was substantially higher than its counterpart in other districts: $22,690 in Hunter-Tannersville, $19,661 in Coxsackie-Athens, $19,437 in Greenville, $15,755 in Cairo-Durham, and $11,717 in the Windham-Ashland-Jewett district (a suspect figure, since it is so low in comparison to other districts and is even lower than its reported General Education figure).

-----Current Catskill district enrollment is 1818. In relation to the proposed 2009-10 budget of just under $37 million, that represents an outlay per pupil (General and Special) of around $19,200. That figure is higher than for GreeneLand’s other school districts (but we do not have the necessary data). Sources of the difference are many and they are controversial. One substantial contributor, however, is readily apparent: Catskill’s proportion of Special Education pupils is higher than it is in other GreeneLand districts. That difference in turn is related to a higher incidence of mobile families whose children require Special Education services at a higher rate than the county average.

VOTING ‘NO’

------The consequences of a negative vote on the proposed budget are discussed in the Newsletter.. By law the Board can respond to a rejection by putting the same budget before the voters, by offering a revised budget, or by going directly to a “contingent budget.” If the Board chooses either of the first two options, and its proposed budget gets rejected again, it must operate under the contingency rule, which is a plan of outlays whose total is affected by the national Consumer Price Index. That constraint means in effect that budgeted outlays for 2009-10 could not be more than 4 per cent higher than for 2008-09. (There are additional constraints on types of outlays). .

------The Newsletter also warns that State laws governing contingent budgets do not impose constraints on local tax levies, so “It is possible for the tax rate to be higher with a contingent budget.” Yes, but in this case, the proposed 2009-10 budget calls for outlays that are fractionally lower (1.29%) than in the adopted 2008-09 budget, although their funding would still require a fractional (1%-4%) rise in property tax.

------Advice about the implications of rejecting the proposed budget may owe its presence in the Newsletter, and its phrasing, to the fact that three members voted against the budget that was submitted for Board approval on April 21^st. The dissenters—Karen Haas, Andrew Jones and Matthew Leibowitz--did not state their objections then or since. They have not gone public with appeals for a Yea or a Nay vote.

THE FORUM FIASCO

------On Wednesday night, in the Elementary School’s library, under the auspices of the Teachers’ Association, starting at 6pm, five candidates for election to the governing board of the Catskill Central School District took part in a public forum. Time for this event was limited to one hour, because another event, a workshop involving incumbent board members along with parents and students, was set for 7pm. Patricia Houlihan, chairing the event, invited each candidate to make an opening statement. She sought to keep those statements short, so as to leave time for questions, to be followed by closing statements. But the time constraint on candidates’ statements proved to be unnecessary; from the audience of 16 persons, apart from a Daily Mail reporter, came no questions.

THE CANDIDATES

------Based on information provided the Newsletter, along with presentations at the candidates’ forum as well as interviews, here are notes about the candidates for election to the governing board of the Catskill Central School District.

Kevin Allen and his wife, Kristie, have three children: a Catskill Elementary second-grader and two pre-schoolers. After attending LeMoyne College on a baseball scholarship and graduating with a Business Administration degree, Mr Allen worked in North Carolina for six years as a computer programmer before moving here seven years ago and making a career change to carpentry. Locally, according to his profile in the Budget 2009-2010 Newsletter that will go to voters in advance of the May 19^th vote, Mr Allen has been “an active volunteer in youth sports.” He hopes to ensure that the school board will operate as a “proactive body” reaching “quality decisions” and “representing all of our students and community.” Being “fiscally responsible” is important in the current “unpredictable economy.” “We need to implement research-based programs that have been proven to attain positive results.” He commends “closer attention” by board members “to details of decisions.” To these remarks, at the candidates’ forum he added judgments that successful board operation is “all about relationships” and that too many people in the community complain but do nothing to improve matters.

------Beverly Cotten and her husband, Forest, have two children in Catskill public schools (grades 8 and 5) and a pre-schooler. Following graduation from the College of Saint Rose (with a biology/secondary education major) and from Union College (M.A. in Science Teaching), she accumulated 16 years of experience in teaching (in private and public schools, at all grade levels) and in school management, with special emphasis on technology. As Co-Ordinator of Data and Information Systems in Westchester County’s Elmsford Union Free School District, Ms Cotten currently supervises information, instructional technology, data handling, and testing. She went to the Elmsford district after a stint as Data Analyst/Central Registrar for the Catskill district. Before that she taught chemistry and biology in the Hunter-Tannersville and the Cairo-Durham districts while also handling school management tasks. Among her extra-curricular activities are the Fortnightly Club, church functions, and the Friends of Beattie-Powers Place. At the candidates’ forum, Ms Cotten suggested that the presently “good” Catskill school district needs to achieve a higher graduation rate and to shape policies that meet the needs of Special Needs students.

------James Garafalo, current president of the School Board, seeks re-election for a term that would bring his years of service to a total of 24. Mr Garafalo was a board member board from 1983 to 1998, and from 2003 to the present. He operates Catskill Florist Inc. on West Bridge Street. His and wife Marjorie’s two children graduated from Catskill High School and a granddaughter currently is enrolled in the Middle School. According to his candidate statement, “Having been involved since the beginning of the High School and Middle School renovation project, he would like to see the project through to completion.” Moreover, he would “continue to strive for what is best for our students and the taxpayers of the district.” To those words, as provided in the Budget 209-2010 Newsletter, he added, at the candidates’ forum, judgments that the present school board is an especially “good,” harmonious, one, that “micro-managing” by board members must be avoided, that the district’s ambitious capital improvements program is advancing on schedule and “under budget,” and that he is determined to “Do what is right…even when it may not be the popular choice.”

------Eric Holsopple is seeking a second term on the Board. He and wife Lisa (a Catskill High School graduate) have two sons, Ryan and Liam, who attend the Elementary School. Mr Holsopple, a Columbia-Greene Community College graduate, has worked for 19 years as a lineman for Central Hudson Gas & Electric Company. He is a shop steward with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union local. He cites service on the Athens Zoning Board of Appeals as additional “experience necessary to contribute as a board member.” He seeks re-election “so I can do my part to help make the school district the best it can be for our children.”

------Jennifer Krieg Osswald is a Village of Catskill native, a Catskill High School graduate, and an active PTA member . She and her husband, Ryan, who is a Mid-Hudson Media technical engineer, have two children, a first-grader at Catskill Elementary School and a pre-schooler. Ms Osswald graduated from Marist College and then earned a Master’s degree in social work from Adelphi University. A State-licensed social worker, she has worked with children and “as an advocate for children and families.” While employed by Greene County Mental Health Services she worked with Catskill children. Currently she is the social worker at The Starting Place. Regarding her candidacy for the school board, in the Newsletter she emphasizes “respect for all individuals who live, attend and work within the…District.” “All individuals have a right to have an opinion and to be heard without bias.” At the candidates’ forum, Ms Osswald delivered a “primary concerns” statement dwelling on “top quality education for all children, despite any limitations or special needs that they may have,” on fostering “an environment that is safe and free from harassment and bullying,” and on overcoming present “difficulties” in “accessing those who are in charge….” She called for “new perspective, more involvement and louder voices by the members of the board of education….”

------Justin Somma lives in Kiskatom with his wife and two pre-school sons. He owns Village Hardware in Hunter. He is “eager to get involved in a way that I would best be able to help defend the quality of the district and help it progress to an even brighter future. As a businessman and parent from a family of teachers, I have the benefit of a broad perspective on the educational system.” He aims “to make sure our schools provide a world-class education, maintain a sound fiscal footing, and cultivate an environment of appreciation toward our teachers and administrators.” In response to a query from Seeing Greene, Mr Somma said he would “serve a single term and retire...so that an equally enthusiastic citizen can…provide fresh insight to the board” and he would “keep a blog to explain the logic behind every public session vote I make.” The latter intentions are not voiced in the Budget 2009-2010 Newsletter, and Mr Somma did not attend the candidates’ forum. Neither did he offer a statement.[See his Comment, below] He is first in the field, however, with roadside campaign signs.

P.S.: TEACHERS’ CHOICE [added 5/18]

The Catskill Teachers’ Association has endorsed newcomers over incumbents. An advertisement published in The Daily Mail (5/16) expresses support for Mr Allen, Ms Cotten and Ms Oswald, thereby spurning the Board’s chairman, Mr Garafalo, and the other incumbent candidate, Mr Holsopple. That choice reflects dissatisfaction with the District administration, and with the Garafalo-led Board’s firm support for the administration. The resentment is expressed in the phrasing of the endorsement. Concluding its list of qualities that “the CTA believes” the non-incumbent candidates would bring to the Board, and hence to school governance, is “a collaborative attitude.”

Satiated Saturday

In just one GreeneLand village, on just one day, too much is happening. The village is Catskill. The day is tomorrow. Public events start quietly at the Community Center, with a seminar for adults on managing their legal and related affairs, the guidance being provided gratis by an ace lawyer and two program-administering nurses. Later, starting at 4 pm at the C C, comes the launch of an on-line version of the new community radio station, WGXC (meaning Greene & Columbia counties), with various speakers and events culminating in--drum roll, please--live extracts from the impending home-grown musical, "River of Dreams." That performance will be beamed from across the street at the Union Mills Gallery (where author Hudson Talbott will autograph copies of his book River of Dreams and will donate the sale proceeds to the Center.
Meanwhile, a rubber duck race will be staged on the west side of Catskill Creek, from the Middle School parking lot. Starting time is said to be 1pm, with a post-race celebration to follow at the Creekside Restaurant.
Meanwhile, along Main Street, shops and galleries will be participating in Second Saturday activities.
Meanwhile, parking lots around the County Building will be occupied by two-, four-, and more-wheeled participants (along with their owners) in the Village Car Show. That's a 3-8pm spectacle, augmented by live music.
Meanwhile, up the hill, a special program devoted to the late Raymond Beecher, county historian, philanthropist and promoter of good GreeneLand causes, will unfold (from 1pm) at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site (which Mr Beecher saved from demolition).
Meanwhile, at nearby Beattie-Powers Place, the Fortnightly Club unfolds a wine & cheece fund-raiser throughout the afternoon.
Meanwhile, back on Main Street, a 6pm reception will hail the reopening of the Play Of Light gallery, showcasing the holographic and laser light magic achieved by the late Rudie Berkhout.

MORE CATSKILL. There's a good chance, moreover, that the new River Street Bakery will open at Brandow's Alley on Tuesday (following a trial run during the Saturday festivities) and that the new Port Of Call restaurant at Catskill Point will on Wednesday, from 6pm, have what proprietor Frank Guido dubs a "pre-grand opening." (To that event, says an advertisement on www.welcometocatskill.com, "Your invited."

CATSKILL acquired its name, says Town & Village Historian Richard Philp, in consequence of "a Dutch tradition of honoring a distinguishing person by naming a geographical site after him or her." The honoree here was "early 17th-century statesman and poet Johannes Katz." The kill part is Dutch for creek (sowhen we say "Catskill Creek" we commit redundancy).
That bit of history is just a morsel in the feast served by Mr Philp in his new pictorial history:
The book's 208 historic photographs are accompanied by captions that go well beyond immediate description to mini-memoirs (William Van Vechten Jr and his pet woodchuck, for example). The cover picture here shows "local citizens crowding onto an experimental lifeboat" that had just been made locally during World War I.
Catskill Village will be available in nine days from the publisher; www.arcadiapublishing.com.

CATKILL-based Greene County Bancorp has withdrawn its application to "participate" in the Federal bank bailout program. According to a company announcement, taking the Federal money would have or could have been coupled with accepting onerous "regulatory burdens," and anyway, the bank has arranged an alternative: a revolving line of credit for $5 million from Atlanta Central Bankers Bank (sic), to be tapped in case of need. But there's no need, the announcement adds. The bank's "regulatory capital" supply exceeds what is required legally "by substantial margins." Anyhow, the announced withdrawal of application was not preceded by a company announcement of application, and we now know that, back in February, when we said in Seeing Greene that the bank had not sought bailout money, we were wrong.

CAN'T STOP writing about Catskillians. Stories by writer Ann Cooper, who is fully imported from Scotland, have appeared lately on line (http://laurabird.com/showcase/annieforbescooper2.html) and in RAW (=Random Acts of Writing). And Linda Overbaugh, veteran director of the Heart of Catskill Association (=Village chamber of commerce), as special honoree at the Beaux Arts Ball of the Greene County Council on the Arts, was hailed for "steadfast commitment and unselfish contributions to the quality of cultural life in Greene County."

[REMINDER. Comments are welcome, but they must be signed by their authors]