Greene County Arts Council funds cultural institutions

Greene County Council on the Arts awarded 11 County Initiative Program awards: Bronck Museum of the Greene County Historical Society was awarded $2,200 to continue, expand and promote cultural, educational, and arts programming, including Music of History series, Heritage Craft Fair and Chilly Willy Tours; Catskill Mountain Foundation, Inc. was awarded $2,650 toward artist fees and related costs for year-round performing arts series, which includes dance, theater, classical music, pop music and family performances; free103point9 was awarded $1,200 for support of the online portion of WGXC (at the time of the application known as Greene/Columbia community radio station project); Greene Room Players was awarded $1,800 in support for 2010 community theater productions plus the Reel Teens film program; Horton by the Stream in Elka Park was awarded $1,000 toward artist fees for production of the 2010 season of free summer professional staged readings of plays, primarily by Horton Foote; Irish American Heritage Museum was awarded $500 for year two of the exhibit “The Irish in Battle” at the museum in East Durham; Music & Art Centre of Greene County was awarded $2,500 toward the 2010 season of summer concerts, Classical music series and Ukrainian folk arts workshops at the Grazhda in Jewett Center; Planet Arts was awarded $1,500 toward support for the 2010 Jazzone2one Series to be held at the Athens Cultural Center in Athens; Thomas Cole National Historic Site – Cedar Grove in Catskill was awarded $2,650 in support for the 2010 exhibition: “Remember the Ladies;” Windham Chamber Music Festival was awarded $2,500 in support of its 2010 concert series in Windham; Zadock Pratt Museum was awarded $2,000 in support for its 2010 season of programs and projects.

Click on WGXC or WGXC Newsroom for more information. Send news, tips, etc. to news@wgxc.org.

Board of Education candidates file petitions

From The Daily Freeman:

Candidates for Board of Education seats in Ulster, Columbia, Dutchess and Greene counties filed petitions [by] Monday to secure a spot on the May 18 school district election ballots.... The candidates, listed by school district, are as follows:

Columbia County
In Germantown, incumbent Teresa Repko, of Germantown, and Eric Mortension, of Gallatin, were the only candidates to file petitions early Monday. The names of the two will appear on the ballot for election to a four-year term and a one year unexpired term left by the resignation of Suzanne Pelletier.

Greene County
In the Cairo-Durham school district, eight candidates are running for four seats on the board, with three seats carrying a three-year term and the fourth seat with a one-year unexpired term. The three-year seats are currently held by board Vice President Thomas Plank and trustees Greg Koerner-Fox and Fred Zimmerman. Debra Armstrong resigned from the fourth seat. Besides incumbents Plank of Mountain Avenue, Purling, and Koerner-Fox of Indian Ridge Road, Earlton, incumbent Trustee Beatrice Clappin of Enchanted Valley Drive, Cornwallville, also filed a petition. Clappin was appointed to fill Armstrong’s seat until the May 18 election. Also running are Nicole Maggio of Halfmoon Drive, Cairo; Samuel Mozzillo of county Route 31, Purling; Dean Pectal of Gibson Road, Greenville; Patricia Ublacker of Orchard Drive, Leeds; and Jennifer Sabine of state Route 20, Durham.

In Catskill, 10 individuals will vie for three seats, each carrying a three-year term, as well as a fourth seat to fill a vacancy, which carries a two-year term. The three seats are currently held by board President Randall Griffin of Mahican Way, Catskill, and trustees Michael Bulich of Greenpoint Road, Catskill, and Lisa Warner of Bogardus Avenue, Catskill. The vacancy was created by the resignation of former Trustee Beverly Cotten. Besides the three incumbents, candidates are former board member Carol Schilansky of Elting Road, Catskill; Carthette Burnett of Main Street, Catskill; Francesca Daisernia of Leeds; Ronald Frascello of Gary Lane, Palenville; Matthew Leitman of Pleasant Drive, Catskill; Tracy Powell of Bogart Road, Palenville; and Christopher VanLoan of Rams Horn Drive, Catskill.

In the Coxsackie-Athens school district, three seats, each carrying a three-year term, are up for election, though only two incumbents are being challenged. Incumbents Mark Gerrain, of Hamilton Street, Coxsackie; Russell Nadler, of Flats Road Extension, Athens; and Beth Tailleur, of state Route 81, Climax, each filed petitions for re-election. Tailleur is being challenged for her seat by Kim VanAusdle, of Sunset Boulevard, Coxsackie, while Nadler is being challenged for his seat by Stephen Oliveira, of Schoharie Turnpike, Athens. Gerrain, the current board vice-president, is unopposed for re-election.

In the Hunter-Tannersville school district, incumbent Trustee Marc Czermerys of June Lodge Drive, Tannersville, is being challenged by Penelope Fromer, address unavailable, for a five-year term. Read the entire article here.

Click on WGXC or WGXC Newsroom for more information. Send news, tips, etc. to news@wgxc.org.

Stream management program funds awarded

Michael Ryan in the Windham Journal writes:

Thousands of dollars were handed out when the Schoharie Watershed Advisory Council awarded its second round of Stream Management Program funds, last week, during a meeting at the Windham Country Club. SWAC members awarded $77,627 to seven entities in Greene and Delaware counties for projects aimed at preserving water quality in the New York City reservoir system and increasing awareness of watershed related issues. All of the funds are provided by the Department of Environmental Protection, which has set aside $2 million to be distributed over a 5-year period, with two years having passed on the contract, administered by the Greene County Soil and Water Conservation District. [Greene County] Funds were allocated in round two as follows:

—EDUCATION AND OUTREACH: The Mountaintop Arboretum in Tannersville, $6,810, with a $750 In-kind contribution to create landscape design plans for a Wooded Walk outdoor classroom, accommodating approximately 45 people. The natural amphitheater will offer year-round outdoor programming on ecological and natural history topics relating to the watershed such as wetland plants, insect and wildlife along riparian areas, birding, stream health and leaf pack workshops to learn about geology.

—EDUCATION AND OUTREACH: Greene County Cornell Cooperative Extension, $1,884 with a $498 In-kind contribution to set up a rain barrel workshop that will be held at the Sugar Maples Arts Center in Maplecrest. The hands-on workshop will take place during Schoharie Watershed Week, May 17-23, 2010, providing materials and instruction for approximately ten families, teaching them to construct a rain barrel for home use. While the rain barrels will be fun to build, they will also be functional. The workshop will also introduce participants to methods of stormwater control, non-point pollution prevention and conservation of water resources in a residential setting.

—EDUCATION AND OUTREACH: the SWAC Education and Outreach Committee, $5,100 with an In-kind contribution of $4,125 to conduct a series of events, activities and workshops for people of all ages during Schoharie Watershed Week, taking place throughout the region. On tap will be a watershed-related film series (at the Hunter Theater in the town of Hunter), fly-fishing demonstrations, downspout disconnect programs, an Adopt-A-Stream clean up, a watershed scavenger hunt and kayak and canoe demonstrations.

—RECREATION/HABITAT IMPROVEMENTS: the Town of Windham, $15,000 with an In-kind contribution of $6,536 (and a potential to raise more in community contributions) to be used toward the creation of a multi-use, non-motorized trail on the Batavia Kill. The 1.1 mile loop trail will be built on a 68-acre parcel owned by the town at the former Police Anchor Camp, along Route 23, on the eastern outskirts of the hamlet district, allowing for improved access to the popular fishing stream. Bridge and boardwalk materials are needed to cross over a wetland and a tributary. A trail committee of local residents and business owners is planning the Windham Path with assistance from the Greene County Soil and Water Conservation District.

--PLANNING & ASSESSMENT: the Town of Hunter, $35,000 with an In-kind contribution of $5,000 to conduct a detailed review of current land use regulations with an intent to adopt revisions and write new regulations and/or guidelines promoting low impact design, climate smart and smart growth principles. In the absence of zoning, the town is seeking to investigate, and adopt as appropriate, innovative land use practices which will be an incentive to achieve desirable future growth related to private housing, development and commercial enterprises.

--PLANNING & ASSESSMENT: the towns of Ashland, Jewett, Lexington and Windham and the villages of Hunter and Tannersville, $12,000 with an In-kind contribution of $21,500 from the Catskill Watershed Corporation to hold “Mountaintop-wide Better Site Design Plan Workshops.” The workshops will guide each community through a comparison of the local codes against model development principles using a consensus building approach. Model principles will then be compiled into a General Guide for Mountaintop Communities, facilitating specific recommendations for each community.

SWAC has thus far awarded a total of $518,957.50 in the first two rounds of programming, leaving $1.481,042.50 for future projects. The application deadline for round three is August 2, 2010, with approvals formally taking place on October 27, 2010. Projects awarded funding in round one included improving stream access along the Schoharie Creek in the town of Prattsville by constructing a parking area and installing floodplain drains under Vista Ridge Road in the Town of Jewett, reducing backwater conditions causing channel aggradation. Stormwater retrofits were approved at the Mountaintop Library in the village of Tannersville and Town of Hunter, reducing the quantity of, and improving the conveyance of, stormwater runoff, vastly improving water quality.

Click on WGXC or WGXC Newsroom for more information. Send news, tips, etc. to news@wgxc.org.

Election results

The Register-Star reports that Carol Weaver will become the Mayor of the Village of Kinderhook, with 77 votes to trustee Richard Phillips, an incumbent, with 69 votes, and newcomer Brian Murphy with 75 votes. In Coxsackie, The Daily Mail reports that Republican Village Trustee John Oliver received 368 votes, Republican Trustee Dianne Ringwald received 356 votes, Democrat Darryl Proper received 289 votes, and Democrat Tony D’Arcangelis got 269 votes. The Daily Mail story implies but does not implicitly say that Oliver and Ringwald will take the two seats available. The Daily Mail also reports that in an uncontested Athens vote, incumbent Democrat Trustee Herman Reinhold received 92 votes and Democrat Gail Lasher received 103 votes. The Daily Mail reports that in Tannersville, incumbent Democratic Trustee Linda Kline got 31 votes, two of which were absentees, out of the total possible of 44 for another two year term and Democrat Leigh J.V. McGunnigle, who drew 25 votes, including two absentees. There were also 16 write-in votes in the uncontested election, with outgoing Trustee Mary Sue Timpson drawing six of them, and Tannersville resident Scott Myers getting five. In Hunter, incumbent Trustee Alan Higgins, who ran on the Hunter Pride Party, took all 33 votes, The Daily Mail reported.

Click on WGXC or WGXC Newsroom for more information. Send news, tips, etc. to news@wgxc.org.

Twin Counties Partnership for Arts in Education announces 2009-10 awards

The Greene County Council on the Arts, in partnership with the Columbia County Council on the Arts and Questar III, is pleased to announce the following Arts in Education grant awards for the 2009-2010 school year through the Twin Counties Partnership for Arts in Education. Awards have been given to schools that applied for matching funds to support creative, curriculum-based partnerships between a teacher and an artist or arts organization working with the same groups of students in three or more sessions. The requests reflect interdisciplinary collaborations between classroom teachers and performance, music, literary, folk arts, crafts and visual artists and provide intensive arts experiences integrated into classroom curricula for pre K – 12 students.

In Columbia County, the following awards were approved:

Hawthorne Valley School - $2,000 toward a partnership between the school and professional actor/director David Anderson of Walking the Dog Theater to produce two plays: “Harvey” for Grade 10 and “Macbeth” for Grade 12. The project involves students in casting, rehearsing and staging the productions.

Hudson Intermediate School - $2,500 toward a Bengali culture and arts project for 6th grade students called “A Culture Study of South Asia.” The program uses Bengali dance, music and culture for a total immersion experience. Students will work with Middle Eastern dancer Carolyn Kay and storyteller Johanna Shogan as well as classroom teachers in a wide variety of disciplines related to South Asia.

Mountain Road School - $850 toward a paper making workshop for students in grades K-6 turning old cotton T shirts into paper. Students will use the paper for a public wall hanging and to create personal journals about the experience.

Taconic Hills High School - $2,000 in support for “Fall Festival of Shakespeare 2009,” a collaboration with Shakespeare & Company. High School students produced and performed classic plays under the direction of a professional theater company.

In Greene County, the following awards were approved:

Catskill Elementary School - $1,500 toward “Books Alive!,” a partnership with Soup-2-Nuts Theater involving first grade students who study and perform three books by children’s author Eric Carle. Director Margo Mullein Feron coordinates the project with art and music teachers and with the school librarian.

Catskill Middle & High School - $2,000 toward “Legacy in Light,” a program with holographer Linda Law to introduce students in Grades 6 & 12 to the art and physics of holography through the works of the late, internationally famous holographer Rudie Berkhout. Twenty Grade 6 students and 18 12th grade Physics students will visit a retrospective exhibit of Berkhout’s work and then work with Law and art teacher Corie Fong to design and create holograms.

Hunter-Tannersville Middle-High School - $3,000 toward a project with students in grades 8-12 who will design a sculpture garden as part of a comprehensive landscaping project on the school grounds that involves the entire school community. Under the direction of art teacher Ritamary Vining, students will meet with area landscape artists, visit Storm King Sculpture Garden and other area sculpture gardens, learn sculpting skills and techniques from local sculptor Kevin VanHentenryck and visit foundries to learn about fabrication techniques. Student designs will be displayed locally and undergo a review process.

Funding for Arts in Education programs is determined by a panel of educators, artists and arts-in-education specialists. Successful applicants follow these basics: (1) Schools develop curriculum integrated artist partnerships which address the NYS Learning Standards; (2) Planning and implementation are conducted by school educators working directly with artists or cultural institutions; (3) Projects integrate the arts into other academic disciplines and do not solely address art curriculum and (4) Grants are used to pay artist fees, artist travel expenses and materials.

Planning for next year’s Arts in Education projects is already underway! Interested schools should contact Kay Stamer at the GCCA, 943-3400, e-mail gcca@greenearts.org. Guidelines and applications may be obtained by contacting Kay at the GCCA, Colleen Schaffernoth at the CCCA 518-671-6213, or Arlene Sampson, Arts Specialist at Questar III at 518-477-8771.

The Twin Counties Arts in Education (AIE) Partnership Grants Program is made possible with public funds from the Local Capacity Building Initiative of the AIE Program of the New York State Council on the Arts. Corporate sponsors include the Bank of Greene County, Hudson River Bank & Trust Foundation, Stewart’s Shops and the Windham Chapter of the Catskill Mountain Foundation.

Click on WGXC or WGXC Newsroom for more information. Send news, tips, etc. to news@wgxc.org.

Judging the race

Seeing Greene's Dick May handicaps the race to fill the seat of Greene County Court Judge Daniel K. Lalor, who retires on December 31. In November, voters will choose a replacement, and it will not be District Attorney Terry Wilhelm who says he is not running. May reports Republicans Ted Hilscher of New Baltimore, a historian and part-time teacher at Columbia-Greene Community College and a former Assistant District Attorney and a Catskill-based attorney; Peter Margolius, Catskill Town Justice and attorney; and Charles (“Chip”) Tailleur of Coxsackie, the Assistant District Attorney will all be running. No Democrats have announced yet, but May speculates that Greg Lubow of Tannersville, an attorney and former Chief Public Defender of Greene County; Edward Kaplan, a Hunter-based attorney; Lee Allen Palmateer, attorney and Athens Town Supervisor; and Alex Betke, a partner in an Albany law firm, Coxsackie Town Supervisor, and Catskill Village attorney may all run.

Click on WGXC or WGXC Newsroom for more information. Send news, tips, etc. to news@wgxc.org.

Seward holds Tannersville town meeting

New York State Senator James L. Seward (R/C/I-Oneonta) holds a ‘town hall’ style meeting at 7 p.m. Tue. Oct. 20 at Hunter-Tannersville Middle/High School, 6094 Main Street, Tannersville. At the meeting, Seward will visit with constituents, discuss current state issues and take questions. For the first hour, Seward and area residents will discuss state issues with others who are present. Later, Seward will be available to talk privately with those who have a particular state-related problem or would like to meet with him personally.

Today's local headlines

Ancram ponders orphaning roads
From The Columbia Paper

ANCRAM - The Town of Ancram is considering cutting back on the maintenance or abandoning several town roads: Crest Lane Extension, Sheppard Road, Rothvoss Road, Ken's Road, School House Road, Altenburg Road, Rabbit Tail Road, Stewart's Road, Bash Road and portions of Sawchuck Road and Over Mountain Road. The Town would change the streets to "seasonal-use roads" and would not have to clear snow.

Planners to invoke independent review clause
From The Daily Mail

HUNTER - The Town of Hunter planning board will for the first time force two applicants, Cortina Mountain Estates and Twin Mountain Estates, to pay for an independent review by an engineering firm. The Planning Board choose Delaware Engineering for the work.

Seward will hold meetings with dairy farmers
From The Daily Mail

CAIRO - State Sen. James L. Seward, R-Oneonta will hold an emergency meeting soon in Cobleskill to address the crisis among dairy farmers, and will schedule other meetings in Greene and Columbia counties, according to a story in The Daily Mail about the Greene County Youth Fair.

Gillibrand vote defeats Thune amendment
From The Albany Project

WASHINGTON - New New York Senator Kirstin Gillibrand cast her most important vote so far Wednesday, defeating the Thune amendment, which would have allowed individuals who are licensed to carry concealed weapons to carry those same weapons in other states that allow for the possession of such weapons. Gillibrand has been attacked by the left-wing of her party as too permissive on gun legislation, and is facing several primary challengers. "It is simply wrong for the federal government to overrule a state's ability to enact reasonable, constitutional gun laws designed to prevent criminals and other violent and dangerous persons from carrying guns in city streets," she said on the Senate floor.The vote was 58-39 to attach the legislation to a defense spending bill, just short of the necessary votes.

Businesses in Catskill close
From Seeing Greene

CATSKILL - Dick May reports that Harold Hanson's Verso gallery is closed (though the Hudson store remains open), and that Valley Dry Cleaners in Catskill will close at the end of August. He also reports that efforts are under way to open the 280-seat Orpheum Performing Arts Center in Tannersville, in the old Orpheum Theater.

Today's local headlines

Local housing groups get $650,000 in grants
From The Daily Mail

The Hunter Foundation, in Tannersville, and the Catskill Mountain Housing Development Corporation, in Catskill, were notified Thursday that they are each a recipient of grants — $300,000 and $350,000, respectively — from NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), the administrator agency for federal U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds. The money is part of a statewide package of $31.4 million in housing grants announced by Gov. David A. Paterson Thursday.

Wilzig track foes win latest round in court
From The Columbia Paper

State Supreme Court Judge Patrick J. McGrath handed down an interim decision last week denying Alan Wilzig's petition for dismissal of a complaint filed by the Granger Group in regard to his private motorcycle track. Mr. Wilzig received site plan approval and designation as a permissible recreational use from the Town of Taghkanic's Zoning Board of Appeals and Planning Board earlier this year. But he was unable to proceed with paving the track because of an injunction against further construction on the facility. The injunction was obtained by the Granger Group, an association of citizens opposed to the track and concerned about enforcement of town zoning law, and by neighbors to the Wilzig property who believe that the track is not allowed under the zoning laws.

Hudson antique dealers struggling
From The Register-Star

Antique sales in Hudson are down around 20 to 30 percent, according to Hudson Antiques Dealers Association president Frank Rosa. Jennifer Arensksjold, co-owner of Arenskjold Antiques Art and Modern Design says sales actually fell more after the recession associated with the World Trade Center attack, which also coincided with a change in buyers' tastes.

Falling dairy prices strain farmers
From The Daily Mail

A top official at the U.S. Department of Agriculture defended his agency’s response to tumbling milk prices as “extremely aggressive” but showed little appetite Tuesday for immediate and far-reaching measures that some lawmakers say would keep thousands of dairy farmers in business. The Daily Mail story does not mention New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's work on this issue:

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is introducing legislation that would increase the amount farmers get through the Milk Income Loss Contract -- or MILC --program. MILC pays dairy farmers cash when milk prices fall below certain levels. When demand is up, prices tend to be up as well. The program is aimed at helping small and midsize dairy farmers weather low prices. But Gillibrand says that under the current pricing structure, farmers aren't receiving enough income to cover the costs of staying in business. She's introducing a bill this week that would double the amount of money farmers get from the MILC program retroactive to the low point of the pricing crisis in March. Another bill would increase the MILC rate to account for inflation.

Outbreak of Fungus Threatens Tomato Crop
From The New York Times

A highly contagious fungus that destroys tomato plants has quickly spread to nearly every state in the Northeast and the mid-Atlantic, and the weather over the next week may determine whether the outbreak abates or whether tomato crops are ruined, according to federal and state agriculture officials.

Trippi's weird "apology"
From The Albany Project

"Joe Trippi, who has been working secretly for Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (NY-14) in her primary challenge to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand for more than a month, posted an odd "apology" for his deception (which occurred at Daily Kos, Huffington Post and with several reporters) on his website yesterday." This comes after PolitickerNY found Maloney's second quarter FEC filing and found a $10,500 check to Trippi dated June 5, well before he stopped writing about Maloney as if he was an unpaid observer.

LIVE TONIGHT:
Mark Eitzel will perform at 8 p.m. Jason's Upstairs Bar, 521 Warren St. in Hudson.