SusanCampriello: My Works

Schools to get stimulus funds
Money will be used to support improvements to teaching methods, learning environment
The Daily Mail
Sept. 3, 2009

CATSKILL — New programs and program features could be coming to the Catskill Central School District through more than $260,000 from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 as well as from other grant sources, according to District Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Farrell.

The district will receive a preliminary estimate of $263,324 available over a 27-month period through the stimulus measure, according to the New York State Education Department and the Office of Gov. David A. Paterson. The money can be used to support teaching and learning improvement efforts. Final allotments will be announced later in the year.

“Any penny we get goes a long way,” Farrell said of the coming money.

She said the money, and additional funds through the Dyson Foundation in conjunction with Greene County Mental Health, will help implement an extended-day elementary school program that could be used for tutoring sessions or homework assistance.

She said the district will begin a search for additional staff to provide more opportunities for secondary students to prepare for Regents examinations or attend tutoring sessions, to receive counseling and to possibly pass failed courses through Online instructional services.

Farrell said further funds would come to the District through the Individuals with Disabilities Act.

According to the department, approximately 700 New York schools, mostly in lower-income areas, will receive more than $900 million through the Recovery Act.

Greene County schools will receive $788,464 in the following amounts:

- $138,042 for the Cairo-Durham Central School District;

- $263,324 for the Catskill Central School District;

- $133,728 for the Coxsackie-Athens Central School District;

- $122,019 for the Greenville Central School District;

- $85,132 for the Hunter-Tannersville Central School District;

- $46,219 for the Windham-Ashland-Jewett Central School District.

But, as Cairo-Durham Central School’s Business Manager Lissa Jilek pointed out Wednesday, the funding is not guaranteed. Schools must still apply for the funds, she said.

Allocations were determined based on a “No Child Left Behind” program count of qualifying children including those in families living below the poverty line, living in foster care or in institutions for the neglected and who are receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

According to program data gathered, 6.86 percent of qualifying children in New York reside in Greene County with the following break-down:

- 1.15 percent in the Cairo-Durham Central School District;

- 2.40 percent in the Catskill Central School District;

- 1.14 percent in the Coxsackie-Athens Central School District;

- 0.96 percent in the Greenville Central School District;

- 0.80 percent in the Hunter-Tannersville Central School District;

- 0.41 percent in the Windham-Ashland-Jewett Central School District.

Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, D-NY, said in a statement that education is one of the most important investments that can be made for the future of New York.

“These federal dollars will help give New York students the education they need to succeed in the 21st century by providing more early education, extended learning opportunities, better training for teachers and a stronger role for parents,” she said.

Adopted horses show improvement
The Daily Mail
May 4, 2009, online

GREENVILLE - Nancy Caldwell was not actively looking to purchase a second horse when she learned about the malnourished horses housed at Center Brook Farm in Climax. She called her boyfriend, she said, and they discussed adopting a horse from the Columbia-Greene Humane Society/SPCEA.

“It clicked,” she said.

On April 28, Caldwell brought Running Witch, a 10-year-old dark bay mare, to her stable a few hours away.

Running Witch is one of more than 50 horses from the Center Brook Farm that the CGHS/SPCA has adopted out to new owners.

The CGHS/SPCA was awarded custody of 67 of the 177 horses at the farm when it was raided by state police investigators and animal control officers April 3.

Ernie Paragallo, 51, of Massapequa, the farm’s owner, was arrested April 10 and charged with 22 counts of animal cruelty. He is expected to appear before Justice Thomas Fori in Coxsackie Town Court May 18.

CGHS/SPCA staff said they are hopeful that the rest of the horses will be adopted over the next week or two.

“They have done a complete 180,” CGHS/SPCA President Ron Perez said. “They’re doing much, much better.”

Caldwell said Running Witch ate an entire bale of hay her first night in her new home. Since then, Caldwell has monitored how much food the horse is given to eat.

Caldwell said the horse is still very thin and has skin problems but has no active parasites. And, after a lot of grooming, Running Witch’s mangy hair has begun falling out, she said.

Running Witch has adjusted well and can be lead around and blanketed, Caldwell said, adding that the horse has shown her calm and affectionate personality.

“She really hugs you,” she said.

Susan Kayne, breeder and owner of the Unbridled Racing Stable, in Greenville, said Friday the three horses she adopted from the farm have also shown improvements in health and spirits.

The horses she adopted- Fine Behind, Queen Burger and Lily of The Day - and others on the farm, had parasites and had not been wormed.

Kayne said her three horses had worn halters for too long and had bug infestations in their ears. Their hooves were cracked and their soles were bruised as a result of receiving poor or no hoof care, she said.

“Hoof cracks, rings and bruising are signs of extreme stress on the animal,” she wrote in a subsequent e-mail.

She said Friday her new horses were very timid when she first brought them to her stable earlier in the week.

The animals would walk away from her when she approached them.

Fine Behind, a horse she said Paragallo bought as a weanling for $80,000, was missing hair from lice and rain rot. Lily of The Day would not raise her head.

“They were generally depressed,” she said.

But, she said, the horses were eager eaters.

“They just opened their mouths as wide as they could to bite the food,” she said.

Kayne will allow one of her new horses to go out into a field with two of her other eight horses so they can get some individual attention but still feel protected, she said.

“They come out with a real spring in their step,” she said, noting that Queen Burger has rebounded the quickest of the three.

Kayne, who has worked with Paragallo to breed horses, said Paragallo used to visit the farm frequently and she could not believe he had not visited his farm in months as he has claimed.

Kayne said the horses remaining at Center Brook Farm looked much better in late April than they did when the CGHS/SPCA first stepped in. The farm looked better, too, she said, adding that CGHS/SPCA staff had done a commendable job turning things around.

“It looks like a completely different place,” she said, “it is hard work to manage that many horses.”

Horse breeder charged with cruelty to animals
Ernie Paragallo, 51, faces a year in jail if convicted
The Daily Mail
April 11, 2009

Climax horse breeder Ernest Paragallo was formally arrested Friday afternoon by state police and charged with 22 counts of animal cruelty.

Paragallo, 51, was charged with torturing and injuring animals and failure to provide sustenance on his Center Brook Farm under state Agriculture and Markets law.

He faces up to one year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine for each count.

Paragallo was arraigned before Town of Coxsackie Justice Thomas Fori and ordered held in the Greene County Jail in lieu of $5,000 bail or $10,000 bond, state police said Friday.

Paragallo, the owner of 1996 Kentucky Derby favorite Unbridled Song, who finished fifth, was arrested after driving upstate from his Long Island home to be questioned by investigators about the malnourished horses found Wednesday.

State Racing and Wagering Board Chairman John D. Sabini said that his board has terminated Paragallo’s privilege to participate in thoroughbred racing in New York State.

“I stand committed to enforcing the rules of thoroughbred racing and ensuring that those involved in the sport do not jeopardize the health and welfare of the horses we rely on to compete in the races we regulate,” Sabini said.
Sabini said that Paragallo has agreed to give up his position as an authorized agent for the horse-breeding enterprise Paraneck Stable next week.

The New York Racing Association has barred Paraneck Stable from entering horses at NYRA’s three racetracks — Saratoga, Belmont and Aqueduct, where his daughters’ stable has 40 horses. The move prohibits Paragallo from the tracks’ backstretch and paddock, but not its grandstand or other areas open to patrons.

“We want to make sure that the interests of the betting public, fans of the sport and other involved parties are protected,” said Racing and Wagering Board spokesman Joe Mahoney.

Paragallo is licensed with the state Racing and Wagering Board as the authorized agent for Paraneck Stable, which he founded but later turned over to his daughters Jennifer and Kristen in 2005, when the state revoked his owner’s license for financial irresponsibility.

NYRA officials said no member of the Paragallo family or current Paraneck employee are allowed to operate the stable. The Paraneck horses currently stabled at Aqueduct’s barns will be allowed to remain at the track.

The Racing and Wagering Board has launched its own investigation into Paragallo. Mahoney said the board is looking into whether it appears Paragallo has been acting as the stable’s owner, despite having his owners license revoked four years ago.

Paragallo has agreed, at the board’s suggestion, to surrender his authorized agent’s license next week, Mahoney said.
State police and animal protection organizations seized the horses. Veterinarians examined the animals and found all of them to be in varying stages of malnutrition.

More than 60 of the 177 horses on the farm were transferred into the custody of the Columbia-Greene Humane Society/SPCA President Ron Perez said Friday evening.

“The SPCA will care for the other horses as well until the case is adjudicated,” Perez said.

He said that hay and food had arrived and that the horses had begun to eat. The farm lacked sufficient winter shelter, he said, adding that the horses were being properly rotated from shelter to field.

Perez said that in addition to being malnourished, many of the horses were infested with internal and external parasites, suffering from untreated lacerations, and in need of hoof care. He said broodmares were kept in stalls without proper bedding.

The horses will become available for adoption through the SPCA, he said.

“They’re on their way,” he said.

The SPCA, in conjunction with state police, executed a search warrant Wednesday on Paragallo’s 511-acre Center Brook Farm.

Equine veterinarians Dr. Jerry Bilinski of North Chatham and Dr. Danielle Sand of Rhinebeck examined the horses at the time and found them to be underweight and in need of medical attention.

“This is just a sad and unfortunate situation,” Coxsackie Town Supervisor Alex Betke said. “Hopefully the animals are really being taken care of now, and it sounds like they are.”

Unbridled Song won the 1995 Breeders Cup Juvenile, and in 1996 won the Florida Derby and the Wood Memorial to earn his status as Kentucky Derby favorite. Paragallo also owned Artax, the 1999 Eclipse winner as top sprinter.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.