SusanCampriello: My Works

When you’re hot, you’re hot…and when you’re not?
The Daily Mail
Dec. 31, 2008

GREENVILLE — Greenville was billed second on a list of New U.S. “Hot Spots” as part of a trend survey conducted by TripAdvisor.com, according to a press release distributed Tuesday.

The release, however, was inaccurate.

Chris Chavez, of James Korenchen Public Relations, who sent the media alert with the erroneous list, said Tuesday night that he was not sure how Greenville ended up in the release.

Staff at the company thought the choice of Greenville was strange after they learned how rural the town is, he said.

Chavez said that he checked the hot spot list after the discovery had been made.

“It wasn’t in the top when I went back and looked at the press release,” Chavez said.

Chavez guessed that a mistake could have been made after staff discussed green living as one of the year’s trends.

According to the TravelCast Top Ten U.S. Destinations for 2009 list released by TravelAdvisor.com in October, the top five hot spots are St. George, Utah; Englewood, Fla.; Keauhou, Hawaii; Mount Pocono, Pa.; and Haines, Alaska.

Some Greenville residents were amused by the mistake and said that they could not imagine their town as a destination place of national renown.

“It’s a very small, a very nice town,” Mark Wilcox, who owns the Napa Auto Parts in Greenville, said of his community.

Visitors who do come to Greenville could enjoy majestic views of the Catskill Mountains, he said.

Like Wilcox, Mary Boyle, of Greenville Booksmith, found out her town was on the list only after it had already been removed. She said that this week, a lot of businesses were closed for the holidays.

“We’d love to be the hot spot,” she said.

DEC nabs 2 Greene County men for hunting illegally
The Daily Mail
Dec. 30, 2008

Three men have been arrested after they were allegedly hunting illegally in Windham, according to a press release.

Nikolaos Karagiannis of Queens County and Peter Rallatos of Greene County were charged with possessing a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle after they were apprehended by Department of Environmental Conservation officers. John Maynard, also of Greene County, was charged with the same offense, but in a separate incident.

Karagiannis and Maynard were also charged with shooting from a highway.

All three men were arraigned in the Town of Windham Court and paid a total of $1,500 in fines, the release said.

DEC officers Sean Dewey and Walt Maloney, and Lt. Kevin Beiter, set up a robotic deer decoy in Windham after the department received complaints of people “road hunting” in the area, the release said.

“We catch about 10 to 15 people per year using the “robo-deer,” said department Region 4 press officer Rick Georgeson about the effectiveness of the as a decoy to trick people using illegal hunting practices.

Georgeson would not say where the decoy had been set up. Publicizing such information could hinder the effectiveness of setting the trap in the future, he said.

Department press officer Yancey Roy said that the decoys have been used for “at least 20 years.”

Athens artist Jim Cramer shifts from felines to bruins
The Daily Mail
Dec. 26, 2008

One of Jim Cramer’s earliest memories is of drawing on frost-covered windowpanes. This winter, Cramer has been drawing on a fiberglass bear, one of 30 that will be on display for this summer’s Bears and Butterflies project in Cairo. The bear, Aurora Bearealis, will be paraded around town. Then, interested parties will be able purchase to buy chances to win the bear.

Cramer was selected to paint the bear by the Bears and Butterflies Committee earlier this year.

Cramer, who has painted scenes of Greene County since he moved to the region in the early 1970s, took art lessons throughout his school years but did not consider himself a painter until he reached adulthood. As a young man, Cramer worked as a draftsman and in construction. In the late 1960s, he said, he got a feeling that he had to do something with his life that involved art. But, it was in the early 1980s when he started painting full-time.

“I’ve always been an artist,” he said.

Cramer primarily paints landscapes and flowers, but he said that he was not directly influenced by Impressionist artists. While he had always liked artwork by Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and Thomas Cole, Cramer said he did not realize that they painted plein air, or in open air, just as he did, until he had been painting that way for a long time.

Cramer cannot name one favorite place where he likes to set up his portable French easel, which combines a sketch box with a canvass carrier and an easel, but he has painted in gardens and orchards, along the mountain cloves and at Olana. Swampy areas and marshes, he said, are full of color and life.

He is working on Aurora Bearealis in the partially finished basement studio his house near Sleepy Hollow Lake, in Athens. The studio smells like the oil paints Cramer has squeezed onto a palette. The bear sits on the floor near large windows next to the easel. Photographs of various bears doing various bear activities sit on the easel. Cramer uses photographs from Art Wolfe’s book, “The Living Wild,” to capture the animals’ look, as well. Cramer’s bear has a lifelike brown face and black eyes.

“I’m trying to make him look like a real bear,” he said.

Cramer, along with his wife, Stancia, have seen some bears, including a mother bear with her two cubs, poking around their previous home near Potic Mountain.

“A bear actually is very dedicated to its family,” he said, “but you don’t mess with ’em.”
He has other photographs to help with the rest of the bear’s design, which will be unveiled at a Bears and Butterflies Committee reception on Jan. 11, where renderings of other artists’ ideas for Cairo’s sleuth of bears will be viewed.

Cramer has created three cats for the Cat’n Around Catskill fundraiser, which inspired Cairo’s Bears and Butterflies project. In 2007, he painted the cat called Old Kaatskillian, which won the People’s Choice Award, and Old Kaatskillian II in 2008. Both cats show scenes of Catskill and Catskill Creek on their chests, sides and backs.

Landscaper and Leeds resident David Brockway sponsored the Old Kaatskillian cats, whose faces were patterned after two of Brockway’s pet cats. The scenes painted on the statues’ bodies also have a special meaning to Brockway. Salisbury Manor, where Brockway had his first landscaping job, can been seen on Old Kaatskillian. McGoldrick’s Castle, displayed on Old Katskillian II, is being reconstructed by Brockway and some friends.

Brockway said he had admired Cramer’s landscapes for a long time and thought the cats would be a way to have a collection of Cramer’s artwork.

“‘I want you to be my artist,’” Brockway said he told Cramer.

Brockway owns the two cats, but shares them with residents of the houses they bear. He leaves them in each location for a few weeks before bringing them to the next home.
Although the cats together have cost him over $5,000, Brockway said that someone once offered him $10,000 for Old Kaatskillian.

Old Kaatskillian III is in the works for 2009, he said.

But before Cramer can begin another cat, he has Aurora Bearealis to complete. Cramer will incorporate a butterfly into the bear’s pattern to keep with the program’s theme, although he would not say how this would be done.

He said the ideas for the cats and the bear flowed as he painted.

“You try to make it work,” he said, “it’s like a puzzle.”

Cramer said that he felt very fortunate to be able to paint as he does. Greene County, he said, offers a variety of landscapes and historically significant sites. But his family has been a large factor in his career, he said. His sons, one who lives in Albany and the other, who last April returned from serving in Afghanistan, is at Fort Lewis, Wash., have supported him in his work. He is especially grateful for Stancia, he said, who has done everything from finding and printing the photographs that Cramer uses for inspiration to working hard as a registered nurse to allow him to paint.

“She’s always been there for me,” he said.

Although Cramer has had several gallery shows and exhibitions of his work, he has no plans to stop reading about and practicing new painting techniques.

“I’m still learning,” he said.

Dot Rosenthal, one of several people helping the the Cairo Chamber of Commerce coordinate the program, asked Cramer to create Aurora Bearealis. But Cramer has his own idea for painting another bear if the chance comes along, he said.

Calif. company acquires DynaBil for $46.5M
The Daily Mail
Dec. 24, 2008

COXSACKIE — Ducommun Inc. has acquired DynaBil Industries, Inc., Ducommun Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Joseph P. Bellino said in a press release Tuesday.

DynaBil was sold for approximately $46.5 million in cash and notes, but the final price is subject to adjustment based on a closing balance sheet, according to the release.

DynaBil has produced various aircraft parts for 30 years for clients such as Boeing, Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin. California-based Ducommun supplies aircraft components, as well, for commercial and military jets and helicopters.

“DynaBil is a great strategic fit for us, as it adds to our titanium and aluminum assembly capabilities as well as enhancing our manufacturing process in both metals,” Joseph C. Berenato, Ducommun chairman and chief executive officer, said in the release.

The company will become part of Ducommun AeroStructures, Inc., which is a subsidiary of Ducommun Inc.

Bellino said that DynaBil was looking for a purchaser, and seemed to suit the expansion needs of Ducommun.

“By buying the company, it gives us access to new customers and will increase brand recognition,” he said.

DynaBil has expanded its own business and workforce over the last few years, Bellino said, adding that its investments have been well-managed, which made acquiring the company a smart move.

Hugh J. Quigley, DynaBil co-managing director, said the transaction was exciting.

“It’s absolutely win-win,” he said.

Quigley said utilizing DynaBil, which he and co-managing director Michael Grosso founded in 1977, will help Ducommun grow, which in turn will help the Coxsackie facilities.

Bellino said that the planned expansion of DynaBil’s facility in the Greene Business and Technology Park will move forward, although the Coxsackie complex will be called Ducommun AeroStructures New York.

Alexander “Sandy” Mathes, executive director of the Greene County Industrial Development Agency, said DynaBil had kept the agency informed of its situation as the acquisition neared. He said the agency is comfortable with Ducommun coming to the area, and believe the company is committed to Greene County.

“We are eager to get to know our new neighbors,” he said.

Accident ties up Thruway
The Daily Mail
Dec. 23, 2008

CATSKILL — A five-vehicle accident Monday on the Thruway in Catskill exacerbated residual delays caused Sunday by a tractor-trailer accident, authorities said.

According to a Troop T police report, a delivery truck failed to stop in the heavy traffic at about 12:20 p.m. The truck struck two cars, one of which hit two more cars. The truck then rolled over, spilling paper goods it was carrying on the road. One car was pushed through the guardrail, according to authorities.

The driver of one car and her passenger were brought by ambulance to Columbia Memorial Hospital to be treated for abdominal and chest pains, the incident report said. Hospital staff could not comment Monday evening on whether they had been discharged.

A third victim was brought by medevac to Albany Medical Center, according to the report.

At least one northbound lane was closed until about 5 p.m., Baker said.

Rotary Club has fruitful 2008, looks toward 2009
The Daily Mail
Dec. 23, 2008

CAIRO — The Rotary Club of Cairo celebrated a successful year, the presence of district officials and the induction of two new members Saturday night at the Bavarian Manor, in Purling.

Guests included district general-elect, the assistant general and members of the Ostrander family, who were honored as the club’s persons/business of the year.

Club President Ted Banta announced that more than $1,000 was raised at a breakfast benefit for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The club was awarded a $500 grant from the Green County Legislature Youth Fund Grant Program this year, which helped Rotarians buy children’s Christmas gifts that were delivered to the Cairo Food Pantry.

Banta thanked everyone who had volunteered or contributed to the club’s events and operations this year.

“Look back on this year with great pride and look to a new, good year with 2009,” he said.

Two-thousand-and-nine will be a special year for David Green, district governor-elect, who also attended the party. Green, who has held many organizational offices since he became a Rotarian in 1997, will become the district governor in July.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to be able to serve in the capacity of district governor,” he said.

The district includes eight counties from Columbia and Greene counties south to Rockland County.

The effort to eradicate polio has special meaning for Green’s home club in New Windsor. One Rotarian there survived the disease, he said.

Polio, which, according to the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, was vanquished in the western hemisphere in 1991, is still a danger for people in Pakistan, India, Nigeria and Afghanistan. Rotary International has been committed to eradicate the disease since 1985.

Clubs in Columbia and Greene counties have recently supported other efforts as well, including funding cataract surgeries in India, bringing clean water to parts of Central America, Donna Bemiss, the district’s assistant governor said.

Rotarians and their spouses were treated to violin solos and a duet performed by Marla Bracco, of Albany, who teaches at the Woodland Hill Montessori School, and her fourth-grade student Sage Banta, president Banta’s daughter.

Dennis and Douglas Ostrander, and Ostrander Physical Therapy, were honored as Cairo Rotary’s persons/business of the year for their numerous donations to community events and organizations. The Ostranders have offices in Cairo and Windham.

Douglas Ostrander said that he and his wife, Patricia, have been involved with the club since the Cairo office opened, seven years ago.

The couple were inducted into the club later in the evening.

Club member Norman Mackey said after the party that other members were enthusiastic about giving the award to Ostrander Physical Therapy, although a few other businesses were nominated.

“The club has respect for them,” said.

Sruja Dave, a Rotary exchange student from Bharuch, India, also attended the party. Dave, who is interested in architecture, is an 11th-grade student at Cairo-Durham High School.

She was excited to see her first snowfall over the weekend, she said.

Accident, fire keep rescue workers busy
The Daily Mail
Dec. 21, 2008

CATSKILL — A tractor-trailer jackknifed on the Thruway near mile marker 111 Sunday afternoon causing the highway to close, according to authorities.

The driver swerved and crashed through a guardrail at about 3:10 p.m., State Trooper Robert Brown, who responded to the accident, said. The truck, which was carrying couches and chairs, dangled over the edge of the overpass, high above Cauterskill Creek, according to Brown.

The driver received minor injuries to his head and shoulder and was taken by ambulance to The Kingston Hospital, Brown explained.

The Thruway was closed for about 45 minutes, although the accident scene was still being cleared three hours later, he said.

Cauderskill Road, which runs beneath the Thruway overpass adjacent to the creek, was closed for about 30 minutes, Catskill Fire Chief Floyd Prince Jr. said.

A fire also broke out in Catskill Sunday, at 326 Main St., according to Prince. There were no injuries.

He said the fire started at about 9:30 a.m. and was contained to a child’s room.

Nine residents of the building spent Sunday night in an area hotel, a Red Cross spokeswoman said.

Cairo board members to pay 20% of own health coverage
The Daily Mail
Dec. 19, 2008

CAIRO — The Cairo Town Board has voted to contribute 20 percent of their health care coverage, closing a sometimes acrimonious two-year debate on the issue.

The resolution passed 4-1 in a roll-call vote.

“I have no problem paying for the 20 percent. I think it’s only fair,” Councilman Raymond Suttmeier said Thursday.

Suttmeier, who is in his fourth term on the town board, asked that the resolution, when it is written formally, state that the money for the insurance be deducted from the payrolls of the board members, judges and employees who have coverage through the town.

Councilman Richard Lorenz also supported the measure, although he voted against a similar resolution during the budgeting process this past fall, he said, in order to buy some time to look into different coverage plans and insurers before the year ended.

The board agreed that forming a committee to analyze different coverage options would benefit the town as well as insurance recipients, as a less expensive plan may exist. The committee would include the four council members and Town Supervisor John Coyne.

Coyne, who ran on a promise not to accept health insurance from the town, said that in the past, he had proposed that insurance recipients pay for 25 percent of their coverage; however, his proposal did not pass a board vote.

Another proposal, which would have insurance recipients pay for the entire cost of coverage, failed to be passed, as well, he said.

Councilwoman Janet Schwarzenegger, who asked for the vote, was accused of grandstanding because a proposal Lorenz put forth was tabled during a meeting last summer.

Schwarzenegger said she broached the subject, which was not on the meeting agenda, because unlike at other meetings, all council members were present at the meeting. She supported the measure because of how expensive health coverage has become in general.

“It’s really an advantage just to have access to insurance,” she said.

Councilwoman Alice Tunison voted against the motion, arguing that paying a set monetary value would make more sense than paying a percentage of the coverage costs.

The new payment rule will take effect in mid-February.

Resolution clears way for purchase of new snow truck
The Daily Mail
Dec. 18, 2008

Christmas came early this year for the Cairo Highway Department thanks to a resolution passed by Cairo Town Supervisor John Coyne and the town board at Wednesday night’s meeting.

The resolution grants approval for the department to replace a 1978 Oshkosh snow truck whose engine, department staff believe, might not make it through the winter.

Town Highway Superintendent Steven Rumph plans on adding a 2009 Paystar truck to his fleet next year.

Rumph approached the council, saying that the department as a budget of $38,000 for leasing the truck, and half of next year’s budget could be used as a down payment.
“The truck we are trying to replace will be 31 years old,” he said.

The department operates four other Oshkosh trucks, which were manufactured in 1985.
Rumph said that the scarcity and price of replacement parts for Oshkosh trucks make them less desirable than Paystar trucks.

Councilman Richard Lorenz supported Rumph’s request.

“It’s a necessity,” he said of the new truck.

Board members inquired as to whether the truck could be purchased outright, but Rumph said that doing so would be far too costly for the department. The base cost of a 2009 Paystar truck is $128,000, which does not include any special features.

The department is already facing an estimate of almost $65,000 for equipment costs, which includes plows.

Councilman Raymond Suttmeier asked the board to pass the resolution with a stipulation that it would include a financing plan, which will be written at a later date, and Coyne agreed that a plan or a time frame should be worked out.

Last week’s ice storm cost the department more than $20,000 in labor, fuel and de-icing agent costs. An 11-person crew worked around the clock from Thursday morning until Friday afternoon salting, sanding and plowing.

Rumph said that the team was already preparing for the storms forecast for Friday and Sunday.

Village board ponders new DPW quarters
The Daily Mail
Dec. 17, 2008

ATHENS — Mayor Andrea Smallwood, village trustees and engineering consultants discussed possible locations for a new Department of Public Works facility at the village’s board meeting last Wednesday night.

Fred Grober, a project manager with Delaware Engineering, P.C., explained some of the challenges and advantages of various sites aided by an aerial photograph of the 12.5-acre parcel between South Franklin Street and 3rd Street overlaid with flood zone and topographic and wetland demarcations. The map showed the four possible 30,000-square-foot facility locations, as well.

Grober said that cost estimates for the project could be assessed after a final site is chosen and will reflect the cost of any land grading or additional paving necessary to connect the building with the nearby road.

Grober said the building’s distance from existing sewer lines and utilities will play a part in the final cost, as well.

Smallwood said that the parcel’s hilly topography may play a role in the selection of the facility’s location, as trucks would need access to the building. The distance from the two streets nearby to the facility would also be a factor in the decision, she said.

“I’d kind of like to stay on the road,” she said.

Mary Beth Bianconi, also with the engineering firm, noted that the site contained wetlands, and was swampy in general, and certain portions may have drainage issues. She also said that the wetlands, which could be home to sensitive plant or animal species that may be important indicators or water or land health, may be protected by the government.

Smallwood said that she would like to visit the potential sites before the board chooses where the facility will be constructed. Once a final location is chosen, the facility’s design process could begin.