SusanCampriello: My Works

Tour of the Catskills a ‘climber’s race’
The Daily Mail
Sept. 21, 2009

One thousand bike racers and their friends and families visited the Mountaintop this weekend for the second Tour of the Catskills - a more than 100-mile, three-day race around Greene County’s peaks and valleys.

Event staff said 285 bikers participated, traveling from 15 states and four Canadian provinces to bike in the Tour’s two loops and time trial. Last year, 175 racers participated.

The Tour was sponsored by the Catskill Mountain Foundation along with the Hunter Chamber of Commerce and the Windham Chamber of Commerce.

Saturday’s Catskill Epic loop took racers from Windham to Prattsville, Durham and Acra and back to Windham. Sunday’s Mountaintop Classic loop wound through Hunter, Jewett, Windham, Acra, Round Top, Palenville, Tannersville and ended at the Catskill Mountain Foundation offices in Hunter. Professional racers followed slightly different and longer routes that included laps of parts of the main loops.

Tour winners would have spent about 5 hours on the road race staff estimated Sunday, before official results were calculated. The day’s leader in the professional category, Justin Lindine, completed the 75-mile Mountaintop Classic in just more than three hours. He was followed across the finish line by Andrew Guptill, Roger Aspholm, Peter Horn and Cameron Cogburn.

Racers were divided into nine separate age, gender and skill classifications, each with their own winners.

The men’s category three winner was Pavel Gonda of the Czech Republic, who rode for the Pacifico team. Gonda raced in Europe from 2002 until 2005 and picked up the sport again this year, he said.

Gonda arrived in the United States in August to begin studying law at New York University, in New York City.

Gonda said he beat the men’s category three second-place winner Jim Komarmi by 10 centimeters.

“I came here to be first,” the racer, who was places second after Friday’s time trial and third after Saturday’s Catskill Epic, said.

Gonda said both legs presented their own challenges — Saturday’s route scaled and declined several hills and Sunday’s featured a push up Route 32A and a sprint to the finish line.

“It is a very, very beautiful race,” he said.

Komarmi, who coaches Alpine skiing at the Green Mountain Valley School in Vermont, agreed that mountains defined the race.

“It’s definitely a climber’s race,” he said.

Komarmi, who rode for the American Flatbread team, explained that racing was as much about pacing and passing strategy as about speed.

“It’s very much a chess match on the road,” he said.

Komarmi and men’s category three third-place winner Michael Boardman agreed that although the terrain was challenging, the race did not draw a hugely competitive group of riders.

Boardman, of Rockstar Video Games’ team, said he expected that competition would grow as more bikers entered the race.

Catskill Mountain Foundation Executive Director Peter Barker said he expected that participation would increase due to the success of the first two races.

He said no major incidents or injuries were reported over the weekend and that all the racers seemed happy. Happy racers, he said, would return.

Barker said the weekend’s success was due to cooperation of local law enforcement, community members and volunteers who provided food and support to the racers.

“What makes this race so successful is the volunteer effort,” he said.

Book brought to life in musical, CD
The Daily Mail
Sept. 14, 2009

Author and artist Hudson Talbott called the transformation of his book, “River of Dreams,” to a musical and now a CD “a kind of a dream.”

The book, which features the Hudson River, and the musical, illustrate the history of what Talbott called “America’s first great super waterway” from its discovery by Europeans in 1609 to the more recent battles waged on pollution and polluters.

The musical version of the book was staged earlier this year. A CD of the original cast, comprised of students from the Cairo-Durham, Catskill and Coxsackie-Athens school districts was officially released Sunday at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site Cedar Grove, in Catskill.

“I’m so glad we all have the opportunity to bring these pieces together in this one wonderful place and share our heritage together,” Talbott said of the launch and accompanying concert of music from the CD’s setting.

The musical production, with music composed by Frank Cuthbert, was partially funded by money given to promote Hudson River history and culture during the Hudson-Champlain-Fulton Quadricentennial Celebration this year. Since the spring performance, the cast has traveled around the state to perform.

Casey Biggs, president of the Greene Arts Foundation and director and producer of the “River of Dreams” musical and CD, said the success of the show has given birth to a new collaboration with himself, Cuthbert, Talbott and the three schools on Talbott’s book, “O’Sullivan Stew.”

Biggs said he was happy with the CD.

“It captures the organic nature of what the show was,” he said.

Biggs said the production was also filmed and is being made into a documentary. The CD was recorded in the Catskill High School auditorium with professional equipment.

Talbott said performing the musical and launching the CD in a public venue brought the community together.

He said working on the musical and CD was also a lot of fun for the student performers.

Talbott said he, Biggs and Cuthbert collaborated well.

“The three of us — we don’t ever want to stop working together,” he said.

Lesson 1 for schools:
How to stop swine flu
District officials encourage students, teachers to use common-sense hygiene practices to curb spread of H1N1
The Daily Mail
Sept. 8, 2009
The Windham Journal
Sept. 10, 2009

CATSKILL — As schools reopen, area educators and administrators are readying their buildings for learning, playing and perhaps spreading germs like those that could spread the H1N1 flu virus.

School administrations in Greene County are encouraging students and teachers to use common sense hygienic practices and are stepping up cleaning regimens to keep their buildings and grounds clean.

Hand sanitizing products will be available to students in every district, and staff will meet with health care professionals to learn the best way to keep classroom areas clean and students healthy.

School administrators said they will also follow guidelines set forth by the State Education Department and State Department of Health and keep in touch with the County Department of Health.

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Overall, administrators said they would increase cleanings and reassess practices if students

“We are going to hope for the best and prepare for all the contingencies that we can,” Anne Rode, principal of the Windham-Ashland-Jewett Central School.

Each district has its own procedures in place.

Cairo-Durham Central School District

Ron Agostinoni, assistant principal of Cairo-Durham High School, said nurses will remind students the proper way to wash their hands and prevent the spread of germs.

Hand sanitizer dispensers, like the ones in elementary classrooms, have been installed in classrooms in the Middle School and High School building. Sanitizers will be available to students before lunch period, he said.

He said students and staff will be encouraged to stay home if they exhibit flu-like symptoms.

As with procedure set last spring, bus drivers sanitize buses before, after and between runs, he said.

Catskill

District Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Farrell said the daily cleaning routine will be enhanced with extra cleanings of commonly touched surfaces such as water fountains, keyboards and doorknobs. Cafeteria areas will also receive extra attention, she said.

Hand sanitizer dispensers will be installed in every classroom, school office and common area, she said.

Farrell said staff will use hand-washing solution that shows dirty spots missed to demonstrate how to properly wash hands.

Farrell said as per request of Greene County Public Health, parents would not be notified of every student who presented severe flu-like symptoms. That could change, Farrell said, if the number of students with those symptoms increases.

Coxsackie-Athens

Coxsackie-Athens Central School District Superintendent Dr. Earle Gregory said at a recent Board of Education meeting that school nurses would be vigilant and aware of any illnesses.

Students will be encouraged to encouraged to thoroughly sanitize their hands.

He said staff will follow protocols set forth by Greene County Public Health and the State Department of Health,including increased cleaning schedules, encouraging students and staff with flu-like symptoms to remain at home for 24 hours after the symptoms disappear, and encourage students not to cough or sneeze into their hands.

District schools would not be closed, he said, unless a large absentee rate was seen.

Greenville

Greenville Central School District Director of Curriculum and Communications Colleen Hall said teachers in her district had already completed a training course on showing students how to keep themselves healthy. Classrooms have been stocked with hand sanitizers, she said. Buildings and grounds crews will continue to keep the buildings clean.

Hall said parents would receive a letter that included information on when a child should be kept at home and information would be posted to the district’s Web site.

She said student health would be monitored so that the schools would know when students were kept home for flu-like symptoms or for other reasons so she schools have a sense of why a student might be absent. Additional building and bus cleanings could be added if needed, she said.

Hunter-Tannersville

Hunter-Tannersville Central School District Superintendent Patrick Darfler-Sweeney said his building is constantly being cleaned due to several varied construction projects at the school.

High School students will meet with nurses during gym period to review universal precautions. Elementary class teachers will underscore the same precautions, he said.

Darfler-Sweeney said parents would be sent guidelines on when to keep students out of school.

The district’s Web site will be updated with information as the year continues, he said.

Darfler-Sweeney said students will be provided with alcohol-free hand sanitizing products and parents will be encouraged to give their children alcohol-free products if they feel the need to give their children anything.

Windham-Ashland-Jewett

Anne Rode said teachers and staff will meet with staff from Greene County Public Health to discuss how to prevent germs from spreading in the school building and on buses. Bus drivers would have an additional training to revisit safety checks and additional cleanliness protocols.

The school has ordered bottles of hand sanitizers for distribution as well as dispensers for all classrooms, common areas and offices in the school building.

She said the school reminds students to wash their hands and be mindful that they will be around many other children every year.

Information regarding the district’s procedures and the virus will be posted on the district’s Web site, she said, adding that information will also be included in a parent newsletter.

School administrators said physical contact — hallway greetings or during athletic events and gym class — will not be prevented or banned.

As Hunter-Tannersville’s Superintendent Patrick Darfler-Sweeney said, common sense hygiene practices will prevail, echoing what other administrators said.

“If we do a really good job with that, we will take care of 99.9 percent of the other stuff,” he said.

Music, comedy make Blackthorne Celtic Festival a hit
Grace, Cooney are crowd-pleasers
The Daily Mail
Sept. 7, 2009

Irish music could be heard all over the Blackthorne Resort in East Durham this weekend, as dancers, singers and instrumentalists performed for hundreds this weekend at the resort’s first Celtic Festival.

“It has gone phenomenally,” Blackthorne co-owner Jennifer Handel said of the event Sunday afternoon.

She estimated that 1,000 people had come to the resort solely for the weekend of entertainment.

Among the musical acts were Derek Warfield and the Young Wolftones, the Amerscot Highland Pipe Band and harpists as well as students from the Michael Farrell’s School of Irish Stepdancing.

The festival was to be closed by a six-and-a-half-hour concert by Black 47, Derek Warfield and the Gobshites, ending at 4 a.m. Sunday.

Handel said her husband and resort co-owner Dale had worked especially hard to book Irish comedian Brendan Grace for a Sunday afternoon show. Grace was scheduled to perform again later Sunday in Ireland, she said. The artist was flown in and performed, then left and flew back into Ireland, she said.

The effort’s paid off; Grace’s act brought many fans to the festival.

Maureen Schultheis said she and her husband, Gunther, had come to the festival from Pittsfield, Mass. to see Grace and famed singer Andy Cooney share the stage.

“They were great,” the Irish-born Schultheis said.

The couple came to the area just for the day but were sure to arrive in time for what Schultheis called a “wonderful” 10 a.m. Sunday Mass.

Leo Dolphin, of Glendale, N.Y., called seeing Grace and Cooney “fantastic.”

Dolphin, who’s parents came from Sligo, Ireland, said he and his wife, Irene and their son were visiting nearby Cairo for the weekend and had also enjoyed a trip to Windham during their stay.

Jennifer Handel said she and her husband decided to hold the festival at their Irish-themed resort on Labor Day as a way to bring visitors to the area in early September. She said many festival-goers were staying in several different motels, guest houses and resorts in the area. Cars filled the resort parking area and were parked along both sides on Sunside Road.

Handel wasted no time is saying whether the festival would return next Labor Day weekend.

“Absolutely,” she said.

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.

Catskills get rich flavor of bluegrass
Tent city springs up on opening day of Grey Fox Festival
The Daily Mail
July 17, 2009

OAK HILL — Thousands of bluegrass musicians and their fans turned the Walsh Farm in Oak Hil, into a sprawling tent city buzzing with excitement and the sounds of music for the opening of the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival Thursday.

Festival-goers tested guitars, mandolins, violins and harmonicas that were offered for sale. They learned to dance, heard stories and listened to bluegrass masters perform a range of bluegrass music from traditional Appalachian songs to Cajun pieces.

Ross Leazenby, an International Bluegrass Music Museum trustee, said each instrumentalist and singer at the festival is at the top of their craft.

“You will see people who have slept with their instruments and they know every squeak that can come out of them,” he said.

He said the festival has become one of the best events in the world of bluegrass music because of the wide variety of groups invited to play.

“The people in the Northeast are getting a real flavor here,” he said.

Leazenby is also at the festival to promote the museum, which is located in Owensboro, Ky., and its video oral history project.

One-hundred and sixty-five first-generation bluegrass musicians have told their personal histories and shared their memories with an interviewer of their choice, all recorded for the museum archive.

Leazenby said museum directors want to collect as many narratives as possible so new generations of musicians and fans can hear about bluegrass music directly from the pioneers who wrote, played and popularized it.

He said the museum is raising money to hire people to edit the interview tapes, which can seem like an endless task.

“Sometimes we are looking for a half-hour and it takes four of interview,” he said.

Leazenby said he has seen a lot of interest in the project at various bluegrass festivals this year. Ten percent of people who bought tickets online had donated $1 to the “Bucks for Bluegrass” editing fund.

And, he said, the crowds at the festival showed that bluegrass music is supported by the community in and around Oak Hill.

Leazenby and Kitsy Kuykendall, museum Board of Trustees vice chairwoman and wife of famed banjo player and Bluegrass Hall Of Fame member Pete Kuykendall, agreed that with legendary musicians including Ricky Skaggs, Pete “Dr. Banjo” Wernick and Del McCoury sharing the festival’s five stages and tents with newer acts such as King Wilkie, Red Hot Black Top and The Boston Boys, the festival has something for every bluegrass fan to enjoy.

Kuykendall said she was “crazy” about McCoury, who is celebrating his 50th anniversary in the industry with a performance Friday evening, but, she said, she was looking forward to hearing singer-songwriters Sarah Jarosz and Sierra Hull live for the first time.

She said festival Producer and museum Board of Trustees Chairwoman Mary Doub had done a good job of reaching out to musicians who have performed at other festivals such as The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, held annually in Tennessee, to expand the festival’s lineup.

She said that although Grey Fox was only being hosed by the Walsh Farm for the second year, the new location was starting to feel like home for a lot of the musicians.

Kuykendall said the activities offered at Grey Fox were designed to appeal to a wide audience with dance and yoga instructions and even bluegrass karaoke.

“It is like a full-experience festival,” she said.

She said that the museum and the festival demonstrate the evolution of bluegrass music.

“We celebrate the past, the present and the future of bluegrass,” she said.

One vendor, mandolin player Tim Finch of Eastman Strings explained the different sound quality between new and old mandolins and violins.

Mandolins made during the 1930s and 1940s were made with naturally aged wood that vibrated as the instruments’ strings were picked, plucked or strummed for a bright sound.

Finch said instruments made with plywood do not produce the same sound as instruments made with wood such as spruce and maple.

Wood for newer instruments is aged artificially in temperature- and moisture-controlled facilities, he said, adding that woods for the instruments require perfect humidity, “so the trees don’t even know they’re dead yet.”

A few yards down the grass aisle from Finch, new and old fiddle music meshed during a master class taught by six fiddlers from various groups.

The group played several tunes, passing the melody lines from player to player.

Brittany Haas of the group Crooked Still demonstrated how a bluegrass fiddler used the bottom of her bow, near where she held it, to make the strings vibrate.

Megan Lynch, who is a co-instructor of the festival’s Bluegrass Academy, explained that this style differed from the Scottish fiddle style, in which music is played by the tip of the bow.

Nate Leath explained to an audience of adults and children, fiddle-players and newcomers to bluegrass music that his group, The Boston Boys, try to incorporate the style of old-time Appalachian music with bands they enjoy, including The Band and Radiohead.

“We are trying to blend something that is original and mix that in,” he said.

Toward late afternoon, festival Assistant Director and Public Relations Manager Mary Burdette estimated that 3,000 music lovers had arrived to camp over the last few days and more would arrive as the four-day festival continued. As she spoke, a line of cars made its way slowly into a mostly-filled field designated for parking.

She said the festival incorporates up-and-coming and hot new groups into the fold of bluegrass legends because young players continually develop new styles of bluegrass.

“With every generation the music expands and grows a whole new arm,” she said.

Cairo-Durham grads: Live in the moment
The Daily Mail
June 28, 2009, online
June 30, 2009, in print

Parents and friends of the 136 graduating seniors of the Cairo-Durham High School Class of 2009 gathered Saturday afternoon to witness the culmination of the students’ high school careers.

At the beginning of the ceremony in the auditorium, Principal Anthony Taibi announced that 87 percent of the class would start college programs or enter the military service later this year. He told an applauding audience his students had earned 100 scholarships for a total of $40,000 donated by various community organizations.

He said each graduate had in his or her mind a “headline” for the many special moments that made up their high school careers, including team victories, personal achievements and their graduation day.

He asked the graduates not to stop learning and to set goals for themselves.
“You are in control of writing your next headlines,” he said.

Salutatorian Jessa Suhner equated the feeling she and her classmates had on stage to how they felt walking into school on their first days of kindergarten.

They were, and are, excited, fearful and curious, she said.

The Class of 2009 came together, she said, when, as fifth graders, students from Cairo Elementary School met students from Durham Elementary School.

Suhner said she felt protected while in school from the violence of the outside world. Rap star Tupac was killed at the start of their kindergarten year and the events of 9/11 rocked the country just as fifth grade began, she said. But now, as graduates, she and her classmates had to start caring about world events that will affect their lives.

“We are adults,” Suhner said.

Valedictorian Amanda Chan asked her classmates not to forget that life after high school holds a vast sea of opportunities.

“Nothing can, and nothing will, defeat the determination and courage,” she said. “The only person who can stop you from fulfilling your dreams is you.”

Cairo-Durham alumnus and Albany Medical Center cardiologist Dr. Jeffrey Uzzilia told the graduates that they should be proud of attending their small school.

Uzzilia told the graduates to always use common sense and to think before they act, and reminded them to keep a sort of balance with their lives.

Cairo-Durham Superintendent Sally Sharkey reminded the graduates that the ceremony marked a new beginning of their lives.

She told the graduates not to be content with the bare minimum, not to wait for things to happen and not to wish their time away.

“Enjoy now,” Sharkey said. “Always challenge yourself and your abilities.”

The senior chorus performed a song from the musical “Wicked,” for their classmates and teachers, singing “because I know you I have been changed for good.”

Remembering the flag and what it symbolizes
The Daily Mail
June 15, 2009, online

DURHAM - Members of two Greene County Elk Lodges, scout troops and veterans, as well as servicemen and servicewomen gathered Sunday in Durham to celebrate Flag Day.

Exalted Ruler Barbara Squires of Cairo-Durham Lodge 2630, Maggie Good, exalted ruler of Catskill Lodge 2630, and their lodge officers guided the audience through the history of the American Flag from the Pine Tree Flag, used during the time of the American Revolution, to the current flag, bearing 13 stripes and 50 stars, representing every stage of nationhood from the Thirteen Colonies to a country of 50 states.

“The evolution of the American Flag marks the progression of the American government,” Trustee and past Exalted Ruler George Olsen, of the Cairo-Durham Lodge, said.

He was assisted by members of Boy Scout Troop 43, who paraded each flag before the audience.

After the history was completed, members of the American Legion fired a salute and a trumpeter sounded “Taps,” while the Greene County Marine Corps League stood by. Members of the Civil Air Patrol served as color guard as well.

Greene County Sheriff Greg Seeley gave a response to the parade of flags, saying he does not know why the flag is less visible today than it was in the months after Sept. 11.

But now, he said, it seems to be Elks, veterans and their families who celebrate Flag Day and who know the meaning behind the flag’s colors.

“Let us realize that the meaning today is the same as it was on Sept. 11, 2001 just the same as it was July 4, 1776,” he said.

In his address, State Assemblyman Pete Lopez, R,C,I-Schoharie, said that the evolution of the flag represented the progression of American culture as well as American government.

He said the flag continues to be tested but that the ideals it symbolizes still exist.

“The United States is still the land of the free and the home of the brave,” he said.

He said the flag is still a symbol of freedom across the world and a symbol of unity in the face of aggression. It is an expression of respect for fallen soldiers and of comfort to mourning families.

“Our flag, flying proudly,” he said, “[shows that] as Americans, we have the ability to overcome great challenge and great adversity.”

During the ceremony, the lodge recognized Hanna Verhoeven, Rebecca Scahill and Alison Schlobhon, who won scholarships through the Elks National Foundation.

Last month, the Lodge donated materials for Bingo night to Catskill Lodge 1341, after that lodge building was damaged in a fire.

The Catskill Lodge Flag Day ceremony Sunday afternoon also featured a parade of historic flags, the playing of “taps” and comments from Lopez.

Members of Cub Scout Pack 44 Den 2 and Den 4 served as color guard during the ceremony. They displayed the country’s flags, as well as a Prisoners of War/Missing in Action flag, which calls to mind the service of soldiers who remain unaccounted for or who might still be held as prisoners by their enemies.

David Schermerhorn gave a response to the display, saying that the flag must be won and re-won by every generation until the end of time.

“The price of liberty is eternal vigilance,” he said.

He named the numerous battles and conflicts in which servicemen and servicewomen engaged and recalled images of the flag being flown over the ruins of the World Trade Center, draped over the Pentagon and being raised near the Pennsylvania crash site of Flight 93.

He said the flag still flies as a tribute to members of the armed forces, but also to law enforcement officers and firefighters, who serve their communities, as well.

Before the ceremony, the scouts said they had spent time getting to know about the flags they would bear.

Although they could not agree on their favorite flag that has represented the United States during its more than 230-year life, they said they learning the history of each flag was important.

“It helps us respect our country,” scout Michael Sandor, said.

Healthcare giant buys Stiefel Co.
GlaxoSmithKline pays $3.6 billion for maker of skin care products
The Daily Mail
April 21, 2009

DURHAM — Stiefel Laboratories Inc., which operates a facility in Oak Hill, was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline Plc for up to $3.6 billion the companies announced Monday.

Under the terms of the agreement, a new business, combining the British pharmaceutical and health care company and the Florida-based dermatology company, headed by Charles W. Stiefel, chief executive officer of Stiefel Laboratories Inc., will be created under the Stiefel name.

“The combination of Stiefel and GlaxoSmithKline will create a leading company in global dermatology with a strong presence in the prescription, consumer and aesthetic skin health markets,” Stiefel said in a press release.

Stiefel added that he will remain CEO and chairman of the board until the acquisition is complete and will lead the new business thereafter.

GlaxoSmithKline will buy Stiefel for $2.9 billion and will assume $4 million of net debt. GlaxoSmithKline may also receive $3 million in cash based upon the performance of the new company.

Stiefel stockholders approved the acquisition, which will close during the third quarter of this year.

Stiefel reported sales of $900 million in 2008. Sales of GlaxoSmithKline’s prescription dermatology products during that time were reported as about $550 million.

“The addition of Stiefel’s broad portfolio will provide immediate new revenue flows to GlaxoSmithKline with significant opportunities to enhance growth through leveraging our existing global commercial infrastructure and manufacturing capability,” Andrew Witty, chief executive officer of GlaxoSmithKline said in the release.

There was no immediate word as to how the sale would affect the 270 Stiefel employees of the Oak Hill facility, which opened in 1945.

“Cost synergies for the new business will come from combining manufacturing and administrative functions,” GlaxoSmithKline spokeswoman Sarah Alspach said.

She said the company was organizing an integration team to work out specific plans for combining the two businesses.

Stiefel Laboratories Inc., which is known for its anti-itch creams, acne treatments among other over-the-counter dermatology products, was founded in Germany in 1847.

As early as last month, the Blackstone Group, a publicly traded investment firm and partial-owner of the company, was reportedly authorized to look for offers to buy.

At the time, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis AG and GlaxoSmithKline, were rumored to be interested in purchasing the company, although as recently as the end of last month, Stiefel’s representatives said that the company has not decided to sell and has not received any offers.

In 1999, the Oak Hill production area was increased by 80,000 square feet, the warehouse was enlarged by 25,000 square feet, and 100 jobs were created.

More than 50 employees were laid off from the facility in 2007.

Stiefel employs approximately 3,000 people around the world and operates facilities in Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Pakistan, Singapore and in the United States in California, Florida, Georgia and Maryland as well as in Oak Hill.

Personnel at the Oak Hill facility were not immediately available for comment.

Cairo-Durham band taking New York 20th time
The Daily Mail
Mar. 13, 2009

CAIRO — Eighty students from Cairo-Durham Middle and High schools will march in step Tuesday morning in their 20th consecutive St. Patrick’s Day Parade up Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

Band director David Spring said in a press release that being involved with the parade is an honor.

“It’s great for our students and our community to be recognized on a national stage,” he said.

The marching Mustangs will play a mix of Irish and rock tunes, including “Irish Spectacular,” “The Final Countdown” and “Enter Sandman.”

They will wear new navy and white uniforms and will follow a banner bearing the district’s name.

The band made its first appearance in the famed parade in 1991.

Cairo-Durham School Superintendent Sally Sharkey said that the band has always performed well at other, more local parades on other holidays and scores well at State music competitions.

Sharkey said that Jim Lombard, who lives in Greenville and in New York City, applied to the parade committee on behalf of the band

“The kudos go to Jim,” she said.

She thanked Jim, his wife Rosemary, who are involved with the United Irish Counties Association, which helps run the parade, and Bernie and Theresa Patterson for their constant support of the school.

She said that rural schools are not well represented at the parade.

The band usually starts driling for the parade about two weeks before the step-off, she said.

The students will also play in a St. Patrick’s Day parade in Greenville, on Saturday, March 21.