SusanCampriello: My Works

Catskill Elks Lodge damaged by fire
The Daily Mail
May 31, 2009, online

CATSKILL — More than 80 firefighters were called Saturday morning to battle a blaze at the Catskill Elks Lodge, at 45 North Jefferson Ave., in Jefferson Heights.

Fire companies from Catskill, Leeds, Athens and West Athens-Limestreet responded to the call, according to fire officials and eyewitnesses.

Hudson provided a Fire Assistance and Rescue Team and the Kiskatom company was placed on stand-by, Catskill Fire Department First Assistant Chief Jon Dees said.

Dees said that when he arrived on the scene shortly before 5:30 a.m., he saw “a lot of black smoke” coming from the building.

He said that although the fire had been concentrated in the building’s kitchen, it was able to spread through an attic-like space to a main room.

He said the interior of the lodge had suffered “a lot” of damage and the building had been condemned by Catskill Town Building Inspector.

By 8:30 a.m., the fire had been put out, Dees said, adding that firefighters were still at the scene in case any hot spots flared up.

The Greene County Fire Investigation Team was investigating the cause of the fire, Dees said.

Members of the Elks club were also present, gathering by the club’s main entrance off Route 23.

According to Elk club member Adrian Forster, the fire was first noticed at about 5 a.m. by a woman driving on Route 23 who called the fire dispatcher.

Catskill firefighters arrived around 5:25 a.m., followed soon after by teams from Athens, West Athens and Hudson, he said.

He said he was impressed by the firefighters’ quick response.

“I thought it was a drill,” club member Adrian Forster, who lives on North Jefferson Avenue, said about seeing fire trucks pass his house.

Elks Trustee Don Holden said that the fire had been mainly in the kitchen and the banquet hall but that the whole building, which was used for club events and could be rented out for parties, suffered damage.

Holden said a baby shower, scheduled for Saturday afternoon, would have to be relocated.

Later that afternoon, Holden said the building was unusable.

Forster said that the loss of the building was a blow to the Catskill community.

Even though the damage was largely smoke and water related, Forster said it could be at least a year before the building could be used again.

“Thank God someone called in because we would have lost the whole building,” he said.

Couple renews wedding vows on baseball field
The Daily Mail
May 31, 2009

Douglas Holden and Laurie Williams met under the bleachers at Ricky Cramer Memorial Field, in Jefferson Heights, during a rainstorm 28 years ago.

He was a 15-year-old Babe Ruth baseball player watching a tournament game. She was the 16-year-old daughter of the manager of the opposing Rotterdam team. Three years later, they were married.

On Saturday, the couple celebrated their 25th anniversary by renewing their vows on home plate at field, in front of four generations of their families and many friends.

The couple’s children, Matthew and Brittaney, officiated the ceremony.

“Thank goodness for rain and no shelter,” both husband and wife said, repeating their family’s saying, during their vows.

In their vows, the couple evoked memories of good times and bad times causing their friends and family to laugh and, at times, shed a few tears.

Douglas Holden said that his love for his wife had never faltered. He thanked her for her love of their family, her honesty and her confidence in him, as well as for teaching him how to drive stick shift and cheering him on at baseball and basketball games.

“I am extremely proud to be your husband,” he said. “I vow to enjoy the rest of my life with you.”

Laurie Holden recounted the day of Douglas’ heart operation in February 2004.

Since that day she has taken nothing for granted, she said, vowing to appreciate the gift the family has been given and the extra years that they will have together.

“We live differently now and we love differently now,” she said. “Simply put, I promise to love you forever.”

Laurie, a nurse who runs a day care center, and Douglas, who has served in the Air Force and is in the Air National Guard, live in Laurie’s childhood house in Rotterdam.

Douglas recalled that Laurie was sitting against the dugout at the field and he was seated on a nearby bench when what their son Matthew called “the most important and timely rain of their lives” began, and the couple met.

The couple’s parents remember that Laurie and Douglas would take turns visiting each other in Rotterdam or at his his home, in South Cairo, while they were dating.

The couple’s children thought of the idea to hold the ceremony at the field and the family had a hard time keeping the location of the ceremony a secret, Douglas’ mother, Barbara Holden, said.

The vows took place under a blue sky and a white trellis decorated with flowers, vines and baseball balloons that Douglas’ father, Don Holden, had rescued from a fire Saturday morning in the Catskill Elks club lodge.

Matthew Holden welcomed guests to the ceremony which he said was to “celebrate two kids in love at the ballpark, more so today than ever.”

Volunteers honored at Columbia Memorial Hospital gala
The Daily Mail
May 31, 2009, online

CATSKILL — In the past, a donor to the Columbia-Greene Hospital Foundation has been honored at the Annual Columbia Memorial Hospital Ball. However, this year, the hospital lauded the hard work of volunteers who have raised money for the foundation and have made the hospital a more welcoming place for patients and their families.

Forty-two volunteers, whose tickets were paid for by sponsors, attended the ball, the foundation’s largest fund raising event, held Saturday evening at Catskill Point.

Columbia Memorial Hospital President and Chief Executive Officer Jane Ehrlich said she expected $300,000 to be raised at the ball through tickets and the silent auction, which featured items including dinners and golf rounds.

But, she said, the ball was not only about raising funds for the foundation.

“We are excited to be here tonight to honor our volunteers,” she said.

She said the work of volunteers who did everything from visiting patients through the Hospice program to selling home-knit goods to working in the Second Show and donations made by medical staff had been instrumental to the foundation’s successes this year.

Ehrlich said that medical staff had taken the initiative to make donations to the foundation at a time when many large donors scaled bake their contributions.

In all, donations from medical staff totaled roughly $75,000, she said.

Patti Matheney Schrom, chairwoman of the foundation’s Board of Directors, said the foundation board was grateful to the medical staff for their contributions.

“We do have something to celebrate,” she said.

Rosemary Machin, the president of the Columbia Memorial Hospital Auxiliary, said her volunteers had done a wonderful job over the last year selling crafts and flowers and holding other fundraisers.

The Auxiliary was able to donate more than $45,000 to the hospital to help fund an intensive care renovation project and to purchase much-needed fetal monitors and other equipment.

Dr. Norman Chapin, hospital medical director, thanked the 131 active members of the Auxiliary for making items for patients, for newborns and for fundraisers, though which they have been able to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars. Auxilians also raise money for nursing scholarships, he said.

“Our patients really benefit from all their efforts,” he said.

Chapin thanked the many Hospice volunteers who provide support to patients facing long illnesses and their families.

He read from a letter written by a mother who lost a daughter to cancer. The mother thanked the hospital for making her daughter’s final days comfortable. Staff knew that the young girl had wanted to be a ballerina and had held her while she danced around the room.

“The care and and love she received at Columbia Memorial will never be forgotten,” the letter read.

Chapin said that volunteers use animals and music to help some patients recuperate from surgery or illness.

He also thanked the volunteers who work at the Second Show, a not-for-profit thrift shop on Warren Street in Hudson whose proceeds go to the hospital foundation.

The shop has been able to donate $800,000 during the last 15 years, he said.

“We have in our own backyard a very, very successful way of supporting very, very important missions within our own community,” he said.

The ball was organized by foundation Director of Operations and Special Events Gina Orlando and Barbara S. Johnson, foundation assistant.

Music was provided by the Children’s Peace Project, a group based in Chatham that raises money through CD sales and donations to help children who have been affected by war, and the Big Smoothies.

Making sure the bombs burst in air
Community steps up to support July 4th fireworks show
The Daily Mail
May 28, 2009

CAIRO — Nearly two dozen residents and businesses in the Town of Cairo have promised to donate a total of $2,425 toward financing a fireworks display this Fourth of July.

The donations will supplement town fireworks funds.

Cairoites began offering money to subsidize the show after Supervisor John Coyne stated his concern at a Town Board workshop meeting May 7 that the Town could not pay $4,000 to Misbehaven Fireworks for an 18- to 20- minute fireworks display.

A cheaper option would be a $3,000, 12- to -14-minute display, Coyne said.

“I feel that we have no choice but to go with $3,000 because the way everything is. We cannot afford [that],” he said.

He said he would forgo having fireworks if it meant having more money to spend of other projects such as crosswalk painting and maintenance.

“We really need to look at this,” he said.

Councilwoman Janet Schwarzenegger said that a 13-minute display sounded short and that the fireworks might cheer up people who may have recently lost their jobs or are facing other economic hardships.

“It is even more important to have something that can bring enjoyment to a degree,” she said.

Councilman Raymond Suttemeier suggested that the Cairo Chamber of Commerce might be interested in contributing money to help defray the cost.

From the audience, Ellsworth “Unk” Slater offered to donate $1,000 toward funding this fireworks.

“I think it is important to have good fireworks,” he said.

At the time, Town Supervisor John Coyne said he would ask other businesses and community organizations if they would like to donate money as well.

Coyne said later that week that the outpouring of support was “amazing.”

The Town Board offered a chance for anyone to donate money during the public comment period of the next regular Town Board meeting, on May 20. Several Town residents present at the standing-room-only meeting offered to contribute between $25 and $500.

Lee Miller was the first resident to offer a donation. The audience applauded Miller and continued to applaud after each subsequent offer was made.

County legislators William Lawrence, R-Cairo, and Harry Lennon, D-Cairo, offered to contribute, as did Coyne, Schwarzenneger, Councilwoman Alice Tunison, Suttmeier and Councilman Richard Lorenz. Lorenz offered a donation of behalf of his son, Jim.

Highway Superintendent Steven Rumph and Town Clerk Tara Rumph, Town Attorney Tal Rappleyea and Cairo Police Department Chief Chris Sprague and Building Inspector Stacey Sprague also offered donations. Peter Maassman, of Blackhead Mountain Lodge and Country Club, and representatives of engineering firm Delaware Engineering, said their businesses could donate money to the fund.

The list of contributors also included Bill Hummel, Daroll Hutson, Colleen Ray, George Morrison, Marcia Fabino and Tony Puorro.

Puorro’s donation could not be accepted due to a conflict of interest. He was named to the Town Planning Board later that evening.

The Town Board also did not accept Slater’s offer.

Coyne said he appreciated Slater’s offer but due to ongoing litigation between the Town and Slater, accepting a contribution would be inappropriate.

Coyne garnered laughter from the audience when he suggested that enough money could be raised for a multi-hour fireworks display. He said afterward that he would speak to the fireworks company about purchasing an 18- to 20-minute display but did not rule out inquiring about longer shows.

Coyne said he was grateful for everyone’s generosity.

“This has never been done before but it is Cairo, and there is a first for everything,” Coyne said of the donations.

At the close of the May 20 meeting’s public comment period, Coyne and the Board thanked everyone for their donations.

“In these hard economic times we will not have to cut back on a Fourth of July celebration, we will have a better one than in the past,” Lorenz said.

After the meeting, Slater said he understood the Board’s decision not to accept his contribution offer.

“I just did not want to see them cut back,” he said.

Dozens battle fire at Hunter health resort
Quick response credited with saving Mountain Valley facility
The Daily Mail
May 27, 2009

HUNTER — Dozens of volunteers battled a fire Tuesday afternoon at the Mountain Valley Health Resort at 48 Clover Road in Hunter.

Firefighters from companies in the Village of Hunter, Haines Falls, Hensonville, Lanesville and Tannersville responded to the emergency, according to Hunter Fire Company Chief John LaVeglia.

The fire, which had been contained to the second and third floors where the massage and sauna rooms are located, broke out around 2 p.m. and took roughly two hours to bring under control.

No firefighters or building occupants were injured in the blaze, LaVeglia said.

LaVeglia said the most challenging aspect of fighting the fire came in extinguishing flames in a crawlspace between the third floor and the roof.

He said his team used the company’s newly acquired ladder truck to reach the crawlspace and the roof.

Without the truck, the team would have had to prop ladders against the building’s side and firefighters would have had to walk on the building’s roof, he said.

This would have been dangerous because the building’s roof could have collapsed during the blaze, LaVeglia said.

“If we did not have the truck we probably would not have been able to ventilate as well,” he said.

LaVeglia said the second and third floors of the roughly 60-year-old wooden structure had sustained smoke, water and fire damage.

The team monitored the structure throughout the evening and into the night watching for hotspots, like one that flared up shortly before 6 p.m.

The Greene County Cause and Origin team arrived in the evening to begin its investigation into how the fire started, LaVeglia said Tuesday night.

Resort Chief Financial Officer Michael Feldman said he thought the fire had been caused by an electrical problem.

“I heard something pop,” Feldman said of the first indication that something might be wrong in the building.

Feldman said he went to check the circuit box and staff in the resort reported seeing flames coming through the floor below. Smoke came from the switchbox, he said.

Feldman said he discharged a fire extinguisher in an effort to quell the flames before leaving the building.

The second floor had recently been redone, Feldman said, adding that that he was just glad there were no injuries.

He said firefighters had told him that the first floor, which contains the resort’s kitchen and dining facilities, suffered water damage. But, Feldman said, he and the staff hope to reopen the resort as quickly as possible after those facilities could be relocated.

Resort manager Melissa Fiducia said Hunter Fire second assistant chief Gary Goodrich had worked to ensure that items had been removed from the building to prevent their damage.

“He was very sympathetic to our personal belongings,” she said.

She said she was grateful to all the firefighters and Tannersville Rescue Squad and Hunter Ambulance teams, which also responded to the call, as well as to Ronnie MacGregor, of MacGregor’s Pub, who provided food for the volunteers.

Catskill honors soldiers
The Daily Mail
May 25, 2009, online

CATSKILL - Military servicemen and women who have given their lives were honored in Catskill Sunday with a parade up Main Street and a ceremony in front of the Greene County Office Building.

Members of the Catskill Fire Department and fire and hose companies from Leeds, Kiskatom and Palenville marched along with religious groups and civil organizations under a threatening gray sky from Catskill High School across the Uncle Sam Bridge and onto Main Street.

Pipe Major John Gallagher and his Greene County pipe band, members of the Catskill High School band and the Catskill Community Center Continental Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps provided music to spectators along the parade route.

The parade also featured a float depicting a field of white crosses and the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.

During the memorial ceremony after the parade, Commanding Sgt. Major Martin Wells of the Military Academy at West Point addressed the audience, saying that military servicemen and servicewomen come from every Catskill across the United States.

He asked the audience to remember to thank those individuals who have selflessly served the country and asked the audience to reflect on the many trials and tribulations the American flag has seen.

“We are not a perfect nation,” he said, “but there is no place like the United States of America.”

The flag was born on June 14, 1777, he said, weathered the winter at Valley Forge, P.A. and was present at the Battle of Yorktown at the end of the American Revolution.

The flag survived the Civil War and flew throughout the costly World War I and World War II and battles in Korea.

The flag was burned by Americans protesting fighting in Vietnam, Wells said.

“But, I persevered, I stood strong and went on to stand as a symbol of strength and freedom for people in foreign lands and here,” Wells said, speaking as the flag.

The flag has flown in combat zones such as Granada, Panama and Kuwait, he said, and more recently in Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

And, Wells said, the flag was lifted from the rubble of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.

Brave patriots who have served in the American armed forces defending freedom and democracy have helped the flag survive more than two centuries of conflicts, he said.

More than 2.7 million Americans have lost their lives defending the principles and freedoms upon which the country had been founded, he said.

“I have had a lot of friends along the way who paid the ultimate price and given of themselves just so I can live and stand as a symbol for the rest of the world,” Wells said, speaking as the flag. “And for that, I am eternally grateful.”

The ceremony also features prayers spoken by Fred Van Loan as well as patriotic poems read by Catskill Central School District Superintendent Kathleen Farrell and Greene County Legislator Ray Brooks (R-Athens).

Brooks also led members of Athens American Legion T.G.M. Post 187 who stood as an honor guard throughout the parade and ceremony.

The event was organized by a committee led by Catskill Fire Department’s Harold Rivenburgh. Catskill Village President Vincent Seeley served as master of ceremonies. Peter Margolius served as the parade’s Grand Marshall, with Robert Heisinger as Honorary Grand Marshall.

Other dignitaries in attendance included Catskill village and town officials, county legislators representing Catskill and state Assemblyman Peter Lopez (R-Schoharie).

The ceremony concluded as light rain began to fall with the firing of Catskill’s cannon and the playing of taps by a lone trumpeter.

Town votes to appeal Wave Farm ruling
The Daily Mail
May 25, 2009, online

CAIRO - The Cairo Town Board voted Wednesday night to appeal a Supreme Court ruling against a Cairo Planning Board decision regarding arts organization free103point9’s Wave Farm. The decision to appeal the ruling was made by roll-call vote with four members in support of and one against the appeal.

Free103point9 Program Manager Tom Roe, who was present at the vote, said the board’s decision to stop a library and a radio station from coming to the town could raise constituents’ taxes.

“I suppose none of the town board members who voted this way are running for re-election, because the people I’ve spoken to in Cairo do not want to pay for frivolous lawsuits, and would like a chance to go on the air on their own community radio station,” he said in a statement after the vote.

An April 17 decision handed down by State Supreme Court Judge Joseph C. Teresi stated that a previous denial of the arts organization’s site plan had been “arbitrary and capricious.”

On Feb. 4, the Planning Board denied the site plan for the Wave Farm, which would include residential and performance space. That decision had been based on what members perceived as deficiencies in waste disposal plans, an insufficient parking area and the lack of sufficient screening, among other reasons.

Teresi handed down a similar ruling in January, in which he stated that a Sept. 3, 2008 resolution by the Town Board to deny the application had violated the state’s Open Meetings Law.

Councilwoman Janet Schwarzenegger cast the lone dissenting vote at the meeting Wednesday night.

She declined to comment on her reasons before obtaining the amount of money the town has spent on litigation to date.

Supervisor John Coyne said he supported the appeal based on the advice of Town Attorney Tal Rappleyea and conversations with the Planning Board.

Daniel Benoit, who was named chairman of the Planning Board during the same meeting, said he was pleased to have the support of the the Town Board.

“I think we have a strong case,” he said.

Benoit could not say how continuing litigation would affect the site plan approval process but said some discussion of the Wave Farm site plan could occur at the Planning Board meeting scheduled for June 3.

Marking the fallen
Athens man secures stone for beloved uncle
The Daily Mail
May 23, 2009

As Memorial Day approaches, it is a little known fact that many veterans, especially those whose families have predeceased them, end up in graves unmarked by memorial stones. All honorably discharged veterans are entitled to military markers provided at government expense, and a local man who recently obtained one for a family member reviews the procedure.

James Egbert Smith II served with the National Guard and in the Korean War with the U.S. Marines.

Although he died in 1986, Smith did not have a stone marking his gravesite. His nephew, Richard Peters of Athens, was able to obtain one 20 years later.

After Smith passed away, Peters’ mother, Smith’s sister, tried to get a military marker. She obtained and mailed a form requesting a marker for her brother’s grave in the Jefferson Heights Cemetery family plot to the local Veterans administration office, but she never received a response.

She did not try to get a marker again but went on living her life, Peters said.

Peters said he visits his uncle’s grave every Memorial Day but is one of the few remaining family members in the area who knows its location.

“I know he is there. I put a flag there,” he said.

In 2006, Peters decided to try to find the serial number and get the marker.

“I knew that once I died, his grave would never have a flag placed on it,” he said.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, more than 1 million stones were requested between 2004 and 2008 fiscal years.

Three-hundred and fifty stones or markers were sent to foreign countries in 2008, the Department reported.

Jim Smith served in the military for 12 years, first in the National Guard and later in the U.S. Marines.

Peters did not see his uncle, who served with the Marines during the Korean War, very often as a child. He recalled that his uncle, who served during the Korean War, was away a lot of the time.

But he idolized his uncle Jim, who, Peters recalled, was always a teaser.

Once Peters, just a youngster then, had been allowed to put polish on his uncle’s shoes. Some polish got on the uniform pants and Smith had convinced him he would get in trouble.

“I thought they were going to lock him up,” Peters said.

But, of course, that did not happen, he added.

After the Korean War ended, Smith worked at the U.S. Embassy in Portugal. After Smith left the service, he moved to Washington, D.C., and then to New York City, where he was diagnosed with cancer. He was treated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

By this time, Peters was an adult. He had joined the Navy and was a veteran of the Vietnam War and enjoyed a family of his own. He took his sons to New York to visit their great-uncle, whom they had never met.

Smith, who was born Jan. 31, 1933, died 18 months after Peters’ visit, on Feb. 7, 1986.

Peters started the quest to obtain a marker for his uncle’s grave by visiting the local Veterans administration office. He knew that a DD-214 form, containing all of Smith’s active duty service information, should be on file at the Greene County Court House.

But the file was missing.

The local Veterans administration office had on file Peters’ mother’s application for the marker, but the form lacked Smiths military serial number, which was needed to verify Smith’s service record.

Peters was told to call staff at a National Guard office in Albany, from whom he was able to obtain his uncle’s National Guard duty information.

However, as a reserve, Smith was not eligible for a military marker.

Peters had to obtain records of his uncle’s service with the Marines.

Peters said that tracking down necessary information he needed was difficult because many family records, including those of his grandfather, who served with the National Guard in the First World War, had been lost in a fire. That grandfather founded the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 770 in Catskill.

Peters called a cousin who lived in their grandmother’s old house to see if he knew any information about Smith.

The cousin, also named Jim, called two days later to tell Peters that he had found a document from 1951 containing Smith’s promotion to the rank of corporal in the Marines. The promotion document contained Smith’s serial number.

Peters could now apply for the marker.

Peters worked with the Department of Veterans Affairs to file necessary paperwork for the marker.

“The people were very considerate,” he said of department staff.

He also coordinated with the cemetery’s association to have the marker erected upon delivery.

One day, Peters said, he was called “out of the blue” and told the granite headstone was ready.

He said the process only took about six months to complete but involved a number of phone calls and paperwork.

Peters said that the longer a relative waits to apply for a marker, the more likely it will be that necessary paperwork will be lost or forgotten, especially if a veteran is without an immediate family.

Peters said the marker he was able to get for his uncle would forever mark the grave of a Marine and scout troops and other organizations that tend to military graves on Memorial Day would always know where to place a flag in honor of his uncle’s life and service.

“If everyone with one relative who does not have a stone works on getting one, it is worth it,” Peters said.

More information about ordering military headstones and markers can be found on the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Website at http://www.cem.va.gov/hm_hm.asp.

Grads: reach out and make a difference
“What you give is more important than what you have,” Prest says in speech
The Daily Mail
May 22, 2009

GREENPORT — More than 300 students from Columbia-Greene Community College earned their diplomas Thursday night in front of family members, friends, college faculty and representatives from local and state legislative bodies at the college’s 40th commencement exercises.

Before the students crossed the stage in the college gymnasium and were handed their diplomas, they heard words of wisdom from numerous speakers with one overall message; their degrees marked a great achievement and their years in school will prepare them for the future.

Kyri Dunning, who received a decree in applied sciences and was chosen to address the graduating class and audience, said that 2009 was a year of change.

He said the inauguration of President Barack Obama in January showed that the country was capable of evolving.

“Anyone is capable of achieving anything he or she sets their mind to,” he said.

He said he and his fellow graduates will be able to make it through the challenging economic times thanks to the knowledge they gained while working towards their degrees.

“It may be a struggle at first, but know this, every cloud has a silver lining, it is just a matter of where can we get our silver lining,” he said.

Columbia-Greene Community College President James Campion told the graduates that he hoped they kept a good ear to use in their careers and all of their pursuits. Campion said he hoped the graduates would think about how their education will enhance their life accomplishments.

Nancy Patwzwahl thanked the college’s faculty and trustees as well as state Legislators for their support and hard work throughout the past school year.

She told the graduates that the should feel proud of their accomplishment earned by graduating.

“Today more than ever,” she said, “education plays a critical role in our society.”

State Assemblyman Marc Molinaro, R,C,I-Red Hook, said community colleges will be vitally important in the State’s economic rebound.

Molinaro said the State of New York recognizes the opportunities each graduate will bring with them as they continue their education and enter the workforce.

He told the graduates not to fear making mistakes because life is about rising after a fall.

“You will be confronted with challenges you will think are insurmountable, but just please note that through the education you have earned at this institution, the love and support of your friends and family and through your own innovation, your own energy, your own dedication, you will overcome those challenges. You will see great success and always remember that life and success is always about lifting yourself up again, and that is how you will be judged,” he said.

Greene County Legislator and Chairwoman of the Education Committee Dorothy Prest, R-Catskill, asked each graduate to think about a person who inspires them, as her father inspired her. Prest said her father taught her that what a person gives is more important than what he or she may have.

“If you give unselfishly of yourselves, you will always be a success,” she said.

Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chairman Arthur Baer, R-Hillsdale, reminded the graduates that learning is a lifelong process.

Terry Valentine, associate professor and transitional studies coordinator, gave the graduates one “last lecture.”

“Never be bored,” she said, “there is always one more book to read, one more idea to explore, one more person to whom you can reach out to make a difference.”

Long-time teacher and college tutor Harold Morrill received the Life Long Learning Award at the ceremony.

Alden Terrace project dead
The Daily Mail
May 21, 2009

CAIRO — Developer Charles Maggio withdrew Alden Terrace from planning board consideration Wednesday, effectively ending the project.

Cairo Town Supervisor John Coyne made the announcement at the start of Wednesday’s Town Board meeting.

“It is official,” Coyne told a standing-room-only audience in Town Hall. “That project is no longer.”

Acting Planning Board Chairman Daniel Benoit received a letter dated May 12 from Andrew Brick, of Donald Zee PC, attorney for Maggio, which stated his client’s wish to withdraw his site plan application.

Brick reminded the Planning Board that, in its capacity as lead agency in accordance with the State Environmental Quality Review Act, the board required the developers to draft an Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed project.

“It is expected that future proposals for use of all or any portion of this property be held to the same standard of environmental review,” the letter states.

The Planning Board first heard about the project, which was originally conceived to include 140 residential housing units and 89,000 square feet of residential space, in October 2004.

Later in the development phase, the project was to include a 52-unit apartment complex designed for some senior citizen and working renters.

Approval of the project by the Town Board necessitated expansion of the Town’s sewer and water systems to the development’s projected 23-acre location between Routes 32 and 23B.

In October 2008, Cairo First, Cairo Plaza LLC, J. Triple S. Inc., E. Slater, Inc. and the Cairo Township Taxpayers Association filed a lawsuit against the Cairo Town Board and the town Planning Board, state Department of Environmental Conservation, state Environmental Facilities Corp., state Division of Housing and Community Renewal, developer Charles Maggio, Charles Frank & Associates, Regan Development Corp., Benjamin Buel and Richard Buoniconto, which claimed proper procedures in relation to obtaining funding for the sewer system improvements, proper SEQRA procedures and public meeting procedures were not carried out.

Greene County Judge George J. Pulver Jr. dismissed the lawsuit on March 26, 2009, ruling that the suit was untimely and failed to state a cause of action.

The plaintiffs are in the process of appealing the March decision.

“This is about more than Alden Terrace,” Great American owner Ellsworth “Unk” Slater said. “This is about the well-being of the town and sewer system.”

Coyne and Councilwoman Janet Schwarzenegger said that the developer’s Planning Board escrow account had an unpaid balance and that the developers had an outstanding balance with the firm Delaware Engineering.

Town Attorney Tal Rappleyea confirmed their statements, adding that he was working with Brick to have the money paid.

Coyne said after the meeting that he was disappointed that the developers had decided not to go through with the agreement.

“I would hope if there is any other interest in the property that we are successful the second time around,” he said.