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.

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.

Cash for Clunkers earns mixed reviews
Auto sales increase, but program’s management is criticized
The Daily Mail
The Register-Star
Sept. 4, 2009

Two weeks after the Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS, program ended, dealerships in Greene and Columbia counties are reporting positive sales but mixed feelings toward the program’s management.

The CARS program, known familiarly as “Cash for Clunkers,” was meant to promote economic wellness by giving Americans an incentive to turn in their gas-guzzling cars for new, more environmentally friendly models.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported that nearly 700,000 “clunkers” were taken off the road and replaced by newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles during the month-long program. The program began in July and ended Aug. 25.

According to the U.S. DOT, dealerships across the nation submitted rebate applications worth $2.877 billion, out of the available $3 billion, with roughly $156 million from dealerships in New York.

“We sold a lot of cars; it was a big boost,” said Peter Backlund, the general manager at Village Dodge, in Hudson, who had to replace more than 40 cars sold off the lot.

“It was much better than I anticipated,” he said.

He said the program was great because it put money back into the hands of the people on the street, “where it belongs.”

“Out of all the programs that the government has been funding,” said Backlund, “I really do not see why they had to debate about spending $3 billion on a program like this,” he said about discussions in the U.S. Congress prior to that body’s June approval of the program.

But not every dealer agreed.

Lenny Romeo, owner of Catskill Buick GMC Pontiac, which serves Greene and Columbia counties, said the way the program had been run was “disgusting” and “ridiculous” and he would not want to participate again.

“The way they ran the program was a total joke,” he said.

Romeo said the program’s false start — it had a brief hiatus in July — and computer system overload had soured him on participating.

Romeo said in August that he had not been paid for the vehicles he sold even those sold early in the program.

The government had promised dealers payments within 10 days.

By this week, Romeo had received payments for only four of the 27 vehicles he had sold through the program. He said a total of $90,000 should come to the dealership.

“If we ran our business that way, we would be out of business,” he said.

But, he admitted, the program did enable people to get financing for new cars, and that more cars moved off his lot than during a regular monthly sales period.

And, he said, about half of the customers who traded their large vehicles, trucks and sport utility vehicles for new Pontiacs and GMC pickup trucks told him they did so only to take advantage of the CARS program.

Phil Thorpe, of Thorpe’s Pontiac GMC, said more than 20 car and truck owners had tried to take advantage of the program at his Tannersville dealership. Only six “clunkers” qualified for the program, he said, characterizing his participation in the program as “limited.”

A car eligible for trade-in had to meet the criteria including being manufactured less than 25 years before trade-in date, have a combined city/highway fuel economy of 18 miles per gallon, had to be insured and registered a year before trade-in and had to be driveable.

Consumers could receive either a $3,500 or $4,500 dealer discount. The price on a new vehicle selected could not exceed $45,000.

Thorpe said last week that he was confident that the government would come through with payments for his vehicles, although he did not say how much he was owed. This week, Thorpe said he had received the entire payment owed him.

Unlike Romeo, Thorpe said he would participate in the program again if it were offered.

Dan Lacy, co-owner of Catskill’s R.C. Lacy Ford Lincoln Mercury Subaru declined to comment about the program until he had been paid by the government, offering only that he had “a lot to say” about it.

Larry Siracusano, owner of Sawyer Chevrolet in Catskill, said the program had gone “OK” and he was low on inventory, but was unavailable for further comment.

Staff at Marchese Ford, in New Lebanon, said the program had seemed to help sales, but could not comment further.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called the program “wildly successful” because of how it had helped consumers.

“American consumers and workers were the clear winners thanks to the cash for clunkers program,” LaHood said in a press release. “Manufacturing plants have added shifts and recalled workers. Moribund showrooms were brought back to life and consumers bought fuel efficient cars that will save them money and improve the environment.”

According to the U.S. DOT, top trade-ins were the Ford Explorer 4WD, the Ford F150 Pickup 2WD, the 4WD Jeep Grand Cherokee and the 2WD Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan.

The most popular vehicles purchased included the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Toyota Camry, Ford Focus FWD and the Hyundai Elantra.

Paul Crossman contributed to this report

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.

Planners OK medical facility site plan concept
Mountaintop physician wants to build center on Grandview Avenue
The Daily Mail
June 16, 2009

CATSKILL — The Village of Catskill moved one step closer to bringing an urgent care center to the area Monday night when the Village Planning Board approved a Concept Site Plan for a medical facility. The address for the proposed facility will be 10 Grandview Ave., adjacent to the yet-to-be-built Lincoln Place.

Dr. Robert Schneider, of Urgent Medical Care, PLLC, and municipal planner and consultant Mark Hyer presented their concept to the Planning Board and other Village officials.

“What we propose to do down here in Catskill is provide what I feel is a much-needed care facility,” he said.

Schneider said staff at the medical center will provide acute care, trauma care, fracture care, resuscitative needs and even some obstetrical needs, including delivering babies in an emergency.

The center will employ three or four physicians, Schneider said, as well as a nurse practitioner and a physician’s assistant. The center will employ x-ray technicians and a lot of support staff, he said, adding that he hopes to hire graduates of Columbia-Greene Community College’s nursing program.

Schneider said medical staff will be trained in family medicine, pediatric care and adult life-saving procedures.

“We will be fairly equipped to do just about anything down at that facility,” he said.

The facility will be open for roughly 12 hours every day of the year.

“That is what I want to bring to Catskill,” he said, “I am very excited.”

Schneider said having an accessible facility in Catskill could cut driving time from the Mountaintop to medical care.

Schneider, who also runs the urgent trauma care center at Hunter Mountain and has a medical office in Tannersville, said he has heard from residents from several Greene County and Ulster County residents in support of his facility.

“It is well-received and I think it will be a fantastic addition to this community,” he said.

Hyer explained to the board that Schneider has proposed to pave a section of Roosevelt Avenue, which is currently unpaved, at his own expense but under the supervision of the village DPW superintendent.

Hyer said the road will allow ambulances to reach the facility through an entrance off Roosevelt Avenue and leave onto Lincoln Place before heading to Grandview Avenue via Roosevelt Avenue.

Directional arrows on the pavement will indicate the traffic flow, he said.

Although the full lighting plan has not been developed, Hyer said, lights in the parking lot will have a full shield and will be turned off while the facility is closed.

“That will minimize any impact on the neighbors and the rest of the area,” he said.

Hyer said the plan will include aborvitae screening along the parking lot. The lot will accommodate at least 12 cars, he said.

Hyer said the building will be at least 3,000-square-feet in size, handicapped-accessible and will be painted with either neutral or earth-tone colors, although its final plans have not been worked out.

“It will blend in with the character of the neighborhood,” he said.

Catskill Village Planning Board Chairman William Zwoboda said he was looking forward to seeing the project’s final plans.

“Urgent care is needed very greatly in our community,” Zwoboda said.

The Planning Board set a public hearing for the Site Plan for July 6, at 7 p.m.

Tedisco urges new investment in Main Street
The Daily Mail online
Mar. 22, 2009

TANNERSVILLE — Assembly Minority Leader and Congressional candidate James Tedisco (R-Schenectady) visited The Village Bistro in Tannersville Saturday to listen to his supporters’ concerns and to discuss with them his plan to create and retain jobs 10 days before the special election to fill the seat vacated by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand earlier this year.

Tedisco said the state and the country needed a stimulus bill but that Congress’ was wrong to pass the bill with a loophole allowing for the executives who cheated the system and investors and who destroyed to receive bonuses.

“We have to take care of the public’s money, we have to invest it properly and we have to make sure that we are turning this economy around by investing in Main Street and the middle class,” he said.

One way in which this could be done, he said, was by promoting tourism to Greene County, saying that its ski areas must be maintained and remain competitive to draw people to the area.

“If you can attract them for skiing, then of course you can attract them to the smaller businesses that can be developed along the street-scape like this,” he said, gesturing to colorful Main Street in Tannersville, just four miles down Route 32A from Hunter Mountain.

Tedisco outlined his jobs plan, which includes incentives for businesses to hire unemployed individuals rather than those changing jobs.

Businesses that held onto an employee for one year would receive a Federal grant of $1,000, he said, and a grant for $2,000 if an employee stayed for two years.

The grants would encourage businesses to hire candidates outside of the current workforce, he said.
The plan would give what he called a meaningful tax credit to businesses with 100 or more employees, suggesting a 35 percent tax credit for those businesses to keep that workforce intact for three years.
He said such long-term job security would encourage workers to purchase expensive items such as homes, cars and refrigerators, and in turn, generate a confident market.

Tedisco also suggested that small businesses could work together to cover some high-cost benefits, such as health care, to their employees.

He proposed that cost-pooling zones could comprise of a Main Street, a county or even two counties together, arguing that the cost to each business would decrease as more businesses combined their resources.

And, he projected that 60 to 80 percent of new job opportunities would come from small businesses.
Although the candidate did not limit the small businesses he would like to see open, he suggested that nano-technology businesses might thrive in the 20th Congressional District, which encompasses communities from Essex County to Ostego County and to Dutchess County.

He touted the $4.5 billion investment in Global Foundries, which he helped come to fruition. Even though the chip-producing company is located in Saratoga, he said it would need tools and high-tech components that could be produced in the greater Capitol Region.

“That would spin off into Columbia and Greene counties with other small businesses that might relate,” he said.

He suggested that at least part of the Hudson Correctional facility, which has recently been faced with closure, could be used for one of these nano-technology businesses, should it be shuttered. He said facility employees could be retrained for other occupations rather than simply let go.

Tedisco attacked his Democratic opponent, investment capitalist Scott Murphy for publicly supporting the Federal Recovery Act only 24 hours after it was approved by the House of Representatives.

Tedisco asked why, if Murphy had read the bill, had he supported it, loophole included.

“If he did not read the bill, I think that says something about the responsibility of a public servant to understand what they’re supporting,” he said.

Murphy, who was not in attendance, has criticized Tedisco for waiting weeks before stating his position. Murphy also held a fundraiser in Hunter Saturday.

An aid to the Assemblyman said that the Minority Leader, his aids and legal team read the 1,100-page document before coming out against it.

“We need a stimulus bill to invest in middle class tax cuts,” Tedisco said, “It had $300 billion in earmarks in it.”

Tedisco supporters, who paid a $50 event fee, agreed that Tedisco’s experience and years in Albany have prepared him well to serve in Washington, D.C.

State Assemblyman Peter Lopez (R-Schoharie), whose 128th Assembly District shares four counties, including Greene and Columbia, with the Congressional District, said Tedisco has the skills and the passion necessary to help the region needed to regain its footing.

“He can build coalitions and hit the ground running,” Lopez said.

Lopez said Tedisco also had the courage to stand in the minority on an issue, using the Minority Leader’s opposition to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s proposed plan to permit undocumented immigrants to carry drivers licenses.

Greene County Legislator Keith Valentine (R-Catskill) agreed, saying that the true test of a politician was whether he was willing to stand up and risk political damage for an issue.

Greene County Republican Party Chairman Brent Bogdarus said that voters would be very happy with Tedisco as their Congressman because of his middle class background and work ethic.

He said Tedisco’s time in Albany and family trials, including the loss of a brother with Down syndrome to leukemia.

“He understand the realities of life,” Bogdarus said.

Windham Highway Superintendent Tom Hoyt said he and hundreds of town supervisors and highway managers traveled to Albany last week to speak with legislative leaders to put money for the State’s highways back into Gov. David A. Paterson’s budget. He did not meet with Tedisco on that visit but did put to topic to the candidate in Tannersville.

“He knew all about it,” Hoyt said.

Tedisco said that as a Congressman, he will work hard deliver what constituents need.

“My job is to be a good listener,” he said.

‘Horton by the Stream’ theater company back for another season
The Daily Mail
Online Mar. 16, 2009

TANNERSVILLE - Horton by the Stream producer Frank Girardeau had no trouble getting permission from playwright Horton Foote to stage his plays in the company’s outdoor Elka Park theater.

Girardeau asked, and, he recalled, Foote’s reply was, “‘Sure, go ahead.’”

This summer, the company plans to return to Tannersville for another season featuring the performance “Valentine’s Day,” which, set in 1918, is part of a larger play cycle chronicling the life of a family and is loosely based on Foote’s parents.

Foote died March 4, at the age of 92.

His career as a writer and adapter of plays spanned six decades.

Foote won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1995 for his play “The Young Man From Atlanta.” He also received two Emmy Awards, one for an adaptation of Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” for the 1962 film of the same name and another in 1985, for the screenplay “Tender Mercies.” He also won an Emmy in 1997 for his adaptation of “Old Man.”

Girardeau met Foote while performing in a play with the Ensemble Studio Theater company. A number of years later, Foote called Girardeau to see if the actor was available for another show.

He said Foote visited a theater company in Hunter that pre-dated Horton by the Stream, and once conducted a workshop there.

Later, Girardeau purchased the property where the company was located, built a new performance space and approached Foote about performing his plays.

“He was very supportive of the whole thing,” Girardeau said, “he gave us his blessing.”

He said that the outdoor theater offers his actors a nice creative space with which to work and Foote’s plays seem to fit well with the atmosphere.

He said that performing outdoors can be great for an audience who get to settle in for a picnic or family gathering while watching a show, but it can present challenges for the actors.

The stage in Elka Park is right next to a stream, and sometimes, even with microphones, performers have to compete with the babbling water.

And, Girardeau said, the weather does not always cooperate.

He recalled that last year he and his players and audience had to run to a nearby barn when a storm came up suddenly.

“We have to be ready in case that happens,” he said with a laugh.

Girardeau said the choice of play is sometimes dependent on who is available to perform in what role.

Horton by the Stream productions usually feature actors from New York City, with whom Girardeau is used to working. But sometimes, he said, a local actor will perform with the company.

Past performances, which have been also produced by Girardeau’s wife, Janet, and Greg Grove, have included “The Young Lady of Property,” “Blind Date” and “Spring Dance.”

Girardeau’s favorite play is “Trip to Bountiful,” which is about a woman with heart problems returning home. He said it is perhaps his favorite because he has performed it so many times.

The company may do something special as a tribute to Foote, but Girardeau said his friend’s passing was sudden, and he had yet to find time to start planning for one.