Dear My Many Friends and Colleagues in Plattsburgh:

As many of you already know this was my last semester up here in Plattsburgh. I will be doing the New York State Assembly Internship down in Albany and will be graduating this spring. I want thank the many of you that helped me numerous ways through the past two semesters I spent up here in Plattsburgh and encourage you continue on with the work we started.

It�s difficult to know even where to start. We got a new District Attorney elected last year who represents many of our values in Clinton County far better then his predecessor. We got the Plattsburgh State Green Energy Referendum passed with 78% approval and record high student turnout. We got answers on solid waste and started us on the process to expanding and improving on-campus recycling programs. We got people registered to vote. But most importantly, we inspired people and got them to think.

I have to admit my biggest regret probably was I spent so little of the final semester in Plattsburgh. So much time was spent on the road going down to Rhinebeck in Dutchess County to help get Congresswomen Kirsten Gillibrand elected. I drove down every other week, meaning less time to work on things up here. We did good work there and I�m happy with the results in that election but I wish I could have done more up here.

Simply said, when I wasn�t in Dutchess County I was trying to keep up with my school work in Plattsburgh. I tried to occasionally pop my head in to Democratic Headquarters, but that was more difficult around Election Day. Not to mention, I had to spend Election Day stuck out in Schyuler Falls as an election inspector to pay for all those trips to Rhinebeck. A few times I got out exploring the North Country. That was what the past semester was like at least for me.

I also really enjoyed the opportunity to do Plattsburgh Progressive Radio and the Quake City News Show Political Report on the Plattsburgh State radio station, WQKE 93.9 FM. It was a time to discuss the many issues our country is facing and try to inspire people to think critically about their world and get out and act in ways to change our world to be better place. From the discussion of the decline of the family farm, to consumerism and solid waste, to student activism and the war, to playing old radical records, I hope to have forced people to think.

I was lucky enough to have seen a lot of the eastern part of the North Country in my time here. I visited every town in Clinton County at least once and spent too much time up at Point Au Roche. I camped many nights up in the state forest in Peru. I roamed and rambled around a lot of Essex, Franklin, and Hamilton Counties in my pickup truck. I saw much of Beekmantown, Altona, Peru, and Chazy on my bike; including one time getting very lost in West Chazy and having to walk back twice from Beekmantown with a flat tire.

The beauty never ceased to amaze me. Nor did the diverse people, ideas, and ways of life. I never found the eternal truths that I thought might be past one corner in Altona, but I expanded who I was an individual. I dreamed. I have to believe great things are yet to come for the North Country and the rest of our great state. Our governor Eliot Spitzer will return us to the greatness we once were under the Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller administration.

I will come back. I have promised to help out getting the PSU Green Energy Initiative legislation into effect, including coming back up here to help in drafting the student senate bill, lobbying, and implementation efforts. This is an important part of my legacy and I don�t want to give it up too easily. I also will continue to do a phone-in political report from Albany on Quake City News around 5:30 PM on Saturdays next semester. Lake Champlain is so nice in the summer. Not to mention the long-awaited graduation from college in May 2007, six years, four colleges, and several million words later.

Have a great holiday season. I wish you all the best !!

A concluding thought from a Peter Paul and Mary�s Light One Candle: �Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice / justice and freedom demand / but light one candle for the wisdom to know when the peacemakers time is at hand. Don�t let the light go out! It�s lasted for so many years! Don�t let the light go out! Let it shine through our love and our tears.