Hayseeds No. 55

Today in the paper Paul Bray lements

the lack of connections between SUNYA and the city of Albany.

Yet, it's not surpising, as SUNYA is suppost to be fairly seperate from the city itself, with it's uptown campus essentially being in suburban Guilderland. The Rockefeller college is much more in the city (being downtown), although it still is pretty starved compared to uptown.

It was a conscious design decision of the 1960s—but at least the uptown campus made parking easy, and the same thing can be said about access to the school.

Fred LeBrun notes that State Conservation Council

, the lobbying group for rod and gun clubs, sportmans clubs, and the alike now has some competition.

The new group, the Conservation Alliance, claims it is not competing with the Conservation Council, but seeks to advance it's own similiar adgenda, pushing forward goals that are not be currently being advanced with the current leadership of the Conservation Council.

"There are many of us who feel sportsmen and women are simply not being equately represented by the council and this leadership", says co-creater Dave Miller.

It's going to be headed by some biggies in the lobbying world—Trapper Dave Miller of Steuben County, Russ Williams, the recently retired head of the state Senate's intern program, and Tom King, president of the State Rifle and Pistol Association.

Fred gives a nice summary...

The purpose of the new group is to represent not only clubs and federations and the establishment, but also to reach out to the state's 1.5 million individual sportsmen and womeny who are unaffiliated, as well as to hiking, camping, bird-watching and other outdoors groups.

The magnificent idea here is to create a coalition of recreationists who may not agree with each other, all of the time, but who recongize the advantage of mutual protection and represenation, and a louder voice through bigger numbers.

This something to watch, for sure—and maybe it will move our adgenda ahead farther in the state legislature.

The NYSORVA list has a nice

summary of the problems and benifits of the Governor's budgetary ATV proposal.

If the Executive Budget as written by the Governor was passed today with the ATV Proposal intact, the following would occur:

Jay Gallagher ponders which of the

following most New Yorkers will do on Line 58 of their tax form...

So as the April 15 tax deadline approaches for filing tax returns, how will the bulk of the state's 10 million taxpayers react when they get to line 56?

• Check zero, knowing there's really no way for the government to dispute that?
• Use the handy estimate, which would give them a clear conscience for a relatively small expense?
• Spend hours finding records for all out-of-state and Internet purchases and then adding them up, knowing that's the most accurate figure?

We'll soon know. But remember, every dollar you pay to the state is deductible from your federal tax, and will go to support the nation's highest paid governor and second-most expensive legislature.

You just gotta love a tax form option that tests your honesty—especially for things that is difficult for the state to audit. Of course, if you buy big-ticket things out of state, you have to be honest—because that would probably show up like a red flag during a tax audit.

Of course, nowdays, tax cheating is a national sport—and it's not like this is a new rule—you've had to technically report on a seperate form, any out of state expenditatures.

At least sale taxes discourages wasteful consumption—so there is some merit to it after all—although it tends to be rather regressive.

Corinth is a perspective spot for a big time

NYC trash-burning R°F plant.

Phillips said that if successful, Covanta would transport 2,750 tons of trash five or six days a week from New York City to a new $400 million facility, next to the old mill.

Isn't that wonderful, that we get to burn all that stuff in upstate New York—from those silly upstaters.

Fortunately though, it's almost a dead project, as Corinth Supervisor Richard Lucia said in February the project appeared to be dead—and it's gotten opposition from Greenfield Mayor Stokes, who stated Saratoga Springs just built a new train station, I don't think Mayor Lenz wants trash trains sitting on his siding and Good jobs were lost at the paper plant, I'm not sure what we're talking about here is the equivalent.

The issue of it being a good neighboor has been brought up—John Phillips says The trash will be sealed inside containers, he said, and unloaded inside closed buildings. Phillips described substantial intake fans designed to keep odor inside the plant where the high heat destroys the smell. The equipment is also designed to run quietly.

That is until there is a tempeture influx, or somehow litter gets out of the factory when unloading (as is frequently the case of Rapp Road), not to mention other problems.

I'd be more sold on this project, if it where burning upstate trash instead of stuff from the downstates smucks—although on the counterbalance, what gets burnt upstate, much of it (90%) won't be going into upstate landfills.

The modern waste-to-energy plant is pretty clean, assuming it makes all the EPA standards, and that they are vigrously enforced and updated as neccessary (which seems to negate that point). Oh well, as they say—were going to get the pollution one way or another, be it blowing in the wind, or in the field/forest dump.

The FP of the Times Union

takes a look at this weekend's New York Muzzleloader Association's Primative Biatholon at the Great Sacadandaga lake.

At little explanation is neccessary for us mere mortals who aren't familiar with the competition...

The only requirements are wooden-framed snowshoes and a muzzleloading gun, either rifle or smoothbore. Primitive or Colonial dress, while worn by most competitors, is optional.

The 1 /3 -mile course was laid out over the trails of Saratoga Biathlon Club, where some U.S. winter Olympians train. Along the trail, competitors stop at five shooting stations and take two shots at "steel swingers."

"No, they're not people able to party all week," laughed Schultz. The metal, animal-shaped targets swing when struck. Shooters are scored either an "X" or an "O," for hit or miss, with a hit earning a deduction of 5 minutes from the time around the course.

"We try to set up the course so most people can do it in 50 minutes," Schultz explained. "That way, you hit all the targets, you end up with a zero score..."

...When it comes to muzzleloading guns, smoothbore are the musket-like weapons that shoot a round lead ball. Manthey's gun shoots a .62 caliber, while guns like the Brown Bess, the nickname for the gun carried by most British soldiers during the Revolutionary War, are .75 caliber, or three-quarters of an inch in diameter.

Reproductions of those guns can cost $500 to $600 if manufactured, about half that if purchased in a kit, explained Victor Cipressy of Knox, president of the state association. A reproduction of a Kentucky or Pennsylvania rifle, which are more accurate, can cost $1,000 or more.

That's pretty neat, and kind of demostrates real sportmanship, without all of our high-tech outdoors gear—that some have come to rely on.

My sole experience of using a muzzleloader, showed me that those guns have a lot of recoil—wow. Life must have been so different in those revolutionary times.

The Adirondack Snowmbile hearing in Utica got

a lot more people to show then the Albany ones—mainly because the Adirondacks are lot closer to Utica then Albany.

The Observer-Dispatch did a good job reporting on this event (there full story appears to still be online too—if you want a copy, I can email it to you).

Even if you can't see that article, see the DEC's Draft Comprehensive Snowmobile Plan For The Adirondack Park/Draft GEIS website...

First off, the article emphasis the importance of attending such public hearings...

"I just don't want to see the snowmobile trails go downhill from what they are," he said as he waited with Chris Tibbitt of Clayville's extended family for the Department of Environmental Conservation's meeting on its Adirondack Park snowmobile trail plan to begin.

Rob Messenger had the following to say at the hearing (not unlike the one I went to)...

...[The proposal involves] creating some new trails to connect communities, while retiring others to maintain roughly the same total trail mileage in the park. The so-called "community connection" trails would enable snowmobile enthusiasts to ride between points of interest, stopping at area restaurants or staying at hotels along the way.

The connecting trails would adhere as much as possible to the periphery of the park, and would be 12 feet wide. The draft proposes keeping secondary, interior trails at just 8 feet in width to better preserve parkland and encourage the use of the wider trails...

Right away, the snowmobilers had many of the same objectors that Albanians did:

"Where else do you have the potential of a 60 mph sled coming at another 60 mph sled—the net total of 120 mph—within a few inches of each other?" demanded Rick Boxall of Holland Patent, president of Penn Mountain Snow Riders Inc.

David Rhea, deputy supervisor of the town of Ohio, urged the DEC to consider carefully before they retired a trail, because communities like his with businesses that depend on snowmobile traffic could lose out.

Several people said snowmobiles did not impact trails as much as hiking, because they do not touch the ground beneath the snow. But Messenger noted that's not always the case when snow cover is limited.

Other points of contention were the removal of some interior trails, a rule that would prohibit the removal of rocks protruding less than six inches from the trail bed, and another prohibiting the use of tracked groomers on interior trails. Opponents of tracked groomers characterize them as motorized vehicles and say they do not belong on certain trails.

In his remarks, Messenger said the DEC is reconsidering its position on the six-inch rock rule, because at the last meeting it was brought to his attention that certain snowmobile safety manuals say it is safe to sled on three inches of snow. He also said the DEC was reexamining the question of tracked groomers in light of snowmobilers' concerns...

Environmentalists took a slightly different perspective:

Scott Lorey, legislative director of the Adirondack Council environmental group, said his group agrees with much of the DEC plan.

"We're not opposed to snowmobiling in the Adirondacks," he said. "We support community connection trails."

But he urged the DEC to study the impact of the sport on wildlife, and look into noise pollution from sleds, and their effect on air and water quality.

He said his group is against widening interior trails beyond eight feet, and to bringing in tracked groomers.

Pretty standard stuff, about the same objections raised in Albany.

And the reality of it is...

One thing everyone in the room had in common was their love of the natural environment. Their differences came over the balance between protecting it and enjoying it.

That's always the case with environment issues—most of them are a question of how to balance conservation and use—a question that always has to be asked.

Well Kids, I think we are now

offically done with our last snowstorm of the year.

Yes, so it would seem—we got about 1' of snow here—although it's kind of hard to tell, as it has packed down pretty fast, with the sun coming down on it.

I'm glad spring is in the near future—I'm tired of winter, as am I so tired of this stupid legal mess I'm into right now.

As they say: Somedays, I just want to take myself, and head south, and escape this terrible weather. Things wouldn't be so bad, if I didn't have all the weight of this stupid legal mess constantly on my sholders.

It looks like GE has come to an

agreement to create tunnels to suck up the PCBs and PCB oils from under the Fort Edwards factory.

General Electric Co. will build a series of massive tunnels to keep the remaining PCBs at its former Hudson Falls plant from leaking into the Hudson River, as part of a final cleanup plan that state environmental officials released Tuesday.

The company will construct a pair of 1,850-foot tunnels underneath the Hudson River that will collect PCBs from 42 wells. The contaminated liquid will then be sent to a nearby water-treatment plant for processing.

The $30 million tunnels, to be dug nearly 200 feet below ground and 60 feet below the river bottom, will be approximately the size of a railroad car in diameter. Boring them will require the first rock-mining operation ever slated for an environmental cleanup, according to GE.

Everybody seems to be pretty happy to be getting on to the next step, and getting this legal nightmere over—to say nothing about the environmental issue. I mean, who doesn't want to go fishing in Hudson, and fully enjoying the river for all it's worth?

So now at least we will stop the remaining PCBs from leaking from the plant—eventhough we are down to one oz. a day, after a while, that adds up. And that says nothing compared to the reduction from 1991, when the plant was releasing 5 lbs a day, or in the 1970s, when far, far more was regularly being dumped into the river.

With the open water fishing

season underway, Denis Aprill has taken up some oif the changes in the state regulations. Most notably, starting May 7, lead sinkers of 1/2 ounce or less our banned (with the exceptions of artificial lures, weighted line, weighted flies and jig heads).

There is a 'reciprocal-license agreement' between Vermont and NY again this year, so a NYSDEC license will be honored in both states, with a few exceptions—so if you can't find enough of NY to fish in, you can always go to Berne Sander's state.

Denis Aprill also noted how popular fishing is:

According to a recent Roper ASW Poll, fishing ranks fifth in outdoor recreational activities, behind only recreational walking, driving for pleasure, swimming and picnicking.

He cites the fact that $1.08 million New Yorkers bought fishing licenses—although I don't know if that includes sportsmen licenses or not—that's an interesting question.

Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, the man who brought

us the cellphone while driving ban (he was the Assm. sponsor of the bill), now proposes that all cars have an ignition interlock system that requires drivers to breathe into a tube before their car will start—kind of like what some drunk drivers have to do while they are under probation.

No, there isn't a chance in hell of this bill passing—still that doesn't stop a membeber for proposing it—remember, it was Congress who passed a bill requiring that cars not start if a driver's belt was not buckled, when turning on the car—but that didn't work, as the public revolted on the proposal, and it was repealed.

Sigh—I guess one can just drive the old Plymouth Sundance for ever—not that I'd drink or drive, but because I think having to breathe into a pipe to make my car is stupid, and prone to fail (not unlike my Sundance).

US Avenue in Plattsburgh (which is

part of the old base) is getting a new roundabout, that will test out the technology in that city.

There have been lots of complaints in that little city, about the traffic at some of it's rather werid intersections, to say nothing about people with lead foots driving a little bit too fast in that quaint little city.

Dan Burden, an urban-traffic expert the city hired as a consultant, noted there are some areas of the city that need slowing down, such as the Broad Street school zones. A roundabout at the Catherine Street intersection would slow traffic as it enters the roundabout but keep it flowing, which the traffic signals donŐt do.

There are trouble spots in Plattsburgh that have little or nothing to do with speed. On Rugar Street, outside the High School, streets converge at seemingly ill-conceived angles, compromising the safety of driving and walking in that key area. A roundabout might control flow in a way to make all travel safer, if anyone can figure out how to install one there.

It should be interesting to see what they can do with roundabouts (I'm impressed by the Voorheesville roundabout). Maybe they will fix Plattsburgh's traffic problems, and keep that nice little city, running smoothly.

Shelly got to stay in the VIP Room at the Caesar hotel

for only $109 bucks a night—a far cry from the $1,500 maximum they charge people that aren't such VIP people.

Well, this is a habitual thing for NY politicans to do—only pay minimal expenses for very expensive trips, seemingly illegal, but with it never catching up with it.

Then again, we are talking about casinos—and they regularly give VIPs free upgrades, and better prices—but then again, that is for usually big gamblers—something I doubt is the case with Shelly.

Ceasars has been lobbying the state lately for a Casino on the Mohawk Indian reservation, so it makes it look suspecious—but we will likely never know, and Sheldon will probably get off easy, like usual.

There was YA story on

the burn barrel bill in the Associated Press on Monday—it at times seems a little bit like a broken record.

This story could be considered a story on the comparative politics of burn barrels—it cites the recent or existing bans on burn barrels—such as the fact that every New England state bans them (with the exception of Maine which allows them IFF they are set back a significant distance from property lines).

Of course, the flip side of the story, is that they are nearly impossible to enforce in many rural areas, are disliked by the rural populations such as Ken Ashley of Ogdensburg (in St. Lawarence County):

"If they think Ogdensburg has air pollution, they should try living in L.A., like I did for 20 years," said the 59-year-old accountant. "I think it's just a small group of people who have their own agenda."

Well, I'd second that emmotion—except for those times, when you live in a small community like Tim Erson of Narrowsburg who says the sickly toxic smells from open burning is something we've been subjected to repeatedly.

Then again, the problem is seemingly local—and that's the position of the state Senate, according to Mark Hansen, spokesperson of the Senate Majority—the Senate prefers to leave state law as it has been for 30 years: A ban in communities with more than 20,000 people. Smaller towns can enact local bans.

That seems like a reasonable proposition—and if people don't like what there neighboors are burning, then talk to them, and then take it to the town council.

That's democracy in action—do we need people in Albany deciding what people in Narrowsberg can or cannot do in their backyards?

The Times Union today, picked up on the

Children's Defense Fund's study that shows that few people are getting the food stamps and other forms of the aid that they are entitled to.

The problems are pretty obvious—the Albany County Department of Social Services Offices are located downtown on Washington Avenue, so it's very difficult to park around there, requires money to park (which obviously is difficult for those needing social services), and moreover, they aren't open when most of us can get there—they have no weekend hours, are open only 9-5 PM, and aren't open during lunch hour.

So your asking the working poor to take time off of work (that they don't have), struggling to get downtown, make them complete complex paperwork, treat them like crap, attach a social stigma to them, and make it just generally difficult?

Of course, that's one way for the state to save money.

I guess I just dislike our society's over prioritization of urban poverty of rural, and the lack of dignity attached to those who are the struggling working poor.

I mean, there are some people, that there is hope for—some who are good people, but just don't make a lot.

I know, this argument has some implicitly racist connotations, but that doesn't stop me from making it.