|
Friday, August 11, 2006August 11 2006Planners Try to Understand How to Regulate 24 Windmills  By BREN MIOSEK and RUSS HONICKER CHERRY VALLEY "I don't understand," Jeff Wait, chairman of the Cherry Valley Planning Board, kept saying at the Wednesday, Aug. 9, meeting, his board's first since the town board rejected a moratorium that would have delayed construction of 24 windmills on East Hill for 12 months, perhaps forever. "I don't understand." Wait's refrain came throughout a discussion of sound-level impacts, ambient noise measurements and competing standards, one established by the state Department of Environmental Protection, the other by NYSERDA, the state Energy Resources Development Agency. No action was taken at the meeting, but Reunion Power executives, Vice President David Little and Managing Partner Steve Eisenberg, pledged to give the planners 30 days before resubmitting their application to build 24 400-foot-tall windmills north of the village. The planning board had gathered to discuss and review a wind ordinance adopted by the Town of Clinton and tailor it to Cherry Valley's needs. “It is the opinion of our lawyer that we establish a level of protection,” said Wait. “An ordinance in place would provide us with a new level of protection.” Wait, however, repeatedly stated that not enough of the proposed ordinance was clear to him or others and that more time was needed to make educated and rational decisions. “What we're trying to do is not an easy process,” he said. “What we're trying to do here takes time.” Following further discussion that touched on limiting the overall number of windmills to 24, Reunion Power representatives offered to withdraw their application for an additional 30 days to allow the planners more time to consider the ordinance. The planning board accepted. The meeting was held in a small board room in the town barn, where more than 200 people gathered Monday, July 31; 96 people spoke, all but 20 against the project, then the town board voted, 2-1, not to enact the moratorium. This was the first meeting on the windmill project since then, and a couple of dozen citizens, along with Little and Eisenberg, soon were questioning how sound from the turbines would be measured. "It doesn't seem reasonable if you do not measure the noise from the property line," said one audience member. "None of us understand these measurements regarding sound," Wait said. If the turbines sound "like a Harley-Davidson, then we'll have to see." Reunion's Little was asked how the company measures sound impact, and he said: "We have engineers, and they measure in different seasons, with the leaves on the trees and with the leaves off the trees." He did not say where the sound would be measured: at the turbine, at nearby houses, at the property line. Wait said the town would appoint an engineer to measure noise levels. Andy Minnig, chairman of Advocates for Cherry Valley; Martha Frey, Otsego 2000 executive director; Nick Pressly, an environmental engineer; and landowners Greg Noonan and Peggy Smith were among those with questions. Little stated that he was under the impression that the people of Cherry Valley who were for the wind project would be for the ordinance. Wait said, in his opinion, most of the people in town oppose the windmills. "I really don't have time to be doing this," said an apparently frustrated Wait, referring to battering between those in attendance. "No matter what happens, people will be upset. We're under the gun, under the time clock. It's going to appear that we're favoring one side or the other, but we're not. "Short of an act of God, I don't think it's going away," he concluded. The planning board agreed to meet again at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 6, for a closed meeting. 'Huge' 2007 Induction Weekend Looms By JIM KEVLIN COOPERSTOWN Even before the National Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Weekend 2006 began, the buzz leading up to 2007 could be heard. Even before Bruce Sutter and the 17 Negro Leagues standout were inducted, tour operators had told the Hall of Fame they'll be bringing 110 bus loads of fans to town Friday through Sunday, July 27-29, next year to witness the anticipated induction of former Baltimore Oriole Cal Ripken Jr. and several other front-line stars. That number of buses has risen 25 percent since then, according to Jeff Idelson, the Hall of Fame's director of communications. By contrast, only five buses attended this year's induction. "We've known for quite some time that 2007 was going to be quite a year," said Idelson. "Cal Ripken has tremendous local appeal in Maryland and the greater Washington area. He also has great national appeal." Former San Diego Padre Tony Gwynn, another likely inductee, "transcended the game for two decades," he said. If power-hitters Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco, who will be on the eligibility list for the first time, are also chosen next January, the sky's the limit. (Both men, however, were implicated in steroids scandals, so their election is in doubt.) Idelson estimated the crowd could top 50,000, ranking it up there with the attendance record set in 1999 when Nolan Ryan, George Brett and Orlando Cepeda were among seven inductees. The previous record-setting year was 1995 -- Mike Schmidt brought out a huge Philly crowd, Idelson said. "The phones ringing off the hook," said Polly Renckens, Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce executive director. "It's going to be a huge year." Every room in the Cooperstown area that can be reserved has been reserved, she said. Others don't take reservations for a while yet. In 1999, Dreams Park was only hosting 30 teams a summer; now that the number is closer to 100, many more local rooms are already spoken for, adding to the challenge, according to Renckens. She said people are already being referred to Albany, Syracuse, Utica and Binghamton. In Albany, the Marriott and the Desmond Americana are already booked. The chamber is working on some additional strategies to ensure no fan is disappointed, she said, and more on those strategies will forthcoming later. "We're getting a lot of calls for people looking for local lodging who are unable to find it," said Deb Taylor, director of the Otsego County Tourism Department,echoing Renckens. "Frankly, I'm a little concerned about that." That said, she and Renckens are collaborating to see what might be done to ease the crunch. "This is a perfect opportunity for us as a community to put our best face forward to a huge public," she said. Idelson said planning for next year began Aug. 1, the day after Induction Weekend 2006 ended. "Every year you look at induction differently," he said. "You have the foot print, but you adjust." The bus count is "a barometer," he said. In 1995, for instance, there were 217 buses. "Once or twice a decade you catch lightning in a bottle," Idelson said, "and have players earn election who have widespread appeal, or incredible local interest." Nonetheless, there are variables. Weather and gas prices, for instance, can depress crowds. "This is going to be an evolving story," said Renckens. "We won't have our heads in the sand; we'll be looking down the road." Fly Creek Cider Mill Tantalizes  FLY CREEK Anthony Gentile of Wyckoff, N.J., and Tony Jr. were sampling the apple cranberry salsa the other morning at the Fly Creek Cider Mill. It was 10:30 a.m., and already there must have been 15-20 people milling around the store, sampling a variety of goodies. Are there places like this in Wyckoff? "In the mall," said Tony Jr. "Not a place like THIS," said the father. There was a place like THIS, Tice's Farm, near the family's New Jersey home, but it closed down 10 years ago, Anthony said, and it's missed. Although not in its present form, THIS has been around for 150 years, a milestone that will be celebrated from 6:30 to 10 p.m. this coming Wednesday, Aug. 16. The mill will be rededicated, there will be food and country music by the Night Riders, and all of the $10 fee will benefit Friends of Bassett Hospital’s fundraising drive for a new Mobile Cancer Screening Coach. (Children 12 and under get in free.) Now operated by a second-generation of Michaelses, Bill and wife Brenda, THIS goes back to entrepreneur Hosea Williams, who in 1866 centralized cider making by harnessing Fly Creek's waters to power a Boomer & Boschert hydraulic press and grinder. Instead of pressing their own apples, farmers could now bring apples from their own trees, watch the novel machinery, picnic by the pond, then draw off three gallons for every bushel delivered. In their cellars back home, they turned the sweet liquid into hard cider or apple wine. As time went on, Williams added a woodworking shop that made fancy scroll work evident on many local homes of that vintage. In the winter, he harvested ice from the pond, preserving it for sale the following summer. The cider mill's second owner, Linn Kane, took over as the 20th century dawned, and bought a two-cylinder gas-operated Waterloo Boy to grind the apples, making his operation less dependent on water power. Kane continued to innovated and the mill flourished until Prohibition, when hard-cider was outlawed. When Prohibition ended, beer -- produced far less expensively -- pushed cider aside. But Kane continued pressing apples until his mill was the only one left along Fly Creek. He closed it in the 1950s and it seemed destined to fade away. Then, in 1962, a couple of newlyweds from Cooperstown, Charlie and Barbara Michaels, bought the former miller's home that faces County Route 26. Charlie's grandfather had founded Michaels' Market in Cooperstown, his father had carried on the family business, but he wanted something else. The mill was ideal. Charlie planted the mill's first apple trees, the restarted the press. Barbara began selling artware and flower arrangements on the second floor. The couple then sold doughnuts and apple bread, then honey and maple syrup. It's a tradition that continues do this day, adding one product at a time, then another, then another... As Bill Michaels shows you around the property, he finds himself saying "this used to be ..." All the various building are now part of a sizeable establishment. Its sales are 60 percent food, 30 percent hardware (more and more, food-related hardware), and 10 percent food service. The ramp where farmers used to roll barrels into the mill is now part of the main store. A tool shed behind the main mill is now the food-vending area. One side of the pond is now lined by a boardwalk. Next year, a pavilion is planned. As Bill sits down to talk about his business, a duck quacks behind him and swans float serenely in the distance. "I grew up here and I've done every aspect of production," says the 40-ish red-head. "And it still seems like I do every aspect of production." Bill went to hospitality school at RIT and returned home to go into business for himself. He ran the Tunnicliff Inn on Pioneer Street for two years in the late '80s, then the Lakeview Motel from 1992 to 1998, when he rejoined his parents. Brenda, a graduate of Pratt Institute, had a graphics business -- in the early days of computer graphics, she had a studio above the Doubleday Cafe. She was soon helping out the elder Michaelses with newsletters and advertising and, soon after that, she and Bill married. (They now have two young children.) In 2000, about the time the young couple bought the business from the parents, Dreams Park's inexorable expansion allowed the mill to stay open during the summer. Previously, it had only operated during cider season. Today, the owners shut it down Christmas Day and reopen it May 1. Before Dreams Park, people came to see the National Baseball Hall of Fame or one of the museums and left the next day. Dreams Park keeps families in the area for a week, and after two or three days they discover what Bill calls "tier two attractions" like the cider mill. "I couldn't be open in the summer without Dreams Park," he said. Another boost came when Bill discovered the North American Farmers Direct Marketing Association, a group of folks who run places much like the cider mill. Before the annual convention -- most recently, in Vancouver -- attendees spend three days touring establishments like theirs, sampling wares and identifying products that would be good fits back home. This has allowed the cider mill to expand its offerings widely. On one shelf, under the "Fly Creek Cider Mill" label, there's a habanero garlic relish. On another, there's Jim Atwell's "From Fly Creek: Celebrating Life in Leatherstocking Country." There's a plate bearing "Recipe for a Happy Home"; it starts, "Begin with love and lots of caring." There's fudge. There are Yankee Candles. There are syrups and honey. The biggest sellers, said Bill, are the apple salsas the Gentiles were sampling -- hot, mild and apple cranberry; then jams and jellies; then the Vidalia Onion line. During Wednesday's ceremonies, the latest product will be unveiled: "cave-aged" sharp cheddar, provided by McAdam Cheese of Heuvelton and aged in Howe's Caverns near Cobleskill. Some 1,200 pounds will be available, sold only in Fly Creek and the Howe's Caverns gift shop. The Michaelses grow six acres of apple trees, 12,000 of them, producing 800 to 1,000 bushels a year, but that's only about 5 percent of their supply; they get the rest from Columbia County. That may seem like a lot of apples, but in cider manufacturing "we're a drop in the bucket," said Bill. The mill produces 20,000 gallons a year, but freezes 5,000 gallons to serve to customers over the following summer. Listening to Bill, he gets most animated when talking about, not the past, but the future. (The facts about the mill's history came, not from him, but from a handout prepared for the 150th celebration.) Bill and Brenda were "early adapters," launching their first Web site in 2001, but they discovered it was time consuming and, at the time, generated little business, so they dropped it. Next Wednesday, they will launch a next-generation Web site, allowing customers who have walked out of the store with a case of apple cranberry salsa under their arms to replenish their supply from afar. Cooperstown Schools Drop Lab, Music, Art Upgrades COOPERSTOWN The $5 million in capitol projects proposed by the Cooperstown Central school board is significant as much for what it leaves out as what it includes. Gone are all investments related to program improvement: Renovations to maximize use of computers in science labs and more space for art and instrumental instruction at the middle/high school, and the larger media center at the elementary school. The proposed capital project, which would probably go to referendum early next year, is focused on "improvements for health, safety and energy efficiency," said Superintendent of Schools Mary Jo McPhail. "The numbers may change," she added. Of the total, $2 million would be spent on the high school, $2.4 million on the elementary school, and $724,400 on the bus garage, for a total of $5,198,000. Specific items, as approved by the school board at a work session Tuesday, Aug. 1, range from replacing windows and doors to kitchen/serving modifications at the middle/high school, to upgrading boilers and installing a two-stop elevator for handicapped students in the elementary school. School board President Anthony C. Scalici said many of the improvements are focused on energy efficiency -- for instance, sensors that would ensure when rooms are vacant, the temperature would be allowed to drop. He estimated as much as $15,000 is savings in energy costs could be realized; more, if prices continue to rise. The scaled-back proposal came eight months after last December's defeat of a $19 million bond issue, which included $5 million for a new bus garage; that project was the most severely scaled-back in this new round. "We feel very good about the proposed project going out," said McPhail, "but we still are faced with a major dilemma as a school distirct and a community: We need to communicate about the program improvements we want to make available to our students in the 21st century. We do a good job, but we could do a much better job." The science lab proposals grew out of changes in the field in the past 30 years, primarily computerization, since the middle/high school was built. The music and art proposals resulted from space challenges. "Right now," said High School Principal Gary Kuch of the science proposals, "the computers are there, but they are separate." The idea would be to develop "state of the art" facilities such as "smart tablets" that double as "white boards" -- blackboards that are white -- and entry points to the Internet. Where digital cameras are available, teachers can demonstrate experiments so they can be seen throughout the classroom; now, students in the back sometimes miss the details. There's also a shortage of space, said Kuch. The higher-end microscopes helpful in teacher Advance Placement chemistry whould be nice to have, but "if we had it, we don't have a place to put it." Further, a science student would have a computer close at hand as he or she works on an experiment. All of this advanced equipment would not be acquired at once, but the idea is "making the room compatible for that sort of thing," the principal said. The music program is something of a victim of its success. Salvatore Salvaggio, who runs the program, said he had 65 choir students in all four grades when he joined the district 17 years ago. Today, he has 146, and has broken them into two choruses, for the two upper grades and two lower grades. "This is the largest group of choral students we've had," he said. The choral room, equipped with risers, has a capacity for 45 students; as many as 90 have been packed in there, Salvatore said. Instrumental instruction is no different: students practice in the halls; sometimes, sections the band, brass blaring, practice in the hall as well. The proposed renovations would have created practice rooms, according to the teacher. But that's not to be, at least for now. Asked if the school board was disappointed with the referendum results, Scalici said "to some degree. We have no argument whatsoever about people's financial concerns. Our interest was to create dialogue to the public, but it never really happened like that. "People were so taken back by the cost of what was being proposed that it just shut everything down," he said. McPhail said, "The clear message the board received from the most recent capital project defeat was that there appeared to be a strong support for health and safety items. There definitely were pockets of support for the various program aspects; but we did not get an impression of overall support." Given the narrower range of the capital program, Scalici said the school board may have to depend more on "Greatness in Our Sights," which has been moving along a parallel track, to push innovation in the classroom. That initiative will be officially launched at 3:15 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 13. "Those are all non-cost plans," said Scalici. "Not zero cost, but for the most part ways to innovate within the classroom walls. We're really hoping to get some interesting program improvements going along those lines." He pointed out the "Greatness" initiative is "essentially a public participation effort; not something being directed by the administration." Labels: Archives Thursday, August 10, 2006Local Photographer May Have Evidence of Mountain LionDEC: Photo Probably Shows Bobcat  HARTWICK - After years of hearsay and speculation, local biologists said this week that an animal photographed in the Town of Hartwick is a mountain lion. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation officials in Stamford said the animal in the picture looks more like a bobcat, but if it is a mountain lion, it would be the first proof of such an animal in Otsego County in more than a century. The man who snapped the photo said the sighting was almost an accident. "I was watching the evening news one night back in June, when I got up to get a glass of water," said a Town of Hartwick resident who asked to remain anonymous. "As I was doing so, I noticed a large animal moving through my back yard. I told my wife that there was a bobcat out back, and to grab the camera. She came around the corner with the camera and said, 'that's not a bobcat. That's a mountain lion.'" Although taken from a distance, the photograph shows what appears to be a large feline in tall grass, just off the edge of a residential property. Excited SUNY-Oneonta Biological Field Station officials said they agreed with the photographer's assessment. "The photograph presented to us appears to be of a mountain lion," said BFS Director Dr. Willard "Bill" Harman. "There's really nothing else that the image in the photograph looks like other than a mountain lion," said Assistant BFS Director Matt Albright after viewing the photo beneath a magnified screen. BFS officials went on to say that the mountain lion could have been an escaped captive, and that the only such animal they were aware of was at Lollypop Farm and Petting Zoo in Hartwick. The zoo, however, closed on December 31 of 2003, and the owners said the mountain lion they had in captivity died before that. "We used to have a mountain lion," they said, "but it died a year ago November of natural causes." Officials cautioned that doctored photographs claiming to show mountain lions circulate. According to Ed Weidner, owner of Cooperstown 1 Hour Photo, while digital photographs are often manipulated, it is "almost impossible" to alter 35 millimeter film, the method with which the Hartwick photo was taken. "When it's on a negative, you really can't doctor a negative," Weidner said. After carefully examining the negative in his West Beaver Street lab, Weidner said conclusively that the film had not been altered. While a picture may be worth a thousand words, several local residents have recently offered their own tales of mountain lion encounters. "I've been seeing mountain lions in a field off of County Route 33, across from Brewery Ommegang, for the last three years," said Cooperstown resident Kurt Terrano. "This past summer I was on my way home when I noticed something in a corn field. I stopped my truck and started backing up for a better look. What I saw was an adult mountain lion with a dead coyote pup in its mouth. I'm an avid hunter. I know the difference between a mountain lion, a bobcat, a wolf and a coyote." "People have been telling me for months about the mountain lions they keep seeing," said another Town of Hartwick resident who asked not to be identified. "Sightings have been growing in popularity. I saw the same photo the guys down at the BFS saw and I agree - the photo shows a mountain lion crouching in tall grass. I believe that the mountain lions that people are seeing were released by the DEC." Rumors suggesting that the DEC - in collaboration with the insurance industry - released mountain lions to keep down the white tailed deer population of Otsego County, and therefore the number of deer-related automobile accidents, abound. Duncan Davie, chief of staff for Republican State Senator James Seward of Milford - who serves as the chairman of the Senate's Standing Committee on Insurance- said Seward is aware of the accusation. "We've heard that," he said, "but I don't think we would put much stock in it. We have no view that there's any effort between the insurance industry and the DEC to reduce any kind if insurance claim." Bill Sharick, senior wildlife biologist for the DEC in Stamford, flatly denied that his agency has released the predatory cats. "The DEC did not release mountain lions to thin out the deer and coyote populations," said Sharick. "Mountain lions are, in fact, indigenous to the area, but there has been no documentation since 1890 to prove that they're in the area." A group of experienced DEC wildlife biologists convened in their Stamford offices Wednesday afternoon to examine the photograph. Although their opinions differed on what exactly the photo shows, Sharick said the animal is a cat, most likely a bobcat. One DEC official thought the photograph shows a deer. Another was convinced it is a bobcat, yet another leaned toward a mountain lion, while the majority thought the photo shows a bobcat, but could not be sure. "What I can tell you right now, looking at this picture, as best we can tell it's most likely a cat," Sharick said. "One person has no doubt in his mind it's a bobcat. Personally, I just cannot see enough definite features in the photograph to say definitely it's a mountain lion. To me, it looks like it has more bobcat features than mountain lion." The DEC officers digitally enhanced the photograph, Sharick explained, and tried to determine the most "reasonable" explanation for what it shows. Their analysis progressed from the most reasonable answer, a housecat, to the next most likely, a bobcat, and then on to the least reasonable, a mountain lion. They compared the photograph to mountain lion reference materials, as well as to a bobcat skin kept at their office. The DEC staffers said that what appears to be a white ear with a black tip on the far side of the cat's head is "very similar" to that of a bobcat. In their analysis, the cat's tail appears to be short, much like a bobcat's, and the head and neck are too small to be typical of a mountain lion. Sharick said the task of determining what sort of animal is in the photo was not easy. The high grass obscures many features, and because the animal appears to be turning, some of its features are contorted. "It's very difficult, and that's about all we really had to go on," Sharick said of the photographic evidence. "In terms of all the other pictures and videos we've had, this maybe looks more like a mountain lion." Reports of mountain lion sightings are common at the Stamford office, he said. In fact, it is rare that a week goes by without one, but Sharick has never seen definitive proof of a mountain lion. "After 30 years in this business, you've got to show me a body," he said. He said that with all the reports of lions in the area, he would expect to have seen a carcass by now if the cats were living in upstate New York. "It's very, very strange that somebody hasn't hit one with a car or shot one if they're here," Sharick said. He said that psychological reports have been published examining why people throughout the northeast continue to see mountain lions, but no hard evidence exists. "This is one of the oddest situations in modern wildlife science," he said. "It's not just in Hartwick and Milford and Cooperstown, it's all over." Sharick said that he has been told for years that residents believe the DEC is collaborating with the insurance industry, and that if a mountain lion was shot, it would not be reported for fear of reprisal. "I just don't know what to say to those folks anymore," he said. "I wouldn't want to have people, if they do think they see something, or if they shoot something, not report it - because who knows? Bring it to me first, because I want to be the first wildlife biologist in New York to report it." While the DEC analysis pointed officials away from the possibility that the local photographer captured a mountain lion on film, Sharick could not conclusively rule out a mountain lion. "These continual sightings that come to us with no definite proof, it's a strange thing," he said. "But you never know, odd things do happen in the world of wildlife." Chris Lott contributed to this report. Photo provided: A Hartwick resident photographed what some experts believe is a mountain lion in his back yard this summer. Labels: mountain lion
Subscribe to Posts [Atom] |
|
 |
