What the Frack?Battalions of Halliburton clones may soon

be tearing up the Catskills to get at stubborn seams of trapped ‘natural’ gas

A professional election inspector assesses the impact of the new electronic voting machines

ChroniC BECAUSE SOMEBODY’S GOT TO DO IT vOlUME 3, nO. 2 • JUlY 2010 On ThE WEB AT hvChrOnIC.COM

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Show and Tell

Burlesque rises again as New Paltz-based troupe takes to the boards

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‘Your Vote Has Been Optically Scanned (Beep.) Next’

This September, just in time for our two home-grown state governor hopefuls Joel Tyner and Andi Weiss Bartczak to do primary battle

with each other and Andrew Cuomo should they get enough signatures, scores of new ImageCast elec-tronic optical-scanning voting machines will sit in

An Internet promo for HBO’s “GasLand” documentary, which along with the continuing BP oil disaster is shaking lapsed environmentalists out of a decades-long torpor.

The Magnificent 11Can anyone beat The Steamroller, Part II?A bevy of challengers from across the visible, geographic and political spectrum, including two progressives

from the Mid-Hudson Valley, take a look in the mirror and say: ‘Why not me?’

Continued on Page 6

Top row: NY State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (with his dad, former Gov. Mario Cuomo) is flanked by his hopeful primary challegers, Dutchess County Legislator Joel Tyner (top left) and Andi Weiss Bartczak (to Mario’s right). At top right is Guilderland attorney Warren Redlich, the Libertarian Party nominee. Middle row, left to right: Eliot Spitzer’s former madam, Kirsten Davis, who has formed the “Personal Freedom Party”; former congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Rick Lazio is the GOP nominee; Buffalo developer and Tea Party hopeful Carl Paladino is also trying to bump Lazio in a primary. Bottom row, left to right: Green/Socialist nominee Howie Hawkins; Brooklyn Councilman Charles Barron, who has severed ties with the Democrats and started the new “Freedom Party”; Constitution Party candidate Jan Johnson; and Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, who lost the GOP convention nod to Lazio. See story on page 8.

INSIDE: Seeger Talks Gay Rights!

Guerilla Radio in Hudson! Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Poetry!

Oppositional Defiance in Kingston! Maps, Graphs and

Other Helpful Visual Aids!No Sudoku!

As fossil fuel resources within the planet dwin-dle from extreme over-mining, we are being presented with a frightening prospect for the

near future. Like a benzene-crazed junkie wielding a poison-tipped dagger, the gas drilling industry is poised to lunge wildly at the western flank of this region, part of an ancient Appalachian fossil forma-tion called the Marcellus Shale deposit. Drilling has already begun, fouling large swathes of land and groundwater in the hunt for what is estimated by a Fredonia State College professor to be more than 500 trillion cubic feet of CH4 methane, the highly combustible gaseous remains of our marine ances-tors, trapped in tiny crevices in the ancient rock.

In New York State, all the dying and desperate fossil fuel cabal needs is the go-ahead from a frac-tious and self-defeating state government that last fall rushed through a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) that seemed to ignore concerns about the contamination of New York City’s water-shed. According to Celeste Katz of the New York Daily News, insiders say the EIS “was rocketed through the process thanks to pressure from high up in the Paterson administration. [The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)]’s mining division sent its 804-page draft to all the other divisions on a Thursday and Friday, and asked for comments by Monday.” Still the state DEC managed to put the drilling on hold tempo-rarily, and is currently wading through more than 14,000 comments on both sides of the issue in antici-pation of making a decision on the rules drillers will have to abide by. Meanwhile the industry’s high-paid lobbyists are pushing hard for the unfettered expan-sion of drilling in the state, because the gluttonous U.S. market is literally drying up and prices are ex-pected to rise through the roof.

Drillers stand to make trillions in relatively easy, risk-free profit while potentially contaminating much of the watershed beneath the Allegheny Plateau and the western Catskills. The contamination will come as a major side effect of “hydrofracking,” or hydro-fracturing, a blunt-force technique that uses copi-ous amounts of water, sand, untested chemicals and drilling mud to fracture the deep shale deposits and eke out the natural gas trapped within them.

The process is a chemically tainted catastrophe-in-waiting for regional water aquifers and natural habitats. Scientists and local landowners fear that thousands of small water sources, including many subterranean aquifers in New York State, will be tapped to support the drilling industry, legally or il-legally. The concern is that lots of small withdrawals will have a large impact. The water supply needed for drilling a single “frack event” can be up to one to two million gallons of water, and a horizontal well can use more than twice that amount. That’s right, it would be the local environment in which the drill-ing takes place that would supply the water, causing

By Jane Doe

Ulster County Deputy Election Commissioner Jay Mahler checks the ImageCast tape after a spate of practice voting.

By Ann Hutton

89 Ulster County polling places, awaiting the decisions of voters. They’ll be there again in November for the general elec-tion, and won’t be going away for a very long time. Some people will be surprised and confused, and some of them will be angry and upset that the county’s trusty old AVM lever machines won’t be record-ing their votes with the familiar mechani-cal “clank-zip” and the ritual opening of the curtain.

In my humble opinion, however, devel-oped through years of dealing with the old machines and many months watching the new process develop, voters needn’t wor-ry. It’ll be all right, and if you happen to mark a slip choosing “Joel Tyner,” he’ll get your vote.

A long time comingWay back in 2002, the Help America

Vote Act (HAVA) went into effect, pro-viding funds to states to replace mechani-cal voting systems and establishing mini-mum elections administration standards for federal elections. It came as a surprise

to many of us that such standards were not already in place, and certainly the contentious presidential election of 2000 focused national awareness on prob-lems with mechanical voting systems. The “hanging chads” of incompletely punched holes invalidated many votes, and in other cases poorly designed bal-

Page 2 • JULY 2010 The Hudson Valley

ChroniC

Editor & PublisherSteve Hopkins

Associate Publisher EmeritusPaul Joffe

ContributorsJay Blotcher, Jennifer Brizzi

Jane Doe, Molly Maeve EaganAnn Hutton, Harry Seitz

Bryan Bopp

Advertisinginfo@hvchronic.com

Steve Hopkins

Contact us at:phone 914-388-8670fax 866-800-4062steve@hvchronic.com

PhotographyPaul Joffe

Fionn ReillyAndy Uzzle

Steve Hopkins

The Hudson Valley ChronicPO Box 709

Pleasant Valley, NY 12569

CHRONICThe Hudson Valley

MomijiMomijiSushi & Hibachi Steak House

43 East Market Street (In the brick alley next to Bread Alone)

In the heart of the Village of Rhinebeck845-876-5555

My (non)-interview with Pete Seeger on gay and lesbian rights

Back in 2004, I took part in a protest against the GOP Convention in NYC. As the march neared Madison Square Garden, I noticed

legendary activist Pete Seeger marching nearby. Thrilled, I asked him to pose for a photo with me and my pal David Cohen. Soon afterwards, I hatched the idea of interviewing Seeger about gay and lesbian people in the Civil Rights movement. (I had never seen this topic addressed by him before.)

By now, I lived in the Mid-Hudson Valley. I would see Seeger in passing every now and then. (I greeted him at a Ladysmith Black Mombazo concert and again thanked him for his humanitarian work.) But I was reluctant to approach him on the subject of an interview. I did, however, review the 2008 PBS film about him, The Power of Song, as well as two Seeger biographies in 2009, for Chronogram magazine. This revived my dream of one day interviewing him.

That dream finally came within reach last year, when I met a co-worker of at The Culinary Institute of America named Andra Sramek. I learned she was very close to Seeger. (He had been best man at her

wedding.) Andra kindly offered to pass on my request for an interview on gay and lesbian politics, which she brought to Seeger during Thanksgiving at the Seeger homestead in Beacon.

It was six months before I heard from Seeger. He left a message on my answering machine and invited me to meet him in Beacon on May 7 for an interview at the combination Clearwater meeting and hoote-nanny. My wish was finally coming to fruition.

From the text that follows, however, you will see that Seeger had little awareness of gay and lesbian issues. It was to be expected; political scholars ac-knowledge that for all of its far-reaching agenda, the Left of the ’60s had overlooked gay and lesbian people in its campaigns for social justice. Seeger was, alas, just part of that zeitgeist.

My purpose in sharing this interview is not to pil-lory Seeger, but to simply drive home the sobering re-alization that even our allies had a blind spot to the gay and lesbian struggle. To avoid any unintentional editorializing that might come from editing, I here-with include the interview verbatim.

By Jay Blotcher

.

JAY BLOTCHER: Thank you for allowing me this time with you. The questions are about the gay and lesbian political movement.

PETE SEEGER: The what?

BLOTCHER: The gay and lesbian people in the civil rights movement.

SEEGER: I don’t know much about it.

BLOTCHER: Well, did you have friends in the movement who were gay and lesbian?

SEEGER: I wasn’t conscious of it.

BLOTCHER: Did you know that Bayard Rustin was a gay man?

SEEGER: Yes, that I heard. I’d read.

BLOTCHER: Right. But he had never discussed anything like that with you?

SEEGER: I never discussed anything with him. I didn’t know him that well.

BLOTCHER: Oh, okay. Okay. The subject of my questions are the fact that whereas the Left em-braced the downtrodden, the poor, the — you know – maligned, for some reason there was a — that kind-ness and that support was not extended to gay and lesbian people. And it’s just a puzzlement as to why that was. And I was wondering if you were aware of gay and lesbian people who had their rights trun-cated -– who had troubles just living their lives.

SEEGER: No proof. No proof at all. My guess is lead-ers of the Communist Party, when they laid down the rules, said that, ‘We will concentrate on the working class’ and not on the general subjects such as sexual liberation. They were slow to admit women. I mean, most of the Communist leaders — Elizabeth Gurley claims the exception that proves the rule. Mother Jones was another exception. Lenin, possibly Stalin, they all assumed that women would support the men who would win the revolution.

BLOTCHER: But there was a sexism in there as well, right?

SEEGER: I have no proof, but I suspect that’s right.

BLOTCHER: The gay and lesbian people in your life, did they talk to you about the hardships that they faced as second-class citizens?

SEEGER: No. I can’t remember once ever having a discussion on this subject.

BLOTCHER: Wow.

SEEGER: At age 10, one of the boys in my school said, Don’t you wish you had been born a girl? I said, No. And he never brought up the subject again.

BLOTCHER: There was a priest named Grant Gallup ...

SEEGER: Grant who?

BLOTCHER: Grant Gallup ...

SEEGER: How do you spell it?

BLOTCHER: … G-R-A-N-T G-A-L-L-U-P, who went down South to work with Dr. King. And he said that many of the priests who worked with Dr. King were gay. But, you know, there seemed to be a block against gay people in the Civil Rights move-

ment that, you know, they remained closeted even as they were marching to Selma, even as they were doing the work for all.

SEEGER: Hmphh. I was aware that among Native Americans a man who was gay lived in the teepee which he had and was supposed to have extra tal-ents, because he could know what men do and he know what men wouldn’t do.

BLOTCHER: They’re called alternatively berdache or two-spirit.

SEEGER: Yeah. I forget where I read that, but ...

BLOTCHER: Now, you’ve worked with [singer] Holly Near who did her work for gay and lesbian rights. You’re close to [singer] Bernice Johnson Reagon, whose daughter is named for your wife. And she was a lesbian — she’s a lesbian. But there was never any discussion about how they coped with persecution in the United States for being gay or les-bian? Sometimes it is confounding. For instance, in the 1950s, the ACLU supported the ban on gays working for the federal government. The ACLU! So, it’s rather surprising sometimes that the most enlightened part of our country, that the Left, they too were not fighting for the rights of gay and lesbian people. So anyway, that was just the gist of what I wanted to talk to you about, whether you happened to know any gay or lesbian people and whether ... For instance, when the Stonewall Riots happened in 1969, did that have an impact on you? Did it pique your curiosity as to what ...

SEEGER: Like many people, it was an education for me.

BLOTCHER: Right.

SEEGER: But my guess is that if there’s a human race still here in a hundred years — which is a toss-up, as you know; I say there’s a 50-50 chance — I would like to see all these various movements find ways to talk to each other. One of the big mistakes of Socialists and Communists is not talking to each other. In Germany, if Socialists and Communists talked to each other, Hitler would then have never come to power. In the election, Socialists had 30% of the votes, Communists had 25% of the votes, Hitler had 33% of the votes. So he took over. But if they worked together, they would have had 55% of the votes. And in this very, very dan-gerous period which we are in now, I would like to see gays and non-gays talking to each other, as well as Socialists and Communists and people that think that free enterprise is what should be supported all over. Although often words fool us. We think we know what we mean by a word like Socialism. Or we think we even know a word “gay”. I’m sure there are different kinds of gays. I think we all need to learn. I doubt I know, for example, to what extent homosexual men and homosexual women talk to each other.

BLOTCHER: Yes, that remains a problem, certain-ly. Do you have any thoughts for this recent push for gay people’s right to marry?

SEEGER: Oh, I think it’s fascinating. I look for-ward to every state in the union –- maybe except one [laughs], maybe except Sarah Palin’s Alaska -– al-lowing gays to marry. And to raise families. What’s your time now?

BLOTCHER: It is now ...

SEEGER: It must be about 7, isn’t it?

BLOTCHER: It is 7:01. So anyway, I want to thank you very much. I just thought I’d ask you that ques-tion. I wasn’t sure whether you had any background in it, but I thought I’d go for it anyway. Unfortunate-ly, history does show that even the Left had a blind spot when it came to upholding the rights of gays and lesbians. Either they were blocked, or they were not interested. Unfortunately, they fell in lockstep with everyone else who felt that gays and lesbians should be demonized or shouldn’t have the same rights as other people. Well, anyway, thank you very much.

[Conversation occurs off tape; tape recorder turned on again]

BLOTCHER: Well, perhaps that ignorance comes because people did not confide in you back then when they were living their secret lives. Because to be a gay and lesbian person meant you were vulner-able to being thrown out of your job, thrown out of your house if your landlord didn’t like you. There were no rights -– there were literally no rights.

PETE SEEGER: Yeah.

BLOTCHER: So perhaps they felt very vulnerable and didn’t feel they could confide.

JULY 2010 • Page 3The Hudson Valley

ChroniC

Radio HeadsWGXC, Columbia/Greene’s new FM upstart, is really cool and needs your help!

The 2010 Poughkeepsie Main Street

Farmers’ Market is back!

Fridays from 10 am to 3 pm, June to October

Fresh, locally grown vegetables and fruits.

Ethnic food court, music, special events and entertainment.

http://farmproject.org/content/farmers-market

In funky Mural Park on Main Street, 1/2 block east of Market Street

For info and updates, visit

The City of Hudson is brimming with new and exciting initiatives, not the least of which is WGXC: Hands-on Radio, a

f ledgling, soon to be full-power, 3,300-watt com-munity-run radio station. Having obtained the rights to broadcast on 90.7-FM, the station is a potential powerhouse whose founders — in par-ticular executive director Galen Joseph-Hunter, her program director/husband Tom Roe, and their studio manager, Kaya Weidman — under-stand the healing power of cognitive dissonance. You’ll find no bland, one-note programming here. These media pioneers are re-imagining radio as an innovative, determinedly inclusive platform for local participation from all walks of life and points of view.

An audio soul mate for the visual Chronic, WGXC is intended to be an on-air agora in which individuals with different and even con-f licting points of view can come together to share perspectives and feed off each other, cre-ating tension, drama and, hopefully, enhanced understanding.

A planned “barn raising” the weekend of Sep-tember 24-26 is being organized with the help of the Prometheus Radio Project, a national group that normally specializes in aiding much smaller stations with tiny, 100-watt transmitters. “This is the first such event, however, that will involve setting up a full power station — 3,300 watts,” gushed the Prometheus PR department. “This new station will be uniquely decentralized with three main studios spread out across the listen-ing range, allowing broader participation from residents of … Greene and Columbia counties.” Indeed, the signal will be strong enough to reach upwards of 78,000 fortunate listeners in those counties. Drawing on the Hudson/Catskill re-gion’s eclectic mix of artists, writers, musicians, visionaries and deep thinkers, the noncom-mercial, 24-hour station is the main project of a nonprofit arts organization — free103point9

— which will be holding special exhibitions and events, performing media training for the com-munity’s youth and adults, and maintaining a news blog and a local calendar of events, meet-ings, and other resources. Like the Chronic, the station hopes to fill the yawning alternative me-dia void with programming that once was the province of daily and weekly newspapers. We wish them luck and success …

Give, give, give!… Oh, wait. Success is not guaranteed — in

fact, it is in serious jeopardy and there’s an ex-treme sense of urgency, so please try and pay attention. Presumed beneficiaries of a $71,000 grant from the U.S. Commerce Dept. to acquire the sort of big-ticket equipment needed to run a 3,300-watt radio station — transmitter, antenna and other stuff — WGXC will get nothing un-less it raises another $71,000. That’s right, it’s a matching grant, with an expiration date of, let’s see, right now!

They’ve raised what under other circumstanc-es would be a healthy $41,000, but are 30 grand short, with just about no time left. They hope to raise much of this figure through underwriting, letting local businesses support community radio in exchange for on-air announcements about that support. So if you run a local business and think you could benefit by underwriting on WGXC, please go to http://www.wgxc.org/underwriting.

And if you’re not a potential underwriter and just want to help out, you can become a Founding Member, receive special rights and have a real say in how WGXC sounds. The impact all of our ac-tions and efforts will have on the future of this re-gion is monumental. So get with the program and give it up. Go to http://www.wgxc.org/, and click on “Donations” or “Membership” for more informa-tion about how you can help bring community ra-dio to Greene and Columbia counties.

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What the Frack? From Page 1

A drilling opponent makes his sentiments known at a recent rally in front of DEC Region 3 offices in New Paltz.

water shortages and potential full-scale contamina-tions to local aquifers and habitats for humans and animals. The number of potential “frack event” sites in the New York Marcellus shale is in the thousands; leasing applications are on an exponential rise, and the plan for expansion could very well thrash and contaminate much of the state’s watershed. Yet the most disturbing consequence of hydro-fracking is not the quantity of the watershed left behind, but the quality of the water.

According to the federal Department of Environ-mental Protection (EPA), the one consistent prob-lem that accompanies “frack event” sites is surface spillage and the resultant contamination. The by-product of this drilling technique is called “produced water.” According to the EPA, produced water is an industrial waste product that is among the most hazardous substances attributable to the fossil fuels industry. There is a double whammy with produced water: the drilling process introduces into the envi-ronment toxic chemicals like diesel fuel, methanol, hydrochloric acid, formaldehyde, cadmium, arsenic, and heavy metals such as mercury, copper and lead; not to mention hydrocarbons and hydrogen sulfide. In addition we have to be prepared for the release of radioactive materials from within the Marcellus shale. There are many more chemicals used in the drilling process that are undisclosed to the public and environmental institutions due to the out-of-date regulations regarding natural gas drilling and the industry’s position that these chemicals are trade secrets.

Sorry boys, not this time. These regulations need to be updated and in place immediately.

As of now the situation is stacked in favor of the energy companies. Thanks to Dick Cheney and the Bush administration’s energy policy in 2005, the gas and oil industry is currently exempt from environ-mental laws that were put in place to protect the pub-lic — laws that if heeded would most certainly have shut this industry down. This egregious dereliction of responsibility is called the “Halliburton loophole,” and allows the toxic, rapacious campaign of gas and oil drilling companies to flourish unchecked.

Drilling proponents also point to the economic “benefits” outweighing petty environmental con-cerns. Indeed, the act of paying landowners hand-somely for leasing rights looks attractive in a drag-ging economy, particularly to the Tea Party faction. The state will also benefit from the taxable income

on all sides of the project — and let’s face it, New York is broke. The state has cut funding to the very organization that would be in charge of the oversight of these “frack event” sites. The state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Region 3 office in New Paltz doesn’t even have the staff to sort through the citizen comments of the proposed drilling plans; how can they be expected to monitor and uphold the regulations for protection against environmental impact? Oh wait, that’s right, there are no strict updated regulations in place for natu-ral gas drilling. The companies are not required to disclose all the chemicals they use in the process, which should absolutely, in a sane universe, be 100 percent public knowledge. This is our local habitat, our environment, and we deserve to know what is going into it.

Of course, we also have to be aware of the poten-tial emergence of produced water and deposited ele-ments within the Marcellus shale that are harmful to the human body and to the environment. Accord-ing to the Shale Gas Report written by Lisa Sumi for the Oil & Gas Accountability Project, which fo-cused on the Marcellus shale:

“Subsurface formations may contain low levels of radioactive materials such as uranium and tho-rium and their daughter products, radium 226 and radium 228. Shale may con-tain radioactive elements. For example, in Ohio, natu-rally occur-ring radioac-tive material (NORM) typi-cally appears in trace amounts throughout the state. In Ohio, radio-active material is found not only within shale, but also within glacially deposited granitic and metamorphic rocks. Oth-er Devonian-age shale has enough radioactive ma-terial to have been considered as potential low-grade resources of uranium 88 The Marcellus is consid-ered to be ‘highly radioactive’ shale.”

As everyone who doesn’t live under a rock knows these days, spills are an all-too-frequent conse-quence of the environmentally unfriendly fossil fu-els drilling industry. Directly on the heels of the BP oil disaster, this new wave of drilling in our corner of the country has already pissed toxic industrial waste all over the landscape in Pennsylvania. According to Anya Litvak of the Pittsburgh Business Times:

“On June 3, a blowout at a Marcellus Shale well owned by EOG Resources spewed at least 35,000 gallons of wastewater for 16 hours. EOG, formerly known as Enron Oil & Gas Co., was subsequently banned from drilling and stimulating wells until [Pennsylvania] state Department of Environmental Protection investigators give it approval to resume.” So already in this young drilling bonanza we’ve seen the potential for catastrophe in a local environment from a single well. What will happen when we have thousands of wells pin-cushioning New York State? The answer is simple: we will undoubtedly have

more spills, and more toxic industrial waste will be spewed into our environment that will make its way into our water supply. It should be re-emphasized that the company responsible for the Pennsylvania disaster is EOG, formerly Enron. Let me be clear folks, they have only changed their corporate brand; they still look, smell, and taste the same. Even when not being blasted all over the map in a blowout, the “produced water,” as it is so lovingly called by the in-dustry, is a major issue: only 60 percent of the water is returned from each well, meaning 40 percent of the chemically-enhanced industrial waste is seeping into the ground. As for the produced water that does get collected, the noxious stew is placed in an open-air evaporation pit, allowing all those toxic chemi-cals to be introduced into the air.

In my opinion this is the most pressing issue facing our state at this moment. We may be broke, educa-tion may failing, and people may be unhealthy with little option for health care outside of the emergency room, but if we set the precedent for environmen-tal regulation of this industry or acquire an outright ban of their activities, it will be a major victory for the real change this country needs to experience in

order to be a republic of, for, and by the people. Corporatism can no lon-

ger be allowed to rule our nation. The one char-

acteristic large cor-porations all seem

to share is that they lie, cheat, and steal to further their growth; they are con-cerned with the bottom

line, not envi-ronmental im-

pacts that have occurred and will

again. The push for alternative fuels is

on and it needs support, from you the local citizenry,

and from a state and federal govern-ment that must pull their grime-ridden hands from the corporate cookie jar. We must not be hesitant or cynical; we must push our demands to the forefront and be heard. Local community and environmental welfare are more important than corporate profits.

Look at what industrial corporate manufacturing has given us in terms of our food and energy supplies. The factory food industry has given us a sickeningly tainted food supply loaded with chemicals and addi-tives that are not currently required to be on labels so the public can be informed about what they are eating. All the while, we see commercials and print ads with images of the family farm producing “home-style” goodness for you to eat. The reality behind the image is one of unprecedented filth and vileness, which is chemically “cleaned” before it goes to mar-ket. The energy supply industry has lobbied Con-gress with tens, if not hundreds of millions, of dollars to suppress alternative fuel production and continue to expand their rape of the environment. The game may be rigged and the chips stacked against us, but we cannot let this go on; we can change the scenario through community action by all of us standing up and protesting, signing petitions, and making calls

Another typical “ fracking event” takes shape in a clear-cut swath of deciduous Northeastern forest.

The photo above, courtesy of the Maryland Geological Sur-vey, was presented on a pro-drilling website, accompanied by a a caption that states: “Appearance of a producing gas well in Allegany County, Maryland, showing limited envi-ronmental impact (about the same as home construction).” The photo below shows a more reasonable wide-angle view of a well’s impact.

JULY 2010 • Page 5The Hudson Valley

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to the local political leaders urging them to halt the drilling until we have a complete, in-dependent review of all the environmental im-pacts that have already resulted and could pos-sibly result from this process. The opposition seems to believe that any intrusion into the earth’s crust or waiting evaporation pit full of highly toxic industrial waste water is an iso-lated event within the biosphere, carrying ac-ceptable risks that can be mitigated and fixed by some other toxic pro-cess we don’t need to come into our lives.

I will remind them that the natural order of the

biosphere is symbiotic harmony that is con-nected across the spec-trum, involving a mul-titude of interwoven relationships that all have an effect on one another. There is poten-tial for massive harm to our natural ground-water supply, which will then affect the en-tire ecosystem. Water is life’s most abundant component, and every living thing will be af-fected by its contamina-tion. I urge you to follow this issue, do some re-search on it, and know the environmental facts about hydro-fracturing.

I urge the state of New York to demand no less of this industry, and to check every fact from every

previous contaminating event under their watch. The public demands to be informed.We cannot be ignored, nor will we be the guinea pigs for un-tested chemicals introduced into our environment. Give us the information first, and then we’ll talk.

Such were the demands from a group of concerned citizens that attended a gathering in front of the state Depart-ment of Environmental Conservation Region 3 office in New Paltz on Tues-day, June 15. The questions we have are valid and painfully needed. There are more and more of us asking them.

DEC gatherings like this hap-pened across the state, with support from local environmental groups like Clearwater. The speakers were well-versed on the issue and laid out the problems effectively. The major issue they are having is with the environ-mental impact statement (EIS) that the DEC issued last fall, which has been determined to be “fatally flawed and highly inadequate to deal with the impacts of hydro-fracturing.” The primary concern, other than toxic in-dustrial wastewater, is that the EIS document contained no comprehen-

sive water consumption analysis for the inevitable millions of gallons of water that will be needed for all of the drill sites. Again, there is no estimate as to the impact to human or wildlife communities as a result of the water consumption! This is something we need to know. What happens to the highly toxic produced water? Where is it deposited or transported to? What are the chemicals used in the process that are hidden behind the corporate veil of “trade secrets?” I repeat: These are the things we need to know. The informa-tion on this is not a hot topic in the media for a rea-son. I believe when people discover the facts they will stand up against this, but when opinions are plugged into mainstream television they are difficult to reach. Follow this issue and tell your friends. I will continue to explore every twist and turn it takes in the coming months — someone has to.

The limited quality and capability of the local media to get this story out to the public, along with the deafening silence from mainstream corporate media, means that in the meantime people are busy being distracted by those same sensationalist corpo-rate media manipulators, the F.allacious O.rating X.enophobes and the C.ertified N.itwit N.etwork, along with ABC, CBS, NBC and other pawns of industry. Combined they are a hydra-headed Fran-kenstein monster that willfully manufactures public opinion. Because, let’s face it, that is their game now. Nonetheless, a group of citizens managed to buck the tide, gathering to make the DEC aware of grow-ing public concern over regulation and oversight of the drilling sites. The group leader called Governor Paterson’s office to make our collective voice heard. The very courteous assistant to the governor lis-tened intently while making note of our concerns for the boss. Calls went out to Albany from all over the state, both to the Governor’s office and to the DEC, which is aware we are out here. The capability to monitor and oversee all aspects of drilling and dis-posal of wastewater, while being vastly under-fund-ed, is the crucial issue being exploited by the fossil fuel industry at this very moment. We do not have to allow it to happen. We can make communities important again, learn to conserve and live locally within our means. We can change the way business is done, in New York State and the United States. Become the change you want to see.

(Editor’s note: ‘Jane Doe’ is the freely chosen pseud-onym for a pretty well known individual who leads a double life.)

This recent blowout of a Pennsylvania gas well owned by EOG Resources (Enron!) resulted in the gushing of at least 35,000 gallons of toxified wastewater onto the ground over 16 hours.

The Marcellus Shale formation in New York (within the dark gray line above; the smaller, lighter gray line denotes Catskill Park) extends east-ward nearly to Woodstock and Saugerties in Ulster County, and up as far as the Helderberg Escarpment near Albany. It encompasses all or nearly all of cash-poor Sullivan, Delaware, Schoharie and Otsego counties, as well as most of the Southern Tier west to Erie and Chautauqua counties.

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On top of the world the man in chargeAnnounces he “wants his life back”BP man, as big as my heart may beIt does not bleed for youDoes not concede nor understand whereYour comfort matters at all!

Your billion dollar profit margin – not enoughYour promises of safe and secure – not enoughYour blaming and crying, pointing the finger – not enough to save the world…

The world within our worldOur galaxy of lifeThe life from which all life has comeMysteries and answers barely understoodTapped like a keg at your gigantic frat partyBut not foam soiling the carpet of your dorm

The filthy mess of manSpewing into the mouths of fishMouths of a million birdsThe mouths of teams of whales

Ask Louisiana if they care for how you sleep?Ask the endless beachesThe fishing towns and familiesAsk the earth Herself if perhaps she needed Her oil for something elseSomething greater than my car

Maybe there is a plan beyond your diagram To lubricate the plates on which we standMaybe it’s all supposed to be… Beneath the sea Beneath the crust Within the world within worlds beyond our understanding

Try as I might The bloody sight of blackness spreading wideWith no end in view The silence cries of life snuffed outNo, my heart does not bleed for you

—Maureen Winzig 5/31/10

Poetry NicheBritish Petroleum

Page 6 • JULY 2010 The Hudson Valley

ChroniC

... to the ridiculous

Voting machines From Page 1

lots caused votes to be marked mistakenly.But change came slowly, especially in New York

State, the last in the nation to comply with HAVA, and only then in response to a federal court order. “The process has changed dramatically since the HAVA,” says Ulster County’s Republican Elections Commissioner Tom Turco. “We are in the midst of rolling out 120-plus new voting systems this year, the full replacement of lever machines having been mandated by a federal judge with a deadline of Sep-tember 2010. There was no way to make 50 states conform to one voting statute, so Congress proceed-ed with voting machines because of the controversy in Florida — and found that’s as far as they could go.”

Turco is referring to the fact that although Con-gress originally intended to standardize elections procedures nationwide, it became apparent that such an act would infringe on states’ election laws. Instead, it was decided that these minimum stan-dards would best be attained through mandating that states implement new voting systems. The states have had eight years to purchase and begin using machinery that meets certain basic require-ments: that voters have the opportunity to change the ballot or correct any error before their vote is cast and counted, and that the new machines pro-duce a permanent paper record with a manual audit capacity for election verification.

Turco explains that the original push was to go to all-electronic machines with no paper involved. But

realizing the potential for computer hacking and vi-ruses, the necessity for a paper ballot re-emerged. If an election is close — within .5 to 1 percent apart — then a hand count is demanded for certification of an office.

Getting to know youHAVA also provided funds for states to improve

voting access for individuals with disabilities in a manner that gives them the same privacy and in-dependence that non-disabled voters have. If you’ve exercised your right to cast a ballot in recent Ulster County elections, you might have seen the new bal-lot-marking device standing next to those familiar AVM lever machines. Previously, sight-impaired voters were dependent on election inspectors to help them mark their ballots, literally being escorted be-hind the curtain in bipartisan support to get the job done. The new ImageCast ballot-marking device of-fers audio and tactile interfaces that allow voters to complete their own ballots. Also, a “Sip-N-Puff” or paddle device allows voters with limited hand dex-terity to mark their ballots independently. Doing so takes a little more time and requires the voter (and those bipartisan election inspectors) to follow simple instructions. Any kid could figure it out.

Still, many of us resist change, even when such changes might result in greater efficiency and ac-countability. Those ominous black boxes have fairly lurked at polling places, threatening citizens — vot-ers and poll workers alike — with adjustments they aren’t sure they want to make. The old why-fix-it-if-it-ain’t-broke mentality prevails, especially since the questionable results of a presidential election didn’t hang by our local chads. And many of us who work the polls have been doing the job for decades and are naturally leery of unfamiliar machinery that in-volves computerized procedures, optical scanners, electronic printouts and such.

The old AVMs have not operated without their challenges, however. The machines are practically antiques, prone to having parts that stick and even-

tually break down with no original manufacturer in existence to turn to for repairs. More often than some poll workers care to remember (this writer included), the levers have gotten stuck or the paper on which the mechanical-ly tallied results appear has jammed or is practically illegible, causing the en-tire voting procedure in that polling place to be stalled, albeit temporarily. And there’s also the matter of no paper trail to audit, should a hand count be necessary.

Election inspectors, who are tra-ditionally recommended by party chairs or town clerks, undergo annual training sessions to keep up-to-date on procedures. Turco says the Board of Elections might advertise in local newspapers if positions at various poll-ing places become available. Turnover is slow — it’s a paid position, after all — but the board is always on the lookout for qualified people to serve as election inspectors. When the ballot-marking device was introduced three years ago, many longtime inspectors expressed doubts about being able to

continue working at the polls. “Many were already petrified from what they’d heard,” says Tur-co. “Every year we’d say ‘We’re not going to be using the lever ma-chines next year,’ and they’d say ‘I’m not com-ing back.’ But they have warmed up a bit, and we definitely don’t want to lose people who know their voters and are fa-miliar with the districts. We’ve trained on the toughest challenge of this new machine [the ballot-marking device for disabled voters], and don’t expect any issues with the machines.”

Keeping it simpleTurco and his Demo-

cratic Party counter-part, Commissioner Kathleen Carey Mihm, along with their depu-ties, have been hard at work developing pro-cesses simple enough for all of us to comprehend and implement. The new ImageCast vot-ing machines are being rolled out as we speak, bringing us into compli-ance with HAVA’s Pub-lic Law 107-252 and all its provisions for greater voter independence and accuracy. Voters will

sign the poll books as usual, then will be given paper ballots to mark at a private station and directed how to insert their ballot into the electronic optical scan-ning machine. The optical scanner is programmed to alert the voter if he or she has inadvertently marked two names for one position, and up to three opportu-nities to correct the ballot is offered in such a circum-stance. The paper ballots remain in the machine’s locked housing, to be retained for auditing should an election result be contested. Meanwhile, the optically scanned votes are tallied on a program that spits out totals on a strip of paper at the end of the long day. The process has been streamlined for both voters and election inspectors, leaving little room for a voter to accidentally err in making his or her choice, and no room for interpretation of the results.

Another major change has to do with the consoli-dation of polling places this year, a reduction from 105 sites in the county down to 89. Turco emphasizes that process is key to having an election run smooth-ly, and consolidating sites will bring a minimum of four to eight additional inspectors into those polls with combined districts. Inspectors are trained to perform all requisite tasks, but with additional peo-ple at these sites, poll workers will gravitate to spe-cialized jobs, like managing the poll books, assisting voters in the privacy area as they mark their ballots, assisting at the voting machine and so on. “We look for it to fall into place once the inspectors are at the

Deputy election commissioner Jay Mahler marks her ballot in the semi-private voting area.

Deputy election commissioners Jay Mahler and Judy Horvers show pride in their new machine.

An improperly completed voting sheet, like the one above, will result in an error message and an opportunity for the voter to repeat the process and get it right. This will be good news to certain future candidates.

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JULY 2010 • Page 7The Hudson Valley

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I wish to respectfully disagree with the stupid idiot editor who

runs this paper and never takes my calls and gave the article ‘Your Vote Has Been Optically Scanned (Beep.) Next’ better placement in this publication than any of my letters or text messages. Voting is neither a right nor a privilege; it is a conspiracy engineered at the highest levels of government to spy on the thoughts and opinions of a bamboozled elec-torate too quick to trust author-ity. Sometimes it makes me so mad I turn red and yell at squirrels. They know why. Call me a conspiracy nut, but when I’m asked to vote I say: Who wants to know? Why is the government so interested in me all of a sudden? Where were they when my cable TV didn’t work? How come I have to submit my innermost thoughts on paper to a government agency at a specified date and time?

Intrusion? Is an anal probe in-serted by a space creature an in-trusion? Yes it is, although it is more fun then I expected.

Voting machines? Is voting men-tioned in the Constitution? What about machines? And why do they

spell choosing “chusing”? If the writers of the Constitution wanted us to vote they would have had spell-check. I know you won’t print this, but I feel it is my duty to write this letter and register my complaint. Wake up to the Hell on Earth that voting has unleashed. Don’t submit to the interrogation that is voting. Take a stand and stay home, or just

outside your home in the back where nobody can see you and make squeaky noises like a liitle yellow plastic duck — which, by the way, used to be made out of rubber before someone at the duck com-pany voted for plastic.

( E d i t o r ’ s note: While the letter writer’s

name and the accompanying photo have been falsified owing to his in-nate cowardice, his actual existence, his writing, his expressed opinions and his undisguised enmity toward me when not taking his meds are very real. He is one of the Chronic’s 6,500-odd Facebook associates, a man who evinces symptoms of opposi-tional defiant disorder and is there-fore a reliable source of dissenting opinion whose rantings will be uti-lized from time to time to engender debate on an issue.)

By Don T. Askington

I was polled, and it hurt

poll site,” says Turco. “The training will be very in-depth, hands-on training. We have to track every paper ballot we print — used, unused, or voided — so keeping that flow moving smoothly with multiple voters handling their ballots at once is key.” Deputy Commissioner Jay Mahl-

er points to cost reductions that con-solidation will bring, citing the example that Kingston is going to save $900 to $1,000 in rent costs alone. The expense of purchasing new voting machines — 89 ballot-marking devices, plus another

40 regular optical scanners — may be somewhat offset with greater efficiency, as ballots from multiple districts can be serviced by one voting machine. “It’s all about efficiency and trying to keep the costs that are going to go up down,” she says. “We’re always shooting for

something; in this day and age every penny counts.”

Voting rights, voting duty

As does every vote, so make sure you register, as whatever you be-lieve yourself to be, and get out and cast your ballot, at least in November when it really counts. Out of just over 143,000 citizens of voting age in Ulster County, there are currently 112,000 active registered voters, and the largest voter turn-out was more than 80,000 in the last presidential elec-tion. “You want as much participation as possible,” Tur-co says, “because that’s your right as an American. That voting right sets up

everything else you have in this coun-try: education, opportunity. Without that right to vote, the current society as we know it doesn’t exist. Look at other countries throughout the world and see how things are different when

Instructions can be converted into Spanish to aid Latino voters in making their choice.

they don’t have that same democracy that we have.”

To help make that right a continuing reality, voter education is an ongoing activity at the BOE. Citizens are invit-ed to visit the Ulster County Board of Elections at 248 Wall Street in Kingston, where a new voting machine is set up in the lobby for testing. The commission-ers have also scheduled a “road show” in July and August, taking the machine to various town offices in the county for people to give it a trial run. For further information about this schedule, finding

your polling place or getting any other questions answered, call 845-334-5425 or visit the website at: www.voteul-ster.org. The State Board of Elections website is: www.elections.state.ny.us, and information about the type of vot-ing machine in use in every New York county is at: www.vote-ny.com.

And if after reading this you are in-terested in participating in the elections process as an election inspector, contact the Board of Elections or fill out the interest space on the voter registration form. Get involved.

Page 8 • JULY 2010 The Hudson Valley

ChroniC

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The Governor’s DerbyOne prohibitive favorite and 10 wildly diverse longshots make this one of the more interesting races in state history

There are three things for sure about this year’s New York State gubernatorial election season.

1) Nobody four years ago could have predicted this. The man once known as “The Sheriff of Wall Street” and “The Steamroller,” subse-quently identified as “Client #9” and now “Dis-graced Former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer,” is now a CNN talk show co-host, sharing the limelight with a blonde-helmeted, pearl-be-decked right-winger. His death match with for-mer State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno and their spectacular symbiotic flameout put the state on track toward the current slow-motion train wreck we’ve been witnessing. His handpicked heir, David Paterson, got himself slammed so fast and so often that he smartly recused himself from the re-election process, leaving the door open for the long-salivating pretender to the throne, Andrew Cuomo.

2) With Paterson out of the way, the race is Cuomo’s to lose. Following eerily in Spitzer’s footsteps, Cuomo as state attorney general has positioned himself as another crusading hard case, going after the low-hanging fruit of easy-to-despise, easy-to-prosecute rip-off artists and corrupt officialdom. As a candidate, he’s stak-ing a claim as a reformer and Albany outsider. If anything, though, he’s genetically linked to the old school Democratic state machine, and, as The New York Times is for some reason fond of pointing out, is taking in bagfuls of campaign money from entities he purports to be ready to cut off when he gets in office. None of the bad press has had any effect on Cuomo’s poll numbers, which consistently have him 30

points ahead of the nearest contender.3) There are an awful lot of hats in the ring,

most belonging to virtual unknowns and a few of them having come from atop some very weird heads. The perceived power vacuum has em-boldened individuals from an almost comically wide ideological spectrum to make a name for themselves floundering in Cuomo’s dust. At last count (and please, someone, correct me if I’m wrong), there are 11 contenders, including Cuomo, who will be flanked about equally on the right and the left if everybody gets their 15,000 signatures in on time.

Blue Dog swap meetCuomo’s mainstream competition will natu-

rally come from perennial fresh-faced light-weight Rick Lazio, a Republican who could easily be mistaken for a Blue Dog Democrat if it weren’t for his uncharacteristically soft position on gun control. A trio of no-nonsense white male candidates to the right of Lazio are gunning for the Tea Party vote, and will prob-ably manage to splinter it into fractions. They are:

• Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, who in fact was a Blue Dog Democrat before switching to the GOP to try and steal the nod from Lazio at the convention, a gambit that backfired miserably. He’s weighing his options, which include trying to run as a Tea Party or Taxpayers Party candidate. He’s also staked out his turf in the growing political tug-of-war over natural gas mining in the state, sounding a bit like a born-again Sarah Palin with his “drill baby, drill” mantra.

• Crusty, foul-mouthed Buffalo developer

Carl Paladino, running as a Howard Beale figure yelling “I’m mad as hell” and admit-ting to crazy antics like sending dirty, racially charged e-mails to his cronies, has a petition drive going to get on the Republican primary ballot and is involved in jumpstarting his own band of Tea Partiers. Besides Lazio, he’s the only one running to clock more than 25 per-cent in polls against Cuomo. He also has a ton of money, and is refreshingly specific about how much he’ll be spending: $10,362,444.75.

• Joel Tyner is not the lowest-ranked elected official trying to leapfrog into the governor’s mansion without paying some political dues. That dubious honor belongs to Guilderland town board member Warren Redlich, the Lib-ertarian Party nominee who like Paladino is gunning for a spot on the ballot against Lazio in a September primary.

Swinging for the fencesThere are other more fringe-worthy candi-

dates on the right as well, both of whom hap-pen to be women. They are:

• Kristin Davis, a.k.a. “The Manhattan Madam,” whom Redlich bested for the Lib-ertarian nod, inspiring her to start her own party: the “Personal Freedom Party.” She’s for all the requisite hands-off stuff, including legalizing marijuana, prostitution and same sex marriage, and keeping guns in the house. She may not look like the brightest bulb in the bunch, but at least she’s on record as realizing she can’t win.

• One blogger maintains that Jan Johnson, a staunch anti-abortionist and conspiracy theo-rist is the first statewide candidate the right-wing Constitution Party has ever fielded.

Out of left fieldOn the left, things are just as interesting, with

an added hopeless quality to the fund-challenged campaigns of people who care about the poor and dispossessed. Our own Mid-Hudson region has spawned not one but two progressive Democratic candidacies for the mainstream media to ignore. The planks of Dutchess County Legislator Joel Tyner’s and chemist/environmental toxicologist Andi Weiss Bartczak are remarkably similar. They’re both populists who think the solution to the state’s budget problems is to increase the tax burden on the wealthiest 5 percent. Tyner has been on a 150-mile walking jaunt for the past week, calling it a “Walk for Main Street, Not Wall Street.” I met up with him at a house party in Woodstock just before he left, at which there were five other people, two of them gutter jour-nalists and one of them Jeff Cohen, the alterna-tive media maven who started F.A.I.R. (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting) and produced the Phil Donahue show. He was there to donate a box full of signed books to Joel’s cause. Joel asked for do-nations and I gave him a few bucks.

I have yet to run into Andi, but hope to at some point. She’s a big booster of newspapers, the sort that used to stir things up as opposed to parrot-ing the party line. I think we’d get along.

Green and black are the new redThe Greens have put forth a viable candidate

in the form of Howie Hawkins, who actually co-founded the party in 1986 and is second only to Ralph Nader in vote-pulling clout. The Green Party is trying to reposition itself as the true home for people who call themselves Liberals. and are fond of characterizing Dem-ocrats as sellouts to right-wing ideals, which they often are forced to contemplate when the voting public skews rural. Hawkins also pre-dictably nailed the state Socialist Party nod.

Further afield, Brooklyn City Councilman Charles Barron, an original member of the Black Panthers, has renounced the Demo-cratic Party and started his own, the Free-dom Party, from which to assault the political process. He’s running for governor to give his fledgling party some statewide credibility.

That’s all I could really get a handle on. I may have missed one or two stragglers who weren’t making any noise, but you get the idea. There’s much more that can be said about each of these people, and I suggest you do your own research before pulling a lever — er, feed-ing that ballot into the scary black box. Happy voting!

By Steve Hopkins

JULY 2010 • Page 9The Hudson Valley

ChroniC

Page 10 • JULY 2010 The Hudson Valley

ChroniC

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Among any homeowner’s most unsettling fears is that of not having a solid roof over-head. The assumption that your home’s lid is

in good shape, even after experts checked the thing inside and out and pronounced it sound for at least another 15 years, is never a foregone conclusion. A small, secret leak from a torn shingle or loose piece of flashing can wreak havoc, letting in moisture and causing mold problems and widespread interior damage. In many cases there may not be a discern-ible leak at all, but an unseen structural anomaly that leads to one of the most common forms of roof woe: ice damming. Imagine how your heart would sink upon waking up on the first day of winter after a big snowstorm and finding water and icicles drip-ping down the insides of your walls. This condition, which can be caused by any number of contribut-ing factors including insufficient attic insulation and/or ventilation, an excessive heat source in the attic, leaf-blocked or otherwise inefficient gutters, an un-derbuilt roof, a modestly sloping roof structure — or all of the above — can lead to your spending many thousands of dollars you don’t have in rebuilding sig-nificant sections of your home, even before repairing or replacing the roof. It’s something you want to deal with now, in the summer, not in the winter.

A cautionary taleThe above nightmare actually happened to my wife

and me a little over a year ago after we’d bought a love-ly four-bedroom colonial nestled atop a parklike, two-acre knoll on a dead-end cul-de-sac just off the Taconic Parkway in Pleasant Valley. We had contracted with a person we’ll call Harry to perform a $15,000 update to the house — interior painting of all the rooms, new toilets, a tile floor in the front vestibule, reinforce-ment of the full-length deck in the back and ripping out the previous owner’s moldy, shag-carpeted base-ment hot tub party room, among other things — and were about three days into the process when disaster struck. “Come in here,” said Harry one afternoon,

Fear from aboveThe true foundation of a strong home is its roof

ushering me into the half-spackled small upstairs bed-room that was to become my office. A big 1950s-style government-issue metal secretarial desk, a heavy L-shaped affair the old owner had conveniently left there along with a fairly new HP desktop computer, had been pulled away from the right-hand exterior corner to make way for the spackling job. “Check this out,” said Harry, and as he pushed at the plaster at the base of the wall you could see daylight and the back yard.

“There’s nothing behind it,” he said. “The whole frame is dry rot.”

After tearing the siding off the back of the house, it was determined that the damage was nearly total from years of leakage along the lip of the back wall siding beneath the almost nonexistent eave. Along with the moisture, mold and dry rot, carpenter ants and termites had been chewing on what was left of the framing to the point that nearly the entire three-rooms-wide back wall of the upper story offered no structural support.

We bit the bullet and agreed to spending an extra $35,000 to rebuild the rear wall along with some ceil-ings, new floor joist extensions, floors and windows. The price included getting rid of the vermin and wrap-ping the whole house in new siding. We were now up to about $50 grand on top of what until then had been a very good real-estate deal at the bottom of the market for what would have been a half-million-dollar house before the crash. Harry even went back over the roof with a fine-toothed comb, inside and out, and seconded the building inspector’s original opinion: “At least the roof’s OK,” he said. “Thank God for that.”

God apparently had nothing to do with it. A few days before Christmas, on the night that we were packed and ready to fly to Ohio to visit the in-laws, the above-referenced Dec. 21 snowstorm dumped a foot of snow on our twice-accredited roof, trapping the heat inside and causing snow to melt and pool along the newly reconstructed eave at the back of the house, freez-ing at the edge and causing an ice dam. Melting snow then began to leach up the roof, up over the tops of the lower ranks of shingles, and from there down into the infrastructure of the roof and interior walls. Our first inkling that this was happening was in the morning as we watched buckets of water and ice dripping through

the ceiling into the kitchen from above a sliding glass door frame.

Harry was predictably aghast, and offered to put a tarp over the roof and tinker with the problem while we were away. We said no thanks, and called in the heavy artillery, who in this case happened to be Brian Squire of Victorian Builders, my mother-in-law’s go-to guy for the top-to-bottom renovation of a 19th-century Village of Rhinebeck Victorian she and her husband had bought as a Hudson Valley pied-à-terre. When Brian came over and took a look at what was happen-ing, he just stood there and shook his head. “I’ve never seen ice damming this bad,” he said. “Icicles as thick as my wrists are hanging down inside your walls.” Bri-an Squire is well over 6 feet tall, and has pretty thick wrists.

This time the bullet we had to bite tasted more like the unexploded ordnance from a 155 mm Howitzer cannon, and felt about the same in our stomachs. Brian had no good news to tell us upon our return from Christmas “vacation.” We would need a new roof framed out, with extended eaves, adequate in-sulation, and a rubber barrier. Ideally, the new roof would be sheathed in metal, as opposed to shingles. If not, the grade would have to be steepened consid-erably. We would also need a new, less hardworking and less wasteful heating system, as well as all new ductwork. This all had to be accomplished before even considering how much damage had been done to the walls, ceilings and floors. With luck, insurance would cover some of it and the walls could be opened up and dried out with fans. Now living in my wife’s parents’ Rhinebeck Victorian for the foreseeable future, we decided to eat the potential $150,000 additional cost, realizing that at the end of the day, we’d have, as Brian said, “one hell of a house” — albeit for the total price of the same house at the zenith of the now evaporated housing bubble. At least, went our thinking, it would now be actually worth it.

Things did work out marginally better than expected. The insurance did indeed cover the cost of the interior and exterior water damage, which turned out to be min-imal. We opted for a state-of-the-art three-zone heating system with central air conditioning, and a metal roof which, because we chose the natural unpainted alu-minum version, was not much more expensive than a high-end shingle roof and will last many years longer. We’re back in our wonderful house, happy, warm and safe, even though the new roof might be the only thing in Pleasant Valley that’s visible from space.

Anyway, here are a few tips to live by, which may or may not save you from the fate that befell us.

First, have your roof inspected by a professional twice a year to be on the lookout for obvious problems, especially with concern to deteriorating or uprooted shingles; cracked, worn or peeling flashing; bad gutters and signs of water damage. These inspections should always happen in the absence of ice and snow, which necessarily means during the spring and summer — but never on a hot day. The tar in warm shingles doesn’t adhere as well to the stone granules, and they’ll come loose when trod upon, shortening whatever life the roof has left.

Speaking of life-shortening, if you’re over 30 and even marginally unsteady on your feet, stay off of roofs, superman, and leave it to the professionals. It’s not worth breaking your neck over.

Regardless, by doing a little preventative mainte-nance, they say, one can prevent the big expenses and trouble from happening later. If your trusty in-spector finds flashing issues, have him/her nail down any loose or warping pieces and be sure nails of the same metal type are used, to avoid rust and corro-sion. If there’s a chimney, make sure the area where the flashing meets the roof is checked. If there are gaps from cement or tar shrinkage, have those areas repaired with the same sealant type to prevent future leaks. If any roof flashing or shingles are bulging, it might be that there’s water damage beneath the area and the wood itself has swollen. First, however, have your roof person try placing a piece of wood on the bulging area, and hammer on the wood to flatten the material (rather than hammering directly on the shingle or flashing). If this doesn’t work, it may re-quire replacement of the damaged wood beneath. In a worst-case scenario, you’ll be faced with the same sort of overhaul we had to do.

Whomever notices problems with your gutters should by no means attempt to fix them from atop your roof. He/she should make note of the problem locations and tackle them from a ladder firmly plant-ed on the ground.

Someone should also check your attic to see if it’s insulated and ventilated properly, and is not prone to the sort of heat loss that can create a problem when your roof is blanketed in a foot or more of early sea-son snow. If you have hot air ducts snaking through your attic, they need to be insulated as well.

Good luck, and while you’re looking up at that roof, you might as well lift your head another notch and say a little prayer to whatever entity might be sitting on a nearby cloud shaking his/her craggy head at what a piece of spongy, waterlogged wood and tar is wedged between your sleeping family and the elements every night. That prayer and a couple of hundred thousand dollars might buy you a cup of coffee when it’s all over.

By Steve Hopkins

JULY 2010 • Page 11The Hudson Valley

ChroniC

(845) 452-3137 • 16 Freedom Plains Road (Rte. 55) Poughkeepsie • www.mitchellmotor.com

In LaGrange at 488 Freedom Plains Road For information, call (845) 223-3783

Ages 18 monthsthrough 13 years old

Open houses on Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m.Visit our website at:

www.hawkmeadowmontessori.com“Where young minds learn to soar”

Complemented with a strong background of teaching in the Lagrange area,

the Hawk Meadow Montessori School teachers and staff have collectively over 75 years’ worth

of experience in Montessori instruction. The school offers a large, light-filled space with the full range of Montessori materials

for all age levels, and a playground situated outside.

In each classroom at Hawk Meadow Montessori, an environment has been created in which

each child’s individual personality and learning style is allowed to unfold.

We believe that each child should be encouraged to explore his or her environment, and given the tools to be a thoughtful, caring,

responsible and knowledgeable citizen of the world.

2008 Mercedes-Benz E350Sleek, powerful 4 Matic with all-wheel drive. Black with black leather, navigation system, satellite radio, sport package. Retail value is $37,950.

Dealer’s selling price: $35,900.

Page 12 • JULY 2010 The Hudson Valley

ChroniC

Sale Ends July 31, 2010 • No further discounts on sale items

The Merchant The Merchant 730 Ulster Ave., Kingston • (845) 331-1923 price. service. selection. value. W ines and Spirits

CASE SALE CASE SALE CASE SALE

AREA PRICE OUR REG PASSPORT

Dewar’s 1.75 Lt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 43.99 . . . . . . . . . . $ 41.99 $ 35.99

Jack Daniels 1.75 Lt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 46.99 . . . . . . . . . . $ 44.99 . . . . $ 40.99

Jack Daniels 1 Lt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 32.99 . . . . . . . . . . $ 30.99 . . . . $ 28.99

Gordon’s Gin 1.75 Lt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 23.99 . . . . . . . . . . $ 20.99 . . . . $ 18.99

Bacardi 1.75 Lt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 26.99 . . . . . . . . . . $ 24.99 . . . . $ 22.99

Bacardi 1 Lt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 17.99 . . . . . . . . . . . $ 16.99 . . . . $ 15.99

Black Velvet 1.75 Lt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 19.99 . . . . . . . . . . $ 18.99 . . . . $ 16.99

Captain Morgan 1.75 Lt. . . $ 32.99 . . . . . . . . . . $ 31.99 . . . . $ 28.99

Captain Morgan 1 Lt. . . . . . . . . $ 22.99 . . . . . . . . . . $ 21.99 . . . . $ 19.99

Canadian Club 1.75 Lt. . . . . . . . $ 25.99 . . . . . . . . . . $ 23.99 . . . . $ 21.99

Tanqueray Gin 1.75 Lt. . . . . . . . . $ 46.99 . . . . . . . . . . $ 43.99 . . . . $ 38.99

Beefeater Gin 1.75 Lt. . . . . . . . . . $ 41.99 . . . . . . . . . . $ 35.99 . . . . $ 33.99

Kettle One Vodka 1.75 Lt. . . $ 48.99 . . . . . . . . . . $ 45.99 . . . . $ 43.99

Svodka 1.75 Lt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 22.99 . . . . . . . . . . $ 21.99 . . . . $ 20.99

Smirnoff 1.75 Lt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 23.99 . . . . . . . . . . $ 22.99 . . . . $ 20.99

Johnny Walker Red 1.75 Lt. . $ 43.99 . . . . . . . . . . $ 42.99 . . . . . $ 37.99

Absolut Vodka 1.75 Lt. . . . . . . . . . $ 39.99 . . . . . . . . $ 37.99 . . . . . . $ 34.99

Jose Cuervo Gold 1 Lt. . . . . . $ 22.99 . . . . . . . . . . $ 21.99 . . . . $ 19.99

Korbel Brut 750 m. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 13.99 . . . . . . . . . . $ 13.99 . . . . $ 10.99

Frexienet Brut 750 m. . . . . . . . . . $ 11.99 . . . . . . . . . . $ 11.99 . . . . . . . . . . $ 8.99

PASSPORT TO SAVINGS

BARGAIN BUSTER BARGAIN BUSTER BARGAIN BUSTER

SUMMER ROSE SUMMER ROSE SUMMER ROSE REGULAR SALE

Beiler (Provence) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $11.99 $ 9.49

Chateau du Rovet (Provence) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $13.99 $ 12.89

Les Agaves (Provence) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $17.99 $ 9.99

Chateau du Rovot (France) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $13.99 $ 12.89

Chateau d’Oupia (France) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $13.99 $ 11.89

Los Vascos (Chile) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10.99 $ 9.49

Muga (Rioja) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $11.99 $ 9.99

Nedurburg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10.99 $ 8.99

Seignouvs de Borgorae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10.99 $ 9.49

SALE

Bacardi - Torch Cherry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 18.99 Lt.

Smirnoff - Espresso & Root Beer 100° . . . . . . . $ 21.99 Lt.

Southern Cmfort - Lemonade . . . . $ 16.99 1.75 Lt.

NEW! NEW! NEW!

REGULAR SALE

Bacardi (Mojito, Strawberry, Piña Colada) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $20.99 1.75 $ 19.99 Smirnoff (Grand Cosmo, Tuscan Lemonade, Mojito, Pomegranate) . . $20.99 1.75 $ 19.99

READY-TO-DRINK COCKTAILS READY-TO-DRINK COCKTAILS READY-TO-DRINK COCKTAILS

YELLOW TAIL All Types

1.5 Lt. • Reg. 11.99

Sale $ 9.99

WOODBRIDGE Chardonnay 1.5 Lt. • Reg. 13.99

Sale $ 10.99

BELL SERA Pinot Grigio 1.5 Lt. • Reg. 11.99

Sale $ 10.99

ARBOR MIST All Types

1.5 Lt. • Reg. 6.99

Sale $ 6.29

CAVIT Pinot Grigio 1.5 Lt. • Reg. 13.99

Sale $ 10.99

SUTTER HOME White Zinfandel

$ 47.94 Per Case $7.99 Per Bottle

BUY ANY 4 5 LT. BOX WINES Receive Insatant Discount Of

$ 7.77 Off Our Everyday Low Price Choose from Franzia, Almadon, Peter Vella