The Boondocks blog, No. 79 for the week starting July 28, 2008.
NY State Says Avoid Wild Mushrooms Unless You Know What You Are Doing
A Farmer in Essex Draws a Line in the Sand
Man Injured When Motorcycle Hits Moose On Thruway's Berkshire Spur
Adirondack Farm Owner, Agency Tussle Over Housing
Owner Gets Back Guns Taken by Police After Case Dismissed
Rangers Return from Battling Calif Blazes.
Lost Dog Returned from Montana to Albany
Fans Flood Shelter Over 44 lb Cat
Rural Areas Fall Further Behind
Town of Malta in Talks to Preserve Farms
Peru Says No to Outdoor Wood Boiler Law
New York May Get A Gun-Rights Test Case
Highest New Jersey Court Rules Some Farm Practices Not Legal or Humane
NJ Court OKs Regulations On Animal Treatment
Burn Barrels and TractorOnNet Forum
Heller Overides Lautenberg? Part 2
More New York Firefighters Going to Help Out in California
Energy looks at high energy prices and our future.
Enviroman looks at man and the environment.
Hayseeds looks at politics and life in our nation.
Individual looks at myself and how I'm changing
Outblog is all about my outdoor experiences.
Transit looks at the changing ways we get around.
Truck gives you stories and trips in my Ford Ranger.
Apparently he took a break from his sabbatical to Boston to educate or indoctrinate the people there about government conspiracies with flouride in their drinking water, to write a Syracuse Post-Standard Op-Ed called Open Waste Burning Raises Risk of Human Exposure to Dioxin .
Good for him. I wonder if he will next tell the world what dioxins, furans, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), benzene,cadmium, chromium, arsenic and lead, are, besides really scary chemicals that are all around us in modern industrial society.
Did he drive his car back from Boston putting out emissions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) or benzene? What about the dioxins created by the manufacture of PVC plastic, or the house fire down the street where the vinyl siding burnt off the house?
Or the fact that "The Environmental Protection Agency lists open burning as the largest source of dioxin releases" is true, now that we've been so successful at eliminating pre-stack creation of dioxins from incinerators. The fact that dating prior to 1990, that national dioxin emissions where 10x greater then today, doesn't phase Mr. Don Hassig.
The OGS Albany Steam Plant, burning Refuse Derived Fuel aka shredded trash, put out as much dioxin in 1994 (when it closed), as 50,000 backyard trash burning barrels. That was only a 300-tpd trash incinerator, one of many operating in our state prior to modern emissions controls.
Hassig is just happy that their new regulations will keep Pete Grannis' thugs busy.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has drafted a regulation banning open waste burning statewide.Specific language of the ban and information regarding public comment can be found at www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/43439.html.
Enforcement of the new regulation will most likely be complaint-driven. A more vigorous enforcement strategy would utilizeconservation officer patrols, warnings and tickets. Only strong public support for the ban will bring about such enforcement.Public education on the adverse health effects of open burning is needed to build large numbers of ban supporters. Cancer Action NYwill help communities create education campaigns focusing on open burning. Artists make posters. Writers write letters to the editor.
Public speakers make presentations to local groups. Contact us at canceractionny@yahoo.com.
Great.
They suggest being another fatality statistic after misidentifying a mushroom is a bad thing.
A nice little update on what is happening in the Sandy Lewis case up in the North Country with the Adirondack Porn Agency.
What followed—and is continuing—is a battle between a tenacious former stockbroker and a powerful state agency, raising questions about the rights of property owners and farmers.
The Lewis Family Farm is one of the largest organic farms in the state, and is devoted to using innovative and sustainable farming methods. Lewis is no stranger to legal problems; in 1990, while heading S.B. Lewis and Co. Investments, he pleaded guilty to stock manipulation. President Bill Clinton pardoned Lewis 11 years later.
At issue is whether the dozens of farmers in the Adirondacks have control of their lands under agricultural laws or if the APA has the final word.
The Lewises thought they only needed local building permits for their structures, a contention backed up by the local zoning code officer and state Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker.
The Adirondack Park Local Government Review Board, which monitors the APA's enforcement of land use, says the APA is in the wrong. The board believes the APA's enforcement conflicts with state law that says the agency doesn't have jurisdiction over farm building.
Hopefully, the APA will lose this case. While everybody agrees there has to be some restrictions on development in the park, farmworker housing, totaling four structures, for an active farm of over 1,000 acres to house farmworkers, clearly is exempt from the APA's own powers.
Apparently he survived hitting a 600-lb moose on the Berkshire Spur. Moose certainly are becoming more common in our state.
A more lengthy article about Sandy Lewis' important battle with the APA.
What are the first few things that come to mind when you think of that town and it's village of Altamont?
Excluding the Altamont Fair and Countryfest, not much good at all. Lots of suburban sprawl, subdivided farms, yuppified farmyards, and Crossgates Mall in the Pine Bush. That town has been over-run by wealthy liberal-brats for decades, who come out there for suburban "country-living" on their 3-acre lots with half-million dollar McMansions.
Their current town supervisor, Ken Reunion, with his McMansion "estate", typifies this. Nobody has to live in such a massive vinyl-covered plywood mansion, as freaking big as his house. Just meeting him, when he pulls up in his Eddie Bauer Ford Exploiter, just makes you want to puke.
This is Ken Runion's house, in case you want to spit on his driveway:
Maybe I'm being unfair to this town. Maybe it's because as I kid, my dad made it a point never to even think about driving 1 MPH over the posted speed limit in Altamont. God, did ever drive that point in. I always use first or second gear driving in Altamont, and NEVER, EVER EXCEED 25 MPH—and will drive out the way to avoid that evil village.
My dad got his lifetime's only speeding ticket in Altamont in the Spring of 1978, doing 36 MPH in a 30 MPH, on his daily commute from the farm he rented in Knox to Albany. That story reinforced the fact Altamont is run by a bunch of fascists. It's only got worst since Democrats controlled the board, harassing nearly everybody who doesn't except their suburbanite way of living.
At any rate, thanks to Teri Conroy's Farm Life blog, we got learn about the supervisor's harrassment of one of the Republican town board members
Give me a break. Having a website and doing online consulting over the internet, requires a special use permit? I've heard of towns banning clotheslines, but this is such complete bullshit. Mark Grimm may be a character, but he certainly doesn't deserve such vindictive attacks by the Code Inspector by SUBURBAN EXTREMISTS.
It sounds an awful lot like Troopergate. I'm sure that Ken Runion's office probably was spending tons of taxpayer dollars to get the codes officer to spy on Republican town members. Let's hope his town employees are arrested for doing all kind of illegal political spying. Just pray.
Apparently as it stands the rules aren't exactly clear on what should happen under these circumstances.
In March, Matteo was accused of ripping the phone from his wife's hand when she tried to call police to report his verbal abuse, according to court records. Guilderland police issued an order of protection, and he turned over the guns, which are registered and possessed legally.
A week later, however, the case was dismissed by Town Justice John Bailey, who ordered Matteo's guns be returned.
The Matteos said they no longer even remember what prompted their quarrel. Marisol Matteo signed statements that her husband had never threatened her with a weapon and she was not concerned about him ever doing so. The domestic dispute case was over.
But the order of protection remained. Marcelle said under the "Heller" decision, Matteo, a law-abiding citizen, was allowed to have his guns.
Town Attorney Dick Sherwood denied any link between the Matteo case and the Supreme Court ruling. He said the town must follow the existing federal law: Returning the guns requires an order from federal court, not a town court.
Matteo's guns were returned after he filed his case in federal court. Sherwood said a change in the law would eliminate an illogical legal process.
"You have the power to take the guns away, you don't have the power to give them back," Sherwood said. "Our hands were tied."
For Marcelle, it is only a matter of time before a town attorney somewhere tests the legal system by refusing to return guns to a person who has not been convicted of a crime, and that case will further define rights under the Second Amendment.
Interesting. I really have to wonder what will happen under the second amendment protections, and how our gun control laws will become more fair and reasonable.
Farm subsidies apparently are the sticking point.
They are back safely from helping out California in controlling their wildfires that threaten people's homes.
Apparently after getting lost in a vacation in Montana, he was reunited with his owner.
So reports the New York Post, about an abandoned cat that was found weighting 44 lbs. Seriously obese to say the least.
More on the fat cat.
They're falling back on education, welfare, and healthcare compared to more urbane areas of the United States, particularly the north-east.
The property tax problem is not limited to New York State.
Nestled in the mountains of northern New Mexico, Mora County is a patchwork of agricultural properties that have been divvied up and passed down to generations of heirs for centuries. Like many longtime residents, Angela Romero and her brothers and sisters inherited parcels of family land. "Dad had 55 acres and he split it between six of us," she explains. After buying out her sisters, she now owns 21 acres.
Because she’s the Mora County assessor, Romero won’t be too surprised when she gets a property tax bill that’s nearly 20 times higher, perhaps more, than this year’s bill. But other residents may do a double take when they receive their 2009 property tax bills.
In the past, county residents who grazed livestock were eligible for a special property valuation – a low, fixed, per-acre tax on any land used for grazing. Next year, however, tracts of land smaller than 47.4 acres will not qualify for the grazing rate, even if cows, goats or sheep eat the grasses that grow there.
...
The town is thinking about buying up development rights.
They wanted to drastically restrict where people could have outdoor wood boilers.
This sounds like fun, except for the fact that I don't really like people, cows scare me (at least bulls guarding heifers), and I'm so damn lazy.
"How did you do at the show?” the customer asked, standing in front of the farmers market stand and surveying the frozen meat displayed on ice under a clear plastic window.
Billy Chandler looked up from under the shade of the stand’s canopy. His dad, Bob, had worked the stand the week before and must have told the customer about the junior livestock show where Billy would show his prize cattle.
"OK,” he said.
Drawn into farming by the excitement of showing cattle at competitions, the 16-year-old farmer from Mariaville hadn’t done as well as he wanted. Fortunately, business at the Scotia Village Farmers Market was brisk in the opening hours that Tuesday. The customer would leave with a package of frozen beef kabob cubes and a dozen eggs.
But hell who knows. Worth a read and some contemplation. Let me first break another machine, and growl when I can't get the stupid tractor started.
It would appear that this may be a very strong case for testing second amendment rights in New York and overturning the Sullivan Act.
Under New York law, possession of an unregistered gun on the streets in New York City carries a maximum penalty of up to 15 years in prison, while possession of such a gun at home is treated as a misdemeanor, which rarely carries jail time for a first offense.
Mr. Vargas's legal aid attorney, Laura Guthrie, wrote in a brief that Mr. Vargas denies possessing any gun or ammunition. The court brief goes on to say that even assuming the allegations are taken as true, the prosecution, "violates the individual right to bear arms protected by the Second Amendment."
"Here the government does not allege that Mr. Vargas possessed the weapon with intent to use it unlawfully, or outside of his home," she wrote. "Mr. Vargas is accused of keeping a gun in his home. This conduct is protected by the individual right to bear arms enshrined in the Second Amendment." The brief, filed last year, cites the appellate court ruling that the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in the June decision.
A prosecutor from the Brooklyn district attorney's office, David Morisset, had argued, before the Supreme Court ruling was issued, that the Second Amendment didn't protect an individual right to keep a gun unless the owner was a part of a militia.
In a decision last year rejecting Mr. Vargas's Second Amendment claims, a city judge, Alexander Jeong, focused on another point, which is that Mr. Vargas had never sought a gun license.
But that reason for dismissing Mr. Vargas's Second Amendment claim may have been weakened somewhat since the Supreme Court recognized an individual right to keep a gun at home.
It will be interesting to see what happens. Certainly the Sullivan Act as it stands, puts an undue burden on somebody to get a permit. Long delays, may issue statues, and a fee of over $300 every three years, makes it nearly impossible to get legally get a short-barreled firearm in New York State or any firearm in NYC.
A more reasonable statue might be compliant with the second amendment. Who knows if the court will throw out the entire law, just dismiss this case, or maybe tell the legislature to fix the statue and Mr. Vargas to promptly apply for a "must issue" pistol permit at a reasonable price.
This decision should be fodder for some discussion in the coming weeks.
In a unanimous decision, the court struck down the New Jersey Department of Agriculture's regulations exempting all routine husbandry practices as "humane," and ordered the agency to readdress many of the state-mandated standards for the treatment of farm animals.
Many states have an exemption to their cruelty code for "routine" or "commonly accepted" practices which leaves animals confined in factory farms unprotected from abuse.
In 1996, the New Jersey Legislature directed the NJDA to develop appropriate "standards for the humane raising, keeping, care, treatment, marketing, and sale of domestic livestock."
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The Star Ledger on what the mandated new regulations on animal welfare will mean in NJ.
An interesting weblog, looking at the otherside of the animal welfare debate, including the downside of the New Jersey decision.
This diaologue is somewhat amusing. Gotta love such people and the Hassig conspiracy.
This post over at NYRPA blog is a must read.
The NYRPA blog looks at an alleged spy on gun-control groups, a person who apparently was a contractor for NRA while being involved in gun-control groups on her free-time.
So what? Does that prove that the person was a spy? I worked for a number of companies that lobby the legislature for conservative/business causes, and litigate on behalf of big corporations, while in college. Does that mean that I should have a lifetime ban from participating in any progressive cause?
People are complicated and often hold contradictory positions. Sometimes they participate in activities contrary to what they do professionally, in part to make up for what they believe is morally wrong. Or different experiences tell them certain priorities are more important then other.
They're heading out to fight wildfires.
The TU's Local Politics blog on Mark Grimm's battles against Town Hall over having an internet business in his house.
