The Hayseeds blog, No. 95 for the week starting December 25, 2004.
December 11, 2004
Hayseeds No. 94
December 25, 2004
Hayseeds No. 95
January 1, 2005
Hayseeds No. 95
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A recent Carl Strock article in the Daily Gazette was about a new law on the books that would ban the owning and slaughter of animals in city limits. Such a law might make sense for sanitary reasons, but there was also a much more sinster reason for passing such a law today.
The main reason for passing the new law was that, one of the City ouncil member's kids witnessted a religious slaugher of a goat in a neighboor's backyard. Nothing was illegal with the method or how the person did it, but the kids' parents claimed the witnessing killing of a goat to have created psychological damage that required intensive counseling. It is a bit frightening that parents are using the state to protect their kids from seeing something that is very much part of human existance. We as humans kill animals for food all of the time, and then we cut up their mussels and cook them. That might be disgusting, but that's very much a part of our existance as many other topics we try all too often to shield our eyes from.
In exchange for preventing our kids from witnessing the reality of animal raising and slaughter, we give them violent video games that inaccurately glorify the scarifice of animals and nature to provide for human nature. We also hide the factory farms, factories, and landfills, and replace them with glorified glossy packaging and television. I realize that there are too many Americans to give each an every one the experience of hunting or dragging a buck in, much less experience what it means to raise and take care of an animal, and then to utilitize it for food and other means. Yet, we should not be in denial of such things and we should not actively try to hide the effects of our actions.
And everybody's happy now. The Niagra-Gazette basically rehashes how the funds are handed out and who gets them. Good introductory article.
The TU did a nice job at looking behind the scenes at Sebba Rockaway and his relationship to a declining downtown. It's too bad that the city can't take his buildings back from him, and force him to maintain his buildings into something actually useful.
We may never know quite who or what killed him, but we know about the terrible actions that happened on 12/31 of last year with David Scaringe. It's too bad that the justice system allows individuals to plead out without fully getting explanations of what really happened and why such a thing happened. A good system of justice would do that, and give us many explanations to the mysteries of justice that exist today.
There is an interesting op-ed that talks about traffic laws that are poorly and unfairly enforced. I agree 100% with the author: laws should not be on the books if they aren't completely enforcable. There are many reasons for passing a law, but whatever the law is, it should be grounded in fundamental fairness for all.
Fred LeBrun thinks it time to end tolls all together on the Thruway. Unlikely to happen, as it provides a good source for patronage jobs with little public scrutiny, as he notes. Another important point he makes is that unless turnpike fees are hiked the Thruway Authority will default on bonds that it floated in 1996 to pay for repairs that where required but could not pay for due to their inability to hike fees then and there. It's not like the Thruway Authority has a particularly large budget in comparison to many things. It's whole budget is $300 million, much of it which could be saved by just allowing the DOT to do the road maintance task that the Thruway Authority does on it own. We don't need to have all the discrete sets of plows and construction crews just to fix one road, when neighbooring roads use the exact same equipment.
In contrast, Governor Pataki has suggested that wants to expand the Thruway Authority to other roads like the Northway and other interstates. Not only would that be a losing proposition (it would never make any revenue), it would hurt tourism and trade like the current Thruway does. I don't see it going away, like Thomas Dewey promised would be the case when completed in 1956, but maybe we will see parts of it closed down over the years, and the responsibility for it returned to the state.
I've stated many times in the past that we need to disband the Thruway Authority. I'm not suggesting that we fire all of the Thruway employees, but give many of them early retirement and move other ones to other state agencies or find them jobs in the private sector. There is no reason why the state couldn't carefully plan out new career tracks for Thruway Authority members, and end the seperate entity. And on the borrowing question, there is no reason that the Thruway Authority couldn't keep it's self as a borrowing agency like the Dormitory Authority but without all the overhead it currently has.
If it had only been the State Police who actually know the law or maybe even the OGS security, but it seems that some idiot had to dial 911 and call the Albany police who proceeded to harass a photographer for (gasp!) taking pictures of the State Capitol. First off, I don't think the APD has any jursidiction over the Capitol, and moreover Ashley Minor had every right to take those pictures. And as the article quoted Photography Law expert Bert Krages:
I really take a big issue with the notion that photography (gives) any sort of substantial assistance to terrorsits... If you go back and consider the significant terorist events of the past 20 years, none of them have involved photography.
Obviously. A snapshot can't destroy buildings, and all of the architectural information and photos of that building you'd ever want is publicly avalible. Why is nobody thinking about punishing that idiot who called that in or the APD for following such a thing up? Further evidence that 9/11 has made us all into mad men. At any rate, I'm going out afterdark on Christmas Day with some high-speed film and a tripod to get pictures of the State Christmas tree with the nicely lit Capitol behind it. Terrorist driving a pickup truck with a tripod in it's back.
And sock the taxpayers with rigged bids from the projects on Morton Avenue. Just what we need to pay more for: ugly projects that continue poverty at inflated prices.
This quote has to be timeless:
To live in one of Albany County's rural hill towns, you need a good set of brakes on your vehicle and a love of peace and quiet. The residents of Rensselaerville certainly have the later, if not the former.
I drove around for quite a while with a questionable sense of brakes, and my car didn't invoke peace and quiet. And my experience with ATVs and now finally snowmobiles, peace and quiet is less attainable then one might otherwise think.
The article does give a nice little description of Rensselaerville, but it only could apply really to mainstreet and even that makes the town deader then it really is. Yes, there is a collection of yuppie scum in the hamlet, but there are also a lot of interesting people outside of the hamlet. I know, I went to school with many of them. It's also too bad the article didn't mention some of the many preserves close to that area besides the yuppified Hyuck Preserve, such as Partridge Run and Renselearville State Forest.
"The hamlet is set away from everything," says Costello Arrighi, a fiber artist and owner of Black Sheep Designs. "People don't come here unless they are trying to or are very lost. I also like the fact that you can walk down the street and see people you know."
I guess that's right to a degree, although you could say that Rensselaerville is kind of the middle of things out that way. I've met many very lost people out there over the years asking for directions, and I know many of the people there even if they are fading somewhat in memories. I like the country out there especially when you get past the hamlets, although even those can be fun to photograph with their old buildings.
Dubya is quite the creature, coming from the most partisan America in recent memory, and being able to succeed in a re-election bid filled with critism. The important thing is that he won the election, and he's not afraid to take bold steps to make his vision realized on our country. One quote of his by Time sums it up perfectly:
"My presidency is one that has drawn some fire, whether it be at home or around the world. Unfortunately, if you're doing big things, most of the time you're never going to be around to see them [to fruition], whether it be cultural change or spreading democracy in parts of the world where people just don't believe it can happen. I understand that. I don't expect many short-term historians to write nice things about me."
Bush has his ideas on world affairs and social security reform. And he's actively working to make it happen. He's hit some bumps, but he's managed to stay in office and stay relatively effective for the high road he's chosen to take. Another quote: I'll reach out to everyone who shares our goals.
I may disagree with his ideology in some cases, but he's a man determined to make changes to the world in ways that where all but ignored with Reagan and Clinton. We need more people in public office like him who will fight a good fight for they believe is right. Will he find himself mirred in conflict with the Republican Congress for his strong uneasing ideological positions? Maybe, but he will put them on a track of moral certainy.
George Bush has grown up a lot in the past 4 years. He's a professional politican, a man who knows where he stands and how to get in Washington DC. His model, while containing a degree of fake populism sets the bar high for future elected officals. I'm a Democrat and I still have a Kerry bumper sticker in the back window of my truck, but I believe that Bush can do a lot of good for our country.
He's figured out why the Senate Republicans have gotten progress and reform so much on their adgendas lately:
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened. The last election was a disaster for the Senate Republicans who lost seats. They took one look at the pickle they were in and decided it was time to punt. The one thing that they didn't do was to make Pataki eat their recently passed budget reform bill which would have made the governor look even worse than he already does. A recent series of polls have shown him losing decisively, by double-digit ratios, to state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
Nevertheless, if you listen carefully to the always-sagacious Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, you'll hear the leader threatening to do budget reform when his troops get back to Albany for next yearís session, if not sooner as lame ducks. This would allow the state to automatically use last year's budget if the Legislature and the governor canít agree on a spending plan. The hidden time bomb is that legislators would be allowed to amend that budget, taking power away from the governor and giving it to themselves. Perhaps the Senate Republicans understand that there is a good chance Spitzer will become the next governor and that now is the time to give themselves some extra clout.
I'm sure none of the Republicans would publicly admit those facts, but it's likely fairly close to the truth as we know it today. Bruno wants to keep his control, and a Democraticly controlled state in all three houses would be devistating for a party seeing smaller and small majorities every year. Chartock points out another dimension on this issue: will Shelly help Patterson get his majority and give himself second billing in state government, or will he continue to tacitly support Joe. I wonder what an all Democratic Legislature and Governorship would mean to the Democratic party. Would it create a lot of infighting that would do in the party in future elections?
We have to remember there are two powerful forces remaking New York Politics. One is the Upstate-Downstate balance, that is going increasingly towards downstate. Every county upstate is losing population bar Saratoga County and every downstate county is gaining population. That means there are more downstate politicans since the 2002 redistricting, and downstaters tend to be largely Democratic and liberal in ideology. Republicans have managed to keep control of the Senate by enticing downstate liberals to their side by promising progress on select liberal issues like minimum wage and actively oppressing the minority party.
The growing national partisan divide is making that harder for the Republicans to continue this method, as Republicans aren't identified much with progressive social change. On the other hand, the partisan divide means that gerrymandered districts are more powerful then ever, with more upstate counties going for Republicans and downstate counties going for Democratic candidates then ever before.
Many aren't particularly happy, and it means that some of the development plans will be put on hold, but the net results will probably be very good for the area. The Harbor at Beacon Pointe apartment and housing complex was to be built there, but when the project is finished the area should be far more desirable. It would mean the cleaning up of a former brownfield area into something far more desirable.
The project will inevitably be over in a few years and then the Hudson River will become far more desirable, and those housing starts planned in that area will inevitably collect more in taxes and be worth far more. The Henry Hudson Park would be far nicer should pollution problems get cleaned up and the psychological issues caused by PCB fears ended.
The Troy Record says the Thruway Authority is increadibly wasteful and the Times Union agrees noting failed promises to kill the Thruway tolls. It's unlikely that the governor will end the tolls on the turnpike, even if it could be increadibly politically advantageous to him with the exception of Thruway bueraucrats and the additional debt it would incur. Those who go camping with a 5-wheel camper towed by their HD pickup would particularly happy with ending the confusing tolls that charge a commerical rate for any vechicle with something in tow. It's good to see the call to end this wasteful bureaucracy, but I think it will die in vein as it did in 1996. Reform is in the air in Albany, but not this kind of reform.
While I doubt you can find anywheres in the statutory law that says the SSA has the right to decide which state marriage licenses to accept as proof of a union, it looks like the right-wingers at the SSA have taken upon it do them. It has already been struck down in court at least for hetrosexual couples and probably for all. It would be nice if us kids could just grow up and accept people who want to live their lives differently then ourselves.
That's what lawyer Micheal Cuozo specializes in, putting the really big city of New York in it's place.
First off, it looks like we are get rid of the last realistic toy guns from costume stores, but we are still pumping kids heads full of violence through video games avalible to every kid on every street corner. I'd never get my get one of those terrible systems (or the attached television) that create obesity and mental illness, instead I'd get them a real toy like a real gun.
I was out quite a bit yesterday, and it was a quick run from the truck into warm buildings, but I was pleasantly surpised how warm my pickup got a few seconds after starting it up. It was about -4 °F at the house, and a few degrees warmer in the city during the day, but with the woodstove well stocked it wasn't all that bad at home when I returned in the evening.
It sounds more like an addiction then anything else, where Scott Taylor of Wymoning County got into the business of stealing other people's female dairy calfs to pay for his own farm's debt. He was caught on Friday in somebody's cattle shed.
"He took over his parents' small farm and he's alleging he got behind in bills, financial difficulties, and this was a way to supplement his income," Wyoming County Sheriff's Investigator Edward Till said.
Till said Taylor acknowledged stealing calves as long as 10 years ago, but said he had stepped up his activities the past two years, taking two to three calves each week during that time from farms in 10 counties...
Taylor raised some of the calves for a year or two before selling them when he thought they could no longer be traced, Till said. More recently, he said he had been selling them immediately at auction as financial pressures worsened...
Authorities said Scott Taylor would park his car, or sometimes a pickup truck, a few tenths of a mile from a farm and then hike through woods and streams to the property. He would either lead the calves from barns or pens with food or carry the 80- to 90-pound animals under his arm. He would drive them home in the trunk of his car, a 1995 Chevrolet four-door, or in the toolbox of his pickup, Till said.
Sounds like a good plot until he got so addicted to stealing calves that he finally got caught. Not too many people actively guard their cattle sheds, though it seems like bigger farms to tend to light their pens, particularly in the light of recent events. The also article asks the obvious question: was he alone? It seems that such a thing is unlikely as there are probably others in this business as it seems pretty straightforward if you know what you are looking for and scope out farms ahead of time.
We have an interesting group of characters running around western New York, from meth dealers to cattle rustlers. I'm sure the later is somewhat preferable to the later as their isn't the risk of toxic chemicals, but it seems that both groups have some really wacked our criminals in their ranks. It will be too bad if farmers have to spend a bunch more money on various security systems for a problem that shouldn't exist. Remember, we aren't talking about downtown Albany here.
Since the project was completed last May, North Mohawk Street has looked a lot nicer thanks to some redone street work. I haven't seen it in person, but I know Cohoes looked like the last time I was up there by the Cohoes Falls. My concern is it will be a lot like the redone South Pearl Street, which is not much nicer even with the improved street. Road construction doesn't replace people or buildings—that requires far bolder solutions.
The big-mean 1996 Congress (as Mario Cuomo called it) decided that lawfirms that got money to defend the poor in certain cases could not help out in other kind of matters, such as civil litigation against local government on behalf of poor clients. It was a cost-saving prevision that attempted to keep federal funds from being used to sue the federal through local governments, but it also removed a check against abusive government that would hurt the people the most who could not fight it.
While he was out the clock was running on his sentence, so his maximum sentence will be much lower then the full-year it was orginally planned to be. He might just be able to apply to the conditional release board the minute he returns. He's gonna appeal to the Court of Appeals and won't be going back until the new year. It's unlikely that he will win, eventhough it seems that when the state fucks up it should be required to eat it's own lost.
There is a big push to make their own machines the ones that would be choosen for voting on.
See that nice buck about 50ft from that guy's house, or can you see from the road? You better not get your gun from your truck, as it's likely to good ol' Robodeer that allows the DEC to crack down on those who hunt too close to roads and houses. It's simply is not safe to discharge a firearm that close to buildings, and it's unfair to the rest of us who follow the law. Kind of interesting how the DEC publicized this long after big gun season is over.
See a DEC agent or somebody else breaking the law in the woods or anywhere else that could be an environmental crime? The Appelate Divsion of the Supreme Court of Albany says that you now have the right to file a formal complaint, and that the DEC is required under law to investigate it. Previously, the DEC was under no obligation to look at any complaint that was filed. Now if somebody claims there is an illegal hunting camp or boat stored in the woods, they can file a complain for formal review by the DEC.
This decision is a bit disconcerning for a couple of reasons, and might not stand up to legal scruteny. For one, police and government have long had the right to discresion, they can ignore any and all violations and criminal acts if they so choose to do. The state has to defend the public interest, and if they don't do exactly, the voters have the right to boot them or the elected officals that put them in place, out of office. Unless such discresion is involved in these cases, namely the DEC is given the right to reject complaints, it would be unconsitutional. Maybe this only formulizes the reporting and investigation process. I'd have to look at Judge Cardona's rational to be sure.
Some people are again calling for tightening up the law in regards to minors, and I think that's a reasonable thing for driving in urban and suburban areas, but let's always remember those youth living in rural areas with little traffic, but already good driving skills from life on the farm and a need to get places.
I'm pretty shocked to see another great from the American left has left us for another world. He was a great commetator on many things from the 1960s to civil liberties, and he added a lot to the field of journalism. His words still speak true to today. John Nichols of The Nation had these thoughts on the late Newfield:
All of those things mattered to Newfield, whose progressive passions were never obscured by his reporter's pen and notepad. Like all great reporters, he knew that slogans like "fair-and-balanced" were merely camouflage for laziness and the lie of relativism. The point was to get at the truth. And Newfield knew that the most important arena in which to go seeking for truth, in all its ugliness and glory, was the political fray.
Newfield understood that politics ought to be a noble endeavor. Yet, he recognized that it seldom was. He had a facility for spotting both the failings of those who gave politics its bad name—especially those of the political bosses of Brooklyn and Queens—and the potential of those who sought to redeem the enterprises of electioneering and governing. And he saw redemption in participatory democracy; among the final articles by this veteran of the civil rights struggles of the 1960s was an optimistic report on the increasingly important role that African-American voters would play in the 2004 election.
I tend to agree with Nicholos on those points. I occassionally broke with Newfield, but I think what he did for the public should always be remembered. He wrote, he thought, and he provked discussion in ways that otherwise wouldn't have existed. Maybe a bit too critical or ideological at times, he was in general an excellent reporter for his 66 years of his life.
While under Clyne and other similiar DAs we saw the DA's office as welfare for political patronage, it's disappointing to see this trend to be continued with the reform DA. He has hired a lot of high paying staff, and requested in the 2005 County Budget that his office get more money for positions like chief investigator, office manager, and public information specialist—all at the time while he's cutting procecutorial staff and they recently hiked property taxes 28%. Frank Commissio who overseas the Democrats in the county legislature defended this excessive spending by saying:
"It's the policy of this legislative body not to interfere with a public official who heads up a law enforcement agency," [County Legislature Majority Leader Frank] Commisso said. Through discussions with Soares he said the new district attorney wants to revamp the office, "and he did come off the $90,000 to $80,000, so there was some movement."
I find that statement confusing. The DA's office is an agency in the executive branch and its spending should be as much under review as any other agency under the powers of the County Executive Mike Breslin. Breslin was the first man to have decided how much to give that office based on Soares recommendations, and then it was up to the legislature to trim as it sought to be reasonable. Breslin and Soares are close friends so it's likely that his budget for the office was excessive, so the legislature should have cut it. Just because law enforcement is an important part of county government, it should not be a sacred lamb that is untouchable.
Bob Prentiss' wife, Marlene stated, I don't think in this time, we should be giving a raise like that,
and that we've just raised our taxes 28 percent and now we're going to take someone and give him $80,000. Come off it. A private company wouldn't be doing that.
Democrat Shawn Morse was also offput by Commisso's attitude, and the cutting of ADAs to pay for non-lawyer positions at inflated prices. I just wish I could get a job that paid as well as the Albany DA's office under Soares. And I have to wonder now if I did the rigth thing campaigning for Soares.
That might make sense for at least his father who is old and dying, but there is such an unknown for the workers who did the dry rips. We won't know for a long time if they will have any health problems, as asbestos is a rather mysterious product when it comes to exposure. As the EPA says, one fiber could kill you but that's rather unlikely to happen.
He decided that he's paying too much in gas (life is tough when your paid per mile at state rates ;) commuting from his farm in Hopewell Junction to his Albany office, so he has purchased a hybrid. It's rather amazing that he even fits into that car, being as tall as he is—I know I couldn't get into a Neon the one time I tried. Not to mention, he likes the free press and the ability to claim that Republicans are doing a lot of good things for the environment.
In his first year of office, he's done a lot to improve the dire situtation in his city from budgetary problems to police problems. When he got there, the city had the worst possible bond rating (junk bonds), they didn't have any fuel for their plows, their recycling programs had to suspended as they didn't have enough trucks, and police where getting slammed by one report or another for their use of violence.
Since he started, he sold off the losing parking garage complex to the quasi-governmental Metroplex Development Corporation, implemented a garbage fee for all residents, cut government where he could, and started on an aggressive track to rebuild the falling apart city. The battle is far from over, and the fight against powerful unions may make or break him in 2005. It should be interesting to watch.
And everywhere else including Scatighicoke. You need not guess what CD I got for Christmas (great for truck listening once the player warms up):
It's Christmas Time in Washington
The Democrats are Rehearsed
Gettin' Into Gear for Four More Years
Things Not Getting Worst
Republicans Drank Whiskey Neat
And Thanked Their Lucky Stars
It's not as good as hearing Joan Baez sing it live in Concert, but the CD is pretty good stuff—once the truck CD Player warmed up enough to play it. I drove up Partridge Run to listen to it. It sometimes took my breath away on the great truck sound system. It's just so clear, so political, so deep. I will write a review sometime this spring on this CD and put it up in the fodder collection. The hike will be in the Outblog.
Christmas is such fun with Christmas Eve Service, Presents, and of course burning wrapping paper. Obviously the Christmas Service and playing with fire are far more fun then getting gifts that you didn't want, and watching everybody else smile at the gifts you got them for Christmas. It should be noted that burning wrapping paper is probably far more environmentally friendly then some other stuff that people like to play with, much less that evil thing called Rapp Road phenomon.
One of things I got for Christmas was a bunch of samples of colone, including some of that overhyped Stetson colone. Besides being a lot cheaper then I thought it would be (had to ask), it had really was pretty mild stuff. Certainly did not smell like a real cowboy or anybody that I've known that suffers from a real cow fetish including some farm workers on dairy farms who stop by after working in the milkhouse for a couple hours. Moo. That's all I'll say about it.
Final Fodders for the rest of the year are now up. 2004 Persons and Things look at the major movers and shakers of the year. There where a lot of interesting people this year, but I picked my favorite villens and heros that best represent the spirit of 2004 from both a personal level and a broader society level. I could have added many more to that list and did add many over the past few days, but it's more-or-less done now. The other one is about Church & Christmas Eve Service which reflects on church and it's meaning in an increasingly consumer driven secular society.
There is a rather silly website called SpareTheAir.org that looks at this subject and a rebutel to that website. All I know is it was a pretty cold day out the past few days, and it never ceases to amaze me the number of people with wood heat. The woodstove here doesn't exactly do such a great job at heating the whole house, but it's pretty hot in the living room. Wood smoke is certainly not the nicest thing to breathe in and it tends to be very much present outside and all around, but at least it's better then the smoke from burning fossil fuels. Not to mention you get about a cord of a wood per acre per well managed forest, something that's rather impossible to do with oil, which relies on terrorists or Enron to supply it to your house.
So says Yancey Roy as indicated by recent actions by Joe Bruno that show he's trying to support his shrinking ranks as politics becomes more partisan and the red-blue divide becomes more drawn in the sand, hurting Republicans upstate and down. Owning Hopewell Junction and Owls Head is only gonna get you so far in an election, and if the Republicans want to keep their majority in the Senate, they are going to have to reach out to cities and give them a compelling version of New York State. Otherwise, NY for it's first time in history will be a state controlled entirely by Democrats (this excludes the 1930s—though we had Republican US Senators). NY's Stewart created the Republican party and it would be disappointing to see it lose all power, despite the fact it doesn't serve the interest of many New Yorkers well.
It looks like popular opinion has won with the bucking of the Army Corps of Engineers failing to give permit to start on this controversal bridge. According to Luck Brothers, Inc., the General Contractor:
"We don’t have access to property that the state has purchased; the DEC permit is not in place; and without the Army Corps permit, we cannot work on the bridge or in the wetland areas," he explained. "We will be removing our equipment next week."
The Fish and Wildlife Service disagrees with the NYSDEC and NYDOT on the neccessity of putting the 9N bridge where it would be so environmentally destructive:
"Their comments suggested alternative (sites) would have less impact on the river," DeLorier said.
A letter from Fish and Wildlife Service Field Supervisor David A. Stilwell, dated Dec. 8, recommended "against the issuance of a permit for the project as proposed unless (DOT) can adequately demonstrate that all practicable alternatives have been evaluated."
The Jay Town Court has certified the controversal eminent domain procedure for Cszewski's farm, and is threatening to arrest those people if they don't get their horses off that piece of land by February. They claim that this would be difficult to do in the winter, with the lack of good pasture land and shelter to place the animals during the winter. And this makes little sense as they note, when it looks that the feds are going to kill this project.
This whole process is disfunctional. It is obvious that some power like Republican Senator Little or Assemblyman Ortloff or DOT-hack decided they wanted to build a bridge, and they went to Governor Pataki to use his power to make the Adirondack Park Agency just rubberstamp the project. It has serious environmental problems and their attempt to downplay the Feds concerns and to fight them in court shows that this is not the public's interest being served.
Cszewski gets in a few more words: To pursue a project of this magnitude in an area whose traffic does not warrant such a large impact and to appropriate properties—even before the APA voted on it—shows that they’re rushing this through...
This is terrible. Let's hope this madness stops shortly. See Journal for Previous Coverage that details the impact of this bridge on the farm, why it is a lousy project for the Town of Jay, and why it sets a horrific precident.
