The Hayseeds blog, No. 105 for the week starting March 5, 2005.
February 19, 2005
Hayseeds No. 104
March 5, 2005
Hayseeds No. 105
March 12, 2005
Hayseeds No. 105
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My little bill tracker of the good bills is back and updated after being down for most of the month of February due to problems with my home computer not working reliably. Believe if or not kids I don't have realiable access to the internet nowadays.
I'll mention a few things today before I go outside on my day off from work (they closed this morning). The weather ain't all that bad so it seems silly that my company closed, but regardless I'm going to post a few things then go out back with my truck (say it with a hard 'K') and work on some fodder, call some colleges, and write some poetry. Sounds like fun. I tell you, I won't get stuck!
That's what some people are saying about them lately. I could mention that Judy Collins song about now, but I won't. We have farmers who think they are great, as they give them extra money without giving up their farmland to sprawl. And we have people who think they are rather noisey and ugly. First the farmers (I'm biased):
The 10 property owners who have towers on their land receive substantial income from the turbines, and the town signed a 15-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with the operator, Enel North America Inc. It lowered town taxes by one-third, Carey said.
Griffin will not say how much she earns from the turbines, but explained that each property owner is paid a quarterly minimum, as well as a percentage of what the turbines on their land produce.
Carey said wind power is saving family farms in Fenner, where farmers have always had to work second jobs.
On the other hand they are ugly and can be seen from all over in Fenner, Madison County and from the Thruway. And as witnessed with the proposed one on Barton's mines on Gore Mountain the aesthetics are disconcernings to many. This is not unlike the effect of the big hydro projects in Upstate NY in the 1960s. Most concerning is the problem of how they will look in 30 years when they start to rust and fail, especially if power companies abandon them for newer technolgies. It could be just like another SUNYA uptown campus or some of the NYSERDA dam projects whose concrete is corrouding away.
Turbine aesthetics are as debated as Christo's "The Gates." Their height and visibility are likely to shape the debate over Barton's wind farm more than other concerns around threats to birds, noise and long shadows. Some people, like many of the residents of Fenner, find them graceful in appearance and beautiful in their symbolism—a clean option to foreign oil and acid-rain producing emissions from coal-fired power plants....
...Eleanor Stein, an Albany Law School professor and former administrative law judge for the PSC, wrote the recommendations and said wind power is expected to play a big role in meeting the 25 percent goal. When and how wind farms are built is left up to market forces and federal tax incentives approved by Congress. Stein said when the PSC started the case, she advised the staff and consultants to assume wind farms would not be built in the Catskill Forest Preserve or forest preserve land in the Adirondacks.
It's a difficult call to decide how much of our sky we want to clutter up by wind power. Turbines need to be increadibly big to generate a lot of power, and even that can be miniscule from what we get from the big boilers in power plants with a lot smaller of a footprint in the sky and on the land. One 1.5 megawatt plant only provides enough electricity to power 500 houses OR about 13 Ford Ranger Pickup Trucks OR 4 Chevy Silverado 3500s. Cars use a lot of energy compared to electricity generation.
On the other hand, fossil fuel plants don't benifit farmers except with cheap electric, and they do release greenhouse gases and make us have to slaugher people in Iraq. Most importnantly though, is as a whole wind power is good for the environment. Lots more on this controversy can be found by a Google News Search...
That's what the nice people over in the city who made their crow shoots famous, Auburn are saying in the Auburn Citizen article on ATVs in NYS. This year they are complaining about the hike in the ATV registration hike, and with local clubs getting any part of the cut. It's the same song and game the governor played last year. And like usual, most people are forgetting to register their machines with NYS having almost no public places to ride:
Lee Ann Harris, director of clubs and lands for Trailpass, a private group pushing trail development, said there are probably twice as many ATVs in New York, some either not registered or registered than in other states. "It's a part of the (off-road) market that continues to grow," said Matthew Maney, a salesman for M&R Sports in Aurelius. "But New York is one of the most limited places as far as riding and trail systems. It's all private property.
An even ENCON is harassing judges about riding ATVs:
The ticket wasn't for trespass or riding where he shouldn't have been - ATVs are allowed to cross roads - but for not having an insurance card. Mike Mumford, also of Savannah, was riding with him and was ticketed for the same thing. He produced a card, and the charge was dismissed. Teneyck, who is the Savannah town justice, pleaded guilty in Montezuma Town Court and paid a $50 fine. He said he was wrong for not having the card, but thought he and Mumford were being singled out by the ENCON police because of a negative image of ATVers.
It is important to have insurance, and Teneyck should have had insurance on his ATV, but how many others who drive cars are asked to show their insurance car? I've been through dozens of registration checks without ever having to produce my insurance car. Most importantly is this:
Duckett, himself an ATV enthusiast, said the matter is complicated. The trails are multi-use, and there is great concern about allowing motorized vehicles on them.
Problems with noise and speed, as well as ruts left by ATVers and negative reaction from property owners who border the trails, are primary worries. "There's more to it than just saying 'Have at it,'" Duckett said.
But that doesn't mean he's opposed to letting ATVers on some part of the 30 miles of trails, possibly where there is light use or the need for further development. He said Lavoy's club - which Docket described as being comprised of responsible adult riders - could be given permission to ride in a specific area on a trial basis.
That seems like a reasonable proposal, after the county legislature and DEC have taken a good, open, and fair look at opening trails. If we can find ways to abate problems with other activities, we can certainly do something about ATVs.
It seems as though the death penality is dead at least for those who are under 18. That's great news for those of us who think the death penality is really bad news. That's not so great for those who support it. Setting an arbitrary age for killing people seems silly as killing is always wrong AND just because somebody's 17 or 18 doesn't change all that much.
As such it should not be confused with Friday which occurs tommorow, and at around 5:00 PM we are done for work for yet another exciting week.
That's what Joe and Shelly must be jumping around after February brought in the state treasury about $1.3 billion additional dollars. That means more money to spend in a budget so fewer programs need be cut. Still, now that legislators can't change budget language except to add or subtract amounts, it seems that such money won't be used very well.
He wants to see legislators pouring over the budget 5 or 7 days a week to get it done on time. Most of us doubt that such a thing would ever happen, and a rushed budget probably is not a good thing. It is still encouraging to see that there is a push for an ontime budget this year.
We now are paying less in car insurance for the second time this past year, as agencies cut rates farther. Good. Most of us pay already way too much in insurance.
Bill Cooke in a LtE in the TU points out the obvious: you can't really prevent terror, as you never know what people's intentions are and that people are able to get around barriers. You can set gun control laws, make the posession of fertilizer illegal, or keep people from owning milk cows, but you can't stop a determined individual from doing something bad. When we start to realize this we will start to get our basic civil liberties back.
It's nice when people are being chauffered around in big SUVs all day long, like our Guv or our SUNY Chancellor. But maybe it gets a bit expensive when you have three drivers on top of all the other perks as SUNY Chancellor. In some ways Bob King has it better then the governor, when his compensation pacakge, housing allowance, and everything else is included. I think we need to go back to the days of Governor Mario Cuomo and his junky 1970s-era station wagon he used to drive around Albany, as he lived in the governors mansion.
Yes, I felt the pump at the pump when I put in my 14 gallons into my truck yesterday, and some see them going even higher to the point where going out and going off-road won't be so much fun. $2.50 a gallon would mean a $35 fillup, or maybe even as much as $38 if the tank is really low. That's really really expensive!
In other words some tips to print up and give to your neighboors, as they illegally ride up and down your road repeatly. Also, safety information is good to follow as otherwise it prompts our fine friends in Albany to pass laws to require the next generation of idiots to find other ways to hurt themselves.
