Taking Stock

TAKINGS. In GreeneLand last year, according to Department of Environmental Conservation figures (http://dec.ny.gov), 55 black bears were taken, along with 1291 white-tailed deer. Eight of those bears were taken by archers. Most of the bears were taken at, or from, mountain sites: Lexington (8 takings), Jewett (7), Windham, Hunter, Halcott, Ashland, Prattsville. The 2008 takings exceed the 2007 takings, of 31 bears and 1244 deer(s). They contributed to State-wide takings, of 1295 bears and 222,979 deer, exceeding the 2007 takings, or harvests, of 1117 and 219,141. Taken, of course, means killed by hunters. So does harvested. The growth in takings, DEC heads calculate, attests to growth in the target populations. TAKEN: jobs. In GreeneLand, according to State Government figures (www.labor.state.ny.us), the rate of unemployment rose in January to 8.5 per cent of the labor force. That is a jump from 6.2% in January 2008, and it is the second-highest figure in the mid-Hudson Valley (the highest being Sullivan County's 10.2%). The State-wide figure, meanwhile, was 7% in January, a jump from 4.7 in Januaryof 2008. TAKEN: expectations. At least three GreeneLand non-profit organizations were notified recently that State dollars they had been expecting, dollars they had more or less been promised, won't be forthcoming. The notices went "with much regret" from our State Senator, James Seward, to the Athens Cultural Center, the Catskill Chamber of Commerce, and the Greene County Historical Society. They involve sums of as much as $10,000. Senator Seward traced the disappointing news to the deficit reduction measure which Gov. David Paterson had proposed and the majority of legislators (not including Seward) had adopted. That measure "diverted or 'swept'" money from "funding projects set aside to pay legislative initiatives"--also known as member items--into the State Government's general fund. There is a chance, the senator stipulated, that the expected money will become available later. (We wonder, however, what leverage Mr Seward can exert, now that he is a member of the minority party in the Senate). HUDSON IN HUDSON ON HUDSON. At the Hudson Opera House on Sunday afternoon, author-illustrator Hudson Talbott will front a program devoted to his new book, River of Dreams: The Story of the Hudson River; to the current state of that majestic tidal estuary (expounded by Scenic Hudson's Ned Sullivan); and to the incipient musical show based on historic Hudsonian highlights (with composer Frank Cuthbert leading cast members through a couple of his new songs). From 2pm. http://riverofdreamsproject.blogspot.com WHEN? WHERE? On behalf of Jim Tedisco, the Republican candidate in the race to succeed Kirsten Gillibrand as U.S. Representative, publicist Joshua Fitzpatrick put out a news release yesterday that looked ahead and behind. Mr Tedisco, said Mr Fitzpatrick, "tonight conducted" a "Tele-Town Hall" "speaking with and hearing from, thousands of voters" in the 20th congressional district. Mr Fitzpatrick did not say where, or by what channel, that bit of "grassroots outreach" would occur or, alternatively, had occurred. NIMBY NEWS. A new housing development whose environmentally friendly features include "roof insulation, double glazing, lovers and wells" is not coming to GreeneLand. Neither is jazz musician Wayne Tisdale, who, according to Sporting News Today, "will make his first musical appearance since having a portion of his right leg amputated at halftime of the Sooners basketball game...next month." Greene County judges, however, have been active in particularly newsworthy ways. One of them established a record when, for Chi Quang Du, who was suspected of stabbing his girlfriend and had been captured after being at large for 11 years, he set bond at $55 million. Another set a date for the trial of one Randy Sloan, who is charged with felony standing nude in his front yard and whistling at passing school children. Those judges occupy benches in Greene County, Ohio and Greene County, Misssouri. They accordingly were not present at Chatham House in Columbia County (NY) the other day for the annual Crystal Apple award celebration, where Assemblyman Marc Molinaro, according to reporter Seasame Campbell, gave the keynote speech "after hors'devours."