Friday, June 05, 2009

June Greenery

“THE EXTREME VIOLENCE, brutality and utter cruelty of your actions,” said Greene County Judge George Pulver Jr to Travis Augustine, have earned you “the maximum sentences allowable by law”: 25 years to life in State prison for murder, two to four years more for each of two property thefts, and two years of “local incarceration” for aggravated cruelty to animals—all to be served consecutively. -----While meting out those sentences last Tuesday, in his temporary courtroom in the former St Patrick’s Academy, Judge Pulver recalled that when, in July 2008, at 23 years of age, Augustine perpetrated the crimes for which his GreeneLand jurors found him guilty last month, he already was a felony offender. This time “You murdered a human being in cold blood by shooting her in the head…, you repeatedly shot her dog in the head causing its death, you dug a grave and interred the two bodies and then went about your blissful lifestyle without an ounce of apparent remorse—all the while using your deceased victim’s vehicle and debit card.” Moreover, “the person whose precious life you took—Martha Conners—had befriended you, and provided you with resources and a homestead and had encouraged you to abandon your life of drugs.” -----In choosing to impose the maximum allowable sentence for murder, Judge Pulver made a decision that he has reached only twice before. On March 31, 2000, he imposed the maximum on Daniel Horan, who had deliberately rammed his car at high speed into Elizabeth DeWald, who was walking home from a baby-sitting job in Windham. On February 13, 2002, Judge Pulver gave the maximum to Daniel Rodriguez, who had taken part in the Latin Kings gang murder of John J. Huntt. COLE FOR KIDS. "Last week we received about 120 nine- and ten-year-olds over two days who were the 'guinea pigs' for our newly designed school group programs. We rotated them through five stations around the site doing a different hands-on activity at each station. [Each station or module has been "designed to engage three different age levels," so we have fifteen different ways to engage and educate kids here]. Each one required creative hand-outs such as time lines and site maps to fill in, and fun learning objects ranging from compasses to plastic food. The looks on their faces were something to see. The teachers couldn't believe that this was the very first time we had tried it out." --E-mail message from Director Elizabeth Jacks to Trustees of Thomas Cole National Historic Site. HOOKED. "Striped bass days are numbered," says a Daily Mail headline (5/12/09) over a Dick Nelson column saying "Today the fish is considered abundant and the Hudson River migration alone has been estimated to exceed 50 million." That information dovetails nicely with results of this year's striper contest run by Tom Gentalen: 564 participants, 1000 hits per day on the Fishing Reports page of the River Basin Sports web site, $11,460 in entry fees dispensed as prizes, catches measuring over 46 inches and 40 pounds. TOTALLY TOTS, the multi-room section of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum that opened last September, has been cited by the museum’s executive director as the main cause of a huge jump in attendance and in members. The credit goes to designing GreeneLand-based installation artists Carol May (no kin to this here blogger) and Tim Watkins. More recent installations, says Mr Watkins, are an assemblage of “sea-like forms that gently dance in wind currents” in the indoor atrium of the University of Florida’s dental clinic, and, for an elementary school in Portland ME, a sculpture that "uses wind, sun and water to cause movement." Then there's a Colorado project....

HAPPENING, on just one GreeneLand Saturday:

Spring Rush, Catskill High School Business Club’s walking/pedaling/paddling event. (www.welcometocatskill.com ). Libraries Expo and book sale at Historic Catskill Point. “Homes Along the Hudson,” a tour of sites arranged by the Greene County Historical Society, with headquarters (registration, maps…) in the Freightmaster’s Building at Catskill Point.(www.gchistory.org ). Cat sculptures on the sidewalks of Catskill; bears in Cairo. Two art show openings in one place: Greene County Council on the Arts headquarters. (www.greenearts.org). National Trails Day at, and from, the Mountain Top Historical Society’s campus in Haines Falls, with guided hike to North Lake area followed by party and book signing (Robert Titus, The Other Side of Time). (www.mths.org ). Hike to Sunset Rock and the Catskill Mountain House, with guidance from the Thomas Cole National Historic Site (www.thomascole.org), inaugurating Carol T. Savage Art Trail Docent Program. Instructional workshop on “silvopasture” (blending high-value timber with high-quality forage and livestock cultivation) in Acra. (www.agroforestrycenter.org) . Nickel social at Catskill Senior Center from 11am. Antique farm machinery shows in Ashland and New Baltimore. www.greenetourism.com. Ceremonial lighting of the Hudson-Athens lighthouse (an event that offers the perfect pretext for touting the word pharology). Jazz talk and performance (Ralph Lalama; John Hart) at Athens Cultural Center from 7pm.

TICKS “DO NOT FLY, jump or hop like fleas. They climb up on vegetation and wait for vibrations indicating a passing animal. When they feel the vibrations they extend their claw- like legs and grab onto anything that brushes by…such as a deer, a dog, a cat or your pants leg…. The tick's mouthparts resemble a many-barbed dagger that surrounds two thin straws. The barbs look like tiny fishhooks, which is why the tick is to hard to yank out once attached. One straw secetes saliva to thin blood and also contains a substance that dulls pain, which is why people do not ever feel the tick. The other straw sucks up blood. When the tick becomes fully engorged with blood…bacteria that are in the tick’s gut get into the salivary glands and then they are injected back into you! This is why it is important to pull the tick out and not apply any sort of substance that will make the tick release its grip.” As for tick repellants, look for products whose active ingredient is permethrin.

Bob Beyfuss, Cornell Co-operative Extension (via Daily Mail, 5/23)

1 comment:

tip givens said...

This is not a comment buy a tip. A fight broke out at Elliot Park over a little leauge game. Mrs. Dr. Joe Pilatich and a parent came to blows. Dr Joe came out of the Dugout using the F word. When asked to calm down because children around he declined saying I don't F care, etc. The Police called but Mrs. Dr. threw first punch. Mrs. Dr. Suspended one two games Dr. Suspended 2 games.

Good example for kids. I thought professional people like Dr, Layers bankers etc were supposed to act better in public. No excuse. If Dr Joe was Factory worker Joe he would have got suspended for a number of games or whatever.