Liberty Pride 2011 – Kick-off meeting on Wednesday, March 16

Everybody is invited to join Liberty ALIVE, the Liberty Chamber of Commerce, the CDC and other community groups as we are getting ready to kick off the 2011 Liberty Pride activities with a public meeting on

Wednesday, March 16, at 7:00 PM upstairs in the Volunteer Ambulance Corps building at 178 Mill Street.

The purpose of the meeting is to present & discuss ideas for this year’s beautification projects and activities, specifically in preparation of the application to Sullivan Renaissance for 2011 grants. There will also be sign-up sheets for volunteers to become part of the work activities that will happen throughout the summer.

PR Courtesy of the Liberty Community Development Corporation

NY Schools Budget Crisis Hits Home

New York State is proposing a 1.5 Billion cut in school budgets. The ripple of this proposed cut is already being felt in the Liberty Central School District.

Liberty stands to lose about 1.3 Million dollars in funding. This is a large chunk of the budget and over 20 employees at the Liberty Elementary School have already been notified that they will not have a job after June 11th.

The 1.5 Billion dollar cut is part of Governor Cuomo’s proposed executive budget. The budget proposal will lead to thousands of middle-class layoffs across New York creating more unemployed and shrinking state & local tax revenue even further.

The budget does offer a proposal for rewarding educational performance:

Rewarding Education Performance. New York public schools spend more per student
than any other state – fully 71 percent above the national average – yet New York ranks
40th in graduation rates and 34th in the nation in the percentage of adults who have a
high school diploma or the equivalent. To improve performance and efficiency, Governor
Cuomo has proposed restructuring a portion of State education aid to create incentives
that reward school districts for improving student performance and implementing
management efficiency policies. These include two competitive grants: a $250 million
School District Performance Improvement Award program of grants awarded to school
districts that demonstrate significant improvements in their student performance
outcomes, and a $250 million School District Management Efficiency Award program
that awards funding to school districts that undertake long-term structural changes that
will reduce costs and improve efficiency

New York State United Teachers union (NYSUT) are running a TV campaign against the cuts:

The cuts couldn’t come at a worse time for our educational system. The United States is already dropping in educational levels compared to the world. The AFP reports:

The three-yearly OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report, which compares the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds in 70 countries around the world, ranked the United States 14th out of 34 OECD countries for reading skills, 17th for science and a below-average 25th for mathematics.

Cuts could be made in other areas of the proposed state budget to at least lessen the blow to our school systems. Bolstering the budgets to our schools is a great idea that returns measurable effects. The AFP also reports:

Boosting US scores for reading, math and science by 25 points over the next 20 years would result in a gain of 41 trillion dollars for the United States economy over the lifetime of the generation born in 2010, the OECD said.

In addition to the cuts Governor Cuomo also presented a superintendent salary cap. The cap would be reflective on the enrollment in the school district. Our State Senator John Bonacic agrees with the proposal:

We need to be realistic about the current state of our economy. Setting a salary cap based on student enrollment makes a lot of sense and is a step in the right direction. It is an ideal, fair plan to cut spending at a time where we need to be frugal. As Governor Cuomo has said, the budget plan will be one that makes difficult choices.

The budget shortfall in Liberty will result in difficult choices. What you can do is support your local teachers and support staff. Call or write letters to our local state representation on how you feel about cuts to our education system, we’ve included the contact information below.

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State Senator John Bonacic:
188 State Street Room 509 Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12247
United States
Phone: (518) 455-3181

US Congressman Maurice Hinchey:
Office of Rep. Hinchey
2431 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-6335
Fax: (202) 226-0774

Assemblywoman Aileen M. Gunther:
District Office
18 Anawana Lake Road
Monticello, NY 12701
845-794-5807

Pedestrian Clubbed by Road Raging Driver

 So – like to walk? Maybe you like to take your dog for walks… What if a driver goes speeding by you so fast and close it feels un-safe? Well you would just give a hand gesture to slow down (no not that one) and maybe shout slow down, right? Well don’t do that. Apparently we now have to worry about drivers pulling over and beating you because you suggested that they slow down. Harold Wilson of North Branch did just that to a pedestrian walking his dog on Briscoe Rd in Swan Lake.

Mr. Wilson sped pass a pedestrian walking his dog on Briscoe Rd – so the pedestrian signaled to him to slow down. Mr Wilson then pulled over, began to argue with the pedestrian then pulled out a 3 foot long piece of wood. He then proceeded to hit the pedestrian in the leg with the piece of wood, injuring the pedestrian.

Harold Wilson was charged with felony second-degree assault and misdemeanor criminal possession of a weapon. He was arraigned in the Town of Liberty Court, then released.

1st Annual David F Curreri Memorial Golf Outing

The First Annual David F. Curreri Memorial Golf Outing will take place on Sunday, September 5th at the well-manicured Swan Lake Golf & Country Club in Swan Lake.
 

Enjoy a complete program of special events, 18 holes of golf (including cart), dinner, raffles and prizes. All proceeds to benefit the David F. Curreri Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Registration begins at 12 pm, with shotgun start at 1pm.The cost for this event is only $70. This price includes entry into all events, 18 holes of golf, riding cart, dinner and various awards.Win a prize for any par 3 Hole-In-One including a Ford Focus from M&M Auto Group in Liberty.

• Longest drive contests

• Closest to the pin challenge

• Putting Challenge

• Raffles and Prizes

• Beer & Water provided by Gasko & Meyer Inc for a donation

• Hole- In-One Win a Ford Focus or various trips

From the Curreri Family:

Sadly our brother David lost his life in an ATV accident back on July 17th of 2010. To keep his name alive our family has started a scholarship fund in his name, The David F. Curreri Memorial Scholarship. David, a graduate of Sullivan West Narrowsburg, loved kids and loved teaching, so what better way to give back then to give to our local youth. We are going to hold an annual golf outing in his name to raise funds for this scholarship. My family and Iare hoping that our local businesses would like to participate and help us in this endeavor. You can sponsor a hole, donate items for us to raffle off at the event (any items, gift cards, etc.) or pass along to any golfers you know. Please feel free to contact me for more info, 570 575-1515 or 570 729-8340, email djjoeyc@ptd.net. 

If you would like to sponsor the event – click here to download the flyer.

Swan Lake sidewalks in progress!

We’ll have some more pics to share soon, but Poley paving has started working on the sidewalks in Swan Lake. The sidewalks are made possible through a grant obtained by former Town of Liberty Supervisor Frank DeMayo and Heinrich Strauch of the Liberty Community Development Corporation. The grant was awarded by John Bonacic.

Next up are streetlights along the new sidewalks and continued work on the historic cemetery behind the Swan Lake Firehouse.

Myth-busted: Why the WSS argument is Bull.

We’ve been monitoring the comments on a few stories and there always seems to be this strange ‘White Sulphur Springs controls the vote’ mantra. It’s just not true. What does happen is that people don’t pay attention to who they are voting for (just voting party lines), or the only candidates are from White Sulphur. Neither of which are caused by some vast conspiracy by WSS to dominate the world.

Even someone said that “uhg, Sean Hanoffee is from White Sulphur” when the Councilperson-Elect actually lives in the Village of Liberty. Um, White Sulphur people are the same as people from Swan Lake, the same as from Parksville, the same as from Liberty – we are all residents of the Town of Liberty.

It doesn’t matter where the politician is from – but sadly, most have special interest.

So let’s disperse the myth through numbers – we’ll break down the registered voters by Hamlet (& village) and by Party. Then you can decide.

There are 5,946 total voters in the Town of Liberty, out of a population of 9,632 (2000 census).

Let’s start with White Sulphur:

316 Registered Voters
Major Parties:
106 Independent / Blank
107 Democrat
93 Republican

170 Female
146 Male

————————-

Village of Liberty:
3,688 Registered Voters
Major Parties:
1,569 Democrat
1,094 Independent / Blank
887 Republican

2,016 Female
1,672 Male

————————-

Swan Lake:
890 Registered Voters
Major Parties:
410 Democrat
234 Republican
219 Independent / Blank

468 Male
422 Female

————————-

Parksville
574 Registered Voters
Major Parties:
257 Independent / Blank
209 Democrat
181 Republican

295 Male
279 Female

————————-

Ferndale
478 Registered Voters
Major Parties:
171 Democrat
155 Republican
135 Independent / Blank

244 Female
234 Male

So by the numbers: White Sulphur only accounts for 5% of the total vote. While the Village accounts for a whopping 62%.

But heres the real issue – while there is about 6,000 registered voters – only about 2,500 vote in the local elections. Citizens are given the right to vote – it’s your voice – you get to decide who gets elected – but obviously people don’t take this responsibility seriously. AND YET STILL if all of White Sulphur voted for the same candidate they still would only make up 12% of the vote.

There is no ‘White Sulphur Myth’ – Begin discussion.

(And yes we couldn’t use a pic of the Real JAMIE HYNEMAN from Mythbusters)