Independence? Prove it!

From an article in today's Record:

Republicans and Democrats who want their names to also appear on the Independence line in November now must complete an online questionnaire that includes some hot-button topics, such as dissolving tiny towns and villages to save taxpayers money.
"We want to make it less of a popularity contest and focus it more on highly substantive issues," explained Orange County's Independence leader, Langdon Chapman.

OK, so the Independence Party is against uneccessary villages. Like, perhaps, the Village of Woodbury?

And who was one of the loudest voices in Caruso's "Let's Form a Village" Choir?

John Burke.

Now the Dems are nominating Frank Palermo for the Town Board so that he will give their slate, headed by Burke, the Independence line.

If Burke gets the endorsement it will mean that the Independence Party's claimed interest in eliminating extra layers of government is pure manure.

Wait and watch.

Or better yet, call Langdon Chapman and shout.

Catching Up

Sorry, a brief sojourn to Maryland turned out slightly less brief than planned.

Tonight (Tuesday) the new members of the village board have their first meeting. Village Hall, 7:30 PM. This is to be their last meeting there. After tonight they move the show to town hall, which has the video equipment.

From the Record:
O’Dwyer set to announce Orange exec candidacy
By Chris Mckenna
April 14, 2009 6:00 AM
GOSHEN — Democrat Pat O’Dwyer has scheduled a news conference Sunday for what is expected to be her announcement that she will run for Orange County executive in November.O’Dwyer, a party activist and former Town of Goshen supervisor, said Monday she will announce her political plans at the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame at 240 Main St. in Goshen. The event is open to the public and set to run from 1 to 3 p.m.County Executive Ed Diana, a Republican, has already announced plans to run for a third term this year.

The Uncle admits ignorance about O'Dwyer. Any thoughts, insights or slander from you folks?

Ralph Was

Considering how much fun it has been to chat about Woodbury's own Gossip Girl, Ralph Caruso, the Uncle fears that that era may be coming to an end.

It appears that Ralph's sun is setting.

He hasn't won an election in decades, though not for lack of trying.

Not one of his Woodbury candidates has won in years.

His tenure as Chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeal is also ancient history.

His one-time playmates on the Democratic Committee are poised to give the nod to Frank Palermo for Town Councilman. This is a wet chatooie in Ralph's face. Suffice it to say that Ralph and Frank don't play well together.

And now, our esteemed State Senator, Uncle Billie Larkin himself, has decided that Ralph's services as a chauffeur are no longer required.

Ralph has been fired.

Gasp!

No longer will our pal be able to stand before us and introduce himself as "Ralph Caruso, Aide to Senator Larkin."

O, how the mighty have fallen and the grape made low.

Prioritize

Ralph's attention was a bit diverted during the recent village election.

As attentive nieces and nephews will recall, Ralph set up THE CHAIRMAN'S CORNER in order to keep us all abreast of the pressing issues facing Woodbury.

http://www.preservewoodbury.org/ChCo.htm

He began with the "first in a series of Commentaries I will present as the Chairman of the Citizens for the Preservation of Woodbury for our community. They will cover a variety of subjects in no particular order, but will include Village, Town, County, State and Federal government matters."

From January 1st 'til now this appears to be a series of one.

And the only topic Ralph found noteworthy was the Pieman's living arrangements.

Hmmm.

Is Ralphie hoping for an invite?

And, the main (pretty much only) topic on the Perversionists home page is...guess who?

http://www.preservewoodbury.org/index.htm

We begin to think Ralph has a crush on the Pieman.

And now, as the flyer reproduced up above shows, Ralph has asked us all to join in.

He has invited us to the Planning Board's public hearing tonight (Wednesday, April Fool's Day appropriately) at 7:30 at Town Hall. The subject is, yet again, the Pieman's home.

Do try to come. Bring snacks. For shut-ins, the festivities will be on cable channel 22.

In case any of you have questions about any of this, Ralph has kindly included his number. Feel free to call.

Oh Ralphie, Ralphie, Ralphie. Did you ever consider sending flowers?

The (Sour) Grapes of Ralph

I would like to thank all those who came out to vote in the Village of Woodbury election. I especially thank the voters who voted for the Preservation Team: Ben Meyers, George Pedersen and Fred Ungerer.

This election was riddled with misleading and outright misrepresented and undeliverable promises by the Common Sense Party. However, around 65 percent of the voters were able to see through the smoke and mirrors, with the Common Sense Party candidates being elected with around only 35 percent of the votes, clearly not a mandate.

Actually, there are 6,350 registered voters in the Village of Woodbury, with 1,298 voting in this election, about 20 percent, with and average of 470 voting for the Common Sense Party candidates. This means about 7 percent of all village registered voters elected the new mayor and two trustees.
This tells all of us that staying home and not voting is not a good idea. Why let the few tell the many how our village should be governed?

Keep an eye on your Village Board and make them accountable to you.

Ralph Caruso, Chairman
Highland Mills

Drip, Drip, Drip

Kiryas Joel has come out with an amended FEIS on their pipeline plan. Now we're hearing about a proposed link up of water systems throughout Orange County (see below).

Good idea? Bad idea? Who's paying attention?

Orange County study calls for 19 water system links

By Chris Mckenna
Times Herald-Record
March 25, 2009 6:00 AM
GOSHEN — Orange County is proposing that 19 links be built among municipal water systems to help those with potential shortages, channel development and share supplies during droughts and other emergencies.

The so-called interconnections are among the recommendations in a plan the Water Authority has developed to safeguard the patchwork of wells, reservoirs and other resources that supply drinking water to almost three-quarters of the county's population.

The 245-page draft projects that municipalities will have plenty of water overall to keep pace with population growth through 2018, the endpoint of the study three consulting firms did for the authority.

But supplies will vary widely from one municipality to another by that time: Some will be flush with water while as many as seven could either run short or barely satisfy demand, according to the plan.

"We have plenty of water, but it's not necessarily in the right locations," said Planning Commissioner David Church, whose department oversees the authority.

The plan suggests erecting more storage tanks and strengthening conservation efforts. But it also provides the most detailed proposal to date for a series of regional water systems — or miniloops — that County Executive Ed Diana has long touted.

These scattered connections would be a more modest successor to a colossal water-loop idea the county conceived decades ago, only to see it collapse in the early '90s because of its high cost and lack of support from the municipalities.
The plan calls for immediate action on seven of those links, including one that would stretch 4.5 miles to connect the water-rich Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson with the Village of Washingtonville, which is expected to run low within a decade.

Shortages were also foreseen in the Villages of Goshen, Highland Falls, Monroe, Kiryas Joel and the cities of Middletown and Newburgh — although the plan acknowledges potential errors in the calculations for Newburgh, Middletown and Highland Falls.

To Resign or Not?

The new Village Board members take office in early April.

Mike's term on the Town Board is up this November.

If Mike resigns then John, Bo and Carlton will handpick his replacement. If he stays on, it will be up to the voters.

There is no law against his holding both positions, but should he?

What do you folks think?

Go Vote

Noon 'til 9 PM

Village Hall
(Above the Highland Mills Fire House)

Crapping In Your Ear

Perhaps to conserve paper, the late hitting lie is traveling by word of mouth.

The lie: If one particular slate wins, the incoming mayor will invoke a little known state law and downsize the Village Board to three members.

There is no such plan.

Because

There is no such law.

This is the droppings left by the male cow.

Who started passing this around? We don’t know, we can only guess.

The Silence of the Uncle?

A number of posters, or, likely, one poster, a number of times, has called on the Uncle to close up shop until after the election. He has gone so far as to claim that to do so would honor those who have fought to protect us.

The soldiers who took up arms (and too often laid down their lives) for this country did so to defend the people’s right to have these debates. It is no honor to them to seek to silence the voices we despise.

The best answer to lies and smears is truth, not censorship.

What drew me to this country was its ability to withstand lively, even ugly, debate without it leading to mobs in the plazas. I have seen enough of those.

I would hope that you are wise enough to tell baseless slander from supported fact. I would hope that you care enough about your community and your homes to decide your votes on something more tangible than anonymous accusations.

What appears here should never be the end of a search for truth, but, at best, a start. If you read something here that interests or disturbs you, make the effort to go find out more.

If you have questions, post them. If the answers don’t satisfy, look further.

But silence is never the answer.