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Preview – Coming Soon

It’s been quiet this week, but we’re working on some stories and some new features which you’ll find interesting.

Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be adding some original historic videos, which we’re going to be calling our video time traveler series. We’re also exploring some connections that Huletts has to NCAA Basketball and Major League Baseball.

We’re going to start a feature in the weeks ahead about what some of our friends do in the winter when they leave Huletts and we’ve also got a couple of unique interviews in the pipeline. We’re going to start another feature called; “Where are They Now” which will focus on some friends who have not been in Huletts for awhile.

We’ll continue to bring you the local news, and our popular historic items but we’re also going to be expanding our topics and posts. Full speed ahead!

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Budget Deal Reached

Gov. David Paterson and Democratic legislative leaders have reached a deal to reduce the state’s budget for the current fiscal year. This $1.6B deal closed the deficit for the current fiscal year.

With this year’s budget finished, the Governor and state legislators will start on the 2009-2010 budget that begins with a roughly $13 billion difference between spending and projected revenue.

The proposal to cap the amount the state pays in real estate taxes on forest preserve land was not not being considered for this years budget but has been proposed by the Governor for next year’s budget.

“We will pretty much be throwing everything but the kitchen sink at this budget deficit,” Gov. Paterson said in a Tuesday afternoon news conference.

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What a Black Swan Means to the Governor’s Tax Cap Proposal on State Land

In his 2007 best selling book, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, author, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, explores an idea which is relevant to the current debate on whether NY state should pay their full share of taxes on their forest preserve land.

“The book explores one big idea: that history is dominated by rare, unpredictable and extreme events. The author calls these black swans, alluding to the fact that Europeans had seen only white swans until black swans were found in Australia. The Great Depression, the 1987 stock market collapse, and the current financial crisis are examples. Black swans don’t have to be negative. Biotech firms that stumble upon breakthrough cures are black swans.

The human mind, evolved to cope with everyday tasks, deals poorly with rare but consequential events. People assume that the future will be like the recent past but in fact, the most consequential events may not have recent precedents.”

For example: NY state attempting to change how it has paid taxes on its public forest preserve land since the 1880’s. If they stop paying their full share, property taxes will go through the roof. No one really understands the consequences of this because it has never been tried before. However, all readers of the Huletts Current; if this happens, you’ve seen the black swan here already. This will be devastating to the private property owners of the Adirondacks. Please contact your downstate, state representatives. Don’t let the Governor get away with this proposal.

*Book Synopsis – Forbes Magazine February 2, 2009

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Supervisor Banks Named to Committees

Town Supervisor, Robert Banks, was recently named to a number of committees at the county level. He was picked to serve on the Adirondack Community College, Health, Human Services, Public Safety, and Public Works committees.

Many important decisions are made at the committee level and we commend Supervisor Banks for these important assignments.

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You Won’t Find These on the APA Website

9 Counties and 11 Towns Sue Adirondack Park Agency

Nine counties and eleven towns have filed suit against the Adirondack Park Agency to try to reverse new rules that have been implemented, including shoreline building prohibitions on structures that pre-date the APA. Shorefront property owners take note. Hear about it here.

Lewis Family Farm v. APA

“At 1,200 acres, Lewis Family Farm has conserved hundreds of acres of organic soils and removed thousands of tons of accumulated waste, including 15 decrepit, moldy, broken farmhouses. The documents on this site tell how the APA, a regional land use board within the blue line, violated New York State law, and engaged in an abusive, aggressive and frequently dishonest strategy to intimidate the Lewis Family Farm.”

Read about the whole case here. The Lewis family just won their case, but the APA has appealed.

Nothing about either of these on the APA site.

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Saturday Quote

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

Anne Frank

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Bits of Everything

30 Days Are Up – Governor Still Doesn’t Want To Pay

The Post Star has a good article about the Governor’s proposal to cap NY state tax payments to local governments with state forest preserve land. This is a must read for all taxpayers and voters. If you’re a NY state resident, please contact your downstate representatives and tell them NY state has to pay their property taxes. We do.

Dem’s Down to 6

This story from the Post Star is about the finalists who are being considered by the Democrats to be their nominee for Congress in the 20th Congressional District. The special election to fill former Rep Kirsten Gillibrand’s seat will be held 30 days after the Governor calls a special election.

Reynolds Game Farm Won’t Be Closed

The pheasants are going to make it after all. Cruella De Ville is crying.

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Hold the Salt

With all the recent snow, it seems like the perfect time to discuss other options for salting the roads in the Lake George basin. Salt runoff is one of the primary pollutants reaching the lake.

Here is a product called Magic Salt, which bills itself “as less corrosive, biodegradable and environmentally friendly,” than regular salt. Here is a .pdf file of an area coated on one side with regular salt and coated on another side with magic salt. Notice how the grass is burned on the regular salt side.

Here is a product called Ice B’Gone® that is made of a molasses-like liquid that can be mixed with regular rock salt. It “contains no algae-forming phosphorus”.

These are the types of products that will bring us into the future. There are most likely many others. We’ll bring to your attention a new technology that is being studied in Maryland that can lengthen the life of an existing drain field with plain old regular air.

You never thought salt was so cool.

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Do This for a Green Playable Golf Course

Letters, Faxes, Emails needed by February 28, 2009

The Lake George Park Commission is accepting comments on their proposed stream corridor regulations until February 28, 2009

We have read the regulations and historically more regulations have always meant more costs. We believe these proposed rules will impact two areas that are important to the Huletts Golf Course. The proposed rules require that any work in a stream bed requires a permit; this would impact the yearly cleaning of the reservoir which only supplies water to the golf course. Secondly, any footbridge crossing a stream would need a permit. Any environmental organization could object when a permit was applied for. This would mean that any environmental group, such as the Lake George Waterkeeper, which objected to the dredging of the mouth of Foster Brook, could impact the use of the Golf Course.

I have excerpted my comments that I submitted to the LGPC (with a copy to the HLPOCA) that deal with these two issues:

“The Huletts Golf Course is a uniquely special property. It is the only golf course within walking distance of Lake George. The water source for the Huletts Golf Course is the reservoir/dam on Fairy Creek. The Huletts Landing Property Owners Civic Association is entirely responsible for paying for the upkeep of this water source. Your proposed regulations should exempt all dams/reservoirs that require yearly maintenance. The federal government under a program launched by former Vice President, Al Gore, learned that periodic flushing of the dams on the Colorado River helped marine life downstream. Any work and/or yearly maintenance on existing reservoirs/dams should be exempted.

Likewise, the Huletts Golf Course has many crossings of Fairy Brook for people playing golf. The Huletts Landing Property Owners Civic Association maintains the course at great expense and with much volunteer labor. It would be unreasonable for existing or new pedestrian crossings to be subject to these regulations. Golf Courses in the Lake George basin should be exempted from these rules because they may at time change the location of their natural water obstacle crossings.”

Please submit your comments by February 28, 2009 telling the LGPC that these two activities that benefit the Huletts Golf Course should be exempted from their proposed stream regulations, and state the reason why; pedestrian stream crossings for people playing golf and annual maintenance on the dam that feeds the golf course should not be activities that require a permit. Tell them extreme environmental organizations that object to all human activity should not be given undo weight in this process. Send comments to:

Mr. Michael White, Executive Director of the Lake George Park Commission, PO Box 749, Lake George, NY 12845; By Fax: 518.668.5001; By email: info@lgpc.state.ny.us

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Bits of Everything

Snowy Owl Seen in Area

The Saratogian has a good article about the snowy owl appearing in our area. This is a perfect article to read today because Huletts is under a winter storm advisory, with lots of snow expected.

Ice Fishing Better Understood

This is a story which I missed that came out about two weeks ago which aired on North Country Public Radio. It’s about the start of the ice fishing season and they interview some ice fishermen on Lake George. You can learn something about ice fishing while sitting inside, nice and warm.