THE TWO CANDIDATES who seek the job as district attorney have each been elected to that post before, decades ago. Both men are from this county and have long records of public service. And as harsh as it may sound, neither Eugene Keeler, running on the Democratic and Working Family lines, nor Republican Paul Czajka, also on the Conservative and Independence Party lines, has much chance of using the job as Columbia County DA as a stepping stone to higher office. Each man believes that as district attorney he can make the justice system work better. Read more…
Category Archives: Editorial
TWO MEN SEEK the relatively thankless job of watching over the county’s funds as the elected county treasurer. The treasurer is designated by state law as the chief fiscal officer of the county, the person who receives the revenues paid to the county and the person who oversees where all that money goes.
We like to think that we live in a small county, and in most ways we do, but this small county spends $150 million a year. It’s an important job. Read more…
HAVING WORKED ON WALL STREET I felt unwilling to hang out again in that cement cavern. But I stumbled on the Occupy Wall Street sister demonstration in Boston a couple of weeks ago, where the nearly empty sidewalks on a balmy Saturday afternoon in the financial district suddenly blossomed into a mid-week-lunch-hour sized crowd. They just looked like people you’d see here or anywhere else, except for their signs.
This newspaper seldom covers national news, and since the big media organizations have told us that these demonstrators lack a focus and don’t have either a common plan or much money, this seems like something we should leave to others. There are plenty of issues right here in Columbia County, like staying warm this winter. That’s going to be tougher for some folks if the federal government cuts a program called LIHEAP. Read more…
BREAKING NEWS: THE COUNTY has put binders on a soon-to-be-vacant supermarket in Chatham, the empty market in New Lebanon, the old school in Copake, a barn, two campers and a cave in Germantown. Have a garage with a rotting roof? A tent that didn’t sell at the yard sale? Hurry down to 401 State Street in Hudson. There’s no recession at the Board of Supervisors.
Yes, I’m exaggerating. The Germantown cave isn’t available until after the hibernation season. But you’ll forgive me for thinking that county government hasn’t met an empty space it doesn’t like after purchasing the old Ockawamick School in Claverack a few years ago, talking about buying the City Centre office building, laying out tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars for an option on the former Walmart building on Fairview Avenue and then agreeing last month to purchase the office building it leases at 25 Railroad Avenue in Hudson, but only after paying more to extend its option on the old Walmart site. Read more…
HEAR THOSE GEESE on their way south? What a racket they make, and what a sight it is to see their great meandering wedges. They know it’s fall. They follow waterways on the great Northeast Flyway, and we’re fortunate enough to live in their flight path.
As ignorant as I am of Nature’s ways, I envision water fowl as having a class system, where type-A flocks from well-feathered nests reserve the best spots and the rest make do at whatever stream, pond or puddle motels they can find. It makes me wonder how the South Bay between Route 9G and the Hudson River in the City of Hudson ranks as a migratory accommodation.