Living While Dying

We signed up for a four-week series at a church on South Street in Pittsfield with week one devoted to inevitable death, whether overnight or years and decades down the road. Led by Pam Kueppers from New Lebanon. She noted death is certain, denial may be part of coping. Living While Dying is an extraordinary film addressing denial, the dark hole that is death, chronic pain, meds to relieve pain, impact among family and friends. Living While Dying takes us through end-of-life experience and treatment of three people from different parts of the world. Each on his/her path. Music for one. Last dances, trip to Bali with daughter and grandchildren. A man surrounded by women friends. A daughter giving mom a back massage. A wonderful aboriginal elder in Australia who says we were energy, become physical beings, and return to being energy. That resonates with a late night tidbit on television by an ob-gyn physician who described the same process of energy, physicality, and energy. If you have never listened to and experienced Living While Dying, look it up on YouTube, Google, or other social media. Follow that with the next three sessions on wills and power of attorney, DNR, wills, and funeral arrangements. Our daughter asked us years ago before we became octogenarians. The time is NOW. You and your family will have peace of mind. Just do it!

WELCOME ICE

President Donald Trump has done what all Democrats said was impossible during the Obama and disastrous Biden Presidencies. Many of us have heard Obama speaking of the need to control illegal immigration. Biden or his wife acting for him along with his entire administration invited and encouraged illegal immigration numbering in the millions. He flooded the nation with cheap labor, criminals, and mentally ill. He flew them in everywhere in the dead of night. He paid for their needs in amounts not available to residents, including veterans. We reached out to newly elected Columbia County Sheriff Jacqueline Salvatore to see if we have a reasonable approach to illegal immigration. Governor Hochul may see us as a sanctuary state. Columbia County is NOT a sanctuar unlike New York City with a Mayor rescinding plans to add 5,000 officers to the NYPD, while condoning or making light of violence. Sheriff Salvatore noted we do not have the officers needed, are short staffed, and cannot do federal law enforcement. Her department will assist ICE whenever there is a court order to be enforced.

ALL'S WELL

The talk of the town in Canaan for months has been the pending sale of Berkshire Farm, its 1,004 acres on both sides of Route 22, and innumerable buildings on the east side, including a former school and a commercial grade, high end kitchen. The possibilities are endless and frankly give hope for an enhanced and vibrant future. Take a look at aerial photos of the site or go through slides on the website of its owner, Together for Youth, the largest provider of youth services in New York State. Berkshire Farm has in essence been its senior management offfice in recent yeas with direct services to 60 migrants, now its principle program funded by federal monies followed by foster care fundedby local and state government. Town Supervisor Brenda Adamms and the Canaan Town Board, both old and new, have been publicizing and discussine the development for well over a year with comments at board meetings, work on the comprehensive town plan, and a December visioning session led by Adams. More than 85 people attended in person and online. Queechy Lake Club and many Queechy Lake homeowners and families joined the discussion from as far away as Los Angeles. A town survey was answered by over 400 residents in a town with a population of 1,800. The sale of 1,004 acres is led by Fred Waring with assitance by Michael Stasi from the Corcoran Group. We anticipate an on the ground walk through with them shortly. We have identified a number of developers with the capacity and capabilities to take on such a large undertaking, including: Columbia Development Companies, Uniland Development Co, DeBonis LLC, Empire State Development, and Kearner Realty & Development. Kearner specializes in mixed income housing for seniors, disabled, and workforce and has experience with multi-stakeholder development projects. Stay tuned and get yourself on the town newsletter email list or watch for news in this paper.

ENERGY SAVVY

While attending local town board meetings in Columbia County, we hear over, and over, and over, ad nauseeum about Climate Smart Committees, grant monies received for being smart, and striving to move up the recognition ladder. Really? Policies being promoted, pursued, and imposed will raise the cost of electricity and cripple production of electricity. In addition to being nonsensical and arbitrary, the goals support costly, unreliable, and destructive means of production. Solar works when the sun shines. Tell that to Syracuse where clouds predominate.Windmills an eyesore at the height of once pristine mountains.They are killing birds and fowl. They wear down and have to be replaced. Each of these smart alternatives are not smart. They are a fad driven by fanatical obedience to dogma. Climate Smart ignores and discourages our best sources of energy, nuclear and natural gas. In addition to others encouraging the reopening or keeping open the plant on the Hudson that generates 25% of our electricity. Perhaps reverse field and open the never opened Shoreham nuclear plant. There is no reason to prohibit fracking in the southern tier. Not only would it provide large amounts of electricity, it would create a thriving and growing economy in the Southern Tier, a region near and dear to so many. Stop the insanity. Stop the exodus.

Halloween, Easter, or Christmas

The Lebanon Valley Seniors held a Halloween party on October 17th, my birthday, and had 5 witches, 3 wise men, and a bunny.

Named first place winner.

Five ravishing witches fit the theme.

Carrying gold and incense.

Jackie Salvatore as both a judge and a speaker on senior safety.

 She's running for office and took time to judge the costume parade and mingle with participants.

She is not Rosie the Riviter but she glows along with Mary.

Thank you to Sally for a ride to the event.

Back to the Future.

Hillsdale Expands

As proponents of Public Comment early in Town Board meetings, we were pleased to see Public Comment scheduled by the Hillsdale Town Board immediately after its Call to Order and muted Moment of Silence. Several town residents raised concerns about traffic safety, including County Route 21, aggressive drivers, 4 ladies injured in a roll over, unenforced 35 mph zones, and other intersections. The NYSDOT is the final arbiter of requested changes in speed limits. The board also heard a presentation on the Columbia County Office of Aging senior survey. Supervisor Mike Dvorchak reported the Sewer District has an $88,000 balance and a $477,000 project targeting absorption bed issues, 7 pods with fabric that clean water. The board subsequently discussed and passed a resolution authorizing the use of funds for the Town of Hillsdale General Fund for rehabilitation of absorptions fields. Highway Superintendent Brigbudget the cost as part of the Building Inspector contract in the 2026gs reported a planned cemetery database is going nowhere. Speed limit resolutions were passed by the board concerning County Route 21 and Texas Hill Road. They approved purchased of 2 Caution signs, 2 Winding Road signs, and 2 Sharp Turn signs. An allocation of $2,500 was approved for the Hillsdale Holiday Tree Lighting scheduled on December 6, 2025. Short term rental monitoring through Columbia County with hotline services of Granicus was discussed. Lee Heim, Hillsdale Building Inspector, recommended it be handled in- 295 and the proposed acquisition house as volume in Hillsdale does not justify the cost. Instead, the board voted to engage the Host Compliance Hotline at a rate of $1,789 per year and make it part of the Building Inspector budget in 2026. The board discussed plans to acquire a .27 acre property behind Town Hall with potential for expanded parking and possible space for a building to get town employees out of the basement. The board went into Executive Session to discuss negotiations with Teamsters Local 295 and the proposed real estate purchase.

Another Town Board

We are off to another town board meeting, this time in Hillsdale. Our prior experience was enjoying the Hillsdale Library and its fabulous views, plus discovering the sculptures of Bijan at the Circle Museum on Route 22.

We are anticipating one difference from other towns we cover for The Columbia Paper, namely, Public Comment at the beginning of the meeting. A welcome difference!

The Races Begin

On our way to the Austerlitz Town Board meeting, we passed a well known dinner that sits in front of a farm on Route 203. We had been alerted to a plethora of election signs, however, this was the sole sign we saw on most of the route.

This is not a Green candidate and is a bipartisan linkage. Amazing.