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Category Archives: Coeymans Town Board Meeting
Albany County Legislature: Public Comment on County Clean Air Law
On Tuesday, November 19, 2019, at 7:00 p.m., the Albany County Legislature met to receive Public Comment on the Albany County Proposed Local Law 1 of 2019, a Law to Establish Clean Air Standards for Waste-Burning Facilities in the County of Albany.
So-called Resolution No. 407 of the Albany County Legislature, a proposed local law of the County of Albany, New York, to establish Clean Air Standards for Waste-Burning Facilities in the County of Albany, was introduced by Albany County Legislators R. N. Touchette (37th) and Douglas A. Bullock (7th). The Resolution was passed to the Law and Conservation, Sustainability, and Green Initiatives Committees on September 9, 2019. It received favorable recommendation by the Albany County Legislature Law Committee on October 28, 2019, and was adopted by unanimous vote on November 12, 2019. The Legislature opened the proposed law for public comment on November 19, 2019.
We urge each and every Albany County Legislator to Vote YES! and to PASS the Albany County Clean Air Standards Law LL 1-2019!
A unanimous vote will mean that the Albany County Legislature and its member Legislators are of one mind and one voice when it comes to the health and well-being of the people and future of Albany County, and neighboring counties.
The Albany County Legislative Chamber was standing-room only, and a number of public interest groups appeared and commented in support of the proposed law. Of approximately 30 speakers, only two spoke against the law: Coeymans Town Councilman, Daniel Baker and Dave Fletcher, manager of the Ravena-Coeymans Lafarge plant. Each of the some 28 speakers in favor of the law received loud applause in support of their comments. The silence was deafening when Baker and Fletcher finished, and had to return to their seats amid silent rejection and stares of rebuff. The public made their point: Overwhelming support for the proposed law and total rejection of the fakes who appeared to misinform the public about their plans to poison the air we breath.
Fletcher and Baker
Barely escaped tarring and feathering!
Nearly all of the comments voiced strong support for the proposed law, which is closely modeled on the Town of Coeymans Clean Air Law passed by the Coeymans Town Board this year (2019) against the fierce opposition by Lafarge and Carver Companies. Many of the comments made by speakers at the hearing praised Coeymans for the Clean Air Act and strongly encouraged the County Legislature to pass the law. Several speakers expressed their concern that the recent elections in Coeymans were a troubling precedent that money from big industry and business interests could influence the election of public officials as happened in Coeymans this November 5th.
The majority of speakers were from Albany County with a small number representing environmental groups, including a past regional executive director of the Department of Environmental Conservation, who strongly supported the law.
We are publishing the text of the comment made by a local resident at the hearing. This text was provided to the County Legislature in its full version (reproduced below); due to the 2-minute time limit imposed for commments, a shortened version was read at the hearing. The full version was, however, provided "for the record."
The majority of the public comments were completely in line with the comment below; the only exceptions being the references to specific local Coeymans conditions and the examples citing local personalities.
Concerning the Proposed Local Law No. 1-2019
Local Law of the County of Albany, New York
Clean Air Standards for Waste-Burning Facilities
Albany County Legislature
November 19, 2019 at 7:00 p.m.
Mr. Touchette, Mr. Bullock, Honorable Legislators, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Thank you for this opportunity to comment publicly on this important proposed law in the interest of the public's health and welfare.
Pollutants, contaminants, toxins are no respecters of county lines or municipal boundaries; pollution does not discriminate and is highly democratic; Just as the sun shines, the rain falls, the winds blow equally indiscrimately and democratically. What happens in Albany County will inevitably and irrevocably affect all sourrounding areas and regions, including those across the Hudson, in Rensselaer and Columbia Counties, if not beyond.
At least one recent local political campaign in the Town of Coeymans is evidence pure and absolute that government must step in where corporate responsibility, partisan politics, and business avarice falls short of safeguarding and ensuring the public weal.
In 2019, the Town Board of Coeymans passed Local Law 1-2019, the Clean Air Law, a law made necessary by the indifference of local industry the welfare of the surrounding communities. The intent of the Clean Air Law was regulate burning or related processing of waste. The Clean Air Law met with fierce and intense opposition led by LafargeHolcim, Carver Companies, and others, most notably by Coeymans supervisor-elect Mr. George McHugh and his supporters, who represented the interests of corporations like Lafarge and Carver Companies, the Port of Coeymans, and Coeymans Industrial Park. George McHugh and his supporters had and continue to have financial interests in all of those businesses. All of those businesses have been and continue to be generators or processors of hazardous materials, and have been cited for abuses of state and federal regulations in the subject matter of the environment and contamination.
Simply put: Industry and business interests, and their beneficiaries cannot be trusted to self-regulate. That is made abundantly clear by the opposition against the Coeymans Clean Air. Regrettably, however, McHugh and his minions skipped over facts to promote disinformation, misinformation, malinformation, and outright deception in order to garner voter support. It is no credit to the democratic process of a representative democracy that the majority of voters, rather than inform themselves, allowed themselves to be misinformed.
Two real examples will serve to buttress all of my points:
Upon reliable information, in fact upon the report of a sitting Coeymans Town Board member, Mr. Daniel Baker, LafargeHolcim was notified by DEC in advance of DEC emissions audits, which allowed Lafarge to switch from coal fuel to gas fuel, to ensure that emissions were significantly reduced when DEC performed their testing. That is not what regulation is about.
A second example is again reported by a reliable source, another sitting member of the Coeymans Town Board, Mr. Kenneth Burns, who reported that on the day after the elections, supervisor-elect McHugh, together with councilmen-elect Collins and Lefevre met with Lafarge hierarchy allegedly to discuss changes to the Coeymans Clean Air Law, changes that will apparently benefit industry not residents.
Why the opposition and why the meetings? Because in 1992, Coeymans passed the Solid Waste Law, which prohibited the transport of solid waste generated in the state of New York into the Town of Coeymans. In the meantime, Lafarge had attempted to circumvent that prohibition by secretly negotiating with entities in the state of Connecticut to transport waste from Connecticut facilities, including tires, for processing at the Coeymans Lafarge plant. Furthermore, between 1992-2018, Coeymans successfully prevented the creation of a landfills in Coeymans, and the current Crandall administration was instrumental in working with the City of Albany and the DEC to create from the wetlands which were earmarked by Mr. McHugh's client, Carver Companies, for a landfill, a wildlife preserve.
The Coeymans Clean Air Law, which is substantively and substantially similar to the bill presently under consideration by your body, prohibited processing of more than 25 tons of waste in any 24-hour period, and further imposed continuous monitoring, real-time reporting, and adequately safe emissions limits. Mr. McHugh's clients are not overly enamored with processing limits, monitoring, especially continuous and real time, much less with making that information available online to the public. Perish the thought of such impertinence and such an invasion of corporate autonomy and greed!
Please note for the record that according to reliable information, LafargeHolcim, for example, would have to process at 100-150 tons of tires, for example, for the process to be "economically feasible," for them, but they would not be able to meet the emissions standards.
Hence the opposition by Mr. McHugh and his clients to the Clean Air Law; hence their opposition to any clean air law.
The conflicts and contradictions of our real-life example of Coeymans, McHugh, Lafarge, Carver Companies are real, current, and very relevant.
The Albany Times Union has run a number of articles on McHugh, his relationships, and on Carver Companies and their frequent conflicts with the DEC. Time does not permit me to go into detail but I would like to refer you to one particular article by Ms Laruen Stanforth, which appeared in the May 13, 2019 issue of the Times Union, and was entitled, "Is Coeymans Candidate too Close to Port Owner?"[1] The answer is YES! And the reasons pointed out by Ms Stanforth are nothing less than shocking.[2]
In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, I feel my point is made that corporations, industry, businesses, and their puppets cannot be trusted with self-regulation, and that their interests conflict with those of the public and with the public's health and well-being. Unless our elected representatives bite the bullet and recall that they are public servants, not the servants of the captains of industry, and unless our elected officials and public servants take a non-partisan, uninterested stand on issues that affect the health and welfare not only of their own constituencies but also of communities far beyond our own county lines, unscrupulous greedy business will poison our air, our water, our soil, and most egregiously harm us and our children for generations to come.
This body must recognize this real and imminent threat to us all and pass this county-wide law to establish clean air standards for waste-burning facilities, and make Albany county the poster-child for progressive efforts aimed at the public's continuing health. To do anything less would be to join the rank and file of the indifferent corporate mindset, and fly in the face of your duties and obligations to the public.
[1] The Stanforth article is available at https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Is-Coeymans-candidate-too-close-to-port-owner-13828887.php.
[2] See the extensive reporting on this subject and the McHugh Comeback Team's disinformation campaign on the Smalbany blog at https:// https://smalbanynewyork.wordpress.com/
It bears repeating that the vast majority of the comments made by the speakers reflected the thoughts shared in the comment above. It also bears repeating that the attendees at the hearing showed their rejection and disapproval of Daniel Baker and Dave Fletcher's pitiful presentations against the proposed law.
Our impression is that Albany County will soon have a Clean Air Standards law regulating waste-burning facilities in Albany County. That law is almost word-for-word the Coeymans Clean Air Law passed by Town Supervisor Phil Crandall and the Coeymans Town Board under Crandall's leadership.
The entire County of Albany has come forward in support of the Clean Air Law!
We can only say that Coeymans voters made fools of themselves and singled the Town out as being a complete loss to the corruption of the Comeback Team and their prostitution of themselves and the Town of Coeymans to the money and interests of Lafarge, Carver, and McHugh. The entire County of Albany has come forward in support of the very law so fiercely and deceptively opposed by George McHugh, Zachary Collins, Brendan Lefevre, Kenneth Burns, and to his devastating embarrassment, Daniel Baker, Dave Fletcher (Lafarge). McHugh and his masters would have to either accept or kill the Coeymans Clean Air Law; at the very least, they'd have to try to dilute it to the point of uselessness. But now Albany County has come forth and rejected McHugh and his masters; Albany County want's clean air; Coeymans wants to be controlled by Lafarge and Carver Companies. When Albany County passes the Clean Air Law, McHugh and his masters are dead in the water; floaters like the turds they are! That may explain the interesting natural symbolism that Coeymans is at the very bottom of the County, and Ravena is almost off the map! Even on a map Coeymans seems to be a bottom-feeder, thanks to scoundrels like McHugh, his puppets, Daniel Baker, Kenneth Burns, LafargeHolcim, Carver Laraway, Billy Biers, and their mob.
Albany County will be a Clean Air County!
Isn't it interesting that the Town of Coeymans is at the very bottom of the County? Good place for it!
Editor's Comment: It is important for us all to recognize the fact that it was the voters of the Town of Coeymans, not the People of the Town of Coeymans who made the decisions on November 5, 2019. It is important to note that it was the supporters of the scandalous Comeback Team led by George McHugh and the neonazis of the Friends of Coeymans, Jeff Laquire, Nate Boomer, and Chris Hagen, and the intimidation and bullying and thuggery that they used at Coeymans town meetings that kept most voters at home on Election Day. It was the thuggery, bullying, and intimidation by the Comeback Team under George McHugh's direction and with the money and support of destroyers-of-communities like Lafarge and Carver Laraway, and traitors, Judases like McHugh, Collins, Lefevre, Baker, and Burns, and those who support them, who have made Coeymans the subject of derision and mockery AGAIN. Shame AGAIN on Coeymans!
Bought and Paid For like Common Prostitutes!
The Coeymans Supervisor, George McHugh, and the Coeymans Town Board, Daniel Baker, Kenneth Burns, Zachary Collins, and Brendan Lefevre were not elected, they were bought and paid for like common prostitutes, by LafargeHolcim, Carver Companies (Carver Laraway, Port of Coeymans, Coeymans Industrial Park), and supported by neonazi-like groups like the Friends of Coeymans. Bought and Paid For like Common Prostitutes!
Posted by Principal Editor on November 20, 2019 in 2019 Elections, Albany County Clean Air Law, Albany County Legislature, Barbara Tanner, Brendan Lefevre, Campaign Contributions, Campaign Finance, Campaign Finances, Carver Construction, Chris Hagen, Coeymanazis, Coeymans, Coeymans Clowns, Coeymans Comeback Team, Coeymans Industrial Park, Coeymans Town Board, Coeymans Town Board Meeting, Dan Baker, Daniel Baker, Dave Fletcher, David Fletcher, Douglas A. Bullock, Fiends of Coeymans, Friends of Coeymans, George McHugh, Jeff LaQuire, Ken Burns, Kenneth Burns, Mary Driscoll, Mike McGuire, Nate Boomer, Phil Crandall, Public Comment, RCS Community Business Association, Richard N Touchette, Rick Touchette, Take Back Our Town, Tom Dolan, Uncategorized, Zach Collins
Follow-up Report: Coeymans Raccoon Incident. We still have our doubts!
Please Note: On Thursday, March 22, 2018, at 7 p.m. the Town of Coeymans will hold it's Town Board Meeting. We have information that residents, citizens and animal organizations will address the board about the conduct of the Coeymans Police and what the Town of Coeymans is going to do about it. Be there. Make your voice heard! Or at least just show up to learn what the community has to say!
The Town of Coeymans Police Department continues to be the subject of widespread interest following the ugly display of unprofessional conduct and stupidity last Monday, March 12, when Coeymans Police responded to an animal control call and proceeded to provide a sickening circus freak show performance as they pursued a raccoon in their patrol cars (one marked, another unmarked), finally running down the terrified animal and running over it. All of this happened in the pothole-rich parking lot of the Ravena Shop'n Save (Village of Ravena, Town of Coeymans), after a call from the CVS Pharmacy that a raccoon had "tried to enter the building."
After one courageous residents, Ms Bryana Catucci, and several other witnesses videoed the Coeymans Police yahoos and the termination of the terrified animal, those videos went viral on several Internet sites, including Facebook and YouTube, and the Smalbany blog published a detailed and informative article on the incident. The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society voiced their outrage and condemnation of the Coeymans Police actions.
To give you an idea of how outraged people are about this incident, just one site, Care2 Petitions, has more than 76,000 signatures, more than 8,500 signers in NY state alone, condemning the Coeymans Police! To give you an idea of how many people 76,000+ is, it's more than 9x the entire population of the Township of Coeymans!!! What does that tell you, dear readers?
The Coeymans Police have no up-to-date procedure for dealing with animal control issues. The town of Coeymans has no Animal Control Officer. The New York State Department of Health report on tests done on the animal sounds bogus!
I can't believe my eyes!!! I can't believe their horrible conduct!!! I can't believe the lies!!!
Almost immediately following the incident, Smalbany blog contibutors filed a demand under the provisions of the New York state Public Officers Law, Article 6 Sections 84-90 Freedom of Information Law (N.Y. Pub. Off. Law Sees. 84 to 99) for the production of documents with the Coeymans Town Clerk and the Coeymans Police Department, demanding information related to the March 12, 2018, incident in which the Coeymans Police Department used police vehicles to harrass, terrorize and kill a raccoon in front of dozens of witnesses at Faith Plaza in Ravena, New York (Town of Coeymans, in the jurisdiction of the Albany County District Attorney, P. David Soares).
Initial Information Provided by the Coeymans Police Department ("acting" police chief Daniel Contento (SGT)) and the news media were contradictory and confused. We decided to get the facts.
One glaring fact is that the Coeymans Police protect their own. They delete any references to the officer's involved or anyone involved. Do you think that's fair play? If you were picked up by the police, your face and name would be plastered all over the police blotter and the local news media. Why are the police and their cronies so protective? Aren't they public servants, paid by us? Don't we have a right to know which ones are bonkers and which ones are not?
The Town of Coeymans responded with the usual halfwit evasive answers but provided two important documents: the Testing Report No. RAB18ANI01172-SR-1 from the NYS Department of Health, Wadsworth Center, and an extract from what appears to be an ancient "Coeymans Police and Ravena Police Law Enforcement Manual, Administration (in the following called the PLEM/A)," Section 46.0, Subject: Animal Control/Rabies." the Coeymans Police Department. We say "ancient" because this section dates back to October 15, 1998 — it's almost 20 years old and hasn't been revised, updated, or replaced — and refers to "Village of Ravena Police," which hasn't existed for years, and is signed by former Police Chief Scott Geroux!
Furthermore, the Law Enforcement procedure repeatedly refers to the Animal Control Officer and how the police have to notify the Animal Control Officer for assistance when dealing with an animal control issue. According to the Law Enforcement Manual:
"46.2.1 The Animal Control Officer (ACO) is a civilian employee of the Police Department. The ACO is responsible for responding to and mitigating incidents and complaints relating to domestic and wild animal"
If the local Animal Control Officer is unavailable, the procedure requires the Coeymans Police to notify an animal control officer from a nearby jurisdiction. Again, according to the Law Enforcement Manual:
"(46.3.2.2) Request the response of the ACO to the scene whenever available.
"(46.3.2.2.1) If the case requires the immediate attention of the ACO, that information shall be relayed to the ACO. If he is still unavailable to respond an ACO from another jurisdiction shall be requested."
Town of Coeymans PD: "The Town of Coeymans does not have an Animal Control Officer."
Coeymans Police Department Procedures date back almost 20 years without revision!!!
The problem that we have identified in this entire Keystone Cops episode is that the Town of Coeymans and the Coeymans Police Department are about 20 years behind. You see, according to a certified statement provided by the Town of Coeymans, "The Town of Coeymans does not have an animal control officer."
Well if the Town of Coeymans has no animal control officer, then the entire 1998 procedure allegedly followed by the Coeymans Police Department is absolutely useless, out of date, and a sham!!! In other words, the Town of Coeymans and the Coeymans Police Department have no up-to-date guidelines for handling this type of situation.
The Town of Coeymans and the Coeymans Police Department have no up-to-date guidelines
[Editor's Note: We have considerable information that shows that the Town of Coeymans and the Coeymans Police Department Law Enforcement Manual is out-of-date and obsolete in several other areas, including How to handle a traffic stop!!!]
The basic issue is leadership and how law enforcement functions or does not function in the Town of Coeymans
Coeymans Police on Pussy Patrol.
Did you know that cats are the domestic animals most at risk for rabies?
But this whole hullabaloo is NOT about whether an animal was sick or not. The basic issue is leadership and how law enforcement functions or does not function in the Town of Coeymans. There is no leadership in the Town of Coeymans or the Town of Coeymans PD.. The Coeymans Police Department is dysfunctional. That's the question that is driving most people crazy right about now. Then there's the question of how the Coeymans Police abused and tortured a defenseless animal using their patrol cars. Anyone with half a brain would have been able to figure a reasonable and safe procedure for dealing with an animal threat, if there was one, and there was none. Just view the videos and all you'll see is a normal appearing raccoon, terrified, running for its life and two Coeymans cop cars racing back and forth. Any sane person would, as most of the witnesses did, that the cops were a greater threat to the public's safety than a terrified animal trying to escape them!!!
Well, we also have a copy of the Department of Health (DoH) test report done on what was left of the raccoon after the Coeymans Police had their perverse jollies. The DoH report is apparently written by a halfwit chimp. Here's why:
First of all the report does indicate that the raccoon showed evidence of rabies infection. The report did not say that the animal was capable of infecting another animal or harming a human being. Information obtained by us from the CDC clearly states that the animal is infectious only in the very late stages of the disease, shortly before the disease kills the animal. At that late stage the animal's brain is so far gone that the animal's behavior is obvious: it acts like it's drunk, it loses its balance, it staggers, it is confused. Again, the videos show none of this; in fact, the animal looks pretty coordinated as it's running across the Faith Plaza parking lot!
Some sections of the report make it look like it's been jerry rigged to provide the Coeymans Police with an alibi. Here are just a couple of examples taken directly from the DoH report:
"Signs of rabies: NEUROLOGICAL DISORDER; Other signs: MOVING ABNORMALLY, SHAKING."
Who made these observations? Do the Coeymans Police have veterinary neurological training that made it possible for them to have decided that the unfortunate animal had a "neurological disorder?" They also note in the report that the animal was "moving abnormally, shaking." Well, first of all, the DoH was unable to make those determinations because the animal was d-e-a-d, pancaked by the Coeymans Cops. So where did this information come from? Hearsay? The Coeymans PD?
Here's more of the gibberish in the report:
"Comments: Observed acting sick at the CVS in Ravena. Killed by running over with car by Officer [Redacted] of the Coeymans Police Department (…No reported contact. Rabies test need before further testing."
The only animals acting sick were the Coeymans cops who tortured the animal and killed it!
Again, we have the DoH sockpuppets repeating what the Coeymans PD was insisting but didn't have a factual basis to make the statements. The raccoon was "observed acting sick at the CVS in Ravena." Sick? Curious? Hungry? If an 8th grade science student made these statements, we'd send him or her for remedial help! But that's in an official report. Hearsay! Not facts! The only animals acting sick were the Coeymans cops who tortured the animal and killed it by "running over [it] with car by Officer [his name is deleted from the report!]." What's disturbing is not only the unsubstantiated statements but the fact that there was "no contact reported." According to the report, the animal made no contact with anyone!!!
After all is said and done, the report reads:
"Rabies testing: Evidence of Rabies was found by the fluorescent antibody test."
The report is again incomplete because it doesn't state which fluorescent antibody test was used. That information is very important in terms of whether the test is accurate. Furthermore, for scientific and epidemiological reasons the information provided is incomplete and practically useless! Again, whether this is the truth or not, the test results came fully 24 hours after the incident, and cannot provide any justification or support for the Coeymans Police stupidity.
Just by way of comment, the report concludes with the statement:
"Notes: [1] Submitting county was phoned with positive results. Reported to Marsha at 10:32 a.m. by JJ."
What in hell does that mean? Who in hell is Marsha? Who in hell is JJ? But that's supposed to be an official report from the NYS DoH in response to a serious incident. Don't we have any standards at all in this community, in this state? Or are all of our public servants halfwits and dumbasses? We think you know the answer to that question already.
So, dear readers, you have the state of affairs in the Town of Coeymans: Useless and outdated procedures no one has had any interest in updating or revising, a team of goons who have no leadership or guidance, disgraceful and despicable conduct by local law enforcement, a very questionable report from a New York State department tasked with ensuring the public's health, and another negative report gone viral about the Town of Coeymans and the Coeymans Police Department. But you must admit, they are consistent, even in making complete asses of themselves.
We are making the documents provided by the Town of Coeymans and the Coeymans Police Department available for your entertainment. Please note that the Town of Coeymans and the Coeymans Police Department refused to provide some documents, including the names of the Coeymans PD employees involved in the incident. They also have no records about callers reporting the animal, although acting Coeymans police chief, Daniel Contento (SGT), made public statements that "numerous calls" were received (but not by the Coeymans PD, since their listed number goes to Albany County 911). We verified only one 911 call about the raccoon. That call was allegedly from someone at or in the CVS pharmacy at Faith Plaza. We do know of numerous calls received by the Albany County 911 Center complaining about the conduct of the Coeymans Police. Maybe those are the calls Contento is referring to.
If you are interested in viewing/downloading the Coeymans Police 1998 procedure and the NYS DoH Test Report we refer to above, here are the links:
You can view the Town of Coeymans and Ravena Police Department Law Enforcement Manual dated October 15, 2018 here.
You can view the New York State Department of Health Report here.
As we mentioned above and as we published in our initial article on this incident, "We are speechless! OMG! Coeymans Police Caught on Video Again!" we obtained our information on rabies from several official sources. One of them was the Centers for Disease Control, the federal government's department for disease control, prevention, and reporting. Here's some additional information of interest:
According to the CDC, in the period of 2008-2017, a total of 23 human rabies cases were reported in the United States; most of the infections were acquired outside of the United States, most from animal bites in such places as Afghanistan, India, Mexico, etc. On average there are 1-3 cases/year of human rabies reported in the United States . (Source, CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/location/usa/surveillance/human_rabies.html) Compare that with 90 motor vehicle caused deaths each day in the United States (CDC statistics are always 3 yeas behind; in 2015 there were a total of 37,757 deaths in motor vehicle accidents (11.7/100,000 population) Source, CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/accidental-injury.htm).
Given those statistics, where to you suppose our law enforcement efforts should be concentrated? On a raccoon or on motor vehicles?
Furthermore,
Transmission of rabies virus usually begins when infected saliva of a rabid animal is passed to an uninfected animal. The most common mode of rabies virus transmission is through the bite and virus-containing saliva of an infected host. ( Source, CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/transmission/index.html)
Other contact, such as petting a rabid animal or contact with the blood, urine or feces of a rabid animal, does not constitute an exposure. (Source, CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/transmission/exposure.html)
From numerous studies conducted on rabid dogs, cats, and ferrets, we know that when the rabies virus is introduced into a muscle through a bite from another animal, it travels from the site of the bite to the brain by moving within nerves. The animal does not appear ill during this time.
The time between the bite and the appearance of symptoms is called the incubation period and it may last for weeks to months. A bite by the animal during the incubation period does not carry a risk of rabies because the virus has not yet made it to the saliva.
According to the CDC, the Infectious Path of the Rabies Virus can be outlined as follows:
An animal is bitten by a rabid animal.
Rabies virus from the infected saliva enters the wound.
Rabies virus travels through the nerves to the spinal cord and brain. This process can last approximately 3 to 12 weeks. The animal has no signs of illness during this time.
A diagnosis of rabies can be made after detection of rabies virus from any part of the affected brain, but in order to rule out rabies, the test must include tissue from at least two locations in the brain, preferably the brain stem and cerebellum. [Editor's Note: The NYS DoH report is incomplete in this respect because it does not state what parts of the animal's brain were tested!!!]
The test requires that the animal be euthanized. The test itself takes about 2 hours, but it takes time to remove the brain samples from an animal suspected of having rabies and to ship these samples to a state public health or veterinary diagnostic laboratory for diagnosis. [Editor's Note: the test requires that the animal be euthanized, killed humanely and mercifully, not terrorized and run over!!!]
In the United States, the results of a rabies test are typically available within 24 to 72 hours after an animal is collected and euthanized. (Source, CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/diagnosis/animals-humans.html)
When it reaches the brain, the virus multiplies rapidly and passes to the salivary glands. The animal begins to show signs of the disease. The infected animal usually dies within 7 days of becoming sick. (Source, CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/transmission/body.html)
(Please check out the references on our original article for more information on rabies.)
Posted by Principal Editor on March 19, 2018 in 19th Congressional District, 19th Congressional District, 20th Congressional District, Abuse of Power, Accountability, Acting Police Chief, Albany, Albany County District Attorney, Albany County Sheriff Department, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Anger, Animal Abuse, Animal Cruelty, Animal cruelty, Animal Rights, ASPCA, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Blog, Blogger, Bob Freeman, Bryana Catucci, Bully Cops, Capital District, Coeymanazis, Coeymans, Coeymans Acting Police Chief, Coeymans Police Department, Coeymans Town Attorney, Coeymans Town Board, Coeymans Town Board Meeting, Coeymans Town Clerk, Columbia-Greene Media, Committee on Open Government, Craig D. Apple Sr., Cruelty to animals, Daily Mail, Daniel Contento, Daniel Contento, Dawn LaMountain, Dawn LaMountain, DEC, Demand for Resignation, Demand for Termination, Department of Environmental Conservation, Dick Touchette, Eliminate Coeymans Police Department, FaceBook, Facebook, Faith Plaza, Freedom of Information Law, Friendship Animal Protective League, George Amedore, George Dardiani, Greene County News, Hal Warner, Harold Warner, Humane Society of the United States, Incompetence, James Youmans, Jim Youmans, Joe Stanzione, Joe Tanner, John B. Johnson, John Faso, Johnson Newspaper Group, Joseph Stanzione, Joseph Tanner, Kerry Thompson, Law Enforcement, Mark Vinciguerra, Mercy for Animals, Misconduct, Moose Misuraca, Nancy Biscone-Warner, Nancy Warner, New York, New York State, New York State Department of Health, News and Information Media, News Channel 10, News Channel 13, News Channel 6, News Herald, North Shore Animal League America, NYS Assembly, NYS Senate, NYSDOH, Office of the Attorney General, Official Misconduct, P. David Soares, Paul Courcelle, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Pete Lopez, Peter J. McKenna, Peter Mckenna, Police Incompetence, Police Thugs, Public Safety, Ravena Shop'n Save, Richard Touchette, Rick Touchette, Robert J. Freeman, Robert J. Freeman, Ryan Johnson, Scott Giroux, Steve Prokrym, The Daily Mail, Times Union, Times Union Blogs, Todd Polverelli, Tom Dolan, Town Clerk, Town of Coeymans, Town of New Baltimore, Wadsworth Center, William Bailey, William Misuraca
Crandall Board Puts Spin on Budget Error — Uses Censorship to Suppress Truth!
Urgent Correction and Apology: Back in November 2015, we wrote that Coeymans voters, having elected disgraced former town justice Phillip Crandal to be Coeymans Town Supervisor, and after having elected several local recycled politicos back into public office after having rejected them just four years ago, we must make the urgent correction to what we then wrote as well as extending an apology to town of Coeymans voters: We were in error when we wrote that the town of Coeymans deserves what they voted for; that was the error. The correction is: Not even Coeymans deserves what they now have sitting on the town board headed by disgraced ex – judge Phillip Crandal and his partners in crimes Tom Dolan, Jim Youmans, and that backstabbling sneaky arse, Dick [as in dork] Touchette, who you elected to the Albany County legislature. No, not even the ignorant and the corrupt of the town of Coeymans deserves that load of raw sewerage. And so we apologize for the error, and correct it.
Crandall Censors Flach Letter, Covers Crandall-Mob's Back
Crooks and corruption covering for each other at the expense of honest employees and taxpayers
Phil Crandall's Version of Truth Requires Censorship
The most recent flood of misinformation that Phil Crandall and his mob are drowning the community in was discussed at the April 21, 2016, Coeymans town board meeting. The rather lengthy discussion focused on an alleged overpayment to about 8 town employees, allegedly all elected officials, and the majority of those being attacked are the opposition party. But guess What? In order to backstab the Republican elected officials, Crandall had to throw his two democrap town justices Kevin Reilly and George Dardiani and boardmember Tom Dolan under the bus, too. Crandall doesn't even mention his pet judges in the minutes, and he makes certain to shower croney Dolan with thanks and gratitude to soften the blow. Crooks and corruption covering for each other at the expense of honest employees and taxpayers.
We have acquired papers that will shed some truth and light on the subject, something residents and taxpayers didn't get at the town board meeting nor will they be likely to get anywhere but here.
Crandall and his co–conspirators wanted to make it pay–back time
First of all, let's just say that the way Mr Crandall handled the issue was improper and simply not right. This is an internal matter that should have been handled internally, not thrown out into the public arena to be misinterpreted and to promote a scandal. But that's apparently what Crandall and his co–conspirators wanted to make it pay–back time and to punish anyone not in their pockets or in bed with them.
Here's why we say that:
The Officially Approved Minutes of the April 21, 2016 Coeymans Town Board Meeting are the only record available to the public to document what occurred at the town board meeting. The minutes were approved by the majority of the board, even if those minutes are nonsense and themselves reveal their own lack of credibility.
We have acquired the officially approved minutes of the Coeymans town board meeting, approved by Crandall, Dolan, Youmans, and Burns — Mr Langdon was excused and absent. In those minutes, Mr Crandall announces that "there was a mistake made in the town's pay periods…last year [2015] here were 27 pay periods instead of 26, which happens every 11 years." So far he's being truthful but it stops there. You see, Coeymans town supervisor Phil Crandall and his cronies Tom Dolan and Jim Youmans are very uncomfortable with the truth—that is, if it's not their specially cooked version of the truth.
Crandall reports information he had known some 5 weeks earlier but didn't say anything. The information turned up after Sara Morrison, a CPA working "weekends" and being paid big bucks by voucher by Crandall's administration, "audited" the 2015 budget, finding that the payroll for that period was divided by 26 rather than by 27; the result was that there was an "extra" pay period (two – week's pay). Crandall says that Morrison brought this mistake to the former town supervisor's attention back in April 2015 (Note the date!). But what Crandall is ignorant of is the fact that it's not an "extra" pay period, and doesn't represent an actual "overpayment" but is rather a normal calendar phenomenon that occurs every 11 years! It's as natural as sunshine!
Let me stop here for a minute and tell you that the town of Coeymans uses an automated payroll software from BAS (Business Automation Services; to see what their municipal government package includes, go to Municipal Accounting, a business solutions provider in Clifton Park. The problem, it appears, was in the software being used, and how well it was doing what it was purchased to do. It wasn't!
Not only was the BSA software to blame but the CPA, Sarah Morrison, and the other accounting/bookkeeping/payroll employees were apparently oblivious to the so-called "payroll leap year", and failed to notify town employees that it was going to occur; not that that fact should have changed anything. The employees would still be entitled to the additional pay period, truth be told.
But here's another failure in Crandall's attempt to blacken Coeymans employees: The 2015 town budget was created and approved in late 2014, on November 19, 2014.That budget went into effect on January 1, 2015. Crandall was elected together with Youmans and Dolan in November 2015, and the Coeymans town budget was finalized in that same month (Tom Dolan actually worked on the 2015 and 2016 budgets) so we'd expect the incoming board, especially the incoming chief fiscal officer of the town, the supervisor, Mr Crandall, to be very well informed on the previous budget and the present budget. The current budget went into effect on January 1, 2016, the day Mr Crandall was sworn in to be Coeymans town supervisor.
You can read more about pay – period leap years at:
The Pay Period Leap Year: Handling an Extra Pay Period in 2015
Pay Period Leap Year: Handling 27 Pay Periods
Unusual Wage Payment Issue in 2015 for Many Employers: 27 Bi-Weekly Pay Periods, Not 26
Mr "Corruption" Crandall and his scheister minion David Wukitsch are using unfair intimidation tactics to scare employees into making good on the town accountants' mistakes.
So, loyal readers, this whole hullabaloo about being overpaid is a big smoke and mirrors performance, a dog and pony act staged by Phil Crandall and his band of halfwits! According to the sidebar and the links above, 81% of employers just go with the flow every 11 years. So why all the publicity? In fact, if the town employees, whether exempt or non-exempt, hourly or salary, were not notified of the pay-period leap year effects and the possibility of a lower paycheck due to the 27 pay period cycle, and it was not spelled out in their contracts we don't think that the town of Coeymans has any right to demand a reimbursement! It's the town of Coeymans error, not the fault of the employees. Mr Corruption Crandall and his Scheister minion David Wukitsch are using unfair intimidation tactics to scare employees into making good on the towns accountants' mistakes. Furthermore, they're misusing their pubic office to misinform residents and taxpayers about the situation and trying to shift the blame to the innocent employees, while causing many of the unnecessary stress and anxiety not only by demanding that the employees pay back what 81% of normal employers would just accept as an 11-year rarity but also by tarnishing the employees' images as public and elected officials. In our opinion, that's tantamount to actionable defamation! How about a tort suit for defamation among other tort causes! Tuck that in your Depends® Mr Crandall and Mr Wukitsch! We say the affected employees should bring a lawsuit against the Crandall administration and their overpaid CPA, Sarah Morrison, and BAS!
What also irks us is the fact that while Crandall and his lackies are pointing fingers at innocent town employees who are only getting paid normally, Crandall, Youmans and Dolan are bringing back their cronies and hiring them, putting them on the town payroll. What about that cost to the town and taxpayers? Why did Crandall and his cronies increase the town planning board to 7 members, 2 more than Mr Flach felt was needed when he reduced the board to 5 members? Why does the town need to pay a high-priced CPA, Sarah Morrison, PLUS anonther overpaid dingo, Darryl Puritan (at more than $100/hr), plus Nita Chmielewski as town bookkeeper, PLUS Cindy Rowzee as an assistant bookkeeper?!?!?
We also think the affected employees who received Mr Wukitsch's intimidation letter should file a formal complaint with the bar association because of Mr Wukitsch's unprofessional conduct to the bar association and professional ethics enforcers. Misusing his position to wrongfully intimidate may result in disciplinary action being taken against him.
Yet another person comes on the stage with one Cathy Hanley, an employee of BAS, who allegedly prepares the W2 forms for Coeymans employees, who, Crandall claims, brought the error to former Coeymans bookkeeper, Matthew Weidman, who was replaced by Nita J. Chmielewski, former Coeymans town supervisor for a very short time before she had to resign because of math mistakes in the town budget that led back to her. She can't do math but now she's the town of Coeymans bookkeeper. Go figure! Only in Coeymans!
And so are the Coeymans town board!
Editor's note: As far as we have been able to discover, the town of Coeymans has quite a number of people involved in bookkeeping and payroll other than BAS. In addition to Sarah Morrison who bills by voucher and gets paid megabucks, there's Darrell Puritan who, as a "weekend worker" — whatever that is — gets at least $100/hour, then there's Nita Chmielewski, who is clerk to the supervisor, and also replaced M. Weidman as town bookkeeper despite her dubious math skills, and then there's Cindy Rowzee who was hired to be Crandall's part-time confidential secretary but also works as an assistant bookkeeper. Sounds like financial overkill to us. But after all this financial talent is taken into consideration, we are still dealing with a phony "payroll mistake." How does that work, anyway? We'd like to ask who's getting the kickbacks from all of this financial overkill?
This boils down to several important facts, which Mr Crandall conveniently fails to observe. First of all, how could Morrison audit a budget that was not yet fully implemented for 2015. You see, the budget for the fiscal year 2015 was proposed and finalized in November 2014, and went into effect on January 1, 2015. That budget was not yet fully implemented by April 2015 and so really couldn't have been "audited". Moreover, if Cathy Hanley, an employee of BSA allegedly brought her observations to the attention of the then town bookkeeper, Matthew Weidman, Mr Weidman certainly would have made a note of the "error" then. But what puzzles us is that Mr Crandall says that a contract employee of the town of Coeymans, CPA Sarah Morrison informed former supervisor Stephen Flach of the "error." Certainly, anyone who knows Flach would have to admit that this is not the sort of thing Mr Flach would have pooh – poohed and swept under the carpet; truth be told, Stephen Flach was honest to a flaw and as ethical as can be, which probably led to his downfall to the scoundrels. But there was no mistake, no error, in reality no overpayment at all! It's all a fraud cooked up by Crandall and his minions!
No! Our analysis of the facts and the documents tells a completely different story
No! Our analysis of the facts tells a completely different story than what Mr Crandall and his hoodlums would have the public believe. You see, BSA and their software are the real culprits. BSA apparently failed to take into account the gremlin that occurred every 11 years, and as a company providing business solutions they should have known of this occurrence! Think of it this way: When you buy income – tax filing software you expect it to be correct and accurate and your tend to trust it. Right? You don't expect to have to check their formulas and figures against the tax code do you? Same thing applies to business solutions software like BSA's. They claim their product does something and does it right; it's not up to Mr Flach or Mr Weidmann to go back and check their software codes and algorithms to ensure that the BSA software works properly. Wouldn't that be something Darryl Puritan — Oh! Puritan is another financial braniac who gets paid more than $100/hr as a weekend employee by the town of Coeymans — or Ms Sarah Morrison, another one who's billing Coeymans megabucks for financial advice, should have caught and fixed? And does Mr Crandall expect that the affected town employees should have gone back to the software to check that it caught the 11 – year gizmo? Hell no! So why would Mr Crandall, in a public meeting, make it all sound like he was a hero and found this horrible misconduct, that is, Mr Flach and the affected employees had attempted to hide the fact that they had been overpaid — the so-called "overpayment" was spread out over 11 years that it amounted to less than 4%! In fact, it wasn't an overpayment at all but a normal payment in a payroll leap year! Furthermore, it would not have become apparent until the end of the fiscal year, not in April 2015, not even halfway into the budget year! What's the disgraced judge trying to pull here? Whatever it is he's trying to feed us he was much better at fixing tickets for Tom Dolan and Dick Touchette. We were safer when he was a crooked judge; it's hopeless now that he's a crooked town supervisor.
Crandall's Snow Job
What's more telling is that if you look at the political affiliations of the employees who allegedly were "overpaid" we find that 2/3 of the affected employees are Republicans! And guess What? The other third are Democrats but it gets even better. Two of the Democrats are sitting Coeymans town justices, Kevin Reilly and George Dardiani (tell you something about our judges? Are they all in bed with Crandall?) and the most scandalous is that the third Democrat is no less than Tom Dolan!!!! Dolan was on the board when the alleged payroll "error" in the 2015 budget was made!!! So say what you like, it seems to us that Crandall is taking pot shots at the opposition and, while thanking Tom Dolan profusely at the public meeting, doesn't breath a word about the Democrap town justices who were "overpaid" as well!
It's important to note that Coeymans Police Chief, Peter J. McKenna, was mentioned in the discussion but it must be made absolutely clear that the Chief was not overpaid; he actually took a pay cut!!! But Crandall never clarified that during the discussions and it's not clear in the minutes either.Was the "oversight" intended to include the chief in the overpayment scandal without doing so directly and falsely? Now that's pretty underhanded, isn't it? But it's Crandall all the way.
Former Coeymans supervisor's Letter was to be read into the record but was censored by a dishonest and disgraced former judge…Phil Crandall
And what's this about Phil Crandall refusing to let Mr Stephen Flach's letter be read by town board member Kenneth Burns?!? The letter was addressed to the people of the town of Coeymans thru their town council! So we're going to reproduce the text Mr Flach's letter below. It was written to be read at the meeting into the official record but was censored by a dishonest and disgraced former judge who was forbidden ever to run for judicial office again but was elected to be town supervisor. Phil Crandall may be able to silence a Ken Burns but Crandall can't silence this blog!!!
In a letter dated May 3, 2016, Mr Flach writes, verbatim:
Dear Town Board.
I received a letter from the attorney to the Town about an overpayment to me from December 2015. There was a pay periods that ended on 12 / 23 / 2015 [December 23,2015]. I paid that out on 12 / 30 / 2015 [December 30, 2015] I I thought that the last week of December and going into January was the 27th pay period, thus Peter Masti and I did not get paid for the last week of December, not realizing that it was already the 27th pay period the week before. I have enclosed a check back to the Town for the amount that was overpaid to me on December 30th. I made a mistake and I apologize to the board, the taxpayers, and those who were overpaid. I have encouraged those who were overpaid to reimburse the Town as soon as possible. I would hope that the town officials would give [redacted], [redacted], and anyone else affected, the time they need to pay this back.
I have not been involved with the Town since I left on December 31st and continue to hope that the current board does a great job as the elected officials in running the Town and doing what is best for the residents. Working for the Town is about serving the people with character and integrity, and I thank you for your service. It is unfortunate that some of the employees that are working for you are only interested in vengeance and not just doing their job. I pray that you five men continue to do your best for our town, and move our town forward.
/ / signature/ /
Stephen Flach
Mr Flach enclosed his check in reimbursement of the alleged overpayment.
David Wukitsch, Coeymans town attorney, who, by the way was fired by the town of New Baltimore because he was allegedly a jerk
Several town employees addressed a joint letter to Phil Crandall as town supervisor and chief fiscal officer protesting how ineptly the matter was being handled and how it cast innocent employees in a false light. We think the letter is much too weak, but then we don't have to work with Crandall and his mob on a day – to – day basis. The employees object to the ultimatum letter sent by David Wukitsch, town attorney, who, by the way was fired by the town of New Baltimore because he was a jerk. The employees complain that they were not properly notified of the overpayment and were never met with to discuss the amount allegedly owed. It must be said, though, that even Wukitsch's letter states that it was a "payroll error", that is, not the fault of the employees if the payroll people did not make the adjustment. It is unconscionable that Wukitsch tells the employees that they should reimburse the town "within the next 30 days." How would you feel if in 30 days you would have to cough up more than $1,000.00 for something not your fault, even beyond your control?
Mr Burns really needs to get a pair of balls…He doesn't need Phil Crandall's blessing.
Now, we ask you, Why? wouldn't Mr Crandall want this to be read into the record by Mr Kenneth Burns? What right does Mr Crandall have to censor this letter? Well, knowing Mr Crandall, Mr Dolan, and Mr Youmans, it's clear that if this letter were read into the record, it would certainly have taken the edge off of their underhanded attack! But Mr Burns really needs to get a pair of balls; he doesn't need Phil Crandall's blessing to read a letter into the record if he so wishes.
Here's another fact for our readers to ponder when thinking about Mr Crandall's unscrupulous and dishonest tactics: Mr Crandall and Mr Youmans were campaigning for public office well in advance of November 2015. In fact, Jim "Bully" Youmans is a former town supervisor and should have been familiar with the 11–year issue, so why didn't he catch it. He had an awful lot to say while he was campaigning! He should have at least acknowledged that it could easily be missed. But Tom "Dithering" Dolan has been on the board through several, at least 5 town budget proceedings, and he's been blundering around town hall for even longer. In fact, he was involved in drafting, presenting and finalizing the 2015 town budget. Why didn't he catch it back then? You see, it would be terribly inconvenient for Mr Crandall to have to admit that he and his cronies are just as much at fault as anyone else for not catching the so-called "mistake". But they should have.
Mr Flach's letter emphasizes Mr Flach's integrity and honesty, and casts a very dark shadow on the Crandall administration
As to why he wouldn't want Mr Flach's letter read publically we can only say that Mr Flach's letter emphasizes Mr Flach's integrity and honesty and casts a very dark shadow on the Crandall administration. Yes, as Mr Flach writes, "it is unfortunate that some of the employees that are working for you are only interested in vengeance and not [in] just doing their job." It's non Crandall's watch and under his questionable leadership that this is all happening, and it's Mr Crandall and his cronies Youmans and Dolan who are dropping the ball and true to form, they're trying to paint someone black for it. You can't change them but you're stuck with them for at least another 3 years or until someone sends them to jail. We do wonder, however, that Mr Flach was so quick to reimburse an overpayment that never was. We think he should have consulted an accountant before having done that.
Crandall is trying to scapegoat innocent, hard-working civil servants to bolster his own sick ego and to cover up his administration's total lack of credibility and focus. Don't take his bait; don't fall into his trap!
There's more and we'll report on it in an upcoming article. Stay tuned we've got some dirt on Nita J. Chmielewski, the town planning board padding by Phil Crandall, and some really good stuff on the Coeymans – Carver Companies asbestos battle. It seems that it's going to go to court…and you're going to pay the tab for Crandall's vendettas. But we now have names and we're going to go public with them. Enjoy your town board, Coeymans. You asked for it.
Editor's Note: Residents and taxpayers in other surrounding towns should be asking these same questions. Has New Baltimore missed the 11-year gremlin? Can New Baltimore residents and taxpayers be expecting their elected officials and public servants to be writing reimbursement checks to the town? More on this later.
Phil Crandall
Crooked Judge = Crooked Politician = Bad for Coeymans
What does that schmuck puss tell you about the guy wearing it?
Upcoming Stories
Comparing Local Restaurants' Hospitality vs. Prices: Marco's Higher Prices, Poorer Hospitality?
Is the Crandall Administration Padding Personnel with Cronies? Using the public domain for paybacks à la Tom Dolan?
Has the Touchette-Ross-Crandall Vendetta become the Coeymans-Carver Vendetta? Abuse of public office and conspiracy?
Posted by Principal Editor on May 19, 2016 in Albany, Albany County Chamber of Commerce, Albany County Civil Service, Albany County Civil Service Department, Albany County District Attorney, Albany County Legislature, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, BAS, Bitter Bob (Ross), Bob Ross, Bryan Rowzee, Business Automation Services, Capital District, Catherine Deluca, Catherine M. Deluca, Cathy Deluca, Cathy Hanley, Cindy Rowzee, Coeymanazis, Coeymans, Coeymans Town Attorney, Coeymans Town Board, Coeymans Town Board Meeting, Coeymans Town Budget, Coeymans Town Court, Coeymans Town Justice, Columbia-Greene Media, Darrell Puritan, David Wukitsch, Dick Touchette, Eleanor Luckacovic, Eleanor Oldham, Eric T. Schneiderman, George Dardiani, George Langdon, Gerald Deluca, Gregory Darlington, Harold Warner, Hudson Valley, Jerry "Dirty-Hands" Deluca, Jerry Deluca, Joan Ross, John Luckacovic, Kenneth Burns, Larry Conrad, Laverne Conrad, Nancy Biscone-Warner, Nancy Warner, New Baltimore Town Budget, New York State Association of Fire Chiefs, New York State Association of Fire Chiefs, Nita Chmielewski, NYS Assembly, NYS Comptroller Audit, NYS Senate, Office of the Attorney General, Official Misconduct, Peter J. McKenna, Peter Masti, Peter Mckenna, Phillip Crandall, Ravena Coeymans Selkirk, Ravena News Herald, Retaliative Justice, Richard Touchette, Rick Touchette, Sarah Morrison CPA, Tainted Judge, Thomas E. Dolan, Tom Dolan, Town of Coeymans
Think Before You Vote. Or Pay the Price Later!
Jim Youmans and Tom Dolan are Losers!
WOW! This just in: We've acquired a copy of the October 26, 2015, Coeymans town board meeting. We will be publishing extracts of that meeting so that you can be aware of the stupidity of Youmans and Dolan, and you can hear for yourself what idiotic scoundrels they are. Or, you can go to Coeymans town hall and ask to listen to the recording, and decide for yourself! You be the judge! You'll also hear residents telling Youmans and Dolan off for being such jerks, and for misleading the community. Tom Dolan, especially, gets a good whoop'n from one resident. You gotta hear the tape!
We're Here to Tell You What They Don't Want You to Know!
Politics is all about character, or should be. But all we, as voters, get to see is the big smiles, hear the big promises, and get the nice-guy treatment. But what you see is not what you get. Let's take a deeper look at what's available next week in the voting booths. And you thought the Walking Dead was scary? Read on!
Give me [your brain, and then] your vote!
We've already covered the Coeymanazi bunch of recycled politicians running for election or re-election in the town of Coeymans. Anyone with the memory of a cockroach would steer far away from these accidents looking for a place to happen:
We've already reported in considerable detail on the terrible choices the Coeymans Dumbocraps under Tom Dolan have this November 3. If you missed the article, you can read it at Go to the article link above for The Crandall, Dolan, Touchette Connection: Wanna Be Sick?
Phil Crandall: We've already pointed out his problems — we've already written about them — so we won't go into that again here. Just go to the article link above for details.
Rick Touchette: A charter member of the Crandall "do-me-a-favor" club. He's a loser, too. Ran last election time and lost. Why would you want to have him again? Check out the link above.
Jim Youmans: This guy is the proverbial "used car salesman" with a lousy personality. He's mean, nasty, and most people in Coeymans town hall want nothing to do with him. He joined the losers' club when he lost his bid for re-election to town supervisor a couple of years ago. And didn't Youmans show his true colors when he stomped out of the October 26th town board meeting. Jim Youmans is now publishing CONFIDENTIAL town information on FACEBOOK (obviously Tom Dolan is leaking this CONFIDENTIAL town information DESPITE the town attorney's (a Democrat!) caution not to publish it yet. Youmans received a copy of the confidential draft document from Tom Dolan, and now Youmans is wrongfully publishing the information on FaceBook, in order to sabotage the town and to take advantage of the Dolan leaks. Youmans lifted the copy of the CONFIDENTIAL document from Tom Dolan's table at the October 26th town meeting. Isn't that theft?
While Jim Youmans is a bully, he did a lot of his damage using his tool, Touchette. Was Touchette willing to be Youmans' tool or was it just that Touchette was easy to use. Either way, it doesn't speak too highly of Touchette, not that anyone or anything would.
And Why? hasn't anyone yet asked about Jim Youmans arrest record. He's a well known bully but hasn't anyone but a very few, including his victims, questioned his fitness for public office with an arrest record for harassment? Our information and reliable sources indicate that he and perhaps his wife also, were arrested for harassment. Sort of goes along with the reputation as a bully, doesn't it?
Tom Dolan: This dimwit has kept the lights in Coeymans town hall dimmed for years now. He has a long history of scandal and questionable behavior regarding votes and voting, and misusing his position with the Choices program in Ravena-Coeymans. He's Dithering Dolan, the political failure who, when he's not exchanging benefits for votes from ghetto residents, he's renaming the town. This guy is useless and a member of the Crandall "do-me-a-favor" club, and one of the crooks who got Crandall canned from his job as Coeymans town justice and part-time Ravena village justice for violating the NYS Judicial Laws Check out the link above. And didn't Tom Dolan leak a confidential draft from the Comptroller's report on the audit done this year, clearly labeled "CONFIDENTIAL"? Can't Dithering-Dolan read? And you can thank Dithering-Dolan for the fine choices he's provided in terms of unelectables on the Dumbocrap ticket; Old Tom Dithering-Dolan is the Coeymans Dumbocrap chairman and picks the Dumbocrap candidates. Just buddies helping buddies out –it's called political cronyism a.k.a. corruption!
If you don't think Touchette and Youmans are losers, ask anyone in Coeymans town hall who were unlucky enough to have had to work with them when they were in office before! Ask people like former Coeymans town supervisor Henry Traver, who was so abused by Youmans and Touchette, that he had to ask the Coeymans police to be present to prevent mahem at town executive sessions. Traver was terrified of Youmans, and Touchette, sneak that he is, backed Youmans' lousy and cowardly behaviour. Youmans was a bully and nothing has changed. Just what we need back in Coeymans town hall and the county legislature, more thugs.
We don't want to mention the dirty politics that went on when the Coeymans democraps were collecting signatures or the scandal about the absentee ballots. How can a Dumbocrap sign a Conservative petition and have the signature witnessed? Ask his dishonor, Phil Crandall and his son-in-law, Anthony "Tony" Walsh. We won't mention the fact that Crandall's son-in-law Anthony "Tony" Walsh, Jenna Crandall's husband, falsely witnessed the illegal signatures on Crandall's petitions. Basically the same ethical violations for which Crandall was brought up on charges. How can Crandall's son-in-law witness his father-in-law's petition signatures — without being present when the petition was signed? Walsh signed as a witness but, according to reliable witnesses, allegedly wasn't with the candidate, his father-in-law, when going door-to-door; you have to be either a notary or member of the party, but Walsh, a registered Conservative, just let Crandall go off and do what he wanted. Van Buren Street in Ravena, absentee-ballot capitol of the world, seems to be home base for these crooks.
The Phil Youmans mutant. If you see this, go Republican!
Now here's another juicy bit of news: Mike Albano was caught red-handed by Joe Vitello, candidate for Albany County Executive, tearing down Vitello's campaign signs; Mike Albano is Phil Crandall's father-in-law! Albano was caught red-handed by Vitello himself! We'll be interested to see if any charges are pressed. Go figure.
Phil Youmans, a Phil Crandall–Jim Youmans mutant, goes around putting his signs right in front of Stephen Flach's signs so that Flach's are not visible. Seems that Dan McCoy Supporters are doing the same thing to Joe Vitello's signs, so that they can't be seen. Doesn't the RCS school district have places for retards like Youmans and Albano? Yeah, it's called special ed kindergarten. Or Albany County Jail. You choose.
And we don't want to mention insider Nita Chmielewski, former failed town supervisor,she's hot for Crandall. Wonder if she's got her beady crossed eyes on a job as "confidential" secretary? Well, if she does you know one thing for certain: With Crandall's record of unethical conduct and Chmielewski's character, nothing will be safe, much less confidential! Or maybe Nutty Nita has her eye on the budget office. Be careful here! Remember Nita Chmielewski resigned as town supervisor over the flack she got for publishing a 10% budget increase. But do we have to mention that that 10% was an error resulting from Nitas problem doing simple math? Maybe it's just best to keep Nutty Nita and her buddy disgraced ex-judge Phil Crandall as far away from Coeymans town hall as possible. What do you think?
Peter Masti: Masti's been taking up space on the Coeymans town council and that's all he's been doing. No, wait a minute, he likes to write letters to the editor of the Troy Record. Troy Record! Why doesn't he put his opinions in the local rag, the Ravena News Herald? Well, Coeymans voters, if you haven't figured it out yet, this California-transplant unbeliever-turned-bible-thumper from Hippyville-California doesn't have much use for you, unless it's as a stepping stone. Maybe he's trying to keep his crazy ideas away from the local voters because they're too "California-crazy" and wants to have his say but far and away.
Learn more about these characters and why you need to stay clear of them in the voting booth by visiting our article at The Crandall, Dolan, Touchette Connection: Wanna Be Sick?
Matt-the-Mutt Miller Has His Beady Eyes on a County Legislature Seat
Don't Let that Happen!!!
This blog has alerted the RCS school district, RCS taxpayers and RCS parents a number of times about Matthew J. Miller's a.k.a. "Matt-the-Mutt's" questionable morals and conduct. Matt Miller is a CROOK! We alerted RCS taxpayers about Miller's deal with certain now extinct members of a former Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk board of education (under the Deluca mob) to be paid tens of thousands of tax dollars as "energy manager" for the school district. In other words, he told people to turn off the lights. This wouldn't have been so bad if he weren't DOUBLE-DIPPING! You see, he was also being paid FULL-TIME to teach, which he wasn't doing either (see below). We guess that makes him a TRIPLE-DIPPING CROOK.
Matt-the-Mutt Miller is a Loser!
If that's not bad enough Matt-the-Mutt Miller allegedly told his RCS students that he's an ATHEIST. Being an atheist is not big deal but telling impressionable and sensitive young people about your problem is a big deal. Parents: Do you want your teachers telling your kids about their personal beliefs? You're trying to teach your kids to have values, morals, maybe even be good Christians, Jews, or Muslims, and their teacher is telling them he's an atheist. So, Mr Miller, what do you do when it comes to the pledge of allegiance? Remember "One nation under God"? Do you refuse to pledge? Or do you make believe and pledge? Or the US dollar, "In God we trust." Do you get paid double-dipper dollars or in rubles? You're worse than a simple hypocrite, you're a crooked hypocrite.
Iff you check out Miller's LinkedIn page at Matt Miller you'll have to wonder if his campaign head shot isn't 25 years old at least. Compare Miller's LinkedIn photo with the photo from 2014 and you'll have to ask when he got his facelift? But Matt-the-Mutt's face really isn't the issue here. The issue is whether he's fit for elected office and that is a no-brainer: He's not. He arrogantly lists on his LInkedIn page that he's been 14 years Local Union president, 3 years Union Treasurer/PAC chair (PAC is the RCS "political action committee"), 6 years District Energy Manager he means the RCS school district, during which time he was double- or even triple dipping for at an average rate of $8,000 a year, stealing tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars!). He seems to be real proud of his teachers union connection; he says more about that than he does about the RCS central school district. But that makes sense; he's probably used the district as much as he can and now wants to move on. Like now we thinks he's going to get a seat on the county legislature for the 39th district. Only if real fools vote, and only then.
Matt-the-Mutt (2014)
Matt Miller (2015)
Matt-the-mutt wrongfully and improperly, Yes! cowardly, encouraged students to be uncivil and disrespectful when sending comments to a local blog, this blog, when he didn't have the balls to comment himself. That's what your tax dollars are paying for with Miller: an education in how to be uncivil, disrespectful and deviant. Just like Matt Miller.
For years Matt Miller has been the local NYSUT (New York State United Teachers) sockpuppet in the RCS school district. He's the teachers union representative in the district. But here's where he gets he dubious distinction of being a triple-dipper at taxpayer expense: He is paid a full-time teacher salary but has a reduced teaching load so he can do his union work! So, do you think his union work is in your interests or the kids' interest? Guess again! He works for the union and you're paying for it! Triple-dipping crook Miller.
So, now Matt-the-Mutt Miller wants you, the town of Bethlehem, to elect him to be an Albany County Legislator. That's just what the already crooked, corrupt Albany political machine needs like a hole in the head: another corrupt crook! So, go ahead, put the atheist, double-triple-dipper, union lackey Matt Miller in a legislator's chair in Albany. You don't have to be a nuclear physicist to guess whose interests he'll be serving there: the union's and his own!
Pope Paul VI: "The smoke of Satan has entered the church through a small crack." In Ravena's St Pat's RC, that's a mighty big crack
And then we have Saint Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Ravena, the favorite watering hole for the Ravena-Coeymans Incest Club and the Coemanazi Coalition. St Pat's is where "Dirty Hands Jerry" Deluca and Bottle-blond fitness club failure Cathy Deluca hang out. It's where Phil Crandall, Rich Touchette and other "good Catholics" go to collect political capital and play the hypocrite in saint's robes. It's where Crandal, Touchette, Dolan and their kind go to hand out holiday turkeys as if they were their own, and getting credit for the generous gifts. Pope Paul VI made the famous statement that "The smoke of Satan has entered the church through a small crack." In Ravena's St Pat's, that's a mighty big crack that lets in the likes of the Crandalls, Touchettes and Delucas. And you wonder why churches are avoided by the honest and good people of the community?
Does anyone know any of these people running for office in New Baltimore? Does anyone know anything about these people who
are asking for your votes? We've lived here practically our entire lives and those names might as well be from Kansas! Well, pretty close: Arthur Fullerton is from Arkansas. Really!!!
Let's start with the candidates for New Baltimore supervisor. We have the incumbent, Nick Delisanti. Delisanti is a pussy-cat in a business suit but is doing a sincere, honest and decent job in town hall. Actually, the worst thing he has done since voted into the supervisor's office is make the stupid statement, "Republicans appoint republicans." We think he's paid enough for that stupid remark, and if he's smart he'll be grateful for the non-Republicans who put him where he is.
This just in: At the October 26, 2015, town council meeting Mr Delisanti and his team passed the preliminary New Baltimore town budget with no net increase and no more deficit; it's balanced! (There is no longer an operating deficit as there was in 2012, 2013, 2014!). Only 1% pay increase to hourly-wage town employees. A slight increase in health benefits for employees and retirees, which was due to the insurer, not to any action by the board. Again, Delisanti and his team have kept the town budget under control. The final budget is slated for discussion and for final approval at the November 9, 2015, town board meeting. Thank you!
But Delisanti and his team have cleaned up New Baltimore Town Hall and have put policies in place to ensure transparency and accountability. Some people don't like that. They call themselves New Baltimore Dumbocraps and they take their orders from witch-on-a-stick Diane Louis.
What Delisanti has done together with his team is clean up the crooked and incompetent mess left by two dumbocraps, Louis and O'Rorke, and their dumbocrap friends. Remember when the most recent dumbocrap, Susan O'Rorke, left town hall, all the computers were wiped clean of data, records either disappeared or were locked up tight and no one seemed to have a key. (We still wonder why those responsible for that didn't end up in jail.) That's an example New Baltimore dumbocrap transparency and accountability with town dumbocrap chairman Diane Louis' clique. Those of us who watch the New Baltimore dumbocraps know what sneaks and crooks they are. New Baltimore Dumbocraps don't do their business in New Baltimore town hall, they do it at (or under) the bar at the Boat House (the New Baltimore Dumbocrap HQ and town hall).
Arthur Fullerton is a Loser!
This is a good place to deal with another phoney running for public office: New Baltimore's answer to Coeyman's Jim Youmans: Arthur Fullerton. Some character with a mega-ego, Arthur Fullerton, another unknown, has been put up for New Baltimore town supervisor by the New Baltimore Dumbocraps, and is another Louis sockpuppet. Fullerton is from Arkansas (Bill Clinton's state) and is a recent implant, a carpetbagger as they were called in years past, in New Baltimore. Fullertons's big on stealing credit from others and using it to make himself look real pretty. Just look at his gimme-your-vote card we all got in the mail. Nothing about Fullerton just about his ancestors. Big deal!
Fullerton's website is just as big a pile of bullshit as Fullerton is; full of rhetoric and lies and little real information for voters. Did you expect anything else from a Diane Louis lackey?
We said earlier that Fullerton doesn't really represent anything substantial and his website says it all: He has a tab, a section on "Issues." (click here to read Fullerton's "issues"). The self-proclaimed communicator and consultant Arthur Fullerton apparently has no understanding of what issues are but he has enough issues of his own. His issues page is about as empty as Fullerton's credibility chest! And if we rely on Fullerton's press releases (go to "Press Releases") to get some idea about Fullerton and his plans for New Baltimore, all we get is Fullterton's concerns for cell phone reception and the New Baltimore town newsletter. Are those the biggest issues facing this town, Mr Fullerrton? Well maybe in Fullerton's empty dumbocrap head. Some of us have bigger fish to fry (right now it's keeping corruption and idiots out of New Baltimore town hall, starting with Arthur Fullerton!).
The problem with Arthur Fullerton is that he can't get his facts straight or is an outright liar. Probably both. One example is the propaganda he's been putting out about the New Baltimore town newsletter. Fart-face Fullerton claims on the website "Bring Back the New Baltimore Town Newsletter" but incorrectly and inaccurately that, "New Baltimore had a great informative town newsletter for many years. The current administration choose to kill it." WRONG! That's an example of Fullerton's version of incorrect facts. It was actually the O'Rorke administration that eliminated the New Baltimore town newsletter, not the Dellisanti administration. It was Fullerton's own party-partners, Diane Louis and Susan O'Rorke and their cronies who eliminated the New Baltimore town newsletter. So let's get that little bit of misinformation corrected like yesterday!
Fullerton is not strong on issues. Actually, Fullerton hasn't really said much about issues in the town of New Baltimore, has he? Well, except for the bid lie about the newsletter and that's got to be one of the biggies we all are losing sleep over. Isn't it? What's Fullerton's stand on getting Mr Denis Jordan to comply with the law and with town policies about spending and approvals for contracts? How about that one? But it's unlikely Mr Fullerton will be much interested in stuff like that since Mr Denis Jordan is a party-pal.
Mr Fullerton is really a big bag of wind blowing warmly from Diane Louis'sagging butt. Fullerton is a paid-in-full, dyed in the wool member of the misinformation party, the give-it-all away party, the me-mine-it's mine party, the New Baltimore Dumbocraps. So, if you like being misused, left out, and if you want to give away what little you have left to the New Baltimore incest club, Fullerton's your man. Can you live with that?
Denis Jordan
Driving through New Baltimore you can almost guess where you'll see a "Denis Jordan for Highway Superintendent" campaign sign.
And you can pretty much assume that where you see a Denis Jordan campaign sign that the property owner is on the Denis Jordan gift list; that's the gift list that Denis Jordan has for people he likes to do special favors for at taxpayer expense. Most of us are on the Denis Jordan blacklist; the list of residents that Denis Jordan refuses services to despite the fact we pay taxes.
If you have a Denis Jordan sign on your lawn, you're probably getting favors from him for your vote!
Denis Jordan has been a Dumbocrap fixture for years and has been misusing and wasting New Baltimore money and resources since he's been superintendent. He refuses to obey the law when he makes purchases for the highway department. He makes deals with his friends. It's easy to be a dumbocrap fixture if you're stone ignorant and corrupt.
Jordan flatly refuses to comply with town of New Baltimore purchasing and contracts policies, which were put into place to provide voters and residents as well as auditors with transparency and accountability. These policies were put into place by the Dellisanti team when, to their horror, they found that previous administrations didn't have any, ignored them if they had them, or just looked the other way when Jordan played his unlawful games with taxpayer money. After all, how was Louis and O'Rorke going to get their driveways plowed? And wasn't it Jordan who refused to plow out the fire department's driveways and parking lots? What does that tell you about Jordan?
Not enough for you to consider Alan VanWormer to replace Jordan? Read on…
Here are some snippets you're probably unaware of about Mr Jordan:
Denis Jordan has about 17 years with the New Baltimore highway department (Alan VanWormer has 25+).
Jordan demoted Alan VanWormer from his position as deputy superintendent as soon as Jordan found out VanWormer wanted to run against him. We guess that Jordan is a big fan of fair play. NOT!
George Acker, Independence Party county chairman, gave Alan VanWormer a promise of support and backing from the Independence Party; Denis Jordan's signatures were thrown out. Denis Jordan failed miserably in the primaries.
Denis Jordan has no respect for highway department employees (ask them!). For example, one employee had a heart attack, was transported to the hospital by ambulance, in hospital and Jordan throws a fit because the employee can't come in. Another employee is diagnosed with thyroid cancer, on chemotherapy, has side effects and can't come back to work as planned. Jordan asks him if he wants to keep his job. Is that the kind of guy you'd like to work for?
Jordan orders highway department employees not to speak to a certain community leader if they see him. Jordan obviously never heard of the First Amendment or of common courtesy. We're not surprised, he's a dumbocrap.
The famous Jordan-Halstead truck deal: A couple of years ago (during the Louis administration), Halstead bought some trucks from Denis Jordan. Halstead then sold the trucks back to the town. Smell any corruption here?
According to the Office of the New York State Comptroller, in an audit the Comptroller found that Jordan's department was in violation of the New York State General Municipal Law regarding highway spending, contracts and quotes required for purchases. According to our information, Jordan is pulling some illegal tricks and is still not complying with state laws.
When summoned by the New Baltimore town council to answer questions on his spending and purchasing practices, Denis Jordan fails to appear but sends his attorney, Maeve Tooher, recently resigned (August 24, 2015) from the NB planning board, to respond for him. Tooher, in an outrageous display of ignorance and defensiveness, defends Jordan's violations!
Jordan submits to the New Baltimore town council a bogus corrective action plan.
Jordan, together with former Dumbocrap Louis-lackey Susan O'Rorke decide that they are not going to plow the Medway Grapeville fire department property. Marylyn Woodhall, a close friend of Denis Jordan, together with Jeane Horne are on the Fire Board. The fire departments have had to get outside companies to plow. Fire district funds down the chute!
Denis Jordan, while refusing to plow fire department property, still plows New Baltimore Conservancy dumbocraps' parking lot for $1. (Still Wondering why the New Baltimore Conservancy is supporting Arthur Fullerton and Denis Jordan? The Conservancy is on the Jordan gift-list!)
When we talk about Denis Jordan's gift-list friends you might want to ask some residents on Washington Avenue why their buildings are collapsing because of poor roadway and drainage maintenance! Or ask a couple of New Baltimore residents why they still don't have the collapsed culverts repaired (Ask Bernie Jones or Patty Hildebrandt, for example, what the response has been from Mr Jordan and his department).
Since the 2013 Comptroller's audit, the O'Rorke administration provided Mr Jordan with a computer so that he could comply with the New York state purchasing and contracts laws, look up bids, etc. (See the O'Rorke administration's bogus Corrective Action Plan in response to the Comptroller's audit. The Comptroller's 2010 audit found the same issues as the 2013 audit. Nothing changed!). But Mr Jordan is still 100% computer illiterate. Why is that?
We have foiled public access information from Denis Jordan's highway department and have found that Jordan does not keep complete records! No records for drain or drainage work on Madison Avenue East or New Street in the National Historic District. None at all!
Mr Jordan has a very special relationship with Peckham Materials (road paving materials etc.), but they're not even in Greene County! But why would Jordan pay more for materials from Peckham than he would have to pay locally? Why does Jordan refuse to get bids and quotes for the materials? Answer: Because Jordan is incompetent, corrupt, and doesn't know the first thing about contracts!
Finally, even though the New Baltimore town council under Nick Delisanti has purchasing policies in place to ensure compliance with the law and to provide responsible management of taxpayer dollars and to provide taxpayers with transparency and accountability, Jordan is fighting them tooth and claw. He refuses to comply with the law and with policy. He's even breaking down purchases into multiple orders and invoices to avoid having to get approval for the amount of the whole purchase. What's the problem Mr Jordan? Got something to hide?
Denis Jordan is a Major Loser!
That's why Denis Jordan needs to go on November 3. Jordan needs to be replaced by Alan VanWormer, who has more experience, has been with the New Baltimore Highway Department longer, knows the business, and will provide the transparency and accountability we all fairly expect from an elected official but can't seem to get from Denis Jordan.
We may never be able to uncover all of Denis Jordan's corruption — there's just too much and it's been going on for far too long — but at least with someone new in the job, we can keep an eye on what the new guy does in the highway department right from the start..
VanSlyke vs Linger for Greene County Legislature:
Mr Jim VanSlyke is running for re-election to the Greene county legislature. Mr Pat Linger is opposing him. We think a statement made by Mr vanSlyke at a recent New Baltimore town board meeting sums up Mr vanSlyke: "As a county legislator we get some money that we can give away. I have to give mine to Catskill, Cairo and Windham, because there aren't enough organizations in New Baltimore who ask for it." (paraphrased by informant). We expect Mr vanSlyke to have his finger on the pulses of the communities in his territory and that he should know who they are and if they need support; vanSlyke should announce the availability of the funds and organizations could then apply for them. What's wrong with you, Mr vanSlyke? What in hell are you doing, anyway?
You can stop corruption! The Editor
Posted by Principal Editor on October 27, 2015 in AFL-CIO, Alan van Wormer, Albany, Albany County Executive, Albany County Executive, Albany County Legislature, Albany County Sheriff Department, Anthony Walsh, Arlene McKeon, Arthur Fullerton, Arthur Fullerton, Barbara Finke, Bill Bailey, Bitter Bob (Ross), Bob Ross, BOCES, Bryan Rowzee, Capital District, Carver Companies, Carver Companies, Carver Construction, Carver Laraway, Catherine Deluca, Catherine M. Deluca, Catholic, Catholic Church, Cathy Deluca, Chris Norris, Christopher Norris, Church of St Patrick Ravena, Civil Right Violation, Coeymans, Coeymans Elections, Coeymans Town Attorney, Coeymans Town Board, Coeymans Town Board Meeting, Conflict of Interest, Corruption, Craig D. Apple Sr., Dan McCoy, Daniel McCoy, Daniel P. McCoy, David Lewis, David Louis, David Soares, Democrap, Denis Jordan, Diane Jordan, Diane Lewis, Diane Louis, Dick Touchette, Dumbocrap, Edward B. Scharfenberger, Eleanor Luckacovic, Eleanor Oldham, Elections and Voting, Fr James Kane, George Acker, George Amedore, George Dardiani, George Langdon, Gerald Deluca, Greene County, Greene County Elections, Harold Warner, Henry Traver, Hudson Valley, Hypocrisy, Independence Party, Jean Horne, Jeff Ruso, Jenna Crandall, Jerry "Dirty-Hands" Deluca, Joan Ross, John B. Johnson, John Luckacovic, Johnson Newspaper Group, Kathy Rundberg, Keith Mahler, Ken Burns, Kenneth Burns, Kevin Reilly, Larry Conrad, Laverne Conrad, Lisa Benway, Marjorie Loux, Mark Vinciguerra, Matt "the Mutt", Matt Miller, Matthew J. Miller, Mike Albano, Misconduct, Misuse of Public Office, Moose Misuraca, Moose Misuraca, Nancy Biscone-Warner, Nancy Warner, Nancy Warner, New Baltimore, New Baltimore Conservancy, New Baltimore Democratic Committee, New Baltimore Democrats, New Baltimore Elections, New Baltimore Elections, New Baltimore Highway Department, New Baltimore Republican Club, New Baltimore Town Budget, New Baltimore town council, New York State Association of Fire Chiefs, New York State United Teachers, Nick Dellisanti, Nita Chmielewski, NYS Senate, NYSUT, Paul Courcelle, Peckham Materials, Pete Lopez, Peter Masti, Phil Crandall, Phillip Crandall, Port of Coeymans, Ravena, Ravena Coeymans Selkirk, Ravena Coeymans Selkirk Central School District, Ravena News Herald, RCS Central School District, Richard Touchette, Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, Selkirk, Sharon Bradbury, Smalbany, Stephen Flach, Susan K. O'Rorke, Teachers Association, Teachers Union, Thomas E. Dolan, Tom Dolan, Tony Walsh, Town Board Meeting, Town of Bethlehem, Town Supervisor, Transparency, Uncategorized, William Bailey, William Bailey, William Misuraca, William Misuraca
Bye-bye Bimbo! Cathy Deluca Fails Again! No more funding for the RHFC!
Village of Ravena
Those of you who still read the Ravena News Herald will have learned that the Village of Ravena Board has not included funding for the Ravena Health and Fitness Center for the 2015-16 budget year. We'd like to congratulate the Village of Ravena Board for that decision but we'd rather ask Why did it take them so long? The scandalous conspiracy hatched by village board member Nancy Warner and now three-time-fitness-failure Cathy Deluca should have been defunded as soon as the Misuraca administration moved in. Why wasn't it? Months ago Misuraca admitted that the makeshift fitness center was hemorrhaging taxpayer dollars to the tune of more than $6,000 a month! Why the delay? The board could have resolved to close it almost immediately!
For nearly two years now we've been demanding that the money-pit Ravena Health and Fitness Center be closed. We've published our reasons for that demand, including the fact that it was an insider job from the start, the fact that the decisions were made behind closed doors without public input, the fact that $40,000 of taxpayer money was paid to a "friend of village hall" for used fitness junk. Worse still, the scandalous and fraudulent paperwork that went in to get Cathy Deluca her non-competitive civil service title as fitness center manager led to the resignation of the then director of Albany County Civil Service, but it didn't stop Cathy Deluca from faking her way into pocketing more than $30,000 a year plus full benefits for the past two years.
So now what? Well, we'd like to see Cathy Deluca and Nancy Warner prosecuted for the huge fraud they perpetrated on the taxpayers in the village of Ravena. We'd like to see the culprits pay back every cent they practically stole from village of Ravena residents.
But now that we're at least $240, 000 in the hole thanks to Nancy Warner and Cathy Deluca, what's the village gonna do with the equipment Warner and Deluca purchased from Bob Fisk? Certainly won't bring $40,000 or even half that amount in a garage sale. Maybe Cathy Deluca will put in a bid for her next health and fitness center she'll run into the ground. That'll be the fourth one. Before she ran the Ravena Health and Fitness Center into oblivion at taxpayer expense, she had managed two previous ones into failure. But she was the pick to manage the Ravena Health and Fitness Center! How in hell did that happen? Ask Nancy Warner.
So now what's Cathy Deluca, 3x-failure going to do. Let's hope that Mr Misuraca and his village board don't make the mistake of giving her a job with the village or something as stupid as that.
In our last article we discussed among other things, fire hydrants in Ravena-Coeymans, and Mr Henry Traver. You need to read that article.
But you'll have to show that the double and triple dipping has stopped, Misuraca.
We are informed, however, that the Village of Ravena provisional budget, while eliminating funding for the Ravena Health and Fitness Center, apparently gives Mr Traver a pay raise from his current $52,000+ salary to what appears to be $63,000+!!! Is that how Mr Misuraca intends to streamline his village spending? No, dear readers, that's how he's steamrolling Ravena taxpayers with a Halfway House bar-room smoke and mirrors act! If that's true, we really need to get on Misuraca's back and start beating up the Ravena Village Board to justify such an outrageous increase for such a dolt.
Henry Traver's 2010 Mugshot
After his arrest by Coeymans Police for allegedly torching his own house.
Misuraca's board is now upping this dunce's salary in the 2015-16 Ravena budget from $52,000 to $63,000 plus benes! WTF?!?!?!
Finally, we had to chuckle when we read that one of Misurac's plans was to 'consolidate some services within and across departments.' We hate to burst Mayor Mouse's bubble or steal his thunder but that's what the corrupt Ravena administrations of the past had been doing all along. Everybody worked everywhere and got paid by everybody. No big news in Ravena! But you'll have to show that the double and triple dipping has stopped, Misuraca, and you'll have to hold your employees' feet to the fire to explain why some of them, while employed by the village of Ravena, hold several other jobs, as well (right Sandy Debacco?). Can you explain that rationale, Mr Mayor?
What good are "flat rates" when you have no way of knowing what you're paying for????
We didn't chuckle when we read about Misuraca's attempt to "keep water and sewer rates flat" so that "residents should not expect a rate increase under the current proposal." That's nice, Mr Mayor but we do want to ask that when you keep the rates "flat", in your terms, when will the Village of Ravena be able to start billing equitably and fairly, when will the Village of Ravena have uniform and transparent billing policies, procedures, and documentation for water and sewerage. "Flat rates" sounds real pretty but what good are "flat rates" when residents still have no way of knowing what they're paying for???? Kinda stupid, if you ask us! So, Mr Mayor and Ravena village boardmembers, perhaps you should start looking at how you've been billing and perhaps you should stop bullshitting Ravena residents and provide clear, transparent documentation on what they're being billed for. Think were kidding? This is no joke, Misuraca, and we'll be publishing some documents soon to show just how idiotic and unlawful village of Ravena billing practices are and have been for decades. Get real, Misuraca, and get to work, real work!
For years now, we've been demanding that the Town of Coeymans eliminate the Coeymans Police Department. Why? Because it was a nest of perverts, corrupt dirty so-called law enforcement officers, and had the reputation for fairness and community spirit that made Attila the Hun look like a pussy cat. Totally corrupt, totally bully, totally bad! But then Gerald "Dirty-Hands Jerry" Deluca jumped ship as did his darling Gregory "Dumplin'" Darlington and their very own blond bimbo, Danielle "Humpy" Crosier and a couple of others either were terminated or chose to resign. All of a sudden citizen complaints stopped. We didn't hear much more about police bullying, retaliation, intimidation, harassment.
Let's support Chief McKenna and let's hope that he and his staff can become more visible now that temperatures rather than tempers are getting warmer.
Then the town board appointed Peter J. McKenna to be interim police chief. Things really started to look rosy. They have a decent guy in the driver's seat now who knows how to navigate the rough waters of professional law enforcement under the supervision of amateur politicians (the Coeymans town board). McKenna seems to be doing a great job. But we do feel he and his staff need to get more into the community and make themselves visible as real public servants. They need to get out there and topple the image of the Coeymans Police Department as a nest of thugs, and realize the picture of the CPD as friends of the community, as partners in improving the community's life. Let's support Chief McKenna and let's hope that he and his staff can become more visible now that temperatures rather than tempers are getting warmer. Can you accept the challenge, Chief McKenna!
We've always advocated that the Coeymans Police Department be downsized to a contingent of liaison and education staff. As liaison, an experienced chief like McKenna could foster and promote positive collaborative relations with the Albany County Sheriff's Department and the New York State Police; as an education force in the community, McKenna and a small handful of ethical, community-spirited law enforcement officers could do wonders in this community. We have also urged very strongly that the flotsam and jetsam in the department be terminated; this means that the unnecessary dispatchers need to be pink-slipped.
Well, after all of our ranting and writing, the town of Coeymans appears to be waking up and taking some positive action in this regard. It looks like the dispatch operations will be taken over by the Albany County Sheriff's Department, where they should have been all along. By our reckoning that means a savings of more than $100,000 of Coeymans taxpayer dollars. Maybe now the Coeymans town board can pay Chief McKenna a decent salary.
There's a storm brewing in New Baltimore and it's centering on none other than it's elected town Highway Supervisor, Mr Denis Jordan. Readers will recall our recent article on Jordan's record-keeping or lack thereof — but former town supervisor Susan O'Rorke and her board (which included the widgets Lisa "Giggles" Benway and Chris "Whacko" Norris) felt Jordan needed a laptop to do his job (porn surfing?), and the fact that few if any records are kept regarding the operations of the New Baltimore Highway Department. Jordan allegedly does a lot of favors for locals and that ensures his job. But he allegedly does it at taxpayer expense, too. That's illegal and the allegations must be investigated. The New Baltimore town board may have been unaware of Jordan's alleged indirect vote-buying — But how could they be? — but now we are putting the New Baltimore Town Board on public notice of the allegations circulating that Denis Jordan has misused his office and misappropriated public property. Furthermore, Denis Jordan has allegedly attempted to cover up his and his department's involvement in an incident that has remained covered up until recently, in which a Greene County employee was injured and rendered incapable of working by the action of a Town of New Baltimore Highway Department employee who, reports say, has a reputation for careless operation of town vehicles. This accident occurred during Susan O'Rorke's watch but she managed to conceal it from the public. Now the town of New Baltimore is having trouble finding an insurance company willing to cover the town. Thanks Ms O'Rorke! Thanks Mr Jordan!
We've also reported on Jordan's questionable employee relations and how he demoted his deputy once Jordan found out he was thinking of running against Jordan. We think that elected officials who feel so secure in their jobs that they can openly retaliate against the democratic process should get the brown boot treatment; voters or a prosecutor should kick their asses right out of office.
The two democrap administrations, under Louis and O'Rorke, that preceded the present Dellisanti Republican board were absolutely corrupt and inept.
There comes a time when we have to admit he has to go!
But when a former supervisor, the likes of David Louis, partner of the notorious New Baltimore chairman of the now scandalized democrap party, Diane Louis, has the gall to stand up in Jordan's defense, we really want to start up-chucking. The fact is that the two democrap administrations that preceded the present Republican team were absolutely corrupt and inept. While David Louis' name was on the supervisor's office door, it was obvious that Diane Louis, then David Louis' "confidential secretary" — now wasn't that cozy, his wife as his confidential secretary, protecting him from any possible harmful testimony —, was pulling an awful lot of strings. Back then we figured she was pushing for David to go into state level politics; making her a local democrap power dealer. Let's hope that's been trashed!
While we have some very serious reservations about the current New Baltimore Town Board, we think that David Lewis has no place calling the kettle black. The only worst hypocrisy would be for Susan O'Rorke to start criticizing the current board.
To be very honest, we'd encourage readers to decide for themselves what's going on on the streets and roads of New Baltimore. From where we're sitting it's just pitiful. Snow removal isn't the major criterion that we use. We're looking at the condition of the infrastructure, the quality of the roadwork done and how long it lasts, whether the work done accomplishes the fundamental purpose for which it was done. How much waste in terms of materials and human resource hours?
You can actually watch the water running into the foundations of the properties, where it then freezes, heaves, and destroys the foundations
We've already published numerous calls for action citing the waste that we've observed just in terms of filling potholes improperly. Tens of thousands of New Baltimore tax dollars have been misspent on storm drains that simply don't work. On several Hamlet streets there are no storm drains and at least two properties in the National Historic District have been rendered unusable because of the lack of drains or even culverts; during a rain, storm or during a thaw you can actually watch the water running into the foundations of the properties, where it then freezes, heaves, and destroys the foundations. That's what we look at, Mr Dellisanti, and that's where Mr Jordan has failed us. But you offer peanuts you get monkeys. And if those monkeys make too many friends with their antics, you get Denis Jordans re-elected and we're stuck literally in the mud.
Mr David Louis, you had your chance to make a positive mark on this community and, well, you failed. Your successor was no better and if it could be worse, it was under Susan O'Rorke. Dellisanti and Ruso are no prizes but they don't need your backstabbing but could use some collaboration from past elected officials. As for your relationship with Denis Jordan, Mr Louis, perhaps if you had some vision and some balls when you were supervisor, we wouldn't be facing these problems now.
We mentioned the concealment of a motor vehicle accident that occurred in 2013 during Susan O'Rorke's administration, and involving an employee of the New Baltimore Highway Department. The report is that an employee of the New Baltimore Highway Department, who allegedly has a reputation for careless operation of town vehicles, was involved in an accident in which a Greene County employee was injured so severely that he still has not been able to return to work. That GC employee is now suing the town of New Baltimore. It further appears that O'Rorke and Denis Jordan were somewhat successful at covering up the seriousness of this situation until recently. At a recent public meeting of the Town of New Baltimore town board, S. vanEtten was reporting on the problems in getting insurance coverage for the town of New Baltimore, and she mentioned the accident. Of course, Lisa Benway and Chris Norris were boardmembers at the time and were/are privy to the facts but didn't see fit to do their duty and keep the present board informed; Benway and Norris preferred to be speed bumps. While vanEtten was reporting, Lisa Benway sat there giggling like a retard, as if she knew something but wasn't saying. When Dellisanti/vanEtten asked her about it, Benway refused to share anything. Norris sat there grinning like a moron. When supervisor Dellisanti asked Benway about the facts, Benway stated that she is in the business and cannot disclose confidential information.
What Ms "Giggles" Benway and "Grimace" Norris seem to have forgotten is that they are elected boardmembers sworn to serve this community; they don't have the option of telling or not telling when this community is at risk. We have a beef with supervisor Dellisanti, too. What he should have done at that meeting was adjourn the public session, retire to a back office for an "executive session," ask Benway, Norris and Jordan about the situation, and if Benway, Norris and/or Jordan insisted on confidentiality, fine, it doesn't go public at this time, but they have to share their information. But if Benway or Norris or Jordan refused to share that information with supervisor Dellisanti, then Dellisanti upon resuming the public session, should have announced publicly either that Benway and/or Norris and/or Jordan shared the facts but because of the litigation the facts must remain confidential OR announced publicly that Benway and/or Norris and/or Jordan refused to share the facts with the chief executive of the town of New Baltimore, and that they chose to deprive the town board of the necessary opportunity to be as informed as possible of an imminent and serious threat to the town of New Baltimore and its residents. Lisa "Giggles" Benway, Christopher "Grimace" Norris, and Denis Jordan have a duty and an obligation to safeguard the interests of this community, placing any other interests on a lower shelf, including whatever business they're in. Mr Dellisanti, Ms vanEtten: You've been had. Benway and Norris embarrassed you in public session. You had the chance, Mr Dellisanti, to show leadership and take control, even to embarrass Benway, Norris, and Jordan, showing the public what dildos they really are — but you fell short and missed a gem of an opportunity. While it seems Benway, Norris and Jordan have their priorities terribly confused, Dellisanti has to learn how to use his authority and his majority (before it's too late).
In the meantime, while we're pumping the water that flows past the storm drains out of our basements or watching our buildings collapse, and while we're watching the streets crumble and the stone get washed into our garages, we need to start looking at efficiency, competency, and professionalism in our town departments. Cuts can be made, waste must be cut, but we also need staff who know how to do the work or its all lost.
Now that New Baltimore town boardmember and sidekick to supervisor Dellisanti, Jeff Ruso, has visited this blog several times to read what we have to say, we'd like to know what Ruso or Dellisanti or the board has to say for themselves. How about it, Jeff? Or do you prefer lurking to responding?
Posted by Principal Editor on March 27, 2015 in 19th Congressional District, 19th Congressional District, 20th Congressional District, 20th Congressional District, Abuse of Public Office, Albany, Albany County Civil Service, Albany County Civil Service Department, Albany County District Attorney, Albany County Sheriff Department, Annette Demitraszek, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Barbara Cumm, Barbara Finke, Bill Bailey, Bill Bailey, Bitter Bob (Ross), Bob Freeman, Bob Ross, Bryan Rowzee, Capital District, Carver Laraway, Catherine Deluca, Catherine M. Deluca, Cathy Deluca, Chris Gibson, Chris Gibson, Chris Norris, Christopher Norris, Civil Lawsuit, Claude A. Wheeles, Coeymans, Coeymans Police Department, Coeymans Town Attorney, Coeymans Town Board, Coeymans Town Board Meeting, Coeymans Town Budget, Committee on Open Government, Danielle Crosier, David Lewis, David Louis, Denis Jordan, Diane Jordan, Diane Lewis, Diane Louis, Eleanor Luckacovic, Eleanor Oldham, Elected Official, Eric T. Schneiderman, George Amedore, George Dardiani, George McHugh, Gerald Deluca, Greene County, Greene County District Attorney, Gregory Darlington, Harold Warner, Henry Traver, Hudson Valley, Jeff Ruso, Jena Misuraca, Jerry "Dirty-Hands" Deluca, Jerry Deluca, Joan Ross, Joel Coye, Joel Coye, John B. Johnson, John Luckacovic, John T. Bruno, Johnson Newspaper Group, Keith Mahler, Keith Mahler, Ken Burns, Kenneth Burns, Kristine Biernacki, Law Enforcement, Mary Ellen Rosato, Mayor "Mouse", Mayor "Mouse" Misuraca, Mayor Bruno, Michael J. Biscone, Misconduct, Misinformation, Mismanagement, Misuse of Public Office, Moose Misuraca, Moose Misuraca, Nancy Biscone-Warner, Nancy Warner, Nancy Warner, New Baltimore Democratic Committee, New Baltimore Democrats, New Baltimore Republican Club, New Baltimore Town Board Member, New Baltimore town council, New York, New York State, New York State Civil Service Department, News Herald, Nick Dellisanti, Notice of Claim, NYS Assembly, NYS Comptroller Audit, NYS Senate, Obstruction of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, Official Misconduct, Paul Tonko, Pete Lopez, Peter J. McKenna, Peter Masti, Peter Mckenna, Peter McKenna, Port of Coeymans, Public Corruption, Ravena, Ravena Building Inspector, Ravena Coeymans Selkirk, Ravena Health and Fitness Center, Ravena News Herald, Ravena Village Board, Ravena Village Budget, Robert Fisk, Robert J. Freeman, Robert J. Freeman, Sante Debacco, Selkirk, Shame On You, Susan K. O'Rorke, Thomas E. Dolan, Tom Dolan, Town Board Meeting, Transparency, Uncategorized, William Bailey, William Bailey, William Misuraca, William Misuraca
Coeymans: Illegal "Work Zone" Signs and Unlawful Threat of Fines?
Driving down Rt 144 southbound into Coeymans, or northbound towards the Port of Coeymans, you may have noticed numerous work zone signs along the road and sometimes even flagmen. You may have also noticed that there are signs warning that exceeding the speed limit in work zones will result in doubled fines if convicted. On further investigation it seems that all of this is unlawful and very likely illegal, since neither Carver Companies nor the Port of Coeymans have the authority to post "work zone" or speed limit signs on a public roadway, and certainly do not have the authority to threaten motorists with doubled fines! And the town of Coeymans must enact ordinances, regulations or local laws to temporarily create work zones or speed limit restrictions [they haven't].
Are these signs and the threat of double fines unlawful, even illegal?
Are these signs unlawful and illegal?
First of all, there is no public service or utility work going on in the area marked off by the signs. At least no construction or maintenance work being done by public authorities. The only construction going on is that of a private bridge over the Coeymans Creek, a bridge which itself is of dubious legality under the currently contested re-zoning in Coeymans. Furthermore, the bridge construction is not a public service nor is it a public works project, it's private, and it cannot claim the authorities of law that apply to public works.
Since there are no public works projects, construction, maintenance, etc. going on in the area marked off by the signs and the threats, who is authorizing these signs and the "doubled fines" threat sign to be posted. Furthermore, Who is enforcing these restrictions and threats? in view of the fact that the only construction going on is private construction by Carver Laraway and Carver Companies?
And what is the work zone speed limit? Normally temporary reduced speed limits are imposed for workzones. The workzone speed limit is not posted!
Don't those morons in Coeymans law enforcement, the Coeymans court, the Coeymans town board know about the DoT regulations and state law?
In fact, the entire so-called "work zone" is totally ignorant of state law and New York State Department of Transportation Engineering Instructions EI 08-030, incorporated into the update of chapter 16 of the Highway Design Manual (HDM). But Hey! doesn't the town of Coeymans have a stellar police department, enlightened town justices, a brilliant highway department, a savvy code enforcement officer? Aren't the taxpayers of the town of Coeymans paying these morons to know New York State Law and what to post, what not to post?
Furthermore, who's the moron who thinks that anyone operating his or her vehicle through the work zone in excess of a work zone speed limit that isn't even published is going to sit quietly when subjected to doubled fines when there is apparently no public works project going on and the only construction is a private construction project, the Carver Companies private bridge! Since when do our courts apply state law to private undertakings to enforce unlawful restrictions? The Carver Companies have no authority to impose speed limits or to enforce state laws, only duly constituted law enforcement has that authority and power.
And speaking of duly constituted law enforcement, where in hell are the Coeymans police hanging out these days? They're certainly not serving and protecting along Rt 144 or anywhere around there. At best we see NY State Police stopping trucks but that's just on a sporadic basis.
What we'd like to see is Coeymans police patrols enforcing the laws on the books like:
Heavy trucks observing the officially and lawfully posted speed limits;
Heavy trucks entering and leaving the Port of Coeymans and Carver Companies properties operating safely and courteously, in observance of traffic safety principles (like not pulling out in front of oncoming vehicles or waiting until faster traveling traffic passes before pulling out and having everyone jam on their brakes while the trucks meander along at 20 mph or slower)
How about putting some operating lights on or ticketing the drivers when they operate their trucks with no headlights even in the rain;
How about enforcing the law on clean, legible and if necessary lighted license plates (so that when they nearly kill us we can at least write down the license plate number in out last drops of blood);
How about unmarked cars observing the trucks failing to keep right? Pick a lane and stay in it maybe? Maybe the right lane?
But since the town of Coeymans is in Carver Laraway's pocket, it doesn't seem likely that the Coeymans police are going to start enforcing the law in the case of the heavy trucks and careless truck drivers, not unless we start setting some fires under their asses. Maybe the New York State Police and the Albany County Sheriff Department should be called in to do the job the Coeymans police are either unable or unwilling to do.
Here are some notes for those of you who are interested in the basis for our opinions. They're from the New York State DOT Engineering Instructions and from the NYS DOT Highway Design Manual. We also quote New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law §§ 1180(f) Work Area Speed Limit.
Based on the sections below, we believe that the work zone signs, the failure to post a work zone speed limit (thus failing to provide due process and proper notice of drivers), and the doubled-fines signs are all unlawful, if not illegal. What do you think?
The New York State Department of Transportation manuals define a work zone in the following terms:
"A Work Zone is the area of a highway with construction, maintenance, or utility work activities. It is typically marked with signs, channelizing devices, barriers, pavement markings, and/or work vehicles and extends from the first warning sign to the END ROAD WORK sign."
The "highway" is a public roadway used by the public and the "construction, maintenance or utility work activities" are public works, not private. The official documents continue:
"SPEED CONTROL METHODS
Speed limit reductions in work zones are most effective when drivers perceive the need to slow down, (whether through noticeable geometric or work-related constraints on traffic flow) and when there is regular active police enforcement of the work zone speed limit. Arbitrary speed limit reductions erode motorist's confidence in the need for reducing speed within a work zone. Traffic speed in work zones are generally lower, regardless of posted speed limit, when work zone conditions such as flagging, variable message signs, lane shifts, lane-width reduction, radar, and enforcement exist. Engineering, education/awareness, and enforcement measures are to be used to influence motorists, promote work zone awareness, and achieve safe work zone traffic speeds." [emphasis provided]
"Engineering Measures
Incorporating engineering measures into work zone designs will encourage drivers to safely negotiate work zones. Warning signs, advisory speeds, positive guidance, width restrictions, channelizing chicanes, and use of intelligent transportation system technologies are examples of engineering measures that can be used to slow traffic traveling through a work zone."
There are very specific guidelines in the state DoT manuals on how flagmen should perform their functions; of course, you'd never see them doing that in Coeymans!
"Enforcement Measures
Engineering and education/awareness measures can help reduce speeds. However, active police enforcement is the most effective measure to encourage motorist's compliance with posted regulatory speed limits and other traffic regulations within work zones. Under the 2005 Work Zone Safety Act Regulation, police services will be provided to the extent practicable within major active work zones. The need for police presence and/or enforcement should be determined as early as possible during the project design phase. Police enforcement needed for maintenance type work zones will be coordinated as early as possible with the police agency and the Regional Traffic and Maintenance Groups. All effected [sic] parties should meet prior to any active enforcement within a work zone."
Again, it seems, Coeymans has fallen flat on their fat arses! Who is going to pay for these tax-payer supported law enforcement services when the construction is private?!? Has the town board of Coeymans met with Carver Laraway to negotiate reimbursement for enforcement services during Carver Companies' construction projects? Now there's a good question to ask at a Coeymans town board meeting if you want to watch them squirm!
Who's Getting Paid?
We know who's paying!
And then we have the New York State law that is referred to in the "doubled fines" signs. But it should be obvious to our readers by now that posting that sign under the current circumstances is unlawful and illegal. Any town or village justice convicting and fining under these circumstances should be brought before the New York State disciplinary commission and disbarred!
Is this unlawful and illegal?
Here's what §§ 1180(f) Work Area Speed Limit has to say:
"NYS Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 1180(f) permits some municipalities not otherwise authorized to establish a reduced regulatory speed limit by ordinance, order, rule or regulation for construction or maintenance work areas.
Vehicle and Traffic § 1180. Basic rule and maximum limits. (a) No person shall drive a vehicle at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent under the conditions and having regard to the actual and potential hazards then existing.
Regarding construction sites § 1180 (f) reads:
"…when a lower maximum speed limit has been established, no person shall drive a vehicle through a highway construction or maintenance work area at a speed in excess of the posted work area speed limit. The agency having jurisdiction over the affected street or highway may establish work area speed limits which are less than the normally posted speed limits; provided, however, that such normally posted speed limit may exceed the work area speed limit by no more than twenty miles per hour; and provided further that no such work area speed limit may be established at less than twenty-five miles per hour."
"Every person convicted of a violation of paragraph two of … subdivision (f)… of this section shall be punished as follows:
(i) Where the court or tribunal records or enters that the speed upon which the conviction was based exceeded the applicable speed limit by not more than ten miles per hour, by a fine of not less than ninety nor more than three hundred dollars;" [Editor's note: This is double the normal fines.]
But again, it must be clear that these provisions do not apply to private projects like Carver Companies' bridge construction, unless the town of Coeymans has taken steps by temporary ordinance, order, rule or regulation to give Carver Companies special consideration in terms of a temporary work zone speed limit. But the town of Coeymans and the Coeymans town board have no authority to amend state Vehicle and Traffic law at their convenience to threaten motorists with unlawfully doubled fines!
Once again, the amateurs running the town of Coeymans may have set themselves up for more legal problems if any action is taken against drivers based on the above. Coeymans taxpayers, get ready to foot the bills for the lawsuits when they start coming through.
We think it's illegal and unlawful!
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Posted by Principal Editor on October 21, 2014 in 19th Congressional District, 19th Congressional District, 20th Congressional District, 20th Congressional District, Abuse of Public Office, Accountability, Albany, Albany County District Attorney, Albany County Sheriff Department, Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Barbara Cumm, Barbara Finke, Bill Bailey, Bitter Bob (Ross), Bob Ross, Bryan Rowzee, Capital District, Carmen Warner, Carver Companies, Carver Construction, Carver Laraway, Catherine Deluca, Catherine M. Deluca, Cathy Deluca, Cecilia Tkaczyk, Chris Gibson, Chris Gibson, Chris Hughes, Chris Norris, Christopher Norris, Claude A. Wheeles, Coeymans, Coeymans Bulding Inspector, Coeymans Industrial Park, Coeymans Police Department, Coeymans Town Attorney, Coeymans Town Board, Coeymans Town Board Meeting, Coeymans Town Court, Coeymans Town Justice, Conspiracy, Corrupt Police, Corruption, Craig D. Apple Sr., Daniel Contento, Daniel Contento, Danielle Crosier, David Soares, David Wukitsch, DOT, Eleanor Luckacovic, Eleanor Oldham, Eliminate Coeymans Police Department, Elyse Kunz, Elyse Loughlin, Eric T. Schneiderman, FBI, George Acker, George Amedore, George Langdon, Government, Gregory Darlington, Harold Warner, Hudson Valley, Incompetence, Investigation, Jena Misuraca, Joan Ross, Joel Coye, John Luckacovic, John T. Bruno, Keith Mahler, Ken Burns, Kenneth Burns, Larry Conrad, Laverne Conrad, Law Enforcement, Michael Biscone, Michael J. Biscone, Mismanagement, Misuse of Public Office, Monitoring, Moose Misuraca, Nancy Warner, National Bank of Coxsackie, New Baltimore, New York, New York Department of Environmental Conservation, New York State, New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, New York State Department of Transportation, New York State Police, Nick Dellisanti, Notice of Claim, NYS Assembly, NYS Comptroller Audit, NYS Senate, Office of the Attorney General, Oreo Obama, Paul Courcelle, Paul Tonko, Pete Lopez, Peter Masti, Pink Obama, Police Incompetence, Police State, Port of Coeymans, Prudential Real Estate, Public Corruption, Ravena, Ravena Coeymans Selkirk, Ravena Department of Public Works, Ravena Health and Fitness Center, Ravena Village Board, Robert Fisk, Sean Eldridge, Selkirk, Smalbany, Stephen Flach, Thomas A. Boehm, Thomas E. Dolan, Tkaczyk, Tom Boehm, Tom Dolan, Town Board Meeting, Transparency, William Bailey, William Misuraca
Tuesday, October 14: Let Your Voices Be Heard!
He Died So You Could Speak, Participate in Your Democracy!
Don't Waste His Sacrifice! Don't Waste Your Freedoms!
Your Elected Officials Try To Exclude You From Participation
They do this in many subtle and sometimes unlawful ways: They hold secret meetings, they quietly (very quietly) invite the public to "public" hearings, they sometimes lie outright. But Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk's elected officials have found a far better way to do their mischief: They schedule important meetings on the same day at the same time but in different places far from each other to ensure that you can't make both, even though you have a civic obligation, or a personal interest in attending both. Pretty clever, right?
Well, it's up to you, citizens, residents to stop that despicable violation of your rights! Tell them to coordinate village of Ravena, town of Coeymans, and RCS Central School District board of education meetings so that you can attend all or any of them, if you'd like. They must be on different days, at least!
On Tuesday, October 14, 2014 Both the Ravena Coeymans Selkirk board of education meeting and the Coeymans town board meeting are both taking place at 7:00 p.m. Pretty stupid, right.
Why you need to be there, and you should have the opportunity to be at both:
RCS high-school principal Tom DiAcetis, Superintendant Alan McCartney's Education
First of all, ALL VETERANS, PARENTS OF VETERANS, SUPPORTERS OF VETERANS, and all members of veterans committees in local government (Did you hear that, New Baltimore? Mr Guthrie and others?) must attend the RCS board of education meeting on Tuesday October 14, at 7 p.m. at the A.W. Becker elementary school. You must put Mr Tom DiAcetis, Mr Alan McCartney and the entire board of education on notice that their scandalous conduct concerning the National Guard and our Armed Forces will not be tolerated. Demand the resignation of Tom DiAcetis and Alan McCartney. Denounce the RCS board of education for their anti- military bias. Don't take any prisoners and don't accept their mealy-mouthed, pablum-puking lies and stupid excuses. Don't let them off the hook this time. They're accountable so make them accountable. NOW!
Colonel Chris Gibson
Mr Chris Gibson, Congressman for the 19th Congressional District, and Mr Paul Tonko, Congressman for the 20th Congressional District represent us in this RCS Central School District. Both need to be held accountable and both need to proactively investigate the RCS scandal perps, DiAcetis and McCarntney, and both need to reprimand the RCS board of education for the RCS anti-military scandal that embarrassed this community nationwide! Gibson and Tonko are up for re-election and Gibson, at a recent New Baltimore Republican Club meeting assured residents and voters that he would have his office investigate immediately. He assigned his top aid, Kevin Cumm, to head the investigation. Question: Did he do what he promised to do, or did he dishonor his office, his district and his uniform? Same should be asked of Paul Tonko!
The Town of Coeymans town board is meeting at the same time, on Tuesday, October 14, 2014, at 7 p.m., in the Coeymans town hall. Anyone who is not at the RCS board of education meeting should make every effort to be at the Coeymans town hall meeting. You need to find out about the pending lawsuits challenging the half-baked rezoning done by the town of Coeymans (started when Tom Dolan, Tom Boehm and Dawn Rogers had the majority on the town board. Don't let them fool you into thinking it was all done by Flach and his new majority, like they're trying to do!)
"DoDo Cop" Darlington sharing some misinformation.
Former Coeymans police chief Gregory Darlington abruptly jumped ship like the rat he is. He abandoned his department, his staff, the town of Coeymans and us! Gregory Darlington should not be honored by the town of Coeymans for his dishonorable conduct and his selfish, irresponsible abandonment of his post. If Darlington didn't have enough respect for this community, who paid for his fat ass, to tell us directly of his plans, this community doesn't owe him a thing! (While we're paying him a fat pension check, we think he's going to be moonlighting in a second job, hired by our impotent race-card flasher Albany County District Attorney Pudenda David Soares. Then DoDo Darlington can sit next to his wife, who is a secretary in Soares' office. Nice and cozy!) If Darlington could do that to the Coeymans police department, this community has to seriously reassess the situation and seriously consider eliminating the Coeymans police department and turning over law enforcement to the professionals, the Albany County Sheriff's department and to the New York State Police. Save Coeymans more than $a million$ in tax money that can be invested in things we really need in this community. You're paying twice, three times for law enforcement in Coeymans. Let's see if we can get some leadership and pay only twice. (Let the Albany County Sheriff's department or the New York State Police rehire the Coeymans police department staff, retrain them, deploy them if they're really needed.)
Albany County has a highly sophisticated 911 emergency response system in place, and it's paid for with your tax dollars! Coeymans has a bunch of insiders using antique equipment that has to be updated. Be smart and tell the Coeymans town board to eliminate the dispatchers and save almost a $half-million dollars$. We're paying twice for the same service. We're duplicating services. There are some who want to continue this stupidity and they come out to give their idiotic reasons why. But the voice of reason shouts out for them to shut up and get the facts. Tom Dolan, Tom Boehm, Mary Driscoll and others are blowing misinformation out their butts. Tell the town board of Coeymans to eliminate the dispatchers (Let Albany County re-hire them if they're really needed.)
No fatalities. YET!
Again, we have to address the dangerous situation existing with the Port of Coeymans heavy truck traffic, and we need some real facts and explanations about the Carver Companies bridge and what the town is doing to ensure our safety and the safe movement of traffic into and out of the hamlet of Coeymans on Rt 144.
We also want to know about all the jobs that were promised. How many have been created so far? How many are actually going to be created?
We want to know why our quality of life is all of a sudden declining with the added truck traffic, the dust, the increase in noise pollution in our community as the result of the re-zoning and the increased activity in the Port and the surrounding area. Mr Masti, who is neither a native of the area nor a blue collar worker, has published his desire to keep Coeymans blue collar. Why is that? (Masti and his kind have to go!) But these are questions Ravena-Coeymans residents have to ask.
That's why you have to make every effort to attend the Coeymans town board meeting on Tuesday, October 14, 2014, at 7 p.m. in the Coeymans town hall! Our local elected officials don't seem to be able to make good decisions on their own. They need your help. Tell them what you want and Get the Facts!
We suggest you make a couple of phone calls, send a couple of e-mails. Get your family, friends, neighbors activated and attend one of the meetings or organize yourselves so that some of you attend one and the others attend the other meeting. Show your elected officials that you can shake things up and put their feet to the fire, so they do what's best for US!
But Only If You Speak Up! We deserve better!
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