Keeping Saugerties clean
The Town of Saugerties would like to thank the listed participants for their involvement during the Green & Clean Days which were held April 18-19 and April 25-26, through their collection of roadside litter along town roads to aid in the beautification and greening of Saugerties:
Volunteer team captains-Lanny Walter, Joan Authenrieth, Tom Miron, Bob Howe, B. Ball, Beth Murphy, Jo Cicale, Hans Gunderud, Brook Hendersen, Barb Krzywonos, Donna Mehalak, Edward Bird, Adam and Daniel Douglas, Amy Feinberg, Josephine Weber, Anne Hoffstatter, Gilbert Hales, Brigit Refregier, Ed Luther, Laura Phillips, Mark Hoffstatter, Laura Howard, Pat Praetorius, Lisa Fisher, Craig Heiss, Kevin Pendergast and Suzanne VanderSanden and the volunteer team members who helped these individuals with the project.
The town of Saugerties is very fortunate to have such an asset as these volunteers that have pitched in to do their part for the community.
A special thanks goes out to the Highway Superintendent Doug Myer and his department for the collection of the gathered roadside litter and to the Transfer Station employees for accepting and for the disposal of the litter.
Greg Helsmoortel, supervisor
Jim Bruno, Fred Costello Jr.,
Bill Schirmer, Leeanne Thornton
town board
Struzzieri honored by Sports Hall of Fame
The presentation of the Saugerties Sports Hall of Fame Club’s President’s Award shall take place at the Induction Banquet on May 9, at Diamond Mills, South Partition St. The President’s Award is not awarded annually, but rather when it is evident an individual or organization has gone above and beyond, distinguishing himself through outstanding commitment and dedication, along with displaying extraordinary and invaluable service to our great Saugerties community and in the case with this stellar individual, this year, outside of the Saugerties circle, from coast to coast.
Further, the award recognizes and pays tribute to an exemplary individual who has attained unprecedented success through their display of outstanding commitment, dedication and contributions while, at the same time, enhancing quality of life.
For his tremendous impact, exceptional influence, monumental contributions and his philanthropy on our community, the club proudly announces the recipient of the Saugerties Sports Hall of Fame President’s Award is Tom Struzzieri, founder and president of Horse Shows in The Sun (HITS), and founder and owner of Diamond Mills, both in Saugerties.
A love for events and lessons learned from his athletic background has allowed him to make an everlasting mark in Saugerties, the Hudson Valley and throughout the country.
Tom, along with his wife Jane, children Tommy, Elizabeth and Samantha, moved to Saugerties in 1998. Tom has been deeply involved in his kid’s sports. Tom coached all three in the Saugerties American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) 595 for 10 years, at one point handling three teams at once. He also coached Little League and Pop Warner Football. Tom was a professional horseshow rider at the age of 18 and took on the triathlon at age 50.
Tom’s Horse Shows In the Sun has had a world-class facility here in Saugerties for the past 11 years and the HITS brand has branched out with its Endurance Triathlon and Running series in recent years.
Along with drawing crowds and revenues into Saugerties and Ulster County, the HITS-On-The-Hudson shows also benefits Family of Woodstock, which receives all the admission fees charged on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the entire Saugerties circuit season.
HITS branched into hostelry several years ago with the debut of the Diamond Mills, a beautiful hotel, conference center, banquet hall and tavern overlooking the spectacular Esopus Creek Falls.
Tom’s business ventures in Saugerties have resulted in a tremendous and positive economic domino effect not only back into our community, but Ulster County, the state and beyond.
Tom Struzzieri is philanthropic, but tends to turn the spotlight on the cause, not himself. Although, none of his children attended the Saugerties schools at the time, Struzzieri made a private donation of $150,000 when an austerity budget would have eliminated our sports programs for the 2010-11 school year. Initially, Tom wanted to keep it a secret and remain anonymous, that is the type of person he is, however, the word eventually got out of his overwhelming generosity.
The Struzzieri family provided turkeys and a truckload of food to Family of Woodstock on Thanksgiving. The family gave most of the Diamond Mills staff the holiday off and fed 1,000 people that day.
Tom Struzzieri exemplifies the President’s Award, being one who has achieved such noble aims and accomplishments, along with an example for all to follow!
Tickets to the Induction Banquet and Ceremony, which commences at 5:30 p.m., at Diamond Mills are still available up until May 2 only. No tickets will be sold at the door. Tickets may be purchased by contacting Mark Becker, halfink@verizon.net or 518-641-9520.
Greg Chorvas
President, Saugerties Sports Hall of Fame Club
Tell Town Board to oppose pipeline
The Pilgrim Pipeline Company, no doubt concerned that 45 New Jersey and New York Town Boards voted to oppose the crude oil risk to their water supply, have sent eloquent reps to the Saugerties Town Board with promises and a mention of gifts. Nothing the company can offer is worth the risk of these two large pipelines to the drinking water supply and property values of more than 200 Saugerties landowners along the proposed path near the Thruway.
You can search for Charles Pierce’s April 15 article “Pipelines Leak and the People Who Own Them Lie” which bemoans the frighteningly inadequate federal oversight of oil pipelines. And there is no ongoing New York State oversight.
One of Pilgrim’s talking points to Hudson River towns is that pipeline capacity will replace the scary bomb trains and river barge/tanker oil traffic. If that were true, why the plans for a facility in Albany to heat thick, viscous oil so it can be transferred to barge? The Bakken crude oil moving on trains and barges through Saugerties now does not need heating. It is the unlimited, viscous Canadian Tar Sands crude that waits a smooth trip to New Jersey refineries by train, barge and pipeline. All three mean all risk and no reward for Saugerties. Speak out to your Town Board because Pilgrim is.
Joan Walker-Wasylyk
Woodstock
Maternal deaths in childbirth on the rise
Unfortunately, new data came out last week which shows that the mortality rates for mothers giving birth within the United States has more than doubled in the last 26 years. According to the Washington Post, in 1987, the mortality rate for expecting mothers was 7.2 deaths per 100,000 childbirths, while in 2013, the mortality rate for expecting mothers was 18.5 deaths per 100,000 childbirths. This statistical data quantifies into more than a 250 percent increase in the mortality rate of expecting mothers within the Unites States over a 26-year period of time.
This mortality rate for expecting mothers within the U.S. is more than double what that rate is in Canada and Saudi Arabia and more than triple what that rate is in Great Britain. According to the World Health Organization’s rankings of health care systems around the world, the health care system in Canada is ranked 30th in the world, the health system in Great Britain is ranked 18th in the world, and the health care system of Saudi Arabia is ranked 26th in the world. Our health care system in the Unites States is ranked 37th in the world, and this is one important statistic which exemplifies how statistics can be quantified into real-life data that actually demonstrates how quality of life issues can be correlated to the effectiveness and overall quality of a health care system.
Statistically speaking, there may be certain variables inherent within our country that ultimately make it more difficult for the U.S. Health Care System to be as effective in many area(s) like mortality rates during childbirth. The geographical size of the Unites States and the rural nature of many regions within the U.S, does in fact make health care less accessible, and it creates a disparity in the quality of care that is received by those who live in rural area versus those who live in suburban and metropolitan areas.
Also, there are different qualifying levels of income in individual states for Medicaid coverage which creates a disparity in who is or is not covered under Medicaid according to where they live. Other socioeconomic factors and lifestyle choices may also play a role in this statistic, but the sharp increase in the mortality rate of expecting mothers raises some red flags about the quality of our health care system. Questions should be asked as to why this rate has increased so much since 1987, especially when the quality of our health care system is supposed to be improving (or so we are being told).
Despite the variables that contribute to this statistic which are unique to the Unites States relative to other nations with lower mortality rates, one fact remains: our government has done a poor job in facilitating a health care system that works or one that is affordable!
Elected officials on the state and federal level need to take health care seriously and see how the lobbying groups and the insurance companies have contributed to the flaws that are inherent within our health care system. Health care is not rocket science, but the lawyers, lobbyist and the executives who represent the insurance companies and other special interest groups have permeated the structure of our health care system and its accompanying legislation to the point where nearly everyone in government avoids analyzing our health care laws, because it seems too complex to them. We need to elect government officials into higher office who take health care seriously and are not too lazy to investigate or to ask questions.
Chris Allen
Ulster County legislator
Nepal earthquake help
Everyone has heard about the most devastating earthquake in 80 years effecting Kathmandu, Nepal and surrounding areas.
There is a local not-for-profit organization working to provide immediate relief to several locations in Nepal. The Bodhivastu Foundation for Enlightened Activity, (www.thegreatawakening.org/nepal-relief) founded by Poughquag resident, Adam Friedensohn, has already established a rapid relief fund, which is coordinating with its Nepal-based vital service provision partner organization in Kathmandu, The Himalayan Light Foundation.
Adam Friedensohn is more commonly known as Lama Rangbar, a name and title which was given to him by Tibetan Lamas during his 20 year stay in Nepal. Lama is restoring the Big Indian Healing and Spiritual Retreat Sanctuary and is now coordinating a large relief effort with his staff on Nepal soil. Lama informs us: “We finally got through to our staff in the field and we were relieved that they are still alive and ready to work as soon as the roads open.”
Lama and his Nepalese wife Sapana Shakya, along with eight volunteers from the local Bodhivastu team, have been working non-stop to arrange for supplies to be transported into a few areas and are now raising funds and awareness for what will certainly prove to be a long effort.
They ask everyone to support now, when support is most needed. People wishing to donate funds or obtain additional information can go to:www.thegreatawakening.org/nepal-relief. There, you will find several ways to donate funds, along with daily situation updates and a list of the materials and logistics they hope to mobilize with four paramedics from the USA.
Those wishing more information or to make larger donations can write:info@bodhivastu.org or call: 1-845-226-6663.
Lama Rangbar,
President and Founder, Bodhivastu Foundation
Poughquag
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