Vol. 127, No. 8 Alfred, Allegany County, New York State, U.S.A. 14802 Thursday, February 23, 2012 Inside
Obituaries ...Pg.2 Truly Awful Chocolate Cake ...Pg.3 Moment of Silence scourned ...Pg.4 Father and son exhibit works ...Pg.5 Wait A Minute...on fracking...Pg.7 AAUW visits Paradise ...Pg.10 A-A 3rd as records fall ...Pg.14 Saxons and Pioneers...Pg.15
Amy Coon as Babe and Rachel Stowe as Lenny pause during a “Crimes of the Heart” rehearsal to read the perennial prop, The Alfred Sun.
Houghton’s Valley The- atre will stage “Crimes of the Heart” at 7 p.m.
Thursday and Friday, March 8-9 at Houghton Fire Hall. The Sunhas appeared in most every production directed by Nic Gunning.
Alfred Sun to star in
‘Crimes of the Heart”
T he “A pretty darn good newspaper serving Alfred since 1883” A lfred S un
Of the Community. By the Community. For the Community.
Official Newspaper of Town and Village of Alfred and Alfred-Almond Central School District $1
By DAVID L. SNYDER Editor, Publisher & Janitor ALFRED--While most folks around Alfred were pursuing romance, the Alfred Village Trustees were all business on Valentine’s Day.
Revisions to the village’s parking laws and a law to override the state’s property tax cap law were approved, a village polling place contract approved, a “social hosting law” proposed and revisions to the Zoning Law to permit “congregate housing” were discussed at the Tuesday, Feb. 14 meeting of the Alfred Village Board.
The changes to the parking law accom- plish three things. First, it eliminates the variety of meters in deference to one type of meter that accepts both quarters for 60 minutes and dimes for 30 minutes. Sec- ond, it eliminates the $15 late fees for parking tickets; and third, it lifts the 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. parking ban on Park Street between Terrace and Ford Streets.
Adoption of the Property Tax Cap Override Law exempts the Village of Al- fred from the state’s recently adopted 2%
Property Tax Cap Law. Adopting the law,
offered by the New York Council of May- ors, “allows us to go over the tax cap,”
said Mayor Craig Clark, “and to avoid any problems in anticipation that some- thing could go wrong.”
Village Clerk-Treasurer Kathy Koegel said that “the State Comptroller’s office will help you figure it but will not certify that it’s correct.”
The Village Board unanimously ap- proved a plan whereby the Village of Al- fred will reimburse the Town of Alfred for the additional costs associated with retention of a polling place in the Village, at the Alfred Fire Hall.
Cost of the second polling place is ex- pected to be between $800 to $1500 for each election, which will be costly for 2012. On tap are four election events with the Presidential Primary on Tuesday, April 24, a Federal Primary Election (on a Tuesday in a month yet to be deter- mined), the State Primary Election on Tuesday, Sept. 11 and the General Elec- tion on Tuesday, Nov. 6.
Police Chief Tim O’Grady offered a
“Social Hosting Law” as a proposed law for the Village of Alfred. O’Grady said
the law’s official title is “Prohibition of Consumption of Alcohol by Minors.”
O’Grady explained that should Police re- ceive a complaint of noise at a party and, upon investigation, discover minors con- suming alcohol, the person hosting the party can be arrested and face a $250 fine or imprisonment for 15 days.
Chief O’Grady would like the law to be adopted and be in effect for Hot Dog Day, set for April 21. The Village Board voted to hold a public hearing on the proposed
“Social Hosting Law” at 7:05 p.m. Tues- day, March 13 at the Village Hall.
That public hearing will be followed by a public hearing at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, March 13 to hear comment on the Vil- lage’s proposed revisions to the Zoning Law to permit “congregate housing.”
Such housing would include fraternities, sororities, common interest houses and boarding houses.
Copies of the proposed law and zoning law revisions are available for public view at the Village Office, Alfred Village Hall, West University Street, Alfred.
In other business, the Village Board...
...APPOINTED Dr. Christopher Foster
as director of the Alfred Village Band for the 2012 concert season. Dr. Foster re- places Michael Schoales of Andover.
...HEARD Mayor Clark report on the new standards of waste water treatment plants in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed in its effort to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. Clark said he joins other mayors in New York State in ignoring the mandate to upgrade facilities. “They really should direct their efforts to the source of the problem,” he said, adding, “If Pennsylva- nia had requirements as stringent as in place in New York State, there wouldn’t be a problem.”
...ADOPTED a Memorandum of Un- derstanding with the Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Cattaraugus and Allegany Counties in regard to a
“Complete Streets” policy as a guiding principle for village street and sidewalk infrastructure.
...REVIEWED the annual police report as offered by O’Grady.
...VOTED to permit closing Main Street from Terrace Street to the traffic light from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, April 21, 2012 for Hot Dog Day.
Senator Catharine Young (R,C,I - 57th District) presented U.S. Air Force Retired Second Class Airman Karl Grantier with a Good Conduct Medal and Cold War Recognition Certificate during a meeting at the Angelica American Legion on Thursday, February 16, 2012. Airman Grantier served three years, four months and 15 days in the Air Force before he was formally and honorably re- tired. He then returned to the Almond area to serve with the legion and throughout the community.
Grantier receives medal, certificate 50 years later...
Alfred Village Board ‘all business’ on Valentine’s Day
. ANGELICA – Fifty years after U.S. Air Force Retired Sec- ond Class Airman Karl Grantier retired from the military, he re- ceived a medal and certificate recognizing his service.
During a meeting at the An- gelica American Legion on Thursday, Senator Catharine Young presented Airman Grantier with the Good Conduct Medal and a Cold War Recogni- tion Certificate.
“Airman Grantier served three years, four months and 15 days in the United States Air Force, and it is a tremendous honor for me to present this medal and cer- tificate to him. He, like all our veterans, deserves our utmost re- spect, and I am grateful for the opportunity to thank him for his courage and dedication,” Sena- tor Young said.
Mike Hennessey, Director of the Allegany County Veterans Service Agency added, “I think it’s important for all our veterans to see the medals due them, no matter if they’ve been out of the military for 50 years. I appreci- ate the Senator’s office in help- ing to obtain them and present them. It means a lot to the veter- ans for the Senator to do that.”
Airman Grantier enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1955, during the height of the Cold War. After completing basic training at Sampson Air
Force Base near Geneva, N.Y., he trained as a jet engine me- chanic on F-86 Saber jets, F-89 Scorpions and T-33 Shooting Star trainers at Amarillo Air Force Base in Texas.
Following his training in Texas, Airman Grantier served with the 3550 th Combat Crew Training Wing (Interceptor) at Moody Air Force Base in Geor- gia where he helped train air crews to intercept enemy bombers and used Strategic Air Command bombers for realistic combat-like intercept targets.
Three years into his enlist- ment, while Airman Grantier performed routine aircraft main- tenance duties on a Lockheed T- 33 Shooting Star that was being refueled, a massive explosion occurred, the aircraft caught fire and was destroyed. Airman Grantier suffered severe burns and was transferred to the 3700th USAF Hospital, Wilford Hall Medical Center, at Lack- land Air Force Base in Texas for surgery, burn treatment and re- habilitation.
Following his treatment, he was placed on the Temporary Disability Retired List on Octo- ber 29, 1958. He was also re- ferred to the VA for further care before being formally and hon- orably retired from the U.S. Air Force on March 31, 1960.
“I think it’s great to be getting
the medal and certificate. When I was in the hospital, I didn’t know if I was qualified for them, but I’m quite happy to be receiv- ing both,” Airman Grantier said.
Upon returning to Allegany County, Airman Grantier served as Post Commander for the Al- fred American Legion. He also acted as a delegate and commit- tee member of the Allegany County American Legion Com- mittee. Airman Grantier contin- ues to reside in Almond where he operates a local trucking company.
Airman Grantier received the federal Cold War Recognition Certificate that goes to members of the armed forces and qualified federal government civilian per- sonnel who faithfully and honor- ably served the United States any time during the Cold War era, which is defined as a period lasting from Sept. 2, 1945 to Dec. 26, 1991.
Senator Young also presented Airman Grantier with a Good Conduct Medal, which is awarded to any enlisted member of the United States military who completes three consecu- tive years of service, honorably and faithfully. The Air Force Good Conduct Medal was au- thorized by Congress on July 6, 1960, but not created until June 1, 1963.
2 THE ALFRED SUN, Thursday, February 23, 2012
OBITUARIES
ALFRED
Weather for the Week
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17 38 21 Trace Trace 18 34 25 .03” 0.2”
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ALFRED--As a part of last month’s Dream Week activities, Al- fred State and Alfred University coordinated a community serv- ice called Day of Service. Twenty-three students, staff, and faculty members from both campuses volunteered at various lo- cations around the area, including, Turning Point Catholic Charities, Hornell; Jones Memorial Hospital and Manor Hills, Wellsville; and St. Jude’s Chapel, Alfred. Volunteers performed a variety of tasks, ranging from helping the residents of Manor Hills make lunch to baking loaves of bread and writing cards.
Additionally, Spirit of Service awards were presented during Dream Week to four exemplars of community service. The award recognizes students, faculty, and staff at Alfred State and Alfred University, as well as non-profit community partners and leaders in the greater Alfred community who demonstrate a strong commitment to serving others. This award is intended to honor people who are actively living out the principles that Mar- tin Luther King, Jr. stood for, including equality, social justice, community, and service. Eleven nominations were submitted and four awards were given on Jan. 23, 2012, at a Volunteer Recognition Reception at Terra Cotta. In the category of faculty staff at Alfred State, nominees included winner Michael Colo- maio, lecturer, Social and Behavioral Sciences; Nikkie Hocken- berry, Assistant to the Director of Student Activities, Senate Programming Assistant; Mark Payne, assistant professor, Build- ing Trades; and Diane Winans, payroll examiner. In the category of students/student groups at Alfred State, the brothers of Pi Rho Zeta were the winners. Nominees from Alfred University in the faculty staff category included Tricia DeBertolis, AU as- sistant dean, new student programs; winner Justin Grigg, ENS/university Geo-spatial technology specialist; and Wesley Bentz, professor emeritus of chemistry. Included in the AU stu- dents/student group category: winner Julie Ilowiecki, Kevin Carr, and Kate J. Truini. Pictured here, Shelby Gadsden, Olean, cleans up.
ALFRED—The Alfred Com- munity Coalition (ACC) will hold its biannual awards cere- mony from 5 to 6 p.m. Thursday, April 12 in the Alfred Village Hall. The coalition is composed of campus student affairs, health and security personnel, the Al- fred Village Police Chief, stu- dent participants, and village and town representatives.
The awards are given to or- ganizations, families, individu- als or businesses that have acted in keeping with the coalition’s mission. That mission promotes the reduction of high-risk behav- iors among college students and works to inform students of their rights and responsibilities as good neighbors and citizens in the village and town of Alfred.
Members of the community are encouraged to submit nomi- nations for two of the awards this year, the “Community Serv- ice” recognition for providing an outstanding service to the cam- pus and community and the
“Spirit of Alfred” award to a re- cipient who best embodies the spirit of the coalition’s goals.
Please send your nominations, with a paragraph explaining why you are proposing this person, business or organization, to the Alfred Community Coalition, c/o Kathy Woughter, VP for Stu- dent Affairs at Alfred University ( w o u g h t e r @ a l f r e d . e d u ) , Carnegie Hall. Deadline for re- ceipt is March 28.
The public is warmly invited to attend this ceremony in cele- bration of those who helped to address these cares and chal- lenges.
JOHN ANTHONY BOURGOYNE RIDDIFORD
Former AU vice-president BOALSBURG, PA—John Anthony Bourgoyne Riddiford, 75, died peacefully on Monday, Feb. 13, 2012 at Mt. Nittany Medical Center. He was born Oct. 18, 1936 in New York City, the son of the late William James and Florentine Teresa Gos- nievski Riddiford.
John graduated from the Watkinson School of Hartford CT in 1954. He graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from Brown University in 1958 and received his Master’s in Political Science from the Pennsylvania State University in 1973.
John was a career Infantry Of- ficer in the U.S. Army and re- tired with the rank of Lt. Colonel in 1979. He served two tours of duty in Viet Nam, volunteering for his second tour. He was the recipient of various meritorious awards that include The Silver Star for gallantry in ground com- bat, the Air Medal, three Bronze Stars, and the Purple Heart. Dur- ing his tour he developed exten- sive knowledge and affection for the Montagnard people of Viet- nam and their culture.
While serving as Assistant Professor of Military Science, United States Army Reserve Training Corps Instructor at The Pennsylvania State University from 1969-1973, he was the project officer responsible for the unequalled success of the Army’s pilot Women in ROTC Program.
Following John’s military ca- reer he worked in development for The Heritage Foundation, The Rockford Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, Grace Lutheran Social Min- istries and as Vice President of University Relations at Alfred University. His most recent em- ployment was as a bookseller for Barnes and Noble which he en- joyed immensely.
John was an avid reader, inter- ested specifically in History, Ge- ography, various cultures and religions. He spoke several lan- guages including Polish, Spanish and Vietnamese, and possessed a sharp wit. Having lived by the water throughout his youth, he had a great love of the sea, and sailing. His other hobbies in- cluded painting, playing his gui- tar, singing, writing and fishing.
John was a member of Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church, The Knights of Columbus, Kappa Sigma Fraternity, The Brown Club of NYC, CASE, and NSFRE, AFTRA. He was on the board of the Hornell Area Cham- ber of Commerce, and a board member and Vice Chair of St.
Ann’s School in Hornell.
Surviving is his wife of 52 years, Sandra Shoop Riddiford, who he met at Brown University and married in New York City at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, on Au- gust 6, 1959. Also surviving are his children; Susan Elizabeth Riddiford Shedd and her hus- band Christopher of Petersburg, PA, Philip Andrew Riddiford of Boalsburg, PA,, Cynthia Chris- tine France and her husband Brian of Centre Hall, PA., and
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Stephanie Alexandra Riddiford of Seattle. Also surviving are two grandchildren Allison Grace France and Benjamin John France.
A mass was held at the con- venience of the family at Our Lady of Victory, State College, PA. Burial, with military honors, was in the Boalsburg Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to Saint Jude’s Chil- dren’s Hospital, 501 Saint Jude Place Memphis TN 3810-1942 or to Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church at 820 Westerly Parkway, State College, PA 16801. Online condolences may be made at www.kochfuneral- home.com.
LEWIS A. JACKSON Wellsville area businessman
WELLSVILLE—Lewis A.
Jackson, 83, of 3420 Baldwin Road, Wellsville, died in Jones Memorial Hospital in Wellsville on Wednesday (Feb. 15, 2012) following a brief illness.
He was born May 10, 1928, in Scio, the son of Erwin and Bessie Stickley Jackson.
On Jan. 14, 1950, in Wellsville, he married Anna Mae Geffers, who predeceased him on Sept. 21, 1978.
He attended the Willing Dis- trict School and served in the U.S. Navy from 1945 to 1949.
He was a life member of the Wellsville Legion Post #702 and also was a life member and long- time trustee of the Wellsville VFW Post #2530.
He enjoyed time spent with his family, camping, smoking his pipe and playing euchre.
He had been employed at both the Dresser-Rand Corp. and the Air Preheater Corp. in Wellsville. For several years, he was a co-owner of the Cline Re- treading Co. of Wellsville and, with Charles White, became a co-owner of an oil production and drilling operation.
He is survived by daughters, Cheryl (James) Holland of Al- fred Station, and Jalea (Gary) Graham of Wellsville; sons, Ronald (Joyce) Jackson of Tay- lorsville, N.C., Lewis M. (Judy) Jackson of Wellsville, and Thomas (Deborah) Jackson of Wellsville; longtime companion, Wanda Norris of Wellsville; nine grandchildren; 15 great-grand- children; one great-great- grandchild; a brother, Bernie (Sandy) Jackson of Wellsville;
and several nieces, nephews, brothers- and sisters-in law.
He was predeceased by his wife; parents; and brothers, William, Harold and Guy Jack- son.Friends called at the Mulhol- land-Crowell Funeral Home in Wellsville from 7-9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17 and from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 18 with services held at 1 p.m. Saturday. Full mil- itary honors were rendered by the Wellsville Legion Post, fol- lowed by funeral and committal services with Ralph Eastlack of- ficiating. Burial was in the Stan- nards Cemetery, town of Willing.
Memorials may be made to a charity of the donor’s choice.
Coalition seeks
nominations for
annual awards
THE ALFRED SUN, Thursday, February 23, 2012 3
While Ellen’s off in a Vidalia Onion State (She’s got Georgia on her Mind), she’s left her column in the hands of the editor. That’s not always such a good idea. So I’ll pass the buck along next week to Patty Harvey Curran, whose cookbook collection is almost as im- pressive as her collection of family history!
But for now, you’re stuck with a recipe recommended by the Editor & Publisher (& Janitor).
On special occasions, I turn to the wealth of Alfred’s good cooks as gathered in the Alfred Community Theatre’s Community Cook- book: A Hot Historical Helping of Dramatic Recipes. In celebrating fall family birthdays, son Jordan requested “something chocolate”
for his cake. Loretta Smith’s “Truly Awful Chocolate Cake” caught my eye. Its name is a misnomer. It was so good, I was asked to bring it to a subsequent gathering!
Truly Awful Chocolate Cake (Loretta Smith) 1 small pkg. instant chocolate pudding
1 box Duncan Hines Devil’s Food cake mix 1 (12 oz.) pkg. chocolate chips
2 eggs
1 1/4 c. sour cream
Mix all together and scrape into a buttered and floured bundt pan (or facsimile). Bake 50-55 minutes in a 350 degree oven until the cake springs back when pressed lightly. A cake tester will emerge sticky. This is a very moist cake. I topped mine with a chocolate fudge frosting. It’s a chocolate lovers’ dream!
Loretta’s ‘Truly Awful Chocolate Cake’
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'Tis the season; newly tapped trees begin to yield up their sweet sap.
Maple syrup time!
ALFRED—The Hinkle Me- morial Library on the Alfred State campus will host a photo exhibit by faculty member Michael Colomaio, a lecturer in the Social and Behavioral Sci- ences Department at the college, March 1 through 25. A photog- An interview with Rebecca
Weaver Hamm, and Zach Hamm of the A.E Crandall Hook and Ladder Co. Rebecca is in the ambulance service, and Zach is in both the fire and am- bulance service.
Question: When did you be- come a member of the Alfred Fire Department?
Rebecca: 2010 Zach: 2007
Question: Why did you de- cide to join the department?
Rebecca: Family tradition in the fire service, and I wanted to give back to the community in an active way. I also like the fact that Zach and I can participate together in department activities.
Zach: I have a family history of volunteer fire department
Hinkle Library exhibits photos
service; my dad is currently the Fire Department Chaplin in Keene NH. Up until the time I moved to Alfred every place I lived had a paid fire department, I wanted to take the opportunity here in Alfred to volunteer with the department.
Question: What gets you out of bed at 3 a.m. to respond to a call?
Rebecca: knowing that I make a difference on every call I go on.
Zach: The tones are really loud (laughs). As an assistant chief, and an ambulance driver there is an expected level of re- sponsibility, responding to calls is a big part of that responsibil- ity.
ALFRED—The March
Amandine Club meeting will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, March, 1 at the Alfred Seventh Day Baptist Parish.
This year’s programs are highlighting the history and practice of current small area businesses. This month's pro- gram will be given by Lynne Bunke sharing about the Alfred Knitting Studio which is located in Alfred Station. Perhaps you have wondered what is happen- ing in that cozy looking home environment which houses the Alfred knitting studio! Join us to find out.
The Thought for the Day will be given by Laurie McFadden, and the hostesses for the after- noon will be Sandra McGraw and Lois Foxwell.
The Club welcomes Alfred area ladies to be guests of the Amandine Club, and would gladly welcome new members.
The Amandine Club was started as a Reading Club by Amanda Burdick (Mrs. W.C.) in 1893 and officially organized in February 1894. It is probably one of the longest continuing community groups in New York State.
rapher’s reception will be held Thursday, March 1, from 4-6 p.m. All are welcome.
The exhibit is titled “Mise Eire” (I Am Ireland), from the title of a poem by Patrick Henry Pearse, leader of the Easter Re- bellion of 1916, and boasts more than 50 color landscape photo- graphs.
The photos in the exhibit were taken during the artist’s “three trips to Ireland: 2008 with Alfred State Alumni, 2010 with family and friends, and 2011 with close friends Brian and Marlee Can- non from Wellsville. Many show the wilder west coast area with the rugged mountains and rocky coast line.”
The exhibit may be viewed during normal Library hours:
Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-11 p.m.; Friday, 7:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.;
Saturday, 1 – 7 p.m.; and Sun- day, 1 – 11 p.m.
ANDOVER—The Andover Historical Society is planning another House and Building Tour in early July and is seeking additional older Andover homes to be included in this Second Annual Tour.
To be eligible the home must be located within the Town of Andover and have someone there to welcome and give his- tory of the home to those on the tour. Because of the great amount of interest last year, we are planning for two groups to do the tour this year.
If you are interested in partic- ipating, please call Hattie Gavin at (607) 478-8498 or Mary Lip- nicki at (607) 478-5329.
ALMOND—Congressman Tom Reed will hold a Town Meeting from 12 noon to 1 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 25 at Almond Municipal Building, Marvin Lane, Almond.
Congressman Reed will attend to hear what is on the mind of his constituents as Congress deals with unemployment and financial challenges.
Those unable to attend but who would like to contact Con- gressman Reed may call his dis- trict office in Olean at 716-379-8434, his Corning dis- trict office at 607-654-7566, his office in Washington, D.C. at 202-225-3161 or visit www.Reed.house.gov or Face- book.com/RepTomReed.
Open Letter to the Editor:
To all my friends and family, far and near, I would like to thank all of them for their thoughts and prayers during my time at Strong Memorial Hospital.
Thank you to all my family for being there from start to fin-
Amandine Club to meet March 1
THE CALL SHEET
Village Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Service CALL COUNT: January 2012
Fire 22 calls Ambulance 35 calls
A Chat with our Volunteers
REBECCA WEAVER HAMM and ZACH HAMM
House Tour planned
Reed to hold meeting
ish. My son Donnie from Vir- ginia was with me most of the time. My son Mark and his fam- ily from Virginia kept touch with my by phone. Craig, Diane and Donnie were they when I went in for surgery and when I came out. My granddaughter who lives in Rochester came to see me everyday. My sister from New Hampshire came down and spent four days with me after I got home.
My brothers Harold and Bev and Sandy, Nelson and Amanda, and Frank and Susan all traveled from Alfred to be with me. Also, Gary Moore and his wife stopped to see me along with Jonathan, Ethan and Shannon. I received about 30 cards from people in Alfred. Only in Alfred does that happen.
Thank you to all the people from my church who prayed for me and brought meals to me after I returned home. After Dorothy left, Craig and Diane came and prepared meals for me and ate with me. Thanks also to the people who sent me flowers.
I am recovering very well and again, thank you all very much!
Love, Aunt Kay, Mom And Grandma
An open letter of thanks
4 THE ALFRED SUN, Thursday, February 23, 2012
Official Newspaper of the Village of Alfred, the Town of Alfred and the Alfred-Almond Central School District.
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David L. Snyder, Editor & Publisher
The Alfred Sun is published weekly except for two weeks during the summer by Twin Creek Publishing, Box 811, Alfred, NY 14802.
Second Class Postage paid at Alfred Station, NY 14803.
Member, New York Press Association Member, Alfred Business Association
Contributors:
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Nealon, Donna Ryan, Amanda Snyder, Ben Howard, Ellen Shultz, Sherry Volk, Mary Lu Wells, Linda Staiger, Alfred State College,Al-
fred University, Alfred-Almond Central School and many more.
How to Subscribe or Renew Your Subscription:
$30 a year in Allegany County, $33 outside.
To Order, send a check with mailing address to:
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T he A lfred S un
Of the Community. By the Community. For the Community.
“A pretty darn good newspaper serving Alfred since 1883”
POSTMASTER:
Send address changes to:
Alfred Sun, Box 811, Alfred, NY 14802
Figures Don’t Lie, But…
When you were sixteen, you said you were four, And your sixteenth birthday, you’d turn sixty-four.
Though you’d long had proclivity for things mathematic, I found your calculus enigmatic.
Y’know, it’s hard to believe that they had the same mother When the little one’s “older” than his older brother.
Ah – but also trombone was within your pale…
So you must have been using a sliding scale.
—Anon 4 Mouse
Seeking Donn’s family
Numbers don’t add up
Editor, Alfred Sun:
Back in the 1950s my husband Larry and I lost a dear friend, Howard Donn Martin of Alfred, to a terrible car accident.
Donn grew up in Alfred, lived with his family at 66 West Uni- versity Street, attended Alfred University, served in the U.S.
Navy, and returned home to complete his degree. He and Larry often carpooled from Navy posts together (1952-56), and we got to know him and later his mother, Alice Martin.
Donn was killed when he struck a tree on the Alfred-Al- mond Road in 1955. Lambda Chi brothers called me at the Sigma Chi Nu sorority house with the tragic news.
Now, I am seeking members of Donn Martin’s family…I have photos, given to me by my friend and Donn’s neighbor, Mary Kay Lewis, when she was thrilled to find that our son, Donn Harold Lester, is named for our special friend. He’s now 53.Are you out there, Sunread- ers?If you are related to, or have memories of Donn, son of Howard and Alice Martin of Al- fred, please let me know. Mary Kay was so generous in offering the photos, and I would like to pass along her gift.
Marilyn L. Lester Box 384 Friendship, NY 14739 (Ph. 585-973-3281)
To the Editor:
The jobless rate is down, but the numbers don’t add up. We’re told that the unemployment rate stands at 8.3%, but look beneath the surface and something does- By RAFFI N JANSEZIAN
Alfred University student As we learned from the recent Penn State scandal, silence causes most pain when pro- longed. Penn State officials have been highly criticized for their silence, a silence that allegedly allowed the sexual abuse of chil- dren.
Such silence, which often runs rampant throughout society, causes universal harm to men, women and, worst of all, chil- dren.
“On one hand we’re a sex-ob- sessed society when it comes to youth and women, and on the other hand we’re extremely prude about sex,” said Alfred University Professor of Commu- nication Studies Pamela Schultz.
The trial of former Pennsylva- nia State University Assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky has been delayed while a new jury from outside of Pennsylvania is being assembled. Sandusky’s alleged actions have made the country sick to its stomach. Sandusky is currently under house arrest and awaiting trial for allegedly mo- lesting and raping multiple, chil- dren whom he met through his
“The Second Mile” foundation.
Firings and resignations on the Penn State administrative staff, namely the president of the school, have caused a large up- roar from the students and alums alike. Coach Joe Paterno, who has arguably put Penn State on the map, was fired and recently died. University President Gra- ham Spainer was ousted, Ath- letic Director Tim Curley stepped down, and finance offi- cer Gary Schultz was fired.
The situation was brought to light by a graduate-assistant coach Mike McQueary, who first told Paterno, explained he saw Sandusky in the shower with “his hands around the boy’s waist,” couldn’t see what else was happening. As of now ten male victims have come forward and are prepared to give testi- mony against Sandusky, for al- leged attacks that occurred over a 15-year period.
Before Paterno’s death in his first interview since being fired he opened up about the scandal.
Seated in a wheelchair because of ongoing cancer treatments, Paterno spoke in more detail about how he “didn’t exactly know how to handle” the report that Sandusky had sexually as-
Fighting Words: Break the Silence!
saulted a child in the shower. He further explained that he “didn’t feel adequate” to handle the in- formation, he passed it onto Tim Curley and Gary Schultz.
Shortly after this interview, he died due to complications of lung cancer on January 22.
Being hailed as putting Penn State on the map, Paterno was the benevolent figurehead of the school as well as a pseudo- grandfather to students. But Pa- terno’s role in this scandal cannot be overlooked. Consid- ered one of the most caring coaches in college football, Pa- terno was more concerned with his player’s futures than win- ning. But Paterno failed morally when he didn’t tell police about Sandusky. Since a child was in potential danger, the police should have been called.
The Penn State scandal paral- lels the Catholic Church's prob- lems as men of the cloth take advantage of the altar boys. The Pope recently said that sexual abuse is the “scourge for all so- cieties” and is so widespread that all of us must cooperate to eradicate it. The Pope couldn’t be more redundant. The facts are that rape and child sexual abuse have existed worldwide for thousands of years. In the early 1970s, the Women's Rights movement brought rape and sex- ual abuse to a more mainstream audience. The movement is vi- ciously against the conspiracy of silence surrounding rape and child sexual abuse. They began publically discussing rape and brought the issue into the public eye.At a recent Penn State football game, people sitting in the 35th row could hear the sobbing at center field because of the eerie silence of the stadium. Every spectator was silent for the al- leged victims of Jerry Sandusky.
We see it all the time at almost every sporting event or gather- ing following a disaster. We are asked to close our mouths, to sit in silence out of respect but a moment of silence caused the pain. Penn State officials failing to inform police of the alleged attacks caused the pain, they stayed silent.
Sandusky’s memoir ironically titled “Touched,” is riddled with red flags for example Sandusky
has stated that he was a “big kid,” and unable to connect with adult peers. Which professor Schultz says is very common among pedophiles. A close con- nection with children makes the pedophile believe that they aren’t doing anything wrong, that they love and care for their victims.
What if Sandusky has been destroying the lives of children for much longer then we think?
The fact that as a society we think being quiet for a minute or two will show our respect for the victims is absurd. The sheer irony of "a moment of silence"
is astonishing.
The prominent case of Kitty Genovese adds more fuel to the fire. Genovese was murdered on March 13, 1964 in New York City while dozens of witnesses either saw or heard the attack.
She screamed while her attacker, Winston Moseley, stabbed her repeatedly before raping her and leaving her to die. The case sparked a firestorm of research into the phenomenon now known as the "Genovese Syn- drome," also known as the
“crowd effect” in which multiple witnesses to an event fail to act because they assume someone else will.
Some argue moments of si- lence are a good idea since they help to focus our attention on a crisis. The irony of a moment of silence is that former Financial Officer Gary Schultz, former Athletic Director Tim Curley and former president Graham Spainer of Penn State all took a moment of silence when they re- fused to inform the police about the alleged attacks of Jerry San- dusky.
We see Sandusky as a monster out of a nightmare, but that’s too easy. Labeling all sex offenders as monsters does not help solve the problem, according to Pro- fessor Schultz who has been working with sex offenders and pedophiles for most of her ca- reer.
“’Monsters’ remove the hu- manity and block it out,” said Schultz, “Just locking them out perpetuates the problem.”
In her latest book, Not Mon- sters, Schultz delves into the mind and stories behind sex of- fenders and states her own expe- rience as a survivor of sexual abuse. She explains that until dealing with the “The Man Who Molested Me,” she could not cope with her emotions. It wasn’t until she broke her own silence and confronted the prob- lem then she was able to truly heal and move on with her life, she said.
For many survivors, just com- ing forward is incredibly diffi- cult and painful. But the pain is numbed by the liberation of breaking one’s personal silence and accepting oneself as a sur- vivor, not a victim.
Schultz added that survivors of these attacks often have trou- ble confronting the problem and accepting the reality of the situ- ation. But like these survivors, so does the rest of society. Until we step up and accept the fact that we aren’t doing enough to help solve the problem, keeping quiet about problems the num- bers of rape and sexual abuse survivors will raise.
The silence over the sexual abuse must be broken, and we are the ones who need to break it.
n’t look right.
In an article appearing on Kitco.com (Feb.7) called “By the Numbers,” Scott Silva wrote,
“The government reported that 234,000 new jobs were added in January, bringing down the na- tional unemployment rate to 8.3%. This would be great news...if it were true. But the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) is not reporting the actual unem- ployment rate. If the BLS re- ported truthfully, the headline unemployment rate would be 11% for January, much worse than the number reported…
Here’s why the true unem- ployment rate is grossly under- stated. The January data does not account for 1.2 million qualified workers who dropped out of the job market last month. This is the largest monthly reduction in the available workforce by the dropout of ‘discouraged’ work- ers ever. The labor participation rate declined to 63.7% in Janu- ary, down from 65.7% when the president took office. Many qualified workers have simply quit looking for jobs.”
Add to that, the number of people on food stamps is also at a record level. It doesn’t stop there. Bob Beauprez on Town- hall.com in the article “Govern- ment Assistance: Safety Net or Hammock” wrote, “One in five Americans—the highest in the nation’s history—relies on the federal government for every- thing from housing, health care, and food stamps to college tu- ition and retirement assistance.
That’s more than 67.3 million Americans who receive subsi- dies from Washington. Govern- ment dependency jumped 8.1 percent in the past year, with the most assistance going toward housing, health and welfare, and retirement.
The federal government spent more taxpayer dollars than ever before in 2011 to subsidize Americans. The average individ- ual who relies on Washington could receive benefits valued at
$32,748, more than the nation’s average disposable personal in- come at $32,446.
At the same time, nearly half of the U.S. population (49.5 per- cent) does not pay any federal income taxes… As of now, 70 percent of the federal govern- ment’s budget goes to individual assistance programs, up dramat- ically in just the past few years.”
Never mind those stats, just listen to the media repeat what the administration wants you to hear: the unemployment rate is 8.3%.This administration has opened a “fudge” shop and un- informed Americans are buying
it. Mel McGinnis
Guest Editorial
Moonlighter
Restaurant Guide...8 Entertainment...8-9 Movie listings...9 Classified Ads...11 Years Ago...12
Alfred Sun’s Second Section--Entertainment, Classified Advertising, Etc., Etc.
Week of Feb. 23, 2012-Feb. 29, 2012 ALFRED SUN, PO Box 811, 764 Route 244, Alfred, NY 14802 607-587-8110
Father and son exhibit paintings, furniture in NC
ALFRED—Three faculty members from the Alfred Uni- versity School of Art and Design — Will Contino, Diane Cox, and Nick Kuder—representing printmaking, sculpture, and graphic design will showcase their art in the Fosdick- Nelson Gallery, Harder Hall, in an exhibition titled “Faculty Work” starting Wednesday, Feb. 29 and running through Saturday, March 31, 2012. There will be an artists’ recep- tion at the gallery on Feb. 29 from 7-9 p.m. The public is welcome.
The gallery is open from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on weekdays and 1-3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is free. The Fosdick-Nelson will be closed during the University’s spring break, March 3-11.
Contino, assistant professor of expanded media and a member of the AU class of 1984, was born in Los Angeles, Calif. and has lived and worked in New York, Baltimore, and London. He earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from AU and a master of fine arts degree from Maryland Institute College of Art.
He has taught in the School of Art & Design for a number of years, the first time beginning in1991 when he worked in both the Freshman Foundation and Printmaking depart- ments. Moving to London in 1997, he continued to teach drawing and painting at the American School in London. In 2003, Contino moved back to Western New York to teach in the Expanded Media Division at Alfred University as a visiting professor in printmaking.
Contino has exhibited his work in galleries and museums both nationally and internationally. Most recently his work was included in exhibitions in Beijing, China and Graz, Aus- tria.
In a mission statement about his work, Contino says: “My
Fosdick-Nelson Gallery features ‘Faculty Work’
Work by Nick Kuder (pictured) is part of the
“Faculty Work” exhibit that will open with an artists’ reception from 7-9 p.m. Feb. 29.
THREE GENERATIONS--Richard Prisco, Mario Prisco and Michael Prisco pose for a photo at the opening of A Padre e Figlio Exhibit Feb. 3 at the Turchin Center For The Visual Arts at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. (Photo by Peg Prisco)
PEG PRISCO and Mario Prisco of Alfred attended the opening of the father and son exhibit Feb. 3 in Boone, NC.
Richard Prisco’s furniture complements his father’s paintings in the exhibit. (Peg Prisco Photo) BOONE, NC--A Padre e
Figlio (father and son) exhibit opened on Friday, Feb. 3 at the Turchin Center For The Visual Arts featuring the work of Mario Prisco of Alfred and son Richard Prisco of Boone.
The Turchin is an exhibition complex of Appalachian State University in Boone, North Car- olina. Mario's paintings from his
"Recollection Series", are based on old family photographs, which also include views of landscape and food reminiscent of growing up in a large ex- tended family in Brooklyn.
Mario attended the High School of Music and Art in Man- hattan, which was a marvelous experience in spite of the three hour round trip. He received his Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts from Syracuse University with a period in the U.S.Army between the degrees. He has been a Professor at Nasson Col- lege in Springvale, Maine, where he met his wife Peg. He was also Professor and Division Head at Moore College of Art in Philadelphia, and is Professor
and Dean Emeritus of the School of Art and Design, NYS College of Ceramics at Alfred
University.
Mario has been in more than 100 exhibitions including 20 one-man shows. His army expe- rience was as head designer for the US Army Exhibit Unit for which he designed many free standing exhibits, including one that appeared before Congress and one commemorating the D- Day landing and which was housed in France.
He has been active in state and national organizations including the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, for which he chaired over 60 ac- creditation visits at colleges and universities across the country.
Richard Prisco, a graduate of Alfred Almond Central School, received his Bachelor of Science degree in industrial design and worked for several years as a de- sign consultant for Monsanto, SKYR, Gordini, Purina, and Hyundai before receiving his Master of Fine Arts in Furniture
from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Richard is known as a leading
furniture maker, exhibits nation- ally, and his work is featured in several publications. As a fre- quent instructor at Penland School of Crafts he fell in love with the mountains of North Carolina. After teaching at Sa- vannah College of Art and De- sign for 16 years he moved to Boone, North Carolina with his wife Cheryl and children Michael and Sophia. He is Pro- fessor of Furniture and Industrial Design at Appalachian State University.
Michael Prisco is currently a senior at Watauga High School, is Mario and Peg's grandson and also has a painting in the show.
As an aspiring artist he follows in his family's footsteps and rep- resents the fifth continuous gen- eration of artists. He has been accepted to the Cooper Union School of Art in New York City where his great, great uncle Frank diGioia attended almost one hundred years ago.
Mario and Peg attended the opening reception on Feb. 3.
The exhibit is at the Turchin Center until March 24.
work is not attempting to create visual illusion but is the cu- mulative response to the nature of location and narrative, the byproduct of the observed and imagined, the unification and conflict between the mind and process.”
Cox, associate professor of sculpture, earned a bachelor of arts degree in environmental biology from the University of Colorado. The transition from biology to art occurred slowly for Cox while on a three-year journey through Australia, dur- ing which taxonomy of species and populations estimates be- came fields of color and masses of movement. Returning home, Cox studied sculpture and holds a master of fine arts degree in sculpture from the Art Institute of Chicago. She has worked professionally as an environmental biologist.
In her work mission statement Cox writes: “The work is synthesized manifestations of my love for the land and my ever-present concern for everything our actions touch, how- ever remote.”
Kuder, assistant professor of graphic design, was born and raised in Kalamazoo, Mich. He studied printmaking at Brown University, and graphic design at Rhode Island School of De- sign, where he earned a bachelor of fine arts degree; he earned a master of fine arts degree in design from Cranbrook Acad- emy of Art.
Kuder has worked professionally as a designer and art di- rector for a variety of technology startups, publishers, cultural and academic institutions, as well as corporate clients.
Kuder’s recent mission reads: “These digitally produced chromogenic prints examine the increasingly blurred line be- tween technology and biology. I take inspiration from biolog- ical forms and reinterpret them through various digital processes to create amalgams of the two that never quite fit back into either classification.”
6 THE ALFRED SUN, Thursday, February 23, 2012
PAYING HEED
One April morning, twenty-five years ago, I found myself speaking with an elderly Irish farmer in his newly ploughed field. At the time I was living in County Monaghan, a rural midland county on the border with Northern Ireland. Prior to coming to Ireland, I had been reading the poems of Patrick Kavanagh (1904-1967), who grew up on a farm in Monaghan and felt confined by the “black hills” of his native landscape. At the age of thirty-four Kavanagh left the family farm for Dublin and went on to become the most influential Irish poet of his time. The Irish Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney has ac- knowledged his debt to Kavanagh’s work.
“I knew Paddy,” the farmer told me, leaning on his spade. “His father was a shoemaker. His mother couldn’t read or write. His fields were up there, over that hill. Paddy kept his books in his fence—in between the stones. I’d see him reading there for hours at a time. He was not a good farmer, not good at all. He paid no heed to his fields.”
As if to emphasize the point, he drove his spade forcefully into the soil.
He paid no heed to his fields.What struck me about that com- ment, and what has continued to resonate, was not so much its con- tent, which was easily refutable. Kavanagh did in fact attend to his fields, but his attention was that of a poet rather than a working farmer. What was striking was the farmer’s choice of words, partic- ularly the word heed, which seemed to have come from an earlier century. The 1971 edition of the Oxford English Dictionarydefines heedas “careful attention, care, observation, regard” and notes that its usage is “now chiefly literary.” Forty years on, at least in North America, it is rare to find the word on the page, much less in con- versation. Heed has gone the way of the corset, the rotary dial phone, and my father’s Royal Empress typewriter.
In formal, literary usage heed is most often the object of the verb take. “Take heed, my dear,” wrote the poet Matthew Prior in 1689, “time flies apace.” More rarely, heedserves as the object of the verb pay, which has a rather different connotation. To take heed is to take note of, to grasp the significance of a thing or event or sit- uation. But to pay heedis to extend oneself: to offer care and respect to the object of attention. Like its distant cousin “paying homage,”
paying heed may be an act of duty, but it can also be an act of gen- erosity, requiring an expense of effort in the service of something or someone other than oneself.
Defined in that way, the act of paying heed has much in com- mon with the practice of Zen. “Attention, attention, attention,” wrote the poet and Zen master Ikkyu (1394-1481), when asked to define the essence of the practice. To follow the way of Zen is to pay sus- tained attention to whatever is occurring, within us and around us, in the present moment. Beyond that, it is to bring a particular quality of attention to things as they are: an egoless, inquisitive attention to whatever we encounter. Ideally, that attention is both wholehearted and continuous. From moment to moment, we pay heed to the world and to our lives.
Yet, as the Zen teacher Jan Chozen Bays reminds us, few of us live up to that ideal. Preoccupied with the past, the future, and our abstract thoughts, we habitually ignore the present moment. In her book Taming a Wild Elephant (Shambhala, 2011), Bays proposes a countermeasure, which can serve to awaken us from our reveries.
Periodically throughout the day, she suggests, we can ask ourselves the question, “What am I ignoring?” By so doing, we can attenuate our inner dialogue and open our awareness to things as they are:
Ignoring the countless sights, sensations, and sounds that impinge on our eyes, skin, and ears may be essential when we need to focus on getting tasks done, such as reading a book before an exam, writ- ing a sensitive e-mail, or getting a high score on a video game, but all that sensory blocking takes energy. When we are able to let go of those invisible shields and open our awareness to all that sur- rounds us, it is like stepping out of a cramped, musty room and find- ing ourselves in a large alpine meadow.
An antidote to excessive cogitation, this exercise is also a way of cultivating appreciation for our lives. Ceasing to ignore our sensory field, we avail ourselves of its spaciousness and beauty.
There is often wisdom in archaic phrases. Like the sayings of the elders, such phrases preserve vanishing perspectives: ways of seeing that have left or are leaving the world. It is fair to say that in a world of ubiquitous mobile devices and obsessive connectivity, the act of paying heed, like the phrase used to describe it, is itself endangered, if not already going extinct. In a culture enamored of its entertainments, Zen practice can help us return to our actual lives.
In a world rife with distractions, it can help us pay heed to our fields.
_____________________________________________________
Ben Howard is Emeritus Professor of English at Alfred University and leader of the Falling Leaf Sangha, a Zen practice group in Al- fred. For more information, please see www.fallingleafsangha.blogspot.com. To learn more about Zen med- itation, see www.practiceofzen.wordpress.com.
By RIMA O’CONNOR Special to the Alfred Sun ALFRED—By now you’ve probably heard of the Alfred Box of Books Library’s ePLACE, the part of the Library that helps you with your technol- ogy related questions. Every month this paper lists the free computer classes offered by the ePLACE. But if you haven’t used the ePLACE yet, you may be wondering: what does the ePLACE do, and how does it help the community? Well, an excellent recent example is a class that was designed to help our local business people.
Titled “Promoting a Small Business Using Social Net- works,” the response to the first class (held in January) was so enthusiastic we ended up offer-
BELMONT—Allegany County Area Foundation has approxi- mately $200,000 in scholarships to award to students from the county, but there’s a catch.
“Students need to have their applications turned in by March 1,”
said Doug Roorbach, executive director of the Foundation, “A few days ago, we had fewer than a dozen applicants. These scholarships can make a great deal of difference for students from Allegany County schools, but they have to apply.”
The Foundation has approximately $7 million in assets, much of it designated for endowed scholarships. There are 15 named schol- arship funds that the organization oversees, plus its general schol- arship fund.
Several of the named funds provide for multiple scholarships, too.
The Foundation gave out 13 scholarships from the Belva A. Waite Fund last year and another nine from the Walter F. and Louisa A.
Sibley Fund. The general scholarship fund had enough for three scholarships last year.
“Altogether we had 42 scholarship winners last year,” said Roor- bach, “With the economy’s mediocre performance we may not have quite that many this year, but we’ll still be able to award tens of thousands of dollars. We want to make sure that anyone who is in- terested receives consideration, so we are urging students to get their applications filed now.”
The application calls for a letter of recommendation and an essay, so filling it out will take more than a few minutes, Roorbach noted.
“You want to make sure that you leave the person writing a recom- mendation enough time to get it written and into us by the deadline,”
he said.
The Foundation makes applications available to guidance coun- selors at all Allegany County schools. The forms are also available to fill in or to download on the foundation’s web site, www.alle- ganycountyareafoundation.org.
He said that most students should use the “traditional” form found there, as it is for students pursuing a degree in higher education, whether it be an associate’s or bachelor’s. There is a separate form for dependents of Dresser-Rand employees and another for those enrolling in a non-traditional program for a trade or technical area, such as welding or beauty school.
WELLSVILLE—There will be an AFRA-sponsored work- shop with potter Michael Ashley from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, March 3 at the Wellsville Cre- ative Arts Center. The cost is $45 (Early Bird), $55 (Day of) and free for students with an ID.
Participants should bring three wet pots and pottery tools. Stu- dents will gain hands-on experi- ence transforming basic pottery forms into gestural, textural and functional works of art.
Michael Ashley grew up on a farm in Green County, MO, where he explored the rivers and streams of the Ozark Mountains.
He graduated from College of the Ozarks with a BA in Painting and Ceramics then moved to Tachi, Taiwan where he did a one year pottery residency at Tainan National University for the Arts.
In 2010 he graduated from the University of Mississippi with an MFA in Ceramics. He is cur- rently an Adjunct Professor in the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and maintains a studio in Al- mond, New York. He has shown in the United States and Interna- tionally.
For more information about this workshop or any other events visit www.WellsvilleCre- ativeArtsCenter.com or call (585) 593-3000.
Social networking class at ePLACE helps local entrepreneurs, businesses
Leadership Allegany graduating class of 2012. Front row left to right: Darlene Roloson, Andrea Mott-Hollamby, Trina LaFleur, Gina Kocsis, Norma Kerling and Pam Witter, director of devel- opment at Houghton College and Leadership Allegany coordinator. Back row left to right: State Sen. Catherine Young, Daniel Smith, Marilee Arthur, Amy Black, Darlene Wells, Roy Bonham, Tim Mahoney, Brian Loucks, president of the Greater Allegany County Chamber of Commerce, and Ryan Cool.
ing it a second time. The purpose of the class was to help business people find more ways to attract customers using the power of the Internet and its social network- ing sites. It was taught by Shane Fraser, AU graduate student and owner of SNA Today (SNA stands for Social Networking Assistance). The social net- working sites he described in- cluded Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and Google+.
The classes attracted a won- derful mix of business types, in- cluding those in the hospitality trade, artists, small shop owners, and people working for local or- ganizations. Some people wanted to know if using social networking would even be use- ful for their particular business.
During class, Shane was able to give each individual advice on how to use social networking to increase their client base and im- prove customer relations.
Since we live in a sparsely populated area, it makes sense to use the omnipresence of the In- ternet to reach out to potential customers beyond it (like if you sell bicycles), or to alert them to the presence of a business they
may wish to patronize on a visit (such as a restaurant). One of the great strengths of social net- working is business recognition;
it’s the computer equivalent of word of mouth. Social network- ing sites make it possible to have conversations about a business in a direct, personal way just by using your computer at home.
Shane noted that common concerns about using Facebook include, among other things, lack of knowledge about social networking and being techno- logically challenged. If this de- scribes you, contact the trainers at the ePLACE!
They can assist you as a busi- ness owner, or with many other questions you may have about computers or technologies such as Apple, Kindle, and Nook de- vices. They can be reached at the Alfred Box of Books Library, 607-587-9290, or by email at [email protected]. If you don’t have an email address they can help you sign up for one and teach you how to use it. You can also access the ePLACE web site at www.alfredboxofbooksli- brary.org/category/eplace to learn more about it.
Leadership Allegany Graduates
County scholarships available
Pottery workshop
set in Wellsville
THE ALFRED SUN, Thursday, February 23, 2012 7
We have all had the experi- ence of going to a new doctor’s office for the first time and be- fore we are seen we fill out forms in which we give the physician permission to examine us, prescribe treatments, suggest tests or share our medical records with appropriate other professionals. Prior to an outpa- tient procedure or a surgery in the hospital, a doctor explains the risks and benefits andan- swers our questionsabout alter- natives, side-effects etc. Based on this communication we either give our consent or refuse the treatment. This process, which is a basic concept in medical prac- tice, is known as informed con- sent.
Informed consent is prevalent in many parts of our lives. In the grocery store, all ingredients are on the labels, allowing us to make an informed decision. Al- though we might get sick of the drug ads on TV, they also inform us of possible side effects. The notion of informed consent is so fundamental to how we are able to make decisions that it is shocking when basic trans- parency is withheld from us.
The gas companies operate behind a veil of secrecy. They are not required to reveal what chemicals they mix with water, even though they are, first, pumping millions of gallons of this toxic mixture into the ground to “frack” the shale and then storing what is recovered in large pools on the surface where toxic compounds are mechani- cally evaporated. As you can see in the aerial photograph taken in Pennsylvania these pools are often indisturbing proximity to houses.
This practice runs counter to the open communication and ac- countability that is at the heart of the concept of informed consent.
I want to emphasize that even though this week’s column is ba- sically about ethics, even if the gas companies are eventually forced by the DEC to reveal all the chemicals they are using,just knowing what they are is not a solution. Many of the carcino- gens used (next week’s column) make fracking a practice that is dangerous to our health and the environment.
Another practice that conflicts with an individual’s right to give
his or her consent is called Com- pulsory Integration. The mo- ment it was explained to me my immediate thought was, “in America? No! you have to be talking about Russia or China!”
Although it sounds like a con- cept from the struggles of the civil rights era,perhaps some- thing concerned with enforcing basic freedoms, actually, it is quite the opposite.
Compulsory Integration means that when gas companies create well spacing units, all they have to control by lease is 60% of the land. The other 40%
is “integrated,” meaningwhether the landowners consent or not, their land will be fracked. Non- participation is not an option.
Let me repeat: non-participation is not an option. Simply put – if my neighbors have signed leases and the gas company wants to frack horizontally under my land, but I want to protect my family, animals, land and water from drilling and the effects of chemicals injected into the ground, evaporated into the air, dumped on fields, roads, and in streams, I cannot.
The gas companies are al- lowed to do this under the Com- pulsory Integration provisions of the New York Oil, Gas and So- lution Mining Law of 2005, ac- cording to Christopher Denton, an Elmira attorney who has rep- resented dozens of landowners in compulsory integration cases.
As Mr. Denton explained, the original intent of the law had an element of equality to it. In the old days of conventional gas or oil extraction you had a pool or a reservoir underground. That pool didn’t recognize property boundaries. Because these for- mations were under pressure, all it could take was one neighbor drilling into them to empty them, essentially depriving the other landowners, whose prop- erty was also on top of the for- mation, from obtaining their share of the profits. The intent of this statute was to make sure that adjacent landowners could not be deprived of the value under their land and to make sure prof- its were shared proportionately.
Mr. Denton said that there was no mention of high volume slickwater horizontal hy- drofracking in the statute.
A law whose intent was origi-
nally about fairness is now used by an industry to rob us of our rights and freedoms, our right to clean air, clean water, health, and our sovereignty as landown- ers to give our consent, or not, freely. This is eminent domain practiced by private industry on a mass scale and in my opinion, a violation of some of our most basic constitutional rights.
__________________________
For more on this issue, Cornell Cooperative Extension has an impressive online resource of educational materials. Type into your search engine “CCE gas drilling library” and you should see it. Click on the link and when you get to the CCE page look down the list of subjects and the sixth will be COMPUL- SORY INTEGRATION. I highly recommend that you watch the videos of the information ses- sions. The link is highlighted in red.Moratorium and Ban update:
In New York State there are cur- rently 76 communities with ei- ther a ban or moratorium in place. 37 more are in the process of study, discussion, and/or drafting legislation. The newest towns are: Nunda and Mount Morris (Livingston Co), Wayne (Steuben Co.), Moravia (Cayuga Co.), and Mendon (Monroe Co.) ; all have enacted one-year moratoriums. The Town Board of Caroline (Tomp- kins Co.) passed a resolution to prepare a draft local law that prohibits unconventional gas drilling and associated high im- pact activi-
ties.
ALFRED— Alfred Univer- sity’s Career Development Cen- ter will host its annual Internship
& Summer Job Fair from noon- 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, in the Powell Campus Center Knight Club on campus.
Over 40 companies from across the country are expected to participate. Fairgoers are encour- aged to bring several copies of their resume; suggested dress is business casual or professional.
The companies currently reg- istered to attend include: AC- CORD Corp., Belmont; Alfred Montessori School; Alfred Uni- versity Judson Leadership Cen- ter; Allegany Arc, Belmont;
Allegany County Probation De- partment, Belmont; American Red Cross of Southwestern NY;
BorgWarner Morse TEC, Ithaca;
Buck’s Rock Performing and Creative Arts Camp, New Mil- ford, Conn.; Camp Chateaugay, Merrill; Cohen Center at Alfred University; Dr. Frank Vinifera Wine Cellar, Hammondsport;
Ferro Corp., Mayfield Heights, Ohio; Hornell Area Concern for Youth; Intrax Internships Abroad; Kaplan Test Prep, New York City; Kopp Glass, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa.; Northwestern Mutual, Milwaukee, Wisc.;
AU offers Summer Job Fair
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Rochester Rhinos/Rochester Rattlers; Salem Art Works, Salem; Summer Institute for the Gifted, Stamford, Conn.; Thun- derbird District (Illinois), Five Rivers Council (Forksville, Pa.), Boy Scouts of America; Unison Industries, Jacksonville, Fla.;
Wellsville Area Chamber of Commerce; Youth Services Community Adolescent Preg- nancy Prevention Program.
For more information, contact Jill Crandall of the Career De- velopment Center at cran- [email protected].
