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Wallkill Valley Times, Wednesday, February 20, 2019
B riefs
Rite Aid Buys Montgomery
Village Pharmacy
Rite Aid purchased the Montgomery Village Pharmacy
at 105 Ward Street, in the Village of Montgomery,
transferring patients to the Rite Aid at 103 Hawkins
Drive, in the Town of Montgomery.
The Montgomery Rite Aid has been operating
as a pharmacy since 2008, according to a Rite Aid
representative. Patients’ files were transferred to the new
location on Feb. 13.
There will be no cost to the patients. If patients have
questions, they can call Rite Aid at 457-3023.
n
Gardiner weighs future of
electronic recycling program
The Gardiner town board is considering either charging
for electronics recycling or discontinuing the program.
Recycling electronics involves labor and materials.
Several other towns either charge for electronic recycling
or don’t accept them.
Town Supervisor Marybeth Majestic said sometimes,
Electronics Recycling International—the company that
recycles Gardiner’s electronics—doesn’t pick up pallets
or only picks up a limited number of pallets.
“The truck was coming last week, they were supposed
to take 11 pallets,” Majestic said. “We had 12 pallets. They
claimed they only had room for three pallets, so we still
have all these pallets, and these are still coming in all the
time.”
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The service is free for Ulster County residents,
however, there have allegedly been non-residents
dropping off their electronics at the station.
Resident Mike Kruglinski expressed concern that
people will find other ways to dispose of their electronics
if the transfer station discontinues the program.
“The issue is if you stop taking them entirely, are
those TVs gonna wind up on the roadside?” Kruglinski
said.
The board tabled the issue until a future board
meeting.
-Laura Fitzgerald
n
Miller reacts to Amazon decision
In response to the recent announcement that Amazon
has withdrawn its plan for a corporate headquarters
in Long Island City, NY, Assemblyman Brian Miller
(R,I,C,Ref-New Hartford) issued the following statement.
“Though I am opposed to corporate welfare –
specifically providing massive tax incentives to the
wealthiest company in the world – I know constituents
throughout my district would gladly welcome 25,000
Amazon jobs and so do I.”
“It is unfortunate, however, that the state continues
to focus its economic development strategy on these
types of hand-outs and ‘economic hunting’ tactics rather
than on ‘economic gardening’ efforts that support and
promote the existing businesses in our state. Family
farms and other small businesses across Upstate New
York are the true backbone of our economy and they
need the help, not massive corporations. As we continue
to negotiate a state budget and job-creating programs, I
hope Albany regains its focus on the Upstate economy.”
Miller represents the 101st District consisting of
parts of Delaware, Herkimer, Oneida, Orange, Otsego,
Sullivan and Ulster counties. It includes the Towns of
Montgomery, Crawford and Shawangunk.
n
Garrison named Grand
Marshal for Wallkill Parade
The Wallkill St. Patrick’s Parade Committee is pleased
to announce its Grand Marshall for the 2019 St. Patrick’s
Day Parade will be Robert (Bob) K. Garrison, a life time
resident of the Hamlet of Wallkill. The parade will take
place Sunday, March 17 in the Hamlet of Wallkill.
Garrison was one of the original founding members
of the Wallkill St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee. He is
well known in the Hamlet having been one of the original
race directors for the Shamrock Scramble that is part
of the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The Scramble
was originally part of the Parade Committee but over
time due to its growth and overwhelming success, was
separated out 32 years ago to form its own committee. At
that time he became one of the Race Directors and still
holds that position today.
Over the years Garrison has also been involved in
many community organizations, including the Knights
of Pythias, Southern Rotary Club, Lions Club, as well
as serving for 28 years on the Wallkill Savings & Loan’s
Board of Directors. He was also a charter member of
the Wallkill Ambulance Corps and served as its first
President for five years.
n
Washington and Lincoln
our greatest Presidents?
Joseph Britto, adjunct lecturer at SUNY Orange and
Professor Emeritus at SUNY New Paltz will discuss the
lives, policies and the legacies of George Washington
and Abraham Lincoln and the impact they each had on
America and the World on Tuesday. February 26 at 6:30
p.m. at the Pine Bush Library.
The Pine Bush library is located at 223-227 Maple Ave.,
Pine Bush. Call 744-3375 for more information.
n
VC hosts ‘thought exchange forum’
The Valley Central School District hosted a forum
called “Join the Conversation” through online platform,
ThoughtExchange, as it begins its process to develop a
budget for the school year, 2019-2020. ThoughtExchange
is a digital forum that provides the opportunity for
participants to share their thoughts on a given topic and
then view others’ thoughts and rate the level of their
agreement with those thoughts. All participation is
anonymous.
The District hosted the exchange from January
28-February 11, 2019 to check in with stakeholders to
see what they thought was working well and what
the district needed to improve upon as they begin the
process of proposing a budget for the 2019-2020 school
year. Participants were invited through social media and
email to participate. There were 423 participants which
included; parents and guardians, staff, students and
community members. Nearly 300 thoughts were shared
which received 11,588 ratings- or an average of about 165
ratings well over the average of 30 ratings per thought.
Gagan Leekha of ThoughtExchange, who helped the
district facilitate this forum, told VCSD that this shows
the participants were highly engaged with the exchange.
The top “highly rated” thoughts had to do with
curriculum and programming, facilities and
transportation. Participants expressed concern that
students have many opportunities to learn K-12, and that
the opportunities be varied and practical and prepare
them for the future. They also want to see the chromebook
initiative expanded to more students. Participants also
expressed concern for the facilities, that they be up to
date with particular concern for the entrance/exit at
the HS/MS complex. The participants were quite united
on their concerns with the transportation provided to
the District by East End Bus Company and their want
of improvement of that service. Other topics that were
expressed through the forum addressed; support and
safety, the elementary program, staff, BOE, athletics, and
class size.
Xanthis did point out that this is just one tool being
employed by the District in the budget process. There
will be a public Budget Process meeting hosted by the
district on March 19 at 6:30 p.m. at Berea Elementary
School which will give all stakeholders the opportunity
to learn about the budget process and comment on it
to the Administration. Senator James Skoufis has been
invited to participate in this meeting.