By DAVID HULSE

ELDRED - The committee planning the submission to include Route 97 in the New York State Scenic Byways program will hold its next meeting in the Town of Highland.

The panel, funded by a state grant, assisted by professional planners and made up of the Delaware, Orange and Sullivan County communities along the highway, has been doing workshop sessions since this spring. They recently produced a history and inventory for a management and promotional plan is expected to be complete during the winter.

Panel member and Upper Delaware Council Executive Director Bill Douglass said the group is also trying to contact a speaker from one of the state's existing byway areas to get some first-hand information on the byway program. "The good points and the bad points," Douglass said.

The committee, which normally meets at 7:15 p.m. on the last Monday of the month, is to meet on October 23. The location, expected to be at either the town hall or the senior citizens center had not been finalized at press time.