By DAVID HULSE

FERNDALE - Rick Bishop was surprised by the stir provoked by two recent grant applications in Bethel, but he was pleased that the interest will present him a chance to report to the Sullivan County Legislature today.

The coordinator of the Sullivan-Warwarsing Rural Economic Assistance Program (REAP) zone is scheduled to appear at the Legislature's planning and community development committee meeting this morning, something Bishop said he's looking forward to doing. The session is likely to provide some questions about his Ferndale location and how REAP grants applications work.

Last week, Legislative minority leader Rodney Gaebel (RC-5) said he'd like to see Bishop's partially county-funded position located with other planning functions in Monticello.

Sullivan County Planning Commissioner Alan Sorensen suggested that the Gerry Foundation, whose Executive Director Jonathan Drapkin spoke on behalf of the applications, might consider funding the two Bethel study grants for projects that could supplement tourism at Gerry's Woodstock property, rather than drawing off public funding.

A foundation spokesperson has denied any hidden agenda or financial interest in the projects, and one Legislator said privately that differences between Drapkin and Sorensen should be taken with a grain of salt, since the former colleagues no longer care for one another. Sorensen denied that personal differences had anything to do with his concerns.

Bishop said his board of directors last spring was ready to relocate his office to Monticello, but then the Department of Agriculture (USDA) provided a summer intern for the office and he was told there was no extra office space available for the intern at the planning department in the government center.

Beyond that, he said the Gerry Foundation's donation of his current office space at the Cablevision Building has supplemented his federal funding, since the value of the donation has been re-credited to program funds. In addition, public interaction and availability is part of his mission as well and Bishop said the number of calls he fields at the Ferndale office indicate the public knows where he is.

As to concerns about Bethel's grant application for a Yasgur's dairy plant, which Sorensen's office had developed earlier in an application from Legislator Chris Cunningham (DC-1), Bishop said the dairy project has been in REAP's sights since August of last year and USDA approved the concept in January. Bishop said he had sought a not-for-profit application sponsor for the project, which allowed the full $28,000 in funding rather than 50 percent funding granted private applicants, but Bethel Supervisor Allan Scott had moved quickly and applied.

The REAP board has conditionally approved the $25,000 Eagle Institute application as well, but Bishop said the board has questions, one of which is how the institute's proposed interpretive center will compliment the ongoing scenic byways project on Route 97 as well as justify county and state assistance already granted the institute.

While the institute is considering various sites, Bishop said he is aware that some Upper Delaware interests feel that an eagle interpretive center should benefit tourism in the river valley. He admittedly did not seek sponsors from any river valley towns and felt the applicant would naturally want to benefit from proximity to a tourism draw like the planned performing arts center in Bethel. He also questioned any self-interest conflict on the part of the Gerry Foundation. "Disneyland isn't going to rise or fall on a hotel outside its boundaries, but the hotel might," he said.

Bishop felt a lot of the problem is a difference in philosophy between Sorensen and Scott. "Scott wants to centralize services and Alan (Sorensen) believes in decentralizing them," he said.