Fire controversy resolved

LACKAWAXEN — Ending a sometimes bitter controversy that began last fall, township supervisors on May 15 approved an ordinance codifying coverage areas for the township’s four fire departments, and the Lackawaxen Fire Department withdrew its zoning conditional use permit application to build a fire station in Masthope Rapids. Masthope Rapids was traditionally in the Central Fire Department’s coverage area.

Both volunteer departments solicit donations at Masthope Rapids, which is one of the township’s larger population areas. Central firefighters saw the Lackawaxen effort as an incursion that would reduce support of their department.

Despite the past turmoil, the resolution came quietly last Wednesday as supervisors chairman Brian Stuart distributed maps of the new areas to representatives of the departments. Stuart said the coverage zones were those done in a 1996 study, which left traditional coverage areas intact and made the Masthope Rapids and Fawn Lake Forest developments joint response areas.

Upstate rebounds in NY
employment figures

ALBANY — Upstate is growing but this month’s statewide employment figures continue to reflect the dual effects of the national recession and the September 11 attack on lower Manhattan. In New York City, private sector jobs declined 3.2 percent in the year ending April 2002.

But according to state chief economist Stephen Kagann, the upstate story continues to bear telling. In the midst of a national manufacturing recession, industrial upstate is not only holding its own but it is outperforming the nation.

If upstate were counted as a separate state, it would have ranked 17th nationally in private sector job growth in the year ended March 2002, the latest month for which nationwide figures are available. Among the 11 industrial states of the Northeast and Midwest, upstate New York would rank second in that time period, Kagann reported.

Child safety-seat inspections offered
at PSP fitting stations

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Col. Paul J. Evanko said that state police will participate in Buckle Up America! Week, a national effort to promote the use of safety belts and child-restraint systems, May 20 to 27.

“We’re encouraging drivers to buckle up and to make sure all of their passengers are properly restrained,” Evanko said. “We would see a significant reduction in the number of traffic crash fatalities and injuries in Pennsylvania if every driver and passenger were buckled up every time.”

Every state police barracks has a child passenger safety seat fitting station where troopers inspect child safety seats and provide instruction to parents on the proper use of those seats. Times and locations for the inspections are available on the PA PowerPort at www.state.pa.us, PA Keyword “safety seat.”

Congress seeks increased
childcare funding grants

WASHINGTON — Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman (R-20NY), co-chair of the Congressional Childcare Caucus, has joined other representatives in calling for increased funding for the Child Care Development Block Grants (CCDBG).

Gilman was among 54 members who signed onto the Childcare Caucus letter to the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, requesting a $11.25 billion increase in CCDBG funding over five years, as well as increases for the Head Start and the 21st Century Community Learning Centers programs.

In New York State alone, an increase of $1.4 billion in CCDBG money over the next six years would allow an additional 79,000 families to enroll in the program each year.

Sullivan wins public transit funding

MONTICELLO — Sullivan County picked up $72,000 in state and federal funding for the purchase of new public transit buses last week as Governor George E. Pataki announced the approval of $11.9 million statewide.

Capital funding will provide for 105 new buses, as well as passenger shelters, bus stop signs and a garage rehabilitation for 28 municipalities statewide. The federal government will assume 80 percent of the cost, with the state and local governments each assuming 10 percent of the cost.

Sullivan provides buses for senior, veterans and social services programs and is attempting to expand those services for general public use.