Liberty added to state list of schools needing improvement

ALBANY, NY — New York State’s latest list of elementary and middle schools needing improvement (SINI) under the No Child Left Behind Act has come out, and Liberty Central School District has been added to it. The school was cited as needing improvement in the category “Elementary-Middle Level English Language Arts.” All SINI schools receive federal Title I funds and must take a variety of actions under federal law.

The total number of SINI schools statewide rose over 30 percent this year. According to the state press release, this was because the annual English Language Arts and math tests in grades three through eight have greatly increased the number of students for whom many schools are now held accountable.

No other Sullivan County schools were added to the list. Fallsburg Junior/Senior High School and Monticello’s Kenneth L. Rutherford School were listed as SINI for the second year in English language arts, and Monticello’s Robert J. Kaiser Middle School was listed as in “restructuring,” needing improvement in the same subject for the third year in a row.

Cunningham recommended to head Health and Family Services

MONTICELLO, NY — Outgoing Sullivan County Chairman Chris Cunningham will become the new commissioner in charge of the Division of Health and Family Services if the county legislature follows the recommendation of county manager David Fanslau.

In a surprise release issued on December 21, Fanslau said, “It is essential that the county begin to look seriously at the operations and fiscal realities of the Division of Health and Family Services, and it is my recommendation that the legislature begin this reorganization by confirming my appointment of Christopher A. Cunningham.”

Fanslau said Cunningham is well qualified with 12 years as a lawmaker, a stint as Director of Facilities at The Recovery Center and a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Marist College, where he has also served as an adjunct professor teaching government courses.

The announcement also contained the news that Fanslau will recommend that lawmakers allow Greg Feicth, the commissioner of the Department of Family Services, to use his accrued leave time to fulfill his term with the county. On December 13, Feicht informed lawmakers that he intended to retire on April 13, 2008.

Jeffersonville man arrested for involvement in crack cocaine case

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY — On Wednesday, December 19, 2007, detectives from the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office arrested Jaime Arroyo, age 33, of 52 Jefferson Avenue, Jeffersonville on a charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree.

Arroyo was arrested as a result of a one-month investigation by the sheriff’s office into crack cocaine sales in the Jeffersonville and Livingston Manor areas.

Arroyo was arraigned before Town of Rockland Justice Harold Madison and committed to the Sullivan County Jail in lieu of $20,000.

Pike County to create a fitting station for children’s car seats

MILFORD, PA — Most children’s car seats are not properly fitted and present a real danger to young children.

“Nationally, car seat misuse rates are estimated at 80 percent and can be found among all races, socioeconomic and educational levels,” said Jill Gamboni of the Pike County Child Care Information Service (CCIS). “I have found that in Pike County the number is more like 95 percent.”

To address this issue, the county commissioners have applied to PennDOT for a grant to establish a permanent fitting station where parents and caregivers can be trained to properly install car seats and have their car seats correctly installed.

The station will be located at the County and Child Care Information Service, Shohola Business Center, 837 Route Six, Unit 1, Shohola, PA every Monday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Funds finally come through for flood prevention study

WASHINGTON, DC — Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Congressman John Hall (D-NY), and Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) have secured final congressional approval of $700,000 for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a comprehensive study to identify ways to prevent future flooding of the Upper Delaware River Watershed. Of the total, up to $300,000 will be used to address the severe flooding problem along Little Beaverkill Creek, especially in the hamlet of Livingston Manor in the Town of Rockland. The funds are part of the Omnibus Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2008 approved by the House last week.

Hinchey had succeeded in getting language for such funding into one of last year’s appropriations bills, but it was aborted when the outgoing Congress failed to pass nine of 11 appropriations bills before adjourning last December.

The flood mitigation study will consist of an investigation of the Upper Delaware River Watershed to identify opportunities for flood damage reduction and environmental restoration. It will expand upon the Army Corps Reconnaissance Study recently completed for the Upper Delaware River, which addressed the multiple purposes of flood damage reduction, ecosystem restoration, water quality control, comprehensive watershed management and other allied purposes.

Deputy county attorney named to state judicial committee

ALBANY, NY — Presiding Justice Anthony V. Cardona of the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, has appointed Cheryl A. McCausland, Esq., of Rock Hill in Sullivan County, to the Committee on Character and Fitness for the Third Judicial District in New York State.

McCausland is employed as Deputy County Attorney by the Sullivan County Department of Law. She was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1987 and is a graduate of St. John’s University Law School.

The Committee on Character and Fitness is charged with investigating and making recommendations to the court regarding the character and fitness of applicants for admission to the New York State Bar.

Also named was Cynthia Feathers, Esq., of Albany.