Judge LaBuda upholds foreclosure of land for agricultural center

MONTICELLO, NY — On Friday, July 31 Sullivan County Court Judge Frank J. Labuda upheld the tax foreclosure proceeding in which the county took title to a former agricultural property located on Fulton Hill Road in the Town of Delaware. The property was taken for non-payment of real property taxes.

The county intends to use the land as an agricultural training center. The county treasurer, county attorney, and planning commissioner Dr. William Pammer and his staff have been working with numerous private organizations, including the Northeast Organic Farmers Association, the Catskill Mountainkeeper, the Delaware Highlands Conservancy and others, to set up the project.

The program will be designed to support the continued viability of agriculture in the county, and to maintain the property as commercially productive as well as an educational center.

The judge deemed that the former owner, a resident of Las Vegas, NV, had left insufficient information to the county to enable contact with regard to tax bills or foreclosure notices, and that the county followed the laws of the State of New York and the U.S. Constitution meticulously in providing due process.

Recovery funds available for rural communities

SYRACUSE, NY — The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is now accepting applications for up to $1.7 billion to fund projects that help spur business activity and economic growth in rural communities.

This infusion of money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into rural business is designed to create and save jobs and help rural communities grow and prosper.

The funding will be made available through USDA Rural Development’s Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan program, which supports the development of private businesses.

Eligible applicants include cooperative organizations, corporations, partnerships, nonprofit groups, federally recognized Indian tribes, public bodies and individuals. The funds will be targeted to creating and retaining quality jobs and serving difficult-to-reach populations, and areas hardest hit by the current economic downturn.

“The Recovery Act funds announced today will help businesses get access to the capital they need to launch and expand their businesses and help bring additional jobs to America’s small cities and towns,” said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

USDA will accept applications for this Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan program until September 15, 2010. Recovery Act funding will be available through September 30, 2010.

For more information visit www.rurdev.usda.gov/ny or call 315/477-6400.

Disaster loan deadline approaches

ATLANTA, GA — August 24 is the filing deadline for federal economic injury disaster loans available from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in declared counties in New York State. The SBA declared a disaster because of damages and losses to crops caused by excessive rain, high winds, flooding, flash flooding, hail and lightning that began on May 1, 2008. The disaster declaration includes Sullivan, Orange and Delaware counties as well as many others.

The SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program is available to farm-related and nonfarm-related small business concerns, small agricultural cooperatives and most private, non-profit organizations of all sizes that suffered financial losses as a direct result of this disaster. Farmers and ranchers are not eligible to apply to the SBA.

For more information visit www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance or call 800/659-2955 (800-877-8339 for the hearing-impaired).

Carbon sequestration engenders controversy

HARRISBURG, NY — The Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA) has spoken out against a plan by Governor Rendell to bury waste from power plants in the ground. Recently, Governor Rendell and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources have initiated an effort to explore the state’s geologic storage potential for carbon capture and storage or sequestration.

Known as “carbon sequestration,” the technique requires capturing carbon dioxide from power plant emissions, compressing it into a liquid, transporting the liquid through pipelines to a sequestration site, and then injecting it into spaces beneath the earth’s surface. Though some believe it to be more environmentally friendly than releasing toxic emissions into the air, the GPPA maintains that sequestered toxins can leak into groundwater and cause other disastrous environmental effects.

For more information visit www.gpofpa.org.

Sestak announces candidacy

PENNSYLVANIA — U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak declared his candidacy in the Democratic primary for the Senate seat currently held by Arlen Specter on Tuesday, August 4. Specter had been a Republican for 28 years before switching parties earlier this year. Polls had shown that although Specter would have a good chance in the general election, he could not win the Republican primary against arch-conservative Pat Toomey.

Sestak, a former Navy admiral, made the announcement at a rally in Folsom, Delaware County. He portrays himself as the true Democrat, who aims to put “principles over politics.”

“The great American dream is not about getting ahead,” he said, “it is about doing well… and creating a world for the next generation in which they are inspired to do the same.”