Motorcycle crashes in Glen Spey

GLEN SPEY, NY — James Brush, 46, of Glen Spey, was thrown from his Harley Davidson as he rounded a curve on Proctor Road near the Lumberland town hall on Sunday, September 20. Deputies from the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office were called to the scene of the accident at approximately 4:30 p.m.

Brush is believed to have suffered multiple injuries in the crash. Lumberland Fire and Emergency Medical Services responded to the scene and quickly set up a landing zone at the MacKenzie Elementary School. Brush was airlifted to Westchester Medical Center where he was reported in stable condition at press time.

Sheriff’s deputies are continuing their investigation and are looking for anyone who may have witnessed the accident. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Sheriff’s Office at 845/794-7100.

Liberty qualifies for special bonds

LIBERTY, NY — The Liberty Central School District has been approved for and will be receiving Qualified Zone Academy Bonds (QZAB) to help mitigate the local taxpayers’ share of the district’s $35.8 million capital improvement building project.

QZAB bonds are a relatively new financing instrument administered by the New York State Education Department through the federal government. Liberty was one of six school districts statewide to receive funding in 2009—$3.4 million—and is first on the allocation list to receive the balance of its applied-for $20 million in 2010.

The non-interest-bearing QZAB bonds will save the district an estimated $8 million in interest payments.

Upper Delaware Scenic Byway featured on new placemats

NARROWSBURG, NY — The Upper Delaware Scenic Byway (UDSB) is featured on placemats that are available free of charge to regional dining establishments and any organizations that host public meals. Funding to produce 125,000 copies of the 11 x 17-inch, two-color placemats comes in part through a fiscal year 2006 Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) grant administered by the New York State Department of Transportation’s Scenic Byways Program.

Placemats feature a map that outlines Route 97, the communities along it, major connecting roads in New York and Pennsylvania and selected points of interest in the area.

The rest of the placemat offers information about the byway and UDSB offices and photos of scenes along the byway, contributed by Upper Delaware Council Senior Resource Specialist David B. Soete and UDSB webmaster Dorene Warner.

The placemats, which are packaged in shrink-wrapped bundles of 500 and in boxes of 2,000, may be picked up at the Upper Delaware Council office located at 211 Bridge Street in Narrowsburg.

For more information email info@upperdelawarescenicbyway.org or call 845/252-3022.

Funds for Liberty meat processing center

WASHINGTON, DC — Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) has helped secure a $50,000 federal grant for the Sullivan County Ag Local Development Corporation (Ag LDC) to assist with the development of a red meat processing facility in Liberty, NY. Earlier this year, Hinchey contacted the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development in support of Ag LDC’s grant request. The project also received preferential consideration for its application because of its location in the Sullivan-Wawarsing Rural Economic Area Partnership (REAP) Zone, a special USDA designation for the area that Hinchey established in 1999.

“Developing a red meat processing facility in Sullivan County will help create jobs and provide area farmers with a convenient and reliable way to process their meat,” Hinchey said. “The federal grant will help get this initiative off the ground and support the efforts of family farms to serve the growing local and metropolitan markets for locally raised meat. As we continue to work to strengthen our economy, it’s vital that we continue to invest in efforts like these that promote small businesses and economic growth.”

Hinchey developed the REAP Zone initiative as part of an effort to help spur economic development in struggling rural areas. Earlier this year, USDA Rural Development signed an agreement with both the Sullivan County-Wawarsing and the Tioga REAP that extends the REAP program for those areas until September 30, 2012.

The funding will help pay for technical assistance for the development of the facility as well as business and operational plans. The grant will also be used to identify a processing facility operator.

New farm and forestland Conservation Stewardship Program

REGION — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is inviting applications for the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), a voluntary conservation program designed to encourage agricultural and forestry producers to adopt additional conservation practices and improve, maintain and manage existing ones. The first cut-off for ranking purposes is scheduled for September 30.

To apply for CSP, individual producers, legal entities and Indian tribes will be asked to use a self-screening checklist to determine whether the new program is suitable for them or their operation. The checklist is available on NRCS websites at www.nrcs.usda.gov/new_csp and at NRCS field offices.

A producer must treat at least one resource concern and one priority resource concern during the length of the CSP’s five-year contract. Applicants must meet several requirements to obtain a CSP contract, including being listed as the operator in the USDA farm records management system for the operation being offered for enrollment, and complying with highly erodible land and wetland conservation provisions.

For more information call 845/883-7162 ext 5.