Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Here and There

Assemblyman Frank Skartados should know whether or not he will be sitting in Albany for another two years by the end of the week...and I thought the Auerbach recount (which lasted till Thanksgiving, in 08) was long! A judge will decide which of the remaining absentee ballots will be counted and I think that will happen this afternoon. The race is out of Frank's hands and lets hope all the ballots are allowed to be counted and Frank Skartados is reelected. Although Tom Kirwin has gotta be feeling pretty good that his slim 165 vote lead will hold up. With less than 500 votes in dispute, most likely former Assemblyman Tom Kirwin will be elected back to the assembly.

Town of Ulster Police Chief Taggard and the Kingston Daily Freeman both made huge blunders in reporting the name and address of a local man that attempted suicide the other day. The man was stopped by an officer while he was attempting to jump off a bridge. The officer who saved this mans life is to be commended. The releasing of his name to the paper was awful, the guy obviously has enough problems and shame on the Daily Freeman for including the name in their story.

Speaking of the Freeman, why does the Daily Freeman continue to allow reporter Bill Kimble to cover stories on Congressman Maurice Hinchey? Kimble clearly has a bias toward the Congressman and it shows in his work, he does not have the ability to be impartial. We all know the history between the two, why not just have someone else cover the stories?

Kingston Mayor Jim Sottile signed the 2010 budget that calls for a 3.1 percent tax hike, the original tax hike Sottile had proposed would of raised taxes MORE than 6 percent. The increase Sottile had proposed was ridiculous and the Kingston common council did a good job lowering the burden as much as possiable.

Kudos to Senator Kirstin Gillibrand for being instrumental in repealing Don't ask don't tell, this historic repeal that will allow gay men and women serve openly in the military will be signed by President Obama today.







Speaking of bills in the U.S. Senate and Kirstin Gillibrand, it's really important that the Zagroda bill is passed. It is long overdue and so important! Again we are lucky Senator Gillibrand is fighting for us in Washington.


Congratulations to Vic Work who was nominated last week to replace Kathy Mihm as Ulster's Dem election commissioner. I hate the way this went down and that people really were not given an adequate time to think about running for the spot. It really should have been handled differently. However, politics is about always being on your game and Vic clearly was right on top of this. I wish him good luck.

And, finally, Alderman Tom Hoffay is home from the hospital and in good spirits I hear! I hope the Alderman of the great Second Ward, will take things slow and give himself time to get to his 100 percent. Glad that you are back Alderman, we missed you.

19 comments:

Feltcher Boocockie said...

1. It doesen't matter whether the old dying man or skartados wins because the assembly is f'd and only a few people like shelly S. control everything. That body needs a high colonic! I agree with your hope, though.

2. We have a right to know who the criminally insane are running around out loose out there. Next time he might try to take someone with him. It's high time we start re-investing in mental health and segregating these people from society until they are healed. Perhaps MO can get us some USDA pork for a nice 1000 bed mental institution right here in Ulster County. Can you say jobs?

3. Exactly. Kemble should cover all Hinchey-all-the-time. Why? Because he'll hold MO to the fire instead of asking "Hank Gross" style softball questions.

4. Blabber, you have never paid a dime of taxes in K-town, so ANY increase is only going to push the city further into Newburgh-North.
I will once again advocate merging the City with the town of Ulster and 35 people will comment and whine about how awful that idea is. Wake up, people!

5. I never did fully understand the ban on homos in the military. Clearly there are enough rules and regulations to hold a soldier accountable for their own actions so if Pvt. Flamer acted in an inappropriate matter, he would be disciplined. Clearly, I have a bias here, and the point is now you are going to see the homo-soldier file lawsuits for their comrades who make any sort of anti-gay remark. It's a pandoras box of litigation waiting to happen. But, let wohever serve. Let women go into combat. Let illegals fight for us and give them a fast track to citizenship (DREAM ACT)...I mean.. if you want to serve.. you should serve.

5. HR 847 (Zagroda) is a fine idea, but we should make countries like IRAN pay for it. Invade-sieze oil-pay. simple.

6. Vic Work can't do any worse than Mihm did. Good luck to him on enjoying his patronage job. He's earned it. If you can't beat em.. join em!!!!

7. Best wishes to Hoffay. Noboady belong in the freggin hospital during the holidays.

Feltcher B. (Gill St.)

Anonymous said...

1st of all, the Freeman has no real reporters other then that stupid kid, Kemble,, BUT, having said that, the media is filled with left-leaning biased reporters , finally , wWE get ONE that hates the anti-american, anti-Israel ( America's ONLY TRUE FRIEND ) pro-abortion, anti-Armed Forces a-hole, "Mo" & you complain, JB ??

Gimme a break,, Hinchey's abysmal performance needs a strong ANTI voice in the media,

GO GET 'EM Kemble,,

Anonymous said...

Kemble and the Freeman routinely publish unverified information and hope they don't get called on it. He has no business reporting anything. He is prejudiced, opinionated and outright unprofessional.

He injects his opinions into his writing. He is absolutely in love with Bob Freeman, so 9 of 10 articles mention open meetings laws whether applicable or not.

Anonymous said...

I couldn't agree with you more in stating that the Town of Ulster Chief Taggard and the daily freeman made a huge blunder in reporting the name of the man on the bridge. Its obvious this man needs help, and not his name on the front page of the freeman. This has been the freemans way for years, sell newspapers at any cost. I just hope this is not the first of future blunders by the new chief. This was very unprofessional of him. He not only released the mans name, but told the freeman who called. Does this mean if you call the Ulster Police for help, you might read your name in the paper. I was told this chief has no clue, i just hope thats not true, for the Towns sake.

Anonymous said...

laura pettit left the republican party. she is now an independent.

Anonymous said...

Matt Taggard, is qUiGLeY's Christmas gift to the Town. If it was not bad enough that Quig's and Co. are running the government into the ground now we have the least respected cop in the County as our Chief! Say what you want about Woerner but it was never this bad!

Fellatio Sanz said...

Quigley is worse than woerner.

Ulster is fu$#ed for a long time.

Anonymous said...

Petit never was a rep. There still are other RINO's in the bunch that should come out of the closet

Anonymous said...

You re so right 9:54. not only the least respected, but Taggards actually a laughing stock of other law enforcement in the county. I just hope he keeps the little children out of his police car.

Anonymous said...

My question is, who is going to hold the obviously unqualified Taggard accountable for his blunders. Certainly not the idiots, Quigley, Morrow and the rest of the town board that stupidly put him in that position.They are going to do everything they can to make him look good, while he brings the Ulster Police back to the cowboys they were in the 90's.

Sarge said...

Supercop Taggard isn't so perfect after all, eh?

hee hee hee

More retirements to follow....

Ulsterguy said...

The chiefs an embarrassment. Professionalism is gone from Ulster PD.

Anonymous said...

I kept quiet when Taggard got appointed, hoping what I knew of him was no longer true. I see I was wrong.

You never, NEVER release the name of a suicide attempt subject to the media, especially when there is no cause for public alarm. Any confusion- refer to the word 'never'.

Say what you will about Sinagra, (and much of it would be true,) but he wouldn't have made a boneheaded mistake like this.

town resident said...

Taggard made a bonehead move and he's going to make alot more. Thats because he's not qualified for the position of chief. But I don't blame him as much as I blame those idiots Quigley and Morrow. They knew Taggard wasn't qualified, but they put him there anyway, all because of politics. They could care less about the future of the police department or the town residents. There is a deputy chief there for a reason. When the chief leaves, the deputy moves in to that position and does the job he's been training for. Politics have NO place in the police department. These guys are idiots, and the police department is being distroyed.

Anonymous said...

Wow. I saw the new chief you're talking about the other day. He was dressed in what look like a SWAT uniform with his gun strapped to his leg. He acted like his shit doesn't stink.It looks like the Ulster Police Department is heading back to the 90's when they were running wild and acting like assholes. Put on a suit and tie chief, and be a chief.

Anonymous said...

9:44 - I don't know Sinagra or Taggard. Taggard had a higher rank over Sinagra, but Woerner had Sinagra leapfrog over Taggard to be deputy. If Woerner didn't do that, Taggard would've been Watzka's deputy, and Taggard would've been chief anyway. From what I've heard, neither one is qualified to be chief; they (Quigley and the board) should've opened up the civil service exam and brought someone in from the outside.

Anonymous said...

Where did Watzka come from and who hired him? KPD and Fred Wadnola. So why couldn't Quigley go out of the department too?

Anonymous said...

7:54 - Quigley could have and should have gone out of the department. Instead, we're stuck with a Rambo wannabe.

Anonymous said...

It looks like the Ulster PD just reached the height of professionalism. Patrols were riding around in town highway trucks during the snowstorm. Where are the SUV's that all the other professional pd's have?? Good job Quigley and Morrow, you are quickly distroying a once very good department.