Jeremy Blaber for Kingston School Board

Dear Friend,



Last week on my show on public access television, my guest was a member of the Kingston School Board, Daniel Gartenstien, Esq. During the show we discussed Trustee Gartenstein's five-year tenure on the Kingston School Board, as well as many other school board issues. Mr. Gartenstein also mentioned that this year he would not seek re-election and would instead focus more time to his law practice and his family. Mr. Gartenstein, who had contacted me previously about running for a seat on the school board, made public his hope that I throw my hat into the race to succeed him. I am honored that Mr. Gartenstein would think of me and while I tip-toed around the issue last Monday, I am proud to say I am going to run for a seat on the Kingston School Board.

I have always thought of serving on the Kingston School Board at some point in my life, but with going to school full time as well as working, I was not sure how to fit it in my schedule. With a few class changes and a different job, I have found a way and it could not come at a better time. There are a lot of important issues facing the board right now and I believe I have a wealth of information and ideas that will be beneficial to the school community.

In the next few weeks I will review the proposed budget for the district for the upcoming fiscal year. Additionally, I would like to make appointments at all 14 schools in the district and meet with faculty, staff, administration and possibly students to see what concerns are facing them and what improvements they would like to see happen and what currently is working and what is not working. I would also like to meet with Superintendent Gretzinger to discuss what he envisions for the future of Kingston City Schools.

Please join me for this exciting adventure, I welcome any thoughts, or suggestions you may have. Feel free to contact me by phone or e-mail anytime, details below.


Jeremy K. Blaber
jeremyblaber@yahoo.com
(H) 845-331-4130
(C) 845-532-1503

Jonathan Sennett to appear on Late Night w/ Jeremy Blaber this Monday

Jonathan Sennett, candidate for Ulster County District Attorney, will appear this Monday on Late Night w/ Jeremy Blaber to discuss his candidacy. " I am excited to have him on he has a lot of fresh ideas and I want the people to hear what he has to say." The show airs Monday the 26th at 10pm. Stay tuned.




Note : Senator Larkin's show will be on next week, their was a problem with the tapping and the audio is being fixed.

Blaber comments on Kingston Police Officer Kevin Nace

As you all have heard Kingston Police officer Kevin Nace was suspended without pay for buying a substance he thought was cocaine, and that is what should happen. However their is also a chance that Officer Nace will be fired, I think this is wrong and over the top. Officer Nace is a decorated officer and just last week received an accommodation for his role in stopping a burglary. Officer Nace was buying what he thought was drugs for personal use and was off duty at the time. I think that Officer Nace should obviously receive help for his addiction and attend mandatory follow up services, such as NA. I also think he should be allowed to keep his job when he is clean and sober. Substance abuse is an addiction and a disease and should be treated as such. Police Chief Jerry Keller was quoted as saying if an officer fails a drug test their are last chance opportunities, such as getting treatment. He said that buying drugs was a different story then failing a drug test, I respectfully disagree. However someone acquires drugs they do so in an illegal manner, so their is no real difference. I do not serve on the police commission and am basing information solely on what I have read, and I will respect the decision of the police commission, the chief, and the Mayor, but I hope this officer can get the treatment he needs and continue to serve on the force, and do as good of a job as he has thus far.

Picture of Gov. Spitzer during his campaign

This is a picture I found of Gov. Spitzer, I took this during Gov. Spitzer's visit to Uptown Kingston during his campaign. The picture is of a local farmer presenting the Governor with a box of home grown berries, (with a sign " Farmer's for Spitzer") as Mayor Sottile and Ulster County legislator Susan Zimet look on.

Blaber's News Person of the week : Mayor James Sottile

Blaber New's person of the week is Kingston Mayor James Sottile, for his continuous commitment to Kingston and Kingstonians.

On a side note: Mayor Sottile meet with children at George Wahington school yesterday and answered questions about his job as Mayor, as well as other questions the kids asked about the city. A parent of one of the kids told me how proud his daughter was to meet the mayor and how much it meant to her. " It really is something, she was ecstatic, he (Mayor Sottile) made her day."

Jonathan Sennett featured in Kingston Times

Check out this weeks edition of the Kingston Times, Jonathan Sennett, candidate for D.A. has an article in their on his campaign kick off. Also a letter to the editor from Mr.Sennett is featured.

Jonathan R. Sennett officially enters Ulster County D.A. race

I had the privilege of attending Jonathan Sennett's campaign kick off today at The Village Tea Room in New Paltz. It was a great turn out and I got to meet Jon and his lovely family. I was very impressed; not only is Mr. Sennett extremely intelligent and down to earth, he is also very qualified. Mr. Sennett currently has his own law firm in Ulster County and was a former A.D.A. in the Bronx, he has tried cases from gun possession to homicide. He has experience in all aspects of law and would make a great District Attorney. Jonathan Sennett is someone to watch out for and if I were Don Williams I would be very worried. I will have frequent updates on this race so stay tuned.

Check out Jonathan Sennett's website at : http://www.sennettforda.com

The following is an excerpt from Mr. Sennett's bio :

Born and bred in New York State, Jonathan R. Sennett received his Bachelor's Degree, cum laude, from the University of Maryland at College Park and his law degree from Brooklyn Law School. He began his career as an attorney in the Office of the Bronx County District Attorney in January 1994. During his first two years, he led a team of ten assistant district attorneys each handling nearly one hundred misdemeanor cases at all times. He spent the next twelve months conducting hundreds of grand jury investigations in cases ranging from gun possession to homicide. For the following two and one-half years, Sennett tried over thirty violent felony cases before over ten different judges. Throughout his tenure as a prosecutor, he maintained a reputation as hard hitting yet fair, knowledgeable on the law, practical in his approach to the system and ever vigilant in his pursuit of justice.

In June, 1999, shortly after the birth of his first child he left the District Attorney’s Office to enter private practice, where he represented terminally ill clients in asbestos products liability cases in state and federal courts from Massachusetts to Texas. In 2000, he and his family moved to New Paltz and he relocated his practice to the Hudson Valley in 2002.

Since 2002, Jonathan R. Sennett has been trying cases in nearly every level of trial court in Ulster and neighboring counties - including Justice Court, Family Court, County Court and Supreme Court. He has also argued cases before the Supreme Court, Appellate Division for the Third Department, located in Albany.

Jonathan has been married for over ten years to Mari Ann Connolly Sennett, herself a former Bronx County Assistant District Attorney. They live with their two young daughters, Shaena and Aedan, in New Paltz, where he has served a term as a member of the Town of New Paltz Environmental Conservation Commission (2003-2005) and remains committed to helping the various town youth athletic programs by coaching and sponsoring teams.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo working hard...

I thought I would share this editorial today that was in The New York Times, pretty much saying what a great job Mr. Cuomo is doing as AG.

With Gov. Eliot Spitzer now adding so much political electricity to New York’s State Capitol these days, it is sometimes easy to overlook all the commotion going on right down the hall. There, in the offices of New York’s attorney general, Andrew Cuomo and his high-powered staff are beginning to make waves all over the state.

Sworn in on Jan. 1, Mr. Cuomo has since unveiled the following projects. For anyone interested in improving Albany, this is sweet music.

*He recently announced his intention to sue Exxon Mobil and four other oil companies unless they can reach an agreement to clean up Newtown Creek, a heavily polluted waterway separating Queens and Brooklyn. The pollution results from a leak in a Standard Oil refinery many years ago; the seepage continues to find its way into the East River, meanwhile creating toxic vapors that threaten neighborhoods along the canal.

Despite heavy pressure from environmental groups, chiefly Riverkeeper, the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation has so far been unwilling to push the companies very hard. Mr. Cuomo’s intervention is therefore welcome.

*He and his staff have developed a new and powerful strategy to make certain that the millions of dollars legislators give away each year — the so-called member items used to underwrite special projects in a legislator’s home district — actually have a true “public purpose.” The attorney general’s office is responsible for approving contracts before the state gives out money. This has usually been a rubber-stamp operation, but now the person or entity that gets the money will have to certify that there is no financial connection to the politician who grants the funds. The recipient also has to promise to do what the contract pays for. That means no more handouts to relatives, no more handouts to business partners, no more easy money.

This will still not prevent powerful politicians like Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver from routing extra millions to their own districts, but it might make the Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno, think twice before giving a fat state grant to a company run by one of his business associates.

*He has started Project Sunlight, which Mr. Spitzer has endorsed by providing money for it in this year’s budget. Sunlight is just the thing Albany needs. As now designed, the project would organize public data — including information about campaign finance, lobbying, state contracts and legislative activity — on one Web site, replacing a system that is “balkanized and unconnected,” as a news release laments.

These and other proposals look promising. The challenge for Mr. Cuomo will be to stick to the high road so that the investigations do not smack of politics and appear to be the work of just another ambitious official pursuing headlines and higher office. If Mr. Cuomo and his staff really follow through on his news releases and public promises, New Yorkers could be rewarded with a state government and an environment that are, simply, cleaner than before.

New Jail finally open!

The new jail is finally open! 2 years later; and almost 20 million over budget, inmates moved into the new jail today. This is an historic day and I applaud Sherriff Paul Van Blarcum and Ulster legislator Richard Parete, who chairs the special Law Enforcement Center Committee. This has been a long process and I am glad it is finally complete.

MARDI GRAS COMES TO KINGSTON!

GO DOWN TO THE KINGSTON MARDI GRAS FRI, SAT, AND SUN


Please go downtown and support the local businesses at the Kingston Mardi Gras. This is a very nice family event, their are ice sculptures, musical bands, and different activities. All at very reasonable prices. My hat goes off to the Mayor and Alderman Senor as well as all the local businesses downtown for putting this together. I encourage everyone to go down and check it out. I'll see you down there.

Spitzer's appointments fyi

Here is a list of appointments Gov. Spitzer has made thus far. FYI


M. Patricia Smith, Commissioner, New York State Department of Labor
Karen Carpenter-Palumbo, Commissioner, Office of Alcoholism andSubstance Abuse Services
Patrick Hooker, Commissioner, Department of Agriculture and Markets
Robert Maccarone, Director, Probation and Correctional Alternatives
David Hansell, Commissioner, Office of Temporary Disability
Michael Burgess, Director, Office of the Aging
Mindy Bockstein, Chair and Executive Director, Consumer Protection Board
Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez, Secretary of State
Kumiki Gibson, Director, Division of Human Rights
David Swarts, Commissioner, Department of Motor Vehicles
Carol Ash, Commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
Brian Fischer, Commissioner, Department of Correctional Services
Astrid Glynn, Commissioner, Department of Transportation
Denise O’Donnell, Commissioner, Department of Criminal Justice Services
Michael Hogan, Commissioner, Office of Mental Health
Gladys Carrion, Commissioner, Office of Children and Family Services
Alexander “Pete” Grannis, Commissioner, Department of EnvironmentalConservation
Diana Jones-Ritter, Commissioner, Office of Mental Retardation andDevelopmental Disabilities

Rumor has it..................

Rumor has it that Assemblyman Cahill may face a primary next year over his vote for Tom DiNapoli last week. Word on the street is that Brian J. Woltman, the City of Kingston purchaser, has decided that he is going to challenge the powerful incumbent Assemblyman and run on government reform.

More detail as they develop..............

Editor's Note: Jeremy Blaber supports Mr.Cahill's actions and has not formed an opinion one way or another on this story. A rumor, on a good source was brought to our attention and we ran with it. Nothing more, nothing less.

School Update

Alert! Kingston City Schools are closed today

No real story here, but this is just too funny to pass up

Majority Leader Bruno asks Governor Spitzer to be his Valentine

Blaber News UPDATE!

Jeremy Blaber will now offer up to date weather announcements on school closings and delays for the Kingston School district. Please feel free to come on this website and their will be up to date information about school closings in your area.

Jeremy, who serves on the K.P.A. board, has also looked into having a scroll listed on the calendar for school closings as well for people who do not have access to the Internet or the radio.

Happy Valentine's Day

Late Night w/ Jeremy Blaber schedule Update!

As you all know, in addition to this website Jeremy Blaber hosts Late Night w/ Jeremy Blaber, which airs every Monday night at 10pm on ch.23. Late Night, offers information on community events and local politics in Kingston; and Ulster County. We have a lot of important shows coming up and look forward to your input, please leave a comment on who you would like to see on the show, and I would be happy to ask them to come on, maybe even yourself? Jeremy would be happy to have you on. Also any topics that you would like to be discussed would be considered as well. I look forward to hearing you.


Future Shows:

2/12 Robb Kinnin, Call Everyone.com

2/19 Dan Gartenstein, Esq. Kingston School Board

2/26 Senator Bill Larkin, State Senator

Bill's Dems announce plans for re-election

Alderman Reynolds and the members of the Democratic caucus have all announced their plans to run again in November, except for Alderman Walker, who has foolishly chosen to run for higher office.

I wish all the candidates the best of luck, the city needs their continued leadership.

Blaber's News persons of the week: Emily Dubord, Huma Imitraz, and Erica Pulmia

Blaber's News persons of the week are kids from the Kingston school district that recently were recipients of this months Mayoral awards that are given out monthly for kids that go above and beyond normal day to day courtesies. This is a program put on by Kingston Cares and the Kingston School District with the cooperation of Mayor Jim Sottile. This program is an important building block for the youth of this community. In the words of F.D.R. "We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future."



Congratulations to this months recipients:

Emily Dubord, Huma Imitraz, and Erica
Pulimia

Assemblyman Ball get off the KOOL AID!

"This is the most dysfunctional legislature in the United States of America."

Keep drinking the Kool Aid, Mr. Ball. By the way tell me how many bathrooms their are in the NYS Legislative building...While your cleaning them for Silver.