The Ramapo blog promised for Tuesday (Jan. 13) has been postponed so I can go to the Ramapo Planning Board meeting that night. The meeting, as some might recall, was supposed to be last Tuesday (Jan. 6), but was cancelled because of the ice storm.

I apologize for this cancellation. We will resume the blog on Tuesday, Jan. 20, at noon.

County Legislator Alden Wolfe, D-Suffern, introduced a resolution today that recognizes “Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks from Hamas.”

The resolution is not binding in any way, but Wolfe said taking a stand regarding Israel and Hamas was important.

“My feeling is that we should add our voice to those around the world who are expressing support of Israel as it defends itself against terrorism,” Wolfe said today.

Israel is currently engaged in a war against Hamas in Gaza.

Read his entire press release, verbatim, below.

The Stony Point Town Board might be ready to adopt the proposed local law, which would regulate how businesses conduct environmental cleanups, at its Tuesday meeting at 7 p.m. at Rho building in Letchworth Village.

The proposed law, the Environmental Protection and Abandoned Commercial Property Reclamation Law, would directly empower the Town Board to regulate business owners’ environmental cleanups.

During a series of public hearing that opened in April, representatives from Mirant, which is demolishing its Lovett Generating Station in Tomkins Cove, expressed the their concerns, arguing that the law targeted the plant and conflicted with state law.

The town has been circulating the draft of the law to different agencies to receive their input.

Dennis Lynch, the town’s special counsel, said if new input would not require the town to change the draft, the Town Board might move to adopt the proposal Tuesday.

On Thursday, Jan. 29, the Zoning Board of Appeals will be looking at a variety of issues that could draw the interest of residents.

They range from a proposed sushi kitchen in a Monsey residential neighborhood that would supply a catering service, to a take-out restaurant off Route 45 in Hillcrest, to an office building on Route 59, to a yeshiva in Monsey, to a local house of worship with a rabbi’s residence, also in Monsey, to several proposed multifamily houses, some with accessory apartments.

All of the applicants are seeking variances for their enterprises from the town’s zoning code.

The meeting begins at 8:15 p.m. in Town Hall, 237 Route 59, Airmont.

The village of Spring Valley has re-designed its Web site.

If you go to www.villagespringvalley.org, you will now see holiday closing information, as well detailed information by department — including the names and telephone numbers of department heads and the cost for fees, licenses or permits.

In some cases, department heads have written brief introductions of themselves.

There is also a history of the village’s incorporation, as well as an updated message from Mayor George O. Darden.

Click here to see the re-designed site.

Harriet Cornell’s place in county history has been included in the federal Congressional Record, the legislator told those gathered last night to see her unanomoulsy reappointed as chairwoman of the Rockland County Legislature.

Senator Hillary Clinton, whom Cornell has worked with for a number of years, included the fact that Cornell is the only Rockland County legislator ever named to chair the Legislature for a fifth term.

Cornell was first elected in 1984 and is one of just 12 women who’ve served in the Legislature during the government body’s 38-year history. The West Nyack Democrat is also the only woman to ever regularly preside as chair.

Last night, she delivered a speech offering her overview of how things went for the county in 2008, and expressing her hopes for success in 2009.

Read her speech, verbatim, after the break.

State Senator Thomas Morahan, R-New City, issued a statement today in reaction to Gov. David Paterson’s State of the State speech, in which the gov outlined a rather bleak future for us New Yorkers.

Paterson, and the state Legislature, are trying to close a $15.4 billion deficit over the next two years, the worst deficit ever faced by New York state. The governor has proposed a $121 billion budget for 2009-10, which keeps spending flat from the current fiscal year.

The Legislature, including Morahan, is required to pass a spending plan by April 1, but Paterson wants it passed by March 1, saying such action would save the state about $1.3 billion.

Tough though times are, Morahan says taxes and fees must be the last resort.

“At a time when so many New Yorkers are worried about their financial future, tax and fee increases should be the last resort, not the first,” Morahan said. “I will continue to stand strong in opposition to increasing taxes or making cuts that would force increases in local property taxes.”

Read Morahan’s full statement, verbatim, after the break.

Rep. Eliot Engel, D-New York, was sworn in yesterday to his 11th term in Congress.

In a statement issued today, Engel said he would work to make health care available to everyone, to push for education reform, and to support President-elect Barack Obama’s plans for an economic stimulus to help the nation’s economy.

“Taking the oath of office as a member of Congress reaffirms for me, my determination to work for the people of my district and for the country,” Engel stated. “The problems facing America today require the highest level of commitment, and I pledge to work as hard as I can to work in Congress towards solving these problems.”

Engel represents Congressional District 17, which covers part of the Bronx; and all of Mount Vernon and parts of Yonkers, Hastings-on-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington and Tarrytown in Westchester County; and Orangetown, parts of Clarkstown and most of Ramapo in Rockland.

The Congress job pays about $169,500 annually.

You can read his full news release, verbatim,  after the break.

County Legislator Joseph Meyers, D-Airmont, has issued a statement today in which he condemns the latest incident of a Nazi hate symbol showing up in Rockland.

Here is Meyers’ statement, verbatim:

Rockland County Legislator Joseph Meyers expressed his outrage over the latest display of swastikas, a Nazi hate symbol.  On Monday, Suffern residents reported finding three such symbols carved into the ice on Foxwood Pond, a popular community retreat for ice skating and year-round hiking.  One carving was 15-by-15, surrounded by two smaller versions. In November, vandals painted swastikas along a Clarkstown road and more recently, destroyed a large Menorah on the grounds of the Nanuet Hebrew Center.

Meyers, the County Legislator in District 12, which includes the Foxwood Pond, joins other members of the community in condemning such outrageous actions of hate and religious intolerance.  “The use of this symbol becomes even more offensive at this time of year as we join in the celebration of our diverse religious beliefs.  This is a shameful act which must be condemned publicly by all decent citizens,” said Meyers, adding “Religious and ethnic diversity is the key foundation of our Country.  These despicable acts only serve to bring our communities closer as we look for ways to alleviate racial and religious intolerance in our society.”

The first anniversary of the Poet’s Café will feature special guest appearances by spoken word artists including D-Black, Rainmaker and Tammy.

Organized by the United Youth Movement and Diedre Frater — the social worker who’s started youth cultural programs in Spring Valley — the event will be 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday at Origin, a book, art and coffee store located on the first floor of the Nanuet Mall on Route 59.

Described on the event Web site as “an evening of literary prose,” the night is free — and it’s Open Mic, too, for those of you who want to showcase your performance chops …

For more information, call 845-215-9482 or click here.

The holidays are over, everyone is miserably back at work or school, and I regret to inform all of you that the Orangetown Highway Department wants to remind us all of that fact by taking away our beloved Christmas trees. Admittedly, I never had one, being of another religious persuasion (Summum), but if you would like the highway department to pick up your trees, just place them out at the curb, not on the road. The pickup program ends Friday, Jan. 30.

And, for more info, call the highway department at 845-359-6500.

The threat of an ice and snow storm has cancelled tonight’s (Jan. 6) Planning Board meeting. The session was re-scheduled for 8 p.m. Jan. 13 in Town Hall. Let’s all hope for clear skies.

A state appeals panel last month upheld the drug and weapon possession convictions of a Spring Valley man sentenced during 2006  to seven years as a repeat felony offender.

Horace Shackleford, now 27, will remain in Oneida Correctional Facility until December 2011 at the earliest.

The Appellate Division ruled acting State Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bartlett had wide discretion to determine the testimony of the Spring Valley police officers Frances Brooke and Joseph Brown was credibility, along with other evidence, to convict Shackleford of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Bartlett has not always looked favorably at Spring Valley police investigations in other cases, including those involving drug arrests and investigation into possible corruption.

“Contrary to the defendant’s contention, the record in this case amply supports the hearing court’s determination to credit police testimony, as well as the court’s factual findings that the vehicle in which the defendant was riding as a passenger was lawfully stopped for a traffic infraction,” the panel wrote in a decision released Dec. 3.

Following the car stop,  Brown ended up patting down Shackleford and finding a bag inside his jacket. Brown felt the bag contained a heavy metal object. The officer  testified that the object in the bag did not feel like a gun, “but you can’t determine what it feels like.”

The panel ruled the officers took reasonable action to remove Shackleford from the car and pat him down based on his hand movements and refusal to follow police directions.

The panel also ruled that since  Brown could not rule out the possibility that the object was a weapon, he was justified in seizing the bag.

Brown and Brooke subsequently inspected the contents of the bag and found a metal scale and a large white rock substance that appeared to be crack cocaine. The officers’ search of the bag within the defendant’s grabbable reach was a proper safety precaution under the circumstances, the panel ruled.

Shackleford previously served 1 to 3 years in prison for a drug possession conviction in Ulster County, being released in 2005.

Rockland County Legislature Chairwoman Harriet Cornell, D-West Nyack, presents her fifth annual legislative address during tomorrow’s County Legislature meeting, its first of 2009.

The session starts at 7 p.m. at the Allison-Parris County Office Building, 11 New Hempstead Road in New City.

Legislators will vote to select a chairperson for 2009.

Then they’ll attend to a variety of appointing business – naming a vice chairperson, a legislative clerk, and a deputy clerk, and electing a majority and minority leader.

County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef gets his shot at an annual address, but his spokeswoman said last night that no date had yet been set for the executive’s 2009 State of the County.

In this 2006 photo by staffer Kathy Gardner, Cornell discusses the No Child Left Behind Act at Rockland Community College.

Tomorrow night’s Planning Board meeting (8 p.m., Jan. 6) could be of interest to history and film buffs.

One item on the agenda is for a yeshiva with dormitory rooms for students on the former Burgess Meredith estate off Camp Hill Road, just east of the village of Pomona.

The stage and screen actor – one of his last roles was as Rocky Balboa’s trainer in the original “Rocky” film – lived in the rambling farmhouse in the 1930s and 1940s.

Historians believe that the house was also used by Gen. Gilbert du Montier Lafayette, a Revolutionary War leader, as a headquarters.

The village has received $6,500 from the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to survey and catalogue properties of interest. It’s expected that the listing could help the village preserve its 18th and 19th century farmsteads that line many of its stone wall-lined roads.

Do you have any suggestions for the village board and Craig Long, the village historian?