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, " 1 • • ,,:' .~, • DO NOT CIRCULATE B~HLEHE. PUBUC UBURY ApnllO, 1991_<:,>_ ...... 1 ~'il=\ :r::, i:' /l~)":, / en - Sl~ ., ... ;;J. ...... " He rl-l V'UF.:H_ T!..- L! r::!-;'I'~l:': { Vol. XXXV, No. 16 • 1.11::'1 j Dr: I {\~'u'::.nF.- Al,)[ The weekly newspaper serving the towns of 1'1.... Bethlehem and New Scotland Selkirk SAFER rumbles over truck traffic Problem for hamlet Residents want action By Mike Larabee By Regina Bulman Selkirk residents know it well. Hun· Bethlehem Supervisor Ken Ringler dreds of times every day, trucks rumble told a crowd of roughly 80 Selkirk resi­ through the middle of the tiny hamlet, on dents at Selkirk Firehouse 2 Monday their way to and from Route 144 and night that he's in favor of closing off the Thruway exit 22. People want it stopped, hamIet's main artery, Route 396, to truck but town officials say the problem is traffic. complex and, in a time of fiscal belt·tight· But he said an alternative route first ening, won't be easy to solve. must be selected and evaluated before Supervisor Ken Ringler last week the town can bar trucks from the section described town efforts to resolve what he of road. The Selkirk portion of Route 396 termed "a very serious situation," and links Route 9W to Route 144 near exit 22 met Monday night with Selkirk's year· of the state Thruway. and-a-half-old SAFER (Selkirk Associa· Many residents said the level of traffic tion For Every Resident) neighborhood on Route 396 is dangerous. Helen Bren­ group. nan, who lives along Route 396, said she "It's a very winding road and it's very used to ride her bicycle in the area until dangerous in my view and the view of the she had a close call with a passing truck. residents down there," Ringler said of the "You can't take a walk, you can't walk section of Route 396 that swings through your dog, you can't ride your bike," she Selkirk and serves as its central artery. said. "You can't do anything but sit in the "'There's no question it's a problem. The house and listen to the noise. The trucks A group of Selkirk residents is trying to put a stop to truck traffic on question is how to solve the problem." run the town." Route 396 through the hamlet. Elaine McLain ,The "problem," according to Deputy Two young boys in Scout uniforms, Town Planner Ellen Kost, has now been who said they have paper routes along well-documented. A town count, where 396, said they've had near misses as well. NEW SCOTLAND trucks on the road were stopped and interviewed about their origin, destina­ "We've both come pretty close to get­ tion, and intended route, totalled 207 over ting hit," said Bubba Wagner. "I canreach the course of 10 hours on a "very cold day out (while riding a bicycle) and get my Clerk, supervisor in January," she said. And Kost said win­ whole arm taken off. It's pretty crazy." ter truck traffic is much lower than what Michael Wedell said he's been run off the is routine the rest of the year, especially road twice. conflict intensifies when work at Callanan Industries in South "Everyone is concerned about kids Bethlehem is at peak. For example, a getting hit, but if people knew what was By Dehi Boucher supervisor has very little authority over state Department of Transportation being transported in those trucks they New Scotland Town Clerk Edita abstracts," she said. (DOl) truck tally in May 1990 was be- wouldn't even be out on the streets," said Probst's assertion that Supervisor Her­ At issue was a bill for engineering HAMLET/page 24 RESIDENTS/page 15 bert Reilly improperly altered a financial work on the Onesquethaw Creek Bridge, ' document has intensified existing ten· replaced after a town refuse truck . .." sions between the two officials, who are knocked down the original structure in " both up for re-election this fall. 1972. Reilly later explained that the bill Probst charged at last week's town was for engineering that was never used, NYPIRG official,'c-ttiz;~if board meeting that Reilly had changed a since the county found the plans by figure on a financial abstract - a listing of Laberge Engineering unacceptable. .feud over Ref-Fuel plan bills approved for payment - for the Shocked by the original $54,000 sum month of March after she had already Laberge charged for the work - which it certified the document. had not budgeted for - the town ap­ By Susan Graves he speaks in favor of the burn plant "I pealed to county officials, who negoti­ John Thomas, a Glenmont resident think he has a very clear coriflict of Reilly did not deny changing the fig­ ated with Laberge to arrive atthe $28,000. interest. It's crucial he reveal his ure, and said Probst had been on vacation and proponent of the Ref-Fuel proposal Although that sum was included in the to site a waste incinerator on Cabbage affiliation," she said. at the time the alteration took place. He explained that the change was made to a town's bridge account during 1991 budget Island in Bethlehem, said critics who Enck said because Roy Weston, Inc. planning, Reilly said he and Councilma:1 object to his not identifying himself as is a "large consulting firm that makes a $28,500 bill from Albany County which the board had voted to pay, but was later John Sgarlata aPpealed to the county for an employee of Roy F. Weston, Inc., are lot of money in the garbage incineration consideration on the bill because of anti6 off the mark. He claims Judith Enck industry," Thomas has "an obligation reduced to half the amount by the county, which agreed to allow the town to pay the pated shortfalls likely to be caused by and other NYPIRG workers have more to tell the public" who he works for. state cutbacks. If per capita aid to cities of a vested interest in the project "It's not like he works for the telephone $14,250 balance next year without charg­ ing any interest. and towns in eliminated, he later said, because they are paid to oppose the company," she said. New Scotland stands to lose $75,000. plan. Probst said her point was that Reilly Not so, saidThomas."I will continue Reilly said he had attached a note to the "Enck and others earn their living to say I am speaking as a resident of shouldn't have changed theabstractwith­ out the board's approval, and without bill stating that he and Sgarlata had re­ by OPPOsing issues such as this," he Glenmont. I live less than two miles quested consideration of partial payment, said. from the site, "where Ref-Fuel wants to notifying her, and that his action was not build the incinerator, he said. legal. Reilly responded that code num­ so that councilmen would know the full Enck, senior environmental bers on the abstracts were routinely amount might not have to be paid. Sgar­ associate for New York Public Interest But Thomas said he resents Enck changed by him or his account clerk if lata said the resolution approving pay­ Research Group, Inc., thinks Thomas and NYPIRG for associating what he . they were incorrect; after Probst had ment of the bill had authorized the super­ should reveal his work affiliation when FEUD/page 24 turned them in. Probst later denied that visor to pay "up to" $28,500, and that any such alterations took place. "'The CONFUCT/page 10 3TAJU~?1~ TOt1 Of] . New Bethlehem school budget to hike taxes 6 percent By Susan Wheeler The budget, down from the ini­ difficult year," he said. "We've done taxpayers face a tax rate of$237.57 producing a "politically acceptable" tial proposal of $30.5 million, was an awful lot of looking for reduc- per· thousand assessed valuation, budget. He said the board had to T1Ie Bethlehem Central School arrived at lasf week after nearly tions. There's been a large num' or an increase of $13.46 per thou­ cutthe programs they did to bring . District Board of Education two months of discussions that ber of rJ"ductions in the support· sand. New Scotland taxpayers will the tax rate increase to 6 percent. adopted a $29,860,497 1991-92 reflectanetreduction by the board staff area as well as instructional pay $404.34 per thousand, an in­ Board member Peter Trent, budget, an 8.47 percent increase of approximately $600,000, accord­ staff." - crease of $23.87 per thousand or over the current budget, wh\ch ing to Franz Zwicklbauer, assis­ Some ofthe cuts the board has 6.3 percent, according to who seconded the move to accept meansa6percenttaxrateincrease tant superintendent in charge of accepted include reductions to the Zwicklbauer. The true value rate, the budget,· said that the admini­ for Bethlehem taxpayers. business. "It's been an extremely teaching staff in the music depart- which converts assessed value to stration gave the board the oppor- mentand the Challenge program, ______________________ the high school guidance depart­ ment, the athletics program, and "/ don't think any of us feel great about the support staff at the middle and high schools. The board decided the cuts or feel great about the tax rate on several additions for the up­ Increase.. " Bernard Harvith comingyear, includingfiveelemen­ tary teachers, support staff for the elementary school additions and current market value, has de- tunity for "more input on the filling supervisors' positions creased to $19.12 per thousand changes" by providing facts and should they become vacant from $20.13, he said.

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