Schwarzenegger’s Plan to Terminate State Parks

The Governator is considering saying "Hasta La Vista" to state parks. Photo Courtesy of Business Week.

Read the Text of this article on National Geographic Adventure Magazine’s blog here.

South Carolina Governor Disappears to Hike the AT, Detours to Argentina

Disgraced South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is dismayed. Photo courtesy of NY Daily News.

Read the text of this article on National Geographic Adventure’s blog here.

Missing Air France Flight Unlikely to Produce Lost-Like Survivors

Rescuers recover a piece of Flight 447's tail. Photo courtesy of the Brazilian Navy.

Read the text of this article on National Geographic Adventure’s blog here.

Mother’s Day Gift: A New Women’s Kayaking World Record

METLAKO FALLS, Ore. – Christie Glissmeyer had a special gift in mind for her mom on Mother’s Day.  She just had to make sure she survived it, first.

Glissmeyer, a 30 year-old professional kayaker and native of Huber City, Utah, set a new women’s world record for a waterfall descent on Mother’s Day, dropping 82-foot Metlako Falls in Oregon.  The previous world record stood at 78 feet and was set in 1998 by Shannon Carroll.

Christie Glissmeyer Going Big - Photo Courtesy of Paddling Life Magazine

“I told my mom about it eventually, but I waited until afterward so she wouldn’t worry,” Glissmeyer said of the drop’s timing.  “I wanted to make sure I was safe beforehand.  Otherwise, that’d be the worst mother’s day gift.”

Most of Glissmeyer’s attention is ordinarily focused on whitewater kayak racing and rightly so, as she is undefeated halfway through her season in Oregon so far with three races left to go.  But, why not take some time off on the weekend to relax, hurtle yourself 80 feet down a roaring waterfall and set a new world record, right?

“I honestly don’t run bid drops that often,” Glissmeyer admitted, saying her previous best was a series of 30 to 40 foot drops.  “I do more racing and that kind of thing, but this was a fall that really intrigued me and I decided to go run it.”

And run it she did along with Todd Wells, a 17 year old from Trout Lake, Oregon, who also set the world junior record on the same day.  One wonders if Wells had to ask mom’s permission beforehand and, thus, spoiled the surprise.

Glissmeyer said Metlako, despite its height, provided a smooth entrance into the falls and a very soft landing.  And the combination made for a safe and memorable day.

“It’s a very straight forward drop,” she said modestly.  “You start in a big, calm pool and you have a perfect

Glissmeyer Geared Up - Photo Courtesy of Wendmag.com

spouting ramp.  And you end up in a deep, calm pool.  So, I felt like it was pretty manageable for me to run safely.  Even still, I definitely had a moment at the top where I had to relax because I was getting pretty nervous.”

It didn’t hurt that Glissmeyer had a few friends, including Evan Garcia and Eric Brewer, that had run Metlako previously and helped give her advice and spot her landings.  Plus, kayaking is also in her blood.  Her dad is a rafter and had her out on the water from as far back as she can remember.

After finishing up her racing season, Glissmeyer has her sights set on paddling in various spots around the world.  She’s already been to the White Nile River in Uganda, which she says is one of her favorites, and she’d like next to head to Ledak in Northern India, where “there’s a bunch of class 4 and 5 multi-day self-support trips” that she’d like to do.

In the meantime, she’s content to live and kayak in the Columbia River Gorge, which she sees as one of the best places to paddle anywhere in the world.  And as for why she loves her sport so much?

“The adventure aspect is a huge part of it,” she said.  “I can go into gorges where there’s no other way in [beside kayaking].  The healthy lifestyle, staying in shape, getting away from the stress and the crowds, and just enjoying life.  Plus, there’s always a new challenge…a new fall.”

The last line sure doesn’t do much to make one believe she won’t go bigger, either.

Paddling Life Magazine has a good article here.

Salem Budget Plan Has 2.87% Decrease

SALEM, Conn. – Dropping revenues and rising costs are forcing town officials to propose one of the leanest budgets in years while still trying to maintain certain services the public is deeming non-negotiable.

The newest proposal, including a number of changes adopted as a result of a widely attended and occasionally contentious public hearing on April 8, stands at $13.9 million, a 2.87 percent decrease from 2008-09. This includes a 1.18 percent rise in the general government allocation, a 0.65 percent decrease for the Board of Education and a 37 percent reduction in capital spending.

”This is how democracy is supposed to work,” said First Selectman Bob Ross. “The Board of Finance is doing its best to bring services in at the lowest possible rate.”

Ross said Salem is not “issuing as many building permits, conveyance taxes or seeing a lot of people buying new cars or land.” He said the town could have a tax-rate increase of as much as a half-mill.

Most at issue are layoffs, the first proposed in Salem in 25 years, which would eliminate a $12,000 town clerk assistant position, $11,000 worth of summer help positions and a $27,000 full-time public works maintainer.

Townspeople spoke out adamantly at the public hearing against elimination of one of the resident state troopers, arguing that in tough times crime rates tend to go up.

The Board of Finance put the trooper back into the budget and added $5,800 to general-government funds for a custodian to open the school’s gym early for summer recreation programs and $17,000 into the Board of Education budget to restore school recreation programs, including the late bus.

Balancing services against the need to hold down costs is proving particularly difficult on the general-government side, where employee benefit costs are set to rise $35,000 because of health care premium increases, an increase Ross said may push the town toward a new insurance provider next year. For the first time, Salem will also have to pay $30,000 in unemployment expenses this coming year.

Salem general-government salaries as a whole are set to decrease by $22,500, or 2.73 percent, factoring in the proposed layoffs and certain concessions from employees and unions.

Most of the remaining town salaries are proposed to receive 3 percent increases, which town officials have kept in line with similar scheduled increases in unionized salaries. The selectmen elected to forgo their token compensation, totaling just over $11,000, to help offset these costs.

Salem will hold its town meeting May 6 and its referendum May 13.

This article originally appeared on B1 of the New London Day and is available online here: http://theday.com/re.aspx?re=fb8c2acd-2047-462c-9201-079e22147467

Salem Proposing First Layoffs in 25 Years

SALEM, Conn. – Facing tight constraints in a tough budget year, the town of Salem is proposing its first series of layoffs in 25 years.

After a special meeting on March 19, the Board of Finance asked the Board of Selectmen to cut $75,000 from the general government budget and the Board of Education to cut $240,000 from the schools’ proposal. Having already pared their plans significantly prior to the meeting, both boards were left with little choice but to start eliminating or reorganizing positions.

”These are not cuts that anyone is advocating. They are reluctant recommendations based on a requirement by the Board of Finance,” First Selectman Bob Ross said. “ They are what we see as the least harmful, but any time you cut staff it comes with an impact on service.”

Ross said these are the first layoffs he can recall in 25 years in the town. They include eliminating a town clerk assistant, a full-time public works maintainer and two summer help positions, as well as sending one resident state trooper back to the barracks. The proposed layoffs would result in only two actual job losses for the town, since the two summer help positions have not yet been filled and the state trooper would still be employed, just not stationed in Salem.

The Board of Selectmen discussed alternatives to the proposed layoffs, including approaching the public works and firefighters unions and asking them to restructure their contracts and concede annual cost-of-living raises, which they were unwilling to do. Ross was then forced to compose a list of potential cuts to winnow the budget by the necessary $75,000.

”Even with all these reductions we’ve made in the proposal, we’re still looking at a $300,000 to $400,000 increase in taxes, and that reflects a one-and-a-half to two percent increase from last year,” Board of Finance Chairman Bill Weinschenker said. “I’m not even sure the proposal we have on the table right now is palatable to the public.”

The cuts come amid a general government budget that includes 3 percent pay increases for most town employees, as well as similar increases scheduled in the public works and firefighters union contracts.

However, Ross was quick to point out, “all told, you’re talking about $37,000 of pay increases, which is spread out over 30 to 40 employees, and in the grand scheme, that is small. Nobody is getting rich in municipal government, people are just eking by.”

The Board of Selectmen approved the layoffs in a special meeting March 24, though Ross said the votes were far from unanimous. He added that the forced budget reductions are a revenue problem, not the result of irresponsible spending.

”What changed this year is the dramatic decline in revenues and you simply can’t spend money you don’t have, “ Ross said. “We’ve cut capital back as far as I think we should at this point and the downsizing on personal property, licensing fees and things of that sort, as people cut back on their expenses, means that the town loses a lot of revenue and that’s what forces us to scale back on the budget.”

Overall, Salem’s budget proposal – currently $13,807,516 – reflects about a 3 percent decrease from last year. The general government portion stands at $3 million, while the school board is asking for just under $10 million and $650,000 is planned for capital expenditures.

The Board of Education will hold a special meeting on Monday to finalize its budget proposal before the Board of Finance holds its public hearing at the Gardner Lake Firehouse at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The proposal will then go to a town meeting, followed by a referendum.

This article originally appeared on B1 of the New London Day and is available online here: http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=755ddded-bdaa-44cc-9c6e-93a854677b55

Solar Savvy Beats Snuggies

EAST LYME, Conn. – This spring, East Lyme High School is growing something unique in its new rooftop garden: organic electricity.

The 481-kilowatt, photovoltaic solar system includes a “garden” of more than 2,900 solar panels, from which the school started drawing power for the first time on March 9. The system’s sunlight harvest is expected to account for 25 to 30 percent of ELHS’s annual electricity needs, saving it approximately $1.2 million over the next 20 years.

“Even on a cloudy day, we’re still pulling plenty of electricity from it,” East Lyme Public Schools business manager Don Meltabarger said while surveying the array of panels atop the main building. “I’m curious to see what our first electric bill will look like.”

The project is the result of a contract between ELHS and Constellation Energy, a nationally recognized and publicly traded company that has financed and built more than $1 billion in energy related projects to date. Under their power purchase agreement, Constellation owns and maintains the solar equipment for the next 20 years and sells the energy it produces to the school at a rate of 12 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh).

To put this figure in perspective, Meltabarger said ELHS currently pays Connecticut Light & Power 18 cents per kWh and uses about 2.4 million a year. Saving more than 30 percent on the energy the school buys from Constellation will add up greatly over time, likely saving the school about $12,000 in the first year alone.

All told, the project cost $4.1 million and was financed entirely by Constellation Energy, less a $1.8 million grant the company won from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund if they completed the work by Dec. 31, 2008. Constellation receives a 30 percent federal tax credit and state tax benefits on the work, as well, and then transfers ownership to ELHS after the 20-year contract expires, when the grid will still have 80 percent of its operational capacity.

An added bonus is that ELHS teachers and students have a whole new solar system to study and learn from, complete with a Web site that provides real-time reports of the system’s electrical output. The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund’s grant includes a provision that requires teachers to build the project’s function and data into their students’ curriculum.

“We’ll tie in the Web site’s energy collection capabilities; many of our math projects and problems will be based on the data we collect from the grid,” said ELHS science teacher Laura Rotchford. “The whole concept of think global, act local—that’s what our students will be seeing firsthand.”

Meltabarger said the solar panel project has been on East Lyme’s to-do list for years but was tabled until the school’s roof was replaced to ensure it could bear the weight of the new system. ELHS finally got 125,000 square feet of new roofing in 2007, which enabled project organizers to finally move forward. The new panels will actually help preserve the life of the replaced roof, as well.

The solar garden is one of many steps East Lyme plans to take toward becoming more environmentally friendly. The school’s Ecology Club just received a $5,000 grant toward green initiatives for an honorable mention it received in a video and essay competition, and Meltabarger said the school is exploring everything from natural light harvesting and geothermal energy to things as simple as composting lunchroom leftovers.

In the meantime, the new solar system is enough to give ELHS bragging rights, as it is the largest solar installation at a public school in Connecticut, according to Meltabarger. It certainly beats the fictitious plan announced in the school’s newspaper on April Fool’s Day, claiming ELHS had decided to not turn on the heat for an entire year and, instead, go green by purchasing a large quantity of Snuggies to keep its students and faculty warm and save money on graduation gowns.

For more information or to see the real-time project Web site, visit ELHS’s Web site or www.fatspaniel.com and look under “live sites” for the East Lyme location.

This article originally appeared in the Lyme Times and is available here: http://zip06.theday.com/blogs/lyme_times/archive/2009/04/09/solar-savvy-east-lyme-high-school-turns-on-the-solar-power.aspx

People Putting Stock in Salem Library

SALEM, Conn. – Set to receive a $100,000 grant in June and with visitors arriving in ever-increasing numbers, the Salem Free Public Library is looking at a bright future despite the recession.

According to statistics released this week by Jackie Hemond, Salem’s head librarian, the library’s patron base has increased by 720 members since July 2008 to 3,232, a 29 percent jump. It has also seen a sizeable rise in the use of the services and resources it offers.

”I’ve been in the library business for quite a long time, and to me this [uptick] is pretty unique,” Hemond said. “I’ve seen use increase before, but this time is different. It’s much more noticeable.”

Hemond believes as the economy continues to slow, people are seeking out inexpensive (or in this case, free) options for entertainment and information, and the library is topping locals’ lists. Computer use at the facility was up 205 percent from September to February, interlibrary loans have jumped 122 percent from July to February and the library’s total circulation has risen by 3,203, or 8 percent, since July of last year.

According to its Web site, Salem’s library used to be housed in an 864-square-foot colonial building with books piled so high they encircled windows and displaced chairs. Since December 2004, when the library moved to its new building, which is roughly 10 times the size of the old one, it has been able to expand its offerings substantially and develop an ambitious vision for the future.

The library is trying to continue to improve the resources and programs and assist the rising number of visitors while operating on a tight budget.

Judy Rabe, the chairwoman of the Salem Library Board, said the library’s operating budget was $19,530 this fiscal year, and the Salem Board of Finance sent letters to all town departments requesting that their budget requests for the upcoming year not exceed a 1 percent increase.

For the library, this means it would be able to add $195 at most, which Rabe said “doesn’t do much.” Fortunately, the library learned last September that it would be getting a $100,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Southeastern Connecticut as part of the organization’s “Love Our Libraries” initiative.

”We had a couple large gifts in the last fiscal year, and the timing was such that it was our 25th anniversary and we wanted to do something special for the community,” said Jennifer O’Brien, the Community Foundation’s program director. “Our board tried to find something that we could do for every town that would have a nice, wide impact, and the winning idea was to take the 13 libraries in the 11 towns we serve and give them each up to $100,000 to help them.”

The libraries are free to use the funds at their discretion, though the Community Foundation is still reviewing and finalizing the details of the libraries’ individual proposals. The monies will be distributed in June, which is determined to be an ideal time as by then town budgets will likely have been finalized.

The Salem library plans to use the grant to expand its technological offerings, such as paying for the recently installed Value Line system, a powerful financial database and research resource it believes will be particularly useful to patrons in the down economy and will attract new visitors.

The grant also will go toward the implementation of Bibliomation, the library’s new online catalog, and toward improving the programs it sponsors. The library currently hosts a book club, a knitting club and a variety of other events, but the grant money will allow it to branch out.

”We’d love to be able to do outreach programs for people that are homebound and that kind of thing,” Rabe said, “and the grant will make that possible.”

Rabe pointed out how much the library has benefited from Hemond’s work and vision since she took over as head librarian in March of last year. Rabe and Hemond both want to see the library become a top community destination and believe the grant and their continued hard work will help make that possible.

”I think Salem used to be viewed as a small-town library,” Hemond said, “but we’re going to have an online catalog people can access from home, a new Web site … these are things that other libraries have had for years and years but Salem didn’t, and so these kinds of things will really help us move forward.”

This article orginally appeared in the New London Day and is available online here: http://theday.com/re.aspx?re=1963e726-f047-46cb-a437-77434c43d7c4

Books in a Barn

Second Package Rought Draft for Broacast Journalism class at Quinnipiac University.

Snow Country’s No Country for Southern New Englanders

First Package Rough Draft for Broadcast Journalism class at Quinnipiac Univerisity.