RAVENA — The Ravena Fire Department will host a steak dinner on Friday, Aug. 18, from 4-7 p.m.
Dinners are sold pre-order only. Purchase tickets by calling 518-756-2089.
Meals can be picked up at the firehouse, located at 116 Main St. in Ravena.
By Dick Brooks
For Capital Region Independent Media
I love words. I’ve always loved words. That’s not a strange statement coming from one who became an almost-famous columnist known near and far; well, near anyway.
I think the biggest “ah-ha” moment in my early days was when I finally figured out that odd parade of funny squiggles the teacher kept parading before me actually were symbols for the spoken words that I was already familiar with. I could communicate my thoughts and feelings to people far away. I could write down jokes and stories so I no longer had to commit them to memory, where they frequently got jumbled up or forgotten.
I quickly discovered that the big fat fibs I sometimes told that raised the teacher’s eyebrow brought praise and comments on my creative abilities when I wrote them on paper and handed them in.
The written word had power!
If I got angry at my parents as small children are sometimes wont to do, I could prevent getting grounded for life if instead of yelling my feelings at them, I went to my room, usually not a voluntarily chosen destination at such times, and wrote my feelings down on my wide-lined school tablet. I vented and vented and vented.
They were going to be sorry that they had treated me so cruelly when they found me dead of a broken heart. I wrote about their anguish when they discovered I had run away and been shanghaied by pirates and taken to strange lands. I wrote words that would have had me still burping soap bubbles at my advancing age today. I wrote until the fire in my gut died and the only sign of it were the “zup-zup” sounds of a kid who had been crying for a long time.
I then ripped the sheet of venom off the tablet and hid it where no living soul would ever find it — usually under my pillow — and slept the sleep that only a validated, long-suffering child can.
First thing in the morning, I’d pull the crumpled bile-soaked piece of paper from its hiding place, read it and usually chuckle at my naughtiness and then destroy the evidence completely — God forbid my mother should find it — and go downstairs to breakfast and a new day.
College came along and I discovered that words could get me the much-to-be-desired attention of the fairer sex. I got a set of bongo drums and started writing poetry. I quickly became one of the world’s greatest undiscovered poets.
I actually enjoyed painting word pictures of the events of the day. I could make my emotions come alive and impress girls at the same time. I got one published and I started being asked to read at local coffee houses, the “internet” in more primitive times.
Fame, respect and girls were mine — garnered not from my ability to knock people down on the football or soccer field but from what I could craft using my fondness for words and my somewhat limited intellect. Life was good!
Words still fascinate me at the far end of my life cycle. Now I sit before the computer instead of my Royal portable typewriter that served me so well in my youth and get to paint word pictures about my daily adventures in the sometimes confusing, usually amusing world of the almost-average senior citizen.
I will start collecting ideas for next week’s column as soon as I finish this one. All week long, I will add thoughts and phrases to the mental file I keep. Then, next Wednesday, after I see The Queen off to her adventure for the day and after Telly and I take a short walk and check the yard for invading squirrels, we return to the comfort of our old house. I sit down at the old desk that’s been mine since childhood, and I get to play with some of my oldest friends, words.
Thought for the week — “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
Until next week, may you and yours be happy and well.
Reach columnist Dick Brooks at Whittle12124@yahoo.com.
By Melanie Lekocevic
Capital Region Independent Media
COEYMANS — Long Energy filed suit against the town and joint planning/zoning board of appeals after a proposal to build a bulk fuel storage facility failed to get approval and ended in a 3-3 tie.
The Article 78 — a suit against a municipality — was filed May 26 by Marebo LLC, which owns Long Energy, in Albany County Supreme Court.
Named in the suit are the Coeymans town board; Robert Nolan, chairman of the planning/zoning board of appeals, Town Supervisor George McHugh; Town Clerk Candace McHugh; and Bernard Teriele and Joseph Cinque, member and alternate member of the planning/zoning board of appeals, respectively.
Other members of the joint board, including Patricia Grogan, Nathan Boomer, Melissa Stanton, Albert Collins and James Pietropaoli, were not named in the suit.
The project, which has been in the works since last summer, seeks to build a bulk fuel storage facility on five acres on Route 101. The site would include two fuel tanks with a capacity of 30,000 gallons each.
The planning/zoning board of appeals voted on the project April 26, leading to a tie vote.
Long Energy filed suit one month later.
“Ideally, the goal is to have the court, because of the egregious behavior shown by the planning board/zoning board and some of the members, to actually remand it for them to approve the project, or in the alternative, to give some more direction to make a decision,” attorney Beth Carey, general counsel for Long Energy, said.
In the Article 78 filed with the court, the claimant alleged the project was met with roadblocks throughout the review process because Robert Nolan, chairman of the planning/zoning board of appeals, owns a competing business in town.
“This matter involves a brazen and concerted effort by a select group of Town of Coeymans officials, who have systematically abused their authority and attempted the kill the project, for the benefit of their own personal business and financial interests,” according to the Article 78. “Marebo is an affiliate of Long Oil Heat, Inc., d/b/a Long Energy, which would operate the project and is a direct competitor of Town of Coeymans Planning Board Chairman… Robert Nolan.”
Nolan did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Town Supervisor George McHugh, who is also named in the suit, said the town acted legally and properly in the review process.
“The town looks forward to responding to Marebo, LLC’s petition at the appropriate time,” McHugh said in a statement. “We are confident that the facts will establish that the planning board acted lawfully at all times during the review of this special-use permit application.”
“As with any application, a project must demonstrate that it is in harmony with the town’s planning and zoning regulations,” McHugh continued. “We trust that the propaganda and narrative advanced by the applicant will be dispelled as the judicial process plays out. The Town of Coeymans remains a strong partner with the business community, as demonstrated by the significant business opportunities and industrial growth the town has enjoyed in recent years.”
Long said his company has received strong support from the community and submitted a petition urging the town to approve the project, signed by 243 residents.
“The citizens of the town are in support of this,” Long said. “We haven’t had any negative feedback from anybody.”
The company currently delivers fuel to its customers in the Coeymans area from existing facilities in Ghent and Duanesberg.
“We think it’s a shame that this even went this far,” Long said. “It’s really just a propane bulk storage plant — there’s dozens of them around the area. We are not new to the area, we are not a competitor coming to the area to take anything over. This is strictly an operational action that we are trying to do. The roadblocks have been incredible. We have never seen anything like this before.”
The Article 78 is currently before the Albany County Supreme Court.
