EDITORIAL: Buenos dias

By PARRY TEASDALE

DID YOU KNOW that Columbia County is under a state of emergency? The declaration announcing the emergency was issued at noon Wednesday, May 24, 2023, by Matt B. Murell, chairman of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors.

The declaration says that federal policy has caused too many immigrants and foreign asylum seekers to gather in New York City. So New York City plans to send some of these travelers somewhere else “… outside of and nearby New York City, including Columbia County,” Chairman Murell said.

The chairman’s declaration reminded city and federal officials that Columbia County has “drastically less population, service providers [and] housing providers” compared to New York City. This makes Columbia County “incapable of receiving and sustaining the volume of migrants and/or asylum seekers that New York City may or intends to deliver….” Chairman Murell also let our downstate (New York) neighbors know that “Columbia County is already facing significant shortages in housing, medical care and transportation; together with a growing homeless population.”

Mr. Murell ®, the supervisor of the Town of Stockport, says that in an emergency, state law gives him more powers than he would normally have as chief executive of Columbia County So, he said, “I have

exercised the authority given to me under New York State Executive Law, Article 2-B, to preserve

Public Safety and hereby render all required and available assistance vital to the security, well-being,

and health of the citizens of this community.”

The 37-page Section of State of New York Executive Law cited by Mr. Murell does not appear to address the redistribution of immigrants at our doorstep. But it does mention “local disasters as including… rioting, catastrophe or similar public emergency.” What is clear is that Mr. Murell is the local official authorized to make the Emergency Declaration.

But his emergency declaration ends awkwardly, leaving readers uncertain whether it’s meant to be helpful advice or a threat when it says: “Additional local Emergency Orders will be promulgated by the Chairman of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors during this State of Emergency to further protect the life and property and to bring the emergency condition (s) under control.”

Chairman Murell took a prudent step last week if he knew how many immigrants and asylum seekers to prepare for. But where is this foreign threat and how would we know them from our children and grandchildren save for the language barrier?

County residents might have nodded their heads when the declaration listed the services and facilities this county lacks. But what if, among these guests allegedly heading here, there are nurses, teachers, veterinarians, mechanics, scientists and musicians. Or maybe it’s a bus filled with people fleeing endless cycles of cruelty. How could we convince them to stay?

This county has an Emergency Response Team whose job is to identify and protect county residents from all types of threats. Maybe that group can issue an assessment of immigrants, determining how many is too many for our county to handle.

But what this “emergency” should tell us is how far we must go to protect the county from the very real and immediate threat from climate change. We can’t send the climate back to where it came from and it won’t obey our laws. Let’s keep the focus where it belongs.

THROUGH THE WOODS: A Winter Garden of Amaryllis

In Communities - Columbia, The Columbia Paper

February 12, 2024

By NANCY JANE KERN

A FEW OF MY “YOUNGSTERS” insist on giving me something for Christmas, so over the years I have told them I would like an amaryllis bulb. It was something they did not know about and something that brought back fond memories of my childhood. We could share the wonder and amazement, just as I watched my grandmother’s bulb grow each winter. This would be something not too expensive and, to my surprise, I have received gigantic, jumbo amaryllis bulbs (2/year) each in a special pot, with names like “Red Lion,” and “Apple Blossom.” Directions were followed calling for modest watering and some sunlight from a south-facing window. It wasn’t long before a flower stalk started up from each bulb.

The red lion showed two stalks that seemed to shoot up as we watched. The stalks reached a height of 17” and each produced five 5” blossoms. The apple blossom was a slower bulb to flower with only one stalk and again it had five flowers that were 5” in diameter. Weeks went by with the last flowers fading as another stalk appeared on the apple blossom. It was a repeat performance that prolonged the enjoyment of these magnificent plants. The internet has helped update everyone with a series of emailed photos showing how the bulbs progressed. I didn’t know much about the origins of these plants, so again went to the internet to seek more information. These bulbs were named for the Greek nymph Amaryllis who fell in love with the handsome but icy-hearted shepherd, Alteo.

Alteo told her his only desire was to have a new flower brought to him. Amaryllis went to the Oracle at Delphi and was told to pierce her heart with a golden arrow at Alteo’s door. She dressed in maiden’s white and did this for 30 consecutive nights, dripping blood until he finally opened his door. There, outside, was only a flower with crimson petals that had sprung from the blood of Amaryllis’s heart.

Aside from this myth, one of the first mentions of the species in botanical literature is by Dr. Paul Hermann in Paradisus Batavus in 1698. This Dutch scientist described a plant sent to him from the New World tropics for identification in 1689. History is murky as to exactly when the amaryllis was discovered in South America. The cultivated species, genus Hippeastrum (hip-ee-ay-strum), is derived from the Andes Mountains of Chile, Peruand Bolivia as well as from Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela and as far north as Mexico and the West Indies. Thomas Jefferson enjoyed them as did many other prominent botanists and important people to the present. In the language of flowers of the Victorian era, the Amaryllis represented splendid beauty and was considered the queen of all bulbs. Centuries of intense and secretive cultivation and hybridization have given us over a thousand hybrids, and they are an important part of the immense, billions of dollars of the Dutch bulb-growing industry in Holland. The United States, Africa, and other countries also raise many varieties of Amaryllis bulbs. These bulbs are precious. They take about seven years or more to develop for market and pass through at least nine pairs of hands during harvesting and preparation to ship. A bulb needs at least five good leaves to regenerate itself after blooming, should be treated as a house plant, and can be set outside for the summer, watered, and fertilized. In September it is allowed to dry out in its pot and go dormant for about two months in a cool, dark area. To bloom, remove dead leaves, and water, and place in the light again. I have followed all of the instructions each year and now add the previous years too. It will be a magnificent winter garden to sustain us until spring flowers come again.

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