I've got a story, ain't got no moral. Let the bad guy win every once in a while.

MARCH 10, 2010: Back in the day, prophets who warned society about a coming pestilence were rewarded for their candor by being promptly thrown into an abyss.

Compare that to 14 months ago when Gov. David Paterson held a town hall-style meeting in Watertown. He said the state was going bankrupt. The reaction? He was promptly applauded by 450 people who thought it was a novel approach by a politician to speak the truth.

(Yes, my children, there once was a magical time in New York State when people wanted to applaud rather than indict their governor...)

As Paterson outlined the pending wailing and gnashing of teeth, lines began forming behind microphones in the aisles. And soon a number of local educational and non-profit leaders took turns saying much the same thing: “Governor, as you work to resolve the state's financial mess, please don't cut MY budget.”

From that moment on, it has been Groundhog Day over and over again in New York State. Every day Paterson says the state is financially broke. And every day every politician and agency leader in the state agrees with him. And then these same people respond, “but don't cut MY budget.”

(The one person who routinely disagrees with Paterson is Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. If Paterson says the state is $3 billion in the red, DiNapoli argues it is $4 billion. If Paterson says it's $4.2 billion, DiNapoli says it is $5 billion.)

That leaders of area institutions believe state budget cuts would be devastating is not surprising. There is nothing worse for managers than being dependent on the undependable.

But consider this: Almost every leader who spoke that day in Watertown represents a Northern New York institution that was created without state financial support.

One of the people who grabbed a mic that day was John F. Schwaller, president of SUNY-Potsdam, which got its start through good old north country ingenuity as St. Lawrence Academy in 1816.

This area is full of institutions that are now connected to the state at the hip, but were here long before the term “local member item” was created.

The Jefferson County Children's Home, Samaritan Keep, Jefferson Rehabilitation Center, DPAO... this list goes on. In many cases it was our lack of proximity to Albany and New York City that required-forced men and women of good will and vision to build the north country on their own. And not only did this region produce its own educational, medical and eleemosynary institutions, it also produced icons such as Flower, Woolworth and Dewey, who were so far ahead of their time that America had no choice but to adapt to them.

Our governments and institutions are all led by boards of local citizens who want to ensure the continuance of services our citizens have come to expect.

But read the newspaper regularly and you can see what has happened in the last 40 years. We have become a society that sees a need and responds: “I wonder if there is a grant for that?”

The region's woes will fester if we continue to embrace our normal parochialism. Like they say, the average person in Clayton will trust anyone on eBay before trusting someone from A. Bay.

And if they don't say that, they could say this: The effort to sustain a United Way in St. Lawrence County was stymied because it was being directed by folks from Jefferson County, and, well, we can't have that, can we?

A collective parochialism could be a dangerous thing in that our governments would have trouble hiding their duplication of services and costs. Small school districts, whose superintendents are merely glorified principals, and town governments, which exist to provide make-work programs for select families, might be in jeopardy.

But as we consider the challenges now facing schools, medical institutions and recreational facilities, we need to acknowledge that nothing in the north county is too big to fail.

Asking Massena to be interested in Gouverneur and Carthage to care about Sackets Harbor is asking much. But we are very close to the point where asking Albany and Washington to care about anybody is asking even more.

He was just 18, proud and brave, when a Yankee laid him in his grave. I swear by the mud below my feet you can't raise a Caine back up when he's in defeat.

MARCH 4, 2010: Leaders of governments and institutions can generally survive the unpopular decisions they make as long as their decisions are made ethically.

That's why opponents always try to make hay about a leader's supposed lack of ethics. And it's also why our reporters ask a lot of questions about how decisions are made in the north country. We know that the smallest of ethical lapses can taint or even undo the largest of decisions.

Decisions on the proposed wind farm in Cape Vincent will forever be tainted, for instance, because some of the officials voting to bring wind towers to the town will financially benefit from their construction. Even if wind turbines are never built, acrimony over the process between supporters and opponents of wind farms will fester in Cape Vincent for years to come.

All the feuding in the towns of Henderson and Hounsfield can be traced to allegations of unethical behavior by politicians. Did a politician use his office to prevent some legal action from taking place against him? Is a former office holder behind the scenes trying to undermine current elected officials?

Once everyone's ethics are challenged, the truly quirky often follows. How quirky? In Henderson last year, a feud arose over where flower baskets were purchased, and in Hounsfield a tiff recently took place over where town employees take their coffee breaks.

(The fact that the generally non-quirky village of Dexter, which is in the town of Brownville, was the source of both complaints is purely coincidental).

Some parents in the General Brown School District don't care for Superintendent Stephan J. Vigliotti, Sr., and are scratching around trying to find something unethical regarding the district's turnover rate of administrators. That's led to a lot of vague comments about Vigliotti's management style and demeanor, which even his supporters admit can be abrasive.

Compare that vagueness to what specifically happened in the Carthage School District. Its former superintendent, Carl H. Militello, ignored law and logic and unilaterally over-extended benefits to a newly hired administrator. Last year other administrators demanded the same benefits, and the school board figured paying everyone off would be cheaper than a lawsuit.

Institutions can goof up, too. The Family Counseling Service of Northern New York recently botched the selection of its new executive director when its search committee hired Collene Alexander “effective Monday morning” Jan. 25, even though other board members were not aware she was being considered for the job.

After a Times reporter started asking about the selection process, Alexander was then told to start work on Tuesday Jan. 26 so the whole board could meet the night before to formally — and thus, ethically — approve her hiring.

(Speaking of ethics, the search committee was run by James Heary, who is also the attorney for the Jefferson County Industrial Development Authority. That means he is tight as a tick with Collene Alexander's husband, IDA Executive Director Donald Alexander. So while Heary and Alexander on Jan. 25-26 were consumed during the day with getting the county legislature to approve putting 84 wind turbines on Galloo Island, Heary was still able to pull off some nifty multi-tasking at night).

Most decisions made by leaders occur in private, which is impossible to prevent from happening. Who has the time, money and people to monitor every waking breath of every decision-maker, anyway? But leaders should always remind themselves that the path they took to make a decision will eventually be made public.

And that's where the best laid schemes of mice and men go oft awry.

POSTSCRIPT: Over the weekend the Industrial Wind Action Group http://www.windaction.org announced it was revamping its Web site to conform to our request to not publish entire articles from our site. I appreciate the prompt and professional response from IWAG's Lisa Linowes.

EVEN MORE POSTCRIPT: There is a comment below to this blog piece that reads: “This is getting even more farcical: presenting as paragons of ethical behavior the people who stole NWW's entire web site in 2006 (ever wonder why there's a hyphen in wind-watch.org?)!"

OK, evidently National Wind Watch and Industrial Wind Action Group have a history, but history supports IWAG; not NWW, which is represented by the shady Eric Rosenbloom. http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2008/d2008-0245.html Following the publication of my blog, I have received several interesting comments about Rosenbloom. So stay tuned.

Eyes black as coal and when he lifts his face every ear in the place is on him. Starting soft and slow like a small earthquake; And when he lets go, half the valley shakes.

FEB. 24, 2010: If nothing else, the debate over wind turbines in Northern New York has spawned the creation of several Web sites that bemoan the advent of wind farms in and around Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.

And since the Watertown Daily Times produces more information than anyone else about our governments' decisions regarding this issue, these sites, well, cite us.

And as a whole, the Web sites are well done. In Hammond you have the Concerned Residents of Hammond, http://croh.info/

Henderson has the Heart of Henderson at http://www.heartofhendersonny.org/news.php and the site that tries to link all communities together is the Coalition to Preserve The Golden Crescent. http://www.preservethegoldencrescent.com/breaking_news.htm

I recommend them all to you for two reasons:

1) They are well done and easy to navigate. (Yes, they are all anti-wind farms, but even if you are in favor of wind farms you should keep track of what the opposition is up to.)

2) Each site acts ethically in passing on Watertown Times stories. They provide headlines, summations and links to our news stories.

Which is unlike the unethical National Wind Watch, http://www.wind-watch.org/donate.php which posts whole cloth the work of my reporters and then asks readers to send IT money.

Like the majority of newspaper Web sites, our site derives revenue from advertising. The more people who read our stories and click on our ads, the more advertising dollars we generate. At which point a fascinating economic process occurs — the revenue helps pay reporters to produce more stories for our Web site.

It's logic, not magic.

In December I asked the National Wind Watch to clean up its act and join the level of professionalism shown by local Web sites. My request brought an odd response from Eric Rosenbloom, who is the only person I can find who will admit to being connected to this site:

“Our aim is to share (your stories) with a worldwide audience specifically interested in wind power development. We think this adds to your potential readership rather than takes away. Thank you for your understanding, and for your excellent coverage of this important issue.”

And so I asked: Why should anyone bother to come to our site if all of our content is on NWW?

To his discredit, the ethically bankrupt Rosenbloom is an equal opportunity abuser. He provides entire stories from the Washington Post, Associated Press and countless other newspapers. The AP has already written to Rosenbloom, noting that: “All requests for republication of AP material must be in writing, clearly stating the purpose and manner in which the material will be used. All republished material must carry AP credit. Unless specifically noted otherwise, all permission is given for one-time use only. There is a fee for reprint use.”

Right before Christmas, Rosenbloom, who runs Kirby Mountain Composition and Graphics in Kirby Mountain, Vt., began retrofitting our stories on his Web site to comply with my initial request, using a headline, byline, the first few graphs of our stories and then a link to the entire story. But in January he went back to the dark side. The NWW site can still give you dozens upon dozens of complete Watertown Daily Times stories for free — along with Rosenbloom's request that you send HIM money.

Within the next year, more and more newspapers will be putting up pay walls on their Web sites. Readers will lament that in the good old days they could read everything for free. A lot of discussion will take place about a lot of things. But when that day comes we should never forget the contribution made by unethical scoundrels such as Eric Rosenbloom at National Wind Watch, who attempt to make money off the work of actual journalists.

'Cause they told me when I was younger, "Boy, you're gonna be president." But just like everything else those old crazy dreams just kinda came and went.

FEB. 9, 2010: Back in 2007 when the bookkeeper at the Watertown Urban Mission was convicted of embezzling more than $20,000, my first reaction was: Hey, great news! After decades of struggling to make ends meet, the Urban Mission finally has enough money to steal!

But the people behind the effort to expand the services of the Urban Mission weren't in a laughing mood for one interesting reason: After pressing charges, they learned that the person who clipped them for all that cash had allegedly done the same thing at another Watertown nonprofit. That agency's leaders didn't prosecute; they just accepted a resignation. Thus, when the person's resume showed up at Urban Mission, no red flags were seen.

And just what happens to you if you steal $20,000 from a nonprofit?

Unless you embezzle several hundred thousand dollars and find yourself in federal court, you can expect to get probation and an order to reimburse the injured party. In other words, this is the crime that gets you no jail time.

Here is a list of some of the people who in the last two years who have not gone to jail after using their bookkeeping position to steal money:

-- Mary A. Siver-Walters, $17,500 from the Watertown Morning Rotary Club.

n Karen S. Calhoun, $17,500 from the Jefferson County Sheriff's Employees Local 3089, AFL-CIO.

-- Norma Fanning, $6,342 from Steelworkers Union Local 503.

-- Lisa A. Staie, $8,163 from the Greater Watertown Pop Warner Association.

-- Barbara M. Morpaw, $8,806 from the West Potsdam Fire Department Auxiliary.

-- Christina M. Cunningham, $6,925 from the Oxbow Volunteer Fire Department.

(For those who are gender sensitive, a Watertown Times survey of north country embezzlement cases a few years ago showed that more women than men are arrested for embezzling, while men steal more money before they are caught).

You can find somebody in any city or village who will tell you a story about a business, church or civic group that suddenly realized a trusted employee or member was making unauthorized withdrawals. But there's no way to know for sure if more businesses and nonprofits these days are calling the cops rather than keeping things quiet if the embezzler can make restitution.

Too often, a business or nonprofit is embarrassed by the incident and wants it — and the thief — to go away quietly.

Hopefully, there are fewer cases like the one at Urban Mission. And maybe our legal system should consider a little jail time as well. Yes, I know — the embezzlers did not steal the money violently, and suspects might not be willing to plead guilty if they realize they will have to serve jail time, even if it is just on weekends.

But right now we have embezzler after embezzler only getting probation after stealing thousands of dollars — much of it from nonprofits trying to help the least among us.

After a while, it just doesn't seem that the punishment fits the crime.

So I'm going to hurl myself against the wall; 'Cause I'd rather feel bad than not feel anything at all.

JAN. 28, 2010: Consider these scores: 73-11. 71-6. 74-19. 66-25. 68-21. 72-11. 65-9.

The first number belongs to the South Jefferson girls basketball team. The second number belongs to other teams in the Frontier League.

No, it ain't that pretty at all, as Warren Zevon would say.

South Jeff is blitzing the landscape in such a fashion that some opposing teams celebrate if they can keep the final score within 30 points. And the Lady Spartans are not just beating up schools with the smallest enrollments. Watertown High, with its 1,000 students, owns that first and sixth scores noted above.

You would figure more than one opponent has accused South Jeff Coach Pat Bassett of running up the score.

But that's not what's happening.

“After the first four games, the other coaches all thanked me for easing up, you know, calling off the dogs,” said Bassett.

Coaches understand. Their teams need to get better; they can't expect South Jeff to get worse.

Bassett tries to sound diplomatic as he walks that fine line between preparing his team to compete for a state championship -- South Jeff has been to the Final 4 five times -- while playing each local team in a way that leaves no hard feelings. In other words, stay friends with the neighbors and prepare to destroy the strangers down the road.

“Transition” sounds like a charming word as compared to, say, “execution.” But in basketball, transition, when executed for 32 minutes, is how you burn the air out of opponents' lungs. That is what happens when you play South Jeff. The Lady Spartans don't run up the score, they just run.

Defenseoffensedefenseoffense. There is a seamlessness in which South Jeff players transform immediately rather than evolve slowly as they move up and down the floor. In so doing, they are often several steps ahead of most teams they are playing.

Bassett has nine players, but they all play a lot. That means nobody should ever suggest that the word “starter” begins with “star.” During all those Frontier League championships, South Jeff never had a player lead the league in scoring because, Bassett said, “everyone is willing to sacrifice (playing) minutes,” in the annual quest to win one more title.

And this year is no different. Despite all those points the Lady Spartans have put on the board, no South Jeff player is averaging more than 14 points a game.

But more important is that Bassett has a group of players who are avatars of their self-proclaimed motto “Defend every trip” up and down the floor. A day or so after each game, his girls study game films, but they always gravitate toward what they did wrong to allow another team to score. And they have plenty of time to figure out where the breakdown occurred -- and assign or accept blame -- when an opponent scores only one basket during an eight-minute quarter.

Bassett admits to being occasionally startled by the defensive relentlessness of his players. “We were up by 40 points and the other team scored in the fourth quarter, and the girls on the bench started yelling (at their teammates) about allowing a basket.”

Not everybody is enamored with the source of such intensity. It's doubtful most South Jeff science students would vote Bassett as “teacher most likely to say only charming things.” And some parents wish Bassett would ratchet the intensity down a notch so their kids might consider trying out for the team. A lot of kids want to play, but not many want to make such an exhaustive commitment to excellence.

And speaking of commitment, Bassett has decided to stay in high school coaching, despite getting a few feeler calls from colleges in recent years. It is interesting to speculate what would happen if his coaching philosophy was suddenly merged with some of the nation's best heaven-blessed athletes.

But then you realize the word “star” would soon rear its ugly head, and the whole thing would likely implode.

Somebody might knock off South Jeff during the regular season or the Lady Spartans might choke in the playoffs. They're kids, they're not perfect. But they are relentless. And they will be as long at Pat Bassett is in town.

NOTE: The following is an excerpt from my sermon given Jan. 17, 2010 at Watertown's First Presbyterian Church. Portions have been rewritten for clarity.

Who exactly was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?

There were indeed things that didn't seem right. King had many friends in the Civil Rights movement who were active members of the Communist party. And so he was accused of being a communist. But this friendship often seemed similar to the way Jesus was a friend to tax collectors and prostitutes.

In a November 1957 sermon titled "Loving Your Enemies," King was concerned that the American dream of democracy was being misused, and thus making communism much more popular than it should ever be.

“Isn't it true that we have often in our democracy trampled over individuals and races with the iron feet of oppression? Isn't it true that through our Western powers we have perpetuated colonialism and imperialism? And all of these things must be taken under consideration as we look at Russia. We must face the fact that the rhythmic beat of the deep rumblings of discontent from Asia and Africa is at bottom a revolt against the imperialism and colonialism perpetuated by Western civilization all these many years. The success of communism in the world today is due to the failure of democracy to live up to the noble ideals and principles inherent in its system.”

And of course, we found out through the FBI that King committed a number of personal indiscretions.

Most people prefer remembering King only as the relentless integrationist, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. And yet to see King as only one extreme or the other actually makes King less of a man than he really was. King was first a minister and in his writings you hear a voice, a voice of a minister, called by God to guide his sheep to greener pastures. What if we saw him not as a heroic figure, a historic figure, an outside agitator? What if we saw him as a pastor, whose sermons were written to inspire all of us to integrate God into our own lives?

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., like all ministers, was immersed in the writings of the Apostle Paul. I defy you to read “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” and not see the words of Paul come crashing through.

See if you don't discover the Letter to Ephesians, where Paul begins Chapter 4 by writing: “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

See if you don't find Galatians, where Paul laments, “Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?” See if you don't find Corinthians, in which Paul says that just because we have been saved from our sins that doesn't give us the right to go on sinning. And finally, see if you don't find the Letter to the Romans, where in Paul tells us that we rejoice in our sufferings, because suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. And hope does not disappoint.

It is possible, that in 1963 from a jail cell in Alabama King was speaking to the church for generations yet to come?

“So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an arch defender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silence...But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club.”

In 1956 Martin Luther King Jr. gave a sermon titled "Paul's Letter to American Christians" in which he attempted to say what he thought Paul would say to Americans 2,000 years after his own death.

“But America, as I look at you from afar, I wonder whether your moral and spiritual progress has been commensurate with your scientific progress. ... You have allowed the material means by which you live to outdistance the spiritual ends for which you live. You have allowed your mentality to outrun your morality. You have allowed your civilization to outdistance your culture. Through your scientific genius you have made of the world a neighborhood, but through your moral and spiritual genius you have failed to make of it a brotherhood.”

King wanted America to understand its relationship to God. In fact there was one occasion where he wrote a sermon called “Rediscovering Lost Values” that could have been delivered in Watertown, New York today rather than Detroit, Michigan in 1954.

“And I think, my friends, that this is the thing that has happened in America. That we have unconsciously left God behind. You see, the materialism in America has been an unconscious thing. Since the rise of the Industrial Revolution in England, and then the invention of all of our gadgets and contrivances and all of the things and modern conveniences—we unconsciously left God behind. We didn't mean to do it. We just became so involved in getting our big bank accounts that we unconsciously forgot about God—we didn't mean to do it. We became so involved in getting our nice luxurious cars that it became much more convenient to ride out to the beach than to come to church that morning. It was an unconscious thing—we didn't mean to do it.”

King may have had it right. Sometimes I think it is through unconsciousness that we have come to believe that there were once indeed good old days.

But history and Martin Luther King Jr. have shown that there is no such thing as a universal good old days. There are hardly any universal good old moments. For every pitcher who celebrates striking out the last batter to end the game, there is a dejected batter who didn't come through in the clutch. For every investor who just made a killing on Wall Street, there's another investor contemplating suicide.

And for every 1960's episode of “Leave it to Beaver,” there was a sermon from an imprisoned minister calling for justice to roll down the mountainside.

Will 2010 one day be seen as the good old days?

Let us all work together to become the church that the Apostle Paul and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed about. Through prayer and fellowship, worship and tithing let us open our hearts to God -- the ultimate integrationist -- and in so doing become the prophetic church we have been called to be.

Any time I read the paper and find that my name is not in the obituaries I feel good the rest of the day.

Art Mecomonaco, in an April 3, 2003 letter to the Watertown Daily Times.

JAN. 12, 2010: Art Mecomonaco was a “short person.” How do I know? Well, because I knew Art and he was definitely short. But that's also the exact term he used to described himself in one of the dozens of letters to the editor our newspaper published over the years.

With little fanfare, Art, who was 83, passed away this weekend. A funeral mass will be held Wednesday at 10 a.m. at St. Patrick's Church.

I don't know what all will be said about him. I am sure much will be made about the Bronze Star medal he received for heroism in World War II and his relentless efforts to document the courage and valor of all of our service members.

But I do hope somebody will note that we have lost a voice for a better Watertown.

Art's concerns were broad. He would attend a sporting event or musical, but come away with buckets of praise that he had to share with others.

DELIGHTFUL PROGRAM

Sunday, March 21, 1999

Once more Watertown was treated to an excellent and refreshing program on Tuesday, March 16. The combined choirs of the schools which included fifth-graders from elementary schools, students from Case Junior and the high school, in a variety of different choral groups, presented a very diversified program... I would be remiss if I did not praise those wonderful music teachers and piano players who accompanied the singers. They never fail to do their utmost to get the most and best out of our kids. Tell them when you see them that they are setting your children on the right paths to a good life.

WOMEN CONTRIBUTING TO SPORTS

Feb. 17, 2009

Many of our female players from some of our north country teams have placed their schools in high levels of competition, and so have our boys, and gone on to colleges and some even to professional levels. Immaculate Heart Central and Watertown schools have risen to some of the highest competitions in the state and made others know who and where we are.

Art Mecomonaco was also ready to challenge other writers. As always, he wrote with the voice of experience:

REAL ITALIAN TAKES ISSUE WITH PASTA RECIPE

Saturday, April 4, 1998

Regarding his article on Pasta Fagioli presented on March 3, first of all Pasta Fagioli is exactly what the name means, pasta (macaroni), fagioli (beans) or true translation - macaroni with beans, period. His recipe has meat, vegetables, cheese and other ingredients purporting it to be a chef's creation of a gourmet Italian dish. Nothing is farther from the truth. I have eaten this simple but delicious dish all my life.

JAPAN'S WARRIORS PROVED TOUGH TO DEFEAT

Friday, March 3, 1995

After reading the letter in the Feb. 10 issue, entitled "War Casualty Myth," I must respond to the myths within the myth.

He says the Japanese had no ships, planes, ammunition, guns or fortifications along their coasts to return troops to their homeland and to defend against any invasion. Not true. They were quite ingenious, clever and inventive and would have somehow gotten enough ships from their conquests on the Asiatic mainland to accomplish the evacuation back to Japan.

They were also very tenacious fighters, and when they ran out of supplies and ammunition they attacked with what they had in suicidal "banzai" actions... Accompanied by the weirdest yelling and howling, blowing bugles and making noise with whatever they could to scare the devil out of those they were attacking. I experienced some of these attacks, and it is indescribably fearsome.

Art Mecomonaco believed our schools should return Latin to the curriculum. He thought Catholic priests should be allowed to marry. He wanted to see the reestablishment of the Civilian Conservation Corps. And 10 years before construction started, he proposed building a parking garage at Samaritan Medical Center.

HERE'S A SUGGESTION FOR SAMARITAN PARKING

Saturday, July 25, 1998

For many years we have heard and read about the problems with parking at the Samaritan Medical Center... There are those who would consider (a parking garage) a foolish idea because I have suggested it. But, someday someone better educated and more affluent than I, will convince the powers that be to go ahead with the project, and it will get done. But what does it matter as long as it comes to pass. They will ask, "Should we do it?" and when it gets done, will then say, "Why didn't we do it sooner?"

Art Mecomonaco lamented that people threw away items that could be recycled (May 2001). He believed New Orleans would be rebuilt into a city that would surpass what it was before Hurricane Katrina (September 2005). He wrote that California's energy problems were the result of bad choices made by people who are too self-absorbed to make sacrifices for a better future (June 2001).

But the overriding theme of much of what he wrote is that we are all fortunate to live in the north country.

NORTH COUNTRY BLESSED

Thursday, June 19, 2008

We of this great and beautiful north country have to be more than thankful for where we live. Yes, we have our problems -- heavy snows and cold winters; some flooding in low-lying areas, but not of catastrophic dimensions; the seldom but serious ice storms that we have experienced, but no big earthquakes, landslides, extensive air pollution and extensive forest fires. We are blessed to be living in a place of beauty surrounded by the Great Lakes, the towering Adirondacks, and the striking beauty of the magnificent St. Lawrence River with its Thousand Islands and beauty of all our wide open countryside.

But, most of all the closeness of those around us whom we call our neighbors. We are blessed in a "Garden of Eden."

Arthur C. Mecomonaco half-jokingly saw himself as “the little guy,” a person whose concerns were often literally and figuratively overlooked by the elite and powerful. But in reality he was simply a man of good cheer and a ready smile, a man who celebrated the accomplishments of others and wished only the best for his community.

Art Mecomonaco is a little guy no more. Today he sleeps with kings and counselors, and rightly so.

And Windy has stormy eyes that flash at the sound of lies; And Windy has wings to fly above the clouds

JAN. 7, 2010: The proposed wind farm on Galloo Island has been in the news almost every day for the past month. But the issue itself is nothing new.

The first story about Galloo Island wind turbines appeared in the Watertown Daily Times on Oct. 31, 2007. Here is a portion of reporter Rebecca Madden's story:

A 250-megawatt wind farm project could be coming to Galloo Island within the next couple of years.

Robert W. Burgdorf, a Rochester attorney representing Upstate NY Power Co., a company affiliated with the global investment and advisory firm Babcock and Brown, said the company selected the 1,934.6 available acres on Galloo Island as a location for a wind farm due to its productive wind resource.

"This would provide clean, renewable energy to a significant number of homes," Mr. Burgdorf said. "There'd be an undersea cable taking it to the main power grid."

Overall, we've published 157 stories about the Galloo Island wind project, including stories on the tax breakdown for governments, where the underwater cable would come ashore and the potential for eminent domain.

In other words, if you were not aware until recently of the Galloo Island project, its costs and its ramifications, it's your fault.

While the issue of "conflict of interest" regarding the proposed Cape Vincent wind farm came to a boil last year, we were telling readers about it as early as April 2006.

Here is the beginning of a story by Jude Seymour:

Two town officials capable of directly affecting regulations on wind power development here -- and a third who would enforce those regulations -- have deals with green energy companies regarding properties they own.

Planning Board Chairman Richard J. Edsall and Councilman Marty T. Mason have been involved in continuing discussion about amending the town's zoning law for wind turbines, though both said they disclose their relationship with the companies at every relevant meeting.

While disclosure is one aspect of the town's code of ethics, the business connections of Mr. Mason, Mr. Edsall and Zoning Enforcement Officer Alan N. Wood may breach other tenets established by town leaders more than 35 years ago.

Our archives show that we have printed 1,029 articles with the words "wind farm" since 1991, starting with this one by former reporter Chris Taylor:

A wind-power consultant for a group of utility companies has agreed to look at alternative sites to test wind speed in the town of Cape Vincent because its preferred site is too close to houses and the Seaway Trail, a town official said.

Taylor also in 1991 wrote about the town of Lyme:

Town of Lyme residents at an informational meeting on Tuesday night did not exhibit much enthusiasm for tentative plans to locate a wind power research project on Point Peninsula.

Niagara Mohawk is eyeing a 26-acre site off the Hardscrabble Road on Point Peninsula and two sites in the town of Denmark on Tug Hill. Officials Tuesday night would not rule out the construction, if conditions are favorable, of a "wind farm" of several turbines on Point Peninsula.

The punch line to all this is that for 19 years the Watertown Times has been covering the issue of wind farms, primarily through the reporting of staffers assigned to cover distinct towns and villages.

More than a year ago, when it became obvious that a variety of companies were trying to locate wind farms in Jefferson County, I assigned Nancy Madsen to cover the issue regardless of town. And that has paid off in our newspaper providing the only in-depth, sustained news coverage of the issue. TV, radio and press-release Web sites can't do it.

You can see our stories on a number of Web sites dedicated to stopping wind farms along the St. Lawrence River and in Lake Ontario. We appreciate the attention, but you shouldn't be surprised to know that those sites cherry- pick the Times' stories, editorials and letters to the editor that support their concerns. They ignore those that don't.

And that's the reason our archives are so important. We cover all sides of the issues so our communities can make informed choices.

So if you really want to catch up on what's been said and proposed by local officials for the last two decades, the best place to start is the archives of the Watertown Times.

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=WA&p_theme=wa&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_text_search-0=%22wind%20farms%22&p_field_label-0=title&p_field_label-1=Section&p_bool_label-1=AND&p_field_label-2=Author&p_bool_label-2=AND&s_dispstring=wind%20farms%20AND%20section%28

Teacher don't you fill me up with your rules. Everybody knows that smoking ain't allowed in school.

JAN. 6, 2010: The Watertown City School Board did not turn in its finest performance last night. In fact, it sent a lousy message to the 4,000 students in the district.

Last night the board learned that the high school's athletic department has been placed on probation for allowing the boys' basketball team to conduct a scrimmage with alumni players. http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20100106/SPORTS02/301069944/-1/sports

No sanctions were imposed by the Frontier League, although another violation of league rules could result in forfeiture of games.

But at least two board members were more concerned that somebody from another school district snitched to league officials about the illegal scrimmage. (The Times mentioned the scrimmage in a December story so any league official could have figured it out on his own).

Every day teachers and principals face the same dilemma with students who violate rules and are turned in by other students. Instead of acknowledging the error and vowing to amend their ways, accused students are often more concerned that somebody ratted them out.

And while we're speaking about violating rules, the board went into executive session last night without properly announcing the reason, which is a violation of the state's Open Government law. Yes, President Pete Monaco was absent and he generally runs a tight ship. But that is no reason for everyone else on the board to ignore the rules.

(How to run a meeting can be found if you http://www.dos.state.ny.us/coog/Right_to_know.html )

Good examples start at the top. If the school board won't follow the rules, why should anyone else in the district act differently?

The rooms were so much colder then, my father was a soldier then, and times were very hard when I was young.

DEC. 20, 2009: What is the right thing to do for someone you know is dying?

I figured I might as well act like we're all going to live forever. And so in October I stepped by Alex Velto's office to give him a copy of the book “Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson.”

After decades of working at St. Lawrence University, Catholic Charities and the Northern New York Community Foundation, Alex had become a part of the north country landscape, much like an Adirondack high peak or river on its way to Lake Ontario.

But before Alex became part mountain and river, he was part manhole cover. He grew up in New York City and I figured his every sinew and fiber would understand what author Wil Haygood was trying to accomplish in his book on Robinson. The book isn't just about boxing. It is about the sound and smell of Harlem and how the jazz and food and poetry and sartorial spender of that era influenced the greatest boxer of all time.

When Sugar Ray was at his apex, Alex was an impressionable kid, a budding athlete himself who in 1958 was named one of the top high school football players in the city.

Alex called me in November to say how much he was enjoying the book. It was just like I figured: you can take the boy out of the city but you can't take the city out of the boy.

He sounded like Alex that day, but the truth was that there were fewer and fewer days like that. For the last half year those who knew him kept hoping that some treatment for his cancer might make a difference, might extend a life that had so much more to give. But weeks ago he was told there would be no cure and his life on this earth would end soon.

Alex in many ways was a walking contradiction. A big man who looked like he could dead lift the back end of your car, he spoke gently -- and was easily moved by the needs of others. He read and understood the words of scholars and philosophers but he kept his own vernacular simple.

The sound of his voice and inflection were distinctly New York City and his initial work experiences were in Chicago. Yet he embraced the ruralness of the north county and used the Adirondacks as a personal playground.

And while his work touched the lives of thousands, he wasn't much on working the social circuit, grabbing a microphone or being in the limelight.

He didn't show up at every event and certainly didn't join other organizations. How could he? He wanted to be open equally to all agencies who have asked the NNYCF for funding. To join any would be seen as a conflict of interest by someone somewhere.

But there was another reason for his low-key, behind-the-scenes persona. The history of social justice has given us generations of unknown soldiers. And that's the point. It's about helping others, not building your own empire.

As the community prepares for a memorial service for Alex Velto next month, this is the wrestling match that will be taking place. Every leader in this community knows that the life of Alex Velto should be celebrated and his memory honored. And yet everyone who knew Alex would likely tell you that if he could speak from heaven he would politely suggest that we find some other way to spend our time. Go to a soup kitchen. Help a student who can't afford to go to college. Develop an investment strategy that ensures annual funding for something our community doesn't have but desperately needs.

This is the only good thing I can see in the death of Alex Velto. For only in his wrenching absence can we finally thank him for his caring touch.

When you're strange faces come out of the rain. When you're strange no one remembers your name.

DEC. 15, 2009: When the Watertown Daily Times recently became the first north country business to win a second “Community Service Award” from the United Way of Northern New York, I offered my usual reaction:

So what? Big deal. Who cares?

The truth be known, the Times receives dozens of awards every year from dozens of north country charities and public service groups for all sorts of donations of time, talents and money. Being the highly emotional person I am, I treasure them all. But I'm not about to say some awards are more equal than others because people who actually HAVE emotions might get their feelings hurt.

But then I started thinking about this one. We received the Community Service Award because Times' employees dramatically increased their giving to United Way. And they did it during a year in which this paper furloughed all of its employees for two weeks.

You do the math: Times employees docked two paychecks equals Times employees giving more money to charity.

How does it compute?

Deep in the heart of our circulation department, Laurie Putney and Lynn Szatkowski hatched an ingenious plan.

Says Lynn: “We did an in-house bake sale with many employees donating their time and baking skills. We did three 50/50 raffles. We had collection cans by all the hot spots around the building. We had employee special raffles with gift cards and special incentives like days off with pay and a VIP parking spot under the awning. We also emphasized that all it took was $1 a week or one less trip to the vending machines.”

By the end of the campaign, employees had either signed pledge cards or had bought food and raffle tickets. One way or the other Laurie and Lynn got our money and gave it to United Way.

“Lynn and Laurie were model community volunteers,” said Jayne Graves, United Way's executive director. “They really believed in the United Way concept ‘The Power of a Dollar' and that for those of us with jobs, a roof over our head and groceries in the cupboard, this was our year to step forward with an annual gift of $26 or $52.

“The really amazing thing about Lynn and Laurie is that even though they were fully aware that fellow employees at the Times were experiencing some rough weather, they believed that the employees would respond generously -- and they did!”

So there. Some awards ARE more equal than others. And so are some employees. Laurie and Lynn, like their counterparts at all north country businesses that support the United Way, deserve the community's praise. At a time when the normal reaction would be to hunker down, they decided to stand up and reach out to help those in need.

Beyond the seas of thought, beyond the realm of what; Across the streams of hopes and dreams where things are really not. Come along if you dare.

DEC. 9, 2009: Maybe you've noticed. We've had lot of faces of Watertown teenagers in the paper this week.

If you want the touchy feely images, go to our story on Watertown High School's Select Choir. http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20091207/CURR04/312079998/-1/curr

If you want the gut-punch images of Watertown teens, go to our story on last weekend's murder. http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20091208/NEWS03/912089998

Take a moment to look at the faces. Now put them all together and consider how Watertown High Principal Steve Todd has to make education work for every kind of kid society can throw at you.

All of these teenagers walked the halls of WHS last year. But today the choir members are meeting in the theater and going through dress rehearsals while the other two are sitting at the Public Safety Building and wearing jail garb.

This is the backdrop behind the recent announcement that Watertown High is on the state's “In Need of Improvement” list. For all the academic, musical and athletic accomplishments that WHS students crank out every year, there is also a cadre of hard-wired, hard luck and just plain hardened teens who defy traditional solutions to keeping the wheels out of the ditch.

Yes, there are a bunch of special needs kids whose lack of progress is part of the issue as well. But remove the “economically disadvantaged” crowd from the mix and getting off the state list would be a lot easier.

No school district is immune from having students with chemical imbalances, students who have been sexually and physically abused and students who can't concentrate because a parent is again deployed to a war zone.

But Watertown High has traditionally been the place where a lot of kids who have been abused or neglected end up. That includes teens from the Children's Home and kids whose families have moved to Watertown because this is where DSS found them a place to live. (All told, 62 percent of all housing in Watertown is rental).

And don't forget the U.S. Army. When a soldier divorces his spouse, the spouse can't stay on post forever. Some of those broken families find their way here as well.

All of this contributes to Watertown exhibiting more and more big city mayhem and why it's becoming a tough place to get every kid across the stage to receive a diploma.

The school district is going to hire a facilitator to help it determine how Watertown High can meet -- and maintain -- state standards. And there will be lots of talk involving administration and faculty.

But an important player will be Principal Steve Todd. And that's a good thing.

I am not going to even try to be objective about this. Several years ago, Todd, then a history teacher, was one of the reasons my younger son was able to graduate from WHS. As a Rotarian I have watched him make our club stronger. Grads of St. Lawrence University will tell you he's the guy they want running the Alumni Council.

And without getting too personal about his personal life, he is doing some things for relatives that are well beyond the call of duty.

Steve Todd will tell you he doesn't have the answer to resolving how to make education work for every kid in Watertown. But allow me to be so bold as to add this word to his answer: Yet.

Steve will be relentless in helping to build consensus and finding the answer. Having his voice at the table will be a key to long-term success at WHS.

It's the eye of the tiger it's the thrill of the fight rising up to the challenge of our rival; and the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night

DEC. 12, 2009: For more than a decade, you've been hearing 911 tapes from around the country in newscasts involving attacks, traffic accidents, fires, etc.

Just last weekend you heard the 911 call made by a neighbor of Tigers Woods after the golfer's car struck a fire hydrant in front of his house. (And Tiger had no shoes on!)

But had Tiger driven over a fire hydrant in New York State, well, all you would be hearing is the sound of silence. That's because years ago New York's government enacted a law that prevents the dissemination of 911 calls to the public until all legal actions, such as a judge's sentencing, have been concluded.

As the law is written, “an agency would be in violation by releasing content of 911 recordings,” says Robert Freeman, the executive director of the state's Committee on Open Government.

Freeman calls the law “stupid” and has been trying for years to have it overturned, but without success.

And that's why the family of Mark Davis, an EMT who was killed while answering a call in Cape Vincent in January http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20091125/NEWS03/311259974 is going to court. The family wants the 911 tapes of that evening released, but Jefferson County is saying no.

The family believes something was said that evening that should have ensured that Davis and other EMTs were being protected by police when they arrived to treat man who was allegedly having breathing problems.

Unless the Davis family can find a judge who concurs with them, their point is moot for the time being. Jefferson County Attorney David J. Paulsen says he will release the tapes only after the criminal prosecution of Davis's alleged shooter, Christopher M. Burke, is resolved.

I hope the Davis family wins its case as the public should have been able to hear 911 tapes within days of their recording.

But I also hope the Davis family will reconsider the path they are now on. They want the 911 tapes to provide the ammunition they need to bring lawsuits against several agencies. And this will be uncomfortable for everyone at best, ugly at worst.

Many of the agencies the Davis family would seek to punish are the very ones who have been honoring Mark Davis's service. They have created plaques and raised money for a scholarship in his name.

A lawsuit will only force these agencies to put their attorneys into overdrive to prove there was nothing anyone could have done to anticipate what happened that evening.

And all that will be accomplished is making it more financially difficult for our county to provide the services that Mark Davis will always be remembered for.

For I'm as free as a bird now and this bird you cannot change

NOV. 25, 2009: As I was explaining to someone far away who had read about our recent congressional race and assumed working at the Watertown Daily Times must be one of the most exciting jobs in America:

“You've got that right. Just think, in one day's paper we had a story about Vice President Biden being in town for a political rally, we had a story on former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson being in town for another political rally, and to top it all off, we had a story about our local girls high school soccer team playing for a shot at the state championship.”

He got the point. A newspaper should always be looking for the occasional caviar but not at the expense of providing the daily bread and butter.

Maybe that's why this newspaper has always been so supportive of the Watertown School District's Hall of Achievement.

Graduates of Watertown High School have been honored for inclusion and the range of what they have provided -- from caviar to bread and butter -- has influenced the world, our nation and most certainly our community.

It's easy to focus on some of the big guns in the group. Robert Lansing was Secretary of State for President Woodrow Wilson. John McHugh is President Obama's Secretary of the Army. Richard Chapin invented “bucket kits” irrigation system that has saved the lives of millions of people in Third World countries. Viggo Mortensen is an Academy Award-nominated actor.

Then there are the grads whose names are not known to the world, just their accomplishment. Justin Burns was one of the most accomplished engineers in the world, who oversaw the construction of the railroad built in China from Canton to Shanghai. He was the supervisor for the reconstruction of the street railway in Memphis, and was engineer of bridges in New York City, overseeing the construction of the subway system. And he did all of this before he died at the age of 36.

George E. Cox Jr., was the commander of a PT boat that rescued Gen. Douglas MacArthur from Corregidor in the Philippines during World War II.

Dr. Delos M. Cosgrove has performed more than 18,000 surgical procedures and has become a world-renowned expert in the field of heart valve repair. He has 17 patents, including ones for the Cosgrove Mitral Valve Retractor, the Stentless Aortic Valve and the Cosgrove-Baxter Annuloplasty System for use in valve repairs

How many people around the world have been touched by the work of all these inductees?

The list of inductees, however, includes many people who made their mark right here, changing this community for the better. Joe Rich created the DPAO. Joan Jones taught the entire community to sing and was the reason the Miss New York Scholarship Pageant was in Watertown for 25 years. Many others have been the backbone of every civic and service group in the community.

Having been a member of the group that organized this effort in 2001, I will say again that I thought the first class of inductees should have had 60 names. And not because I wanted low standards for admission. It's that Watertown High has produced an overwhelming number of people who have reached the pinnacle of their profession and have been active in giving back to their community as well.

There are plenty of easy selections for the next class of inductees.

A professional football player in the 1970s.

A television actress for 30 years.

A world famous fashion model.

But there are also those bread and butter people who have made our community better.

If you have a nominee for the Hall of Achievement, you can find a nomination form by going to http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/wdt_repository/editorial_files/hallofachievement2009.pdf

And if they stare, just let them burn their eyes on you moving; And if they shout, don't let it change a thing that you're doing.

NOV. 18, 2009: As my good friend Bob Kimball often says during stirring debates around the campfire, "I hate to wet on your charcoal, but...."

Which brings me to St. Lawrence County Clerk Patty Ritchie, who is running point on the effort to stop New York State from requiring us to buy new license plates for our vehicles. If you don't think she is making headway, or headlines, consider her opinion piece in Tuesday's New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/making_albany_hear_the_people_w2pqZB7RJj3FIzVomkaKYN

Ritchie has touched a nerve by attempting to have the state postpone requiring everyone to pay $25 to buy new plates. After all, who isn't tired of having the state continue to nickel and dime us for more money?

But you honor, I would like to draw the jury's attention to the word "postpone."

I hate to wet on anyone's charcoal but every so often, New York actually needs to issue new license plates.

Or as the governor's office notes: "The manufacturer of the current plate series only guaranteed the integrity of the plates for up to 5 years and the last reissuance was in 2001. Plate reissuance also allows both law enforcement and DMV to more readily identify vehicles that are not properly registered or insured."

Not that we are nearing DEFCOM 1, but the New York State Police adds: "One of the best ways to combat any type of counterfeiting, including license plates, is to periodically change designs. This has potential counter terrorism implications, if counterfeit 'official' plates were prepared for the purpose of evading security posts."

This is part of the debate that is getting lost in the shouting. On one side you have Gov. David Paterson needing a quick cash infusion of $130 million to help keep the state financially afloat. On the other side you have clerks of court, such as Ritchie, saying "enough is enough."

(Ritchie, also a member of the fashion police, deems the new design too retro. "It's hard to imagine anyone wanting to put this 30-year-old design on their brand new car," she says.)

But changing plates is inevitable. New York is going to change its plates one day because motor vehicle plates, like paper money, eventually must be replaced.

I'm all for stopping the raising of fees when we don't see any effort by Albany to shrink the size of government or resolve our deficit. And raising a one-shot of $130 million isn't an answer to our financial mess because Albany will need to find $130 million every year if it can't eliminate that same amount of spending from its annual budget.

The Paterson Proposal vs. The Ritchie Revolution is great theater, but every state in the Union changes license plates every few years and charges drivers for the service.

So why is New York allowing new license plates to become a political piñata?

Warden, warden, please listen to me, be brave and set Geronimo free. Whoa boys, take me back, I want to ride in Geronimo's Cadillac

NOV. 13, 2009: The New York Times recently published a story about the 23rd Congressional District race and the reporter, Carl Hulse, noted that after Republican Dede Scozzafava dropped out of the race, Democrats “then pressed for the endorsement of the Watertown paper, winning a crucial stamp of approval (for Bill Owens) in the district.”

Nice story, except the “pressed for the endorsement” never happened. Our paper changed its endorsement from Scozzafava to Owens without hearing from anybody.

After a few emails from us, The New York Times printed a correction this week, which we appreciated. We would have been even more appreciative if the correction didn't refer to us as the Watertown Daily News.

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Our whatchamacallit newspaper is the smallest in the nation to have a Washington, D.C., bureau. The late Alan Emory our long-time correspondent there, was a member of the Gridiron Club, best known for its yearly black tie dinner and musical spoof on politicians.

For years, most of the words to the parodies sung at these events were penned by Emory. Our present D.C. reporter, Marc Heller, is not writing any of the songs for this year's show, but he does have access to some of the show's highlights.

He reports: “You'll be glad to know that Dede's name may make the winter Gridiron Club show… Steve Koff from the Plain Dealer just came in to sing his lyrics (ala Alan Emory).”

Scozzafava! She's a verb! She's a verse! She EVERYWHERE!

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If anyone thinks the Watertown Daily Times-News was on the take from any of the candidates running for the 23rd Congressional District, well, we'll be glad to open our books.

Zero. Nada. Goose egg. Our newspaper didn't receive one political ad from Scozzafava, Owens or Conservative Doug Hoffman. (OK, we did get an ad from Scozzafava thanking supporters AFTER she dropped out of the race).

Did they not know we were here?

Oh, they knew. If you looked at all the campaign advertising on television or in the mail, the Watertown Daily Times was splashed all over the place. Our stories and headlines were being used by all three campaigns to tout their candidate's qualities and tarnish their opponents' flaws.

So there you have it. Politicians believe newspapers and their Web sites have the most information you can trust. But in their perfect world, newspapers eventually won't have enough money to exist.

Thus, in any postmortem of the 23rd Congressional District race, it should be noted that this wasn't just a fight about social issues, local issues and the soul of the Republican Party. It was also a fight against our decaying brand of journalism that is atrophying into little more than candidate press releases, ethically bankrupt push polls and cable TV echo chambers masquerading as news shows.

We're trying to tell you: The Huns are at the gates.

Mother, mother, there's too many of you crying; Brother, brother, brother, there's far too many of you dying. You know we've got to find a way to bring some lovin' here today

NOV. 4, 2009: One guy seemed like Tweedledee and one guy seemed like Tweedledum.

And then there was Dede.

The delicate dance of dips and feints that Republicans perform to keep some semblance of a two-party system in New York was turned into a chicken-fried square dance in which everybody does whatever the caller says. And the caller was far, far away in a radio studio well to the west, but really the right, of New York State.

National conservative talk show hosts lambasted the 11 GOP county chairs who selected Dede Scozzafava as the nominee for the 23rd Congressional seat formerly held by John McHugh.

The chairmen were told they betrayed the party and were out of touch with the common man.

They were lectured by conservative talk show hosts who declared that Doug Hoffman was the true Republican and deserved to be elected, even though his political resume is blank.

They watched as national and state Republicans one by one abandoned Scozzafava and endorsed Hoffman.

They lamented as Scozzafava, the person they believed to be best suited to maintain the GOP hold on this more-purple-than-red district, ended her campaign three days before the vote.

And then they fumed as Scozzafava went nuclear by telling her supporters to vote for the Democrat Bill Owens.

And now?

Does anyone today think Owens, the Democrats' second choice for the job, would have beaten Scozzafava in a two-person race? Does anyone today think that the 23rd Congressional District would belong to a Democrat if Hoffman hadn't decided to run?

North country Republican leaders could have tapped Scozzafava almost two years ago to be their candidate for the special election for the state Senate, but instead they chose Will Barclay. They learned too late that they had made a mistake when Barclay couldn't get enough support in Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties, Scozzafava's turf.

Some thought Scozzafava would bolt the party after that slight, but she stayed loyal. And when another special election came around, this time for Congress, she was rewarded in part for that loyalty. And while a lot of special interest groups declared she failed the litmus test to be a Congressional Republican, those who understand the dance in Northern New York -- pro-union, pro-NRA, pro-choice, pro-military, etc. -- knew she would appeal to that most precious of voting blocs: The one that gives you 51 percent.

Bloggers, commentators, outside agitators, etc. will put their Texas two-step spin on this election as to “what it really means.” Great! Let the dance begin!

But somebody somewhere should note that this sure-bet GOP district is now held by a Democrat because Republicans around the country somehow got it in their heads that to save a village you have to destroy it.

I know I need a small vacation but it don't look like rain; And if it snows that stretch down south won't ever stand the strain.

NOV. 2, 2009: Yes. We know. Our newspaper is being quoted and linked to by every major news organization in America. And yes, they are all asking for quotes. And yes. We don't have time.

What they want to know is if we think the race between Doug “Sarah-Fred-Big&Rich” Hoffman and Bill “Barack-Joe-Dede” Owens is a precursor of what is now going to happen nationally.

And the answer is this: Sometime Tuesday night the 23rd Congressional District will turn to the rest of the nation and say, “Tag, you're it!”

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Much is being made about the fact that Republican Dede Scozzafava is endoring Democrat Bill Owens, rather than Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman. Hoffman and other Republicans are calling her a variety of things, but we'll use "turncoat" for our more delicate readers.

Ah, let's just remember that Hoffman started all this by endorsing Scozzafava and emailing her a pledge of support before deciding to turn on her. He promised all the party chairs in the 11-county district he would support Scozzafava.

So how do you turn your coat on someone who turned his coat on you?

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The turnout for Vice President Joe Biden in Watertown today was bad. Like, half-full building. Like, not good. Like, you're kidding me? Like, suppose the Vice President of the Free World came to your town and you couldn't find 400 people to care?

Like, remember in January when it was 6 degrees out and there was four feet of snow on the ground and Gov. David Paterson came to the same building and it was standing room only?

If I were a Democrat, I wouldn't like any of this

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All journalists experience a Joe Wilson moment where someone calls you a liar in a room full of other people. But did my moment HAVE to come during Fellowship Hour after church?

Yesterday I was the warm-up act at First Presbyterian Church, providing the greeting and announcements. I began by urging the congregation to “Sit back, relax and enjoy knowing that you are about to experience one hour of a political commercial-free worship service.”

Oh, I liked that joke. And so did the congregation. But while I was shooting my mouth off, supporters of Doug Hoffman were in our church parking lot putting Hoffman fliers in the handles of car doors.

You can imagine the mood of the electorate, having been assured of political commercial freedom only to find they had to remove election fliers to get into their cars.

Several came up to me after church and stuck a flier under my nose as if I was part of some celestial bait and switch.

Hey, look, that's why they call it a “sanctuary.” Inside, you're in the presence of God's mercy. But once you head for home, well, heaven help us all.

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During his speech today at the North Side Improvement League, Vice President Biden spent some time saying that a lot of folks, such as former House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas, are swell people, but they just have different views.

It was a nice touch, in contrast to how the Conservative Party has been talking about Dede Scozzafava. But for anyone thinking Biden was just speaking for the moment, he's been saying nice things about the opposition for 20 years..

Several newspapers ago, I attended a luncheon in Washington, D.C. with a group of South Carolina journalists, all of whom had been invited to the Capitol by the late U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond. About 10 Senators showed up for the lunch as well, including Dimenici, Warner, Gramm and Biden.

Each Senator took a turn to stand up and shed some light on the inner workings of D.C., but Biden instead went over to Thurmond and hugged him -- and while still embracing him turned to us and said, “This man has been like a father to me.”

If they ever make a movie, it might go like this:

Thurmond: “I am your father.”

Biden: “No. No. That's not true. That's impossible!”

Thurmond: “Search your feelings, you KNOW it to be true!”

They're gonna put me in the movies; they're gonna make a big star out of me. We'll make a film about a man that's sad and lonely, and all I gotta do is act naturally

OCT. 29, 2009: Like all good love stories, this one begins in Guantanamo.

Last summer the federal government was considering transferring al-Qaida detainees to Fort Leavenworth, Ks. The two U.S. Senators from the Jayhawk State objected. They decided to stymie all of President Obama's nominations, including that of our former congressman, John McHugh, selected June 2 to become Secretary of the Army.

But great news! In late August everyone kissed and made up and McHugh began his new job Sept. 2.

So what's love got to do, got to do with it?

The more than 30-day delay in appointments meant that the special election to replace McHugh was delayed until this coming Tuesday. It could have all been over with last month. But instead, the delay gave every political action group in America more time to plot, plan, raise money, lie and create negative ads to tell us who McHugh's replacement should be.

And just think what they have in store for us during the next five days.

Maybe it's just me but sometimes I think the terrorists have won.

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Despite the national media attention on Northern New York right now, we should all remember that the 23rd Congressional District has no great significance. And neither did Gettysburg. It's just the place where the great armies met.

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According to Democrat Bill Owens, Republican Dede Scozzafava has a lot in common with former President George Bush. According to Conservative Doug Hoffman, Scozzafava has a lot in common with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Since no one thinks Bush and Pelosi had anything in common, is it possible that Scozzafava isn't really a mirror image of either one?

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Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas was here recently campaigning with Hoffman, which seemed apropos. Early census estimates indicate that New York will lose at least one congressional seat in three years and Texas will pick up at least one.

If Hoffman wins Tuesday, political analysts suggest there could be a 23-skiddoo, and our district might very well morph into the envisioned 33rd District in Texas.

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The Watertown Daily Times in its stories and editorials has been trying to suggest there is an actual link between federal and local issues. But instead of learning about water level issues, for instance, Hoffman keeps channeling Ronald Reagan, while Armey says that local issues are “parochial,” and really not what Hoffman should be worrying about.

We still think what happens here is important, but we're not getting any traction with the Hoffman campaign.

OK, let’s try it this way: There are two airports that serve Washington, D.C. One is named after Ronald Reagan and one is named after a guy who grew up in Watertown, N.Y.

Does THAT help?

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Much is being made of the recent Times editorial board meeting with Hoffman. Our editorial about how uninformed Hoffman is about the north country has been sent around the world and shows up regularly on cable TV shows.

Some Hoffman supporters are convinced that our publisher, John B. Johnson Jr., ambushed Hoffman and treated him in a way no other candidate would be treated. Not so. Many great working relationships have been built between politicians and the Johnson family after similar “get-to-know-each-other" events, which to the uninformed do indeed resemble nothing more than a bloodletting.

Hoffman did perform poorly. His natural bug-eyed look and nervous leg twitch heightened the drama for all observers.

But the meeting ended amicably with Hoffman saying that when he wins on Tuesday, he is going to be back to discuss how we can all work together to make the north country, the nation -- and no doubt Texas -- stronger.

They headed down to, ooh, old El Paso, that's where they ran into a great big hassle; Billy Joe shot a man while robbing his castle, Bobbie Sue took the money and run

OCT. 23, 2009: Four years ago, you read this in the Watertown Daily Times:

“A long line of police, prosecutors and representatives of victims' rights organizations came Wednesday to Gouverneur Junior/Senior High School in support of legislation that would beef up the monitoring of sex offenders. The Assembly Republican Task Force on Sex Crimes Against Children & Women, chaired by Dierdre K. Scozzafava, R-Gouverneur, is crisscrossing the state gathering information and support.”

Scozzafava's work as a minority member in the Assembly finally bore fruit months later when Democrat Speaker of the Assembly Sheldon Silver finally released -- after a long, long delay -- a bill targeting sexual predators. As we wrote in December 2005, Scozzafava suggested that Silver “had finally given in to public demand for tougher sentencing and civil confinement for violent sexual offenders.”

Fast forward to today and our goofy 23rd Congressional District Race, which includes a Democrat candidate who is not a registered Democrat, and a Conservative candidate who doesn't live in the congressional district.

Here's what I don't get: For the past decade, the Republican Scozzafava has stood up for every women's rights, victims' rights and children's rights legislation in this state. Her fingerprints are everywhere. But now that she is running for Congress, you can't find one member of CASA, CAVA, Darwin, Athena, victims assistance, university women or even one of our myriad Watertown book clubs that will publicly stand up for her.

Amazing.

If you know Scozzafava, you can speculate what's happened. She didn't ask anyone to stand up for her. It's not her style.

And speaking of style: If you don't think style is an issue here, look at what the boys clubs are doing to her in their commercials, hunching her over in a sinister way, darkening her features in some images and blanching them in others, and showing film of her in slow motion, the way TV news people edit a perp walk.

Yes, thank you, we all know. Dede Scozzafava was never asked to participate in the Miss Universe pageant.

That's the treatment you can expect for getting a bachelor's degree from Boston University School of Management and not spending more time at the gym.

That's your reward for earning a master's degree in business administration from Clarkson Graduate School of Management instead of sticking your nose for hours in fashion magazines.

And what about getting married, having two kids, being a stockbroker, a mayor and an assemblywoman who outmaneuvered one of the three most powerful politicians in Albany?

Well, it's one thing to be Wonder Woman, but if you don't look like her, then sister, look out.

Some stories are too long for commercial sound bites. Like this one:

Some 18 years ago, Scozzafava was the mayor of Gouverneur during the infamous, hideous, nauseating Casablanca rape investigation.

You can read all about that story in our archives as well or find a movie with Jodie Foster and a pinball machine to get the general idea.

But here's the gist: After closing hours at the Casablanca restaurant, a woman passes out from drinking too much alcohol. A few days later, friends ask her if she remembers what happened in the bathroom that night because they are hearing talk around town that five men had sex with her.

The woman, who is no stranger to making bad choices, says she didn't sign up for that. And so it begins. She learns the truth and she learns something else. Every guy readily admits to what he did. But 18 years ago the law and the public weren't quite sure what to do with a woman who was too drunk to say “no.”

Some of the gang of five were the sons of business leaders in Governeur. The police chief's son was good friends with some of the suspects. It's a small town where everyone knows everyone, and many people shrugged their shoulders, deciding that “boys will be boys” and “girls should know better.”

So bold where the five men about their actions that one of them on national television told Katie Couric that it wasn't rape but simply a "gang bang,” and he couldn't understand what the hub-bub was.

I won't go through the whole sordid case, but I will say something about Scozzafava's style. Publicly she said little, other than to attempt to protect her community against the national media as it descended on her village to describe it as a town without pity.

But privately she was working with journalists, law officers, state politicians and anyone else who might be able to do anything to put those five SOBs in jail for raping a near comatose woman in her town and then bragging about it.

The polls say Scozzafava is going to lose on Nov. 3. The only question today is whether she will place second or third behind two men who say they are going to successfully unravel and resolve our crisis on the federal government level when neither has ever voted on and then been held accountable for utility improvements, police union contracts, snow removal, etc.

I guess it's like they say, go big or don't go at all.

But the real question that will be asked on Nov. 4 is why all the people whose lives were improved by Dede Scozzafava for the last two decades forgot about that on Election Day.

Looking back on when I was a little nappy headed boy; then my only worry was for Christmas what would be my toy.

OCT. 19, 2009: “Hi, I'm Dede McDougall and I'm ready to be your voice in Congress....”

No, you won't hear that ad on TV, but if there were ever a time for an independently strong woman to use her husband's last name instead of her own, this might be it.

Scozzafava is difficult to spell and pronounce the first time out of the box, making it a less-than-ideal name to campaign on when you are introducing yourself around a region as large as the 23rd Congressional District.

Or as the ads say, “Just call me Dede.”

But now that her last name is hyper-linked to the atrophying of Hacketts, a once highly thought of, all-purpose store, Scozzafava is only too easy to spell and pronounce.

“Hackett siblings sue business's buyer: Scozzafava claims company officials misled him about chain's profitability”

Yes, the headline is referring to Dede's brother, Tom, but for many it is close enough. Dede is an investor of Seaway Valley Capital Corp., her brother's company that now owns Hacketts.

Today, the Scozzafavas likely wish they had followed the game plan years ago when their chain of stores, WiseBuys, was supposed to be bought out by Hacketts, not the other way around. It's been a tragedy of errors ever since. Brother Tom has bought companies here and in Florida and each time the deal soon headed south. Then comes the mantra: They misled me on what their debt load is. Then comes the loss of jobs and investors' money.

Dede, an investment advisor (add irony here), doesn't know for sure what her last name will cost her on election day. She will lose -- but also gain -- votes because she supports gay marriage. She will lose -- but also gain -- votes because her husband is Ron McDougall, president of the Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence Central Trades and Labor Council.

She will just plain lose votes because some people want either a Democrat -- Bill Owens -- or a more socially conservative Conservative -- Doug Hoffman -- in Congress.

A few things are certain. The winner won't be much like us when it comes to their bank accounts. Scozzafava is the piker in the group; Hoffman is a Lake Placid accountant who couldn't reveal all of his financial information right away because he wanted to ensure he did not have to name his well-heeled clients. Owens, a former USAF officer, is a well-connected tax attorney who has pretty much said that if he wins, he'll be taking a pay cut.

But here are a couple of items that the Hoffman and Owens campaigns won't mention:

Before he decided to kick Scozzafava and the GOP in the shins, Hoffman wrote an email that read: "Hi Dede. Congratulations and the best of luck in your candidacy. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help. Doug."

And Owens, who needed 60 years to decide he wants to be a Democrat (the paperwork should be coming through any day now!), says he helped create 2,000 jobs around Plattsburgh, when only months ago his own party leaders were saying the number was closer to 500.

(What did Owens do when he was in the Air Force? Based on the media's inability to find him for interviews and debates, there is speculation he was inventing Stealth technology).

In many political races, the winner is the person who is forgiven the most by voters. And since only Scozzafava has been in public life, she may need the most forgiveness.

The other two candidates promise to do much, but if either one is elected it will be because voters have decided they prefer dancing with the devil they don't know.

See my daddy in bed dying; watched his hair been turning gray. He's been working and slaving his life away.

OCT. 9, 2009: As that noted political scientist Alex Karras once wistfully reflected: “Mongo just pawn in game of life.”

Maybe I am taking the movie “Blazing Saddles” out of context here, but substitute “Northern New York” for “Mongo,” and you just about have our political situation summed up.

The resignation of Jim Wright as state senator two years ago and the confirmation of John McHugh as Secretary of the Army just recently have combined to turn our quiet little corner of the world into what appears to be the linchpin region in the board game Risk.

Put up your armies -- who paid for them? Who cares! -- and roll the dice!

But forget the door-to-door, burn some shoe-leather, trench warfare of the past. This is about drones and Predators, launched from miles away and striking at a moment's notice, collateral damage be damned.

Our special elections here have come at critical political moments in which the winners are not just representatives for us, but also key pieces in political power dramas being played out in Albany and Washington, D.C.

Somebody else should be so lucky.

The two major parties dumped millions of advertising dollars into the north country in the pivotal Aubertine-Barclay special election race that helped turn control of the New York State Senate from Republican to Democrat. And the two parties are now dumping even more money into the special election race for the 23rd Congressional District. And some of the attack ads have finally reached the perfect state of Nirvana. The ads only attack; there is no mention of which candidate you should support.

Come Nov. 4, our special election for Congress will become even more special as the national media will cite the outcome as a referendum on President Obama.

“Voters in New York's 23rd Congressional District have shown the first signs that President Obama's agenda is not as popular as once thought as they have rejected Obama's own candidate for Congress....”

“Voters in New York's 23rd Congressional District have given President Obama a huge lift by turning a historic Republican District into another seat held by a Democrat...”

You can hear the voices of Katie Couric, Brian Williams, et al., if you listen long enough.

And if we are patient long enough as well the quiet will resume and we can stop being so special.

Right behind you I see the millions. On you I see the glory. From you I get opinions. From you I get the story.

OCT. 6, 2009: As bad as life has been for newspapers the past two years, it might be actually worse for television stations.

In fact, some stories have been published this year noting that while major networks have produced stories about the demise of the print industry, they have done very few about the demise in their own industry.

It's nasty out there for everyone, and that includes our own TV stations, which are bleeding from the loss of advertising revenue just like newspapers, magazines and any other medium.

It's not always good to be the poster child for such travails, but WWNY Channel 7 shows there is a ray of hope in a story on the Web site of TV News Check.

I've been thinking about Channels 7 and 50 a lot lately because of a recent newspaper story about how major networks are atrophying as their market shares continue to be divided, and more and more Emmy awards are going to the HBOs of the world.

Every TV exec in every market of the country is facing the same question: How do you help an advertiser figure out his demographic market when every viewer is in a never-ending drive to become a demographic of one?

I also thought about our local stations when I read a Time magazine article about Jay Leno, who appears five nights a week on NBC. I realized I hadn't watched one second of his show because I seldom turn the channel during the week from CBS or Fox, preferring to stay near where the local news can be found at specific times.

(At home before 7 a.m. it's Channel 7; on the treadmill at the Y after 7 a.m., however, it's MSNBC's Morning Joe and ESPN).

Among north country mediums, there is always a feverish competition going on for news stories and advertising, which pays the lion's share of the salaries that allow news stories to be reported. So if a few of our local media outlets went belly up, that would be better for the survivors, right?

Yes. Sure. But better for our community? Hardly.

When you add together public and commercial television and radio stations, and almost a dozen daily and weekly newspapers, our region of splendid isolation may have the highest per-capita media saturation in the country.

(Consider this: Hundreds of north country high school students every year get real world public speaking experience because they are relentlessly either being quoted by newspaper reporters or having a microphone put under their noses at the end of some scholastic or athletic achievement.)

But those students are also growing up in a world that seemingly rewards you for a lack of curiosity. Why appropriate valuable time every day to read the newspaper or watch TV news when you've been trained to believe that if a story is really, really, really important, one of your friends will eventually e-mail you the link?

Like me. I think the Channel 7 story was interesting and so here's the link: http://www.tvnewscheck.com/articles/2009/09/22/daily.1/?page=1

Three days since the living room, I realized it's all my fault but couldn't tell you; yesterday you'd forgiven me, but it'll still be two days till I say I'm sorry

SEPT. 22, 2009 A long time ago in a lifetime far away, I wrote several stories about a South Carolina sheriff who did a lot of peculiar things.

For instance, he would let jail trusties wash deputies' cars and then drive them over to the gas station a couple of blocks away to fill 'em up. I wrote an editorial in which I suggested, somewhat strongly, that a prisoner should not be given the keys to a car with flashing lights and a tank full of gas.

The next thing I knew the sheriff was indicted on 38 counts of malfeasance, misfeasance and heaven knows what other kinds of feasance. Gov. Dick Riley suspended the sheriff from office and the state attorney general's office prosecuted him to the full extent of the law.

And after two hung juries, the state gave up and the sheriff was reinstated by the governor.

The fact that this same sheriff years later was convicted of providing cover for a major drug smuggling cartel and eventually died in federal prison may suggest that I was on to something back in 1981. But that is not how my work was often portrayed.

To the state's NAACP chapters, my stories were the work of a racist. The sheriff, you see, was the first black to be elected sheriff in South Carolina since the end of Reconstruction.

So my work was occasionally summed up thusly: White, racist editor, working at the behest of the white political power structure, writes stories to destroy the first black to be elected to lead a law enforcement organization in the state.

It was all racism, pure and simple.

The word racist is getting thrown around a lot these days and just like the Civil War, the first shots have all come out of South Carolina. Rep. Joe Wilson's “You lie!” outburst during a recent address by President Obama is whatever anybody wants to say it is. For former President Jimmy Carter, the outburst was the result of a latent racism that has been fueled by the election of the nation's first African-American.

No one has been dogging Wilson more about his comment than his fellow Carolina colleague, Rep. Jim Clyburn, who is as African-American as they come. But if you're listening for the word “racist” to come out of the mouth of Clyburn, you'll have to keep listening.

Clyburn has said a lot of things about Wilson, including questioning his manhood for writing an apology to the President and not saying “I'm sorry” in person. And while a lot of bloggers and columnists have written that Clyburn's words suggest he is calling Wilson a racist, I haven't been able to find a Clyburn quote that includes the words “Wilson” and “racist.”

Which doesn't surprise me. Before he was elected to Congress, Clyburn was the South Carolina Human Affairs Commissioner. He once explained to me why he never called anyone a racist during 12 years of investigating all sorts of racially tinged goofiness in the Palmetto State. People will accept -- with reluctance -- being called a bigot, he said, but once you call someone a “racist,” it ends discussions.

“You don't get any wiggle room” for further negotiations, he told me.

We all want a microwave world. We all want to cut to the chase. We all want the bottom line. We all want to use language that seals the deal. And in our rush to judgment we all use language that is little more than overstatement, oversimplification and overworked nouns.

Thus, Joe Wilson is a racist, Barack Obama is a Nazi (or is it communist?) and your local politician is a fill-in-the-blank.

Here's a story about racism. Twenty-one years ago, the white football coach of South Carolina's Conway High School had a black player who expected to play quarterback. But the coach chose a white player to call signals and moved his now very upset former quarterback to cornerback.

Local black leaders, angered by the coach's obvious racism, convinced every black player to boycott the team for the rest of the season. But when Human Affairs Commissioner Jim Clyburn investigated, he learned that three of the previous six Conway quarterbacks had been black. The coach made the quarterback change based not on the player’s color but on the content of his character, which was showing increasingly unstable behavior.

The coach's decision, Clyburn determined, was “as far from racism as anything I've been involved in.”

You'll never guess what word the NAACP used the next day in decrying Clyburn's decision.

Always something greener on the other side of that hill. I was born a wrangler and a rounder and I guess I always will

SEPT. 22, 2009 Thanks to Eyepublius, Ombudsman, neocon and dozens of other writers, our stories, editorials, letters, etc., have received 743 comments as of Tuesday afternoon.

We opened up our Web site to comments just a few months ago and each day we are getting more and more comments from readers.

We've actually had closer to 760 comments, but I've removed a few for various reasons – generally, foul language or a name choice we'd rather not have our company associated with.

But that means that the overwhelming tone and content of our comments have all been along the high road.

Most Web sites have invited comments for years but we wanted to make sure we had a system installed that allowed quick review by editors each day. Comments can go up almost immediately once filed by a reader, and they can come down even more quickly if they violate our policy.

And our policy is pretty simple: don't write something you wouldn't say in to a microphone at a high school assembly attended by your children.

It is no secret that writers become increasingly fearless when they know they can write anonymously. That was our major concern – that by lowering the wall of accountability, we would be inviting the Huns in.

Yes, we have had a few postings that took advantage of the situation. But it has been the minority. Overall, our comments have been a great addition to the mix of information and opinion already on our site.

If you go to our home page next to “Today's top stories” you can also keep up on which stories are generating the most comments.

We've also added several new blogs, including All That Jas, http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/section/blogs06 written by our St. Lawrence County Editor Jeffrey Savitskie, All Politics Is Local, http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/section/blogs09 by Jude Seymour, our Web reporter, and Outside Looking In, http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/section/blogs10 by City Editor Perry White.

Perry's former blog, NNY Follies, was actually started long before we had blogs on our site. We're happy to have his comments about Northern New York government under the watertowndailytimes.com banner.

There's plenty to read -- and comment on -- every day on our Web site.

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