2 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Nyack</strong> <strong>Villager</strong> March, 2011
In this issue Departments 3 REPORTER AT LARGE • Water that burns • Year of Edward Hopper • <strong>Nyack</strong> Saturday Night • Will Upper <strong>Nyack</strong> secede? • Streetscape Update by Carol Fleischmann • Rep. Engel again scores 100% • Household Recycling 2 page 19 Spring arrives at 11:21pm March 20 <strong>MAR</strong>TIUS REPORTER at large Water that burns <strong>The</strong> toxic effects of natural gas drilling 5 LETTERS to <strong>The</strong> <strong>Nyack</strong> <strong>Villager</strong> 10 EVENTS IN <strong>MAR</strong>CH Art & entertainment this month 16 COMMUNITY NOTES What else is happening in March 20 CALENDAR Highlights in March 21 OP-CALENDAR PAGE useful local phone numbers 23 HOUSES OF WORSHIP in the river villages Columns 8 REMEMBER THE DAYS Bullets fly on Elysian Avenue by Jim Leiner 9 UNDER EXPOSED Consider Martius by Shel Haber 12 WILDLIFE NEWS Travis Brady on a sweet time of year 18 HOME TOWN LAW Peter Klose, Esq. on starting a business 19 THEY GOT WHAT?! Donna Cox on current trends in real estate 22 MENTAL HEALTH NOTES Daniel Shaw on the control paradox Features 6 SUMMER FUN IS COMING More Summer camps to choose from 17 FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD J.R. Tillotson on Dublin style fish & chips On our March cover Baby Willow in a basket Photograph by Shel Haber, © 2011 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Nyack</strong> <strong>Villager</strong>, <strong>Nyack</strong>, NY Consider Martius see page 9 A sweet time of year see page 12 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Nyack</strong> <strong>Villager</strong> March, 2011 Vol. 15, No. 10 Mailed on or near the first of each month to every residential address in eight river villages—Upper <strong>Nyack</strong>, <strong>Nyack</strong>, Central <strong>Nyack</strong>, South <strong>Nyack</strong>, Grand View, Upper Grandview, Piermont and Palisades NY. On the Internet at www.nyackvillager.com E-mail news releases to us at info@nyackvillager.com Deadline for our April issue is March 15. Please include a contact name and telephone number + + Beer Batter Fish & Chips see page 17 More Summer camps page 6 “It’s happening all across America—rural landowners wake up one day to find a lucrative offer from an energy company wanting to lease their property. Reason? e company hopes to tap into a reservoir dubbed the Saudi Arabia of natural gas. Halliburton developed a way to get it out of the ground—a hydraulic drilling process called fracking—and suddenly America finds itself on a precipice of becoming an energy superpower.” So begins the Sundance commentary on Gasland, a documentary by filmmaker Josh Fox, who received just such a cash offer in the mail, setting him off to discover what happens on the front lines of the industrial process known as fracking. What he finds is a desolation of “... toxic streams, ruined aquifers, dying livestock, brutal illnesses, & kitchen sinks that burst into flame. He learns that all water is connected and perhaps some things are more valuable than money.” For the full story visit http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/21/gasland-documentary shows_n_ 619840.html In the meantime, some data: Hydraulic fracturing or fracking is a way to extract natural gas from deep wells by injecting water, sand and chemicals into the Earth. e pressure fractures surrounding rock and opens fissures enabling natural gas to flow. What they don’t have to tell you: Each frack uses between 80 and 300 tons of chemicals. Companies engaged in natural gas drilling need not disclose which chemicals are in use. Among the chemical compounds scientists have identified in fracking operations are benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene. <strong>The</strong> Halliburton Loophole A provision in the 2005 Bush-Cheney Energy Bill specifically exempts hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act. e provision takes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) completely out of the picture. continues on page 4 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Nyack</strong> <strong>Villager</strong> March, 2011 3