Manor Ink November 2019

4 | NOV. 2019 | MANOR INK NEWS
County, LMCS
plan to honor
vets on Nov. 11
By Tyler Roberts | Manor Ink
Livingston Manor, NY – Livingston
Manor Central School will be closed on
Veterans Day, Monday, Nov,. 11. However,
Principal Shirlee Davis reports that there
are plans to honor local veterans and pay
respects to those who sacrificed their lives
in past wars. The
school will offer a
free breakfast for
local veterans and
the LMCS band
and chorus will
both perform at a special assembly. Details
will be forthcoming. For more information,
please check the school’s website at lmcs.
k12.ny.us.
There are also 50 restaurant chains that
will be offering free meals and discounts
nationwide for active and retired service
men and women. For chain names and locations,
visit militarybenefits.info/veterans-day.
Countywide, there will be numerous
ceremonies honoring the nation’s men
and women in uniform, past and present.
Here’s a partial listing of some of those
events.
VETERANS DAY TRIBUTES
n Jeffersonville Monday, Nov. 11; 6
p.m. Veterans dinner, St. George’s Church,
97 Schoolhouse Hill Rd. 482-4640
n Liberty Monday, Nov. 11; 5 p.m.
Spaghetti & meatball dinner for veterans,
Liberty Elks Lodge
n Bethel Monday, Nov. 11; 11 a.m.
Veterans Day services, Veterans Park,
Kauneonga Lake.
n Monticello Monday, Nov. 11; 10:30
a.m. Veterans Day services, County Government
Center, Monticello. Refreshments
to follow at the Monticello Elks Lodge.
807-0233.
n Neversink Monday, Nov. 11; 11 a.m.
Veterans Day services, Grahamsville Rural
Cemetery, Rte. 55 in Grahamsville. Following
the ceremony, there will be refreshments
at the Town of Neversink Town Hall.
n Eldred Monday, Nov. 11; 11 a.m. Veterans
Day service, Heroes Park. Following
the ceremony, refreshments will be served.
n Long Eddy Monday, Nov. 11; 11 a.m.
Veterans Day observances, Long Eddy Firehouse.
The VFW Auxiliary will serve lunch
following the program.
County lauded for energy work
Government Center upgrade cuts waste
Students get 30 minutes with ‘48 Hours’
By Jillian Hoag | For Manor Ink
Albany, NY – Sullivan County Manager
Joshua Potosek traveled to Albany in
October to accept the Local Government
Project Champion Award from the New
York Power Authority (NYPA) at the organization’s
Customer Clean Energy Exchange,
a gathering of industry experts,
municipal and business leaders, New
York State’s Department of Environmental
Conservation and other key agencies.
Sullivan County was specifically honored
for its achievements in energy efficiency
and greenhouse gas reduction
in county operations, exemplified by the
recent completion of a comprehensive energy
retrofit at the Government Center in
Monticello, implemented by NYPA.
The project began in 2016 when Sullivan
County contracted with NYPA to design
and finance long-needed upgrades
to building systems at the Government
Center. The extensive clean energy retrofit,
which was completed in late 2017, included
the installation of new boilers and
air conditioning units, building management
controls, and LED lighting throughout
the building and parking areas.
“Our 2018 benchmarking data demonstrates
the outstanding results: the
Government Center achieved significant
reductions in electricity use, fuel use
and site energy use intensity,” explained
Heather Brown, head of the Office of Sustainable
Energy.
Energy use intensity, or EUI, measures
energy use for all forms of energy – fuel
oil, electricity, etc. – in proportion to the
square footage of the building. This project
resulted a 31 percent improvement in
EUI. Other significant metrics include:
n a 31.3 percent reduction in site energy
use
n a decrease of 8,000 gallons in fuel oil
use
n a reduction of 480,680 kWh in electricity
use
n in 2018, the cost savings for all fuels
was approximately $86,000
In addition, the Center’s federal Energy
Star rating rose from 36 in 2016 to 73 in
2018, a greater than 100 percent improvement
in overall energy performance.
The County anticipates additional projects
with NYPA, including energy retrofits
at the Human Services complex in
Liberty.
NEWSMAN CBS producer and former
reporter Peter Schweitzer shares his news
gathering experiences with the LMCS’s new
journalism class. Guthrie Schweitzer photo
Livingston Manor, NY – Students in
the journalism class at Livingston Manor
Central School received a rare and fortuitous
opportunity to welcome Peter
Schweitzer, multi-Emmy Award winning
producer of the CBS News show “48
Hours,” as a guest speaker. The words of
advice and encouragement offered by Mr.
Schweitzer undoubtedly made impressions
which reverberate past his visit.
During his visit, Mr. Schweitzer fascinated
burgeoning young minds with
stories of reporting from war zones, descriptions
of being shot in Beirut when a
bullet grazed his skull, accounts of interviewing
foreign leaders, first-hand depictions
of being at ground zero during the
protests in China’s Tiananmen Square
and his hand in several of the most iconic
news articles and photographs connected
to events during the protests. He even
brought an actual Emmy award for students
to see.
Encountering questions such as “How
do you know what makes an event newsworthy?”,
“What can you do to make an
interview exceptional?” and “What is the
best way to close an article?”, Schweitzer
gave succinct responses and enthusiastic
demonstrations.
“If you find a story interesting, there’s a
SOLAR POWER KUDOS
Sullivan County has also received a
Silver designation from the national
SolSmart program in recognition of
the County’s success in supporting
solar energy development for towns,
businesses, homeowners and to
power County operations.
Representatives from NYS agencies
and the Mid-Hudson Regional
Council, as well as local solar developers,
municipal leaders and legislators
from neighboring counties, gathered
on the SUNY Sullivan campus Oct. 16
to celebrate the award and attend a
half-day workshop on clean energy.
SolSmart is led by The Solar Foundation
and the International City/
County Management Association,
and is funded by the U.S. Department
of Energy Solar Energy Technologies.
To support solar development,
Sullivan County has hosted informational
sessions to help residents and
business owners understand solar
technology and access programs like
Solarize New York, which provides
low-cost financing for solar projects.
sullivanny.us/news
‘A good story often writes itself.’
Peter Schweitzer
Producer of CBS’s “48 Hours”
good chance others will, too,” he advised.
“Trust your instincts and decide what
sounds good when concluding an article.”
Schweitzer’s most notable advice encompassed
a simple, yet powerful message:
care enough to listen deeply to a
person’s story. Then, he emphasized, one
must overcome obstacles which stand in
the way of reporting that story. “A good
story often writes itself,” he said.
Peter resides in Livingston Manor with
his wife Guthrie, and his two daughters,
Willa and Grey (who is a senior at LMCS).
“48 hours” airs every Saturday at 10
p.m. on CBS. Check out the documentary
responsible for the latest Emmy for
the show, 39 Days, which follows the
grassroots efforts of Parkland shooting
survivors to enact changes to gun control
legislation. cbsnews.com/video/39-daysa-cbs-news-documentary