The Greenville Pioneer - 2022-01-14

The Greenville Pioneer • Friday, January 14, 2022 15
MOON, from page 1
“Artists were asked to submit work
that featured an object, place or memory
that signified comfort and tranquility
during quarantine,” Liu-Haller said.
For her family, that meant in their
own backyard, as they spent three
months working outside when the lockdown
hit.
“It became our daily routine and gave
us purpose during that time,” she said.
“My daughter and I would often sit on
the ground coming through the stones
around the garden, talking and sharing
the ones we liked best. This drawing is
of the actual spot we would sit in. So,
when I see this image, I think of the
comfort we found within our family
during that time.”
An image of Liu-Haller’s 8x8 charcoal
and graphite drawing will be laser-etched
on a nickel microfiche, enclosed
on a lunar lander, and placed
on the moon in perpetuity. The nickel
microfiche is designed to withstand
the moon’s humidity and temperature
changes.
Peralta has the opportunity to purchase
space for The Lunar Codex on
the commercial payloads that are being
launched to the moon as part of the Commercial
Lunar Payload Service (CLPS)
in preparation for NASA’s Artemis Program,
which plans to land humans back
on the moon in 2024 for the first time in
over half a century. From 2021 to 2023,
NASA is sending scientific instruments
to the moon in preparation for the mission.
Along with NASA equipment, the
missions will carry commercial payloads,
including The Lunar Codex.
Peralta has divided The Lunar Codex
into three time capsules that will
be launched in 2022 and 2023. The
first to go, “The Peregrine Collection,”
is planned for a spring 2022 landing at
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Liu-Haller’s piece, “Snapshot Series #4: Solace,” which will be placed in The Lunar Codex and
delivered to the moon.
Lacus Mortis. “The Nova Collection,”
which includes Liu-Haller’s work, is
scheduled to be delivered to Oceanus
Procellarum by SpaceX’s Falcon 9
rocket and Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C
Lander in June 2022. Oceanus Procellarum,
which translates from the Latin to
“Ocean of Storms,” is a vast plain on the
western edge of the moon’s near side,
formed by volcanic activity billions of
years ago. “The Polaris Collection” is
currently slated for a summer 2023 delivery
to the Lunar South Pole.
While The Lunar Codex focuses
heavily on visual art, it also includes
poetry, stories, books, music and screenplays,
among other art forms.
Peralta began the project, which he is
funding himself, during the COVID-19
pandemic as a way to spread hope during
this challenging time. “The Codex instills
the Moon with some of the heart of
humanity, our art, so that when we look
to the sky, the Moon is a tangible symbol
of hope, of what is possible when you
believe,” he wrote on his website, www.
lunarcodex.com.
He also intends for The Lunar Codex
to be “a message-in-a-bottle to the future,”
showing those who find it how the
world turned to art during tumultuous
times on Earth.
“I would like others to see the plethora
of talent that existed among our artists,”
Liu-Haller said. “And to know that
just because technology surged to new
heights and became of greater importance,
our artistic talent wasn’t lost. We
were still creating.”
After Chicago, “Snapshot Series #4”
went on to be exhibited in Liu-Haller’s
first solo exhibition at Denver’s Abend
Gallery, and the piece, along with others,
can be viewed at the gallery’s website,
www.abendgallery.com.
With shifting time schedules, the
June 2022 date for the Nova Collection’s
approximate three-day, 240,000-mile
journey to the moon is tentative. As for
her part in history?
“There are so many variables involved
with the launch — I don’t think it
will fully sink in until the capsules have
safely landed on the Moon,” Liu-Haller
said.
SCHOOLS, from page 1
on the district website Jan. 2, one
day prior to his official appointment
by the board of education Jan. 3.
“Mike impressed us as the type
of individual who puts students first
and has the ability to develop strong
relationships with the students,
school staff and the community,”
Board of Education Vice President
Jay Goodman said. “We anticipate
him becoming an active member of
the Greenville community.”
Bennett has been assistant superintendent
for school administration
in the Schodack Central School
District for the past eight years.
During his tenure with the district,
he also served as middle school
principal from 2008 to 2012. He
was also a special education teacher
in the East Greenbush district from
1998 to 2006.
“I appreciate the confidence that
the Greenville Board of Education
has shown in me,” Bennett said. “I
look forward to becoming a part of
the Greenville school district and
working with the team to continue
the district’s growth.”
The Schodack district bid Bennett
farewell on the district’s website
and said he will remain in his
position as assistant superintendent
in Schodack until he transitions into
the Greenville post March 7.
“The entire district congratulates
Mr. Bennett on his well-deserved
next step in his professional
journey,” according to the Schodack
district. “He will be missed by all
who have had the pleasure to know
and work with him in Schodack.
Greenville has chosen a talented
and dedicated leader in Mr. Bennett.
He has done many great things for
the students and staff of Schodack
during his tenure here. We know he
will do the same for Greenville.”
Bennett has a bachelor of arts
degree in U.S. History from SUNY
Albany and a master of science degree
in special education from The
College of Saint Rose. He presently
lives in Castleton, NY.
GREENVILLE, from page 1
said. “As a local town, we will see
3% of the sales tax revenue. So if
a successful business has a million
dollars’ worth of revenue in 12
months’ time, our town will only
see $30,000 in sales tax revenue and
that is if a successful business can
get off the ground and have sales of
a million dollars.”
Macko said he has heard from
residents who don’t want the town
to turn down a possible revenue
source, but he, too, was skeptical
about how much revenue could actually
be generated.
Greene County Legislator Greg
Davis, R-Greenville, urged the
town board to opt out.
“In 2019, [former Gov.] Cuomo
tried to dump this on the counties
and it didn’t go over well,” Davis
said. “A bunch of the large counties
publicly said they were going to opt
out. This went through in 2020 and
the way it was designed is it was
put onto the towns since it did not
go over well with the counties. As
a resident of Greenville, I am absolutely
against the lounges and I
heavily question whether we are
really going to make a lot of money
with the dispensaries. This is going
to be more headache for the town
than we need and my recommendation
would be to say no because you
can always opt back in, but if you
opt in now, you are stuck — you
can’t get out of it.”
Legalized marijuana has led to
issues in other states, Davis added.
“All states that have legalized
marijuana have seen an increase
in deaths due to impaired drivers,”
Davis said.
Rauf recommended the town
reject both retail sales and lounges.
“My opinion as a member of
the board is that we should opt out
tonight and give the local community
members an opportunity to
referendum the issue, if that is their
choice,” Rauf said. “That is truly the
only way as a board that we should
vote tonight — we should opt out
and give the community the opportunity
to referendum the issue.”
Local residents would have 45
days after the board’s vote to collect
an adequate number of signatures
and put the issue to a referendum by
voters, town attorney Tal Rappleyea
said.
Town Councilman Travis Richards
agreed the board should opt
out.
“I think it is in our best interest
tonight to opt out with the option of
opting in later on,” Richards said.
“To me, this is a much larger discussion
than the five people that sit
at this table and the four people that
are sitting in the audience. I would
rather see some sort of referendum
to allow the mass of the town to
speak because this will be the face
of the town, in reality, and let them
decide what they want to see in the
town, not just the five people sitting
here.”
Town Councilman Richard
Bear agreed.
“As a board member, I am
very concerned about it so I would
opt out along with the other board
members,” Bear said. “I feel we
are not set up in our zoning for this.
It’s kind of a scary situation, plus I
don’t like the idea that we are doing
it just as a board — I think it affects
the whole community and I think
we need to go to a referendum vote
in the community. That is a much
better way to go about it.”
Greenville joins several neighboring
towns that have opted out
of permitting both dispensaries and
lounges, including Cairo, Durham
and New Baltimore.
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