TompkinsWeekly for the week of January 26th

Download the newspaper in Acrobat Format Here Pipeline Project Questioned Landowners in Dryden and Freeville are angry about the $1 offer they received from the New York State Gas and Electric Corp. (NYSEG) for a permanent easement giving the utility the right to use their property to install and maintain a 10-inch underground gas pipeline, and permission to sell the easement to third parties. Full Story »   Morey, Snyder in Special Election Voters in Tompkins County’s 9th District will choose betwen Republican candidate Glenn Morey, Groton Town Supervisor, and Democrat Neil Snyder, also of Groton, in the Feb. 10 special election to fill the unexpired term of former Tompkins County legislator Brian Robison. Full Story »   Marcia Fort offers a call to action on Martin Luther King Jr. celebration page 2 “In Ithaca, let us all be dissatisfied until the reality in our 10 square miles is one of justice, equality and humanity,” said Marcia Fort, director of the Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC), to a cheering crowd at GIAC’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Community Breakfast. Full Story »   Personal accounts to be aired at “People’s State of the Union’ page 3 In what is being touted as a “new national civic ritual,” more than 150 story circles are being hosted throughout the U.S. between Jan. 23 and 30 to give voice to the “People’s State of the Union.” A local gathering will be held in Ithaca at The Space (700 W. Meadow St.) from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 30. Full Story »   Lane targets state mandates at legislature meeting page 5 In his annual message to the Tompkins County Legislature on Jan. 20, Legislature Chairman Mike Lane said challenges for the year ahead come in the context of county residents’ needs. Full Story »   Signs of hope in wartorn Kosovo page 8 While serving recently in Macedonia with the Peace Corps, my Country Director announced that the Peace Corps would be opening in the bordering country of Kosovo. We had been prohibited from going there until a year or two before, so immediately I was interested. I knew very little about the war they had seen 15 years ago with Serbia, only that America had helped them considerably while President Clinton was in office. Full Story »   Kitchen cast tries living in the past page 9 The Kitchen Theatre begins the New Year with a multi-generational production written by artistic director Rachel Lampert. The latest in a series of career-long plays about her own life, “Count Me In” stars Lampert, features composer Larry Pressgrove and is directed by Emily Jackson. Costume Designer Hunter Kaczorowski and Sound Designer Lesley Greene enhance both the characters’ appearances and the mood within the framework of the play. Full Story »   Environmental racism through the years page 10 In the introductory column on environmental racism and sustainability published here on Dec. 8, it was noted that a key moment in the movement for environmental justice came in 1987 with the publication of the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice’s “Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States.” This report put the issue of environmental racism before the public in a new way. Full Story »