GOT WORDS? Be a Volunteer LITERACY TUTOR

Become an Adult Volunteer Literacy Tutor at EPL&M!

To be a Literacy Tutor, you must be 18 years or older, and have your High School Diploma or GED. The “Laubach Way to English” is taught in these 3 workshops,

helping people improve their English and life skills. All materials are provided.

You don’t need to speak a foreign language to be a tutor— you just need the desire to help a neighbor. Our next Tutor Training is will be in Spring, 2012.

For more information and to register, please call our Literacy Program Coordinator Catherine Tatunczak at (845)647-5530. Help us spread the words...

EPA's Proposed Remedial Action Plan for the Ellenville site

Letter To Ms. Pamela Stocking    Final Ellenville Proposal Plan

The Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is using Ellenville Public Library and Museum as the repository for site documents associated with EPA's investigation of the Ellenville Superfund site.  The Remedial Investigation report is already at the library.  A number of additional documents, including hard copies of the attached Proposed Plan, will be delivered to the library this evening from HDR, EPA's contractor.

New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation ~ Palisades Interstate Park Commission

Minnewaska State Park Master Plan Adopted

Plan balances wishes of diverse recreational user groups

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and the Palisades Interstate Park Commission have adopted a master plan for Minnewaska State Park Preserve that includes strong natural resource protection measures and more avenues for recreation, including expansion of hiking, biking, equestrian and climbing opportunities.

"People visit parks for many different reasons, and providing opportunities for all requires a delicate balance, especially at a popular and ecologically sensitive park like Minnewaska," State Parks Commissioner Carol Ash said. "The updated Master Plan will provide new opportunities for its diverse recreational users while maintaining the high level of stewardship necessary for the magnificent Shawangunk Mountain park."

The master plan outlines OPRHP's vision for potential capital improvements, operational enhancements and natural and cultural resource stewardship within Minnewaska State Park for the next ten to fifteen years. Factors such as the availability of funding, the need to invest in rehabilitation of existing park infrastructure, and other pressing needs in the entire state parks system will influence the sequence and timing of the improvements.

The plan is available at:

http://www.nysparks.state.ny.us/inside-our-agency/public-documents.aspx

"I am grateful to members of the community who took the time to attend the public meetings or offer comments on the plan," said Jim Hall, executive director of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission. added. "Their participation in the process made this master plan better, more complete, and more reflective of the community that supports Minnewaska State Park."

Highlights of the plan include:

• Developing a climbing management plan to indicate additional areas suitable for rock climbing;

• Creating a looped single track mountain bike trail system and enhancing the existing woods roads for hiking and horseback riding;

• Implementing ridgewide efforts focused on fire management, deer impacts on biodiversity and invasive species control; and

• Reusing the former Phillips House as the preserve office and visitor center and improving parking lot designs.

State Parks has reinstated the master planning process throughout the park system, and Minnewaska State Park is among the first to complete a new master plan. Park master plans define a long-term, sustainable vision for parks by helping to identify best uses for a specific site, make the most of limited resources, and protect the environment.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees 178 state parks and 35 historic sites. For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit www.nysparks.com.

Minnewaska State Park Preserve is part of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, which administers 28 parks, parkways, and historic sites for the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation in New York as well as the Palisades Interstate Park and parkway in New Jersey. For more information about New York State parks and historic sites, please visit www.nysparks.com, for information about the New Jersey section of the PIPC please visit www.njpalisades.org, and for more information about the Palisades Parks Conservancy and the Palisades Interstate Park parks and historic sites, please visit www.palisadesparksconservancy.org.

Since our founding over a century ago, the Palisades Interstate Park Commission has depended on donations as well as public funds for financial support to meet our mission to promote and expand the preservation of natural, historical and cultural resources. These donations enable us to conserve and protect open space and wildlife habitats, improve facilities and enhance programs and services for our visitors. You can help! The Palisades Parks Conservancy, Inc., the charitable partner of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission is a free-standing federally registered non-profit corporation exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations may be made over our secure Web site at palisades.exhibit-e.com/donate/ or by mailing to Palisades Parks Conservancy, Bear Mountain State Park, Administration Building, Bear Mountain, NY 10911. For more information, please call us at 845-786-2701 or send email to admin@palisadesparksconservancy.org

CONGRESS FAILS TO PROTECT READER PRIVACY AGAIN

WASHINGTON, DC, May 27, 2011–Organizations representing booksellers, librarians, publishers and authors today expressed frustration and disappointment at the decision by Congress yesterday to re-authorize the expiring provisions of the USA Patriot Act for four years without restoring the safeguards protecting the privacy of bookstore and library records that were eliminated when the Patriot Act was passed in 2001. As a result, the government will continue to have the power to search the bookstore and library records of people who are not suspected of criminal acts, much less terrorism. “We are deeply disappointed by the failure of Congress to protect the privacy of America’s readers,” Oren Teicher, chief executive officer of the American Booksellers Association, said.

Larry Siems, director of the Freedom to Write Program of PEN American Center, criticized Congress for ignoring a bipartisan bill approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee that restored reader privacy safeguards and required government agencies to perform audits to ensure that the Patriot Act is not being used to violate civil liberties. “With strong support from both sides of the aisles for meaningful Patriot Act reform, it is hard not to feel like good sense and the will of the people was thwarted,” Siems said.

The Senate approved the Patriot re-authorization bill, S. 990, by a vote of 72-23, http://tinyurl.com/3qrb9nj. The House vote was 250-153, http://tinyurl.com/3lg5dfd Debate on amendments to the bills granting a blanket 4-year extension to the expiring Patriot Act provisions was severely curtailed in both houses.

Reader privacy advocates take some comfort from Attorney General Eric Holder’s promise in December that the FBI will not use the full power of the Patriot Act to search bookstore and library records. The Patriot Act gives the government the right to secretly search the records of anyone who is “relevant” to a terrorism investigation. However, in a letter to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Holder promised the government would voluntarily restrict its searches of bookstores and libraries to the records of people who are actually suspected of terrorism and people who are known to them.

The Campaign for Reader Privacy was organized in 2004 by the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association, the Association of American Publishers, and PEN American Center. Its goal is to ensure that Americans can purchase and borrow books without fear that the government is reading over their shoulder. For more information, visit www.readerprivacy.org.

Check out a new link on our Youth Page for NY Career Zone!

“Explore your career zone…Your future begins here!”

US IMPACT: Public Library Study