Many roads in Otego are out (our road – Briar Creek Road) is impassable a little north of where it meets Wheaton Creek, and I suspect other places as well, and is officially closed). Some folks around the flood plain of the Susquehanna have been evacuated.

It looks like they are expecting more rain today and tomorrow. It is relentless.

If anyone knows of a local, or maybe Oneonta, place that takes donations for local disasters, can you please leave a comment here? I’d like to try to raise some funds after this is over for neighbors who have been affected.

Please leave a comment if you have any fundraising Ideas.

You can get live updates about Hurricane Irene, road closings, etc. from Watershed Post at
www.watershedpost.com.

The Watershed Post is using a liveblogging service called CoverItLive to bring you real-time updates on Tropical Storm Irene’s devastating impact on the Catskills. The liveblog, which has been live for over a week, is being staffed by a group of citizen-journalist moderators, and is also automatically updated.

More news:

Check out the CNN iReport from Mill Creek at http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-669841

Maybe some good will come out of all this. When roads and powerlines are repaired maybe they will be built better, and we can get some of the copper phone wires replaced with fiber-optics. Maybe somehow this will expedite getting better internet coverage for this area.

Right now, if you are from Otego, reading this, you are probably thankful that you have internet coverage at all. If you have a slow connection, though, you can’t take advantage of all the websites that can give you as-it-happens information, which could be potentially life-saving.

Let’s push for total high-speed coverage of our area after this, and after we thank all the amazing police, fire, and other rescue and help personnel who have been working so hard.

Here’s another resource, again from a Facebook post by Kellie Place (thanks again!) where you can monitor the Tri-county Public Safety live audio feed (only if you have a good internet connection, though):Tri-County Public Safety. Click on the speaker icon and another window will pop up. Then click on the “play” triangle.

Another resource: Flood Map for the area, privately run by a volunteer (THANK YOU!)

Real dangers in natural-gas drilling

The natural gas industry is a creeping disease that is slowly infecting Otsego County. It has weaseled its way into leases to drill from unsuspecting landowners.

The representatives from the natural gas industry have made outrageous promises of “found money” and “it’s like you’ve won the lottery.” Then they low-ball people into selling out their land rights, heritage, property-value, possibly their health and that of their neighbors, as well as the well-being and way of life of their communities. That includes you.

Some well-intentioned but misguided people have been convinced that “it’s a done deal, and we might as well get the best out of it.”

It only becomes a done deal when they con enough people to band together to try to sell at a higher price, while trusting that there are enough protections against disaster in place.

There are no adequate safety measures, no matter what the apologists for the predators tell you. The state Department of Environmental Conservation is woefully understaffed and has shown no ability to regulate effectively. Gov. Paterson has even proposed a large budget reduction for the DEC. Obviously regulation is not a priority.

The gas companies are not even bound by the Federal Clean Water Act. So who has the safety of your water at heart? The gas companies (one of which is Halliburton)?

Some would have you believe that the drilling that is planned for this area is safe, and the people who care about the danger are over-reacting. That sounds like when Rumsfeld mocked people who thought the Iraq war wouldn’t be a slam-dunk, by saying, “Oh my goodness gracious, isn’t that terrible, Henny Penny, the sky is going to fall.”

That’s not the lottery, that’s Russian roulette.

Village Board meetings the 2nd Monday of the month at 6:30 pm in the Village Hall, River Street, Otego.

The Village of Otego Planning Board meets the 4th Wed. each month at 7 pm, same place.

The Village ZBA (I’m assuming that this is a zoning board) meets the 2nd Tuesday each month at 7 pm, Village Hall.

TOWN OF OTEGO

Town Board meetings the 2nd Wed. of the month at 7 pm.  This is at the Town Hall on Rt. 7.

The Town planning board meets the 1st Tuesday of  the month at 7:30 pm, Town Hall.

OTSEGO COUNTY

The County Board meetings at 10 am on the 1st Wed. of each month.

Location:  2nd floor board chambers, Otsego Cty. Office Building, Cooperstown.  Currently, there is one more meeting left for 2008 on Wed. Dec. 3rd.

There will also be a mid-month meeting of the County Board, same place, but on the 3rd Wed. of the month at 7:30 pm.  There is one currently scheduled for Dec. 17th at this time.