Hartford takes pride in Queensbury High School Football State Championship

The Queensbury Spartans just won the NYS Class A High School Football Championship for the first time ever in the Syracuse Carrier Dome.

Queensbury beat Williamsville-North 36 – 7

Ironically both teams are called the ‘Spartans’.

Queensbury’s head coach is John Irion, who happens to be a Hartford resident. John and his wife Patty bought my parent’s home this past spring.

Congratulations to John and the Queensbury Spartans!


Hemp guest essay

The below guest essay, written by me was in Sunday’s 11/10/13 Post Star Newspaper

GUEST ESSAY: DEA cultivated a myth about hemp in America
11 hours ago • By Dana Haff

When is a DEA Schedule I Controlled Substance — which is equal to heroin and LSD — not even a drug?

Industrial hemp, which has insignificant amounts of THC and cannot get you high is considered a harder drug than Schedule II opium, cocaine and crystal meth.

Hemp is Cannabis Sativa and cannot get you high, while pot is Cannabis Indica and can. The feds call both marijuana. Both are in the cannabis family, but are different species, just as modern man and a neanderthal are different species of the same family.

Labeling industrial hemp as a drug is absurd. This country was literally founded on hemp.

The first few drafts of the Declaration of Independence were written on paper from Benjamin Franklin’s hemp paper mill. The rigging and sails of the USS Constitution were hemp. Hemp and tobacco were taxed to clothe and arm Washington’s troops. The uniforms were made of hemp.

Washington, Jefferson and Adams advocated its cultivation to keep our economy strong. We were rolling along with a healthy hemp sector until 1938 when the Marijuana Tax Act was enacted and the newly created Bureau of Narcotics (now DEA) saw marijuana as a means to enlarge its domain.

At this same time, petrochemical giants influenced the government to do some clever tinkering with the marijuana definition to include all cannabis species, regardless of their buzz content.

Nylon was created by DuPont in 1935 and other synthetic fibers were being created. Hemp cultivation was conveniently curtailed, not out of drug concerns, but out of conglomerate lobbyists stacking the deck against their main competition. These were the days of the “reefer madness” movement.

Industrial hemp and pot do not even have the same growing habits. Hemp grows tall and gangly for the fibers in the stalk and pot grows squat and bushy for the leaves and buds.

Hemp is planted in rows about four inches apart, growing about 10 feet tall. If a pot grower were dumb enough to grow his plants within a dense hemp field, it would look like a UFO crop circle from above.

Also, the first thing a pot grower does is eliminate the male plants so they won’t pollinate the flower buds of the females and decrease potency. No pot grower would plant in a field with millions of mongrel hemp males. In fact, one of the best ways to ruin pot potency is to plant hemp nearby.

The THC level of industrial hemp is below 0.3 percent but pot can be as high as 30 percent.

Industrial hemp, as a commodity, has tremendous economic development potential for agricultural parts of America like Washington County. Its uses are widely varied from food stuffs, vitamins, body care products, textile and paper fiber, fuel, to fodder, etc. Pressed seeds are 45 percent edible oil and 35 percent protein. The outer bast surface of the stalk is used for fiber while the inner hurd portion makes good animal bedding or woodstove pellets.

If hemp were not called marijuana, there is no reason why the American hemp industry could not have become larger than cotton. We are the world’s largest economical consumer of hemp, which is ironic because you can legally import parts of the plant but you cannot grow it.

In 2012, the estimated total retail value of all U.S. hemp products was about $500 million and it increases every year. Most of our hemp oil comes from Canada and most of the textile fiber comes from China.

Canada allows 27 different varieties of industrial hemp to be grown. China plans to expand their plantings to more than 1 million acres. It does not take a rocket scientist to see the potential for domestic hemp. We need the New York Legislature and governor to exempt industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana and switch control from the DEA to NY agriculture markets.

Dana Haff is the supervisor in the town of Hartford in Washington County.


Ringing the church bells on Veteran’s Day

Post Star Newspaper 11/5/13
• BILL TOSCANO – [email protected]

HARTFORD — For the fourth year, Hartford Supervisor Dana Haff is reaching out to all churches in Washington County to ask them to ring their bells at 11 a.m. on Veterans Day.

“I remember one Veterans Day when I was a teenager that my dad told me about the Armistice Day bell-ringing tribute. My dad, who was born in 1920, grew up in Fort Edward and could remember as a child how the churches would ring their bells at 11 a.m. every Nov. 11th,” Haff said. “I think it is very important to acknowledge the role that veteran servicemen and women had in protecting our country and this old fashion bell-ringing tribute to our veterans is just one small way that we can do that.”

Veterans Day began as Armistice Day, and in 1920, Gov. Al Smith requested that mayors, village presidents and pastors ring their bells at the appointed time, Haff said.

Based on past experience, Haff expects between 35 and 40 churches to ring their bells Monday, along with St. Francis Cabrini in West Pawlet, Vt., which has a number of Washington County residents among its parishioners.

One church is going further.

Pastor Art Peters at Trinity Church in Granville told Haff his church will ring its bell at Sunday service as someone reads the names of more than 150 veterans associated with members of the congregation. Haff said the church will probably be ringing its bell for more than 10 minutes.

In a letter to all county supervisors, Haff wrote, “I would like to try to have this revival spread to all of Washington County and I am asking for your assistance.”

Haff said the Rev. James Peterson of the Whitehall First Baptist Church and the Granville Baptist Church is helping him reach out to churches in the county.


Zero percent Town Tax Levy increase for the 2014 Town budget.

Post Star Newspaper 10/29/13

Hartford supervisor lauds conservative budget

• BILL TOSCANO — [email protected]

HARTFORD — The way Dana Haff looks at it, town residents should receive part of the credit for the 2014 budget coming in with no tax rate increase.

“I almost think the story of Hartford volunteerism to assist its local government is a story all to itself,” said Haff, the town supervisor, in summarizing the $1.27 million budget the Town Board passed earlier this month. “The people of the town are the ones who allowed us to do this.”

One example Haff used was the building of a 24-by-40-foot highway salt storage barn that will hold 300 tons of salt.

“The point is, $28,000 was allocated for this capital project, but by building it on weekends using all volunteers, it was constructed for half that money,” Haff said.

Other areas in which the town was able to get volunteers to help on projects included the new youth athletic fields behind Hartford Central School and some flood-prevention work near the youth fields in front of the school.

In addition, Haff said, the Town Board feels strongly it needs to be fiscally conservative.

“We don’t believe in that old adage that you have to spend it all this year to get it again next year,” he said, “By being frugal and not spending all the monies budgeted for this year, we were able to roll over leftover funds into the fund balance and reallocate it into 2014.”

The budget calls for about $259,383 in revenue and draws $124,854 from the fund balance. The amount to be raised by taxes is $884,576. The numbers are similar to last year’s, with the total appropriation up $16,960 and revenue up $12,192. The town used $2,947 more from the fund balance than last year, and the amount to be raised by taxes is up $1,821.

One other budget area Haff was pleased with was the fire department and EMS contracts.

The town lengthened the contracts to five years so it would know what the increases would be going forward. In the past, the fire contract was three years, and the contract with Argyle EMS was renewed annually.

“This increase in length gives the town more budget stability because it lengthens our distance to the horizon, as we now know what our outlays will be for the next five years,” he said, noting the maximum term allowed by law is five years.

The fire department and the Town Board agreed to a 1.3 percent spending increase each year over the five years of the contract.

“A five-year agreement with large increases is bad because you are locked in, but this agreement at 1.3 percent is very conservative,” Haff said. “This would not have worked if the fire department members were not a fiscally conservative lot as well.”


It’s not over ’til the fat lady… er, dude sings

Post Star Newspaper – Hartford supervisor sings his ‘yes’ vote as landfill saga ends

October 18, 2013 3:33 pm • JAMIE MUNKS — [email protected]

HARTFORD — The decades-long and storied saga of Washington County’s controversial ownership of a piece of land in the town officially came to an end Friday.

The Washington County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Friday in favor of selling the 485-acre tract in Hartford for $400,300 to a local dairy farmer, but will need to share the sale revenue with Warren County and also pay some closing costs.

“This cost will be a minute fraction of what this fiasco has cost us over the past twenty-some years,” Kingsbury Supervisor Jim Lindsay said.

The Eldridge Lane land, initially slated to become a landfill, never served that purpose and was the subject of multiple lawsuits over the years.

The land was slated to become a landfill for byproducts from the Hudson Falls trash plant, then owned by Warren and Washington counties.

It was deemed more cost-effective to ship ash from the plant elsewhere, so the property sat undeveloped, and Warren County sued Washington County for the money it put into improving the site.

That lawsuit was settled when Washington County paid Warren County more than $700,000 and signed a lien agreement, giving Warren County a secure interest in the property if it was ever sold.

Based on the agreement, the amount Warren County could receive was capped, but since the sale price is nowhere near the cap, the two counties will split the money evenly. There are expected to be some closing costs, which will come out of the sale price amount before the money is divvied up.

Hartford Supervisor Dana Haff has pushed for years for the county to sell the land to return it to the tax rolls. The town sued the county for money town officials believed was owed to the town, a lawsuit that ruffled feathers at the county level, but was settled earlier this year for $40,000.

“It’s not over ‘til the fat lady sings,” Haff said, before singing his “yes” vote.

Gary Fullerton, a Washington County dairy farmer, was the successful bidder in an online auction that closed last month, purchasing all three parcels and 485 acres for more than $400,000.

The property will apparently return to its previous use — it was owned by three different farmers before being purchased by Washington and Warren counties more than 20 years ago.


Is there a future for Hartford Hemp?

This article was in Tuesday’s Post Star newspaper regarding Industrial Hemp and its possible agricultural economic development for Washington County. What do you think? Dana

Supervisor: Grow hemp in Washington County
October 14, 2013 8:30 pm • JAMIE MUNKS – [email protected]

Hartford Supervisor Dana Haff wants to start a grassroots movement to push for relaxing industrial hemp restrictions, because of what he sees as economic potential in the agricultural county.

Haff wants to see legislation at the county that would both support the easing of industrial hemp restrictions and also push the federal Drug Enforcement Agency to allow local law enforcement to use discretion about how to use drug eradication grant funding.

Industrial hemp is sourced from the same plant family as marijuana, and so is prohibited under federal drug laws. But a growing number of states are adopting conflicting laws, defining industrial hemp and allowing for its growth and processing. The Department of Justice earlier this year said the federal government would generally defer to states when it comes to marijuana laws.

Haff believes if industrial hemp could be grown locally, it could be a big business in Washington County.

“I think it would start out as a niche market,” he said.

Industrial hemp and marijuana are related, coming from different cannabis strains, with marijuana coming from the flowers and leaves and industrial hemp utilizing the stalks and seeds. The two differ in their levels of tetrahydrocannibinol, the chemical that creates psychoactive effects.

According to a University of Vermont study on the viability of industrial hemp, the THC levels in marijuana can vary from 3 percent to 15 percent, but are less than 1 percent in plants grown for industrial hemp.

Hemp can be used to make a variety of products — rope, clothing and paper products; and its seeds are pressed for oil and can be used in cosmetics, paint and ink. Finished hemp is legal in the U.S., and is used in the manufacture of various goods. But under federal law, it can’t be grown here, so it’s imported.

But now North Dakota, Maine, Vermont, Oregon and Colorado are among states with laws that classify industrial hemp differently than marijuana. Montana’s statute says industrial hemp that doesn’t contain more than .3 percent THC is an agricultural product, and state-licensed hemp growers can grow, harvest, process and sell industrial hemp.

Oregon’s law doesn’t classify industrial hemp as a controlled substance, and also allows state-processed growers to possess and produce it, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Haff has contacted state and federal legislators about the issue, and he’s pushing the effort at the county level, with plans to introduce legislation at a board committee meeting.

The second part of Haff’s push calls for encouraging flexibility in how drug eradication funds can be used, and moving away from cannabis eradication.

Last month at a county Board of Supervisors meeting, Haff said he’d like to see funds intended for cannabis eradication used instead to root out drugs like heroin. His statement followed a vote by the board to accept a federal cannabis eradication grant.

The Sheriff’s Office, in a collaborative effort with other law enforcement agencies, pulled up 3,000 marijuana plants in August as part of annual eradication efforts.

Despite any movement elsewhere in the country toward legalization, marijuana is still illegal here and enforcement of those laws will continue, Washington County Sheriff Jeff Murphy said.

The $10,000 grant supervisors accepted last month was tagged specifically for eradicating marijuana.

“It’s take it or leave it,” Board of Supervisors Chairman John Rymph said.

Rymph said he remains unsure how additional funding will help the hard drugs issue.

“I don’t think you can bounce money against the wall and have the problem go away,” Rymph said. “I don’t think it’s that easy.”

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is constantly targeting heavily addictive drugs like heroin, Murphy said. If the cannabis eradication efforts, which occupy two days a year, weren’t fully funded by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, or were taking away from regular patrols or other activities, he wouldn’t fund them in his own budget, Murphy said.

“Three hundred sixty-five days a year, we’re doing everything we can to stop heroin from coming into the county and being sold in the county,” he said.

A number of busts were made recently along Route 149 in Washington County, a passageway from downstate to Rutland, Vt., where heroin is a persistent problem.

Washington County Jail has seen an influx of heroin users. At one point, the number of female inmates exceeded the space available for women at the jail, and some of them had to be boarded out at other facilities. Murphy estimated 90 percent of those women were serving time related to heroin — whether for using, dealing or stealing to support their habit.

Murphy is in the early stages of exploring an addiction treatment program. Heroin users who are in withdrawal when they get to the jail are treated for their medical symptoms. But that doesn’t get to the root of the problem, Murphy said.

“They’re all sick when they come in,” he said. “We’re arresting people, they’re in for a month or two, they get out and start using again. It’s a revolving door, it’s clogging up the legal system and we’ve got to break the cycle.”


Eldridge Lane property sale to be approved on Friday 10/18/13

Below is the Resolution that will be voted upon at Friday’s Washington County Board of Supervisor’s meeting to sell the County owned 485 acres on Eldridge Lane.

This land, which was purchased in the early 90s amid very much controversy and ranker (which really never went away) between the Town and the County was meant to be used as a landfill for the ash that would come out of the Hudson Fall’s Burn Plant.

The landfill was never built because it was cheaper to ship it to an already built landfill plus Hartford held steadfast resistance to it. But the County kept it’s hands on the property all this time, keeping it off the tax rolls until now, or at least until Friday comes around.

In 2012 after the County refused to negotiate with the Town over a breach of a Host Package Agreement, the Town sued the County. In 2013 in order to avoid court action the County settled with the Town. In just the last few years, the County has paid over $135,000 to the Town and School district to make up for this breach and to continue its legal obligations to the Town.

If this resolution passes on Friday, which I have complete confidence that it will, it will end a 22 year black cloud over the Town of Hartford. The land will once again come back onto the tax rolls under the private ownership of Gary Fullerton. Mr. Fullerton is a local who owns two Dairy farms in Argyle.

The purchase price offered is $400,300.00 which is $300 more than the 2011 appraisal, so I think it is a no brainer to sell it.

The Fat Lady has not sung yet but she is in the wings warming up her vocal cords getting ready for Friday. If you wish to see some Hartford history in the making, come and attend the meeting located in WashCo Municipal Center, Fort Edward, Building B, 2nd floor Supervisor’s Chambers at 10am 10/18/13.

Decorum be damned, once the vote is done in the affirmative, I plan on cheering, please come and cheer with me!

Dana

Resolution No. 260 October 18, 2013
By Supervisors Campbell, Shay, Lindsay, Suprenant, Idleman, Hicks, Banks, Haff
TITLE: To Approve Sale of Land
WHEREAS, the following County-Owned parcels were auctioned online through Auctions International.com on September 23, 2013, for the price listed below, subject to the approval of the Board of Supervisors; now therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the sale of the land to the person named and for the amount specified be and the same is hereby approved; and be it further
RESOLVED, the County Treasurer of this County, on receipt of full payment for same, execute and deliver Quitclaim Deeds to said person for land agreed to so purchase.

Successful Bidder Gary Fullerton
Town of Hartford Parcels ID 140.-1-1, 140.-1-1.2, 140.-1-1.4
Purchase Amount $400,300.00

BUDGET IMPACT STATEMENT: The anticipated revenue is $400,300 to be split equally between Warren and Washington County. There are no expenses to either county, if bids are accepted.


Hartford’s Classic Car Show coming Sunday

This is copied from the Granville Sentinel newspaper – Dana

Cruise on in to the Hartford Car Show
By.Jaime.Thomas

Got a car that’s worth showing off ?

With fall comes a number of car shows in the area; this Sunday, Oct. 13, the Hartford Class of 2014 will sponsor its own with the school’s 12th annual Classic Cruise on in n’ Show it Off car show.

The event, which Class Advisor Andrea Stoddard started in 2004 as a fun fundraiser for the senior class, is currently the students’ largest source of income.

“I did it originally so that kids would appreciate the beauty of the way cars were,” she said. She stressed that the show is organized by the students and completely benefits only them.

“It’s fun for them; they really come together as a class. It’s a great thing for the kids, and it’s a great thing for the community— it gives the kids a feeling of pride,” she said.

This year’s show will provide a day of entertainment for auto enthusiasts from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

There is no cut off year for show cars for the event, which typically attracts registrants from a wide area.

“It was originally only classic cars, but the kids wanted there to be other kinds, so we brought in any year,” Stoddard said.

The cars can enter in a variety of categories, including crowd pleasers, most likely to be pulled over, favorite GM and Ford, super sixties and more.

There will be music all day long, and food and beverages will be available. The senior class will offer baked goods and coffee, and there will be hamburgers, hot dogs, soda, water and candy for sale as well.

Additionally, the first 50 participating vehicles will receive dash plates.

The show will take place rain or shine, and proceeds will help the seniors with such events as graduation and their senior trip.

“I hope that the community will come out and show their cars to help out the kids; it’s really all about them,” Stoddard said.

The cost for participating cars, which are asked to show up at 9 a.m., is $8 for early entry and $10 for day-of-show entry. Admission for spectators is $3.

For more information or to enter call 642-9251 or 632-5222, or email [email protected] or [email protected].


5 year Fire contract, 5 year Argyle EMS contract and 2014 Budget approved

Tonight the Hartford Town Board approved a 5 year agreement with the Hartford Volunteer Fire Co, 5 year agreement with Argyle EMS, and the 2014 Town Budget. The Town wide budget has a zero % Tax Levy increase.

Dana


2014 Town of Hartford Preliminary Budget

The 2014 Preliminary Budget for the Town of Hartford has been completed and approved by the Hartford Town Board.

This Preliminary Budget will be subject to a Public Hearing at the 10/8/13 7pm Town Board meeting and if approved a second time by the town board, it will become the adopted budget.

The budget this year, if adopted in its current form will call for a ZERO percent increase in the Townwide tax levy over last year.

Last year’s Town tax levy had a 0.9% increase, so you can see that the Town of Hartford works hard to keep the tax levy as low as possible while still affording the Town with enough funds to function and provide the needed services.

The Town is very frugal in spending the money allocated in the budget. We don’t spend money allocated unless we really have to and any savings from one year rolls over into the next which helps to offset the next year’s tax levy.

A good example of this is the newly built salt storage barn located behind the Town Hall that has 300 tons of highway salt in it. $28,000 was allocated in the 2013 budget for this Capital project but because it was built on weekends with volunteers we were able to build it for half that price.

Dana