Poughkeepsie Journal from Poughkeepsie, New York • Page 9

SATURDAY JUNE 12, 2010 EOITOHIAL BOARD wry RotftfeM. publisher StMrt SMaafca, executive editor TO SUSMIT LETTERS Include name, hometown and phone number and keep letters to 250 words or fewer. Submissions can be edited and published in print electronic or other forms. Send letters to letterstoeditor 9poughkeepsiejoumal.com. Mail typed or printed letters to Box 1231.

Poughkeepsie, NY, 12602 or fax to 845437-4921. 00100 community conversation editor human resources manager EDITORIAL STAFF 845437-4806 jpenneypoughkeepsiejoumal.com Poucjhkrepgif Journal I poughkeepslejoumaJ.comoplnlon up EDITORIAL Message to kids: Get out and play Officials quoted in the Poughkeepsie Journal's story on the declining enrollment in local Little League offered rational realistic reasons for the trend. They included everything from a down economy that has made it more difficult for some parents to afford the fees to the popularity of other sports and even travel team baseball that have drawn the attention of today's youth. We hope, however, that one thing not highlighted on the voluminous list isn't a more significant culprit Xbox. Or, for that matter, any of die video games and the like that keep too many kids inside even on gloriously sunny days.

They sit often in darkened rooms, mindlessly rr SXaw Sold mmmnrC sew up yi oalv u) I VA Yf WTWOlfl" They sit often in darkened rooms, mindlessly playing some of these games for hours instead of getting outside, connecting with other children and, perhaps most importantly, getting exercise. playing some of these games for hours instead of getting outside, connecting with other children and, perhaps most importantly, getting exercise. Indeed, the statistics are grim: One in every four children in New York state is obese, according to state health estimates, and as a nation, we're doing no better. Of course, playing Little League isn't the only answer, and baseball isn't for everyone. But there is ho getting around the need to ensure children and adults for that matter are getting their fair share of exercise.

Of late, there have been some excellent programs and public-service messages along those lines. The National Football League's "Play 60" initiative is a good one, for instance, encouraging children to take at least an hour out of their day to become active through in-school, after-school and team-based programs. And first lady Michelle Obama has stepped up similar efforts, launching a "Let's Move" campaign aimed at taking on the nation's epidemic of FROM THE "ALBANY WATCH" ELOO AT POUGHKEEPSIE J0URNAL.COM Comedian and political activist Randy Credico was in Albany this week dressed as a dead Greek philosopher trying to drum up petition signatures. Credico, 55, is launching a primary campaign against U.S. Sen.

Charles Schumer, He's realistic about his chances against Schumer, but the Manhattan resident wants voters to take notice that the senior senator isn't liberal enough for New York. "He's supported two wars," said Credico, who talks in long paragraphs, punctuated with occasional impressions of political figures. "How can you support him as a Democrat?" His campaign slogan: "Let's chuck Schumer." He is also In favor of relaxing drug laws in the state, which he believes are too onerous on small-time offenders. Credico needs at least 15,000 signatures from registered Democrats to gain a spot on the September primary ballot. Credico has been appearing at various political functions around the state.

He was spotted at the state Democratic convention in Rye Brook wearing a Nixon mask. During the leadership coup in the state Senate last year, Credico stood outside the chamber dressed as the Greek philosopher Diogenes. Want to read about the latest goings on in Albany? Go to the "Albany Watch" blog on the Poughkeepsie Journal Web site, www.poughkeepsiejoumal.com, and click on the blogs link. "Albany Watch" is a behind-the-scenes look at state government and politics from the Capitol bureau of Gannett News Service. childhood obesity.

Obesity is closely related to a host of serious illnesses, including diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. All of these illnesses not only impair people and their quality of life, but they cost Americans billions each year in health costs that could be avoided of at least reduced if people were taking bet-K ter care of themselves. The first lady's campaign is multi-faceted, including improving calorie labeling on soft drinks and foods marketed to children and increasing exercising opportunities in and after school. Too many children and adults, the first lady notes, rely on fried fast-foods that are vitamin-deficient More whole-grain foods, vegetables and fruits are the remedies. So is proper exercise.

Quite frankly, those of us fortunate to live in the mid-Hudson Valley have no excuse, given the abundance of parks, rail trails and walkable communities we have in the area. You don't need a uniform, money for registration fees or set times to get out there. And there is no time like during the good weather to do just that Lisa Morris, Lauren Muffs; Nail's Plus; Jason Nicoletti; Margaret Oettle, Olive Garden Italian Restaurant Osborne's Flower Shoppe LLC; The Palumbo Group; Polished, a nail salon; Poughkeepsie Public Library District Cleaning; Bernice Regenberg; Seal Stripe, Security Systems by Hammond; Shadows-on-the-Hudson; and Ulster Savings Bank. We plan to continue the tradition with a Third Annual BridgeGame Tea Party in spring 2011. Suzanne Gillespie Chairperson Fund-Raising Committee Friends of the Poughkeepsie Public Library District School-race winner thanks the voters I would like to take this opportunity to thank my dear family, friends and neighbors and all of the folks in the district for their support in my election to a three-year term on the Highland Central School District Board.

I also want to thank my running mates, Jim Kokoszynski and Dave Gordon, and our campaign volunteers particularly: Maria Peterson and Catherine Sanchez for all their hard work in designing our literature, signs and calling voters. It truly was a fun adventure! One of the goals of the Board of Education in Highland is to deliver a budget that supports education and is affordable to the public and I promise in the coming years to always play an integral part in attaining that goal. Sue Gllmore Highland LETTERS 'Yes' vote will save Arlington programs Sue years ago, my children were redistricted from La-Grange Middle School to Union Vale Middle School. When I found out that my children were being moved to an unknown entity, I was furious. I wanted to sell the house and move to a neighborhood where my children could attend LMS with their friends.

At the new school, I feared the teachers and administrators would be inexperienced. I couldn't have been more wrong. My daughter was welcomed into UVMS, she quickly made friends and the staff could not have been more professional. Madison found her true love for the theater and developed many strong and lasting friendships with other theater lovers. I have found that lasting friendships, including my own, develop between students with similar interests.

Those interests and relationships are nurtured by the very programs Arlington stands to lose if the budget is defeated on Tuesday. I am so sorry for the LMS parents, and I can totally relate to their anxiety, but I'm here to tell you from experience, "it will be OK," and the children will thrive and they will make those lifelong friendships with children like them. This can only happen if we put aside our differences and vote "yes" on the budget Tuesday. Once these programs are cut it could be many years before they come back. Sports, music, theater bic libraries this year.

We thank our sponsors: Adams Fairacre Farms; Mary Aldrich; R. Baxter Building Peter Bergamo; Blockbuster Video; Anne Constantinople; Katie and John M. Coulter, County Players, The Culinary Institute of America; Gareth Davies, Downing Film Center Elizabeth Boutique; Victor W. Feit David G. Ferenz; Foam Wash Car Wash; Friendly Honda; FPPLD Board of Directors; The Gallery Salon, Suzanne Gillespie; Julie Her-ing; Sherri Hernandez; Joan Herrmann; Janet Huen; Jacqueline Klein; Tom Lawrence; Library Interiors; Lola's Cafe Gourmet Take-Out; Lila R.

and Philip I. Lynch; Main Printing; Karen Markeloff, Wendy McNama-ra; Meyer Contracting; Ruth Ann Miller, William G. Miller and Son Funeral Home and advanced placement courses are all at stake if this second budget is defeated. These programs are what make Arlington a destination school district Lisa Sedlor Hopewell Junction Friends of Library grateful for support The Fund Raising Committee of the Friends of the Poughkeepsie Public Library District would like to thank those who supported our Second Annual BridgeGame Tea Party on April 26 at the Dutchess Golf County Club. Your support helped us raise more than $4,500 and will enable hundreds of Poughkeepsie's school children to attend a variety of enjoyable, interesting and educational programs at our pu VALLEY VIEWS certed action of elected officials, community leaders, regulatory agencies, environmental groups, citizens and companies like General Electric.

GE discharged PCBs from two plants on the Upper Hudson from World War II to the mid-1970s. Our use of PCBs was entirely legal. When the federal government established the first permit program for industrial water discharges, GE applied for and was granted the appropriate government permit to discharge PCBs and other materials to the river. GE discontinued the use of PCBs 40 years ago and began working with New York state on a series of clean-up initiatives that helped reduce PCB levels in fish and water by 90 GE: Rebirth of the Hudson is a huge success WHAT OTHERS SAY Action on energy is the answer to spill Beltway pundits are all a dither about whether President Barack Obama has done a good enough job of on-camera emoting about the oil spill. For example, New York Tunes columnist Maureen Dowd writes about "the president's strange inability to convey passion over a historical environmental disaster." Politico.com offered this headline: "Does the president need to yell and scream to stop the Gulf oil spill?" Who cares whether Obama was a good enough performer on TV? We should worry instead about whether hell push this nation to go on a major energy diet Because if we don't we are likely to ruin our beaches from our thirst for oil and level the Appalachians in our hunger for coal.

Should this administration have been tougher and required credible environmental plans for this kind of disaster? Without question. The same is true for previous administrations, Democrat and Republican alike. Further, if painful to watch the hypocrisy of the get-regulators-offour-backs types now blustering that Obama should have stepped in earlier and done something different about the spill. Here's reality: We Americans lead the world's list of energy hogs. We're addicted to oil, foreign and domestic.

We can't ban offshore drilling unless we reduce our oil appetites. To date the only thing that's ever succeeded in that was a spell of $4-a-gallon gas in 2008. The Gulf spill will ruin a valuable part of our national ecosystem and a chunk of our economy. But eventually, that ecosystem will recover. You can't say that about the Appalachian mountaintops and valleys that coal companies are destroying forever so that we can waste electricity.

This week Obama promised to push for climate change legislation to ease the nation from its oil and coal addiction. Good. But if you're as angry about the spill as you ought to be, then stop fretting about the president's emotions. Buy less gas. Drive less.

Conserve electricity. Until Americans begin a national 12-step program for our fossil fuel habit we're trapped regardless of whether Obama starts feeling our pain on camera. The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.). 4 A achieves the environmental goals EPA has set and that the Upper and Lower Hudson River are protected in the meantime from impacts associated with the clean-up process itself. This summer, biologists working for GE will team up with divers to plant more than 50,000 plants on the bottom of the river, replacing plants that were removed by dredging and creating new food sources and habitat for fish and insects, and setting the stage for further environmental progress.

There is no comparison between what is going on in the Gulf and the environmental rebirth of the Hudson River. For more information on our work, please visit www.hudsondredging.com. John G. Haggard is GE's Hudson River Project Manager. percent EPA has declared the Upper Hudson safe for swimming, wading, boating and even use as a source of treated drinking water.

It is home to robust diverse populations of wildlife, including bald eagles, and a popular recreational fishery. Recognizing this environmental progress, public and private entities have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in new economic development projects along the river. Last year, in the Upper Hudson, GE began the first phase of the one of the largest environmental dredging projects in U.S. history. EPA and GE are now working with a panel of independent scientists to review the performance of Phase 1 and make adjustments to improve the project in Phase 2.

GE's goal is to ensure that dredging John G. Haggard We understand Matt Nuss-baum's concern about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill GE disasters produce similar sense of loss," Valley Views, June 2), but his comparison of the Gulf disaster to the Hudson River is off the mark. Since the Industrial Revolu John G. Haggard tion, the Hudson, like rivers across the nation, was used as a means to convey industrial, residential, agricultural and municipal waste away from human communities. The river's recovery, which began in earnest when these discharges were stopped or controlled, is widely hailed as an environmental success story, Drought about by the con-f.