Kids, families, and senior citizens: I'm not sure who I will vote for in the upcoming Town of Wawarsing Supervisor race, but the person I do vote for will have kids, families, and senior citizens in mind. It's time for our next Town Supervisor to take a long overdue step and create a full-time Town of Wawarsing Parks & Recreation Department. Not since the first term of former Supervisor, Joe Stoeckeler have we seen noticeable progress in this area. Some people might argue that we could use a lot of things before a Parks & Recreation department, but there is a need. Quality of life is an issue that government should be involved in. (Remember former Mayor Rudy Giuliani cleaning up New York City by clamping down on the panhandlers?) The new Town of Wawarsing Supervisor should make kids, families, and senior citizens a priority.

The Town of Liberty has run a year round, full-time Parks & Recreation department for years, one bright spot in a town that has been through a major economic downturn. A full time Parks & Recreation department would provide activities, programs, and trips for Wawarsing kids, families and senior citizens. There are many different organizations that provide for these groups but they are always competing for funding monies. The town is the only entity that can provide this service.

The Ellenville – Wawarsing Youth Commission (EWYC) has recently been running ads that all their programs are "free." This claim is misleading. Both the Village of Ellenville and the Town of Wawarsing fund this program, which is actually run by the Kingston YMCA. All staff, programs and costs are funded by your tax dollars. That's not free. While the EWYC provides some nice services, why shouldn't we run our own programs?

Speaking of the Town of Wawarsing – since my last column, it appears as though the town has come up with some extra funding, thereby eliminating the need for kids from Wawarsing to pay more to attend the Summer Recreation program than the kids from Ellenville. Many people complained about the disparity in price, and the Supervisor and Town Board corrected this mistake. Kudos.

The Ellenville Summer Recreation program is still one of the cheapest programs available. Six weeks, four hours a day, lunch is provided, there's swimming, sports, arts & crafts, and trips – all for $100 a child. It's a great way to spend the summer.

Just found out that the Ellenville Boys Basketball team is 2-1 in the Orange County Community College summer league. This is great news. It appears as though most of the Varsity Blue Devils are involved and since Coach Bryan Bonitz returns almost the entire squad from last season, the Blue Devils should show some improvement on the hardwood next year.

New Varsity Girl's Basketball coach, Tom Nolan also has his team at 2-1 in the OCCC summer league. Nolan is playing his varsity and junior varsity players and the experience is bound to pay dividends.

Condolences to Alfonse Martinez and his family on the recent death of his mother, Pam Nabinger. "Fonz" Martinez was a former wrestler of mine as well as a Mid-Hudson Athletic League Champion for the Blue Devils in the late 1980s and early 1990s. There were many outstanding wrestlers on those teams and some great young men, including Scott Franza, Brian Pickell, Johnny Helt, Sam Morales, and Pete Ingham, just to name a few. Former Assistant Coach, Pete Sorbera was also a major reason for that group's success.

Ellenville lost one of its best known and businessmen with the recent passing of Ruby Cohen. Cohen's Bakery has been an Ellenville landmark for many decades and Ruby certainly knew how to make my favorite, the black and white cookie.

It's the All-Star break in baseball and the Yankees are 10 games behind those despicable Red Sox. Not to worry, the Bosox are pretenders. They're the Milli Vanilli of baseball. Fakes. Come August, the Bombers will be in playoff contention.

The Mets on the other hand seem to have things right where they want them, with a 2.5 game lead over the Atlanta Braves. If the Mets can keep the lead until they get Pedro Martinez back, this could finally be the year for all those faithful fans of the "Amazins" to celebrate.

Saw Barry Bonds hit his number 750 last week when the family was on vacation in California. If you like old time hustle in your favorite ballplayer, then Bonds is not your man: he is always surly, does not run on or off the field, and doesn't hustle. The other night he hits a long ball toward McCovey Cove and stood at home plate admiring his work. Only problem was that the ball never left the park. Diamondback outfielder, Eric Byrnes almost made a great catch at the wall, and Bonds had to settle for a single. Bonds would get crucified in New York if he tried to pull that act here. Is it wrong of me to hope that he breaks a leg and not Hank Aaron's home run record?

If there is one venture that you should get behind, it's the Ellenville Playground project. This "get it done" group plans to begin construction of their Berme Road playground in April of 2008. Fundraising has been ongoing and the group is determined to complete the project through community support and a large group of volunteers. There are many ways to contribute. Checks made out to the Ellenville Playground Fund can be mailed to Ellenville Playground Fund, P.O. Box 175, Ellenville, N.Y. 12428. If you'd like to get involved in the project, or for further information, call 210-1088. It's a great cause.

Finally, someone wrote a letter to the editor of the Journal last week complaining about Ellenville, then ended it with, "Name Withheld Upon Request." If I'm the editor of the Journal, the letter gets thrown in the garbage. The mystery person complains about two of our local restaurants – both of which have been outstanding for the community. Here's the bottom line, if you don't actually do anything to make our community better, don't complain. There are a great many people here who coach Little League, or volunteer for the Emergency Rescue Squad, or head a committee for the Fourth of July parade – all of them working to make Ellenville a better place. If you don't like our community, do something to make it better, or move somewhere else.

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