Reporter’s Notebook: Meeting with the County Executive

Ulster County now has a county executive, for the first time since its settlement history, which goes back to around Henry Hudson’s day. The office commenced Jan. 1, 2009. I met the winning candidate, Michael Hein, when he was campaigning, and one morning at the Kingston Farmer’s Market he committed to a sit-down on the issue of SUNY-New Paltz PCB contamination.

That meeting happened today. I was given a time slot of 15 minutes out of Hein’s schedule; and showed up, in earnest, with two big thick blue binders full of my articles, which were mainly intended as a prop: something to show for 18 years of work on an issue. Hundreds of published articles in about 15 different publications, backed up by dozens and dozens of books full of documents (which live in Seattle).

I showed up with my books and put them down on the conference table. I knew immediately this would be a friendly meeting. When someone is trying to shut you down, they may as well sock you in the eye; it’s that obvious. I asked Hein if he knew what happened and he gave an informed rundown of the basic events from 1992.

Then I filled him in on the problems: vents not tested, and heat not tested, before students returned to their rooms; and the former county health commissioner, Dean N. Palen, had signed off on the lot of it. Technically his boss was the New York State Department of Health, but he was the go-to guy. Last year Palen was run out of his job, along with his wife (who was his secretary) for total incompetence. This vindicated nearly two decades of me demonstrating the same thing. Re-occupy a dioxin and PCB contaminated dorm without testing the vents? You have to be very stupid, very corrupt or very both.

I explained that I had taken tests myself, once with the help of Ward Stone and once on my own, and got PCB hits both times.

I explained about the disease clusters, including brain cancer, and the possible health implications, and how SUNY would not cooperate with testing or health surveys. Hein committed to honoring my requests for public documents in the possession of the health department, which Palen (violating state law many times) would never do; and of all the agencies I worked with on the story, his office was the one to ignore every Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request for documents. Hein said: no problem. What’s public is yours to look at.

Then he asked: “What’s the way forward?”

I was expecting to ask him that. I stumbled around for a moment and said: “We need testing. With the rabbi there, or the Quaker meeting, as witnesses.”

I explained the pros and cons, from a government standpoint, of getting test results; and from a health standpoint for the students. He said he wanted to know the truth and deal with it. My next stop, he said, should be Dr. Lamarre Hasbrouck, the new health commissioner.

I’ll be making that appointment next week.