Scenic Byway Visitor Center funding denied

ALBANY, NY — The New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) has informed the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway (UDSB) that funding for the proposed visitors center in Narrowsburg has been denied.

Ron Epstein, an assistant commissioner with DOT,  wrote in a October 11 email, “While this project is meritorious and will contribute to revitalizing and transforming your community, unfortunately this project was not advanced under this particular funding opportunity.”

The funding to build the center was in place for several years, but was withdrawn after the project bogged down for various reasons.

A DOT spokesman did not immediately respond to a request to learn which projects had been funded with the “idle earmark funding.”

Child pornography sentence

MONTICELLO, NY — Michael Eason, 34, of Monticello, was sentenced on October 7 in Sullivan County Court to a total of five to 10 years in state prison by County Judge Michael McGuire for the use of a child in a sexual performance and related felonies. 

Eason entered guilty pleas to all of these felony offenses on July 8. District Attorney Jim Farrell said that Eason, who was a level 3 registered sex offender for a prior rape conviction in 2004, was arrested on January 15 after Liberty Police began an investigation into Eason at the request of the Sullivan County Probation Department. 

Liberty detectives learned that Eason had engaged in a chat with a 14-year-old boy, using an app on his cellular phone, and had the boy send him a picture of his genitals. Eason posed as a teenage girl in this chat. Detectives then searched Eason’s cellular phone and, after an analysis by the New York State Police Computer Crimes Unit, found images of child pornography and the existence of Internet accounts that he had been using, which he had not reported to the sex offender registry as required by law. 

Farrell said, “Parents should be very mindful of the applications on their kids phones and should be checking to make sure that their children are not being exploited. Thankfully, this defendant did not engage in any sexual acts with this child, and his acts were discovered shortly after they occurred, and he is now being held accountable for these crimes with a state prison sentence.”

Baker’s office a Toys for Tots collection site

HAWLEY, PA — Sen. Lisa Baker has announced that her Lake Wallenpaupack Office is a collection site for the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program.

New, unwrapped toys can be placed in a donation box in the lobby of the office, located in the lower level of the Lake Wallenpaupack Visitors Center, 2512 Rte. 6, between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, except holidays.

The toys will be accepted until December 13. At that time, the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve coordinator will pick up these toys and take them to a central storage facility where other donated toys from other area collection points will be sorted by age and gender. On December 17 and 18, the program coordinator invites the parents of the less fortunate children in Wayne and Pike counties to pick out toys that their children would like, ensuring that no child goes without Christmas in our area. 

Toys for Tots of Wayne and Pike County served over 3,000 children in last year’s campaign and are expecting this year’s need to be more.

For more information call Shari Tirado, the Toys for Tots coordinator for Wayne and Pike counties, at 570/253-0711.

Pennsylvania Senate race a dead heat 

PENNSYLVANIA — The race between Republican incumbent Pat Toomey and Democratic challenger Katie McGinty is tied, with each getting 42% of the vote according to a poll released on October 8 by CBS/YouGov. 

In the wake of the video showing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump making sexually aggressive and lewd remarks about women, Toomey has condemned Trump’s words and pointed out that he never endorsed Trump. McGinty meanwhile has attacked Toomey for not taking a more aggressive stand against the controversial candidate. Analysts have said that Trump’s behavior may pursuade some Republicans to stay home on Election Day.

In the presidential contest, Trump was once nearly tied with Democrat Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House, but now, according to the CBS News/YouGov poll, Clinton is ahead, with 48% of likely voters as opposed to 40% for Trump, 4% for Libertarian Gary Johnson and 2% for Jill Stein of the Green Party.