The Ithaca Journal reports on a press conference about an alleged murder attempt in Dryden:
“We charged him with attempted murder,� said Lt. James E. Barnes, of the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation. “We weren't guessing. We're certain.�
Hanson, 51, of Brightday Road, Dryden, was charged with second-degree attempted murder, a felony, in connection with trying to poison Benjamin by lacing Benjamin's milk with unknown substances for the past month, state police said in a felony complaint filed Wednesday. Hanson is being held at the Tompkins County Jail on $500,000 cash bail. If convicted, he could serve up to 25 years in prison.
In more upbeat news, the Freeville United Methodist Church is noted for its participation in the Relay for Life held by the Tompkins County American Cancer Society.
There's also a report on 51 gas station sites which haven't been cleaned up but which the Department of Environmental Conservation isn't watching:
Diane Carlton, regional spokesperson for the DEC, said the list can be misleading because staffing and reporting constraints make maintaining the spills database nearly impossible, thus many reports aren't updated with the most recent information or state that spills don't meet standards when the public health concern has been mitigated.
“This is meant as a reference point and it takes time to maintain and keep up to date,� Carlton said. “We have to make decisions. Do we send someone out to spills or do we have them sit at a desk and keep these updated?�
Given that it would probably take one hire to keep the public information in sync with what the DEC has actually done, this is pretty discouraging. The spokesperson blames staff reductions. After the damage MTBE did to the wells in Jacksonville, on the other side of the county, I'm surprised to see the DEC's lack of interest in this, to say the least.
Posted by simon at July 15, 2006 7:04 AM in Ithaca Journal , crime