Dickinson absent from sewer debate
What is Washington County objecting to?
The Front Page
Morning Update
Thursday, June 24, 2021
By Ken Tingley
One week after saying a new sewer inspection law would be too much work, Lake George Town Supervisor Dennis Dickinson called in sick.
Well, I don’t know if he was sick, but he was not in attendance as the Warren County Supervisors cleaned up the mess he left after refusing to let an sewer inspection law out of committee.
He said at the time it would cause too much work for the county and local municipalities. So last Friday, the Warren County Board of Supervisors voted to create a special committee to study the issue and make recommendations in October.
Dickinson did not object because he was not there.
Apparently, he didn’t feel that strongly about the issue. It is still puzzling why the guy who represents the community with the most to lose does not want take action to protect the lake from pollution.
The supervisors agreed to form a special committee to study regulations of septic systems, although they have already crafted a law based on the one Queensbury has put into place. The aim is to adopt a law that requires septic systems be inspected before homes are sold or deeds transferred and eliminate those that are not working properly.
One supervisor wanted to hear more from Dickinson about his concerns. I think everyone would like to hear more about those concerns because right now they don’t seem to carry much weight.
Primary results
Kevin Geraghty, who demanded Republicans cease and desist from political dirty tricks after the 2017 election, and Tony Metivier, who continues to fight off challenges from Republicans still sore about him doing the right thing when it was choosing a law firm, both won their primary challenges on Tuesday.
It’s good to see two guys with a reputation for doing the right thing win.
Backing gun makers
The Washington County Board of Supervisors asked Gov. Cuomo not to sign into law a measure intended to hold manufacturers of firearms more responsible for ensuring their products do not fall into the wrong hands. I find that puzzling.
The bill requires that gun companies establish “reasonable controls” to prevent their guns from being used, marketed or sold illegally in New York.
Supporters believe it could force dealers to be more rigorous in the way they conduct background checks, maintain proper records of gun sales and secure their products to avoid thefts.
“That doesn’t happen in the gun industry because of the immunity they enjoy under federal law, so there are no financial incentives in place that would push the industry to push forward on its own and implement new best practices,” said David Pucino, a senior staff attorney at Giffords Law Center, a gun control advocacy group to the New York Times.
The Washington County board criticized the bill as “government overreach” even though it was a state law trying to close the protections granted in a federal law. The board’s resolution indicated the new law could harm gun shop owners and and machine shops that manufacture firearm components and cost the state jobs. I didn’t realize there were that many machine shops making guns in Washington County.
The resolution hinted that this was a gun rights issue by mentioning Constitutional protections.
The law is intended to hold corporate entities responsible for laws that prevented illegal guns from coming into the state. Why Washington County would object to that is mystifying.
I have to laugh about Dickinson response to all the sewer inspection issues. This is a huge problem and DEC is just as much to blame for the huge boat launch installations on the lake. Ask any of the people who work on and around the lake and they can tell you why we have all these problems. But inspection of all systems on the lake should be the no brainer of all of them. Oh well, hopefully people will wake up and vote in responsible elected officials in the future.
Some might argue that holding firearms manufacturers, those that make firearms, liable would be like holding car manufacturers liable for car accidents. Sure if a firearm malfunctions the maker should be held liable, just as car manufacturers are liable for a malfunction of a car or truck that results is an accident, but to hold the manufacturer liable for how their product is used or misused is a real stretch. Holding dealers responsible for who they sell to is one thing, but any attempt to hold the maker of a product responsible for how it us used, which is obviously out of their control, just 'a round about way' to get them to stop making that product.
Holding those that use the product, be it a firearm, a car a hammer a frying pan illegally is another issue.