Here & There Column 12-13-11

Vetter's Win Surprised Many

Kathleen "Kitty" Vetter's November 8th win over incumbent District 3 Legislator Democrat Elwin "Woody" Wood came as a big surprise to some so-called veteran political experts but prior to election day there was many making the prediction that this was definitely a sleeper race.
Even on election night political pundits were making predictions on local radio stations that Wood would be the eventual winner.
The race for the District 3 legislators seat went down to the wire and following the count of absentee ballots Vetter edged out Wood by 16 votes.
The newly elected first time in politics legislator is a strong supporter of agriculture and tourism and indicated, "it is my belief that these can work together to bring business to our county."
Legislator elect Vetter told us that "at the present we have a great entertainment center in Bethel Woods and we can expand on the entertainment theme by promoting our outdoor activities while encouraging other forms of tourism entertainment to come to the area."
She listed additional entertainment activities such as workshops teaching pottery, art or music which could result in an expansion of places like the Shandelee Music Festival.
"Since we are only two hours away from New York City promotion of our Agriculture is vital as we have much produce that could be easily transported to that market and so we must coordinate our local farm produce with the city's needs," she said.
Other priorities "Kitty" feels important are the need to improve Broadband and Cell reception throughout the county which she sees as vital to improve the safety and status for all.
"There are many areas that do not have these forms of communication available and the lack of these tools puts our county growth and our citizen population at risk. Broadband as a communication tool is a necessity in the business world and potential buyers or start up business' choose other areas because of the lack of these services," Vetter said.
Decreasing the county's utility costs is vitally important to the newly elected county legislator and she wants to "make sustainable energy costs i.e. 'Greening the county' a reality for government, business owners and individual land and home owners."
Vetter offers a strong belief that her proposals will "help mitigate the cost of living for many and can help to bring in revenue which can overall help to keep taxes down."