By a unanimous vote [minus the vote of Trustee Christopher Randall, who was absent from the meeting], the Fayetteville Village Board has approved their deer management program. Pending final approval, which seems very likely, the program will commence on Dec. 23 and run to the end of March, 2016. The stated objectives are to reduce the number of Lyme Disease cases, reduce property damage caused by deer, reduce the number of deer-vehicular accidents and lessen the negative impact of deer overpopulation on natural plant communities. I hope their program is successful and provides a model for other jurisdictions in Central New York. Three cheers for their doing this!
Although a few groups in the county are now exploring deer managements, everyone seems to be taking an appropriate wait and see approach now that Fayetteville proceeded. If the Fayetteville program is successful, I would hope that virtually everyone else in the area, for example the village of Manlius, would follow suit. I predict candidates for mayor in the next election must campaign on a promise to design and implement a deer control program if they are to garner support from the voters. I am continuing to run the deer-control clock, but will not report on it here until April when the results of the Fayetteville program are known.
On another front, geology seems to have intruded, if backchannel information is accurate, on the effort to build the new firehouse in Manlius. After the mayor rejected the site on Route 173 in Manlius because of the high cost of removing some limestone interfering with the foundations, drilling at the current site seems to have revealed a slab of limestone there also. Clearly the campaign for a firehouse included the strategy, “bloviate first, get facts second.” Since we are now committed, I hope this works out without a big increase in taxes. Accompanying the information on drilling is the suggestion that there are efforts to buy adjacent land to expand the size of some part of the new firehouse. Interesting.
Finally, there is a fantastic new 16-month calendar for 2016. The title is “Natal Stones” and it is published by Lithographie, Ltd. (Note that I have no creative or commercial involvement with this calendar — I just think it might make a very cool present during the holiday season.)
Natal stones, also known as birthstones, have not been a constant set of gems over the centuries, but have experienced numerous revisions based on both historical scholarship and on the commercial availability of gem rough. In this calendar, several of the interesting alternatives are presented. For example, the November 2015 illustration is a faceted 15 millimeter Tahitian pearl. It is absolutely stunning. Pearl was one of the original stones on the high priest’s breastplate from which lists of natal stones were first derived. How about a natural red zircon or an iris agate or an intricately carved panel of onyx?
The calendar can be ordered online at lithographie.org/bookshop.htm for $10 plus shipping. If you want a gemstone-oriented calendar of the highest quality for yourself or as a gift, I suggest you check this out. Beautiful things are found in the earth. I love mine!
