Finding Ulysses

After a late retribution by winter in response to the springlike conditions of January, March is almost over, and baby, is it ever going out like a lamb.

I just returned from a business trip to Tampa, Florida - and I can honestly say that our weather here is better. In March, the sunlight in Florida is already so glaring that it washes out the colors. It’s not that much warmer there either - in the 50s and 60s during my couple of days visiting.

I found these crocuses in my back yard this morning, planted by previous resident Harriet McConnell years ago. Thanks, Harriet. They’re a smaller, more delicate, form of crocus than what we see more often in people’s yards. It takes a considerate eye to plant something uncommon.

There’s a particular horticultural identity to Trumansburg, with certain varieties of plants shared from neighbor to neighbor over the years, with others left out. Small, early snowdrops, for example, are prolific. The larger, later version has been, as far as I can tell, absent from our village.

I planted some of these larger snowdrops last autumn, in a new perennial bed where some asparagus plants had been shaded out and nibbled down to wispy versions of their former selves. In another couple years, the large snowdrop bulbs will be ready to divide, and I imagine that I’ll share some of those with neighbors.

Most people are now becoming aware that our congressional district - New York’s 24th - is the site of one of 2006’s hottest elections. Sherwood Boehlert, a Republican who has represented the district in the US House of Representatives since the early 1980s, announced this year that he will not be running for re-election. That makes our seat in Congress open to all challengers. What’s more, the 24th District is a swing seat, with almost exactly the same degree of support for Democrats and Republicans overall. So, the attention of the national political establishment will be focused right here for the rest of 2006.

What a lot of people in Trumansburg don’t realize is that their congressional district stretches all the way over to Herkimer County in the heart of the Adirondacks. That’s a gerrymander for you. The shape of our district includes the cities of Rome and Utica in Oneida County, as well as Auburn in Cayuga County and Cortland over in, wouldn’t you know it, Cortland County.

Oneida County has a large portion of our district’s population, and Oneida County politicians like to play on this fact to claim that only a candidate who comes from Oneida County can win the election. Two of the four candidates for the Democratic nomination to run for the open seat, Leon Koziol and Michael Arcuri, come from Oneida County.

The truth is that Oneida politicians’ claim of political dominion over the 24th district by Oneida County is overblown. As the Take Back the 24th District blog recently noted, the majority of Democrats in the 24th District - over 69 percent - live outside of Oneida County. That means that, in order for a candidate to win the 24th District Democratic primary election, that candidate has to get the votes of most of the Democrats outside of Oneida County.

Believe it or not, that makes the town of Ulysses a major political player. Ulysses Democrats have a way of turning out in large numbers to participate in political activities in large numbers that is unrivaled anywhere else in the District. Consider our recent march for peace in Trumansburg, in which over 125 residents participated. None of the big cities of our district has had any kind of peace demonstration anything close to that size in the whole 3 years of the Iraq War.

Realize that, in a primary election, only 4-8 percent of Democrats typically turn out to vote, and you’ll see that, although the population of Ulysses is much smaller than a city like Utica, our proven record of high turnout makes Ulysses a prime player in the Democratic primary race. Yet, not all the campaigns are recognizing the opportunity in Ulysses. Only one candidate, Les Roberts, has visited Trumansburg and Ulysses - and so far, only Les Roberts has made concrete plans to do so. Josh Lozman, the campaign manager for the Les Roberts campaign, has made repeated visits to Trumansburg, and Les Roberts plans a second visit at the end of April - to meet with members of Back to Democracy and the general public in our Fire Hall.

For the record, there are four Democrats who are officially declared candidates for Congress in our district:

In many ways, this is really my first spring in Trumansburg. My wife and I moved here last February, and our daughter was born upstairs in our new house not too much later, a year ago this week. Most of my spring 2005 was spent taking care of my new baby, moving in, or working in order to afford it all. This year, I’ve got just a little bit more time for reflection.

So it is that this year, I’m seeing little maple operations all over the village, when I didn’t notice them at all last year. Over on the other side of Cayuga Street, down toward Millspaugh’s, one of my neighbors has two buckets hanging from a couple old trees out by the street. The last time I looked, they were both overflowing. On the other side of the street, another neighbor just has a plastic tap and a tube leading to a liter bottle resting down on the ground.

I was given a maple bucket and tap as a gift this week, and I put it out on one of my sugar maples about two days ago. So far, I’ve got about a cup and half of sap. Maybe it’s the weather, not so warm during the daytime, and maybe it’s something else. Maybe this is the amount of sap I should expect. I really don’t know.

So, I’m looking to older and wiser people to give me a bit of guidance. Is there a particular method to tapping for sap that you recommend? Is there particular apparatus that works best for you? Is there a certain size of maple, in a certain sort of location, that works best? What about timing? When is the height of the maple syrup season around here?

Trumansburg showed its extraordinary character this weekend with a strong turnout for a march against war down main street. Residents of all ages, from babies to senior citizens, gathered near the school grounds, then marched up the street in a large crowd that picked up new participants all along the way.

People driving down main street slowed down, honked their horns, and waved in support. All along the route, I didn’t see a single person watching the peace march who indicated any opposition. Not a single pro-war heckler showed up. There was no pro-war counter demonstration.

We walked until we reached the small turn-out park on the east side of the street on the route 96 heading north out of town, and gathered in a circle there so that people could have a chance to speak. It was bitter cold, but people stayed until the end. Their resolve to keep on resisting the Iraq War would not be deterred by a little discomfort.

Monday, the Trumansburg peace march was the big front page story in the Ithaca Journal. It will receive coverage in the the Trumansburg Free Press too, I’d think. Bill Chaisson was there with his camera, along with other journalists.

Thanks to Back to Democracy and the Perry City Quakers for organizing this event. I’d like to think that this will be the last year that an anti-war protest is necessary, but as Margo Alexander was quoted as saying in the Ithaca Journal, “last year … we thought it was going to be the last one.”

Yes, it’s true, there are no competitors on the ballot against the two Democratic village trustees and our Democratic mayor. But, as Jim Dennis reminded me on the telephone last night, the Republicans can take advantage of the apathy about this apparently uncontested election to coast to victory through a write-in campaign of just a few votes.

Besides, if you’re one of those Democrats who opposed the idea of putting our incumbents back on the ballot this year, well, then you can show up and cast a blank ballot as a protest non-vote vote, to send message.

Also, there’s that referendum on the ballot about extending the terms of village trustees. A lot of t-burgers are up in arms about this issue - one way or the other.

So, how about getting yourself on down to the Trumansburg Village offices between Noon and 9:00 today and doing that little democracy dance? Democracy doesn’t bring us perfect results, but it’s better than the alternative.

Earlier this month, Democratic candidate Les Roberts came to Trumansburg and met with Ulysses Democrats in the Ulysses Town Hall.

Since that time, we have received a message from a reader alerting us to the fact that Les Roberts will be returning to town about a month from now. Here’s the message:

“Les Roberts will be appearing again in Trumansburg at the Back To Democracy monthly meeting at the T-burg Fire Hall on Main St on Friday, April 28 at 7pm.”

Thanks for the update.