THE
BULLY
OF TUG HILL
www.syracuse.com
Americ
a's Most Colorful Newspaper
The Post-Standard
Behind the Scenes
HOW `AMERICAN IDOL' CONTESTANTS PREPARE FOR THEIR BIG MOMENT
CNY, PAGE D-4
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2007 · FINAL EDITION
SYRACUSE, N.Y. · 50 CENTS
Deal: A Casino in the Catskills
Feds have final say on agreement by Spitzer, Mohawks
Staff and news service reports
A decades-old proposal for a casino
in the Catskills took a major step Mon-
day with Gov. Eliot Spitzer's agreement
for the St. Regis Mohawk tribe to build
and operate a gaming center at Monticel-
lo Raceway.
The Sullivan County casino is ex-
pected to draw gamblers from the nearby
New York City area, provide hundreds
of millions of dollars in revenue to state
government, and help revive the eco-
nomically hard-pressed region.
One gambling consultant said the ca-
sino could pull customers away from
Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Ve-
rona, but Turning Stone would rebound
by continuing to expand.
``It could have a negative impact on
(Turning Stone's) gaming revenues,
however, I think that would be a very
short-term phenomenon,'' said Joe Wei-
nert, vice president of Spectrum Gaming
Group in Atlantic City. ``Turning Stone
has shown itself to be very ambitious in
terms of capital expenditures, and it's
those amenities and services that attract
people.''
A spokesman for the Oneida Indian
Nation, Mark Emery, declined comment
on the Mohawk deal. Turning Stone had
gambling revenues of $215 million in
2005, according to a recent federal re-
port.
The Oneidas announced in 1995 they
would build a 200,000-square-foot casi-
no at Monticello Raceway, but later
abandoned that plan. The two tribes in-
volved in the Cayuga land claim have
also had discussions about a Catskills
casino, but there are no active plans.
STATE, PAGE A-10
Inside: Proposals for the Cayuga
Indian Nation of New York and
Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma are
``totally off the table,'' says Cayugas'
spokesman/A-10
XM and Sirius
hope to tie the knot
The satellite radio rivals are
losing money with high-priced
contracts to personalities such as
Howard Stern. They want to
combine forces to compete with
iPods, mobile phones and digital
radio, but will face tough scruti-
ny from federal regulators.
BUSINESS, PAGE B-6
A-Rod and Jeter: Can
this marriage be saved?
There's a chill between Yan-
kee superstars Alex Rodriguez
and Derek Jeter: ``You go from
sleeping over at somebody's
house five days a week, and now
you don't sleep over,'' says
Rodriguez.
SPORTS, PAGE C-1
ABA says pro hoops
team will play in Syracuse
The Syracuse Bullies will
play in a league that includes
former Syracuse University
players Lazarus Sims and
Kueth Duany.
SPORTS, PAGE C-1
Bottled water is a waste
Fayetteville-Manlius sopho-
more Jacob Albanese says bot-
tled water is trendy in high
school, but it's hurting the
environment.
INSIDE OUR SCHOOLS, PAGE B-3
How much caffeine?
A New York City councilor
wants the federal government to
require food and beverages to
carry labels that show the caf-
feine content.
NEW YORK, PAGE A-6
What's in a hot dog?
We dare to ask. It's for your
own good.
CNY, PAGE D-1
Corrections
4
Editorial on Oswego County
storm/A-2
4
Dan O'Hara's Secret Service
position/B-1
Call Deputy Executive Editor Tim Bunn at
470-2240 to discuss a correction on a
news story. Subscription questions? Call
470-NEWS (470-6397).
Poll: U.S.
ready for
woman
president
TAKE A BREAK FROM CLEARING YOUR DRIVEWAY AND GO FOR A RIDE
By Michael Virtanen
The Associated Press
Albany -- While two-thirds of
voters nationally say America is
ready for a woman president, a new
poll shows Democratic Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton running neck-and-
neck with Republicans Sen. John
McCain and former New York City
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani for the
White House.
Many voters believe a woman
would handle domestic issues like
health, education, Social Security,
energy policy and responding to nat-
ural disasters better than a man,
doing worse only as commander-in-
chief of the U.S. armed forces,
according to the Siena Research In-
stitute poll commissioned by Hearst
Newspapers.
``Three factors have converged to
bring us to this moment in U.S. pub-
lic opinion,'' said Douglas Lonns-
trom, institute director and statistics
professor.
POLLSTER SEES, PAGE A-10
Gary Walts / Staff photographer
GARY R. STINSON, of the Barnes Corners Sno-Pals Club in Lewis County, operates a snowmobile trail groomer last
week on trails in the Tug Hill State Forest in Barnes Corners.
This Times Union/Siena College poll was
conducted February 5-9 by telephone calls
to 1,120 registered voters nationwide.
It has a margin of error of +/- 2.9 points.
"The Bill Factor"
56%
say Hillary Clinton's
service as first lady
strengthens her ability to serve as
an effective president
56%
say that her decision
to stand by her
husband, President Bill Clinton,
during the Monica Lewinsky affair,
was a sign of strength
73%
say that if elected
president, Hillary
Clinton would be an independent-
minded chief executive, rather than
relying too much on the advice of
her husband
For more on the poll results,
see the News Tracker blog at
blog.syracuse.com/
newstracker
To debate the topic, see the
National Politics forum at
www.syracuse.com/forums/
nationalpolitics
When you have to move some serious snow
By Hart Seely
Staff writer
I
n the mythology of Upstate win-
ters, there are whiteouts -- and
then there are WHITEOUTS.
But when lake effect blizzards last
week buffeted the Tug Hill Plateau
it became, at one point, too snowy
for the giant machines that are de-
signed to build trails in the snow.
An hour into their routes, mem-
bers of the Barnes Corners Sno-Pals
Club in Lewis County turned around
their 8-ton groomers and headed
back to the barn.
``You just couldn't see any-
thing,'' said Gary R. Stinson, of the
1,100-member club, which is based
in the hamlet of Barnes Corners,
southeast of Watertown. ``You knew
the road you're on, but you still
could get lost. You couldn't even
see the landmarks.''
So goes the daily battle to main-
tain hundreds of miles of snowmo-
bile trails through the forests and
farmlands of the Tug Hill. During
snow season, nearly every day be-
fore dawn, small fleets of the huge
machines rumble deep into the
woods, carving paths in the wilder-
ness.
In Lewis County, 10 snowmobile
clubs groom trails with machines
that cost around $155,000 each, in-
vestments that helped expand the
snowmobiling industry throughout
the region.
The Barnes Corners Sno-Pals
tends 103 miles of trails, covering
public and private lands from
Adams to Copenhagen to Montague.
The club has members from as far
away as Oklahoma.
The club owns two groomers, a
souped-up John Deere tractor, and a
2002, German-made Pisten Bully,
one of the industry's most popular
models.
WHAT IF, PAGE A-10
MELTDOWN
Maybe it won't be
dramatic, but it'll
be warm enough
today to shrink the
many snow piles
dotting our white landscape.
Complete forecast, B-8
HIGH:
36
LOW:
27
Inside: Who had the lowest tem-
perature in the nation? See the
weather page, B-8
Index
Business
...........
B-6
Bridge
..............
D-6
Classified
..........
E-1
Comics
........
D-6, 7
CNY
..................
D-1
Crossword
..
D-6, 7
Dick Case
........
B-1
Editorials
.........
A-8
Kid's Page
........
E-6
Letters
.............
A-9
Local news
.......
B-1
Lottery
..............
A-2
Movies
..............
D-4
New York
.........
A-6
Obituaries
........
B-4
Schools
.............
B-3
Sports
...............
C-1
Sudoku
.............
D-7
Television
.........
D-5
Weather
...........
B-8
Portable dialysis device frees up centers and patients
By James T. Mulder
Staff writer
For Cathy Sciarrino, managing kidney disease
was like having a part-time job.
She'd arrive at a Liverpool dialysis center by
6:30 a.m. three days a week and sit for four hours
in a chair tethered to a machine that removed im-
purities from her blood, a life-saving job her kid-
neys cannot perform.
``You are pretty locked in,'' Sciarrino said.
She couldn't visit her summer camp in Ontario,
Canada, last year because the dialysis center in
Watertown could not fit her into its schedule.
Sciarrino broke free from the bonds of dialysis
center schedules earlier this month when she be-
came one of the first patients in a home hemodia-
lysis program at St. Joseph's Hospital Health Cen-
ter. The program, the first of its kind in the
Syracuse area, puts portable, easy-to-use dialysis
machines in patients' homes so they can get treat-
ments on their own schedule and take the equip-
ment with them when they travel.
``It's the freedom to do whatever you want,''
Sciarrino said.
St. Joseph's uses a machine made by NxStage,
which was approved for home use by the Food
and Drug Administration in 2005. Since then,
more than 1,000 patients nationwide have begun
using it. There are a few other home dialysis ma-
chines on the market made by other companies.
75-POUND, PAGE A-10
THE POST-STANDARD
Source: United States Renal Data System
The Post-Standard
`80
`82
`84
`86
`88
`90
`92
`94
`96
`98
`00
`02
`04
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
Booming demand for dialysis
The growing number of patients
requiring dialysis represents a
growing market for home
dialysis devices.
IN THOUSANDS
336
50
WIN UP TO $2,000
Play The Post-Standard
Treasure Hunt
CLUE, PAGE C-3
Lake
Ontario
Area of
snowmobile
zone
177
NEW
YORK
MAP
AREA
Watertown
11
12
N
81
3
The Post-Standard
