First of all, it appears that there are a number of “New Baltimores” as reported by our readers. We want to clariify that the New Baltimore we are writing about is the Town of New Baltimore located in Greene County, New York. We apologize for any confusion or anxiety caused to some readers. We hope that this clarification exonerates the other New Baltimores and focuses on the culprit New Baltimore, Greene County, New York. Thank you, readers, for drawing our attention to this fact
A Halloween Nightmare Story
The Demonic Drain
It’s here now, it’s not going away! It’s going to hurt you, make you bleed, kill your car! Your pets and your children will be devoured by it! The ghouls of the Town of New Baltimore and the New Baltimore Highway Department care for it, minister to it, feed it! BEWARE!!!
Contributed by the Town of New Baltimore and the New Baltimore Highway Department
Jeff Ruso, Nick Dellisanti, Scott VanWormer, Alan VanWormer & Minions
This all may sound quite hilarious to some of our readers who don’t have personal experience with this “Demonic Drain,” and other sinister creations by the Town of New Baltimore and the New Baltimore Highway Department but those of us who live here and see what those evil ghouls are capable of doing , it isn’t funny at all. You can’t make this stuff up but even so, it’s unbelievable if you were to hear it told without some proof. That’s why we are so compulsive about documenting and publishing what we have to tell.
The Town of New Baltimore and the New Baltimore Highway Department got a proper Halloween fright when we published our recent article “New Baltimore’s Halloween “Kripple-a-Kid” Program” and our warning to parents and kids in our article “WARNING: New Street In The Hamlet Still A Hazardous Area For Trick-Or-Treaters!” because on October 31, 2018, at least 3 Highway Department employees, a couple of trucks, were hard at work digging, sawing, puttering. What were they doing? Good Question.
Well, for about two years now residents have been asking, pleading that the Highway Department fix damage and botched road work on New Street in the Hamlet. The Town and the Highway Department ignored every request, even though the so-called roadwork was causing more damage and actually created a number of dangerous hazards. The Town and the Highway Department under two supervisors, Town Supervisor Nick Dellisanti and Town Supervisor Jeff Ruso, and two highway superintendents (neither of whom had any education or training) Denis Jordan and Scott VanWormer (his brother, Alan VanWormer is running for Highway Superintendent unopposed this November 6th). But after our two articles the Town and the Highway Department almost woke up.
We also reported on the fact that the Town Board of the Town of New Baltimore voted to send acting Highway Superintendent to the Cornell Highway School in Ithaca, New York, a three-day conference for highway superintendents — real ones, that is — at a cost of about $500.00 plus VanWormer’s usual salary. All expense paid trip for Scott VanWormer in May 2018, at taxpayer expense, to sit through presentations that obviously didn’t sink in. We also questioned why the Town would send an employee in a temporary slot to Ithaca in the first place, since he’d be out of a job in November! But HEY! That’s how the New Baltimore Town Board serves residents and voters.
Back to the Demon Hole: Well, after we published our articles, they were out there making a mess out of things … AGAIN! Here’s some graphic history:
Pictoral History of the Demon Hole
a.k.a. New Baltimore Highway Department’s Idea of a Drain
“A” in the illustration above shows the site of the drain in about May-June 2016, when residents demanded that the Highway Department and the Town Board visit the site to see the damage caused by the Highway Department’s failure to maintain the drainage and culvert installations. You can’t see the drain because it is buried under about three (3) inches of soil, and was that way at least since 2000. Scott VanWormer didn’t even know it was there.
“B” shows the catchment that was installed under the supervision of disgraced former Highway Superintendent Denis Jordan. It was literally an 18-21″ deep hole, measuring about 30 inches across, and 30 inches long, and had a vertical grate in it with sharp edges. We called it the “Demon Drain” because it was so dangerous, diabolical, and it looked like it would just swallow you up. Actually, the Highway Department left the culvert wide open until residents demanded that they put a grate in it. Fact is, you could fit a child or a dog in the opening; that’s how wide it was. Everything is a fight in New Baltimore if you’re not a party member (this time it’s the Republicans).
Still, the drain was a real hazard after the Highway Department finally put in the grate. At night you couldn’t see it. If you didn’t know it was there during the day, you could destroy a tire and bend a rim. If you fell into it you’d be cut to pieces by the sharp grate edges. So residents asked for a traffic cone while waiting for a proper fix. Traffic cone never materialized; neither did a fix for about 2 years. They finally in a grate level with the road — well, as level as it gets in New Baltimore.
So, on October 31, 2018, more than two years after the Highway Department started to maintain the drains and culverts on New Street after at least 16 years, they finally got to giving the Demon Drain some attention.
“C” in the illustration above shows what the New Baltimore Highway Department did with the Demon Drain. It’s still a bit “demonic,” don’t you think?
The Town sent VanWormer to Ithaca for three days to learn something about road and drainage maintenance. He came back just as stupid as when he left. That’s how Jeff Ruso and his “deputy” Nick Dellisanti, and their minions on the New Baltimore Town Board (Shelly VanEtten, Scott Briody, Chuck Irving, and Kelly Downes) serve the best interests of residents and taxpayers in New Baltimore: They don’t. They deserve the nickname the “Newbaltimorons.”
The Typical New Baltimore Town Board Meeting
Public Meeting or Executive Session?
(Left to right: Deputy Supervisor Nick Dellisanti, Supervisor Jeff Ruso, Board Members Shelly VanEtten, Chuck Irving, Kelly Downes, and Scott Briody)
The Six Ps of New Baltimore Town Hall
(Poor Planning Provides Piss Poor Performance)
The illustration below shows what the Town of New Baltimore and the Town of New Baltimore Highway Department are capable of now that Mr VanWormer has been “trained.”
We should note for our readers’ historical knowledge that we demanded production of documents showing the education and training of the Highway Superintendent and Highway Department employees. The Town couldn’t produce a single document showing any training for any of the Highway Department employees or the Superintendent. Mr VanWormer’s attendance at the Cornell conference in May 2018 was the first training ever for the employees of the New Baltimore Highway Department. Even so, State Senator George Amadore was handing over hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars under the CHIPS program to New Baltimore, Greene County Legislator Pat Linger was passing on taxpayer dollars to be wasted in New Baltimore by a bunch of untrained apes, Greene County District Attorney Joseph Stanzione cast a blind eye on the corruption, waste and incompetence in New Baltimore Town Hall and in the New Baltimore Highway Department. Even the employees who privately would admit that something seriously wrong was going on in the Highway Department, employees like Scott VanWormer and his brother, Alan VanWormer, just followed orders with their thumbs up their fat asses and didn’t say a word; Town Board members like Jeff Ruso, Nick Dellisanti, and Shelly VanEtten did nothing. (See our article “Open Letter to County Legislator Patrick Linger and Greene County DA Joseph Stanzione” and our earlier article, “Open Letter to Greene County District Attorney Joseph Stanzione“)
The all knew what was going on but nobody had the balls to put a stop to it! They thought they could deny any knowledge of what was going on but Smalbany wouldn’t let them deny it and get away with it. We published our exposé in our article, “Open Letter Blasts New Baltimore Supervisor, Town Board over Jordan Affair.”
Now Pat Linger wants New Baltimore voters to re-elect him to the Greene County Legislature but he can’t come up with any good reasons whey they should do that. We can come up with plenty of good reasons why NOT! Greene County District Attorney Joe Stanzione also want’s you to waste your vote on an unopposed candidate; he’s running unopposed and doesn’t need a single vote to stay in office. Same applies to Alan VanWormer who is running for New Baltimore Highway Superintendent unopposed, after he sat back and let Denis Jordan do as he pleased. (See our article, “The Problem with Alan VanWormer“)