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Ithaca Tag

Spotted by The Wife in Ithaca. (No, she did not key the car, but she thought about it.)...

On Monday I wrote how the Village of Cayuga Heights, bordering the Cornell University campus and the City of Ithaca, has spent $2,984 per deer in  a sterilization program which had no hope of reducing the deer population to an environmentally safe level. A reader just emailed me with a press release issued this morning by the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation declaring war on deer in the central Tompkins County area in and around Ithaca:
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation sent this bulletin on 01/15/2014 12:59 PM EST DEC Press Release Hello, The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation has issued the following press release:

Special Deer Hunting Season in Central Tompkins County to Help Control Local Deer Population

Deer Management Focus Area Open Until January 31, 2014

A special deer hunting season to help control the deer population in and around the city of Ithaca, Tompkins County, will be open until January 31, 2014, State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Regional Director Ken Lynch announced today. The Deer Management Focus Area (DMFA) program was initiated in 2012 in the Ithaca area to expand the use of hunting to assist local communities burdened with overabundant deer populations. The DMFA encompasses 60,000 acres of land in and around the city of Ithaca, including the city and town of Ithaca, the villages of Cayuga Heights and Lansing, and parts of the towns of Danby, Caroline, Dryden, Lansing, Enfield, Newfield and Ulysses.

We have written before about the deer sterilization program in Cayuga Heights, which borders the Cornell campus (most people think of it as Ithaca, but it's actually a separate municipality). Because Reproductive Health Care Is A Cervine Right:
I have written before about the moral angst sweeping the upscale Village of Cayuga Heights, bordering the Cornell campus and home to a large number of professors and staff, over how to control the out-of-control deer population. After years of debate, which tore the community apart, Cayuga Heights has come up with a solution:
The board of trustees passed a resolution Monday night to begin implementation of the phased options approach to deer management. The village will begin with the surgical sterilization of 20-60 does within a two-year period, followed by the culling of the remainder of the herd.
The cost per sterilization? Don’t ask:
The first phase of sterilization is estimated to take two years at an average cost of $1,200 per doe, according to the statement.
If they do for our health care system what they’ve done for the deer of Cayuga Heights, we’re sunk.
How did it work out? The Ithaca Journal reports, Cayuga Heights spends $35K to sterilize 12 does:

Cascadilla Creek, not far from my home in Ithaca, carries water from one of the main gorges that cuts through campus high above to Cayuga Lake. But to get there, it travels through my neighborhood. Normally flooding is not a problem. Except when the creek freezes over and...

Voting for Obama "despite everything" was enough to get him through 2012. Spotted in Ithaca at the Wegmans shopping center....

Spotted in Ithaca. The sticker on the right, partially removed, says "Shut Vermont Yankee Now," in reference to the nuclear power plant. She's about to get her way, that is, if they can figure out how to shut it down....

This group of Tea Party supporters in Ithaca decided to carry signs outside Republican Tom Reed's office, which must have felt like a poke in the eye to most Ithacans. Hey, poking Ithaca in the eye is my job! Ed writes: A couple of pictures of the Ithaca Tea...

If I had not received this from a highly reliable source, I never would have believed this was seen in Ithaca. From someone whose identity is being held so secret I had to black out his reflection on the chrome trim, came this photo and note: I enviously...

Back in Ithaca this past weekend. Spotted a few blocks from my house. ...

It's great to be back in Ithaca for the weekend. It's The Ithaca Festival, which is similar to the full moon. I'm kinda upset I missed the Volvo Ballet this year: ...

Can't figure this one out. Spotted in Ithaca. ...

Hot rodding around Ithaca in your Toyota Sienna LE minivan. Breaking all the rules! You'll make history, alright. A certain little bad boy is waiting for you....

Spotted at the Wal-Mart on Route 13. Probably lives outside the 10 square miles, in the reality part. ...

On the very short drive to work this morning, I heard an interview on local AM 870 radio with the Tompkins County town administrator. The radio host kept trying to scare everyone about the Sequester cuts, repeatedly asking how it would affect people in Tompkins County.  The...

This is a follow up to yesterday's Criminalize Fracking post. Gimme Coffee is an Ithaca coffee roaster and something of an institution.  For a mere $4 or thereabouts, you can have quite a good latte.  The coffee happens to be excellent, but it comes with a...