SUNY at Cobleskill 2006 Alumnus of the Year Award Remarks

SUNY at Cobleskill 2006 Alumnus of the Year Award Remarks

September 30, 2006

J. Glenn Eugster

Good evening and thanks for coming out tonight.

My education at Cobleskill has been both the path and the foundation I have used to build my professional career and personal life.  It gave me my start, helped build my confidence, raised my expectations and lifted my horizons.

Evenings like tonight give all of us an opportunity to reflect on where we have been, where we are, and how we got here.

Thomas Merton, one of the foremost spiritual thinkers of the 20^th century, wrote in a book called “Thoughts in Solitude” that “A man is known, then, by his end.  He is also known by his beginning.  And if you wish to know him as he is at any given moment, find how far he is from his beginning and how near to his end”.  

Where I am today starts with the gift of being and with the capacities that God has given me. It continues to be influenced by my family and friends.   It has been and will continue to be influenced by the actions of others around me, by the events of the world in which I live, and by the character of our society.

When I came here I knew that I wanted to get a college education but I’m not sure I knew then why I wanted it.  I was the first person in my family to go to college and I was strongly encouraged to do so.  College educations were not a given then and those of us that had the opportunity to pursue a field of study were most fortunate. 

I arrived here as an average student with potential but in need of a great deal of work.  I was lucky enough to be guided by Professor Jack Ingels, then and now, one of the top professionals, educators, and people in the field I was entering. Jack is passionate, substantive, and knows how to teach not only subject matter but the standards of professional practice. In hindsight Jack’s expertise and passion were most appropriate for educating those of us entering this profession.  Little did we know then that we would need both passion and skill to work effectively in this type of work.

My training began as America was implementing many important park, conservation and environmental laws including, the 1962 Report to the President and to the Congress by the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission, and the 1965 White House Conference on Natural Beauty.  My education coincided with a fundamental ground shift in America.  Earth Day was on the horizon and people such as Professor Ian McHarg were advocating that leaders  should “Design With Nature.”  All of these influences challenged us to develop a new paradigm for understanding people and the places where they live, work, and recreate.  It also gave us passion for our work and a belief that we could make a difference locally and globally.

Cobleskill was the door that led me into this movement, first through ornamental horticulture, nursery management, and landscape design.  It led me to landscape architecture; river conservation; National Parks; ecological planning; and sustainable development at local, regional, national and international scales.  

Cobleskill made me realize how I could apply my education.  I left here in 1968 with not only a degree, and new and improved life skills, but an excellent job offer, and the opportunity to continue my education.  The university professors helped me become all I could be.  They gave me the opportunity to practice my profession and succeed.

Over the years I’ve have kept in contact with Professor Ingels, Lois Goblet, and others in the University for several reasons.  I’ve tried to measure my progress.  I’ve tried to show the people that invested in me the return on their commitment.  I’ve also tried in small ways to give something back to the University that launched my career and helped me achieve a better life.  

With age comes perspective and as I’ve interacted with the Cobleskill I have been impressed by the University’s sustained commitment to students and graduates.  Whether it is teaching students, advancing best practices, helping new graduates network with old graduates in the workforce, or recognizing the achievements of people like us this evening, Cobleskill’s approach is unique and effective.

The awards tonight highlight what some of us have accomplished.  Perhaps more importantly these awards reflect the impact this school and these professors have had on graduates and the individuals, communities and companies they serve.  I am forever grateful for my award and hope that the good work that is done here in Cobleskill will continue.

Thank you.  

Upper Delaware River: Protesters disrupt public hearings on river plan

Thursday, June 12, 1986, p. 1 and 19.



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Anti-NPS protester Noel van Swol (center with arms raised) helps lead the disruption of the first public hearing on the draft River Management Plan at the Damascus School on June 4. After 90 minutes of demonstrating, van Swol took over the microphone, whereupon the officials closed the hearing and left.Protesters disrupt public hearings on river plan


RIVER VALLEY -- No verbal comments were entered into the record at two of the four scheduled public hearings on the proposed River Management Plan, due to planned demonstrations by protesters against to the National Park Service (NPS) and the boisterous opposition of most the audience.
In Damascus on Wednesday, June 4, the hearing panel adjourned and walked out of the school auditorium after listening to an hour and a half of booing, chanting of "no park, no plan, no way," singing, and verbal attacks against officials on the stage by most of the over 300 people present.
William Matz, a leader of the Independent Landholders Association (ILA), helped to keep the demonstration alive by leading the chants, and at one point, parading around the room with a large sign depicting the NPS as worms in an apple. Anti-park spokesman Noel van Swol of Long Eddy, Upper Delaware Citizens Alliance president Donald Rupp, and other anti-NPS activists incited the crowd to present any individuals from presenting comments about the plan.
After about 90 minutes, van Swol took the speaker's microphone and announced, "We're going to suspend the rules and run a democratic meeting here."
Hearing officer Michael Gordon, NPS assistant regional director, then adjourned the meeting and the officials left. The panel also included: Robert "Chuck" Hoffman, of Foresight Consulting Group; Glenn Eugster, NPS regional planner; Robert Everest, of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC); James Coleman, NPS Mid-Atlantic regional director; LaRue Elmore, of the Citizens Advisory Council (CAC); Cochecton Supervisor Jean McCoach, of the Conference of Upper Delaware Townships (COUP); Bruce McMillan, NY Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC); Roger Fickes, PA Department of Environmental Resources (DER); and John Hutzky, NPS Upper Delaware superintendent.
"They're walking out!" hooted van Swol, as the officials left the building.
"Come on, Mr. Coleman, speak to us, or don't you have anything to say?" the crowd continued to taunt. 
An anonymous voice from the crowd shouted, "Burn them out!"
In explaining the walkout after the hearing, Coleman stated "He's (van Swol) taken over the meeting," and then indicated that written testimony would be accepted.
Regional planner Mike Gordon said that the disruption was expected by park service personnel. "There will be four public hearings and this was one of them. This (disruption) only denies the right of the public to speak."
"There will be a final plan supported by the towns or not, he added.
Asked about the recent referenda held in the three Pennsylvania townships, in which voters rejected the current management plan, Gordon responded, "We see the vote as significant. People want the plan changed and we are open to change."
The crowd lingered for another hour or so after the meeting ended, with many listening to a spirited discourse by van Swol. He accused the NPS of engineering a "federal land grab" to deprive residents of their homes and livelihoods. He expressed a determination to rid the valley of the park service by deauthorizing the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River. van Swol's remarks were met with loud applause and cheers from those remaining in the crowd which had filled the gymnasium.
The audience also heard briefly from other leaders of the ILA, as well as citizens who read prepared statements. Outside, Matz told COUP planner Chuck Hoffman, as he left the building, "They [NPS personnel] had better be bullet-proof. And you had better be bullet-proof too."
At the next hearing on Thursday night, June 5 in the Delaware Valley Central School near Callicoon, similar protests and interruptions took place. An attempt by NPS officials to negotiate with the protesters, in part by agreeing to extend each speaker's initial time limit from five to ten minutes, broke down just prior to the hearing's start.
This time the panel left after only 15 minutes in obvious frustration over the disturbance.
van Swol again took the stage, but this time found that the officials had taken the microphones with them. "Is there anyone here who knows how to operate the sound system?" he asked. No one volunteered.
The audience quieted down to hear a speech which again outlined many residents' fears of losing their homes and liberties to a burdensome federal bureaucracy.
The beginning of van Swol's remarks were interrupted a few times by a small group of plan supporters who beat on and kicked the bleachers to make noise: "What's the matter? Can't you take a taste of your own. medicine?" one shouted back at the angry crowd.
Among his other remarks, van Swol called upon Secretary of the Interior Donald P. Hodel "to immediately fire" NPS regional director James Coleman.
van Swol then introduced Mike Stem, who described himself as "the only announced candidate" to oppose McHugh for the 28th District (NY) Congressional election in November. Stern said he is seeking the Republican, Conservative, and Right-To-Life nominations. If elected, "I'm introducing legislation to deauthorize the Upper Delaware," he promised.
Stem claimed to have the backing of Citizen Alliance president Don Rupp; Rolf Beck, president of the ILA; and President Ronald Reagan, with whom he asserted he is "personal friends."
"Speaking for Ronald Reagan, right now, he doesn't know this is going on. Right now, I'm going to Washington and as sure as my mother is lying in her grave, they're going to know what the NPS is pulling," Stem swore.
Stem was booed by the crowd when he mentioned his ten years experience as an IRS empl09ee, but was otherwise enthusiastically received.


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