Clarence Petty's Last Words of Wisdom
by Phil Brown
As editor of the Adirondack Explorer, I interviewed Clarence Petty before every issue over the past five years for our “Questions for Clarence” feature. Several times before his death, at age 104, I asked what piece of wisdom he would like to impart to future generations.
His answer: Let the people vote. He argued that since the Adirondack Park is a state treasure, the residents of the whole state should vote on matters of importance to the Park. He had no doubt that the statewide electorate would favor preservation of the Park’s natural beauty and wild character.
We didn’t discuss the nuts and bolts of how these referendums would work, but it’s an interesting idea. Surely Clarence is right that people in Buffalo, Syracuse, Long Island, and other distant places would be inclined to favor state land acquisition and other measures intended protect the Park’s natural resources.
Of course, in-Park officials would fight tooth and nail to prevent such outside influence on the region. But Clarence often found himself at odds with his fellow Adirondackers.
I got to know Clarence only in the last decade of his life. The Explorer’s founder and erstwhile publisher, Dick Beamish, knew him for nearly forty years. For the newsmagazine’s January/February issue, Dick wrote a lengthy article about Clarence’s life and contributions to the Park. It’s the most comprehensive piece on Clarence I’ve seen since his death in November. You can read it here. You’ll also find a selection of Questions for Clarence.
Photo of Clarence on top of Giant Mountain, at age 70, courtesy of the Adirondack Council.
2 Comments:
Unfortunately, and I am sure that Clarence would agree, the public doesn't always have the information to be able to vote the right way. For example, while most amendments to Article 14 are straightforward, some are not. At the last election, the public was not fully aware that NYPA and National Grid jumped the gun and cut the Forest Preserve and erected a new power line well in advance of the vote, totally destroying the scenic values of the Rte. 56 corridor in the process. People should have been very angry about the way in which this was handled. The better approach would have been to vote it down and force them to come back another year for a re-vote, but meanwhile require a land restoration plan to be prepared and implemented.
This could have waited a year. It was not a health emergency, like the Racquette Lake well amendment. Also the line had already been built, thanks to the arrogance and disregard for Article 14 of NYPA and National Grid. No one would have been inconvenienced.
My point is that in order to vote intelligently, the public has to have ALL of the facts. If they don't, anything could happen when they vote.
The Article 14 Amendment for the 56 corridor power line is not what destroyed the scenic value. Only a tiny segment was on State land. Most of the new line runs on private land. Also, from what I understood, the Feds were pushing this new line and forced the State's hand to get it done asap.
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