Growing up a golfer
As a member of the Calhoun
(Long Island) High Golf Team, I was a pariah of the jock-ular caste system. No
cheerleader worth her pom-poms would have ever even considered dating me. It
would have been an athletic faux pas of the highest order, almost as bad as saying “No” to the captain of the
football team.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Thirty years later and who’s laughing now? Golf has risen
to the very height of recreational fashion. Everyone’s doing it: kids, teens,
adults, retirees, actors, sports celebrities, sports has-beens, sports
wannabees. With over 4,000 courses nationwide and $60 billion in annual
earnings, golf is huge business. For this we have largely to thank one Eldrick
“Tiger” Woods, the most charismatic man to swing a driver since
Arnold Palmer bounded onto the links some 50 years ago.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The PGA Championship is in town this week at the very
lush, and very private, Oak Hill Country Club. One of the four major
tournaments of the professional men’s golf year, the PGA attracts the rock
stars of the golf world: Tiger, Monty, Furyk, Garcia, Els, Mickelson. They’ll
all be there, along with a battalion of swing doctors, sports shrinks, press,
and TV personnel. And, of course, the general public. Even on Monday, the first
pre-tournament practice day, the course was teeming with fans. I was right
there with them, craning for close-ups of the polo-shirted celebrities whose
faces I’ve come to know so well from my daily visits to the Golf Channel.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Is the world a better place for golf? Well, of course it
is. Golf is a study in slowing down and turning inward. It is the
anti-football, the anti-reality show, the anti-MTV. It is the patron sport of
all gentlemen and gentlewomen, regardless of race, creed, color, religion, age,
body shape, or level of personal fitness. It is, quite simply, the sport to
which all other sports aspire. If only those cheerleaders knew what they were
missing.
— Rick Scott
Ginna the undead
The biggest energy issue to
hit Rochester in years has made a small dent in the news lately.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย It all began in July 2002, when Rochester Gas and
Electric (Energy East) filed a license-renewal application for the Ginna nuclear plant, located 20 miles
east of Rochester. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission is now processing
the application, which would allow Ginna to operate until September 2029. If
RG&E is turned down — quite unlikely, since the NRC has so far said yes
to every similar application — the plant would effectively go out of business
in 2009.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย By its standard operating procedure, the NRC recently
held public input meetings in Ginna’s “host community,” the Wayne County town
of Ontario, rather than in Rochester, the largest population center that could
be harmed by a nuclear accident. (And fear of an accident isn’t unfounded: In
1982, an “incident” at Ginna released some radioactivity to the environment and
stoked a minor panic. RG&E, though, has always maintained that the release
posed no threat, and that the plant has a fine safety record. And recent NRC
“performance indicators” for the plant have been coded green — basically
meaning OK.)
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย A recent RG&E filing with the federal SEC says a
decision on the license renewal is expected by June 30, 2004. The notice also
says the “renewal application was unopposed.” That may be true in narrow legal
terms. But in fact, many people would like the plant shut down in 2009, if not
before.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย One of these critics is Wolcott resident Susan Peterson
Gateley, who used to live even closer to the plant. Gateley attended the recent
public meetings; she sums up the feelings of the few members of the public who
attended. “The citizens are figuring out this is basically a rubber-stamp
process,” she says. The application documents, she says, are “narrowly focused”
and “designed to comply with the letter of the law.”
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Gateley’s also concerned that “cumulative issues” are not
being addressed. What issues are these? Gateley notes that there are now 16
nuclear reactors on the Lake Ontario shoreline: Twelve reactors in two plant
complexes serve the Toronto area; the other reactors are on this side of the
lake, in Wayne and Oswego counties.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Whether or not the rubber-stamp is poised, the public
comment period on the Ginna relicensing will be open till at least September
16. (After that date, says an NRC document, submissions may or may not get
consideration.) Relevant filings can be found on the web via the NRC “Reading
Room,” www.nrc.gov/reading-rm.html. The documents also are available at the
Ontario Public Library, 1850 Ridge Road; and at the Rochester Central Library,
115 South Avenue. Written comments may be sent to: Chief, Rules and Directives
Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of Administration, Mailstop
T-6D 59, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. You can
also e-mail your comments to the NRC at GinnaEIS@nrc.gov.
This article appears in Aug 13-19, 2003.
