Paterson vetoes Schwenk's name for pine barrens

Gov. David A. Paterson vetoed a measure to name a 154-acre pine barrens tract in Westhampton for the late Suffolk GOP chairman Edwin "Buzz" Schwenk. "It just shows that the governor has no idea what he's doing," fumed leading environmentalist Richard Amper. "He ought to be ashamed of himself." Amper said Schwenk, once his chief adversary, deserved the honor for backing creation of Community Preservation Funds in East End towns, costing Schwenk's job as the Long Island Builders Institute's chief spokesman. A veto message said Department of Environmental Conservation policy is "to name land using popular local historical or geographic names" and only capital improvements after people. But Amper cited the Otis Pike Preserve in Calverton, named for the ex-congressman.

- Rick Brand