By Jay Braman Jr.

HIGHMOUNT - Organizers of next month's annual Belleayre Music Conservatory fundraiser now say that Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who was to be the guest of honor, will not attend the event.

Instead, Judith Enck, Spitzer's deputy secretary for the environment, will be at the Snowball to represent the governor, who is being honored at the Jan. 26 event with a Spirit of the Catskills Award.

Conservatory spokesman Joe Kelly said a misunderstanding led to the announcement that Spitzer himself would be present.

The Spirit of the Catskills Award is given each year to someone of the conservatory's choosing. Recent honorees include state Sen. John Bonacic, R-Mount Hope, and Belleayre Superintendent Tony Lanza.

Spitzer, a New York City native who in his youth learned to ski at Belleayre, came to Kingston earlier this year to announce an agreement in principle had been reached for construction of the Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park, a project long in the planning stages by the Dean Gitter-run development group Crossroads Ventures.

Under terms of the agreement between the state and Crossroads Ventures, the Trust for Public Land will buy 1,216 acres of the development group's holdings on the eastern side of the Belleayre Mountain Ski Center and 78 acres on the western side - the majority of the former Highmount Ski Center - for $14 million.

Most of the land, which Gitter accumulated for $6 million, will, in turn, be conveyed to the state, added to the surrounding Catskill Forest Preserve and designated "forever wild," as is the rest of the preserve. The 78 acres will be added to the state-owned Belleayre Mountain Ski Center, which will be upgraded.

The 22nd annual Snowball will take place at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 26. Tickets are $160 each.

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