Gotta Have That Web!

An unscientific and sort of comprehensive scan of Government based websites in the area, as well as a couple others, shows that it is pretty easy these days to find a reason to visit.
For starters, the town of Olive website does a fair job. It is attractive, with neat pages for town archives. It has a nice array of historic photos, including a section on pubs and inn's. Ashokan Reservoir history is well documented with interesting pics, such as the reservoir baseball team of 1909 and a copy of the menu from the 1913 celebration of the first day the reservoir became operational. The October 11th event offered pickles, Fried Chicken and Sweet Potatoes. Old schoolhouses, some swallowed up by the reservoir, are represented on the site also.
Good links are on there, too, including to HVNET, a comprehensive site covering the entire Hudson Valley.
Olive's government is well represented. This site will help you find out where to go to get what you need.
The town of Shandaken had a nice website, but of late this town has fallen by the Internet wayside. A new webmaster has been hired and is said to have begun work just this week, so look for a more updated site soon.
SupervisorRob Stanley recently pointed out that the site has been set up for easy updating, much of which he will be doing over the coming months.
In the meantime, Shandaken's site boasts a substantial links page with everything from local businesses to arts groups and available agencies. Until January, Shandaken's site also featured documents pertaining to the important issues of the day, although this feature has been lackluster recently, with the most recent posting dated March 30th, 2010.
Brand new is Town of Shandaken Facebook page. Older are a series of partisan blogs of various extreme biases masquerading as humor.
Headed west and crossing over the Ulster/Delaware County line at Highmount, web presence falls off considerably in the Village of Fleischmanns, despite plans announced over a year ago by first term mayor Dave Morrell, who intended to launch a full scale website when first elected in March, 2009. Although the site still points to special meetings that happened back in October, 2009, and lists Village Trustees, even though some are deceased, it at least has a link page that is as good as those in Olive and Shandaken.
Lucky for Fleischmanns however, is the fact that the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce has a comprehensive website. For years it was just the Margaretville Chamber of Commerce, but two years ago those in charge decided to remove the borders and expand the service to the entire region. The Chamber's site, while looking slightly government-esque, does provide a great deal of information about the area and its offerings, including a comprehensive calendar of events.
A more interesting site for that area is Margaretville.net, a privately operated site that features information on the quirky happenings in the region, such as a recent draft beer festival in Andes.
Bearsystems.com, like the previously mentioned HVNET, provides a pretty comprehensive view of the large Hudson Valley region and a simple way to browse it. Intersted in archery? Just click on that word on the home page, which has a list of topics a mile long, and find dozens of archery related places from Sloatsburgh to Saugerties. Click the term Women and get directed to the Shandaken Women's Network, the Kingston based Women's Health and Fitness Expo, even Women's Mysteries Workshops in Pound Ridge.
Sure, Bearsystems is a much larger umbrella than those local sites, but it is also a great place to find those local ones. For instance, just click on the term Woodstock NY and find a host of sites like the one for the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce, an attractive site chock full of video, bright images, and as much information any would be visitor to the town would need.... although their pdf-formated calendar is quite clunky. Or Come To Woodstock, newer and spunkier but not comprehensive...
Like Olive and Shandaken, the town of Woodstock offers a government website that will prove helpful to residents, but also features a spectacular on line gallery of works of art by artists associated with the town, both living and dead.
One disappointment during this informal trek through local cyberspace is the clear divide between Ulster County and Delaware County, a divide that at least the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce is trying to erase. It is not hard to imagine a Woodstocker wanting to know about that Draft Beer Festival in Andes and easy to see an Andes resident or visitor making plans to head for the garlic festival in Saugerties. Unfortunately the sites that serve both locations are few, despite all the talk of the region being unified as the watershed for the City of New York. And we haven't even discussed the county websites... or newspapers' such as ours.
But there are plenty of new sites striving for attention all the time and, once new business models prove successful, the possibility of one that gets it

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Quiet Flows The Board

Routine correspondence was handled initially, approving a new member of the Fire Department, Company 1... Benjamin Corley of Olivebridge.
Also received was a letter from NY State Department of Environmental Conservation which indicated that the NYC Department of Environmental Protection is paying for a Flood Map Modernization Program for the watershed West of the Hudson. This will provide for new flood plain maps to be created or updated using a variety of methods, from the very simple to more in-depth means including engineering. Scoping meetings held in April 2010 identified the following priority areas: the Bushkill, especially as it enters the Ashokan Reservoir; the Esopus Creek from town limits to its entry into the Ashokan Reservoir; and the Little Beaverkill Creek from the Esopus Creek to it's upstream limits in the Town of Olive.
FIRM maps will be updated and are used for purposes of certifying land either in or out of flood plains for the purposes of building and insurance coverage. These maps have been inadequate in showing elevations and were primarily used as a distance requirement from the flooding area.
It was suggested that other streams that should considered would be the Moonhaw, Maltby Hollow and South Hollow streams as they all contribute to the Bushkill. A letter will be sent to request these additions to the studies being proposed.
Deputy Supervisor LaMonda showed a map that had been received by NYC Environmental Protection showing all lands that could now be used for hunting. Many of these lands were only accessible for fishing or not at all. The map will be in the town offices so anyone can review.
In other business, board members unanimously considered and passed two resolutions.
Resolution # 12 was the required State Retirement Fund accounting that must be submitted during the first half of the year. Resolution # 13 unanimously named Susan Horner, Supervisor Leifeld's secretary, as the Town of Olive Welfare Officer. This county requirement allows a specific contact person within the town.
After due consideration, the County "Safety Net" did not take affect, and it was pointed out that this puts the cost and responsibility back into our town. The Safety Net would have had Olive contributing to welfare costs for the entire county - and not necessarily just for Olive residents.
It was noted that labor negotiations would resume at 2:30 PM on June 10 at the town hall. These meetings, while open to the public, go into executive session to discuss ongoing employee contract concerns. The current Highway Department contract is ending December 2010.
Councilmember Burkhardt made a motion that Boy Scout Troop 163, with Keith Davis as Scoutmaster, receive a letter from the town thanking them for their hard work in placing flags along the parade route for the Memorial Day parade, as well as building the platform and ramp that was erected for the ceremonies in front of the town offices in West Shokan. The motion was seconded by Henry Rank, and unanimously carried.
The Recreation Committee met recently to finalize plans for Olive's summer camp. New lifeguards have been hired to replace all those not returning from last year and there will be a total of 30 camp counselors hired for the program. Camp starts on July 6 and runs through August 4. The program will be using www.cancellations.com as a means to notify parents of early dismissals and/or closings due to weather. There will be no field trips this year in an effort to reduce some costs of the program. The committee is looking to bring entertainment to the park, rather than bussing children to other places.
Gino Sorbelini attended the County Recreation Directors meeting and brought back some of the county concerns. Rules will be strictly enforced and the Health Department will be checking all immunization records. Dr. Hasbrouck of the County Health Department also recommended that Epi-pens be on hand in case of any allergic reactions. The Our Buddy Check system used by Olive's program was shown as an example for other recreation programs to use. It was also noted that rabies is on the rise in the county with 33 cases having been reported so far. These safety concerns will be shared with all counselors for the program.
Some discussion then ensued concerning the Boiceville Wastewater Treatment System. There seemed to be some confusion about when the system will be operational. The Town takes possession of the completed treatment system building on July 1 so that the town can then begin arranging for lawn maintenance, get phones in place, arrange for snow removal, etc. The actual operation of the system will not start until laterals have been installed to the individual homes and businesses within the Sewer District. It was also discussed that the school was to be the first to hook up - but concerns were voiced that necessary parts may not yet have been ordered by the school.
Recognition was recently given to four part-time Olive police officers who recently retired from the Olive Police Department. Joseph Steyer, Hecter Mejias, Paul Majias, and Paul Wright were honored at a dinner to mark their years of service to the Town. Three of the four officers retired due to other obligations and family commitments, with one having moved so far away from the area that getting back and forth was a problem. Replacements for these officers have already been resolved. The Olive Police Commission has been using officers from other departments as part time Olive officers because they are already trained and would not need to attend the police academy at the town's expense. LaMonda recommended the town send each of the officers a letter thanking them for their dedication and service, which was unanimously approved.
The meeting closed with a page in the minutes dedicated to John J.(Jack) Lynch, who passed away in May. Jack had served as the Town Attorney for many years.

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38 Years Of Service

And postage started at 8 cents a letter at the time, and 6 cents for post cards. When it went up to a dime in 1974, people thought the leap exorbitant. Even though it wasn't until the Reagan years that the cost of stamps started doubling.
"Mrs. Sampson took me on as a clerk in what was then called 'off the street hiring,'" Shultis recalled two weeks after her June 1 retirement from the United States Postal Service after 38 years of employment. "It wasn't civil service then..."
Back when she started, Shultis describes herself as being in her early 20s and coming off a job working in the cafeteria at Onteora.
She became postmaster at Olivebridge in November, 1986, and says that in her many years working in the same place she grew up, she recalls the post office only closing once, after the tragedies on September 11, 2001, as well as a second time they were allowed to close early for a blizzard several decades back... she can't recall the exact year now.
So what changes has she seen over the decades in the 12461 zip code made up of 32 square miles filled with 900 households, about twice that many people, and a median household income of $42,400, just slightly above the national norm?
"There are more weekend people, more people running businesses out of their home now," Shultis replied. "When I think back to years ago, I remember boarding houses... that's gone."
Mail-wise, she recalls many more letters in the past, back before the ubiquitousness of telephones and e-mail. And yet her basic functions never changed, from the basic mail categories to the ways in which it came and went.
So what about that great myth of post offices being a center of gossip? What had she heard over the years.
"Who, me?" Shultis replied before explaining how, during those times she wasn't working the window, she's usually had to be keeping up with the mail in another room... not exactly a setting conducive to gossip.
"There used to be two country stores right here in Olivebridge," she added. "That's where everybody heard the gossip..."
What about her favorite stamps over the years?
"I always liked flowers," Shultis answered.
And seasons?
"Christmas has always been the busiest time," she said. "But I like all the seasons."
So what were her plans now?
"To do nothing," she replied, noting how she had a daughter living in Ulster Park and a son in Kingston, plus four grandchildren aged 9 to 26. "On my last day my children took me out to Mariner's Harbor after I finished work."
She paused in her thoughtful manner.
"It was a good job," she said. "It was nice to have worked so long so close to home."

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Gone Green. The Old Way

Global and local change has made family farming an almost insurmountable challenge, with real estate taxes sky-high and factory farms churning out low-cost produce. Louise and her brother Joseph, now in their seventies and still vigorous, are caretakers of the land that once supported livestock of all kinds, but the economy sent them both out to careers at IBM, and since their parents and uncle passed away, no one is left to farm the property.
"I studied, got a degree in engineering," says Joseph, "but my heart and soul is here. We feel the end coming. We can't cut all the grass any more."
We are sitting at a picnic table looking out over sweeping lawns and a pond. Dragonflies and swallows swoop over the water. Above our heads, tiny green grapes are forming on a grapevine that twines densely through the framework of the shading arbor. Boomer, the border collie, is gnawing at the thick base of the vine. Louise says her parents planted the vine when they first arrived, but Joseph thinks it was already here. As he fashions a wire cage to protect the vine from the dog's attentions, they narrate the history of the farm.
"What our family did is respectful and to be honored, scratching a living from the land during the Depression," Joseph says. "But the Merrihews farmed this land for over 140 years. They are the heroes of this place."
When his parents bought the land, a deed search turned up a 1792 mention of the original deed for just under 50 acres obtained by John Merrihew from the town of Marbletown, which encompassed the land that became part of the town of Olive in 1825. John Merrihew, who came from New England-possibly Connecticut-with a wife and eleven children, died in 1819 and was buried in a small cemetery behind the barn. His gravestone has disappeared.
John was succeeded by his son Stephen, who died in 1853, grandson Aaron, who died in 1895 ("His wife was a tiger!" reports Louise), and great grandson Jacob, who lived from 1862 to 1942 and served as Olive supervisor from 1906 to 1917.
During the building of the Ashokan Reservoir in the early 1900s, the Merrihews supplemented their income by boarding visitors from the city. One guest, who stayed in the farmhouse with his wife and small son, took pictures of the farm. The son grew up, married, and died. His widow found her father-in-law's photos and passed them on to the Suarezes. Joseph spreads a few of them on the picnic table.
One photo shows cows grazing in a broad bowl of pasture, the white house in the background. The muddy bowl is where Louise and Joseph's parents dug the pond we are sitting beside. In another shot, people stand on the porch of the house, under graceful decorative arches and curlicues. "My parents built an enclosed porch around the whole house as a dining room for boarders," explains Louise. "The dishwasher and table setter, that was me."
Jacob Merrihew's only child, Edna, was not equipped to take over the farm, and they decided to sell. In his teens, Joseph took piano lessons from Edna, who lived on Elmendorf Street in Kingston. The Suarez family had lived on the same street in the 1930s and gave their house-not the house Edna later owned-as part of their payment on the farm.
Manuel Suarez immigrated from Asturias, on the northern coast of Spain, probably around 1910. He worked for a short time with his uncle in Tampa, making cigars. They moved to Kingston, where they worked in the J.B. Bock cigar factory on Foxhall Avenue, and Manuel's brother Silverio joined them in 1920. On a trip to Spain to visit his mother, Manuel met Benigna, and they were married in 1928. Louise, Joseph, and their brother Edward were born in Kingston.
Rolling cigars by hand was a fine art, and the brothers had the skill. When the Depression hit, they tried going into the cigar business for themselves but failed, so they decided to try farming.
A schoolteacher named Ayers had taken over the Merrihew farm, but a neighbor has told Louise that, although he was a nice fellow, he couldn't make a go of the farm. When the Suarezes purchased the property, Louise recalls, "The first school tax bill was $18, and they didn't have the money to pay it. My mother had to write to a distant cousin to borrow the money."
As they grew, the three children, especially Edward, the eldest, worked on the farm, doing chores and helping with the animals. "You name it, we had it," says Louise. "Pigeons, rabbits, pigs, cows, chickens. My mother made blood sausages and chorizos, using a special pepper from Spain. In the 1940s, my uncle would drive to New York City loaded with eggs and sausages. He'd sell them and recruit boarders for the summer. One woman had a bar, and she would send her kids up here for my mother to babysit."
Manuel passed away in 1955. Benigna and Silverio tried to keep the farm going, but the economics of family farming became more and more difficult. Louise found work as a stenotypist at IBM and later went on to other jobs within the company, such as producing instructional manuals. Joseph was an engineer at IBM for twenty years. He was in his forties when he married a Spanish woman, Teresa, who still lives with him at the farm. Louise did not marry-"I thought I would, but I'm too independent," she says. She traveled extensively, sometimes as part of her job, but she never lost her love for the farm. Edward, who lived in Europe, New York City, and finally, New Jersey, died in 2008.
For a time, the family grew Christmas trees, but now the remaining spruces are getting too big, and the deer keep eating the seedlings. They no longer bale the hay that Joseph mows, leaving it to disintegrate and nourish the fields. Their heirs-Joseph's wife and Edward's three children, professionals living in the metropolitan area-are fond of the property, but their lives are focused elsewhere.
For now, Joseph and Louise are living out their retirement on the land they love. Their biggest fear is that developers will buy the farm and build condos, but Louise doesn't think the economy would support them. She dreams of a Martha Stewart who could appreciate the potential of the splendid old house. Joseph is considering a donation to the Nature Conservancy, but Louise is reluctant to see the rolling fields turn wild.
"This period of time is kind of precious for the property," says Joseph. "But I don't think it's going to last long. We would welcome any act that would protect and maintain the property."

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