News Briefs 8/13/2009

Bridge Repairs
Traffic on the New York City-owned Reservoir Road in Shokan is being slowed down this month as a bridge over railroad tracks about a quarter-mile from state Route 28 is being replaced. Tom Roberts, site project manager for the bridge repairs that have been happening around the Ashokan Reservoir since last year, said there is a detour around the work — a one-lane bypass, about 600 feet long, alongside the railroad bridge. A temporary stoplight will only allow traffic to flow one way at a time on the bypass.
The bridge superstructure is to be removed so a new steel plate arch bridge can be constructed, along with new asphalt approaches and guide rails. All work that could be done without closure of the bridge has been completed already.

Changing Colors
An unfunded mandate requiring the replacement of local street signs was spun into gold this month.
Well, not really gold. Actually yellow. And brown.
Thus marks the beginning of a plan to change all the street signs in towns from Andes down to Olive.
At its August meeting the Shandaken Town Board decided to swap out all the green and white street signs for brown and yellow ones after Highway Superintendent Eric Hofmeister alerted the board to the fact that the State of New York was requiring local towns to upgrade all signage to a larger size with a more legible font.
Hofmeister was aware that, at the same time, the Central Catskills Collaborative, an organization of towns and villages along the Route 28 Corridor, was pushing for a change in local signage to a different color scheme. Instead of the usual green and white, the Collaborative wants to see yellow letters over a brown background in hopes to create a regional identity.
“I told the town board, as long as I have to change the signs now I might as well change the color so I don’t have to do it twice,” Hofmeister said, noting that the cost per sign is between $40 and $100 regardless of the color chosen.
It remains unclear whether the other Collaborative communities, the towns of Middletown and Andes plus the Village of Fleischmanns in Delaware County and the Town of Olive in Ulster County, will follow suit.
Last December Ed Franz of the New York State Department of Transportation, the man in charge of signage in the Catskill and Adirondack Parks, told the Collaborative that signage is an issue Catskill communities can work together on.
Brown and yellow signs have already been erected in the Adirondacks that inform the public of hiking trails and parking facilities, fishing access, he said, adding that signage is an inexpensive tool that the Catskills can use to promote access to trails and other resources, while building a brand for the region.
Peter Manning of the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development added that if the seven communities are working together the partnership needs consistency to succeed. Manning said that students will be working with these communities to create a signage inventory and maps of where new signs should be placed and what information they should convey.
Franz said DOT could provide a sign person to let the Collaborative know what signs can be brown and yellow and which ones cannot be brown and yellow.

Jail Changes
Ulster County Sheriff Paul Van Blarcum recently named James Hanstein as the new superintendent of Corrections for the Ulster County Jail, replacing Bradford Ebel, who retired from that post on April 29. Hanstein worked for 11 years with the sheriff’s department in a number of capacities including lieutenant, chief of detectives. He has a total of 31 years of law enforcement experience, 20 years of which was in a supervisory capacity. Hanstein spent the last 20 years with the FBI. His last assignment was as supervisor of the Undercover Sensitive Operations Unit. The shift comes on the heels of a series of legal civil rights complaints against what some have deemed a “culture of harassment” involving employees at the jail, which in turn was a major political hot potato when it was being built at great cost and time overruns in recent years.

Road Race!
As part of this year’s Shandaken Day celebrations in Big Indian, arrangements are underway for a Big Indian Epic Road Race fund raising bicycle tournament to be held August 29 throughout the area.Big Indian, NY. The Shandaken Parks and Recreation Committee, along with the endorsement of Team SCARR/Ommegang, have organized the event to help raise funds for playground equipment throughout the town’s parks, and to “bring a little action to our sleepy hamlets.” Start times begin at 8:30 AM and the event should wrap up around 10:30-11:00 AM. The Big Indian Epic Road Race is geared for experienced racers looking for a mountain race with a technical aspect. Like the Tour of the Battenkill, this race has a 2.5 mile section of packed dirt road with a steep dirt descent. The race is also being seen as a primer for the Tour of the Catskills held in Hunter and Windham, NY on September 18, 19, & 20th.
Riders interested in racing can register for the event on BikeReg.com. A course map can be found on MapMyRide.com.
The Emerson Resort & Spa, The Catskill Heritage Alliance, Ulster Savings, Bread Alone Bakery, Frost Valley YMCA, Overlook Mountain Bikes, Catskills Live, Catskill Mt. Physical Therapy, Brewery Ommegang, & The Catskill Center for Conservation & Development, have signed on to be sponsors and have made this event possible.
For further information, or if interested in being a volunteer, please call 688.1503 or visit catskillscycling.blogspot.com.

History Making
The process to consider having the hamlet of Pine Hill named an historic district has begun.
While nothing has been decided yet, the first meeting to investigate the idea was held Thursday, August 6 in the hamlet’s Community Center, where the Center’s Executive Director, James Krueger, explained how things will go.
Pine Hill takes its name from the steep ascent rising towards Belleayre that famously challenged travelers and settlers heading west. Although settled during the late 1700’s, Pine Hill came into its own when the railroad reached it in 1872. Soon thereafter, the hamlet became a thriving resort. Summer visitors poured in to enjoy its spectacular scenery, clean air and pure water. Accommodations lined every street, the larger hotels bearing grand-sounding or romantic names, such as the Wellington and the Avon Inn. Home to two bowling alleys, two newspapers, several churches and stores, a silent movie theater, a stately stone library, and the Crystal Spring Water Company, Pine Hill was justly called the “Saratoga of the Catskills”.
“The time is right to begin this process,” Krueger told the 20 or more residents in attendance. “Next year our streets will be torn up to retrofit a water drainage system. When this is done there are plans for repaving our streets and, finally, for proper sidewalks and designated parking, including redoing the parking lot which is in dire need of maintainance.”
Krueger was joined by Erin Tobin of the Preservation League of New York State, who explained that Pine Hill would be an historic district only if that is what the people wanted.
“At least fifty per cent of the community must support the designation,” she said.
Tobin noted that there are many misconceptions about such a designation, such as people not being allowed to do renovations to their historic structures. A design commission would need to be assembled, however, to ensure that renovations are compatible with the district.
There are also many tax breaks available for renovation and repair work on private structures within historic districts, she said, noting that Governor Paterson just signed a new rehabilitation tax credit law just last week.
That law, she said, provides more effective incentives and program features for developers and municipalities seeking to rehabilitate historic buildings. It will also foster new private and federal investment where it is most needed, she said, namely economically distressed downtowns and commercial districts, main streets, and older residential neighborhoods.
Krueger said he invited the community to consider the historic designation because it is a proactive way to approach the hamlets future.
“What this effort is inspired by is a strong desire to pull the community together and to begin exploring the things that we can accomplish for our hamlet, both to protect it’s past- a past that can still be seen and felt as you walk it’s streets- and to carry it into the future,” he said. “If we are to do this we must do it in a way that is mindful, focused, motivated by our love for the place rather than political agendas, and directed by the who live and work here.”
Krueger adds that the effort to investigate the designation has nothing to do with the proposed Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park.
“This effort, as some more embittered people may think, is not motivated by a desire to hinder or to help the development,” he said.

Ed Grants…
The Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC) Board of Directors recently approved funding for four major projects of a new “Watershed Education, Job Creation and Energy Conservation Initiative.”
In approving the $250,000 grants to non-profit organizations in four Watershed counties, the Board offered unanimous support for projects that will combine educational services with job-inducing renewable energy initiatives.
In addition, the CWC Board authorized $250,000 in matching funds for a federal grant application by Margaretville Telephone Company, which is seeking to extend high speed Broadband and Wi-Fi internet access to underserved parts of Delaware and Schoharie Counties. The grant application to the Rural Utilities Service and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, is to be submitted by M-ARK on behalf of MTC.
The $1.25 million for these projects will come from the Catskill Fund for the Future for economic development. “We believe these projects will create jobs, enhance community character and the potential for business development, provide educational opportunities, and help protect the environment,” CWC Executive Director Alan Rosa said.
Community projects to receive CWC support include The Daniel Pierce Library in Grahamsville, Town of Neversink, Sullivan County; The Margaretville eCenter, a small business incubator to be created in the village’s former Masonic Lodge; The Ashokan Center (formerly the Ashokan Field Campus of SUNY New Paltz), which is planning a major relocation and redesign of its outdoor education and cultural center in the Town of Olive, Ulster County; and The Mountain Top Library and Learning Center, whose major expansion involves renovating the long-vacant 8,000-square-foot Marian Center on Main Street, Tannersville
The CWC is also reminding local homeowners whose properties are within 200 feet of a watercourse that they are eligible to participate in the agency’s septic replacement program, which reimburses permanent residents 100% of the eligible costs of repairs. Part-time residents receive 60% reimbursement. A related program, the CWC Septic Maintenance Program, pays for half the cost of pumping and inspecting systems that were installed since 1997 and are at least three years old.
For more information on these and other public benefit programs offered by the CWC, go to www.cwconline.org, or call toll free 877-WAT-SHED.

County Savings
Ulster County Executive Michael P. Hein announced this week that the County is offering a voluntary targeted early retirement program to 31 CSEA retirement-eligible employees. He has said that the impact of this program would result in a potential savings to taxpayers, over the initial 5-year period, of approximately $6.62 million dollars in salary and benefits, if all 31 employees accept the offer. These 31 were selected because the individuals are retirement eligible and their positions will not be refilled. Potential savings after the initial 5-year period would be approximately $1.3 million per year, thereafter.
The early retirement incentive provides for the County to pay an increased percentage of health care premiums. When a retiree becomes eligible for Medicare, the overall premium costs would substantially decrease as the retiree is transitioned to a County-sponsored Medicare supplement plan.
Now for discussion… objections, anyone?

Imagining Peace
Call it a practical yet idealistic means of celebrating the 40th anniversary of that festival that beget what was once known as the Woodstock Nation. This coming weekend, Saturday, August 15 and Sunday, August 16, The Woodstock Forum will host a full weekend of information sharing, discussion, arts and strategy for a peace economy at the Town Hall and Colony Café in Woodstock, starting at 9:30 AM each day.
The afternoon keynote speaker at 3:00pm on August 15 will be Diane Wilson, Texas shrimper, environmentalist, and author of the acclaimed An Unreasonable Woman. The evening keynote speaker at 7:00pm on August 15 will be Jeremy Scahill, journalist and author of Blackwater. Admission will be free to all events
Co-Sponsors of the Forum include Dutchess Greens; Dutchess Peace Coalition; WESPAC, Peace Action/NY; Saugerties Committee for Peace and Social Justice; Real Majority Project; Mid-Hudson New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty; World Can’t Wait; Murray Colow Veterans for Peace Chapter, Woodstock; Middle East Crisis Response; Code Pink; Woodstock International Walk for Peace; Voices for Peace Choral
Group; CLASP; Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space; Social Justice Committee, Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship of Poughkeepsie; Military Families Speak Out; Al Warren Chapter 60 Veterans for Peace; The Common Fire Foundation; Mid-Hudson Valley 9/11 Truth Committee, and many
individuals.
Highlights of the two-day schedule include an August 15 morning session on “The Culture of War, Visions of Peace,” starting at 9:30 AM with various activist professors; an 11:00 AM session entitled, “The Living Wage and the Death Industry: Plowshares vs Cluster Bombs” with Umass economist Robert Pollin and others; an afternoon gathering starting at 1:30 PM, “Beyond Rock and Roll: Music and Art in the Age of Drones and YouTube: Performances and Analysis,” with Ras T Asheber, Janine Vega, FAIR founder Jeff Cohen, and Ariel Shanberg of the Center for Photography at Woodstock; a 4:30 PM talk, “What is the Role of Non-Violence in Converting to a Peaceful Economy? Can a Peaceful Non-Violent Society co-exist with the production of weapons of war?” with Jesuit priest Simon Harak,; a 6:30 PM video screening with works by DeeDee Halleck and Tobe Carey; and the two keynote events at 3:00 and 6:30 PM.
On Sunday, August 16 things will kick off with a 9:30 AM session, “Forging Plowshares: Strategies Working for Peace” on community organizing; a noon book signing; music by The Princes of Serendip at 12:30 PM. And an afternoon session on “Building a Coalition.”
For further information visit www.woodstockpeaceeconomy.org.

New DEP Cops
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection recently held a graduation ceremony for 15 environmental police officers from the seventh class of cadet graduates of the Department’s Environmental Police Academy. The gaduation ceremony for the new Environmental Police Officers took place in Kingston and was attended by Acting Commissioner Steven Lawitts, Deputy Commissioner for Security Kevin McBride, DEP Police Chief Mark Benedetto and members of the DEP Police.
The DEP Police Academy, which started in 2002, was the first of its kind in the nation to provide training, experience and concentrated course work in advanced police tactics and use state-of-the art equipment for environmental protection. The 15 new graduates have successfully completed a total of 20 weeks of instruction in which they undergo intense training in environmental law and police administration, which includes police training in the laws of arrest, use of force, justification, firearms, defensive tactics, terrorism and police science. In addition, recruits must complete courses in environmental conservation law.
The graduates are: Shaun P. Adams, Luis Alvarez, Caroline Boice, Elliot J. Clapton, Brandon S. Edwards, Mark Froloff, Mathew Gilhooley, Michael Graff, Louis P. Gregori, Scott D. Hommel, Charles Luna, Kevin Martinez, Christina Murphy, William Piemonte and Travis Winters.

No Bail…
Zephyr Dresser-Peck, the 20-year old Woodstocker serving 1-1/3 to four years in the state’s Coxsackie Correctional Facility for the 2007 drunken-driving death of his friend and former classmate, Andrew Dean-Lipson, was denied his first chance at parole
Following interviews with a three-member panel of state Parole Board members on July 14.
According to a spokesperson for the state Division of Parole, decisions in such matters are made based on direct interviews with the convicted prisoner, where they are asked a series of questions, and a look at that prisoner’s information docket, which includes everything from criminal records and release plans, the more exact the better, to petitions filed on behalf of or against those seeking parole. In addition, noted Heather Groll, crime victims, including families, will be notified of such hearings, offered interviews with parole board members, and allowed to submit their own materials for review.
Dresser-Peck, who was sentenced on May 26, 2008 on two counts of vehicular manslaughter after admitting he was drunk behind the wheel when the accident occurred on May 19, 2007, had been up for his first possible parole date of November 25, 2009. According to Groll, he would have been given a date for his next such hearing when given the recent Parole Board decision, mandated to be within 24 months of the July 14 interview.
Under Dresser-Peck’s sentence, the young man, currently 20, will be eligible for conditional release on March 25, 2011, given good behavior; and will “max out” his sentence by November 25, 2012.
According to transcripts of Dresser-Peck’s Parole Board interview, he spoke about the events leading up to the fatal accident on Glasco Turnpike both specifically and in terms of his “drinking pretty much every weekend” at the time. He also talked about his involvement in an alcohol-awareness program during the year between his original arrest and his sentencing, as well as a public service announcement he made in jail.
The Parole Board then found that despite Dresser-Peck’s good behavior since the accident, “more compelling [is] the seriousness of the offense as well as your lack of insight into your criminal conduct… The panel concludes that, if released at this time, there exists a reasonable probability that you would not live and remain at liberty without further violations of the law.”
The state Parole Board is made up of up to 19 members, appointed by the Governor and okayed by the State Senate. It currently has two vacancies.

Arts Funding!
Over 30 members of the Ulster County arts community met at the historic Byrdcliffe Theater in Woodstock on July 27 for a reception recognizing the organizations awarded funding through the Ulster County Cultural Services & Promotion Fund (UCCSPF). $50,000 was distributed to 9 organizations: Ars Choralis, Artist Enterprises, Bardavon/Ulster Performing Arts Center, Center for Photography at Woodstock, Pine Hill Community Center, Shadowland Theatre, Women’s Studio Workshop, Woodstock and the Byrdcliffe Guild. Awards ranged from $4,000 to $7,000.
The Ulster County Cultural Services & Promotion Fund, established in 2007, is dedicated to maintaining the artistic and cultural assets of Ulster County and to promote the County through arts and cultural activities which add to the economy and quality of life. Financial resources for this program have been provided by the Ulster County Legislature. The program is administrated by the Dutchess County Arts Council which administers two other grant programs which support arts and cultural activities in Ulster County.
James Kruger, the Executive Director of the Pine Hill Community Center, said that he considers this support to be critical to the life of his organization which serves an geographically isolated population in the Northwest corner of the County.
“The Pine Hill Community Center has a strong focus in the arts,” he said. “We see the arts as one of the straightest roads to building community. The arts celebrate those things that we all share as humans, the best and the worst in all of us. We are brought together in this mirror of our common humanity. This is why the arts, when used with the right intention, have so much potential to heal. When we loose sight of our common humanity we begin to court disaster, so the Pine Hill Community Center has made it our commitment to not loose sight of the arts!”

Casinos?
The head of the US Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs has accepted Congressman Maurice Hinchey’s invitation to come to Sullivan County in the coming weeks and tour potential off-reservation gaming sites. A specific date for an August visit with Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry EchoHawk has yet to be worked out.
“Casino gaming in Sullivan County could provide a real shot in the arm to the area’s economy by creating thousands of new jobs, including construction jobs and permanent positions at the facilities,” said Hinchey.
Local, state and federal officials are hoping to persuade Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to approve the off-reservation gaming, which was rejected during the Bush Administration by then Secretary Dirk Kempthorne.
Meanwhile, Empire Resorts, the company that owns Monticello Raceway and Gaming, has been maneuvering this week to hold off paying its noteholders the $65 million they are owed. Last month,the Park Avenue Bank of New York acquired $10 million in loans to Empire Resorts from the Bank of Scotland and reduced the outstanding balance to $4.4 million. They then issued a notice of default for failure of Empire Resorts to repay that $4.4 million on its maturity date of July 28. As a result, the bank exercised a right to issue a “standstill” notice to the noteholders on the $65 million senior notes. That means even though the principal on the notes is overdue, all ability to collect on the notes is frozen for 90 days. The standstill period will expire Oct. 27, 2009.
Empire Resorts is hoping to be part of the new Concord Hotel resort project in nearby Kiamesha Lake, which would include a second harness racetrack and racino. The current facilities would remain at Monticello Raceway. The firm also hopes the federal government will reverse an earlier decision and allow an Indian casino at the racetrack.

Tennis Anyone?
An enduring tradition of summer tennis in Fleischmanns is lobbing into the future as the Catskills Cup at Fleischmanns Park, a three-day competitive tournament on with more than $2000 in prizes in the offing, gets underway August 14-16. The First Annual Catskills Cup is an expansion of the former Fleischmanns Open Tennis Tournament, led by Sindy Becker each summer for 35 years. As Becker retires to leave “the racquet” to tournament co-director Mark Birman, he hopes to step up the tournament’s reach and exposure each year, creating a highly competitive regional event with classes and divisions for both highly ranked and more junior players.
The Catskills Cup will be played in Fleischmanns’ historic Wagner Avenue Park, on beautifully maintained courts that are a point of pride for the community.
On Friday August 14, the first day of the tournament, there will be a free tennis clinic for children. That evening, a gala “Hall of Fame” dinner dance will include induction ceremonies for Fleischmanns Open founders and dancing under the big tent with live music and entertainment. For Catskill Cup players, dinner is included in the entry fee.
For more information, including entry, visit www.tenniseveryone.com or call 254-5341. Proceeds of the tournament will benefit the Fleischmanns courts and area youth tennis programs.

Traffic Court
A new law enacted by the state legislature requires motorists to make two appearances in traffic court in order to plea bargain or have a trial on a traffic ticket. Republican Catskills Senator John Bonacic has said that will drive up the cost of processing to local governments because it will require staff to put in more hours.
Bonacic said it is also costing the State Police millions more per year to have troopers return to court, as well as local court clerks… and those who have to take time off work to get to court.
Bonacic said he will introduce legislation to return the system to only one appearance in traffic court. Stay tuned…

Emergencies?
The Hudson Valley Educational Consortium will be offering the first two courses of an emergency management degree program beginning this fall, enabling students in the region to have the option of earning an emergency management associate’s degree at one of four community colleges in the area. Utilizing the emergency management curriculum at SUNY Ulster, the Consortium is now able to offer the same degree to students at SUNY Sullivan, SUNY Orange and SUNY Rockland via an innovative agreement that brings emergency preparedness programs to students in those four counties.
The emergency management degree provides an academic background for professionals in emergency planning, disaster operations and risk assessment. Graduates will be able to seek jobs with professional fire departments, police departments and emergency service organizations, as well as in private industry as emergency management specialists.
Beginning August 24, the Principles of Emergency Management and Critical Incident Management online courses will be available to Hudson Valley students. These online emergency management courses meet New York State and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requirements.
For more information on the emergency management degree program or to enroll in either of the online courses this fall, prospective students are encouraged to contact their “home” college’s Admissions Office. For information on the Consortium, contact Director Katherine Boxer at (845) 341-4959.

Interns Sought
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County’s Ashokan Watershed Stream Management Program is offering a fall semester Youth Watershed Steward Intern program starting on September 15 for students in grades 7-12 who either live in the Ashokan Watershed or attend Onteora schools. Interns will meet every Tuesday from September 15 to December 15 at 2:30pm at the Onteora High School. The sessions will last until 4:00pm or 5:00pm depending on that days’ activity. Occasional outdoor activities will take place on Saturdays. A spring semester program is also planned.
Last spring, five Onteora students participated in the program and developed their own community project. Armed with augurs, waders, and plant identification books, the watershed interns set out to identify and map wetlands. With the help of a local NYC Department of Environmental Protection wetland scientist, Frank Parisio, the interns identified the boundary of a wetland on Mink Hollow Road in Lake Hill, NY using plant identification, soil sampling, and hydrology.
Youth Watershed Internship applications are currently available by contacting Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County. For more information or to obtain an application contact Kristen or Colleen at 845-688-3047 or email Kristen at kew67@cornell.edu. The applications can also be downloaded online at www.esopuscreek.org.

Still Healthy
The Ulster County Health Department has issued permits to 79 restaurants that operated without county approval for years, while two other eateries have been closed pending administrative reviews. Ulster County Deputy County Executive Marshall Beckman said Gallagher’s, located in Saugerties, was ordered closed when it failed to provide the required proof of insurance needed to obtain an operating permit. And the Saugerties Bowlers’ Club, which has been closed for vacation, will remain closed until its operator can complete the permitting process, he added.
“It should be noted that there is a real distinction between the permitting process, which is administrative, and the inspection process, which has been working,” Beckman said. “All the restaurants, whether they were permitted or not, had been inspected. The public should be clear that the quality of the food, safety issues and health issues were not a problem over the last several years. It’s the permitting process that was not managed properly.”
That dozens of eateries across Ulster County were operating without permits was first discovered in a state Department of Health audit in 2007. A second audit, issued in 2008, indicated the problem of unpermitted eateries was growing, though both reports was kept under wraps by the county’s former public health director, Dean Palen. The full extent of the problem was not realized until this past June, when County Executive Michael Hein dismissed Palen and Palen’s wife Deborah, who worked as an administrative assistant in the department, and a safe behind Mrs. Palen’s desk was opened, revealing more than $32,000 in undeposited checks, unprocessed health permits and $300 in cash.
According to the 2008 audit, 155 of the county’s 827 eateries were operating without permits. The report also stated that public water supplies were allowed to operate without proper treatment systems and that public swimming pools, campgrounds, campuses and hotels/motels operated without permits.
Beckman said that Palen, at the time he was dismissed, was “working through the required process, which is to respond to the findings of the audit and develop a corrective action plan.”
Nereida Veytia, who was appointed acting director of the Health Department following Palen’s dismissal, said the department is not aware of any public health problems occurring under Palen’s watch.

True Coolness
“Somewhere Else,” the dream project of Killian Mansfield, the 15-year-old ukulele wizard from West Shokan who is battling a rare form of cancer, is currently available on Amazon… and shooting up the online sales phenomenon’s best-seller lists, looking for some extra push from our readers. “Eclectic, uplifting, fun and funky,” as reviewed on the website, the album is a mix of songs performed by Killian with critically acclaimed singers and musicians including Dr. John, Kate Pierson, John Sebastian, Todd Rundgren and Levon Helm and production by former Onteora School Board president Ralph Legnini. Proceeds benefit the Killian Mansfield Foundation, which supports and promotes Integrative Therapies for children with cancer.
Actual release date is Aug. 14th but presales took off when the project was focused on Don Imus recently. Killian was supposed to talk, but couldn’t.
For more info visit Mansfield’s blog philmansfieldphotography.blogspot.com/.

Drive Carefully
Law enforcement agencies across the region are expected to crack down on drunken drivers and boaters from late August through the Labor Day weekend. The effort is part of a national campaign called “Over the Limit, Under Arrest,” said Shawangunk Police Chief Frank Petrone, president of the Ulster County Police Chiefs Association.
Petrone said the crackdown is planned from Aug. 21 through Sept. 7.
Petrone said additional police patrols and “multiple enforcement agencies” will be working “to ensure that if you drink and drive or operate a water craft over the limit, you will be arrested.”

40 Years On...
It’s the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival and what’s its producer, Michael Lang, up to this time around? Turns out the locally-based legend with kids in the Phoenicia School’s been helping out with the giant Kidstock free concert up at Belleayre Mountain on Sunday, August 23 from noon on, featuring our own Uncle Rock as well as Paul Green of School of Rock fame, with a host of kid guitarists, and loads of other local and imported talent.
Moreover, the evening before, Lang AND the whole kiddie rock crowd ascending to Belleayre the next day will be setting up for an evening of opera on the Parish Field right in the middle of Phoenicia, featuring locally-based mezzo soprano Maria Todaro, baritone Louis Otey and bass-baritone Kerry Henderson with a chorus of local residents making their debut, as well.
Talk about coming along way from Hog Farmers, mud, and three days of endless Alvin Lee guitar solos 40 years ago, and getting a sense of what the area’s become a generation beyond the back-to-the-earth movement of the late 1960s. Now it’s all about our kiddie kids, and not just “the young,” as well as a shifted demographic as comfortable with the true classics as classic rock, and ready to join in for Mozart and Puccini as well as “Bo Diddley,” some African soukous, “Kum-Ba-Ya,” and “WE Will Rock You.”
And hey, both events are benefits for local causes… The pet-friendly “Friends of Snuffy” for Kidstock, and renovations of The Parish Field as a new community park, on the opera evening’s part.
Family music troubadour Uncle Rock (Robert Warren) will host and kick off the festivities at Kidstock at 1:00 PM backed by his local crackerjack band, the Playthings, to be followed by special guests, Paul Green’s School of Rock All-Stars. Ranging in age from kindergarten to high school, this band is the cream of the world-renowned Paul Green’s School of Rock, the real-life inspiration behind the Jack Black movie of a few years back. Their “Tribute to the Music of Woodstock” will close the day.
Kidstock festivalgoers of all ages are encouraged to dress in the style of their favorite musical era or musician, to be included in a Rock & Roll Fashion Show, which will feature small fry strutting the stage in everything from punk to hip hop to glam fashions.
For further information visit www.friendsofsnuffy.org , www.belleayremusic.org, or www.woodstock.com.
The Opera in the Park benefit’s goal is to not only allow the stars of some of the world’s top opera companies to literally sing in their back yards, bringing the community together as they did for a movie night last month, but start raising funds for the purchase of a $12,000 piece of playground equipment for the Parish Field.
Tickets are on sale at Pine Hill Community Center, Tenderland Home and Lori’s Creative Café in Woodstock.
For more info contact operainthepark@gmail.com… or just see you there!
What a long way we’ve all come, babies and all!