Politics & Policing
Will Olive Police Commissioner Robert Schanck Be Forced To Resign?

   By Gary Alexander
            Robert Schanck, chairman of the Olive Police Commission, noted that it was the first time in his 13 years of service that he had been called to appear before the town board as he addressed that panel earlier this month. He was there to answer several allegations made by Chris Johansen of West Shokan.
            Schanck, who has held his position as commissioner since Olive formed its police force from a constabulary in early 1991, produced documents from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) which appeared to demonstrate that the records upon which Johansen based his claims were incomplete. Schanck produced copies for the board which he said proved that the DCJS had him listed as a "commissioner" and not, as Johansen contended, as a "police officer." Johansen, husband of former town board member, Cindy Johansen, claimed that he had a letter from the DCJS stating otherwise but had not brought it to the meeting.
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Sadly Our Joe Passes
The Catskills Community Mourns The Tragic Death Of Boiceville Lumber Owner 

By Martha Frankel
            They say it takes a village to raise a child.  Well, it certainly took a whole town to bury Joe DeBellis Jr last Tuesday.  The shock that stretched through Boiceville when word came that an accident had killed the young (49) owner of Boiceville Lumber --- a town already reeling from the fire that killed Frank Calrow on July 8th and the car accident that took the life of the beloved Mirella Bresciani on June 26th--- threatened to bring Olive to a complete standstill. At the supermarket and the gas station, people turned to each other and held on, wailing.  At the mill the next day, loggers and lumber guys mixed with Joe‚s brothers, friends and his longtime companion (who he jokingly referred to as his arch enemy), Valerie Fanarjian. They told stories about excavation jobs that everyone else deemed impossible; the tagline of each story was how Joe had come and done the job without a problem. They talked about impossible loads that Joe had carted to New Jersey, or trucks he had rigged together until they could be fixed properly.  They talked of how little Joe said, of the blush that would spread up from his neck like wine on a tablecloth, of how gentle he could be with someone‚s aging mother. They laughed and they wept.  Mostly they wept.

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ISSUES CONFERENCE TIMETABLE Firehouse, Margaretville, top floor 9AM -5 PM

August 24th - Community character, cumulative impacts

August 25th - Aquatic habitat

August 26th - Storm water

SAD WEEKS... Twice in the last news cycle, death ruptured the Olive peace. First, community legend Bob Burgher died. Then a tragic accident took Boiceville Lumber's Joe De Billis, Jr. And now the summer ends...