It's been a perilous week on Greene County roads and trails.

On Wednesday morning, state police say, two Athens women walking along the shoulder of Cauterskill Road in Catskill were struck by a car that drifted off-course. One died; the other was injured.

The car, driven by 36-year-old Frank Savio of Cornwallville, was headed northbound on Cauterskill Road around 7:30am when it drifted onto the shoulder of the road and struck the two women. Patricia Petrianna, 69, was pronounced dead at the scene. Linda Valenchis, 65, was transported to the Albany Medical Center with head and arm injuries. 

An investigation into the incident is ongoing. No charges have yet been filed, and police say there has not been any indication that Savio was using drugs or alcohol at the time.  Read more

After a defeat at the polls in May, the Cairo-Durham Central School District passed a revised budget by 472-360 on Tuesday, the Daily Mail reports:

After the $27.7 million budget was voted down in May, the revised budget dropped the tax levy from $12,550,413 to $12,490,413, for an increase of 3.73 percent from last year, rather than the 4.23 percent increase in the original budget.

The reduction was made possible by moving $60,000 from the unappropriated fund balance to the upcoming year’s revenue stream.

The district's board of education has been embroiled in controversy throughout this year's budget process. A cost-saving "Princeton Plan" reconfiguration of the elementary grades, scheduled for this fall, drew fierce opposition from a group of community members who vowed to vote down any budget that included the plan.

A 21-year-old Delhi man drowned on the West Branch of the Delaware River on Tuesday after he fell from his kayak.

Around noon on Tuesday, according to a news release from the Delaware County Sheriff's Office, local first responders and police responded to Sherwood Bridge just south of the village of Delhi after a 911 call was made reporting a possible drowning. Donald Shamus had fallen from his kayak and been swept away by the current, a witness who was kayaking with Shamus told responders.

After searching for over an hour on foot and by helicopter, responders found Shamus about half a mile south of the confluence of the West Branch and Little Delaware rivers. An attempt was made to resuscitate Shamus while he was transported to O'Connor Hospital in Delhi, but it was unsuccessful. Shamus was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Steve Hood, assistant chief of Delhi Fire and EMS and deputy director of Delaware County Emergency Services, was one of dozens of first responders on the scene Tuesday afternoon. Hood said that the West Branch was running high after a series of recent rainstorms.  Read more

On Tuesday, June 18, voters in two Catskills school districts will have another chance to vote on school budgets that failed to pass in the regular election on May 22. 

The Middleburgh Central School District, whose budget failed by just 25 votes in May, has proposed a revised budget that cuts spending by an additional $88,000 compared to the rejected budget. The new cuts will eliminate all field trips for the year, and make reductions in non-teaching positions. The new budget increases the tax levy in the district by 2.68 percent compared to last year.

In the Cairo-Durham Central School District, whose budget was also narrowly rejected by voters in May, the budget is also up for a re-vote. According to the Daily Mail's report, the school board did not reduce spending when revising their budget, but opted to use $60,000 from district coffers to reduce the tax levy increase from 4.23 percent to 3.73 percent.  Read more