Three charged in Margaretville-area cocaine bust

By Lissa Harris
3/14/13 - 11:32 pm

A three-month investigation into cocaine sales in Delaware County netted three arrests in the Town of Middletown on Wednesday, state police say.

According to a statement from the New York State Police, three people were arrested at a home at 104 Frog Alley Road at 7:45pm on Wednesday: 57-year-old Victor Perez and his wife, 47-year-old Kris Perez, both residents of the Frog Alley Road home, and 53-year-old John D. Gilchrist of 2 Olga Drive in Margaretville.

Troopers searched the house and seized 46 packets of cocaine packaged for sale, with a street value of about $2,300, as well as packing materials and a 12-gauge shotgun with ammunition. Gilchrist, who was in the driveway of the home, was found in possession of cocaine.

Both Victor and Kris Perez are charged with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a class B felony. They were arraigned in the Town of Middletown Court and remanded to the Delaware County Jail in lieu of $15,000 bail.  Read more

Threats made at Delaware Academy

By Lissa Harris
3/14/13 - 5:26 pm

Delhi village police arrested two suspects Thursday for allegedly making threats at the Delaware Academy Central School District in Delhi.

Parents of children at the school got two troubling voicemail messages from the school -- one Wednesday and one on Thursday -- announcing that threats had been made at the school.

The text of Thursday's voicemail message:  Read more

Celebrating pi -- and pie

By Lissa Harris
3/14/13 - 1:44 pm

Above: Homemade pie with apples from Wrights Farm, destined to meet a sticky end in Lazy Crazy Acres's small-batch Apple Cobbler gelato. Photo from Pure Catskills's Facebook wall.

It's 3.14 today, which means math nerds and pie-lovers around the world are celebrating Pi Day.

In honor of this most auspicious holiday, the Watershed Post is collecting beloved pie hotspots in the Catskills. (Like you really need an excuse for pie.) Got a favorite local source for fresh-baked pie? Let us know in a comment below, or tweet with the hashtag #CatskillsPie.

Savage beating leaves Denning woman dead

By Lissa Harris
3/14/13 - 10:14 am

Above: Gerald Babcock. Photo from New York State Police. Below: Jamielynn Bleakley. Photo from Keyser Funeral Service website.

A Denning man has been arrested and charged with manslaughter, after allegedly beating his girlfriend to death in the couple's home in a remote area near the Ulster/Sullivan County border.  

According to a statement from the New York State Police, first responders from Mobil Medic responded on the morning of March 6 to a Sullivan County 911 call at 8 Woodfield Road in Denning, where they found 37-year-old Jamielynn Bleakley outside the house suffering from multiple injuries. Bleakley died of her injuries the next day at Westchester Medical Center.  Read more

Three SUNY Delhi students arrested on drug charges

By Lissa Harris
3/13/13 - 1:19 pm

All press is good press, or so the saying goes -- but not so at SUNY Delhi this week, where news of several student drug arrests follows closely on the heels of a bomb hoax that evacuated the tallest building in Delaware County on Tuesday. 

Delaware County sheriff's deputies have arrested three SUNY Delhi students on drug charges this week. One student faces only a minor charge of possession of marijuana, a violation under New York State law. Two others face more serious felony charges of selling or intending to sell drugs. 

On Monday, county sheriff's deputies arrested 19-year-old Gregory J. Nielsen of Port Jefferson, New York, after executing a search warrant in the village of Delhi and finding cocaine, marijuana, digital scales and cash. Nielsen is accused of possessing cocaine with intent to sell, and faces a charge of third-degree possession of a controlled substance, a class B felony. Police say additional charges will be filed.  Read more

Flood advisories issued

By Andrea Girolamo
3/12/13 - 2:32 pm

The National Weather Service out of Albany has issued a spate of advisories for the entire area. Delaware, Greene, Sullivan and Ulster  counties are under a flood advisory until 5 pm. while Delaware and Sullivan are also under a flash flood watch. A flood watch has been issued for Schoharie, western Greene county and western Ulster.

Click here for a complete list of watches and warnings.

Bomb threat at SUNY Delhi ruled a hoax

By Julia Reischel
3/12/13 - 2:24 pm

Above: Evenden Tower at SUNY Delhi. Photo from a photo tour of the SUNY Delhi campus on the college's website.

This story was updated at 2:25pm.

SUNY Delhi received a bomb threat that locked down the tallest building on campus this morning, according to an alert sent out by the SUNY NY Alert system at 9:34am and a press release issued by the college at noon.   Read more

After surviving fire, flood, and heavy snows, the Deposit Theatre faces digital conversion

By Julia Reischel
3/12/13 - 10:21 am

Deposit Community Theatre and Performing Arts Center, located at 14B Front St. in Deposit. Photo by Mike Musante. 

It's not easy being a 76-year-old movie theater in the Catskills. The movie palace in Deposit, which showed its first film in 1937, was a derelict structure with a caved-in roof in 1986 when a group of citizens decided to resurrect it as a neighborhood nonprofit theater.

Since then, the Deposit Community Theatre and Performing Arts Center has been gutted by fire (in 1994) and damaged by floodwaters (in 2006). In the winter of 2010 - 2011, heavy snows punched a hole in its roof.  Read more

Police: Man flips car in Denning

By Julia Reischel
3/11/13 - 12:47 pm

A 60-year-old Pennsylvania man flipped over his SUV on Peekamoose Road in the town of Denning on Friday, March 8, the Ulster County Sheriff's Office reports today.

Kenneth John Rex's Jeep Grand Cherokee was found upside down blocking both lanes of traffic when police arrived around 5pm, the press release reports. Rex was uninjured in the crash. He was arrested for driving while intoxicated.

Read the full press release from the Ulster County Sheriff's Office below:

Deputies of the Ulster County Sheriff's Office report the arrest of Kenneth John Rex 60 of Wilkes Barre Pennsylvania following a one car property damage motor vehicle accident on Peekamoose Road at 5:10 PM March 8th, 2013 in the Town of Denning.

Deputies responded to a 911 call reporting a one car motor vehicle accident and found a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee operated by Rex on it's roof blocking both lanes of traffic. Rex who was uninjured in the crash, failed the standardized field sobriety tests and was arrested.  Read more

Bluebird Saturday

By Andrea Girolamo
3/11/13 - 11:27 am

There may have been a solid pack of snow on the ground from Friday's storm, but Saturday at Colgate Lake in East Jewett was balmy, sunny and spectacular. Photo of lake, dam and Blackhead Range by Andrea Girolamo.

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