When a newspaper stops printing locally

By Julia Reischel
8/27/10 - 3:19 pm

A few weeks ago, Daily Freeman publisher Ira Fusfeld announced on WGHQ radio that his Kingston-based newspaper is considering closing its local printing press and mailroom to save money. In a post on his Publisher's blog a week later, Fusfeld tried to dispel the rumors swirling about potential plan: 

[There are rumors about a] real possibility of the Freeman moving our production departments out of Kingston. Many in the community apparently have translated that into, the Freeman is moving out of Kingston and/or closing. Maybe yes, to statement No. 1. A definitive no to statement No. 2.

He said that the plan, if it materializes, is this: 

We want to bolster our news and sales divisions, but to free up money for those purposes, we need to find economic efficiencies. And find them we have, we believe, if we close our pressroom and mailroom and print our newspaper at our sister company in Troy. Other savings can be realized by outsourcing our newspaper distribution operation -- that is to say, have someone else deliver the paper to homes and stores. Annualized, we’re talking about a considerable sum.

Fusfeld put a bit of a gloss on the fact that this "considerable sum" is largely made up of salaries for local jobs, which will disappear. (He was more frank about the looming layoffs in a follow-up blog post published this Tuesday.) Helpfully, the Kingston Times ran an article yesterday that explored that side of the story in detail:  Read more

Tonight at the Bearsville Theatre: Lady arm wrasslin'

By Lissa Harris
8/27/10 - 1:08 pm

Photo of Pushy Galore from B.R.A.W.L.

Tonight at the Bearsville Theatre: Valium-addled housewives and vengeful Puritans in hand-to-hand combat. WWF-style theatrics. Roving packs of vicious cheerleaders. What's not to love?

  Read more

Nobody puts Wawarsing in a corner

By Julia Reischel
8/27/10 - 12:49 pm

Ulster County Comptroller Eliot Auerbach, who blogs at the not-so-originally-named Ulster County Comptroller blog, sent up a flare of anger yesterday about this week's announcement that the DEP is buying another 1,323 acres upstate to protect is unfiltered water supply. Why, Auerbach wondered, didn't homeowners in the oft-flooded town of Wawarsing, which sits on a leak in the Delaware Aqueduct, get city payoffs?  Read more

This weekend: Champions of mountain biking, train robbers, Shandaken Day, and pagans

By Julia Reischel
8/27/10 - 7:35 am

Witchy wares at Palenville's Pagan Pride Day.

Need something to do this weekend? Lucky you -- the Catskills are hosting the biggest mountain-biking event in the world this week, as well as a bunch of fairs, festivals, and exhibits. (Peruse them at your leisure in our calendar.) Here's our picks for the best of the weekend's events:

Mountain Bike World Cup Festival  Read more

Racism "not a county issue," Schoharie supervisors decide

By Lissa Harris
8/27/10 - 6:14 am

As regular readers of this website will no doubt remember, Tom Murray -- Cobleskill's N-bomb-dropping, national-news-making town supervisor -- has been facing some righteous citizen outrage lately. Much of it is coming from a group calling itself ACCORD (A Community Committee On Respect and Diversity).

Last week, ACCORD member Sue Spivack got permission to speak at the county supervisors' meeting, which was held last Friday. But on Thursday, the Schoharie Times Journal reports, the board of supervisors changed its collective mind:  Read more

UPDATE: Two killed in Boiceville tractor-trailer crash on Rte. 28

By Julia Reischel
8/26/10 - 8:45 pm

A tractor-trailer killed 83-year-old Vera Un and 86-year-old George Un of Shandaken as they stopped on Rte. 28 to make a left turn in Boiceville this afternoon.

According to a press release issued by the Ulster County Sheriff's Office, 59-year-old William J. Watters of New Kingston was driving a tractor-trailer eastbound on Rte. 28 when he rear-ended the Uns' 2004 Honda Civic at 12:18pm. The Honda was idling as it waited to make a left turn into the side street that leads to the Boiceville Inn and the Bread Alone bakery. The force of the crash sent the Honda 100 feet down the road.

Vera Un was airlifted to the Albany Medical Center, where she died. Geroge Un, who was riding with her in the rear passenger seat, died at the scene. They both lived on Woodland Clove Rd.

As we reported earlier, this is the second fatal car accident to happen near this intersection this month.

Fatal tractor accident in Durham

By Lissa Harris
8/26/10 - 8:15 pm

47-year-old William Pitney of New Jersey was killed today in a tractor accident, the Daily Freeman reports:

Deputies said they were called to the property on Sunside Road in Durham about 12:40 p.m. and, upon arriving, found  William Jackson Pitney, 47, of Ridge Wood, N.J., under the flipped tractor.

They said Pitney had been trying to pull out a tree stump when the tractor flipped over backward and landed on him.

Two guys "hang out," one gets shot in the chest

By Julia Reischel
8/26/10 - 5:53 pm

The Times Herald-Record reports how Michael O'Dell, a 22-year-old, got in the way of a shotgun blast fired by Jeremy Rakin, his 27-year-old friend, last night in Roscoe. (O'Dell, miraculously, is in critical but stable condition, the paper reports): 

The two men were hanging out in Rakin’s apartment on Old 17. Both men apparently work together and left work around 10 and went back to Rakin’s home. While troopers are still trying to figure out just what happened, both men had been handling a loaded 9 mm rifle in a small office room in the apartment. O’Dell was right in front of Rakin, who had hold of the gun. It discharged.

So far, the state police say it looks like an accident.

Man killed by tractor-trailer on Rte. 28

By Julia Reischel
8/26/10 - 5:35 pm

For the second time in a month, there's been a fatal car accident on Rte. 28 near De Silva Rd. in Boiceville, in the town of Olive.

This afternoon, according to the Daily Freeman and the Times Herald-Record, one person was killed on that stretch of road; on August 10, 19-year-old Jordan Soderback died there.

So far, no names have been released in today's fatality, but the Daily Freeman has some more info:  Read more

Labor group takes aim at New York State IDAs

By Lissa Harris
8/26/10 - 12:30 pm

Greene County legislators aren't the only ones asking questions about IDAs lately. Just released: A damning report on state Industrial Development Agencies, a team effort by NY Jobs With Justice and Urban Agenda. The report, un-subtly titled "No Return On Our Investment," blasts IDAs for playing shell games with taxpayer money, investing in businesses that cut jobs instead of creating them, and failing to deliver on promises of economic development.

Naturally, IDA directors aren't too happy about the report. The Poughkeepsie Journal reports:

"This is a very broad tarring of IDAs," said Lance Matteson, CEO of the Ulster County Industrial Development Agency. "I think that it is objectively clear that this a skewed, distorted, one-sided but very slick report."

Want to judge for yourself? Here's the report:  Read more