DEC releases new draft plans for Belleayre resort and ski center

By Lissa Harris
4/17/13 - 2:58 pm

Above: Scale model of the planned hotel and lodge buildings at Highmount -- part of the proposed Belleayre Resort project -- from a supplemental draft environmental impact statement released Wednesday by the DEC.

The long-planned Belleayre Resort project took a step forward on Wednesday, with the release of a newly-revised draft of an environmental impact statement by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The agency also released draft plans for the management of the Belleayre Ski Center that call for a major expansion of the ski area.  Read more

Man arrested for air pistol shooting in Narrowsburg

By Lissa Harris
4/17/13 - 10:05 am

A man was arrested after allegedly shooting another man in the face with an air pistol on 5th Street in Narrowsburg on Sunday evening, police say. 

Narrowsburg resident Eric Hector, 48, is charged with assault in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. 

Police say the assault occurred around 10:30pm on Sunday. According to a New York State Police account of the arrest, the two men were arguing when Hector drew the air pistol and shot the other man in the face. A pellet lodged below the victim's right eye. The victim then tried to run away and was struck with several more pellets, police say. He was treated at the Catskill Regional Medical Center and released.

Hector was arraigned in the Town of Tusten Justice Court and remanded to the Sullivan County Jail in lieu of $5000 cash bail.

Catskills runners among those at Boston Marathon

By Lissa Harris
4/16/13 - 11:54 am

Eighteen runners from the Catskills region -- Delaware, Greene, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster Counties -- were among those registered for the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15, where explosions killed at least three people and injured over 140.

The Watershed Post obtained the names of the local runners with a zipcode-based search of the Boston Marathon organizers' runner database. Among them were two runners from Delaware County, two from Schoharie County, one from Sullivan County and thirteen from Ulster County. No runners from Greene County were found in the database.

Embedded below is a spreadsheet of the runners, with their home towns. We have cross-referenced their names with Google's Boston Marathon Person Finder to find out if local runners have been reported as safe. The links in the "Link" column lead to more information about specific runners.  Read more

Announcing the 2013 Catskills Outdoor Guide Photo Contest

By Julia Reischel
4/16/13 - 11:24 am

Top: A photo by Amanda Lee Popp, which won an honorable mention in last year's Great Outdoor Experience Photo Contest.

The contest is now closed. Winners will be announced on May 28, 2013. Thanks!   Read more

The other Catskill: A village with a branding problem

By Lissa Harris
4/15/13 - 2:04 pm

Catskill: Not a bunch of mountains in upstate New York. Photo by Flickr user Doug Kerr; published under Creative Commons license.

You've got to feel for the village of Catskill. It's forever getting confused with the Catskills -- a region that the little waterfront village of Catskill, perched on the west bank of the Hudson River at the feet of the mountains, isn't quite part of.

To make things even more confusing, it's one of those upstate New York villages that shares a name with the much larger town that surrounds it. (The region is full of them: Coxsackie, New Paltz, Cobleskill, Schoharie, Middleburgh.)   Read more

This weekend: Woodstock Writers Festival comes to town -- and to your living room

By Anne Pyburn Craig
4/15/13 - 11:05 am
See video

Above: Filmmaker Dennis O'Clair offers a sneak peek at what's in store at the fourth annual Woodstock Writers Festival. 

The fourth annual Woodstock Writers Festival takes as its mission “bringing the hottest names in literature to the coolest town in the world" -- and just as when a warm and cold front collide on high, expect sonic booms and pyrotechnics.

Martha Frankel, the festival's executive director, says Woodstock is the perfect scene for all these literary goings-on.

“There’s the laid-back thing,” Frankel said. “And Woodstock is very small -- there’s no getting away from things. If you want to come and meet writers you’ll meet them; there’s nowhere for them to hide…Planning this is like playing with a chemistry set; sometimes things ignite and you never know what will happen."

There's a matchmaking element to the festival, too.  Read more

Water main break in Coxsackie shuts down Route 385

By Lissa Harris
4/15/13 - 9:29 am

A water main break in the village of Coxsackie that occurred around 2am Monday has shut down Route 385, put the village under a boil-water alert, and delayed the opening of schools in the village.

A message posted on NY-Alert this morning states that Route 385 (Mansion Street) is closed between Route 9W and Apple Blossom Lane, and instructs drivers to use Plank Road and Bailey Street.

An emergency alert system message from the village sent out to subscribers at 7:15am states that it may be a day or two before the main break can be fixed:

Temporary water supply to the Village is be made by the FD, lower pressure may be experienced. Engineers are on site determining a permanent fix to the 18” main line which may take between 24-36 hours from now.

Mansion St. is closed is the area of Apple Blossom Rd. and a detour is in effect. The boil water remains in effect for the Village only.

Additional alerts will be sent as information becomes available.  Read more

This weekend: Green energy on display in Rosendale

By Anne Pyburn Craig
4/12/13 - 4:52 pm

Above: Retrofitters at work transforming a Rosendale home into a model of energy efficiency. Photo courtesy of Manna Jo Greene.

The Festival Town -- site of the first green-built, geothermal community center in the state -- will be ahead of the enviro-curve as usual this weekend. The 2013 Rosendale Energy Expo takes over the Rosendale Recreation Center on Saturday with “Retrofitting For Resilience: Preparing our Homes and Businesses for the 21st Century.”

Co-sponsored by NYSERDA, Central Hudson, and the upstate New York chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, the Expo will focus on a deep energy retrofit pilot project underway right now that’s transforming a leaky, creaky older home into a lean, green, energy-efficient machine. Those in attendance will enjoy an afternoon of education about the project from the builder, the homeowner, and experts on building science and the financing that helps make it all possible. After the Expo, from 5 to 6pm, there will be a site visit and group tour of the retrofit project.  Read more

Heroin and pot bust on Route 32 in Saugerties

By Lissa Harris
4/12/13 - 3:13 pm

The area around Vinnie's Farm Market on Route 32 in Saugerties just got a little safer, cops say. 

An investigation into ongoing complaints of heroin sales near the fruit stand has yielded an arrest. On Tuesday, the Ulster Regional Gang Enforcement Narcotics Team executed a search warrant at the Route 32 home of 29-year-old John Tyler Kuhn, just down the street from the Saugerties farmstand, after an undercover officer purchased heroin from Kuhn.

The search at Kuhn's house turned up 190 bags of heroin, an indoor marijuana grow operation, packaged marijuana, drug packaging materials and electronic scales. Police are also holding $5000 in cash and a 2003 Mercedes Benz, which are pending seizure. 

Kuhn faces charges of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, criminal possession of marijuana in the second degree, criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, and two counts of criminally using drug paraphernalia in the second degree.   Read more

DEP to clean up hundreds of Sandy-felled trees at Ashokan Reservoir

By Lissa Harris
4/12/13 - 10:31 am

Photo of Ashokan Reservoir Fountain by Flickr user ianbckwltr; published under Creative Commons license.

Part of the public area near the Ashokan Reservoir Fountain will be closed until April 25 while a contractor cleans up hundreds of trees damaged or felled during Hurricane Sandy, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection announced Thursday. 

The closed area is on the east side of the park near the fountain, off Route 28A in the town of Olive. The unaffected portion of the park will continue to be open to the public from dawn to dusk.

According to the DEP's announcement, Sandy caused widespread damage to the trees in a 15-acre area near the reservoir, mostly Norway spruce and white pine. The tree removal will be done by a private timber harvester, who will remove the trees at no cost to the city, and pay the DEP for the harvested trees. The agency says the trees will be recycled into lumber -- enough to build almost 25 homes.   Read more