Shandaken

Town Links

Town Links
Town of Shandaken website Ulster County website Shandaken on Wikipedia Local Newspapers: The Daily Freeman The Woodstock Times The Catskill Mountain News Current Creek Conditions (click image to expand):

Local Newspapers:

Current Creek Conditions (click image to expand):

Upcoming Events in Shandaken

No events yet -- add an upcoming event by clicking "Post an Event" on the right side of this page.

Town Links

Phoenicia on Flickr

Community Announcements

Have a community announcement you'd like to share? Registered and logged-in users can post personal and non-profit announcements for free. Click "Post>Announcements" under the "Manage My Account" menu, or click here.

All announcements are moderated, so it make take a few days for us to review your submission.

Shandaken Community Gardens Seeks Gardeners

By Karin Ursula Edmondson
2/12/13 - 2:49 pm

Would you like to grow your own food, flowers and herbs?

Cultivate community?

Share knowledge about sustainable gardening?

Collaborate in the creation of an exciting, new project? Read more

Obituary: Leila Ruth Ellison, Phoenicia centenarian

By Julia Reischel
12/28/12 - 12:13 pm

The following is a reader-submitted obituary.

Leila Ruth Ellison,100, in recent years a resident of Phoenicia, NY, died Monday, December 24, 2012, at Northern Dutchess Residential Care Facility (Thompson House), in Rhinebeck, NY.

Born in Perth Amboy, NJ, she was the daughter of Theodore and Leila Jones Degenring. She was a graduate of Beaver College, Jenkintown, PA, and Newark State Teacher’s College, and for many years was an elementary school teacher in Elizabeth, NJ and Summit, NJ. She was married in 1936 to Harry C. Ellison, Jr., an engineer, who predeceased her. She was an avid reader, and enjoyed playing the piano and travel. For many years, she directed a children’s choir at the First Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth, NJ.

She is survived by her daughter, Patricia L. Ellison, Esq., of Phoenicia, NY, as well as cousins in New Jersey, Georgia, and Florida.

A memorial service will be held at Evergreen Cemetery, Hillside, NJ, at a date to be announced. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Heart Association.

Simpson-Gaus Funeral Home, 411 Albany Ave. is in charge of arrangements Read more

Lonnie Gale: "The single most accurate historical reference of the Catskills"

By Julia Reischel
10/15/12 - 12:09 pm

The following is a user-submitted obituary.

Alonzo " Lonnie " Gale of Waterwork Road died Wednesday October 10, 2012 at the Benedictine Hospital. Lonnie, as he was known to all, was born in Tannersville on January 22, 1927 son of the late Lemuel Chichester Gale and Hazel Wright Gale. He was a graduate of Hunter-Tannersville H.S., and he then joined the Merchant Marines, where he was stationed in Alaska. In 1945 he was aboard the Sueja III (Q137US), a supply ship in World War II. Upon returning home, Lonnie married Peggy ( Ruth ) Every and they raised their family in Phoenicia. Read more

Shandaken Democrats Annual Thai Feast

By nick-alba@earthlink.net
9/12/12 - 10:42 pm

Sat. Sept 29th, 6:30PM

The Arts Upstairs, 60 Main Street, Phoenicia

Only $10 with reservation. Our entree offerings will include many favorites from the past as well as some exciting new Thai dishes that include vegetarian and vegan options. Thai iced tea, beer and wine will be among the available beverages.

We are keeping the price down because we want a great turnout, and we want to make sure that there's plenty of food for everyone, so we are requesting you RSVP your reservation to receive this $10 offer. Please email nick-alba@earthlink.net with the number of guests in your party, and please advise us of any changes prior to the event. Guests without reservations will be asked for $15 at the door.

We hope to hear from you soon, and look forward to an evening of great food, fun and comradery.

Ulster County is distributing farmer's market coupons on August 30

By SHARP
8/22/12 - 7:45 pm

FARMER’S MARKET COUPONS
Thursday, August 30, 2012
10 a.m.- 2:00 p.m.

The Ulster County Office for the Aging

will be distributing to eligible seniors

Farmer’s Market coupons at the

SHARP Committee

98 Main Street, Phoenicia.

Eligibility is determined by two factors;
AGE & INCOME:
You must be a Senior/60 or older
$1,722 /month for a one-person household
$2,333 /month for a two-person household
$2,943 /month for a three-person household
Seniors currently receiving or is eligible for SSI, public
Assistance, or Section 8 housing subsidy.

Only ONE booklet may be issued per household.
Eligible recipients must personally sign.
Coupons cannot be mailed.
Proxies may not pick up or sign for a senior.

You can also pick up coupons at:

Ulster County Office for the Aging
1003 Development Court
Kingston, New York 12401

(845)340-3456

Volunteer bash at Belleayre Friday night

By Julia Reischel
9/23/11 - 12:44 pm

According to a poster we hear has been posted at the Phoenicia firehouse, all volunteers who helped out during and after Hurricane Irene are invited to a party at Belleayre Mountain Ski Center Friday, September 23 at 6pm. The poster promises that there will be beer, soda and food, and no politics or speeches.

This weekend is last call for Shandaken volunteers

By Julia Reischel
9/23/11 - 12:03 pm

Want to volunteer in Shandaken? Last call is this weekend. From the Town of Shandaken website:

FINAL VOLUNTEER CALL – We still have a lot of work to accomplish. The CERT Tent will be open on Main St., Phoenicia this coming weekend Sept. 24th & 25th. We are looking for individuals with Pick-up trucks and laborers for continued assistance in removal of flood related damages and debris. Volunteers are asked to convene between 9am and 10am on these days.

There's lots more information on the town website, which you can get to by clickng here. Here's some of the most pertinent, updated info:

FEMA DISASTER ASSISTANCE RESOURCE GUIDE Read more

Alleged assault in Big Indian: Woman choked with child in arms

By Lissa Harris
9/23/11 - 10:26 am

This just in from the Ulster County Sheriff's Office:

Deputies from the Ulster County Sheriff's Office report the arrest of Michael Planthaber age 26 of 482 Oliverea Road, Big Indian.

Michael Planthaber was charged with Strangulation in the 2nd degree (D-Fel), Assault 3rd (A-Misd), Endangering welfare of child (A-Misd), Menacing 3rd (B-Misd), Criminal mischief 4th (A-Misd) following a domestic incident on Friday September 23, 2011 at approximately 12:30am.

Deputies responded to domestic dispute and found that Michael had choked and assaulted the female victim while she was holding her young son in her arms. He additionally caused criminal mischief within the residence by damaging the phone in an attempt to prevent the victim from dialing 911 in need of help.

Michael was arraigned in Shandaken Justice Court this date and remanded to Ulster County Jail on $25,000 cash bail to return September 27th, 2011 at 18:30hrs.

Deputies were assisted by Shandaken Police.

Loose ends and winding roads

By Tom Rinaldo
9/23/11 - 10:01 am

Image by Monica Arellano-Ongpin, via Flickr.

A time comes when these Dispatches from Shandaken must move on from largely hurricane-related content, and that time I suppose is now. Which is only appropriate, since my last dispatch focused on Shandaken itself moving on from Irene as well. I do, however, have one anecdote to relay here that pulls together, in one short story, several of the themes found in recent dispatches, both pre- and post- Tropical Storm Irene.

But first: a tangential note. It occurred to me that you can pretty much know immediately whether it will be a hard news type of day for the current dispatch by seeing how often I slip into the first person while writing it. Tangents are, in fact, one of the themes of this one. They are literary winding roads, and that is a loose end I hope to tie up here. Read more

FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers to close on Sundays

By Lissa Harris
9/22/11 - 8:15 pm

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the New York Office of Emergency Management announced today that all Disaster Recovery Centers currently operating in New York State will now be open six days a week.

A joint press release from the agencies states that the centers will be open Monday through Saturday, 8am to 8pm. Until now, the centers FEMA has been staffing in the region had been open seven days a week.

In the Catskills region, FEMA is currently operating four DRCs:

Ulster County: Belleayre Ski Center, Route 28, Highmount

Schoharie County: Cobleskill Fire Department, 610 East Main Street, Cobleskill

Delaware County: Sidney Civic Center, 21 Liberty Street, Sidney

Greene County: Main Street, Prattsville

It begins: Lawsuits challenge local gas drilling bans

By Lissa Harris
9/22/11 - 12:25 pm

Above: The board of the Town of Dryden unanimously passes a ban on gas drilling on August 2, 2011. Video by ShaleShock, an anti-gas drilling media group.

The first shots in what is likely to become a statewide battle were fired recently, as two lawsuits in New York State Supreme Court -- one filed by a local dairy business, the other by a Colorado gas drilling company -- seek to overturn town bans on gas drilling.

On Thursday, September 15, the Otsego County dairy farm Cooperstown Holstein Corporation filed suit against the Town of Middlefield, which passed a law this June banning gas drilling. The Daily Star reports:

The lawsuit seeks to declare the provisions of the town's zoning law pertaining to oil and gas drilling void and in violation of New York state law, [Cooperstown Holstein's lawyer, Scott] Kurkowski said.

The goal is to establish precedent in this case, he said. Read more