A 74-year-old Schoharie man driving an ATV backed into the path of an oncoming car on Terrace Mountain Road in the town of Schoharie on Tuesday, Feb. 3, according to a press release from the Schoharie County Sheriff's Office.
The man, George K. Lawton, was using an all-terrain vehicle to plow snow in front of his driveway at 7:30 a.m. this morning, police say. When he backed into the road, a vehicle driven by 33-year-old J.M. Schoenecker ran into him.
Lawton was ejected from the ATV during the crash and suffered a minor head injury, police say. He was transported by Scho-Wright Ambulance to Ellis Hospital.
Schoenecker had two children, a one-year-old and a four-year-old, in the car. None of them were injured in the collision, according to the press release.
Above: A video promoting the annual Ice Harvest Festival at the Hanford Mills Museum.
It's the deepest, coldest part of winter, which means that it's time to harvest ice.
Ice harvesting, a lost rural tradition that once was the only way to stockpile ice for refrigeration in the heat of summer, is experiencingarevival, thanks in part to the Disney movie "Frozen," which kicks off with an animated depiction of an ice harvest. (See below.)
After the fakeout from last week's snowstorm-that-wasn't, a foot of snow is falling across the Catskills today, Monday, Feb. 2. Many schools and offices around the region are closed. We're tracking the storm below. Share your photos with us on Instagram, Flickr, Facebook or via email and we'll add them.
Above: An illustration from our first and only April Fool's article, from April 1, 2011, depicting a fake floating casino on the Ashokan Reservoir.
It's the Watershed Post's five year anniversary this month. (We're a little stunned about that, but yes, it was on January 19, 2010 that we formally launched the Watershed Post website.)
To celebrate, we took a look back at the stories from the past half-decade. It's been a wild ride, and we've grown a lot, transforming from a fast-posting news aggregator to a more thoughtful, longer-form online journalism outlet and, to our surprise, a print publisher.
Here are our favorite stories from the past half-decade. Some are fun (that one April Fool's story we did back in 2011 was a hoot), and some are serious (we've had more than our share of floods and fires in the Catskills since 2010). We're proud of them all. In chronological order:
The lineup includes live music by Becca Frame & Brian Shafer and the Stoddard Hollow String Band. Proceeds will go to a fund set up by Farm Catskills to help the Hymers get back on their feet. So far, $7,500 has already been raised.
Above: Flyers asking residents to vote for Delhi every day until Feb. 25 are appearing in businesses around Delhi. Photo courtesy of Christina Viafore.
Delhi, the small Catskills town that serves as the county seat of Delaware County, has made it to the final round of the America's Coolest Small Towns 2015 contest, which is held every year by Budget Travel Magazine to celebrate towns nationwide with populations of under 10,000 people.
After an initial nomination round last fall, in which Delhi came in fourth, the town of 3,000 people is now one of 15 finalists in the contest.
Christina Viafore, the vice president of the Greater Delhi Chamber of Commerce, nominated Delhi for the contest back in October. Now she's gearing up for a campaign to get as many New Yorkers as possible to vote for Delhi in the finals. Ten winners will be featured in the magazine later in 2015.
"We are the only New York town, so we need New Yorkers to stick together and bring it home," Viafore said in an email to the Watershed Post.
Above: Locally cured bacon from Fleisher's, the artisanal Catskills butcher shop that has outposts in Kingston and Park Slope, Brooklyn. Photo via the Fleisher's Facebook page.
Above are figure skaters Valerie Levine (left) and Victoria Calderone (right) spinning in tamden during their performance at the carnival. This is a detail of a larger photo -- to see the whole thing, click here.
The abbot of the Zen Mountain Monastery in the Mount Tremper has stepped down from his post as the leader of the popular Ulster County religious center because of an extramarital affair and his “consuming involvement in shamanic traditions."
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo this morning announced that the travel ban in the Hudson Valley (Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Ulster, Westchester counties), Nassau County, and New York City is lifted effective at 7:30 a.m. I-84 as well as the Thruway have been reopened. Drivers should use extreme caution and prepare properly as driving conditions remain poor and other states still may have travel bans in effect.
7:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 27: Snow much for that. Overnight, the storm tracked farther east than forecasters expected, and now the National Weather Service, Hudson Valley Weather and other forecasters have lowered their snowfall predictions for the Catskills and New York City. It'll be just another normal winter storm from here on out, with up to 6 inches possible in most parts of the Catskills.
This storm was east far enough by 50-100 miles to drastically alter the snowfall accumulations in the Albany forecast area. Some snow is still expected...but much lesser amounts at this time.
While we are still under advisories and warnings for up to 6-12 inches of snow by the NWS, we fill that if the moisture does actually push west this morning into the afternoon, it will only produce light to possibly moderate snowfall totals. A general 2-6 inch snow fall with maybe a few higher spots seems much more logical at this point. No reason to believe this storm will discontinue its efforts to underperform the forecast.
As a side note, attacks against HVW and forecasters alike will not bring the snow back, it would be much more productive for you to tackle your degree in meteorology. We realize that this was a major blow to the science and to forecasting in general and it will likely open the floodgates of criticism against what forecasters do. Kinda reminds me of the movie "The Weatherman" when Nicholas Cage is walking down the street and he gets hit with a milkshake, with that said, I prefer a chocolate frosty from Wendy's.
8:20 p.m. Monday, Jan. 26: There's some confusion about whether Gov. Cuomo's travel ban includes Sullivan County. The governor named Sullivan County as one of the counties with a travel ban in both press conferences he gave on Jan. 26, but his office's official list of 13 counties with travel bans does not include Sullivan County:
For all local and state roads, a travel ban will go into effect at 11 p.m until further notice in the following 13 counties: Bronx, Dutchess, Kings, Nassau, New York, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk, Ulster, and Westchester.
Sullivan County Manager Joshua Potosek issued a statement at 7:15 p.m. saying that there is no travel ban in effect in Sullivan County:
County Manger Joshua Potosek has announced that there are no current travel restrictions for Sullivan County ... County Manager Potosek urges all County residents during the storm to remain indoors and off roadways whenever possible. If residents must drive, they are advised to exercise extreme caution when driving through this storm.
It looks like the only Catskills county included in the travel ban is Ulster, where drivers have been ordered to stay off the roads after 11 p.m tonight.
5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 26: A travel ban on all roads will be in effect in Ulster and Sullivan counties, as well in more southern New York counties, beginning at 11 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 26.
"It is a total travel restriction ban," said Gov. Andrew Cuomo at a 4:45 p.m. press conference. "If you are in your car, and you are on any road after 11 p.m., you will technically be committing a crime."
"State roads, local roads, city roads, town roads except for emergency personnel," Cuomo said. "If you violate this state order it’s a possible misdemeanor, with fines up to $300."
There will be a tractor-trailer ban on the New York Thruway beginning at 4 p.m., and Cuomo's administration is considering issuing a total travel ban on all traffic on all main roads tonight.
"I'm declaring a state of emergency effective immediately from Sullivan and Ulster counties south," Cuomo said.
The governor also said that there will be a tractor trailer ban on the New York Thruway beginning at 4 p.m.
"We are considering at this time a travel ban on all main roads starting at 11 p.m. tonight," Cuomo said.
That decision on the travel ban will be made after 4 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 26, Cuomo said.
"The closing of the roads is a safety precaution," he said. "It's never an easy decision."
Musicians, Farm Catskills and neighbors throughout the region are 
Left: Former Abbot Konrad Ryushin Marchaj in 2012. 
