| Watershed Post

Don't tread on me (or my lawn)

On Monday, Oct. 13, the citizens of the Delaware County town of Walton rose up in opposition to a proposed law that would have capped the height of grass and weeds in the town to ten inches, according to the Walton Reporter.

The proposed amendment was prompted by complaints about one particular house on East River Road.

But at Monday's town council meeting, multiple Walton residents criticized the idea of making rules about tall grass.

Some used pretty high-flown rhetoric, the Reporter reports:

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Car plows into village office building in Margaretville

Above: First responders and witnesses on the scene of a one-car crash on Margaretville's Main Street. Photo by Lissa Harris.

An erratic driver in an Elantra coupe jumped the curb, took out a streetlight and hit the Gottfried Municipal Building at 773 Main Street in Margaretville on Wednesday afternoon. Luckily, it was a drizzly Wednesday and not a sunny Sunday, and few people were on the street.

The accident occurred around 4:45 p.m. No one was struck, and the building did not appear to be badly damaged. The Gottfried building houses the Margaretville village office and local DMV branch.

The driver, who appeared to be conscious after the accident, was taken from the scene by ambulance by Margaretville Hospital Emergency Medical Services.

Jess Olenych, owner of the Home Goods kitchen store across the street from the building, saw the crash happen and was the first to call 911.

"She just came around the corner and hit the light pole and just kept going," Olenych said.

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This Weekend: The Woodstock Film Festival

Above: A trailer for I Believe in Unicorns, a film that was partially shot in the Hudson Valley. It is a featured film at this year's Woodstock Film Festival.

The annual Woodstock Film Festival kicks off Wednesday, Oct. 15, bringing big names -- actors Natalie Portman, Jennifer Connelly, Courteney Cox, and Melissa Leo, playwright Tony Kushner, director Darren Aronofsky (who directed Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan), and jazz musician Hugh Masekela -- to the Catskills and the Hudson Valley to talk film.

Lots of this year's events and panels are already sold out, including tonight's premiere screening of East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem, a documentary about Israeli musician David Broza’s new album, made against the larger backdrop of tensions between Israel and Palestine. (Broza himself will be playing a set after the screening, along with singer-songwriter Steve Earle.)

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Woodstock Film Festival

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Ulster County

Woodstock

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Arts

Flash flood watch for the western Catskills

Above: Rains will move across New York on Wednesday night, Oct. 15, according to a radar image posted on NWS Binghamton's Facebook page.

Flooding on smaller tributaries and streams may occur in Delaware and Sullivan counties in the western Catskills throughout the night on Wednesday, Oct. 15 and into the following morning, according to NY-Alert and the National Weather Service in Binghamton.

NWS Binghamton issued a flash flood watch at 4:18 p.m., to last through late morning on Thursday, Oct. 16:

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flooding

national weather service binghamton

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O+ leaves its mark on Kingston

Last weekend's O+ Festival filled the city of Kingston with artists, musicians, and healthcare professionals, who swapped checkups for performances.

Some of the creativity was permanent: Singer-songwriter Jack Dishel and graffiti collective Vor138 left a permanent mark on the side of the Keegan Ales building on Saint James Street. Thanks to the O+ Festival for letting us share their photo.

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Nation watches Bloomingburg's tensions over influx of Hasidim

National news outlets like Bloomberg News and Newsweek are watching the tiny Sullivan County village of Bloomingburg, which is being rocked by controversy over the arrival of a large community of ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jews.

On Sept. 30, the village held a referendum on whether or not to dissolve itself and to transfer its governance to the town of Mamakating.

The outcome of the vote won't be known for weeks, according to Time Warner Cable News, because the votes are being challenged and counter-challenged.

Those who want the dissolution hope that it will allow the larger population of Mamakating to repeal the village's zoning laws and stop the construction of a housing development that many expect will fill with Hasidic Jews moving north from Brooklyn.

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DEC and volunteers clean up garbage, tires in Kaaterskill Clove

Volunteers and New York State Department of Conservation staff picked up tires and filled over a dozen large garbage bags with trash during a litter clean-up event in Greene County's Kaaterskill Clove on Sunday, Oct. 5, according to a press release from the Catskill Conservation Corps, the event's organizer.

The clean-up effort targeted parking areas and trails near Kaaterskill Falls, which is one of the attractions along scenic Route 23A, a mountain road that has been plagued with trash this summer. (We wrote about local outrage over the trash last month.)

That outrage is being channeled into action. Along with DEC staff and a newly-appointed "backcountry steward," nine volunteers showed up on Sunday to pick up litter in Kaaterskill Clove, the press release stated:

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outdoors

Department of Environmental Conservation

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22-year-old dies in Meredith motorcycle accident

Left: Ethan-Jon Sackett, in a photo published with his obituary.

A 22-year-old from Delhi died on Monday, Sept 29 in a motorcycle accident on County Road 10 in the Delaware County town of Meredith, according to the Daily Star.

Ethan-Jon Sackett was a motorcycle enthusiast who worked at Clark Companies in Delhi, according to his obituary.

The Daily Star reported that the New York State Police are investigating the cause of the accident:

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Columbus Day Weekend in the Catskills: Fests, food, fiddlers and foliage

Columbus Day Weekend is coming up, and the Catskills are making the most of summer's last hurrah.

If you're a Catskills local, you've been living in a slow-mo fireworks display for a couple of weeks now, as maples, beeches, birches and oaks erupt in a dazzling riot of fall color. This weekend brings peak foliage to the lower elevations of the Catskills and the Hudson Valley -- and while the high-elevation slopes are just a little past peak, there is still plenty of brilliant color all around.

Lark in the Park, a ten-day, Catskills-wide celebration of the great outdoors, wraps up on Monday. Between now and then are dozens of guided hikes, paddles, outdoor volunteer opportunities and more, ranging from family-friendly woods walks to off-trail bushwhacks for experienced outdoorsfolk. Choose your own adventure from our special Lark in the Park calendar.

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The Higleys' new Shokan farmstand opens for business

The Greenheart Farmstand is selling pumpkins and produce this week at the former Bank of America building on Route 28 in the Ulster County hamlet of Shokan, according to its customers and to Drew Boggess, the chair of Olive Planning Board.

The farmstand opened on Oct. 3, and will be open 24 hours a day, according to a customer who spoke with Alfie Higley Jr. this week.

Higley owns the farmstand with his father, Al Higley Sr. Neither Higley could be reached for comment.

Boggess told the Watershed Post yesterday that the Olive Planning Board granted permission for the farmstand to open in Shokan at a meeting on Sept. 16. The Ulster County Plannning Board has given the go-ahead for it as well, he said.

The Greenheart Farmstand is a reincarnated version of the Higleys' popular and embattled Hanover Farms farmstand, which operated in the neighboring town of Shandaken for over a decade.

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