Dive teams, firefighters, and first responders mobbed the Esopus Creek in the Ulster County village of Phoenicia on Sunday afternoon in what turned out to be a wild goose chase.

A report of an injured person in the creek on August 10 prompted a massive emergency response, according to an email from George Neher at the Shandaken Police Department.

Traffic was slowed to one lane on Route 28 as ambulances and first responder vehicles, several pulling boats, lined the roadway near the creek around 2 p.m.

But the first responders did not find any injured person in or near the creek. A police officer directing traffic told a reporter that it all seemed like a false alarm. 

As it turned out, the injured person had already left. A tuber had injured his hip and lost his inner tube while tubing the Esopus that day, prompting someone nearby to call the police, according to Neher. 

But the man left the creek himself before emergency personnel found him. Witnesses told the police that he walked to his car, which appeared to be a Mercedes-Benz, and drove away, according to Neher. 

A New York State Parole Officer killed his estranged wife and her boyfriend in his Palenville house on Sunday, August 10, and then led police on a multi-county car chase before killing himself, according to a New York State Police press release issued today.

Forty-six-year-old Robert Mroczek lived at 844 Pennsylvania Ave. in Palenville, a sleepy Catskills hamlet where a SWAT team and a helicopter descended yesterday afternoon.

Mroczek's wife, 49-year-old Pammi Mroczek, once lived at the address as well. Yesterday, Pammi Mroczek was at the Pennsylvania Ave. house with a boyfriend, 51-year-old Daniel Brennan of Schenectady.

Robert Mroczek encountered Pammi Mroczek and Brennan at the house and shot and killed them both, according to the press release.

A 911 call about gunshots fired was received by Greene County 911 at 12:45 p.m.

Pro mountain bikers from around the world are competing on the slopes of Windham Mountain this weekend as part of the Union Cyclist Internationale (UCI) Mountain Bike World Cup.

Today, the elite event was the men's and women's Cross Country Eliminator finals. (See above.) 

The mountain is open all weekend to amateurs, too. A pack of volunteers from Windham have organized a slew of races, activities, and games for bikers of all abilities, including "Race the World" amateur cross-country and downhill races. There are also some more unorthodox events, according to a press release:

A Ride the Plank Challenge, where riders attempt to cross a pond on wooden planks supported only by inflatable tubes floating on water and the Red Bull Berm Burners, an individual head-to-head pursuit dirt cycling race that tests the rider’s ability between two fast, steep berms.

And there's a laser show and fireworks. What's not to like? It's free to come and watch, although you will have to pay for parking. 

Brace yourselves: The Catskills are having their biggest moment since the height of the Borscht Belt resorts in the '50s.

Hudson Valley Magazine has dedicated its entire August issue to the region, declaring that "The Catskills Are Back," and featuring the pool at Phoenicia's The Graham & Co. hotel on its cover.  

[T]he big story of the day is that the Catskills have seemingly overnight transformed from a sleepy, somewhat rundown region to a hip ’n happening hangout for all types of urban culture vultures and — dare we say it — hipsters.

What is this we hear? It seems that every season, at least one new boutique hotel throws open its doors — and more and more city folk flee upstate to the forest. Cultural offerings abound, gastropubs serve up farm-to-table fare, you can even stay in a luxury yurt. Yes, glamping has come to the Catskills.

The Delaware County Fair, the Catskills' annual bacchanal of butter statuary, demolition derbies, livestock, and country pride, kicks off Monday, August 11, and runs through Saturday, August 16. 

The Delaware County Fair. August 11 - 16. Walton fairgrounds, Fair Street, Walton. Tickets $8. delawarecountyfair.org.

Below: Carriage racing at the 2012 Delaware County Fair. Photo by Ann Roberti.