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This Weekend: Catskills Mother’s Day Events

Above: Who says moms always have to be nice? The Kindred Spirits Steakhouse and Pub in Palenville is serving up a Naughty Mother’s Day Brunch featuring ribald songstress Lex Grey from 11am to 4pm on Sunday, May 12.

Whether it's affection or guilt that motivates you, odds are you're looking to spend quality time with Mom this weekend. Julia Ward Howe founded Mother’s Day on this continent in 1870, calling out for an international celebration of peace and motherhood. Before that, there was "Mothering Sunday" in England -- working class folk were given a day off to go see Mom, and they also took a day off from Lent. We may have largely lost the knack of matriarchy and Goddess worship, but if you’re looking for a way to celebrate yo’ mama, the Catskills have plenty of options lined up.

Here's our county-by-county guide to 2013 Mother's Day events in the Catskills.

DELAWARE COUNTY

The Annual Mother’s Day Wildflower Hike to Kelly Hollow is a four-mile ramble sponsored by the Catskill Mountain Club You’ll enjoy sparkling streams and an active beaver pond, and have a chance to experience spring ephemerals like violets and jack-in-the-pulpit. Participants will gather at the Old Schoolhouse 2.2 miles west of Margaretville at 10:30 on Sunday. There’s a limit of 20 people- call Howard Raab at 845.586.3112 for reservations.

Also in Margaretville, prep Mom for a season of gardening at gardenFest, a Main Street extravaganza of gardeners, food vendors, petting zoos, live music, and all things flowering and green on Saturday from 10am to 3pm.

Mother’s Day Jazz Brunch with Lindsey Webster and an awesome menu will be served up at the Andes Hotel in Andes between noon and 3pm.

At Catskills Escape in Franklin, Mother’s Day brunch on Sunday includes a Mandarin Souffle lovingly crafted of local eggs, organic citrus, and butter, and your table will be resplendent with a seasonal bouquet.

The Roxbury Arts Group has a very special treat lined up for Mother’s Day Eve. On Saturday night, the First Lady of Woodstock, folk-rock stunner Melanie, will perform with her son Beau Jarred Schekeryk in Roxbury.

At Tay Home in Andes, the mother-daughter chef team of Mary Elizabeth (mother) and Chef Nicole Roarke (daughter) will share recipes and stories from their cookbook "Cooking Across America" from 10am to 6pm on Sunday. Tastings and demos will abound.

GREENE COUNTY

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Middletown judge removed from bench for favoritism

Above: The Middletown Town Hall and court building. Photo via Google Street View.

Can a judge be fair in a town where everyone knows everyone else? The recent dismissal of a small-town judge by a state commission shows that even in the tiniest towns, judges have to be careful not to play favorites.

Glen R. George, a 74-year-old judge for the town of Middletown in Delaware County, was stripped of his position on May 1 by the State of New York Commission on Judicial Conduct for engaging in "serious misconduct."

The commission found George, who is not a lawyer, "unfit for judicial office," because of two incidents that "bear the unmistakable taint of favoritism."

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New Paltz elects two to village board

In a five-way race for two open seats on the New Paltz Village Board on Tuesday, voters elected Tom Rocco and Rebecca Rotzler.

Rocco got 335 votes and Rotzler 252, giving them a comfortable margin over Don Kerr (180), Jonathan Cohen (124) and Radi Serdah (62).

The New Paltz Times writes that both winners have experience with New Paltz's often-contentious village politics:

Rocco and Rotzler are no strangers to village politics. Rocco currently serves on the village Planning Board, was part of the village Master Plan Committee and is also on the board of the New Paltz Democratic Committee. Rotzler, who ran with current mayor Jason West in 2003, served a four-year term and was West’s deputy mayor.

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municipal consolidation

New Paltz Village Board

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A racetrack by any other name: NYST opens in Harpersfield

Opening day at the New York Safety Track: A track day for the members of the Driving Force Club. Photo from NYST's Facebook page.

When is a racetrack not a racetrack? When it's a "motorcycle training facility" -- a phrase used to describe a new 2.1-mile loop of fresh asphalt in the Delaware County woods, on the border of Davenport and Harpersfield, that held its first official event over the weekend.

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New York Safety Track

Margaretville students medal at Olympics of the Visual Arts

Above: [From left to right] Lindsay Day, Issis Orrego, Alana Moskowitz, and Chelsea Shultis celebrate after taking a 3rd place ribbon at the 31st Olympics of the Visual Arts in Saratoga Springs, NY on April 23. All four are students at Margaretville Central School. Photo contributed by MCS art teacher Jennifer Wentland.

The arts practically are a varsity sport at Margaretville Central School these days.

Two weeks ago, MCS students took several prizes at the statewide "Olympics of the Visual Arts" in Albany, including 3rd place in the High School Drawing category and 3rd place in the Fashion Design at the Middle School level category, according to MCS art teacher Jennifer Wentland.

And you can see student art all over Margaretville and Fleischmanns now through Memorial Day in local businesses that have become impromptu art galleries for the Youth Art Month Art Show, which is sponsored by the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce. A ceremony awarding prizes in the Youth Art Month Art Show will take place in June.

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Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce

Margaretville Central School

Youth Art Month

The one that got away

David Krajicek holds up living proof of a fine day on the river. Photo by Dan Plummer; used with permission.

Looks like local crime-writing bluesman David Krajicek and river advocate Dan Plummer had a lucky day on the East Branch near Hancock over the weekend.

It was a lucky day for this big beautiful brown trout, too -- Krajicek tells us the fish got the C.P.R. treatment (Caught, Photographed, Released).

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Body found in Delaware River near Tusten

A body was pulled from the Delaware River on Saturday afternoon, the Times Herald-Record reports.

Around 3pm, the paper reports, state police and local officials responded to a call of a body floating in the water, and recovered the body from the river near the border between the Sullivan County towns of Tusten and Highland.

The identity of the body has not been released.

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Hiker injured in fall on Tanbark Trail

A hiker was seriously injured in a fall on the Tanbark Trail in Phoenicia on Sunday afternoon.

Around 3pm Sunday, Shandaken police and first responders received a call that a hiker had fallen down a cliff roughly 40 feet high, according to Shandaken Ambulance Service captain Rich Muellerleile.

The spot where the man had fallen was about a 20 to 30 minute hike from the trailhead at Parish Field in Phoenicia, Muellerleile said. Upon arriving, responders found a 27-year-old man with a serious head injury.

The man, whose name has not been released, was hiking with two other people when he fell. He was carried out of the woods to Parish Field by first responders, then airlifted by helicopter to Albany Medical Center.

The Watershed Post was unable to find out the man's condition on Sunday evening. A nurse at Albany Medical Center said that the hospital could not release any report on a patient's condition without a name.

With the weather warming up, prime hiking season is getting underway in the Catskills. Muellerleile said that hikers should be careful on trails in the region.

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Margaretville's flooded-out CVS back in business

Photo by Julia Reischel.

The banner says it all: The CVS on Bridge Street in Margaretville is once again open for business. The pharmacy reopened on Friday, with a gloriously sunny May day to mark the occasion.

It's been almost two years after the Irene floods on August 28, 2011 destroyed the pharmacy, leaving little more than a pile of collapsed wreckage where it stood. The Freshtown grocery store next door, also heavily damaged in the floods, took almost nine months to repair, and reopened in May of 2012.

Evidence of the flood's passage can still be seen in parts of downtown Margaretville, especially on Main Street just east of the Cheese Barrel. But most of the village's storefronts have reopened, and it's business as usual on most of Margaretville's Main Street. With the iconic Bridge Street CVS no longer under construction, the village is beginning to look like its old self again -- and just in time for summer.

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Catskill Distilling Co. to craft whiskey with Ommegang mash

Coming soon to a whiskey near you: Mash from Ommegang's Hennepin ale. Photo from the Ommegang website.

The up-and-coming Catskill Distilling Company in Bethel has struck a deal with Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown to make Catskill whiskey with Ommegang mash.

The product of the exclusive deal will be a malt whiskey made with mash from the production of Ommegang's Hennepin, a Belgian-style farmhouse saison ale "flavored with grains of paradise, ginger, coriander and orange peel."

From an announcement of the deal:

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Catskill Distilling Company

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