| Watershed Post

Washington Examiner: FEMA sold trailers as Sandy churned toward the coast

Above: January 2012 photo of contractors at a staging area in Cobleskill preparing to haul a three-bedroom temporary housing unit to a site in Prattsville, for survivors of the Irene floods. Photo by Hans Pennink; from FEMA website.

The Washington Examiner, a right-leaning newspaper that covers national politics in Washington, D.C., reports that the Federal Emergency Management Agency sold hundreds of trailers at cut-rate prices in the weeks and months before Sandy wreaked devastation on the Eastern seaboard:

Now, with thousands of families left homeless in New York and New Jersey by the hurricane, those same federal officials are poised to spend more taxpayer dollars to buy brand-new trailers.

Tags:

Topics:

Around the blogshed: wind-blown and world-weary edition

Photo: Signs along Route 17 blown down by superstorm Sandy. Photo by Catskills Photography in the Watershed Post Flickr pool.

It's that strange week right before Thanksgiving when no one's celebrating or doing much of anything, preserving energy for the long march to New Year's Eve. There's a lot of negative news out there right now: angry politicians, conflicts overseas, devastating storm damage. Let's get our local dirt out of the way early, and focus on the positives for this weekend.

Tags:

Topics:

Becker wins re-election by razor-thin margin in Delaware County judge race

Incumbent Delaware County judge Carl Becker, a Republican, has eked out a victory against Democratic challenger Gary Rosa in a race that was too close to call without counting absentee ballots.

On Thursday afternoon, the county Board of Elections finished its count of all absentee ballots they have received so far. The unofficial tally, according to Democratic commissioner Judy Garrison, currently stands at 9,139 votes for Becker and 8,949 for Rosa -- a difference of only 190 votes.

Because of an excecutive order issued by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office to ensure Sandy-affected New Yorkers could vote, the Board of Elections must keep accepting valid absentee ballots until Monday.

"Until it's certified, absentee ballots can still come in," said Garrison.

But at this late date, it is vanishingly unlikely that enough absentee ballots could come in to shift the vote in Rosa's direction.

Topics:

Tags:

Father abducts 4-year-old from Marlboro daycare -- Update: Amber Alert cancelled

Update: The Marlboro Police Department has cancelled the Amber Alert for Frederick McCluskey at 3:29pm. The Freeman reports that the boy is safe and his father is in custody.

An Amber Alert was issued Friday morning for four-year-old Frederick McCluskey, whose father allegedly abducted him from a Marlboro daycare at 9:20am today. Authorities said that the boy's father, also named Frederick McCluskey, threatened to harm the child and himself before fleeing north on Route 9W in a red Honda Civic.

The child is described as white, four years and nine months old, with blonde hair and blue eyes. He is approximately four feet tall and weighs about 50 pounds. He was last seen wearing a red shirt and blue jeans, and has a small scar under his right eye.

Topics:

Place:

Tags:

This weekend: Pickled and proud in Rosendale

Above: Scenes from the 2010 Rosendale Pickle Festival, by YouTube user ThePickleClub.

How many things can you do with a pickle? This Sunday in Rosendale, pickled foods -- not just cukes, mind you, but pigs’ feet and eggs and kimchi (cabbage) and sauerbraten -- will be tasted, feasted upon and judged. Recipes and pickling tips will be exchanged.

But they don’t stop there, those Rosendalians. Pickles will fly in the Pickle Toss and be immortalized in the Pickle Drawing Contest. People will drink pickle juice. And some fortunate local soul, blessed by the Pickle King himself, will get to romp about in a pickle suit all day being Mr. Pickle.

What goes well with pickles? Everything. Festivities that have evolved as part of this shindig include a Japanese tea ceremony, flower arranging and kimono fashion show. The breathtaking drumming of the West Senegal Drummers, tunes from Hali Hammer and Randy Berge and various other local entertainment will rock the rec center, while thousands of guests browse a hundred vendors from several countries.

Tags:

pickles

Rosendale Pickle Festival

Place:

Topics:

FEMA opens help centers in Sullivan County

On Friday morning, the Federal Emergency Management Agency opened three centers in Sullivan County to help local residents who were affected by Sandy with the process of applying for federal aid.

The centers are located in the towns of Liberty, Bethel and Thompson.

The Liberty and Bethel individual assistance centers will be open Friday, November 16 and Saturday, November 17 from 9am to 5pm at the following locations:

Barbuti Furniture Store
199 South Main Street
Liberty, New York 12754

Town Hall Building
Tax Collector’s Office
3454 State Route 55
White Lake NY 12786

Another center in the village of Monticello, in the town of Thompson, will be open Monday, November 19, from 9am to 5pm.

Town of Thompson Hall Building
4052 State Route 42
Monticello, New York 12701

Tags:

FEMA

Hurricane Sandy

Topics:

Government

Rosa: "The rumors of my victory are greatly exaggerated"

The race for Delaware County judge between Republican incumbent Carl Becker and Democratic challenger Gary Rosa is still too close to call, despite rumors that have been circling that Rosa is the winner after a count of absentee ballots.

On election night, Becker led the returns with 8,335 votes to Rosa's 8,160. The tally was too close to declare a victor without counting absentee ballots. The Delaware County Board of Elections has been counting absentee ballots all week, and will not officially declare a winner until Monday, November 19, election officials said yesterday.

Tags:

Topics:

This Weekend: Celebrating Woody Guthrie

Above: A-side of a Woody Guthrie record. Photo by Flickr user Piano Piano!, used under a Creative Commons license.

This Sunday, Heritage Folk Music Inc. of Saugerties will present its annual hootenanny and fundraiser at the Hurley Reformed Church on Main Street in Hurley. This year's event will feature all Woody Guthrie songs in celebration of what would have been the iconoclastic folk singer's 100th birthday. Singers are welcome to sign up for a slot. For more information, check out the listing in our calendar.

Tags:

Topics:

How green was his valley?

November on the banks of the Delaware River: Brilliant green grass, blue sky, and a river running through it. John of Catskills Photography caught this shot of a late-fall landscape alive with color in Callicoon on November 11.

Shared in the Watershed Post Flickr group pool, currently home to a glorious array of over 1,500 photos from around the Catskills and counting. If you'd like to see your local photographs shared on the Watershed Post, feel free to add them to the pool.

Topics:

Place:

Tags:

Close race: Colchester's Gilbert Close holds onto town council seat

A race between Republican incumbent Gilbert Close and Democratic challenger Bonnie Seegmiller for a seat on Colchester's town council was too close to call following last Tuesday's election. In an unofficial machine count of the ballots cast at the polls on November 6, Close led Seegmiller by just one vote, 398-397.

Results are still unofficial, but with most absentee ballots now counted, the race is almost certain to go to Close. On Tuesday, November 13, the Delaware County Board of Elections counted all of the absentee ballots they have received so far. Republican election commissioner William Campbell said the unofficial count is now 447 for Close, 439 for Seegmiller.

Because of an executive order from Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office to ensure that voters affected by Sandy could cast absentee ballots, the Board of Elections must accept absentee ballots until at least Monday, November 19.

Tags:

Place:

Topics:

You are here

Pages