Local activist Noel van Swol dies in car crash

Above: Noel van Swol, in a screenshot from a 2011 YouTube video from Energy In Depth's Northeast Marcellus Initiative. In the video, van Swol cites the Anti-Rent Wars as a precedent for the pro-gas-drilling movement in upstate New York, and tells an interviewer, "We are not an economic colony of the Delaware River Basin Commission, New York City, Philadelphia or Trenton. We own this area. We have property rights."

Noel van Swol, a 70-year-old Long Eddy man who was well-known in the area for championing pro-drilling activism and other causes, died in a car accident Monday. The Times Herald-Record reports:

The Long Eddy resident was retuning from a pro-gas drilling rally in Albany when he apparently went into a diabetic coma while driving and went off the road and crashed not far from his home, said his mother Tuesday morning.

“He was a wonderful son,” said his mother who was too distraught to speak after answering the phone.

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New Bread Alone factory rising in Lake Katrine

Photo courtesy of Focus Media.

Coming soon to 2121 Ulster Avenue in Lake Katrine: The heady smell of fresh-baked bread. A lot of it.

State and local officials gathered Monday to cut the ribbon on a Lake Katrine building that will be the site of Bread Alone's new 26,000-square-foot bakery. The building will house Bread Alone's second commercial bakery, in addition to the original bakery on Route 28 in Boiceville, and will also host a retail outlet on site.

Since its founding in 1983, Bread Alone has grown from a small artisanal bakery to a brand known across the region and New York City -- and one of the region's brightest small-business success stories. With the new Lake Katrine production facility, owners say, the company is on track to double its revenue over the next five years.

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Deposit man killed in Route 17 accident

On Thursday evening, a collision between a car and a tractor-trailer on Route 17 in Deposit left 43-year-old Robert Stanton dead, the Daily Star reports.

The Star describes the collision:

Stanton, of Evans Road, who was driving a Chevrolet Monte Carlo, entered Route 17 and was traveling north-bound, trying to cross the east-bound lanes of Route 17 to turn left onto the west-bound lanes, the release said.

The tractor-trailer struck the driver’s side of the Stanton vehicle, which was propelled across the intersection and came to rest in the west-bound lane of Route 17. Stanton was ejected from his vehicle and came to rest in the same lane, just west of the car, the release said.

The tractor-trailer came to rest in the center median guide rails and had heavy front-end damage, troopers said, and [tractor-trailer driver Eduaro] Martirosyn wasn’t hurt in the collision.

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Highland woman shot in Poughkeepsie

The Freeman is reporting that a 25-year-old Highland resident is at Westchester Medical Center after being shot in the head in Poughkeepsie late Sunday night.

The woman, whose name has not been released, was taken to the hospital by her boyfriend, also not identified:

[Poughkeepsie police officer Walt] Horton said police aren’t sure exactly where the shooting occurred or what kind of gun was used. No weapon was recovered.

Horton would not identify the woman’s boyfriend, but he said the man told police he was not with the victim when she was shot.

“He claims he found her in that condition and brought her to the emergency room,” Horton said.

Anyone with information about the shooting is urged to call Poughkeepsie police at (845) 451-7577.

Ashokan dawn

The autumn leaves may be past their prime, but there's plenty of color in the Catskills landscape if you keep an eye out for it. Watershed Post reader Timothy Cox took this early-morning shot from the road over the Ashokan Reservoir dividing weir on Friday, October 12. Shared in the Watershed Post's Flickr group pool.

Check out our Flickr pool to see fantastic reader-submitted photos from all around the Catskills. Currently at 1,538 photos and counting.

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Racers brave 30 hours of cold, wet adventure in national championship

Canoes line up at the Adventure Race National Championship on the Pepacton Reservoir yesterday morning. Photo by Carol O'Beirne. 

For the past two days, the Catskills have played host to a grueling 30-hour trial of physical strength and endurance: the 2012 USARA Adventure Race National Championship

Adventure racing is a team sport that involves an obstacle-course-like route of paddling, hiking, cycling, navigating  by compass, and rappeling down rock faces. The idea is that just by finishing the race in one piece, you win. (There are prizes for the fastest racers as well. But the real prize is survival.) 

Every year, the US Adventure Racing Association picks a new location to host its national championship race. This year, the 100-mile course was in the Catskills, beginning with a canoe-paddle on the Pepacton Reservoir in Delaware County yesterday and ending at the Hudson Valley Resort in Kerhonkson, Ulster County, this afternoon. 

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Snow!

It's just a few flakes, but after last year's dismally snow-free winter, forgive us for being excited about it.

The photo above was taken high up on Plattekill Mountain in Roxbury this morning. Plattekill posts on Facebook:

FIRST FLAKES of the season are falling at 10:30am today (halfway up - that's SNOW!)...Hopefully there's lots more where that's coming from!

Update: No sooner did we post about snow on Plattekill than it started coming down here. The photographic evidence below was taken in New Kingston around 11:45am, just as the wet semi-frozen stuff was turning into proper rain.

Frost Valley to honor its late leader this weekend

This weekend, the Frost Valley YMCA bids farewell to a longtime champion. D. Halbe Brown, who was camp director at Frost Valley from 1966 to 2001 and raised his five children at the Claryville camp, died on September 13. On Sunday, the camp will hold a memorial service.

Brown will be missed by Frost Valley alums around the world, said current camp director Jerry Huncosky.

"He had friends all over the world," Huncosky said. "There are going to be tons of people in Tokyo who will be distraught."

Under Brown's direction, Frost Valley grew from a small summer camp to a year-round, internationally-known center. Brown was also a pioneer in the world of inclusive camping for children with special needs, starting the nation's first overnight camping program for children who need dialysis in 1975. The program is still running.

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This weekend: The Eight Track Museum opens in Roxbury

Above: Bucks Burnett, founder of the Eight Track Museum, with a Frank Zappa eight track. Bucks will be on hand at the opening of the Roxbury outpost of his museum this weekend. Below: The rare Sinatra/Jobim eight track. Photos by Robert Greeson.

The Catskills, with countless forgotten valleys and cheap real estate, is a magnet for obsessives. People come up here, buy a building, and then fill it with their treasures.

This makes for a land full of bizarre roadside attractions: there’s a museum shaped like a giant bobcat made of sticks in Catskill, a furniture store that makes spaceship cars with retro fins in Boiceville, and a "shrine to clutter" called the Mystery Spot in Phoenicia, just to name a few.

The newest addition to the list of Catskills oddities is the Eight Track Museum, a public homage to the obsolete audio format, which opens this weekend in the Delaware County town of Roxbury.

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Arrest made in Stamford (updated)

Rumors are flying in the Delaware County town of Stamford, which was the scene of heavy law enforcement activity last night. So far, little information has been released about the nature of the incident, but state troopers told the Watershed Post that an arrest was made, and that more information will be available later today.

Captain James Barnes of Troop C said that a person was taken into custody on a warrant out of Menands, a village in Albany County. In a related action, another person was arrested in Oneonta, also on a warrant from Menands. Barnes declined to give the names of those arrested.

"We're still working on the investigation," he said.

Barnes said that Troop C would release a statement later in the day. We'll update this post when we have more information.

Update, 10/12: State police still have not released any information, other than to say that getting information out about this incident is currently low priority because they are dealing with the shooting of an officer in an unrelated case.

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