The rolling landscape of upstate New York is a little more lush than the dry West Asian desert Camelus dromedarius is native to, but these guys don't seem to mind. Catskills Photography took this shot of camels grazing on emerald-green new spring grass in the Sullivan County town of Fallsburg today.
Posted in the Watershed Post Flickr group pool.
The Ulster County Sheriff's Office reports that a driver was injured on Friday afternoon in Accord, when a large tree branch broke and fell onto the windshield of her car.
According to a press release from the sheriff's office, Debra Fehring, a 50-year-old Accord resident, was driving westbound on Lower Whitfield Road when the branch fell on her car. The car then rolled off the road and struck another tree.
Fehring, who suffered head and facial lacerations and told officers she had neck and leg pain, was taken to the Kingston Hospital for treatment.
Video by Jessica Vecchione.
This weekend, hundreds of people descended on the Delaware County town of Delhi for the annual Relay For Life, a fundraising event for the American Cancer Society.
During the two-day relay, teams camped out overnight at the American Legion Field and took turns walking or running around the track. Each team must have someone walking at all times throughout the event.
The first Relay For Life was held in Tacoma, Washington in 1986, a year after a local surgeon raised $27,000 for the American Cancer Society by running for 24 hours straight at a local track. Since then, the event has grown to a national movement, with relays held in hundreds of towns and cities.
Above: Department of Environmental Conservation officers provide an honor guard at the April 28 memorial service for Robert Van Benschoten, a longtime employee of the agency and its former director of law enforcement. The service was held at the New Kingston Presbyterian Church, near the Van Benschoten family farm where he was born.
Van Benschoten died on April 11 at the Margaretville Hospital, at the age of 90.
New Kingston resident and Presbyterian lay preacher Victor Lipko writes to the Watershed Post that Van Benschoten's death was felt deeply by the community:
Bob had a long history of community service, both as a conservation officer, and also when he retired as the President of the Margaretville Hospital board. His lifelong motto was that he "liked people", and made many friends throughout the valley.
He will be deeply missed.
An obituary for Van Benschoten ran in the Catskill Mountain News and the Oneonta Daily Star.
Photo by Lissa Harris.
Several Watershed Post readers wrote today to tell us that they've been getting urgent emails from someone purporting to be Shandaken town supervisor Rob Stanley. We've gotten a few ourselves.
The good news: Stanley isn't stranded in the Philippines and in need of $1,850 to get back home to Pine Hill. The bad news: Someone has hacked into his email account and is sending pleas for money in all directions.
Tip for Shandaken residents: If you get a bizarre email from Stanley's account, don't send money. And don't do what Watershed Post publisher Julia Reischel did and call the number in the email signature. It goes not to the town hall, but to the private landline of a local woman who has been deluged with calls from people accusing her of hacking into Stanley's account. Eventually, she told Julia, she got so fed up with calls from Stanley's constituents that she drove to the Shandaken police station to declare her innocence.
Below: The text of a message sent from [email protected].
Above: The Great Tortilla Conspiracy in action, screenprinting tortillas with edible chocolate ink. Video from the Taller Tupac Amaru Art Collective's biannual open studio event, INK & PAPER, July 2009.
"ART IS FOOD," Bread and Puppet Theater's Cheap Art Manifesto famously declared in 1984. "You can't EAT it BUT it FEEDS you."
But sometimes you can eat art -- maybe with a bit of melted cheese and a dash of hot sauce. This weekend, Catskill's ongoing Wall Street To Main Street festival, which runs from March 17 through May 31, features the participatory (and 100 percent edible) art of West Coast printmaker Jos Sances and the Great Tortilla Conspiracy.
Photo of blossoms on a Pennsylvania apple tree, taken April 22 by Steve Guttman. An early, warm spring followed by many unseasonally cold nights has made this a challenging season for apple and other fruit growers across the Northeast. Photo published under Creative Commons license.
If you've still got tender plants that have managed to survive this spring's wild mood swings, you'll want to cover them up tonight. The National Weather Service has issued a freeze warning for south-central New York, including Delaware and Sullivan County:
Freeze Warning Remains In Effect From 11 PM This Evening To 9 AM EDT Saturday... * Locations...Northeast Pennsylvania And Central New York * Temperatures...In The Mid 20S. * Impacts...Any Sensitive Vegetation Will Be Vulnerable To Damage With Below Freezing Temperatures.
A screenshot from a Gannett interactive map of New York State towns that have passed bans or moratoria on hydraulic fracturing. To use the map and see further detail, click this link.
On Thursday, April 27, Bethel's town board unanimously passed a law banning hydraulic fracturing within town borders, making it the third (and largest) town in Sullivan County to ban the practice.
The River Reporter reports that board member Richard Crumley, whose support for the measure had been uncertain, was persuaded to vote for it:
He did, he said, because, among other reasons, he did not believe the drilling companies would have adequate oversight from state and federal agencies.
The Times Herald-Record reports that not all of Bethel's residents are happy about the decision:
Catskills Cycling blogger Mike Wentland and daughter Isabelle pick up bicycles for this Saturday's giveaway from Overlook Mountain Bikes in Woodstock. Photo courtesy of Mike Wentland.
Local blogger and bike advocate Mike Wentland can't fix all the damage wreaked by Irene's floods last year. But what he can do, he's doing: Giving new bikes to kids who lost theirs in the floods.
For months, Wentland and the Catskill Mountain Velo Club, a new cycling group Wentland helped found, have been fundraising, holding charity rides, and soliciting help from local businesses to fund a giveaway for children's bikes. Overlook Mountain Bikes chipped in with a steep discount, and another bike group, Fats in the Cats, donated bikes to the effort.
Winter finally arrived in April this year -- and even with May just around the corner, it's not letting go.
The National Weather Service has issued a freeze warning for tonight across south-central New York and northeastern Pennsylvania, including Delaware and Sullivan County in the Catskills.
Freeze Warning In Effect From Midnight Tonight To 9 AM EDT Thursday... The National Weather Service In Binghamton Has Issued A Freeze Warning...Which Is In Effect From Midnight Tonight To 9 AM EDT Thursday. * Locations...Mohawk Valley And The Catskills. * Temperatures...In The Low 30S. * Impacts...Sensitive Outdoor Plants May Be Killed If Left Uncovered.
A Freeze Warning Means Sub-Freezing Temperatures Are Imminent Or Highly Likely. These Conditions Will Kill Crops And Other Sensitive Vegetation.
