| Watershed Post

This Weekend: Margaretville GardenFest

Above: It's really spring: The forsythia is blooming in the Catskills. Photo of forsythia (alas, not in the Catskills) by Seha bs, via Wikimedia Commons.

Give a Catskills town a chance to celebrate spring and it'll do it with gusto. The village of Margaretville is hosting a brand-new garden-themed festival this weekend, and it's going to be jam-packed. There will be a petting zoo, a birdhouse-building workshop, free face painting, a seed exchange, and performances by Story Laurie & Ira McIntosh and the Catskill Mountain Boys.

Topics:

Place:

Tags:

Margaretville GardenFest

Roscoe celebrates Opening Day all over again

Above: Three-year-old Brody Day savors the victory of having reeled in the first trout of the "first cast" ceremony at Roscoe's Junction Pool, held on April 14 this year because of the holidays. Photo by Jason Dole.

On Saturday, Roscoe reminded everyone that it’s never too late for your first cast, and you’re never too young for your first fish.

Trout season always starts on April 1, but The Roscoe-Rockland Chamber of Commerce had to move things around this year because of the holidays. So the ceremonial “first cast” at Roscoe’s famed Junction Pool was moved to the morning of April 14. The traditional Two-Headed Trout Dinner followed later that evening at the Rockland House.

“Today we’re celebrating fishing season,” said the Chamber’s Miriam Stone at the Junction Pool. “That’s why I call it ‘the second first cast’.”

Place:

Topics:

Tags:

Ulster County taps local doc Carol Smith as health commissioner

Carol Smith. Photo courtesy of the Office of the Ulster County Executive.

Just announced by Ulster County executive Mike Hein's office: Local doctor Carol Smith, currently the medical director of occupational health services at Kingston-based urgent care center Emergency One, will take over as county commissioner of health and mental health.

Smith replaces departing commissioner LaMar Hasbrouck, formerly of the Centers for Disease Control, who is leaving Ulster County to be the state of Illinois's public health director.

Smith lives in Port Ewen.

From a press release issued today:

Topics:

Tags:

Woodstock Writers Festival this weekend

The Woodstock Writers Festival is running from Thursday (April 19) through Sunday (April 22) and will feature workshops, slams and readings from writers such as Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist William Kennedy, New York Times best-selling author Augusten Burroughs and literally dozens of talented writers that the organizers have corralled into terrific programs focusing on everything from poetry to memoir to comedy to politics. Other highlights include meals at Oriole 9 where participants have the chance to imbibe and digest with the writers. For more information, visit the listing in our calendar. -- Andrea Girolamo

Tags:

Woodstock writers festival

Topics:

Arts

Levon Helm "in the final stages of cancer"

Photo from Levon Helm's website.

Grievous news today from local legend Levon Helm's website: The musician, who underwent surgery and radiation for throat cancer in the late 1990s, is now facing a more final struggle with cancer.

A message posted today on Helm's website:

Dear Friends,

Levon is in the final stages of his battle with cancer. Please send your prayers and love to him as he makes his way through this part of his journey.

Thank you fans and music lovers who have made his life so filled with joy and celebration... he has loved nothing more than to play, to fill the room up with music, lay down the back beat, and make the people dance! He did it every time he took the stage...

We appreciate all the love and support and concern.

From his daughter Amy, and wife Sandy

Topics:

Place:

Tags:

Freeze warning in effect for the western Catskills

Delaware County growers, watch out for hard frost tonight. The National Weather Service warns that temperatures will drop sharply across a large swath of south-central New York around 3am:

Temperatures...In The Upper 20S To Low 30S. * Impacts...Any Sensitive Vegetation...Well Ahead Of Normal Growing Pace Due To Warm Weather In March...Will Be Vulnerable To Below Freezing Temperatures Early Tomorrow Morning.

Meanwhile, the webcam overlooking Delhi's Main Street shows blue skies and 67 degrees. You know what they say about the Catskills: If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes.

Tags:

weather

Middletown gets a website

As promised in last week's town meeting, the Delaware County town of Middletown launched an official town website this week, with help from a grant from the O'Connor Foundation.

The site is still something of a work in progress -- the official launch date is Wednesday, April 18 -- but it's live now at middletowndelawarecountyny.org, and it looks pretty good. Designer Lisa Tait of Silvertop Graphics, who ran a town information site in the aftermath of last year's floods, has included a section for emergency information to keep locals informed if disaster strikes.

Supervisor Marge Miller writes that town staff will be trained to post to the site:

Topics:

Place:

Tags:

Congressional candidate Joel Tyner headed for a Democratic primary

Above: Joel Tyner and campaign volunteer Burr Hubbell hold a receipt for 2,350 signatures filed with the New York State Board of Elections. Photo by Jess Vecchione.

It can't be easy being Joel Tyner. While the four-term Dutchess County legislator has been touting his progressive record to voters across the Catskills and Hudson Valley, the more moderate Julian Schreibman, who has never held elected office, has been hoovering up endorsement after endorsement from county Democratic Committees. (In what must have been a cruel blow, Schreibman got the endorsement of the progressive-left Working Families Party. As longtime political observer Hugh Reynolds noted, "If anybody epitomizes the values of the WFP over a long career in politics, it’s Tyner.")

Topics:

Place:

Tags:

Letter to the editor: What's happening at the Binnekill bulkhead?

To the editor:

This is a picture of the Binnekill Bulkhead where the culvert lets water into the Binnekill. It lies on the outside of a bend in the river upstream of the village of Margaretville. From this point downstream for a hundred yards or so the bank has been eroded very much like you can see from this picture. During floods, the river rises above the bank and comes down the Binnekill rather than making the turn and flowing down the ordinary river channel.

Recently the Village of Margaretville took over this land using eminent domain procedures. Eminent domain is used for projects that require land for projects that are for the greater public good. It is obvious that the bulkhead needs to be rebuilt. A great deal of damage was sustained by buildings that were along the Binnekill during the flood last August. However I have not heard of any project like this being proposed by the village. No one that I have talked to knows anything about it. If anyone knows or can find out what the Village is up to I am sure that everyone in town would be interested in hearing about it.

Thomas Clark

Margaretville, N.Y.

Topics:

Place:

Tags:

Letters to the Editor

Greene County priest faces new sex abuse charges

Catholic priest Jeremiah Nunan, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Cairo and Our Lady of Knock Shrine in East Durham, has been suspended from ministry, while the Albany Diocese and the Greene County District Attorney investigate charges that he sexually abused a minor.

The Daily Mail has a brief item about the charges in today's paper.

The Albany Times-Union, which has done quite a bit of in-depth reporting on allegations of sexual abuse in the Albany Diocese, has more. This is not the first time the 74-year-old Nunan has faced abuse charges, reporter Bryan Fitzgerald writes:

Tags:

Place: