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Watershed Post Half-Hour News Hour: Franklin's "fantastic stone castles"

Above: The trailer for "Robert," a new documentary film from videographer Jessica Vecchione.

This week on the Watershed Post Half-Hour News Hour, we talk with Jessica Vecchione, a Hamden-based videographer, about her new documentary, Robert. (Vecchione is a longtime Watershed Post advertiser.)

The film, Vecchione writes, is about "a little-known artist and long-time resident of Franklin New York. In the early 90's, Robert began constructing fantastic stone castles in his small backyard."

Robert will screen for the first time at the Skene Library in Fleischmanns on Saturday, December 3rd at 2pm.

Listen live to today's show at two times by clicking the links below:

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Michelle MacNaught, on view in Manhattan gallery

The Hot Stove League: Talking baseball in the off-season

More federal funds on the way for flood-damaged farms

The Albany Times-Union's Capitol Confidential blog reports today that a coalition of U.S. representatives in the House has secured $338.6 million in funding for farmers affected by the Tropical Storm Irene flooding:

Reps. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, and Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, said that $338.6 million for two programs aimed at restoring damaged farmland will be included in the budget proposals presented to both the House and Senate for final approval Thursday. The package is the work of a joint legislative conference committee which began meeting three weeks ago to reconcile a Senate minibus bill covering the Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development budgets with the House-approved budget passed earlier this year.

Last month, the Vermont Digger ran a story about the efforts of the bipartisan "House Hurricane Irene Coalition," founded by Vermont Democratic congressman Peter Welch, to help flooded-out farmers.

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Cobblestone Motel: Months after the floods, still struggling

Cobblestone Motel owner Kimberly Wendt with a wrecked fuel oil tank, which was lifted by floodwaters and wedged between two walls of the motel. Photo by Rusty Mae Moore.

After 62 years in operation, the Cobblestone Motel in Phoenicia closed down during the Irene floods, at and hasn't reopened since. Flood waters penetrated the walls of some units, broke power and telephone lines, and wrecked the fuel oil tank.

Kimberley Wendt, the motel's owner and sole employee, made a plea for help at the Shandaken Town Board meeting last Wednesday.

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Generators: Suddenly sexy

A Sealey gas generator. Photo by Flickr user Mark Hunter.

Post-Irene, generators are suddenly a luxury status symbol. You know it's true when the New York Times writes a long feature story about "power envy" that lauds the sudden passion for gas-powered generators among the flatlander/weekender set in the Catskills.

The NYT story quotes Courtney and Bronson Bigelow, who own a second home in Barryville:

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Two months later, they're still digging out in Fleischmanns

Bud Sife, an 85-year-old who lives in the hamlet of Fleischmanns in Delaware County, sent us these photos of the contents of his flooded-out basement, which finally got hauled out and cleaned up this past weekend, thanks to the help of 25 volunteers.

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19-year-old Hancock resident dies in apparent hunting accident

On Wednesday, November 9, 19-year-old Hancock resident Brett Sherburne died after suffering a head injury while hunting on land near his home, according to a press release from the New York State Police.

The Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin has Sherburne's obituary. An excerpt:

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Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ulster County closes its doors

Last Thursday, the Ulster County chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters, a nonprofit that matches children with older mentors, closed its doors after 34 years in operation.

The Daily Freeman reports that the Kingston-based local chapter was done in by a combination of the poor economy and loss of federal funding.

Chairman Fred Wilke told the Freeman that the full impact of the loss won't be felt until the children that the program would have served get a little older:

“Even a program like Big Brothers/Big Sisters, which has a proven record of success with children, has lost federal funding,” Wilke said, though he noted other Big Brothers/Big Sisters groups across the nation continue to receive federal aid. “The net effect of cancelling programs like this will be felt four to six years down the road, when the kids who should have had intervention have not been able to get it and may wind up disadvantaged socially and economically.”

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Wawarsing's plight makes national news

A close-up photograph of a crack inside the Delaware Aqueduct. Photo provided by the NYC DEP.

Yesterday, the Associated Press ran a nice feature story about the soggy dilemma facing homeowners in the Ulster County town of Wawarsing, who have been sitting atop a leak in the Delaware Aqueduct for years. The story appeared across the country -- the link above is to the one that ran in Seattle.

The Wawarsing leak has inundated basements and ruined homes, and until recently, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, which manages the aqueduct, has done little about it. But now things are finally turning around with a buyout program that was announced back in June.

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