Lawsuit filed in Ulster prison suicide
The parents of Richard Vandemark, who hung himself in Ulster County jail a year ago, are suing the Ulster County Sheriff and several prision officials, according to the Daily Freeman.
No plays in Franklin this summer
First the New Kingston film festival went on maternity leave, and now the Franklin Stage Company is taking a hiatus! The Daily Star reports that the theater company won't be putting on plays this summer:
"There just isn't enough staff," Marner said. "We have been doing this for 13 years with the power of love, but we need to look to the future by reorganizing and relaunching. It's both exciting and frustrating."
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Catskills in color
West Shokan fine art photographer E. G. Cleveland originally trained himself in black-and-white photography. But the revolution has been pixelated, and so now he's transitioned to full-color digital photos, a few of which he just uploaded this morning. Our favorite is the rusting jalopy.
*Update: The links above are no longer working. Check out Cleveland's work here: http://www.egcleveland.com.
TRUCK festival comes to Big Indian
Britain's TRUCK music festival, which describes itself as "a village fete meets Woodstock with a cutting edge musical policy sharp as your suit," is coming to the Catskills next week for a three-day American show. They promise big things, including an appearance by Mercury Rev and a chamber orchestra, and "a batch of the finest independent and roots artists from both side of the pond:"
Palenville = Paganville
So sayeth Dick May in his latest Greene County roundup:
Paganism evidently is alive and growing in GreeneLand. It is practiced with special fervor in Palenville, in a three-acre grove and a venerable 18-bedroom former inn (Central House) that houses the Maetreum of Cybele Women’s Spirituality Centre, worldwide home of the Cybeline Priestesshood.
The Palenville priestesses are already looking forward to August 28, the date of a planned Pagan Pride Day in the town. Local pagans interested in helping plan the festivities, take note: An organizational meeting will be held at the Maetreum on April 24th.
From the Cybeline Priestesses' website:
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Tough nuts
Why don't more farmers grow nuts? That's what Jerry Henkin, a member of the Northen Nut Growers Association, wants to know. We met Henkin last month at the Farm to Market Connection conference last month in Liberty, NY, where he showed us a slew of native nut varieties, like butternut and heartnut, that you just don't see at your local farmer's market. (His argument: you should.)
Green Concierge to help hoteliers tread lightly on the watershed
The Catskill Watershed Corporation and HospitalityGreen just announced a joint venture aimed at measuring (and decreasing) the impact of local hotels and B&Bs on the NYC watershed. From HospitalityGreen's press release:
The Green Concierge project is part of New York State’s efforts to promote eco-tourism in the Catskills, as well addressing regional and statewide environmental, economic and industry sector goals. Hospitality Green will provide site visits, assessments, resource tools, and collection assistance for lodging and hospitality facilities in the Catskill watershed in order to institutionalize and quantify “green” practices throughout the region.
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Food movement passing upstate NY by?
The image above is a detail from a map from the USDA, showing growth and decline in farming between 2002 and 2007. Each red dot represents 20 farms lost during those five years; each blue dot is for 20 new farms.
What are Massachusetts and Connecticut doing that New York isn't?
More data from the USDA's 2007 agricultural census is available from the agency's website.
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Got toluene?
Many New Yorkers are looking to halt the march of natural-gas drilling in their vast watershed. Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer has the support of dozens of NYC organizations for his "Kill the Drill" campaign. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been an outspoken opponent of drilling as well. Alarmed by the threat to their water supply, New Yorkers have flooded the DEC with comments, petitioned the Governor and protested in the streets.
Here's a tactic they haven't tried: Mobilizing millions of New York voters in support of dairy price reform.
In case the connection between catastrophic milk prices and hydrofracking isn't immediately obvious, a recent AP story about the gas battles along the Delaware River makes it crystal clear:
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