Margaretville

Roxbury — The Margaretville Health Foundation has announced a recital by blind virtuoso pianist Timothy A. Schmidt at the Jay Gould Memorial Church in Roxbury, at 7 p.m. on Saturday April 28. Admission is $15 and proceeds will benefit the Margaretville Health Foundation.

Dr. Timothy Schmidt has toured the world as a master artist with recitals of Beethoven, Liszt, Bach, Rachmaninoff, and other piano masterpieces. He was named the Cultural Ambassador to both Russia and China, and has also toured the United States, Mexico, and the Far East.

Numerous awards

Margaretville — HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley® has announced a Spring Health Fair on Saturday, May 5 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at its Margaretville Hospital campus, 42084 Highway 28, Margaretville.

The event will feature free health screenings, wellness exhibits, a teddy bear clinic for children, a children’s tent area, and hospital and ambulance tours.

Cholesterol screenings will be offered from 8 to 10 a.m. and require 10 to 12 hours of fasting. Finger stick blood glucose, oxygen, hearing, blood pressure and bone density screenings will be offered from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

By Pauline Liu 
Ashleigh Germond, executive chef at Hanah Mountain Resort & Spa in Margaretville, has taken on a new challenge. The 28-year-old Stamford resident wants to be the region’s top chef.
On April 28, she will be in Niagra to compete for American Culinary Federation Northeast Region Chef of the Year. Right now, she is the only woman in a field of four semi-finalists vying for the prestigious title.

By Pauline Liu
As Easter, the holiest day on the Christian calendar approaches, Father Paul Catena of Margaretville’s Sacred Heart Parish takes stock in the dramatic changes occurring there. He estimates that Tropical Storm Irene caused about $1 million worth of damage to the parish. “We’re up to three-quarters of a million dollars (in repairs) right now,” he said. “We haven’t addressed the outside issues yet or all of the contents that were lost and need to be replaced, including books and furniture. Those bills haven’t been submitted yet.”

Margaretville will celebrate the season with gardenFest 2012, a daylong celebration dedicated to the gardeners and farmers in all of us, on April 21 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Nurseries, landscapers, garden accessories, outdoor furniture and antiques, landscape equipment and more will join forces with our own Green Market featuring local farmers offering fresh assortments of their vegetables, greens, cheeses, breads, dairy products, honeys and syrups.

And, for kids, garden crafts & games galore, face painting, birdhouse building, even a petting zoo!

Staff report
Championship softball has become part of the Margaretville Blue Devil brand. The Blue Devils’ title run in the Delaware League’s Upper Division has reached four, and Margaretville has captured the overall crown two years in a row.

Margaretville Coach Bill Lonecke feels his 2012 team is positioned to keep the magic going.
“We’re looking to run the table. Our goal is five and up. We’ve got the talent. We’ve got the speed. We’ve got kids that are hungry and want to win,” emphasized the Margaretville coach.

By Brian Sweeney
To celebrate Youth Art Month, Margaretville Central School and the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce are collaborating on an art show in area communities.

The first annual Margaretville central School / central catskills Chamber of Commerce Youth Art Show features exemplary student work created by a number of students. The art is now on display at businesses in Margaretville, Arkville and Fleischmanns and will remain up for public viewing through mid-April.

By Brian Sweeney
Voters defeated a proposed building project upgrade for Margaretville Central School by 11-votes on March 13.

The low voter turnout saw the measure fall by a 66-55 margin.

The project would not have raised taxes, with funding coming from money that is already on hand — $424,806 from capital reserves and $75,194 in state Expanding Our Children’s Education (EXCEL) grant money.

The proposal included the following items:
• Repairs to the locker room drain and sections concrete floor and wall caused by settling after the 2004 building project.

By Pauline Liu
A simmering dispute between Town of Middletown Supervisor Marge Miller and the Board of Trustees of Margaretville’s Fairview Public Library broke into open hostility Thursday night, when Miller attended a meeting of the library’s trustees and accused them of mismanaging the library and of being willing to operate the facility with a deficit budget. Miller also defended herself against accusations by the trustees that she is withholding the town’s funding of the library.

By Brian Sweeney
The Auxiliary of Margaretville Hospital and Mountainside Residential Care Center presented a donation of $83,449 to the hospital last week.

The money will be used to pay for the purchase of two key pieces of equipment — a Sonosite Ultrasound and a MUSE electrocardiogram system.  

The Sonosite is a handheld ultrasound device used primarily in the Emergency Department. The equipment gives the healthcare provider the ability to visualize soft tissue anatomy and aids in making a rapid decision regarding future imaging or treatment for the patient.