Margaretville

Staff report
Never underestimate the value of a layup. The Margaretville Blue Devil boys’ basketball team learned how important basketball’s most basic shot can be when they fell, 58-35, to first place Davenport last week. The Wildcats outscored their hosts, 20-7, during a critical third period to nail down the victory.

By John Bernhardt
The 2011 Margaretville Booster Club Girls’ Varsity Basketball Tournament had everything a basketball fan could want and more. The tournament was packed with excitement, each game decided in the final seconds of play.

Close and competitive with sudden momentum shifts, the basketball action was emotion-packed and the host team emerged as the champion with a thrilling comeback, 42-40 victory over Gilboa on Saturday.

By Pauline Liu
The Shopmargaretville merchants’ group honored one of its own by asking her to perform the tree lighting in Margaretville last Saturday.

Dorothy Maffei of New Kingston has owned Home Goods of Margaretville for 15 years. She explained that she is embarrassed by all of the attention and praise she has been receiving, when all she wanted to do was help. After the village was flooded by Tropical Storm Irene on August 28, Maffei took on an additional full-time job, working strictly as a volunteer.

By Pauline Liu
It wasn’t the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, but the lighting of Margaretville’s second Christmas tree last Saturday, generating some of the same wonder and excitement. For some members of the crowd, consisting of about 100 area residents, the lighting ceremony represented something more.

“It was a very sweet event and it was meant to be symbolic and show what we’ve been through,” said Jill Cline of the Catskill Mountain Artisans Guild.

By Brian Sweeney
The ice skating rink in the Village of Margaretville will be open this winter, after an absence of two years.

Members of the Wellness Committee of the Auxiliary of Margaretville Hospital and Mountainside Residential Care Center met with Mayor Bill Stanton on November 28 and agreed to oversee operation of the rink this year.

Wellness Committee Chair John Riedl said his group has set up a subcommittee of members who will work to set up the rink and maintain the recreational facility throughout the season.

Week of Nov. 30
Victor Sprague was given a surprise 80th birthday party at the Margaretville Firehall on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 1 o’clock. All of his eight children were present which included Victor Sprague Jr., Russell Sprague, Barbara Chapdelaine, Kathy Johnson, Vicki Sprague, Bill and Amy Sprague, Kaitlyn Sprague and Cassie Sprague.

Margaretville — All are welcome to share in some holiday cheer and have an uncommonly good time at The Commons Building on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 1 p.m. at 785 Main Street, Margaretville. Enter the third Annual Cookie Contest, enjoy a holiday reading by The Open Eye Theater, come sing-a-long with Patti Dell and Kent Brown and partake of delectable treats at the Longyear Christmas Party.

It was addition by subtraction last Thursday as the Gilboa and Margaretville boys’ basketball teams squared off in its season opener in Margaretville.

Foul troubles plagued the top scorers of both teams throughout the contest with Gilboa’s Tyler Latta and Margaretville’s Mitch Hull spending large chunks of time on the bench with fouls. With each departure came an offensive surge for the opposing team giving the game a see-saw like personality. Latta outlasted Hull, and the Wildcats outlasted the Blue Devils, 44-41, by scoring the final nine points of the game.

It was almost like the world moved in slow motion for the Margaretville girls’ basketball team during the first 10 minutes of last week’s Delaware League contest in Gilboa. The Blue Devils struggled to get their game untracked, were badly beaten off the backboards and couldn’t get a shot to drop.

Using an 11-0 rebounding advantage, Gilboa ran off the first 14 points of the contest.
Once they broke the ice, the Blue Devils were off and running. Margaretville went on a 10-2 spurt chopping away a huge chunk of Gilboa’s lead by the half.

By Pauline Liu
It’s not enough for Margaretville to have one tree-lighting ceremony. Now a second one is being planned in as many weeks. On Sunday, one day after the village Christmas tree was officially lit with much fanfare, Andes resident Denise Norris has donated a 40-foot blue spruce from her property. The tree, which weighs almost a ton, has been erected in the Freshtown parking lot on the other side of Bridge Street. It was cut and trimmed by Jorge Jacinto and Norris estimates it now stands over 20-feet tall.