News

By Jay Braman Jr.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) officials have begun contacting the leaders in towns and organizations that have a stake in the outcome of the Belleayre Resort review.
The description of those exchanges differ between the supervisors of the two towns most affected by the project, but it appears that both were contacted and interviewed by DEC personnel about the project and how it might affect their respective communities.

By Jay Braman Jr.
The Town of Shandaken government is taking a look at its laws. Some are new, another is being reviewed and interpreted to perhaps pave the way for at least one controversial project, and still another is being scrutinized to see if there’s a way to change it that would allow one popular business, whose owner is currently at odds with town officials, to continue.

By Julia Green
Margaretville’s Community Christmas Project held its annual Jimmy DiGiacomo Auction at the Inn Between on Sunday evening raising over $5,500 to benefit the Christmas project.
“With the economy the way it is and the weather being kind of blustery and cold, I think we did OK,” said Marilyn Pitetti, chair of the auction committee. “I think a lot of people who would have showed up didn’t because of the roads, but we did OK.”

By Julia Green
At its annual holiday party at the Binnekill Square Restaurant on Sunday, the Margaretville Rotary Club honored Dr. George Levy with the prestigious Paul Harris Fellowship award. Levy was presented with a certificate, lapel pin and medallion as emblems of the award.
Dr. Levy, a dentist who practiced locally for many years, joined the Margaretville Rotary Club in 1970 and has been a faithful member for the past 40 years. He served as the organization’s president in 1975.

By Julia Green
More than holiday 200 wreaths were laid at the headstones of veterans in three Andes cemeteries last weekend as an Andes committee, led by Carol Tubbs, participated in a observance that mirrors a much larger movement.
Tubbs, as well as a number of Andes residents and a community service group from Andes Central School, laid the wreaths by the headstones Saturday morning to honor veterans in a ritual that happens nationwide on a much larger scale.

By Matthew J. Perry
Two members of the state’s office of real property services traveled to Andes Tuesday to present an award to Tina Moshier, the town’s tax assessor, at the town board’s monthly meeting.
Arnold Jones and Jim Laponte, managers in the state’s real property Newburgh office, praised Moshier and Andes in general for their 2008 effort to reassess local property values and update information on land parcels that previously had been spotty.

By Jay Braman Jr.
In the latest chapter of local downsizing, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York has put two area churches up for sale in the Saint Francis De Sales Parish, which covers a vast area between Highmount and Woodstock.
In January 2007 the Archdiocese announced plans for a major realignment that called for the closure of some churches, parishes and schools. St. Francis De Sales was listed as a parish that would disappear once the plan was finalized. That would have meant the closure of the main church in Phoenicia and the two mission churches, one in Boiceville and one in Allaben.

Margaretville — The Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC) Board of Directors has changed the regular date and time of its monthly meetings to the first Tuesday of the month at 3 p.m. Meetings are held at the CWC office, 905 Main Street, Margaretville and are open to the public.

The MARK Group in collaboration with the Village of Fleischmanns, is asking residents, historians and collectors to dig into their archives for photos of the Wagner Avenue Park in Fleischmanns and/or any additional information that may assist with efforts to research the history surrounding the park. With funding provided by the Pasternak Foundation and the O’Connor Foundation, the MARK Group has contracted with Landscape Architect Bob Toole to develop the Historic Analysis, Existing Conditions and Schematic Plans for the revitalization of this community gem.

By Matthew J. Perry
Andes residents kicked into the holiday season Saturday with a town-wide effort that celebrated the past, the present, and of course, a certain gent from the North Pole.
In what is hoped will become a yearly extravaganza, local merchants teamed with the Andes Society for History and Culture to create an attraction that celebrated both the season and the town.