By Brian Sweeney

The owners of a vacant parcel at the entrance to Margaretville are offering the property for sale. 

The Sidney-based Mirabito Fuel Group has owned the Bridge Street property since the early 1990s, since purchasing the Margaretville Service Station. The business was destroyed by flooding in January 1996.

Joan Lawrence-Bauer, executive director of the MARK Group since 2004, will leave that agency in May to become the public relations director for the Emerson Resort and the Belleayre Resort according to officials at both organizations.‚ÄÇ
Crossroads Ventures (CRV) Managing Partner Dean L. Gitter announced this week that Paul Rakov, who has served as the company’s spokesperson since 2005, will be leaving for a post with a New York City PR firm that specializes in luxury travel. Gitter said Rakov had performed ably in a difficult post and was able to use his experience at the local resort to make a major advance in his PR career.

Store running in temporary quarters after March 5 fire

By Brian Sweeney
The owner of Brookside Hardware in Margaretville, which was destroyed by fire on March 5, hopes a new store will be operational in a few months.
Will Finch told the News this week that he is awaiting signed building plans from an architect for a new store and warehouse. He said he has a contractor lined up and is hopeful that the new buildings can be completed in about 60 days. Even if that timeline is not met, “it will definitely be done this summer.”

The Catskill Mountain News has won several awards in a number of categories in the New York Press Association’s (NYPA) annual Better Newspaper Contest. The awards were handed out last weekend at the NYPA’s spring convention that took place in Albany at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Sales manager Doris Warner and reporter Julia Green from the News’ staff attended the convention.

By Jay Braman Jr.
In case you are wondering, Belleayre Mountain Ski center has not disappeared.
Those who have called the state-run facility in the last two weeks may think otherwise. After dialing either the ski center’s toll free phone number or its regular phone number, the caller is informed that the number has been disconnected.
Why that is happening, and has been happening, remains a mystery. Unnamed sources say the central computer that runs the ski area’s phone system crashed and needs to be replaced.

By Jay Braman Jr.
They didn’t say yes and they didn’t say no, but by tabling a measure that would have implied that the Shandaken Town Board might support a plan to create some tax breaks for the yet to be approved Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park, the board said maybe.
Talk of creation of what is called an Empire Zone at the proposed site for the project dominated a four-hour board session Monday, and when all was said and done it was agreed that more information was needed and that there was no real rush for the board to make any decision.

Local residents also respond to complaints from officials in Greene County

By Julia Green
Over 120 supporters of the proposed Belleayre expansion joined Partners for Progress on buses bound for the state capital Thursday to meet with legislators to protest budget cuts, changes in expansion plans, and what the group calls “recent attacks” by privately-owned Hunter and Windham ski centers on the state-run Belleayre.

By Jay Braman Jr.
The developers of the proposed Belleayre Resort say that a tax break plan they are now pursuing is more lucrative for the Town of Shandaken than the plan they were previously considering.

By Brian Sweeney
Two New York State Troopers who were shot last April in Margaretville have been honored by the Delaware County Shields.
Troopers Matthew Gombosi and Richard Mattson received special recognition plaques last Tuesday in a ceremony at the Olde Caledonia Restaurant in Delhi. The honored troopers were cited for their work last spring during a tragic series of events that took place April 24 and 25 near Margaretville.

County considering takeover of system that would increase Delaware’s budget by nearly $300,000

By Matthew J. Perry
Delaware County’s 911 and Public Safety Operations recently underwent a five-month review, and were judged to be unbroken and no threat to public safety.
But the system’s command structure and internal communications were declared problem areas in the same report.