By Joe Moskowitz
If you are confused about where to go and what to do on a busy summer weekend, the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce wants to help. The chamber is coordinating the first of what are expected to be a number of area “Weekend Getaways” and will publish and distribute posters to help identify and promote activities on those weekends.

By Joe Moskowitz
A glaring omission from the list of area communities eligible for Reconstruction Zone funding status is the Village of Fleischmanns. Fleischmanns is struggling to recover from the damage caused by Hurricane Irene and the New York State money would go a long way toward restoring its infrastructure.

By Joe Moskowitz
Embattled auto salvage and repair shop owner William Hrazanek has yet another fight on his hands. This one is with the Catskill Watershed Corporation (CWC).

The CWC says it gave Hrazanek owned corporations a total of more than $84,000 in grants and loans. It has now given the Fleischmanns man 30 days, starting last Thursday, to repay the money.

By Jay Braman Jr.
The citizens’ group Catskill Heritage Alliance (CHA) has released the results of several new studies whose results claim that the benefits of the proposed Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park have been grossly overestimated and its costs grossly underestimated, including the cost of damage to local businesses, and that the resort’s developers have not adequately addressed the environmental impacts of the project.

By Jay Braman Jr.
A now dormant garage on Wagner Avenue in the Village of Fleischmanns will soon be bustling with activity if the village planning board gives Thomas Shamro permission to open up a used car and auto repair shop on the premises.

His application, now before the planning board, will be the subject of a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, August 6 in the Skene Memorial Library on Main Street in the village.

By Jay Braman Jr.
Shandaken Highway Department employee Florence Sullivan, who was arrested Monday on charges of grand larceny and two other felonies, allegedly appears to have been lining her pockets with taxpayer money for years with over $20,000 reportedly having been stolen before authorities discovered what she was doing.
That is according to Supervisor Rob Stanley, who spoke about the case on Friday after keeping quiet during the seven-month long investigation into Sullivan’s activities.

By Joe Moskowitz
Time and water can do many things, including hide a 500-gallon propane tank. Workers from the Village of Margaretville, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), and workers from the environmental clean-up firm Op-Tech, removed just such a tank from Margaretville’s Binnekill stream last week.

The tank was there, forgotten, for at least the last 20 years, but only recently started to leak.
Village Code Enforcement Officer Pat Davis says people recently began smelling a gas odor in the skate park and near Ming Moon Restaurant.

By Joe Moskowitz
Residents of the Hamlet of Arkville are the proud owners of a new state-of-the-art, million-dollar backup water well. Arkville Water Commissioner Terry Johnson says the new well and pump house were always meant to be a backup for the primary system, but no other town officials who spoke with the News, seemed to have any idea when the $975,000 jewel of the total system upgrade had become the secondary well.

By Joe Moskowitz
Fleischmanns businessman William Hrazanek’s plans to start operating a business on newly acquired property just outside the Village of Margaretville may run unto a major roadblock, namely the Town of Middletown Planning Board.

By Joe Moskowitz
The controversial owner of an auto salvage and repair business says Fleischmanns VW Parts is leaving the village, but William Hrazanek told the News his decision has nothing to do with last week’s raids by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).