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Philipstown organization gets a triple boost Seamus Carroll and his wife, Marie Wieck, began shopping at Foodtown in Cold Spring when it opened in 2003 following a fire that had destroyed the previous supermarket at the location, the Grand Union. Like other customers, they started accumulating 10 points in Foodtown loyalty awards for every dollar spent. The points could be redeemed for grocery gift cards. Three months ago, the couple became the first Foodtown customers to reach 1 million points, according to the store manager, Mike Wilson. Carroll said they decided to push for 1 million in 2008, when they hit 100,000. "It became a family joke," he said, noting he would scold his daughters if they cashed in points to get discounts at the checkout. "I told them we were saving for 1 million; they laughed at that." When they hit the mark earlier this year, Carroll sent a photo of the receipt to his daughters, who live in England and China, respectively. They responded with smiley faces, he said. This week, Carroll and Wieck donated their points to the Philipstown Food Pantry, which operates on Saturday mornings at the First Presbyterian Church in Cold Spring. The pantry redeemed the points for $1,150 in Foodtown gift cards. The supermarket donated another $350 in cards for an even $1,500. "We thought this would be a way to leverage the gift cards, prompting others to donate," Carroll said. "It's a reminder that you can give points to the food pantry [at the customer service desk]; I'm sure people forget this option." The food pantry will receive another unexpected gift on Saturday (June 14) when Donna Anderson delivers a $1,017 donation from Philipstown Senior Citizens of Putnam County, which disbanded at the end of 2024. Food Insecurity Widespread Even amid wealth, many people struggle to make ends meet. An annual report by the United Way known as ALICE (for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) "is an alarm bell for what we see every Saturday" at the Philipstown Food Pantry, said Kiko Lattu, its coordinator. In May, the pantry provided food and other necessities to an average of 71 households each week. The United Way argues that the federal poverty level does not accurately reflect the number of people struggling financially to meet basic needs. Using census and other federal data, it calculated for its latest report, released in May, that 38 percent of Cold Spring/Philipstown and 35 percent of Garrison households don't earn enough to cover the costs of essentials such as housing, food, transportation, health care, child care and a basic phone plan. "Even more troubling, 51 percent of seniors and about two-thirds of single-parent households in Putnam County are likely struggling," Lattu said. In Putnam County, the United Way calculated that a single adult needs at least $54,180 annually to meet basic needs, or $135,660 for a family of two adults with two children in child care. In Beacon, the United Way calculated that 42 percent of the city's 8,367 households struggle to meet a basic survival budget for Dutchess County of $40,296 for a single adult with $114,996 for a family of two adults and two children in child care. By contrast, the federal poverty level is $14,580 for an individual and $30,000 for a family of four. Anderson, who served as president for the final two years, said the club was formed in 1974 and at one time had more than 100 members. But by last year, the remaining members voted to dissolve the club and donate its fund balance to the pantry because many seniors suffer from food insecurity. Anderson was a vocal advocate for establishing a county senior center at the redeveloped Butterfield Hospital site. After the Philipstown Friendship Center opened there in 2018, she said the need for a seniors' group diminished. On June 1, a Nelsonville family - Karen and Ryan Peters and their daughters, Callie and Sadie - set up a table outside Foodtown to solicit donations for the pantry. In less than three ho...

There are four Democratic candidates for two open seats on the Philipstown Town Board - Ben Cheah, John Maasik, Nat Prentice and Ned Rauch. They will compete in a primary on June 24 for the two Democratic lines on the general-election ballot in November. Cheah and Rauch, who were endorsed by the Philipstown Democratic Committee, also filed independent nominating petitions and will appear on the November ballot on the Philipstown Focus party line regardless of the primary outcome. There are no candidates from other parties. We asked each candidate to answer four questions in a total of 500 words or less. The responses are below, presented in alphabetical order by last name. For information on voting and a link to reader endorsements, see below. What in your background makes you the best candidate? Ben Cheah: I believe that a great board member brings passion, dedication, teamwork and expertise - and I'll bring all of that to the Philipstown board. Ten years ago, my wife Megan and I chose to raise our two sons in Philipstown. We love this community and feel lucky to call it home. Both of us have always been active volunteers. I've served on the Philipstown Recreation Commission, Cold Spring Planning Board (current), as Cub Scouts Pack 137 treasurer and on the Putnam County Industrial Development Agency board. Running for Town Board feels like a natural next step - one I'm genuinely passionate about. I'm especially focused on the challenges of rising costs and tightening budgets. I plan to be hands-on with budgeting and long-term planning to help keep costs and taxes under control. I bring to the table an MBA in finance from New York University's Stern School of Business; 25 years of project management and executive experience in the film and TV industry; and a strong creative background in sound design for film, with credits on Men in Black, The Big Lebowski, The Birdcage and The Wire. John Maasik: I've lived in Philipstown for over 20 years: 10 in Cold Spring and 10 in Garrison, where my wife and I raised our two sons. I've spent thousands upon thousands of hours volunteering with community-based organizations, including the Philipstown Recreation Commission, Philipstown Soccer Club, Friends of Philipstown Recreation and Scouting America, in addition to participating in the Haldane turf field effort and the Garrison School Safety Committee. I also helped launch events such as the Castle-to-River Run and Winter Carnival, raising thousands in non-taxpayer dollars and donations for town programs. These efforts have helped me build strong relationships across Cold Spring, Continental Village, Garrison and Nelsonville. Professionally, I've led large teams and managed multimillion-dollar budgets in the private sector, experiences that have shaped my ability to listen carefully, act with integrity and lead without ego. The values that guide me most deeply come from my family's story. My parents were Estonian refugees who fled Soviet occupation after my grandfather was killed by the Russians. My grandmother brought her three children to the U.S. in search of safety, freedom and a new beginning. I was raised with a deep respect for civic responsibility, community and the promise of American democracy. Nat Prentice: Experience, experience, experience. I have had a career in finance and investments. I grew up in Garrison and moved back here 25 years ago. Since moving back, I have attended most of the Town Board's monthly meetings, so I know the commitment that is required to address Philipstown's challenges and opportunities. I helped create the Town's 2007 Comprehensive Plan, and in 2018 I was appointed chair of the Comprehensive Plan Committee that published an update adopted in 2021. Working on the plan meant partnering with a multitude of people from the North Highlands to Continental Village. I know the town's goals and priorities really well. In addition, I work with emergency services (commissioner, Garrison Fire District; me...

Recovery from crash called 'miracle' Laura Timmons always believed that her teenage daughter would recover from the traumatic brain injury she suffered in the car accident on Route 9 that killed another Haldane High School student in December 2023. During Theresa Timmons' 15-month rehabilitation at Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla, Laura Timmons chronicled each "big thing" in her daughter's recovery: the first time she swallowed drinks and food; the first time she responded to questions with gestures; and progressing to writing and talking. "I knew in my heart we would get there, and I never felt any negative," said Laura Timmons, whose family owns Homestyle Bakery in Nelsonville and Peekskill. Her faith received another reward on Thursday (May 29) when Theresa, wearing a shirt filled with signatures from well-wishers and supported on one side by a cane and the other by Laura's boyfriend, Mike Raguso, walked across Blythdale's lobby on her way home for the first time since the accident. A gauntlet of family, friends and Blythedale staff and patients clapped and cheered as Theresa headed through the front door. Outside, Theresa began crying as staff assembled around her to take pictures and say goodbye. First responders from the Continental Village Fire Department, Cortlandt-Peekskill Paramedics and the state police assembled to escort the ambulance carrying her home to Garrison. "Awesome," said Theresa, now 17, when asked about Thursday's sendoff and returning home. "I felt like someone famous." Katherine Ingrasci and Mary Kate Filos used the word "miracle." Ingrasci, a speech-language pathologist at Blythedale, said that Theresa could not eat or talk, and breathed using a tracheostomy tube inserted in her neck when she arrived at Blythedale. Theresa had "a lot of things to overcome" during the hospitalization and made tremendous progress from initially communicating solely through gestures, said Ingrasci. One day, "I walked in and she looked up at me and said a full, beautiful sentence," said Ingrasci. That progress owed much to Theresa, who Filos described as a "fighter" and hard worker. Filos also credited the family and friends who supported Theresa's recovery by donating money, visiting and sending cards and gifts. "They had somebody at the bedside around the clock; Theresa was never alone," said Filos. "So we bonded not just with mom, not just with dad, but with so many extended family members and friends." Also attending the sendoff were some of the Continental Village firefighters and paramedics who responded to the tragedy: a Dec. 15, 2023, car crash on Route 9 that claimed the life of Vlad Saban, a 17-year-old Haldane High School senior, and left Theresa, then 16 and a junior at the school, in critical condition. Chief Joseph Maffettone said in September 2024 that firefighters responding to the accident found "complete wreckage." Attacking the doors and bottom of the wreck with cutting tools, they found Vlad already deceased and Theresa in the rear - unconscious and laying on her left side, protected in a "cocoon," according to Maffettone. "There was a complete tunnel around her," said Maffettone, whose family has been buying baked goods from Homestyle for years and knew the Timmons family. "How she was positioned, it was amazing." Jennifer Hunt, a paramedic with Cortlandt-Peekskill Paramedics, described Theresa's physical condition as "multi-system" trauma. "She had anything and everything that could possibly be wrong with a patient going on," said Hunt last September. "We had a lot of decisions to make in a very short timeframe." Hunt said that she and a colleague, Richard Blackley, sedated Theresa and inserted an endotracheal tube, which is used when patients cannot breathe unaided. With her breathing stabilized, they decided to drive Theresa to Westchester Medical Center rather than wait for a helicopter that had been standing by. By February 2024, Theresa was responding to commands...

Take time today to remember those who sacrificed Memorial Day is a U.S. holiday that's supposed to be about mourning the nation's fallen service members, but it's come to anchor the unofficial start of summer and a long weekend of travel and discounts on anything from mattresses to lawn mowers. Iraq War veteran Edmundo Eugenio Martinez Jr. said the day has lost so much meaning that many Americans "conflate and mix up Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Armed Forces Day, July Fourth." Social media posts pay tribute to "everyone" who has served, when Memorial Day is about those who died. For him, it's about honoring 17 U.S. service members he knew who lost their lives. "I was either there when they died or they were soldiers of mine, buddies of mine," said Martinez, 48, an Army veteran who lives in Katy, Texas, west of Houston. "Some of them lost the battle after the war." Steve Merando, who has marched in Cold Spring's Memorial Day parade since he was 10 years old, agreed. "People forget that Memorial Day is supposed to be a memorial to those who were killed in action while serving their country," said Merando, who served with the U.S. Navy Seabees from 1969 to 1973, including in Vietnam and Thailand. He played Little League baseball with Keith Livermore, one of three Philipstown residents killed in the Vietnam War. In Memoriam: Philipstown and Beacon Here is a look at the holiday and how it has evolved: When is Memorial Day? It falls on the last Monday of May, which this year is May 26. In Cold Spring, a parade will begin at 9 a.m. at Stone and Main streets and progress to Cold Spring Cemetery in Nelsonville for a ceremony. Hot dogs and refreshments will follow at the American Legion. Rain or shine. In Beacon, a ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. at 413 Main St. It will include the dedication of a plaque to mark the 100th anniversary of the Veterans Memorial Building, which was completed in 1925. Why is Memorial Day celebrated? It's a day of reflection and remembrance of those who died while serving in the U.S. military. The holiday is observed in part by the National Moment of Remembrance, which encourages all Americans to pause at 3 p.m. for a moment of silence. What are the origins of Memorial Day? The holiday's origins can be traced to the American Civil War, which killed more than 600,000 service members - both Union and Confederate - between 1861 and 1865. The first national observance of what was then called Decoration Day occurred on May 30, 1868, after an organization of Union veterans called for decorating war graves with flowers, which were in bloom. The practice was already widespread. Waterloo, New York, in Seneca County, began a formal observance on May 5, 1866, and was later proclaimed to be the holiday's birthplace. Yet Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, traced its first observance to October 1864. And women in some Confederate states were decorating graves before the war's end. David Blight, a Yale history professor, points to May 1, 1865, when as many as 10,000 people, many of them Black, held a parade, heard speeches and dedicated the graves of Union dead in Charleston, South Carolina. A total of 267 Union troops had died at a Confederate prison and were buried in a mass grave. After the war, members of Black churches buried them in individual graves. "What happened in Charleston does have the right to claim to be first, if that matters," Blight told the Associated Press in 2011. When did Memorial Day become a source of contention? As early as 1869, The New York Times wrote that the holiday could become "sacrilegious" and no longer "sacred" if it focused more on pomp, dinners and oratory. In an 1871 Decoration Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery, abolitionist Frederick Douglass said he feared Americans were forgetting the Civil War's impetus: enslavement. "We must never forget that the loyal soldiers who rest beneath this sod flung themselves between the nation and the nation's destroyers," Douglass said. His concern...

Proposal also would steer revenue to towns, villages Four Putnam legislators who supported lowering the county's sales tax rate acquiesced on Monday (May 19), endorsing state legislation that will maintain the current 4 percent rate and send some proceeds to Cold Spring, Nelsonville, Philipstown and six other towns and villages. Convening for a special session, the Legislature voted 7-1 to support bills introduced by state Sen. Pete Harckham and Assembly Member Matt Slater, whose districts include eastern Putnam, that would extend the 4 percent sales tax rate for another two years. Without the bill, the rate will return to 3 percent. Consumers pay a total of 8.375 percent on eligible purchases, which includes portions that go the state (4 percent) and Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District (0.375 percent). The state legislation also requires that one-ninth of 1 percent of Putnam's sales tax revenue be shared with the county's nine municipalities. State lawmakers first approved the increase from 3 percent to 4 percent in 2007, at the county's request, and a series of extensions have kept it in place. The most recent extension expires Nov. 30. In April, five county legislators voted to lower Putnam's tax to 3.75 percent as a give-back to taxpayers amid a $90 million surplus in unrestricted reserves. But County Executive Kevin Byrne vetoed the reduction and announced an agreement to share with the towns and villages proceeds from the 1 percent increase if it were extended. Municipalities can spend the money on infrastructure projects, with each receiving an amount tied to its population and each guaranteed at least $50,000. Harckham and Slater endorsed the agreement, which would take effect Dec. 1 and last through Nov. 30, 2027, if their bills pass the Legislature and become law. In addition to enabling what Byrne calls "a first-of-its-kind sales tax-sharing arrangement," the extension will fund a $1 million reduction in the property-tax levy for the 2026 budget that he said would be the largest in county history. "The alternative was allowing the county's sales tax rate to drop, immediately creating a revenue shortfall of tens of millions of dollars, forcing the county to borrow, raise property taxes or both," Byrne said. Facing those same pressures, Putnam's municipalities have for years demanded a share of the sales tax revenue, something that 50 of New York's 62 counties do with their cities, towns and villages, according to the state Comptroller's Office. Dutchess' 2025 budget includes $46 million in sales tax distributions, with an estimated $6.1 million for Beacon. If the proposed revenue-sharing agreement had been in place in 2024, Putnam would have distributed $2.4 million to the towns and three villages on a per capita basis, Byrne said during a news conference last month. "I haven't heard a single constituent ask us to lower the sales tax," said Nancy Montgomery, who represents Philipstown and part of Putnam Valley as the Legislature's sole Democrat, on Monday. "What I have heard loud and clear is stop the back and forth, stop the chaos and work together." Legislator Dan Birmingham, who led the effort to lower the sales tax rate, did not participate in the vote because his law firm represents three of the municipalities that would benefit from the revenue-sharing agreement. Another supporter of the cut, Paul Jonke, was the only legislator voting against endorsing Harckham and Slater's legislation, which must pass the state Legislature before its session concludes on June 12. Amid that pressure, legislators who voted for the vetoed sales tax cut last month endorsed maintaining the current rate. But they complained about being sidelined while Byrne and the municipal officials reached a revenue-sharing agreement and secured backing from Harckham and Slater. Legislator Toni Addonizio, who had voted for the cut, was among those who did not agree with how the revenue-sharing agreement was crafted. She had proposed...

State must approve three-year agreement Central Hudson on Tuesday (May 13) announced a three-year agreement with the state and other parties that would raise electricity and gas delivery rates for most customers. If the plan is approved by the state Public Service Commission, a typical Central Hudson customer will pay $5.43 (5.09 percent) more per month for electricity delivery during the first year, beginning July 1, and $6.25 and $6.62 more for the subsequent two years. Lower-income customers enrolled in an energy-assistance program would see decreases of $3.85 (4.2 percent) per month. The delivery charge for gas would increase by $7.73 (6.6 percent) per month during the first year and $11.27 and $12.37 in subsequent years. After applying $44 million in bill credits, Central Hudson would collect $144 million in new revenue over the three years, according to a summary of the proposal. The company said it would spend that revenue on infrastructure, higher labor costs and bonuses, energy-efficiency and heat-pump programs and a 9.5 percent return on shareholder equity. Central Hudson also agreed to provide customer bills in Spanish, continue outreach to households about energy assistance and award up to $200,000 in grants for workforce training in green-energy fields. Opponents and supporters of the proposal, whose signatories include the state Department of Public Service, have until May 23 to submit statements to the PSC, which scheduled a hearing for June 13. "At Central Hudson, we understand the financial challenges that rising bills place on our customers, and we are committed to easing this burden by implementing a rate plan that balances essential system investments with the need to keep costs as low as possible," said Steph Raymond, the utility's president and CEO. Those costs, however, have been rising for Central Hudson's 315,000 electric and 90,000 gas customers. The most recent rate increase, approved by the PSC in July 2024, was for a one-year hike of $12.65 per month for the average electric bill and $12.25 for gas. The following month, Central Hudson submitted a request for another one-year increase to electric and gas delivery rates of $9 a month. The agreement announced on Tuesday replaces that request. Assembly Member Jonathan Jacobson, a Democrat whose district includes Beacon, issued his verdict on Wednesday (May 14), urging the PSC to reject the proposed agreement. He said the return on equity is "good for shareholders of Fortis [Central Hudson's parent company] but not for its customers," who include 6,853 households in Beacon, 3,646 in Philipstown, 1,270 in Cold Spring and 326 in Nelsonville.

Philipstown, Dutchess County affected An appeals court on Wednesday (May 7) upheld a law that will shift many county and town elections in New York to even-numbered years, including in Putnam and Dutchess - a change meant to align local elections with statewide and federal races. Democrats argue that the law, which was approved two years ago, will increase turnout in local races. Republicans sued to block it, saying it violates the state constitution and could give Democrats a partisan advantage in higher-turnout election years. State Sen. James Skoufis, a Democrat from Orange County who sponsored the legislation, said that town and county elections in odd years typically see 20 percent to 30 percent turnout, while those during presidential years can top 70 percent. The appeals court ruled that the law can take effect immediately. The decision overruled a lower court that struck down the law, enacted in December 2023. The Republican-led Dutchess Legislature voted last year to spend $100,000 to join the legal challenge to the legislation. Under the law, anyone in office before 2025 will complete his or her term, but subsequent terms will be shortened. Here's what that means locally: Two of the four Philipstown Town Board seats, which have four-year terms, will be on the ballot in 2027 for three-year terms. They will be on the ballot again in 2030 for four-year terms. The other two seats, which will be on the ballot in November, will be for three-year terms that end in 2028. The Philipstown highway commissioner and town clerk seats, which have four-year terms, will be on the 2027 ballot for three-year terms, then return to the ballot in 2030 for four-year terms. The town supervisor, who serves a two-year term, will be elected in November to a one-year term and the seat will appear on the ballot again in 2026 for a two-year term. The Dutchess County Legislature seats, which will all be on the ballot in November, will be for one-year terms, rather than two, and return to the ballot in 2026. The election for county executive, a four-year position, will occur as scheduled in 2027, but the winner will serve only three years, until 2030. The law exempts villages, such as Cold Spring and Nelsonville. In cities, such as Beacon, elections can only be changed through a constitutional amendment. The law also exempts county races for sheriff, district attorney, clerk and judges. The law does not affect the Putnam County executive, whose four-year term is on the ballot in even-numbered years and next up in 2026, or Putnam legislators, who serve three-year terms. The Associated Press contributed reporting.

Customers again will be returned to Central Hudson Philipstown residents and businesses receiving fixed-rate electricity through Hudson Valley Community Power will be transferred back to Central Hudson because the program administrator ran out of time to extend the contract. In what is known as a community choice aggregation (CCA) program, municipalities contract with a third-party supplier to offer residents and businesses a fixed rate for electricity, although Central Hudson continues to provide delivery and billing. Cold Spring, Nelsonville, Philipstown and nine other municipalities (not including Beacon) agreed to participate. Residents and businesses are added to the program automatically but can opt out. Hudson Valley Community Power was negotiating to extend a contract that ends June 30. Mike Gordon, founder and chief strategy officer for the program administrator, Joule Assets, said in a letter to municipalities that "times are deeply uncertain at the moment and electricity prices rose quickly in response." Nelsonville Mayor Chris Winward read the letter at the April 21 Village Board meeting. Although prices have fallen more recently, Gordon said Joule lacked enough time to meet new guidelines created by the state utility regulator, the Public Service Commission, to notify and educate customers about new pricing before June 30. Because the "political and economic environment is so volatile," Joule does expect "opportunities to lock in some advantageous pricing" over the next two to three months. Joule will spend those months learning "how best to work through" the new PSC regulations, said Jessica Stromback, the company's CEO. "The order is, let everybody go back to the utility and not scramble," she said on Wednesday (May 7). "That process is smooth; the utility understands it. There's no interruption in service." Under the current contract, residents and businesses in the CCA pay a default rate of 12.24 cents per kilowatt hour for 100 percent renewable energy in Cold Spring and 11.24 cents per kilowatt-hour for 50 percent renewable energy in Nelsonville and Philipstown. Those customers will be charged Central Hudson's variable rate starting July 1. As of April 10, Central Hudson's standard supply rate was 10.3 cents per kilowatt-hour. Last year's summer rates, when electricity demand is higher, averaged 9.6 cents per kilowatt-hour. (Central Hudson charges a separate rate for delivery.) "[The CCA] pricing was high, but it was locked in and we knew what it would be," Winward said at last month's meeting. "We don't know what the volatility of Central Hudson's rates are going to bring us." The July 1 transition will mark the second time residents and businesses enrolled in Hudson Valley Community Power have been sent back to Central Hudson. A former supplier, Columbia Utilities, defaulted on a contract to provide renewable energy at 6.6 cents per kilowatt-hour for residences and 7.1 cents for small businesses, including those in Beacon, Cold Spring and Philipstown. In April 2022, Columbia notified the PSC that it intended to return customers to Central Hudson. A state judge on Dec. 5 approved a $1.5 million settlement in a lawsuit filed by the municipalities against Columbia Utilities. The company admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to a $1 million payment into a settlement fund and $50,000 monthly payments by June 1, 2025, to cover the balance. The Ulster County judge overseeing the case also approved $286,585 in attorney fees and up to $56,500 in administrative costs. Eligible customers began receiving checks for about $50 last month.

Towns, villages would split sales-tax revenue Putnam legislators on Monday (April 28) discussed a plan to share sales taxes with the county's municipalities - including Cold Spring, Nelsonville and Philipstown - two weeks after County Executive Kevin Byrne outlined a proposal. Members of the Audit Committee reviewed a proposal to distribute $3 million of $90 million in reserves to aid the county's six towns and three villages. The money, allocated based on population, could be used on infrastructure and capital projects and "essential services," but not payroll. Legislator Toni Addonizio suggested increasing the outlay to $5 million and allotting the same amount in 2026. She referenced a charge by Cold Spring Mayor Kathleen Foley that Putnam was "hoarding" money. "We don't want to hoard money; we want to give it out," said Addonizio. Putnam's surplus, including savings allocated to expenses, hit $134 million this year, a level which Legislator Paul Jonke called "obscene." Michael Lewis, the finance commissioner, said Monday that unspent funds from unfilled positions and inflation-driven increases in sales-tax revenue fueled the surplus. Legislator Greg Ellner said that Putnam's next annual audit, when released, will show another $8 million to $12 million in the surplus. By sending some of that money to municipalities, Putnam would join 50 of the state's 62 counties that share revenue. Dutchess, for instance, distributes 2.35 percent of sales taxes collected to Beacon, 5.41 percent to the City of Poughkeepsie and 9.5 percent to its towns and villages. A proposal unveiled by Byrne on April 15 and endorsed by the municipalities would share one-ninth of the 1 percent of sales-tax intake, which would have amounted to about $2.3 million based on 2024 revenue. It would take effect only if the state passes a pending bill allowing Putnam to continue collecting 4 percent, which it has done since 2007 when the state permitted the county to raise its rate by 1 percent. The 4 percent rate has been repeatedly extended but expires on Nov. 30. State lawmakers must pass another extension before the end of the current session on June 12 or the rate will revert to 3 percent. The total sales tax in Putnam is 8.375 percent, which includes 4 percent for the state and 0.375 percent for the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District. Legislator Nancy Montgomery, who represents Philipstown and part of Putnam Valley, said she likes Byrne's proposal because it is based on sales-tax revenue. If the county came to a point "where we have no fund balance," the money would not be distributed. Montgomery, who once proposed a plan in which the municipalities would receive 50 percent of sales taxes over the amount budgeted, offered several amendments to the Audit Committee resolution: (1) that Byrne be involved in crafting the agreement, (2) that municipalities be allowed to spend on personnel "tied to short-term and public needs" and (3) that it include reporting and audit requirements. "While I appreciate the efforts in including our municipalities in the resolution that you wrote, I think it requires a lot more," she told her colleagues. "I really wish you would have considered my resolution." Foley, who was at the meeting, also expressed concerns, including that the proposal does not establish a minimum amount that municipalities would receive. Byrne's plan guarantees each town and village at least $50,000, a commitment particularly important for Nelsonville, whose 600 residents make it the county's smallest municipality. Foley called for assurances that revenue-sharing would continue beyond next year, such as the long-term agreements Dutchess and other counties have in place. Because of the surplus, the Legislature voted last month, 5-4, to ask the state to allow the county to lower its sales-tax rate to 3.75 percent, but Byrne vetoed the resolution and proponents did not have the six votes needed to override. The county executive cited the loss of a...

Board votes to override levy cap The Nelsonville Village Board on Monday (April 21) approved a $377,540 spending plan for 2025-26 after voting to exceed the state's 2.77 percent cap on levy increases. Expenses are projected to be 6.6 percent higher, and the adopted levy rises by 5.21 percent to $326,697. Taxes for the average property owner will increase by $68, said Mayor Chris Winward. Anticipated legal spending will increase by 20 percent, to $15,000 annually; Keane & Beane has had to defend the village from multiple lawsuits while also reviewing contacts, Winward said. Electricity bills are expected to be 33 percent higher and Nelsonville allocated an increase of 13.6 percent more, to $28,411, for insurance for its buildings (including the one leased by Putnam County for a sheriff station) and court actions against its elected and appointed officials. An additional 9.42 percent was appropriated for employee benefits. The court and village clerk will receive 3 percent raises and the deputy village clerk will receive a 2.55 percent boost. Winward's salary will remain at $4,500 annually and the trustees will continue to receive $2,650. Court changes The Nelsonville trustees voted to appoint Philipstown Justice Angela Thompson-Tinsley as the acting village justice in place of Stephen Tomann, who retired. The board also renewed a $150-per-hour contract with Kevin Irwin, a Pawling attorney who prosecutes traffic tickets and other non-criminal violations for Nelsonville, and approved the use of a credit-card reader giving to the village by the state's Unified Court System. Melissa Harris, the village clerk, said she hopes the machine will increase revenues from fines. "A lot of the time, people will say, 'I only have a card; can I have a week to pay and mail it in?' And then they don't," she said. New meeting day and time The board voted to move its monthly workshop and regular meetings to the second and third Wednesday of each month, respectively. The meeting time will also change, beginning a half-hour earlier, at 7 p.m. Mondays present a problem because many holidays fall on that day, and compiling information packets for trustees by Friday afternoons has proved difficult, said Winward. "This will give us a lot more time to be able to prepare for meetings," she said. No parking A sign prohibiting parking on Spring Street should be installed soon. Nelsonville approved a ban on Spring Street in December in response to drivers parking along the side of Blacksmith Wines, leaving only one lane. Trustee Dave Moroney said the installation of a no-parking sign had to be postponed because of equipment problems. There are new no-parking signs on Secor Street. Winward said the village anticipates more hikers parking there to use Nelsonville Woods because Breakneck closed for two years starting Monday (April 21). "It's only a matter of time until people figure out that they can just have the same view going up Bull Hill," she said.

Endorses revenue sharing with towns, villages Putnam Executive Kevin Byrne this week vetoed a sales-tax reduction passed by the county Legislature and announced a long-discussed plan to share revenue with towns and villages if the rate remains unchanged. In a memo sent Monday (April 14) to the Legislature, Byrne called on lawmakers to convene an emergency meeting to rescind their 5-4 vote requesting the state allow Putnam to lower the county's portion of the tax on purchases from 4 percent to 3.75 percent. The reduction would cost the county an estimated $5.3 million annually. The higher rate has been in place since 2007, when the state enacted a law allowing Putnam to increase its sales tax from 3 percent to 4 percent. A series of extensions have kept the higher rate in place, but the most recent one expires on Nov. 30, requiring passage of another bill before state lawmakers end their 2025 session on June 12. Consumers in Putnam County pay 8.375 percent sales tax, which includes 4 percent for the state and 0.375 percent for the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District. With the reduction, the total tax would fall to 8.125 percent. Preserving the rate will allow the county to continue reducing property taxes and fund capital projects, Byrne wrote in his memo. Flanked by officials from Philipstown, Cold Spring, Nelsonville and Putnam's other towns and villages, Byrne also announced outside Kent Town Hall on Tuesday that if county legislators renew the extra 1 percent, one-ninth of its revenue would be distributed annually to municipalities for infrastructure and capital projects. If sales-tax sharing had been in place in 2024, Putnam would have distributed $2.4 million to the county's six towns and three villages on a per capita basis, said Byrne during a news conference. Each would be guaranteed at least $50,000. With the move, Putnam would join 50 of New York's 62 counties that share sales tax revenue with their municipalities, according to the state Comptroller's Office. Dutchess' 2025 budget includes $46 million in sales-tax distributions, with an estimated $6.1 million for Beacon. Extending the current rate will also help fund a $1 million reduction in the property-tax levy that Byrne says he will propose for the 2026 budget. The reduction would be the largest in county history, he said. Addressing the Legislature on April 1, Cold Spring Mayor Kathleen Foley accused legislators of "hoarding" money because Putnam has accumulated $134 million in savings. Speaking at the news conference, Foley said the village has stormwater impacts it needs to address and that extra revenue could also help the village manage tourism. Dan Birmingham, the legislator who initially proposed a reduction to 3.5 percent, said the size of Putnam's savings, or fund balance, justified giving residents a break. During his first stint as a legislator, from 2004 to 2012, Birmingham supported the 2007 increase to 4 percent to cover county losses attributed to the Great Recession. Now, Putnam is "sitting on top of the largest fund balance-to-budget ratio this county has ever seen," he said. When Nancy Montgomery, who represents Philipstown and part of the Putnam Valley, predicted before the April 1 vote that Byrne would veto the lower sales tax, Birmingham said that unless the Legislature has six votes to override a veto, "you return to the status quo" after Nov. 30 - the 3 percent rate that existed before 2007. Byrne said on Tuesday that sacrificing the full 1 percent "would not help the towns; it would hurt this county" because the annual revenue loss would total about $20 million. In 2022, the Legislature unanimously agreed to pass along sales tax that exceeded what the county collected the previous year. In what turned out to be a one-time distribution, it shared $5 million, sending $369,670 to Philipstown, $101,671 to Cold Spring and $31,945 to Nelsonville, which used its portion to study the feasibility of building a sewer system. Nelsonvil...

150 Years Ago (April 1875) The shoe stores of Thomas Martin and Hugh Patterson were burglarized by culprits who fled toward Breakneck in a light wagon. "Strange to say, no reward was offered and, consequently, no pursuit was made," The Cold Spring Recorder reported. A week later, several pairs of ladies' gaiters were found in a buggy stored in an unoccupied building on Market Street that was once the Presbyterian Church. Allen Brewer appeared to have "skedaddled" from Nelsonville with all his family's goods except the calico. A miniature steam engine puffed away in a hole on April 2 opposite Patterson's shoe store to thaw a frozen pipe 2 feet below the surface that had prevented any water from flowing below Chestnut Street. The work continued for more than two weeks. On April 15, the engine exploded outside Mr. Murry's store and a piece of burning charcoal landed between the collar and neck of Jimmie Mellravy, causing a blister. Charles Emerson, who lived near Mekeel's Corners, claimed he killed six crows with one shot from his English fowling piece. Jackson Tompkins of Putnam Valley said he shot 12 foxes over the winter. The Episcopal bishop of New York visited Cold Spring for a Saturday morning service to install the Rev. Mr. Isaac Van Winkle as rector of St. Mary's Church. Van Winkle then left for a 10-day vacation. Twice in a week, a train was stopped by a malfunctioning south signal, which did not instill confidence in the system. Dr. Griffin of Nelsonville opened a branch office at the corner of Main and Stone streets that he manned daily from 7 to 8 a.m. and 5 to 6 p.m. Officer McAndrew caught two truants from the Rock Street School after "a lively chase." After guests at the Pacific Hotel heard wild geese honking on the river, they began to shoot at them for sport. The Recorder editor reported that Jacob Levi and Barny Clinton exchanged "a great many small rocks and vile epithets" just outside the newspaper office. A freight engine, while taking water at the station, sent a spark onto the roof of a shed, but a young man spotted the smoke and climbed to put it out. William Conroy drove to Sandy Landing Cove to wash the mud off his wagon, but the horse sank in the sediment. When Conroy climbed down to get it out, the horse knocked him into the water. After determining that the oath given to members of the Nelsonville board had been improperly administered, the village petitioned the state Legislature to legalize its past proceedings. The governor vetoed a bill giving the Garrison and West Point Ferry Co. a half-mile monopoly. He said it was unconstitutional to give exclusive benefits to a private corporation. The father of Miss Warner, author of Wide Wide World, died at the family home on Constitution Island. She sent for two clergymen to conduct the service but, when they failed to show, knelt by the coffin and led the prayers. There was a split in the Baptist Church among parishioners who wanted to dismiss the Rev. Benjamin Bowen and those who wanted him to stay. When a deacon said taking a vote would be illegal, most people left. Those who remained then voted to keep Bowen for another year. 125 Years Ago (April 1900) The M. Taylor Granolithic Co. rented the Truesdell property on Main Street to manufacture the liquid it used in its patented sawdust flooring. The Cold Spring Hose Co. changed its name to the Cold Spring Fire Co. No. 1. Dr. Lewis Morris, a former Cold Spring physician, was engaged to Katherine Clark, whose father planned to give the couple a mansion on Fifth Avenue. After Thomas Coe began selling 26 eggs for 25 cents [$9.50] at his dry goods store, Truesdell offered 30 for 25 cents; Morris, 35 for 25 cents; and Secor, 36 for 25 cents. Morris then went to 50 for 25 cents. Charles de Rham hired King Quarry Co. to cut a $1,500 [about $57,000 today] fountain and horse trough (shown today, below) for the highway near Indian Brook as a memorial to his late wife. Mrs. Michael Clare reported to the village po...

Renews support for Cold Spring 'pause' The Philipstown Town Board on Wednesday (Feb. 26), by a 4-1 vote, approved more than 100 comments on a draft environmental impact statement for the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail and a letter renewing a request to pause construction of a boardwalk between Dockside and Little Stony Point parks. In addition to an 18-page document containing its comments about the state's Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS), the Town Board approved, by the same 4-1 vote, comments crafted by the Conservation Board in response to HHFT's proposal. Board Member Judy Farrell, who said she does not support delaying or pausing the Dockside-to-Little-Stony Point segment, cast the lone "no" votes. Completion of the southern end would boost accessibility to the riverfront and there are "a lot of people in the community who have been waiting a long time" for the trail, she said. "Of course there are going to be problems with this project, but I think we can work them out as it progresses," Farrell said. The HHFT plan comprises a 7.5-mile trail between Cold Spring and Beacon, with a segment containing a boardwalk elevated over the river between Dockside and Little Stony Point. It also includes a bridge over the Metro-North tracks north of the Breakneck tunnel, new platforms at the Breakneck train station, expanded parking and the redevelopment of Dutchess Manor into a visitor's center. State parks, which is the lead agency for the project, released the 700-page draft in December and set a deadline of Tuesday (March 4) for public comments. A consultant with Tim Miller Associates, which reviewed the DGEIS for Philipstown, on Feb. 19 shared some of its concerns, which largely mirror those expressed by elected officials in Cold Spring and Nelsonville. (Update: The full document was released by the town on Monday, March 3.) Primarily, the DGEIS is "lacking in details," said Steven Marino, a senior environmental planner with the firm. For example, he said the document does not sufficiently address increased traffic as the Fjord Trail draws more visitors or the dispersal of sediment when more than 400 concrete pilings are installed in the Hudson River for the section between Dockside and Little Stony Point. Marino also said that HHFT's conclusions about the boardwalk's impact on riverviews along Fair Street and Route 9D between Breakneck and Cold Spring "don't seem to tell the whole story" and need more analysis. He said there are questions about whether the width of the walkway will accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists and other users traveling in both directions at the same time. "It is our feeling that, in some ways, the presented DGEIS is too lacking in details or so interested in moving the project forward that some aspects of the plan, especially the potential impacts on community character, congestion and quality-of-life issues are overlooked or downplayed," he said on Feb. 19. On Feb. 26, Van Tassel read a letter the Town Board approved sending with the comments. It reiterates the town's stance that the southern segment should end at Little Stony Point. The town also requested that HHFT pay for emergency services along the trail and calls for a two-year "purpose pause" after the phases north of Breakneck are completed to assess their effect on reducing congestion and traffic. "If the train station and Breakneck work, if Dutchess Manor works, we come back to the table and say, 'Let's see how we can bring the trail to Dockside in a reduced version, in a full version,'" he said.

Concerns include community character, funding The Cold Spring Village Board on Wednesday (Feb. 19) received a report from a consultant it hired to examine how the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS) for the Hudson Highland Fjord Trail addresses potential impacts on the village. Ted Fink of Greenplan, who attended via Zoom, reviewed his 42-page analysis with the board and went over what he considers shortcomings, including: New York State Parks, the lead agency for the DGEIS, chose the generic approach to assessing the Fjord Trail, rather than a Site-Specific Environmental Impact Statement. A more detailed analysis may be required in certain areas, such as the proposed route from Dockside to Little Stony Point, he said. "The Little Stony Point to Dockside stretch is a perfect place for a site-specific deep dive," Mayor Kathleen Foley said in response. "Drill down at a level of specificity that the village, our waterfront and our community deserve. Once you build in the river, there's no going back." The assessment of HHFT's impact on village character is inadequate, Fink said. The DGEIS relies on a consultant's assessment of regional impacts rather than Cold Spring's vision of itself. State courts have stated that defining community character is the municipality's prerogative, he said. The relevance of Cold Spring's Comprehensive Plan, Local Waterfront Revitalization Strategy and local zoning law assessments is not adequately considered, said Fink. DGEIS statements of "no impacts" are not substantiated and the assessment of zoning laws fails to address impacts on residential areas, he said. New revenues are needed to offset village HHFT-related expenses, he said, despite the DGEIS conclusion that HHFT will have no impact on community services funded by the village. Details regarding a required HHFT endowment have not been made available for public review as part of the review process, he said. The report understates HHFT's potential impact on emergency services, he said. Village police and other first responders have expressed concern in particular about Dockside Park, which has only one road in and out. Fink was asked to condense his findings and provide an executive summary that highlights the major concerns. The board will review the update at its Wednesday (Feb. 26) meeting. In other business … After closing a public hearing, the board granted a 10 percent property-tax exemption to volunteer first responders with two years of service. Putnam County, Philipstown, Nelsonville and the Haldane and Garrison school districts have enacted similar legislation.

Today he's releasing her music online. Rochelle Gambino, who lived in Cold Spring for nearly a decade and owned a dog grooming business on Main Street, died suddenly, apparently of heart failure, in 2007 at age 44. A singer and guitarist, she left behind a trove of analog recordings and ephemera. Today (Feb. 14), after working with a sound studio in the city, her son A.J. Vitiello is releasing 20 songs recorded by his mother in a compilation called For Romantics Only. "She lived in the pre-streaming era, so I had to get this project done before the tapes break," says Vitiello, 25, a travel writer. "Deciding what to release took a long time, and I had to kill some darlings. A good song could be ruined by a scratchy recording or be so '80s that it sounds stale." The process of sifting through hundreds of songs and transcribing lyrics brought him closer to a woman who died when he was 7. Gambino also left behind diaries, letters and photos. "This project is almost an attempt to reconstruct her persona," he says. "It's as if she's using me as a vessel to get her music out there." He adds: "People used to ask, 'When are you going to pick up the guitar?' That's not my thing - the talent didn't transfer. But I do long for a time when rock 'n' roll was the only thing that mattered." After Vitiello's parents separated, he lived with his mother in Nelsonville before moving to Connecticut with his father. Sometimes, he travels from Brooklyn to spruce up her gravesite at Cold Spring Cemetery. One vivid memory is a visit she made to his kindergarten class at Haldane Elementary. "She wrote a song for every student using their names," he says. "She was known for sheer kindness and being bubbly. My mom had a lot of devoted fans in the Hudson Valley and played shows all the time." Gambino, who grew up in Croton-on-Hudson, received a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. She dropped out and moved to Nashville but returned to New York, where she told a newspaper reporter: "I'm not some piece of plastic to be molded and make somebody else rich." Gambino met Vitiello's father at one of her Black Jacket Band shows and the couple settled in Cold Spring. At their Dockside Park wedding, she strapped a black electric guitar over her white dress and wailed away. Her music ranges from acoustic ballads to hard rock and includes a few religious songs. Toward the end of her life, she spent more time at Our Lady of Loretto on Fair Street, says Vitiello. "She could shred on guitar and also compose on piano," he says. "She had vocal chords of steel. I still remember her fingernails being cracked and mutilated, as if she'd been to war. I still find [guitar] picks in her stuff." Gambino chafed at comparisons to Janis Joplin. After she died, a close friend held tributes in Croton that raised money for music students. The melancholy breakup song "Cold Spring" tells of "too much fighting / too many angry lies." The chorus refrains: "I didn't know what you meant to me / That night in Cold Spring / Where we fought to save our dreams / It was a dream we had when young / As the Hudson River runs / That night in Cold Spring." For Romantics Only is available at Spotify (dub.sh/gambino-spotify) and YouTube (dub.sh/for-romantic).

Storm warning begins at 1 p.m. on Jan. 19 A winter storm that is expected to arrive Sunday afternoon (Jan. 19) could bring frigid temperatures and as much as 8 inches of snow to the lower Hudson Valley, according to the National Weather Service, which issued a winter storm warning. The warning for begins at 1 p.m. Sunday and is scheduled to remain in effect through 4 a.m. Monday. The temperatures will be in the single digits on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights, with wind chills taking it below zero. Street parking will be limited in Cold Spring and Nelsonville. For updates, see our Storm Resources page.

State money will help secure drinking water supply New York State announced on Monday (Dec. 23) that it will send $2.5 million to the Village of Cold Spring for repairs to one of the two dams at its reservoirs. The money is part of $225 million from the state Department of Environmental Conservation for 165 projects across New York to update aging infrastructure, improve water quality and protect drinking water. The village submitted its application, written by Trustee Laura Bozzi, in July. "While this grant is only a portion of the nearly $8 million needed to complete the Upper Dam repairs, it is a significant boost for the village," said Mayor Kathleen Foley in a statement. "It will enable us to bond [borrow] less and keep water rates a bit more stable during the construction. "The condition of the dam is a critical public safety issue, and it is a relief that we finally have resources and momentum to see necessary repairs through," she said. Foley praised Bozzi, "a public health research professional [who] has brought her grant-writing prowess to bear for village projects time and again," she said. Located off Lake Surprise Road on Foundry Brook in the North Highlands, the two reservoirs provide water to Cold Spring, Nelsonville and some parts of Philipstown. The 270-foot Upper Dam was constructed in 1934 and the 328-foot Lower Dam in 1942; each is about 25 feet high. The Department of Environmental Conservation rates both as "high-hazard" - a measure of the damage, including loss of life, that would result from their failure - and "unsound," which is worse than "deficiently maintained" but not as bad as the lowest rating, "unsafe." The reconstruction will raise the Upper Dam by 2 feet to improve spillway capacity, install a waterproof membrane on its face and improve the outlet and abutments. In 2017, an engineer told the Village Board that the repairs would cost between $3.8 million (a single spillway requiring the reservoir to be lowered by 1.2 feet) and $4.2 million (multiple spillways). The latter estimate has nearly doubled over the past eight years. In January 2023, Foley said an engineering firm told her that, once the design was complete, it would take eight to 12 months for the dam to be repaired. A 2016 assessment of the dam conditions is valid until 2026. During the repairs, Cold Spring will likely need to tap into the Catskill Aqueduct; in 2023, after 15 years of negotiations, the village reached an agreement with New York City to create the connection. If Cold Spring taps into the system, it must pay $2,450 per 1 million gallons, Foley said last month when the reservoirs dipped because of drought. The system requires about 300,000 gallons per day.

Haldane student continues recovery from horrific crash Theresa Timmons celebrated a day that nearly wasn't. On Sept. 23, a procession of family and friends followed as her mother pushed the teenager's wheelchair across the lobby of Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla. Just through the glassed entrance stood members of the Continental Village Fire Department and Cortlandt-Peekskill Regional Paramedics. Firefighters and paramedics rarely reunite with the people they save or closely follow their recoveries. But over the last year, the Haldane High School student has become part of the department's family, so much so that its members pray for her before meetings, said Joseph Maffettone, the department's chief. The answer to their prayers smiled as the uniformed first responders presented her with a bouquet of flowers and took photos. Inside, everyone crowded into a second-floor room to celebrate Theresa's upcoming 17th birthday on Sept. 25. "This is a great journey that we get to follow," said Maffettone. The journey began with a crash on Route 9. On Dec. 15, 2023, Vlad Saban, a 17-year-old Haldane High School senior, lost control of his Toyota Prius, which left the road and hit a tree. Vlad was killed. His passenger, Theresa, was left in critical condition with a traumatic brain injury. A year later, she has been transformed. Doctors brought her out of a medically induced coma in January, and the piece of skull they removed to relieve pressure on her brain has been replaced. In July, Theresa began speaking and is now writing, texting and laughing. On Dec. 10, using a wheelchair, Theresa returned to Haldane High School for a visit that brought the student body into the halls. The teenager, whose family owns Homestyle Desserts Bakery, and who was familiar to anyone who bought ice cream at its Nelsonville location, is undergoing an arduous regime of occupational and physical therapy designed to restore the damaged partnership between brain and body. She is also taking remote classes at Haldane, with the goal of attending graduation with her class in June. "That's what I'm hoping for," Theresa said. Saved by a 'cocoon' During a visit, hope decorated Theresa's room at Blythedale. The shelves bulged with stuffed animals. An array of photos sent by Haldane friends filled some wall space, while well-wishes written on heart-shaped pieces of paper by students from P.S. 194, a Bronx K-8 school where one of her mother's friends teaches, were hanging on the window. "You are amazing." "You can do it." A guitar Theresa's father, Jimmy, plays for her stood in a corner. Haldane faculty, staff and classmates visit regularly, as does Vlad's mother, Liliya Shylivska. Theresa's mother, Laura, sleeps overnight on a cot, as do Jimmy, Liliya and Laura's boyfriend, Mike. "I feel loved," said Theresa. First, she had to be saved. Maffettone said Continental Village firefighters responding to the accident found "complete wreckage." Attacking the doors and bottom of the wreck with cutting tools, they found Theresa in the back seat, unconscious and laying on her left side, protected in a "cocoon," according to Maffettone. "There was a complete tunnel around her," said Maffettone, whose family has been buying baked goods from Homestyle for years and knew the Timmons family. "How she was positioned, it was amazing." Jennifer Hunt, a paramedic with Cortlandt-Peekskill Regional Paramedics, described Theresa's physical condition as "multi-system" trauma. "She had anything and everything that could possibly be wrong with a patient going on," said Hunt. "We had a lot of decisions to make in a very short timeframe." Hunt said that she and a colleague sedated Theresa and inserted an endotracheal tube, which is used when patients cannot breathe unaided. With her breathing stabilized, they decided to drive her to Westchester Medical Center rather than wait for a helicopter. "Getting her definitive care was the priority at that point," said Hunt. "I didn't know...

Comment period opens on environmental review After several years of work, the state parks department on Dec. 4 released a draft of its environmental review of the proposed Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail. The 709-page Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement considers the effects the proposed trail could have on the Highlands in 14 areas, including land use, emergency services, traffic and transportation, biological resources and community character. It also lists suggested mitigation efforts for HHFT to receive permits for the project, such as limiting construction in certain areas to specific times of year to avoid disturbing threatened and endangered wildlife, and replacing invasive species with native plants. The Fjord Trail is a 7.5-mile trail for pedestrians and cyclists that would function as a linear park connecting Beacon to Cold Spring. It would also include 5 miles of narrower, pedestrian-only meanders, spurs and loops branching off from the main trail. When the trail was conceived in 2006, it was imagined as a simple walking path. But after Breakneck Ridge became one of the most popular hiking trails in the country, the project underwent a significant expansion and redesign that was unveiled in 2020. The goal was to address the throngs of hikers and cars along Route 9D; the lack of safe access to the Hudson River; Main Street in Cold Spring becoming overrun with visitors on weekends; the need for public restrooms; a dearth of accessible recreational activities; and the threat to riverside attractions from projected sea-level rise because of climate change. Last year, HHFT announced that it was pausing some of the "destination" amenities included in the 2020 plan, such as an outdoor classroom, a play area, a swimming area at Little Stony Point with a floating dock, and a meander that would have led to a secluded wooded area with hammocks. Those amenities do not appear in the environmental impact report. If HHFT adds them later, they would be subject to a new environmental review. The report is online at dub.sh/hhft-report, along with information about how to register for two virtual public hearings scheduled for Jan. 14, and how to submit comments. Physical copies are also available at local libraries, the Cold Spring and Nelsonville village halls, Philipstown Town Hall, Beacon City Hall and the HHFT office at 14 Coris Lane in Beacon. Comments will be accepted through Feb. 2, although some elected officials have called on the state to extend the deadline. Public comments will be addressed in the final environmental report, scheduled for release over the summer. Amy Kacala, the HHFT executive director, said none of the mitigation measures were "a huge surprise" to the nonprofit. "We've been going back and forth with state parks for several years, so we've already had a chance to think through how we would avoid certain areas or shrink the footprint in other areas," she said. The report splits the trail into two sections: The 5.5-mile Fjord Trail North begins in Beacon's Long Dock Park and heads south, and the 2-mile Fjord Trail South begins at the state-owned Dockside Park in Cold Spring and heads north. The Breakneck Connector and Bridge that connects the two, which is under construction, had a separate environmental review released in 2022. The former Dutchess Manor on Route 9D, which the HHFT plans to convert into its headquarters by 2027, is also not part of the current environmental review because the site is under the jurisdiction of the Town of Fishkill rather than the state. The report does include a proposed 90-space lot across from Dutchess Manor, as well as an 80-space lot on Route 9D just north of Melzingah Reservoir Road and the expansion of the lot across from the entrance to Little Stony Point from 49 to 96 spaces. The report discusses alternate routes for the trail, concluding that none balance the environmental impact as well as the chosen route, although the report says further study is needed o...

150 Years Ago (November 1874) The editor of The Cold Spring Recorder observed "an unusual amount of dram drinking and personal coercion" around the vote, which he attributed to the "large amount of money received in this town 'for election purposes.' " He noted "the 100 voters who belong to no party but are found this year on one side and the next year on the other." The editor praised the saloons located near the polls for closing before 11 p.m., which helped maintain order during the count. Myron Clark, the Prohibition Party candidate for governor, received one vote in Philipstown. Twenty years earlier, Clark had won the 1855 race for governor by 309 votes, after which he quickly enacted a law banning the sale of alcohol. Eight months later, it was overturned by a judge as unconstitutional. A wildfire burned several hundred acres at the Cro' Nest across the river from Cold Spring and spread to the depression known as Cronk's Hollow and across the western edge to Buttel Hill (Storm King). It was stopped to the south by West Point cadets. The Recorder said baker John Lane had dropped several handfuls of naturally roasted chestnuts at the newspaper office. T.C. Baxter showed off a cypress shingle from the Beverley Robinson House near Garrison that had, at one time, sheltered George Washington. [The home, which also sheltered Benedict Arnold, burned down in 1892.] George Edwards, foreman of The Recorder office, left for Massachusetts to become publisher of the Northampton Journal. Its editor, A.M. Powell, was formerly with The Anti-Slavery Standard. The Recorder published the names, grades and attendance records of every student in District No. 3. Nellie Lloyd Knox, an instructor at the Teacher's Institute, lectured at Town Hall on the territory of Colorado. Officer Travis traveled to Albany to arrest Charles Annin on charges of deserting his family. John Halliday's horse dumped him from his wagon near Sandy Landing and ran down Northern Avenue, Church Street, Main Street and West Street. After the horse and wagon disappeared around a corner by The Recorder office, Halliday was seen limping along the route with the whip, blanket and cushion he had picked up by the roadside. Charlie Nelson published a notice denying rumors he had refused an old man a ride on Election Day, saying no one had asked him for a ride. The Special Express, due at Cold Spring at 8:12 p.m., unloaded a stranger who had been struck by the engine while walking on the track above the Breakneck Tunnel. He died inside the depot 90 minutes later. He was identified as John Daley, a brickyard laborer. The engineer said he threw up his hands before being struck. The horse of Milton Wise, secured at the corner of Main and Graden, pulled up the hitching post and took off "as did Sampson with the gate of Gaza," according to The Recorder. 125 Years Ago (November 1899) A meeting was held at Town Hall to organize a military company. Republicans won every part of Putnam County on Election Day except for District 2 in Philipstown. Members of the Cold Spring Hose Co. practiced with their new extension ladders on two Main Street buildings, running hoses to the roofs. William Curry was lighting a lamp in the show window at E.L. Post's dry goods store when he dropped the match and ignited a pile of blankets. He smothered the fire with an armful of comforters. John Donohue, of Garrison, resigned as Putnam County sheriff after being appointed deputy collector of U.S. Internal Revenue for Westchester County. James Smith left for Cripple Creek, Colorado, to look after his mining investments. George Cable of Nelsonville was arrested for not sending his son to school. Capt. Henry Metcalfe was appointed by the Army to oversee the Cadet Corps at Haldane. The Army provided $1,650 [about $63,000 today] for 40 stands of arms and accoutrements and Metcalfe donated $140 [$5,300] for gymnasium apparatus. Titus Truesdell, who owned the pickle factory, agreed to liquidate his assets to pay ...

Also, tentative 2025 budget lowers tax rates The Philipstown Town Board on Wednesday (Oct. 23) approved paving sections of Indian Brook and Lane Gate roads and began revising a draft 2025 budget that would stay within the state-mandated tax cap while lowering tax rates. Supervisor John Van Tassel and Board Members Megan Cotter and Robert Flaherty approved an environmental impact review and resolution to pave a section of Indian Brook Road at the Route 9D underpass and Lane Gate Road between Eden Park and 115 Lane Gate. Van Tassel said the Indian Brook section spans less than 1,000 feet and gets "completely washed out" from storms. He also said Lane Gate will remain untouched for now because it needs substantial drainage work before paving. The labor and materials costs for maintaining dirt roads are "astronomical," said Van Tassel. On Avery Road, which has sections that are paved and unpaved, the town pays 15 cents per foot for the covered sections and $10.78 per foot for the dirt portions, he said. Indian Brook Road between Routes 9D and Route 9 costs $2.24 per foot. The town average is 68 cents for paved versus $6.95 for unpaved, said Van Tassel. Board Members Jason Angell and Judy Farrell did not arrive until after the vote, but Angell submitted a statement to be read in his absence. He noted that the environmental assessment concluded that the projects were consistent with the town's 2023 master plan and would not create stormwater discharge. The master plan calls for efforts to preserve dirt roads, stone walls and other elements that "contribute to Philipstown's rural and historic character," said Angell. He also questioned the answer to the stormwater question. "Is this possible for a paved road or any road project?" he asked. 2025 budget Philipstown's 2025 budget will have a softer impact under a plan proposed by Van Tassel. Unlike last year, when the town approved a budget for 2024 that raised the tax levy by 8.3 percent and the tax rate by 13 percent, the Town Board began revising a tentative spending plan for 2025 that would be under the 2 percent cap and lower tax rates. As submitted by Van Tassel, who said he asked departments to limit their requests for spending increases to 2 percent, the draft budget has $12.9 million in spending with an overall levy of $9.6 million. The tax rate on properties townwide fell by 0.24 percent and for properties outside the villages of Cold Spring and Nelsonville by 1.27 percent. Several revisions were approved, including raising spending for the Philipstown Volunteer Ambulance Corps by 5 percent instead of 2 percent and increasing the hourly rate for its two paid staffers to $22 from $18. Taxes on the revised budget, totaling $13.1 million, will be recalculated and the town will have to schedule a public hearing before voting. Ambulance Corps Van Tassel said the Philipstown Volunteer Ambulance Corps has been responding to calls from Kent since Oct. 1, when an ambulance provided by the Kent Volunteer Fire Department went out of service. Kent is attempting to create a municipal ambulance service, but one call from the town required the Philipstown ambulance to make a 31-minute drive, said Van Tassel. "If our ambulance that we're paying for is in Kent and then going to Putnam Hospital or Danbury, it's not available for the residents here," he said. A vehicle stationed in Kent by the Putnam County Bureau of Emergency Services provides basic life-support service but is not available after 7 p.m., according to Van Tassel. An official from the state Department of Health inspected Kent's ambulances on Tuesday and deemed them fit for service but the town is still without staff, he said. "If I were a resident of Kent, I would be up in arms," said Van Tassel.

Projects visitation starting in 2033 After 14 months of work, the Visitation Data Committee, an independent group representing Philipstown, Beacon and Fishkill, has approved a report for the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail. The committee, created by HHFT to review its traffic and pedestrian data and projections for the proposed 7.5-mile linear park between Long Dock Park in Beacon and Dockside Park in Cold Spring, met for the first time in August 2023 at Little Stony Point. The 11-member committee selected and worked with BFJ Planning to examine trends in visitation throughout Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve - which includes Breakneck Ridge, Mount Beacon, Denning's Point, Little Stony Point and Bull Hill - to project how the Fjord Trail might affect visitation. It includes representatives from Cold Spring, Nelsonville, Philipstown, Beacon and the Town of Fishkill. The Fjord Trail is projected to be completed by 2031, but the report's projections begin in 2033. The committee considered the first two years the trail will be open as "surge years," with higher visitation than usual because of the park's novelty. The report also differentiates between "visitors" and "visitation." The former refers to individuals who will use the trail at any time over a year, including locals. The latter refers to the number of visits. As an example, a resident of Cold Spring who walks on the Fjord Trail five days a week, 52 weeks a year, would count as one visitor but 260 visits. Based on data collected last year, the committee estimated that 55,550 people made 440,400 visits to the trails and parks that make up the Fjord Trail corridor. Notably, visitation at Breakneck Ridge has fallen drastically over the past three years, with nearly 37,000 fewer hikers in 2023 than 2019. The report projects that the Fjord Trail will add 268,700 visits a year by people who would not normally come to the connected parks and trails. That's an increase over the HHFT's projections of 204,900 visits a year. The visits would not all occur at any one point along the trail, such as Cold Spring, it noted. With the Fjord Trail, the committee calculated the visitation in 2033 in the corridor at 637,000 (including residents, cruise ship passengers and hikers at Breakneck Ridge and connecting trails and parks). Data Committee Members Henry Feldman, James Labate (Cold Spring); Phil Cotennec, Jeff Robins (Philipstown); Mayor Chris Winward (Nelsonville); Council Member Amber Grant, Sarah Mencher, Zack Smith (Beacon); Council Member Greg Totino, Planning Board Chair Jon Kanter, Supervisor Ozzy Albra (Fishkill) To project future visitation, the committee looked at numbers over the past several years from similar linear parks, including Walkway Over the Hudson in Poughkeepsie and Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River Walk and Buffalo Valley Trail. It also looked at the increase of visitors recently to the Hudson Highlands, Palisades and Taconic state parks and weighed the Hudson Highlands State Park's easy access via mass transit. This led to the projection that, over the next 10 years, visitation at Hudson Highlands State Park will increase by an average of 3.2 percent per year, regardless of Fjord Trail development. The report also projects that 225,900 of the 637,000 visits will be hikers using the Fjord Trail to reach nearby destinations such as Breakneck or Bull Hill and not spending a significant amount of time on the Fjord Trail itself - a situation called "captured visitation." There's also "shifted visitation," which is visits to the Fjord Trail instead of adjacent parks and trails. The report estimates this will be 31,900 annually, a relatively low number because it expects the Fjord Trail will be a different experience than hiking Breakneck Ridge or Mount Beacon. Reviewing past visitation numbers, the committee determined that the busiest month of the year for the Fjord Trail corridor is October, followed by September and May. The busiest time for hikers to arrive is b...

150 Years Ago (October 1874) The Husted Base Ball Club of Peekskill accepted a challenge from the Kellogg Base Ball Club of Cold Spring to compete for 10 gold badges that would be presented to the winner by Assembly Member Hamilton Fish Jr. When the Peekskill team arrived, Kellogg reported its local catcher was out of town and had been substituted with a Newburgh player. The Husted club protested; Kellogg offered to scratch him from the lineup if Peekskill removed a player who lived in Haverstraw. The visitors refused and left. Alexander Purdy of Breakneck, who had been walking his dog on a string, insisted he didn't hear any of the whistles blown by the northbound freight train whose cowcatcher tossed him over the south track and nearly into the river at Sandy Landing. Purdy suffered only bruises, but his dog was killed. The Cold Spring Recorder noted that District No. 3 spent $11 [$304] annually per pupil but District 13 spent $16.08 [$444], which the editor took as evidence that the schools should be merged. Officer McAndrew drove to the post office with a 3-year-old boy he had discovered playing near the tracks. The boy said his name was Charlie Hemway and that he lived in Matteawan [Beacon]. But suddenly he shouted "Mama!" and pointed to a woman on the sidewalk: Mrs. Daniel Henry of Nelsonville, who identified the boy as her son. He had been missing since breakfast. The schooner yacht Restless ran aground at Sandy Landing and had to be hauled off by the steamer Boardman two days later at high water. The wharf was covered with flagstones from Ulster County for Caleb Mekeel of Nelsonville to add to residences around the village. According to The Recorder, an express train cut off a portion of Mrs. McGwinny's dress when she was slow crossing the track. But Mrs. McGwinny insisted it wasn't true, and that "she is able to look out for herself." The annual hunting match took place on a rainy Saturday. A team captained by C.H. Ferris won with 922 beasts and birds. The day ended with a feast at Town Hall. J.Y. Dykeman was the individual champion with 302 kills. A dog was sent flying by the 8:12 p.m. express but got up and hobbled home. The Lone Star Club, a Black baseball team that the Poughkeepsie Press said was from Cold Spring, traveled to Poughkeepsie to play the Butterflies. The Lone Stars were actually from Newburgh, with The Recorder noting there had not been enough Black men in the village for a baseball team since the 18th century. Among the unusual items displayed at the Putnam County Fair in Carmel were a 200-year-old German trunk, 120-year-old shears and 143-year-old shoes worn in succession by Barnabas, Orpha, Ruth, Chloa, Heity, Polly, Daniel, Timothy, Samuel, Bizar, Jonathan and William Pierce. Four train cars left for the waterworks in Providence, Rhode Island, with iron piping from the Cold Spring Foundry that weighed 17 tons, 20 tons, 30 tons and 50 tons. A fifth pipe being cast weighed 62 tons. At a trustee vote for the Nelsonville school district, incumbent Stephen Mekeel received 19 votes and Isaac Riggs 17. But "owing to some informality," The Recorder said, "the chairman did not declare the result." In a second ballot, Riggs won, 22-17. Alex Skeene showed off a banana he had grown in a greenhouse. The little daughter of John Dillon was pulled off the track near the depot a moment before the southbound 1:51 p.m. train would have struck her. Mrs. Morris Englebride and her daughter were on their way to church when they passed a man walking unsteadily, with his hands in his pockets, across the Foundry Cove bridge. Soon after, they thought they heard a splash, but there was no cry for help. They told their story at church and several men investigated and found a body with "H.M." on the arm and a stamped rail ticket issued at Fishkill Landing [Beacon] for Sing Sing the day before. The coroner concluded that the man had fallen from the train, but it was unclear where he spent the night. Jennie Bailey, the widow ...

Residents lobby officials for accessible parks Having a physical disability is a challenge. Having a physical disability, owning a dog and finding an accessible park presents an even greater challenge. Cali Gorevic, 80, who lives in Philipstown, has difficulty walking. She has two "country dogs" - a golden retriever and a German shepherd - that would benefit from running free and meeting other canines at the town's North Highlands Park on Route 9 at Glassbury Court. The problem, she said, is that the dog park is located more than 100 yards from the parking area. Fabiola Gomez, 62, a New Hamburg resident who suffers from post-polio syndrome, would also like to exercise her giant schnauzer at North Highlands Park. In addition to the distance from parking, she said the gravel and grass path leading to the park is unsuitable for the devices she uses to improve her mobility, such as forearm crutches or a wheelchair. Gomez and Gorevic each complained to the Town of Philipstown but said they were not satisfied by the response. Gorevic wrote Supervisor John Van Tassel in August to suggest two handicapped spaces adjacent to the dog park. Van Tassel responded that a lot isn't possible at that location because Glassbury Court's septic field lies beneath it. Van Tassel expanded on his response in an email to The Current on Wednesday (Oct. 2), writing that "due to terrain and other physical boundaries we cannot make the dog park fully accessible" and that the town had problems in the past when visitors were able to drive closer to the park and added a gate to prevent it. "I'm sympathetic to her wishes to be able to utilize the dog park; it's just not feasible for that area of the park to be handicap-accessible," Van Tassel wrote. Gomez said she contacted the town in June and also reached out to Disability Rights New York, a nonprofit that provides free legal and advocacy services to people with disabilities. In response, DRNY wrote to the Philipstown Recreation Department stating that the federal Americans with Disabilities Act "requires that services and programs provided by local governments be readily accessible to individuals with disabilities," although the ADA qualifies that requirement, saying that when full compliance is impractical because of terrain, "the service must be made accessible to the greatest extent that is structurally feasible." DRNY also noted that the ADA requires public facilities, including dog parks, to provide accessible parking and a "stable, firm, level and slip-resistant" path that is the shortest accessible route to the dog park. Van Tassel said he would ask the town attorney for a legal opinion. Marilynn Glasser, the president of Dog Park Concept and Consulting in Patterson and author of Dog Park Design, Development and Operation, has worked with dozens of communities across the U.S. She said the ADA "absolutely" applies to municipal dog parks but municipalities, especially in the Northeast, often create parks with little or no thought to making them accessible. She noted that while "a disabled person needs to be able to get inside a dog park," they don't necessarily need access to the entire area where dogs are free to run. She said a path to a park should be wheelchair-friendly and that long paths are also more difficult for people on crutches. Shorter, easier paths also benefit people with heart conditions and other health issues, she said. The lack of accessibility at North Highlands Park is not unusual. A survey of local municipalities found no ADA-compliant dog parks in Peekskill, Kent, Fishkill, Putnam Valley or Nelsonville. County parks in Westchester and Dutchess also lack facilities. In Putnam County, Chris Ruthven, the director of parks and recreation, said a dog park being developed with Guardian Revival at Veterans Memorial Park in Carmel will be ADA-compliant. In Beacon, Friends of Beacon Dog Park operates its facility at Memorial Park. While parking is nearby, the site is not fully ADA-com...

Homestyle faced criticism over Trump treats There was nothing sweet about the phone calls Homestyle Desserts Bakery began receiving last week about its butter cookies featuring images of presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, according to co-owner Laura Timmons. The quadrennial tradition, dating back more than two decades, had never drawn controversy until this month, when a Philipstown resident on Facebook denounced Homestyle for putting "the face of a 34-time convicted felon … who incited an attack on our nation's Capitol" on cookies and vowed to stop patronizing the bakery. Then the angry calls began, said Timmons on Monday (Sept. 23). "Why would you do that?" "You guys are disgusting." "We're not going to buy from you anymore." "We're going to tell all our friends." Standing behind the counter inside the Peekskill location (Homestyle also sells the cookies at its location on Route 301 in Nelsonville), Timmons pointed to a stack of white shipping boxes sitting on a table. The bakery is being inundated with a different type of call: Trump fans placing orders for shipments to Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and other states. A story posted by The Journal News on Sept. 20 about the controversy reached Dan Scavino Jr., a Westchester County native who was deputy chief of staff in the Trump White House and is an adviser to the former president's campaign. He reposted it on social media, and Homestyle has been swamped with orders, mostly for Trump treats. On Monday, Timmons said she expected to send out 2,000 Trump cookies and 200 with Harris' image. "We were selling even until that post [from Scavino] went out, and then it shifted," she said. Homestyle has been putting edible images on cookies and cakes for decades, said Timmons, with clients that have included the Yankees and their players. The visages of the Democratic and Republican candidates for president were introduced on cookies about 25 years ago and meant to be a bipartisan diversion, said Timmons. Unfortunately, the hardening divide between Democrats and Republicans has been characterized by increasing hostility. A Pew Research Center poll in 2022 found that growing numbers of partisans view each other as "more closed-minded, dishonest, immoral and unintelligent." Passions have led to attacks on businesses, but typically only if they promote one candidate over another. The owner of a Manhattan clothing store, for example, said a man wearing a Trump T-shirt attacked her last month, apparently angered by a pro-Harris poster in her window. In a Facebook post in response to the phone calls, Homestyle said that its employees and their family members and friends "hold different beliefs and choices" without threatening each other. "Everybody should be free to choose, and fighting over it is not the answer," said Timmons. State Sen. Pete Harckham, a Democrat whose district includes Peekskill, visited the bakery on Sunday (Sept. 22) after hearing about the calls. The senator, who in April 2022 presented Homestyle with a certificate recognizing it as a New York State Historic Business, recorded a video before leaving. "I know that we're divided and I know we're polarized, but cookies? Really?" he said, holding a microphone in one hand and a bipartisan order of six cookies for each candidate in the other. "Threatening a bakery is not a productive way to help your candidate."

Mayor cites 'troubling departures' from agreements When speaking about the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail, "the size of my trust deficit only grows," Mayor Kathleen Foley said at the Wednesday (Sept. 18) meeting of the Cold Spring Village Board. The comment was part of a lengthy statement in which Foley outlined her concerns surrounding the 7.5-mile-long linear park from Cold Spring to Beacon following recent meetings with HHFT officials. Foley, Philipstown Supervisor John Van Tassel and Nelsonville Mayor Chris Winward wrote the state parks department in April to outline their objections to having the trail start at Dockside Park, a move they said would create a tourist destination "in and of itself" and draw vehicular traffic to the village. Foley said on Wednesday that they have not yet received a reply. She said that an Aug. 16 letter from HHFT Chair Chris Davis and Executive Director Amy Kacala did not accurately reflect the outcome of meetings she, Van Tassel and Winward had with HHFT officials on April 20 and May 11, saying it included "troubling departures" from what had been informally agreed upon. She said while one of HHFT's original and primary missions was to help manage and mitigate existing conditions in Cold Spring, the Aug. 16 letter states HHFT has "no responsibility for the mitigation of the impacts on the village of existing visitation." Foley said Kacala has said that the trail is expected to become, "the epicenter of tourism in the Hudson Valley." Many Cold Spring residents believe the village already suffers from overtourism. A discussion about having Little Stony Point serve as a terminus for the trail and a "pause point" for review of the trail's development was replaced in the letter by "general references to the opening of the Breakneck Connector, Breakneck train station, and visitor center and parking at Dutchess Manor," Foley said, with a trail south from Little Stony Point to Cold Spring still identified as HHFT's preferred route. She quoted Kacala as having said at a meeting in September that Chris Davis had misunderstood the schedule and that there would be no pause in construction. The mayor also commented that the letter changes a 2030 timeline for construction at Breakneck and Dutchess Manor to a "nebulous and surprising 2026-27." In addition, she said a role for local boards in decision-making "has been watered down to the worrisome and undefined inclusion of 'local voices and interests'" in the letter. Former Philipstown Supervisor Bill Mazzuca, who had been invited to attend the May 11 meeting, wrote to Davis stating that the Aug. 16 letter included "discrepancies from what I understood to have been verbally agreed to." In early September, state Sen. Rob Rolison expressed concern about HHFT's plans, as did Putnam County Executive Kevin Byrne, who wrote to the governor, state parks and HHFT advocating the inclusion of local leaders in the trail's planning process, citing the "profound effect" a trail entrance at Dockside Park would have on local municipalities and calling for a pause so that "a more expansive review of the local impacts can be considered before proceeding." Foley said: "We've got one chance to get this development right; let's get it right the first time. A great visitor experience for someone from Buffalo or Watertown should not come at the detriment of the quality of life in Philipstown, Nelsonville and Cold Spring." Trustee Aaron Freimark said he was troubled that he had not been informed of the May 11 meeting and said there is a need for greater transparency and trust in the mayor's negotiations with HHFT. "It's a bit disingenuous to represent that you are unaware of what it is I'm doing," Foley responded. "You are copied or forwarded most communications, but you have to read the emails." She pointed out that she negotiates on behalf of the village on other issues including with Seastreak and federal agencies. "You have trust for me there, but where we have a difference...

150 Years Ago (September 1874) Following a report that a student had swam across the Hudson River near West Point in 40 minutes, a former Cold Spring resident, A. Maxwell, claimed he had done it in 35 minutes. "I feel confident I could have done it in 30 minutes but for a stiff breeze blowing me up the river," forcing him to sidestroke. He said Mr. Black, who had followed in a boat, could corroborate. The West Point Foundry organized its second annual excursion for employees and their families aboard the William Cook, which left the dock at 8:25 a.m. on a Thursday with 1,000 passengers. "As early as 7 a.m., the living tide began to flow down the [Main Street] hill" to the dock, reported The Cold Spring Recorder. While James Ruddiman and his family were on the excursion, thieves broke into their home near Little Stony Point and stole $50 [about $1,400 today]. A gold-leaf sign was applied to the plate-glass door at Pelham & Co. Jewelers. A carriage driver stopped his team just as a front wheel knocked down Jimmy Murphy, 4, opposite St. Mary's Church. The boy was not seriously injured. An eagle sat for a time atop the Reformed Church spire. The Putnam County Agricultural Society held its 24th annual Cattle Show and Horse Exhibition over four days at the fairgrounds in Carmel. Clara Louise Kellogg, a diva who had a summer home in Philipstown, gave an impromptu concert in the dining hall at West Point. To reduce fatalities, the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad said it would more aggressively prosecute people who walked on the tracks. A baseball game between the hometown Kellogg team and a squad from Newburgh ended prematurely after William Foster began bickering with the umpire, who called the game after he said the pitcher denounced him as a "____ liar!" The editor of The Recorder defended Foster, saying he had been "goaded into unreasonable passion." The Recorder noted an unusual sight during the slow shipping season: a "cloud of canvas" as 22 ships passed Constitution Island and the dock at the same time. At least 1,500 people in the area had malarial fever, although no one was sure how it spread. "A general opinion has prevailed that the upper lower coves and the marsh are fertile sources," reported The Recorder. It said a man who had recently purchased a home left until "the air became more healthful." [Mosquitoes would not be identified as transmitters of malaria until the turn of the century.] The Recorder called out The Newburgh Journal for its accusation that a Cold Spring team canceled a baseball game at the last minute to avoid losing. After the Putnams' manager said several key players had malarial fever, which can cause shivering, The Journal claimed their "shakes" were probably caused by fear of playing the Magnolias. Richard Denney lost $9 [$250] in Nelsonville while betting on the position of the "little joker" in a game of thimblerig [aka the shell game]. M. Ladue and H. Mekeel killed an adder that contained 27 baby serpents. Henry Porter, superintendent of the gasworks, was awakened at 2 a.m. by cries from the street outside his home. He found a man with a badly sprained ankle who said he had fallen from a pile of lumber in the darkness after getting off a boat. Porter and the watchman took the injured man to the depot in a wheelbarrow, set up bedding and at daylight took him to the friend he was coming to meet. John Chase, while hunting squirrels in DeRham's woods, shot a crane that measured over 4 feet tall. Chase said he would experiment with cooking it. An anonymous reader who attended the Democratic caucus at Town Hall noted strife between two factions, with one claiming the other's delegates had been bribed to make nominations. "In olden times - say 50 years ago - whoever heard of money entering into elections?" he asked. After rowing across the river, the Kellogg club defeated Cornwall, 67-5. The game was called after the Cold Spring squad scored 25 runs in the sixth inning. Dr. Lente reported ...

Brewster company plans Main Street location The state Cannabis Control Board on Tuesday (Sept. 10) approved a cannabis retail license for a Brewster company that has said it intends to operate in Cold Spring. Pleasant View Harvest LLC received a microbusiness license, a catch-all permit that allows an applicant to grow cannabis, process the trimmings into distillates and rosins, and sell buds, extracts and edibles. The company, which declined on Wednesday (Sept. 11) to comment on its plans, notified the Cold Spring Village Board in November that it planned to open a retail business at 137 Main St. The board also awarded a processor license to Two Puffs and Pass LLC, a company registered at an address in Garrison. Processors extract concentrated cannabis and its compounds and blend, infuse and manufacture them for resale. Cold Spring residents voted in 2021 to allow retail sales of cannabis but not on-site consumption. Nelsonville and Philipstown opted out. Cannabis licenses were earlier issued to two Beacon applicants: LotusWorks, at 261 Main St., received a microbusiness license, and Kamel Jamal, a restaurateur who owns Beacon Bread Co. and Ziatun, received a permit for a retail dispensary at 463 Main St.

Stuart's Opera House in Nelsonville will be filled with toe-tapping tunes Friday night, as musicians gather to compete in the Ohio State Old Time Fiddlers Contest.

150 Years Ago (August 1874) When a traveler near the Pacific Hotel hired Theodore Morrison for $1 [about $28 today] to row him to Cornwall, Leonard Schegel offered to do it for 75 cents. The hacks argued; after Schegel struck Morrison with his cane, Morrison shoved him. That's when Schegel's son, James, threw a rock that hit Morrison in the forehead. James was charged with assault, but a jury found no cause for action against his father. A granite crosswalk was laid across Main Street from Garden Street to Kemble Avenue. The Cold Spring Recorder soon after complained that the contractors had not removed the chippings and blocks, creating a hazard that required nearby store owners to keep their lanterns on. Moyse opened a store near the Sunk Mine and, in a display of his service, pushed a barrel of flour and a ham in a wheelbarrow for half a mile to a customer's door. Nine members of the Jubilee Singers of Wilmington, North Carolina, visited the Methodist Church. The Recorder assured readers that those expecting a "vulgar" minstrel would be disappointed; instead, the singers performed "those peculiar songs of the Negro camp meeting, which express a distinct religious idea, although grotesquely worded." A woman who fell off the gangplank of an excursion steamer at the dock was quickly lifted from the river because the tide was high. A rumor that James Ruddiman had drowned spread for four hours until he showed up. A canal boat sank in 15 feet of water at the wharf. It required eight hydraulic pumps to raise but its coal remained on the deck. At his discretion, the town assessor added $30,000 [$825,000] to the value of the New York City & Hudson River Railroad property. The Recorder editor lamented that documentation of the early history of Philipstown was sparse. "Little can be found upon the records but the brief entries concerning the elections of officers and the laying out of roads," he wrote. A Steiner Repeating Fire Extinguisher salesman left samples of its portable home unit with two merchants. W. Foster, of the Kellogg Base Ball Club, was applauded after he leaped aboard a riderless wagon on Main Street, grabbed the reins and brought the horse to a stop. After drinking three beers at a Cold Spring saloon and taking the train home to Garrison, Morris Osborne was struck and killed while walking on the tracks. A station agent found his body at 4:30 a.m. In a letter to The Recorder, a reader noted that Osborne and three other local "drunkards" had died since Jan. 1 and called on the village to enforce its temperance laws. While playing with his children, John Hustis stepped on an iron garden rake and was severely injured by a tooth that went through his shoe. E.J. Pierce, a female physician from the Highlands Medical Institute in Newburgh, delivered a "lecture for ladies" at Town Hall. A young man named Levy was standing at the railroad station when a mailbag tossed from the 9:46 a.m. express knocked the pipe from his mouth. Although the pump at the depot had been repaired, The Recorder noted that the cup was so often missing that thirsty travelers had to borrow the one in the ladies' room. Harry Porter, 8, drowned after falling from the decaying dock on West Street. Three men dove into the muddy, oily water and Capt. George Wise threw a scap net until its iron ring caught on the boy's leg. He was pulled out, but 15 minutes had passed. Isaac Finch, a former Cold Spring resident who moved to Oregon, mailed the editor of The Recorder 8-foot-tall spires of timothy grass. An intoxicated Gilbert Christian was arrested after making a scene inside a Nelsonville store by insisting he could lick any Irishman in town. Nichols and Mckeel constructed a black walnut numismatic cabinet for James Nelson that had 21 drawers. Owen & Webb painted their store on Stone Street to resemble a brownstone. 125 Years Ago (August 1899) While cleaning his bicycle, Fred Andrews lost the end of a finger in the rear sprocket. A horse kicked Frank Warren...

Cold Spring draws new projects A deli, gym and spa are among the projects the Cold Spring Planning Board has recently approved or is reviewing for Main Street. At 72 Main St., work is underway to transform the former home of Kismet into Nobody's Deli. Brian Tormey, the building's owner, told the Planning Board on June 27 that the eatery will offer "affordable quality foods" and "thematically focus on celebrating the local high school and college sports teams." The deli will be operated by Jonathan Flagler and his wife, Tara Sweet-Flagler, owns The Main Course and Sweet Harvest Cafe in Cold Spring, Hudson River Healing and Wellness in Nelsonville and Beacon D'Lites in Beacon. Sweet-Flagler said they are shooting for a Labor Day opening. In addition to a counter and kitchen, a small seating area will be installed in the front of the space and outdoors in a yard between 72 and 76 Main, said Tormey, noting that the building once was home to a butcher and deli. "We are taking what was Kismet back to its roots," he said. Other proposed and approved projects include: 40 Main St. Josiah Garetson has applied to open Foundry Fitness, an unstaffed gym with free weights and other equipment that members can access using a code or key card between 5 a.m. and midnight. Access would be limited to three members at a time, with slots reserved via an app. Safety features would include surveillance cameras, panic buttons, defibrillators and first-aid kits. "The idea is to create the ultimate home gym, high-intensity workout space," Garetson told the Planning Board on June 13. Unstaffed gyms have opened elsewhere, but some Planning Board members expressed concern about the lack of on-site staff and the ability of first responders to gain access during emergencies. "If someone is having a heart attack, what are you going to do?" asked Ben Cheah, a board member. "If there's physical violence between two of your members, what are you going to do about it?" The Planning Board continued its review on June 27 and scheduled a public hearing for July 25 that was later canceled. 133-135 Main St. The building's ground floor is divided into a commercial space and a single-family residence that includes the second floor. The Planning Board voted June 13 to approve an application from Matthew Beachak to convert the first floor of the residence to a commercial space and the second-floor residential space into two apartments with access from new stairs and a rear deck. Beachak also would like to replace the brick stoop and wood porch with a single covered wood porch, extend part of the rear of the building to match previous additions and possibly install solar panels. The Historic District Review Board approved the project on July 2 following a public hearing. Beachak said on Tuesday (Aug. 6) that work will likely begin next summer. 143-145 Main St. Yan Min Cao of the Good Life Wellness Spa applied on July 23 to change the second floor from offices to a spa offering acupressure, foot reflexology, skin treatments, massage and facials. The board has not met since the submission.

For a 14,000-acre state park, Fahnestock can be surprisingly easy to overlook. Summer brings the crowds to Canopus Lake for swimming and paddling, and thousands of hikers pass through each year on the Appalachian Trail. But the rest of the park is oddly quiet, perhaps because it lacks river views and you need a car to reach the trailheads. As a result, people miss the many landscapes that Fahnestock provides: the open plains around Glynwood, the sweeping views on Candlewood Hill, the pine trees and mountain laurel corridors that lead to Earl's Chimney, the hidden lakes, the misty wetlands, the abandoned mines. Rocky climbs give way to wide farm roads which give way to mossy creek crossings. For seasoned trail runners, the park is a stark contrast to the buttery, single-track trails of California or the notorious ascents and descents of the Rockies. Fahnestock's trails demand versatility and focus. "It's a nice blend," said Katharine Spector earlier this week while clearing encroaching bushes on the Charcoal Burners trail. "It's a great way to introduce people to what trail running on the East Coast is really like." Spector introduced a lot of people to Fahnestock in 2023 when she helped create the Fabulous Fahnestock Trail Races, which are routes of 5.5 miles, 25 kilometers and 50 kilometers. Half the proceeds go to Fahnestock. The race returns on Aug. 17; register at fahnestockraces.com. An interior designer who lives in Kent, Spector took up trail running in 2018. She's a fast learner and a fast runner. In October 2021, she became the first person to run the New York section of the Appalachian Trail in one continuous push, covering 85 punishing miles in 26 hours, 24 minutes and 4 seconds. She didn't do it alone. She had a support crew of 15 people, including runners who had failed to set the record themselves. "It's important to have a community that supports you, and to support others as they try to achieve their own goals," she said. "Even if you're a runner who goes on every run by yourself, at some point you're going to encounter this community." Spector went on to help found the Hudson Valley Trail Runners group, which holds weekly runs on Tuesday mornings in Beacon and Thursday evenings in Philipstown. (See instagram.com/hudsonvalleytrailrunners.) The local trail-running community was also responsible for the creation of the Fabulous Fahnestock. During the pandemic shutdown that began in 2020, races were canceled and many outdoor spots, such as Mount Beacon, were closed. But Fahnestock was open, and Spector took on a project to run on every trail. Then Christopher McGovern, who lives in Nelsonville, created his own ultramarathon by plotting out a 50K course that traces Fahnestock's circumference. He uploaded the course to the ubiquitous fitness app Strava, and soon other runners were taking on the challenge and refining the route. For the inaugural Fahnestock race, the McGovern course was revised a bit. It avoids the Appalachian Trail and Canopus since they are likely to be busy on a summer Saturday. However, during the 2023 race, on a blessedly cool day in the middle of a brutal heat wave, I hardly saw anyone on the trails who wasn't racing. Two hundred people took part last year, including many from outside the Hudson Valley. The 50K was won by Shannon Capps of Philadelphia and the 25K by Kyle Boykin of Georgia. Beacon's Eric Diehl won the 5.5-mile by six seconds. Spector is hoping the 2024 race will attract more locals and designed the event to appeal to curious outdoor enthusiasts who would enjoy a leisurely day in a beautiful place, not just those looking to blast through the 50K in six hours. The cutoff times are generous enough that the 25K and 5.5 miles races can be done by hikers. There are prizes for the winners but also for the runner who gets lost the most and the last runner to finish within the cutoff times. (Full disclosure: In last year's inaugural 50K, I banged my knee coming down Round Hill and "wo...

Water purchases deemed ineligible for fed program A Putnam County legislative committee voted to reallocate $370,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds Philipstown planned to use to buy water for the Garrison Landing Water District because the purchases have been deemed ineligible. Legislators on the Audit and Administration Committee approved on Monday (July 29) a resolution to instead spend the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) money on a county Department of Public Works project in the town. They also authorized replacing half of Philipstown's ARPA allocation with $184,835 from Putnam County's General Fund that can be used to reimburse the town for Garrison Landing water purchases. The Rules Committee also had to approve the change, which it did on July 11. A vote by the full Legislature is expected on Tuesday (Aug. 6). Michael Lewis, Putnam's finance commissioner, wrote in a memo that despite "valiant efforts" by the county and Philipstown, "the expenses would likely not be eligible for ARPA and/or not be in compliance with rules for procurement using ARPA funds." John Van Tassel, Philipstown's supervisor, said the town was "misled" by its ARPA consultant into believing any expenses associated with providing drinking water to the Garrison Landing Water District's residents and businesses would be eligible. The town discovered that the guidelines prohibited spending ARPA funds on the water that Philipstown has been buying for the district's 84 users as it connects a new well to the system, said Van Tassel. "Everything provided with trucking water is covered, except the water itself," he said. "I could have purchased a truck to truck the water, built the road, put the piping in, but I can't buy the product that we need with the ARPA funds." Putnam County received $19 million from ARPA, a $1.9 trillion COVID-relief spending plan enacted in 2021 by President Joe Biden. Putnam combined $5 million of its share with an equal amount in sales-tax revenue to create a $10 million pool to share with towns and villages based on their populations. The Legislature approved spending from the pool in July 2022, with Philipstown receiving $740,000, initially to connect the Garrison Institute to the water district. (Cold Spring received $203,000 and Nelsonville, $64,000.) A request by Philipstown to reallocate the sales-tax portion of the funding, $370,000, to instead connect a new well to recharge the district's fading water supply won approval from the Legislature in June. "We are close to getting the well hooked up," said Van Tassel. "We finally got all the approvals that we needed." The well is expected to eliminate the need to purchase water for Garrison Landing. Created in 1998, the water district formerly drew from three wells, but they more recently have been unable to meet demand. According to the town, trucking in water costs $25,000 to $30,000 a month. Fees collected from the water district's customers for operations and maintenance are capped by state law at $20,000 annually, leaving Philipstown to spend town funds to cover the remainder. In its search for a new source, Philipstown considered spending $800,000 to run a mile-long connection from its water tank at the Recreation Center. The town also drilled a 960-foot well that did not turn out to have sufficient water.

A year after record rainfall, Cold Spring still recovering A year ago, Cold Spring was at the center of a record-breaking storm. As much as 9 inches of rain fell on the night of Sunday, July 9 - the equivalent at a colder time of year to 9 feet of snow. Flash floods washed away roads and bridges, flooded houses, disrupted transportation and caused millions of dollars in property damage in the region. In Highland Falls, a 30-year-old woman drowned. In Cold Spring, more than 7 inches of rain fell in just a few hours, inundating the drainage system from Cedar to Fair streets. The village has responded with plans for upgrades to handle the next superstorm. Hahn Engineering has completed the design for a $1.5 million rebuild of a collapsed drain beneath Fair Street. A parking ban remains in effect at Mayor's Park. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will fund at least 75 percent of the work to replace the 30-inch culvert that failed with two, 42-inch pipes. Work could begin late this year or early in 2025 once permits are approved. Because Fair Street lies within the Hudson River floodplain, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and state Department of Environmental Conservation must OK the plans. The Fair Street drain flows into the tidal pool at Route 9D which, in turn, empties into the river, the endpoint for stormwater from the 160-acre Back Brook watershed that begins at Bull Hill, some 1,300 feet above Mayor's Park. "Topography is the biggest challenge we have," said Mayor Kathleen Foley, noting that during the 2023 storm, the volume of water that rushed down the mountains and slopes at high speed was simply too much for the infrastructure. That was evident at Cedar Street, which flooded when the stormwater drain was inundated by water flowing from Bull Hill through the Nelsonville Woods, a situation made worse because the village-owned 18-inch culvert under the street flows into a 10-inch pipe that runs under private property. While Fair Street is Cold Spring's first major project in response to the storm, it won't be the last. Elected officials are racing to find the ways and means to improve a system that, in some cases, dates to the mid-19th century. It's a race against global warming. According to the DEC, extreme storms are becoming a greater threat. Between 1958 and 2010, heavy precipitation in the northeastern U.S. rose by more than 70 percent, the largest increase for any region of the country. The Fair Street project underlines the high cost of upgrading infrastructure. The village has applied for a Hudson River Estuaries Climate Adaptation Study Grant that, if approved, would determine the best options for improving stormwater management throughout the Back Brook watershed. Related: Storm Repairs Ongoing Fuss and O'Neill, a firm that specializes in climate adaptability forecasting, will advise the village on proposed modifications to the system. Hahn Engineering's work delineated the Back Brook watershed and assessed the movement of stormwater within it. Foley pointed out that most residents don't realize Back Brook is a single, continuous stream. That's not surprising because it has been altered many times. It flows beneath Cedar Street and parts of Main Street but is open behind houses on the east side of Garden Street. Hahn recommended that upgrades be made first at the bottom of the watershed by installing larger culverts; dredging open portions of Back Brook; adding retention areas above Cedar Street to slow the flow from Bull Hill; restoring James Pond and creating new ponds; and expanding wetlands. Runoff which shifted into Back Brook because of more recent storms could be altered to again flow into Foundry Brook. Such initiatives would require intermunicipal agreements with Nelsonville and Philipstown, as well as input from the DEC, and Foley said the village is researching grants to apply for and prioritizing them by likelihood of success. "In theory, there's a lot of money out there from the fede...

Beacon to vote Monday on $1.5 million settlement Cold Spring and Philipstown this week approved a proposed $1.5 million settlement with a utility company that abandoned a contract to sell renewable electricity to residents and businesses. The Beacon City Council is expected to vote on the proposal on Monday (July 1). The village and town boards each approved resolutions on Wednesday (June 26) authorizing the settlement with Columbia Utilities, which for two years has fought a lawsuit filed by 10 municipalities that jointly purchased fixed-cost energy under a community choice aggregation (CCA) program called Hudson Valley Community Power. Among the CCA's other former members, the Town of Red Hook, the Village of New Paltz and the Town of New Paltz have approved the proposal. The City of Poughkeepsie and the towns of Clinton, Marbletown and Saugerties have not yet voted. If approved by the state judge in Ulster County handling the lawsuit, Columbia Utilities would admit no wrongdoing but pay $1 million into a settlement fund by Aug. 1 and the balance in monthly $50,000 payments by June 1, 2025. Up to 20 percent of the payout could be used for legal expenses, plus additional funds for administrative fees and taxes. The balance would be distributed in equal amounts to customers who were enrolled in the program as of July 18, 2022. Customers would be able to opt out of the settlement; if more than 10 percent choose that option, Columbia can withdraw. That would negate a compromise forged during a daylong mediation in April involving the parties, Central Hudson and the state Public Service Commission. After that session, the municipalities concluded that a settlement would be "fair, reasonable, adequate and in the best interests" of the CCA customers, according to settlement documents. Columbia Utilities had agreed in 2021 to a three-year contract to supply the 10 municipalities with electricity from renewable sources at 6.6 cents per kilowatt-hour for residents and 7.1 cents for small businesses. Residents and businesses were automatically enrolled but could opt out and continue receiving electricity from Central Hudson. According to program administrator Joule Assets, the 24,000 customers who stayed with Hudson Valley Community Power saved about $7 million before the deal with Columbia Utilities fell apart (including $941,380 in Philipstown, $216,050 in Cold Spring and $651,800 in Beacon) and prevented the release of 25,560 metric tons of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. In February 2022, while CCA customers were paying a fixed rate of 6.6 cents per kilowatt-hour, Central Hudson's variable rate rose to more than 20 cents because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its effect on energy markets. That same month, according to the lawsuit, Columbia Utilities began telling Joule and the municipalities that it couldn't fulfill the contract, blaming Central Hudson's ongoing problems with its billing system. What Do I Pay? In Cold Spring, the CCA's default fixed rate for residents and small businesses through June 2025 in Cold Spring is 12.24 cents per kilowatt-hour for 100 percent renewable energy. In Philipstown and Nelsonville, the default fixed rate is 11.24 cents for 50 percent renewable energy. The standard fixed CCA rate is 9.87 cents. The variable rate charged by Central Hudson, which continues to handle billing, delivery and repairs, was 7.58 cents on June 12 and has averaged 8.3 cents over the past year. It hit 12 cents in March. Customers can opt out of the CCA or change their rate by calling Hudson Valley Community Power at 845-859-9099 on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. In April 2022, the company notified the Public Service Commission that it intended to transfer CCA customers back to Central Hudson, spurring the lawsuit. Although a judge temporarily barred Columbia Utilities from transferring customers, it happened anyway when the New York Independent System Operator banned the company from the energy ma...

Compost reduces greenhouse gases When people trash their leftover salad, chicken bones, uneaten Brussels sprouts and other remnants of evening dinner, they likely don't see themselves contributing to climate change. But they are, and the reason is basic. Each year, 120 billion pounds of food are discarded in the U.S. According to the Harvard University School of Public Health, 95 percent goes to landfills. When that waste decomposes, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas that scientists say accounts for 30 percent of the increase in global temperatures. Earlier this month, the Village of Cold Spring joined the Town of Philipstown's fledgling food scrap program, becoming another of more than 700 communities nationwide that operate them, reaching 12 percent of U.S. households. The Philipstown program, which began in 2022 as a project of its Climate Smart Task Force, is now collecting 1,000 pounds of household scraps each week, the equivalent of 26 tons per year. Karen Ertl, a member of Philipstown's Food Scrap Advisory Committee, said it researched programs across the country before selecting the Town of Scarsdale in Westchester County as a model. Michelle Sterling, a leader in the Scarsdale program, said it has composted more than 3 million pounds of scraps since 2017 and helped at least 50 other communities start programs. "The reception from residents in every place we've helped has been overwhelmingly positive," Sterling said. "People are so happy to have a municipally run program that allows them to recycle." Food scraps collected in Philipstown are processed at Sustainable Materials Management in Cortlandt Manor, which handles waste for more than 30 municipalities and produces 1,000 cubic yards of compost yearly. Michael Fiumara, a compost operations specialist at the firm, said municipalities pay about $60 per ton to dispose of the scraps. The average fee at landfills in the Northeast is $84.44 per ton, according to a 2023 survey by the Environmental Research & Education Foundation. Fiumara said the composting process includes mixing tree debris with the scraps and forcing air into the pile. "Temperatures quickly rise to 160 to 170 degrees inside the pile, killing all weed seeds and pathogens," he said. "Over the next 30 days, temperatures slowly decrease as the bacteria and microorganisms break down the food." After another 30 days, the composted material is ready to be screened. Fiumara said anaerobic conditions in landfills cause decomposing food to create methane, but Sustainable Materials Management's process of forcing air into compost piles maintains an aerobic environment. "When food scraps decompose aerobically, they produce carbon dioxide, water and heat, which is much better for the environment," he said. The environmental benefits of spreading compost in gardens, lawns and fields include improved soil structure and health, increased moisture and nutrient retention and carbon sequestration, he said. Sustainable Materials Management sells its compost to landscaping companies, garden centers and the public. Towns also purchase it, often giving it back to residents as a thank-you for participating. How to Recycle Food Scraps Residents of Philipstown, including Cold Spring and Nelsonville, can join the program by registering at Town Hall at 238 Main St. and purchasing a $20 starter kit (checks only) that includes a countertop pail, storage/transport bin and compostable bags. In Cold Spring, scraps can be dropped off from 8 a.m. to sunset on Tuesdays at a collection bin on Kemble Avenue between The Boulevard and the West Point Foundry Preserve. Scraps can also be left at the Philipstown Recycling Center on Lane Gate Road on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. or on Saturdays at the Cold Spring Farmers Market at Boscobel. All manner of food scraps can be composted, including fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, dairy, bread, rice, pasta, raw and cooked food, bones and seafood shells as well as cut flowers, napkins, paper t...

The Highlands doesn't have the terrain or conditions for the type of disaster that killed 101 people last year on the island of Maui in Hawaii. But that doesn't mean flames fed by 30-foot kindling couldn't spread out of control. Some residents would see the smoke and assume it was morning mist. Others would smell it and wonder if they had missed an air-quality alert. Many would hear the sirens and spot the helicopter buzzing between river and woods, water sloshing over the sides of a 200-gallon bucket. A few people would not realize anything was amiss until they received an automated text urging them to evacuate - assuming fire wasn't blocking their escape. Given last year's soggy summer, the threat of a deadly wildfire may seem remote. New York doesn't have the same risks as the bone-dry scrublands of California and Colorado or the boreal forests in Alberta and Quebec. But there are risks, especially with global warming rapidly changing conditions on the ground. That's because the Highlands is a perfect example of a "wildland-urban interface," which the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) defines as a boundary or zone at which human development meets "vegetative fuels." Think of the unpaved backroads of Garrison, the homes tucked deep in the Nelsonville woods and the forest-bound neighborhood of Beacon Hills. Precisely what makes living in the Highlands so special - its proximity to expanses of protected nature - is also what could make a wildfire so dangerous. The August wildfire on the island of Maui was the third-deadliest in U.S. history, with 101 deaths in Lahaina, a seaside town about the size of Beacon. Over the course of a few horrific hours, a brushfire started by a downed power line ripped through the town, fed by 70-mph winds. Temperatures in Lahaina rose to 1,000 degrees - hotter than the surface of Venus - vaporizing victims. More than 7,000 residents abandoned their homes and 2,200 structures were destroyed or severely damaged. Four thousand vehicles were incinerated, leaving streaks of molten aluminum trickling down streets. Firefighters could not draw water from hydrants because the water system collapsed. The Lahaina fire fed on changes in the landscape that took place over decades, both natural and manmade, such as agricultural irrigation systems that dried out the land. When plantations closed, the terrain was colonized by non-native, highly flammable grasses. Years of warnings about the risk of a devastating wildfire went ignored. These types of changes have no analog in the Highlands. Our deciduous hardwoods are far less fire-prone than the grasses and conifers that cause so much trouble in Hawaii, Australia, Greece and Canada. While droughts seem to be getting more frequent and more intense, even the worst dry spells here pale in comparison to the desertification of much of the West. Nevertheless, local emergency responders and forest rangers have concerns. Thousands of oak and ash trees, killed by invasive pests such as the emerald ash borer and the hemlock woolly adelgid, have become 30-foot-tall, 3-foot-thick kindling. In September 2019, Hank Osborn of the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, who grew up in Garrison, was crossing the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge when he spotted smoke rising above Sugarloaf Mountain. Evan Thompson, the manager of the Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve, saw it around the same time as he drove south from Dennings Point in Beacon. Thompson and others went up the mountain, but they didn't have the right tools. They came back the next day, along with rangers from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which is responsible for fighting wildland fires. The blaze, which likely started at an illegal campfire, had grown substantially overnight. State parks employees, DEC rangers and volunteers used heavy rakes, pickaxes, hoes and shovels to clear a 10-foot-wide firebreak around the base of Sugarloaf - a standard method meant to deprive the fire of fuel. But a...

Severe storms in 2023 caused major damage At their Wednesday (May 23) meeting, members of the Cold Spring Village Board continued the painful task of dealing with aging - and often failing - infrastructure. The village has been working with an engineering firm since early 2022 to prioritize upgrades and repairs to the stormwater system, whose origins go back a century or more. Those needs were clearly evident in July 2023, when a severe storm caused a 30-inch metal culvert to collapse under Fair Street. For safety reasons, parking has since been prohibited at Mayor's Park. In a presentation to the board, Will Angiolillo of Hahn Engineering explained that the root of the problem is a 160-acre drainage basin that takes runoff from as far upstream as Bull Hill. From there, stormwater flows in some areas through underground culverts and in other areas as surface water, with virtually all runoff ending up in the Fair Street culvert. Mayor Kathleen Foley described the drainage network as "a cobbled system that evolved organically," noting the village is trying to apply long-range planning to what is now a "built-up, historic residential community." Angiolillo said improving drainage, including at Cedar Street in Nelsonville, must begin at the bottom of the watershed. At Fair Street, this will mean replacing the collapsed 30-inch metal culvert with two 42-inch plastic pipes, which is estimated to cost $1.5 million. Foley said the village will likely pay for the construction and be reimbursed by the federal government, although she said it wasn't clear how much would be provided. Cold Spring has budgeted about $300,000. When asked if construction could begin by November, Angiolillo said he'd "like to be optimistic" but that the timing depends on the permitting process. The project must be approved by the federal Department of Transportation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the state departments of Transportation and Environmental Conservation and the Putnam County Health Department. In other business … The Cold Spring Boat Club presented designs for upgrading its aging seawall, which Angiolillo described as a good, effective solution. The club, which leases the property from the village, will return at least once more before seeking board approval. The board received notification from the state Office of Cannabis Management that it had received an application from Piffords Inc. for a retail dispensary at 40 Main St., the Cold Spring Apothecary and Wellness House. Foley said the Planning Board has not received an application for a change of use at that address. Gregory Henson was appointed as village clerk and treasurer at a salary of $30 per hour. Henson succeeds Jeff Vidakovich, who will retire May 31. The board waived the 30-day waiting period for a liquor license application for the Cozy Corner Café at 129-131 Main St., formerly the site of Hudson Hils' Cafe. The board approved a bid from T2 Parking Management Systems to add automated lookups for out-of-state license plate numbers. Approval was also granted to purchase updated equipment from Gentech Ltd., which initiates backup generators at the Fishkill Road water treatment plant during power failures.

Helped ID suspect in Philipstown thefts An automated license-plate reader helped investigators with the Putnam County Sheriff's Office identify a man accused of stealing from mailboxes in Philipstown, according to Sheriff Kevin McConville. In his first quarterly report on the use of license-plate readers (LPR), delivered Tuesday (May 21) to the Putnam Legislature's Protective Services Committee, McConville named the Philipstown case as one of several in which the 11 LPRs used by the department have led to the identification of suspects and arrests. The briefing gave Legislator Nancy Montgomery, who represents Philipstown and part of Putnam Valley, an opportunity to renew her demand that the Sheriff's Office publicize on its website the policy governing LPRs, which the Legislature revised last year and approved in December. Under a policy, McConville is to report quarterly on their use, including the number of scans, orders to disclose data and requests from other police agencies and private entities through the state Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). More than 8 million license plates were scanned between January and March and deputies received 6,336 alerts, McConville said. Investigators armed with Ring camera footage searched the scan data to identify the suspect in the Philipstown thefts, he said. "He's also involved in the same crimes in Dutchess County and we're working with Dutchess County authorities to effect an arrest," he said. Scans also helped capture a suspect in a fatal shooting in New York City and led to the arrests of six people involved in a burglary ring with origins in South America, said McConville. The group is "rather extensive and highly organized," he said. Deputies used the LPRs to locate a teenager considered at risk of harming herself, said McConville, and to capture suspects who had been using stolen personal information to open credit accounts at businesses in Putnam County. Police agencies made 15 requests for data, which is stored at Westchester County's Real Time Crime Center and retained for two years, but the Sheriff's Office did not receive any orders to disclose data. The state parks department submitted the only FOIL, and a "search was done with negative results," he said. McConville said in December that the Sheriff's Office is undergoing the accreditation process and that, once the department and its policies are certified, commanders will determine which policies to post online. He reiterated that position on Tuesday in response to questions from Montgomery about giving the public access to the LPR policy. A report from a committee set up to study the Sheriff's Office recommended in 2021 that policies be posted online. Ginny Nacerino, who represents Patterson and chairs the Protective Services Committee, said McConville "gets to analyze and determine what he feels is important." But Montgomery asked: "Where does that leave the integrity of the policies we passed in 2021?" The Sheriff's Office plans to purchase additional LPRs, body cameras and other surveillance equipment using a $119,000 grant from the state Department of Criminal Justice Services. The Sheriff's Office provided three LPRs to the Cold Spring Police Department that are mounted on Route 9D just south of Peekskill Road, at Little Stony Point Park and in Nelsonville on Main Street (Route 301), just east of Peekskill Road. In 2023, Beacon installed LPRs on utility poles at four locations: northbound and southbound Route 9D, Route 52 and Washington Avenue.

150 Years Ago (May 1874) The town and village excise boards met to receive applications for liquor licenses. The only applicant was Mr. Washburn, for his Garrison hotel. The Cold Spring Recorder noted that "temperance people" had been pressuring the boards to refuse all applications. John Van Buskirk, who had received $75 [about $2,000 today] in an estate settlement, came to Cold Spring and, after getting drunk and waving around his cash, waited at the station for the Poughkeepsie train. Depot employees took him inside for his own safety, but Van Buskirk took offense and punched the baggage master. He gave up $10 as a fine and spent the night in jail. A resident reported snowbanks on a mountain road on May 9 as high as his axle. William Wood was taking down the front of his blacksmith shop to rebuild it with a mansard roof, Ladue was adding a story to Boyd's building and George McCabe was having a brick barn constructed behind his Stone Street store. A German strolling band with three brass horns performed in Main Street, with a woman on the baritone. Sands Morrison, 26, died of pneumonia. An anonymous correspondent chastised Continental Village residents in The Recorder: "The people of this place have rendered themselves despicable and conspicuous solely on account of their utter want of interest in church matters. They allowed their little, white, neat, respectable church to remain empty without even so much as a prayer meeting." Another anonymous resident complained about the vegetable hawkers who left at the end of the day "not looking to the right or left for fear they might be tempted to leave a little money in the town where they made it." Isaac Baxter, who grew up in Nelsonville, was a suspect in the robbery of $32,000 [$877,000] from a safe in the Grand Central office of the Hudson River Railroad Co. His alleged accomplice was a clerk there. By a 30-2 vote, Philipstown residents rejected a proposal to raise taxes by $313.50 to pay a bill from the county Board of Health. The Recorder editor noted the bill had to be paid one way or another. John Gallagher had been looking all over the village for Arthur Thompson to settle a score. He found him and pulled a knife but got a severe beating. A 22-year-old sorrel mare that Richard Denney of North Highlands had sold two years earlier in Dutchess County showed up at her old stable. A group of 10 women, working in pairs, went from door to door in Cold Spring and Nelsonville to circulate a Total Abstinence Pledge. A wildfire broke out on Sugar Loaf, filling the Highlands with smoke. Elmore Mekeel drowned while night fishing at Lake Surprise. He was pulled "cramped" from 3 feet of water, suggesting he had a seizure. Two Cold Spring men who went to Newburgh to see Barnum's Hippodrome began to fight on the train home. The conductor put them in separate cars and locked the doors. They were arrested upon arrival and fined $8 [$220] each. The Recorder noted that while May 30 was widely accepted as the proper time to decorate the graves of Union soldiers, "there are no remains of the Union dead in our cemeteries, therefore the day has not been observed here." Cold Spring's brass band instead traveled to Yonkers. On a Saturday evening, a woman with bloody hands appeared at the district attorney's office. The Recorder reported that her husband had been abusive, "but as we hear no more of the case we presume that the formality and delay of the law caused the woman to abandon her complaint." Carl Braasch sold his boot and shoe store on Main Street and returned to Germany. A load of household goods being transported down Main Street went out of control and "a general smashup was anticipated" by bystanders. Instead, the first item to fall off was a sawhorse that wedged in front of a wheel and stopped the wagon. 125 Years Ago (May 1899) Villagers observed Dewey Day to honor Admiral George Dewey, who destroyed the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War. Joe McCarthy, fo...

Airplane Hollow in Wayne National Forest in the Hocking Hills Region of southeastern Ohio is home to a legend of a ghostly plane and its passengers. May 16, 1941 - A legend comes from the area just outside Nelsonville and Carbon Hill, Ohio, about a military plane wreck during a horrible storm on May 16,1941 and the strange things that followed. I want to share this story with you on this stormy eve before the mysterious and haunting event, which was told to me by some folks whose families have lived in the Carbon Hill/Nelsonville mining communities of southeastern Ohio for well over a hundred and twenty years. The story happened to them, leaving an indelible mark on their lives. This is the legend of Airplane Hollow- You can buy my book series on Amazon and in bookstores, including this bit of lore from my Ohio Ghost Guide Haunted Hocking Hills. Watch the video on YouTube and find your adventure where the natural and supernatural collide: Find out more about the Hocking Hills and/or its hauntings: The Hocking Hills Haunted Hocking --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/betweenduskanddawn/support

Utility criticized for seeking higher delivery rates Two administrative judges have recommended higher electricity and gas delivery rates for Central Hudson but rejected the increases the utility sought and demands by elected officials, advocates and customers to deny any hike. The decision, released May 1, follows nearly a year of testimony that began last summer when Central Hudson said that it would seek state approval to raise revenue for electricity delivery by $139.5 million and for gas by $41.5 million during 2024-2025. Under that plan, the utility's customers, including 6,800 households and businesses in Beacon and 5,200 in Cold Spring, Nelsonville, Philipstown and Kent, would have seen their monthly bills rise by an average of $30 for each service. The increases will be lower under the judges' recommendation, which, if approved by the state Public Service Commission, grants Central Hudson revenue increases of $75 million for electricity and $29.6 million for gas, according to an analysis of the decision by the Public Utility Law Project. That's less than the $128.7 million in new electricity revenue and $47.2 million in gas increases requested by Central Hudson in a revised proposal but more than the $65.5 million increase for electricity and $25.1 million for gas sought by the state Department of Public Service (DPS). Even the judge's lower amounts are "way too high," said Jonathan Jacobson, a Democrat whose state Assembly district includes Beacon. "The original request was merely a bargaining chip and was never a serious proposal, so this recommendation is not a win for consumers." How the increases affect monthly bills will not be known until May 21, the deadline for Central Hudson and DPS to submit those figures. Central Hudson's basic delivery charge for electricity is 10.5 cents per kilowatt-hour; for gas, it's $24.50 for the first 200 cubic feet, $1.36 per hundred cubic feet (Ccf) for the next 4,800 and 95 cents per Ccf for additional amounts. But the decision noted that the "general sentiment" expressed at public hearings "was that Central Hudson is not providing basic service and should not be rewarded for its poor performance." The utility is being investigated over billing problems that began in 2021. Rep. Pat Ryan, whose congressional district includes Beacon, described the recommendation as "outrageous." "I'm again calling on the PSC to reject this exorbitant rate increase and hold public hearings," said Ryan. "We need real accountability and relief, not another corporate handout." Central Hudson has said that the additional revenue is essential to replace aging transmission and gas lines, connect solar and wind projects to its system and add personnel and equipment to restore power after outages caused by extreme storms, which have become more frequent. The company also said it planned to expand financial-assistance programs for low-income customers and increase its workforce by 20 percent. Joe Jenkins, a Central Hudson representative, said on Tuesday (May 7) that the company is "reviewing the decision in its entirety and will provide additional information by the end of the month." Overshadowing the process is continued anger over widespread problems that began when the company switched in 2021 to an $88 million customer-service system. Programming errors caused delays in issuing statements that lasted more than three months for some customers and overcharges that affected more than 8,000. Central Hudson agreed to pay for an independent monitor to verify the utility's progress in correcting the sources of its billing mistakes. The company also agreed to end its practice of estimating every other monthly bill and transition to reading meters monthly. The change launched with customers in Orange and Ulster counties and is scheduled to take effect in Beacon and Philipstown this spring. Central Hudson, which during the pandemic shutdown paused efforts to collect past-due bills, announced April 19 it will...

Voice concerns in letter to state parks The mayors of Cold Spring and Nelsonville and the supervisor in Philipstown issued a letter on Wednesday (April 17) opposing plans to start the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail in Cold Spring. The letter, signed by Kathleen Foley of Cold Spring, Chris Winward of Nelsonville and John Van Tassel of Philipstown and read aloud by Foley and Van Tassel at meetings, is addressed to Meagan Fitzgerald, the deputy commissioner of the state parks agency and Linda Cooper, the regional director. State parks is partnering with Scenic Hudson, an environmental nonprofit based in Poughkeepsie, to construct the HHFT, which is proposed to run from Cold Spring to Beacon along the Hudson River. It is the lead agency in the environmental review of the project. "Having the actual trail enter the Village of Cold Spring by any route would irreversibly change the landscape, viewshed and character of the village as well as the experience of all Philipstowners who consider Cold Spring the heart of our town," the three elected officials wrote. "The trail's necessary size, scale and construction requirements, particularly to meet the accessibility goal identified by the HHFT design team, would be outsized for our small residential village." The officials asserted that creating a gateway to the trail in Cold Spring, especially a proposed route beginning at the state-owned Dockside Park, would itself become a tourist destination, creating "an unbearable, unsustainable increase in visitor volume that no number of trash cans and toilets will offset." Instead, the letter advocates simple, "residentially scaled" paths and sidewalks from Cold Spring to an HHFT entrance north of the village, describing that approach as "far more appropriate to our historic, livable community." Foley said the letter represents the views of the three officials but not necessarily of the Village Board. (Van Tassel said the same about the Town Board.) On Wednesday, Cold Spring Trustee Aaron Freimark remarked that he would have appreciated receiving a copy of the letter before the meeting. "It is your right to act unilaterally," he said. "But as a courtesy, we're reminded that we work together as a board." "I accept your good feedback," Foley responded. "At some point, we need to calendar this as a public discussion." Foley also read comments into the record from an April 3 statement by members of the HHFT Data Committee, which includes two Cold Spring residents and Winward, that was critical of HHFT. Thanking the Data Committee for its work, Foley said: "We picked people who know their fields and bring expertise ranging from data analysis to public administration to legal perspective; I wanted that to be part of our record." In a statement on Thursday (April 18), MJ Martin, director of development and community engagement for HHFT, wrote: "HHFT, along with state parks, has been in continued conversation with municipal leadership on the project. Both the letter by the supervisor and mayors and the media statement by the Philipstown members of the Data Committee came abruptly, in the middle of an ongoing process meant to gather information and understand community members' priorities. "It was surprising to learn municipal leadership is taking this stance, as local support for the Shoreline Trail is well documented in both a survey administered by HHFT and a recent independent survey by a Cold Spring resident. Philipstown, including the villages, is a community composed of diverse viewpoints. It is important that all voices be heard."

Join us in this episode as we sit down with Kristina Carmela, the visionary behind the Indiverse Awards. Discover how these awards are transforming the indie author landscape, providing a platform for indie voices to shine and captivate audiences worldwide. Tune in to learn how the Indiverse Awards are not only recognizing talent but also uplifting stories that resonate with readers everywhere. A must-listen for writers seeking inspiration and readers eager to explore new narratives!BioKristina Carmela is the indie author behind the Nelsonville series! A series that will follow 5 best friends over the course of 5 years through 5 sets of trilogies all taking place in the cozy beach town of Nelsonville, Rhode Island! When Kristina isn't writing (or planning the Indieverse Awards) you can find her snuggling with her dog, Goob, jamming out to Taylor Swift or with a spoonful of Nutella in hand!Donation link:https://www.indieverseawards.com/supportReader hub link:https://www.indieverseawards.com/reader-hubSocial Media Links:Website www.indieverseawards.comthreadstiktokinstagramConnect with LizWebsite https://lizbullardwrites.comEmail: liz@Lizbullardwrites.comInstagramTiktokFacebookAmazon Author PageBooksSnow Fall (FREE) Prophecy Trilogy Series

Main Street yoga hub to grow, sell products Over the past three years, Aaron Sanders and Skyla Schreter have turned LotusWorks on Main Street in Beacon into a hub for art exhibits and yoga and wellness classes. In March 2021, three months after LotusWorks opened at 261 Main St., the New York Legislature legalized recreational marijuana, whose effects have long been touted for inspiring creativity and providing relaxation and pain relief. "Cannabis has been aligned with these values of creativity and wellness," said Schreter. "It fits with what we've already built here, as well as a sustainable way to help us support our creative community." That synergy became reality on Feb. 16 when the state's Cannabis Control Board approved 109 marijuana licenses and made LotusWorks the first Beacon business to receive one. The microbusiness permit will allow the couple to grow cannabis, process the trimmings into distillates and rosins, and sell buds, extracts and edibles. LotusWorks will plant its first crop in the spring of 2025. In the meantime, it will source buds, rosins and distillates, as well as joints and edibles such as gummies, from other farms and processors. A series of "soft-opening" events will conclude with a grand opening targeted for April 20, which is an annual holiday in cannabis culture. "We're looking to partner with local confectioners and chocolatiers and be able to have some nice premium edibles," said Sanders. The couple met in California, where Sanders spent years learning how to grow cannabis while employed at farms in the Emerald Triangle, a three-county region of Northern California considered the country's largest area for producing marijuana. He said he will use that knowledge to grow "premium cannabis" next year, although he expects the initial harvest to be relatively small. Marijuana plants are "robust in a lot of ways - they grow like weeds - but they can also be delicate," he said. "It will be nice to be able to give them a little more hands-on attention." LotusWorks is one of 15 newly licensed microbusinesses whose owners graduated from the state Office of Cannabis Management's Compliance Training and Mentorship Program, a 10-week webinar series that covers growing and processing. There are 74 cannabis dispensaries open in New York, including Curaleaf in Newburgh. After New York State in March 2021 legalized cannabis for recreational use, the Beacon City Council allowed sales and on-site consumption by taking no action to prevent them; Cold Spring voters approved retail but turned down on-site consumption; and the Nelsonville and Philipstown boards voted to disallow both types, although they can change course with another vote. The Cannabis Control Board also on Feb. 16 awarded 38 retail dispensary licenses, including one to Rawleaf Enterprises LLC in Wappingers Falls. In addition, the board issued licenses to grow and process marijuana to Harney Brothers in Millerton, in northeast Dutchess County. The state is still considering the 2,232 businesses that applied before a Nov. 17 deadline for microbusiness or dispensary licenses. When the list of applicants was randomized to determine the order in which they would be reviewed, LotusWorks landed at No. 9. "We were as prepared as we could have been, but we also very much got lucky and are grateful for that," said Schreter. The queue, released on Jan. 12, includes at least two other Beacon applicants. Kamel Jamal, who hosted state-approved "growers showcases" last year at the former Beacon police station at 463 Main St., has applied as 463 Station Inc. and is 574 in the queue. Grant McCabe, who owns The Leaf, a Main Street shop that sells cannabidiol and hemp products, is listed at 852 as The Leaf New York LLC. Another company, Pleasant View Harvest in Brewster, has applied for a microbusiness license to sell products from 137 Main St. in Cold Spring. The queue lists Pleasant View at 1,968. In addition, the Cannabis Control Board on Feb. 16 approved reg...

Residents urged to attend two HHFT sessions Cold Spring residents will soon have a chance to express their opinions on the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail (HHFT) as part of a survey being developed by the Village Board. "We've had discussions about how we, as a body, are making sure we're representative of views around the village," Mayor Kathleen Foley said at the Wednesday (Feb. 14) meeting. The mayor advocated conducting the survey and hosting a feedback session for village residents following two public information meetings scheduled by HHFT, which she urged residents to attend. On March 11, HHFT will share its analysis of alternate routes and present an overview of the concept design. On April 3, it will present its visitor projections and visitor management strategy. Both meetings will take place at 6 p.m. at Dutchess Manor at 262 Route 9D. Registration will be required because the room seats only 200 people. Foley noted that HHFT is already surveying residents of the lower village and Fair Street. "We are not talking about a competition with the HHFT survey," she said. "I'm hoping we can establish feedback for our public record and create space for villagers to be heard." "We have 2,000 villagers and I think we have 2,000 opinions," said Trustee Eliza Starbuck. She said a survey would enable residents who are not comfortable speaking in public to voice their opinions. Trustee Aaron Freimark expressed concerns about survey overload, suggesting the village work with other organizations and municipalities or HHFT. Because Cold Spring has no direct influence on state parks or HHFT decisions, "if we partner with them, I'm hoping we'd have a little skin in the game," he said. Trustee Laura Bozzi said she would prefer the village do its own survey and "really think about the questions; villagers would like us to ask for their input." Foley noted that after a public meeting on the Fjord Trail in May 2023, the village, Philipstown and Nelsonville agreed to move forward individually because their needs may differ. "There would be a trust deficit at the board level if we're not asking for feedback directly from our constituents," she said. During the public comment period, several residents agreed the village should conduct its own survey. Susan Peehl, who lives on Fair Street, said she was "deeply offended" by the HHFT survey. She said it contained ambiguous wording and provided little opportunity for resident input. Paul Thompson, who lives in the lower village, didn't share her concerns. "Overall it was quite a balanced survey, with plenty of opportunity to express your views," he said. In other business … In January, village crews dealt with two floods at both Cedar Street and the riverfront. They removed six loads of driftwood and four loads of debris from the riverfront, and the catch basins were cleared six times. Village Account Michelle Ascolillo outlined the tentative timeline for drafting the 2024-25 budget, including a draft no later than March 20, a public hearing on April 10 and adoption no later than May 1. The Cold Spring Police Department responded to 53 calls for service in January. Officers issued 21 traffic tickets, including 12 for speeding, and 39 parking tickets. There was one arrest for driving with a suspended license. The Cold Spring Fire Co. answered 19 calls, including for a structure fire. The village reservoirs are at 99 percent capacity. Beginning in March, meetings of the Zoning Board of Appeals will shift from the first and third Thursday to the second and fourth Tuesday. The board discussed a request for the sale of village-owned property at the rear of 107-109 Main St. Foley was authorized by the board to sign an agreement with New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) regarding installation of electric-vehicle charging stations and an energy study for Village Hall. The board approved adoption of the community greenhouse gas inventory as part of the Climate Smart Communit...

This week, Bishop Cas preached at Greater Works Outreach Worship Center in Nelsonville, OH and gave a powerful message entitled "Dangerous Desperation." --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/truevisionlancaster/support

150 Years Ago (February 1874) Ingersoll Lockwood, the 6-foot-4 former U.S. consul to the Kingdom of Hanover [which became part of Germany in 1871] and the nephew of Cold Spring resident Nicholas Smith, spoke at the Baptist Church about women's faces, both ancient and modern, to benefit the Sunday School. William Garrison, who represented Philipstown on the county Board of Supervisors, proposed that the town be split so it would have two representatives. He noted that, with six supervisors, the votes were often ties, and that Philipstown had a third of the county population but only a sixth of the vote. The pastor of the Baptist church, the Rev. Benjamin Bowen, wrote a long letter to The Cold Spring Recorder in which he offered to pay the salary of the highest-paid teacher in Philipstown for one year if anyone could show him in the Bible a mention of infant baptism (which Baptists do not practice), or where someone had received communion before being baptized, or any documentation of infant baptism before the middle of the third century. While Charles Warren was delivering milk, someone stole $10 [about $250 today] from the cash box on his wagon. Alfred Little painted advertising "business charts" at the post office and railroad station with notices for 13 local merchants and mechanics. While walking on the railroad track at Constitution Island, Arthur Naylor of B Street saw a fox walk out of the woods. He drew his revolver and fired; the trophy was on display at Mosier's oyster and fish store on Market Street. Bernard Daley of Kemble Avenue lost a pig when it was struck by the No. 7 express train. Bystanders with buckets filled at a nearby municipal pump managed to contain a fire at Mrs. McArthur's newsstand on Main Street. S.B. Truesdell was circulating a petition to ask the state to extend the ban on shooting robins from Aug. 1 to Oct. 1, to allow the birds more time to mature. The Recorder reported that, after a snowball fight in Nelsonville got out of hand, a boy complained to his father. The father confronted the first boy he encountered, which resulted in a lawsuit. A farm dog belonging to B.A. Yonmans that followed the horses to church was found dead the next day in the churchyard. It was supposed he had been poisoned. The Recorder reported that 8,100 men, 1,375 boys, 581 horses and 41 steam engines were employed along the river securing the ice crop. One crew managed to get 2,700 cakes into an ice house in a single day. Thomas Avery and William West of Cold Spring, who had announced they would embark on the manufacture of paper bags in the village, were dissuaded by the high rents and instead leased a structure in Fishkill that was built to order. The Wappingers Chronicle claimed that it was common to see men walking in Cold Spring stop suddenly, place their hands on their knees and groan. In response, The Recorder noted that "Cold Spring whiskey is stronger than that to which some visitors are accustomed." The county school commissioner condemned the District 8 schoolhouse and estimated it would cost $800 [$20,000] to build a new one. William Bennett of Nelsonville lost several toes after a 500-pound casting fell on his foot. Members of the Ladies Aid Society and the Presbyterian Church held a masquerade with cakes and coffee at the West Street home of William Coleman. 125 Years Ago (February 1899) At 10 p.m. on a Wednesday, young men walking the tracks from Garrison came upon four teenagers, ages 13 to 15, crying from hunger and cold. One of the boys told Officer McCaffrey that they had been playing at the freight yard near their homes at 32nd Street and Seventh Avenue in New York City when they climbed aboard a freight car for a ride to Spuyten Duyvil. But the train was going too fast for them to jump off and they had to wait until it stopped at a switch near Garrison. The Recorder noted that a bill had been introduced in the state Legislature to allow women to vote in villages and towns concerning matters of tax...

Among state leaders in clean-energy progress Cold Spring is more than holding its own in a statewide race to secure grants for clean-energy initiatives. At the Wednesday (Jan. 24) workshop of the Village Board, Trustee Laura Bozzi reported that the village is currently ninth among 838 municipalities based on points it has earned as part of a state clean-energy program that determines priority for public funding. The Highlands is doing well in general in the fight to mitigate the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change; Beacon is ranked 13th and Philipstown is 25th. Bozzi is spearheading grant-writing for proposed village projects which, if approved by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), would not require matching funds from the municipality. Cold Spring has already received grants totaling $35,000 for initiatives such as installation of LED lighting at the water treatment plant, four electric-vehicle charging stations, an energy audit of Village Hall, street tree plantings, a food scrap pilot program and a pollinator garden at Tot's Park. The approvals for those projects earned the village 6,100 points under the Clean Energy Communities Program. By surpassing 5,000 points, Cold Spring qualified for a $100,000 grant to spend on projects that it must submit within the next few months. If the village reaches 7,000 points, it will be eligible for another $175,000 grant; at 9,000 points, the prize is a $250,000 grant. "We can do it," Bozzi said. "But it's a race against everybody else and before Oct. 1, 2024, when funding levels decrease." The program, which has $25 million to distribute, ends Dec. 31, 2025. The Wednesday workshop included a preliminary discussion of how the $100,000 grant might be used, such as an electric vehicle for the Water Department, a charging station at the water treatment plant, solar arrays on village-owned buildings and energy improvements at Village Hall. The program is distinct from the Climate Smart Communities initiative created by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Cold Spring, Nelsonville, Philipstown and Beacon are among the 401 municipalities registered that can achieve bronze (122, including Philipstown and Dutchess County), silver (10, including Beacon) and gold status. Bozzi said she hopes the village can meet the criteria by spring to apply for bronze certification. Actions undertaken in Climate Smart Communities also earn points in the NYSERDA program. Participation "makes Cold Spring more competitive for state environmental grants, including support in addressing the significant flooding we've been experiencing and to repair our high-hazard dams," Bozzi explained in an email. Planning has already begun for a number of potential Climate Smart projects, ranging from installing LED streetlights and creating forestry programs to green parking lot policies and climate-related public events. Cold Spring already qualifies for Climate Smart points through actions such as joining Hudson Valley Community Power, a program that supplies the village with electricity purchased from renewable sources. "This is an opportunity for transformative funding and statewide recognition," Bozzi wrote. "Our challenge is to move quickly to access the funds before they're exhausted, but we're well on our way." She noted the programs can be leveraged for grants for infrastructure investments to better manage storms and other climate impacts. The board on Wednesday created a Climate Smart Task Force, with Bozzi as its coordinator, to advise the Village Board on the NYSERDA and DEC programs. The board also appointed Erik Brown, John Lane, Hass Murphy, Shamala Kandiah Thompson and Paul Thompson, each of whom serves on Philipstown's task force.

Feasibility study outlines funding challenges A consultant is recommending that Nelsonville pursue a $6.5 million sewer system in which grinder pumps installed at 171 properties would pipe waste to a pressurized main feeding into Cold Spring's wastewater system. LaBella Associates' finalized sewer feasibility study for Nelsonville, released last month, concluded that a traditional gravity-fed system costing $7.5 million was not feasible because of the hilly terrain such a system would have to traverse to connect to Cold Spring. The firm estimated that the pumps, which would grind up solid waste collected in an underground tank on each property and pipe it to a central main, would cost $7,000 each. Their installation, and the removal of each property's existing system, would be covered by the initial funding, but owners would be responsible for maintaining and replacing the pumps, which concerned Village Board members during a discussion of the study on Wednesday (Jan. 17). (See map.) A third option combining gravity-fed pipes with two pumping stations - one near Main Street and Billy's Way, the other near Bank Street and Peekskill Road - would compensate for the hilly terrain but cost $9.1 million, making it the most expensive option. Choosing to go with pumping stations would also require buying land from "agreeable" property owners, said Mayor Chris Winward. "That in itself is not impossible, but time-consuming potentially," she said. Each option would replace the privately owned cesspools, leach fields and septic tanks that village residents use for waste. Because Nelsonville is located in a valley with poor stormwater drainage, those methods, if not maintained, can contaminate nearby surface and groundwater sources, according to LaBella. Preventing that by connecting to Cold Spring's system would send an estimated 80,000 additional gallons of wastewater each day to the village's treatment plant, which has a capacity of 500,000 gallons and treats an average of 290,000 daily. Cold Spring already supplies the 171 Nelsonville properties with drinking water. "This is a time bomb out here - all these cesspools," said Thomas Campanile, a member of Nelsonville's Village Board. "We've got to do something." LaBella's 39-page report, available at bit.ly/nelsonville-sewer-study, also outlines the challenges Nelsonville faces in qualifying for grants to subsidize all or part of the costs. The village's relative wealth ($113,333 annual median household income) and the health of Foundry Brook affect how high it would score on applications for grant programs that prioritize communities that have lower incomes or have waterways that are threatened by wastewater contamination. LaBella recommended that Nelsonville apply for funding through the state's Water Infrastructure Improvement Act, which provides grants for drinking water and wastewater projects and awarded $378 million in December. Winward said that the funding landscape outlined by LaBella, which also suggests the village consider short- and long-term loans, "was not as rosy as we were first told it might be." "I would guess, we wouldn't be at a place of deciding what to do for a year and a half to two years," she said. "Without knowing what the financing will look like, we couldn't bring a final decision to the residents."

Young entrepreneurs shovel for bucks When it comes to winter storms, Sal Pidala and Caden Philippi strongly prefer snow over rain. The white stuff makes them money. Rain does not. The entrepreneurs, who are both ninth graders at Haldane High School, established SDC Lawncare last summer, cutting grass, raking leaves and doing yard work for six or seven residents in Cold Spring and Nelsonville. That customer base expanded considerably after the first snowstorm of the season this past weekend. "We went out at about 6 a.m." on Sunday (Jan. 7), Pidala said. By the time they finished just over eight hours later, they had shoveled or plowed snow at 25 houses, earning $30 to $50 per job. Philippi said they took care of their summer clients first, adding customers as the day wore on, sometimes by knocking on doors. Their smallest jobs took 10 to 15 minutes, but having a four-wheel all-terrain vehicle equipped with a blade enabled them to handle driveway jobs that took up to a half-hour. The work became a bit harder as the day went on. The light, fluffy snow became heavier as the temperature rose and it began to rain. Weekends are the optimum time for snowstorms, Pidala and Philippi said, because they can work longer on Saturdays and Sundays when there is no school. Haldane snow days also work well; the teens closely track the forecast via phone apps. They expressed optimism that more snow is on the way. Both hope to pursue a trade after finishing school, Philippi as an electrician or welder and Pidala as a mechanic. SDC Lawncare can be reached by phone at 845-301-2421 or by email at sdclawncare23@gmail.com.

Q: I'm new to the area, and I wonder if you know where I could find one piece of info. How do the Village of Cold Spring, Village of Nelsonville and Town of Philipstown relate to each other from a governmental perspective? Are both villages in Philipstown, or are all three separate? We live in North Highlands but our mailing address is in Cold Spring. I think we're in Philipstown because we're for sure not in the village. I assume I'm not the only one confused. ~ Julie Sissman A: Far from it. New York has at least three layers of local government, starting with county, town and village; the only states with more layers are Illinois and Indiana. Here is an explanation, using the latest edition of the state's Local Government Handbook. County New York has 62 counties, including Dutchess (home to Beacon) and Putnam (home to Philipstown). Twenty-three counties, including Dutchess (1967) and Putnam (1977), have charters, which allow an administrator (in this case, an elected county executive) who operates independently of the Legislature. City In New York, you live in a city, a town or on a reservation. A city has a charter and usually a mayor. New York has 62 cities; Beacon (pop. 15,541) and Poughkeepsie (pop. 32,736) are the only two in Dutchess. Putnam and 20 other counties do not have cities. Town A town has a supervisor who presides over a board. The state has 933 towns, including Philipstown (pop. 9,731). To confuse things, a city and town can share a name. For instance, there's the City of Newburgh and the Town of Newburgh. Village A village is part of a town and has a mayor or manager. The state has 535 villages, including Cold Spring (pop. 1,993, incorporated 1846) and Nelsonville (pop. 630, incorporated 1855). Seventy-two villages are part of two towns, and five are part of three towns. For drivers, the boundaries of Cold Spring are just past Whitehill Place on northbound Route 9D, just east of Parsonage and Cedar streets on Route 301 and just past Bank Street on southbound 9D. Nelsonville's southern boundary roughly follows Healy Road to Main Street and takes in some of Fishkill Road. Its northern and eastern boundaries touch the Hudson Highlands State Park Preserve. Hamlet Hamlets are part of towns but unincorporated, meaning they don't have their own local government. Philipstown's hamlets include Garrison, North Highlands and Continental Village. Garrison's borders on Route 9D are at Philipstown Park to the north and just past the entrance to the Philipstown Recreation Center to the south. North Highlands extends north from Route 301 on Route 9 to its intersection with Carol Lane; on Route 9D, it extends north from Cold Spring to near the Breakneck Tunnel. Continental Village is east of Route 9 in southern Philipstown. Postal service Your letter address only indicates which post office processes your mail. The Garrison post office serves the 10524 ZIP code (Garrison and Continental Village), while the Cold Spring post office delivers to the rest of Philipstown under 10516.

Several years back, I discovered I had two sisters and a brother on my birth Mother's side. I discovered this years back after researching and meeting up with my birth Mother while in my 20s and 30s. See, I was adopted at a couple of months old, coming from what Peggy, my birth Mother, led me to think were her many children all given up for adoption. I am the only known sibling to meet Peggy over the course of many years. During that time, I had no idea about my sisters until 2014, when a new Ohio law opened up birth records. This paved the way for two of my siblings to be located. A couple of years later, Andrew's daughter found me and Katie, my one sibling, through a DNA match online. Join me Thursday as I chat with my brother Andrew, who has had an amazing life serving his country as a member of the National Guard and his community as a firefighter. We'll discuss what service means to him, how we found one another as adults so many years later, and what it feels like to be reunited with siblings you never knew existed. Andrew Scott Monnin was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1978, two years after I then raised in Toledo and Columbus. He ran Cross Country in High School, then received a two-year associate degree from Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio, Military Emergency Medical Services. From that point, he worked as a firefighter and EMT for Harrison Township Fire Department in Dayton, Ohio, Oct/1999 through 2007. In 2007, he moved to Colorado and joined the Wyoming Army National Guard in March 2008. In 2011, he deployed one year to Afghanistan with Wyoming Cowboy DUSTOFF, and served with 10MTN and 82Airborne CAB. Andrew was awarded two Air Medals while deployed and later hired by the Thornton Fire Department in February 2012 as a Firefighter Paramedic. In Jan 2019, he returned to Afghanistan with Wyoming Cowboy DUSTOFF as Platoon SGT, and served with 1ST Armored Division CAB. While there, he was awarded one Air Medal.In 2021, he transitioned from FF/Paramedic to an Engineer/Driver at Thornton Fire Department. In January 2022, he was promoted to 1SG at the Wyoming Army Guard Unit.He is married to a wonderful wife who continues to moonlight as ER nurse. He has three children, Jordyn 24, Asher 12, Brayden, who is 10. They enjoy running, bike riding, snowboarding and the Colorado Sunshine.Visit my website: https://thehello.llc/THERESACARPENTERRead my writings on my blog: https://www.theresatapestries.com/Listen to other episodes on my podcast: https://storiesofservice.buzzsprout.comWatch episodes of my podcast:https://www.youtube.com/c/TheresaCarpenter76

Removes HVAC to reduce proposed spending by $6.4M The Haldane superintendent this week suggested reducing the scope of the first phase of a proposed building project by $6.4 million, to $29.3 million. The revised project, if approved by voters, would result in an 8.22 percent tax increase over three years, down from 10.5 percent, Superintendent Philip Benante told the school board on Tuesday (Dec. 19). Adopted in October, the district's three-phase master plan includes $108 million in capital improvements over 15 years and is designed to bring its facilities in line with districts that are comparable in quality and size. According to CSArch, the Newburgh architecture firm that drafted the plan, Haldane's facilities are "undersized," with 148 square feet per student, compared with 205 square feet in similar area schools. After completion of the entire plan, the district would have 208 square feet per student, according to CSArch. Benante said the change to the first-phase proposal was a response to feedback from residents that the plan was too expensive and didn't include a more carbon-neutral HVAC system. The lower cost was a result of removing a proposal to replace the system in the district's main building. Benante said that while carbon-neutral options would likely be more expensive, the district wants to study the cost when it includes energy savings. He also said the district was mindful of concerns about contributing to global warming. Heidi Wendel, a Nelsonville resident who was among the community members who spoke out against the proposed HVAC system, said she was pleased that the district was not immediately "going ahead with a dinosaur fossil-fuel system." Wendel, who volunteers with the Habitat Revival Club at Haldane, said she hoped that the proposed upgrades would include preparations for a fossil-fuel-free system, including proper weatherization and insulation. Other proposals in the first phase of the long-term capital plan include a new administration wing at the high school that would have a student center with meal space, a science and tech lab and four classrooms to replace classrooms at the "ill-suited" Mabel Merritt administration building, Benante said. Combined with a small addition to create a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics) innovation lab in the main building, it would amount to an increase of 18,946 square feet. The first phase also would include extensive infrastructure and safety projects, including secure vestibules for the classroom buildings, roof-leak repairs, electrical system improvements, traffic circulation upgrades, faculty bathrooms, upgraded fire alarms, improved Americans with Disabilities Act compliance and the replacement of public-address systems, clocks and security cameras. WHAT IT WOULD COST There are 41 components in the first phase of Haldane's capital improvements proposal. The campus includes a main building, which houses the elementary and middle schools, the old and new gyms and the cafeteria; the high school; and the Mabel Merritt administration building. The descriptions below from a presentation by the superintendent at the school board's Tuesday (Dec. 19) meeting. Safety ($473,124) Secure Vestibules at High School and Main Building Entrances Establishes visitor control by allowing greeter to safely welcome guests and verify identity and purpose prior to granting building access Campus-wide Accessibility Improvements The main building is not ADA-compliant and lacks accessibility at the main entrance, lower level and restrooms. Infrastructure ($5,150,919) Electrical Improvements Replace outdated panel boards in main building; provide electric service to softball field on Route 9D for future scoreboard use; install partial generator in main building Campus-wide Restroom Upgrades Separates student and staff use (regulation); repairs and renovations, including ADA accessibility Main Building & High School Repairs Address leaking roof, cracked mas...

But allows other changes to Nelsonville road Astate judge on Monday (Dec. 11) ruled that Homeland Towers cannot dig up an access road to bury utility lines for a planned 95-foot cell tower overlooking the Cold Spring Cemetery in Nelsonville. But she said the company can make other changes to the road, subject to a building permit Nelsonville issued in 2020 to settle a federal lawsuit. In her decision, Judge Gina Capone discounted claims by neighbors that the right-of-way shared by property owners only allows the company to enter and exit its 9.6-acre parcel at 15 Rockledge Road, and that the commercial use of the property is incompatible with a residential subdivision. Neighbors have battled Homeland and its partners, Verizon and AT&T, for more than three years over the proposed tower, which would be disguised to look like a fir but rise over the tree line. "Our argument is that the scope of what Homeland proposes for the right-of-way is necessary only because it's a commercial activity," which shouldn't be allowed, said Mark Blanchard, an attorney who represents the neighbors. "If Homeland were building a single-family home, it wouldn't have to do anything to the road." Blanchard said that the issue may come down to whether Nelsonville's building inspector decides that overland commercial electric infrastructure requires Homeland to submit a new site plan to the Planning Board, or if he simply revises the permit to allow the utility lines over the right-of-way or over or under private property with a neighbor's consent. Kelly Aran, an attorney for Snyder and Snyder, which represents Homeland, did not immediately respond to an email or phone call seeking comment. After hearing arguments from the Rockledge neighbors, state Judge Thomas Davis issued a preliminary injunction in February 2022 that prevented Homeland from altering the right-of-way, such as widening or paving it to bring in construction equipment. On Monday, Capone kept that preliminary injunction in place for 30 days to allow challenges to her decisions with the state appeals court. Nelsonville initially refused to grant a building permit for the tower. But after Homeland sued in federal court, the village in 2020 issued one as part of a settlement. The permit allows Homeland to widen the driveway, remove trees and resurface the road. Before Capone's decision, it also allowed Homeland to dig trenches for cables and conduits. As Davis had ruled in 2022, Capone said the legal definition of "right-of-way" is over, not under, land. The neighbors also charged in their lawsuit that Homeland trespassed and created a nuisance, and that a surveying company spray-painted and drilled boring holes on their properties in January 2020. And they claimed that Nelsonville's permit was obtained fraudulently because the former landowner, Doug Logan, did not tell the building inspector he was not the road's owner. Capone dismissed those claims. The judge noted testimony affirming past changes to the right-of-way "in a manner consistent with permitting construction, utility and large delivery trucks to access the properties" and to allow for emergency vehicles, which she said should be able to reach every address on the road.

Philipstown troop founded in 1911 Jaiden Gunther of Cold Spring led a recent meeting of Boy Scout Troop 437 at the Garrison Fish & Game Club focusing on wilderness survival. Members of the troop, which is based in Philipstown, learned what to do if lost in the woods and how to build a shelter with sticks, leaves and moss. Gunther, the troop's senior patrol leader and a freshman at Haldane High School, has been a member of the Boy Scouts for three years. He says he loves the organization because it gives him the opportunity to learn outdoor skills while having fun with his friends. "It's not just tying knots," he said. Scouting has a long tradition in Philipstown, dating to October 1911, when Scoutmaster Franklin Byxbe organized Cold Spring Troop 1, according to the Putnam History Museum. Its 20 scouts met on Friday evenings at Grove's Hall, at the corner of Main Street and Morris Avenue. Troop 1 eventually became Troop 37. By the 1930s, it had dissolved and reorganized. Troop 4 in Garrison was created during the same period. At some point, Troops 4 and 37 combined to form Cub Scout Troop 137 and Boy Scout Troop 437, according to records from the National Eagle Scout Association. Leaders like Gunther and Tom Campanile, Troop 437's scoutmaster for the last three years, continue the deep-rooted tradition of Boy Scouts in the community. Campanile, a partner with the consulting firm Ernst & Young, became an Eagle Scout, the highest rank in scouting, in 1989. He has been an adult leader with Troop 437 for 15 years and is the vice chair of the Greater Hudson Valley Council of the Boy Scouts of America, which represents 7,000 scouts in Dutchess, Putnam and five other counties. His vision, he said, is to leave the organization as a "scout-led, adult-guided" organization. "Every success I've enjoyed professionally I owe to scouting," Campanile said. In the past few years, Philipstown scouts have canoed in the boundary waters of Minnesota, traveled to South Korea to participate in the World Scout Jamboree, skied downhill at Whiteface Mountain in upstate New York, sailed in the Bahamas and backpacked in New Mexico. The troop's members have also traveled to West Virginia for the National Jamboree, a 10-day event held every four years that draws scouts from all over the country for activities such as concerts, bike parks and ziplines. Locally, they have organized community-service projects, such as collecting and delivering donations for the Philipstown Food Pantry, building a drop box for old U.S. flags outside the Masonic Lodge in Nelsonville and decorating Cold Spring's Village Hall for Christmas. Aiden Noormae, a first-year scout with Troop 437 and a seventh grader at Haldane Middle School, recently learned how to use a map and compass while completing a scavenger hunt at the Durland Scout Reservation, the Greater Hudson Valley Council's 1,400-acre camp in Putnam Valley. Noormae, who lives in Cold Spring, described the outing, his first as a Boy Scout, as "good for the first 10 minutes," before rain soaked the campsite for the rest of the weekend. But waking up to the smell of doughnuts and hot chocolate wafting through the cold, wet morning air made the trip worthwhile, he said. Jude Morrison is an aspiring Eagle Scout with Troop 437.

Environmental concerns drive call for moratorium Philipstown is moving to impose a six-month moratorium on projects storing more than 10,000 gallons of oil products as it considers zoning restrictions to protect the environment and drinking water supplies. Members of the Town Board voted Nov. 22 to schedule a public hearing for Dec. 13 on a draft law declaring that applications for land uses that include storage of oil products will not be "accepted, processed or approved" for six months. The Town Board would be able to extend the moratorium for two additional six-month periods. Philipstown's zoning code restricts storage tanks and facilities of 400,000 gallons or greater in environmentally sensitive areas. Those areas include the Clove Creek Aquifer Subdistrict, which was created in 2011 and prohibits certain facilities, such as gas stations and landfills, and requires special permits for other uses. But, according to the town, allowing properties to store up to 400,000 gallons of oil represents a significant danger of environmental damage from leaks, spills and the damage to tanks from natural disasters or extreme weather. "We have identified a flaw in the zoning and are addressing it in an effort to protect the environment, specifically the Clove Creek aquifer," said Supervisor John Van Tassel. The aquifer, which lies beneath the creek, parallels Route 9 from East Mountain Road South to the town's border with Fishkill. Groundwater from the aquifer feeds the wells that supply residents and businesses in the highly developed northern part of Route 9, and the towns of Fishkill and Wappinger, the Village of Fishkill and Beacon. Along with Foundry Brook, which supplies water for Cold Spring and Nelsonville, the aquifer was identified as a key water source in the most recent Philipstown Comprehensive Plan, which recommends the creation of a watershed coalition to monitor its quality. The current law applies to "a tank, holding facility, or other container for oil or petroleum of any kind and in any form including but not limited to oil, petroleum fuel oil, oil sludge, oil refuse, oil mixed with other waste, crude oil, gasoline and kerosene." The oil does not have to be for a property's main use; it can also be for "part of the main use, or an accessory use." If the Town Board passes the version drafted, the moratorium would not apply to applications for single- and two-family housing or applications for multiple housing units "provided that the oil storage facility involved in the development is the minimum necessary to meet the needs of the proposed development and does not exceed 10,000 gallons." Commercial developments would be exempt if the oil-storage facility is to be used solely for consumption on-site; the capacity is the minimum necessary for the development's needs; and the capacity does not exceed 10,000 gallons. Property owners applying for "expansion, alteration or modification" of storage facilities that do not call for an increase in size or capacity also would be exempt.

Nelsonville-York vs West Jefferson, 11-03-23.

Nelsonville-York @ Athens, 10-20-23.

Vinton County @ Nelsonville-York, 10-13-23.

Wellston @ Nelsonville-York, 9/29/23.

Nelsonville-York vs Meigs, 9-22-23.

Nelsonville vs River Valley 9-08-2023.

Nelsonville-York vs. Newark Catholic Friday, August 25, 2023

Katy Szapa, Production Roaster at Ruby Colorful Coffees, joins us from Nelsonville, WI for this Coffee People podcast. Katy shares her coffee journey with host Ryan Woldt, and her vision for the future of the industry. Find online: https://rubycoffeeroasters.com/ •  @rubyroasters on Instagram •  Coffee People is presented by Roastar, the premier digital printing company focused on coffee packaging. Roastar can help your small coffee business tell a big story. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.roastar.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@roastar on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Support this show by SUBSCRIBING to the newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://roastwestcoast.substack.com/subscribe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or buy us a cup of coffee at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/roastwestcoast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Head to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.roastwestcoast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for show recaps, coffee education, guest list and coffee news. Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@RoastWestCoast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@RoastWestCoast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Coffee People is one of the premier coffee and entrepreneurship podcasts. featuring interviews with professionals in the coffee industry and coffee education. Host Ryan Woldt interviews roastery founders, head roasters, coffee shop owners, scientists, artists, baristas, farmers, green coffee brokers, and more about their coffee origin stories, how they've dealt with the impacts of Covid-19, why they love coffee, and how coffee and their work makes an impact on their community. If you love coffee, the stories of how things are made and how businesses are built, shopping local, and being inspired, you will love Roast! West Coast, This show is supported by R!WC Industry Partners including: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Roastar⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠San Franciscan Roaster Co⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠., ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ascend Roasters⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ignite Coffee Company⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Steady State Roasting⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Zumbar Coffee & Tea⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Marea Coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Mostra Coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠First Light Whiskey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Camp Coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cape Horn Coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Crossings Coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Acento Coffee Roasters⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Sivitz Roasting Machines⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hacea Coffee Source.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Register to become an organ donor at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://registerme.org/⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/roastwestcoast/support

Carl Blalock and Ethan Sargeant are joined by a trio of Buckeyes to preview Nelsonville-York's football team. Coach Rusty Richards previews what his expectations are for the team, while senior captains Gavin Richards and Tommy Mitchell talk about their efforts to get better. Plus Carl gets mad about the Reds, All on the Sportsfan presented by J&K Contracting.

PJ Reilly talks with Elite Archery pro Darrin Christenberry after his first pro win in over 10 years last weekend at the IBO in Nelsonville. In talking about his journey switching from right-handed shooting to left, Darrin describes the ups and downs and all arounds. He keeps it real and speaks from the heart, and we're pretty sure you'll finish this podcast with an uplifted spirit.

Are you ready for the Starbrick Music Festival, the party event of the summer!? If you don't know a lot about it you can learn all you need to know right here on Main Street TV! The Starbrick Music Festival will be held on July 28th to July 29th at Hocking College in Nelsonville. It will be to help the Chris Roell TBI Foundation supporting mental health, all of the proceeds of this event will go to that foundation. Some of the music you can see includes: Classic Arena Rock, Hairball, Floyd Live, Bronson Arroyo Band, Skinny Molly, and Sabbath! This event will feature camping, vendors, kayaking, tubing and more! Make sure to check out the party event of the summer! Order your tickets now! Link: https://starbrickmusicfestival.com/

Are you ready for the Starbrick Music Festival, the party event of the summer!? If you don't know a lot about it you can learn all you need to know right here on Main Street TV! The Starbrick Music Festival will be held on July 28th to July 29th at Hocking College in Nelsonville. It will be to help the Chris Roell TBI Foundation supporting mental health, all of the proceeds of this event will go to that foundation. Some of the music you can see includes: Classic Arena Rock, Hairball, Floyd Live, Bronson Arroyo Band, Skinny Molly, and Sabbath! This event will feature camping, vendors, kayaking, tubing and more! Make sure to check out the party event of the summer!

Hocking College president talks about women in leadership and how she's always tried to promote other women throughout her lifetime.

Former Hocking College program manager Whitney Goller speaks about Dr. Young's double dynamic leadership style.

Retired Hocking College professor Ed Singer talks about what traits he thinks it takes to be a good leader.

Retired Hocking College professor Ed Singer talks about what traits he thinks it takes to be a good leader.

Former Hocking College program manager Whitney Goller speaks about Dr. Young's double dynamic leadership style.

Hocking College president talks about women in leadership and how she's always tried to promote other women throughout her lifetime.

Welcome to Season 11 of Golf Talk Live! Tune in LIVE Thursday at 6:00 PM Central On the season's first Coaches Corner panel are two great professionals: Jamie Leno Zimron & Jon Decker. Later in the show I'm joined by special guest: Charlie S. Mechem Jr., Former LPGA Commissioner & Author of Arnie & Jack. More on Charlie: Charles Mechem was a lawyer for Cincinnati's prestigious law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister, also a business executive who headed the Taft Broadcasting empire of media outlets, Hanna-Barbera, Kings Island Amusement Park. Then he became the commissioner of the Ladies Professional Golf Association. He was a longtime consultant and advisor to Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. But Charlie is not all business. Born in Nelsonville, Ohio, a small town nestled in the northwestern corner of Athens County, Charlie still thinks of himself as a small-town boy, and is constantly in awe of the many wonderful friends that his career allowed him to meet and enjoy. He and his wife, Marilyn, have three children and five grandchildren and live in California. Join me LIVE Thursdays from 6:00 - 8:00PM Central http://www.blogtalkradio.com/golftalklive Or listen on these social media platforms:  iTunes , Stitcher, Tunein, Castbox, TalkStreamLive & Spotify.

Celeste Parsons, author of Wait Until I Grow Up and editor of Nelsonville From A to Z joins us to talk about her first children's book and read from both. We also discuss her work with Stuart's Opera House in Nelsonville. With 85,000 miles on the bike under her belt since 2000, she is working on another book highlighting her travels across the bike trails of America with her husband.  #CelesteParsons #MondayCreekPublishing #biketrails #Nelsonville #StuartsOperaHouse

The Vinton County and Nelsonville York game came down to the wire Friday night. In the final 90 seconds, a Vinton County drive stalled on a last-second field goal attempt that was unsuccessful, and the Buckeyes held on for a 21-20 win in TVC-Ohio Division action. READ MORE: https://www.thetelegramnews.com/articles/vikings-lose-heartbreaker-to-buckeyes-21-20-in-tvc-ohio-title-game/

Wellston vs Nelsonville-York (September 30, 2022)

Welcome to Golf Talk Live! Tune in LIVE Thursday at 6:00 PM Central Joining me this week on Coaches Corner are two great panelists: John Hughes & Jon Decker. Later in the show I'm joined by my special guest: Charlie S. Meecham Jr., Former LPGA Commissioner & Author of Arnie & Jack. More on Charlie: Charles Mechem was a lawyer for Cincinnati's prestigious law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister, also a business executive who headed the Taft Broadcasting empire of media outlets, Hanna-Barbera, Kings Island Amusement Park. Then he became the commissioner of the Ladies Professional Golf Association. He was a longtime consultant and advisor to Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. But Charlie is not all business. Born in Nelsonville, Ohio, a small town nestled in the northwestern corner of Athens County, Charlie still thinks of himself as a small-town boy, and is constantly in awe of the many wonderful friends that his career allowed him to meet and enjoy. He and his wife, Marilyn, have three children and five grandchildren and live in California. Join me LIVE Thursdays from 6:00 - 8:00PM Central http://www.blogtalkradio.com/golftalklive Or listen on these social media platforms:  iTunes , Stitcher, Tunein, Castbox, TalkStreamLive & Spotify.

Carl Blalock is joined by Nelsonville-York Football Coach Rusty Richards to preview this week's Athens County Game of the Week and what the expectations for this year is for the Buckeyes. Then Carl is joined by Micheal Roth and talk about the Reds losing Joey Votto to season ending surgery and the wild card races. Finally Lebron James has a new contract extenstion with the Lakers, what does this mean for the future of the NBA? All this plus our sure fire hot picks all on the Sportsfan Presented by J&K Contracting.

Ohio author Bonnie Proudfoot discusses and reads passages from her debut novel with Active Voice host and producer Katie Bausler. Goshen Road is told through the alternating voices of a working class family in rural Appalachia over the course of a generation. The book holds stories of a far from easy life in a time of societal transition in one of the most culturally rich and misunderstood parts of the United States. Bonnie Proudfoot moved to the Appalachian region in 1979 and has lived there since, teaching for many years at Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio. She is a fiction writer, a poet, and a glass artist proud to be associated with the Women of Appalachia project. Her novel, Goshen Road  was named Book of the Year from the Writer's Conference of Northern Appalachia, is a Women's National Book Association's Great Group Reads selection,  and was long listed for the 2021 PEN/Hemingway Award for Best Debut Novel. Learn more about the author and where to find her book here: https://www.ohioswallow.com/book/Goshen+RoadPlease subscribe and follow the Active Voice podcast on Apple, Spotify and 49writers.org. Music by Liz Snyder and Alex Kotlarz. Original music for this episode by Erin Heist.   

To celebrate our 500th issue, The Highlands Current is excited to kick off a new podcast. Subscribe and listen in as our reporting team speaks with newsmakers, artists and other people of interest from Beacon, Cold Spring, Garrison, Nelsonville and Philipstown, New York. 

An old cabin is tucked into the trees just outside a small college town in Nelsonville that has a ghost that just will not give up its home. And you can visit it. You can find the story in this book: Ohio Ghost Hunter Guide of the Hocking Hills: Ghost Stories. Haunted Hikes. (https://www.amazon.com/Haunted-Hocking-Ghost-Hunters-beyond/dp/194008704X/) You may be able to see the ghost and perhaps others from the region. On Friday and Saturday, October 15th and 16th, 2021, Hocking College is featuring special ghostly tours of the Haunted Robbins Crossing Village from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., with guided walk-throughs showing some of the most frightening lore in the area. There is a small fee. Robbins Crossing Historical Village 3301 Hocking Pkwy Southeast Intersection by Loop Rd, Hocking Pkwy, Nelsonville, OH 45764 Music from Uppbeat https://uppbeat.io/t/all-good-folks/creep --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/betweenduskanddawn/support

Newark Catholic has opened the season 2-0 for the first time since 2016! Fresh off a week 2 victory 38-14 over Nelsonville-York Coach Aiello joins us to discuss what his team needs to improve on to sustain this success, expecting to win, injuries, how the team has embraced the next man up mentality, and much more!

State investigators looking into shootout in Nelsonville that left a suspect dead and two officers wounded; Ohio native Simone BIles announced overnight that she will also pull out of individual competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games; officers who defended the U.S. Capitol during the failed insurrection of January 6 give emotional testimony before House Select Committee.

To properly worship God requires that people truly know Him. To help remind and teach His people of who He is, what He says, and what He has done - God has established certain practices for His people to participate in throughout the ages. In this sermon, Pastor Isaiah brings out the connection and meaning of the Passover and the Lord's Supper that we practice in the church today after we celebrate a new member joining our church family here in Nelsonville!

To properly worship God requires that people truly know Him. To help remind and teach His people of who He is, what He says, and what He has done - God has established certain practices for His people to participate in throughout the ages. In this sermon, Pastor Isaiah brings out the connection and meaning of the Passover and the Lord's Supper that we practice in the church today after we celebrate a new member joining our church family here in Nelsonville!

New lawsuit filed against OSU in connection with Richard Strauss sexual abuse scandal; two children killed in RV fire in Columbus suburb of Whitehall; Nelsonville firefighter passes away after collapsing in the midst of fire fight over the weekend; Ohio's Republican senator says he is opposed to raising taxes on corporations to pay for federal infrastructure, job creation efforts.

The SportsFan is aired live weekdays on 97 WATH in Athens, Ohio.

Learning about relationships, and how that all works, is a part of becoming an adult. It's an experience that is common to all of us, and though it may be difficult, most of us emerge with no greater harm than a temporarily broken heart, and we get on with our lives.Jodi Blankenship was ready to move her boyfriend into that “used to know” category after three years together. She was young, talented, set to aggressively chase her dreams, and date other people. And this is her story.

In this episode, we talk with farrier Bryan Farcus of Athens, Ohio. Bryan was a director/instructor of a farrier program at Meredith Manor Equestrian Centre in Waverly, WV for 14 years. In addition, Bryan was an adjunct farrier instructor for Hocking College in Nelsonville, OH for 6 years, and breifly served as a guest instructor for an Equine Science program at Salem International University in Salem, WV. Bryan's other accomplishments include both a Master of Arts degree with a specialization in equine education and also a Bachelor of Science degree in the area of business.   You'll gain some great insights from Bryan's experience on how to relate better to horse owners, the importance of farrier/client communication, and some of his most memorable experiences.

Brian Koscho, Marketing Director for Stuart's Opera House, joins me via phone to discuss the 2015 Nelsonville Music Festival, which is less than a month away, people! Get your tickets at nelsonvillefest.org.Playlist:Connections - “Cruise Control” from Into SixesEzra Furman - “Restless Year” from Perpetual Motion PeopleBlack Lips - “Drive-by Buddy” from Underneath the RainbowOblivians - “Oblivion” from DesperationBassholes - "Supersonic Blues" from Boogieman StewWooden Indian Burial Ground - “Sparklerella” from Wooden Indian Burial GroundHoward - “Song About Something” (single)Adam Torres - “Dusty Wing Spirit” from Nostra NovaSan Fermin - “Parasites” from JackrabbitSt. Vincent - “Prince Johnny” from St. VincentHurray for the Riff Raff - “Ode to John and Yoko” from Lookout MamaElephant Revival - “Birds and Stars” from These Changing SkiesRyley Walker - “Sweet Satisfaction” from Primrose GreenGood English - “The Fire Walk” from 2015 demos - bandcampNatural Child - “Firewater Liquor” from Dancin' with WolvesBuilt to Spill - “Never Be The Same” from Untethered MoonDownload this podcast: pat_radio_Apr_30.mp3

Hezron Clarke was born and raised during his earlier years in the District of Moy Hall District, St. James, Jamaica, before migrating to the U.S.A. Whilst in Jamaica; Hezron developed his talent, being an ardent member of his church choir. His musical gift was evident to his family and friends who facilitated its development however possible. After his migration, Hezron continued to expand on the dexterity of his vocals by naturally transitioning into singing R & B, but was not entirely satisfied within that genre, as his calling was deeply embedded in the rich Reggae music of his homeland. As such, he was compelled to return to Jamaica to fulfil his true calling of being an outstanding Reggae artiste.   Hezron's latest performance at the 2012 staging of the “greatest one night  reggae show”- “STING”, has left no doubts in the minds of the public as to his versatility, and vocal dexterity,  Narda "NADIVA DEVEREAUX" Malcolm was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica. In 2002 she entered the Jamaica Festival Song Competition and was placed 3rd in the entire island. She has entered and won several local contests and prizes in Jamaica. One of these great prizes was a scholarship to study Hospitality Management in the United States. While in college she majored in Hospitality Management with a minor in Music Production and Performance. In 2007, she graduated with honors from Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio. Then from Virginia State University in 2009 and the University of Delaware in 2012. Nadiva's talents are not limited to singing and song writing. She also makes some of the beats for her songs. Her repertoire consists of R & B, easy listening Reggae,Dance Hall Reggae, pop and soul.  caribbeanradioshow@gmail.com  call in 661-467-2407

Recordings I made at this year's Nelsonville Music Festival. Enjoy!Play List:Catherine MacLellan - "The Raven Sun" Anais Mitchell and Jefferson Hamer - "Willie's Lady"The Hiders - "Wooden Woman" Old Light - "Ocean Waves" William Tyler - "Hotel Catatonia" Endless Boogie - "General Admission" Screaming Females - "Doom 84" Reigning Sound - "You Got Me Hummin'"Wheels on Fire - "Black Wave" Jonathan Richman - "No One Was Like Vermeer" Sharon Van Etten - "Give Out" Sundresses - "Harpoon Dagger" Mavis Staples w/ Jeff Tweedy - "You Are Not Alone"Download this podcast: pat_radio_June_13_2013.mp3Fine Print: If I didn't get a chance to talk to you and ask for permission and you want your stuff removed, write me at patradio | at sign | gmail | dot | com, and I'll take it down.

This podcast features the second half of my interview with Brian Koscho, marketing director for the Nelsonville Music Festival. We scratch the surface of the fifty-plus musical acts at this year's show, talk about the history of the music festival, and learn about the other features of the festival beyond the music.Play List:Wilco - “I Might” from The Whole Love Mavis Staples - “I Belong To The Band” from   You Are Not Alone Cat Power - “Always On My Own” from   Sun Sharon Van Etten - “Serpents” from   Tramp Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers - “Heaven In Stereo” from   Teenage and Torture Screaming Females - “Crushing the Kingdom” from   Chalk Tape Wheels on Fire - “Broken Up” from   Cherry Bomb Gogol Bordello - “My Companjera” from   Trans-Continental Hustle Jonathan Richman - “Sa Voix M'Atisse ” from O Moon, Queen Of Night On Earth Calexico - “Splitter” from   Algiers Old Light - “Pretty Machete” from   The Dirty Future The Coup - “Your Parents' Cocaine (feat. Justin Sane from Anti-Flag)” from   Sorry to Bother You Lee Fields & The Expressions - “Still Hanging On” from   Faithful Man Los Hacheros - “Cha-Cha Herzlia” from   Pilon Download this podcast: pat_radio_May_26_2013.mp3