The Catskill Chronicle

A high-risk arrest warrant training exercise at an abandoned hotel, while in the background, Undersheriff Eric Chaboty watches the team deploy. 

Story and photos by Ted Waddell

SULLIVAN COUNTY – “When the bell rings, you’ve got to go in and stop the carnage,” said Sullivan County Sheriff Michael A. Schiff of the county’s new emergency law enforcement response team.

A full-auto live training exercise at a shooting range.

In recent years, the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) has witnessed a dramatic transformation on the watch of a trio of former New York State Police Troopers: Sheriff Michael A. Schiff, Undersheriff Eric J. Chaboty, and Chief of Patrol Arthur J. Hawker.

Over the past four years, the SCSO has added a fleet of distinctive black and white patrol vehicles, a ramped up marine unit, a horse mounted patrol, and on May 1, 2009 a rapid response team became operational.

“In February 2006 we had one of our deputies fired upon going to a domestic in a hostage/standoff situation on a bitter cold night,” recalled Sheriff Schiff of the February 3, ’06  incident outside Narrowsburg in which Deputy Cyrus Barnes responding in a marked patrol car to a call at the residence of 51-year old William “Chris” Morris was promptly fired upon by Morris wielding a vintage 45-70 Springfield rifle. One slug from Morris’ rifle punched a large hole in the driver’s side door, a shot that narrowly missed the officer.

Practice makes perfect. Serving a high-risk arrest warrant on a bad guy in a vacant hotel.

That scenario sparked the local sheriff and undersheriff to put the creation of a response team on the front burner. It was already on their minds in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre of April 20, 1999 in which two students gunned down 12 fellow students and a teacher before taking their own lives. The Columbine incident marked the fourth deadliest school massacre in U.S. history, after the 1927 Bath School killings, University of Texas shootings of 1966 and the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre.

“We started thinking about it seriously after deputy Barnes pulled up in the driveway and the guy took a shot at him with a buffalo gun,” said Chaboty. “It was an inch below his butt…Cyrus had the presence of mind to shine the car’s spotlight in the guy’s face, back out of there before the guy could reload, and then call for backup.”

A live-fire night training exercise.

Less than a month before the SCSO team got the green light to go operational, a suicidal gunman killed 14 people in Binghamton, NY, about an hour from the Sullivan County border.

Schiff stated that in the aftermath of Columbine, tactical law enforcement response to armed and deadly hostage/shooting situations changed in essence from “sit back and see what happens” thinking, to a pro-active response to shut down the suspect(s) quickly without further loss of precious life.

On that cold and rainy night back in February ’06 deputies responded from Monticello – and those who were off-duty – from home; with their own weapons, and although a NYSP tactical rifleman (sniper) responded in short order, it took almost  3 ½ to four hours for a NYSP mobile response team to arrive at the scene.

Sheriff Mike Schiff and his tactical response team at a shooting range.

“People are under the misconception that here is a [NYSP] SWAT team standing by at the Liberty barracks or at headquarters in Middletown waiting to be called out, but that’s not the case,” said Chaboty. “Those guys do a great job, they’re phenomenal, but it takes a while to assemble them…we need a team that’s able to respond now, resolve it quickly, or hold it down until the State Police arrives.”

“This isn’t instead of the State Police, it’s until they can take the field,” added Schiff.

To view more photos or to purchase prints from Sheriff’s Office Unveils New Tactical Response Team visit the Chonicle on Zenfolio.

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Story and photos by Ted Waddell

HIGHLAND LAKE – If your idea of a librarian is a wire rim spectacled little ‘ole lady sitting quietly behind a stack of dusty books, forget about it!

On Saturday night, October 24, Laura E.J. Moran, the adult programming coordinator at the Western Sullivan Public Library and much-published poet, pulled out all the stops before an overflow crowd during a benefit performance for the North American Cultural Laboratory (NACL). Her stunning performances proved once and for all that librarians can be smokin’ hot in addition to being well read.

“Eden’s collection of poetry, found art, film and sound track speak directly to that moment when Eve is deciding whether to take that bite of not,” said Moran. (Looking at the photo on the right it is evident that the question of whether or not to take a bite out of that apple resonated with many in attendance.)

Advertised as an “Art Installation & Spoken Word Tunes”, the show lived up to it’s billing as when the black curtains were pulled back, the audience stepped  into the Garden of Eden Art Installation, a universe complete with a stark red tree trunk below which was a pile of bibles surrounded by crosses fashioned from branches, all bordered by old rusty truck hoods upon which were written biblical quotes referring to Eden, creation, and the forever ordained battle between good and evil, the dark side versus the light of salvation.

The art installation was a co-creation of Moran and John Roth, and the text painted on the abandoned hoods was taken from Revelations, Genesis, Songs 8.5, with a bit of St. Augustine and the Song of Solomon 2.5 tossed in for good measure.

“Out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil”…Genesis.

Before Aran L’Amour, a wickedly wacky satiric poet from another era took to the stage as the opening act, two young barefoot girls wended their way like smoky wraiths handing out apples from wooden baskets. Inviting folks to take a  bite of forbidden fruit, only if they dare to risk the snake. Beware the serpent!

Early in the show, Roth took center stage belting out some hard rockin’ as Moran behind a strobe-lit translucent screen donned her evening’s outfit, a shimmering chimera of a disco dress and a pair of silver go-go boots.

Once on stage, Moran ripped through a rapid-fire series of original poems and songs geared to making the audience think about where we’ve been and where we’re all headed; “Gossilalia – a poem containing quotes from the bible and gory journal details references to a book on Northeast Indian tribes that we loved as kids”, to “Mrs. Till” written for Mamie Till, the mother of Emmet Till, a teenager killed in the 1950s because he was black.

“The sheriff’s department returned the boys casket to his mother with the
lid screwed shut because he was so badly beaten,” Moran explained.
“She demanded an open casket funeral which thousands of people attended.”

Moran’s live in-your-face poetry and songs from the likes of Lead Belly and Woodie Guthrie, and musical influences from Neil Young to Nick Cave, and from Neko Case to Ennio Morricane were neatly woven between instrumental music by Kurt Knuth (guitar), Dan Brinkerhoff (fiddle) and Marc Switko (percussion), along with vocals by Tannis Kowalachuk, John Roth, Vickie Diescher and Kristin Broussard.

Moran is the recipient of the 1992 Jean Garrigue Award, and as a headliner travels extensively across the United States and overseas. In addition to having her works published in several volumes, she is featured on PoetrySuperhighway.com, and is the curator/host of First Fridays: Contemporary Writers Series at the Tusten-Cochecton branch of the Western Sullivan Public Library.

As the author of “Eden”, a foot stompin’, thought provoking, gut wrenchin’, soul stirring performance piece, Moran said the work was inspired by her desire to explore the moments of decision, “that pivotal moment…Eden is the very center of original sin, from old bible stuff to modern day, the domestic white-fence middle class America caught in original sin facing decisions that are being made right now that can alter our Eden, such as gas drilling.”

“I see this as our natural paradise and decisions [about gas drilling] can cast us out of Eden,” she added, making no bones about her stand on the controversial subject of potential natural gas drilling in the Upper Delaware River Valley.

In the program notes, she referred to her home in Milanville, PA nestled within the hills of the valley as “a real garden more beautiful and fragile than Eden ever could be.”

As the evening drew to a close, Moran led the crowd in a spirited sing-along of Guthrie’s “All You Fascists”…

”Gonna tell all you fascists, You may be surprised, People all over this world, Are getting organized…You fascists are bound to lose…”

Photo at right – At one point in the evening John Roth took center stage while Laura Moran danced behind a strobe-lit translucent screen.

To view more photos or to purchase prints from Moran Knocks ‘Em Outta Thier Setas at NACL visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.

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WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a provision authored by Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) that formally urges the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct a new study on the risks that hydraulic fracturing poses to drinking water supplies. The Senate is due to pass the identical bill in the coming days and President Obama is expected to sign the measure into law soon after that. Earlier this week, members of the Interior Appropriations Conference Committee, including Hinchey, signed off on the Interior and Environment Appropriations bill and report for fiscal year 2010, which contains the study provision.

"While natural gas certainly has an important role in our national energy policy, it’s imperative that we take every step possible to ensure that our drinking water supplies are not contaminated or adversely impacted in any way," Hinchey said. "This legislation puts Congress on record in support of a new, comprehensive study that will examine the impact that hydraulic fracking really has on our water supplies. The study results will put us in a position to take any further steps that are necessary to protect our drinking water supplies from the chemical concoctions being pumped into the ground by energy companies."

In May, the congressman asked EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson at a House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee hearing about the need for such a study. Jackson told Hinchey that she believed her agency should review the risk that fracturing poses to drinking water in light of various cases across the country that raise questions about the safety of the natural gas drilling practice. Hinchey’s measure would formalize that congressional request for an EPA study on the risks that toxic chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing pose to drinking water supplies in New York and across the nation. The EPA did conduct a study on the matter in 2004 under the Bush administration, but that study is widely considered to be flawed for a variety of reasons, including the way data was selectively collected from sources that had a vested interest in the oil and gas industry while other relevant information was ignored.

The language that Hinchey had inserted into the report reads, "The conferees urge the EPA to carry out a study on the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and drinking water, using a credible approach that relies on the best available science, as well as independent sources of information. The conferees expect the study to be conducted through a transparent, peer-reviewed process that will ensure the validity and accuracy of the data.  EPA shall consult with other federal agencies as well as appropriate state and interstate regulatory agencies in carrying out the study, and it should be prepared in accordance with EPA quality assurance principles."

In the now infamous 2005 Energy Policy Act, which Hinchey strongly opposed and voted against, the then Republican-controlled Congress exempted hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), which was designed to protect people’s water supply from contamination from toxic materials. This loophole, which some have called the Halliburton Loophole, created an extremely dangerous set of circumstances.

In June, Hinchey, Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-CO), and several of his colleagues introduced the FRAC ACT — Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act, which would close the loophole that exempted hydraulic fracturing from the SDWA and require the oil and gas industry to disclose the chemicals they use in their hydraulic fracturing processes. Currently, the oil and gas industry is the only industry granted an exemption from complying with the SDWA.

"It is critical that our communities are assured that the process of hydraulic fracturing is safe and will not contaminate drinking water supplies," said DeGette (D-CO), Vice Chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. "I will continue to work with EPA to encourage a robust study of hydraulic fracturing and its potential impact on drinking water."

Hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking,” is used in almost all natural gas wells. It is a process whereby fluids are injected at high pressure into underground rock formations to blast them open and increase the flow of fossil fuels. This injection of unknown and potentially toxic chemicals often occurs near drinking water sources.  Troubling incidents have occurred around the country where people became ill after fracking operations began in their communities. Some chemicals that are known to have been used in fracking include diesel fuel, benzene, industrial solvents, and other carcinogens and endocrine disrupters.

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MOUNTAINDALE – After several years of planning and preparation, the brand new Mountaindale Railway Station will have a grand opening celebration on Saturday, November 14th at 9:30 a.m.

Located on Railroad Station in Mountaindale, across from the Post Office, this municipal building features public restrooms and excellent parking access for the trail head of the Rails to Trails to Woodridge and beyond. 

The restoration was made possible through a New York State DOT TEA-21 Grant and in-kind donations from Sullivan County, the Town of Fallsburg, and local Mountaindale businesses and civic groups. 

Although it is state-of-the-art new construction, its design is based on the 1920 architectural plans of an New York, Ontario & Western Railway (O&W) building proposed for Mountaindale but never before built. 

When the new facility was originally proposed for Mountaindale by then County Planning Commissioner Alan Sorensen and local architect, Robert Dadras, longtime resident and train history buff, Ken Schmitt recalled having seen the old blueprints in the O&W Railway Historical Society archives in Middletown, NY. 

Now that these modified plans are finally completed, it’s been a labor of love for Town Engineer, Will Illing to see to all the final details of design and decor. 

Both the interior and exterior have been painstakingly modeled after actual O&W depots of decades past. Ken and Barb Schmitt of the Mountaindale Community Development Project (MCDP) have been working with Will to curate a permanent exhibit of O&W train photographs so that visitors will have a feel for the mammoth engines that rumbled past Mountaindale until the railway closed operations on March 29, 1957. 

Mountaindale is regarded by many as an enchanting, charming community. This new public building adds to its uniqueness and sense of place. Attending the ribbon-cutting celebration will be speakers like John Taibi, renowned author of numerous O&W books, county historian, John Conway, and a musical tribute to the railroad era by Paul Lounsbury (pictured at right), performing his original multimedia composition, "A Catskill Mountain Trilogy." Steve Levine, who was the Fallsburg Town Supervisor throughout the entire project will also attend. 

Refreshments will be provided by the Mountaindale Action Committee and the MCDP. This event is free and open to the public. All are invited to enjoy a day in Mountaindale, hiking along the Rail Trail, strolling along our picturesque Main Street, and walking in the Labyrinth at the Sandburg Creek RiverWalk.

The MCDP was founded by Mountaindale residents Bob Hunter, Ken Schmitt, Karen Larson and Barbara Schmitt, in order to accomplish the community development goals set forth by Mountaindale residents during a two-week visioning session conducted by the Catskill Center for Conservation & Development. The organization is committed to the sustainable development of Mountaindale as a year-round business and arts community that enriches the lives of residents, merchants and visitors through creative and innovative initiatives.

For more information, please call Barb Schmitt at 434-4747.

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Story and photos by Carol Montana

The Sullivan County Democratic Party celebrated in a big way on Saturday night, October 24. Over 200 people came together to fundraise and party, and honor 10 special people for their many years of service.

The evening was a star-studded event, attended by notables such as U.S. Representative Maurice Hinchey, N.Y.S. Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, Chairman of the Sullivan County Legislature Jonathan Rouis, candidate for Supreme Court Judge in the 3^rd Judicial District James Gilpatric, and many, many more, including the star of the evening N.Y.S. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

Hosted by Party Chair Steve Wilkinson, and held in the atrium of the CVI Building in Ferndale, the Jeffersonian was a cocktail event this year rather than a sit-down dinner. Tables skirted the room, but most people preferred to stand and mingle. Entertainment was provided by Lori James and Tim Hamblin.

During his opening remarks, Wilkinson introduced the new Sullivan County Democratic Party Web site: www.SullivanDemocrats.com.

The 10 honorees represented seven different Sullivan County towns. They were either past committee members, now retired or present committee members working for the party in their retirement. Each was presented with a plaque and citations from various elected officials. The honorees were: Salvatore Indelicato from the Town of Cochecton, Albert Schick from Fremont, George DeSio (pictured at left) and Gloria Rothstein from Mamakating, Donald Terbush from Neversink, Christene Myers form Highland, and Verb Konviser, Charles Cohen, Arline Lipsky and Alice Walter from the Town of Fallsburg.

Following the presentations the crowd heard from Congressman Maurice Hinchey and Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther who introduced Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo proved to be a dynamic speaker and rallied the crowd toward the end of the evening, saying that he had been elected Attorney General because of them.

The Sullivan County Democratic Committee was one of the first in the state to endorse Cuomo in his 2006 race for attorney general.

To see more photos from the 92nd Annual Jeffersonian or to purchase photos, visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.

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After looking over the results of our poll, we have chosen the name Elder Berries for our elder/senior section.

We hope that you like the name we have chosen for this section for it brought a smile to the eyes of those we consulted and a nod of agreement that the word elder brings with it a connotation of wisdom and that berries are best when they are ripe.

We appreciate everyone who took part in our poll and gave us help in choosing a name for our elder/senior section. We hope too that those who come and visit these pages may find a respite from the day’s troubles, camaraderie in the joy of being alive and help through daily struggles. – The Catskill Chronicle

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Story By Brian Powers – Phoenicia Times 10/22/09 – reprinted with permission.

ALBANY – State Assembly members and others turned up the heat on NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis at the Capital in Albany on October 15, following his testimony on the agency’s September 30 release of newly proposed gas drilling regulations for the Catskills and central New York State.

The first of 26 witnesses to appear before the Assembly’s ENCON Committee, Grannis spent hours fielding questions on those regs from both upstate & downstate legislators, most fairly critical of what they see as inadequate review and protections outlined for public health and safety and for the safety of water supplies and the environment.

“While DEC is fully committed to protecting the NYC watershed, it should be noted that approximately 70% of the land (there) is privately owned,” said Grannis. “While there have been many calls for an outright ban on drilling in the watershed, such a ban would limit the mineral rights of private property owners. Our conclusion, following comprehensive examination, is that if drilling takes place, there is no substantive basis to believe that water quality will be degraded. “

Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell from Manhattan’s Upper West Side responded by saying, “Property owners have rights, but millions and millions of people who drink the water have an interest, too,” and that DEC’s job is, “ balancing rights involved and interests involved. If you don’t think the risk is substantial, what’s substantial?”

DEC Committee chair Robert Sweeney from Suffolk County questioned Grannis on matters ranging from his understaffed agency’s ability to handle enforcement (“We have 17 people” said Grannis) to contradictions between the new regs and the City’s as-yet-unpublished consultant’s report.

Sweeney also questioned the lack of cumulative impact study both for water withdrawals approved up to 25 million gallons per day, and for the broader impact of large scale drilling.

Grannis answered by saying that drilling sites will be limited to one per square mile but added that, “We have no way of making a judgment at this point how many wells will actually be drilled. We have 54 applications so far.”

New York City’s acting DEP Commissioner Steven Lawitts reiterated his agency’s “grave concern.. at the prospect of natural gas drilling in the watershed.” He asked for an extension of the state’s 60-day public comment period now in progress, so that their consultants could complete their report on the potential for gas drilling to adversely impact the City’s water supply system.

In a separate statement, U.S. Senator Kirstin Gillibrand also called for a similar extension from DEC.

“If our study or the NYS Department of Health review should conclude that gas drilling currently proposed will create risks to our watershed, then the price tag will be at least $10 billion for the City and its water customers,” Lawitts added. “If the state decides to permit this activity, then it must include and account for (those costs) in any regulatory framework that would allow drilling in the watershed.”

According to Grannis, a final document on drilling regs will be ready next spring.

Meanwhile DEC has scheduled its single public hearing on gas drilling for this region at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, October 28, at Sullivan County Community College’s Seelig Theatre in Loch Sheldrake. NYC’s sole hearing will be held November 10 in Stuyvesant High School’s auditorium. The public comment period is, for now, set to expire November 30.

Comments may be emailed to dmnsgeis@gw.dec.state.ny.us or mailed to dSGEIS Comments, Bureau of Oil & Gas Regulation, NYSDEC Division of Mineral Resources, 625 Broadway, Third Floor, Albany, NY 12233-6500.

*Chronicle Editor’s note – The New York City watershed covers some 1,900 square miles in the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson River Valley. The watershed is divided into two reservoir systems: the Catskill/Delaware watershed west of the Hudson River and the Croton watershed east of the Hudson. Together, the systems deliver approximately 1.4 billion gallons of water each day to nearly 9 million people in New York City and Westchester Orange, Putnam and Ulster counties.

The Catskill Water Supply System, completed in 1927, and the Delaware Water Supply System, completed in 1967, provide about 90 percent of New York’s water supply. The combined Catskill/Delaware watershed cover 1,600 square miles. Drinking water from the Catskill/Delaware system is of high quality and is delivered to New York consumers unfiltered. – US Environmental Protection Agency

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Racing action.

Story and photos by Ted Waddell

KAUNEONGA LAKE – Legends motor racing is like a blast from the past with a 21st Century twist, and is one of the more popular events at Bethel Motor Speedway.

Legends on the track as drivers vie for position.

Legends are 5/8-scale replicas of American autos from the 1930s and ‘40s, and are set up to extremely strict specifications to make sure the cars are similar, as they utilize the same parts (full tubeframe with integral rollcage, FIA approved five-point harness, coil over with Bilstein shocks) 205/60R 13 BF Goodrich Comp TA HR4 tires, and sealed Yamaha 1250cc motorcycle engines, pumping out 122 hp.

Weighing in at 1,300, the little cars of yesterday have a high power to grip ratio, a factor that makes for exciting racing.

According to the rule book governing Legends, they are classified as INEX-Legends, which stands for “INEX”pensive.

In 1992, race officials at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (previously known as Charlotte Motor Speedway), noted a need for less costly racing cars with
little maintenance, and discovered the motorcycle-engined Dwarf Car, a 5/8-scale steel-bodied fenderless replica of a 1935 Ford coupe, manufactured in Phoenix, Arizona by the Dwarf Car Company.

A Legend at speed.

To meet their idea of racing, they adapted the Dwarf Car to create the Legends Cars, which are manufactured from less expensive fiberglass with enclosed fenders.

These cars competed in early NASCAR Modified Tour races, and the first Legend car took to the track at Lowe’s in April 1992, introduced to the world by track president and general manager Humpy Wheeler and road racer
Elliott Forbes-Robinson.

Legends Cars are produced by 600 Racing, Inc. of Harrisburg, North Carolina, reportedly the largest mass producer of race cars in the world. Available body styles: 1934 Chevrolet coupe, 1934 Ford sedan, 1934 Ford coupe, 1937 Chevrolet sedan, 1937 Dodge coupe, 1937 Ford sedan, 1937 Ford coupe, 1937 Chevrolet coupe, 1937 Dodge sedan, and 1940 Ford coupe.

The popular form of motor racing started in the United States, but has spread around the globe to include Canada, England and Scotland, which also host championships.

Fifteen-year old Chris “The Young One” Young took the checkered flag in first place.

Several internationally famous drivers have stepped up from seats in Legends to faster rides, drives the likes of Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Reed Sorenson, David Regan, Kyle Busch, and Kurt Busch.

*This is the third story in a series on the Bethel Motor Speedway. Be sure to check back for future stories, both here, on our main page, and in the Chronicle’s Sullivan Sports Snapshots.

To read more about “The Young One” see the Sullivan Sports Snapshots.section.

To view more photos or to purchase prints from A “Legendary” Tradition visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.

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Story By Paul Smart – Phoenicia Times – originally published 10/8/09 – reprinted with permission of the publisher – Brian Powers / Photos added by Leni Santoro

ALBANY- The state Department of Environmental Conservation has finally released its first draft of an environmental impact statement that proposes new laws for natural gas drilling in New York’s Marcellus Shale after 18 months of study and several delays. State officials say the guidelines, which are 809 pages long and extremely detailed, address key concerns including the disclosure of fluids used in the drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing as well as the on-site handling of drilling waste.

The draft materials now face a 60-day public review period. There will be no public hearings where the public can make statements for the record.

Almost immediately, however, the DEIS’ release has generated heated debate, pitting local environmental organizations concerned that the state will not ban drilling inside the New York City watershed, or the Catskill Park, against state legislators from the region who say what’s been written may be the best we’ll get.

At the same time, the Catskills’ most noted geologist, Dr. Robert Titus of Hartwick College, has said that as far as he can surmise, the Route 28 corridor, including Shandaken and Olive, is outside the effected area, and a more productive shale area under Utica to the north and west may end up rendering most of the concerns about the Marcellus moot, in the long run.

He did add, however, that citizens should report whenever they are approached by gas companies about drilling to this paper, and his office, anonymously if need be, so as to better chart where drilling companies are looking.

As for the main fact that the DEC’s proposed laws don’t seem intent on protecting the Catskill Mountain area that supplies drinking water to 9 million people, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said in a news release following the DEIS release last week that, “The state’s mitigation proposals are half measures. I believe the choice is simple: we either correct this error and ban drilling now, or soon enough the officials entrusted with protecting our environment will be asked to explain why they were asleep at the switch when it mattered most.”

Sullivan County-based Catskill Mountainkeeper, meanwhile, noted that the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Study offered some limited protections concerning the New York City watershed and disclosure of chemicals being used, “But overall, this report clears the way for the commencement of large scale gas drilling in New York State in 2010 without adequate protection for the general public in the Catskill region, the New York City watershed, the Catskill Park and in other environmentally sensitive areas.”

“Unless elected officials, the media and especially the public speak out powerfully and quickly the entire state of New York and our region, in particular, is going to be put at extreme and unnecessary levels of risk,” continued Ramsay Adams, Executive Director of Catskill Mountainkeeper. “In the last year and a half since the commencement of drilling, there have been an extraordinary number of reported accidents connected to gas drilling in nearby Pennsylvania. It is highly questionable whether local authorities will be prepared to handle the wide variety of responsibilities for monitoring and tracking accidents as well as preparing local police, firefighters and healthcare institutions to adequately respond to emergencies… The impending gas exploration and drilling is the single biggest industrial undertaking in the history of New York State.

Members of various fishing and other organizations throughout the area, meanwhile, started e-mailing about images and stories concerning massive fish kills in areas where the new gas drilling technology has been used around the county.

By early this week, though, some defenders of the DEC were lining up. State Senator John Bonacic said on Monday that he supports the DEC’s “generic” environmental impact study, noting that “natural gas is our own backyard is something that should be extracted” and how drilling would boost local economic vitality.

“In life you can worry about everything, but you have to make intelligent, balanced judgments, and in my mind, we have done that,” he said. “We have strengthened DEC to impose these very strict regulations and at the same time, we are allowing the process to continue to enhance our domestic energy supply to become more independent of foreign oil.”

State Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, who head’s his legislative body’s powerful Energy Committee, sent out a press release the day after the DEIS’ release that said that tapping the Marcellus Shale formation for a short term natural gas supply would provide New York with the opportunity to develop a reliable indigenous fuel supply. “

We have to recognize that we are using natural gas, and even if it is a transitional fuel as we move toward energy independence in New York State, we will need to use natural gas,” he said. “Isn’t it better that we extract it responsibly from New York State and have it here at our doorstep than have it shipped across the country from places like Louisiana where its coming out of swamps with virtually no environmental regulations or coming out of places like West Virginia where their idea of how you get at a mineral is to blow the top off a mountain.”

Provisions in the proposed laws would make New York State’s environmental protections more stringent than those in many other drilling areas, the document’s supporters assure.

New York Gov. David Paterson the new study in July, 2008 after media investigations found that the DEC had told state legislators that hydraulic fracturing was safe, even though the agency had not studied or discussed the sometimes dangerous chemicals that it uses and that later wind up in its waste.

Hydraulic fracturing has made the Marcellus Shale and other difficult-to-reach deposits of gas accessible to drillers. The process shoots millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals underground at high pressure to break up rock and release gas. According to some estimates being touted by those seeking permits for drilling, the Marcellus holds enough gas to meet the country’s natural gas needs for more than 20 years.

Geologist Bob Titus, however, wonders how far the Marcellus actually goes… and whether it reaches our area.

“The farther east you go, the more likely that the Marcellus has been metamorphosed (‘cooked’) during New England mountain building events. That drives the gas out of the shales,” he wrote in an e-mail this week. “Conventional logic states that very little exploration will occur in Ulster or Greene counties. The chances of good gas plays increase as you approach the Pennsylvanian border. Plays are likely to be pretty good as you pass through Schoharie, Delaware and Otsego counties. And people are very optimistic about the Utica Shale, which may have even more gas than the Marcellus. Most of it is north of the Mohawk River.”

Titus added, however, that the key now is to keep an eye on what gas drilling companies, which have been hitting major stalls due to chemical spills and other problems in nearby Pennsylvania, are up to.

Likewise, Catskill Mountainkeeper is urging people to read what they can of the proposed DEIS and make comments to the state however they can. “

Catskill Mountainkeeper does not believe that gas drilling should commence until it is proven that it can be done safely. The DEC report does not do enough to ensure that goal,” Adams said in a second e-mail following the DEC release last week. “We are urging all elected representatives and residents of New York State to educate themselves as quickly as possible. When the trucks are rolling it will be too late to begin to understand the reality of what we’ve allowed ourselves to get into. We have to act now. This is our last chance to do something to mitigate or stop gas drilling.” A

Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther of Sullivan County, meanwhile, has announced that the Assembly Standing Committee on Environmental Conservation will hold a single hearing on the Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement governing natural gas drilling on the Marcellus Shale formation in Sullivan County and the Southern Tier of New York on Thursday, October 15, in Albany, starting at 9:00 AM in the Legislative Building.

The SGEIS is available at http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/47554.html

Public comment period on the draft will be open until November 30.

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Story and photos by Ted Waddell

LOCH SHELDRAKE – “Inherit the Wind”, a 1955 play by Jerome Lawrence and
Robert Edwin Lee was brilliantly adapted to the local stage by Ron Nash with vocal music arrangements by Lori James.

Staged by the Forestburgh Theatre Arts Center (FTAC), an outgrowth of the 65-year old Forestburgh Playhouse, “Inherit the Wind” is a fictionalized account of the world-famous Scopes “Monkey” Trial in which John T. Scopes was convicted in the sultry summer of 1925 of teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution to a high school science class, contrary to a Tennessee state law that banned the teaching of evolution. The trial took place in Hillsboro, Tennessee, and the original authors of the play used it as a powerful and thought-provoking parable to explore the then contemporary state of McCarthyism and anti-Communist investigations conducted by the House Committee of Un-American Activities (HCUA) and the then-mighty Senator Joseph McCarthy before his fall from grace…

To read the rest of Ted Waddell’s story on the Forestburgh Theatre Arts Center production of “Inherit the Wind” – Creationism vs. Evolution please visit the Chronicle’s Theatrical Previews and Reviews page listed under our Theater, Dance and Poetry section.

To view more photos or to purchase prints from “Inherit the Wind” – Creationism vs. Evolution visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.

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Story and photos by Carol Montana

MONTICELLO – Over 50 people attended a forum at the Ted Stroebele Recreation Center in Monticello on October 21. Sponsored by Sullivan County TRIAD, Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) and the Sullivan County Office for the Aging (OFA), the open forum was the beginning of what will hopefully be ongoing discussions on empowering Sullivan County to build successful aging-friendly communities.

It is the goal of such communities to allow older adults to live safely, independently and with dignity in their own homes, and with the appropriate support services.

The forum was opened by CCE’s Bonnie Lewis, R,N, Caregiver Resource Center Coordinator. She explained the concept of aging-friendly communities, and presented a PowerPoint presentation showing demographics of the senior population now and in the coming years, and migration to and from Sullivan County. Lewis also spoke about the importance of social and civic engagement and programs that foster independence. 

“Older New Yorkers want to live independently and age with dignity in their communities,” said Lewis. “It isn’t so much what can the community do for me as much as what, as a community, are we going to do for each other to make sure that we all are treated with respect, dignity and security.”

Lewis introduced the crowd to the concept of a livable community, “affordable and appropriate housing, supportive community features and services, and adequate mobility options, that facilitate personal independence and engagement.” 

The importance of volunteering was also stressed. Lewis said that “there are lots of opportunities out there to make your retirement much more meaningful.”

Lewis then introduced Joanne Macklin, Executive Director of the NYS Coalition for the Aging and Statewide Caregiving & Respite Coalition of NY.

Macklin also presented a slide show and talked about successful community-planning initiatives in Broome, Clinton, Orange, Schoharie, Allegany and Westchester Counties, as well as Ithaca, Albany, parts of the Adirondacks, New York City and other areas.

“Most of these initiatives have been going on for over 10 years. So this is not a fast process. If you’re just starting your activities here in Sullivan County, don’t give up.” 

Following Macklin’s presentation, OFA Director James Lyttle opened a public hearing. Discussions included budget cuts, health-care reform, the lack of assisted living and adequate transportation in the county, Medicare Part D, and several other topics. “The county has requested we cut $136,138,” said Lyttle. 

“This is your turn for us to listen to your comments about our services and programs,” said Lyttle.

Priscilla Bassett, co-chair of the Senior Legislative Action Committee (SLAC) asked, “We all know how absolutely imperative are the services offered by the OFA. Now, where in the world are you going to find $136,000 to be cut, because we already know as the years and weeks go by, we have more and more seniors arriving on the scene. …”

President of the Monticello Senior Citzens and SLAC co-chair, Roz Sharoff said, “I think it’s obscene. There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t refer one or two people to your office, and to ask you to cut money from the very people who need it, it’s outrageous.”

Legislator Leni Binder responded that “The county is not cutting because it wants to. … We can stand here and we can complain and we can scream … the county and the state and the country are in a downward spiral. … We have to start lobbying the federal and state government to cut the tax exempt situation. If we even cut a fraction of our tax exempts, places that are tax exempt a whole year when they’re in operation six weeks of the years, thousands and thousands of acres, we wouldn’t have a budget deficit. … Certainly no one is going to cut all the senior services. … I do not have the answers. … Everyone is in the exact same situation.”

Minnette Kramer, Legislative Aide for Assemblyperson Aileen Gunther suggested the following: “If everyone in this room would help somebody in one way or another, and ask a friend to help someone … and keep it going, the OFA would have a lighter load. Please think about a neighbor, a friend … help them. It makes you feel so good to do something for somebody. It’s good for your mind, it’s good for your body. It’s a healthy thing. Try it.” 

The public hearing ended with Tula Brown, Health Insurance Information Counseling and Assistance Program (HIICAP) Coordinator giving an update on new provisions and new costs for Medicare Part D.

To find about the services of the the Sullivan County Office for the Aging, call 845-807-0241 or visit SCOFA on the Internet.

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Students from Livingston Manor line up for the start of the DARE parade in Jeffersonville Wednesday night. – Provided photo.

MONTICELLO – The Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office in conjunction with The New York State DARE Officers Association hosted the 2009 School Safety and DARE Conference this week at the Villa Roma Resort.

DARE and School Resource Officers from around the state converged on Callicoon this past Sunday, October 18, for five days of seminars and training on youth and school related topics. This year’s conference was expanded to allow educators and school administrators to attend.

The week’s activities culminated Wednesday night with a DARE parade in the Village of Jeffersonville.

Leading the parade was Miss New York 2009, Alyse Zwick. Following, were police cars from as far away as Auburn, Herkimer, Scotia, and Cayuga County. They were escorted by DARE students from local schools who marched down main street just after 7:00 PM. The hit of the parade was a Toyota Celica confiscated from a drug dealer and turned into a DARE car by the Syracuse Police Department. The car featured ground effects lighting, subwoofer speakers and a 27 inch flat screen TV in the hatchback.

Sheriff Mike Schiff thanked Mayor Ed Justus, the Village of Jeffersonville , and the Jeffersonville Fire Department for their enthusiastic support of the DARE parade.

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Story and photos by Carol Montana

LIBERTY – Allen Wright knows an opportunity when he sees one. He’s been a property owner in Liberty for over 15 years. But when he moved to Liberty full time in 2008, Wright really started noticing the vacant store fronts. “It struck me that this is an opportunity to use it as an art space.”

So Wright marched into the Liberty Community Development Corporation (CDC) office – unannounced – and said “you know I’ve got this great idea, blah, blah, blah, I’m here, how can I help.”

Wright was welcomed as a volunteer, and has worked on several different projects including the holiday lights on Main Street. This past May, he became the CDC’s Project Director, and the first thing he was tasked with was his idea about using vacant store fronts – and some other stores – to exhibit art.

“So I put out a call that I spread around to different art galleries and businesses,” said Wright. “I went to the Catskill Artists Gallery and told them to spread the word. People started to talk about it and contacted me at the office. Very slowly it started to happen.”

Then Wright had to contact the property owners. And that was actually easier than it sounds, because the CDC office is right across the hall from the Village of Liberty code enforcement officer. “She knows who owns everything,” Wright says.

The result of all the work is the Liberty Art Walk, which had its opening reception on Friday, October 9 at the Liberty Museum and Art Center. There are 10 artists in 13 displays from South Main Street to North Main Street – all on the east side of the street.

At the reception, Wright thanked everyone involved and told the artists, “You can’t imagine how often people stop me and compliment me on your work.”

CDC Executive Director Heinrich Strauch explained that the CDC is a “private/public partnership and membership based organization that was incorporated five years ago to focus on the redevelopment of the community. That means not only economic development, but also beautification, housing, youth activities, anything that makes Liberty a more livable and attractive place to live for the residents.”

Some of the CDC’s projects include a microenterprise program that helped nine business get started or expand; a skate park that will hopefully be built next spring; and a housing development for working families and seniors. “We also did a beautification project which culminated in the traffic circle that was completed this spring,” said Strauch.

Funding for the CDC comes from the Town and Village of Liberty, the Gerry Foundation, private memberships and approximately 60 paying members.

Three of the artists whose work is on display accompanied several community members on the walk to see the displays.

Nick Roes, whose drawings are being exhibited at Sunflower Health Food Store, works mostly in art markers. “They are bright colors and when you make a stroke you can’t take it back.” Roes’ work has been used to raise funds for both WJFF Radio and NACL Theatre in Highland Lake. Roes said the Liberty Art Walk “sounded really interesting and exciting. It was a no lose proposition. It ‘s great for the artists and great for Liberty and it’s a lot of fun even being here today, I’m glad I was a part of it.”

At 13 South Main, you can see the work of Silvia Sanza, who does multi media assemblages. “I think that anything that brings people to Main Street and gets them to stop and see all the beauty, I mean the architecture is lovely and to me it has all the important things that make a good main street – a library, churches, a dollar store and if the windows are something that draw people in I think it’s great.”

Donna Wymore has worked for Cobalt Studios, a scenic design studio, for 2 ½ years. She got her experience on the job and in college at SUNY Oswego, and she worked in Los Angeles for 11 years on film and TV, and in theme parks like Disney and Universal Studios.  A theatrical drop by Cobalt Studios is on display at 91 N, Main Street. Wymore thinks that the art “makes the town look better so we don’t have a lot of empty windows … it really sparks it up.”

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Art exhibits are on display at the following addresses – heading from south to north

Liberty Free Theater, 109 S. Main Street – Theatrical Set Design by Alexis Siroc

33 S. Main Street – Paintings by Raphael Wettenstein

29 S. Main Street – Multi-media Sculpture by Robert Friedman

27 S. Main Street – Photography by Hand Schneider & Digital Photography by Frank Ruisi

13 S. Main Street – Multi-media Assemblages by Silvai Sanza

11 S. Main Street – Wood Sculpture by Enrico Sulis & Tatyana Sulis

Sunflower Health Food Store, 71 N. Main Street – Drawings by Nick A. Roes

91 N. Main Street – Theatrical Set Design by Cobalt Studios

For more ideas on how art is making a hit on Main Street check out Ted Waddell’s story Livingston Manor’s “Windows on Main.

To view more photos or to purchase prints from the Liberty Art Walk visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.

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In the photo left to right are Fallsburg High School teacher Mona Ingber, Board of Education member Arlene Hussey, and parent Winnie Foertsch. – Provided photo.

FALLSBURG – The Fallsburg Central School District Board of Education presented high school teacher Mona Ingber and parent Winnie Foertsch with special recognition awards at the Board of Education meeting on October 7.

Ms. Foerstch received a Citizenship Award for her volunteer efforts “beyond anyone’s expectations.” Her support of the Shining Star and Honor Roll celebrations in Benjamin Cosor Elementary School over the past several years contributed greatly to the acknowledgment of student achievement.

Ms. Ingber’s activities with her Career Academic Program (CAP) during the past many years earned her an Education Above and Beyond Award. After years of creating beautiful gardens around the high school building, Ms. Ingber’s students won a substantial Sullivan Renaissance Award for adding beauty to school grounds.

Board Member Arlene Hussey presented the awards to these two women who truly make a difference for Fallsburg students.

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John Clark (right) used to race motorcycles and 4-cylinders, but these days helps out manning the gates.

Story and photos by Ted Waddell

KAUNEONGA LAKE – Bethel Motor Speedway attracts a diverse crowd ranging from doctors to auto mechanics, and from retired NYC detectives to young 15-year old up and coming drivers, all with a passion for speeding around a ¼ mile semi-banked oval asphalt track.

Dave Rocket makes a point at the driver’s meeting before the start of racing action.

John Clark was working one of the pit gates a couple of nights before the local speedway closed for the season.

He used to run Pop’s Cycle in Waldon, a natural for a guy who raced motorcycles for 18 years, all the way from his hometown to Daytona, Florida.

“It’s great, you ought to try it,” said the veteran of 4-cylinder racing at BMS. “It’s the best track around, nice and clean and run good.”

Les Quick of Jeffersonville used to race pure stock at the local speedway and has been a regular fixture there since 1971. The other day he was helping out in the pits as the crew readied Mark Silverstein’s car for an upcoming race.

The Checkered Flag!

“Once you get it in your blood it’s all the same,” he said of the heart-pounding excitement of wheel-to-wheel motor racing.

“The thrill is just going out there and seeing what you can do on the track, that’s the biggest thing.”

Steve Schmidt knows his way around motor speedways, and he summed up what he called “progressive type racing” by saying it’s all about being “down home…and you don’t have beer being sold so you don’t have to worry about the Budweiser idiots up in the stands yelling and screaming, and cursing and embarrassing your family.”

A track official lines up a legion of Legends for some hop laps.

“The $5 entrance fee is the cheapest in New York State.”

*This is the second story in a series on the Bethel Motor Speedway. Be sure to check back for future stories, both here, on our main page, and in the Chronicle’s Sullivan Sports Snapshots. 

To view more photos or to purchase prints from Speedway Folks visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.

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The candidates for local office in Town of Fallsburg left to right: Suellen Magnetico, Nathan Steingart, Donna Akerley, Joe Perrello, Mike Weiner, Steve Vegliante, and Leon Cortizo.

WOODBOURNE – At the Woodbourne Fire House on Sunday, October 18, all the candidates for local office were there in honor of the late Tim Hill. The event also raises funds for a scholarship to a graduating Fallsburg High School senior who follows in Tim’s footsteps. Tim Hill was deeply involved in the local community.

At the breakfast several high school students were participating in service to their community by making sure that everyone had everything they needed to enjoy the beautiful breakfast buffet.

If anyone wants to support the memory of Tim Hill and the scholarship, please contact Fallsburg High School Guidance Counselor Joe Levner at (845) 434-6800, ext 2249.

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Compiled by and Photos by Leni Santoro

ELDRED – So far there are over 600 hand-holding paper dolls encircling the top of the walls acting as a paper doll frieze, just under the picture molding, in The Corner’s ice cream shop cafe. Each doll represents a $1 donation to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. Though small in stature themselves, the dolls represent the generosity of those whose big hearts are overflowing with concern for the needs of both childhood cancer researchers, doctors and their young patients.

At The Corner in Eldred the dolls create a "frieze of care" along the picture molding.

Lou Monteleone, radio personality at Thunder 102 FM and manager at the Eldred Preserve and The Corner in Eldred launched the Line of Hope Paper Doll Campaign in an effort to raise awareness and funds for kids with cancer. The proceeds from the fundraising campaign will benefit the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a non-profit organization that raises money for childhood cancer research.

The idea for the paper dolls came from the line dance that was done in August.

“I always had this thing about large groups of people getting together. Whether you’re holding hands or you’re in a line doing something, I just feel the power in quantities of people really sets an example,” said Monteleone.

The funds are needed by St. Baldrick’s whose work includes research into cures for childhood cancers, explained Monteleone.

“But, it’s also about teaching kids, getting kids involved [in helping other kids], giving them some purpose of feeling good, because they will after they participate, when they make the dolls,” said Monteleone.

The dolls can be personalized in any number of ways.

After holding the Longest Line Dance and Conga Against Cancer in August, Monteleone felt he wanted to keep going with raising funds for St. Baldrick’s, but how? Paper dolls could be answer.

“I just thought that the symbolism is in holding hands,” he said. “You know these kids [with cancer], what they go through every day, and the families are battling, too. I thought that by making the paper dolls, personalizing them and having them holding hands in a line, that it could be a symbolic thing just as much as a monetary thing.

Dolls can be purchased for a $1 donation and are then added to the Line of Hope, which currently numbers 675 paper dolls in total. Hundreds of paper dolls holding “paper hands” encircle the interior walls of the ice cream shop, The Corner in Eldred.

After the Longest Line Dance and Conga Against cancer the folks at St. Baldrick's requested T-shirts for themselves, then sent these special "trout" thank-yous to Monteleone who is known locally as The Lord of the Trout.

“I firmly believe that if we all do a little…a lot will be done. Nothing is more powerful than people holding hands in solidarity for something they believe in. This is the symbolism I envisioned when I came up with this idea,” said Monteleone, whose line dance and conga line fundraiser for St. Baldrick’s in August, raising more than $2,000 for the foundation.

He is also encouraging schools and children’s organizations to join in the fun and make a difference.

Paper dolls can be purchased at the ice cream shop located at the Four Corners in Eldred, or by emailing lineofhope@hvc.rr.com or contacting Monteleone at (845) 557-8316. Donors can also color or draw in embellishments for their paper doll before sending it in to join the Line of Hope. Dolls that are received from other parts of the United States will have their city and state noted on the doll’s feet.

Donations to St. Baldrick’s can also be made at Lou Monteleone’s page on the St. Baldrick’s website.

Can’t wait to participate, click these links, print and create your dolls and send them with your donation to Lou Monteleone, c/o The Eldred Preserve, PO Box 111, Eldred, NY 12732.

Paper dolls 1, Paper Dolls 2

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About St. Baldrick’s

St. Baldrick’s donors and volunteers made possible over $11.5 million in funding for childhood cancer research in 2009, so far! More grants will be made in the fall.

• Research grants are focused on finding new and better cures for childhood cancer.
• St. Baldrick’s Fellows are new doctors training to specialize in pediatric oncology research, funded for 2-3 years. From 2005 to 2009, 35 St. Baldrick’s Fellows have been funded.
• St. Baldrick’s Scholars are pursuing exciting research, funded for 3 years or more. Because grant funds are so scarce, it is difficult for those early in their careers to compete with more established researchers. These grants keep new researchers focused on childhood cancer. From 2008-2009, 20 St. Baldrick’s Scholars have been funded.
• Infrastructure grants help institutions treat more kids on clinical trials (their best hope for a cure), or provide resources to make more research possible (to be made in the fall).
• Multi-institution grants include the cooperative research and laboratories of the 200-member Children’s Oncology Group, as well as consortiums of institutions working on pediatric brain tumors, neuroblastoma, and bone marrow transplants for childhood cancer patients.
• Foreign beneficiaries receive funds raised by St. Baldrick’s events held in their countries.

St. Baldrick’s Foundation is grateful to its many volunteers (bald or not!), donors and sponsors, including Allied World, elope and PartnerRe. For more information about St. Baldrick’s, please call 1-888-899-BALD or visit www.StBaldricks.org.

To view more photos from Paper Dolls are Lining Up in Eldred visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.

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Legends are an increasingly popular form of motor racing.

Story and photos by Ted Waddell

KAUNEONGA LAKE – It’s all over for 2009, but Dave and Joanne Rocket, promoters of oval track racing events at Bethel Motor Speedway, are already fueling up for next season.

The ¼ mile oval track was constructed in 1959 and opened up for racing as a dirt track on May 31, 1960 until it was paved in asphalt in 1962.

A pit crew prepares a street stocker by fine-tuning the thundering V-8.

Over the years, the track operated under several names: Sullivan County Speedway, Kauneonga Speedway (until 2004), Catskill Mountain Speedway 2005-06 (under Michelle Gannon), White Lake Speedway until the end of the ’06 season, and starting in 2008 Bethel Motor Speedway.

The local track was dark in 2007 until it was acquired by Fred Graf Racing, LLC and reopened under its new owners as the Bethel Motor Speedway on August 9, 2008. The Rockets, who promoted races at the semi-banked oval track speedway from 1998 – 2004, returned as promoters.

In 2007, new promoters, planning to run the track as Bethel Motorsports Park, hit a speed bump when they failed to get a green light from the town to hold races on Sunday afternoons.

In a sense, Bethel Motor Speedway is racing throwback, as it’s one of the few remaining oval tracks in a land that once hosted hundreds of similar speedways, but the Rockets, drivers and motor racing fans refuse to let
up on the gas.

During the racing season, the weekly racing schedule at Bethel Motor Speedway includes several divisions: Sportsman, BMS modified, Pro Stock, Street Stock and 4-Cylinder (junior and senior).

A few last minute suspension adjustments on a modified.

INEX-sanctioned Legends and Bandoleros make frequent appearances, and in addition the speedway hosts a limited number of racing events for vintage dirt modifieds, AllStar race trucks, and American Three Quarter Midget Racing Association (ATQMRA) midgets.

INEX is the international sanctioning body of the Legends, Bandolero and Thunder Roadster Cars. Formed in 1995, INEX was developed to promote, organize and sanction Legends Car, Bandolero and Thunder Roadster racing across the United States, Canada and Europe.

The real heart of any race track is down in the pits, as a lot of races are won or lost by how well a car is prepared.

Pro stockers in the staging lane before going out on the fast track.

Bethel Motor Speedway is right on track, as hours before the first fast lap and subsequent series of races on the asphalt, crews work to get their driver’s rides geared up for the wheel-to-wheel competition, from fine-tuning the big V-8’s, checking tire pressures and tweaking suspensions.

For information about BMS call 845-778-3839, www.bethelmotorspeedway.com, or email bethelmotorspeed@cs.com .

*This is the first story in a series on the Bethel Motor Speedway. Be sure to check back for future stories, both here, on our main page, and in the Chronicle’s Sullivan Sports Snapshots. 

To view more photos or to purchase prints from Down in the Pits visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.

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Story and Photos by Carol Montana

When I first moved to the Catskills a little over – well, let’s just say it was a long time ago – I marveled as the leaves turned shades of scarlet, crimson and yellow. There were colors I had never before seen – at least not on trees.

I had migrated from Long Island, a lovely place for sure. But Long Island didn’t have the same climate that the Catskill Mountains had. It doesn’t get quite as cold down there. And there’s just something about the crisp autumn weather in the mountains.

A memory that has stayed with me for many years had its birth during that first year of my residence, at the top of Columbia Hill in Hurleyville. As I drove from Monticello to Loch Sheldrake on Old Liberty Road, I reached the top of the hill, and there, spread out before me in all it’s glory was autumn in Sullivan County. The colors!! Oh my goodness, the colors!! Hues and shades and contrasts that literally took my breath away. I gasped. I stopped the car (safely). I gazed, awestruck, at the panorama. Surely, no one else had ever seen such majesty. This was all for my benefit. Boy, did I feel special.

Of course reality set in as I descended the hill. It wasn’t just for me. It was here to be shared. And share it I did. Whenever relatives wanted to visit, I encouraged them to come in the autumn – Columbus Day weekend specifically. And we would go for rides around the county and surrounding areas, enjoying the colors.

Flash forward to 14 1/2 years ago when I got married. My husband Ken enjoys car rides as much as I do. So just about every year – even when gasoline hovered near $5.00 a gallon – we go for what we call our Annual Fall Foliage Ride. This year was no exception. And actually, we took our ride just in time, because the next day it snowed.   

And here’s another thing that hasn’t changed. I’m still sharing the autumn colors. This year, I’m sharing them with you.

To view more photos or to purchase prints from No Better Place in the World visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.

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Story and photos by Ted Waddell

MONTICELLO – “In real life we guard our emotions, but on stage you have permission to explode,” said Jeff Lackey to his Intermediate Acting class the other day at Monticello High School.

Monticello High is unique in the county as it offers a drama and dance program as a regular curriculum offering, rather than as elective.

“Dr. Dirth (director of music) and Dr. Michel (superintendent of schools) and all the great teachers here understand that drama can be a very important part of the core curriculum,” said Lackey. “We use it to teach writing, critical thinking and we use it to support social studies and math.”

When the program started last year, the school offered introduction to performing arts and intermediate acting classes, and for the 2009-2010 school year added basic acting and elements of dance and drama, a course Lackey teaches with dance certified dance instructor Krista MeMaio. Amy Philips, a music teacher, helps out by teaching an intermediate acting class in the morning.

Now in it’s second year, student enrollment has more than doubled, with approximately 12 kids taking basic acting, 8 in intermediate, 15 in elements of dance and drama, and 10 in intro to performing arts. In the overall music/drama program, every eight weeks students can select a different module, from technical to chorus, or from dance to instrumental music.

“It gives them a chance to try something they’ve never done before, before settling into something,” said Lackey.

Just the other day, he sat down with a few of his intermediate acting students to ‘set the stage’ for the lesson of the morning, which had them review a script in preparation for getting up on stage to audition for parts in an upcoming production of “The Witch Hut”: Mary Warren, “a servant girl…defiant at times, in this scene is courageous but afraid,” Abigail Williams, “a loose girl (morally for the times), rebellious, manipulative. Sly,” John Proctor “an honest farmer with a secret,” Elizabeth Proctor, “like the others accused of witchcraft” and Jude Daforth, “pious, authoritarian.”

“One more word, and you’re going to jail,” said Lackey in helping the students set the tone of a confrontation between the judge and an accused, “If you can capture these characters with your voice, them you’re acting.”

The basic acting class students have a full script as they are preparing for several performances before Halloween; (Edgar Allen Poe’s, “The Raven”) while the introduction to performing arts kids gear up for “The Jabberwocky,” Lewis Carol’s nonsensical poem about slaughtering a hideous monster.

In preparation for a haunting series of productions, the drama class is converting the dance studio into a minimalist black box theatre. “You don’t have costumes and sets to distract from the actor’s technique,“ said Lackey of the black box theatre concept. “It’s up close and personal, it’s more like film acting with people on three sides and with the actor in the middle.”

*Photos captions from top to bottom: Lead photo – Janeene Gambino, Olivia Shope, Liza Macentee, Kelly Pfeister. 1 – Jeff Lackey, drama teacher. 2 – Joseph Davis goes over a script. 3 – Janeene Gambino, Olivia Shope, Liza Macentee, Meghan Yearwood.

To view more photos or to purchase prints from Permission to Explode visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.

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FALLSBURG – Telling young people about the Holocaust is a daunting task. How can you talk about the death of 12,000,000 people at the hands of a political regime in one of the most modern advanced nations of the western world in the middle of the 20^th century? How can you avoid showing the frightening images of men and women, and especially children, as they are liberated from concentration camps?

How can you present the facts when there are thousands in the world who deny that the Holocaust ever happened? How does one make sense and convey the sense to young minds about such a horrific episode in human history?

Werner Reich is a man who has answered all these questions, and he offered his wisdom to two assemblies of 6^th through 12^th grade students at Fallsburg Junior/Senior High School on October 7. Ms. Dawn McCarthy, a long-term substitute teacher and parent of students in Fallsburg Central School District invited Mr. Reich to speak after hearing him at Tri Valley School District. 

Mr. Reich was a small child in Germany when the Nazis assumed power and began passing laws to disenfranchise, to prevent people from working, owning property, and finally to killing them based on their religion, their political beliefs, their mental health, their sexual orientation, and 120 assorted categories. Reich introduced a word here that was probably new to the students—xenophobia or fear of anything foreign or different. Because of this state of fear and then the persecution it generated, Reich’s father moved the family to Yugoslavia. Safety there was short-lived. After being given to gentile families by his mother for protection in hiding, he was rounded up and began the years of World War Two in a series of jails and concentration camps in several European countries. From a second story window of the first incarceration, he saw his mother for the last time as she swept the street. He had barely reached his teen years at the time.

In telling his personal story, Mr. Reich always came back to teaching the students the lesson of British historian Edmund Burke: “All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good people to do nothing!” Winston Churchill spoke of the mass murder and called it “the crime with no name.” Later, historians began using the term “Holocaust” from the Greek words meaning whole burnt offering. Many people know that six million Jews perished; but there were six million Christians and others that were killed. Looking at the children, he soberly asked how we can even imagine the number 12,000,000. Then he showed on a United States map that if you lined up people, allowing a one foot, three inch space for each person, 12,000,000 would reach from New York to Los Angeles.

With a powerful slide show presentation, Mr. Reich keeps everyone’s attention. Except for some gasps, there is utter focus on his words and pictures. Here is a man not filled with hate or bitterness and not seething with revenge for the deaths of his parents and the loss of his childhood. On the contrary, he is filled with humanity, sharing his experiences with kids about the same age as he was when he endured the horrors of separation, torment, and hatred at the hands of inhumane people. Through it all, he has maintained his dignity. “The worst thing for me,” he said, “was not knowing if I would be alive the next day.”

Mr. Reich encourages young people to hear him and take in the lessons that he has learned. He sees a swastika as a symbol of hatred against humanity and not just against a particular group. He offers cards to all the students with the word JUST as an acronym for Judge the situation, Understand the problem, Solve the problem, and Take action. He encourages them to not be indifferent when they see suffering, bullying, and other unjust acts. As George Bernard Shaw said, “Indifference is the essence of Inhumanity.”

As he went through his history of personal persecution, he put it into a context that all kids could relate to. There are four groups in oppression: the Victim, the Bully and the Gang, the Just, and the Bystanders. He made sure to describe each group during his story of the Holocaust. The Bystanders were the good people who do nothing. The common thread for the Just people, when asked why they risked their lives to save the lives of others, was a simple response, “Because it was the right thing to do.” These people did not wait for others. Speaking to each and every one in the audience, Mr. Reich looked out and said, “Be the first to act. JUST people are just people.”

After the one hour presentation, several hundred young people and their teachers stood as one and applauded Werner Reich. They were moved by his words. They learned about tolerance, about being a human being, and about doing the right thing in the face of someone taking advantage of another human being. Many young people came up to him and thanked him. He was very sweet with them all. In that moment a young German boy was meeting his modern American contemporaries. This wise old man was back in that gentle safe place of an innocent childhood.

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Story by Leni Santoro

PARKSVILLE – A blue plastic jug sits on the counter at the Fiddles Wally Mart located at the traffic light in Parksville. Taped to the container is a plea from a single mother whose child is suffering from SMA, it reads –

“Gabriella Rose is a 5-month old local child diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a terminal disease.

Her single mom is in need of special medical equipment not covered by her insurance. She also needs to go to Westchester Medical Center three times a week. Please help defer the costs.”

According to the research and support group, “Families of SMA” located in Santa Clara, CA, “Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), is the number one genetic killer of children under the age of two, it is an often fatal disease that destroys the nerves controlling voluntary muscle movement, which affects crawling, walking, head and neck control, and even swallowing.

WHO IS AFFECTED
SMA is one of the most prevalent genetic disorders.

• One in every 6,000 babies is born with SMA.
• SMA can strike anyone of any age, race or gender.
• One in every 40 people carries the gene that causes SMA. The child of two carriers has a one in four chance of developing SMA. 
• 7.5 million Americans are carriers.

THE TYPES OF SMA
SMA Patients are classified into four types based on milestones achieved at onset of SMA. Type I and II are the most prevalent.

• Type I, or Werdnig-Hoffmann Disease, is the most severe form of SMA. Type I SMA strikes infants between birth and six months old. Children affected with Type I cannot sit without support.
• Type II affects infants between seven and 18 months old. Type II patients may be able to sit unaided or even stand with support. They are at increased risk for complications from respiratory infections.
• Type III, also known as Kugelberg-Welander Disease, is the least deadly form of childhood-onset SMA. It strikes children as early as the age of 18 months, but can surface as late as adolescence. Type III patients are able to walk, but weakness is prevalent. Most patients eventually need to use a wheelchair.
• Type IV is the adult form of the disease. Symptoms tend to begin after age 35.

SMA does not affect sensation and intellectual activity in patients. It commonly is observed that patients with SMA are unusually bright and sociable.”

People interested in helping Gabriella and her mom may stop by Fiddle’s Wally Mart in Parksville to place their monetary donations in the little blue plastic jug or send their contributions to: Gabriella Rose c/o Christina Altman, PO Box 98, Woodbourne, NY 12788.

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Jeff Lackey, drama teacher at Monticello High School in his office.

Story and photos by Ted Waddell

MONTICELLO – Jeff Lackey, now in his second year teaching drama in
Monticello’s one-of-a-kind local drama and dance program, has a master’s in theatre arts from the University of Kentucky. He came to the county after a 25 year career as an actor in New York City and teaching at a performing arts high school in the Bronx for six years.

A few years ago, he and his wife Andrea Brown pulled up their city roots and moved to this area where they founded the Outsider Studio in Livingston Manor, a popular gallery that recently closed its doors but still lives on in various venues around the region.

“I encourage the students to create characters based on their own experiences, to stand in front of an audience and focus, and work with others on stage…in drama you can always find something for everybody,” said Lackey.

While some kids are academic stars, and others excel in sports, a lot of students find their niche and means of expression through acting and on stage, whether part of a technical crew or in front of the lights.

“They get to see their pieces come alive on stage…they learn life skills and it builds self-esteem, and they learn to trust their own judgment in interpreting characters,” added Lackey.

The first four weeks of the basic acting course are spent in pantomine – the use of gestures without words to present a play -  think Marcel Marceau – and then later students get to let their characters speak.

“They all write their own monologues, and learn to focus on what they are doing, not themselves, because if the actor gets in the way of the acting it’s not honest acting,” said Lackey. “I believe acting isn’t talking, it’s what comes before a character talks and what comes in between…they come out on the stage and talk to an imaginary person and something that’s very close to them. It’s what you are doing on stage that’s important. When you take the
curtain call, it’s about you.”

“I want to make drama cool for the kids,” said Lackey.

Pictured Top to bottom and left to right are Monticello High School students – Sherrie Dion, Matt Daitsman, Briana Cerbone and Autumn Rodrigues.

To view more photos or to purchase prints from Making Drama Cool visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.

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L-R – Played by Glenn Hall, Andrew is perhaps the quietest searcher, while his dead mother is all too chatty, Patricia, played by Sarah Dey Hirshan is hoping for a word from her little sister and Tannis Kowalchuk, artistic director of NaCl is the widow Caroline hoping for a word from her dead husband.

Story by Leni Santoro – Photos by Ted Waddell

Highland Lake – Last weekend Self-Portrait at County Fair, written by Mike Geither and directed by Brett Keyser, opened at the NACL Theatre in Highland Lake to rave reviews.

This past Thursday the Chronicle’s own Ted Waddell was able to photograph a dress rehearsal of this one of a kind theatrical experience.

Taking place in a small mid-western town, Self-Portrait at County Fair examines the lines between Realism and Non-Realism, the distinctions between the heart’s desires and its most deeply hidden fears.

At this particular county fair there is a show put on by a psychic.

Ker Wells masterfully portrays the psychic known as Miles. Is he a madman? Is he a liar and a charlatan or is he as trapped in life’s oftentimes surreal experiences as the people who come to hear him commune with the dead; each hoping for a word of comfort from the other side?

The final performance of “Self-Portrait at County Fair” takes place Sunday 11 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $15 and $10 for seniors and students. Call 845-557-0694 to reserve or nacl@nacl.org. NACL Theatre, 110 Highland Lake Road, Highland Lake.

To read more about the play see the original review from last week’s show.

To view the photos or to purchase prints from Sunday at the County Fair is a Self-Portrait visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.

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Story and photos by Carol Montana

GRAHAMSVILLE – While the 24th Annual Giant Pumpkin Party and Children’s Parade (GPP) took place under cloudy skies, nothing could diminish the festive attitude of the participants.

Hundreds of children, accompanied by parents and other relatives, enjoyed the festivities at the Grahamsville Fairgrounds on October 3.

Held every year on the first Saturday in October, the GPP is sponsored by the Daniel Pierce Library in Grahamsville. The day started with a parade that included all sorts of decorated floats – each vying for a coveted prize – as well as fire trucks, antique cars, boy and girl scouts, and marchers dressed in all sorts of interesting and creative costumes. 

Following the parade, a costume contest took place with many categories and prizes. Additionally, there was a contest for who grew the biggest pumpkin, which this year weighed in at 635.5 pounds. Other competitions included an obstacle course, a country bake contest, pumpkin decorating,  tug of war, hay bale throwing and a scarecrow contest. 

For the non-competitive among us, there was still plenty to do: pony rides, hay rides, face painting, a haunted house, and carnival games where everyone who played was a winner.

Readers (and what would a library event be without avid readers?) delighted in what has become known as the Better Book Sale, where excellent book specimens of all genres delighted adults and children alike.

There were crafts of all kinds: jewelry and leather goods, harvest wreathes and candles, and even pet rocks and beds for them to sleep in.

Musical entertainment was provided by Breakneck Annie, Fiddlin’ Around and Paul Lounsbury, who also announced the parade participants and emceed the costume contest.

And, of course, there was food including baked goods, chili, coffee and soda, hot dogs and hamburgers, and the ever-popular funnel cakes, all prepared and served by community-minded volunteers.

Oh, did we mention that there were pumpkins for sale, too? 

To views more photos or to purchase prints from the 24th Annual Giant Pumpkin Party and Children’s Parade visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.

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The Sheriff’s traffic unit sits on ST-55 in front of Tri-Valley school.

MONTICELLO – Have you been wondering why the Sheriff’s cars have been hanging out on State Route 55 lately?

The Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office has been participating in the New York State Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (S.T.E.P) which targets aggressive drivers, and the common vehicle and traffic law violations associated with accidents. S.T.E.P. is a grant which is provided through the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee. The Sheriff uses that money to fund dedicated patrols to address various traffic conditions around Sullivan County.

In the Town of Neversink, the Sheriff has received complaints from the public about speeding and aggressive driving on State Route 55 in the hamlets of Neversink and Grahamsville.

"We started out in the beginning of the summer with the radar sign board trailer", said Sheriff Mike Schiff. "We had the radar trailer parked by Cannie D’s in Neversink and then by the Fire Department in Grahamsville. The purpose was to give everyone a warning and slow the drivers down", said the Sheriff. "Then we followed up with traditional enforcement starting two weeks later, and it seems to have worked."

The deputies who have been assigned to the traffic enforcement detail have been using the Sheriff’s Office patrol car #53, which is set up in a "Slick Roof" configuration. That means it does not have the standard light bar on the roof or markings on the front or back, only the sides. It is not until a driver passes the vehicle and looks at the side, that they realize it is a police car. This makes it easier to sit on the side of the road and monitor traffic for violators.

On Thursday September 30th, Corporal Danny Zayas was sitting in front of Tri-Valley school when he spotted [a man] driving a pickup truck with one license plate. [He] was arrested when a check revealed he had two suspensions on his class A CDL. [He] was released on his own recognizance to appear at a later date in the Town of Neversink Justice court.

Sheriff Schiff thanked Cannie D’s and the Grahamsville Fire Department for their assistance with the S.T.E.P. program.

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Story and photos by Ted Waddell

MONTICELLO – “They don’t want to stay up there on the hill in Livingston Manor, they want to get out into the community and work with the schools,” said Dr. Kevin Dirth, director of music for the Monticello Central School District as he introduced 17-year old piano prodigy Doris Lee to an audience of 300-some students at Monticello High School before her solo piano concert on Friday, October 1 in the Arnold Hughs Auditorium.

In August, Lee was one of nine emerging pianists selected to attend the 16th Annual  International Young Artists of Shandelee Music Festival’s educational program, and was one of their few repeat pianists, as she was also picked to participate in the festival’s prestigious program in 2007.

During the festival, the artists appeared at two previous outreach venues. Lee’s solo concert marked the Shandelee Music Festival’s third and final outreach program of the 2009 season.

Regarded as “poised and elegant” by The Echoes Sentinel, Lee has performed with the Orchestra Sinfonica del festival di Chioggia and is a top prize winner at numerous competitions including the prestigious “Musica in Laguna” International Solo competition. During the summer, she attended the International Keyboard Institute Festival at Mannes School of Music, where she was accepted and awarded a professional scholarship.

At Monticello High, Lee performed a program including works by Beethoven (Sonata Op. 31 No. 1 in G major – Allegro Vivace, Adagio Grazioso, Rondo Allegretto), Chopin’s Fantasy in F minor Op. 49 and Etude Op. 25 No. 1, and Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 3.

“The purpose of the festival for the last 16 years is twofold,” said Marjorie Feuerstein, co-chair/treasurer of the festival’s board of directors. “It’s to advance the careers of young pianists, and bringing classical music to Sullivan County. The young woman you are going to hear is one of your own,” she added. “She’s a high school student and a brilliant pianist.”

After Lee completed her performance on the school’s 125-year old Steinway, she said, “My mom kind of made me start when I was five years old…it goes along with talent, you have to have your emotions and put them into music, or otherwise it won’t happen. It depends upon the piece, happiness or sadness.” While playing funeral works, Lee said that “deep dark, really solemn thoughts” come to mind, but while performing more uplifting compositions, her thoughts turn more to “happy and cheerful” images, “and you play like that.”

“She never played such a big program before (before an audience of more than 300), so it’s a good experience for her,” said Lee’s mother, Yonne. “I just love classical music. I can listen to it over and over again, and never get tired of it.”

Daniel Stroup, founding president of the Shandelee Music Festival, told the middle and high school students assembled in the auditorium, “Doris shared with you not only her technical expertise, but something deep down within her soul, her emotions through the medium of piano performance.”

To view more photos or to purchase prints from Shandelee Star Performs at Monticello High visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.

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Story and photos by Leni Santoro

HIGHLAND LAKE – Friday, October 2, marked the opening of a new work at the North American Cultural Laboratory (NaCl) in Highland Lake, “Self-Portrait at County Fair” written by Mike Geither and directed by Brett Keyser.

To read the rest of the story please visit the Theatrical Previews and Reviews page of the Theater, Dance and Poetry section and click on Self-Portrait at County Fair Opens at NaCl.

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Story and photos by Carol Montana

The cloudy skies and chilly air could not cast a damper on people who were determined to party. And several thousand people did just that on September 26 as Sullivan County brought it’s six-month Bicentennial celebration to a fun conclusion with a county-wide picnic on the grounds of Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.

The crowd was treated to guest speakers, historical exhibits, food and drink, an antique car show, and plenty of musical entertainment. Performers graced five different stages including the main Pavilion, the Sullivan County Community College portable stage, the Market Shed stage, the Terrace Stage and a performance area set up nearby the front gate.

Attendees could take their pick of several musical genres like country and western music by the Rivers Edge band, rock ‘n roll with Darren and Albi, The MountainTones marching band, soul and blues with the Slam Allen Band, and the ever-popular West Point Band’s Jazz Knights.

While the music was going on outside, other folks were listening to talks in the Bethel Woods’ events gallery. John Conway – Sullivan County Historian, Sam Yasgur – Sullivan County Attorney and son of the original owner of the Woodstock site, and Michael Lang – one of the originators of the famous Woodstock Festival, all found audiences eager to hear their take on the events that occurred 40 years ago on the famous site.

And despite the lack of sun, several families took the title of the event to heart and picnicked on the great lawn, while others tossed a football or a Frisbee and still others spread their blankets closer to the musical events.

As people roamed the grounds, they might have come face-to-face with characters dressed in colonial garb, and then, wandering into one of the market sheds, be greeted by the Sullivan County Visitors Association, and historical exhibits from the Sullivan County Historical Society, and the towns of Cochecton, Bethel, Thompson and others. In addition, displays explained the missions of the Sullivan County Recycling Program, Sullivan Alliance for Sustainable Development, Fort Delaware Museum of Colonial History and several more county organizations.

Sullivan County Legislator Alan Sorenson, who was enjoying the picnic with his daughter, summed up the feeling of community that he hopes will continue. “It’s a nice way to celebrate our Bicentennial in Sullivan County. It’s nice to see such a large turnout in spite of the cooler weather. … this is a good way to bring in that sense of community here in Sullivan County, get people to meet one another and celebrate together, and I think it’s a wonderful event.” 

To views more photos or to purchase prints from the Bicentennial County-Wide Picnic, visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.

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