Lake Paradise: even the name sounds like a Shangri-la. But don't be fooled. Lake Paradise and its community is an area that has no name and is easily forgotten about. Just ask the conglomerate, and now de-regulated, Central Hudson.

In its heyday, like most places here in the Catskills of New York, hotels, bungalow colonies, restaurants, venues, and people thrived and profited from a booming economy. I can remember when Lake Paradise was just that: a small community where city dwellers and those looking for a little time away from their hectic lives could drive the two hours and spend a weekend or summer playing, cajoling, and just enjoying the sounds and smells of a short summer season. Now, things have changed, and what used to be a thriving community is just a shell of what was. Even the once-shimmering and glistening lake, which this area was once known for, takes on a permanent green muck that is no longer appealing to even the fish. The only eventful happening here is an occasional ice fisher or the hockey players that use the lake to mingle and pass some weekend time away. Like most victims of this recent spiraling downward of the economy, those summer-dwellers moved out and sold their summer residences. Those with families, who could no longer afford the outrageous prices of homes in the more affluent communities, moved in and set up households here in Lake Paradise.

When I speak of a place that time and space has changed, it is certainly not on a positive note. Lake Paradise has been displaced and considered by many juxtaposed for convenience. Take for example, this dilemma, when back in the day, when conglomerates such as Central Hudson and NYSEG (New York State Electric and Gas) were divvying up their sub-stations and proprieties, somehow, this area, got discombobulated and dislodged. Was it that no one wanted us? Were we just a tiny hamlet that time and circumstance forgot? It seems so. Central Hudson, located in the city of Poughkeepsie, is a good hour or more away from Lake Paradise, and yet this company controls and has jurisdiction over the power lines that supply electricity to our homes. It doesn't make any sense. When everyone else that surrounds us is serviced by NYSEG, why is Central Hudson servicing us, one of the furthest sub-stations from their headquarters?

Sullivan County's winter season is one that you either hate, love, or, as most do, tolerate. Most people here chose this simple, uneventful, easygoing lifestyle. For others, they know nothing else or desire nothing more. The winter season is one that seems to linger from October to April, with an occasional cold snap even in May. Of course, if you signed up for this, then you must accept whatever mother nature throws at you, but not from a company that can and should do whatever it takes to withstand the forces of nature, the electrical company named Central Hudson.

For the most part, this winter has been pretty uneventful. We gratefully escaped many of the snow storms that usually hit us hard, until this past week, when two back-to-back 'snowacanes' dumped over four feet of the white stuff. It's not all bad news. I must commend those who do their jobs properly and efficiently, namely, the Neversink Highway department, who, for as many years that I have been living here, has maintained, for the most part, their roads. They made sure thoroughfares were cleared for traffic and school bus safety. I am thankfully grateful for their duly service.

People are tolerant for the most part, except when pushed to the brink. They want and expect businesses and services they pay for to properly work and function. Occasionally, things do go awry and outside forces play havoc with conveniences such as electricity. However, we expect within a reasonable time frame for these services lost to work again. This however is not the case regarding Central Hudson, Lake Paradise, and its surrounding area. The first storm occurred on Tuesday, lingered into Wednesday, and we were dumped on with 15 to 18 inches of snow. By the evening of Wednesday, most roads were cleared and people went about their business, hearty and robust and mostly appreciative of the first significant snowfall of the season. Little did we know, we were in for another whopper, a storm worse than the first.

By Friday, the scene outside was not that pretty picture you see on postcards or a Saturday Evening Post magazine, but one of pure destruction. You could no longer see familiar objects such as garbage cans and car wheels; everything was engulfed in a massive heap of snow! There was no power of any kind! Time stopped and we found ourselves in for more than we bargained for. The storm was over but it left in its lurch a real inconvenience and one that would linger for more than a week, No power!

A campaign of futile phone calls to Central Hudson amounted to nothing but apologies and smug attitudes from representatives over a dilemma that they took no responsibility for. Apologies at this point were not good enough. Granted, they too were a victim of Mother Nature's fury, but there are no excuses for lack of line maintenance, tree and branch cutting, and electrical pole upkeep and mere compassion. When you live in the country, of course there are a gazillion trees that lend itself to the beauty of the surroundings, however, there must be maintenance of equipment so blackouts such as this, which last over a week, never happen. For goodness sake, it's your job, your business — do it well and give no excuses therein. While we have no real choices who supplies our electricity, shouldn't the company that does so, serve its customers with pride and know-how?

With time on my hands, I am on a mission to at least alert those who live outside this area to the self-righteousness and complacency of another bureaucratic conglomeration that got away with it. I have started calling local legislative and governmental agencies alerting them to this horrendous inconvenience.

So, in the end (and as of this writing, the end hasn't come yet — we're still without power), Lake Paradise is yet a victim of a place forgotten, sandwiched between those who can't complain, have no reason to do so, and us. Chit-chats at the neighborhood convenience store can be heard from the locals, saying, "oh, it's not that bad," and "deal with it." Surely these callous comments come from those who either never lost power or only lost it for a few hours. What do they have to complain about? Lake Paradise is the land of the forgotten, perhaps by mistake, perhaps by circumstance, perhaps, by convenience — who knows? I signed up for a peaceful, simple way of life, one in which I could safely, and unmarred from outside influences, raise my children, in a community where everyone knows your name and life. But I never signed up for a Little House on the Prairie way of life, existing by candlelight and not having what everyone has the right to have…something I will never take for granted again. Ah…spring can't come soon enough!