Serving the Towns of Wawarsing, Crawford, Mamakating, Rochester and Shawangunk, and everything in between
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Opinion
Heard Around Our Towns...

There is news, and then there's lots of talk...

In Marbletown –
Town Democrats are holding their nominating convention at 1 p.m. this Saturday, July 25 in the Marbletown Community Center. Fireworks? Depends on one family...

In Rochester –
Turns out this town's GOP will be holding ITS caucus Thursday night at town hall, the earliest ever (with Dems taking their turn in September). Bob Garrett's name keeps coming up, as well as several people possibly challenging accepted candidate for legislature Ron Lapp Jr. We're interested in seeing who the power brokers end up being.

In Rosendale –
Ulster County Transportation Council members will take comments Thursday night from residents and business owners on a traffic improvement plan for the business district designed to further spark the festival town's economic prospects, including greater use of the Widow Jane Mine. Meanwhile, the state comptroller's office has found the town's financial accounting system inadequate and accounting records inaccurate and incomplete; to which supervisor Jeanne Walsh replied that the report itself was "inaccurate and incorrect." And thus all eyes turn, again, to an August 12 public hearing on whether people can have chickens in town...

In Wawarsing –
Tim Distel has dropped his challenge against legislator Craig Lopez. Simultaneously, many are wondering what's up with the building department now that chief code enforcement officer Bryant Arms is moving on to New Paltz? From what we hear it's complicated and may take some time to suss out...

In Orange County –
Turns out the Valley View nursing home is costing only a fraction of the money that the administration warned that it would when aiming to close it. That's several million dollars in found money... Time for revival plans like Ellenville's some are asking?

In Ulster County –
At first glance the race for county executive seems to be heating up, with two new candidates appearing besides incumbent Democrat Mike Hein and former Ulster County Legislature Chairwoman Terry Bernardo going after the Republican, Conservative and Independence party lines. Frederick Rasmussen III of Kingston has also filed a petition to run on the Working Families Party, which already endorsed Hein, and Hunter Downie of West Shokan has filed petitions to run on the Green Party line. The big issue? The rail trail up the Ashokan. The big fact? Hein is starting his re-election bid with more than $280,000 in campaign funding while Bernardo has... $1,226.

In Albany –
See that the governor got a $250,000 gift in campaign funding from people in the community of Kiryas Joel after vetoing Orange County's push against the community's plan to grow through land annexation. Need we say tongues are wagging?



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