News

Picture yourself on a lawn in a village… Philmont Community Day was held on July 13 with events all day. The Philmont Rod and Gun Club hosted a fishing derby for the kids during the day and a fireworks show at night. There was a parade that started on Main Street. Also on the schedule were a ping pong tournament hosted by the Philmont Library, hot dog eating contest at the Philmont Fire Company and a tractor pull on Canal Street. Bands played throughout the event on Maple Avenue. Pictured is the 217 Band with Dianna Paulson of Amsterdam dancing as her brother, George Trinka (l), of Hudson, plays the guitar. Photo by Scott Langley

CMH will move deliveries to Albany Med

by STAFF

HUDSON – Columbia Memorial Health (CMH) is changing its maternity program. Effective later this year deliveries will be moved to Albany Medical Center. Pre- and post-natal care for mother and baby services will continue at CMH’s two locations in Hudson and Catskill.

News of the changes is posted on the CMH website and Facebook page Wednesday afternoon, July 17.

The change will begin September 30, with deliveries taking place at The Birth Place at Albany Med. Read more…

K’hook new website has dated data

by EMILIA TEASDALE

VALATIE–The Town of Kinderhook has a new website. It was one of the topics discussed at the Town Board meeting July 8.

In November 2017 the board hired the company Revize to update the town’s website. Former board member Peter Bujanow, who volunteered to created the bid package to find a company to do the update and then reviewed the bids for the board, said at that time that a new town website should be launched in nine-to-twelve weeks. The board approved the bid for an initial cost of about $12,000.

The new website was launched June 26, 2019. The new website can be found at the same address as the old website: http://www.kinderhook-ny.gov. Read more…

Copake fends off  hackers and diggers

by DIANE VALDEN

COPAKE—The Town of Copake came under attack by technological forces on two fronts recently.

At the Town Board’s July 11 meeting, Supervisor Jeff Nayer assured those present that the town was no longer in the business of unintentionally selling Viagra on its website.

It seems when visitors to the town’s website (http://townofcopake.org/) clicked on a topic there, instead of being able to read the minutes of past board meetings or find out when the assessor has business hours, they were swept away and confronted with the opportunity to get great deals on the purchase of erectile dysfunction remedies and a multitude of other types of drugs. Read more…

What’s the hurry?

by EMILIA TEASDALE

CHATHAM–The Town Board held a special meeting Thursday, July 11 to discuss the question-and-answer forum held July 8 and the follow-up meetings between board members and residents about the proposed new zoning law.

“I personally feel the meeting the other night was very productive,” said Supervisor Maria Lull, referring to the meeting last Monday at the Tri-Village Firehouse attended by well over 200 people. At that meeting the board asked residents to write their questions on cards. Ms. Lull said that all the questions on the cards, including those that could not be answered at the forum, have been reviewed by Councilman Bob Balcom and Town Planner Nan Stolzenburg.

The supervisor also said the board received a letter from Town Attorney Sal Ferlazzo confirming the way the questions were chosen and that “oral follow up questions were allowed on numerous occasions.” Read more…

Artist tailors literacy program to local needs

by DAVID LEE

Pictured (far l to r) are Lorraine Bulson, Asma Begum (sitting) and Melissa Sarris during the final project for Ms. Sarris’s “Stitching Exchange” held at Columbia Opportunities in Hudson. Photo by David Lee

HUDSON–Chatham artist Melissa Sarris has for many years worked in the art form of community engagement. She has invited people to tell their stories and show their collections. Her personal specialty has long been quilt-making and sewing, so it’s natural that a community sewing project would ensue. This most recent project she called “Stitching Exchange” involved 10 women from the Bangladeshi community in Hudson.

“Like they say about everything looking like a nail to a hammer, I am an artist so everything looks like a potential artwork,” said Ms. Sarris.

“I didn’t know any of them when I started this,” she said, but she knew Tina Sharpe, director of Columbia Opportunities, through a sewing project she initiated with the county jail. At its conclusion Ms. Sharpe suggested she might work with a group with the Hudson Family Literacy Program that Columbia Opportunities administers. Read more…