Category Archives: News

Read the latest local news from Columbia County and surrounding areas.

Route 22 repairs set to start June 17

by PETER FLIERL

CANAAN–Residents of Canaan and New Lebanon along with other drivers of vehicles passing back and forth on state Route 22 north and south of the intersection with state Route 295 will face delays due to road repairs scheduled to start Monday, June 17.

The first step will be milling, which removes the upper levels of pavement and is expected to take two to three days. That will be followed by repaving, which is supposed to start Thursday, June 20 for and last another two to three days. The state Department of Transportation project is the first repaving of this part of the decaying highway in over 25 years.

Canaan Town Board member Brenda Adams reported the work schedule at the June 10 meeting of the Town Board, noting that the project will pave 3.5 miles north on Route 22 from the intersection of Route 295, and one-half mile south for a total of four miles of new paving. Another five to six miles remains in need of repair. Read more…

Chatham gets tough with no-pay property owners

by EMILIA TEASDALE

CHATHAM–Village Mayor John Howe told the board at their meeting Monday that the village has recovered about $59,000 in unpaid taxes. He said some of the late tax payments were from as far back as 2008.

The mayor said at the June 10 meeting that the village had recently hired attorney Mitchell Khosrova to collect the over $80,000 in unpaid taxes. He said some of that money was from unpaid water and sewer bills that have been re-levied as property taxes.

One of the properties where the taxes were paid was the Zeissett property on Hudson Avenue (Route 66). In 2017 the board had been moving forward with foreclosing on the property which was in major disrepair. Mayor Howe said that the owners have now paid about $14,000 in back taxes so the village cannot foreclose on the property. Board members said the house is boarded up. Read more…

PFC Ron Jablanski receives the Bronze Star

by DAVID LEE

Vietnam veteran and Hudson native Ron Jablanski (pictured far r) got a hero’s welcome home in an event conducted at the Hudson Elks Lodge on Saturday, June 1. Mr. Jablanski, who now lives in Worcester MA, had enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1968 and was seriously wounded in combat in Vietnam in September 1969. Due to a paperwork ‘snafu’, the Bronze Star with Valor Device that he was told he had earned was not presented to him until the ceremony on Saturday when USMC Colonel Todd Traver pinned the medal on his lapel. Mr. Jablanski spoke with great emotion of his family and the people who supported him and he even sang a little song before accepting the applause of the full house. Colonel Traver, in reading a fuller account of the citation, said that the acts for which PFC Jablanski was being recognized with the Bronze Star occurred on the night of September 13, 1969. Colonel Traver credits Mr. Jablanski with having saved many lives in that encounter. The fighting for which he received the Purple Heart was on the night of the 17th when their perimeter was breached and 13 American soldiers were killed. Photo by David Lee

K’hook weighs plans for inn/eatery and new B&B

by EMILIA TEASDALE

KINDERHOOK–The Village Planning Board held two public hearings last week on applications for special use permits for two new businesses on Broad Street/Route 9. At the June 6 sessions the board had a debate over a bed-and-breakfast proposed for 5 Board Street. The other project, The Three Sisters Tavern LLC/Dutch Inn, a restaurant, received positive comments from the community and support from the board.

The Village Planning Board had to table approval of the special use permit for the Three Sisters Tavern LLC, which is on the site of what was the Dutch Inn on Broad Street, though board members said they supported the application. The site plan for the restaurant in the basement and first floor of the building have to be reviewed by the county Planning Board before the Village Planning Board can act on it. The county Planning Board will be meet later this month, according to Village Attorney Rob Fitzsimmons, and then the Village Planning Board can have a special meeting to approve the permit so construction can start.

Jennifer Ose-MacDonald, one of the applicants for the tavern, told the board that this is phase one of the project to open the restaurant and a 10-room hotel in the building. The application for the lodging space has not yet been submitted. She said it was all one project in two phases. Read more…

A decade old, Pride steps forward again

by DEBBY MAYER

HUDSON—As The Columbia Paper went to press, the 10th annual OutHudson Pride Festival was in full swing. Spotty Dog Books & Ale started the festivities on June 12 with a reading by Karen Williams and Camille Spencer. The Carrie Haddad Gallery opened “Mortals, Saints and Myths” the same day.

Beginning Friday, June 14 the festival would be packed with events and parties, all described at outhudson.com.

Caught between meetings on Tuesday, Rich Volo, aka Trixie Starr, the driving force behind 10 Pride Festivals in Hudson, said more than 50 groups would march in Saturday’s parade. Marchers line up at noon near the 7th Street Park and wend their way down Warren Street, with planned music and impromptu dance. Read more…