The various Rockland County Executives candidates kicked the issue around at a recent Rockland Water Coalition debate.

And Rockland residents splash, bathe, drink, and waste the clear elixir of life most every day. With weather patterns turning this bit of east coast geography into a sort of new Portland (rain and then more rain), how Rockland gets its future water is an important issue.

United Water has bet the farm on its solution, a proposed massive desalination project slated for the Hudson River’s Haverstraw Bay. But the issue is a sticky, tricky topic, and sentiment ranges from outright opposition, to more study please, to it’s a done deal. Continue Reading

“No one in, no one out,” said a Ramapo police officer standing guard at one of the two back entrances to the Town of Ramapo offices Wednesday afternoon, reported Rockland Newsday reporter Sarah Armaghan.

There’s something about laid-back Sterlington Station in Sloatsburg that seems to attract action.

Thursday afternoon, three men crashed a car on the NY Thruway and then made their way to Sterlington Station, looking for directions. It was their good fortune to be helped by Tim McAleese, who can be found most days working the deli counter and register — as McAleese just casually goes about his business and tries to help anyone who walks through the door. Continue Reading

Last week Sloatsburg residents and businesses were checking power chords and wall outlets as the village experienced a sudden afternoon power surge.

And then just as businesses were booting back up, the Sloatsburg Volunteer Fire Department responded to multiple brush fires — several along the NY Thruway and one along Seven Lakes Drive. Continue Reading

The Ramapo Central School Board of Education met Tuesday evening to a standing room only audience. With people once again lining the halls, walls and meeting room itself, the BOE was set to make its final proposed budget presentation to the public and then take a vote on the item. Continue Reading

Local environmental educator and raconteur Chuck Stead remembers the days when he was just a boy in the mid-1960s and would wander the wonderland that was Torne Valley, setting small game traps. Stead, who grew up in Hillburn, NY, roamed the valley like it was his own back yard. Continue Reading

The long winding tale of former Sloatsburg Building Inspector John Layne ended quietly at Sloatsburg’s Justice Court Wednesday evening when Layne pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of official misconduct. The plea deal brings Layne a one-year conditional discharge, but will also involve a misdemeanor on his permanent record as it amounts to the admission of official corruption. Continue Reading

A small contingent of Waldron Terrace residents met up at the Sloatsburg Village Hall Thursday night to listen and learn about the legend of incoming Sloatsburg sewers.

Both Rockland County Sewer District 1 Executive Director Dianne Phillipps and Assistant Director Mike Saber discussed the next phase of the Sloatsburg sewer project, which involves the Waldron Terrace neighborhood and additional streets surrounding Sloatsburg Elementary School. Continue Reading

The Jets and the Sharks are rumbling Friday and Saturday night. Are you going to be there?

Suffern High School presents West Side Story, the iconic romance adapted from the Bard’s own Romeo and Juliet. The action is enough to make you shake Maria or tell all the hot heads to just chill: Bernardo the bad, Tony the lovelorn and Chino the blind. As with Shakespeare’s play itself, the young players in West Side Story allow emotions to reign supreme. Isn’t that youth’s way? Continue Reading

All eyes were on Ramapo Central Assistant Superintendent for Business Kelly Seibert as he ran through school district budget facts and figures, projecting them on a big screen for the crowded room to see. It was not a pretty picture for a school district that has experienced personnel and program growth and stability over the last few years.