In less than two weeks the twisted tale of former Village of Sloatsburg Building Inspector John Layne will begin winding its way through the justice system. Layne, 59, of Rustic Drive in Airmont, is due to make an appearance before Justice Thomas J. Newman, Jr. at Justice Court Wednesday, June 27 at 5 p.m., to face felony charges for public corruption related to his tenure in Sloatsburg. The felony counts against Layne carry a maximum of four years in state prison. Continue Reading

The sentencing for Ann Milliaressis, the lunch lady who pleaded guilty in March to skimming thousands of dollars from Sloatsburg residents, will be postponed according to this report. Continue Reading

The Suffern High School USO and PTA will host its first annual community blood drive for the New York Blood Center on Wednesday, June 6 from 2pm-8pm at Suffern High School, 49 Viola Road, Suffern. No appointment is needed; participants may give blood or platelets.

Local residents ages 16 and older are encouraged to participate. New York State requires 16-year-old donors to provide a signed permission slip; all SHS students are required to have school permission slip regardless of age. Click here for the permission slip.

All donors are advised to bring a photo or signature I.D and should arrive well-hydrated with a full stomach. For information on who may give blood, visit the New York Blood Center‘s eligibility page.

Source: Ramapo Central Schools.

Suffern, NY — Christ Church of Ramapo proudly presents the exquisite hand-work of the Heritage Quilters of the Hudson Palisades on June 3rd from 10am to 3pm in Suffern. For more than 30 years, the Heritage Quilters have traveled around Rockland County, sharing one of this country’s most cherished, homespun traditions. The exhibit will feature a variety of quilts, including one that will be raffled off to benefit Hi-Tor Animal Shelter.

Visitors to this free exhibit will also be invited to view Christ Church’s historic collection of  Tiffany memorial stained glass windows, and to enjoy refreshments and a sale of homemade foods and crafts. Indoors, the Christ Church thrift shop – Second Time Around – will be offering deep discounts on new and gently-used clothing, and a large selection of used housewares and books.

Christ Church of Ramapo is located at 65 Washington Avenue in historic downtown Suffern – just one block south of Soldiers Monument. Free parking is always available in Suffern.

A contingent of concerned neighbors seeing red filled the seats at Village Hall during the last Sloatsburg Village Board meeting, held Tuesday, May 8. Petition in hand, the residents of Academy Avenue and Ballard Avenue listed a series of incidents on Academy Avenue, including one where a speeding car ended up on someone’s front lawn. Continue Reading

Update 2 PM: The Sloatsburg Zoning Board of Appeals meets Thursday, May 17 at 7:30 p.m. The public hearing part of the meeting pertaining to the Martin Lichtman use variance request will be part of the ZBA agenda.

It’s been reported that the applicant for the food processing plant use variance has cancelled an appearance before the ZBA. But the public hearing part of the ZBA agenda will be held, with the possibility that the ZBA will adjourn the public portion of the meeting. Continue Reading

As part of Ramapo History Week, Friends of Harmony Hall and the Sloatsburg Historical Society host the first of a weeklong series of events at the old Jacob Sloat mansion this evening. Monday night’s event features a panel discussion with Diane Jabis from Rockland County BOCES, Environmental Educator at Cornell Co-operative Extension of Rockland County Chuck Stead, Harmony Hall Curator Geoff Welch, and Village of Sloatsburg Historian Harrison Bush. Continue Reading

After many months of workshops and candid conversations, meetings and number crunching, Tuesday’s the time to vote on the 2012-2013 Ramapo Central School budget.

Here’s good news for local job hunters. Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence held a press conference recently at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Suffern to unveil a bit of high-tech job search wizardry. The town has a new job search website called Ramapo Tweet My Jobs that allows residents to push/pull job information directly from potential employers.

The town signed an 18-month, $50,000 contract a California company to run the digital jobs board, which hosts similar site for Atlanta and Newark. Ramapo will be the first small locale to use the technology, which allows Town of Ramapo residents to sign up for town-specific job searches seeking work through email, smartphone and other social media applications. Employers post jobs for free.

To use the Town of Ramapo Jobs Connector, go to the site, sign in by creating an account and begin searching. There are some 384 Twitter channels to parse through such as Veteran jobs in Ramapo, Internship jobs in Ramapo and Security jobs in Ramapo.

On another front, the Town of Ramapo will hosts Living Green in Rockland, which celebrates the 2012 Environmental Day, Sunday, May 6th, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Rockland County Solid Waste Management Authority.

The event is an opportunity to check out the compost bins and barrels that will be on sale. There will also be  an organic plant sale, tours of the native plants garden. Family activities include face painting for kids, radio controlled airplane demonstrations, balloon artists, food, music, and more. It’s a chance to get out in the sun for some fun. Further information, call 845-753-2200.

Source: Mareesa Nicosia, LoHud for information related to the new Ramapo Tweet My Jobs site.

The Sloatsburg Fire Department played host to the Rockland County Fire Chiefs’ Association’s Old-Timers Night dinner the last day of March. Leading up to the event, members of the fire department were busy readying the Fire Hall, cooking and cleaning, setting up tables and decorations in preparation for the the Chiefs’ Association’s 60th anniversary celebration. It was the first time Sloatsburg hosted the important event. But there was also another first. Outgoing RCFCA president was Anthony Massaro, a former fire chief from Sloatsburg. Continue Reading