The gavel came down on Sloatsburg’s own Village Justice Thomas Newman, Jr., who has served the village in that post for many a long year.

In a ruling filed December 18, 2013 but made public this past Tuesday, Newman was censured by the New York State Commission of Judicial Conduct for an incident that occurred in August of 2011 when Newman tail ended a car lawfully stopped at the Rt. 17 and NY Thruway traffic light. Continue Reading

A small Piper plane made an emergency landing on the Cross Bronx Expressway Saturday afternoon/ NYC Fire Wire

With the Hudson Valley chilled out in frosty winter weather, there were a few recent aerial-related odd incidents in other parts of New York state. Take the small plane that landed on the Major Deegan cross Bronx expressway Saturday evening, January 4, as an example. Continue Reading

Volunteer firefighters at Manhattan Beer Distributors in Montebello early New Year’s day. / Mahwah Fire Department

MONTEBELLO –  Bill Demarest, Nyack Free Press — Rockland County volunteer firefighters didn’t have to wait long to get their first fire of 2014.

A fire involving a piece of floor cleaning equipment at Manhattan Beer Distributors at 10 Dunnigan Drive – between the New York State Thruway and Route 59 near Airmont Road – filled portions of the company’s recycling warehouse with thick smoke at about 12:30 a.m. Continue Reading

The last sunrise of 2013 was captured by local photographer Geoff Welch as it rose over the Ramapos.

Here’s the last sunrise of the year, coming up over the Ramapo Mountains on December 31, 2013. Brace yourselves for the New Year cold as 2014 will come in later this week with minus zero temperatures in the early morning.

Remember, it’s back to school on Thursday, January 2, for all those Ramapo Central School students. Brrrr . . . for Thursday and Friday morning.

Thanks to all those readers who have stuck with SloatsburgVillage throughout the year. Local photographer Geoff Welch caught the Tuesday morning sky as it lit up in yellow and pinks, just before the cloud coverage descended. Look for possible snow later in the week, but definitely get out your winter hat as New Year temperatures are expected to drop down to single digits, and below!

Here’s a toast to you and the long, meandering year that is exiting beyond the western hills this evening. Have fun. Be safe. Resolve to do something different in 2014.

Ed Day is scheduled to become the new Rockland County Executive when he’s sworn into office on New Year’s Day in a ceremony at the Rockland County Fire Training Center. Day has invited the public to attend the 11 a.m. inauguration, which will feature “first come, first served” seating.

Sunrise over the Ramapo Mountains in Sloatsburg, NY.

The shortest day of the year is here and will be over before you know. Local photographer Geoff Welch caught the Winter Solstice sunrise coming up over the Ramapo Mountain on this warming December 21 Saturday.

Look for temperatures to veer toward the 60s this weekend. Continue Reading

This time, the show will go on.

The Lafayette Theatre in Suffern is the place to be Saturday morning, December 21, for the annual Town of Ramapo Christmas Spectacular. There’ll be singing and Santa and an original silent movie, Big Business, featuring Laural & Hardy — with music by Jeffery Barker and the Mighty Wurlitzer. Continue Reading

A new star-studded movie from the writer/director of Crazy Heart recently hit the theaters and depicts a bleak life of drugs and thugs in the Ramapo Mountains. Out of the Furnace stars Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Sam Shepard, Woody Harrelson, and Forrest Whitaker, to name a few. But the film, about a recently returned and much traumatized Iraqi war veteran who ends up on the skids, also features a gang of Jackson Whites (a name that is historically a slur against the native Ramapo people and has specific negative connotations) and so-called north Jersey mountain hillbillies who live in trailers. Continue Reading

As newly elected Rockland County Executive Ed Day prepares to take office, he’s gathering together his staff and reminding some constituents about past promises.

This past Friday the 13th, Day went public with a biting letter sent to NY State Education Commissioner John King regarding the East Ramapo School District and that Board of Education’s failure to make any movement to rid itself of Minerva & D’Agostino, the Long Island, NY law firm that represents the district. Continue Reading

Remember way back when Seven Lakes Drive was flooded from Hurrican Irene? Both the main bridge that crosses the Ramapo River and the old Waldron Terrace bridge that spanned Stony Brook were washed clean out.

The old Waldron Terrace bridge was taken out during Hurrican Irene in August 2011.

Built in approximately 1910, the old Waldron Terrace span was a crashed and tangled mess from rushing waters and uprooted trees. December 2013 marks the official opening of the new Waldron Terrace bridge, which opened to traffic Thursday, December 12. Hudson Valley Bridge, the state subcontractor that built the new span, still has to dismantle parts of the old bridge and finish landscaping, but the new solid wide span is open to traffic. The final landscaping will take place in the spring. Continue Reading