Athletes from the JCC Maccabi Games have been sighted all across Rockland County the past week, enthusiastically participating in sports and community events from Nyack to Newburgh. Whether engaging in Olympic-style competition or cleaning up debris strewn in the wooded areas on Stag Hill Road, Maccabi Games participants have been busy competing against one another while engaging in serious community service. Continue Reading

The whine and buzz of chainsaws and wood chippers have been heard all summer throughout the Pine Grove Lakes neighborhood in Sloatsburg. Lewis Tree Service has been cutting trees back from power lines and clearing utility easements in the area, especially cutting trees along the woody Grove, a block square 1.5 acre area that serves as a commons and recreational spot for the neighborhood community. Continue Reading

Pine Grove Lakes postponed its annual Summer Beach Party from Saturday to Sunday, August 12, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Held at Mirror Lake, or the lower lake, the party is an annual gathering of family, friends and neighbors of the Sloatsburg neighborhood, sponsored by the Pine Grove Lakes Homeowners Association and PGL Board. Continue Reading

Sloatsburg has put out the call to black toppers for proposals to resurface the village’s main commuter parking lot located adjacent to Sloatsburg Station at Municipal Plaza and Mills Street. Bids for the project are due on or before Friday, August 10 at 2 p.m. at the Office of the Village Clerk of Sloatsburg. Continue Reading

The Sloatsburg community was jolted by the reported shooting of a 13-year-old boy Thursday evening. In an apparent suicide attempt or possible gunplay, a gun discharged and a boy was found shot behind Sterlington Station, located at the corners of Allen Lane and Seven Lakes Drive. James O’Rourke of the Journal News reported that the incident took place shortly before 7 p.m., when an off-duty officer with the NYC Department of Environmental Protection was among the first to the scene and began to perform CPR on the injured boy. Continue Reading

A hard working member of Harmony Hall’s Board of Directors, Noel Jablonski passed away July 16, 2012 at the age of 72.  She was also the owner of Angelheart Antiques on Rt. 17 in Tuxexo. A retired Civil Engineer, she was born on November 23, 1940 in Brooklyn, NY. and lived in Campbell Hall, N.Y. Noel Jablonski studied Civil and Environmental Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Planning, Zoning and Drainage Law at Rutgers University and Airport Engineering at PENN State. Continue Reading

The talented “Hudson River School” artist, David Johnson (1823-1908) loved the scenery in the Ramapo Mountains around Sloatsburg so much that he traveled here during the summers of 1873, 1874 and 1876, producing some remarkable drawings and paintings. He depicted Torne Mountain, the Ramapo River, Potake Lake and Torne Valley views of rock formations with groves of cedar and oak trees. I have collected all the David Johnson art work from these travels that I could locate  into a show presented at Harmony Hall last year. Recently, however another painting has surfaced, Cascade, Rockland County, N-Y, David Johnson, 1876. If you recognize this view, please email, geoffwelch@gmail.com so we can correctly identify the location of this  rocky waterfall.

Thirty six AmeriCorps Environmental interns gathered in Rockland County this past week as part of training and placement for a six week environmental program throughout Rockland County. The students will fan out across the county to various agencies, such as town and village highway departments, the Rockland County Drainage Agency, and the Rockland County Solid Waste Management Authority, where they will engage in environmental projects as part of their Americorp training. Continue Reading

Now that school is out for the summer, Annmarie McAnany, children’s librarian at Sloatsburg Public Library, kicks it up a gear as the summer reading season starts. For more than a few years now McAnany has been a literacy pied piper, building up the Sloatsburg Library’s annual summer reading program into a well-attended, active community outreach initiative that draws in elementary age students from across the village. Continue Reading

The library gods must have been pleased when the Tuxedo Park Library appointed Diane Loomis as its new director. Whenever found behind the checkout desk, Loomis nearly always has a smile or encouraging word for patrons. As former head of Tuxedo Park adult programs and reference, as well as library webmaster, Loomis brings a quiet veteran competency and enthusiasm to the job that should serve her well as library leader. She replaces former director Claudia Depkin, who has filled that same position at Haverstraw King’s Daughters Public Library. Continue Reading