The Suffern High School History Team’s months-long historical odyssey ended at Cooperstown last Monday when the team placed third overall in the New York State History Day Finals competition. The Suffern team’s website, The Little Red School House: A Story of Desegregation, chronicles school desegregation in Hillburn, New York, piecing together archival photos and news stories with recent interviews of local residents. Continue Reading

Set against an afternoon sky that wavered between dark gray clouds and intermittent streams of sunlight, several Sloatsburg Volunteer Fire Fighters gathered yesterday along Rt. 17 just north of Dater’s Crossing. Stationed off to the east side of the road, rising above traffic and leaning  slightly toward the road, is the telephone pole topped with the fire department’s 12 siren. The day’s task — to finally fix the long silent Sloatsburg fire alarm signal. Continue Reading

The Suffern High School History Team presents Monday in the first round competition for New York State History Day. The team has put together a website chronicling local school desegregation called The Little Red School House: A Story of Desegregation, which features information about the Main and Brook schools in Hillburn during the early 1930s. Continue Reading

The Village Hall parking lot filled to overflow Thursday evening as residents came from all corners of Sloatsburg to attend a special Zoning Board of Appeals meeting. The agenda item of popular interest was a use variance request from Martin Lichtman, a Highland Mills, NY resident and owner of 100 Sterling Mine Road. When the meeting came to order, the board politely silenced the crowd and then explained that, due to a postal processing error, all properties within 200′ of the the Sterling Mine Road warehouse had not been notified by certified mail of the hearing and zoning change request. Continue Reading

Yellow construction cats were busy climbing over the mulch pile on Long Meadow Road Thursday afternoon, digging deep into the steamy black mulch, as the Town of Tuxedo DPW received an Order on Consent from the NY Deparment of Environmental Conservation in a letter dated April 13, 2012. Continue Reading

The Suffern Syborg robotic team recently won the Hudson Valley FIRST Tech Challenge Championship at Pace University in Pleasantville, NY. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded in 1989 by inventor Dean Kamen to inspire students in science and technology. The Syborgs took top honors at Hudson Valley for the Winning Alliance Award, an important milestone for a team only three years old. Continue Reading

The Town of Tuxedo continues to grapple with the massive mulch pile on town land along Long Meadow Road in Sterling Forest Park. Operated by local landscape and tree service company Perfect Cut, the mulch site is being probed and tested by environmental organizations, contracted consultants, concerned citizens, and Department of Environmental Commission (DEC) scientists. The flash point of concern was the recent mid-March fish die-off at Four Corners Pond. Continue Reading

April came in like a lion for Ken Hayward, longtime proprietor of popular Haywards Deli and Market in the heart Sloatsburg on Rt. 17. One of his favorite employees, Marie P. Borrillo, 61, had suffered a heart attack over the last weekend in March and was at Good Samaritan Hospital. Then late Monday afternoon on April 2, Hayward learned that Marie, who opened the store mornings and often acted as his right hand, had died. Hayward spent the rest of the day calling people to let them know the news. Continue Reading

With recent dry windy conditions, brush fires are breaking out throughout Harriman State Park and the tri-state area. Weather service sites have been running  weather bulletins this past week that alert special conditions extend as far south as Southern Virginia and north into New Hampshire. This past Sunday afternoon around 4 p.m. NY State park rangers were seen speeding through Sloatsburg, blue lights flashing, on their way to a reported fire that broke out on Torne Mountain. Continue Reading

Geoffrey Welch has ranged about Sloatsburg and the Ramapo Mountains for years, taking pictures and drawing inspiration from the woods and waterways. A bearish man who wears many hats, Welch is in perpetual motion, whether arranging a nature walk, conference or concert. Continue Reading