New Paltz Mayor Jason West cops to residency problem
New Paltz Mayor Jason West informed his fellow Village Board members on May 15 that he is living outside the village that he serves. “For those who don’t know, I had my residency challenged on Tuesday,” the mayor said. “I got a visit from the sheriff’s department challenging my residency.” West says he’s living just...
New Paltz town/village ask state for help with consolidation
After more than five hours of heated debate, village and town officials in New Paltz came to a conclusion on consolidation — they will ask Albany for special legislation. New Paltz will seek a special home rule law from the State of New York, allowing them to let town voters and village voters to cast...
New Paltz voters OK $52.2M school budget, $500K safety project
New Paltz’s $52.2 million school budget passed handily, nabbing almost 70 percent voter approval tonight. A second proposition asking voters if they’d support using $500,000 from the capital reserve funds to help pay for needed repairs to district’s four school buildings also passed. On the budget, 1,316 voters said yes and 579 said no. That...
WWII Navy vet recalls 46 days lost at sea
Fresh out of high school, Albert Becker left his family to work at a newspaper in Lawton, Oklahoma. He wasn’t much more than an Iowa farm boy when, at 19, he decided to leave that newspaper to join the Navy and serve in World War II. “I saw I was going to get drafted —...
“Hackerspace” Squidwrench sets up shop in Highland
Studio 81 is a small workshop occupying a space accessible by an alleyway on Vineyard Avenue in downtown Highland. Recently, a group of programmers, artists and electronic wizards — calling themselves Squidwrench — have started to meet there. They’re what’s called a hackerspace, or makerspace — a creative collective of young professionals who meet to...
Angels ‘n Earth offers local grave landscaping
For Rebecca Glaser planting flowers and landscaping around the gravesites of relatives has been a family tradition. “I would say the idea was instilled by my parents, because every year my parents would plant flowers at their family members’ sites over in Poughkeepsie,” Rebecca said. “I took somewhat of a backseat to that initially. I...
Gardiner looks to inform, aid elders with Senior Living Expo
It’s tough to know exactly what services Ulster County and Gardiner offer to senior citizens. People might be doing without pet assistance, adult day care, senior discounts and other stuff already available to them through government programs. That’s a situation the Gardiner Living Community Committee members hope to alleviate on May 14 with their Senior...
Three candidates view for two Highland School Board positions
Highland voters can expect an experienced group of three candidates to run for the two open school board seats on May 21. This year’s race will pit incumbents Sue Gilmore and Tom Miller against their onetime colleague Vincent Rizzi, a former Highland Board of Education president. In a stunning turnaround, Rizzi lost his seat on...
Newcomers flock to fill vacant New Paltz School Board seats
In a year when familiar faces decided not to run for re-election, three hopeful newcomers will try to win two open seats on the New Paltz Board of Education. Board Vice President Rod Dressel and long-time member Edgar Rodriguez decided against running this year. In their place, computer data analyst Max Maurer, current New Paltz...
Cancer survivors, friends ready for Relay For Life
When Relay For Life comes to SUNY New Paltz, cancer survivors and the people who care for them will have a chance to fight cancer on the racetrack this Sunday, April 28. It won’t be the first time. “We’ve been having the event in New Paltz, annually, since 2004. This last year was a big...
New Paltz Village Board votes to make mayor’s position part-time; West threatens to resign
Routine budget talks in the Village of New Paltz quickly devolved into a heated conversation on April 17, when discussion turned to a potential $13,000 raise for the mayor. Mayor Jason West had proposed to raise the mayor’s salary to $48,000 a year, up from $35,000. Trustees instead voted to roll back their own raises...
Earth Day is a great time for a spring cleanup
New Paltz may have more going on for Earth Day than practically anywhere else. And surrounding towns have been increasingly getting into the act. In New Paltz, there’s the townwide cleanup, events on campus, lectures, activities, music and even the Earth Day Fair at the Reformed Church on Huguenot Street. The quirky college town has...