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 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

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 Sloatsburg Public Works Department is coming to a street near you this week as it continues its spring cleaning around the village. For those residents who have called in to the village offices concerning curbside cleaning, the Public Works truck is sweeping the village this week. It usually takes a few days to a week for the slow-moving truck to sweep through the entire village, cleaning out drainage culverts. For more information, call the village office at 753-2727. Continue Reading

The 17th Annual Ramapo River Watershed Conference will be held Friday, April 27, 2012 at Ramapo College of New Jersey, 505 Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah, New Jersey. Organized by Geoff Welch, a Town of Ramapo Watershed Keeper, the conference explores issues related to what is happening in the area’s watershed. This year’s presentations focus on issues related to storm drainage, development and wetland contamination. Following is a schedule of the day’s proceedings. Continue Reading

The sturdy tan brick building at 100 Sterling Mine Road stands empty, or may be empty, depending on the accuracy of the building’s roadside signage. Built in 1970, the two-story office, with warehouse dock and bays in back, is the source of some controversy in Sloatsburg. Continue Reading