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

Ken Linsner lives surrounded by Tibetan thangka and Samurai swords, Japanese paintings, and plenty of books — several libraries’ worth. It’s the life of the mind as lived in the world of art and every conceivable art object possible, from an older aunt’s long-held paintings to that silverware collection passed down through the generations to a rare Tibetan kapala — sacred sculpted skull. Continue Reading

Have you ever wondered whether you might have ‘cash in your attic’ or a valuable item buried in plain sight? Well, renowned appraiser, author and conservator Kenneth Jay Linsner will be at Harmony Hall in Sloatsburg, New York on April 15 to provide you with an answer. Join Linsner from 2 p.m. — 5 p.m. at the Jacob Sloat House.

Linsner is president of the Arts Services International Group as well as a recent past president of the New York Chapter of the American Society of Appraisers.

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

Torne Mountain Brush Fire — With dry windy conditions, brush fires are breaking out throughout Harriman State Park, NY and the tri-state area. On Easter Sunday, April 8, the Sloatsburg Fire Department dispatched on a mutual aid call when smoke plumes were seen billowing above Torne Mountain. NY State Park Rangers eventually put out the blaze, which scorched Torne’s eastern ledge.

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

The sinking of “the jewel of the White Star Line” in the early morning hours of April 14 and 15 in 1912 — as the one-of-a-kind British luxury passenger liner RMS Titanic was known — was one of those singular events that still grips the public imagination. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the great ship’s demise, which was billed as an “unsinkable” ship but clipped an iceberg on its maiden voyage and sank. 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

Nestled behind the Municipal Pool down in the Flats off Brook Street, sits Brook Street Park, a sleepy Sloatsburg treasure. Nakoma Brook runs quietly down from the hills and watershed above Sloatsburg, running by the pool, providing the playground its own ample elbow space and quiet. Continue Reading

The egg is a venerable symbol that signifies new life and renewal, going all the way back to the cosmic egg and primordial soup mythologies. The Latin proverb omne vivum ex ovo says, essentially, every living thing comes from an egg, a scientific motto identified with seventeenth century physician William Harvey, the first person to describe and fully understand the pumping heart’s circulation. Continue Reading