On the Eve

RUMORED AND FALSE: * That Dunn Builders Supply’s Catskill operation is for sale. The sprawling creekside property is not for sale, says company president Steve Dunn. Retail business dwindled somewhat when Home Depot opened, and it may dwindle more with the advent of Lowes Home Improvement at Catskill Commons. That could prompt a termination of Saturday trade at Dunns. But business with contractors is flourishing, and it will continue to flourish amid the local building boom. The false rumor hurts business a bit, by making regular customers nervous about ongoing and future commitments. Could it be coming from competitors? *That the Freehold Country Inn has closed, owing to financial problems of purchaser Sophia Goshal. Unanticipated problems have been encountered, but the gracious, popular, restaurant is OPEN. *That a historic riverside estate, where a Republican bigwig lived for decades before the place passed on to Hillaryians, is on the market. Trust Seeing Greene on this. *That the Catskill Masons are moving from their present lodge on Route 9W. The “building for rent” sign at the bottom of the lodge’s driveway, along the highway, is just an invitation to rent the place (fully equipped kitchen & all) for special functions.

RECOMMENDED, by Human Events, the proudly “conservative” magazine, as one of 10 ideal Christmas-gift books: Strategery: How George Bush is Defeating Terrorism, Outwitting Democrats, and Confounding the Mainstream Media.

ESTIMATED: that $500,000 will be the likely cost, to Town of Catskill taxpayers, of adapting the former Auto Parts Unlimited building, at 82 West Bridge St, for use as ambulance service headquarters. That would in addition to the $425,000 acquisition cost. And that is why two Councilmen Robert Antonelli and Joseph Leggio have opposed the whole deal. And well might they wonder. The building already is plumbed, wired, heated, roofed, solid-boned. It contains office space, a kitchen, toilets, storage space, and garage space enough to house several ambulances. Here’s hoping that Mr Antonelli and Mr Leggio get assigned to supervising the renovation.

SENTENCED, to a State prison term of up to 51/2 years, for peddling crack cocaine: school teacher Jodi Parker, 29, of Broome St, Catskill.

SALUTED, by various commentators, and by The New York Times (12/14 editorial, “Congress and the Benefits of Sunshine”) for her decision to “post details of her work calendar on the Internet at the end of each day so that constituents can tell what she is actually doing for their money,” thereby attaining “a rare level of transparency”: GreeneLand’s U.S. Representative-elect, Kirsten Gillibrand. Meanwhile, the freshwoman has been appointed to the powerful Armed Services Committee of the House. She’ll take her seat after formal swearing-in as a new Congressperson on Jan. 6.. That will be preceded by a ceremonial swearing-in at the Columbia County courthouse on Jan. 2, with neighboring Representatives (and fellow Democrats) Mike McNulty and Maurice Hinchey in attendance.

ARRESTED, on suspicion of embezzling $45,000-plus from the Order of Red Men, while serving (so to speak) as treasurer of that lodge’s New York chapter: John Walde, 60, of Catskill. As reported in The Daily Mail (11/30; Andrea Macko), the fraternal Red Men take their name from the Sons of Liberty, who disguised themselves as Mohawks while perpetrating, in 1773, the Boston Tea Party.

REVOKED, following a long-delayed Department of Motor Vehicles hearing, at Columbia County courthouse, as required by law, for anyone who refuses to submit to a chemical test after being charged with driving while intoxicated, on Wednesday (12/20), as reported in The Daily Mail: the driver’s license of Greene County Sheriff Richard Hussey. That action is independent of the pending trial on the misdemeanor DWI indictment.

RUMORED: *That downtown Catskill will soon acquire a bookstore. *That a venerable, big, decayed Victorian mansion near Rams Horn/Livingston sanctuary will be converted into a Bird & Breakfast. *that a county legislator is waging a punitive campaign against people in his district who supported his opponent at the November 7^th election (from signing the opponent’s petition to be placed on the ballot, to more active support). *that Bank of Greene County has scored a coup by hiring First Niagara’s star commercial loan officer. *that serious people, with serious backing, are seriously pursuing the project of making GreeneLand a citadel of the fine arts. Of performance and training. Summer long and beyond. At several sites. Seriously. *that the Big Boxes at Catskill Commons will be opened soon—Lowes on Saturday, Jan. 6, and Wal-Mart at 6 pm. on Thursday, Jan. 18. *that Catskill Commons shoppers will be offered free bus rides to downtown Catskill and back. *that, contrary to empirical meterological evidence, winter has not been canceled. So:

“Summer is gone! – the summer days are ended!” A voice mysterious struck my wakeful ear, As o’er the hills through the vales I wended. Rejoicing in the glory of the year.

* * Yes, they are gone! Summer and Autumn too! But shall I therefore sigh the winter through? Bears he no chaplet on his frosty brow? Unfading Ivy, thou dost surely know,

And faithful Evergreens, his temples bind; Pluck them, and cast thy sorrows to the wind! Beside the hearth, when winter winds are wild, Domestic peace, and love, and friendship mild,

Those evergreens shall bloom; they flourish best When by the storm heart nearer heart is prest. Wait God’s own seasons; it would be a curse, Perennial Summer: Winter is the nurse

Of Virtue: ‘tis the hour to intertwine Holy affections, and to look within The soul; to strive to win from Time A wreath that withers not by change of clime --Thomas Cole

*that “the day is upon us on which we commemorate the Birth of our Saviour. It is a blessed day to those whose lives are steadily in accordance with the teaching of Him who in lowliness and humility took upon himself our form and nature in order that we might live. God grant that if it is permitted me and mine to see another return of this day it will find us farther advanced in holiness than this day has found us.” --again, Thomas Cole.