Dropout News & Stuff

NOT RUNNING. Sheriff Richard Hussey missed the deadline (5pm Thursday, 7/19) for filing petitions that would entitle him to be a candidate, in the September primary elections, for adoption as the Republican candidate for re-election. Meanwhile, Lt. Greg Seeley did file his petitions at the Elections Commissioners’ office and he will be unopposed in November’s general election. So will District Attorney Terry Wilhelm. The only contest for a party nomination for a county-wide elective office is for the county clerkship, with Elizabeth Reich and Michael Flynn competing on the Republican side; Terry Gustas stands unopposed on the Democratic side. Sheriff Hussey had said recently that he “definitely” would seek re-election, notwithstanding Republican caucus and deputies’ association endorsements of Lieutenant Seeley. Regarding the no-show, a knowledgeable observer quipped “It’s no surprise that Dick failed to file the necessary papers. Processing papers is not what he does best. You should see the piles--the stacks, the mountains--of papers in his office.”

“PURR-FECT” says writer Jonathan Ment, in the July issue of the Catskill Mountain Region Guide, about Catskill’s 50-feline Cat ‘N Around show—including “Community Cat-alysts,” “Picatso,” “Historic House Cat,” “Mia Feral,” “Rip Claw Winkle,” ”Backpack Cat,” “Pink Catillac,” “Purr-fection,” “Tyger Burning Bright” and “Feline Groovy.” The whole article is a good read, and the Guide’s prize photographs on pages 103 to 110 are superb. Here’s hoping the magazine, published gratis by the Catskill Mountain Foundation, acquires a more attractive name and better local distribution.

6500=approximate number of dollars raised for the St Patricks CYO sports program in Catskill last Sunday at the Kiwanis Club-sponsored Albert Natarnicola Memorial golf tournament. Participants, 100 strong, paid entry fees of $85 apiece to play & drink & eat at Catskill Golf Club. Hole sponsors, 60 strong, contributed between $50 and $250. Raffle ticket buyers, 90 of them, paid $5 apiece for a chance to win a new golf bag; the winner, Michael Bulich, declared that he did not need a new bag, so the prize was auctioned off for $75. The putting contest prize of $120 went to Ron Coons, with Steve Worth as runner-up ($65). Winning the scramble event, with a score of net 57, were Cal Lacy, Rock Lacy, Bill Oravsky and Tony Vizzie. They won on a count-back over Joe Matties, Chick Matties, Greg Sager and Wayne Moore. Pivotal organizers: Jim Riley, Frank Porto.

TIMELY ACE. Speaking of golf: Last Wednesday week (7/11), at Christman’s, on the 7^th hole, with a 9 iron, Joan Snyder, the noted Windham potter, scored a hole in one. On her birthday.

QUELLE DOMMAGE! At 7 o’clock Saturday evening, after 36 customers had placed their orders for dinner, in anticipation of getting to the 8pm concert across the street at the Windham Performing Arts Center, the stove at Bistro Bread & Brie ran out of gas.

COMING to downtown Catskill, by October or thereabouts: The Cathedral Restaurant, Ale House & Wine Bar. That’s the name Carol Blaes and husband Robert Lightcap have chosen for the place, across from the County Courthouse, that from the 1870s was the First Baptist Church and then, recently, the evangelical Full Gospel Tabernacle. Contrary to rumors (=wishful thinking?) they do not plan to install a micro brewery, but they do plan to have 20 micro brews on tap. The food, says Ms Blaes, will be “casual American,” at prices “reasonable enough to allow people to feel they can come more than once a week.” Seating will be in authentic church pews arranged in booths seating four, or six, or eight people. Lots of refurbishing is under way. The most costly improvement, at $40,000 has been air conditioning. The “biggest hurdle” they have encountered is “placing and designing a main-floor bathroom that meets the requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act.” Exterior brickwork is being repointed where necessary, trim is being repainted, and the splendid stained glass windows will be protected (“they were close to ruin”) by Plexiglass and tempered glass shields. During the last seven years, under the rubric Industrial Mobile Catering, Ms Blaes and Mr Lightcap ran a fleet of trucks delivering food to work sites. That business has been taken over by Betty and Lou Miller of Betty’s Diner in Leeds.

SLEEPY NO MORE. After nine years as manager of the Sleepy Hollow Lake Community, Doug Calkins is stepping down, as of July 27, in favor of a property management consultancy. His successor, following a rigorous selection process, will be Jeff DeJernette . Mr DeJernette will inherit a once-floundering, now-flourishing enterprise, which is bound to undergo a fresh spurt of growth, now that a developer has bought the 442 building lots that the county had owned by way of foreclosure.

BEST BETS for GreeneLand entertainment tomorrow (Saturday, 7/21) could be the Irish Cultural Festival at East Durham’s Michael J. Quill Irish Culture and Sports Centre, from noon to 9pm. (www.east-durham.org); or the all-day, most-of-the-night Rally for Rich, a rock (and other) music jamboree at Historic Catskill Point, raising money for the severely injured tattoo artist Rich Wagoner; or, for something complete different, you could be a player in “Play It Again, Sam.” This will be the first “Play-ful Evening” organized by Tony DeVito in his new bookstore at 347 Main Street in Catskill—an evening in which “the audience are the actors, drawing names from a hat, with role-switching from act to act.” The play is the Woody Allen comedy in which a sad-sack hero gets courting tips from Humphrey Bogart. Thus, a player could be the ghost of Bogey in Act I and his eager student in Act II. For more information: (518)966-4038 or allartsmatter@juno.com. Among Sunday attractions, the Bronck Museum’s “family at home” tour will illuminate social and cultural life in GreeneLand during the earliest (Dutch) settlement days. Check it out at www.gchistory.org or (518) 731-6490.

NAME GAMES. Cutting Corner is the clever name Rachel Campbell devised for her Freehold business, at the intersection of Routes 67 and 32, cutting hair.

NOTE TO “DEE DEE”/Doreen: Now that we have your comments posted, would you like to share with us some of the correspondence you had with Martha Ivery in the course of being bilked? You could even write a memoir (funny as well as poignant) about your experience as scam victim.

DAILY MAUL. Today’s issue of GreeneLand’s pre-eminent daily newspaper contains a nice long article, 28 column inches, about “events in Greene County this summer.” The calendar listing starts with July 14th.

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