NEW HEAD. For the first time, as of Monday (6/25) the governing board of Columbia Memorial Hospital is led by a GreeneLander: Stephen B. Dunn, president of Dunn Builders Supply (of Catskill and Chatham). He is not the sole GreeneLander guiding that institution. Also serving are some of the heaviest of our heavy hitters: Don Gibson, Jim Warren, Bill Van Slyke. High among Mr Dunn’s priorities is spreading the word about “tremendous improvements” in the hospital’s “quality of care,” its “breadth of services,” its “investments in new technologies,” and its range of “satellite centers.” In GreeneLand those facilities include family care centers in Cairo, Jefferson Heights and Hensonville, as well as dermatology, wound care, imaging, infectious diseases, and skilled nursing care centers in Catskill.
NEW SUB-HEAD. For the first time, the Catskill Mountain Foundation is being steered not only by Peter Finn but also by an Executive Director: Peter Barker, an early-retired financial whiz who lives in Onteora with artist wife and two children. Mr Barker will be nurturing a burgeoning operation, what with expanding programs at the Sugar Maples center, the imminent opening of the Doctorrow Center for the Arts in Windham (cinema, piano museum, concert hall), the reconstructed, ambitious Orpheum Theater in Tannersville and, we hear and hope, thoughts of greater outreach to riverine communities of the Hudson River Valley.
NEW GUY. For the summer, Catskill’s Community Center will have Patrick Hernandez as operating director. He is a teacher of business at Catskill High School, is well known locally, and succeeds popular Matt Hitchcock who is moving with family to SF.
PINCHED by State police last Thursday (6/21) on a misdemeanor charge: Gina Legari, former mayor of Tannersville, who allegedly used Village money to buy personal goods. According to Daily Mailer Andrea Macko (6/26) and to District Attorney Terry Wilhelm, Ms Legari is suspected of using Village checks to buy items worth about $600 from Home Depot and Wal-Mart back in March 23, three days after being defeated for re-election to the Village board. Her main purchases, Mr Wilhelm noted, were two barbecue grills; she gave one to the Village, kept the other for herself, after she had loaned one earlier to the Village, and it got broken. Ms Legari works for the county Elections Commission and was out of town yesterday (6/26) for a conference on balloting.
HOT IDEA: transform Catskill’s now-former St Patrick’s Academy into a civic center. The Hudson-facing site, already built and capacious, becomes the home of Town government + Village government + the Community Center +, perhaps, the public library, as well as a park. It’s eminently feasible physically. The Main Street sites now occupied by those public offices, once vacated, could become big revenue earners whether rented for commercial operations or sold outright. Off-street parking at the Woodland Avenue center would suffice. Traffic would not be heavy; complaints and apprehensions would be muted by recollections that of the bustle when the lace was a school. Top price for its acquisition would be $2 million. (That’s the figure put out by the Catholic Diocese’s real estate agent). Properties vacated on Main Street would readily cover that cost. Daily encounters at the civic center, meanwhile, would subtly abet the cause of eventual Town-Village consolidation.
HOT DEAL: golf club membership for the remainder of 2007 for half the regular annual rate. Also, immediate payment of the full year's fee covers play until the end of 2008. The deals are offered by Catskill Golf & Country Club. For single players, those prices are $590 and $1180.i Swimming and tennis included. Two lessons with pro included. Extra breaks for new recruits who are under 35 or over 75. The course is in marvelous condition. To inquire, telephone 943-0302. In years past, this kind of bargain has been available only near the end of a season.
HOT NEWS. “The Town of Catskill will be holding a Special Meeting at 6:00p.m. with the town Board at Catskill Town Hall,” said a Daily Mail calendar of events item (6/26). That would be hot news if Towns actually could meet with town Boards. Translation: Town Supervisor Joseph Izzo and the three extant Town Councilmen met in the Town Hall courthouse where, after a stumbling, technically-challenged start, they appointed Elizabeth Izzo as interim Town Clerk, succeeding the departing Karen Sprague Johnson, and Patrick Walsh as interim Town Councilman, filling the vacancy created by the resignation of Joseph Hanusik. Total time for business: 4 minutes. Total attendance: 8 persons. Those appointments reflect decisions made last week by the Town Republican caucus to support Mr Walsh and Ms Izzo for those offices at the November general election. In addition, the caucus backed Joseph Leggio for re-election to the Council and Peter Markou for Town Supervisor, to succeed Mr Izzo, who is retiring. Whether the Democrats will endorse challengers remains to be decided at a mid-August meeting.
HOT SHOW. Tonight (Thursday, 6/28), at Dutchman’s Landing, from 7pm: Lex Greyt & The Urban Pioneers. (We added the tee so it sounds like Great. Even for devotees of Debussy and soft ballads, she rocks). Thanks to the Catskill Chamber of Commerce, admission to the show is free.
HOT DAUBS. “Paint the Mountaintop” is a Windham Fine Arts project in which participants create plein air (=outdoor-painted) landscapes, starting this Monday (7/2), and delivered to the gallery (5380 Main St, Windham) by 3pm on Saturday (7/5), just ahead of the barbecue. For more information: www.windhamfinearts.com or curator Victoria Alten at (518) 734-6850). (Alternative headline: Painters, Prep Your Palettes).
TO ANONYMOUS commentator who, in connection with our Martha Chronicles, said (message of 11:35am Wednesday, 6/27) “I never imagined that someone could con me the way she did. [Martha Ivery] is evil. I have a feeling she will be back”: Tell us your story, in full.
AWOL ALDO. Greenville Town Supervisor Aldo Cardomone, reports Linda Fenoff (Greenville Press, 6/21), has not attended a town council meeting since January.
HOT WORDS.
Ignoranus=person who's both stupid and an asshole.
Intaxication=euphoria at getting a tax refund.
Foreploy=misrepresentation utilized for purpose of getting laid.
Glibido=all talk and no action.
Hipatitis=terminal coolness.
Beelzebug=satanic mosquito that gets into your bedroom at 3am. and cannot be cast out.
Caterpallor=color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.
--entries in Washington Post game calling for neologisms based on adding, subtracting or changing one letter from a regular word.