Father George to retire at 80 after 25 years at St. John’s in Woodstock
He’s looking forward to sitting on the porch, gazing out at the Hudson ‘with a martini in one hand and chocolate in the other.’
All posts by Violet Snow
Nolan seeks to defend Democratic nomination against Parete…again
Ulster County legislator Kathy Nolan, who won the seat from six-year incumbent John Parete in 2017, will again face Parete in a Democratic primary on Tuesday, June 25, from noon to 9 p.m. They are seeking to represent District 22, which includes the towns of Shandaken, Olive, Denning, and Hardenburgh.
Shandaken will form short-term rental committee to draft regs
According to the results of the survey devised by the Shandaken Short-Term Rental Committee, respondents are, as expected, divided on whether and how to regulate STRs in the town. At the committee’s June 10 meeting, town supervisor Rob Stanley said he will not be a member of the new committee that will be formed to draft regulations now that the survey has been completed.
Local pharmacist says drug pricing system is squeezing out the independents
In the communication between pharmacies and insurance companies, Pharmacy Benefits Managers, such as Caremark, OptumRx, and Express Scripts, are intended to help handle transactions, navigating through the tangle of insurance plans, regulations, and prescription options. But the Pharmacists’ Society of the State of New York says the system is being abused for the profit of Pharmacy Benefits Managers and the downfall of independent community pharmacies.
With help, Woodstock man transitions to life outside prison
“I haven’t experienced freedom in so long, my biggest fear is to have that taken away,” said Woodstocker Ryland Koller, who has been partially released from prison after doing eight years for robbing a heroin dealer in 2011. “I wake up in a cold sweat, thinking some technicality will come up, and I’ll have to go back in. Sleep has been elusive.”
Shandaken short-term rental supporters want to make sure they have a voice
Owners of Shandaken businesses and short-term rentals (STRs) confronted town supervisor Rob Stanley at the June 3 town board meeting, objecting to the lack of an STR representative on the committee that has been considering regulations for such properties and alleging inadequate publicity for the survey designed to solicit opinions on the topic from town residents.
New Woodstock bakery will deliver
“We get flowers delivered. Why not a cake?” mused Rigdzin Drolma, the proprietor of Me3 Bakery, an online business providing gourmet, elaborately decorated cakes to Woodstock and the surrounding region.
In Shandaken, Bodhivastu Foundation plans revival
In the hamlet of Big Indian in Shandaken, the former Rudrananda ashram, a gathering place for idealistic young hippies in the late 1960s, has been coming back to life as a spiritual center since half the property was donated to the Bodhivastu Foundation for Enlightened Activity in 2014.
Phoenicia clinic opens with neurologist; seeks more practitioners
The new clinic in Phoenicia currently has only one doctor, neurologist Paul Mullin of Medical Associates of the Hudson Valley (MAHV), but the practice is looking to take on additional practitioners in family medicine, internal medicine, and mental health. Mullin, whose office opened on May 20 at 9 Ava Maria Drive, as part of the Kingston-based group, is already booked with patients, virtually back-to-back, for two weeks.
Performing Arts of Woodstock’s The Weir
The Weir, to be presented by Performing Arts of Woodstock (PAW) from May 30 through June 23 at Woodstock’s Mescal Hornbeck Community Center, takes its title from the word for a small dam constructed to divert the flow of water, symbolizing what happens in the play. Written by Conor McPherson and directed by Warren Kelder, the drama is set in a rural pub in Ireland in the 1990s.