New trash and recycling cans in Uptown Kingston
Kingston mayor Steven Noble has announced that Uptown Kingston now has brand-new trash and recycling cans for pedestrian use. Nine sets of new trash and recycling cans have been placed near curbs on North Front, Wall, Fair, and John Streets, as well as the municipal parking lots.
“You may soon notice new trash and recycling receptacles across Uptown,” said Mayor Noble. “In response to our Uptown business-owners who had requested more trash cans as well as recycling cans in the business district, our DPW delivered shiny new cans this week. With the addition of more outdoor dining and takeaway options, we hope the addition of these containers will help us keep Uptown Kingston beautiful and well-maintained. This investment will also allow additional bins to be relocated to other areas of Midtown and Downtown Kingston this spring.”
The Department of Public Works will regularly empty the trash and recycling cans on Tuesdays and Fridays when possible. Residents who live in the area should be advised that the cans are not to be used for household garbage. There will be fines for those not in compliance.
As part of the Broadway Streetscape Project, Midtown will be getting new garbage and recycling cans along Broadway from the I-587 Roundabout to the Grand Street intersection at the Y.
Spring cleanup in Village of New Paltz
The Village of New Paltz will hold its annual spring cleanup from April 12 to 23.
Collection for residents who live on streets north of Main Street will begin on April 12 and end on April 16. Waste to be picked up must be out by April 12. Collection for residents who live on streets south of Main Street will begin on April 19 and end on April 23. Waste to be picked up must be out by April 19.
Village trucks will pick up bagged yard waste in biodegradable bags only, plus brush, wood, no more than four tires per household, batteries, small appliances, metal, two mattresses per residence and furniture. Two people must be able to lift all items. Paper biodegradable bags can be purchased from the Village Hall for $2.50 per five-pack.
The Village will not pick up any closed paint cans, tar buckets, closed metal or plastic containers containing any liquids, any household trash/garbage or any electronics.
YMCA accepting bicycles for reuse program
The YMCA of Kingston and Ulster County is calling for donations of gently used adult bicycles to meet the demand of local residents who need basic transportation. Through the YMCA’s Lend-a-Wheel bicycle reuse program, bikes are given to essential workers and any low-to-moderate-income resident of Ulster County who needs a bike. The Lend-a-Wheel program also offers bike locks, helmets, lights and bells.
The YMCA is seeing a great community need for used bicycles that can be fixed and recycled through the program. “We’ve given out hundreds of bikes since Lend-a-Wheel started in 2014, but today we have more people than bikes to go around,” YMCA CEO Heidi Kirschner said.
“We could really use your old mountain bike or hybrid, with 24-inch wheels or bigger,” according to Tom Polk, YMCA bicycle program manager. “Unfortunately, we can’t use racing-style ten-speeds or bikes for children.”
For details on how to donate and what is accepted, contact Polk at (845) 338-3810, extension 102, or tpolk@ymcaulster.org.
Brush cleanup in Town of New Paltz
The Town of New Paltz’s yearly spring cleanup is scheduled to begin on Monday, April 5. The following guidelines should be adhered to:
• All piles should be on the road’s edge, parallel with the road, without infringing upon the roadway.
• There are no restrictions on size of brush this year.
• Every road in the town will be checked and cleared of all brush left out. The town will not make return trips, so please be sure to have everything out by the start date.
For additional information, call Dawn at (845) 255-5050.
The Woodstock Loan Closet donates medical goods to Ghana
The Woodstock Loan Closet, located in the barn behind the Rescue Squad, holds wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, canes, rollators, commodes, elevated toilet seats, bath chairs and bedrails to loan to Woodstockers coming out of surgery or accidents. But at some point, it holds more than it can hold, and the volunteers go hunting for organizations in need of the overflow.
Volunteers turned to Med-Eq, a medical equipment donation agency that pairs a donor with a recipient. This year, their recipient was Dr. Ebenezer Derek Mbongo Akwanga, a human rights campaigner, political scientist, Pan-Africanist and motivational speaker who is living in exile in the US, having been tortured in a military prison from which he escaped in his homeland in the former British Southern Cameroons, a/k/a Ambazonia. Read about his current work at https://www.eahrhi.org.
On Saturday, March 13, Dr. Akwanga traveled from Washington, DC via Amtrak, stopped in Poughkeepsie to rent a truck and arrived in Woodstock to be greeted by the Loan Closet volunteers, who filled the truck. Next month, its contents will be loaded onto a cargo ship in Virginia to begin its monthlong journey before arriving in Ghana, West Africa, to assist in ameliorating health conditions there.
The Woodstock Loan Closet is located at 226 Route 212 in Woodstock. For additional information, visit them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/woodstockloancloset or www.woodstockloancloset.com.
Lifebridge Foundation hosts community conversation April 7
Lifebridge Foundation in Rosendale will hold a series of free community conversations on how goodwill can transform our society. “Harnessing the Power of Goodwill: Charting the Way Forward Together” will take place on April 7 from 6 to 7 p.m. via Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88939228095.
The special guest will be Dawn Breeze, co-founder and program director for Place Corps. Breeze applies her skills as an interdisciplinary educator and program designer rooted in her praxis. She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts and Education Reform from Goddard College and works to liberate creativity in community. She does this through her curriculum, Creativity + CourageTM, as well as Instar Lodge, the community arts project space that she created. Place Corps is her most recent collaborative project helping individuals connect with their creative purpose for positive change.
The Zoom meeting will include a short presentation from the guest speaker, followed by participants in a group meeting.
The next conversation in the series will be held on Wednesday, May 5 with guest speaker Steve Nation, the director of World Goodwill in New York.
OSI invites applications for 2021 McHenry Award Program
The Open Space Institute (OSI) announced that it is accepting applications for the 2021 Barnabas McHenry Hudson Valley Awards. The awards are granted to graduate and undergraduate students pursuing research, leadership and community involvement in the Hudson Valley. The 2021 application deadline is April 19.
Each year, OSI selects up to four students in the fields of environmental conservation, healthy communities, historic preservation, the arts and tourism to receive a McHenry Award.
Under the construct of the program, students partner with local not-for-profits and are awarded up to $5,000, with an additional $1,000 going to the not-for-profit, to pursue a project that will promote awareness about local history and the environment and invoke positive change. The 14-year-old program is aimed at encouraging and enabling exceptional conservation-minded students to take an active leadership role in the Albany, Greene, Columbia, Ulster, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam and Westchester County communities.
“OSI’s annual McHenry Awards are a great way for young people to engage with their communities in ways that meet local needs, while furthering their individual goals and interests,” said Kim Elliman, OSI’s president and CEO. “From Westchester to Albany, New York’s Hudson Valley has a rich history and distinct character, and the McHenry Awards are a funded opportunity for young conservationists to help further collective knowledge and appreciation of this vibrant landscape.”
Story-listening for social change
The SUNY New Paltz Distinguished Speaker Series will present an evening with oral historian and educator Zaheer Ali on Monday, April 12 from 5 to 6 p.m. Ali’s story is titled “When We All Speak Truth to Power, Who’s Listening?”
Drawing on decades of experience as an oral historian and educator, Ali will make a case for story-listening as an intentional, creative and political practice. As story-listeners, we value everyone’s stories; we believe in their capacity to tell them; and we commit ourselves to creating and nurturing communities that will not just hear them, but listen.
There will be a 15-minute question-and-answer session at the end.
To reserve a ticket, visit https://webapps.newpaltz.edu/marketplace/store/221/item/641. General admission is complimentary. A $10 donation is suggested to support educational opportunities for SUNY New Paltz students.
A WebEx link will be provided before the event to ticketholders.
Guidelines at Dietz Stadium during Kingston High sporting events
The Kingston City School District has brought competition sports back for its student athletes. Dietz Stadium continues to be the venue for many of its outdoor sporting events. There are numerous guidelines and regulations in place to make these events safe for the students and coaches.
“At this time, we are asking the Kingston community to be respectful of these guidelines, our student athletes and our coaching staff by refraining from use of the Dietz Stadium track and field during Kingston School District sporting competitions,” Kingston school officials wrote in a press release.
During these events, there is a limit of two spectators per athlete inside the stadium, who will go through a temperature check and answer a standard COVID questionnaire. These spectators are only allowed in designated areas, can only sit with family members and must use different entrances and exits from students and coaches. All of this is being done to protect the safety and health of the students and staff and their families.
For these same safety reasons, there may also be times when parts of the stadium have restricted access during practices.
Dietz Stadium will still be open to the public when there are no Kingston School District athletic competitions happening. “We are asking our community to respect the fact that it will be closed for public use when School District sporting events are taking place,” the press release stated.
Friends of Saugerties Public Library offer scholarship
A $1,000 scholarship based on community service, especially to libraries, is being offered by the Friends of the Saugerties Public Library to a graduating senior from Saugerties High School who plans to pursue higher education.
Applications are available on the library website and at the school guidance offices. The deadline is April 28. An essay is required and should be submitted with the application, along with an official transcript.
Ulster County Sheriff deputies arrest alleged peeping tom
Members of the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office report the arrest of Joseph W. Smith, 59, of Plattekill. Smith was charged with the misdemeanors of fourth-degree stalking and first-degree harassment as well as the violation of trespass.
On March 19, deputies received a complaint of a male observed in the backyard of a residence in Plattekill peering through a bedroom window as the occupant inside was getting dressed. An investigation concluded that Smith, a neighbor of the victim, was the individual mentioned in the complaint.
Smith was arraigned in the Town of Plattekill Justice Court and released on his own recognizance to reappear on a later date. An order of protection was issued on behalf of the victim.
Any person(s) charged with an offense or offenses is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Call for visual artists for the Saugerties Artists Studio Tour
The Saugerties Artists’ Studio Tour is seeking new artists to participate in its 19th Saugerties Artists’ Studio Tour on August 14 and 15. All visual disciplines will be considered. Artists must be residents of the Town of Saugerties. The Saugerties Artists’ Studio Tour is an inclusive organization with a diverse membership of artists. Young, emerging and mid-career artists are encouraged to apply. The deadline to apply is April 25.
This year there are three categories to which an artist can apply:
1. Open studios tour: Studios must be physically located in the Town of Saugerties and open to the public for two days, August 14 and 15. The studio must be staffed by the artist.
New this year:
2. Artists hosting another artist: This is open to qualified artists who do not have a studio or have studios that cannot be opened to the public. Best matches will be made based on work that is complementary. There are a limited number of spaces available.
3. Virtual artists by video: This is open to qualified artists who wish to become of member of the tour and participate virtually online, with no open studio.
Contact Barbara Bravo for details at bbravo@hvc.rr.com. Artist application information can be downloaded from the tour’s website at www.saugertiesarttour.org/contact. All artists must exhibit a unique creative voice, original work and artistic ability and will be selected by a panel.
COVID-19 precautions will be in place. Masks and social distancing will be required for any in-person activities.
Kingston Clean Sweep set for Saturday, May 1
The 12th annual Kingston Clean Sweep will take place on Saturday, May 1 from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers will be picking up litter lying along the “Kingston Corridor” from the railroad crossing on Washington Avenue through the Uptown business district, down Broadway to the Rondout waterfront, as well as some side streets.
The Kingston Clean Sweep is sponsored by the Friends of Historic Kingston with support from the City of Kingston and numerous other business, service and civic organizations, schools, churches and individual volunteers. To date, the following groups have committed to the event: Friends of the Kingston Area Library, Hudson River Maritime Museum, Kingston Rotary, Junior League of Kingston, Kingston Kiwanis, Kingston Uptown Business Association, Kingston Catholic School, City Hall, Friends of Historic Kingston and Ulster Garden Club.
If interested in participating in this event, contact Friends of Historic Kingston at (845) 339-0720 or Anna Brett, chair, at abrett1@verizon.net.
Hudson River Brickyard Trail hours extended
The Hudson River Brickyard Trail section of the Empire State Trail in Kingston has new spring hours. The trail will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
As a reminder, parking for the Hudson River Brickyard Trail on the City of Kingston side is at the Kingston Point Beach parking lot. The Town of Ulster side has handicapped parking at the trailhead.
Gregory Warren named Athletic Administrator of the Year
Gregory Warren, director of Health, Physical Education and Athletics for the New Paltz Central School District, has been recognized by the New York State Athletic Administrators’ Association (NYSAAA) for his outstanding contributions to athletics and his support of education-based athletics. His peers in the Association’s local chapter (Chapter 9) have named him Athletic Administrator of the Year.
Warren came to New Paltz in 2017 from Section 4, where he served as athletic director, dean of students and chief information officer. Prior to that, he spent 13 years as a teacher, coach and director in the Baltimore City Public School System.
Warren earned a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education from SUNY Brockport and a Master of Education in Adapted Physical Education/Special Education from Coppin State University. He also holds an Advanced Graduate Certificate in Educational Leadership from Stony Brook University.
Among his many contributions was implementing a process that enables athletic directors to earn Continuing Teacher and Leader Education (CTLE) hours. This new process facilitates a streamlined process of earning credits for athletic directors who need to earn credit hours every five years.
“It is an honor to be nominated by my peers in Section 9 as the 2021 Chapter 9 Athletic Administrator of the Year,” said Warren. “It is a pleasure to work with so many great professionals in other member districts and under the guidance of Section 9 leadership. Being the director of Health, Physical Education and Athletics at New Paltz and working with district leadership, staff, student/athletes and the wonderful community has been a personal highlight for me during the past few years.”
“Greg has been a tremendous advocate for sports and student/athletes’ needs throughout the pandemic,” said superintendent Angela Urbina-Medina. She said that Warren has been a fountain of resources for students and other athletic directors in the region. “Everyone is anxiously awaiting the full return of all sports in the region. We are looking forward to our stands being filled and seeing all the players back on our fields. In the meantime, however, Greg’s resourcefulness, professionalism and creative problem-solving have sustained our sports programs throughout these challenging times.”
Celebrate Earth Day in Saugerties
Town of Saugerties supervisor Fred Costello has announced that Saugerties Green and Clean Days will be held on April 17, 18, 24 and 25. All Saugerties residents are invited to celebrate Earth Day by pitching in to clean up roadside litter throughout the town. The signup sheet and orange trash bags with the town logo will be available at the town clerk’s office at Town Hall, located at 4 High Street in Saugerties, at no cost to Green & Clean participants.
Pick a road and sign up your team, or go it alone. Filled orange trash bags with the town logo can be left on the roadsides and will be picked up by the Highway Department on Mondays, April 19 and 26. Become a part of the “greening” of Saugerties and help keep America beautiful.
For further information, contact the supervisor’s office at (845) 246-2800, extension 345.
Gregory Warren named Athletic Administrator of the Year
Town of New Paltz seeks volunteers
The Town of New Paltz is looking for volunteers to serve on the Board of Assessment Review, Bike/Ped Committee, Clean Water/Open Space Preservation Commission, Ethics Board, Historic Preservation Commission, Planning Board (one alternate) and the Public Access Committee. Interested parties are asked to submit a letter of interest and résumé to the Town Supervisor’s Office at PO Box 550, New Paltz, NY 12561 or e-mail assistant@townofnewpaltz.org.
Saugerties Conservative Party to hold its caucus on April 5
The Saugerties Conservative Party will be holding its caucus for the purpose of selecting candidates for the Town of Saugerties elected offices for the general election on November 2, 2021.
This caucus will be held on Monday, April 5 at 7 p.m. at the Senior Citizen Complex,located on Market Street in Saugerties. Masks and social distancing are required.
Scavenger hunt in the Village of Saugerties
The Saugerties Public Library presents a Spring Animal Babies Village Scavenger Hunt. Working with local businesses, the library has created a fun outdoor game to play. Visit the library to pick up a worksheet and then visit each business listed to see what spring baby animal is pictured in the store window. Write the name of that animal on the worksheet next to the business’ name.
Scan the QR code next to the animal baby pictured or go to the library catalog for books on that animal baby that you can check out. After you find all ten animals, return your worksheet to the drop box at the library to receive a prize.
The scavenger hunt ends April 7.
Birding walks with Minnewaska Park educator Nick Martin
The Gardiner Library presents birding walks with Minnewaska State Park Preserve educator and enthusiastic birder Nick Martin on Fridays in April from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Preregistration for this event is required by contacting Nicole at nlane@rcls.org.
Attendees will meet Martin at the Gardiner Library for an approximate one-mile walk on the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail and Majestic Park. Participants are encouraged to wear waterproof boots or shoes and bring binoculars, a birding field guide or a smart device with a field guide installed. Interested participants are welcome to attend one or all Friday programs.
COVID protocols will be maintained and a limited number of participants will be allowed to register.
For further information, visit www.gardinerlibrary.org or the library’s Facebook page.
Senator Hinchey and the PBA of NYS deliver PPE supplies to Ulster County
On Wednesday, March 24, state senator Michelle Hinchey joined local leaders and the Police Benevolent Association (PBA) of New York State as they donated 6,000 pieces of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at Ulster County’s new primary vaccination site at the former Best Buy in Kingston. The PPE, secured by the PBA from Otis Technology, included surgical masks, disposable face shields and other supplies donated to the Ulster County Department of Emergency Services to help battle the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the county.
“There have been many bright spots in our fight against COVID-19, and brightest among them is the beautiful coming together of community we’ve witnessed,” said Senator Hinchey. “We are grateful to PBA of New York State president Ryan Law for designating these vital PPE supplies to Ulster County. It’s a top priority to keep everyone in our community safe, especially those who are spending their time making sure everyone gets vaccinated. This is one of the darkest times our state has ever faced, but we can find inspiration in these acts of generosity. Taking care of one another is what will get us through this, and my office will continue to work in partnership with our state and local leaders to get the full spectrum of COVID resources where they’re needed.”
Build Your Business series at Gardiner Library with Jennifer Thayer
The Gardiner Library presents a virtual “build your business” series featuring presentations and question-and-answer sessions every Wednesday in April from 7 to 8 p.m. Part One of the series, “Make Your Public Speaking Impactful,” is presented by Jennifer Thayer on April 7. Learn how to use storytelling, mechanics and anxiety hacks to become a better public speaker. Thayer works from the premise that all speaking is public speaking and discusses the use of storytelling as a presentation anchor. She’ll also cover basics like voice preparation, better slide creation and hacks for performance anxiety.
To register for this event, contact Nicole at nlane@rcls.org. Presentations on other business development subjects will continue on Wednesdays through April.
For further information, visit www.gardinerlibrary.org or the library’s Facebook page.
Easter drive-through event in Lloyd
The Town of Lloyd Events Committee will hold an Easter Drive-Through event on April 3. To receive your Easter eggs, follow the Easter Bunny through the parking lot of the Highland Primary School, located at 16 Lockhart Lane in Highland.
Ulster County man killed when car he was working on slipped off jack
An Ulster County man died Thursday, March 25 after a vehicle he was working on fell of the jack and crushed him.
That day at approximately 9:40 a.m., Ulster County Sheriff’s deputies responded to an address on Pine Stream Road in the Town of Wawarsing to assist EMS with a report of a male trapped under a vehicle. The investigation revealed Nelson Jennings Sr., 61, was working on the vehicle when it fell off of the jack being used to hold it up and landed on him. Jennings was pronounced deceased at the scene. Deputies were assisted at the scene by Ellenville Rescue. The investigation remains open at this time.
Woodstock Day School auction 2021 is online
The Woodstock Day School’s auction for 2021 will be held online, starting April 9-18. The funding supports the mission of the Woodstock Day School, a non-profit progressive school. To view the auction, go to wdstockdayschool.org.
Join the family! 
