The best music can be a poignant reflection of reality and/or allow for flights of escapism. Some songs or albums are so powerful they create worlds all their own. In The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis, the land of Narnia was literally sung into existence by the great lion Aslan. I’m sure all of you...
In recent weeks, Town of Ulster and City of Kingston police have launched a series of joint investigations targeting drug dealers who operate across municipal boundaries. But Ulster Town Supervisor James Quigley III says liability and labor issues make any formal consolidation of police services between the adjacent communities unlikely. On March 26, members of...
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Apr 9, 2013 • Kudos to Carrie Jones Ross Thanks to the great article by Carrie Jones Ross in the Kingston Times (Feb. 21 edition), a donation was made to our church by Sgt. George Gunning and the good folks at the Corrections Division of the Ulster County Jail. Denise Prendergast, the jail’s liaison, gave us the good news...
Mayor Shayne Gallo appeared at a public hearing last Monday evening to blast the Common Council’s decision to fund projects by three not-for-profit groups, saying that the proposal would be a waste of scant resources and a blow to his effort to bring efficiency and accountability to the city’s Community Development Office. “For nine years...
Amid much back-slapping and chest-thumping, state lawmakers passed a third consecutive “on-time budget” last week. Code-named “Magic” (by me), this budget held spending to less than 2 percent — demonstrating again that the state can commit itself to some of the rules it imposes on its minions — jacked school aid by another billion dollars...
Worry over and disapproval of the State Education Department’s high-stakes standardized tests has been simmering in Kingston, with some parents saying they’ve had enough and don’t want to subject their children to what they say is a stressful event and a destructive process. A member of the Kingston Board of Education bringing up the hypothetical...
On Nov. 30, 1994, Paul DeGraff Jr., then 23, spent a Wednesday evening drinking beer, doing shots and shooting darts with his league buddies at a bar on Broadway. His girlfriend, Debra Scism, drove him home, he told police later. Around 11:30 p.m. at his residence in Boice’s Trailer Park in the Town of Ulster,...
Back in the ’80s, single mom and waitress Eileen Kennedy was huddled with her young daughter in a restaurant next door to her freezing cold apartment, trying to warm up from the chill, when she heard a woman talking about how much money she was making working in Manhattan’s Local 638 Steam Fitter Trade Union....
Few other than political wonks and the media pay much attention to the annual pronouncements on the state of county, town and city affairs. Coming from majority and minority leaders, it’s usually about hands-across-the-aisle, working together for the common good, kumbaya stuff. Now and then, however, a pearl emerges, like when county legislature Minority Leader...
A wise man (and Hyde Park resident) once said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” FDR was talking about overcoming the Great Depression, but the words still ring true today. I was listening to the awesome indie band Titus Andronicus’ album Local Business and was inspired to write a positive column...
The days of abundant jobs for teens have gone the way of the dodo. Here in 2013, young workers are competing with grownups for the scarce opportunities to earn a paycheck. It’s in this context that the Ulster County Workforce Investment Youth Council hosted their fifth annual job fair Tuesday for kids 16-21. Over 25...
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Mar 26, 2013 • (Editor’s note: We’ll believe it when we feel it, but here’s a release from some smart people out in Ithaca who claim that winter will actually end.) Samantha Borisoff, climatologist with the NOAA Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University, discusses the weather pattern that brought the Northeast a frosty March – and how it will give...
