Highlands Current Audio Stories

Beacon fifth graders help restock trout

If you saw 37 fifth graders marching with fish signs down Churchill Street in Beacon on May 16, they were off to release 60 trout friends into Fishkill Creek.

The children, who attend South Avenue Elementary, had given the 3-inch brown trout names like Holiday, Jeremy, Jeff, Billy Bigback, Patricia Felicia Petunia, Little Jim Bob and Li'l Shoddy.

It was the culmination of an eight-month school project about trout, their habitat and conservation, and the importance of caring about nature.

"Why would you care about the environment if you're not connected to it in any way?" asked Aaron Burke, the school librarian who runs the project. "This is a way to help make that connection. Every time they drive over that bridge, they'll think, 'I wonder if Fred is in there.' "

Students in 5,000 schools nationwide and more than 350 in New York are conducting similar releases as part of Trout in the Classroom, a program organized each spring for more than 30 years by the conservation group Trout Unlimited.

"The big goal of the program is to create this connection with students in their watershed and their drinking water," said Cecily Nordstrom, the nonprofit's stream education manager.

Burke has worked with Trout in the Classroom for five years and starts each fall with a small jar of trout eggs hatched in an aquarium in the school library. He gets the eggs from the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The DEC uses the same stock in hatcheries that annually produce 2 million trout to stock streams and lakes.

The state adds 6,100 brown trout each spring to Fishkill Creek, which starts in Union Vale and flows 33 miles through Dutchess County before passing through Beacon and emptying into the Hudson River. About 90 percent of those trout are 9-inch yearlings. Starting in 2020, about 10 percent of stocked trout were 13-inch two-year-olds, giving anglers "a shot at catching one of those nice larger fish," said Fred Henson, the DEC's cold water fisheries leader.

Photos by Ross Corsair

Henson explained that Fishkill Creek is a "put-and-take" fishery, which means the fish are put in the stream and quickly taken out by anglers fishing in places like Madam Brett Park off Tioronda Avenue. Stocked trout rarely survive to reproduce.

Without stocking in Fishkill Creek, Henson said, "you wouldn't have a fishery."

Development along streams like Fishkill Creek undermines the clean, cold water needed for trout to thrive, he said. As with many waterways in developed areas, stormwater runoff pollutes the creek and fewer trees leads to rising water temperatures.

Henson said that the state reduced stocking last year in Beacon's section of Fishkill Creek to 400 trout because fewer property owners allow fishing. Until 2023, the state was stocking the section with 1,100 brown trout, he said.

"As more and more large properties are subdivided and development increases in the Hudson Valley and in Dutchess County, we're limited by landowners who are unwilling to let the public access trout streams for recreation," said Henson.

The South Avenue Elementary release was at a public greenway behind the Hudson Valley Brewery. Burke had a tabletop model of a watershed to show how development impacts a waterway. Teachers led scavenger hunts while children took turns releasing trout.

Mark Jones, a board member of the Mid-Hudson chapter of Trout Unlimited, was there to teach fly casting. While most of its members are anglers, Jones emphasized that his chapter's mission is "to show the importance of stream preservation." On Fishkill Creek, he said the chapter has done clean-ups and tree plantings that reduce bank erosion.

April Stark, another member of the Mid-Hudson chapter, demonstrated fly tying and explained that a river with healthy bugs produces healthy trout. "Trout only live in good, clean water," she said. "So, when you see trout who are able to thrive wi...

Mase buyer expected to soon sign contract

The Beacon City Council has approved the sale of the 114-year-old Mase Hook & Ladder fire station, although city officials said the buyer and price won't be revealed until the contract is finalized.

The council voted, 6-0, on Monday (May 19), with Jeff Domanski of Ward 2 abstaining. He said that while City Attorney Nick Ward-Willis had moments earlier provided an "excellent explanation" of the sale process and council members' responsibility to seek the highest return, he felt "that could have been communicated earlier; it might have allayed a lot of concerns."

City Administrator Chris White said Wednesday that he was hopeful the sale would be finalized next week.

Earlier this month, a real-estate agency hired by the city listed Mase, at 425 Main St., for $1.95 million and the former Beacon Engine Co. firehouse at 57 East Main St. for $1.75 million. Both properties became surplus after a $14.7 million centralized fire station opened near City Hall last fall.

On Monday, Ward-Willis explained that state law allows a municipality to withhold details of a sale until a contract has been signed. "Similar to a private deal, you don't negotiate in public, especially on the financial terms," he said.

The council's vote authorized White to move forward with the sale and acknowledged that an ownership transfer would not negatively impact the environment. If the new owner, as expected, submits plans to redevelop the three-story brick building, they will be subject to Planning Board review, including for environmental impacts.

At the Monday meeting, Beacon resident Theresa Kraft criticized the pending sale, saying a council member voting "yes" could be labeled "a traitor, a crook, a pawn in a larger game."

"It's like pawning your grandfather's gold watch to pay a bill," she said. "The bills keep piling up, and once the watch is gone, you lose a cherished family heirloom." She asked the council to call for a public referendum before proceeding with a sale.

Ward-Willis responded later, noting that state law permits only certain situations, such as the issuance of bonds or a change to the city charter, to go to voters. As elected representatives, he said, the council must decide most matters.

"With the sale of a property or the purchase of a snowplow, you're not allowed to go to the public and do a poll," he said. "You don't have the authority to send it to the public. You've been elected and you need to do your job."

Addressing other suggestions made recently, Ward-Willis said the city had considered repurposing the building but a law that requires multiple contractors for public construction projects made conversion impractical. Modern accessibility codes also do not apply to the building as long as it is a fire station, but "when you kick it over to a different use, whether it's a community center, whether it's a city hall, that triggers a whole set of rules which the city has to comply with," he said.

The city received multiple offers for the former station, Ward-Willis said. Charlotte Guernsey, the owner of Gate House Compass Realty, the city's broker, recommended the pending offer as "the highest and best," he said.

The decommissioned Mase and Beacon Engine stations are both part of Beacon's protected historic district. City officials said both former firehouses would be sold with covenants that restrict renaming the properties or altering or defacing their historical features. Any changes to the exterior of the buildings will require a "certificate of appropriateness" from the Planning Board.

While a sale is pending at Mase, Beacon Engine's ownership has been challenged. State Judge Thomas Davis on Tuesday (May 20) recused himself from litigation brought against the city by retired members of the volunteer fire company that used the station as its headquarters for 136 years. Davis, who presided over the lawsuit filed in 2023 by St. Andrew & St. Luke Episcopal Church over a city-owned parkin...

Tony Moore mounts show of works by friends and neighbors

After more than a year of curation, Tony Moore is poised to open his remote Philipstown gallery space and its lush grounds to display his work and that of 14 other artists whom he admires and calls friends.

The show, Destination Earth, contains over 70 pieces spread across the wooded property and inside the light and roomy interior spaces. The main upstairs gallery seems like an airy treehouse, with vistas complementing the art.

Moore and his wife, Cynthia Ligenza, met in New York City nearly 30 years ago at a gathering for people wanting to imbue their lives with health, art and sharing. Two years later, they moved to a 5-acre property on a ridge abutting Fahnestock State Park.

The two married that summer under tall oaks, and the expansive surroundings continue to nurture creativity. "We are living in paradise," says Ligenza. Crediting her husband's vision and efforts, she says "every inch of our property is curated, and it brings me to tears to look at it because it's so beautiful."

Moore has been producing beauty since childhood, even before his grandfather recognized his interests and gave him woodworking tools. Born in the midlands of England, Moore went to art school in the U.K. and Yale University. After graduating with an MFA, he installed exhibits at the Guggenheim, which would later acquire four of his works. The Brooklyn Museum owns two.

Ligenza became a physician, with a practice in Cold Spring, while maintaining a lifelong devotion to music. The Ligenza Moore Gallery has hosted recitals featuring Ligenza on violin and with other musicians.

Art beckons as one approaches the show, which explores "where we are, how we got here, what may endure, and what is to come." When coming from the plateau below the buildings, a ceramic platter by Jeff Shapiro sits before ascending stairs. Kurt Steger's wood-and-steel abstraction is adjacent to the gallery sign. More Steger pieces pepper the grounds.

"Vipassana," by David Provan

"Reverb," by Don Voisine

"Summer Walk," by Katherine Bradford

Sculptures by Kurt Steger and David Provan

"The Thousand-Eyed Present (from Ralph Waldo Emerson)," by Meg Hitchcock

Once inside the vestibule, there are graphic etchings and collages by Judy Pfaff, who attended Yale with Moore. Entering the upstairs space, Moore's dark painting on paper features a bright blue hand, echoing the hand imagery in Pfaff's work.

On the landing leading to the main gallery, the shapes in each work mimic others in proximity. "The works start talking to each other," Moore says. "As a curator, you try to foster that conversation. I've spent a great deal of time moving things around in the gallery to try to achieve that balance and harmony."

Moore's work in the show includes a mysterious painting that suggests a chrysalis or womb; a wall of pictorial ceramics he calls "fire paintings;" wood-fired ceramics with surface and interior interest; an early wood-fired ceramic wall tile; and one bronze and one ceramic-and-steel sculpture placed outside that shift in appearance depending on weather and light.

"I'm not a figurative artist," Moore says. But he is also not an abstract artist such as his friend David Provan, who died last year. Instead, evocative imagery and forms with a spiritual component mark his work, which he suggests might be characterized as "symbolic abstraction."

The gallery also has three small acrylics by Katherine Bradford, whose swimmers, while figurative, respect formal principles and abstract composition, with faces that are nothing more than slabs of color. Perhaps the most traditional art in the show is by Moore's neighbor, Simeon Lagodich, who is completing a series of Hudson Valley plein air paintings. An iguana poses with an adorned woman painted by Garry Nichols, and around her is a ceramic piece by Moore that might look like a pair of animals - dogs, bunnies?

On a lawn behind the gallery and near the sheltered Anagama-Noborigam...

My first experience growing plants in containers was in a rooftop garden in Brooklyn. The previous tenant left behind troughs and pots, and I was delighted to make use of them. I grew sweet corn, 8-foot sunflowers in clay pots and herbs of all flavors.

I learned from my farmer uncle that corn had to be planted in two rows, not a single line, because it's wind-pollinated. I staggered a row of five in a curving line. That doesn't yield a lot of corn, but I liked the way it looked, and it felt grounding to have these sturdy, waving stalks among the industrialness of the neighborhood.

The sunflowers were cheerful and untouched by the squirrels and chipmunks that keep me from growing them in Philipstown. At the end of the season, I would lop off the heads and give them to my neighbors, who kept chickens in an empty lot on the corner. The herbs were a sensory blast and sometimes used for cooking among the people who shared the space.

The setup dictated the growing conditions. The rooftop was accessible after many stairs and walking through the kitchen and a bedroom. Lugging heavy bags of soil or other materials was a drag. I improvised compost and filler with leaves I collected in the street for mulch.

There wasn't any shade, and the black tar paper under the containers was blazing hot. Setting the pots on stands helped. Water came from a hose that ran up the fire ladder from the courtyard below and had to be turned on and off at ground level. Getting that parkour workout was a bonus.

Now I'm a flatlander, with acres of greenery and containers that form a border to keep people from falling off the patio. It was useful when my daughter was learning to walk. All were inherited from a previous owner or repurposed.

I appreciate having herbs like chives and basil nearby for cooking and dill to attract caterpillars that become butterflies. I grow lettuce because it's close to the kitchen and easy to gather for salads. Sun-warmed cherry tomatoes, a summer luxury, are close at hand because everyone likes to grab one for a quick snack.

I have two window boxes to plant - a gift handmade and installed by my husband. I considered how nice they would look on the stone wall of our house but realized I don't want to block the view from inside. I'm planning a low-growing mix with creeping thyme and stonecrop plants.

A few things to address when planting containers:

For vegetables, look for plants labeled "patio," which are bred to grow in small spaces.

Watering is the most demanding part of container gardening. Larger pots allow for more soil volume that will dry out less quickly.

Metal containers heat up fast and hold heat. Pottery is more stable temperature-wise but porous. Plastic is relatively stable, but it's got all the relative issues of being plastic; it's better to repurpose or acquire used plastic pots. Wood is a fine material.

Commit to watering and set up a rain collection system nearby if possible. Monitor the soil daily if it isn't raining.

Think about layers and maximize space by using tall, medium and shorter plants to fill out the container.

If you enjoy fresh mint, grow it in a container to avoid its inevitable colonization of a flowerbed. The same is true for other vigorous plants.

Soil sold in bags labeled as "potting mixes" is blended to maximize nutrients and drainage. Avoid using garden soil or topsoil, which are denser.

I've never used mulch in container gardening but in larger troughs or with bare soil it could help with water retention.

It's a myth that a layer of rocks at the bottom of a pot will help drainage. It makes it worse. Fill it with soil and make it snug around the plants to avoid air pockets.

Mix perennials and annuals to lighten your workload. You don't have to start from scratch every year.

Many pollinator-attracting plants will happily grow in pots. A few of my favorites are butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa), foxglove beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis) and little bluestem, a native grass (Schizachyrium ...

Beacon artist opens studio to beginners

Not too long ago, Beacon High School offered woodworking classes in a space now occupied by Rexhill Studio. An old sign outside one of the warren of rooms in the KuBe Art Center reads: "GO4 Wood Shop."

Today, students can access a Construction Trade curriculum that includes some woodworking instruction through Dutchess BOCES. Two are enrolled.

Exemplifying the decline of practical manual arts education, studio co-owner Justin King attended the Oregon College of Art and Craft, which shuttered in 2019 after 112 years.

To fill the instructive void, King launched an eight-week introduction to the basics, Woodshop Beacon, which sold out fast and wrapped up on Wednesday (May 21).

"We have fewer places to do this kind of thing," he says. "With YouTube and other videos, you're starting in the middle and backtracking to the beginning, so this helps plug in the knowledge gap."

The endgame for the class is a handmade square box, a task that requires several basic skills. A model jewel case that King created is shaped to near perfection, with seamless joints; the top tray nestles inside with zero wiggle room. Press a button in the back and out pops a hidden drawer.

"Boxes can be simple, but they require time, dedication and ability," says King. The name Rexhill, incorporating the Latin word for his last name, harks to the family farm in Ohio. After making his way to Portland, he met his wife, Paula, who plays an instrumental role at the studio.

The couple drifted east with stopovers because there are lots of woodworkers in the Pacific Northwest and she grew up in New Jersey. In 2006, when they settled in Beacon, "it was pretty rough," she says. "But you could feel a change in the air."

Justin King's first love is fine furniture, and he makes tables and credenzas with artistic and technical flair. The studio also devises custom installations in collaboration with architects, homeowners, contractors and interior designers.

For the Woodshop Beacon class, students began by "playing around with planing," according to the curriculum. They progressed to joinery and working with machines, taking advantage of hands-on shop time on Saturday mornings.

Building the box requires choosing the type of wood and assembling, sanding and completing the project. "Even if a finished piece is functional, it is art because no two designs are alike," says King, who worried about filling up seats and was comforted by the response.

Dylan Assael, a friend, jumped at the chance to attend. "I thought, 'How great would it be to acquire this skill and level up my abilities?' " he says. Assael also took a sewing class and creates flags that mesh with the decor at boat and yacht clubs.

Though woodworking presents inherent danger, he faced his fears. "Those tools can maim and injure and that scares the shit out of me, so I'm glad to get instruction from a pro and keep my digits intact," he says. "Sifting through videos is frustrating; it's so much easier to talk to a human being and get instant feedback."

Rexhill Studio is located at 211 Fishkill Ave., Suite GO1 & 4B, in Beacon. See rexhillstudio.com or call 503-490-7280.

Roni Horn exhibit elevates her work at Beacon museum

Memo to visitors at Dia Beacon's Roni Horn exhibition: Keep your heads up to avoid tripping or stubbing a toe. "Objects of Constancy," which weighs in at 300 pounds and looks like an oversized stick of licorice (or seven strands of intertwined rebar), rests in the middle of a walkway.

Other dense works, made of cast lead, are tucked into a nook and also placed on the floor by the artist. "Mass Removal II" and "Mass Removal III," created with hand-hammering and a pneumatic drill, resemble elongated clamshells with scuffed-up interiors.

The tops of four rocks-from-another-planet, an excerpt from the eight-piece Space Buttress series, look like petrified wood (one of which conveys the illusion of a knot). In contrast, the sides evoke moss-covered stone.

"Things That Happen Again," another floor-based sculpture, consists of two shiny 1,752-pound copper cylinders placed at 90-degree angles. In a separate room, the cast iron pieces that make up "Post Work 3" resemble textured loudspeakers on poles and hint at an Easter Island vibe.

"Vertical sculptures generally suggest the human form, just as horizontal works are often associated with landscapes," says curator Donna De Salvo.

"Object of Consistency" (1980)

"Post Work 3" (1986)

"Things That Happen Again" (1986/90)

"Space Buttress I" (1984-85)

More than a sculptor, Horn installed this long-term exhibit that elevates her work into the pantheon of artists occupying permanent and semi-permanent spaces in the massive museum, like Donald Judd, Richard Serra and Andy Warhol.

"Horn was friends with Serra, and Judd arranged for the permanent install of another version of 'Things That Happen Again' at Marfa [his 45,000-acre ranch and gallery in Texas], so she fits right in," says De Salvo.

Of the exhibit's 23 works, nine are owned by Dia; the abstract color and texture studies hanging on the walls are on loan from the artist and her gallery.

These framed works date to the mid-1980s. Horn deployed similar motifs and techniques in later, larger creations, says De Salvo. Building on a back-mounted sheet of paper, she created a second layer with smaller fragments of thicker, mottled paper arranged in a collage style covered with colorful, slate-like shapes seemingly outlined in black.

Three works titled "Brooklyn Red" are accompanied by a couple of Brooklyn whites, Hamilton reds and Brooklyn grays. Some of the shapes seem three-dimensional, especially in "This 1," where the colored blotch looks bent like a butterfly wing.

Horn enjoys pairing subjects, like the paper work "Untitled (Hamilton)," which looks like a couple of nuclear reactors. The objects in "Double I I' " and "Double N N' " seem more risque.

In 2001 and 2002, as her international renown began to grow, Horn held two solo shows at the Dia Center for the Arts in Manhattan. Now, she's on the same level at Dia Beacon as Robert Ryman, Gerhard Richter and Louise Bourgeois. It's rare for a living artist to achieve such recognition (she is 69).

"We've had a real commitment to her for more than 20 years," says De Salvo. "She's one of the major figures of her generation and there's a dialogue with our other artists on view."

Dia Beacon, at 3 Beekman St., is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday to Monday. Admission is $20 ($18 seniors, $12 students and disabled visitors, $5 ages 5 to 11, free for members, ages 5 and younger and Beacon and Newburgh residents). See diaart.org.

Proposal also would steer revenue to towns, villages

Four Putnam legislators who supported lowering the county's sales tax rate acquiesced on Monday (May 19), endorsing state legislation that will maintain the current 4 percent rate and send some proceeds to Cold Spring, Nelsonville, Philipstown and six other towns and villages.

Convening for a special session, the Legislature voted 7-1 to support bills introduced by state Sen. Pete Harckham and Assembly Member Matt Slater, whose districts include eastern Putnam, that would extend the 4 percent sales tax rate for another two years. Without the bill, the rate will return to 3 percent. Consumers pay a total of 8.375 percent on eligible purchases, which includes portions that go the state (4 percent) and Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District (0.375 percent).

The state legislation also requires that one-ninth of 1 percent of Putnam's sales tax revenue be shared with the county's nine municipalities.

State lawmakers first approved the increase from 3 percent to 4 percent in 2007, at the county's request, and a series of extensions have kept it in place. The most recent extension expires Nov. 30. In April, five county legislators voted to lower Putnam's tax to 3.75 percent as a give-back to taxpayers amid a $90 million surplus in unrestricted reserves.

But County Executive Kevin Byrne vetoed the reduction and announced an agreement to share with the towns and villages proceeds from the 1 percent increase if it were extended. Municipalities can spend the money on infrastructure projects, with each receiving an amount tied to its population and each guaranteed at least $50,000.

Harckham and Slater endorsed the agreement, which would take effect Dec. 1 and last through Nov. 30, 2027, if their bills pass the Legislature and become law. In addition to enabling what Byrne calls "a first-of-its-kind sales tax-sharing arrangement," the extension will fund a $1 million reduction in the property-tax levy for the 2026 budget that he said would be the largest in county history.

"The alternative was allowing the county's sales tax rate to drop, immediately creating a revenue shortfall of tens of millions of dollars, forcing the county to borrow, raise property taxes or both," Byrne said.

Facing those same pressures, Putnam's municipalities have for years demanded a share of the sales tax revenue, something that 50 of New York's 62 counties do with their cities, towns and villages, according to the state Comptroller's Office. Dutchess' 2025 budget includes $46 million in sales tax distributions, with an estimated $6.1 million for Beacon.

If the proposed revenue-sharing agreement had been in place in 2024, Putnam would have distributed $2.4 million to the towns and three villages on a per capita basis, Byrne said during a news conference last month.

"I haven't heard a single constituent ask us to lower the sales tax," said Nancy Montgomery, who represents Philipstown and part of Putnam Valley as the Legislature's sole Democrat, on Monday. "What I have heard loud and clear is stop the back and forth, stop the chaos and work together."

Legislator Dan Birmingham, who led the effort to lower the sales tax rate, did not participate in the vote because his law firm represents three of the municipalities that would benefit from the revenue-sharing agreement. Another supporter of the cut, Paul Jonke, was the only legislator voting against endorsing Harckham and Slater's legislation, which must pass the state Legislature before its session concludes on June 12.

Amid that pressure, legislators who voted for the vetoed sales tax cut last month endorsed maintaining the current rate. But they complained about being sidelined while Byrne and the municipal officials reached a revenue-sharing agreement and secured backing from Harckham and Slater.

Legislator Toni Addonizio, who had voted for the cut, was among those who did not agree with how the revenue-sharing agreement was crafted. She had proposed...

Known for its bread, bakery relocates from Peekskill

There's something in the air in Garrison - the smell of fresh bread.

Signal Fire Bread opened a new, wood-fired bakery on Thursday (May 15) on Route 9D in Garrison just south of the post office.

Its co-owners, Erin Detrick and Liz Rauch, are both experienced in the art of baking. Detrick baked professionally in New York City before establishing Signal Fire Bread in 2018. Rauch operated a home-based bakery before joining Detrick at the Sparrowbush Bakery in Hudson. They joined forces in 2019 and two years later moved the bakery to Peekskill.

Rauch said their goal in Peekskill was to run a manufacturing plant for bread, but local zoning required them to include a retail component. "We were able to establish a strong business there, but the retail space was makeshift." Detrick said. "We didn't have great visibility, and we couldn't grow it."

They were not actively looking for a new home but said they couldn't resist when the Garrison location became available. "The space came to us," Rauch said. "We considered it for a while, and it was like, 'Yes, this is what we imagined we'd like to be.'" They closed the Peekskill facility in late 2024 to focus on the move.

Signal Fire's initial retail selection will include 12 to 15 types of bread, from baguettes, spelt, brioche and miche, to East Mountain levain, Ammerland rye and honey whole wheat. There will also be scones, muffins, cookies, biscuits, galettes and rolls.

"We'll add pizzas, sandwiches and salads eventually and, hopefully, soups by the fall," Detrick said. "We want to add more breakfast and lunch items as we get our legs and train staff." Coffee + Beer in Ossining will supply coffee. Signal Fire will continue to have a booth on Saturdays at the Cold Spring Farmers' Market, where it has a loyal following.

Rauch and Detrick are aware that the building, which began life as a gas station, has seen a succession of short-lived cafes and restaurants. "That was an early concern, but we're already well-known in this community and feeling so much support everywhere we go here," Detrick said.

Grain and the flour derived from it are the raw materials that fuel a bakery. Signal Fire works with Farmer Ground Flour, which grows organic grain on five farms in the Finger Lakes region and grinds it into flour using pink granite millstones.

That process mills together the grain's three elements - bran, germ and endosperm - to maximize flavor and nutrient value. "It can be sifted if you want a lighter wheat, or left whole," Detrick said. They sometimes source flour from New Jersey and Maine, as well.

Rauch said 90 percent of what they bake uses natural wild yeast. "Sourdough is natural wild yeast; it's in the air," she said. They mix flour, water and yeast twice a day. "We've been maintaining that culture since we opened; it's a constant process of keeping it healthy and happy."

The name Signal Fire is tied to the region's geography and history. Signal fires were lit on mountaintops in the Highlands as a means of communication, both during the Revolutionary War and probably earlier by Native Americans. "I loved that image of fires burning on the mountaintops," Detrick said.

Both bakers admitted to a slight case of the jitters as opening day approached. "We've been prepping for a year," Detrick said. "It's a blend of excitement, nerves and curiosity about what's going to actually happen when people come through the door."

Rauch added: "I'm feeling positive and optimistic. I'm also nervous because we've never run an operation like this. We're jumping off the diving board!"

Signal Fire Bread, at 1135 Route 9D in Garrison, will be open today (May 16), Saturday and Sunday from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Beginning May 22, it will be open daily except Wednesday. See signalfirebread.com.

Says deputies punished for writing too few tickets

The union representing Putnam County Sheriff's Office deputies said it has filed a complaint with the state labor board alleging that its members are penalized for failing to meet quotas for writing tickets.

The Sheriff's Office PBA announced on May 10 that an action has been filed with the state Public Employees Relations Board (PERB) against Sheriff Kevin McConville, Putnam County and County Executive Kevin Byrne.

Neither the union nor the sheriff or county executive's offices responded to emails about the allegation, but a Facebook post by the PBA said Capt. James Schepperly, who heads the Sheriff's Office's patrol division, has used quotas "as a gauge of a deputy's performance," in violation of department policy and state law.

The Sheriff's Office only publicizes its use-of-force policy. But state labor law bars police agencies from penalizing officers - including "reassignment, a scheduling change, an adverse evaluation, a constructive dismissal, the denial of a promotion or the denial of overtime" - for failing to meet quotas for writing tickets or arresting or stopping people.

Putnam deputies who did not write enough tickets "had their schedules changed and were subjected to a change of duty assignment or location as punishment," according to the PBA. "It's our expectation that once our case is heard by PERB they will side with the PBA and these unlawful, retaliatory actions, that create an increase in tax dollars, will stop."

According to data provided by the state Department of Motor Vehicles, Putnam deputies wrote 5,422 tickets in 2024, 20 percent fewer than 2023. Most drivers were cited in Southeast, followed by Philipstown and Putnam Valley. The most common infraction was an expired or missing state safety inspection, followed by driving without a license, lack of registration, speeding and disobeying a traffic device.

According to Jackie Fielding, a fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice in New York City who co-authored a 2022 report on ticket quotas, they "can incentivize officers to prioritize enforcement activities that can be completed quickly and easily," rather than "investigating more complex or violent crimes that significantly impact public safety."

"In the more extreme case, officers can resort to malfeasance to meet their quotas: fabricating a reason for a stop or arrest, assigning tickets to fictitious drivers or even recording tickets for dead people," she said.

One case occurred in February 2023, when the Westchester County district attorney charged a state trooper, Edward Longo, with writing at least 32 tickets over 10 years on the Sprain and Taconic parkways for drivers he never stopped, including someone who had died before the ticket was issued. Longo was charged with 32 felony counts.

The trooper who filed the paperwork charging Longo said his division "monitors its officers for performance-related goals in the issuance of traffic tickets," according to The Journal News, and may counsel those "who do not meet expectations or whose productivity falls below their peers."

Waterway runs near Route 9 projects

A mining company's proposal to build a cement plant on Route 9 just north of Philipstown is drawing concerns about risks to Clove Creek and the aquifer beneath it, which supplies drinking water to several municipalities.

Ted Warren, public policy manager with the Hudson Highlands Land Trust, joined Philipstown residents in expressing reservations to the Fishkill Planning Board during a May 8 public hearing.

Century Aggregate wants to add the 8,050-square-foot plant to its 310-acre property at 107 Route 9, as well as 11 parking spaces, a well to supply 10,000 gallons of water daily and an on-site septic system. The portion of the property was formerly occupied by the Snow Valley Campground.

The plant would operate from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 6 p.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays, the firm said. Vehicles would use an existing bridge over Clove Creek, a protected waterway that snakes through the property.

Along with concerns from residents about truck traffic, noise and dust, and endangered and threatened wildlife such as the timber rattlesnake, Warren said newly paved surfaces risk sending contaminated runoff into the creek, to the detriment of water quality and fish.

"Given the increase in extreme precipitation events that we are facing these days, and the fact that the proposed plan is located at the base of steep slopes, the potential for storms to overwhelm the proposed containment and drainage systems during heavy precipitation events should be closely examined," he said.

Century Aggregate's daily withdrawal of 10,000 gallons of water could also affect the creek and its underlying aquifer, said Warren. The aquifer parallels Route 9 from East Mountain Road South to the town border with Fishkill. Its groundwater feeds private wells that supply residents and businesses along Route 9, the towns of Fishkill and Wappinger, the Village of Fishkill and Beacon.

"The dust and the pollution that's going to come from the operating of that plant is going to definitely have an impact on the environment, the creek and the living conditions of businesses and houses," Carlos Salcedo, a Philipstown resident whose property on Old Albany Post Road borders the creek, told the Planning Board.

Clove Creek's waters bisect the front and back parts of another property where a proposed project is raising concerns: 3070 Route 9, whose owner is seeking Planning Board approval to convert the former Automar into a gas station with a convenience store and Dunkin'. Clove Creek flows north toward Fishkill about 50 yards from the front of the property.

The owner, Misti's Properties 3070, notified the Philipstown Conservation Board in March that it had decided to revise its proposal. An engineer for Misti's told the board that the owner found "substantial environmental impacts - a lot of earthwork" and other conditions that would make it difficult to construct a planned office building and solar farm.

Andy Galler, chair of the Conservation Board, said on Tuesday (May 13) that the previous owner used fill and allowed old vehicles and other debris to accumulate within the 100-foot protective buffer required for watercourses and wetlands. The abandoned vehicles have been cleared, he said, but the fill remains, along with a bridge connecting the front and back sections of the property.

The bridge is "not ideal" because it constricts the creek's flow, he said, and could spur a blockage from debris carried during heavy rainstorms.

"The ideal situation would be, if somebody is going to develop the front part of the property, that hopefully the giveback is that there is some remediation to put back a flood plain area that would be natural and native," said Galler.

Despite continued industrial development along Route 9, the creek is "amazingly intact" and rated by the state Department of Environmental Conservation at "just about the highest standard" for water quality and trout habitat, he said. "It runs clear," said Galler.