Radio Chatskill

The Town of Highland, NY,  is asking residents to weigh in on whether to re-establish its constable department, three years after the positions were suspended over misconduct and training concerns.

“There were some misconduct concerns with unnamed constables within that department, creating a poor atmosphere. Some of the constables didn’t have the required levels of training indicated in their personnel files that they should have had,” said Liam Mayo, news editor of The River Reporter.

Since 2022, the Town of Highland has relied on the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Department, paying for additional patrol coverage beyond the standard county service. Constables, by contrast, are local peace officers whose duties include patrolling roads, investigating low-level crimes, and making arrests for misdemeanors or certain felonies if authorized.

Town Supervisor John Pazzalotto said the referendum is non-binding but serves as a gauge of community support. “It’s kind of an indication on whether the citizens of the town want to have a constable service and can guide the town board in reestablishing it,” Mayo explained.

Supporters argue constables provide a “friendly neighborhood” presence. “There are a lot of issues that you need to call law enforcement over that are not necessarily like someone’s getting murdered, like traffic violations or just neighborhood disputes,” Mayo said. “The idea behind having constables is helpful for the person who responds to that call to be kind of a friendly face who knows the community and can kind of smooth things over, potentially better than a sheriff’s officer.”

At a recent town board meeting, Rochester Constable Rich Miller discussed potential costs and logistics. “He said that it doesn’t necessarily need to cost the Town of Highland a lot of money. There are grants available that could fund the process of reestablishing the constables department and make it so it doesn’t cost the town anything,” Mayo said.

Public sentiment appears positive so far. “The public in attendance [at the town board meeting] seemed positive to the idea. The sense I’ve gotten is that there is support for having constables in Highland,” Mayo said.

If voters approve the measure, the town would need to rebuild the department from scratch.

For more coverage, visit [riverreporter.com](https://riverreporter.com).

Sullivan County officials warn that the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance is anticipating the state’s HEAP funding to be flat for this year.

Clean & Tune, Weatherization, and Home Energy Repair/Replace benefits may not be available this year. Only primary and emergency benefits would be available. Radio Catskill's Kimberly Izar reports.

When Chuck Henry was first hired for the New York State Historic Newspapers Project in 2013, he thought it would be a straightforward IT job.

“I kind of came into this accidentally,” Henry recalls. “I’m an IT coordinator primarily, and so when the project began…I was hired to help support the servers and the like involved with the project.”

But his role quickly grew beyond servers and software. Henry now manages the statewide digitization effort that has brought nearly 15 million pages of local newspapers online at nyshistoricnewspapers.org. Partnering with libraries, historical societies, and museums across New York, the project scans fragile originals and microfilm reels to preserve and share small-town papers with the world.

At the heart of the work is a recognition that community newspapers are vital historical records. “In a lot of cases, a lot of these newspapers contain the written record of everything that was going on in that particular time period in that particular area,” Henry explains. Before syndication, most papers published intensely local news—everything from political debates to notices like ‘Mrs. So-and-so went to visit this other family for tea.’

Digitization not only preserves these stories but makes them searchable. Henry demonstrates how easy it is: enter a name or keyword in the site’s search box, narrow results by decade or county, and uncover everything from birth and marriage announcements to property transfers. Genealogists, local historians, students, and casual browsers all find value in the collection.

Still, the work is far from finished. The State Library once estimated that New York has had as many as 10,000 newspaper titles. Today, the project has digitized about 1,000. Henry says the next decade will be about expanding coverage, especially in counties where holdings remain thin.

The challenges are significant. Old newsprint is fragile, microfilm images vary in quality, and optical character recognition doesn’t always render text perfectly. But Henry says the effort is worth it. “These newspapers were ultimately about their neighbors and their friends in that community. They’re so well written and so generous of the humanity of the people in that town. I think that’s amazing.”

Henry will share more about the project in a public talk, First Drafts of History, on Saturday, September 13 at 1:00 p.m. at the Gilboa Museum and Nicholas J. Juried History Center in Gilboa, New York.

For more information, visit nyshistoricnewspapers.org.

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street? We can—right here in Sullivan County! The Homestead School in Glen Spey, NY, was the backdrop for a new short featuring real students and teachers, capturing a full day in the life of a schoolkid.

The episode, featured in Season 55 titled “New School Scaries,” follows children navigating first-day jitters—from lockers to lunch to heading home—offering young viewers an authentic school experience.

The project was written and directed by Narrowsburg-based filmmaker Tina Spangler, founder of the Big Eddy Film Festival, with her daughter Lulu providing voice-over work. Local filmmaker Oriel Danielsen shot and edited the short. Spangler said she wanted to showcase the school and community to a national audience.

The short premiered on HBO on September 5 and will air on PBS later this fall. Sesame Street is also moving to Netflix soon, continuing its decades-long run.

Read more at scdemocratonline.com

At just 23, Henry Furland is already turning heads with a guitar style that makes one instrument sound like a full band. Known for blending melody, rhythm, and percussion simultaneously, Furland draws inspiration from legends like Chet Atkins, Tommy Emmanuel, and Duke Ellington—and infuses it with his own youthful energy.

Furland’s musical journey began unexpectedly: he asked for a snowboard for Christmas at 13 and unwrapped a guitar instead. That twist of fate led him down the fingerstyle path after watching Tommy Emmanuel perform "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" online. Since then, he’s built a reputation for virtuosic playing, winning national competitions and captivating festival crowds.

Last year, Furland faced a major setback when carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands forced him to take a year off from performing and school. With surgeries supported by the Musician Treatment Foundation, he returned with renewed focus and a deeper appreciation for his craft. 

“I definitely don’t take it for granted now,” he says. “I make sure to stretch, warm up, and take care of my hands—it’s changed how I approach my playing.”

Fans can see him live Friday, September 12, at The Muse in Rosendale, with special guest Brad Jollie on banjo. 

Our resident science guy Joe Johnson is back with three stories from space, nature, and medicine.

Asteroid Bennu’s Building Blocks of Life
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission returned samples from asteroid Bennu in 2023, and scientists now confirm they contain amino acids, nucleobases, ammonia, and water-formed minerals. In short: Bennu is packed with the ingredients for life. Researchers say it may be a fragment of a long-lost “ocean world.”

Meanwhile, interstellar visitor 3I Atlas—only the third object of its kind ever detected—is racing through our solar system at 130,000 mph. Its chemistry is unlike anything seen in local comets, with high carbon dioxide, almost no water, and nickel without iron.

Spiders Turn Fireflies Into Lures
New studies reveal spiders use fireflies as glowing bait. Sheet web spiders keep fireflies alive in their webs to attract more insects, while orb spiders use venom to force male fireflies to flash like females—tricking other males straight into the web.

Hope for Spinal Cord Repair
At the University of Minnesota, scientists have 3D-printed a tiny silicone scaffold filled with stem cells that helped rats with severed spinal cords regain function. It’s early research, but the breakthrough could open the door to treatments for hundreds of thousands living with paralysis.

 Bar Veloce, an upscale bar in Narrowsburg, NY, has been ordered closed by the Town of Tusten following allegations that a fraudulent engineering report was submitted as part of its application for retroactive approval of a rooftop deck. 

Liam Mayo, news editor for the River Reporter, has been covering the situation.

“There is a need for Bar Veloce to get retroactive approval for its rooftop bar. This goes back two around four years ago when Bar Veloce was looking to come into Narrowsburg. They got approval from the planning board to retrofit the first floor of the Narrowsburg Motors car dealership and auto repair shop into like this upscale bar. However, they did not get planning board approval for the roof.”

Despite lacking approval, the rooftop bar was constructed. “It was the planning board's understanding back then, and it's still the understanding now, that if anyone is to like go up there, if they are to open the rooftop bar for business, they would need to go back to the planning board for a permit. So that's what they've been doing this year, looking to get that for that rooftop bar,” Mayo said.

As part of the approval process, Bar Veloce submitted an engineering report claiming the rooftop was structurally sound. According to Mayo, the report “is allegedly…from a professional engineer named James Anderson. In this report, this…‘James Anderson’ is saying that ‘I, as a professional engineer, verify that this rooftop bar is structurally sound.’”

However, questions arose after a neighboring business, the Narrowsburg Union, scrutinized the report and noticed errors. “One of the details they pointed out was the report cites the New York State building code of 2022 when there isn't a 2022 building code. There's a 2020 and a 2024, but not a 22,” Mayo said. When contacted, the engineer named in the report denied involvement, writing in an email to the town:

Following these revelations, the Town of Tusten acted quickly. Mayo explained, “The town…received [the engineer’s statement] on Tuesday, August 26th. The following day, they held an emergency town board meeting…[and] the town's code enforcement officer revoked the business’s certificate of occupancy, essentially closing it until it gets its violations redressed.”

Mayo also highlighted ongoing tensions in Narrowsburg related to parking. “The Narrowsburg Union has questioned…whether there is enough parking in town and whether the town needs to do a parking survey to identify its needs. Over the past couple of years, there has been a lot of formerly disused businesses kind of springing back into life,” he said.

The legal and regulatory proceedings are still developing. Mayo noted, “We know…town supervisor Ben Johnson has said that the Narrowsburg Union filed an Article 78 challenge against the town in this case, which led to the emergency town board meeting…Aside from that, the town supervisor as well as parties on both sides have declined opportunities to comment.”

For more coverage, visit RiverReporter.com.

Pike County remains the only county in the state of Pennsylvania without a hospital or urgent care facility. That could soon change. The Pike Medical Foundation was recently awarded a $500,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services for equipment to build the first-ever planned community hospital in the county.

Radio Catskill’s Kimberly Izar spoke with Pike County Commissioner Ronald Schmalzle about the state of healthcare in the county and what residents can expect.

Art lovers have a rare chance this weekend to explore the studio of the late Dorothy Gillespie, the trailblazing artist known for her bold, swirling metal sculptures. The Dorothy M. Gillespie Foundation is hosting an Open House Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 8181 Route 52, Narrowsburg.

Gary Israel of the foundation shared what visitors can expect: “Well, when they come into the studio, of course, they'll see all the art, but they'll start with a 12-minute video that I edited from previous documentaries, and it will give you a opportunity, the visitor to see my mother, hear my mother talk about her art and the process, and then they'll be given a tour of the studio starting with her early college art days in the 30s, then when she moved to New York City in 1943 and started her career.”

Israel emphasized the impact of seeing Gillespie’s work in person. 

“Seeing the studio, the three-dimensional art in a book or on TV, or on the internet, on the email, photos, is not the same as when you walk in and you're surrounded by the three-dimensional.”

Gillespie was also a tireless advocate for women artists, and the foundation continues that legacy by supporting women’s organizations, arts programs, and public art projects nationwide. Israel explained that the foundation actively donates artworks to universities and public spaces to ensure wider appreciation of Gillespie’s work.

The studio itself remains a working space, with ongoing preparations for exhibitions across the country. For the open house, special arrangements have been made to display sculptures, including pieces that will later travel to shows in Florida and Virginia.

“The studio is active. It's alive when you walk in,” Israel said. 

More information is available at dorothygillespie.com.

Saturday September 6. 2025, Ulster County is shining a spotlight on its young people with the very first One Life Only Youth Event at Dietz Stadium in Kingston. It’s a free, county-wide celebration filled with music, sports clinics, art, games, food, and even pony rides—all designed to spark positivity, creativity, and community connection. 

The event is organized by the Ulster County Youth Bureau and the District Attorney’s Office.

Radio Catskill’s Patricio Robayo speaks with Sugely Melenciano-Weed