The Local Edition

Residents and visitors will get a rare chance to step back into the Catskills’ past this weekend when the Roscoe O&W Railway Museum hosts a special presentation on the history of Cooks Falls. The event, The Rich History of Cooks Falls, takes place Saturday at 3 p.m. at the museum on Railroad Avenue in Roscoe.

The talk will be led by Rich Hascha, a longtime history enthusiast who has been piecing together the story of Cooks Falls through original postcards, old photographs, and years of research. What began as a personal curiosity has grown into an unexpected treasure trove of local history.

Hascha, who has fished and visited the area since the early 1980s, moved to Cooks Falls permanently in 2010. He said the project started almost by accident when a neighbor mentioned that a postcard of his house—dating back more than a century—was being sold online.

“I looked it up, and sure enough, there was my house on Maple Avenue in a postcard from the early 1900s,” Hascha said. “That opened the door. I started collecting more, reading up, and realizing just how vibrant this hamlet once was.”

Postcards were booming in the early 20th century. With cheap mailing costs and limited access to personal cameras, visitors relied on them to share their travels. Cooks Falls, despite its small size, produced hundreds of these cards—many of them real photographic postcards, some taken by German photographers known for high-quality equipment.

Through these images, Hascha discovered a Cooks Falls that looked nothing like the quiet hamlet people know today. In the mid-1800s and early 1900s, the area was home to thriving industries: acid factories, lumbering operations, bluestone quarries, and even a dye works facility that supplied dyes used for U.S. military uniforms during World War I.

“It was a very industrious area at one time,” Hascha said. “A lot of people don’t realize what was produced here, or how many locals were employed by these factories and mills.”

Tourism also played a major role in the region’s growth. The Ontario & Western Railway brought visitors from New York City to hotels throughout the Catskills. Cooks Falls became a popular stopover, home to multiple hotels—including the once-grand Francisco House and Mountain Lake Hotel.

Hascha’s presentation also highlights smaller, colorful pieces of local history: a nickel ferry that once carried passengers across the river, the dynamiting of a waterfall in the 1850s to move lumber downstream, and the massive log rafts—some 100 feet long—that floated all the way to Philadelphia.

Beyond industry and postcards, Hascha hopes audiences appreciate how much of this history survives because people held onto physical artifacts—items that don’t always persist in the digital age.

“Fifty or sixty years from now, there might not be a record of our lives the way there is for previous generations,” he said. “These postcards and photographs are pieces of someone’s story, and they still connect us.”

Saturday’s presentation doubles as a fundraiser for the Roscoe Shepherd’s Food Pantry. Attendees are encouraged to bring a canned good or make a small donation. There is no admission fee.

For Hascha—who jokes that he’s “not a big public speaker”—the goal is simple: share what he’s learned and keep this local history alive.

“The more people that come, the better,” he said. “If it fills the room, that just means more people care about keeping this history alive.”

The Rich History of Cooks Falls
Saturday, 3 p.m.
Roscoe O&W Railway Museum
7 Railroad Avenue, Roscoe, NY
Donations of canned food are encouraged.

As Veterans Day approaches, Big Sky Productions is honoring those who served through an intimate, heartfelt performance titled Shorts & Sweets Honoring Veterans: Dear Folks. The program combines live readings of letters and personal stories from World War II with reflections from family members uncovering their histories.

The production features Carol Montana, Big Sky’s Artistic Director, and Margaret Bruetsch, a writer and actress from Cochecton, who discovered decades-old correspondence from their own relatives. What began as a personal act of remembrance evolved into a moving theatrical experience that connects the past and present.

“I found letters between my parents while cleaning out their house,” Montana said. “They couldn’t write much about what was happening because my father was in the Signal Corps, but reading them brought me closer to them. I wanted to share that feeling with others.”

For Bruetsch, the letters were a family treasure unearthed just in time. “My mom saved them before my great-grandparents’ house was demolished,” she said. “Reading through them was emotional—it felt like getting to know family I never met. Some were heartbreaking, but others were funny and full of life.”

Together, the two curated a selection of excerpts that blend humor, love, and loss. The performances also include displays of photos, a Purple Heart, and bound collections of the original letters for attendees to explore.

Shorts & Sweets Honoring Veterans: Dear Folks continues its run this Sunday, November 9, at 2 p.m. at the Sullivan County Historical Society and Museum in Hurleyville. The final performance will take place Friday, November 14, at 5 p.m. at the Tusten-Cochecton Branch of the Western Sullivan Public Library in Narrowsburg. Admission is free, with donations benefiting the Historical Society.

For more information, call 845-985-3175 or visit the Big Sky Productions Facebook page.

A recent investigation by The Intercept shows that the amount of pregnant and lactating mothers being taken into ICE Detention has skyrocketed over the last year. The numbers are hard to detect given the Trump Administration and the Department of Homeland Security are no longer required to publish reports on the conditions from ICE Detention Centers after the passing of the most recent federal spending bill.

However, Congressional reports and medical records show evidence of this concerning pattern that is splitting up families nationwide and is illegal under ICE’s 2021 Guidelines.

Radio Catskill’s Genevieve Hartnett spoke with  Juana Cortes de Torres,  Director of the Legal Immigrant Rights Project at Rural and Migrant Ministry in South Fallsburg, about any indications of these detentions in Upstate New York and how all of us can be better neighbors to those who may be at risk.

All across New York state, people are anticipating historic results on Election Day next week. In addition to voting for their preferred candidates, New Yorkers across the state will be asked about a ballot provision regarding state owned ski trails in the Adirondacks. Many across the state aren’t sure whether they should vote yes or give the provision the cold shoulder. Radio Catskill’s Genevieve Hartnett spoke to New York City candidates as well as reporters Upstate to break down the question and the interconnectedness of environmental issues throughout the state.

A new Times Union investigation is shedding light on a troubling security lapse inside the Sullivan County Jail. Reporter Brendan J. Lyons uncovered that a man entered the jail in August with a loaded .22-caliber handgun — a weapon that went undetected through multiple searches, including an interrogation and a court appearance.

Lyons joined The Local Edition to talk about how the incident happened, what the sheriff’s office is saying, and why critics are calling it a “gross incompetence” that could have led to tragedy.
Read the full Times Union story here.

A Weapon That Went Unnoticed

According to Lyons, the case began with a traffic stop in Monticello, where sheriff’s deputies had been increasing patrols after a string of summer shootings.
“They stopped a car with three individuals,” he said, “and recovered a loaded handgun in the seatback. None of the men claimed it, so they brought all three in for questioning.”

During that process, one of the suspects — who had already been frisked at least twice — still had another gun concealed in his coat pocket. He went through interrogation, arraignment before a village judge, and jail intake without anyone discovering it.

“It’s remarkable,” Lyons said. “This man was inside a secure facility, behind bars, wearing that same coat — and the gun wasn’t found until another inmate overheard him bragging about it and alerted staff.”

A Chain of Missteps

When the weapon was finally recovered, Lyons says it wasn’t logged as evidence. Instead, it was locked away in an administrative safe — untested and unreported.

“There was no incident report. No notice to the state Commission of Correction, which oversees jails,” Lyons said. “That report only went in nearly two months later — and only after a civilian tipped off the state agency.”

Sheriff Michael Schiff told the Times Union the gun remains in that safe and defended his department’s handling of the matter, calling it “sloppy police work” but denying any cover-up. Schiff also said prosecutors advised that a search warrant might have been required to seize the weapon — a claim multiple legal experts disputed.

“There’s no expectation of privacy in jail,” Lyons explained. “Prosecutors and judges we spoke with called that reasoning laughable.”

Unanswered Questions

The sheriff’s office has not filed additional charges against the suspect, and the weapon still hasn’t been tested for DNA or ballistics. That’s especially concerning, Lyons said, because some recent unsolved shootings in Monticello involved a .22-caliber firearm.

“The sheriff said the gun was inoperable,” Lyons added, “but other law enforcement sources told me that’s not a reason to skip testing — you can still check for DNA or ballistics matches.”

Schiff, who’s up for re-election, has suggested the story’s resurfacing is politically motivated — pointing to his write-in challenger, retired State Police investigator Timothy Dymond. Lyons, however, says the facts speak for themselves.

“Whatever the politics,” he said, “there were protocol violations here that need to be addressed.”

Image: Sheriff Michael Schiff (Credit:
 Sullivan County Government Facebook) 

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month — a reminder that early detection saves lives. Each year, nearly 17,000 New Yorkers are diagnosed with breast cancer, but advances in screening and care are changing those outcomes.

Radio Catskill’s Jason Dole spoke with Dr. Jennifer H. Menell, a board-certified diagnostic radiologist with Optum Medical Care and Crystal Run Healthcare, about how new technology and simple habits can make a difference.

Dr. Menell, who trained at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, says the key to survival is early detection:

One major advancement is 3D mammography, now available at CareMount and Crystal Run facilities across the Hudson Valley. The technology improves detection, especially for women with dense breast tissue, and is covered by most insurance providers.

She recommends annual mammograms starting at age 40, with earlier screenings for those with a strong family history or BRCA gene mutations.

Menell also emphasized that healthy living supports prevention:

Access remains a barrier for some, but Menell notes that local providers are expanding options—with evening and Saturday appointments to help working women and parents find time for screenings.

Despite the challenges, Menell remains optimistic about the future of breast cancer care: