Beacon Dispatch

Pete Seeger joins effort to save University Settlement

This just in from Michelle Rhone-Collins, Executive Director of LionSun Creative Arts Camp:

As you are aware, University Settlement Camp is seriously considering selling their 84 acre property located at the foot of Mount Beacon.  On Wednesday, August 2^nd  from 7-9PM at Chthonic Clash Coffeehouse (453 Main Street, Beacon, NY), there will be a meeting to brainstorm ways to save the beautiful campus to be utilized as a camp and/or community space.  A goal of this meeting will be the formation of a working committee who will take the necessary steps to actualize a viable plan that will result in the preservation of this great resource for our community (including program design, funding, feasibility studies for purchasing options, etc).  There will probably be a representative from University Settlement in attendance to listen in on the interest.  City officials are also invited.  In addition, Pete Seeger will help to galvanize the community in sharing his personal history and relationship with the camp (and possibly a few songs) and his hopes for its future. This meeting is primarily for adults, but if you cannot figure out child care, don't let it prevent you from attending. Please email me a response to let me know if you will attend this important gathering.  Please also share this email with others who would be helpful and interested in this effort.

People Powered Plowing

This past Saturday the Stony Kill Foundation and the Hudson Valley Draft Horse Association sponsored a day of farming to remind us what life was like before there were tractors. It was quite a spectacle -- I never knew mules were so huge. And apparently not so bright -- but I guess you don't have to be to pull a plow in a straight line. Check out this photo gallery for some shots of the day.

City Wide Garage Sale May 13

The City of Beacon Recreation Department is organizing a city-wide yard sale for Saturday, May 13.  Organizers say this event will save people the hassle of setting up yardsales and publicizing on their own. It will also give shoppers the ability to see a wider variety of goods in one location.

To participate in the city-wide yard sale, sellers will pay a $10.00 listing fee to be included on the sale map.  The fees collected will be put towards advertising the event.  Maps will be available free of charge on the day of the sale at various locations throughout the city.

Sellers may sign up to include their yard sale on the map at City Hall or by contacting Beacon Recreation at 838-5024, or email beaconrecreation@yahoo.com. The deadline for listing is Wednesday, May 10.

Kayaker hits snag in sea crossing

Looks like Beacon resident / sea kayaker Ray Fusco prepared for every contingency in his quest to paddle across the Adriatic Sea except small-minded bureaucrats. He sent this message to the Dispatch earlier this week...

> I need the power of American Press.  The local
> officials here have forbade us to attempt this trip
> under the threat of arrest because we do not have
> the proper permssion.  Unfortunatley there is no
> real proper permission for human powered craft.
>
> The local media had written several stories about
> our trip then the National Search and Rescue team
> read the stories and called the local authorities to
> hunt us down and stop us.
>
> Now we have been fighting for days to get the
> permits but to no avail we have had no luck.  The Ex
> Communist systems here along with a lack of
> awareness of what Sea Kayaking is has stopped our
> trip.
>
> We are now on a full media blitz!!  We have local
> media meeting us for a morning press conference and
> a 5pm TV interview.
>
> Could you call the local Croatian authorities to do
> a follow up to your article and ask why we can not
> go.  I am looking for a little pressure from the US
> media to force their hand.  I would need you to call
> ASAP because I am very tight on time.
>
> If this is too big a favor I understand.  Thanks and
> wish me luck.
>
> Port Authority Managing Director - Branko Gregic -
> 00385 21 390 230
> Harbor Captain Boris Matosic
>
> Ray

Petition seeks referendum on Hiddenbrooke

According to the Poughkeepsie Journal, a petition signed by more than 500 Beacon residents was delivered on January 10 seeking a public referendum before the city spends $1 million to preserve the 103-acre Hiddenbrooke property. The council is considering the petition and expects to take action next month.   

City Council to vote tonight on open spaces

This from the Poughkeepsie Journal:

The City Council is scheduled to vote Monday on a resolution that would enable it to borrow as much as $1 million to purchase and preserve undeveloped land in the city.

The resolution does not identify any specific properties, though it comes amid some residents' objections to a proposed residential development on the mostly wooded Hiddenbrooke property near the Hudson Highlands.

I won't be able to make the meeting tonight, but anyone who can, please post here and let us know how it turns out.

BACA helps light up Beacon for the holidays

The Beacon Arts Community Association (BACA) has been busy decorating Main Street with lights purchased with money from its Christmas in July fundraiser. The first new snowflake and garland was put up outside the Howland Cultural Center on Friday. Over the next few weeks,  8 more snowflakes and 90 more lighted garlands will be added along Main Street.

BACA is also sponsoring Candlelight Shopping in Beacon on Friday nights during the holidays, during which shops, galleries, and restaurants will stay open late,  until 9pm.

An hour (and a world) away

Living in Beacon you might not think spending a week's vacation in the Catskills is anything special. But I'd have to disagree. We've been renting a house in Bearsville, just outside of Woodstock, for the past three years, and we just got back from our last trip. There's something about the lack of wireless signals in the area that creates a beautiful sense of isolation. And, of course, you're near Woodstock, where it often seems like time has slowed.

The week before we arrived, Leslie West, of the early 70's rock trio Mountain, had been staying in the house. (No, there were no Rolls-Royces in the pool.) Apparently Ozzie Osbourne will be covering "Mississippi Queen" for an upcoming release, so it may be that Mr. West felt he needed to re-connect with old friends. And wouldn't you know our answering machine had a message from Levon Helm, of The Band, inviting Leslie over to his home in Woodstock.

We saw at least a dozen different bird species from our living room window, including the yellow warbler, and we had a constant buzz of hummingbird moths in our flowers out front. These little guys look a LOT like baby hummingbirds, right down to their colors and how they hover in front of the flower to eat nectar. It was the first time I'd seen these creatures, and I had fun catching and releasing them with my two boys.  There's plenty to do  up in the Catskills when you have a week to spare, whether it be swimming, hiking to hidden waterfalls, eating breakfast at Sweet Sue's in Phoenicia, horseback riding, or even skeet shooting. All of which makes going back to work no fun at all...

Come sail away...

With apologies for the Styx reference, I must share the sailing experience I enjoyed today out on the Hudson. It was a perfect day for sailing, and my friend Curtis, who learned to sail with the Sloop Club, decided to go out at the last minute. The Sloop Club has a 20' Balboa sailboat that someone donated, and it sails like, well, the wind. We were surprised that more people weren't out on the water today, as the wind was up as we sailed under the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge and back again. I haven't sailed since the 7th grade, so I wasn't much help around the boat (I did learn what a jib is.) But I did row the dinghy back to shore once we moored. I have yet to go out on the Woody Guthrie, but this experience made that a priority. There are some things it would be a sin to take for granted living here in Beacon, and a free sail on the Guthrie has to be one of them. Btw, for those of you who need a visual, the 20' Balboa looks like the one below, minus the bikini-clad deckmate.

State lands off-limits for ATV riders

In today's Poughkeepsie Journal, Hemmy So reports on that "the draft policy puts into writing what Department of Environmental Conservation officials and ATV riders have known for years: almost all state lands are off-limits for recreational ATV riders."

As you would expect, the policy is unpopular with ATV riders, who have grown accustomed to using their vehicles in areas like Mt. Beacon and other open spaces. But environmentalists support the efforts to reduce motorized traffic in the wilderness. According to the Journal, "a research assessment by a University of Vermont professor in 2000 documented a variety of environmental and social impacts of ATV use on public and private land. The report said ATVs harmed wildlife through excessive noise and increased soil erosion, which potentially harms fisheries."