A look back on 2010: The year in review

HARLEM VALLEY — The past year had its ups and downs, but there is plenty of 2010 news to remember in 2011. To refresh your memory, The Millerton News took a look back at the past 365 days for a quick summary of significant events.

January

Millerton honored North East Baptist Church Pastor Henry Prause as he celebrated his 50th year with the church. And welcomed Salisbury Bank & Trust, which opened a branch in Millerton on the corner of Main Street and Maple Avenue.

In Pine Plains, the Carvel Property Development pledged to start anew on its subdivision development, although little ground was made throughout the remainder of the year.

February

A Wassaic man, William Tate Jr., was arrested and charged with murder and sexual assault of his 3-month-old daughter. He is still awaiting trial.

In Millbrook, the former Bennett College building was deemed unsafe and was eventually scheduled to be demolished. An order to tear down the buildings was issued followed by a judge’s hearing. Across town, the Harlem Globetrotters tore down the house during their visit to Millbrook High School.

Local attorney Ed Downey was named Citizen of the Year by the Millerton Lions Club.

March

Taconic State Park at Rudd Pond was pegged by the state as one of the parks it would close during New York’s next fiscal year, but community efforts from Millerton as well as around the state eventually led to the funds being restored in the 2010-11 budget.

From the beginning of the year, most towns in the area were estimating severe cuts to mortgage tax revenues, budgeting decreases as high as nearly 40 percent.

A task force with representatives from Harlem Valley towns, not-for-profit organizations and community members was given relative “carte blanche� to create a custom public transportation service line for the region, which has yet to be put in service.

Millbrook’s mayor, Andrew Ciferri, announced his resignation and was replaced by Laura Hurley in April.

Prominent art dealer Lawrence Salander plead guilty to 29 counts of defrauding investors and collectors of more than $125 million. The New York City and Millbrook resident was sentenced to six to 18 years in prison in August.

Millerton received a grant from the state to install solar panels at the water district’s pump house. Yosh Schulman and Debbie Middlebrook were re-elected to the Village Board.

The Webutuck Central School District found a permanent replacement for Superintendent Richard Johns in Steven
Schoonmaker.

April

The M&T Bank in Millerton announced it would close by July. That building was purchased by the owners of Gilded Moon Framing, which has since moved from its Main Street location into the former bank building.

A tragedy befell the local community when an Ancramdale boy, Khaliff Hankerson, was killed by his father, who then took his own life. Khaliff was honored with a parade of firefighters and rescue squad workers in Pine Plains, as well as a tribute garden at the nursery school that he attended.

The Millerton Fire Company got the first of two new vehicles in 2010, a water pump and air foam sprayer, which were incorporated into to the department’s lineup.

In Millbrook, resident Didi Barrett announced her intentions to run for state Senate, and the Bank of Millbrook announced it would be acquiring the Stissing National Bank in Pine Plains.

The Pine Plains Central School District’s mock trail team placed first in the county during annual competition.

May

A project to build a go-cart track in Millerton was brought up before the North East Town Board, but quickly faced public scrutiny; discussions were “permanently tabled� in early July.

In Pine Plains, a dedication ceremony was held for the town’s new library building and community center.

School budgets passed in all three local school districts: Webutuck, Millbrook and Pine Plains, where it passed with only seven votes over the margin in Pine Plains.

The Amenia Farmers Market had its first weekend ever in the parking lot of the now new Town Hall. Likewise, a new farmers market began in Pine Plains, which found an open green space behind the Stissing House parking area.

June

The Millerton Lions Club held a carnival fundraiser at Eddie Collins Field.

In Millbrook, Wing’s Castle celebrated 40  years. But in Dover, it was time to say goodbye to the Old Drovers Inn, which was auctioned off for $325,000.

Webutuck’s high school principal, Drew Hopkins, submitted his letter of resignation. The Board of Education voted to rehire former Webutuck High School Principal Ken Sauer several months later, which initially caused a stir among parents, students and staff.

July

Pine Plains found lots of success with its first triathlon, the Stissing Sprint, centering around Stissing Lake.

Stanford celebrated its inaugural Stanford History Day, complete with historical re-enactments and community participation.

August

Housing Resources, the applicant behind the Millerton Overlook affordable housing project, had a tumultuous year, starting and finishing the State Environmental Quality Review process, finding itself under scrutiny for its escrow accounts and missed deadlines, and even facing internal scrambles, as longtime Executive Director Kevin O’Neill was replaced by Stephanie Lane. The project, which has been before the town and village since 2004, is still up in the air, after the Town Board voted in September that the not-for-profit was in default of its agreement with the town to build affordable housing.

A major fire destroyed Country Road Associates in Millbrook, while the Millbrook Central School District hired Leslie Ford as its interim high school principal.

September

Midge Quick, the longtime director of the NorthEast-Millerton Library, died after a long struggle with cancer. The library found a new director in early December in Rhiannon Leo.

In Amenia, several accidents involving cyclists and vehicles crossing the Harlem Valley Rail Trail prompted discussion over increased safety signs, but to this date no concrete action has been taken.

After working all summer, restoration to the Seymour Smith Elementary School building in Pine Plains began to wind down, even after unexpected additional work like the replacement of a collapsed septic tank. Meanwhile, the other elementary school in the district, Cold Spring Elementary, was named a 2010 National Blue Ribbon School.

The North East Community Center celebrated its 20th year with a celebration at Simmons Way Village Inn.

Nearly two-and-a-half years after being awarded a $25,000 grant, North East finally adopted a farmland protection plan after a series of controversial meetings and public hearings.

October

Four members of Washington’s Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee submitted their resignations during a span of two months, after a series of meetings drew public criticism. Town Supervisor Florence Prisco appointed four replacements to carry the plan forward.

A historic building, The Pines Inn, reopened in Pine Plains after nearly a decade of restoration work.

November

The town of Amenia opened the doors of its new Town Hall, formerly the Amenia Elementary School building, on the first Monday in November. The move had been delayed several months from Supervisor Wayne Euvrard’s original estimates. The move even required the Amenia Fire Company to extend its lease to the town for an additional month while the repairs needed to bring the new building up to code were addressed. Local groups quickly capitalized on the new space, with the Amenia Farmers Market moving its weekend sales inside the building’s gymnasium for the winter months.

The NorthEast-Millerton Library’s first summer of music events held in the newly acquired Annex building drew to a successful close.

Twenty months of construction later, the Roeliff Jansen Community Library opened its doors to the community. But not everyone was happy with the new building, as a scary incident several weeks later left several bullet holes near the building’s entrance, shattering the front door.

Webutuck High School’s varsity boys soccer team clinched the Section 9 Class C title with a 1-0 win over S.S. Seward.

In election results, Marc Molinaro was re-elected to the state Assembly, while state Sen. Steve Saland held on to his seat over his challenger, Millbrook resident Didi Barrett. In the area’s other state Senate race, Greg Ball beat out Mike Kaplowitz for the seat that Vincent Leibell eventually resigned from amidst a legal scandal in December, while Chris Gibson took Scott Murphy’s U.S. Congressional district after Murphy’s win in last year’s special election.

December

The Millerton Antique Center’s owners decided to call it quits, but a couple of weeks later the center was saved by several of the vendors, who joined together to lease the building and form an LLC to operate the business. North East heard initial plans for a proposed supermarket adjacent to the Thompson Plaza on Route 44.

Local charity organizations found success even in hard times this year, with the Sunday in the Country Food Drive and Adopt-a-Family efforts able to raise funds to provide hundreds of families in need with food, clothing and a few gifts under the Christmas tree for yet another year.

In the town of Washington, a final draft of legislation from the Wetlands Committee was submitted, although more public hearings will be held in 2011.

After Stanfordville resident Chris Craft took a shotgun into the Stissing Mountain Middle/High School and held a principal at gunpoint in late 2009, he went through a series of court dates before being found guilty of all but the most serious charge, kidnapping, and was sentenced to a maximum of seven years in prison.

Finally, the Amenia Town Board decided on a design and engineering firm to begin planning work on a half-mile extension of the Harlem Valley Rail Trail from the Metro-North train station in Wassaic into the hamlet of Wassaic. The board’s decision follows more than a year of work by the board and the town’s Trail to the Train Committee since winning a $480,000 grant (with the town matching 20 percent) from the state. A similar project is in the works north of Millerton, as a 5-mile Rail Trail extension project between Copake Falls and Hillsdale was awarded a $122,000 planning and design grant from the state’s Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

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