Giant Tag Sale to Benefit the Hudson Opera House

Tomorrow--Saturday, June 23--there will be a giant tag sale at the Hudson Opera House from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The sale is open to all, but tonight from 5 to 7 p.m., there is a Sneak Peek Preview Sale. For the small admission charge of $10, you get refreshments and the first chance at the goods on offer--antiques (including the 18th-century woven bark chair shown in the picture), household items, rugs, good books, furniture, old chests. Cash, checks, and credit cards all will be accepted; all proceeds benefit the Hudson Opera House.

Hudson Farmers' Market Launches Book Tent

Tomorrow morning when you head for the Hudson Farmers' Market, you will find something new there: a Book Tent, where selected authors of books about food, cooking, and the Hudson Valley will will come to talk with shoppers and sign and sell their books. This Saturday, June 23, Libbie Summers, author of The Whole Hog Cookbook, will be in the Book Tent from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Visit the Hudson Farmers Market website to learn what other authors are expected throughout the summer.

Preserving Songbird Habitat

In what appears to be a press release published in today's Register-Star, the Columbia County Department of Public Works announced its intention not to mow the grassy fields that were once the county landfill in North Bay until autumn. The press release explains: "The change is designed to protect important grassland bird habitat. Many songbirds need grassy fields to survive. Birds such as bobolinks, savannah sparrows, and eastern meadowlarks nest, breed and find food in fields with tall grass. Mowing the fields during summer, when birds nest and breed on the ground, inhibits their chances of reproducing successfully. Songbird populations have declined dramatically in recent decades, reflecting among other things the greatly diminished acreage of open field in the landscape and the frequent harvesting of hay on many that remain."

The Battle of Passchendaele

Sunday's post about Malcolm Gifford, Jr., and his death in World War I inspired two readers to share with me stories related to the Battle of Passchendaele. Both have agreed to let me retell their stories. 

It will be recalled that Malcolm Gifford, Jr., died on November 8, 1917, in the Second Battle of Passchendaele. He fought with one of the divisions of the Canadian Army Corps that relieved the ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) forces that had fought the First Battle of Passchendaele on October 12, 1917. In that battle, which lasted only a day, there were 13,000 Allied casualties, 2,735 of them New Zealanders. 

One those 2,735 New Zealand casualties was David Perry, Perry Cooney's great uncle and namesake (David is one of Perry Cooney's middle names). David Perry was, as Cooney described it, "blown to bits" in the battle and has no grave. Instead, his is one of the 34,927 names of British and New Zealand soliders inscribed on Memorial to the Missing in Tyn Cot Cemetery in Belgium. David Perry was 27 years old when he died. 

Another reader recalled a visit to the Western Front on November 11, 2005. Outside the village of Passchendaele (now spelled Passendale), they toured the part of the battlefield where the Canadian Army fought the Second Battle of Passchendaele (and where Malcolm Gifford, Jr., died). In Ypres, they witnessed the annual Armistice Day Parade. The parade passed through the triumphal arch called Menin Gate, another Memorial to the Missing. At one point in the ceremony, poppy petals showered down through the oculus at the top of the arch, while a Scottish brigade played the bagpipes.

Pursuing Campaign Funding

Yesterday, Sam Pratt published a post on his blog that explored the sources of Julian Schreibman's campaign funding. Late last night, the Times Union published an article online on the same topic: "Outside donors fuel primary bid." Today, Pratt has more to say about where Schreibman's money is coming from: "T-U on Schreibman's outside cash." 

The Furgary and River Access

Joe Gallo, spokesman for the North Dock Tin Boat Association, has a letter to the editor in today's Register-Star: "River access." It's hard to tell exactly when in the course of recent events this letter was written, but it was probably after the court ruling on June 14 and before Mayor William Hallenbeck went down to the boat club yesterday to inform the Furgarians that they had just 30 days to vacate the land.

Civic Hudson Marches On

At a special meeting held on May 30, mostly in executive session, the Board of Supervisors Human Services Committee reviewed two proposals submitted in response to an RFP. One proposal was from Maranatha Human Services, Inc.; the other from CHETH (Civic Hudson Emergency and Transitional Housing, a melding of the Galvan Initiatives Foundation and the Mental Health Association of Columbia-Greene Counties). The committee decided that neither one met the county's needs and authorized DSS Commissioner Paul Mossman to enter into a professional services contract for housing the county's chronically homeless population. At the committee's regular monthly meeting yesterday, Mossman reported on his progress.


Mossman indicated that he had spoken with Galvan and MHA (CHETH) and had "worked out the programmatic issues." He said he wanted to bring a new proposal from CHETH to the committee, presumably at its July meeting, which would address the "safety net homeless population."

Mossman reported that he had also had a discussion with St. Catherine's Center for Children in Albany about developing a program for homeless families. According to Mossman, there are now six homeless families in Columbia County. He would be bringing a proposal from St. Catherine's for serving homeless families to the committee as well.


Now here is a statistical conundrum. In a presentation made earlier in the meeting by the Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood initiative, this rather shocking statistic was reported: there are 212 homeless students in the Hudson City School District. But Mossman reports there are six homeless families in Columbia County. Two hundred and twelve is far too many children for just six families. Could it be that Mossman and the GHPN people are defining homelessness in different ways? Or are some of the homeless students at HCSD runaways--teens who have abandoned their families or been abandoned by them and are living on their own or with the families of friends?

Dunking Dignitaries in the Public Square

Now you see him . . . 

now you don't. Common Council President Don Moore is plunged into the dunk tank by a well-aimed toss of the ball.


During the half hour Moore made himself available for dunking at Wednesday's Night in the Park carnival, he was dropped into the cooling waters a least a dozen times.

Then it was Mayor William Hallenbeck's turn on the dunking stool.

Hallenback was dunked with surprising regularity, often by schoolkids, who knew him as the school safety officer, and once by a police officer on duty in the park.

Hallenbeck Visits the Furgary Boat Club

Tom Casey reports on Mayor William Hallenbeck's visit to the Furgary Boat Club yesterday in today's Register-Star: "No lease for Furgary." 

Primary Prep Continued

Sam Pratt made a comment on a previous post that included the link to the Poughkeepsie Journal's coverage of Joel Tyner's press conference this morning in Rhinebeck. Because I put the links to the articles covering the accusations against Tyner by his campaign treasurer and because links in comments are not hyperlinks, I provide the link to the article here so readers can easily access it: "Tyner defends himself against accusations of mishandling campaign funds." 

Scenic Hudson's South Bay Acquisition

Scenic Hudson has provided Gossips with a map showing the recent acquisition of land along South Bay Creek. The path that appears to bisect the Scenic Hudson property is the power line corridor. Click on the map to enlarge it.

Primary Prep Continues

While his campaign treasurer's resignation yesterday may raise some questions about where Joel Tyner's money is going, Sam Pratt pursues the question on his blog of where Julian Schreibman's money is coming from:  "Following the money." 

The Future of the Furgary

At the Common Council meeting last night, Supervisor Ellen Thurston (Third Ward) asked if there was "any way the City could extend the period before eviction beyond 30 days" so there would be time for documentation of the Furgary Boat Club. The actions of Mayor William Hallenbeck this morning indicate that there is no will and therefore no way to postpone the eviction. What is most important now is for photographers to document this piece of Hudson's unique character and its history and for the Furgarians to allow this documentation to happen.   

Photograph by Lynn Davis

Furgary Update

Just as I was finishing my post about the discussion of the Furgary Boat Club that took place at last night's Common Council meeting (actually it really didn't get finished), I received word that Mayor William Hallenbeck, accompanied by City Attorney Cheryl Roberts, Code Enforcement Officer Peter Wurster, and Wurster's assistant Ken Ellsworth, arrived at the Furgary Boat Club this morning and delivered a message that was summarized as: "No deal. Get out in 30 days." 

Fumery and the Furgary

There are two hot topics at last night's Common Council meeting: banning smoking in city parks and the Furgary Boat Club (a.k.a. North Dock Tin Boat Association). Tom Casey reports on both in the Register-Star: "Council mulls ban on smoking in parks." 


Interestingly, the proposed law to ban smoking in city parks was brought to the Council by Alderman John Friedman (Third Ward), an unapologetic smoker, and was opposed by several aldermen who avowed that they were not smokers and never had been. A point made from the audience by Supervisor Sarah Sterling (First Ward), which seemed to fall on deaf ears with the Council and was omitted in Casey's report, is that being smoke free is often a condition for grant funding for park improvements. Supervisor Bill Hughes (Fourth Ward) also weighed in from the audience. Prefacing his comments by saying he wasn't a smoker and never had been, Hughes said the Council didn't "understand the ramifications of passing such a law" and warned of a "backlash." "We know that we think," said Hughes, "we need to find out what they think."


Friedman responded to Hughes' call for "more research" by saying that the genesis of proposed law was complaints he received from constituents about cigarette butts in the parks. "No one," said Friedman, "has protested the law" since the Council started discussing it. Council President Don Moore commented, "The idea that the city will unite behind smokers [to defend their rights] seems unlikely."

The topic of the Furgary Boat Club was introduced by audience member Tiffany Martin Hamilton. Explaining that her family had been part of the Furgary Boat Club for five generations, Hamilton proposed that the group be allowed to lease the property until the City "figures out what they want to do with it" and, apparently, is ready to move forward with that plan. Moore's reaction to the proposal was that it was "coming up late in the game." He suggested that had the group made this proposal a year ago, instead of suing the City, it might have been considered but offered his opinion that this was not something for the Council to decide. 


Moore made the statement that the June 14 court ruling was "on the facts"; Friedman, a lawyer, corrected him, saying that the ruling was "on procedure" and speculated that with its proposal the boat club was trying to "secure time to perfect an appeal." Later in the discussion, Friedman urged that "citizens who seek to protect their rights in court not be stigmatized," saying that he was "troubled by the fact that the willingness of the Council to hear citizens' pleas seemed to be predicated on their unwillingness to rollover earlier."


Alderman Nick Haddad (First Ward), in expressing his wish that the boat club had "reached out" before initiating litigation, said that "part of the city's character is tied up with what's there." There is no doubt that many people in Hudson are torn when it comes to the Furgary Boat Club, primarily because of the club's proprietary, highly exclusive, and seemingly hostile attitude toward "outsiders." Many of the people who recognize the boat club as an integral element of Hudson's unique character and an important part of the city's history and would argue for its preservation have had the experience of wandering down there and feeling as if they had strayed onto the set of Deliverance. Pam Mickle, who expressed her concern about Furgarians losing their "rights to launch their boats from there," seemed not to appreciate the irony or the error of her statement that the boat club was the only place where they could access the river--the irony being that access there was de facto available only to Furgarians; the error being that there's a public boat launch, available to everyone, just over the Ferry Street Bridge. 

More, More, More About "Civic Hudson"

At the Common Council Finance Committee meeting last night, Mayor William Hallenbeck presented a letter he received from Eric Galloway's Lantern Organization, offering the City $150,000 for the vacant lot at the southwest corner of Fourth and State streets. Tom Casey has the story in today's Register-Star: "Lantern eyes city parking lot." Rick Scalera, perennial mayor of Hudson turned "special adviser" to Galloway's Galvan Initiatives Foundation, is reported to have urged the City to "move on this offer." Common Council President Don Moore advised caution. 

The land in question, until 1994 (Scalera's first year in office) the site of the Fourth Street School, is owned by the City of Hudson but is currently being used by Columbia County to provide additional parking for 325 Columbia Street. Located across Long Alley from the proposed site of "Civic Hudson," the lot is sought by Lantern to provide parking for whatever use is settled on for that building.

On the topic of "Civic Hudson," Linda Mussmann informed Gossips last night that the rumor reported here that Lantern was pursuing the idea of having Columbia Memorial Hospital establish a walk-in clinic in the building was incorrect. According to Mussmann, the plan is for a health center that would provide "wrap-around care"--dental and psychiatric as well as medical--and give people without regular health care providers an alternative to going to the emergency room at the hospital for non-emergency health problems. The facility would be run not by CMH but by "an independent group that is doing these kinds of centers." Mussmann declared the proposal for such a facility "a good thing."

More Primary Prep

Victor Mendolia, chair of the Hudson City Democrats and first vice-chair of the Columbia County Democrats, contacted Gossips last night with the news that the treasurer for Joel Tyner's campaign had resigned and the link to a post in the Times Union blog, Capitol Confidential: "Tyner's treasurer resigns, saying he misreported." This morning, the Register-Star has the story: "Tyner campaign treasurer resigns."

The treasurer, Misha Fredericks, announced her resignation in a letter to campaign staffers and to some newspapers, explaining, "I didn't want to be investigated for embezzlement, so I wrote this to cover my but [sic]." Responding in an email, which is quoted in full in the Capital Confidential post, Tyner called Fredericks' action a "blatant attempt at political sabotage," commenting "funny little thing about truth though--has a way of getting out."


Tyner has called a press conference for 10:30 this morning in front of Rhinebeck Town Hall, 80 Market Street in the village of Rhinebeck, "to hold my former campaign treasurer Misha Fredericks accountable for the lies she sent out. . . ."

Not to Be Missed

On his blog, Scott Baldinger reports on the state of Hudson's renaissance on his side of town: "The State On and Off State." The photograph above is borrowed from Baldinger's blog.

Primary Prep

On his blog, Sam Pratt shares his thoughts about the two men vying to become the Democrats' candidate to challenge Chris Gibson in November to represent of the 19th Congressional District: "Tyner has earned his place in Valley politics." 

Scenic Hudson Acquires Land Adjacent to South Bay

As part of its ongoing Saving the Land that Matters Most campaign, Scenic Hudson just announced the acquisition of 148 acres of land in Greenport, adjacent to South Bay. As described in the press release, "the land features an extraordinary mosaic of forests, meadows, high-quality agricultural soils, wetlands, impressive clay bluffs and 4,200 feet of shoreline along South Bay Creek (also known as Cashaway's Creek), which flows into the Hudson River through South Bay." The press release also says of the acquisition:

Conserving the land's great biological diversity also ensures the property will continue providing habitat for myriad wildlife, including several rare plant species. And by preserving land along South Bay Creek and its adjacent wetlands, the transaction will help protect the South Bay watershed and serve as a buffer for sea-level rise triggered by climate change. In addition, the property will allow for the inland migration of species whose habitats face inundation by rising waters.

Since the 1980s Scenic Hudson has been a vigorous advocate for South Bay's ecological restoration. In the future the newly protected land could provide an exciting way to connect people to the bay.

Click here to read the press release in its entirety.


The painting of South Bay is by Sanford Gifford.