Driver dies in car-train crash

LACKAWAXEN — A 42-year-old Arlington, Virginia woman reportedly was the victim of a fatal train-car collision in Lackawaxen Township early on Sunday morning, January 14.

Patricia Galligan’s car was apparently stuck in the snow on the tracks at the crossing on State Route 1014, the Masthope Road. The crash occurred at about 5:30 a.m., before sunrise.

The conductor and engineer on the train did not see the car until it was too late. Galligan was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sullivan County backs
Heritage Trail proposal

MONTICELLO — Sullivan County Legislative chair Rusty Pomeroy has added his backing to Governor Pataki’s recent call for creation of a Heritage Trail linking the region’s sites from the American Revolution.

In a January 9 letter to Pataki, Pomeroy highlighted the combination of Port Jervis’ Fort Decker, the Sullivan County Minisink Battleground Park and the Fort Delaware museum along the proposed Route 97 Scenic Byway.

The Town of Highland, where the 1779 Battle of Minisink was fought, approved a resolution with similar language earlier this month.

Comissioners okay juvenile program

By TOM KANE

HONESDALE — The Wayne County Commissioner last week approved a part-time position in the Juvenile Victims Program. The addition to the program was proposed by District Attorney Mark Zimmer.

State ‘dragging feet’ on user fees

GLEN SPEY — For months Lumberland Supervisor John LiGreci has been anticipating a meeting of local, state and federal officials to coordinate efforts leading to the creation of new user fees that could produce local revenues from currently tax exempt properties.

But LiGreci now says the meeting is questionable as state officials, hampered by lobbyists protecting various interests related to those tax exemptions, are delaying their participation.

LiGreci was alerted to the user fee alternative by Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R-20-NY). While LiGreci says towns can enact laws to install fees on municipal services, details of the process must be provided by state officials, who thus far are not cooperating.

Woodstone details Chapin project

BETHEL — Some 537 homes are proposed for a high-end housing development planned on 5,000 acres of the former Chapin Estate on the Bethel-Highland-Lumberland border.

Recounting details of a January 4 supervisors’ meeting with a Woodstone Development spokesman, Lumberland Supervisor John LiGreci reported last week that 300 of those homes would be built in the Eldred School District. Seventy-five to 100 will be located in the Town of Lumberland.

The project will retain 35 to 40 percent of the land in open areas, have central sewage and water services and “an extensive amenities package,” including a golf course, LiGreci said.

Currently only 19 homes of the project have been sited in Bethel.

Green party inauguration
demonstration planned

MONTICELLO — The Sullivan County Green Party has scheduled an inauguration day protest rally at the Lawrence W. Cooke Sullivan County Court House.

According to a Green Party statement, the peaceful gathering of concerned citizens will be there to protest “the November elections and attendant debacle in Florida,” which “have presented the American electorate with a ‘wake-up call.”

Timed to coincide with the national presidential inauguration, the rally is scheduled for 12 noon on January 20.

Salimeno reelected to CGH board

HARRIS — Joyce A. Salimeno has been reelected to her third two-year term heading the Board of Trustees of Community General Hospital (CGH). A member of the board since 1990, Salimeno was first elected president in 1997. In 2000, following an organizational restructuring, she was named chairperson of the board and has now been reelected to that position.

Elected to serve with Salimeno were: Richard S. Baum, 1st vice-chairperson; Perry Meltzer, 2nd vice-chairperson; Ronald Berg, DDS, 3rd vice-chairperson; Robert D. Norris, treasurer; Diane G. Levine, assistant treasurer; Joan A. Farrow, secretary; and David Kaufman, assistant secretary.

The Board of Trustees is the governing and policy setting body of CGH. Trustees are volunteers who serve without remuneration in the best interest of community health. The board selects the hospital’s president and chief executive officer and sets the overall direction for the institution.