Making the news in 2001

	TRR file photo John Bonacic

John Bonacic

The New York state senator started off 2001 by helping secure some $340,000 in New York State Council for the Arts grants, including $50,000 for the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance and $20,000 for the Minisink Valley Historical Society.

Bonacic, who has become reputed for his ability to bring state cash home to the district, was a big public supporter of some of George Pataki’s initiatives, co-sponsoring legislation to create a new Empire Zone in the Catskills.

“When I participated in writing the legislation to create additional Empire Zones, I wrote it with Sullivan County in mind,” Bonacic said.

Bonacic’s year wasn’t entirely without controversy, however.

There was a slight altercation with Lumberland Supervisor John LiGreci, who claimed that the state Senator, the Office of Real Property Services and the Governor, “were giving us the best, most professional runaround that I’ve ever seen,” about implementing fees on tax-exempt properties, owned by not-for-profit corporations.

Bonacic brought $50,000 for sidewalks to the riverfront hamlets of Callicoon and Narrowsburg.

	TRR file photo Gerry Hansen

Gerry Hansen

Both as a restaurateur and a Pike County Commissioner, Gerry Hansen has had a full year.

Hansen was diagnosed with and treated for Adeno Carcinoma of the prostate in October. Not one to let anything keep him down, he still participated fully in the Black Bear Film Festival, where he served on the committee and kept film-goers’ appetites satisfied at his Dimmick Inn in Milford.

Along with Commissioners Harry Forbes and Karl Wagner, Hansen has actively dealt with a number of issues in Pike County over the past year, including health care. The commissioners took the first step in July toward getting medical assistance for patients in the county’s Mental Health/Mental Retardation (MH/MR) program, further exploring Pennsylvania’s HealthChoices Northeast Program, a new medical assistance agreement, which will maintain “the same consumers and providers,” according to Forbes.

Most recently, Hansen went forward on plans to open Dimmick Inn Caterer’s at Twin Lakes, the tentative name for a catering service he’ll operate in Shohola.

	TRR file photo Michael Johndrow

Michael Johndrow

Michael Johndrow’s year has definitely been eventful.

Since the turbulent birth of the tri-merged Sullivan West (SW) Central School district, of which Johndrow was chosen by the board as superintendent, he has tried to focus on what he was originally hired to do: “lead the school district based on what is educationally best for our children.” (TRR Issue #45)

To that end, he has met with some opposition. Despite Johndrow’s lack of recommendation, the board selected SW at Jeffersonville High School principal Margaret Tenbus as principal of the to-be-constructed high school.

The appointment, which is currently being appealed by members of the SW board, led to the resignation of board president Carol Nearing and caused SW/Jeffersonville campus senior guidance counselor Regina Wagner to tender her resignation.

Also on Johndrow’s plate has been the building of the new high school and ongoing public concerns about its financing and Lake Huntington location.

Strong support of Johndrow has been expressed by a four-member minority of the board, and by some members of the community.

	TRR file photo Carson Mader

Carson Mader

In his first complete year as executive director of the Greater Honesdale Partnership, a joint venture between the Honesdale Business Association, the Borough and the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce, Carson Mader has done much to revamp Honesdale and its surrounding areas.

Erika’s Desserts, Church Street Books, Art’s For Babies and Beyond, Cover Your World Flooring, Tallman’s Trading Post, Xpres Limousine, Living Country Homes and Beautiful Image, all on Main Street or in the Main Street vicinity, got direct financial assistance from the partnership.

As one of the largest cities in the third fastest-growing county in Pennsylvania, after Pike and Monroe, Honesdale is being revitalized through the efforts of Mader and his Greater Honesdale Partnership.

In an article earlier this year in TRR, Mader reflected on the success of the partnership.

“Back in June, we had 14 empty stores,” Mader said. “Now we have only six.”

And if last year was any indication, those six empty stores will not remain empty for long.