Detour on Twin Lakes Road to last till spring

SHOHOLA, PA — A section of Twin Lakes Road will be closed until the spring.

From the northern end where it intersects Route 434, the road is opened to the Shohola Township Hall but is closed for several hundred feet thereafter, going south toward Route 6. Residents living on the road below the detour can drive on the remainder of the road from Route 6.

The road was seriously undermined by a mudslide during the recent Ivan storm.

According to Dave Krisanda of PennDOT, it will take extensive work to rebuild the base of the road. The damaged road surface will have to be completely rebuilt.

“It’s the kind of work that is beyond the scope of PENNDOT workers and will have to be farmed out to a contractor,” Krisanda said.

Once the contractor is identified, it will take several months to do the work.

“It’s not the best time of year to perform this kind of work,” Krisanda said. “Therefore, the road will be closed until the spring.”

Lazarian shelter fined for failure to provide adequately

LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — Victorian Mattison, owner of the Lazarian Animal Shelter on Pinewood Road, violated New York State Agricultural and Markets law when he failed last winter to provide adequate shelter for over 50 dogs, according to a recent Town of Cochecton Justice Court decision.

In January, the Sullivan County Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) closed Mattison’s shelter and transported all of the dogs to the SPCA shelter in Rock Hill. Town Justice Steven G. Sauer ordered Mattison to pay $10,000 to the Sullivan County SPCA, the maximum amount of restitution allowed by statute.

The defendant was also ordered to pay a $50 fine for the charges. Further, the decision prohibits Mattison from keeping any animal in his custody for five years.

“This failure is a likely result of Mr. Mattison’s failing health and his dependency on staff who directly interacted with the animals,” the court observed.

Bethel soldier is Sullivan’s first death in Iraq

WHITE LAKE, NY — A Sullivan County man has become the 1,186th U.S. soldier to die in the Iraq War.

Army Reservist Sgt. Catalin Dima reportedly was hit and killed by an incoming mortar round at the Camp Victory army base outside Baghdad on November 13.

Dima served with the 411th Engineer Brigade and had been in Iraq since January.

According to a Times Herald-Record account, Dima, who was a Romanian native, took his oath of U.S. citizenship only two months ago in Iraq.

Dima leaves behind his wife, Florika Dima, and three children, Christian, 5; Angela, 4; and John, 3.

VA funding for Gulf War illnesses

WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) last week announced up to $15 million in additional research funding for Gulf War illnesses.

“We still don’t have a definitive cause for Gulf War illnesses,” Secretary Anthony J. Principi said. “There has to be a reason why some of our veterans came home healthy, while others serving alongside them did not.”

Although the department is still examining the committee’s detailed, 143-page report, Principi said he is convinced there is sufficient justification for further scientific research.

Hotels sold, land claim settled, poll nixes casinos

MONTICELLO, NY — There have been mixed messages and lots of action on the Sullivan County casino front in recent days.

First, on November 11, results of a poll taken by marketers for the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans, who hope to open a casino in Bridgeville, found that only 49 percent of registered voters they contacted by telephone favored three casinos in the county. Thirty-three percent were opposed and 17 percent were unsure.

On the following day, Governor Pataki announced that agreement had been reached in a 25-year-old land claim case between the state and the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma and the settlement involved development of a Class III gaming facility in the Catskills and provided for the state’s collection of sales taxes on retail goods.

The Seneca-Cayuga’s were the latest tribe to take on development of a casino with Empire Resorts at Monticello Raceway.

Last, this Tuesday, the Times Herald-Record reported the stock sale by developer Louis Cappelli, of both Grossingers in Liberty and the Concord in Kiamesha Lake to Robert Berman’s Empire Resorts group. The purchase price was reported to be 18 million shares of Empire stock, valued at $205 million. Neither Cappelli nor Berman confirmed the sale.

Woodstone fined for burning construction debris

BETHEL, NY — Evidence gathered by officers led the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to cite Woodstone Lakes LLC for burning construction debris in six pits that were dug at construction sites in The Chapin Estate, Woodstone’s residential development which fronts the Toronto Reservoir.

According to DEC police Lt. Deming Lindsley’s testimony, presented to the Town of Bethel Court last week, workers burned rubbish in the pits, including paint cans and shingles, and then buried the debris.

The company paid $3,000 in fines to the court on November 10. Reportedly, Woodstone developer Steve Dubrovsky has hired workers to remove all six pits and dispose of the trash properly at the county landfill.

Woodstone General Manager David Allen has said independent contractors are responsible for the unlawful disposal.