TRR photo by Tom Kane Shohola firefighters Don Wall, left, and Michael Donovan returned home last week after working with Mississippi rescues crews near New Orleans.

Firefighters weary after work on Gulf

By TOM KANE

SHOHOLA, PA—Don Wall and Michael Donovan know destruction. Firefighters from Shohola, they travel to major disaster areas.

By the time they arrived at Bay Saint Louis, MS, just east of New Orleans, most of the water had receded.

After a grueling week working with Mississippi rescue crews on the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina, they returned from the Gulf Coast on September 7.

“The magnitude of the destruction is enormous. It’s hard to describe it,” said Wall, chief of the Shohola Fire Department.

“Words fail.”

Wall and Donovan, the fire department’s captain known as “Ziggy,” were at the World Trade Center disaster the first days after September 11, 2001.

“This is far worse,” Wall said.

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Soul searching at the height of county government

County executive on the horizon?

By CHARLIE BUTERBAUGH

MONTICELLO, NY—As Sullivan County legislators vet applicants for the highest-ranking spot in county management, a commission will consider whether the appointed position should exist at all.

Management lapses in the departments of Public Works and Auditing and tension that waxed political between former County Manager Dan Briggs, a Republican, and Democratic legislators, have given reason to do some “soul searching,” said Chris Cunningham, the Legislature’s chairman.

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Sullivan West bus runs demand attention

By KIMBERLY M. WEYANDT

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY—Despite the intention of the administration at Sullivan West, two of the bus runs during the first week of school were well over an hour. With the second week half over, school officials are saying that the times have improved and are asking parents to not lose hope.

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Other stories in this issue:

• Camaraderie is point of pride in Sullivan firefighters parade
• Meyer works to make a difference at DPW
• Schadt to leave Town of Highland’s helm
• Diocese removes controversial pastor
• Bond issue will have long reach
• Armstrong defeats Trust
• Bethel to sue Yasgur Road Productions
• Fallsburg residents fight another seasonal community
• Sullivan West grad wins music scholarship

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S