Author Archive for Faith Ann Butcher
Business Profile: Salon Amore, Mahopac
The passion that Maria Stiefeld has for life is reflected in everything that surrounds her… her family, work and the community. Stiefeld, a Somers resident, has been a hairstylist in the Mahopac community for over 30 years. She has both owned her own shop and work for others. In her latest venture, Stiefeld has joined [...]
York’s Choice for Undersheriff Attached to Deskovic Case
When Chief Assistant District Attorney Christopher York announced his bid against incumbent Don Smith for sheriff recently, he mentioned that Eugene Tumolo would be his choice for undersheriff. Tumolo, a Mahopac resident who retired from the Peekskill Police Force in December, is a defendant in the Jeffery Deskovic v. City of Peekskill case, which pertains [...]
Levy: Smith is ‘Delusional,’ ‘Paranoid’
The recently exposed letter from Carmel attorney William Sayegh to Sheriff Don Smith describes how the man who has served as the county’s top law enforcement officer since 2002 is allegedly consumed with thoughts of conspiracy and corruption. “You are haunted with ideas of criminality all around you,” the letter, which Sayegh sent in late [...]
Smokey Hollow Cell Phone Tower Approved 3-2
The Kent Town Board voted on Tuesday, April 16, 3-to-2 to approve Homeland Towers’ proposal to build a cell phone town at its highway garage on the corner of Route 301 and Smokey Hollow Court. Councilmen John Greene and Louis Tartaro voted against the resolutions. The cell tower on Smokey Hollow Court is part of [...]
Putnam Transportation Task Force Seeks Resident Input
Putnam County Transportation Task Force is looking to revise the mass transportation system in Putnam County for the first time in 30 years, but it need the input of the community. “We want to know the needs of the community,” said the task force chairman Vincent Tamagna. “There is no need for us to be [...]
Participants Needed for Putnam CAP’s ‘Walk in My Shoes’
Putnam Community Action Program, which is more commonly known as Putnam CAP, is conducting a poverty simulation exercise in an effort to sensitize the community to the realities faced by low-income people. The half-day session will be held on Tuesday, May 7 from 9 a.m. to noon at Temple Beth Shalom, which is located at [...]
Students Add Insight to School Security
No matter how much of an expert one is, something can be learned from those who are living through it. Over two dozen people participated in the School Security Roundtable hosted by State Senator Greg Ball and Putnam County Sheriff Don Smith on Saturday, April 20 at Carmel Town Hall. Each was an expert in their field. Yet, it [...]
Odell Vetoes Indian Point Resolution
A resolution that was passed by the Putnam Legislature pertaining to the safety measures that should be considered at Indian Point Nuclear Energy Center has been vetoed by County Executive MaryEllen Odell. Resolution #73, which called for an expanded evacuation plan and better storage of the spent fuel rods, was brought to the floor of [...]
Wright Challenges DiCarlo for Putnam Legislative Seat
Former Legislator Kevin Wright wants his job back. Wright has thrown his hat into the Putnam County legislative race for District 9 against incumbent Leg. Anthony DiCarlo. Wright, who represented District 9 in the legislature from 1980- 1987 then as the county’s district attorney from 1998- 2007, said it was the public that made him [...]
Congressman Maloney Tours Lake Carmel Dam
Almost 25 percent of the high-hazard dams within New York State fall with Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney’s Congressional District. With severe storms hitting the region at an unprecedented rate, the congressman want to ensure the safety of his constituents who live near these dams. A high hazard dam failure might cause widespread damage, with loss [...]
Mahopac Shops Raise Money for Autism Awareness
Anthony and Dena Vitale are using their businesses to help promote autism awareness. On April 13, Anthony’s Deli & Catering and Hair by Dena, will join forces and host Autism Awareness Day within their respective businesses. “Every year we support a cause, this year we decided on autism,” said Dena Vitale. “It has become such [...]
Former MTA Police Chief Announces Bid for Putnam Sheriff
Politics does not belong in law enforcement, according to former MTA Police Chief Kevin McConville, who announced his bid to seek the Republican nomination for Putnam County Sheriff on Thursday, April 4 on the steps of the historic courthouse. He is looking to oust incumbent Sheriff Don Smith (R-Kent) who has been in office since [...]
Lake Carmel Fireman Killed in Truck Crash in Beekman
Early Sunday morning, a Lake Carmel fireman died in a fatal vehicular accident in Beekman, according to the New York State Police. On April 7, at about 1:45 a.m., state troopers were dispatched by Dutchess County 911 to an auto accident on Beekman Road, in the Town of Beekman, in which a vehicle had overturned [...]
Green House Principal Returning to Mahopac High School
The Mahopac School District released a statement today that its Green House principal at the high school is returning from administrative reassignment as of Monday, April 8. The Green House principal, Troy Bilyeu, was placed on administrative reassignment on Dec. 7 after the district decided to do an internal investigation on an allegation that was [...]
State Aid Saves 10 Positions for Carmel School District
An increase of $1.25 million in state aid will help Carmel School District restore 10 full-time equivalents (FTE) in the proposed 2013-14 school budget, according to Superintendent James Ryan, who went over a restoration plan at a special meeting held on Tuesday, April 2. The restorations included the 7/8 team structure at George Fisher Middle [...]
Soundview Prep Taps Into a Sweet New Potential
Soundview Preparatory School in Yorktown is known for thinking outside of the box. Now it is having students tap into a whole new type of potential—and it could not taste any better. Students were tapping maple trees and collected sap so they could make their own maple syrup as part of a project that is [...]
40 Positions on the Chopping Block at Mahopac Schools
The deficit between the current budget and where the Mahopac Board of Education is in its 2013-14 budget process equates to more than 40 full-time positions, according to Finance Chairman Michael Sclafani, who made the public aware of the situation at the committee meeting on Thursday, March 28. “We are at a point of no [...]
Putnam ARC to Close Preschool Program
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to cut the funding across the board on agencies that provide services to the developmentally delayed population was the final nail for Putnam County’s only preschool that focuses on children with severe communication delays or learning difficulties, pervasive developmental disorders, and autism spectrum disorders. On Wednesday, March 20, Putnam ARC announced [...]
Putnam D.A. Levy Claims Errors in Sheriff’s Rape Case Press Release
Putnam District Attorney Adam Levy fired back at the county’s sheriff department which he claims provided inaccurate information to the press and public. The sheriff’s department issued a press release on Thursday, March 21 that indicated that Alexandru Ionut Hossu, an illegal immigrant and defendant in an alleged rape case involving a 12-year-old girl, had [...]
UPDATED: Putnam D.A.’s Live-in Personal Trainer Charged with Rape of 12-year-old Girl
The live-in personal trainer of Putnam County District Attorney Adam Levy was arrested yesterday and was charged with “forcibly and violently” raping a 12-year-old girl, multiple sources from the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office confirmed today. Alexandru Ionut Hossu, a 35-year-old Southeast resident, was arrested shortly before midnight Wednesday and arraigned in Patterson Justice Court on [...]
Putnam No Longer Healthiest County in New York
Putnam’s reign as ‘healthiest county’ in New York State has come to end as the 2013 County Health Rankings was released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute on March 20. Putnam County was ranked fourth in the state in the overall category of “health outcomes,” after having [...]
County’s Item Pricing Fee Hits Opposition
When Putnam County passed its budget last October it did so under little fanfare. Now one of its proposed revenue generators is under fire. An amendment to Putnam County’s Local Law Chapter 173 titled “Item Pricing,” included a wavier fee schedule for retailers. The waiver, which had a sliding fee from $750 to $15,000 based [...]
Putnam Health Department Urges Radon Testing
Putnam County has a higher rate of lung cancer than any other county in the Hudson Valley and it is higher than the state average. It is not because we have an absorbent amount of smokers. The reason, according to Dr. Allen Beals, commissioner of Putnam County’s Department of Health, is radon. Radon is a [...]
Emergency 911 Communications Center Renamed to Honor Former Commissioner
When someone leaves a mark you can feel it long after they left. Robert McMahon, former commissioner of emergency services for Putnam, left such a legacy that the Emergency 911 Communications Center was renamed The Robert McMahon Emergency 911 Communications Center last week in his honor. “I have had the great good fortune to enjoy [...]
Kent Adjourns Smokey Hollow Cellphone Tower Hearing ‘til March
The residents of Smokey Hollow Court have upped their interest in whether a proposed cellphone tower should be built within a few hundred feet of their home. At the Feb. 26 public hearing on the proposed cellphone tower to be built in the Town of Kent Highway yard on Smokey Hollow Court, the opposition had [...]
Mahopac Natives to Show Autism Film at NYU
The truth and awareness that can be generated from a documentary film can be powerful,which is why Mahopac natives Ben Duffy and Michael Sassano use that medium to tell stories. “Why make things up, when there are so many incredible stories to tell,” said Duffy, 23, who is a junior at the School of Visual [...]
Mahopac Marina Docks to Open; Appellate Court Finds in Favor of the Melchners
There may be more than 30 more boats in Lake Mahopac this summer. After 15 years of court battles with the Town of Carmel, Charles and Lillian Melchner, owners of Mahopac Marina in Mahopac have won what they hope is the last case against them. In the case of Town of Carmel v. Melchner, the [...]
Frost Fest Added to Freezin’ for a Reason
Jacqueline Stack, a 12-year-old girl from Mahopac, has grown from being the inspiration behind the annual Freezin’ for a Reason lake jump into one of its most passionate participants. At only eight months old Stack was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a life threatening genetic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 [...]
Odell Supports Search for Outstanding Senior Citizens
Putnam County Executive MaryEllen Odell is supporting Director of the Office for the Aging Patricia Sheehy and the Putnam County Senior Citizens Advisory Board as they seek nominations for this year’s Senior Citizen of the Year Award. “We are fortunate to have a very active senior population,” said Odell. “Selecting one man and one woman [...]
Active Shooter Training for Carmel, Kent Police
When a shooter attacks a venue with any number of people it can take up to 30 minutes before the emergency response team gets there. The first responders on the scene need to know the best way to handle the situation. Last Monday and Tuesday over 40 officers from the police departments of Carmel and [...]
