By Joe Moskowitz
After years of lagging behind more densely populated communities, there is about to a major improvement in area cell phone service, particularly in Arkville and Margaretville.

In November 2012, SBA Communications of Boca Raton, Florida constructed a cell phone tower located above county Route 38 in Arkville. Because of the steepness of the terrain, it is visible form many locations, except from county Route 38.

By Geoff Samuels
The New York State budget projections for 2013-14 were released last Tuesday and according to Margaretville Central School Superintendent Anthony Albanese, the 1.97 percent increase in state aid for the district is unjustifiably low.

By Brian Sweeney
Kingdon Gould Jr. of Arkville was presented with the Spirit of the Catskills Award at the 27th annual Belleayre Snowball held Saturday at Belleayre Mountain.

Surrounded by family and friends, among the 165-plus guests in attendance, Mr. Gould was honored for the many causes and organizations that he has supported over many years.

By Brian Sweeney
Bill Stanton, who is completing his 10th year as Margaretville’s mayor, will not be seeking another term in office.

Mayor Stanton told News this week that he feels that a decade in the village’s top post is enough.
“I’m just doing the best I can, but I’ve had enough,” he stated. “It’s time for somebody else to take over.”

By Jay Braman Jr.
The year 2013 is shaping up nicely for the Fleischmanns Village Park.
Fitting, it is, since it was one century ago that Julius Fleischmanns donated the prime real estate to the village to create the park.

Had he known that, 98 years later, the park’s splendor would be washed away in a massive flood it is certain that he would wish it restored to it’s original beauty. And while things didn’t look good for that last year, it now appears that the park may not only be restored but be even better than it ever had been.

By Geoff Samuels
Comments on a resolution in support of the continuation of insurance subsidies from the National Flood Insurance Programs’ (NFIP) were aired at Mondays’ Flood Commission Meeting in Middletown.

By Joe Moskowitz
A long-running battle over a trailer park’s troubled sewage system may, or may not, be headed to Delaware County Court.

Staff report
Slippery road conditions resulted in a number of accidents in the area on Monday, including one on Palmer Hill late in the afternoon where a Jeep and a tanker truck collided. Both drivers walked away uninjured. The Jeep suffered heavy damage.

Earlier in the day, at approximately 8:30 a.m., a Ford sedan operated by Thomas M. Farkas, 32, of Margaretville was northbound on Route 28, west of Dunraven, when the operator came around a bend, lost control of the vehicle and came to rest in the ditch, partially blocking the south-bound lane.

Staff report
A 33-year-old Davenport man was arrested January 22 on felony charges stemming from his alleged sale of narcotics taken from the Covidien plant in Hobart.

Jason M. Wilsey was arrested on a sealed indictment from the Delaware County Sheriff’s Department charging him with a First-Degree A-1 felony offense of Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance. He is accused of selling more than two ounces of Oxycodone on December 21, 2012.

Worked at plant

Shokan — What are the open spaces of the Catskills worth to the local economy?  Plenty, according to a new study, which finds that recreational opportunities on the Catskills’ publicly-owned state and New York City lands plus private lands open to the public, draw over 1.7 million visitors annually.