SAUGERTIES, NY – On Tuesday, May 14th at 7pm Catskill Mountainkeeper, Woodstock Land Conservancy, and the Dump Here Never group are hosting a community forum about the unpermitted construction and demolition debris dump on Route 212 in Saugerties. The forum will feature a panel of experts on the dump’s history and efforts to halt its operations, as well a question and answer session. The evening will wrap with information about ways members of the public can engage on the issue. Catskill Mountainkeeper’s Kate Hagerman will moderate the panel, which will include Saugerties Town Supervisor, Fred Costello, dump neighbor Mike Ferraro, and environmental attorney Emily Svenson. WHEN: Tuesday, May 14th at 7pm WHERE: Saugerties High School Auditorium, 310 Washington Avenue, Saugerties The panelists will speak to a number of different aspects of the work to shut down the dumps. Supervisor Costello will update the community on the challenges the town has faced while trying to implement enforcement actions; Mike Ferraro will give a history of the dump; and Emily Svenson will detail some of the state laws that the dump's owners are violating. CONTACT: Kate Hagerman, Program Manager 914.473.4137 kate@catskillmountainkeeper.org +++ Saugerties and DEC seek warrants, community demands answers over landfill scandal The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is seeking a warrant to test two unpermitted debris landfills in Saugerties, plus a “transfer station,” owned by Joseph and Rachael Karolys, according to a DEC letter dated Tuesday May 14, sent to an environmental attorney hired by local watchdog group Catskill Mountainkeeper.. Saugerties town officials are seeking their own warrant, simultaneously battling the operation, which dumped unprocessed construction and demolition materials from NYC, in piles up to 30 feet high, since 2016. The piles are estimated at 46,000 cubic yards, for each of the two dump sites. Town supervisor Fred Costello spoke at a meeting organized by Catskill Mountainkeeper, the Woodstock Land Conservancy, and Dump Here Never, to over 150 concerned neighbors gathered in the high school auditorium Tuesday night. All demanded swift action. Representatives from the offices of Congressman Antonio Delgado (D-NY19); NY State Senator George Amedore; and incoming Ulster County Executive Patrick Ryan, also attended. Panelists at the event who also spoke, in addition to supervisor Costello, were Kate Hagerman, program manager for Catskill Mountainkeeper; their legal counsel Emily B. Svenson; and whistleblower Mike Ferraro. “According to neighbors, dozens of semi trucks each day deliver C&D debris to the Karolyses 1446 Rt. 212 site. The material is stored in outdoor piles. Workers then load the material onto dump t ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvtObYOaTRw

Onondaga Chief discusses 400-year wampum treaty A national leader came to New Paltz Wednesday night, but there were no motorcades, no roadblocks, and no secret service. The speaker was Chief Jake Edwards of the Onondaga Nation indian tribe. The message he brought was encoded four centuries ago into a belt of wampum beads, representing the first treaty between Iroquois and white peoples dated 1613. Edwards spoke for over an hour about the Great Law universally understood by the First People, known to whites as Native Americans or "indians." He said the various treaties made between red and white people incorporate rules of nature which existed long before settlers arrived from Europe. The Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign is intended to educate current generations about the ongoing perpetuity of these agreements, which the Iroquois have continually honored but colonial powers quickly reneged and forgot. "We're still here, you guys are still here. So this agreement is still in effect," Edwards maintained. "They had it written down, and our people told them, 'one drop of rain, and you won't understand that paper tomorrow.' We put it on a belt of wampum, and so this is still alive," he said. "We understand this agreement will last as long as the sun shines from the east, sets in the west, as long as the grass grows green, and for as long as the waters flow downhill. That in our minds, as one, means forever," the soft spoken chief observed. "The great value of feeling is now transcribed into value of money," Edwards explained. "You can't eat that and you can't drink that," he indicated. "You're not at peace if your belly's full of dollar bills," Edwards warned. "It's not a matter of history," he added, "it's a matter of life." At the end of July, a delegation of canoes will embark from Albany to New York City on a 13-day journey to renew the message of the Two Row Wampum Treaty, representing both cultures' mutual agreement to live side by side in peaceful sustainability with nature. Also this summer, another delegation will be riding on horseback from the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation out west, bringing a similar message. Albert Taylor, great elder of that tribe, will be arriving in advance at Woodstock on Thursday Nov. 22, the Great Day of Mourning, known to whites as "Thanksgiving." Taylor will be pray and sweat at Magic Meadow, an ancient LaCrosse field, and give a lecture at Mountain View Studio about legal battles involving indian treaties broken by white governments. Edwards confirmed pre-existing treaties with other tribes which are still honored. "We have one with our brothers from the west," he acknowledged. For more info, visit :http://honorthetworow.org Jake Edwards, New Paltz, Iroquois, Onondaga Nation, Two Row Wampum, Indian, treaty, Great Law, Albert Taylor ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSfatP4tu_U