Lissa Harris
About us:
Lissa Harris is the founder and publisher of the Watershed Post.
Articles
Jun. 6, 2012
Above: A 1940 U.S. Census record from Margaretville, New York, posted on Ancestry.com. On the highlighted lines are Sheldon and Madeline Birdsall and their daughter Dawn, the writer's great-grandparents and grandmother.
A treasure trove has just been... Read more
Jun. 5, 2012
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Above: A Google map showing a 2.1-mile stretch of Highway 30A that the NYC DEP is funding repairs to this summer. (Google Maps, whose road names can be capricious in the rural stretches of upstate New York, calls it NYC Rd. No. 6 and BWS... Read more
Jun. 4, 2012
The latest chapter in the ongoing saga of the muddy lower Esopus is being written -- and officials in Ulster County are clamoring to be more than just a footnote in it.
On May 23, the state Department of Environmental Conservation announced that they had... Read more
Jun. 4, 2012
New York State Police and the Ulster County Family Violence Unit report the arrest of 21-year-old Saugerties resident Denzel Francis on charges that he had sexual contact with two teenage girls, a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old.
Francis faces charges on... Read more
Jun. 4, 2012
Photo of hop flowers by Flickr user Dave Shea. Published under Creative Commons license.
Over the weekend, the Beardslee Hop House in Pittsfield hosted a few hundred curious visitors -- there to learn about the area's agricultural history, check out the... Read more
May. 31, 2012
For years, the state-owned Belleayre Mountain Ski Center in New York's Catskill mountains was a playground for police officers and other “VIP” skiers who were allowed to ski for free at the discretion of Belleayre management.
Two years ago, Belleayre... Read more
May. 31, 2012
The Times Herald-Record reports that Bethel councilman Richard Crumley died unexpectedly on Sunday, May 27 at the age of 69.
The paper spoke with town supervisor Dan Sturm, who said the town board will decide soon whether to appoint a replacement for the... Read more
May. 31, 2012
A 28-year old Poughkeepsie man, Anthony J. Anderson, was arrested in Rosendale on Wednesday after state troopers clocked his motorcycle going 193mph on the New York State Thruway. In the rain, no less.
Anderson was written 14 traffic tickets and remanded... Read more
May. 31, 2012
A familiar sight that won't be cropping up along Delaware County roadways this year: The iconic cow signs for the Meredith Dairy Fest. Photo by Carolyn Simmons of West Laurens; shared in the Watershed Post Flickr group pool.
As if the brutal economy... Read more
May. 30, 2012
For a story in today's paper, Wall Street Journal reporter Joseph Avila made the trek from Manhattan to Middletown to spend some quality time with one of the Catskills' most notorious movers and shakers: Dean Gitter, the developer who's been pushing for... Read more
May. 30, 2012
The dreaded tornadoes we were warned about never materialized, thankfully, but New York State was pelted with epic thunderstorms on Tuesday. And in a few places, hailstones.
A couple of Watershed Post readers sent us photos of hailstones from the deluge... Read more
May. 29, 2012
Via NY-Alert: There is a tornado watch on across northeastern New York and the Capital Region, including Greene and Schoharie counties, until 9pm.
The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Central New York that includes... Read more
May. 25, 2012
A tip from a worried parent about a student's threats to bring a gun to the Walton Central School has led to the discovery of a stolen handgun at the bottom of a reservoir, the arrest of two Walton men, and the unearthing of old fears in a community that... Read more
May. 24, 2012
Above: A severed water pipe in the basement of a house owned by Middleburgh mayor Matthew Avitabile. Photo by Matthew Avitabile.
In this week's Times Journal: A house owned by Middleburgh's new mayor has been broken into, in an incident that looks like a... Read more
May. 24, 2012
This week, the Liberty Independent and the Sullivan County Democrat are hot on the trail of a local scandal: The Walmart in Monticello has apparently failed its fourth consecutive health inspection.
Yesterday, the Liberty Independent posted a photo of a... Read more
May. 24, 2012
Above: A video showing the damage Irene wreaked on the Bridge Street Bridge in Phoenicia. Taken August 29, 2011 by YouTube user mjanensch1.
Phoenicia's Bridge Street Bridge, which was feared to be irreparable after the wrath of Irene, will officially re-... Read more
May. 23, 2012
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced today that the agency is making improvements to its stream flow and snow monitoring network, as part of a recently-announced partnership with the National Weather Service to do... Read more
May. 23, 2012
Floyd Guernsey III, owner of Guernsey's Schoharie Nursery, smiles for a TV camera at the nursery's grand re-opening ceremony on May 11. Photo by Donald Edmonds.
Like many of the towns in the path of the raging Schoharie Creek, the town of Schoharie took... Read more
May. 22, 2012
One of the Freshtown's iconic wooden bears looks out over a row of grocery carts, lined up and ready for throngs of Margaretville shoppers to descend in the morning. Photo by Lissa Harris.
Margaretville's been waiting a long time for its grocery store to... Read more
May. 21, 2012
Above: A Daily Freeman video about today's bear sighting at a Hurley elementary school.
It must have been tater tot day: The Freeman reports that a bear was spotted foraging in a dumpster at the Ernest C. Myer elementary school in Hurley this afternoon... Read more