The GardinerA call to community Gazette Spring 2020 - Issue #46 Free! Please take one Gardiner Responds to the Pandemic Also in this issue ... See Articles on page 2, 8 and 9 Supervisor on Covid-19, p. 2 Mountain View Floor Hearts on Fire Fundraiser, p. 4 Covering Closes After 50 Years Cicada Killer Wars, p. 5 Gardiner and the Pandemic, p. 8 By L.A. McMahon Gazette Covid-19 Story, p. 9 If you live within 20 miles of ing. All you needed to do was Gardiner, Mountain View Floor describe your rooms, prefer- Two Gardiner Men, p. 10 Covering was always only a ences, and problem areas short drive away. The one-story ,and he would know exactly showroom, off Route 208 with a what to suggest and how terrific view of the Gunks, had to fix the problem. Stores bor, holding local home life many others have not been able a myriad of flooring samples like that are a local treasure together with every roll of to: stay alive in the era of big stored in easy-to-navigate dis- that are becoming harder carpet, every piece of tile and box stores, online competition, plays and hanging on the walls. and harder to find. For over plank flooring. and, dare I say it, Amazon. He, five decades Mountain View along with his daughter, Michelle The owner, Mario Milano, is a Floor Covering has been a Mario and his team are to be walking encyclopedia of floor- trusted and reliable neigh- congratulated for doing what Mt. View, continued page 14 Gardiner Gazette, Now on the Net! by Jennifer Bruntil Most of us realize that the in- The Gazette did have a ternet is an amazing resource, website prior to this new and thanks to one family that iteration. It served us well put in a whole lot of time and for a number of years, but effort,The Gardiner Gazette is we had limited resources now part of that resource, and when we commissioned it, is fully online and accessible and the website had limited to all! The Net, continued page 6 And We Could Use Some Help Some of you may recall that back to help carry the load, the Ga- in 2017, a number of retirements zette would have folded. in our committee brought The Gazette to the brink of a crisis; if So many of you came for- we had not found new members Help! continued page 7 The Gardiner Gazette, Spring 2020 We are also facilitating the portant to look for the silver Our Community Cares: New Paltz Community Foun- lining, to rearrange the pri- An update from Town dation’s program called Help orities in life. Some positive Your Neighbor 2020, which changes I’m hearing about Supervisor Marybeth Majestic provides meal vouchers to that are a common theme in local residents in need. [See our community are parents distancing concerns. article page 8 to find out how spending more time with to get a voucher.] their children, neighbors The number of Covid-19 checking up on one another, cases, and the time it took We’ve also received support and businesses offering ser- for Gardiner to report its first from County and State gov- vices and providing valuable case, provide evidence that ernment leaders. For exam- supplies for distribution in suggests that the early clo- ple, Ulster County Executive our community. sure of our library and Town Pat Ryan and his team have Hall was wise, and helped been incredibly supportive in When I was contacting folks to keep our case numbers offering daily update calls, personally to see how they comparably lower than working tirelessly to provide were doing, one gentleman neighboring towns’. mobile testing sites, increas- responded by saying, “If you ing hospital capacity and have to quarantine, there is Gardiner Town Hall was es- securing additional supplies no better place to quarantine tablished as a meal distri- needed to combat the virus. than Gardiner in springtime.” When the coronavirus hit the bution center for Gardiner, Governor Andrew Cuomo So, yes, we have been Hudson Valley, a decision was Shawangunk and Plattekill, provided strong leadership forced to slow down, but in made early on to close the town through Project Resilience, to municipal leaders through today’s fast-moving times, I hall and have employees work a community fund and local the PAUSE initiative, which think there is something to safely from home. This decision food distribution effort set up has been used as a tool to be said for slowing down to was not made lightly, but after by Ulster County Executive guide decision-making. evaluate all that life has giv- considering the open floor plan Pat Ryan in partnership with en us. Stay strong, be safe and employees’ ages and un- the United Way. It supports I’ve found that during diffi- and together we will get derlying conditions, it was the residents impacted by CO- cult times like these, it is im- through this. right decision to make. VID-19 and simultaneously provides support to small However, while town employ- businesses. At the time this ees may not physically be “at was written we were de- Town Hall,” we are still working livering over 100 meals to from our homes, which was not Gardiner residents in need, as easy to set up as it sounds; three days a week. As we’ve technical help was needed to seen the need for this ser- allow employees access to vice increase daily, we’ve email and internet servers that also witnessed a surge in are based in the Town Hall. The the number of people volun- Governor amended the Open teering to help deliver these Meetings Law which makes it meals to meet the growing possible for Gardiner’s boards, need. committees, commissions and tasks forces to meet remotely We are tremendously grate- using the various platforms ful to these volunteers and available. proud to live in Gardiner. Without a doubt, our collec- The Town Board has stream- tive response to this crisis lined its agenda, addressing underscores what a great housekeeping and financial community Gardiner is! items to keep the town up and Our employees, residents running. If town employees do and businesses have really need to come to Town Hall to do stepped up with offers to vol- their work, these are carefully unteer and provide whatever scheduled, after considering services are needed. individual locations and social Issue #46, page 2 The Gardiner Gazette, Spring 2020 Photo L.A. McMahon. “If you have to quarantine, there is no better place to quarantine than Gardiner in Springtime.” Issue #46, page 3 The Gardiner Gazette, Spring 2020 Hearts on Fire Gardiner Fire Chief Matthew Goodnow and his daughter Madison accept a check, presented to the fire depart- ment by long-time Gardiner business, Lucky C Stables. For the past few years, around Valentine’s Day, Lucky C has hosted a campaign to support local first responders. They call it “Hearts on Fire.” Lucky C clients show love and support for their favorite horses by purchasing different sized hearts. These translate into points, which later translate into dollars. One hundred percent of the proceeds go directly to Gardiner Fire and Rescue. This year they raised over $1,600. In the picture above, the 2020 “Valentine’s Horse” winner, the beloved “Texas Tea,” owned by Lucky C and leased by Farrah Sherwood, is on the right. Runner up, “Arrow,” with owner Noelle Parsons, is on the left. Gary and Susan Clark, owners of Lucky C Stables, want to express their gratitude to those who joined in the fun and helped support their local first responders. Submitted by Susan Clark. Dream-Journeys Full Service Travel Agency Marty & Kathe Kraus 845.489.5040 www.Dream-Journeys.com • [email protected] MARILYN PERRY ART \ PAINTINGS \ [email protected] • [email protected] • www.marilynperryart • •(917) (917) 834-4507 834-4507 Issue #46, page 4 The Gardiner Gazette, Spring 2020 The Cicada Killer Wars: We Won (And then Lost...) (And We’ll Win Again) by Carol O’Biso That’s a cicada killer over swooped off with vigor into there on the right. They are the surrounding tall trees. ground-digging wasps that Each returned, heavy as a feed on cicadas and they’re B-52 bomber, with a sedat- approximately the size of full- ed cicada in their claws and grown cattle. Well, maybe dropped expertly into their they only seem to be when burrows. Research told us they fly in your face. They are, that the sedated (not dead) you see, “harmless,” (they cicadas were being placed only sting if you step on them) next to the wasp eggs so the these huge wasps were, came to our door with fear in but aggressive (that flying-in- larvae would have something there were only a few. their eyes to tell us about the your-face thing). to eat when they hatched. wasps. I started tucking my By the second year, there shirt in when walking outside We saw the first cicada killer Live and let live was obvi- were more than a few. By (just imagine the possibilities). on our property in Gardiner ously the correct approach— the third year, there were I even read about a woman about ten years ago. Piles “harmless,” after all—and hundreds. Family parties in Pennsylvania whose mail of freshly-dug soil began to only around from mid-July became scream-fests, with the post office refused to de- turn up at the far end of the until late August, when the children, and more than one liver until she did something back lawn.