Farewell Barryville Farmers’ Market

Each vibrant community has a heart, a center where its people gather and give it life. In Barryville, that has been the weekly farmers’ market. It has been the place where friends find each other and catch up on the local news and gossip and where new friendships were formed. It was always where one went on Saturday morning to find the freshest vegetables, mouth-watering pastries and pies, and the best bread in the area. The vendors were always cheerful and informative, and if you were a regular at the market, they greeted you by name. For years, it has been the place where my family started our Saturday routine. It has been where we have taken my daughter for her much awaited “farmers’ market cookies” since she was a little girl, and where, each spring, everyone commented on how much she had grown over the winter.

This spring, it will all be gone, as the farmers’ market moves to Narrowsburg. Whether through greed, selfishness, or small mindedness, the market is being forced to relocate, and Barryville will be a poorer place for it. I will try to make the drive to Narrowsburg when I can, but it just won’t be the same, and neither will Barryville.

Peter Andrew McTiernan

Barryville, NY

Grahamsville Republican running for Sullivan County Legislature

My name is Mike Brooks, the Republican and Conservative candidate for the Sullivan County Legislature from District 3, encompassing the towns of Neversink and Rockland, as well as a small piece of Liberty.

My family and I have lived in the Grahamsville area since 1972. I am passionate about civic duty and public service and have dedicated nearly 30 years of my life serving my community. I served on the Neversink Planning Board for more than seven years. I served 12 years on the Tri-Valley School Board, the last four as President. I am in my fourth year on the Neversink Town Board. I have coached boys little league baseball and girls softball.

I graduated from the Tri-Valley Central School and the State University at New Paltz, earning a B.A. in Communications and Media Management. Since 1981, I have worked with technology in various industries, including cable and satellite television, information technology and telecommunications, and have experienced firsthand the acceleration of technological change in our lives, our businesses and our government.

For six years, my wife Donna and I owned and operated Brooks’ Chestnut Woods, a family restaurant in Grahamsville, receiving the Sullivan County Chamber of Commerce Pride of Sullivan Award for the town of Neversink in 2007.

I am thankful and fortunate to have had the confidence and trust of the voters in the Town of Neversink and those of the towns that make up the Tri-Valley Central School District. Whenever I have asked for support, you have entrusted me with it, and I never take that for granted. Now I ask the voters of District 3 to support me in my bid to represent you on the Sullivan County Legislature. I look forward to meeting as many of you as I can between now and November.

Mike Brooks

Grahamsville, NY