From left, Chris Klingner, first lieutenant of the Rescue Squad, Dawn Marie Klingner, Rescue Squad captain, and Zachary Klingner, second lieutenant, and Chris and Marie’s son. The 100%-volunteer EMT squad operates within the Amenia Fire Company.
Story reprinted courtesy of The New Pine Plains Herald
POUGHKEEPSIE — “Over 400 times last year, an ambulance never got to the patient’s side; the patient had to get to the hospital another way,” said Dana Smith, commissioner of Dutchess County Department of Emergency Response (DCER). “What’s happening is unacceptable, and we need to do something about it.”
The critical state of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in Dutchess County is sounding alarms among local and state officials. On March 7, Smith presented an eye-opening report before the county’s Public Safety Committee that indicated the crisis is part of a broader statewide issue. He reported that across New York, only half of the 70,000 certified EMS personnel are regularly available to answer calls, and that 30% of them plan to leave the force over the next three years due to the strenuous nature of the work and insufficient compensation.
County Legislator Chris Drago, who represents District 19 (Stanford, Pine Plains, Milan, Red Hook, North East and Millerton), is one of 12 members of the Public Safety Committee. Elected to his first term in November, he campaigned on EMS reform.
“Our EMS volunteers are doing incredible work; they’re asking for help, and that is hard for them to do,” said Drago. “We owe it to them to find solutions.”
A well-documented crisis
In his March 7 presentation titled “The EMS Crisis in Dutchess County,” Smith referred to three studies that analyzed EMS operations, documented failures and proposed fixes. “All the recommendations that we’re talking about, that we’ve done to date and our plans moving forward, come from these reports,” he said.
The 2017 Dutchess County EMS Task Forces, spearheaded by then-County Executive Marc Molinaro and a panel of 28 experts, produced a data-intensive report that established five benchmarks for the system: It must be “patient-centered, consistent, reliable, affordable and sustainable.” The task force recommended the formation of the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) on EMS to aid collaboration between towns and emergency service providers. The CAC, established in 2018, works closely with Smith, who said, “These are competent, capable people advising us; they know what they’re talking about.”
The 2021 Profile of Dutchess County EMS and Options for the Future is also rich with data, like 911 calls enumerated by town, season, month, week, day and hour. The study proposed incentives like tax credits and subsidized training to attract and keep EMS workers. It also advocated a regional approach to EMS in which towns would share costs of equipment and personnel, and the county — after obtaining a state-approved county Certificate of Need— would provide extra ambulances to fill in gaps.
The New York State 2023 Evidence Based EMS Agenda for Future made more than 20 key recommendations, including declaring EMS an essential service to assure dedicated state funding; adding 10,000 certified EMS providers in New York by 2025; and implementing measurable performance metrics that would be transparent to the public and standardized across the state.
“With the results of these studies and advice from the CAC, our plans are being made for the future,” Smith told the legislators. “The county has to come up with stopgap money right now. We’re looking at how to do that.”
Smith believes that the answer to fixing the county’s troubled EMS system lies in regional management. “It will help the taxpayer without putting small ambulance companies out of work and standardize the system so every town is doing the same thing,” Smith said. “It will give us time to figure out long-term funding.”
Two months ago, Smith distributed surveys to ambulance service providers in Dutchess County, seeking input about supplementing existing EMS coverage. “This way we’ll know where to place stopgap ambulances,” he said. Survey responses, due this month, will shape a formal proposal for extra ambulance service units under the direction of DCER.
“We’ve looked at Greene, Columbia and Montgomery counties,” said Smith, who is investigating different EMS models around New York. “We’ve seen Nassau County’s EMS: They spent a lot of money and they have a very fragmented system, I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Lawmakers beginning to act
With EMS stretched to its limits, elected officials, both at the county and state levels, are taking steps to help. The Public Safety Committee, DCER and Dutchess County Executive Sue Serino are working together on long-range regional EMS planning that would address each community’s needs.
Drago told the Herald, “In the short term, I’m advocating for county-staffed ambulances to be placed to supplement existing service, with one ideally placed in District 19. This will help alleviate the struggle that exists town by town and ensure we have a way of getting people to care faster.”
The 2024 Dutchess County budget includes a sales tax increase from 3.75% to 4%, in part to subsidize EMS. It has yet to be approved by the state.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation last year to make it easier for ambulance services to get paid: Reimbursement will go directly from the health insurance company to the EMS provider. Mark Browne, president and chief operating officer of Northern Dutchess Paramedics, said: “It used to be that payment went to the patient, making it more difficult for ambulance companies to get their money. It took a lot longer than it should have. Unfortunately, this change won’t even take effect until January of 2025.”
Hochul’s 2024-2025 proposed executive budget sets aside $8 million to revitalize the state’s EMS and $36 million toward improved Medicaid reimbursement for ambulance transport. It also grants Certificates of Need for county ambulance service, as recommended by the 2021 Dutchess County EMS study.
On Jan. 30, the New York state Legislature, in cooperation with EMS professionals and the New York State Association of Counties, released a package of bills called Rescue EMS, which contains seven proposals to revamp the system. “We are all aware that we need to help the emergency service [workers]” said Didi Barrett, assemblymember for New York’s 106th District, which includes parts of Dutchess and Columbia counties. “They put themselves in harm’s way every day. Finally, there’s enough critical mass in the legislature to get something done.”
Rescue EMS covers a wide variety of needs. The proposals are described by Barrett as “game changers.” One bill, if passed, would recognize EMS as an essential service, securing state and federal funding. It would also allow the creation of special tax districts to subsidize EMS services.
Barrett’s proposed legislation would allow volunteer firefighters and EMS workers to claim both state income and local property tax credits. “It will incentivize volunteer firefighter and EMS recruitment and retention,” Barrett said.
State Sen. Michelle Hinchey, who represents New York’s 41st District (which includes Northern Dutchess and Columbia counties, and portions of Ulster and Greene), is sponsoring a bill that provides Medicaid reimbursement for on-the-scene emergency care and ambulance transportation to non-hospital destinations, like urgent care centers and mental health facilities. It also would provide funding for telemedicine.
“Currently, EMS can only be reimbursed for treating Medicaid enrollees if they transport patients to a hospital ER, even if EMS has already provided the necessary care,” Hinchey told the Herald. “We cannot allow this status quo to continue.”
The remaining bills focus on funding and increasing the emergency workforce. Proposals include removing EMS from the property tax cap so towns can raise taxes more than 2% annually; increasing personal income tax credits for volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers from $200 to $800 for individuals and $400 to $1,600 for joint filers; creating a way to increase the amount of Medicaid ambulance reimbursements paid; and dispensing with tolls for emergency transport on New York thruways.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are pushing for the Rescue EMS package to be included in the state budget, which is due April 1.
DCER supports the legislative package. “The bills address the major roadblocks faced by EMS; it’s a good start,” Smith said. “We still have a lot of asks, so we’ll just keep advocating. EMS needs recognition and support. We need to develop solutions that are patient-centered, consistent, reliable, affordable and sustainable for Dutchess County residents. It’s neighbors helping neighbors.”
This is the second article in The New Pine Plains Herald’s two-part exploration of the challenges facing local EMS systems, reprinted with permission of The New Pine Plains Herald. To see the first part in the series, visit www.newpineplainsherald.org
Aly Morrissey
Dan Cohen, left, dispenses whipped cream on a plate of maple syrup treats during a demonstration on the making of maple syrup at Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo on Millbrook School’s campus.
MILLBROOK — The Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo hosted its sixth annual Maple Syrup Madness Weekend on March 7 and 8, drawing visitors eager to sample fresh maple syrup, learn about the sugaring process and enjoy one of the region’s sweetest seasonal activities. The event will continue March 14 and 15, as long as the sap continues to flow, organizers said.
Visitors were treated to free tastings of locally made maple syrup with a side of waffles, while Alan Tousignant — a woodworker, syrup maker and director of the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo — led demonstrations showing how sap collected from nearby maple trees is transformed into syrup.
“This is a very seasonal activity, and you’ve got to go while you can,” Tousignant said of the labor-intensive process.
Alan Tousignant stokes a fire in a maple evaporator, a machine that turns maple sap into syrup with heat.Photo by Aly Morrissey
Tousignant first experimented with making maple syrup in a backyard over an open campfire under the stars — a method he said required long nights and wasted much of the heat.
Today, he uses a specialized maple evaporator, a large stainless-steel pan heated by a wood fire from below that allows sap to boil efficiently and continuously.
Sap collected from the trees begins as a clear, watery liquid that contains only about two to two and a half percent sugar, Tousignant explained. Before boiling, the sap is run through a reverse-osmosis process to concentrate the sugar slightly. The liquid then enters the evaporator, where heat gradually removes the water as the sap flows through a series of channels.
By the time the liquid reaches about 215 degrees, the sugar has concentrated enough to become maple syrup.
Tousignant said he is currently collecting sap from around 50 maple trees, some of which have multiple taps. He said one gallon of maple syrup requires around 40 gallons of sap, a process that requires a lot of patience.
“That’s what I call ‘almost syrup,’ he laughed, pointing to a container of darkening liquid that had already been boiled and was completing a filtration process.
“Typically, the early season syrup is lighter, and as the season goes on, it gets darker,” he said. “Toward the end of the season, it can be really dark, almost like walnut syrup.”
Tousignant collects chunks of naturally formed ice that float in the sap buckets when the weather gets cold enough as a way to keep a 300-gallon tank of sap cool to prevent it from spoiling until it can be processed.
Alan Tousignant adjusts the water level in his maple evaporator at the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo on Millbrook School’s campus on Saturday, March 7.Photo by Aly Morrissey
“I love trying to use Mother Nature to its fullest in a sustainable way,” he said.
He employs the same philosophy in his woodworking, using trees that have already died or fallen or collecting discarded wood pallets from Amazon deliveries to the Millbrook School, saving them from the burn pile.
Raised near the Canadian border in upstate New York, Tousignant said he has always enjoyed working outdoors. As a graduate student, he supported himself with a variety of hands-on jobs to make extra spending money.
“Raking leaves, washing houses, painting, anything to make a little cash for eating and paying the bills,” he said.
It was during this time when Tousignant developed an acronym that now serves as the label for his maple syrup — Hayibaco, short for Home and Yard Improvements by Alan.
This will mark his first year selling his own maple syrup under his custom label, which features an illustrated photo of him in his signature outfit — a plaid shirt and a fleece vest — against a backdrop of his syrup bottles. Syrup will be sold in the gift shop at the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo and possibly at the Millerton Farmer’s Market in the future.
In addition to Hayibaco, other locally made maple syrup and maple products were available for sale at the tasting, including nearby Soukup Farms in Dover and Russell Farms in Rhinebeck.
Dan Cohen, Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo’s Director of Media, said that zoo attendance typically dips during the winter months. But for many of the zoo’s animals — particularly those who prefer the cold weather — winter can actually be one of the best times to visit.
Animals like Stanley the lynx, Cohen said, are far more active in the cold weather.
Cohen and his colleagues began brainstorming ways to encourage winter zoo visits and were pleased with the success of both a hot chocolate event earlier this year and the maple syrup weekend.
Nathan Miller
Cold Spring Early Learning Center on Homan Road in Stanford. Pine Plains school district officials proposed closing the building last year citing budget constraints and declining enrollment.
STANFORD — Community members gathered on Wednesday, March 4, for a first look at a newly-formed committee that will analyze the impact of closing an elementary school building in the Pine Plains Central School District.
Town Supervisor Julia Descoteaux arranged the Wednesday meeting at Stanford Town Hall to find volunteers to represent the town in the district-wide Building Utilization Advisory Committee. The committee's first district-wide meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 12.
Pine Plains Board of Education members voted in February to form the committee. That vote came after Stanford residents asked for more details on plans to shutter Cold Spring Early Learning Center on Homan Road in Stanford. Superintendent Brian Timm announced plans to close the building and consolidate students into Seymour Smith Intermediate School in Pine Plains last year, citing declining enrollment district-wide and potential reductions in state aid that threatened the district’s budget.
Descoteaux said the Board of Education asked each of the nine towns in the district to send three representatives, which would result in a committee with at least 27 members. Three people have shown interest in representing Stanford in the multi-town committee — Kyle Odell, Brooke Brown and Abby Knickerbocker, though Knickerbocker was not present at the Wednesday meeting.
Descoteaux said the committee will analyze the impact of closing Cold Spring Elementary and draft a full educational impact statement. Educational impact statements are recommended — but not required — under New York State education law.
The educational impact statement will analyze the closure’s effect on the community, district finances, use of other buildings, staff employment, and school and extracurricular services. The district currently operates three buildings — Cold Spring Early Learning Center in Stanford, and Seymour Smith Intermediate School and Stissing Mountain Jr./Sr. High School in Pine Plains.
Cold Spring Elementary serves roughly 150 students from pre-K to first grade. There are currently just over 750 students enrolled in the district from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Superintendent Timm said enrollment is down nearly 50% in the past twenty years.
Community members in attendance urged Descoteaux to advocate for more Stanford residents on the committee, citing Cold Spring’s location in the town, the town’s contribution to the district’s revenue, and the school’s integral role in the community.
Descoteaux echoed those sentiments. “Our town has a little bit of a different stake in the game,” she said. “I’ve heard from multiple families that — very direct — they wouldn’t have moved here if there wasn’t a school in town.”
Descoteaux said school district officials requested that representatives include a local business leader, a parent or community member and a representative of the Town Board — a request she said she disagreed with. She said Stanford parents have already taken the lead.
“The community’s been driving this process,” Descoteaux said. “The hope coming out of this is it feels like this is a community-driven process.”
Descoteaux credited Stanford parents like Brooke Brown, who she said led the early efforts to press for more information and community involvement in the school’s closure. Brown advocated strongly for her inclusion on the committee.
“I think I just bring slightly more than an average person would because I’ve already done so much research on it,” Brown said.
Kyle Odell, a Stanford parent and financial manager based out of Poughkeepsie, also volunteered for the committee. He said he wants to take a harder look at the budgetary figures that school district officials cited when Cold Spring’s closure was announced.
Odell said he doubted district officials’ claims about budget constraints, citing figures on rising health care and other costs from district presentations that he said added up to less significant losses than administrators claimed.
“They’re looking at it as the price increase for those things but not as to what it is for the overall budget,” Odell said. “I want to be on this committee to actually see the numbers, especially digging in, so we’re actually making an informed decision.”
Patrick L. Sullivan
Publisher James Clark, left, and Executive Editor Christian Murray speak at Scoville Memorial Library March 7.
SALISBURY — What makes or breaks a local newspaper is its reputation, Lakeville Journal Executive Editor Christian Murray said at the Scoville Memorial Library Saturday, March 7.
Murray and publisher James Clark led a discussion at the library that was originally scheduled for January, but the weather intervened.
Karen Vrotsos, the head of adult programming for the library, introduced Clark and Murray, and noted that thousands of American newspapers have closed in recent decades, creating regional “news deserts.”
Clark said the news business is under “tremendous pressure even as local news remains the most trusted source.”
Clark said there are many ideas being discussed for the future of newspapers, including the possibility of going fully digital and eliminating print. He was quick to add that going all digital is not the plan for the Journal and The Millerton News.
“We all enjoy a print product,” Clark said. “But we’re also strongly focused on reaching readers on whatever platform they prefer — particularly online.”
He also noted that while the Connecticut and New York legislatures have introduced bills designed to support news organizations, including funding journalism jobs, they have also considered bills to remove requirements that legal notices be published in local newspapers.
While legal notices are a source of revenue, Clark said they also provide a valuable public service. “All the recent Wake Robin decisions were in our legals section,” which complemented the paper’s reporting.
Clark said long-term success in local news comes down to three essentials: adequate funding, enough reporters and, as he put it, “simply doing the reporting.”
“It’s challenging,” he continued. He said LJMN Media, the organization that publishes the two papers, is in its fifth year as a non-profit.
He thanked the community for the financial support, which has allowed for the hiring of new reporters and editors and expanded coverage.
One of those hires was Murray.
The native New Zealander used to be based in Queens, N.Y. and worked for outlets such as amNewYork, Newsday and Reuters.
When Clark was looking for a new executive editor and sorting through resumes, Murray’s experience with the Queens Post — a local news service he founded that reported on neighborhoods in that borough — caught his attention.
In Queens, Murray had a large urban readership. Here in northwest Connecticut and eastern Dutchess County, the population is markedly different.
“But the nuts and bolts of reporting are the same,” Murray said. “Communities of any size want to know about affordable housing, healthcare, new businesses and public safety.”
In Queens, “the scale is bigger, but it’s the same board meetings. The machinations are pretty much the same.”
Murray, who moved to northwest Connecticut five years ago, said local news is often more meaningful than national news for readers. “I want to know about the restaurant down the street, or the property up the road.”
He said bigger publications are often content rewriting press releases. “Quality journalism is at the local level. Our reporters are out there talking to people.”
Murray said he chatted recently with a friend who works for Fox Digital.
“He’s covering Iran from his apartment in Long Island City!”
Asked about how the two local papers cover national issues, Clark said “We cover how they affect our communities and what they’re doing about it.”
“We’ll continue providing news as we see it and keeping it balanced,” Murray added.
Asked about using Facebook and other social media, Clark said “we see Facebook as one platform of many. We want to get our news to people where they are.”
The questioner followed up, asking how Facebook comments are moderated.
Clark said that “in general we use as light a touch as possible” for comments.
“We’ll delete or hide comments that are simply inflammatory or profane.”
Clark mentioned “HVRHS Today,” the student publication from Housatonic Valley Regional High School that is a collaboration between The Lakeville Journal and the high school.
“That’s their newspaper. They’re not writing for The Lakeville Journal.”
Clark said there are three high schools in The Millerton News’ coverage area, and he hopes to expand the program.
Both Clark and Murray kept reiterating the importance of local newspapers being accurate and fair.
“Reputation matters so much in local news,” Murray said. “We’re much more accountable to our communities” than larger newspapers.
“When we ship the papers, we know we’re going to see the people we’re writing about in the checkout line at LaBonne’s,” said Clark.
“It gives us that little extra ‘oomph’ to get it right.”
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Nathan Miller
The Millerton fire crew watches a pump hose carry water from the NorthEast-Millerton Library’s basement on Tuesday, Feb. 10.
MILLERTON — Library officials expect the NorthEast-Millerton Library to be fully open the weekend of March 14-15, a full month after a burst pipe forced librarians to move operations to the annex building on Century Boulevard.
Executive Director Rhiannon Leo-Jameson said the temporary relocation has been stressful, but library patrons have been understanding and using the library to the fullest extent possible.
A pipe in the wall of a private apartment above the library burst on the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 10, sending water into the walls and flooding the basement.
Leo-Jameson reported that at its height, the water settled about five inches above the basement floor. Though the furnace was at risk, the water did not rise high enough to cause damage.
The basement did not contain any stored materials, and damage was contained to the walls surrounding the fireplace in the building’s rear.The leak required the building’s water to be shut off, forcing the library to close until service could be restored.
Leo-Jameson said the plumber is expected to fix the broken pipe on Wednesday, March 11. She said the plumber’s arrival was delayed because the building’s walls, floors and carpet had to be assessed for damage, mold and asbestos.
“Much to the surprise of everybody, it was the original flooring to the building,” Leo-Jameson said. She said current reports indicate the damage was limited to the single burst pipe and the sheetrock adjacent to the burst.
“The force of the water burst through the sheetrock,” Leo-Jameson said.
The library continues to operate during its normal hours of operation from a temporary station in the annex. Patrons can check out requested books and make returns, and daytime programming is ongoing. Leo-Jameson said she was thankful to have the annex after the pipe burst.
“If you’re ever going to have a burst pipe in the library, this was pretty ideal,” Leo-Jameson said.
Millerton News
SALISBURY — Alfred Lyon Ivry, a long-time resident of Salisbury, and son of Belle (Malamud) and Morris Ivry, died in Bergen County, New Jersey, on Feb. 12 at the age of 91, surrounded by family members. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he was a graduate ofAbraham Lincoln High School and Brooklyn College, where he earned a B.A. in English literature and Philosophy and served as drama critic for the school paper.
Alfred earned a PhD in Medieval Jewish Philosophy from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts in 1963 and in 1971 was awarded a D. Phil in Medieval Islamic Philosophy from Oxford University, Linacre College.
He enjoyed a long career as a professor of Jewish and Islamic philosophy, with appointments at Cornell, Ohio State, Brandeis, and New York University. Alfred wrote more than one hundred scholarly articles and book reviews, and was the author or editor of nine books, including Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed: A Philosophical Guide, published in 2016.
Alfred and Joann, his wife of 67 years, moved to the Berkshire area in the early 1990s, splitting their time between the Twin Lakes and New York City until their respective retirements. After that, they lived in Salisbury full time, availing themselves of the region’s many cultural offerings. They relocated in late 2020 to Noble Horizons for two years before moving to New Jersey to be closer to their children.
In their many years together, Alfred and Joann traveled regularly, frequenting museums, national parks, and other destinations. Alfred was an avid reader of the newspaper, fiction, and poetry, and possessed both a sharp wit and an estimable sense of humor. Throughout his life, he enjoyed outdoor activities including swimming, camping, hiking, ice skating on Twin Lakes, and tennis. Like many Brooklyn boys of his era, he followed the Dodgers, but happily took his children to Red Sox games at Fenway Park and later his grandchildren to see the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.
In Salisbury, Alfred became a successful gentleman farmer, and embarked on canoe trips and fishing expeditions on Twin Lakes and beyond.He took up birding, among other hobbies, and with Joann developed and enjoyed the friendships he made in Salisbury and environs, and especially amongst members of the Great Barrington-based Berkshire Minyan, of which they were founding members.
Above all, Alfred was committed to the Jewish tradition and people, and to his family. He is survived by his wife, Joann (nee Saltzman);children, Rebecca and husband Clifford Stein, Jonathan, Sara, and Jessica, grandchildren; Molly and husband Josh Mark, Noah and wife Noa Shapiro, Ben Stein, Talia, Max, Isaiah, and Esther Ivry; great-grandchild, Aaron Mark; and colleagues and friends made throughout his life. He was predeceased by his sister, Grace.
Donations in Alfred’s memory may be made to the Berkshire Minyan and to the Yaakov Goboff Fund at the Yaakov Herzog Institute for Jewish Studies.
Millerton News
LAKEVILLE — Alice Gustafson (née Luchs), 106, of Lakeville, Connecticut, passed away on March 2, 2026. Born in Chicago on Dec. 15, 1919, Alice was raised between New York City, Florida and Lime Rock, where she graduated from Salisbury High School in 1937.
Alice’s career spanned roles at Conover-Mast Publications in New York City, The Lakeville Journal, the Interlaken Inn, and as a secretary to the past president of Smith College. In 1948, she married Herbert “Captain Gus” Gustafson at Trinity Church in Lime Rock.
A devoted community servant, Alice volunteered for twenty years at White Plains Hospital and for over thirty years at Sharon Hospital. She was a passionate supporter of the arts, notably through her involvement with Music Mountain and Crescendo Music Program. She was also an active member of the Salisbury Congregational Church, the Nichi Bei Fujinkai society, and served as a docent at Philipsburg Manor.
Alice is survived by her son, Gordon Gustafson, and his wife Christine, her daughter Elizabeth (DeeDee) Dohan, and her husband Andrew, her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Herbert.
Her celebration of life will take place on Saturday, June 6, at 11:00 a.m. at the Congregational Church of Salisbury.
While flowers are a lovely tribute, those who wish to further honor Alice’s memory may consider a contribution to Music Mountain, Crescendo, or the Congregational Church of Salisbury.
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