COPAKE — Remembering the impact that “wilderness” speakers had on him when they visited his school as a child, local beekeeper John Jasmin explained why he chose to bring the world of bees to the Roeliff Jansen Community Library for a presentation on Friday, Aug. 6.
“As a [retired] teacher I know that’s what you’re supposed to do,” he said after the event. “I remember as a child we used to have a wilderness guy come to our school. He used to bring snakes and things… and he taught us not to be afraid of all those creatures. He would put them around our necks to break the fear.”
He continued, “I’m trying to promote honeybees for everybody to break that fear. You can not make pets out of honeybees, but you can accept them.”
That is precisely what Jasmin did in a big way when he started working with bees as a hobby about seven years ago. Three years later, he began to share the fruits of their collective labors through his Bash Bish Honey, named for the creek that supplies the bees with their water, and that he sells at the Copake-Hillsdale Farmers Market at the Roe Jan Park at 9140 Route 22, Hillsdale from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays till Nov. 20.
Friday’s library event was planned for last year but delayed by COVID-19 restrictions. It was his first, and enabled by his purchase of an “observation hive,” which allowed the children to see the hive components and watch the bees and their activities.
Jasmin noted that each hive, which can also be split to produce others as a new queen and her community are moved, provides between 80 and 150 pounds of honey each year. He said that although some bees do occasionally escape and produce “feral” hives, they have difficulty surviving without beekeepers. Those beekeepers protect the bees from Varroa Destructor Mites, which arrived from Europe and Asia in 1985 and “have devastated bee colonies in North America.”
Beyond providing his audience with as much honey as they liked, Children and Youth Services Associate Tia Maggio, who organized the program, said Jasmin shared a wealth of knowledge with her young patrons. He explained the different types of bees, the functions of the queen, male drones and female bees, and when and why bees do or do not sting.
For more information about this or other programs at the library, call 518-325-4101 or go to www.roejanlibrary.org.
The assertion by Tyler Graham — who says he wants to “Save Millerton” — that the Town of North East should not follow, or copy, the lighting code from the wealthy town of Southampton has no merit.
The members of the Zoning Review Committee have held nearly 100 meetings, according to Town Supervisor Chris Kennan, who notes that the new code is intended “to support business growth and expand housing opportunities — not transform Millerton into something unrecognizable.”
That sounds good to us. In the case of lighting, this hard-working group of our neighbors did extensive research, and relying on their expertise and knowledge, decided that, in the case of lighting, this was the best proposed language for our Town to adopt.
Of course villages and towns use each other’s language — there is nothing fishy about this. In fact, this is the job of the Zoning Review Committee. Let’s thank the members for doing such a thoughtful and thorough job.
Also, there will be ample opportunities for residents to be involved. Suggesting otherwise is counterproductive.
Ellen & Moshe Adler
Millerton
Congratulations to Quest grant recipients. Quest is a fund at BTCF started by the late Rhoda Lubalin, a longtime Amenia resident.
Per her wishes, Quest’s goal is to add cultural, artistic, scholastic enrichment opportunities and equipment for students that would not otherwise be available, given the limits of Webutuck’s annual budget.
Grant awards for 2026 were announced at the Webutuck School Board meeting on Monday.
Thus far, $144k has been awarded, over approximately 14 years, to teachers, and non- profits, including Cary Institute, North East Community Center and the Wassaic Project. This year, a Webutuck student was also granted an award!
Many thanks to all who submitted thoughtful grant requests on behalf of Webutuck students.
Vicki Doyle
Amenia Town Councilwoman
The following excerpts from The Millerton News were compiled by Kathleen Spahn and Rhiannon Leo-Jameson of the North East-Millerton Library.
Harold Denison of Boston Corners, noted etcher and illustrator, has the distinction of being the first to report seeing a robin in this section. Mr. Denison saw a robin, generally accepted as an official herald of spring, at his Boston Corners home Saturday morning.
The Taconic State Park Commission has requested $10,500,000 of the Federal PWA for continuation of the Eastern State Parkway, it was revealed last week at the Park Commission’s office in Poughkeepsie. It was disclosed further that Governor Lehman has incorporated in his annual budget message a special bill providing for the expenditure of $325,000 to be paid out of bond issue moneys to continue construction of the Parkway. With the possibility that funds will be forthcoming from both Federal and State sources, the opinion was expressed that perhaps sufficient money would be available to complete the project this year.
Paul T. Winslow, executive secretary of the Commission, in disclosing that the request had been submitted to FWA officials said that first of all the appropriation would provide sufficient funds to continue the road through Dutchess and Columbia Counties to the Albany-Pittsfield road. Other projects included in the request are an administration building and bath houses for the park area, a police station for the parkway, dredging in the Norrie State Park at Staatsburg in the construction of a basin for small river craft and a swimming pool at Norrie Park.
Because President Roosevelt was especially interested in the Parkway while Governor of New York and also because the project has already been started and requires only additional funds for its completion, Taconic Park Commission officials were optimistic that they would receive an allocation of the proposed huge public works appropriation.
Excavation for the new addition to the Shufelt Building was started Monday morning by Edward Hoffman who has been awarded the contract for the concrete work. Contracts for the balance of the construction work have not been let as yet. The addition is to be a one-story, wooden structure and will fill the corner of the Shufelt property at Main and John Streets.
TACONIC, Feb. 13 - Men employed by E. G. Woodward and Walter Angus are harvesting ice from the Channel. Thomas O’Hara, Sr., is also harvesting ice from the big lake. The ice is from twelve to fourteen inches thick.
Mrs. Carl Smith of Bailey’s Island, Me., is a guest of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Curtis at Grassland Farm.
Miss Mildred Pitcher, focal school teacher, is now boarding with Mr. and Mrs. Peter Wick.
Mr. and Mrs. Wilbert Hemmerly of Lakeville were guests of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Rebillard on Sunday.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles O’Hara and son have returned to their home here after spending several days with Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Parsons in Salisbury.
Mrs. Carrie Stubbs of Portland. Me., who has been a guest of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Curtis, has returned home.
Mr. and Mrs. William Kelsey of Amenia. N. Y., were recent guests of relatives in town.
A daughter, Madeline Louise, was born on Thursday morning to Mr. and Mrs. Pierre Thomen.
Webutuck Central School could stand to lose over 15 per cent of its State aid next year if the New York legislature approves budget cuts presently proposed by Governor Hugh Carey.
Webutuck District Principal Mike Rindsberg said at Monday’s School Board meeting that “at the moment the prospects are very dim” for State Aid for the 1976-1977 school year. “Unless some adjustment is made, we could lose well over $200,000,” said that Webutuck administrator.
School Board Member Mary Fortin asked school administrators if parents are aware of the proper behavior for children on school buses. She said that she knew cases of chronic misbehavior.
MILLERTON- On May 18, Deborah Barrett, an employee at The Lakeville Journal Co., will commence on a three-day, 60-mile walk from Leominster, Mass. to Boston in order to raise money and show support for breast cancer research.
After a close friend passed away from an illness last March, Ms. Barrett, a Copake Falls resident, felt compelled to find a way to express not only her grief, but also her desire to help decrease the occurrence of such untimely deaths. While surfing the Web, Ms. Barrett found information about the Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day Walks, and knew it was the right thing for her to do.
All the worldwide news is filled with horror stories about data centers cropping up everywhere, sucking up all available electricity and draining aquifers of critical fresh water. The problem with these data centers is that they require massive air conditioning, cooling, to keep operating. If cooling was not an issue, you could power the largest data center for 15% of what they currently use. Across America, data centers currently use about 6% of all electricity but they can quickly also gobble up 50-60% of all available water as well per location.
And here’s the problem: with advanced computing and the enormous data required to feed new AI systems, especially Quantum computing AI when it comes online, those demands on cooling will leap way past anything current electricity plants can provide.
The answer is space. Cold space with solar panels. Cooling solved and, if data centers or swarms of small data centers, are in sun-synchronous orbits, solar power becomes a solvable issue too. Okay, you ask, how many data centers as satellites, swarm or massive single satellites, will be needed and how far away will they be from the surface of Earth?
To give you an idea of the scope here, one company, SpaceX (who now own xAI who also control X) are one of six companies actively financing and planning such satellites in orbit. They recently filed to put 1,000,000 such satellites in an orbit between 312 miles and 1,250 miles up. Effectively that would be a belt of a million satellites visible day and night, ringing the Earth. Kiss your night sky goodbye. And remember, they are only one company of six companies with such plans, albeit that SpaceX is not a little more ambitious (and perhaps not totally serious about the quantity of an unproven tech swarm).
Now to be outdone, China has already begun in-space construction of a one squarekilometer (247 acres) huge solar array with a data center at the center. It’s a proof of concept for a new larger data center with a possible quantum computer at the center. That will make it the largest object in orbit, ever.
And the on-earth datacenters? What will become of them? Within 10 years they will probably be derelict, unused, employees fired. After taxpayers have paid for new power plants and costly power delivery infrastructure. Oh, and the water is used up, of course.
Peter Riva, a former resident of Amenia Union, New York, now lives in Gila, New Mexico.
Millerton's American Legion Post 178 on Route 44.
MILLERTON — The American Legion Auxiliary’s chili, chowder and soup cook-off is celebrating its 20th year.
The annual event is set for Sunday, Feb. 15, from noon to 4 p.m. at Millerton’s American Legion Post 178 on Route 44.
Adults pay $12 for entry and children cost $5. Chili and chowder cooks who are competing in the cook-off enter for free.
The top ranked chili and the top ranked chowder or soup will receive a cash prize. A people’s choice selection will also receive a cash prize.
The cook-off will also feature raffle tables and dessert auctions. And the Daytona 500 NASCAR race will provide entertainment at the event.
All proceeds from the event support auxiliary activities and veterans projects including overseas care packages and assistance to local veterans.
Questions may be directed to Zandra Boice at 518-325-9889 or Charlene Mayville at 845-877-3734.
