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.
Snow covered Route 44/22 near the Maplebrook School campus in Amenia at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 25.
Dutchess County officials issued a travel ban on all public roads from 5 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 25, to 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 26.
The National Weather Service issued a Winter Storm Warning for much of upstate New York on Friday. Forecasts call for between 10 and 20 inches of snow across northeast Dutchess County.
Road crews across the region told The News that they are feeling prepared.
Visits to North East, Amenia, Washington, Stanford and Pine Plains revealed the salt is in good supply and the equipment is in good working order ahead of the storm.
Stanford Highway Superintendent Jim Myers and his crew were strapping plows to a truck in the town garage on Friday morning, Jan. 23. He said the Stanford road crew was as prepared as it can be, echoing a common sentiment among crews in the region.
"You just got to stay on top of it," Myers said. "Keep going."
County Executive Sue Serino said in a post on FaceBook that all non-emergency and non-essential travel is forbidden until 5 p.m. Monday. Only emergency personnel, road crew members, employees deemed essential for facility operation and news media covering the storm are permitted to travel during the ban.
All others are required to stay home. Pine Plains Highway Superintendent Carl Baden said that's the safest course of action during the storm.
"Just stay home," he said. "We can make it a lot safer for you if you wait."
Mark Dedaj, 34, pleaded guilty in Dutchess County Court to first-degree manslaughter in connection with the 2021 death of his sister at a Millbrook residence.
MILLBROOK — A Millbrook man has pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in connection with the 2021 killing of his teenage sister inside their family home, Dutchess County District Attorney Anthony Parisi announced Thursday.
Mark Dedaj, 34, pleaded guilty in Dutchess County Court to a Class B felony, admitting that he caused the death of his 17-year-old sister, Maureen Nelson-Lanzi, by holding her face down into a pillow on a bed until she suffocated.
The incident occurred on Sept. 4, 2021, at their residence on Harts Village Road.
“This was a brutal and heartbreaking act of violence within a family,” Parisi said in a statement. “Our office made the deliberate decision to take action, because the loss of this victim’s life demanded accountability. This plea holds the defendant responsible for his actions, ensures a measure of justice, and spares the victim’s loved ones the pain of reliving this tragedy through a trial.”
Dedaj is scheduled to be sentenced on March 26, 2026. Under the terms of the plea agreement, he will receive 25 years in state prison followed by five years of post-release supervision.
Members of the North East Town Board discuss proposed zoning code revisions during a meeting at North East Town Hall in Millerton on Monday, Jan. 19.
MILLERTON — The North East Town Board on Monday, Jan. 19, adopted a series of detailed revisions to its proposed zoning code overhaul, incorporating feedback from county and local agencies as well as public comments.
Zoning Review Commission Chair Edie Greenwood and the town’s zoning consultant, Will Agresta, participated in the meeting as board members reviewed comments submitted by Dutchess County Planning, the North East Planning Board, the town’s Conservation Advisory Council, and residents who spoke or submitted written remarks during the initial public hearing on Jan. 8.
Board members addressed the comments line by line, approving changes that Greenwood described as largely technical in nature, including revisions to definitions that did not align with state regulations and clarifications intended to improve readability and consistency.
Greenwood said a red-line draft showing the approved changes alongside the original text will be prepared.
Among the more substantive revisions was the decision to impose an overall size cap on accessory dwelling units. The board voted to limit ADUs to a maximum of 1,200 square feet and specified that they must be accessed from an existing driveway on the property. Board members also discussed adding language to clarify how ownership through an LLC or trust would comply with the requirement that the property owner reside in the principal dwelling.
The board also approved allowing retail businesses and restaurants in the so-called Irondale District, a small commercial area encompassing seven parcels along Route 22 near Winchell Mountain Road and Irondale Road.
Other changes included:
– Replacing the term “farm” with “farm operation” for consistency with state law.
— Revising drive-through regulations to allow additional lanes for banks.
— Tying requirements for landscaped islands in parking lots to the size of the lot.
— Adding expiration dates for site plan approvals.
— Removing references to “cage-type poultry farms.”
— Requiring 10% of parking spaces in lots with 30 or more spaces to be “EV-ready,” meaning the necessary infrastructure must be installed, but not necessarily a charger itself.
— Standardizing safety and maintenance requirements across all parking regulations.
— Clarifying that parking structures may be built above or below grade.
— Allowing farm machinery sales and rentals.
Greenwood told The News she expects the red-line draft to be completed and submitted before the end of next week. The Town Board is set to continue the public hearing on the proposed zoning changes on Tuesday, Feb. 3, at 7 p.m. at North East Town Hall.
