Continuing a practice regimen during spring break at Webutuck’s athletic field on Monday, March 25, the combined girls’ softball team is preparing for its 2024 season. The newly combined team has gained three members from Millbrook High School this year.
AMENIA — Aligned with a growing trend toward schools combining sports programs to field viable teams, Webutuck High School has welcomed three players from Millbrook High School for the 2024 girls’ softball season, growing their team to 13.
Head coach Chris Osterman, now in his second season of coaching the girls’ softball team, was conducting an intensive practice session at Webutuck on Monday, March 25, despite the academic spring break; practice was scheduled throughout the school’s spring break to ensure that the team would be ready for the coming season.
Osterman has been coaching sports at Webutuck for 18 years of experience coaching sports at Webutuck.
Another team experiencing its first combined year is girls’ soccer, said Daniel Pietrafesa, a spokesperson for Webutuck Central School District. The boys’ football team has also joined forces with Millbrook’s team.
“It’s very beneficial, giving young athletes a chance to compete in the sport they love playing,” said Pietrafesa. “We’re all here to give the kids a chance to play.”
Overall, there are three combined teams participating in the spring sports season, Pietrafesa said. Those teams are track and field, softball and baseball.
“Millbrook brings a lot of talent,” said team member Grainne Williams, a Webutuck senior.
“I like to meet and have new people playing with me,” she added, predicting that her team will have a winning season. Williams praised the team’s potential as they are learning to work as a team and she spoke for her team that they have a good coach.
An experienced combined girls’ team soccer player (outside wing) in the fall sports roster, pitcher Madison Krueger of Millbrook, a junior, is no less enthusiastic about her softball team’s prospects this year.
Varsity softball opens its season on Wednesday, April 3 at Housatonic Valley Regional High School. The home opener and league opener will be against Dover on Wednesday, April 10.
The season will continue until mid-May.
Nathan Miller
Patrons and staff at The Lantern in Wassaic watch Spain play Argentina in the 2026 World Cup Final on Sunday, July 19. The bar has shown World Cup games throughout the worldwide soccer championship, drawing crowds throughout the competition to watch the games and enjoy a drink.
Patrons and staff at The Lantern in Wassaic watch Spain play Argentina in the 2026 World Cup Final on Sunday, July 19. The bar has shown World Cup games throughout the worldwide soccer championship, drawing crowds throughout the competition to watch the games and enjoy a drink.
Millerton News
COPAKE — A summer block party is set to take over Copake’s central hamlet on Saturday, July 25, promising music, dancing, food and a first-ever “bed race” in the community.
The Rock Around the Clock block party is set for Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m. near the Copake Memorial Clock on Main Street and stretching up to Taconic Street to the north.
Aloha Tacos and Hudson Valley Falafel food trucks will be there. The Methodist Church and Our Lady of Hope Church will be grilling burgers and dogs and the Clock Tower Pub & Grill will supply samosas.
Copake Wine Works, Clock Tower Pub & Grill and Corona d’Oro are set to serve drinks at the party. Nearby businesses including Copake General Store, Church Street Deli, and Dad’s Diner will be open.
DJ Prestige will be supplying music for the block party, with speakers set up on the front steps of the Copake General Store. A warm-up band named “Capr!” is set to get the party started before DJ Prestige starts his dance music set.
The first-ever Copake bed race will draw competitors to build and decorate a “bed” on wheels that teams then push down the racetrack in cutthroat competition.
The event is free to attend. Copake’s Main Street will be closed from Farm Road to the clocktower between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Graham Corrigan
Workers in Millerton prepare to lay asphalt on the new outdoor classroom's path on the Harlem Valley Rail Trail in Millerton.
MILLERTON — Visitors to the Harlem Valley Rail Trail will soon be able to learn about everything from Taconic geology to black bears without ever leaving the path, thanks to a new outdoor classroom taking shape just north of Main Street.
Built along a quarter-mile interpretive path branching off the Rail Trail, the classroom combines native landscaping with educational exhibits highlighting the natural and geological history of the Hudson Valley. The quarter mile is dotted with educational panels, some stretching six feet high.
The panels act as the classroom’s instructor. Each one provides a piece of environmental context specific to the Hudson Valley. The placard on tectonic plates, for instance, details how the Taconic Mountains were formed about 460 million years ago; they’re the result of a very slow collision between what is now North America and a series of volcanic isles.
By the end of the path, readers will have been educated on water ecology, plate tectonics, bears, pollinators, songbirds, beavers, skunks — and ticks. Four species of ticks call New York home—the iconic black-legged tick is joined by the American Dog Tick, the Lone Star Tick, and the Woodchuck Tick.
The classroom still needs some finishing touches. Fresh asphalt that surrounds the panels was laid this week, and large stones for sitting will be installed to provide a place to rest.
The impetus behind the project dates back more than a decade. North East Town Supervisor Chris Kennan and Harlem Valley Rail Trail Association chair Dick Hermans were on site at a soft opening on Tuesday, July 14 to welcome new visitors.
“I thought it would be really nice to have a world-class information area here,” Hermans said. “Not long ago, I found a piece of paper from the village, memorializing their support for this project in 2015.”
The opening coincided with Millerton’s 175th celebrations. It’s one of a number of planned upgrades for the trail, which runs from Wassaic to Copake in Columbia County, with plans to continue up to Chatham, just south of Albany. A bridge crossing Route 22 to connect Copake to Hillsdale is next up on the Rail Trail’s list of short-term projects.
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Christine Bates
Renovation work is underway at the historic 1790 house at 88-96 Hammertown Road which sold for $950,000 in March 2026. The 7.8 acre property also included a 1955 ranch, a garage with an apartment and a 1900 barn.
PINE PLAINS — Median sales prices for a single-family home in the Town of Pine Plains reached $520,000 for the year ending June 30.
The figure represents a 47% increase from last year’s median price calculated using sales between June 30, 2024, and June 30, 2025.
Prices are also 39% higher than the $375,000 median for the year between June 2023 and June 2024.
The number of annual sales on a 12-month rolling basis remained within its three-year range of 10 to 18 transactions. A total of 17 single-family homes sold during the 12 months ending June 30, 2026.
The previous year saw 12 sales during the period ending June 30, 2025, and there were 11 sales during the 12 months ending June 30, 2024.
The busiest 12-month period on record ended June 30, 2021, when 40 single-family homes sold during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic-era housing boom.
There are currently 19 single-family homes on the market. Six are listed for more than $1 million, while eight are priced below the current median sale price of $520,000.
Six parcels of land are listed for sale on the MLS, along with five commercial properties, including an event venue, a former car dealership and a converted church.
March 2026 Recorded Transfers
540 Hicks Road — 3 bedroom/2 bath home on 5.58 acres transferred to Michael Peci for $559,000.
3807 Route 199 — 3 bedroom/1 bath home transferred to Rick Rothvoss for $374,000.
88-96 Hammerton Road — 2 bedroom/2.5 bath home built in 1790 and a 3 bedroom/2.5 bath ranch on 7.75 acres transferred to Nicolas Arauz for $950,000.
2436 Route 83 — 16,800 square foot lumber yard on 10.84 acres transferred to Fifth Generation Partners LLC for $748,523.
May Recorded Transfers
22-28 Ryan Road — 3 bedroom/2 bath ranch transferred to Tana Pocock for $165,000.
June Recorded Transfers
30 Myrtle Ave. – 3 bedroom/2 bath home on .43 acres transferred to Zenda Snyder for $440,000.
23-25 Myrtle Ave. — 3 bedroom/2.5 bath home on .91 acres transferred to Aaron Louis Sperling for $835,000.
Mount Ross Road — 2.5 acres of vacant land transferred to 1485- 16E Fifth Avenue LLC for $120,000.
*Town of Pine Plains real estate transfers recorded between March 1, 2026 and June 30, 2026, provided by Dutchess County Office of Real Property. Transfers without consideration are not included. Current market listings from First Key MLS and market statistics from InfoSparks. Note that recorded transfers frequently lag sales by a number of days and include properties sold privately. Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Salesperson with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in Connecticut and New York.
Graham Corrigan & Nathan Miller
Fire crews douse the smoldering remains of an equipment shed at 357 Hunns Lake Road in Stanford after a fire and propane tank explosions destoryed the structure and farm machinery housed inside on Friday, July 17.
STANFORDVILLE — A fire destroyed a farm equipment shed in Stanford Friday, July 17.
Richie Ahlf, who lives at 357 Hunns Lake Road, was alerted to the blaze on his property when a landscaper working nearby noticed smoke and flames and ran into Ahlf's yard.
Ahlf reported the fire just before 1 p.m. The structure, an equipment shed that housed a tractor, a lawnmower and other farm machinery, was about 50 years old. The fire completely destroyed the shed and equipment stored inside, but caused no injuries.
"Nothing important, compared to a life," Ahlf said of the destruction. "Now I get to see how good my insurance is."
The fire had been brought under control by about 1:30 p.m. Fire crews continued to tamp out latent hot spots into the afternoon.
The mutual aid response drew fire crews from Stanford, Pine Plains, Ancram and North East.
A fire company official with the Stanford Fire Department said propane tanks exploded in the blaze, but was unsure if that was the cause of the fire or a secondary effect.
Nathan Miller
Ryan Courtien disappeared from his Waldo Road home in Wingdale on Sunday morning, July 12. Authorities concluded the search of the landscape surrounding his home after four days of scouring the woods at 4 p.m. Wednesday, July 15.
DOVER PLAINS — The search for former Dover Town Supervisor Ryan Courtien has concluded after four days of scouring the area surrounding his Wingdale home, but authorities say the investigation is ongoing.
New York State Police announced the end of the search for the 49-year-old Wingdale resident and current Dover Planning Board chair at roughly 4:45 p.m. Wednesday, July 15. Courtien disappeared from the yard in front of his Waldo Road home in Wingdale shortly after leaving the house at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, July 12, to work in his yard.
The State Police's Bureau of Criminal Investigation is continuing to investigate the disappearance and pursue additional leads, the statement said.
No further information is available at this time. State Police Public Information Officer Krystal Paolicelli was unavailable for comment immediately following the release's publication.
Courtien has been missing for four days. State Police conducted a search of the area surrounding his Wingdale home assisted by Dutchess County Sheriff's deputies, New York State Fire crews, New York State Forest Rangers and local volunteer fire departments from across northeast Dutchess County and western Connecticut.
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