WASSAIC — While visitors are regularly welcomed to enjoy the artistic hamlet of Wassaic, the recent sudden appearance of a homeless person who came and stayed, upset the sense of calm.
A series of local break-ins brought state and county law enforcement to investigate, eventually resulting in an arrest and arraignment of Isaiah Garcia.
First reports came on Tuesday, July 23 of a disruptive person at the Wassaic Project creating a nuisance by smoking on premises and refusing to depart. The Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office responded to that call and resolved the incident with no charges being filed.
On Sunday, July 28, there was a report of a minor burglary at a private home, with surveillance camera footage showing a dark figure carrying an axe taken from a nearby property, and also on Sunday, July 28, a break-in at Calsi’s General Store for which the State Police answered the call and completed an arrest.
Arraignment occurred at Amenia Town Hall with a trial date set for Monday, Aug. 19. The person was released, all in accordance with existing law, and he returned to Wassaic. He has not been seen since July 28.
Reports and rumors flew freely throughout the area, live and on social media, demonstrating residents’ fears for safety within their community and on behalf of their children, in particular. Two lines of thinking emerged. The first would try to help the “stranger” as biblical teachings repeatedly recommend; the other called for more decisive action that would remove the perceived threat.
About 70 people came to the Wassaic fire station for Kirk Imperati’s visit Friday, Aug. 2. Photo by Nathan Miller
To clarify the issue and explain the role of law enforcement, a hamlet-wide meeting was convened at the Wassaic Firehouse on Friday, Aug. 2, inviting County Sheriff Kirk Imperati to speak, along with other county officials. More than 70 residents attended the session, organized by the Amenia Town Republican Committee.
Listening to residents’ safety concerns, Imperati advised that anyone who sees anything or anyone and is at all concerned, should call 911 to have an officer dispatched to the scene. Either his office or the state police will come right away, he said. Imperati also recommended “block watches” as a valuable exercise while emphasizing that no unilateral action should be attempted by residents for everyone’s protection.
The officers are trained in speaking with the person and determining risk.
Under current terminology, Imperati explained, the unhoused person is described as “a person in crisis.”
“We are held to a higher standard,” Imperati said, since the 2020 police reform and modernization measures were implemented by the State of New York. “We’ve been asked to do more with less in recent history,” he added, feeling that bail reform has hindered the ability of police to bring people into custody.
Imperati was elected to his office in 2022, having served the Sheriff’s Department over 23 years. He began serving as Sheriff in 2023.
“My job is to help everyone,” Imperati said, reporting that his office responds to 60,000 to 70,000 complaints each year, with 75% being for mental health issues. Closure of state and county mental health facilities throughout the area has meant that law enforcement has needed to take on the responsibility. Imperati said that his office has now hired a mental health professional, and he would like to be able to hire more.
“We need more facilities and services to get these persons the help they need,” Imperati said. Under current law, however, he added, a person needs to recognize his own need for mental help and then request it to get it.
The unhoused visitor is described by many who have encountered him as unwell, but not confrontational or uncooperative. During his court appearance, he gave a home address in San Antonio, Texas, indicating that he had come east to New Jersey to live with a friend, but that did not work out, so he came north to New York City, and then farther north to Wassaic.
“A person like that is at risk,” said Sharon Kroeger, owner of Calsi’s General Store. “We are all victims,” she added, concerned for the welfare of the visitor as well as residents.
“A system allowing for ‘preventive detention’ would benefit everyone,” Kroeger said.
Taken from her General Store, Kroeger said, was a violin and a package of dried white mulberries, only grown in Turkey. The violin was recovered from a nearby unlocked parked car.
Residents at the meeting asked what might be done to secure a few vacant local residences that might prove attractive to homeless people.
State Representative Anil Beephan (R-105), who attended the meeting, spoke of the state having removed mental health facilities from Dutchess County and said that he is advocating for more local control.
Other residents have commented on an apparent lack of an organized local team of qualified professionals who could coordinate a response to similar situations as they might occur. Help has been offered by individuals and organizations, but there has been no coordinated system to implement it.
Dutchess County Emergency Medical Services Commissioner William Beale addresses the County Legislature's Public Safety Committee during a meeting in Poughkeepsie on Wednesday, March 4.
In North East, ambulances reached Priority 1 calls within the nine-minute benchmark only half of the time, while in Amenia the rate dropped to 33%.
County-wide, ambulances reached those life-threatening calls within nine minutes 69% of the time.
In Pine Plains, ambulances took an average of nearly 13 minutes to arrive, and only 29% of critical calls were reached within nine minutes.
The response time data includes both municipal ambulance services that towns contract for — such as North East’s current contract with Empress, which will climb from $511,558 to $696,345 this year, a 36.1% increase — and the county’s supplemental EMS program, which adds ambulances, fly cars and technology to fill gaps in coverage.
But the data suggests rural communities in northeastern Dutchess received little direct support from those supplemental services. North East received just one supplemental EMS dispatch during the entire year, while Pine Plains and Milan each received 13, Amenia received eight, and Stanford and Millbrook each received fewer than 10.
Local legislators and municipal leaders say the numbers highlight an urgent need for short-term collaboration while the county develops a broader, long-term plan to address the region’s EMS challenges.
While the countywide average response time for life-threatening calls is just over eight minutes from dispatch to arrival, northeastern Dutchess towns see significantly longer waits.
The data comes on the heels of last year’s announcement that Empress Emergency Medical Services would absorb Northern Dutchess Paramedics, a move that further consolidates ambulance services in the area under a private provider backed by private equity. Empress EMS is owned by PatientCare EMS, a portfolio company of Grant Avenue Capital LLC, a healthcare-focused private equity firm.
Dutchess County Legislator Eric Alexander (D-25), who chairs the Public Safety Committee, and Vice Chair Chris Drago (D-19) invited Dutchess County Commissioner of the Department of Emergency Response (DER) William H. Beale to speak at last week’s Public Safety Committee meeting.
“We’re increasingly dependent on one provider of EMS,” Alexander said, addressing Commissioner Beale. He shared his concerns that the purchase of NDP by Empress is bordering on a monopoly.
Chris Drago — who represents the towns of North East, Pine Plains, Milan, Red Hook and Clinton — speaks about the struggle to afford quality emergency medical service in the rural area he represents during a meeting of the Dutchess County Legislature's Public Safety Committee on Wednesday, March 4.Photo by Aly Morrissey
“They see the growth of the market, an aging population, and I think they also see the opportunity to demand premium pricing and to defend it over the long term,” he said, adding that he doesn’t believe private companies think counties or towns will push back.
“The service is quickly growing beyond what is affordable,” Alexander added, pointing specifically to the Town of North East, which is expected to pay around $700,000 next year for its existing contract with Empress — one that was transferred from NDP.
Alexander and Drago asked Beale to address the state of EMS in the county and what the $4 million supplemental services program has achieved after two years.
Beale, who was appointed in August 2025, outlined his department’s efforts to date and shared next steps, acknowledging that residents in the northeastern parts of the county have seen limited support from supplemental services.
“It’s a multipronged approach,” Beale said of the county’s current efforts to improve EMS countywide. He said the Department of Emergency Response has expanded regional collaboration meetings with town officials and first responders, while also working to continue tracking and transparently sharing data across the county.
Beale pointed to workforce development efforts aimed at addressing a shortage of emergency responders, including initiatives to streamline EMT and paramedic certification.
The next step, he said, is preparing for a comprehensive countywide EMS plan now required by the state. Under legislation passed by Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this year, counties must develop detailed EMS plans, while municipalities will also be expected to evaluate and plan for their own emergency response plans.
In an email to local municipal leaders, Town of Milan Supervisor Bill Jeffway said the region “needs to address immediate, short-term EMS needs as we all work with the County and State on longer-term solutions.”
Jeffway said an ad-hoc committee, advised by Dutchess County Legislator Chris Drago, was formed to support EMS services. The group will host a region-wide meeting to brainstorm ways small towns and villages can collaborate on short-term solutions.
The purpose of the meeting will be to hear from Jonathan Washko, Assistant Vice President Emergency Medical Services for Northwell Health — a company that some local leaders are hopeful could serve as a stop-gap option in the region. Washko, considered to be a leading industry expert, is expected to share what Northwell can offer locally.
Commissioner Beale said he and his team have met with Northwell Health recently and he is hopeful that Northwell’s ambulances and EMTs can be onboarded into the county’s existing dispatch.
“If they have units available in northern Dutchess County at Northern Dutchess Hospital, or if they have units available at Sharon Hospital, they could potentially serve northeastern Dutchess County,” Beale said. “It may take some time, but we will be moving forward on developing that plan very quickly.”
Beale also said that Northwell Health does not contract with specific municipalities, which could be a welcome change from other private companies like Empress.
Legislator Drago said he is advocating for a pilot program in northern Dutchess County and will be attending the upcoming meeting with local municipal leaders.
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.
“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.
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