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Susan Jackowski Orange County New York

Exciting Things to Do in Orange County for Spring

Chocolate, Wine and Music Festival
Saturday, April 4 10 a.m-5 p.m.
Hudson Valley chocolatiers, wineries and musicians, recipes by local chefs, samples, tastings, gifts, plus the Easter Bunny.  
$5 adults, free kids 12 and under
John S. Burke Catholic High School, Fletcher Street in Goshen

Turkish Educational Maps Exhibit
Tuesday-Sunday through April 30
10 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday - Saturday, noon -4 p.m. Sunday
On display are elaborate, early maps drawn by Turkish cartographers, including a medieval map of Asia showing the Great Wall of China, a map of Europe with crudely drawn Vikings in Scandinavia, a map of the Holy Land with primitive painting of the Crucifixion and more.
The Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, 84 Broadway, Newburgh
569-4997 or www.karpeles.com

Adult Workshop Series:  Reducing Energy Consumption
7-8:30 p.m. Thursdays, April 2, 16, 30
This workshop will be guided by environmentalists, who will follow the book "Low Carbon Diet" by David Gershon.  The book will be available for purchase.
Outdoor Discovery Center at Hudson Highlands Nature Museum, Cornwall.  Free
534-5506 Ext. 204 or www.hhnaturemuseum.org

Idols in Concert
8 p.m., Saturday, April 18
Four of the Top 10 finalists from Seasons 1-6 will give solo, duet, and ensemble performances of the songs they belted out on the hit Fox show.  Performers may include Ace Young, Constantine Maroulis and Anthony Federov.  
Eisenhower Hall Theatre, West Point.
938-4159 or www.ikehall.com

Cinderella
3 p.m., Sunday, April 19
The timeless Prokofiev classic performed by the Russian National Ballet Theatre, and showcasing stars from the Bolshoi and Kirov ballets.
$42 adults, $31.50 kids age 18 and under
Lycian Centre, Sugar Loaf
469-2287 or www.lyciancentre.com

River to River Art Walk
Noon-dusk, Saturday, April 25, May 30
Enjoy music, cinema and art events along Newburgh's waterfront promenade featuring drawings, paintings and photography by local artists.
561-9374 or www.newburgharts.com

Children's Gardening Class
10-11:30 a.m., Saturday, May 2
Children ages 8-12 will learn gardening techniques taught by Carol Hausler.  Registration necessary.  Kosuga Center at Orange County Arboretum, Thomas Bull Memorial Park, Montgomery.
615-3824

Lycian Centre Film Series:  Orange County Connections
Friday, May 8
Find out about the incredible impact Orange County writers, directors and actors have had on the film industry.
Lycian Centre, Sugar Loaf
469-2285 or www.lyciancentre.com

Walk MS:  Walk to Create a World Free of MS
Sunday, May 17
Starting time TBA.  Come join in the fight to find a cure.  Form a team or join one to raise funds and awareness.  
Goshen Historic Track, Goshen
294-5333 or www.goshenhistorictrack.com








Happenings in Pine Bush

Town Government:

Come meet the people in the Town of Crawford's Government Center: I have heard from Charlie Carnes, Supervisor and Kelly Eskew, Town Clerk that the Town will be holding an Open House on Thursday March 19th from 8:30 a.m.- 7:30 p.m. and Friday March 20th from 8:30 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.

All departments will be open for you to come in and meet your department heads and their staff the are encourging all the residents to come out; light refreshments will be served. If you have any questions please feel free to call 744-5010 or 744-2029.

School:

Pine Bush School Board of Education meeting will be on Tuesday, March 24th at 7:30pm at the Pine Bush High School. The topic will be the Final Decision making and establishing the budget for 2009-2010.

Library:

Pine Bush Public Library is always looking for volunteers. Their activities help support the library's goals. Meeting time s on the second Thursday of each month at 2pm. Our next planned event is the Easter Bake Sale to be held on Good Friday, April 10th. Other events included the Spring Fliing on Saturday, June 6th 7-11pm tickets will be available in May. Don't forget about the annual town wide yard sale for May 23rd.

Meals on Wheels, Pine Bush:

We are in need of home delivery people to deliver meals to the sneiors of the Pine Bush area. If you can spare an 1 ½ hour once or twice a month please call Anna at 615-3700

Happenings Around Pine Bush

Town Government:

Come meet the people in the Town of Crawford's Government Center: I have heard from Charlie Carnes, Supervisor and Kelly Eskew, Town Clerk that the Town will be holding an Open House on Thursday March 19th from 8:30 a.m.- 7:30 p.m. and Friday March 20th from 8:30 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.

All departments will be open for you to come in and meet your department heads and their staff the are encourging all the residents to come out; light refreshments will be served. If you have any questions please feel free to call 744-5010 or 744-2029.

School:

Pine Bush School Board of Education meeting will be on Tuesday, March 24th at 7:30pm at the Pine Bush High School. The topic will be the Final Decision making and establishing the budget for 2009-2010.

Library:

Pine Bush Public Library is always looking for volunteers. Their activities help support the library's goals. Meeting time s on the second Thursday of each month at 2pm. Our next planned event is the Easter Bake Sale to be held on Good Friday, April 10th. Other events included the Spring Fliing on Saturday, June 6th 7-11pm tickets will be available in May. Don't forget about the annual town wide yard sale for May 23rd.

Meals on Wheels, Pine Bush:

We are in need of home delivery people to deliver meals to the sneiors of the Pine Bush area. If you can spare an 1 ½ hour once or twice a month please call Anna at 615-3700

Community organizations in needof your volunteer help.

Community organizations in need of volunteers if you're looking to join in and help out in your community here are some.

The Walden Rotary which encompasses Pine Bush, Walden, Wallkill, Maybrook and Montgomery will be conducting Operation Clean Sweep on Saturday, march 28th. The goal is to pick up roadside trash along the streets within all of these communities. Walden Rotary is reaching out to the clubs, organizations churches and the community to work with us on that day in picking up roadside trash. Orange bags will be supplied along with street assignments in the parking lot in front of the Pine Bush Government Center on Rt 302 from 8-12pm on the morning of March 28.

Office of the Aging is in need for Home delivery people to deliver meals in the Pine Bush area. If you are interested in volunteering call Anna at 615-3700. It only takes 1-1-½ hours of your time, it will be worth it to you. The satisfaction you will get is unbelievable.

Pine Bush area Garden Club will meet on March 18th 6:30pm at the Crawford Town Hall on Rt. 302. The topic of the meeting will be "Pruning of Trees" The installation of new officers will also take place. Any new members wishing to join are welcome to attend.

Senior Citizen taken advantage of....shame on you!

I am in a situation where I am trying to help one of our local senior citizens here in Pine Bush, New York.  She has owned and lived in her home for over 50 years now, and recently, she re-mortgaged it because she needed extra income.  She is 85 years old living on Social Security and was not able to get by.  She got a referral from a friend and dealt with a mortgage broker and took out what seemed like a reverse mortgage.  

Without giving all of the details, she received checks for a period of time and was making monthly payments to a Bank, but then the checks stopped.  Recently, she started receiving notices that she was in jeopardy of losing her home if she could not continue to make the monthly payments.  Because she only received a very small portion of the money that she was supposed to get as a result of the mortgage, she is back in the same situation. She went to see an attorney and he was really not able to help her.  

It is very sad to see a senior citizen (or anyone else) taken advantage of this way.  We were able to get a copy of the mortgage and the other documents that were recorded in the County Clerk's office, and, as the attorney pointed out, they appear to be legitimate.  However, she has received hardly any of the money!  We are encouraging her to contact the press so that they can maybe do some further investigation and bring this into the light.  She cannot afford to pay an attorney so we thought that getting the press involved would be a good alternative.  

She has so much pride and does not want to speak out "at her age".  She just wants to "be quiet".   We need to encourage our Senior Citizens not to feel embarrassed and afraid to speak out or to ask for help.  There are people that can help that will not take advantage.  Please, do not be afraid to ask for advice. We hope that we will be able to sell her house for enough money so that she can pay off her mortgage and move on with her life, which is what she wants to do.