The Rockland County Office for the Aging Outreach with Rose Memorial Library will take place on Thursday, August 18th from 11am to 1pm at the RHO Building, 5 Club House Lane in Stony Point.
(Pomona, New York) August 18, 2022 — Down To Earth Living will be hosting its first annual Bonsai Show and Extravaganza on Saturday, September 17 from 10 am to 5 pm. This is a free event and all are welcome to stop by and see beautiful examples of this ancient artform. Visitors are invited to enter their own Bonsai plants into the show regardless of their skill level or experience. Trees will be judged by renowned Bonsai artist Sergio Cuan who will give a critique and overview of why each tree won their award. There will also be hundreds of Bonsai trees available for purchase along with the appropriate pots, tools, soil, and other supplies. Cuan will also sign copies of Michael Hagedorn’s book that he illustrated.
First prize is a $300 Bonsai Shack gift certificate; second and third places will each win a $150 Bonsai shack gift certificate. Two other trees will win an award and there will be three awards in a novice category. Spectators will also have the opportunity to vote on their favorite tree for the People’s Choice Award.
Contestants are encouraged to moss their trees and clean their pots as well as display their tree on a stand with an accent. However, this is not mandatory and all trees are welcome and can be shown in the show. There are 20 spots left for trees to be judged. To register your tree, visit First Annual Bonsai Show; call John at (845) 304 -2183 or email at thebonsaishack845@gmail
Upcoming Event: On Saturday October 15, Down To Earth Living will host its second annual Bonsai swap meet from 10 to 4. This free event allows attendees to bring any Bonsai-related items such as trees, tools, pots and soil that they can trade with other Bonsai enthusiast.
This is an overnight paving project, expected to last 5 nights. DOT Crews will be on site around 8PM and paving is scheduled to start by 10pm and finish by 6AM. The schedule from the DOT is as follows:
Access will be maintained at all times, but delays are to be expected. Thank you for your cooperation during this process.
The Village of Nyack is planning to repave Main Street from Rte 9w to Franklin Street in the fall, contingent on a drainage improvement project completion.
To learn more about Nyack’s paving plans for 2022 click here.
(SPARKILL, N.Y. — Wednesday, August 17, 2022) St. Thomas Aquinas College (STAC) is proud to announce the addition of Women’s and Men’s Volleyball programs as their 21st and 22nd NCAA sports. The Spartans anticipate beginning the inaugural Women’s Volleyball season in Fall 2023, with the Men’s team beginning competition in Spring 2024.
“St. Thomas Aquinas College has a long and proven legacy of providing outstanding athletic opportunities for our student athletes, who excel both in the classroom – with an ECC-high 90% academic success graduation rate – and on the field,” said STAC President Ken Daly. “As highlighted in our strategic plan, we are passionately committed to the holistic development of our students and are proud to be adding these popular athletic offerings for our student athletes.”
With the introduction of these two new programs, St. Thomas Aquinas College leads the East Coast Conference (ECC) in NCAA sport programs. Along with 22 NCAA sports, the college sponsors club sports including Sprint Football (CSFL), Men’s Ice Hockey (MCHC), Esports, and Cheer and Dance, as well as multiple other club and intramural opportunities.
“The ECC is very excited about STAC’s announcement to add the sport of volleyball. The ECC has some of the best women’s volleyball programs in our region and adding STAC will be a major plus to our conference,” stated ECC Commissioner Dr. Robert Dranoff. “We are confident the volleyball program will build on the success of STAC’s other athletic programs.”
St. Thomas Aquinas College will immediately conduct a national search for head coaches to lead these programs. The STAC Women’s Volleyball team will compete in the Division II East Coast Conference while the men’s program will initially play an independent schedule as future conference affiliations are to be determined.
“We are thrilled to add both Men’s and Women’s Volleyball as we continue to expand our athletic offerings. These additions will strengthen our academic and athletic profile while creating new opportunities for our campus and community,” stated STAC Director of Athletics Nicole Ryan.
ROCKLAND, NY – Senator Elijah Reichlin-Melnick (D-Rockland/Westchester) and Assemblymember Amy Paulin (D-Westchester) visited Deerkill Day Camp in Suffern to discuss a new law they authored to help protect campers across New York State. Members of the New York State Camp Directors Association who advocated for the bill joined the legislators for the announcement about the bill (S3966B/A8136B) being signed into law.
The new law that Paulin and Reichlin-Melnick championed in their respective chambers requires all children’s camps in New York State, including unregistered camps which are often single-purpose camps like a soccer clinic or a band camp, to check whether employees are listed on state and national sex offender registries.
Assemblymember Amy Paulin said, “When parents send their children to summer camp, they want their children to have a fun and healthy experience, but foremost they need to know that they are in a safe environment. With this new legislation, all camps are now required to check their employees’ and volunteers’ backgrounds on both the state and national sex offender registries. I’ll continue to fight for common-sense laws such as this to protect children and give families peace-of-mind when sending their children to camp in New York State.”
Senator Elijah Reichlin-Melnick said, “This is a common-sense law. For too many years, parents would send their kids to camp assuming that the counselors had been required to go through a background check to make sure that they were not on the sex-offender registry. And yet until now, for thousands of kids in New York attending unregistered camps, that was not the case. I’m proud to have introduced and passed this bill in the Senate, and I will continue to fight for laws to protect the children of New York State.”
Assemblymember Ken Zebrowski said, “Parents must have confidence that every camp in NY state is conducting proper background checks for their employees. This bill closes a loophole that put countless kids at risk and I was proud to support Senator Reichlin-Melnick and Assemblywoman Paulin as they got this legislation passed and signed into law.”
Todd Rothman, Deerkill Day Camp Director & New York State Camp Directors Association Board Member said, “Summer camp holds a special place in the development of children. It provides them a unique opportunity outside of the traditional classroom setting to build self-esteem while gaining confidence and skills in a safe and supportive environment. But every long-standing director knows a camp is only as good as its staff. This important legislation is a critical step in ensuring that staff at all camps, registered and unregistered, are subject to background checks that will further provide parents with the confidence that their child will be in good hands each summer. We cannot thank Senator Reichlin-Melnick, Assemblymember Paulin and Governor Hochul enough for their efforts in ensuring that all campers in New York State are supported by qualified and capable staff.”
“Camps are formative, happy experiences for children, but above all they need to be safe,” said Jamie Sirkin, President, New York State Camp Directors Association. “We thank Assemblymember Amy Paulin and NYS Senator Elijah Reichlin-Melnick for their work in authoring and passing legislation which requires all camps in New York State to screen potential employees on the national and state sex offender registries – safeguarding the welfare of children. We applaud Governor Hochul for signing this critical piece of legislation into law, helping to further ensure that children at summer camps will be in a safe environment.”
Kyle A. Stewart, Executive Director, Alliance of New York State YMCAs remarked, “The health and safety of children is the number one priority of YMCAs across the Empire State. Summer camp experiences are an integral part of positive childhood development, which is the Y’s mission. We strive to promote and support all efforts that strengthen child protection provisions at both state and federal level. To that end, background clearances such as these are an important tool that encourages programs to achieve due diligence when hiring staff and choosing volunteers.”