2016 was a big year in national and world news, with the election being the biggest story. Many people feel the year was bleak. This year, our small corner of the country had its own ups and downs. Some stories made national headlines, while others are of utmost importance to local residents. Here, we offer a roundup of 2016’s biggest stories.

The election and its local effect

-Presidential

The presidential election was on everyone’s mind, no less here in the Upper Delaware Valley. Trump signs littered the landscape; you couldn’t travel a single road without seeing one, sometimes multiple in front of one house. As we all know, reality television star and real estate developer Donald Trump won the election. In Sullivan County, Trump received 14,626 votes and Democrat Hillary Clinton 10,983 votes. These results differed from the rest of New York; in the statewide race Clinton bested Trump by a margin of 60% to 35% of the vote. In Wayne County, Trump garnered about 15,000 votes and Clinton received about 6,000. In Pike County, Trump received about 16,000 votes while Clinton received about 9,000. However, in the entire country, Clinton won the popular vote by nearly three million.

-Congressional: Teachout vs. Faso

In Sullivan County, Democrat Zephyr Teachout ran against Republican lobbyist John Faso. Teachout is a law professor and activist who was endorsed by Bernie Sanders as well as other New York politicians. Her platform included a strong push for campaign finance reform. Her opponent, Faso, was supported by hedge-fund managers Paul Singer and Robert Mercer, who donated more than $1 million to a pro-Faso super PAC. Faso beat Teachout by about 25,000 votes out of a total of about 303,000 cast.

-New York Senate: Malick vs. Bonacic

Long-time New York Sen. John Bonacic (who has been in office since 1998) beat newcomer Pramilla Malick. An activist battling against the Minisink Compressor Station in Orange County, Mallick ran on a platform of environmental justice. Bonacic convincingly defeated Malick by a vote of about 63,000 to 39,000.

-PA Senate: McGinty vs. Toomey

Katie McGinty is a former state and federal environmental policy official. She served as an environmental advisor to Vice President Al Gore and President Bill Clinton. Later, she served as secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in the cabinet of Gov. Ed Rendell. She was endorsed by The New York Times. She lost to incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.

Millennium Pipeline compressor station in Eldred met with opposition

In the very beginning of the year, news broke that Millennium Pipeline Company bought about 80 acres of land from the Eldred Preserve. The land is adjacent to the Millennium Pipeline at Route 55 in the Town of Highland. A Millennium spokesperson said they intend to build a compressor station at the site similar to the one in Hancock. It will be the third new compressor station on the line after the ones at Hancock and Minisink that have stirred sharp controversy.

Indeed, backlash to the proposed Eldred pipeline quickly grew. A group formed to try and halt the project, called SCRAM (Sullivan County Residents Against Millennium). A post on its website (www.nyscram.org) says, “The compressor station presents a danger to the health, environment, and property values of all of us who live nearby. Highland and surrounding towns have already passed laws forbidding this type of facility, but without action from all of us, these laws will not be enough to stop it.”

The Town of Highland and neighboring towns of Tusten and Bethel have stated their opposition to the project. Millennium held an outreach meeting, but it was met with a large group of protestors. The Sullivan County Legislators supported the positions of these towns and asked Millennium to conduct a health study. The company agreed, and will pay for the health study, though there is some skepticism as to the impact of such a study on the progress of the project.

Commercial solar in the Delaware valley

It started as a small murmur and quickly grew to a roar as towns across Sullivan County considered, and promptly banned (for now), commercial solar farms (with the exception of Fremont, which, however, decided it would not give the company proposing a solar project there any tax breaks). The company at the forefront of this development, Delaware River Solar, has proposed projects in Callicoon, Cochecton and other towns. The towns of Delaware, Tusten and Cochecton passed a six-month moratorium as they figure out the logistics. Solar developers in general request tax exemptions, and Delaware, for instance, cited tax breaks as a reason for wanting to hold off on solar farms. Another point of contention is solar panels located in the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway. Many believe it would be unsightly for panels to be located there. If they were, the project would need to be approved by the Upper Delaware Council.

Honesdale police shortage stirs controversy

The saga of the Honesdale police department was brought up again and again this year at Honesdale Borough Council meetings. Central to the problems discussed is the critical understaffing of the borough’s police department, which has led to consequences including plows being unable to get through streets in a snowstorm due to illegally parked cars  and—along with the difficulty of recruiting volunteers—the closure of the town’s one homeless shelter. There was also an issue with scheduling officer duty rosters, which new mayor Melody Robinson had taken on.

Hawley woman facing life in prison for selling heroin

In a news story that went national, 21-year-old Brittany Ann Banscher of Hawley, PA was indicted for selling heroin to a person who then died of an overdose. She was charged under the new initiative “drug dealer liability” or “death by delivery,” which is aggressively targeting heroin trafficking in Pennsylvania. It’s one of a growing number of states that are using these laws to stringently punish drug dealers. Bannscher was charged with “knowingly and intentionally” possessing heroin with intent to distribute, “resulting in the death of another person.” She faces up to life in prison and $1,000 in fines, and separately is facing more charges of possession with intent to distribute, which would carry another maximum of 20 years. “This case was brought as part of a district-wide initiative to combat the nationwide epidemic regarding the use and distribution of heroin,” U.S. Justice Department officials said. On December 19, she pleaded guilty to the charges.

Cuomo rafts Upper Delaware

Gov. Andrew Cuomo paid the Delaware River a visit this summer. The Upper Delaware Council and National Park Service joined the governor and others on the rafting trip from the Roebling Bridge to Lander’s Minisink Base in the Town of Highland. The event was part of Cuomo’s first-ever Catskills Summer Challenge, which included boating, biking, hiking, fly fishing, motorcycle touring, resort games, sporting competitions, and visits to tourist attractions in Delaware, Sullivan, Ulster and Greene counties. The objective was to highlight the diverse recreational opportunities available in the Catskills that are important drivers of the state and regional tourism economy.

Sam Yasgur passes

Sam Yasgur, the former Sullivan County attorney who left the post in January, passed away on June 23, after a long battle with cancer. He was 74 years old. Aside from being the Sullivan County attorney for 10 years, Sam was also a district attorney in Manhattan for 27 years and served as attorney for Westchester County.

Sam was the son of Max Yasgur, who owned the farm that was host to the 1969 Woodstock Festival in the Town of Bethel, which drew an estimated audience of 500,000 and came to define a generation. Sam wrote a book about his father called “Max B. Yasgur: The Woodstock Festival’s Famous Farmer,” and self-published the work in 2009.

Power plant for Beach Lake

Some residents of Berlin Township thought it might be a good idea if the township considered a zoning plan. That thought cropped up in the wake of news that IMG Midstream, parent company of Stourbridge Energy LLC, plans to build a 20-megawatt natural-gas driven electricity-generating power plant in Beach Lake. Without zoning, local officials are limited in the conditions they might want to impose on such an operation.

Sullivan County Jail

After being in the discussion phase for the better part of 30 years, the new Sullivan County Jail is finally under construction. The newly-seated legislature earlier in the year unanimously voted to move forward with the jail, to be located just outside Monticello at an estimated cost of about $85 million. That also prompted the legislature to adopt a budget that goes beyond the Albany-mandated 2% property tax increase, and the final budget came with a 4.77% increase.

Voter fraud charged in Bloomingburg

Early in the year, the Sullivan County Legislature voted to settle a discrimination lawsuit brought by developer Shalom Lamm and Hasidic voters who had been declared ineligible to vote by the board of elections. The settlement included provisions that made it nearly impossible to challenge any voter in Bloomingburg. Toward the end of the year, on December 15, Lamm and two of his associates were indicted on charges of voter fraud. They allegedly paid people to help them elect officials who had a favorable view of Lamm’s development, Villages at Chestnut Ridge, which has been marketed to members of the Hasidic community.

Charges of corruption at the CPV power plant

The Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) power plant in Wawayanda was at the center of a scandal as Joseph Percoco, a former top aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, was charged with seeking bribes from the company in exchange for helping the company through the permitting process.

A former executive with the company, Peter Kelly Jr., was accused of giving Percoco $287,000 in bribes. The company is also accused of giving Percoco’s wife a $90,000-a-year low-show job.

Cuomo cut ties with the energy company, which has now filed a lawsuit to force the New York Department of Environmental Conservation to issue the final permits needed for it to operate.

Welcome! A banner year for new business

Here are a few of the businesses that opened up in the Upper Delaware River Valley in 2016:

Black & Brass, Honesdale

Café Adella Dori, Callicoon

DENiZEN, Barryville

Foundry42, Port Jervis

Hurleyville Maker’s Lab and Arts Centre, Hurleyville

Lazy Fox New York, Callicoon

Narrowsburg Union, Narrowsburg

Nine River Road, Callicoon

The Art Factory, White Mills

The Lake House, Highland Lake

The Laundrette, Narrowsburg

The Velvet Maple, Honesdale

The Western Hotel, Callicoon

[Did you open a new business this year? Let us know! Email Isabel@riverreporter.com or call 845/252-7414, ext. 30]