Episodes

  • Looking Back in Philipstown

    Looking Back in Philipstown
    Nov 23 2025

    250 Years Ago (November 1775)
    Gen. George Washington sent Henry Knox, his newly appointed chief of artillery, to New York City and Fort Ticonderoga to secure cannon, mortar, shells, lead and ammunition to continue a siege of British-occupied Boston. "The want of them is so great that no trouble or expense should be spared to obtain them," Washington said. Knox and his brother arrived in New York City on Nov. 25 and left three days later for Lake Champlain.
    150 Years Ago (November 1875)
    Johnny Mead broke his ankle while playing leapfrog with classmates from the Rock Street school.
    Tim Dunn nearly lost his ear when a chain slipped loose while he was loading filters aboard the schooner Norma at the foundry wharf.
    John Meisenbaher opened a Shaving and Hair Cutting Saloon.
    Hamilton Brown of Garden Street left home on a Friday morning, telling his wife he was headed to Glenham to look for work and would return on an afternoon train. Five days later, there was no sign of him. Investigators learned he had withdrawn all his funds from Fishkill Savings Bank, including a small sum in his 5-year-old son's name. (The Cold Spring Recorder reported that Brown returned home on the following Thursday, although it did not explain his absence.)
    William Warren, 14, employed by Mr. Ferris in the ice business, was sent home with the team and an empty wagon. On a nearby lane, he encountered the Cronk boys cutting down a tree. The Cronks said Warren told them: "Let 'er go, I can hold the horses," but William said the brothers let the tree fall just behind him, spooking the horses, who knocked a gate from its hinges and left him "demoralized."
    The Recorder suggested that, unlike in other parts of the state, and against the wishes of the "best class of our citizens," local police too often released suspects before trial for lack of evidence.
    Gen. Tom Thumb (aka Charles Stratton of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who was 3 feet, 4 inches tall), 37, and his wife, Lavinia Warren, appeared at Town Hall for two performances as part of a world tour. Tickets were 25 cents [$7.50]. The bill also included Minnie Warren and Major Newell, with songs, duets, dances, dialogues and comic acts and sketches. Stratton's small carriage and ponies were driven through the streets to draw attention to the shows. [P.T. Barnum "discovered" Stratton when he was 4 years old; he became a sensation in the 1840s after the showman taught him to sing and dance.]


    A Poughkeepsie man named Michael Mullen was arrested at Garrison's Landing on a Saturday night and accused of stealing a satchel from a fellow passenger on the 4 p.m. train. After Mullen had been held at the Town Hall jail for two days, the satchel owner said he couldn't identify him, and he was released.
    Thieves stole a beehive with 30 pounds of honey, valued at $25 [about $735 today], from outside the Nelsonville residence of Malcomb Evans.
    Mrs. Charles Cooney of Breakneck, after returning from a trip to Cold Spring, built a fire to boil water. The stovepipe, which extended through the floor above the kitchen, sent sparks into the woodwork and her modest home - worth about $100 [$3,000] - burned to the ground.
    Joseph Dore Jr., 6, was warming himself by resting his feet on a hot-water boiler when the lid tipped, scalding both feet.
    William Hustis lost 11 sheep overnight in the North Highlands to fatal injuries inflicted by wild dogs. David Hustis had earlier lost 17.
    Capt. Joshua Cronk was brought to his home on Fair Street after suffering partial paralysis on his left side while lying at anchor in Peekskill Bay to wait out a gale. The Recorder suggested that the cold and anxiety led to the attack.
    The same gale blew a 500-pound wagon in a semicircle around Thomas Jaycox's barn while spinning it around.
    The post office announced it would close at 10:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day.
    Village officials said the owner of a black lace veil could claim it at Town Hall.
    Thomas Reed completed a map of Putnam County from his own survey ...
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    13 mins
  • High Anxiety: First Responders

    High Anxiety: First Responders
    Nov 14 2025
    Everyone's brains seem to be on high alert in the digital age, although society has become more accepting of mental health struggles and treatment. In this, the second part of a series, we examine the challenges facing first responders.
    When Kevin Murphy leads monthly workouts at the Cold Spring firehouse on Main Street, he wants to help firefighters get in shape both physically and mentally.
    It's a goal the former Putnam County sheriff's deputy is passionate about since it wasn't long ago that Murphy was overweight and suicidal. Several times, he took out a bottle of pills and a gun and tried to summon the will to pull the trigger.
    "I didn't want to die," said Murphy, who leads health and wellness programs for Guardian Revival, the Beacon-based nonprofit that works to improve the mental health and well-being of police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and veterans. "But I wanted the pain to stop. And I figured that the quickest way for that to happen was to kill myself. The pain was intense. It was horrible."
    The cause was 22 years of responding to traumatic events as a police officer, first for Putnam County, then for the Carmel, Mahopac and Pleasantville departments.

    At most, the average person might witness two or three traumatic events in a lifetime. First responders like Murphy can see 500 or more automobile deaths, suicides, shootings, homicides and other horrors. And they often fail to safely process what they've seen.
    "I would just push that traumatic stuff down," said Murphy. "I would just push it down into that bag, and I would push it, push it, push it." His 6-foot-4 frame swelled to 300 pounds. He drank a lot. "It got to the point where I convinced myself that cheap whiskey tasted good because I could afford more of it," he said.
    Murphy's bag of repressed trauma started to come apart on the morning of Oct. 1, 2020, while responding to a home in Pleasantville. "It was on Elm Street," Murphy said. "So this was my - and other peoples' - nightmare at Elm Street."
    In the front yard, he found an older woman in a white nightgown screaming about her son. "She looked like a ghost," Murphy said.
    Inside, Murphy found the man in the dining room, dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. On the table was a police shield. He was a 26-year-old police officer.
    "I protected myself at the scene by putting myself really deep into work mode," Murphy said. With no sleep, he returned for his midnight shift. "None of my co-workers would have thought any less of me if I took that night off," Murphy said. "But I thought that they would. That's the pressure I put on myself. I completed my paperwork and continued on."
    His superiors offered counseling. But he refused because he didn't want to "look weak."
    Driving to work six months later, he started crying. "I just had this immense sadness," Murphy said. "It was everything that I was holding up inside. I didn't know that officer, but I didn't mourn his death, you know? I didn't ask for help or say, 'Help me figure this out. Why am I feeling this way?'"
    In February 2022, after several suicide attempts, he went to a therapist. "I finally asked for help," said Murphy, who no longer drinks and has lost 60 pounds.
    Murphy believes that without the therapy he would have killed himself. "I want people to know that they're not alone," he said. "Our guardians should know they can seek help and receive help and have a productive life and a successful career."
    Murphy's story is all too common. In a survey conducted by New York State last year, more than 50 percent of first responders reported symptoms of depression, compared to 20 percent in the general population. About 16 percent said they'd considered suicide in the past year, four times the number in the general population. Eighty percent felt there was a stigma against seeking help.

    To address what she called a mental health crisis, Gov. Kathy Hochul this year proposed a scholarship program to train counselors for first res...
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    10 mins
  • High Anxiety: Seniors

    High Anxiety: Seniors
    Nov 21 2025
    Everyone's brains seem to be on high alert in the digital age, although society has become more accepting of mental health struggles and treatment. In this, the third part of a series, we examine the challenges facing seniors.
    Tina is 94 years old and has attempted suicide twice this year.
    Once, she stuffed a plastic bag into her mouth. "I couldn't keep it in," said the Beacon resident. "If someone would have forced it on me, it would have worked. But I couldn't. I took it out."
    Another time, she took a scarf from her closet and tried to hang herself from a door in her apartment. But she slid to the floor.
    Her daughter called after seeing that attempt on a video monitor connected to her cell phone. "What are you doing?"
    "Resting," Tina responded.
    When asked if she was glad that her suicide attempts failed, she said, "Not really. I hated my life." Then she looked up at the ceiling and raised her hands like she was pleading. "Take me," she said. "I'm ready."
    Tina, who was willing to discuss her mental health struggles only if her real name was not used, is facing many of the typical health problems that come with aging.
    She and her husband, who is 91, used to enjoy driving to McDonald's in Fishkill for a meal before browsing at shops along Route 9. But a few years ago, her husband began showing signs of dementia, and her children insisted that she stop driving. "They said if there's an accident, we'll be responsible," she said.
    Dementia has taken a toll on her marriage of 50 years. "We hardly speak," she said. "Just little phrases like, 'Are you sleeping?' and 'You want to eat now?'" Her husband can no longer take out the garbage and is often puzzled by his electric razor.
    Tina has fallen several times. She traded in her cane for a rollator, a fancy walker with wheels, handbrakes and a seat.
    She was cheerful at a recent lunch. She enjoyed her food and seemed excited about her dessert, a chocolate bar. She was well-dressed, with nice jewelry. Her makeup and hair were impeccable. "I love to laugh," she said, adding that her life had improved recently with someone coming to her house to drive her and her husband to McDonald's.
    When it was suggested she seek help for her mental health, she said, "At this age, does it matter?"
    Tina's reaction is not unusual. According to federal government data, while people ages 65 and older comprise 17 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 22 percent of suicides, with men far exceeding women. One study estimates that a third of seniors worldwide experience symptoms of depression, although clinical depression is far less common. The key factors are well known: isolation, loss and physical infirmity.
    Dutchess and Putnam counties offer many resources to help older people with their mental health, including support groups and Friendship Centers where seniors meet, go shopping, have lunch and enjoy group activities.
    In 2023, Dutchess started a program called Friendly Calls, in which volunteers call seniors for conversation. This year, Putnam launched Putnam Pals, a program that pairs volunteers with seniors. "There's nothing better than seeing someone face to face," said Marlene Barrett, director of Putnam's Office for Senior Resources.
    Suicide Among Older People
    About 50,000 people kill themselves each year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those ages 85 and older have the highest rates, at 22.7 per 100,000, followed by those aged 75-84 and 35-44. The lowest rates were among those aged 65-74 and 15-24. Men ages 75 and older have the highest rates overall (42.2 per 100,000).
    A study in the Journal of Affective Disorders of adults ages 50 and older in five low- and middle-income countries found that older adults experiencing moderate food insecurity were 2.6 times more likely to attempt suicide, and older adults experiencing severe food insecurity were 5.2 times more likely.
    If you are facing mental-health challenges, call or text 988. Counselors are ...
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    12 mins
  • Guarding Evil

    Guarding Evil
    Nov 21 2025
    Father of Cold Spring resident sketched Nazis at Nuremberg
    Eighty years ago this week, on Nov. 20, 1945, trials began in Nuremberg, Germany, for nearly 200 Nazis charged with crimes against humanity, including the killing of an estimated six million Jewish, Roma, gay and disabled people during the Holocaust.
    The international military tribunal is the subject of a new film starring Russell Crowe, who portrays Hermann Göring, the second most powerful man in Germany during World War II, behind Adolf Hitler.
    For Cold Spring resident Cassandra Saulter, the courtroom drama that unfolded at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice is more personal. Her father was among the U.S. soldiers assigned to guard the 22 major defendants, and he got Göring.

    Howard Saulter grew up in Queens and joined the Army at age 19. A private first class, he fought in late 1944 in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium's Ardennes Forest. Germany surrendered the following spring, and that fall, Saulter was assigned to guard the accused in court and its adjacent prison.
    The guards worked every other day on a rotation of two hours on duty followed by four hours off. Initially, each man monitored three prisoners. But after Robert Ley, a labor leader who once received a gift of a million Reichsmarks from Hitler, committed suicide on Oct. 25, each guard was assigned to one prisoner.
    The trials riveted people around the world, but for the guards, it was tedious. Saulter began drawing the defendants in their cells out of boredom. Interviewed in 1946 by The New York Times, he said: "I hated the job. I decided to sketch a few of the prisoners in their cells, and it helped a lot."
    "He thought he might sell the drawings to raise money to attend the Art Students League," said his daughter.

    Göring may have been one of the most infamous of the Nazis on trial, but Howard Saulter remembered him as a model prisoner. "Göring was the most pleasant on the whole, the best behaved and the best sense of humor," he told his daughter. "Every day, when he returned to his cell after exercise, he'd say to me, 'Well, here we are home again.'"
    But when Saulter asked the German for his fine leather boots, saying, "You're not going to need them where you're going," Göring was not amused. "He usually had a sense of humor - that was the only time Göring blew up," said Cassandra. "Usually, they had interesting conversations."

    The walled court of justice building in Nuremberg on Oct. 26, 1945. (AP)

    A cell in the Nuremberg Prison, photographed in August 1945, before the first defendants arrived. (AP)

    The first day of the trial, on Nov. 20, 1945 (AP)

    Wilhelm Frick, left, eats lunch with Arthur Seyss-Inquart, from Army mess kits in the Palace of Justice on Nov. 29, 1945. (AP)

    Goring (left) eats stew from an Army mess tin at Nuremberg on Nov. 29, 1945. (AP)

    In this photo, the defendants are seated in front of the row of guards. (AP)
    Göring was convicted of war crimes but swallowed a cyanide pill the night before his scheduled execution. It was never clear how he got the poison, but Cassandra said her mother, Lillian, had a plausible hypothesis. "My father used to fall asleep, especially when bored - he had narcolepsy," Cassandra said. Her mother wondered if Göring's lawyer waited until Howard nodded off, then passed the pill to his client, possibly inside a pencil, and Göring hid it in the toilet.
    Saulter never sketched Göring, to his regret, but he did draw Baldur von Schirach (the former leader of the Hitler Youth and commandant in Vienna who was sentenced to 20 years), Franz von Papen (a former vice chancellor and ambassador who was acquitted but sentenced by a civilian court to eight years), Wilhelm Frick (the interior minister, who was hanged) and Arthur Seyss-Inquart (the commander of the occupied Netherlands, also hanged). Only von Papen realized he was being sketched. All four autographed their drawings. Saulter also sketched Albert Speer (the minister of armaments and war production, who w...
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    6 mins
  • Democrats Take Majority in Putnam Valley

    Democrats Take Majority in Putnam Valley
    Nov 19 2025
    Win supervisor, town board seats
    With mail-in votes counted, Democrats appear to have won the supervisor's seat and an open council member spot in Putnam Valley, giving their party control of the Town Board.
    An unofficial tally posted by the Putnam County Board of Elections shows Alison Jolicoeur defeating the incumbent Republican supervisor, Jacqueline Annabi, by 23 votes (1,477 to 1,454) for a two-year term.
    Another Democrat, C.J. Brooks, was leading a Republican incumbent, Stacey Tompkins, by 31 votes (1,536 to 1,505) for a two-year term on the Town Board. Christian Russo, an incumbent who ran as a Republican and Conservative, was re-elected to the other open seat with 1,550 votes.
    Jolicoeur and Brooks join Sherry Howard to give Democrats a 3-2 majority on the five-member board, which has four Republicans, when they take office in January.
    In other close races in Putnam County, Tommy Regan, the Republican candidate for the seat on the Legislature that represents Southeast, defeated Thomas Sprague, the Democratic candidate, by 31 votes of 2,388 cast. Regan will succeed Paul Jonke, a Republican who did not seek a fourth, 3-year term.
    The Board of Elections will certify the vote on Nov. 29.
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    2 mins
  • Pedestrian Tunnel Closed Until Dec. 1

    Pedestrian Tunnel Closed Until Dec. 1
    Nov 11 2025
    Cold Spring underpass being repaired
    The pedestrian tunnel under the Metro-North tracks in Cold Spring will be closed for repairs until at least Dec. 1, the village announced.
    Officials noted that pedestrians walking to and from Market Street can follow the Metro-North walkways flanking the tracks to reach the platforms and use the overpass staircase or elevators to cross the tracks.
    Alternatively, follow the sidewalk on the east side of Lunn Terrace to cross the bridge/overpass to Market Street; turn left to reach the Metro-North parking lot, or turn right to reach lower Main Street and the waterfront.
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    1 min
  • High Anxiety: Students

    High Anxiety: Students
    Nov 7 2025
    Everyone's brains seem to be on high alert in the digital age, although society has become more accepting of mental health struggles and treatment. In this, the first part of a series, we examine the challenges facing high school students.
    Kaitlyn Holder is a fitting choice to help anxious and depressed students at Beacon High School. Just a few years ago, she got so anxious attending her college classes that she would vomit on her way to the bus.
    Holder started this year as academic coordinator for Beacon High School's new Bridge for Resilient Youth in Transition (BRYT) program, which helps students transition back to school after extended absences due to mental health. Holder's job is to help those returning catch up on missed work.
    "I see myself in these students," said Holder, 25, who is often mistaken for a teenager. "In high school, I had a lot of anxiety around my performance. So much of my self-worth was tied to my grades."
    She graduated from Newburgh Free Academy in 2018 with all A's. But her anxiety worsened when she went to the University of Albany, moving away for the first time from her parents and her beloved pet kitty Shy. "Gradually, it just became harder to wake up on time and to get myself ready. I started missing classes because I was so anxious," she said.
    During the pandemic, Holder found it hard to leave her college apartment and wouldn't turn on her camera during online classes. "I actually lost credit in a lot of classes for not showing my face or speaking during the Zoom calls," she said.

    As a teen with autism and depression, social media made it worse. "A lot of my day was just spent sleeping. When I was awake, I was reading terrible news articles. The TikTok algorithm knows a lot. And if you are sad, and you're getting sad content on your page, and you're interacting with it, that's all going to bring you down. I only engaged in negativity online."
    Eventually some professors helped her find campus mental health resources, let her do more work at home and generally offered encouragement. "If I didn't have those teachers supporting me. I don't know if I would have graduated," said Holder, who finished on time with a 2.8 GPA in linguistics.
    While she still struggles with anxiety and depression, Holder has deleted TikTok from her phone and rarely goes on social media or watches the news. In January, she hopes to complete an online master's degree in special education from the University of Mount St. Vincent in the Bronx.
    She's telling her story because she wants her students to know they're not alone. "It's important for kids to know that teachers are human and we struggle," she said.
    Holder's is a challenge facing many young people in the Highlands and across the country: anxiety and depression worsened or created by social media.
    According to the National Survey of Children's Health, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, the prevalence of teen anxiety has increased 61 percent - from 10 to 16 percent - since 2016. Depression increased 45 percent - from 5.8 to 8.4 percent.
    To help, Highlands schools are increasing staffing and programs. At Haldane, the district in 2024 added a third school counselor and went from 1.5 school psychologists to two full-time. The district also has two social workers. Last year, a group of Haldane teachers and administrators read The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, by Jonathan Haidt.
    At the Garrison School, which goes through eighth grade, the district in recent years has begun teaching students about social and emotional intelligence in several ways, including the Yale RULER program, where students learn to Regulate, Understand, Label, Express and Regulate their emotions.
    Greg Stowell, the superintendent, said that issues of depression and anxiety are increasingly prevalent, even at the younger grade levels, and the district, now offers therapy to help some students learn to manage their emotions.
    Beacon Hi...
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    11 mins
  • Beacon Siblings Served Their Country

    Beacon Siblings Served Their Country
    Nov 7 2025
    Sisters, brother enlisted during Vietnam
    For Victoria Ryan, Veterans Day on Tuesday (Nov. 11) will once again evoke memories of the 35 years the Beacon native and her siblings, Deborah and Bill, collectively served in the U.S. Army.
    Bill joined first, in 1970, followed by Deborah in 1973. Victoria, at the urging of her mother, enlisted just a few months after her sister.
    Victoria remembers Bill as "laid back, easygoing, athletic and serious minded." At the height of the Vietnam War, he enlisted rather than waiting to be drafted. A field artillery surveyor, he reached the rank of specialist and served in Germany until being discharged in late 1973. He died in a car accident in 1978 at age 25.

    "Bill had enrolled at University of Tennessee; he wanted to take mechanical engineering," Victoria recalled.
    Deborah, prior to joining the military, had worked for three years as a model. In the Army, she became the first woman to serve as a military police officer (MP) at West Point, a distinction that earned her a profile in the New York Daily News. Deborah explained to the newspaper why she had enlisted: "We were at war and the men were fighting. Why shouldn't I?"
    In a 2025 newsletter published by Together We Served, an organization that helps veterans stay connected and chronicles their stories, Victoria told the group how proud she was of her sister. "She pursued a law enforcement career in the Army and was deeply serious about her duties," she said.

    Early in her posting to West Point, Deborah pulled an officer over for speeding, Victoria recalled. "Do you know who I am?" the officer asked arrogantly. Deborah responded: "Sir, please do not confuse your rank with my authority."
    Deborah served in the Army until 1990. Her career included stops in Europe and Korea, and she rose to the rank of warrant officer in the criminal investigation division. She died in 2016 at age 61.
    "Although she was four years younger than me, I always looked up to her in many ways," Victoria said. "She died a proud veteran."
    Deborah's daughter, Leslie Ann Martell, a West Point graduate, served in Afghanistan and now serves in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
    Victoria went on to earn the rank of staff sergeant and served in the Army until 1988. In the mid-1970s, she and Deborah were both posted at West Point, where they "had a lot of great times," said Victoria. "We played tennis, had lunch together and went to Army football games; Deborah loved those games."

    She also recalled happy get-togethers with Deborah, Bill and their parents at the family's Beacon home during that period.
    While stationed at West Point, Victoria worked in administration for the third regiment Corps of Cadets. Her career also took her to Hawaii, Holland and numerous posts across the mainland U.S.
    Like her sister, Victoria was not afraid to speak her mind. During a physical training program at Fort Myers, Virginia, she was appalled that early morning runs were conducted in Arlington National Cemetery. She protested up the chain of command, all the way to the sergeant major of the Army. To her "astonished relief," the runs ceased.
    "I felt shame, embarrassment and guilt for my part in disrespecting this revered and sacred cemetery," said Victoria. "I needed to take a stand."

    Her saddest military experience came during her final assignment in the Army casualty office. In 1986, a DC-8 bringing personnel stationed in Egypt home to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, crashed after taking off from Gander International Airport in Newfoundland, killing all 248 passengers and the eight crew members.
    Calling it "the worst peacetime military aircraft disaster in the history of the U.S. Army," Victoria said her office spent months identifying all the bodies. "We told our people out in the field where to go, who to speak to and exactly, word for word, what to say to the next of kin about their loved one passing away," she said.
    Now retired and living in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she is an active member of...
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    5 mins