Columbia County Police Report

The following information was provided by the police agencies. All suspects are considered innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

Marijuana possession

On Sunday, Oct. 9, at 12:25 a.m., Columbia County Deputy Sheriffs Brendan Filli and Jason Garvey arrested 18-year-old Hallie Evans of Bouerie Lane, Yorktown Heights, N.Y., following a traffic stop on Route 23 in the town of Hillsdale.  Evans was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana; operating a motor vehicle while ability impaired by alcohol; unsafe lane change; and failure to keep right.  Evans was scheduled to answer the charges in the Hillsdale Town Court.

DWI arrest

On Saturday, Nov. 5, at 3 a.m., Columbia County Deputy Sheriffs Jason Garvey and Cindy Madison arrested 24-year-old Adam Pothul of Limekiln Road of Sheffield, Mass., following a traffic stop on Route 23 in the town of Hillsdale.  

Following the investigation conducted by the deputy sheriffs, Pothul was charged with driving while intoxicated; operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content (BAC) level greater than .08 percent; and failure to keep right.

Pothul was issued tickets to answer the charges in the Hillsdale Town Court on  Wednesday, Nov. 16, at 6 p.m.

Order of protection violated

On Thursday, Nov. 10, at 3:50 p.m., Columbia County Deputy Sheriffs David Proper and Toby VanAlstyne arrested 47-year-old Kelly A. Mazzuchelli of Route 23 in Hillsdale and charged her with harassment in the second degree and criminal contempt in the second degree.

Mazzuchelli violated an order of protection by appearing at the residence of the protected person in the town of Copake and engaging in physical contact with the individual.

Mazzuchelli was arraigned and remanded to the county jail in lieu of $5,000 cash or bail bond. She will return to Copake Town Court Monday, Nov. 28, at 7 p.m. to answer the charges.

Latest News

Bunny Williams's 
‘Life in the Garden’
Rizzoli

In 1979, interior decorator Bunny Williams and her husband, antiques dealer John Rosselli, had a fateful meeting with a poorly cared for — in Williams’s words, “unspoiled” — 18th-century white clapboard home.

“I am not sure if I believe in destiny, but I do know that after years of looking for a house, my palms began to perspire when I turned onto a tree-lined driveway in a small New England village,” Williams wrote in her 2005 book, “An Affair with a House.” The Federal manor high on a hill, along with several later additions that included a converted carriage shed and an 1840-built barn, were constructed on what had been the homestead property of Falls Village’s Brewster family, descendants of Mayflower passenger William Brewster, an English Separatist and Protestant leader in Plymouth Colony.

Keep ReadingShow less
The Creators: Sitting down with Garet Wierdsma

Garet&Co dancers

Jennifer Almquist

On Saturday, March 9, the people of Norfolk, Connecticut, enjoyed a dance performance by northern Connecticut-based Garet&Co, in Battell Chapel, titled INTERIOR, consisting of four pieces: “Forgive Her, Hera,” “Something We Share,” “bodieshatewomen,” and “I kinda wish the apocalypse would just happen already.”

At the sold-out show in the round, the dancers, whose strength, grace and athleticism filled the hall with startling passion, wove their movements within the intimate space to the rhythms of contemporary music. Wierdsma choreographed each piece and curated the music. The track she created for “Something We Share” eerily contained vintage soundtracks from life guidance recordings for the perfect woman of the ‘50s. The effect, with three dancers in satin slips posing before imaginary mirrors, was feminist in its message and left the viewer full of vicarious angst.

Keep ReadingShow less
Kevin McEneaney, voice of The Millbrook Independent

Kevin McEneaney

Judith O’Hara Balfe

On meeting Kevin McEneaney, one is almost immediately aware of three things; he’s reserved, he’s highly intelligent and he has a good sense of humor.

McEneaney is the wit and wisdom behind The Millbrook Independent, a blog that evolved from the print version of that publication. It's a wealth of information about music venues in this part of Dutchess County interspersed with poetry, art reviews, articles on holidays and other items, and a smattering of science.

Keep ReadingShow less
Dealing with invasive species

Sam Schultz, terrestrial invasive species coordinator with PRISM, is holding a tool she calls a “best friend” in the battle against invasives: the hand grubber. She was one of the presenters at the Copake Grange for a talk about invasive species Saturday, March 2.

L. Tomaino

According to Sam Schultz, terrestrial invasive species coordinator with the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISM), one of the best ways to battle invasive species is with a hand tool called the hand grubber.

In her work in managing invasive species, she refers to it as a “best friend.” Schultz and Colleen Lutz, assistant biologist with the New York Natural Heritage Program, delivered a lecture on invasive species at the Copake Grange Saturday, March 2.

Keep ReadingShow less