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Mohican

Hudson Valley place-names pronounced WAY differently than you’d expect

It’s easy to pinpoint newcomers and visitors in the Hudson Valley by how terribly they mispronounce its towns.

Out-of-towners shouldn’t necessarily be blamed for this, as the region’s place-names are a series of English, Dutch, Lenape and Mohican terms mashed together over the centuries until they formed words pronounced far differently than they are spelled.

For instance, the first time this reporter entered the town of Copake in Columbia County, he attempted to pronounce it “CO-pak-ee,” thinking he was being smart by splitting the second syllable under the assumption the word looked Native American. Though I wasn’t totally off — the name is derived from the Mohican word for snake — achkook — and paug — pond — what came out of my mouth sounded more like a brand of tempura flakes than a town in Columbia County.

Let this guide help you to not make similar mistakes. We’ve talked to historians and other locals about the origins of different place-names in the Hudson Valley and Catskills, and how they’ve evolved to be pronounced the way they are today.

Accord (ACK-ord ), Ulster County 

Tucked behind the western slope of the Shawangunk Ridge along the Rondout Creek in central Ulster County, this hamlet’s name is pronounced with the first syllable heavily stressed, distinguishing it from the noun meaning “treaty.”

The location was originally known by early American residents as “Port Jackson,” according to D&H Canal Museum Deputy Director of Collections Bill Merchant.

In the 1820s, the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company constructed a water route from Honesdale, Pa., to Kingston to transport coal to the Hudson River….

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Mohegan

Concert Connection: Celebrate the holidays with Kenny G at the Palace

Musician Kenny G is set to perform Dec. 16 at the Palace Theater in downtown Waterbury. With global sales totaling more than 75 million, Grammy and American Music Award winner Kenny G is the biggest-selling instrumental musician of all time.

To add to his accolades, Kenny G has both the best selling instrumental album of all time with “Breathless” and the best-selling Christmas album of all time with “Miracles”. Never one to rest idle, Kenny G continues to tour all over the world to adoring fans of all demographics.

Come see Kenny G perform holiday classics at the Palace Theater, as part of his “The Miracles Holiday & Hits” tour. For tickets or more information, call the box office at 203-346-2000 or go to palacetheater.org

Upcoming concerts

Roomful of Blues – Infinity Music Hall, Hartford – Dec. 10

Earth, Wind & Fire – Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville – Rescheduled to Feb. 4, 2022; Dec. 10 tickets will be honored.

Javier Colon – Infinity Music Hall, Hartford – Dec. 11

Howie Mandel – Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville – Dec. 11

Jerry Seinfeld – Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket – Dec. 11

Albert Cummings – Infinity Music Hall, Norfolk – Dec. 12

Gordon Lightfoot – Garde Arts Center, New London – Dec. 16

Big Al Anderson & the Floor Models – Infinity Music Hall, Hartford – Dec. 16-17

Kenny G – Palace Theater, Waterbury – Dec. 16

Leo Kottke + Mike Gordon – Wall Street Theater, Norwalk – Dec. 16

The Mavericks – Garde Arts Center, New London – Dec. 17

REO Speedwagon – Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket – Dec. 17

Categories
Nanticoke

No injuries reported in Nanticoke house fire

 			 				 No one was home and there are no reported injuries as crews from multiple fire departments arrived on scene to battle a blaze in a double-block residence located at 363-365 E. Church St. Wednesday afternoon. Ryan Evans | Times Leader

No one was home and there are no reported injuries as crews from multiple fire departments arrived on scene to battle a blaze in a double-block residence located at 363-365 E. Church St. Wednesday afternoon.

Ryan Evans | Times Leader



<p>The residents of the double-block at 363-365 E. Church St. were not available for comment. There is no word as to what caused the blaze the firefighters worked to put out well into Wednesday evening.</p>
<p>Ryan Evans | Times Leader</p>
<p>” /></a> </p>
<p>The residents of the double-block at 363-365 E. Church St. were not available for comment. There is no word as to what caused the blaze the firefighters worked to put out well into Wednesday evening.</p>
<p>Ryan Evans | Times Leader</p>
<p>NANTICOKE — No one was home and there were no reported injuries as crews from multiple fire departments battled a blaze in a double-block residence located at 363-365 E. Church St. on Wednesday afternoon.</p>
<p>Neighbors noticed smoke, and promptly called 911 while checking to make sure no one was home on either side of the residence shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday.</p>
<p>Crews from Nanticoke, Hanover Township, Newport Township, Honey Pot and Kingston arrived to begin fighting the fire. The crews continued to work on quelling the blaze as smoke billowed down onto the Sans Souci Highway. Tree branches had to be cut away, and powerlines were pulled down to allow…</p>
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Lenni Lenape

Native American Heritage Month

Bucks hosted Gloria Lopez, Esq., former Fulbright Chair in Human Rights and Social Justice at the University of Ottawa, at a celebration honoring Native Americans during November’s Native American Heritage Month.

Bucks President Felicia Ganther greeted attendees, saying “We can come together, we can learn new things, we can expand our minds, and we can share the ties that bind us together as humans.”

The first Native American Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, said via video “This month we honor the gifts of our ancestors by celebrating indigenous knowledge, traditions, language and culture… We Center our work on the voices of indigenous people, as we address the missing and murdered indigenous people’s crisis.”

US indigenous population has doubled to almost 10 million for the 2020 census; Twenty two percent live on reservations. Unemployment and those living below the poverty level are consistently nearly double that of all Americans even though the federal budget allocates billions for Native American programs. Despite education subsidies, only 14.5 percent graduate from college.

A 2015 National Congress of American Indians found that as much as 40 percent of sex trafficking victims identify as American Indian, Alaska Native, or First Nations (AIANFN) and indigenous women suffer more violence and are murdered at 10 times the national rate.

Chief Vincett Mann, Chief of the Bucks Lenape, reminded us via video that our Bucks Newtown campus is housed on what was Lenape/ Delaware Indian land beginning 12,000 to 15,000 years ago. The Lenape are indigenous, people who have historic ancestral and cultural ties to the land.

The Delaware river was the Lenape Indian lifeline providing transportation, water, and food, so some also call the Delaware the Lenape.

Native Americans developed three-sisters-farming: first planting corn, next beans to grow up the corn stalks and provide nitrogen, finally squash…

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Munsee

Munsee signs off as sheriff

CLARION – With the new year comes a new phase of life for outgoing Clarion County Sheriff Rex Munsee.

After 12 years in office, Munsee decided earlier this year not to seek reelection to a fourth term.

“I always wanted three terms,” Munsee said of his time in public service. “I accomplished what I wanted to do, and I think it’s a good time to be done.”

A native of Erie County, Munsee came to the area in December 1981 after graduating from the state police academy and being assigned to the Shippenville-based station.

“I had never heard of Shippenville before,” he laughed last week, noting that, although he liked the station, his initial plan was to stay in Clarion three years before returning to his hometown. In the meantime, Munsee met his wife, Cindi, and the rest is history. “Forty years later, I’m still here.”

Munsee served as a state police trooper in Clarion — with a one-year stint in Punxsutawney — for more than 27 years before retiring from the force as a corporal in February 2009 to run for sheriff.

“You can’t run for political office and be in the state police,” he said, pointing out that he announced his candidacy the day after his retirement. “I was looking to do something a little different, and I thought sheriff would be a good fit for me.”

Going into his first term, Munsee said that his goal was to make his office and deputies more visible in Clarion County, a task that he believes he has accomplished over the years.

“I think people would say that we have a higher visibility now than we had before,” he said, adding that his department’s responsibilities now include securing events such as Autumn Leaf Festival, the Peanut Butter Festival and Horsethief Days, and hosting justification and ladies’ self defense…

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Delaware Tribe

Native Rights are Human Rights

Three girls sitting facing the U.S. Capitol Three young Native women dream of making positive changes in Indian County in the future. Courtesy of Lisa Long

On December 10, 1948 the United Nations General Assembly adopted and announced the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global decree of human rights. As a result, International Human Rights Day is observed and celebrated annually across the world on December 10th every year.  This year’s theme is equality and it specifically calls on society to address the rights of Indigenous peoples, among other vulnerable populations

Native people historically have faced epic oppression and violations of their human rights. When the first Europeans came to the Americas, it was inhabited by millions of sovereign Indigenous peoples. As more settlers arrived, Native people were relentlessly pushed out of their homelands. After the founding of the United States, laws were made to legally support expansion into Native lands at the expense of Native people. From 1778 to 1868, approximately 368 treaties were made between the United States and Indian nations. By 1900, all of those treaties had been broken.

Leaders of Delaware tribes holding the edges of a blanket covering the Treaty of Fort Pitt. Delaware leaders prepare to unveil the 1778 Treaty of Fort Pitt, for view at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. From left to right: Denise Stonefish, chief of the Delaware Nation at Moraviantown; former museum director Kevin Gover; Chester “Chet” Brooks, chief of the Delaware Tribe of Indians; and Deborah Dotson, president of the Delaware Nation. May 10, 2018, Washington, D.C. Paul Morigi/AP Images for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian

Each time a treaty was made, Native people lost more land. Removal forced…

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Categories
Mohegan

Concert Connection: Celebrate the holidays with Kenny G at the Palace

Musician Kenny G is set to perform Dec. 16 at the Palace Theater in downtown Waterbury. With global sales totaling more than 75 million, Grammy and American Music Award winner Kenny G is the biggest-selling instrumental musician of all time.

To add to his accolades, Kenny G has both the best selling instrumental album of all time with “Breathless” and the best-selling Christmas album of all time with “Miracles”. Never one to rest idle, Kenny G continues to tour all over the world to adoring fans of all demographics.

Come see Kenny G perform holiday classics at the Palace Theater, as part of his “The Miracles Holiday & Hits” tour. For tickets or more information, call the box office at 203-346-2000 or go to palacetheater.org

Upcoming concerts

Roomful of Blues – Infinity Music Hall, Hartford – Dec. 10

Earth, Wind & Fire – Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville – Rescheduled to Feb. 4, 2022; Dec. 10 tickets will be honored.

Javier Colon – Infinity Music Hall, Hartford – Dec. 11

Howie Mandel – Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville – Dec. 11

Jerry Seinfeld – Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket – Dec. 11

Albert Cummings – Infinity Music Hall, Norfolk – Dec. 12

Gordon Lightfoot – Garde Arts Center, New London – Dec. 16

Big Al Anderson & the Floor Models – Infinity Music Hall, Hartford – Dec. 16-17

Kenny G – Palace Theater, Waterbury – Dec. 16

Leo Kottke + Mike Gordon – Wall Street Theater, Norwalk – Dec. 16

The Mavericks – Garde Arts Center, New London – Dec. 17

REO Speedwagon – Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket – Dec. 17

Categories
Nanticoke

Crews battle flames at house fire in Nanticoke

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Lenni Lenape

H.S. girls’ tennis: SJTCA names its All-Groups, All-South Jersey teams

The South Jersey Tennis Coaches Association recently named its All-Groups and All-South Jersey teams.

All-South Jersey 

Singles

June Greene, Burlington Township

Jenna Crawford, Cedar Creek

Shruti Mannan, Cherokee

Theresa Strano, GCIT

Rhea Sethi, Lenape

Lia Streibich, Moorestown

Bella Pescatore, Moorestown Friends

Molly Jespersen, Schalick

Samantha Tepes, Shawnee

Gabriella Robinson, Winslow Twp.

Doubles

Maddie Dennis/Samantha Goldberg, Mainland

Charlotte Morrison/Laura Sullivan, Moorestown

Erica Zhang/Priya Panganamamula, Moorestown

All-Group 4

Singles

Shruti Mannan, Cherokee

Sophia Liu, Cherry Hill East

Elliana Tonghini, Cherry Hill East

Magha Kumar, Eastern

Theresa Strano, GCIT

Rhea Sethi, Lenape

Isabella Cao, Lenape

Jianna Benton, Rancocas Valley

Samantha Tepes, Shawnee

Natasha Sharnoff, Shawnee

Doubles

Julia Chan/Kristina Battsogt, Cherry Hill East

Abigail Serata/Violet Riquelme, Eastern

Payton Colbert/Emma Lynch, EHT

Ema Lauren Cadacio/Leona Lam, EHT

Olivia Helmlinger/Kaitlyn King, Lenape

Michaela Pierznik/Mia Some, Shawnee

Kalena Gatesman/Divya Prajapati, Shawnee

All-Group 3

Singles

Olivia Hughes, Absegami

June Greene, Burlington Township

Carlee Cristella, Clearview

Sarah Crawford, Clearview

Khushi Thakkar, Mainland

Hannah Carson, Mainland

Lia Streibich, Moorestown

Gabriella Robinson, Winslow Twp.

Doubles

Brooke McGuigan/Megan McLoughlin, Clearview

Maddie Dennis/Samantha Goldberg, Mainland

Anna Geubtner/Elizabeth Ong, Mainland

Charlotte Morrison/Laura Sullivan, Moorestown

Erica Zhang/Priya Panganamamula, Moorestown

All-Group 2

Singles

Jenna Crawford, Cedar Creek

Savannah Falk, Cumberland

Sammy Sirover, Haddonfield

Lucinda Andrewes, Haddonfield

Evie York, Haddonfield

Sam Mancuso, Lower Cape May

Sydney Groen, Oakcrest

Katie Moore, West Deptford

Doubles

Amanda Volk/Gabriella Albert, Cumberland

Ava Grookett/Tina Tian, Haddonfield

Eliza Gordon/Courtenay Mackey, Haddonfield

Marley Kronemeyer/Ina Nikolova, Lower Cape May

Hannah Diamond/Laney Hackney, Seneca

All-Group 1

Singles

Madison Scambia, Gateway

Kaitlyn Smith, Gateway

Rachel McKnight, Gateway

Emily Oberman, Pennsville

Veronica Schneider, Pennsville

Molly Jespersen, Schalick         

Rachael Irizarry, Schalick

Abigail Melle, Woodstown

Doubles

Bryn Kelleher/Morgan McNally, Gateway

Ella Welsh/Shreya Raju, Haddon Township

Ali Bowman/Gabi Mavrin, Pennsville

Julia Nitz/Sarah Little, Schalick

All Non-Public

Singles

Bella Pescatore, Moorestown Friends

Skye Mada, Moorestown Friends

Kathryn Sebastian, Moorestown Friends

Doubles

Roma Jha/Blythe O’Connor, Moorestown Friends

Julia Tourtellotte/Avani Verma, Moorestown Friends

Annalise Visalli/ Ava Valecce, OLMA)

Tom McGurk is a regional sports reporter for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and Burlington County Times, covering South Jersey sports for over 30 years. If you have a sports story that needs to be told, contact him at (856) 486-2420 or email tmcgurk@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @McGurkSports. Help support local journalism with a digital subscription.

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Munsee

Don’t be fooled by leafless trees; find the green in winter woods

Jake Gamble  |  Special to The Star Press

Cold December skies darken the woodland trails around you. Heading back to your car, you note how dark it’s getting by only 4 p.m. The cloudy day and setting sun seem to only emphasize the slumber of winter’s nature. Gone are the months of vibrance and color, making way for gray and brown. Nearly to your car, now you spot something… green?

Yes, it is! Something green cuts through the woods and grabs your attention with an intensity you thought only spring could bring. As you move to inspect, the image becomes clear. Bright green leaves protrude directly from the earth, a living oasis among dormancy. Singular smooth leaves accented white and olive by parallel veins running from the soil to the tip. A curious find for sure, so grabbing your field guide, fingers flip through pages as your eyes examine the pictures.

Finally, you find the image that matches, but the answer to the plant’s identity surprises you: an orchid?

Orchids are everywhere, indigenous to six continents and nearly every country in the world. Indiana alone hosts more than 40 species. Though often more discreet than their tropical counterparts, native Indiana orchids can showcase some of the most interesting flowers and beautiful leaves you can find in the woods. There are several species, in fact, that produce brilliant foliage over winter and have none during the summer.

The puttyroot orchid (Aplectrum hymale) happens to be one of these species. Leafing out during September through October and persisting through spring, these common native orchids decorate the forest floor with large oval leaves throughout winter. The small brown flowers of this species can be found in May through June and are pollinated by bees. The name “puttyroot” refers to the sticky substance produced by crushing the pseudobulb. Historically, this…

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