Dianne Sefcik, Westerlo

Claire Marshall, Westerlo

To close an expected budget gap, two Republicans on the Westerlo Town Board are recommending cutting the Democratic supervisor’s two staffers after the Democrats and one tie-breaking Republican authorized the layoff of two of the highway department’s roughly seven workers. 

Westerlo Town Clerk Kathleen Spinnato announced at the town board’s special June 11 meeting that she would be resigning on June 21. On June 18, the town board appointed Deputy Clerk Karla Weaver as acting town clerk.

BERNE — On Saturday, a wildland fire at the Cole Hill State Forest was put out by the Berne and East Berne volunteer fire departments, aided by three state forest rangers.

Frank Bryant, of Westerlo, was arrested at his home on June 20 after police say he assaulted a man with a pipe on the side of County Route 404 in Westerlo, leaving the victim with broken teeth and a facial laceration.

Susan Story, an artist based in Rensselaerville, will use grant money to paint a nearly true-to-size apple tree, a project that she says honors the significance apples hold in the Helderberg Hilltowns, and New York State in general. 

Joel Willsey​, Berne

Michael Thomas Tinney, a collector, salesman, and West Berne native, died on Wednesday, June 3, 2020. He was 45. 

His brother, Mark Tinney, described him as “genuine, warm, and corny.”

“He loved a good corny joke,” Mark Tinney said with a laugh. “But he was always terrible at retelling them.”

HILLTOWNS — In an unprecedented election in terms of both process and turnout, Berne-Knox-Westerlo School District voters approved all items on the ballot this year, according to a district press release, sending