Patricia Doxsey

1 week ago | dailyfreeman.com | Patricia Doxsey

KINGSTON, N.Y. — Samadhi Center Inc., the troubled drug recovery program, was dealt another blow this week when it discovered that it was losing another major source of funding. In an email in response to a Freeman inquiry, NoVo in Kingston Director Megan Weiss-Rowe said the foundation was cutting off funding to the organization. “Grants were issued to Samadhi from 2020-2024,” Megan Weiss-Rowe stated in an April 8 email.

1 week ago | dailyfreeman.com | Patricia Doxsey

KINGSTON, N.Y. — Ulster County Judge Bryan Rounds gave former Saugerties police officer Dion Johnson Jr., who admitted forcing himself on one woman and harassing two others, a conditional discharge. The plea deal also requires Johnson to pay a $3,000 fine and complete 60 hours of community service. It also forbids him from serving as a police officer in Ulster County.

2 weeks ago | dailyfreeman.com | Patricia Doxsey

KINGSTON, N.Y. — As housing costs across Ulster County have skyrocketed, so has the cost of housing the homeless. According to an Emergency Housing Snapshot report issued Wednesday by County Comptroller March Gallagher, Ulster County spent $13.3 million on emergency housing in 2024, dwarfing the $3.8 spent in 2020.

2 weeks ago | dailyfreeman.com | Patricia Doxsey

KINGSTON, N.Y. — The abrupt closure of the Samadhi Refuge on Monday appears to be only the tip of the organization’s fiscal woes. Board President Kathy Nolan said in a telephone interview Tuesday the agency is in such financial straits that it will no longer be able to exist as it does today. “Our financial strain has been pretty substantial for a while,” said Nolan, who is also a county legislator from Shandaken. “It is certain we will not be able to maintain what we were doing,” she said.

2 weeks ago | dailyfreeman.com | Patricia Doxsey

SAUGERTIES, N.Y. — Samadhi Refuge, an emergency housing facility for individuals with substance use disorders, abruptly closed its doors on Monday, leaving its 20 residents scrambling to find new shelter. Board President Kathy Nolan said the organization was forced to shutter the facility after learning that Ulster County would not pay more than $400,000 in shelter fees she said is owed the agency.