Hi everyone and welcome to another exciting and thought provoking issue of this

bi-weekly newsletter, The CORNERSTONE TRAVELER.  Also available online at www.cornerstonetraveler.com.

 

mid-Hudson Valley news: The mid-Hudson Valley Rib Fest was last weekend.  Unfortunately I was not able to attend because I was at my cousin’s daughter’s wedding.  I would’ve liked to be there because as is usual the food at this rib fest is terrific and fun.

The Dutchess County Fair started last Tuesday at the Dutchess County fairgrounds in Rhinebeck.  Amazingly enough this county fair started in 1845.  I have to wonder what that first Dutchess County fair was like.  What were the exhibits?  What arts and crafts were exhibited?  What of domestic animals like cows, sheep, goats and horses?

As was usual this county fair did not disappointment.  There was much to see and experience.  Unlike the Ulster and Orange County fairs.

St. Joseph’s church had their annual food fest at the same time as the Hudson Valley Rib Fest.  Not good timing if you ask me.  I like going there for the sausage and pepper subs.  Good, but not nearly as good as my mother made on the outside charcoal grills almost every weekend.  I am slowly learning how my mother had perfected her sausage and pepper subs.

SUNY New Paltz admitted 2,000 new students to the college last weekend.

There will be an air show at Stewart International Airport this weekend with shows on Saturday, Sunday and Monday with the Thunderbirds.

There is the Woodstock New Paltz Arts and Crafts show this weekend at the Ulster County Fair grounds on Libertyville Road here in New Paltz.

 

observations: I have gotten at least six robo calls from the Trump campaign asking for money.  Previous calls asked for $1,000 and you got a signed photo of Trump.  Now they’re asking for $5,000 ad you get a signed copy of one of his books.  Only this time you pressed “1” on your telephone you can make a contribution.  Thinking I might talk to a real person and alas I was right.

Person. ”Thank you Richard for helping Donald Trump’s campaign”

Me  “I think Donald Trump is morally bankrupt”

Person  “Excuse me?”

Me  “Don’t call me anymore

Me again  “A…hole!”

If the Trump campaign calls me again they will be liable for $16,000 fine by the FCC because I told them not to call me.

I really don’t like Trump because I firmly believe he will destroy our country’s greatness by alienating our allies with his dumb ass statements about our allies and NATO.

I started to wonder why he even thought about running for president.  I had thought that if he didn’t win the presidency (which I hope and pray he doesn’t) he will file for bankruptcy for what the fifth time claiming his run for the presidency cost him that he had to file for bankruptcy.

We will see if what I think is true after Nov.8.

 

sports:  The U.S. Olympic team was great in Rio.  Especially the American basketball team.  I admit the first quarter of the final game for Gold against Serbia worried me, but the U.S. team ran away with it beating Serbia 96-66.  The only bad thing to happen was what happened with Olympic gold medal winner Lockte.

MLB:  The Yankees are in 4^th place in the American League East with a record of 67-62 and 7 games back.

The Mets are in 2^nd place in the National League East with a record of 64-64 and are 9 games back.

NHL:  Both the Jets and Giants are 1-2 in preseason games.  The Giants beat the Jets last weekend 21-20.

other:   As with all previous issues of this newsletter everything printed here is either copyright protected or copyright pending.

The history of P&G’s follows this newsletter from the mid 1930’s to almost the present.

The short story I included with this newsletter is the first part of a short story I wrote called The PACK.  I hope you like it.

 

Thank-you  -  Rik McGuire

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

           History of P&G’s continued to the present

 

From 1925 – 1945 a number of diverse businesses occupied the building.  These included Carols Clothing Store (1937), Atkins Drug Store (1938), Schaffert Real Estate Office (1943),  and Dicks Bar and Grill among others.

In 1947 Dicks Bar and Grill was purchased by two Lake Mohonk employees, Pat Cafferty and George Jayne.  Legend has it that neither told their wives of their intention to purchase the business.  They immediately changed the Grills name to Pat and Georges.  Among it loyal customers it was simply P&G’s.

One of the best things to happen to P&G’s occurred in 1961.  An ex Dodger player named Stormer Nickerson became a bartender.  Stormy as he was affectionately known became something of a legend.  His heart, quiet good humor and generous spirit made P&G’s the one place that welcomed all from the harsher outside world into a refuge for college students, business people, local characters and even for a while, in the 1960’s, bikers.  According to one source.  “They weren’t as rowdy a crew as you might expect because although he was quiet, Stormy commanded and got respect.”  His professional baseball background made him a natural to pitch batting practice for the New Paltz College teams and he did so for a number of seasons.  One college fraternity considered P&G’s their private domain.  The scene of everything important, news, views, camaraderie and especially humor was always evident at P&G’s.

After the St. Helens volcano erupted and news reports discussed the possibility of ash fall out across the U.S., Stormy came to work to find the staff dressed in garbage bags and metal kitchen colanders on their heads.  Since no ash was reported on anyone Stormy reasoned the attire had been affective by making everyone laugh their ash off.

 

In June 1991, after 30 years, Stormy retired from P&G’s.  He died in June of 1994.  From his casual humor that lingers, to his Chile recipe that is still served and the kind memories often repeated by his many friends, Stormy is still here.

In 1969 Edwin Beck bought P&G’s.  His first weekend as owner was completely successful.  The following weekend, however, the place was deserted.  A disheartened Beck couldn’t understand what he had done to alienate everyone so quickly.  He was relieved to learn it was simply a matter of poor timing.  Everyone was away and wallowing in a farm in Bethel NY.  A music festival or something.

Ed Beck never spent time worrying.  He looked across Main Street and up Platekill Avenue, seeing thousands of thirsty college students who, for the most part remained on campus.

Taking a good supply of liquid refreshment, Beck went to the campus and gave the students (all legal in those days) a new place to call home.  He transformed P&G’s from a neighborhood bar into a local institution.

The face of Beck’s personality had much to do with the continued success of P&G’s, the place was fun.  One oft quoted story about Beck concerns a young P&G’s enthusiast who wanted to be just like Beck when he grew up.  It is reported that Beck in all humility replied.  “Well you can’t do both.”

The name Pat and Georges was officially changed to P&G’s in the 1980’s by Ed Beck and his son Mike.  In 1985, Mike bought out his father’s interest.  In 1994, he undertook extensive renovations, making the building exterior appear as it did in 1900, when it was the Casino.

 

 

 

                     The PACK

 

Germany 1939

 

 

The saloon in the small German village lay just fifty miles from Berlin.  The saloon was filled with young men laughing with the telling ribald jokes about the Jews.  They were all nervous because the following morning they would be going to the training camp for new recruits for the Fuhrer’s army.  They all knew of the plans of the Nazi party to invade and take control of surrounding countries.  They were all fearful of their futures.

Max and Vincent stood apart from the joking young men.  They were just trying to blend in with the German people.  They even gagged down several German Lagers so that they would not stand apart from the others.  But they knew they had to leave and report on what they had learned to the leader.  They did not notice the man with a black trench coat enter the saloon.  The man had a fedora tipped over his forehead so his eyes were not easily noticeable to anyone.  He just stood to the side and watched the young men in the saloon as they joked among themselves.  Max and Vincent did not see him enter and took no notice of him when they left the saloon.  The man followed discretely as they walked to the edge of the village with the intent of walking to the woods that bordered the village fifty yards away.

They were about to leave the village border when the man silently walked up to them with Lugar drawn.  He ordered them to stop and turn around.  And naturally they both did with hands at their sides.

“Are you to serve the Fuhrer?”  The man asked.

Max and Vincent smiled and said.  “Of course.”

“Show me your papers.”  The man demanded.

 

Max shook his head.  “I’m sorry, but we left our papers at our home.  We will show them to you if you will tell us where your office is located and we will be there within an hour.”  This always worked before when they were asked to show their papers.  But it appeared to Max that the man was not to be put off so easily.

“I am an officer in Himmler’s SS and I demand you either show me your papers or take me to your home where you supposedly left them.”  Himmler’s SS man demanded.

Max and Vincent looked at the SS man, smiled, turned and sprinted to the woods.

The SS officer was stunned because he had never seen anyone run so fast as the two men he saw sprinting to the woods.  He aimed his Lugar and fired four shots.  He saw one of his shots was true with the man on the left because he saw a crimson stain of blood spread on the shoulder.  The man only twitched and kept on running as fast as he did before being shot.

They reached the edge of the woods, turned so see if the SS officer had followed them.  They saw the man had turned around and walk slowly back to the village.

Max and Vincent hid themselves in two copses of trees on either side of the trail into the woods. They carefully stripped off their clothes and folded them neatly.  Vincent turned and saw the crimson stain on Max’s shoulder.

“You were shot.”  He said to Max.

Max tuned and Vincent saw that the bullet went totally through his shoulder.  He also saw the wound heal quickly leaving only the barest hint of a scar that he knew would disappear within a few hours.  “Did it hurt?”  He asked.

Max. shook his head.  “About as much as a sting from a honey bee.”

 

“Honey Bee?”

Max smiled.  “Okay.  Maybe a wasp or a hornet, but not more.”  He looked to the village and said.  “It is time we change to our natural selves.”

Vincent nodded his agreement and within thirty seconds their 5’9″ bodies shape shifted into ferocious looking mountain wolves.

The wolf essences of Max and Vincent reached down to the ground with their paws to pick up their neatly folded clothes.  They both leaped into the air depositing their clothes on a V crevice branch of the trees.  They landed silently and padded deeper into the woods.  They didn’t need to sprint because the SS man was back in the village and the village people were frightened of the woods because of the tall tales of ferocious wolves that lived in the woods.

They trotted silently side by side through the barely visible trail until they came to their lair.

They both howled and growled the precise sequence of the code pass words until they were allowed entrance into the lair by the two wolves that guarded the cave entrance .  They both nodded their grizzly heads at the two guards who nodded back in recognition.

They trod down one cavern tunnel until they came to the lair of the Alpha Queen.

“What did you learn?”  The Alpha Queen growled in wolf language.

Vincent was the first to speak, growl.  “We learned that the impotent mad man who essentially controls the country of Germany is intent on showing his leadership by damning the Jews and conquering other countries so that he can show the world that Germany, the motherland is the master of all.”

 

“Can he be stopped?  The Alpha queen asked.

Max was the first to speak, growl.  “Other countries from around the world are gathering their forces to stop this madman.  But I fear that he will do much damage and kill many before he is stopped.  There are too many who believe he is the second coming of a deity.”

“What can we do to maintain the balance?”  The Alpha Queen asked.

Max spoke again. “We can use our canine selves to infiltrate the upper command of this mad man and do our best to thwart their efforts at world domination.”

“You can do this?”  She asked.

Vincent nodded his shaggy and grizzly head.  “We have done this countless times in our three hundred years and we have learned how to perfect our efforts each time.  Though this might be more difficult because this madman is so maniacal he has a majority of the German population believing he is a king.  And he has to be followed.”

“But you can help defeat this madman?”  The Queen asked again.

Max nodded.  “Yes.  But with some help from the others who can shape shift as we can.”

Not all wolves could shape shift like Max and Vincent.  It was an inherited and learned ability and much revered by other wolves.  They on occasion would shape shift into the much feared werewolf.  Though they avoided doing this.

“So what is your next move?”  She asked.

“We need to get papers so we can more blend in with the German population.”  Vincent explained.

“You can do this?” She asked further.

 

Max nodded.  “Yes.  We know of two or three individuals who are master forgers and they will make the papers we need.  But at a very high price.”

“Can you pay this price?”  The Alpha Queen asked.

Max nodded again.  “Yes.  Vincent and I have become very adept at thievery when we need to be.”

“When you obtain these needed papers, what is your next step?”

Vincent smiled his tooth bearing grin.  “We will only observe then infiltrate.”

“Do it.”  She commanded.

 

Later Max and Vincent crawled on the floor of the lair to sleep.  They did this because they both knew the next day would be demanding after they had shape shifted into their human selves.  They both knew they would have to run and hide from Himmler’s SS officers until they had obtained their proper papers.

 

Max and Vincent padded into the small village as mangy and starving dogs searching for scraps of food.  And in reality they were just watching the people of the village.  They shape shifted themselves into German Sheppard’s and they were barely noticed by anyone including the Nazi command and military.

As they walked into the center of the village they noticed a military truck in front of one small apartment building.  The Nazi soldiers were dragging out of the building a family who all wore the blue Jewish star on their sleeves.  One of the Jews being dragged out of the building was a young girl, not more than seven years old and she was crying hysterically.  The leader of the soldiers was the same Himmler’s SS officer that they had encountered the previous day.  The SS officer was commanding the soldiers with his Lugar pointed at the family.  Max and Vincent looked at each other and knew without a word being said what they had to do.

Max ran up to the SS officer and grabbed him by the hand with his powerful jaws and pulled him to the ground while Vincent rushed the two Nazi soldiers and at the first one he swiped his sharpened claw across the chest of the soldier causing the soldier to release the little girl.  He then attacked the other soldier before the man had time to unsling his rifle from his shoulder and Vincent ripped the man’s throat out.  The man died gurgling on his own blood.

Meanwhile the SS officer was whimpering and crying like a baby as Max used his powerful jaws to crush the man’s wrist.  With the SS officers wrist in his jaws, Max stared at the officer and snarled.  The SS officer lost control of his bowels and bladder and continued to whimper like a baby.  Max was pleased with his efforts to take charge of the situation.  Finally he looked to Vincent and saw he had taken control of the two Nazi soldiers.  They nodded to each other and left the SS officer and remaining Nazi soldier and sped to a nearby alley.  As they sped away, they heard the SS officer shout at the soldier to fire his rifle at the two mutts. Before he could even raise his rifle to his shoulder, Max and Vincent disappeared into the alley where they quickly shape shifted into their human selves.  They quickly dressed into clothing they had hid in various points in the village so they could be clothed when they shape shifted from their animal essences.  The soldier followed them into the alley, but stopped when he saw Max and Vincent. He asked them if they had seen two dogs running into the alley.  Max and Vincent both pointed to the far end of the alley that led to the field that bordered the woods. The soldier shook his head and walked back to the scene of the assault by Max and Vincent.

Vincent clapped Max on his back and said.  “We both did good.”

Max nodded.  “Now we only have to get that family relocated so that SS man won’t harass them again.”

Vincent nodded.  “How?”  He asked.

Max motioned with his hand.  “Just follow me.  I think that SS officer will be fearful of entering this village again considering what I did to his hand and wrist.  Did you hear him bellow like a baby?”

Vincent could only laugh.  “Yeah.  I heard his cries.  Not very typical of Hitler’s elite I would think.”

They came out of the alley, turned left and saw Himmler’s SS officer still lying on the ground, massaging his right hand and wrist gingerly. He was still whimpering to anyone who would listen.  He tried to order all the civilians that gathered around him to call for a military ambulance.  Many just smiled and walked away from one of Hitler’s elite.

Max and Vincent gathered the family that Himmler’s SS officer had tried to capture.  They guided them to a known safe house at the edge of the village.  They had used this safe house countless times before to secure the safety of Jewish residents.  The owners of the safe house had the ability to smuggle Jewish families out of the country to safety.

As they walked to the woods where they could shape shift unseen by anyone, they were happy with their accomplishments of the day, but they knew it was not to be the last.  They knew

 

the Alpha Queen would require more of them to maintain the balance in the world.  But they accepted this, their duties to the world.

When they got back to the lair, they went immediately to the Alpha Queen to report on their efforts.

“What did you accomplish?”  She asked.

Max. was the first to speak.  “We were able to stop the madman’s people from taking a Jewish family to the camps.”  He said.

“And?  What else?”  She demanded.

It was Vincent’s turn to speak.  “The madman’s SS officer who was in charge of gathering the Jewish people to the camps has been neutralized and mainly because of Max’s efforts to hurt him.”

“Will that be enough?”  She asked.

Max shook his head.  “Probably not because there are far too many people who adore the madman.”

“So?  What are we to do to maintain the balance?”  She demanded.

Both Max and Vincent shook their grizzly heads.  “We are unsure.”  They growled in wolf language.

As it turned out when Max and Vincent went back to the village as the same mangy mutts as before.  They learned that Himmler’s SS officer was so upset at being thwarted by two mutts, he ordered the quarantine of the entire village   In other words, residents of the village were not allowed to leave and no one was allowed entry.  The SS officer knew that this quarantine would lead to starvation of the residents of the village, but he didn’t care because most were of Jewish persuasion and it just made his job that much easier if everyone died in the village accept those loyal German young men who had signed up for the Fuhrer’s army.  They and their families would be fed, but everyone else would just suffer.

The SS officer was able to maintain this quarantine by having Nazi soldiers patrolling constantly the perimeter of the village with orders to shoot on sight.

Max and Vincent knew what their duty was and that was to smuggle food into the village by any means necessary.

They went to the nearby villages and procured artfully food for the quarantined village.  They did this by their human selves and by their mangy mutt selves.  And on occasion would revert to their wolf selves to snag chickens, pigs and lamb along with the occasional cow or bull.

They were able to sneak past the patrolling Nazi soldiers with parcels of food in their jaws.

After a few weeks the SS officer was unsure how the people in the village were feeding themselves.  He half expected to find them begging in the streets for scraps of food, but there was none of that.  Instead the villagers seemed to be robust and in good health and spirits.  He sat in a café of a nearby village mulling this dilemma and nursing his fifth or sixth brandy.

Max and Vincent were able to follow the SS officer to the café as their mangy mutt selves.  They waited as the SS officer constantly rubbed his forehead thinking and ordering brandy after brandy.  They looked at each other and understood they would allow their werewolf selves to emerge when the SS officer walked back to his home away from the village proper.

 

Their intent was not to kill him, but rather scare him into flight.

The SS officer left the café on unsteady legs with the intent of making it to his home to sleep it off.  Max and Vincent followed discretely as their werewolf selves.  They wanted to confront the SS officer in a very secluded spot where the officer could not be seen or heard when they confronted him.

Finally at a copse of trees near his home they emerged in front of him, growling menacingly.  The SS officer immediately drew his Lugar from the holster at his hip and fired four shots at the ferocious, grizzly looking wolves in front of him.  Two bullets struck each of them, but Max and Vincent didn’t even flinch.  This bothered the SS officer.  He didn’t know how he could defend himself from beasts that just shrugged off bullets entering their bodies.

The SS officer backed away until he was against two trees growing side by side and he knew he had no escape from the two beasts that confronted him.  He tried to scream in terror, but his throat was too constricted to even sound a muted cry.

Max and Vincent approached him with ferocious snarls as he whimpered. And just as the previous day he lost control of his bowels and bladder.  Max and Vincent smelled the offensive odor and almost smiled with their snarls.

The man put up his hands to cover his face when Max spoke in a werewolf gnarled voice in precise German.  “You will leave the Jewish people of this village alone so that they can live in peace or we will be forced to do something about it.”

Vincent nodded his shaggy and grizzly face and spoke in the same guttural German.  “Or we will be forced to fillet you like a fish.”

 

The SS officer spoke with a whimper.  “I don’t know if the high command would allow that.”  He said.

Max could only nod.  “Convince them or we will be forced to deal with them as we are dealing with you.  And it won’t be so pleasant.”

Within a couple of weeks Max and Vincent saw that the Nazi command did not harass the Jewish residents of the village.  It was apparent to Max and Vincent that Himmler’s SS man did not think the few hundred Jews in the village was worth the confrontation with the beasts.  What was a few hundred Jews in the grand scheme of things?  He probably thought.

Max and Vincent knew they won a small battle now they had to help win the war.

 

9:29p.m.

10/10/09

@ P&G’s