You may have noticed a few more New York State Police vehicles out and about this past weekend, as they increased their patrol in an effort to combat drunk, impaired and reckless driving throughout this Memorial Day weekend.

The STOP-DWI enforcement period runs through today. On Memorial Day weekend in 2019, Troopers across the state arrested 225 people for drinking and driving, issued 13,693 total tickets, and investigated 134 personal injury crashes, which resulted in four fatalities.

While it seems like common sense to most of us that drinking and driving is something that should never be done, the statistics above show it's still happening at an alarming rate.

Getting behind the wheel of a vehicle while intoxicated is a split second decision with potentially life altering consequences, puting both yourself and others at risk.

An idea for

high school athletics

In a recent conversation with a friend, the idea came up about swapping most spring and fall high school sports during the 2020-21 school year.

This would allow sports like baseball, softball and golf, which have less contact and where athletes are more spaced out, to be played in the fall.

It makes a lot of sense to us, especially considering with high school golf, which we feel is better suited to be played in the fall anyway, as local courses are in much better condition.

With the swap, sports like football and soccer would be played next spring, when hopefully, the coronavirus is a thing of the past, or at the very least, would provide more time for officials to make rule modifications to make those sports safer for our young athletes.

It would make sense to leave running sports in the same order, with cross country remaining in the fall, as it is much better for social distancing.

School budgets

It's budget season at our local school districts. Over the next week or two, many districts will be holding virtual budget hearings so the public can weigh in on them before heading to the polls next month.

We will have budget briefs on all eight Sullivan County school districts, as well as Ellenville and Port Jervis in our June 2 and 5 issues.

Budget votes will look a little different this year with an absentee ballot model being ultilized.

So be on the lookout for the ballots in your mailbox.