Diane Valden is reporting for The Columbia Paper the state Department of Transportation has closed Lackawanna Road in Copake for three weeks to allow Copake Valley Farm owner Salvatore Cascino (kah-SHEE-no) to repair changes he illegally made to the road. The town-owned route connects Weed Mine Road on the east and State Route 22 on the west, and Cascino owns the property on both sides of the road. He must replace a guard rail, install culvert pipes, close the farm stand entry and fix the west end of Lackawanna where he illegally constructed stone walls on both sides of the road and had to replace a culvert pipe. Currently the stone walls have been removed several feet back from Route 22 and there is a slight drop-off, several feet wide between the Route 22 and Lackawanna road surfaces. The west end of the road is blocked by a line of orange and white plastic drums with a “road closed” sign in the middle. Even though Lackawanna is owned by the town, it had nothing to do with the closing. Town Supervisor Jeffrey Nayer said the state was under the mistaken impression it was a private road. Nayer said it should not have been closed in the first place and that a ramp should have been installed to allow traffic through. The supervisor spoke with DOT Regional Engineer Tom Story and was told the work had to be inspected before the road could reopen. Cascino, 78, of Larchmont, Westchester County is a convicted felon, and he has spent the past 20 years amassing violations of federal, state and town laws for illegal dumping, building and excavating at a place he calls Copake Valley Farm, along the east side of Route 22. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.