YOUNG NEWSIES A short video about Manor Ink produced in 2024 by the Sullivan County Youth Bureau.

About Manor Ink

Manor Ink is a youth-driven, community-supported monthly newspaper that was started in 2012. Since then we have come a long way. We’ve covered everything from high school graduations and annual trout parades to fires and devastating floods.

Manor Ink began because there was a need in our community. Livingston Manor, a small town on the edge of the Catskill Mountains in Sullivan County, NY, had no local news outlet. The hamlet’s newspaper had ceased publication in 2009, a victim of the great recession, and even the high school newspaper had closed due to lack of funding.

After several years without a hometown news source, a local mom had an idea. “Why not start a community-wide newspaper staffed by the hamlet’s teens?” she asked. “It can be sponsored by the Manor’s library.” It was a brilliant idea, and within a few months, Manor Ink was born.

The paper has been a vehicle to grow awareness of events, opportunities and businesses locally. Manor Ink has empowered its young staff to find and use our voice in the greater community and given us skills that we will use for the rest of our lives. It has highlighted the importance of local news production and literacy as part of the “glue” of a community.

After providing our community with local news for four years Manor Ink took a short hiatus and is now restarting with new energy and continued support from the library and local community. To support our local newspaper, written by young people in our little town, please consider becoming a sponsor! Help to keep our story going. For more info email manorink@gmail.com and keep your eyes out for the papers coming out once a month!

Who we are

Zoey McGee, Editor-in-Chief

The paper’s new editor, Zoey has contributed numerous Catskill Critter columns, and has profiled a local banker for the Ink’s Women in Business series. In the paper’s May 2022 issue, she reported on Kerilands, the massive new resort proposed for the Town of Neversink, filing her informative story on deadline.

Aidan Dusenbury-Dalto, Reporter

Aidan is one of Manor Ink’s newest staff members. A home-schooled student, he and his brother Jack have tackled so important stories for the Ink in recent months. He interviewed the county’s HEAP administrators on heating help for home owners this past winter, and has written a feature on a mountain biking team..

Ethan Sprouse, Reporter

Ethan joined the paper’s staff as our youngest member in 2023, and right away authored a game review for the paper’s Inkwell of Happiness pages. He followed that with an update about the O&W Rail Trail plans to extend the hiking and biking pathway from Parksville to Livingston Manor’s Rotary Park.

Jack Dusenbury-Dalto, Reporter

Aidan’s brother, Jack is also home schooled. His recent stories include a piece on the meaning of American flags that have mysteriously appeared on telephone poles around town, and an informative interview with Congressman Mondaire Jones. For the start of fishing season, he reported on the Theodore Gordon Flyfishers.

Erick Slattery, Reporter

Erick joined the paper in 2024, one of our newest staff members. Since that time, she’s jumped right into reporting, do stories about an assistance organization in Monticello, a former race car driver with a garage full of exotic automobiles, and what working for Dollar General is like.

Anahi Rodriguez, Reporter

Anahi joined the paper when her good friend Erick Slattery did, and she has shown real initiative in tackling interesting stories about Parksville’s wellness center, Ratty Books in Jeffersonville and Sullivan County’s Soap Box Derby, plus insightful restaurant and movie reviews.

Jameson Barerra, Reporter

jameson is a recent arrival at Manor Ink, and he frequently brings his latest drawing or creation to the paper’s newsroom round tables. His enthusiasm for the paper is contagious, and thus far he has contributed a “Spot the Difference” feature to our Inkwell of Happiness pages and has taken a stand-alone of daffodils.

Savannah Chaboty, Social Media Editor

One of the Ink’s newest staffers from Tri-Valley Central School, Savannah joined the paper in summer 2023. She learned the journalistic ropes quickly, reporting on a Monticello protest over the severe abuse of a pet dog. She has also written about Tri-Valley’s “Bear Bash” and the school’s community outreach efforts.

Rachel Zuckerman, Reporter

Rachel has written some important and heart-felt stories for the paper. One of her early pieces was about the condition of autism, a subject she knows about as her younger brother suffers from it. She has also investigated issues with the Manor’s laundromat and has recently written about LMCS’s Operation Holiday.

Adriana Serafino, Reporter

An Ink staffer who has recently joined the paper, Adriana has interviewed the local author of a well-received book about the early 1900s effort to reach the north pole. She also contributed articles about the Scarecrow Festival in Hurleyville and the recent opening of a galley in Hasbrouck. She’s also a talented watercolor artist.

Diana Fredenburg, LMCS School Advisor

As the liaison between Manor Ink and Livingston Manor Central School, former LMCS teacher Diana Fredenburg also helps the paper’s student reporters with their articles, provides access to school activities and information about school policies and the administration. She joined the paper’s adult staff in 2021.

The Ink’s adult mentors