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BREAKING -- Wednesday, April 30, 2008 3 p.m. Cornwall and David Blaine on Oprah
Center Line Studios and Cornwall's welcome sign get airplay this afternoon on Oprah as illusionist David Blaine attempts to break a 16 minute 4 second record of holding his breath underwater in a huge glass ball. The base of the ball and all of the metalwork was made by Center Line Studios, headquartered in the old Firth Carpet mill in Cornwall. Blaine was here two years ago training for his breath-holding stunt in front of Lincoln Center. Oprah airs today at 4 p.m. And...Cornwall kids might tune in to MTV's TRL tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m. to see Cornwall's own Byron Gray, age 20, draw actress Gwyneth Paltrow live on the show. Byron, age 20, is the son of Roger and Shelly Gray, the owners of Center Line Studios (and also Schunnemumk Shadow Stables and Ivy Rock Farms). He's now a student at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.
BREAKING -- Tuesday, April 29, 2008 Larkin to run for 10th term
Senator Bill Larkin (R-C), age 80, announced this week that he's kicking off his campaign for a tenth term in the New York State Senate...(with a buffet at Anthony's Pier 9 on Thursday, May 8). Larkin, who lives on Bayview Avenue in Cornwall-on-Hudson, said last year that he'll stay in the Senate as long as he's healthy,... but then corrected himself and said he'll stay as long as the voters keep electing him. Larkin had token opposition in his 2006 race in Chris McBride of Monroe, whose campaign platform had only one plank in it -- that he wanted to serve in Albany with Governor Eliot Spitzer. No Democrat has announced yet this year. The election will be November 4.
BREAKING NEWS -- Friday, April 25, 2008 9:55 p.m. Billy J. Kramer rocks Storm King School
Billy J. Kramer, a world-famous rock star, was a surprise guest at Storm King School tonight. Kramer reached stardom in the 1960s with songs that were specially written for him by the Beatles. He appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and Hullabaloo, and several of his records sold over a million copies. He tours these days with a group that includes Storm King music teacher Frank Annunziata. This was Parents Night at Storm King School and the students presented a talent show in front of a standing-room-only crowd. The last act was Annunziata's rock group, "The Jazz Bandits." Before the musicians played their final song, "Hey Jude," Annunziata read a brief summary of the Beatles' contribution to music and their relationship to Kramer (who acquired his stage name from John Lennon). Then, to the surprise of his students, the teacher known as Mr. A announced that Kramer was on hand to sing the lead. The group played several choruses of "Hey Jude," and the audience stood and sang along. At one point, James Sweitzer, a senior guitar player, spontaneously joined Kramer at the lead microphone. "I was just feeling it," the student said after the performance. "It was my last concert, and I said to myself "'Why not; let's go for it.'"
NEWS -- Friday, April 25, 2008 Wednesday's brush fire got close to homes Jeff Armitage, the chief of the Storm King Engine Company, indicated today that Wednesday's brush fire came within 50 feet of a few residences on Deer Hill Road. "We have no idea of how it started," the chief said, "but it took us about three hours to fight it. We had to lay a lot of lines to keep the houses protected." The chief estimated that the blaze spread from about one acre to five. The winds picked up and the brush and undergrowth were dry. "We called in four tankers," he said, "because the water supply on the mountain is limited." Storm King was helped by firefighters from the Highland Engine Company, Mountainville, Vails Gate, New Windsor, Salisbury Mills, West Point and Fort Montgomery. West Point brought in an old Army tanker that can go anywhere, Armitage said, in addition to two specially rigged military humvees. There were no injuries. COVAC was on hand to check the firefighters as they came off duty. And the Highland Falls Fire Company covered the village until the fire was contained.
SPORTS -- Friday, April 25, 2008 Dragons stretch winning streak to 11
Greg Kumpel, shown batting in the Anaconda Tournament this week, had three hits yesterday to help the Dragons run their winning streak to 11. Greg Kumpel belted a home run to help his teammates down Pine Bush, 9-5, in the final game of the Anaconda Baseball Tournament. The victory in Pine Bush left Cornwall as the only undefeated team in the tournament. The Dragons have won all 11 of their games this year. Cornwall defeated three double-A schools (Kingston, Valley Central, and Pine Bush) in the tournament that was played during spring vacation. Pitcher Dave Boisture got the win over the Bushmen -- a team coached by former Cornwall resident, Tom Walraven. Cornwall returns to action on April 29 with a home game against Washingtonville.
BREAKING -- Wednesday, April 23, 2008 4 p.m. Fire under control
Firefighters are still on the mountain, spraying foam over a large area of brush where pockets of flame are still darting about, but the threat of a large-scale conflagration has passed. Storm King Engine Co. and Highland Engine Co. are both on the scene. Vails Gate and New Windsor have been called in. (Note -- it was originally written here that Vails Gate and New Windsor were on standby but not called to the scene.)
BREAKING -- Wednesday, April 23, 2008 2:48 p.m. Brush fire on Deer Hill....
All available manpower has been called to help fight a brush fire on Deer Hill Road. The fire was called in by Nicole LeDoux, who was driving down the hill toward the village to get lunch at about 2:30 p.m. "First I tried to put the fire out and then I took whatever pictures I could of it," she says. It started in a pile of leaves, and has now spread to trees. The fire is on the side of the road, just below a driveway on Deer Hill. At about 2:45 p.m. the New Windsor and Vails Gate fire departments were called in to help.... Photo above courtesy of Nicole LeDoux.
BREAKING -- Wednesday, April 23, 2008 David Petraeus to head CentComm
General David Petraeus is to be nominated to head U.S. Central Command, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced today. Petraeus will likely leave Iraq and take up his new post in Tampa, Fla. on May 1, after quick Senate confirmation. U.S. Central Command covers the central part of the world, and includes the Middle East, northeast Africa, and parts of central Asia. It is the most treacherous region in the world, and likely to remain the focus of U.S. military efforts for the forseeable future. Its headquarters are in Tampa. The promotion of Cornwall's favorite son is not a surprise, but comes sooner than expected. Army public affairs officer Col. Steve Boylan told the Local in February that Petraeus was expecting to remain in Iraq through the summer.
BREAKING Sports -- Tuesday, April 22, 2008 Lady Dragons fall in longest game ever... Cornwall lost a marathon softball game this afternoon, as the Lady Dragons fell to Middletown 8-7 in 13 innings. The last four innings were played under the international tie breaker rules, where each team comes to bat with a runner on second base. Veteran Cornwall coach Rick Miller said it was the longest game he could remember. Cornwall's Kelsey Hand prolonged the game when she pegged a runner out at the plate after taking a relay throw from right fielder Danielle Johnston. The Lady Dragons had a 7-2 lead through the early innings of the contest as Johnston and Erin Miller delivered key hits. Katie Visconti made two running catches in center field.
BREAKING Sports -- Tuesday, April 22, 2008 Ten-game streak for Dragons The boys baseball team beat Valley Central 13-6 today to score their tenth straight win of the season. Lou D'Esposito hit a homer and D'Esposito and Tommy Terribile both hit triples. The photo above, by Ken Cashman, show senior Tommy Terribile safe at third after his triple.
BREAKING -- Tuesday, April 22, 2008 2:30 p.m. Town Board resolution: Woodbury acting to our detriment The Town Board's resolution, passed 4-0 last night, says it appears that both the Town and Village of Woodbury have "disregarded" communications from Cornwall's Town Board and Board of Education and "have proceeded to act in violation of applicable law and to the detriment and injury of the Town of Cornwall and its citizens." It authorizes Supervisor Kevin Quigley to execute documents necessary to enter into a cost-sharing agreement with the Board of Education, to cover the costs of the Article 78 lawsuit. Read the full text of the resolution HERE.
BREAKING -- Monday, April 21, 2008 11:15 p.m. Village severs relations with Protter, appoints interim attorney
The Village Board appointed the firm of Rider, Weiner & Frankel, P.C. tonight as interim attorneys to the Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson. The firm was appointed following the decision at the reorganization meeting earlier this month not to re-appoint Howard Protter of Jacobowitz & Gubits LLP because of concerns about conflicts of interest. Protter was initially going to stay on in the interim, but those plans were scotched when the board met in executive session last week. "We just felt that is wasn't that comfortable moving forward," said Mayor Joe Gross. "We felt the fact that we didn't appoint him didn't make for the best relationship." Rider, Weiner & Frankel, P.C. is based in New Windsor and represents two other municipalities in Orange County -- the Town of Newburgh to the north and the Town of Highlands to the south. Charlie Frankel (above), one of the firm's partners, sat in to advise the board at tonight's meeting. He says he was "pitch hitting" for his colleague, Mark Taylor, who will normally be working with the board. The Village Board agreed to pay the firm $170 an hour for its services, the same rate that was charged by Protter. Frankel says it's likely his firm will submit a proposal to be appointed as permanent village attorney (with annual reappointment). Click here to read about Rider, Weiner & Frankel's municipal law practice.
BREAKING -- Monday, April 21, 2008 11:15 p.m. Count us in: Town Board votes to join BOE in Article 78 suit The Cornwall Town Board voted tonight to join the Board of Education in an Article 78 lawsuit against the Village of Woodbury, to annul action taken by Woodbury regarding the Legacy Ridge development. The vote was 4-0, with Randy Clark absent. Click HERE to read the full text of the resolution.
BREAKING Sports -- Monday, April 21, 2008 7:30 p.m. Ninth straight win for baseball team
Shortstop Greg Kumpel fielded the ball and got the force out at second base in today's game in Kingston. The Dragons beat Kingston 11-8 after a rough start that had Kingston leading 4-2 in the second inning. Cornwall came from behind and by the top of the seventh inning the boys were up 11-5. The game was played at Gruner Field. (Photo by John Smith)
BREAKING Sports -- Monday, April 21, 2008 Softball team defeated by Valley Central The Valley Central softball team rallied to defeat Cornwall girls 7-6 this morning. The Lady Dragons held a 3-0 lead until Valley Central, playing in front of a hometown crowd, surged ahead with a grand slam. Valley Central girls extended their lead to 7-3 before Cornwall retaliated with three runs in the final inning.
BREAKING -- Sunday, April 20, 2008 Colonel Blair, veteran of foreign wars and Con Ed fight, dies at 92
Colonel Russell Blair, a three-time winner of the Purple Heart and a much-loved former instructor at the New York Military Academy, died on Saturday morning at St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital. He was 92. Col. Blair was the consultant to Consolidated Edison during the historic fight over the pumped storage plant on Storm King Mountain and helped broker the settlement between Con Ed, Scenic Hudson and the Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson that preserved the waterfront as place of unspoiled beauty for all time. The colonel was a frequent customer at the Sidewalk Cafe on Hudson Street, and could be seen almost every day walking his cocker spaniel in Donahue Memorial Park, near the river's edge. Col. Blair was one of the last remaining mounted Cavalrymen in the United States. He joined the Army in 1934 and served in the 13th Horse Cavalry Regiment at Fort Riley, Kansas. He served during World War II in the jungles of Burma and with the Chinese Combat Command in Kunming, China. He was a battalion commander during the Korean War and wrote a story about the generosity of American soldiers, "A Christmas Story from Korea," that was published in The Saturday Evening Post on December 22, 1951 (and re-printed in the Local on December 22, 2006). At NYMA, Blair was riding master and Director of Horsemanship, and worked in 2000 with other alumni to bring a riding program back to the academy -- an effort which ultimately proved unsuccessful. He was an Army intelligence officer and a U.S. Army Ranger and was inducted into the Army Ranger Hall of Fame in 2003.
BREAKING -- Saturday, April 19, 2008 4:50 p.m. Daniella: "Oh yeah, I'm suing"
The criminal trial: Daniella's harassment trial in the Town of Cornwall Justice Court is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20, the same day as the school budget vote and school board election. Students who were in the class on Jan. 2 when 6'2" sophomore Joe Strickland says she slapped him have been subpoenaed to testify by the Orange County District Attorney. Matt Epstein, the high school sophomore who has defended Miss Jones and admonished the school board at meetings and in Letters to the Editor, said today that has agreed to testify as a character witness for Miss Jones, and that he's heard that former students of Miss Jones have also agreed to testify in her defense.
BREAKING -- Saturday, April 19, 2008 2:58 p.m. Board of Ed votes 8-0 to sue Woodbury The Board of Education voted unanimously on Thursday night to file an Article 78 lawsuit against the Village of Woodbury, challenging the approval of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Legacy Ridge development. The members of the board, however, agreed that they did not want to be the lead plaintiff on the suit. The vote on the resolution to file suit was 8-0, with one member, Richie Romano, absent.
BREAKING Sports -- Friday, April 18, 2008 7:30 p.m. Softball girls beat Monticello x2
Lady Dragon softball fans may have thought they were seeing double this afternoon. The varsity and junior varsity both played Monticello, on adjacent fields at Cornwall Central High School. The games ended at the same time, both scores were 17-2, and on both fields the winning pitcher was named Wood. Jess Wood (above on the left) picked up her third win for the varsity, and her sister Jenna (an eighth-grader, above right) went the distance for the jayvee. The girls' parents are Pam and John Wood, both employees of the Town of Cornwall. The varsity's next game is on Monday at 11 a.m. at Valley Central.
Sports -- Tuesday, April 15, 2008 Dragons beat Monticello 20-0 The varsity baseball team defeated Monticello 20-0 in front of a chilly crowd in Cornwall this afternoon. Ken Kirshner, a sophomore left hander who was moved up from JV for the day, pitched four hitless innings. It was the Dragons' sixth win of the season.
BREAKING -- Tuesday, April 15, 2008 11:11 p.m. Salisbury Mills man pulled from mangled wreck on Route 32
A man from Salisbury Mills heading north on Route 32 hit a semi truck head on at about 9:30 p.m. tonight, was pulled from the mangled wreck that was his Jeep Cherokee, and is being taken by helicopter to Westchester Medical Center with possibly life-threatening injuries. The man, whose name has not yet been released, was seen weaving in and out of the lane just before he plowed into the semi, which was headed south to the Coca Cola plant in Harriman. "It was just a ball of fire," said Steve Samuels, describing the moment of impact that he witnessed in his rear-view mirror after passing the weaving Jeep Cherokee. The driver of the semi, Jack Saddler, said he saw the Jeep coming at him, but realized that there was nowhere for him to go, other than off the road into the ditch. "He just kept coming at me," he said. The Cornwall Fire Department's rescue team used O Ring cutters, a maverick tool and hydraulic rams to pry the roof and the driver's side door off the Jeep and to cut out the brake pedal, which was jammed into the man's leg. The driver was conscious but blood was coming out of his mouth as the men worked to free him from the vehicle, said Fire Chief Pat Hines. The crash ruptured one of the diesel tanks on the side of the semi's cab, spilling diesel over a 25-foot stretch of road. The two tanks on the cab have a 250-gallon capacity: It is unknown how much diesel spilled. Volunteer firemen were working to clean the spill and as of 10:30 p.m. were waiting for the Department of Environmental Conservation to arrive on the scene. Route 32 was blocked from Angola Road south for approximately a quarter mile.
BREAKING -- Tuesday, April 15, 2008 3:20 p.m. Daniella Jones trial moved to May 20 The date of the trial of teacher Daniella "Mama" Jones was changed from April 22 to May 20, by agreement of both parties. The trial will begin at 4 p.m. in the Town of Cornwall Justice Court on May 20, on the same day as the school budget vote and school board election. Jones was charged with one count of harassment after high school sophomore Joe Strickland signed a complaint alleging that she slapped him in the classroom on Jan. 2. The charge is a violation, the lowest level of offense.
Photo feature -- Monday, April 14, 2008 Early spring at the riverfront
A red container ship passes between the willows at Donahue Memorial Park in Cornwall-on-Hudson at 1:20 p.m. today. The high temperature for the area was 51 degrees, though with a slight wind, it felt cooler. It'll be warmer tomorrow, and warmer still on Wednesday and Thursday. By Friday, they, say, we'll be back into the early 70's, for just the second time this year. Photograph by Margaret Menge
BREAKING -- Monday, April 14, 2008 11:40 p.m. SBAC members running for school board
Two members of the School Budget Advisory Committee have signaled their intentions to run for spots on the Board of Education this spring -- Charlie Frankel (pictured at left) and Jim Congelli. Both have served on the School Budget Advisory Committee (SBAC) for the last three years. Frankel is an attorney with a practice in New Windsor where he represents mostly commercial interests, with law partner Mark Taylor. He has two daughters -- one who graduated from Cornwall Central High School and one now a sophomore. Jim Congelli is retired from the Monroe Woodbury School District. There are three seats on Cornwall's nine-member Board of Education up this year. Larry Berger, vice president of the board, is seeking re-election: Jeannie Lincoln and Richie Romano are not. If only Berger, Frankel and Congelli run, all three will automatically be elected. Petitions for those wishing to run may be picked up from the district office on Idlewild Avenue or downloaded from www.cornwallschools.com (click on Budget Information in left column). Signatures must be turned in by Monday, April 21 in order for a candidate's name to appear on the ballot in the May 20 election.
Sports -- Monday, April 14, 2008 7:20 p.m. Dragons winning big in Monticello With a half inning remaining, the Dragons are leading Monticello 19-3. The daylight is fading, but Coach Tom Fanning's men need just three more outs to clinch their fifth straight victory of the year. Sophomore Scotty McClennan started the game on the mound.
BREAKING -- Monday, April 14, 2008 1:00 p.m. She's got the ticket!
Jenna Cooper of Cornwall just received her special bar-coded ticket in the mail to attend the Mass that Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Saturday, April 19. She'll be one of only 3,000 people to attend the Mass, and one of the very few who is not a member of the Catholic clergy. Jenna Cooper is the daughter of Doug and Judy Cooper of Angola Road (younger siblings are Joe and Tess). She's now a senior at Seton Hall University majoring in philosophy and minoring in Greek and Latin. She attends daily Mass when in Cornwall, and began her study of ancient Greek with Father Richard Caplice of St. Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Church in 2006. Jenna's planning to start graduate school in the fall -- either at Ave Maria University in Naples, Fla. or Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., to pursue a Ph.D. in theology. Saturday will be the first time a pope has ever celebrated Mass at St. Patrick's (the seat of the Archidocese of New York, celebrating its 200th birthday this year) or in any church in America. Those attending the Mass have been instructed to arrive at the Palace Hotel on Madison Avenue, directly behind the Cathedral, at 7 a.m., where their IDs will be checked. They'll also be asked to step through a magnetrometer (as at the airport). Following the security check, they'll walk through the "frozen zone" to the Cathedral. Jenna Cooper will be seated in the center aisle, in row 50, surrounded, most likely, by a sea of priests and nuns in black robes. The Mass will begin at 9:15 a.m., with 14 cardinals and 160 bishops on the altar with Pope Benedict. The instructions sent with Jenna's ticket are quite clear: "The Archdiocese of New York is not responsible for lost or stolen tickets. Each ticket is numbered and assigned to a specific individual. The ticket is non-replaceable and non-transferable. The ticket is free and not to be sold."
BREAKING -- Wednesday, April 9, 2008 $$$ State passes annual budget $$$ Larkin: 16.9 percent more for Cornwall schools... more for roads too! Senator Bill Larkin (R-C, Cornwall-on-Hudson) today announced that the 2008-09 state budget contains a $45.8 million increase over 2007-08 for Orange and Ulster County schools in the 39th Senate District. The budget gives area schools over $657 million in school aid.
Larkin announced yesterday that the 2008-09 state budget will increase state highway aid to all local governments in Orange County by a total of $218,431. Municipalities in Orange County will receive a total of $2,290,126 from the state’s Consolidated Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) program -- a 10.54 percent increase over last year. Calhoun: The money is going to run out.... Statement from Assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun (R-C, Blooming Grove): "Even though this budget offers much-needed programs, such as increasing STAR for Mid-Hudson seniors and restoring the middle class STAR rebate, the state Legislature must not fall in the trap of spending revenue that the state does not have, especially with tough economic times looming on the horizon. "This budget is paying for projects through bonding without receiving any public input and that is just plain wrong. This budget spends at a higher rate than inflation, and with the $1 billion upstate project being funded all through borrowed money, the state Legislature is mortgaging our children's future. I feel that by the end of the year we will be back in Albany to make drastic cuts to this sub-prime budget because the money will run out. "What our state needs is a budget that shows fiscal restraint and fiscal responsibility and this budget falls very short of doing just that."
Notices -- Wednesday, April 9, 2008 1:15 p.m. Friday hearings.... Orange County Legislature to discuss open space funding
The Orange County Land Trust is encouraging people to attend the public meeting of the Orange County Legislature on Friday, April 11 at 10 a.m. where continuation of funding for open space will be discussed, and then voted on. Anyone wishing to speak will be allotted two minutes to address the legislature. The meeting will be held in the legislative chambers at the Orange County Government Center in Goshen. If you cannot attend the meeting but have something to say on this issue, contact your Orange County legislators: Chris Eachus, Democrat, at 527-4514 or Alan Seidman, Republican, at (914) 456-0305. (The photograph above shows Cornwall, the Hudson River, and Mount Beacon on the other side. It was taken from the top of Schunemunk Mountain in the Town of Cornwall.) Rep. Hall to hold hearing on water pollution in the Hudson Valley Rep. John Hall and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, on which he serves, will be holding a special field hearing in East Fishkill on Friday, April 11 to examine water pollution and cleanup in New York's Hudson Valley. The field hearing, entitled, "Water Resources Contamination and Environmental Cleanup in the Hudson Valley," will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the East Fishkill Town Hall. For more information, go to http://johnhall.house.gov.
BREAKING -- Wednesday, April 9, 2008 11:28 a.m. Not Fire -- Water! The call went out as a structure fire, but when firefighters arrived at St. Luke's (the Cornwall Hospital) they found only water. A water main had broken and flooded one room on the second floor. Firemen offered to stay and help clean it up but hospital staff had it covered.
BREAKING -- Wednesday, April 9, 2008 11:12 a.m. Fire at the hospital Highland Engine Co., Mountainville Engine Co. and Storm King Engine Co. have responded to St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital for a reported structure fire.... Pat Hines, chief of the Cornwall Fire Dept., was on the scene at 11:05 a.m... The fire is thought to be under control....developing...
BREAKING Sports -- Tuesday, April 8, 2008 10 p.m. McClennan muffles Wizard attack in second game of the season....
Scott McClennan worked out of a first-inning jam this afternoon, and then settled down to pitch the varsity baseball team to a 5-1 win in Washingtonville. The right-handed sophomore loaded the bases in the first inning, but induced an easy ground ball out to end the threat. McClennan pitched six innings and struck out eight batters. Kevin Arduino worked the final frame to get the save. Lou D'Esposito broke open a tie game in the third inning with a bloop single to left field that scored two runs. The photo above, taken by Ken Cashman, shows Tom Terribile getting tagged out at First.
BREAKING -- Tuesday, April 8, 2008 9:30 p.m. Library vote passes The $885,458 budget for the Cornwall Public Library passed today 347-89, and Maureen Terwilliger, who ran unopposed, was elected to a full five-year term. The budget, to increase 2.6 percent over the current year, will result in a 2.78 percent increase in taxes paid to support the library (collected with school taxes each September).
BREAKING -- Tuesday, April 8, 2008 9:20 p.m. Village of Woodbury passes local laws for Legacy Ridge Woodbury's board: Positives outweigh negatives....Woodbury's Jonathan Swiller: Cornwall's attitude is causing friction....Cornwall's Coyne: Can't have it both ways....Cornwall's Incanno: We'll see you in court!
The Village of Woodbury passed two local laws tonight to allow Legacy Ridge to build a maximum of 313 four-bedroom homes on the parcel of land south of Trout Brook Road, in between Route 32 and Smith Clove Road in the Cornwall Central School District. The first local law decreased the minimum lot size from 3 acres to 2 acres. The second local law awarded the development "conservation cluster" status, with the north parcel of land being conserved. The vote was unanimous, with the mayor, Stephanie Berean-Weeks (pictured below) and the two other board members (Patrick Kinney, above left, and Neil Crouse, above middle) voting Yes. One board member, who was just elected, abstained. The fifth board member was absent.
"You have given us, Cornwall, taxation without representation," said Tony Incanno to the Village Board, in the public comment period that followed the vote. Jonathan Swiller, a Woodbury resident and Legacy Ridge supporter, stepped to the microphone and told the Village Board that the problem with the Cornwall school district is its name -- that it only wants to educate Cornwall kids and treats those from Woodbury and New Windsor who are in the school district as "interlopers" or "foreigners sneaking over a fence." Brendan Coyne, the president of Cornwall's Board of Education (above right), told the board that they "can't have it both ways" -- they can't sell homes in Woodbury by talking up Cornwall schools, and then put the quality of Cornwall schools in jeopardy by flooding them with new students. And he countered Swiller, saying the Cornwall Central School District is in the business of "educating all students." Half the people in the audience at tonight's meeting of Woodbury's Village Board were from Cornwall. Supervisor Kevin Quigley was there, as were Town Board members Al Mazzocca, Kerry McGuinness and Mary Beth Greene-Krafft. Also -- Ed Flynn, Iris Sandow (doing PR for the developer of Legacy Ridge -- Millennium Homes) and Bernie Sussman.
BREAKING -- Monday, April 7, 2008 11:15 p.m. Board rejects Cornwall Commons road plan; sides with fire chief
The town Planning Board voted unanimously tonight to reject the SEIS (Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement) submitted by Cornwall Commons, because of a letter from Fire Chief Pat Hines saying that the 24' private roads on the site plan are too narrow for fire trucks to pass if a car is parked on one side. The issue of road width was raised at the March meeting, and Gerry Jacobowitz, the attorney representing Cornwall Commons developer Joe Amato, presented a compromise plan to both the Town Board and Planning Board tonight, showing most of the 24' roads widened to 26' or changed to one-way, and an emergency entrance added. It was this compromise plan that the Planning Board rejected tonight, along with the SEIS. "As of tonight, we no longer have an SEIS in front of us," said Planning Board member Led Klosky after the meeting. "It leaves the next step clearly with the applicant." Jacobowitz (pictured above in his presentation to the Town Board) says he's going to ask the fire district and the ambulance corps to review his compromise road plan themselves. The Cornwall Commons development, Jacobowitz reminded the boards tonight, has been before the town for eight years now.
BREAKING -- Monday, April 7, 2008 11 p.m. Bennett bows out Lorraine Bennett abruptly declined appointment to the town Planning Board in a letter read aloud by Supervisor Kevin Quigley at tonight's Town Board meeting. Bennett had been appointed on March 10 to fill the vacancy on the Planning Board left by Deke Hazirjian. She was chosen from among several candidates who'd expressed interest in the position and were interviewed by the Town Board. A local activist, Nancy Lewit, e-mailed a letter to Supervisor Kevin Quigley this afternoon (and CC'd it to the Local) complaining that the appointment of Bennett, who is chair of the Cornwall Republican Committee, is an insult to the party and compromises Quigley's integrity. "We cannot allow the Cornwall Republican party to do political favors for those who come before the Planning Board," she wrote. "It is not too late for you to just say no. It is still your choice, and the fate of this town and the Republican party is in your hands." Lewit identifies herself at the bottom of the letter as a registered Republican. She said after the meeting that she doesn't know if her letter was the reason that Bennett changed her mind about serving again on the Planning Board. Quigley could not be reached for comment after tonight's meeting, which ran past 10 p.m. Lorraine Bennett was chair of the town Planning Board until 2002, when Supervisor Jim Sollami appointed Neil Novesky in her place. She vigorously supported Kevin Quigley for town supervisor. Update 4/8: Supervisor Kevin Quigley says he didn't receive the e-mail from Nancy Lewit yesterday (as he doesn't check the e-mail account it was sent to every day); and says he didn't talk with Lorraine Bennett yesterday. "I had called her. There was no answer on her phone," he says. "I didn't know why she quit, she didn't give a specific reason," he said, referring to the short, two-line letter Bennett delivered to Town Hall.
Photo feature -- Monday, April 7, 2008 3:38 p.m. On the Waterfront
BREAKING -- Monday, April 7, 2008 2:15 p.m. Monday miscellany Protter raising rates: Howard Protter is not being re-appointed as village attorney at tonight's reorganization meeting at Village Hall, but is staying on to advise the Village Board while they search for a new attorney. And while he's there, he'd like more money. Protter is proposing tonight to raise his hourly rate from $170 an hour to $250 an hour, which he says is "still substantially below" his standard hourly rate of $310. Mary Aspin not being re-appointed: Mary Aspin, long-time chair of the village Planning Board, is not being re-appointed at tonight's Village Board reorganization meeting, Mayor Joe Gross said today. He said Aspin agreed to step aside. The mayor says John Farr, long-time member of the Planning Board, will be named chairman, and Andrew Argenio will be appointed to the Planning Board to fill the vacancy left by Aspin. Argenio is part owner of his family's construction business, Argenio Brothers, based in Newburgh, and a life-long resident of Cornwall-on-Hudson. Hall's a hugger: John Hall was on the front page of the Local in November of 2006 hugging Rep. Maurice Hinchey on Election Day outside the Shop Rite at Vails Gate. Saturday night at the Inn at Central Valley he went hugging on the other side of the aisle, giving our Assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun, a Republican, a big bear hug at the Woodbury ambulance corps dinner. Hall at the border: Rep. Hall said when he was at the U.S. Mexico border late last month on a congressional fact-finding trip he witnessed a group of about 20 border crossers being apprehended. Hall also said Border Patrol agents told him that they just want the border fence through the cities and towns, not necessarily through the rural areas, because they have days to catch people coming over the border in the unpopulated areas. (See photo of the fence on Page 5 of this week's Local.) Sidenote: Hall says the Border Patrol is hiring -- agents start at $30,000... Petraeus testifying: Gen. David Petraeus is back in Washington tomorrow and Wednesday, testifying before Congress on the situation on the ground in Iraq. On his political aspirations, The New York Times Week in Review passes along that Petraeus has been more than clear, and has even quoted Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman who famously said: “If drafted, I will not run; if nominated, I will not accept; if elected, I will not serve." Interestingly, though, there is no evidence in the article that the reporter was able to get through to Gen. Petraeus, only to his spokesman. Is Petraeus not granting interviews to the Times? Only to The Cornwall Local??
BREAKING -- Friday, April 4, 2008 6:45 p.m. Hannaford shoppers warned of theft of credit and debit card information
Margaret Menge -- Shoppers at Hannaford supermarket in Vails Gate got a flyer slipped into their bags today warning that if they shopped at Hannaford between Dec. 7, 2007 and March 10, 2008, their credit and debit card numbers may have been taken and used to make fraudulent purchases. The flyer, signed by Hannaford's CEO, refers to a "novel and sophisticated attack" on the company's computer network, resulting in the theft of "certain credit and debit card numbers." It urges customers to carefully review bank statements for suspicious charges and to consult with their banks. Spencer Gulliver, the assistant store manager at the Hannaford on Route 94 in Vails Gate, said he hadn't had any customers from this store coming forward to say they've had their card information used -- but said that he'd canceled his own credit card, just to be safe. Hannaford is based in Maine, and has supermarkets in New England and New York State. The story about the attack on Hannaford's network and the theft of card information first broke last month. Hannaford was first made aware of the security breach on February 27. Gulliver said they've had information posted inside the Vails Gate store for the last few weeks, but just started handing out the flyers today. For more information about the incident, and the potential for theft of your card information, call the Hannaford Customer Assistance line at (866) 591-4580.
BREAKING -- Friday, April 4, 2008 5:33 p.m. Mayor to Protter: we're finding somebody new
By Margaret Menge -- Howard Protter, long-time attorney to the Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson, is not going to be re-appointed at the village's reorganization meeting on Monday, Mayor Joe Gross said this afternoon. When asked why, the mayor said there were too many concerns about Protter's conflicts of interest. Howard Protter (left), a resident of Cornwall-on-Hudson, is the managing partner with the firm of Jacobowitz & Gubits, based in Walden, NY, and is also the president of the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum. He has been the village attorney since 1982. "I was disappointed," he said this afternoon, of being told by Mayor Gross that the village is planning to find another attorney. Protter says he never counseled the village on any matter relating to a private client of his -- "I always recused myself," he said. In the last year, Protter recused himself from advising the Village Board on all matters related to Tony Missere (co-owner of The River Bank) as well as all matters involving the Village of Kiryas Joel and the 490-unit Cornwall Commons development -- all of which his firm represents. Just before he was elected a year ago, Joe Gross had criticized Protter's formulation of a water contract between the village (which runs the water department) and Cornwall Commons, which is represented by his firm's partner, Gerry Jacobowitz, also a resident of Cornwall-on-Hudson. Protter had defended this, saying the contract was "boilerplate." The village Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals have retained the services of an attorney named Bob Fink, of Goshen, to advise them in the Missere-Yannone disputes, and the mayor has commented over the last months that he's struggled to get good information about the proposed pipeline to Kiryas Joel in the absence of legal counsel. Protter says he doesn't think the pipeline issue should have been make-or-break. "If one time in a quarter of a century their paths cross, I don't think that's such an issue that they couldn't get special counsel,.." said Protter, referring to the issue between the two municipalities. The mayor says he informally polled the four village trustees (Edsall, Fogarty, and incoming trustees Gosda and Gioia) and that the decision was unanimous to find new counsel. He says they're planning to send out a Request for Proposals (RFP) to solicit bids from law firms in the area. Protter was paid $170 an hour for his services.
BREAKING -- Tuesday, April 1, 2008 11:18 p.m. Fire on Avenue A: 15-year-old mans the flames till firefighters arrive...
A fire broke out in the walls of a home on Avenue A tonight, and firefighters hacked out one wall of the small laundry room at the back of the house to extinguish it. James Scully, the homeowner, says he was watching the Yankees season opener when he smelled smoke. He says his 15-year-old grandson, Christopher Foster, who lives with him, grabbed the fire extinguisher from under the sink and began using it to pound the walls in the laundry room.
"I'm just so proud of him," said Mr. Scully of his grandson, Christopher. He says he doesn't how Christopher knew how to jump into action like that, and says he's afraid of what might have happened if his daughter, Mary (Christopher's mother) and her family didn't live with him. Mr. Scully said he had a load of clothes in the dryer and believes that the filter from the dryer may have backed up and started the fire. The home, he said, dates back to the 1800s. He has lived here for more than forty years. Mr. Scully says after his wife died four years ago, he didn't want to live alone, so he asked his daughter's family to move into the house with him.
BREAKING -- Tuesday, April 1, 2008 7 p.m. Name names: DA to subpoena names of students from school district
The district attorney's office said this afternoon that they're getting a subpoena tomorrow to force the Cornwall school district to hand over a list of all of the students in the room at Cornwall Central High School on Jan. 2 when sophomore Joe Strickland says he was "slapped" by science teacher Daniella Jones. Neal Haberman, the senior attorney in the Orange County DA's Newburgh office, said they're going to subpoena as many eye witnesses to testify at the April 22 trial as they can find. "We're going to have them tell the story, and tell what happened," he said. Haberman also said that although the maximum sentence for the harassment charge (a violation) is 15 days in jail, there's not much possibility of things going that far. "Even if she's convicted, there's no way this is a jail case," he said. He said he doesn't expect the April 22 trial, to be held in the Town of Cornwall Justice Court, to last more than one day. Haberman declined to say whether Principal Frank Sheboy or the police officer who took the report, Marcus Orellana, would be asked to testify, though he seemed to indicate it wasn't a strong possibility that either would be called. Daniella Jones will be represented at the trial by Newburgh attorney Paul Trachte, who did not immediately return calls for comment. Niles Gerry, the assistant district attorney assigned to Cornwall, will be prosecuting the case. "Schools have to do what schools have to do," said Haberman. "We're going to try to get a conviction. If we don't get a conviction, that's just the way it is..." | ||
Fired high school science teacher Daniella Jones said today that she's going ahead with a racial discrimination lawsuit, and that she's hired a new lawyer to take the case. She says she and the lawyer are still figuring what parties they're "going after" in the suit, and that they would first be filing an EEOC (
Smoke puffed out, and then could see flames leaping up the wall. Christopher used the extinguisher until firefighters arrived on the scene. Storm King Engine Co. and Highland Engine Co. both responded and four fire trucks were parked on the usually quiet street, with red lights turning and more than a dozen firefighters working to pull out the hoses. The call initially came in to dispatch at 9:36 p.m. 