Cornwall: Senator Secures Funds for Road Repair
State Sen. James Skoufis secured $125,000 to repave Muser Drive, the mile-long road that leads to the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum.
“Last spring, the potholes were so deep that after it rained, snapping turtles would come to lay their eggs in them and ducklings would swim,” said Jessica Oliver, the museum’s executive director, in a statement. “Everyone was strictly obeying the posted 15 mph speed limit out of necessity — any faster would surely result in a blown tire or bent rim.”
Peekskill: City Faces Second $1 Million Judgment
The Common Council, which on Nov. 27 voted to pay a $1 million settlement in a case handled by the city’s former attorney, faces the possibility of default in a second federal lawsuit that could cost another $1 million.
The earlier lawsuit involved a man injured in a crash with an off-duty Peekskill police officer in 2016, according to the Peekskill Herald. The city’s lawyer failed to respond in time to the complaint and the city was found in default.
Now Peekskill faces a second defaulted case that was recently discovered. Filed in October 2022 by the owners of 104 S. Division St., the suit claims that work on the building has been delayed by the city’s “unlawful, unequal and arbitrary” enforcement of its building code because they are Hasidic Jews.
The city’s attorney at the time didn’t respond to the complaint and an entry of default was filed in February and finalized in May. The city will argue at a hearing scheduled for Jan. 4 that the default judgment should be overturned.
Kingston: Ryan Honors Couple Killed by Hamas
In a speech to the U.S. House on Nov. 30, Rep. Pat Ryan, whose district includes Beacon, remembered Margit Silverman, the sister of Maurice Shnaider, a native of Kingston, who was killed Oct. 7 with her husband, Yosi. The Silvermans’ daughter, Shiri Bibas; son-in-law, Yarden; and grandchildren, Kfir, 10 months, and Ariel, 4, were kidnapped by Hamas from their home in a southern Israeli kibbutz.
Hamas has claimed Shiri and her children were killed by an Israeli airstrike, while other reports state the Bibas family is being held by another group. According to the Daily Freeman, in late October, family members, friends and political leaders gathered at Congregation Agudas Achim Chabad in Kingston to support the Shnaider family.
Ryan noted in his speech that Judih Weinstein Haggai, 70, of Goshen is still being held by Hamas, and said that her husband, Gadi Haggai, 73, is believed to be dead. [Update: On Dec. 28, Kibbutz Nir Oz announced that the couple had been killed on Oct. 7.]
Ulster: Can We Recycle Mattresses?
The Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency hopes to find a better way to dispose of mattresses than dumping them in a landfill, according to the Daily Freeman.
“When you have to recycle the mattresses, they have to be loaded onto a 53-foot trailer in a certain order, which means you get [a maximum of] 77 mattresses,” said Anna Roppolo, the agency’s interim executive director, at a recent meeting.
Separating mattresses would eliminate about 20 trailers annually making the 240-mile trip to a landfill in Waterloo. But it would add about 200 trailers making the 100-mile trip to a recycling plant in Queens.
County Legislator Manna Jo Greene told agency officials that lawmakers would like to have a recycling facility in the region to eliminate the drive to Queens.
“My understanding is that in some cases, the mattress actually gets sterilized and reused … in a warehouse and not used by people,” Greene said, according to the Daily Freeman. “In most cases, they simply dismantle. They take apart and recycle the contents [such as] the box spring and metal.”
