Three members of Rockland’s state legislative delegation have urged Gov. David Paterson reconsider his decision to close the state police laboratory in Newburgh.

Law enforcement in Rockland, Westchester, Putnam, Orange, Dutchess and Sullivan counties depend on the laboratory for analysis on evidence for criminal cases and prosecutions. The lab has serviced the lower Hudson Valley for 31 years. Nearly 15 tro 20 years ago efforts by some to build a Rockland County forensic lab never got off the ground.

The Newburgh-based lab’s closure puts more work on the state police lab in Albany and would add another 90 minutes of travel if officers have to drive to the Albany to pick up or deliver evidence, instead of Newburgh, contend the trio of legislators – Sen. Thomas Morahan, R-New City, and Assembly members Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern, and Kenneth P. Zebrowski, D-New City.

They also emphasize how much work the crime lab does for the region and Rockland law enforcement. In 2008, the laboratory handled analysis for 2,414 drug cases and 765 toxicology cases.

…Thomas Morahan          Ellen Jaffee             Ken Zebrowski

Below is a copy of the letter from the three lawmakers to Paterson, released to the public this week:

August 25, 2009
Governor David A. Paterson
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224

State Legislators Protest Newburgh Lab Closure

Dear Governor Paterson,
We write today to ask you to reconsider the closure of the State Police Lab located in Newburgh, New York. While we recognize the financial situation the State is facing, closing this lab will, in the long-term, adversely affect residents of Rockland County and the Hudson Valley and greatly impair our county’s law enforcement agencies’ ability to protect those who live and work in Rockland County.
A study completed in 1972 found that more than one-third of drug evidence submissions to the New York State Police Laboratory System originated from the Mid-Hudson region. In response to the this demonstrated need, the Mid-Hudson Regional Crime Laboratory opened in 1978, and has, for the last 31 years, served law enforcement agencies in Rockland, Orange, Dutchess, Westchester, Sullivan, and Putnam Counties, as well as New York State Parole and Corrections, and various federal government agencies.
The regional need for this laboratory has not diminished since its inception. In fact, we can expect the need to continue to rise due to increased arrests and prosecution for drug and alcohol related-incidents, most of which require the expertise of the Mid-Hudson Regional Crime Laboratory. In 2008, this translated to 2,414 drug cases and 765 toxicology cases.
In addition, further taxing police departments’ already stretched resources by forcing officers to travel to Albany, an additional 90 minutes each way from Rockland County, will take officers out of the communities where they do the most good and have them traveling on the New York State Thruway for nearly an entire shift. This will inevitably impact scheduling for police departments and result in additional overtime pay – a burden to the taxpayers.

Kenneth Byman, a veterinarian with the North Rockland Animal Hospital in Stony Point, wanted to remind people that rabies virus was real.

The veterinarian yesterday spotted a rabies-infected stray cat.

Byman said a Stony Point resident rescued a stray cat about two or three weeks ago because it was injured. She took the cat to another vet to be treated. And yesterday, she brought the cat to Byman’s office because the cat presented a central nervous system disease.

The cat was euthanized. The autopsy conducted by the county Health Department showed that it was infected with rabies virus.

Those residents who were exposed to the animal were also treated for a possible infection. Employees at the vet are in the process of confirming that their vaccination titles are adequate.

Byman said he wanted to remind people that a stray cat was no different from other wild animals — raccoons, bats, or skunks — that can be a carrier of rabies virus.

“From a public health stand point, I thought it would be nice to alert the general public that rabies virus is real,” Byman said.

People in the Spring Valley community are upset about a debate in which the only non-Haitian candidate in the Democratic primary race for mayor was not invited.

Bernard Charles Jr., who is African-American, believes organizers’ decision to hold the Thursday debate entirely in Creole and not invite him was exclusionary.

The five candidates who were invited are Haitian-American.

Cassandra Edwards, a village community activist, was disturbed by the whole thing.

“I think it clearly defines that people are not interested in working from a multicultural perspective. People are interested in working from their own agendas, which excludes the majority of the community … . It blows my mind,” she said yesterday.

Spring Valley — a village of about 25,000 people — is home to a significant number of Haitians.

Organizers haven’t responded to calls seeking comment, but some debaters said they didn’t believe any wrong had been done, pointing out that various ethnic groups have held discussions about politics or other issues in their native tongues.

To read my earlier story about the incident, click here.

Stephanie Hausner, who is running for Clarkstown Town Board, has been appointed the Democratic National Committee Woman for the Young Democrats of America (YDA) by Crystal Strait, the newly elected president of the YDA. Hausner will complete the remainder of of Strait’s DNC term, which expires in the summer of 2010.

Hausner, who was born and raised in New City, was appointed to the DNC after serving at the campaign chair of the YDA Works slate of candidates. She was also appointed to the Clarkstown Democratic Commitee slate in May by Rockland County Legislature Chair, Harriet Cornell. She faces a three-way primary on Sept. 15.

Baile Glauber told The Journal News minutes after graduating from the Rockland Police Academy in June 2008 that she was “excited” about starting her career as a Ramapo police officer.

Glauber (pictured right) declined at the time to discuss her life even though she became a feel-good story because she grew up in the Satmar Hasidic Jewish community, where women are specifically sheltered from influence outside the community.

Times have changed since graduation.

Glauber, 31, a divorce mother with a son, has filed a discrimination complaint against the Ramapo Police Department and town, contending she has been mistreated because of her religious beliefs since her opening interview for the nomination in February 2008, before the Police Academy training.

Ramapo strongly disputes her allegations and will file a response by Sept. 3 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Town Attorney Michael Klein told me today.

Her EEOC complaint is the mandated percursor to a federal civil rights lawsuit.

Klein said he hopes Glauber can settle her issues out of court with the town. But he said Ramapo isn’t backing down that the department followed the laws and accommodated her religious beliefs, including Sabbath days off and an opportunity to get Jewish holidays off.

Glauber  contends her religious beliefs were the focus of discussions since she interviewed with police brass for a job in January 2008. She included Chief Peter Brower.
“I was interviewed for approximately one and one-half hours, during which time I was repeatedly questioned about little else other than how my religious background and my religious observance would affect my ability to perform my job as a police officer,” Glauber wrote in the complaint.

She said officers shunned her,  as part of a campaign of harassment and discrimination. One officer, she wrote, told her she’ll never be part of the police family. Another officer, she said, wished her good luck but didn’t think she could cut it as a cop.  She contends her colleagues didn’t think she could handle being an officer because of her cluster raising as a Satmar Hasidic Jew, and her lack of life experience outside the religious community.

Glauber has not done much police work as she has yet to complete her field training to ride solo as an officer and her probation – and future as an officer – comes up for review in February.

She injured her ankle in the Police Academy, took time off from the physical training and came back to pass the physical regiment.

She’s been on desk duty for months with an ankle and non-work-related injury, while she has seen doctors.

Haverstraw village has scheduled a public hearing for a plan to expand a sober house on Hudson Avenue. The facility is operated by Open Arms, an agency that provides residential treatment services for newly recovering alcoholics and drug addicts.

If approved, the state Department of Mental Health would finance the renovation project. Advocates of the project say it’s a good thing for the community because the existing rundown building would be beautified as part of the project.

But a group of residents have been opposing the plan, saying that the expansion would be unfair to Haverstraw village residents because the community already has other drug rehabilitation facilities and group homes.
The hearing will be at 8 p.m. Sept. 21 at Haverstraw Village Hall at 40 New Main Street.

So it seems that the Democratic primary for town supervisor will come and go without a debate between incumbent Christopher St. Lawrence and his challenger, Bruce Levine, the Spring Valley village attorney.

Levine said he has publicly challenged St. Lawrence to a debate, but the supervisor has not responded.

St. Lawrence told this writer on one occasion about a month ago that he wanted to debate Levine. But the supervisor has not responded to subsequent calls from this writer. So who knows? Maybe he changed his mind.

Joe Cannavaro, foreman of the Haverstraw town Highway Department, had a narrow escape from a major accident this morning when he was driving on Rosman Road as part of his routine patrol.

Following a thunderous cracking noise, a gigantic tree branch fell onto his foreman truck, ripping down electric wires.

The body of the truck was slightly damaged, but Cannavaro was uninjured.

“The whole thing came down on me,” said Cannavaro, pointing the 10-foot-long branch. “I jumped out. I called the police.”

The damaged electric wire caused a minor fire in the nearby house.
The Thiells Fire Department responded to the scene along with Haverstraw police.
Rosman Road was closed while the highway department’s staff, including Cannavaro, and Orange and Rockland Utilities restore the site. (Photo by Akiko Matsuda. Cannavaro, right, clears the fallen branch with his staff.)

The Haverstraw village board will hold a regular meeting at 8 p.m. Aug. 10 at Haverstraw Village Hall at 40 New Main St., and the board will open the scheduled public hearing for a proposed affordable housing development, to be known as Murphy Manor Apartments.
But no discussion will take place because the developer, Ginsburg Development Companies LLC, has changed the location for the plan and resubmitted its application.
The plan was originally proposed on the parcel that formerly housed Servco Lacquer Body Shop Supplies on Samsondale Avenue.
But after meeting oppositions from residents, the developer has changed the location to the vacant lots at 45 and 53 Route 9W.
The property is currently owned by Olori Brothers LLC.
A public hearing for the new plan will be scheduled for a later date.

The Rockland County Republican Committee will hold a rally and open its 2009 campaign headquarters at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow in the Clarkstown Plaza shopping mall in New City.

State Sen. Thomas Morahan, R-New City; County Sheriff James Kralik; and County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef will speak. They will outline their vision of Rockland’s future and their plans for the campaign season, according to a party statement.

Vanderhoef is seeking re-election to a fifth four-year term. He is also running on the Conservative and Independence lines.

He is being challenged by Orangetown Town Supervisor Thom Kleiner on the Democratic line, and Andrew Spence on the Working Families line.

Election Day is Nov. 3.

Rockland County turned over four surplus TRIPS buses to Clarkstown today.

Each bus has about 150,000 miles, and are “beyond their useful life…due to the the tremendous number of miles TRIPS logs each day, County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef said.

The county has replaced the buses with new ones purchased using funding from the Federal Transit Administration.

Meanwhile, Clarkstown’s fleet has exceeded 300,000 miles per bus, Town Supervisor Alex Gromack said.

Town mechanics will refurbish the donated buses for use by the town’s Mini Trans service, Gromack said, a move that will help save the town about $300,000 by avoiding the need to buy new buses for the next two to three years.

Above, Gromack, left, and Vanderhoef, right. Photo provided by Vanderhoef’s office.

It can be interesting to leaf through petitions filed to get prospective candidates on the ballot.

Petitions for a Republican ticket, which includes Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence and town Justice Rhoda Schoenberger – both Democrats – on the GOP primary ballot were collected by a variety of local political veterans.

They included Michael Dolan, the town’s Republican chairman, John Layne, the former Airmont mayor, Allan Thompson, the former Spring Valley mayor, and Sloatsburg village Trustees Barbara Berntsen and J. Mark Reimer.

One non-office holder, Golde Kaff of New Square, appeared particularly energetic. She witnessed 396 signatures, according to a petition filed with the Rockland Board of Elections.

William Sherwood, a retired state Supreme Court Justice, will announce his candidacy for Stony Point Town Supervisor at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow at Republican Campaign Headquarters at Colonial Plaza on South Liberty Drive, just north of Hogan’s Diner. Democratic Town Supervisor Phil Marino, whose term is ending this year, is not seeking reelection this fall. Sherwood, a Republican, will face off against Peter Muller, a Democratic candidate running for Marino’s position.

County Legislator Alden Wolfe, D-Suffern, has issued a press release noting he is “unsurprised” by the findings of a cancer study in the medical journal “Lancet Oncology.”

He said the study confirmed the dangers of tanning beds and their ultraviolet radiation. It pointed out that the risk of skin melanoma was increased 75 percent when people started using tanning beds before age 30, Wolfe said.

Why does he care so much about the topic?

Because back in 2006, Wolfe authored a bill to ban tanning for anyone under 16 and to require parental consent for those 16 and 17. The Legislature passed it, County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef vetoed it, then legislators overrode the veto and made it law.

Wolfe says as a result of the study’s findings, the French-based International Agency for Cancer Research, part of the World Health Organization, has designated ultraviolet tanning beds as “carcinogenic to humans,” meaning they cause cancer.

“Hopefully this latest study will encourage people to make smarter health decisions, and encourage our young adults not to engage in a practice that could have devastating impact on their health,” Wolfe said.

Next up: Wolfe and the other 16 legislators will eventually consider, again, whether to pass a calorie-posting law to require chain restaurants to put the number of calories on their menu boards. Supporters hope such a law will encourage people to make smarter health decisions and to not engage in a practice that could devastate their health.

Most mornings, I need to make a left turn from Viola Road onto New Hempstead Road in Ramapo.

This has proven to be a dance with danger and frustration as drivers are forced to cut off approaching cars or drive through the traffic light as it turns red. Drivers can easily sit at the intersection for three or four lights as they wait to make the turn.

I can flat out say, trying to make that left is the most stressful part of my daily driving.

They’ve been studying this intersection for years. Passing drivers have frequently seen the car counters – people who watch the traffic flow and appear to be literally noting the number of vehicles and the efficiency of movement on clipboards.

The worst part about it? Left-turn arrows are in place at the other three turning points, so, yeah, it’s just the left I – and scores of other drivers – need to make that’s messed up.

But finally, the problem has been solved.

I was pretty happy the other day when I approached the light and saw a bright green left-turn arrow that was going my way.

Ramapo Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence said the light was upgraded by the state after he requested the Department of Transportation to study the intersection.

“The modification to the signal greatly impacts upon driver safety,” St. Lawrence said. “The improved conditions are already noticeable for motorists making left turns.”