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.

State Senator Thomas Morahan (R-New City) and Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee (D-Suffern) will receive the Nyack Center’s Legacy Award at 6 pm Saturday at the center, 58, Depew Ave.

The duo is being honored for securing money that was used to replace a boiler and support after-school programs, among other services. The Nyack Center serves more than 2,000 people each year.

“These well-organized activities provide an extrinsic motivation for so many young people, and are of great benefit to our community,” Morahan said.

Jaffee said the Nyack Center ’s were “invaluable to our community.”

“The center provides positive activities for youth that foster academic and social growth, and a safe alternative to being on the streets,” Jaffee said. “Just walking in the doors and seeing children engaged, playing games, and studying with friends demonstrates the value the center has in our community and the impact it has and will continue to have for generations to come.”

Kim Cross, director of the Nyack Center, said the center was “thrilled” to honor Morahan and Jaffee.

“They’ve always been there for us when we’ve needed them,” Cross said.

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County Legislature Vice Chairman William Darden, D-Hillcrest, announced today that he would not seek election to the 95th Assembly District against incumbent Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern.

“I thought about it for a period of time. I had supporters over there and I truly treasure their support,” Darden said this afternoon.

Even though he knows it’s cliche, Darden said he honestly likes what he’s doing on the Legislature.

Still, he said, a run for the Assembly is “not out of the future.”

Jaffee had been facing as many as five challengers from within her own party.  Of them, only one, Ramapo Town Clerk Chris Sampson, has decided to run. The others were Darden, Suffern Mayor John Keegan and former Legislators David Fried and Patrick Withers.

The Republicans are expected to run a candidate against Jaffee, who is finishing out her first term. The district includes Orangetown and parts of Ramapo.

Legislation has passed both state chambers to declare Friday as Thurgood Marshall Day in the state.

The measure was sponsored by State Sen. Thomas Morahan,  R-New City, and Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern, to honor the Supreme Court justice for his contributions to the civil rights movement.

Marshall visited Rockland in 1943 to call for desegregation of a Hillburn school.

According to a press release issued jointly by Morahan and Jaffee, several prominent Rocklanders joined the lawmakers in Albany on Monday, including Legislature Vice Chairman William Darden, D-Hillcrest, his brother Spring Valley Mayor George Darden, Spring Valley NAACP president Willie Trotman, and Willie Bryant from Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.

Ramapo Town Clerk Chris Sampson has formally announced that he will challenge Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern, in the Democratic primary for Jaffee’s seat this fall.

Sampson was one of several area Democrats who said this winter they were interested in the seat. The others were County Legislature Vice Chairman William Darden, Suffern Mayor John Keegan, and former Legislators Patrick Withers and David Fried.

Jaffee and Rockland’s other state representatives are up for re-election in November. Jaffee is completing her first term.

The county’s Democratic convention is coming up in the next few weeks. We’ll be checking in with the four stragglers soon. Stay tuned.

The other day, The Journal News and LoHud.com ran an article on how much money various state Senators and Assembly members had gotten in what are technically called member items, but more colloquially called pork.

Our data desk has put together a searchable database that you can access here.

Rockland’s lone state senator, Thomas Morahan (R-New City), ranked in the top 10 of all state legislators in the amount of money he secured for projects and organizations in his home district.

He alone brought about $2 million to his district. For all of Rockland’s legislators combined — Morahan and Assembly members Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern; Nancy Calhoun, R-Blooming Grove; Annie Rabbitt, R-Greenwood Lake; and Kenneth P. Zebrowski, D-New City — nearly $3 million came to their constituents, though Morahan, Rabbitt and Calhoun also serve parts of Orange County, where some of those funds went.

Representatives from the state’s Public Service Commission are coming to Rockland County to talk about a controversial tree-removal program that has upset many local homeowners. (See posts below.) The event is sponsored by State Sen. Thomas Morahan and assembly members Ellen Jaffee and Ken Zebrowski.

The community forum takes place Monday, April 28, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Orangetown Town Hall, 26 Orangeburg Road.

Here’s who is coming from the PSC: Howard Tarler, Chief of Electric/Gas Transmission; James Austin, Chief of Environmental Certification; and David Morrell, from the Environmental Compliance unit. Officials from Orange and Rockland Utilities will also be on-hand to answer questions. The public is invited to attend.

East Ramapo Schools Superintendent Mitchell Schwartz not only introduced Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee today as a great supporter of the school district, but urged students to vote for her.

Schwartz and Jaffee were among those attending a forum with about 35 Spring Valley and Ramapo high school students at the administration offices on South Madison Avenue in Spring Valley. A top New York State Attorney General’s Office lawyer told the college-bound students about the perils of tuition loans, a law recently adopted to protect them and the Students Bill of Rights.

Jaffee not only voted for the law – the Student Lending, Accountability, Transparency, and Enforcement Act of 2007 (SLATE) – but helped bring the Attorney General’s Special Assistant Benjamin Lawsky to East Ramapo.

Schwartz is leaving as superintendent. In introducing Jaffee, Schwartz gushed that she was a great supporter of the new law, understands the need for education, and was a teacher in East Ramapo for many years before becoming an Assembly member.

While all that may be true, what brought cheers from the students was hearing that Jaffee was part of the East Ramapo family.

“If you are voting age or soon to be voting, her name is one to file away and vote for,” Schwartz said.

Jaffee was all smiles when she spoke to the students about the new law, education and Lawsky.

Jaffee, a former Suffern Village Board trustee and legislator who lost a race for county executive, up for re-election next November representing Orangetown and parts of Ramapo in the New York State Assembly. She succeed Ryan Karben in the Assembly.

Heinz Ahlmeyer Jr.’s reach may extend far beyond his hometown hamlet this week.

On a day when the Pearl River man — who died about 40 years ago on his first day of combat in Vietnam — was honored with the dedication of the Post Office in Pearl River, lawmakers announced that Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern, was working on legislation in the state Legislature to make May 10, 2007 (Thursday) Heinz Ahlmeyer Jr. Day in the state of New York.

Congressman Eliot Engel’s chief of staff, Bill Weitz, made that announcement, during his remarks to the crowd. Jaffee was in Albany.

Engel had sponsored the necessary legislation in the House to dedicate the Post Office, which was later approved in the Senate and signed by the President. (Engel could not be there yesterday because he was taking care of his mother who was sick, Weitz said.)

“It was a long time coming,â€? Weitz said to me before the official ceremony. “It’s a proud day for the family and for Pearl River.”

It may be a proud day around the state if people know Ahlmeyer’s story.

As usual, the Assembly Democrats got more money to spend on pet projects this year—commonly referred to as “pork,” but Republicans got more this year than last. About $2 million to be exact.

For more information on pork spending and the specifics of the statewide trends, click here for our recent Lohud.com story.

In Rockland, the late Assemblyman Kenneth P. Zebrowski, D-New City, secured the most pork funding—$153 million—to be spent on things like a new van for the Helen Hayes Hospital Foundation and new computers for Meals on Wheels.

Nancy Calhoun, R-Blooming Grove, came in second for the Rockland Assembly members, but out of $121,000, only three items totaling $17,000 were set aside for Rockland, not including money for the Ramapo-Catskills Library System which includes both Rockland and Orange counties.

Calhoun’s district includes all of Stony Point.

Annie Rabbitt, R-Greenwood Lake, set aside $18,096 and just four items of her $103,000 total for Rockland items, not including the Ramapo-Catskills Library system. Her district includes part of Ramapo.

Freshmen Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern, brought home a total of $110,000 for things like renovations at the Airmont community center after school programs at the Nyack Center and the Martin Luther King Center.

Below is a full list of the Rockland Assembly pork:

Nancy Calhoun, R-Blooming Grove

$2,500, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Orange County for youth programs.

$10,000, Town of Blooming Grove for senior center improvements and recreation equipment at Mays Field.

$10,000, Town of Chester for Sugar Loaf planning grant.

$5,000, Town of Cornwall to digitize historical archives.

$10,000, Town of Crawford for improvements to the town park.

$2,500, Town of Highlands for equipment at Fort Montgomery.

$7,500, Town of Highlands Ambulance Corps for defibrillators and pagers.

$7,500, Town of Montgomery for a video-surveillance system.

$8,500, Town of New Windsor for a backup generator.

$10,000, Town of Stony Point for programs.

$4,500, Town of Stony Point for an accident-investigation system.

$10,000, Town of Woodbury for senior center improvements.

$5,000, Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson for a commercial freezer door.

$2,500, Village of South Blooming Grove for start-up expenses.

$2,500, Village of Walden for programs.

$2,500, Village of Woodbury for start-up expenses.

$2,500, Rockland County Sheriff’s Dept. for sex offender-tracking software.

$5,000, Ramapo-Catskill Library System for a summer reading program.

$5,000, Sarah Wells Girl Scout Council for programs.

$3,000, Orange County Veterans Cemetery for equipment.

$5,000, Orange County Firefighters Museum for programs.

$121,000 total.
– – – – – – – – -

Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern

$2,000, Suffern Farmers Market for marketing and promotion.

$7,500, Village of Spring Valley for training classes.

$2,000, Orangetown Fire Company No. 1 to remodel the interior room.

$8,000, Lower Hudson Valley Challenger Center for software and programs.

$10,000, Community Outreach Center of Monsey for a community patrol.

$7,500, Village of Spring Valley for the Jitney bus service.

$5,000, Community Action Program of Rockland for women’s programs.

$4,000, Community Action Network for a Drug-Free Life and Environment for counseling programs.

$15,000, Haitian American Cultural and Social Organization (Spring Valley) for a language-support program.

$8,000, Martin Luther King Multi-Purpose Center for software and equipment for an after-school program.

$5,000, Nyack Center for an after-school cultural program.

$7,500, Rockland County YMCA for after-school programs and field trips.

$9,500, Rockland Family Shelter for a teen workshop on abusive relationships.

$10,000, Village of Airmont to renovate a community center.

$4,000, Volunteer Counseling Service of Rockland to upgrade computer system.

$1,000, NAMI Familya of Rockland for support services for the mentally ill.

$4,000, Arts Council of Rockland for marketing.

$110,000 total.
– – – – — – – -

Annie Rabbitt, R-Greenwood Lake

$2,260, Pine Island Chamber of Commerce to plant trees.

$2,260, Campbell Hall Fire Dept. for equipment.

$4,524, Monroe Lakeside Fire Dept. for equipment.

$4,524, Town of Goshen for a fuel-dispensing system.

$4,524, Town of Hamptonburgh to construct a picnic area at a senior center.

$4,524, Town of Mount Hope for playground equipment.

$4,524, Town of Warwick to pave the area around an animal shelter.

$4,524, Village of Goshen for improvements to village hall.

$4,524, Village of Harriman for improvements to village hall.

$4,524, Village of Hillburn Dept. of Public Works for equipment.

$4,524, Village of Kiryas Joel for a radio repeater.

$4,524, Village of Monroe to plant trees in Crane Park.

$4,524, Village of Montebello for solar electric panels at town hall and for a 20th anniversary brochure.

$4,524, Village of Otisville to pave a municipal parking lot and for new curbs and trees.

$4,524, Village of Sloatsburg for software.

$4,524, Village of Suffern for Suffern Day.

$4,524, Village of Tuxedo Park to repair a dam.

$4,524, Village of Warwick for benches.

$4,524, Florida Police Dept. for security cameras at reservoirs.

$4,524, Greenwood Lake Police Dept. for computer upgrades.

$4,524, Wallkill Police Dept. for equipment.

$5,000, Ramapo-Catskill Library System for a reading program ($500 for each library in the system).

$4,524, Tuxedo Senior Center for renovations to the railroad station.

$3,000, Orange County Veteran’s Service Agency for cemetery equipment.

$103,000 total.
– – – – – – – -

Ken Zebrowski, D-New City

$10,000, Helen Hayes Hospital Foundation for a van.

$30,000, Village of Haverstraw for a new room at the Haverstraw Center.

$8,500, Village of Pomona for an emergency generator.

$50,000, Village of Spring Valley to replace the heating system at the Louis Kurtz Civic Center.

$2,900, Rockland Teachers’ Center Institute to purchase school supplies for needy children.

$5,000, Meals on Wheels of Rockland for new computers.

$5,000, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rockland for a gang-prevention counselor.

$3,100, Child Care Resources of Rockland for new computers.

$7,000, Community Action Program of Rockland for women’s programs.

$5,000, Haverstraw Ecumenical Project and Day Care Center for services.

$7,000, Interfaith Coalition for the Homeless of Rockland County for office equipment.

$8,000, Rockland Family Shelter for furniture.

$2,500, Star Kids (Garnerville) for a sports program.

$5,000, Volunteer Counseling Service of Rockland to upgrade the computer system.

$4,000, Arts Council of Rockland for office equipment and a newsletter.

$153,000 total.