Haverstraw village, in conjunction with the Haverstraw Town Police Department, is seeking to establish a village neighborhood watch program.

Residents who are interested in participating in the program are encouraged to attend an orientation meeting at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 4 at the 2nd floor meeting room at Haverstraw Village Hall at 40 New Main St.

The village held its first orientation meeting for the program in November.

Mayor Michael Kohut said he decided to hold another meeting because the program needed more participation.
Kohut said he was hoping that this program would help Haverstraw police tackle crimes in the village.

“The police cannot do it all by themselves. They need our eyes and ears to assist them since they cannot be everywhere at the same time,” Kohut said in his statement. “By taking responsibility for our own neighborhoods, we can help remove the thereat of drugs and crime in the village and make life in Haverstraw better for everyone, except for the bad guys.”

He added: “Please join us on February 4th to make this program a reality.”

Call Village Hall at 845-429-0300 for more information.

Alario Magana got his new wheels on Saturday and gets to celebrate with his benefactors on Thursday evening at the Elk’s Club in Haverstraw village.

The 11-year-old Haverstraw village boy has Cerebral  Palsey and gets around the village, the Farley Middle School and his home in a wheelchair.

His old wheelchair was falling part, held together by wire ties, screws and bolts.

Magana takes a bus to school. A Haverstraw Transit bus employee told Haverstraw Detective Charles Hatala about the state of the youngster’s wheelchair. The family insurance company told the boy’s mother that he was not eligible for another chair for a few more years, Hatala told The Journal-News today.

Hatala got  the Haverstraw Policemen’s Benevolent Association involved and fund-raising started.

“Kids his age grow leaps and bounds and he would soon grow out of his old chair, which was run-down to begin with,” Hatala said.”We didn’t have $7,000 for a new wheelchair.”

The PBA held  a fund raiser, “Friends of Alario,” during the spring.  The Elk’s Club learned about Magana’s plight and the PBA effort. The club donated the $7,000 for the wheelchair, Hatala said. The money raised by the PBA then went for a lift, clothes and other needs.

Hatala said helping the youngster was a community effort.

“Joe Marina, from the North Rockland School District helped  organizing and shopping for the chair,” Hatala said. ” When I spoke with him ..  he told me Alario was very excited about his chair and Tom Brown from the bus company told me he sits so much straigher in the chair.”
At 5 p.m. Thursday, congratulations and thank yous will be exchanged at the Elk’s Club.

Filing of petitions for the Sept. 9 primary election has started today, and Ricky Sanchez, a Democrat of Haverstraw village, has already filed his petition to run for a village trustee seat, according to the county Board of Election’s Web site.

Two trustee seats are up for re-election on the Haverstraw village board.

Haverstraw village Mayor Michael Kohut said that two incumbents — Trustees Francisco Batista and Emily Dominguez, both Democrats — are going to run for re-election.

Another Democrat, Zahira Serrano-Rodriguez, who unsuccessfully ran for a trustee seat last year, is also seeking to run for a trustee seat.

Petitions for the primary need to be filed by July 10.

Six Haverstraw village employees will be competing to become the “biggest loser.”

“We want to get healthy,” said Village Treasure Judith Curcio, adding that as of Thursday, six employees — Mayor Michael Kohut, Building Inspector Ruben Berrios, Assistant Building Inspector Rafael Bueno Jr. Fire Inspector Pat McNamee, Public Works Superintendent George White and herself — expressed their interest in participating in the weight loss contest.

The weigh-in is scheduled for noon Monday at Village Hall at 40 New Main St.

Each participant will tip in $40 to join the four-week contest, and the biggest loser will get the money minus $50.

The $50 will be given to the person who has kept his/her weight off for three months after the contest.

Curcio said the village would not disclose each participant’s weight, though she would give out the total weight of all the contestants to compare before and after.

Haverstraw Town Board this week appointed West Haverstraw Village Justice John K. Grant to town justice to fill the unexpired term of Thomas Walsh, who was recently appointed by Gov. David A. Paterson to serve as an interim judge of the Rockland County Surrogate Court.

This creates a need for West Haverstraw village to appoint someone to fill Grant’s seat because Grant will have to resign from his village position to become town justice.

West Haverstraw village Mayor John Ramundo said today that the village was reviewing a number of applications for the village justice position.

This type of domino effect is not unusual in Haverstraw town and the two villages in the town.
When Haverstraw town Justice Charles Apotheker won a seat on the County Court in November 2006, Walsh, who was Haverstraw village justice that time and ran against Apotheker on the Democratic primary, succeeded Apotheker’s town seat. To fill Walsh’s vacancy in the village, Ronald Decaprio was appointed to the position.

Grant himself was appointed to the West Haverstraw seat in February 2007 to fill the unexpired term of Tom Zugibe, who stepped down to run for district attorney.

Confused?
I know. It’s hard to keep track of these changes because they happen so quickly.

Stony Point Town Hall is closed again this afternoon because of some “smelly” air coming from an “inhibitor” installed on the wall, Supervisor Phil Marino said.

The town has been addressing mold issues in Town Hall’s basement. A contractor is working on it.

Town Hall also was closed yesterday afternoon and opened this morning. But it was closed again this afternoon because of the smell.

“I told people upstairs not to hang around and leave,” Marino said, adding that he intended to go back to Town Hall later this afternoon after his meeting with Haverstraw village Mayor Michael Kohut.

Not only “upstairs,” but Town Hall’s main building at 74 E. Main St. seems to be closed altogether. No one is taking phone calls at Town Clerk’s Office, which is on the first floor of the two-story building.

The Building Department, which is in a separate building, is open as usual.

Ten Haverstraw town and village police officers will be feted Friday on their retirements after decades of serving the public.

One officer in particular, Hector Soto, already has moved on in life to an elected councilman on the Haverstraw Town Board. Soto worked as a police officer for close to four decades and 36 years as a detective. He worked his share of robberies, shootings, rapes and homicide during his career. For many years, Soto was the county’s only Spanish-speaking officer – and constantly called by other departments.

On Friday, a retirement dinner will be held at the Patriot Hills course clubhouse in Stony Point.
Aside from Soto, the other town police officer- honorees are Detective Richard Janeli, Sgt. DannyFarrell and Officer William Harvey.

Six Haverstraw village officers who retired when the Haverstraw village police department disbanded two years ago and the town police force took over patrolling the village. They are Police Chief John Reilly, Sgt. Claudio Gatti, Sgt. Paul Hykas, Detective Sgt. Frank Alessio, Detective Vincent Ryan and Officer Richard Chorus.

And several other retirees – such as Detective Lt. Richard Rogers from the sunny shores and golf courses of Florida – and officers from across the department will attend the dinner.

Anyone interested in attending can call members of the planning committee – Dave Kryger, Jose Luna, Jorge Folch and Peter Connolly – at the Haverstraw Town Police Department at 845-354-1500.

Haverstraw Village Clerk Emma Velez told me yesterday that she wanted to remind residents that Village Hall at 40 New Main St., has been offering extended business hours from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. the first and third Mondays every month. The Building Department will be open until 7 p.m. the first Thursday of every month.

The village started offering extended hours last month to “make village government more accessible to the people,” said Mayor Michael Kohut.

Velez said residents still didn’t know about the extended hours because not so many people were taking advantage of it.

Call Village Hall at 845-429-0300 for more information.

As promised earlier, here’s a full list of Rockland’s recipients of 2008 Community Development Block Grant funds:

• Spring Valley: $250,000 for the reconstruction of a park at Jay Street and Kennedy Drive.

• Ramapo: $150,000 to construct a handicapped-accessible pavilion and restrooms at Manny Welder Park.

• West Haverstraw: $100,000 for sidewalk replacement, lighting installation and landscaping on the Railroad Avenue corridor.

• Haverstraw village: $100,000 for new sidewalks, curbs, roadway, lights and other improvements on Main Street between Broadway and First Street.

• South Nyack: $100,000 to upgrade a storm drain system on Cedar Hill Avenue between Anna and Franklin streets.

• Haverstraw town: $75,000 for improvements to the pool deck at Bowline Point Park.

• Suffern: $50,000 for the construction of sidewalks and curbs on Ramapo Avenue from West Park Place to West Maltbie Avenue.

• Hillburn: $50,000 to help pay for a water system upgrade. The village has the oldest water pipes in Rockland.

• Piermont: $1,000 for a curb cut on the sidewalk at the public library, making the facility accessible to the disabled.

Image courtesy the U.S. Treasury Department, via the Associated Press.

I stopped by Haverstraw Center this week, where the Haverstraw Collaborative — a group of local agencies serving the village youth and families — was hosting a week-long event for children during the school break.

When I was visiting, multiple programs — including a knitting class, a group discussion, and exercises — were ongoing, and participating children looked all excited.

Jeanmarie Zubko, counselor at the center, said about 100 children participated in this year’s event. The number had doubled from last year, since said.

Haverstraw Village Mayor Michael Kohut, a supporter of the project, was pleased to see the successful event.

“Kids do enjoy it,” Kohut said. “The more things they get to do, the less chance they get in trouble.”

The children were supposed to celebrate the center’s first anniversary last night as part of the week-long event. But the reception was postponed to 5:30 p.m. Feb. 29 due to the weather.

I’ve been receiving so many calls and e-mails about the Hudson Pines Condominiums, an affordable housing complex I wrote about in Wednesday’s paper, I figured I’d share all the information I have:

The condominiums are on Dowd Street in Haverstraw village. That’s off Route 202, not too far away from the Route 9W intersection.

There will be an open house from noon to 4 p.m. Feb. 2 at its Building A.

Unfortunately, I cannot answer specific questions about available units or help you in filling out applications.

Please call the Rockland Housing Action Coalition at 845-352-3819.

Good luck!

Staff writer Christina Jeng was tied up this week, so her colleague and fellow blogger, Sarah Netter, stepped up to bring you the Week in Review podcast.

Download:

And, as usual, here are links to the appropriate stories:
Monsey group fined for mess after chicken ritual
Schumer visits cadets at West Point
Special Report: Our Schools, Our Money
Haverstraw resident charged with trying to kill Spring Valley man

This is part one of our Year In Review podcast. Check out part two above. Happy New Year!

Part 1:

Download:

Links to related articles:

Rockland’s top stories of 2007

Angelo Cintron and Ricky Sanchez, both Democrats and former Haverstraw village trustees, will be formally endorsing two Republican candidates, not their fellow Democrats, in November.

According to a statement released yesterday, Cintron and Sanchez support incumbents District Attorney Michael Bongiorno and Haverstraw village Mayor Francis “Bud” Wassmer.

Democrat Tom Zugibe, former West Haverstraw village justice, is challenging Bongiorno. Democrat Mike Kohut, Haverstraw village trustee, is running against Wassmer.

Sanchez ran against Kohut in the Democratic primary in September and was defeated by 36 votes.

Cintron unsuccessfully ran for mayor against Wassmer in 2003.

“In the past, both Angelo and I have had disagreements with the mayor, but we have never questioned his dedication and hard work in improving the village,� Sanchez stated in the press release. “Of the two candidates for mayor, there is no question that Mayor Wassmer is the best choice.�

Cintron said that he decided to support the Republicans because he believed that they were the best people for the community.

“We know that it’s highly unusual for two lifelong Democrats like ourselves to endorse Republican candidates,� Cintron said.

Cintron and Sanchez will officially announce of their endorsement at 2 p.m. tomorrow at 41 New Main St.

Ricky Sanchez, who finished second in the Haverstraw mayoral race in the Democratic primary, recently said he had not decided if he would support the winner, Mike Kohut.

Kohut, who got 385 votes in the primary, will run against Republican incumbent Francis “Bud” Wassmer in November.

To Kohut, getting support from Sanchez, who got 349 votes in the primary, appeared to be critical to beat Wassmer.

But Sanchez said he was seriously assessing which candidate he wanted to support, indicating that there was a chance that he might pick Wassmer.

If Sanchez decided to support Wassmer, he would have to explain his reasoning to his supporters because people may still remember the public scuffle in 2002 between Wassmer and Sanchez, when he was a village trustee.

Haverstraw police have reported to the county Board of Elections that Haverstraw village mayoral candidate Craig Jackson does not live at the address that he reported for his voter registration. The same address0 also was listed as his residence on his petitions to run for mayor.

The police report became available under a Freedom of Information Act request, but the name of the person who requested the investigation was withheld to protect that person’s privacy, Elections Commissioner Ann Marie Kelly said.

Kelly said that because Jackson already was listed on the primary ballot, he was a valid candidate. But she said his right to vote in the village primary would have to be determined. I’ll be checking with her later about her decision.

Jackson has filed a $7 million civil rights complaint against the village and Haverstraw town, arguing that his right to run for office had been violated through intimidation and harassment.

Former Haverstraw village trustee Ricky Sanchez, who is running for mayor, said most of his election signs were either vandalized or disappeared over the weekend.

Sanchez said he put up about 30 signs around noon Saturday.

On Sunday morning, his supporters called him up and told him that his signs were spray-painted. He drove around the village and learned that many of his signs were either spray-painted or missing.

Sanchez said he filed a police report. He said he would offer a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest of suspects. Sanchez can be reached at 845-429-9240 or 845-826-0419.

Haverstraw town’s Democrats are likely to have a primary election as a recently retired police detective plans to declare his candidacy this evening for a seat on the Town Board.

Hector Soto, 60, of Pomona, said he would make an announcement at 6 tonight at the Haverstraw King’s Daughters Public Library on Route 202 that he planned to run for Town Board.

Two seats are up for election on the Haverstraw Town Board this fall, and the town’s Democratic Committee has nominated incumbent Isidro “Papo” Cancel and John J. Gould, a lieutenant with the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office, to run on the party’s line.

Town Board member and Democrat Jay Hood Jr. is not seeking re-election because he expects to be appointed next week to the County Legislature representing District 3. The seat will soon be vacant because Legislator Roman Rodriguez (and his wife, Evelyn, a Haverstraw village trustee) are moving out of the area.

Vince Monte, the Rockland County Democratic Committee chairman, called me this morning. I had tried, unsuccessfully, to reach him several times last week for a story I was doing on the departure of County Legislator Roman Rodriguez, D-Haverstraw, and his wife, village Trustee Evelyn Rodriguez.

In a complete change from what he had said before, Monte said the Legislature will likely fill Roman Rodriguez’s seat by appointment and the appointee pushed by the Democratic party would be Haverstraw Town Board Member Jay Hood Jr. who is already mounting a campaign for November’s elections.
He had told me a couple of months ago that he would prefer to wait to fill Roman Rodriguez’s seat by election in the fall rather than appoint someone this summer. Roman and Evelyn are expected to move from Rockland by the end of this month.

The Dems in Rockland have taken quite a bit of heat in the last year or two for a string of appointments to the Legislature. Two of the four most recent appointees, Alden Wolfe and now-Assemblyman Kenneth P. Zebrowski, were defeated in the elections following their appointments. Wolfe is running for his old seat this year.

Haverstraw village Mayor Francis “Bud� Wassmer said today that he started a diet June 3 and had lost about 18 pounds so far. His goal was to lose about 30 pounds more.
Wassmer said he was closely watching daily calorie intake and keeping it about 1,100 carolies. To maintain his calorie intake low, he said he stopped drinking.

Wassmer’s drinking became an issue last year. The driving-while-ability-impaired case was at the end dismissed by a Clarkstown justice.

During the court procedure, his drinking was closely watched by others, but he didn’t stop drinking.

So you can imagine how strongly he was determined to lose his weight.

Haverstraw village Mayor Francis “Bud” Wassmer has been out of town since Friday. He said he’d be visiting Dominican Republic and would be back late May 30.
The village’s regular meeting at 8 p.m. tonight at Village Hall will be held without the mayor.
Prior to his departure, Wassmer said that he had barely missed village meetings since he took office January 1996 but tonight’s meeting would have to be an exception because the trip was very important to him.
During his visit, Wassmer said, he might have a chance to meet “president” – I believe he meant President Leonel Fernández Reyna – so that his trip is “official” not “private.” I’ll check what he discussed with the president when he’s back.

Town board and village board meetings can be amusing, but I would list the recent Haverstraw village board meeting as one of my favorites.

Straight-faced Mayor Francis “Budâ€? Wassmer, sitting in Village Hall’s meeting room Monday night, told the board members that he recently sent a letter to Mirant — the energy company that successfully challenged its property assessment and got $275 millions of refund from north Rockland’s towns, villages and school district — to notify that the village wants to buy the company’s property in the village for $100,000.

Why $100,000? His explanation continued.

For the village’s 2007-08 tax roll, the company once again filed a grievance, challenging the village’s assessment on the piece of company land, about $3.2 million. The company was asking the value be reduced to $100,000.

Outraged by this challenge, Wassmer said, he made the offer to buy it for $100,000.

Wassmer continued and said that the company sent him a reply, saying that the company was not interested in selling the property to the village at that price.

Learning about this exchange was pretty amusing.

But the climax was yet to come: After he finished reading Mirant’s replay, Wassmer made a motion to condemn that property!

“I’d like to recommend to our board that we pass the resolution tonight to proceed with a process of condemnation,� Wassmer declared. “I think it’s time that we send a clear message to Mirant. We must move forward with this.�

Village Attorney J. Nelson Hood immediately interrupted Wassmer, politely asking if he could advise the board.

Hood told the board that the village should first hire an eminent domain lawyer to review state law and that the village must have a public purpose to condemn the property.

Wassmer modified his motion based on Hood’s advice, and the village board unanimously approved it.

Also at the meeting was Bruce Kanner, co-owner of the old chair factory on the river who is fighting the village’s condemnation of that property.

Kanner told the board during the public input session that the village should stop trying to condemn privately owned land, including Mirant’s.

The village’s plan won’t move forward because the company dropped the assessment challenge based on the recent deal facilitated by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. But the deal only says the company can’t challenge its assessments for two years.

So, we’ll see. Check back in 2009.

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.

County Legislator Roman Rodriguez and his wife, Haverstraw Village Trustee Evelyn Rodriguez have sold their Hudson Avenue home and are planning to leave Rockland County this summer.

Both will leave their elected offices mid-term. His is up in November, hers not until 2008. While the chairwoman of the Legislature couldn’t be reached today both the chairmen of the Democratic and Republican county committees said they’d rather the County Legislature wait until November to fill Roman’s seat than appoint someone for a few months.

Village Mayor Francis “Bud” Wassmer said today that he’d appoint someone to fill Evelyn’s seat once she left.

Roman, appointed and then elected in 2002, was the first Hispanic county legislator while Evelyn was the first female Hispanic village trustee.

The couple have built a home in Pike County, Penn., and also are looking for a home in Florida, where their parents live.

A “do not drink the water” warning for the 50 homes in the Village Mill I condominium in Haverstraw village was delayed more than four hours because United Water New York did not notice the complex was in the area affected by a water main break.

Larry Palant, the condo’s property manager, said today that he contacted United Water early Friday afternoon after reading about the water advisory on The Journal News’ Web site. The warning cited the area that included Picariello Drive, Spring Street, Victor Avenue, Rela Avenue, Rhoda Avenue, Harrigan Lane, Robbin’s Court and Gurnee Court. His complex is at the corner of Rela and Spring, but Village Mill residents didn’t receive any notice.

Palant said he believed that because the complex residents had mailing addresses of 1 to 50 Village Mill, instead of a street name, the water company did not immediately recognize the complex was affected.