Highlands Current Audio Stories

Blame foreclosure on 'unhinged' acquaintance

A Putnam County judge on Wednesday (June 17) denied an attempt by a couple who owned a dry cleaner on Route 9 in Philipstown to regain the property, which they said was lost to fraud.

Judge Gina Capone upheld the foreclosure and eviction by MT&T Bank of Sokhara Kim and Chakra Oeur from 3154 Route 9, which from 1995 to early 2024 had been owned by Kim through Mary Dawn Inc. and was home to Nice & Neat Dry Cleaners, a nail salon and a residence she shared with her husband.

Kim and Oeur, immigrants from Cambodia who also operated an outdoor restaurant and art gallery at the location, were evicted on Dec. 9, 2025, ending a foreclosure process that began in August 2022, after Kim stopped making payments on a $570,000 mortgage. Capone, who oversaw the case, ordered the foreclosure in February 2024. A bank subsidiary, Chesapeake Holding, paid $620,200 for the parcel at an auction in May 2024.

Capone rejected Kim and Oeur's main contention — that they were victims of Derek Keith Williams, who met the couple when his girlfriend, Mauny Bun, ran the salon.

Williams, who is facing fraud and grand larceny charges, convinced Kim that he had paid off the mortgage, according to court documents. Then, for the next few years, he hid the foreclosure by demanding that she "turn over any mail or paperwork relating to the property, Mary Dawn Inc., any court or any bank," said her attorney, Jacob Chen.

Chen said the court "never acquired personal jurisdiction" over Kim because the process server identified the person he handed the original foreclosure documents to as a female Asian "coworker" of Kim's, with an estimated age of 45. Chen also said that Oeur should have been included as a party to the foreclosure proceeding because he lived at the property and managed the Khmer Art Gallery.

In Capone's 31-page ruling, she said both Kim and Oeur were "wholly aware" of the foreclosure and the sale of the property well before they claimed to have learned of the eviction in November 2025. She cited appearances Kim made with Williams in Erie County Court when M&T sued in 2020 over the delinquent loan.

She also said a handwritten complaint Kim filed in January 2025 against M&T with the Federal Reserve used the foreclosure case number. In addition, said Capone, the contention that Williams withheld mail about the foreclosure "is undermined by the fact that, according to Ms. Kim, Mr. Williams was not living at the subject premises, and present there on a day-to-day basis, until September 2023," a year after the bank initiated the proceeding.

"One constant, according to the plaintiff, was that Ms. Kim and Mr. Williams acted in concert to prevent, hinder and interfere" with the bank's efforts to gain the property, said Capone.

Kim says Williams is solely to blame. In a statement filed with the court, she said a personal loan used to rebuild the property after a fire destroyed it in 2005 had been taken over by M&T Bank when she met Williams through Bun in 2019. Kim said that Bun, whose mother she had known for over 30 years, "reminded me a lot of my daughter … and I put a lot of trust and faith in her." She decided to accept Williams' offer to buy the property for $1.2 million and transfer it to an entity called DKW Trust.

"I had worked tirelessly for many, many years at that point," said Kim. "I was excited about the opportunity to take a break from working and to be able to give something to my grandchildren, and so I agreed."

Williams requested access to Mary Dawn's bank account, provided Kim with "official-looking documents containing seals and stamps," and said he had paid off the mortgage and would let her live there while he "finalized" the trust, according to court documents. In addition to demanding that any mail related to courts and the bank be turned over to him, he also asked Kim to sign documents and submit filings without explaining what they were, and demanded access to her emails, according to court...

Women describe fear after January attack

Police Chief Tom Figlia said this week that investigators have pored over "countless hours" of video as they try to identify the man who attacked a woman in Beacon five months ago.

His comments revealed new details about an incident that many girls and women say has them living in fear.

Police received a call from Dutchess County 911 on the morning of Jan. 14 to assist fire and emergency medical personnel with a report of an unconscious woman found near the intersection of Wolcott and Tioronda avenues. Figlia said it appeared to officers that the woman had been "seriously assaulted."

Nearby Sargent Elementary School was placed on a lockout while officers searched the area. Police later told school officials that they believed the suspect had fled. The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was said at the time to be in stable condition at a local hospital.

Police asked residents citywide to check doorbell or security cameras for footage of a white male wearing a black jacket or coat (not a puffy coat), a black knit hat and blue pants or jeans. The suspect was described as being in his 30s or 40s, about 5-foot-11, with a medium build and a "very close" brown beard.

Breaking from protocol, Figlia issued updates in the weeks following the crime, explaining nuances of the investigation and addressing criticism that the department had not released enough information.

"Crimes that appear to be sexually motivated, occurring in daylight hours, close to a busy street, where the perpetrator does not seem to be known to the victim, are rare to begin with," he said this week, confirming details that had previously been the subject of speculation. "That's one reason why it's rightly garnered so much concern from the public. I can't recall another incident like it in my time in the department," which he joined 20 years ago as a patrol officer.

According to the department's 2024 annual report, the most recent available, Beacon police in 2022 responded to 21 reports of aggravated assault, defined as involving serious injury, use of a weapon or multiple perpetrators. Nine arrests were made. In 2023, there were 16 reports and 14 arrests. In 2024, there were 19 reports and 12 arrests. There was a rape reported in 2023, but no arrest was made.

Most sexual assault cases are not solved by police, according to a study published in 2024 in the journal Trauma Violence Abuse, which found that only about 25 percent of reported sexual assaults over a 20-year period resulted in an arrest.

Figlia said the department is waiting on responses to subpoenas for more video footage. Numerous items also have undergone DNA testing, and the police are working with outside agencies for assistance with digital forensic evidence.

Nonetheless, every woman interviewed for this article said they remain fearful.

Randi Keim, who travels into New York City several times a week, said she used to walk a 5-mile loop to the Metro-North station that took her near the area of the attack. "I have not done that walk since," she said. "I wouldn't walk it alone, even in daytime, now."

Figlia advised that bulky headphones or other apparel that obstructs peripheral vision could make pedestrians vulnerable. "Being clear that you are looking around could be a deterrent," he said.

Another resident, who asked not to be identified, said she, too, has changed her routine when taking the train. In the past, she walked home, sometimes late at night. Now, she schedules an Uber anytime her train arrives after sunset.

Four other women, all mothers of teen daughters, declined to comment, even anonymously, for fear of saying something that could identify them or their children. Said one: "I don't even feel safe saying I feel unsafe."

Redevelopment of state prisons proves challenging

Two years after New York State selected Conifer Realty to construct a mixed-use campus with up to 1,300 apartments at the former Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill, the company has yet to submit a proposal to the town's Planning Board.

Two and a half miles away, redevelopment plans at another decommissioned state prison, the Beacon Correctional Facility, or Camp Beacon, have also stalled.

An update from Empire State Development, New York's economic development agency, provides little clarity.

A spokesperson for the agency said on June 5 that "ESD, Conifer and the Town of Fishkill continue to work collaboratively on the redevelopment of the Downstate Correctional Facility" — virtually the same statement it provided a year ago, when it said that "ESD continues to work with Conifer and the Town of Fishkill to finalize a site plan."

The state announced in June 2024 that the Rochester-based Conifer would, over the course of a decade, convert the 80-acre former maximum-security prison into a campus with as many as 1,300 housing units. Construction of 375 units, at least 20 percent of them "permanently affordable" for households earning less than 80 percent of the area's annual median income, was expected to begin by January 2026.

Fishkill Supervisor Ozzy Albra, who criticized the plans as a "bad deal for the taxpayers," said a year ago that he had negotiated ESD and Conifer down to 1,100 units. He said this week that, while he believes local schools, including Glenham Elementary, which is part of the Beacon City School District, will be able to absorb the students generated by the development, traffic will be a critical issue. That has guided continued negotiations, he said, with his goal to get the unit count "well below 700."

Albra said he has made a number of additional requests, including a split between homes for sale and rental units and for the project to include more one-bedroom apartments. The state's announcement, framed as part of Gov. Kathy Hochul's plan to build 15,000 homes and apartments to address a statewide housing crisis, said the site would include two-story duplexes and triplexes, with at least 25 percent of units having three bedrooms.

Albra has also asked New York State to commit to connecting the property to the Dutchess Park and Rombout sewer districts and to extend water infrastructure to the surrounding area.

Last year, Conifer said it would limit construction to 2½-story buildings because the nearest fire department, in Glenham, does not have a ladder truck. A spokesperson said this week that the company continues to "work collaboratively" with stakeholders, but there are "no major updates to report." The representative did not respond when asked about a timeline for a submission to the Planning Board.

Albra said he has no insight into timing, either, but suggested the project has slowed because "we did our homework to protect the residents of Fishkill."

Meanwhile, the state has twice asked for proposals — and once awarded development rights — at Camp Beacon, yet the 39-acre property, with 22 buildings hidden beyond Beacon High School and the city's Highway Garage, has remained seemingly untouched since the women's prison closed in 2013.

New York State asked for proposals in 2014 but received only one: from the New York City-based Doe Fund, which proposed creating a farming and job-training center to help homeless and low-income people seek employment and self-sufficiency.

The nonprofit withdrew its proposal in 2017 after local officials — including Dutchess County Executive Sue Serino, then a state senator — asked then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo to reject the plan because it was "inconsistent with the site's mixed-use, recreational and destination development potential."

After seeking a second round of proposals, in 2019 Empire State Development selected Urban Green Food, also based in New York City. The organization said it planned to build a hotel ...

Reliability concerns keep power plant open, for now

Danskammer Energy, which runs a gas-fired plant on the Hudson River in the Town of Newburgh that operates only during peak demand, and which the company hoped to convert to full-time operation, filed for bankruptcy on June 10.

The Chapter 11 petition, filed in Delaware, says the company owes creditors $13 million, including $11.8 million to the New York Independent System Operator, which manages the state power grid, and $760,000 in property taxes to Orange County. Danskammer did not respond to requests for comment.

The filing comes five months after the company requested permission from NYISO to close the plant, which typically operates for only 5 to 10 days a year during heat waves.

In response, NYISO said the plant must remain available until at least August and possibly January, in part due to concerns that the state lacks sufficient emissions-free energy sources to replace aging fossil-fuel plants. It also cited "demand forecasts based on expected weather, expected generator availability, transmission limitations and risks associated with the availability of key future planned projects."

The latter refers to an executive order, signed by President Donald Trump on the first day of his return to office, that halted the permitting process for offshore wind projects. After a court ruled that the order was illegal, the administration adopted a different strategy. On Wednesday (June 17), Invenergy announced that the administration would pay $765 million for it to abandon four wind projects, including one that would have delivered at least 2 gigawatts to New York and New Jersey.

NYISO does have wiggle room. Earlier this week, New York State announced the completion of the 339-mile Champlain-Hudson Power Express, a transmission line between Canada and New York City that passes the Highlands beneath the Hudson River. In addition, the state dropped plans to close two barge-mounted peaker plants that provide up to 608 megawatts to New York City.

In 2018, Danskammer said it would renovate the Newburgh plant for continuous operation, but community pushback led to a lengthy legal battle. In 2021, the state denied the plant the clean-air permit it would need to proceed, arguing that upgrading the plant would violate the state's newly enacted Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

It was during this time that Scenic Hudson released its own proposal for large-scale battery storage at the site to bring more renewable energy to the Hudson Valley. "We would love to see the dirty gas power plant get replaced with something that generates jobs and tax revenue for the town without also emitting pollution," said Stephen Ballentine of Scenic Hudson.

The bankruptcy filing, as well as the state's recent relaxation of many of its climate targets as part of the 2026-27 budget, could open the door for another company to take over Danskammer and operate year-round.

"I would imagine that it's still permissible for courts to reject applications based on CLCPA incompatibility, but we'll have to see how this changes things," said Ballentine. "That's part of the reason we were disappointed to see the rollback to the CLCPA."

Passes Highlands on way to NYC

New York State announced on Tuesday (June 16) that a 339-mile transmission line that carries hydroelectricity from Canada to New York City has been completed. The line passes the Highlands under the Hudson River.

The state said the 1,250-megawatt Champlain Hudson Power Express will deliver 10.4 terawatt-hours of renewable energy and provide up to 20 percent of New York City's power needs. The $6 billion project will help replace some of the power lost when the Indian Point nuclear plant, on the river near Peekskill, closed in 2021.

The shuttered plant overlooks the route of the transmission line, which is buried in the river for 68 miles between Greene and Rockland counties. By 2040, it is expected to reduce the state's carbon emissions by 37 million metric tons.

Hydro-Quebec, a Canadian hydropower company, partnered with Transmission Developers Inc., owned by the investment giant Blackstone, to build the line. Under a 25-year contract with the state, Hydro-Quebec will deliver electricity from a substation in Québec to an interconnection point in the Richelieu River at the Canadian border.

The U.S. portion of the line begins under Lake Champlain in Clinton County and passes through 15 counties, 60 towns and 60 school districts, including Beacon's. It includes 146 miles of underground cable and 193 miles of underwater cable in Lake Champlain, the Hudson and the Harlem River and connects to New York City's grid in Astoria, Queens.

According to Transmission Developers, the cable under the Hudson bypassed a section of river contaminated by General Electric that underwent a clean-up overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency, and a section of Haverstraw Bay that is a fish breeding and spawning habitat. The company said the machine used to carve trenches in the riverbed did not disperse large amounts of sediment.

Transmission Developers estimates that the line will save ratepayers $17.3 billion over 30 years and provide $1.4 billion in tax revenue over 25 years. Although some counties provided tax breaks, public opposition in Dutchess prompted Transmission Developers in July 2022 to withdraw its request for $105.5 million in tax breaks over 30 years, plus exemptions for $13.6 million in sales taxes and $1.3 million in mortgage taxes. The company is expected to apply again.

Grigoroff faces third trial for 2008 shooting

A Putnam County judge on Tuesday (June 16) granted a request from a former Lake Peekskill man to be released on bail while he prepares for a third trial in the 2008 killing of Philipstown resident John Marcinak.

Over the objections of Putnam District Attorney Robert Tendy, Judge Joseph Spofford set bail for Anthony Grigoroff at $300,000 bond. Grigoroff agreed to wear an ankle monitor; only leave the house in Ossining, where he will be staying, for legal and medical appointments; and to call Putnam's Probation Department at least twice a week.

With those conditions, Grigoroff will be free for the first time since June 2009, when Putnam County sheriff's deputies arrested and charged him in the shooting death of Marcinak at his Garrison Garage on Route 9 on Dec. 31, 2008.

Relying largely on a confession that Grigoroff alleges was made under duress, a jury convicted him of second-degree murder in 2010, and found him guilty again in 2017 after an appeals court overturned the first verdict.

In 2025, the same appeals court overturned the second conviction and ordered a new trial. Grigoroff was transferred in January from Sing Sing to the Putnam County jail, where he has been held since Spofford denied his initial bail request. Jury selection for the third retrial is scheduled to begin Oct. 14.

"We're very pleased that he's going to be released and can help prepare for the trial," said Bruce Barket, one of Grigoroff's attorneys. "Him getting an acquittal is all we're focused on."

Tendy argued against bail, saying that Grigoroff again faces a sentence of 25 years to life if convicted, and "life is an incentive to flee." Tendy also said he intends to seek a DNA sample from Byron Mountain, a friend of Grigoroff's at the time of the killing, so it can be compared to DNA found on Marcinak's clothing.

According to Grigoroff's confession, he drove with his brother and Mountain to the garage so they could steal a few hundred dollars to party in Manhattan. He insisted that it was Mountain who shot Marcinak while he waited in the car, and Erick served as a lookout. He also alleges that investigators convinced him to falsely confess during a 12-hour interrogation by promising leniency.

Both Erick Gringoroff and Mountain were questioned by investigators but claimed they were elsewhere at the time of the killing. DNA did not factor into the two previous trials, but parts of Marcinak's clothing were tested for genetic material in 2009, said Tendy. While preparing for the new trial, his office "worked with law enforcement and the laboratory to determine whether more testing could be done" and requested additional tests, he said.

If Tendy also seeks DNA from Grigoroff, he would "readily consent," said Barket, "because we know it's not his."

Another key to the case, said Barket, would be to find cellphone records that were supposed to have been analyzed during the initial investigation but were allegedly never turned over to prosecutors or defense attorneys. If they exist, that could add another twist in the case revived, ironically, on New Year's Eve 2025, when the state Appellate Division overturned Grigoroff's second conviction.

The appeals judges found that Edward McLoughlin, a Dutchess judge who had been assigned the case, deprived Grigoroff of a fair trial by limiting testimony from an expert witness who determined that Grigoroff "is more vulnerable than the average person to falsely confessing."

That expert wanted to cite research from the Innocence Project, which at the time found that 25 percent of people exonerated through DNA had confessed, along with another study by the University of Michigan Law School on the prevalence of false confessions, particularly by people with intellectual disabilities or mental illnesses.

But McLoughlin "improperly concluded that those studies were not relevant to the defendant and the interrogation" because Grigoroff's case did not involve DNA and despite Grig...

Philipstown to begin billing for water usage

Philipstown moved forward on Wednesday (June 10) with replacing broken meters installed at the homes and businesses supplied by the Garrison Landing Water District.

A resolution approved by the board authorizes the town to solicit bids for the purchase and installation of 30 meters. The previous ones failed in 1999 after the source "went from a ground/surface-fed system to a well-fed system" and the pressure increased, according to Supervisor John Van Tassel.

Philipstown officials said the town did not have the funds to buy new meters until the board last year authorized borrowing $500,000 to cover capital upgrades. To begin repaying the loan, the town this year added a $2,500 levy to the tax bills of property owners within the water district. Once the meters are installed, the town will calculate a per-gallon usage fee, Van Tassel said.

"We want to fairly charge people for the water that they're using, so you will be metered just like you are in the Village of Cold Spring," he said.

A state audit released in May 2025 calculated that Philipstown spent $2.4 million between 2018 and 2023 to truck in water for Garrison Landing's, shrinking its general-fund balance from $1 million to $53,137. Annual expenses for the district rose during the same period from about $85,000 to $975,000, "the most significant factor of the town's financial decline," the audit said.

Kiko Lattu, director of the Philipstown Food Pantry at First Presbyterian Church, said the first quarter is normally its slowest period, but from January to March, it saw a 41 percent uptick in visits compared to the same period in 2025.

A handful of new people began using the pantry, which distributes food from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Saturdays, after the Meals on Main mobile food pantry operated by Cornell Cooperative Extension Putnam County shut down, said Lattu.

The mobile pantry had delivered free produce weekly to the Chestnut Ridge Apartments and Philipstown Friendship Center in Cold Spring, and the Brookside Senior Citizen Co-op in Philipstown before it ran out of funding. (In May, the Regional Food Bank Hudson Valley added a monthly mobile stop at Brookside.)

"Many pantry guests visit frequently, even weekly, indicating ongoing, not temporary, food insecurity," said Lattu. "For food-insecure households, especially seniors and single-family or single-parent families, any disruption can cause a chain reaction."

The board approved a resolution to allow a memorial garden with a plaque and benches to be installed in a southwest area of the town park at Glassbury Court by the Nicole Ettere Memorial Gardens Foundation, which supports the families of people who have committed suicide.

"It's a beautiful area; it's a beautiful spot," said Van Tassel.

Lucille Ettere co-founded the nonprofit with her husband, Roy Ettere, after the death of their daughter, Nicole. During a Town Board meeting in March, she said the gardens they have installed in other municipalities, including the Putnam Trailway in Carmel, are meant to be a "serene space" for families "to visit and honor and remember their loved ones."

The board agreed to have the town administer a grant the Cold Spring Chamber of Commerce is pursuing to expand the town's residential food-scrap recycling program to include businesses.

Jeff Mikkelson, advocacy chair for the chamber and a member of the town's Climate Smart Task Force, said a $6,000 grant from Williams College enabled a startup commercial program that launched this year with the Cold Spring Farmers' Market, The Garrison on Route 9, the Garrison Institute, the Haldane school district and Marbled Meat.

He told the board in April that a larger grant — $10,000 to $30,000 — was available through the office of Assembly Member Dana Levenberg, whose district includes Philipstown.

The board also voted to support a grant application by the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference to state parks. If successful, the conference will ...

Voltpost addresses EV charging station safety

At the Wednesday (June 10) meeting of the Cold Spring Village Board, James Everley, a representative of Voltpost, the company contracted to install an electric vehicle charging station in the village-owned parking lot on New Street, addressed concerns raised about flooding, electrocution and fires.

The Voltpost system includes a dual-charging unit mounted 10 feet off the ground on a wooden pole. When a driver activates the system using a QR code, a 25-foot cable lowers from the unit and retracts when charging is complete.

Intense storms have historically caused flooding in the lower village. When Mayor Kathleen Foley pointed out that a number of sources can cause electrification of flood waters when houses are inundated, Everley responded, "Yes, but our charger is very unlikely to be one of them." He emphasized that the charging unit will be mounted at a height of 10 feet, well above any flood waters, and that it will be powered by an overhead cable.

John Pavlik, a resident of the lower village, asked about potential hazards posed by floodwaters reaching as high as a vehicle's charging port.

"Electrocution has always been the main fear when people talk about batteries, so the engineering that has gone into safety is incredibly high," Everley said. "If there were a flood, either the vehicle and/or the charger would turn itself off." He added that Voltpost's unit has been certified by Underwriters Laboratories, which he described as "not an easy feat and a very rigorous process."

UL certification is an independent safety verification that ensures products have been rigorously tested and meet national and international safety standards.

Everley said that, in his 11 years in the industry, he has never heard of a fire at an EV charging station. He said that while gas-powered vehicles average 1,500 fires per 100,000 vehicles sold, EVs have 25 fires per 100,000 vehicles sold. "The only time you're likely to see a battery fire would be as the result of an accident, the same as a gas car," he said.

Paul Thompson, who lives on New Street, said he had no concerns. "I'm just very satisfied as to the safety of this charging supply equipment," he said.

The cost of the charging station, including hardware, installation, operations, software, driver support and maintenance, will be covered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Hudson House Inn leases the parking lot from the village for its guests and has agreed to the installation.

Although Cold Spring's reservoirs have been providing residents with drinking water for nearly 100 years, the village must apply to the state Department of Environmental Conservation for a permit to draw water from them. "We've been drawing water from our reservoirs since 1929 and have never had a permit; we've never been asked to apply for one," Foley said, noting the situation is not a violation and that the village will provide an annual report to the DEC summarizing water usage.

Hahn Engineering will assist the village in acquiring the state permit. The situation may have come about because the reservoirs were established decades before the DEC was created in 1970.

The board approved a $5,000 payment to LaBella Associates of Glens Falls for grant-writing services to assist the village with its application to the DEC Water Quality Improvement Program, which funds land acquisition for surface water protection. The application is part of multimillion-dollar repairs to the upper reservoir dam in North Highlands.

Trustee Laura Bozzi said the grant application is "one of the last pieces of protecting the reservoir," will be in the $1 million range, and is highly technical. Foley pointed out that the state doesn't open Consolidated Funding Applications, including funding for WQIP, until June, with a deadline at the end of July. "We want to make sure that we land this grant," she said.

The board also approved paying $11,950 to Tectonic Enginee...

Gen. George Washington returned to New York City from a visit to Philadelphia to consult with the Continental Congress.

On June 7, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution to Congress: "Resolved, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."

Concerned about the strength of Loyalist sentiment, the provincial congress in New York advised its delegates in Philadelphia to abstain from voting on the resolution, which was tabled until July 2.

On June 28, a five-man drafting committee in Philadelphia asked Thomas Jefferson to present the Declaration of Independence for debate. It was read aloud and tabled.

On June 30, British Maj. Gen. William Howe and his 9,000 troops began disembarking on Staten Island.

The case against Fanny Hay, 8, accused of stealing a breast pin from Mrs. Butterfass, was dismissed by Justice Coe because he felt the girl did not understand the nature of an oath. The Cold Spring Recorder's editor called it "a sad commentary on our Christian institutions that this child did not know how to read, was ignorant of the sin of and the penalty for lying or stealing; had not been taught that there was any future state, that she had an immortal soul; or that there was a Supreme Ruler, the source of all things and the judge of mankind!"

A new street near the depot, Railroad Avenue, was completed; Stone Street was furnished with a paved gutter on its west side; and a "great improvement" was made to Kemble Avenue on the slope south of the Rock Street corner.

The Recorder editor noted complaints about a Putnam Valley man who, once or twice a week, left his team of horses in the heat near the post office for hours without food or drink.

James Finnin of Garden Street was working in the boiler shop at the West Point Foundry when a piece of steel from his hammer pierced an artery in his left wrist. The bleeding was stopped with difficulty by compression with a handkerchief. Assisted by a comrade, Finnin walked to Dr. Murdock's office on Fair Street.

A company of Republicans visited Philipstown on a Saturday night to congratulate Rep. William Wheeler, who had been nominated to be the vice-presidential candidate alongside Rutherford Hayes in the 1876 election. Wheeler was staying with his brother-in-law, Henry Belcher, at Garrison's Landing.

About 11 p.m. on a Saturday, an intoxicated laborer, said to be employed at the Garrison quarry, stumbled down Main Street. He was warned that the dock was unlit and dangerous, but several bystanders soon heard the splash. Jerry Delany jumped in after him, and a boat was rowed to the rescue.

Because the cadets would be in Philadelphia for the Fourth of July centennial, the West Point fireworks were shot off on a Wednesday night in mid-June.

Soon after 1 p.m. on a Monday, four young men marched up Main Street wearing what appeared to be baseball uniforms with knapsacks and tin drinking cups. "No one seemed to know where they came nor what place was their destination," The Recorder observed.

Three young men from a New York canoe club drew a crowd when they stopped at the wharf on a Sunday afternoon wearing strange outfits. They left at 7 p.m., saying they planned to travel to Poughkeepsie, about 22 miles. The trip took longer than expected, as the Poughkeepsie News reported the men didn't arrive until Monday night and immediately booked hotel rooms.

Workers excavated the rocky ground near the District 3 schoolhouse to install a much-needed outhouse.

The flagging stones arrived for an "experimental" sidewalk between Kemble Avenue and Furnace Street.

The Recorder said a newly constructed railroad fence that followed the rocks and curves "reminds one of the Great Wall of China."

At 10 a.m. on a Friday morning, a crowd on Market Street armed with sticks, stones ...

Five Democrats compete to face Lawler

A lot has changed since the November 2024 general election, when Republican Mike Lawler defeated Democrat Mondaire Jones to win a second, 2-year term representing U.S. House District 17, which includes Philipstown.

The Democratic president, Joe Biden, was unpopular, a regular gallon of gas in New York state averaged $3.09, inflation stood at 2.7 percent and 39,000 people were being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, nearly two-thirds of them arrested at the borders with Canada and Mexico.

Less than two years later, Republican Donald Trump is the unpopular president, a regular gallon of gas averages $4.38, inflation hit 4.2 percent and 60,000 people were being held by ICE as of April, 85 percent of them arrested at their homes and workplaces, on the street and during routine check-ins with the agency.

A Marist poll released in May found that more than half of 1,322 adults surveyed rated their cost of living as "not very affordable" (44 percent) or "not affordable at all" (12 percent); 63 percent did not believe the economy benefited them; and 81 percent felt either a "major" strain on their household budget (33 percent) or a "minor" one (48 percent).

Trump's unpopularity, higher gas prices and other costs, and the unpopularity of the conflict with Iran and the president's immigration crackdown are some of the factors bolstering five Democrats competing in a June 23 primary to take on Lawler in November. The district is one of the most scrutinized in the country amid the Democratic Party's efforts to flip the House to its control. The Republicans have a 218-212 majority, with four seats vacant and one independent.

Cait Conley has received high-profile endorsements and raised the most campaign funds. A graduate of West Point who earned master's degrees from Harvard and MIT, she spent 16 years on active duty in the U.S. Army before directing counterterrorism for the National Security Council and joining the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Both the Dutchess and Putnam Democratic Committees have endorsed her.

Beth Davidson has also received notable endorsements, including from the Rockland Democratic Committee, where she is a county Legislator. Davidson, whose fundraising totals are only bested by Conley's, spent two years on the Nyack school board and has held board seats on local organizations such as Leadership Rockland and the Children's Shakespeare Theatre.

A third candidate, Effie Phillips-Staley, is serving her third term as a Tarrytown village trustee. She has also held roles as vice president of strategic advancement at the Hispanic Federation in New York City, where she led a fundraising effort that netted more than $30 million for Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria; executive director of the Foundation for the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns; and director of capital and institutional advancement for The Kitchen, an art space in the city.

Questions for Candidates

Ahead of the Democratic primary on June 23, we gave each candidate 500 words to answer three questions. Their responses are posted at highlandscurrent.org/house-primary-17.

John Cappello and Mike Sacks are the final two candidates. Cappello is an Air Force Academy graduate and bomber pilot who retired from the service and is president of the Halyard Mission Foundation, which commemorates the rescue of more than 500 U.S. airmen from Serbia during World War II.

Sacks is a lawyer and journalist who covered law and politics for the MeidasTouch media network and Fox 5 in New York City, where he won an Emmy for his coverage of the protests following the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis.

There have been four polls, but each was commissioned by a candidate or supporter, surveyed a relatively small sample and found large swaths of likely voters undecided.

VoteVets, a political action committee backing Conley, commissioned a poll of 500 people in May showing he...