Mid Hudson Times Aug. 08 2018

T IMES MID City files federal suit over PFOS HUDSON Vol. 30, No. 32 3 AUGUST 8 - 14, 2018 3 ONE DOLLAR Peter Pan Jr. Knights make playoff run Page 10 Page 32 SERVING NEWBURGH AND NEW WINDSOR Newburgh remembers City welcomes healing wall, honors Veterans Air Force, chemical makers, state as defendants By SHANTAL RILEY [email protected] The City of Newburgh has filed a lawsuit in federal court to force the cleanup of ongoing contamination of the city’s water supply by polyfluoralkyl substances (PFAS). The lawsuit also seeks to require more than a dozen defendants to pay for clean drinking water until the cleanup is complete. “The city is asking the court to hear and respond to our citizens’ exposure to toxic contaminants,” City of Newburgh Mayor Torrance Harvey said in a statement on Tuesday. “We are standing up for our citizens’ rights to clean and healthy water, and demanding damages so we can provide our citizens rebates for the contaminated water they received.” The lawsuit was filed more than two years following the shutdown of Washington Lake, the city’s main source of drinking water until elevated levels of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) were found in the lake in 2016. Testing traced the chemical back to Stewart Air National Guard Base at Stewart International Airport, where PFOS-containing fire foam was used for decades. Twenty-three defendants include the New York State Air National Guard, the U.S. Air Force, Federal Express, and the Continued on page 4 Carl Aiello Visitors to The Wall That Heals look for names of those killed in action inscribed on the panels. By WAYNE A. HALL The Wall That Heals rolled into Newburgh’s waterfront park for four days of viewing Sunday, giving an estimated 300 people more than four days of viewing. Visiors could make rubbings of names on the wall. Some people cried as they located loved ones killed in battle. The wall has 58,318 names of Vietnam era casualties on 375 feet across the smooth surfaces of black marble of the wall curving 375 feet across with raised lettering. Volunteer guide John Mazzone said, “We just let people alone and helped them find their loved ones on the wall.” “It was very good for we veterans to see this,” said Vietnam veteran Dave McTamaney of Newburgh. Daily life in Vietnam was replicated in a mobile display trailer of objects necessary to survive Vietnam’s tropical . climate, insects, snakes and booby WWW.MIDHUDSONTIMES.COM traps. Veterans showed up to take rubbings of the wall’s lettering where they found loved ones names. Veterans showed up and shared the war’s terrible costs. U.S. Marine veteran Dan Clarino of Newburgh recalls switching planes in Vietnam and seeing the one he had just left blow up minutes later in an enemy rocket attack. Visitors knew the wall was going to be Continued on page 31