Mid Hudson Times Dec. 30 2015

TIMES MID HUDSON Vol. 27, No 52 3 DECEMBER 30, 2015 - JANUARY 5, 2016 3 $1.00 Nora Teaming Cronin’s with Police 1st decade Page 19 Page 18 SERVING NEWBURGH AND NEW WINDSOR Two Stewart airmen killed Paved Pair and four others killed by suicide bomber in Afghanistan streets Mill, William, Ann and Wisner Ave. smooth for winter By SHANTAL RILEY [email protected] BOB MCCORMICK An honor guard formed along Route 17K, Monday, when the body of Technical Sgt. Joseph Lemm was returned to the Stewart Air National Guard Base. By SHANTAL RILEY [email protected] Two airmen stationed at Stewart Air National Guard Base made the ultimate sacrifice when they encountered a suicide bomber while on security patrol in Afghanistan in the days before Christmas. Technical Sgt. Joseph Lemm, 45, and Staff Sgt. Louis Bonacasa, 31, were killed outside of Kabul, Afghanistan on Dec. 21. The men died along with four other U.S. airmen when a suicide bomber on a motorcycle detonated an explosive vest. An American interpreter and two others were wounded in the attack. Col. Howard Wagner provided details about the incident at a press conference held at Homewood Suites at Stewart International Airport last Wednesday. “At approximately 1:30 p.m. local Afghanistan time, a security patrol consisting of U.S., NATO and Afghan forces was attacked outside Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul,” Wagner stated. “They were attacked by an individual on a motorcycle wearing an explosive vest.” According to Wagner, the patrol was on foot when the attacker rode up and detonated the vest, killing himself and six servicemen, including Lemm and Bonacasa, who served with the 105th Base Defense Squadron of the Air National Guard. “These members… were providing security for the patrol,” the colonel said. “The other four U.S. servicemen killed Continued on page 2 WWW.MIDHUDSONTIMES.COM Newly-paved streets will make it easier to navigate parts of the City of Newburgh this winter. City officials say a plan is in place to pave more streets badly in need of paving sometime next year. Four pot-hole-filled streets were paved, including all of Ann Street and Wisner Avenue from Broadway to Little Britain Road. Mill and William streets were also paved from Renwick Street to Broadway. “William Street was all brick and probably one of the worst streets in Newburgh,” said city Department of Public Works Superintendent George Garrison. “It was sinking and settling in different areas. It was probably more than 100 years old.” “Quite a few” city streets are just as old, he said. Paving took place in October. “It took about a week to do the milling, a week of prepping and a week to do the paving,” Garrison said. Workers employed the “mill and fill” paving method to complete the majority of the streets, Garrison said. “You mill down an inch and a half to two inches of top layer of asphalt and then go back over it with two inches of fresh asphalt,” he said. “William Street was all brick underContinued on page 4