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Mid Hudson Times, Wednesday, January 10, 2018
of service on city council Meyers named New
Windsor justice
George Meyers takes the oath of office at New Windsor Town Hall.
Continued from page 1
Photo provided
Regina Angelo greets then-First Lady Hillary Clinton and Congressman Maurice Hinchey in
Newburgh in 2000.
peace through the planting of flowers.”
Angelo became a lead organizer
of the Memorial Day Parade and the
annual Christmas Tree lighting. She
led community cleanups and was
instrumental in the creation of the
International Waterfront Festival, now
almost 30 years old. “It is truly a legacy
of selfless love for the City of Newburgh,
which you’ve always called home,” said
Brian Denniston, reading a letter from
former Mayor Nick Valentine.
“Regina knows that in a great city you
have to have a Memorial Day Parade, you
have to have a Christmas tree,” said city
Councilman Jonathan Jacobson.
Angelo was named deputy mayor
and served on the boards of the local
chapter of the NAACP, the Downing
Park Planning Committee, the Friends
of the State Historic Sites of the Hudson
Highlands, the arts and culture non-profit
Trestle Inc. and others. “The list goes on
and on,” Gamma said Sunday.
As city councilwoman, Angelo greeted
First Lady Hillary Clinton when she
came to Newburgh in 1998 and again in
2000. That same year, Angelo and a group
of friends opened the shop Landmark
Collectibles on Liberty Street. “We started
out as 10 ambitious women,” Angelo said.
“We were there to save the area.”
Former Mayor Andrew Marino noted
that Angelo dared to open a business on
Liberty Street, “when no one else would
go there,” he said. “You made Liberty
Street so much of what it is.”
Recognized by city and state
“I watched how humble you are,
how graceful you are,” said City
Councilwoman Hillary Rayford, who said
she was inspired by Angelo. “On behalf
of the City of Newburgh and this entire
community, and all who have enjoyed
your signature events, we thank you,”
Rayford said, reading a proclamation
from the city.
Angelo was bestowed a service award
from the Orange County Legislature.
Angelo was also honored by state
Assemblyman Frank Skartados and
state Senator Bill Larkin, who presented
her with a joint proclamation from both
houses of state government, as well as a
letter from Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“For nearly a half a century, your
extensive, dynamic presence throughout
Newburgh has been an invaluable
resource to your fellow residents and
provided a model of civic commitment
to countless others across the city, the
region and the state... you have set a
gold service for others to follow and
established a legacy of service that will
continue to inspire us all,” Larkin said,
reading Cuomo’s letter.
Larkin later recounted one year when
Angelo led the Christmas tree lighting on
a cold day. “I said, ‘It’s cold,’’’ Larkin told
the audience. “She said, ‘But doesn’t your
heart feel better that people will come by
and watch the tree?’”
and incumbent town Justice Richard
Thorpe each drew 2,723 votes, according
to the Orange County Board of Elections.
Justice Noreen Calderin was reelected to
the other open town-justice seat.
Meyers ran on Republican and
Conservative lines. Before retiring last
February, he worked for the Orange
County Sheriff’s Office and the New
Windsor Police Department, where he
served for 23 years. Meyers’ father served
as Town of New Windsor supervisor in
the 1990s and 2000s.
City’s new water plant goes online
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of clean water per day. “We designed
this system to treat the contaminants of
concerns in Lake Washington, compounds
associated with fire-fighting foams and
contamination coming from the Stewart
Air National Guard Base,” he said.
PFOS and a host of perfluorinated
chemicals were discovered in high levels at
the air base in 2016. State testing revealed
the chemical traveled from the air base
and into local water bodies, eventually
making its way into Washington Lake,
the city’s main drinking-water reservoir.
PFOS was found in the lake ranging in
levels of 140 to 170 parts per trillion in the
spring of 2016.
With assistance from the state, the city
switched to the Catskill Aqueduct as a
water source. In addition to paying for
the water, the state paid to build the new
water treatment plant, capable of filtering
out any perfluorinated chemicals still
leeching from the airbase. “This system
can handle anything that comes down that
watershed,” Brand said, “We (have) a high
level of confidence this system will treat
this water to non-detect standards.”
The state will test the water at the
treatment plant later this month, Brand
said, to gauge its ability to treat water
from Washington Lake. The city continues
to draw on Catskill Aqueduct water.
However, it is expected to switch back to
the lake water in the coming weeks.
“We’re still getting the same pollution
from Stewart,” said Councilman Jonathan
Jacobson, pointing out the fact that the
U.S. Department of Defense has not taken
steps to treat the still-polluted air base,
which continues to deliver PFOS into the
city drinking watershed. “We have to hold
the DoD liable. We should not hook up to
Washington Lake,” Jacobson said. “Why
aren’t we suing?” asked city resident Rich
Fracasse.
“There is quite a bit of work that needs
to be done,” said Brand, and the state
has already conducted tests with the
idea of designing a system that could
eventually treat Recreation Pond, the
chief source of PFOS still coming from
the air base. “You deserve to have clean
water,” Brand asserted, speaking directly
to city residents Monday. “We’re not going
anywhere.”
According to the DEC, the city is on
schedule to switch back to Washington
Lake water at the end of the month or
possibly sometime in February. The state
will host another public information
session on the Newburgh water crisis later
this month. A date is yet to be announced.