Mid Hudson Times Jan. 23 2019 | Page 2

2 Mid Hudson Times, Wednesday, January 23, 2019 IN THIS ISSUE Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 City of Newburgh.. . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Crossword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Letters to the Editor. . . . . . . . . . 8 Meadow Hill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Town of Newburgh. . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Newburgh Heritage. . . . . . . . . . . 10 New Windsor.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Obituaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Service Directory. . . . . . . . . . . 27 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 PUBLIC AGENDA THURSDAY, JANUARY 24 Newburgh City Council Work Session, 6 p.m. City Hall, 83 Broadway. Town of Newburgh Zoning Board of Appeals. 7 p.m. Town Hall, 1496 Route 300, Town of Newburgh. MONDAY, JANUARY 28 Town of Newburgh Workshop meeting, 7 p.m. Town Hall, 1496 Route 300, Town of Newburgh. Newburgh City Council meeting. 7 p.m. City Hall, 83 Broadway. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4 New Windsor Town Board Work Session, 7 p.m., Town Hall, 555 Union Ave., New Windsor. HOW TO REACH US OFFICE: 300 Stony Brook Court Newburgh, NY 12550 PHONE: [phone], FAX: [phone] Emails may be directed to the following : ADVERTISING [email protected] CALENDAR SUBMISSIONS [email protected] TO REACH THE EDITOR [email protected] FOR THE SPORTS DEPARTMENT [email protected] PUBLIC NOTICES [email protected] WEBSITE www.timeshudsonvalley.com The Mid Hudson Times (USPS 000-5947) is a weekly newspaper published every Wednesday at Newburgh, NY 12550, with offices at 300 Stony Brook Court, Newburgh, NY. Single copy: $1 at newsstand. By mail in Orange, Ulster or Sullivan Counties: $40 annually, $44 out of county. Periodicals permit at Newburgh, NY. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Mid Hudson Times, 300 Stony Brook Court, Newburgh, NY 12550. BHC celebrates ‘Our Beloved Community’ By KATELYN CORDERO [email protected] The Black History Committee (BHC) of the Hudson Valley hosted its annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Service on Monday. The theme for the committee in 2019 is “Our beloved community...going forward.” They kicked of the event event with a panel moderated by Executive Counsel Tiombe Tallie Carter, with Bishop Robert Diaz of The House of God, Pastor Baumgartner, of King of Kings Lutheran Church, Cynthia Gilkeson of Community Voices Heard and Pastor Ed Benson of the New Day Community Church. “It was a great discussion to share information and resources,” said Diaz. “It was a nice thing and we want to spread empowerment to help people until they can help themselves.” Each year the committee presents the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award to a member of the community. This year it was presented to Julie Nicholas, Workshop Coordinator. “There are many people working in the community with different organizations and they do all kinds of work,” said President Sadie Tallie. “We are proud of them and we want to make sure today we acknowledge someone special who is worthy of that accomplishment. When we think about our beloved community... moving forward, [Julie] shows beyond reasonable doubt that [she] is truly a part of the beloved community.” Nicholas runs children’s workshops for ages K-12 and music for BHC. She has been with the committee for 20 years, helping to educate children on their history. “I can’t describe it, it’s so unbelievable,” said Nicholas. “I joined the committee because I think that we Councilwoman Hilary Rayford addressed the group to talk about equality and the importance of teaching the youth about African American history. as black parents aren’t taking the time to share our history and to know the people who fought for where we are today. God raised these leaders to fight for us and we don’t want to forget those who died, and fought for our rights.” Councilwoman Hilary Rayford spoke about the need for black history in the Newburgh Enlarged City School District. She is starting a petition to make black history part of the district’s curriculum. “Today’s event celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King has always inspired me being African American,” said Rayford. “Fifty Julie Nicholas was presented with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Award, for her work coordinating the educational workshops and music for BHC. years (later) the needs are still the same, even more. For the City of Newburgh we still need jobs, we still need housing, people are without a voice they need a voice. These things inspired me. Knowing our history is one thing not knowing is another, that’s why I’m starting the petition for African American history to be put in the City of Newburgh school curriculum. It’s very important to me because Dr. Martin Luther King talked about equality of all nationalities.” Prayer removed from the Newburgh City Council Continued from page 1 explain to me why we have to pray at the beginning of the meeting, why did that start and why do we have to continue to do that?” Since expressing her concerns at the city council meeting on December 10, prayer was turned into a moment of silence at City Council. It led to some discussions among councilmembers. The most vocal was councilwoman Hilary Rayford. At the council meeting on January 10, she stood up for the right to pray at meetings. “I know prayer was asked for by Mayor Judy Kennedy,” said Rayford. “[Monteverde] walked out when I was asked to pray. Being a brother or a sister in Christianity you have to believe in Jesus Christ. When you’re talking about humanity that’s a different story, but we do owe each other respect and that is true.” Mayor Torrance Harvey stood by the removal of prayer out of respect for those offended. He said the issue is still up for discussion. Rayford would like to see the moment of silence take place after the pledge of allegiance. She is looking to continue the discussion of prayer at city council meetings going forward.