T IMES
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION FIRST-PLACE AWARD FOR GENERAL EXCELLENCE, 2016
MID
HUDSON
Vol. 29, No 29
3
Butterfly
festival
Page 12
3
ONE DOLLAR
Living
wax
museum
Page 35
SERVING NEWBURGH AND NEW WINDSOR
A community mourns
New Windsor resident among 16 servicemen killed in crash
By MELANIE ZERAH
Sixteen U.S. Military Servicemen
who died in a Mississippi plane crash,
including one from the area, were
remembered Saturday night at a
memorial service.
Gunnery Sgt. Mark A. Hopkins, 34,
of New Windsor, was among those who
died in the July 10 crash. He leaves
behind a wife, Patricia Hopkins, and
three children: Wyatt, Abby and
Lewis. The couple had been married
in Montgomery’s Goodwill Church
and remained active in the church
community, along with Patricia’s
parents Jim and Mildred Ferguson,
“Pastor Josh, Pastor José, and the
entire leadership of Goodwill Church
join me in offering our deepest
condolences to the families, friends,
and colleagues impacted by this tragic
loss,” said Goodwill Pastor John Torres
in a statement posted on the church’s
Facebook page. “God’s Word promises
that the Lord heals the brokenhearted
and is near to those who are crushed in
spirit (Psalm 34:18).”
Hopkins was part of the Marine
Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron
452 (VMGR-452) based out of Stewart
Air National Guard Base in Newburgh..
He joined the U.S. Marine Corps when
he was 18 and served as a navigator.
“Hoppy,” as he was referred to by his
Marine brothers, was based in Okinawa,
Japan with VMGR-152 from 2004-06.
“Mark was a man of the Bible whose
faith in Christ shaped every area of
his life,” read the church’s Facebook
post. “ Mark was a genuine, creative,
compassionate man who exuded
happiness and brightened every room
JULY 19 - 25, 2017
Demonstrators
rally against
PFOS
pollution from
air base
By SHANTAL RILEY
[email protected]
Goodwill Church Facebook Page
Gunnery Sgt. Mark A. Hopkins and his wife Patricia were married in Montgomery’s
Goodwill Church.
he walked into. He loved God, his family,
and reading his Bible. An adventurous,
genuine people-person, Mark had many
talents and hobbies including playing
guitar, running, snowboarding, hiking,
and surfing. He was an avid traveler and
especially enjoyed spur-of-the-moment
road trips — there was never a dull
moment with him. He was a deeply
spiritual man who shared his faith with
others and lived his life to its fullest.
He is most known for his unforgettable,
radiant smile — he was always happy
and had a welcoming presence about
him. He had a knack for always bringing
out the best in others.”
Also killed in the crash of the KC-130T
aircraft were: : Caine M. Goyette, Sean
E. Elliot, Brendan C. Johnson, Joshua
Continued on page 3
WWW.MIDHUDSONTIMES.COM
The sound of the whistle was loud and
shrill, cutting through traffic noise like
a sharp knife. “DoD, we’re blowing the
whistle on you,” she shouted through a
bullhorn.
City of Newburgh Councilwoman Genie
Abrams stood in front of tanks attached
to a large carbon-filtration system next
to Washington Lake, where a rally was
staged Saturday in an effort to get the
U.S. Department of Defense to clean up
Stewart Air National Guard Base. State
testing shows the air base is the source of
ongoing PFOS contamination of the City
of Newburgh drinking watershed.
“Water is not a luxury,” Abrams railed.
“It’s a right.”
The demonstration took place more
than a year following the discovery of
perfluorooctane sulfonate in City of
Newburgh drinking water. Testing
by the New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation determined
the chemical entered the city’s drinking
water reservoir at Washington Lake
through Silver Stream, which was, in
turn, contaminated by PFOS-laden water
flowing from the air base.
Two, four, six, eight, DoD remediate!”
rallygoers chanted. They held signs that
read “Dept. of Defense keep PFOS out of
Continued on page 4