TIMES
MID
HUDSON
Vol. 28, No 22
3
JUNE 1 - 7, 2016
Page 43
SERVING NEWBURGH AND NEW WINDSOR
School board to vote on June 14
Four Newburgh Board of Education
members may plan to vote against
renewing the contract for Roberto Padilla,
the popular superintendent of schools
in the Newburgh Enlarged City School
District.
That’s according to former board
President Dawn Fucheck, who says four
board members – Kenneth Copertino,
Darren Stridiron, Joseph Minuta and
current board President Carole Mineo
– are banding together to vote against
renewing the superintendent’s contract
at an upcoming meeting of the board on
June 14.
“I don’t understand what these people
are thinking,” Fucheck said last week.
When the Mid Hudson Times contacted
the four board members by telephone
and email to ask if and why they plan
vote against renewing Padilla’s contract,
none responded. All four board members
have been endorsed by the Newburgh’s
Teachers Association in past and recent
bids for board seats.
In order to renew his contract, at least
five of the eight members of the board
will need to approve it. “If the vote is
four against four, his contract will not be
Continued on page 4
Day of Remembrance
Bob McCormick
Members of AMVETS-Post 826 ride their float in town Town of Newburgh memorial Day parade on Sunday. Additional photos on page 41.
WWW.MIDHUDSONTIMES.COM
ONE DOLLAR
Garcia an
impact player
Padilla contract up for review
By SHANTAL RILEY
[email protected]
3
Jehovah’s
Witnesses
settle in
By SHANTAL RILEY
[email protected]
The Jehovah’s Witnesses have
moved their world headquarters to
Orange County. In the process, their
operations have fanned out all across the
Hudson Valley. The move comes as the
organization continues to expand and
real estate costs skyrocket in Brooklyn,
where they made their home for almost
a century.
Perhaps the most obvious sign of their
presence in Newburgh is the Witnesses’
new Hudson Valley Personnel Support
Center on Route 300. The site contains
a hotel and dining/meeting hall largely
used to serve workers from the Witnesses’
headquarters under construction in
Warwick.
The former site of the Gateway Diner
and the Hampton Inn, the property was
sold to the Watchtower Bible and Tract
Society of New York, a corporation of the
Jehovah’s Witnesses, in March, 2014.
As a religious organization, the
Watchtower is exempt from paying
taxes. However, according to the Orange
County Real Property Tax Department,
Watchtower does pay certain taxes in the
Town of Newburgh. In fact, the county
states, Watchtower will pay almost $23,000
to town fire, lighting and water districts
for the Rt. 300 property in 2016.
Yet, it’s a drop in the bucket compared
to the money Watchtower saves as a taxexempt, religious organization in Orange
County.
Continued on page 2