Mid Hudson Times Jun. 21 2017 | Page 3

Mid Hudson Times , Wednesday , June 21 , 2017 3

New Windsor takes ownership of Woodlawn Cemetery

By SHANTAL RILEY sriley @ tcnewspapers . com
The Town of New Windsor has taken ownership of the Woodlawn Cemetery . The burial ground , located at Route 94 and Union Avenue , had been under financial strain for some years , according to town officials . “ If it becomes insolvent , we must , by state law , take it over ,” said New Windsor Supervisor George Green .
The town took on stewardship of the cemetery about three years ago . “ It just kept going downhill ,” said Green . “ I said , ‘ Enough is enough . We ’ ve done what we can do .’”
The cemetery exuded 19th-Century charm last week . Aging headstones dotted rolling carpets of green grass and huge spruce trees towered over grave sites , offering beauty and shade .
The cemetery was incorporated in October , 1870 , but Green said graves were likely there up to fifty years prior . Renamed the New Windsor Woodlawn Cemetery when taken over by the town earlier this year , the burial ground contains approximately 7,800 sold plots
The newly-renamed New Windsor Woodlawn Cemetery .
with room for approximately 4,000 more . The cemetery covers 73 acres of townowned property . Each year , cemeteries like Woodlawn
face increased financial stress . “ People are getting cremated and not buried ,” said town Comptroller Mike Finnegan , as cremations are cheaper than burials .
And , maintenance costs continue to rise for established burial sites , some centuries old . “ Things are a whole lot more expensive in 2017 ,” Finnegan pointed out .
“ The increase in cremations , use of mausoleums , shifts in aging population away from New York State , and aging of the volunteer caretakers of New York ’ s cemeteries have altered the financial and operational impacts upon cemeteries ,” the New York Department of State ’ s Division of Cemeteries reports .
Moving forward , the town will be entirely responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the cemetery . This includes burials , landscaping , maintenance of grave sites , roads and trees , many planted in the 1800s . “ The town wants to repave the cemetery roads and make it a place where people can come and walk through , and appreciate ,” he said .

City officials : Newburgh gets too many parolees

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onto the city . “ What we don ’ t want to be is the brother ’ s keepers of all the other communities around us ,” said Newburgh City Manager Michael Ciaravino .
“ We are willing to do our fair share and we are willing to take care of our own . But , we don ’ t believe that it ’ s fair for us to have to bring in and host sex offenders arrested in Port Jervis , Goshen , Sullivan County , Ossining , Haverstraw , Schenectady and ( communities ) out of state .”
Robert Munson , 61 , died following a brutal beating on May 23 . Wilfredo Mercado , recently released from prison , was later charged with seconddegree murder . He pleaded not guilty in Newburgh City Court last month . Mercado is due to appear in Orange County Court this week .
The transitional housing facility where the attack took place was run by Youth Advocate Programs , Inc . Munson had worked for YAP since 2014 . In his obituary on the James F . Lulves Funeral Home website , the Cornwall native was described as a giving person . “ He loved helping people and in return , was loved
by all those who knew him ,” the obit read .
Mercado was a level-three sex offender , deemed most dangerous of all sex offenders and posing the highest risk to public safety .
While released prisoners have every right to “ redemption ,” Ciaravino said , the city is now carrying a “ disproportionate burden ” when it comes to housing parolees . “ We are here to do our fair share ,” the city manager said . “ We are not here to subsidize the region . We cannot be here to take care of people from other places ... because ( political leaders ) have deemed it politically uncomfortable and inconvenient for them to do their own work in their own communities ”
Newburgh Mayor Judy Kennedy noted that two years ago there were 96 sex offenders living in the city ; currently , there are 136 , she said . “ We ’ re talking about people being released back into the community ,” the mayor said . “ They should go back to the communities they come from .”
But , when parolees do not have families or support structures to return to , housing is sought elsewhere . “ Generally , they start looking for supportive housing in other communities ,” said Kennedy , and
the New York State Division of Parole decides where parolees will live . “ When they look around Orange County , they find places in the cities – Middletown , Newburgh , Port Jervis . That ’ s where the cheaper housing is .”
The City of Newburgh has an abundance of cheap housing , Kennedy said . “ Now , we end up with more than our fair share ,” she said . “ Add to that , there are deals between counties . Rockland County will
hire Orange County to take them here . If they live here for six months , they become residents .”
Costs for services ensue , said the mayor . These include policing , emergency medical and social services .
Ciaravino said the city is compiling a database with information on where parolees arrive from when released from prison . “ When we get the raw data … we will be able to make it public ,” he said .
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