T IMES
SOUTHERN
ULSTER
Vol. 14, No 31 3 AUGUST 2 - 8, 2017
Fire
parade
Page 16
3
ONE DOLLAR
Celebrate
the
Camaro
Page 31
SERVING HIGHLAND, MARLBOROUGH AND PLATTEKILL
Lloyd Republicans choose slate for 2017
Veteran
recalls end
of WWII
By MARK REYNOLDS
[email protected]
The Lloyd Republican Slate for 2017: back to front, Herb Litts for Ulster County Legislature, Terry Elia for Town Justice, Mary Beth Maio for
Ulster County Legislature, Paul Hansut for Town Supervisor, David Plavchak and Lenny Auchmoody, both for Town Council and Christine
Giangrasso for Town Clerk.
By MARK REYNOLDS
[email protected]
Last week the Lloyd Republican
Party nominated their candidates for
the fall 2017 election. As he has for many
years, John Wadlin chaired the Caucus,
which was held at St. Augustine’s school
gymnasium.
Five candidates were nominated
for two open Town Council positions
– (incumbent) Kevin Brennie received
43 votes, Leonard Auchmoody received
62 votes, Christina DeMaio garnered
38 votes, Jill Indelicato drew 44 votes
and David Plavchak secured 62 votes;
leaving Auchmoody and Plavchak the
nominees for Town Council.
Just before voting started for the
Council positions, Supervisor Paul
Hansut questioned why the Caucus was
pausing to vote on these positions instead
of first accepting nominations for all of
the positions that would be appearing on
the ballot in November. Hansut’s motion
to continue the nominations received
a second. Chairman Wadlin said party
chairman, Franco Zani, informed him
that the reason for pausing to vote is
to give those who are not successful
for Town Council the opportunity to be
nominated and run for another position.
Though the Council votes were not yet
tallied, Wadlin indicated that the Caucus
would proceed with nominations for
other offices. Hansut again pressed the
chairman, with Wadlin stating, “The
Chair of this Caucus ruled that out of
order based on the rules of the Ulster
County Board of Elections.”
Wadlin
moved
forward
on
nominations for Town Justice and Town
Clerk. By doing so, the Caucus did not
strictly adhere to the recommendations
made by Tom Turco, Republican
representative of the Ulster County
Board of Elections.
Emails between party Chairman
Zani and Turco that were sent several
days before the Caucus, show that Zani
anticipated that this issue might arise.
He stated to Turco that he would like
to “vote once for all offices.” Turco
responded,
“Unfortunately,
you
cannot do that. For example: I lose
the Supervisor vote. By law I am now
entitled to be nominated for Council
but now you prevented me from being
Continued on page 5
WWW.SOUTHERNULSTERTIMES.COM
Ben Bragg Sr. can never forget his
service in WWII and especially the final
months when his company arrived at
Auschwitz and Dachau, experiences that
are etched in his soul.
Bragg is a native of Highland and will
celebrate his 93rd birthday on August
10. In 1943 he said “Uncle Sam wanted
me” but he was allowed to graduate high
school and at the age of 18, he enlisted
in the Army. He was assigned to several
military bases before finally landing in
Ft. Chaffee, Arkansas where he began his
training in Communications.
“Our communications at that time was
a switchboard and field telephones,” he
said. “Radio systems were not appropriate
to be using and we didn’t use them.”
Bragg said Capt. Martin had him train
in communications after learning that he
had played football in High School, saying
“You’re an automatic leader for me.”
Bragg said he was put in charge of a
dozen soldiers “and we had to operate the
field telephones and how to splice wire.”
He said the system was hard-wired at that
time. His outfit was Battery B 742 Field
Artillery and was trained on how to hook
everyone up on the battlefield.
After Ft. Chaffee, Bragg returned to
New York and soon boarded a ship bound
for Southampton on the southern coast of
England. He arrived in early 1944, in time
for the Normandy Invasion in June that
began to push back the German Army.
Continued on page 3