4
Wallkill Valley Times, Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Majestic change is coming
Continued from page 1
check,” Majestic said. “The people who are living here
need to be able to pay their taxes. It’s not going to be
Levittown, Long Island, but the town and the services
need to be sustainable.”
To boost its economy, Gardiner needs to market its
connection to two big tourist attractions as well, Majestic
urged: the Mohonk Preserve and Minnewaska area. The
town’s proximity to their hiking trails is often overlooked
in favor of New Paltz, she added.
Taxes are only one of many things she hopes to tackle during her two-year term, which begins in January
2016. Majestic also plans to focus on road repair and
maintenance, the town sewer system, and the highway
department’s fleet of trucks. A pet project will be maintenance of Town Hall, the former two-room schoolhouse
that her husband, Charles, attended. It’s become a victim
of neglect, Majestic feels. Beyond that, she’s open to all
suggestions – which will become easier, as she plans to
invite public comment during town meetings and not at
the end of them like her predecessor.
“My only promise [during campaigning] was, ‘I will
listen to what you have to say.’ If we listen to what people
have to say, the issues will come to light.”
A need for two-way communication and government
transparency were the driving forces behind Majestic’s
decision to challenge current supervisor Carl Zatz. She
has always been civic-minded, she said, picking up trash
in the town and helping her husband and sons clean up
the vintage schoolhouse bell outside Town Hall and reinstall it in its belfry. As she attended more and more Town
Board meetings, she found she disagreed with some of
the things she saw.
“I said to myself, rather than complaining, I’ll run for
office,” Majestic said. It wasn’t a snap decision, though: “I
was waiting for that ‘Aha!’ moment,” she added. “Then I
talked it over with my best friend.”
“‘The worst thing that could happen is I lose,’” Majestic
remembers telling her friend. “No, the worst is if you
didn’t try,’ my friend said. She nailed it.”
It wasn’t an easy campaign. A lifelong Democrat,
Majestic was disappointed when the Democratic committee in the town endorsed Zatz instead, although she did
garner one-third of the nominating votes at the caucus.
She did earn the nominations in the Republican and
Conservative caucuses, and won an Independence Party
primary by a large margin. Majestic also ran on the
Reform and People for Gardiner party lines.
On Election Day, Majestic received 906 votes to Zatz’
642. She was so happy that she ran right to the bell that
her family lovingly restored.
“On election night I pulled that bell like a lunatic,” she
recalled with laughter.
This was Majestic’s first run for public office, but
her experience has prepared her for the job, she said.
She was the confidential secretary for past supervisors
Laura Walls (who will take a council seat in January),
Jack Hayes and, briefly, Carl Zatz. During those tenures,
Majestic worked on budgets and meeting agendas, and
helped get the town summer recreation program running
and certified.
This second-generation Irish girl from the Woodlawn
section of the Bronx has obviously fallen in love with the
Police Blotter
TOWN OF CRAWFORD
Raymond Starr, 44, of Schenectady was arrested Nov. 24 :
Warrant for Aggravated Unlicensed Operation. Starr was arrested
in 2013 for Aggravated Unlicensed Operation and has failed to
appear in court. A warrant was issued and he surrendered himself.
He was released to return to town court on December 1.
Cody Bell, 25, of Middletown was charged Nov. 25 with
Aggravated Unlicensed Operation. Police said Bell was stopped
for an expired inspection and not wearing his seatbelt. Further
investigation showed he had a suspended license. He will appear in
Town Court on December 7.
Karim Aponte, 26 of Middletown was charged November 25
with Aggravated Unlicensed Operation. Police said Aponte was
stopped for failing to stop at a stop sign and expired inspection.
Further investigation showed he had a suspended license. He will
appear in Town Court on December 7.
TOWN OF MONTGOMERY
Newly elected Gardiner town supervisor Marybeth Majestic
relaxes in her circa-1745 stone home.
town and its history, and she doesn’t want Gardiner to
stray far from its roots. Majestic was disappointed when
the old library, which was the town’s first firehouse, was
sold; she had hoped the town could have kept it to use as
a community center or museum. She wants more of an
emphasis put on town history.
Majestic graduated from SUNY New Paltz with a
degree in Political Science, with a double minor in
Journalism and Speech Communication. She liked the
area so much that she worked here in the summers
during college. In her senior year, as a reporter for a
local paper, she interviewed a young man who, with his
f