Vol. 36, No. 28 3 WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 2018
Montgomery
Little League
Page 32
3
ONE DOLLAR
Human Rights
Scholarship
Award
Page 17
w w w .W a l l k i l l V a l l e y T i m e s . n e t
Valley Central
Board elects
new president
Past Fire Chief remembered
By TED REMSNYDER
An intense spring for the Valley Central
School District administration that saw
the public vote down the district’s first
proposed 2018-2019 budget in May ended
with relief after the welcome news that
taxpayers had approved the district’s
second budget on June 19 by a strong 1,710
to 1,118 margin. In the wake of the stressful
budget season, the Valley Central School
Board held its reorganization meeting
on July 2, and the council decided to
go in a different
direction with
its leadership,
as the board
voted 4-0 to elect
Trustee Melvin
Wesenberg
to
his first term
as the Board
of
Education
President.
Entering his
Melvin Wesenberg
fourth year on
the
council,
Wesenberg was unopposed within the
board in the race for the top seat. “No
one’s beating down the door to get this
job apparently,” Wesenberg said with a
laugh. Wesenberg said he hopes to bring
a fresh perspective to his new position.
“With the failure of the budget, our main
job is passing a budget. so obviously we
didn’t do a good job with that, so we need
new leadership and a more community-
oriented direction,” he said. The Board of
Education also approved Trustee Sarah
Messing to serve as the board’s vice
president last Monday.
Continued on page 4
Photos by Laura Fitzgerald
Weeden’s equipment is displayed in front of the old Montgomery fire house as the Montgomery Fire Department performs his last call.
By LAURA FITZGERALD
[email protected]
The
Montgomery
community
celebrated the life and mourned the
passing of George Weeden, 86, a past
Montgomery Fire Department Chief,
Korean war veteran and loving servant
of the Montgomery community.
“He’s gonna be missed by everybody,
not just his family but the entire
community,” son Howard Weeden said.
Bagpipes
drifted
into
First
Presbyterian Church at his memorial
service last Friday. Past Montgomery
fire chiefs carried George’s flag-draped
coffin down the aisle.
George’s equipment was displayed
in front of the old firehouse while
the Montgomery Fire Department
performed his last call, members of
the department at attention around
his hearse. His hearse passed under a
giant American flag hung from two fire
ladders.
Howard Weeden spoke at the service,
describing George as a kind, loving
father and husband.
“Our hero was our dad,” Weeden said.
“He was so many things to so many
people.”
Continued on page 3
SERVING CRAWFORD, GARDINER, MAYBROOK, MONTGOMERY, PINE BUSH, SHAWANGUNK, WALDEN AND WALLKILL