Vol. 36, No. 13 3 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2018
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ONE DOLLAR
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
School safety remains an issue in PB
By JASPREET GILL
[email protected]
Many schools across the country are
tightening up their security measures
after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman
Douglas High School in Florida. During
a recent Pine Bush Board of Education
meeting, Superintendent Tim Mains
unveiled a new safety budget for the 2018-
2019 school year.
The budget includes hiring an
additional student resource officer (SRO)
in the high school, an additional security
aide at the middle schools, new digital
safety plans, a Pine Bush dedicated tip line
and youth violence prevention programs.
One thing that sticks out in the budget
is the lack of resources being allocated
to the four Pine Bush elementary
schools - E.J. Russell Elementary School,
Pakanasink Elementary School, Pine
Bush Elementary School and Circleville
Elementary School. None of the
elementary schools will see a SRO or
security aide.
Mains attributes this to the size and
need for secondary schools to have an
increased security presence. He says the
Continued on page 4
Rambling along
Photo courtesy Montgomery Montessori School
The Village of Montgomery St. Pat’s Ramble brought in a huge crowd last Saturday, with the entirety of Union Street filled with residents ready
to celebrate. More photos on pages 24 and 25.
Beltrametti
requests
a recount
By JASPREET GILL
[email protected]
A recent request to view absentee
ballots for the Montgomery Village
Justice election has resulted in a recount
of all votes.
Village justice candidate Maria
Beltrametti says a simple question has
turned into a big fiasco, one that shouldn’t
have happened in the first place.
“It just makes me think that [the
village government] did something to the
absentee ballots. Why wouldn’t they show
them to me?,” says Beltrametti. “That’s
just the way they do things around here.
They have so little confidence in their
own selves that they have to try to control
every outcome.”
Beltrametti says she wasn’t confident
in the conditions of the village hall on
the day residents cast their vote - dim
lights and a flustered woman in her 80’s
in charge of counting votes - and wanted
to see the paperwork of firsthand.
“She refused to show me the absentee
ballots,” Beltrametti says of village clerk
Monserrate Rivera-Fernandez. “I had
noticed that the elections inspector had a
little notation saying two of the absentee
ballots were nullified. And I wanted to
know why.”
Beltrametti says she also wanted to
know if the people who promised to vote
for her actually did. She says Rivera-
Fernandez told her she would have to
check with the board of elections to see if
she can show Beltrametti the ballots.
Continued on page 3
SERVING CRAWFORD, GARDINER, MAYBROOK, MONTGOMERY, PINE BUSH, SHAWANGUNK, WALDEN AND WALLKILL