Vol. 36, No. 18 3 WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2018
3
ONE DOLLAR
The Wizard
of Oz Ify is back
on track
Page 20 Page 40
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
Judges on call
New centralized procedure could await courts
By JASPREET GILL
[email protected]
A
new
centralized
off-hour
arraignment court in Orange County
could provide defendants an attorney
anytime, any day.
“In the past at these proceedings what
happens is the police, for example, call me
up at 2 a.m. and I go down to the court to
conduct an arraignment,” says Village
of Montgomery Justice Andrew Roepe.
“Now what’s the piece missing? You have
a judge, a law enforcement officer and you
have the defendant. But the defendant
doesn’t have an attorney. If they do have
an attorney, they’re not here at 2 in the
morning.”
This topic stretches as far back to the
early 1960s in the U.S. Supreme Court
case of Gideon v. Wainwright, which
elaborated on previous court decisions
that said indigent criminal defendants
(those who cannot afford an attorney)
have the right to have an attorney
provided to them. Gideon v. Wainwright
made this more specific and said that the
state is responsible for providing indigent
defendants an attorney.
In 2010, the case of Hurrell-Harring Et
Al. v. State of New York addressed the
state’s failure to create a public defense
system that would ensure indigent
criminals (criminals who cannot afford
to pay for an attorney) would receive
counsel. The New York Court of Appeals
found that, among other things, an
arraignment is now a critical stage in
criminal proceedings.
“The Court of Appeals decision said
that New York State was not really filling
Continued on page 3
T ai C hi D ay
Jaspreet Gill
Jing Shuai plays the Guzheng, a plucked string instrument, during her Tai Chi Day performance, Saturday, at the Gardiner Library. Gardiner
residents celebrated World Tai Chi Day this past Saturday with a traditional Qigong.
Four seek
two seats on
Pine Bush
School Board
By JASPREET GILL
[email protected]
Four candidates are vying for two
open seats on the Pine Bush Board of
Education (BOE) this year. Current Pine
Bush BOE President Peter Agro and
board member Roseanne Sullivan are not
seeking re-election to their three year
term seats.
Matthew Watkins
Matthew Watkins, a life-long resident
of Pine Bush, was previously on the board
for a year and three months and filled
in for late BOE member and Town of
Crawford Police Sergeant Eric Meier.
“I loved being on the school board,”
he says. “It’s a lot of work, it’s a big
commitment and I enjoyed helping the
community.”
Watkins wants to address three
things in the Pine Bush school system:
communication between administration
and parents, education and supporting
teachers.
“My number one thing is education
of children and my number two thing is
supporting the administration and staff,
especially the teachers,” says Watkins.
“These people work their tails off.
They give up their lunches, they stay
late in the afternoon and evening and
they work with these students above and
beyond the call of duty.”
He says supporting teachers is crucial
Continued on page 4
SERVING CRAWFORD, GARDINER, MAYBROOK, MONTGOMERY, PINE BUSH, SHAWANGUNK, WALDEN AND WALLKILL