A Day (or so) in the Life of the HPD

In 1960, photographer Howard Gibson, whose work has been archived by Bruce Bohnsack, did a series of photographs called "A Day in the Life--Hudson Police Dept." The following images are from that series. The ones I've omitted where taken at police headquarters, which in 1960 was located in the original City Hall at 327 Warren Street.

Gossips was recently added to the distribution list for press releases from the Hudson Police Department--by recently I mean earlier today. The first press release, received at 4 p.m., concerned something that happened just before 9 a.m. on Saturday morning--right about the time the Hudson Farmers Market opens for business. The HPD received a call from a man reporting "he could hear people fighting and talking about getting weapons and getting a gun." The caller indicated "the fight sounded like it was coming from the 500 block of State Street or Rope Alley." The press release continues:

Patrols responded to the area and located a male subject yelling at someone while standing in Rope Alley. Patrol spoke with the subject who told patrol that he was there getting items that belonged to him from the yard of 538 State Street and began arguing with the tenant, David W. Lindsey. The man stated that while he was retrieving his property . . . Lindsey came out and began to argue, saying that he was going to shoot him. Lindsey then allegedly went back into his residence, returned outside, and aimed a shotgun at the subject.

The HPD got a search warrant, conducted a search of 538 State Street, and seized "a Remington Model 870 shotgun with a shortened barrel and approximately six pounds of marijuana."

The second press release, received at 7:15 p.m. today, reported a stabbing that occurred at the Half Moon in the wee hours of Monday morning. The victim, identified only as "a 39 yr. old male" and "a Hudson resident" suffered "large and severe lacerations to his chest and stomach areas" and was transported to Albany Medical Center for treatment. The press release continues:

Patrol units on scene began to interview witnesses and determined there was a physical altercation within the Half Moon Bar between the victim and a man who fled the scene. . . . [A] search warrant was executed at 42 South Front St., Apt. 4, the suspect's residence. Julian Omar Smith, 35 yrs. old, of Hudson was located within his apartment and was detained.

The press release ends with the following comment from HPD Chief Ed Moore:

We are processing the evidence we have seized including some clothes and knives. We collected a whole smorgasbord of what we believe to be illegal drugs to include ecstasy, THC concentrated wax, mushrooms, marijuana, cocaine, LSD, and some pills we have yet to identify. The slashing assault was brutal and extremely violent. It was pretty bad.

Forty-two hours in the life of the Hudson Police Department in 2018.
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK

The Beginning of JLE

Its days as a school building are over. When students in the Hudson City School District go back to class on Wednesday, September 5, no children will be going to John L. Edwards School. It's uncertain what future use building might have, but it's certain to be a topic for discussion and dissent. This afternoon, though, we can contemplate its beginning. Bruce Mitchinson sent me these pictures he'd taken of the building when it was under construction in 1964.

COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK

Surviving Summer's Swan Song

It's going to be oppressively hot for the next few days, with the high expected to reach 95 degrees tomorrow and Wednesday. To help residents cope with the extreme heat, the City of Hudson has designated a cooling station at the Central Firehouse, 77 North Seventh Street. It is open today until 9 p.m. and will be open from noon until 9 p.m. for the next three days, through Thursday, August 30. For more information, visit the City of Hudson website.

Meetings of Interest in the Week Ahead

All the meetings this week are happening in the first two days. After that, the approach to the long weekend and the holiday that marks the unofficial end of summer is meeting free.

• Today, Monday, August 27, the Common Council Fire Committee meets at 5:30 p.m., followed by the Police Committee meeting, which meets at 6:00 p.m. Presumably both those meetings will take place in the Council chamber at City Hall, since there is no indication that they will take place at another location.

It seems after-parties are becoming de rigueur for Council meetings. Last week, Rebecca Wolff invited people to the Half Moon after the regular Common Council meeting and announced the after-party would be a recurring event. Tonight, SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) is inviting people to gather at the Spotty Dog after the Police Committee meeting. The invitation to the event on Facebook features the image above of Chief Ed Moore at the July Police Committee meeting, holding up a firearm that was confiscated by the HPD, and provides these details: "Show up to the Police Committee meeting. Share your views on recent happenings and policy ideas. Afterward, join SURJ, Councilmembers Kamal Johnson and Calvin Lewis, Council President Tom DePietro, and Supervisors Linda Mussmann and Michael Chameides at Spotty Dog for informal discussion and socializing."

• Tomorrow, Tuesday, August 28, the Hudson Development Corporation (HDC) meets at noon at 1 North Front Street. HDC is still in the process of selecting new members for its board. Gossips has learned that eleven people had expressed interest in serving on the HDC board. (The bylaws indicate the board can have a minimum of nine members and a maximum of fifteen; there are currently nine.) Four of the eleven are being recommended by the nominating committee to the full board, and two of those four people will be interviewed by the full board on Tuesday.
• At 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 28, the Tourism Board meets at the FASNY Museum of Firefighting, 117 Harry Howard Avenue.
• At 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 28, the Greenport Planning Board meets at Greenport Town Hall, 600 Town Hall Drive. There are two projects of interest to us Hudsonians before the Greenport Planning Board. The first is the proposal to construct a new retail center on Fairview Avenue and Healy Boulevard, which would have Aldi's as its anchor and McDonald's as its centerpiece. At the last Planning Board meeting, the developers were told that the Gothic Revival house known as "The Pines" had been deemed eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, and they were asked to propose new plans that incorporated the building into the design rather than demolishing it. The agenda for Tuesday night's meeting indicates that the applicant "has deferred until the September meeting."

The other project before the Greenport Planning Board that Gossips is following is the proposal by East Light Partners to site solar arrays on Route 9 and adjacent to the grounds of the Dr. Oliver Bronson House. That project will be coming before the Planning Board tomorrow night. The agenda notes: "New plans submitted. Email from National Grid, and letters from Olana and Scenic Hudson attached."

COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK

Pedestrian Observation: Part 2

This afternoon, Peter Spear published Part 2 of the series of videos he is calling "Pedestrian Observation." This time, Spear set up his camera at the crosswalk at City Hall Place and Warren Street. If you watch carefully, you'll see some familiar people making their way across Warren Street, not necessarily in the crosswalk.

A little history of this crosswalk: Back in the day when I when was on the Common Council, the late Christina Malisoff, who worked at the Opera House, was a staunch advocate for a crosswalk at this point on Warren Street. A visitor to Hudson, after leaving the Opera House, had walked out into the street and been hit by a car. I tried to make the crosswalk happen, appealing to then chief of police, Ellis Richardson. Richardson responded to my appeal on behalf of people trying to make their way across Warren Street by arguing that the progress of local drivers making their way up and down Warren Street would be impeded by having to stop at crosswalks. A couple of years later, I learned that the way to achieve the goal was simply to ask DPW superintendent Rob Perry to make it happen.
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK

On the Care and Keeping of Cemeteries

Last Wednesday, I did a post about the cemetery here in Hudson--the original Hudson City Cemetery and Cedar Park--and an initiative that could lead to the cemetery being listed in the National Register of Historic Places and maybe getting some volunteer TLC: "A Little Help from Our Friends." On Friday, a reader alerted me to a legal notice regarding another area cemetery, which appeared in the print version of the Register-Star. That notice appears below, with the list of the people named in the notice omitted.

 

The notice inspired me to go out to Mt. Pleasant Reformed Church and visit the graveyard. There I found several tombstones and monuments tied with yellow caution tape. The tape appeared to have been there for a few months, if not longer.

Seeing the tombstones tied with caution tape reminded me of a story told to me years ago by a colleague in New York. While he and his wife and their two young children were exploring an old cemetery one weekend somewhere in New England, a tombstone toppled over onto his daughter. He rushed over and lifted the stone, freeing the little girl. After it had been determined that his daughter had suffered no injury, he went back to the cemetery and tried to repeat the feat of lifting the stone. He found he couldn't budge it. 

Certainly, tombstones in danger of toppling over present a liability risk, but, whether it's done by descendants or cemetery management, can tombstones and monuments marking people's graves really just be removed?
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK

Another Agency, Another Vacancy

HDC (Hudson Development Corporation) is in the process of filling four vacancies on its board. Interviews with prospective board members have been ongoing and are expected to continue at the HDC meeting that will take place at noon on Tuesday, August 28, at 1 North Front Street. Meanwhile, there's another agency that is seeking a new member: the Hudson IDA (Industrial Development Agency). 

The current IDA board is made up exclusively of people who are on the board by virtue of their position in city government: the mayor (Rick Rector), the Common Council majority and minority leaders (Tiffany Garriga and Eileen Halloran respectively), the city treasurer (Heather Campbell), the city assessor (Justin Maxwell), and the chair of the Planning Board (Walter Chatham). There is also a slot for someone representing the school board, but it seems, in the recent past, no one from the school board has wanted to serve on the IDA. 

At the IDA meeting on Wednesday, August 22, Tiffany Garriga revisited the idea of opening the board to members of the community. Mike Tucker, who was present at the meeting, noted that the makeup of the Hudson IDA was unique in that, according to its bylaws, everyone on the board serves ex officio. He explained that the members of the Columbia County IDA are appointed by the Board of Supervisors. (Carmine Pierro now chairs the County IDA.)

Heather Campbell told the board that the new business administrator for the Hudson City School District, Sharifa Carbon, was interested in serving on the IDA, but noted, "she doesn't live around here." A requirement for serving on the IDA is that a candidate "live in the jurisdiction," i.e., the City of Hudson. 

When discussing the criteria for serving on the IDA, the terms community leader, small business owner, retired person were all mentioned, but no specific criteria were defined. Tucker offered to draft criteria, recommending they "keep it broad and see who shows up." It was indicated that the board would review possible candidates at the next public meeting, but it was unclear how people should indicate their interest in serving on the IDA. It would seem that an email expressing interest sent to Eileen Halloran, who chairs the IDA, or to any one of the other members of the board, should be adequate. All their email addresses can be found on the City of Hudson website.
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK

How Big Is It?

It's possible that John L. Edwards Elementary School is bigger than those of us who go there for the occasional meeting in the "cafetorium" or to vote on the HCSD budget think it is, but how big is it really? 

A post that appears on Fourth Ward supervisor Linda Mussmann's Facebook page suggests the mid-century grade school could accommodate the Youth Department, the Common Council chamber and all the offices now located in City Hall, the Hudson Daycare Center, the Code Enforcement office, the Department of Motor Vehicles, the County Clerk's office, the County Treasurer's office, the Board of Supervisors chamber and all the offices currently housed in 401 State Street, and the Probation Office and all the other offices currently housed in the old Sixth Street School. 

It could be true, but it staggers the imagination. Let's hope that the feasibility study requested by the resolution passed by the Common Council on Tuesday provides a better sense of what the soon to be abandoned school building, for sale for upwards of $5 million, could realistically accommodate. 
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK    

Which Church Came First?

Earlier today, when writing the post about the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Stockport, I included information found in Wikipedia that the church was the first Episcopal church built in Columbia County. The inaccuracy of the statement was soon pointed out to me by a member of Christ Church in Hudson, who maintained, accurately, that the original Christ Church building, located at Second and State streets, had been built before the Episcopal church in Stockport.

  
Indeed, Christ Church was organized more than fifty years before St. John the Evangelist, and its first building predates the Carpenter Gothic church in Stockport by forty-four years. The following is quoted from Franklin Ellis's History of Columbia County (1878):

The first formation of a religious society by the Episcopalians in Hudson took place soon after the year 1790, but the precise date of their church organization cannot be given. About the commencement of 1795 the society began to move in the matter of providing for themselves a permanent house of worship, and to that end, in March of that year, their vestrymen, Dr. John Talman and Mr. John Powell, made a formal petition or request to the proprietors that a suitable lot of land should be granted to them on which to erect the proposed edifice. . . . The wardens made selection of a lot, but desiring afterwards to change it, were permitted to do so, and then decided on the lot on the southeast corner of Second and State streets, which was conveyed to them for the society, for the erection of a church building upon it, and for no other use.

The house was commenced during 1795, but, on account of a lack of funds (mainly caused by the dishonesty of a fiduciary in whom the society had reposed perfect confidence), it was not completed until seven years passed. The lot had been granted on the condition that if a church should not be erected upon it within the space of five years it should revert to the proprietors, but those liberal-minded men had no thought of profiting by the church's adversity. The edifice was first occupied for the Christmas services of 1802. . . .

When Christ Church moved to its current building at Union and East Court streets in 1857, its original building was sold to the Wesleyan Methodists, who merged with the Zion Methodist Episcopal Church in 1860. Although the 1802 church building no longer stands, the site is still the location of A.M.E. Zion Church.
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK

The Fate of the Little Brown Church

Last December, the Register-Star reported that the Church of St. John the Evangelist on Chittenden Road in Stockport was to be dismantled and moved to an unknown location: "Historic church to be moved to new home."

Photo: Arthur A. Baker

The Carpenter Gothic church, known as the "Little Brown Church," was constructed in 1846 and is believed to be the oldest surviving Episcopal church building in Columbia County. In 1972, it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It was featured in Arthur A. Baker's book Wooden Churches: Columbia County Legacy and also in A Visible Heritage: A History in Art and Architecture, Columbia County, NY, by Ruth Piwonka and Roderic H. Blackburn. Piwonka and Blackburn recount the church's origins:

The parish of Saint John the Evangelist was incorporated in 1845 by the owners and workers of the textiles mills of Stockport. Joseph Marshall, a founder of the Hudson Print Works (the first cotton printing works in the state) was a church warden and, with two others, supervised the construction of this Gothic building. The architect is not known.

The church closed its doors as a place of worship in 2014, and the building was sold in 2017. This morning, a reader sent me these pictures documenting the progress of the church's dismantling.

   

COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK 

Thanks to John Knott for providing these photographs

Hudson on Film

Hudson, or more specifically Time & Space Limited and its founders, Linda Mussmann and Claudia Bruce, is the inspiration for a new movie starring Tyne Daly called A Bread Factory. Amanda Purcell has the story in today's Register-Star: "Film puts Hudson on the big screen."

COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK

The Future of Journalism

Since 2016, Peter Meyer, veteran journalist and founder of the not-for-profit School Life Media, has been working with students in the Hudson City School District to promote literacy, teach content, and develop skills by teaching the basics of journalism, from research to writing. Last spring, the program was featured in the New York Times: "Reader Idea: Promoting Literacy With Journalism Education and The New York Times."

Recently, the Junior Journalism program received a $4,000 grant from the Raymond C. Kennedy Foundation, established by longtime publisher and owner of the Register-Star and the Chatham Courier. The picture below shows Tony Concra, a member of the board of the Kennedy Foundation, presenting a ceremonial check to Meyer.      

Also shown in the picture are, in front, four students in the Junior Journalism program and, at back, from left to right, Lori Below (HCSD teacher), Olivia Otty (SLM coordinator), Gordon Pratt (HCSD teacher), Joanne Ally (HCSD Afterschool Program assistant director), and Mark Brenneman (principal of Montgomery C. Smith Elementary School).

Meyer commented, "We are not just grateful for this generous donation, but it is especially meaningful coming from an organization created by a beloved and successful local newspaper publisher."
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK

Of Media Outlets in the Hudson Valley

HudsonValley360, a.k.a. the Register-Star, has been running this ad online, paid for by the SuperPAC Congressional Leadership Fund.

If you click on the ad, which, out of curiosity, I did today, you are treated to a video railing against Antonio Delgado for a rap album he made in 2006 as "AD the Voice." To support its claim that Delgado is "offensively radical," the video quotes three words from an article that appeared in Chronogram on July 20.

Yesterday, the editorial director of Luminary Media, which publishes Chronogram, spoke out against "this SuperPAC attack on Delgado, which takes our coverage completely out [of] context": "Luminary Media Condemns SuperPAC Attack Ad."
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK

A Second Chance

If you missed The Unicorn Party at Bruno Pasquier-Desvignes farmhouse last Saturday, the good folks at Hudson Hall are giving you a second chance: The Unicorn Party Deux.

Because of popular demand, there will be a second art sale tomorrow, Saturday, August 25, from noon to 4 p.m. Everything in the farmhouse is for sale and, indeed, so is the farmhouse. The prices for Pasquier-Desvignes' whimsical works of art range from $10 to $1,000. Only cash and checks will be accepted, all work is sold as is, and all sales are final. 

The farmhouse is located at 410 Water Street Road, which is a right turn off Route 82.

COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK

Of Interest

Amanda Purcell reports today in the Register-Star that former Hudson resident Joseph Best, who is now an immigration attorney in Pittsfield, will be offering free consultations at Christ Church tomorrow with anyone in Columbia County who has questions about their immigration status: "Free clinic to offer legal advice to immigrants." The clinic is one of several arranged each year by the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement. 
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK

Meeting Canceled

If you were planning to attend the Economic Development Committee meeting tonight, it turns out you have the evening off. The meeting has been canceled. That leaves you free to attend Elizabeth Diggs' lecture at the Hudson Area Library, "The Enigma of Ulysses Grant." The lecture begins at 6 p.m.
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK

A Little Help from Our Friends

In recent months, two Friends groups have emerged: Friends of Hudson Youth and Friends of Oakdale Lake. At last night's Common Council meeting, Alderman Rich Volo (Fourth Ward) suggested the possibility of another such group: Friends of the Hudson Cemetery.

Volo told his fellow aldermen last night that he and Peter Jung will be meeting with the trustees of the Oakwood Cemetery in Troy "to see how they dealt with problems"--those problems being both grounds keeping and restoration and preservation of monuments. Peter Jung was the moving force, in 2008, behind the restoration of the family plot of Hudson River School painter Sanford Robinson Gifford and has since been working independently, with the knowledge and gratitude of the Department of Public Works, to maintain the Gifford grave site and the areas adjacent to it.




Oakwood Cemetery is an excellent model for efforts to restore and preserve our cemetery in Hudson. Established in 1848, at the height of the rural cemetery movement, Oakwood Cemetery is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is recognized as "one of the most exceptional cemeteries in the United States," and is the final resting place of people worthy of note: nine Civil War generals, a leader in women's education, and the progenitor of the national symbol, Uncle Sam.

Oakwood Cemetery

The same things are true of our cemetery. The Hudson City Cemetery is actually older than Oakwood Cemetery, originating in 1784, predating the Rural Cemetery Movement but presaging its principal characteristics: being located outside of the population center and not on church grounds. Although not listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the Hudson City Cemetery was determined to be eligible for listing as long ago as 1983. Thirty years later, in 2013, the now defunct Arts, Entertainment & Tourism Committee of the Common Council decided to pursue National Register designation for the original part of the cemetery, but it was never carried out. 

In 2005, Bill Krattinger, historic preservation specialist at the New York State Preservation Office (SHPO), summarized the features of the original Hudson City Cemetery and recommended that the City move ahead with an evaluation of Cedar Park and with the designation process for all or part of the cemetery. Gossips has published the text of this letter before, but the new initiative regarding the cemetery inspires doing it again:

[T]he portion of the cemetery located west of Paul Avenue and south of Columbia Turnpike was considered as the National Register-eligible portion, containing as it does a noteworthy collection of funerary art, ranging from typically late 18th-century stones executed by a master carver--and embellished with winged effigies and other typical design vocabulary--to tombs, such as the Egyptian Revival-style tomb which is an outstanding reflection of American romanticism in the antebellum period and the interest in that period of utilizing Egyptian design motifs in cemetery design. The cemetery would appear a virtual treasure trove for historians and enthusiasts of American funerary art, offering as it does a wealth of markers and crypts that illustrate various themes and styles within this genre.

I also understand now that there is an adjacent area of cemetery contiguous to the older section being known as Cedar Park--that though not determined National Register-eligible at the time the other determination was made, might well warrant consideration for such, due to the presence of landscape design elements that might well have been rendered by an as-yet identified professional hand.… I would also recommend that … the City of Hudson move ahead with further evaluation and the actual designation process--for either one or both areas depending on the future evaluation of Cedar Park.… Cemeteries are, in my estimation, important historic resources of considerable import to communities, and often eligible for listing on the State and National Registers in association with numerous historic themes as outlined under the applicable criteria.

It can be argued that our cemetery is also "one of the most exceptional cemeteries in the United States," and noteworthy people are buried there--more than one artist associated with the Hudson River School, a heroic Civil War colonel, a ship's captain who died fighting pirates in the Caribbean, an American pioneer in photography, to name a few. Let's hope that organizing to pursue the cemetery's National Register designation and to support the restoration, preservation, and beautification of Hudson's cemetery is an idea whose time has finally come.
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK

What About the Planning Task Force?

At the informal meeting of the Common Council on August 13, Council president Tom DePietro announced the creation of a Planning Task Force, which, he said, would "encompass the discussions of Local Law No. 9 of 2017 and Local Law No. 5 of 2018, would involve all the relevant agencies ("HDC, HCDPA, Zoning, and Planning"), and would help with the process of the DRI, the LWRP, and "any other group that needs help in planning for housing and other related projects." DePietro promised, "The full details we will have ready for you at the formal meeting."

Last night, at the formal meeting of the Common Council, not a word was said about the Planning Task Force, by DePietro or anyone else, and no member of the Common Council or the public, including Gossips, had the presence of mind to ask about it.
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK

Last Night with the Itinerant Common Council

The Common Council met last night not in the Council chamber at City Hall but in the conference room at 1 North Front Street. More than thirty members of the public showed up for the meeting, fewer than twenty of whom could be seated. An article in the Register-Star yesterday suggested that the change of venue was to accommodate Alderman Tiffany Garriga (Second Ward), who broke her ankle in May and, confined to a wheelchair, has been unable to attend Council meetings or committee meetings since then, except for the Police Committee meeting on June 25, when she came to lend her voice to the protest against the deployment of the Shared Services Response Team on June 5.

Comments made by Council president Tom DePietro last night, indicated that the Council's peripatetic period may go on for longer than it takes Garriga to regain mobility. He announced that he had arranged for future informal meetings of the Common Council to take place in the community room at the Hudson Area Library through the end of the year. Former Council president Don Moore helpfully noted that the courtroom at the new police and courts building had been designed with the possibility in mind of holding evening meetings there.

This all brings to mind the story, probably apocryphal, of how, before Hudson's first city hall was completed in 1855, the Common Council met in rented rooms in various locations in the city, and for the ten years between 1845, when the City acquired the painting, and 1855, when the Council settled in its new digs at 327 Warren Street, the presence of Henry Ary's portrait of George Washington rendered any room in which the aldermen met to do the City's business the official "Council chamber."

The Council Chamber in Hudson's first City Hall

Dan Udell was at the Council meeting last night, and his video of the proceedings can now be viewed here.

COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK

Ulysses Grant at the Library

During the final week of September, a play called Grant & Twain will be performed at PS21 in Chatham. On Thursday evening, August 23, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., the creator of that play, Elizabeth Diggs, will be sharing her vast knowledge of Ulysses Grant at the Hudson Area Library, in a lecture entitled "The Enigma of Ulysses Grant."

At the end of the Civil War, Grant was idolized by both North and South. He toured the world for more than two years and was received everywhere by enormous crowds.

Grant with Chinese Governor-General Li Hongzhang in 1879 | Photo: Liang Shitai

Diggs says of Grant's world tour: "He was welcomed by the common people as their hero and by queens and princes as a great man. Known as one of the greatest horsemen of the century as well as a brilliant military leader, he was expected to ride at the head of parades in full military regalia. But he refused. Instead, he explored the world's cities, often alone and on foot, among the common people--a true ambassador for democracy."

Diggs continues: "Grant rose to greatness as a military leader, as President, and as a writer. Yet, he was not ambitious. He hated war, he disliked politics, and he never intended to write his memoirs. When he was forced to pick up his pen due to financial necessity, his book was proclaimed as one of the greatest memoirs of all time."

The lecture, which takes place on Thursday, August 23, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., is free. The library is located at 51 North Fifth Street. More information is available at www.HudsonAreaLibrary.org.
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK

Following Up

On Thursday, Gossips reported the legislation that would create an independent New York State Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct was on Governor Andrew Cuomo's desk awaiting his signature. He had until last night to sign it, and he did. The law establishes an eleven-member commission, appointed by the governor, the Legislature, and the state's chief judge to investigate claims of misconduct by New York State district attorneys and their assistants. WAMC reported this morning that the governor said the law "will root out any potential abuses of power and will give New Yorkers comfort that there is a system of checks and balances in the criminal justice system." 

WAMC also noted that the legislation was opposed by the District Attorneys Association of New York State and reported that Queens DA Richard Brown maintains the law is unconstitutional and will support expected litigation against it.
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK