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The Daily Mail Copyright 2019, Columbia-Greene Media Volume 227, No. 81
All Rights Reserved
London calling Trump’s state visit to Britain finally has a date Inside, A2
The nation’s fourth-oldest newspaper • Serving Greene County since 1792
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2019
Stakes high in C-D vote
nFORECAST WEATHER FOR HUDSON/CA TODAY TONIGHT THU
By Sarah Trafton Partly sunny and cooler
Patchy clouds
Sunny
HIGH 61
LOW 40
68 50
Complete weather, A2
n LOCAL SPORTS
Milazzo strikes again Sophomore Isabella Milazzo followed up her perfect game with a twohit shutout PAGE B1
n REGION
Greener future for Columbia DEC is acquiring more than 1,100 acres along the Hudson for wildlife preservation PAGE A3
n GARDENING Rose pruning demystified Pruning rose bushes can intimidate the most experienced gardener, but the fear is misplaced PAGE A6
n INDEX Region Opinion State/Nation Obituaries Sports Comics/Advice Classiied
A3 A4 A5 A5 B1 B4-B5 B6-B7
Columbia-Greene Media
CAIRO — A month after administrative turmoil in the Cairo-Durham Central School District, an unprecedented number of candidates have lined up for four available seats on the school board. Terms will end for Dr. Peter Byrne, Gary Warner and Dennis Burke. The fourth seat will be to fill Dean Pectal’s unexpired term. Pectal stepped down last year citing employment reasons, Board Clerk Bridget Agostinoni said. The position is held by Robert MacGiffert. Incumbents Dennis Burke and Gary Warner are in the running, as are Rob-
ert Conti, Dale Handel, Brock Juusola, Robert Poelstra, Nicole Maggio, Steve LaFever, Claudia Zucker, Bernadette Gavin-Palmieri and Todd Hilgendorff.
“
principal before becoming superintendent. Scores of parents, students, alumni and faculty filled the high school audi-
I think it’s great that we have an active community that wants to be involved.
”
— Laura Giarrusso, History teacher
The large turnout of school board hopefuls comes weeks after the district parted ways with former Superintendent Anthony Taibi, who served at the school for 12 years, first as high school
torium March 28 looking for answers from the board of education. Many in the community thought the board pressured Taibi to step down. Taibi denied that he was forced out.
“The decision to leave Cairo-Durham is my decision,” Taibi said at the meeting. “I’m doing what is best for my family and myself. This is a choice that I made for myself.” When asked if the board did not intend to renew Taibi’s contract, President Stephen Brandow declined to respond, except to say that contract negotiations are a personnel matter. The board also felt the heat for the removal of Spanish teacher Lori Miner as the National Honor Society adviser, a position she held for 21 years. The Cairo-Durham Teachers Association’s Political Action Committee See STAKES A8
Twin County home sales down, but prices rise By Melanie Lekocevic Columbia-Greene Media
Housing sales were down and median sale prices were up for homes in the Twin Counties in the first quarter of 2019. The quarterly report is issued by the New York State Association of Realtors and analyzes factors including the number of new home listings, closed sales, median sale prices and the number of homes available for sale in each county across the state. The report compares data from the first quarter of 2019 to the same time period last year. In Columbia County, the number of new listings this year compared to 2018 rose from 309 to 322, or an increase of 4.2%. At the same time, the number of home sales that closed in the first quarter of this year declined from 161 in 2018 to 137 this year, a drop of 14.9%. The median sale price held fairly steady at $250,000 this year compared to $246,212 last year, an increase of 1.5%. Rudy Huston, of Tri-Hudson Realty in Hudson, said the numbers in a smaller market like Columbia County tend to fluctuate more than in bigger markets because a few changes can have a big impact on the data. He expects the See SALES A8
Source: New York State Association of Realtors, Inc.
Greene County remembers child abuse victims By Sarah Trafton Columbia-Greene Media
On the web www.HudsonValley360.com Twitter Follow: @CatskillDailyMail Facebook www.facebook.com/ CatskillDailyMail/
SARAH TRAFTON/COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA
Greene County Treasurer Peter Markou and Ann Gibbons, of Catskill planting pinwheels for Child Abuse Prevention Month on Tuesday.
CATSKILL — Bright flashes of blue and silver reflect in the sunlight, as dozens of pinwheels blow in the breeze — a colorful display to honor young lives tainted by violence. The Mental Health Association of Columbia and Greene Counties has hosted Pinwheel Gardens in observance of National Child Abuse Prevention Month for the past three years. The Greene County event took place from 1-2 p.m. Tuesday outside of the Greene County Office Building at 411 Main St. The Columbia County event took place from 2-5 p.m. on Monday in 7th Street Park in Hudson.
“The pinwheel is a symbol of hope, safety, health and most importantly, happiness,” said Sherri Law, of the Mental Health Association’s REACH Center. “It stands for the carefree childhood we want for all children and is a call to neighbors, community members and leaders to play a role in protecting and nurturing our youngest citizens. It symbolizes our efforts to change the way our community thinks about child abuse prevention,” according to a statement from the Child Advocacy Center of Columbia and Greene Counties in Hudson. Ann Gibbons, of Catskill, was intrigued by the event See VICTIMS A8
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