eedition Daily Mail July 10 2019 by Columbia-Greene Media

Flap over Pledge Trump angered by Pledge of Allegiance decision, A2

The nation’s fourth-oldest newspaper • Serving Greene County since 1792

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2019

n WEATHER FORECAST FOR HUDSON/CA TODAY TONIGHT THU

Mostly sunny Mainly clear

HIGH 90

LOW 66

Sheriff sell-off halted

A t-storm late in the p.m.

86 69

By Sarah Trafton Columbia-Greene Media

Complete weather, A2

n SPORTS

Saugerties 1112s get title This is a teaser to something somewhere in the paper. Could be sports, Local, or anything really. PAGE XX

n REGION

FILE PHOTO

The exterior of the existing Greene County Sheriff’s Office on Bridge Street in Catskill. An unauthorized auction of its interior occurred last month.

By Sarah Trafton Columbia-Greene Media

Stewart’s turnaround Demolition to begin on Green and Fairview buildings to make room for Hudson Stewart’s PAGE A3

n NATION Doing it for financial gain Two active-duty Marines arrested after allegedly smuggling unregistered Mexican immigrants PAGE A2

n INDEX Region Region Opinion Opinion State/Nation State/Nation Obituaries Obituaries Sports Sports Comics/Advice Classified Classiied Comics/Advice

A3 A3 A4 A4 A5 A5 A5 A5 B1 B1 B4-B5 B6-B7 B7-B8

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RCS school officer reassigned

CATSKILL — County lawmakers briefly addressed an unauthorized auction Monday night that took place last month at the former sheriff’s office. The former jail, located 80 Bridge St., closed in April 2018 after being deemed unfit for operation. Contractors broke ground on a new jail off Route 9W in Coxsackie earlier this month. Along with the jail, the sheriff’s office relocated to Coxsackie in February, to a temporary processing center on Mansion Street. The county is leasing the building for three years until the jail, with new office, is completed. Catskill resident Pat Ruck addressed legislators about pieces of the sheriff’s office being sold off. “A lovely couple came to

stay at my Airbnb from the upstate area,” Ruck said Tuesday. Ruck declined to give the names of her guests. “They told me, ‘We won this auction and we’re building a house and want to put in wonderful features,” Ruck said. The guests told Ruck their winning bid was $700. “They spent two days in the building [the sheriff’s office] taking doors off,” Ruck said, adding that a deputy watched over them. The guests stayed with Ruck from June 8-10. A deputy was posted at the sheriff’s office June 10. Ruck’s guests had come in a compact car, so they stacked the doors and were planning to come back for them, she said. “They were going to come back with a flatbed to take the

County, state clash over jail beds In addition to the uncertainty of the future of the old jail, the county and the Commission of Correction are at odds over the size of the new facility. When the Legislature approved its $39 million U.S. Department of Agriculture bond in September, the size of the jail was capped at 80 beds. Following state criminal justice reforms, which were signed into law April 1 and are projected to decrease inmate populations beginning in 2020, the Legislature reduced the bed count to 48 — a cost savings of approximately $3.5 million. The Commission of Correction expressed is discomfort with the size reduction in a letter dated June 12. “A local correctional facility containing only two distinct housing areas could not adequately separate and safely house inmates of various classification categories in accordance with New York State Correction Law,” according to the letter. By reducing the size, the county eliminated a male pod or communal group of cells, bringing the total to just one male and one female pod. All New York jails, even those with capacities under 48 have more than two distinct housing areas, according to the letter. See BEDS A8

COEYMANS — After public complaints regarding school resource officer Daniel Braden’s past, the Coeymans Police Department is reassigning him. Braden worked as the SRO at the Ravena-CoeymansSelkirk Middle School since September 2018. He was hired by Coeymans police in April 2018. Prior to his move to Albany County, Braden worked as a K9 officer with the Greene County Sheriff’s Department and as a Cairo police officer. Braden resigned from the sheriff’s office and was dismissed by Cairo police after facing criminal charges in 2016. “Information about Officer Braden’s issues while working for a previous department were brought to the district’s attention during the last weeks of school,” according to a statement issued by RCS. Although the district is satisfied with Officer Braden’s work as SRO, the Coeymans PD has informed the district that they decided to reassign him in order to further develop their K9 program.” Patricia Grogan, of Coeymans, expressed her concern at the June 27 Coeymans Town Board meeting. “He has quite the criminal background,” she said at the meeting. “My question to you guys on the board is, were you aware of that?” “We discussed all this when we hired him,” interim Coeymans Police Chief Daniel Contento said. “We discussed all that before he started working here. Everything was dismissed and the charges were dropped.” Coeymans Town Supervisor Phillip Crandall could not recall whether Braden’s background was disclosed prior to his hiring. “We leave the hiring up to the chief of police,” Crandall

See HALTED A8

See OFFICER A8

New law opens window on Trump’s tax returns By Melanie Lekocevic Columbia-Greene Media

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday signed legislation that will give Congress access to President Donald Trump’s state tax returns. Since Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016, there has been an ongoing controversy over his refusal to release his federal or state tax returns. The legislation signed this week would not have any impact on Trump’s federal tax returns, but would allow congressional committees to access his New York state returns. The new law requires state tax officials to release the president’s state returns for any “specified and legitimate legislative purpose” on the request of the chair of one of three committees — the

House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee and the Joint Committee on Taxation. Under the law, the commissioner of the Department of Taxation and Finance is required to redact any information that, if disclosed, would violate state or federal law “and would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal property,” Cuomo said, such as Social Security numbers, account numbers or residential address information. “Tax secrecy is paramount — the exception being for bonafide investigative and law enforcement purposes,” Cuomo said. “By amending the law enforcement exception in New York state tax See RETURNS A8

KEVIN P. COUGHLIN/OFFICE OF GOV. ANDREW M. CUOMO

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed legislation that would give three congressional committees access to President Donald Trump’s state tax returns.

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