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The Daily Mail Copyright 2019, Columbia-Greene Media Volume 227, No. 138
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WEEKEND
The nation’s fourth-oldest newspaper • Serving Greene County since 1792
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Saturday-Sunday, July 13-14, 2019
City braces for ICE raids
n WEATHER FORECAST FOR HUDSON/CA TODAY TONIGHT SUN
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Willis recalled as pillar of stability By Sarah Trafton Columbia-Greene Media
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents attempted to detain two men at Fifth and Warren streets in Hudson earlier this year. Immigration raids are expected to begin across the country beginning Sunday.
By Melanie Lekocevic Columbia-Greene Media
Taconic Hills take Hudson Valley Taconic Hills’Henry Semp connects with a pitch during Section 2 South AAA game PAGE B1
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Barry churns toward landfall Barry could become a major hurricane and drop 20 inches of rain on New Orleans PAGE A5
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HUDSON — Immigration raids are expected to begin nationwide on Sunday, arresting people who are in the country illegally, according to one former and two current homeland security officials. The raids are backed by President Donald Trump. There has been no information on raids planned for Hudson, according to police, but the head of the local sanctuary movement is taking no chances. The operation will be conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement over multiple days, and is expected to begin Sunday. Specifics, including which cities might be targeted, have not been released. Bryan MacCormack, executive director of the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement, called the initiative part of a larger plan of “psychological warfare,” and said there is a plan in place to assist local residents who may be targeted in this weekend’s raids. “We believe that this is
MELISSA LYTTLE/THE NEW YORK TIMES
A raid by agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in California in 2017. Nationwide raids to arrest thousands of members of undocumented families have been scheduled to begin Sunday, according to two current and one former homeland security officials.
an example of the ongoing psychological warfare that is being used against our community when they announce raids like this,” MacCormack said. “We have been preparing our community since the inception of our organization
with ‘know your rights’ training and information that gives them the ability to defend themselves in the community. In addition, we have a rapid response network — a notification system where we can let people know when ICE
is in the area or if a raid is in progress.” The notification system sends out an alert to volunteers and “allies” who head out to assist the person See ICE A8
COXSACKIE — Coxsackie residents remember former Mayor Peter Willis fondly. Willis, 72, died July 2. He served as mayor from 19851989. Willis and his wife Mary Jean have three children: AnPeter Willis drew Willis (Hiart), Regina Willis (Garrett Grilli) and Thomas Willis. Mayor Mark Evans’ first memories of Willis date back to his youth, he said. “I knew Mr. Willis since I was a teenager,” Evans said. “When he was mayor, I joined the fire department and rescue squad.” Evans described Willis as an even-keeled mayor who acted a stabilizing force for the village. “He loved the village, he loved the community,” Evans said. Willis’ most recent position was on the Zoning Board, Evans said. “He continued right up until he passed away,” he said. “He was very faithful in loving to do his job.” In Evans’ 11 years as mayor, he would ask Willis for advice from time to time, he said. “He was more than happy to help me,” Evans said. “He truly loved Coxsackie.” Dianne Ringwald, who served on the village board with Willis, recalled him as a fine man. “He would come up with jokes,” she said. “You’d be laughing.” Willis also was instrumental in establishing the food pantry, she said. “He asked us how much more money we needed,” she said. “And we wrote out a check and gave it to the village for the food pantry.” Ringwald was also Willis’ neighbor and fellow parishioner at St. Mary’s Church, she said. See WILLIS A8
Communities rally for cheaper electricity “
By Sarah Trafton
Columbia-Greene Media
Three Greene County municipalities are joining forces through a new state program to get lower electricity rates. The village of Coxsackie and towns of New Baltimore and Cairo have entered into a 17-month Community Choice Aggregation agreement with the New Jerseybased Good Energy. The Community Choice Aggregation Program allows companies such as Good Energy to unite municipalities so that they have greater control over energy prices. “The energy company comes in and signs an agreement with the municipalities and takes those towns and counties and municipalities and groups them together,” Village Mayor Mark Evans said. “By grouping them together, they have signing power when they go to the energy company to get better rates for those folks.”
The energy company comes in and signs an agreement with the municipalities and takes those towns and counties and municipalities and groups them together. By grouping them together, they have signing power when they go to the energy company to get better rates for those folks. — Mark Evans Village Mayor
Good Energy, headquartered in Allendale, New Jersey, was able to get a rate of 5 cents per kilowatt hour from Constellation Energy, compared to Central Hudson’s typical rate of 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour, Evans said. “It’s savings of $150 per year for the average homeowner,” he said. “It’s just a program we thought was good to get into to save on electric bills.” In New Baltimore, the total cost savings for residents is estimated at $58,000 annually, Town Supervisor Jeff Ruso said. “We thought it was a good
way to help the residents and the town save money,” Ruso said. New Baltimore will hold an information meeting for residents on July 17. In Cairo, residents are expected to save 10% to 12% on the supply side of their electric bills, Town Supervisor Daniel Benoit said. “They don’t have to do anything to obtain it,” he said. “People are not even going to know it’s happening except their bill will drop.” Residents who do not wish to be included in the program must opt out by either filling out a form that was
”
mailed to them, going online or calling the village clerk, Evans said. “The only residents who are not eligible are people who are already under contract with an energy company now,” he said. There is no deadline for residents to opt out, Evans said. “They can get right out of it immediately,” he said. If a resident was previously ineligible, the resident can join at anytime, Evans said. “The only objection so far has been that people feel it should have been opt in, not opt out,” Benoit said. “They
don’t think it should be dictated who they have to use. It is almost dictated to them now, We are giving them a second choice.” The program was low-risk to join, Evans said. “The program does not cost the village or the residents anything,” Evans said. “The village does not gain anything by participating in this program. There are very few things that don’t have a downside, but we don’t see a downside to this.” Benoit agreed. “We thought, why not?” he said. “If we can save our residents a little bit of money on housing expenses. We didn’t see a downside to it.” Evans suspects that more municipalities will want to join the program, he said. “The more people we have, we might be able to get a lower rate,” Evans said. This type of program has See ELECTRICITY A8