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The Daily Mail Copyright 2019, Columbia-Greene Media Volume 227, No. 139
All Rights Reserved
Mueller deal House delays hearing to allow more questioning, A2
The nation’s fourth-oldest newspaper • Serving Greene County since 1792
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TUESDAY, JULY 16, 2019
n FORECAST WEATHER FOR HUDSON/CA
NJ man charged in hitand-run
TODAY TONIGHT WED
Partly sunny Partly cloudy
HIGH 89
LOW 70
A stray afternoon t-storm
85 70
Complete weather, A2
By Sarah Trafton Columbia-Greene Media
n SPORTS
Back in action All-Star Cameron Roe drives a ball to the outfield PAGE B1
Groden approved office auction FILE PHOTO
n NATION
The exterior of the existing Greene County Sheriff’s Office on Bridge Street in Catskill. Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden took full responsibility Monday for incorrectly authorizing an auction of items in the sheriff’s office last month.
By Sarah Trafton Columbia-Greene Media
‘Overt and blunt racism’ House, world leaders condemn Trump tweets PAGE A2, A5
n NATION
Epstein had false passport Investigators find money, phony passport PAGE A5
n INDEX Region Opinion State/Nation Obituaries Sports Classified Comics/Advice
A3 A4 A5 A5 B1 B4-5 B7-8
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CATSKILL — Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden confirmed Monday that he approved the sale at the former sheriff’s office last month, which he previously referred to as an unauthorized auction. The former jail, at 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 moved 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 the new office, is completed. Last week, allegations that items from the former sheriff’s office were being sold arose during a Public Safety Committee meeting. “I actually authorized it in an email I must have read at 80 miles an hour,” Groden said Monday. “In parentheses there was wooden windows and doors that I must not have caught.” The email was sent to Groden from the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, he said. “I responded and told them to proceed,” he said. “I told the board I take full responsibility for it.” The items were posted online on Auction International, Groden said. Five doors were sold for $250, Groden said. Additionally some wood molding was sold but not picked up.
FILE PHOTO
Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden said Monday he takes full responsibility for incorrectly authorizing an auction at the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.
“We are asking the winners to return the items,” Groden said. “They won fair and square, so it is the purchaser’s option.” The winners were guests at a Catskill Airbnb owned by Pat Ruck. “A lovely couple came to stay at my Airbnb from the upstate area,” Ruck
said. Ruck has not identified the guests or where they are from. “They told me, ‘We won this auction and we’re building a house and want to put in wonderful features,” Ruck said. See AUCTION A8
ASHLAND — A New Jersey man suspected in a hit-andrun accident was charged Saturday night, state police said, as another man was airlifted to Albany Medical Center with a fractured leg. Carl F. Roth, 49, of Leonardo, New Jersey, was arrested at 11:15 p.m. Saturday, state police said, and charged with second-degree vehicular assault and leaving a serious injury accident, both class E felonies; driving while intoxicated, an unclassified misdemeanor; refusing to take a breathalyzer test, moving from a lane unsafely and failure to stop at a stop sign, all infractions. State police responded to a two-vehicle personal injury accident at 9:11 p.m. at the intersection of Route 23 and County Route 17, state police Public Information Officer Steven Nevel said. “Eric Gauthier was lying in a ditch with a broken right leg,” Nevel said. “He was transported by Ashland Ambulance and flown to Albany Med.” Gauthier was driving a blue Suzuki GSXR motorcycle, which was also in the ditch, Nevel said. “The other vehicle had left the scene,” Nevel said. “But a license plate was located.” The plate belonged to a 2011 white Mercedes Benz. “A deputy located the vehicle with the New Jersey plate,” Nevel said. “It had heavy damage to the front of the vehicle. It was disabled off the roadway in Lexington.” Roth failed a field sobriety test and refused to take a breathalyzer, Nevel said. Roth was taken to the state police barracks in Hunter to be processed. He was arraigned in Tannersville Village Court. He is being held in lieu of $2,500 cash bail or $5,000 bail bond. A court date has not been set. Gauthier, 49, of Saint-LinLaurentides, a small city in Quebec, is listed in stable condition following surgery Monday, Nevel said. State police, the Greene County Sheriff’s Office and Ashland Ambulance responded to the scene.
Kinderhook Bank is no more following acquisition By Melanie Lekocevic Columbia-Greene Media
KINDERHOOK — The sale of Kinderhook Bank will cost 25 jobs as customers awoke to a new reality Monday. From now on, they will be taking their business to Community Bank. The Syracuse-based Community Bank N.A. acquired Kinderhook Bank on Jan. 22 of this year and over the weekend Kinderhook Bank branches flipped the switch. No branches have been closed as a result of the acquisition — the 11 Kinderhook Bank branches located across five counties in the Capital District will remain, as Community Bank N.A. branches, including all four in Columbia County. Twenty-five employees of Kinderhook Bank were laid off and 65 were kept on as Community Bank employees. “As we moved through the transition process, we worked hard to retain as many positions as possible,” said Hal Wentworth, senior vice president for retail banking at Community Bank N.A. “However, because of overlapping operational responsibilities
MELANIE LEKOCEVIC/COLUMBIA-GREENE MEDIA
Beginning Monday morning, customers of the former Kinderhook Bank were doing business at Community Bank following an acquisition earlier this year.
we were faced with the tough decision to eliminate approximately 25
Kinderhook Bank positions. We recognize the contributions of those
impacted and are working to ensure these individuals have access to job retraining, re-employment services and other assistance.” All Kinderhook Bank branches were temporarily closed over the weekend, beginning at 3 p.m. Friday, and remained closed Saturday and Sunday as they transitioned to the new bank, including the removal of old signs, to be replaced with the new Community Bank signs. Branches were back open for business Monday morning. With the purchase of Kinderhook Bank, Community Bank has more than 240 combined customer locations and ATMs across upstate New York, northeastern Pennsylvania, Vermont and western Massachusetts, according to the company’s website. In the acquisition deal made in January, Community Bank System, Inc., purchased the local banking company for $93.4 million in an all-cash transaction. Kinderhook Bank was established in 1853 on the southwest corner of Broad Street and Albany Avenue in See BANK A8