BETTER THAN HEARSAY - Deputy In the House - Police Presence Placed In Halls of Government

CATSKILL - Something significant will be happening even after nothing happened at a recent Greene County Legislature meeting.

Every legislative session will henceforth be watched over by a deputy from the county sheriff’s department following an unusually uncomfortable visit by someone who merely came and went.

Lawmakers were gathered for a routine set of committee discussions, last Wednesday night, when an unidentified man entered the chambers.

“He did nothing wrong,” said sheriff Pete Kusminsky who was already present to give his monthly report to the Public Safety committee.

“But he appeared a little out of place. Some of [the legislators] became concerned. People don’t just generally show up for these types of meetings,” Kusminsky said.

Mountaintop lawmaker Daryl Legg (District 7, Hunter, Halcott, Lexington) took notice of the entrance, saying, “a kid walked in in a red hoodie.

“He sat down and put a hat on, a fisherman’s hat, bigger than a baseball cap, covering his eyes. That struck me as kind of funny,” Legg said.

“Most people would take their hat off when then come in, but I didn’t give it much thought. I was paying attention to what was being discussed.

“But then I see [Kusminsky] standing with his back to the [entry door] and I see two more deputies, one who came in and stood next to [Kusminsky] and one out in the hallway,” Legg said.

The man had left the chambers by that time, reportedly being followed out of the building by a sheriff’s office sergeant who reportedly checked the vehicles of lawmakers in the county office building parking lot.

It was subsequently reported that a knife was taken from the man when he initially entered the building and that an officer at the security checkpoint alerted the sheriff. The man also reportedly signed in as “the laureate.”

This is surmised as being a reference to the controversy that arose over the appointment and sudden dismissal of the county’s first-ever poet laureate, earlier this year.

The unanimous reversal occurred after questions were raised about social media postings shared by Esther Cohen, named to the post in January.

Lawmaker Michael Lanuto (District 1, Catskill), during a March committee meeting, objected to Cohen’s Facebook page that stated, “Donald Trump will die from bad health. Worldwide celebrations in honor of his death.”

There was a second message that Lanuto said, “looks like the President being assassinated with blood dripping down his back.

“I can’t support a person like that,” Lanuto said. “I have no problem with the position. I have a problem with the person in that position.”

Lawmakers rescinded Cohen’s appointment in April, revealing the decision in a letter to CREATE Council on the Arts executive director Stella Yoon.

CREATE had been given the task of finding the right person for the position by the legislature, conducting in-house interviews and recommending Cohen, a well-known poet, writer and teacher.

However, in the letter to Yoon, legislature chairman Patrick Linger wrote, “having investigated allegations of the promotion of violence on social media pages controlled by Esther Cohen, it is my conclusion that the allegations are reasonably true.

“Greene County must take a zero-tolerance stand against the promotion of

violence of any kind, made by anyone. Ms. Cohen is encouraged and welcome to have her opinions and share them at will,” he wrote.

“As the Poet Laureate is a public-facing representative appointment, those opinions cannot violate the trust of the general public in Greene County in any way, shape, or form,” Linger wrote.

Cohen acknowledged the messages, saying they were shared prior to her appointment as poet laureate and removed after concerns were voiced.

The posts were, “both very anti-Trump but I would never promote violence and never have, for one minute in my life,” Cohen said. “We live in a country with First Amendment rights. I’m sorry I offended anyone.”

CREATE officials have been largely silent on the rescinding other than a recent website posting that states, “the Greene County Poet Laureate program is currently paused.”

CREATE has had no comment about events surrounding the issue which have drawn attention beyond county borders including news stories and social media opinions critical of the legislature’s action.

Linger, in a subsequent phone interview, said of the decision to bring in a deputy, “there were no threats. Everything was quietly and professionally taken care of. This speaks more to where our world is today.”

County administrator Shaun Groden, in a telephone interview, noted some lawmakers have been receiving, “nasty grams on their cell phones and in emails as fallout from the laureate issue.

“With the climate we are in nationally, [added security] has been a point of discussion over the past two or three weeks,” Groden said.

Seating inside the legislative chambers was reconfigured, earlier this year, turning desks to face the entrance rather than having lawmakers sit with their backs to the door and the citizenry.

“When we first thought of the change, it was thought [lawmakers] shouldn’t have their backs to the people,” Groden said.

“The audience should be able to see them if there is a conversation. In the backdrop of what has been happening nationally and now with this, it makes even more sense,” Groden said.

“We have upgraded our camera capacity on the exterior of our building. We have building shelter drills in place if something happens on the street, similar to fire drills. We go into lockdown,” Groden said.

“There have been other dominoes that lead to this. The person deemed suspicious was the final nail. This is the new normal,” Groden said.

The legislature has had intensely controversial situations before, including the building of a new jail in the years immediately prior to the pandemic.

Two lawmakers were personally confronted, resulting in the arrest of one individual. But police have never been permanently placed within the legislative chambers until now.

“I guess you could say this is connected to questions legislators have been having with things the past few months,” said lawmaker Michael Bulich (District 1, Catskill) in a followup phone interview.

“I’m fine with it. I can protect myself but I’m not going to squawk about it. The protection is there for any people who need it,” Bulich said.