By Rick Moran
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site: tom@rue-usa.netProtest continues at Monticello Village Board
By Rick Moran
MONTICELLO - At 7:30 p.m. Monday evening, the rain was pouring down on two dozen protesters who were marching in single file outside the Monticello Village Hall.
At 8 p.m., Village Mayor Robert Friedland called the regular meeting of the village board to order, setting in motion what is fast becoming "business as usual" at Monticello Village Board meetings.
Behind the board's desk, Friedland conducted the village's business, including the acceptance of minutes and minor changes in the budget. It was all routine, cut and dry, and by the book.
On the other side of the table, however, the two dozen or so now very damp protesters continued their show of discontent toward the mayor, the village trustees, and the village manager.
Some wore protest buttons that were at least 24 inches in diameter, others wore gags in their mouths, and one sported a poster-sized book that told the protester's story by flicking the pages.
All worked well to turn "business as usual" into a contest of who can grab the attention of the other others in attendance. One man sympathetic to the protesters noted, "I guess it is a choice of watching the circus or watching the side show."
The roots of the continue discontent between the protesters and the village began several months ago when then-Mayor John Diuguid moved to a village justice position, moving the deputy mayor, Bob Friedland to mayor and then converted the part-time village counsel position into a full-time village attorney for outgoing Village Justice Mark Schulman.
Village Assessor Gladys Walker was then named to the vacant seat on the village board, changing hall fht village government.
Since that time, protesters have sought ways to disrupt the village board meetings, which culminated in the arrest of several protesters two weeks ago, when Village Manager Jim Malloy ordered Monticello Police to enforce a ban on the use of posters to disrupt the meetings.
At that previous meeting, five members of the Sullivan County Action Coalition were arrested by Monticello's new Chief of Police, Michael Brennan, after Malloy maintained that there had been complaints from other citizens that they had been struck by the signs in the close quarters of the meeting room.
But a spokesperson for the protesters maintained the arrests were limited to members of the Sullivan County Action Coalition and that other people at the meeting also had signs, and were not arrested.
Malloy maintained that the signs were both disruptive and dangerous and noted that the state's Open Meetings Law does not prohibit government from banning signs for those reaons.
The village manager's decision to take action then set in motion a classic confrontation between the rights of protesters under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to meet and speak on a public issue vs. the mandate of government to keep the peace and conduct business in a safe fashion.
Arrested at that meeting were Glenn Pontier, Mary Marino and Charles Stephenson. Later that evening Thomas Rue and his wife Carmen were also arrested.
The five were charged with disorderly conduct and released. Each faces a maximum fine of $500 and/or 30 days in jail for the infraction under state law.
A hearing for the five, to determine what court their cases will be heard in, has been scheduled for Monday at 2 p.m. in the Sullivan County Courthouse, before Sullivan County Court Judge Anthony T. Kane.
The case was sent to Judge Kane for reassignment after Village Justice Diuguid excused himself from the case, as did Deputy Justice Josephine Finn.
A spokesperson for the protesters maintained that the village board members disliked the actie criticism of Sullivan County Actiuon Coalition, and banned the signs to limit their method of communicating at village board meetings.
In the normal business of the village board, the only significant transaction concerned the future of what is now the village's property, known as the Prime Motel on upper Broadway. The village now is the official owner of the property, after foreclosing for taxes.
Two groups are now in the running for purchase of the property, which Mayor Friedland noted was in debt for $659,000 in back taxes from the village and county.
Speaking to the representatives of the two gropus who want to buy the property, Friedland stated, "I know this property well. When I was a police officer, I once had to chase a drug dealer who lived there into a room. "He jumped through a bathroom window and I fell through the bathroom floor. You're looking at about a million dollars before that place is inhabitable, and you pay the taxes.
Both representatives planned to meet with the village attorney, with Friedland noting it is his position that, "The first check that pays the back taxes, gets it!"
Throughout the meeting, there was a carnival atmosphere in some sections of the room, detracting from the credibility of the standing room only meeting.
During public comments, Carmen Rue, one of the Monticello Five, confronted Mayor Friedland, stating the mayor had allegedly taunted her son by saying, "Your mother got arrested."
Friedland stated for the record that he did not know her son and would be unable to recognize him, making the confrontation impossible.
Protesters promised to continue their activities in Monticello. As one protester explained, "The purpose of our actions out on the street and inside the meeting room are to bring a focus on the recent actions of the board."
As one two-foot wide button said, "EVERYONE IS WATCHING... DO THE RIGHT THING."
"You see our point," the man explained. "If we weren't here, you wouldn't be here either."
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