October 22, 1993, The Times Herald-Record

Sign-carriers claim rights were violated

By ALEXANDER H. WILLIAMS
Staff Writer

MONTICELLO -- Two of the five people who carried protest signs into a Village Board meeting and were arrested have filed notices of claim against the Village of Monticello, charging they were falsely arrested.
Glenn Pontier of Narrowsburg, and Mary Marino of Monticello, were charged with disorderly conduct after they carried signs after the signs were banned by Village Manager James J. Malloy.
Pontier and Marino charge that Police Chief Michael Brennan had no right to arrest them. They say they had not actually gone into the village boardroom at all. Insteady, they said, they were arrested as soon as they got off the elevator and weren't given a chance to enter the meeting room.
Village officials had no comment about the notice of claim.
In court papers, their lawyer, Loran Shlevin, wrote that both Marino's and Pontier's civil rights were violated. She wrote that the authorities had inflicted emotional distress, committed defamation, and had falsely arrested and maliciously prosecuted them.
Both Pontier and Marino claim their First Amendment rights were violated when they carried the signs such as "Taxation Without Legal Representation -- Shame On You."
The signs were in protest of a power switch enacted by Mayor John Diuguid earlier this year. Diuguid resigned to become the village justice and Deputy Mayor Robert Friedland became mayor. The switch is now the focus of a lawsuit. A decision is expected within the next 60 days.
In her papers, Shlevin also wrote her clients have not been arraigned and therefore, had not had the chance to have their names cleared in a timely fashion. A court date has been set for Thursday before Judge Perry Meltzer.



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