The Times Herald-Record, January 22, 1994
Job swap protesters off hook?
Ruling vindicates their actions, Lungen claims

By ALEXANDER H. WILLIAMS
Staff Writer
MONTICELLO - Charges may be dropped against the five Sullivan County residents accused of disrupting a Village Board meeting last summer.
The Monticello Five, as they have been dubbed, have the support of Sullivan County District Attorney Stephen F. Lungen, who has written a letter saying all charges against them should be dropped.
Thompson Town Judge Perry Meltzer said he will have to see the letter, but expects that if the case is not prosecuted, the charges will be dropped.
The five were arrested and charged Aug. 2 with disorderly conduct, a violation, for carrying protest signs into the board meeting.
They were protesting the village's "musical chairs" power shift. Part of the shift involved Mayor John Diuguid's resignation to become the village justice, and Village Trustee Robert Friedland's move to become mayor.
Lungen wrote that since the position swap was recently ruled illegal by Supreme Court Judge Vincent Bradley, all charges should be dropped.
"It makes no sense to me to further a prosecution against those five individuals when they were correct regarding the issue which they protested," Lungen wrote.
Bradley issued a decision which said the village violated the open meetings laws when it appointed Village Justice Mark Schulman as village attorney. The appointment led to the restructuring of the village government.
The village is appealing the decision.
The five arrested were: Thomas and Carmen Rue of Monticello; Mary Marino of Monticello; Glenn Pontier of Narrowsburg, and Charles Stephenson of North Branch.
"That was very smart of Steve Lungen," said Carmen Rue. "At least someone in this village knows justice and knows the law."
Village Manager James J. Malloy said yesterday that Bradley's decision, now under appeal, should not have an impact on the prosecution of those arrested. Lungen should have waited for the appeal to take its course before issuing his recommendaiton, Malloy said.



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