November 2, 1995, The Times Herald-Record
Trial begins in lawsuit by job-switch protesters
WHITE PIAINS -- The federal court trial of five people who accuse the Village of Monticello of violating their civil rights began yesterday.
The so-called Monticello Five were charged with disorderly conduct, a violation, after they brouught placards to a VHlage Board meeting Aug. 2, 1993. They criticized the board for an earlier job-switch fiasco known as "musical chairs."
Musical chairs, which involved five officials swapping jobs ostensibly to create a full-time village aRomey's position, was later deemed invalid by the state Supreme Court and then by its Appellate Division. The disorderly conduct charges were eventually dropped.
Arrested were Thomas and Carmen Rue of Monticello, Mary Marino of Monticello, Glenn Pontier of Narrowsburg and Charles Stephenson of North Branch.
Their lawsuit, filed in 1994 in U.S. District Court in White Plains, originally named as defendants: Mayor Robert Friedland; former Village Attorney Mark Schulman; former Village Manager James J. Malloy,, Gladys Walker, Evelyn Vandermark, David Rosenberg and Gloria Cahalan, who were all village trustees at the time; Police Chief Michael Brennan and Officer Michael Bunce, who made the arrests; and the village itself.
The lawsuit seeks $25 million in compensatory damages and an undisclosed amount in punitive damages.
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