Protesters arrested at Monticello board meeting

The River Reporter
Thursday, August 5, 1993, p. 1

MONTICELLO - Five protesters carrying signs saying things like "We Love Democracy" and "Taxation without representation is tyranny" were arrested at a meeting of the Monticello Village Board on Monday evening, August 2.

The protesters were River Reporter editor Glenn Pontier of Narrowsburg, Mary Marino of Monticello, Charles Stephenson of North Branch, Tom and Carmen Rue of Monticello. Three of them were charged with disorderly conduct, a violation, at about 8:10 p.m., after being warned not to bring the signs into the meeting, said police chief Michael Brennan. The other two were arrested when they carried in signs about two hours later.

Brennan said he was acting under the orders of village manager James Malloy, who stated that village officials had grown tired of the protesters. Malloy claimed the posters were disruptive to the meeting.

Members of the Sullivan County Action Coalition, a taxpayer group, were displaying signs opposing high village taxes; the present unelected government, which the coalition says is illegal; and Stericycle, a medical waste-processing firm that wants to open a plant in the village.

At Monticello's invitation, Stericycle is seeking approval from the village planning board to establish a plant, even though the idea was rejected earlier by the Sullivan County Industrial Development Authority (IDA).

The village board in Monticello has been under sharp criticism lately, particularly since the infamous "musical chairs" incident in March, in which officials swapped their elected offices for others of more power and income. The situation drew national attention when it appeared in the July 5th edition of the National Law Journal.

Two coalition members, village residents Victor W. Gordon and Alex Cherviok, are suing the board for the job swap.

The incident was precipitated by the board's changing the part-time village attorney position to a $65,000 full-time job at an unadvertised executive session. Two weeks later the board appointed the elected village judge, Mark Schulman, as village attorney. The board named mayor John Diuguid judge. Robert Friedland, an elected trustee who had been deputy mayor, was named mayor, while a second trustee, David Rosenberg, was named deputy mayor. Finally, the unelected assessor was named trustee.

The action brought by Gordon and Cherviok says the board's action violated federal, state and local laws, the first and 14th amendments to the Constitution, and the village code of ethics. Attorneys representing them are Leon Greenberg of Liberty and Loran Shlevin of Cochecton.

The case went to NYS Supreme Court last month, when one of the defendants moved to dismiss it and the plaintiffs answered. Justice Karen Peters is expected to rule on the motion this week.

Monday night's protesters stated that they were not disruptive, but were simply exercising their right of free speech by carrying small signs. None of the posters were larger than 24 inches.

The five are scheduled to appear in village court on August 10. They face maximum penalties of 15 days in jail and a $250 fine.