tdc202

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  8. Posted

    I just found this on pojonews.com

    Update: Jewish Federation rescinds request, apologizes

    Hyde Park will leave Nativity scene

    By John Davis

    Poughkeepsie Journal

    HYDE PARK – A manger scene will remain on the lawn of town hall.

    A day after asking the town to remove the nativity scene, Bonnie Meadow, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Dutchess County, has withdrawn her request.

    The public outcry following her request was more than Meadow expected, she said in a letter today to Hyde Park Supervisor Pompey Delafield. She had asked the town to remove the manger scene, claiming it offended some non-Christians in Hyde Park and that it violated federal law.

    “I never dreamt that my request to remove the nativity scene at the offices of the Town of Hyde Park would upset so many people so much,” Meadow said in the letter. “It was never my intent to hurt anyone or to spoil their holidays. In view of the public outcry, I hereby rescind my request to you.

    “I apologize for whatever difficulty this may have caused and I wish you and your community a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays,” she said.

    After researching the legality of the issue, Hyde Park Supervisor Pompey Delafield today said the manger will stay due to it being a longstanding tradition. He did not mention, however, that Meadow had withdrawn her request.

    “The Hyde Park Knights of Columbus have provided and maintained a nativity scene as part of a 30-year-old holiday celebration,” Delafield said in a prepared statement this afternoon. “We have and will continue to honor that tradition again this year. This display is the property of the Knights of Columbus and we will continue to work with them to address any appropriate future tradition for the nativity scene after the holidays.”

    Delafied also said the town will welcome the placement of other religious symbols on the town hall lawn.

    “The town honors all religions in this holiday season and would be open to a similar display of the menorah to honor the season of Chanukah, or any other appropriate season display as a part of this year’s holiday offering at town hall,” Delafield said in the statement.

    The Hyde Park Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men's organization, have put up the manger scene on the town hall lawn every Christmas season for more than 30 years.

    Dean Davis, a local Knight, said he was contacted by the town Wednesday about removing the manger scene.

    "They are taking Christmas from us," he said. "It's Christ's Mass. If they want to do that, it's going to ruin the whole country."

    After receiving a request Wednesday from the Jewish Federation of Dutchess County to remove the nativity scene, the town officials said they were considering asking the Knights of Columbus to remove it.

    Meadow said in her original request the manger offended some non-Christians in Hyde Park and the display of religious symbols on government property was a violation of federal law.

    After receiving that letter, Delafield said he would have the town attorney research the legality of the manger scene.

    "If the law says it has to come down, it will have to come down," Delafield said Wednesday.

    The town supervisor said he never had a problem with the manger scene on the lawn, but if it became one for others, he would prefer seeing it removed.

    "I did not want to make an issue out of it," he said. "I believe in the separation of church and state."

  11. Posted

    "Autopsies revealed the parents had been fatally shot, while the boys had been stabbed. Ryan was also bludgeoned on the side of his head."

    I personally feel whatever punishmnent that could have been handed out to this indivdual was to good. I hope that the next jury finds the other one just as guilty. May they rot in hell :angry:

  12. Posted

    I'm not sure where this should go but :

    Jury: Serrano guilty in Morey murders

    After deliberating for a day, a Dutchess County jury has found 30-year-old Mark Serrano guilty in the killing of the Morey family.

    Serrano and a co-defendant, 32-year-old Charles Gilleo Jr., face multiple counts of first-degree murder. Gilleo is slated to stand trial next month.

    The jury took just over five hours to find Serrano guilty of all charges except first-degree arson. Serrano was found guilty of 20 counts of first-degree murder, 11 counts of second-degree murder, six counts of robbery, one count of third-degree arson, two counts of conspiracy and one count of perjury.

    The bodies of the Morey family were found inside the charred ruins of their home on Route 82. Prosecutors contend Serrano and Gilleo went to the home to rob the Moreys of cash and cocaine, then killed them and set fire to the house in an attempt to cover up the murders.

    The bodies of Manuel and Tina Morey and their 6-year-old son, Ryan, were found on the first floor of their home. The bodies of 13-year-old Antonio and 10-year-old Adam Morey were found in a second-floor bedroom.

    Autopsies revealed the parents had been fatally shot, while the boys had been stabbed. Ryan was also bludgeoned on the side of his head.

    In his closing argument to the jury Monday afternoon, defense attorney D. James O'Neil conceded prosecutors had proven Serrano lied repeatedly about his knowledge about what Gilleo allegedly did. But O'Neil contended his client had sufficiently explained how and why the victims' blood was found on his clothes and the bullets that killed the parents had come from a gun his client had purchased in 1996.

    Serrano told the jury Friday he saw Gilleo use a .22 rifle he had once owned to shoot Manuel and Tina Morey in the living room of their home in the early morning of Jan. 19. Serrano testified he left the house and drove home after witnessing the shootings but returned two hours later.