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June 23, 2004 Heat's on Bohan over KJ remarks 'Parasite community,' letter said By Chris McKenna Times Herald-Record cmckenna@th-record.com Blooming Grove – Supervisor Charles Bohan came under fire yesterday for a letter he sent Orange County lawmakers calling the Hasidic community of Kiryas Joel "a radical splinter of Judaism" and a "parasite community." Bohan wrote to legislators June 16 on Town of Blooming Grove letterhead to enlist support for a county resolution opposing Kiryas Joel's proposed water pipeline, which has stirred strong opposition in his town and other municipalities near Kiryas Joel. "The acquisition and destruction of our environment by a radical splinter of Judaism must be challenged and stopped," Bohan wrote. County lawmakers, Kiryas Joel officials and the Anti-Defamation League have all criticized Bohan for using insensitive or inflammatory rhetoric – but stopped short of calling the letter anti-Semitic. "This kind of language coming from a public official is totally inappropriate," said Joel Levy, New York regional director of the Anti-Defamation League. Kiryas Joel Administrator Gedalye Szegedin said Kiryas Joel was "appalled and outraged" by Bohan's letter. Szegedin denied that village residents let their water taps run "from Friday through Saturday due to religious beliefs," as Bohan claimed. That prohibition applies only to light switches, which are operated by timers on the Sabbath, he said. Even county lawmakers who agree with Bohan and support the resolution criticized his strong wording. "I thought there were valid points to be made in opposition to the pipeline project," said Legislator Jeffrey Berkman, D-Middletown, who voted for the resolution at a committee meeting last week. "I think the letter strayed over the borderline of acceptable comment." When told of the criticism yesterday, Bohan replied, "I could care less what they say. I didn't say anything inappropriate." He declined to discuss his letter in detail, but added, "I wrote that letter to get the attention of the county legislators and I think I've done that." County lawmakers are scheduled to vote July 1 on a resolution opposing Kiryas Joel's application to tap New York City's water supply with a 13-mile pipeline to the Catskill Aqueduct in New Windsor. The resolution merely expresses the county's position and has no force in itself. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection, which is reviewing Kiryas Joel's tap request, has already said the county's resolution wouldn't influence its deliberations. The project is meant to satisfy Kiryas Joel's ever-mounting water demand, but has met heavy opposition in Orange County, based largely on the community's rapid development and population growth. Blooming Grove has also objected to the traffic disruption that would be caused during construction. The tone of some pipeline criticism first caused alarm in April, when the hosts of an online petition against the pipeline had to remove anti-Semitic or abusive remarks. Frank Fornario, a Blooming Grove Republican, like Bohan, who co-sponsored the resolution with Highland Falls Democrat Roxanne Donnery, said, "I could see where some people would be offended by the letter." Fornario added, "This does not reflect the opinions of the resolution writers, like myself." Text of Bohan's letter: Dear County Legislator – I am appealing to you as the Supervisor of my Town to support the resolution put before you by 5th District [Legislator] Frank A. Fornario Jr. and 14th District [Legislator] Roxanne Donnery. The acquisition and destruction of our environment by a radical splinter of Judaism must be challenged and stopped. Overpopulating and destroying the infrastructure of their Village is no excuse for encroachment and blockbusting. At the present time Kiryas Joel has expanded beyond its elastic limits. Without tapping into the New York City aqueduct, they will be forced to curtail their expansion and try it again somewhere else. My community will not be forced to provide transit for water that is being wasted on a segregated community who refuse to close a tap from Friday through Saturday due to religious beliefs. Nor do we intend to forego sewerage service due to the fact that the prospect of additional water into the Village will overload the capacity of Orange County Sewer District #1 as well as Kiryas Joel's own sewerage treatment plant, built at taxpayer expense, which is being leased back to the County by Kiryas Joel. In short this is a wake-up call to either confront this monolith or get buried by it! The hardworking, commuting taxpayers of my Town will not condone a parasite community tearing up local roads be they State, County or Town, in order to facilitate a community who constantly cry persecution as they bury the landscape. Sincerely, Charles J. Bohan Supervisor Town of Blooming Grove |
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