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Nov 5, 2024 | 
highlandscurrent.org | Chip Rowe |Chip RoweEditor
U.S. HOUSE (DISTRICT 18)The contest for the House district that includes Beacon, pitted ex-Army officer Pat Ryan against ex-police officer Alison Esposito.Ryan, the incumbent, was born in Kingston and graduated from West Point in 2004. After serving two tours in Iraq, he earned a master’s degree in security studies at Georgetown University and was elected Ulster County executive. Esposito, from Orange County, studied at SUNY Delhi, the City University of New York and the FBI National Academy.
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Nov 5, 2024 | 
highlandscurrent.org | Chip Rowe |Chip RoweEditor
U.S. HOUSE (DISTRICT 17)The incumbent, Mike Lawler, 38, defeated challenger Mondaire Jones, 37. Both are from Rockland County. Lawler had been executive director of the New York State Republican Party, deputy town supervisor in Orangetown, a political lobbyist and consultant before defeating incumbent Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney in 2022 by 3,200 votes among 278,000 cast.
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Oct 23, 2024 | 
highlandscurrent.org | Chip Rowe |Chip RoweEditor
Accused of being leader of local Proud BoysA federal judge in Washington, D.C, on Wednesday (Oct. 23) found a former Beacon man guilty of four counts related to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. William Joseph Pepe, 35, was identified by prosecutors as president of the Hudson Valley chapter of the far-right Proud Boys, who they said coordinated travel and lodging and, using earpieces and radios to communicate, dismantled barriers and broke windows.
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Oct 18, 2024 | 
highlandscurrent.org | Chip Rowe |Chip RoweEditor
Editor’s note: Beacon was created in 1913 from Matteawan and Fishkill Landing. 150 Years Ago (October 1874)A son of W.H. Rogers threw a ball at Fishkill Landing that hit Alex Mohurter as he drove past. Mohurter stopped his wagon, climbed out and struck the boy with his whip. The boy’s father sued for assault, but a jury found no cause for action.
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Oct 11, 2024 | 
highlandscurrent.org | Chip Rowe |Chip RoweEditor
Rupert Holmes, who lives in Cold Spring, is the author of Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide, which he will discuss Oct. 22 at Split Rock Books. RSVP at bit.ly/mystery-holmes. Your novel is presented as a handbook for an exclusive school that teaches students the art of murder, or “deletion.” Where did the idea come from? I couldn’t help but notice that bookstores have how-to guides on almost every subject, including one called Tattoos for Dummies, which sounds like a bad idea.
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Oct 11, 2024 | 
highlandscurrent.org | Chip Rowe |Chip RoweEditor
The Husted Base Ball Club of Peekskill accepted a challenge from the Kellogg Base Ball Club of Cold Spring to compete for 10 gold badges that would be presented to the winner by Assembly Member Hamilton Fish Jr. When the Peekskill team arrived, Kellogg reported its local catcher was out of town and had been substituted with a Newburgh player. The Husted club protested; Kellogg offered to scratch him from the lineup if Peekskill removed a player who lived in Haverstraw.
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Oct 4, 2024 | 
highlandscurrent.org | Chip Rowe |Chip RoweEditor
Carrie Preston, who has a home in Philipstown, will be honored by the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival at its Oct. 13 gala. She stars on CBS in Elsbeth, which begins its second season Oct. 17. How did you end up in the Highlands? My sister and brother and I always dreamed of having a place outside of New York City. My brother is also an actor and my sister, Leslie, works at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
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Aug 23, 2024 | 
highlandscurrent.org | Chip Rowe |Chip RoweEditor
Charles Watts, a machinist, and James Coleman, 13, swam from Newburgh to Dennings Point, a little over 1¼ mile, in an hour. Philip Smith, the editor of the Pawling Pioneer, put a call out for material for what became the General History of Duchess County, from 1609 to 1876, Inclusive. Prospectors continued their search for iron ore in the Fishkill Mountains east of Dutchess Junction.
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Aug 16, 2024 | 
highlandscurrent.org | Chip Rowe |Chip RoweEditor
When a traveler near the Pacific Hotel hired Theodore Morrison for $1 [about $28 today] to row him to Cornwall, Leonard Schegel offered to do it for 75 cents. The hacks argued; after Schegel struck Morrison with his cane, Morrison shoved him. That’s when Schegel’s son, James, threw a rock that hit Morrison in the forehead. James was charged with assault, but a jury found no cause for action against his father. A granite crosswalk was laid across Main Street from Garden Street to Kemble Avenue.
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Jul 19, 2024 | 
highlandscurrent.org | Chip Rowe |Chip RoweEditor
Editor’s note: Beacon was created in 1913 from Matteawan and Fishkill Landing. A brickyard laborer at Fishkill Landing, while drunk, went into a home and tried to steal clothing. The woman of the house caught and beat him. Fishkill Landing implemented a license fee of $5 [about $138 today] for hack drivers, $10 for stage drivers and $10 for peddlers. The Newburgh Telegraph reported: “The boat race and foot race that was announced to take place at Fishkill Landing did not come off.
