Looking Back in Beacon 150 Years Ago (June 1876) 100 Years Ago (June 1926) 50 Years Ago (June 1976) 25 Years Ago (June 2001)

Looking Back in Beacon 150 Years Ago (June 1876) 100 Years Ago (June 1926) 50 Years Ago (June 1976) 25 Years Ago (June 2001)

Editor's note: Beacon was created in 1913 from Matteawan and Fishkill Landing. William Coggswell was charged with beating his brother, James, with a club at James' saloon on Main Street in Fishkill Landing. John Oderman, the cornet player for a brass band, badly injured his arm at the fulling mill inside a Glenham factory. Burglars carefully removed a light to reach inside a display at a hotel near the railroad depot and stole $20 [about $625 today] worth of liquor and cigars. John Ackerman, 8, caught a 1-pound catfish at Fishkill Landing with a hook and line. Edwin Jewell, proprietor of the Irving House at Fishkill Landing, announced that his bar would close on Sundays. George Owen, editor of The Fishkill Standard, purchased a building at Fishkill Landing for $10,000 [$310,000] at auction that had contained the dry-goods store of the late Charles Owen and the drugstore of Dr. Wilson. After the Watson Bridge Co. went bankrupt, work stopped on the Dutchess and Columbia Railroad bridge at Glenham. A horse and buggy stolen from a barn on Main Street in Fishkill Landing was found abandoned in Lagrangeville. Lewis Tompkins purchased the Beacon House, just west of the Dutchess Hat Works, to convert into a hotel and for short-term rentals. The Saratoga Express struck a man walking on the tracks near Fishkill Landing. A train employee was sent back to gather the remains and take them to Fishkill. According to the Newburgh Journal, a horse attached to a hay-rake on a farm near Fishkill took fright in the field and ran down the long avenue leading to a gentleman's home. The family, which was on the piazza, watched as the horse tore through two gates, across the railroad tracks and into a barnyard, where it made "a most serious commotion" among the ducks and chickens. The farmer's wife and a man followed in pursuit but only managed to divert its course around a corn crib and toward another farmhouse, where a man inside tried to close the door but was pinned against the wall as the horse charged through the kitchen, circled the stove and returned to the yard, where it was caught. Thomas Nolan, a New York City lawyer, wrote to W.C. Harris in Matteawan, demanding payment of an overdue invoice. Harris responded by asking whose invoice he would be paying, because he did not know Nolan. The lawyer sent a postcard that read: "I want no more requests from you, but if you will not at once pay the note into my office, I will sue." Harris replied with his own postcard that read: "I don't send money to anyone unless I know who they are. I should know, just from the tone of your communication, that you are a pettifogger." Nolan promptly sued Harris for $20,000 [$625,000] for libel, but Harris replied in court that a private postcard was not "publication," as required by the law. The Pilgrim Baptist Church in Matteawan hosted a strawberry festival. A neighbor saw a stranger hitching up a horse outside Mr. Stotesburgh's house in Matteawan on a Saturday night and asked if someone was sick. The man said that was the case, and he was going to find the doctor. The horse and wagon hadn't been seen since. During "Beacon Night" on WKBG, a Poughkeepsie-based radio station, Judge Thomas Hassett discussed the city's manufacturing output, including bricks and hats. In addition, the Beacon Imperial Orchestra performed "The Home Circle" and John Montague, a tenor from Beacon, sang "Dreaming Alone in the Twilight," which prompted hundreds of listeners to call the station requesting an encore. Robert Kent Jr. of Glenham, who had been arrested for driving without a license, claimed in court that Judge Hassett was "making an attempt to frame him through his henchmen in the motor vehicle bureau." About 4,000 delegates of the Archdiocesan Union of Holy Name Societies came to Beacon for its annual meeting. Following a smallpox outbreak in Cold Spring, state health inspectors found no cases in Beacon. One suspicious case was diagnosed as chicken pox. Mr. and Mrs. George...

Couple Loses Bid to Reclaim Route 9 Property

Blame foreclosure on 'unhinged' acquaintance A Putnam County judge on Wednesday (June 17) denied an attempt by a couple who owned a dry cleaner on Route 9 in Philipstown to regain the property, which they said was lost to fraud. Judge Gina Capone upheld the foreclosure and eviction by MT&T Bank of Sokhara Kim and Chakra Oeur from 3154 Route 9, which from 1995 to early 2024 had been owned by Kim through Mary Dawn Inc. and was home to Nice & Neat Dry Cleaners, a nail salon and a residence she shared with her husband. Kim and Oeur, immigrants from Cambodia who also operated an outdoor restaurant and art gallery at the location, were evicted on Dec. 9, 2025, ending a foreclosure process that began in August 2022, after Kim stopped making payments on a $570,000 mortgage. Capone, who oversaw the case, ordered the foreclosure in February 2024. A bank subsidiary, Chesapeake Holding, paid $620,200 for the parcel at an auction in May 2024. Capone rejected Kim and Oeur's main contention — that they were victims of Derek Keith Williams, who met the couple when his girlfriend, Mauny Bun, ran the salon. Williams, who is facing fraud and grand larceny charges, convinced Kim that he had paid off the mortgage, according to court documents. Then, for the next few years, he hid the foreclosure by demanding that she "turn over any mail or paperwork relating to the property, Mary Dawn Inc., any court or any bank," said her attorney, Jacob Chen. Chen said the court "never acquired personal jurisdiction" over Kim because the process server identified the person he handed the original foreclosure documents to as a female Asian "coworker" of Kim's, with an estimated age of 45. Chen also said that Oeur should have been included as a party to the foreclosure proceeding because he lived at the property and managed the Khmer Art Gallery. In Capone's 31-page ruling, she said both Kim and Oeur were "wholly aware" of the foreclosure and the sale of the property well before they claimed to have learned of the eviction in November 2025. She cited appearances Kim made with Williams in Erie County Court when M&T sued in 2020 over the delinquent loan. She also said a handwritten complaint Kim filed in January 2025 against M&T with the Federal Reserve used the foreclosure case number. In addition, said Capone, the contention that Williams withheld mail about the foreclosure "is undermined by the fact that, according to Ms. Kim, Mr. Williams was not living at the subject premises, and present there on a day-to-day basis, until September 2023," a year after the bank initiated the proceeding. "One constant, according to the plaintiff, was that Ms. Kim and Mr. Williams acted in concert to prevent, hinder and interfere" with the bank's efforts to gain the property, said Capone. Kim says Williams is solely to blame. In a statement filed with the court, she said a personal loan used to rebuild the property after a fire destroyed it in 2005 had been taken over by M&T Bank when she met Williams through Bun in 2019. Kim said that Bun, whose mother she had known for over 30 years, "reminded me a lot of my daughter … and I put a lot of trust and faith in her." She decided to accept Williams' offer to buy the property for $1.2 million and transfer it to an entity called DKW Trust. "I had worked tirelessly for many, many years at that point," said Kim. "I was excited about the opportunity to take a break from working and to be able to give something to my grandchildren, and so I agreed." Williams requested access to Mary Dawn's bank account, provided Kim with "official-looking documents containing seals and stamps," and said he had paid off the mortgage and would let her live there while he "finalized" the trust, according to court documents. In addition to demanding that any mail related to courts and the bank be turned over to him, he also asked Kim to sign documents and submit filings without explaining what they were, and demanded access to her emails, according to court...

Investigation Continues into Beacon Assault

Women describe fear after January attack Police Chief Tom Figlia said this week that investigators have pored over "countless hours" of video as they try to identify the man who attacked a woman in Beacon five months ago. His comments revealed new details about an incident that many girls and women say has them living in fear. Police received a call from Dutchess County 911 on the morning of Jan. 14 to assist fire and emergency medical personnel with a report of an unconscious woman found near the intersection of Wolcott and Tioronda avenues. Figlia said it appeared to officers that the woman had been "seriously assaulted." Nearby Sargent Elementary School was placed on a lockout while officers searched the area. Police later told school officials that they believed the suspect had fled. The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was said at the time to be in stable condition at a local hospital. Police asked residents citywide to check doorbell or security cameras for footage of a white male wearing a black jacket or coat (not a puffy coat), a black knit hat and blue pants or jeans. The suspect was described as being in his 30s or 40s, about 5-foot-11, with a medium build and a "very close" brown beard. Breaking from protocol, Figlia issued updates in the weeks following the crime, explaining nuances of the investigation and addressing criticism that the department had not released enough information. "Crimes that appear to be sexually motivated, occurring in daylight hours, close to a busy street, where the perpetrator does not seem to be known to the victim, are rare to begin with," he said this week, confirming details that had previously been the subject of speculation. "That's one reason why it's rightly garnered so much concern from the public. I can't recall another incident like it in my time in the department," which he joined 20 years ago as a patrol officer. According to the department's 2024 annual report, the most recent available, Beacon police in 2022 responded to 21 reports of aggravated assault, defined as involving serious injury, use of a weapon or multiple perpetrators. Nine arrests were made. In 2023, there were 16 reports and 14 arrests. In 2024, there were 19 reports and 12 arrests. There was a rape reported in 2023, but no arrest was made. Most sexual assault cases are not solved by police, according to a study published in 2024 in the journal Trauma Violence Abuse, which found that only about 25 percent of reported sexual assaults over a 20-year period resulted in an arrest. Figlia said the department is waiting on responses to subpoenas for more video footage. Numerous items also have undergone DNA testing, and the police are working with outside agencies for assistance with digital forensic evidence. Nonetheless, every woman interviewed for this article said they remain fearful. Randi Keim, who travels into New York City several times a week, said she used to walk a 5-mile loop to the Metro-North station that took her near the area of the attack. "I have not done that walk since," she said. "I wouldn't walk it alone, even in daytime, now." Figlia advised that bulky headphones or other apparel that obstructs peripheral vision could make pedestrians vulnerable. "Being clear that you are looking around could be a deterrent," he said. Another resident, who asked not to be identified, said she, too, has changed her routine when taking the train. In the past, she walked home, sometimes late at night. Now, she schedules an Uber anytime her train arrives after sunset. Four other women, all mothers of teen daughters, declined to comment, even anonymously, for fear of saying something that could identify them or their children. Said one: "I don't even feel safe saying I feel unsafe."

Stalled Out

Redevelopment of state prisons proves challenging Two years after New York State selected Conifer Realty to construct a mixed-use campus with up to 1,300 apartments at the former Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill, the company has yet to submit a proposal to the town's Planning Board. Two and a half miles away, redevelopment plans at another decommissioned state prison, the Beacon Correctional Facility, or Camp Beacon, have also stalled. An update from Empire State Development, New York's economic development agency, provides little clarity. A spokesperson for the agency said on June 5 that "ESD, Conifer and the Town of Fishkill continue to work collaboratively on the redevelopment of the Downstate Correctional Facility" — virtually the same statement it provided a year ago, when it said that "ESD continues to work with Conifer and the Town of Fishkill to finalize a site plan." The state announced in June 2024 that the Rochester-based Conifer would, over the course of a decade, convert the 80-acre former maximum-security prison into a campus with as many as 1,300 housing units. Construction of 375 units, at least 20 percent of them "permanently affordable" for households earning less than 80 percent of the area's annual median income, was expected to begin by January 2026. Fishkill Supervisor Ozzy Albra, who criticized the plans as a "bad deal for the taxpayers," said a year ago that he had negotiated ESD and Conifer down to 1,100 units. He said this week that, while he believes local schools, including Glenham Elementary, which is part of the Beacon City School District, will be able to absorb the students generated by the development, traffic will be a critical issue. That has guided continued negotiations, he said, with his goal to get the unit count "well below 700." Albra said he has made a number of additional requests, including a split between homes for sale and rental units and for the project to include more one-bedroom apartments. The state's announcement, framed as part of Gov. Kathy Hochul's plan to build 15,000 homes and apartments to address a statewide housing crisis, said the site would include two-story duplexes and triplexes, with at least 25 percent of units having three bedrooms. Albra has also asked New York State to commit to connecting the property to the Dutchess Park and Rombout sewer districts and to extend water infrastructure to the surrounding area. Last year, Conifer said it would limit construction to 2½-story buildings because the nearest fire department, in Glenham, does not have a ladder truck. A spokesperson said this week that the company continues to "work collaboratively" with stakeholders, but there are "no major updates to report." The representative did not respond when asked about a timeline for a submission to the Planning Board. Albra said he has no insight into timing, either, but suggested the project has slowed because "we did our homework to protect the residents of Fishkill." Meanwhile, the state has twice asked for proposals — and once awarded development rights — at Camp Beacon, yet the 39-acre property, with 22 buildings hidden beyond Beacon High School and the city's Highway Garage, has remained seemingly untouched since the women's prison closed in 2013. New York State asked for proposals in 2014 but received only one: from the New York City-based Doe Fund, which proposed creating a farming and job-training center to help homeless and low-income people seek employment and self-sufficiency. The nonprofit withdrew its proposal in 2017 after local officials — including Dutchess County Executive Sue Serino, then a state senator — asked then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo to reject the plan because it was "inconsistent with the site's mixed-use, recreational and destination development potential." After seeking a second round of proposals, in 2019 Empire State Development selected Urban Green Food, also based in New York City. The organization said it planned to build a hotel ...

Danskammer Files for Bankruptcy

Reliability concerns keep power plant open, for now Danskammer Energy, which runs a gas-fired plant on the Hudson River in the Town of Newburgh that operates only during peak demand, and which the company hoped to convert to full-time operation, filed for bankruptcy on June 10. The Chapter 11 petition, filed in Delaware, says the company owes creditors $13 million, including $11.8 million to the New York Independent System Operator, which manages the state power grid, and $760,000 in property taxes to Orange County. Danskammer did not respond to requests for comment. The filing comes five months after the company requested permission from NYISO to close the plant, which typically operates for only 5 to 10 days a year during heat waves. In response, NYISO said the plant must remain available until at least August and possibly January, in part due to concerns that the state lacks sufficient emissions-free energy sources to replace aging fossil-fuel plants. It also cited "demand forecasts based on expected weather, expected generator availability, transmission limitations and risks associated with the availability of key future planned projects." The latter refers to an executive order, signed by President Donald Trump on the first day of his return to office, that halted the permitting process for offshore wind projects. After a court ruled that the order was illegal, the administration adopted a different strategy. On Wednesday (June 17), Invenergy announced that the administration would pay $765 million for it to abandon four wind projects, including one that would have delivered at least 2 gigawatts to New York and New Jersey. NYISO does have wiggle room. Earlier this week, New York State announced the completion of the 339-mile Champlain-Hudson Power Express, a transmission line between Canada and New York City that passes the Highlands beneath the Hudson River. In addition, the state dropped plans to close two barge-mounted peaker plants that provide up to 608 megawatts to New York City. In 2018, Danskammer said it would renovate the Newburgh plant for continuous operation, but community pushback led to a lengthy legal battle. In 2021, the state denied the plant the clean-air permit it would need to proceed, arguing that upgrading the plant would violate the state's newly enacted Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. It was during this time that Scenic Hudson released its own proposal for large-scale battery storage at the site to bring more renewable energy to the Hudson Valley. "We would love to see the dirty gas power plant get replaced with something that generates jobs and tax revenue for the town without also emitting pollution," said Stephen Ballentine of Scenic Hudson. The bankruptcy filing, as well as the state's recent relaxation of many of its climate targets as part of the 2026-27 budget, could open the door for another company to take over Danskammer and operate year-round. "I would imagine that it's still permissible for courts to reject applications based on CLCPA incompatibility, but we'll have to see how this changes things," said Ballentine. "That's part of the reason we were disappointed to see the rollback to the CLCPA."