Ulster County police chiefs seem to be making some progress after months of charging the county Public Defender’s Office with a failure to adequately staff night courts. Town judges, they claim, aren’t exactly night owls, either.

Rosendale police chief Scott Schaffrick, in his position as president of the county Police Chiefs Association, has been petitioning the Public Defender’s Office for the better part of this year. Public defenders, most of them young lawyers, are said to be asking for overtime pay for working the night shift. The county Magistrates Association has yet to be heard from.

Under state bail reforms enacted in 2019, persons who are arraigned in town and city courts have a right to counsel (in some cases, a public defender). Failure to provide a public defender means, Schaffrick says, police have to “babysit” defendants until one shows up.

The chief calls it a “public safety issue” because if cops are sitting around the barracks with people they arrested, they’re not out on patrol protecting the public.

There may be a break in this long-standing standoff, though Schaffrick probably should not bet the station house on it.

Under a long-dormant plan proposed almost a decade ago to meet this very issue, the Mike Hein administration proposed a rotation of public defenders and judges in three regional “night courts” — south, central, and north.

That it took almost a decade and a good deal of public pressure to dust off this rather sensible plan suggests a lack of commitment on the county’s part. With the county hoarding what is approaching a $180 million surplus (on a $415 million annual budget), a lack of funding should not be an excuse.

President in a Pickle

SUNY New Paltz President Darrell P. Wheeler recently released a statement saying he “regrets pain” caused by his decision to have a pro-Palestinian campus camp-in removed by police back on May 2. Question: Exactly what is it that President Wheeler regrets? Was it summoning local police to break up encampments after protestors set up tents and refused to disperse? Police charged some 130 persons with various misdemeanors. Reportedly, about a third were not students.

Did he regret not sitting down with student protestors sooner before chaos over Gaza broke out at the SUNY campus?

Or the letter signed by over 100 faculty members and a petition with over 700 signatures, both of them condemning his actions and calling for his resignation?

This will undoubtedly blow over after most students either graduate or return home for summer vacations. Unrest among faculty will not be assuaged so easily.

Does this mean Wheeler, who gets high marks from, among others, County Executive Jen Metzger, is a dead duck? I think not. But, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, could it be … a lame duck?

My, What a Difference a Decade Makes

Ten years ago, a new breed of volunteer railroad enthusiasts attempting to establish a tourist train from Kingston west on the old Ulster & Delaware Railroad tracks ran into stiff opposition from county government. Essentially a dispute between rail people and supporters and rail trail and bike enthusiasts, a somnolent legislature largely gave the executive a free, if not heavy, hand.

Plunging forward, the Catskill Mountain Railroad has become one of the county’s major tourism attractions. They have yet to name it the Mike Hein Special.

Now there appears to be renewed interest in the corridor, at least in exploring recreational opportunities along the 38 miles of railroad owned by the county.

Last week came a proposal from Legislature Chairman Peter Criswell to reestablish the U&D Corridor Advisory Committee. Criswell’s resolution, after its unanimous approval in committee, is scheduled to be presented to the full legislature this week.

The chairman advises the appointment of a seven-member committee to include three legislators from the corridor, two each from outside the corridor and two from Kingston. The committee would sunset at the end of next year.

Creating recreational or other development opportunities along the county’s railroad right-of-way sounds like a good idea on paper — which is all it is right now — but there is a monolith at the end of the line (west) that needs to be taken into consideration.

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection is OK with rail trails running along the banks of its precious reservoirs in western Ulster County. It also allows fishing in its pristine waters, but no power boats. Swimming or any other recreational use? Fuhgeddaboudit!

Not to muddy the waters, but the unspecified recreational opportunities Criswell envisions had better not infringe on any prerogatives the city imposes. New York can turn on that muddy water into the Esopus any time it wants and ain’t that a paradox?