At last week's town board meeting, several concerned residents of Rogue's Harbor Road pleaded with the council members to terminate the three year contract between Wawarsing and Rally New York, a company that organizes and holds road races in towns all over the state, due to what they said were several breaches of contract. The catalyst that brought the residents — about 10 to 15 of whom managed to pack the second-floor courtroom — was a crash that took place during a race on Rogue's Harbor on Saturday, June 20, resulting in both the driver and the navigator being taken to hospital after crashing their modified 1985 Volkswagon Golf into a tree.

"You don't tell the truth," said Councilmember Theresa Hyatt at one point to Rally New York representative Rich Otis, who was present at the meeting to defend the accusations flying his way.

Rich Robbins, who seemed to act as the residents' de facto representative, and was quoted in the Journal's June 25 article regarding the crash, cited a number of factors that he said constituted violations of the contract — thereby allowing the town to cancel it.

Chief among his allegations was that Rally New York failed to notify various agencies, such as the Ulster County Sheriff and the Napanoch Fire Department, that a race was being held that day, which he said he found out when they arrived at the scene of the crash. He also added that Rich Otis, the Rally New York representative present at the scene, became belligerent with sheriff's deputies and fire department personnel, an assertion that was backed up by Councilmember Theresa Hyatt, who said she saw video taken of the alleged altercations.

Otis, who says he is a volunteer with the organization, and was the clerk of the course for the race on June 20, was present at the meeting, and attempted to rebuff many of the evening's allegations. While he claimed that he hadn't committed any wrongdoing, and that Rally New York had in fact notified the agencies, representatives from the Napanoch Fire Department said that they had never received any formal notification that the race would take place that day — and also said that Otis had become agitated in his dealings with them, and that Otis told them at one point that they had only six minutes to clear the road after the injured men were taken from the scene.

"We're neither for nor against it," said David Bollin of the Napanoch Fire Department of the races. "I just want to know where we stand if we have to shut a race down." Town Attorney Bill Collier said that in the case of an emergency or crash, the fire department's duty takes precedence over the race proceedings.

Otis responded: "I agree completely," but added, "They had been there for two and a half hours…the car was off the road…when do you finish up?"

"It's up to them," replied Councilmember Hyatt.

And of the county sheriff's officers who responded to the scene and wanted to impound the car in the crash, Otis said that the sheriff's department had no jurisdiction during the time of a race, when, apparently, the road becomes a closed race course.

"You're out of your mind," said Councilmember Hyatt.

"I don't know how to respond to that," added Town Supervisor Ed Jennings.

Adding to the conflicting accounts of the situation was the residents' assertions that Eamonn Sweeney, the navigator of the crashed car who was airlifted to Valhalla Medical Center, was, as of that morning, still a patient of the hospital's cardiology department. Otis, however, said that Sweeney had already been released from the hospital the day before. According to a staff member of the hospital on Friday, there was no Eamonn Sweeney checked in, however the staff member was unable to say when a patient by that name was checked in or out.

Adding to fuel to the fire was an appearance by Forrest Ranger Rob Dawson, who also said that the race's proximity to state land was a concern to him and the DEC, and that they, too, did not receive formal notification of races. Otis contended that notifying the DEC or the parks was not stipulated in the contract.

Councilmember Hyatt made a motion to nullify the contract at that evening's meeting based on the evidence the residents had supplied.

"It's hard to believe all these people are wrong," she said.

Deputy Supervisor Terry Houck seconded the motion, expressing that he had been against approving the Rally New York contract at the end of previous Town Supervisor James Dolaway's tenure, which ended in December, 2007.

"I see more negatives," said Houck. "I don't see the benefits to the town."

However, when a resident asked about the cost of litigation to the town when Rally New York eventually disputed the proposed contract nullification, Bill Collier said that fighting the litigation would certainly come out of the town's pocket, and would not be covered by the company, as residents had thought. Collier also noted that Otis was not actually an employee of Rally New York, and that the town should solicit a response to the allegations from the company formally before voting to nullify the contract.

"I feel for the people here, but I want to be on solid legal ground," said Supervisor Jennings. "I don't want to open ourselves up to a lawsuit."

The vote came out deadlocked, 2-2, keeping the motion from passing; the tie came because the fifth member of the town board, Tom Geelan, was absent that evening. Supervisor Jennings assured the gathered residents that the board would revisit the topic at the next board meeting, scheduled for Thursday, July 16. He hoped that Ivan Orisek, an official representative of the company, would be present at the meeting. Otis said that Orisek wasn't at that evening's meeting because he was attending a town board meeting in Forestburgh.