BLOOMINGBURG – With a crucial election for mayor and board of trustees one week away on March 18, the legal actions continued and negative feelings intensified, if that were possible, in this small community.

Having had his suit to throw out the nominating petitions for the Rural Heritage Party denied by Justice Schick of Sullivan County State Supreme Court, developer Shalom Lamm has lodged an appeal. A hearing on that appeal will most likely be held this week, due to the nearness of the election.

Lamm has hired attorneys that specialize in election cases for his appeal to the Appellate Court.

Observers believe that Mr. Lamm is pursuing a SLAPP strategy (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) because the cost for the Rural Heritage Party of continuing their legal struggle will be several thousand dollars, and none of the Rural Heritage Candidates are known to have deep pockets. Rural Heritage is not a political party, either, but more a collection of individuals running under a group name and have no political funds to fall back on.

Update It is being reported that FBI agents have been seen in Bloomingburg, at Hickory Court, the morning of March 13th.

Of course, Lamm also believes that he is in the right.

As long as they can fight the appeal against them, the Rural Heritage Party will have Frank Gerardi as their candidate for mayor of the Village of Bloomingburg, James Cracolici for justice, and Katherine Roehmer and James Johnson as candidates for trustee for the Village of Bloomingburg.

On the other side of the fence are the candidates of "Bloomingburg Strong." Leading this slate is Mark Berentsen, the incumbent mayor, incumbent trustee Charles Griswold, and also for trustee Harold Baird, former supervisor of the Town of Mamakating. There is no candidate listed for Justice on the Bloomingburg Strong line. Signatories on the Bloomingburg Strong petitions include developer Shalom Lamm and planning board chairman Russ Wood.

While Lamm's lawsuit against the Rural Heritage Party nominating petitions continues, more actions were taking place on another front. Approximately 140 new voters have sought to register with the Sullivan County Board of Elections for this election. Many if not all of these new registrants have used addresses in the village that belong to properties bought by the developer, Shalom Lamm. In the past week, individuals in the village have laid challenges to many of these registrants.

As this article was being prepared, the Sullivan County Board of Elections was meeting with attorneys to discuss the matter, while more challenges to new registrants were being filed. Assistant Sullivan County Attorney Tom Cawley said he has been in discussion with the state Board of Elections about the situation and is seeking a decision by this Friday so poll workers can be told what to do about the challenged voters, and any disruptions in Bloomingburg, on March 18th.

Fundraising was also meanwhile continuing on behalf of the Rural Heritage Party candidates' defense of their nominating petitions.

Meanwhile, at the Pine Bush Board of Education meeting on March 11, superintendent Joan Carbone reported on the district's discussions with both its own attorneys and also with the New York State School Boards' Association lawyers, on the legal grounds for replacing the current system of district wide voting for school board members with a system that would restrict each town and village within the district to a set number of board members. This course was advocated by John Kahrs, of the Concerned Citizens of Pine Bush group, as a way to neutralize the threat potential from what may become a large Hasidic voting bloc in Bloomingburg should the 396 town home development there be completed.

The threat to the district was emphasized during the public participation section of the meeting when Kahrs said that by next year there could be 1,000 new voters in Bloomingburg, and that on the budget they would all vote "no," throwing the district into austerity budgets. Furthermore, as a voting bloc without kids in Pine Bush schools, they might place a majority of their own on the board of education, election by election.

In the voting scheme that the district is currently exploring, Bloomingburg would be restricted to a single member on the board, the towns of Crawford and Wallkill would each have two, and the towns of Shawangunk (Walker Valley) and Mamakating would each have one. The relatively small numbers of voters in Mount Hope and Gardiner, also in the district, would presumably have their votes added to the nearest town's.

Carbone reported that legal counsel had said that there was no legal mechanism to achieve a realignment of votes and board members in this way. Judith Pulver, the board's vice president, said nothing could be done this year. More research was needed to make a really reliable decision. But Roseanne Sullivan, board member and Orange County legislature, suggested that the board campaign for a change in the law by taking their case to Albany. She felt that since local elected officials had done nothing to help prevent the town home development in Bloomingburg, the state might be open to assisting in this cause as a way of atoning for a previous lack of action.

Her call for a lobbying effort received loud applause from the audience. Pulver noted that while there were 17,000 voters eligible in the district, scarcely 3,000 ever bothered to vote on school budgets or for board members.

During public participation, Kahrs suggested reframing the debate with legislators.

"Why don't we stop funding Private Education?" he said.

The polling place for the Bloomingburg Village election will be at Village Hall, 13 North Road, Bloomingburg. Polls will be open from 12 noon to 9 p.m.

Wurtsboro Village is also holding an election on March 18, during the same hours. The Wurtsboro election has not generated any of the light and heat seen in Bloomingburg. Lyman Holmes and Frank Sisco are running unopposed for village trustee seats on the Wurtsboro First line. The polling place will be at the Wurtsboro Village Office, 7 Pennsylvania Avenue, Wurtsboro.