A domestic dispute led to charges for a 32 year old Barneveld man. New York State out of Remsen report that John Wishart was charged with allegedly being engaged in a physical domestic dispute with his girlfriend in the presence of his children on Thursday. He was located in the City of Utica and charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child and Harassment 2nd Degree. At the time of his arrest, Wishart was allegedly found to be in possession of marijuana and was additionally charged with Unlawful Possession of Marijuana. He was arraigned on the domestic dispute charges in the Town of Trenton and posted $500 cash bail. He was additionally issued an appearance ticket for the marijuana charge returnable to the City of Utica Court on May 23rd.
The trial of the Trenton Town Supervisor is underway. Jury selection was held yesterday in the case of Mark Scheidelman with a day off scheduled for today & the 1st witnesses to be called tomorrow. Scheidelman is charged with one count of first-degree sex abuse, which is a class-D felony. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in state prison & would be forced to immediately step down as Town Supervisor. Both attorneys said they expect to call several witnesses, adding that the trial may extend into Friday and possibly into the following week. Prosecutors accuse Scheidelman of inappropriately touching a 10-year-old boy who was visiting his home in Holland Patent on November 11th. He remains free on bail.
A traffic stop led to charges for a 21 year old Boonville man. Boonville Police report that Joshua Nellenbach was stopped on East Schuyler Street due to the trailer he was towing not having tail lights. Further investigation revealed that the trailer was reportedly not inspected of registered. He was issued tickets for the violations returnable to Village of Boonville Court May 29th.
A New Bremen man has announced his candidacy for the Lewis County Board of Legislators. The Johnson Newspapers report that Bryan Moser has announced plans to run for the District 4 seat currently held by John Boyd. Moser, who is a registered Republican, will likely run in a GOP primary against fellow Republican Thomas Schantz, who had earlier announced his candidacy. Legislator Boyd, who is a Democrat, has not yet announced his decision to run for re-election, but has reportedly indicated that he may not seek a 7th term on the Board. Meanwhile, Legislator Jerry King has announced plans to seek a 5th term representing District 10, which includes the towns of Leyden and Lewis. No one has announced plans to challenge him for the Board seat. All 10 seats on the Board of Legislators will be up for election this November.
State Senator Joe Griffo launched an effort for residents to sign his new on-line petition urging the rejection of Federal budget proposals that would cost New York taxpayers billions of dollars annually. Griffo stated that for decades, there has been a major imbalance between what New York sends to Washington each year, and what the state gets in return from the Federal government. New Federal budget proposals would worsen this imbalance by ending a longstanding policy of allowing taxpayers to deduct their state and local tax liability, including property taxes, from their federal taxes. Estimates show that the measure would result in a nearly $15 billion tax increase for New York families, an average increase of more than $4,500 per taxpayer. The average Federal tax bill for affected taxpayers would increase 30 percent. The Senator also pointed out that the Mohawk Valley and North Country would be hit especially hard by the misguided proposals, with more than 66,803 taxpayers being saddled with an average new tax increase of $2,350. The petition to oppose this Double-Tax Plan can be found on the Senator's website at www.griffo.nysenate.gov.
The New York State Assembly voted 82 to 53 this week in favor of the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act. The bill grants collective bargaining rights to farm laborers; requires employers of farm laborers to allow at least 24 consecutive hours of rest each week; provides for a 10 hour work day for farm laborers; requires overtime rate at one and one-half times normal rate; makes provisions of unemployment insurance law applicable to farm laborers; provides for eligibility of farm laborers for workers' compensation benefits; requires employers of farm laborers to provide farm laborers with claim forms for workers' compensation claims under certain conditions & requires reporting of injuries to employers of farmworkers. The bill moves on to the State Senate, which voted down a similar bill in 2010 by only 4 votes.
