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| May 05, 2024 |
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General News: Residents Vote Yes for Communities That Care
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| Residents vote to form coalition |
November 29, 2006
Some three dozens residents of the town and village of Cornwall gave their approval Tuesday night to form a citizens coalition to address the issues facing local young people.
With a vote of 28 to 3, those present opted to go along with the concept of building a Community That Cares. Interested residents will be meeting in January to set the process in motion, a process which involves professional training for members of the coalition.
Among the voters were 8 or 9 youngsters who seemed eager to get involved to do something to benefit them and their peers. They focused on a skateboard park as a solution to their woes, while others at the meeting cautioned that answers to societal issues cannot be found overnight.
“These problems are historical,” said Ruth Bowles, the person who introduced the Communities That Care program on behalf of the Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Council of Orange County, “While the ultimate goal is the positive development of youth,” she said, “these kids are going to be adults by the time this process ends.”
Prior to the vote, local residents voiced both positive and negative opinions about whether the group would ever be able to make a difference. Some thought a youth center would provide a safe haven, while schoolteacher Mary Donahue recounted at least three failed attempts she had joined over the decades to provide a youth center for local kids. “We have tried very many things in this community,” she said, “and it still hasn’t changed.” (That didn't stop her, however, from voting to try one more time.)
Both Reverend Thomas Margrave of St. John’s Episcopal Church, and Reverend Dan Russell, of Cornwall Presbyterian Church, were enthusiastic, agreeing that a good community coalition benefits everyone in the community. “The plan is not for instant gratification,” Pastor Russell noted, “ but for the future.”
Of the 36 or so people at the meeting, only 13 of them were town residents, leading people to question whether it is possible to address the issues without the greater Cornwall community pitching in.
The village police, who faced a rise in delinquency by juveniles this summer, were represented by Chief Charles Williams and Officer Jill Nye. Mayor Ed Moulton and Village Trustee Rudy Hahn also took part in the meeting. No town officials took part.
Mayor Moulton said he was “going to reach out to (Town Supervisor) Dick (Randazzo) and let him know what is going on.” Reverend Margrave noted that Cornwall has not been spared from vandalism and arson, noting the hate graffiti sprayed on his church and the torching of the Little League center last spring.
Moulton suggested that one way to get local officials to take action is through an “organization (that) can generate support from the bottom, up.”
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