January 21, 2010
By Tom Rue
At the reorganizational meeting of the Village of Monticello Board of Trustees held on Monday, April 6, 2009, I was appointed Village Historian by the Village Manager. The last time a Village Historian was named was 2004, in an appointment made by then Village Manager Richard Sush.. The day after my appointment I posted a Certified letter to the last gentleman known to occupy this position, and hand-delivered a copy to the Village Clerk. I cited the New York State Art and Cultural Affairs Law §57.09, which requires of all local historians:

“He or she shall make an annual report, in the month of January, to the local appointing officer or officers and to the state historian of the work which has been accomplished during the preceding year. He or she shall, upon retirement or removal from office, turn over to the local county, city, town or village authorities, or to his or her successor in office, if one has been then appointed, all materials gathered during his or her incumbency and all correspondence relating thereto.”

I never received a reply. I made it known that I did not intend to pursue the request further, except to note that if no reply was received, I would presume with all due respect to my predecessor, that he did nothing during his year as Village Historian. If any such files exist, I would still be interested in receiving them in order to pass them on to my successor as required by law. I do not know what has become of any files of former Village Historians who have since passed away. Unfortunately, I am told this is a common occurrence in many municipalities with historical files.

I signed the Oath Book April 13, 2009 in the presence of then Village Manager Zachary Kelson and the then Village Clerk. On a sad but slightly humorous note, at that time, when I respectfully asked the former Clerk for copies of annual reports provided by prior Village Historians, as required by the Art and Cultural Affairs Law §57.09, she replied, “No one ever has, and no one ever will.”

One project in which I have engaged personally, which comes under the aegis of local history, is a pictorial history of Monticello, expected to be released by Arcadia Publishing as part of their “Images of America” series. I have been amazed and gratified at the outpouring of support and generosity of local people, organizations, and agencies willing to lend their images for preservation and public sharing.

Though the book will contain a limited number of high quality images, I have created high-resolution .TIFF scans of over 1,000 old or vintage photographs of Monticell – consuming over 40 gigabytes of disc space, and am still scanning. Many of these images may be used for other historical and other educational purposes in the future.
The draft cover text for this work in progress describes our community as follows:

“Latin for 'heavenly mountain,' Monticello's founders supported Thomas Jefferson's populist ideals, naming their village for his Virginia home. Center of the Town of Thompson and seat of Sullivan County since 1809, Monticello was founded in 1804 and incorporated in 1830 by John and Samuel Jones. Tanning, lumbering, farming, and manufacturing gave way to tourism. The railroad came in 1871. A fire in 1909 decimated the downtown, but automobile and an artery nicknamed 'the Quickway' connected New York City to the mountains and made Monticello a recreation center. The years 1920 to 1930 saw a population increase of 48 percent. Sidewalks brimmed with shoppers as Broadway, lined with stately and beautiful shade trees, clattered with traffic at all hours. Slightly over an hour from Manhattan, Monticello had two identities: a community built and maintained by workers, residents, and business and a busy 'borscht belt' of vacation center of boardinghouses, hotels, bungalows, and recreation.”

This book should be available in stores and online by the summer. I have attempted to ensure that this book reflect the rich diversity of Monticello's cultural and geopolitical past. This has not only broadened my appreciation and knowledge of Monticello's past beauty and even charm, but of its potential future – if its residents, businesses and government work together.

Through the above project, I have contacted family members of the late Naval Lt. John C. Crawford, after whom the apartment complex on Liberty Street is named. If, through the generosity of the Crawford family, it is possible to obtain a representative portrait of Lt. Crawford (killed in Nin Thuan, South Viet Nam on March 10, 1967), in addition to including it in the book, a hope would be to offer it, framed, to the Monticello Housing Authority to hang in a common area at the Lt. John C. Crawford Houses.

The small image at left showing John Crawford is from a Monticello High School yearbook. The request to the Crawford family has been for either a portrait of him in his Naval uniform, or a less formal picture, as the family may.

A second book that I have in progress, completion of which has been placed on hold for the time being, remains tentatively entitled The Hidden Woman of Monticello: The Story of Adelaide Mary Branch and Melvin Henry Couch. Progress on this book was described in the Sullivan County Democrat in a column by County Historian John Conway. The Democrat has also been good enough to publish a press release and make editorial mention of the pictorial history for Arcadia mentioned above, to aid in photo collection.

One formal outside inquiry routed to me as Village Historian this year through Village Hall came in August 2009 when a television journalist from Brigham Young University (BYU) Broadcasting in Provo, Utah by the name of Augustina Perez came to Village Hall seeking information on former Monticello Mayor Anne Kaplan for a documentary. The product of Ms. Perez' work has yet to be released.

I have previously reported on progress with clean-up and restoration of the abandoned Litts family cemetery adjacent to Sleepy Hollow Apartments, in cooperation with Town of Thompson Highway Superintendent Rich Benjamin. The Town Highway Department has continued to accept responsibility for that maintenance (despite the fact that it it is within Village limits), explaining that the cemetery was not previously known to the Town.

On the same evening, I publicly acknowledged the work of Village employee and resident Alvin Dumas for participating on the Sullivan County Bicentennial Committee, and do so again now. I also provided written reports to the Village Manager and Board of Trustees during 2009 on the history of residency requirements, as well as contractual terms and litigation, involving Village Managers and related matters.

For the coming year, should the Village Manager choose to re-appoint me as Historian, I would like support in exploring availabilty of public and/or private fund, at no cost to the Village, for projects including:

1. Inventory of historic buildings in the Village which may be eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Sites, and thereby for economic development and restoration grants; and
2. Inventory, reorganization, and preservation of historic municipal records, as well as off-site back-up copies at the Sullivan County Historical Society to protect against possible catastrophic damage;
3. Restoration of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument to correct the mis-alignment of its granite panels which occurred when the monument was moved from its original site at the corner of Jefferson Street (would require heavy equipment and bonded, qualified operators).

Items #2 and #3 above would require approval of the Board of Trustees before any action would be taken.

Respectfully submitted,

Tom Rue, Village Historian

Click here to see the video.

(from Psychology Today)

Putting faith in luck can be seen as ceding control of destiny to the universe. But luck is not the same as chance. People who believe luck works in their favour are motivated to try challenging tasks and persist at them, according to new research by Maia Young at UCLA. "The more you think of luck as a stable personal trait, the more you feel personal agency," Young says. And feeling in control breeds confidence.

You can also practice specific strategies to make luck work for you. By studying lucky people, Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire in the UK has distilled four steps to good fortune.

• BREAK ROUTINE: Meet new people; walk a different route to work. New experiences offer fresh opportunities.

• TURN BAD INTO GOOD: If something upsetting happens, consider how it could have been worse, and try to draw something positive from it.

• TRUST YOUR GUT: Decisions informed by intuition often produce happier outcomes. Meditation can quiet the noise around your hunches.

• LOOK UP: Positive expectations are often self-fulfilling because they increase motivation and persistence.

---

Related Links

The Luck Factor by Richard Wiseman, The Skeptical Inquirer, May/June 2003 - "A ten-year scientific study into the nature of luck has revealed that, to a large extent, people make their own good and bad fortune. The results also show that it is possible to enhance the amount of luck that people encounter in their lives.

Born lucky? The relationship between feeling lucky and month of birth, Personality and Individual Differences, 39 (2005), 1451-1460: "Research suggests that season of birth is associated with several psychiatric and neurological disorders, and also with adult monoamine neurotransmitter turnover."

More on the Psychology of Luck by Richard Wiseman, University of Hertfordshire, UK

The following video clips show the process and discussion that takes place at meetings of the Village of Monticello Board of Trustees. These clips show a motion by Trustee Carmen Rue on July 6, 2009 to hire Raymond Nargizian as Village Manager; seconded by Trustee Scott Schoonmaker, Trustee Victor Marinello also voting yes. The motion carried 3 to 2.

The Town of Thompson, Capelli Enterprises, Inc.; and Thunder 102 Radio provided a country western concert, playing to an estimated 1,000 people in the grandstands of the Mighty M Racino (aka Monticello Racetrack) for Sullivan County's bicentennial bash.

The musical event feature country-western musical lin-up including Iron Cowboy, Somerville Brothers, and Cowboy Crush.

"No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. "

To: Monticello Village Manager, Mayor, Trustees, Attorney, Clerk, and Others Whom It May Concern:

Following is an historical summary of residency requirements placed on past appointed Village Managers. Historically, the last person prior to one recent brief occupant of the office who was fired at the end of December, to be “permanently” appointed by the Board of Trustees as Village Manager who lived inside Village limits at the time of his hiring as Manager was Robert Norris of Lake Street, some 21 years ago in 1998.

NYS Village Law § 3-300(2)(a) permits the Board of Trustees to exempt any appointed Village officer who might otherwise be required to live within municipal limits from a residency requirement, provided the person lives within the county “in which the village is wholly or partially situated.” The Monticello Village Board has always complied with this law. Manager Zachary Kelson in 2008, Manager Raymond Nargizian in 2006, and Manager Richard Sush in 2001, were all specifically and lawfully authorized by resolution of the Board of Trustees to live outside the limits of the Village of Monticello. All three men were indeed and remain Sullivan County residents.

Then DPW Commissioner George Panchyshysn of Southwoods, appointed by the Board of Trustees in 1996 as “interim” Village Manager, was designated at the time as not permanent. Village Clerk Edith Schop was also named to act briefly as a temporary “acting” and “interim” Manager during 1994 and again in 1995. Ms. Schop, we know, lives in the Village, but the Board was clear on each occasion that her appointment was not permanent.

Middletown City Alderman Joseph Dwyer was hired permanently in 1999 as Monticello Village Manager, but resigned after 15 days citing “personal reasons”. Teaneck, New Jersey resident Manager Sheryl Shiber was permanently hired in 1997; Medford, Long Island resident Manager David Berner in 1995; Wallkill resident (former Wallkill Town Supervisor) Manager William Cummings in 1994; and Alamosa County, Colorado resident (and County Manager) James Malloy in 1992. Many of these people physically relocated to Monticello within a period specified by the Board of Trustees at the time they were hired. Whether or not to require residency at all, how much time to allow, and how strictly to monitor, has always been a Board decision.

In recent years, the Village of Monticello Board of Trustees has not made residency mandatory for the Village Manager, in part because it drastically reduces the pool of qualified applicants who are willing to accept the job.

In the future, the Board of Trustees may rest assured that historical precedent is definitely on your side on this issue. History confirms that under State law it is within the Village Board’s discretion to either require local residency for the Manager or not, provided that the individual lives within the boundaries of Sullivan County. You may have an excellent Manager candidate, for example, who prefers to live in the Town of Thompson or elsewhere. You as a Board have been empowered by the State Legislature to make this choice based on your collective wisdom and your good sense of what best serves the interests of the Village of Monticello.

This informational report is confined to the recent history of appointed Managers. Village Mayors who filled in for various interim periods when the Board may have preferred to leave the Manager post temporarily vacant, were obviously required to reside in the municipality in order to run and qualify for the office of Mayor. But once again, historically the decision of whether to appoint a Manager, or to let the Mayor fill in temporarily, has fallen under the lawful purview of the full Board of Trustees.

It is not and never has been an entitlement of the Mayor.

For further details and documentation, see history.tomrue.net/monticello/managers.

Respectfully submitted,

Tom Rue, Monticello Village Historian

dated April 9, 2009

At the reorganizational meeting of the Village of Monticello Board of Trustees held on Monday, April 6, 2009, a relatively minor item of business was the appointment of Tom Rue as Village Historian. The last time a Village Historian was named was 2004, in an appointment made by then Village Manager Richard Sush. To the best of my knowledge, based on a review of minutes, the Village Historian position appears to have been been vacant since 2005.

The next day I posted a Certified letter to the last gentleman known to occupy this position, and hand-delivered a copy to the Village Clerk. I cited the New York State Art and Cultural Affairs Law §57.09, which requires of local historians:

“He or she shall make an annual report, in the month of January, to the local appointing officer or officers and to the state historian of the work which has been accomplished during the preceding year. He or she shall, upon retirement or removal from office, turn over to the local county, city, town or village authorities, or to his or her successor in office, if one has been then appointed, all materials gathered during his or her incumbency and all correspondence relating thereto.”

I have not yet received a reply. I do not intend to pursue this request, except to note that if no reply is received, I will presume with all due respect to my predecessor, that it will appear he did nothing during his year as Village Historian, which is the only logical explanation for the absence of any materials gathered or any correspondence during his incumbency. If materials or correspondence are received hereafter, I will be sure to post an update to this article.

On the night of my appointment, I reported to the Board of Trustees:

1. First, on progress with clean-up and restoration of the abandoned Litts family cemetery adjacent to Sleepy Hollow Apartments, in cooperation with Town of Thompson Highway Superintendent Rich Benjamin, and an ongoing search for living descendants of persons buried there as requested by a principal of the corporation which recently purchased Sleepy Hollow Apartments in order to invite them to take part in an eventual planned "grand re-opening" ceremony; and
   
   

2. Second, I acknowledged the service to the community of Village employee and resident Alvin Dumas who has participated as a member of the Sullivan County Bicentennial Steering Committee, explaining that I am unable to attend these meetings because of work obligations. I asked the Board and Mr. Dumas in a letter, to kindly keep me informed of bicentennial activities as they may involve the Village of Monticello, promising to give him credit for work that he does.

I have begun compiling a list of links to transcriptions of local cemeteries that are available on the web, while attempting to make additional such records accessible to the public without charge. Other local history articles and documents that I have compiled over the years over the years are also hosted on my server.

Interested readers are also also pointed to the archive of Sullivan Retrospective articles by Sullivan County Historian John Conway, published regularly in The Sullivan County Democrat. I also plan to continue to publish occasional articles, on the web and/or in print, as well as offering periodic reports to Village officials and others related to local history, resources, and public education on such matters.

I signed the Oath Book today (April 13, 2009) in the presence of Village Manager Zachary Kelson and Clerk Edith Schop.

Public historical inquiries may be sent either by e-mail (quickest), to PO Box 706, Monticello, NY 12701 (moderate speed), or c/o Village Hall, 2 Pleasant Street, Monticello, NY 12701 (allow for possible delay). I will do my best to respond in a timely manner, including offering referrals to appropriate officials, agencies, or private researchers when indicated. Keep in mind, when making such requests for assistance or information, that the Village Historian is unpaid and has no public budget. If requesting a reply by mail, please include a post-paid pre-addressed return envelope.

Requests for public documents, including those of an historical nature, made pursuant to the NYS Freedom of Information Law should be addressed to the Village Clerk who is the person primarily responsible under the Monticello Village Code for complying with that section of the Public Officers Law.

While I make every effort to keep information that I post on this and other websites entirely accurate, mistakes can arise. If you discover any errors or important omissions, please e-mail me, including any evidence or references to support the correction you are proposing. I will be grateful for the opportunity to correct any mistakes that are brought to light.

On a personal note, with respect to matters involving local Freemasonry, I am also the county-wide Historian for the Sullivan Masonic District, of which the Right Worshipful John P. Wells is the District Deputy Grand Master. I am a past Master of Monticello Lodge #532, F&AM (2000-2002) and currently the lodge's Chaplain under Worshipful Master Bucky Laufersweiler.

Local History Related Links

• New York State Museum
• New York State Archives
• Information about Local Historians
• Association of Public Historians of New York State
• American Association for State and Local History
• Cemetery Law Manual: Laws & Regulations of the New York State Cemetery Board
• Edwin Olmstead, Petitioner, vs. the Town of Thompson Town Board, Respondent

Local Municipal and Related Websites

• Village of Monticello
• Monticello Joint Fire District history page
• Village Trustee Carmen Rue
• Town of Thompson and Town Historian Gerald Fielding
• Sullivan Retrospective by County Historian John Conway
• Sullivan County Historical Society
• County of Sullivan

The old work-horse of a web server that hosted the sites listed below and others, in some cases for the last 10 years or more, was limping on its last leg. It started by logging hard drive errors, and lately was rebooting itself every 15 minutes or so. The /usr directory swelled to 103%, mostly the result of a very large swap file. Response time, you may have noticed, was dramatically slowed. None of these are good signs. Finally, put from its misery, astarte was laid to a well-deserved rest.

I became curious a while back upon discovering that the back of the base of the Soldier and Sailor Monument on the lawn of the Lawrence H. Cooke Sullivan County Court House (under the soldier's feet) an inscription says, "To Sullivan County in memory of her Heroes from Pluma A. Niven".

I wondered what this meant, in contrast to the larger inscriptions beneath that the monument was donated "1895, Erected by the Board of Supervisors of Sullivan County from the free offerings of the loyal citizens".

Who was Pluma A. Niven, I wondered, and why did she merit special note on the monument?