Jeff Lewis

Area police remain on high alert after video of an antisemitic rant made at a local Islamic Center earlier this month surfaced online. A guest Imam at the Islamic Center of Rockland in Valley Cottage delivered a controversial sermon in which he asked Allah to “grant victory to our brothers in Gaza and in Palestine, guide their shooting, destroy the Zionist Jews, seize them with a crushing grip, and make their plots backfire on them.” The comments were slammed by local officials. Clarkstown supervisor George Hoehmann said the “extreme and hateful rhetoric is unacceptable and has no place here in Clarkstown”…

Ramapo’s chief of staff, Mona Montal, says the town has worked with the Islamic Center in the past on various projects, the supervisor worked with them as an attorney in the past as well, and they consider them friends …

Montal says the town’s police department had already been in a state of high alert, and they’ve seen no activity thus far stemming from or related to the Imam’s remarks. In a statement posted on their website, the Center condemned and apologized for the remarks, the pain they caused, and they “stand against anti-Semitism and any rhetoric that incites violence or hatred” and will ensure their platform is not used to promote harmful messages going forward. 

The Director of Rockland’s Office of Economic Development & Tourism has officially stepped down from that position. Lucy Redzeposki returned to the position in 2021 during the COVID years and helped guide the county’s tourism advancements through a rough patch. Rockland County Executive Ed Day says he knew her second time around with the county wasn’t going to last forever…

Redzeposki would often cite tourism, and movie and TV production in the county, for the reason taxes were kept stable. When she left the job back in 2019, it was believed she would be retiring and moving out-of-state. So perhaps a third go at the job in a few years may not be out of the question.

Rockland’s congressman did a little bit of gloating yesterday after former Representative Republican George Santos pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and identity theft. That’s according to Reuters. Santos was booted from Congress last year during his first, and only, scandal-plagued term. Santos had threatened to file an ethics complaint against, among others, GOP Congressman Mike Lawler of the Hudson Valley’s 17th district, who said in a statement, he was “glad to see this long running embarrassment finally come to an end.” Lawler added Santos “needed to be held accountable for his lies, deceptions, and criminal activity,” and with the plea he “finally admitted what we all knew to be true — he was a serial fraudster and violated the public trust.” Santos was charged last year and accused of laundering campaign funds to pay for personal expenses, charging donors’ credit cards without their consent, and receiving unemployment benefits while he was employed. Santos will be sentenced on February 7th, and he faces up to 22 years in prison.

The former president of a college in Rockland has died. The Journal News reports Donald McNelis, who served as president of St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill from 1974 to 1995, passed away last week. During his tenure, the college doubled its enrollment. The school also increased its space, which included an expansion to the south side of Route 340. As the first leader who was not a Dominican nun, McNelis was also the first man in the college’s administration. He also served as director of the Rockland Economic Development Corporation. He was 91.