No one was hurt after a fire in Pearl River yesterday. Orangetown Police said the blaze started in the afternoon in a detached garage and then spread to the Washington Avenue house. Neighbors saw the flames and alerted the owner, allowing her and her dog to safely get out. The blaze is under investigation by the Rockland County Sheriff’s arson unit.
News
Former North Rockland Special Ed Teacher gets 15 days on Harassment Conviction
A former North Rockland special-ed teacher got 15 days in jail after being convicted of harassment, but acquitted on other charges. DailyVoice.com says 45 year-old Yessenia Vasquez of Garnerville had faced multiple felony charges after being accused of abusing a student three years ago. The felony charges were eventually dropped. She’ll reportedly serve her jail time intermittently on dates dictated by Stony Point Justice Court.
O&R Employee Thwarts Scammer Posing as O&R Rep
A Pearl River car wash owner was recently spared falling victim to a phony O&R representative by a real O&R employee. Shoko Saito, a senior specialist in O&R’s Corporate Affairs Department, happened to overhear a phone conversation Raymond Ahmadi was having with a scammer at Walgreens in New City on Saturday. Ahmadi was there because the scammer said he had to pay $500 for his smart meter installation with a prepaid debit card. Ahmadi believed the electricity to his car wash would be shut down if he didn’t immediately do as he was told. Saito explained to Ahmadi who she was, and that O&R doesn’t accept pre-paid debit cards for payment. Rockland County sheriff Lou Falco says scams like this can sound convincing…
Falco says if you get a call like that, get a call-back number, notify police and let them handle it.
Rockland Health Department Takes New Strategy to Combat Measles Epidemic
Rockland County’s Health Commissioner has a new plan of attack to try to stem the tide of measles cases here in the county after a judge nullified the county’s state of emergency earlier this month. And if it’s not stopped, it’s estimated it could cost the county $2 million, roughly the same as a 2 percent property tax hike. Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert has launched two new orders, the Communicable Disease & Exposure Exclusion Order requires people with or exposed to the measles to stay away from public places for up to 21 days, except for medical or legal issues, and to provide the health department with details of their illness. Dr. Ruppert says the second order requires students in the 10952 and 10977 zip codes to have their MMR vaccinations or stay home…
County Executive Ed Day says thankfully the county has not seen any deaths from the measles, and he’d like to keep it that way…
There are now 186 confirmed cases of measles in Rockland County.
Airmont Keeps its Full-time Fire Inspector, for Now
Airmont still has its full-time fire inspector…for now, at least. The board split 3-2 Monday night on a whether to eliminate the position and eventually contract out fire inspection services to the town of Ramapo. Prior to the vote, Airmont’s former part-time inspector Kim Weppler said eliminating the full-time inspector position would be a step backwards…
The village’s new mayor Nathan Bubel and new trustee Brian Downey voted to abolish the position, while trustees Peter Blunnie, Kevin Warbrick and Migdalia Pesante, who won a seat on the board with mayor Bubel and trustee Downey last month, voted against it. The issue could come up again at the next scheduled meeting in May.