As Beacon’s City Council considers its new obligation from New York State to respect marijuana smoking in public, the Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act (MRTA), a law passed after much delay prior to the racial reckoning of 2020 and into 2021), Beacon, along with all municipalities, is required to decide if it wants to opt out of retail sales tax revenue from Adult-Use Retail Dispensary stores (a store that sells cannabis that a person takes away from the store), or an On-Site Consumption Establishment (like a bar for alcohol that a person consumes on site and cannot take away). When signing the law, New York State declared that it became the “15th state to legalize cannabis with commitment to social equity.” So far, after the 6/14/2021 City Council Workshop meeting discussing the development, Beacon’s City Council is leaning in the direction of remaining opted-in to profiting from revenue from cannabis sales generated from within Beacon’s city limits.

Along with this retail choice, as presented in detail by Beacon’s retained law firm, Keane & Beane from attorney Drew Victoria Gamals, Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White brought to the Council the consideration of prohibiting smoking or vaping tobacco and marijuana in public parks to the Council, separate from the state-mandated retail decision. During the meeting, he said doing so was in the name of public health.

However, it should be noted, that in Keane and Beane’s Adult-Use Marijuana presentation, municipalities are able to “adopt regulations to allow the smoking of cannabis in locations where smoking tobacco is prohibited.” This option was not discussed during the Workshop where this topic was first breached.

New York’s lifting of the prohibition of marijuana smoking has brought new aromas to the city, which you may have noticed while walking down the sidewalk where bar patrons gather to smoke outside. Or someone driving in their car in front of you may be openly smoking cannabis while driving (which, according to Drew Victoria Gamils with Keane & Beane is not legal, nor is sitting in your car smoking cannabis while the car is off).

Is It The Aroma That Is Bothersome?

While it is a new aroma for some, it is making others uncomfortable. Yet one thing is known: the Black community is disproportionately penalized for even carrying cannabis, let alone smoking it, as was pointed out by Councilmember Air Nonken Rhodes during the presentation of the ban on smoking in Beacon’s public parks during the meeting.

City Administrator Chris White responded to Air’s concern by stating that “enforcement would need to be closely watched.” Which would require data collection and review of each citation. Something which Beacon’s City Council is new to acquiring in the aftermath of the spotlight on criminal justice. It is also not clear if the City Council or the City Administrator is in the habit of regularly reviewing the data that the City of Beacon Police Department collects.

During this City Council Workshop, City Administrator Chris White equated publicly smoking marijuana to smoking tobacco, as he brought to the council the consideration to ban it from public parks and “soccer games.” Chris stated that on Beacon’s trails, there is a ban on smoking, but he was unclear as to why that was, and not banned in parks. He wondered if it was because people are walking in a “linear” path. In his pursuit of a policy to be able to enforce, he expanded: “If you're way up in the woods, we are not going to see. However if you are at a soccer game, and not being respectful of others, I'm sure you are going to be reminded of that,” he stated, explaining that a person complaining to their fellow parent would have new legislation supporting their complaint to a person sitting next to them.

Not that soccer games need more opportunities for conflict among overly aggressive parents, who continuously need their own refereeing by the professional hired to ref the kids and enforce rules of the game in play.

(The no-smoking rule on trails could be for fire prevention, like that time when Breakneck caught on fire in 2020.)

Soccer Games and Smoking

Having been to many soccer games and practices, as well as those for flag football, I have not encountered folks smoking tobacco or cannabis. While that is a broad statement, people usually step away when smoking, out of respect for others. As for Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park, that area is so spacious and windy, most aromas don’t linger - unless it is the regular aroma of charcoal burning for burgers and hot dogs.

Meanwhile, New York State considers cannabis a potential thriving business that it can regulate and profit from, while encouraging agricultural involvement from traditionally oppressed groups. Expanding limitations on where it can be smoked is counter to that intent.

From New York’s new Office of Cannabis Management, the new law “Establishes a robust social and economic equity program to actively encourage members from communities disproportionally impacted by the policies of prohibition to participate in the new industry. … [It] encourages small business and farmers to participate in the cannabis industry with the creation of microbusiness, cooperative and delivery license types.”

Proposed Penalties For Smoking In Beacon’s Public Parks

A majority of Beacon’s City Council leaned toward accepting the sale of cannabis in Beacon, but banning smoking in public parks. The penalties, they agreed on, could be light. The financial penalty by default, City Attorney Drew said, has a maximum fine of $1,000 per day. City Attorney Drew confirmed that the penalty would be settled in Justice Court between the City and the Defendant. City Administrator Chris attempted assurance: “It’s usually much less than the maximum penalty.“

City Attorney Drew added: “If you go to trial, you could get $40,000. Working with the police and the defendant, you might end up settling for $9,000. That's a high example. You might end up settling for $500 in Justice Court.”

Councilmember Dan Aymar-Blair requested that the financial penalty be light, so as to not impact anyone’s rent. He and other Councilmembers agreed that jail time would be not ideal, and they would want to specifically exclude that penalty from Beacon’s legislation.

City Attorney Drew recommended that the City Council hear from residents before moving forward with drafting legislation on how to regulate the sale of cannabis in Beacon.

Former mayor Randy Casale, sitting on the bench that was made for his stepson, Dustin James. Photo Credit: Randy Casale — Former mayor Randy Casale, sitting on the bench that was made for his stepson, Dustin James.
*Photo Credit: Randy Casale*

There is a black bench with a thin blue line through it that is a memorial to a fallen police officer in front of Beacon’s City Hall. The bench is in memory of former Beacon Mayor Randy Casale’s stepson, Dustin James, who died in a motorcycle accident while off-duty. At some point, there has been a call for and a decision to remove the bench. This article is the exploration of what has transpired so far.

To give context: we are in a time of a revolution. A time of an awakened civil rights movement for black lives that gained strides, but got quiet and complacent for white people. Until police videos of violence came along. The pandemic gave everyone time to think and re-evaluate. We have been through the beginning of the #MeToo movement, where women’s voices began to be heard and believed. We are in the Black Lives movement, where black and brown and mixed-race voices are being heard and believed. Monuments all around us are toppling. Monuments of white men who conquered and defined this country. Toppled by regular white and black and brown people who have wanted these personified statues of oppression down for years, but nothing happened (well, in New Orleans, they were removed), and common people have taken it into their own hands, literally, by seizing the monuments and pulling them down, or voting them down (the City Council for Charleston, S.C. just unanimously voted to remove Calhoun’s statue and construction of removal has begun).

Imagery is also in question. Flags, logos, colors. What means what, and what did it used to mean? Three weeks ago, the American stars and stripes black flag decals with a blue line through them that had been placed onto police vehicles in Cold Spring were called into question by residents of Cold Spring. This black stars and stripes flag with a thin blue line decal was used to represent the Blue Lives Matter campaign, a movement started as a counter-response to the Black Lives movement. The decals were placed onto Cold Spring’s police cars one year ago, which is past the time when proud white supremacists used the black stars and stripes flag symbol to protest in Charlottesville, VA and run over people with a van. For an article covering the vehicle decals at A Little Beacon Blog, we reached out twice to Beacon’s Mayor Lee Kyriacou, City Administrator Anthony Ruggiero and then Police Chief Kevin Junjulas for comment as to their opinions of the black stars and stripes flag, but received no response.

This black stars and stripes flag imagery however, is separate from the decades honored symbol of a fallen police officer, which is a solid black rectangle with a thin blue line. The black stars and stripes flag design is also a possible obstruction of United States flag code, which states that the flag cannot be altered in its design. The discussion for this article is on the traditional marking for the fallen officer, which is a solid black rectangle with a thin blue line running through it. This design has been inspired onto a bench which sits outside of City Hall in Beacon, with these words on it: “In Loving Memory Of Police Officer Dustin James.”

Today, there is a call to move the bench. The memorial to Dustin James. Who is Dustin James, and why is there a call to remove, or move, the memorial? As we do with many little details, A Little Beacon Blog looked into it. We were already pursuing the history of the years past federal investigation by the Department of Justice into the Beacon Police Department, when suddenly, Beacon’s former mayor, Randy Casale, broke his silence after losing the mayoral election to Mayor Lee Kyriacou, a self-imposed silence Randy enacted to give the new mayor a fresh platform.

A Little Beacon Blog has been working on starting a new podcast with known podcaster Brandon Lillard. While we were recording practice episodes and finding our voices, Randy fired up his Facebook to suddenly announce his disapproval of removing the memorialized bench in front of City Hall, the decision of which had otherwise not been in the public domain. We reached out to Randy for an interview, which he granted. The recording of our discussion will be published shortly on our new podcast so that you can hear his voice, but as local debates swirl around Dustin’s memorial, we wanted to share what of the story we knew.

Who Is Dustin James?

Dustin James is the son of Etha Grogen and Bryon James. Dustin is the stepson of Beacon’s former mayor Randy Casale, who was the life partner of Etha. Before being Beacon’s mayor for 2 terms, Randy served on the City Council for years. Randy served as Beacon’s Highway Superintendent, coached high school basketball and was involved in numerous community initiatives in Beacon.

Dustin James grew up in Beacon and had many friends. He and Etha came into Randy’s life while Dustin was 8 years old. Randy recalls bouncing him on his knee as they watched the show “Cops” together at night. “Etha would come down and want him to go to bed, and I told her it was alright, we’d stay up and watch together.” Dustin grew up wanting to be a police officer. Randy helped him pursue the police academy, and to make good choices while being a police officer.

According to Dustin’s obituary: “Dustin was a Police Officer with the Walden Police Department where he started his career 10 years ago as a dispatcher and was recently promoted to Investigator. He was also a part-time police officer with the Village of Montgomery. Dustin started his career dispatching in the Town of Fishkill. Throughout his career, he received numerous awards for his achievements. He was the President of the Walden PBA and a member of the Warthogs. Dustin also organized Walden's National Night Out for several years.”

Dustin was a motorcycle rider, and while off-duty when a woman ran a stop sign, ending Dustin’s life on Tuesday, April 17, 2017. Dustin was 31 years old and married to Maryellen James. The Highlands Current wrote about it at the time.

“I always told Dustin to be a good cop, and to not turn into one of them,” Randy recalled during our interview. “I never knew if he was until his funeral. When I saw how many people were at his funeral.” According to friends of Dustin, and confirmed by Randy, some people who Dustin arrested were even at his funeral.

Dustin’s friends took to creating a bench to memorialize him. They built the bench that sits in front of City Hall today that is black with a blue line running through it. The traditional symbol of a fallen officer, and a symbol of support for the family the officer leaves behind.

“I’ve Never Seen Or Heard Of This Bench Before”

Right. Neither had we. When interviewing Terry Nelson 3 weeks ago for his story about attending the first big Black Lives Matter protest in Beacon as an African American, he mentioned this bench with the blue line through it. Being new to this symbol entirely, and fresh off reporting about the consideration of the removal of the black flag decal (different symbol) from the police cars in Cold Spring (the black flag stickers have since been removed), a knee jerk reaction could be to feel negative emotions about the blue line. Three weeks ago, Terry said that the City Council had been discussing removing the bench for a period of time, and that no one had brought it up to Randy yet.

There was no ceremony or public discussion in City Council for the installation of the memorial, which according to Randy, is normal for memorialized benches. “It was placed like every other bench was placed. Someone calls and asks can we donate a bench in honor of someone, and the administration usually says yes.”

So What Is Happening Now?

Randy first learned of proposed removal of the bench from his friends who are police officers across the river. Mayor Kryiacou texted (or emailed) Randy to tell him that the bench was being moved. There was no discussion in any public City Council meeting or police related community workshop.

To date, according to Randy, the only person who has spoken to him in person about the memorial is Councilperson George Mansfield.

After Randy published his disapproval of the removal of the bench on his Facebook on June 18th, his Facebook friends went back and forth in Comments, with a majority in strong support of leaving the memorial in place. For those friends who did not know who Dustin was or why the memorial was placed there, or why the bench was being removed, things got confusing. Beacon, and politics in general, has been a place where names aren’t always mentioned, but topics are alluded to. It can get confusing to cover and figure things out.

On June 22, 2020, A well known community leader, Brooke Simmons, who is from a mixed-race family, wrote an open letter to the administration, protesting the move of the memorial, advocating for it to stay in place. Brooke is on the board of I Am Beacon and was on the founding committee for Beacon Speaks Out, a coalition that Randy formed after the killings of Eric Garner (2014) and Freddie Gray in 2015. While the City of Beacon’s police department was under federal investigation (which closed in 2016 under Randy’s administration), Randy wanted to get ahead of the racial divide and bring the community together at the local level - to an actual table in a room - to discuss. He brought together the then Police Chief Doug Solomon (Beacon’s recently retired Chief Kevin Junjulas was the Captain at the time), religious leaders, the City Administrator Anthony, and others. Not all parties were eager to come to the table. Randy strong-armed them. Brooke and her brother Reuben Simmons were part of the organization of that group.

Brooke started a Change.org petition to keep the memorial in place, and emailed her open letter all City Council members: Air Nonken Rhodes, Amber Grant, Jodi McCredo, George Mansfield, Terry Nelson, Dan Aymar-Blair, and Mayor Kyriacou. She also CCed media publications, including A Little Beacon Blog. The letter read:

City Administrator, Mayor, and City Council,

It is my understanding there has been discussion regarding the memorial bench dedicated to Dustin James. I believe in having all voices heard, especially in matters that question the values of our city.

With that, I began a petition on Change.org in support of keeping the bench in place and here is the response in less than 48hrs:

Signatures: 2,530
Shares: 783 (this metric speaks to further engagement, care, concern)
Comments:
- "The outpouring of love for Dustin across the Hudson Valley shows that he made a positive difference for all who knew him as a boy, as a man, and as a police officer. He exemplified the character we need more of in this world!"
- Theresa Yanerella
- "Dustin was a fine, upstanding Young man. He comes from a wonderful family. His death was so unfair and tragic. The thought of anyone having a problem with how he is honored sickens me. I hurt for his family. I can’t believe that this is even being considered."
- Shelley Piccone
- "I can’t believe this is even an option. Dustin was an amazing human and an even more amazing police officer. This has gotten way out of hand do remove a MEMORIAL of someone who had such an amazing impact on this city. This man who is no longer with us to be under attack is truly disgraceful."
- Colleen Carey
- "So much of the community knew Dustin and were inspired by him, which is the reason the bench was put there in the 1st place."
-Jessica Lubben
Petition Site: https://www.change.org/standfordustin

On behalf of 2,530 signatures and counting, I ask that you stand for the values of this city, stand for the many voices represented on this petition, stand for Dustin. Stand for Dustin's contribution to the city of Beacon and the legacy his bench represents.

In this moment, as the leaders of this city, it is critical to act with integrity - that means being willing to stand for what is right over what is convenient.

We ask that you leave the memorial bench for Dustin James in place.

Thank you for your time.

-Brooke Simmons

Note: As of 6/23/2020, the petition has 3,034 signatures.

City Of Beacon’s Response

The morning Brooke sent her letter, A Little Beacon Blog responded with a series questions directed to the Mayor, but CCed to all of the City Council and Administrator, at about 11am Monday. The questions went unanswered. On Tuesday, the questions were sent again. At 6pm on Tuesday, the City Administrator Anthony responded. Here are the questions and responses from Anthony:

“I am responding for the Mayor who is away.”

ALBB: When was the bench placed there?
”Summer of 2019.”

ALBB: Why was the bench placed there?
”It was donated to the City, and placed there by former Mayor Casale to honor Police Officer Dustin James who grew up in Beacon.”

ALBB: When did consideration begin for the bench to be removed?
”Residents raised concerns to individual council members.”

ALBB: What has been the discussion regarding the treatment of the bench?
”This has not been raised or discussed at a City Council meeting.”

ALBB: When was this topic brought up and proposed? To whom was it proposed to, and in what format?
”Residents raised concerns to individual Council Members.”

A Little Beacon Blog followed up with this question: “Can you provide when residents raised concern?”

If this clarification on time is provided, this question will be updated.

Symbols and Flags and Who Owns What Meaning

During our podcast interview, Brandon and I explored the meaning of a symbol, and what happens when a symbol takes new meaning, or gets hijacked by a different group. Is it possible, we wondered, if the thin blue line has gotten weaponized by the white supremacists, and suppressed its true meaning? Or, do people want to dismantle police theory 100% and change colors and symbols?

Brandon and I admitted that the red, white and blue American Flag has gotten caught in the middle for us. We are openly non-Trump people, and the tendency for Trump supporters to wave the American flag and attach it to their cars, the American flag has come to lean towards Trump. A couple years ago, fashion magazines were even advocating not to wear red, white and blue at 4th of July events, as doing so would be unpatriotic. This made me uncomfortable, as the American flag is mine also. If I have it flying outside my house, does that mean I am a Trump supporter? My instinct has become to take the American flag back.

Brandon admitted to questioning his favorite face mask - which has red, white and blue American flag on it. Also not a Trump-supporter, he wanted to wear his American flag face mask into the grocery store, but hesitated.

Randy, a straight shooter, understood the analogy, but saw no problem with the American flag or the thin blue line. “The only way the family got through was with the support of the officers. They were there at the time of the accident, at the funeral, and after. That is what the thin blue line means.”

In Middletown, CN, a divided debate is in progress after residents wanted a flag removed from flying outside their police department (unclear if it is the black stars and stripes flag, or the solid black flag). Their police chief provided an explanation in a video of his position on the flag before removing it for now, in an effort to “give some release to the ‘us versus them’ mentality.” Their mayor also contributed to a TV interview on the topic.

In the podcast, Brandon and I discuss with Randy what the blue line stands for, and the value in speaking about that meaning. We discuss how logos like the NHL logo have been co-opted by Antifa, and the difficulty in reclaiming a visual symbol. That podcast to hear Randy’s answers will be posted in the next few days, as well as more of Randy’s thoughts on police reform and where that reform is needed.

As for the fate of Dustin’s memorial, we do not have the final status as of now.