Updated 6/2/2022: The Police Report came in via FOIA and has been expanded upon below.
As first reported by a 10 year old who was shopping the well-stocked candy section of the the Sunoco on Main Street, a man entered the store on Monday, May 2nd at 6pm and allegedly began knocking things over while employees remained calm and called the Beacon Police, who came an took the man away. A Little Beacon Blog has reached out to the Beacon Police for comment, but has not received a response. A FOIL has been submitted requesting the Police Report.
According to an adult with knowledge of the event, the man appeared to be young, in his 20s, and possibly Hispanic. He was hitting and fighting with himself to the point of bleeding, knocking over displays, and cursing to himself. An employee stood back to be safe, and the Beacon Police were called. The incident was recorded on the store’s surveillance video.
This incident was a week prior to the next major incident at Sunoco that was seen by several people and discussed in social media.
Details According To The Police Report
According to the Police Report CR-00370-22, Blotter/CC 002503 sent to A Little Beacon Blog via FOIA request, the following details were learned:
Officer Tyler Rath was one of the responding officers and wrote the Police Report, which described the scene with the man, later identified as SU Gevork Muradyan, who was wearing a backpack and seemed to be under the influence. According to the report, there as gas station property destroyed and littered throughout the store. An itemized report detailed the items included flare ammunition, spare phone battery, toothbrush t-shirt, and other items.
According to the officer, Muradyan’s face was in ice cream cooler, and he was "writhing around." Officer Garofolo assisted Officer Rath with approaching the man to remove him from the store and place him into handcuffs.
"Muradyan was observed to be bleeding from a laceration on his forehead and was moaning incoherently and not responding when asked by officers to what he had taken.” Muradyan was unable to walk and had to be escorted out of the gas station by officers where his backpack was removed.
When the officers searched Muradyan, they retrieved a loaded flare gun from his right pants pocket. Officers put him into the car, as they stated that he could not put himself into the car "due to his current mental state."
When Muradyan reached police HQ in their marked unit #5, EMS had been called to evaluate him. His vitals were fine, but he still seemed under the influence. When asked what he had taken, he responded "Meow meow."
Officer Rath rode with Muradyan in the ambulance to St. Lukes for further evaluation. Detective Sergeant Jason Johnson and Sergeant O'Connor processed the scene, and Officer Rath retrieved Muradyan's bicycle that was left in the front of the store. The bike was placed into the Beacon Police Department's Evidence Room "for safe keeping."
It was estimated that there was in excess of $1,500 in property damage which included a damaged cash register and gas station property. The officers got statements from the gas station for a future arrest warrent.
First Fridays are on, and the paving is pretty. Beacon’s First Fridays are for 🛍 Shopping! And this just in - Second Saturdays for Art is back! Announced officially by BeaconArts this week. So get your shopping on now before the crowds come! Be smart. Shop like a local. Shop deeply on Fridays.
Use A Little Beacon Blog’s Shopping 🛍 Guide for all the shops!
THE EVENTS + RETAIL THERAPY GUIDE Book an Event Promotion Advertising spot here.
You can sponsor this Event Guide with your event, for extra promotion of it!
If you'd like to guarantee to see your entertainment event listed here.
Edited and Written By Teslie Andrade and Katie Hellmuth Martin
I Am Beacon: Let’s Walk For Mental Health Days: Every Sunday in May Time: 5pm Location: Long Dock Park, Beacon, NY
May is mental health awareness month! Join I Am Beacon and the community for mental health awareness month! Community walks happening every Sunday in May. Enjoy the fresh air and scenic views.
Lit Lit Day: Friday, May 6, 2022 Time: 7pm - 9pm Location: Howland Cultural Center, Beacon, NY
Read your own original fiction, poetry, memoir, and other writing! Or just come to listen! Everyone gets to read for a maximum of five minutes, until we run out of time :-) Soft drinks, wine, beer, and snacks are available by donation, and proof of vaccination is required at the door.
Tourmaline Home's
Spring Sample Sale 2022:
Pillows, Jewelry, Accessories and More!
Days: Friday, May 6, 2022 & Saturday, May 7, 2022 Time: 11:30am - 5:30pm Location: 396 Main Street, Beacon, NY 12508
POSTPONED FOR RAIN
Craft X Craft: Mother’s Day Market Day: Postponed Time: NA Location: The Drowned Lands, 251 State School Rd., Warwick, NY 10990
Outdoor vendors, food trucks, live music & amazing beers
Beacon Business Meet Up Day: Tuesday, May 10, 2022 Time: 6pm - 9pm Location: 18 West Main St, Beacon, NY
Storefront owners, Freelancers & Artists who work and play in Beacon ARE ALL CORDIALLY INVITED! You MUST RSVP here via DM or via email to licktheveganstuff@gmail.com. Space is limited! Empanadas will be provided for donations & tips by Tommy Que Empanadas, sweet treats from Lick The Vegan Stuff and other surprises to be provided by Two Way Brewing
So many of you want to know which restaurants are open on Mondays!
So ALBB enhanced our Restaurant Guide to show you. See it here >
TWO WAY BREWING COMPANY
18 West Main St.
Beautiful weekends call for hanging out at Two Way & grabbing some beers and bites with friends. They have eight beers on tap and food from The Flying Jib including sandwiches, wings and apps. Plus, live music from Russ St. George tonight & more live music tomorrow from Riverkeeper for the 11th Annual #RiverkeeperSweep - give back to your local waterway. PS Don't forget about Trivia on Thursday's! PPS Did you know you can rent Two Way's game room for private events?! Reach out and find out more! See Trivia Schedule here > See beers on tap here > OPEN:
Thursday 4:00pm - 10:00pm
Friday 4:00pm - 11:00pm
Saturday 12:00pm - 11:00pm
Sunday 1:00pm - 8:00pm
Two Way Brewing Company is a Sponsor, thank you!
EAT CHURCH
3091 U.S. 9, Cold Spring, NY
It was great to see Eat Church at the Beacon Farmers Market for the new Spring Season! So many delicious and fresh goodies being served! Visit Eat Church this Sunday, same place, same time, for DUMPLINGS!!! You can grab-n-go Eat Church goodies from Marbled Meat Shop in Coldspring, at Industrial Arts Brewing on Fishkill Avenue/Route 52 (Fridays from 3pm - 9pm & Saturdays from 12pm - 9pm.), and now every Sunday at the Beacon Farmers Market! Keep up with all of the delicious pop-ups and events here > You can also visit their website for Weekly Menu/Specials > Website >
Eat Church is a Sponsor, thank you!
BEACON BREAD COMPANY 193 Main St.
Mimosas and blue skies over at BBC is all we need to kick off the weekend! Nothing hits quite like fresh squeezed OJ over organic prosecco, and you know, mimosas are loaded with vitamin C (no pun intended). Stop in this weekend for brunch, cocktails, coffees, and MORE! OPEN:
Sunday-Thursday until 7 pm (Closed on Wednesday)
Friday + Saturday until 10 pm Happy Hour $7 ‘til 7 pm menu is available every day starting at 4 pm! Menu > Order Pick Up or Delivery > Beacon Bread Company is a Sponsor, thank you!
MEYERS OLDE DUTCH
184 Main Street, Beacon, NY
Another beautiful weekend calls for fresh food, local ingredients, and good vibes over at MOD! Dine in or dine out on their patio - either way, it's a good time so stop in & take a bite of Beacon! PS: Meyers is looking for a full time bartender to join their wonderful team! Reach out to brian@meyersoldedutch.com if you're interested. Open Sunday thru Thursday for Food 11:30am - 9pm; Bar until 10pm Friday and Saturday Food 11:30am - 11:00pm; Bar until midnight. Order Now > Meyers Olde Dutch is a Sponsor, thank you!
HUDSON VALLEY FOOD HALL 288 Main Street, Beacon, NY
Lunch is ready at Miz Hatties BBQ! Mac and cheese and a burger never looked so good! Located Inside the HV Food Hall! Follow HV Food Hall's foodies:
Miz Hattie's BBQ: Southern Style BBQ, from North Carolina. Order ahead via their Toast-app menu! El Nica: Nicaraguan Food Roosevelt Bar: Cocktail Bar in a well-ventilated space with Outdoor Patio! Shmuck's Sweet Stuff: Local Ice Cream, Hot Waffles, and Other Sweet Stuff Hudson Shawarma: Falafels, shawarma, baklava, and platters Ciao Chow - Hand made pasta and fried rice Hudson Valley Food Hall is a Sponsor, thank you!
BAJA 328 328 Main Street, Beacon, NY
Spring has sprung at Baja! Garage doors are officially open! Stop in & try their latest drink specials: Strawberry Mojito & Sparkling Guava Punch! Don't forget about the delish food! Stop in and enjoy the great vibes. PS: Different specials every week! You don't wanna miss out. See some examples here > PPS: Happy Hour Tues-Fri 4-6pm Check out their specialty drinks > Check out the specials >
BAJA 328 is a Sponsor, thank you!
ZIATUN
244 Main St.
The warmer weather could never stop us from having the S I T T O ‘ S SOUP from Ziatun! The heartiest homemade chicken soup with seasoned basmati rice and fresh vegetables to kick off your weekend! Ziatün is proud to serve homemade planet-based, nutrient-rich dishes with colorful and fresh ingredients every day! Open all weekend for lunch and dinner! Stop in! Menu > Order Online > HOURS
Monday + Thursday-Saturday 11 am-9pm
Tuesday + Wednesday 11 am-4pm
Sunday 11am-8pm Ziatun is a Sponsor, thank you!
WITCH HAZEL Online Shop based in Beacon, NY!
It's always tea time in our opinion! Especially when it's floral tea from Witch Hazel! They've got a pretty (and delicious) mix of whole-flower teas, plus jaunty little tea towels, a very design-y teapot, and a rather opinionated, custom-illustrated mug. These little beauts are perfect for a mom in your life - whether that be your mom, a dog mom, a step-mom, a dad/mom, and perfect for YOU. Put your pinky to the sky and take a sip! Shop here > Order florals > Follow Witch Hazel on Instagram! >
BINNACLE BOOKS
321 Main Street, Beacon We're so grateful to have Binnacle Books in the Beacon community! They are grateful to be in this community, to be home to our collaborative efforts with Fare Ground, the community fridge and tiny food pantry, to call the righteous 1 Nature their neighbors, to maintain the Beacon Prison Books Project, and of course to sling new and used books. Those books are themselves nodes, remarkable intersections of pathways of thought. And it isn’t only the author’s thought that’s intersecting with yours as you read. In no small way you are also participating, interacting with all the people who have read that book before you, and those who will read it after you. You occupy a kind of community through those books. Communities within communities. Binnacle is *Open daily!
Binnacle Books is proud to partner with Beacon Prison Rides and Beacon Prison Action on the Beacon Prison Books Project. Read more about it here >
Shop online > Binnacle Books is a Sponsor, thank you!
BRETT'S HARDWARE 18 West Main Street, Beacon
Chair season is here. Stacking up on fresh chairs is key to plopping down in any park to read a book or watch little kids sports. Fresh neon pool noodles are crucial as well. OPEN
Monday-Friday 7:30am - 7pm
Saturday 8am - 6pm
Sunday 9am - 5pm Brett's Hardware is a Sponsor, thank you!
LUXE OPTIQUE 181-183 Main Street, Beacon
Luxe Optique has a bunch of new styles and a bunch more coming in! Stop in & try some on! The Luxe team is happy to help you find the best pair for you. You deserve the upgrade! Your old pair of eyeglasses are begging you.
Check out Luxe Optique's Instagram to see the best eyewear collections and how you can style them!
PS: Appointments required for exams. HOURS:
Monday 10 AM - 5 PM
Tuesday - Saturday 10 AM - 6 PM
Closed on Sundays Shop Online > Luxe Optique is a Sponsor, thank you!
Yanarella Dance Studio 312 Main St., Beacon, NY
Did you hear about the new Adult HipHop class?! It's happening for 5 more weeks! All experiences and abilities welcome! Whether you’re a seasoned dancer or have always wanted to try something new- this is the class for you!
Register on their website or drop-in the day of. Cost is $20 per class or $100 for the full 6 weeks. See you there! Register Online >
ANTALEK & MOORE INSURANCE AGENCY
340 Main Street, Beacon
Request a quote from Antalek & Moore! It's easy & the staff is beyond helpful and great. Head on over to Antalek & Moore's website to subscribe to their monthly newsletter! Never miss out on the latest company updates, industry news, and more. Latest Announcements > Antalek & Moore is a Sponsor. Thank you!
TIN SHINGLE
Tin Shingle a training platform and community for businesses, artists and makers who are getting the word out about their business. Learn More > Tin Shingle is a Sponsor. Thank you!
KATIE JAMES, INC.
It's Spring! You know what that means... it's time to update your website & give it a refresh! Just like you do your closet. Your website is your most solid footprint for people to know what you do and how to buy from you. Find out more about Website Design services here > and see some of our latest website designs here: Homespun Foods > Barb's Butchery >
Looking for Instagram services? We can help with that too! Katie James Inc. is a sponsor. Thank you!
HIRING: Farm Stand Associate at Obercreek Farmstand Details >
HIRING: Full Time Receptionist At Antalek & Moore Details >
HIRING: Maintenance & Packaging Manager At Industrial Arts Brewing Details >
Just in time for First Friday in Beacon, the newly paved Main Street is an inviting open road to travel down. Striping happens next, and then the blacktop is ready for a hot summer.
First Fridays in Beacon started last month, and are for destination shopping, to encourage people to linger longer out on Main Street on a Friday night in Beacon, which can sometimes be a little quiet as people duck into restaurants and order take-out for an easy night before busy Saturdays and Sundays.
Said Toni Hacker, owner of Beacon Mercantile and maker of perfumes, lip glosses, candles and more: “First Friday was GREAT…lots of fun, very busy, and lots of locals saying how happy they are that First Friday is now a thing and a night to get out and see what’s new on Main Street.”
First Fridays run the entire length of Main Street, from the mountain to the river. Then tune in for Second Saturday, which is officially back! BeaconArts made their announcement this week. More to come on that.
All departments on deck for Beacon’s paving project. The Highway Department, Water Department, Police Department, and stores worked together to get it done. Some stores like Key Food Beacon and All You Knead Bakery allowed Highway Department trucks to park in their driveways while paving trucks were doing their things.
In at least the second incident this week involving the Sunoco gas station that A Little Beacon Blog knows about, a woman was chased by a man on Main Street on Friday morning near the Sunoco gas station. According to someone who saw it but does not know exact details, the man was allegedly trying to get the woman into a car. The woman was wearing pink, may have been Puerto Rican, and may have been in her 40s. The person familiar with the incident thought the car may have been hers, and that she and the man pursuing her knew each other. These details have not been confirmed by Beacon Police.
According to one ALBB reader in Instagram comments, “There was a man dragging a woman in the parking lot and she was yelling that he was violating her and didn’t want him to hit her again. I asked her from my car if she needed help and she shook her head. He gave me dirty looks and I bounced because I had my kid with me and she said she didn’t need help.” A very brave thing for a mother to do - shout from her car to increase attention to the situation.
According to a witness, as the man pursued her, the woman ran from him into the Sunoco gas station seeking help. The man grabbed her at the door and threw her back onto the ground, according to a witness. Beacon Police were called and came right away. The man apparently ran away, with police in pursuit.
A Little Beacon Blog has left a voicemail with Detective Johnson of the Beacon Police. Should he respond with details, this article will be updated. ALBB will also submit a FOIL for the Police Report, and is assuming that it will take some time before it is available, if the report remains open during the investigation, as the reports are typically not released to FOIL requests before they are closed.
A Man Arrested On Willow Street
Sidewalk where the man in the tan shirt and black backpack was arrested.
In a possibly unrelated matter but during the same morning, at about 8:45am-ish, a bald man in a tan shirt and black backpack was pursued and arrested on Willow Street, according to witnesses. Just before his arrest, neighbors could hear yelling on Oak Street and Willow Street, where backyards intersect.
Willow Street is behind and a few short blocks away from the Sunoco gas station. Several police officers were at the scene. Some officers searched the area after the man was taken into the police car in handcuffs.
After the man was in the police car, a different person on a bike peddled up to a police officer to give the officer a small black pouch, and left.
Last year, the Beacon Police Department launched a new initiative called the “Let Us Know” program, spearheaded by Lieutenant Tom Figlia, encouraging people with delicate situations at home to call the police in advance with character information about a family member that could help police officers answering a call know the person they are about to encounter a bit better.
In an announcement made last year, the program works as follows: “As Police Officers, we know that mental health status is fluid. We also know that we may be called to respond to incidents involving your loved ones who are experiencing health or age-related changes to their mental health. We want to make sure that calls like this are handled as safely as possible for everyone involved. If you have a loved one experiencing these changes and you’re comfortable doing so, you can now contact us so we can discuss the situation and find out things like what tends to escalate or de-escalate the person, who their emergency contacts are, etc. before we get a call. We’ll put this information into our database and if an officer is called to respond to your loved one and we know who it is, we can update the officers on their way. There is no way to prevent every stressful situation, but as a department, we’ve learned that we see the safest, most positive outcomes when we know the backgrounds of the people we’re interacting with.”
Lt. Figlia gave an example to ALBB about how the program could work: “If someone was concerned that a loved one’s mental health was deteriorating to a point where there may be police involvement, it could be helpful for everyone for us to know some things before we get there. We often spend a lot of time talking to the people who we were called on, so it could make all the difference in the world for us to know if, for example, the person loves to talk about baseball but gets very upset if you mention their step son.”
De-escalation seems to be the main objective with this program. “We want to be able to de-escalate individuals who are escalated and keep calm individuals who already are. It is also very helpful for us to have emergency contact information for people who may find themselves in crisis or suffering from ailments like dementia.”
Having the information before arriving to a scene is the priority, said Lt. Figlia. “While there are unlimited factors which contribute to the outcome of a situation, we would prefer to have that information before we get called, so that no one is scrambling to figure it out when every second counts.”
Local Beaconite and blogger Linsey Gatto shared in the Beacon Moms Facebook Group about a screening at Story Screen on May 24, 2022 of the documentary“And So I Stayed,” a portrayal of Nikki Addimando, who in September 2017, in her Poughkeepsie apartment, fatally shot her abusive partner to save her own life. She was taken from her two young children and put into jail. The screening is a fundraiser for Nikki in the continuation of her legal battle to end her sentence. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased here.
Nikki is one of many domestic violence survivors who is incarcerated after defending themselves. However, she has one of the biggest platforms to bring the spotlight to this issue for all incarcerated domestic violence survivors, thanks in part to a grassroots group like Community Defense Committee, of which Linsey Gatto is a part of.
According to Nikki’s website, in February 2020, Nikki was sentenced by Judge Edward T. McLoughlin to 19 years to life in prison. “After securing national media attention and a new legal team at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, the NY State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division (Second Department) decided that Nikki should have been sentenced under the Domestic Violence Survivors’ Justice Act, and resentenced her to 7.5 years.”
According to the film’s website: “‘And So I Stayed’ is an award-winning documentary about survivors of abuse fighting for their lives and spending years behind bars. This is the story of how the legal system gets domestic violence wrong. It is a moving portrait of Kim, Tanisha, and Nikki, three survivors whose strikingly similar stories are separated by over 30 years. None of them were believed, and each of them was criminalized for fighting back.”
After the screening at 8pm, a Q+A will take place with the film’s directors Daniel A. Nelson and Natalie Pattillo, and Nikki’s sister, advocate and writer Michelle Horton and previously incarcerated DV survivor and advocate Kim Dadou Brown (who are both in the film).
This article also contains coverage of another abortion-rights protest that took place in October 2021 in Memorial Park as a local extension to the Women’s March on October 2, 2021 in response to Texas’ ban on abortion after 6 weeks, which kicked off with a speech from this blogger, followed by a march down Fishkill Avenue. Scroll down and you’ll see and read it.
And finally, there is a never-before-published video protest march in the summer of 2021 against a known letter writer and longtime Beaconite and past Dutchess County legislator, Richard (Dick) Murphy, who targets homes with rainbow flags on them with hand-written or typed anti-LGBTQ messages, as well as anti-abortion letters, which sometimes contain graphic images. Children often live at the homes to which he mails or drops off these letters to.
October 2021 Speech On The Right To Abortion
On October 2, 2021, I said words out loud for the first time about abortion. A reader of A Little Beacon Blog, Karen Finnegan, asked me to speak at a rally she had organized the night before in response to the national Women’s March for Abortion Justice, and I said yes. I spent the next day writing and writing notes. Pages of sentences. Too long. In last ditch efforts to edit, a friend pulled me back from several emotional ledges. I thank them for that.
Below is the 2 minute speech that I condensed 20 minutes before the delivering it while sitting and hiding behind a pillar of the Memorial Park Pavilion near the porta-potty. After delivering the speech, I switched back into reporter mode to cover the protest march in video for A Little Beacon Blog. That video is below.
I want to thank Karen aka the Beacon Hood Chicken aka Chickens With Attitude for organizing this opportunity for us in the Beacon and Hudson Valley regions to participate nation-wide in defending the right to our bodies and to access safe and effective abortions.
I would like to give space an acknowledgement to those marching, rolling, watching and listening who made the choice to have an abortion, and to honor you during these times.
To give you context, I am a mother of three children who I had through my own pregnancies.
Abortion is one of the biggest boundaries a person can put up for themselves to protect their lives.
We sacrifice pieces of our bodies with each pregnancy.
We sacrifice pieces of our lives with each child born.
Yes, there are rewards from having children, but it is not all cotton candy and glitter.
Every single egg in our bodies does not need to be fertilized.
And if it is unintentionally, the world does not get to come down on us to force us to garden.
To explain the WHY of why the choice is ours of when we get to fulfill responsibility for a child born is demoralizing.
A condom breaks.
Someone takes a condom off.
Ovulation cycles get forgotten about. "Oh - I missed the signs this month."
Missing the ovulation signs this month does not mean that our lives need to change. It means now is not the time if that is what we know to be true for our lives now.
A woman skips a pill. Her life can change.
A man takes a pill, he can change the life of a woman forever while he walks away.
Yes there are laws to bring responsibility.
Financial Foundation is not there. Don't be fooled.
The Child Tax Credit is already being discussed being taken away for higher income earners.
The Child Tax Credit advance is not free money. It is an advance. That freelance workers are going to need to be aware of and possibly pay back, because it is used to offset how much we owe at tax time. Usually the Child Tax Credit is offset against a freelance or gig worker's 1099 work that did not have taxes taken out.
Right now, the Child Tax Credit is an illusion of help.
There is no one helping us financially to have children.
People who have abortions need to know we support them. Their mental health is key, and their physical health during and after a procedure is paramount.
Thank goodness our cycles give us some birth control, in that we can't get pregnant every day of the week. There are the number of hours a month that we can get pregnant.
Thank goodness these people trying to make this into something that can be taken from us - at least they can't take our eggs for the half life that each offers. But we control them in the garden.
Keep educating ourselves and our children with sex education, so that we at least know how everything works, what is inside of our bodies, and what is best for our bodies and our lives.
Thank you for showing up today, and thank you for listening.
After the rally, three women arrived from different parts of the Hudson Valley. They were protestors during the original battle for Roe v Wade, and were summoning their strength from that time to fight this time. Take a listen to what they had to say.
Last spring of 2021, the anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion letter writer, Richard (Dick) Murphy, pinned a 3-foot doll into the yard of Donna Minkowitz. She threw the doll away after the Beacon Police said they had no use for it when she reported Dick to them as a complaint. His letter-writing campaign had gone too far. Enough neighbors were upset about it, that Donna organized a silent protest march through their neighborhood, ending up at his house. He did come out onto the front porch to get his mail, and seemed tickled that the protest was occurring, as he is a forever fan of free speech.
Welcome back to the weekend Beacon! Despite the bright orange signs, you are free to park on Main Street this weekend in between the milling phase, and the paving phase. Though watch out for the road, as it is all scratched up and has exposed personhole covers from the milling. Bad for tires. But DO go into shops! They need you, as shopping has been low during this week, say some shop owners, as drivers avoided Main Street.
For those sports fans of little kid teams, now is your chance to really jump in by volunteering to help out as a coach on the Beacon Junior Baseball team. This co-ed league saw a surge in signups from t-ball to regular ball, and is looking for extra help for their 11 and 12 age-group teams. You don't need to know how to play baseball to participate! That's the fun of it. Sometimes just you being there in the field helps the practice move along. You will be supported by Beacon Junior Baseball leaders who will guide you in what to do. Email beaconjrbaseball@yahoo.com. And registration is still open!
THE EVENTS + RETAIL THERAPY GUIDE Book an Event Promotion Advertising spot here.
You can sponsor this Event Guide with your event, for extra promotion of it!
If you'd like to guarantee to see your entertainment event listed here.
Edited and Written By Teslie Andrade and Katie Hellmuth Martin
Into The Woods Day: Friday, April 29, 2022 Time: 7:30pm Location: Beacon High School, 101 Matteawan Road, Beacon, NY Information >
Beacon's Community Quarterly On Community Safety Day: Saturday, April 30, 2022 Time: 10am Location: Tompkins Hose
Beacon's City Council is hosting their first interactive Community Quarterly, this time focused on Community Safety. Says Councilmember Justice McCray in their Instagram: "What does safety mean to you? Beacon City Council is hosting its first Community Quarterly Public Forum to hear directly from you! Organizations and individuals have already signed up to share their proposals, and now you can join us this Saturday (4/30) at 10am to hear from your neighbors and participate firsthand in local government! I hope to see you tomorrow!" Information >
The Father Who Stayed: A Concert Event Day: Saturday, April 30, 2022 Time: 8pm (doors open at 7:30) Location: Howland Cultural Center, Beacon, NY
$20 in advance or $25 at the door
Proof of vaccination is mandatory
“The Father Who Stayed” is a poignant, aching, and ethereal evening of song performed, with the help several brilliant musicians, by songwriter Jeremy Schonfeld and a host of talented Beaconites. It’s “Our Town” meets “Spoon River Anthology” set to song, where stories of lives lived and tales ghosts tell when given a microphone and a moment are shared for all to hear.
The Beacon Record & CD Fest Day: Saturday, April 30, 2022 Time: 9am - 5pm Location: VFW - 413 Main Street, Beacon, NY
The Beacon Record & CD Fest returns to the VFW! 20+ great vendors from the Tri-State area and beyond - 30 tables with vinyl LP's, 45's, CD's, DVD's, cassettes, concert posters, music magazines and books! Vendors bringing the best of psych, punk, hardcore, metal, power pop, prog, garage, funk, soul, jazz, reggae, world, blues, folk, country, bluegrass, rockabilly, hot rod, surf, lounge, electronic, industrial, goth and new wave!!! Records from the 50's to the present! AND...a DJ spinning the best of 60's & 70's soul, mod, punk, power pop, rock 'n' roll, garage, weird, ambient stuff! Information >
So many of you want to know which restaurants are open on Mondays!
So ALBB enhanced our Restaurant Guide to show you. See it here >
TWO WAY BREWING COMPANY
18 West Main St.
Nothing like spending some time at Two Way's patio! Good vibes, good food, and really good drinks! Plus, live music! What's better than that?! Catch Don Lowe tonight from 8pm - 10pm - He plays a wide-range of Americana covers that span the decades, along with his own originals. Or you can catch Dan Strauss tomorrow night from 8pm - 10pm - a favorite NYC and Hudson Valley singer-songwriter with an intimate vocal style. OR catch both! PS Don't forget about Trivia on Thursday's! PPS Did you know you can rent Two Way's game room for private events?! Reach out and find out more! See Trivia Schedule here > See beers on tap here > OPEN:
Thursday 4:00pm - 10:00pm
Friday 4:00pm - 11:00pm
Saturday 12:00pm - 11:00pm
Sunday 1:00pm - 8:00pm
Two Way Brewing Company is a Sponsor, thank you!
EAT CHURCH
3091 U.S. 9, Cold Spring, NY
Everybody wants some! Beef bao bun from Eat Church! You don't wanna miss out! Fresh goods made with high quality fresh ingredients always. You can grab-n-go Eat Church goodies from Marbled Meat Shop in Coldspring and at the Beacon Pantry in Beacon! OR, because it's the weekend and you deserve to treat yo'self, find Eat Church at Industrial Arts Brewing on Fishkill Avenue/Route 52! Fridays from 3pm - 9pm & Saturdays from 12pm - 9pm. Keep up with all of the delicious pop-ups and events here > You can also visit their website for Weekly Menu/Specials > Website >
Eat Church is a Sponsor, thank you!
BEACON BREAD COMPANY 193 Main St.
Another reason we love this time of year so much! Flower Power (lavender + rose vanilla) SHAKEN espressos are back at BBC for the spring!! And it pairs perfectly with their *NEW* house espresso Hologram! BBC partners with a roaster focused on sustainability, within their company and as a collaborative effort with their partners. How exciting! Get your hands on one of these! OPEN:
Sunday-Thursday until 7 pm (Closed on Wednesday)
Friday + Saturday until 10 pm Happy Hour $7 ‘til 7 pm menu is available every day starting at 4 pm! Menu > Order Pick Up or Delivery > Beacon Bread Company is a Sponsor, thank you!
MEYERS OLDE DUTCH
184 Main Street, Beacon, NY
We loveeeee patio season at MOD! Fresh food, local ingredients, and good vibes! Their latest menu offers a full-service bar with a large selection of NY craft beer, locally produced wine and house-crafted cocktails. In addition to beef burgers, the menu offers chicken, hot dogs and vegan options with multiple toppings and house-made signature sauces, plus hand-cut fries, salads and daily specials. Stop in! SO GOOD! PS: Meyers is looking for a full time bartender to join their wonderful team! Reach out to brian@meyersoldedutch.com if you're interested. Open Sunday thru Thursday for Food 11:30am - 9pm; Bar until 10pm Friday and Saturday Food 11:30am - 11:00pm; Bar until midnight. Order Now > Meyers Olde Dutch is a Sponsor, thank you!
HUDSON VALLEY FOOD HALL 288 Main Street, Beacon, NY
Roosevelt Bar is open including the back patio! Enjoy a fresh & delicious drink! Located Inside the HV Food Hall! Follow HV Food Hall's foodies:
Miz Hattie's BBQ: Southern Style BBQ, from North Carolina. Order ahead via their Toast-app menu! El Nica: Nicaraguan Food Roosevelt Bar: Cocktail Bar in a well-ventilated space with Outdoor Patio! Shmuck's Sweet Stuff: Local Ice Cream, Hot Waffles, and Other Sweet Stuff Hudson Shawarma: Falafels, shawarma, baklava, and platters Ciao Chow - Hand made pasta and fried rice Hudson Valley Food Hall is a Sponsor, thank you!
BAJA 328 328 Main Street, Beacon, NY
Warmer weather means refreshing drinks at Baja! Pictured are their three featured drinks: the Green Monster, the Sangria Azul, and a blueberry/raspberry margarita! Don't forget about the delish food! Stop in and enjoy the great vibes especially now that the garage doors are open! Eat good food, drink good drinks. PS: Different specials every week! You don't wanna miss out. See some examples here > PPS: Happy Hour Tues-Fri 4-6pm Check out their specialty drinks > Check out the specials >
BAJA 328 is a Sponsor, thank you!
ZIATUN
244 Main St.
The most delicious plant-based lunch! A drool-worthy Falafel Burger from Ziatun! Handmade falafel on a vegan brioche bun loaded up with hummus, tahini, pickles, turnips, lettuce, and tomato + served with a side of their (almost famous) za’atar fries with spicy tahini goodness. Ziatün is proud to serve homemade planet-based, nutrient-rich dishes with colorful and fresh ingredients every day! Open all weekend for lunch and dinner! Stop in! Menu > Order Online > HOURS
Monday + Thursday-Saturday 11 am-9pm
Tuesday + Wednesday 11 am-4pm
Sunday 11am-8pm Ziatun is a Sponsor, thank you!
WITCH HAZEL Online Shop based in Beacon, NY!
Beacon's online-boutique, Witch Hazel carries Riddle's roll-on oils with super-unique scents. And, they are also vegan, cruelty-free and hypoallergenic. The oil has a concentrated formula (without carrier oils, water or alcohol) meaning a little goes a long way! Choose your favorite scent from… Original: A clean, subtle scent with simple ingredients of amber and musk; ideal for people who don’t normally wear perfume, Original is a slow-release fragrance that gradually intensifies with body heat Santal: A spicy, woodsy fragrance with notes of cardamom, amber, sandalwood, orchid and cassis Muse: A sweetly floral fragrance highlighting coconut, peony, magnolia, bergamot, sandalwood and amber Voyeur: A warm, soft scent blending vanilla, sandalwood and amber notes
All of the choices are correct choices. Shop online now for yours! Everyone will be asking why you smell so good! Shop here > Order florals > Follow Witch Hazel on Instagram! >
BINNACLE BOOKS
321 Main Street, Beacon April 30th is national independent book store day & we're happily celebrating Binnacle Books! Binnacle specializes in used and new literature, poetry, literary nonfiction, political history, art, drama, philosophy, graphic novels, and children's books. So much to regard and to remark upon, so many ways to be enthralled! Is there a particular title you're interested in? Let them know. If they don't have it, they'd be happy to order it for you. They're also always looking to acquire used books in excellent condition, especially in their core categories. Binnacle is *Open daily!
Binnacle Books is proud to partner with Beacon Prison Rides and Beacon Prison Action on the Beacon Prison Books Project. Read more about it here >
Shop online > Binnacle Books is a Sponsor, thank you!
BRETT'S HARDWARE 18 West Main Street, Beacon
Chair season is here. Stacking up on fresh chairs is key to plopping down in any park to read a book or watch little kids sports. Fresh neon pool noodles are crucial as well. OPEN
Monday-Friday 7:30am - 7pm
Saturday 8am - 6pm
Sunday 9am - 5pm Brett's Hardware is a Sponsor, thank you!
LUXE OPTIQUE 181-183 Main Street, Beacon
Have you snagged your best new eyewear for the season yet?! You know you wanna... especially when it's from Luxe! World-renowned eyewear selections curated for your ultimate eyewear experience. Check out Luxe Optique's Instagram to see the best eyewear collections and how you can style them!
PS: Appointments required for exams. HOURS:
Monday 10 AM - 5 PM
Tuesday - Saturday 10 AM - 6 PM
Closed on Sundays Shop Online > Luxe Optique is a Sponsor, thank you!
Yanarella Dance Studio 312 Main St., Beacon, NY
Adult HipHop JUST started this Thursday 4/28 at 7:30pm and will be happening for 6 weeks! All experiences and abilities welcome! Whether you’re a seasoned dancer or have always wanted to try something new- this is the class for you!
Pre-Register on their website or drop-in the day of. Cost is $20 per class or $100 for the full 6 weeks. See you there! Register Online > Yanarella is a Sponsor, thank you!
Final Beacon Youth Football Registration Day: Friday, April 29, 2022 Time: 6pm Location: VR Way Football Field, Memorial Park
Friday night is another night of Open Registration and practice for Beacon Youth Football. Bring cleats or sneakers for practice and we are taking cash or check for registration. Payments can be made out to “Beacon Youth Football” and we will also be having t-shirt order forms as well so you can grab yourself some sweet merch. Information >
ANTALEK & MOORE INSURANCE AGENCY
340 Main Street, Beacon
Request a quote from Antalek & Moore! It's easy & the staff is beyond helpful and great. Head on over to Antalek & Moore's website to subscribe to their monthly newsletter! Never miss out on the latest company updates, industry news, and more. Latest Announcements > Antalek & Moore is a Sponsor. Thank you!
TIN SHINGLE
Tin Shingle a training platform and community for businesses, artists and makers who are getting the word out about their business. Learn More > Tin Shingle is a Sponsor. Thank you!
KATIE JAMES, INC.
It's Spring! You know what that means... it's time to update your website & give it a refresh! Just like you do your closet. Your website is your most solid footprint for people to know what you do and how to buy from you. Find out more about Website Design services here > and see some of our latest website designs here: Homespun Foods > Barb's Butchery >
Looking for Instagram services? We can help with that too! Katie James Inc. is a sponsor. Thank you!
HIRING: Farm Stand Associate at Obercreek Farmstand Details >
HIRING: Full Time Receptionist At Antalek & Moore Details >
HIRING: Maintenance & Packaging Manager At Industrial Arts Brewing Details >
Mayor Kyriacou robo-called the community today (Friday) to let everyone know that the milling on Main Street is complete, and that parking on Main Street is open until Monday, May 2, 2022, which is when the paving phase will start. At that point, parking on Main Street will be prohibited 24 hrs/day until Thursday, May 5, 2022. That pavement has got to dry.
For people not refreshing their City of Beacon website pages who are driving in the wild, relying on the bright orange No Parking signs on the lampposts, drivers will now see - on some of the signs - a new date written on blue painters tape covering the original. For those folks not on the robo-call signup (you can sign up here!) and who are visitors, they will be relying on the bright orange No Parking signs only. From afar, it looks intimidating, but pull over and squint to learn that you can park this weekend.
During the milling period, several businesses expressed appreciation for the enormous milling and paving project that was delayed from last fall. But several businesses did notice a dramatic drop in customers who avoided Main Street for the rough road and no parking.
Even after the Mayor’s robo-call and the limited amount No Parking signs that have been taped over, people from out of town are confused on where to park. While seated in one establishment, this blogger observed a couple asking the management about if they could park on Main Street today (Friday), and a very confusing conversation ensued, resulting in the couple being told they could not park. Bright orange signs that say No Parking are hard to not obey.
Many citizens expressed how quiet the street was when hardly any cars were driving on it (see video here) even though they could. Cars were generally avoiding Main Street for the no parking limitation, and the ripped up asphalt under their tires.
Today into this weekend, parking is back until Monday.
Readers have already written in to ask if parklets are possible once Main Street is paved. So far there has been no more discussion about parklets, but every day is different!
Dummy light knocked off by a City of Beacon vehicle during milling on Main Street. Photo Credit: Anonymous Citizen Reporter
Beacon’s Dummy Light with orange cones placed on top of and beside it while the City of Beacon works to restore it. Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin
This week, one of Beacon’s most iconic landmarks located at the intersection of Main Street and East Main Street - the Dummy Light - was knocked off its pedestal by a City of Beacon vehicle. As reported by 97.7 The Wolf, citing RoadsideAmerica: "Only three of these old, dangerous, middle-of-an-intersection traffic lights are still standing." A reporter at 101.5 WPDH recently discovered Beacon’s Dummy Light, which does have a devoted fan base like a website.
Based on the photo above showing the light split on the ground, it does not appear that protection was placed around this endangered species of a light to aid in prevention of large trucks milling around it.
Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White said on the City’s Facebook page. “As many of you know, the City has been milling Main Street the past two days in preparation for repaving next week. Yesterday afternoon, one of our vehicles accidentally backed into the ‘dummy light’ at Main and East Main Streets. Fortunately, the base is intact and undamaged, and the light (which was not original...it was a replacement of the original with LED bulbs) will be replaced so that it matches as closely as possible the dummy light that was damaged.”
In his post, the City used a photo of the Dummy Light erected, before it was hit. As of that post and now, the light remains off the base.
Immediately after the Dummy Light was hit, more than one reader reached out to ALBB to inquire how to fundraise to get the Dummy Light restored. Beacon’s City Administrator, Chris implied that the City has started the restoration project.
From other articles, it looks like City Administrator Chris was whipping around different media threads trying to calm everyone after the light hit the ground, breaking into several pieces. As reported by 97.7 The Wolf, City Administrator Chris commented in a thread: “The City is not trying to remove this light: it was damaged during the milling of Main Street. Please take a deep breathe, everyone. This was an accident, and our driver feels terribly about it.”
After 97.7 reached out to him for further comment, he responded: “The dummy light will return!”
Citizen Reporter and Photographer Jean Noack took one of the photos used by 97.7, and questioned: “The mayor could not be reached immediately for comment on the actions of the city employee that resulted in the damage.”
Damage caused to buildings and structures by City owned vehicles does happen, and the resulting actions toward those employees is unknown, in terms of what is viewed as an accident and dismissed, and what is viewed as an accident resulting in disciplinary charges assigned to the driving employee, assuming that every employees feels terribly about an accident.
Disciplinary actions are difficult to track in the City of Beacon, with the exception of one case that has been a set of charges resulting in aggressive disciplines. Hopefully the current City Administrator is weighing these charges and accidents equally. Not knowing who the driver was, ALBB’s opinion is that no dicipline results in this accident, and that simluar consideration be given to everyone in all City of Beacon departments.
A Little Beacon Blog will file a FOIL to try to get a list of other accidents by city employees, and which resulted in discipline, to see if fair treatment happened, or if disciplines were pursued aggressively toward targeted individuals.
What cannot FOIL is accidents that were not as public and were not reported at all by supervising staff.
The Howland Public Library’s 2022 budget and Trustee vote is happening today, Thursday, April 28, 2022 from 12pm-8pm in the Community Room in the back of the library. This year, there is an unprecedented number of candidates on the ballot: 9 people running for 3 open seats. You can read all about each candidate here. The library is located at 313 Main Street, Beacon, NY.
The Howland Public Library, 313 Main Street, Beacon, NY.
The proposed 5% increase is 1% more than last year’s approved budget, but lower than the 2020 and 2019 approved budgets, said the Howland Public Library Director Kristen Salierno in the library’s newsletter highlighting the details of the election. “If the budget passes,” she said, “it will enable the library to increase the number of E-books available to patrons, which are always in demand. It will also allow for a small staff and department expansion aimed at continuing to better address user experiences and services as well as forge even deeper connections to the community and community groups.”
The 9 Trustee candidates are listed below. “We have an unprecedented number of candidates this year,” Kristen said. Read all about them here.
Marguerite (Greta) Byrum Yvonne Caruthers Pattiann LaVeglia Elaine Leinung Erin Mack Mark Roland Brooke Simmons Emilia Sweeney Jeffrey Young (Yang)
After a long anticipation, Beacon has started paving Main Street. The public was alerted via two robo-calls (via the Swift 911 system, sign up here), a City Council Meeting announcement, and flyers the businesses on Main Street were sent.
The process is going in three phases: milling (pounding up the current pavement), paving, and striping (painting the parking spots, crosswalks, etc.) Daytime parking on the street has been prohibited so that the City of Beacon trucks from multiple departments can spread out and tear it up. The City is encouraging residents to use the free municipal lots.
Said one citizen reporter who wishes to remain anonymous but goes by Local Cowboy: “Wow. This is a production. It’s like a musical. All of the trucks are moving in unison.”
Indeed, Day 1 has been a synchronous event to watch, like a Richard Scary book come to life. Trucks from the Water Department and Highway Department (any others? chime in below!) were going back and forth chomping up the street, followed by the trusty little City Of Beacon Street Sweeper/Cleaner to collect the asphalt crumbs. The process stirred up a lot of asphalt dust for those walking around in today’s wind, but it seemed worth it.
No Parking signs indicate a shorter milling schedule than what the City of Beacon announced. Time will tell what end date is true!
Business owners wondered about how delivery trucks would get around. According to JB Said, co-owner of Key Food Beacon who hosts some of the most trucks in town: “So far, we have had no issues. We’ll see how Tuesday goes.”
The UPS Guy was hopping around as usual, in between moving street detours to accommodate where the machines were at that moment.
After milling comes paving. After paving comes striping, where the parking spots and crosswalk lines will be added. During Monday’s 4/25/2022 City Council Workshop Meeting, the Presentation of the Main Street Access Committee Advisory Report was heard, in which several intentions about how crosswalks and parking spots were revealed, that were going to be worked into this striping.
Tonight’s Beacon City Council Workshop Meeting was pretty benign, until the City Administrator Chris White revealed that he was not inclined to grant the Howland Cultural Center their request for funding. He cited two reasons:
That they hadn’t spent their first $50K from an earlier and different grant, and
That they object to things their building neighbors do.
ALBB reached out to the Howland Cultural Center to find out more about both items. The City Administrator’s declaration came after Councilmember Justice McCray made a strong point to vocalize how they would like to discuss even the discussion of the handful of Mark Price’s recommendations of the organizations that had applied, and why the others weren’t considered. Mark Price is the City of Beacon Parks and Recreation Director.
Justice also stated that they were looking forward to the project that the Howland Cultural Center was proposing funding for: Said Justice: “It's a situation that is showcasing a history of Beacon we don't otherwise see. This program would be free. Multiple programs throughout the city. I don't know the Black history of Beacon, and this project would hep that.”
Several changes to traffic regarding Fountain Square, East Main Street, proposed 3-way stop at the Dummy Light, and many other suggestions from the always busy Main Street Access Committee.
A bit of intro to the initial design plans for the Tompkins Hose Firehouse.
Discussion around which community organizations may be receiving funding from the City of Beacon. One interesting point was how the Howland Cultural Center did apply for funding, but the City Administrator was reluctant to give to them. ALBB has inquired with the Howland Cultural Center to confirm the reasons he stated.
This article is third in a 3-part article series that takes a closer look at the incident at Key Food that the Highlands Current published on March 25, 2022. This article studies the media process in researching and writing a heated article like that.
I wrote a Letter To The Editor of the Highlands Current objecting to the direction of the article production of the Key Food incident that happened 2 years ago, printed in the newspaper’s March 25, 2022 issue this year. The printed version of my letter is pictured here. The extended version of my letter can be read here, along with the editor Chip Rowe’s rebuttable, and my rebuttable back to him.
After emailing with the Chip to learn more about their process for picking the photo used on the front page, and after taking his suggestion to read the 475 pages of court documents that the article was based from, I grew more uncomfortable with how the story was produced, and I resigned my monthly column there.
The final words of the plaintiff’s personal injury attorney to the employee in the attorney’s questioning of the employee for his deposition were certainly condescending about sticks and stones breaking bones, but names will never hurt me. This article felt similar. Especially after all of the verbal assault spoken by the plaintiff that was revealed in those depositions, and the continued name calling and racial insults the plaintiff continued to hurl at the employee via social media 2 years later after the settlement was signed to end the lawsuit.
How Multiple News Outlets Cover A Story
When a news outlet breaks a story, all of the other news outlets may cover it also, but with their own different angles, so as to bring new information to readers. When the Highlands Current breaks a story, a few things go through my mind:
I appreciate it. They are faster than me at getting the news out. They have more writers on staff.
I ask myself: “what information did they leave out that I could include in my version?” Usually that’s not a slight at the newspaper - it’s just how it is. It’s like musicians covering a song differently, using different chords. A person’s experience is the original song, and then all of the musicians (aka media outlets) pick their tunes around the facts.
Key Food Beacon Was Under Siege After The Article Dropped
A few hours after I read the article and interviewed the main employees of the store - Mo Dabashi, JB Said and Junior Dabashi - I learned that members of the Beacon community had been calling and emailing the store with threats. In addition, people were signalling out members of the Dabashi and Said families on the street when with their children, and were saying mean things.
Yes, most Beaconites were vocalizing their support of the Key Food family silently in their minds, via private DMs, and on social media comment threads. But the store was under siege from angry readers of this article, fueled by the constant social media postings of this plaintiff, as I learned by interviewing Mo, JB and Junior the Friday the newspaper hit newsstands.
Why I Felt So Entitled To Object To Another Media Outlet’s Style Of Coverage
I respect Chip the editor and Jeff Simms the reporter. Media outlets need to be friends because sometimes it’s lonely out here reporting on hard topics.
I had just been emailing with Chip in a professional manner. He edited my monthly column for their newspaper and finished the issue for the week. When I awoke the next morning to read the digital version of the newspaper (I get the early-bird digital version at midnight as a $10/monthly donor), and saw the photo and headline and the front page, I was aghast with 2 feelings:
Wow, that is so uncharacteristic of employees Emad Dabashi, Mo and Willy pictured here standing over someone on the ground, and
Why oh why would the newspaper use this photo, and not do a Deep Dive into what caused this situation for a local small business? Granted, Key Food is one of the largest small businesses in Beacon, as they are a franchise, just like Subway down the block, owned by local families.
From one content creator to another, who I feel (felt) socially aligned with, I couldn’t get past the treatment, choices, and then continued responses and justifications as to why this story was produced this way. Human to human, I was dumbfounded.
Important Questions To Ask For The Backstory Of The Highlands Current’s Article
It’s easy to read an article and move on, but ask yourself these questions:
Why was this story happening now? What triggered it? I asked the reporter what inspired the story, and did not get a response. His only interview subject for the article, Junior Dabashi, a member of the Key Food Beacon franchise. Junior did confirm to me that Jeff the reporter reached out to him for more information for the story. Key Food Beacon was not seeking publicity or help while they were getting harassed on social media by the plaintiff after his settlement was signed.
The plaintiff in the lawsuit - the person on the floor who was injured and suffered physical and emotional trauma 2 years ago - began sharing the video of him being tackled to the floor in his social media over and over again this year. Why would he do that? Jeff reported that the plaintiff agreed to a $95,000 settlement payment. After he agreed to that and his attorney signed the document ending the lawsuit on March 15, 2022, the plaintiff began sharing this video on repeat.
Why did the editor think it appropriate to show a this photo? The photo used was a screen-grab of the final 20 seconds of the incident, when the plaintiff was on the floor. Surrounding his head and neck was a lot of red. To anyone who hadn’t watched the video, it looked like blood. But it was his hoodie and hat. When I emailed Chip about it, he said: “I am not sure I see what difference it makes if there was blood or no blood.”
Why did the editor issue a photo graphic warning for the photo? Chip typed a “Fair Warning” for the photo to the email subscribers of the early-bird digital edition.
Speaking after a settlement is almost unheard of - why was this plaintiff doing this? Did he want more money? What was the intent?
Why wasn't the plaintiff who was repeatedly publishing the video and saying verbally abusive things to Key Food via social media the focus of the story? Getting hurt is traumatic. So is slinging verbal assaults, getting banned from Key Food Beacon for that, walking past the police who had been called to enforce the ban, coming back to the store, and then continuing to verbally and emotionally assault the Key Food Beacon family through social media posts. Who speaks so loudly after settling? It was odd. Why did the newspaper not think that odd? My only answer was that from the lens they see things in - they had their implicit bias goggles on. In the plaintiff’s testimony, he said he paid very little attention to the employees after shopping there for years. Yet in his Police Report, he clearly stated that the employee was Middle Eastern with a long beard.
Why wasn't the Beacon Police response examined?
From my interviews with Mo after I read the article (Mo who was there that day and dealt with the police response), I learned that the police were “divided” in their response to the first time the police were called for the plaintiff to tell him to not come back to the store, which they declined to do, according to depositions. The Beacon Police and City Administrator will not respond to my questions to confirm this.
He warned of 2 photos: the Key Food photo, and a photo from the Beacon Historical Society of a Victorian home being bulldozed during Urban Renewal. I really look forward to reading that series, but why the two photo warnings? It was odd, and felt questionable. Was Chip getting giddy about having eye popping photos to print?
The second photo that Chip Rowe, the editor at the Highlands Current, issued a graphic warning about in the email to newsletter subscribers, when he also issued a warning about the Key Food incident photo.
Was a physical response from an Arab employee after continued alleged threats and verbal abuse from a customer being sensationalized by this “hometown” newspaper? Arabs tend not to be represented fairly in the media. If there are racial insults used, almost nothing is done. Arab insults tend to go unchecked. It’s as if they are normalized in this country. An Arab insult was used by the plaintiff in his social media two years after the incident. Does an Arab insult not matter?
After I emailed Chip a lot of questions to which he answered most of them, mainly about the photo choice, eventually he grew tired of me and said: “If you think our story wasn't balanced, tell the story yourself.”
After the story went to print and landed in inboxes and newsboxes everywhere, the Key Food family removed the newspaper box from their front door after people began calling and emailing the store with angry comments and threats.
Why I Cared So Much As To How This Story Was Covered
As a mother, I know that kids get into spars. If caught on video, those 20 seconds can tell a very different story as to what happened. This video could impact a person for life. A newspaper calling itself a hometown newspaper should not take a few days to wade through hundreds of pages of deep depositions to report on a story like this. If this was the New York Post who didn’t care, then maybe. But this was the Highlands Current. It took me 3 weeks to get through the depositions, ask bunches of questions, and process the information to write about it.
Key Food Beacon’s Backstory And Dealings With Racial Arab Bias
Eleven years ago when I started this blog, I published a list of food markets. It included all of the regulars, like Beacon Natural Market, Beacon Pantry, the Beacon Farmers Market, etc. It did not include Key Food Beacon. In my mind, Key Food Beacon was a big brand, owned by nameless faces, and was not a small business.
Junior Dabashi reached out to me. He was a manager of the store at that time. He emailed to ask why Key Food wasn’t in the list, as they are called Key Food Market and do sell fresh produce, some locally sourced when possible.
He was right. He kindly and quietly called me out. What an oversight on my part. I quickly added them to the list, and then requested an interview with him to learn more about them from a locally owned small business standpoint.
Junior and his brother, Mo Dabashi, took the meeting with me and invited me into the back of the store to discuss what they had to overcome in order to improve the store’s reputation. Years ago, the store was often trashed in social media, after the families bought it from the previous owner. The families invested to renovate the store and dove into the community to support it in many ways, as you can read here in this feature at the Highlands Current by Sommer Hixson years ago.
The family who owns Key Food is Yemeni and Muslim. Junior and I became friends after that meeting. I could see in Facebook, when he posted photos of his family, most people enjoyed seeing his life. Some people openly made racist comments, saying things like “Where is your wife? Why is she not in the picture? Where are the women in the photo?” In Muslim culture, for some Muslims, sharing women in a photo is not something they like to do in the name of modesty and protection. To be called out and judged like that is Islamaphobic and racist towards Arabs.
Over the years, I got the privilege of becoming Junior’s wife’s friend, so I get to see all of her dear family photos, and her out and about in her fancy sunglasses. We discuss American fashion and Muslim fashion. And how both our pre-schoolers are so shy at public school, but loud drama queens at home.
Some people don’t see Key Food Beacon, or the people who make Key Food run every day. Some people think of it as the faceless place with no feelings. One evening years ago during Public Comment at a Beacon City Council meeting, one resident who regularly speaks his mind at Public Comment of those meetings, Denis Pavloc (sp?), approached the podium to voice his wish for a grocery store in Beacon. Denis is veteran of the Iraq war. Had he not read Sommer’s article in the Highlands Current, “Beacon’s Only Supermarket A Bellwether of Growth” published in 2014?
Ever since then, as a citizen/person and as a publisher/blogger, I have made it a point to amplify the good work of the people behind Key Food Beacon. As a Muslim family, it is part of their pillars of faith to feed the poor and help the community. It’s the bedrock of Key Food Beacon. During this ordeal, they have been fasting for Ramadan. On the first day of Ramadan, the plaintiff issued another social media post with verbal attacks. He has since taken it down.
That is why when I saw the photo splashed onto the front page of the Highlands Current in 2022, I was electrified. A photo writes its own article. People see a photo like that, and they draw their own conclusions. Write their own details. Publish their own reality, and move on with their day. Cementing a stereotype into their minds, while the people in the photo have to live with that impression.
The Highlands Current’s founder died in 2014, shortly after Sommer’s article was published. Since then, perhaps it has taken a different approach, perhaps being attracted to sensationalist story angles that make something newsworthy, rather than other details of a story that point out different trends or observations.
Racism towards Arabs has become so normalized in this country, that nobody hears it. Not even the Arabs who are being verbally assaulted by it in Beacon, as you’ll read in my version of this story when I interviewed Mo to ask why he couldn’t remember exactly which racial insults the customer said to him and Emad that day.
You can click here to read the story of what happened that day as told through quotes from depositions of the lawsuit.
This article is second in a 3-part series regarding the incident at Key Food two years ago, which recently came to light after the customer involved began circulating the video of his situation two years alter, in the days after his settlement was negotiated.
No one seems to listen to Key Food when they say “don’t come around here no more.” The Highlands Current newspaper box that was formerly beside the front door at Key Food was removed by the store’s owners after the Highlands Current used a photo that some found questionable to illustrate their article about a recent lawsuit settlement (read ALBB’s article on it here).
After being removed, the newspaper’s editor then contacted Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White to request permission to chain the newspaper box to a lamppost on the public sidewalk outside of Key Food. Beacon’s City Administrator granted that permission, according to Junior Dabashi from the family of Key Food who inquired with the City Administrator as to if the box needed a permit, and further requested to have the box be on another block. Beacon’s City Administrator declined Junior’s request, while acknowledging that the newspaper and the store had a disagreement, Junior told ALBB. Technically, the Highlands Current has the box listed as being on the sidewalk at 252 Main Street on their Where To Find The Current page. That address is for the laundromat, which has closed.
Because of the front page photo, some customers were calling and emailing the store, as well as speaking improperly to the children of the Key Food franchise family, according to co-owner JB Said and Junior. While most customers were coming to Key Food Beacon’s defense, the store was in a difficult position, and after speaking to the article’s reporter about it, felt like they were not being heard.
Key Food Beacon is owned by a Middle Eastern family from Yemen, and many women in their family wear the hijab, making them identifiable and possible targets to people who feel like being mean and Islamaphobic on any given day. The newspaper photo empowered them to unleash.
“I didn’t mind the article,” Mo Dabashi, a manager and family member of Key Food Beacon, told ALBB. He was there the day of the incident two years ago. “It didn’t say anything incorrect. It was the photo that didn’t represent the story right, and now people are calling the store.”
Co-owner JB told ALBB in an interview: "I understand a newspaper is going to report what it's going to report. That's why we wanted the box at our front door. To get the people the information they need. The customer posting then taking down the video everywhere, in the same week we settled with him, two years after the incident, and then the article with that photo - it didn't tell the whole story. This was a major ordeal for my family. For Emad.
“After the article came out, people started calling and emailing the store. Threatening my siblings and their families on the street. They have little kids. They live here. It is still happening. When Jeff [the reporter] came to talk about the article, we told him what was happening. He didn't hear us. His kept saying 'it had to be newsworthy.' By not trying to understand how we are feeling in this situation, with people saying things to us in the store - to my kids while they are here with me - made me not want to see that newspaper box ever again."
Beaconites Respond To Highlands Current Chaining Of The Box
Readers of A Little Beacon Blog who had been following the story were shocked to see that the paper had chained the box to the lamppost.
Key Food’s sidewalk is double-wide because they donated 10’ of their parking lot to help beautify Main Street. You can still see the old parking lot paint here in this photo. The City’s sidewalk in front of Key Food is 77.5” and is larger at Rite Aid, coming in at 120”.
Said a colleague in journalism: “OMG…I guess Key Food Beacon doesn’t own that part of the sidewalk, but it’s very strange!!” Fact Check: Actually, Key Food Beacon does own some of that sidewalk! They donated 10 feet of their parking lot in 2012 in order to help beautify Main Street, giving it a pretense of a double-wide city sidewalk.
Said a local cowboy and customer who had previously been banned from the store years ago after slinging eye-brow raising comments to an employee, but has since been released from their time-out and shops in the store: “Jesus. Key Food is a lawless land.”
Said a friend who follows Beacon from afar: “The audacity.”
Said a 10 year old student: “Bro.”
Key Food Appeals to City Of Beacon To Move Box To Another Block; Is Denied Based On Width Of Sidewalk
According to Junior, when he appealed to Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White to have the box located elsewhere, the City Administrator responded by email: “The sidewalk in front is one of the widest areas of the Main Street sidewalks so I didn’t think their request was inappropriate.”
“Our intention is to go back to normal, but the way his [the reporter’s] response about the whole situation made us change our minds...We tried to explain to him, that with that picture, you put so many people in harm’s way. But he was not understanding.”
— Junior Debashi
The City’s sidewalk at Key Food is 77.5” wide, and is 120” wide down the block at Rite Aid. As reported by the Highlands Current years ago, Key Food Beacon donated 10 feet of their parking lot in 2012 in order to help beautify Main Street, giving it a pretense of a double-wide City sidewalk. According to the article, the project was connected to Beacon’s Chamber of Commerce as part of its “Market Square” restoration project, funded by the State of New York’s Office of Housing and Community Renewal.
Had Key Food not applied the generosity they are known for, the sidewalk would be much narrower.
The City’s sidewalk in front of Key Food Beacon is 77.5”. Had Key Food Not donated 10 feet of their parking lot in 2012, the sidewalk would not feel so wide.
The Highlands Current newsbox at 77.5” of sidewalk at Key Food Beacon. If the newspaper moved down to Rite Aid, they would nave more space! All 120” of sidewalk space.
Look at all that space! The City sidewalk is 120” at Rite Aid, as opposed to 77.5” a Key Food Beacon.
Lamppost at Rite Aid. There is 120” of space for the newspox.
Of The 25 Locations Of Highlands Current; 4 Newspaper Boxes; This Is The Only One Chained
Of the 3 other newspaper boxes that are on Main Street, the one at Key Food Beacon is the only one that is chained and faces the store. The one in front of Beacon Natural, the one near the bus stop at Beacon Bread, and the one snuggled next to Ron’s Guitar World are free standing, and face the street. No chains.
Newspaper box outside of Beacon Natural. Unchained.
Newspaper box at bus stop near Beacon Bread. Unchained.
Newspaper box outside of Ron’s Guitar World. Unchained.
Why This Lampost?
“By not trying to understand how we are feeling in this situation, with people saying things to us in the store - to my kids while they are here with me - made me not want to see that newspaper box ever again.”
— JB Said, Co-Owner Key Food Beacon
Key Foods Beacon is a grocery store. To people who don’t pay it much mind, the store becomes a generic thing on the street, like a box of Kleenex, with no local brand identity. To some, it is public property that is an essential store that provides food and nourishment.
But Key Food Beacon is a franchise owned by a family with deep roots in small business. To exert entitlement that a newspaper box deserves to be at a grocery store is a dehumanization of the people who nurture the store, the employees inside, and the good customers who don’t lose their minds over not being and to combine differently priced salads into one container.
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