The Sullivan Times - Issue #12 - March 28, 2019

The Sullivan Times We cover and uncover the big stories in Sullivan County, NY.

Thursday, March 28, 2019 - Issue 12

The Death of a Child & The Mystery About Jim Farrell’s Investigation Into a 2014 Automobile Accident Son of Prominent CEO Robert Berman Was Behind Wheel

District Attorney Jim Farrell earlier this month

By Rich Klein

FALLSBURG​ - On Sunday, August 24, 2014, a car accident here resulted in the death of Rivka Weinman, a 6-year-old girl visiting Fallsburg from Lakewood, New Jersey. Until now, the driver of the car involved in the accident has never been identified.

But according to the Department of Motor Vehicle report filed by Fallsburg Police and obtained by The SullivanTimes yesterday (Wednesday) the driver was Alan M. Berman-- the son of former Empire Resorts CEO Robert Berman and currently the CEO of a company named Novume. Berman, who turns 31 this week, has lived for a few years in Washington, D.C. after living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where he moved after the accident. Previously, he was a resident of Emerald Green in Rock Hill and he graduated from Fallsburg High School.

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District Attorney Jim Farrell took control of the investigation into the 2014 accident, according to Fallsburg Police Chief Simmie Williams. But Farrell late last week - and in the days since -- has declined to respond to this media outlet’s most basic questions about the status of the DA’s investigation.

Farrell has for many years campaigned for re-election to DA on a track record of many prosecutions, including his announcement in a news release yesterday (Wednesday) that he had obtained a grand jury indictment of a female correction officer on charges of alleged sexual abuse of inmates. But the public rarely learns about incidents when this Sullivan County District Attorney has declined to prosecute for any reason. This is one of those stories.

For the past three weeks, The SullivanTimes has been trying to find out more about the circumstances surrounding the fatal 2014 accident, including the condition of the driver or if any tickets were issued by any law enforcement agency for possible speeding or other traffic violations. Although many questions remain unanswered at presstime, the accident report answers some of them. Late last week, The SullivanTimes sent a Facebook message to Berman asking directly if he was the driver of the vehicle that resulted in the death of Weinman. He sent a message back earlier this week asking why we cared and then said “no comment.” He then blocked us on Facebook. But the DMV report confirms that Berman was the driver and his future wife, Jenna L. Widmann, was a passenger.

The accident report states that the Weinman ran into ​Tabaczynski Roard and was struck by a vehicle (Audi) driven by Berman.

The report further notes that the vehicle was registered to his mother, Debbie Berman. The DMV incident report was signed by Fallsburg Police Officer John M. Chevalier and reviewed and signed by Fallsburg Police Seargent Chris Pratti. It was dated December 16, 2014. Fallsburg Police Chief Simmie Williams has declined to answer questions about the incident or the report, deferring instead to Farrell.

A member of the Weinman family reached Wednesday morning in Brooklyn expressed surprise upon learning that the report said the girl ran into the road. But the family member, who did not want to be identified, would not comment further about what he thought happened. He said he would try to get a comment from the victim’s father, Sholom Weinman, who remains unavailable for comment.

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The SullivanTimes early Wednesday also contacted Robert Berman by phone and email to ask if there was a legal settlement with the Weinman family of any kind in the aftermath of the accident. He did not respond to the request for comment. Berman’s company is the parent of Firestorm Solutions, co-founded by Suzanne Rhulen Loughlin of Rock Hill.

Alan Berman married his longtime girlfriend Widmann in 2017 and purchased the Ultimate Fighting championship gym in Arlington, VA in January 2018. He said on social media pages that is also making his professional boxing debut in North Carolina in a few weeks. His Instagram account @TheBermanShow shows recent photos of him training. Soon after the accident, Berman erased the archives of his locally popular “Berman Show” podcast.

Bill Liblick, in a 2014 ​Mouth That Roars​ column, wrote this about Berman after listening to his now-defunct podcast: ​“​Alan Berman is edgy. Alan Berman says and does as he pleases. Alan Berman pushes buttons and often upsets a lot of people in doing so. To some his humor is cutting edge while to others it is tasteless.”

Farrell, a Republican, recently announced his candidacy for County Judge to replace Frank LaBuda, who reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70 in December. His opponent is Democrat Cynthia Dolan, the Village Justice of Mamakating.

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$1 MILLION AWARD IN ELDRED SCHOOL BULLYING CASE BEING APPEALED TODAY ALBANY -​ Christopher Mills, an attorney for the Eldred Central School District today (Thursday) will ask the Appellate Division, Third Department to overturn a $1 million jury award in a case that involved the long-term bullying of former student Anthony Motta, now in his early 20s.

But New Paltz-based attorney, Stephen Bergstein, who is representing the Motta family, will also get his 10 minutes to argue why the award made in a trial presided over by State Supreme Court Justice Stephan G. Schick should be upheld.

In an interview on Wednesday, Bergstein said that until a few years ago, courts generally avoided getting involved with school bullying incidents.

“They (Appellate Division) don’t get a lot of bullying cases, ‘’ Bergstein said. “It’s a relatively new phenomenon in courts.”

He added that one of the pivotal cases on the subject was ​Zeno vs Pine Plains​, a 2012 federal case decided by the 2nd Circuit.

Bergstein represented the plaintiff, Anthony Zeno, in that case that affirmed a significant jury award for a student who had endured bullying.

“We have more court rulings today as precedents when you bring these (kind of) lawsuits,” Bergstein said. “Any bullying can be the basis for a lawsuit if it (the bullywing) was extensive, the district knew about it and the district did not respond properly,” Bergstein said. He added that he believes that the Eldred District is not attacking the facts in the case, just the verdict that was reached.

Bergstein said that a Supreme Court decision in 1998 authorized school bullying cases under the law.

The case can be watched this afternoon at this ​link.​ It’s the fifth case on the calendar that starts at 1:30 pm.

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COUNTY PREPARING TO CONDUCT IMMUNIZATION CLINICS IF MEASLES OUTBREAK HITS LIBERTY​ - Sullivan County Public Health Director Nancy McGraw says the government is ready to conduct immunization clinics as necessary “in the event of a measles outbreak going into the Spring and Summer months. “ She made that statement in response to an inquiry from The SullivanTimes soon after Rockland County declared a controversial state of emergency this week to battle the epidemic there. The SullivanTimes reported earlier this month that the same yeshiva at the center of the outbreak in Brooklyn also operates a boys and girls camp in Swan Lake. McGraw confirmed this week that there were still just two confirmed cases of measles in Sullivan County.

“Sullivan County Public Health Services, has been following the measles outbreaks in NYC and Rockland County closely over the past six months since it began,” she said in the statement. “As part of its emergency preparedness planning, public health stands ready to conduct immunization clinics as necessary in the event of an outbreak going into the Spring and Summer months, as many travelers and seasonal visitors flock to the Catskills. In the meantime, we are working closely with our area health care providers and the public to stress the importance of childhood vaccination, and in particular adherence to MMR recommendations. Sullivan County Public Health Services is also working with the NYS Department of Health to prepare for the summer season.”

DELAWARE RIVERKEEPER CHALLENGES ELDRED PRESERVE STATEMENT ABOUT DISCHARGE INTO HALFWAY BROOK ELDRED​ -​ ​An influential​ ​environmental group, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, isn’t buying the statement issued by The Eldred Preserve this week about the safety of discharging waste into the Halfway Brook. The project, still under development, recently also postponed its opening until 2020.

“It is clear from the permit materials (Department of Environmental Conservation) that they are not using the best technology on this wastewater and I have yet to see analysis that would support the assertion there is no other place for this waste other than the beautiful Halfway Brook,” said Maya K. van Rossum, director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. “The DEC officials in New Paltz and Delaware River Basin officials in West Trenton aren’t the ones going to be swimming in, fishing in and living next door to or downstream from this facility, but the people of Eldred and Highland are and they deserve better than this proposal.

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The organization last year also slammed the County for its coordination with Millennium Pipeline regarding its baseline health study in the area near the Highland Compressor.

Following is the statement from Dan Silna, owner of The Eldred Preserve, where District One Legislator Scott Samuelson is the CEO: “We know some of you had some questions regarding our development plans. We appreciate your interest and strive to ensure complete transparency about The Eldred Preserve project. Sullivan County has always been a part of me. I’ve been here for 75 years. I grew up here, and even met my wife, Joan, here. We absolutely love the natural beauty of this area, and would never make decisions that would cause it harm. We are both dedicated to ensuring that The Eldred Preserve is developed carefully so that we can help showcase all that we adore about the Sullivan County Catskills.

“When considering wastewater on the site, we rejected other options that, although more cost-effective, would have required the removal of five acres (or more) of trees. Instead, we are making the additional investment in a full wastewater treatment plant that requires that fewer trees be removed and ensures that the waste will be thoroughly treated so that there will be minimal impact on the Halfway Brook. The treatment plant has been carefully designed under the guidance of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to adhere to - and exceed - all discharge requirements outlined by the State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) program, as well as a series of additional requirements set forth by the Delaware River Basin Commission's Water Quality Regulations.

“The Delaware River Basin Commission, which includes representatives from Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and the federal government, is charged with the conservation, utilization, development, management, and control of water and related resources of the Delaware River Basin.

“For us, the natural environment that surrounds The Eldred Preserve is the embodiment of peace and tranquility, the very best Sullivan County Catskills has to offer. We have the utmost confidence in the guidance offered by those very agencies whose missions are to protect the region’s natural resources."

In August 2018, The SullivanTimes reported exclusively about the interactions between Sullivan County officials, including Samuelson and County Attorney Cheryl McCausland and Millennium Pipeline executives over which environmental company should be retained by the County to conduct a baseline health study of the Highland Compressor.

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TAXPAYERS PAYING MILLIONS FOR COUNTY JAIL THAT OPENS THIS YEAR MONTICELLO​ - With the opening of the new Sullivan County Jail later this year, residents can now grasp how their tax dollars were spent to replace the old jail that was clearly in major disrepair since it was built in 1909 and was the oldest existing jail in New York State.

The SullivanTimes asked about the total cost of the jail earlier this month and Dan Hust, director of communications for the County, sent the following figures: General contractor Pike Company has been paid $72,456,852.10 Architect LaBella Associates has been paid $3,660,090.11 The County has spent $9,056,317.73 with various contractors on offsite utilities (water and sewer) Security system installer Black Creek has been paid $1,773,096.90 Miscellaneous costs have totaled approximately $2.17 million “That comes to a grand total of $89,125,332.94 to date, with more than 90% of the project complete,” Hust wrote. “The County bonded $95 million for the project. Separate from all the above, the County purchased the land (former Mapes farm) for the jail in 2009 for a price of $1,076,000.”

The costs of the jail have been cited by Luis Alvarez, chair of the Legislature, other legislators and the public as a key reason there are insufficient funds to deal with issues like labor contracts and sharing some portion of revenues with the towns.

The SullivanTimes will dive deeper into these expenditures dating back to the land purchase in future issues.

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DELGADO LASHES OUT AT TRUMP, REPUBLICANS ON ATTEMPT TO STRIKE DOWN ENTIRE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT Congressman Antonio Delgado, in response to a SullivanTimes question on a media call this week, said “it’s very concerning” that the Trump Administration now says the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) should be struck down by agreeing with a federal court decision in Texas.

“There’s no doubt that the Administration and Republicans for the last two years have in essence attempted to tear apart what can only be described as a critically important step in helping us deal with the reality that our healthcare system is in crisis,” Delgado said. “And the fact that we have an Administration that seems dead set on not only rolling back (ACA) ...but also attacking a well-regarded guaranteed protection of pre-existing conditions, to me, is alarming. And I don’t fully understand or comprehend why the Administration thinks this is the appropriate approach when people are literally clamoring for better healthcare services. “ Delgado added that even though the United States is the wealthiest country in the world “we have some of the poorest healthcare outcomes.” Delgado pointed to many stories that constituents --particularly in Sullivan,Columbia and Greene Counties -- have shared with him about the healthcare crisis.

“It’s an aggressive and reckless approach,” Delgado said of the attempt to strike down the ACA. “Not only are they seeking to undermine the ACA, but they are not even offering anything in the alternative. They are literally allowing people to fall off the cliff.”

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