HUDSON—It has taken 5 years, but the retrial of Warren Powell for the strangling his pregnant wife 15 years ago finally got started in Columbia County Court last week.
Mr. Powell, 38, is originally from Valatie, but was living in Halfmoon, Saratoga County, at the time of the crime. He is charged with second degree murder, a class A-1 felony. The indictment alleges that on or about October 1, 1994, Mr. Powell caused the death of his wife, Mary Ann (Tasick) Powell, 21, who was six-months pregnant.
Officials do not know exactly when or where she was killed, but Mrs. Powell’s decomposing remains were discovered in the Hudson River by campers as they hiked along the shore line, near Gay’s Point in Stockport, May 25, 1996, Memorial Day weekend. Her body was tied up and stuffed in a hockey bag weighted down with rocks. She had apparently been strangled.
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ALBANY—The second degree murder conviction of William Demagall has been reversed by a state appellate court. The decision, which faults rulings by County Court Judge Paul Czajka, was issued Thursday, April 2.
The decision not only overturns the conviction but also requires Mr. Demagall to have a new trial before a different judge.
On December 8, 2006 a Columbia County Court jury convicted Mr. Demagall, then 23, of stabbing and bludgeoning to death George Mancini in February of that year. Mr. Mancini, 56, a retired schoolteacher, was murdered at his home on Breezy Hill Road, just off Route 23 in Hillsdale.
CHATHAM—Tentative school aid figures for all public school districts in the state were released Tuesday, March 31, as the legislature began passing the bills that make up the 2009-10 state budget. All districts in Columbia County will see increases in state aid under the proposal and the combined increase for the county is $4.5 million, thanks in part to assistance in the federal economic recovery act introduced by President Obama.
Democrats, who control the Assembly and the Senate, scrambled Tuesday, unsuccessfully as it turned out, to adopt the budget ahead of the April 1 deadline set by the state constitution. Republicans, meanwhile, criticized the return to the practice of previous years, which saw budget details worked out in private by the governor and the leaders of the two houses of the legislature.
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CRARYVILLE—Following a public meeting this evening, Wednesday, April 1, the Taconic Hills School District is scheduled to adopt a budget proposal for the 2009-10 school year that reduces the district tax levy.
Wednesday morning the legislature in Albany was still rushing to approve a state budget agreed to by the governor and legislative leaders, and the delay has left local school districts stuck between a rock and a hard place. Concerned about the state’s huge deficit and widespread economic hardship, Taconic Hills district officials made major cuts in their proposal, offering voters a stripped down budget with a tax levy decrease of 1.91%. Even if voters were to reject the proposal next month, contractual obligations would not permit much in the way of further spending cuts, officials said.
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