Forum on illegal hiring and housing cancelled
By Marcela Rojas • mrojas@lohud.com • June 26, 2009

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A Town Hall meeting planned for tonight on illegal hiring and housing in Southeast and Brewster has been canceled.

Town Councilman Dwight Yee, who along with Supervisor Michael Rights was hosting the event, said they have succumbed to the insurance issue raised by another Town Board member. Yee said the meeting will be rescheduled to July 16 at the Town Board's work session at Town Hall.

"Once again these guys are throwing sand in my eye in reaching out to the community," Yee said.

Councilman Paul Johnson said in order to hold a meeting at another facility, venues generally require certificates of insurance. The event was planned for the Sheet Metal Workers' Union Hall, 38 Starr Ridge Road.

The Town Board, Johnson said, did not approve of using the town's insurance to cover the "political rally."

"They are trying to use town policy for a private event and that is an abuse," Johnson said.

Some residents and elected officials raised concerns about the meeting and a mailer Rights and Yee sent out earlier this week, saying the men were exploiting a recent crash that claimed the lives of Lori Donohue, 37, and her daughter Kayla, 8, at the hands of a motorist who police say was drunk, unlicensed and in the country illegally.

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