Civil lawsuits mount in Monahan case
Stefanik making headlines on everything but the issues in her home district
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Kevin Monahan is now serving more than 25 years for the killing of Kaylin Gillis after she mistakingly turned into his rural driveway in Hebron a year ago.
But the case is far from over.
There are three separate civil cases filed against Monahan and his wife according to Albany television stations WRGB 6News.
Andrew Gillis, father for the deceased, filled a wrongful death lawsuit last year seeking $5 million in damages and then took steps to ensure the Monahans did not move any of their assets.
An agreement was made in March between the Monahan and Gillis families that the Monahans would not move any of their assets.
WRGB reported from the court documents, "upon information and belief Monahan recently took out a loan secured by his home and with intentions to seek an appeal on his conviction, the plaintiff fears Monahan will siphon off his remaining assets and asks the court to order prejudgment so there is an opportunity to obtain meaningful redress."
Monahan's home insurance company, Preferred Mutual, has also sued the Monahans to avoid paying any civil suit damages.
According to WRGB, Preferred Mutual argued in court documents that the policy provides coverage only for an “occurrence” which is defined as, among other things, an “accident” causing “bodily injury.” The court documents claimed NY law does not consider intentional harm to be accidental and therefore does not warrant coverage because intentional harm does not satisfy the policy definition of occurrence.
Monahan's defense was that the gun discharged accidentally the night of the shooting.
And just recently, Blake Walsh, the boyfriend of Kaylin Gillis and the driver of the vehicle where she was shot, filed a lawsuit against Kevin and Jinx Monahan because he has suffered "severe emotional distress and psychological harm."
In this lawsuit for the first time, Monahan's wife Jinx is accused of failing to keep a gun properly secured.
WRGB reported that the lawsuit said, Jinx Monahan "knew that Kevin Monahan easily became emotionally distraught and agitated in a variety of circumstances, including but not limited to, when uninvited motorists would erroneously enter the Monahan property and/or driveway to turn around."
Quiet Epidemic
Beginning with the Adirondack Film Festival two years go, we got some important first-hand information about Lyme Disease with the showing of the documentary film The Quiet Epidemic.
Filmmaker Lindsey Keys is still out there fighting the good fight and was part of a seven-minute segment on Morning Joe on MSNBC on Wednesday morning.
Friedman quote
You have to wonder if Elise Stefanik Is happy about the amount of attention her recent trip to Israel has gotten her.
Thomas Friedman, the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for the New York Times, wrote this in his column on Wednesday about Benjamin Netanyahu and his relationship with President Joe Biden - and Stefanik.
"Netanyahu has said no to all of it. He did, though, show his gratitude to Biden by having his parliamentary majority give Elise Stefanik, a hack Republican congresswoman with no foreign policy standing whatsoever — and a person groveling to become Donald Trump’s vice president — the extraordinary honor of giving an address Sunday in the Knesset, where she slammed the U.S. president and praised Trump."
More on Elise
Rep. Elise Stefanik continues to do everything in her power to help former President Donald Trump.
On Tuesday, she filed an ethics complaint accusing the judge in the New York City criminal trial of Trump with a conflict of interest.
The complaint alleges that Judge Juan Merchan's family has enriched itself through anti-Trump fundraising.
This is not the first time that Stefanik has filed ethics complaints in New York against judges. The irony is that after graduating Harvard, Stefanik applied to law school but was not accepted.
Holiday fundraising
With Memorial Day weekend coming up, it seemed like a good time to remind Front Page readers to donate to the Chapman Museum's holiday decorating fund.
Sure Christmas is seven months away, but you can avoid the rush.
I'm heading up a committee to bring new life to the old mansion on Glen Street. Thanks to Ace Hardware in Queensbury, we already have two new nine-foot Christmas trees and 17 or so wreaths. Other folks have been consistently donating Christmas decorations for the effort.
We could use some ornaments and lights. You can donate with cash to a special fund on the Chapman Museum's website (Click Support, then Gifts) and make a cash contribution. Make sure you stipulate it is for the Christmas decorating fund.
This December, we hope that residents of the International Space Station will be able to see the Chapman from outer space.
We have set out goals high.
Word of the week
We've been watching a new English show on Netflix called "The Gentleman."
After inheriting his family's estate after the death of his father, "The Gentleman" discovers that the estate has been used as a front for a marijuana growing operation.
When he learns of this reality, his partner in the drug business tells him not to go all "collywobble" on him.
My wife's parents were from England, but she had never heard of this word before.
It means, "intense anxiety or nervousness, especially with stomach queasiness."
See if you can work that into conversation this week.
School voting
I voted in the school elections this past Tuesday.
Most of you did not.
I know the elections are not well publicized while parents and teachers are encouraged to show up to protect their interests.
Just 772 people voted in the school election in a town with a population of about 16,000.
Apparently, the highest voting total occurred in 2020 when absentee voting was allowed and 2,969 votes were cast.
That should tell us something about the importance of absentee voting and vote by mail.
Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.
The more I hear about Trump and his claim that Biden tried to have him assassinated... or that his ambition during his anticipated next term as POTUS that Trump will establish a New Reich....or that Trump’s first act on “ day one” will be to conduct himself as Dictator for a Day.......
Coupled with my Congresswoman Elise Stefanik’s obvious seduction into a fantasy world of MAGA compounded by her apparent suspension of personal integrity and honesty to her constituents.....my body and mind go completely cobblewobbly.
The state of Oregon does all voting by mail. They achieve tremendous voter percentage numbers around 40-50% in primary elections and around 75-80% in general elections, tho in fairness Oregon voters have voted in very high percentages for decades of in-person voting.
I suspect voting by mail would be a cost savings.
We have a “tradition,” sort of like New England meeting day, of in-person voting and I doubt we will go to 100% mail voting in NY any time soon, but it’s worth exploring.
Also, wouldn’t mandatory gun owner insurance be a good thing? Why should society at large absorb the costs of people who choose to own and use guns. Assault rifles would presumably require much higher rates than a 22. If your gun was stolen or lost it would be in your best interest to report it to police. If you have a concealed carry permit insurance companies would assess your likely danger in terms of potential payout. Taking gun safety courses on a regular basis would lower your rate, and purchasing a gun would require showing proof of insurance.
I realize some people’s heads exploded reading that but it seems fair to me.