Math does not add up with Alexander West parole
It's tough to be neighborly when the local public relations firm is involved
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Alexander West has paid his debt to society.
That's what we are being told.
In December, a New York state parole board voted 2-1 to release West no later than February 11 after serving 7 1/2 years in prison for killing 8-year-old Charlotte McCue in a boating accident on Lake George.
West and four of his companions spent July 25, 2016 - Log Bay Day - on Lake George drinking, taking drugs and having a good time.
Charlotte McCue was visiting her grandparents from California. They were chugging along after dinner in her grandfather's boat on one of those gorgeous summer nights where you can sit back and just be glad to be alive.
So when Alexander West's 21-foot speedboat roared out of the shadows, careening over the top of the smaller boat, maiming and killing Charlotte and seriously injuring her mother, there was a brief moment of silence as both boats sat still in the water.
That's when the screams started.
They say they heard them all along the shoreline on Lake George.
“It was absolutely bloodcurdling,” Gregory Guerrieri, 53, said of the screams during the trial.
It's what happened next that sticks in my memory.
Perhaps, all our memories.
Those in West's boat - Matthew Marry, Kristine Tiger, Morland Keyes and Cara Mia Canale - had to have heard those screams, too.
They must have known something terrible had happened.
But instead of offering help or calling for emergency assistance, Alexander West drove off into the night.
When they docked, a witness testified hearing the group telling each other not to say anything to anyone.
Don't text.
Don't email.
And they all went into hiding for most of the next day.
Accidents happen and when those accidents are causes by irresponsible actions, there must be accountability.
That is still at the heart of this case - accountability.
"How do you punish someone for not having a heart or a conscience?" I asked Post-Star readers in a column in December 2017.
Their lack of culpability for what they did.
Their cowardice in running away.
Three of the four passengers in West's boat refused to cooperate with authorities. Two of them served 45 days in jail. The final case was not decided until nearly two years later when passenger Morland Keyes took an Alford plea for giving a false written statement and was given probation.
West was found guilty of second degree manslaughter and seven other counts.
"I saw the cowards killing boat pulling away with the lights off as we screamed and tried to get to safety," Robert Knarr said before sentencing in 2017. "I knew right away that poor Charlotte was dead and that our lives would never be the same.
His wife put it in even harsher terms: “If a charge could be brought for unimaginable lack of humanity, they’d all be serving life sentences.”
The reality would be far less than that.
Judge John Hall sentenced West to 5 to 15 years.
At the time, I lamented that the medical community did not offer transplants to make people human.
West appealed the guilty verdict six times on technical grounds after beginning his prison sentence in western New York. The parole board denied him release in 2022, saying he had not accepted responsibility for his actions.
This past year, with another parole hearing looming, he wrote a letter of apology to Charlotte's family.
That apparently was good enough for the parole board.
I believe in second chances, I really do, and perhaps West is a changed man over these past eight years, but I also believe in justice.
The math doesn't make sense here.
West is now 32 and still a young man who has a long life ahead of him. It will take a lot to make up for his actions that night in 2016.
His retired attorney, Cheryl Coleman, told the Times Union his family was thrilled with the news of his parole.
I suspect Charlotte's family is not.
Charlotte McCue would be 16 now.
Learning how to drive.
Thinking about the prom and maybe college.
Alexander West has a future again.
I wonder if he still hears the screams.
I hope so, I hope he always does.
I hope they all do.
The West family is thrilled to have a son back after eight years.
But Charlotte's family will never get their daughter back.
They are serving a life sentence.
Editor's Note: In my second collection of columns, The Last American Editor, Vol. 2 my column about the West sentencing from Dec. 3, 2017 - "What they did that night is worse" is reprinted. In my first collection of columns, The Last American Editor, there is another column from March 4, 2018 about the one passenger that did cooperate in the case, "Love you to the moon and back."
New CEO
When Debabrata Mukherjee was named the new CEO of Finch Paper in 2014, I attempted to do the neighborly thing and welcome him to the neighborhood.
When I called, an assistant answered the phone. I told her who I was and that I wanted to speak with the new CEO. When she asked what I wanted, I told her I was hoping to introduce myself and welcome him to town.
The newspaper did not have a close relationship with Finch, Pruyn going all the way back to the strike in 2001. It employed a public relations firm to handle any interactions with us so we never got to speak with management very often. With my phone call to the new CEO, I was hoping to start a better relationship.
A couple days later a representative from the public relations firm called and said he heard I called the new CEO and wanted to know if he could help me.
"No, I don't think so," I responded.
"Why did you call him," the PR guy asked.
"To ask him if he wanted to go to lunch," I said.
"Why," the PR guy asked again.
"Because I thought he might be hungry," I said.
I never did hear from the new CEO and as far as I know the same PR firm represents the company.
No newspaper
My subscription to The Post-Star lapsed recently and I got a call from one of their call centers wanted me to subscribe again.
I explained that I was the retired editor of the newspaper and that upon my retirement my gift was to get a lifetime subscription to the newspaper.
I then lapsed into a bit of sarcasm.
"So since, I have not seen my obituary in the newspaper, I assume my subscription is in good standing," I said.
There was silence.
"Can you help me with that," I asked.
"No, I can't," the woman said. And she hung up.
Immigration event
The Adirondack Regional Immigration Collaborative is hosting an information meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 8 at Crandall Library to help educate the local immigrant community about what they need to know if they are threatened with deportation under the new administration.
The "Know Your Rights" event will be held from 10 a.m. to noon.
"This information is important to immigrants living and working in our communities and to those caring about them,” Diane Collins, board member of the ARIC, said in a statement about the event.
Defending champs
The Glens Falls boys basketball team has defended its state title admirably so far this season.
They chalked up an impressive 48-45 non-league victory Saturday against a Ridgewood, New Jersey that came into the game with a 6-0 record.
Glens Falls was clinging to a one-point lead in the last minute when Kellen Driscoll hit two free throws and Ridgewood twice failed to convert attempts to tie with under a minute to play.
Glens Falls is now 7-0.
I also noticed they have placed a team photo of the state champion 2023-24 team underneath the scoreboard at the Glens Falls gym, just like in the movie Hoosiers.
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.
Dear Ken - You are so "correct," that justice has not been served. Shame on the parole board! Having worked as a research scientist on and around Lake George for the better part of 5 decades, the seed of the "West" problem germinated and has been growing ever since Interstate 87 was constructed back in the 1960s, opening up the area between Albany and Montreal for easy tourist access. Now, decades later, there are ~12,000-15,000 registered boats on Lake George and a state agency, the Lake George Park Commission, that does not have the manpower to regulate the traffic properly. Otherwise, the July 2016 incident could have had a different outcome. Perhaps another topic for another day.....
I agree with you Ken. Justice was not served by paroling him. Thanks for saying what needed to be said.