T here the headline rang out on the front page of Tuesday’s edition, “Judge denies Forestburgh’s appeal to dismiss discrimination lawsuit.” 

Soon thereafter, the phone rang, it was Forestburgh Supervisor Dan Hogue, madder than a wet hen, yelling at the editor that he had gotten the headline wrong and that no judge had yet ruled on the Town of Forestburgh’s motion to dismiss the Lost Lake Holdings LLC lawsuit.

Unfortunately, even the 134-year-old Sullivan County Democrat and its experienced editors and publisher make mistakes.

Mr. Hogue was correct.

The actual document the Democrat was referring to was a “Statement of Interest of the United States of America” authored by Matthew Podolsky, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and a host of other attorneys.

The story, which quotes extensively from the “Statement of Interest” was wrong in only one perspective.

There has been no ruling by a judge – one way or another – to dismiss the case in favor of the Town of Forestburgh.

That decision, according to the Town’s legal counsel, will be coming soon. We will be sure to report on that decision.

The information included in the Statement of Interest, and quoted extensively in the article, is almost verbatim of what the Statement said. 

Now the final decision is in the hands of District Judge Vincent L. Briccetti to decide if this lawsuit should be dismissed or be adjudicated in a court of law.

This Statement of Interest, which honestly we had never seen before, was issued by the United States Department of Justice to address the motion of defendant Town of Forestburgh to dismiss the claims of Plaintiffs Lost Lake Holdings, LLC, et al, under the Fair Housing Act, as unripe and therefore non-justiciable.

Mr. Hogue, we apologize for our misunderstanding of the Statement of Interest and the mistaken headline and paragraph about the appeal being dismissed.

We will certainly redouble our efforts to cover this story and look forward to the upcoming ruling which we will report on.