September 23, 2000
7 - 9 p.m.
Superintendent Miller reviewed the various activities celebrating Eastern New York Correctional Facility’s centennial. He noted the successful open house held August 26 and attended by current and former employees and their families.
"We were blessed with a very nice day and good cooperation from the inmate population." He cited the work of Deputy Superintendent Raymond Cunningham in coordinating the event. Miller called his audience’s attention to the ENYCF history booklets on the banquet tables, citing Correction Counselor Robert Posner for helping gather materials for the book and Correction analyst and author Austin Clarke for writing it. "The video that you enjoyed a few minutes ago was put together by two Eastern employees, Lt. William Foley and again Bob Posner, with the help of two State Museum employees, curator Craig Williams and videographer Charles Munson." The reference was to a video documentary setting
forth the history of the 100-year-old institution. "The railroad station [restoration project] got a grant of
$129,000," Miller noted, the application being put together by Correction
Counselor Jeffrey Rubin and receiving strong support from DOCS Commissioner
Glenn Goord and First Deputy Commissioner John Patterson. Superintendent Miller credited Lt. Gene Van Orden and an inmate crew for their work replacing an old wooden memorial in front of the facility with a "brand new granite and brick memorial, and, with help from the maintenance department, restoring the railroad station and the weigh station."
He mentioned how the creation of the centennial float, led by Carol Milewski and Cheryl James, helped kickoff the series of centennial events.
"None of these events would have been possible without a lot of fund-raising. Fred DuBois and Carol Milewski helped in raising $25,000 over five years that not only off-set the price of the tickets this evening, but also contributed to the railroad station restoration and a lot of the other things done for this centennial." The superintendent observed that, "There’s hardly a staff member at the facility who has not been involved in the centennial celebration in one way or another." He also urged members of the audience to view after their dinner, if they hadn’t already, a model of the railroad station on display in the lobby. "It was actually done by an inmate Peter Gripaldi who did work as well on the station restoration layout." |
