MAMAKATING – On August 27, Judge Katherine B. Forrest of the United States District Court Southern District of New York announced that she intended to dismiss the civil lawsuit filed by the Town of Mamakating and the Village of Bloomingburg against developer Shalom Lamm, which alleged racketeering and criminal corruption in the process that produced permits for Lamm's 396 unit Chestnut Ridge town home project in Bloomingburg. More than that she noted that she would "grant defendants' motions to dismiss with prejudice" in an opinion that would follow within the next few weeks.

The suit was filed in April after the town spent $25,000 to hire a Washington D.C. firm to help its public relations, West End Strategy Team, who in turn hired two attorneys to write the RICO lawsuit in a matter of weeks. It alleged violations of federal anti-racketeering laws with Lamm, his partner Kenneth Nakdimen, their former business partner Duane Roe, the previous Mayor of Bloomingburg Mark Berentsen and three LLCs connected with Lamm named as defendants.

Because the case is being dismissed "with prejudice," the town and village's options will be limited for keeping the case alive. An appeal of the decision is possible, but will not be made until Judge Forrest's decision is released.

On August 28, Mamakating supervisor Bill Hermann released a statement saying, "The racketeering and corruption case stated that previous government officials were corrupted by the developer and his business partners. The lawsuit clearly asserts the facts and they are incontrovertible as were laid out in the complaint. We are disappointed and baffled by the decision to dismiss the case without explanation. We cannot respond to the decision until it is issued and we will weigh our options when it is released. We have spent less than $20 per person to defend our community, and it was money well spent. We were elected on an anti-corruption platform and we honored this mandate by protecting all the citizens of our town. We do not agree with the decision to dismiss and based on the merits of the case we should at least have our day in court."

Coming up in early September, Judge Forrest will hear a civil rights case filed by Lamm against the town and village charging anti-Semitism. Also coming up is a court date on whether Sullivan County Supreme Court Judge Stephan Schick can continue to ban further construction at Chestnut Ridge, or the town can hold back on granting certificates of occupancy to the development.

"We will continue to expose corruption and shine the light on illegal activities," Herrmann's statement continued, disseminated to various grass roots websites around the area. "We will continue to apply our laws equally and fairly to everyone in the community to ensure the health and safety of the residents. We will continue to teach our children that ultimately justice will prevail for those that follow the law."