At approximately 9:51pm on Saturday, February 5, 2022, two cars collided on Fishkill Avenue (aka Rte. 52) near Industrial Arts and the John Deere tractor lot. One driver was killed almost instantly, and the other driver suffered body pain and was transported to a hospital. After the accident, police closed the road and remained there to reconstruct the scene.

Fishkill Avenue moments after the car accident when emergency responders had arrived.

Hours later, a Beacon Police Officer was assigned to the road closure detail and was sitting in his car with his emergency lights activated when a third car driving from Beacon to Fishkill rear-ended him, kept on driving, and then collided into an unoccupied tow truck, upon which it came to a stop. That driver was arrested for DWI, resisting a breath test, and issued various other traffic violations, according to the press release issued by Beacon’s Police Department the day after. The Police Officer was taken to the hospital where he was evaluated and released.

Said one Beaconite who lives near the scene of the accident:I had just been driving past there 10 minutes before. We had space heaters on in the house that muffles the street noise, so we didn’t hear it. I went outside to grab something from my car and saw all the lights. This stretch of Fishkill Avenue is terrifying. So many near accidents happen outside of our house. I’ve written the Fishkill Town Board about it multiple times. I love my house and neighbors, but living here comes at a price!”

This story was reported earlier by the Highlands Current and MidHudson News. The press release is below in full:

### Press Release From The City Of Beacon Police Department ###

On 2/5/22 at approximately 2151hrs (9:51pm), the City of Beacon Police responded to the area of 511 Fishkill Avenue for a two car head on motor vehicle accident involving a Subaru Outback and a Jeep Grand Cherokee. The male driver, and sole occupant of the red Subaru, was later identified as Derron E. Holmes, a 49-year-old Beacon resident. Holmes was not breathing and did not have a pulse; therefore, he was removed from the vehicle and resuscitation efforts were administered. Holmes was transported to St. Luke's Hospital via Ambulanz where he was later pronounced deceased.

The second operator, and single male occupant of the Jeep, suffered from pain in multiple areas of his body. He was transported to Vassar Brothers Medical Center by Beacon Volunteer Ambulance and later released. The roadway was closed for traffic in order to reconstruct the accident which was being completed by the New York State Police Accident Reconstruction Team.

At approximately 0113hrs (1:13am) on 2/6/2022, a City of Beacon Police Officer assigned to the road closure was seated in the driver seat of his marked patrol vehicle with the emergency lights activated when he was rear ended by a Ford Bronco. The Bronco continued traveling North on Fishkill Avenue and struck the rear of an unoccupied tow truck where it finally came to rest. The lone occupant of the Bronco was identified as 49-year-old Joseph M. Jarossy of Glenham. Jarossy declined medical attention and was arrested by the New York State Police where he was charged with Driving While Intoxicated, refusal to submit to a breath test, as well as miscellaneous vehicle and traffic citations related to the accident. He is scheduled to appear in the City of Beacon Court at a future date.

The Beacon Police Officer was transported to St. Luke's Hospital by Ambulanz where he was evaluated and released. The fatal accident is still under investigation and no further details are available at this time.

- Detective Sergeant Jason Johnson #315

###

Tonight, there are three Public Hearings scheduled for the 12/17/2018 City Council Meeting, in which you are invited to contribute your opinion and feedback about drafts of laws put before the City Council. This is your chance to speak in public to the City Council, so that they may consider your thoughts before signing proposed legislation into law.

Usually what happens at the meetings is people attend - sometimes it’s just one - then they have a chance to voice their opinions at a podium, and the City Council considers what they said. The City Council may then take the draft of the law back into a “Workshop” session where they meet again to talk about it in detail, and/or the City Attorney may take notes from the City Council and make changes to the draft law, and present it again. If no one shows up to a Public Hearing, the City Council has what it needs in the draft law to vote on the proposed new law or change to an existing law, and possibly sign it into new law that night if they get majority votes from themselves.

Here’s What’s On Deck Tonight:

“SIGNS” - HOW SIGNS HUNG OUTSIDE IN PUBLIC VIEW ARE TREATED
From the City’s Agenda: “A continuation of a public hearing to receive public comment on a proposed Local Law to delete Chapter 183 entitled “Signs” and to amend Chapter 223 Sections 15 and 63 of Code of the City of Beacon, concerning sign regulations in the City of Beacon”
Background: Highlands Current reporter Jeff Simms has been covering this signage development that was triggered by a large white political sign hung on a building on Hanna Lane that can be seen on Route 52. You can read about that here from June 2018, and here from November 2018. According to the November article: “The law was called into question after the city repeatedly clashed with Jason Hughes, a business owner who hung politically topical banners on the side of a warehouse he owns that faces Route 52. The draft of the new regulations would require permits for certain signs but not others… Real estate and construction signs, for example, would be allowed in residential zones without a permit, as would lawn signs (not exceeding 3 square feet) for elections, yard sales and other events as long as they were removed within seven days after the event took place.”

MUNICIPAL IDs
From the City’s Agenda: “A public hearing to receive public comment on a proposed local law to create Chapter 42 of the Code of the City of Beacon to establish a Municipal Identification Program in the City of Beacon”

ZONING LAW TO ALLOW ALL ARCADES, NOT JUST VINTAGE ARCADES
From the City’s Agenda: A public hearing to receive public comment on a proposed local law to repeal Chapter 223, Article III, Section 24.8 and to amend Chapter 223, Attachment 2 of the Code of the City of Beacon concerning amusement centers containing only vintage amusement devices
Background: Proposed new business offerings at a property at 511 Fishkill Avenue (which is in Beacon but just outside of downtown Beacon, past AutoZone), include a brewery, an arcade, and an event space. The property owners are seeking the allowance of an arcade, without being restricted to offering vintage games/machines that were built prior to 1980.
Deep Dive: We took a Deep Dive into this one, to see what it was all about, and you can read about it here.

Drafts of the laws, emails from people, and other supporting documents that are to help educate everyone before a Public Hearing are linked with each agenda on the City of Beacon’s website. To help with the ease of use, we have republished those here in our format to help keep things easy to find. (We love our Search bar!)

Many other items are on the agenda for the City Council to discuss among themselves, but in public. A Little Beacon Blog has published the entire agenda for tonight here to help you keep up. We do this for all of the City Council Meetings (started doing it about a year ago). When a video of a City Council Meeting has been published, we re-publish it with its dedicated meeting web page as well.

Get The Supporting Documents Here