Hudson Mayor William Hallenbeck Jr.

(HUDSON, N.Y., September 3, 2014) – Reading between the lines of an article in today’s Register-Star (“Mayor endorses Anti-Bullying Awareness Month”), it appears that Hudson Mayor William Hallenbeck Jr. plagiarized extensively an “anti-bullying” proclamation from one that New York State Assembly members adopted last June.

According to the Register-Star article, both the state assembly’s resolution and the mayor’s statement “refer to ‘an estimated 160,000 children’ who, each day, refuse to attend school ‘because they dread the physical and verbal aggression of their peers,’ and alienation caused by rumors and cyber-bullying.”

Additionally, according to the newspaper, both items say that “It is important that we acknowledge and heighten awareness about the serious issues and the negative effects of bullying,” from “the long-term damage it can cause in our youth, as well as the risks of teenage suicide.”

As part of the mayor’s speech, according to the article, Hallenback spoke in favor of “reinstitut[ing] a former school resource officer program.” At one time, the mayor held this position, or one similar to it, in Hudson schools. The end of his tenure in the position has always been shrouded in murkiness, if not secrecy.