One of Ellenville’s institutions will shut down this month; the Ellenville Village Court holds its final session on November 22. Another institution, of the human variety, will leave at the same time. We are talking of Matthew Parker, who has been Village Justice for 30 years, elected again and again to the position.

But, before he became the village judge, Matthew Parker had another life. He is a New Yorker, born in Plattsburgh, and later, raised on Long Island in a house with female relatives including an aunt that he credits as being very important in shaping the man he became.

After graduating from high school, he joined the army and spent three years at Fort Dix in New Jersey, “home of the swine flu” as he notes wryly. “I missed Vietnam, by a year, so though I was of that generation I never served in Vietnam.” He served instead as a military police officer.

Leaving the military, he married his first wife, and moved to Modena, with a job at Price Brothers, and a part time position as a police officer for Plattekill. Price Brothers later moved south. Parker began college part time in 1979 at New Paltz, and eventually became a corrections officer.

“I served mostly at Fishkill Correctional, but also at Greenhaven.”

Thinking back to that period of his life, Parker said, “It was a good job. It wasn’t hard. You learned quickly how to deal with people and how to read people. The inmates were always trying to get over on you, after all they had all day to work on that. You learned consistency was vital in whatever it is you do.”

Real World Horrors

He was looking to move beyond that role, however, and he took the state police exam twice, passing the second time and entering the ranks of state troopers. Parker praises the system that trains people to be state police. “You go to the academy in Albany, stay there all week and go home at weekends. You get really excellent training; you really get in depth instruction. For the most part I found the classes to be worthwhile. But, of course, it isn’t until you get out on the street that you see what the real world is like.”

Parker spent nine years as a trooper. “I was still living in Modena, but I was assigned to the barracks, SP Ellenville. I had wanted to transfer over to Highland, closer to home, but someone told me, ‘You’ll see more in Ellenville in one year than most troopers will see in their whole careers.’”

And to some extent, he says, that was true.

“I saw everything… murders to suicides. We saw a lot more serious crimes down here and it is still a very busy station.”

It didn’t take long for him to see the dark side of things. “I remember an incident from very early in my career. A guy who was in love with a young lady who did not return the affection. So, he parked outside her house and shot her through the window.”

Parker then noted how the suicides are also memories that linger, unfortunately. “Some of the most disturbing things were the suicides you see. I remember this Japanese art student. Was living in Ulster Heights in a cabin in the winter. The landlord stopped hearing from him and come the spring we went up there and found him lying dead on the floor. He’d shot himself, but he’d also shot the TV. The thing about that case, though was the 12 small paintings he left behind. You could see the visual progression into the darkness in those paintings. He also left a long letter in Japanese, and we had that translated at the Japanese embassy in New York City. He said the TV had been taking over his mind.”

NY State Troopers, like many police folk, deal with the worst things in human society. Parker recalled another issue. “A guy in Rochester, his mother died and there was a fight with the sister over the house he lived in. She won the house; he blew his head off inside it. It was pretty nasty.”

Switching away to the accidents that troopers also have to deal with, he noted, “There were a couple of sky divers, their parachutes didn’t open. When they land feet first, it ain’t pretty.”

Changing Paths

His personal life took another turn about then. His marriage broke down and ended in divorce. He moved to an apartment in Kerhonkson. He eventually met another lady, Lucy, living nearby and they ended up getting married. “I’m such a romantic,” quipped Parker. “I proposed to her in the parking lot at Macy’s in Kingston.”

He was lucky and she accepted him. They bought a house in Ellenville.

Then, as a seasoned state trooper, another change came along. Following the development of a health issue, which was thought wrongly to be epileptic in nature, but Parker thinks now might have been a variant on PTSD, he was on disability and his state police pension. The options were not ideal. He ended up taking a job at the Fallsview Hotel. “I was head of security there, and eventually became assistant general manager. So the story went, I used to go to the bagel shop in Ellenville. The judges went there, too. One of them asked me if I wanted to become an acting judge. There was a problem though, since the local Democrats had asked me to run for mayor.”

His wife put a stop to those thoughts. “She said she would divorce me if I ran. She wasn’t having people being nice to her face and then running her down behind her back.”

Meanwhile, someone else had been given the acting judge position, but that person ran into a storm. He lasted a day.

“So the opening reappeared and I became acting judge under Justice Ronald Elias. That lasted several years and I ran for village judge and won. I’ve been reelected ever since. I’ve been a judge now for 30 years.”

End of an Era

Judge Parker is not in favor of discontinuing the village court. He said, “I think it’s very shortsighted on the part of the mayor and the village board. Governments of towns and villages have three legs, legislative, executive and judicial and they’re taking away one of those legs.”

Parker is still puzzled and disturbed by Ellenville Mayor Jeff Kaplan’s description of the village court as a “silly court.”

He added, “Doing away with the village court will put a tremendous strain on the town court. And the village will lose out on revenue generated by the court.”

Several issues come up for Parker at this point, and he noted with some anger, “My court clerk, who handles tremendous amounts of work, is completely underpaid and they refused to give her a 25 cent an hour raise. The clerks are the heart of the courts. I would be lost without the great clerks I have had over the years. I feel this was a tremendous act of disrespect.”

But then, what is going to happen to the courts in Wawarsing? Wawarsing Town Judge Charles Dechon has already described the court room at the Town Hall as being too small. There is also some concern about fire safety. The only way out of the court room in a major fire would be the old fire escape down the back of the building. Fire safety experts have told the Journal that the situation has much to be desired. If the court room was packed, as Parker’s court room at Elting Court often is, then there could be issues.

Parker says he is disturbed by the lack of communication he and his court have received from the town.

“Nobody has spoken to us at all. I’m under the impression that there has not been a lot of conversation about it. There are just two weeks left and then it’s over. All the cases will then go to the town court. I don’t know what the town plans to do with all the extra cases they are going to receive.”

Pulling back to the bigger picture of justice in New York State, Parker sees the recently enacted bail reform as the biggest issue. “I see that as a reaction to what had been going on in New York City. People, not convicted of anything, spending months in Rikers Island. And it is true that the less fortunate could end up in jail because they simply can’t make a minimal amount of bail.”

But the solution, he believes, needs to be more nuanced.

“They took away judges’ discretion. You can’t have the pendulum swing too far left. Now the judges’ hands are tied. Anything other than the most serious offences just gets an appearance ticket, and then you have to hope the person comes back.”

And he noted, “What is the danger to the public from having someone walk out that way. And also to the victim of a crime that they may have committed?”

Parker admits that this is complicated, for an obvious reason. “I can see that some changes were necessary in New York City. But when you get to the rural areas it’s a different thing. And here I think it frustrates officers at all levels. They become discouraged to an extent. It’s gone too far and needs to be reformed.”

Judge Parker gave thanks and praise to the clerks who have supported the court over the decades, and also to the voters of Ellenville for electing him so many times.

“I am grateful to each and every one of them.”

He expressed optimism regarding the future of the village. “We have great assets, like the Shadowland theater, our restaurants, some nice stores. Look at what Genaro and Maria have done with Gaby’s and Cohen’s; those are showcases for the village.”

He noted with approval the changes that are underway. “A lot of artists have moved here. There are several in my neighborhood, and they are bringing new energy and purpose to the place.”

And what might he do next?

No major adventures are on his mind. “I am quite content to live in my house with my dogs, it’s a nice neighborhood and I like it here.”