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| 2010 CALLS |
| JAN |
20 |
| FEB |
19 |
| MAR |
17 |
| APR |
14 |
| MAY |
16 |
| JUN |
15 |
| JUL |
0 |
| AUG |
0 |
| SEP |
0 |
| OCT |
0 |
| NOV |
0 |
| DEC |
0 |
| TOTAL |
101 |
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John Marcinak Memorial Gathering |
| December 31, 2009 |
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Story and picture courtesy of LoHud.com
More than 100 family and friends of beloved tow-truck operator John Marcinak gathered Thursday morning at his Garrison Garage on Route 9, where he was gunned down one year ago when he interrupted a burglary, police say.
Marcinak, a 49-year-old married father of three, was a fixture in the Garrison community, where he grew up and was a long-time member of the Garrison Volunteer Fire Department. He could often been seen driving his flatbed truck through town with his three children, taking them to school or after-school functions.
When investigators with the Putnam County Sheriff's Office charged a Lake Peekskill teen in June with Marcinak's murder, it brought some sense of justice to his family and friends.
But as the gathering Thursday inside the old stone garage showed, Marcinak's loss still weighs heavy on his community.
Putnam deputies slowed traffic outside the garage while more than 100 people filed into the musty building, where photos of Marcinak were set up on an old work bench near a pile of tires.
"John loved his community and would be amazed at the people here today," said Garrison firefighter Christopher Simone, who last saw Marcinak the morning he was killed when they passed while driving to work, as they did every day.
"I miss him. We all miss him."
Marcinak's widow, Janet, attended with their children, Julie 14; John, 10, and Joey, 9.
"It's been a year, but the community doesn't want to forget, and that's good for the kids," she said.
The Rev. Judy Ferguson, rector of Holy Innocents Episcopal Church in Highland Falls, urged people to overcome whatever anger they may still be holding over the senseless death.
Ferguson then had Marcinak's children join her in blessing the garage. They dipped sprigs of pine into holy water and sprayed it around the garage "to transfer it from a place of violence to a place of peace," she said.
Anthony Grigoroff, 18, of Morrissey Drive, Lake Peekskill, has been held without bail since June at the Putnam County Sheriff's Office on felony charges of second-degree murder, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and two counts of attempted second-degree burglary. His case is pending in County Court.
Sheriff Donald B. Smith, who attended the ceremony with Chief Investigator A. Gerald Schramek and several of their investigators, said the probe into Marcinak's slaying was continuing to determine if others were involved.
Andrew Marcinak tearfully urged anyone who knows anything about his brother's death to contact the Sheriff's Office.
"Murder is what happened to John, but to his family and friends, he was stolen from us — by an act of cowardice," he said.
Article from the Putnam County News & Recorder
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