<font face=”verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif”><font size=”2″><strong><span class=”deck”>Hyde Park will leave Nativity scene</span><br /><br /></strong>A manger scene will remain on the lawn of town hall.<br /><br />A day after asking the town to remove the nativity scene, Bonnie Meadow, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Dutchess County, has withdrawn her request.<br /><br />The public outcry following her request was more than Meadow expected, she said in a letter today to Hyde Park Supervisor Pompey Delafield. She had asked the town to remove the manger scene, claiming it offended some non-Christians in Hyde Park and that it violated federal law.<br /><br />“I never dreamt that my request to remove the nativity scene at the offices of the Town of Hyde Park would upset so many people so much,” Meadow said in the letter. “It was never my intent to hurt anyone or to spoil their holidays. In view of the public outcry, I hereby rescind my request to you.<br /><br />“I apologize for whatever difficulty this may have caused and I wish you and your community a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays,” she said.<br /><br />After researching the legality of the issue, Hyde Park Supervisor Pompey Delafield today said the manger will stay due to it being a longstanding tradition. He did not mention, however, that Meadow had withdrawn her request.<br /></font></font><p><font face=”verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif” size=”2″>“The Hyde Park Knights of Columbus have provided and maintained a nativity scene as part of a 30-year-old holiday celebration,” Delafield said in a prepared statement this afternoon. “We have and will continue to honor that tradition again this year. This display is the property of the Knights of Columbus and we will continue to work with them to address any appropriate future tradition for the nativity scene after the holidays.”<br /><br />Delafied also said the town will welcome the placement of other religious symbols on the town hall lawn.<br /><br />“The town honors all religions in this holiday season and would be open to a similar display of the menorah to honor the season of Chanukah, or any other appropriate season display as a part of this year’s holiday offering at town hall,” Delafield said in the statement.<br /><br />The Hyde Park Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men’s organization, have put up the manger scene on the town hall lawn every Christmas season for more than 30 years.</font></p><p><font face=”verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif” size=”2″><a href=”http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071206/NEWS01/712060335" target=”_blank”>Continue…<br /></a></font></p>
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