Schenectady County’s rejection of Bisco permit again upheld

PHOTOGRAPHER: Peter R. Barber

Deborah Mutsico of Duanesburg Churches Road holds a photograph of a motor home that got stuck in front of her house after the last Camp Bisco on April 10.

A state Supreme Court justice once again upheld Schenectady County’s decision to deny a mass-gathering permit to host Camp Bisco, the controversial music festival, at Indian Lookout Country Club in Duanesburg.

Last spring, the club’s owner sued the county after the permit was denied.

Judge Vincent Reilly Jr. ruled the county had “reasonable basis” to deny the permit in October, but the club’s owner made a motion to reargue and renew the court’s prior decision.

“In the present case, the petitioners have failed to establish that this court overlooked or misapprehended the facts or the law or mistakenly arrived at its prior decision,” Reilly wrote in this week’s three-page ruling. “Therefore, the petitioners’ motion is denied.”

Schenectady County Attorney Chris Gardner said to reargue Reilly’s first decision, the petitioners used the out-of-court oral testimony of a non-party witness in the case Bynum v. Camp Bisco.

In 2013, festival organizers and the campground owner were hit with a lawsuit on behalf of Heather Bynum, a 2012 festival-goer. Bynum’s mother alleges emergency responders took too long to get to Bynum after she suffered a massive seizure at the event and fell into a coma.

Gardner said they used the testimony of Bynum’s then-boyfriend, Ronald Elwertowski Jr., to make the argument there were no open drug sales at the music festival, but the newly-presented information did not change the court’s decision.

“The facts they presented supported our contention that Camp Bisco was essentially an open area drug market,” Gardner said Thursday. “We’ve had a number of serious injuries from Camp Bisco … it demonstrates there is a need for stronger law enforcement presence there if it’s ever to be held again.

“We feel Judge Reilly’s decision vindicates the county Pubic Health Department and the county sheriff,” he said.

The country club still has an appeal pending on the decision with the state Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, which could take through this summer for legal action to be completed.

“I think we have a very strong legal position,” Gardner said. “You can never predict a case, but I feel very confident we will prevail on the appeal.”