Leprechauns Get Annual Amnesty in Putnam Valley
By Sara Dunn
As is tradition at their annual February voting meeting, the Putnam Valley Town Board unanimously granted amnesty for local leprechauns and any mischief they make leading up to St. Patrick’s Day — specifically, the painting of a large shamrock at the main intersection in town known as Oregon Corners.
The Leprechaun Resolution, originally drafted in 1986 by former Town Attorney Herman Taub, reads in part: “WHEREAS, it has come to the attention of the Town Board of Putnam Valley that spirits, goblins, wee folks, fairies and leprechauns do appear at strange and eerie hours and areas…And WHEREAS, it would be to no avail to provide for corporal or other punishments since fairies, spirits, wee folk, leprechauns, goblins of the hob type are incorrigible…And WHEREAS, and while these mischievous doings have been here forthwith erroneously ascribed to human source…NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that for the period of 12:01 a.m. on March 12, 2012 until 5 a.m. on March 17, 2012 should there be any artistic drawing mysteriously appearing on the pavement of the road at Oregon Corners,…a period of amnesty and freedom from corporal punishment and corporeal and “incorporeal” restraint of the alleged perpetrators is hereby declared only for the period and purposes set forth above.”
But did the Town Board seated in 1986 and its varying incarnations since then really believe that tiny men ran amok in the small town painting clover leaves on roads?
From speaking with former Town Supervisor Sallie Sypher and former Town Councilman Sal Santamorena, the Leprechaun Resolution, despite its talk of other worldly beings with supernatural abilities, actually had a more practical purpose.
“Some local clowns used to paint a shamrock, or two or three, at Oregon Corners,” Sypher said, who was town supervisor for eight years and a councilwoman for eight years previous to that. “And one year, the cops tried to issue them a ticket or threatened to issue them a ticket.”
Santamorena, a member of the Town Board for eight years, remembered that someone had called the police on the holiday graffiti artists and the Town Board saw fit to protect this specific holiday tradition in town.
“Rather than have people get in trouble for something that was so innocent, we decided to give them absolution for their crimes,” Santamorena said.
The Leprechaun Resolution includes a clause that addresses the fact that while random witnesses to the placement of the painted shamrock may have believed they saw mortal men doing so, that according to the local law, “it is known that these wee folks have the power to appear and disappear at will and take the form of humans or animals.”
Santamorena said the use of the cute and whimsical language used to craft the resolution was out of character for the former Town Attorney Taub. Nonetheless, there is proof Taub remained proud of it, as in recent years he had read it aloud for the amusement of his companions at a social gathering.
Sypher said the resolution had its intended effect.
“It got a lot of laughs and the police didn’t interfere anymore,” Sypher said.
While the shamrock still appears every year at Oregon Corners, everyone says they don’t know who is responsible.
“I think a couple of the original perpetrators are still around,” Santamorena said jokingly, theorizing that the plan to paint the shamrock may have first been concocted at a local bar that has since closed. “I’ve never asked around who it is, but I’ve always had my suspicions.”
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.