Hullabaloo on The Hudson

Questions over a racial attack unsettle a sleepy town

Wappingers Falls is so ordinary that it could serve as a set for the old television show Twilight Zone. Eighty miles up the Hudson River from New York City, the Dutchess County town has an unassuming 1950s air. A highway strip of car dealerships and fast-food joints leads into a village centered on a grassy park with a bandstand. A sign on Main Street announces Saturday-night bingo at St. Mary's Church. The biggest employer is IBM. The second biggest is New York State, which maintains a scattering of prisons and hospitals in the area.

And like a Twilight Zone set, Wappingers...

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