NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Today we ask, who is Aline Halle Misner?
Aline Halle Misner is a self-described “4th generation resident of New Rochelle”, according to the New Rochelle Public Library Foundation where she was appointed to the Board in January 2021.
Her LinkedIN profile indicates she graduated from New Rochelle High School in 2001, graduated from college and works as a marketing executive for Acoustic Distinctions, an audio engineering firm which boasts of its “longstanding relationship with News Corp. since 2002” providing design and consulting services for Fox News Channel and Fox News Radio among other Rupert Murdoch properties.
Until Saturday, I had never heard of her, but apparently she is not a fan of my work. Why exactly, she does not say, but some recent article of mine apparently triggered her to go public with her grievances.
Over the weekend I offered a tongue-in-cheek response to an angry screed posted by Ms. Halle Misner in the Mom’s of New Rochelle Facebook Group announcing her intention to “boycott” Talk of the Sound — and calling on other Mom’s of New Rochelle to do the same — as a form of coercion.
But it is no laughing matter that Aline Halle Misner is seeking to shut down public discourse in New Rochelle while serving on a Board with a mission to “enhance opportunities for lifelong learning, exploration and public discourse.”
How can a person who opposes public discourse serve on a board whose mission is to enhance public discourse?
Halle Misner does not say but presumably her idea is that there is acceptable public discourse and unacceptable public discourse and Halle Misner is the self-appointed arbiter of which is which, Chief of the Thought Police.
That a person involved in a public library wants to shut down speech she does not like is troubling and makes her, in my view, unfit to sit on a library foundation board. She should resign or be removed from the NRPL Foundation.
She does not say specifically what sent her over the edge (“I have stood by (sic) been quiet for too long. Something needs to be done about Talk of the Sound”) but it is reasonable to believe she was reacting to my two stories on David Lacher this week, in particular this one:
“I am sick and tired of this “reporter” trashing this City and its members.
New Rochelle is not a coffee klatsch and its residents are not members. It is a City of 80,000 people and all that goes with it.
In her angry screed, Halle Misner says she will not read articles published by Talk of the Sound then goes on to say I need to be “taught a lesson in manners, personal matters and what constitutes news” then nominates herself for the job. She obviously did not read our first article based largely on court records.
As I explained in our Editor’s Note, starting on April 12, I repeatedly rejected pleas from Stephanie Lombardo to publish a story about her personal relationship with David Lacher because it was not news.
We explained to Lombardo that we did not report on such personal matters but rather public events, police and fire incidents, public sector corruption and similar “hard news” and unless the police or courts were involved in a criminal matter, there was no reason to publish a story about a personal relationship… While the texts and emails from Lacher to Lombardo were at times lewd, graphic and highly sexualized we saw nothing he wrote that rose to the level of a story for publication.
That changed dramatically today after Lacher and two other people filed statements with the New Rochelle Police Department seeking and getting criminal charges brought against Lombardo by the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.
Lacher is a public figure and the matter is now before the New Rochelle City Court and a matter of public record. This is no longer a personal matter.
It is newsworthy that David Lacher, an attorney and a public figure in New Rochelle, filed a police statement seeking criminal charges against a woman who he swore caused him to be in fear then spent the next month communicating with her, meeting with her and seeking to have sex with her — and her mother, together.
It is newsworthy that a sitting school board trustee filed a police statement seeking criminal charges against that same woman.
Once criminal charges were filed, and the police, the District Attorney and the courts became involved, it was no longer a private matter.
As this is obvious and Aline Halle Misner is an educated woman, it is not plausible that her grievance here is that the Lacher Mess is a personal matter. She presumably knows better.
This being so, the only logical explanation for Halle Misner’s rant is that she has an unstated agenda for defending David Lacher.
So, come on Aline. What’s your real agenda?
i have noticed that the loudest protestors are usually guilty of what they accuse others of …
Does she have the same rabbi or attend the same synagogue as David lacher? Thats probably a good place to start imo.
Mr. Cox, I found that we are now living in a world where people continue to confuse facts with opinions, emotions and all sorts of other things. Holding a degree in Communication Arts specializing in Print Journalism myself I thank you for continuing to report on what’s going on in New Rochelle. The articles on the Post Office and the Kamal Flower shooting were great. I have commented before (paraphrasing The Friends of Voltaire) I (may on many occasions) disapprove of what you say but will defend to the death your right to say it!