Good evening and welcome everyone.

Welcome to our Caribbean American Heritage Month celebration.

We're here to honor the vital contributions Caribbean Americans make to Westchester County every day.

Our honorees represent the best of public service and community mentorship and inspire the next generation of leaders.

The first is well known to these halls, our former colleague, Judge Lyndon Williams.

He came to the U.S.

as a teenager from Georgetown Guyana and went to serve 12 years on this board.

We served as chair before going on to Mount Vernon to serve as a city court judge and where he created the Emerging Adult Justice Park, giving young people in the justice system real access to education, jobs, and training and a second chance before taking on uh these halls once again as the chair of the board's charter revision commission.

Welcome, Lyndon.

Uh we also have uh Coach Ted Bitter.

He came to the U.S.

from Kingston, Jamaica, served as a paratrooper in Vietnam, and has spent over 20 years coaching the Westchester Striders Track Club.

Together with his partner, he built the Bean Runner Cafe into a cultural hub for PeakScale celebrating art, music, and Caribbean Heritage.

Caribbean Heritage, uh Caribbean American Heritage Month reminds us that our diversity is what makes Westchester stronger.

We're all better off for it.

Um I invite Legislator Woodson Samuels to present the first proclamation.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Good evening, everyone.

It is my honor to recognize and celebrate a mentor, a friend, someone whose shoulders I stand upon, the honorable Judge Lyndon Williams, as part of our Caribbean Heritage Month celebration here in Westchester County.

As aforementioned, Lyndon was born in Georgetown, Guyana.

Judge Williams came to the United States as a teenager, bringing with him the values that have defined his remarkable life and career.

Hard work, integrity, public safety, and a commitment to improving the lives of others.

His record of service spans decades.

On the Mount Vernon City Council, where he served as the council president multiple times, he championed economic development, improved housing standards, public safety initiatives, youth services, and programs for seniors.

He then spent 12 years in this very chamber where he rose to become vice chairman and helped lead major investments in parks, recreation, affordable housing, health care, youth programming, and many other initiatives.

And I just want to say shameless plug memorial field, it's like a relay race.

You certainly started the race, and I was happy to work with our wonderful county executive at the time and our deputy county executive George Latimer and Ken Jenkins, and I want to give you your flowers for initiating that project, sir.

Thank you so much.

In 2020, he was elected Mount Vernon City Court Judge, where he continued his dedication to public service.

Most notably, he created the Mount Vernon Emerging Adult Justice Park, an innovative program focused on helping young adults ages 18 to 25 access education, job training, mentorship, and support services rather than simply cycling through the justice system.

The program has become a model in helping young people build successful futures while reducing recidivism.

Beyond public office, Judge Williams has distinguished himself as a certified public accountant, attorney, corporate executive, educator, and community leader.

He has practiced before some of the highest courts in the nation, served as president of the Westchester Black Bar Association, and remains deeply engaged in both the Mount Vernon and Caribbean communities.

Most importantly, throughout all of his accomplishments, he has remained a devoted husband to his wife, June, a proud father of three children, and a grandfather.

Judge Williams' life embodies the very best of the Caribbean American experience and that very best of public service.

On behalf of the Westchester County Board of Legislators, it is my privilege to recognize and honor Judge Lyndon Williams for his extraordinary contributions to our community.

And with that said, I'm happy to announce that today, June 15th, is officially Lyndon Williams Day in the County of Westchester.

Sir, come get your proclamation.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, uh legislator Tyree Wooden Samuels.

I am so proud of you and all of the great great work that you are doing.

Mr.

Chairman, Chairman Gashi, members of the Board of Legislators, I thank you for this recognition.

I am I am really, really humbled to be here to receive it from this particular body.

Having served here for twelve years, I know the great work that you do.

I know the great commitment that you have toward making Westchester a place for everyone, diverse all over this county.

And it's what one of the things to be very proud of as a resident of the county.

Thank you for your service to this country.

I want to actually reach out to my wife.

She's over there taking pictures and thank her.

Because uh for all the times that public service requires commitment, time, effort, whether you're in office or at home.

And she has been really at my back to make sure that I that not that I am doing the work as well as uh making my life a lot easier than it could have been had she not done so.

And so thank you, June, for all that you've done.

And I know I want to I want to also thank a lot of my friends who are a number of my friends who are here, uh, many of them I have called on from time to time.

You know, doing you run for office, but it doesn't happen by yourself.

You have to have supporters, you have to have people who actually believe in you, and they believe in me, and they have always supported me and always have been here when I needed to really get out there.

And great friends and family members who are here tonight.

Thank you very much for being here.