Westchester Guardian

District Attorney Janet DiFiore

Must Come Clean!!!By SAM ZHERKA, Page 19

www.westchesterguardian.com

PRESORTEDSTANDARD

PERMIT #3036WHITE PLAINS NY

Westchester’s Most Influential WeeklyVol. VI No. XXIV Thursday, June 14, 2012 $1.00

Page 2 THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012 Page 3THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2012 Page 3THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2012THE WESTcHESTER GUARDiAn

Of Significance

Community Section ...............................................................................4Business ................................................................................................4Calendar ...............................................................................................4Charity ..................................................................................................5Contest ..................................................................................................6Creative Disruption ............................................................................6Education .............................................................................................7Fashion ..................................................................................................8Fitness....................................................................................................9Health ..................................................................................................10History ................................................................................................10Ed Koch Movie Review ...................................................................12Spoof ....................................................................................................13Sports Scene .......................................................................................13Najah’s Corner ...................................................................................13Writers Collection.............................................................................14Books ...................................................................................................16Transportation ...................................................................................17

Government Section ............................................................................17Albany Correspondent ....................................................................17Mayor Marvin’s Column .................................................................18Government .......................................................................................19

OpEd Section .........................................................................................23Ed Koch Commentary.....................................................................23Letters to the Editor ..........................................................................24Weir Only Human ............................................................................25

Legal Notices ..........................................................................................26

Mission StatementThe Westchester Guardian is a weekly newspaper devoted to the unbiased reporting of events and developments that are newsworthy and significant to readers living in, and/or employed in, Westchester County. The Guardian will strive to report fairly, and objectively, reliable informa-

tion without favor or compromise. Our first duty will be to the PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO KNOW, by the exposure of truth, without fear or hesitation, no matter where the pursuit may lead, in the finest tradition of FREEDOM

OF THE PRESS.

The Guardian will cover news and events relevant to residents and businesses all over Westchester County. As a weekly, rather than

focusing on the immediacy of delivery more associated with daily journals, we will instead seek to provide the broader, more compre-

hensive, chronological step-by-step accounting of events, enlightened with analysis, where appropriate.

From amongst journalism’s classic key-words: who, what, when, where, why, and how, the why and how will drive our pursuit. We will use our more abundant time, and our resources, to get past the initial ‘spin’ and ‘damage control’ often characteristic of immediate news releases, to reach the very heart of the matter: the truth. We will take our readers to a point of understanding and insight which cannot be obtained elsewhere.

To succeed, we must recognize from the outset that bigger is not neces-sarily better. And, furthermore, we will acknowledge that we cannot be

all things to all readers. We must carefully balance the presentation of relevant, hard-hitting, Westchester news and commentary, with features and columns useful in daily living and employment in, and around, the county. We must stay trim and flexible if we are to succeed.

westchesterguard ian .com

Westchester’s Most Influential Weekly

Guardian News Corp. P.O. Box 8

New Rochelle, New York 10801

Sam Zherka , Publisher & President [email protected]

Hezi Aris, Editor-in-Chief & Vice President [email protected]

Advertising: (914) 562-0834 News and Photos: (914) 562-0834

Fax: (914) 633-0806

Published online every Monday

Print edition distributed Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday

Graphic Design: Watterson Studios, Inc. www.wattersonstudios.com

RADIO

Westchester On the Level with Narog and ArisWestchester On the Level is heard from Monday to Friday, from 10 a.m. to 12 Noon on the Internet: http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com/WestchesterOntheLevel. Join the conversation by calling toll-free to 1-877-674-2436. Please stay on topic.Richard Narog and Hezi Aris are your co-hosts. In the week beginning February 20th and ending on February 24th, we have an exciting entourage of guests. Every Monday is special. On Monday, February 20th, Krystal Wade, a celebrated participant in http://www.TheWritersCollection.com is our guest. Krystal Wade is a mother of three who works fifty miles from home and writes in her “spare time.” “Wilde’s Fire,” her debut novel has been accepted for publication and should be available in 2012. Not far behind is her second novel, “Wilde’s Army.” How does she do it? Tune in and find out.Co-hosts Richard Narog and Hezi Aris will relish the dissection of all things politics on Tuesday, February 21st. Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick will share his perspective from the august inner sanctum of the City Council Chambers on Wednesday, February 22nd. Stephen Cerrato, Esq., will share his political insight on Thursday, February 23rd. Friday, February 24th has yet to be filled. It may be a propi-tious day to sum up what transpired throughout the week. A sort of BlogTalk Radio version of That Was The Week That Was (TWTWTW).For those who cannot join us live, consider listening to the show by way of an MP3 download, or on demand. Within 15 minutes of a show’s ending, you can find the segment in our archive that you may link to using the hyperlink provided in the opening paragraph. The entire archive is available and maintained for your perusal. The easiest way to find a particular interview is to search Google, or any other search engine, for the subject matter or the name of the interviewee. For example, search Google, Yahoo, AOL Search for Westchester On the Level, Blog Talk Radio, or use the hyperlink above.

Page 3THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2012THE WESTcHESTER GUARDiAn

Of Significance

Community Section ...............................................................................4Business ................................................................................................4Calendar ...............................................................................................4Charity ..................................................................................................5Contest ..................................................................................................6Creative Disruption ............................................................................6Education .............................................................................................7Fashion ..................................................................................................8Fitness....................................................................................................9Health ..................................................................................................10History ................................................................................................10Ed Koch Movie Review ...................................................................12Spoof ....................................................................................................13Sports Scene .......................................................................................13Najah’s Corner ...................................................................................13Writers Collection.............................................................................14Books ...................................................................................................16Transportation ...................................................................................17

Government Section ............................................................................17Albany Correspondent ....................................................................17Mayor Marvin’s Column .................................................................18Government .......................................................................................19

OpEd Section .........................................................................................23Ed Koch Commentary.....................................................................23Letters to the Editor ..........................................................................24Weir Only Human ............................................................................25

Legal Notices ..........................................................................................26

Mission StatementThe Westchester Guardian is a weekly newspaper devoted to the unbiased reporting of events and developments that are newsworthy and significant to readers living in, and/or employed in, Westchester County. The Guardian will strive to report fairly, and objectively, reliable informa-

tion without favor or compromise. Our first duty will be to the PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO KNOW, by the exposure of truth, without fear or hesitation, no matter where the pursuit may lead, in the finest tradition of FREEDOM

OF THE PRESS.

The Guardian will cover news and events relevant to residents and businesses all over Westchester County. As a weekly, rather than

focusing on the immediacy of delivery more associated with daily journals, we will instead seek to provide the broader, more compre-

hensive, chronological step-by-step accounting of events, enlightened with analysis, where appropriate.

From amongst journalism’s classic key-words: who, what, when, where, why, and how, the why and how will drive our pursuit. We will use our more abundant time, and our resources, to get past the initial ‘spin’ and ‘damage control’ often characteristic of immediate news releases, to reach the very heart of the matter: the truth. We will take our readers to a point of understanding and insight which cannot be obtained elsewhere.

To succeed, we must recognize from the outset that bigger is not neces-sarily better. And, furthermore, we will acknowledge that we cannot be

all things to all readers. We must carefully balance the presentation of relevant, hard-hitting, Westchester news and commentary, with features and columns useful in daily living and employment in, and around, the county. We must stay trim and flexible if we are to succeed.

westchesterguard ian .com

Westchester’s Most Influential Weekly

Guardian News Corp. P.O. Box 8

New Rochelle, New York 10801

Sam Zherka , Publisher & President [email protected]

Hezi Aris, Editor-in-Chief & Vice President [email protected]

Advertising: (914) 562-0834 News and Photos: (914) 562-0834

Fax: (914) 633-0806

Published online every Monday

Print edition distributed Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday

Graphic Design: Watterson Studios, Inc. www.wattersonstudios.com

RADIO

Westchester On the Level with Narog and ArisWestchester On the Level is heard from Monday to Friday, from 10 a.m. to 12 Noon on the Internet: http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com/WestchesterOntheLevel. Join the conversation by calling toll-free to 1-877-674-2436. Please stay on topic.Richard Narog and Hezi Aris are your co-hosts. In the week beginning February 20th and ending on February 24th, we have an exciting entourage of guests. Every Monday is special. On Monday, February 20th, Krystal Wade, a celebrated participant in http://www.TheWritersCollection.com is our guest. Krystal Wade is a mother of three who works fifty miles from home and writes in her “spare time.” “Wilde’s Fire,” her debut novel has been accepted for publication and should be available in 2012. Not far behind is her second novel, “Wilde’s Army.” How does she do it? Tune in and find out.Co-hosts Richard Narog and Hezi Aris will relish the dissection of all things politics on Tuesday, February 21st. Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick will share his perspective from the august inner sanctum of the City Council Chambers on Wednesday, February 22nd. Stephen Cerrato, Esq., will share his political insight on Thursday, February 23rd. Friday, February 24th has yet to be filled. It may be a propi-tious day to sum up what transpired throughout the week. A sort of BlogTalk Radio version of That Was The Week That Was (TWTWTW).For those who cannot join us live, consider listening to the show by way of an MP3 download, or on demand. Within 15 minutes of a show’s ending, you can find the segment in our archive that you may link to using the hyperlink provided in the opening paragraph. The entire archive is available and maintained for your perusal. The easiest way to find a particular interview is to search Google, or any other search engine, for the subject matter or the name of the interviewee. For example, search Google, Yahoo, AOL Search for Westchester On the Level, Blog Talk Radio, or use the hyperlink above.

Of Significance

Community Section ...............................................................................4Business ................................................................................................4Calendar ...............................................................................................4Creative Disruption ............................................................................5Cultural Perspective ...........................................................................7Energy Issues .......................................................................................8In Memoriam ....................................................................................10Medicine .............................................................................................10Najah’s Corner ...................................................................................11Movie Review ....................................................................................12Music ...................................................................................................12Community ........................................................................................13Writers Collection.............................................................................14Books ...................................................................................................16People ..................................................................................................18Eye On Theatre ..................................................................................18Leaving on a Jet Plane ......................................................................19

Government Section ............................................................................20Campaign Trail ..................................................................................20Economic Development ..................................................................20Education ...........................................................................................21The Hezitorial ....................................................................................21Legal ....................................................................................................23People ..................................................................................................24Strategy ...............................................................................................24

OpEd Section .........................................................................................25Legal Notices ..........................................................................................27

RADIO

Westchester On the Level with Narog and ArisWestchester On the Level is usually heard from Monday to Friday, from 10 a.m. to 12 Noon on the Internet: http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com/WestchesterOntheLevel. Because of the importance of a Federal court case purporting corruption and bribery allegations, programming with be suspended for the days of March 26 to 29, 2012. Yon-kers Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor James Sadewhite is our scheduled guest Friday, March 30.

It is however anticipated that the jury will conclude its deliberation on either Mon-day or Tuesday, March 26 or 27. Should that be the case, we will resume our regular programming schedule and announce that fact on the Yonkers Tribune website.Richard Narog and Hezi Aris are co-hosts of the show.

Page 26 The WesTchesTer Guardian ThursdaY, FeBruarY 23, 2012

George WeinbaumATTORNEY AT LAW

175 MAIN ST., SUITE 711-7 • WHITE PLAINS, NY 10601

FREE CONSULTATION:

Before speaking to the police... call

Criminal, Medicaid, Medicare Fraud, White-Collar Crime &Health Care Prosecutions. T. 914.948.0044

F. 914.686.4873Professional Dominican

Hairstylists & Nail Technicians

Yudi’s Salon 610 Main St, New Rochelle, NY 10801 914.633.7600

Hair Cuts • Styling • Wash & Set • PermingPedicure • Acrylic Nails • Fill Ins • Silk Wraps • Nail Art Designs

Highights • Coloring • Extensions • Manicure • Eyebrow Waxing

LEGAL NOTICESCLASSIFIED ADSOffice Space Available-

Prime Location, Yorktown Heights1,000 Sq. Ft.: $1800. Contact Wilca: 914.632.1230

Prime Retail - Westchester CountyBest Location in Yorktown Heights

1100 Sq. Ft. Store $3100; 1266 Sq. Ft. store $2800 and 450 Sq. Ft. Store $1200.

Suitable for any type of business. Contact Wilca: 914.632.1230

HELP WANTEDA non profit Performing Arts Center is seeking two job positions- 1) Direc-tor of Development- FT-must have a background in development or expe-rience fundraising, knowledge of what development entails and experi-ence working with sponsors/donors; 2) Operations Manager- must have a good knowledge of computers/software/ticketing systems, duties include overseeing all box office, concessions, movie staffing, day of show lobby staffing such as Merchandise seller, bar sales. Must be familiar with POS system and willing to organize concessions. Full time plus hours. Call (203) 438-5795 and ask for Julie or Allison

FAMILY COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORKCOUNTY OF WESTCHESTERIn the Matter of ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE SUMMONS AND INQUEST NOTICE

Chelsea Thomas (d.o.b. 7/14/94),

A Child Under 21 Years of Age Dkt Nos. NN-10514/15/16-10/12C

Adjudicated to be Neglected by NN-2695/96-10/12B FU No.: 22303

Tiffany Ray and Kenneth Thomas, Respondents. XNOTICE: PLACEMENT OF YOUR CHILD IN FOSTER CARE MAY RESULT IN YOUR LOSS OF YOUR RIGHTS TO YOUR CHILD. IF YOUR CHILD STAYS IN FOSTER CARE FOR 15 OF THE MOST RECENT 22 MONTHS, THE AGENCY MAY BE REQUIRED BY LAW TO FILE A PETITION TO TERMINATE YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS AND COMMITMENT OF GUARDIANSHIP AND CUSTODY OF THE CHILD FOR THE PURPOSES OF ADOPTION, AND MAY FILE BEFORE THE END OF THE 15-MONTH PERIOD.

UPON GOOD CAUSE, THE COURT MAY ORDER AN INVESTIGATION TO DETERMINE WHETH-ER THE NON-RESPONSENT PARENT(s) SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS A RESPONDENT; IF THE COURT DETERMINES THE CHILD SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM HIS/HER HOME, THE COURT MAY ORDER AN INVESTIGATION TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE NON-RESPONDENT PARENT(s) SHOULD BE SUITABLE CUSTODIANS FOR THE CHILD; IF THE CHILD IS PLACED AND REMAINS IN FOSTER CARE FOR FIFTEEN OF THE MOST RECENT TWENTY-TWO MONTHS, THE AGENCY MAY BE REQUIRED TO FILE A PETITION FOR TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS OF THE PARENT(s) AND COMMITMENT OF GUARDIANSHIP AND CUSTODY OF THE CHILD FOR THE PURPOSES OF ADOPTION, EVEN IF THE PARENT(s) WERE NOT NAMED AS RESPONDENTS IN THE CHILD NEGLECT OR ABUSE PROCEEDING.

A NON-CUSTODIAL PARENT HAS THE RIGHT TO REQUEST TEMPORARY OR PERMANENT CUS-TODY OF THE CHILD AND TO SEEK ENFORCEMENT OF VISITATION RIGHTS WITH THE CHILD.

BY ORDER OF THE FAMILY COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

TO THE ABOVE-NAMED RESPONDENT(S) WHO RESIDE(S) OR IS FOUND AT [specify address(es)]:

Last known addresses: TIFFANY RAY: 24 Garfield Street, #3, Yonkers, NY 10701

Last known addresses: KENNETH THOMAS: 24 Garfield Street, #3, Yonkers, NY 10701

An Order to Show Cause under Article 10 of the Family Court Act having been filed with this Court seeking to modify the placement for the above-named child.

YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to appear before this Court at Yonkers Family Court located at 53 So. Broadway, Yonkers, New York, on the 28th day of March, 2012 at 2;15 pm in the afternoon of said day to answer the petition and to show cause why said child should not be adjudicated to be a neglected child and why you should not be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of Article 10 of the Family Court Act.

PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE, that you have the right to be represented by a law-yer, and if the Court finds you are unable to pay for a lawyer, you have the right to have a lawyer assigned by the Court.

PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE, that if you fail to appear at the time and place noted above, the Court will hear and determine the petition as provided by law.

Dated: January 30, 2012 BY ORDER OF THE COURT CLERK OF THE COURT

Get Noticed Get Noticed

Legal Notices, Advertise TodayLegal Notices,

Advertise Today

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[email protected]

(914) 562-0834

Of Significance

Community Section .....................................................................................3Art ................................................................................................................3Calendar .....................................................................................................4Creative Disruption ..................................................................................6Cultural Perspectiive ................................................................................7Economic Development..........................................................................8Education .................................................................................................10Federal Grant ...........................................................................................11Scholarship ...............................................................................................12Sports ........................................................................................................12The Spoof .................................................................................................13Eye On Theatre ........................................................................................13Zoning.......................................................................................................15

Government Section ..................................................................................16Albany Correspondent ..........................................................................16Message from the Mayor .......................................................................17Legislation ................................................................................................17Mayor Marvin .........................................................................................17

OpEd Section ...............................................................................................19Cover .........................................................................................................19Letters to the Editor ................................................................................20Weir Only Human ..................................................................................22

Legal Notices ................................................................................................20




FREE CONSULTATION:
































Advertise Today

1 column2 column

[email protected]

Westchester On the Level with Narog and ArisWestchester On the Level is heard from Monday to Friday, from 10 a.m. to 12 Noon on the Internet: http://www.BlogTalkRadio.com/Westchester OntheLevel. Join the conversation by calling 1-347-205-9201. Please stay on topic.

RADIO

914-562-0834

Page 3THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

CommunitySectionART

By ABBY LUBYDon Alter was very much at home in the well lit Hudson Beach gallery in Beacon, New York. The 81-year-old artist was surrounded by his latest body of

work - a stopping point of sorts to mark more than six decades of painting. Alter is one of the sole remaining students of the famed Black Mountain College of the 1940’s, an experience that shaped him as a maturing, young artist. Today, Alter is more like a philosopher who articulates his theo-ries through painting, and who is informed by a diverse set of life experiences .

Alter was a first generation American who was raised in The Bronx by his Polish immi-grant father Sol Alter, a bread baker. As an artist, the young Alter attended the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan, after which he was accepted at the Black Mountain College in North Carolina. The small college was an artists’ mecca and Alter met and worked with such artists and thinkers as Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, John Cage, Alfred Kazin, Merce Cunningham, and famed authors Arthur Penn and Paul Goodman, among others. On the board of directors was Albert Einstein and William Carlos Williams.

Alter was just under 18 and the youngest one at the Black Mountain campus, a small, open community of artists who embraced a liberal life style in and out of the classroom. For the young artist it was like being a kid in a toy store.

“It was innovative and exciting,” says Alter. “It was like Shangri-La and everyone was very close.”

Alter studied drawing, painting and color under the rigorous tutelage of Josef Albers and textile design with Anni Albers, both who had just fled Nazi Germany after closing that coun-try’s famous Bauhaus school.

“The Albers taught us about the Bauhaus philosophy,” recalls Alter. “They taught us that there is a social responsibility between artists and the world. It got me thinking about my economic identity and how one makes their way in the world.”

The training paved the way for Alter’s successful career in textile design, but before he could test the commercial waters of the design world, he was drafted to serve in the Korean War. In the military he completed the vigorous combat training for overseas, but ended up state side creating military training aids and signs because of his artistic talent.

After his stint in the military, he set his goals towards the textile world and eventually became a well known and respected designer and founded Design Logic Inc. in New York City. His ideas grew from his art background - a rich mix of abstract and real imagery.

“The work I did was very innovative in a competitive world. It was a time when a lot of visually exciting things were happening in the world. People were working and there was a sense of optimism and an energetic retail market.”

Don Alter: Visual Thinker of the 21st Century

Airplane Landscape

Heads #11 of 12

Don Alter

Continued on page 4

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Page 4 THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN

As a successful textile designer, Alter always had his finger on the pulse of the visual world - both commercial and artistic. He created and produced textile designs for home furnishings, fabrics, wall paper and other products. He had commissioned and noncommissioned designs that were sold nationally and internationally. By the time he retired in 1990, he was ready to return to painting full time. Today, he lives with his wife Alice Himmel in Newburgh and his studio is a small space overcrowded with stacks of canvases.

Over the years, Alter has seen the growing number of surfaces with images that fill our everyday lives are a “bombardment of visual media where it has become so super satu-rated without intellectual comparison and too disparate.” To that end, Alter says he wants to simplify the artist-viewer relationship. Today, his has deftly expressed his ideas combining abstract and realism. His colors are extraordinary and the subject matter is compelling. In “Airplane

Landscape” rainbow colored flora and fauna grow off the canvas, a subtle, a tiny airplane hints at a sense of perspective. “Apple Orchard” shows a young man integrated with nature, a mysterious ladder reaches up to a sky of ethereal plumes. Other work includes fantasy landscapes,

beguiling faces and abstract explosions that reverberate off the canvas. Alter says as he gets older, experimenting and stepping outside the box becomes easier, as does showing his work.

“I’m opening up more, maybe because it’s easier to get rejected at my age. You wait to be a unique voice. I want to take the time and develop skills to make something exciting. I am, after all, a provocateur.”

Two very dedicated friends and artists have helped Alter regularly show his work here in the Hudson Valley. Tony Moore, a sculptor, and Harald Plochberger, a painter, have curated the current two-part show of Alter’s work at the Hudson Beach gallery in Beacon, a commu-nity based gallery. Both men have produced the DVD film, “Donald Alter: A Dialogue on Painting”. Both shows (the second one started June 9) are called Chromatic Tales, Part 1 and Part 2. The showing will conclude on July5, 2012.

HUDSON BEACH GALLERY at HUDSON BEACH GLASS

162 Main Street, Beacon, NY 12508T 845 440-0068www.hudsonbeachglass.com

THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

Juggler in the Park

Apple Orchard

ART

Don Alter: Visual Thinker of the 21st CenturyContinued from page 3

CALENDAR

YONKERS, NY -- Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway in Yonkers, New York, will celebrate a “diamond-studded” Father’s Day on Sunday, June 17, with a special Empire City Baseball Giveaway, and all-day Autograph and Question & Answer Sessions by notable New York Yankees and Mets World Champions.

The first 5,000 male Empire Club members to visit the Promotions kiosk in the Gotham Palace on Father’s Day will receive a free Empire City baseball. The following is the full lineup of baseball greats who will be on hand to make Father’s Day a special one for dad:

11:30 AM-1:00 PM: Ralph Branca, Brooklyn Dodgers All-Star pitcher

1:00-2:30 PM: Ron Swoboda and Ed Kranepool, 1969 NY Mets World Series champions

2:30-4:30 PM: Darryl Strawberry, three-time NY Yankees World Series champion, and NY Mets 1986 World Series champion

4:30-5:30 PM: Roy White, NY Yankees World Series champion

5:30-7:30 PM: Ron Darling, 1986 NY Mets World Series champion, SNY Mets analyst

Host: Jack Curry, YES Network Yankees reporter and analyst

Empire City Casino at Yonkers Raceway is located at 810 Yonkers Avenue (at Central Avenue) in Yonkers, New York, Westchester County, (I-87 to Exit 2). Empire City Casino is open seven days a week, every day from 9:00 AM to 4:00 AM For more information call914.968.4200 or log onto www.empirecity-casino.com.

Empire City Casino Highlights Father’s Day with Baseball Giveaway and Appearances by Former Yankees and Mets Stars

KATONAH, NY -- The Katonah United Methodist Church is holding its annual Strawberry Festival. It will be held on Saturday, June 16, from 1 to 4 pm. Big plates of strawberry shortcake, ice cream & whipped cream will be the featured attraction. Weather permitting, the festivities will be held on the front lawn in the shade of our trees and tent. If it rains, the berries will be served up in the Parish Hall behind the church at 44 Edgemont Road. Come and celebrate the first fruit of spring.

Parking is available on the street and in the parking lot behind the Parish Hall. For additional information, call the church at (914) 232-4094 or visit the website at www.katonahumc.word-press.com or direct email to the church at [email protected].

Strawberry Festival in Katonah

http://www.hudsonbeachglass.com

tel:914.968.4200

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mailto:[email protected]


CALENDAR

By MARK JEFFERSHappy Father’s Day to all the great Dads here in northern Westchester! So, put on that new tie; enjoy your kid’s home cooked eggs; hop in your new hammock and enjoy this week’s, “News and Notes…”

Although I am sure my children have already started planning a spectacular Father’s Day, there are some great events happening in our area. There is Bird-Feeder Building Workshop at Bylane Farm in Katonah on Sunday, June 17th, beginning at 9am. Steve Robbins will be there to lend a knowledgeable hand to help construct the feeders. There is a $15 fee to cover the cost of materials. To register, call 914-232-1999.

If anyone is looking for a great way to spend your summer afternoons stop by the Barn at Sundial Farm on 1311 Kitchawan Road, in Ossining, and check out their wonderful home and garden items, furniture, ceramics, glassware, and more. There are also perennials, annuals and shrubs for sale, so get out of the house and wander around their beautiful property.

This sounds like an enjoyable way to spend a day outside! On June 20th the Bedford Audubon Society is sponsoring a Bird and Butterfly Walk with Breakfast at Muscoot Farm with naturalist

Tait Johansson. This event is free and begins at 7am, so get ready early birds this is a day for you. The group will meet in the parking lot at Muscoot Farm on Route 100 in Somers, and will enjoy a light breakfast at the picnic tables before heading out. The trail leads through wooded areas and open meadows where a variety of birds should be spotted. Registration is required, for more information call 914-519-7801.

A special congratulations to the Sinfonetta Orchestra at the Fox Lane Middle School, in Bedford, for receiving a “gold” rating on a Level 3 repertoire when the group performed recently at the New York State School Music Association Majors Ensemble Festival. This dedicated group of talented students has been working and practicing very hard all year, and this golden evaluation is testament to their hard work.

Four White Plains students have received college scholarships from the American Legion Post 135, the seniors are Mary Kate Carney, Jacqueline Sullivan, Benjamin Van Doren and Christopher Juca.

Did you know that Friday June 15th is National Flip- Flop Day and in order to cele-brate this summer event Little Joe’s Books is looking to gather the biggest crowd of flip flop-pers ever! So stop by 25 Katonah Ave at 4:15 and make sure to wear your best pair of flip-flops. A picture will be taken and all participants will

receive a small ice cream cone for only a penny. I have owned a bright orange pair, if my wife hasn’t thrown them out after 10 years, you will definitely see my flops in the crowd!

On June 15th and 16th, there will be a rummage sale in Shrub Oak at the United Methodist Church on 1176 East Main Street. So come ready to rummage for clothes, tools, appliances, toys, basically something for everyone; good chance you’ll bump into my wife, she loves to rummage…

If you missed one of the many Firemen’s Parades in the area, don’t worry… Yorktown will be hosting their Firemen’s Parade and Carnival on June 20-25. The Yorktown Heights Engine Company #1 is hosting its annual Parade begin-ning at 7pm on Commerce Street. The Carnival will follow the parade and run through out the week from 6pm to 11pm, except on Sunday when it will run from Noon to 6pm.

On Saturday June 16th starting at 1pm come on down to the Teatown Lake Reservation to meet a couple of Teatown’s animal friends and then partake in a short hike outside to do a scavenger hunt and see how keen your senses are. I’m sure my nose could lead me right to the kitchen, but I don’t think I could find my way out of a backyard with my instinctual hunting senses. The reservation is located at 1600 Spring Valley Road in Ossining; for more details call

914-762-2912 ext. 110. As you all know, I am very patriotic and

will fly my American flag with pride, I hope you will all do the same, as we celebrate Flag Day on June 14th in this great country we live in… see you next week. Mark Jeffers resides in Bedford Hills, New York, with his wife Sarah, and three daughters, Kate, Amanda, and Claire.

News & Notes from Northern Westchester

Page 6 THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012

By JOHN F. McMULLENIn the late 1940s and 1950s, “Community Access Television” (“CATV” -- sometimes referred to as “Community Antenna Television”) began to spread, first through Eastern Pennsylvania and

then through the Eastern US as far south as Louisiana. Although there is some belief that John Watson deployed the first cable system in Mahanoy City, PA (by putting a large antenna on top of a mountain near Mahanoy) and deliv-ering the signals to area homes via cables), The Cable Television Hall of Fame recognized Robert Tarleton as the developer of the first commercial cable system in the Lansford, PA area.

Cable systems for the first 25 years of avail-ability would be used primarily for bringing quality TV reception for existing programming into areas where “rabbit ears” or roof antennas were not sufficient. The TV world began to change in 1972 when the industry was deregu-lated and the cable operators became free to both develop and distribute original material not available on “over-the-air” television.

Comcast, the nation’s largest cable provider, was originally formed as American Cable Systems in 1963 and was incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1969 as Comcast Corporation (Comcast = Communication + Broadcast),

In 1972, Charles Dolan (later the founder of Cablevision) and his partner in Sterling Manhattan Cable, Gerald Levin (later the CEO of Time Warner), launched the nation’s first pay-TV network, Home Box Office

(HBO). The launching of pay-TV networks tied in with the development of national satel-lite distribution system and, the second network to use this system was “Ted” Turner’s Atlanta “Superstation”, WTBS, which specialized in sports and classic movies. By the end of the 1970’s nearly 16 million households were cable subscribers, a figure that would grow to 53 million by the end of the 1980’s as the number of Cable networks increased to 79.

In 1973, Charles Dolan sold Sterling Manhattan Cable and HBO to Time Warner. His former partner, Gerald Levin, stayed with Time Warner as President of HBO while Dolan, with his proceeds, formed Cablevision to provide cable connectivity to Long Island and subsequently the NYC boroughs other than Manhattan (Time Warner with Manhattan Cable (the “Sterling” was dropped) had

Manhattan), Westchester County, NY and Connecticut, and New Jersey.

In 1980, Ted Turner launched “Cable News Network” (“CNN”), the first all news 24-hour news channel in the country. For the next 30 years, cable networks continued to appear with Fox-News and MSNBC joining CNN; ESPN arriving to deliver national sports (and local sports networks (such as MSG, YES, and SNY in NY area)); and many, many entertainment channels (USA, A&E, TNT, AMC, Life, & ION, to name just a few) constantly arriving.

In the beginning, the cable entertainment channels, in addition to sports and movies, carried reruns of network series (ex. “Law & Order”). This has changed dramatically in recent years as the cable networks moved heavily into original content with shows such as “Monk,” “Psych,”

CHARITY

YONKERS, NY -- For many years, The Sharing Community has held an annual Compassion in Action Awards Breakfast at local catering halls. This year they have decided to instead hold a “Virtual Breakfast” that will take place on-line throughout the month of June, 2012, at the organization’s website: www.thesharingcom-munity.org.

By not holding a “real” breakfast this year, The Sharing Community can focus their staff and volunteers on addressing the daily demands and challenges faced by the hungry and homeless members of the community. The virtual event will allow the community to learn more about The Sharing Community’s programs, and enable contributors to support the organization’s mission.

Proceeds from the “Virtual” Breakfast will

help the agency to meet the challenge of feeding more than 55,000 meals per year in their Soup Kitchen, and to help defray the costs of putting a much needed new roof on their Travers House facility. (This apartment building, on Vark Street in Yonkers, provides housing and supportive services to 44 homeless and formerly homeless individuals.)

The Sharing Community’s Executive Director, Rob Zopf, said, “We hope that people will support this Virtual Breakfast, and take advantage of this opportunity to help the hungry and homeless. Although this event is ‘virtual’; the need in our community is very real. We think people will like being able to support this event from the comfort of their own home, without having to give up time away from their family.”

The suggested donation for a “virtual ticket” is $50, with “virtual tables” available for a $500 donation. Other donation amounts are also accepted, and can be sent to:

The Sharing CommunityP.O. Box 657 Yonkers, NY. 10702 Donors can also contribute on-line at www.

thesharingcommunity.org. More information is available at (914) 963-2626, ext. 200.

All of the proceeds from the virtual break-fast will benefit The Sharing Community’s food, shelter and housing programs and HIV/AIDS services.

The Sharing Community, Inc. is a non-sectarian, 501 [c] 3, community-based orga-nizations. For twenty-nine years The Sharing

COMMUNITY has provided intervention, advocacy, and assistance to those who are home-less, hungry, ill or need supportive services to maintain their independence. Founded in 1983 by two local congregations – St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church and St. John’s Episcopal Church, Getty Square – The Sharing Community’s primary focus has been southwest Yonkers, the most distressed quadrant in Westchester County. While it started as a small, temporary, over-night shelter in donated space, with volunteer staff and in-kind contributions, The Sharing Community today offers a broad continuum of professional services: a Soup Kitchen, home-less shelters, transitional and permanent housing, street outreach, and programs regarding substance abuse and HIV/AIDS services. Staff members in all Sharing Community programs are bi-lingual and bi-cultural.

Sharing a “Virtual” Breakfast with The Sharing Community

CREATIVE DISRUPTION

TV – From Baird to the Web, Part IIThe Landscape Explodes: Cable Television, High Definition Television, and The Internet – A Whole New Ball Game.

Continued on page 7

Pocket ChangeThe Twilight Tuesday Concert Series at Rye Town Park enters week two on July 3, with the band “Pocket Change.” So start your Independence Day celebrations early!

Pocket Change’s seven accomplished performers bring years of experience together to “make it look easy.” Vocalists Benita, Ed, Christi, and Harris dig deep to really connect with the crowd, while the kickin’ Pocket Change rhythm section stirs up a recipe of authentic party music. Their mix of soul, R&B, pop and country songs are all about the FUN, so concert goers should not get too comfortable in their seats!

Concerts are held at the Rye Town Park

South Pavilion, located by Dearborn Ave. Space in the pavilion will be set aside for dancing, which is highly encouraged. People of all ages are encouraged to join in the fun.

All concerts will be held rain or shine, except in case of thunderstorms. Picnicking is welcome. Some seating will be available, but people are encouraged to bring blankets or beach chairs. Dining and takeout is available at the nearby Seaside Johnnie’s Restaurant.

This is the second of seven free concerts that will be held on Tuesdays in July and August. The concert series is sponsored in part by the Friends of Rye Town Park.

For further information phone, Rye Town Park at 967-0965 or visit the park’s web site: www.ryetownpark.org

CALENDAR

http://www.thesharingcommunity.org




http://www.ryetownpark.org


By SHERIF AWADIraqi-born, Los Angeles-based Sam Sako is one of few Arab cinéastes who have made it big in Hollywood to the point that Arab actors now call him Sheikh El Shabab, a nickname that

fits his warm welcome, his fatherly figure, and his big heart that urges him to give a helping

hand to everybody. Actor, casting director, script consultant and dialect coach, Sako was a crew member in major films that involved Arab char-acters like Michael Mann’s The Insider with Al Pacino, Ridley Scott’s Body of Lies with Leonardo DiCaprio, Hidalgo with Omar Sharif, The Man with One Red Shoe and Charlie Wilson’s War with

Tom Hanks. When I recently met Sako in Los Angeles, he was already working with Kieffer Sutherland in his new TV series Touch and with Robert Downey Jr. in the new Iron Man 3 that is scheduled for release in the summer of 2013. As actor in front of the camera, Sako can be spotted doing guest roles in films like Beverly Hills Cop II with Eddie Murphy and Protocol with Goldie

Hawn. Sam Sako’s journey to Hollywood and its

“A” list of big stars and famous filmmakers began nearly began four decades ago. Born Essam Gabriel Sako in Tal-Asqaf, a small village close to Mosul in northern Iraq, he grew up with a talent in fixing things, which first drove him to develop an interest in studying mechanical engineering as a young man. During the 1970s, most members of his family started to emigrate from Iraq; half of them relocated in Egypt and the rest moved to the United States. In 1979, it was Sako’s turn to join his family in Detroit in order to study engineering at Wayne University, in Michigan. “My original admiration of leading

men of the 1970s like Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood was stronger. So, after two years in Wayne, I dropped out in order to move to California and study filmmaking. “I was like so

where is California? West? And I found myself driving four days until I reached Los Angeles. In the beginning, it was very difficult because

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“Burn Notice,” and “The Wire” drawing large audiences. The critically acclaimed “Mad Men” became the first cable show to receive an Emmy as “Outstanding Drama Series,” winning it in each of its first four sessions.

The success of the cable networks, in addi-tion to providing the customer a much wider choice of programming, also seriously under-mined the on-the-air networks. The “Big 4” (Fox had joined ABC, CBS, and NBC as a major player, a move that became obvious when it obtained rights to NFL games by outbidding one of the “Big 3 “ to do so) were not only competing with each other for news and entertainment dominance but with possibly hundreds of channels not only providing competition but syphoning off adver-tising revenue.

The cable companies, once they had coaxial cable into homes and offices, expanded their service offerings to provide Internet connec-tivity to customers, going into direct completion with traditional “Internet Service Providers”

(“ISPs”) such as “AOL,” ”MSN,” “Panix,” and “The Well.” Additionally, once “Voice Over IP” (“VOIP” – the “IP” stands for “Internet Protocol”) was developed, the cable companies went successfully into competition with the telephone companies to offer voice communication, previ-ously the sole bailiwick of those companies. The phone companies, which had been proving Internet service as well as voice through “Digital Subscriber Lines’’ (“DSL”) countered by adding television delivery through such services as Verizon “Fiber Optic System” (“FiOS”). Additionally, direct satellite delivery of television products through “DirectTV” and “DishTV” penetrated the market. Further, electric utility companies have begun to offer “Broadband Over Power Lines” (“BPL”) as another way to bring television content to customers.

In short, customers now have many more content choices and many more delivery options than ever before

If this weren’t all confusing enough for customers and industry decision makers, the Internet is now becoming a competitor in the content area. “YouTube,” now owned by Google,

has been best known for amateur videos, short clips of famous movies and instructional videos. Now, professionals are developing content directly for the Internet and, as the public gets used to it, this market should continue to grow.

When television first began to gather steam, analysts were afraid that it would destroy the movie industry. The fear was that people would stay home, even invite friends over to watch something rather than go to movies. At the time of such concern, television sets rarely had larger than 16” screens and were black and white only so, in retrospect, this concern seems ludicrous. Even when screens grew to 26, even 30,” and color sets became available, there was still a better viewing experience to be had at the local movie theatre.

This may all be changing. Since the first public broadcast of High

Definition Digital Television (“HDTV”) on July 23, 1996 (by Raleigh, NC’s WRAL-HD), pictures have become clearer, approaching movie-quality; receivers have become much, much bigger (50” – 70”) and have become “flat panels,” allowing them to “hug” a big wall. Add

to this stereophonic sound and the viewer has a mini-movie theatre in her / his loving room or den. An AppleTV attachment lets the user play videos from the computer or Netflix, play songs from iTunes, or communicate with fiends on Facebook (and rumor has it that Apple is working on a TV receiver that will directly access the Internet as well as all of the existing cable channels while being voice controlled).

No one can predict exactly where we are going – but we know that we are going! Existing companies will fall while others rise; today’s important skills will fall away while new ones will appear; and workers will have to “be ready or be lost.”

John F.McMullen has been involved in technology for over 40 years and has written about it for major publications. He may be found on Facebook and his current non-technical writing, a novel, “The Inwood Book” and “New & Collected Poems by johnmac the bard” are available on Amazon. He is a professor at Purchase College and has previously taught at Monroe College, Marist College, and the New School for Social Research.

CREATIVE DISRUPTION

TV – From Baird to the Web, Part IIContinued from page 6

CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

Sam Sako: Hollywood Starmaker

Sam Sako with Omar Sharif.

Sam Sako with Leonardo DiCaprio and Ali Soliman, Body of Lies.

Continued on page 8


I did not know anybody there. I was spending the nights in my car until I started to run out of money. Eventually, I got my first break when I accidentally met big time producers who hired me to work in a Warner Brothers’ documentary series called Casablanca whose focus was on people of Arab descent. My task was to conduct research for the series as well as to cast Arabs from the LA community. With the fees I got, I started to study filmmaking in UCLA and made a living at the same time”, he remembers.

Since day one in Hollywood, Sako was more interested in doing the prep work behind the camera. “To appear on celluloid, you should not have only an agent or a Screen Actors Guild membership or a Social Security number, but you must have also someone who recommends you and it is better if he is a member of the family”, explained Sako, who sees things working in Hollywood similar to how things take place in Arab countries. In other words, Hollywood also needs a little bit more Wasta in addition to real talent. “However, since our graduation in 1988, my college mates who became filmmakers kept in touch with me in order for me to work in their new films because I know my way around”, he explained.

Many young Arabs come to Hollywood with dreams of breaking big into stardom and wealth. Sako always tries to help them, although he knows it is very difficult to get noticed. “Most roles offered to Arab actors by major studios are stereotypical. They are either terrorists or oil tycoons. For example, the Arab middle class does not exist in Hollywood”, says Sam, who was witnessing the change of the portrayal of Iraq in Hollywood films throughout the years. “During

the 1980s, when Saddam Hussein went into war with Iran, Iraq was first-rate and the best Arab country portrayed in Hollywood. When George Bush came aboard, everything changed; take note of how US politics and Hollywood films seem to walk in lockstep, most often together, on two parallel lines. Yet recently, I noticed that a change for the better has started to happen in the ways Hollywood sees the Arab world. Films like Rendition with Jake Gyllenhaal, Green Zone with Matt Damon and Fair Game with Sean Penn were warmly welcomed in the Arab world because they showed both sides of the story. The image is gradually changing and the portrayals are becoming more mature and three dimensional on the screen”, he says. Sako worked recently on an independent short film

called Refuge by American filmmaker Michelle Steffes in which she sheds the light on hostage situations currently taking place in Iraq. Shot in Los Angeles, standing for Baghdad, it is the true story of an Iraqi young man called Nabil, played by Mustafa Knight, who moves to a new building only to discover that his neighbor could be the abductor of his deceased wife. Sako helped Steffes in casting, script supervision and many technical aspects during the shooting to make a location in LA looks like Baghdad nowadays. Refuge was recently screened to applause in the 10th edition 168 Film Festival in Los Angeles.

East and WestThrough his agency, Middle East in

Hollywood, and its website, Sako receives tons of e-mails and curriculum vitae (CVs) from young men and women who want to act in Hollywood films. “It is not easy to get inside Hollywood. Papers and Union Membership and talent are not enough.

Unfortunately, many Egyptian films that involved American themes that were partially shot in the US, like Lost in America with Khaled El-Nabawy, Hallo Amrika with Adel Imam, and Baby Doll Night, competed with Hollywood films and its oriental vision of Arabs by presenting a

shallow and stereotypical view of America to the Egyptian viewers. That why’s I asked Sako about bringing his own experience to the Arab world in order to narrow the social and cultural gaps between East and West. “All my life, I was trying to present a realistic image of Arabs in big films. I hope that I can help to build a bridge between Hollywood and the Middle East. This started to happen when I worked on the short film Casualties that was co-financed by the Dubai Festival in 2010. I hope that many Arab actors like El-Nabawy and Amr Waked could come and work. Some of them have the potential to breakthrough like Ahmed Al-Sakka and Mona Zaki. Sometimes, big directors hire Indian or Persian actors to play Arab roles because the Arab community of actors in Hollywood don’t have enough talented Arabs actors from which the studios can choose. Born in Cairo, Egypt, Sherif Awad I a film / video critic and curator. He is the film editor of Egypt Today Magazine, and the artistic director for both the Alexandria Film Festival, in Egypt, and the Arab Rotterdam Festival, in The Netherlands. He also contributes to Variety, in the United States, and Variety Arabia, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Sam Sako with Tom Hanks today.Sam Sako with Tom Hanks many years ago.

Sam Sako with Ridley Scott on set of Body of Lies.

CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

Sam Sako: Hollywood StarmakerContinued from page 7

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Yonkers Marks Opening of Affordable Apartments on Site of Former Mulford GardensYONKERS, NY -- Yonkers celebrated the ribbon cutting for Grant Park at Croton Heights and Park Terrace at Croton Heights - two apart-ment communities recently built to revitalize the historic Mulford Gardens Public Housing Complex and the Ashburton Avenue corridor.

Presiding over the ceremony marking completion of the 149 new units were Yonkers Deputy Mayor Susan Gerry, County Executive Rob Astorino, Yonkers Housing Authority Executive Director Joseph Shuldiner, Richman Group Development Corporation President Kristin Miller, and others.

“This is a new day and a new way of living in a place that once was the location of the oldest housing complexes in the country,” said Mayor Spano, “People will be proud to say this is their neighborhood and these are their homes.”

Located at 110 Ashburton Avenue, the four-story Park Terrace at Croton Heights

contains 49 one bedroom apartments for Yonkers seniors with incomes no higher than 50% of the area median income. The building features underground parking, elevator access, a community room, computer center, and on-site laundry. Park Terrace has attained LEED Gold (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and Energy Star Certifications. This comes with great efforts from the development, design and construction teams by incorporating a range of green building strategies for sustain-ability, energy use, lighting, water, materials and air quality. Residents benefit from eco –friendly surroundings and reduced energy costs.

The adjacent Grant Park at Croton Heights offers 100 one, two and three bedroom apart-ments spread across four buildings. Grant Park residents can earn up to 60% of the area median income. The apartment complex includes a community clubhouse, fitness center, computer

center, and on-site management office.Grant Park is the first phase of a planned

240 unit affordable housing community on the former Mulford Gardens site.

“The Authority is very appreciative that our federal, state and local partners have continued to support the efforts of the developer, Landex/Richman, and ourselves through the next phase of this effort to redevelop the Ashburton corridor and at the same time provide new affordable units to 149 low-income Yonkers’ households” said Yonkers Housing Authority Executive Director Joseph Shuldiner.

“These new, affordable senior apartments at Park Terrace at Croton Heights provide safe, handicapped-accessible homes for 49 seniors, who also have access to an onsite community room where they can socialize,” said County Executive Robert P. Astorino. “The county is pleased to have played a part in developing

this and the Grant Park at Croton Heights housing complex and revitalizing this Yonkers community.”

Kristin Miller, President of the Richman Development Corp., which constructed the new homes, noted the many partnerships that were critical for the plan to succeed. “Our job was to build these homes, but that could not have happened without the hard work of the City and its Industrial Development Agency, the Municipal Housing Authority, and our federal, state, and not-for-profit partners who provided planning, funding, expertise, and the determina-tion to see it through.”

Joining the Richman Group in developing the apartments was Landex Development, LLC. “We are very excited to be a part of this public-private partnership. We have worked with MHACY and the City for over 6 years

Continued on page 9



to redevelop this area. This development is an example of how city, state and federal govern-ment can work with the private sector to rebuild communities and create affordable mixed-income housing. This area will continue to grow and flourish with the addition of this new housing and the Ashburton Avenue street widening project” said Landex Corporation CEO Peter Siegel.

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HOPE VI program, the New York State Homes and Community Renewal, the New York State Housing Finance Agency, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, the Community Preservation Corporation, the Richman Group Affordable Housing Corporation and Westchester County, provided funding.

“HUD has no higher mission than improving people’s lives and strengthening neighborhoods and the Grant Park and Park Terrace developments do both,” said Mirza Orriols, Deputy Regional Administrator. “Turning around a blighted, distressed area is no easy accomplishment in an economy with a fragile housing market. That is why this public/private partnership deserves high praise in renewing affordable housing in Yonkers. I wish to congratulate the Mayor of Yonkers, the Westchester County Executive, the Yonkers

Municipal Housing Authority, the NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal, and the many private partners that made today possible. HUD is very proud to be a partner in this extraordinary collaboration that will serve as a clean, green, and environmentally-sound development for hundreds of residents.”

Darryl C. Towns, Commissioner/CEO of New York State Homes and Community Renewal said, “Governor Andrew Cuomo has called on us to focus our work at HCR on proj-ects like Grant Park and Park Terrace because of the far-reaching impact on communities—creating economic activity, providing safe, decent homes, and making our entire state a better place to live. What was once vacant and distressed property has been transformed into high quality, sustainable, affordable homes for seniors and families that will improve overall quality of life in Yonkers.”

Also providing significant resources was the Community Preservation Corporation, Sadie McKeown, Senior Vice President and Regional Director of CPC’s Hudson Valley Office said, “CPC is pleased to provide permanent financing of $4.73M for this ambitious development undertaken to meet a critical need for quality, affordable rental housing in the City of Yonkers. CPC has invested more than $185 million in 3,700 residential units in Yonkers and is pleased

Todd Gomez, Senior VP and Regional Executive for Community Development Banking Group Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Richard Richman, Chairman The Richman Group; Chuck

Lesnick, Yonkers City Council President; Mirza Orriols, Acting Regional Administrator for NY/NJ Regional HUD; Joseph Shuldiner, Executive Director Yonkers Municipal Housing Authority; Rob P. Astorino, Westchester County Executive; Micheal Sabatini, Council Member 3rd District;

Sadie McKeown, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer Community Preservation Corporation; Kristen Miller, President The Richman Group Development Corporation(holding

scissors); Gregory Watson, Assistant Commissioner for Regional Affairs NYS Homes and Community Renewal; Susan Gerry, Deputy Mayor City of Yonkers; Wilson Terrero Majority Leader 2nd

District; Barry Krinsky Director Citi Community Capital. Photo by and courtesy of Jung Chin.

Yonkers Marks Opening of Affordable Apartments

Continued from page 8

Continued on page 10



By RICH MONETTI When most of us wake up in the morning, the last thing we want is a barrage of questions - or even one for that matter. It might be said that your senses and your system are still asleep.

Similarly, children with sensory disorders are on that type of defensive and take much more time to open up to a learning state as they go through their days. “You have to wear them down to be able to plant information into them,” says Louise Weadock of Briarcliff. But the assault on the senses she undertakes on children’s behalf at WeeZee World in Chappaqua definitely doesn’t hurt or exhaust and frees up the brain space they need to learn.

WeeZee World is an indoor sensory play scape at 480 Bedford Road for children aged 1-12. “Kids continue to learn senatorially until 13, then they become very cognitively complex,” says the founder, registered Child Psychiatric Nurse, graduate of Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and owner of ACCESS Nursing & Healthcare Services.

That said, a sensory processing disorder

causes incoming sensory information to be interpreted differently than it is for most. In turn, the elevated difficulty of tasks can cause anxiety, avoidance of activities, distress, confusion and fear.

The remedy that WeeZee employs is a stimulation of the senses and children’s introduc-tory walk through does more than have them begging a return to an atmosphere that is a cross between a museum and a high tech playground. The fiber optic light room, a cyber action floor and the reaction train and sports stalls, she says,

“Everything is so sensory and you become so aware of yourself senatorially - you just kind of walk away feeling different.”

In return, though, the process going forward evolves in a less random manner. Using a GPS system to help track where kids go, WeeZee can map out a plan. “After kids calm down, they settle into the areas where they feel most

comfortable,” she says.For instance, the light room might be the

place where a child with speech issues quietly corners himself and keeps the world totally in place. Out of that, WeeZee coaxes him into the Costa Rican Rain Room, where he’s spritzed and sprayed with sounds and warm water

sprinklings. While disorganizing and probably not all that appealing at first, she says, “It stimu-lates him all over the place.”

Of course, making sure it’s fun can keep him put until the wind room splatters him with a warm breeze from all sides. With his entire exterior stimulated, he’s brighter, alert and aware, and then the music room becomes the place

where the building blocks needed to articulate are offered. “What I’ve done is I’ve taken him from a safe place and put him in an environment where he’s ready to receive information.”

“Then at the end of the day,” she added, “he’s learned his sounds, he’s learned his numbers, he

EDUCATION

Three Catholic elementary schools in Westchester County are participants in the “Madrinas Initiative” through the University of Notre Dame’s Catholic School Advantage program. The initiative’s goal is to improve educational opportunities for Latino children.

The schools involved, Corpus Christi-Holy Rosary in Port Chester, St. Peter’s in South Yonkers and Assumption in Peekskill have recruited teams of school parents to serve as Madrinas (godmothers) who, in the Hispanic community, are the much-revered and respected adult who is akin to a co-parent or “go to” person throughout the godchild’s entire life. The school Madrinas (and Padrinos) reach out to families in the community as helpers and guides, encour-aging them to consider the benefit of a Catholic education, walking parents through the process of a exploring the school, navigating tuition management and being available as a resource during the early years in a Catholic school.

Notre Dame has launched this campaign

to double the percentage of Latino children enrolled in Catholic schools – from 3% to 6% – in the next 10 years, raising the number of Latino children enrolled in Catholic schools from 290,000 to 1 Million by 2020.

The Catholic School Advantage Madrinas program is currently offering $1000 scholarships to help make tuition more affordable. Schools are accepting applications for students who

register now. The deadline to submit an applica-tion at each of these Westchester schools is June 13, 2012. Non-Catholic students are eligible for the scholarships.

“Many of our parents are working two and three jobs, and sacrifice to invest in a Catholic education for their children. Thanks to the Madrinas scholarships and donations from private donors and alumni of these fine schools, parents are able to make the dream of Catholic

education for their children a reality,” noted Judi DeSouter, Director of Advancement for St. Peter’s and Corpus Christi-Holy Rosary Schools.

More information on the Catholic School Advantage program can be found at http://ace.nd.edu/catholic-school-advantage.

To find out more about the schools partici-pating in the Madrinas program, visit:

Corpus Christi-Holy Rosary School 135 S. Regent Street, Port Chester, NY 10573 (914) 937-4407 www.cchrs.org

Sr. Lou Ann Fantauzza, FMA, PrincipalSt. Peter’s School 204 Hawthorne Avenue,

Yonkers, NY 10705 (914) 963-2314 www.StPetersNY.com

Mrs. Dana L. Spicer, PrincipalAssumption School 920 First Street,

Peekskill, NY 10566-3445 (914) 737-0680 www.AssumptionPeeksill.org/School

Mr. James Lyons, Principal

Catholic Schools Initiative to Increase Latino Enrollment in Westchester County

WeeZee World Brings Kids Up to Speed

to continue to support the City’s affordable housing agenda. I’d like to commend all partners involved who worked to ensure that this neigh-borhood continues to be revitalized.”

“Citi is extremely pleased to be a part of this important project for the City of Yonkers which resulted in much needed high quality, affordable

housing for 49 senior households,” said Barry Krinsky, a director for Citi Community Capital. “We remain committed to reinvesting in the communities where we work and live and are proud to deploy responsible capital to a worth-while property like this.”

“Bank of America Merrill Lynch is excited to help transform this neighborhood, and Grant

Park is a great example of the developments we are committed to as one of the nation’s largest, most active affordable housing lenders,” said Todd Gomez, Community Development Banking Executive for the Northeast Region at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “We’re proud that Bank of America Merrill Lynch was able to commit more than $36 million in financing and equity to this project. This is a terrific example of what can be accomplished when the private

sector and federal, state and local governments work together to produce much-needed afford-able housing in Yonkers.”

Recently the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency approved inducement resolutions to provide property tax abatements and other incentives for the next phase of construction at the Croton Heights site, moving it close to its eventual goal of 240 units of afford-able housing.


Yonkers Marks Opening of Affordable ApartmentsContinued from page 9

http://ace.nd.edu/catholic-school-advantage

http://ace.nd.edu/catholic-school-advantage

http://www.AssumptionPeeksill.org/School


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increased his awareness, and by the way, we’ll end up back in the light room, where he feels safe, comfortable. And then he’ll want to come back again.”

That was certainly true of WeeZee’s first so-called customer – even though it meant descending to the Weadock basement. “When my daughter was first diagnosed as having a sensory processing disorder, there was no one in New York that knew anything about it,” she says.

So the RN set out to create the stimulating environment that Dr. Stanley Greenspan of the NIH recommended. “I built it in my basement,”

she says.As might be expected, the party did spill

outside in the form of things like food fight Friday’s, body painting and water bomb and pistol fracas. “The neighbors thought I was nuts,” she says.

But the results have since certified her sanity. Early on Shannon would deflect and delay the efforts of her teachers in hopes that they would give up and simply move on to the next student. For example, she says, “They couldn’t teach her the alphabet.”

The answer came in the form of a backyard trampoline. A, A, A for apple, B, B, B for boy on

the bounce, she says, “That’s how she learned her ABC’s,”

19 years old now, she just made it through her first year of college and played a part with her brother in bringing WeeZee to Westchester. “We sat around the kitchen table a year and a half ago and talked about the kind of business we’d like to run, and the kids said, ‘we had such a great time in our basement, let’s just create a great big sensory gym,’” she recalls.

At the same time, WeeZee doesn’t leave anyone out and the fun extends to kids trying to improve in other areas – especially in athletics, coordination and balance. We’ve got cutting edge equipment that is useful in sports and activities of all kinds, she says.

The same goes for audio and visual equipment that improves the receptiveness of all learners. So whether there’s a disorder or not, “You want to be able to take in information, recognize it for what it is, quickly code it, store it, be able to retrieve it and then apply it appropriately,” she says.

And if she doesn’t say so herself, “It’s amazing the stories that are coming out of here already,” she concludes.Rich Monetti lives in Somers. He’s been a freelance writer covering Westchester County since 2003. Peruse his work at www.monetti.blogspot.com.

EDUCATION

WeeZee World Brings Kids Up to Speed Continued from page 10

FEDERAL GRANT

By NANCY KINGIt’s tough to be a kid these days and even tougher when you live in one of Westchester’s poorer neighborhoods. Sections of Yonkers, Peekskill, Port

Chester and Greenburgh have been home for decades to our county’s more disadvan-taged residents. Sprinkled with housing projects, these neighborhoods have always been home to the disenfranchised. School districts in these communities have often fallen below the nation’s median standard for graduation rates and kids too often get into trouble because there isn’t much to do and too few parents are around to keep them out of trouble. National studies have proven that the most vulnerable time for kids to get into trouble is between the hours of 3:00 P.M. and 5:00 P.M. on a school day and during anytime throughout the summer months. However our most vulnerable kids have for years been able to get some positive mentoring from after school programs and some summer programs. This year though, these programs have been cut mid-year in what the Astorino administration has said were cost saving cuts.

On December 3rd, 2011, program administrators from the Nepperhan Community Center, the YMCA in Yonkers, the Boys and Girls Club in New Rochelle and Woodlands High School were informed their programs were being cut because they were no longer in the best interest of the county. The county had previously approved all of these programs through the Board of Acquisition and Contracts and the money was secured from a federal grant known as TANF, (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families). Even more astounding was the directors of these programs were only given a

month’s notice of the closing and were abso-lutely astounded they were being shut down. After all, they knew that the total funding for 2011-2012 was $255,312 and only $85,104 was delivered to keep those programs opera-tional. The county has withheld $170,000 and caused those programs to be shut down.

One must question the legality of this action. Does Westchester County govern-ment have the right to withhold federal funds? Or is this act of withholding just another example of the impasse that has become indicative of Westchester County government? The discontinuation of these programs only impacts and hurts our need-iest residents at present; the children who live in disadvantaged communities – our children.

Rob Astorino ran under the promise of lowering the county taxes while continuing to provide a safety net of services to those who need it the most. Republican members of the Westchester County Board of Legislators (WCBoL) maintain that these programs are a waste of money but fail to acknowledge the long term benefits of providing safe educa-tional areas for those students who need it the most. Even the cheapest taxpayer in Westchester realizes that an ounce of preven-tion is worth a pound of cure. Without these programs in place, getting into trouble on the streets, subsequently getting arrested, and clogging up our already pricey corrections system seems to be this administration’s solu-tion to their difficulty with the Democratic members of the Westchester County Board of Legislators. The Democratic majority on the WCBoL has responded to these cuts by suing County Executive Rob Astorino and his administration. Whether a taxpayer is a Republican or a Democrat doesn’t matter in this case. In this case the taxpayers should be asking the Astorino administration what the

withheld money is being used for or better still… why don’t they just restore it and the programs for which it was intended.

An enhanced quality of life should be afforded to all who reside in Westchester County, not just for those who may live in a wealthy town or hamlet. Unfortunately, this administration continues to treat those

who are disadvantaged as if they are invis-ible. It’s as if they don’t acknowledge the pockets of tremendous poverty and need in Westchester; then it or they don’t exist. What a shame…. Government by the people is certainly not for all the people here in Westchester County.

Nancy King is a freelance investigative reporter; a resident of White Plains, New York.

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SCHOLARSHIP

WHITE PLAINS, NY -- Assemblyman Robert J. Castelli (R, C – Goldens Bridge) honored high school senior Gina Falisi of Maria Regina High School on June 4, 2012, as a 2012 recipient of the New York Conference of Italian-American State Legislators schol-arship. Each year, the Italian-American State Legislators scholarship is given to students who have demonstrated excellence in scho-lastic achievement.

“I am very pleased to present Gina Falisi with this year’s New York Conference of Italian-American State Legislators schol-arship,” Castelli said. “Gina ranked in the top 1 percent of her high school graduating class while also being a varsity tennis player, member of student council and a member of the Italian Club. She is a shining example of today’s young people and I wish her all the

best.”Falisi, of White Plains, who will be

attending Stony Brook University this fall, has also been awarded a Presidential Scholarship, where she hopes to pursue a career as a nurse practitioner.

The Conference awards four scholar-ships from hundreds of student applicants from around the State. Falisi was first recom-mended by Castelli from a pool of dozens of applicants to his office, and later selected by the Conference Chairman, Senator Joseph Griffo, from among a pool of over one hundred applicants recommended by Assemblymembers and Senators from around New York State. Last year, one of the four statewide winners was also a resident of the 89th Assembly District.

White Plains resident Gina Falisi receives the New York Conference of Italian-American State Legislators Academic Scholarship from her Assemblyman Robert J. Castelli. She

was one of four winners selected statewide from among hundreds of applicants.

Italian-American Legislator’s Scholarship Winner Hails from White Plains

By MARK JEFFERSWelcome to the sectional championships edition of “Sports Scene,” where we take a look at the great sports action here in Westchester County…

On the baseball diamond, it was Harrison defeating Byram Hills 3 to

2 in 10 innings to capture the Class A crown. Briarcliff shot out second seeded Keio 5-0 to win the Section 1 Class B title. Paul Henshaw tossed a three-hitter for the winners. In Class C action, it was Haldane beating Tuckahoe 7 to 4.

In softball, Valhalla just got by top seeded Rye neck to capture the Class B Softball sectional title with a 2-1 win. Kaylie Dymek had 2 hits for the Vikings as they claimed their 4th straight title. In a surprise, it was Haldane crushing top seed Solomon Schechter 16 to 1 for the Class C championship.

Pelham seniors Doug Kaplan and Daniel Morgan have won the state doubles tennis team championship with their victory over Beacon’s team of Lucas Pickering and Winn Smith, 6-2, 6-7, 10-8.

In lax action, In a real nail biter, Yorktown edged John Jay in overtime to win the Class B section tiltle. The Bronxville Broncos had an easier time winning the Class C title with a 12-6 victory over Hendrick Hudson. Iona Prep battled back, but still came up a bit short as they lost to Bishop Timon-St. Jude 16-15 in the CHSAA Class AA Championship game.

You can be sure that a lot of these players will be turning out for the Empire State Cup tryouts which will be held June 21st at Somers High.

On the girls’ side, it was Fox Lane winning the Class B title with a a very dramatic 11- 9 overtime win over Brewster. Rye in another tight game came out on top of Byram Hills 12-11 for the Class C crown.

Turning to golf, The White Plains golf team defended their Section 1 team championship by nine strokes over Briarcliff at the Westchester Hills Golf Club.

Mike Miller the 19-year-old from Knollwood battled Cameron Young from Sleepy Hollow and came up the winner 5 and 4 to capture the Westchester Golf Association’s 93rd Amateur Championship.

Metropolitan Golf Association executive director Jay Mottala was recently honored for his 30 years of service to the golfers in the Met section at Glen Arbor’s annual Traditions event.

Heading over to the track, it was Arlington taking the boys’ Section 1 Class A Track & Field Championship and New Rochelle winning the girls’ title.

And speaking of tracks…Pet Rock driven by Brian Sears won the $306,204 Art Rooney Pace for 3-year-old colts and geldings at Yonkers Raceway.

Pace University is dropping their track & field, golf, tennis and equestrian teams, on the positive side they will add women’s field hockey and lacrosse.

The eighth grade girls’ volleyball from St. Patrick’s School in Yorktown beat Pelham’s Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Westchester Catholic School League Championship match.

Congratulations to Pleasantville’s own

Chelsea Brooks now playing softball for Salisbury as she has been named to the Capital Athletic Conference second team for her outstanding fielding.

Manhattanville senior shortstop Dan Fiorito from Yonkers was named to the ABCA/Rawlings Division III All-America baseball third team.

Former Yorktown High School standouts Tim Nelson and Roy Colsey have been selected for induction this fall into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame, way to go guys…

Our friends at Grand Prix NY are holding a Fathers’ Day Endurance Race on Saturday, June 16th, I’m in, but I all ready know my daughters are faster drivers…

As the summer action approaches, I am in training; I have my lawn jarts and ladder golf game looking pretty good…see you next week.

Mark Jeffers resides in Bedford Hills, New York, with his wife Sarah, and three daughters, Kate, Amanda, and Claire.

SPORTSSCENE

Sports Scene


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By GAIL FARRELLYIs he shy? Too busy to engage with others? Fearful of capture?

The surprising answer is: None of the above.

Bigfoot has been in touch with a reporter, explaining for the first time why he is in hiding.

It started with a simple text from Bigfoot, otherwise known as Sasquatch, to the offices of The Westchester Guardian. The text read as follows: “I h8 my name. Need a better one B4 I come out.”

After this, there was quite a bit of email correspondence between Bigfoot and a reporter. Here’s the skinny.

Bigfoot is insulted. He feels that the name Bigfoot is politically incorrect. In an email, he wrote, “Who else on the planet is saddled with an insulting name like that? It’s bullying, plain and simple. Besides, there are a lot of politicians running around who could better wear the label of Bigfoot.”

And as for his other name, Sasquatch? He considers that almost as bad. According to his email, Bigfoot’s view is: “It sounds like a squash gone wrong. Y’know a squished squash. Whatever.”

The reporter reminded Bigfoot of Shakespeare’s famous quote “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Bigfoot’s response? “Hogwash. Let Shakespeare go around with a name like mine for a while, then we’ll talk.”

Okay, then. Scientists need a new plan. Instead of setting up DNA tests related to possible sightings of Bigfoot, perhaps they should be working on finding him a new name -- and planning a christening ceremony.

“Is there an app for that?” Bigfoot wants to know.

Learn more about The Farrelly Sisters – Authors. Visit http://www.farrellysis-tersonline.com/ on the Internet.

THE SPOOF

Why Big Foot Hides; The Name Game

By JOHN SIMONNot all successful play-wrights are also likable. Egregiously unlikable are Albee, Mamet and Pinter, however talented. Both

gifted and likable are Donald Margulies, Marsha Norman and Christopher Durang, to name only a few of each kind. So too, at his best, as in the play “This Is Our Youth” and the film “You Can Count on Me,” Kenneth Lonergan has proved both talented and charming.

Accordingly, I had high hopes for his latest, “Medieval Play,” at the biggest of the Signature Theatre Center’s stages, the Diamond. Alas, to quote the novelist Junichiro Tanizaki in another context, the play “quite lacks the glitter of a diamond.” Commendable as is for Lonergan a stretch into an admittedly different albeit caricatured era, this piece lacks his signa-ture virtue, likableness.

Hitherto Lonergan, even in lesser works, has created characters with whom it was easy to empathize. “Medieval Play,”

Heather Burns, Kevin Greer and Anthony Arkin. Josh Hamilton, Tate Donovan and Halley Feiffer. The cast of Medieval Play.

The cast of Medieval Play.

Medieval and Mideastern EYE ON THEATRE


http://www.farrellysistersonline.com/

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however, strikes me as smartass college-theater persiflage. The reliance is on facile jokes with no character uncontrived enough to elicit our deeper involvement.

We can grant Lonergan, if not an A, at least a B+ for effort. He has swotted up on the Middle Ages, and has found much that is ludicrous, preposterous or scary about them, which, given what they were like, is not all that difficult. But what he has wrought is basically a one-joke affair: endless variations on anchronism. These characters are mostly moderns in medi-eval disguise.

We open with two knights in full armor sitting on the ruins of a castle they seem to have helped raze. Michael Krass has designed armor and other costumes that combine the authentic with the comical. Even the names of these French knights are mildly absurd: Sir Ralph and Sir Alfred., monikers you would vainly search for in Joinville or Froissart.

And what are they saying? “RALPH: It’s just this Hundred Years’ War. It goes on and on. ALFRED: I wonder how long it will last.” Well, the play lasts only 2 ½ hours (including intermission), but even so it is overlong, what with stuff like this which contradicts the foregoing: “RALPH: “Without enough wars to keep the equestrian class employed on at least a seasonal basis, an armored knight is about as useful as a quintain without a pivot. ALFRED: A trebuchet without a coun-terweight. RALPH: A crenel without a merlon. ALFRED: A pauldron without a vambrace. [They laugh.]” We laugh, too, but, after a while, less would definitely be more.

To be sure, there are also pretty good jokes of another kind, and especially some good physical comedy, which Lonergan, who also directed, manages quite nicely. There, for instance, is a scene of copula-tion, which manages to be both funny and, in its explicitness, rather daring.

Lonergan is also good at sight gags, which, of course, must be seen rather than read about. And he clearly knows how to produce a play, having surrounded himself with first-class help. Besides the already mentioned costumes, there are the lovable fairy-tale sets by Walt Spangler, the deft lighting by Jason Lyons, the savvy sound design by David Van Tieghem (how those swords, even on fake armor, resound!), and the clownish sword fights by J. David Brimmer.

Topping it all is the delightful cast. As Ralph and Alfred, Josh Hamilton and

Tate Donovan know how not to overplay the farce, each in his own way: Hamilton more doleful, Donovan more brash. And they get splendid support from Anthony Arkin, Kevin Geer, John Pankow and C. J. Wilson, each in a variety of roles, and together suggesting a much bigger ensemble.

Fine, too, are the women: Heather Burns as Saint Catherine of Siena of Siena (the “of Siena” pleonastically repeated by way of supposed explanation) and in other roles, and Halley Feiffer, as a sweetly adulterous wife among other parts. Burns even acts as spirited narrator.

But the jokes become ridiculous, as when Ralph says he killed more people then he can “literally count,” and Alfred rejoins, “But you can only count to four.” The sillier the gags, the louder the

laughter. One wishes the audience were charier with rolling in the aisles and leaping into standing ovations, but we could as well ask for pauldrons without vaumbraces.

“Food for Fadwa” is, of all things, a Palestinian kitchen-sink play. It also has the eponymous heroine monologize away as she explains and demonstrates how to cook Palestinian specialties, which is doubtless of great interest to professional and amateur chefs in the audience.

Lameece Issaq and her co-author Jacob Kader are both Arabs, and Issaq also plays the lead, a risky practice I’d call autonepotism. The six other actors are likewise from the Near East, and further authenticity is sought by interspersing the dialogue with frequent Arabic words and expressions, which, even when immedi-ately translated, prove a bit of a drag.

The play was eight years in the plan-ning and making, but long gestation, too, is an inauspicious phenomenon. Be it said that the criticism of Israel is not excessive, which is fine, though the rather lame attempts at humor are not. Here are problems with an imminent wedding, the crippling curfew, a couple of characters having spent time in America and hoping to return, a senile father sometimes seen as such but at others as articulate in Fadwa’s recollection, some undeclared love, and cooking and more cooking, particularly when supplies are low and shopping curtailed by the curfew. There is also some slightly overloud gunfire right outside the window.

Andromache Chalfant’s set seems persuasive, and Shana Gold’s staging is satisfactory. But this inaugural offering by the Noor Theater Company and the Nibras Theater Collective failed to hold my undivided attention, even when the characters broke into song or dance. Especially not then.Photos by and courtesy of Joan Marcus.John Simon has written for over 50 years on theatre, film, literature, music and fine arts for the Hudson Review, New Leader, New Criterion, National Review, New York Magazine, Opera News, Weekly Standard, Broadway.com and Bloomberg News. Mr. Simon holds a PhD from Harvard University in Comparative Literature and has taught at MIT, Harvard University, Bard College and Marymount Manhattan College.To learn more, visit the JohnSimon-Uncensored.com

Medieval and Mideastern

EYE ON THEATRE

Halley Feiffer and John Pankow.Arkin.

C.J. Wilson, Kevin Greer and John Pankow.


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By SHANNON AYALAThe Fleetwood battle over a parking lot vs. cedar trees, ended on June 6th in Mt Vernon City Hall not only in a 4-2 vote, defeating the parking lot proposal, but it

also ended in insinuations of corruption. Though it might have not even been

necessary for their victory, and it evidently offended the Planning Board –though it was directed towards Zoning- more than it won its members over, the residents of

12 Cedar Street, the neighboring house, addressed in the final moments of the series of hearings the mismatching tax assessment of the wooded lot at hand- and all it seemed to imply.

Eight Cedar Street, which is currently an occupied single-family house with a wooded backyard, between an apartment building and the 12 Cedar Street house-hold, is zoned as commercial and vacant land. This was information that came as news to the Planning Board and might have even sounded far fetched, but a Mt Vernon Tax Assessment Report, which had been dug up by the neighbors via the City’s website, indicates that the lot (8 Cedar Street) is valued at $0 and the tax value is $0 as well, since May 1st 2012, despite the residence of a family.

A close read of the report as well as a telephone conversation with

a representative of the Buildings Department of Mt Vernon, explains the peculiar document that even bewildered the Planning Board. Effective 2007, DeFeo purchased the house behind his apartment building, 485 Gramatan Avenue, for $510,000. The lot was then combined as a taxable property with 485 Gramatan. The total taxes paid for 485 Gramatan Avenue, according to the representative, increased from 210,000 to 221,000: eleven-thousand-dollars. For contrast, the Tax Assessment for 12 Cedar Street, which is not a noticeably different property from a passerby view, has a current tax value of $11,900.

It was well known that the Zoning Board had already approved of the appli-cation to rezone the lot for parking use, which would involve demolishing the house and more or less clear-cutting the some two dozen mainly cedar trees in the back yard. (Defeo’s team at the end presented a plan to reduce the tree loss to ten, but couldn’t promise the rest would survive due to root damage). But it was not known that is was already considered commercial on tax records despite the ongoing considerations of the Planning Board, which was generally considerate to

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ZONING

In Pursuit of Savings Trees, Corruption Charges Alleged

Eveline Feldman comments; her baby stares at DeFeo’s lawyer.

Planning Board offended during insinuations of corruption.



the publicly held values of greenery.William Holmes, Chair of Planning,

reminded the room that DeFeo can still at anytime chop down the trees legally, at

least when the family moves out, if they do. But he cannot build a parking lot under certain codes according to another Planning member. One of the violations

involved the requirement of a ten-foot buffer between the now just hypothetical parking lot and 12 Cedar Street.

Shannon Ayala is a Class of 2013 student at the

CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. He also writes New York environmental news for www.Examiner.com. His work can be found at www.SEArchives.wordpress.com.

GovernmentSectionBy CARLOS GONZALEZALBANY, NY - Last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana in public view.

The joint-jolting news irritated Senate Republicans.

Sources now indicate a compromise is in the works.

In 1977, hoping to offer relief for court congestion and allow prosecutors to focus on more serious crimes, the Legislature made possession of 25 grams or less of marijuana a violation punishable by a $100 fine for the first offense.

Possession in public view was made a misdemeanor punishable by up to three months in jail and a $500 fine.

Marijuana arrests declined, but they

exploded from less than 1,000 in 1990 to 50,000 last year.

50,000 arrests, some for residue and rolling paper.

Reform advocates state that the police are entrapping young people, stopping them for no cause and then requiring them to empty their pockets to bring their mari-juana into public view.

Of the nearly 12,000 16-to-19-year-olds arrested in 2011, nearly half had never been arrested before, plus 94 percent had no prior convictions.

Basically, it’s the fast-tracking our youth into the criminal justice system.

Let’s keep in mind that people with minor convictions can be denied public housing, federal student aid, jobs, all tough consequences.

Most arrests happen through police

frisks. In New York City, of the 700,000 frisks

last year, about 85 percent of those were involving blacks and Hispanics.

Gov. Cuomo’s proposal would make it a violation to openly possess 25 grams (seven-eighths of an ounce) or less of marijuana, treating it essentially the same as people arrested for private possession.

Bluntly speaking, it’s a leap attempt, especially in an election year.

Burning marijuana in public would still be a misdemeanor. A violation gener-ally involves an officer issuing a summons, which would carry a fine and a court date.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos on Wednesday said Mr. Cuomo’s proposal had gone too far.

Skelos, a Long Island Republican, said it’s wrong to downgrade punishment to a simple violation for having up to 25 grams of marijuana in the open. However, he said the Senate would work on a narrower

measure ensuring that the lesser penalty applies when police order someone with a joint in his pocket to bring it out in the open.

“Being able to just walk around with 10 joints in each ear and only being a violation I think that’s wrong,” Skelos told reporters. “If the question is emptying out your pockets and that becoming a misdemeanor, then I think we can work on it.”

“Carrying 10 joints in each ear would require some set of ears,” Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto said in response to Skelos. “We look forward to working these issues through with the Senate in order to end an injustice that has been allowed to go on for too long.”

Any compromise would need to work out in the next couple of weeks. The legisla-ture is due to wrap up on June 21st.

Share your thoughts with Carlos Gonzalez, The Albany Correspondent, by directing email to [email protected].

THE ALBANY CORRESPONDENT

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ZONING

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By PETER SWIDERSKILast year, the Board of Trustees approved a Comprehensive Plan, after two years of work by the a Village-appointed group

of citizens who engaged the commu-nity to determine priorities for zoning, development, environmental issues, the downtown, and other strategic factors vital to the Village’s future. That docu-ment, found here, laid out a series of broad strategies and actions to consider implementing those strategies. A village that thinks about its future is better able to prepare for it and this plan thought-fully considers our future.

The Village is beginning the process to review, schedule and begin imple-mentation of the plan. This effort will be shepherded by a new Comprehensive

Plan Implementation Committee, to be composed of seven residents selected by the Board of Trustees for the effort. We are looking for interested residents to staff this committee.

The committee will be charged with reviewing the Comprehensive Plan, with the objective to generally prioritize and schedule the strategies contained in the plan.

The steps, in summary, would include:• Review and prioritizing the plan;• Review projects already under way;• Scheduling the prioritized projects

over a five-year period;• Seeking public input on the priori-

tized list;• Roughly costing out the projects;• Submit the projects to the Board of

Trustees for review and approval;• And then monitor the project

implementation over time and report out to the Village and the Board.

Efforts of this sort usually require a dedicated champion to push the process along. Our new trustee, Marge Apel, will guide the effort, assisting the committee where needed, and ensuring that commu-nications necessary with the Board or other committees or groups would happen in an expeditious manner. This is a particularly fitting role for Marge – she was the guiding force behind the original effort to set up a Comprehensive Plan, so she now returns to see it implemented.

The Board of Trustees is seeking interested volunteers, ideally with exper-tise in any of the following areas to serve on the committee:

• Project Management• Landscape Architecture• Architecture and Urban Design

Planning• Real Estate Development

• Economic Development• Finance• Prior member of the Comprehensive

Planning CommitteePlease submit your resume or bio in

an email to [email protected] by noon, June 15th, 2012. The Board of Trustees will announce its selection mid-Summer. The committee will begin to meet in early Fall, 2012 and it is expected to complete a preliminary report to the Board by December, 2012.

This is a critical committee for the Village with outcomes that will affect all of us. If you have the interest and skills, we need your help. Please consider volun-teering. You’ll make a difference.

Peter Swiderski is mayor of the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. Direct comment / inquiry to: [email protected].

Planning Your Village’s Future MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR

LEGISLATION

ALBANY, NY -- Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Assemblywoman Sandra Galef and Local Governments Committee Chair William Magnarelli on June 6, 2012, announced passage of legislation (A.8551-A/Galef ) that would allow non-profit corporations to procure goods and services collaboratively with counties.

“Non-profits, like many local govern-ment entities, are operating on limited resources, while continuing to provide vital services to many of the most vulner-able among us,” said Silver. “This bill will

implement an important cost-saving measure to help non-profits continue to address the needs of those who need it most by allowing them to make purchases through county contracts for goods and services.”

The bill authorizes non-profit corpo-rations to participate in purchasing agreements secured by the county to procure goods and services resulting in cost savings.

“During these challenging economic times, local governments and non-profits across the state have been forced to do

more with less, while assisting a higher volume of customers,” said Galef. “Given the rising costs of both commodities and services, this bill will allow non-profits to purchase goods and services in a more cost-effective manner.”

“This bill will help to minimize the cost of providing services and protect the important work that these non-profits perform in our communities by allowing them to procure goods and services collab-oratively with counties,” said Magnarelli.

Assembly Passes Important Cost-Saving Measure to Help Non-Profits

By MARY C. MARVINFor most of our Village, the spring has been one of successes and positive advances. Our highly ranked school received

even more deserved accolades on the national level and the community has been

generous beyond measure in supporting the refurbishment of the auditorium and Middle School science labs.

Continuing the positives, Village government was able to maintain the high level of services despite the burgeoning State mandates with a minimal tax increase and thanks to all the volunteers

and our Department of Public Works staff, the Village landscape has been revi-talized and cared for in a way not seen in the past.

Unfortunately, this season of success did not translate to our business district. A vast majority of our merchants expe-rienced a dreadful spring. Truth be told, they said they did not see local residents patronizing their stores. Merchants did see many folks coming in seeking

donations for all the fundraisers that occur in the spring season but not many came in to shop. Merchants are seeing a trend of the long standing Village resi-dents still thinking “Village first” when needing a gift or a service but that sense of loyalty or hometown first ethos has not translated as well to subsequent genera-tions. If this pattern continues, it bodes poorly for the perpetuation of a vibrant

Village First–Continuing the Positives GOVERNMENT MAYOR MARVIN’S COLUMN


http://www.hastingsgov.org/Pages/HastingsNY_Documents/ComprehensivePlanv6.pdf




http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A08551&term=2011


business district and with it the stable home values of our Village.

Susan Piper, President of our Chamber of Commerce, shared an apt analogy with me of a three legged stool when explaining why folks decide to move to Bronxville. One leg keeping the stool upright is the excellent quality of the public education, the second, the small town atmosphere with a commute of less than 30 minutes to midtown Manhattan and finally, the quaint, attractive and vibrant small town shopping district. In order to keep the stool upright, all three legs need to be sturdy. Two just will not do it. Our business district needs our attention and our help. Just as we volun-teer at the school and Village government to help maintain optimal functioning, we need to expand our mindset and think of volunteering for our business district as well as patronizing the stores.

This column serves as the inaugura-tion of a program whereby Village Hall will be the clearing house to direct resi-dents to volunteer opportunities to aid

our merchants. Call Village Hall and offer your services:

Merchants could use current and retired attorneys to read leases and share advice on renegotiating terms

Those with a design background could assist on window displays

Computer talent is needed to help merchants get their products up on a website

Those with a landscape flair could help plant window boxes and street pots

Marketing professionals could help suggest and organize promotions and activities to attract more customers to the Village

Residents in the merchandising busi-ness could make the entrée to connect new and different merchants to our Village

Those with advertising skills could help launch a “Think local, shop local” campaign

Our merchants, who work extremely long hours, do not have the time, money or expertise to accomplish some of these needed business adaptations in order to

stay viable long term. This is a wonderful opportunity to share a talent with your neighbors in the business district with benefits that reverberate tenfold. If you shop in our Village and lend your talents to bolster our stores, not only does money from your purchases, in the form of sales tax revenue, head directly back to the Bronxville School and Village govern-ment, but a modern vibrant business district will have a direct positive impact on maintaining real estate values.

Our merchants have a long history of being the most generous to all good causes in our Village and now they could use your help.

Think about lending your talents to this new volunteer venue by calling me at Village Hall at 337-6500 or sending an email to [email protected]. You could not be helping a more deserving group of Village supporters. If you do not have the time or inclination to volunteer, do your part by reprogramming your mindset and saying first, “Can I find that in the Village?” The bottom line….walking by our beautiful stores without walking in, will not help to maintain the ambiance and uniqueness of our beautiful Village.

Please think local, shop local and now volunteer local.

In that same spirit of volunteerism, the incredibly dedicated cadre of members of the Bronxville Beautification Council hosted the Fifth Annual Garden Tour on Saturday, June 9th. The tour began at Village Hall. Proceeds from the $20 admission cost went directly to enhancing the Village streetscape through beau-tification projects such as the hanging baskets in the business district or the newly landscaped downtown Railroad Plaza. There were six featured properties, the locations of which were not revealed until the day of the tour. They ranged from small English cottage-style gardens to grand ornamental grounds with manicured lawns, statues and reflecting pools. The tour ended with a wine and cheese reception hosted by the Bronxville Beautification Council at a lovely Village home.

Mary C. Marvin is the mayor of the Village of Bronxville, New York. If you have a suggestion or comment, consider directing your perspective by directing email to [email protected].


Village First–Continuing the Positives GOVERNMENT MAYOR MARVIN’S COLUMN




OP EDSectionCOVER

By SAM ZHERKAIt’s alleged that Janet DiFiore and her husband employed an illegal immigrant for 20 years, paid her cash under the table, and paid wages below the minimum wage.

Two weeks ago, confidential infor-mation of alleged Fraud was leaked from within the Dept. of Social Services. The DSS Fraud Investigations Unit has named newly minted NYS Ethics Commissioner and Westchester County D.A. Janet DiFiore and her husband Dennis Glazer as the targets.

In scathing inside reports, Janet DiFiore is alleged to have participated in Welfare Fraud in her alleged attempt to circumvent the process in securing Welfare and Disability Benefits for her longtime nanny, Marina Buchanan. It’s alleged that DiFiore used her position as District Attorney to circumvent the process after Mrs Buchanan was denied benefits three times prior. According to reports, Mrs Buchanan started working for Dennis Glazer and Janet DiFiore at their 3.5 million dollar home at 19 Ridge Rd., Bronxville, NY, in 1987.

Mrs Buchanan, an immigrant from Jamaica, describes her job title as nanny/housekeeper. In a disability interview, Mrs Buchanan details her job description as being involved in taking care of three chil-dren from morning to bedtime, cleaning, shopping, making doctors appointments, dropping and picking up the kids to and from school, taking them to all after school activities and managing the household, all for $200 dollars per week.

In statements made by Mrs Buchanan, she claims to have earned $200 per week since 1987.

The Westchester Guardian has secured a copy of a letter listed by Investigators as Exhibit B and dated June 17, 2009, which was provided to the Dept of Social Services by DiFiore’s husband Dennis Glazer. In this notarized letter signed by Glazer, a partner at the prestigious law firm of Davis Polk and Wardwell, he states that Mrs Buchanan’s pay was $ 200 per week. Statements made by the nanny, and figures provided by Glazer confirm that

Buchanan has been paid $200.00 weekly without ever receiving a raise in over 20 years of service. Taking into consideration the job description provided by the nanny, The Westchester Guardian estimates that Mrs Buchanan was earning far less than minimum wage. A DSS investigator asked the question: “Was Mrs Buchanan being harbored, enslaved and exploited?”

Mrs Buchanan, in interviews with DSS claimed she was only working 12-18 hours per week, a claim that insults any competent clear thinking person especially after she claimed taking care of kids from morning to bedtime which computes to a 12 plus hour day.

Immigration documents secured by The Westchester Guardian state Mrs Buchanan’s claims that she entered the U.S on July 12th, 2007, rendering her an illegal and undocumented alien prior to that date. According to reports, DSS investigators have confirmed with the Dept of Social Security that benefits for Mrs Buchanan only date back to 2007 and not 1987 which is the time Mrs Buchanan claims she started working for DiFiore and Glazer. It would appear that Dennis Glazer and Janet DiFiore have paid their nanny Marina Buchanan cash and off the books during the years 1987 - 2007 all the while Mrs Buchanan was living in the US illegally. Violation of Immigrations laws, U.S Labor laws, The Internal Revenue Code, State Labor Laws and other Federal and State Laws are in play should DiFiore and her husband be brought up on charges.

District Attorney Janet DiFiore Must Come Clean!!!



At the Compliance Part_____ of the Supreme Court, State of New York held in and for the County _______ of Westchester, at the Courthouse located at 111 Grove Street, White Plains, New York 10601 on the 15th day of May, 2012.

P R E S E N T: Joan B. Lefkowitz J.S.C.

------------------------------------------------------------------x

MELANIE KEENE, Plaintiff,

-against-

60-64 ELLIOTT HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FUND CORPORATION and WESTHAB, INC., Defendants.

------------------------------------------------------------------x

S I R S:

Upon the reading and filing of the annexed Affirmation of ARGIRO DRAKOS, ESQ. dated the 16th day of April 2012, and all exhibits annexed hereto and upon all pleadings and proceedings heretofore had herein, and sufficient cause having been shown;

The Order to Show Cause issued by this court on April 23, 2012 directed service upon non-party, Marc Jones, by personal service, but movants have informed the court they were unable to personally serve the nonparty.

LET the plaintiff, MELANIE KEENE, and/or her attorneys, show cause before this Court, at the Compliance Conference Part of the Supreme Court, State of New York, County of Westchester, located at 111 Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard, White Plains, New York on the 9th day of July 2012, at 2:00 in the afternoon of that day or as soon thereafter as counsel may be heard,

WHY, an Order should not be entered, pursuant to CPLR §3103, granting the defendant a pro-tective Order precluding the plaintiff from calling on Marc Jones as a witness at the time of trial, or in the alternative, an Order of the Court pursuant to CPLR §2308(a) holding Marc Jones in contempt of Court and compelling his deposition as a non-party witness in this matter, along with such other and further relief as this Court deems just, proper and equitable.

The defendant has not previously sought the relief requested herein.

ORDERED, that sufficient cause appearing therefore,

LET service of a copy of this Order to Show Cause, together with the papers in support thereof be served upon plaintiff’s counsel, by regular mail on or before May 16, 2012, and on nonparty Marc Jones by publication, pursuant to CPLR 316, in the Journal News and the Western Guardian which are circulated in Yonkers, New York, the nonparty’s last known city of residence, at least once in each newspaper for four successive weeks commencing on May 23, 2012, be deemed good and sufficient service.

ORDERED that answering papers shall be served, and filed with the court, so as to be received on or before June 27, 2012 at 12 P.M. No reply papers shall be accepted. Proof of service shall be filed wwith the court on or before June 27, 2012. All papers shall be filed with the civil calendar clerk located in the 9th floor of the Westchester County Courtho9use.

ORAL ARGUMENT WILL BE HEARD. APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL AND NONPARTY, MARC JONES, IS REQUIRED.

Dated: White Plains, NY May 15, 2012 ENTER: HON. JOAN B, LEFKOWITZ, J.S.C.

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COVER

The Westchester Guardian contacted the Social Security Administration for information and was told that there is a pending investigation and that they could not comment. In a confidential email addressed to DSS Deputy Commissioner Phillipe Gille, a concerned investigator states. “there is no supporting docu-mentation that the wages received from 1987-2007 were ever reported. Earnings for the same period were never reported to Social Security or the IRS and payroll taxes were never paid. As of press time, a call to the IRS for comment went unreturned.

These allegations have now perverted

the work being done by the Office of the Westchester County D.A. As long as this cloud of criminality against the top law enforcement person in Westchester County exists, all prosecutions being brought by that office will be suspect.

Simply trying to deflect the allegations by denying them is NOT ENOUGH and the people deserve better. Janet DiFiore should come clean with the people of Westchester and the State of NY if she expects to continue serving those same people.

The Westchester Guardian will be following this story as it develops.

District Attorney Janet DiFiore

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Solar Jobs for New YorkDear Editor,Every time I walk outside on a sunny day, I feel the sun’s heat and wonder how we can do more to capture this free, non-polluting energy source. And I’m not the only one thinking this way. A recent poll showed that an over-whelming majority of voters from all

political parties all across New York support proposals to increase the use of local solar power. This makes sense, because strong incentives for invest-ment in solar power provide citizens and businesses with better access to solar energy, put more solar installers to work, reduce pollution, and attract solar manufacturers. Let’s use the sun not only to power our homes, but to power our economy as well.Eric WhalenNew York, NYEric Whalen is the Field Organizer for Environment New York, a grassroots advocacy group.


http://votesolar.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/NY-Support-for-Renewables-Executive-Summary-Memo-D1b_5_25.pdf


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OFFICE SNIPER LLC Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 3/13/12. Office in Westchester Co. SSNY design. Agent of LLC upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of ALAN LOUGHLIN 325 MAIN ST. APT 3H WHITE PLAINS, NY 10601. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

A.P.E. FITNESS, LLC Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 10/27/11. Office in Westchester Co. SSNY design. Agent of LLC upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail copy THE LLC ATTN: LORI SCHNEIDER 23 WOOD-LAND DR RYE BROOK, NY 10573. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

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EMPIRE CITY MOVING LLC Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 3/14/12. Office in Westchester Co. SSNY design. Agent of LLC upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail copy The LLC 754 Palisades Ave Yonkers, NY 10703. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of ZANICK Four, LLC a domestic Limited Li-ability Company (LLC). Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of NY on 05/10/2012. NY office location: WESTCHESTER County. Secy of State is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. Secy of State shall mail a copy of any pro-cess against the LLC served upon him/her to DACK Consulting Solu-tions, 2 William street suite 202 White Plains, NY 10601. Purpose: To engage in any lawful act or ac-tivity

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By BOB WEIRWhen I look at the economic condition of our country and the philosophical differ-ences between President Obama and his GOP oppo-

nent Mitt Romney, I’m reminded of the prophetic observations of the great novelist, Ayn Rand. “Atlas Shrugged” was first published in 1957 and was Ms. Rand’s fourth, longest, and last novel. The brilliant work of fiction tells a story of a dystopian United States in which the leading innovators, ranging from indus-trialists to artists, refuse to be exploited by society any longer; hence, they decide to go on strike. The protagonist in the book is Dagny Taggart, a woman who runs a giant railroad company during a time when the government has begun a continuous march to take control over major industries. Does that seem familiar? Taggart watches ruefully as society begins to collapse around her, and the most productive citizens, led by the mysterious John Galt, begin to halt their activities. Galt describes the strike as “stopping the motor of the world” by withdrawing the minds that drive society’s growth and productivity. Those creative minds hope to demonstrate that the economy and society would disintegrate without the profit motive and the efforts of the

rational and productive.The title refers to what would happen

if the mythical Atlas, who is holding the world on his shoulders, were to shrug, thereby upsetting the balance of nature and creating chaos for the planet. The theme explores the morality of rational self-interest and individualism, which Rand believes is the motivating factor in human achievement. Dagny, along with other innovators, begin to experi-ence the futility of trying to survive in a society that hates them and resents their motivation and their ability to create and achieve. Society begins to stagnate when its most productive citizens are socially demonized and even punished for their accomplishments by the impo-sition of confiscatory taxation. Do you see any parallels with President Obama’s class warfare campaign and “The rich need to pay their fair share” argument? (According to the IRS, the fact is that the top-earning 1% of US taxpayers pay more than one third (38.02%) of all federal individual income taxes collected.)

The heroes in the book must continu-ally fight against those described as “parasites,” “looters,” and “moochers” who demand to be supported by the coun-try’s producers. The looters are depicted as proponents of high taxation, big labor, government ownership, government

spending, government planning, regula-tion, and redistribution. They confiscate earnings by enacting laws backed by the threat of force. “Moochers” demand the earnings of producers on behalf of the needy and those unwilling to earn on their own. Nevertheless, they curse the producers who make that help possible and are viciously envious and resentful of the very people who make it all possible. Ultimately, they become as destructive as the looters, destroying the productive through guilt, while appealing to their concept of a “moral right,” as they enable the lawful looting performed by govern-ments. Isn’t this a reflection of what’s happening in our country right now? How many people are on government programs that they’ve never contributed to? How many generations of non-producers have burdened, even drained, the system with no indication that future generations will be any better?

Even the richest, most powerful country in the history of the world cannot continue to flourish when one-half of the residents are paying all the bills, while the other half sits back and collects. It should be obvious that the worst thing that could happen is for the wealth-producers to give up on the country they helped build. Yet, many of our most productive citizens have already reached what’s becoming known as “government abuse threshold” and have chosen expatriation as their last remaining legal option for protecting

what they have worked so hard to acquire. I have a few friends in that “wealthy” category and they have expressed that very thought. However, because of socialist policies around the world that have threatened the financial systems in other countries, there may be fewer and fewer places to transfer that wealth and continue to build more. In other words, if they don’t stay and fight to resurrect this financial system, their options are severely limited.

Yet, given the talent and creativity of America’s entrepreneurs, it wouldn’t surprise me if they pooled their resources and gave birth to new country like another group of pioneers did about 250 years ago, when they fled their homeland and started over. Capitalism has proven to be a wealth-creation instrument that has provided the highest standard of living for the greatest number of people in recorded history. That system is currently under attack in this country, and in order to save it, we need someone who represents that economic model. We’ll have a clear choice in November.

Bob Weir is a veteran of 20 years with the New York Police Department, ten of which were performed in plainclothes undercover assignments. Bob began a writing career about 12 years ago, publishing a total of seven novels. He has also become a syndi-cated columnist under the title, “Weir Only Human”.

WEIR ONLY HUMAN

Living through Atlas Shrugged

THIS IS THE

FACE OFA PERSONAFFECTED BY

STROKE.Whether the stroke is your own

or that of a friend, parent, child, spouse or loved one, your life is affected. So learn the warning signs and call 9-1-1 immediately if you or someone else experiences them.

Call 1-800-4STROKE or visit www.strokeassociation.org


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