May 7, 2009 - WestchesterGuardian.com

Transcription

VOL. III NO. XXXX
Westchester’s Most Influential Weekly
THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2009
Janet DiFiore: Darling Of
The Political ‘Fat Cats’
More Court Report, p3:
New Rochelle Man Arrested
In Murder For Hire
In Our Opinion, p4:
Fourth Amendment:
Alive And Well
Northern Westchester, p16:
Should Courts Be Creating
Deadbeat Parents?
Jeff Deskovic, p20:
Exposing Death Penalty
westchesterguardianonline.com
Enemy Of The People
Photo: Richard Blassberg
This Week...
The Advocate, p.5
Tea Party Draws Big Crowd;
2,261 Sign Up For Future Events
See Centerfold
PAGE 2
THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN
District Attorney Who Repeatedly Prosecutes
Victims Of Police Brutality Recognizes
National Crime Victims’ Rights Week
Last week, motivated by the fact that it was National Crime Victims’
Rights Week, DA Janet DiFiore placed a table and poster, with literature,
in the lobby of the Westchester County Courthouse, ostensibly for the
purpose of disseminating information to Westchester victims of crime.
Having gone to court on Thursday
to cover ongoing developments in
a 15-year-old murder case, this reporter spotted the table upon leaving, and wished to photograph and
publicize its existence.
We were informed by court officers that we would need to obtain
explicit permission from the Administrative Judge, Francis Nicolai,
in order to take any photographs
within the courthouse. We went
looking for Judge Nicolai, who was
in the midst of dealing with calendar issues, with a long line of attorneys and judges awaiting his attention. However, to his credit, when
he emerged from a conference with one of those judges, he graciously
took a moment to listen to our request, and granted permission within
ten minutes, notifying us of his decision and informing the court officers
in control of the lobby floor through his assistant, Joe Ranieri. We were
pleased with the Judge’s promptness and courtesy.
We were particularly anxious
to photograph the DA’s display in
light of her appalling record, over
the last three years, actually prosecuting several innocent victims
of police brutality such as Irma
Marquez, Rui Florim, Sherry Bobrowsky, Tina and Mary Bostwick, and, literally, dozens of other similarly abused victims who
have come forward in Yonkers
since The Guardian first began
exposing cases of police brutality
in that city back in September of
2006.
Photo: Richard Blassberg
The Advocate:
Index
DiFiore’s Announcement Fiasco Underscores Her Unfitness To Be DA ............5
Classified ......................................................................................................... 26
Community Calendar ..........................................................................22, 23
Centerfold:
Some 2,500 Taxpayers Come Out For Westchester Tea Party ..........................14, 15
Design Inspirations:
“Your Home Is A Stage; How Are You Setting It?” ...............................................8, 9
The Court Report:
District Attorney Who Prosecutes Victims Recognizes Victims’ Rights Week......... 2
New Rochelle Man Arrested For Conspiring To Commit Murder For Hire............3, 6
Horoscope: Shimmering Stars, May 7 - 13 .............................................12, 13
In Our Opinion:
2 William Street, Suite 406
White Plains, NY 10601
Westchester’s Most Influential Weekly
Publisher:
Guardian News Corp.
Sam Zherka, President
Editor-in-Chief:
Guardian News Corp.
Richard Blassberg, Vice President
[email protected]
Graphic Designer/Newspaper & Advertising Design:
John Tufts
Fourth Amendment: Alive And Well Once More..............................................4
Editorial: 914.328.3096 • F. 914.328.3824 • [email protected]
Advertising: 914.576.1481 • F. 914.633.0806 • [email protected]
Should Our Courts Be Creating Deadbeat Parents? .................................... 16, 17
Published Every Thursday
Jeff Deskovic: Exposing The Death Penalty, Part 1 .................................... 20, 21
Northern Westchester:
Our Readers Respond: ................................................................... 4, 10, 11, 19
This Week in History: May 7 - 13.........................................................24, 25
www.westchesterguardianonline.com
PAGE 3
More Court Report
New Rochelle Man Arrested For
Conspiring To Commit Murder For Hire
LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, JOSEPH M. DEMAREST JR., the Assistant
Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation (“FBI”), and RAYMOND W. KELLY, the Police Commissioner of the City of New York, announced the arrest of ANTHONY
V. PILIERO for conspiring to commit murder for hire. According to the
criminal Complaint unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:
Beginning in November 2008, PILIERO conspired with another
individual (“CC-1”) to murder one of PILIERO’s former business
partners (the “business partner”) in order to collect on an insurance
policy issued on the life of the business partner. PILIERO understood
that CC-1 would make the murder appear as if it had occurred during
a home invasion at the business partner’s Connecticut residence.
Insurance records show that since March 1999, PILIERO has been
the sole beneficiary of a $1,000,000 life insurance policy covering the
business partner. PILIERO agreed to pay CC-1from insurance proceeds received following the business partner’s death.
PILIERO, 48, of New Rochelle, New York, is charged with one
count of murder for hire. If convicted, PILIERO faces a maximum
sentence of twenty years in prison and a fine of $250,000, or twice the
gross gain or loss from the scheme.
PILIERO is expected to be presented before United States Magistrate Judge THEODORE H. KATZ in Manhattan federal court.
Mr. DASSIN praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI
and the New York Police Department.
The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Organized Crime Unit.
Assistant United States Attorney KENNETH A. POLITE is in charge
of this prosecution.
The charge set forth in the Complaint is merely an accusation and
the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until found guilty.
Continued on page 6
PAGE THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN
In Our Opinion...
Fourth Amendment: Alive And Well Once More
“T
he Right of the People to be secure in their persons, houses, papers,
and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported
by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched,
and the persons or things to be seized.” Such is the guarantee embodied in
the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution for those who choose to live in
these United States.
Unfortunately, for many years, prior to two weeks ago, the Constitutional
promise held out by the Fourth Amendment had been eroded, particularly in the context of automobile operation, to the point where routine
traffic stops, with, or without, infraction, or justification had become an
automatic “pretext” for warrantless searches, as far back as 1981, when the
United States Supreme Court found: “When a policeman has made a lawful
custodial arrest of the occupant of an automobile, he may, as a contemporaneous incident of that arrest, search the passenger compartment of that
automobile.”
That ruling, which grew out of a case that involved the discovery of a quantity of cocaine in a jacket pocket, would ultimately impact Fourth Amendment guarantees far beyond anything intended by the High Court whose
concerns ran to the limited issue of protecting the safety of arresting officers from possible weapons within reach of arrested vehicle occupants,
and/or hidden evidence of a crime.
However, as a practical matter, in the nearly three decades since the Court’s
ruling, arrested suspects have invariably been handcuffed and/or locked
up prior to such vehicular scrutiny. In short, the overwhelming number of
vehicle searches had been conducted without connection to their Constitutional justification.
Under the revised rules, as of two weeks ago, “Police may search a vehicle
incident to a recent occupant’s arrest only when the arrestee is unsecured
and within reaching distance of the passenger compartment at the time of
the search.” Of course, a search may still be conducted if police are looking
for evidence of the crime that led to the arrest.
The opinion, authored by Justice Stevens, for the 5-4 majority, declared, “A
rule that gives police the power to conduct such a search whenever an individual is caught committing a traffic offense creates a serious and recurring
threat to the privacy of countless individuals.”
Justice Anton Scalia pleasantly surprised many when, in his concurring
opinion, he labeled so-called routine car searches “plainly Unconstitutional”, referring to the Court’s prior safety concerns for arresting officers as a
“charade”, noting that police can always restrain arrestees.
We are particularly pleased with the High Court’s apparent turn-around on
the vital issues of privacy and personal security, and while it represents a
restoration of rights with respect to one Amendment in the Bill of Rights,
still it is a very fundamental package of guarantees, and would seem to suggest possible further restorations of freedoms wrongfully curtailed under
Our Readers Respond...
Unionized County Employee Chastises Union Heads
Dear Editor:
T.J. Mallon and McKillop, both Union Presidents, were
called by District Attorney Janet DiFiore to attend the rally
on April 30; they both attended. Yet, on April 28, when the
Courthouse was unsafe and unhealthy for all employees and
the public because of the heat, both President T.J. Mallon,
Court Employees Association and McKillop, President of
Court Officers Union, said they could not help their court
employees. They didn’t have the time, yet they both found
the time today, April 30, to assist Janet DiFiore in front of the
Courthouse.
We thought it was against Court rules to campaign in the
Westchester County Courthouse, yet several union members
represented by T.J. Mallon’s union were seen with Janet DiFiore signs right after the rally.
Concerned Union Member
Reader Expresses Urgent Need To Audit Federal Reserve
Dear Editor:
We need your assistance in getting the word out to
the public, your readers, that we need to audit the federal
reserve. What they may not know is that in addition to our
$11 trillion national debt Congress, the Treasury Dept. and
the Federal Reserve have put us on the hook for almost $10
trillion in bailouts and loans.
Despite the demand for transparency, the Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke, recently flat-out said NO to Congress
when asked to name which financial institutions have received trillions of dollars in these loans from the Fed.
The Federal Reserve, the unelected central bank of the
United States, refused to fully disclose its operations and
agreements to Congress, including its deals with foreign
central banks and governments.
To end this secrecy and deliver answers to the American
people, my hero Congerssman Dr. Ron Paul has introduced
HR 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act. HR 1207
will:
Require the Government Accountability Office (GAO)
to perform a complete audit of the fed by the end of 2010;
Reveal the details of agreements the Fed has made with
foreign central banks and governments;
Show which banks and Wall Street firms have received
our money from the Fed.
Congressman Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed bill will bring
transparency and accountability to an institution that has
Continued on pg. 10
PAGE DiFiore Announcement Fiasco Underscores Her
Unfitness To Be Westchester’s District Attorney
DA Staff Member Cautions Guardian Publisher To Be
Careful Of Frame-Up, Or Other Dirty Tricks
Last Thursday at noon was clearly a defining moment for the People
of Westchester, and particularly for
those who are genuine Democrats.
What they witnessed was a cha-
rade, an attempt by the Fat Cats of
the Democratic Party, Andy Spano,
Reggie LaFayette, Tim Idoni, and all
those greedy hacks, Bill Ryan included, to shove their unfit candidate,
their Counterfeit Democrat, down
everybody’s throat. Their problem
was, the People weren’t biting.
The charade, put on by some 200
individuals, more than half of whom
were Assistant DAs, investigators,
and support staff compelled to be
there; and, the rest mostly the same
$155,000-a-year politicos who tried
to grab outrageous pay raises from
taxpayers last Fall, could not have
been more defining with respect to
why Janet DiFiore is not, and never
has been, the District Attorney of
the decent, hard-working citizens of
Westchester. The event clearly demonstrated why the recent News12
poll of 999 viewers came back:
Janet, and her politically connected crowd, weren’t fooling anybody. The People know her for who
she really is; a mean-spirited, vindictive opportunist, who for years used
the people and the financial resources of the Republican Party in race
Democrat, counterfeit DA.
The People know that no selfrespecting Democrat, and surely no
District Attorney worthy of the Office, would ever conduct herself as
Janet DiFiore has for the past three
years. They have witnessed her prosecuting the innocent victims of rogue
police brutality; Irma Marquez, Rui
Florim, Dr. Sherry Bobrowsky, and
scores of others in Yonkers. And, they
haven’t forgotten the three young
after race against the choice of rank
and file Democrats, only to throw her
old supporters under the bus and suddenly declare herself a Democrat.
But the People of Westchester,
Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Conservatives, and Working
Families, were not fooled for even
a minute. They know her for the
counterfeit she truly is; counterfeit
boys beaten and mauled in Mount
Vernon, nor the victims of excessive
force in Sleepy Hollow. Each time she
covered up the rogue cops involved,
compelling the federal government,
the Justice Department, to step in
and protect the safety and rights of
Westchester citzens.
Several individuals who have
been wrongfully handled by her, or
• Tony Castro................ 55%
• Dan Schorr................. 27%
• Janet DiFiore.............. 18%
whose family have been, showed up
carrying signs, calling for her firing,
showing photos of Irma Marquez in
an effort to speak Truth to Power.
During the event, a staff person
from the DA’s Office, attempting not
to be noticed by others from the Office, approached Guardian publisher
Sam Zherka, standing at the event, and
warned him, in a caring tone, to be
both cautious and on the lookout for
dirty tricks from DiFiore operatives
rumored about in the Office. If, in fact,
that possibility should materialize, it
would simply be one of several vindictive and retaliatory acts already carried
out by Janet DiFiore in fulfillment of
threats she made two years ago.
Perhaps the most defining moment came when Party Boss, and
part-time $155,000-a-year Election
Commissioner, Reggie LaFayette,
rattled by sign-carrying protestors,
declared, “This isn’t about these
people; it’s about Janet DiFiore.” He
was so right; for Janet, it’s never been
about the People at all.
Janet’s only comfort to be drawn
from the fiasco was the fact that
News12 was the only television coerage that she got. All of the major
networks stayed away, apparently deciding she was a low-level priority. n
PAGE THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN
More Court Report, continued from pg 3
PAGE Press Release
Senate Elections Committee Begins Series Of Five Hearings
Across New York On Election Reform Bills And Oversight Public Invited to Weigh in on Proposals to Reform the State’s Voter Registration Laws and Regulations
On Thursday, April 23, the Senate Standing Committee on Elections held the first in a series of five statewide public hearings to solicit feedback on recently
introduced and forthcoming election reform proposals. Today’s hearing emphasized bills to establish an effective and inclusive voter registration process.
Those who testified about the need for voter registration reform included: Commissioner Dennis Ward, Erie County Board of Elections (BoE); Commissioner
Tom Ferrarese, Monroe County BoE, Chair, Executive Committee of the Election Commissioners Association; Jim Ostrowski, election law attorney and founder
Free New York; Robert Volpe, Citizens for a Better NY and others. The second voter registration hearing is scheduled for tomorrow in New York City and will
include testimony from Rock the Vote Executive Director Heather Smith and Douglas A. Kellner, New York State BoE, Co-Chair.
“This series of hearings will open the legislative process to the public,” said Senator Joseph P. Addabbo Jr., Elections Committee Chair. “We, in the Senate, are
committed to allowing citizens’ voices to be heard on matters that are of the utmost importance to the health and vitality of our democracy. Accordingly, we will
address election issues with a deliberate approach, with hearings on voter registration, absentee ballots, election day and voting issues, campaign finance reform,
Board of Elections oversight, new voting machines and other related matters.”
These hearings will highlight the necessity of individual participation in the electoral process, and provide voters with critical information on election procedures. Currently, more than 33 percent of eligible voters in New York are not registered, according to US Census data compiled by Dr. Michael McDonald, associate
professor of public and international affairs at George Mason University.
Senate Majority Leader Malcolm A. Smith said, “Through these hearings and the work of the Elections Committee, the Senate is taking significant steps to
improve the election process by proactively including voters at all stages. By soliciting feedback now, we are ensuring that as the Committee proceeds, reform is
made with the best interest of New Yorkers in mind. By educating voters on important issues such as voter registration and Election Day protocol, we continue to
demonstrate that above all else, this legislature is working for the people.”
This new dialogue between lawmakers and the public is part of the Senate’s continued commitment to openness and transparency and increasing public participation.
“Currently, eligible voters are not placed on electoral rolls unless they first take the initiative to register and satisfy state-imposed requirements for voter registration,” said Senator Antoine Thompson. “Citizens must take responsibility to vote, but government should do its part by clearing away obstacles to their full
participation. The current voter registration system is the largest source of such obstacles.”
Senator Addabbo concluded, “I am hopeful that through these hearings we will assure the people that they will be able to participate in the most fundamental
process in our democracy and instill confidence in the voters that their votes and voices matter.” The bill package for the April public hearings includes legislation to:
REFORM VOTER REGISTRATION
• Voters will be able to register on Election Day through a Constitutional amendment. Additionally, the deadline by which a registration must be received
would be reduced from 20 days to 10 days before an election.
• Require the State Board of Elections to address registration forms to local county board when a voter downloads the form from the Web-site.
EDUCATE THE INCARCERATED
• Educates the incarcerated and those released but serving sentences about their voting and absentee ballot rights, and provides for assistance in registering
and voting by absentee ballot.
INCREASED FLEXIBILITY IN PARTY ENROLLMENT
• Reduces the deadlines for changing party enrollment and provides an additional opportunity for new registrants to indicate choice of party enrollment where
original choice was omitted or void. Thursday’s hearing took place at the Erie County Legislature in Buffalo. Tomorrow’s hearing is scheduled to take place from 10 AM to 1 PM in New York City
at 250 Broadway, 19th floor.
Future hearings in May, June, September and November will highlight election reform proposals for: casting a ballot and poll sites; campaign finance reform;
Board of Elections oversight; election code reform; and oversight of elections in November.
Editor’s Note:
It is reassuring to note that the State Senate is serious about election reform and oversight. Westchester voters must not forget the fraudulent activities that determined the countywide elections of 2001; the election for State Senate in the 35th District
in 2000, 2002, and especially 2004; the election for District Attorney in 2005. No doubt it will require federal monitors and
attorneys to assure honest outcomes in this year’s upcoming countywide elections.
PAGE 8
Veronica Imperatrice
“Your Home Is A Stage;
How Are You Setting It?”
First impressions seem to last
forever, and that certainly goes
for how one feels when they enter your home. The little things
that we do, or fail to do, have a
long-lasting effect on us and others. With that being said, are you
pleased with how your friends
and family are seeing things when
they first enter your home?
If you are dissatisfied, don’t
despair, there is plenty that you
can do immediately and over
time to improve the way things
look. As I said, let’s deal with first
impressions. Nothing is more important than how tidy a home is.
Next, we deal with decor. Most of
us know just what it
will take; though
some of us fail
to take the right
steps. Now might
be the perfect time
to do our “spring
cleaning act, and
spring into action”.
Visualization is
where it all begins;
and, your first step
should
be to try
to visualize how you would
like things to appear.
This is not as easy as
it sounds, and it certainly isn’t a one-time
exercise. The more
you train your inner eye to work
for you, the easier this process
will become.
Think
of
your
home as
a stage,
filled with
props and
people.
You are
the creator, setting it as you wish. Where
and how you place things is critical. You must plan out every step
of the way. Then you must put
your plan into action. Like a stage
in a theater, you must design a
backdrop that will offset all of
your furnishings. Window treatment is an essential part of this
total look, don’t neglect this major part of your decor. Think of it
as you would your hairstyle; the
way it frames your face is similar
to how drapery will frame your
room.
Freshly painted walls go a
long way to help make the right
first impression. So, let’s get to it,
reach for interesting colors, not
just beige on beige. Walls, window treatment; and now for the
floors in your new look.
Hardwood floors enhanced by
rich area rugs are a plus. Wall to
wall is always acceptable. Whatever your choice, color coordinate; always keep that in mind.
Colors have a life of their own, so
compliment them
accordi n g l y.
See how
mu c h
fun you
will have
as you
go.
N o w,
for what
you
already
own or intend to buy in the way of furniture.
I recognize that we are all dealing
with the same pocketbook. Price
and taste are two different things.
You can work within your budget
and still have a smart and stylish
home.
Remember, we are looking to
create an eye-opener of a room.
How and where you arrange your
upholstery and case goods will
take time and patience. Don’t
expect perfection immediately;
but, do expect a look that people
will comment on. Once you have
items where you want them, then
be ready to tackle the next phase
of decorating your room, accessorizing. Don’t throw up your
arms in despair, help is on the
way. It isn’t necessary to spend a
“great deal to get a great look”!
Become a smart shopper; include
some finer stores to collect your
ideas from, and them duplicate
them at a price you can afford.
Another person’s discards could
become a find for you, so shop ebay, tag sales, consignment shops
etc. You will soon become very
proficient and wise shopper that
others will envy.
Have you heard the term “vignette”? A very French word that
describes a special setting within
a room. Often it contains one, two
or three items with a collection of
wonderful add-ons to complete
the look. For example, a settee
complimented by a small table,
lamp, artwork and small area rug,
off to one side of a room. Another example might be a sofa table
in an entrance, beneath a single
mirror, graced by two candlestick
lamps. You can create a vignette
within any room, using most any
decor.
As you continue to visualize and make the changes that
are needed, room by room, look
by look, eventually the home
that you have been wanting and
dreaming of, will now become a
reality. Seeing is believing and,
more importantly, believing in
yourself and what you are capable
of, is the real dream come true. n
PAGE PAGE 10
Readers Respond, continued from page 4
and mismanagement. This movement is not personal, but rather
an effort to bring to the attention
of our elected leaders to act more
honestly in their fiduciary responsibilities and stewardship of
taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars.
The elimination of redundant
government agencies is one way
to help stimulate the economy.
Just a casual review of basic economics will make manifest how
politicians waste taxpayers’ dollars by maintaining redundant
inefficient agencies and governThe Taxpayers’ Stimulus Plan ments. The marginal benefits
(Main Street Takes Control) the taxpayers receive from the
County Government are far less
Dear Editor:
the marginal costs collected via
The current movement to taxes collected. In simple terms
eliminate County Government is the costs paid for these services is
a long overdue and a natural re- far less than the benefits received.
sponse from taxpayers seeking to The dollars saved by the elimicut down on government waste nation of the County Govern-
reduced the value of our dollar
by 95 percent since its creation
in 1913.
We count on your unique
publication to raise important
and very often uncomfortable
issues and to bring facts to your
readership which will allow
them to be armed with the tools
to make important decisions and
take appropriate action to preserve their civil rights, their livelihoods, their savings and their
legacy to future generations.
Irene Ferrara, Armonk
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ment would result in lower taxes
and/or using these tax dollars to
cover budget shortfalls currently experienced by a number of
Westchester County municipalities. White Plains is a good example; with its massive shortfall
in its budget, the City will need
to cut back on services and jobs.
This is not the way to stimulate
the economy. With the County
Government eliminated, the savings can be passed on to the local
governments to maintain their
current level of services and not
having to place a hold on hiring
or eliminating positions.
Also, from the perspective
of basic economics, for every tax
dollar collected by government,
the taxpayer has one less dollar
to spend. This is not the way to
promote a healthy local economy.
Economically speaking, this concept is referred to as the production possibility curve. In layman’s
terms, guns or butter? In this case
of the need for a County Government, it simply means taxes
or personal spending/savings.
When taxpayers are forced to finance an excessive tax burden
they have less income available
for consumer spending; which is
one of the reasons we are in this
current recession.
If one has doubts about the
marginal benefits of maintaining
a county government, one must
simply look across the border to
the State of Connecticut which
has eliminated county governments years ago.
Dr. Richard Cirulli,
White Plains
Re: Paul Cote
Dear Editor:
I have been following the case
of Paul Cote and I find it a very
troubling case. Mr. Cote, a veteran corrections officer coming
to the aid of his colleague, was indicted and convicted of severely
injuring a prisoner both officers
were trying to subdue. Though
there were two officers involved,
it is strange that only Mr. Cote
was indicted and convicted.
After serving a prison sentence, losing his job, benefits and
pension, Mr. Cote is indicted and
convicted again in Federal Court,
but an experienced and respected
judge, the late Charles L. Brieant,
We invite our readers’ comments.
Opinions expressed are solely those of
the writer, and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions or views of The Westchester Guardian or the Guardian News
Corporation.
Letters should be no more than 500
words in length, and may be edited for
length and clarity. Please email your
letters to editor@westchesterguardian.
com. For verification purposes we ask
you include your address and a daytime
phone number.
granted Mr. Cote a Judgment of
Acquittal.
Now I read Mr. Cote is convicted a third time for the same
case and was remanded to prison
awaiting sentencing in May.
After reading the articles and
letters about this case, I know that
the truth will eventually come out
and Mr. Cote will be vindicated.
Truth and justice always prevail. I hope it will be sooner, rather than later, for Paul Cote and
his family.
Larry Bibb, Mount Vernon
Re: Paul Cote
Dear Editor:
I have been keeping up with
the letters about the correction
officer (Paul Cote) who was put
behind bars for a situation that
happened while going to the aid
of a fellow employee. It is a very
interesting yet sad story, and your
coverage has been very informa-
tive. Thank you for it.
I have a friend whose husband was wrongly convicted
some years ago and served time
for a crime he did not commit.
When DNA came into play, he
was proven innocent. The conviction ruined his life, his career,
caused serious emotional issues
for his son and as a result split up
his family. I am not sure, from all
that I have read, that the prosecutor in this case, investigated this
to the fullest. If this was investigated to the fullest, the judge who
recently passed away would not
have made the decision to strike
out the jury conviction.
I read that Cote will be sentenced sometime in May. I hope
this new judge Cote will be standing before does the right thing. I
don’t know this man, like some of
the others who have written, but
Continued on page 19
PAGE 11
PAGE 12
Shelley Ackerman
May 7 - 13
Mercury Stations Retrograde, the Full Moon in Scorpio,
And the Moon-Venus Alignment Make Mother’s Day “Sweet”
By Shelley L. Ackerman
Your Mamma’s Stars: Why
Mother’s Day is Celebrated in May
In ancient times, all holiday celebrations were born of the cycles in nature which align with the cycles in the
heavens. For example: Saturnalia was
celebrated at the Winter solstice, Beltane at mid-spring, etc.
This holds true today, as most of
our modern ‘man-made’ holidays are in
sync with astrological rulership:
For example: Labor Day is in September during Virgo, the sign that rules
work; the ancient Samhain (Sawhen)
celebrated during bewitching Scorpio
has morphed into Halloween; Candlemas has evolved into Groundhogs Day,
and Valentines Day is during Aquarius,
the sign that rules friendship (the precursor to love).
For even greater precision, let’s ask
Congress (and the greeting card companies of the world) to consider moving Father’s Day to August (during Leo
month) and replace it with a “Siblings’
Day” for June (during Gemini). Mother’s Day should be celebrated on a Monday (Moon-day) or a Friday (named for
the Norse goddess of love and beauty
Freya).That being said, Mom for the
most part is aptly honored close to the
Pagan Beltane celebration, during the
earthy and fertile time of Venus ruled
Taurus, when the lushness and splendor
of Mother Earth is in full bloom.
Astrologically, The Moon and Venus are the planets which most represent
the feminine qualities. Venus represents
what attracts us, who we love, and that
which is sweet to us: The Moon represents the need for safety and security as
well as the mothering principle itself.
While Sun Signs are useful in understanding the themes that are central to
you in this lifetime, the placement of the
Moon describes how you experienced
the mother you had and what you re-
quire to feel safe, secure, and grounded in
the world.
You can obtain a complementary
chart from my website www.karmicrelief.
com to learn where all of the planets were
at the time of your birth:
Mothering by Sign
Sure, some signs are more traditionally maternal than others, but all signs
of the zodiac are capable of being good
moms and each has unique mothering
gifts to bring to the table. To celebrate
Mother’s Day 2009, here’s an astrological
primer for you and Mom:
Aries Sun: Strength: bold, vibrant, energetic and empowering. Weakness: Impatient, not always able to tune into another’s
feelings, may feel too responsible for own
mother’s happiness.
Aries Moon: To feel safe needs: to
feel active and alive, thrives on continuous activity. Mothering Style: exciting and
stimulating
Gifts for Aries (Sun or Moon): Aries
women (Diana Ross, Mariah Carey) remain youthful, physical, and hot-headed
forever! Mom on the run Sarah Jessica
Parker didn’t let pregnancy get in the way
of her day job on Sex in the City! Karate
Class, Gym membership, Fencing lessons,
Cutlery, Something red and wild, Hats,
Hair accessories, a nifty daily planner to
keep her busy schedule organized.
Taurus Sun: Strength: Steady, warm,
dependable, affectionate. Weakness: Stubborn, self-indulgent, and ‘dense’
Taurus Moon: To feel safe needs:
Consistency, Good food, many creature
comforts, a substantial steady income.
Mothering Style: grounding, comforting,
sensual, soothing.
Gifts for Taurus: Taurus Moms (Jessica Lange, Debra Winger, Coretta Scott
King and Tori Spelling) are sensual in their
approach. The physical bonding between
mother and child is highlighted in Venusruled Taurus: Gourmet brunch or dinner
at a very fine restaurant, all-clad cookware,
expensive perfume, 1000 thread count sateen sheets; a luxurious day at a spa.
Gemini Sun: Strength: Very bright,
playful, funny and resourceful. Weakness:
Crazy-Making, immature, distracted,
pulled in many directions
Gemini Moon: To feel safe needs:
Mobility (some Gemini moons are more
at home in their car than anywhere else),
language, words, self-expression. Mothering Style: communicative, educational,
loves through literacy
Gifts for Gemini: Multi-tasking
Gemini Moms (Annette Bening, Angelina
Jolie, and Joan Rivers) love a good book and
staying in touch: the latest gadget, wireless
accessory, new cell phone/blackberry with
the works, a year of direct TV, or a new carafter Mercury goes direct on May 31.
Cancer Sun: Strength: Sensitive, psychic, emotionally present. Weakness: Emotionally demanding, dependent, maudlin,
a Drama Queen, easily feels abandoned
Cancer Moon: To feel Safe needs: a
safe haven, emotional connection to loved
ones. Mothering Style: cradling, enveloping, loves to provide the basics- food, shelter, and love.
Gifts for Cancer: The natural ‘matriarch’ of the zodiac (Rose Kennedy, “Octomom” Nadya Suleman), The lunar-ruled
sign of Milk and motherhood, would
adore a trip to her ancestors’ country of
origin: trace your family roots and make a
gift of what you’ve discovered, an aromatic milk-bath, sterling silver (as in silverymoon, get it?), indulge her reminiscences
of the past-one more time!
Leo Sun: Strength: Radiant, joyful,
proud: children have a strong sense of belonging and of being important. Weakness:
may need too much attention, or be too
concerned with appearances & what others
think, the stage mother who needs to be the
star herself (The Mamma Rose syndrome).
Leo Moon: To Feel Safe Needs: creative expression and recognition (Barbra
Streisand has a Leo moon), expensive
‘royal’ surroundings, to brag a little,
spending money. Mothering Style: doting, indulgent, loyal, wants the best of
everything for her ‘cubs’
Gifts for Leo: Like Lionesses with
their cubs, Leos LOVE being Moms (Madonna, Jackie Kennedy, Kathy-Lee Gifford). Get your Royal Highness/Queen
of the Castle Mom first-row Theatre
tickets, spectacular new lighting for the
living room, a tiara, a professional family
photograph with make-up artist/stylist
to add oomph to her natural sparkle!
Virgo Sun: Strength: Health comes
first, Practical, attentive, observant, can
see what the doctor missed. Weakness:
critical, intolerant, over-analytical, demands perfection of self and others
Virgo Moon: To Feel Safe Needs: a
good working routine, cleanliness, order,
time and space to process. Mothering Style:
thorough, efficient, caring, reasonable.
Gifts for Virgo: Habitually in service
to others, Virgo Moms (Gloria Estefan,
Ricki Lake) often put themselves last and
work many jobs to provide for their brood:
She’s appreciate a gift certificate to a health
food store, assistance in the kitchen or garden; and though she may protest, help her
purge and de-clutter with the professional
organizer of her choice. You’ll really make
her happy by cleaning the bathroom, the
oven, and washing the windows.
Libra Sun: Strength: Pleasant, Fair,
inviting, social & welcoming. Weakness:
unstable, demanding (perfection from
others), Can be emotionally distant and
detached
Libra Moon: To Feel Safe Needs:
Objectivity, distance, tranquility and
beautiful surroundings. Mothering Style:
delicate, cultured, refined, cool.
Gifts for Libra: Libra Moms
(Gwyneth Paltrow, Susan Sarandon, Eleanor Roosevelt) insist on equality and
strive to balance the demands of motherhood and work with their ongoing search
for truth and their strong need to keep the
romance alive with their significant others. They love beauty and insist on keeping their mind active: Art work or classes
fit the bill, Museum passes, a gift certificate
from her favorite book outlet, a romantic
evening out with Dad (or her new beau), if
you can- a weekend getaway.
Scorpio Sun: Strength: Powerful,
can handle anything, a healer. Weakness:
overwhelming, possessive, mistrusting, interrogative, controlling
Scorpio Moon: To Feel Safe Needs:
alone time, their emotional boundaries
respected, time to learn to trust you- once
they do, you’re theirs for life. Mothering
Style: deep, consuming, intense, can provide well, reassuring.
Gifts for Scorpio: Don’t try to keep
your secrets from your Scorpio Mom
(Hillary Clinton, Julia Roberts, Whoopi
Goldberg, Demi Moore), it just won’t
work: They’d really appreciate: A psychic
reading, tarot deck, a treasure hunt, an
scuba diving in the Caribbean, expedition in a submarine, a tour of Fort Knox,
the Kremlin, the Pentagon, or King Tut’s
tomb; Luxurious dark velvet drapes, a
safety deposit box (to store her secrets),
mystery books, Privacy 
Sagittarius Sun: Strength: Upbeat,
optimistic, adventurous. Weakness:
Preachy, pedantic, annoyingly cheery, intolerant, judgmental.
Sagittarius Moon: To Feel Safe
Needs: Room to expand, emotional freedom, frequent travel. Mothering Style: Inspiring, encouraging, will do anything for
child’s education (Aquarian Oprah has
the moon in Sagittarius)
Gifts for Sagittarius: Keep your
Sagittarian Mom (Christina Aguilera,
Tina Turner) happy by keeping it moving. Your ‘archer’ mom will not tolerate
being fenced in! Get her a trip to a new
destination, tuition for the college course
she’s been talking about, a subscription to
a lecture series, a soap box & a rapt audience to listen to her ‘teachings’.
Capricorn Sun: Strength: Wise, responsible, seasoned; a huge heart that has
‘been there’, emotionally mature. Weakness: cold, gloomy, depressive, uncom-
PAGE 13
municative
Capricorn Moon: To Feel Safe Needs:
structure, work, an ongoing sense of accomplishment. Many Capricorn moons
like working at home and sleep near their
desk. Mothering Style: Organized, a disciplinarian who assigns chores, likes putting kids to work for the family business.
Gifts for Capricorn: Your Cap mom
(Gayle King, Michelle Obama) would
value a rare book, a special bauble from
an estate jewelry sale, an art piece with
documented history, anything recycled
(Capricorns hate waste), and the best gift
of all: Great news about your latest scholastic or professional achievement.
Aquarius Sun: Strength: Encourages
kids’ individuality, innovative, tolerant, you
can be who you are. Weakness: Cranky, unpredictable, inconsistent, ‘out-there’
Aquarius Moon: To Feel Safe
Needs: freedom, variety, extended
families, community. Mothering Style:
avant-garde, futuristic, progressive, inclusive (Cancerian Princess Diana had
the Moon in Aquarius)
Gifts for Aquarius: Progress and the
element of surprise speaks to the unconventional side of Aquarian Moms (Yoko
Ono, Vanessa Redgrave): Tickets to “Hair”
on Broadway, or the CD of the score; A
telescope or a day trip to the Planetarium;
an excursion to the Bohemian part of
town, a gift of the wildest outfit-sans your
comments or criticism.
Pisces Sun: Strength: Empathetic,
compassionate, sensitive, great coping
skills, the consummate multi-tasker.
Weakness: all-over the place, frantic, overextended, worrisome
Pisces Moon: To Feel Safe Needs:
Emotional validation, spiritual foundation,
a sanctuary. Mothering Style: Gentle, aware
of other realms, psychic attunement, sweet
Gifts for Pisces: Soulful Pisces Moms
(Vanessa Williams, Gloria Vanderbilt)
have suffered plenty and would appreciate
a little acknowledgment for the sacrifices
made for their kids. Show you care with a
trip to the ballet, foot massage or reflexology session, pedicure, a series of dance
classes, state of the art digital camera.
Full Moon Horoscope May 7-13, 2009;
Note: Mercury is retrograde May 7 through May 31st
Aries (March 21-April 19): Glaring
light is shed on your money-sex-power
axis and there’s no hiding: What and
who are you vested in and why? The
Mercury retro begins in your 3rd house
of communication but slides back into
your financial house. You’ll have a second chance at renegotiating a deal that
works better.
past with the purpose of making sure
that your shared values still ‘work’ for
all concerned. The Full Moon in your
5th house of children and romance sheds
bold and transformative light on both.
Is it time to let the chickens fly the coop?
Or is the time ripe to allow a friendship
blossom into the romance it was always
meant to be?
Moon, though intense will force you
to speak up for your true value in this
world and to get properly paid for your
efforts once and for all. Mercury backs
into your 8th house of shared resources
and tax issues will have to be clarified,
negotiated, and settled. The good news
is: you WILL be paid what is owed to
you.
Taurus (April 20-May 20): The Full
Moon may bring out the beast in your
spouse, significant other or business
partner, but rest assured, it’s a reflection
of what’s going on inside of you. Own
up to your part to diffuse the energy.
Mercury slides back to your sign giving you a chance to revise and correct
former statements and to eliminate any
half-truths.
Leo (July 23-Aug. 22): The fine line between healthy confidence and toxic arrogance has never been more apparent
and the examples all around should help
you be that much more cautious when it
comes to a) blowing your own horn and
b) knowing who to trust with your innermost thoughts. Mercury moves back
into your career house and you will be
visited by ghosts of past achievements.
May you turn all of those ‘almosts’ into a
stunning headline engagement.
Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 21): Whether
you’re ready or not the Full Moon will
expose the real you, warts and all. But
the big surprise may just be that the
very part of yourself that you’ve guarded
with your life may be the thing that the
world is clamoring to pay big bucks to
see. Surrender to this process as you use
the Mercury retrograde to speak more
openly and honestly with a spouse,
business partner, or a significant other
that you’ve kept on a string for way too
long.
Gemini (May 21-June 21): Like a floodlight, the Full Moon zooms in to your 6th
house of health and work and anything
that’s been built with a ‘fake it till you
make it” approach will be exposed and
must be corrected and replanted – with
honesty. Your ruler Mercury slides back
into your 12th house to help you uncover the hidden thoughts and motives
that have tripped you up. Say goodbye:
They’re no longer necessary.
Cancer (June 22-July 22): Mercury
retro will provide you with a month to
reconnect with many friends from your
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Mercury retro this time insists that you clarify your
philosophical and/or religious approach
to your day to day existence and to
modify that which no longer is truthful
for you. The Full Moon sheds dramatic
and intense light on your relationship
with siblings and neighbors and will insist that you sharpen your communication skills with both. Better and deeper
listening is a must.
Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 23): This Full
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The invasive a glaring Full Moon in your Scorpionic 12th house of secrets doesn’t have
to be as uncomfortable as it sounds.
This is a rare opportunity to go through
your personal archives and to discover
some very valuable ‘toys in the attic’ (a/
k/a buried treasure) and to put them to
good use in the here and now. Mercury
retro in your 6th will demand that conversations with doctors, nurses and coworkers be brutally honest or else.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan 19): This Mercury retro is an interesting one in that
you will have the chance to inspire an
underling or health practitioner (who
has disappointed you in the past) to get
creative, practical, and to deliver way
beyond what you’ve come to expect. The
Full Moon will empower and transform
your circle of friends, and as a result,
they’ll be able to support you more effectively.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The Mercury retro puts romance and creativity
on hold and taking a back seat to family and real estate concerns. A banker
or investor is more apt to be reasonable
than before. The Full Moon illuminates
the career sector of your chart and could
very well transform that part of your life
for the good. Must you remain an immoveable creature of habit or are you
ready to reap the rewards of all your
hard work?
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20): Mercury
retro this time asks that you reconnect
with siblings and neighbors a clear up
any hard feelings and misunderstandings once and for all. Property issues
must be dealt with NOW. The Full
Moon sheds light on ethical and moral
issues. Does your current philosophy or
religion really support you? If not, have
the guts to explore other teachings. ■
PAGE 14
Some 2,500 Taxpayers Come Out For
A week ago this past Saturday, on April 25, the long-awaited
Westchester Tea Party got underway around noon, with a bright,
sun-filled sky and temperature around 90 degrees. Still, despite
News12’s blatant misreporting, more than 2500 homeowners, businesspeople and taxpayers, some with an occasional infant on their
shoulders, came out in the heat to protest the fact that Westchester
is the most heavily taxed county in the nation.
Assisted by a dozen canvassers, 2261 attendees took the time
and trouble to fill out contact sheets, four persons to a sheet, for
purposes of notification in order to attend and help out at future
events. Despite the reality of those numbers, News12, as has been
its modus operandi, bogusly underreported the attendance by more
than two-thirds.
As it turned out, the White Plains Police prevailed upon the
demonstration organizers to move the function one block west,
down Martine Avenue, to the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr., Boulevard, a location that provided no shade from the merciless rays of the sun, unlike the protective shadow provided by the
nine-story County Office Building, at the original site.
Tea Party demonstrators were treated to live music and some
spirited rhetoric from nearly a dozen speakers, including longtime Greenburgh Supervisor and advocate for the abolishment of
PAGE 15
Westchester Tea Party In Blistering Heat
County Government, Paul Feiner, Dave Spano, son of the County
Executive, and party organizer and underwriter, Publisher Sam
Zherka. Zherka told the crowd, “My father used to tell me how do
you know when a politician is lying? He’s lying when his lips are
moving.”
Nick DiTomas, of the Cable Access Channel, told the protestors, “The trouble with government is that they attempt to solve
problems with the same kind of thinking that created them.”
Sam Zherka came back with, “We need to instill fear in those
overtaxing, corrupt politicians.” He reminded everyone, “Every
person here owns stock in Westchester County. Every person here
is the Board of Directors.”
Dr. Guilio Cavallo reminded everybody, “There are 450,000
Independence Party voters in New York State.”
Introduced by Zherka as, “a true public servant,” Supervisor
Paul Feiner declared, “We need a referendum initiative. It is catching on now. People realize that we need to reorganize the way government is run.”
A reporter for News12 collared Dave Spano, asking him about
the tea bag pinned to his shirt, “What does that tea bag mean to
you?” Spano snapped right back, “It means we’re taxed enough already!”
PAGE 16
Catherine Wilson, Bureau Chief
Should Our Courts Be
Creating Deadbeat Parents?
The current recession has affected many local residents severely. When faced with the loss of a
job, clients or customers, or a cut
in pay, workers must cut costs and
live off of savings, if any, to survive.
But for many workers, divorced
parents who have child support
obligations, cutting back is not an
option. If child support payments
are not met, those parents will face
the loss of their driver’s license,
limiting their ability to work and
pay the support even further. Parents who do not pay child support
also face contempt of court charges
and fines.
On April 21st, the Westchester
Women’s Bar Association’s Matrimonial, Families, Children and
the Courts Committees hosted a
program entitled “Substantive and
Procedural Law Applicable to the
Modification of Child Support and
Maintenance.” The speakers at this
event included Hon. Esther R. Furman, a Support Magistrate in the
Family Court in White Plains, Hon.
Linda S. Jamieson, a judge in the
Westchester Supreme Court, and
Hon. Josephine Trovini, a court Attorney and Special Referee in the
Westchester Supreme Court.
The invitation for this event was
only forwarded to members of the
WWBA or anyone astute enough to
Vincent E. D’Agnillo
& Associates, Inc.
Commercial R.E. Financing
Below-market rates
on the following
property types:
• Office Buildings
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Vincent E. D’Agnillo, Pres.
T. 718-997-1085
F. 718-997-6229
access this on their website. Local
parents and Pro Se litigants, those
unable to afford to be awarded attorneys, usually middle-class litigants,
were not invited to get this critical
information direct from the judges’
and magistrates’ mouths.
No notices of this seminar were
posted on the Pro Se website for the
Westchester Courts or distributed
to unrepresented litigants in matrimonial and support issues in Family
and Supreme Court.
The Court’s standards for changing child support, called a “modification” by the courts, places the burden on the individual who applies
for the change. Child support may
only be changed due to very limited
circumstances. The support laws
were not written by accountants or
economists, so they do not consider
economic reality, e.g. the courts do
not recognize inflation as a basis for
increasing support, and therefore do
not automatically increase child support each year for such increases.
To be able to petition the court
for an increase in support due to
higher expenses, a parent must submit evidence that their expenses increased. But the courts do recognize inflation as a legitimate basis for
automatic increases in other areas.
Court employees, including
magistrates and court attorneys,
receive automatic cost-of-living in-
creases each year to their taxpayersubsidized incomes, regardless of
merit. Therefore, from the Court’s
perspective, highly-paid court lawyers are automatically entitled to
more money each year based on inflation, children are not.
There are other child support areas where our courts defy economic
reality and other laws governing economic issues. New York State laws
continue to define emancipation for
children as age 21, even though most
students are still in college at that age
and are not self-supporting.
The federal government is more
realistic; the Internal Revenue Service recognizes that a child may still
be a student until age 25 and allows
for a parent to claim that child as a
dependent until such age; New York
State laws, however, continue to contradict the federal laws.
The courts also do not recognize
the increased expenses of a teenager
as a basis for additional child support
nor do they consider subsequent
care-giving responsibilities for other
family members, which may limit a
parent’s ability to work.
For example, a mother, who received initial child support for two
young children possibly a decade
ago, could find herself stuck with
living on that same level of support
when those children are teenagers
facing significant college prep and
sports team’s travel
expenses at a time
when she may also
be faced with downsizing to part-time
work to care for aging parents.
Chances
are
that mother’s exhusband has moved
on and remarried, more than likely
to a significantly “younger model”.
Ex’s new wife, if still in her prime
fertile years, will undoubtedly want
a family of her own. The courts, in
their “logic”, will actually grant the
ex and his trophy wife a reduction
in his child support payments to his
first wife and two children, since additional children are recognized as a
legal “change of circumstances”! So,
in this not-so-hypothetical situation, not only does the first wife have
more expenses for their older children, and less income thanks to caring for her parents, she now gets less
child support because her ex can’t
control his biological urges. And,
consequently, her ex now has more
money to spend on the woman who
may have been the reason for the divorce to begin with! This common
deadbeat dad scenario is all perfectly
legal and actually sanctioned by our
“justice” system.
Ironically, that same mother
could also find her current child support based on her “ability” to earn,
rather than on actual economic reality. The courts have consistently
ruled that “earning capacity may be
based on prior earnings, past employment experience, training, and
education”.
So, if that mother used to be a
highly-paid engineer, and she now
works part-time as a consultant to
care for a dying father, she will not
qualify for an increase in child support due to her loss in income because the courts will rule that, as
a trained engineer, she should be
earning more money. She will actually be penalized by our legal system
for “honoring her father and her
mother”. Our courts clearly do not
adhere to those ten basic laws, probably why they don’t hang them in the
courthouse as reminders.
One of the attendees at the “Substantive and Procedural Law Applicable to the Modification of Child
Support and Maintenance” program
reported back to the Guardian on
this event. Our source informed
us that the above scenario was addressed by the judges and magistrates on this forum. Their attitude?
Esther Furman actually told the
audience of lawyers, “If a man gets
married again and has more children
you have to look at that”, implying
that she would grant these fathers
a reduction in their child support
obligations without noting that
dad’s ability to sire additional progeny should not be used as a weapon
against his existing children.
Furman never noted why it was
the responsibility of the children of
the first marriage to subsidize the
children of a second relationship by
having their child support reduced.
If mom/dad is capable of producing more children, shouldn’t they
be equally responsible to work more
hours/jobs to pay for those children?
And why are the courts implying to
the attorneys who appear before
them that they support giving the
first family “sloppy seconds”?
If parents were held fully responsible for their actions by our
laws and our courts, including adultery and multiple child-producing
relationships, perhaps our society
might witness less of this behavior.
None of the members of this
forum noted the questionable ethics and inappropriateness of having
judges and magistrates giving what
amounted to a “head’s up” on their
rulings to the attorneys who regularly appear before them.
The female members of the
WWBA also never addressed the
fact that most of the local parents
who can afford lawyers are fathers.
Those lawyers would have been in
attendance at this program to garner
the critical strategic insider information from the judicial officials on the
forum.
But the local parents who are
able to afford lawyers are usually
stay-at-home mothers.
Without
a lawyer, or a direct invitation to,
or knowledge of, this event, these
mothers had no way to get access to
this same insider information and
would consequently be at an even
greater disadvantage when facing
their “lawyered up” ex-spouses in
court. So this program was essentially discrimination against women.
And sanctioned by the Women’s Bar
Association.
To be a successful deadbeat
parent, all you need to do in Westchester County is become a member of the local bar associations. If
you can afford their annual fees,
you will then obtain full access to
their insider information and invitations to similar “meet and greet”
events with the judges on your child
support case. A “contribution”
of $250 last week to the WWBA
would have bought you an invite to
Judge Sondra Miller’s home; Judge
Miller was the chair of the New
York State Unified Court System’s
powerful Matrimonial Commission and a Westchester Supreme
Court and New York State Appellate Court judge.
Not to be outdone by the women, the Westchester County Bar
Association offers many of their
programs for free, subsidized by
taxpayers. The WCB is announcing
on their website that local lawyers
may do a free “meet and greet” with
the Surrogate’s Court, getting free
refreshments and even continuing
education credits to boot.
The Westchester County Surrogate’s Court and the WCBA’s Trusts
& Estates Section will present an Advanced CLE Seminar on Wednesday,
May 6, on Contested Probate Proceedings. This free seminar will take
place at the Surrogate’s Courtroom,
Room 1800, at 111 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., 18th Floor, from
12 - 2pm. Attendees will receive 2
CLE credits. For more information
or to RSVP, please contact Joseph M.
Accetta, Esq. at (914) 824-5655.
This reporter called Joseph Acceta to request admission to this
seminar. Acceta informed us that
PAGE 17
“this was only for attorneys”. So, according to our courts, only lawyers
may have direct access to the judges
to hear how cases like theirs will be
handled; Pro Se litigants and family
members are not allowed to attend,
denying them equal access to our
courts.
Considering that this seminar is
being held in a taxpayer-funded facility, during Court hours, no one may
be denied access. If the court wants
to limit this to lawyers only, then this
seminar must be held offsite in a private facility. Otherwise, this must be
open to all taxpayers since it is our
money that is paying for it!
The courts have been guilty of
this bad behavior in the past; the
Guardian wrote of another free
seminar offered to attorneys only
last August, 2008. Clearly Surrogate’s Court ignored the Guardian’s
criticisms of their misuse of taxpayers’ funds noted in that article.
So what does a parent with limited or no financial resources to do
when faced with a moneyed parent
who has direct access to judges, influencing the outcome of their child
support cases? One source is Pace
University’s Women’s Justice Center
which notes it “sponsors and conducts lectures, seminars, trainings
and free legal walk-in clinics on
various issues, including domestic
violence, sexual assault, trafficking, divorce, custody, child support,
VAWA immigration, teen dating
violence, elder law, elder abuse, and
other issues”. The Justice Center offers its programs to all, and may be
reached at 914-422-4069 or at www.
pace.edu. n
PAGE 18
Press Release
Majority Leader And Education Chair Annabi Supports Inspector General’s Audit Of Yonkers Public Schools Health Insurance
Payments; Chides The Board Of Education For Opposing Audit
Yonkers, NY: Monday, April 27, 2009 – City Council Education Chair and Council Majority Leader Sandy Annabi, (D, District 2) has come out in support of the Yonkers
Inspector General’s attempt to audit the School District’s health insurance payments, as well as the unions’ trust and welfare funds. She is also very disturbed by the action of
the Board for passing a resolution opposing the Inspector General’s proposed investigation, calling it “obstructionist to open and transparent government.”
The School Board passed resolution 09-257C on January 21,
2009, approximately seven weeks after the Inspector General notified
BOARD MEMBER RESOLUTION
09-1-157C
the Board that his office was going to conduct an audit of the schools
Yonkers, New York
district’s health insurance payments - which are currently in excess of
January 21, 2009
$65 million per annum. The Yonkers Inspector
General has even cited two existing reports (the
RE: Utilization of the Inspector General for
D’Archangelo & Co. report on Risk Assessment
The Yonkers Public Schools
analysis of 2007, and the KPMG audit report of
Ladies and Gentlemen:
District Operations of 2006) which indicated an
audit of the health insurance payments would
WHEREAS the Board of Education wishes to revise the prior Resolution 00-7-1 to
be necessary and appropriate.
reauthorize the Inspector General of the City of Yonkers to provide services to the Board on
“No one is denying that our School District
an invitational basis.
is staffed with hard working professionals who
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: that the Inspector General for the City
are having an excellent effect on our students.
of Yonkers shall be utilized as the Inspector General for the City of Yonkers Public
Our schools are winning awards, our students
Schools when invited by a majority vote of the Board of Trustees or at the invitation
are achieving. What is important is that the tax payers demand acof the Superintendent of Schools upon notification to the Board of Trustees,
countability and transparency. In these troubled times, they need the
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: that when the Board of Education and the
assurance that all tax funded payments are made appropriately and that
Superintendent of Schools utilizes the Inspector General they shall make every
there are effective systems in place which do not allow for discrepanreasonable effort to ensure the full cooperation of all persons employed or supervised
cies, and I am expecting those very results,” Annabi said. Since January
by them with the work and requests of the Inspector General, and
2008, the Inspector General has issued several memo’s and had conversations with the Superintendent, and yet the Board saw fit to ignore the
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: that when the Board of Education and the Superintendent
of Schools utilizes the Inspector General they shall make available to the Inspector
Inspector Generals’ repeated offers to quell their reservations by meetGeneral such facilities, services, personnel and other assistance deemed reasonable and
ing with them, rather choosing to pass Resolution 09-257C, which the
appropriate by the Board of Education for the conduct of his work, and
Inspector General holds to be procedurally defective, and passed in violation of Board policy (cited as 2410 - Formulation, Adoption, AmendBE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: that when the Board of Education and the
ment And Suspension Of Policies). Most importantly, the resolution is
Superintendent of Schools utilize the Inspector General they shall provide to the
in direct conflict with the Inspector General’s authority set forth in the
Inspector General, upon request, any and all documents, records, reports, files or
City Charter, which sets his jurisdiction as any person or entity which
other information, except such documents as cannot be so disclosed according to
law, and
“receives money from or through the city or any agency of the city.”
Annabi continued, “The Board of Education’s attempt to unilaterally
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: that this resolution shall immediately replace
negate the Inspector General’s jurisdiction is unlawful and is indeed infuriResolution 00-7-1.
ating to anyone who believes in the fundamentals of good government. Not
RESOLUTION SPONSORED BY:
only are they ‘stonewalling,’ but they are opposing fair and just government
action which is intended to be constructive and aide in the transparency
Rev. Gerald Sudick, President
Trevor H. Bennett, Trustee
and accountability of tax payer-funded expenditures.”
“I fully support the Inspector General as the Council Majority
Bernadette Dunne, Trustee
Debra Martinez, Trustee
Leader and as the Education Chair — this audit is to ensure the people
of Yonkers that their tax dollars are safe and being used appropriately.
Paresh Patel, Trustee
Nydia D. Perez, Trustee
Hopefully, he will not find any discrepancies, but provide another set of
objective eyes and that should always be welcome when caring for tax
Lisa C. Perito, Trustee
dollars,” Annabi concluded.
Readers Respond, continued from page 11
I know he deserves to be protected by the law with a full investigation
of the situation. I don’t believe this was done, since I don’t think it was
proven that Cote caused the inmate’s death. Like my friend, I believe
this was a political conviction. Very sad!
I might add that I was quite touched by the post sent in by the
Catholic priest. I hope to read something positive for Cote when you
cover the sentencing.
Frank Campanille,
White Plains
PAGE 19
spring...
so much
We Need Initiative And Referendum Legislation
Dear Editor:
Citizens need a direct vote on critical issues if they are to deal
with the problems of State finances, corruption, special interest
groups, and the public authorities that control the politicians. One
solution offered is Initiative and Legislation Referendum legislation
often spoken about by Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner,
along with some types of ballot proposals that could be decided by
the voters.
I have been writing about Initiative and Referendum legislation
for 31 years; but now I believe people might just be angry enough to
fight for it. I’m about to read a book on tax protests during the Depression, which failed because of no political organization and New
Deal propaganda.
I got the 2007 Annual Report for Friends of Westchester Parks.
However, it doesn’t mention that the Executive Director is Deputy
Parks Commissioner Kathleen O’Connor, and that her secretary is a
County employee too. Playland is listed as a subsidiary of Friends of
Westchester Parks, not owned by the County and taxpayers. Seventeen board members are listed but not their corporate, law firm, or
contractor connections.
I have asked the Charities Bureau Chief to investigate my complaints. The Deputy Comptroller For Municipalities should do an
audit; but he has claimed that the Charities Bureau has the authority,
and so nothing will change.The 2008 report won’t be out until midOctober or after the elections.
After reading Catherine Wilson’s article on Dimentia, I thought
she might be interested in knowing that I suggested the CareTrak
System in Putnam County to Commissioner D’Aliso, and he wrote
back, on January 31, 2003, expressing interest in it for seniors and
Alzheimer’s patients. I guess Spano probaby forgot to invite me to
the press conference when it was introduced.
I read a quote by Voltaire, last week, that could be your motto: “It
is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.”
Have a good day.
Charles Roda, Mount Vernon
Immerse yourself in the sights and scents of spring at
The New York Botanical Garden. Experience waves of
tulips and azaleas rolling across the Garden’s 250 glorious
acres, discover world-class special exhibitions, participate
in hands-on family activities and so much more!
The Glory of Dutch Bulbs: A Legacy of 400 Years
Through June 7
Georg Ehret: The Greatest Botanical Artist of the 1700s
Through July 19
Bulbs Unearthed
In the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden
Through June 7
Dig, Plant, Grow!
In the Howell Family Garden
Through October
A Day in the Life of Dutch Settlers
Hands-on Activities for Families
May 9 & 10, 2–5 p.m.
Bronx Arts Ensemble Performance:
The House That Ruthie Built
May 10, 1 & 3 p.m.
So Much Spring is sponsored by
The Glory of Dutch Bulbs Major Sponsor, Mr. and Mrs. Marvin H. Davidson.
The Glory of Dutch Bulbs is co-curated by the Henry Hudson 400 with generous support from the
International Flower Bulb Center.
Exhibitions in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory are made possible by the Estate of Enid A. Haupt.
For a complete listing of all spring events, visit
PAGE 20
Exposing The Death Penalty, Part 1
In my effort to raise awareness
about the problem of wrongful convictions, as well as seeking legislative
changes to make the criminal justic
system more accurate, I have always
included abolishing the death penalty
amongst the reforms I advocate. My
reasoning is simple: any system of justice that results in wrongful convictions
will, if it has a death penalty as a sentencing option, inevitably execute innocent people. This past March 17 New
Mexico legislatively abolished the death
penalty citing, amongst other issues,
that very real possibility. In this threepart series I will review likely wrongful
executions, near-misses, ongoing cases
of potential wrongful execution, systemic deficiencies, along with one case
example wherein innocent people were
wrongly convicted and sentenced to
death before being cleared. And then,
I will look at modern-day recognition
that the death penalty risks the execution of innocent people.
Likely Wrongful Executions
There are a variety of cases wherein
it is very likely that innocent people
have been executed, as established by
facts, circumstances, and statements
from people involved, in one way or
another, which can show a reasonable
basis upon which to believe that the executed individual was likely innocent.
These case summaries are taken from
the Death Penalty Information Center.
Ruben Cantu
A two-part investigative series by
the Houston Chronicle casts serious
doubt on the guilt of a Texas man who
was executed in 1993. Ruben Cantu
had persistently proclaimed his innocence and was only 17 when he was
charged with capital murder for the
shooting death of a San Antonio man
during an attempted robbery. Now, the
prosecutor and the jury forewoman
have expressed doubts about the case.
Moreover, both a key eyewitness in
the state’s case against Cantu, and Cantu’s co-defendant, have come forward
to say that Texas executed an innocent
man. Juan Moreno, who was wounded
during the attempted robbery and was a
key eyewitness in the case against Cantu,
now says that it was not Cantu who shot
him and that he only identified Cantu
as the shooter because he felt pressured,
and was afraid of the authorities.
Moreno said that he twice told police that Cantu was not his assailant,
but that the authorities continued to
pressure him to identify Cantu as the
shooter after Cantu was involved in an
unrelated wounding of a police officer.
“The police were sure it was (Cantu)
because he had hurt a police officer.
They told me they were certain it was
him, and that’s why I testified. . . . That
was bad to blame someone that was
not there,” Moreno told the Chronicle.
In addition, David Garza, Cantu’s
co-defendant during his 1985 trial, recently signed a sworn affidavit saying
that he allowed Cantu to be accused and
executed even though he wasn’t with
him on the night of the killing. Garza
stated, “Part of me died when he died.
You’ve got a 17-year-old who went to his
grave for something he did not do. Texas
murdered an innocent person.”
Furthermore, Sam D. Millsap, Jr.,
the Bexar County District Attorney
who charged Cantu with capital murder, said he never should have sought
the death penalty in a case based on
testimony from an eyewitness who
identified a suspect only after police
showed him Cantu’s photo three separate times. And, Miriam Ward, forewoman of the jury that convicted Cantu, said the jury’s decision was the best
they could do based on the information
presented during the trial. She noted,
“With a little extra work, a little extra
effort, maybe we’d have gotten the right
information. The bottom line is, an innocent person was put to death for it.
We all have our finger in that.”
Larry Griffin
A year-long investigation by the
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund has uncovered evidence
that Larry Griffin may have been innocent of the crime for which he was
executed by the State of Missouri on
June 21, 1995. Griffin maintained his
innocence until his death, and investigators say his case is the strongest
demonstration yet of an execution of
an innocent man. The report notes
that a man injured in the same driveby shooting that claimed the life of
Quintin Moss says Griffin was not
involved in the crime, and the first
police officer on the scene has given a
new account that undermines the trial testimony of the only witness who
identified Griffin as the murderer.
Based on its findings, the NAACP
has supplied the prosecution with the
names of three men it suspects committed the crime, and all three of the
suspects are currently in jail for other
murders. Prosecutor Jennifer Joyce
said she has reopened the investigation and will conduct a comprehensive review of the case over the next
few months. “There is no real doubt
that we have an innocent person. If we
could go to trial on this case, if there
was a forum where we could take this
to trial, we would win hands down,”
stated University of Michigan law professor Samuel Gross, who supervised
the investigation into Griffin’s case.
Joseph O’Dell
New DNA blood evidence has
thrown considerable doubt on the
murder and rape conviction of
O’Dell. In reviewing his case in 1991,
three Supreme Court Justices said
they had doubts about O’Dell’s guilt
and whether he should have been allowed to represent himself. Without
the blood evidence, there is little linking O’Dell to the crime. In September,
1996, the 4th Circuit of the U.S. Court
of Appeals reinstated his death sentence and upheld his conviction. The
U.S. Supreme Court refused to review
O’Dell’s claims of innocence and held
that its decision regarding juries being
told about the alternative sentence of
life-without-parole was not retroac-
tive to his case. O’Dell asked the state
to conduct DNA tests on other pieces
of evidence to demonstrate his innocence but was refused.
David Spence
Spence was charged with murdering three teenagers in 1982. He was
allegedly hired by a convenience store
owner to kill another girl, and killed
these victims by mistake. The convenience store owner, Muneer Deeb, was
originally convicted and sentenced
to death, but then was acquitted at a
re-trial. The police lieutenant who supervised the investigation of Spence,
Marvin Horton, later concluded: “I
do not think David Spence committed this crime.”
Ramon Salinas, the homicide detective who actually conducted the
investigation, said: “My opinion is that
David Spence was innocent. Nothing
from the investigation ever led us to
any evidence that he was involved.” No
physical evidence connected Spence
to the crime. The case against Spence
was pursued by a zealous narcotics cop
who relied on testimony of prison inmates who were granted favors in return for testimony.
Leo Jones
Jones was convicted of murdering
a police officer in Jacksonville, Florida,
and was executed. Jones signed a confession after several hours of police
interrogation, but he later claimed the
confession was coerced. In the mid1980s, the policeman who arrested
Jones and the detective who took his
confession were forced out of uniform
for ethical violations. The policeman
was later identified by a fellow officer
as an “enforcer” who had used torture.
Many witnesses came forward pointing to another suspect in the case.
Gary Graham
On June 23, 2000, Gary Graham
was executed in Texas, despite claims
that he was innocent. Graham was 17
when he was charged with the 1981 robbery and shooting of Bobby Lambert
outside a Houston supermarket. He was
convicted primarily on the testimony of
one witness, Bernadine Skillern, who
said she saw the killer’s face for a few
seconds through her car windshield,
from a distance of 30-40 feet away.
Two other witnesses, who both
worked at the grocery store and said
they got a good look at the assailant,
said Graham was not the killer, but
were never interviewed by Graham’s
court-appointed attorney, Ronald
Mock, and were not called to testify at
trial. Three of the jurors who voted to
convict Graham signed affidavits saying they would have voted differently
had all of the evidence been available.
Cameron Willingham
After examining evidence from
the capital prosecution of Cameron
Willingham, four national arson experts have concluded that the original investigation of Willingham’s case
was flawed and it is possible the fire
was accidental. The independent investigation, reported by the Chicago
Tribune, found that prosecutors and
arson investigators used arson theories
that have since been repudiated by scientific advances.
Willingham was executed earlier
this year in Texas despite his consistent
claims of innocence. He was convicted
of murdering his three children in a
1991 house fire. Arson expert Gerald
Hurst said, “There’s nothing to suggest
to any reasonable arson investigator
that this was an arson fire. It was just
a fire.” Former Louisiana State University fire instructor Kendall Ryland
added, “[It] made me sick to think this
guy was executed based on this investigation.... They executed this guy and
they’ve just got no idea - at least not
scientifically - if he set the fire, or if the
fire was even intentionally set.”
Willingham was convicted of capital murder after arson investigators concluded that 20 indicators of arson led
them to believe that an accelerant had
been used to set three separate fires inside his home. Among the only other evidence presented by prosecutors during
the trial was testimony from jailhouse
snitch Johnny E. Webb, a drug addict
on psychiatric medication, who claimed
Willingham had confessed to him in the
county jail. Some of the jurors who convicted Willingham were troubled when
told of the new case review. Juror Dorinda Brokofsky asked, “Did anybody know
about this prior to his execution? Now I
will have to live with this for the rest of
my life. Maybe this man was innocent.”
Prior to the execution, Willingham’s defense attorneys presented expert testimony regarding the new arson
investigation to the state’s highest court,
as well as to Texas Governor Rick Perry.
No relief was granted and Willingham
was executed February 17, 2004.
Coincidentally, less than a year after
Willingham’s execution, arson evidence
presented by some of the same experts
who had appealed for relief in Willingham’s case helped free Ernest Willis from
Texas’ death row. The experts noted that
the evidence in the Willingham case was
nearly identical to the evidence used to
exonerate Willis.
Near Misses
There have been a variety of cases
where innocent people have come
frighteningly close to being executed.
These cases also show, clearly, how
innocent people can be wrongfully
convicted, sentenced to death and executed.
Kenneth Foster
Foster and several of his friends
went on a crime spree in Texas in
1997. Eventually the crime spree ended, but Foster never parted company
with one of his friends, Maurecio
Brown. On the way home, Brown left
the car to talk to a woman. An argument ensued that soon involved her
boyfriend. Brown claimed that the
victim reached into his jeans, which
he interpreted as reaching for a gun.
Brown pulled out his gun and killed
the victim some 100 yards in front of
the car that Foster was in.
Foster had no idea that Brown
would do this and the crime was not
a part of their criminal conduct; he
had simply made the mistake of not
parting company with him. Nonetheless, he had been sentenced to
death. Based upon a groundswell of
grass roots support, extensive media
coverage and editorials, national and
international support, Foster’s death
sentence was commuted on noon of
the day that he was scheduled to be
executed, August 30, 2007.
Ron Williamson
Ron Williamson was wrongfully
convicted of murder in Oklahoma
in 1998, along with his co-defendant
Dennis Fritz. Williamson received the
death penalty, whereas Fritz received
life in prison. The Innocence Project
summarizes his case this way:
An inmate that Fritz was paired
with eventually came forward and
stated that Fritz had confessed to the
murder. This jailhouse snitch gave a
two hour taped interview revealing
what Fritz had allegedly confessed to
him. This confession came one day before the prosecution would have been
forced to drop the charges against
Fritz. Another informant testified that
she had heard Williamson threaten to
harm his mother as he had the victim. Williamson was also seen at the
bar the night of the murder, according
to a witness named Glenn Gore. Additionally, police had statements from
Williamson regarding a dream he had
about the crime.
Forensic testing was performed
on various items of evidence. Seventeen hairs were recovered and were
“matched” to both Fritz and Williamson. The semen evidence suggested that
the perpetrator(s) were non-secretors,
as Fritz and Williamson are. Fritz
could not remember his exact whereabouts during the day of the crime due
to the amount of time, five years, that
had passed. DNA testing revealed that
neither Fritz nor Williamson deposited
the spermatozoa found in the victim.
Further testing proved that none of the
many hairs that were labeled “matches”
belonged to them. The profile obtained
from the semen evidence matched
Glenn Gore. At one point, Williamson
had come within 5 days of execution.
Earl Washington
Washington was arrested for
murder and rape in Virginia. The Innocence Project summarizes his case
this way: He had an IQ in the range of
69. Following questioning for two days,
police claimed that he had confessed
to five different crimes. The state dismissed the confessions of the first four
because of the inconsistencies. They
charged him with the fifth murder,
however, despite not knowing the race
of the victim, the address of the apartment where she was
killed, or that he had
raped her.
Washington also
testified that Ms. Williams had been short
when in fact she was
5’8”, that he had
stabbed her two or
three times when the
victim showed thirty-
PAGE 21
eight stab wounds, and that there was
no one else in the apartment when it
was known that Ms. Williams’ two
young children were with her in the
apartment on the day of the crime.
Only on the fourth attempt at a
rehearsed confession did authorities
accept Washington’s statement and
have it recorded in writing with Washington’s signature. He only picked out
the scene of the crime after being taken
there three times in one afternoon by
the police, who in the end had to help
him pick out Williams’ apartment. The
confession proved to be the prosecution’s only evidence linking Washington to the crime.
Psychological analyses of Washington reported that, to compensate
for his disability, Washington would
politely defer to any authority figure
with whom he came into contact. Thus,
when police officers asked Washington
leading questions in order to obtain
a confession, he complied and offered
affirmative responses in order to gain
their approval. At trial, only the State’s
psychologist testified, claiming that
Washington was competent when his
statement was given.
The prosecution’s case hinged on
Washington’s statements as well as his
identification of a shirt given to the police by the victim’s family six weeks after
the crime. A forensic analyst conducted
serology testing on evidence from the
crime scene and detected a rare plasma
protein. Once Washington, who does
not possess the rare protein, became a
suspect, an amended forensic report
was prepared (without additional testing being conducted) that said testing
for the rare protein was “inconclusive.”
DNA testing in 1993 proved his
innocence, but his death sentence was
merely commuted in 1994. It took 6
more years before he was allowed to
have more sophisticated DNA testing,
which ultimately resulted in his being
pardoned based upon innocence. At
one point, Washington came within 9
days of execution. n
PAGE 22
ongoing
thru june 17:
• Music And Merriment. Interactive stories and songs for children
ages 1-1/2 to 4. Free. Wednesdays,
9:30am; 11am. Crestwood Library,
16 Thompson St., Yonkers. Info:
914.337.1500 x360.
sat., may 9
• National Train Day. The Riverfront Library will celebrate National Train Day with storytelling,
picture book times, films and giveaways. Lou Frangella of the Federal
Railroad Administration will present Operation Lifesaver, an international education program about
railroad safety. Free. 1-4pm at the
library, One Larkin Center, Yonkers.
Info: 914.337.1500 x427.
• Spring Bird Walk. Join naturalist Jeanne Waful, looking and
listening to the birds. Talk about
migration and look for the signs of
spring in the farm’s back lots and
woods. Free. 7-9am, Muscoot Farm,
Rt. 100, Somers. Info: 914.864.7282.
• Sea Glass Exploration And
Workshop for Families. Learn how
sea glass forms by observing various pieces through a microscope
and make and take home a sea glass
pendant. Free. 1pm, Croton Point
Nature Center, Croton Point Park,
Croton Point Ave., Croton-on-Hudson. Info: 914.862.5297.
• Nature Sketching for Children. Megan Aitchison will encourage children to discover a new appreciation of nature and add their
Events for publication in our calendar are free and open to all.
Listings must be submitted at least two (2) weeks in advance.
Email listings to: [email protected], att: John.
For info call 914.328.3096.
own skills by the close observation
that comes through sketching. Free.
2pm, Marshlands Conservancy, Rt.
1, Rye. Info: 914.835.4466.
sat. & sun., may 9 & 10
• Picture This, A Watercolor
Exhibit. Award-winning watercolor
artist Hope Friedland will have her
exhibition on display. Free. 12-4pm,
Main House Gallery, Muscoot Farm,
Rt. 100, Somers. Info: 914.864.7282.
sun., may 10
• Bicycle Sundays. The Bronx
River Parkway, between Scarsdale
Rd, Yonkers and the Westchester
County Center in White Plains will
be closed to vehicular traffic between
10am-2pm. All bicyclists, skaters,
scooters, walkers and joggers are
welcome. Free; $4 parking in County
Center parking lot, 198 Central Ave.,
White Plains. Info: 914.995.4050.
• Muscoot Farmers Market.
There will be fresh produce, meats,
cheese, soap, candles, honey, maple
syrup, flowers, fish and delicious
baked goods for sale. Free admission. 10am-3pm, Muscoot Farm, Rt.
100, Somers. Info: 914.864.7282.
mon, may 11
• Self-portrait collages created
by young, single mothers will be on
exhibit in the Yonkers Room at the
Riverfront Library, One Larkin Cen-
A Diamond Celebration, Sixty Years of Innovation
• On Thursday, May 14th, 2009, the Westchester/Hudson Valley
Chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) will conduct its
annual event, A Diamond Celebration, in commemoration on LLS’s sixty
years of innovation. The evening will include cocktail reception, casino
games, silent auction, raffle, and dinner. For questions or information,
please contact Dina Mariani at 914-949-0084 or [email protected].
Please RSVP by May 8th
ter, Yonkers through May 18. The
collages were designed over the past
few months by women enrolled in A
Different Start, a program for single
mothers of children sponsored by
Westchester Jewish Community
Services. There will be an opening
reception on May 11 at 5pm. Free.
Open during regular library hours.
Info: 914.337.1500.
tues., may 12
• Jack Scarangella will present a
seminar and discussion about Social
Security, Medicare Part-D and Senior Benefits. He will discuss Medicare benefits available to seniors, and
younger people, that can help pay for
prescriptions, energy bills, property
taxes, rent and meals. Sponsored
by the Westchester County Department of Senior Programs and Services; sign up by either phone or the
library’s 3rd Floor Reference Desk.
Free. 11:15am-1pm in the 3rd Floor
Computer Room, Riverfront Library, One Larkin Center, Yonkers.
Sign-up/info: 914.375.7966.
wed., may 13
• Downtown Music at Grace’s
Noonday Getaway Series will host
the Young Artist Series featuring
Sun-A-Park, prize winner of the
2006 New York Piano Competition.
Ms. Park will showcase selections
by Haydn, Chopin and Liszt. Free.
12:10-12:40pm, Grace Church, Mamaroneck Ave. @ Main St., White
Plains. Info: 914.949.0384.
• All Together Now: How The
Environmental Crisis Is Bringing
The Generations Together. Please
feel free to bring your children and/
or your parents to this talk, organized by the Lower Hudson Group
of the Sierra Club. Environmental
activism can help bring us together
and harness the special talents of
the various generations. We need to
have everybody working together
Teen Talent Show Auditions
The Yonkers Public Library will be holding auditions for the 7th Annual Riverfront Library Teen Talent Show 2009. Singers, dancers, musicians, rappers, actors, poets, etc., between 13-19, are invited to compete.
Profanity and indecency WILL NOT be tolerated. Auditions will be held:
Mon., May 11: Auditorium, Will Library, 1500 Central Park Ave.; 5-7:30pm
Sat., May 16: Community Room, Riverfront Library; 12-4pm
Mon., May 18: Auditorium, Riverfront Library; 5-7:30pm
If auditioning, participants must be available to participate in the actual
talent show which will be held June 26 at the Riverfront Library, including
all mandatory dress rehearsals. Info: Arnaldo or Roseann at 914.375.7965.
Getting Answers For The DTV Switch
• A representative from the FCC will be on hand at the Riverfront Library, One Larkin Center, Yonkers, to answer questions about the switch
to DTV and help you get ready for the switch, scheduled for June 12.
The program, being held in the library’s Community Room B between
10am-12 noon on Tues, May 12, is free and open to the public, and is the
last visit of the FCC to the library. You can sign up either by phone or at
the 3rd Floor Reference Desk. Info/signup: 914.375.7966.
for a more sustainable world. Free. roneck Public Library offers Teacher
7:30pm, Greenburgh Nature Cen- In The Library, when school is in
ter, 99 Dromore, Scarsdale. Info: session, Mon. & Thurs. only. Free.
914.723.3470.
3:30-6pm, 102 Mamaroneck Ave.,
Mamaroneck. Info: 914.698.1250.
homework help
• Homework Helper. Afterschool homework help with a certified teacher when Yonkers schools
are in session. Grades 1-6. Mon.
thru Thurs. Free. 4-6pm, Grinton I.
Will Library, 1500 Central Park Ave.,
Yonkers. Info: 914.337-1500 x306.
• Homework Help. The New
Rochelle Public Library offers free
homework help, grades 1-6, Mon.
thru Thurs. when school is in session. 3:30-5pm. Info: 914.632.7878.
• Homework Help. The Mama-
up and coming
Thurs., May 14 - Thurs., August 6:
Citizenship Class. The Mamaroneck Library, 102 Mamaroneck
Ave., Mamaroneck, will be holding a
citizenship class to help participants
prepare for their citizenship exam and
interview. Classes will be held Thursdays at the CAP Center, 134 Center
Ave., Mamaroneck, from 6-8pm. Free.
Interested parties are to register either at the library or by phone. Sponsored by Mamaroneck Library & The
Friends of Mamaroneck Library. Info/
Around The County
Croton-on-Hudson: Van Cortlandt Manor - 18th and 19th century estate known for elegant antique furnishings and gardens. Was home of the Van
Cortlandt family. Tours, special events and demonstrations. Hrs: 10am-5pm
daily (except Tues.), April-Dec. 10am-5pm Sat. & Sun., Jan.-March. Admission. South Riverside Ave. (just off Rt. 9). 914.631.8200.
Ossining Historical Museum - 19th and 20th century decorative arts,
costumes and Indian artifacts, as well as a Victorian dollhouse. The program
features permanent and rotating exhibits. Hrs: 2-4pm Mon., Wed., Fri. and by
app’t. Donation. 196 Croton Ave. 914.941.0001.
Peekskill: Peekskill Museum - Clothing from the 18th through 20th
century, furnishings, decorative arts, tools and products from local foundries.
Hrs: 2-4pm Sat., Sun. and holidays, March through Dec. and by app’t. Donation. 124 Union Ave. 914.737.6130.
Sleepy Hollow: Philipsburg Manor, Upper Mills - Early 18th century
farm owned by the Philipse family; includes a fully furnished Dutch-style
manor house, barn and a restored gristmill, gardens, reception center, gift
shop and orientation film. Special events throughout the year. 10am-5pm
daily April-Dec.; 10am-5pm Sat. & Sun., Jan.-March. Closed Thanksgiving,
Christmas and New Year’s Day. Admission. Route 9. 914.631.8200.
Tarrytown: Sunnyside - 1835 Romantic/Dutch Colonial Revival-style
estate once occupied by author Washington Irving. Tours, an orientation
film, demonstrations, special events, gift shop. 10am–5pm daily, April – Dec..
Admission. West Sunnyside Lane. 914.631.8200.
Yonkers: Hudson River Museum - A cultural complex which displays
changing exhibitions from its permanent collection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century American art. The Museum combines elements of art, history
and science. The modern wing houses The Red Grooms Gift Shop and the
Museum Cafe. Weekly Sun. Family Programs and workshops for families, biweekly Seniors and the Arts programs, tours by appt. and many special events.
Hrs: May-Sep.: Wed.-Sun. 12-5pm, Fri. 12-9pm. Admission. 914.963.4550.
PAGE 23
registration: 914.698.1250 x28.
Sun., may 17
• Jazz Concert. The acclaimed
Sean Smith Quartet will perform
a concert of jazz music, featuring
bassist Sean Smith, saxophonist
John Ellis, guitarist Keith Ganz and
drummer Russell Meissner, at the
New Rochelle Public Library. Free;
$2 donations suggested. 3pm in the
library’s Ossie Davis Theater, One
Library Plaza, New Rochelle. Info:
914.632.7878 x34.
Fri., May 22
• Coffee And Conversation.
The League of Women Voters will
hold their monthly Coffee and Conversation in the Meeting Room of
the New Rochelle Public Library.
The featured guest will be New Rochelle Commissioner of Parks &
Recreation Bill Zimmerman who
will discuss the various recreational
opportunities available as well as
current and future projects. A Q&A
session will follow. Complimentary coffee and light breakfast fare
will be served. Free. 9:30am, One
Library Plaza, New Rochelle. Info:
914.632.7878 x34.
Sat., may 23
• The feature firm Wall-E will
be featured as part of BID Family
Saturday at the New Rochelle Public Library. The 2008 computer-animated science fiction film won the
2008 Golden Globe Award for Best
Animated Film Feature, the 2008
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and was nominated for
five other Academy Awards. Free.
12:30pm in the library’s Ossie Davis
Theater, One Library Plaza, New Rochelle. Info: 914.632.7878 x34.
Health/Support Groups
• Ovarian & Gynecological Cancer Support Group. Offered by Support
Connection, a nonprofit organization that provides free support services to
people affected by breast and ovarian cancer. The group is led by a trained
peer facilitator. PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Meets 2nd Thursday
each month through Dec. 30, 2007 at 7PM at Putnam Hospital. Free. For
info/registration: 914.962.6402. www.supportconnection.org.
• Psychotherapeutic Support Groups. Victims Assistance Services is offering ongoing psychotherapeutic support groups to victims of crime. They
include: Adult Survivors of Childhood Abuse, Homicide Survivors Support Group (every 2nd Wed. of the month), and a Sexual Assault Survivors
Group (TBA). All groups are ongoing and have no end date. Free. Wednesdays 6-7:30pm, 2269 Saw Mill River Road, Building #3, Elmsford. Info:
914.345.3113
• Breast Cancer Support Groups. Breast cancer support groups are offered once, twice or four times per month, by Support Connection, Inc.
Facilitated by trained peer counselors who have experienced breast cancer.
Groups for young women, women in treatment, women with recurrence, and
all survivors. PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Free to women with breast
cancer. Meets various days and times, Yorktown & Carmel locations. www.
supportconnection.org
• Cancer Support Group: Meets Mondays, 1– 2pm, Dickstein Cancer Treatment Center, 2-4 Longview Ave., White Plains. Info/registration:
914.681.2701.
• Caregiver Resource & Support Group: Sponsored by the WPHC Dept.
of Senior Services. Provides information and support to individuals caring for
older adults. A geriatric professional facilitates the group. First Wednesday of
the month, 6 -7:30pm, 69 E. Post Road. Info/dates/register: 914.681.1249.
PAGE 24
This Week In History: May 7 - 13
By John Leo Tufts, Jr.
The Lusitania Attacked
May 7, 1915 - The British ocean liner Lusitania was torpedoed, without
warning, by a German U-boat off the south
coast of Ireland. The ship sank within 20
minutes. Of 1,959 passengers and crew, 1,198
people, including 128 Americans, were lost.
The attack aroused intense indignation in
the United States, but Germany defended the action, saying it had issued
warnings of its intent to attack all ships that entered the war zone around
England. It was also revealed that Lusitania was carrying about 173 tons
of war munitions for Britain, which Germany cited as further justification
for the attack. Germany ultimately apologized and pledged to end
unrestricted submarine warfare.
The Battle of the Coral Sea
May 7, 1942 - Four days after Japanese forces invaded Tulagi in the
Solomon Islands, naval forces of both Japan
and the United States confronted each other
in the first major naval battle since Pearl
Harbor. It was the first battle in history which
fully employed naval air power and where
ships of opposing fleets never saw each other. By the time the battle ended
the following day, the USS Lexington (CV-2), above right, was sunk; the
carrier Yorktown (CV-5) was damaged. The Japanese Navy lost the light
carrier Shoho; their large carrier Shokaku was severely damaged, almost
sinking on the way home to Japan for repairs.
May 7
1945 - The German High Command,
in the person of General Alfred Jodl,
signed an unconditional surrender of all
German forces at Reims, in northwestern
France. Jodl had originally hoped to limit
the surrender to those forces fighting the
Western Allies, but General Dwight D.
Eisenhower refused, demanding complete
surrender of all German forces. If that
demand was not met, Eisenhower would
seal off the Western front, preventing
Germans from fleeing to the west to
surrender, leaving them at the mercy of
the Soviet forces. Jodl signed the surrender
terms under orders from Grand Admiral
Karl Donitz, Adolf Hitler’s successor.
May 8
1541 - Spanish conquistador
Hernando de Soto became one of the
first European explorers to reach the
Mississippi River, south of present-day
Memphis, Tennessee. Under the cover of
night he and his 400 troops crossed the
river on flatboats to avoid armed Native
Americans who patrolled the river in
their canoes. After crossing to the other
side, the Spaniards headed further west,
into present-day Arkansas, in search of
gold and silver. De Soto had first come
to the New World in 1514 when he
explored Central America. In 1532 he
joined Francisco Pizarro in the conquest
of Peru. In 1539 de Soto landed on the
west coast of Florida with 600 troops, 200
horses and a pack of bloodhounds; they
set about subduing the natives, seizing
valuables and preparing the area for
eventual Spanish colonization.
1846 - Five days before a formal
declaration of war against Mexico was
issued by Congress, General Zachary
Taylor defeated a superior Mexican force
in the Battle of Palo Alto, north of the
Rio Grande River. He had been sent to
the Republic of Texas, which was not
recognized by Mexico, to defend the
Rio Grande border. Mexican General
Mariano Arista, who viewed this move
as a hostile invasion of Mexican territory,
took his soldiers across the river and, on
April 25, attacked the American forces.
Taylor led his 200 soldiers into battle at
both Palo Alto, on the 8th, and Resaca de
la Palma the following day. Following
his victories, Taylor took his force across
the Rio Grande into Mexican territory
and, for the next 10 months, won four
battles and gained control over three
northeastern Mexican states.
1945 - Victory in Europe Day, or VEDay, was celebrated in Great Britain, the
United States and in formerly occupied
cities in Western Europe. The celebrations
came after a final cease-fire had been
signed, marking the defeat of the Nazi war
machine. German troops laid down their
arms and surrendered to Allied forces.
More than 13,000 British POWs were
released and sent back to Great Britain.
May 9
1671 - Irish adventurer Thomas
Blood, also known as Captain Blood,
was captured while attempting to steal
the Crown Jewels from the Tower of
London. Blood had been deprived of his
estate in Ireland following the restoration
of the British monarchy there in 1660. He
had plotted with others to seize Dublin
Castle from supporters of King Charles
II, but the plot was discovered and his
accomplices caught and executed. In 1671
Blood planned to steal the Crown Jewels;
his plan was to disguise himself as a priest
and convince the Jewel House keeper
to hand over his pistols. Blood’s three
accomplices would then appear, and they
all would force their way into the Jewel
House. The four thieves had gotten into
the room when the keeper’s son showed
up unexpectedly and notified the Tower
guards. All four were arrested; Blood
was brought before King Charles who,
impressed with Blood’s daring, instead
of punishing him restored his estates in
Ireland and made him a member of his
court with an annual pension.
1887 - Britain’s Queen Victoria and
her subjects got their first look at real
cowboys and Indians when Buffalo Bill’s
Wild West show opened in London.
Buffalo Bill Cody, who had earned his
nickname from being a buffalo hunter
for the railroads, had also been a wellknown scout for the army. He had gained
national prominence 15 years earlier
when he was made the hero character of
Ned Buntline’s dime novel The Scouts
of the Plains. In 1883 Cody staged the
Wild West, Rocky Mountain, and Prairie
Exhibition in North Platte, Nebraska
for a Fourth of July celebration. The
exhibition was a success, and it resulted
in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, a circus-like
pageant which celebrated life in the West.
1914 - President Woodrow Wilson
issued a presidential proclamation which
officially established the first national
Mother’s Day holiday. Many individual
states had been celebrating Mother’s
Day by 1911, but Wilson’s proclamation
officially made the day a national holiday
to fall on the second Sunday of May.
May 10
1865 - The President of the fallen
Confederate government, Jefferson
Davis, was captured with his wife and
entourage near Irwinville, Georgia, by
a detachment of Union General James
H. Wilson’s cavalry. Davis had fled
Richmond, first for Danville, Virginia on
April 2 then, following Lee’s surrender,
headed further south. Devastated by the
fall of the Confederacy and refusing to
admit defeat, Davis hoped to flee to either
Britain or France, and was considering
establishing a government in exile when
he was finally captured, arrested and
imprisoned at Fort Monroe, Virginia.
Following his capture Davis was indicted
for treason but the case never went to
trial – the federal government was afraid
Davis would be able to persuade a jury
that the Southern secession of 1860 to
1861 was legal. In 1867 was released on
bail. He died in 1889.
1869 - Presidents of both the Union
Pacific and Central Pacific railroads
met in Promontory, Utah to drive a
ceremonial “last spike” into the rail line
that would connect their railroads. This
made transcontinental travel possible for
the first time; no more would westernbound travelers need the dangerous
journey by wagon train. In 1862 Congress
passed the Pacific Railroad Act which
guaranteed public land grants and loans
to the two railroads it chose to build the
transcontinental line. Work was begun
in 1866 from Omaha and Sacramento.
Nearly 2,000 miles of track were laid
by 1869, ahead of schedule and under
budget. The impact of transcontinental
travel was rapid growth and expansion
west for the United States.
1877 - Embracing the new technology,
President Rutherford B. Hayes had
the first telephone installed in the
White House, in the telegraph room.
With phone service still in its infancy,
the only other direct phone line to the
White House at that time was from the
Treasury Department. A year later the
first telephone exchange was set up, in
Connecticut, and it would be some 50
years later when the first telephone line
would be installed in the Oval Office,
under President Herbert Hoover.
May 11
1858 - Known as the Land of 10,000
Lakes, Minnesota entered the Union as
the 32nd state. The state is the northern
terminus of the Mississippi River’s traffic,
and the westernmost point of the inland
waterway extending through the Great
Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway to
the Atlantic Ocean. The Ojibwe and the
Dakota were among the Native people
who made the land their home, and the
first white settlement at Fort Snelling was
established in 1820. Minnesota became a
United States territory in 1849.
May 12
1780 - In the worst defeat suffered by
the Americans during the Revolutionary
War, American Major General Benjamin
Lincoln surrendered unconditionally to
British Lieutenant General Sir Henry
Clinton and his 10,000-man army
at Charleston, South Carolina. The
victorious British captured more than
3,000 colonial soldiers as well as large
quantities of munitions and supplies.
Confident of British control in the
south, Clinton sailed north to New York
after hearing of an impending French
expedition to the British-controlled
northern state, leaving General Charles
Cornwallis in command of the 8,300-man
British force in the south.
1903 - President Theodore Roosevelt
became the first president to have an
official activity recorded when his trip to
San Francisco was captured on movingpicture film. Cameraman H.J. Miles
filmed the president while riding in a
parade in his honor. The short movie,
titled The President’s Carriage, was later
played on nickelodeons in arcades across
the country. Roosevelt, taking advantage
of the impact of motion pictures,
encouraged filmmakers to document
his official duties and post-presidential
personal activities until his death in 1919.
1949 - The 11-month-long blockade
against West Berlin by the Soviet
Union came to an end following a
massive American-British airlift of vital
supplies to the city’s two million citizens.
Following the end of the Second World
War, Germany had been divided into four
sectors administered by the Soviet Union,
United States, Britain and France. Berlin
had also been divided into four sectors.
PAGE 25
In May 1948 the three sectors of Berlin
governed by the three Western powers
were united into one, West Berlin. As a
major step toward establishing the West
German government the Western powers
introduced a new currency which was
condemned by the Soviet Union as an
attack on the East German currency and,
on June 24, 1948, began a blockade of
all rail, road and water communications
between Berlin and the West. Berlin’s
food, fuel and other necessities were
cut off, and the Soviet Union reasoned
the city would soon have to submit to
Communist control. Britain and the
United States began the largest airlift in
history, flying 278,288 relief missions
to the city. The Soviets made no major
effort to disrupt the airlift. Even though
another blockade did not occur, the
high international tensions over Berlin
culminated in the construction of the
Berlin Wall in 1961.
Glasgow, and a cavalry charge routed
Mary’s 6,000 Catholic troops, who fled
the field. Mary escaped to Cumberland,
England three days later, seeing
protection from Queen Elizabeth I.
1607 - The first permanent English
settlement in North America, Jamestown,
was founded by 100 English colonists
along the west bank of the James River in
Virginia. Sent by the London Company,
the colonists sailed across the Atlantic
aboard the Susan Constant, Godspeed
and Discovery. The first colonial council
was held by seven settlers whose names
had been chosen and placed in a box by
King James I. Two weeks after settling
Jamestown came under attack by the local
Algonquian Native American confederacy,
but they were repulsed. For the first two
years the settlers suffered through disease,
starvation and more attacks which wiped
out most of the colonists. More settlers
were sent, and the severe winter of 160910 killed more of the colonists. It wasn’t
until 1612, when the first tobacco was
cultivated by John Rolfe, that a successful
source of livelihood was introduced. The
marriage between Pocahontas and John
Rolfe brought a temporary peace with the
Indians.
May 13
1568 - The forces of Mary Queen of
Scots were defeated by a confederacy
of Scottish Protestants under James
Stewart, the regent of her son, King
James VI of Scotland. The battle was
fought out in the southern suburbs of
• BACHELOR & BACHELORETTE PARTIES
• TABLESIDE DANCING
• PRIVATE VIP ROOMS
• 100S OF TOP FEMALE ENTERTAINERS
• NEW YORK’S PREMIER GENTLEMEN’S CABA-
PAGE 26
LEGAL NOTICE
CLASSIFIED
For Rent
office space for rent
Prime Ossining loc - Rt. 9.
950 sq. ft. & 500 sq. ft.
917.363.4366
Investment Property
Unimproved
Situation Wanted
Mount Vernon - Commercial
bldg lot, 9500 sq. ft. Corner
bldg. Apts with stores. Must sell.
$875K. Make offer.
Responsible Celtic lady avail
to care for elderly person M-F;
flexible. 20+ yrs exper; pref. live
out. Cert: Fire & Safety, CPR,
Infection Control. Ref. avail:
914.632.1230
718.335.8130
The Westchester Guardian
Mission Statement
The 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
information 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 comprehensive,
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 necessarily 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.
At Fidelis Care NY, we know that hiring the best people is important to our
success. We are committed to providing access to healthcare for low-income,
medically underserved members of all ages. Our continued growth has
created outstanding opportunities for talented professionals to join our team.
‘SALES SUPERVISOR - ROCKLAND COUNTY
In this important managerial position, you will coach Outside Sales Reps to enroll members; meet quality
& sales goals; and ensure that compliance standards are met. To qualify, you must possess a Bachelors
Degree and 3-5 years supervisory exp in sales in a healthcare environment, a proven track record in a
similar capacity, excellent written and oral communication skills, valid Driver’s License and own
transportation req’d.
OUTSIDE SALES REP- ROCKLAND or WESTCHESTER
The dynamic, results-oriented achiever we seek will participate in community events to increase awareness
and sales of our products (Medicaid, CHP &/or FHP); determine eligibility for enrollment and assist with
the completion of enrollment forms. Additionally, you will use your marketing skills to pursue new sites and
venues to increase enrollment.
The ideal candidate must possess 1-3 years sales relevant exp, strong customer service skills and some
college. Outside sales experience is pref’d, valid Driver’s License and own transportation req’d.
Bilingual skills are preferred.
We offer competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits, including medical, dental, and vision
coverage, 403(b) retirement savings plan, short and long-term disability, educational assistance, generous
paid time off, and more! To apply, please email your resume to
[email protected]
with cover letter & salary reqs stating which position you are applying for.
River East Thoroughbreds LLC
Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of
State (SSNY) 2/19/2009. Office
in Westchester Co. SSNY design. Agent of LLC upon whom
process may be served. SSNY
shall mail copy of process to The
LLC 5 Deerfield Lane Katonah,
NY 10536. Purpose: Any lawful
activity. Registered Agent: Richard L Ciavardini 5 Deerfield Lane
Katonah, NY 10536.
LEGAL NOTICE
Articles of Organization were filed with
the Secretary of State of New York on
12/10/08. Office location: Westchester
County. The SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY
shall mail process a copy of process
to: MEMORIES FOREVER, LLC, 405
Tarrytown Rd., #1586, White Plains, NY
10607. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.
.
Come GROW With Us!
We have a weekly readership in
excess of 60,000 and growing.
The Westchester Guardian can be
found at MORE THAN 1,100
locations throughout
Westchester.
To advertise your goods &
services, contact us at
914.576.1481 or email us at
[email protected]
The Westchester Guardian
PAGE 27
Take the FIRST STEP and attend
The People’s
Choice
Candidates’ Forum
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 from 6:30-9:00PM
@ A.B. Davis Middle School
350 Gramatan Avenue, Mt. Vernon, NY

Hear the platforms of the candidates for:
School Board Trustee
District Attorney
Comptroller
City Council
MV City Court Judge
Legislator

County
STEPS TO BEING AN INFORMED VOTER IN 2009:
Step 1: Come to The People’s Choice
Candidates’ Forum
Step 2:
Research the candidates for
yourselves
Step 3:
Ask questions and demand
Step 4:
Vote Responsibly
answers
DON’T HOPE FOR IT, VOTE FOR
IT. Now is the time to elect the right
candidates to office.
Remember to
RESPONSIBLY.
9.94 % TAX INCREASE REQUESTED: COME & FIND OUT HOW THIS
IMPACTS YOU.
A Public Service Announcement from: The Mount Vernon Parent And Community Forum On Education
(MVPCFE) an affiliate of The National African-American Parent Involvement Day (NAAPID) For more
information see: www.mvpcfe.org or www.naapid.org
ELECT
MARC STUCKEY
TO THE
MOUNT VERNON SCHOOL BOARD
TO BE THE WATCHDOG OVER
YOUR TAX DOLLARS & ABOLISH
WASTEFUL SPENDING & HIGH
TAX INCREASES
VOTE TUESDAY MAY 19, 2009
FOR MARC STUCKEY
PAGE 28

May 7, 2009 - WestchesterGuardian.com

Transcription

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