Westchester Guardian

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Vol. VI No. XXXV

Westchester’s Most Influential Weekly

Thursday, August 30, 2012 $1.00

JOHN F. McMULLEN Elections and the Internet Page 3 Dr. NASEER ALOMARI The Middle East Unravels Page 4 EVAN S. LEVINE, MD Pack of Morons Page 6 JOHN SIMON Vidal Withal Page 10

Where is José Alvarado?

By HEZI ARIS, Page 14

Mt. Vernon Mayor Davis Shares His Vision

By SHANNON AYALA, Page 13 www.westchesterguardian.com

CARLOS GONZALEZ Silver Dumps Lopez; Rivera On the Run Page 15 ED KOCH Russian Orthodox Church Victim Page 17 LARRY M. ELKIN Presumed Innocent Is Not for Arrests Page 18 BOB WEIR Mother, Give Me Life Page 19

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THE WESTcHESTER GUARDiAn THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN THE WESTcHESTER GUARDiAn

Page 2

Of Significance Of Of Significance Significance

Community Section ...............................................................................4

Community Section ...............................................................................4 Community Section......................................................................................3 Business ................................................................................................4 Business ................................................................................................4 Creative Disruption. ..................................................................................3 Calendar ...............................................................................................4 Calendar ...............................................................................................4 Fault Lines. . .................................................................................................4 Charity ..................................................................................................5 Creative Disruption ............................................................................5 Charity History.........................................................................................................4 Contest..................................................................................................5 ..................................................................................................6 Cultural Perspective ...........................................................................7 Contest ..................................................................................................6 Lifestyle. . ......................................................................................................5 Creative Disruption ............................................................................6 Energy Issues .......................................................................................8 Creative Disruption ............................................................................6 Legal.............................................................................................................7 Education .............................................................................................7 In Memoriam ....................................................................................10 Education .............................................................................................7 Medicine. .....................................................................................................6 Fashion ..................................................................................................8 Medicine .............................................................................................10 Fashion ..................................................................................................8 Movie Review. . ...........................................................................................6 Fitness....................................................................................................9 Najah’s Corner ...................................................................................11 Fitness....................................................................................................9 Music.

Health...........................................................................................................7 ..................................................................................................10 Movie Review ....................................................................................12 Health ..................................................................................................10 Neighborhoods..........................................................................................7 History ................................................................................................10 Music ...................................................................................................12 History ................................................................................................10 People. . .........................................................................................................8 Ed Koch Movie Review ...................................................................12 Community ........................................................................................13 Ed Koch Movie Review ...................................................................12 Reading. .......................................................................................................9 Spoof ....................................................................................................13 Writers Collection.............................................................................14 Spoof ....................................................................................................13 Transportation.........................................................................................10 Sports Scene .......................................................................................13 Books Sports Scene .......................................................................................13 Eye On...................................................................................................16 Theatre. ........................................................................................10 Najah’s Corner ...................................................................................13 People ..................................................................................................18 Najah’s Corner ...................................................................................13 Travel. . ........................................................................................................11 Writers Collection.............................................................................14 Eye On...................................................................................................16 Theatre ..................................................................................18 Writers Collection.............................................................................14 Government Section...................................................................................12 Books Leaving on a Jet Plane ......................................................................19 Books ...................................................................................................16 Campaign Trail........................................................................................12 Transportation...................................................................................17 Government Section Transportation ...................................................................................17 Interview...................................................................................................13 Government Section ............................................................................20 ............................................................................17 Campaign Trail ..................................................................................20 Government Section ............................................................................17 The Hezitorial. ..........................................................................................14 Albany Correspondent ....................................................................17 Economic Development ..................................................................20 Albany Correspondent ....................................................................17 The Albany Correspondent. ..................................................................15 Mayor Marvin’s Column .................................................................18 Education ...........................................................................................21 Mayor Marvin’s Column .................................................................18 Legislative Column.................................................................................15 Government.......................................................................................19 TheSection.

Hezitorial ....................................................................................21 Government .......................................................................................19 OpEd OpEd Section...............................................................................................16 .........................................................................................23 LegalSection ....................................................................................................23 OpEd .........................................................................................23 Op-Ed........................................................................................................16 Ed Koch Commentary.....................................................................23 People ..................................................................................................24 Ed Koch Commentary.....................................................................23 Ed Koch Letters toCommentary...........................................................................17 the Editor ..........................................................................24 Strategyto ...............................................................................................24 Letters Editor............................................................................25 ..........................................................................24 Current Commentary. ............................................................................18 Weir Onlythe Human OpEd Section .........................................................................................25 Weir Only Human ............................................................................25 Weir Only Human. . .................................................................................19 Legal Notices ..........................................................................................26 ..........................................................................................27 LegalNotices.

Notices................................................................................................19 ..........................................................................................26 Legal

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Richard Narog March andcalling Hezi Aris your co-hosts. thewe week day 1-347-205-9201. or Tuesday, 26 or 27.are Should that theIncase, willbeginning resume ourFebruary regular 20th and ending on Richard Narog andhave Hezi are entourage your InYonkers the week beginning February 24th,schedule we an Aris exciting of the guests. programming and announce thatco-hosts. fact on Tribune website.February 20th and ending on February 24th, we exciting entourage ofshow. guests.

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On Monday, February 20th, Krystal Wade, a celebrated participant in http:// Every Monday is special. On Monday, 20th, Krystal a celebrated participant in http:// www.TheWritersCollection.com is ourFebruary guest. Krystal Wade isWade, a mother of three who works fifty miles www.TheWritersCollection.com our guest.

Krystal is a novel mother threeaccepted who works fifty miles from home and writes in her “spare istime.”

“Wilde’ s Fire,”Wade her debut hasofbeen for publication from home and writes ininher “spare “Wilde’iss her Fire,” her debut has sbeen accepted and should be available 2012.

Nottime.” far behind second novel,novel “Wilde’ Army.”

How for doespublication she do it? and available Tuneshould in andbefind out. in 2012. Not far behind is her second novel, “Wilde’s Army.” How does she do it?

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Co-hosts Richard Narog and Hezi Aris will relish the dissection of all things politics on Tuesday, February Co-hosts Richard andPresident Hezi ArisChuck will relish the dissection of his all things politicsfrom on Tuesday, February 21st. Yonkers CityNarog Council Lesnick will share perspective the august inner 21st.

Yonkers Lesnick will share 22nd. his perspective from theEsq., august sanctum of theCity CityCouncil CouncilPresident ChambersChuck on Wednesday, February Stephen Cerrato, will inner share sanctum of the CityonCouncil Chambers Wednesday, February24th 22nd.

Esq.,bewill share his political insight Thursday, Februaryon 23rd.

Friday, February hasStephen yet to beCerrato, filled. It may a propihis political Thursday, February 23rd. Friday, February 24th has yet to be filled.

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CommunitySection Creative Disruption

Elections and the Internet

By JOHN F. McMULLEN

From the very moment that Paul Ryan was chosen as Mitt Romney’s Vice Presidential running-mate on the Republican ticket, the Internet in general and Facebook in particular began to be filled with information on Ryan – mainly negative with a lot dealing with his stated reverence for novelist / philosopher Ayn Rand whom he had once referred to as “the reason I got into public service.”

Much of the initial material seemed responsibly accurate as they were clips of Ryan’s own television interviews (although some may (or may not) have been taken out of context). There were, however, a number of Facebook postings that listed positions supposedly held by Ryan and compared them to the Social Positions enumerated by the nation’s Roman Catholic Bishops, all to Ryan’s detriment. The listing of Ryan’s positions “looked right” and may well have been, as he has been outspoken on many similar points – yet, the postings did not allow for any nuance or any philosophical underpinnings of the positions as would have been allowed him in a television interview. To properly evaluate these postings, one would have to go back to original speeches, position papers, congressional votes, and television interviews to try to piece together a deeper understanding of Ryan’s beliefs and legislative performance – something very few, if any, would bother to do.

This overload of partisan activity did not begin with the Ryan nomination. It began for this election cycle during the Republican primaries when the candidates routinely trashed each other in debates and then, either themselves or through surrogates, continued the trashing on the Internet – for instance, Newt Gingrich had nothing good to say about Romney.

Once Governor Romney’s nomination was assured, the online war started between the Democrats and Republicans and their supporters weighed in online with truths, half-truths, and out-and-out lies. One was reminded of the worst of the previous campaign – the “Birthers” and “closet-Muslim” attacks on Barrack Obama and the linking of John McCain to the disgraced “Keating Five” without clarifying that he (and John Glenn) had been cleared of all charges.

Once again, we would have to analyze each posting to assure ourselves of its accuracy and relevance – something that we usually will not do if the posting is on the side of “our candidate” (unless it is so egregious to be unbelievable).

So what do we do when we are inundated by political postings? If they are pro-our candidate, we tend to believe them; if they are anti,

we dismiss them as scurrilous trash or get angry enough to respond – often in kind.

So what good is all this political posting?

If we know that the opposition posting doesn’t do anything except infuriate us, why do we think that our postings are informative and convincing? Flash – They’re Not! My intelligent “Internet cousin,” Josephine McMullen recently put it succinctly in a Facebook posting: ““My political opinion totally changed because of what someone posted on Facebook today.” No One” If we believe this – and I think that most of us accept this, at least deep down – why do we bother? There are, in my opinion, a number of reasons: To support our candidate or party -- we feel that this type of work is supportive and, as we write it (or copy and paste it), we do think that it may convince someone (if he or she is bright enough to appreciate the correctness of our posting).

To solidify our own position.The reading and writing of information that supports positions we hold to be true gives us further assurance that our positions are correct. Further, the material that we find often provides us with additional reasons and justifications for our positions.

As “One-ups-man-ships” – to counter or correct something my “dopey brother-in-law” or next-door neighbor or Internet nemesis had posted – “can’t let ‘em get away with that!”.

Are any of these sufficient reasons to continue using time and effort in this fashion? Probably!

If the choosing of material to post causes us to constantly re-examine our beliefs and / or commitment to our political cause, it definitely is worth it.

If we take time to compose intelligent responses to those with whom we disagree, it prepares us to better defend our positions verbally and in writing.

Such activity maintains our interest in what otherwise would be boring, invective-filled campaigns.

None of this is, of course, guaranteed to happen. We have become a “sound-byte” society, one that is not disposed to dig deeply into political positions or philosophies and we are willing to accept silliness instead of depth.

Some may remember that, during the George W. Bush / John Kerry campaign of 2004, the main points of discussion were “whether and, if so, how President Bush shirked the Air National Guard duties that had kept him out of the draft” and “whether Senator Kerry had really deserved the medals that he had won during the Vietnam war.”

-- never mind that the incidents in question had Continued on page 4

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012

Page 3

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THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012

Creative Disruption

Elections and the Internet Continued from page 3

happened THIRTY years before and had no relevance to the policies they might carry out if successfully elected!

When I mention this intellectual tragedy to people, many blame the media for giving us pap.

It is not the media’s fault; it is ours

for not demanding more. In 1964, during the Johnson / Goldwater campaign, Ronald Reagan gave a thirty minute televised speech,“A Time For Choosing” in support of Senator Goldwater (http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=qXBswFfh6AY) that many felt was the launching of Reagan’s political career (It also raised $1 million dollars for the Goldwater

campaign. How many people that you know would sit and watch a 30-minute political speech – by a non-candidate???

We were wired differently in those days!

So, keep posting your political feelings and support your candidates vigorously! It’s good for you – just don’t think you are convincing anyone of anything.

Creative Disruption is a continuing series examining the impact of constantly accelerating technology on the world around us. These changes normally happen under our personal radar until we find that the world as we knew it is no more.

The events which have engulfed the region since the Arab Spring revealed itself in Tunisia almost two years ago are still reverberating across the region. The recent dangerous addition of ingredients complicating the landscape is derived from sectarian Sunni-Shiite flavor that attempts to explain what set out to be a revolution for freedom and economic reform.

Since the Tunisian revolution against the Bin Ali dictatorship succeeded in establishing a growing democracy, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen have also done the same with varied levels of success.

And then, when the revolution arrived in Syria, the excitement over

the revolution was replaced by a feeling that something sinister had been launched.

The violence in Syria is now a full-fledged civil war not only between Sunnis and Alawites in Syria, but also between surrounding powers fighting a proxy war whose beginning we have seen and whose end we are unable to fully visualize beyond the horizon.

The revolution that has reached and now consumes Syria is undergoing a process that has awoken a sectarian beast that has lain relatively dormant for hundreds of years.

The Shiite-Sunni relationship qualifies as a major fault line that interlaces various Middle Eastern countries

and has the potential to turn into a long fought regional conflict fueled by major powers vying to safeguard their strategic interests at any price.

As is always the case, what happens in the Middle East finds its way to the U.S. The United States will eventually be drawn to the Middle East to safeguard a foothold in the oil-rich region. And that is why the Middle East is a global fault line we all need to comprehend.

had been planned with the knowledge of George Washington, but the General and the Continental Congress denied the existence of any plot. In fact, Congress had specifically prohibited the destruction of the city.

Americans under Mad Anthony Wayne a month and a half later on July 16, 1779, in an impressive victory planned by George Washington.

Wayne later swore that he would storm Hell if Washington made the preparations.

Although Americans abandoned the position, crucial to a key ferry crossing of the Hudson, three days after its capture, the British concluded that it was indefensible and evacuated it permanently later in the year. The Continental Army used the crossing in its march from Westchester to Yorktown, Virginia, two years later.

After Washington reinforced American troops at Peekskill, the British withdrew from the area north of the Croton River and abandoned Verplanck Point on October 21st, well before the cold of winter arrived.

John F. McMullen has been involved in technology for over 40 years and has

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

FAULT LINES

The Middle East Unravels

By Dr. NASEER ALOMARI

“Fault Lines” is the title I have chosen for my weekly article.

Every week, I shall discuss significant events, which have the potential to either stabilize or destabilize the Middle East. I shall label these areas of conflict, real or figurative, fault lines.

At times, I shall take a bird eye’s view of the news and discuss how the various events make up a significant pattern or trend. At other times, I shall zoom in on a specific issue for analysis.

In all cases, the focus is on the forces that aim to push the region off the brink of violence or away from it.

Why we should pay attention to the Middle East now more than ever?

The answer to this question is the most concern at this historical juncture because the Middle East is being reshaped by forces that have lain dormant for centuries.

The Arab Spring has unleashed old sectarian conflicts in addition to the ongoing and unresolved Arab-Israeli conflict. Between the two beasts, peace has become more elusive than ever.

Dr. Naseer Alomari is a political analyst whose linguistic capacity and familiarity with people in the region, coupled with his role as a principal in Yonkers and American educational background makes him the perfect translator for our audience.

HISTORY

Debunking a Few More Historical Myths

By ROBERT SCOTT

The American Revolutionary War was unique in that many military actions took place in Westchester and the lower Hudson Valley. Recent research in primary sources has revealed some versions of events here to be myths.

The Myth that Patriots Burned New York

Ironically, a week after their

landing at Kip’s Bay, on Sept. 21, 1776, the British were robbed of a portion of their prize by the destruction of about a third of New York City in a disastrous fire that destroyed 493 houses before British troops and local citizens could extinguish the flames.

Because the city’s volunteer firemen had left with the American troops, the fire spread with intense speed.The conflagration, which started in a house near Whitehall Slip, inconvenienced the British because they had counted on billeting troops in the city.

In the belief that Americans had deliberately fired the city, enraged British soldiers killed a number of citizens. British soldiers and sailors called out to fight the fire pillaged many houses.

Observing the red glow on the southern horizon from his position at the Roger Morris house on Harlem Heights, Washington commented, “Providence or some good honest fellow has done more for us than we were disposed to do for ourselves.”

The British claimed that the fire

The Hessians of Croton’s Hessian Hill

Repetition of inaccurate information often embeds it in local history.

Hessian Hill, northeast of Mt. Airy, in the village of Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., takes its name because local legend claims Hessian troops were quartered there during the winter of 1779-80. The time frame is wrong.

Hessian troops indeed may have occupied it during the summer months of 1779, but they were long gone before the winter of 1779-1780.

British General Sir Henry Clinton sailed up the Hudson in a fleet of some 70 vessels on May 30, 1779, with an army of about 5,000. Clinton’s troops occupied Stony Point on the west bank. A force under British Gen. John Vaughan landed at Verplanck Point on June 1st and captured its Fort Lafayette.

Stony Point was captured by

Were German Mercenaries only Hessians?

No. Although many German mercenaries were from Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Hanau, other states, especially Brunswick, also supplied troops. One explanation why all Continued on page 5

THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012

Page 5

HISTORY

Debunking a Few More Historical Myths Continued from page 4 German troops were incorrectly called “Hessians” may lie in the fact that their three successive commanders were all Hessians.

The practice of hiring foreign soldiers was common up to the 18th century, although mercenaries could not keep Constantinople from falling to the Turks in the 15th century.

Most small professional armies found it necessary to employ auxiliaries in foreign wars of long duration.

Only 17,313 of the 29,867 German soldiers who reached these shores returned home. About five thousand deserted and another 7,754 found graves in America, from disease as well as battle.

German mercenaries were despised for their cruelty, even by the British. They gained no battle laurels in America and did not win a single battle in which they were exclusively pitted against Americans.

The most notable German defeats included their Christmas surprise at Trenton, N.J., their

drubbing at Bennington, Vt., and General Knyphausen’s failed raid against American forces under Gen. Nathanael Greene at Springfield, N.J. Instead of learning from their experiences in America, German mercenaries returned home unshaken in their faith in the outmoded military tactics of Frederick the Great and the myth of their own invincibility.

This illusion persisted until one October day in 1806 when Napoleon’s highly trained and adaptable army crushed two great Prussian armies in a matter of hours in twin victories at Jena and Auerstedt. Ruthless German efficiency on the battlefield had given way to outworn precision on the parade ground with disastrous results.

The Patriots’ Superior Propaganda Skills

The distorted view of the American Revolution that was perpetuated so long is a tribute to American mastery of the art of propaganda.

Early in the struggle, patriots like Sam Adams realized that to stir up

their fellow citizens and to win friends abroad, they had to circulate their own version of every incident and do it quickly.

Take, for example, the reporting of the running battle at Lexington and Concord. Thanks to the prevailing westerly winds, the average sailing time from America to England was one month, (In the opposite direction, the voyage took two months.)

British General Thomas Gage’s report of the incident on April 18th and 19th in 1775 was dispatched aboard the ship Sukey on April 22nd and reached London on June 10th, having taken the extraordinarily long time of 49 days.

Although the American version of the affair went out four days later on April 26, it arrived at the end of May. The Americans cleverly outwitted General Gage by sending Capt. John Darby’s ship Quero ”in ballast” (i.e., without cargo). Gage’s slower ship was heavily laden and took longer.

American propaganda techniques occasionally backfired. A good example of this occurred a half century after Lexington and Concord, when the Americans--who had labored to

LIFESTYLE

What We Live For

Bart Worden, Executive Director of the American Ethical Union and Leader of the Ethical Culture Society of Westchester, will open the new season of Sunday Platforms on September 9 at 10:30 am with an exploration of some of the most compelling concerns in today’s world. He will discuss some ideas of Felix Adler, the founder of the Ethical Culture Movement, who called attention to the “great and crying evil in modern society… the want of purpose…

show that they had not fired the first shot--had difficulty in proving that any Americans had fired at all.

Myths about Militias

Large standing armies represent a relatively recent innovation in the art of warfare. The almost continuous wars in America in the hundred years before the Revolution were fought by British troops, reinforced by local militias called “Provincials” by the British.

Battles against the rebelling colonists during the Revolution were fought by British regulars, German mercenaries and Tory militia. British professional military men tended to take a dim view of the capabilities of the colonial militias.

Yet during the American Revolution, it was these same militiamen who gathered so quickly at Lexington and Concord, who placed Boston under siege, who fought at Bunker Hill, and who formed the nucleus of the fledgling Continental Army.

At the same time, because they were part-time soldiers subject to their home state’s authority, militia

units were often unreliable. After the battle of Long Island, of the 8,000 Connecticut militiamen serving under Washington in August of 1776, only 2,000 could be located after the battle.

The others had simply drifted away and went back home.

The second battle of Saratoga in 1777 was the turning point of the Revolution Immediately before that engagement, Gen. John Stark’s New Hampshire militia, only recently the heroes at the battle of Bennington, joined Gen. Horatio Gates’s command early one morning. Because their enlistments were up, they jeopardized the eventual victory by leaving before noon.

“Few events in the war so proved the utter failure of the militia system,” an American historian later wrote.

Paradoxically, if led by experienced officers who understood their inherent weakness, the militia could—and did—fight like regular soldiers.

Robert Scott is a semi-retired book publisher and local historian. He lives in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.

Commercial • Industrial & Residential Services

the narrowness of vision which shuts out the wider vistas of the soul.”

The Sunday School registration will also take place on September 9 and also introduce the new director, Lily Schultz. Classes include kindergarten through 8th grade. Teens can enroll in the H.S. group.

Childcare is available for preschoolers.

A barbeque follows the morning meeting and registration.

All are welcome.

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Page 6

THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012

MEDICINE

WHAT YOUR DOCTOR WON’T (OR CAN’T) TELL YOU

How Much for that Pack of Morons?

By EVAN S. LEVINE, MD

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),” cigarette smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke are associated with premature death from chronic diseases, economic losses to society, and a substantial burden on the United States health-care system.” The most recent data from the CDC, tabulated for the years 2000-2004 concluded that, “cigarette smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke resulted in at least 443,000 premature deaths, approximately 5.1 million years of potential life lost, and $96.8 billion in productivity losses annually in the United States.

I understand the reason behind those anti-smoking ads we see on television that shows a real victim and the

consequence of their years of smoking.

But showing a woman without her arms or legs or a man with a hole in his throat, only able to communicate with some vibrating voice machine, is scaring the heck out of my sevenyear-old daughter, when it airs as a commercial, and likely having a minimal impact on people who smoke.

I think there must be a better way, a more appropriate way, to get some message, even if it may be hard to communicate with the fools that smoke, to stop smoking. I first considered the idea of changing the name of cigarettes to cancer sticks but since smoking kills even more people by causing heart attacks, strokes and chronic lung disease I thought that would be like calling the Nazis Gypsy murderers; true, but an enormous underestimation of the amount of murders they committed against other

groups of people, especially the Jews.

In case you don’t comprehend this and just think that smoking is only associated with one type of cancer, lung cancer, here is a list of all the cancers that are definitely associated with smoking: In fact the greatest risk of developing pancreatic cancer, which carries an almost automatic death sentence, is smoking! Just ask friends and relatives of Patrick Swayze.

• C olorectal • Head and neck cancers, including esophagus • Kidney • Liver • Lower urinary tract, including renal pelvis, ureter, and bladder • Lung • Mesothelioma • Myeloid leukemia • Nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses

• • • •

ancreas P Penis Stomach Uterine cervix

J Natl Cancer Inst 2004; 96:99.

But why stop there? Smoking also increases the risk of lung infections, type II diabetes, osteoporosis, stomach ulcers, gum disease, low birth weight, sicker babies to those who smoke, will increase the risk of death for anyone who lives with a smoker, and results in more general sickness and days lost at work because of it.

I then considered the idea of putting skull and crossbones on the package but thought that some idiots might find the package attractive.

I eventually came up with the idea of having all manufacturers of this toxin change the name from cigarettes to morons; that’s right, morons, and even suggest that this change be added to the dictionary. On each pack would be printed morons. When a person requested a pack they would request a pack of morons. The surgeon general

MOVIE REVIEW

Ed Koch Movie Reviews

By Edward I. Koch

Movie Review: “Cosmopolis” (-)

Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson) invests money in a foreign country’s currency. He tells us that he has billions of dollars but is also losing vast amounts of money. He spends a huge amount of his time is his enormous stretch limo holding conversations, having sex, and submitting to a prostate exam by a doctor appropriately

wearing rubber gloves. One compulsion of Eric’s that I could appreciate was his constant desire to get a haircut.

I love having a haircut and a shave. It now costs me 70 bucks for the package, but it’s well worth it.

Robert Pattinson is the star of the recent vampire “Twilight” series which I have avoided. A large number of

viewers seeing “Cosmopolis” were probably there because they are fans of his work. I was surprised to hear a smattering of applause when it ended, because I found it to be a total waste of time and money. Skip this movie and get a haircut instead.

Movie Review: “Harakiri” (+)

Motome Chijiiwa (Akira Ishihama), turns up at a warlord’s feudal compound and asks for permission to kill himself in the warlord’s front yard. In reality, he doesn’t really want to die but hopes to receive a few coins to buy food for his wife and child. The warlord, Saito (Rentaro Mikuni), states that once a Samurai says he is going to take his own life, he must carry out the ritual. Having sold his sword, the young man plunges a small bamboo weapon into his abdomen several times before he dies and is decapitated by another Samurai. The father-in-law of the deceased man shows up later on and a 50-1 sword fight takes place.

The Japanese had a code during World War II that forbade surrender.

Indeed, the enemy who surrendered was deemed a coward. That is why President Truman’s decision to use the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was correct. It saved an estimated half-million Americans from death who might have had to invade the home islands facing a Japanese military and civilian population willing to die rather than surrender.

The Japanese, now our allies, were not sufficiently punished for the war crimes they committed against the Chinese civilian population and the American military. General

MacArthur allowed them to get off much to easily.

“Harakiri” is only showing at the Cinema Village on East 12th Street in Manhattan. If you enjoy this type of action film, you will love the craftsmanship of the warriors who never attack another warrior from the back.

This is the first totally incomprehensive film I have ever seen. The Daily News and Post roasted it. Not unexpectedly, Manohla Dargis gave it a literary review in the Times conveying there is something to it. There is not.

I find these cult films on ancient Japan and the Samurai fascinating.

There were professional soldiers in the private armies of warlords with a code of honor that made them paragons of courage and fulfillment of duty. Hard times fell on the Samurai in the 1600s. They could no longer be retained by some of their warlords, and many became poverty stricken.

Some committed suicide rather than lead lives without the chivalry of the warrior code.

In this film one such Samurai,

Visit the Mayor at the Movies to learn more: http://www.mayorkoch.com/.

The Honorable Edward Irving Koch served as a member of Congress from New York State from 1969 through 1977, and New York City as its 105th Mayor from 1978 to 1989.

print on the package might be something like this; Smoking Morons causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and may complicate pregnancy. I would also add: Your family will be very upset when you drop dead from one of these diseases. You must be a Moron to smoke a Moron.

Let’s stop putting those “Creature Feature” style commercials on television and, instead, place photos of those disfigured smokers inside a pack of Morons. It’s not appropriate for any child’s mind to deal with those ghastly images. We should not cause nightmares for our children that accidentally come across these foolish ads, but rather create nightmarish fears for those who continue to smoke.

Evan S. Levine, MD FACC is the author of “What Your Doctor Won’t (or Can’t) Tell You” and a practicing cardiologist in Westchester and The Bronx. He is a clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center. Dr. Levine can be reached at 914-237-1332 or by directing email to: VaNLeV@aol.com.

THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012

Page 7

MUSIC

The Sugarman 3 “What the World Needs Now” SOUNDS Daptone Records

THE OFBLUE

By Bob Putignano The Sugarman 3 make their triumphant return to recording after a ten year absence, yet the core group remains the same with Neal Sugarman’s sax, Adam Scone’s B3, and drummer Rudy Albin. Sugarman is a busy guy touring and recording with Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and from time to time with the Budos Band, and it’s great to have this unit back in action. Outside of the trio and rounding out this soulful unit there’s Joe Crispiano’s guitar, Bosco Mann’s bass, trumpeter Dave Guy and percussionist Fernando Velez, who are all members as the Dap-Kings. All in all eleven tracks are included and six are originals from various members of the band, all songs are instrumentals with occasional background vocals.

The haunting “Rudy’s Intervention”opens the disc in soul-jazz fashion setting the tone for what’s to come. A knock at the door introduces

Understanding and interpreting the roots of American soul, and firing on all their soulful and well lubed cylinders. Rating: 7

“Your Friendly Neighborhood Sugarman” complete with a lady who answers “Who Is It?” This tune could have come right out of the Jr. Walker songbook, though it was co-authored

by Neal Sugarman who sounds very much like Walker’s funky sax, it’s a cool tune. “Got to Get Back To My Baby” is covered and would make nice for a spring/summer car ride with the roof down. Booker T would applaud Adam Scone’s Stax like B3 on the J.J. Jackson classic “It’s Alright,” in fact the entire groove of this tune sounds like it was recorded in Memphis. The entire band wrote “Witches Boogaloo” where it sounds like there’s a party going on in the studio, and finds Sugarman digging down deep on sax, Scone soars on organ, and the horns fill in perfectly.

The Burt Bacharach authored title track adds background vocalists (The Dapettes) Saundra Williams and Starr Duncan, the entire band percolates

NEIGHBORHOODS

Yonkers Mayor Spano Launches New Neighborhood Protection Program Coordinated with YPD Mobile Command Center

most notably Rudy Albin’s drums.

Another chestnut “Dirty Water” is delectably covered where the band is dead-on in the pocket, firing on all their soulful and well lubed cylinders. Written by the entire band “Mellow Meeting” finds us near back to McLemore Avenue in Memphis, TN, yes with that Stax sound on this very ear clutching tune. This hip dance party concludes with a cover of “Love Went Away” a late night hangout track that couldn’t put you to sleep, and will definitely have your feet tapping.

Here’s to welcoming back the Sugarman 3. Let’s hope they don’t take another ten years to follow-up on “What the World Needs Now.” The Sugarman 3 understand (and interpret) the roots of American soul, obviously respecting where it all came from, right on!

Bob Putignano www.SoundsofBlue.com

ROSH HASHANA

THE WESTCHESTER COMMUNITY FOR HUMANISTIC JUDAISM

INVITES YOU TO A HUMANIST INSPIRED ROSH HASHANA SERVICE SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 6:00 PM at the Community Unitarian Church 468 Rosedale Ave., White Plains WITH RABBI FRANk TAMBUREllO EXPlORING THE THEMES “RECOllECTION, REFlECTION, AND RENEWAl” Music by Prof. Ruth levy-Schudroff, Michael Iannucci, guest singer, and our choir.

Family Service Monday, September 17, 10:30 am

YONKERS, NY -- Mayor Mike Spano, along with the Yonkers Police Department, Department of Public Works announced the City’s new Neighborhood Protection Partnership between the City and community organizations.The program will feature regular YPD Mobile Command

Center neighborhood deployments, community watch training programs, organized neighborhood clean-ups, targeted neighborhood enhancements and regular neighborhood forums between city officials and resident groups.

Continued on page 8

There is no charge but donations are always welcome.

We are an open and welcoming congregation.

Baby sitting available.

Yom kippur and Break-the-Fast Wednesday, September 26, 4:00 pm Succoth, Sunday September 30, 4:00 pm RSVP BEFORE 9/12 To CHARlOTTE klEIN-914-218-8535 or e mail: charlotteklein48@verizon.net school information: info@wchj.org

Page 8

THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012

NEIGHBORHOODS

Yonkers Mayor Spano Launches New Neighborhood Protection Program Coordinated with YPD Mobile Command Center Continued from page 7 “Yonkers is a city of many beautiful neighborhoods and each neighborhood has a unique set of qualities as well as issues that require attention,” said Mayor Spano. “The goal of this program is to bring residents of our neighborhoods together with the city, coordinating and tailoring efforts that address specific concerns while

fostering a better quality of life.”

Kicking off the partnership today, Mayor Spano said the City has already begun working with neighborhoods such as the Trinity Plaza community in the Hollows, where under this new effort is making improvements with tree and brush removal, street lighting enhancements, strict enforcement of city codes and ordinances and the deployment of the Mobile Command

Center equipped with advanced communications, surveillance capabilities and a high output lighting system.

“We are working with the community and other city departments to focus on areas in need of improvement and use our resources as effectively as possible in taking appropriate action,” said Public Works Commissioner Tom Meier.

The Yonkers Police have set

scheduled patrols in neighborhoods throughout the city using the Mobile Command Center and will continue to target areas identified by the community as information is received.

“Deploying the Mobile Command Center in coordination with this community partnership will provide a powerful resource, allowing our officers to effectively engage our communities, provide greater presence

and perform multiple policing functions simultaneously in patrolling city neighborhoods,” said Yonkers Police Commissioner Charles Gardner.

“Some of the actions being taken have already made a difference, but this is really about communicating and collaborating with the community to achieve long-term progress and take pride in preserving our neighborhoods,” Mayor Spano said.

PEOPLE

Mt. Kisco Immigrants Make America Their Story

By RICH MONETTI

Most of us are familiar with the anxiety and excitement of reaching adulthood, packing up the car, and setting our sights on a new city. Often including a safety tether to parental stability, the risk is clearly softened. But imagine the unknown when you are crossing continents and no two-way ticket to a friendly money stream exists. Most immigrants know the story, and it’s all the more impressive when they eventually turn the tenuous beginnings into a successful business of their own. Mt. Kisco is home to two such stories.

Marcos Lozano came to the United States in 1994 at the age of 17, and while the drama involved in the subsequent journey probably has its own unique story, the reason for the journey echoes sentiment easily traced back to the days Pilgrims. “I was looking for a better life,” says Lozano.

Having cousins in Carmel to settle

The Lozano Family: Saul, Sophia, Marcos and Minerva with, he arrived absent any knowledge of the English language, but was ready to do what it took to make a life in America. “The first few years, I worked as a dishwasher,” Marcos said.

Anyone relegated to that station quickly learns things must change before they can begin to start to question their choices. After two years and a lot of dishes, he realized, “I’ve got to work toward something else.”

He rose to the position of chef. Given the relentless

pace and high temperatures of the kitchen, did not interest him. Even so, as he became familiar with more people in the city, he was drawn to explore other work options.

He first worked as a landscaper, and then hooked up with a construction company for three years. The step up didn’t translate into his arriving at the better life he originally envisioned.

He maintained his employment in the construction industry while in search for another avenue toward his vision. He learned about car auctions, bought a vehicle and resold the car.

This was the ground floor for his first business venture. “I like doing my own thing,” Marcos explained.

Marcos realized the auto re-sale business was reaching its limit. His entrepreneurial spirit had him refocus his attention to construction. He would come to open Lozano Construction. “I still wanted my own business.”

Having money saved, he didn’t need to get a loan and could at least set aside the risk of landing in debt if it failed. “In 2002 we began. I did small things like patios and walkways, but now, home renovations and home building are more typical.”

Immigrants are sometimes forced to confront prejudice in pursuit of their particular brand of happiness. He recollects two suspect situations that occurred last year but finds such experiences to be the exception. “People have mostly been fair and friendly,” he emphasized.

As might be expected, language is a hurdle he must still rise above but not where you’d think. On the job, he knows his work and can explain everything that needs to be communicated. In contrast, it’s the small talk that sometimes gets him. “Then it gets a little complicated,” he says.

Vicky Zheng, of Footsie Reflexology, located at 213 East Main Street, is of like mind on the issue of language and communication. “It’s

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been pretty hard to learn English,” says the Chinese born immigrant.

She hopes once her two young children have grown that she can get back to school to improve her language skills, but her language constraints has not held her back since her arrival in 1996. After doing her time as a waitress in Brooklyn, Vicky moved to Mt. Kisco and opened her own restaurant, “Blue Asia.”

The toll after 15 years of rigorous restaurant work was exacting. “My body was getting worn down,” Vicky noted.

Since she already had some experience with an aching body in China, her education in massage and foot reflexology was learned before her coming to America. She eventually completed her licensing in Mt. Kisco and a healthier occupation was in the wings.

Vicky also chose to defer on a loan Continued on page 9

THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012

Page 9

PEOPLE

Mt. Kisco Immigrants Make America Their Story Continued from page 8

for her start-up. She decided go with her own savings. She has been operating for about one year. She explains, “For a tree to be strong, the roots have to be strong and the same goes for your feet and your body.”

So the $28 half-hour long foot,

work over really means alleviating the back, neck and shoulder strains we all acquire from being hunched over a computer or saddled on long commutes.

Vicky recommends a weekly regimen, and patrons must agree as they return for the welcoming environment she created and the treatment.

The economy doesn’t discriminate and business is a struggle for everyone these days noted Vicky. Even so, Vicky carries on with an optimistic outlook that may escape those of us who have been mired in the economic ups and downs longer than she has. “I have faith that the American economy will return to normal,” she says.

Lozano would likely second Vick’s sentiment and reiterates the

foundation of all American dreams by way of his 17 year old, college bound son. While dad wants Saul to be a “professional man” who succeeds him educationally, Marcos hopes the example provided by Lozano Construction is not lost in the books and the bachelor’s degree. “I want you to be your own boss,” he tells Saul.

America. The story never gets old.

For more info: http://www.footsiereflexology.com For further inquiry: vickyworld168@yahoo.com info@gclozano.net Rich Monetti lives in Somers. He’s been a freelance writer covering Westchester County since 2003. Peruse his work at www.monetti.blogspot.com.

READING

No Guarantees: One Man’s Road Through the Darkness of Depression Chapter Forty Six – Memories

By BOB MARRONE

Among the longer lasting problems associated with depression, and one I have not spent any real time on, are problems with short term memory. Indeed, later in the book, this issue will be included among the vestigial tics and behaviors that remain with me to this day.

People with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), those who smoke, or have smoked, marijuana, those with brain injuries, and still others who suffer from anxiety depression themselves should find this resonates with them. Not remembering where you put something, or what you just said, or were just doing, is disquieting to anyone. The inability to concentrate long enough to finish a task is equally discomforting. For the depressed, anxiety riddled person, these moments can seem, and sometimes are, catastrophic.

I arrived home on the elevated B line subway after a particularly bad day in the fall of 1975. Several severe panic attacks, unrelenting obsession, combined with faking my way through the day were bad enough. The ride home with my face plastered to the first car of the train fighting agoraphobia left me drained and still more anxious. To get through these rides each day I would count backwards from one hundred thousand forming each word in my head so as to escape the need to panic and just run off the train, never to get back on.

At the foot of the staircase I started looking straight ahead at the curbsides of the two blocks in front of me that lined the streets directly to my apartment. I did remember that it was alternate side of the street parking and that I would have to move my car

for the next day. In those days, as it is today in Bay Ridge or Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, it was hard to find a space during the week and you sometimes had to drive around a several block area to find a space.

As I walked up the two long blocks from 16th to almost 18th Avenue, I did not see my car. I walked back down, and still could not find it.

My anxiety level grew as I started to obsess. Up and down I went again and again like the character Rainman in the movie of the same name when he keeps beating on the door to get out even though the door handle is right there. I then started walking about the neighborhood to the spots where I thought I might have parked it. Again, I started to pass by the same spots over and over again.

By now I was talking to myself out loud like a small child who lost his favorite toy and on the verge of shrill tears. “Where did I put it, why can’t I find it,” I whined. “God help me”, I said over and over.

By the time I cycled back to the front of my apartment, I was in a blinding panic, with waves of anxiety and jumbled thoughts overwhelming me. As the sun went down my eyes began to play tricks on me and the slightest change in light intensity or shadow effect triggered still more acute and powerful panic attacks. I called up to my wife in the hallway, virtually hysterical, begging her to call my brother who lived about ten miles away. I would need him to drive me around to find my car.

As I was calling up the hallway I leaned against the wall and slowly slid down into the corner of the hallway curling in a near fetal position. It was terrifying and humbling. I had lost all of my composure and my wits. I was for this horrible moment in my life

unable to function. Sadly, my intellect habit of do lists delivered an added really cannot do two things at once. and capacity for self-hate were in fine benefit. I started to write down every- Therefore, when you cannot trust your working order. Here I was, a grown thing in my day book that was not on memory, you can trust the integration man, slumping on the floor in fear and my regular work do-list. Included were of both home and work lists to keep entries on when to pay my bills, when yourself focused and to minimize confusion, a useless coward.

Well my brother came and we I had appointments and which days anxiety. eventually found my car. Snapped out I was scheduled to teach. Teaching There is an interesting paradox of the frantic state I was in, returning meant that I had to be home and in to my memory problems. I have to my somewhat more stable, yet bed early so that I would have the extra developed over the years the ability to compromised condition. This was, to hours to write the class verbatim and concentrate to a very high degree. So be sure, one of the darker moments of record it, etc. much so that I will hold whatever posiAnother thing I learned is that you tion I am in when someone approaches my fight with depression, but it was also one of the early lessons. A human can schedule your work and private life Continued on page 10 can handle the worst of true panic and linearly. It should be obvious, but you survive. Unless you give up they really 88th Annual cannot get much worse. While I had many more clinical anxiety / panic attacks after that in the course of my Grange Fairgrounds • 99 Moseman Road, Yorktown Heights illness, I have never panicked over anything again.

As for my memory, in general, depression presents a great challenge.

Exhibits & Contests Since you cannot Produce ~ Flowers ~ Art concentrate well; you don’t Baking ~ Needlework remember well.

Photography ~ Legos Since you are almost always preoccupied; you are almost never e Audienc in the present.

Bicycle tion And since the Participa anxiety and obsesStunt s Contest sion tend to wipe Shows your mind clean For the Kids of whatever was Annie & the Natural Wonder Band there before hand, Antique Tractor Parade it is like having a Saturday at Noon Magic with The Great Charlini blackboard that is continually erased.

This is where my

Yorktown Grange Fair September 6 — September 9

Rides ~ Exhibits ~ Livestock ~ Contests Live Music with Local Favorites!

www.yorktowngrangefair.org

Page 10

THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN

READING

No Guarantees: Continued from page 9

me. Thus, I will stay stooped over if I walk over to get something for someone from a sitting position. If I am doing something with a piece of paper, or a tool, I will hold onto it until I use it, or until I remember why I was holding it. This intensity is fueled by my fear of forgetting.

If you walk up to me and ask me a question, don’t be offended if I don’t turn my head. I will forever be afraid of losing my place… forever. Wait for me to disengage and mark the place. As well, when people first get to know me, they find it a little odd that I will place something I don’t want to forget in places that I will be forced to see them.

I will place jackets on the floor in front of the door and my wallet over my car keys. And I always pack my bags the night before.

I will never trust my thoughts or memory, first thing in the morning.

Bob Marrone is the host of a Monday to Friday local morning talk show heard on WVOX-1460 AM radio.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012

TRANSPORTATION

Bee-Line System Fall Service Changes Effective Tuesday, September 4th Changes on 8 Routes Including Expanded Service to Ridge Hill, Stew Leonard and Central Park Ave Service changes for eight Bee-Line Bus System routes will become effective the day after Labor Day, Tuesday, September 4th.

The most significant change will be on Route 78, which will continue to provide service daily connecting Yonkers to Stew Leonard Drive and Ridge Hill. The route will be extended to operate along Tuckahoe Road to Central Park Avenue. This route extension will allow transfers between Route 78 and Route 20/21, which operates along Central Park Avenue between the Bronx and White Plains.

Also on that route, late- night service hours will be extended until 11:40 p.m., and Route 78 will no longer operate as a Limited-Stop Service, but will begin serving all Bee-Line bus stops along the route.

The other changes on bus service

are the following: • Route 12: On Saturdays, there will be minor schedule adjustments before 5 p.m. in both directions.

• Route 13: Seasonal service to

Playland will be discontinued.

• Route 20/21: On weekdays, between Bedford Park Blvd. and Central Park Ave. at Yonkers Ave., trips will be added in both directions after 3:30 p.m., and

heard because, like so many others you would have expected to know better, they did not make full use of their microphone. Sarandon stayed on a bit, and quoted Vidal’s remark to her on parenting: “Darling, it’s inevitable

you’ll give your child neuroses; just be sure they’re productive ones.”

Cybill Shepherd, looking wonderfully preserved, read a message from her friend Peter Bogdanovich a trifle flatly, but the content itself was unremarkable. Alan Cumming, on the other hand, was rather too dramatic, reading from Vidal’s slanted but amusing “A Distasteful Encounter with William F. Buckley Jr.” After which we saw and heard a tidy bit from Vidal’s telecast “On America.”

As usual, he was quoted: “Never turn down an opportunity for sex or being on TV.” Advice that this atheist religiously followed.

Mostly, however, Vidal’s comments were political, spiritedly “taking America to task,” as Charles McGrath summarized it in the Times, “for needless wars, a bloated military-industrial complex and political hypocrisy.” On politics, whether or not you agreed with him, Vidal was always at his sharpest.

The comedian Richard Belzer. the only annoying speaker, indulged in a Hebrew blessing, a pretended phone call from Vidal, and, reminiscing about a five-hour lunch with Vidal, “the only man I know who could make a ‘Pass the salt’ sound interesting.” This nearly

there will be minor northbound schedule adjustments after 4:30 p.m.

• Route 39: On weekdays, the 6:20 a.m. eastbound trip from Heatherdell Road at Windsong Road will depart earlier, at 6:15 a.m.

• Route 45: On weekdays, the 3:13 p.m. southbound trip from Mill Road at White Plains Post Road will depart later, at 3:18 p.m.

• Route 75 and Route 91: This seasonal service will be discontinued.

Call the Bee-Line HOTLINE at (914) 813-7777 Monday to Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for a bus schedule. Automated information is available 24 hours a day or visit www. westchestergov.com/beelinebus

EYE ON THEATRE

Vidal Withal

By JOHN SIMON

The most notable dramatic event of the week was, to my mind, the memorial entitled “Gore Vidal: A Celebration.” It took place on the stage where the revival of his best play, The Best Man,” was nearing end of its run.

Among the participants were almost all the distinguished actors in that revival, some noteworthy others, and, on the large TV screen, Vidal himself.

Dick Cavett acted as host, and though his quick wit is by now somewhat slowed down by pauses, a fair share of it was still in evidence.The first speaker to be enjoyed by a packed house which included Salman Rushdie, John Guare, Robert Silvers, editor of The New York Review of Books, and Carol Blue, widow of Christopher Hitchens, for a while Vidal protégé) was Elaine May. Her somewhat peculiar way of speaking, even more idiosyncratic than before, but she was quite funny about the allegedly two minutes she was allowed. Like most speakers, she also read some of a Vidal text.

Next, Jefferson Mays and Susan

Sarandon delivered a scene from “Romulus,” though neither they nor the program acknowledged this as being from a play by Friedrich Durrenmatt, which Vidal merely Englished. They were not perfectly

ranks with walking on water, which, as far as I know, was not part of Vidal’s repertoire.

Next, a group number. At the stage right microphone stand were Elizabeth Ashley and Christine Ebersole; at the one stage left, Candice Bergen and Anjelica Huston. Ebersole used the mike best; Huston, worst. For her punchlines, she would turn and face the audience, and so, mikeless, lose much of her audibility. The ladies alternated in selected one-liners, in what was titled “The Wit and Wisdom of Gore Vidal,” some of which has already been quoted to distraction.

Sample, about same-sex marriage: “Since heterosexual marriage is such a disaster, why would anyone want to imitate it?”

Ms. Ashley made solo use of her almost baritonal contralto for an amusing anecdote at the Hotel Carlyle bar, involving Gore, Tennessee Williams and herself. When someone noted the damage alcohol does to brain cells, Vidal was told he need not worry, having billions of them. ‘Yes,” he responded, “but I also had billions of drinks.”

Cavett read a message from Hillary Clinton, nicely worded, which Continued on page 11

THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012

Page 11

EYE ON THEATRE

Vidal Withal Continued from page 10

proclaimed Vidal “one of a kind” and “a true American original.” She did not, however, become excessive, as when Cavett pronounced Vidal “the best talker since Oscar Wilde,” his authority based on not having heard either of them.

Next came, surprisingly, Ohio Congressman Dennis Kusinich, who, as a poliican, used the microphone best of anyone. He spoke slowly, evenly, and dignifiedly, except when, quoting Shelley, he pronounced “daedal” as

“dadal.” Kusinich has twice run for the Presidency, and once sought advice from Vidal. Answer: “You’ve got to do something about your hair.

It’s dreadful; I can’t bear to look at it.”

Asked what the solution was, Gore replied, “A guillotine.”

Michael Moore had some personal reminiscences about Gore’s advice on how to handle a potential Oscar speech, and then read, rather hammily, a selection from “Requiem for the American Empire,” in which, again, America’s foreign involvements were labeled bizarre, lethal, and costly to the taxpayer.

Gossip columnist Liz Smith

cited her bond with Vidal as based on shared love of gossip. Her own comments were concise, as was the message from David Mamet she read.

She left, a cane in her right hand and someone supporting her on the left, a reminder, if needed, that soon no one who knew Vidal, dead at 86, would be left alive.

Then James Earl Jones and John Larroquette performed a scene of theirs from the revival of “The Best Man.” They chose to skip the microphones and face each other stage center. This worked well enough for Larroquette, but less so for Jones, suggesting that for the play he must be

inconspicuously miked.

In conclusion, there was the old, cagy Vidal on the TV screen where, as on top of sex partners, he so liked to be. He offered a cogent “Letter to the Next President,” full of smart advice that not even he himself, a twice unsuccessful candidate for political office, was able to heed. What good, then, his oft-quoted statement, “There is no human problem that could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise”?

So much here. For insatiables, I indicate the September issue of The New Criterion, in which they can find my own go at an obituary, including

some of my experiences with Vidal.

John Simon has written for over 50 years on theatre, film, literature, music and fine arts for the Hudson Review, New Leader, New Criterion, National Review, New York Magazine, Opera News, Weekly Standard, Broadway. com and Bloomberg News. Mr. Simon holds a PhD from Harvard University in Comparative Literature and has taught at MIT, Harvard University, Bard College and Marymount Manhattan College.

To learn more, visit the JohnSimonUncensored.com

TRAVEL

Following in the Footsteps of Ichabod Crane WEST HARRISON, NY – The Renaissance Westchester Hotel is offering travelers a unique opportunity to experience autumn in Sleepy Hollow, New York – the setting for Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” short story.

For those who may not remember, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is set in 1790 in the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town (based on Tarrytown, New York), in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow. The main character is a lanky schoolmaster called Ichabod Crane, who competes with the town troublemaker “Brom Bones” Van Brunt for the hand of Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter of a wealthy farmer. As Crane leaves a party at the Van Tassel home one autumn night, he is pursued by the Headless Horseman (possibly the ghost of a trooper who had his head shot off during the Revolutionary War, but more probably Van Brunt in costume) and Crane mysteriously disappears from town enabling Van Brunt and Katrina to marry.

Nature Trail.

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The Sleep Hollow Package includes: Deluxe Accommodations; A copy of Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleep Hollow”; Savory Hudson Valley Apple Crisp and Hot Apple Cider in 80 West Restaurant; Complimentary walking trail map of the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail where you can walk by Lyndhurst (a

Gothic Revival country house beside the Hudson River in Tarrytown) and see many diverse sights including the High Bride, the Keeper’s House, and the tunnel)’ Private consultation with the hotel’s resident Navigator for assistance in finding local apple orchards for fall apple picking and for directions to Sleepy Hollow This package is priced from $139 per night and is available from August 31 through December 1, 2012. Note that this package includes one apple crisp to share and apple cider for four people. Advance reservations are required and blackout dates may apply.

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Page 12

THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012

GOVERNMENTSection campaign trail

NYS AFL-CIO Endorses George Latimer for State Senate NEW YORK, NY -- The New York State AFL-CIO, voted on Monday, August 20th, to endorse Assemblyman George Latimer (D-Rye) in his bid for the New York State Senate. The New York State AFL-CIO represents 2.5 million workers throughout New York. The AFL-CIO announced the bipartisan list of candidates for the State Assembly and Senate at its 32nd Constitutional Convention and cited George Latimer’s history of commitment to fighting for true middle class families.

“This endorsement means a lot to me. My father was a maintenance man and my mother a factory worker and they were committed to making sure that I was raised in a fashion where I understood the importance and value of hard work. With those values firmly planted in me, I understand what families are going through when they explain that their taxes are too high and that middle class families are struggling to make ends meet.

My campaign for the State Senate is about addressing the concerns of

those families in more than just generalities and platitudes,” Assemblyman Latimer explained.

Included in the list of endorsements made by the AFL-CIO were Republican Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Deputy Leader Tom Libous, demonstrating that the AFL-CIO understands that problems are solved by working in a bipartisan fashion.

“I have a record of working across the aisle to fight for Westchester taxpayers and have proven that at every

Assembly Candidates Trade Barbs on Gun Control and Crime

By NANCY KING

This summer, three tragic shootings played out in the media. The first was that of the mass killing at an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater during the Midnight showing of the “Dark Knight Rises”. Less than a month later, a second deadly shooting takes place during religious services at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin. And just this past Friday, a gunman opened fire in front of the Empire State Building in Manhattan shooting 10 people and killing at least one. By the time the gun smoke dissipated in all the shootings mentioned, 21 people were dead. One shooter was apprehended without confrontation, the others shot dead by a police officer. All shooters had allegedly obtained their weapons and ammunition legally. Predictably, all incidents sparked a national debate on whether the United States has adequate gun control measures in place. Supporters of the 2nd Amendment staunchly oppose gun control and some have

gone as far as to say that if there were armed individuals in either the theatre or the Temple, they could have defended themselves and others. On the other side of the aisle, there are those lawmakers and individuals who feel that there must be more safeguards in place to prevent murderous shootings. From Washington D.C., to Westchester County, candidates running for office, are not only waxing eloquent on the subject, they’re taking downright swipes at one another.

Republican Assemblyman incumbent Robert Castelli and his Democratic challenger White Plains Common Councilmember David Buchwald were the latest two candidates to enter into the fray. In a statement released by his campaign manager, Barry Caro, Buchwald maintains that Assemblyman Castelli doesn’t support gun control and even voted against denying gun permits to those who have been convicted of domestic violence. The Buchwald camp released Castelli’s voting record which indicates he did indeed vote against bill A7575 in

2010 and Bill A4488 in 2011, which would have closed a Federal loophole allowing those convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence to purchase firearms. The Buchwald camp omitted disclosing that a new bill was signed into effect by Governor Andrew Cuomo (Chapter 258, 2011) that does indeed make it trickier to obtain a firearm. But, Castelli also voted against micro-stamping, a program that would effectively track all gun and ammunition purchases.

Proponents of gun control question Castelli’s vote. The public may not appreciate that most gun storeowners are small businesses and the cost of obtaining the equipment to micro-stamp would be costly.

Assemblyman Castelli did not make the argument that the cost of microstamping was prohibitive to the gun store owners. Even more disturbing is Castelli’s statement that crime is up 50% in White Plains.

White Plains was just named the 44th best place to live in the United States by Money magazine. We all doubt White Plains would have

achieved such a lofty honor if we were all running amok. Obtaining the actuarial numbers from the Department of Public Safety’s Comstat statistics on crime in White Plains show a different story. Violent crimes such as murder and rape have remained flat while burglaries and larcenies have risen. Common sense tells one that in a depressed economy such increases follow a pattern of these types of crimes. It’s a sad commentary on the way life is but certainly not surprising when there is an unemployment rate that is officially designated around 9% but in actuality is twice that. The report never indicated that the residents of White Plains were shooting each other with registered or unregistered weapons. White Plains does have its share of problems that could lend themselves to an increase in crime. The city swells to approximately 250,000 people during the workweek. Add to that the amount of individuals who are the homeless, the mentally ill who live in either the shelter’s found in the city or are dropped off from the shelter in Valhalla, to those who live in the lower

level of government. As Chairman of the County Board of Legislators, I cut taxes in three consecutive years.

In the State Assembly, I worked with members of the Senate Majority to fight for a repeal of the MTA Payroll Tax that helped 25,000 small businesses in Westchester and I am a cosponsor of legislation that well reinstate the STAR rebate checks to give property owners direct relief. I look forward to working with the members of the AFL-CIO and listening to their input on how to solve the problems that face New Yorkers in every corner of the State,” concluded Latimer.

South Lexington/Dennison Street corridor of the city where poverty and violence have been a mainstay for decades, and you have all the necessary ingredients from which violent crime is brewed. To the credit of the Public Safety Department in White Plains and a heavy police presence in the downtown area, violent crime involving firearms has been maintained at 43 this year, as opposed to 41 last year. Under what definition is that regarded as minimal? For Castelli to assert that crime is up 50% in White Plains is disproven by the figures supplied by Commissioner David Chong.

New York has one of the strictest guidelines in place for anyone who wishes to obtain a gun legally. Both of these candidates know this. They both surely know that there will always be ways for guns to illegally slip into the hands of those who want a firearm but shouldn’t have a firearm. All you have to do is to get on the Internet or have a friend of a friend of a friend who can hook you up with a gun.

Micro-stamping might help deter the traffic of illegally obtained firearms but it sureluy won’t stop it. Assembly Continued on page 13

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THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012

Page 13

campaign trail

Assembly Candidates Trade Barbs on Gun Control and Crime

Continued from page 12

candidates would better serve the public were they to focus more on bringing jobs back to the Hudson Valley than worry about gun control, falsely inflated crime statistics, and the Second Amendment.

Candidates Buchwald and Castelli, and their respective strategists, receive a failing grade for not

sticking to the pertinent issues.

Creating jobs, preserving jobs, reforming Medicaid, and reducing non-mandated services. Developing plausible and creative ideas that mitigate the public’s concern the candidates will have the best interests of their constituents in their eyesights.

As The Westchester Guardian goes to press, Assemblyman Castelli has announced that he will be hosting

other leaders at a roundtable in Harrison, New York, concerning non-essential, unfunded mandates.

This reporter will be in attendance at the roundtable to hear just what Assemblyman Castelli can offer the voters in the 89th Assembly District

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

Statement by Congressional Candidate Joe Carvin on Todd Aiken “Mr. Aiken’s comments were as bewildering as they were offensive. They do not reflect the views of other Republican candidates, yet they cast a shadow on the whole party as long as Mr. Aiken remains a candidate. I was hopeful, as initial news reports indicated, that Mr. Aiken was going to make a hasty withdrawal from the Senate race as a result of his hurtful words, but he seems to be reconsidering that. He should get out now.”

Latimer Calls for Passage of his MTA Payroll Tax Repeal Bill George Latimer, the lead sponsor of legislation to repeal the MTA Payroll tax stated, “I was happy to join Governor Cuomo in repealing the MTA Payroll Tax for 25,000 small businesses in Westchester, now I’m thrilled the court has repealed this tax all together. The Court’s ruling paves the way to pass my bill that will fully repeal the MTA Payroll Tax once and

for all. There is only one candidate in this race who has actually cut taxes for Westchester residents. While leading the County Legislature, I cut property taxes in three consecutive years, as an Assemblyman I voted to lower individual income tax rates to the lowest in 58 years and as a Senator I will be proud to continue working across the aisle to permanently rid Westchester

residents and businesses of the MTA Payroll tax. My record of cutting taxes speaks for itself. All Bob Cohen can do is make hollow promises.”

“Cohen’s cynical campaign epitomized by paid flack, Bill O’Reilly, neglects to mention that he was the recipient of big campaign donations from MTA Board leaders proving his hypocracy in “fighting” the MTA,”

said Latimer Campaign Manager, Vic Mallison. If he is sincere he should give back the donations. The willful misrepresentation of Assemblyman Latimer’s record shows that Cohen, backed by millions of dollars, will say anything to grab the Senate Seat that he lost in 2010” To view Latimer’s bi-partisan bill with Senator Lanza, R-Staten Island to repeal the MTA Tax go to: http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/ leg/?bn=A05616&term=2011

INTER VIEW

Mayor Ernest Davis Shares His Vision with Mount Vernon AYALA: That’s the transit-oriented [development]?

By SHANNON AYALA AYALA: So, this is your sixth or seventh months back in…

MAYOR Eighth

MAYOR DAVIS: Yeah… but we can build a whole city over the railroad track. And they were talking about the possibility of taking the colleges and expanding the colleges into the City.

SUNY Purchase…. We have the best located city in Westchester County.

DAVIS:

AYALA: Eighth. So how is it going so far? How is it different than different terms?

MAYOR DAVIS: …It’s not like I came into something I knew nothing about. And I’m an architect, which means that I look at things optimistically. And when I see things not working I look for the solution and I don’t get bogged down [when] it doesn’t go the way I want them to.

Rather, it becomes a challenge. For instance we’ve had shootings. My question is, why?

AYALA: Is this hypothetical or are you talking about recent shootings?

MAYOR DAVIS: Recent shootings.

This is real. When I look at problem solving, I look at the genesis of it because… then I’m prepared to come up with solutions that are long term rather than knee-jerk reactions to

AYALA: Do you have any particular projects that the city doesn’t know about?

what I see… And so, when I look at Mount Vernon, I see promise; …I see it’s a walkable city… I see that people generally get along. We had a concert last night that was very well received.

I’m always thinking about what can we do better. What can we do to get the people’s attention and participation?

And I feel that if you can do that then less people will feel angry in the streets.

You have lifted the bar so to speak. …If you give people attention, respect, love

and you invest in them, in most cases they will return that. But if you don’t do that, what you get might not be what you want to get.

AYALA: So do you have initiatives right now that involve investment?

MAYOR DAVIS: … In fact I just had a meeting with Senator Malcolm Smith, and former Governor Cary’s son… We’re looking at the possibility of developing along the railroad cut…

MAYOR DAVIS: I’ll tell you things that we’re doing. We’re reviving the Atlantic project down Gramatan Avenue. We’re talking to Westchester Community College that’s going to be expanding in Mount Vernon. I’ve been talking to people who are interested in developing Macqueston Parkway as an arts initiative… We’re talking to the Superintendent of Schools, I hope to take one of those schools and move it from the downtown area… and turn it into an arts center kind of thing. We’re looking at Hartley Park and doing some initiatives out there… [Talking with people] about a hotel in the City.

AYALA: Does that go along with

Memorial [Field] or is that separate?

MAYOR DAVIS: No, it’s separate.

In fact I just met with the engineers, talking about Memorial Field. I’m working on the tennis courts now, trying to bring them back… People in Mount Vernon play tennis, especially our youth…

AYALA: A councilperson said that Memorial Field is not very realistic right now.

MAYOR DAVIS: You must have talked to someone I haven’t talked to.

AYALA: Well I’m not sure exactly what she says.

MAYOR DAVIS: Memorial Field is very realistic. The reason I have not moved as fast as I have wanted to is because we had to deal with a design that I disagree with and I want to take it in a different direction that will not leave us with a white elephant…

AYALA: And likewise… recreational opportunities in general, park accessibility, which you talked about in the election, are all things that concern youth. What is the City doing right now for young people?

MAYOR DAVIS: Right now we’re working on the Dole Center that’s Continued on page 14

Page 14

THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012

INTER VIEW Mayor Ernest Davis Shares His Vision with Mount Vernon Continued from page 13

located on 6th Avenue and 4th Street…

As you know has been closed down for a while… It also has an auditorium [where] we’re going to have plays, we’re going to have all kinds of things. Right now we’re showing movies outdoors…

Summer Breeze. We’re trying to nurture some of the talent that is in the City. That happens right out here on Saturday and Tuesday.

AYALA: [That person who discussed youth] pointed out 3rd Street in particular. She said, what is he going to do about 3rd Street?

MAYOR DAVIS: I don’t know what she means, but on September 16th we’ve got Arts on Third… bringing that back.

AYALA: Well I think she meant economic rejuvenation.

MAYOR DAVIS: We have massive plans for 4th Avenue and 3rd Street…

AYALA: What are your thoughts on

this commuter tax that’s come up?

MAYOR DAVIS: We can’t do commuter tax. I checked into it… You have to also tax your local residents.

So I was not interested in putting any more taxes on local people…

AYALA: [This] is not a city issue, it’s a county issue but in Mount Vernon a lot of people go to First Street, go to the Department of Social Services.

And I’ve found that a lot of people go to fair trial hearings and they find out they weren’t supposed to be there… or they lose their services without even being notified… So what can the City do to guarantee the rights under state law of the citizens here?

MAYOR DAVIS: …That clearly is a county function and that is best handled by the County. …Give me an example.

AYALA: An example is people being evicted when under state law they’re not supposed to be evicted, or they lost daycare. And because they lost daycare

when they weren’t supposed to they lost their jobs. I’m getting on the edge of hypothetical but people really have lost daycare when their rights were that they were supposed to have it…

MAYOR DAVIS: Well what we do, we have Deputy Commissioner of Recreation also was a deputy commissioner of social service. Since she is the resident expert, when there is a DSS problem, we generally refer that problem to Diane Atkins… She happens to have that expertise... For instance a young man met me in the street and he was put out of his house for whatever reason and I referred him to Diane and she was able to help.

AYALA: People use DSS because they don’t have a very substantial income.

So what is your administration [doing] about employment?

MAYOR DAVIS: …We have job fairs…[that] come out of businesses that have come here to relocate and they understand that it’s in their interest and our interest to have people working… We were able to get sixty

jobs through the federal government because of Hurricane Irene. The government saw fit to give us a grant of $750,000… [but] it was only for six months… We’ve been trying to get them to do work as contractors.

You can’t expect City Hall is going to hire, but there has to be another way of doing it and what we’re doing, is [working] with business to get people trained for job readiness…

AYALA: You’re talking about job training for individuals?

MAYOR DAVIS: Yeah. For instance the Tappan Zee Bridge… There’s going to be 45,000 jobs. We want some of those jobs. So we’re in constant contact with people who come into the City and want to do business…

AYALA: I know the Mayor’s Office is sort of outside of Education but you’ve talked about putting the Mayor’s Office people on the Board. Is that going to happen?

MAYOR DAVIS: I think it could because I think every mayor in the United States knows that mayors

must be involved in education because behind all of the shootings and all of that, is a mind that’s not educated. A mind that quit... I think the country is moving in the wrong direction. We need to see our strength and wealth in education. I don’t think our country sees that.

AYALA: …How is it going here in Mount Vernon, the education system?

MAYOR DAVIS: We’ve got a new superintendent, as you know, and I’ve met with her two or three times. I’m impressed with her. I get the sense that she understands that she’s getting 65 cents out of every dollar to run her facility; I’m getting 23 cents out of every dollar. But we can combine our efforts to make a strong force. At the end of the day the question is, did you educate your children?

Shannon Ayala is a Class of 2013 student at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. He also writes New York environmental news for www.

Examiner.com. His work can be found at www.SEArchives.wordpress.com.

THE HEZITORIAL

APB: Where is José Alvarado?

By HEZI ARIS

Some will remember the desperate search for “Car 54, Where Are You?”; others will recognize the search for “Where’s Wally”, renamed “Where’s Waldo?”; and the youngest among us can reflect on “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” Yet all Yonkersites in the know exhaled a sigh of disgust and a look of “I told you so!” on learning of an All Points Bulletin (APB) in search of the recently installed Yonkers City Clerk who is often not to be found at the Clerk’s Office between the hours of 8:30 am through 4:30 pm?

Many Yonkersites consented to moving Mr Alvarado to the august Yonkers City Clerk’s position, buying into the need to have a multi-lingual personage on the job. The sad fact is that Mr Alvarado is not easily, much less often found at work. His absence denies those who require the services of the City Clerk whether they only speak Spanish or only speak English; he is simply not there to answer in any language.

His absence has already caused a backlog of paperwork to accumulate.

Yonkers Tribune has been told that Yonkers Corporation Counsel has been engaged to help. To that end, Corporation Counsel, besides all their other responsibilities, are now also to be responsible for the paperwork Mr Alvarado was expected to do. Yonkers City Hall denies this circumstance vehemently. Despite their protestation, Yonkers Tribune’s sources know Mr Alvarado is ill-equipped to manage the responsibilities he is entrusted to complete. Perhaps Mr Alvarado believes the City Clerk position is part-time; it is a full-time endeavor.

This is not a “no-show” position. Did Mr Alvarado not get the memo? All in the know acknowledge Mr Alvarado has no experience demanded to be a City Clerk and is not on the job to learn that which he must to earn the salary commensurate with the title.

How much more must Yonkersites suffer? Have we not suffered enough?

Are we paying for our ancestor’s sins.

Let us pray. Perhaps this pox will be sorted out from up high.

In anticipation of a “bad” outcome,

the now retired Yonkers City Clerk, Joan Deierlein, was engaged prior to her retirement to assist in teaching Mr Alvarado that which he does not know; which is… dare I say it?...

Everything! Ms Deierlein has been afforded a $25,000 maximum budget to accomplish teaching Mr Alvarado that which he must know in order to become a contributing member to the Office of the Yonkers City Clerk.

In the meantime, all Yonkersites, those who speak English, Spanish, Arabic, French, Russian, Polish, Slovak, German, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, Urdu, among other languages, are busily attempting to find Yonkers City Clerk Alvarado. There is no monetary reward in finding Mr Alvarado; only the self-satisfaction in knowing one has engaged and

accomplished their civic duty for the betterment of the City of Yonkers. It is the pride in knowing one has done their best for CoY. This is the pride that defines the best in Yonkers. But wait; will finding Mr Alvarado be best for CoY? Perhaps Mr Alvarado will be found before Yonkersites coalesce on an answer.

Please call Yonkers City Council Majority Leader Wilson Terrero who oversees the budget line of the Yonkers City Clerk’s Office to relieve his concern for promoting Mr Alvarado to the position of clerk. If you see him, say “Hello!” He is in a funk.

Yonkersites are questioning why Mr Alvarado is missing. His absence has dissuaded Mr Michael Ramondelli, considered most interested in the position only a few days ago, to recoil from the posting. It seems the “old guard” has leaned on Mr Ramondelli, suggesting he would bear the brunt of work Mr Alvarado should complete but won’t be on-site to do the work. Can anyone blame Mr Ramondelli refusing to answer the call? Perhaps Mr Ramondelli will reconsider. In the meantime, Mr Alvarado is missing, therefore the APB; Ms Deierlein is desperately needed, at issue now is when can she return to the old saltmines to lend a

hand and relieve Yonkers Corporation Counsel the task of compensating for Mr Alvarado’s diminished abilities.

Only in Yonkers folks. As the stomach turns. If you haven’t begun your search for Mr Alvarado, please lend a hand; you will be blessed!

First Deputy City Clerk Vincent Spano, who has accrued over a decade of knowledge and experience onn the job was on vacation last week.

No wonder things are in disarray. Go figure.

The point of it all is that the Yonkers Clerk position is a full time position. When Mr Alvarado went before the Yonkers City Council he did not divulge his holding a position with White Plains Hospital, which is in conflict with his responsibilities.

In fact, his appointment is nullified by his very act of omission, which deceived the Yonkers City Council.

Mr Alvarado being permitted to stay in his position as City Clerk exposes the Office of the City Clerk to the possibility of future legal challenge.

He removed himself by his deceit. The Yonkers City Council must claw back his designation or be each held personally liable should any future action be taken against CoY!

THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012

Page 15

THE ALBANY CORRESPONDENT

Sex Crazed Lopez Dumped by Silver; Naomi Running Scared

By CARLOS GONZALEZ

ALBANY, NY -Assemblyman Vito Lopez, the Brooklyn Democratic political boss, has been stripped of his Housing Committee chairmanship by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, following allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct made by two Assembly employees.

“The bi-partisan Committee on Ethics and Guidance today delivered to me a report signed by all eight of its members finding that Assemblymember Vito Lopez violated the Assembly’s sexual harassment policy,” said Silver in a statement.

“I have reviewed the report and will fully implement its recommendations.

The members of the committee have fulfilled their obligation to independently and thoroughly review these allegations, and I thank them for their

Assemblyman Vito Lopez hard work.”

The loss of his chairmanship came after a report from the Assembly Committee on Ethics and Guidance that accused Lopez of operating a “hostile” work environment that included verbal comments and unwanted physical contact.

The Brooklyn lawmaker took a trip with a female Assembly Aide in which she struggled to keep him off her.

According to the investigation, there were “multiple incidents of unwelcome physical conduct” that included putting his hand on her leg and running it up her thigh.

Another claim involved Lopez requiring staffers to write about “how much they loved their jobs” and cared about him.

The removal and censure from Silver came after the Assembly Ethics Committee, chaired by Assemblyman Danny O’Donnell, met three times since the middle of last month after the allegations were first reported to the Assembly counsel’s office.

The Speaker said that he has accepted the findings of the committee and will implement its recommendations, to include: Removing Lopez as Chairman of the powerful Assembly Committee on Housing.

Banning Lopez from ever serving

as chair of another committee or leadership position.

Reduces Lopez’ staff allocation through attrition to the amount reserved for a first term member.

Require Lopez to undergo sexual harassment training.

Prohibiting Lopez from hiring any employee or intern under the age of twenty-one.

“The Assembly has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to sexual harassment and we are committed to ensuring a safe and respectful workplace for all our employees,” said Silver. “The Committee on Ethics and Guidance has been diligent in thoroughly and fairly investigating the allegations made in this case and I will immediately implement its recommendations.”

Some within the Brooklyn delegation are now calling for Lopez’ resignation.

ON THE RUN? Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera (D-Bronx) is on the run. The do-nothing legislator is best known for being the daughter of Assemblyman Jose Rivera (D-Bronx).

The powerful State Joint Commission on Public Ethics yesterday joined the growing list of probers, to include the United States Department of Justice, are looking into claims that The Bronx assemblywoman put two lovers on the public payroll and used her nonprofit as a personal piggy bank.

An investigator for JCOPE this week asked for a meeting with one of those ex-boyfriends, Vincent Pinela, sources advised.

JCOPE — set up by Gov. Cuomo in 2011 to “restore public trust” by making sure officials follow state ethics rules — has broad jurisdiction over New York legislators, elected officials, candidates and employees.

Carlos Gonzalez pens The Albany Correspondent column. Direct comments and inquiry to carlgonz1@gmail.com.

LEGISLATIVE COLUMN

Recognized a Champion of Small Business, but More Work to Do!

By BRIAN M. KOLB

Earlier this week, I was honored to be publicly recognized by two of the leading voices in the fight to grow New York’s economy, protect taxpayers, reform Albany and restore fiscal accountability to State government: the

Business Council of New York State Inc., and Unshackle Upstate. Both the Business Council and Unshackle Upstate are non-partisan, independent and highly respected public policy organizations that advance agendas which mirror my own focus on making New York a more affordable place to live, work, raise a family, start a

business and pursue your dreams.

Business Council and Unshackle Upstate Rate Me at the Highest of All Legislative Leaders for Supporting Pro-Growth, Pro-Jobs, Pro-Taxpayer Policies First, the Business Council announced that I earned a 92 rating – the highest of any Legislative Leader

serving in State government – for my continued, vocal support of a probusiness, pro-growth, pro-jobs agenda.

Then, Unshackle Upstate reported that I had scored a 93 – again, the highest of any Legislative Leader – on its 2012 Scorecard due to my strong support for growing the economy and protecting taxpayers. These ratings

and scores reflect my two decades of private sector business experience and emphasis on offering smart solutions and providing real leadership – not engaging in partisan politics or silly name calling – to deliver positive progress for our Empire State.

Continued on page 16

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THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012

LEGISLATIVE COLUMN

Recognized a Champion of Small Business, but More Work to Do! Continued from page 15

Accolades are Great, But There is Still More Work to Do! While the recognitions and accolades are appreciated, they are not the reason why I fight so hard to transform New York’s economy. I lead this fight because of a deep-rooted belief in the promise and potential of New York’s entrepreneurs and job creators.

Unfortunately, despite all the success and real progress of the past two years, there are still many obstacles getting in the way of New York’s road to economic recovery, with Albany’s so-called ‘Wage Theft Prevention Act” being one of the largest – and costliest – roadblocks.

Next Up: Repeal and Replace Albany’s “Wage Theft Prevention Act” to Reduce Costs for Job Creators, Grow Jobs for New Yorkers Passed in 2010 and implemented in March of 2011, the Wage Theft

Prevention Act is one of the costliest, most job-killing, headache-inducing, time-consuming paperwork mandates ever imposed by Albany on private sector job creators – and that is saying something!

The Wage Theft Prevention Act is the poster child for how Albany continues to saddle businesses with expensive mandates that hurt job creation and weaken our economic competitiveness with the 49 other states and the rest of the world. At the heart of the Wage Theft Prevention Act is something called the “Annual Notice Requirement.” Here is what this provision does and why it hurts private sector businesses: Mandates that all private sector employers provide a separate written pay notice to every employee working in New York and that a written acknowledgment of the receipt of the notice be obtained yearly from every

OP EDSection

employee by their employer; This notice must be provided not only in English, but also in the primary language of the employee; and Employers are then responsible for maintaining these records… for six years!

However, nearly all the aforementioned information is already found on every employee’s paycheck stub and the additional notice given to incoming employees. This is the very definition of an unnecessary, impractical and nearly impossible paperwork overload that Albany expects businesses to comply with!

Wage Theft Prevention Act Costs New York Job Creators Millions The Wage Theft Prevention Act imposes massive administrative costs on every private sector employer operating in the Empire State. These additional costs can span from hundreds of dollars for small

Fanning the Flames of Left-wing Violence

By J. MATT BARBER

To borrow from President Obama’s Black Nationalist mentor, Jeremiah Wright, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s hate-baiting chickens “have come home to roost.”

The hard-left group has become everything it presumes to expose.

On Wednesday, homosexual activist Floyd Corkins entered the Washington-based Family Research Council (FRC) armed with a gun and a backpack full of ammunition. He also had 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches (FRC recently defended the food chain’s COO Dan Cathy for pronatural marriage statements).

The only thing standing between Corkins and mass murder was FRC facilities manager and security specialist Leo Johnson. As Corkins shouted disapproval for FRC’s “politics,” he shot Johnson who, despite a severely wounded arm, managed to tackle Corkins and disarm him (of course, this is all impossible as it’s illegal in Washington, D.C., to carry a

concealed weapon).

Of Johnson’s actions, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said, “The security guard here is a hero, as far as I’m concerned.”

I agree.

Upon hearing of Leo’s selfless act of heroism, I was reminded of John 15:13: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

But according to the SPLC, Leo’s heart is, instead, full of hate. In fact, everyone at FRC is hateful. After all, in 2010 the SPLC, with much fanfare, “officially certified” FRC as a “hate group” for its orthodox Christian positions on marriage and family.

Alongside violence-charged photos of actual hate groups like the Aryan Brotherhood and the KKK, the SPLC lists on its website the decidedly mainstream and always peaceful FRC. It’s a clever strategy, dishonest and reprehensible though it may be. By juxtaposing FRC and other Christian organizations with violent extremist groups, SPLC has engaged in intellectual sloth at its worst (the organization has repeatedly declined to debate FRC

President Tony Perkins over its “hate group” smear).

Rather than debating – on the merits – mainstream Christian groups with which it has ideological disagreement, SPLC has chosen, instead, the coward’s way out: demonization and marginalization through false guilt by association.

It’s a scheme not only slimy, but extremely dangerous.

If ever there were a time I’d prefer not to have been right, now is that time. Back in November 2011, I essentially predicted both the FRC shooting and the SPLC’s undeniable complicity therein.

With a column headlined, “Liberal violence rising,” I wrote, “The SPLC’s dangerous and irresponsible (‘hate group’) disinformation campaign can embolden and give license to like-minded, though less stable, left-wing extremists, creating a climate of true hate. Such a climate is ripe for violence.” (If anyone deserves to be taken out – rationalizes the unbalanced SPLC dupe – its members of this or that evil “hate group” whom, as he’s been repeatedly told, mean him

businesses, thousands of dollars for medium-size businesses, to tens of thousands of dollars for large businesses, with the total combined costs of complying with the Wage Theft Prevention Act reaching well into the millions, as noted by the Business Council.

These added costs are on top of all the other considerable expenses New York job creators endure in the form of property taxes, income taxes, business taxes, labor, energy and workers’ comp costs, fees, fines, surcharges – the list goes on and on.

More Work Remains: Repeal and Replace the Wage Theft Prevention Act! This session, one of the smart solutions I offered to the 2012-13 State Budget would have effectively repealed the Wage Theft Prevention Act’s Annual Notice Requirement, thus removing one of this job-killing mandate’s costliest provisions. Even though my smart solution was rejected,

I will continue working to repeal and replace the Wage Theft Prevention Act so private sector job creators can spend more time running and growing their businesses and less time worrying about and complying with Albany’s endless paperwork headaches and hassles.

NEXT WEEK: What’s next for property tax relief!

As always, constituents wishing to discuss this topic, or any other state-related matter should contact my district office at (315) 781-2030, or e-mail me at kolbb@assembly. state.ny.us. You can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news and informational updates regarding state government and our Assembly Minority Conference.

great harm.)

That was before the fact. After the fact – one day after the shooting – Tony Perkins addressed exactly that which I forecast: “Let me be clear that Floyd Corkins was responsible for firing the shot yesterday,” he told Washington reporters. “But Corkins was given a license to shoot an unarmed man by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center that have been reckless in labeling organizations hate groups because they disagree with them on public policy.”

The SPLC “should be held accountable for their reckless use of terminology that is leading to the intimidation and what the FBI here has categorized as an act of domestic terrorism.”

Regrettably, Mr. Perkins finds himself in a uniquely credible position to make this charge.

Still, although there remains a vast ideological divide between the SPLC and the tens of millions of Christian Americans represented by the Family Research Council, the Southern Poverty Law Center now finds itself with a brief window of opportunity to both do the right thing and rehabilitate its badly damaged reputation.

To the SPLC, I say this: Your cynical efforts to dehumanize Christians and equate biblical truth to “hate” are working better than I think even you expected. It’s now within your power to right a horrible wrong and restore a sense of peace and security to the rattled folks at FRC. What a gift that would be.

I appeal to your sense of goodwill.

This is not a game. Lives are at stake.

I know you have good employees (I’ve met some) who believe they’re doing the right thing; so, please, validate that belief. It’s time to remove your metaphorical “hate group” Star of David from mainstream Christian organizations before another of your ideological allies spills blood.

And to homosexual activists and other liberal groups, I say this: Rise above the fray. Let’s come together.

Here is something on which even we can agree. Publicly encourage SPLC to lift this veil of fear.

Media, you, too, are on notice.

Remember Wednesday’s shooting next time you even think about repeating SPLC’s “hate group” brand while addressing the Christians upon whom it’s tattooed. You also have share in the blame.

Continued on page 17

Brian M. Kolb (R,C,I-Canandaigua) is the New York State Assembly Minority Leader. Comment or critique by directing e-mail to him at kolbb@assembly.state. ny.us.

THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012

Page 17

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Fanning the Flames of Left-wing Violence Continued from page 16 SPLC, hear me now: If, God forbid, something like this – or even worse – happens in the future and you have yet refused to retract and apologize for your “hate group” propaganda, then your hands will forever be stained with the blood of innocents.

Still, either way, we Christians are commanded to speak the truth of Christ “even unto death.”

FRC will not be deterred. “We’re not going anywhere,”Tony Perkins told reporters Thursday. “We’re not backing up; we’re not shutting up,” he vowed.

“We feel that – we don’t feel, we know [that] we have been called to speak the truth. Speak it in love, but to speak the truth nonetheless – and we will not be

intimidated, we will not be silenced.”

“I was there as [Leo] came to from the anesthesia,” said Perkins, “and I told him, ‘Leo, I want you to know you’re a hero.’ And he thought about it for a minute and he said, ‘You know, this hero business is hard work.’”

Heroes don’t work for “hate groups,” and FRC’s hard work is heroic indeed.

I’m proud to count them my friends.

You should be, too.

Matt Barber (@jmattbarber on Twitter) is an attorney concentrating in constitutional law. He serves as Vice President of Liberty Counsel Action. (This information is provided for identification purposes only.)

Religion, Abortion, Spirituality Religion is a personal matter. Not everyone is obligated to believe in the myths or laws of a particular religion.

Many, if not most Americans, believe in science, logic, and rational thought, rather than the dogma of a particular religion. Religions of course are free to operate, although why they get to have tax advantages for both the

buildings and the very low taxes any religious official gets to pay is a topic that should be explored. The majority of Americans do not want to be forced to observe a religious set of laws; for that there are some countries in the Middle East.

Abortion is a tricky issue, but the bottom line is that a woman should decide if she wants to have an abortion, perhaps based on some circumstances, i.e. rape, incest, conniving, or not.

Anyway, if you ban abortions, all that will happen is that the families of the women with the means, will send them to another country for the abortion, while the poor will have to take their chances with a local, possibly unsafe practitioner. I do not believe anyone sets out to see what an abortion is like

as an experience. We should continue to educate about the potential ramifications of unprotected intercourse, but the woman’s choice has been the law of the land for a long time, and while it may not be the ideal, it is still better than the alternative.

I would prefer born again religious writers to be more spiritual and stress the good and positive rather than the fear of punishment, since many Americans do not subscribe to this religious view, yet are looking for spirituality of a loving God. Thank you,

Adam Stein Hawthorne, NY

OP-ED

Guns in Public Spaces are Dangerous As Shooting Near Empire State Building Highlights

By JACKIE HILLY

The Friday, August 24th shooting outside the Empire State Building at rush hour highlights the danger of more guns in public spaces. An old office grudge led one man to shoot and kill another and then the two welltrained officers to shoot the suspect when he pulled the gun on them.

About nine bystanders were injured probably by ricocheting fragments from police bullets – all in a matter of seconds.

Tragically far too many shootings happen everyday in this country because dangerous weapons are in the wrong hands. Domestic disputes, job grievances, and fights become lethal quickly because powerful weapons are so readily available from states with weak gun laws.Then there is the horror of mass shootings with high power assault weapons and large ammunition magazines used most recently in the Aurora theater and the Sikh temple. People are killed, injured and traumatized.

How does Congress respond?

This year the House passed legislation to force New York and other states with tough gun laws to allow tourists from other states with concealed weapons permits from their home states to bring their guns here to New York and carry them in our public spaces. Imagine for one horrible moment even more guns in the hands of amateurs shooting in the crowded streets near the Empire State building.

After the carnage in Aurora Americans hoped Congress would at least act to limit the size of ammunition magazines to 10 bullets, which was

the limit under the now expired federal assault weapons ban. But Congress did nothing. And the Presidential candidates remain silent. In New York leaders speak with courage and sensible suggestions to keep the public safe, but it is hard for New York to stem the flood of weapons that come into our city and state from states with weak gun laws.

Gun laws work. States with the toughest laws have far fewer deaths and injuries. States with weak gun laws have more death and injury and send more guns to states like New York

where they cause death and injury on a daily basis. We are asking the public to call Congress and the Presidential candidates and demand they work on gun laws to keep us safe. In the meantime, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence will continue to work to make New York laws as strong as possible. We owe it to all those killed, injured and traumatized by guns. We owe our families and communities freedom from gun violence.

Jackie Hilly is executive director of NYAGV, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence.

ED KOCH COMMENTARY

Madonna, The State Department and The White House Have It All Wrong The Russian Orthodox Church Is The Victim, Not “Pussy Riot”

By ED KOCH

This week, a Russian court sentenced three feminist punk performers who call themselves “Pussy Riot” to prison for two years. The three women were charged with “hooliganism.” The graveness of the charge was described by the New York Times of August 18th: “The case began in February when the women infiltrated the Cathedral of Christ the Savior wearing colorful balaclavas, and pranced around in front

of the golden Holy Doors leading to the altar, dancing, chanting and lipsyncing for what would later become a music video of a profane song in which they beseeched the Virgin Mary to rid Russia of Mr. Putin.”

The Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow had been deliberately destroyed by Stalin. It was rebuilt in 1992 after the fall of the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev, and is one of Moscow’s architectural gems and now once again a heavily used by Russian Orthodox church. The Times reported on the Russian Orthodox Church’s reaction to the Pussy Riot: “On Friday,

the Russian Orthodox Church issued a statement that referred to Nazi aggression and the militant atheism of the Soviet era, and said, ‘What happened is blasphemy and sacrilege, the conscious and deliberate insult to the sanctuary and a manifestation of hostility to millions of people.’” The sentencing Judge Syrova, when delivering her decision, according to the Times, found that the action in the church was “motivated by religious hatred.”

The Western cultural elite is rallying to the defense of the disrupters in the cathedral. Some approve of the verbal attack on Putin. Others support the

denunciation of the Russian Orthodox church leadership and the church disruption because of the church leadership support of Putin. All cited characterize the issue as one of free speech. I do not.

I would assume that many Pussy Riot supporters would take a different position, and rightly so, if here in the U.S. a black church were invaded and three men or women engaged in comparable conduct insulting holy places within the church and the pastor. I recall when I was Mayor in 1989 and the AIDS activist group Act Up, unjustifiably angry with John Cardinal O’Connor, invaded St. Patrick’s Cathedral and interrupted the

Mass, throwing the Communion wafers - which for Catholics are the actual Body of Christ - to the floor. Some were arrested. So far as I can recall, no one was punished. I think the decision of the Russian court to punish a hate crime was just and to be applauded, rather than condemned and ridiculed.

One can argue concerning the degree of punishment, whether fines rather than jail time should have been imposed, but that is a function of the Russian penalty procedures.

I also believe it is not in the interest of the U.S. to support the actions of the Continued on page 18

Page 18

THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012

ED KOCH COMMENTARY

Madonna, The State Department and The White House Have It All Wrong Continued from page 17

Pussy Riot defendants. At a time when the Iranian nuclear threat grows by the day and we are fighting Islamic extremists around the world, we should be seeking to enlist President Putin to join the West in our effort to prevent the Islamist fanatics from achieving their goal of destroying Western civilization, not making him the enemy and Pussy Riot the victim.

The attacks on President Putin for

“squelching free speech” included one

by Madonna performing at the time in Moscow. “The extent of the culture clash was evident this month when Madonna paused during a concert in Moscow to urge the release of the women, who have been jailed since March, and performed in a black bra with ‘Pussy Riot’ stenciled in bold letters on her back. The next day, Dmitry Rogozin, a deputy prime minister, posted a Twitter message calling Madonna a ‘whore.’” Madonna is an artist, always testing the limits of

decency and often going beyond restrictions accepted by ordinary people. I do not, however, defer to her judgment on such political matters.

Most shocking to me was the response of the White House, as reported by the Times: “In Washington, where Obama administration officials followed the trial closely, seeing it as a measure of Mr. Putin’s new presidency and its own troubled relations with Russia, the White House and the State Department each criticized the verdict. The State

Department all but called on Russia’s higher courts to overturn the conviction and ‘ensure that the right to freedom of expression is upheld.’ A White House spokesman, Tommy Vietor, said the verdict was disappointing and the sentences disproportionate. ‘While we understand that the group’s behavior was offensive to some, we have serious concerns about the way these young women have been treated by the Russian judicial system,’ he said.” Offensive to some?

I do not believe the issue is properly one of freedom of expression. The right

to free expression is not unlimited and does not mean one can say anything anywhere and at anytime. Further, Russia and most countries do not have embedded in their law the Constitutional protection of the First Amendment that we do. I for one am delighted they now punish religious hatred. Aren’t you?

The Honorable Edward Irving Koch served as a member of Congress from New York State from 1969 through 1977, and New York City as its 105thMayor from 1978 to 1989.

CURRENT COMMENTARY

‘Presumed Innocent’ is for Trials, Not Arrests

By LARRY M. ELKIN

People who have been arrested but not tried have many important rights. A right to anonymity is not among them.

When someone is arrested, part of the booking process is taking the suspect’s photograph and fingerprints. Why? Because the police need to identify the person they have in custody using a method more reliable than taking the suspect’s word for it.

In many states, including Maryland since 2009, law enforcement officials take a DNA sample for precisely the same reason.

In April, however, Maryland’s highest court struck down a law authorizing such DNA collection.

In turn, the U.S. Supreme Court has expressed interest in resolving the conflict between this decision and several other state-level decisions that have upheld such legislation. Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. wrote a fourpage order suspending the Maryland ruling until the Supreme Court can consider the case when the court returns from its recess.

The Wall Street Journal reported that a spokeswoman for Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley said Roberts’ order was a “step in the right direction.”

On the other hand, privacy advocates have argued that DNA collection violates the Fourth Amendment. The Maryland Court of Appeals said, “the presumption of innocence bestows on [people who are arrested] greater protections than convicted felons,

parolees, or probationers.”

Presumption of innocence is a trial concept, however, not a police concept.

If presumption of innocence applied at the police station, then presumably all suspects would be released and sent home.

Police are free to search their records to see if they’re looking for a suspect for any other reason, once he or she is in custody. If they are, that is far from a presumption of guilt in the outstanding case. The person just happens to be someone the police were already looking for. This is true in instances where the match is made via fingerprints, and it should be equally true of instances where the match is made through DNA. I have very little doubt that the Supreme Court will uphold DNA

OPED

sampling, assuming three justices agree with Roberts that the high court should take the case. I don’t think the decision will be an especially close one. In his preliminary ruling, Roberts called DNA collection in this context “a valuable tool for investigating unsolved crimes and thereby helping to remove violent offenders from the general population.”

Context is important. Taking DNA samples from individuals who are under arrest is not the same as taking it from people who are randomly stopped on the street. If the police arrest you, they are required to have, at minimum, probable cause to think you are guilty of a specific offense. The laws in question have to do with processing protocol for people who have already been arrested.

Very few privacy advocates would go so far as to argue that the police should not be able to fingerprint individuals who are under arrest. In the

same way, the discussion over DNA collection applies to specific identification of people held for a specific purpose.

Fingerprinting has long been standard procedure. It’s likely that, soon, DNA sampling will become just as routine. The Supreme Court seems ready to hasten that day.

Larry M. Elkin, CPA, CFP®, president of Palisades Hudson Financial Group a fee-only financial planning firm headquartered in Scarsdale, NY. The firm offers estate planning, insurance consulting, trust planning, cross-border planning, business valuation, family office and business management, executive financial planning, and tax services. Its sister firm, Palisades Hudson Asset Management, is an independent investment advisor with about $950 million under management.

Branch offices are in Atlanta and Ft. Lauderdale. Website:www.palisadeshudson.com.

The Correlation Between Crime, Violence, and Poverty in Westchester County

By DAMON K. JONES

There have been many debates on the effect poverty has on high crime areas and communities. Studies show that there are more Americans in poverty in 2012 than there was in 1965. Westchester County, a county considered one of the wealthiest counties in America has no immunity to poverty and crime.

Crime rates have a capacity to take a cities economy into a vicious cycle that causes unemployment and low community growth. In many of Westchester cities that are affected

by crime and poverty you have a high population of minorities or poor whites.

Society as a whole has a general misconception of the link between poverty and crime. Although crime is often committed by those who are impoverished, all those who are poor do not commit crimes. Other misconceptions include the assumption that people of color are automatically more likely to commit crime because of the color of their skin rather than their surroundings and upbringing. Many of these misconceptions may lead to adverse effects of racism and bigotry in real-life meetings between those with

and those without. Understanding and solving the root of the link between poverty and crime will inevitably cause citizens to take pride in their neighborhoods and become productive participants in the labor force.

If we look at crime in the U.S. more broadly, patterns emerge that make it difficult to look at crimes as simply the personal faults of individual crooks and villains. Starting from the 70s, studies in the US pointed more and more at the link between unemployment, poverty and crime. Other connections like low income level, schooling, neighborhood quality, education, etc, were revealed as well.

Dierdre Golash in her report The Case Against Punishment: Retribution, Crime Prevention, and the Law says that there is a “wide, (though not universal) agreement among criminologists that social factors such as income inequality, poverty, unemployment, and local social disorganization contribute to crime. One thread that all these potential causes listed by Golash have in common is the economic factor.

Is there disproportionality in wealth and economic development here in Westchester? Profoundly Yes! Cities like Mt. Vernon, whose medium family income is $50,555 compared to its neighbor Scarsdale

whose medium income is $208,750.

Rye City’s median income is $207,773 and neighboring Portchester is $51,652. Scarsdale minority population is 5.3% minority compared to Mt. Vernon’s 75.6% minority population and Rye city 7.8 % minority compared to Port Chester’s 64.7%. The income inequality can be applied with other cities in Westchester.

There has even been discussion among Mt. Vernon home owners to file a joint lawsuit against the Westchester County government for Reparations. It is well known throughout political circles that in Continued on page 19

THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012

Page 19

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The Correlation Between Crime, Violence, and Poverty in Westchester County other cities in Westchester; high crime, high unemployment, low economic development and high taxes for homeowners It’s reported that Westchester County Executive Rob Astrorino and his Administration terminated contracts that have threatened summer initiatives for youth and moved $5.8 million from the 2011 budget for the Department of Social Services to pay correction officers at the same time he wants to raise the parent share of subsidized child care under Department of Social Services.

“Since the termination of the contract and the programs, there are five youth participants currently housed at the Westchester County Department of Corrections. It cost tax payers thousands to house one youthful offender per year. I don’t understand the logic of the Astorino’s

Administration” says Sonja Brown, Director of the Westchester RISE Program.

Crime is clearly an important problem that must be confronted.

However, it cost about $40,000 to detain a person in a correctional facility in New York each year. Westchester County Jail moves over 10 thousand detainees through its doors per year.

We see from an economic standpoint, detaining every prisoner is actually a greater burden to the tax payer than creating policies that truly address the needs of youth and families here in Westchester.

“From a Law Enforcement perspective, in hard economic times, police management and government has fallen away from community policing or thinking outside the box in addressing and solving the problems in our community before they become

Mother, Please Give Me Life

unintentionally. The fact is I have been created, so why not fulfill the term of my development?

After I’ve drawn my first breath of air, if you decide you don’t want me, give me to someone else who can help me grow. Whether you keep me or not, I will always be indebted to you for giving me life. We will always be connected on some level. Whether it’s physical or spiritual, you will have created a part of yourself that no one else can claim as theirs. Yes, my mother, you alone have control of my destiny.

Only you can decide whether I will have my chance at life. What I sense from you is fear and insecurity. You blame me for those emotions and you want to erase them by erasing me. But in your heart you know you will never be able to forget the bond we’ve forged since you felt my presence growing within you. Please be there for me now, and I promise to be there for you until the end of my days. I will make something of my life if only to prove that I

Continued from page 18 the 80’ and 90’s, Westchester County purposely moved people living on Welfare, Receiving Section 8 Vouchers, and homeless shelters to cities like Mt. Vernon, Yonkers, Peekskill and other high minority populated areas and did not give financial assistance to fund support programs for the large migration of needy families that were purposely sent to these cities by the Westchester County government.

At the beginning of this process, it was reported that former Mt. Vernon Mayor Blackwood was quoted saying “Mt. Vernon will not be a dumping ground for the poor”. Ironically, Mayor Blackwood was attacked by his own Democratic Party for standing up for the economic stability of Mt. Vernon.

Now many years later, what you see in Mt. Vernon is the effect like many

serious police problems. That’s how you being proactive in policing and in government”, says Ron Hampton, Executive Director of Blacks in Law Enforcement of America, Washington D.C. Simply put, poverty and crime is created and sustained by putting Politics before its People. First, the budgets for antipoverty programs have never been substantial. Aid to Families with Dependent Children has declined since 1973. Second, Antipoverty programs often discourage desirable behavior like working, saving, and taking initiative, all of which contribute to income growth and an expansion of opportunity. At the same time, past experience tells us that the magnitude of the poverty and crime problem will not be reduced significantly in Westchester unless budgetary resources are increased to match the rhetoric of our elected officials.

I would say that in this county it

would be hard to argue that there is not a relationship between crime and poverty. Poor people make up the overwhelming majority of those behind bars as 53% of those in prison earned less than $10,000 per year before incarceration. Given the outright correlation between poverty and crime, any policy serious about reducing crime has to take poverty reduction policies into account. We must focus on improved economic policies and a county-wide commitment to solving the problem, eradicating poverty--and therefore eradicating the crime that goes with it. Fighting crime goes far beyond policing and detaining, it is a true social justice plan on all levels of government.

deserved to be born and that you made the right decision in staying the course.

Please, my mother, don’t remove me like you would excise a wart or a tumor.

I am so much more than an unsightly growth on the hide of an animal. Like you, I am the creation of a higher power. I have a will to live and a love to give. Grant me the right to be born, and I will never give you cause to regret your decision. But if you should decide to rid yourself of me, I’ll still love you for the brief span of time you allowed.

Yet, in some other existence, I’ll always wonder, as will you, what I could have achieved if given a chance at life.

Be,” “Ruthie’s Kids,” “Deadly to Love,” “Short Stories of Life and Death,” and “Out of Sight.” He also became a syndicated columnist under the title “Weir Only Human.”

Damon K. Jones is the Executive Director of Westchester Blacks in Law Enforcement.

WEIR ONLY HUMAN

By BOB WEIR

There’s an air of contentment surrounding me.

I feel warm, well fed, and comfortable in a sea of fluid. The light thumping inside my form is the only perceptible sound in my tiny universe.

I don’t know how I got here or what forces operated to create me, but I sense I’m experiencing the beginning of an existence. The silent nurturing from my host fills me with profound affection and gratitude, for she is the reason for my being. My senses are being carefully engineered and programmed by the genetic forebears of my host. While confined in this sensory deprivation chamber, I am aware of a higher stimulus level. I am in tune with the feelings and emotions of my host mother. When her mood changes from happy to sad, I feel intermittent waves of hostile fluid brushing up against my membrane-covered compartment. Having no defense against this murky sea of discontent, I merely wait for it to pass and hope it doesn’t turn my mother against me.

Instinctively, I realize that I’m a burden to her. I have swollen her body with my presence and forced her to endure many uncomfortable, sleepless nights.

Sometimes, I can feel ripples in my

atmosphere as my host wretches her nourishment in bursts. When she’s happy, my world is calm and secure, and my future is assured. Then comes the fears, the doubts, the uncertainties and I know my being is threatened.

At times, she’s not sure if she wants me; if she wants the responsibility of having me; if she wants to bring me into the world. These are the most difficult times for me because I have no power to influence her, no power to stop her. The natural forces around me are operating efficiently to escort me to a new dimension of reality. But in order to get there, I need her love and commitment. Although I can sense her affection, I also know of her ambivalence. She’s trying to decide if she should let me live or end my short existence with a medical procedure. Cutting through the thin sac that houses me will stop the process of my birth and relegate me to the status of a human waste product. Every fiber of my tiny body tells me I am more than that. There must be a reason for each life to be created. What can I do to persuade my mother to spare me? How do I make her understand that I want to be born? It’s difficult to imagine that she would destroy me because I’m inconvenient for her right now. It isn’t my fault if I was created

Bob Weir is a veteran of 20 years with the New York Police Dept. (NYPD), ten of which were performed in plainclothes undercover assignments. Bob began a writing career about 12 years ago and had his first book published in 1999.

Bob went on to write and publish a total of seven novels, “Murder in Black and White,” “City to Die For,” “Powers that

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LEGAL NOTICES Notice of Formation

Hunt Woods Manor Design LLC Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 7/2/2012.

Off. Loc.: Westchester Cnty. SSNY designated as agent of LLC whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o The LLC, 171 Central Parkway, Mount Vernon, NY 10552. Purpose: all lawful activities.

New York State Department of State Division of Corporations, State Records and Uniform Commercial Code Albany, NY Articles of Organization of The Wellness Well Limited Liability Company Under Section 203 of the liability company is: The Wellness Well Limited Liability Company.

The county, within this state, in which the office of the limited liability company is to be located is: Westchester The Secretary of State is designated as agent of the limited liability company upon whom process against it may be served. The address within or without this state to which the Secretary of State shall mail a copy of any process against the limited liability company served upon him is: The Wellness Well, 160 Underhill Avenue, West Harrison, NY 10604, USA, Organizer, Wanakee Hill

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THE WESTCHESTER GUARDIAN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012

WWW.WESTCHESTERGUARDIAN.COM