Forest hills 5-12-11

May 12-18, 2011

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THE NEWSPAPER OF FOREST HILLS, KEW GARDENS & REGO PARK

Shots in the Dark: Report on murders in SE Queens Pages 25-40

Pages 4-5, 13-14

Odd headstone in Queens park has colorful past

Forest Hills wants stadium landmarked

BY JOE ANUTA A headstone discovered in the newly constructed Elmhurst Park has spawned an interest in legends from both the Maspeth community and the family of the deceased.

The eroded marker, which bears the name Leon Nascimbene, was installed by city Parks Department workers who believed a body was buried on the site of the park, according to community activist Christina Wilkinson.

Residents fear condos on US Open site

BY JOE ANUTA

Continued on Page 17

REMEMBERING ONE OF THEIR OWN

The Beacon High School baseball team has dedicated its season to John Fernando (above), who died after falling six stories off a rooftop in Forest Photo courtesy Sid Fernando Hills in March. See story in Sports.

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Residents lamented the rejection of the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium’s landmark application last week — not because they will lose an icon, but for what they might get in its place.

The city Landmarks Preservation Commission rejected an application to save the storied building, which hosted the US Open from 1915 to 1977. Tennis

legends such as Billie Jean King and Stan Smith played on its courts. Later big-name bands like The Beatles played concerts in the stadium.

But the rejection means the West Side Tennis Club, which owns the stadium, is free to do whatever it wants with the property.

And that is what worries many of the stadium’s neighbors.

Continued on Page 17

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TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

FH

Y Earth Day focuses on food Central Queens’ second fair tells how meals affect climate change

Elmhurst Hosp. fights Liu audit on screenings

BY REBECCA HENELY

Children cautiously sniff a small compost pile at last year’s Green for Queens Earth Day Fair.

BY JOE ANUTA Many people think they lack the tools to fight climate change on an individual basis, but a Queens organization said all you need is a fork and a knife.

The Central Queens YM & YWHA in Forest Hills is getting in the spirit of Earth Day, which was April 22, by hosting the second-annual Green for Queens Earth Day Fair.

The event will focus on the ways food choices can help fight climate change.

“I think environmental problems such as climate change are going to shape the future,” said Peggy Kurtz, spokeswoman for

the Y. “I see the great task of our generation as confronting climate change and reversing its course.”

Kurtz said that she hopes the cooking demonstrations, samples from organic food merchants and activities for children will help Queens residents think about how the question “What do you want for dinner?” can affect the environment.

The main event will be a talk by Anna Lappé, author of the book “Diet for a Hot Planet.”

“Most Americans don’t think about the impact of our food on our environment,” Lappé said. “When people think about global

warming, they think about what car they drive — not about their food choices.”

But up to a third of climate-warming emissions can be traced back to agriculture, she said. And there are some simple alterations in diet that can have a positive effect.

First, eat less beef.

Large cattle farms contribute more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than any other food, she said.

“There are a lot of reasons why beef has a large carbon footprint,” she said.

One of the main reasons is that the animals are inefficient to produce.

If you compare the

IN THIS ISSUE Police Blotter ........................................................ 8 Editorials & Letters....................................... 10-11 Dishing with Dee .................................................12 Political Action ....................................................12

QGuide ........................................................... 23-28 Focus on Queens ............................................... 30 Sports .............................................................37-40 Classified ....................................................... 41-48

Photo courtesy Faeli Dussan

amount of resources it takes to put one pound of beef on a family’s dinner table as opposed to one pound of chicken or fish, the beef requires much more, Lappé said.

Diets that contains less beef and more chicken, fish and vegetables have a smaller carbon footprint, she said.

In fact, it takes the least amount of energy to produce vegetables.

“Choosing to eat more plants is one way to lower your personal carbon footprint,” she said.

It is also important to eat organic, Lappé said, since organic farmers do Continued on Page 17

Both of these wait times were substantially larger than the second-worst on both lists. Queens Hospital Center, at 82-68 164th St. in Jamaica, had the secondworst wait for screening mammograms with 49 calendar days and Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn had the second-worst wait for diagnostic mammograms with 28 working days.

“We hope the comptroller’s alarming message from outdated data does not discourage any New York woman from seeking a mammogram at an HHC hospital or health center,” the HHC said.

Elmhurst and Queens hospitals were the only two Queens hospitals on the list. Both are public hospitals.

HHC released a statement saying the compContinued on Page 17

City Comptroller John Liu said an audit of the city’s hospitals revealed Elmhurst Hospital Center has the longest wait times for screening and diagnostic mammograms in the city, but the city Health and Hospitals Corp. said Liu’s conclusions were based on out-of-date data.

Liu released the results of his audit last week, which looked at how long it took for women to receive mammograms at nine of the city HHC hospitals. The audit found Elmhurst Hospital had the longest wait times both for screening mammograms, which are meant to be regular checkups for breast cancer, and diagnostic mammograms, which are made when medical staff needs an additional scan whether for a bad angle or a potentially dangerous aberration such as a lump.

Women who went to Elmhurst Hospital Center, at 79-01 Broadway, had to wait 148 calendar days for a screening mammogram and 50 working days for a diagnostic mammogram, the audit found.

“For years, city policy has emphasized the need for women to get mammograms,” Liu said in a statement. “Unfortunately, significant shortfalls and lapses at Comptroller John Liu said Elmhurst city hospitals have under- Hospital Center has the worst wait cut that intent and worse times for mammograms, but the yet placed women in jeop- city HHC said Liu’s audit does not reflect changes made since 2009. ardy.”

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Maspeth residents divided on destroyed O’Neill’s

BY JOE ANUTA

A five-alarm fire gutted O’Neill’s Pub last week, taking away both a neighborhood legend and a source Photo courtesy Carol Colmone Chase of irritation.

Broken bottles lined some of the sidewalks near the bar in the mornings, he said. In one case, the bottles littered the sidewalk along a young family’s home. “[O’Neill] was not always responsive to complaints,� he said. “He might say, ‘I can’t help the clientele when they leave here,’

but he could stop serving them when they’re drunk.�

But the man also conceded that the pub was also a cultural hub of the area. “I had my daughter’s bridal shower there,� he said. “But there is two sides to the coin.�

But Frank Klich, who has lived in the neighbor-

hood for 25 years, said he never had any problem living near the bar. “I don’t think there were any problems,� he said. “Even people from out of the borough would come here.�

Klich said that “wing night� at O’Neill’s drew large crowds.

ment. “I’ve known O’Neill’s for over 50 years,� he said. “Georgie is a great guy.�

Picciano even played in a big band group that performed at the bar, and in the 1990s he played a show in honor of Glenn Miller, a prominent big band musician who lived nearby. “I’m the band leader that opened up playing in there,� he said. “Georgie had me up to play for a tribute.�

The bar was also a favorite hangout of the New York Mets and served as the venue for a party after the team won the 1986 World Series.

But the neighborhood watering hole burned to the ground after a grease fire broke out the night of May 1, according to the FDNY. O’Neill said he plans to rebuild.

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TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

The five-alarm fire at O’Neill’s Pub in Maspeth took away a legendary gathering place for some residents of the neighborhood last week, but for others the fire also brought some peace and quiet.

Many of the residents who lived near the storied bar did not want to give their names since they are neighbors of George O’Neill, the owner of the bar who has lived in the neighborhood his whole life and eventually took over the establishment his father opened in 1928.

But the complaints were relatively similar. “Living here, three blocks away on a Saturday night in the summer with the windows open at 2:30 a.m. with all the yelling — it’s not fun,� said one resident. “I know he was approached about it and nothing has been done.�

And all those people would have to park somewhere, which is what irritated another of O’Neill’s neighbors. “They have valet parking,� said one woman. “They park everywhere on the street.�

At a 104th citizens meeting earlier in the month, another resident complained that his street was used as a parking lot and impromptu bathroom, and nothing was done when he called the police.

But Lou Picciano, another longtime resident of the neighborhood, said that parking is an issue everywhere. “There were sometimes complaints about the parking,� he said.

But Picciano had no problem living near the bar, which hosted countless celebrities over the years along with regulars from the NYPD, FDNY and the city Sanitation Depart-

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TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

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BY HOWARD KOPLOWITZ, IVAN PEREIRA AND CHRISTINA SANTUCCI On the morning of May 14, 2010, Kedrick Ali Morrow told his mother the world would one day know his name.

Less than 24 hours later, Morrow, an 18-year-old aspiring rapper who was one month away from graduating from high school and receiving a $26,000-ayear scholarship to St. John’s University, was shot and killed at a Springfield Gardens party thrown by a friend.

His mother, Shenee Johnson, is now trying to keep his memory alive.

“It’s really been a nightmare. When you lose a child, you don’t want to live again. There are plenty of days I want to die and be depressed, but I have to get up,” Johnson said in an interview. “Never in a million years I thought he’d be dead.”

Morrow did not know the man who killed him, Johnson said, noting that her son was usually not allowed to be out past 10 p.m. For that one time she gave her son permission to spend the night at a friend’s, but from there he went on to the party in Springfield Gardens.

By 10:30 p.m., he had not called his worried mother to check in. In the early hours of May 15, Morrow was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where doctors said he died from a gunshot wound.

Faceless victims Morrow was one of the 43 people murdered in southeast Queens during 2010 — a disturbingly high percentage of the 100 homicides in the borough last year.

Most of the victims were young, and 22 were black men under the age of 32, according to the NYPD’s crime reports.

Their abbreviated lives and sudden deaths were covered in brief news stories or even shorter police blotter items, but all too often they were nameless and then forgotten by the public — just numbers added to the weekly homicide count.

No arrests have been made in 25 out of the 43 homicides in the three police precincts covering southeast Queens — the 103rd, 105th and 113th, according to a list compiled by TimesLedger Newspapers based on information from police and relatives of the victims.

Four victims were killed in murdersuicides, and in another case, the killer acted in self-defense, the authorities said.

Several of the victims were cut down in broad daylight, like 26-year-old Tony McFadden, who was shot in the head when he opened his door in St. Albans on Oct. 10, 2010.

Total Murders in Queens in 2010: 100 105th Hollis

103rd

Jamaica

Total Murders in southeast Queens: 2010

South Jamaica

St. Albans Laurelton Rosedale

113th

W103rd Precinct: 11 W113th Precinct: 16 W105th Precinct: 16

The homicides have taken a heavy toll in the communities where they occurred and silenced residents who refuse to work with police investigators.

The TimesLedger staff spent three months gathering information about the murder victims and determining the status of their cases.

The authorities did not release the

identities of at least 10 of the victims to the media immediately after their deaths. The newspaper also found there were arrests and arraignments in seven of the murders even though the police had not issued updates on the cases.

Random violence, robberies gone wrong, suspected drug-related shootings and gang activity all played a part in the final homicide total for Jamaica, St. Albans, Camrbia Heights, Queens Village, Laurelton, Brookville, Springfield Gardens, Hol-

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TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

(Clockwise from top l.) Police tape remains where Damien Beamon was murdered; Bishop Tony McFadden’s son, Tony McFadden Jr. II, was killed in October 2010; and a mourner touches the coffin of Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax, who was stabbed to death.

Photos by Christina Santucci

lis, New Hyde Park, Bellerose and Rosedale.

But the newspaper wanted to tell the stories behind that staggering number of 43 — of mostly young lives blown away on largely middle-class streets and the family members left behind still trying to preserve the victims’ dreams.

Morrow, who shared his dreams with his mother that May morning, never had a chance to live up to his ambitions of being a rapper, doctor or lawyer. Instead his mother had to plan his funeral.

Just six minutes by car, or 1.2 miles from where Morrow was gunned down, the body of another murder victim, 24-year-old Jamaica resident Demika Moore, was discovered July 23, 2010.

Police are not sure where Moore was killed or who murdered her. Her family feared the worst when they heard that the body of a young woman with a similar tattoo was found in St. Albans six months after Moore had disappeared.

Moore’s aunt, Leticia Moore-Jackson, said the young mother had short-term memory problems stemming from a car accident 5 1/2 years earlier. Moore would on occasion leave home for long spells without letting her loved ones know where she was.

“I think her injuries led her to meeting the wrong person,” she said.

Continued on Page 13

Mysterious death leaves a child motherless

BY IVAN PEREIRA AND CHRISTINA SANTUCCI Relatives of Demika Moore worry that her young daughter will never know who killed her or why she was taken away.

Moore, a lifelong Jamaica resident, was found murdered last summer, and many of the details surrounding her death remain a mystery to her family.

“Zoe’s going to grow up one day and ask what happened to her mother, and I hope to be able to have some better answers than what I have now,” Leticia MooreJackson, the victim’s aunt, said about Moore’s 4-yearold girl.

Moore, 24, was described as friendly and outgoing. Everyone called her

Leticia Moore-Jackson holds a photo of her niece Demika, whose body was found in St. Albans in July 2010. Photo by Christina Santucci Mika. She was her mother’s only child and had two halfbrothers, whom she had never met. Moore loved to sing — she took part in a choir, performed in a musical group called Paradise and appeared at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem.

In 2003, Moore gradu-

ated from Martin Van Buren HS with a passion for fashion and design.

“Mika could take any outfit and make it look good,” Moore-Jackson said of her niece.

She thought about going to a fashion school, but decided to take a job at a

telemarketing firm.

In December 2004, however, a car accident changed Moore’s life forever, her family said. Moore and her friends were traveling to Continued on Page 14

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TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

Weprin and Crowley criticize Bloomberg’s budget plan

BY HOWARD KOPLOWITZ Mayor Michael Bloomberg rolled out his $65.7 billion budget plan Friday, which includes eliminating 6,000 teacher positions, including some 4,500 jobs through layoffs.

“I’m not trying to lay off teachers … but the reality is we have to pay for it,” the mayor said.

Bloomberg’s proposal Friday is just a starting point in negotiations with the City Council.

The deadline for the city to agree on a spending plan is July 1, the beginning of the city’s fiscal year.

City Councilman Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens) called Bloomberg’s proposal “outrageous.”

“I think it’s just a political move to change the process of how teachers get

fired,” Weprin said, referring to Bloomberg’s suggestion to get rid of the last in, first out method.

Weprin said he would rather the mayor cancel outside consultants to the city Department of Education for a year or get rid of yearly school progress reports for one year, which he said “try to make the mayor look good.”

Bloomberg said his plan uses the remaining $3.2 billion saved from an $8 billion surplus next fiscal year and dipped into the health-care reserve fund to pay for costs.

“There’s no surplus in this,” Bloomberg said, referring to critics, including the teachers’ union, which said the city would have an abundance of funds and would not need to fire teachers. “End of story.”

Mayor Michael Bloomberg presents his executive budget, which includes a proposal to slash 6,000 teaching positions.

Photo courtesy Mayor’s Office

But Weprin said the mayor could tap into more of the health-care reserve instead of firing teachers.

“At all costs, we cannot lay off teachers,” the councilman said.

About 1,500 teaching positions are expected to be lost due to attrition, although that number could be as high as 2,000 if the economy improves and there are more job opportu-

nities, the mayor said.

Bloomberg said drops in state and federal support is “our biggest problem.”

The mayor said state aid to the city as a share of the city’s budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 dropped from 21 percent to 17 percent of the total budget and federal aid plunged from 15 percent to 8 percent.

Bloomberg said pension costs and the city’s deficit will increase “unless something changes in Albany.”

The mayor’s plan injects an additional $2 billion for education over last year’s budget to compensate for $853 million in federal education cuts, but the state cut back education funds for the city by $1.2 billion.

The budget also adds

$1.2 billion for health care to offset $2.2 billion in Medicaid cuts, which Bloomberg said is actually $4.4 billion when Medicaid matching funds are taken into account.

City Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) said proposed cuts to the city Department of Youth and Community Development and the city Parks Department do not help people in his district.

“There’s nothing in that budget that doesn’t hurt us,” Comrie said.

Bloomberg’s spending plan also proposes eliminating 20 fire companies in the city — an idea that drew criticism from City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village), chairwoman of the Council Fire & Criminal Justice Committee.

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TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

TimesLedger Newspaper and CNG invite your school to participate in “Students of Distinction” by nominating your outstanding students.

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POLICE

Blotter Motorcyclist dies after losing control: Cops ASTORIA — An unidentified man died Monday while driving his motorcycle along the eastbound side of the Grand Central Parkway near 42nd Street, the NYPD said.

Police said a call came in at about 6:05 p.m. reporting the accident. When they arrived, they found the driver, described as a 46-year-old Hispanic man, had lost control of his 2010 Ducati motorcycle and was thrown from the bike, police said. Officers pronounced him dead on arrival at the scene, police said.

A sign reading “All Trucks Use Right Lanes” had been visibly bent as a result of the accident.

Officers had two lanes blocked off on the GCP and had an officer standing near

Officers investigate a fatal motorcycle accident along the Grand Central Parkway in Astoria. A sign was bent in the crash.

Photo by Rebecca Henely

42nd Street above to prevent gawkers while they investigated the crash. Residents lined along the Steinway Street overpass above the GCP for more than a half hour after the accident to see the officers’ investigation into the crash.

Drunk driver smashes into parked car: Post RICHMOND HILL — A 29-year-old man allegedly got into a fiery, drunken car accident May 1, the New York Post reported.

Walter Rankin was driving his new Volkswagen along Jamaica Avenue near 134th Street when he lost control of his vehicle and smashed into a parked car, the Post said.

The car burst into flames and Rankin scrambled to safety, but when cops responded to the scene he was allegedly unable to stand steadily and smelled like alcohol, according to the Post.

“No, I wasn’t drinking. I had two beers around 12. I’m the designated driver,”

2 caught trying to steal grease from eatery: Post SUNNYSIDE — Two men are facing charges of criminal mischief and attempted petit larceny after allegedly trying to siphon grease from a Chinese restaurant, according to the New York Post.

Domingo Castillo, 26, and Bulmaro Perez, 35, parked their van behind New Grand Buffet on 48th Street at Northern Boulevard at 1:20 a.m. May 1, and were then spotted trying to break into locked containers of used oil, the Post reported.

The pair’s Dodge van was outfitted with receptacles and hoses for the liquid, which is sold and turned into biofuel, the Post said.

A passing truck scared off the suspects, but they had allegedly already done $250 worth of damage, according to the Post.

Rankin told police, the Post reported.

When police later tested his blood alcohol, it was allegedly double the legal limit, according to the Post.

Ambulance transporting man in collision JACKSON HEIGHTS — A man who was shot in the chest early last Thursday morning did not have a smooth ride to Elmhurst Hospital after his ambulance got into an accident on the way, the FDNY said.

The exact number of injured could not be confirmed due to conflicting reports, but the list included at least two paramedics and at least one civilian along with the gunshot victim, the FDNY said. One report from the city Fire Department said a police officer was injured.

The ill-fated trip began when EMS responded to a call at 4:30 a.m., when an unidentified man was shot once in the chest at the corner of Bulova Avenue and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, police said.

EMS responded to the scene and began to take the man to Elmhurst Hospital, the FDNY said.

But the trip was cut short after a collision with a car on 34th Avenue and 82nd Street in Elmhurst, the Fire Department said.

All the injured parties were taken in another ambulance to Elmhurst Hospital, the FDNY said.

The gunshot victim was in critical but stable condition, and the rest were treated for non-life-threatening injuries, the FDNY said.

9

Food mogul to speak at SJU graduation About 30,000 people, including 2,800 graduates, are expected to pack the Great Lawn at St. John’s University Sunday during the school’s 141st commencement.

The procession of graduates is scheduled to start at 10 a.m.

Mike Repole, co-founder of Vitaminwater and a 1991 graduate of St. John’s, is scheduled to give the commencement address at the school’s Queens campus and receive an honorary doctor of commercial science degree.

Repole turned his initial investment in Vitaminwater with a partner into a $4.1 billion company by selling it to Coca-Cola.

He now serves as chairman of the board and operating manager of Pirate Brands, the maker of the healthy snack food Pirate’s Booty, and chairman and majority owner of Energy Kitchen, a chain of fast-food health restaurants throughout the city.

Repole also owns a horse, Uncle Mo, that was among the favorites to win last week’s Kentucky Derby, but had to pull out due to a stomach ailment.

St. John’s will also be honoring its legendary Hall of Fame basketball coach, Lou Carnesecca, who will be recognized for his 50year service to the university by receiving the St. Vincent de Paul Medal.

CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo is scheduled to speak to St. John’s graduates at the school’s Staten Island campus, which is holding its graduation Saturday.

“We are honored to have alumnus and highly successful business entrepreneur Mike Repole and equally esteemed broadcast journalist and business expert Maria Bartiromo speak to our graduates this year,” said the Rev. Donald Harrington, president of St. John’s. “Both individuals are self-made success stories and their words of wisdom coupled with the academic accomplishments of our graduates will make for a special celebration this commencement weekend.”

Harrington also praised Carnesecca as a St. John’s icon.

“Lou is St. John’s,” the president said. “We celebrate his 50 years of service to the university, love for St. John’s and passion for the game globally, which has transformed him into an international icon.”

Harrington said Carnesecca has “touched the lives of so many and [fits] perfectly with our Vincentian mission and service to the community at home and around the world.”

Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.

Graduates from St. John’s University’s Peter J. Tobin School of Business cheer as their department is called during graduation.

Photo by Christina Santucci

TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

BY HOWARD KOPLOWITZ

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Kevin Bogle, vice president of human resources for Resorts World New York, talks to potential job applicants during an employment fair at Aqueduct Race Track last year.

Hiring starts at Aqueduct Resorts World Casino calling on SE Queens job seekers to apply

BY HOWARD KOPLOWITZ Get your résumé ready.

Resorts World Casino New York, the developer of the Aqueduct racino project, said Tuesday it has launched its process to hire more than 900 temporary workers to work at the Ozone Park track and will be focusing on employing residents from southeast Queens.

“We are very excited to officially start staffing Resorts World,” said Resorts World Casino New York President Mike Speller. “This project is not just about bringing jobs to Queens; it’s about creating careers and forming relationships with the local community. Our goal is to build a local, diverse and hardworking family of Resorts World employees that will move up within our company.”

Resorts World will be

hiring employees for positions in fields, including entertainment, hospitality, security and food services.

Job applications and vendor proposals can be submitted through the “careers” and “vendor forums” sections of the Resorts World website at rwnewyork.com.

“With so many Queens neighborhoods plagued by high levels of unemployment, Resorts World’s permanent staffing outreach could not be more timely,” said Harry Wells, director of York College’s Small Business Development Center. “There are some terrific opportunities at Resorts World out there for Queens residents and local businesses looking for work.

Few employers offer so many job and vendor possibilities in such a wide range of fields, and even fewer are as committed to supporting local [Minority Women Business Enterprises] as is

The developer plans to fill 900 temporary positions.

Resorts World.”

Wells’ comments came after the Aqueduct project was criticized by the Jamaica branch of the NAACP, with the organization saying Resorts World was not employing enough construction workers and contractors from southeast Queens.

But the company said minority and female workers make up 54 percent of the project’s construction work force and 33 percent of the total contracts — worth $50 million — doled out by construction manager Tutor Perini were given to MWBE-certified subcon-

tractors and suppliers.

Kevin Bogle, vice president of human resources for Resorts World, said the company has been working with employment services centers for four months to prepare for hiring more than 900 permanent positions.

“We are a company that is committed to empowering the local community and hiring from within the local area,” he said. “That’s what we have been doing in the construction phase of this project, and that’s what we will continue to do as we take this critical step in preparing Resorts World to open for business.”

The casino said it would be placing advertisements in local publications and host on-site job fairs as part of its hiring process.

Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.

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EDITORIALS

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TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

TAKE A HIKE, CURTIS Curtis Sliwa has good reason not to like the Gotti family. Sliwa, radio host and founder of the Guardian Angels, believes John Gotti Jr. tried to have him killed in June 1992. Sliwa was shot while sitting inside a taxi in Manhattan.

The police and prosecutors believed Sliwa, but in three trials they failed to win a conviction. The charges have been dropped. Sliwa and John Gotti Sr. grew up in Howard Beach and Sliwa used his radio show to attack the mobster every chance he could.

But Sliwa is wrong in his effort to try to block the filming of a movie about the Gotti family in Howard Beach. Sliwa sent a letter to the mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting requesting that the film be denied permits to shoot within city limits.

He reasoned, “You don’t want to accept Gambino and Gotti blood money. You don’t want to stain [Howard Beach] any more than it already has been.”

We can think of a number of reasons why Sliwa’s request should be denied. The Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting was created to encourage producers to shoot their movies in the five boroughs. All too often films and TV shows about New York City are shot in Canada. When that happens, the city loses millions of dollars.

State Sen. Joseph Addabbo said a New York story should be filmed in the city regardless of the subject matter.

“It upsets me more when they take something that is supposed to be in New York City but film it in Montreal,” he said.

Just as most people know that Al Capone was a Chicago mobster, most people know Gotti ran one of the nation’s most violent crime families from the Bergin Fish and Hunt Club in Howard Beach.

It would be a mistake for the Office of Film to engage in censorship. Blocking the Gotti story would put the office on a slippery slope.

Local residents will have the opportunity to get walk-on roles and local businesses and property owners will make money catering and renting out locations.

Sliwa predicted the movie, starring John Travolta in the lead role, was “going to be a love-fest with the Gottis and Gambinos” and will not stay true to history. If that happens, Sliwa can criticize the movie all he wants. No one is better at getting a headline.

ROZ LISTON Editor COLIN DEVRIES Managing Editor RALPH D’ONOFRIO V.P. of Advertising LOUIS KARP Sales Manager

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OTHER VOICES

Support Avella on clean energy plan

I

t seems like Albany has been talking about clean energy and its potential to create jobs for a long time. Fortunately, state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) is doing something about it, and we would like to thank him for real leadership on this issue.

Right now, the state Legislature is examining a major initiative to revitalize New York’s economy by adding an impressive 5,000 megawatts of solar power capacity. As a co-sponsor of the so-called New York Solar Industry Development and Jobs Act, Avella

EDITORIAL STAFF Copy Editor: Joseph Gargiulo Photo Editor: Christina Santucci Reporters: Howard Koplowitz, Ivan Pereira, Rebecca Henely, Connor Adams Sheets, Joe Anuta, Rich Bockmann Editorial Designer: Diana Rios Layout: Rod Ivey Photographers: Nat Valentine, Ellis Kaplan, Norm Harris, Maria Lopez, P.J. Smith, Ken Maldonado

is playing an important role, helping blaze the trail toward a greener, stronger New York.

The Solar Industry Development and Jobs Act is not only good for the environment, but will help reinvigorate New York’s economy in a real way.

This legislation will generate $20 billion in economic activity for the state and create at least 22,000 jobs. These jobs will be diverse, ranging across a broad spectrum of salary levels, skill and education requirements and employment fields. What is more,

they will be local jobs and difficult to outsource, meaning they will truly benefit New Yorkers.

Right now, New Jersey — where this program is already in place — has six times the solar capacity that we do. Clean energy has become a major industry in New Jersey, and its rapidly growing solar industry companies say this type of program has been critical to their success.

It is time to bring those jobs and benefits to New York. The state Assembly is expected to pass this bill in early May. It already has

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strong bipartisan support in the Senate and fits perfectly in with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s vision to make New York a clean-energy leader.

All those years of talk about the innovation economy comes down to this moment — Albany must act today for a better, more prosperous tomorrow.

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PROUD MEMBER OF NEW YORK PRESS ASSOCIATION, NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION, SUBURBAN NEWSPAPERS OF AMERICA AND INLAND PRESS ASSOCIATION

11

READERS WRITE

NYPD must stop profiling Queens minorities ly curbed in the name of fighting crime — and with mixed results, at that. The focus of police investigations has skewed sharply toward young people of color, often male, who have been systematically frisked for their appearance, attitude or behavior, leading to the alienation of youth in communities of color and producing a vicious cycle which has only exacerbated, rather than eliminated, crime.

Since stop and frisk became a part of police culture in New York City, there has been virtually no evidence to suggest it has actually been effective in curtailing crime.

Communities that feel alienated from society and are targeted by police will tend to believe that they are under siege by a corrupt system. The practice of stop and frisk becomes little more than legalized racial profiling: bad for communities, bad for policing and good for criminals.

Time and again, profiling has been shown to be an ineffective crime-fighting tool. Four years ago, statistics released by the NYPD indicated that more than a half million pedestrians had been stopped on suspicion of a crime in the city. Of those stopped, almost 90 percent were nonwhites.

Fifty-three percent of those stopped were black suspects, 29 percent were Hispanic, 11 percent were white and 3 percent were Asian. Of those stopped, 45 percent of black and Hispanic suspects were frisked, compared with just 29 percent of white suspects. Yet incredibly, whites were 70 percent more likely than black suspects to be

in possession of a weapon.

Studies by the American Civil Liberties Union have uncovered police data from as far back as the mid-1990s, indicating that while 73 percent of suspects pulled over on I-95 between 1995 and 1997 were black, black suspects were no more likely to be in possession of drugs or illegal weapons than white suspects. According to the Public Health Service, approximately 70 percent of drug users are white, 15 percent are black and 8 percent are Latino — yet the U.S. Department of Justice reports that among those imprisoned on drug charges, 26 percent are white, 45 percent are black and 21 percent are Latino.

No one should have the power to label someone a criminal simply because they observe behavior that they find to be outside the normative parameters of society.

No individual should have the authority to cast blame or suspicion upon another or to embarrass and take away someone’s dignity through a needless public search. There is a better way and there always has been.

Two years ago, my office, along with local churches and the NYPD, showed how we can remove hundreds of weapons from the street in just a few hours by sponsoring gun buyback programs. Working with and through the Queens district attorney’s office, my office removed 926 guns from the street in just five hours. Critics charge that only the “good people” turned in their guns, but the fact is that the majority of homicides occur with legally purchased

guns, often stolen from the homes of the good people, saving the criminals time and effort. Remove the guns from homes and we make it that much harder for criminals to access weapons.

Additionally, community policing has been a proven and effective way of deterring crime from within. Community policing promotes organizational strategies, partnerships and problem-solving techniques to proactively address the conditions that create criminal activities in the first place. In other words, we stop crime before it starts.

These are just some of the methods currently being employed by cities across the country and they have the benefit of creating conditions that are detrimental to crime while not systemically vilifying entire communities. There are many other strategies and techniques that can be employed to fight crime without attacking communities of color.

I encourage the NYPD, the district attorney, the mayor and the City Council to come together to find better, more effective ways to deter crime and break the growing cycle of anger and animosity that exists between communities of color and law enforcement.

James Sanders City Councilman (D-Laurelton)

N.Y. state must tackle redistricting Osama’s death was

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he Queens Civic Congress, an umbrella organization for more than 110 Queens neighborhoodbased civic groups, thinks it is time to put an end to gerrymandering.

QCC believes this can come about only through an independent, nonpartisan commission for redrawing state Assembly and state Senate districts in response to the 2010 census. To achieve that end, QCC has joined ReShape NY, a broad coalition of civic, business and union groups calling on the governor and the state Legislature to establish a redistricting commission that will draw district lines using fair and defined cri-

teria while engaging the public in the process.

If New York is to have a Legislature responsive to the interests of constituents, citizens must demand this change from their legislators.

Until now, legislators have drawn the lines to maintain their own partisan majorities and protect incumbents. As a result, New York’s elections are notoriously uncompetitive. Without strong competition in our electoral system, meaningful discussion of public policy has taken a back seat to partisan rhetoric and unrealistic budgets. In the 2010 election, New York state had one of the lowest rates of voter participation

in the nation. This is no surprise. Why should people vote if they face no real choice in candidates?

Despite support by a bipartisan group of legislators who are working to have a truly independent redistricting commission in place in time for drawing the lines for the 2012 elections, the Senate recently passed legislation that proposes a flawed constitutional amendment creating a redistricting

commission that would not be effective until 2022 at the earliest. Voters in this state cannot wait another 10 years or more for reform. We deserve better.

We ask Queens citizens to contact their state legislators and insist they support an independent redistricting commission to take effect immediately.

Patricia Dolan President Queens Civic Congress Flushing

CORRECTION In an article about the reaction of Muslims in Queens to the death of Osama bin Laden in the May 5 edition of TimesLedger Newspapers, the country where bin Laden was killed was incorrectly stated. Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan.

worth 10-year wait

T

he news about the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of special U.S. military teams is the best news we have had relating to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The United States vowed that it would hunt him down and bring him to justice dead or alive and, while it took nearly 10 years to accomplish finding and killing him, it was worth the wait. While this will not bring back the Americans who died on that terrible day, at least it is sending a message that our country will never allow terrorists to escape unpunished for their horrific crimes.

President Barack Obama is to be commended for executing this military operation, which eliminated this mass-murdering fiend.

Our nation and its citizens still need to be vigilant.

There is no doubt al-Qaeda will attempt to strike back to avenge their leader’s death.

We will be ready for them. We owe all of our brave servicemen and women a deep debt of thanks for all that they are doing, and a special thanks to those brave soldiers who were involved in the killing of bin Laden.

John Amato Fresh Meadows

TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

T

he right of the people to be secure … against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation .... — Fourth Amendment, U.S. Constitution In 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a controversial ruling that seemed to undermine the spirit of the Fourth Amendment, which protects American citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures.

The Fourth Amendment makes clear that “probable cause,” or a reasonable belief that a person has committed a crime, is the sole criterion upon which officers of the law are supposed to base their decisions to detain, arrest or interrogate a suspect.

But the court’s 1968 ruling in Terry v.

Ohio found that the amendment was sufficiently flexible to permit an officer to stop and frisk a suspect solely on what it called “reasonable suspicion,” which it defined as “more than a mere hunch but less than probable cause.”

With this flexibility, police in the city began to implement stop and frisk.

The idea that a person must first commit a crime before he and she can be accused of said crime went out the window. “Reasonable suspicion” could be based on almost anything, including the way someone dressed, walked or spoke and the color of someone’s skin.

When skin color or manner of dress can label someone a “potential suspect,” then our civil liberties are being excessive-

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TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

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World’s first trans-Atlantic flight started in Rockaways n

The Greater Astoria Historical Society

A

t 10 a.m. May 8, 1919, three U.S. Navy Curtiss NC flying boats departed the Rockaway Naval Air Station to begin the first transAtlantic crossing by air.

The Rockaway facility, constructed on 96 acres with more than 80 buildings and several large hangars, was one of the first naval air stations in the United States.

Operational between 1917 and 1930, it was staffed with as few as a handful of men to a maximum of 1,285. The air station adjoined Fort Tilden, a battery of 12-inch mortars that defended the port of New York.

The Curtiss NC —

short for “Navy Curtiss” — was designed by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and was manufactured by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Co. Production of NCs began in 1918 during World War I. The Navy needed an aircraft capable of long ocean flights for both anti-submarine patrol and, it was hoped, the ability to cross the Atlantic and avoiding waters menaced

by German U-boats. As it was only 16 years since the Wright Brothers’ first flight, this was an ambitious goal with the primitive state of aviation at this time.

The NC was one of

the largest biplane designs ever produced, equipped with sleeping quarters and a wireless transmitter/ receiver. Originally powered by three V12 Liberty engines of 400 horsepower each, a fourth engine was later added. Maximum speed was 90 miles per hour. The NC’s estimated maximum flight range was 1,500 miles.

NC-1, -3 and -4 set out from Rockaway for Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

The flight was under the command of John Towers, the commanding officer of NC-3. NC-4 was commanded by Lt. Cmdr. Albert C. Read and NC-1 by Lt. Cmdr.

Patrick N.L. Bellinger. Off Cape Cod, NC-4’s engine failed and it was forced to land at sea and taxi to the Naval Air Station in Chatham, Mass., for repairs. NC-1 and -3 arrived in Halifax without incident,

Three U.S. Navy flying boats left from an air station near Fort Tilden. but the next morning serious cracks were found in their propellers and a day was lost replacing them.

On May 10, NC-1 and -3 continued their flight to Newfoundland, the rendezvous point for the crossAtlantic flight. Eight Navy warships were stationed along the east coast of North America to assist the Curtiss NCs with navigation and help in case of an emergency.

Repairs were completed on NC-4, but it was kept at Chatham by gale force

winds and rain. Newspapers were calling NC-4 a “lame duck” that would be withdrawn from the flight, but the weather cleared by the 14th and it made it to Newfoundland by May 16.

At dusk on May 16, all three planes took off into the gathering darkness over the Atlantic. The evening take-off was necessary so they could reach the Portuguese Azores Islands, about 930 miles west of Lisbon, after sunrise the next day and enjoy daylight landing conditions.

During the night, the three planes broke formation to avoid collision. Due to rough flying weather, both NC-1 and -3 were forced to land on the open ocean before reaching the Azores and both crews were rescued.

NC-4 was the only plane to complete the journey by air. On May 20, NC-4

took off bound for Lisbon, but was forced by mechanical difficulties to land again in the Azores. After a week of delays for repairs, NC-4 took off again, landing in Lisbon after a flight of nine hours and 43 minutes, becoming the first aircraft of any kind to fly across the Atlantic — or, for that matter, any other ocean.

The achievement of the naval aviators of NC-4 was eclipsed in the mind of the public first by the first, non-stop trans-Atlantic flight made just two weeks later June 14-15 by British pilots John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown and the first solo non-stop flight made by Charles Lindbergh May 20-21, 1927.

For more information, call the Greater Astoria Historical Society at 718-2780700 or visit astorialic.org.

Boro bar association elects new prez at annual dinner Dee Richard n

Dishing with Dee

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his week was an interesting one. On Wednesday evening, our first stop was Paul Vallone’s law office on Francis Lewis Boulevard in Whitestone, where some of the members and officers of the newly formed Bayside/ Whitestone Lions Club addressed the entire group in the hopes of attracting additional members. The officers explained the benefits of becoming a Lion. A number of people present at the meeting seemed to be interested. More later.

Our second stop Wednesday evening was the 9/12 Nassau/Queens Tea Party Group, which

held a meeting at the Albertson V.F.W. They had an interesting lineup of three speakers, all of whom discussed a different aspect of the economy. Speaker No. 1 was David Malpass, an economist and former candidate for the U.S. Senate, who spoke about the economy from the Washington point of view. Speaker No. 2 was Jack Martins, the former mayor of Mineola, L.I., now a state senator, who spoke about the economy from the Albany point of view. The third and last speaker was Lee Tu, a certified public accountant as well as a candidate for supervisor of the town of North Hempstead, L.I., who addressed the state of the economy from a Long Island point of view.

On this particular night, the above three speakers were all from Nassau County, but there were at least a dozen im-

portant political types from Queens in attendance as well. The speakers all seemed a cut above the usual as they brought everyone up to date on the why’s and wherefore’s of what was happening and what they could do to retain the good programs and how to go about eliminating the nonbeneficial ones rather than the usual increasing taxes and reducing services. All in all, it was an informative and enlightening evening as they were like a breath of fresh air.

Speaking of Nassau County, a longtime diner at Il Bacco is James Garner, who was mayor of Hempstead Village from 19892005, when he was defeated

by Wayne Hall. He was also the first black mayor to serve as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

This past week, Nassau Comptroller George Maragos appointed James

as the deputy comptroller.

Lots of luck, James, and see you in Il Bacco.

Thursday was the Queens County Bar Association’s 134th-annual dinner and installation of officers at Terrace on the Park.

The outgoing president was Chanwoo Lee, the association’s first female Chinese president. The presidentelect is Richard Gutierrez, the first male Latino to hold the office. The honors were performed by the Honorable Gail Prudenti.

It was a great networking evening. They had so many in attendance that they filled up two large banquet rooms. There was a tremendous amount of talent in those two rooms beside the obvious judges and lawyers.

We would like to extend our condolences to good friend Carolyn Karoff, who lost her sister Linda A. Bauer recently.

Linda died suddenly and unexpectedly. Carolyn held a memorial service for her last Thursday at St. Aloysius Church in Great Neck.

We will add Linda’s name to the list of those we pray for each evening. God bless all the members of Linda’s family.

Friday evening was the monthly girls’ night out — and when we refer to ourselves as “girls,” you understand we take poetic license. The girls who were able to make it this month were Joann De Martino, Myra Baird-Herce, Janet Malone, Debbie Markell and me. Our restaurant of choice this month was Il Bacco in Little Neck.

Apparently, Friday is a busy night, so we will have to decide on another evening, as we like to sit and chat after dinner over

coffee and a cordial without feeling guilty about holding up other dinner patrons waiting for a table.

We all ordered something different and sampled each others’ choices. All the food was great.

Hope everyone had a happy Mother’s Day. One of the things I did was to go to The Home Depot and buy a flat of geraniums in various colors. I love geraniums because they bloom up to and including the late fall.

That’s it for this week.

I look forward to hearing from you with information on people, parties and politics or gossip. I like receiving your voice mails at 718-767-6484, faxes at 718-746-0066 and e-mails at deerrichard@aol.com.

Don’t forget to check out the Focus on Queens page.

timesledgernews@cnglocal.com

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SHOTS DARK

TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

in the

Continued from Page 5

Disturbing trends Although in most cases the killers still have not been identified, trends can be found among the southeast Queens murders.

In 2010, more of the murder victims were killed on a Monday — a total of 11 — than on any other day. Wednesdays were the quietest in terms of homicides, with only two recorded.

The most common cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head, which accounted for 16 murders. Of the remaining 27 homicides, only eight did not involve guns.

The homicide statistics also showed that despite popular belief, there were more murders in the winter and fall — 13 apiece — than there were in the summer (10) or spring (seven).

Of the 25 unsolved cases, only two people — Demika Moore and Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax — were not killed by guns.

The open cases reflect in part the unwillingness of witnesses to cooperate with the 103rd and 113th precincts, which cover most of southeast Queens, according to the heads of their two precinct community councils, which are made up of civilian volunteers who act as liaisons between the precinct’s officers and residents.

The president of the 105th Precinct council did not return repeated calls for comment.

“A lot of residents are scared.

The young people have guns out here, and they don’t want to get involved,” said Vivian McMillian, president of the 113th Precinct Community Council. “After a shooting, they’ll go back in and close the door and make like nothing is happening.”

Last year was not the deadliest year on record for murders in the area — that distinction goes to 1990, when there were 105 reported homicides in the three precincts, according to NYPD stats.

But 2010 saw a surge in murders in each from the previous year.

In 2010 the NYPD reported 49 murders occurred in the three southeast Queens precincts, up

Candles and flowers are placed in a cardboard box outside the Laurelton deli Photo by Christina Santucci where Juan Torres was killed. from 32 in 2009.

A spokesman for the Police Department said its homicide rate last year was higher than the 43 tracked by TimesLedger because NYPD included victims who died in 2010 from injuries sustained in crimes in earlier years.

The 103rd Precinct, which covers the neighborhoods of Jamaica, Hollis Park Gardens, Hollis and Lakewood, had 11 murders last year, based on information compiled by the TimesLedger. In 2009 there were 11 murders, according to official police crime statistics The 105th Precinct, which extends through Springfield Gardens, Laurelton, Rosedale, Cambria Heights, Queens Village, Bellerose, Glen Oaks, New Hyde Park and Floral Park — the city’s second-largest in terms of land area — had 16 homicides in 2010, seven more than the NYPD number for 2009. Three of the 2010 homicides were part of a murder-suicide and police classified another case as a Brooklyn homicide even though the body was found in Queens.

The 113th Precinct, which includes St. Albans, Hollis, Springfield Gardens, South Ozone Park, South Jamaica, Addisleigh Park and Rochdale Village, recorded 16 murders last year compared to NYPD’s total of 12 in 2009.

Donna Clopton, president of

the 103rd Precinct Community Council and a Jamaica resident, said the surge in murders caught everyone in the community by surprise — even police.

“There was a point where the kids at IS 8 were afraid to go home.

There were a lot of shootings happening near there around the same time,” she said.

Culture of violence The two precinct council heads said the escalation in shootings could be traced to a rise in gang activity and more people turning to violence to resolve their problems.

The gang problem not only includes the more infamous groups such as the Bloods and Crips, which have been operating in the neighborhood for years, but also pocket groups that have been created among friends with the help of social networks, according to Clopton.

“In order to survive in today’s environment, you have to act tough, and it’s sad,” she said.

In several of the murders last year in southeast Queens, small arguments quickly escalated into full-blown confrontations, which in turn led to the angry person getting a weapon and using it to shoot another person, according to investigators.

It was not known how many

Kedrick Ali Morrow had just begun recording his raps a few months before his Photo courtesy the Morrow family death in May 2010. victims actually knew their killers.

Some met their demise while attending late-night parties that were promoted through Facebook, Twitter and word of mouth.

Robinson Lajeunesse, 19, and Dane Freeman, 20, both of Cambria Heights, were killed in shootings that erupted at those parties during the summer.

McMillian said some residents have abandoned all sense of civility and are too quick to reach for a firearm to settle scores.

“It’s like the Wild Wild West out here,” she said.

The random violence has shattered long-held notions of safety in the area, the community council heads said.

Eyewitnesses, neighbors, friends and other people who have some connection to the various homicides are sometimes reluctant to assist the authorities on the cases, the council leaders said, because those with what may be pertinent information fear retaliation from the suspects and their associates.

This unwillingness to step forward has made it extremely difficult for investigators to crack cases and left the community with a sense of that the killers may never be caught.

Clopton recalled that during a murder investigation in 2009, a teen gave investigators information that led to an arrest in a gang-

related murder. But when the teen tried to get some of his peers to do the same, they not only shunned the police but looked down on the cooperative teen as a snitch.

“No other kids wanted to talk, and that was a hard lesson I learned,” she said.

McMillian, who has served on the community council for more than 20 years, said she has seen a growing reluctance on the part of potential witnesses to co-operate with the authorities.

Neighbors simply do not want any involvement with the murders, even if someone was killed right outside their doorstep, she said.

“Some people say, ‘Oh, they’re just doing it to themselves, it doesn’t affect us,’” she said.

Perhaps the most frustrated with the stalled investigations are the victims’ relatives, such as Lystra Huggins. Her brother, Leslie, was murdered during a breakin at his Queens Village home in February 2010 and the killers have not been arrested.

The New Jersey resident said her sibling moved to the house on Francis Lewis Boulevard to make a better life for his family, and she feels heartbroken every time police tell her there are no updates in the investigation.

“I don’t want it to be a cold case,” she said.

Ian MacFarland contributed to this story.

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TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

Continued from Page 5 her workplace in Mineola, L.I., when the driver of the vehicle lost control.

Moore, who was in the front passenger seat, was the only one injured and suffered critical head trauma. She was rushed to Winthrop University Hospital on Long Island, where she underwent three brain surgeries. Her family feared she would die, but doctors were able to save her.

Doreen Harris, a cousin of MooreJackson’s who was close to Moore, said the accident and surgeries left her with a scar on the right side of her temple and a metal plate in her head.

The crash took its toll in other ways.

Moore was never 100 percent herself afterward and had problems with her short-term memory, her relatives said.

Moore-Jackson said she grew concerned about her niece when she began to disappear for days at a time.

“I would tell her, ‘Mika, just call me,’” Moore’s great-grandmother, Ida Moore, said. “I’d say, ‘You don’t have to tell me where you are, but just call me and let me know that you are okay.’ But she never did.”

Moore-Jackson also worried about her niece becoming too friendly with strangers.

“She was too trusting of people,” her aunt said.

Although Moore would return home safe and sound following her disappearances, she would not talk about her whereabouts and seemed embarrassed when relatives asked where she had been.

“We kept telling her, if you keep going out like this, something bad is going to happen, hoping that it never would. But unfortunately it came to reality,” Moore-Jackson said.

In January 2010, Moore left home for the last time. Months went by without word from her, and her family and boyfriend, with whom she had Zoe in 2006, grew more and more worried.

Relatives contacted police, who hung up posters throughout southeast Queens, but Moore-Jackson said they knew something was seriously amiss when Moore had not returned by Mother’s Day. “We knew that if she did not come back for her daughter, something was seriously wrong,” she said.

On July 23, 2010, police found Moore’s body in the driveway of a house on Leslie

Road in St. Albans, and neighbors said they had no idea how the young woman ended up there. At first, police did not identify Moore as the victim, but her family feared the worst after hearing news reports of a woman found with tattoos similar to Moore’s — one of which was the name “Zoe.” Moore-Jackson said she then went to the 113th Precinct headquarters and identified her niece.

Authorities said Moore’s hands were bound with duct tape, and she died from a beating that caused severe injuries, including broken ribs.

The police are still trying to determine all the details surrounding her death, but as of late April, there had been no arrests in the case. Her family did not know where she was killed or where she had been during her sixmonth absence.

“I don’t know, and this is what haunts me every day,” Moore-Jackson said.

Moore’s body was found just 16 blocks from Moore-Jackson’s home.

“For six months I had no idea where she was, and now I’m thinking, was she

Zoe doesn’t really

understand. She knows her mommy went to heaven, and that’s what she knows.

in this neighborhood the entire time? Was she right there, somewhere 16 blocks away, the entire time?” her aunt asked.

The biggest hurdle, Moore-Jackson said, is the lack of information about the murder despite the family’s pleas for someone to come forward.

“We want justice to be done for my niece Mika. Nobody deserves to die the way she did,” Moore-Jackson said.

There is a $2,000 reward for information, and Moore’s relatives said they are frustrated by the silence.

“Somebody has to know something,” Moore-Jackson said. “Somebody knows something.”

Although the void left by her death will never be filled, relatives said some of their pain might be lessened if her killer was brought to justice and if they learned the circumstances leading up to her death.

“I know nothing will be able to bring her back, but I just want to know what happened to her and why,” Ida Moore, the great-grandmother, said.

They want also answers for Zoe. “At this point, she doesn’t really understand. She knows her mommy went to heaven, and that’s what she knows,” Moore-Jackson said. “She doesn’t understand it at 4. She knows that when people go to heaven, they are not coming back.”

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TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

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Bumps to thwart Maspeth speeders

BY REBECCA HENELY Maspeth-area City Council members celebrated Tuesday the installation of three new speed humps along Maurice Avenue between Tyler Avenue and 53rd Avenue. The city Department of Transportation installed the speed humps because legislators and nearby residents had demanded speed control measures along Maurice Avenue in November due to the constant drag racing in the area.

“This is over,” said Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside).

“The races have ended.”

Van Bramer, Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village), Councilman Jimmy Vacca (DBronx) and members of the community said the speed humps would improve the quality of life for the area.

“Now drag racing will no longer happen here on Maurice Avenue,” Crowley said. Crowley and Van Bramer’s districts both encompass a part of the avenue.

A resident of Maurice Avenue, Madeline O’Boyle had said at the November protest that drag racing had been a weekly occurrence on the avenue during hot weather, drawing not only dangerous speeders but also a crowd of spectators.

Roe Daraio, president of Communities of Maspeth and Elmhurst Together, said the racing created disturbances beyond the street.

“I live a quarter of a mile away and I can hear the drag racing,” Daraio said.

City DOT Commissioner Jeanette Sadik-Khan said the problem had been brought to the DOT’s attention after the November protest. After an investigation, the speed humps were installed last week. They are interspersed along Maurice Avenue between Tyler Avenue and the signal light at 53rd Drive, and have signs posted nearby alerting drivers to their presence.

The commissioner said the DOT was on track to install 102 speed humps throughout the city this fiscal year and has a goal of creating 160 speed humps throughout the city.

“The last four years have been the safest in the city’s history, thanks to the steps that we made,” SadikKhan said.

Vacca, chairman of the Council’s Transportation Committee, said the speed humps will be the key to slowing down drivers.

“When you look at what this block is now and what the block was before, it’s a day-and-night difference,” Vacca said.

CB 5 considers truck plan Maspeth Bypass would send tractor-trailers off residential streets

BY JOE ANUTA The reign of tractortrailer terror could soon be over for Maspeth residents.

Community Board 5 was scheduled to vote on a plan to reroute commercial trucks around the neighborhood and keep them off residential streets Wednesday.

If the board approves the plan, the city Department of Transportation could begin to alter traffic patterns as soon as this summer.

“I’m hoping that this is the best plan that one can put forth,” said Gary Giordano, executive director of CB 5.

The Maspeth bypass plan was first proposed to the public during a Feb. 24 information session and drew heavy criticism from residents of the neighborhood.

But city DOT Borough Commissioner Maura McCarthy said that was all part of the process.

“When we put out a proposal, we don’t expect everybody to love it. The negative comments we get are helpful,” she said following the Feb. 24 meeting.

The DOT used that criticism to tweak the plan and listed the problems it heard, like trucks cutting through residential areas to avoid one-way streets and double-parked cars blocking a planned path.

“I definitely think they took the community concerns into consideration,” Giordano said. “But I think that some people are not going to feel that way.”

This graphic shows the new traffic patterns proposed under the city’s Maspeth truck bypass plan.

Image courtesy city Department of Transportaion

A manager at Clinton Diner, at 56-26 Maspeth Ave., is one of those people.

“It’s bad, it’s very, very bad,” said the manager, who would only identify herself as Maureen.

The front of the diner faces 57th Place, which would be made one-way northeast.

“If they make it oneway, who is going to come in?” she asked.

She said her son planned to make an appeal to the DOT at Wednesday’s meeting.

But a manager at Payless Dressy Dresses on 59th Street, which would be changed to one-way southbound, said the change would not be a big deal.

“It might make traffic

flow easier,” he said. “But business-wise, it will have no effect.”

The original plan was designed to reroute trucks exiting the Long Island Expressway and trying to take a shortcut through Maspeth to reach Brooklyn and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway without crossing the Kosciuszko Bridge.

The trucks would often lose their way in the largely residential neighborhood and have trouble navigating corners that were not designed for such large vehicles.

Furious residents have been complaining for years, especially after a 12-year-old boy was struck and killed by the trailer of a large commercial vehicle

last summer.

The main changes to the traffic patterns included changing 58th Street to one-way southbound, which the trucks would take after exiting the LIE. In order to organize the often confusing five-way intersection of 58th Street and Maurice and Maspeth avenues, portions of several other roads were proposed to become one-way, including Maurice Avenue, 57th Place, 58th Street and 59th Street.

In response to concerns at the previous meeting, the DOT also proposed to make 56th Drive one-way to cut down on trucks cutting through the neighborhood.

Boro Y hosts bereavement group

City Councilman Jimmy Vacca (l.-r.), city DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, City Councilmembers Jimmy Van Bramer and Elizabeth Crowley marked with residents and civic activists the installation of three speedhumps along Maurice Avenue in Maspeth.

Photo by Rebecca Henely

The Central Queens YM & YWHA, at 67-09 108th St. in Forest Hills, is a nonprofit community center offering services in Forest Hills ranging from educational to social and cultural events. The Y is now assisting those in need of healing from the deaths of loved ones over a light kosher breakfast and refreshments.

The Brunch Bunch Bereavement Group enables participants to share their losses and feelings. Participants also have the opportunity to meet other people who have

been in similar situations. The program provides door-todoor transportation whenever possible. The facilitator is Lauren Fredston-Hermann, the director of the senior center at the Central Queens Y. To receive more information about the program or schedule an initial appointment, call Fredston-Hermann at 718-268-5011, Ext. 621. You can also visit centralqueensy. org.

Headstone Continued from Page 1

The tombstone of Leon Nascimbene (inset) was discovered in Elmhurst Park soon after it opened.

Photo by Christina Santucci/inset courtesy Paul Nascimbene and Robert Holden.

Nascimbene was a restaurateur who spoke several languages and managed a series of upscale eateries in the city before becoming the maitre d’ at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

He was originally buried in a Westchester cemetery in 1962, near where he spent his last days in a nursing home, according to his son.

But six years later, Nascimbene’s wife had the

Tennis stadium Continued from Page 1 “I’m totally against them building housing there,” said Joel Turken, who has lived in the neighborhood his entire life. “I’m concerned that the real estate people will get whatever they want and won’t listen to the residents.”

The West Side Tennis Club declined to comment.

The Forest Hills Chamber of Commerce would welcome more shoppers, however, according to President Leslie Brown.

“I guess an increase in population is an increase in traffic,” she said.

But Brown also said if any housing is built, a thorough study should be done on parking and traffic. And it should fit in with the aesthetics of the neighborhood.

“I think the architecture has to fit in with Forest Hills Gardens,” she said.

Jenna Wronski also feared an influx of people if

housing were to be built on the site. “[The stadium] protects overcrowding,” she said. “Development would make parking worse.”

But Wronski also had a soft spot for the stadium and said “there is something about the stadium that is just nice.”

The real estate people did not win over the West Side Tennis Club last year, when Cord Meyer proposed a plan for condos that would have retained the outer structure of the stadium.

But the proposal was rejected by the club, which could not get a two-thirds majority vote.

That plan would have saved the stadium, but still not have pleased other residents who live on nearby streets.

“A landmark? Maybe not,” said Matthew Fitzgerald, who has lived in Forest Hills for 51 years. “But I don’t want it to be apartments. There would be so

body transferred to the Kew Gardens cemetery so Nascimbene could be closer to home, his son said.

“Apparently, the headstone came with him,” he said.

But Nascimbene was buried in a section of Maple Grove Cemetery that did not allow stone headstones for aesthetic reasons, according to Bonnie Dixon, executive director of the cemetery. Dixon has a

much traffic.”

That was also the concern of Elaine Dickman, who has lived in the same house for the last 81 years.

“Where are all the cars going to go?” she asked. “It would ruin traffic.”

But she also thought the stadium was an essential part of the neighborhood.

“I’ve certainly seen it in its heyday,” Dickman said. “It seems almost a crime to not landmark something that has been here for so long.”

But other residents did not see the big deal, since the stadium is privately owned and not open to the public.

“It’s not for the public,” said a woman who would only identify herself as Vera. “You have to pay $3,000 for a membership.

That’s not for us.”

Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@ cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.

theory that the headstone could have been put into storage and become mixed with boulders and rocks that were dug up and sold to construction companies as filler material.

But a spokeswoman for National Grid said the project used dirt as filler material, not rock and stone.

The Parks Department removed the headstone last week, according to officials, who said the prop-

Earth Day Continued from Page 2 not use chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Those fertilizers and pesticides are produced in a factory, and that factory uses energy.

But organic farmers use nature.

“Organic agriculture says, ‘Lets work with ecological systems to use natural forms of fertilizer,’” she said. “There are all kinds of other ways to build soil fertility naturally.”

But contrary to what many people believe, the

“locavore” movement is not exactly about how far a food is shipped.

Only about 10 percent of a food’s carbon footprint comes from transportation.

Most of the footprint comes from production.

“When we talk about eating ‘local,’ that means simplified food that is grown not only close, but grown in a way that is good for the environment.”

Many local farmers and crop sharing associations will be on hand May 15 for the fair.

Mammograms Continued from Page 2 troller auditors had only reviewed data from fiscal year 2009 and contended the city’s hospitals had made many improvements to the hospitals during that time.

It also said the delay for a diagnostic mammogram when medical staff have

found a potentially cancerous lump is only zero to 72 hours and has always been so.

Liu’s office said HHC should create a guideline for diagnostic mammograms, set mammogram appointments within 14 days and send patients remind-

17

legend that a man used to row around in the Elmhurst FH Gas Tanks at night.

And now workers have already been telling residents a mysterious body was buried beneath the park.

But the emergence of the headstone has Nascimbene’s grandson searching through the legends of his own family.

He traced the Nascimbene name back to northern Italy and found a long cast of interesting characters, like a famous heretic, a pirate and a man who murdered his way up the social ladder and became a gentleman of Verona.

“They are just stories and are way removed,” he said. “But it’s interesting.”

As for the impetus for his research, he said he was glad the stone had been discovered.

“It’s nice to see details of his life come to light that might have otherwise faded away. My boss recently said, ‘Your grandfather seems to have led an interesting life — even posthumously.’”

TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

“It was put there in the construction of the park,” Wilkinson said. “I spoke to the people who worked there, and they said it was a grave.”

The workers, believing someone was buried on the site, said they did not want to disturb the deceased, according to Wilkinson.

Nobody knows how the headstone got to the site, which used to house the Elmhurst Gas Tanks until the 1990s.

Nascimbene is buried in nearby Maple Grove Cemetery in Kew Gardens — not in the park.

But his story spans two centuries and an ocean.

Nascimbene emigrated from northern Italy in the early 1900s, according to his son Leon Nascimbene Jr., an 88-year-old doctor who lives in Indiana. The family first settled in Manhattan, then in Jackson Heights and eventually in Forest Hills.

erty was never used as a gravesite and that the headstone was found when the city took over the property in 2005. The department is currently storing the headstone and waiting for members of the family to decide what to do.

Paul Nascimbene, Nascimbene’s grandson who does research for the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, is not sure what should be done with the headstone if Maple Grove does not want to take it.

“If they don’t allow it, then the park might be interested in keeping it because it’s an interesting story,” he said. “That’s still to be determined.”

But if the city keeps the stone, Wilkinson said it has some explaining to do.

“I think if [the headstone] stays in the park, they should put something there that explains it,” Wilkinson said. “There will be all these urban legends.”

As an example, she cited an earlier — and slightly more ridiculous — urban

In addition, residents can check out the latest in green cleaning products.

And for anyone who does not want to buy a roofmounted windmill, Con Edison will be on hand to sell wind power.

Residents can bring their current ConEd bill, and representatives from the power company will ensure that any future electricity will come from wind farms, and not from traditionally powered generators.

The free event is from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at 67-09 108th St.

ers of their mammogram appointments. The office said HHC is reviewing its performance standards for setting screening mammograms appointments, creating a performance standard for diagnostic mammogram appointments and reviewing how often reminder calls for mammogram appointments are made.

18

TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

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Ground Zero

President Barack Obama visited Ground Zero last Thursday to lay a wreath for victims of the 2001 terrorist attack. (Clockwise from top l.) Obama pauses for a moment of silence at the World Trade Center site; a spectator holds an American flag outside of the site; former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani watches the ceremony; Obama hugs Diane Wall, whose husband was killed on 9/11; Obama is joined by members of the FDNY and NYPD as he carries the wreath; Sam Cannizzarro holds a photo of his son Brian, one of the 9/11 victims; and Obama (c.) shakes hands with police officers and firefighters as (l.-r.) Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Port Authority Chairman David Samson and Mayor Michael Bloomberg look on.

Photos by Connor Adams Sheets and Christina Santucci

BY CONNOR ADAMS SHEETS New York politicians are working to ensure that any terrorist plans to attack commuter rail lines are thwarted before they can be carried out, as was al-Qaedatrained Flushing High School graduate Najibullah Zazi’s 2009 plot to blow up subway cars.

Intelligence gathered from 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan revealed a preliminary plot to attack American commuter railways, and legislators want to prevent such a plot from being carried out against the Long Island Rail Road or Metro-North Railroad. In one case, bin Laden had vague aspirations to derail a raised train traveling over a bridge on Christmas, which U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Forest Hills) said could apply many trains in the city.

“As we speak, they are analyzing a lot of the stuff they got from bin Laden’s lair,” Weiner said Monday at the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills, adding that the Christmas plot “describes the [No.] 7 train to a T. But I want to make it clear we are not aware of any specific threats to the city.”

Ever since the plots were revealed, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has been pushing the Obama administration and congressional leaders to increase funding for rail system defense in the fiscal year 2012 Homeland Security appropriations bill and to enhance passenger screening on some train systems.

“We must remain vigilant in protecting ourselves from future terror attacks and when intelligence emerges that provides insight into potential vulnerabilities, we must act with speed,” he said in a statement. “Circumstances demand we make adjustments by increasing funding to enhance rail safety and monitoring on commuter rail transit.”

Despite the heightened attention to rail safety, four incidents took place in the

city’s railways Sunday, affecting service and bringing up fears that the city’s trains are not as safe as they should be.

Reymundo Rodriguez of New Jersey allegedly entered a PATH train tunnel Sunday in Manhattan and walked 2 miles to Jersey City, N.J., where he allegedly told police officers he had left a bomb on the tracks, which proved to be a lie. In another breach of rail security, four young men were caught exploring the Second Avenue subway construction site Sunday after sneaking into the unfinished tunnel with cameras and roman candles.

Two other incidents also pointed to problems with the safety of the city’s rail system. Thirty people were injured Sunday morning when a runaway PATH train crashed into a platform at the end of the tracks in the Hoboken station. Later that day no one was hurt when four Amtrak train cars derailed in the East River tunnel due to a broken rail, disrupting passenger service on the Long Island Rail Road at least until Wednesday.

Zazi and two other men were arrested in late 2009 and early 2010 in connection with a plot to carry out suicide bombings in Manhattan subway stations on the morning of the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Zazi was arrested Sept. 19, 2009, in Colorado and pleaded guilty Feb. 22, 2010, to conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and providing material support to al-Qaeda.

Two of Zazi’s former classmates at Flushing High School, Zarein Ahmedzay and Adis Medunjanin, were arrested in northeast Queens Jan. 7, 2010. Ahmedzay eventually pleaded guilty to terrorism charges. Adis Medunjanin denied Aug. 6, 2010, in federal court in Brooklyn that he was involved in the plot. Zazi and Ahmedzay admitted attending an al-Qaeda training camp in Waziristan, but Medunjanin said he did not do so.

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For additional information contact us at 718-846-9182 or 849-6594, oncetime@ aol.com ChaRosa Foundation Corporation Summer Day Camp Children ages 6-12, Monday through Friday 9:00AM to 6:00PM. The children travel via public transportation to various educational and recreational spots throughout N.Y.C. For More information please contact Lisa Shambley, Camp Director C/O ChaRosa Foundation at (718) 723-1400 for more information.

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TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

Pols call for vigilance in wake of rail plots

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FOCUS ON QUEENS

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Photos by Dee Richard

TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

QUEENS COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION AT TERRACE ON THE PARK

1 Msgr. David Casata and Dr. Michael J. Trepal

2 Judge Bernice Siegal & Mayor Michael Bloomberg

3 Hon. Larry Cohen, Hon. Diccia PinedaKerwin and Hon. Margaret Healy

4 Briana Heymann, Hon. Darrell Gavrin and Hon. George Heymann

5 Luis Echeverria and Nayibe Nunez-Berger

6 Joe Kasper and Hon. Marguerite Grays

7 Hon. Steven Paynter and Hon. Gregory Lasak

8 Briana Heymann and Susan Borko

9 Paul Kerson, John F. Duane and Mare Leavitt

10 Hon. Gail Prudenti and Association President-elect, Richard Gutierrez

11 Outgoing Association President Chanwoo Lee

12 Hon. Gail Prudenti swearing in slate of new officers

13 Renaldo E. Rivera

14 Hon. Robert Nahman, Hon. Nicholas Tsoucalas and Hon. Charles Lo Presto

15 Hon. Jeffrey Lebowitz and Hon. Lee Mayersohn

16 Hon. Cheree Buggs and Hon. William Viscovich

WHITESTONE LIONS AT PAUL VALLONE’S LAW OFFICE

1 Paul Vallone listening intently to the officials from the Lions Club

2 Lions Club officials with Whitestone/Bayside new members

NASSAU-QUEENS 9/11 TEA PARTY AT THE VFW IN ALBERTSON

1 Tom Long, Lee Tu, Phil Sica and Phil Placencia

2 Senator Jack Martins and Phil and Naomi Sica

Obama pays tribute Qns. Village student wins Gates grant to Sept. 11 victims

BY HOWARD KOPLOWITZ

The air at Ground Zero last Thursday afternoon was tense and chilly as the moment neared when President Barack Obama would be laying a wreath at the foot of the 64 unfinished floors of the rising One World Trade Center tower.

Dozens of Secret Service and NYPD counterterrorism officers swarmed the area with bomb-sniffing dogs, Kevlar vests and assault weapons as dignitaries nervously chatted in anticipation.

All was still in this place where nearly 3,000 lives were lost amid unimaginable chaos on another clear day nearly a decade ago.

It was Obama’s second time visiting the site, and his appearance came

just four days after he announced that U.S. forces had killed 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

But the day was one of somber remembrance, as Obama met with victims’ families, first responders and elected officials before the event, where neither he or any other politician uttered a single public comment.

Sally Regenhard of upstate Yonkers lost her son Christian Michael Otto Regenhard in the World Trade Center. She spoke before Obama’s arrival about the emotions she was experiencing.

“You never get over the pain, the grief, the sorrow,” she said, clutching a photograph of her young son.

“My son was a saint and he Continued on Page 48

RATED E E ntertaining!

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Francis Lewis HS senior Joan Fernandez, 17, has received three scholarships that allow him to attend Princeton University for free.

Photo by Howard Koplowitz

ing to a prestigious school would have been out of the question if he had not won the scholarship.

“They barely have enough to get by,” said Joan, who also received Jerry Seinfeld and Horatio Alger scholarships. “I was basically fully covered, regardless and that was an amazing feeling.”

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cieties than he does in New York.

Although Joan is straight, he is vice president of the LGBT club at Francis Lewis.

“I understand how different it can be for them,” he said.

Joan is also a consultant to the student government and is involved with the youth group at Our Lady of Lourdes, a Queens Village church, where members hold blood and can drives, help the homeless and set up collections for victims of the Haiti earthquake.

He said he chose Princeton, in part, because he would feel “far too comfortable” living in the city if he attended Columbia.

“I’ve never experienced suburban life,” he said. “Princeton has a lot of opportunities that I want to participate in. I’m going to do whatever it takes to adapt.”

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WE

TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

BY CONNOR ADAMS SHEETS

At around 3 p.m. on April 20 Joan Fernandez received an e-mail that changed his life.

The e-mail came from The Gates Millennium Scholars — grants funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — notifying the 17-year-old senior at Francis Lewis HS that he had won one of 1,000 scholarships that enabled him to get a free ride at Princeton University.

“I was a little skeptical at first about the application process because it’s super competitive,” Joan said, with 1,000 scholarships awarded out of 23,000 applicants. “I’m excited because it opens up so many doors at the moment.”

Joan, who moved from the Dominican Republic to Queens Village when he was 2 years old, said his father is disabled and his mom is a baby-sitter, so go-

The senior, who scored a 2120 on his SATs and has a 100 average, said his education was always important to his parents.

“My parents, they never pushed me as other parents do to their children.

They just tell me to strive the best I can,” he said.

“They were so excited. For them, that was the greatest news they ever heard.

To them, they felt accomplished. They showed me just how great this country is.”

Joan sent applications to Princeton, Columbia and Brown universities — and got accepted to all three schools, but chose Princeton after he attended a leadership conference last summer at the New Jersey college.

Joan said he met teens with different ideologies, noting his peers at the conference included gay teens from the Midwest who have to deal with less tolerant so-

21

22 WE

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Love me do: Paul to wed MTA board member

BY PHILIP NEWMAN

British musician Paul McCartney is slated to wed his girlfriend and MTA board member Nancy Shevell.

The No. 7 subway line to Flushing has been judged the cleanest and the R to Forest Hills the dirtiest at a time when the Straphangers Campaign says the grime level of trains is increasing.

The transit activist agency said in its 12th-annual “Schmutz� report that the number of clean subway cars declined between 2009 and 2010.

The Straphangers rated 47 percent of subway cars as clean in a survey in the fall of 2010, a decline from 51 percent rated clean in a survey in the fall of 2009. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority 2010 budget cut the number of car cleaners from 1,138 to 1,030 and reduced the number of supervisors from 146

Photo by Philip Newman

AP Photo/Thibault Camus

“Ringo congratulates Paul and Nancy and wishes them every happiness.�

It will be the third marriage for McCartney, 68, and the second for Nancy, 51.

Subway cleanliness report names 7 spiffy, R dirty

BY PHILIP NEWMAN

Nancy Shevell speaks during an MTA board meeting.

supervisors to 123 supervisors.

The Straphangers said the No. 7 subway line had 68 percent of its cars clean compared to the R, where only 27 percent were rated clean. “Last year, we predicted more cuts to come means more dirt for subway riders,� said Gene Russianoff, attorney for the Straphangers. “And, sadly, it turned out to be true.�

The most improved subway line was the M, rising from 32 percent clean in 2009 to 61 percent in 2010.

The N was 56 percent clean, the Q 50 percent, the F 46 percent, the J 40 percent, the B 37 percent, the D 37 percent, the E 36 percent and the G 36 percent.

The Straphangers noted that the New York City Transit Authority con-

ducts its own semi-annual subway car cleanliness survey. “Transit’s survey showed that the number of clean car floors and seats — those with no dirt or light dirt — ‘in service’ declined slightly from 95 percent in the second half of 2009 to 94 percent in the second half of 2010, a statistically insignificant change,� the Straphangers said.

The Straphangers said the average percentage of clean cars in its 2010 survey was 47 percent compared to New York City Transit’s 94 percent for clean cars in service in the second half of 2010. The Straphangers acknowledged the disparity in findings, but said it was unable to point to factors that come to these results.

McCartney married Linda Eastman, an American photographer, in 1969 and she died in 1989.

His marriage to Heather Mills

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TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

Will June bring wedding bells for Nancy Shevell along with the finale of her tenure at the MTA? It’s not whether the veteran Metropolitan Transportation Authority board member will become the Bride of Beatle but rather when.

Word of her engagement to Sir Paul McCartney has already swept the world from the West End to the West Coast. Details of the impending vows were reported by sources as diverse as The Mirror in London and Catholic Online. “Nancy and Paul are getting married,� People magazine reported, quoting a source close to Shevell. “Ring and all — very exciting.� “They have the right chemistry,� the source told People. “They’re both cool, chilled out and optimistic.�

BBC News quoted a spokeswoman for Ringo Starr, the other surviving Beatle, as saying

ended in 2002 in a discordant divorce.

McCartney and Shevell met in the Hamptons in 2007. Shevell was divorced from attorney Bruce Blakeman.

She was appointed to the MTA board by then-Gov. George Pataki on June 18, 2001.

Shevell, a cousin of Barbara Walters, is vice president of administration for New England Motor Freight Inc. and the Shevell Group of Companies in New Jersey.

She holds a degree in business administration with a minor in transportation from Arizona State University.

Cindy Adams reported in the New York Post that the nuptials would be “soon� and “small — just our families.�

If soon means late next month, she may have more time to get ready.

Her MTA term ends June.

30.

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Whitestone Bridge fix to jam traffic for 4 years

TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

BY CONNOR ADAMS SHEETS Traffic will only get worse in northeast Queens while the MTA completes work on the Queens approach to the Whitestone Bridge, which will leave a lane closed for more than a year and the 3rd Avenue exit off the Whitestone Expressway shut down for two.

Commuting will be rough for nearly four years while construction is underway on the vital connector between Queens and the Bronx, but officials said at a meeting with Community Board 7 members and community leaders last week that the payoff will be worth the headache.

Bidding closed April 5 for the contract to complete the final phase of a four-year, $200 million project to rehabilitate the aging bridge, which was built in the 1930s. The work will replace the entire Queens approach to the bridge, widen its lanes and install emergency shoulders there over the course of 42 months, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority expects to award the con-

tract in June, according to MTA Bridges and Tunnels acting Facility Engineer Chris Saladino.

The bad news is that there will be 378 days of lane closures during that phase of construction and the 3rd Avenue exit off the Whitestone Expressway will be closed for up to two years while the work is underway, according to the MTA. For most of that period, only one lane will be shut down at a time in order to allow crews to replace the bridge’s 72-year-old roadway decking.

Although it will inconvenience millions of drivers for the next few years, the project is a necessity for the future of interborough travel, according to Ray Webb, general manager of the bridge.

“There’s some good things coming on the Queens side, but there will be a little bit of pain, which we’ll be doing everything we can to mitigate,” he said. “The contractor has been identified.

We just have to cross the t’s and dot the i’s. It will happen in the next few weeks.”

The Third Avenue exit off the Whitestone Expressway will be closed for two years during the MTA’s rehabilitation of the Queens approach to the Whitestone Photo by Christina Santucci Bridge.

The future of the playground at Francis Lewis Park below the bridge’s Queens approach has been a sticking point with residents. The existing playground will close permanently Sept. 22 and a replacement playground is slated to open to residents in March 2012, MTA officials said.

“The playground will be the first thing they do when the contract is awarded, before they even get to working on the bridge,”

MTA Bridges and Tunnels spokeswoman Joyce Mulvaney said.

Another key concern of many neighbors, including Malba Gardens Civic Association President Al Centola, is the possibility that noise levels will increase in the area when the work is complete.

Centola is worried that the added width of the bridge will eventually bring vehicle traffic closer to homes, which the MTA says will not happen because the

new capacity will be reserved only for use as a breakdown lane.

“We currently have a noise study that we’re working on right now, and we’re looking into it,” Saladino said.

In 2010, 41 million vehicles used the Whitestone Bridge, according to the MTA. Construction on the Bronx approach to the bridge, which began in December 2008, is ongoing. So far, new foundations and concrete piers have been constructed beneath the bridge and two lanes of the approach roadway heading to the Bronx have been replaced.

One Queens-bound lane will be closed through the end of the fall. But three traffic lanes remain open in peak morning and afternoon directions by using the center lane as a reversible traffic lane, according to the MTA. Reach reporter Connor Adams Sheets by e-mail at csheets@ cnglocal.com or by phone at 718260-4538.

BY HOWARD KOPLOWITZ

A TIMESLEDGER SPECIAL SECTION MAY 12-18, 2011

St. Francis Prep freshman catcher Jessica Menna was sidelined after tearing her medial collateral ligament while sliding into second base.

Photo by Christina Santucci

With the weather getting warmer, more people are going to start hitting the tennis courts, golf courses and soccer pitches, which means more possibilities for sports injuries.

Most injuries in non-contact or collision sports can be prevented by simple warm-ups or conditioning, according to Dr. Steven Rokito, chief of sports medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center’s Department of Orthopedics.

“The most common sports injuries that we see are muscle strains and ligament strains,” said Rokito, the team physician for the professional Long Island Ducks baseball team and associate team orthopedist for the New York Islanders.

Rokito’s practice mostly deals with so-called “weekend warriors,” or those who play sports in their spare time.

“We find they haven’t warmed up properly,” Rokito said.

Runners and joggers are susceptible to muscle pulls and thigh and hamstring strains, while strains and ankle sprains are common to sports athletes.

Athletes who use a lot of over-the-head motions, such as baseball pitchers and volleyball players, are more likely to have shoulder and elbow injuries.

Rokito said it is key not to exert yourself the first time you participate in a sport this year.

“It’s very important. This is like spring training for everyone,” he said. “They do too much too fast. They don’t have their strength or stamina and that’s when their form breaks down.”

Shoulder and elbow pain is common in high school pitchers who have not done much training in the offseason, Rokito said.

“Their form breaks down because they compensate,” he said, which can lead to tendon and ligament strains.

Strains are not as serious as muscle tears and can be treated by following the acronym RICE — rest, ice, compression and elevation, Rokito said.

“If symptoms don’t resolve within 24 to 48 hours and they can’t get back to their level of activity, it’s time to see their specialist,” Rokito said of athletes who suffer sports injuries.

Injuries to lower extremities, such as the knees, are common for children who play lacrosse or run on a baseball field and quickly change direction.

If the field conditions are not right, accidents can happen when the foot is planted, Rokito said.

The most common sprain is an injury to the MCL

Continued on Page 26

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GUIDE TO HEALTH • TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

G uide T Guide Too H ealth Health

Stretching key to staying in the ball game

26

GUIDE TO HEALTH • TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

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Thumb arthritis makes daily tasks tough

BY JOE ANUTA Baby boomers across the country are starting to retire and relax en masse, but for otherwise healthy individuals, a small and often misunderstood joint in the body can tarnish their golden years by causing enormous amounts of pain.

Thumb arthritis is often looked at as just another unwelcome part of the aging process, according to Doctor Lisa Mandl of the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan, although she hopes to dispel that myth with a new clinical trial.

Older adults often take arthritis in the knees and hips seriously.

But a thumb?

“It sounds so silly, but it makes people miserable,” she said. “It’s a small joint, but it disproportionately affects the quality of people’s lives.”

Some of the simplest tasks — buttoning a shirt, unscrewing a jar of peanut butter or opening a door — can become frustrating battles against pain.

And the older a person gets, the more likely they will encounter the condition.

Around 80 percent of women over 80 years old suffer from thumb arthritis, according to Mandl. For men, the figure is slightly less.

But thumb arthritis can start affecting men and women much earlier. In many cases, 60-year-olds who are otherwise healthy and active — and who are looking forward to retirement — might be stopped in their tracks.

“A woman came into my office crying because she couldn’t pick up her grand-

Stretching Continued from Page 25 — the medial collateral ligament in the knee.

Jessica Menna, a freshman catcher for the softball team at St. Francis Prep, suffered a more severe MCL injury when she tore the ligament last month sliding into second base and is likely to be out for the rest of Prep’s season.

“When I was going down to slide, my knee just hyperextended and my kneecap came out,” said

children,” Mandl said. “People in their 60s have waited their whole lives to play golf or help take care of their families. But they can’t do it.”

The pain comes from the joint where the thumb meets the wrist.

Normally, a layer of cartilage separates the thumb bone from the wrist bone, acting as a cushion and allowing smooth movement of the digit.

But arthritis sufferers lack that cushion.

“The cartilage wears away, and then you have pain with the bones grinding against each other,” Mandl said.

That feeling is one Mary Ann Oklesson knows well. At 66, she has been suffering from thumb arthritis for several years.

“It’s the pits, especially for someone as active as I am,” she said. “No matter how well you eat and how much you exercise if you’re predisposed, it creeps up on you.”

Oklesson’s thumb arthritis was even starting to affect her work.

“I’m working with a lot of young people and have arthritis, so it’s something they can’t quite understand,” said Oklesson, who works in sales. “Every now and then I find myself hitting the wrong key because my fingers are crooked.”

She even had to buy a special device to help her open jars in the kitchen.

But Oklesson got relief from Mandl in a previous study on thumb arthritis.

Mandl injected Oklesson with hyaluronic acid, a treatment that has proven effective for arthritis in the knees, but one that has not been carried over to the hands

Jessica, 16. “It just felt like ripping and heat.”

Jessica said the field was wet, which contributed to the injury, and she is currently in physical therapy three times a week.

She said it is frustrating being on the sidelines.

“It’s torture watching everything happening,” she said.

Lower-level MCL sprains can take anywhere between two to six weeks to recover from, while highergrade sprains can take two to three months to heal,

Rokito said.

Although you may injure your lower body, it does not mean you have to cease all physical activity, according to Rokito.

“We don’t want to put athletes at rest,” he said, noting it is fine to train your upper body even if your lower half is recovering for an injury.

Other sports injuries are more severe than strains and sprains and may need surgical treatment.

The most common

yet.

In fact, little research has been done on treatment for hand arthritis, according to Mandl.

“There was almost no research in this area and people were miserable,” she said.

People with thumb arthritis had few options to mitigate the pain.

They could take painkillers like aspirin, but that can interfere with stomach ulcers.

They could have a topical anesthetic or cortisone injected into the hand, but those are more short-term solutions.

Lastly, they could opt for surgery.

But many do not.

“They are often less open to having surgery on their hands,” Mandl said. “The surgery is fabulous with pain relief, but they are hesitant because the rehabilitation is very intense.”

In addition, many people fear surgery will leave them with limited motion.

But an injection of hyaluronic acid might provide pain relief for up to six months. At least that is Mandl’s theory, and one that will be tested with her clinical trial.

The trial has already begun, but Mandl is searching for the last few sufferers of thumb arthritis to participate.

In the study, Mandl injects volunteers with one of three treatments: the topical anesthetic, the cortisone or the hyaluronic acid.

The volunteers will not know which treatment they are receiving in order to counteract the placebo effect.

But at the end of the trial, each volun-

sports surgeries are shoulder and knee problems, including dislocated shoulders, which are more common in contact sports.

Rokito said teens who dislocate their shoulders have a more than 50 percent chance of suffering the same injury again.

Dislocated shoulders are most commonly seen in football players, wrestlers and lacrosse and soccer players, Rokito said.

Older athletes are more likely to dislocate their shoulders and may

Lisa Mandl, a rheumatologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan, is searching for a more effective treatment for thumb arthritis.

Photo courtesy Hospital for Special Surgery

teer will get a free dose of hyaluronic acid.

And at roughly $800 a pop, for many it is well worth the effort.

Mandl hopes that the hyaluronic acid will have longer-term positive effects for arthritis, which in turn will lead to a more exhaustive study by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and eventually it could be prescribed as a standard treatment.

“I think it’s very exciting,” she said.

“We did it five years ago. And if it hadn’t looked good we would not have done this study.”

tear their tendon called the rotator cuff.

Spotting the difference between a strain and a more severe injury can be done based on swelling and bruising.

The more swelling and bruising and the more difficult it is to move an injured joint, then the injury is of a higher grade, Rokito said.

Concussions are more likely to occur in participants in contact and collision sports such as football, soccer and wrestling.

“Concussions are a

mild traumatic brain injury,” Rokito said. “The adage that we should be following is: ‘When in doubt, sit them out.’”

The effects from concussions, whose symptoms include dizziness and headaches, are cumulative, Rokito said, and teens and young adults should be treated with caution — not just from physical exertion, but from mental exertion as well.

“They may have to take a break from school for a short period,” he said.

27

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GUIDE TO HEALTH • TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

NEW! INTRODUCTORY SPECIAL

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28

GUIDE TO HEALTH • TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

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Creedmor helps psych patients to cope

Creedmoor Psychiatric Center 79-25 Winchester Blvd.

Queens Village, NY 11427 718-264-4000

Beds: Not available Psychiatrists: Not available Psychologists: Not available Social Workers: Not Available Special Services: recovery skills, treatment for Koreanspeaking and Chinese-speaking residents, bilingual treatment for Spanish-speaking residents

BY RICH BOCKMANN Patients at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center are given opportunities to either manage or overcome their conditions through learning life and coping skills, participating in art and music therapy programs and running their own café to gain independence.

The state hospital provides inpatient hospitalization at its main campus at 79-25 Winchester Blvd. in Queens Village and outpatient services at clinics in Queens Village, Astoria, Rockaway Park and Elmhurst.

Creedmoor’s inpatient services are reserved for Queens residents 18 and up with severe psychological illness, although the hospital also treats Kore-

Elmhurst Hospital tackles larger load

an-speaking city residents and Chinese-speaking Bronx residents, according to Creedmoor’s web site. For bilingual Spanish speakers, the hospital has a special ward that offers translation of group therapy meetings.

Patients are normally referred through a hospital’s acute care psychiatric unit.

When asked for comment, a Creedmoor spokeswoman directed a reporter to the web site and declined to release information on how many psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers are employed at Creedmoor or how many beds are in the hospital.

One of Creedmoor’s special services is dialectical behavior therapy for

Elmhurst Hospital 79-01 Broadway Elmhurst, NY 11373 718-334-4000 Beds: 545 Doctors: 440 Nurses: 840 Special Services: cardiac care; AIDS center, Level III perinatal center, behavioral health services, physical rehabilitation, Level I trauma center, sexual assault response team center, stroke center, women’s health service, psychiatry, dialysis, pediatric emergencies, radiotherapy, rehabilitation,

BY REBECCA HENELY Two years after the closing of St. John’s Queens Hospital, Elmhurst Hospital Center has been working to meet the medical needs of all of western

Queens, whether for trauma, specialized services or primary care.

“The demand for services at our facility has increased dramatically, and we have had to handle this

people with self-destructive or aggressive dysfunctional behavior, according to its Web site.

The hospital offers a program for patients who have a psychiatric disorder and abuse drugs.

Creedmoor also specially monitors patients who have a psychiatric condition combined with medical problems.

Patients manage Big Nosh, a café on the hospital grounds, to help them gain life skills during treatment.

A host of amenities is found at Creedmoor, including a beauty salon and an exercise room with the latest equipment and a game room with billiards and ping-pong tables.

increased demand without receiving large increases in funding,” Christopher Constantino, executive director of Elmhurst, said in a statement. “This issue will continue to affect us as the population of Queens grows and the demand for healthcare grows with it.”

Elmhurst Hospital had its origins in the mid-1800s as City Hospital on what is now Roosevelt Island, but has been at its location on 79-01 Broadway since 1957.

A part of the city’s Health and Hospital’s Corporation, Elmhurst has a multitude of speciality services.

In 1982, it was designated a Level 1 Trauma Center. An AIDS Treatment Program was added to its services

Flushing Hospital puts patients needs first

BY CONNOR ADAMS SHEETS

Flushing Hospital Medical Center 45-00 Parsons Blvd., Flushing, N.Y. 11355 718-670-5000 Beds: 293 Doctors: 780 Nurses: 640 Special Services: State Designated Stroke Center, Pediatric Care, Pre-Natal Care, Wound Care, Geriatric Care, Substance Abuse

The secret to the more than a century of success at the oldest hospital in Queens, Flushing Hospital Medical Center, is its tight, personal connection to the community it serves.

Founded in 1884 by a group of women in a room with one bed in a rented house, Flushing Hospital Medical Center has more than 40 speciality clinics to provide personalized care to the diverse community that surrounds it.

A member of the Medisys Health Network that also includes Jamaica Hospital, Peninsula Hospital Center and Brookdale Hospital, Flushing Hospital is a 293-bed not-for-profit teaching hospital located at 45-00 Parsons Blvd. in Flushing.

The hospital just completed a renovation of its emergency department, which includes separate geriatric and pediatric units and last year served

43,000 patients. It is also known for its state-of-theart Labor, Delivery & Recovery Suites, which welcomed 2,778 new infants into the world in 2010.

FHMC’s mission is “to provide superior service to our patients and our community in a caring environment” and its vision is “to be the highest quality, most cost-effective healthcare provider, responsive and sensitive to all.”

Dr. Subrahmanya Bhat, the hospital’s chief of cardiology, said a couple of years ago that its focus on personal care is the hospital’s key asset.

“Because it’s a small hospital, it’s not assembly line care,” Bhat said. “We focus on community-based service.”

The mantra permeates veritably every department of the facility, from the borough’s only dedicated geriatric care unit, which offers 20 patient beds and caters to the

needs of the elder community by providing patients with highly qualified geriatric specialists, to the Department of Pediatrics, which has specialty areas and services, including pediatric and neonatal intensive care units.

Registered Nurse Mary-Ellen Caroleorn, who has worked at Flushing Hospital for more than 20 years, said the facility’s experienced nursing staff has a rapport with the community rarely found in the hustle-and-bustle of most city hospitals.

“Some of the new mothers here, they’ve come up to me and said ‘Oh, you took care of me when I was 4,’ ” Caroleorn said a couple of years ago.

“I always think of us as a mom-and-pop hospital.”

For more information about Flushing Hospital Medical Center or its services visit their website at www.flushinghospital. org.

in 1985. The most recent additions came in 2006, when the hospital started offering elective angioplasty and in 2008 with the opening of The Hope Pavilion, a cancer treatment facility that includes a child day-care center.

Ever since it opened its children’s health center in 1918, the first in the United States, Elmhurst has had a focus on pediatric care.

The hospital completed a Pediatric Emergency Department in June 2005. In

March, Elmhurst became one of the area hospitals to feature a Starlight Site, a colorfully decorated treatment room with games and a television for pediatric patients. Elmhurst also offers obstetrics and neonatal intensive care under its Women’s Health Service program, and delivered more than 4,000 babies in 2009.

Since it operates in one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse parts of Queens, Elmhurst

makes an effort to be sensitive to the multiple customs and beliefs held by those who come through its doors, especially in the area of Mental Health Services, according to Elmhurst’s web site.

More are coming to Elmhurst, which has seen a 15 percent boost in volume since St. John’s Queens Hospital in Elmhurst closed in 2009, said Constantino in an interview with the TimesLedger Continued on Page 38

Holliswood Hospital 87-37 Palermo St. Holliswood, N.Y. 11423 800-486-3005 or 718-776-8181

Holliswood helps to treat mentally wounded

Holliswood Hospital treats psychiatric disorders and substance abuse in children, adolescents and adults. The hospital also offers a militarywellness program for those experiencing difficulties stemming from pre-deployment, war zone or post-deployment adjustment as well as their families.

The center, which treats inpatients and of-

fers outpatient services, tailors treatment to each person’s needs. The team may include psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, expressive therapists, counselors and social workers or case managers. “I’m very proud of the team we have,� said Dr. Jeff Borenstein, CEO and medical director. “Some people who have psychiatric disorders also have chemical dependencies.

We have expertise in treat-

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Jamaica Hospital Medical Center 89-00 Van Wyck Expy.

Jamaica, N.Y. 11418 718-206-6000

ER tops at Jamaica Hosp.

Beds: 421 Doctors: 600 on staff Nurses: 1,000 Special Services: Level 1 Trauma Center, Pediatric Care Center, State-of-the-art Cardiology Center

BY IVAN PEREIRA What originally began 110 years ago as a medical facility located in a rented four-bedroom home in Jamaica has grown into one of the largest non-for-profit teaching hospitals in the city.

Jamaica Hospital Medical Center is the major hospital center in southeast Queens, serving a population greater than 1.2 million residents.

Located on the southbound side of the Van Wyck Expressway service road, it offers many inpatient and outpatient services. Its emergency medicine department, which is a Level 1 trauma center, accounted for 80 percent of the hospital’s admissions last year with more than 128,000 patients treated.

From swollen thumbs to accident victims, the hospital’s ER staff has seen it all and is specially trained to give the best care.

The hospital updated its Labor, Delivery and ReContinued on Page 30

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years old on an inpatient basis if their symptoms limit their ability to function normally in family, Beds: 125 (55 adult, 55 adolescent, 15 school and community setpediatric [ages 4-10]) tings. The hospital assessDoctors: 6 full-time psychiatrists, 5 es, stabilizes and treats full-time psychologists and psychoacute psychiatric disorders therapists, 6 full-time interns using a variety of methods Nurses: Not supplied such as individual, family Special Services: substance abuse or group therapy, and/or treatment; psychiatric treatment for children, adults, adolescents and senior medication. citizens; art and drama therapy; special Holliswood hosts a geriatric unit; post-traumatic stress range of self-help group disorder treatment meetings, including Overeaters Anonymous, a ing people who have both group for anxiety disorthose diagnoses. ders and a dialectical beThe 15-bed children’s havioral therapy group. program treats patients The dual treatment between 4 and 10 years program accepts adults old. There are structured battling substance abuse activities for the patients, as well as psychiatric parenting skills work- disorders, making use of shops and a school pro- cognitive behavioral and gram several hours a day 12-step approaches and so that the children do not adding family and indifall too far behind in their vidual therapy as needed. studies.

Dual treatment can proHolliswood’s ado- vide detoxification as well lescent program accepts as relapse prevention educhildren between 11 and 17 cation.

GUIDE TO HEALTH • TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

30 Wyckoff Heights Medical Center 374 Stockholm St. TL Brooklyn, NY 11237 718-963-7272

Beds: 350 Doctors: 418 Nurses: more than 400 Special Services: high-tech imaging, cardiac catherization, heart testing, obstetrical, gynecological services, hyperbaric chambers, radiosurgery, balloon sinuplasty

BY REBECCA HENELY In addition to providing an increasing amount of medical care to western Queens and Brooklyn, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center has implemented a program that makes admittance to the hospital as simple as entering a subway station.

In December, the center rolled out the Wyckoff Smart Card program.

Available for free to anyone in the community, the

Wyckoff admissions easy with Smart Card

card contains an encoded chip with all the information a patient needs to visit the hospital, including his or her date of birth and insurance coverage.

“This innovative tool can save time and hassle in registration and admission throughout the hospital system,” Wyckoff said in a statement.

Wyckoff Heights, which has been open on Stockholm Street between Wyckoff and St. Nicholas

Avenues since 1889, prides itself on beefing up services at a time when hospitals are cutting costs, the hospital said in a statement. In 2010 Wyckoff had 256,000 visits in its emergency departments for adult and pediatric patients and delivered 2,000 babies. A teaching hospital, the center trains physicians with the Weill Medical College of Cornell University and is an affiliate member of the New York Presbyterian Healthcare System, which has hospitals in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

“Through (our) teaching programs, medical residents and students receive academic guidance from seasoned physicians, we create outreach activities to educated patients on disease prevention and wellness,” Wyckoff said.

In addition to the Smart Card, Wyckoff

Dr. Ana Balica

has rolled out additional health-care services in recent years. Wyckoff recently added hyperbaric chambers, which provide oxygen to a patient at rates higher than atmospheric pressure and can act as therapy for diabetics and recent burn victims. Another new form of treatment is stereotactic radiosurgery as well, which uses radiation to treat brain lesions and does not require the use of a knife to enter the brain. Finally, Wyckoff has begun balloon sinuplasty, which can treat chronic sinus inflammation through the use of a catheter inserted in the nose that can expand the sinuses through the use of a balloon.

Wyckoff also has a women’s health center and a cardiac catheterization laboratory, which tests coronary circulation and various heart functions.

Jamaica Hospital Medical Center Continued from Page 29 covery suites with stateof- the-art equipment that helped the Ob-Gyn department deliver 2,700 babies in 2010.

In addition to immediate care, Jamaica Hospital also features several facilities that were set up to give patients superior long-term treatment. Its 13-bed medical intensive care unit treats patients who are recovering from ailments such as heart attacks with round-theclock maintenance by a staff of six to seven nurses and doctors.

Not all of the hospital’s facilities use hightech equipment to keep patients comfortable. The pediatric ER department, which was remodeled in 2007, has nine full examination rooms to treat more than 68,000 patients annually for common ail-

ments like asthma and seasonal allergies.

Knowing well that no child wants to spend a lot of time in treatment, the hospital designed the department to be kidfriendly.

The young patients are greeted at the entrance to the center with posters and murals of cartoon characters like Bugs Bunny, Batman and Disney princesses. While they are awaiting treatment, they can use the center’s play room, filled with coloring books, toys and movies, to relax with their peers.

The hospital also received a new machine this year that helps distract young patients when they receive IV treatments.

The machine plays music, projects colorful holograms and includes an interactive bubble machine.

(718) 545-7175

3149 Steinway St. (btw. Broadway & 31st Ave.) Astoria, New York 11103

New York Hospital Queens 56-45 Main St. Flushing, NY 11355 718-670-2000

Beds: 812 Doctors: 2,700 Nurses: 2,060 Special Services: cardiology, neurology, cancer treatment, AIDS research

BY HOWARD KOPLOWITZ North Shore University Hospital boasts the only kidney transplant program on Long Island along with 12 highly regarded neurology institutes and a trauma center with such a reputation that jockeys at nearby Aqueduct Race Track ask to be taken there when they fall off their horses.

The hospital, part of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, straddles the Queens-Nassau border in Manhasset, L.I. The health system is the ninth-largest employer in the city and the largest on Long Island.

Its expertise is centered on cardiac care, an infectious disease program that is rated among the best on Long Island and 12 institutes of neuroscience where some of the rarest neurological conditions are treated.

“Cardiac services is a huge area for North Shore,” said hospital spokesman Terry Lynam.

The hospital is a Level 1 trauma center, one of the few in the metropolitan area, he said.

While the trauma center treats primarily Long Island patients, it also takes in Queens residents and Aqueduct jockeys, who specifically request treatment at the center, Lynam said.

The Harving Cushing Institutes of Neuroscience is based at the hospital and

N. Shore expands capacities offers treatment for a variety of movement disorders, including Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease.

The Queens-Nassau border has the highest concentration of senior citizens in the state, and North Shore is among the leaders in geriatric medicine.

Also based at North Shore is a center for AIDS research and development and the Don Monti Cancer Center.

Obstetrics is another key aspect to care at North Shore, where construction is expected to start in the fall on a $40 million renovation to its maternity unit.

The upgrade includes 72 new private patient rooms.

Other new construction at the hospital includes a $30 million, 60,000-square-foot surgical pavilion that will expand the number of surgical suites and add eight to ten surgical rooms. A total of $8 million is being spent on two new operating rooms.

North Shore is also investing in its physical structure by spending $13 million to reconstruct its front lobby. No construction date has been set.

An issue at any hospital is parking spaces and North Shore plans to add more, although no timetable was given for that project.

New York Hospital offers high-tech treatment

31 TL

Private Hospital Beds: 519 Doctors and Nurses: More than 2,000 Special Services: Cardiology, Cancer Treatment, Neurology, Orthopedics and Rehabilitation

BY CONNOR ADAMS SHEETS Founded in 1957 as Booth Memorial Hospital, New York Hospital Queens has for decades been a stalwart of the Flushing community.

With the opening in June 2010 of a massive new $210 million building, the institution has increased its ability to serve Queens residents and to offer cutting-edge care.

The new eight-story building’s entire first floor is dedicated to ambulatory surgery, with 10 new operating rooms; two new patient units added 80 patient beds, increasing the hospital’s bed count to 519; the building has a floor dedicated to interventional procedures — particularly cardiological ones — with a hybrid operating room; and the top two floors have been left open as “shell space” to be filled with new medical facilities as technology advances. A new parking garage added 372 parking spaces, and the main building’s lobby.

“It allows us to provide more community access to higher quality care in Queens,” NYHQ spokeswoman Cynthia Bacon said. “That’s a big part of this. If we can expand, we can be more available for the people that need us. We stress that everything you need is here at New York Hospital Queens.”

Now that the new building is complete, and doctors and other staff

are working to treat patients every day there, the hospital is not taking a break from innovation.

The hospital is working to increase its emergency room capacity as demand has risen. Last year the hospital admitted or treated and released 116,004 people in its emergency facilities.

“We are in the pro-

cess of expanding our emergency room area.

We’re moving some things around and building some things out, not building a

new building,” Bacon said. “In the current existing space we will be expanding our ER area. There is an increased need for ER services, and the hypothesis is that it may be due to the closing of other hospitals.”

For more information on New York Hospital Queens’ future plans, visit its Web site at www.nyhq. org.

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GUIDE TO HEALTH • TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

North Shore University Hospital 300 Community Drive Manhasset, L.I. 11030 516-562-0100

GUIDE TO HEALTH • TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

32 Queens Hospital Center 82-68 164th St. Jamaica, NY 11432 TL 718-883-3000

Beds: 301 Doctors: 221 Nurses: 712 Special Services: Asthma, glaucoma management, sleep study evaluations, pediatric asthma program, colorectal surgery program, new endoscopy suite

Cohen is largest pediatric-care provider Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York 269-01 76th Ave. New Hyde Park, NY 11040 718-470-3000

Qns. Hospital Center picks up slack

The Queens Hospital Center, a member of the city Health and Hospitals Corporation, operates four clinic centers of excellence. These clinics specialize in cancer care, women’s health, diabetes management and behavioral health.

The hospital recruited one of the few female surgical oncologists in the United States to direct its Cancer Center in June 2001. The hospital’s emergency room is a Level 2 trauma center that includes adult, pediatric and psychiatric care.

After the closing of Mary Immaculate and St. John’s Hospitals in 2009, the hospital saw a surge in visits from patients. To manage the new load, the hospital added 40 beds to its facility.

The hospital’s comprehensive approach to cancer treatment houses its registration, pastoral care, family/patient resources and chemotherapy departments in the same facility, according to Philip Cooke, senior associate director for external affairs, marketing and advertising.

The hospital partners with the

American Cancer Society to sponsor a “Barbershop Initiative.” This program trains neighborhood barbers to encourage their customers to get prostate exams.

The QHC Cancer Center in partnership with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, the American Cancer Society and the Queens Public Library provides information on cancer education and awareness to library customers. They disseminate information through the library’s 61 community branches.

In February 2011, the hospital opened a new state-of-the-art endoscopy center that features video endoscopic and monitoring equipment, four recovery bays and other equipment for procedures such as colonoscopy.

“The unit has a dedicated staff of physicians from the GI and Colorectal Surgery services, specially trained nurses, as well as technicians and patient care associates,” hospital spokesman Philip Cooke said.

Far Rockaway hospital largest on peninsula St. John’s Episcopal Hospital South Shore 327 Beach 19th St. Far Rockaway, NY 11691 718-869-7000 Beds: not available Doctors: more than 400 Nurses: not available Special Services: South Shore Alcohol Detox Program, Bishop Charles Waldo MacLean Episcopal Nursing Home

BY REBECCA HENELY Created in 1905 to provide medical care to an underserved community, St. John’s Episcopal Hospital South Shore remains the largest hospital on the Rockaway Peninsula, of-

fering 60 different types of services.

“The hospital’s overarching goal has been to combine accessible, medical excellence with the compassionate, caring environment expected from a faith-based community

hospital,” St. John’s said on its website.

Not to be confused with St. John’s Queens Hospital in Elmhurst, which was closed in 2009, St. John’s Episcopal began its life as St. Joseph’s Hospital. Rev. Charles McDonnell, then the Roman Catholic Bishop of Brooklyn, asked the Sisters of St. Joseph to open the hospital, which they did in 1905 on the site of the former Star of the Sea Academy.

In 1976, Rev. Jonathan Sherman of Church Charities Foundation became steward and renamed it St. John’s Episcopal Hospital. It has been under the

Private hospital Nurses: 517 Doctors: 200 Beds: 157 Special Services: Pediatric Emergency Room, Bone Marrow Transplant Unit

BY HOWARD KOPLOWITZ The state’s largest provider of pediatric care is right here in Queens.

Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York, a 157-bed facility adjacent to the LIJ/North Shore hospitals in New Hyde Park, treats 1.8 million children a year.

One of the amenities that sets the children’s hospital apart is the ECMO machine, an instrument that ventilates oxygen from a patient’s blood. So when a baby does not respond to a normal ventilator, the hospital can use the machine to provide oxygen through the child’s blood.

Another noteworthy service offered at Cohen is its brain cooling machine, which is deployed following a traumatic delivery of a newborn to prevent brain injury.

This is where the hospital’s well-developed transport system becomes critical. Cohen transports 3,000 babies a year, mostly from other hospitals that do not have the means to care for the child.

The hospital also has a network of satellite centers throughout the region, including one in Flushing on Roosevelt Avenue. Cohen specialists alternate days when they visit each center. For instance,

stewardship of Episcopal Health Services since 1987 and remains the cornerstone of Episcopal Health, according to St. John’s website.

The hospital has 60 services ranging from neurosurgery to ultrasound, from psychiatry to speech therapy. It has Medical Education Programs with residencies in the branches of allopathy, osteopathy and podiatry

at the Flushing center, parents can make an appointment for their child to see a neurologist on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, a cardiologist on Wednesdays and a rheumatologist on Thursdays.

In addition, Cohen is a hospital committed to its young patients. Artwork created by children during their hospital stay lines the building’s corridors; the elevators resemble the interior of a space ship; clowns are part of the hospital’s staff.

There are playrooms on each of the hospital floors. Here child life specialists can work with the children, said Eric Chaikin, associate executive director of operations for the hospital. This helps the child maintain a level of normalcy, he said.

The atrium is part of a $22-million project that includes an expanded neonatal intensive care unit that opened in 2008.

Meanwhile, the hospital also completed work on a glass-covered atrium that will house a performance stage and a winter garden that finished last year.

The hospital is also in the midst of an expansion project on 100,000-squarefoot, six-story pavilion due to be completed next year.

and is afiliated with the State University of New York’s Health Science Center in Brooklyn.

St. John’s is the only facility in the Rockaways that provides 24-hour obstetric and gynecological services.

Along with the hospital, the grounds are also connected to the Bishop Charles Waldo MacLean Episcopal Nursing Home and the South Shore Detox

Center, which helps patients who have problems with substance abuse, alcohol abuse and chemical dependency problems, Penny Chin, a spokeswoman for St. John’s, said in an earlier interview with the TimesLedger Newspapers.

“We strive to provide quality care to our patients and are continually working to better serve the community,” Chin said.

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Mt. Sinai Hospital renowned for stroke care Mount Sinai Hospital 25-10 30th Ave. Long Island City, NY 11102 718-932-1000 Beds: 235 Doctors: Network of 500 Nurses: 480 Employees: 1,200 Special Services: surgical care, outpatient facilities, high-tech imaging

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This June will mark the 12th year Mt. Sinai Hospital of Queens in Long Island City has been open to the borough.

And according to a spokeswoman for the facility, it is because of the hospital’s quality care and seamless operation. “We are the only community hospital to bear the Mt. Sinai brand,� said Shelly Felder, referring to the flagship hospital in Manhattan.

In the 12 years since Mt. Sinai opened, the hospital staff has treated illnesses across the spectrum, but has shown particular adeptness for treating stroke victims.

In fact, a nationwide accreditation body called the Joint Commission designated Mt. Sinai as a primary stroke center — making it the only hospital in the bor-

Peninsula Hospital Center 51-15 Beach Channel Dr, Far Rockaway, NY 11691-1074 718-734-2000 Beds: 173 Doctors: 45 full-time physicians plus residents and attendees Nurses: 200 Special services: Cardiac catheterization laboratory, traumatic brain injury unit, Department of Health stroke center, coma stimulation program

Peninsula Hospital Center in Far Rockaway features a 173-bed acute care community teaching hospital campus encompassing a 200-bed longterm care and rehabilitation center.

The Peninsula Hospital Center was created in response to an accident in 1907, when the nearest hospital was in Long Island City.

The Carpenters and Joiners Union took the initiative to start a grassroots

Peninsula Hosp. upgrades campaign for a hospital in the area.

Servicing the Rockaways, the five towns of Nassau County and parts of both Queens and Brooklyn, Peninsula Hospital Center is celebrating with its Century Project, which includes the upgrade and renovation of the inpatient dialysis unit, acquisition of a new linear accelerator and the expansion of radiation oncology services, expanded surgical services, acquisition of new health information technology

ough to earn that distinction. “We are the only hospital in Queens to enjoy that certificate, which is considered the gold standard,� she said. “When you get in the ambulance, you should say: ‘Take me to Mt. Sinai.’�

The hospital also handles roughly 50,000 annual emergency room visits, according to Felder.

And care is streamlined, thanks to electronic record keeping in the ER. “It’s important for patient safety.� she said. When a doctor prescribes a medication, there is less chance of confusion or of reading the wrong name. Also, if a doctor prescribes a medication that is unusual given the symptoms, a warning flashes on the computer. “It also connects to doctors all over the hospital and outside of the hospital,� she said.

If a doctor wants to seek the advice of a specialist, he or she can send any pertinent records via computer. “They will be able to talk to the specialists online in real time,� she said. “The treatment is going to be so much better. That’s the future.�

The hospital also specializes in surgical care, outpatient facilities and high-tech imaging services, such as magnetic resonance imaging and CT scans.

And Felder said that there is more coming. “We are growing and increasingly hiring more and more specialized doctors,� she said. “We are becoming center of excellence.�

The hospital shares its name with the renowned Manhattan facility, which purchased the Queens location in 1999.

and the expansion of the Adult and Pediatric Diabetes Programs.

The most notable of the hospital’s features is the new Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, which will play an important role in the prevention, discovery and management of heart disease in the region. In line with its mission statement, which is to provide “the highest quality care... regardless of cultural, ethnic or racial background or one’s ability to pay,� Peninsula Hospital Center will be offering screenings free of charge to assist in the early warning signs of stroke, hypertension and heart disease, using the latest AngioScreen technology.

AngioScreen is a non-invasive 10-minute ultrasound procedure that tracts the flow of blood through the carotid arteries identifying places

where plaque buildup has narrowed the walls of the arteries, causing the flow to be restricted.

Peninsula Hospital Center features a plethora of services, which include a Traumatic Brain Injury Unit, Angels on the Bay Pediatric Unit, Advanced Imaging Services, Nuclear Medicine, Dental and Eye Care Centers. Peninsula is one of only two federally qualified health centers in Queens County and is the only hospital in the Rockaways and South Queens with the state Department of Health Stroke Center designation.

The hospital’s Center for Extended Care and Rehabilitation features a 7-day-a-week, medicalmodel Adult Day Health Care program and shortterm and long-term rehabilitation for various injuries.

St. Mary’s Hospital for Children 29-01 216th St. Bayside, NY 11360 718-281-8800

BY RICH BOCKMANN Children need constant care and attention, and when the youngest of patients require treatment after surgeries, traumatic accidents or premature births, St. Mary’s Healthcare System for children is there to assist both patients and their families.The St. Mary’s system serves roughly 4,000 children throughout the borough, Westchester and Long Island.

The system’s flagship facility, St. Mary’s Hospital for Children, is based in Bayside on 216th Street.

The 97-bed hospital is always at full capacity and there is a waiting list.

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Bayside’s St. Mary’s provides exceptional care for birth and death The majority of St. Mary’s patients are cared for outside the hospital through the home health-care program, which brings a bevy of pediatric services to the patient’s home. It is the largest provider of long-term home health care for children in New York state.

In the hospital, patients are cared for and those who are deemed able enough attend school at PS 23, which is currently located in trailers on the hospital’s campus.

“We try to provide a continuity of education while they live with us,” said Leslie Johnson, director of communications

for the hospital. “It’s a great collaboration between the teachers of New York City and our staff.”

Parents are allowed to visit their children any time. They attend therapy sessions, classes and share lunchtime with their children or duck into a quiet room with them for a moment of privacy. In the nursery, a pediatrician, nurse and mother hover over an infant. The pediatrician instructs the mother how to care for her baby while the nurse translates the instructions into Spanish. The hospital also provides a translation service for a number of languages.

In 2004, the hospital re-

ceived the Circle of Life award from the American Hospital Association. The award recognizes innovative programs in end-oflife care.

The hospital was founded in the 1870s by the sisters of St. Mary’s in Manhattan and moved to its current Bayside location in 1950. At the time, it was a refuge for children suffering from polio, tuberculosis and rheumatic fever whose parents needed help learning how to care for them.

Construction is currently underway on the hospital’s new patient pavilion, which is slated to open in 2012. While it will not add any additional beds, it will

quadruple the amount of rehabilitation areas.

“The needs of children today are very different from the needs of the population in the 50s,” Johnson said. “Many of our patients are now in four- or fivebed rooms. That’s not conducive to healing. What this is is rightsizing to provide adequate space for patient care and rehabilitation. There will be a new suite to allow for families to more comfortably stay with children.

Once the pavillion is completed, renovations on the hospital’s existing building will begin and the school will be brought inside.

GUIDE TO HEALTH • TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

Beds: 97 Staff: 300 clinical staff members Special Services: Pediatric Day Health Care Program,Traumatic Brain Injury and Coma Recovery Program, Center for Pediatric Feeding Disorders, Palliative Care

35

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GUIDE TO HEALTH • TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

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Beds: 208 Doctors: 68 attending psychiatrists, 75 residents and fellows in psychiatry Nurses: 163 Special Services: child, adult and geriatric psychiatry substance abuse psychiatric rehabilitation

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The nation lacks psychiatrists who want to work with children and the elderly, according to Dr. John Kane, vice president for behavioral health services at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks.

Kane and the 1,000 employees at this affiliate mental health center of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health Systems are providing services to address this shortage of trained physicians for children and the elderly.

“We have one of the largest psychiatric training programs in the country with a special focus on children and the elderly,” said Kane.

Kane identified the hospital’s first

Divorce Caribbean Style For a growing number of New Yorkers, tired of the delays and expense of convetional local divorces, fast, inexpensive Caribbean and offshore US divorces have been the answer.

A leader in the fast divorce business has been Divorcefast.com of Massachusetts, a company that has been providing speedy, low-cost foreign divorces for 50 years.

The company provides divorces that can be completed in as little as one day in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the US offshore island of Guam.

According to Alan Alford,

proprietor of Divorce.com, some of the divorces offered require travel to the court, while some can be done without any travel or court appearance. Some require both parties to sign the court petition for divorce, while others can be achieved with only one party signing. All of the divorces happen very quickly and with a minimum amount of paperwork.

The divorces are valid and recognized everywhere, and Alford reports that he processes several thousand of them every year, particularly for New Yorkers. The total cost for fast divorces starts

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at $895, with other options raising the price to as high as $1,500. All of the divorces, Alford says, are completed within a few days and the clients are then free to remarry or otherwise continue with their lives as single persons.

Anyone interested in more details about the Divorcefast offerings should access the company website: www.divorcefast.com The forms and instructions are printed out from there and submitted to the company. For those lacking Internet access Alford and his staff are prepared to discuss foreign divorces on the phone, or by mail.

area of excellence as providing mental health services for children, adolescents, adults and the elderly.

“Anything that anyone in any of these patient populations would need, they could get here,” he said.

For example, Zucker Hillside is one of the few centers in the country funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health for research in the area of schizophrenia.

“We have a wonderful group of patients and families who are very willing to work with us to advance knowledge in this area,” he added. “Our goal is to try and intervene as early as possible to improve the outcome. The sooner we can make the right diagnosis, the better the Continued on Page 38

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GUIDE TO HEALTH • TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

Remember Your Loved Ones

GUIDE TO HEALTH • TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

38 Long Island Jewish Medical Center 270-05 76th Ave. TL New Hyde Park, NY 11040 718-470-7000

Beds: 827 Doctors: 500 full-time physicians, more than 2,500 with admitting privileges Nurses: 1,270 Special Services: cardiology, neurology, orthopedic surgery, obstetrics, gynecology

LIJ on Queens-Nassau border praised for cardiac services

BY HOWARD KOPLOWITZ Patients turn to Long Island Jewish Medical Center for anything from its highly regarded cardiac services to its bustling obstetrical program.

The hospital is part of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, which is the ninth-largest employer in the city and the largest on Long Island.

LIJ has been recognized by the state for cardiology, receiving praise for its low levels of patient mortality during angioplasty surgeries.

“Cardiac services would be viewed as one of our major service lines,” said hospital spokesman Terry Lynam, noting that the area is also one where North Shore University Hospital performs well.

“We’re fortunate in the sense that both of these hospitals have great reputations for angioplasty and open-heart surgery,” he said.

The hospital also is known for cardiothoracic surgery, neurology, orthopedic surgery and obstetrics and gynecology, according to Lynam.

“LIJ has the second-busiest obstetrical program in the state,” he said.

To that end, the hospital is embarking on $500 million construction projects on its campus in New Hyde Park, including a new women’s hospital complete with private rooms.

“We need to improve the accommodations so they’re single-occupancy,” Lynam said.

The hospital also boasts a hearing and speech center on the campus.

At the center, doctors perform cochlear implants that give deaf patients the gift of hearing. Head and neck surgeries are also performed there along with treatments for patients who have trouble speaking.

LIJ will be expanding the center by adding 12,000 square feet to the space, Lynam said.

The hospital is also on the cutting edge of radiation medicine.

It uses technology with GPS-precision to treat prostate cancer patients. A machine that transmits radiation shuts off automatically when it detects movement in the patient.

Whenever a person with prostate cancer burps or coughs during treatment, radiation can accidently hit healthy tissue instead of the area to be treated with other technologies.

Patients also turn to the hospital for cancer treatment in general.

“Our chief of hemotology/oncology is internationally known for his research in the area of leukemia,” Lynam said.

The hospital is a designated stroke center, meaning stroke sufferers are routinely taken to LIJ for treatment, and a Level 3 trauma center.

Zucker Hillside Hospital Continued from Page 36 chances are of a good outcome.”

In order to better serve patients, the hospital is adding a new in-patient pavilion, according to Michael Dwyer, associate director for the facility. It will house 115 stateof-the-art beds and will improve the overall care the hospital can provide.

“It will raise the bar for health care in this region,” he said. “We really understand that we need to build for tomorrow if we’re going to stay competitive.”

But the hospital also does extensive outpatient care.

Each year the facility serves 200,000 out patients from Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties.

In addition to mental illnesses, Zucker Hillside has substance abuse, bipolar and depression programs.

Elmhurst Hospital Continued from Page 28 earlier this year. The hospital is scheduled to open a Chest Pain Observation Unit in December. The six-bed center will diagnose chest pain and provide treatment, either on-site or through referrals to area care facilities. The new unit is expected to ease the heavy overcrowding.

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May 2011 Student of Distinction

Khemraj Ramnauth Business, Computer Applications & Entrepreneurship HIGH SCHOOL TimesLedger Newspapers’ next “Student of Distinction� is a student at BUSINESS, COMPUTER APPLICATIONS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP H.S. in Cambria Heights. He was recommended to us by several staff members including Reine Nyirenda, Nadine Morgan-Thomas and Lenore Krieger.

Khemraj Ramnauth, a resident of Richmond Hill whose family came from Guyana, is the designated June 2011 Valedictorian of the Business, Computer Applications & Entrepreneurship H.S. in the Campus Magnet Complex, Cambria Heights. His scholarship, school and community service were a 4 year activity.

One of his ďŹ rst activities in the Business H.S. was to join the Student Government guided by Coordinator of Student Affairs (COSA) Reine Nyirenda who introduced him to the world of community service. Another early activity was to join the staff of the new school newspaper which was named The Business Buzz. He wrote stories, some of which were published in The PRESS and Our Times which are local newspapers, as he became an editor of the BUZZ with his buddy Parish Mitchell. He was one of several students who went with Ms. Nyirenda and advisor Mr. Bob Harris to newspaper work shops at Baruch College, Manhattan.

He and Parrish learned how to lay out newspapers using Desktop Publishing and created 6 - four page school newspapers during their years of volunteer work after school or between regular classes.

He is a member of school business oriented groups which

are the Business Professionals of America and Future Business Leaders of America, participated in annual American Cancer Society Relays for Life in Cunningham Park, is a member of the I-Squad which does technical work for the school, created articles for school web pages, volunteered with New York Cares food pantries and did park clean up, soup kitchens, school beautiďŹ cation and collected canned food and toys for the needy during holiday season.

Business teacher Nadine Morgan-Thomas is the Coordinator of the Virtual Enterprise (VE) business class which is organized like a corporation with the students performing all the activities performed in an actual business. She explained that the class nominated Khemraj to be the Chief Financial OfďŹ cer (CF0) of the virtual company called Business Supplies Inc. He also worked with his peers to compete in the NYC Virtual Enterprise Business Plan Competition. He worked tirelessly many evenings after school with his classmates to prepare the business plan and the PowerPoint presentation for the competition. When there was a glitch with the PowerPoint presentation Khemraj persisted until he solved the problem allowing his team to have one of the best presentations in the competition.

Roll for 4 years, is an Arista member and earned Perfect Attendance Awards.

Technically, Khemraj was certiďŹ ed in Microsoft OfďŹ ce, Word and PowerPoint, skilled in Web Design and Desktop Publishing. Guidance Counselor Ms. Lenore Krieger, “praises him for becoming computer technically proďŹ cient, taking part in many volunteer activities, being modest, kind and sensitive to the needs of others while being the “number oneâ€? person in the school. He approached his studies with a true thirst for knowledge going out of his way to pursue excellence in all he attemptedâ€?.

He has been accepted into NYU PolyTechnic University where he plans to study to become an Electrical Engineer.

His motto is, “If they can do it, I can do it too�. The Principal of the Business, Computer Applications & Entrepreneurship H.S. is Dr. Herman Guy. TimesLedger Newspapers and CNG congratulate Khemraj on all of his accomplishments and wish him much success with his endeavors upon graduation.

Ms. Morgan-Thomas praised the part Khemraj played in the NYC Adweek AdFutures annual competition. He and his peers worked with a top Manhattan advertising agency to create an advertisement which would alert teenagers to the hazards of sending inappropriate digital images of themselves to friends via the internet and cell phone. He and his peers had to travel to Manhattan several times to prepare the advertisement which won ďŹ rst place for the team.

Academically, Khemraj Ramnauth has taken 6 college credits in school in the early morning at the Career Pathways program through Queensborough Community College taught by adjunct professor and business teacher Ms. M. L. Goldston, took college courses at Devry and earned 3 college credits, is on the School Leadership Team (SLT) where parents, administrators and teachers meet to evaluate school programs and suggest improvements to increase the academic quality of the school, has been on the Honor

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GUIDE TO HEALTH • TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

e d nt of D u t S istinction

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40

GUIDE TO HEALTH • TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

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Winthrop ranks in the Top 5% of America’s hospitals— year, after year, after year.

HealthGradesŽ has named Winthrop-University Hospital a Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence™– for the third year in a row. This designation is reserved for the Top 5% of all hospitals in the country that have achieved hospital-wide clinical excellence.

Winthrop is the only Nassau County hospital named in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Winthrop also achieved these HealthGrades rankings and awards, among others:

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Dining Out 40 Sudoku 40 QStage 41-42 Arts & Entertainment 41 Crossword Puzzle 43

TimesLedger May 12-18, 2011 WE

TO THE ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND DINING

BY ARLENE MCKANICK

The X Bud Roses Troupe, from Mongolia, dazzles with contortion in Dance On! the 33rd season show of the Big Apple Circus.

Photo by Bertrand Guay/Big Apple Circus

The Big Apple Circus returns for its 33rd year with an international cast at Cunningham Park in Queens. Called “Dance On!” it will run from May 21 to June 5.

Jenny Vidbel, a third-generation circus performer who brings her little white equines and goats to the show, spoke to the TimesLedger about the upcoming performance and her entertainment influences.

Vidbel’s grandfather was an exotic animal trainer, specializing in elephants, and her grandmother also trained the horses.

“I was around lions and tigers and all sorts of critters,” Vidbel says. “My grandparents taught me to respect them and they were really a part of the family. Elephants were very close and protective so it was a great feeling growing up. I just loved them so much.”

Vidbel’s performers — her “boys” — are 11 Welsh ponies and one tiny, 32-inch tall American miniature horse who brings up the rear. He’s the only one, by the way, who’s, well, whole.

They’re Kenny, George, Jodie, Ian, Tommy, Tarzan, Hank, Randy, Willie, Toby, Cash and Frankie. They’re boys because girls are too temperamental, and the boys Continued on Page 44

42 WE

Agora: The place to get your Greek on in Forest Hills

TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

BY SUZANNE PARKER Before if I needed to satisfy a craving for Greek food, I would have headed for Astoria, our region’s Greek cultural capital.

Northeastern Queens, from Bayside to Little Neck, another Greek population center, would have been another good option. But, on the other hand, Forest Hills doesn’t exactly conjure scenes from the Aegean. Or does it? Just maybe Agora Tavern, a new arrival on Austin Street, is going to change my perceptions.

Word of the great new place seems to be out. Early on a recent Wednesday evening, we were lucky enough to get a table. Reservations are not an option at this sleek modern aptly colored blue-and-white eatery. They manage to convey the combined messages of “Greek” and “seafood” without a speck of Greek nauticalia.

Paper-thin slices of tempura-like zucchini, eggplant and battered fried cubes of kefalograviera cheese are mated with a savory ramekin of tzatziki (garlicky yogurt and cucumber dip). Greeks salads here, officially called Horiatiki, are not the usual. Wedges of excellent tomatoes abound along with generous slabs of feta, sliced onions, cucumbers and green peppers. Olives are in scarce supply, and lettuce and anchovies entirely absent.

A small garnish of sprouts suffices for any semblance of leafiness. Not bad, just maybe not exactly what I was expecting, and without airy greens — quite filling.

Life aquatic is definitely the main event here.

If you want to check it out before you order, an array of the day’s offerings is displayed in a showcase in the rear. Their website

DINING OUT

Kolokithi: fried eggplant, zucchini and Greek cheese with tzatziki.

Photo by Suzanne Parker.

No fishnets, stuffed fish, or other chazeri. Good call.

Skip the spreads here, not that they aren’t great, but with clever ordering you can sample some of them and a whole lot more.

White bean dip with a light slick of fruity olive oil and a sprinkling of herbs is delivered to your table gratis

with either a mini-baguette or toasted pita according to their whim, as far as we could tell. Multicolored wedges of sugar-sweet beets surround a central mound of skordalia, a garlic and almond-based dip to create Patzaria. Kolokithi could make you forget you ever heard of Buffalo wings.

claims that all seafood is purchased fresh daily, and everything I’ve tasted seems to support their assertion. A sweet-fleshed royal dorado was served grilled, topped with capers and herbs. The quality of the fish made this simple preparation work brilliantly. Seafood penne with shrimp, scallops, mussels and clams may not have been as abundant with seafood as some but its fresh tasting mollusks and crustaceans were obviously chosen with care, and what it lacked in quantity it more than made up for in quality.

The slurp-worthy flavor of the white wine and garlic sauce would have made the dish a success even without the seafood.

My contrary dining partner wasn’t in the mood for fish. “So order a steak,” I suggested, not really meaning it. I inwardly Continued on Page 45

Agora Taverna 70-09 Austin St Forest Hills, NY 11375 (718) 793-7300 agorataverna.com Price Range: Apps: $4.95-$12.95, Mains; $12.95-$23.95 Cuisine: Greek with emphasis on seafood.

Setting: Long, narrow, close quarters but attractive.

Service: Attentive, professional.

Hours: Lunch & Dinner Daily, Weekend Brunch.

Reservations: No. Alcohol: Wine & Beer.

Parking: Street Dress: Casual Children: Children’s menu.

Music: No. Takeout: Yes Credit cards: Yes Noise level: Acceptable.

Handicap accessible: Yes

Answers in Sports

STAGE

The Magic ofâ&#x20AC;Ś â&#x20AC;&#x201D; A tribute to the wide world of entertainment - with a focus on ďŹ lms, theater, radio, and television - will unfold on stage as Free Synagogue of Flushing Community Theater Gtri[ presents â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Magic Of...,â&#x20AC;? an original musical revue.

When: May 14 and 21, 8 p.m., May 22 at 3 p.m.

Where: Free Synagogue of Flushing, 41-60 Kissena Blvd., Flushing Cost: $16, seniors and children under 10 $14.

Where: Free Synagogue of Flushing, 41-60 Kissena Blvd., Flushing Contact: Charlene D. Greenberg fsfctg@yahoo.com (516) 354-3017 Web site: spotlightonstage. com/fsfctg.htm A Midsummer Nightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dream â&#x20AC;&#x201D; An enchanting evening of fantasy as we explore the Celtic folklore behind the characters in Shakespeareâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most magical comedy.

May 12 and 13 at 7 p.m., and

May 14 at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Admission: $15. Available online @ www.smarttix.com or call 917-750-9957 Where: Bowne Street Community Church, 14311 Roosevelt Ave., Flushing, New York Contact: 917-750-9957 Web site: www.smarttix.com A Midsummer Nightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dream â&#x20AC;&#x201D; An enchanting evening of fantasy as we explore the Celtic folklore behind the characters in Shakespeareâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most magical comedy.

When: May 18-20, 7 p.m. May 22, 2 p.m.. May 25-26 , 7 p.m.

Cost: $15.

Where: The Secret Theatre, 44-02 23rd St., Long Island City, New York Contact: www.secrettheatre. com or call 718-392-0722 Web site: queensshakespeare. com Graduation to Murder! â&#x20AC;&#x201D; A comedy murder mystery dinner show.

Cost: $45 When: June 3, 8 p.m.

Where: Riccardoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, 21-01 24th Ave., Astoria Contact: killingkompany@ killingkompany.com 718-7217777 Web site: killingkompany.com

MEETINGS Gala Buffet Luncheon â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Donation is $30 per person.

RSVP.

THE ARTS CONCERTS Annual Scott Joplin Memorial Concert at St. Michaelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x201D; St. Michaelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cemetery is hosting its annual Scott Joplin Concert.

Dr. Ed Berlin, the authoritative expert on Ragtime, will have a power point presentation.

Following Dr. Berlin, the Canary Cottage Dance Orchestra and the Victrolian VaudevilleBarbershop Quartette will perform.

Gullwing Motor Cars will provide several classic cars to provide an air of the time to the event. St. Michaelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s will offer a free BBQ. Last year over

When: May 15, noon Where: Sisterhood of the Rockwood Park Jewish Center, 156-45 84th St., Howard Beach Contact: Faye 718-848-6974 North Shore Playwrights Circle Meeting â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Formerly known as the Playwrights Circle of Great Neck, this open group features discussion, workshopping and writing exercises for playwrights in Queens and Nassau counties.

When: Every other Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 9:30 p.m.

Where: Sterling Glen of Great Neck, 96 Cutter Mill Rd., Great Neck Cost: Free membership Contact: Robin Gorman Newman - robin@lovecoach. com 516-732-0911 The p-Roject â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Based on â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Persiansâ&#x20AC;? by Aescylus.

Directed by Ioanna Katsarou and Dimitris Bozinis. Modern Greek translation by Ioanna Katsarou English translation

by Chryssanthi VentouratosKatsarou. Original Music by Dimitris Dimitrakopoulos. In English, Ancient Greek and Modern Greek with English Supertitles.

Tickets: $20/Children and seniors $15 When: Fri./Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. through May 22 Where: Greek Cultural Center, 26-80 30th St., Astoria Contact: reservations@ greekculturalcenter.org 718726-7329 Web site: www. greekculturalcenter.org

The Voice â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Symphony No. 25 in G Major - W.A. Mozart, Queens Symphony Orchestraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concerto performance featuring Nan-Cheng Chen, cello 1st place winner of QSOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2010 Young Soloist Competition and Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Op.31 - Benjamin Britten.

When: May 14, 6:30 p.m.

Where: Queensborough Performing Arts Center, 222-05 56th Ave. and SpringďŹ eld Blvd., Bayside Contact: 718.570.0909 Web site: http://www. queenssymphony.org/scripts/ prodView.asp?idproduct=30

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a thousand burgers and franks were enjoyed by the audience.

RCN Cable will be present promoting the concert and noting its upcoming support to the fundraiser in June to help dedicate the only monument outside of Manhattan to the 343 FireďŹ ghters of the World Trade Center attacks of 9/11.

The concert is open to all.

When: Saturday, May 14, 2 p.m.

Where: St. Michaelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cemetery, 72-02 Astoria Blvd., East Elmhurst Contact: Ed Horn 718 278 3240 Web site: http://www. stmichaelscemetery.com/

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Annie â&#x20AC;&#x201D; The run will last for six shows.

Cost: Adults tickets $15, Child and Senior tickets $12. All Sunday tickets $12.

When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays May 13, 14, 20, 21, 27 and 28; 2 p.m. May 22 and 28 When: May 13, 14, 20 and 21 at 8 p.m.; May 15 and 22 at 2 p.m.

Where: St. Andrew Avellino Church, Northern Boulevard and 157th Street, Flushing Contact: Janine Werner JWerner2@schools.nyc.gov

guide to D

43

44

TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

WE

STAGE

Your guide to the Queens theater scene

Reporting good theater in Queens, one show at a time Ronald B. Hellman ■

The Play’s The Thing If you pay attention to the news of the day, especially the politics of it, you have to believe that the crazies have taken over.

And many of those who are sane may be well-meaning, but they sure don’t have a clue. (Thanks to the recent elimination of Bin Laden, we’ve had a few days of responsible unity, but how long will that last?)

So as I approach the fourth anniversary of writing this theater column, I’m trying hard to summon up my usual optimism and positive attitude. Which is what you have to have if you’re a

theater person, because as Tom Stoppard pointed out in “Shakespeare in Love”: “The natural condition (of the theater ) is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.”

In looking back over my previous 84 columns, originally appearing every two weeks but now once a month, my goal has been to support and promote the vibrant theater community of Queens.

On occasion I’ve looked east to Nassau, south to Brooklyn and west to Manhattan, but the emphasis is always right here in our borough of more than 2.2 million inhabitants. Our theater companies may differ in size and shape, quality and aspirations, but they all strive to put on good show.

The major thrust of my writing has been to make you aware of all the theater events that are available, and why you should show up. The columns are not

My goal has been to support and promote the vibrant theater community of Queens. meant to be calendar listings or reviews of what each group is doing, although from time to time I focus on a particular production, but a telling of what it takes to put on a show, the ones involved in getting it done, and how much you’ll enjoy seeing it.

Truth be told, the majority of our vast population seldom if ever goes to the theater. Movies and television are the popular entertainment of our time, and theater remains a tough sell – its average audience is of AARP age, 50 and up. The cost of tickets can be a major obstacle if you’re going to see the pros on Broadway or Off Broadway, even if you’re savvy enough to get some of the offered discounts.

But that’s not the case locally. A ticket to a show in Queens is usually well under $20. Okay, you’re not going to see a celebrity name, and the production values — sets, costumes, lighting and sound— may not compare, but you will get a good seat for a good play or musical that you probably have heard of, and you’ll see a quality of performance that will surprise you, all in a venue close to home.

is the ring master.

The theme of these shows is dancing, which was thought up by artistic director Guillaume Dufresnoy. Ann Hould-Ward did the costumes. “This year we started the first half of the show kind of playing and very traditional, and during the show we keep adding color till it’s a big Hollywood finale.” Vidbel says.

Peter Pucci is the choreographer, Eric Michael Gillet is the stage director, Todd Rosenthal is the scenic designer and Rob Slowik returns as the music director.

Circus spokesman Phil Thurston adds, “This is a really wonderful opportunity for people in Queens and Eastern Long Island to come and see the Big Apple Circus. It’s important for people to know that our tent is air conditioned and they’re not gonna be sweltering. They’re going to really enjoy a cool show! And no seat is farther than 50 feet from the ring, so there’s that intimacy.

You feel like you’re right in the action. I think people respond to that.”

Continued from Page 41 “really show the true spirit of the horse,” Vidbel says. Moving them around could be compared to a military campaign.

“The animals are always first,” Vidbel says. “We like to get them to the next spot and situated and comfortable. For me it’s like bringing a traveling farm.” All in all she has about 40 animals. When they’re not working, they live together on her upstate farm in New York, with her retired animals, including pigs, one of which used to roll out the red carpet for her during shows.

“As long as I used a little piece of chocolate in the carpet, he’d roll it out!” Vidbel says.

She has nothing but praise and admiration for her human colleagues, too.

“What a diverse group of people we have. We have a Chinese troupe (the Wuqiao Acrobatic Troupe) that does acrobatic tricks with the lasso, four boys from Kenya (The Kenyan Boys) who do tumbling and are so full of energy.” There’s also a troupe of Mongolian girls, the X Bud Roses Troupe, who do contortions. “They will amaze you how they twist their bodies into pretzels — rhythmically.”

The performers started together in August last year, took most of the winter

Another and related theme explored in my columns has been on what it takes to attract an audience. There’s no easy answer to that question, especially since here in New York City so much is available to compete for our time and dollars. What I do know, however, is that the older theatergoers, who most of the groups depend on, are not enough to fill the seats. I have strongly suggested that more contemporary, challenging and ethnically diverse works will appeal to a younger and different audience, people who you almost never see at your venue. And best of all, we seniors will continue to show up.

If you have something to say about local theater, or would like some coverage in my column, I’d be happy to hear from you.

Contact Ron Hellman at RBH24@Columbia.edu.

From Africa, the African Acrobats/ Acrobats Internationale pump up the fun with a high-energy dance and pole act with feats of incredible strength and agility in Dance On! the 33rd Season show of the Big Apple Circus.

Big Apple Circus company member Andrey Mantchev gives a phenomenal hand–balancing performance in Dance On! the 33rd Season show of the Big Apple Circus.

Photo by Bertrand Guay/Big Apple Circus

Photo by Bertrand Guay/Big Apple Circus

off and then resumed the tour in April.

They include Mark Gindick, the Man Who Dances, Gima Tshehai, who combines juggling with percussion, and Russian native Regina Dobrovitskaya and her cloud

swing. Rob Torres, a clown from New Jersey, is one of the few Americans in the circus, and spent a while touring in Europe.

Bulgarian Andrey Mantchev gives a handbalancing performance and Barry Lubin plays the iconic Grandma. Kevin Venardos

IF YOU GO Big Apple Circus Where: Cunningham Park, 196-22 Union Turnpike, Fresh Meadows When: May 21 - June 5, Tues - Fri, 10 a.m. 8p.m.; Sat - Mon, 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Cost: Tickets start at $15 Contact: To purchase tickets call 888-5413750 or visit bigapplecircus.org.

Web site: bigapplecircus.org

Dining out Continued from Page 42

worthwhile indulgence. Go for the ekmek—shredded filo custard and pistachio whipped cream. Alternatively, the chocolatina is a Greek-named version of a chocolate mousse served with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream and a few roasted figs.

The Bottom Line Agora is the best new restaurant to open on Austin Street in living mem-

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

y

TimesLedger Newspapers May 12-18, 2011

By Pete Canty (Pete@gfrpuzzles.com)

QUEENS COLLEGE CHORAL SOCIETY

70TH ANNUAL SPRING CONCERT JAMES JOHN, Music Director

BEETHOVEN’S

MISSA SOLEMNIS

LAST WEEK'S ANSWER

BURNING ISSUES

Casual Dress Across 1. “_____ Fiction” 5. Interlock, as gears 11. AWOL chasers 14. Precedes friendly 15. MTV parent 16. Consume 17. Part of outfit for the head 19. CAT scan alternative 20. Tenant 21. Squirrel’s find 23. Frame again, as a photo 26. New England mascot 28. Part of outfit for the torso 32. Segment of 65-Across 33. “Platoon” setting, for short 34. Part of CBS: Abbr.

35. Iowa State site 37. Mix-up 39. Ivy in Philly 8. Take, as blame 43. Mentalist Geller 9. India’s smallest state 45. Belief 10. Compassion 46. Mauna _____ 47. Part of outfit for the legs 11. Written recollection 12. Repeat 52. Cure for all 53. Stopped the squeaking 13. Tour of duty 18. One of the 54. Muscat native “Little Women” 55. “_____ for the weary” 22. Like a fall day, perhaps 59. Rapper ___ Kim 60. Part of outfit for the feet 23. Italia’s capital 24. K-6: Abbr.

65. Year abroad 25. Inventory: Abbr.

66. Released (from) 27. Take for granted 67. Shade trees 29. Like some jobs?

68. Gas-pump abbr.

30. Beachgoer’s goal 69. Sports gambler’s 31. In-box contents concern 36. Red Sea nation 70. Pro ___ 38. Seminoles’ sch.

Down 40. Airline to Tel Aviv 1. Watering hole?

41. ___ of the above 2. Mex. neighbor 42. Former Wall St. initials 3. “___ Miserables” 4. Future attorney’s studies 44. Quotes poetry 47. Great hunger 5. Gabor and Longoria 48. Not digital 6. Zeroes in soccer 49. Type of website ad 7. Mighty wind

45

Saturday, May 14, 8 pm Colden Auditorium | Queens College

50. Incense stick 51. One or the other 52. Precedes opposite 56. “This one’s _____” 57. Kelly of morning TV 58. Cornerstone abbr.

61. Use-by abbr.

62. Suffix with pay 63. C.P.R. expert 64. Gov’t I.D. issuer

Quotable Quote Although golf was originally restricted to wealthy, overweight Protestants, today it’s open to anybody who owns hideous clothing.

• • • Dave Barry

By GFR Associates • • • Visit our web site at www.gfrpuzzles.com

Don’t miss this special performance as the Choral Society joins with the Queens College Choir, Chorus, and Orchestra—a choir of more than 200 voices celebrating the conclusion of our 70th anniversary season.

TICKETS:

$20; $18 seniors, students, alumni; $5 for students with valid QC ID

TO ORDER: Call the Kupferberg Center Box Office at 718-997-8080, or go to kupferbergcenter.org ($1 surcharge).

For information on group discounts, contact James.John@qc.cuny.edu

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TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

rolled my eyes when he ordered, but had I let on what I was thinking, I would have had to eat my words.

Agora could be a stealth steak house. His 16-ounce Brizola, or NY strip steak, was tender, juicy, flavorful, and cooked medium rare, exactly as ordered. It compared favorably to most I’ve had on the premises of purported steak specialists.

Agora’s desserts are a

ory, and my Forest Hills memory goes back quite a ways. The food is traditionally Greek, but with enough unusual variations on the theme to keep it interesting. The service is friendly, professional, and wellstaffed, and has avoided the sense of disorganization that often plagues new dining establishments. Prices are reasonable. Outdoor seating is available in good weather. I’m delighted that they’re on my home turf, and expect to return many times in the future.

Business

46

TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

WE

New pub in Sunnyside stays close to home Built by neighborhood contractors, Molly Blooms staffs area residents staff and seeks local literary crowd

BY REBECCA HENELY With its dark wood facade, embroidered upholstered booths and 19th-century-style chandeliers, Molly Blooms, at 43-13 Queens Blvd. in Sunnyside, bears strong resemblance to a Victorian-era Irish pub — only with WiFi access and a large-screen TV. The pub and coffee shop, which opened in March, is the latest venture of Sunnyside resident and activist Ciaran Staunton. Having run O’Neill’s Irish Pub and Restaurant, at 729 Third Avenue in Manhattan, for 15 years, Staunton is taking a similar formula back to his place of residence, opening a seven-daya-week establishment that is a coffee shop by day and a bar by night.

But by linking the bar to James Joyce’s famous novel “Ulysses,” whose main character’s wife is named Molly Bloom, Staunton is aiming to take visitors back to the type of place

Joyce might have frequented.

“That’s what we wanted to recreate,” Staunton said.

Yet Staunton is not only interested in luring in the coffee, beer or literary lovers. As someone who has long been interested in beautifying Sunnyside, he is also hoping to help out his neighborhood. In constructing and staffing his bar, Staunton said he hired local contractors and has hired people from the community to staff his pub. Much of the meat comes from the Butcher Block, at 43-46 41st St., in Sunnyside and local moms come in to cook scones in the morning.

“We cannot say ‘shop local’ if we don’t spend local as contractors and hirers,” Staunton said.

In addition to the Joycean interior, Molly Blooms also features a garden in the back where patrons will be able to sit, eat and drink when the weather is mild.

Like the interior, the garden is Wi-Fi ready.

Molly Blooms has six types

of draft beer, many city-brewed, as well as a small menu featuring salads, wraps, burgers, vegetarian items and daily specials.

Some of the specials include Irish comfort food such as lamb stew and shepherd’s pie. In the morning the pub serves coffee, tea and scones. The bar is also planning to host nights with traditional Irish music, jazz music and book and poetry readings.

Staunton said Sunnyside has always had a large progressive element and hopes that they will find at Molly Blooms a place to hang their hats.

“That’s what we’re not,” Staunton said, “‘just another bar.’”

Molly Blooms is open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 11 p.m. on Sunday.

Ciaran Staunton, an activist and businessman, has opened up the James JoycePhoto by Rebecca Henely inspired Molly Blooms pub in Sunnyside.

FUND-RAISERS

BUSINESS CALENDAR Elder Law Seminars — As in previous years, Flushing House will hold three “Elder Law Seminars” for Spring 2011. Once again, Flushing House opens its doors to the community, and uses their large dining room as a great hall to hear from the experts on the critical issues of our times. This spring their seminars focus on Medicare changes arising from the recently passed “Obama Care” (it’s actually called the Affordable Care Act [ACA]), with a particular emphasis on changes that will occur in 2011.

RSVP. When: June 4, 11 and 18, 2:30 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Where: Flushing House, 38-20 Bowne St., Flushing Contact: 347-532-3025, rsalant@ uam.org Queens Business Expo Breakfast — 8am - 10 am Breakfast Featuring

Mort Zuckerman, Publisher, New York Daily News. 10 am - 3 pm Business Expo. Register.

When: May 24, 8 a.m.

Where: Citi Field Contact: 718-898-8500 Powerful You! Women’s Network — A new Queens chapter of the national organization that empowers and supports women in their business, personal and spiritual lives.

When: Third Tuesday each month, noon to 2 p.m.

Cost: Members and first-time attendees $30, nonmembers $40; includes lunch Where: Giardino, 44-37 Douglaston Pkwy., Douglaston Contact: Gayle Naftaly, gnaftaly@ accessoffice.net, 718-217-0009 Website: www.powerfulyou.com Power Networking Group — Led by

Reach reporter Rebecca Henely by e-mail at rhenely@cnglocal. com or by phone at 718-260-4564.

Harvey G. Beringer When: Every Wednesday, 7 a.m.

Cost: $10 for breakfast Where: Jackson Hole Diner, 35-01 Bell Blvd., Bayside Contact: Harvey G. Beringer at HGBCPA@aol.com or 718-423-0427 BNI T.N.T. (The Networking Titans) Weekly Meeting — BNI is a business and professional networking organization that allows only one person per professional classification or specialty to join a chapter. BNI provides positive, supportive and structured environment to further business through word of mouth marketing.

Contact chapter president Martin Koos to arrange a visit.

When: Thursdays, 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.

Where: Clearview Park Golf Course, 202-12 Willets Point Blvd., Bayside Contact: Martin Koos 516-488-8877, Ext. 15

Queens Symphony Orchestra’s 2011 Gala Celebration — The Queens Symphony Orchestra invites you to the 2011 Symphony Gala to experience A Night at the Opera honoring QSO Board President Herbert M. Chain, City Council Member Peter Koo, and Artist and Author Constance Maltese. There will be a cocktail reception as well as dinner and dancing.

When: Wednesday, May 25 at 6:30 p.m.

Where: Terrace on the Park, 52-11 111th St., Flushing Cost: “Early Bird” Ticket-$175 (deadline May 11th), Symphony Ticket-$200, Premium Ticket-$250 Contact: Queens Symphony Orchestra qso@queenssymphony.org 718.570.0909 Web site: queenssymphony.org The LaGuardia Community College Foundation honors former Mayor Edward I. Koch and White Castle Executive John Vogt — Edward I. Koch, the 105th mayor of New York

City who served three terms, and John Vogt, Regional Director of Restaurant Operations for White Castle, will be honored at the LaGuardia Community College Foundation’s 2011 Innovative Leadership Award reception for their significant contributions to higher education. The mission of the LaGuardia Community College Foundation is to raise private funds to support and enhance education of LaGuardia students, most of whom have annual family incomes of less than $25,000. All proceeds from the reception will provide scholarship support for LaGuardia students for the 2011-2012 academic year.

When: Tuesday, June 7, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Where: The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers, 61 Chelsea Piers # 300, Manhattan Contact: Randy Fader-Smith Randyfs@ lagcc.cuny.edu 718-482-5610 Web site: www.lagcc.cuny.edu/ lagfoundation/innovative.aspx

47 WE

TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

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48 WE

Baisley Pond Park cricket field opens to players’ delight

TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

New $650,000 facility’s green features will also curb flooding problems in southeast Queens

BY IVAN PEREIRA A new state-of-the-art field at Baisley Pond Park not only gives the borough’s growing cricket fandom a great place to play ball during the warm weather, but also helps the southeast Queens streets from becoming an annoying wetland during rainstorms.

City Parks Department officials and the borough president joined cricket players at the park Monday morning to officially unveil the renovated field. Borough President Helen Marshall allocated $650,000 to redo the grassland at Rockaway and Sutphin boulevards to include an official league-size cricket field.

“Cricket is the fastest growing sport in New York City,” Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said. “And as a result, we have a lot of demand for it.”

The Indo-Caribbean community in southeast

Queens has been using Baisley Pond Park for its official cricket matches for years and the number of players has risen. There are 26 public schools that have varsity cricket teams which include 500 student athletes, according to Basset Thompson, the cricket commissioner for the Public Schools Athletic League.

The field has newly planted grass for the infield and outfield, a state-of-theart pitch and new wooden wickets. Players who took to the field enjoyed it and Benepe said he was pleased with the overall look of the greenspace.

“You can spend $650,000 ... and not have anything to show for it, but I was blown away by this carpet of emerald,” he said.

The field is so good that the PSAL will hold its championships at Baisley Pond Park in June, Thompson said.

And the field was not

Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe (c.) joins Queens elected officials and players as he cuts the ribPhoto by Christina Santucci bon to the new cricket field at Baisley Pond Park. the only new amenity to come to the park. A green drainage system was installed just outside the field to help deal with the constant flooding problems in the area.

Due to a high underground water table beneath southeast Queens, the streets flood easily anytime it rains. The bioswales that are located on the Baisley Boulevard side of the park

Obama Continued from Page 21 was a peace-loving person. I’m not sure what he would say today. Bin Laden is responsible for inexplicable evil. No one should get away with that.”

The first sign of movement came when a procession of firefighters emerged onto the square around the Survivor Tree, which was planted at the World Trade Center in the 1970s, sustained extensive damage during the attack and was nursed back to health and replanted last year as a symbol of hope.

One of the firefighters carried a wreath of red, white and blue flowers. The family of Glen James Wall, who died in the 9/11 attack, appeared next — his wife, two daughters and a friend of one of the daughters who also lost her father on 9/11.

After a few charged moments had passed, Obama fi-

President Barack Obama (second from r.) and an FDNY firefighter carry a wreath of flowers during a ceremony at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan.

Photo by Christina Santucci

nally walked onto the plaza at the heart of the Ground Zero site, accompanied by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Port Authority Chairman David O. Samson.

Obama individually greeted each of the firefighters who stood at attention along one side of the square, then he and a fireman took the wreath, hung it on a wooden easel and bowed their heads in prayer.

Obama proceeded to individually greet, hug and speak

for several minutes with the Wall family members. He shook hands with an array of U.S. congressmen and congresswomen and other dignitaries, then left as soon as he had come, having spent about 15 minutes at the site.

Thousands were gathered along the streets of downtown Manhattan to catch a glimpse of his motorcade as it headed unhindered back toward his helicopter.

Lee Miller of Jamaica came with his mother Julie in hopes of seeing Obama, which

use trees, shrubs, grasses and wildflowers to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water.

“You’re watering the plants that need to be watered and taking the rain

they ultimately were unable to do because of security measures. But he was happy just to be near the man who had ordered the killing of bin Laden.

“I’m just here to see the president. America struck a blow for democracy in a tumultuous world wracked with conflict when we got bin Laden,” he said. “It’s more of an area of sadness here than anything else. If anything, we can take some good news out of this day.”

Francisco Abreu, a Woodside construction worker working to build One World Trade Center, had part of the afternoon off for the wreath laying event.

“It’s a good feeling that we’re working here building the new tower,” he said. “It’s a good feeling that the president’s here. It’s going to cause a lot of traffic, but it’s good that he came.”

Reach reporter Connor Adams Sheets by e-mail at csheets@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.

off the playing fields,” Benepe said.

Marshall said the new trees, pedestrian walkways and cleaner look would attract more Queens residents to Baisley Pond Park.

“People who are not cricket players will enjoy the park,” she said. “We’ve done very fantastic work with this park.”

This may not be the end for cricket expansion in southeast Queens. City Councilman Ruben Wills (D-Jamaica), whose predecessor Tom White helped fund the Baisley field, said he would like to bring a cricket stadium to the neighborhood.

“The commissioner, the borough president and my predecessor did a good job funding this project,” he said.

Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4546.

CWNY launches support group The Center for the Women of New York is accepting registration for a new session of its women’s support group.

Many women have difficulties due to certain typical life transitions. Some of these challenging life transitions are looking for or changing jobs, retirement, starting or ending important friendships or relationships, preparing for marriage or parenthood, coping with adolescents, job loss, illness or a death in the family.

This weekly support group for women can help you share your concerns and assist you in dealing with your situation with greater ease and empowerment.

The support group meets at Queensborough Hall, 120-55 Queens Blvd., Room 325 in Kew Gardens every Thursday from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

To participate, no prior group experience is needed and there is no fee.

For information and an interview appointment, call the CWNY at 718-7930672 or e-mail centerwny@yahoo.com.

Sports

49 WE

John Fernando, who died falling off Queens roof, honored

Christ the King’s Corey Edwards met with future Coach Paul Photo by An Rong Xu Hewitt.

Edwards gets point guard at Mason

BY DYLAN BUTLER Corey Edwards heard all the right things about Paul Hewitt, but before he reaffirmed his decision to attend George Mason, he wanted to meet the new head coach in person.

That meeting happened May 4 and it validated everything the Christ the King point guard heard about Hewitt, who grew up on Long Island and coached Georgia Tech for 11 years.

“He sat down and talked to my mother and father, talked about what his plans are for me as an incoming freshman,” Edwards said.

“He talked about my game and said he’s heard a lot about me and we’re looking forward to starting the year off right.”

Edwards, a secondteam all-city selection by the New York Post, initially committed in October and expressed his excitement for playing for Jim Larranaga. But when Larranaga bolted for Miami, Edwards’ college future was again up in the air.

“I was shocked be-

cause I didn’t picture Coach Larranaga leaving anytime soon,” Edwards said.

“When he left I thought I was going to have to decommit or open up my recruitment again because I didn’t know who they were going to hire.”

Two weeks of uncertainty came to an end for Edwards, who helped guide Christ the King to a second consecutive CHSAA Class AA intersectional basketball title in March, when Hewitt was hired.

“Once I found out they hired him, it was real positive, knowing he was an ACC coach, he put guys in the league. He knows how to win, basically,” Edwards said. “He’s a great coach.

He’s recruited the best, he’s coached the best.”

An in-home visit with Hewitt yesterday confirmed that for Edwards, who said he leaves for George Mason June 6 to take summer classes.

“I feel very comfortable knowing he’s the head coach,” Edwards said.

Continued on Page 52

After tragically losing starting second baseman John Fernando before the season, the Beacon Blue Demons have done their best to honPhoto by Denis Gostev or their fallen teammate with their play.

BY ZACH BRAZILLER Beacon sits comfortably atop Manhattan A West, the division they have owned over the last decade, by relying on winning tenets such as lockdown starting pitching, solid defense and timely hitting.

But, perhaps, the Blue Demons’ best quality is internal fortitude.

Just a week before the regular season began, Beacon tragically lost its starting second baseman, resident comedian and team leader John Fernando, who died after falling six stories off a rooftop in Forest Hills March 18.

“It was complete shock throughout the whole school,” shortstop Samuel Fox said, “even to kids who

didn’t know him well.”

Unlike their classmates, who had to find outlets to grieve, the Blue Demons had a baseball field — and each other — to lean on.

The day after his passing, they played a nonleague game against Susan Wagner on Staten Island.

“We felt we had to play.

We played it in his honor,” Beacon Coach Tom Covotsos said. “His father [Sid Fernando] thought it was the right idea, the right thing to do. I didn’t want 24 boys all alone all over the place.”

Beacon lost the game and the players took it hard, like they were letting down Fernando. Covotsos held a series of meetings over the next week, explaining the

difference between playing in his memory and not letting it overwhelm them.

The message set in and the Blue Demons won their first six league games before a recent skid saw them lose four in a row.

“It means a lot that they are dedicating the sea-

BASEBALL son to Johnny,” Sid Fernando said. “I’m sure Johnny would be proud.”

In his one year as a starter, Fernando batted .143, but Covotsos said his value went far beyond those numbers. He was a quiet leader, hard worker and stout defender who was planning on playing Division III baseball, Sid Fernando said, at either SUNY

New Paltz, SUNY Purchase or Ithaca College.

“He was a class act,” Covotsos said.

To remember Fernando, 17, Beacon is wearing patches on its uniforms featuring his initials on their caps and his No. 28 on their chests. They also plan to hang his jersey in the dugout shortly. He’s still on their minds. Covotsos said he recently had a dream he was hugging Fernando and woke up in a sweat.

“I felt his presence in my body,” the coach said.

The players often talk about him among themselves and break huddles with “JS.” “On the baseball field, I feel his presence; when

Continued on Page 52

TIMESLEDGER, MAY 5-11, 2011

Remembering a fallen mate

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Harkless, Sampson duo show future is bright

TIMESLEDGER, MAY 5-11, 2011

BY ZACH BRAZILLER Maurice Harkless flew in for a dunk and soon Jakarr Sampson was doing the same, soaring over two defenders and throwing home a slam with his absurdly long arms. He then tipped away a pass and fed Harkless for an open threepointer from the right corner.

Swish.

The above sequence repeated itself time and again Sunday afternoon in Real Scout’s scrimmage-like beating of Determined Student Athletes in the prestigious iS8/Nike Spring High School Classic at the Variety Boys & Girls Club in Long Island City. The two highly rated St. John’s recruits — both of them long, athletic and skilled top 50 forwards — completed a head-spinning 4-0 record in pool play that has Red Storm fans imagining the possibilities.

“We’re developing

St. John’s recruit Jakarr Sampson (l.) and Maurice Harkless have led Real Scout to a 4-0 record in pool play in the iS8/Nike Spring High School Classic.

Photo by Zach Braziller

a great bond,” said the 6-foot-7 Harkless, a former star at Forest Hills who is currently at South Kent (Conn.). “We played four games together and it feels like we’ve been playing together forever.”

Their chemistry was

evident Sunday, particularly on the defensive end in forcing turnovers or blocking shots. Real Scout Coach Nate Blue, Harkless’ advisor, has been impressed with the duo’s effort on the defensive end; he knew scoring would take care of

itself.

“Defense is about helping each other out,” Blue said. “Moe gets beat, Jakarr helps; Jakarr gets beat, Moe helps. Somebody else gets beat, they both help.”

The two are part of St. John’s Coach Steve Lavin’s

elite recruiting class, ranked second in the nation by scout.com, which includes seven top 100 prospects. In his first season in Queens, Lavin led a resurgence, leading the Red Storm to the NCAA Tournament after an eight-year absence.

Heightened expectations will greet the many newcomers, though Harkless said that doesn’t worry them. The addition of 6-foot9 junior college standout God’s Gift Achiuwa out of Erie Community College, Harkless said, was the final piece to the puzzle.

“We got a bright future,” said Harkless, who has bulked up to a robust 203 pounds. “We got so many weapons, so many options coming in next year.”

The idea was hatched during the All-American Championship in Houston, Texas, the weekend of the Final Four, for Sampson, a 6-foot-9 Ohio native now at Brewster Academy

(N.H.), to spend weekends in Queens playing for Real Scout. Sir’Dominic Pointer, another St. John’s recruit, was supposed to join Harkless and Sampson, too, but landed with Sean Bell instead.

Real Scout, whose roster also includes Iowa State-bound point guard Tavon Sledge and Wadleigh guard Trivante Bloodman, has hardly missed him.

Not only has Blue’s team gone undefeated in pool play, it beat Sports University, a New Jersey-based team featuring Eli Carter (Rutgers), Durand Johnson (Pittsburgh), Mario Moody (Wagner) and Markus Kennedy (Villanova), Saturday by 18 points. Sampson was phenomenal, pouring in 22 points and outplaying Kennedy.

“I don’t know how else to have fun besides win,” Sampson said.

He isn’t the only one

Continued on Page S52

Cardozo breezes past Adams in tough division battle

BY ZACH BRAZILLER Friday’s showdown of undefeated Queens division leaders felt more like a routine mid-season regular season meeting at the outset rather than a collision of borough powers. Neither John Adams nor Cardozo bothered to save its ace.

A few innings later, that feeling changed abruptly. John Adams Coach Glenn Beyer got into a heated argument with the family of Cardozo star Adrian Castano shortly after the sophomore came on in relief in the fifth inning. The Judges would celebrate the commanding 8-1 victory like it was a playoff game, hopping together during their postgame meeting down the right-field line.

They had plenty to be happy about it — from their two-out, second-inning rally that yielded four runs, to their mostly exemplary defense and yet another brilliant performance by Castano at the plate and in the field.

Not only did the win enable

Cardozo to maintain its fivegame lead over Aviation and Forest Hills in Queens A East, it was also its most significant considering the opponent and sets up the Judges well for the baseball postseason, granted they finish the regular season strong.

“It was big, this is a momentum-changer for us,” said Castano, who drove in two runs with a single in the second. “Even though we’ve been winning, this was the main game that was on the schedule.”

Adams (10-1, Queens A West) entered play undefeated like Cardozo (10-0, Queens A East), with a quarterfinal finish in the prestigious Monroe Tournament to its credit and boasting one of the city’s most prolific offenses. Jeffrey Valera and Jorge Barahona combined for 48 RBIs in the Spartans’ first 10 league victories, but the two were held in check by Cardozo pitchers Calvin Luk and Castano.

Luk allowed a first-inning run, but did his best work in the

Cardozo players and Coach Ron Gorecki (c.) celebrate after their 8-1 win over Photo by Christina Santucci John Adams. second after loading the bases with no outs. He got Elvin Clime on a shallow fly ball to right, induced leadoff man Shawn Jimenez into a grounder to first and Barahona bounced out to third.

He was on the verge of trouble in the fourth before Nicanor Luna, who drove in two runs in the second with a booming dou-

ble, turned a highlight-reel 6-3 double play, snagging a blooper in shallow left field and doubling Jonathan Flores off at first.

“They came out very, very aggressive and I thought maybe we would let down,” Cardozo Coach Ron Gorecki said. “But this team refused to quit.”

Castano took over in the fifth

and coasted over the final three frames, retiring all nine batters he faced and striking out five. It was reminiscent to his outing against Adams last year when Castano struck out nine in a complete-game two-hitter.

“He throws strikes, he mixes his pitches, he works ahead,” Barahona said. “He’s a good pitcher. Give him credit; he shut us down.”

Gorecki was pleased by his entire team, which he described as the “hardest-working team” he’s ever had in over four decades as a coach. This club, he said, raised $4,000 during the offseason to fund a batting cage. The players often push him to extend workouts, from two hours to as much as four.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” he said.

“They make me feel young. I’ve never seen 14 kids that don’t want to leave the field.”

With the way things are going, the Judges may want to start sleeping on the diamond.

Molloy clinches title against SFP There was a feeling of inevitability when Taylor Moss stepped to the plate.

She was set to lead off the top of the eighth in a tie game against rival St. Francis Prep with a runner on second because of international tie-breaker rules. The Archbishop Molloy freshman got a pep talk from her older sister Dana, the team’s first baseman, and the green light to swing from Coach Maureen Rosenbaum.

“I said to her, ‘Taylor I have the feeling like you had when we played Kellenberg that we are due to open up now,’” Rosenbaum said. “‘Let’s start it.’”

It didn’t take long.

Moss swung at the first pitch she saw from Terriers ace Katie Derby and watched as it curved toward the left-field line and landed for an RBI-double. It was similar to her scorching line drive she hit in the fifth that was run down.

Moss followed this one all the way to make sure.

“The first one she caught so I was hoping that would drop in,” Moss said.

She then came around to score on a throwing error to give Molloy a muchneeded insurance run.

Maria Palmeri gave up an RBI double to Viki Slavik in the bottom of the inning, but the junior ace picked up her 10th strikeout to close out the hard-fought 4-3 win

that clinched the Stanners’ third-straight CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens regularseason softball title Friday afternoon at Cunningham Park. Molloy won the first meeting 1-0.

“These are the games we like to play,” Rosenbaum said. “The competitiveness of softball, that’s what it’s all about. You appreciate the win a lot more when you play a good team.”

Her squad was fortunate to be in position to tie the game and force extra innings. It took a 1-0 lead when with two outs when Taylor Moss hit a groundball that got to Danielle Cervasio at shortstop as the base runner past in front of her. Interference wasn’t called since contact was not made. Cervasio bobbled the ball and could not make a throw.

SFP (8-2), ranked fifth in the city by the New York Post, scored twice in the third on RBI singles from Derby and Alexa Calacagnini to take a 2-1 lead. Fourthranked Molloy (10-0) got the run back in the fifth when Dana Moss dunked a ball between Kerri Surdi at second and Kristen McGoldrick in right to score Jen DeMaria that SFP Coach Ann Marie Rich felt should have been caught. Palmeri, who struggled with her command early, allowed nine hits and walked four.

Derby gave up seven hits

Continued on Page S52

Molloy’s Maria Palmeri struck out 10 in a win over SFP Friday.

Photo by Christina Santucci

WE

Royals defeat Christ the King in Brooklyn/Queens baseball clash TIMESLEDGER, MAY 5-11, 2011

BY JOSEPH STASZEWSKI

Merchan, Urena shine in match

51

McClancy’s Mike D’Agostino went 2-for-3 with an RBI in the team’s win against Christ the King.

BY DYLAN BUTLER Anthony Merchan is about as predictable on the mound as the weather in spring. On some days, he bounces his curveball to catcher Mike Gugliemi.

And on other days, he can’t miss.

“He’s tough to figure out,” McClancy Coach Nick Melito said.

On May 2 at McClancy, Merchan was tougher to hit, going the distance in a 9-2 win against Christ the King in a pivotal Brooklyn/ Queens clash.

Merchan allowed three hits in six scoreless innings before the Royals scored twice in the seventh on three hits. He struck out 11 and walked three in the complete-game victory.

“Sometimes when I snap and I’m fluid with it, it’s a good curveball,” Merchan said. “When I choke it, it bounces anywhere be-

fore the plate. Today was its best day probably.”

After giving up a walk and single to open the third inning, Merchan bore down and struck out three straight to get out of the jam unscathed.

“I felt better than most days,” he said. “My mechanics were good. Everything felt fluid, fine. I just wanted this game more than anything.”

In the first regularseason meeting between the teams at Juniper Valley Park April 15, McClancy (46) jumped in front 2-0 after three innings, but Christ the King (3-8) rallied to score three unanswered runs in an extra-inning victory.

“We wanted to show them that we’re a tough team to beat and move up in the standings,” Merchan said.

The Crusaders again jumped out to an early lead

as Merchan helped himself with an RBI-single to right in the first inning and added three more runs in the second, highlighted by Jose Urena’s two-run, twoout double to left. The McClancy third baseman was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored.

BASEBALL “He’s the playmaker,” Merchan said of Urena. “He just starts everything up.”

The Crusaders weren’t done. They tacked on two more runs in the fourth and scored three more times in the sixth on four hits and also capitalized on three Christ the King errors.

“We got some key hits with two hits and I think that takes the pressure off of us,” Melito said. “I like what I saw today.”

Melito said he saw a change in his team during its trip to Myrtle Beach last

Photo by Denis Gostev

week. Sure, McClancy won just once, but Melito said his team raised its level and that was evident against the Royals.

“We played well today,” Melito said. “We played better than our record indicates in Myrtle Beach, but we came out as a different team today. I think we’re a better team.”

With the win, McClancy moves into fifth place in the Brooklyn/Queens division standings, one game behind St. Francis Prep and Bishop Ford, but just one game in front of Holy Cross.

“The division is so tight and everybody is beating everybody,” Melito said. “The top two teams [Archbishop Molloy and Xaverian] are pretty comfortable, but for everyone else it’s a dogfight.”

And McClancy took a big bite out of Christ the King.

52

TIMESLEDGER, MAY 5-11, 2011

WE

EDWARDS Continued from Page S49 Royals Coach Joe Arbitello thinks the HewittEdwards combination is a “match made in heaven.”

“I think it’s going to work out well,” Arbitello said. “Hewitt is very astute

MOLLOY to the New York City point guard and he knows a lot of people in the area. He’s a first-class guy. He said he loves Corey, wants him to stay. He seems to already know what to expect from Corey.”

Contact the newsroom: 718-260-4545 • timesledgernews@cnglocal.com

Continued from Page S51 and fanned just two.

“We did get a couple of breaks,” Palmeri said.

She was not the recipient of one when she was hit on her pitching hand by a Derby pitch. Rosenbaum was concerned, but Palmeri, who said her hand was still hurting somewhat after the game, was able to successfully throw on the side before returning to the circle.

She allowed three straight infield singles to start the third, but got Eishara Campbell to line into a 3-3-5 double play with the bases loaded, as Fallon McCarthy had to stretch high to grab Dana Moss’ throw to third, to limit the damage. Palmeri got out of a first and second and not out jam in the bottom of the sixth to keep the game tied.

“She is so clutch,” Taylor Moss said of Palmeri.

The underclassman has had the knack for heroics at times this season herself. She smacked a two-run homer to propel the Stanners past Bishop Kearney early in the year and provided a three-run blast in a win over Kellenberg. Against the Terriers, a double did just fine.

“She has been doing great this season,” Palmeri said. “I don’t think anyone did have confidence in her when she went up there.”

HARKLESS Continued from Page S50 having a ball.

“It makes my job a lot easier,” Sledge said of playing with Harkless and Sampson. “A lot of the work I usually have to do in high school, I really don’t have to do playing with these guys.”

Harkless was the star Sunday, dropping 36 points with a flurry of feathery

jump shots and eye-opening dunks. His lone failure was a missed slam that drew a big laugh from Sampson.

Together, the two are having a ball, learning each other’s game in their quest for a title in the prestigious tournament that draws nationwide talent.

“I always wanted to win iS8,” Harkless said. “I live right around the corner. This is my last chance to win it and I’m trying to go out with a bang.”

BEACON OF LIGHT Continued from Page S49 I’m at bat, I can feel his energy,” Fox said. “I know he’s with us. He’s always in our minds and hearts.”

They aren’t the only ones. In lieu of sending flowers, the Fernando family asked donations be made to the 78th Precinct Youth Council, the league Fernando grew up playing

in. More than $30,000 was raised in his name. Of that money, a $5,000 scholarship will be given each of the next four years to a Beacon graduating senior, $1,500 will be given to the baseball team annually and an additional $1,000 to the current class’s senior trip to Berlin.

[ Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/timesledger ]

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2010 Honda

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6 Blocks East Of The Van Wyck Expwy.

TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

It’s The Right Time!

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64 total pages

64

TIMESLEDGER, MAY 12-18, 2011

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