Tonight at 7:30 p.m.: Riverspace is hosting a concert to benefit the theater and the Soup Angels soup kitchen. Members of the principal brass of the New York Philharmonic will be playing a one-hour concert. Prices are $12 for students, $18 for adults. Ice cream and cake reception following the show (and who doesn’t like that?).

According to the press release, “a good time to be had by all.”

Here’s more information about a forum the Rockland County Town Supervisors’ Association plans to hold next month:

ORANGEBURG — Rockland’s five town supervisors will hold a forum to allow residents to comment on Orange and Rockland Utilities Inc.’s proposal to increase its rates after the state said it would not hold public hearings.
Meanwhile, O&R said it wanted to discuss the hearings with the state Public Service Commission due to public concern.
“Based on the growing public sentiment, we intend to speak to the PSC about their position on this issue,” O&R spokesman Michael Donovan said.
Orangetown town Supervisor Thom Kleiner, chairman of the Rockland County Town Supervisors’ Association, said the June 15 forum would be held because the PSC “is refusing to hold a public hearing on the proposed rate hike, denying Rocklanders a public forum in which they can express their views on O&R’s efforts to increase ratepayer costs, as has been done in the past.”
O&R wants approval from the PSC, which oversees most utilities in New York, to increase the amount of money it charges to deliver natural gas.
The company’s proposal would raise the typical monthly delivery charge by $12.05, or 5.44 percent, for an overall annual increase of $144.60.
The new rate would take effect Nov. 1, but the company has proposed phasing in the increase over a three-year period, from 2009 to 2011.
The PSC told The Journal News May 13 that it would only accept comments submitted online, by mail or via the commission’s opinion line. A public input session, a previous custom, will not be held, the PSC said.
Kleiner said the PSC had an obligation to respond to the public, whether it was through a formal public hearing conducted by the commission, or the one that will be facilitated by elected officials.
He said transcripts would be provided to O&R and the PSC. O&R has been invited to participate and PSC will also be asked to attend, Kleiner said.
PSC spokeswoman Anne Dillon said yesterday that the commission would accept the transcripts.
Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence has intervened in the case and has been critical of O&R’s request, which includes money for the hiring of 23 new workers and to help O&R close a $1.9 million gap in its pension plan, which has suffered because of the economic downturn.
He has also accused the company of seeking too much profit for itself and its shareholders at the expense of ratepayers.
Donovan has said PSC law allowed companies to address their pension plans and to cover new job hires as part of a revenue increase request.
He declined to comment on the profit issue, saying it was part of confidential negotiations now going on regarding a possible settlement of the case.
St. Lawrence said that he had also written to request the PSC hold a formal public input session, and that he also supported the public forum.

GET DETAILS ON THE FORUM AND O&R’S PROPOSAL, INCLUDING HOW TO SUBMIT COMMENT, BELOW.

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Gov. David Paterson is to sign a bill today that extends unemployment benefits to 56,000 New Yorkers who otherwise would have received their last checks this week, according to reports.

Assembly members Ellen Jafffee, D-Suffern, and Kenneth Zebrowski, D-New City, have also just emailed us with more details about the help being made available to these jobless residents.

The new legislation was needed to allow the state to accept a one-time federal grant of $645 million for unemployment compensation. The bill extends the unemployment benefit for 13 more weeks.

“This federal stimulus money will help the state cover current benefit claims – vitally important because there are many New Yorkers filing claims for the first time,” Jaffee stated.

Zebrowski said the benefit money would also aid the state’s economy.

“The money spent on unemployment benefits also has a positive return into the economy,” he stated. “For every $1 spent on unemployment, $1.68 is put back into the economy because the recipients are spending these funds on necessary items at local businesses.”

Read the full news release, verbatim, below.

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Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern, will hold a “Neighborhood Assembly” at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Pearl River Library, 80 Franklin Ave. Residents of the 95th Assembly District can share their thoughts and voice their concerns. The district covers Orangetown and parts of Ramapo.

Orangetown officials are looking for public input on what is being called the largest private development in Orangetown history.

The homebuilder K. Hovnanian plans to replace dozens of defunct RPC buildings with 575 housing units worth about $300 million when completed, according to town estimates. Nearly all the new units would be restricted to people ages 55 and older.

A study on the redevelopment plan, which looked into the environmental, traffic and financial impacts of the project, was recently released publicly. As part of the process, Orangetown officials are holding hearings to get public input on the study. One of those meetings will be held tomorrow (May 18) night at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall.

The study (called the “Draft Environmental Impact Statement for RPC”) is available on the front page of www.Orangetown.com.

If you can’t make it, you can still submit comments on the study to:

Thom Kleiner at Town Hall, 26 Orangeburg Road, Orangeburg, N.Y. 10962 or by e-mail to supervisor@orangetown.com.

The deadline for comments is June 18 at 5 p.m.

Clarkstown Administrative Sgt. Harry Baumann today marked his 42nd year in law enforcement – including two years with the United Nations security force.

His longevity day didn’t turn into a party – no donuts or coffee from his colleague. He said he spent the day training and taking telephone calls from the media. Part of his duties include being the public information officer.

He also was preparing for Sunday’s awards ceremony at 9 a.m. at police headquarters, when officers are honored during Police Memorial Week for their service.

He said some of his colleagues offered to take him out for a drink after work.

“I had to decline,” he said. “I have a dinner engagement.”

Baumann has spent 37 years with the Clarkstown Police Department, after three years with the New York City Police Department and two years with the United Nations. He also served with the military police.

Judge Catherine Bartlett has not held court for the past two weeks and has not scheduled any cases for the next few weeks.

The Orange County lawyer, an appointed state Court of Claims judge, remains assigned to Rockland County Courthouse, but has taken time off for a medical procedure, said Judge Francis Nicolai, the administrative law judge for the 9th Judicial District, which includes Rockland.

Nicolai said he expects Bartlett back behind the bench in a few weeks, possibly sooner than her blank calendar of cases on the court wwebsite indicated.

Nicolai assigned Bartlett  to handle criminal cases in Rockland. An appointee by former GOP Gov. George Pataki to a 10-year-term whose husband is the Orange County GOP chairman, Bartlett also has been designated an acting state Supreme Court judge. She’s a former county attorney and Goshen judge.

“I know she was planning on being out for a minor medical procedure,” Nicolai told The Journal-News today. “I am sure she will be back sooner than expected.”

The 29th annual Rockland County Youth Forum and Awards was held last night in Haverstraw.

Kaitlin Dinet and Justin Mathew were each presented with the Joseph A. Myers Outstanding Youth Volunteer Service Award and a $1,000 scholarship made possible by donations from local businesses and residents.

Dinet is a senior at Pearl River High School, a Girl Scout, and volunteers at senior citizen centers. She also helped with the renovation of the Sept. 11th Memorial at Pearl River High School.

Justin Mathew is a junior at Clarkstown South High School, and a volunteer with the New City Ambulance Corps, West Nyack Library and People to People. He is also a leader of Rockland Family Shelter’s Student Activists Ending Dating Abuse, or SAEDA, program.

John Marra was presented with the Father F. Peter Malet Service to Youth Adult Volunteer Award. He is coordinator of Student Activities and Volunteer Services at Rockland Community College.

Marra has volunteered with Every Person Influences Children, or EPIC, and is the facilitator for its Dads Only program. He also volunteers with People to People and annually participates in the Great American Cleanup.

The Suffern Community Foundation was also presented with the Malet Award.

The not-for-profit organization was founded in 1995. Its mission is to benefit young people and families in the village of Suffern and surrounding communities by raising money, promoting activities and offering educational programs, including the annual DARE holiday toy drive, Eagle Scout projects and a Summer Journal program for kindergarten students.

Awards were presented by County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef, County Legislature Chairwoman Harriet Cornell and Rockland BOCES Superintendent Mary Jean Marisco.

The dinner and ceremony were sponsored by the Rockland County Youth Bureau’s volunteer board of directors.

The photo above was shot by staffer Peter Carr last night.

Yesterday, Spring Valley’s Village Trustee Demeza Delhomme proudly showed three Ramapo Town Council members around the soon-to-be-finished space for the Ramapo Skills Training Center, a town-funded venture.

The interior of the skills training center, housed inside the Ramapo Cultural Arts Center (the former adult movie theater) on Main Street in Spring Valley, was constructed with the help of vocational skills trainees from the village.

Construction started in August. Workers are now painting walls and putting the final touches on the facility (see the “before” photo by Staff Photographer Vincent DiSalvio, along with an “after” snapshot by me).

The work has been overseen by Delhomme, and the town’s Parks and Recreation head, Michelle Antosca, has been the liaison to the project. She was on hand yesterday for the tour.

Councilmembers Edward Friedman, David Stein and Yitzchock Ullman walked through the three rooms in the training center, and asked Delhomme what the target date was for finishing the project and how many people were expected to enroll for free skills training.

“We have too many (students) ready to come here. I didn’t know they were that interested,” Delhomme said, adding that the center would be completed by September.

The training program will be open to people who are at least 17-years-old.

“Demeza has done a very good job … it’s really going to be a functional set of rooms,” Friedman said of the space.

Delhomme is one of several candidates for the post of Spring Valley mayor.

Thurgood Marshall, who served on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1967 to 1991 and was the first African-American to join the court, is about to be recognized with a day in his honor.

Thurgood Marshall Day is set for Sunday and every May 17 that follows, following the state Assembly’s unanimous approval of a measure that was sponsored by Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern.

The legislation next goes to the Senate and also has to be signed into law by the governor before it takes effect. Passage of the law is expected.

While Marshall is a highly regarded attorney and national civil rights leader, he also has important ties to Rockland.

Marshall is perhaps best known for representing the NAACP in the historic 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education case, which led the Supreme Court to declare the segregation of public schools illegal in the United States.

But earlier, in 1943, Marshall stood with a group of African-American families and successfully argued for the desegregation of the Main School, now called Hillburn School, in Ramapo.

“He championed the most important premises of democratic government – freedom, equality, and justice for all and successfully utilized the courthouse to advocate for and champion the cause of equal treatment under the law,” Jaffee stated yesterday.

Some local Rockland leaders headed to Albany to be present for the Assembly’s vote yesterday.

This photo was provided by Jaffee’s office.

(Left to right, standing) Bill Thorne; Spring Valley village Mayor George Darden; County Legislator Bill Darden, D-Hillcrest; Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity’s president, Les St. Louis, and Willie Bryant; Spring Valley NAACP President Willie Trotman; Jaffee; Merle George, the Rev. Walter Brightman; Jesse Jones; (left to right, sitting) Spring Valley Kiwanis President Lenora McCabe; Spring Valley Democratic Committee Chairperson Pat Caldwell; and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority member Virginia Beasley. Thorne, George and Jones are members of the Spring Valley NAACP.

Above, Marshall, then-chief counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, talks to reporters in New York City in this May 31, 1955 photo. 1996. (AP Photo/File)

Rockland honored about two dozens emergency medical services volunteers during its 5th annual recognition awards ceremony on Wednesday night.

The ceremony coincided with County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef proclaiming May 17 to May 23 as EMS Week.  Criteria and eligibility for each award were set by the New York State Department of Health.

Vanderhoef’s office announced the following people were presented with awards:

• EMS Communications Specialist of the Year: Rich Cummings – An EMS liaison to the Clarkstown Police Department, Cummings suggested all Clarkstown EMS radios have identities on them to ensure they know which unit is calling in.

• Registered Professional Nurse of Excellence: Kathy Albin.

• Basic Life Support Provider of the Year: Vincent Tuzzolino – Tuzzolino provides outstanding patient care and is always an advocate for his patients and partners.

• Advanced Life Support Provider of the Year: Nancy Berquist – A paramedic since the  early 1980’s, Berquist began her career with Nyack Hospital Paramedic Program and later became one of the fist paramedics at Rockland Paramedic Services.

• Youth Member of the Year: Erich Rechenberger – He has volunteered  numerous hours to the Nanuet Ambulance Corps and was elected as captain of the organization’s youth corps. He assists in scheduling and coordinating with all youth advisors for training sessions and meetings.

• EMS Agency of the Year: The Congers-Valley Cottage Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

• EMS Leadership Award: Paul Morer –  Morer had drive cams installed in Nyack’s fleet of vehicles, improving driver safety and responsibility. He’s a capitain.

• EMS Educator of Excellence: Maureen McCahery.

Each  EMS Agency recognized its own outstanding member.  This year’s recipients are:
•    Antonio “Tony” Failla, Congers-Valley Cottage Ambulance Corps
•    Hillel Kornbluh, Chevra Hatzolah EMS
•    Walter Emery, Haverstraw Volunteer Ambulance Corps
•    Karen Burke, Nanuet Community Volunteer Ambulance Corps
•    Clifford Goodman, New City Volunteer Ambulance & Rescue Association
•    William McDowell, Nyack Community Volunteer Ambulance Corps
•    Robert Rahnefeld, Pearl River Alumni Ambulance
•    Millicent King, Piermont Fire Dept. EMS
•    Lewis T. Lodini, Ramapo Valley Volunteer Ambulance Corps
•    Christina Craig, Rockland Mobile Care
•    Richard Greer, Rockland Paramedic Services, Inc.
•    Mike Conklin, South Orangetown Volunteer Ambulance Corps
•    Matthew Kerewski, Spring Hill Volunteer Ambulance Corps
•    Nicole O’Leary, Stony Point Volunteer Ambulance Corps
•    Lesley DeVore, Tuxedo Volunteer Ambulance Corps
•    Paul Smith, William P. Faist Volunteer Ambulance Corps

For more information about volunteering, call the Rockland EMS Office at 845-364-8923.

Elections in Spring Valley have tended to feature multiple candidates. This year’s mayoral election will hold to that tradition.

Already, three people have come forward to say they’ll seek top post, while the sitting Mayor George Darden has said he’s not sure he’ll run again.

Currently in the race for mayor are Deputy Mayor Noramie Jasmin — a staunch Darden ally; former village mayor Allan Thompson, a Republican; and Village Board Trustee Demeza Delhomme.

Jasmin, Delhomme and Darden are Democrats.

The three declared candidates — Jasmin, Delhomme and Thompson — have declined to discuss their running mates for the moment.

It was strongly rumored that the Rev. Jacques Michel, a Democratic county Legislator from Spring Valley, would also seek the post.

Michel dismissed the rumors on Monday, calling them pure “speculation.” He said he would not run and had not considered seeking the post.

Yitzchock Ullman, who was among the six Democratic primary candidates for the mayor’s post in 2005, said Monday that he wasn’t sure whether he would run. (The other candidates in the 2005 Democratic mayoral primary election were Darden, Delhomme, Thompson, then-Village Trustee Bettie Brown and Vilair Fonvil.)

Ullman, who was appointed to the Ramapo Town Council in 2008, said his focus at the moment was on the Town Board.

But, speaking of a possible Spring Valley mayoral run, Ullman said: “I’m not saying no; I’m not saying yes.”

Darden, a two-term mayor, is expected to say in a few weeks whether or not he will seek re-election.

Two of the more controversial requests for zoning variances for yeshivas will be reviewed on Thursday by the Zoning Board of Appeals.

The first is for a yeshiva with a dormitory on the former Camp Hill Road estate of the late actor Burgess Meredith, which has generated no small amount of neighborhood opposition despite a promise by Congregation Mesifta Beth Shraga of Monsey to preserve the 18th century portion of the house.

Some residents of the area have said that the planned construction would dwarf the house and occupy too much of the grounds, which total about 7 acres.

The second is a proposed yeshiva for about 250 day students in a single-family residential area off Route 306, about 600 feet north of Babcock Lane near the Pomona border.

That applicant, which has operated a yeshiva in the existing house on the property without the town’s approval, now wants to construct a new building, while using the house and trailers until the construction is completed.

Neighbors were mightily upset last week when a cow was butchered in the back yard – apparently part of a kosher meat preparation class unauthorized by Bobover – and are likely to pack Thursday’s meeting.

Some of the neighbors also feel that the 2-acre property is insufficient for 250 students, particularly in a residential area.

The meeting begins at 8 p.m. in Town Hall, 237 Route 59, Airmont.

As of this writing, Congregation Mesifta Beth Shraga is first on the agenda, followed by Bobover Yeshiva.

Cash or charge?

The village of Spring Valley’s Justice Court now accepts credit cards for the payment of fines and surcharges.

The Board of Trustees voted to approve Mayor George Darden’s recommendation on the issue during a regular meeting on Tuesday night.

The board also voted 3 to 1 (one board member was absent), to approve the 2009-2010 budget, which reinstated the animal control officer’s position, but not at full-time hours. Darden had proposed eliminating the position in order to save money. The move was met with vocal disapproval from the public.

“My mortgage company isn’t going to want to hear that. My taxes aren’t going to change,” George Bernhardt, the animal control officer, said of his reduced hours.

His union is challenging the decision, saying Bernhardt’s 35-hour work week (he’ll now work 30 hours per week) was protected by contract and by law.

Bernhardt’s not the only one unhappy with the move. Village Board Trustee Demeza Delhomme also expressed disapproval with the plan. He said Bernhardt should be retained full-time, and also criticized the 3.53 percent property tax rate increase.

He and Darden got into a heated debate. Delhomme accused Darden of mismanagement, and Darden accused the trustee of ignorance of the budget process, poor English and of being a publicity seeker.

The two men faced each other in a bitterly contested Democratic mayoral primary election in 2005. The post of mayor is up for election in November.