OK, before I explain any further, I just have to share this wonderful photo shot by Bob Rooney of Suffern at the United Hospice of Rockland’s annual spring gala Sunday.

No, you’re not imagining things. That is a photograph of town supervisors Alexander Gromack (Clarkstown), Howard Philips (Haverstraw), Thom Kleiner (Orangetown) and Phil Marino (Stony Point), wearing muscle T-shirts and performing at the gala.

The gala honored Bill and Ginny Maloney of Vista Electrical Contractors Inc. and raised $129,000 (a record for UHR) to help build the agency’s first Hospice House in the county.

Here’s some other photos from the event, all shot by Rooney: Read more of this entry »

Breakfast and college scholarship awards will be on the menu Saturday morning at the Nyack Seaport.

The O’Grady-Brown Memorial Scholarship Awards breakfast starts at 10 a.m. at the Nyack Seaport. The keynote speaker will be Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe.

Receiving $1,000 scholarships are:
• James H. Rahill of Stony Point and Don Bosco Prep High School.
• Michael B. Kelley of Pearl River and Pearl River High School.
• Pamela Samoylo of Valley Cottage and Nyack High School.
• Terrence Ambrose of Pearl River and Pearl River High School.
Receiving $500 scholarships:
• Charnell N. Neptune of Spring Valley and Ramapo High School.
• John Coyle of Sparkill and Tappan Zee High School.

The six high school seniors will share $5,000 in scholarships from a fund named for Nyack Sgt. Edward O’Grady and Nyack Patrolman Waverly “Chipper” Brown. The fund was established in 1990 for high school seniors interested in a career in law enforcement.

Both officers were murdered Oct. 20, 1981, by six men armed with automatic weapons who jumped from the back of a van stopped at a roadblock at the New York State Thruway entrance on Mountainview Avenue off Route 59 in Nyack. A memorial to the officers stands at the site.

The shootings came shortly after a Brinks armored car was robbed of $1.6 million at the Nanuet Mall by a gang of white radicals formerly affiliated with the 1960s Weather Underground and black nationalists.

Security guard Peter Paige was murdered at the Nanuet Mall. Guard Joseph Trombino severely wounded. Trombino died in the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, while still working for Brinks.

The O’Grady-Brown Memorial Scholarship Committee comprises South Nyack-Grand View Police Chief Robert W. Van Cura as chairman; South Nyack-Grand View Officer Brent Newbury as secretary/treasurer; The Rev. Willie Harrison as chaplan; and William M. Mooney as counsel. The board members are Clarkstown Detective Robert Shine, former Legislator Theodore Dusanenko, Clarkstown Councilman Ralph Mandia, Sgt. Raymond Bliven, Anne Marie Mucahy, state police Investigator Neil Anderson and Fanneta Glass-Miles. The honorary chairman is former state Sen. Joseph Holland and Chairman-Emeritus is Alan B. Colsey, a former South Nyack-Grand View police chief.

For more information: Write to the O’Grady-Brown Memorial Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 1024, Nyack, N.Y., 10960, or call South Nyack-Grand View Police Chief Robert Van Cura at 845-358-0206, Ext. 16. Or visit this website.

Its details remain secret because it’s a surprise, but the four town supervisors in Rockland have been meeting twice a week since the beginning of this month to practice their performance — singing and dancing — under the direction of two accomplished Broadway dancers.

“This Sunday night is our big performance,” said Stony Point Supervisor Phil Marino, while we were talking about various town businesses at his office this morning.

Along with Supervisors Howard Philips of Haverstraw, Alexander Gromack of Clarkstown, and Thom Kleiner of Orangetown, Marino will perform to raise funds for United Hospice of Rockland at its 2008 Gala at the Colonial Inn in Norwood, N.J.

Marino said he was excited about being part of the fundraising event because of his experience when his and his wife’s fathers were under the care of hospice.

“I can’t say enough nice things what hospice does. … It’s an honor and blessing,” said Marino, adding that he had some muscle sores on his body as a result of the recent practice.

Marino said the four supervisors and other dancers will practice this Saturday and will have a dress rehearsal Sunday prior to the event.

Connie Grunfeld of United Hospice of Rockland said she wouldn’t reveil the details of the performance, but for those who were interested in watching the show, tickets — $195 — for the gala were still available. But they would have to make a reservation by tomorrow (Friday) by calling her at 845-634-4974, she said. The door will be open at 6 p.m. and the dinner will be served at 7:30 p.m. The supervisors will perform about 8 p.m.

Photo by Vincent DiSalvio / The Journal News/LoHud.com 

As this blog reported Friday, Nanuet resident Bruce Brown is behind an effort at Texas A&M University to sell T-shirts to raise funds for the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund.

Since then, the effort has ballooned to include the University of Texas, and you can even buy the T-shirts online. The shirts say

“Orange and Maroon support Orange and Maroon We Remember 04.16.07” on the front and “The eyes of Texas are upon you…For your spirit can ne’er be told; In times of greatest tragedy; You have a hand to hold” (One of A&M’s colors is Maroon and one of UT’s is Orange. Virginia Tech’s colors are Maroon and Orange.

Check out the group’s Facebook page, plus you can buy the shirts online through TAMU’s box office (click on “online tix” in the left-hand sidebar).

Available sizes are adult: small, medium, large and XL and they cost $10 to cover the cost of shipping. The sale started at 9 a.m. Central time today and ends at 5 p.m. Central (that’s 6 p.m. here in on the East Coast) May 2.

Wanna know more?

Read this article from A&M’s student newspaper, The Battalion, or this press release from A&M’s News & Information folks

Where:

UT sales: Main mall @ 7pm on Monday April 23rd

A&M sales: MSC Box Office @ 9am on Monday April 23rd

How: With the support from CC Creations we will be able to begin distributing over 3000 shirts on Monday!!

Why: Because Texas A&M and University of Texas students feel a strong commitment to their friends in Virginia.

For More Information please email orangeandmaroon@msc.tamu.edu!

Texas A&M University Contact: Andria Groover ‘08

University of Texas Contact: Jordan Davisson ‘08

Nanuet resident and Texas A&M freshman Bruce Brown is working to raise money for the Hokies Spirit Memorial Fund.

According to TheBatt.com, the Web site for A&M’s student newspaper The Battalion, Brown is working with fellow mechanical engineering major Stephen Peck, Brown is working to bring varied campus organizations together to sell T-shirts to benefit Virginia Tech’s fund. They’re getting the T-shirts and Bruce Brown are bringing organizations on campus together to sell T-shirts to benefit Virginia Tech University in its time of mourning.

The T-shirts will arrive Monday and will be on sale through May 9, the last day of classes.

They’ll also hang a huge banner with Virginia Tech’s logo on it that anyone can sign.

Want to know more? Send an e-mail or join the Facebook group “Aggie VT Support.”

Also raising money:

• NY Jungle Hair, Body & Soul, a Tappan spa, will donate $5 for every client they serve today (Friday, April 20) through Sunday (April 22). They’ll also collect any donations folks would like to give — make checks payable to Virginia Tech Foundation Inc. and write “Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund” in the memo line. The spa will forward all donations to Virginia Tech on April 30. Wanna know more? Send an e-mail, call 845-398-0511 or stop by 15 Route 303, Tappan.