Haverstraw village, in conjunction with the Haverstraw Town Police Department, is seeking to establish a village neighborhood watch program.

Residents who are interested in participating in the program are encouraged to attend an orientation meeting at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 4 at the 2nd floor meeting room at Haverstraw Village Hall at 40 New Main St.

The village held its first orientation meeting for the program in November.

Mayor Michael Kohut said he decided to hold another meeting because the program needed more participation.
Kohut said he was hoping that this program would help Haverstraw police tackle crimes in the village.

“The police cannot do it all by themselves. They need our eyes and ears to assist them since they cannot be everywhere at the same time,” Kohut said in his statement. “By taking responsibility for our own neighborhoods, we can help remove the thereat of drugs and crime in the village and make life in Haverstraw better for everyone, except for the bad guys.”

He added: “Please join us on February 4th to make this program a reality.”

Call Village Hall at 845-429-0300 for more information.

Tomorrow’s expected rain has pushed three Halloween celebrations to Sunday:

• The Chamber of Commerce of the Nyacks’ annual Halloween parade begins assembling at 3:15 p.m. Sunday — bands, floats and marchers assemble at the upper level of Memorial Park, at the corner of DePew and Piermont avenues.

• Haverstraw’s annual Halloween festival has been moved to noon to 4 p.m. Sunday at Bowline Point Park.
• Sloatsburg’s annual Halloween parade has costume judging beginning at 4 p.m. and the parade at 5 p.m., at the entrance to the community fields by Route 17. The parade goes up Route 17 to the elementary school.

Pomona’s not changing its Halloween party, scheduled for 1 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Village Hall.

Suffern’s parade was already planned for 2 p.m. Sunday at the corner of Orange and Lafayette avenues, so it’s not changing. Costume judging, cider and donuts immediately follow the parade at the Virginia Menschner Gazebo on Washington Ave.

Have fun!

Alario Magana got his new wheels on Saturday and gets to celebrate with his benefactors on Thursday evening at the Elk’s Club in Haverstraw village.

The 11-year-old Haverstraw village boy has Cerebral  Palsey and gets around the village, the Farley Middle School and his home in a wheelchair.

His old wheelchair was falling part, held together by wire ties, screws and bolts.

Magana takes a bus to school. A Haverstraw Transit bus employee told Haverstraw Detective Charles Hatala about the state of the youngster’s wheelchair. The family insurance company told the boy’s mother that he was not eligible for another chair for a few more years, Hatala told The Journal-News today.

Hatala got  the Haverstraw Policemen’s Benevolent Association involved and fund-raising started.

“Kids his age grow leaps and bounds and he would soon grow out of his old chair, which was run-down to begin with,” Hatala said.”We didn’t have $7,000 for a new wheelchair.”

The PBA held  a fund raiser, “Friends of Alario,” during the spring.  The Elk’s Club learned about Magana’s plight and the PBA effort. The club donated the $7,000 for the wheelchair, Hatala said. The money raised by the PBA then went for a lift, clothes and other needs.

Hatala said helping the youngster was a community effort.

“Joe Marina, from the North Rockland School District helped  organizing and shopping for the chair,” Hatala said. ” When I spoke with him ..  he told me Alario was very excited about his chair and Tom Brown from the bus company told me he sits so much straigher in the chair.”
At 5 p.m. Thursday, congratulations and thank yous will be exchanged at the Elk’s Club.

West Haverstraw village Democrats will hold a caucus at the village’s community center at 6 p.m. tonight.

One trustee seat with unexpired term is up for election in November, and the committee is expected to nominate a candidate for the seat, vacated by Joseph Denise, who was recently appointed to a newly created position, Department of Public Works commissioner.

Mayor John Ramundo has filled the trustee position last month by appointing Mark Loblanco, a former chairman of the village’s Zoning Board of Appeals. To secure his seat, Loblanco, a Democrat, has to run as a Democratic nominee in November.

The July periodic campaign finance disclosure forms were due yesterday for any person or committee with an active account.

So while we focused primarily on this year’s candidates I took a peek at the statements of County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef and some of his rumored 2009 opponents.

Vanderhoef, a Republican now serving his fourth term in office, brought in more than $105,800 in contributions in the last six months—more than any of the people running for statewide office this year. He reported a balance of $166,577. 27 after opening with more than $131,200.

Much of his money came from corporate donations and several of his expenditures were on fundraisers.

Among the rumored challengers is Orangetown Town Supervisor Thom Kleiner, who’s getting really good at being charmingly coy when asked about the subject.

He raised nearly $41,000 this period, ending with a balance of $112,788.28. Ramapo Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence took in nearly $76,000 and Clarkstown Supervisor Alex Gromack took in nearly $61,500.

That’s big money in an off-year compared with Haverstraw Town Supervisor Howard Phillips who took in just more than $1,200 and Stony Point Supervisor Phil Marino who raised about half that.

All five supervisor seats, now filled by Democrats, are up next year as well.

Filing of petitions for the Sept. 9 primary election has started today, and Ricky Sanchez, a Democrat of Haverstraw village, has already filed his petition to run for a village trustee seat, according to the county Board of Election’s Web site.

Two trustee seats are up for re-election on the Haverstraw village board.

Haverstraw village Mayor Michael Kohut said that two incumbents — Trustees Francisco Batista and Emily Dominguez, both Democrats — are going to run for re-election.

Another Democrat, Zahira Serrano-Rodriguez, who unsuccessfully ran for a trustee seat last year, is also seeking to run for a trustee seat.

Petitions for the primary need to be filed by July 10.

Six Haverstraw village employees will be competing to become the “biggest loser.”

“We want to get healthy,” said Village Treasure Judith Curcio, adding that as of Thursday, six employees — Mayor Michael Kohut, Building Inspector Ruben Berrios, Assistant Building Inspector Rafael Bueno Jr. Fire Inspector Pat McNamee, Public Works Superintendent George White and herself — expressed their interest in participating in the weight loss contest.

The weigh-in is scheduled for noon Monday at Village Hall at 40 New Main St.

Each participant will tip in $40 to join the four-week contest, and the biggest loser will get the money minus $50.

The $50 will be given to the person who has kept his/her weight off for three months after the contest.

Curcio said the village would not disclose each participant’s weight, though she would give out the total weight of all the contestants to compare before and after.

Haverstraw Town Board this week appointed West Haverstraw Village Justice John K. Grant to town justice to fill the unexpired term of Thomas Walsh, who was recently appointed by Gov. David A. Paterson to serve as an interim judge of the Rockland County Surrogate Court.

This creates a need for West Haverstraw village to appoint someone to fill Grant’s seat because Grant will have to resign from his village position to become town justice.

West Haverstraw village Mayor John Ramundo said today that the village was reviewing a number of applications for the village justice position.

This type of domino effect is not unusual in Haverstraw town and the two villages in the town.
When Haverstraw town Justice Charles Apotheker won a seat on the County Court in November 2006, Walsh, who was Haverstraw village justice that time and ran against Apotheker on the Democratic primary, succeeded Apotheker’s town seat. To fill Walsh’s vacancy in the village, Ronald Decaprio was appointed to the position.

Grant himself was appointed to the West Haverstraw seat in February 2007 to fill the unexpired term of Tom Zugibe, who stepped down to run for district attorney.

Confused?
I know. It’s hard to keep track of these changes because they happen so quickly.

Stony Point Town Hall is closed again this afternoon because of some “smelly” air coming from an “inhibitor” installed on the wall, Supervisor Phil Marino said.

The town has been addressing mold issues in Town Hall’s basement. A contractor is working on it.

Town Hall also was closed yesterday afternoon and opened this morning. But it was closed again this afternoon because of the smell.

“I told people upstairs not to hang around and leave,” Marino said, adding that he intended to go back to Town Hall later this afternoon after his meeting with Haverstraw village Mayor Michael Kohut.

Not only “upstairs,” but Town Hall’s main building at 74 E. Main St. seems to be closed altogether. No one is taking phone calls at Town Clerk’s Office, which is on the first floor of the two-story building.

The Building Department, which is in a separate building, is open as usual.

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 

The anti-drinking and drug message while driving will  be demonstrated for Fieldstone Secondary School 9th-graders with two mock car crashes on Tuesday at the West Ramapo Road campus.

The volunteer victims will be covered in red – for blood – and trapped inside a crushed car, requiring firefighters to cut open the vehicle. A medical helicopter will land to show how personnel transfer the victims to the hospital. And capping off the lesson will be a Hearst carrying the casket with the victim(s) to the cemetery for burial.

And Fieldstone School Resource Officer Henry Sirakovsky is looking for volunteers, preferably students, to spend time in the casket.

The hour-long simulated crash and responses is to emphasize to students the dangers of driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol – and an general message  not to drink and use drugs in ny case. Some schools have left a crushed car on the campus as a message.

The mock crash at Fieldstone will be held at 9:50 a.m. and again with a second car at 1:05 p.m. Sirakovsky, who will moderate,  organized the mock crash with school officials and Students Against Destructive Decisions. And the rain date is Thursday.

Ten Haverstraw town and village police officers will be feted Friday on their retirements after decades of serving the public.

One officer in particular, Hector Soto, already has moved on in life to an elected councilman on the Haverstraw Town Board. Soto worked as a police officer for close to four decades and 36 years as a detective. He worked his share of robberies, shootings, rapes and homicide during his career. For many years, Soto was the county’s only Spanish-speaking officer – and constantly called by other departments.

On Friday, a retirement dinner will be held at the Patriot Hills course clubhouse in Stony Point.
Aside from Soto, the other town police officer- honorees are Detective Richard Janeli, Sgt. DannyFarrell and Officer William Harvey.

Six Haverstraw village officers who retired when the Haverstraw village police department disbanded two years ago and the town police force took over patrolling the village. They are Police Chief John Reilly, Sgt. Claudio Gatti, Sgt. Paul Hykas, Detective Sgt. Frank Alessio, Detective Vincent Ryan and Officer Richard Chorus.

And several other retirees – such as Detective Lt. Richard Rogers from the sunny shores and golf courses of Florida – and officers from across the department will attend the dinner.

Anyone interested in attending can call members of the planning committee – Dave Kryger, Jose Luna, Jorge Folch and Peter Connolly – at the Haverstraw Town Police Department at 845-354-1500.

Hi there, I’m back again with the latest week in review podcast. Take a look below and feel free to leave a comment.

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Haverstraw Village Clerk Emma Velez told me yesterday that she wanted to remind residents that Village Hall at 40 New Main St., has been offering extended business hours from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. the first and third Mondays every month. The Building Department will be open until 7 p.m. the first Thursday of every month.

The village started offering extended hours last month to “make village government more accessible to the people,” said Mayor Michael Kohut.

Velez said residents still didn’t know about the extended hours because not so many people were taking advantage of it.

Call Village Hall at 845-429-0300 for more information.

Haverstraw town announced this week its plan to improve court security, using the grant the town recently received from the state Office of Court Administration.

Towns and villages in the county have been awarded the state grants ranging from $2,000 to $29,000. Haverstraw town got the second highest amount, $24,826.

Haverstraw town Supervisor Howard Phillips said part of the grant, about $5,000, would be used to purchase a walk-through metal detector. The rest of the money will be used to finance reconstruction of the bench.

A judge and a court clerk at Haverstraw town Justice Court are currently sitting at the same level with all other people in the courtroom. County Judge Charles Apotheker, who has served as a Haverstraw town justice for 26 years before being elected to the county position in 2006, said the current bench at the Haverstraw court was in a “strangle distance,” and it needed to be elevated for safety reason.

Achieving court safety will cost the town more than the grant money.

Phillips said the cost for the bench reconstruction project would exceed the money from the grant. Also, to operate the metal detector, the town would have to hire two more part-time court officers. Annual salaries for the two part-time court officers would be between $8,000 and $10,000, he said.

Apotheker said he was suggesting town supervisors and village mayors to consider lobbing state representatives to pass state legislation that would allow local municipalities to add surcharges on top of fines.

“There are many penalty assessments added onto fines, and most of them, I think all of them, kept by the state,” Apotheker said. “They could consider passing a law, statewide, that would provide another penalty assessment that goes back to the towns and villages for them to pay for the cost of security.”

As promised earlier, here’s a full list of Rockland’s recipients of 2008 Community Development Block Grant funds:

• Spring Valley: $250,000 for the reconstruction of a park at Jay Street and Kennedy Drive.

• Ramapo: $150,000 to construct a handicapped-accessible pavilion and restrooms at Manny Welder Park.

• West Haverstraw: $100,000 for sidewalk replacement, lighting installation and landscaping on the Railroad Avenue corridor.

• Haverstraw village: $100,000 for new sidewalks, curbs, roadway, lights and other improvements on Main Street between Broadway and First Street.

• South Nyack: $100,000 to upgrade a storm drain system on Cedar Hill Avenue between Anna and Franklin streets.

• Haverstraw town: $75,000 for improvements to the pool deck at Bowline Point Park.

• Suffern: $50,000 for the construction of sidewalks and curbs on Ramapo Avenue from West Park Place to West Maltbie Avenue.

• Hillburn: $50,000 to help pay for a water system upgrade. The village has the oldest water pipes in Rockland.

• Piermont: $1,000 for a curb cut on the sidewalk at the public library, making the facility accessible to the disabled.

Image courtesy the U.S. Treasury Department, via the Associated Press.

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Two supervisors in North Rockland want to meet the public this Saturday.

Haverstraw town Supervisor Howard Phillips will hold a “meet the supervisor and town elected officials� event from 10 a.m. to noon at the ShopRite store on Route 202 in Garnerville. Residents can bring their questions and concerns related to the town government.

Stony Point Supervisor Phil Marino invites residents to join the “Coffee with the Supervisor” session from 8 to 10 a.m. at Stony Point Town Hall at 74 E. Main St. People can bring their concerns and issues to discuss with Marino. Coffee will be served.

While Marino is having coffee with residents, Stony Point Town Clerk Joan Skinner will open her office for business from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. to accommodate residents who cannot make it to her office on weekdays.

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I stopped by Haverstraw Center this week, where the Haverstraw Collaborative — a group of local agencies serving the village youth and families — was hosting a week-long event for children during the school break.

When I was visiting, multiple programs — including a knitting class, a group discussion, and exercises — were ongoing, and participating children looked all excited.

Jeanmarie Zubko, counselor at the center, said about 100 children participated in this year’s event. The number had doubled from last year, since said.

Haverstraw Village Mayor Michael Kohut, a supporter of the project, was pleased to see the successful event.

“Kids do enjoy it,” Kohut said. “The more things they get to do, the less chance they get in trouble.”

The children were supposed to celebrate the center’s first anniversary last night as part of the week-long event. But the reception was postponed to 5:30 p.m. Feb. 29 due to the weather.

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I’ve been receiving so many calls and e-mails about the Hudson Pines Condominiums, an affordable housing complex I wrote about in Wednesday’s paper, I figured I’d share all the information I have:

The condominiums are on Dowd Street in Haverstraw village. That’s off Route 202, not too far away from the Route 9W intersection.

There will be an open house from noon to 4 p.m. Feb. 2 at its Building A.

Unfortunately, I cannot answer specific questions about available units or help you in filling out applications.

Please call the Rockland Housing Action Coalition at 845-352-3819.

Good luck!

I drove by Benson Street in West Haverstraw yesterday to check if Raines and Welsh and Sons, a construction company on Railroad Avenue, was clearing up its backyard, following an order from the state Department or Environmental Conservation.

The work was in progress: a piece of heavy machinery was loading piles of dirt onto a truck.

Last month, the company was ruled to be in violation of state regulations, using its backyard to store piles of dirt, pieces of concrete and asphalt without a proper buffer against houses on Benson Street, which runs along the company property.

Several residents on Benson Street had complained about the dust, noise and constant shaking caused by heavy machinery in the company’s backyard.

West Haverstraw building inspector also found that the company did not have a village permit to use the backyard.

I’ll check back again to see if the work is completed.

Staff writer Christina Jeng was tied up this week, so her colleague and fellow blogger, Sarah Netter, stepped up to bring you the Week in Review podcast.

Download:

And, as usual, here are links to the appropriate stories:
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In my recent story on Papo Cancel’s quick comeback to the Haverstraw Town Board, Supervisor Howard Phillips was quoted, saying that two people — Cancel and Salvatore Greco of West Haverstraw — notified the Democratic Committee of their interest in the Town Board seat vacated by John Ramundo. He also said because Greco later withdrew his application, Cancel was the only one left.

After the story was published, John Lawrence, a Republican who unsuccessfully ran for the Town Board in November, sent me e-mail to point out the fact that in the week before Thanksgiving, he met Phillips at Mt Ivy Diner and told him that he wanted that seat.

Then I asked Phillips why he omitted the fact that Lawrence expressed his interest.
“He met with me, but he never applied,� Phillips said. “He told me he was interested, but he never wrote to the Town Board or anything like that.�

So I asked Phillips if he advised Lawrence to write letters to the Town Board to tell the board members that he wanted to be appointed. Phillips said he did.

And Phillips continued: “I like John, he’s a nice person. … Anybody can apply to the Democratic Committee, but if you’re a Republican, I think it would be hard pressed for the Democratic Committee to back.�

Phillips was basically saying that he didn’t include Lawrence in the pool of applicants because he didn’t write letters to the Town Board, but even if he had done so, he wouldn’t have been appointed because he’s a Republican.