Strange accidents, education assessments, police indictments AND MORE in this Week in Review. Watch … if you dare.

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Ramapo fires cop accused of sex abuse

Train hits car left on Haverstraw tracks

Rockland students surpass state average in Regents, graduation rate

BOCES, transgender teen face challenge

Legislature denies Rockland exec’s raise

Wii tournament stops in Nanuet

Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence will look to mend splintered fences with his police department tomorrow night by publicly taking back his criticism of Police Officer Jonathan Quinn.

St. Lawrence said tonight that he will make amends to Quinn personally and publicly, saying he will apologize if his calling Quinn insensitive to a Hasidic woman’s religious views during an arrest were insensitive to the officer and department.

A few weeks ago St. Lawrence fueled a firestorm across the town by calling Quinn’s decision to photograph Shifra Cohen, 24, of Monsey, without her wig insensitive. Married Hasidic women wear a wig for modesty and don’t allow men other than their husband to touch them. Quinn also fingerprinted her.

Cohen and her husband, Joseph, are accuse of stealing more than $8,000 in Medicaid by underreporting their income on their applications. They were two of more than 40 people charged with fraud, but have drawn attention because they complained about Shifra Cohen’s treatment at booking.

Some Hasidic Jewish leaders threatened a demonstration for his actions. St. Lawrence met with community leaders and Cohen and her husband and cooled off the community.

Now he’s looking to cool hot feeling among police officers and will discuss the issues tomorrow night.

“If my comments were insensitive to the officer, I will apologize to the officer and the department,” St. Lawrence told The Journal News tonight. “I will make it clear that the officer did follow the training he was taught. My intent is to take the silver lining out of this incident and strengthen our policy, procedures and general orders and our training.”

St. Lawrence said he will meet personally with Quinn, who has been advised by his union president, Officer Dennis Procter, to keep a low profile and not talk about the incident.

St. Lawrence said a fact-finding report by Capt. James Quinn, no relation to the officer, will not be completed by tomorrow’s meeting, since additional people need to be interviewed, including dectectives with the Rockland District Attorney’s Office. St. Lawrence said the report will state Officer Jonathan Quinn followed the department’s written procedures.

Procter and many residents already have argued Officer Jonathan Quinn followed procedures and the Hasidic Jewish community should not get special treatment from the police. The incident has added to already tense feelings between some Hasidic Jews and some secular residents and other Jews, some religious and some non-religious.

In response to the incident, St. Lawrence has called for the police to have sensitive training on the Hasidic community, with Rabbi Simon Lauber of Bikur Cholim showing officers a video on the community. St. Lawrence also said he wants to extend the training to other ethnic communities.

St. Lawrence said that when he speaks at tomorrow night’s meeting, he wants to make it clear his goal is to improve the police department and strength relationships with the town’s diverse communities.

He also said he would make it clear that the police department’s video system was broken for some time. He said the system was not tampered with by the police when Cohen was being processed – as he said some conspiracy theorists have proffered.

St. Lawrence has won elections as supervisor on the strength of overwhelming support from the Hasidic community and some Orthodox Jewish communities. His support for housing for the religious communities and other services has led to opposition from many non-religious areas of the town.

The Ramapo Planning Board on July 15 will be reviewing proposed subdivisions, rabbis residences and houses of worship. The meeting begins at 8:15 p.m. in Town Hall, 237 Route 59, Airmont.

Among the agenda items are public hearings for both the preliminary subdivision approval and final subdivision approval of a plan for seven lots on a total of 1.79 acres off Grove Street and Augusta Avenue in Monsey.

Potential environmental impacts will be reviewed for two community houses of worship, one by Congregation Chesidei Bobov of Monsey on a half acre off Jill Lane opposite Ralph Boulevard, and the other by Congregation Bais Yisocher Berish off Brewer Road about 200 feet west of DeRonde Road. The latter application is also for a rabbi’s residence.

A community house of worship can have a sanctuary capacity of more than 100 people, unlike the local house of worship, which has a capacity of fewer than 100. A local verision is sought by Congregation Ahvas Chesed, whose plan off Remsen Avenue and Hilda Lane will also be subject to an environmental review at the meeting.

Hey folks, here’s the latest Week in Review installment.

Podcast file:

Flash video:

Links to related articles:

Region’s residents react to Obama’s apparent securing of nomination

51 in Rockland arrested on drug, gun charges

Rockland honors military service in Iraq, Afghanistan

Cops: Wrong-way drive went for miles

In Monsey: Little bear, big scene

Here are a few more pictures of the bear sighting and subsequent spectacle in Monsey yesterday.

Here’s the story.

Read more of this entry »

The annual community-wide chometz burning will take place from 6:30 to 11:47 a.m. Friday, April 18, according to the Chabad of Greater Monsey blog.

For the uninitiated, chometz (also spelled chametz) is leavened food you’re not allowed to eat during Passover. Observant Jews rid their homes of all chometz before the eight-day holiday begins, this year at sundown April 19.

Here are the rules:

The burning is for bedikas chometz only. Wrap chometz in paper bags only. Plastic bottles, glass bottles and aerosol cans are not permitted. Children can visit the burn site only if accompanied by a responsible adult.

Bedikas chometz is the chometz found during a special search on Passover eve (when Passover starts on the Sabbath, it’s moved a day earlier, I believe). The idea is that you’ve removed all chometz from your house already, but you do this really thorough search of your entire home, as if you hadn’t searched your home yet at all.  (Please let me know if I didn’t get all the details right.)

2007 photo of the community chometz burning in Monsey by Kathy Gardner / The Journal News / LoHud.com 

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Links to related articles:
25 years in Sloatsburg courtroom shooting
Torah saved, but fire badly damages Orthodox Jewish day school in Ramapo
Local soldiers prepare for Iraq deployment
Winter storm causes accidents, outages, flooding in Rockland

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:
Monsey group fined for mess after chicken ritual
Schumer visits cadets at West Point
Special Report: Our Schools, Our Money
Haverstraw resident charged with trying to kill Spring Valley man

I’ve been hearing it from both sides of the political aisle — former Assemblyman Ryan Karben want his old County Legislature seat back.

But Karben said today that’s not true. Actually, he’s supporting the re-election of Legislator Philip Soskin, D-Monsey.

But people have asked him to consider it.

“My family commitments and my professional commitments don’t make that race viable right now,” he said.

(Vincent DiSalvio/The Journal News) 

Karben, who resigned from the Assembly on May 18, 2006 amid allegations of unwanted sexual advances toward a male intern, has it pretty good right now.

He’s got a lot of work as a private attorney, he’s working as Spring Valley’s deputy attorney, he’s holding the reins on a wealthy environmental PAC, he’s still “in” with Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

Hearing Karben talk you’d think the only thing he needs is a white picket fence.

But Karben said he is flattered that people would think of him for the Legislature seat, even if it isn’t going to happen—this year.

The Route 306 corridor from Monsey to Route 202 has been drawing quite a bit of attention from developers lately.

A 700-plus student yeshiva is planned at the Grandview Avenue intersection, about a quarter mile north of a proposed 78-apartment adult student housing project connected with a yeshiva.

Near that site is a proposed 162-unit senior citizen housing project.

Then, of course, there is the proposed rabbinical college where Route 306 meets Route 202, as well as an adult student housing zone on the opposite side of the intersection.
Does anyone have suggestions on how to balance the rights of land owners to develop their properties with the needs of residents living in the area?

Some people I’ve interviewed in recent weeks feel overwhelemed by it all, while others are accepting that development is bound to happen.

Should the town ask developers to reduce the number of units? Should the town focus more open-space preservation efforts within existing neighborhoods, like it did in buying two camps in Airmont? Should the town consider buying development rights from landowners, similar to how some Orange County communities have bought development rights from farmers?

As usual, the Assembly Democrats got more money to spend on pet projects this year—commonly referred to as “pork,” but Republicans got more this year than last. About $2 million to be exact.

For more information on pork spending and the specifics of the statewide trends, click here for our recent Lohud.com story.

In Rockland, the late Assemblyman Kenneth P. Zebrowski, D-New City, secured the most pork funding—$153 million—to be spent on things like a new van for the Helen Hayes Hospital Foundation and new computers for Meals on Wheels.

Nancy Calhoun, R-Blooming Grove, came in second for the Rockland Assembly members, but out of $121,000, only three items totaling $17,000 were set aside for Rockland, not including money for the Ramapo-Catskills Library System which includes both Rockland and Orange counties.

Calhoun’s district includes all of Stony Point.

Annie Rabbitt, R-Greenwood Lake, set aside $18,096 and just four items of her $103,000 total for Rockland items, not including the Ramapo-Catskills Library system. Her district includes part of Ramapo.

Freshmen Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern, brought home a total of $110,000 for things like renovations at the Airmont community center after school programs at the Nyack Center and the Martin Luther King Center.

Below is a full list of the Rockland Assembly pork:

Nancy Calhoun, R-Blooming Grove

$2,500, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Orange County for youth programs.

$10,000, Town of Blooming Grove for senior center improvements and recreation equipment at Mays Field.

$10,000, Town of Chester for Sugar Loaf planning grant.

$5,000, Town of Cornwall to digitize historical archives.

$10,000, Town of Crawford for improvements to the town park.

$2,500, Town of Highlands for equipment at Fort Montgomery.

$7,500, Town of Highlands Ambulance Corps for defibrillators and pagers.

$7,500, Town of Montgomery for a video-surveillance system.

$8,500, Town of New Windsor for a backup generator.

$10,000, Town of Stony Point for programs.

$4,500, Town of Stony Point for an accident-investigation system.

$10,000, Town of Woodbury for senior center improvements.

$5,000, Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson for a commercial freezer door.

$2,500, Village of South Blooming Grove for start-up expenses.

$2,500, Village of Walden for programs.

$2,500, Village of Woodbury for start-up expenses.

$2,500, Rockland County Sheriff’s Dept. for sex offender-tracking software.

$5,000, Ramapo-Catskill Library System for a summer reading program.

$5,000, Sarah Wells Girl Scout Council for programs.

$3,000, Orange County Veterans Cemetery for equipment.

$5,000, Orange County Firefighters Museum for programs.

$121,000 total.
– – – – – – – – -

Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern

$2,000, Suffern Farmers Market for marketing and promotion.

$7,500, Village of Spring Valley for training classes.

$2,000, Orangetown Fire Company No. 1 to remodel the interior room.

$8,000, Lower Hudson Valley Challenger Center for software and programs.

$10,000, Community Outreach Center of Monsey for a community patrol.

$7,500, Village of Spring Valley for the Jitney bus service.

$5,000, Community Action Program of Rockland for women’s programs.

$4,000, Community Action Network for a Drug-Free Life and Environment for counseling programs.

$15,000, Haitian American Cultural and Social Organization (Spring Valley) for a language-support program.

$8,000, Martin Luther King Multi-Purpose Center for software and equipment for an after-school program.

$5,000, Nyack Center for an after-school cultural program.

$7,500, Rockland County YMCA for after-school programs and field trips.

$9,500, Rockland Family Shelter for a teen workshop on abusive relationships.

$10,000, Village of Airmont to renovate a community center.

$4,000, Volunteer Counseling Service of Rockland to upgrade computer system.

$1,000, NAMI Familya of Rockland for support services for the mentally ill.

$4,000, Arts Council of Rockland for marketing.

$110,000 total.
– – – – — – – -

Annie Rabbitt, R-Greenwood Lake

$2,260, Pine Island Chamber of Commerce to plant trees.

$2,260, Campbell Hall Fire Dept. for equipment.

$4,524, Monroe Lakeside Fire Dept. for equipment.

$4,524, Town of Goshen for a fuel-dispensing system.

$4,524, Town of Hamptonburgh to construct a picnic area at a senior center.

$4,524, Town of Mount Hope for playground equipment.

$4,524, Town of Warwick to pave the area around an animal shelter.

$4,524, Village of Goshen for improvements to village hall.

$4,524, Village of Harriman for improvements to village hall.

$4,524, Village of Hillburn Dept. of Public Works for equipment.

$4,524, Village of Kiryas Joel for a radio repeater.

$4,524, Village of Monroe to plant trees in Crane Park.

$4,524, Village of Montebello for solar electric panels at town hall and for a 20th anniversary brochure.

$4,524, Village of Otisville to pave a municipal parking lot and for new curbs and trees.

$4,524, Village of Sloatsburg for software.

$4,524, Village of Suffern for Suffern Day.

$4,524, Village of Tuxedo Park to repair a dam.

$4,524, Village of Warwick for benches.

$4,524, Florida Police Dept. for security cameras at reservoirs.

$4,524, Greenwood Lake Police Dept. for computer upgrades.

$4,524, Wallkill Police Dept. for equipment.

$5,000, Ramapo-Catskill Library System for a reading program ($500 for each library in the system).

$4,524, Tuxedo Senior Center for renovations to the railroad station.

$3,000, Orange County Veteran’s Service Agency for cemetery equipment.

$103,000 total.
– – – – – – – -

Ken Zebrowski, D-New City

$10,000, Helen Hayes Hospital Foundation for a van.

$30,000, Village of Haverstraw for a new room at the Haverstraw Center.

$8,500, Village of Pomona for an emergency generator.

$50,000, Village of Spring Valley to replace the heating system at the Louis Kurtz Civic Center.

$2,900, Rockland Teachers’ Center Institute to purchase school supplies for needy children.

$5,000, Meals on Wheels of Rockland for new computers.

$5,000, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rockland for a gang-prevention counselor.

$3,100, Child Care Resources of Rockland for new computers.

$7,000, Community Action Program of Rockland for women’s programs.

$5,000, Haverstraw Ecumenical Project and Day Care Center for services.

$7,000, Interfaith Coalition for the Homeless of Rockland County for office equipment.

$8,000, Rockland Family Shelter for furniture.

$2,500, Star Kids (Garnerville) for a sports program.

$5,000, Volunteer Counseling Service of Rockland to upgrade the computer system.

$4,000, Arts Council of Rockland for office equipment and a newsletter.

$153,000 total.