There were many major breaking stories out of Rockland this week, check them out on the Week in Review.

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Judge gives ‘monster’ Modica 2 years

Homeless man was slain, authorities say

New census data shows added residents throughout Rockland

Man on tracks may not have heard horn

Holiday starts early with fireworks in Nanuet, Haverstraw

To commemorate Earth Day, the Great American Cleanup starts this weekend and other events will be held through the week next week.

You can read this article by staff writer Laura Incalcaterra about the events, but here’s a quick list:

Saturday

• The Palisades Community Center, 675 Oak Tree Road, holds an Earth Day Fair from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The emphasis will be on “reduce, reuse and recycle,” and there will be a tag sale, children’s events, and recycling collection areas for used cell phones, ink jet cartridges, eyeglasses and sunglasses, and household batteries. Adults and children can submit a design by noon and a winner will get to paint a Keep Rockland Beautiful trash can.

• The Great American Cleanup, organized locally by Keep Rockland Beautiful has several cleanups that welcome walk-in volunteers who don’t have to sign up in advance. The meeting places:
8:30 a.m.-noon: Hillburn Youth Center, 77 Fifth St.
9 a.m.: Congers Station Park, Lake Road; Montebello Village Hall, 1 Montebello Road; Farley Middle School, Route 210, Stony Point; Suffern Village Hall, 61 Washington Ave.; Back to Earth Natural Foods Market, 306 S. Main St., New City.
10 a.m.: Nanuet train station, off Prospect Street; Orangetown Town Hall, 26 Orangeburg Road, Orangeburg.
11 a.m.: Spring Valley Commons parking lot, off Slinn Avenue.
Noon: Corner of Maple and Twin avenues, Spring Valley.
Get more information at online or by calling 845-708-9159.

Tuesday

• Nyack Earth Days begin. Costume-making workshop for April 26 parade, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.; panel discussion on solar energy and greening your home or business, 7 p.m. At Nyack Center, Depew Avenue at South Broadway. Free.

• Rockland Community College’s Earth Day Information Fair, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., outside the library. Local environmental groups and vendors of environmentally friendly products, such as hybrid cars, will be present. Live raptor show and a disc jockey. Food, prepared by students in the hospitality program, will be available for $5 per plate.

• Hungry Hollow Co-op, Route 45, Chestnut Ridge, holds an open house, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with free samples of earth-friendly household-cleaning products, and information about sustainable agricultural practices.

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.

Legislators Ilan Schoenberger, D-Wesley Hills, and Bruce Levine, D-Montebello, could have some thinking to do the Legislature approves a proposal to prohibit county legislators from being employed by the county or a Rockland town or village. Schoenberger is the Ramapo finance director and Levine is the Spring Valley village attorney.

The proposal, introduced by Legislator Patrick Withers, D-Suffern, isn’t aimed at any one legislator, but would eliminate the appearance of impropriety that comes with legislators holding both positions. The county already has a “two-hat” rule that prohibits legislators from also holding elective office in a Rockland town or village.

The proposal calls for the amendment of the “two-hat” rule to take effect in January 2008 so that anyone seeking election or re-election could make a decision before mounting a campaign.

Schoenberger, for one, agrees with Withers and is supportive of the idea. Levine, who had not heard of the proposal until he heard of it from The Journal News, said he thought Withers was proposing this on behalf of the political structure in Ramapo.

This structure, is said is threatened “because I present a challenge, a daily challenge to the system, to the way the county has operated,� he said.

Levine already has one person gunning for his spot next year—former Legislator Alden Wolfe. Levine soundly defeated Wolfe in last year’s primary. Wolfe recently announced his campaign to get his seat back and among his chief concerns was the fact that Levine is answerable to both the people of Rockland County and the village of Spring Valley.

The people of South Nyack are particularly interested in the fate of the Tappan Zee Bridge. The darn thing’s so close to their homes that they can practically set up toll booths in their back yards.

So it’s no surprise that candidates seeking office in the March 20 elections put the bridge’s future at the top of their watch lists.

Read about South Nyack and other village elections at:

www.lohud.com/elections/airmont

www.lohud.com/elections/chestnutridge

www.lohud.com/elections/grandview

www.lohud.com/elections/montebello

www.lohud.com/elections/pomona

www.lohud.com/elections/southnyack

www.lohud.com/elections/uppernyack

“Ah, the good life, full of fun, seems to be the ideal.”

So go the lyrics to the old standard, and that’s apparently how they feel in one Rockland village (Grand View), where even politicos think that Life’s a Party.

It’s all part of The Journal News and lohud.com’s ongoing coverage of the March 20 village elections.

Here’s the links to the articles that are available:

http://lohud.com/elections/uppernyack

http://lohud.com/elections/airmont

http://lohud.com/elections/chestnut

http://lohud.com/elections/grandview

It’s been said that all politics are local, and there’s nothing more local than your village election.

On March 20, voters in 10 Rockland villages (Pomona, Grand View, South Nyack, Upper Nyack, Chestnut Ridge, Kaser, New Square, Hillburn, Montebello and Airmont) will go to the polls.

Although only Pomona and Hillburn have contested elections, each race offers a chance for residents to let Village Hall know whether they think things are headed in the right direction.

And, don’t forget, in smaller villages there’s always a chance that a write-in candidate could sneak into office. (Brian Miele in Hillburn, anyone?)

This is all a way of announcing that The Journal News and LoHud.com are providing coverage in print and on the Web to keep you informed before you cast your ballot. Each article in the newspaper will contain a link to lohud.com for candidate profiles and other information. The stories will remain on LoHud.com’s Rockland page through Election Day.

Here are the links to the first three articles, which will appear this weekend:

http://lohud.com/elections/uppernyack

http://lohud.com/elections/airmont

http://lohud.com/elections/chestnut

I get so many of those campaign palm cards during election season that I could wallpaper my cubicle. You all know what I’m talking about — you get them in your mailbox or at the grocery store. You hit up a local festival anytime between May and November and you could likely fill a small pillowcase with literature from local politicians and their challengers.

Personally, I’ve never found much use for them, other than seeing who has the best design or who should have thought to comb his cowlick before smiling for the camera.

But County Legislator Bruce Levine keeps an entire file of them, his to be exact. They are his own version of a to-do list. Every politician tells voters what he or she will do for them, but Levine said recently that he keeps his file to make sure he keeps his word.

“What they’re really looking for is action and results,� he said of voters.

Back when Levine was a legislator in the 1980s and ‘90s, he’d keep his palm cards from each election and then check them later to see what promises he’d fulfilled and what else needed to be worked on. Now that he’s back in his old seat and facing opposition in a September primary from former Legislator Alden Wolfe, Levine said he’s back in the old file.

And he better make this year’s palm card good. After— he’ll be looking at it for years to come.