The Rockland County Republican Committee will hold a rally and open its 2009 campaign headquarters at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow in the Clarkstown Plaza shopping mall in New City.

State Sen. Thomas Morahan, R-New City; County Sheriff James Kralik; and County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef will speak. They will outline their vision of Rockland’s future and their plans for the campaign season, according to a party statement.

Vanderhoef is seeking re-election to a fifth four-year term. He is also running on the Conservative and Independence lines.

He is being challenged by Orangetown Town Supervisor Thom Kleiner on the Democratic line, and Andrew Spence on the Working Families line.

Election Day is Nov. 3.

Sheriff’s Department arson Detective Doug Lerner has been working without his partner – Scooter.

The yellow Lab, known to get excited over the scent of gasoline and other accelerants, has been out on injury leave with a bad foot.

The action pooch had surgery on Jan. 29 at the Suffern Animal Hospital. She’s expected to be off-duty until the end of the month, Detective Lt. William Barbera said.

“She came back and had a cone on her head,” Barbera said, adding the device was meant to prevent Scooter from licking or biting the stitches on her back leg.

Her stitches came out today, he said.

While she’s convalescing, Lerner has been working.

He’s investigating the massive fire that destroyed a Washington Avenue warehouse in Suffern last week – a fire seen for miles. And the warehouse had loads of flammable stuff – from propane tanks to gasoline, all the stuff that puts the bark in an arson dog like Scooter.

Lerner and Scooter have been a team since 2006.

Scooter was found in a Chicago animal shelter after she was abandoned on the streets. The person who rescued the pup and named her Scooter took her to Maine for possible training as an arson dog.

Scooter succeeded Hayley, a black Labrador retriever who became the county’s first arson dog in 2001. Hayley retired with her handler, Detective Joseph Guidice.

While Scooter is a “sworn” law enforcement pooch, she’s not eligible for 2007c – the state program that pays police officer their salary tax free while they are recovering from an on-the-job injury.

It’s a dog’s world and three Rockland police departments received equipment through a non-profit group for their K-9 units.

Spring Valley, Clarkstown and Ramapo received the equipment from the Onyx and Breezy Foundation, an organization started in 2004 by Mark and Wanda Shefts in honor of their two Labrador retrievers. The foundation supports a wide range of projects that advance the welfare of animals.

The Shefts will appear with the three dogs and officers to discuss the grants tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. in the Rockland Legislature Chambers, first floor of the County Office Building, 11 New Hempstead Road, New City.  The grants were procured by Rockland Public Safety Advocate David Fried, who works for Sheriff James Kralik on finding money for police across the county and other issues like recruitment.

Fried estimated the equipment is valued at $6,000. The  following equipment was obtained :

• Technology equipping K-9 vehicles in Spring Valley and Ramapo with temperature monitoring to ensure a safe environment for the dog when the canine is unattended on hot or cold days during emergency responses. Remote pagers would tell the officer if temperatures inside the vehicles would endanger the dog’s health. The cars also would be equipped with a cooling fan that would turn on automatically at certain temperatures. The officers also would get device that automatically opens the vehicle door to allow the dog to respone in emergencies.  Each departments has one dog each trained in tracking and narcotics.

• Computer software for the Clarkstown Police Department that would maintain records such as veterinary care, training logs and deployment.  Clarkstown has the largest K-9 patrol program in the county with two dogs. Suffern also has a K-9 unit.

The Sheriff’s Department has two dogs trained to sniff out explosive components and one canine trained to sniff out accelerants for arson investigations. A third dog trained for the bomb disposal unit coming soon.

“The equipment that is being provided is a testament to the importance of K9s in all our lives, the noble service of K9s in law enforcement and the legacy of Onyx and Breezy,” foundation Trustee Wanda Shefts said in a news release. “As a society we have an obligation to support and provide for animals.”

Kralik noted that since the terrorists attacks on the World Trade Center in Manhattan and Pentagon in Washington with hijacked airplanes, police dogs have played a larger role in law enforcement.

“Together with their human handlers, law enforcement has been greatly enhanced by police dogs in narcotic seizures, arson investigations, explosives detections and patrol work,” Kralik said.

Sheriff’s Department Lt. Billy Barbera called me Thursday evening.

I said, “Hey Billy, what’s up.”

Barbera responded that I had called him and he was returning my call.

Silence, on my end, as I tried to remember when I called him and why? It’s 6 p.m. and I still have another hour’s work before I go home.

Barbera is one of Sheriff James Kralik’s public information officers so I must have had a question about something – an arrest, a policy matter.

Before I came up with an answer, Barbera, always the gentleman, asked, “Did you forget I was in Alabama all week?”

Now that you mentioned it,  I guess so.

The important point is Barbera was  being trained in Alabama becasue he’s a supervisor for the Sheriff’s Department Bomb Disposal Unit. Capt. Louis Falco and Capt. Andrew Esposito already have taken similar training courses for the countywide unit.

The bomb disposal squad has three officers and two bomb-sniffing dogs, to go along with a bomb disposal robot, X-ray device, a fully equipped bomb truck with all the bells and whistles, and other equipment. Two more officers are being trained.

Kralik wants the bomb unit  accredited as a level one unit and the ability to handle more than one incident at a time and have extra officers in case of terrorist attack or some other type of castrophe. There was a time when Rockland police waited hours for a bomb squad from either the state police or another county.

Barbera said the unit is several hundred thousand dollars short for  another bomb truck and, subsequently, level one status. I could only think  this sounds like a job for Kralik’s grant-obtainer, David Fried, a former county legislator.  Kralik hired Fried, a Democrat who didn’t seek re-election in November, and even got Fried a license to carry a gun like he was a police officer.

Back to Barbera, who said he was enjoying the training course.

“I am getting to blow things up,” he said.

He said he would be back Monday and I should call him when I remembered why I called him on Thursday.

Rockland County has long been excluded from receiving federal anti-terrorism funding as part of the New York City-metropolitan area security net.

Sheriff James Kralik has raised the issue of Rockland being excluded from the Urban Area Securities Initiative since after Sept. 11, 2001. Several years ago, then Assemblyman Ryan Karben, D-Monsey, and Legislator Ellen Jaffee, who succeeded Karben in the Assembly, raised the issue, as have other county officials.

Now, Rep. Eliot Engel. D-Bronx, who represents parts of Rockland and Westchester counties, has picked up the gauntlet. The argument has been that Rockland is not a potential target for terrorism. The county has marked several sites, including the Tappan Zee Bridge, power plants and grips, malls and neighborhoods, as potential targets.

“Rockland in an integral part of the area, and with the Tappan Zee Bridge and the New York State Thruway, it has primary terrorist targets as well,” Engel said in a news release. “The various Metropolitan area agencies that are a part of UASI must be willing to include Rockland in our safety net. It’s time for the security net around New York City to be complete. New York State should take a leadership role in making this happen.”

For an area to be a part of the UASI funding it must be contiguous with New York City, such as Westchester, or an agency in the city, such as the Port Authority. Only a small part of Rockland is considered contiguous. Engel, there are notable exceptions. Suffolk County, which is separated from New York City by all of Nassau County, nevertheless gets UASI funds.

Last year , Engel got an additional $20 million included in the Urban Area Securities Initiative budget, raising it to $850 million, and this year he is working to get it raised again, this time to $900 million.

“Now it’s time for Rockland to be included,” Engel said. “The other agencies funded under UASI are reluctant to give up a share of the funding that would go to Rockland, but that is why I got additional money put in last year’s budget, and why I’m fighting to get an additional increase in this year’s budget.”

Late yesterday afternoon, I was covering a welcome-home reception for the Haverstraw Little League softball team, which advanced in the Little League Softball Junior Division World Series all the way to the semifinals. They finished fourth in the series.

The girls were tired because on Sunday, they flew back to Syracuse from Washington State, where the tournament was held, and on Monday, they drove down to Haverstraw to make it to the party. But I think they enjoyed the attention they got.

The celebration attracted some candidates in the fall elections.

Republican Sheriff James Kralik arrived at the pavilion at the Bowline Point Park shortly before his challenger, Democrat Tim O’Neill, who is currently a Stony Point Town Board member. Republican County District Attorney Michael Bongiorno and his challenger, Democrat Tom Zugibe, also showed up to praise the team’s achievement.

Somehow I knew Ryan Karben knew how to throw an impressive party.

From the red and white checkered tablecloths on the outdoor dining tables to the waitresses serving multi-colored mojitos and fruit kabobs, patrons of the Karbens’ backyard barbecue all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

And that was before the caterers busted out the burgers and hot dogs on a grills just slightly smaller than the average twin-sized bed.

And those guests just kept coming. By night fall, Karben’s street and surrounding neighborhood were packed with cars. Hopefully, the neighbors were too busy enjoying the party to notice.

Though Karben has been hinting at a return to politics via a run for Ramapo Town Board, there were no announcements tonight. Instead he addressed the crowd from his back deck, thanking his former Assembly colleagues Adam Bradley and Amy Paulin for coming and paying tribute to late Assemblyman Kenneth P. Zebrowski.

As expected the party had a mix of long-time politicians and up-and-comers looking to hobnob with those long-time politicians. Though unsurprisingly Democrat heavy, there were some partygoers from the other side of the ballot, including Republican Sheriff James Kralik.

The host himself was busy entertaining his guests, casually decked out in an untucked buttoned-down shirt and man sandals (a recent purchase, he noted.)
The Ramapo Town Board seat in question has been empty since the death last month of longtime Board Member Harry Reiss.

He’s one of four Democrats that have shown interest in the seat. The Ramapo Democratic Committee is expected to hold a convention next month to choose a candidate for the November ballot.