rye city review 2-27-2015

RyeCityTHE REVIEWFebruary 27, 2015 | Vol. 3, Number 8 | www.ryecityreview.com

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caspi continued on page 13

By cHRis EBERHaRTStaff Writer

The Rye City Board of Edu-cation will have to decide how to make up for a projected shortfall of $3.55 million in its proposed $83.4 million budget for the 2015-2016 school year.

To make up the difference, Superintendent Dr. Frank Al-varez is proposing a 5.08 per-cent increase over the allow-able tax levy increase of 2.49 percent, which would require a supermajority vote of the Board of Education to over-ride the state-mandated prop-erty tax levy cap.

In years past, the Rye school

School budget proposed to override tax cap Judge rules on Caspi reportsdistrict used money from its fund balance, which is typi-cally reserved for emergencies or capital projects and affects the school district’s bond rat-ing, to supplement the budget.

But Alvarez said the contin-ued reliance on fund balance is “unsustainable.”

Since the 2010-2011 school year, the district’s fund bal-ance has decreased from $15.85 million to $10.50 mil-lion, including the use of $2.7 million last year toward the current year’s budget. The pro-posed 2015-2016 budget calls for the use of $1.5 million in fund balance and would fur-ther reduce fund balance levels

to approximately $9 million. Typically, school districts and municipal governments keep their fund balance levels at ap-proximately 10 percent of an overall budget, which in the case of the Rye school dis-trict would require a minimum fund balance of $8.4 million.

Board of Education mem-ber Chris Repetto said the school district was “in a won-derful position” of having “an excessively high amount” of fund balance to keep spending down when costs were rising, but doing business this way is creating a widening gap.

“Now it’s time to fill the gap,” Repetto said. “It’s nice to

have money to spend and great to keep your tax increases low, but the hole you have to fill will continue to get bigger.”

The proposed superinten-dent’s budget is $4 million more than the current year’s $79.3 million budget, consti-tuting a 5.10 percent budget-to-budget increase that would cost average homeowners in Rye an additional. $1,381 in taxes per year.

Alvarez also included fund-ing in the proposed budget to hire new staff members and teachers to address rising stu-dent enrollment, specifically

BudgET continued on page 7

The Town/Village of Harrison was rocked last week after a resident shot and killed his two teenage daughters before turning the gun on himself. For story, see page 8. Photo/Andrew Dapolite

Why?

By cHRis EBERHaRTand MaRissa pENN

Staff Writers

The former police commis-sioner, a current police lieuten-ant and the City of Rye have been reinstated as defendants in an alleged police brutality civil rights lawsuit after the re-cent discovery of two reports documenting one accused of-ficer’s violent reputation.

In U.S Southern District Court Judge Jed Rakoff’s rul-ing on Feb. 23, the plaintiff’s claims against the City of Rye, Rye Police Lt. Joseph Verille and former police Commis-sioner William Connors were restored in light of the newly uncovered documents.

The city, Verille and Con-nors were originally dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Siebel in September 2014 because Seibel felt the officers’ actions against then Rye High School senior An-drew Caspi, 17 at the time, were not trends in the depart-ment nor did Verille, Connors and the city have knowledge of the officer’s violent history. The Rye Police Department was also dismissed from the lawsuit back in 2013.

But then Rye Police Sgt. Alvin Ortiz’s reports, dating back to December 2004 and just days after the incident in question, which recently sur-faced, suggested otherwise.

In one report, dated Dec. 16, 2004, Ortiz said police officer Anthony Rosace, who was the officer who alleged-ly began the attack on Caspi, should undergo psychologi-cal examination and said there

should be an investigation of his behavior and record of in-juries to people he has been in contact with.

“There should not be a cloud of suspicion hanging over the [department] every-time Rosace has contact with youngsters and some kid al-ways ends up in the E/R,” Or-tiz wrote. “This office has got anger issues that are quite ap-parent to most people on this job but no one wants to talk about it.”

Rye Police Lt. Robert Falk said the two reports were in cardboard boxes when he stum-bled upon them while he was moving offices within the po-lice department last December.

The first report was marked “personal and confidential,” the second report, dated Dec. 17, 2004, was located in a manila envelope, according to Falk.

In a deposition taken ear-lier this month, Oritz, who now lives and works in Flori-da, seemed to backtrack off of some of his statements made in the 2004 reports. Ortiz, who retired from the Rye police force in 2007, said he was very annoyed about the incident and officer Rosace, but had not personally witnessed Rosace assaulting anybody in the past.

Oritz said of his Dec. 16, 2004 report, “I wrote it in such a way that if you’re looking at it 10 years later and out of context you know, maybe I shouldn’t have written it that way.”

Caspi’s $10 million law-suit, which was originally filed back in 2007, is set to go to trial on April 6.

2 • The rye city review • February 27, 2015

March 2015Planning ahead...Sunday Monday TueSday WedneSday ThurSday Friday SaTurday

1 2 3 4

Rye Neck Board of Education planning

session 6:30 p.m.,

Administrative building

5

Rye Historical Society’s Annual Luncheon

11:15 a.m., American Yacht Club

6 7

Mamaroneck Artists Guild exhibit

3 p.m., Mamaroneck Artists Guild

Gallery

8Daylight Savings

Time begins

9Board of Architectural

Review meeting7:30 p.m., City Hall

10Rye Neck PTSA

membership meeting 9 a.m., MS/HS Library

Planning Commission meeting

7 p.m., City Hall

Rye City Board of Education meeting

8 p.m., Rye Middle School

11Rye City Council

meeting 7:30 p.m., City Hall

12Rye City elementary

schools Parent/Teacher conferences

Rye Recreation Commission meeting

6:30 p.m., Damiano Center

13Osborn musical

7 p.m., Osborn School

14

15Selection Sunday

16Rye Neck modified sports information

meeting for students 3 p.m., Dining hall

17St. Patrick’s Day

March Madness begins

Conservation Commission

7 p.m., City Hall

18RTV Cable and

Communications 7 p.m., RyeTV Studio

Rye Golf Commission 7 p.m., Whitby Castle

Rye Neck Board of Education meeting

7:30p.m., HS/MS Library

19Senior Advocacy

Committee meeting8:30 a.m., City Hall

Boat Basin Commission 7 p.m., City Hall

Employee Lounge

Zoning Board of Appeals meeting7:30 p.m., City Hall

20First day of spring

21

22 23

Rye Neck modified sports begin

Board of Architectural Review meeting

7:30 p.m., City Hall

24

Rye City elementary schools Parent/Teacher

conferences

Planning Commission meeting

7 p.m., City Hall

25

Milton Grade 1 play

Landmarks Advisory Committee meeting

7 p.m., City Hall

Rye City Council meeting

7:30 p.m., City Hall

26

Milton Grade 1 play

Rye Neck MS Science and Technology Fair 6:30 p.m., Dining hall

27 28

29

Palm Sunday

30

Rye City and Rye Neck spring recess Schools closed

31

Rye City and Rye Neck spring recess Schools closed

February 27, 2015 • THE RyE ciTy REviEw • 3

John Holmes, a former Rye City auxiliary police officer, pled guilty to a charge of criminal impersonation on Feb. 19 in upstate New York. File photo

By MaRissa pENNStaff Writer

On Thursday, Feb. 19, John “Jack” Holmes pled guilty to a charge of criminal imperson-ation, pretending to have the au-thority of a police officer, which was knocked down to a charge of disorderly conduct, and to a charge of having improper equipment in his vehicle.

Holmes, 53, an ex-auxiliary police officer for the Rye Po-lice Department who falsely attained a police uniform con-tract in 2013, was arrested at the Saratoga Springs police station in October 2014 on a warrant for second-degree criminal impersonation for impersonating a public ser-vant, a misdemeanor, accord-ing to police.

According to Saratoga Spri-ngs police, Holmes, a Port Chester resident, admitted that he claimed to be Detective Jack Holmes of Westchester County at the time of a traffic stop, where he illegally pulled over an individual without having the authority to do so.

As part of his conditional discharge, Holmes has been ordered to engage in counsel-ing for anger management.

Holmes has also agreed to not apply to be an auxiliary police officer for one year.

In addition to his October 2014 arrest, Holmes was in-volved in a similar incident at the Rye Ridge Shopping Center in Rye Brook in October 2010.

In 2010, according to police, Holmes allegedly harassed a female motorist in the parking

Former auxiliary cop impersonates officer

lot of the shopping center for reckless driving, overextend-ing his authority as an auxil-iary police officer while being out of his jurisdiction, which consisted of the City of Rye. He was reprimanded and his supervisor with the Rye Police Department was notified about the incident.

More recently, Holmes made headlines after he was arrested in April 2013 for sub-mitting a falsified letter in or-der to secure a police uniform contract with the Rye City Po-lice Department.

Holmes’ company, New England Sportswear, then pro-vided all uniforms for police department personnel for a two-year period.

Uniform manufacturer Bla-uer Manufacturing informed the city that it did not sign the warranty letter, which Holmes submitted as part of the city’s bid requirements.

Holmes was then suspend-ed from the auxiliary force and

brought up on criminal charg-es of offering a false instru-ment for filing and criminal possession of a forged docu-ment, both felonies.

Holmes was reinstated to the auxiliary police force by Rye Police Lt. Robert Falk of the Rye Police Department in March 2014, but he was later asked to resign from the posi-tion in June 2014.

According to Falk, who was serving as interim police commissioner at the time of Holmes’s reinstatement, Hol-mes resigned from his posi-tion as an auxiliary officer late last year after the Rye City Council found out he had been reinstated to the auxil-iary force. The City Council also learned that even after Holmes’ bid was voided po-lice officers within the depart-ment still used his company to purchase police clothing. Ac-cording to Falk, the council expressed its displeasure with Holmes due to his past arrests and “inappropriate” conduct, even reading a public letter critical of Holmes during a council meeting.

Falk said he believed that Holmes was going to join a neighboring auxiliary force, but was unsure if he had.

“He was trying to do good,” Falk said. “But he overextended his authority.”

Attorney Anthony Piscio-nere, who represented Hol-mes in the police uniform bid case, could not be reached for comment as of press time.

cONTacT: [email protected]


What’s going on...

Women lost to historyHistory luncheon with Allison Pataki. Women

lost to history will take place on Thursday, March 5. The Rye Historical Society will host its annual history luncheon from noon until 2:30 p.m. at the American Yacht Club located at 500 Stuyvesant Ave., in Rye. This year’s luncheon features a fas-cinating presentation by Pataki, author of the New York Times best-selling and critically-acclaimed historical novel “The Traitor’s Wife.” Pataki’s new novel, “The Accidental Empress,” tells the little-known love and life story of Empress Elisa-beth in the Habsburg Empire.

Luncheon tickets are $65 per person for so-ciety members: $70 for non-members. Reserva-tions can be made by calling the Rye Historical Society at 914-967-7588 or visiting ryehistory.org. Specialty boutique shopping will be avail-able at 11:15 a.m. Lunch starts at noon and the presentation will begin at 1:15 p.m. Vendors will re-open following lunch.

The Rye Historical Society office and its Square House Museum are located at 1 Pur-chase St. in Rye and are open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, please call 914-967-7588 or visit the website at ryehistory.org.

Wainwright House

Another great jazz brunchGet rid of those winter blues. On Sunday,

March 1 at 11:30 a.m., we will present a jazz forum with Mark Morganelli on trumpet, flugel-horn and percussion, Roni Ben-Hur on Guitar

and Harvie S on Bass. Drinks and food is all-inclusive, provided by Corner Stone Caterers. $40 for members, $45 non-members and chil-dren under 12 $15. Register at wainwright.org. Only tables of 8 can be reserved.

Rug saleJoin Caravan’s Connections at Wainwright

House for a 50% to 80% off rug sale on March 6, March 7 and March 8 from 10 a.m., to 4 p.m. Vintage, modern, traditional, custom, and read-made sisals. Free in home trial & pick up and delivery. 26 Stuyvesant Avene in Rye, NY. Visit wainwright.org for more information

YogaYin yoga training certification with Corina

Brenner will be offered as a three day class. This is a Yoga Alliance Certification. For more infor-mation on prerequisite requirements and regis-tration, call WHTT Academy at 914-967-6080.

Consumer’s Guide to GreenLearn how to build or renovate a green home

with Judy Martin on Friday March 6, 2015 at 10:30 a.m. A $10 donation is encouraged for participation in this interactive presentation.

Art workshopLinda Richichi leads a workshop on love and

relationships on Sunday March 8 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. $66 for non-members and $60 for members. All participants receive a free intui-tive soul portrait sketch. For more information, visit wainwright.org

SPRYE events

If you are interested in attending any of our programs please RSVP by calling 914-481-5706.

Technology workshopLearn the ins and outs of your latest electronic

devices with coaching by the Rye Youth Council on Tuesday, March 10 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Rye TV Studios, located in Rye High School.

Current events discussionWe will be holding our monthly current

events discussion on Friday, March 13 at 9 a.m. at Ruby’s Oyster Bar, located at 45 Purchase Street. There will be a breakfast a la carte menu.

History lessonOn Wednesday March 18 from 3 p.m. to 4:30

p.m., Rye resident Pamela McGuire will present “Hidden history: The story of slavery in Rye, New York” at the Wainwright House, located at 260 Stuyvesant Avenue in Rye. Her talk will cover the history of slavery in Rye from the late 17th century to the 1820’s when slavery was out-lawed in New York State. Free admission, re-freshments will be served.

The mission of SPRYE is to enable adults who are 60 and older in the communities of Harrison, Port Chester, Rye and Rye Brook to live in their own homes as long as possible while remaining actively engaged in the com-munities they love. We accomplish this by pro-viding access to essential services, amenities and neighborly assistance.

Westchester Jewish Adult Education

Warm your mind in the cold winter months, by joining Westchester Jewish Adult Education for one or more of these exciting classes:

The Book of Ruth and Song of SongsTwo Wednesday evenings beginning

March 18, at 800 Westchester Ave., 5th floor boardroom in Rye Brook.

“Jewish cooking: Passover dinner”Tuesday, March 10, at 10 a.m., private home

in Harrison. A program of the Westchester Jewish Council, provides exciting opportunities for lifelong learning.

For more information or registration, visit the Westchester Jewish Council online at waje.org, or call Alice Tenney, director, at 914-328-7001 ext. 704.

Blood supplies low

Since the beginning of the year, dozens of American Red Cross blood drives were can-celed due to inclement weather in parts of the country. In addition, widespread flu has kept some regular blood donors from donating. The Red Cross asks that healthy individuals help ensure a sufficient and diverse blood supply by giving blood.

Upcoming blood donation opportunities:

Rye YMCA:21 Locust AvenueRye, NY 10580Feb. 28, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Westchester County Parks

Flintknapping Make ‘n‘ TakeJoin us for our “Winter Adventure Series”

event on Sunday March 1, at 2 p.m. at the Marshlands Conservancy in Rye. Learn how to make your own projectile point to take home with you. All tools and protective gear will be provided. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. The Marshlands Conservancy is located on Route 1 in Rye. For more information, call 914-835-1712 or visit westchestergov.com/parks.

Rye Historical Society

Deadline for our What’s Going On section is every Thursday at 3 p.m. Though space is not guaranteed, we will do our best to accommodate your listing. Please send

all items to [email protected].


Children’s group submits FOIL for county recordsTo the Editor,In her capacity as chairperson of the Campaign for Kids, a coalition of more than 50 non-

profit organizations and individuals concerned with creating and sustaining strong community-based youth development programs for Westchester youth, Cora Greenberg, executive director of Westchester Children’s Association, has submitted a FOIL records request to Westchester County.

The request was prompted by a prolonged selection process in which the county delayed notifi-cation by more than a month to the programs that applied. The concern by members of Campaign for Kids was the impact the county’s procrastination had on the many families who rely on after school tutoring, and leadership programs to keep their children safely and productively occupied. Some programs were forced to suspend activities, reduce the number of young people served and furlough or even lay off staff. In addition, funding was discontinued for a number of programs that had been successfully serving youth over many years, and these decisions have not been adequately explained.

Among the many items requested are:· A list of all agencies that applied for Youth Bureau funding and the programs they proposed.· A written explanation of the criteria that was used to review and evaluate proposals, especially

if these differed from the criteria published in the Youth Bureau’s 2014 RFP.· For each program request: Community to be served, target population, the need to be

addressed and proposed interventions/activities.

Joan Grangenois-Thomas,Westchester Children’s Association

Letters to the EditorCuomo’s proposal is bad government

To the Editor,We strongly oppose the governor’s proposal to eliminate newspaper public notice of proposed

constitutional amendments. Instead of publishing public notices, the Board of Elections would post an abstract and brief

description of the proposed amendment somewhere on its website for three days in the week prior to the election. The secretary of state would also post a notice somewhere on its website once per month for three months.

At a time when there is general agreement that there is a need to increase transparency and accountability in state government, it is astounding that this provision is included in a budget bill. Among the many reasons this is a very bad idea are:

1) By all accounts, broad swathes of New York State lack access to modern internet service. Governor Cuomo has recently unveiled a proposal to begin to narrow this digital divide, and has said it will take major investment over the course of several years. This proposal disenfranchises voters in rural areas, voters who cannot afford a home computer with broadband access and a significant number of voters who are not highly computer literate.

2) This proposal assumes that New York voters sift through state agency websites when looking for news that affects them. They do not. They turn to a local newspaper. Existing law requires that Constitutional amendment notices be disseminated through a newspaper in each county of the state. Most of these newspapers land on voters’ doorsteps. Obscure and little-known state agency websites do not.

3) This proposal will not save money. Time after time, when advocating for legislation that would require government agencies to post information on their websites, we have been told it is too difficult or expensive. To ensure a tamper-proof publication of these most vital legislative initiatives would cost money, perhaps much more than the legislation estimates will be saved by eliminating newspaper public notice of amendments.

4) Newspaper publication keeps everyone honest. Knowing that a government document must be published by an outside entity helps prevent the possibility that such an important notice could be slanted or misstated. A state Supreme Court judge ruled in 2014 that the state Board of Elections included misleading language in its description of one proposed constitutional amendment.

5) Newspaper publication provides a historic record. Government websites may not be main-tained long term. Newspapers are preserved in libraries and newspaper archives for posterity.

6) The governor has called for a constitutional amendment to strip public pensions from

legislators convicted of crimes, and yet this bill supports making the proposed language available only on obscure websites few voters will ever see.

The proposed legislation says it will save $342,000. Total paid newspaper circulation in New York is approximately 8.6 million, and there are more than 10 million registered voters in New York State, so the proposal saves about three pennies per voter. This doesn’t seem very cost-effective government.

Michelle K. Rea,Executive director, New York Press Association


Publisher | Howard Sturmanext. 21, [email protected]

Editor-in-Chief | Christian Falconeext. 19, [email protected]

Sports Editor | Mike Smithext. 22, [email protected]

Reporter | Chris Eberhartext. 26, [email protected]

Reporter | Jackson Chenext. 23, [email protected]

Reporter | Marissa Pennext. 17, [email protected]

Editorial Assistant | Laura Romeroext. 25, [email protected]

Graphic Designer | Arthur Gedin

Graphic Designer | Jim Grasso

Advertising | Lindsay Sturmanext. 14, [email protected]

Advertising Coordinator | Marcia Schultzext. 27, [email protected]

Staff WritersJohn Brandi, Alina Suriel

Staff PhotographerBobby Begun

ContributorsPeter Lane, Rich Monetti,

Christopher Petrowski

ColumnistsJohn Carey, Laura Slack

Paul Bookbinder, Rye City Council

LettersThe community’s opinion matters.

If you have a view to express, write a letter to the editor by email to

[email protected]. Please include a phone number and name for

verification purposes.

Community EventsIf you have an event you would like

to share with the community, send it to [email protected].

Delivery For home delivery or to subsribe,

call Marcia Schultz at (914) 653-1000 x27.

Classifieds & Legals To post your notices or listings,

call Marcia Schultz at (914) 653-1000 x27.

PostmasterSend address changes to:

The Rye City Review c/o HomeTown Media Group,

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Visit us onlinewww.ryecityreview.com

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THE

REVIEWRyeCity Jay Heritage Center restores gardens

By MaRissa pENNStaff Writer

The Jay Heritage Center re-cently raised $1.35 million for a restoration of its public gar-dens, work that is already in the preliminary stages.

According to Suzanne Clary, interim director of the center, last June a proposal was submitted for a $500,000 grant from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

The center, the childhood home of John Jay, one of the country’s founding fathers who served in every branch of government and helped to author the Federalist papers, is nestled amid lush greenery on Boston Post Road in Rye. The center also received sev-eral generous donations last December from private do-nors and fundraisers, totaling $500,000 at its Hearth & Earth Luncheon, which the state Regional Economic Develop-ment Council grant matched.

The remaining $350,000 in funding for the restoration proj-ect came from private donors.

The center was one of 118 organizations in the mid-Hud-son region of New York, the only in Westchester County, to be awarded funding from the Regional Economic De-velopment Council, as part of a program launched by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, in 2011 to better serve non-profits and promote tourism in New York.

“We are very excited,” Clary said about restoring the gardens. “We have 1.5 acres of gardens defined by these sunk-en stone walls dating back to 1822 to work with.”

Peter Tartaglia, deputy com missioner of Westchester County

Hudson, N.Y. According to Clary, the proj-

ect will take anywhere from three to five years to complete. Presently, the center is in the process of building a 3-D model of what the gardens will look like.

The gardens, which will be broken up into separate rooms, as Clary referred to them, will be used for educational pro-grams to teach “everybody from five year olds to 50 year olds” about horticulture and history.

The first section of the gar-dens will contain a parterre garden, one that consists of planting beds in symmetri-cal patterns that are separated by, and connected by, gravel pathways.

“It will tell the story of the Jay family and their slaves that worked in the gardens,” she said, “because the gar-dens themselves date back to the 1700s and we even know the names of the people that worked in the gardens.”

According to Clary, the first section will be named “Mary’s garden” because there were “many Mary’s that worked at the Jay estate,” including Mary Rutherford Jay, Jay’s great, great granddaughter, and a slave referred to as “old Mary.”

The second room or section of the gardens is being built around an “old, dilapidated swimming pool,” according to Clary.

“It is going to be restored and repurposed as a reflect-ing pool, which will be shal-lower and may include aquatic

plants,” she said. There will also be a medi-

tation garden with an arrange-ment of plants, purposefully selected to reflect the same meditative style.

The executive director of the center said the Van Nor-dens—a Guilded Age couple that was very active in phi-lanthropy and social reform—which this section of the gar-den will be dedicated to, was very interested in Chinese cul-ture and the theme of the area will reflect that interest.

The third section will fea-ture a 100-foot-long arbor, a garden feature made of wood that forms a shaded walkway, to provide shade. Plans are to plant roses on top of the arbor.

The center plans to offer photography classes in the gardens and potentially grow fruits and vegetables, teaching students about horticulture.

“I think it is going to be an incredible destination both locally and outside of Rye,” Clary said. “Schools will be able to take field trips, in-corporating the gardens into school science programs and the gardens will also be a place where older residents that live in apartments or no longer have yards can enjoy the tran-quil environment.”

John Baker, the director of conservation at Westches-ter County Parks, Recreation and Conservation could not be reached for comment as of press time.


stages of planning with ar-chitectural firm, Nelson Byrd Woltz, which has worked on notable historic sites such as the Olana mansion, the home and studio of eminent painter Frederic Edwin Church, in

Parks, which owns 10 percent of the Jay Heritage Center’s prop-erty, was also excited about the project. “We think it will bring a lot to the county and are very happy about it,” he said.

The center is in its initial

Grace Talcott Van Norden in the gardens circa 1905.

The future site of one section of the Jay Estate’s garden as planned will be called “Grace’s Garden.” Here, an abandoned swimming pool will be transformed into a reflecting pool surrounded by a garden. An anonymous donor has agreed to match all individual and corporate donations for this space of up to $200,000.

The site of one section of the garden, which is still enclosed by an original stone wall dating back to 1822.

An archival photo of boxwood parterre at the Jay Estate on Boston Post Road in Rye. Restoration of this area, will also help tell the story of John Jay’s great, great granddaughter Mary Rutherford Jay, who grew up on the estate and was inspired by the gardens there to become one of America’s earliest landscape architects.

The Jay Heritage Center is planning to restore its gardens and to build a beautiful 100-foot-long rose arbor to shade part of the area. Photos courtesy Jay Heritage Center


A man was found dead behind this elementary school in Port Chester on Feb. 20. Police in Port Chester believe the death may have been related to the frigid cold temperatures. Photo/Marissa Penn

Body found behind Port Chester schoolOn the morning of Friday,

Feb. 20, the body of a 32-year-old Rye man was found behind Corpus Christi-Holy Rosary School in Port Chester.

Port Chester police identified the dead man as Emery Stewart of 95 Maple Ave., in Rye. The police found his body, partially clothed, behind the elementary school, at 7:27 a.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:31 a.m.

Some of the man’s clothes were found near the body, ac-cording to Port Chester police.

Police are investigating whether he had taken off his clothes due to hypothermia, a dangerous drop in body tem-perature where core body tem-perature drops below what is required for normal bodily functioning. It is caused by ex-posure to the cold for prolonged periods of time.

Twenty to 50 percent of hypothermia deaths are as-sociated with paradoxical undressing, which typically occurs during moderate to severe hypothermia, as the

person becomes disoriented, confused, and combative. They may begin discarding their clothing, which, in turn, increases the rate of heat loss. Police are investigat-ing whether Stewart’s death was the result of hypothermia and therefore whether he re-moved his clothing himself.

Hypothermia is a dangerous drop in body temperature where core body temperature drops below what is required for nor-

mal bodily functioning. It is caused by exposure to the cold for a prolonged period of time.

The region saw record-breaking cold temperatures last week, which reached a low of 3 degrees.

Port Chester police, the Westchester County medical examiner and the Westchester County District Attorney’s of-fice are working together in the investigation of this incident. -Reporting by Marissa Penn

in the high school, and to im-plement a full day Kindergar-ten program, which Alvarez said would cost approximately $250,000.

“I believe this is a budget that truly accommodates the needs of the district and allows us to do some things in the years to come,” Alvarez said. “This bud-get focuses on three things: it keeps Rye as the high achiev-ing school it is, expands educa-tional programs and addresses enrollment.”

While student enrollment numbers in Rye have been steadily rising over the years—unlike most neighboring dis-tricts—with a 12.4 percent enrollment increase from the 2007-2008 school year to the projected enrollment in the 2015-2016 school year, state aid has decreased by 5.5 percent over the same nine- year period.

And this year’s state aid is in an even greater state of flux with Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, withholding state aid estimates from local school districts until the state Legis-lature approves his education reforms that include stricter teacher evaluations and ex-

tending the required period of time for teachers to earn tenure, among other proposals.

Gabriella O’Connor, assis-tant superintendent of business, said the state is “holding our state aid runs hostage” and esti-mates the school district would receive $33,295 less in state aid if the governor’s proposal doesn’t pass the Legislature.

“The [state aid runs] is a re-ally important tool that districts use to anticipate what they’re incoming revenues are going to be from the state for the follow-ing year,” O’Connor said. The

governor is basically saying, ‘you need to pass my initiatives’ as part of his budget plan before he will release the information for school districts.”

During the March 10 Board of Education meeting, the board will discuss what the budget would look like if the superintendent’s proposed bud-get doesn’t include the override.

The board plans to adopt the budget on April 21 with the budget scheduled to be up for public vote on May 19.


BudgET from page 1

This collaborative model provides a limited number of paid, clinically rich and inten-sive experiences for aspiring teachers while they complete graduate teacher prepara-tion studies at LIU Hudson. Bridging the gap between the-ory and practice, the residen-cies facilitate the transition of highly talented students from novices to full-fledged pro-fessionals. The residencies are motivated and capable individuals who embody the qualities that parents and pro-fessionals most value.

Upon completion of the program, they will be both capable and confident as they take on the challenges of the classroom, prepared to bring out the best in each and ev-ery child. The LIU Hudson/Bronxville teacher residencies are among the best and bright-est and no child deserves less.

Candidates presenting ap-propriate academic credentials and prepared to commence master’s degree coursework in summer or fall 2015, will undergo a screening process in order to gain admission to

the September 2015 Teacher Residency cohort. Appoint-ments will be awarded on a competitive basis.

Accepted LIU Hudson master’s degree candidates are granted either one to two year appointments. The Teacher Residencies combine broad, immersive, classroom-based experiences with the theory and pedagogy gleaned from graduate study.

For information about the program, contact Dr. Rebecca Rich at [email protected] or 831-2714. (Submitted)

LIU, Bronxville expand teacher residency

Preliminary budget fast facts

$83.4M

$4M, 5.10%

1.62%/2.49%

1 FTE* Math teacher

1.4 FTE science teacher, including project Lead the way funding

.2 FTE foreign language teacher

1 FTE guidance counselor and funding for guidance director position

Full day Kindergarten program

None

Total Budget

Budget-to-Budget Increase

Tax Levy Cap/Increase

Additions

Cuts

*Full time equivalent


A retired White Plains police officer allegedly killed his two teen daughters Saturday before taking his own life in an incident which has left Harrison police officials baffled. A makeshift memorial was created at the Harrison High School locker of one of the victims, senior Alissa Hochman. Photo/Alina Suriel

Killings stun HarrisonBy JOHN BRaNdi

Staff Writer

A retired White Plains po-lice officer shot dead his two, teenage daughters and then himself, in his Harrison home last weekend, in a shocking in-cident that authorities are still trying to piece together.

The news has since sent rip-ples through the Harrison com-munity with Police Chief An-thony Marraccini calling the incident “not comprehensible.”

A call was placed to police by Alissa Hochman’s boy-friend at around 3:36 p.m., on Saturday, Feb. 21, after he was asked to check on the fam-ily and discovered the body of Glenn Hochman.

Police arrived to the Adel-phi Avenue home at around 3:50 p.m., where they found three bodies inside, accord-ing to Marraccini, who held a press conference on Monday detailing the tragedy. The bod-ies were identified as Mr. Ho-chman, 52, and his daughters Alissa, 17, and Deanna, 13.

Samantha Hochman, 22, and her mother Anamarie DiP-ietro-Hochman, 50, were both on a preplanned trip to Mohe-gan Sun in Connecticut for the weekend and couldn’t contact the rest of the family, leading to the boyfriend visiting the home.

Authorities believe Hoch-man killed the teens each with a single gun shot wound to the head. The retired cop then turned his .40 caliber glock handgun on himself. Since there appeared to be no strug-gle, Marraccini said, it points to the fact that the teens were killed while they slept some-time during the early morning hours of Feb. 21. Authorities say Hochman also killed the family’s three dogs.

At the crime scene, police found a five-to-six page suicide note, and although Marraccini could not fully disclose what was written in the letter, he did indicate that Hochman wrote the “two girls were taken away,” which the chief said “indicates a motive” for the killings.

The incident was preceded by a verbal dispute the couple had the day before over an $80 cell phone bill. Though no physical violence was reported, DiPietro-Hochman went down to the police station to just have the incident documented, ac-

cording to Marraccini. Authori-ties also claim that last month, the couple had talked about the possibility of separating.

On Monday, Marraccini said the couple’s martial problems have not been ruled out.

Marraccini said the typed letter, which authorities believe was drafted at approximately 2 a.m. Saturday after the killing of the two teens, gave instruc-tions for what Mrs. Hochman “needed to do to get things in order for the family.”

“The note was really one page, the rest of it was pretty much instructions on what to do [with] financial informa-tion,” Marraccini said.

Harrison Mayor Ron Bel-mont said he personally knew the family. He urged commu-nity members to seek help that the town is providing, such as interfaith support, during this “difficult time.”

“I encourage all those who knew and loved Alissa and Deanna to draw strength from the sense of unity we have here in town,” the mayor said. “I hope that we can celebrate their lives and remember, with fondness, the impact they had on us all.”

Meanwhile, Hochman had just retired from the White Plains police force and, ac-cording to White Plains Public Safety Commissioner David Chong, he never showed signs of mental illness or anger on the job. Hochman even won his department’s life-saving award

last year for keeping an unre-sponsive man alive until para-medics arrived.

“The White Plains Police Department is shocked and horrified by the news of this unfathomable tragedy,” Chong said in a released statement. “We can only pray for the entire Hochman family.”

Harrison High School Prin-cipal Steven Siciliano said the community would come to-gether around this tragedy and that grief counseling has been set up to address any student or faculty concern. Alissa was a senior at the high school.

“Our hearts are broken again and yet we know our Harrison community will rally in support of the family,” Siciliano said.

This marks the third tragedy to strike the community in re-cent months.

Harrison resident Reyda La-Madrid, 47, was riding in the backseat of her SUV in White Plains on Nov. 3, 2014 with her husband when a White Plains firefighter, driving against traf-fic, crashed into her car, killing her instantly. And just days lat-er, Harrison High School junior Andrew Gurgitano, 16, died in his home on Nov. 8, 2014, after what county medical officials determined was a rare sponta-neous stroke.

Marraccini said the police in-vestigation related to the Hoch-man case remains ongoing.


Jan 30 A caller reported a suspicious vehicle, a dark blue Toyota Highlander, parked at the cul-de-sac on Trails End at 8:52 p.m. The driver of the car was reportedly just wait-ing to pick up a friend.

Police received a call at 11:35 a.m. that a female was banging on the front door of 15 Bulkley Manor, a residence where she does not reside.

Jan 31The police were notified that a possibly intoxicated driver was reported at the intersection of Purchase and Ridge streets at 5:51 p.m.

At 6:48 p.m., police were called to 66 Milton Road after a security guard stated that he was harassed by some youths. According to the guard, the youths cursed at him and one threatened to rob him. The youth was described as a tall, white male wearing a brown sweatshirt and jeans.

Feb 2A caller reported a cat left out on the balcony of 99 Maple Ave., at 11:29 p.m. The cat had been left out in frigid weather at nighttime and the owner was not home. The cat ran off when police approached it.

Police were called to 55 Hewlett Ave., at 6:30 p.m., after a caller reported that her 14-year-old daughter had been vomiting since 4 p.m. EMS were dispatched.

Feb 4It was reported to the police at 9:41 a.m., that a person had fallen on some ice on Barbara Court and hit his head. Feb 5Police were called to a residence located at 15 Pine Lane at 10:59 a.m., after a call-er reported that her 13-year-old daughter was home sick and thought that someone was in her home.

A caller reported seeing a small, Asian man pushing a shopping cart in the roadway at 405 Grace Church St. at 6 p.m. According to the caller, the man was obstructing traffic with no reflective gear on.

Feb 6At 7:39 a.m., a caller notified police that somebody had spray-painted a house located at 35 High St.

Feb 9Police were called at 5:16 p.m., after a re-port that children were throwing snowballs at cars from the Resurrection Church on Boston Post Road.

Feb 11A resident reported to police that she was locked in her Honda CRV in her driveway located at 75 Brevoort Lane at 11:47 a.m.

Police were called to 16 Cowles Avenue at 1:57 p.m., after reports of a theft of yard statues.

Feb 14At Marriott hotel employee called police at 6:27 a.m., to report drunk, noisy patrons re-fusing to leave the hotel on Midland Avenue.

At 2:08 a.m., a caller reported severe back pain and requested an ambulance to pick him up at 151 Purchase St., and transport him to the emergency room.

Feb 19At 6:04 p.m., police were called to 15 Theodore Fremd Ave., after a couple had been involved in a domestic dispute.

Police were notified of a small mammal reportedly in the middle of the road at the intersection of Forest Avenue and Grace Church Street at 7:01 p.m.

Feb 20A female called the police after walking her dog and reportedly being approached by a coyote on Apawamis Club Road at 5:22 p.m.

A complainant notified police that two drones had been flying around her house located at 11 Hillside Place at 7:58 p.m. When the police arrived, no drones were found.

Feb 21At 9:55p.m., police were notified of a sui-cidal female threatening to jump off the train platform located at 21 McCullough Place.

Collected at the City of Rye Police Headquarters on Monday, Feb. 23 at 9:15 a.m.

Follow us on Twitter @ryecityreview


Perhaps it’s my military background, but I must say that I am fond of acronyms. Acronyms are abbreviated versions of a concept or an idea. Acronyms come to be because the people who invent them find them to be useful in their particular field. If an ac-ronym is really useful, it can even cross over and become widely used in other fields and sometimes even enter the gen-eral lexicon. Some examples of acronyms that are widely used are A.M. and P.M. (ante meridiem and post meridiem, Latin for before noon and after noon), ASAP (as soon as pos-sible), scuba (self-contained underwater breathing appara-tus), DVD (digital video disk) and FAQ (frequently asked question). The younger gen-eration has taken acronyms to a whole new level in their tex-ting: LOL (laughing out loud), BBL (be back later), OMG (oh my God), POS (parents over shoulder), IDK (I don’t know) and many more. Good for them, but today I want to discuss an oldie-but-a-goodie acronym: KISS. I submit that we should all follow the KISS principle more.

KISS is an acronym for the phrase “Keep it Simple, Stu-pid.” The “stupid” part can throw people off and I have even heard some change it to “keep it short and simple” or “keep it simple and straight-forward” and other similar ver-sions—all good and on the right track but not nearly as good as the original once you under-stand it. In the original KISS principle, “stupid” did not mean that simple is stupid or that keeping things simple is stupid or that people who keep things simple are stupid. It’s the exact opposite. The word “stupid” meant that smart people need to use their intellect to create simple designs because, in the real world, things sometimes go awry, i.e., get “stupid,” but the job still needs to get done. “No excuses” is a corollary of the KISS principle.

The KISS principle was originally coined by an air-craft design engineer work-ing at Lockheed, named Kelly

The council cornerCouncilman

Terry McCartney

Johnson, who designed com-plex airplanes for the military in the 1960s, the U-2 and SR-71 high altitude spy planes used during the Cold War. Mr. Johnson realized that the air-craft he was designing need-ed to be made in such a way that they could be serviced and maintained by minimally trained mechanics on remote bases with access to only ba-sic tools and equipment. The “simple, stupid” part referred to the fact that things often break and the sophistication available to repair them was often adequate for only basic repairs. So, the phrase was a reflection of the realistic oper-ating conditions of the planes, not the capabilities of the indi-viduals involved. By keeping their aircraft designs “simple, stupid,” Lockheed was really making products that got the job done in the real world un-der difficult circumstances.

The KISS principle is now widely used throughout all branches of the military as well as in investing, marketing and fields of science like film animation and software devel-opment. The reason that the KISS principle is utilized in seemingly complicated fields is because simple is almost al-ways better. The KISS princi-ple can be translated as “don’t overdo it” or “don’t overthink it” or “don’t make things more complicated than necessary.” It’s good life advice, too, if you think about it.

The most effective leaders are able to distill seemingly complicated matters down to their simple essence. Jesus was definitely a KISS guy—he lived simply, taught sim-ply and set a simple example for all of us to follow. Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were effective because they made things simple, too. Abraham Lincoln’s great, but simple, 272-word Gettysburg Address is undeniably an ex-ample of a KISS speech de-spite the fact that it was given at perhaps the most difficult moment in our nation’s his-tory. John Wooden, winner of 10 college basketball national championships in a 12-year period, rarely said a word to his players during the game itself because he believed that coaching took place dur-

ing practice. That is the KISS principle at work. KISS defi-nitely works well in sports.

Marines are very big on acronyms; it is almost a lan-guage unto itself in the Corps. KISS was adopted into Marine jargon and I became a KISS believer when training my in-fantry platoon to accomplish complex tasks like amphibi-ous assaults, military opera-tions in urban terrain (MOUT) and combined arms exercises (CAX). In a CAX, it was our job to take an objective on the ground after having artil-lery units and close air support planes and helicopters “prep” it for us with high explosives. That involved hundreds of Marines, numerous complex weapon systems, millions of dollars’ worth of equipment and the most important fac-tor of all—coordination of all of those assets. Yet, the KISS principle was exactly how those missions were accom-plished. For example, I would call in artillery to mark the ob-jective with white smoke so the aircraft could drop their bombs on it and shoot missiles at nearby hard targets while some of my Marines moved into position and set up mor-tars and machine guns to cover the rest of us while we moved in closer to the objective and popped a red smoke grenade to tell them to shift their fire away so we could physically take it. Green smoke meant the objective was secure. KISS in action. The Marines who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan were also taught KISS and it is why they were successful and came home alive.

I respectfully submit that we need to utilize the KISS principle in city government a little more than we do. I do not say this to criticize myself or my colleagues on the City Council or our excellent city staff. We all volunteer many hours of our time to try to make Rye a better place and our city staff is first rate. None of us are afraid of work. In my view, however, we sometimes tend to overdo and overthink things which unnecessarily delays getting the job done.

So, I’m suggesting that we try to keep the KISS principle in mind.

If KISS is good enough for

the Marines, aircraft design engineers and software devel-opers, surely it is good enough for us to quickly accomplish straightforward tasks like ap-proving a much-needed senior housing project on an other-wise unusable tract of land or creating a 25 mph speed zone and a right-of-way rock re-moval pilot program or allow-ing the Little League to put ad banners on outfield fences to raise money to build new dug-outs. We eventually did all of those things but none of them were quick or simple.

We have a number of chal-lenges coming up in 2015 such as hiring a new city

manager and police com-missioner, awarding the pool snack bar contract at the Rye Golf Club and solving many problems within our fire de-partment, to name just a few. We are off to a good start on the city manager search and it looks like we have a good solid KISS-compliant plan to accomplish that important task in the late spring. The new city manager will then hire the new police commis-sioner with council approv-al—which should be a simple matter. The pool snack bar vendor contract can definitely be resolved by utilizing the KISS principle and I hope that

happens soon. I believe that the many problems surround-ing our fire department, e.g., personnel, declining recruit-ment, firehouse and equip-ment requirements, can also be resolved if we simply have the will to act and follow my favorite acronym.

P.S. KISS was also the first rock concert I ever attended, in the eighth grade, but that is a story for another day. But while we’re on the topic of rock(s), if you have them out in front of your house in the city right-of-way, please move them this spring. They are un-safe and illegal. KISS them goodbye, ASAP.

The KISS principle


United Nations at the plate

The United Nations has been around a long time, 70 years in fact. Compared with the mere decade and a half that its League of Nations prede-cessor survived, seven decades is a very long time. And no one responsible is today talk-ing about putting the U.N. out of its misery.

Why is the U.N. still alive? One answer can be seen in the events of the past couple of weeks. As world crises be-come more threatening, resort to the U.N., and especially to its lawmaking arm, the secu-rity council, becomes more urgent. Two current examples illustrate this process:

The multiple threat created by the Islamic State was con-fronted by the security council on Feb. 12 with its unanimous resolution 2199 (2015), invok-ing charter chapter VII so as to make it binding. Contacts with ISIS/ISIL and ANF (the Al Nusra Front) were condemned regarding oil trade, cultural heritage, kidnapping for ran-som, external donations, bank-ing, arms and related material, asset freezing and reporting.

On Sunday, Feb. 15, the security council, again acting unanimously, adopted a reso-lution demanding that Shia rebels immediately give up control of Yemen’s govern-ment. But the resolution does not act under chapter seven of the U.N. charter, which would have given it the force of law and allow it to be militarily enforced.

The takeover in Yemen has raised concern that the branch of al-Qaida based there would use the chaos to its advantage. The rebel Houthis and the mil-

itant Sunnis of the al-Qaida branch are bitter rivals.

Worried about Iranian back-ing for the rebels, foreign min-isters of the six nation Gulf Co-operation Council, GCC, on Sunday, Feb. 15, urged the security council to intervene. They warned they were pre-pared to take action on their own to maintain regional se-curity and stability. The GCC includes Saudi Arabia and Oman as well as Kuwait, Qa-tar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

The the Feb. 15 resolution demands that all parties in Yemen “cease all armed hos-tilities against the people and the legitimate authorities of Yemen and relinquish arms seized from Yemen’s military and security institutions.” It also calls on U.N. member states to “refrain from exter-nal internal interference which seeks to foment conflict and instability.”

The security council reso-lution also demanded that the Houthis release U.S.-backed Yemen President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his cabinet from house arrest. Hadi had resigned after the rebels dis-solved the Parliament.

The GCC ministers had demanded that the resolution impose sanctions against any-one “hampering the process of peaceful transition of power.” but the resolution only calls for “further steps” if it is not carried out.

The GCC had wanted the Houthis’ takeover to be called a “coup” as well as wording strongly deploring, instead of condemning, the rebels’ ac-tions. But Jordan’s Ambas-sador said that “we wanted the resolution accepted by all members” of the council. It is not unusual in any deliberative body for concessions on word-

ing to be made in order to ob-tain support.

Saudi Arabia’s U.N. Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi called the resolu-tion “a milestone” and prom-ised to be “following up with the council on a daily basisi.”

The U.N. secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, told the secu-rity council on Feb. 12 that Yemen was “collapsing before our eyes.” The U.S. and sever-al other countries have closed their embassies in Yemen. The Houthis are generally hostile to U.S. military intervention in the Middle East, placing in jeopardy U.S. counter-terror-ism operations that have in-cluded using drone aircraft to strike suspected al-Qaida sites in Yemen.

“The people of Yemen de-serve a clear path back to the political transition process and a legitimate government,” U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said.

The resolution demands that all parties in Yemen “cease all armed hostilities against the peo-ple and the legitimate authorities of Yemen and relinquish the arms seized from Yemen’s mili-tary and security inclusions.” It also calls U.N. member states to “refrain from external inter-ference which seeks to foment conflict and instablility.”

A statement from the se-curity general said he “con-demns, in the strongest terms, the killing of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya by Daesh [same as ISIL]. He de-plores the targeting of people on account of their religious affiliation. The secretary-gen-eral express his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives as a result of this barbaric act and to the govern-ment of Egypt.”


Rye City

Official NewspaperRye Schools

County wins housing appellate case

Federal judge, Pierre Leval, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, overturned a lower court’s ruling that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s withholding of federal grant money to Westchester County was not subject to judicial review.

By cHRis EBERHaRTStaff Writer

The county executive’s claims that HUD “acted in an arbitrary and capricious man-ner” in rejecting all eight of Westchester County submis-sions to obtain HUD-admin-istered grant money can no longer be ignored.

On Feb. 18, a federal ap-peals court overturned a lower court’s decision that had said the U.S. Department of Hous-ing and Urban Development’s rejections of the county’s analyses of possible zoning discrimination in its munici-palities and subsequent with-holding of grant money for fair housing are not subject to judicial review.

The ruling allows the coun-ty and Republican Westchester County Executive Rob Astori-no to pursue its case to recap-ture $752,844 in 2011 federal grant money, which is what’s left of the $7.4 million from the 2011 community develop-ment block grant funding that was administered to the county by HUD. The money is geared towards building affordable housing and revitalizing low-income neighborhoods.

According to the judge’s ruling, “HUD did not have the right to reject the county’s housing strategy or withhold funding on the basis of land use controls [and] zoning or-dinances ... that may affect the development of affordable housing in the jurisdiction.”

Astorino called the deci-sion a “major victory for due process against an aggres-sively overreaching federal bureaucracy.”

“Just like everyone else, HUD has to follow the law,” Astorino said in a released statement. “In this case, HUD was making up its own rules. That’s not right and the court

has now made it very clear that actions by HUD are sub-ject to judicial review.”

Although this decision is considered a win by many elected officials in Westches-ter County because it guar-antees their day in court, it does not recover the remain-ing $6.65 million in 2011 grant money, which HUD has already reallocated to other jurisdictions.

The county originally lost the grant money in 2013 be-cause HUD claimed it was not in compliance with a 2009 affordable housing settlement agreed to by the federal de-partment and former West-chester County Executive Andy Spano, a Democrat.

The settlement was the byproduct of a 2006 lawsuit brought forward by the Anti-Discrimination Center of Met-ro New York that alleged the county had filed false certifi-cations with HUD for millions of dollars in grants. As part of the settlement, Westchester agreed to build 750 affordable housing units over a seven-year period, complete source of income legislation—which bans discrimination against potential renters and home-buyers based on their source of income—and complete an analysis of impediments, which is a review of the barri-ers affecting the development of affordable housing.

To date, the county has passed a source of income legislation and is on pace to fulfill the 750 unit mark on time. But the one sticking point has remained HUD’s unwillingness to accept any of the eight analyses of im-pediments submitted by the Astorino administration.

In its defense, HUD point-ed to paragraph 32 of the 2009 settlement—which said the analysis of impediments must

be deemed acceptable by HUD—in rejecting the eight analyses of impediments be-tween 2010 and 2013. Be-cause all the submissions were rejected, the county was considered not in compliance with the settlement and HUD withheld a 2011 federal grant worth $7.4 million as well as $15.6 million worth of grant money from 2012, 2013 and 2014.

The county officially lost the 2011 grant money in 2013, which led to a lawsuit by the Astorino administration. That suit was dismissed in a ruling by federal Judge Denise Cote back in 2013. However, Cote’s decision was the one over-turned in court on Feb. 18.

However, the appellate court’s decision said para-graph 32 of the 2009 settle-ment does not affect whether the county’s lawsuit is subject to judicial review, but it may impact the final outcome of the case, but that will be de-termined by the district court.


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The lawsuit stems from a Dec. 12, 2004 incident at night, when Caspi was walking towards Rye Middle School to be picked up by his father but was approached by Rosace near the intersection of Boston Post Road and Parsons Street.

According to Caspi, Rosace confronted him after getting a report that he had been waving a tree branch at traffic. Soon af-ter, police officers Franco Com-

caspi from page 1 pagnone and Michael Anfuso arrived at the scene. Police said they believed Caspi had been drinking and he was accused of shoving Compagnone and run-ning across the road.

When Compagnone and Rosace caught up to the teen, they took him to the ground and handcuffed him. He claims he was then kicked and beaten before briefly blacking out. Caspi sustained a broken bone under his left eye, an injured collarbone and loosened teeth.

Caspi was later charged with assault, resisting arrest and obstruction of justice. But the charges were eventually dismissed in Rye City Court.

Attorneys for the plaintiff, James Timko and Christopher Weddle, and the city’s attor-ney, Darius Chafizadeh, could not be reached for comment as of press time.

Falk declined comment.

cONTacT: [email protected]; [email protected]


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February 27, 2015 • THE RyE ciTy REviEw • 15SPORTS

Bryant “Pee Wee” Cruz tags Jorge Pazos with a right hand on Feb. 20 at the Westchester Hilton. Cruz won a unanimous decision to bring his pro record to 14-0. Photos/Bobby Begun

Cruz shines locallyBy MiKE sMiTHSports Editor

On Feb. 20, Port Chester native Bryant “Pee Wee” Cruz had a homecoming of sorts, when the local pugilist head-lined his first ever fight card in Westchester. Throngs of fans turned out to see the unde-feated junior lightweight keep his perfect record intact, earn-ing a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Jorge Pazos at the Westchester Hilton to improve to 14-0 on his career.

The fight was no cake-walk, however as the rugged Pazos caught Cruz with a vicious right hook late in the second round of the eight-round bout, dropping him for just the sec-ond time in his pro career. Cruz beat the count, shook off the cobwebs and came back in the third round to out-box Pa-zos until the final bell rung.

“I went back to the cor-ner and I told [my trainer] it was my bad, I just got caught with my hands down trying to

trade,” Cruz said. “I recovered and went back to boxing for the rest of the fight. Lesson learned.”

According to Cruz’s trainer, Ryan O’Leary, Pazos, who came into the fight with a 14-7 record was selected because of his pedigree and ability to go deep into fights. Although the Mexican fighter was able to tag Cruz with a good shot, O’Leary said, the fight served as a learning experience for the rising star.

“When you’ve got a guy coming out of Mexico, you know he probably has like 6,000 rounds of sparring,” O’Leary said. “We knew he was going to be tough. But once Pee Wee started boxing, he was masterful.”

One of Cruz’s biggest take-aways from the evening might not have been anything that had to do with his opponent, however. The slick-boxing Cruz said after the fight that dealing with a rabid home fan base—like the one he fought

in front of on Friday—comes with its own set of challenges.

“Especially fighting in my hometown, I have to learn that you can’t always just go for

the knockout to impress peo-ple; you have to stay smart and set up my punches,” he said. “But it was definitely great getting the chance to showcase my skills in front of my home-town fans.”

Cruz wasn’t the only area-fighter with a rowdy fan base on Friday night, as fellow

Champs Boxing Club stable-mate Alex Vanasse, a Carmel product, made his professional debut in a light-heavyweight bout against Richard Bal-lard. Like Cruz, Vanasse was dropped early in the fight, but the unseasoned slugger battled back to earn a TKO victory in the fourth round.

“I saw [Vanasse] upstate at some amateur shows and you could tell the kid was crude but was so strong and had a great punch,” O’Leary said. “He got caught with his hands down, a rookie mistake, but he fought through it.”


humanize himself and win his way into the good graces of Yankee fans, backfired ter-ribly, becoming yet another blunder in the minds of the New York fan base.

That’s why I’ll be rooting

for him this spring. I’d love nothing more than for him to come out of the gates red hot, belting homers and causing Yankee fans to begrudgingly give him the respect they nev-er gave him in the past.

For all his faults, his biggest crime was one he had no con-trol over.

He was never Derek Jeter.

Follow Mike on Twitter @LiveMike_Sports

I never thought I’d say these words, but here it is; I’m an A-Rod defender.

Before I go too far down this road, let me say right up front that I’m no fan of the Yankee third baseman. He’s a cheater and a liar, and worse than that—at least in my Red Sox-crazy mind—he’s a Yankee.

But I’ll be damned if I don’t feel bad for him right now.

This week, A-Rod is down in Tampa, Fla., getting ready for the start of spring train-ing after serving a year-long suspension for PED-use, and nobody, not Yankee fans, not Yankee brass, seems to want him around.

Yankee fans are open-ly rooting for him to fail. The front office, some have opined, is hoping that he won’t be able to physically perform,

Rethinking A-Rodsaving the Yanks a fortune on incentivized milestones and perhaps praying the insurance policy will pay out the remain-ing money they owe the aging slugger.

For some reason, though, the idea of A-Rod as this tragic figure, an embattled superstar looking for one last chance at re-demption, makes even the most strident Yankee-hater I know (me) want to root for the guy.

Rodriguez has done some bad stuff. But more egregious than his flagrant violations of the MLB’s rules has been his reaction to the accusations. In-stead of clamming up and ac-cepting the inevitable suspen-sion like the 13 other players named in the MLB investiga-tion of Biogenesis, he took the “scorched earth” route, suing just about anyone who dared to presume he was a cheater.

There have been other play-ers who have forcefully denied accusations of their wrong-doing. Some lied in front of Congress, some, like Sammy

Sosa, conveniently forgot that they were conversant in Eng-lish. Others, like Ryan Braun, acted exactly the way that A-Rod did, going after those they deemed “responsible” for pos-itive tests.

But Braun will hear cheers in Milwaukee, Mark McG-wire is now a respected hitting coach in Los Angeles and even Barry Bonds comes home to warm receptions in the San Francisco area.

Not A-Rod though. He’ll essentially be play-

ing 162 games on the road this season.

Part of that is his doing, sure. But A-Rod’s never been a beloved player anywhere he’s been. He always struck me, for all his talent and all his money, as a clueless guy, un-able to endear himself to fans and frustrated that his prodi-gious talent was never enough to earn him the adoration that he felt he deserved.

Even his handwritten apol-ogy, an effort on his part to

Alex Rodriguez is set to begin spring training this week and while many Yankee fans want nothing more to do with the aging slugger, Sports Editor Mike Smith is hoping A-Rod can return to form this year. Photo courtesy Wikipedia.com

16 • The rye city review • February 27, 2015 SPORTS

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Maggie McDermott, a se-nior on the Rye track team, broke the indoor 3000-me-ter school record with a time of 10:31, a whopping 14 seconds ahead of the previ-ous record. Breaking school records is nothing new to Maggie, who now owns two indoor records in the 800-me-ter and 3000-meter events as well as outdoor records in the 1600-meter, 3000-meter, 3200-meter and the 2000-me-ter steeplechase. She will next compete in the state quali-fier and hopefully the Eastern States Championships.

Aside from her outstanding times, as captain, Maggie also

plays a key role in the devel-opment of the rest of the team.

“Maggie leads a very young team through exam-ple by working hard every day,” coach John McGee said. “She has had an in-credible senior year during winter track. Maggie has set school records in the 3000 meters and was the League and Class B champion in the 1500 meters.”

Mackenzie Smith is just one of the young run-ners whom McDermott has helped.

“Maggie deserves any vic-tory she gets,” Smith said. “She works really hard and I can’t believe anyone can run that fast.”

In the fall, Maggie was

Maggie McDermott

a starting midfielder on the soccer team. She will look to beat her personal best times when she returns to the track in the spring for the outdoor season.

Maggie has also been ex-emplary in the classroom. She has been a consistent member of the High Honor Roll, a National Merit Com-mended Scholar, a member of the National Honor Soci-ety and a member of the Na-tional Music Honor Society.

Titans ice GarnetsBy MiKE sMiTHSports Editor

What should have been a banner win for the Rye Town/Harrison hockey program was marred by a late-game skir-mish, as the Titans advanced to the second round of the Division II playoffs with a re-sounding 5-2 over rival Rye.

In the process, the Titans also lost three key players for their upcoming playoff contest.

With 2.4 seconds left in regulation and the game all but decided, Rye skaters initi-ated a scuffle with the Titans that prompted a long delibera-tion by referees, who opted to call a halt to the game once order had been restored. Four Rye players and three Titans were ejected and the three Rye Town/Harrison skaters have been deemed ineligible for the team’s quarterfinal game against Pearl River on Feb. 25, after press time.

“I don’t know if I agree with the calls that were made on the ice,” Titans coach Jason Head said. “But unfortunately I’m not a ref. I’m only a coach so, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Prior to the scuffle, the night was a good one for the Titans.

Rye Town/Harrison ben-efitted from a terrific perfor-mance by junior goalie Joey Livornese, who tallied 24 saves in the game, including a few spectacular stops that kept Rye off the scoreboard for the better part of the first two periods. Rye’s first goal came in the 14th minute of the second period, after the Titans

had already amassed a three-goal lead.

“[Livornese] was huge and he’s stood on his head in situ-ations like that throughout the whole season,” Head said. “Making saves like that and being able to clear it out of the zone and go the other way was a huge pick me up.”

Sam Adler, Joe Juliano, Mitchell Milbauer, Jackson Schultz and Jake Carnavalla all found the net for the Ti-tans who had a 4-1 lead until Rye’s Rocco Macri came out of the box and took a long pass the length of the ice to narrow the lead to 4-2 with just 6:46 left to play.

“When he came out of the box I yelled all even, but with the crowd noise it fell on deaf ears,” Head said. “We tried to get back in time but he made a great play to put it over Joey.”

But that would be as close as Rye would get.

Rye Town/Harrison’s Doug Harrison takes the puck across the blue line against Rye on Feb. 23. The Titans beat Rye 5-2 to advance to the Division II quarterfinals.

Titans goalie Joey Livornese waits during pregame introductions on Feb. 23. Livornese made 24 saves in the Titans’ first-round playoff win over Rye.

Following the late-game fracas, Rye’s Billy Haynes, Aidan Lavelle, Pat Curran and Derek Mullane were all sent off the ice. For Rye Town/Harrison, Juliano, Schultz and Max Picker were also thrown out of the game and will now serve costly suspensions when the Titans take on Pearl River.

Head remained hopeful that hockey officials will take a look at what transpired and possi-bly lift the ban before the team takes the ice on Wednesday.

“I have all the faith in our ADs to be in contact with Sec-tion I and try to fix the prob-lem,” the head coach said. “It’s a different situation when one team has nothing left to play for, and even though I don’t know what was in the other team’s heads there, I know my guys were only trying to pro-tect themselves.”

If the suspensions stand, he added, the Titans will sim-

ply take the ice against Pearl River, hoping that other play-ers will get a chance to shine.

“It will take a big effort,”

the coach said, “but all year long it’s been ‘next man up.’ We’ve battled injuries, guys going away and everyone has

stepped up tremendously. I ex-pect us to step up big again.”


Rye’s Derek Mullane takes the puck behind the net against Rye Town/Harrison. Photos/Mike Smith

rye city review 2-27-2015

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