WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. April 2, 2006: White Plains High School Students are sooooooo social! So social they are not making it to classes on time according to a letter sent to high schoolers’ parents.

 

According to the communication from Principal Ivan Toper distributed Friday, parents have been advised that students at the 2,200 student low-rise complex that sprawls in an endless maze of hallways on the former JC Penney estate in White Plains, just are not making it into classes before the bell rings. Being late to class has become routine and the Principal has had enough.

Toper’s letter  states that “teachers have volunteered to be a presence in the hallways between classes to encourage students to move to their next class.” The letter reports House administrators recently met with each of the four grades to emphasize the importance of arriving to class on time as well as consequences for being tardy that will now be in effect.

 

The D-word.

 

Mr. Toper’s communication to parents advise that punishments for being late to class could include “afternoon detentions, Saturday detentions and in-school suspensions for students with multiple infractions.”

 

Principal Toper reports a committee has been formed “to review our (attendance) policies and procedures in an effort to ensure they are reasonable, fair, effective and consistent. I ask that you (parents) do whatever you can do at home to encourage your child to not only arrive at school on time in the morning, but to arrive on time to each and every class throughout the day.”

 

Hall Jams

 

From WPCNR observation, routine daily drop-off stop and go traffic of parents delivering their teens off to start the day and at the south and north entrances of the school contribute to tardiness in the mornings.

 

In-between classes, the five-minute break is barely enough time when you have to go from the south end to the north end of the building for your next class. The small halls and  sadistic scheduling that has you go from one end of the building to the other on the short break in-between classes keeps White Plains teens in shape, but not fleet of foot enough to avoid the distractions in the halls: cellphone conversations, the heavy crush of bodies in narrow hallways, sort of like Main Street on rush hour mornings in White Plains.

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OPENING DAY  

By BASEBALL BAILEY

 

WRIGLEY fIELD CHICAGO 1975 PHOTO WPCNR SPORTS

OPENING DAY is better than Christmas Day,
When you look out the window and you know they’ll play,
Whether dreary gray or billiant spring sun’s ray
Opening Day means the Big Show is back today.

In decades past, Opening Day was for the fanatics starved
Eager for the sharp crack of ash on horsehide carved
The flutter of pennants snapping in northwest winds
Atop ramparts of inviting arches of walls and freizes wistfully escarped.

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Fans lucky to get away with a pair of ducats
Marveled at those grown men in boys flannels and sharp whites pristeen
Back to play in April’s warm zhyphers in NY blazened caps,
Dashing specks of white warming up on the sprawl of the greenest green.

Motor cars panting in good-natured traffic jams on Major Deegan,
Or down Yawkey Way, on 35th and Shields or  Waveland’s Jam.
Through your windows you see the first glimpse of the imposing Park,
The place where ball is played, where spirits of Ted, Babe, Duke
Mel, Spahnie, Whitey, Mickey, Willie, Yaz, Minnie and Sandy lark.

Paying a White Plains fine to park to stogie smoking old men
Who ‘VE BEEN at the same GATES for a hundred years

out into the street
You go eager, the smell of roasting chestnuts, pungent cigars sweet,
Cries of “scorecard heah” “programs,  heah” neath light towers to heaven.

Fans in cap and uniform, little boys and girls gawk in awe
Never seeing SUCH sheer walls so topped with the legend “GameToday 1:30 PM”
Clutching slim cardboard tix to Section 14 Upper Deck up to the turnstiles
Festooned with souvenirs more dear as diamonds, beyond, THE lure OF ENDLESS aisles.

Into the press of crowd, the grizzled usher, RIPS YOUR TICKET.
Turnstile turns and into the castle of ball you go
Into the rotunda greeted with magic signs dazzlING
UPPER LEVELS SECTIONS 1 to 39, 2 to 40

Hawkers shout –Voices of The Bronx — colorful books in hand

“Yearbook heah,” “Dodger Yearbook here,” “Hot dog, heah,” 
Assail your ears up the ramps you walk to the sign “NEXT HOMESTAND”
Out the suspended catwalk where sliver of blue is first glimpse of the magic sphere
Into the sunlight splaying the vast rake down  of the mighty grand stand.

Spread out below are knights of the diamond in white hues
Cavorting, snapping throws across immaculate red clay
As majestic fungoes CRACK! soar towards filling bleachers a mile away,
Bunting flutters from the deck’s rails red, white and true blues.

Old glory unfurls on the highest pole in center field
Colorful signs deliver the manly flavor of the only real game,
GILLETTE To Look Sharp, The Red Sox use Lifeboy, Schaefer It’s A Hit
Hey, Neighbor Have a Gansett, White Owl Cigars, Hit Sign Win Suit

From old familiar walls, to Gladys Gooding on the organ
friendly old green scoreboard displaying
Today’s games around the big leagues BETTER THAN CNN
CHI CLE BOS DET, CHI STL, NY WAS make you king for a day.
Two Bits for a scorecard, usher wipes your seat, ballpark fills your heart.

Penciling in the lineup 42 2B, 1 SS, 14 1B, 4 CF, 39 C, 6 RF, 23 LF 19 3B 36 P
Smell of beer, peanuts and warm salty pretzels entice
The air is nippy, warm rays sink into your face feels nice,
starting pitchers wheel and deal on sidelines  fueling expectancy

Men in blue, arms folded solemnly conduct the home plate regimen
CaseY, Ralph , Walter AND SPARKY exchange lineup cards and knowing
ground rules by heart they go over them for ritual’s sake.
announcer entones “Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen.”

“Please rise for the playing of our national anthem,”
the stadium organ note by note  peels  baseball’s theme
Rising on the breeze, uniting do-rag and ball cap,
fedora and Tie PONYTAIL AND BOUFFANT  in the spirit of the great game.

Grass is never greener than on opening days
 strikes are louder, the long drives electrify in the alleys
The beer withtHICK hing cream head,  tastecrisp cold and mellow the best all year
 Smashes laser through short and in the gap in raucous rallies

 

Magicians without wands start 6-4-3s, backhand sure hit losing their caps

“Oh what a play’s” crackle on WGN with  “CUBS WIN’S”

Jack and Mel, Vince, Curt and Murph are back at the mike to turn mundane days into joy with a ninth inning elixir and “happy recaps”

THUNDROUS ROAR accolades the 2-out winner again CREATING Big KIDS’ GRINS

 

 

 

 

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WPCNR STAGE DOOR. From City Center Dance. April 2, 2006: On Sunday April 23, at the Students from City Center Dance in White Plains along with over 100 other young dancers from all over Westchester County will dance their toes off to raise money for Dancers Responding to AIDS (DRA), a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA) in an event aptly titled “STARS OF TOMORROW, givine back today”   

 

Money raised by these young dancers ages 7 years to 18 years will not only support performing artists nationwide but will bring continued support to the BC/EFA National Grants Program – In 2005 $55,000 was awarded to 9 AIDS & Family service organizations in Westchester & Rockland.

This year, STARS OF TOMORROW … giving back today, will feature a special performance by Tony Award™ nominee, New Rochelle resident ANDREA MCARDLE who will perform with the Purchase Dance Corps.  ANDREA McARDLE  is best known as the original Annie (both on Broadway and in London), a performance which earned her a Tony Award™  nomination for Best Actress in a Musical, in addition to a Theatre World and Outer Critics Circle Award.  She has recently appeared at Joe’s Pub downtown and at Birdland with her one-woman show, “Andrea McArdle, NYC.”  She starred as “Mama Rose” in Gypsy for the Bay Area Houston Ballet & Theatre and was in Japan where she reprised the role of “Sally Bowles” in Cabaret.   The first time she played “Sally” in Japan was as a limited engagement following her starring in the U.S. National Tour.   Before Cabaret she was playing another type of girl altogether, becoming Broadway’s longest running “Belle” in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.   She was featured as “The Star to Be” in the new Emmy Award-winning TV movie version of Annie, on ABC TV.   She has also starred on Broadway in Les Misérables, Starlight Express, and State Fair.   In 1996 her television special “Andrea McArdle on Broadway” (also the title of her CD) aired on PBS. Ms. McArdle has toured with the late Liberace and the great Bob Hope and has had the privilege of singing for every U.S. president from Ford to Clinton. She is married to composer/producer Edd Kalehoff and their daughter, Alexis, is one of her frequent costars.

Tickets for “STARS OF TOMORROW .. givingn back today” can be purchased for $25 by contacting Center Dance in White Plains, The Westchester Dance Academy in Portchester, or any one of the other participating dance schools who are performing for this event.

For more information on this and other events sponsored by Dancers Responding to AIDS, visit the web at http:www.dradance.org

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WPCNR PRESS BOX. By John F. Bailey.  April 1, 2006: While you were watching the Olympics,  in a posh rink on the other side of the world, figure skating’s greatest secret: the growth of synchronized team skating was being displayed for all to see at the US Figure Skating Synchronized Team Skating Championships in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

 

The Skyliners Skating their Long Program in spiral Block at the Synchro National Championships in Grand Rapids Michigan. Photo, WPCNR Sports

 

The Skyliners  Junior Team (25 girls, aged 12 to 18) of the Figure Skating Club of New York and Windy Hill Skating Club (CT)  finished sixth  of 13 teams,  skated their final synchronized skate of the season Saturday night in Shelton Connecticut at “the Skate for the Cure” Show as part of a program to raise funds for the Junior Diabetes Research Foundation International. 

 

The Skyliners shared the ice with World Bronze Medalist Caryn Kadavy, and US. Olympic Pair, 3-time US National Silver Medalists, Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov.

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Far from Torino in the “Valley of Synchro,” the Middle West, in Grand Rapids, Michigan,  the 2006 US Figure Skating Synchronized Team Skating Championships featuring 86 teams from coast-to-coast  showcased  2,500 fearless femmes and gents of the ice in competition that dazzled, amazed, and made you catch your breath.

 

Look Out! The Skyliners Execute the “Blades of Death,” otherwise known as the backward Splice Lunge in their Long Program in Grand Rapids. Photo, WPCNR Sports.

 

The Skyliners, the tri-state area skating team of skaters from Westchester, New Jersey and Connecticut;  Team Image from Yonkers, N.Y., Ice Magic from Katonah,  the Ice-Alantics of  New Jersey and Team Millennium of  Connecticut, competed and held their own against the elite middle west teams and up-and-coming teams from the South and West Coast.

 

The skating was inspired and inspiring.  The effort relentless and daring, the programs breathtaking and emotional, packed with high risk and  embellished with the grace and beauty of fearless accomplished skaters.

 

Skyliner Juniors hold on, rank 6^th of 13 Nationally, 2^nd among Eastern Teams.

 

Friday evening the suspense of the afternoon became downright tension as the Junior Division’s 13 teams from coast-to-coast skated their 4-minute Long Programs in order of the Short Program finish in three separate groups. As each team takes to the ice, they know what they need to improve their standing. Then after they skate they stand in the entryway and wait up to five minutes for their score under the new International Judging System.

 

Skyliner Juniors Skate Listen to Your Heart their Short Program in Grand Rapids, February 23 nailing it Thursday night. They skated it for the final time Saturday night in Shelton, Connecticut. Photo, WPCNR Sports.

 

The Skyliner Juniors who had not skated their Short Program to “Listen to Your Heart” to its fullest potential all season nailed it in Thursday’s skate. They skated second after the defending champions, The Hockettes from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and turned in a fourth place finish on the strength of their technical score (execution of footwork and formations), putting up a 33..07 compared with the Hockettes 39.82. The Skyliners Techinical was a mere 1 point off the Hockettes technical score. Eleven more teams skated and the Skyliner score held up, creating a proud moment for the team and saying the Skyliners had arrived as genuine contenders nationally.

 

The electrifying Splice Coming Together in the Short Program Thursday afternoon. Photo, WPCNR Sports

 

Juniors  Finish 6^th Nationally.

 

The Friday night long program skate for all the ice chips, with the Skyliner Junior Team scheduled to skate next to last of 13 performances was high drama which intensified with each posted score as one great skate after another was turned in.

 

One by one teams from Illinois, Minnesota, California, Massachusetts, Michigan skated,  yet still the Junior team was not eclipsed out of Fourth Place until a flying, powerful, confident and elegant skate to “Man of La Mancha”  by Team Braemar of Minnesota skating 9^th, turned in a 65.43 nosing the Skyliners out of 4^th place by an ice flake. The Skyliners had to turn in a 66 when they skated.

 

The Hockettes and the Chicago Jazz went blade to blade in the 10^th and 11^th skating positions for the lead. The Hockettes, the 2005 National Junior Champions showed how demanding synchro is by experiencing two unfortunate falls in a formation and a line that cost them the championship. The Hockettes carded a 67.85 losing 4 points on mandatory deductions that dropped them to third with 107 points.

The Chicago Jazz took the ice next and flew into First Place for their third Championship of the 2006 Nationals with an unbelievable 79.85 score on their long program. The Jazz also one Novice and Intermediate Divisions.

 

Spinning Tops: Juniors Finish with a Flourish in their Long Skate Good enough for 6th in the Nation February 25. Photo, WPCNR Sports.

 

It is a pressure thing to follow the two best teams in Junior Division, but that was the Skyliners’ fate. They took to the ice, knowing they needed a 66 Score to capture the 4^th place medal. 

 

They performed their program firmly with heart, a little tentative, but no falls, no mandatory deductions –  lines, blocks were strong, intersections and splices clean, no technical deductions. Team Braemar’s lead could not be overcome when the score went up the Skyliners carded a 58.86 for a total score of 91.93. Not enough for the pewter prize (4th Place). 

 

The Colonials from Massachussetts skated  last and turned in a total score of 111.31 for second place nosing out the Hockettes for second place.

 

The Skyliners Junior Team held up beautifully under the pressure of a medal skate, and all the girls are better for it. By finishing sixth nationwide they finished as the 2^nd best team from the East  behind the fabulous Colonials The Skyliner Juniors showed they were competitive with the Midwest “Valley of Synchro” clubs, from Wisconsin and Minnesota, stepping up to another level in figure skating accomplishment.

 

Josh Babb and Jenny gibson, coaches of the Juniors said they had worked the girls on improving their footwork all season to bring technical scores up, and that next season they would be dealing with the posture and upper body attitudes required to score higher in the artistic element of the Free Skate.

 

The Skyliners Brain Trust: Larry Rosen, left owner of The Athlete’s Foot, White Plains, Club President. Josh Babb, Coach, second from left, Jenny Gibson third from left, Tina Staples, fourth from left and Ena Shae, line mothers. Photo, WPCNR Sports

 

In synchronized skating, every team member has to be good. One off performance wrecks the whole performance. It is the truest team sport.

 

They skated for the final time this season in Shelton Connecticut at a jam-packed Skate for the Cure Saturday night performing both the trademark Listen to Your Heart program and their long program at The Rinks  arena in Shelton, CT .

 

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From the Office of Assemblyman Adam Bradley. March 31, 2006: White Plains Assemblyman Adam Bradley announced today that the Legislature’s bi-partisan budget agreement invests in our children’s future and provides students with the  tools necessary to succeed in a global economy. He provides the details of the aid secured for the other towns in the 89th Assembly District:

 

“The Legislature’s bi-partisan budget agreement provides necessary investments to create smaller class sizes, keep school buildings up-to-date, and provides property tax savings for Westchester residents,” said Bradley.

 

Substantial increase in aid

 

Schools in the 89^th Assembly District will receive over $40.2 million in total aid –  an increase of $2.7 million over last year and $2.6 million more than the governor’s proposal.

 

                                               

Constructing tomorrow’s schools today

 

Importantly, in order to further meet the needs of our students and with the knowledge that many school districts have increasing capital needs; the Legislature’s budget includes a capital program, EXpanding our Children’s Education and Learning (EXCEL), that provides $2.6 billion in capital funding in addition to building aid.

 

      This includes an additional $8.7 million for schools in the 89^th Assembly District, including:

·        $1.3 million – Bedford

·        $900,813 – Byram Hills

·        $1.3 million – Chappaqua

·        $1.1 million – Harrison

·        $1.3 million – Katonah-Lewisboro

·        $485,496 – Valhalla

·        $2.1 million – White Plains

 

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Universal pre-kindergarten

 

The Legislature’s 2006-07 budget also provides a $50 million increase to expand universal pre-kindergarten for a total of $254 million, which has proven to have positive, lasting results on young children’s education.  Under this agreement:

 

·        White Plains City schools would be eligible for $675,000

·        Bedford schools will be eligible for $62,100

    

Bradley also noted that he was able to secure discretionary funds, known as

bullet-aid for school districts to apply toward projects of their choice, including:

 

·        Bedford – $200,000

·        Byram Hills – $50,000

·        Katonah-Lewisboro – $45,000

 

To better ensure schools are spending tax dollars wisely, the Legislative budget doubles the amount of money to audit school districts, providing an extra $2.8 million over last year to root out fraud and corruption.

 

     “Westchester families will certainly benefit from this bipartisan budget agreement,” said Bradley.  “I urge the governor to join us in addressing our schools educational needs, while responsibly mitigating burdensome property taxes.”