David Chong, Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety Departs

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WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. By John F. Bailey. December 7, 2005: David Chong, the Number 2 man in White Plains law enforcement,  Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety of the City of White Plains  has abruptly  left his position, and is on a paid “administrative leave,” after which he will seek “other opportunities,” according to Martin Gleeson, Special Counsel, Office of the Commissioner.



David Chong. Former Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety, Number 2 Man in White Plains law, shown in May 2005. Peerless Leader, well-liked, the man who told WPCNR, “In White Plains, we lead from the front,” on a recent security assignment heading security for the White Plains Hospital Center gala,  has left the Department for family reasons. Photo, WPCNR News Archive


As of this hour the Commissioner of Public Safety has issued no statement on Mr. Chong’s departure and there has been no announcement  from the Mayor’s Office about this city personnel situation.


Mr. Gleeson reported exclusively to WPCNR that Mr. Chong has recently adopted a child, and has decided to take time with his family. Asked how long this period of paid administrative leave would last, Gleeson said he did not know at this time. Asked if Mr. Chong would return, Mr. Gleeson said no, that at the end of the administrative leave  that Mr. Chong would ” pursue other opportunities.”.


WPCNR asked Mr. Gleeson to relay to Mr. Chong that WPCNR would like to interview Mr.Chong about his new child, whom, WPCNR understands was adopted from China, and that Mr. Chong personally traveled to China a number of weeks ago to bring the child back to America.

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Seidel: Mayor Signs on to Water Accord.

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WPCNR Water Watch. By Dan Seidel. December 6, 2005:  Last night a “present” was given to Tom Roach and Dan Seidel by Mayor Delfino – White Plains has finally signed off to a Municipal Understanding Agreement which will enable the County to receive federal grants monies for cleanup and survey of the Bronx River. This is a necessary step in cleaning up our river,our river banks and making the river fishable and boatable as well as improving the flood, sedimentation and erosion controls. We start our “greening” process. Now onto “green building” methods and standards, not to mention mandating of the use of ultra low sulfur diesel fuel for all projects in White Plains.

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Police Report Probable Suicide at Galleria on Martine–Victim Identified.

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WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. December 6, 2005 UPDATED 3:25 P.M. E.S.T. UPDATED 10:00 P.M. E.S.T.: A young man identifed as Clement Roosevelt Austin, male, black, 28 years of age, from Larchmont, NY. is reported by police to have jumped from the roof of the 7-story Lexington Avenue Garage at The Galleria at approximately 11:45 A.M. this morning according to Martin Gleeson, Special Counsel, Office of the Commissioner of the White Plains Department of Public Safety.


 Gleeson told WPCNR, “We’re calling it a suicide, pending investigation. The investigating team found the victim with massive head trauma on the side walk. He was taken to White Plains Hospital Center where he was pronounced dead on arrival.”




Scene of Suicide. Police inspect area where Clement Austin took his own life. Photo, WPCNR News


 Gleeson said no suicide note was found with the victim, whose mother resides on Harmon Avenue, White Plains.


 Police on the scene told WPCNR their first effort always goes to helping the victim, and the victim is immediately transported to the hospital in such cases. This is the third apparent suicide victim at the Galleria that WPCNR is aware of, one occurring in March of 2004.



Suicide Scene. A Closer Look. Photo, WPCNR News.

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Little League Registration for 2006 Begins

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WPCNR PRESS BOX. December 5, 2005: The White Plains Little League has opened its Registration Process for children 5 to 12 for the 2006 season with the convenient, pay-by-credit card registration on the internet.


Parents may register their future Hall of Famers online at www.whiteplainslittleleague.com. Registration for one child for a 12 game season beginning April 29 is $100. In-person registration will be held at Ridgeway School  December 17 from 9 AM to 1 PM; January 7, 2006  from 1 to 5 PM and January 12 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. Parents should watch for the Little League Flyer being sent home with children from the schools.



White Plains Little League, Opening Day, 2002. Photo, WPCNR Sports Archive.

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Board of Education Invites Citizens to Help Prepare 2006-2007 Budget

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From Michelle Schoenfeld. December 6, 2005 (EDITED):  The White Plains Board of Education has announced the beginning of the formation of its Annual Budget Committee (ABC) for the tenth consecutive year, as it begins the formal process of preparing the 2006-07 school budget. (The 2005-2006 school budget is currently $154.7 million.) The ABC is an advisory group which provides input, feedback and suggestions to the District. 


President Donna McLaughlin said, “The Board is pleased and proud that the budget has passed by an overwhelming majority since the inception of the vote, and believes that the ABC has contributed greatly to that success, through its assistance and support.” 


The Committee is comprised of representatives of more than a dozen civic and community organizations and other interested individuals.  The first meeting, on February 8th, will include an orientation session for new members, as well as background information.  Two additional meetings with  the administration and Board of Education members will follow, on February 15th and March 8th. 


Meetings are held at 7:30 P.M. at Education House, 5 Homeside Lane and will include an overview of the budget as well as discussions of key issues and recommendations. 


        Anyone wishing to serve on the ABC may call Michele Schoenfeld, District Clerk, at 422-2071, by January 10th.  All of the meetings are open to the public.

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Good Night, Larry. Delgado, 1st Hispanic Councilman Honored at Final Meeting.

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WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE EXAMINER. December 5, 2005:  At the close of Monday’s Common Council meeting Tom Roach, Council President, saluted outgoing Councilman Larry Delgado (who was defeated by Glen Hockley in the recent November election for another term) thanking him for his work on behalf of the people of White Plains as Mr. Delgado was serving in his last regular  Common Council meeting.


 



Mayor Presents Larry Delgado, First Hispanic Councilman of the City of White Plains, with an award for his years of service. Mr. Delgado quipped “Where’s my free movie ticket and dinner for two?” which brought down the house. (Video Capture from WPGA-TV, Government Access, live cablecast by WPCNR News)


 


Roach borrowed the legendary  signoff of the great disc jockey Allan Freed, saying he (Roach) was saying not goodbye to Larry Delgado but “goodnight” because he expected Mr. Delgado would be participating ongoing as the city developed. He did not elaborate on what role Mr. Delgado would assume, and neither did the Mayor who alluded to plans for including Mr. Delgado in future city public service.


Roach gave Delgado “our thanks for your hard work and commitment to our city, your wisdom and patience…(that) have earned the respect and friendship of your colleagues.” Roach praised Mr. Delgado for his contributions to the city’s development in the best interest of all of the city.


 


The Quiet Legacy — A Loyal Sidekick That Made the Right Calls.


 


In his six and a half years on the council, Mr. Delgado voted to approve the first White Plains “Renaissance” project, the Bank Street Commons. He voted to approve the Stop N Shop Supermarket project on Westchester Avenue.  


 


He voted to approve the Louis Cappelli City Center project in 2001 and attempted to reason against the  attempts by Democratic council members for the Ernst & Young study of the “halo effect” of that project which threatened the proposal.  Later as  attacks on the single building design of the project by  Councilperson Malmud surfaced, Delgado was a voice of reason. (The design quibbles eventually lead to Louis Cappelli’s hiring Fred Bland to split the residential project into two buildings.) Throughout the painful City Center approval process of City Center, Mr. Delgado was Mayor Delfino’s only ally on the project.


 


Mr. Delgado voted with the Mayor to refer out  New York Presbyterian Hospital offer of 60 acres of land for a park in exchange for  commercial retail adjacent Bloomingdale’s  That was rejected by the Common Council in the year 2000 not to refer out that proposal for comment. This rejection paved the way for the present proton accelerator project. Delgado  was not on the council when the Council voted to approve the proton accelerator project in 2002, which is now in limbo. Mr. Delgado was right on that one and the Common Council was wrong as events turn out. Now we see development of far greater density possible for that property the Common Council. That 5-2 vote by the council cost the city a park.


 


Greatest Honor of His Life


 



In his remarks tonight, Mr. Delgado said of his service on the Council that “it has been an honor and a privilege – the greatest honor of my life. (Serving on the Council) was a responsibility I took very seriously.” He said he considered proposals for the city with what he called “White Plainsmanship, not partisanship.” (Video Capture from WPGA-TV, Government Access, Live Cablecast, by WPCNR News)


 


 


 


Speaking extemporaneously, Mr. Delgado reminisced he mentioned former Council Colleagues Jo Falcone and Bill King. He praised the staff of the city as very dedicated and good to work with.


 


He said he planned to remain active in the affairs of the city. He urged the city to keep taxes as low as possible in the future and urge both parties to work to nominate and run an Hispanic American to the council.


 


He said to the television audience, “Thank you for the privilege of letting me represent you over the years, good night.”


 


Hockley-Delgado Memories


 


Mr. Delgado, the first Hispanic-American to hold office on the Common Council service on the Council totaled six years and five months interrupted by 19 months, 15 months of which were served by the new 2006-2009 Councilman-elect Glen Hockley who illegally occupied the office as a “usurper,” having been appointed councilman in March 2002 after the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals threw out the call for a citywide election decision handed down by the Appellate Court in Brooklyn.


 


Mr. Delgado will be forever remembered in White Plains hundreds of years from now in the law books and in law schools nationally for his dogged pursuit of his Council seat through all the legal machinations and roadblocks  the Democratic Party threw  at him over nineteen months of litigation to retain Mr. Hockley, a Democrat,  in the Council seat.


 


People of White Plains learned more than they ever wanted to know about election law.


 


Hockley claimed the seat after the Court of Appeals threw out the lower court call for a special citywide election. Hockley kept the seat until the Attorney General quo warranto action produced a summary judgment that unceremoniously ousted Mr. Hockley from the Council in July, 2004.


 


The Hockley occupation was produced when a voting machine  jammed in District 18 in November of 2001, which cost Mr. Delgado 103 votes and appeared to hand Mr. Hockley the seat.


 


Even after the machine had proven to be jammed, a special election called for in District 18  by Judge Francis Nicolai, Mr. Hockley and his lawyer, Adam Bradley fought the special election as a violation of election law right up to the New York State Court of Appeals.  The Court of Appeals threw out the call for a special election saying the only remedy was a quo warranto procedure brought by the Attorney General of the State of New York.


 


Eliot Spitzer as Attorney General brought the quo warranto on behalf of Mr. Delgado. It took 15 months (March 2002 to July 2003)  for the quo warranto action to bear fruit, resulting in the unceremonious ouster of Mr. Hockley July 17, 2004. Mr. Delgado returned to the council in July of 2004, and has served since then, approving The 221 Main Cappelli-Hotel Project, and the senior citizen assisted living residence adjacent White Plains Hospital Center.


 


WPCNR remembers Mr. Delgado for his candor, his gentlemanly manner, and his genuine manner. I always felt he answered questions as honestly as he could and he looked to what was best for all. Like Bill King before him, he tried to do what was right.

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Hale Ave Condos Postponed. $100,000 to WPPAC. CAFRA presented.

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WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE-EXAMINER. By John F. Bailey. November 5, 2005: As predicted by WPCNR earlier Monday, the legal counsel for  Hale LLC submitted a letter prior to last night’s council meeting asking that the Monday evening Public Hearing on the proposed 10 story condominiums at 97-111 and 100-114 Hale Avenue be postponed until January 3, making it a short 45-minute Common Council meeting Monday.


 


In other business, the council extended the site plans for Calvary Baptist Church and the senior housing project at South Kensico Avenue and Hadden Avenue for the third straight year, (with the only evidence of construction for the latter, a pile of dirt in the middle of the lot as of last week).


 


The council approved $100,000 in improvements from the General Fund for renovation of the Thomas Slater Center which Councilman Benjamin Boykin said consisting of replacement of carpeting, restoring exterior retaining walls, and improvements to the rest rooms, and $100,000 for the White Plains Performing Arts Center, a project that was supposed to be self-sustaining when the Council first approved the operators.


 


 



$100,000 into the White Plains Performing Arts Center


 


In consent agenda ordinance # 31, the council quietly approved $100,000 for the White Plains Performing Arts Center by transferring urban renewal funds into the Main Mamaroneck Plaza Fountain Design and Construction  fund, (the $100,000 coming from that fund), without mentioning the amount of funds on the live telecast of the meeting.


 


This is $100,000 in addition to the payment the city sends to the White Plains Performing Arts Center nonprofit organization which runs the theater, and in addition to the estimated $192,860  (This was the amount in in-kind services the city provided to the WPPAC in the first year of the theatre’s operation in 2003-2004 – the only year for which “in-kind services provided by the city are documented)  in services the city provides the center at city expense. No one on the Common Council made any comment on this $100,000 bailout of the theatre. Nor has the Council made any public effort or inquiry of the Center’s Board for the direction they are taking the theater which continues to lose money.


 


By Mr. Stimac’s comments at the recent Common Council meeting, the Performing Arts Center has lost $197,000 its first year, $107,000, its second year, and stands to lose $300,000 in its third year, without $100,000 from the city, and another $200,000 promised by developer Louis Cappelli. In addition, it should be noted that the next show, opening this week, A Christmas Carol, is being advertised as being sponsored  by the Louis Cappelli Foundation.


 


Environmental Scopings approved for North Shore Community, DEIS for the Pinnacle.


 


The Final Environmental Scoping Outline, with three pages of amendments was approved for the North Street Community, the senior assisted living luxury condo project proposed for the former St. Agnes Hospital property. Rita Malmud, Councilperson insisted on the inclusion of the three pages, which asked more indepth explanation of issues involving affordable housing; possible impacts of alternatives if the council decided the density and number of units of the proposed senior assisted living condominiums on the former St. Agnes property was too big, and decided to cut the number of units from the proposed 381, and environmental recycling and environmental construction procedures.


 


The council approved a resolution accepting the Draft Environmental Impact Statement of The Pinnacle. However, environmental activist Daniel Seidel has pointed out to WPCNR that a copy of the DEIS as of Friday was not available to the public in the library or from the city, a violation of SEQR procedures.


 


Malmud, Delfino support Grace Social Services Center at 96 East Post Road.


 


Rita Malmud noted that in setting a hearing for the Grace Church Community Services organization on its plans to operate a social service center for homeless persons dropped off in White Plains a few doors down from the Open Arms shelter at 96 Post Road should have hours that allow the center to be “immediately” available when the homeless are dropped off by Westchester County policy at about 6 in the morning when they have leave the county homeless shelter at the County Airport, and when they have to leave the Open Arms Shelter.


 



New Grace Social Services Center is Planned to locate in the vacant storefront at 96 East Post Road slightly to the left of the white van in this photograph. Open Arms Shelter is the building at far left. Photo, WPCNR News.


 


Both Mrs. Malmud and Mayor Delfino were very supportive of this project. Mr. Delfino said Grace Church Community Services did a great job and that it was great the county had contracted with them to run the center. The Mayor pointed out that he had said it was horrendous that the county would drop these persons off in White Plains with no place to go, at the time of the Galleria murder in June when a White Plains woman was allegedly killed by one of the homeless persons the county had dropped off.


 


 


Malmud sees rosy scenario as CAFRA is released.


 


With the announcement of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, Rita Malmud stated to the audience of thousands out in White Plains in the live telecast.


 



 


Holding up the CAFRA report, Malmud said the CAFRA “confirms some good news,” that the work of the last eight years was beginning to pay off, and that the CAFRA “confirms” that “the city is an excellent financial situation.” (Video Capture from WPGA-TV, Channel 75 Live Cablecast by WPCNR News)


 


 


She reported the CAFRA shows the city earned a “a surplus of $1.5 million,” (first reported by WPCNR in August, 2005), which she said goes into the general fund, and that the city income has risen 6.8% last year, and that the city fund balance is risen to 22.8 million, as well as an 8.6% increase in sales tax, (also first reported by WPCNR in October, 2005).


 


Mrs. Malmud did not comment on the First Quarter Financials for 2005-2006, which were also quietly presented at the meeting as part of the consent agenda. Those figures show the sales tax perking at the same rate as one year ago.


 


Benjamin Boykin in commenting on the CAFRA explained that most of the budget pressures the city was experiencing were personnel-related relating to salary increases and benefits and retirement costs, saying 80% of the city budget was in salaries, which increased the budge automatically 5-6% every year.


 


Roughly, this means the $89,868,335 in actual salary and benefits expenditures reported by the city for 2005-2005 will increase at the very least $5,392,100 increasing the $117,516,912 expenditure of the general fund  to  $122,909,012, with increases in other costs still to be budgeted.


 


Mayor Joseph Delfino noted that the CAFRA was showing the development of the city was beginning to pay off. “We knew it wasn’t going to happen right away. We’re starting to get our rewards.”


 



Nazael Fernandez, Junior Engineer in the Department of Public Works was honored as Employee of the Month for his work on  traffic projections and DPW projects. Mayor Delfino said he was “an engineer’s engineer.” Mr. Fernandez said “It does feel pretty good in a setting like this to impact the infrastructure of this wonderful city, this promising environment that I love…as I continue to serve. (Video Capture from WPGA-TV, Government Access Live Cablecast by WPCNR News.)


 


 

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Skyliners Compete with Best in the West at the Dr. Porter Synchro in Ann Arbor

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WPCNR PRESS BOX. By John F. Bailey. December 5, 2005: The Skyliners of the Skating Club of New York and the Windy Hill Skating Club, gained confidence and poise under the pressure of facing the elite midwest synchronized skating clubs at the 10th Annual Dr. Porter Synchronized Skating Classic in Ann Arbor, Michigan this weekend. The Skyliners Junior Syncrhro Team, skating out of the Westchester Skating Academy, Playland Ice Rink and other rinks around the region, featuring skaters from the New York tri-state area finished a confident seventh in a field of eleven teams from Michigan, Canada, Illinoius, Maryland Wisconsin and Minnesota in the Junior Short Program and eighth  in skating their Junior Long program for the first time in competition.


The Skyliners  were participating in the first synchro skating event in this country ever scored by the new computer-video scoring system, a system that was the talk of the day with intriguing results and the usual mixed opinions on what it means.


The Colonials from Massachusetts looked in end-of-season form, finishing first in the Junior Short program Saturday, while the Hockettes of Ann Arbor made a dazzling Rockettes skate to Copacabana to win the Junior Long Sunday.



Skyliners Performing their Junior Long program for the first time Sunday at a packed house for the Junior Division competition at posh  “Ice Cube”  in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Photo, WPCNR Sports.



Skyliners Perform Entrance into a  Parallel Wheel in their Junior Long. Photo by WPCNR Sports.


 



The Skyliners Waiting to be Called to the Ice before about 600 fans (for just one Division). Photo by WPCNR Sports


The Skyliners Junior Synchronized Skating Team is made up of  Christine Kyriakos, Michelle Noviello, Becky Schwartzman, Juliana Baily, Nicole Battaglia, Kelsey Loveday, Hannah Kasper, Krista Shea, Liz Edouard, Nikki Wylan, Chrissy Salamone, Kaitien Boucher, Ryan Donaghy, Allegra Staples, Caitlin Lombardi, Deanna Jensen, Cerene Belli, Laura Fayer, Mary Halling, Emma Marr, Jennifer Nolos, Liz Radonich, Rachel Gottlieb, Mollie Barr and Noelle Vinson and are coached by Josh Babb and Jenny Gibson. The team has been practicing twice a week for about three months at three hours a practice prior to going out to Ann Arbor over the weekend to skate with synchro’s “big dogs of synchro,” the dedicated and demanding teams in the “Valley of Synchro,”  the Middle West.



After competing: on to MORE practice via luxury bus in “The Land of a 1,000 Rinks (Michigan)”. Photo, WPCNR Sports.


Flying out to Detroit Friday afternoon, they held the official Porter practice at 6:15 A.M. Saturday morning to compete in the Junior Short at 11:00 A.M.  Practiced Saturday evening for their Sunday Long Skate, with transportation by luxury bus, just like a professional sports club, just as do all the other competing teams. It is a very organized atmosphere. They stay in hotels just like professional ball clubs, and bond as a team.



The Skyliners Talk it Over After Competing in their Junior Long program with Coach Josh Babb (right) at the magnificent field house at the University of Michigan Dearborn campus,  Prior to Flying Home Sunday Evening. The team and coach talked over how they had performed, the skate still fresh in their minds, and skated out some details. Photo by WPCNR Sports.


 


Precise, Flowing Colonials Win the Long, Hockettes Turning into “Rockettes” Win the Long. Gold Ice of Canada takes two seconds.


In the Junior Short Program, The Colonials won the competition among the eleven skating clubs with Skate Canada, Brampton, Ontario finishing second, the Chicago Jazz, third, with Team Braemar of Edina, Minnesota fourth.The Hockettes Junior team of Ann Arbor, finished fifth; Fond du Lac Blades of Wisconsin, sixth, The Skyliners, seventh, the Starlights of Skokie Valley Illinois, eighth, Fusion of the York Region, Ontario, Canada, ninth, Ice Elite of Geneva, Illinois, tenth, and the Metroliners of Bowie, Maryland, eleventh. The Colonials skating to  I’m Not Sorry, and Love Gone Wrong were in end-of-the-season elegance and just eased past Gold Ice by “an edge” 28.74 to 28.20, a half-point in the new computer-generated scoring system being used in this competition for the first time in the U.S.A. this past weekend. The system gives techniques and style equal weight, and will be used in the major regional synchronized skating championships this season. 



The Hockettes Stakting Last in the Junior Long: One Great Skate Nails First. Photo by WPCNR Sports.


The National Junior Champion Hockettes of Ann Arbor came back to finish first in the Junior Long Program by a solid 61.94 to  Gold Ice’s 56.76, who bring two Silvers back to the Great White North in the Junior Division. The Hockette skate was particularly interesting, because they were the last  of the ten teams to skate.


With the new scoring system determined by separate judging sequence panels for technical and Artistic elements, with “scores” from both panels being inputted and added by computer to come up with a final score, the “leaving room” practice that figure skating panels have been criticised for in the past appears to be less likely to happen. At least it did in the Hockettes final skate in the Junior Long.


The young ladies executed a high energy, spectacular and precisely showcased showgirl routine to Copacabana.



MMMMUAH! The Hockettes in the big finish to their Junior Long bring down the house. The fans and the computer agreed: this was the best of the longs in a morning of outstanding end-of-season effort and excellence by all the teams in the Junior competition. Photo by WPCNR Sports


One shocking move in their Circle-Within-A-Circle featured I  4 “Rockette” high leg kicks over the heads of the four ice princesses who performed them within the circle of their skating partners. It was a spectacular, (over-the-top literally) maneuver fraught with danger performed early in the program that simply stunned the throng. It was daring it was over-the-top, it was electrifying. Coupled with their blocks with just enough daylight, lines, wheels and block splices right to the music, it shot them to the top.


Instructive Scoring Discoveries


The fabulous first made up for the Hockettes finishing fifth in the Junior Short which gave synchro fans an indication of how the new computer scoring system was going to change the sport. This was one of the reasons why the Skyliners competed in Ann Arbor, to find out how the scoring system will effect competitions, in addition to the atmosphere created by skating with most of  the best skaters in synchro.


The Hockettes performing to Walk Like an Egyptian finished fifth which surprised yours truly because of the high creativity, arm movements and visually engaging choreography and creativity. In speaking with members of the Hockettes they said that the judges had told them their twizzles looked like three quarter turns. The Hockettes I spoke with noted that they just did not showcase the twizzles well, but dismissed it as something they simply had to do better. They said they took deductions in all their elements for these technical ambiguities.



Peg Faulkner. National Referee Explains It All at Seminar for Parents at the Ice Cube Saturday. Photo by WPCNR Sports.


 What this reporter took from this and what other veteran observers surmised  is that the judges are going to be looking more at the execution of all the skaters of the required elements, the footwork of all the skaters,  with considerably more scrutiny.  As one parent said to me, you are not going to be able to hide your skaters blocks and lines who cannot execute the technical steps you choreography into the program.


Peg Faulkner, National Referee, in a seminar for parents on the new scoring confirmed this saying that the panel of judges will be looking at each of the eight elements in a program and scoring them up to plus 3 or down to a minus 3 depending on how well the elements are executed. The plus 3 or the minus 3, 2 or 1, will be deducted from a Level of Difficulty number. However the judges looking at the technical execution of a program will not be deciding the level of difficulty.


The Level of Difficulty is decided upon by a Technical Specialist who is backed up by a Technical Assistant and a Technical Coordinator who make that call. Any judge as well as the Technical Specialist have access to instant reply of any elements, on an individual basis to confirm their analysis to see if a team actually missed an element to confirm their individual score. However that is done on a confidential basis on the Judges computer screen. Judges are only looking at technical execution of how each team skates, and are no longer judging level of difficulty.


That is left to the Three Technical persons, who presently are made up of athletes and coaches, and not judges. Faulkner said the technical scores now are given almost equal weight with the artistic score. The technical panel then assign a score of 2.4 to 10 on the way the team skates the program.


 



The Judges Booth Showing the Computer Consoles the judges use to transmit their scores. The second row contains video equipment for instant reply that any judge can call for confidentially to confirm their analysis. The second row also is home to the Technical Specialist, Assistant, and Technical Controller who analyze the quality of each performance. The judges analyze the technical proficiency of the skate. Scores are then fed to a computer which produces one final score, not two. Photo by WPCNR Sports.


The scores are then transmitted by computer and inputted and the computer combines technical and artistic scores to produce the final score. Ordinals by each judge are a thing of the past. As Ms. Faulkner pointed out, sychro fans can put away their pencils because technical marks now are more concentrated on technical execution rather than showmanship. She noted that, as The Hockettes found out in the short program, that a difficult program though more impressive can no longer be a guarantee. Because if the difficult, highly intricate program is not technically proficiently executed by all the skaters in each element  you may not get credit for that element and it obviously intrudes on the marks for what used to be called the “artistic element.”


The weekend was a great learning and growing experience for the Skyliners and they compete again in Bourne Massachusetts on Cape Cod this Friday.


 



Sitting in Stands Through cold practices, taking care of dresses and makeup, and making sure the Ice Princesses are fed emotional, psychologically and physically, are the folks who make this great experience all possible: the parents. Skyliner Moms watching the Skyliner Practice in Dearborn, Michigan Sunday. Photo by WPCNR Sports.



 


 


 

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Sabbath Services for the Disabled.

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WPCNR Community Calendar. December 4, 2005: In its continuing effort to bring people with special needs closer to their Jewish culture, the Havorah Program of Westchester Jewish Community Services (WJCS) is hosting a Special Sabbath Service for persons with developmental disabilities on Saturday, December 17, 2005 at 1 PM at Temple Israel Center, 280 Old Mamaroneck Road, White Plains. All are welcome and admission is free. For information contact Gail Oliver at 845-565-8610 or gailao777@aol.com.


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Lecture on Autism Scheduled for Wednesday.

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WPCNR COMMUNITY CALENDAR. December 4, 2005:  Asperger’s & Autism Spectrum Disorders will be the subject of the Dr. Samuel Kahn Memorial Lecture sponsored by Westchester Jewish Community Services on Wednesday, December 7 from 10 AM to 12 Noon.  Open to the public, this free lecture will be held at WJCS Headquarters, 845 N. Broadway, White Plains, NY.

 


Keynote speaker will be Celine Saulnier, PhD, an Associate Research Scientist at the Yale Child Study Center.  Dr. Saulnier received her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Connecticut, where she concentrated in neuropsychology. Her research interests include atypical sensory reactivity in children across the autism spectrum and parental perceptions of complementary and alternative interventions in autism.


 


Registration is required. Please contact Colleen Porrazzo at 761-0600, X210 or cporrazzo@wjcs.com.

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