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 COUNTY CLARION-JOURNAL. From Westchester County Department of Communications. June 14, 2005: Westchester County will aggressively pursue a two-pronged policy, including voluntary retirement, to see that the Indian Point plants are not relicensed, County Executive Andy Spano said today as he released a year-long study of the options for closing the plants and replacing their energy.

At a community meeting where Levitan & Associates presented its report, Spano said that the potential costs to taxpayers and ratepayers of condemning the plants made that option unrealistic and unwise.

Instead, he said, the county would expand its effort to see that the two nuclear reactors are not relicensed —  a “carrot and stick” approach where Entergy, the plants’ owner, would be offered incentives to build replacement power on-site instead of applying for license extensions, and where simultaneously the county would press the federal government to deny Entergy’s relicensing application.

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WPCNR PRESS BOX. By John F. Bailey. June 13, 2005: White Plains High School Athletic Director Nick Panero announced Monday night at the Board of Education meeting that Mike Stevens, longtime Assistant White Plains Football Coach would be taking over as Head Coach of Tiger football for the 2005 season.

Mike Stevens, left, was named new Head Coach of the White Plains Football Tigers Monday Evening, replacing Head Coach, Mark Santa-Donato, right. The two are shown with Penn State’s legendary Coach Joe Paterno in 2003, celebrating Spencer Ridenhour’s joining the Penn State Program. WPCNR Photo Capture from White Plains Football Website.

Mr. Panero told WPCNR that Mark Santa-Donato, Tiger mentor since 1992 would continue to coach the football team in an assistant’s role. Mr. Panero said Coach Santa-Donato was stepping down to a supporting role because with his daughter Marlee in college he felt he could not devote a full seven days to football during the season.

Coach Santa-Donato, a fixture in White Plains was named Head Football Coach in 1992.  He was Section I Football Coach-Of-The-Year in 1995 and League AA-South Coach-Of-The-Year in 1993 & 1995. Coach Santa-Donato gained his 75th victory as Head Coach at White Plains High School on Thanksgiving Day 2003. He led his 2003 team to their 3rd straight Secton I Bowl appearance (School Record) and 2nd straight Section I Bowl victory (School Record). The 2003 team’s 10-1 record was only the 2nd time in White Plains Varsity Football History that a team won 10 games.  

What has impressed this reporter most about Coach Santa-Donato’s teams is their discipline, poise, and sportsmanship. They respond with maturity and  respond to adversity well. They are never really out of a football game and are always a threat to rally and pull one out at the last moment. Santa-Donato has developed some great players, most recently: Ike Nduka, Spencer Ridenhour, Marcus Walton, Tommy Lee, John Corretti, Evan McGuire, Ryan Smalls,  Gary Morello, just two name a handful of the greats this reporter has seen play and in the process turned them into great young men.

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WPCNR SOUTHEND TIMES. By John F. Bailey. June 13, 2005: Brownouts hit about 200 Con Edison customers in the Highlands area Sunday evening at 10 P.M., and were restored within two hours according to Chris Olert, a spokesperson for Con Edison today. Brownouts continued to be reported during Monday morning to WPCNR in the Copper Beech Circle area, Old Mamaroneck Road and Gedney Way. Mr. Olert said he had no explanation for the brownouts and that he would have to check. The tenuousness of power reliability continued the Con Ed trend in White Plains established last summer and earlier this spring of power troubles on over 85 degree days. Today’s high (in the shade), was only 88 degrees at 2 PM. The power wavering can cause damage to your high tech equipment.

WPCNR asked Aaron Wordin, the WPCNR staff technologist what he recommends to cope with the Con Ed power unreliability that is happening with more and more regularity. Here is his report:

In service to your readers, here are some tips re: PCs and power:

1. Most so-called “Surge Protectors” just give you extra outlets.  To really
protect your equipment from brownouts and power spikes, purchase something
called a UPS unit – Uninterruptible Power Supply.  It’s essentially a quality
surge protector and high-tech battery rolled into one.  In addition to
smoothing out power nasties, it can provide up to twenty minutes’ worth of
steady juice to your PC and monitor (don’t connect your printer, especially a
laser printer – it will drain really fast, then!), giving you enough time to
save your current documents and do an orderly shutdown.

2. Don’t put your air conditioner in the same outlet as your computer – each
time it turns on, the sudden uptick in current draw can hurt the PC.

3. If you feel comfortable opening up your PC, pop the cover and use one of
those dusting cans to remove buildups of dust – too much of it can act as an
insulator, causing your computer to overheat inside, damaging the components.

4. If there’s an impending thunderstorm, give your PC some real protection and
simply unplug it from the wall, and disconnect your phoneline (if you use
dialup) and your cable or DSL modem if you have high-speed access.

—- Aaron

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      WPCNR’S ADAM IN ALBANY. By Assemblyman Adam Bradley. June 13, 2005:  No crime is more heinous than one that steals the innocence from a child. That is why I am committed to passing laws that keep sexual predators off our streets and strengthen the state’s sex offender registry.

The Assembly has already passed a litany of legislative measures that would strengthen our laws and provide better safety. A bill which I authored creates a new crime called compelling prostitution. A person would be guilty of compelling prostitution when, being twenty-one years of age or more, he or she knowingly advances prostitution by compelling a person less than sixteen years old, by force or intimidation, to engage in prostitution (A.6723). The crime would be considered a class B felony and an individual found guilty under the law could serve up to 25 years in prison.

Another bill which passed the Assembly this week would ban sexual predators from working on ice cream trucks (A.2550). Ice creams trucks attract young children as customers, especially in the summer. The only thing a child should have to worry about is what flavor to choose, not who is serving the ice cream. We must prevent sexual predators from taking jobs that bring them in close contact with youngsters.

Other tough new legislation passed by the Assembly would:

·        require that the photo of an individual on the sex offender registry be current upon registration— (A.1159/S.2843);

·        require public notices concerning Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders include any aliases the offender is known to use—(A. 2664/S.493-A);

·        increase the period of time Level 1 and 2 offenders must register beyond the current 10-year requirement—(A.1342);

·        require police officers to visit the residence of any sex offender subject to Megan’s Law who failed to file a required periodic verification form and obtain a signed verification form from the offender to confirm the offender’s location—(A.7707);

·        require sex offenders acquitted by reason of insanity to register under Megan’s Law after release from custody and in-patient treatment—(A.966/S.2797);

·        prohibit sex offenders from participating in community work crews operated by the Department of Correctional Services—(A.3156/S.966-A); and

·        require children’s overnight camps, day camps and traveling day camps to determine whether a prospective staff member is a registered sex offender—(A.5209/S.2803)

We need to work together in a bipartisan manner and create a safer environment for our children.

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WPCNR PRESS BOX. From Bruce Zakalik, Commissioner.WSSL. June 13, 2005: The
Westchester Senior Softball League, for girls ages 13-15, was plagued by bad weather and inconsistency the last three years, but this spring was pulled together this year by Bruce Zakalik and Tom Rinaldi, and a new breed of managers who played a schedule of approximately 10 games each with a good competitive balance. They completed their playoffs over the weekend, and here is Commissioner Zalinik’s report:

Thank you for a very successful WSSL Spring 2005 season where we had a record number of teams participating this year.  Thanks also to Seth Lofton and his officials who did a great job this year, to Tom Rinaldi, to Eric Holtz and the Kensico Little League for the generous use of their Pat Henry field for our divisional championships, and to all coaches, assistants, town coordinators, umpires, and everyone without whom this league would not work.

Congratulations to divisional champions Kensico “A” and Yonkers “B”, to divisional runners-up White Plains Explosion in Division “A” and Mt. Pleasant “B”, and to all teams who participated in the league this year.  (The complete Spring schedules with scores are attached).

I want to wish everyone a great summer and hope to see you soon!

Thanks,
Bruce Zakalik

Play-Off Results (June 10 – 12):

“A” Division:   
                Round 1:
                White Plains  3   –   Yonkers  2
                Kensico  9   –   New Rochelle  5

                Championship:    Kensico  4  –  White Plains  1

“B” Division:
                Round 1:
                WP Orange  20  –  Kensico  2
                Mt. Pleasant  10  –  Scarsdale  3
                Ardsley  15  –  New Rochelle  8
                Yonkers  15  –  WP Black  5

                Round 2:
                Yonkers 14  –  WP Orange  7
                Mt. Pleasant 13  –  Ardsley  1

                Championship:    Yonkers  6  –  Mt. Pleasant  4