THE WORLD READS WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER — 8,324,077 VISITS IN ONE YEAR | 2,905,611 VISITORS VISIT 8,324,077 TIMES 3 TIMES EVERY DAY IN ONE YEAR. HIGHEST ACTIVITY IN WPCNR HISTORY.White PlainsCitizeNetReporter lifted its worldwide visits from unique visitors to wpcnr.com to 8,324,077,a 1,306,419 increase in visits in one year from 7,017,658 visits to the site last year which covers White Plains and Westchester County. The 8,324,077 visits were made by 2,005,611 unique visitors who visited wpcnr an average of 3 visits a day. ON JULY 20- -2026 visitors have accessed wpcnr and made 3,072 visits an average of 1.6 visits. In the last week 33,495 individual vistors made 54,458 visits, averaging 1.6 visits. In the last month, 152,940 visitors recorded 229,338 visits (1.5 visits)

Watch Will Resume Watching in May

Posted on March 31, 2004 by John Bailey

WPCNR WHITE PLAINS VARIETY. By John F. Bailey. March 31, 2004: The White Plains Watch will resume publishing with the May issue, Susan Chang, its publisher, told WPCNR Wednesday. She said she planned no change in the monthly paper format.

BACK ON BEAT: Journalist Susan Chang, Publisher of The White Plains Watch, silent for three months, shown covering the March 22 Board of Education Meeting. Photo by WPCNR News.

Asked to talk more about her plans, Ms. Chang demurred and referred the CitizeNetReporter to her website and terminated the telephone call. The website reports May issues of the Watch will be mailed to subscribers on May 14. Meanwhile, the subscription drive for the Watch is continuing the website says, and there is new editorial staff. You can read more about “the new Watch” at www.whiteplainswatch.com.

Suspected Suicide at The Galleria Garage

Posted on March 31, 2004 by John Bailey

WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. By John F. Bailey. March 31, 2004, Updated 2:20 P.M. E.S.T.: A 30 year old man, living at the Open Arms Shelter & Social Service Center at 86 East Post Road, is being considered a suicide by police after he fell into the path of a pedestrian at the corner of Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard and Martine Avenue, apparently, police said, falling from East Garage of The Galleria at 10:20 P.M. Tuesday evening. He was taken to Westchester County Medical Center Trauma center and died at 12:30 A.M.

Deputy Director of the Open Arms Shelter, Terri Dicosmo, told WPCNR Wednesday afternoon, that she did not recall the person, and that homeless people are welcome to stay at Open Arms until 10 PM each evening when they are then bused by the Department of Social Services to the county homeless shelter at Westchester County Airport. She was checking to see if the man had registered Tuesday evening before he fell to his death.

Lieutenant Nick Kralick of the White Plains Department of Public Safety said no note had been found at the scene, and that the man had not been wearing a shirt when he fell. Officer Kralick told WPCNR friends of his at the Open Arms Shelter had reported that the man, Claude M. Riddick, 30 years old, “indicated he may have been depressed.”

Kralick said nothing in the medical report indicated the man had been inebriated, but the police were waiting for toxicology reports from the Medical Examiner. Kralick reported that “a woman with the same last name,” had reported a conversation with Mr. Riddick, in which he talked about “the saving power of God,” and that he seemed “depressed.” Kralick said the police were attempting to find out if Mr. Riddick had been receiving medical help for depression. “At this time, we’re looking at it (his death) as a suicide,” Kralick said.

When asked if Open Arms Shelter had counselors on duty at the time of Mr. Riddick’s fall, Kralick said, no counselors were available at that time of night at the shelter.

What Deficit? After 1 Week, 1,331 $100 Cellphone tickets.

Posted on March 31, 2004 by John Bailey

WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From Westchester County Department of Communications. March 31, 2004: If you were driving while talking on a hand-held cell phone last week, you may have been among the 1,331 people ticketed by police. If you were guilty of this infraction and weren’t caught this time, look out.

County Executive Andy Spano said that the combined effort of the Westchester County Department of Public Safety and 31 local police departments got the word out the hard way to drivers: It’s against the law to talk on a hand-held cell phone while you drive.

“This was about the safety of the driving public, including the people who flaunt the state cell phone law,” said Spano. “During one week, county and local police issued a remarkable 1,331 summonses, compared to 8,000 in all of 2003. We hope those people who were ticketed – as well as those who escaped this time – will now change their behavior. All it takes is a split-second distraction for there to be an accident.”

For one week, beginning Monday, March 19, the various police departments teamed up to focus attention on the issue of driver distraction caused by using a hand-held cell phone while driving.

COMING WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT.

Spano said the initiative was so successful that it will be done again – but the next time there will be no advance notice to the public.“The public should remember that if they are going to use a cell phone while they drive it must be a hands-free device. Using a hand-held phone is illegal next week and the weeks thereafter, even if we don’t have a ‘sting’ going on at a given moment.”

In April 2001, Westchester County became one of the first municipalities in the country to enact a law to regulate cell phone use while driving. This law was superceded later that year by a state-wide ban, which provides for fines of up to $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second offense and $500 for subsequent offenses.

According to the county’s department of Public Safety, there were 226 cell phone summonses written in 2001; 5,856 in 2002; and 8,384 in 2003.

County Public Safety Commissioner Thomas Belfiore said, “I am appreciative of the attention given to this important matter by the county police departments. Their outstanding enforcement efforts helped educate the public and enhanced safety on the roads we patrol.”

Chief Robert D’Angelo of North Castle, president of the Westchester Chiefs of Police Association, said, “I am proud of the contribution in this effort of my own department – and all the departments that participated.”

County Legislator Louis Mosiello, the author of the original Westchester cell phone and driving law, said, “The reason we passed our law – and that the state then passed a state-wide ban – was to save lives. But too many people don’t take this law seriously enough.” Mosiello has asked the state to consider increasing the penalty for violations so that offenders face points on their driver’s license.

The participating police departments were:

Westchester County

Ardsley PD

Bedford PD

Briarcliff Manor PD

Bronxville PD

Dobbs Ferry PD

Elmsford PD

Greenburgh PD

Hastings PD

Irvington PD

Larchmont

Mamaroneck Town PD

Mamaroneck Village PD

Mount Pleasant PD

Mount Vernon PD

New Rochelle PD

New Castle PD

North Castle PD

Ossining Town PD

Ossining Village PD

Pelham PD

Port Chester PD

Rye Brook PD

Rye City PD

Scarsdale PD

Sleepy Hollow PD

Tarrytown PD

Tuckahoe PD

White Plains PD

Yonkers PD

Yorktown PD

Carter: School District and Authority “work things out.”

Posted on March 31, 2004 by John Bailey

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. March 31, 2004, UPDATED 3:00 P.M. E.S.T.: Mack Carter, Executive Director of the White Plains Housing Authority, said today that Operation Early Read, would not end early as theorized in a news article on the Early Read program last Sunday. “I had a pleasant conversation with Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors Tuesday, and the program will continue. The School District is going to work it out. We’ll come up with the money ($10,000).” Carter told WPCNR Wednesday morning. “It was just a small blip.”

That Superintendent of Schools, Timothy Connors, speaking to WPCNR Wednesday afternoon said, “As I told you Monday night, this is a program the Board (of Education) is very supportive of and is very successful. Had Mack and I had a chance to discuss this, we would have all been on the same page.”

Connors said the program costs the School District $38,000 to administer, and that it was the Housing Authority decision to bus the students over to Berkeley College at a cost of $10,000. He said that he did not know at this time whether the Housing Authority was going to contribute, but Connors expected to use Federal Dollars in terms of Title I if they were available to assist in paying the extra $10,000. The Superintendent said he is having the School District Business office examine if there is any Title I money still available, but that the funding would be found. “It will go to the end of the year,” Connors said.

Connors added that The Journal News should have checked with the School District before reporting the program would end early.

Mack Carter, Executive Director of the Housing Authority, had been reported by The Journal News as saying the Early Read program that tutors over a hundred youngsters on Saturdays would end early. Asked why he had not discussed this previously with Connors and how the paper could have gotten that impression, Carter said “That was the way they chose to report it.”

Superintendent Connors was disturbed Monday evening that a news report had been circulated by the Housing Authority that the Early Read program was ending early, without anyone from the Housing Authority talking to him about it since the School District runs the program and pays for it.

Asked what the money problem was, Carter said, the transportation costs (to Berkeley College in White Plains from the Winbrook complex) were too high. “I said there was the possibility we might have to end it a couple of weeks early,” Carter said.

Carter would not say where the money was coming from, the School District or the White Plains Housing Authority, just that “We’re going to work it out.”