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)

It’s Opening Day! All Is Forgiven.

Posted on March 31, 2003 by John Bailey

WPCNR VIEW FROM THE UPPER DECK. By John Baseball Bailey. March 31, 2003: There is magic in the air. The breezes are crisp out of the Northwest, the sky is robin’s egg blue, the temperature is in the upper 40s and the Metropolitans open up today at old Shea Stadium, now the third oldest stadium in the National League, while the Bronx Bombers open in Skydome in Toronto. Meanwhile the White Plains baseball and softball teams games today have been postponed because of the cold and wet grounds.

Old Comiskey Park, Chicago, 1975
Photo by WPCNR SPORTS

Ball is like that girl friend that you can never really forget or get out of your system. No matter how badly she treats you you’ll keep coming back because she’s just so terrific. She’s really got a hold on you.

WPCNR watched the opening night ESPN game Sunday evening where the Texas Rangers actually completed a 9-inning game in three hours and 10 minutes, outpitching, yes, outpitching the Anaheim Angels, 6-3 to open officially the Major League baseball season.

The ball may be juiced, the pitching may not have those stalwarts who can go nine innings any more, the hitters may have little league fences to launch their blasts, but the rich green of the outfield, the snap of the thumb or fist in the umpire’s out sign, the diving catch, the bang-bang-bang of the round-the-horn twin killing just snaps you to attention. The majesty of an A-Rod Rocket, the snap of Urbina curve ball falling off the table. The concentration of eye, hand and glove. The reaction to snare the bullet drive. So good to be back again.

Man, how I have missed it. I’ve been gone a long time, ever since the strike of 1994 made me wake up and grow up, but I have missed her, old baseball. Being maudlin over what once was and was now lost. The game is different, but it’s better.

Baseball whether it’s in a sandlot or Turner Field, little show or the big show, suspends time and glides on forever. At odd times, I remember old plays I’ve seen in person. I remember great moments where players I’ve admired whether 12 years old or 42 years old have come up big time in the summer sun. Those that have enjoyed those moments hold on to them forever, while we who did not have the courage to stride on the field when it was our time, we watch and envy and preach “The Gospel of the Game.”

PREACHING THE GOSPEL:Ted O’Donnell, “Creator of Champions,” the White Plains Tigers Softball Coach, supervising his new generation of Tigers last week, watches Emily Lettieri hit, preparing for the opening of the season. With O’Donnell at the helm, White Plains has won six of the last seven League 1-A Championships.
Photo by WPCNR SPORTS

It’s a game where failure is the norm, and success is rare achieved only through dedication through a lifetime. It’s a mindgame where you have to outthink your opponent then extend yourself athletically to beat them when they outthink you. It will drive you to be your best, and drive you out of your mind.

It’s a game that takes place in a magical holy place: the ballpark, ballfield, the yard, where juries of brooding upperdecks, ramparts of high walls, and colorful cacophonous advertising signs flash a dazzling scenery of excitement to set off choreographed leaps and feats and throws.

The game is like a winding trail in the West, you never know where the game will take you and what you will see. Nothing is ever a sure thing because the human element is always inspired anew each game. To stride to the plate, take the mound, go to a position, shield your face from the sun, position for a hitter, feel the slap-thwock of baseball or softball hitting weathered leather. To keep your composure after you fail and look to the next at-bat, the next pitch, the next chance, the game demands mental toughness and self-confidence. A game where you have to beat the other fellow or gal, and no clock saves you. It is a game not for the faint of heart or mind. It is a game for the believer.

It is a game that breaks your heart, just like that old girl friend used to do, but we endure the pain for the pleasure of her smile and that thrill of the game that goes on plays out its schedule and always welcomes you back.

This is one of The Game’s high holy days where we take communion again in the playing of the National Anthem, throwing out the first pitch, singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” and enjoying a foamy crisp cold golden one even when it’s 45 degrees and the wind off Long Island Sound is blowing in your face.

Filling in the scorecard again. Circling a great play in the scorebox. Counting up the strikeouts and the walks. Arguing over hit or error. Analyzing the pitcher’s motion. Listening to “Beah..heah,” from the vendors in the stands. ( Beer never tastes better than at a ballpark.) Yeah, and as Bogey said, “a hot dog at the game beats roast beef at the Ritz.”

Thanks ball, I needed that.

AROUND COMES THE RIGHT ARM, and Ashley Encarnacio fires the first pitch in a scrimmage Friday for the White Plains Junior Varsity. Ashley fanned 10 in five-inning game with Rye Neck.
Photo by WPCNR SPORTS

“Captain Larchmont” Sails INto Indian Ocean Looking for Fast Trades

Posted on March 31, 2003 by John Bailey

WPCNR ADVENTURER’S LOG. From Cynthia Goss. The Indian Ocean, March 30, 2003: Westchester’s Adventurer, Rich du Moulin of Larchmont and Rich Wilson of Rockport, Mass., sailed their 53-foot trimaran Great American through the Sunda Strait and entered the Indian Ocean at sunrise on March 29. For Rich Wilson (Rockport, Mass.) and “Captain Larchmont,” Rich du Moulin passing through the Strait was a milestone: it marked the end of a slow frustrating passage through the South China Sea and, hopefully, the dawn of new fortunes in their 15,000-mile non-stop run from Hong Kong to New York.
This duo on GAII is lagging behind their nemesis Sea Witch, the clipper
ship that set the Hong Kong-New York record in 1849. But according to
Wilson, the stage is set to make some gains.

“The last 24 hours were the best since leaving Hong Kong,” reported Wilson in his log, after a full day of sailing on the Indian Ocean. “The boat’s making good time, but we can see some really fast days if we can get more wind in the trades.”

The position of the trade wind belt fluctuates with the seasons. When Sea Witch sailed out of Sunda Strait in January 1849, she had to sail further south to catch this band of breeze. But for GAII, the tradewinds are within closer reach.

“Sea Witch headed due south for the first several days out into the Indian Ocean, then she got deep into the trade winds before turning west,” reported Wilson. “Her time of year, January, would have had the trade winds further south: so her very good time of year for the South China Sea was not as good for the trade winds in the Indian Ocean. Our very poor time of year for the South China Sea was late enough to give us trade winds further north. . . So we have a good chance now to catch up.”

The passage through the 100-mile Strait was a final trial that capped the first leg of their passage. In the Strait, Wilson and du Moulin had to
temporarily abandon their watch system so they could navigate upwind
through narrow passes, short tack through channels that skirted the busy main shipping channel, and tack through the islands on the Indian Ocean side of the Strait.

“We first spent four hours tacking among giant oil platforms that congest the area,” wrote “Captain Larchmont,” du Moulin of their passage through the Strait. “Then we had to short tack through the narrow channels of the Sea Conservation Area with its reefs and small islands. This was a shortcut that allowed us to avoid the busy main shipping channel. Then for 40 miles we continued to beat into the ever-narrowing Strait until at sundown we sailed through the narrowest portion. We had a beautiful sunset view of an old volcano on Sumatra and an industrial view of a giant coal burning power plant on the Java side, with smokestacks that must have been 300 feet tall.

“We spent most of the night tacking around islands on the Indian Ocean side of the Strait. Rich Wilson and I pretty much had abandoned our watch system 24 hours earlier. We were tired but our work was not quite over. The wind was increasing so we had to put in more reefs to reduce sail area. Strong currents kicked up some unpleasant bumpy waves that had the entire boat jumping and shaking like a dog with fleas. By dawn we were very tired, but the sight of Sunda Strait behind us made it all worthwhile.”

For the past two weeks, floating on glassy seas, being becalmed, and
ghosting slowly in light zephyrs built a mounting frustration for these
two sailors as they logged slow progress and watched the path of Sea Witch slip further away. But the passage so far has not been without its
excitement.

Sea Snake Encounter

Late last week, Rich Wilson had a close encounter with a sea snake while swimming and cleaning the two outer pontoons. “I yelled ‘Sea snake!’ ” reported du Moulin, “and Rich Wilson swam like Tarzan dragging me along until he reached the stern where he quickly boarded. The sea snake wandered off, probably for fatter prey. In some regions these animals are poisonous; we are not sure about this one, but didn’t want to experiment.”

They also prepared for a potential punch from an approaching waterspout; but the system fortunately dissipated before it reached them. The one rite both sailors missed was sailing under the shadow of the great volcano Krakatoa as they passaged through the Sunda Strait.

“We were saddened at the thought of sailing past the great volcano Krakatoa in the dark,” lamented du Moulin. “But it is so big, that we could still see it in the distance poking its conical black form up into the early morning clouds.”

While working 24/7 to get to New York as quickly as possible, Wilson and du Moulin have been busy corresponding with schoolchildren who are following their live adventure in a unique educational program called sitesALIVE!

Children have emailed questions about sailing, life at sea, leaving port,
and wildlife; both sailors have written back with answers to help make this voyage a vivid learning experience for some 360,000 children.

Great American II now faces some 5,400 miles of sailing through a remote Indian Ocean passage before reaching the southern tip of Africa and turning north into the Atlantic Ocean. To beat Sea Witch’s record of 74 days 14 hours, the two sailors must arrive in New York the week of May 26.

* * *

HOW THE PUBLIC CAN FOLLOW GREAT AMERICAN II: The website tracking the voyage of Great American II is http://www.sitesalive.com. Daily position reports and a Captain’s Log are posted on the site so classrooms, students, and families who purchase licenses can follow the progress of the boat. For information, go to http://www.sitesalive.com/oceanchallengelive/.

The saga of GAII will also be published in a number of daily papers, in the Newspaper In Education supplements, and tracked on the AOL@SCHOOL program (keyword: sitesalive).

Great American II’s Newspaper In Education participation in seven national daily papers is supported by the sitesALIVE Foundation. Established in 2002, the Foundation addresses teacher training in computer technology and funding for budget-constrained schools. The mission of the foundation is to enhance K-12 education by promoting the use of technology with real-world, real-time content from around the globe.

For a chart showing the relative positions of Great American II and Sea
Witch, go to http://www.sitesalive.com/ocl/private/03s/pos/ocl3position.html

Adam In Albany: Assembly Passes Clergy Reporting Bill, Small Biz Pkg

Posted on March 29, 2003 by John Bailey

WPCNR’S ADAM IN ALBANY, By New York Assemblyman Adam Bradley. March 29, 2003:This week the Assembly passed various bills improving the quality of life for Westchester families, including legislation to help small businesses thrive and a bill requiring clergy to report abuse. These bills are part of the Assembly’s continuing efforts to improve the state’s struggling economy and ensure the safety of our families.

Holding clergy responsible to report abuse

Child abuse is one of the most heinous crimes there is, and it inflicts a lifetime of pain. That’s why I recently supported a bill giving clergy the same responsibility to report abuse that other trusted professionals like teachers and doctors already have (A.1516).

This legislation would also require religious institutions to review old allegations of child abuse lodged in the last 20 years, as well as allegations against current clergy members.

This legislation, along with the Assembly statewide Amber Plan law, will help protect Westchester’s children from predators.

Helping small businesses revitalize NY’s economy

On the economic front, the Assembly passed a package of vital legislation to ensure small businesses receive much needed support that will help them compete with larger businesses. Small businesses create eight out of ten jobs in New York, and considering the fiscal crisis facing our state, it was even more important to provide them with assistance.

The economic package we passed included:

· Requiring the state Department of Economic Development to give small businesses and entrepreneurs priority consideration for assistance (A.3913);

· Authorizing credit unions to participate in the Excelsior Linked Deposit program, which provides small businesses with low-cost loans (A.2078);

· Allowing small businesses to defer payments of telephone installation charges for up to one year, cutting start-up costs (A.4531); and

· Providing environmental compliance assistance through the Department of Economic Development (A.314) and the state’s Industrial Effectiveness program (A.1512).

These bills are a small step toward improving our economy and making Westchester a safer place to live. I will continue to support legislation which improves our ailing economy and protects our children.

White Plains Frank Limone Assumes Problem Gambling Post

Posted on March 29, 2003 by John Bailey

WPCNR WHITE PLAINS PEOPLE. From Westchester Jewish Community Services.:White Plains resident Frank Limone, CSW, CASAC, NYGTS, has been named to the Board of the New York Council on Problem Gambling in Albany, NY. The Council grants certification to counselors who have met the criteria for providing high quality treatment services for pathological and problem gamblers and those affected by their gambling.

A certified Gambling Supervisor, Mr. Limone is Coordinator of the Problem Gamblers Recovery Program (PGRP) in Mamaroneck, which is sponsored by Westchester Jewish Community Services. In addition to providing counseling to problems gamblers, he also trains and supervises other counselors.

The Problem Gambling Recovery Program (PGRP), the only one of its kind in Westchester, offers gamblers, their families and other loved ones a comprehensive clinical program aimed at achieving abstinence from problem gambling. PGRP services include individual and family counseling and referral for self-help and social support services. For more information, about the PGRP call 381-5560.

WJCS also sponsors “Don’t Bet Your Life Away,” a support group for men and women with gambling problems, which meets at the WJCS Hartsdale Office, 141 North Central Avenue. Anyone interested can call 761-0600, ext. 755.