Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester
The Horace Greeley Repertory Company will perform Macbeth on Wednesday, April 27th and Thursday, April 28th. Performances are at 7 p.m. in the Horace Greeley Theater. The kids seen in these photos are hard at work at rehearsals. It is sure to be an offbeat, riveting evening.
In the pictures Alexander Newman stars as Macbeth, Rebecca Ozer is Lady Macbeth and Violet Gautreau, Lindsay Shiner and Megan Warshofsky are the Witches.
From an attendee: “Best Day of My Life”… A campaign volunteer—and a long time journalist now living in Rhode Island—reports for The Inside Press.
“Loudest applause line was for equal pay for women.”
Story and Photos By Susan Youngwood
The line started forming in front of Central Falls High School well before 1 pm, more than 90 minutes before doors opened, 3 ½ hours before the event was scheduled to start.
Central Falls is a poor, heavily Hispanic city in Northeast Rhode Island. The Clinton campaign opened its second Rhode Island office here, and chose this location for a rally on Saturday afternoon. The headliner: Hillary Clinton.
As a volunteer, I staffed this event–assigned to the ADA-accessible entrance. I helped each person fill out a form with their name and contact information, and urged them to chose a volunteer shift to either phone bank or canvass over the next three days. This form was their ticket into the event.
Rhode Island votes on Tuesday: this rally was a way to get volunteers to support the campaign effort.
The most touching exchange I had was with an African-American woman who was beyond excited to see Hillary Clinton. A longtime supporter, she closed her eyes and swayed gently from side to side as she crooned her enthusiasm. “What a beautiful woman,” she said about Clinton. “I can’t wait for her to be president.” When I took her picture, so I could remember her, she started crying. 
About 1,000 people crushed into the small gym, standing shoulder to shoulder; late-comers went into an overflow room. There was a heavy union presence; many members of SEIU wore purple buttons supporting Clinton.
Rhode Island’s top Democrats spoke first to express their support – Gov. Gina Raimondo brought her 11-year-old daughter Ceci on stage with her, saying they had spent the morning phone-banking for Clinton as a mother-daughter team. Clinton was introduced by the Central High’s Latina valedictorian, Helen Magana. 
Clinton spoke for about 30 minutes. Her loudest applause line was her call for equal pay for women–the crowd cheered and laughed when she noted that women don’t pay 78 percent of prices at the cash register.
She touched on many of her campaign’s themes: stricter gun controls, college affordability, reviving labor unions, supporting the middle class.
Rhode Island’s primary is semi-closed–residents can declare their party affiliation at the polling place. The last poll was conducted in February, where Clinton led Sen. Bernie Sanders 49-40. While there has been no recent polls, the sense is that the race here is much tighter, and that Sanders has a good chance of edging Clinton. Pres. Bill Clinton is paying his second visit to Rhode Island on Monday.
As the rally ended, Clinton taking selfies with dozens of supporters–I ran into my new friend outside the high school. “Best day of my life,” she declared, giving me a hug.
Susan Youngwood was a journalist for 25 years, for publications in Vermont and Pennsylvania. She now lives in Providence, RI, and is volunteering for the Clinton campaign.
“A VERY special visit to Chappaqua” with honored Vet, Broadcast Personality and Author, “What I Fought For.” All are Welcome!
By Grace Bennett
Dave Mann, a World War II veteran who wears the Purple Heart honor, long time broadcast personality and author, will address our own Rotary Club and guests at Crabtree’s Kittle House on Monday, May 2 at noon. The Rotary is hoping New Castle can show him a hero’s welcome, says the Rotary’s Sandy Bueti.
Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, Mann attended the University of New Hampshire as a pre-med student. He was drafted into the army in 1943 and spent three years in Europe as a combat engineer, Third Army, under General George Patton.
He was awarded the Purple Heart after action he saw at Normandy and Battle of the Bulge. He is now a “Life Member of Military Order of the Purple Heart.”
In 1946, he returned to Boston and graduated from Emerson College where he studied radio and communications. Since then, his broadcast career has spanned New England, New York, and the Midwest. Mann also does voiceovers and is heard on many regional and national commercials as well as documentaries
Attendance by any group of high school students and/or local vets are especially encouraged. Kindly RSVP to Sandy Bueti: bbuilder95@aol.com> Subject: Dave Mann Talk
Chappaqua’s Ben Lieberman, co-founder of Distracted Operators Risk Casualties (DORCs), and his family are historically introducing a bipartisan state bill making New York the first state to attempt a distracted driving policy solution. The bill would enable police to examine phones at an accident site in a way that, notably, completely avoids drivers’ personal data.
The proposed law, called “Evan’s Law,” is named after Ben’s 19-year-old son, Evan, who lost his life in a 2011 collision caused by a distracted driver.
Evan’s Law, and the technology referred to as the “textalyzer,” is now being featured on ABC News, The Today Show, CNN, CNBC & the Washington Post.
The textalyzer is being touted as another tool to help local police departments fight distracted driving.
The Town of New Castle, New Castle community volunteers, the Horace Greeley High School SADD Club along with Get Reel Productions, LLC, a local media company based in Chappaqua, (http://www.getreelproductions.org), have released a Public Service Announcement (“PSA”) documenting the story of the Lieberman’s tragic loss and New Castle’s effort to change habits and laws regarding distracted driving.
https://vimeo.com/162567095
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, driving a vehicle while texting is six times more dangerous than driving while intoxicated. Despite this fact, and despite knowledge of the risk to themselves and others, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reports that 67 percent of drivers still use their mobile phones while behind the wheel. According to records released by LoHUD, the number of texting tickets in Westchester was up by 14 percent. LoHud provides a database that tracks distracted driving stats.
http://lohud.nydatabases.com/database/tickets-cellphone-use-and-texting-while-driving
New Castle Supervisor Rob Greenstein says, “Since we started in October of 2014 there have been more than 1,000 tickets issued for distracted driving offenses. Our police department, under the leadership of Police Chief Charles Ferry, has done an incredible job combating this destructive behavior. We have one officer, Police Officer Chad Golanec, who in 2015 has issued more distracted driving tickets himself than all of two neighboring counties combined. He even recently issued a ticket to a backhoe operator!”
Police Officer Chad Golanec, who was instrumental in helping to produce the PSA film, says “I’m so proud to be a part of this initiative. The PSA is very powerful”.
Linda Kallner, co-owner of Get Reel Productions, says “My hope is that this PSA saves many, many lives! For me, and in honor of Evan Lieberman and his courageous family, New Castle, New York will forever be at the heart of the cause to put down Smartphones when we drive”.
Dr. David Greenfield, who is the founder of The Center for Internet and Technology Addiction (www.virtual-addiction.com) and an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, and who took part in the PSA stated “I’m really glad this message is getting out there; its been an honor to be involved in this project.”
New Castle Police Chief Ferry stated “the PSA is wonderful. Linda Kallner and Lyle Anderson of Get Reel Productions produced a very powerful video. We are so fortunate that Dr Greenfield agreed to be a part of the project. His knowledge and credibility in the field of electronic addiction, and his insightful comments are a large part of the success we are seeing.”
New Castle Supervisor Rob Greenstein stated “Our town is committed to being leaders in combating distracted driving. We hope other towns and cities around New York and across the country share this PSA: https://vimeo.com/162567095 and help get the message out! We all need to do our part to combat this national epidemic.”
Ben Lieberman says “This is a special community. The latest town effort is one example of helping our neighbors avoid this horrible outcome but also, to help our family in the aftermath.”
Make a Difference One Ray at a Time
Earth Day Contest — Deadline April 20!
Aspiring middle school student photographers and artists from Westchester and Rockland Counties can demonstrate their talent and knowledge about how the power of the sun can help our planet.
Middle school students are invited to enter to win an IPad mini 2 in the Are You a Solar Superstar? Make a Difference One Ray at a Time contest. Sponsored by Sunrise Solar Solutions LLC, the largest locally owned and operated solar company in Westchester County and the Hudson Valley, the contest calls for entries that show how solar power makes the Earth a better place.
The contest is open to all students in grades 5-8 attending schools in Westchester and Rockland counties. Students should create an original piece of artwork or photograph that demonstrates how solar power makes our Earth a better place and how it can help us save energy and reduce our carbon footprint. The Grand Prize winner will receive an iPad mini 2. The winner may also have their contest submission featured in Sunrise Solar Solutions marketing materials and/or advertisements.
Entries should be sent as a jpeg file via email to earthday@sunrisesolarllc.com and should be submitted by April 20, 2016.
