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Westchester County Heat Advisory

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 Residents Advised to Drink Water, Cool off and Never Leave People or Pets in a Closed Car

White Plains, NY– With temperatures expected to hover in the mid-90’s throughout this week and high humidity making it feel even hotter, the Westchester County Health Department is issuing a heat advisory. As humidity and temperatures rise, residents should avoid strenuous activity, drink lots of water, avoid alcohol and caffeine, and take precautions to prevent heat-related illness.

“Pace yourself — don’t overdo it in the heat,” said County Executive George Latimer. “If you spend a lot of time outdoors, take breaks in an air-conditioned place and drink lots of water. And during a heat wave, remember to always check in on your elderly or ailing neighbors and pets.”

Sherlita Amler, MD, Westchester County Commissioner of Health, said people who are most vulnerable to adverse effects from the heat include the very young, seniors, people who are obese and those with high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes or lung conditions.

“Heat stroke and dehydration can take you by surprise,” Amler said. “High humidity, chronic health conditions and some medications can also increase a person’s risk for heat stroke.”

Heat stroke is a serious and life-threatening condition that claims many lives nationwide each year. Symptoms include hot, red, dry skin, shallow breathing, a rapid, weak pulse and confusion. Anyone suffering from heat stroke needs to receive emergency medical treatment immediately. Call 911 if you suspect heat stroke and immediately cool the overheated person while waiting for emergency help to arrive.

Amler reminded residents never to leave children, pets or people in a car. Temperatures can quickly rise to unsafe levels, so motorists should always look before they lock their vehicles.

“To avoid tragedy, it’s also vital to never leave infants, children, seniors or pets in a closed car no matter how brief the time,” Amler said. “Closed vehicles can quickly heat up to a life-threatening 140º F or more.”

Another concern during a heat wave is heat exhaustion. Seniors, young children, people who are overweight or who have high blood pressure, people who work outside or in other hot environments are most at risk. Frequent breaks and drinking lots of water can help prevent heat exhaustion. Signs include headache, nausea or vomiting, dizziness and exhaustion, as well as cool, moist, pale or flushed skin. Anyone suffering from heat exhaustion should move out of the sun and apply cool, wet cloths to their skin.

“During a heat wave, seniors, young children and people with compromised immunity especially should avoid vigorous outdoor activity, seek the shade, spend time in air-conditioned locations and drink lots of water throughout the day,” Amler said. “Especially when they’re swimming and playing in the water, children often forget to drink, so parents and caregivers should prompt children to take breaks to hydrate.”

Those who plan to travel by car should prepare their vehicle before hitting the road. Always travel with a spare battery, and avoid leaving radios, phone chargers and other accessories running when the engine is not. Check to make sure your air conditioning is properly functioning and coolant is at the proper level. If you plan to travel in less populated areas, bring water and an umbrella for shade if it becomes necessary to leave the car. Always keep air flowing throughout the vehicle, and try to park in the shade. 

Residents who are looking for a place to cool off are encouraged to take advantage of Westchester County’s pools and beaches which are free on certain days during the 2022 season. Effective Tuesday, July 5 through Thursday, September 1, admission fees are waived at Saxon Woods Pool, Sprain Ridge Pool, The Brook at Tibbetts Brook Park and Glen Island Beach (Mondays through Thursdays). Parking fees and residency rules still apply. Indoor malls, senior centers, libraries and community centers can also serve as cooling centers, but call before you go.

Elevated heat and humidity can also lead to unhealthy levels of ozone, a gas produced by the action of sunlight on organic air contaminants from auto exhaust and other sources.  The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation forecasts daily ozone conditions at (http://www.dec.ny.gov), or call the New York State Air Quality Hotline at 1-800-535-1345.

The County’s Department of Emergency Services is monitoring the weather forecast, tracking the opening of local Cooling Centers and is in contact with Con Edison and NYSEG concerning the potential for power outages. 

For more tips to prevent heat-related illness and places to stay cool, residents can visit the Health Department website at www.westchestergov.com/health. 

News Courtesy of the Westchester County Dept. of Health

 

Chappaqua Teen is a Recipient of the 2022 New York State Senate Youth Leadership Recognition Award

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Netra Easwaran, a Junior at Horace Greeley High School, was awarded the 2022 New York State Senate Youth Leadership Recognition Award.

This award honors students who have demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities in their school and community and are dedicated to becoming a positive force for change. Well-rounded students who display leadership potential are nominated for this prestigious awards program by teachers, administrators, or other faculty members for their achievements in academics, athletics, arts, and community service. This award was presented to Netra by New York State Senator Peter Harckham (District 40).

Netra is an academically high-achieving and promising young adult who demonstrates initiative both inside and outside the classroom, serving as a role model for her peers. She is an Editor-in-Chief of the Greeley Tribune, Director of Tournaments for Debate, a Vice-President of the Chappaqua Schools Foundation Student Advisory Council, and a Peer Leader. She was also selected to represent Horace Greeley at the League of Women Voters of Westchester Running & Winning Conference.

Netra’s interest in government affairs and international relations began with her involvement in Model UN. She has won Best Delegate Awards at several prestigious collegiate conferences, including Yale MUN, MIT MUN, and Cambridge MUN, and has also chaired international conferences.

To further her passion for youth-led political advocacy, Netra has been engaged in several real-world opportunities. She was a member of Congressman Mondaire Jones’s Youth Advisory Council and interned with State Senator Peter Harckham and Assemblymember Chris Burdick during the school year. This summer, she is interning with the Hudson Valley Office of U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer and continues to gain valuable work experience through a Summer Fellowship with the office of County Executive George Latimer.

Chappaqua Library Centennial Celebration Emphasized Symbols for Growth and Endurance

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At a June 4, 2022 Chappaqua Library 100 Year Centennial Celebration.                 Photos by Grace Bennett and Alexa Troob for the Inside Press 

 

On Saturday, June 4, members of the Chappaqua community gathered in town to honor the beloved Chappaqua Library as it marked its 100 year anniversary. Library Director, Andrew Farber and Board President, Elizabeth Farkas Haymson began the Centennial Ceremony by welcoming the crowd and starting the celebration. “We have come from humble beginnings, but through the support of our local community, we have grown into the center of Chappaqua. Today we will honor the library’s achievements: where we started, and where we hope to find ourselves in the future,” said Andrew Farber.

Lisa Katz, Town Supervisor, then gave a proclamation, acknowledging the library as “a pillarstone of our community” and appreciating all that it offers. She shared the substantial impact that the library had on her own children’s love for reading and learning. 

Town historian Gray Williams shared a brief history of the library and the people who were particularly important in founding it in 1922 (a more in depth history of the library was later on display). While hearing about and celebrating the past of the library, it became clear that values such as education and making contributions to better the community have remained at the core of the library’s, and all of Chappaqua’s, foundation. 

The next guest speaker was David Vinjumari, author, NYU Professor, and Library Space Planner, who spoke about the importance of libraries. He classified the importance of libraries not only as a means of accessing books and information, but even as a matter of life or death. While this may seem like an exaggeration, it was actually proven by one of Vinjumari’s colleagues at NYU, Eric Klinenberg, as he studied a heat wave that swept through Chicago in 1995. More specifically, he studied why different neighborhoods that looked identical to each other in terms of race, income, and living conditions had drastically different death rates. Why did many fewer people, specifically the elderly, die in some neighborhoods compared to others? What he found was that the neighborhoods with lower death rates were the ones with more public institutions such as parks and community and senior centers, but most importantly, libraries. Public libraries were what helped keep people alive in times of extreme distress and “social connection was actually the difference between people living and dying,” shared Vinjumari. 

“During the pandemic especially, I think we as a community were also able to realize our need for togetherness and connection that we were robbed of for so long, creating only a deeper appreciation for public libraries. While a library is definitely about lending books, promoting reading, and helping people access information, it is also so much more. It holds the power to connect, making sure nobody in a community feels like they are alone.”

Vinjumari continued by noting the role that The Chappaqua Library plays in making sure all people feel welcomed and supported, specifically those that are either underserved or less able to take care of themselves than most of the fortunate citizens in Chappaqua. There are programs that help adults with disabilities, programs intended to appreciate different cultures, programs that deliver books to those unable to leave their houses, and so many more that are vital to our community. 

Bell Middle School Student Violet Clinton spoke about the impact that The Chappaqua Library has had on her young life. “I want to thank the children’s librarians for helping make the library a special place for me and for all the kids growing up here. The Chappaqua Library helped begin my love of reading and I will cherish it for a lifetime,” she shared. 

A TIME CAPSULE and A RED MAPLE TREE

The ceremony came to a close with the burying of a time capsule in the courtyard and a tree dedication. “The new tree will mark time moving forward, and in a short while we will bury a time capsule that will preserve the past,” said Elizabeth Farkas Haymson. The time capsule consisted of meaningful things from the library’s past for future generations to hopefully discover some day. Its contents included, but were not limited to, a history of the library, photos of the library from both the past and present, the first Chappaqua Library’s Writer’s Contest, library cards from 1987 to today, homemade COVID masks, a letter written by Bill Clinton appreciating all that the library provides, several Inside Chappaqua magazine articles regarding the library, including a cover article on the future of libraries by past Library Board President Ronni Diamondstein, and more. 

Next, the tree dedication took place, signifying time moving forward. The Town of New Castle donated the Red Maple Tree that was dedicated as a symbol of growth and endurance for the library for the next 100 years. The Library’s Centennial Ceremony was a great way to celebrate the past, and give hope for the future of the library. 

 

 

 

New Castle Stands Against Gun Violence in Rally Also Urging National Changes

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Survivor Described the Personal Impact of Gun Violence and County Officials Discussed New York Law Changes and Plead for Additional Changes at Federal Level to Make a Real Difference

Inside Press Photos 

On Friday, dozens of people gathered at the New Castle Recreation Field Gazebo in Chappaqua in protest of continued acts of gun violence across the nation.

“Our country needs to do more to prevent gun violence,” said New Castle Town Supervisor Lisa Katz in her welcoming remarks following an opening prayer by Rabbi Jonathan Jaffe of Temple Beth El.

“When it comes to the safety of our children and fellow citizens, the toxic, hyper-partisan politics of the day must be set aside. We must come together in earnest to immediately effectuate change where there is common ground and at the same time create an environment for bridging the gap where more work needs to be done,” said Katz.

The call to action comes on the heels of the mass shootings in Buffalo, Uvalde, and Tulsa. As Katz, local and county public officials and members of Moms Demand Demand Action spoke, they looked out at concerned citizens attending wearing orange, the color which has become synonymous with the anti-gun violence cause. According to the Wear Orange website, the movement came about following the shooting of Hadiya Pendleton in 2013, after which her friends wore orange – the color hunters wear in the woods to defend themselves from other hunters – to commemorate her life.

“Gun deaths in our country are occurring at a staggering rate,” said Chief of Police Jim Caroll. “About one hundred Americans are killed every day and hundreds more are injured. The massacre in Uvalde was yet another grim reminder that in the U.S., children are much more likely to die by gun violence than any other cause…We have suffered too much at the hands of people who use guns to commit horrific acts of violence.”

Erin Fuller Brian, a Pleasantville resident and survivor of the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, went on to share her story: “My life was forever changed,” she said of experiencing the deadliest mass shooting in United States history.

Although she and her husband were fortunate enough to have escaped prior to the shooter opening fire, she described their fear and confusion in the ensuing chaos, and the years of trauma that followed.

Inside Press photo

Fuller Brian gave birth to two children during the pandemic, and became choked up as she described the ways in which the recent shootings have hit home for her and her family.

”To be perfectly honest, the anxiety I feel just about keeping them safe on a daily basis is sometimes too much to bear. I obsess over their safety constantly and have intrusive thoughts about what could potentially happen to them after experiencing just how fragile life is and how it could be taken away in an instant.”

“And then something like Uvalde happens,” she said. “Nineteen children and two of their teachers were slaughtered, and I am broken. We all are. We send our children to school assuming they will come home safe and alive. These parents and families and students are living in a horrific nightmare. I think about what I went through and how hard it was for me to process when I was 29 years old, but most of the survivors of this shooting are children. They are eight, nine, and ten years old. How are they supposed to move on from this?”

While Fuller Brian expressed her grief, she also shared a message of hope, offering ways for the community to get involved in the fight and prevent more lives being lost to gun violence.

Some of these include fighting for common sense gun safety legislation with organizations such as Brady, Moms Demand, or Giffords, donating to those efforts, voting for politicians who support gun reform, talking to friends and family, calling representatives, and joining the March for our Lives protests on June 11th in Washington, D.C., Manhattan, or one of the tens of other locations.

“Have conversations about this, especially with your friends who are responsible gun owners,” Fuller Brian said. “You’d be surprised how much common ground you’re able to find because the NRA wants us to believe that this is a left vs. right, red vs. blue, gun owner vs. non-gun owner issue, but it’s not. It’s a pro-safety vs. pro-violence issue, and I don’t know a single responsible gun owner who is pro-violence.”

“This should not be a partisan issue. This is common sense,” she said.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer expressed a similar sentiment, stating that: “We have a lot of work to do. We will do our share at the local government level in Westchester County, and we hope that we can put enough pressure on the existing decision-makers or vote and get some new decision-makers.”

Latimer referred to a comment made in a radio interview by Robert F. Kennedy in the wake of Martin Luther King Jr.’s death: “No one knows who next will suffer some senseless act of bloodshed,” Kennedy had said.

“I ask myself, what are the next places where this is going to happen?” Latimer told the crowd. “It could happen anywhere. It could happen when I sit at a restaurant in an outdoor setting, in a plaza, any place. If someone has access to a weapon of mass destruction, it depends on that day, if that person decides to shoot up every civilian in sight.”

New York State Senator Peter Harckham shared a legislative update on the steps which New York State is taking to increase gun safety, included in a package of ten more gun safety measures passed on Thursday to be signed into law by the governor.

Included in this package is an increase on the age restriction for purchasing semi-automatic weapons to 21, a ban on the purchase of body armor, such as the kevlar vests which rendered the bullets of the security guard in the Buffalo shooting useless on the armored shooter, microstamping technology to allow for the tracing of bullets, an expansion of red flag laws, a ban on long magazines and auto-feeders, and a proposal for tracking and reporting mechanisms for hate speech on social media to hold those platforms accountable, among others.

“While we continue to work hard in New York State to keep you safe and pass the laws that we’ve all been talking about, we need to get national movement because without national background checks and without some national regulations, the flood of guns is going to continue to come to New York.”

Instrumental music was performed by John Burton. On the way out, orange pinwheels were distributed to the audience to place around the gazebo and along the road to commemorate the lives lost in these tragedies and to ensure that the community’s effort for change is visible to all.

  “Grease is the word” at Horace Greeley High School!

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 Lead cast overlooking the HGHS competition field.  Photo by Carolyn Simpson

This June one of Chappaqua’s most anticipated annual events returns in a new and exciting way. For more than 75 years the Horace Greeley High School Senior class has produced a stage performance that engages the Senior class as actors, student producers, stage managers, musicians, set builders and sound and light technicians, and raises funds for college scholarships.

Each year more than 200 seniors, some with acting experience but most without, pick a popular Broadway show and practice in anticipation of a few shows over a weekend of bonding with their class as part of the end of year activities.

The first Senior Musical in 1946 provided the seed funding for an Education Fund to support college scholarships for Horace Greeley graduates. In 2003 the Education Fund was renamed The Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund and it continued to raise money for need based college scholarships.  

This year’s live presentation of Grease will be like no other because Covid precautions have pushed the show outdoors to the Greeley competition field for the first time in Senior Musical history, and where the stage and seating capacity is larger than ever under the starry night.

The seniors will perform a “family appropriate” version of the classic movie and stage show. It features the irresistible songs from the Tony Award nominated Broadway show and hit movie, including “Grease is the Word”, “Summer Nights”, “Hopelessly Devoted to You”, “Greased Lightening” and many more. 

The Greeley seniors are working hard and are excited to bring the community back together for live performances after a long two-year absence. Together with the Horace Greeley High School PTA, headed up by Chair, Rita Santelia and Vice-Chair, Nishat Hydari, and parent producers, Christie Krase, Stephanie Gold, Julie Weiser and Ilene Benjamin, and the many parent volunteers from the Chappaqua community working behind the scenes, are all ready to bring to life the story of Sandy, Danny and their Pink Lady and T-Bird sidekicks.

Director Kevin Kearins of KJK Productions, Music Director Ricky Romano and Choreographer Jesse Pellegrino will work with the Senior class for 2 months to bring out their best performances. 

Director, Kevin Kearins is so excited to work on this extraordinary live event. “We have a large group of talented students and the musical lends itself to that.”

Every year the cost of college increases and the needs of Greeley graduates exceed the available funding. The Senior Musical is one fund raising event that helps close the gap so the opportunity for a much higher attendance than a typical indoor show can increase the funds available for worthy students.

Director Kearins says, “Grease has always been around, and the songs have always permeated our society and culture.” “It will bridge generational gaps, and everyone can enjoy it.”

Shows are scheduled for 7:00 on Thursday June 2nd, Friday June 3rd and Saturday June 4th with a rain date of Sunday June 5th at 3:00. For ticket information please go to chappaquaschools.org or https://secure.sellingticket.com/design22/clients/list/index_byUserListAll.aspx?OrganizationID=151

Dust off those leather jackets and bobby socks and “Come together” on these “Endless summer nights”. Be there or be square!