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BRONX TIMES REPORTER, MARCH 25-31, 2022 BXR
BY TONY SALIMBENE
Our next third Sunday post
meeting will be April 17 at
American Turners NY; 10:30
a.m. for coffee, 11 a.m. meeting
time and 12noon for lunch and
a cash bar.Hope everyone will
have a good time at Antun’s for
the commander’s visitation; remember,
be safe and look sharp.
Reminder, the Memorial Golf
Outing for our Jim Hooks. BBQ
food at Bronxonia YC.Welcome
back PPC Bob Straub. It was
great inviting him, let’s bring
him up to speed on Korony
stuff. And of course, for those
who participate, have a wonderful
spring and Easter season.
Pray for peace. Don’t forget
our SAL National Hero Flag
Project. Coming soon. If you
are wondering, yes, I’m feeling
better. Never thought my new
theme song would be Hip To Be
Square. Until Next Time: You
can be successful if you approach
life like a 6-year-old in a Superman
t-shirt!
BY STEVEN GLOSSER
The Pelham Parkway Neighborhood
Association held its
monthly community meeting at
its new location 2134 Barnes Ave.,
on Tuesday March 8. It was very
well attended with more than 50
people in attendance.
Our featured speaker was
Bronx District Attorney Darcel
Clark. Clark was warmly greeting
by the audience, who is familiar
with her from past appearances.
She spoke about the rise in
crime in the Bronx and blamed
it on COVID and the bail reform
law, which eliminated cash bail
for most misdemeanor and nonviolent
felony charges. It also requires
judges to consider a person’s
ability to pay in cases where
bail is set.
Another problem was that her
office lost many lawyers due to attrition.
Her office has instituted
a new task force that with every
shooting an assistant district attorney
is sent out to work with police
to gather physical and video
evidence to build cases so they
are air tight. She also gave us information
on retail thefts which
are rising in the Bronx and causing
storefronts to close. The store
employees are afraid to come to
work and when at work to confront
these individuals; many
stores have ordered their employees
not to have a confrontation for
their own safety. Retail closings
have an impact on every community.
Some are organized gangs
from out of town that are doing
this and Clark’s office has a task
force working on it.
Some store owners are buying
stolen merchandise to sell which
is of no help either. They need to
cut off the demand to buy stolen
stuff. She states the perpetrators
are taking advantage of the weak
laws.
The issue of quality of life
crime was raised. Many are done
by the mentally ill and the homeless.
Her office and the city are
working with many agencies to
gather up the homeless and place
them in shelters. She stated they
must find a root cause for all the
homelessness. She is pushing for
information from the community
to assist her office.
Ms Clark is also calling on
the judges to tweak the system
and the way they interpret the
law. Judges do what the law allows
them to do. Many offenders
out on bail commit other crimes
because of the weak laws. Her office
remands higher bail but that
is not often adhered to by judges.
She states the system is failing
and is advocating for putting
pressure on the mayor to correct
this. Laws need to be changed regarding
the mental health crisis.
New thinking is needed.
She is all for meeting with
with community organizations
and the public, and strategizing
on quality of life concerns and
issues. The public must put pressure
on the elected officials who
put the laws in place. It is unacceptable
to ignore the constituents.
The topic of young teens and
children committing crimes
came up. The problem is the
kids do not put value on human
life. There are gaps in agencies
where the problems are to work
with troubled youths. The nonsevere
crimes go to family court
and the felonies go the youth portion
of criminal court. Criminal
court is if the youth severely injuries
someone, is caught with a
weapon or commits a sex crime.
Judges are not allowed to see records
from family court or prior
offenses committed in the past.
The youth offenders need to know
there are consequences.
Clark is looking into alternatives
and not the same cookiecutter
stuff. She is looking to invest
in the kids. Not all kids are
bad, it’s their circumstances, like
seeing violence and evil things
on social media and some come
from broken homes. There are
alternatives to violence. She is
trying to remove the stigma, for
the younger generation, of being
afraid of the police. She is looking
to keep more community centers
open later for teenagers as an alternative
to the streets. This was
a very productive meeting hosted
by the PPNA and we thank Ms.
Clark for attending.
The next general meeting will
be on Tuesday April 12, 7 p.m.
Please plan to attend this important
meeting. The PPNA works
year round to improve the quality
of life in Pelham Parkway. We
can always be reached by email
at pelhamparkwayNA@gmail.
com. Always look and follow us
on Facebook and Instagram for
all current happenings in the
community. Get involved in your
community. It’s time.
CIVIC CENTER
Pelham Parkway
Neighborhood
Association
BY JOE MONDELLO
Happy Spring to all Samuel
H. Young members, family and
friends.
As I am typing this column, I
am in sunny Florida enjoying time
with family, so I will keep it short.
First mention of business, let’s
get together and shed those winter
blues by getting out of the house
and doing some spring cleaning. At
the Post, we are gearing up to start
some spring cleaning, with the outside
area first, and we really can
use some help. To make it easier, we
bought a brand-new leaf blower.
For the month of March, we celebrate
the contribution of all women,
from the farms to the battlefields.
Our women have stood side by side
and fought for freedom and unity.
Additionally on Sunday, March
27 at 1 p.m. we will honor our Vietnam
veterans, Post 620 will host
this 50th anniversary. Please find
the time to attend this event and
honor these veterans.
Looking ahead A pre-Mother’s
Day dinner-dance celebration is
scheduled for May 7 starting at 6
p.m.
A pasta dinner with beer, wine,
soda and dessert. Entertainment is
provided by the BEL-AIRE. Come
dance to the sounds of the ’50s-’70s.
Donation is $35 per person. A great
way to spend the evening before the
big day.
We are working on other special
events at the Post.
As they say, “Keeping it in the
Bronx.”
For more information, you can
always email me at Legionriders@
msn.com with any questions.
Take care until next week.
Let’s please pray for the people of
Ukraine. For God and Country.
CIVIC CENTER
Samuel Young Post 620
CIVIC CENTER
Korony Post 253
BY AL D’ANGELO
The media giants, major
newspapers and intelligence experts
who pushed the story that
Hunter Biden’s laptop was not
factual but Russian disinformation,
are a slap in the face to every
American. When the media
can manipulate people’s thinking
by feeding them only the information
that meets their political
narrative, they can control
our political process.
Facebook refused to allow
the sharing of the New York Post
story until it was fact-checked.
Guess what, it was never factchecked
and who fact checks the
fact-checkers? Yet, the Russian
disinformation narrative was
widely circulated on social media.
Why didn’t they fact-check
to see if the story was true?
Scores of so-called intelligence
experts criticized the
Biden story as a Russian hoax.
How is it possible for one newspaper
to uncover a story while
the intelligence experts and
other news media could not?
Even though they could not
prove the story wrong, they
pushed the narrative to the
American people that it was a
Russian plot to sully the reputation
of Hunter Biden and help
President Trump get elected.
Russia did not meddle in our
election, it was the media and
billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg
who suppressed information
by censoring the story
about Hunter Biden’s laptop
without proof.
What happened here has
nothing to do with President
Trump — love him or hate him
— this has to do with the manipulation
of the American people
by the media. More than 8%
of the people polled said they
would not have voted for President
Biden had they known the
truth. What is the truth and
where can we find it? Obviously,
it is not from the media.
When media giants can team
up to push a political agenda because
they feel they know what
is best for the American people,
our Republic is in danger.
CIVIC CENTER
Morris Park Civic
Association
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