24 The QUEE NS Courier • APRIL 28, 2016 for breaking news visit www.qns.com Corona girl saves mom’s life By Brianna Ellis bellis@qns.com/@briinformed A courageous young girl helped save her mother’s life earlier this month after she suffered a seizure in their Corona apartment. According to the Fire Department (FDNY), little lifesaver Isabella Rodriguez, who just turned 6, sprang into action by calling a 911 operator at 8:36 p.m. on April 7 and remained on the line until the FDNY and police officers arrived at their apartment. Maria Giraldo said that she was helping her daughter with her homework around 8 p.m., when she stood up and abruptly blacked out. “All I remember was that I was sitting down doing homework … I stood up and all of a sudden, I went out of it,” said Giraldo, who suffers from epilepsy. Giraldo told QNS that she was under a lot of stress when she experienced the seizure. She landed on her back and bumped her head, leaving a large lump. When Giraldo awoke at North Shore- Long Island Jewish Hospital in Forest Hills, she discovered Isabella’s heroic effort after an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) told her that “your daughter did a good job.” “I believe she saved my life,” Giraldo spoke softly. Isabella, who attends P.S. 28 in Corona, has not accepted the situation too easily, according to her mother. “Believe it or not, she’s been very depressed,” Giraldo said. “She’s said she wants to be a doctor now to cure her mom.” Giraldo’s recovery has been gradual but better as of late. “You know after you get those episodes, you don’t get 100 percent until about a week or two weeks,” she said. “Once again, I’m Maria. I’m back to myself. Since yesterday, I’m 100 percent myself again,” Giraldo continued. The mother of two has worked as a public relations agent for the Colombian Independence Day Parade on Northern Boulevard and other Hispanic organizations for 13 years. Former Barnes & Noble employees aim to open Queens Bookshop By Angela Matua amatua@qns.com/@AngelaMatua The closure of Barnes & Noble in Forest Hills and Bayside sparked strong emotions among Queens residents who would no longer have a general purpose bookstore in the area. But three former employees are looking to open a bookstore that will fulfill every bibliophile’s needs. Vina Castillo, Natalie Noboa and Holly Nikodem all met and worked at the Forest Hills location and after it closed in January, Castillo proposed that the friends open their own bookshop. “Castillo pointed out that Queens would be left with one Englishspeaking general purpose bookstore in Astoria,” Nikodem said. “Together, we agreed that it was imperative to open another bookstore to help serve people on the other side of Queens.” Though the trio does not have an exact location they are leaning heavily toward opening a space in Forest Hills or Kew Gardens because of easy access to public transportation. Nikodem added that those neighborhoods are already used to the presence of a bookstore and that the area is sentimental to the former co-workers. They launched a Kickstarter campaign on April 24 that will run for two months and they are asking for $70,000. The money will be put toward inventory expenses, a point of sale system and marketing expenses. Donors will receive exclusive Queens Bookshop Initiative merchandise and “carefully curated lit-themed bags.” Signed copies of books from authors such as Maureen Johnson, Zoraida Cordova, Alex Segura and Aimee Friedman will also be offered. The group aims to secure a storefront by the end of 2016 and anticipates about two months of building out the bookshop. Nikodem said they hope to open by the 2017 holiday season. It will operate as the Queens Bookshop Initiative until the trademark The Queens Bookshop is finalized. “We want to be more than a retail shop; we want to be a community space where families can attend storytimes, or local authors can promote their work, or people can simply come together for the love of reading,” she said. By creating the Kickstarter, the group will allow each Queens resident to have a stake in their community and to “bring back something that our neighborhood was lacking,” Nikodem said. The Queens Bookshop Initiative will feature new releases, classic titles and books from local authors. The group will also focus on having a strong children’s section to promote literacy and will host events including author signings, poetry readings, children’s storytimes and crafting workshops. “When people donate they are taking it into their own hands to help us build something they want to see,” Nikodem said. “Every contribution is someone saying, ‘Yes, books are important to me. Yes, a presence to help promote literacy is important to Queens.’” On April 30, the group will host story time in Russell Sage Playground in Forest hills to celebrate Independent Bookstore day. The event will start at 11 a.m. and end at 2 p.m. with yoga, arts and crafts and read-aloud storytime. For more information about the initiative and to get up-to-date information about the Kickstarter, visit the Queens Bookshop website, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram page. Photo courtesy Maria Giraldo Mother Maria Geraldo and her heroic 5-yearold daughter, Isabella Rodriguez. File photo Former Barnes & Noble employees want to open up their own bookshop in Queens. Squatters in Woodside responsible for string of nighttime robberies: cops By Angela Matua amatua@qns.com/@AngelaMatua Squatters living in a vacant Woodside home are responsible for five robberies across three different precincts, according to police. The three men broke into and occupied a home in the vicinity of 61st Street and Roosevelt Avenue and walked along the Roosevelt Avenue corridor at night to steal phones and “prey on people in the middle of the night just walking home,” Captain John Travaglia, commanding officer of the 108th Precinct, reported during the April 26 108th Precinct Community Council meeting. The Woodside home was completely abandoned and the men were living in “some deplorable conditions,” an NYPD official said. Police notified the Department of Buildings about this location and the agency has begun an investigation to make sure the building is up to code. The owner of the building has also been told that he needs to board up his building, police said. The men would conduct these robberies from about 12:30 a.m. to 3 a.m. and mostly stole phones, according to police. No weapons were involved during the robberies and the men are “looking at some serious jail time,” the NYPD said. The arrest was a coordinated effort among the NYPD because the men also committed robberies within the confines of the 110th and 115th Precincts. Travaglia added that this arrest, along with the arrest of a man who committed 20 robberies within a 10-day span across Brooklyn and Queens, have caused the early spike of robberies in the area this month to start dropping “significantly.” In the last 28 days, the 108th Precinct has seen a 157 percent increase in robberies, from seven in the same time period last month to 18 robberies this month. Travaglia said the NYPD is hoping that these two arrests will be reflected in next month’s crime statistics with an overall decrease. “When the one crew and the other individual I just mentioned were apprehended, pretty much the robberies had slowed down significantly,” Travaglia said. The captain also added that the precinct is down 45 percent in burglaries for the year to date thanks to coordination between field intelligence officers, the detective squad, crime prevention division and forensics data. “The investigations going into these burglaries are tremendous,” Travaglia said. “We’re also seeing some positive issues over the past six months in which DNA has come back on certain burglaries, forensics have come back. But it’s also giving us leverage to make arrests for crimes that have happened in 2015.”
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