COPYRIGHT 2013 RIDGEWOOD TIMES PRINTING & PUBLISHING CO., INC. News From The 112th Precinct COMMUNITY COUNCIL Just Don’t Open The Door During the meeting, the speakers noted that people dressed in a uniform may ring someone’s door, claiming to be from a government agency or utility company. The suggestion made to residents was simple: Do not open the door. Last week, there was a horrible home invasion in Bayside. In the past, there have been similar incidents in our community. There were people ringing doorbells asking residents if they could come into their homes or apartments. We have had PAT BUCHANAN News & Opinion people pretending to be utility workers. I have been notified that, at times, there have been people in apartment buildings going door to door. Remember, if you see people in the community that look suspicious, you should call 911. The police will respond. If you see someone suspicious going door to door, also call 911. If someone suspicious rings your bell and you do not let them in, help bring him to my games.” This rant of the octogenarian owner swept the canonization of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II right off of page one of The New York Times, whose headline blared: “Amid Uproar, Clippers Silently Display Solidarity.” The Times story told of how Clippers’ players turned their warmup sweatshirts inside out and donned black socks and black wristbands in protest of Sterling’s remarks. Not exactly John Lewis at Selma Bridge. And still, the Clippers got waxed in the playoff game against the Golden State Warriors. But the Times was not nearly done with this monstrous moral outrage, which even elicited the indignation of President Obama in Malaysia. The banner across the entire sports section of the Times read: “Vortex of Outrage Trails Clippers Owner.” A photo of the team standing solemnly in their red warm-up suits covered half the page, and two Times’ columnists decried the horror. Wrote Michael Powell of Sterling: He stands “exposed as a gargoyle, disgorging racial and sexual animosities so atavistic as to take the breath away.” Finally getting his breath back, Powell went on: “The Clippers players and coaches are no doubt mortified to have awakened in the midst of a playoff run to find that they are working for the Bull Connor of Southern California.” But how could Sterling be the Bull Connor of California when he has a girlfriend who describes herself as black and Mexican, hired a black coach for his Clippers, Doc Rivers, and pays his players, mostly black, millions of dollars a year? If memory serves, Bull Connor was into using fire hoses, billy clubs and German Shepherds on civil rights demonstrators in his hometown of Birmingham. Sterling regularly sits courtside to cheer on the predominantly black team he has proudly owned for 33 years. His rant sounds rather like an old guy mortified and humiliated at seeing his girlfriend, half his age, on TV and the Internet, making a fool of him, with black men—in public. As for the girlfriend, or exgirlfriend now, she allegedly taped the conversation without his knowledge, a violation of state law. But there is apparently much more to this story than the rant, as the Times’ Billy Witz relates: “In 2009, Sterling paid a $2.725 million settlement in a lawsuit brought by the Justice Department accusing him of systematically driving African-Americans, Latinos and families with children out of apartment buildings he owned.” Why did the league not deal with Sterling then for an offense far more TIMES, THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2014 • 4 Since 1908 Published Every Thursday By RIDGEWOOD TIMES PRINTING & PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. General Publication Office: P.O. Box 863299 Ridgewood, N.Y. 11386-0299 60-71 Woodbine St., Ridgewood, N.Y. 11385 Periodicals Postage Paid At Flushing, N.Y. (USPS 465-940) TELEPHONE: 1-718-821-7500-7501-7502-7503 FAX: 1-718-456-0120 Or E-MAIL: [email protected] Or [email protected] WEB SITE: www.timesnewsweekly.com ON TWITTER @timesnewsweekly SUBSCRIPTION: $25 Per Year By Mail / $30 Outside Queens & Brooklyn Allow 2-3 Weeks For New Subscriptions. Postmaster Send Address Corrections To: RIDGEWOOD TIMES PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO., INC. P.O. BOX 863299, RIDGEWOOD, N.Y. 11386-0299 Periodicals Postage Paid At Flushing, N.Y. USPS-465-940 Photo Submissions And Requests Photographs submitted to the Times Newsweekly/Ridgewood Times should be in electronic high resolution (300dpi) JPEG (.jpg) or TIFF (.tif) formats. Sharp and clear non-Polaroid photo prints in color or black and white are also acceptable. Photographs submitted will become the property of this newspaper, with the exception of photos or other materials sent for use by The Old Timer and photos which are part of paid announcements. We welcome the submission of unsolicited photos or related materials for consideration of publication, but we cannot guarantee their use. The return of such photos or materials, except in cases as noted above, is not possible. We regret that we are unable to accommodate requests for photos taken by photographers working on assignment for the Times Newsweekly/Ridgewood Times. MAUREEN E. WALTHERS.........................Publisher & Editor JOHN T. WALTHERS......................................Managing Editor ROBERT POZARYCKI...................................Associate Editor DEBORAH CUSICK.................................Classified Manager MARLENE RUIZ...........................Assist. Classified Manager TIMES NEWSWEEKLY Is Listed With The Standard Rate & Data And Is A Member Of The New York Press Association Reaching The Queens Homes Of Ridgewood, Glendale, Liberty Park, Maspeth, Middle Village, So. Elmhurst, Woodside, Sunnyside, Astoria, Long Island City, Ozone Park, South Ozone Park, Howard Beach, Richmond Hill, Rego Park, Forest Hills, Woodhaven, Elmhurst, And Kew Gardens. Reaching The Brooklyn Homes Of Ridgewood, Bushwick, Cypress Hills, East Williamsburg And Williamsburg. COMPOSITION RESPONSIBILITY: Accuracy in receiving ads over the telephone cannot be guaranteed. This newspaper is responsible for only one incorrect insertion and only for that portion of the ad in which the error appears. It is the responsibility of the advertiser to make sure copy does not contravene the Consumer Protection Law or any other requirement. Is America Still A Serious Country? Well, it looks like Donald Sterling will not be getting that NAACP lifetime achievement award he was set to receive at the civil rights organization’s 100th anniversary celebration in Los Angeles in May. Allegedly, Sterling’s 30- something girlfriend, a model who goes by the name of V. Stiviano, whom Sterling’s wife of 50 years is suing, taped these remarks of the 80- year-old owner of the L.A. Clippers: “You can sleep with black people. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want. The little I ask you is not to promote it ... and not to bring them to my games. “ ... Don’t put him Magic Johnson on an Instagram for the world to have to see ... and don’t -SEE BUCHANAN ON PG. 26- EDITORIAL Queens desperately needs a new mass transit line. If you don’t believe us, drive—or take a bus—down Woodhaven and Cross Bay boulevards at just about any time of day. Outside of the Van Wyck Expressway, Woodhaven and Cross Bay boulevards are together the major north-to-south artery serving Queens. It is the only artery connected to the Rockaway Peninsula and Broad Channel. Most of all, it is full of traffic—on weekdays and weekends, in the morning and afternoon, in midday and evening. The only thing more crowded than the roadway are the four bus lines that serve it—the Q11 and Q21 locals and the Q52 and Q53 limiteds, the latter pair, of which, serving the Rockaways. This is a situation that cries out for something more than expanded bus service or even the Select Bus Service which the city Department of Transportation proposed for Woodhaven and Cross Bay boulevards. Southern Queens desperately needs some kind of rail service—and fortunately, there’s room for it in the long-defunct Long Island Rail Road’s Rockaway Beach branch. But a group of park advocates known as the Friends of the QueensWay want to turn the long-abandoned and now overgrown rail line into a bike path and nature trail. They envision it as an outer borough High Line Park, a wonder of nature and engineering that will attract tens of thousands of visitors every year. As beautiful as the idea seems, the QueensWay vision is tone deaf to the urgent and pressing transportation needs of Queens residents. They need a faster way to get around—especially a faster way to get to Manhattan. This rail line—within walking distance of Woodhaven and Cross Bay boulevards—is the perfect opportunity to address that need, get some cars off the main drag and reduce overcrowding on buses. Ideally, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority would resurrect the Rockaway Beach line as part of the subway system, possibly extending it below Rego Park to the subway lines running beneath Queens Boulevard. That idea, however, would cost billions and incur the wrath of Woodhaven, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Forest Hills and Rego Park property owners who live near the line. It won’t be an easy build; it won’t be a popular build. The Rockaway Beach branch, however, intersects with several other rail lines and leaves plenty of options to connect Queens residents to Manhattan without causing major inconvenience. There may be opportunity to link a subway spur on the Rockaway Beach branch with the J/Z line above Jamaica Avenue, enabling a one-seat ride to Lower Manhattan. The MTA could rebuild Rego Park’s Whitepot Junction and reconnect the Rockaway Beach branch to Manhattan via the Main Line. The defunct branch also provides the chance for the city to build its first light rail line, which could switch over to Woodhaven Boulevard in Glendale and run along Queens Boulevard over the Queensboro Bridge to midtown Manhattan. Queens residents need a modern, 21st century transportation system more than a nature trail where trains once ran. The opportunity is before us, and it’s time to seize it while we still can. by Heidi Harrison Chain Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, Executive Assistant District Attorney Jesse Sligh and Assistant Chief Diana Pizzuti took part in a crime discussion at the 112th Precinct Community Council’s meeting last Thursday night, Apr. 24, in Forest Hills. -SEE 112TH NEWS ON PG. 28- Join The 104th Precinct Civilian Observation Patrol Volunteers Needed from Glendale, Maspeth, Middle Village & Ridgewood ©Times Newsweekly 2014 – GCOP 718-497-1500 NEXT MEETING: Thurs., May 8, 2014 at 8:00 pm St. Pancras School - Pfeifer Hall Myrtle Ave. & 68th St., Glendale NY, 11385 All It Takes For Evil To Thrive Is For Good Men & Women To Do Nothing
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