Women's History Month - Angela Merkel - Making History

Angela Merkel -photo from wikipedia

German stateswoman and chancellor (2005– ). Born July 17, 1954 in Hamburg, Germany. The daughter of a Lutheran pastor and teacher, Merkel grew up in a rural area north of Berlin in the then German Democratic Republic. She studied physics at the University of Leipzig, earning a doctorate in 1978, and later worked as a chemist at the Central Institute for Physical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences (1978–1990).

In 1990 she joined the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) political party and soon after was appointed to Helmut Kohl’s cabinet as minister for women and youth. Following his defeat in the 1998 general election, she was named Secretary-General of the CDU. She was chosen party leader in 2000 and ran unsuccessfully for chancellor in 2002. In the 2005 election she narrowly defeated Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, winning by just three seats, and after the CDU agreed a coalition deal with the Social Democrats (SPD), she was declared Germany’s first female chancellor. Merkel is also the first former citizen of the German Democratic Republic to lead the reunited Germany and the first woman to lead Germany since it became a modern nation-state in 1871. (bio.truestory)

Kings Park -What's Going Up And What Should Be Coming Down ?

By Chad Kushins

March 14, 2012

Site Of Proposed Cell Tower - photo by Jennifer M. KleiAt the March 13^th regular meeting of the Kings Park Civic Association, residents and local activists alike gathered to discuss various community topics currently addressing the Town of Smithtown.  Highlights from the meeting, which was held in Kings Park High School’s Community Room, follow:

Proposed Cell Tower on Kings Park School Property

Announced last month, Suffolk Wireless Communications approached the Kings Park School District with the construction of a proposed cell phone tower, which would be erected at the district’s administration building on Lawrence Road.  Amid an outpouring of community members against the project, the tower itself could yield the district up to $90,000 for the first year that all tower slots are filled and an additional three percent compounded every following year of the 30-year agreement – according to Suffolk Wireless.  As the Board of Education continues to contemplate whether to allow the company to build the 125-foot monopole, those in attendance for Tuesday’s Kings Park Civic meeting stressed their concerns.

The district learned the tower, which could house up to six antennae for wireless carriers inside the pole, would be located just east of the driveway for the building on Lawrence Road.  Until now, the board was considering three separate spots on the administration building property for the monopole.  Now, however, the final proposal sees the tower – along with the necessary wires, cabinets, and other equipment – slated to be installed on the property of New Discovery, a child center located inside the building that has already announced that it will not be renewing its lease next year. 

According to the Kings Park Board Of Education (BOE), New Discovery’s income couldn’t meet the financial needs to compensate its staff, leading to its closure; at a meeting of the Kings Park School District last week, Suffolk Wireless’ representatives explained that the Kings Park location was chosen because it does not interfere with the day-to-day operations at the administration building, as well as to maximize unused land on the property.

If approved, the Kings Park School District would evenly split revenue with Suffolk Wireless an expected $7,500 per month for the district if all of the tower’s five slots of are leased to separate cell phone service providers, $90,000 in annual revenue.

In order to move forward, a series of steps would need to take place between the district and the communications company, beginning with the district’s requirement to file with the State Education Department, which issues permits for all school district construction.  Next, they would have to comply with a State Environmental Quality Review to determine additional safety concerns.

If the school board agrees to go forward with the project, construction would begin in October of this year with an expected completion date of January 2013.  They are expected to vote on whether to approve the go ahead for a SEQRA review at next month’s meeting.

Blighted Home Pushed for Demolition

Hightower Homes - Photo by Jennifer M. KleiWith the developer of two blighted, uninhabited Smithtown homes currently in prison, the Kings Park Civic Association is continuing its pursuit to either have the eyesores completed and put up for sale – or demolished once and for all. 

Last month, the Kings Park Civic Association sent a letter to the Town of Smithtown, urging them to take action with the properties at 79 and 81 West Main Street, on which the two defunct houses are located, officially labeled the “Hightower” homes.   According to both Civic Association President Sean Lehmann and Smithtown Town Councilman Edward Wehrheim, Town Attorney John Zollo is currently looking into options.

“[The developers] started building and quickly ran into all kinds of problems,” Wehrheim told Smithtown Matters.  “The Building Department went and inspected the homes and determined that a lot of work had to be done on the property.”

According to Wehrheim, the original developer sold the property to its current owner, who is now serving a four-year prison sentence for unrelated offenses.  However, that incarceration left the two houses unfinished and without proper maintenance.  Now, not only have the two structures become eyesores to local residents, but concerns regarding safety have quickly escalated.

“If they’re not safe, they have to take them down,” Lehmann stated at the March 13^th Civics Association meeting.  “That’s our position.”  

According to Lehmann, the County is currently pursuing the proper avenues to take possession of the property, although a series of measure must be taken first; this includes a six-month period where the developers can catch up of back taxes; if such action isn’t, it could be an addition three years before the County can auction the land off – much to the chagrin of both Smithtown and Kings Park residents.

Last June, Wehrheim, joined by fellow Smithtown Town Board members Robert Creighton and Kevin Malloy, launched a major initiative to conduct a survey of defunct and blighted structures in town.  Drawing up a master list of nineteen suitable properties, both Hightower homes easily made the cut.

Wehrheim went on to explain, “[the Town] is looking to have the developer either complete the homes or take them down … We’ve learned that the County is in the process of taking the property on a tax lean.  That’s the current status.”

Commack Man Arrested On Northern State Parkway Charged With DWI

On 3/14/12 at 11:06 PM, Trooper Grosso stopped a blue Volkwagon for moving from his lane unsafely eastbound on the Northern State Parkway near Wolf Hill Road(exit 41).  While interviewing the vehicle operator, Joseph Izaguirre, age 46, of Commack NY, Tpr. Grosso detected a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage.  Mr. Izaguirre was observed with slurred speech, poor motor coordination, and bloodshot, watery eyes.  Mr. Izaguirre failed sobriety tests and was subsequently arrested for DWI.

The defendant produced a positive breath sample of .18% BAC.  Mr. Izaguirre was charged with DWI and traffic violations.  All charges returnable in Suffolk County First District Court on 3/21/12.

Good Government Groups Believe LATFOR’s Rigged System Is Precisely Why Reform Is Needed

CITIZENS UNION AND THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS NEW YORK STATE COMMEND ACHIEVEMENT ON LASTING STRUCTURAL REDISTRICTING REFORM

With the State Legislature passing a constitutional amendment and accompanying statute, redistricting reform will finally be a reality as opposed to an aspiration. We commend Governor Andrew Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, their staffs, and members of the State Legislature for reaching agreement on establishing lasting structural reform to the state’s redistricting process.

Given the long standing resistance to enacting redistricting reform and the high stakes involved, we applaud them in finding common ground on an issue that is at the core of political power in Albany and results in the legislature giving up power in the drawing of lines.

Though this is a substantive victory for reform, it is tarnished because the process that produced this welcomed outcome occurred during a night where in typical Albany fashion nothing was agreed to until everything was agreed to. Achieving reform through middle of the night voting and limited debate on such an important issue is not the way we would have wanted to see redistricting reform realized.

Citizens Union and the League of Women Voters New York State have produced a set of Frequently Asked Questions to educate the public about the proposed constitutional amendment.

The important reform elements include:

• The six-member, majority party-controlled LATFOR on which self-interested legislators sit is replaced by a ten-member commission on which no legislators will sit. The prohibitions on appointment will be similar to the recently formed Joint Commission on Public Ethics. For the first time, majorities and minorities from each house will be equally represented and there will be two members who belong to neither major party.

• New and better criteria that include: o an anti-gerrymandering provision prohibiting the favoring or disfavoring of

incumbents, challengers or political parties;o recognizing communities of interest; o requiring that any deviation from the mean population in districts will need to be

explained; and o minority voting rights protections mirroring the current federal law will be

enshrined in our constitution, providing needed protection should there be a

pullback on the federal level. • Commission approval of the plan will require a super majority vote of seven of the ten

members, ensuring minority party participation in securing the needed votes. • In order to protect against one-party dominance in the drawing of lines, if one party

controls both houses of the State Legislature, approval of a plan requires a 2/3 affirmative

vote in each house. • Required hearings across the state ensure public input into line-drawing. It also requires

the provision of maps and data to the public in a form that allows for independent

analysis and the development of alternate redistricting plans. • The State Legislature must vote twice up or down on the approved commission plan

before it can make any amendments. • Amendments made by the State Legislature if it fails twice to pass the commission plan

must adhere to the criteria in the constitutional amendment, including the anti- gerrymandering provision, and the statute will further rein in the State Legislature by preventing changes of more than two percent to the population of any district.

We support this reform because we have no confidence that a State Legislature left off the hook this year and angered over a gubernatorial veto would subsequently find religion and enact reform. To believe that ignores the reality of New York’s political history for the past forty years on this issue and the broken promises of many of the 184 legislators who pledged to create an independent redistricting commission for 2012.

Ample opportunities have been squandered over the past several years to achieve this reform. When the executive branch and both houses of the State Legislature were controlled by one party during the 2009 and 2010 sessions, redistricting reform bills passed committees for the first time, but ultimately were bottled up in each house’s Rules Committees and died. When a new 2011 split-controlled legislature convened after 184 members pledged to enact reform in time to draw 2012 lines, they did not keep their word.

We must finally break the cycle of inaction. We must seize this moment when public attention and advocacy have created the opportunity for reform, and secure the change that is achievable.

Nesconset's Jason Maloney To Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro - Raising Money For Breast Cancer Research

Climbing for a Cause

Local cousins to scale Kilimanjaro for Breast Cancer researchMount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

By Chad Kushins

March 15, 2012

It is an obstacle that would both terrify and invigorate the best of us – scaling Mount Kilimanjaro, the symbolic and literal global precipice that has sparked the imaginations and physical limits of adventurers for decades. 

Ernest Hemingway crafted his most telling and renowned short story around its spiritual and staggering grandeur and, after thirty years of failed attempts, its summit wouldn’t finally be reached by man until 1889.  At over 19,000 feet above sea-level, it is the highest peak in Africa. 

And this July, Long Island cousins Jason and Brian Maloney will climb it for a cause, raising money and awareness for breast cancer research.

“My mother-law-had breast cancer and recovered,” Nesconset native Jason Maloney, 36, told Smithtown Matters.  “It’s a cause that I was close to and a great charity to work with.”  Maloney, who works at a party tent rental company in Hauppauge, first teamed up with the driving force for the endeavor, the Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in 2008.   That year, Maloney scaled Washington’s Mount Rainier – at 14,411 feet, one of the highest peaks in the United States – and raised $5,000 for the cause.  This year, he and cousin Brian are looking to top that goal, aiming to raise a minimum of $20,000 between the both of them.

Team Maloney“This climb will be my first one,” said Brian Maloney, 35, a Health Teacher in the Levittown School District.  “Jay and I have always been very close and climbing was always an interest to both of us.  We always wanted to do something like this together and the charity, breast cancer research, is a very important topic – especially here on Long Island where the number of those affected is so high.”  Additionally, Jason and Brian’s uncle, Robert Maloney, is currently battling his own cancer – another factor in the cousins’ passion for the cause.

According to Brian, he was initially approached by Jason with the ambitious undertaking, yet quickly agreed to work the Kilimanjaro climb as a team.   In preparation for the eight-day high, which will lead the two to the highest summit of the mountain, both cousins have taken on a daily regimen of exercise and endurance training.  “We work out separately and together,” said Brian.  “There’s been a lot of running and jogging between us, and a lot of cardio work.  Jay spends a lot of time running for local charity events and that’s certainly gotten him into shape for this.”

“We train daily,” Jason concurred, adding that between him and Brian, the two were able to shape their training style to fit both.  Over the past year, Jason has participated in numerous runs for various charities and organizations, including The Tough Mothers and The Warrior Dash – one of the longest and strenuous such obstacle runs in the country.  As the cousins continue to physically prepare for the climb, they are also continuing to seek out donations for the trip, as all expenses for the charity are out-of-pocket – an additional challenge to their adventurous gesture for the cancer research center.

According to organizers, The Fred Hutchinson Center for Cancer research has been hosting and utilizing various incarnations of the “Climb to Fight Breast Cancer” for well over a decade, making the Maloney cousins’ endeavor part of its 15^th annual yearly event.  While Jason and Brian are registered to climb the Africa summit from July 21^st through August 4^th, other related cancer research “peaks” include Mount Adams and Mount Baker in Washington, Mount Elbrus in Russia, and Mount Hood in Oregon.  However, at nearly 20,000 feet, Kilimanjaro remains the greatest challenge.  Professional guides from Alpine Ascents International will be leading all “Climb to Fight Breast Cancer” expeditions.

Each climb will have a limited number of team members – generally nine or 10 – as established by the guide services. Participants commit to fundraising minimums of $3,000 to $12,500, depending on the mountain.  For their first climb as a team, Jason and Brian Maloney combined their goals to aim for the ambitious $20,000.

“We’ve always been types to challenge ourselves,” said Brian.  “This is going to be a life experience that neither of us will ever forget.”

To make a donation or for further information on both Jason and Brian, visit getinvolved.fhcrc.org/goto/Maloney The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s official “Climb to Fight Breast Cancer” website, www.fhcrc.org/climb. 

10 interesting facts about Mount Kilimanjaro