Sunday 10 March 2002
Dear Jaspers,
The jasper jottings email list has 965 subscribers by my count.
Don't forget: … …
Monday, April 08 - Dennis Moroney Memorial Golf Outing
& Dinner
RSVP by Mar 1 c/o reinkefj@bigfoot.com who will forward to
the Cavanaughs
ALL BOILER PLATE is at the end.
Here comes the news after this comment.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/3/8/134950.shtml
How Do We Produce Heroes?
David C. Stolinsky
Friday, March 8, 2002
“Rick Rescorla was a hero. He was a hero in Vietnam; his photo graces the cover of "We Were Soldiers Once, and Young." He was a hero in 1993, when as security chief of Morgan Stanley, he led his people to safety during the first Twin Towers attack. He died a hero on Sept. 11, when he led all but 15 of his 3,700 people to safety, then was last seen re-entering the building to be sure there were no more to be saved. I believe men like that are born, not made – they are divine gifts, if you will. But what about the hundreds of New York City firefighters and police who ran into the buildings everyone else was running out of? Surely they were not all born heroes.”
There’s an ad running about courage showing a New York fireman with the saying something like “COURAGE: When everyone else was running out; he was running in.”
I hope we all can match that courage when the opportunities present themselves. Sometimes the “heroic” opportunities come disguised as every day mundane small challenges. The values we learned at Manhattan should come into play. I remember hearing the old saw that “honesty is doing the right thing when no one is watching”.
Reflect well on our alma mater, this week, every week, in any and every way possible, large or small. God bless.
"Collector-in-chief" John
reinkefj@alum.manhattan.edu
=====
CONTENTS
0 Formal
announcements
1 Messages from Headquarters (MC
Press Releases)
1 Jaspers publishing web pages
1 Jaspers found web-wise
0 Honors
0 Weddings
2 Births
0 Engagements
0 Graduations
3 Obits
0 "Manhattan in
the news" stories
0 Resumes
1 Sports
8 Emails
[PARTICIPANTS BY CLASS]
|
Class |
Name |
Section |
|
? |
Gorman,
John |
|
|
1939 |
Tierney,
Lawrence |
|
|
1940 |
Stenson,
Edward J. |
|
|
1953 |
McEneney,
Michael F. |
|
|
1955 |
Whalen,
Thomas M. III |
|
|
1969 |
Scudo,
Robert |
|
|
1971 |
Gonzalez,
Juan C. |
|
|
1981 |
Lutz,
Peter |
|
|
1982 |
Ledrick,
Maura Walsh |
|
|
1983 |
Shaw,
F. Michael |
|
|
1984 |
Cain,
Marguerite Connolly |
|
|
1986 |
Fay,
John |
|
|
1988 |
Mulderry,
Daniel P. |
|
|
1989 |
Mulios,
Chris |
|
|
1992 |
Bernsley,
Dave |
|
Class |
Name |
Section |
|
1992 |
Bernsley,
Dave |
|
|
1984 |
Cain,
Marguerite Connolly |
|
|
1986 |
Fay,
John |
|
|
1971 |
Gonzalez,
Juan C. |
|
|
? |
Gorman,
John |
|
|
1982 |
Ledrick,
Maura Walsh |
|
|
1981 |
Lutz,
Peter |
|
|
1953 |
McEneney,
Michael F. |
|
|
1988 |
Mulderry,
Daniel P. |
|
|
1989 |
Mulios,
Chris |
|
|
1969 |
Scudo,
Robert |
|
|
1983 |
Shaw,
F. Michael |
|
|
1940 |
Stenson,
Edward J. |
|
|
1939 |
Tierney,
Lawrence |
|
|
1955 |
Whalen,
Thomas M. III |
[FORMAL ANNOUNCEMENTS ABOUT JASPERS]
[Messages from Headquarters (Manhattan College Press Releases & Stuff)]
-----Original Message-----
From: Manhattan College Alumni Relations [mailto:alumni@manhattan.edu]
Sent:
To: alumni@manhattan.edu
Subject: RSVP by April 1. - newly formed NYC Club of Manhattan College Alumni
Society
The premier event of the newly formed NYC Club of Manhattan
College Alumni Society will be held on Thursday, April 11th at
- The guest speaker will be Joseph A. Ripp ’73, Executive Vice President and CFO of AOL Time Warner. The program includes Q&A followed by a networking reception.
- Come and enjoy an evening of networking, socializing
and rekindling ties to
- To register for this limited seating event (@ $25 per person), please fax of e-mail your visa or MasterCard # with expiration date to: Alumni Relations fax (718) 862-8013 or alumni@manhattan.edu
RSVP by
We look forward to seeing you at this premier event.
[JR: I would NOT email my credit card
number; I faxed it in. But, you can do what you want. I’m planning to be
there!]
[JASPERS PUBLISHING WEB PAGES]
http://www.geocities.com/brendon121379/index.html
this is the home page of dave
bernsley. i am a 6 foot 8 loser. I played basketball for
[JASPERS FOUND ON & OFF THE WEB BY USING THE WEB]
http://www.geocities.com/ariela71/paulcap/people.html
Daniel P. Mulderry, Associate
Mr. Mulderry, who joined Paul Capital Partners in 2000,
has responsibility for investment due diligence, transaction documentation and
closing of transactions. Prior to joining Paul Capital Partners, Mr. Mulderry
spent four years in the Mergers & Acquisitions group of SG Cowen Securities
Corporation focused on negotiating and structuring transactions for clients in
the Healthcare, Technology and Telecommunications industries. Previously, Mr.
Mulderry was the Director of Investor Relations for Tosco Corporation, an
independent oil refiner and marketer and Fortune 500 company headquartered in
From: Marguerite Cain
Sent: Monday, March 04, 2002 9:07 PM
Subject: News from an Alumna
Dear John,
Please add this info to Jasper
Jottings:
Born to Marguerite (Connolly) Cain,
BA '84 and her husband Dave: a baby girl, Tara Margaret, on
Thanks very much,
Marguerite Connolly Cain
BA English/Art History '84
[JR: Added as requested. Please
accept our congrats on the baby. (We know that the woman does all the hard work
which continues for the next 30 years or so.) Doesn’t take long between second
tooth and going off to college. (Note to admissions: send application in 16
years.) Now about “alumna”, it’s been a long time since I took Latin in
Manhattan Prep (long since closed), but in light of the “woman’s equality”
movement, I don’t think you can say that.]
From: Mulios, Chris
Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2002 10:07 AM
Subject: FW: Birth Announcemnt
Shayla Catherine Mulios
Friday, March 1st 2002
6 pounds 6.6 ounces
19 3/4 inches tall
Chris and Donna Mulios
Carmel NY
(Formerly of Kingsbridge)
<privacy invoked>
Please place in next available Press
release.
Chris Mulios
BEEE 1989
[JR: Done as requested. Well done to
Mom. With that Height at birth may be she’ll be a center in about 20 years. You
must be very pleased. Just remember girl’s are more expensive than boys and
talk more too. But, best wishes to all. I really thought this was goniing to be
a bummer week with obits, one of a past reader of Jottings, but this news
really brightens up my mood.]
Copyright 2002 The Scotsman
Publications Ltd.
The Scotsman
SECTION: Pg. 15
HEADLINE: OBITUARIES:
BYLINE: Allan Hunter
Lawrence Tierney, actor Born:
Died:
PROMOTED as "the handsome bad
man of the screen", Lawrence Tierney spent his best screen years playing
cold-hearted killers and menacing, two-fisted tough guys in pulp fiction
thrillers like Dillinger (1945), Born To Kill (1947) and The Devil Thumbs A
Ride (1947).
A brawny, muscular figure with a
thin-lipped smile that could chill the heart, he found cult popularity late in
his career as the belligerent, bald -headed crime boss, Joe Cabot, in Quentin
Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992). A notorious hell-raiser in real life,
Tierney amassed a string of lurid headlines in the 1950s for his pugnacious
antics and frequent brushes with the law, suggesting there was a thin line
between his
The film noir specialist, Eddie
Muller, once observed: "
Born in
Often described as "cruelly
handsome", he played small roles in The Ghost Ship (1943) and The Falcon
Out West (1943), among others, before breaking through to stardom in the title
role of vicious hoodlum Dillinger (1945).
His off-screen travails were already
apparent, and a bar-room brawl earned him a brief jail sentence the following
year. His career flourished, with leads in lean, mean B-movies like The Devil
Thumbs A Ride (1947), Born To Kill (1947), Bodyguard (1948), Kill Or Be Killed
(1950) and The Hoodlum (1951), interspersed with supporting roles in more
prestigious studio productions like Back To Bataan (1945) and the Oscar-winning
circus epic, The Greatest Show On Earth (1952).
His off-screen antics also continued,
and in 1948 he served three months for breaking a student's jaw. Throughout the
1950s, he faced a string of charges from kicking a policeman while drunk and
disorderly to hitting a waiter in the face with a sugar-bowl and attempting to
choke the life out of a cab driver.
In
Inevitably, he became persona non
grata in
He continued to pick up work in films
like Andy Warhol's Bad (1977), Arthur (1981) and low-budget horror story
In 1982, he stopped drinking and
moved back to
In 1987, he told one interviewer:
"I haven't had a drink in, oh, five years now. I finally wised up. I'd say
it was about time. Heck, I threw away about seven careers through drink."
The popularity of Reservoir Dogs
(1992) gave his career a further boost and led to roles in films like A
Portrait In Red (1995) and 2 Days In The Valley (1996), as well as guest
appearances in such high profile TV series as ER (1996) and Star Trek: Deep
Space Nine (1997).
Retired since 1997, he had suffered
several strokes in recent years, and died in his sleep at a
LOAD-DATE:
All rights reserved
Global News Wire - Asia Africa Intelligence Wire
---
Copyright 2002 The Federal Capital
Press of Australia Pty Limited
SECTION: 11
HEADLINE: ACTOR WAS AT HIS BEST AS A BAD GUY
BYLINE: Ronald Bergan
IT WAS a brilliant stroke on the part
of Quentin Tarantino to cast Lawrence Tierney, who has died aged 82, as the old
crime boss Joe Cabot in Reservoir Dogs (1992).
Tarantino obviously remembered
Tierney from his roles as menacing killers in 1940s films noirs, notably The
Devil Thumbs a Ride (1947) and the title role of Dillinger (1945). In fact, in
Reservoir Dogs, Tierney, when asked if one of his henchmen is dead, replies,
'Dead as Dillinger.' In his book The Devil Thumbs a Ride and Other Unforgettable
Films, Barry Gifford wrote of Tierney, playing another of his classic mean-man
roles in Born to Kill (1947), 'The big lug is a squinty-eyed killer, a
rock-hard devil with women, the big brute fantasy come alive in all of his
horrifying glory . . . there's no decency at all in Lawrence Tierney's face,
the most cruelly handsome visage on film. Unlike Robert Mitchum's face, there's
no relief in sight, a man incapable of compromise.' Brooklyn-born Tierney was
as tough as his image. He and his two younger brothers, Gerald - who became
Scott Brady, the husky hero of many a western - and Edward were all fine
sportsmen.
Tierney put his lifetime experience
of being a tough guy on and off screen into the role of the racist organiser of
the heist in Reservoir Dogs. At turns, horribly sinister and funny, he has some
of the best lines. When one of the eight-man gang objects to being called Mr
Pink the boss has named them all from a colour chart Tierney rasps, ''You're
lucky you ain't Mr Yellow.'' In the end, he dies a horrible death, having been
shot in the face, but the film revitalised his career at the age of 73, leaving
him better known than he ever was in the past. He is survived by his daughter
Elizabeth.
Lawrence Tierney, born
LOAD-DATE:
[JR: Designated by virtue of his
partial attendance as class of 1939.]
From:
Sent:
Subject: Fw: Albany NY Times Union: timesunion.com
Dear John,
The attached notice from your
cousin Pete relates to Mayor Whelan, the former Mayor of Albany and a room mate
of Ben Benson, the former Director of Alumni Relations. They were in the Class
of 1955 I believe.
Best,
Mike McEneney,
Esq.'53 BBA
----- Original Message -----
From: Sweeney, Peter
To:
Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2002 8:07 AM
Subject: RE: Albany NY Times Union: timesunion.com
No, I forgot about Jasper Jottings;
please pass material along because I don'thave John's e-mail on my work
computer. Thanks!
----- Message-----
From:
Sent:
To: Sweeney, Peter
Subject: Re: Albany NY Times Union: timesunion.com
Dear Pete,
Thanks for info on the Mayor.
My old Albany Office had faxed me an
article but it was not as complete as this. He was Ben's room mate at the
college.
Did you send this to your
cousin John for Jasper Jottings? If not let me know and I will.
Best,
> Mike
---- Message -----
From: Sweeney, Peter
Sent:
Subject: Albany NY Times Union: timesunion.com
More about our friend Tom
http://www.timesunion.com/Wednesday.asp
--- OBIT ---
Copyright 2002 The New York Times
Company
The New York Times
March 8, 2002, Friday, Late Edition - Final
NAME: Thomas M. Whalen III
SECTION: Section A; Page 19; Column 3; Metropolitan
Desk
HEADLINE: Thomas M. Whalen III, 68, Three-Term Mayor of
Albany
BYLINE: By ERIC
PACE
Thomas M. Whalen III, mayor of
Mr. Whalen was driving alone in the
car. The Associated Press reported that the police said he apparently had not
been wearing a seat belt. As
Mr. Corning was mayor from 1941 until
he died in office in 1983. By then he had served in office longer than any
other mayor of a major American city.
Mr. Whalen was a former City Court
judge and was quietly practicing law when Mr. Corning chose him as his
successor and assured his nomination and election in 1981 as president of
Mr. Corning's death left a budget
that had long been out of balance and a city government and political system
that was under pressure to modernize by curbing patronage and closing the
deficit.
Mr. Whalen finished Mr. Corning's
term as mayor, and was re-elected to two more terms. He did not run for
re-election in 1993.
Mr. Whalen chose John Dale to be
By late in 1985,
A native of
After stepping down as mayor, he
resumed practicing law and became chairman of the board of trustees of the
He is survived by his wife, the former
Denis Marie O'Connor, whom he married in 1960; a daughter, Laura Whalen of
http://www.nytimes.com
GRAPHIC: Photo: Thomas Whalen III
succeeded Erastus Corning 2nd as
LOAD-DATE:
[JR: This gives everyone a sense of
how much work goes into getting this one obit for the readers. We need everyone
to be reporters. Thanks to Pete and Mike for catching it. Tom Whalen was a
reader until he got aggravated with the tone of some of my “editorializing”. I
am most sorry to hear of his accident and never held anything but good thoughts
about him. Even when people disagree, it doesn’t have to be “personal”.
Everyone does what they have to do. I would have like him to stay to be the
“counterbalance” or the “loyal opposition” (to steal a
Copyright 2002 Bergen Record
Corporation
The Record (
March 6, 2002 Wednesday All Editions
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. l07
HEADLINE: OBITUARIES
SOURCE: The Record
<extraneous deleted>
EDWARD J. STENSON, 83, of
<extraneous deleted>
LOAD-DATE:
[MANHATTAN IN THE NEWS OR FOUND ON & OFF THE WEB]
SOFTBALL BEATS PENN, 10-4, FOR FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON
ORLANDO, FL - The Manhattan College
softball team drew 17 walks and plated 10 runs en route to a 10-4 victory over
the University of Pennsylvania Saturday afternoon at the Rebel Games in
Orlando, FL. The win was the first of the season for the Lady Jaspers, who are
now 1-2 on the season, while Penn falls to 3-3.
The Lady Jaspers scored 10 runs on
just six basehits but capitalized on 17 walks by Quaker pitchers. Senior Kara
Husband (
BASEBALL WINS FIFTH STRAIGHT WITH 10-4
BRADENTON, FL - Sophomore Matt
Cucurullo (Valhalla, NY) went 3-4 with five RBI to lead the Manhattan College
baseball team to a 10-4 victory over the Boston College Eagles Saturday
afternoon in Brandenton, FL. The win was the fifth in a row for the Jaspers,
who improve to 5-3 on the season.
The Jaspers scored 10 runs on 16
hits, and have now collected at least 12 hits in four of the last five
ballgames. Cucurullo was one of three Jaspers with multi-hit games, as Josh
Greco (
Freshman Ken Gleason (
FREEMAN BREAKS AMERICAN COLLEGIATE RECORD AT NCAA
CHAMPIONSHIPS
Freeman Places Second in the Weight Throw
Freeman's second place throw of
23.19m (76'1") also set a new Jasper record. First place honors were
rewarded to Canadian thrower Scott Russell from the
"Jacob started out a little
shaky after fouling twice in the preliminaries," said head coach Dan
Mecca, "but his last two throws in the finals really made a difference. I
believe Jacob finished with an outstanding series."
The Jaspers will kick off its 2002
outdoor season next weekend, March 16th, at the Willie Williams Invitational in
WOMEN'S LACROSSE LOSES HOME OPENER TO MT.
The Lady Jaspers fall to 0-4, while
the Mount advances to 1-2.
Mt. St. Mary's Nicole DiAngelo opened
up the scoring at the
Mary Dudek (
Senior goalkeeper Maegan Cosgrove (
The Lady J's will return to action on
Saturday, March 16th when they host
SOFTBALL DROPS DOUBLEHEADER AT ARMY IN SEASON OPENER
Army jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead
in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Nicki Robbins. The Black Knights
added another run in the bottom of the third on another run-scoring basehit by
Robbins.
In game two of the twinbill, Ashlie
Christian and Leigh Harrell combined for a three-hit shutout of the Jaspers.
Candice Aulogia (New Windsor, NY) took the loss for
MEN'S LACROSSE FALLS TO STONY BROOK 15-8
Freshman Eugene Tanner Scores Three Goals to Lead the
Jaspers
Stony Brook jumped out to a 3-0 lead
on back-to-back goals by Trist Gillen and a third by Kevin Pall.
Tanner scored
Stony Brook charged out with three
goals in the first five minutes of play in the third quarter. Don Femminella (
Stony Brook 5 3 5 2 -- 15
Manhattan 2 1 2 3 -- 8
Goals: SB - Pall 5, Gillen 3, Farrell 2, Kirschner 2,
Scannell 1, Tompkins 1, Campolettano 1; MAN - Tanner 3, Silva 2, Becklo 1,
Femminella 1, Honors 1.
Assists: SB - Farrell 3, Scannell 1, Tompkins 1, Hakewitz
1, Lacey 1, LaFlare 1, Conlon 1; MAN - Silva 2, Tanner 1, Otto 1.
Saves: SB - Quinlan (8); MAN - Sertzloglou (6), Busweiler
(8)
WOMEN'S LACROSSE DROPS GAME TO
The Lady Jaspers fall to 0-3, while
the Scarlet Knights even their record to 1-1.
Sophomore midfielder Alana Fevola (
Goalkeeper Maegan Cosgrove (
The Lady J's will return to action on
Saturday, March 9th for their home opener against Mt. St. Mary's at
Brown picked up his first win of the
season, pitching 3.2 innings while allowing four runs on five hits with two
strikeouts. Darcy struck out four, walked three and allowed three hits in 3.1
innings of relief.
Offensively,
MEN'S TRACK & FIELD TEAM TAKE HOME FOURTH PLACE AT
IC4A CHAMPIONSHIPS
Cerasi Breaks School Record Once Again in the Mile at the
ECAC Championships
BOSTON, MA- The Manhattan College men's
track and field team took home fourth place honors with 36 points today at the
2002 IC4A Championships, while Kristen Cerasi (Eastchester, NY) earned All-East
honors for the women in the ECAC Championships held at the Reggie Lewis Center
in Boston, MA.
Junior Jacob Freeman (
Sophomore Magnus Ahlen (
Senior Eddie Potter (
Senior Cerasi set a new school record
and personal best in the mile yesterday during the preliminaries with a time of
4:54.02. In the finals, Cerasi placed eighth with a time of 5:00.26 for her
first indoor All-East honor.
Junior Stefani Allen (
Freshman Jana Cagin (
Next week Freeman will travel to
Men's Scoring:
Rajne Svenssohn (Karlstad, Sweden) - 2nd place, Pentathlon
- 8 points
Jacob Freeman (East Greenwich, RI) - 1st place, Weight
Throw -10 points
Matt Spring (Marcy, NY) - 3th place, 3000m - 6 points
Magnus Ahlen (Karlstad, Sweden) - 2nd place, Long Jump - 8
points
Erik Rokeach (Middletown, NY) - 5th place, Long Jump - 4
points
Total: 36 points, 4th place out of 78 teams
BASEBALL COMPLETES THREE-GAME SWEEP OF CENTENARY
In the first game on Friday,
In game two, the Jaspers erupted for
14 runs on 17 hits including a six-run fourth innings and cruised to a 14-4
victory. Freshman Ken Gleason (
The threat of inclement weather
forced the Jaspers and Gents to play a doubleheader on Saturday. In game three
of the three-game series, senior Wendell Anderson (
===
<None>
From:
Sent:
Subject: Jasper Jottings
Dear John,
It looks like I missed my third
edition of Jasper Jottings tonight. If you could e-mail me the site where I
could read the missed copies, (until we
get back on the list) I would appreciate it.
Thanks,
Mike McEneney,Esq.'53 BBA
[JR: It appears that for a variety of
reasons, email, from my perspective, all over the net, has been disrupted. I
had problems with two of the three mail programs I use for email for apparently
no good reason. A large number of readers bounced related to the @home fiasco.
It also appears that for a few weeks plain text was not being sent out but
something else. I have sent back issues to anyone who inquired. He web site
with all the reent issues has been updated. http://ferdinand_reinke.tripod.com/ I’m not sure I an physically up to resending
three weeks worth of jottings, but, I will if there is a consensus that I
should.]
From:
Sent:
Subject: Re: Jasper Jottings
Dear John,
Received this weeks edition
today. Thanks. Still no sign of the last 2 weeks though. Keep up the good work.
Best,
Mike McEneney,
Esq. '53 BBA
From: Gorman, John
Sent:
Subject: Re: Fwd: Jasper Jottings 2002-03-03 (from home)
Please remove me from this mailing
list. Thanks.
[JR: I can’t find you. Have you
subscribed under an alias? ]
From: Scudo, Robert
Sent: Monday, March 04, 2002 9:44 AM
Subject: Jasper Jottings
Can you re-send or re-post them?
[JR: Resent]
From: John Fay
Sent:
Subject: Albany Times Union,
John,
I believe the link to your e-mail
address has a stray "j" in it. It's out of order (see below).
Here's an article about my web site
in the Albany Times Union.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyKey=77951&BCCode=L&newsdate=2/28/2002
Regards,
John Fay
Dublin
-- story from web page appended --
News junkie keeps tabs on Northern
Ireland
By PAUL GRONDAHL, Staff writer
First published:
Perhaps no person on the planet is
better informed about the complex issues and tangled politics of
Each morning, Fay, 37, rises before
the sun as his wife and three young children sleep. He turns on his laptop
computer, dials up an online service and begins a painstaking, two-hour process
of scouring newspaper Web sites and vacuuming up any article pertaining to
Newshound is Fay's handle. It's an
apt moniker for a news junkie offering a daily fix to others similarly
afflicted.
Fay's Web site
(http://www.nuzhound.com) has been praised for its comprehensiveness in the New
York Post, the Irish Times and
"It's a tremendous source of
daily information on
"I made it mandatory reading
each morning for all the consultants I've assembled,'' says Constantine, who's
made 10 trips to Northern Ireland in the past 18 months. In that time, he's
printed out hundreds of articles on policing issues from Fay's Web site.
Fay has carried out his early morning
obsession faithfully since October 1996. He has missed his daily update on only
six days due to illness, travel or computer trouble.
Family feelings: While Fay struggles
to explain his fanatic dedication, his family is clear about their feelings
toward nuzhound.com.
"It's the bane of his wife's
existence,'' says Fay's mom, Anne Fay, of Clifton Park, who emigrated to the
United States from Kilcock, County Kildare, in 1959. Her husband, John, who's
from
"My wife and kids hate Newshound
without a doubt,'' says Fay, a 1982 graduate of
"I wasn't their favorite person
when we were in Disney World and my kids were dying to get to the rides and I
said they had to wait until I finished the Newshound,'' says Fay. He also works
from home as a marketing consultant to new media companies.
He began Newshound as a lark.
"I've always loved newspapers
and keeping up on the news,'' says Fay, who delivered the Daily Gazette as a
boy in
As a balm to feelings of
homesickness, Fay began regularly surfing the Internet in 1996. At the time, a
flood of American newspapers was coming online for free. Fay occasionally
downloaded interesting articles, bundled them together and sent them by e-mail
to a few friends and family members. He formalized and expanded the offerings
after creating his own Web site in the fall of 1996.
"I remember being very excited
when my daily hits went up from five to eight,'' says Fay, whose site now
receives thousands of hits and up to 100 e-mails each week responding to
stories.
Journalists in the U.S. and U.K. are
heavy users and Fay was informed that foreign policy analysts in the Clinton
administration had the site bookmarked and consulted it often.
Objectivity: What distinguishes Fay's
Web site from dozens of others devoted to Northern Ireland politics is its
objectivity. "I've made it a point not to let anybody know what I feel
about the issues,'' Fay says.
One of his primary motivations is to
strike a delicate balance and to neutralize coverage that's often fiercely
partisan. "The news I got here in Ireland was completely different from
the coverage in America and I had the sense that I wasn't getting the full
story from either side,'' he says. "I figured if I gathered all the
viewpoints from around the world, a reader could come closer to getting the
full story.''
Fay's daily trolling for news is a
labor of love and labor-intensive. The challenge begins with a 56K modem and
dial-up Internet service. "It's hard to get a decent phone line here,''
says Fay. Direct, high-speed online has not yet arrived in his home of Bray,
County Wicklow, a town of 20,000 about 15 miles south of Dublin.
He does not have a program that pulls
out keywords or any other form of automation. He scans some three dozen papers
and has a kind of internal antenna for his subject matter.
"I go to the same papers in the
same order each morning and start reading coverage from Europe and scroll down
quickly,'' Fay says. "Anything pertaining to Ireland just jumps off the
screen at me.''
Fay then makes links to stories he
selects so that a user simply clicks on a headline, which goes directly to the
paper's Web site to read the full story for free.
"The newspapers know what I'm
doing and they're quite happy to have the extra hits,'' Fay says.
He only scans newspapers with free
Web sites and recently dropped Irish News because it started charging. It left
Newshound with a gap, but he's negotiating with the paper to bring it back into
his fold.
Plenty of potential: Fay's Web site
would be awash in red ink if he stopped to calculate his time, phone charges
and other costs. The only revenue it generates is $100 per week from publishers
advertising a book. "That doesn't cover costs, but the site has a lot of
potential,'' says Fay. He's had some interest from Irish companies about
acquiring it and hopes his years of toil will pay off at some point with a
buyer.
"I can't believe he has the
discipline to look through so many papers every day, but he's always been
thorough and conscientious,'' says his mother. "We all hope it will grow
into something worthwhile financially.''
In the meantime, Newshound feeds
Fay's Irish-American soul.
Fay visited Dublin the summer of his
junior year of college, and returned for graduate studies at Trinity College.
He met the woman who would become his
wife at Trinity. Fay and his wife, Caroline, a high school teacher, have lived
outside Dublin since 1991, near her family. They have two daughters, Fiona, 10
and Dearbhla, 6, and a son, Eoghan, 1.
Fay, who has dual citizenship, has no
plans to return to the U.S. He keeps in touch via e-mail to family and friends,
reading American newspapers and playing rotisserie league baseball with high
school friends in the Capital Region.
Fay claims he's at a disadvantage in
the fantasy game because Irish TV doesn't broadcast American baseball games.
"There's no danger of me winning,'' says Fay, a die-hard New York Mets
fan. "I'm just in it for the emotional ties.''
-- end --
[JR: Hey your right. The Ghost in
Microsoft Word strikes again. Hey, after reading the news story, it seems we’re
kindred spirits. Except yours’ is a much harder task. Thanks for the input and
eagle eye.]
From: Maura Walsh Ledrick
Sent: Monday, March 04, 2002 2:00 PM
Subject: Re: Jasper Jottings 2002-03-03 (from home)
Just wanted to mention that my
brother Kevin R. Walsh (class of 1980) was selected as an Aide to the Grand
Marshall for this year's Yonkers St. Patrick's Day parade, which was on Sunday
March 2. He will be marching down 5th
Ave. with the Manhattan College Gaelic Society for the 26th year in a row on
March 17.
For those who enjoy Irish music, Kevin has helped
arrange a concert featuring a rare Westchester appearance by the Makem Brothers
at Christ the King School, 750 North Broadway, Yonkers, NY on Sat. March 9 at
8:00PM. Also appearing will be Yonkers'
own Pike Traditional Irish Dancers.
Tickets are $25.00 and proceeds will benefit Christ the King
school. For tickets or info call Kevin
Wals at 914-376-5907 or e-mail him at CTKConcert@Makem.com. Come enjoy some great Irish music and help
support Catholic education.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Maura Walsh Ledrick
(class of 1982)
[JR: Congrats to Kevin.
Unfortunately, your event information arrived to late to be out before the
event. If everyone can get them in sooner that would make this a more valuable
source to everyone.]
From: F. Michael Shaw
Sent: Monday, March 04, 2002 9:14 PM
Subject: jasper jottings
Please include me in the
jottings. F. Michael Shaw, M.D., class
of 83
[JR: Done, “doc”. Now about this ache
in the butt that I attribute to “email-it is”, any suggestions? (Can’t miss a
chance for free medical advice!)]
From: Peter Lutz
Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2002 10:00 AM
Subject: Re: Fwd: Jasper Jottings 2002-03-03 (from home)
John,
You're back ! Glad to see it...I went
to the Alumni Career Seminar at the College last week and I mentioned Jasper
Jottings and someone else asked where you were since we missed the email that
week. Glad to have you back !
Regards,
Peter Lutz
[JR: I never stopped. It was the
email gremlins that ate two weeks in one fell swoop. BUT, I received my TWO
echo copies fine (i.e., I have two of my alternative email addresses in the
list to check that it goes out), go figure?]
From: Juan C Gonzalez
Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2002 3:08 PM
Subject: New email address
John,
I have enjoyed your jasper jottings
emails. Please change my email address
as follows:
OLD: <privacy invoked>
NEW: <privacy invoked>
Thanks,
Juan C Gonzalez, Class of 1971
[JR: Juan, you are among the many
that were lost in the recent @HOME debacle. Welcome back. If anyone else knows
someone who was affected, please remind them that they need to tell people
about their new addresses.]
A collection copyright is asserted to protect against any misuse of original material.
This effort has NO FORMAL RELATION to Manhattan College!
Fax can be accommodated 781-723-7975 but email is easier.
I keep several of the “Instant Messengers” up: ICQ#72967466; Yahoo "reinkefj"; and MSN T7328215850.
Or, you can USMail it to me at 3 Tyne Court Kendall Park, NJ 08824.
Feel free to invite other Jaspers to join us by dropping me an email.
“Gary Condit lost his bid for
re-election last night. He said that he’s spent 30 years in public service and
that he lives by the sword and dies by the sword. Too bad he just didn't keep
that sword in his pants.” Jay Leno
Perhaps, with Condit’s loss,
Americans are finally putting their foot down about what type of conduct they
will accept from politicians. One can only hope!
And, that’s the last words for this
week.