Sunday 02 March 2003
Dear Jaspers,
The jasper jottings email list has 1,017 subscribers to the full edition and 6 to the "slim pointer" message by my count.
Don't forget:
Su, Mar 9 -Jasper Alumni in SSW Florida, annual Brunch
11:30 AM at Pelican Landing
Clubhouse , Bonita Springs ,FL
RSVP: grace.feeney@manhattan.edu
Fr, Mar 14 - Washington, DC St. Patrick's Day Luncheon.
reported by Andrew (1986)
Lawler
Tony Kavanaugh is the event Chair
RSVP the MC Kit that just
came out.
We, Mar 19 – Treasure Coast Florida Alumni Lunch
Holiday Inn US 1 Stuart FL
noon
by Ed. Plumeau (52) c/o
jottings
Fr Apr. 25 '03 - MC Young Alumni Happy Hour
Mad River Bar @1442 Third Ave.
RSVP: MurphGuide@yahoo.com
Th Jul. 24 '03 - MC Young Alumni Happy Hour
Mad River Bar @1442
Third Ave.
RSVP: MurphGuide@yahoo.com
===
Pinched nerve is improving but I pulled this together as best I can. I am seeking alternatives that are less demanding for editing. Stay tuned.
===
ALL BOILER PLATE is at the end.
===
=== <begin quote> ===
Have you heard of the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad"? The author, Robert Kiyosaki, was rejected by all the publishers he approached, so he published the book himself, selling the first copies out of a friend's gas station. Within two years "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" was on the New York Times Bestseller List, where it remains today.
If you've ever wanted to write and publish a book we can tell you how the process really works, and what your options are. Attitude Media can also help you publish your book. To learn more visit http://www.amdirectsales.com
=== <end quote> ===
DO you have a book of wisdom inside? I think I do. If it just wasn't so hard. <whine> If it wasn't hard, you probably would find another excuse. What is the hard part, you can put up your website for free. As the Nike commercial used to say, "just do it".
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
Formal announcements
Bouncing off the list
Messages from Headquarters
(like MC Press Releases)
Jaspers publishing web pages
Jaspers found web-wise
Honors
Weddings
Births
Engagements
Graduations
Obits
"Manhattan
in the news" stories
Resumes
Sports
Emails
[PARTICIPANTS BY CLASS]
Pinched nerve prevents extensive editing.
[FORMAL ANNOUNCEMENTS ABOUT JASPERS]
Vollmer Associates. (Management Who's News Personnel).(Suzanna Hugyecz has been appointed principal of the firm)(Brief Article)
01/29/2003
Real Estate Weekly
Copyright 2003 Gale Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Vollmer Associates announced that Suzanna Hugyecz has been named principal of the firm.
Hugyecz specializes in transit design. Previously, she served as a structural engineer.
Hugyecz holds a B.S. in civil engineering from Manhattan College. She is a member of the Structural Engineers Association of New York.
[MCOLDB: 1993 ]
[JR: The following people have "bounced off" the list. Some bounces expose my poor administrative skills and I can not "who" bounced off. Thus the subscriber total may change more than are shown in this section. I have done what I can to notify them. If you can help "reconnect" – or "connect" new people -- I really appreciate it. And as always, I need your "news".]
|
None? |
[Messages from Headquarters (Manhattan College Press Releases & Stuff)]
From: College Advancement [mailto:alumni@manhattan.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 12:05 PM
To: alumni@manhattan.edu
Subject: The John J. McDonnell, Jr. Scholarship
The Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business
University College Dublin
Dublin, Ireland
Program: MBA full-time
Award: $25,000(US) for 2003-04 tuition and living expenses
Eligible: Baccalaureate graduates of Manhattan College Advancement
3.0 to 4.0 Cumulative GPA
3 to 5 years full time experience
Competitive GMAT score
Apply to: Jane O’Mara: e-mail address: jane.omara@ucd.ie
Website: http://ucdbusiness.ucd.ie
John J. McDonnell, Jr., Manhattan College alumnus, class of 1959 and a member of Board of Trustees, Smurfit Graduate School of Business, University College Dublin (UCD), is offering the scholarship grant to a qualified Manhattan College alumnus/alumna who meets the eligibility requirements and is accepted for admission to the MBA program at UCD. The 2003-04 recipient will be chosen on a competitive basis by the Dean of Admissions, Smurfit Graduate School of Business.
The Smurfit Graduate School of Business has a global perspective, driven by a 100 strong faculty with 1,300 students drawn from Ireland, Europe, North America, Africa and Asia. Academic programs include specialties in e-commerce, employment relations, technology management and political economy. Graduates are recruited by top international and national firms, commanding internationally competitive salaries.
In a recent Financial Times Executive MBA survey, the Smurfit School of Business, UCD was rated among the best in the world. The only business school is Ireland to be ranked, the Smurfit School placed 7th in Europe and 24th in the world.
Krisztian Palinkas, Manhattan College Class of 1999, is the 2002-2003 Scholarship recipient
=
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Heidi W. Giovine (718)862-7232 Public_Relations@manhattan.edu
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BEST-SELLING AUTHOR, MARY HIGGINS CLARK TO SPEAK AS PART OF MANHATTAN COLLEGE’S SESQUICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
RIVERDALE, N.Y. -- As part of Manhattan College’s sesquicentennial celebration, best-selling author Mary Higgins Clark will speak on Thursday, March 13 at 7pm in Smith Auditorium on the College’s campus. Admission is free.
Although best known as America’s “Queen of Suspense,” Mary Higgins Clark’s latest book, Kitchen Privileges, traces the road from a Bronx childhood during the Depression, through early widowhood and single-handedly raising five children, to writer of 27 (and still counting) best-selling books of suspense.
Her best sellers include Where Are the Children?, A Stranger Is Watching, The Cradle Will Fall, A Cry in the Night, Weep No More, My Lady and While My Pretty One Sleeps. Two of her novels, A Stranger Is Watching and Where are the Children?, have been made into feature films and several other books have been made into television movies as well.
Following her lecture, which will include a discussion on her memoirs as well as her suspense novels, Ms. Higgins Clark will also be available to sign copies of her books.
Manhattan College is located at West 242nd Street, near Broadway, in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. Reservations for the Mary Higgins Clark lecture can be made by calling (718)862-7402 or by visiting the Manhattan College website at http://www.manhattan.edu/sesqui/reservations.html.
==
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Heidi W. Giovine (718)862-7232 Public_Relations@manhattan.edu
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MANHATTAN COLLEGE TO HOST LECTURE ON BROTHER POTAMIAN O’REILLY: A GREAT EDUCATOR AND SCIENTIST
RIVERDALE, N.Y. -- The School of Engineering at Manhattan College will host the lecture, Brother Potamian O’Reilly: A Great Educator and Scientist, on Friday, March 7 at 1:30pm in the Academy Room, Leo Engineering Building, on the College campus. Admission is free.
Bringing Br. Potamian’s work to light through slides, music and PowerPoint presentations will be Dr. Annraoi de Paor. Dr. de Paor has been a professor of electrical engineering at the National University of Ireland, Dublin since 1978. He is also the founder of the Centre for the Study of Developmental Disabilities at the University.
Born in 1846, Br. Potamian did pioneering work in radio as well as the medical application of X-rays. Shortly after Manhattan College’s School of Engineering was founded in 1892, Br. Potamian took over its development. As the College’s dean of engineering and professor of physics, Br. Potamian continued his electrical research. He was also the co-author of the book, Makers of Electricity with James J. Walsh.
Br. Potamian also completed the monumental and critically acclaimed task of an annotated catalogue of The Wheeler Collection, a valuable collection of books, journals and pamphlets for the study of the history of electrical technology for the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. The main part of the collections is nearly three thousand books published in Latin, French, German, Italian and English from the late nineteenth centuries. The earliest works, numbering about two hundred, recount the magical powers of the lodestone, the vagaries of the mariner's compass and theories of electricity and magnetism from Pliny to Descartes. Eighteenth-century electricians are also represented by about four hundred books.
For further information regarding the lecture, call (718)862-7986. Manhattan College’s School of Engineering is located at W. 240th Street and Corlear Avenue.
===
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Heidi W. Giovine (718)862-7232 Public_Relations@manhattan.edu
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MANHATTAN COLLEGE TO HOST LECTURE ON NEW YORK CITY AND MANHATTAN COLLEGE IN THE 1850s
RIVERDALE, N.Y. -- The Robert J. Christen Program in Early American History and Culture at Manhattan College will host the lecture New York City and Manhattan College in the 1850s, on Tuesday, March 4 at 4:00pm in Smith Auditorium, on the College campus. Admission is free.
The speakers will include Dr. Jacob Judd, professor emeritus of history, Lehman College and The Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York; Br. Luke Salm, professor emeritus of religious studies at Manhattan College; and novelist Peter Quinn, author of Banished Children of Eve and a 1969 graduate of Manhattan College.
The Christen Program is named in honor of former faculty member Robert J. Christen, who served for many years on the Board of Education of the City of New York. For his many contributions to education, the Riverdale Public School 81 is named in his honor. For further information, call (718)862-7127.
New York City and Manhattan College in the 1850s is part of Manhattan College’s sesquicentennial celebration. The College believes there is much to gain by examining the relevance of its intellectual tradition to 21st century life. So throughout the 2002-2003 academic year, Manhattan College is bringing to its Riverdale, New York, campus an impressive array of special guest speakers – thought-leaders in such fields as religious studies, education, engineering and the arts. To learn more about Manhattan College’s sesquicentennial celebration, visit the Web site: http://www.manhattan.edu/sesqui.
Manhattan College is located at West 242nd Street, near Broadway, in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.
====
[JASPERS PUBLISHING WEB PAGES]
http://www.novel-guy.com/page2.html
Frank Caceres
[JR: Couldn't copy the text. ]
[MCOLDB: 1969 ]
[JASPERS FOUND ON & OFF THE WEB BY USING THE WEB]
http://www.geophysics.mines.edu/~hmurphy/
Hugh D. Murphy
Inst for Resource and Environmental Geosciences
Colorado School of Mines
Golden, CO 80401
USA
SHORT RESUME
Director, Institute for Resource and Environmental Geosciences, Colorado School of Mines,
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Engineering and Hydrology, University of Arizona
M.S., Civil Engineering, Lehigh University
B.S., Civil Engineering, Manhattan College
PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
Twenty-five years of geoscience research and development in academia and national laboratories. Proven management skills managing R&D projects and large, multi-disciplinary programs for environmental technology.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Currently Director of the Colorado School of Mines' Institute for Resource and Environmental Geosciences, Murphy leads interdisciplinary environmental programs focusing upon site characterization and remediation, and geothermal energy and oil and gas projects. While employed at Los Alamos National Laboratory he directed 45 environmental technology projects, totalling $ 17 million annually. Murphy also led a university/government/national laboratories' partnership to adapt remote sensing and geophysical technologies to characterize buried waste sites.
He is familiar with environmental regulations, CERCLA, RCRA, and NESHAPs, and is particularly knowledgeable about environmental restoration technologies.
PUBLICATIONS
Murphy has authored or co-authored hundreds of reports and forty refereed journal papers on environmental restoration, subsurface flow and rock mechanics. The journals include J. Geophys. Research, and Water Resources Research. Recent publications include J. Fluid Mechanics and American Scientist. Publications of 1992 include:
<extraneous deleted>
[MCOLDB: 1962 ]
http://www.nesl.edu/faculty/obrien.cfm
John F. O'Brien
Dean and Professor of Law,
B.A. Manhattan College;
J.D. New England School of Law;
LL.M. Boston University School of Law
Dean O'Brien has been dean of the law school since 1988, before which he was associate dean. He has taught Constitutional Law, Legal Methods, Personal Income Taxation, and Taxation of Business Entities. Before joining the law school's faculty in 1985, he was a senior attorney in the Office of the Chief Counsel for the Internal Revenue Service. A former chairman and current member of the American Bar Association's Independent Law School Committee, he also serves on the Accreditation Committee of the ABA's Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar.
[MCOLDB: 1966 ]
http://gtsoftball.leaguelink.com/haldane/
Facts, figures, and tidbits on the Haldane H.S. Cross Country Team located in picturesque Cold Spring, NY.
Our school competes in New York State Section I Class "D". Section I encompasses Westchester,Putnam, Dutchess, and Rockland Counties.
Our Head Coach is Martin "Mr. L" Ludwikowski, Director of Guidance at Haldane. Mr. L ran for and is a graduate of Manhattan College. He is a former World Class runner and USA Team Member. Ken Filmanski assists. Mr. Filmanski ran for East Carolina University and graduated from Stony Brook University.
In 2001 our Girls were League Champions, finished second in the Section to the eventual State Champions, and ended up being ranked # 11 in NYS Class "D". Miranda N., an eighth grader, qualified for the NYS Championships and Carly F., a seventh grader, was the first alternate.
For 2002 we return 6 All-League and 2 All-Section runners. Check out our "Roster" and select "News" for updates during the 2002 Season.
DISCLAIMER: This site is not sponsored by nor affiliated with Haldane H.S. or the Haldane C.S.D. It is maintained by individuals interested in the growth and success of the Haldane Cross Country program.
[MCOLDB: 1980 ]
Your assistance is requested in finding these. Please don’t assume that I will “catch” it via an automated search. Sometimes the data just doesn’t makes it’s way in.
Copyright 2003 Bergen Record Corporation
The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
February 26, 2003 Wednesday All Editions
SECTION: LOCAL; OBITUARIES; Pg. L09
HEADLINE: OBITUARIES
SOURCE: North Jersey Media Group
NICHOLAS F. MORRIS, 66, of Ridgewood, formerly of Paramus, died Tuesday. He was a professor and chairman of the civil engineering department at Manhattan College. He was an international consultant on bridges and structural cable systems. He was a graduate of Manhattan College, and received a master's degree from Columbia University and a doctorate from New York University. He was a parishioner of Our Lady of Mount Carmel R.C. Church, Ridgewood, and a former parishioner of Our Lady of the Visitation R.C. Church, Paramus. Arrangements: Feeney Funeral Home, Ridgewood.
LOAD-DATE: February 26, 2003
[MCOLDB: 1958 ]
Student Briefing Page on the News
COMPILED BY KIM NAVA-FIORIO; Bill Zimmerman, editor
02/25/2003
NEWS
Newsday
ALL EDITIONS
A24
Copyright 2003, Newsday. All Rights Reserved.
YOUR VOICES
Paying Tribute to Columbia's Crew
Hundreds of letters and cards that you sent to Student Briefing about the Columbia shuttle tragedy reflect your grief about the disaster and how you feel about the seven astronauts who died. Here is a sample - many more can be found online, at www.newsday .com/student. All are being forwarded to astronauts' families.
<extraneous deleted>
-Mahawa Cheikhna
Manhattan College
Stop all funding [of the space program] because of too many accidents. People's lives are more important.
<extraneous deleted>
[JR: Stunning! I agree because from a Libertarian perspective, it is not a valid function of government. It should be done, regardless of the risk. The civilizations that don't grow, die. ]
Jurist to seek another term
MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON Staff writer
02/21/2003
CAPITAL REGION;
Times Union Albany, NY
THREE STAR
B4
(Copyright 2003)
Troy County Judge Patrick J. McGrath outlines his plan for re-election
A judge who began life in a Lansingburgh housing project and now sits on Rensselaer County's highest criminal bench has confirmed plans to run in November for a second 10-year term.
County Judge Patrick J. McGrath said he loves the job he inherited from the late County Judge M. Andrew Dwyer Jr. in 1993 following eight years in Troy City Court, and that he intends to keep it.
There's no substitute for experience, McGrath said in his re-election announcement. "I have presided over more than 4,000 felony cases as county judge," he said. "My 17 years as a full-time criminal court judge makes me most qualified to meet the demands of this very important job."
McGrath said he's worked hard to ensure justice is delivered in a firm, consistent and fair manner and will continue to do so, when re-elected.
The judge was virtually drawn and quartered by Republicans last year, however, after former County Executive Henry Zwack was acquitted at trial by two juries in seven months.
McGrath authorized the use of a special prosecutor in the case that included claims Zwack orchestrated a pair of alleged scams to help a political crony's grandson keep a police position and to cover up another county employee's no-show job.
State Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno blasted McGrath publicly for presiding over what he called "an expensive miscarriage of justice."
McGrath fired back, in a rare response, that the statement by the powerful Brunswick Republican, whose son is the Rensselaer County district attorney, was an attack on the legal system itself.
County Republicans have promised to launch a concerted campaign to unseat McGrath, a Democrat, but to date have not revealed a challenger.
Thursday, McGrath said he is mindful of the presumed effort to trounce him, but not ruffled by it.
"There's an old saying that you always have to run scared," he said. "And I always do that. But I also feel I can run on my record and experience, and I plan to do that, too." His record includes a 1996 case in which McGrath conducted the only double jury murder trial in the county's history in the 1987 execution-style murder of a young Stewart's Shop manager.
He created the first Drug Court in upstate New York in 1997 to provide treatment for nonviolent felony offenders, and was the first judge in the state to uphold the constitutionality of Buster's Law, which stiffened penalties for aggravated cruelty to animals.
He is an advocate of open court proceedings and rarely, if ever, refuses access to cameras.
McGrath, 50, attended Catholic Central High School; graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Manhattan College; and received his law degree from Albany Law School.
He lives in Troy with his wife, Louise Leonard McGrath, and children Patrick, Molly, Alison and Timothy.
L.I. Monsignor Scorns Jury, Insisting He Is No 'Monster'
This article was reported by Dan Barry, Daniel J. Wakin and Elissa Gootman and
written by Mr. Barry.
02/20/2003
Metropolitan Desk; Section A
The New York Times
Page 1, Column 1
c. 2003 New York Times Company
Although his name never appears in the recent Suffolk County grand jury report on sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests on Long Island, Msgr. Alan J. Placa acknowledges that he emerges as a central villain. Not only does the report suggest that he is the imperious architect of policies that protected pedophiles, but it says that three decades ago he groped teenage boys through their clothes and made ''feeble attempts'' to grope an altar server.
Before the sexual abuse scandal spread to the Long Island diocese last year, Monsignor Placa was best known as the high-ranking adviser in the Diocese of Rockville Centre; the close friend of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani; the gifted homilist who struck some as brilliant and others as clinically detached, even arrogant. Now he is portrayed as the dark figure, ''Priest F,'' in the angels-and-devils story laid out in 180 pages by last week's grand jury report.
''I'm not even a human being,'' he said during an interview last week at the Midtown office of Giuliani Partners, where he works as a consultant. ''I'm a monster.''
Monsignor Placa was not among the 97 witnesses to testify before the grand jury during its eight-month inquiry. Robert Clifford, a spokesman for the Suffolk County district attorney's office, declined yesterday to discuss who had been subpoenaed and who had not.
But if the monsignor had testified -- and he would have, he says -- the grand jury would have seen a 58-year-old man with a meticulously groomed beard and mustache, whose pale face flushes at the thought of his precipitous fall. A year ago he was the bishop's representative on extremely delicate matters, conducting the diocesan equivalent of internal affairs investigations. Now he is on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the diocese's inquiry into the abuse allegations. For now, he is prohibited from celebrating Mass in public and wearing clerical garb without permission from the bishop.
With alternate flashes of erudition and impatience, Monsignor Placa emphatically denied virtually everything said about him in the report -- especially the declaration that he abused minors -- and frequently played down his influence within the diocese.
For years his reputation within the diocese was that of ''a heartless persecutor of priests,'' he said. ''And now, in fact, to be told that I was not a protector, but a predator. That I was a predator because of the preposterous allegations of abuse lodged against me personally, and that I was the architect of a policy whose purpose was to deprive people of their rights and to protect sexual ---- that's heartbreaking.''
The subject of Monsignor Placa generates strong emotions, pro and con. ''I would trust him to handle anything with judgment and good taste and to always do the right thing,'' said Peter Powers, a former deputy mayor to Mr. Giuliani who has known Monsignor Placa since high school. But Robert Fulton, who was the diocese's director of priest health services before leaving the priesthood, said: ''Placa tried to handle this all to the law of Placa. People didn't trust him; he's a snake.''
To make sense of the wrenching crisis at the Diocese of Rockville Centre, one first has to make sense of Monsignor Placa.
Alan Placa attended Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Brooklyn, where he began lifelong friendships with Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Powers. The three men have often reminisced about attending opera performances, and staying up late to talk about politics, theology and poetry.
The three friends also attended Manhattan College together. Mr. Giuliani said later that he and Alan Placa had considered earning doctoral degrees and becoming ''practicing philosophers,'' earning a living by ''just sitting somewhere, developing ideas and thoughts.'' Instead, Rudy Giuliani and Peter Powers went on to law school, and Alan Placa went on to the seminary.
Alan Placa was ordained a priest in May 1970, and assigned as an associate pastor at St. Patrick's parish in Glen Cove. Then, from 1974 to 1978, he was the dean of students at St. Pius X Preparatory Seminary, a high school in Uniondale. He worked for Catholic Charities, graduated from Hofstra University School of Law and, before long, became the diocese's point man under Bishop John R. McGann on the occasional allegation of abuse involving a minor.
''We'd often observe that they'd come in clumps,'' he said. ''We'd get two or three in the space of a month, and then we wouldn't hear anything for months.''
He cast himself as an expert on clerical sexual abuse, helping the diocese devise legal policies and consulting on cases around the country. In 1990, he contributed an essay to a book called ''Slayer of the Soul: Child Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church,'' in which he emphasized that a diocese must first treat victims compassionately -- although, he added, ''as a lawyer I am not ashamed to admit that I have a concern for protecting the assets of the church.''
In his essay, he warned that a mere accusation can cause lasting damage to a priest. He also suggested that an abusive priest can return to ministry after extensive, effective treatment, but only under supervision and with no contact with minors. He reiterated that position during last week's interview; he said that the ''zero tolerance'' policy adopted last year by American bishops -- in which priests found guilty of a single sexual offense are automatically removed from ministry -- was immoral and ''un-Christian.''
The Rev. Stephen J. Rossetti, a psychologist who edited the book, said that Monsignor Placa was among the first priests to focus on clerical sexual abuse. ''Before everyone casts him in the role of being a bad guy, Al is one of the pioneers who tried to help the church,'' said Father Rossetti, the president of the St. Luke Institute in Silver Spring, Md., where priests accused of sexual abuse were sometimes sent for evaluation.
But the grand jury report portrays Monsignor Placa as a central figure in a conspiracy of decades within the Diocese of Rockville Centre to save face and money -- by shuffling abusive priests from parish to parish and by using an ''intervention team'' to trick victims into silence and to quash legal claims. He was arrogant and cold, it said, so much so that a nun once called him a bastard. And, when interviewing alleged victims, he purposely disguised the fact that he was a diocesan lawyer as well as a priest.
To support these impressions, the report quotes from several of the monsignor's memorandums. In June 1993, for example, he instructed colleagues not to identify him as a lawyer when referring abuse cases to him, in part because he served as an administrator in such cases. ''My legal training is very useful in helping to gather and analyze facts,'' he wrote, ''and in helping us to avoid some obvious pitfalls, but we must avoid 'frightening' people.''
Over the last year, several victims and their relatives have complained about Monsignor Placa's manner. Kathy Lotten, whose son was abused as a teenager by a priest in Kings Park in the late 1970's, called the diocese in 1993 after learning that the priest had been appointed pastor at another parish. She said that Monsignor Placa was ''kind of oily.''
''He was very articulate and used a lot of big words, which I felt was to intimidate me,'' Mrs. Lotten said. ''One in particular I remember was, if this priest is guilty he's guilty of ephebophilia'' -- the abuse of an adolescent, not a child. ''He said, 'Are you aware that the statute is way out,' or something along those lines, and I can't sue.''
''I wouldn't swear to it, but I do not remember him saying that he was an attorney,'' she said. ''If he was there as an attorney, then I should have had an attorney.''
Monsignor Placa dismissed the controversy over his priest-lawyer role as a ''red herring.'' He said that if he had identified himself as a lawyer, people might have mistakenly thought that he handled litigation on abuse cases, which he did not. Besides, he said, ''the vast majority of cases, 95 percent of the cases, were outside the statute of limitations.''
''Everyone came to me because I was the bishop's representative,'' he said, his voice rising in disbelief. ''They knew that. Not only did they know it -- it wasn't something that was slipped over on them -- it's what they asked for.''
He also said: ''If I had identified myself as a lawyer, what would they have done differently? Not told me their troubles?''
The monsignor said the report left the impression that he was omnipotent within the church. This impression was bolstered by the central role he played in the annulment of Mr. Giuliani's first marriage to his second cousin in the early 1980's.
The monsignor said that perception of power was overblown. He said he played no role in reassigning priests and rarely kept track of an accused priest once he had completed the evaluation. In fact, he said, the diocese sometimes ignored his advice to have all accused priests evaluated at facilities with no connection to the church.
He oversaw health care for the diocese, he said, and, as a member of its intervention team, conducted the initial investigation of most of the allegations of abuse by priests. He said that in every case, he offered to arrange counseling for the alleged victims -- whether he believed they were telling the truth or not -- and that in every case, ''the priest was immediately removed from his assignment'' for evaluation.
He said that many priests despised him as a result, but that he had no choice. If an alleged victim came forward to say that the claim had been made up, then Monsignor Placa said that he would apologize to the priest, and ask for the priest's forgiveness.
''However, suppose you try the other direction,'' he said. ''I come to you, I say this kid says you did this. You say, 'I did not,' and I say, 'I believe you.' And two weeks later you molest another child. Who the hell is going to go to that kid and say, 'I'm sorry'?''
Monsignor Placa said that the diocese did make mistakes, but he categorized them as being in the ''If I knew then what I know now'' vein. He maintained, for example, that the model he developed for responding to allegations of abuse -- the three-priest ''intervention team'' -- was sound, and saw no difference in the model now used by the bishop of Rockville Center, William Murphy: a three-member team that includes a priest, a nun and a former police chief.
''The model is skills sets: legal, clinical and church administrative,'' he said. ''I don't think there's any difference at all, unless you assume that priests are untrustworthy.'' Then he added that having a woman on the panel ''enriches the way that model works.''
When asked to cite one mistake that he personally made, he began by again saying, ''If I knew then what I know now.'' He remembered a complaint about a priest who frequently invited children to listen to music in his room in the rectory. Monsignor Placa interviewed the children and the priest, and determined that nothing untoward was happening, although, he said, he told the priest and his pastor that these get-togethers were not ''wise.''
''As a matter of fact, I now find out that he was in fact apparently sexually abusing kids,'' he said.
Monsignor Placa is not named in the grand jury report. Mr. Clifford said the district attorney's office believed no one was identifiable, a responsibility that he said had been ''handled with care.''
But general biographical details, combined with the report's statement that Priest F was instrumental in developing the diocese's policy on abuse allegations, clearly point to Monsignor Placa.
According to the grand jury, Monsignor Placa -- or ''Priest F'' -- was guilty of the very behavior that he was trying to weed out. It said that in the early 1970's, he demonstrated conduct that ''was, at first, so equivocal, his victims weren't really sure it was happening to them -- that is, until it happened again and again and again.''
On two occasions, the report says, Priest F ''appears to have made feeble attempts at abusing a boy who was an altar server.'' It adds, ''This victim came forward decades later, only after Priest F denied sexually abusing anyone in a local newspaper story about sexually abusive priests.''
Monsignor Placa said that the first he heard of this allegation, which dates to his years as a young priest at St. Patrick's in Glen Cove, was ''when I read the grand jury report.'' He denied ever trying to grope a minor.
The grand jury report says that Priest F was then given an assignment ''that provided a large and continuous source of boys -- a school,'' a reference to St. Pius. It says that Priest F was ''cautious but relentless in pursuing his victims''; that he groped boys behind a newspaper, book or poster; and that everyone in the school knew to stay away from him.
Although the report is vague on how many people have accused Monsignor Placa of groping them at St. Pius, one is clearly Richard Tollner, a 1977 graduate who is now a mortgage broker living near Albany. Mr. Tollner has told reporters, the grand jury and diocesan officials that Monsignor Placa repeatedly groped him. He has said that he mentioned the incidents to a classmate, Kevin Waldron, and that he complained to a math teacher, Angelo Scordato.
Mr. Waldron said yesterday that he specifically recalled that Mr. Tollner had told him about the groping. But Mr. Scordato, now retired, said on Sunday that he had no recollection of such events, and that he told Mr. Tollner this when Mr. Tollner called him while cooperating with Newsday last year on an article about Monsignor Placa.
''I find it incredible that I'd forget something like that -- and I'm not senile,'' Mr. Scordato said. ''I would have gone directly to the rector's office. I wouldn't have tolerated that kind of nonsense.''
Last spring, after Newsday reported Mr. Tollner's allegation, the Nassau County district attorney's office notified the diocese that it was investigating the alleged abuse, a quarter-century later. As a result, Bishop Murphy placed Monsignor Placa on administrative leave.
Mr. Tollner said this week, ''I have nothing to add to my previous testimony, and I stand by it.'' Monsignor Placa said that he never touched Mr. Tollner, whom he remembered as a ''troubled boy'' who was always ''singling himself out.''
Monsignor Placa said that he was especially outraged to see himself included in the ''Priests as Perpetrators'' section of the grand jury's report. There are detailed allegations of abuse: of children being raped by priests, of a minor being taken to a sex club by a priest -- and, as the monsignor noted in a sarcastic tone, ''a clumsy attempt to abuse by touching someone's thigh.''
''Give me a break!'' he said. ''Let me tell you something. My hand up to God, I didn't do any of those things! But if that were true, does that belong in there?''
Monsignor Placa has no choice but to wait for the diocese to complete its inquiry. He said that he expects to be exonerated, which would allow him to return to ministry. Until then, he wears a suit to the offices of Giuliani Partners.
Photo: Msgr. Alan J. Placa, in a photo he supplied through Giuliani Partners. He is now on administrative leave from the Diocese of Rockville Centre. (Nick Iverson)(pg. B6)
Copyright 2003 The Hearst Corporation
The Times Union (Albany, NY)
February 26, 2003 Wednesday 4 EDITION
SECTION: CAPITAL REGION, Pg. F5
HEADLINE: Maple Hill graduate named to teachers"Who's Who'
Kevin Manning, the son of Mike and Pat Manning of Troy, was named to the dean's list at Manhattan College, Riverdale. A graduate of La Salle Institute, he is sophomore majoring in secondary education.
LOAD-DATE: February 26, 2003
FROM THE COLLEGE’S WEB SITE: Your resume can be sent to employers who contact our office seeking to fill positions. For more information contact the Recruitment Coordinator at (718) 862-7965 or Email to JGlenn@manhattan.edu
Actual jobs at MC are at: http://www.manhattan.edu/hrs/jobs
From: Robert Straub
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 9:57 PM
Subject: jasper jottings
Please add me to your list. Please also post my resume.
Robert M. Straub '82
===
Summary
Technical professional with skills in program development, team interactions, an in depth knowledge of the C++ and C programming languages on Solaris and AIX, and proficiency in multithreaded programming.
Work Experience
Mar. 2000 - Oct. 2002. Goldman Sachs and Spear, Leeds & Kellogg. New York, NY. Senior Analyst/Developer.
Developing software for stock and option electronic trading
Numerous
feature and performance enhancements to the
Tradefactory product
Enhancement
of an order routing program to allow customers to
use Tcl scripts to provide customized
rules for order routing.
Enhancements
to trading system software to support decimal
prices
Developing
C++ and C code to run on Solaris using both the
GNU GCC and Sun Forte compilers
Software performance tuning
Upgrading software to support multithreading
Oct. 1990 - Feb. 2000. IBM. Poughkeepsie, NY and Kingston, NY. Advisory Software Engineer.
Nine years
experience with C/UNIX coding for IBM RS/6000 and
SP machines including both user
space and kernel level
programming and multithreaded
programming.
Development
of point-to-point communication layer in
IBM's
implementation of the MPI
message passing interface
Enhanced
MPI point-to-point communication layer to run in a
multithreaded environment,
provide support for MPI-IO and MPI
1-sided communications, and run
on newer versions of SP
hardware
Development
of communication code to enable use of the high
performance switch on IBM's SP
parallel processors, including a
library of system calls
providing low latency communication
Implemented
point to point message passing code for IBM's MPL
message passing library
Design and
implementation of "Mailbox
Handler"
communications code to support
Clustered Fortran, a parallel
programming language, on IBM's InPac parallel computer
Sept. 1988 - Sept. 1990. IBM Research, Yorktown Heights, Postdoc.
Design and
implementation of an assembler for the
intermediate level
representation used by IBM's XL family of
compilers
Design and
implementation of runtime library code for a
Software Engineering Design
Language (SEDL) compiler
June 1987 - Sept. 1988. New York University, Assistant Research Scientist.
Worked on
the SETL project at NYU: Participated in the design
of a new version of the SETL
programming language and design
of a
run time system for the new
implementation of SETL
Sept. 1982 - May 1987. New York University. Graduate Assistant
Skills
Work and academic experience includes use of the following:
Languages: C++, C
Systems: Sun Solaris and SunOS, AIX on IBM RS/6000 and SP
(including kernel level programming
Patents
Mar. 7, 2000. Optimistic eager rendezvous transmission system and combined rendezvous system for message processing, and related data structures. Patent Number 6,035,335.
Aug. 8, 1995. Communication Protocol for handling arbitrarily varying data strides in a distributed processing environment. Patent Number 5,440,687.
Education
June 1988. New York University: Ph.D., Computer Science
Thesis: Taliere: An Interactive System for Data Structuring
SETL Programs
June 1984. New York University: M.S., Computer Science
June 1982. Manhattan College: B.S. Mathematics
Graduated summa cum laude with 4.0
cumulative grade point
index.
Member Phi Beta Kappa
FROM THE COLLEGE’S WEB SITE: http://www.gojaspers.com [which is no longer at the College, but at a third party. Web bugs are on the pages. (That’s the benefit of being a security weenie!) So, it’s reader beware. Your browser can tell people “stuff” about you, like your email address, leading to SPAM. Forewarned is forearmed.]
The only reason for putting this here is to give us a chance to attend one of these games and support "our" team.
Date Day Sport Opponent
Location Time/Result
2/13/03 Thursday W. Basketball
Fairfield* (DH) HOME 5:30 PM
2/13/03 Thursday M. Basketball
Fairfield* (DH) HOME 7:30 PM
2/14/03 Friday Track & Field Armory
Collegiate The Armory 10:00 AM
2/15/03 Saturday Track & Field
Armory Collegiate The
Armory 10:00 AM
2/15/03 Saturday W. Swimming St.
Joseph's HOME 1:30 PM
2/16/03 Sunday W. Basketball Loyola* Baltimore, MD 2:00 PM
2/16/03 Sunday M. Basketball Iona* New Rochelle, NY 4:00 PM
2/19/03 Wednesday W. Swimming MAAC
Championships Baltimore, MD TBA
2/20/03 Thursday W. Swimming MAAC
Championships Baltimore, MD TBA
2/21/03 Friday W. Swimming MAAC
Championships Baltimore, MD TBA
2/21/03 Friday W. Basketball
Marist* Poughkeepsie, NY 7:00 PM
2/22/03 Saturday W. Swimming MAAC
Championships Baltimore, MD TBA
2/22/03 Saturday Track & Field MAAC
Indoor Championship HOME 10:00 AM
2/22/03 Saturday Baseball Elon
(DH) Elon College, NC 12:00 PM
2/22/03 Saturday M. Lacrosse
Denver Denver, CO 1:30 PM
2/23/03 Sunday M. Lacrosse Air
Force Denver, CO 11:00 AM
2/23/03 Sunday Baseball Elon Elon College, NC 12:00 PM
2/23/03 Sunday M. Basketball
Loyola* Trenton, NJ (Sov. Bank
Arena) 4:00 PM
2/25/03 Tuesday W. Basketball
Siena* HOME 7:00 PM
2/26/03 Wednesday M. Lacrosse
Rutgers Piscataway, NJ 3:00 PM
2/27/03 Thursday W. Lacrosse
Lehigh Away 4:00 PM
2/27/03 Thursday M. Basketball
Siena* Albany, NY 7:00 PM
2/28/03 Friday Baseball New
Orleans New Orleans, LA 6:00 PM
2/28/03 Friday W. Basketball Saint
Peter's* HOME 7:00 PM
JASPERS FALL TO SIENA 72-68
Despite Loss, Manhattan Remains Atop the MAAC
ALBANY, NY (February 27, 2003) -- The Manhattan College Jaspers (20-6; 13-4) lost a hard-fought 72-68 decision to Siena tonight at the Pepsi Arena.
Before a sold-out crowd 9,032, Siena's Tommy Mitchell made all six free throws in the final 51 seconds to seal the game for the Saints (17-9; 11-6).
Manhattan led 35-30 at the intermission.
Luis Flores had a game-high 29 points, while Dave Holmes recorded 13 points and 11 boards.
Jared Johnson hit 2 free throws with 1:50 remaining to cut the lead to 64-63, but the Jaspers would get no closer. Johnson finished with 13 points.
The Jaspers, who remain in first place in the MAAC, will finish the regular season at Draddy on Sunday at 7pm, when the archrival Iona Gaels come calling. The game will be televised live on the MSG Network.
=
WOMEN'S LACROSSE LOSES SEASON OPENER TO LEHIGH
BETHLEHEM, PA (February 27, 2003) - The Manhattan College women's lacrosse team lost 13-5 to Lehigh on Thursday.
The Lady Jaspers drop to 0-1 while Lehigh improves to 2-0 on the season.
Nora Jacquette (Ambler, PA) scored in the first two minutes to give Manhattan an early lead but Lehigh responded with seven first half goals and took a 7-3 lead at the half.
The Mountain Hawks scored the first six goals of the second half and built a 13-3 lead. Kellan Van Hoesen scored three of her four goals in the second half for Lehigh.
Mary Dudek (Pearl River, NY) and Molly Pheterson (Rochester, NY) scored two goals each for Manhattan.
Israpon Pananon (Burtonsville, MD) made 19 saves for Manhattan.
The Lady Jaspers return to action on Saturday, March 1, when they face Columbia at 1:00 PM.
==
MEN’S LACROSSE LOSES 7-3 TO RUTGERS
PISCATAWAY, NJ (February 26, 2003) – The Manhattan College men's lacrosse team lost 7-3 to Rutgers on Wednesday.
The Jaspers (1-2) fell behind 2-0 in the first quarter to the Scarlet Knights (2-0). Manhattan came back to tie the game on goals from Brady Becklo (Gill, MA) and Justin Otto (Merrick, NY).
Rutgers scored the games next five goals to take a 7-2 lead. Delby Powless and Leif Blomquist scored two goals each to help Rutgers recapture the lead. Greg Bartolotta (Chester, NY) added a goal from an assist by Michael Kelly (Syracuse, NY) to make it 7-3.
Matt Altomare (Bethpage, NY) made nine saves for Manhattan while Greg Havalchak made 11 saves for Rutgers.
The Jaspers return to action on Saturday, March 1, when they face Quinnipiac at 11:00 AM.
===
LADY JASPERS WINNING STREAK ENDS AGAINST SIENA
RIVERDALE, NY (February 25, 2003) – The Manhattan College women's basketball team lost 76-64 to Siena on Tuesday evening at Draddy Gym.
The Lady Jaspers' (16-9, 13-3) streak of thirteen consecutive wins was snapped. Siena is now 21-6 overall and 14-3 in the conference. The Saints are now a half game ahead of the Lady Jaspers for first place in the MAAC, but Manhattan can clinch first place with victories in its next two contests.
Despite Rosalee Mason (London, England) scoring a game-high 25 points and grabbing nine rebounds, the combination of Gunta Basko, Liene Jansone and Erica Anderson proved to be too much for Manhattan. Jansone scored 24 points, Anderson had 13 points and Basko scored all 14 of her points in the second half to lead the Saints to the 12-point victory.
After a Donnette “Shorty” Reed (Syracuse, NY) three-pointer tied the game at 44, the Saints went on a 15-6 run to take a 59-50 lead. After the teams traded baskets, Mason scored four straight points to bring the Lady Jaspers within five, 61-56. However, Jansone connected on a corner jumper and Basko drilled a deep three-pointer to keep the Saints ahead.
Manhattan took a 31-30 lead into the half. Mason scored 13 points and Serra Sangar (Istanbul, Turkey) scored seven of her 11 points in the first half.
Both teams shot extremely well from the foul line. The Saints shot a perfect 16-16 and the Lady Jaspers made 16-19 for the game. Siena shot 52.7% from the field while Manhattan made 35.9% of its shots.
The Lady Jaspers return to action on Friday, February 28, when they host Saint Peter's at 7:00 PM at Draddy Gym.
====
BASEBALL PICKED FOURTH IN MAAC PRESEASON POLL
Centerfielder Matt Cucurullo Named to Preseason All-Conference Team
EDISON, NJ (February 25, 2003) – The Manhattan College baseball team was tabbed to finish fourth in the MAAC conference, as announced by league officials today. Three-time MAAC champion Marist College was picked to win the conference title again this season.
Additionally, junior centerfielder Matt Cucurullo (Valhalla, NY) was one of three outfielders named to the Preseason All-MAAC Team. Cucurullo is coming off a sensational sophomore season in which he hit .370 with a school-record tying 68 hits and 36 RBI. Cucurullo also set a school record with 25 stolen bases and boasted a .959 fielding percentage.
The Jaspers are coming off a brilliant 2002 season, winning a school record-tying 32 games. Manhattan finished fifth in the conference at 16-11, just one game shy of making the playoffs.
The Jaspers were rained out of last weekend's season-opening three-game series with Elon College but look to get things going this weekend at the University of New Orleans. The Jaspers' home opener is slated for Wednesday March 19 against Lehigh.
2003 Preseason Coaches' Poll
1. Marist 93
2. LeMoyne 87
3. Rider 77
4. Manhattan 68
5. Siena 66
6. Iona 51
7. Fairfield 37
8. Niagara 33
9. Saint Peter's 26
10. Canisius 12
none?
From: Cornelius J O'Leary
Sent: Sunday, February 23, 2003 6:11 AM
Subject: Manhattan College Gulf Coast Alumni
Hi John,
I Would Appreciate It If You Could Include In Your Next Jottings Information Concerning A Dinner Being Planned By The Manhattan College Gulf Coast Alumni Club. It Will Be Held At 5pm On April 5th At The Silver Cricket Restaurant In Sarasota. Anyone Interested In Additional Information Should Contact Neil O'Leary '60 C/O Jottings.
Thank You
[JR: Done ]
From: Peter
Dans
Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 8:14 PM
Subject: Pinched Nerve and Website
Hi John:
Sorry to hear
about your pinched nerve. I hope you are
getting better. If not, the doctor in me wonders if a) the pinched nerve is in
your neck and due to a cervical spine injury or somewhere else; b) if you are
getting good medical care; and c) if so, is whatever treatment you're getting
having a positive effect. If not, it may
be time to get more and better advice.
I am enclosing
a URL for a website describing my new children's book entitled "Perry's
Baltimore Adventure: A Bird's-Eye View of Charm City". http://www.cornellmaritimepress.com/index.htm
Thanks for all
your hard work in keeping alumni connected.
Best wishes,
Peter E. Dans BS '57
[JR: I suspect
they have it right. In pt, when they stretch my neck I am symptom free for
about 2 hours. It is improving ever so slightly, but it's not linear. (Us
engineers love things to be linear and predictable.) In any event, after my
next doc appt, I intend to see a chiropractor and an acupuncturist. I don't
care who fixes it. But, it is definitely impacting me. Sigh. Thanks for your
kind thoughts and all the good wishes. (Some of our fellow Jaspers are actually
quite funny.) "Lefty and voice actuated"]
From: louis menchise
Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2003 6:12 PM
Subject: Re: No issue this week due to CIC's piched nerve, Sorry.
I hope you feel better. I'm actually using the computer belonging to my army unit's chaplain. He's a Fordham graduate. I am trying to be nice to the less fortunate. I look forward to Jasper Jottings in the future.
Louis Menchise
'87 B
[JR: Glad to hear from you. Yeah, Fordham guys aren't all bad. ]
From: Robert Straub
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 9:57 PM
Subject: jasper jottings
Please add me to your list. Please also post my resume.
Robert M. Straub '82
[JR: done ]
From: Phelps, Steve [mailto:sphelps@svcmcny.org]
Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2003 6:12 PM
Subject: FW: [TFZ] Blogging from Operation Enduring Freedom
Here's a whole new form of war correspondence:
http://lt-smash.com/
From: Pereira Segundo Col AMC/DS
Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 1:12 PM
Subject: A fellow Jasper....Class of 76'
Understand you are the keeper of the JASPER tracker....
SEGUNDO PEREIRA, Col, USAF
Director of Staff
From: Harvey, John J.
Sent: Monday, February 24, 2003 10:19 AM
Subject: RE: jasperjottings20030223.htm
I don't know what happened but your jasper jottings is a mess. Enclosed is a small piece of the jottings maybe you can figure out what when wrong.....
Thanks for all you effort
John J. Harvey
From: Gerard M. Delaney
Sent: Sunday, February 23, 2003 2:07 PM
Subject: Re: jasperjottings20030223.htm
John,
From the article comparing Manhattan and Fordham (ritual mouth clearing noises after mentioning that name) basketball programs:
> It is a
short drive from Manhattan College to Fordham University,
>about
>three miles. In some ways, the two colleges are even closer than
>that. They
>have relatively small campuses in the Bronx, their emphasis is on a
> quality
>Catholic education, and their students scurry to buildings that seem
>untouched since they were built in the mid-1800's.
Gee, I always thought that the current Quad was built in the 1920's. Have to check out the cornerstone on the Admin Building (now Memorial Hall) next time I'm on campus.
Peace,
Gerard
Your nerves are in my prayers. ....
--
Gerard M. Delaney
Melbourne, FL 32935
From: Paul D. Loreto
Subject: RE: jasperjottings2001117.htm
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 21:05:57 -0800
John: The Nov 17, 2002 is the last issue I received. I had a 2 or 3 day problem with my current domain name. My email address remains : <privacy invoked>. Thank you for your hard work on the Jasper Jottings E-mail.
Paul D. Loreto, Attorney
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
[JR: I rejoined you. I usually wait two or three breaks before I disconnect. SO if you don't get anything, please check in.]
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.
The following link is an attempt to derail spammers. Don't take it.
<A HREF="http://www.monkeys.com/spammers-are-leeches/"> </A>
Pinched nerve prevents comment. Dona nobis pacem. Fill in the rest for yourself.
Curmudgeon
And that’s the last word.