Sunday 29 February 2004

Dear Jaspers,

The jasper jottings email list has 1005 subscribers.

=========================================================

This issue is at: http://ferdinand_reinke.tripod.com/jasperjottings20040229.htm

=========================================================

Time for everyone to help. Don’t get in a sweat. You won’t have to open your wallet or do heavy lifting. You just have to change your thinking.

This will allow me to prioritize what has to be done when and possibly delegate some of the work one of these days.

=========================================================

Don't forget:

Th, May 6th Kevin O'Shea fundraiser

Sa Jun 12 '04 National Alumni Council meeting
         please contact Peter Sweeney ’64  (973) 353-7610

Please submit your events to events@jasperjottings.com

=========================================================

My list of Jaspers who are in harms way:

- Afghanistan
- - Cote, Richard A. (1990)
- - Feldman, Aaron (1997)

- Iraq
- - Esposito, Steven G. (1981)
- - Menchise, Louis (1987)
- - Mortillo, Steven F., son of Mortillo, Steve (1980)

… … my thoughts are with you and all that I don't know about.

And, a welcome home to John W. Dandola, son of my best friend John Dandola '69 and my god child. His mom, dad, and I can finally take a deep breath. I wish the same for all the Moms, Dads, and Godparents everywhere.

=========================================================

REPEATING

I believe that Manhattan College and / or the Alumni Organization has decided to “pull the plug” on their relationship with Harris Publishing. This belief is disputed by the Alumni Organization. Harris is the firm who produced the Green Book and had the On Line Data Base that you have seen me refer to.

ASSESSMENT.

The name@alum.manhattan.edu facility is down. Users are losing mail! Sorry for the bad advice.

The MCOLDB had the ability to mark contacts, if you used it, sorry it’s gone.

Anyone, who remembers "PlanetAll", can say it has happened again with Harris.

My ability to look up Class Years for findings, news stories, and stuff is gone. I am afraid that over time the index will just become a series of ????. So, you’re help in “filling in the blanks” is appreciated.

Without MCOLDB, my prospecting activities are very limited. I can not find alums who get email for the first time, or who change and update that web site..

All in all it's a very bad time for this hobby. You can see the handwriting on the wall.

Update: there is some reactivation activity for the @alum facility, but, it doesn't work yet. However, it appears from my limited testing that messages are now forwarding from some old setups to whatever email was established at the time. Test your own by sending yourself a message. It might work.

=========================================================

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ManhattanCollegeAlumni/

Alumni and Friends of Manhattan College, located in the Bronx, a borough of New York City, are all welcome here. The group has no official connection with the College. The group is operated by John Reinke at the direction of a steering committee who's membership varies.

How do I join the ManhattanCollegeAlumni Yahoo Group?

Click on the Join This Group button on front page of any group.

If you are not signed in, you will be asked to enter your Yahoo! ID. If you do not have a Yahoo! ID, you can click on the link New to Yahoo!? Sign up now.

Set your membership preferences. When you join, you can choose a profile you'd like to display to the group, select the email address at which you'd like to receive group messages, choose how you receive group messages, and more.

That's all there is.

=========================================================

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Manhattan_Prep/ 

Manhattan College Preparatory High School Alumni (from any year)

A gathering spot for a dying breed of attendees of the Prep which closed in 19??.

How do I join a group?

Click on the Join This Group button on front page of any group.

If you are not signed in, you will be asked to enter your Yahoo! ID. If you do not have a Yahoo! ID, you can click on the link New to Yahoo!? Sign up now.

Set your membership preferences. When you join, you can choose a profile you'd like to display to the group, select the email address at which you'd like to receive group messages, choose how you receive group messages, and more.

That's all there is.

===<Begin Quote>===

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4249012/

From mice to milk

By Darrell Edward Ehrlick

The Herald Journal

Updated: 04:00 AM PT  Feb. 12, 2004

Cat found after more than three years missing SMITHFIELD -- Tamie Jorgensen hardly passed a cat killed by a car without checking. Her daughter, Stephine Wardwell, must have put a thousand fliers up when Thomas O'Malley went missing.

Tim Jorgensen tried to convince his wife and stepdaughter that the big gray cat with green eyes wasn't coming back. They just wouldn't believe it.

"I thought he was gone," Tim Jorgensen said. "I tried to get them to say that he was gone forever."

So when Smithfield animal control officer Rocky Taylor trapped a big gray tomcat just down the road from the Jorgensen's, Tamie just knew that Thomas O'Malley (also known as Fatso) had returned.

This time Tim just couldn't believe it.

Thomas O'Malley had been gone for over three years. Though he had left the house, he apparently never really left Smithfield. Wardwell and Tamie Jorgensen would routinely call for Thomas, but he never returned after that fall night in 2000 when he sprinted from their Smithfield garage.

Though she posted fliers around the neighborhood and town, no one saw the resemblance between the cat on the posters and the cat who roamed the neighborhood just a few blocks away.

For three years Wardwell and Jorgensen can only assume that Thomas O'Malley, who has since shed his nickname after shedding a few pounds, has lived off of mice, birds and other outdoor cat food.

A couple of neighbors said they chased Thomas O'Malley off their lawns previously, others reported that he sometimes hangs around. No one seemed to think he had a home.

Wardwell was surprised with O'Malley on Saturday night after she returned home from California.

"It was crazy," Wardwell said of the reunion. "I couldn't believe it. I was so happy."

Wardwell, who is a student at Sky View High School, was also surprised to learn that the cat which had been raised in the sunshine of California had survived Utah winters.

"I didn't think he'd survive. He'd only been here one-and-a-half months before he ran," Wardwell said.

Though a skeptic might be tempted to believe that this gray cat is one that looks or acts similar, Wardwell said there's no mistaking ol' Thomas.

"He didn't even change," she said, cradling him like a baby on Tuesday. "He does the same things, he has the same white spots, he has the same little balding area and he looks the same and acts the same."

Even the laid-back personality is still the same.

"He's still mellow. I thought he might get mean, but these other cats will get up and hiss at him, and he'll just lay there," Wardwell said.

Since O'Malley's return, he's been taken to the veterinarian and also rapidly converted to an indoor cat.

While humans have rags-to-riches stories, for cats, the path might be more like mice to milk.

Wardwell said Thomas O'Malley will be spoiled like the other cats. Besides regular cat food, he'll now get occasional cat treats, milk and he'll sleep on the bed.

"Some people think I am crazy -- that this cannot be him -- but what are the chances?" Wardwell said.

===<End Quote>===

Interesting human phenomena. They didn’t think the cat could survive without them. Evidently the cat had confidence in its own abilities. Just as we should. Adversity comes to everyone. Some get “stuck” in the particular “ditch” for a long time, even letting a temporary setback change their self-image, their beliefs, and their modus operendi. Now insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. In my own life, I have seen good people stuck in a rut of their own making. I hope I can be the “life long learner” I know I am capable of being. I hope that I can see the difference between persistence and stubbornness. What I wish for myself, I am sure you have already found being further along the enlightenment curve than I. For those behind me on that curve, this is my idea and I don’t want to share. ;-) That may be the problem. Don’t worry how the pie is divided; make the pie bigger for all. Simple stuff, but it takes lost cats to make me think.

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
john.reinke@att.net

=====

CONTENTS

 

1

Formal announcements

 

3

Bouncing off the list

 

2

Updates to the list

 

2

Messages from Headquarters (like MC Press Releases)

 

1

Jaspers publishing web pages

 

1

Jaspers found web-wise

 

0

Good News

 

2

Obits

 

6

"Manhattan in the news" stories

 

0

Resumes

 

18

Sports

 

12

Emails

 

[PARTICIPANTS BY CLASS]

Class

Name

Section

????

Ahearn, Kevin

News4

????

Brimo, Joseph

Email08

????

Cupo, Jim

Updates

????

Hodgson, Jack

Announcement1

????

Muller, Fr. Donald

Bouncing

????

O'Prey, Richard

News6

1935?

Naimoli, John C.

Obit2

1939

Holodak, Mildred

Email12

1941

Holodak, John S.

Email12

1952

Franks, Henry

Email02

1953

Blanco, Fr. John

Email12

1953

McEneney, Mike

Email12

1954

Grenier, Edward J. Jr.

Updates

1955

Oliva, L. Jay

Email12

1957

Fink, Bob

Email12

1959

Cabranes, Manny

Email06

1960

Bottlik, Geza P.

 Email04

1960

Fogarty, Martin Daniel

Found1

1960

Hyland, Francis A.

Obit1

1960

Hyland, Frank

Email04

1961

Belnavis, Sam

News5

1964

Badalamenti, Anthony

Email07

1966

Holodak, John D.

Email12

1968

Holodak, William E.

Email12

1968

McKnight, James T. 

Email05

1968

Wszolek, Don

Email08

1969

Bodigheimer, Ron  '

Email11

1969

Ferrone, Frank

WebPage1

1982

Disanza, Frank

Email12

1991

Pflug, Ms. Donna M. Murray

Bouncing

1996

Spacek, Marcy J.

Bouncing

1998

Foley, Miss DebraAnn

Email09

2006

McGinty, Danielle

Email10

 

 

[PARTICIPANTS BY NAME]

Class

Name

Section

????

Ahearn, Kevin

News4

1964

Badalamenti, Anthony

Email07

1961

Belnavis, Sam

News5

1953

Blanco, Fr. John

Email12

1969

Bodigheimer, Ron  '

Email11

1960

Bottlik, Geza P.

 Email04

????

Brimo, Joseph

Email08

1959

Cabranes, Manny

Email06

????

Cupo, Jim

Updates

1982

Disanza, Frank

Email12

1969

Ferrone, Frank

WebPage1

1957

Fink, Bob

Email12

1960

Fogarty, Martin Daniel

Found1

1998

Foley, Miss DebraAnn

Email09

1952

Franks, Henry

Email02

1954

Grenier, Edward J. Jr.

Updates

????

Hodgson, Jack

Announcement1

1966

Holodak, John D.

Email12

1941

Holodak, John S.

Email12

1939

Holodak, Mildred

Email12

1968

Holodak, William E.

Email12

1960

Hyland, Francis A.

Obit1

1960

Hyland, Frank

Email04

1953

McEneney, Mike

Email12

2006

McGinty, Danielle

Email10

1968

McKnight, James T. 

Email05

????

Muller, Fr. Donald

Bouncing

1935?

Naimoli, John C.

Obit2

1955

Oliva, L. Jay

Email12

????

O'Prey, Richard

News6

1991

Pflug, Ms. Donna M. Murray

Bouncing

1996

Spacek, Marcy J.

Bouncing

1968

Wszolek, Don

Email08

 

 

FORMAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

[Announcement1]

http://cbs.marketwatch.com/tools/quotes/newsarticle.asp?print=1&symb=FEIC&guid={0EA50358-509F-4EBC-88C8-051EE87CC472}&siteid=mktw

FlipChip International Appoints Jack Hodgson as Chief Financial Officer

2/24/2004 6:32:00 PM

PHOENIX, Feb 24, 2004 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- FlipChip International, LLC announced today that it has appointed Jack Hodgson as its Chief Financial Officer. FlipChip International conducts a semiconductor wafer scale packaging and bumping business in Phoenix, Arizona.

Prior to joining FlipChip International, Mr. Hodgson has enjoyed a career serving in a multitude of executive-level management, financial and administrative capacities for large-scale and diverse corporate entities, which included a number of positions in the semiconductor industry. Mr. Hodgson's technology experience includes serving as Senior Vice President/Chief Financial Officer at both FEI Company, in Hillsboro, Oregon, and Integrated Process Equipment Corporation in Phoenix, Arizona, each of which are prominent global semiconductor equipment manufacturers.

Bob Forcier, President and CEO of FlipChip International, LLC, stated, "We are pleased to announce the appointment of Jack Hodgson as the CFO of FlipChip International. Jack's extensive experience in the semiconductor industry including public finance, M&A and portfolio management will support our growth needs for our technology and product roadmaps. As we deploy next-generation wafer scale packaging services and advanced electronic materials on a global basis, we have searched for the strongest team possible, and Jack will be a significant player on our executive staff."

Mr. Hodgson said, "With the growing focus on flip chip technologies and products in the semiconductor market, I foresee a potential for excellent growth opportunities for FlipChip International going forward. I am excited about the strong start and the aggressive management team."

Mr. Hodgson earned an MBA in Finance from Hofstra University in NY and a BS in economics from Manhattan College in NY.

FlipChip International, LLC is a privately held supplier of products and services for the wafer bumping and wafer scale packaging semiconductor market. FlipChip International, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of RoseStreet Labs, LLC, a supplier of products and services for wireless infrastructure in the life science and homeland security markets.

For further information please contact: Stephanie Sarabia of FlipChip International, +1-602-431-6020, ext. 216, ssarabia@flipchip.com.

SOURCE FlipChip International, LLC

Stephanie Sarabia of FlipChip International, +1-602-431-6020, ext. 216, ssarabia@flipchip.com

http://www.flipchip.com

Copyright (C) 2004 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.

[JR: OK let me look up his class year in MCOLDB. Oh, it's gone! Sigh, make it Class of ???? ] 

 

 

Bouncing

[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".]

????

Muller, Fr. Donald

(no address)

1991

Pflug, Ms. Donna M. Murray

(no address)

1996

Spacek, Marcy J.

(no address)

 

 

Updates

[JR: The following people have updated their information. To conserve space, "please change my email from X to Y" which isn't very interesting, and to alert you that they are here, I have listed them here. As always, I need your "news" and "recruits".]

????

Cupo, Jim

 

1954

Grenier, Edward J. Jr.

 

 

 

[Messages from Headquarters
(Manhattan College Press Releases & Stuff)]

Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2004 13:33:36 -0500
From: "Jasper John '68
Subject: Why I think
Manhattan College doesn't understand the "give'm a fish; teach 'm to fish" lesson!

MANHATTAN COLLEGE WELCOMES NEW YORK STATE SENATOR GUY J. VELELLA TO DISCUSS MINIMUM WAGE CAMPAIGN

RIVERDALE, N.Y. - New York State Senator Guy J. Velella will discuss the campaign to raise the state's minimum wage at Manhattan College on Thursday, March 4 at 8:30 a.m.  The discussion, which will be held at the College's Faculty Dining Room in Thomas Hall, also will be open to viewpoints from students, area clergy, labor leaders and elected officials on the matter.  This event is free and open to the public. Reservations are required.

Sen. Velella (R-Bronx) plans to discuss his support for S3291, a bill that would raise the state's minimum wage to as much as $7.25 per hour from the current hourly rate of $5.15.  The discussion, sponsored by the College's campus ministry and social action department, will help examine poverty and its root causes and is being held as part of "Poverty Awareness Week" on campus.

Sen. Velella was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1972 as the representative of the 80th Assembly District in Bronx County.  During his Assembly tenure, Sen. Velella was responsible for the passage of many landmark pieces of legislation including the first Senior Citizen Prescription Drug bill, the Generic Drug Law, Tuition Assistance Program

(TAP) and mandatory jail sentences for violent crimes. He is a partner in the law firm of Velella, Velella, Basso and Calandra and is currently chairman of the Labor Committee.

Breakfast will be served at 8:30 a.m. with the program scheduled to begin at 9:10 a.m.  Please R.S.V.P. for this event by contacting Lois Harr at (718) 862-7142.  If you are a member of the press and interested in attending this event, please contact Melanie Farmer at (718) 862-7232.   Manhattan College is located at West 242nd Street near Broadway in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, one mile from the Westchester County line and accessible by MTA Subway lines 1 and 9.

=

From: Jasper Recruiting [mailto:jasperrecruiting@manhattan.edu]
Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2004 4:12 PM
Subject: Ernst & Young

ERNST & YOUNG
Analyst/Associate / Full Time Entry Level
Location: NYC , NY 

Duties & Responsibilities: 

This position on the OTC Client Service Group involves extensive contact with our client base, sales force and operations colleagues worldwide. The group supports all OTC swap and option activity, and is primarily responsible for the timely confirmation and settlement of OCR transactions, dealing with post-settlement issues and investigations. The emphasis of the group is upon the provision of a superior service to our client base, which encompasses both internal and external clients mostly in the US and Europe. Key areas of responsibility include: Confirmations - the candidate will be responsible for ensuring the timely confirmation of all OTC option and swapdeals (we aim for T+1 at the latest). This necessitates the prompt raising of any discrepancies to our clients and/or the Business Unit, as well as our own confirmation monitoring means. Settlement - the candidate will be responsible for liaising with our clients regarding non-receipts, late receipts, interest claims etc. Client liaison - the candidate will be required to liaise with our clients frequently throughout the day, by telephone and email. Team Work - the candidate must be an excellent team player, and must be articulate and confident in both written and verbal communication. The candidate must be able to work under pressure and be able to adapt to an ever-changing environment. This is an Equal Employment Opportunity 

Qualifications: 

Seek out/apply up-to-date knowledge and best practices to develop solutions that add value to the client. Establish relationships that position him/her as the person clients turn to first for issues, advice, and/or solutions. Understand and anticipate client/BU needs in order to provide excellent customer service. Participate in projects as required for improving client service and data integrity. Tackle problems and issues at their source rather than addressing recurring issues on a 'one-off' basis. Share own functional and/or technical expertise with others. Listen and communicate effectively through verbal and written communications. Follow through on commitments. Work effectively within teams and across functional, geographic and/or product lines. Must have a bachelors degree. 

Contact: 
Stacey Guardino
ERNST & YOUNG
787 Seventh Avenue - 12th floor
New York, NY 10019
stacey.guardino@ey.com 

 

 

 WEBPAGES

[WebPage1]

http://www.physics.drexel.edu/~ferrone/#bio 

Frank Ferrone

Bio sketch
born August 13, 1947
married to Mimi Mahon, July 3, 1983; two children

EDUCATION
1969 BS in Physics, Manhattan College, Bronx, New York

<extraneous deleted>

Biophysics: A Personal Perspective

My work falls in the category of Biophysics. Biophysics in my view is more than the use of physics to help biologists solve problems they find challenging. Biophysics is an attempt to identify the essential physical principles involved in various biological systems, such as large biological molecules. Although the basic physical laws are well known, their interplay produces new and unexpected behavior, much as high temperature superconductivity represented an unexpected collective phenomenon in solids. While there is enormous complexity in biomolecules, the challenge is to discern the essential features without having to know all the details.

Biophysics is a timely enterprise. With the increasing power of modern genetics, it becomespossible to discover all kinds of biomolecules, and even to modify them. The ultimate goal, of course, is to be able to read a gene, and thereby determine what kind of molecular structure the gene encodes and what that molecule would do. We are quite far from that goal today: given a sequence of amino acids, we are not very good at predicting the resulting molecular geometry, and even given a molecule whose structure we know we still find it quite challenging to discover its behavior without major clues from nature (like finding out where it appears and what it links with.)

Short of this "Holy Grail", one hopes to understand biomolecules at least well enough to deal with their malfunctions, as in the case of various diseases. One of the best studied molecules is the oxygen transporter, hemoglobin. A small mutation turns this simple molecule into a potentially dangerous agent in sickle cell disease. Usually hemoglobin molecules fill the red cell like beans fill a bean bag, leaving it flexible and floppy, but in sickle cell disease the molecules aggregate to stiffen the red cell and block circulation. Our laboratory is actively studying the behavior of sickle hemoglobin molecules to find approaches for the treatment of this disease, and to gain deeper insights into molecular aggregations in biology.

[Reported As: MC1969]

[JR: And, a jottings subscriber.]

 

 

FOUND

[Found1]

http://www.rcnyaoh2.org/AOH%20History/Hibernians%20of%20the%20Year.htm

Martin Daniel Fogarty - 1996

Martin Daniel Fogarty was born on December 24th 1937 to Martin (Ballymurphy, County Carlow) and Anne Higgins (Tourlestrane, County Sligo) Fogarty. The eldest of four children Martin grew up in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx. He attended St Johns Grammar School, Manhattan Prep. And graduated from Manhattan College in 1960 with a degree in civil engineering and attended Fordham Law School.

Martin and his wife, Maureen are the proud parents of Mary, Annmarie, Martin, Marguerite, and Kerry. The Fogarty children are graduates of Albertus Magnus High School, in Bardonia. Mary and Marguerite attended Manhattan College, where Kerry is a senior, Martin, Jr. and Annmarie attended St Thomas Aquinas College. A twenty-eight year resident of Blauvelt, Martin is a Knight of Columbus, a member of St. Catharine's Parish, and served as director of St.Catharine's Basketball Program during the 1980's. He fondly recalls coaching the Rockland County CYO Champion Debs team 1986, as well as the South Orangetown Little League Softball Champions in 1984. Having five children has kept him involved in youth sports, including the Rockland Gaelic Athletic Association. Professionally, Mr. Fogarty is the President of Fogarty-LaValle Associates, Manufacturers representatives for water treatment equipment. He is a registered Professional Engineer in New York State and past chairman of the Metropolitan Chapter of the New York Water Pollution Control Federation. A member of both the American Society of Civil Engineers and American Water Works Association, he is also past President of the Manhattan College "Plumbers" club.

Mr. Fogarty is past Recording Secretary of the Rockland County Board Ancient Order of Hibernians. He is past President of Division V, Ancient Order of Hibernians, and the Rockland Gaelic Athletic Association. A founding member of both the Rockland County Feis and Northern Aid, he was the first Treasurer of Northern Aid. He was Grand Marshal of the 1976 Rockland County St. Patrick's Day Parade, Aide to the Grand Marshal in New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade March 17th, 1989. A member of the County Carlow Association, he was Captain of the 1963 Offaly Football Club Junior Team.

Martin, the Rockland County Ancient Order of Hibernians thanks you for your years of support. Congratulations on being selected as our "Hibernian of the year".

[Reported As: MC1960]

 

 

Honors

[No Honors]

Weddings]

[No Weddings]

Births

[No Births]

Engagements

[No Engagements]

Graduations

 [No Graduations]

 

 

[OBITS]

[Collector's prayer: And, may perpetual light shine on our fellow departed Jaspers, and all the souls of the faithful departed.]

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.

Obit1

Newsday (New York)
February 25, 2004 Wednesday
NASSAU AND SUFFOLK EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A54
HEADLINE: Francis Hyland, parks engineer, 65
BYLINE: BY BILL BLEYER. STAFF WRITER

Francis A. Hyland loved being immersed in the details of government. So when he retired in 1995 as Long Island regional engineer for the state parks department after overseeing many large construction projects, he moved upstate and was elected to the local town board.

Hyland, 65, died Feb. 11, apparently of a heart attack, at his home in upstate Esperance, where besides serving on the town board, he was active in senior citizen affairs.

"He was one of those people who couldn't retire," said his daughter, Margaret Hooks, of Nesconset. "He just loved to have a sense of purpose. He loved to be active."

Working from regional headquarters at Belmont Lake State Park, Hyland was in charge of engineering, design and construction for all Long Island state parks and parkways. He stopped overseeing the parkways in 1978 when they were turned over to the state Department of Transportation.

Hyland supervised major projects such as a $26-million rehabilitation of Jones Beach State Park, which included the replacement of the boardwalk and renovation of the West Bathhouse and Jones Beach Theater. He planned the rebuilding of shorelines and facilities damaged in major storms including Hurricanes Gloria and Bob in the 1980s. He was responsible for the reconstruction of the boardwalk at Sunken Meadow State Park, the restoration of the greenhouses at Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park and construction of a boat launch ramp at Captree State Park.

Born in Brooklyn, Hyland was raised in Springfield Gardens, Queens. After earning an engineering degree from Manhattan College in 1960, he moved to Troy to take his first job with the state as an engineer for the transportation department in Albany. "He designed a lot of bridges in upstate New York," Hooks said.

He and his wife raised their family in Guilderland before moving to Nesconset in 1974 when he took the job as regional engineer for the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

"He loved designing bridges, but he really, really loved the parks and the golf courses," his daughter said. "He liked being outdoors. He spent many, many days on the beaches, investigating erosion problems, even when he wasn't working."

After retiring, he moved to Esperance, where he helped design his dream house. He was elected town councilman in Duanesburg and was halfway through his term when he died.

Besides Hooks, Hyland is survived by his wife of 21 years, Joan Ditzel Hyland; sons Michael of Lynchburg, Va., and Matthew of Nesconset; daughters Kathleen Tully of Lake Grove and Karen Bayer of Hauppauge; four grandchildren; stepdaughters Marian Conway of Lindenhurst, Joanne Pace of West Islip, Jineen Conway of Sayville and Kelly Wilt of Tillamook, Ore.; seven step- grandchildren; and a sister, Maureen Wendt of Malverne.

Services were held Feb. 14 at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Delanson. He will be buried in Esperance Cemetery.

GRAPHIC: Photo - Francis Hyland

LOAD-DATE: February 25, 2004

 

Obit2

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company 
The New York Times
February 16, 2004, Monday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section B; Page 7; Column 3; Classified
HEADLINE: Deaths

NAIMOLI, JOHN C.

NAIMOLI--John C. 87, of Amityville, NY, on February 2, 2004. Born May 4, 1917, in New York City to Theodore Naimoli and Margaret Cuomo. He was a graduate of Xavier High School in New York City and Manhattan College. After serving in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1944, he was an art director for advertising agencies in New York City, eventually opening up his own art studio in Manhattan. He was a wildlife artist and one of the most extraordinary fishermen ever. He has fished all over the world, most notably founding a river in Newfoundland in the name of the Queen of England. As past President of the Sunrise Fish & Game Association in Amityville, NY, and as a member of the Theodore Gordon Flyfisher's Association and the Squaw Island Fishing Club, he lobbied and fought for the preservation of the environment, especially the Oceans. He maintained homes in Sebastian, FL, and Playa de Nosara on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, where he not only fished, but helped out the local townspeople. As a part owner and Vice President of Scheidl Manufacturing and Linden Industries in Long Island, NY, he was responsible for the invention of new technology in thermo plastics. His radar feedome was on Apollo 13. He has received numerous awards in his field, among those cited were from Grumman Aircraft in Long Island, NY. John was a member of the Unqua Corinthian Yacht Club in Amityville, NY, and was a member of the Rotary Club, serving on the Special Committees for Foreign Exchange Students and Aid to Hospitals in Africa. John is survived by his wife Mary Manning Naimoli and daughters Christine Fanelli and her husband Patrick, Kate Weiman, his son Steven Naimoli and his wife Kim; his grandchildren Andrew, Dina, Eben, Michael and Peter; greatgrandchildren Ethan, Jack, Abby and his sister Grace Persico. A Celebration of Life service was held on February 5, 2004, at the Powell Funeral Home in Amityville, NY, with a Mass held at St. Martin of Tours Church in Amityville. Deacon James O'Neill S.F.O., of St. Anthony's Church in Oceanside, NY, assisted and delivered the Homily for his uncle. Cremation was private. Interment will be in the Urn Garden at the Amityville Cemetery in Amityville, NY. A tribute to Mr. Naimoli will be held in Florida, scheduled for April, 2004. Donations may be made to the American Parkinson's Disease Association, 50 Route 25A, Smithtown, NY 11787. 

LOAD-DATE: February 16, 2004

 

 

[News from Web and Other Sources]

News1

Copyright 2004 BPI Communication, Inc. 
BPI Entertainment News Wire
February 24, 2004, Tuesday
SECTION: Entertainment News
HEADLINE: Virgin MegaTour dates set
BYLINE: By BARRY A. JECKELL, Billboard.com

Initial dates have been confirmed for the inaugural Virgin College MegaTour, which will boast Michelle Branch in the headlining slot. The trek will kick off March 27 at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. As previously reported, Rooney and Joe Firstman will also be on board; Gavin DeGraw will appear on select dates.

The tour will wrap May 1 at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven; 17 shows are confirmed, with a few more expected. Select stops will also feature performances by Tyler Hilton, Michael Tolcher and Chris Grace on the Behringer Day Stage as part of an interactive village that will include activities and sponsor giveaways.

Here are the MegaTour dates:

<extraneous deleted> 

March 28: Riverdale, N.Y. (Manhattan College; with DeGraw)

<extraneous deleted>

LOAD-DATE: February 25, 2004

 

News2

Copyright 2004 Daily News, L.P.
Daily News (New York)
February 24, 2004 Tuesday
SPORTS FINAL EDITION
SECTION: SUBURBAN; Pg. 4
HEADLINE: BULLETIN BOARD
BYLINE: COMPILED BY MAXINE SIMPSON

TUESDAY, FEB. 24

LECTURE, Riverdale - "The United States-United Nations Relationship in a Post-9/11 World," will be presented by veteran journalist and author Linda Fasulo.

Manhattan College, Smith Auditorium, 7 p.m. Free. Information: (718) 862-7248.

<extraneous deleted>

LOAD-DATE: February 24, 2004

 

News3

Copyright 2004 Daily News, L.P.
Daily News (New York)
February 22, 2004 Sunday
SPORTS FINAL EDITION
SECTION: SPORTS; END ZONE; Pg. 86
HEADLINE: IN THE NAME OF THE BROTHER Francisco Garcia turns murder into motivation
BYLINE: By DICK WEISS in Louisville, Ky. and MICHAEL O'KEEFFE in New York DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITERS with Bob Kapstatter

Vicenta Soto sits with her husband Angel on the couch in her tidy South Bronx apartment and talks about her sons and about her winter of pride and sorrow, triumph and tragedy, life and death.

One of her boys is Francisco Garcia, the University of Louisville sophomore who established himself this winter as one of college basketball's brightest stars and a top NBA prospect. The other, Hector Lopez, was murdered just down the street, gunned down on a cold, December night in the lobby of a building on the Grand Concourse. He was 19 years old.

"We're coping," says Soto, a sad, weary smile on her face, a stack of Mass cards on the table next to her. "It's been up and down. The important thing is to be there for Cisco. We have to stay strong for him so he can achieve his goals."

For Francisco Garcia, the plan was always simple: Get his family out of the South Bronx. Learn English. Get a degree. Get to the NBA. Get his little brother away from the drugs and the violence of the neighborhood.

"It didn't matter where," says Angel Soto, the boys' stepfather. "Just as long as it wasn't the South Bronx."

The lanky kid with the Scottie Pippen moves is on the verge of making it to the NBA, but without his little brother to share it with, something's missing. Even more troubling, the gunmen remain at large, and Vicenta Soto says the police haven't done enough to bring her son's killers to justice. Police say there were witnesses to the slaying, but they have been uncooperative, making it difficult to pursue the investigation.

"They didn't find the guys yet," Garcia says, shaking his head. "It's hard because nobody was around."

The brothers couldn't have been less alike - and they couldn't have been closer.

Garcia, 22, is serious and focused, a young man who avoided the pitfalls of the South Bronx by keeping trouble at arm's length, a quiet kid who arrived in America six years ago unable to speak English and in love with baseball: His uncle taught him to play basketball at the park at 168th and Jerome. "He's always been very mature," says his older sister, Arlene.

Lopez was a happy-go-lucky kid who made friends easily and lit up every room he entered. "He was such a funny guy," says Luis Flores, a longtime family friend who is a Manhattan College basketball star. "People loved to be around him."

They talked every day on the phone. Lopez was his brother's biggest fan and could rattle off his stats from memory. Garcia looked out for Lopez and made sure he was in the stands last year at Freedom Hall, when the Cardinals won the Conference USA tournament.

"You'd never see one of us without the other," Garcia says. "Hector used to tell all his friends I was going to make it and then would joke about becoming my agent after I made it to the NBA."

Hector, he says, may be dead but he's not gone. Garcia's little brother continues to motivate the Cardinals' leading scorer. "I pray for him before every game," Garcia says. "I talk to him before every game."

The South Bronx has recovered from the bad days of the 1970s, when the manufacturing base collapsed and the welfare rolls and crime stats skyrocketed. The burned-out buildings that made the borough look like postwar Dresden have been torn down or rebuilt, and stripped cars no longer adorn every corner. In 1993, there were 69 murders reported in the 44th Precinct; in 2003, 23 people were murdered there - including Hector Lopez.

The bad days are over, but these are still rough streets, lined with check-cashing joints, liquor stores and off-brand fast-food restaurants. "This is not an easy place to live," says Angel Soto, a cab driver. "It's no piece of cake."

Vicenta Soto brought her sons from the Dominican Republic to the South Bronx when Garcia was 16 years old. She wanted the boys to pursue their education and learn English.

"I wanted a better future for my kids," says Soto, who works in a mortgage broker's office.

Garcia soon drifted to the neighborhood's parks and schoolyards. "He was pretty skinny, and we beat him up pretty good," Flores laughs. "But we knew right away that he was a good player."

Garcia dragged his little brother to the playgrounds, even though Lopez lacked his brother's talent and enthusiasm for the game. "He told us he was keeping his brother off the street, but I think he just wanted to make sure I heard that mouth going all the time," Flores says. "He'd start cracking jokes and you couldn't stop laughing. It was the only way Francisco could beat me."

Garcia's playground exploits soon caught the attention of Eric Martinez, a Bronx youth coach. Martinez tipped off Gerald Brown, a former Knicks ball boy and now an educational counselor who is also an assistant coach with the New York Ravens, the AAU program run by then-St. Raymond's High School coach Gary DeCesare.

"Francisco is so gifted, he can do so many things," Ravens assistant coach Artie Green says. "At 6-7, he can dribble, he can shoot, he can pass - he can do a lot."

DeCesare, now an assistant coach at Richmond, convinced Garcia's parents to enroll him at St. Raymond's, a perennial basketball power. But Garcia had academic problems - he was still learning English - and DeCesare and Brown pulled strings to get him into the Cheshire Academy, a Connecticut prep school.

Garcia played little organized ball before he went to prep school, and a little coaching went a long way. "Also, he has an incredible work ethic," Brown says. "He got that from his mom and dad."

"The prep school was a great situation," DeCesare adds. "It got Francisco the individual attention he needed in the classroom. He became more confident in his ability to speak English. And it got him out of the South Bronx."

Louisville coach Rick Pitino, encouraged by DeCesare, offered Garcia a scholarship after his second year at the Cheshire Academy. The prep school de-emphasized basketball after that season and Garcia transferred to the Wichendon School in Massachussetts, leading the team to a 23-4 record. Off the court, Garcia worked hard, taking double science and math courses to meet NCAA clearinghouse standards and taking a correspondence course on the weekends so he could be academically eligible as a college freshman.

"Francisco had no name coming out of high school," Pitino says. "He just looked like some real thin kid who had some ability, but wasn't on the radar screen. Nobody knew him.

"Sometimes, that's the greatest blessing for a player with promise. When you're so highly rated, you think you've arrived so you don't continue to work. Kids like Francisco are so hungry because they feel like everyone else got the attention."

Garcia is averaging 15.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5 assists after the Cardinals lost to Cincinnati in overtime yesterday. He has been hindered by two sprained ankles this season, but scored 27 points against the Bearcats and should be in top form by tournament time in March. "Once he gets stronger he could be a great player because he's long, he passes the ball, has a great feel for the game, can drive and create," says Pitino.

Hector Lopez was hanging out late with friends in the lobby of a Grand Concourse building around 11 o'clock on the night of Dec. 8 when two men burst in and fired on him at point-blank range. Lopez, hit in the neck and chest, was rushed to Lincoln Hospital. He was pronounced dead 15 minutes after the shooting.

His friends and family are still stunned, unable to figure out why someone who made friends so easily could be cut down so easily, too. "We don't know what happened," Vicenta Soto says. "He was in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people."

This much is known: With his big brother away at school, Lopez drifted. He struggled in his classes at Morris High School, and his family worried that he was running with the wrong crowd.

"My mother was constantly talking about moving back to Santo Domingo just to get Hector out of the area," Garcia says. "I just wish I had been home last summer for him. Maybe things would have turned out better."

Garcia wasn't feeling well the night his brother died and he called his mom for a little comfort. "I knew anytime I felt sick, she would give me some stuff to make me feel better," Garcia says. "I could tell there was something bothering her, but she didn't want to tell me.

"It was late. Finally, I said to her, 'Moms, what are you doing up at 3 in the morning?' Then, it all came out. She just said he got shot up the block five times. I couldn't really believe it."

Garcia didn't think he could play the next night against Seton Hall. "I was feeling down," he says. "But my Moms talked to me and she told me that Hector would want me to play, play basketball and be happy."

The next night, Garcia scribbled "RIP Hector" on his red sneakers and then poured in 24 points during a 80-71 victory over the Hall. The next morning, he flew to New York with Pitino for the funeral. "The reality never hits home until you actually see the coffin," Pitino says. "Then it hits you harder."

After Garcia returned from the funeral and began to dress for practice, he broke down. He couldn't stop crying.

"I told him not to play, to just get mentally right," says Pitino. "Then, he came out five minutes later and told me, 'I got to get through this.'"

Friends like Flores and Louisville teammate Taquan Dean helped Garcia work through his grief. "I knew that basketball was the only way he could get through this," says Dean. "I told him, 'You got to keep going because that's what Hector would want. That's what your mother would want, too.' Then he went through a stretch where he went for 20 points a game."

Garcia's parents aren't surprised that this tragedy has brought out the best in their eldest son.

"Francisco dedicated his game to the memory of his brother," Angel Soto says. "He is so strong mentally."

"We are proud," his mother adds, the sadness evaporating for a second. "We are so proud of him."

GRAPHIC: GETTY IMAGES Francisco Garcia dedicates his play to his fallen brother Hector Lopez, who was gunned down in the Bronx. At right, Hector's Mass card. PHOTOS BY JAMES KEIVOM South Bronx streets claimed the life of Hector Lopez, the brother of Francisco Garcia and son of Angel and Vicenta Soto.

LOAD-DATE: February 25, 2004

 

News4

Copyright 2004 Home News Tribune (East Brunswick, NJ)
All Rights Reserved 
Home News Tribune (East Brunswick, NJ)
February 20, 2004 Friday
SECTION: B; Pg. 1
HEADLINE: Board splits on schools chief Carteret gives nod to acting supertintendent
BYLINE: MICHELLE MASKALY STAFF WRITER

CARTERET: In a split decision, the Board of Education named Acting Superintendent Kevin Ahearn the district's superintendent, awarding him a three-year, $125,000 contract.

Three of the nine board members abstained and one voted against the measure Wednesday.

Board of Education Vice President Fred Gerstler said he voted to abstain because he felt proper hiring procedures were not followed.

"There were never any interviews for the superintendent's postion," Gerstler said. "The other people who wanted a chance at the job deserved the right and opportunity to be heard and interviewed. We interview (to hire) janitors, but not for this."

Gerstler said he made a motion to table the vote to appoint Ahearn superintendent, but it failed.

The board received about six applications for the position over a three-month period, two of which were from within the district, board members said.

Board of Education member Suzanne Loufty said the credentials of other applicants were reviewed, but in this case, they had the opportunity to judge Ahearn not just by a piece of paper, but by the job he already is doing.

"An interview does not guarantee what you hear is what you are getting," Loufty said. "What is more solid is to see proof of someone's performance. We were lucky enough to see someone actually doing the job. Mr. Ahearn is doing a terrific job. We are finally in compliance with the law so why take a risk (of hiring someone else) with our kids and the future of the district? Is it better to drive a car and test it or go out and buy a car just because it looks good?"

Gerstler said this was not an argument over whether Ahearn was doing a good job.

"We all agree Kevin is doing a good job," Gerstler said.

It was the fact no one else was interviewed for the position that doesn't sit well with some board members, he said.

Loufty said some people in the district had been interviewed in the past but were not fit for the postion.

Gerstler said the way Ahearn was hired could have an adverse effect on the district.

"If you hire someone without using any type of procedure, I'm afraid it's going to hurt Ahearn from getting things accomplished," Gerstler said.

Ahearn said yesterday he doesn't believe Wednesday's split vote will make a difference.

"I get along with all the board members and will continue to do so," Ahearn said.

A graduate of Iona College, Ahearn also holds graduate degrees from Manhattan College, College of Staten Island and New York University.

He started in the district as the director of special services in August 2000. In July 2002 he was named assistant superintendent/director of special and related services until becoming acting superintendent in 2003 when former Superintendent Gary Vitta left to take the post of acting superintendent for Hunterdon County School District.

Ahearn said the district needs to concentrate on providing the best educational services to the children of Carteret and has to deal with the increasing enrollment numbers by either building another school or expanding an existing one.

He also said the district needs to become "financially stable."

LOAD-DATE: February 23, 2004

 

News5

From: Otis Willie (warliby@pacbell.net)
Subject: Army Public Affairs Media Alerts
View: Complete Thread (60 articles) 
Original Format
Newsgroups: us.military.army
Date: 2004-02-24 20:01:11 PST

ARNEWS African-American History Month event features first black NASCAR owner, By Spc. Lorie Jewell WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Feb. 23, 2004) ­ In 1959, Sam Belnavis vividly remembers sitting in a college psychology class in which the professor lectured on the inferiority of the ‘Negro’ brain.

“He said that because of the Negro brain size and structure, it was less developed and less capable of absorbing and retaining information than a Caucasian brain,’’ Belnavis recalled.

More than four decades later, Belnavis is still proving that professor wrong.

His list of successes is long. Most recent is his ground-breaking entry into NASCAR as its first African-American team owner, currently overseeing the business of racing the No. 16 National Guard car driven by Greg Biffle, who finished 13th in the Daytona 500 Feb. 15. He also owns two trucks that raced two days prior in the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 that placed first and eighth, with drivers Carl Edwards and Jon Wood, respectively.

Belnavis shared his story at a Feb.18 African-American History Month celebration in the Pentagon, which observed the 50th anniversary of the landmark “Brown versus Board of Education” ruling that ended segregation in schools.

As a child, Belnavis excelled at Our Lady of Victory, an all-black parochial school in Brooklyn, N.Y. He drew praise for academic and athletic accomplishments, enjoyed plenty of friends, and basked in the love and encouragement of his family.

He flourished in that environment, maturing into a young man who had no doubts in his ability to achieve anything he set his mind to.

“I was in a cocoon, sheltered from the real American way of life back then,” Belnavis said.

The Brown victory led to his enrollment in Bishop Lockley High School, where the largely white population of students and teachers jerked him into a different reality, he said. The respect, acceptance and encouragement he enjoyed in elementary and junior high were gone. “In high school, I learned that because I was a Negro, my potential to transform excellence into success was minimal to none,’’ Belnavis said.

At Manhattan College, he started proving otherwise. He pursued a degree in accounting and business management, despite efforts by faculty members to steer him into a less challenging career path. He also enrolled in the Air Force ROTC program, which led to a post-college assignment at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. He earned his wings in a fighter pilot training program and served with the 105th Tactical Fighter Squadron.

He left the service with an honorable discharge and made his way into the retail business field, eventually becoming the first African-American to hold a management position with Sears. Directing sports marketing for the Miller Brewing Company came next, followed by a job as senior vice president of sports and entertainment with Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide Advertising Agency in New York City.

At 64, Belnavis is now the chief executive officer of Belnavis & Associates, a Charlotte, N.C.-based advertising and marketing agency that focuses on sports, cultural diversity and event marketing.

There’s also NASCAR. At the Daytona Speedway, Belnavis described his pride in representing the National Guard on the racetrack. The sponsorship is in its second year.

“Being involved with the National Guard has made my feelings about being an American even more intense,’’ said Belnavis, who visited Soldiers in Bosnia not long after the partnership began. “It’s very humbling to see the commitment our young Soldiers are making daily. Rather than them looking to me or to Greg, we look to them.”

Belnavis also makes frequent visits to schools, where he talks to students about the opportunities they have in NASCAR and the National Guard, as well as in the business world and life in general.

In the Pentagon’s crowded executive dining room, Belnavis encouraged audience members to push for excellence in their own lives.

“You have dreams. You have goals. Remind yourself of them daily, strive to achieve them each day,’’ he said. “Never, never, never give up.”

http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/read.php?story_id_key=5694

 

News6

From: ReinkeFJ 
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 11:15 AM
To: 2PREP; 2JOTTINGS
Subject: O'Prey, Richard [MP????MC????]

====

The site is an autobiographical memoir of a former "heightster" named Richard O'Prey.

The web site is titled "Immigrants' Son", and is a 16 chapter autobiographical essay that will be released in paperback later this year. The extremely well written memoir is a compilation of the author's reflections on life in his corner of mid twentieth century Washington Heights. It is a labor of love about a time, a place, a people, and a mentality that is no more.

O'Prey has a wonderful way with words, and a rare ability to remember and write about details of a culture we all lived through, but most have not thought about for many decades.

O'Prey grew up in the Heights, ended up with a master's degree in European History from Manhattan College, and continued working toward a doctoral degree in American Social History at New York University.

His memoirs cover it all, and I mean all. It is the detailed definitive piece on the social history of the Heights. We're talking details. From the history of the Heights to its unique sub culture, language, and culture of its children. Details like the role the 25 cent spaldeen played in our youth. He recalls the numerous games and customs associated with this pink wonder ball. Curb ball , punch ball, chinese, single double triple, stick ball, cans up, hindus, and finns! The ritual of buying the spaldeen, the importance it brought to its owner, losing them to cars, window, and sewers. Now, seriously, when's the last time you thought about this amazing invention, the spaldeen??

The stores, 181st street, the movie houses of Washington Heights, the institutions, the Jews, the Greeks, the Italians, the sacrifices of immigrant parents. They're all here in detail. Slang I haven't heard in 50 years. Did you know that Heightsters have their own little dialect of New York English. You'll be surprised! Remember what a "watchee" meant?

This wonderful essay can be found at

http://www.immigrantsson.com/toc.htm

Do yourself a favor. Copy this address, paste it in your browser window, and go to this wonderful site. It will put a smile on your face!

Mr. O'Prey wrote "Immigrants' Son" as a gift for his children. In doing so he has also given us and future generations a great gift!

====

http://www.immigrantsson.com/chapter_19.htm

Chapter Nineteen

Immigrants’ Sons

Bernard, Raymond, and I shared a common experience as Irish Americans raised in Washington Heights. When I ponder whether that experience would have been different if we were raised in Inwood, or Highbridge, or Fordham Road, where a significant percentage of the population was Irish Catholic, I resolve that the Washington Heights environment was unique. The Irish Catholic immigrant experience was widespread and generally identical despite geographical or parish boundaries. The proximity of the Jewish community was a greater factor in the Heights than in other predominantly Irish neighborhoods, and that characteristic accounts for my opinion. In essence, we seemed more Irish in our role among a larger Jewish population, than if we were in a completely homogeneous collection of fellow Hibernians.

The interaction of the Jews and the Irish through employment and cultural exposure was greater in the Heights than it was in most other neighborhoods. Other neighborhoods may have offered interaction between Irish and Blacks, or Irish and Hispanics, or Irish and other European immigrants, or even Irish and native-born Americans. I contend that the relationships in the Heights were richer, more intense, and more consequential than elsewhere. The dynamics between the Irish and the Jews provided a backdrop to daily life that seems absent in some other Irish enclaves.

Another factor marking the Heights’ experience unique is the abrupt destruction of the neighborhood and the rapid dispersal of the people. When the Port Authority resolved to expand the George Washington Bridge and its approaches, Irish and Jew found their neighborhood at ground zero. Our "Emerald Isle" on Haven Avenue had no transitional phases. It shifted from vibrant community to construction project without any intermediary stages. Many apartment houses were demolished and their inhabitants relocated as best they could. An area where people felt secure in their parish and friendly with their neighbors was as effectively destroyed as parts of Hamburg or Dresden, Hiroshima or Nagasaki, in World War II.

This dispersal broke up my friendships and associations, and scattered the people widely to other city parishes, to the suburbs of Rockland, Westchester, Putnam, Bergen, Nassau and Suffolk counties. Unlike the Acadians who were forcibly relocated en masse to Louisiana by the British, the Irish of Washington Heights were either offered substandard housing or left to fend for themselves.

Few witnessed their neighborhoods slowly change as other ethnic groups encroached or housing deteriorated, victims of time and arson. In the Heights, the transition from flourishing home to rubble took less than a year. As such, I believe it had an impact for better or worse upon Bernard, Ray, and me.

We seemed to carry our Heights’ heritage unconsciously. On a few occasions in my life, I was truly startled by comments from people who somehow recognized me as a former citizen of Washington Heights. Apparently, we had a patois or accent that made us verbally distinct. Like Peter in the bible, our language or accent betrayed us unconsciously. Perhaps an illustration may serve my point. I was in the Colon Hotel in Madrid about twenty years ago. No doubt my attire and my language readily identified me as American. Even my accent could indicate New York to many people. While I was waiting for an elevator to go up to my room, another hotel guest approached, and I said, "You’re invited to share our elevator."

With these few words uttered, the individual remarked, "You’re from Washington Heights in New York City, aren’t you?" I was completely flabbergasted and immediately suspected I had bumped into Henry Higgins from My Fair Lady. How he pinpointed my childhood so narrowly without any contextual clues or little evidence has me perplexed to this day. There was nothing extraordinary about my elevator companion beyond his uncanny ability to identify my birthplace. For my part, I didn’t even recognize whether he was an American or not.

When I was in college, I spoke to a group of high school students from Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. While other New Yorkers, chiefly Irish Americans from similar parishes, evoked some grins, my contributions were greeted with uproarious laughter. The students were happy to announce that my accent was quite unlike the others. I might just as well have been an orangutan speaking English, judging from the hilarity my speech produced! Naturally, I could detect no such peculiarities, but others apparently could. The amusement provided my audience never educated me as to the specifics of my language peculiarities either.

Teaching in a high school in Westchester, I met a fellow teacher who used to be in my class in Incarnation. She and I began an animated conversation about the old days in elementary school. I must also add that she was the daughter of an Italian shoemaker in the Heights, so I can’t attribute anything to Irish heritage. When we concluded, however, another teacher who had grown up in Virginia, remarked to me that she had never heard me speak in that way before! Again, I was befuddled by whatever nuance or change in my vocabulary, my accent, or my cadence, may have occurred.

At another time, I was teaching in Bergen Community College, which was not very far from the Heights. After my first class one semester, a student approached me and asked if I had grown up in Washington Heights. Although I said nothing to indicate my origins, she had discovered my roots immediately. That was not as startling as the Madrid episode, for at least it wasn’t an ocean and continent away. I am aware of a listener’s ability to identify a Bronx accent, or even easier, a speaker from Brooklyn, but I didn’t realize that my childhood home had stamped an indelible character upon my speech, equivalent to a "Made in Washington Heights" imprint.

I am sure an elocutionist could detect some variants from standard English among the citizens of Washington Heights. We were prone to use several inappropriate, unacceptable idioms or pronunciations that Noah Webster wouldn’t recognize. Foremost among these errors would be a tendency to say "youse guys" too often. When I was sixteen I remember using that term to describe a group of Brothers in training a few years older than I. My hearer, in an artificial Irish brogue developed in Inwood, replied less than charitably,

"Youse, guys! Youse guys! The last person to call me that sipped his meals through a straw for a month!"

Linguists might also note a tendency to replace "th" with a "d" sound, as in dese, dose, dem, and de. Language purists would assert that the children of the Heights tended to use the third person singular form of "do" incorrectly and compound the egregious faux pas by confusing use of the double negative, as in "He don’t know nuttin," or "He don’t make no sense." I readily admit I made these errors myself from time to time, but I believe most of the mistakes have been eliminated either by years, cultural influences, or education. The Heights never developed the classic flaws of Brooklynese or speech patterns from the Lower Eastside. No one in the Heights ever said anything like,

"Listen to the boids sing for the toidy-turd time, or you’ll lose yahs terlet privileges or be berled in earl!"

Early in my college studies, Ray Stevens, a classmate from Yonkers, conversationally remarked that I had the most unusual peculiar way of pronouncing my A’s. Dismissing him as delusional, I thought little of his comment. Maybe if I had given him more credence or opportunity to elucidate, I might have discovered what made my accent or conversation unique. If he had made that remark later in my life, especially after the other commentaries, I most certainly would have pursued his observation. Perhaps there are many more, yet unidentified characteristics that survive from my youth in Northern Manhattan.

Many friends and acquaintances have remarked about the O’Prey brothers’ physical resemblance to each other. I get credit for the square head and barrel chest. Ray has broader shoulders and Bernard is taller. Someone jocosely commented while my family posed for a family portrait, "Look! The Flintstones.," perhaps a comical description of the siblings, minus the parents.

As Bernard has gotten older, I have been impressed by the resemblance he bears to my father. Sometimes I have seen his body language, mannerisms, or stance, and I do a double take on the similarities with my father. Physically, we are genetically alike and easily taken for brothers. People, however, often comment that they have rarely seen three brothers who are so very dissimilar in temperament and personality.

In this comparison, I have given credence to those who claim I am more like my mother, while Bernard and Ray take after my father. Since I had left home and virtually disappeared between the ages of fifteen and thirty, many people didn’t even know I existed. While Bernard and Ray had the college experience, the dating game, the employment options, the treks to the Jersey shore, the spring break trips and socialization through neighborhood bars, I remained somewhat constrained by my religious vows and monastic atmosphere. To this day, people will call me Ray or Bernard because they forgot about me or remember the O’Prey name, but forget there is also a Richard.

My fifteen years among the Christian Brothers certainly should account for some dissimilarity with my brothers. I guess that can explain many differences, but since my earliest years, I always thought I was more like Ray than like Bernard. Ray and I were essentially the prototypes of Irish twins. We grew up together and shared so many new adventures, friends, and conversations that we became very close. When I disrupted that kinship by leaving for Barrytown, I think Ray was adversely affected. I recall his plea for my return home, when he visited me for the first time.

I remember his tearful recital of new difficulties, now that circumstances had changed so very much. The biggest change was the serious escalation of my father’s drinking. Ray bore witness to that disintegration and the destruction wreaked upon my mother. He knew of the worry and concerns about drunk driving and had to listen to the poetic recitations and sloganeering as my father perseverated upon freedom for Ireland. My father used to ask rhetorically, "Where is the flag of Ulster," so often in his cups, it was almost like administering him a breath analyzer test.

Bernard didn’t appear to be affected as deeply by my father’s drinking, probably because of his own personality, his greater maturity, and the distractions that college and a military career offered. Safely ensconced in the Christian Brothers, I had little awareness or reminders of the debilitating effects of my father’s drinking. Ray seemed to be trying to cure my father without any of the skills or techniques that AL-ANON now offers. It was a very frustrating experience for him and for my mother.

Bernard and I pretty much escaped the brunt of the family problem, and by the time I had graduated from college and returned more often to my home, my father had joined AA and was on the wagon. Of the three of us, I believe Raymond was also the most sensitive and easiest to hurt. The natural alliance and mutual support we had for each other were seriously undermined by my absence. In a way, he took the family problem, my mother’s discouragement, and the sadness produced by the alcoholism solely upon his young shoulders. It did not in anyway, however, prevent him from developing a taste for the creature himself.

Like so many other Irish Americans, Bernard and Ray drank heavily in their teens. They and many others made little adaptation for driving under the influence either. I have no idea what sparked a letter from someone to me while I was studying in college. The anonymous writer announced that Bernard and Ray were scoundrels and knaves. Since I was supposed to be a religious and praying for my family, I must not be doing a good job, and therefore, I too must be unprincipled and a poor religious. I never discovered who sent me such a letter or why.

As a rule, however, most of the people I did meet who knew my brothers found them friendly, sociable, and a stellar part of the Irish American scene. In some ways, they enjoyed celebrity status while I achieved anonymity. I was always proud to be associated with them even if I remained mostly unknown.

My brothers and I received family indoctrination into American society. Our parents generally recognized American society as open and unrestrictive. They believed that it was fundamentally a meritocracy that recognized talent and ability, two qualities that they hadn’t found in Ireland. Their sons came to believe otherwise.

My mother always advised us never to toot our own horn. Modesty and humility were prerequisites for maturity. Praise and honor should flow naturally from reasonably perceptive people, not from the subject. Perhaps, she may have thought otherwise, if she had heard Mario Cuomo’s comment, "If you don’t toot your own horn in politics, there is no music!" She often urged us to let others see our skills and merits and draw their own conclusions. Boasting, or even defending one’s actions were unacceptable, maybe even egotistical. That was to be the responsibility of witnesses, not of the protagonists.

I think my parents were right in a very narrow sphere. The only meritocracy I encountered in my lifetime was in the Catholic school system, perhaps because I excelled in that milieu. Students could excel and teachers would acknowledge that. Students could perform modestly and with humility and teachers would compensate. Fellow students could make accurate assessments about intelligence and performance. Peers had an accurate assessment of their classmates’ skills and achievements. Teachers did too. While praise was never doled out too generously, it was distributed honestly.

I did not find that same atmosphere in public institutions. Public schools encouraged the self-confidence and self-expression that were unnecessary in Catholic schools. Those who spoke in public schools especially in colleges were lionized and treated with great respect no matter what they said or what opinions they held. I found that especially true when I was taking courses at New York University. Students would rarely answer any direct questions about assignments, preferring to cite their resumes and experiences under prestigious professors at notable institutions.

Attending wine and cheese parties seemed to be more important than writing papers. I found the same fawning attitude prevalent at Columbia. The verbal contributors were rarely confronted on some of the nonsense they espoused, and they never were redirected to answer the topic at hand. Squeaky wheels drew attention to themselves and claimed success either through association with prestigious schools or famous scholars. As a rule, my personal education led me to conclude that the more famous the institution, the less demanding the standards.

As an educator most of my life, I found teachers to be superficial in learning and over confident in their judgments. In an old maxim, it is claimed,

"Those that can; do! Those that can’t; teach! Those that can’t teach; teach teachers!"

My experience supports the validity of this analysis. Many teachers select courses that will increase their salary through credit accumulation, but little reflect on challenge or utility. Difficult courses or demanding professors are generally undersubscribed. Many education departments are almost criminal in offering useless courses with undemanding content and perfunctory assignments in return for the tuition they exact. Most of the teachers prefer it that way too. Many pad their salaries and move into administration for even more money. They then perpetuate the system. Intelligence, teaching skill, communication, or constructive criticism go unrewarded. Public school administrators don’t like suggestions, positive or not!

Bernard and Ray were exposed to the same philosophy from my parents. Although they chose different professions, I suspect they drew the same conclusions as I did. The three of us had a more jaundiced view of how society worked compared to the experience of our immigrant parents. One of the distinguishing characteristics among the three of us is the career path each selected. Traditional careers accessible to Irish Americans attracted each of us. In an environment where higher professional roles were virtually unknown, we could accept congratulations for our successes.

For as long as I can remember, Bernard always wanted to be a pilot. I suspect the memory of World War II and the propaganda and patriotism of the period influenced him. Impressed by the military, their uniforms, their code of conduct, their heroism portrayed in print and celluloid, he yearned to reach an age when he could join their ranks. When he was rather young, we had walked across the George Washington Bridge and hiked to the now defunct Palisades Amusement Park. It was a lengthy hike, but we did it occasionally to enjoy the rides and games.

As Bernard waited in line for the roller coaster, he announced profoundly, "You have to have what it takes to be a fighter pilot!" His bravado was somewhat eroded when he later staggered off the ride and threw up. The military was always a lure to him and his dreams of the future. A mixture of macho and braggadocio, he was a natural for a recruitment poster pronouncing, "Uncle Sam Wants You!" I also do recall his being seduced by the lifestyle depicted in Leon Uris’ Battle Cry, a paean to the Marine Corps.

That Bernard should join ROTC at Manhattan seemed reasonable, since he also had attempted to enroll in the newly formed Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. In a preliminary physical for appointment to "ZumZum U", he was notified that he had a nasal obstruction in one nostril and his seating posture was too tall for fighter pilots. With no political influence and deterred by his physical, Bernard dropped his interest in the academy and enrolled in the college on the same campus where he attended high school. I don’t believe he ever regretted that decision, for his pride in Manhattan and his friendships formed there, especially among his fraternity brothers of Alpha Sigma Beta, have remained constants for the rest of his life.

In the disciplinary style of the military, Bernard also found some difficulty. He discovered that history degrees and four years of German were not as valuable as science and math expertise. Anxious to satisfy his lust for adventure and employ his language skills, he had hoped to be assigned to Intelligence in Germany. His first assignment in his chosen career was a Second Lieutenant in charge of a shooting range in San Antonio, a stark contrast to his vision. He also discovered that personal intelligence did not necessarily lead to authority or leadership. He advised his immediate supervisor to finish his high school education before he issued any more nonsensical orders. His lack of perception in the almost sacred respect exacted of rank in the military was a defect that would haunt his career in the Air Force.

Bernard’s response to authority and to society was unlike that of Ray or me. I believe he recognized hypocrisy and the way things operated, but I also felt that he believed he could play the game by their rules and adapt. Somehow, his twenty-eight year career and retirement as a Lieutenant Colonel are a tribute to his determination rather than his surrender to doing things the military way. Bernard was determined to retire with the rank of general, and many of his friends knew he had the qualities to do so. Some, more perceptive, perhaps, recognized he also had some flaws that inhibited his lofty ambition. Perhaps, he may have risen much higher if he were more willing to play the game through sycophancy and networking, two qualities also rejected by our home environment.

While the military has many attributes of a meritocracy, it also sports an "old boy" network and assignments that lead to the fast track of promotion. Bernard’s penchant for parties and Irish music didn’t quite fit into the image of what the military expected of its personnel. An Irish American from Washington Heights to the core of his being, Bernard refuse to make the adjustments that might have given him greater opportunity to reach his coveted goal. He would not trade his birthright for promotion. To his credit, he remained true to himself.

He served his country on foreign shores and in the land of his birth. He became a navigator when he determined that his fine motor skills lacked the finesse of a pilot. He represented the military in Denmark and served in the Vietnam War. He became an executive officer at an airbase where his main role was writing public relations reports that brought his female commander the promotion to general and responsibility for an entire base. Like many Irish Americans, his talents promoted those above him.

Bernard bears the greatest resemblance to my father. He also seems to have inherited some of my father’s other characteristics. He has an outstanding love of history and reading. Like my father, Bernard mirrors his custom of subscribing to multiple historical magazines and recordings. He also continues to read broadly in the field and makes his recommendations to the rest of us. His inherited frugality sometimes leads him to buy us books, but he reads them himself before he forwards his gift.

Like his father, Bernard tends to practice parental supervision in the mode of benign neglect. He also enjoyed parties, but unlike my father, Bernard seemed to enjoy the limelight. Leave him in a room with a microphone and in short order, Bernard and the microphone will become one. He will be singing, off key as usual, or delivering an encomium, making a speech, thanking someone, or acting as unofficial master of ceremonies.

More so than Ray and me, Bernard is at ease in front of crowds. Unfortunately, although he is a good speaker, he often goes a step too far and ends up saying something better left unsaid. Sometimes his commentary hurts individuals he has not intended. Relying on his skill for extemporaneous speaking rather than notes, Bernard sometimes drifts subconsciously into realms that require diplomacy and tact, measured statements, or precise wording. These forays have been known to hurt individuals’ feelings or even increase the odds for social brawls at inter-ethnic celebrations or tax the tolerance of alumni from competing colleges.

Bernard also was much more social than I was. Whether conversing with his elders or dialoguing with his friends or relatives, or meeting new associates, he was always attentive, relaxed, and interesting. One could say that he had the Irish gift of the gab. He also had a knack of relieving my mother’s anguish in situations where I was totally inept. On the night of Ray’s wedding, I was with my mother after the reception. She had become very sad at the imagined loss of her youngest son. She was crying and I can’t recall her doing that on any other occasion. After I spent about an hour trying to find comforting words, Bernard showed up and had her smiling and laughing. He also prescribed and mixed a Brandy Alexander that helped my mother relax.

When I later told Ray about this episode, he mentioned that he had the responsibility of cheering up my mother when I left for Barrytown. She mourned my moving out of her house almost as much as if I had died. Ray too had to console her when Bernard got married and moved out. With her three sons grown and moving on with their lives, my mother felt more and more unneeded. By the time her first two grandchildren were born, she was too ill and medicated to enjoy them, as she might have wanted.

Ray also perceived all the foibles of society and the inner workings of the New York Police Department. Unlike Bernard, he chose to remain an outsider, a verbal critic, or conscience of what he observed. Behind the famous Blue Wall of silence, Ray remained steadfast, but he could also be a goad to those who used the police department for selfish purposes. He knew the influence of personal "rabbis" and nepotism that seemed to flourish within the department. He witnessed the disciplinary measures taken against those who didn’t abide by some of the unsavory customs of the force. He noticed the hypocrisy of some of his peers, and was only too willing to point these factors out to them.

Ray considered the periodic calls for reform and redressing wrongs in the Police Department like car tires spinning on ice. A great deal of noise is generated as well as some heat, but there is little movement. The same individuals remain in the cushy jobs, get the promotions and choicest assignments and seem to retire with three quarter pay in numbers greater than their proportion might predict. The only city agency with greater nepotism, and insider influence may be the public school system.

Rather than abide by many of the rules and customs of the force, Ray seemed to evolve his own rules, which made him a maverick and distrusted by some fellow officers. In a working environment where macho behavior was rampant, he seemed to be legendary. He developed a flair for policing more like a sheriff in a cattle town than an officer in the Big Apple. He was quotable for the newspapers and his criticism and his independent ways made him many enemies among the officer elite in the department. His critical comments and penchant for honesty made him a target of some bosses. Without a doubt, his confrontational style and unpredictable behavior made him a man marked for dismissal. Eventually, Ray’s failure to remain silent or stifle his criticisms led to his forced retirement.

Whether it was among his friends or in his schools, or his neighborhood, Ray always vocalized things the way he perceived them. His honest perceptions were often viewed as dangerous. Although he respected those fellow officers who had indeed been injured on the job or disabled in some way, he also noted that some retirees were always pensioned off at three-quarter pay of untaxed income. Contacts seem to be the most effective route to this lucrative arrangement subsidized by a bloated city budget.

While Ray maintained an image of swagger and almost indifference to danger and or deference to appearances for authority, he was a much more reflective individual. He was actually quite sensitive to unwarranted criticism. The responsibilities of a police officer in New York City were truly awesome. I remember Ray’s ruminations on the Harlem riots that occurred shortly after he was assigned there. In many ways, he had sympathy for the rioters, and he certainly felt for the young children who looked upon him as an occupying enemy soldier.

Ray resented the fear of the little children who were afraid of him and repelled by the image of the police. He spoke wistfully about his frustration when he answered a domestic disturbance and discovered a newborn baby hurled from an upper apartment. The placenta and the infant attracted stray dogs and their barking alerted the neighbors to the dog pack. He was perturbed when he looked up several stories and saw the open window from which the baby had been tossed. Without a search warrant, he could only observe the party and the cruel indifference to the new life in the courtyard below. He and his partner saved the life of the newborn, but the perpetrators could not be prosecuted.

On another occasion, Ray spoke about the lifeless body of a young girl he had futilely carried from an apartment fire. As he carried her dead body from the flames, he remarked to himself that the girl was wearing the same shoes as his daughter Tricia. Much of the horror, the danger, the demi-mondes he met through his job remained within his heart and were seldom part of his conversation. A tough, insensitive façade hid the true interior of the man some local people on his beat called "El Rubio."

Knowing Ray as a child, I was amazed that he was attracted to the Police Department. True, he was drawn by the adventure and drama of law enforcement, but I don’t believe he quite knew about the seamy side of New York’s Finest. I recall him asking my father why he never warned him about this. My father’s response was a comment that each officer had to learn for himself and determine how he personally would react.

I think Ray paid a heavy price for his career and that his experiences were more traumatic for him than he would allow anyone to believe. In some ways, the Police Department educated Ray more about the hardships and difficulties of the people he was assigned to protect, than it did about the nobility of his co-workers.

Bernard, Ray, and I each had difficulty with authority. We had flourished in the schools where strict adherence to policy and programs were clearly defined. We seemed to challenge that same authority when it was arbitrary or wielded in a fashion we found either incompetent or prejudicial. Although the New York Police Department and the United States Air Force share many characteristics, like chain of command and clearly defined disciplinary actions, Bernard and Ray still found much room for improvement. In a sense, both operated independent of tradition, reserving their judgment as the ultimate criterion.

When I was a Christian Brother, I had little difficulty accepting many of the stringent demands made upon me because I totally respected my supervisors. I recognized them as talented, well-intentioned individuals who respected the ideas and performances of those who vowed obedience to the Order. They also held the best interests of the students in high esteem and insisted on exacting performances on a challenging standard.

It was difficult finding such leaders when I began my career in public education. After leaving the Brotherhood, I had to find a livelihood, so I automatically precipitated to education. At the age of thirty with two hundred dollars in reserve, public education seemed more viable than teaching in the parochial system I so admired. With a naïve lack of urgency, I believed that I would find a job in a junior college, most likely within the City University. I actually was offered a job teaching at Westchester Community College, but in my inexperience, I refused to accept the position because I felt uncertified in psychology.

Instead, I was hired by an extraordinary agency. The Board of Cooperative Educational Services or BOCES was a part of the state teachers’ system and its pay scale met my demands. My wish to teach history, however, didn’t correspond with the needs of other districts. BOCES did heroic work in fields where traditional school districts couldn’t operate feasibly. In later years as budgetary constraints impacted our students, I used to muse that our motto ought to be,

"Give us the students you can’t deal with, and our staff will do it for less than you pay your teachers!"

BOCES dealt with a variety of students whose needs required small classes or special expertise. The dedication of professionals in working with the profoundly retarded or non-ambulatory trainables earned my total respect, but not my wish to imitate them. BOCES also had excellent programs for the educable retarded, and those students who sought expertise in trades and other manual skills. I could admire the patience and dedication of the individuals who were involved in this aspect of BOCES too.

I had agreed to work in a grayer area, an area where expectations and approaches are a matter more of art or ignorance. I worked among Learning Disabled Students, a nebulous designation that encompassed any problem that inhibited the natural course of learning. When one deals with LD students, one enters a mystic realm where many disabilities coalesce into confusion. Some have physical or neurological impairments that make education confusing. Some suffer from dyslexia, and encounter frustration at every turn. I dealt with others who were diagnosed as bi-polar, manic-depressive, sociopathic, or psychopathic. Most also had drug and alcohol related issues. Naturally, the degree of disability varied greatly, as did the medications some of the students took.

My responsibility was training them for success in acquiring a high school diploma. In that pursuit, I often requested a clarification on whether we were operating a school or a hospital. The answer was always a school, but psychological considerations seemed to preclude much academic performance. An overwhelming majority of my fellow teachers were superbly talented, and determined to help our students. Our immediate supervisors, especially in my last years in BOCES, however, were a different story.

Many of my supervisors, but by no means all, were more political rather than demanding professionals. School districts seemed to buy warrantees for a diploma regardless of performance, and our supervisors insisted we deliver the goods. Some negotiated student performance in academics and in behavior to a realm which was disgraceful. As the state education laws invited more and more students into the mainstream, and our goal became more elusive every year, our administrators developed "Fiat Education". Perhaps it may best be illustrated in the form of a recipe:

Marinate in multiple counseling sessions best held during class time

Encourage the student to vent and rail against injustice and unreasonable demands

Add a minor pinch of constructive criticism and suggest (above all, do not insist upon) a resolution for minor improvement. Do not overspice in any way.

Sift until any minimum demands for academic standards or behavioral performance are thoroughly removed.

Filter through smoke and mirrors of professional jargon and incantations.

By unilateral declaration, exonerate the student of any responsibility for attendance or regulations.

Announce to student and hosting district that he or she has successfully met any criteria for a high school diploma

This recipe is best followed for those students who find their drinking and drug behavior; their torrid love lives; their inability to rise in the morning or attend school on a regular basis interfere with their desire for an education.

The best interest of students seems to be defined by the lowest level of expectations. Attendance was often not even required. Unlike with the Christian Brothers, commentary, or criticism was unappreciated and strongly discouraged. Some of my immediate supervisors were men and women of integrity, but I found promotions generally went to the politicians and negotiators, especially in later years. Ignored by some and stifled by others, my educational career was an endurance achievement rather than the joyful experience I had remembered from my teaching with the Christian Brothers.

Part of my heritage from Washington Heights was a great respect for all the teachers who worked with me. Their personal example was the criterion I established for myself. I also credit my family for teaching me a sense of values from a very young age. Like many Irish families in Washington Heights, mine respected books and encouraged reading, even in our tender years. We used to have a series of books entitled, I believe, The Golden Treasury of Children Stories. Three titles immediately come to mind.

I shall gladly dismiss Little Black Sambo as an unintended racial caricature better left forgotten. On the other hand, I would like to reflect on The Little Engine That Could and The Emperor’s New Clothes. Sometimes I question whether the little engine would be considered elitist and stifled as a poor reflection on his peers. It runs counter to American education’s search for the lowest common denominator. For those who operate comfortably at that level, all is fine. To those who want to function above that level, they constitute a negative image for their peers.

Demanding knowledge and skills, they make others uncomfortable and sometimes pay a price for that. In The Emperor’s New Clothes, we learned independent critical thinking, skills that are far from appreciated in the public education I witnessed. Perhaps it is politically incorrect to point our defects that seem self-evident. Perhaps it is hypocritical to speak such outrageous heresy, but that was the way we were raised. Bernard, Ray, and I probably practiced the principles of this child’s story to a fault.

Whenever I have had the opportunity to teach, I have found contentment and a sense of accomplishment. Whenever I have been asked to be a monitor or in charge of riot control, I have been unhappy. In BOCES, everyday had the potential for physical assault upon anyone present or psychological trauma for some of our more fragile students. Teaching was my complete interest for all my life, but income needs regulated my opportunities. I truly admire those teachers, public and private, who inspire their students to aspire to greatness. I have recognized those as demanding and flexible, but professionally honest. It is the politicians and economists in education whom I find appalling. Their proportional strength, however, seemed to grow with my years in public education

Reflecting on my brothers in their youth, I recall some salient factors about each. Bernard was physically weak and athletically challenged until he entered the seventh grade. Almost overnight, he seemed to grow the tallest of the sons, and when his body filled out, he developed the musculature that was the envy of many of his peers. I remember my mother’s introduction to Bernard’s new status. She used to refer to all girls interested in her sons from femme fatale to ingenue, as the generic name, Bedelia. Since Bernard used to receive multiple telephone calls from the girls in his class, my mother questioned these "hussies" who violated one of her rudimentary rules of dating. Two in particular used to call so often my mother labeled them "telephone floozies", for in those days, nice girls just didn’t call boys.

When Bernard entered his upper teens, he generally had a crewcut. Combined with this hairstyle and impressive build, some called him "Mr. Clean" from the logo of the cleanser. His classmates in Manhattan Prep respected him for his intelligence and physique. In that era, I suppose his cigarette smoking and early drinking burnished rather than tarnished his image. From the rear of the line in choosing teams, he suddenly moved up, although he never developed the athletic interests I did. In high school, Bernard read incessantly rather than studied the standard curriculum, and his average although respectable, was not as high as mine was. He also balanced his schoolwork with the demands of a job.

When he graduated in 1955, he had won a New York State scholarship that helped pay most of his expenses at Manhattan College. Alone among the three of us, he devoted time and interest to the fraternity scene, pledging for Alpha Sigma Beta. As intently as he partied, he also maintained his love for academics. He also followed his childhood dream of being a pilot by joining the ROTC at Manhattan. Unfortunately, both he and the Air Force decided that he did not have the reflexes and fine touch of a jet pilot. After graduation, his commission was also deferred since he missed some prerequisites when he broke his ankle in a car accident en route to basic training.

Commissioned a few months later, he again attempted to become a pilot. When he remarked that a minor mistake at four hundred miles an hour could look big, he was transferred to Navigators’ School. Disappointed at his failure to be a pilot, he determined to deliberately flunk out of Navigators’ School, resign his commission as soon as possible, and enter law school. He discovered that it was impossible to flunk out, since the Air Force kept sending failures back until they passed. With that information, he passed on his first attempt and was assigned to fly refuellers for Strategic Air Command.

In many ways, I looked up to Bernard as a paragon for myself. His reading material filtered down to his academic interests, and they became mine too. When he told me about the "Ordo Vagantes" or the Wandering Scholars of the Middle Ages, I wrote my first college history paper on that topic. Without any fanfare, he established a precedent for education among his brothers, and the standard he set was quite high. When everyone in the neighborhood was espousing engineering, Bernard defended the Liberal Arts, and did so eloquently.

One of Bernard’s teachers, later to become Dean of Arts and Sciences at Manhattan, identified him as one of the most eager students he taught. This professor also claimed that in my family, he must be considered a saint and a sinner. A saint for what he did for Bernard; a sinner for what he did to Ray!

Although Ray did well in school, it was hardly where he wanted to be. Enrolled too young in Kindergarten, an experience neither Bernard nor I had, Ray developed some symptoms of school phobia. He seemed to have the misfortune of getting a series of new teachers or old timers who stayed around too long. In high school, Ray became more known for pranks than for academic performance. He always managed to pass, but just barely.

When Manhattan Prep offered a class to review for the SAT, he wasn’t invited to participate. When the results were published, Ray had won a state scholarship based primarily on his natural ability. I have always thought Ray was brighter than Bernard or I, but he was totally undisciplined in his knowledge. He could master minutiae by merely scanning a text, if he took the trouble to do that much. He has an encyclopedic array of facts and anecdotes from which he could extract pertinent information in milliseconds. His vocabulary is extraordinary, making him a delightful conversationalist and pertinent contributor to an impressive array of people, places, or events. Even to this day, Ray retains a great deal of knowledge and memories that have long faded in the minds of Bernard and me.

When Ray began college, he behaved as if the classrooms were in the Green Leaf and the Pinewood, two pubs in convenient walking distance of Manhattan. He spent most of his time there and skipped many of his classes. He wasn’t interested too much in the fraternity scene, but he certainly was involved in the party scene. When I left home in 1955, Ray was very much like me. In a short year away, I noticed that he had changed a great deal. He had developed new friendships and a penchant for the party hearty scene. He placed academics farther down his value system and seemed to meet up with all kinds of characters.

The bars of Inwood and Fordham Road became familiar haunts to him. The characters he met in them became his cronies in the pursuit of good times and daring behavior. On one of their jaunts to the Jersey shore, they attempted to delete the S on a roof of a restaurant called the Osprey. One of them had the distinction of being personally denounced from his parish pulpit. Apparently, in desperate need of kidney relief, as the congregation exited the church, he had urinated on the wheel of the bus waiting to take the Ladies Altar Rosary Society on an outing after the noon Mass.

During this period, Ray selected friends who were not interested in school or responsibility. After about six years at Manhattan, Brother Abdon Louis, who had taught Bernard so much, had to expel Ray for academic failure. As soon as he was out of college, Ray began his career in the New York Police Department where he continued to meet and befriend the same kind of characters he found in Inwood and Fordham Road. It would take Ray about eight years before he discovered a better way through Alcoholics Anonymous.

While I believe Ray was seriously affected by the increased drinking of my father, at the same time, I was totally removed from that scene. Studying in a carefully planned environment where time and interest were conscientiously monitored; I could focus on academics and character training. The concentration and discipline enabled me to perform as well as I chose to. For years, I had acknowledged the influence of my older brother Bernard. I respected and in many ways admired the courage and independence he asserted in setting standards for his younger brothers. He pioneered an untested venture into higher education and established precedents that Ray and I could choose to emulate. In many ways I looked up to Bernard and was grateful to him, although I doubt I expressed that too thoroughly or often enough.

On the other hand, I never acknowledged Ray as my younger brother. I thought of him as my coalition of equals. With a mere fourteen months separating us, I thought of him as my twin rather than my younger brother. I suspect Ray, too, saw me as an equal unlike the evidently older Bernard. Together we shared our dreams, our plans, our expectations, personal confidences, and hopes for the future. Despite our allegiance to each other and our equality, several times I had to come to his defense for our personalities were quite different.

Ray was more intrepid, less prudent, more adventuresome, quicker to comment and slower to interpret signs. His verbal repartee occasionally led to assaults by those who didn’t appreciate either his wit or his characterization. I, at risk of life and limb, would be obliged to offer physical support. In point of fact, I do not remember ever fighting at my own instigation. I do remember fighting many times in defense of Ray.

All that seemed to change when I decided to join the Christian Brothers at fifteen. When I left home, Ray and I were very close and tightly allied in purpose and in thought. In a matter of months, Ray’s attitude toward me shifted into the protective mode. I suppose it was typical among Irish Americans to think of those who had opted for religious life as selecting insulation from the more mundane preoccupations of life. Somehow, I had shifted from the person who provided protection to the status of one who had to be protected.

Family concerns, even problems, were now something rarely discussed. While I remained blissfully ignorant, Ray assumed the burden of silence and the role of insulator for me. I was not informed of the degree of chaos introduced by my father’s excessive drinking. Nor was I privy to the knowledge of my mother’s failing health. In a sense, the description "dumb, but happy," might be an appropriate summation of my posture as a religious. Somehow I had became exalted above the mundane problems of ordinary people and allowed to dwell in my ivory tower unworried by the peccadilloes of my fellow man.

Ray retained the right to be brutally honest in those areas where he thought I had become naïve or smug. He never surrendered the privilege of criticizing my thoughts or actions, and I always knew these ruminations were well intended. Our relationship was no longer a coalition of equals, for he had assumed the role of older brother to me. Since I was a religious, I had yielded my position, and in the vacuum, he emerged as the older, presumably wiser one. In the perceptions of many, I became the baby of the family rather than the middle child. In my own defense, I must confess ignorance about many of the factors that now besieged my family.

In my absence, Ray had undergone many important changes. His friendships broadened and his social life intensified. His automotive mobility provided an independence I neither had nor sought. He no longer needed me to share his thoughts and dreams. He also found more satisfaction in partying than ever before. Secure and protected by the customs and demands of religious life, I had made my major life decisions already and found my support and friends from the society I had chosen at fifteen.

These boys and men provided support and nurturing sufficient for me. They became my lifelong friends and confidantes. When, for a variety of reasons, I no longer found that support in the religious life, I left. The relationships between Ray and me were still evidence that he thought of me as naïve and in need of guidance. He continued to play the role of older brother for many more years until I had a family of my own.

Although the sons of Immigrants each selected a career that demanded some expertise and docility, we shared the temptation to place ourselves above our employment and reserve the privilege of criticizing. Our relationship with authority underscored our habit of independent thinking. Nonetheless, each career affected our attitude toward the worlds we embraced. Because of his military experience, Bernard became a military ideologue. Much like my life in a religious order, life in the military is unusual too. It amasses people with values and opinions which begin to become remarkably alike. With defined roles and much government intervention, the military can develop contempt for those who disagree with policy.

Although themselves the beneficiaries of considerable government largesse, career military often become rigid in their perceptions of civilian intentions. Bernard, for instance, viewed American foreign policy as the bumbling decisions of think tanks and civilian dilettantes who had little notion of the world’s realities. If the military had a free hand, he believed, many perilous situations could be resolved expeditiously and totally.

Convinced from his experience in the Strategic Air Command that a strong military is a potent deterrent to war, Bernard viewed the decisions and budgetary allotments of politicians as more pork barrel than policy. In the domestic realm, he viewed the issues of civil rights, educational funding, welfare and a host of other movements as an attempt to garner personal gain and aggrandizement supported by public tax dollars. In his support of political candidates and in his opinions on most issues, Bernard has become a conservative voter, suspicious of liberals and he has distanced himself from the political ideals and positions that Irish- Catholics traditionally held.

From his experience in the New York Police Department, Ray seemed to evolve from a political conservative to a more liberal stance. Perhaps his overriding consideration is the sympathy he developed by exposure to some of the charlatans in politics, as well as from the evident needs of some of the poor. I believe he evaluates candidates and issues more on a case by case basis, rather than as a political ideologue like Bernard. Seeing problems like substandard housing, rampant racism, economic discrimination, political powerlessness, and inadequate public services, Ray developed into a person more sympathetic to the people he was assigned to police. He witnessed criminals on both sides of the law and resolved to judge individuals and candidates as he perceived them rather than which party presented them. Like his grandmother, he has the knack of stripping away the camouflage that surrounds many issues.

As a Christian Brother teaching in the South Bronx for eight years, I too had an eye-opening experience. In the 1960’s during the race riots, the anti-war movement, the civil rights marches, the War on Poverty, I had to reassess my opinions and political convictions too. The insularity of the Irish American from Haven Avenue was seriously impacted by my first hand experience in the ghetto of the South Bronx. My students and their families taught me so many lessons and opened my eyes to the discriminations they endured. Their cause was the same as the Irish immigrants who found a hostile America.

I wanted to vote for the principles and policies that enabled the Irish to move into mainstream America. I recognized that the Irish had used unions and political clout to carve out the route to success. I noted the assistance they received from the institutional Catholic Church, and how they won equal opportunity to housing, educational access, and respect from banking institutions. I witnessed the value of some public funding in the War on Poverty as it provided experience, job development, responsibility, and economic opportunity to Blacks and Hispanics.

I also noted that in close proximity to that successful program, another boondoggle operated around the corner. While the members of one program were supervised and trained, the other demanded its staff only show up for a half-hour a week to collect their checks. Whether the good of one offset the incompetence and chicanery of the other, is a matter of opinion. I suspected that for some good to occur, some evil had to be tolerated. Someone else had to develop greater responsibility in supervision and review.

While I saw charlatans and mountebanks flourish, I also saw some great people given an opportunity that enriched their lives and gave them access to fulfillment of dreams. In the early days of the Troubles in Northern Ireland in the sixties, I remarked to my brother Ray that instead of sending funds to the IRA, I thought the money would be better spent on the impoverished in the South Bronx. Ray’s response was unequivocal and immediate. He called me "A horse’s ass"; an assessment immediately seconded by my future father-in-law.

In the subsequent years after I left the religious life, I have found neither political party particularly interested or effective in dealing with the issues of minorities. I have selected individuals from both parties, or dissidents from both parties, for whom I have cast my ballot. Still in the back of my mind, I am influenced by my adventure in the South Bronx in an exciting era. I usually vote accordingly.

Bernard, Ray, and I have parted geographically, and politically, but we remain in touch. The personality traits we exhibited in youth are still in evidence. Bernard retains his ambition and drive. Ray retains the ability to explore new worlds with an elan that his brothers lack. I have concluded that my favorite condition is inertia. Like my mother, I appreciate peace and quiet, even if it demands self-sacrifice. The world we knew in Washington Heights has changed. Nothing is so evident that the environment we knew as children in the Irish Catholic ghetto has passed into history than the developments of our own children, the grandchildren of the Irish Immigrants. Their lives, their values, their careers are all testimony that our world has vanished.

Chapter 18 Chapter 20

 

 

[SportsSchedule]

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
2/22/04 Sunday Crew   C.R.A.S.H.-B Sprints, World Indoor Rowing Championships   Boston, MA   TBA 
2/29/04 Sunday Baseball   Delaware State   Dover, DE   1:00 PM
2/29/04 Sunday Softball   George Washington$   Washington, DC   1:00 PM
2/29/04 Sunday W. Basketball   Rider*   Lawrenceville, NJ   2:00 PM
2/29/04 Sunday M. Basketball   Marist*   HOME   2:00 PM
2/29/04 Sunday Softball   Mount St. Mary's$   Washington, DC   2:30 PM
…………Febuary events downloaded 10 Jan 03
3/3/04 Wednesday M. Lacrosse   Sacred Heart   Fairfield, CT   3:00 PM
3/3/04 Wednesday Baseball   Fordham   HOME   3:00 PM
3/5/04 Friday W. Basketball   MAAC Championships&   Albany, NY   TBA 
3/5/04 Friday Baseball   UNLV   Las Vegas, NV   7:00 PM
3/6/04 Saturday W. Basketball   MAAC Championships&   Albany, NY   TBA 
3/6/04 Saturday Track & Field   IC4A Championships   Boston Armory   TBA
3/6/04 Saturday Track & Field   ECAC Championships   Reggie Lewis Ctr TBA 
3/6/04 Saturday W. Lacrosse   Vermont   Burlington, VT   11:00 AM
3/6/04 Saturday Baseball   UNLV   Las Vegas, NV   2:00 PM
3/6/04 Saturday M. Lacrosse   Albany   Albany, NY   4:00 PM
3/6/04 Saturday M. Tennis   Binghamton   Binghamton, NY   5:00 PM
3/7/04 Sunday Track & Field   IC4A Championships   Boston Armory   TBA 
3/7/04 Sunday Track & Field   ECAC Championships   Reggie Lewis Center TBA 
3/7/04 Sunday W. Basketball   MAAC Championships&   Albany, NY   TBA 
3/7/04 Sunday M. Basketball   MAAC Championship Semis@   Albany, NY TBA 
3/7/04 Sunday Baseball   UNLV   Las Vegas, NV   1:00 PM
3/8/04 Monday W. Basketball   MAAC Championships&   Albany, NY   TBA 
3/8/04 Monday M. Basketball   MAAC Championship Game@   Albany, NY 9:00 PM
3/10/04 Wednesday M. Lacrosse   Lafayette   Easton, PA   3:00 PM
3/10/04 Wednesday Baseball   Wagner   HOME   3:00 PM
3/10/04 Wednesday W. Lacrosse   Columbia   HOME   4:00 PM
3/12/04 Friday Track & Field   NCAA Championships   Fayetteville, AR TBA 
3/12/04 Friday Softball   Rhode Island#   Boca Raton, FL   12:00 PM
3/12/04 Friday Baseball   Mount St. Mary's College   Homestead, FL 3:30 PM
3/12/04 Friday Softball   Florida Atlantic#   Boca Raton, FL   5:00 PM
3/13/04 Saturday Track & Field   NCAA Championships   Fayetteville, AR TBA 
3/13/04 Saturday Baseball   Sacred Heart   TBA   11:00 AM
3/13/04 Saturday W. Lacrosse   Drexel   Philadelphia, PA   12:00 PM
3/13/04 Saturday Softball   Rhode Island#   Boca Raton, FL   12:00 PM
3/13/04 Saturday M. Lacrosse   Wagner*   HOME   1:00 PM
3/13/04 Saturday Softball   Northern Iowa#   Boca Raton, FL   2:00 PM
3/13/04 Saturday Baseball   Pittsburgh   Homestead, FL   7:00 PM
3/14/04 Sunday Softball   Florida Atlantic   Boca Raton, FL   TBA 
3/14/04 Sunday Softball   TBA#   Boca Raton, FL   TBA 
3/14/04 Sunday Baseball   Temple   Miami, FL   1:00 PM
3/15/04 Monday Golf   Fairfield Spring Break Invit.   Myrtle Beach, SC 9:00 AM
3/15/04 Monday Baseball   Bradley   Homestead, FL   7:00 PM
3/16/04 Tuesday Golf   Fairfield Spring Break Invit.   Myrtle Beach, SC 10:00 AM
3/17/04 Wednesday Track & Field   Scottsdale Multi's   Scottsdale, AZ 11:00 AM
3/17/04 Wednesday M. Lacrosse   Mt. Saint Mary's*   Emmitsburg, MD 3:00 PM
3/17/04 Wednesday Baseball   Bradley   Homestead, FL   7:00 PM  
3/18/04 Thursday Track & Field   Scottsdale Multi's   Scottsdale, AZ 11:00 AM
3/19/04 Friday Track & Field   Baldy Castillo Invitational   Tempe, AZ 10:00 AM
3/19/04 Friday Baseball   Florida International   Miami, FL   7:00 PM
3/20/04 Saturday Crew   Stetson Homecoming Regatta   DeLand, FL   TBA 
3/20/04 Saturday W. Tennis   Rhode Island   HOME   TBA 
3/20/04 Saturday Track & Field   Baldy Castillo Invitational   Tempe, AZ 10:00 AM
3/20/04 Saturday M. Lacrosse   Canisius*   Buffalo, NY   1:00 PM
3/20/04 Saturday Baseball   Florida International   Miami, FL   1:00 PM
3/20/04 Saturday Softball   Saint Joseph's   Philadelphia, PA   1:00 PM
3/21/04 Sunday W. Tennis   Albany   Albany, NY   1:00 PM
3/23/04 Tuesday W. Lacrosse   Wagner   HOME   4:00 PM
3/24/04 Wednesday Baseball   Lehigh   Bethlehem, PA   3:00 PM
3/26/04 Friday W. Tennis   Loyola (MD)*   HOME   TBA 
3/26/04 Friday M. Tennis   Loyola (MD)*   HOME   3:00 PM
3/27/04 Saturday Track & Field   Navy Invitational   Annapolis, MD 10:00 AM
3/27/04 Saturday Baseball   Niagara* (DH)   HOME   12:00 PM
3/27/04 Saturday W. Lacrosse   Mt. Saint Mary's   HOME   2:00 PM
3/27/04 Saturday M. Lacrosse   Siena*   Loudonville, NY   2:00 PM
3/28/04 Sunday W. Lacrosse   Longwood University   HOME   10:00 AM
3/28/04 Sunday Baseball   Niagara*   HOME   12:00 PM
3/28/04 Sunday Softball   Yale   New Haven, CT   1:00 PM
3/28/04 Sunday W. Tennis   Fordham   Bronx, NY   1:00 PM
3/30/04 Tuesday W. Tennis   Fairfield*   Fairfield, CT   2:30 PM
3/30/04 Tuesday Baseball   Fordham   Bronx, NY   3:00 PM
3/31/04 Wednesday M. Tennis   Stony Brook   Stony Brook, NY   2:00 PM
3/31/04 Wednesday Softball   Saint Francis (NY)   HOME   2:30 PM
3/31/04 Wednesday Baseball   Pace   HOME   3:00 PM
3/31/04 Wednesday W. Lacrosse   LIU Brooklyn   HOME   3:30 PM

 

[Sports from College]

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.]

FREEMAN FINISHED THIRD AT THE USA TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Boston, MA (February 27, 2004)-Thomas Jacob Freeman competed in the Weight Throw today at the USA Track & Field Championships held at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center at Roxbury Community College in Boston, MA. Freeman's second to last throw of 22.13m placed him third in the competition. He finished behind James Parker of U.S. Air Force

(23.18m) and A.G. Kruger of Ashland Elite (22.56m).

Freeman starts his last season as a Jasper on March 19th at the Baldy Castillo held at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ.

-1-

 

MEN'S BASKETBALL FALLS TO RIDER, 57-56

Trenton, NJ (February 26, 2004)- Rider's Steve Castleberry's putback as time expired snapped Manhattan's eight game win streak, as the Broncs defeated the Jaspers, 57-56, tonight at the Sovereign Bank Arena. Manhattan falls to 21-5, 15-2 in MAAC play.

Manhattan raced out to a quick 7-2 lead, and, after Luis Flores was fouled in transition, Rider head coach Don Harnum was assesses consecutive technical fouls, resulting in his ejection from the game just 4:12 into the game. Flores converted all four free throws to push the lead to 11-2. The Jaspers led by as many as 10, 28-18, after a Jason Benton jumper with 5:06 left before the break as Manhattan went into halftime with a 30-23 lead.

Manhattan shot just 28.6% (8-28) from the field in the opening stanza, put outrebounded the Broncs 24-14, including 11 on the offensive glass.

Rider (16-12, 10-7 MAAC) opened the second half with a 9-2 run to knot the score at 32-32 with 16:03 remaining after two Steve Castleberry free throws. A Terrence Mouton jumper on the baseline gave the Broncs a 35-34 lead, their first since 2-0, with 14:08 left in the game. Flores gave Manhattan back the lead, 41-40, with a conventional three point play with 11:31 remaining. Rider responded with five straight points for a four point lead, 45-41, with 10:38 remaining. After a Dave Holmes free throw tied the score at 45, Rider ran off four straight points to regain a four point lead, 49-45, with 7:05 left. The Broncs extended the run to 8-0 after four straight Jerry Johnson free throws made the score 53-45 with 5:08 remaining.

Six straight points from Flores brought the Jaspers within one, 53-52, with 1:48 left before Jerry Johnson hit a short jumper to extend the lead back to three with 1:30 remaining. Holmes brought Manhattan back to within one, 55-54, with 34.7 left before Flores gave the Jaspers the lead, 56-55, with a driving layup with 15.2 seconds remaining. Rider's Edwin Muniz's three pointer with the clock winding down fell just short, but Castleberry was there to put the ball in the hoop as time expired to give the Broncs the win.

Flores led all scorers with 30 point, while pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the year. Holmes added 11 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks, while Peter Mulligan chipped in with 10 points and six rebounds. The Jaspers outrebounded Rider 40-32, but shot just 32.7% (16-49) from the floor and 11.1% (2-18) from beyond the arc. Manhattan did convert 22 of 27 free throws, including 17-17 from Flores.

Castleberry led three Broncs in double-figures with 15 points, while Jerry Johnson added 12 and Muniz tallied 11.

Manhattan returns to action on Sunday, February 29, when the Jaspers host Marist in the regular season finale at Draddy Gym. Manhattan seniors Luis Flores, Jason Benton, and Dave Holmes will be honored before the game. Tipoff is slated for 2:00 p.m.

[I went to the game and it was a nail-bite-er. You just knew that, when they drove and scored at 14 second mark, it was going to work against them.  :-(  ]

-2-

 

SOFTBALL PICKED TO FINISH EIGHTH IN MAAC PRESEASON POLL

Riverdale, NY (February 26, 2004)- The Manhattan Softball Team was picked eighth in the 2004 MAAC Softball Preseason Coaches Poll. The Lady Jaspers received 20 votes in the poll conducted by the conference's head coaches. The Lady Jaspers were 8-33 overall and 3-13 in the conference finishing ninth in the MAAC last season. Rider received 78 votes and is the preseason favorite.

New head coach Jennifer Fisher will lead the 2004 Softball Team. Returning for the Lady Jaspers are junior outfielder Jennifer McCracken, junior outfielder Margaret LaFex and sophomore first baseman Christina Buyea. McCracken led Manhattan with a .288 batting average last season. She hit one double and added six RBI. Buyea scored nine times for the Lady Jaspers hitting five doubles and collecting seven RBI. LaFex posted 23 hits and 13 runs for the Lady Jaspers. Manhattan also gained key player Kiera Fox, who transferred from Rider University.

The Softball team plays on Saturday, February 26th when they travel to Washington, D.C. to play in the George Washington Tournament. The first game will be against George Washington at 1pm and the second game, against Colgate, will start at 4pm.

-3-

 

MEN'S BASKETBALL GAME TIMES CLARIFICATION

The men's basketball game at Rider, listed as Friday, February 27 on the media guide and schedule card, is incorrect. The game is to be played at the listed time and place, but on Thursday, February 26. The Marist game, which at one point had been rescheduled for Saturday, February 28, will be played on its original date, Sunday, February 29, at 2:00 p.m. Manhattan College apologizes for the confusion.

-4-

 

BASEBALL TIED FOR SECOND IN MAAC PRESEASON POLL

Edison, NJ (February 24, 2004)- The Manhattan Baseball team was selected to finish in a tie for second in the MAAC Preseason Baseball poll, released today by the conference office. Four Jaspers were also named to the All-MAAC Preseason team. All voting was conducted by the conference's head coaches.

LeMoyne, the defending MAAC Champion, was a unanimous choice to repeat with 100 points and all 10 first place votes, followed by Manhattan and Niagara, which each received 78 points.

The four Jaspers selected to the All-MAAC Preseason team were senior catcher Josh Greco, junior first baseman Chris Gaskin, senior outfielder Matt Cucurullo, and sophomore designated hitter John Fitzpatrick.

Greco batted .256 in 43 games last season, and was third on the team with 130 putouts. Gaskin batted .260 in 49 games, and led the team with 380 putouts. Cucurullo led the team with a .365 batting average in 38 games, and tallied 36 RBI and 15 stolen bases. Fitzpatrick batted .312 in 52 games, and was second on the team with 73 total bases. Cucurullo was a Second-Team All-MAAC selection a year ago, while Fitzpatrick was a First-Team selection and a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American.

Manhattan, which posted a 26-26 record, 15-10 in MAAC play and advanced to the MAAC Championship Tournament for the first time in school history last year, kicks off the season with a with a three-game series at Delaware State on February 28-29. The Jaspers play a double-header on Saturday, February 28 beginning at 12 noon, followed by a single game on Sunday, February 29, beginning at 1:00 p.m.

2004 MAAC BASEBALL PRESEASON COACHES POLL
1.
Le Moyne - 100
2.
Manhattan - 78
Niagara - 78
4.
Marist - 76
5.
Siena - 59
6.
Rider - 50
7.
Iona - 49
8.
Saint Peter's - 24
9.
Fairfield - 23
10.Canisius - 13

-5-

 

 

[Sports from Web]

Copyright 2004 MediaNews Group, Inc. 
Lowell Sun (Lowell, MA)
February 24, 2004 Tuesday
SECTION: SPORTS
LENGTH: 965 words
HEADLINE: Coffin out for second NCAA title
BYLINE: DAVID PEVEAR, Sun Staff

<extraneous deleted>

Around the rim

<extraneous deleted>

The area's top Division 1 player, 6-foot-5 sophomore Mike Konovelchick out of Alvirne, is playing 24.5 minutes a game for 21-4 Manhattan College and averaging 6.1 points and 3.1 rebounds a game.

LOAD-DATE: February 24, 2004

-1-

Copyright 2004 Daily News, L.P.
Daily News (New York)
February 23, 2004 Monday
SPORTS FINAL EDITION
SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. 70
LENGTH: 994 words
HEADLINE: THE PERFECT TEAM 23-0 STANFORD A MODEL PROGRAM
BYLINE: BY DICK WEISS

<extraneous deleted>

SIDEBAR: THEY'D TAKE MANHATTAN

Manhattan (21-4) is approaching rarified at-large bid territory. If the Jaspers, who defeated Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 83-76, in a Bracket Buster game Saturday, win 25 games but lose in the finals of the MAAC Tournament, they have a good shot to make the field of 65 anyway.

The Jaspers last received an at-large bid in 1995, going 25-4, receiving a 13 seed and toppling Oklahoma in the first round.

Meanwhile, a little south of Draddy Gym both geographically and in the RPI, Columbia (8-15) swept Harvard and Dartmouth over the weekend at Levien Gym for its first consecutive home wins since the 2001-02 season.

<extraneous deleted>

SIDEBAR: PROJECTED BRACKETS

GRAPHIC: AP CARD GAME Josh Childress is in the middle of Stanford's 23-game winning streak.

LOAD-DATE: February 23, 2004

-2-

Copyright 2004 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company 
The Houston Chronicle
February 23, 2004, Monday 3 STAR EDITION
SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. 7
LENGTH: 326 words
HEADLINE: Texas colleges
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle News Services

<extraneous deleted>

Houston

Softball victory - Freshman pitcher Carla Kennimer earned the second win of her career, and the Cougars pounded out nine hits as they finished off the Crowne Plaza Classic at the Cougar Softball Complex with an 8-0 shutout of Manhattan College.

<extraneous deleted>

LOAD-DATE: February 23, 2004

-3-

Copyright 2004 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
All Rights Reserved 
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
February 23, 2004 Monday Metro Edition
SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. 5D
LENGTH: 1002 words
HEADLINE: Shalvoy gives Mendon hope
BYLINE: Jeff DiVeronica, Staff, JDIVERON@DemocratandChronicle.com

Senior point guard averages 23.8 points and 6.0 assists

JEFF DiVERONICA

STAFF WRITER

PITTSFORD - Things haven't gone exactly as planned this season for Chris Shalvoy and Pittsford Mendon's boys basketball team.

The Vikings have lost more times than they've won, going 8-10 a year after winning the school's first Section V crown since 1983. They have faced gimmick defenses designed just to slow Shalvoy, their All-Greater Rochester point guard, and admittedly have been undermanned much of the time. Mendon has come up short in several close games, including four losses to Monroe County Division III rivals Pittsford Sutherland and Batavia and a 67-65 thriller at Fairport in last week's regular-season finale.

But the Vikings could wipe all of that heartbreak away on Tuesday night at the Unversity of Rochester. They face seventh-seeded Sutherland (12-6) in the Section V Class A tournament. It's a first-round game that will feel like a final. Though it was determined by seeding points, a selection committee couldn't have put together a more intriguing opener.

"We've struggled as a team at times," says Shalvoy, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound senior who has averaged 23.8 points, 6.0 assists and 2.3 steals. "But we're stepping up at the right time."

To win Tuesday, Shalvoy will have to be at his best, which has been the case most of the season.

Mendon nearly went into the postseason riding a huge high, but Shalvoy had a 3-pointer go around and out in the final seconds at Fairport (15-3), the No. 2 seed in Class AAA. It wouldn't have counted anyway, because the Mendon bench signaled for a timeout just before the shot was released. It would have been a cruel, yet fitting end to the regular season. Shalvoy finished with 29 points, making 13 of 17 shots from the foul line, where he shoots 85 percent.

"I give Chris a lot of credit, having to deal with those (gimmick) defenses night in and night out," says Sutherland coach John Nally. "We have some good players in this area but I don't know if any have faced box-and-ones as consistently and that can get frustrating at times."

Shalvoy (1,221 career points), a third-year varsity player who will finish No. 2 on Mendon's all-time scoring list behind Greg Monroe (1,473), has dealt with it all. Sometimes, he's had to try to shake free from two defenders. He has used a variety of moves, from jab steps to runners to step-back, off-balance jumpers that hit nothing but net.

"I think he's quicker than most people give him credit for and has a good first step," says Fairport coach Scott Fitch. "He's usually under control and uses the jump stop very effectively when other guys get up in the air and get caught."

Shalvoy has made himself into an exceptional player, shooting countless jumpers and hitting the weights hard last summer to build upper body strength. "I don't get knocked off the ball as much now," he says.

His ability to take a hit has helped him set school records for single-season (138) and career (280) free throws made. He also holds marks for 3-pointers (70) and assists (183 as a sophomore) in a season and career records for 3s (151) and assists (468).

"As a point guard, not only does he know when you're open, he waits to give you the ball in a place where you can score," DeCarlo says.

Shalvoy is a hoops junkie. He likes North Carolina and Duke's programs and likes watching St. Joseph's star Jameer Nelson and Syracuse's Gerry McNamara. His dedication is relentless, DeCarlo says. Shalvoy hasn't missed one practice in three years.

After graduating four starters, Mendon has needed him to score more this winter. He averages about five more points and scored 31 points with a school-record nine 3-pointers in a game earlier this month.

"I've played with him since fifth grade and Chris has always been a 'team first' kind of guy," says shooting guard Will Reith, who has drilled 54 3-pointers thanks to the attention being paid to Shalvoy by defenses.

"I think Chris is the best guard in Section V as far as managing a game," says Sutherland point man C.J. Lee, who has squared off against Shalvoy for the past three seasons. "He sets tempo, sets guys up and he shoots free throws well. He's the best point guard in Section V, without a doubt."

Lee's season also hasn't gone as planned. He missed five games with a knee injury.

They were youth teammates as eighth-graders and part of the same team that won 70 games. Now they are rivals who respect each other. Lee will play next year for Manhattan College, a rising Division I program. Shalvoy, who coveted a D-I scholarship but didn't land one, is headed to reigning Division III national champion Williams (Mass.) College. He also considered the University of Rochester after a few Patriot and Ivy league schools seemed to lose interest.

The Division I snub has only fueled Shalvoy's fire.

"It's made me more determined to prove that I should have gotten (a scholarship)," he says. "But I landed in a perfect situation. It's a great school academically and I have a chance to get a lot of minutes (as a freshman)."

He'll need 32 solid minutes of play Tuesday to extend his high school career.

"We have a great bunch of guys who play hard every day," Shalvoy says. "We are getting the most out of everyone."

That's the type of effort you can expect all the time out of Shalvoy, too.

"There are certain kids you question after the season how much better they'll get," says Fitch, who also had Division I hopes but instead became the 1994 Division III National Player of the Year at SUNY Geneseo. "With Chris, you don't have to do that."

The Shalvoy file
Name: Chris Shalvoy.
School: Pittsford Mendon.
Position: Point guard.
Height/weight: 6-feet-1, 175 pounds.
Season averages: 23.8 points, 6.0 assists, 2.3 steals.
Academics: 87 average.
School records: Free throws in a season (138) and career (280), assists in a season (183) and career (468), single-game 3-pointers (9) and assists (15). Career 3-pointers (151) and season (70).

GRAPHIC: Mendon point guard Chris Shalvoy continues to score and lead its offense despite facing defenses designed to stop him. DANESE KENON staff photographer

LOAD-DATE: February 25, 2004

-4-

Copyright 2004 Columbia Daily Spectator via U-Wire
University
Wire
February 23, 2004 Monday
LENGTH: 513 words
HEADLINE: Columbia men's tennis trounces Manhattan College, 7-0
BYLINE: By Carolyn Braff, Columbia Daily Spectator; SOURCE: Columbia U.
DATELINE: NEW YORK

The men's tennis team has been on both ends of shutouts in their first two matches of the 2004 season. After being blanked by a 27th-ranked Clemson team last week, the Lions rebounded, handing the Manhattan College Jaspers a bagel of their own. Winning all six singles matches and the number two and three doubles matches, the Light Blue earned the necessary points to cruise to an easy 7-0 win over Manhattan at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center.

"It was a solid win," senior co-captain Yoku Kiuchi said. "We were looking toward starting off the season with good matches that were a lot easier than Clemson. There were a lot of close matches, so it was good practice."

Manhattan College, a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, is 0-2 for the season.

"It was a good confidence booster," senior co-captain Rohan Saikia said. "I was kind of expecting it. We had to prove a point, that we actually could go out and do it, and we got what we expected."

The Lions won all six singles matches, the highlight of which was Kiuchi's comeback. After losing his first set 1-6 at the third singles position, Kiuchi bounced back to win his next two sets 6-4, 6-4 to take the match.

Junior Rajeev Emany also won his match in three sets. Playing in the first singles position, Emany defeated Manhattan first-year Zoltan Bus 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 to secure another point for the Lions. Saikia, sophomores Akshay Rao and Jimmy Moore, and first-year Michael Accordino all won their matches, rounding out the singles sweep for the Light Blue. Moore narrowly edged his opponent in the first set, winning 7-6, only to trounce him in the second set 6-0. Accordino got his first team win of his college career.

The only loss of the day came in the number one doubles position. The team of Saikia and Rao was edged by one set, 9-8, by Manhattan's team of Bus and junior Erez Cohen, who have a combined doubles record of 15-5.

"It's a matter of a couple of points here and there," Saikia said of the loss. "With a little more practice, we'll get better. I think it shouldn't be that much of a concern. This is the first time we're playing together in our whole life. It takes some time to build a relationship in doubles."

Saikia and Rao are still inexperienced as a doubles duo. This season marks only the second time that the two have teamed up -- the first was a loss to the number one Clemson tandem in a close 8-6 match last week.

"They're still working on their chemistry," Kiuchi said.

The second doubles team of sophomores Jimmy Moore and Scott Robbin clearly has their relationship intact, as the tandem easily defeated Manhattan's team of Cohen and senior Nick Gravagna, 8-4. Moore and Robbin dealt the 17th-ranked doubles team in the nation a big loss last week against Clemson, defeating the duo 8-3. Moore and Robbin hope to meet their goal of attaining a national ranking by the end of the season.

Emany and Kiuchi also won their doubles match, handing the Manhattan third doubles team an 8-5 defeat.

The Lions will next host St. John's on Friday at 2 p.m.

(C) 2003 Columbia Daily Spectator via U-WIRE

LOAD-DATE: February 23, 2004

-5-

Copyright 2004 The Kansas City Star
All Rights Reserved 
The Kansas City Star
February 22, 2004 Sunday 2 EDITION
SECTION: C; BRIEF; Pg. 14
LENGTH: 630 words
HEADLINE: COLLEGES

<extraneous deleted>

Nebraska 19, Manhattan College 0

LOAD-DATE: February 22, 2004

-6-

Copyright 2004 The Florida Times-Union
Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville)
February 21, 2004 Saturday
City
Edition
SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. C-2
LENGTH: 461 words
HEADLINE: WBC official says Tyson to fight in Mexico City bullring

<extraneous deleted>

Florida's softball team won twice at the Crowne Plaza Classic in Houston, defeating Manhattan College 8-0 and Indiana 1-0.

LOAD-DATE: February 24, 2004

-7-

Copyright 2004 MediaNews Group, Inc. 
Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, CT)
February 20, 2004 Friday
SECTION: HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS
LENGTH: 748 words
HEADLINE: Regional teams set for league playoffs
BYLINE: TARA DRISCOLL tdriscoll@ctpost.com

The Fairfield team bus became a soapbox after Monday's loss to St. Joseph, but the message remained linear. Like the two-word phrase "get there," written on their team T-shirts, Fairfield's three seniors spoke to the rest of the team about attaining its season-long goal.

"We want to get to the championship so badly," senior captain Meghan Dobson said.

Getting there means Fairfield, seeded fourth, will have to get by No. 5 Danbury when the FCIAC tournament begins today at 5:15 p.m. The game is at McMahon. The winner advances to Tuesday's semifinals at Fairfield University. The final, also at Fairfield University, is on Thursday.

With a clear goal in mind, Dobson and fellow seniors Katlyn Klecha and Susan Starr thought Fairfield [15-5, 13-4] needed a pep talk after losing 51-45 to St. Joseph.

"We said that we have to look past it, but we have to keep it with us," said. "The same thing happened when we lost to Trumbull."

Against St. Joseph, Fairfield, FCIAC champion in 1997 and 1998, trailed 30-17 at the half and got within six after three quarters before falling. Dobson said a loss at this point in the season might be what the Mustangs need, if they examine why it happened.

"We need to put other teams away in the first or second quarter," Dobson said. "When the game [against St. Joseph] was over, we were ready to play more. But it was too late."

Perhaps no one more than Dobson feels she has something to prove. Dobson averages 22.5 points and became Fairfield's all-time leading scorer earlier this month, but heard only sparingly from college recruiters. Even so, Dobson has found a way to see the positive. Her athleticism gives her choices and she'll likely play soccer at Manhattan College.

"She has consistently improved each year," Fairfield coach Dave Danko said. "I'm surprised more teams haven't come to see her, but she hasn't let it get her down."

Instead, Dobson keeps playing. She has 1,385 points, shooting nearly 49 percent from the floor, and has made 17 of 34 3-pointers. Dobson, a swing player, raised her points average each season from eight as a freshman to 12 her sophomore season, 18.5 as a junior to nearly 23 as a senior.

Dobson may be the team's leading scorer, but she said she's far from the only leader.

"I don't think we have defined roles on the team," Dobson said. "Everyone does a bit of everything and that works for us."

Other first-round matchups today include No. 8 Ridgefield at No. 1 McMahon at 7 p.m., while No. 3 Trumbull faces rival and No. 6 St. Joseph at 5:15 p.m. and No. 2 Trinity Catholic plays No. 7 Westhill at 7 p.m. The latter two games are at Trinity Catholic.

<extraneous deleted>

Tara Driscoll covers girls basketball. She can be reached at 330-6210.

LOAD-DATE: February 20, 2004

-8-

Copyright 2004 The Omaha World-Herald Company 
Omaha World Herald (Nebraska)
February 20, 2004, Friday SUNRISE EDITION
SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. 3c;
LENGTH: 312 words
HEADLINE: CU softball heads south for taste of outdoors
BYLINE: By Chad Purcell
SOURCE: WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

<extraneous deleted>

NU also off to Texas

The No. 8 Nebraska softball team plays in its second tournament of the season this weekend at the Crowne Plaza Classic in Houston.

The Huskers play Centenary and Houston today, Manhattan College and Florida Saturday, and Indiana Sunday.

Nebraska is off to a 2-3 start after last weekend's UNLV Classic. The Huskers defeated No. 10 Michigan and No. 12 DePaul but lost to Oregon State, Notre Dame and defending national champion and top-ranked UCLA.

LOAD-DATE: February 20, 2004

-9-

Copyright 2004 P.G. Publishing Co. 
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania)
February 20, 2004 Friday SOONER EDITION
SECTION: SPORTS, Pg.B-1
LENGTH: 1833 words
HEADLINE: BERENATO, BUSCAGLIA TRY RESHAPING PITT, RMU WOMEN'S TEAMS
BYLINE: PAUL ZEISE, PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE

There are optimists, and then there are people like Agnus Berenato and Sal Buscaglia who take optimism to the extreme.

While different in many ways, they have one thing in common: They both believe there is nothing -- no matter how unthinkable or insurmountable it might seem -- that is impossible if they just roll up their sleeves and work at it.

That is something they have to believe.

If they didn't, they never would have signed on for the huge projects that lie ahead of each of them -- building winning women's basketball programs at Pitt and Robert Morris.

Last year, Berenato and Buscaglia were handed the keys to two of the worst Division I women's basketball programs in the country -- Pitt was 29-53 the past three seasons, Robert Morris 7-72 -- and charged with building them into contenders. And though wins for both in their first seasons have been scarce, both coaches have given their fans reason to believe winning is right around the corner.

"I've told the players we may not win this year on the court, but we will be winners in every other aspect of it," Pitt's Berenato said. "We have a long road ahead, but the excitement around the program is growing. We've made inroads in recruiting, our crowds are starting to grow and our players have continued to work and grow each day. Things are clearly headed in the right direction."

The Colonials' Buscaglia said: "I'm 3 for 3 in building winning programs, and I have no doubt I'll be 4 for 4. We have struggled, but we're competitive every night. I believe in hard work and I believe there is no other way to find success.

"Right now, these kids have bought into that, and it shows in their approach to every practice and every game. We've laid the foundation; now it is time to start building up."

Such optimism is admirable -- though some would say delusional -- but not that different from any first-year coach in a rebuilding situation. But Berenato and Buscaglia have track records of being program-builders and winners.

Both readily admit they stepped into situations that were worse than they originally thought, but have no regrets about their decisions.

Gaining strength

Berenato, 47, was the women's basketball coach at Georgia Tech for 15 years before succeeding Traci Waites, who was fired after five years as Pitt's coach. She has taken a high-energy approach along with a mix of positive reinforcement and accountability. Her goal is to create a women's basketball program that encompasses far more than just molding talented players into a good team.

She wants the whole package -- good players, good students and good citizens. She takes as much time teaching personal hygiene and how to dress for success as she does teaching jump shots.

"I see our players involved in the community and working hard at relationship building, and it shows the impact Agnus has had as a teacher," said Carol Sprague, Pitt's senior associate athletic director. "We obviously need to upgrade our talent, but we've already taken a step forward in recruiting. There is no quick fix, but the values Agnus represents are values that will always produce results."

Berenato's tireless work in the community and with girls' basketball programs has paid off. Crowds have been much larger than they were last season, when most games drew crowds of 500 or less. This year, the crowds have topped 1,000 almost every night and hit 2,000 some nights.

In fact, the Panthers will play host to Notre Dame tomorrow in front of a sold-out crowd as part of a discount ticket promotion called "Pack the Petersen Center."

Pitt senior forward Sheila Stufflet described Berenato's energy as infectious and said it is amazing how people in the community have embraced the team.

"It is so much more positive, so much more of a family atmosphere here than it ever has been in the past," Stufflet said. "She will turn this around; I have no doubt. In fact, she already has in a lot of ways. I'm just sad I only got to play for her for one year. ... That atmosphere makes you want to work as hard as you can to become the best player you can be for this program."

One major change Berenato has made -- taking a page out of former men's coach Ben Howland's book -- is that she has made weightlifting a priority. Players described the offseason weight program as "intense" and said they can feel the benefits as the season wears on.

For years, the Panthers have been pushed around by stronger teams such as Rutgers, Connecticut, Notre Dame and Villanova. Soon, it will be the Panthers who will do the pushing.

"I'm a little person, so I don't think I am going to get much bigger," said junior point guard Amy Kunich. "But I know I am stronger than I ever have been, and that makes a difference, especially when teams are trying to knock me around.

"What you'll see is the younger players get bigger and stronger over time and, at some point, be able to compete physically with the other teams. That's important in a conference like the Big East because it is such a physical league."

Taking small steps

Buscaglia, 50, was hired after Robert Morris fired Lynn Roman after three seasons. He has been a master at rebuilding programs throughout his career, and his approach has always been the same: Outwork everyone else. He learned this work ethic from watching his mother work long hours in a factory in Buffalo while raising three children.

He is in the office by 7 a.m. and usually doesn't leave until after 11 p.m. At his last stop, Manhattan College, he had a cot in his office and slept on it most nights during the season so he could maximize his work time. He has been in Pittsburgh for about eight months but said he has only been out on the town one night, only for a few hours.

"Dr. Hofacre already told me I need to go home every night," Buscaglia said of athletic director Susan Hofacre, "I guess that's a good thing."

His hard work and single-mindedness always has paid off. He has 488 wins in 27 years of coaching and has averaged 18 wins per season in 12 years as Division I coach.

He started the women's program at Hilbert Junior College in 1977 and, without a gym, turned it into one of the top junior-college programs in the country. At the University of Buffalo, he guided the Bulls' transition from Division II to Division I and had five 20-win seasons in seven years.

Last year, he led Manhattan to its first 20-win season, its first conference title and NCAA berth, five years after he inherited a four-win team.

It is this track record that he brings to Robert Morris, which finished last season 1-26, ranked 319 (out of 320) in the Ratings Performance Index (RPI). The Colonials are 2-22 this season, but are far more competitive in most of their games than they were last season.

"Coach will never be outworked, ever," said assistant coach Toyelle Harrison, who played for Buscaglia at Manhattan. "When he recruited me, it was evident he had a plan and he had clear expectations, so it was an easy choice. When you have a coach who works so hard, it pushes you to work even harder."

Buscaglia's personality already has rubbed off on his team. Last season, the team seemed to lose interest as the losses mounted, but the Colonials haven't quit this year. In fact, they have been and more competitive as the season has worn on.

They've lost four games in the past month by five points or less, lost another in overtime and beat Sacred Heart for the first time since 1999-2000. Earlier this season, they pushed Duquesne to the wire before losing, 66-63.

"You look at what we've done, we've been right there in almost every game," Buscaglia said. "I don't think anybody is looking at us as an easy win anymore, despite our record.

"People have had to earn wins, which shows these kids are playing hard every night all the way until the end of the game. And we're just getting started. Of our top six players, four are freshman and one other is a sophomore, so we're great shape for the next few years.

"We're going to continue to improve with experience, and we also have a lot of help on the way next year. Recruiting is the key, and we've had a great start already."

Gathering talent

The stellar recruiting class is comprised of players fromWisconsin, Georgia and Michigan. All three should be impact players, but more important, are very athletic and will fit into the style of basketball Buscaglia likes to coach. And he still has two scholarships to give, which means he'll have 10 players next year who are freshmen or sophomores.

The only freshman Buscaglia recruited after he arrived, 6-foot-1 center Sarah Bradley, already has established herself as one of the team's best players.

"Right now, we don't have the athletes to play that full-court style or pressing and running," Buscaglia said. "I've had to coach a different way this year, but it has been good for our players because we've established an expectation level with regards to the commitment and work ethic I demand.

"We had to go out and find players from around the country this year because we don't have the respect locally yet. Over the years, Robert Morris hasn't given the top players a reason to want to come here. That will change."

Pitt (6-17), which finished last year with an RPI ranking of 129 (third-worst in the Big East), has had only two winning seasons in the past 10 years. Berenato also inherited a team that had only one returning starter and a total of 13 points per game returning.

She already has signed two top players, including 6-foot-4 Russian exchange student Vika Sholokhova, a guard ranked by some services as one of the top 30 players in the United States. She has three scholarships left for next season and a total of five in the next two years, so she'll have an opportunity to upgrade the talent quickly.

Both coaches are realistic about where their programs are and how far they have to go, but both, along with most others around them, know the foundation they've put in place this year will soon translate into wins.

And that is why both have such a positive outlook regardless of how high the odds seem to be stacked against them.

"I love my job," Berenato said, "I wake up every morning and can't wait to get to work. Is it a challenge? Yes, but once we get where we are going we'll look back at these struggles and appreciate our success even more. We can't change the past, but we control our future, and that is exciting."

"To say this job is the ultimate challenge is probably too conservative," said Buscaglia, whose leading scorer, Brittany Warren, transferred to Duquesne earlier in the season.

"But we will get it done. St. Francis [Pa.] kicked our butts pretty good [76-60 Jan. 26] and they were relentless about it all the way to the end. That's fine, that just motivates me more. They'd better take their shots at us now because pretty soon, we'll be taking ours."

NOTES:

Paul Zeise can be reached at pzeise@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1720.

GRAPHIC:  

Photo: Matt Freed/Post-Gazette;Annie O'Neill/Post-Gazette: (for two photos) Pitt coach Agnus Berenato, top, questions a referee's call in a game against West Virginia. Robert Morris coach Sal Buscaglia wears a discouraged look in a game against Monmouth.

Photo: Annie O'Neill/Post-Gazette: Robert Morris University women's basketball coach Sal Buscaglia roots on his team againt Monmouth. Photo: Matt Freed/Post-Gazette: Pitt coach Agnus Berenato gives her team directions against West Virginia.

LOAD-DATE: February 21, 2004

-10-

Copyright 2004 The Tulsa World 
Tulsa World (Oklahoma)
February 20, 2004 Friday Final Home Edition
SECTION: SPORTS, SPORTS; Columnists, General Sports; Doyle,; Pg. B3
LENGTH: 1211 words
HEADLINE: Fraschilla took good, long look at TU
BYLINE: MATT DOYLE World Sports Writer

The opportunity was there nine years ago for Fran Fraschilla to make Tulsa his home.

When the University of Tulsa was seeking a replacement for Tubby Smith as its men's basketball coach in 1995, Fraschilla surfaced as a leading candidate. His Manhattan College team had just beaten Oklahoma in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

Fraschilla met with the search committee, which included TU athletic director Judy MacLeod and ex-TU player and current assistant coach Pooh Williamson, before withdrawing his name for a job that went to Steve Robinson.

"I had such a young team at Manhattan that the timing was not good to make the move," Fraschilla said. "My wife is from Dallas, and that made it an intriguing possibility at the time. Had it been a different point of my career, it would have been just a great opportunity. But I can't forget some of the great people I met with at Tulsa."

At the time, TU was considered an NCAA Tournament-level program. That's not the case now.

Fraschilla will see up close and personal how different the TU program (7-16) is when he serves as the analyst for ESPN2's telecast of the Hurricane's home game against No. 6 Gonzaga.

TU and Gonzaga have been the marquee non-major programs over the past decade that ESPN loves to focus on. They are also two of the reasons the cable network created the "Bracket Buster Saturday" event, a one-day, multi-game initiative featuring several potential NCAA Tournament teams from the top mid-major conferences competing against each other. Last year's inaugural Bracket Buster included TU's 69-60 loss at Gonzaga.

Even though the schools were scheduled to play this season, ESPN officials tried a month ago to get TU to drop its matchup with Gonzaga in order to free up the Zags to play a better team in the Bracket Buster.

"We didn't approach them directly, but (WAC Commissioner) Karl Benson asked Tulsa if it would be receptive to the move and find a way to keep them happy," said Burke Magness, ESPN director of programming and acquisitions. "I didn't think we had a great shot at that (idea) being successful. But if you don't ask the question, you'll never know."

But as TU slips to new lows with each loss, Gonzaga continues to soar away from being a "mid-major" power and into a real power.

Fraschilla, who served as head coach at Manhattan, St. John's and New Mexico before joining the TV ranks two years ago, said procuring talent annually is imperative for programs like TU and Gonzaga to remain competitive.

"Tulsa has had such great success and great players. But they're just caught right now in a rebuilding cycle," Fraschilla said. "They're going through a normal down turn, but I have a feeling they will be back quickly. The program has such great tradition that it will be able to attract the same type of players they always have. But it's tough for them to do that because they're competing with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State for the local talent."

While TU has to deal with a pair of Big 12 Conference powers in its own state, Gonzaga has been able to take advantage of several lean seasons by Washington and Washington State to increase its profile nationally.

"Gonzaga is no longer a Cinderella. This is the best team, in my mind, they've ever had. They have excellent talent, they know how to win and they believe in their system," Fraschilla said. "The state of Washington is an underrated high school basketball state. It produces several good players each year and Gonzaga has gotten more than its share of them. Their talent level is such that they could finish in the top three or four of the ACC this year, and this is a year where they probably could win the Big Ten."

Anderson on Walls: Since joining the network in 1999, John Anderson has risen to become one of ESPN's top SportsCenter anchors. The former KTUL and KOTV sports reporter often credits KJRH channel 2 news anchor John Walls as the person who allowed his career to take off and flourish.

Walls, who hired Anderson at both KTUL and KOTV, is signing off from the Tulsa television airwaves again. His 10 p.m. newscast tonight on KJRH is his last. The former sports director at both KTUL and KOTV and the 1995 recipient of the Tulsa Sportscaster of the Year is moving to Washington D.C.

"Every time I have some sort of success, I call and blame him for it," Anderson said. "There's a lot of places you can land fresh out of school, and I was really fortunate to land in Tulsa with a guy who was really talented and was secure in his position that he didn't feel threatened by how good anybody working for him was. He was confident in his abilities, yet very encouraging to others to make them get better. He was always in my corner and taught me a lot. I am so fortunate to know someone like him business-wise and have him as a friend."

<extraneous deleted>

LOAD-DATE: February 21, 2004

-11-

Copyright 2004 Newsday, Inc.
Newsday (New York)
February 18, 2004 Wednesday
QUEENS EDITION
SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. A51
LENGTH: 763 words
HEADLINE: Hunter's Precious Beats No. 6 Trinity

<extraneous deleted>

Women's Basketball

<extraneous deleted>

Manhattan 58, Saint Peter's College 46: Donnette Reed and Rosalee Mason both had 19 points to lead Manhattan College (9-15, 5-10 MAAC). Bethany Anderson led St. Peter's (12-12, 7-8 MAAC) with 11 points.

<extraneous deleted>

LOAD-DATE: February 18, 2004

-12-

Copyright 2004 Poughkeepsie Journal (Poughkeepsie, NY)
All Rights Reserved 
Poughkeepsie Journal (Poughkeepsie, NY)
February 17, 2004 Tuesday
SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. 3C
LENGTH: 252 words
HEADLINE: Magarity notches 2nd MAAC honor
BYLINE: Dan Pietrafesa

The Marist College women's basketball team reclaimed first place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference on Monday.

And Maureen Magarity was rewarded for helping the Red Foxes do so by being named the MAAC Player of the Week on Monday for the second time this season.

The 6-foot-1 senior received the accolade for leading Marist to a pair of conference victories last week, averaging 20 points, seven rebounds and 1.5 blocks.

In a win over Manhattan College on Thursday, the forward from Wappingers Falls collected 16 points, four rebounds and tied a career-high in blocks with three. Two days later at St. Peter's, Magarity had finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Red Foxes to their first triumph in Jersey City.

"The guards did a great job getting the ball inside in both wins," Magarity said. "They were two really great team wins."

With the two wins and a Niagara loss to Fairfield on Monday, the Red Foxes are now in first place heading into tonight's game at Loyola College in Baltimore.

Marist has four games remaining as it looks to win its first regular-season title as a NCAA Division I program.

"These next few games are huge for us," Magarity said. "A lot of teams are gunning for us now because we are in first place. We can't have any letdowns and we have to continue playing well on the road."

<extraneous deleted>

LOAD-DATE: February 18, 2004

-13-

 

 

[EMAIL FROM JASPERS]

Email01

Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 22:51:13 -0500
From: Jasper John '68
Subject: 04 Reunion Info.doc

John O'Connor received the following information from Grace Feeney in the Alumni Office. Note it includes Prep. John Reinke

REUNION 2004 WEEKEND

Friday, June 4, Saturday, June 5, Sunday, June 6

ACCOMMODATIONS - All overnight guests will be housed in Horan Hall.  The accommodations are suites, two bedrooms share a bathroom, all the beds are single and there are at least two beds in each room.  Charges are per room and not per person.  $40 for one night - $75 for two nights. Prices include continental breakfast(s).  Complimentary Jasper towels for each person.  (For those staying for 2 nights and going to all appropriate events discount packages are available.  See registration form.)

Every effort will be made to house classes on the same floor.  If there is a particular classmate with whom you would like to share a suite, please let us know.

Linens, towels, and soap are supplied.  Horan Hall is air-conditioned and has four elevators.  Overnight guests are asked to go directly to Draddy Gym parking lot.  You will enter Horan Hall through the back entrance, right onto the eighth floor.  Students will be available to help you with your luggage.  Inside Horan Hall, you will be given your room number and lock combination.  Once you are settled in your room, before you attend any of the events or activities, be sure to go to the registration desk in the lobby of Smith Auditorium - open Friday and Saturday. 

MOST IMPORTANT: WE NEED TO KNOW THE ESTIMATED TIME OF YOUR ARRIVAL.  For guests not staying overnight, changing rooms with bath will be available on the 8th floor in Horan Hall.

Area Hotels: Holiday Inn, Tuckahoe, Yonkers, 914/476/3800
                      The Courtyard by Marriott, Tarrytown, 800-321-2211.

RESERVATION INFORMATION - Complete the reservation form on the last page and pay by check or credit card (Visa or MasterCard only). Checks should be made payable to Manhattan College and mail to Grace Feeney, Manhattan College, Riverdale, NY  10471.  If paying by credit card you can either mail or fax your reservation to Grace Feeney, 718/862/8013 or E-mail: grace.feeney@manhattan.edu.  If you are faxing your reservation, please use a black pen and print clearly.  Reunion packets will be mailed beginning May 17.  You can also register on line at:

www.manhattan.edu/alumni_friends/events.php

<http://www.manhattan.edu/alumni_friendss/events.php> .  Reservations must be made in advance and received by Monday, May 10. 

Please bring your business card with you and write your year of graduation on it and leave it at the registration desk in Smith Auditorium.

Thank you

=

2004 Reunion Weekend
Friday, June 4
     2:00 pm                  Room check-in begins
Horan Hall 8th fl.
     3:00 pm                  Registration Desk Opens
Smith Auditorium
     5:30 pm                  Bus Departs Campus Guard Booth
                                    for Dinner Cruise         
(round trip)
     6:30 pm                  Boarding "Atlantica" Intrepid Pier
                                    Anniversary Dinner Cruise 12th & 46th St.
                                    '39,'44,'49,'54,'59,'64
                                    '69,'74,'84,'89,'94,'99
                                    Manhattan Prep
     7:00 pm                  Class of 1979 Award Ceremony Chapel             
     7:30            pm                  Class of '79 "New York, New York"  Smith Auditorium
                                    Dinner Dance
Saturday, June 5
  7:00 am  to                "Morning After" Horan Hall
  9:30 am                     Continental Breakfast 7th & 9th floors
   9:00 am                     Room Check-in Opens Horan Hall 8th Fl.
 10:00 am                     Registration Desk Opens Smith Auditorium
 11:00 am                     Class of 1954 Dante's Den
                                    Golden Anniversary Luncheon
 Brother President to present the Jubilarian Medals to '54 members and widows in attendance.  awards will also be presented to those attending from `34, `39, `44 and `49.
 12 Noon                      Prep Awards Luncheon Faculty Dining Room
 12 Noon-2:30 pm        Family Picnic Quadrangle
           
Reunion Celebration             
 4:45 pm                       '54 and '79 Procession Line-up Quadrangle               
 5:00 pm                       Eucharistic Celebration Main Chapel
 6:00 pm                       Celebration -Gala Buffet (open bar) Quadrangle
                                    followed by Venetian Hour with music
                                    and dancing Thomas Hall
                                    Host, Br. Thomas Scanlan, President
Sunday, June 6
  7:00 am         "Morning After" Continental Breakfast       Horan Hall 7th & 9th fls.

=

Subject: 04 Reunion Info II.doc

Second page of what John received from Feeney

Overnight: __1 night @ $40   ___2 nights  @ $75
Friday                                        @       
1979 Welcome Party          $  75 pp                 
Dinner Cruise                        $110 pp
Bus to Pier                             $  12 pp
                                      (round trip)
Saturday                                     @
'54 Awards Lunch               $ 50 pp
('34'39'44'49)
Family Picnic                         $ 20 pp
                                                 $ 40 pfamily         
Prep  Awards Lunch           $ 50 pp                 
Eucharistic Celebration        NC
Reunion Celebration          $ 75 pp
               
Discount packages include 2 nights lodging and all appropriate events.
                        1 Person          2 Persons
Class of 1954       ___ $280               ___$495                     
('34'39'44'49)
Prep                       ___ $280               ___$495
Class of 1979 -    ___$225               ___$375                     
 
All Others            ___$255                                ___$445
           

 

Email02

From: <privacy invoked> 
To Henry (1952) Franks
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2004 9:48 AM
Subject: Check out Albany, N.Y. -- timesunion.com

Click here: Albany, N.Y. -- timesunion.com

=

From: Henry (1952) Franks
Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2004 12:17 PM
Subject: Fw: Check out Albany, N.Y. -- timesunion.com

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=219368&category=SPORTS&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=2/16/2004

Siena not in same class as Manhattan 
By TIM WILKIN, Staff writer
First published: Monday, February 16, 2004

RIVERDALE -- It would have been an upset, absolutely. If the Siena basketball team woke up today off a win on Sunday afternoon, it would have been the talk of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

It didn't happen. Siena traveled to the shadow of New York City Sunday to challenge Manhattan, the top team in the league. The Saints didn't put up much of a struggle, falling 79-62 to the Jaspers at Draddy Gymnasium.

"You know what? The reality was that if we were going to win this game, we were going to have to play really, really well," Siena coach Rob Lanier said. "They are clearly the better team. I really thought we came out and played hard but we did not play very well."

With the loss, Siena falls to 9-15 overall and 6-9 in the MAAC. With three regular season games left -- all at home -- the best Siena can hope to finish in the league is 9-9. Siena plays the first of those games on Saturday when the Saints play Marist at 7 p.m.

That game was originally scheduled for 1 p.m. but was moved back after it was announced a memorial service would be held Saturday morning for Albany police officer John Finn, who died Friday from gunshot wounds suffered on Dec. 23.

"We've got to get this thing rolling," said Siena sophomore forward Michael Haddix. "With the tournament at home, we have three games to get ready. We want to get back on track and get some confidence before that."

Siena never led on Sunday and were only tied with the Jaspers when it was 6-6 with 17:33 left in the first half. Manhattan then went on a 14-2 run to take a 20-8 lead with 11:11 left and Siena never recovered.

"I thought we came in and took care of business," said Manhattan coach Bobby Gonzalez, whose team beat the Saints 72-50 in Albany on Jan. 3. "We did what we had to do. I thought our defense was the story of the game. I still think that this is a team that will peak late. I think we are getting there, but not yet."

The Saints were again bothered by the full-court pressure of the Jaspers. Siena had 18 turnovers for the game, 10 of them in the first half.

"They exploit the fact more than anyone else in our league that we don't handle and pass the ball very well," Lanier said. "It's something I am probably guilty of at some level as a recruiter but the reality is that the team we have is not good in that area and that is probably not good medicine coming in here."

Manhattan (19-4, 14-1) clinched at least a tie for the regular season MAAC title and the No. 1 seed in the league tournament next month at Pepsi Arena.

The Jaspers were led by senior guard Luis Flores, who had 25 points, but he was assisted by junior forward Peter Mulligan, who scored 20, and senior forward Dave Holmes, who had 17.

"They are the top team in the league," said Haddix, who led the Saints with 20 points. "When we play at our best, we can play with them but we did not do that today. They are a great team."

Antoine Jordan added 14 points for Siena and Tommy Mitchell had 13. The Saints did not get much production from the perimeter, missing nine of 11 shots they attempted from 3-point range. Manhattan made five of 14 from beyond the arc and also converted 30 of 32 shots from the free-throw line.

"We've got some good players in our locker room and we need them to play well," Lanier said. "We need someone to step up on the perimeter and get 15 or 17 points. We are a better shooting team than what we showed tonight. Somebody has to make a shot."

All Times Union materials copyright 1996-2004, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y.

[JR: Credit that fellow with a SCOOP. I didn't see this in my automagic searches. I guess the Times Union doesn't put its stuff on the web for the robotic search engines to find. That's why we need "reporters", as well as readers. Thanks.]

 

Email03

From: StudentsReview Proxy [mailto:studentsreview@studentsreview.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 10:11 AM
To: Ferdinand John Reinke
Subject: Contact Request

Hi,
A HS student has requested your advice or help
(from StudentsReview.com) with regard to:

"

HI,

I have been accepted to Manhattan for Fall 04 for the engineering school. How do you find the overall social atmosphere? Is is a friendly school? What about time for hobbies like music? How do you find the engineering department? challenging or no? How are the professors?  What is your overall opinion of the school? Thanks, Sterling "

His/her email address is: <privacy invoked>
To contact <privacy invoked>', simply reply to this message.
Thank you for making yourself available to help these students out.

- Please report abuse/abusive emails immediately to sradmin@studentsreview.com

You are receiving this email because sometime in the past you took the college survey at www.studentsreview.com & said that it was ok for HS students to contact you.  Since we do not allow direct contact (to protect our reviewers & their email addresses), it is necessary for us to contact you on their behalf.  If you have the time, please help them with their questions.

Best Regards and Thanks once again,
The StudentsReview Design Team.
www.studentsreview.com
Students Review, Inc.
www.studentsreview.com

===

From: JohnReinke
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 1:30 PM
To: <privacy invoked>
Subject: RE: Contact Request

Hello Future Jasper 2008:

I have been out of Manhattan for a few years. Ok, more than a few. Class of 68.

I too am a BEEE (I spent extra time and money to add an E. Seriously, I had to get my index over 2.00 to graduate. So I made a deal with the dean to get into his new experimental "electronics" program. What we would now call the precursor to CompSci. Hence the Bachelors in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. I actually had to xerox my diploma to prove to Brother President that there was such an animal.)

I have some different ties to the College. Most interesting to you is I serve on the Computer Governance Committee that helps Brother President chart the future technology activities of the College. Hence when you get to school you'll see our influence in the high speed network, wireless in some places, the labs, and the pervasive use of the web. I like to think I had a hand in driving that.

I also run an alumni ezine which you are more than welcome to sign up for. I counsel FOWM (laid off Fat Old White Men) and one of the first things I advise is to "connect" with their old school chums. That's how I got into this. So I would urge you to connect with your mates in an organized fashion. I wish I had done that.

Social life. I don't know how it is now, but, when I was there I almost enjoyed it a wee too much. I am told the students today are smarter than I was hence activities are more "acceptable" to the good brothers. When I was there, I made one friend that stuck for thirty some odd years. I'm Godfather to his oldest boy and he is one of my three closest friends. And, he's not even Irish.

I have met the "new" dean of engineering, (since I graduated I refer to each dean that comes in from time to time as "new". Please don't read anything into it.) As well as some of the engineering faculty, they seem to be sharper than when I was there and really laser focused on helping students exceed everyone' expectations.

Overall, I think the school is a steal -- it's not as expensive as an Ivy, but if you pay attention you can learn lessons that will carry you through life to satisfaction with oneself (I manage to take a few lessons away with me); it's not as big as an Ohio State, but the alum are really into helping one another -- you just have to avail yourself of the opportunities. And, it's not a "big" as a Notre Dame or Some State University, but then you will be taught by the profs not some TA who is a year ahead of you (if you're as smart as I think you are, then you'll "join the union" -- find some upperclassman who can guide you towards the good stuff and away from the bad).

I am proud of being a Jasper, not because the basketball team wins, although that's nice, not because the school can improve itself, and it sure can, and not because I think that they have the "silver bullet" that can fix every problem, BUT because it is family. Smart, handsome, thin, hair -- they all fade. The lessons you can take away from Manhattan are not all in the books but in what you learn.

Hope that helps.

Take a look at jottings www.jasperjottings.com and I think you'll get a sense of what I am rambling about.

If you want, I can connect you with more recent grads, people in your field, or girls (no just kidding. Although I do have some real heartbreakers in my Rolodex that I met at the last NYC Alumni Club meeting I went to.)

Sorry this is a ramble, I wanted to respond quickly, and give you what you need, not necessarily what you asked for, feel free to reply, I try to tell everyone how "approachable" I am. :-)

Good luck.
F. John Reinke
MC 1968 BEEE

=

From: Jan Solesbee Waite
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 3:14 PM
Subject: RE: Contact Request

Hello and thanks for the great and informative reply. I appreciate you taking the time to fill me in. Manhattan College sounds like the place for me, even though I am waiting on one other college to reply. Still, I think MC is my first choice. Thanks a lot for your email.

Sterling

[JR: Great. Hope I see you at a networking meeting, a reunion, or maybe I'll be asked to speak at your graduation on "The Lessons I Have learned From The Mistakes I Have Made". Brother President might consider that because I have made so many bad ones that I am such a great negative role model. You know "Don't stick your finger in the light socket, dummy!" that you see on AFV. Let me know how you make out and what you eventually decide. Good luck.]

 

Email04

From: Geza P. (1960) Bottlik
Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2004 10:47 AM
Subject: Re: This issue is at: http://ferdinand_reinke.tripod.com/jasperjottings200402...

Hi John

Very sad to see the list of obits this time.

Frank Hyland belonged the class of '60 (??? in your last message) and was a fraternity brother and good friend of my college days. I had not seen him since the 1995 reunion.

Geza Bottlik '60

Thanks for keeping this list going!

[JR: I appreciate the update on the class year. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news (i.e., losing that part of your history. Better to know then to wonder. We can all say a short prayer and think of the good times. Perhaps that will help everyone, and like Marley's ghost encourage all the Ebenezer's like me to reachout to my friends a little more before they slip away further. ]

 

Email05

From: McKnight, James T.  1968
Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2004 10:21 AM
Subject: New E-mail Address

Hi John,

Thanks for your note.  Yes, I have a new e-mail address <privacy invoked> .  We just got broadband coverage here.

Regards,

Jim

[JR:    Glad to have you back. See how easy it for "subscribers" to slip away. ]

 

Email06

From: Manny Cabranes (1959)
Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2004 1:01 PM
Subject: Business Networking

Hi John, as they say.."hook me up"

love JJ sorry you are not getting cooperation from the College.

Regards

Manny Cabranes '59S

[JR: Hooked. Hey, I'm tough. As long as I have "support" from my fellow alums, I'll keep slugging. ]

 

 

Email07

From: Anthony Badalamenti (1964)
Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2004 3:36 PM
Subject: subscription

Hi John,

Sorry to hear that subscription is down.

I think the Jottings would be more widely read (and sought after) if they began with opening bullets of major items, rather than a fixed format. Speaking for myself, I have to scroll down and search for what is interesting and I would appreciate some opening headlines with some jump switches to make scrolling easier.

I hope things pick up.

Best,
Tony Badalamenti '64

[JR:  Thanks for the kind words. I was going to try to do something like that, based on another similar suggestion, when MCOLDB went south. And, all you know what broke loose. You might want to read the weekly issue on the web site where the hyper links are useful. The full text message ships as a flat text file so you can't jump around. So, even if I put some teasers in, it won't work like you want unless it is read on the web site. I think some people are reading there, because I see the activity but I don't get any details. (Too cheap to pay for a better hosting service.) Any way, thanks for the kind words and feedback. ]

 

Email08

From: Don Wszolek (1968)
Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2004 8:34 PM
Subject: A True Manahattan College HERO

Gentlemen,

Thanks to John Reinke's weekly email, I read and was deeply touched by the below story about the life of Joseph Brimo (a Manhattan College Graduate). AS one of millions of the "Greatest Generation", I believe his WWII heroism embodies the famous comment "When uncommon valor was a common virtue".

The passing of such unheralded hero in relative obscurity is a profound tragedy indeed.

DonW

=

Copyright 2004 The Chronicle Publishing Co. 
The San Francisco Chronicle
FEBRUARY 15, 2004, SUNDAY, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: BAY AREA; Pg. A29; OBITUARIES
HEADLINE: Joseph Brimo -- hero in WWII
SOURCE: Chronicle Staff Writer
BYLINE: Carl Nolte

[JR: Don sent this along to all his / mine / our high school mates. Obviously, I am glad to have played a small role in getting this Jasper some of the recognition he desvred. Too bad it was in his obit. ]

 

Email09

From: Miss DebraAnn '98 Foley
Sent: Monday, February 23, 2004 1:09 PM
Subject: Jasper Jottings

John,

Could you send me the most recent "issues"?

Thanks!
Debra Foley '98

=

JR: I can do better than that. The last 6 months? Or so are available online at www.jasperjottings.com. Enjoy. You can OD on as many as you can stand.

=

DF: Thanks!

One problem; I get an error message when I click on any of the links. Could be the Mac I am using here at work???

=

JR: I am not a Mac guru, but what type of error and where are the links you are clicking on? For example, something can -- in the windows world -- look like a link but not be. If you open your browser and tap in www.jasperjottings.com it should bring you to the site, unless you are not connected or not authorize to get to the internet.

=

DF: I think it's my Mac at work that's giving me the problem b/c I had no trouble with the site on my home PC. Would you mind adding me to the subscriber's list? Thank you!

=

JR: Would you like the "Full Featured Big Fat" email or the "Slim Low Carb Pointer" email? And, how do you  prefer your name listed? And, class year? And, and, ... ... (I'm a >little punchy today.)

=

DF: LOL. Understood. I'll take the fat version, please!

[JR: This represents an edited email exchange. In a new format to eliminate headers.  ]

 

Email10

McGinty, Danielle (2006) -- Undergrad. student at Manhattan College

[JR: Written upon seeing a listing that doesn't do the lister justice. ]

Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 10:15 AM
To: McGinty, Danielle (2006)
Subject: Glad to see you Linked In

My observation is that you are so much more than just a "Undergrad. student at Manhattan College". We have never met face-to-face, and may never, but just being one of about ~40 students who have taken jottings out of over the hundreds that I have invited so far (A-M and WXYZ), that sets you apart. Then, you were one of two of five that I asked to LinkedIn (last five in the email address list from jottings with student emails), proves to me that you are a "techie" and a "risk taker". Now come up with a better description even if you don't know what you want to do when you bust out from indian chief or chef to brain surgeon. The idea of networking is to learn from Robbie Byrnes' perspective. You know to "see ourselves as others see us". Go gettem tiger. John MC68

 

Email11

From: Bodigheimer, Ron  '69
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 10:13 AM
Subject: Fwd: Info on Heart Attacks

We aren't getting any younger. 

Attachment: Info on Heart Attacks

[JR: Referred to our "medical department", Doctor Peter E. (1957) Dans.    Hey Jasper Dans, Is this ok to push out? John ]

 

Email12

From: Mike McEneney (1953)
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 10:20 PM
Subject: Bits and Pieces

Dear John,

            In case you missed it, Sundays (2/22/04) NY Times on page 27, the first page of the Metro Section, has a piece on L. Jay Oliva '55. It describes what he is doing now that he stepped down as President of NYU. An Interesting article. I have a copy if you need it.

            In another publication, The "St. Barnabas High School Connections", there is some news about some Jaspers. First, Frank Disanza '82 has been named Academic Dean of the High School. St. Barnabas is an all girls school that originally was staffed by the Sisters of Charity of Mount Saint Vincent, but now is staffed mainly by lay men and women. (I get to see the publication because my bride, two of her sisters and my 3 daughters graduated from there). Today there  are close to 400 students.

            The first Alumni Note is from Mildred Holodak, St. Barnabas Class of 1939, (Wife of John S. Holodak '41). It reads:

            "my hair is white and I will be 82 years old in April. My husband is blind and 100% disabled-- he is an ex-POW of World War II. He is a Manhattan College graduate as are two of our  boys*. Now we have a grandson at Manhattan College in his junior year and a 4.0 student. We are all very proud! We are thinking of selling our house this spring but as yet haven't decided where to move. Very important thought!"       *John D. '66 and William E. '68

            Under the Class of 1954, there is Note from Mary Weber Fink, wife of Bob Fink '57 former President of the Manhattan College Alumni Society, reporting on a reunion of some of her classmates at Mary and Bob's Hilton Head Home. It sounds as if it was a great affair.

              John, keep up the good work and why  not plan on coming to the Postponed 2003 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Saturday March 27th. The festivities start at 4 PM with Mass in the newly renovated Chapel. Fr. John Blanco '53, one of the inductees, will be the Main Celebrant. This is one of the nicest events on the College Calendar.

                                                        Best,
                                                        Mike McEneney, Esq. '53 BBA

Mike: I did miss the Oliva article. And, since I returned to a consulting assignment, I have been hard pressed to spare any time to anything. Besides the Alumni Office probably has a contract out on me for all the squak about Harris. Thanks for your help.]

 

 

Boilerplate

COPYRIGHTS

Copyrighted material belongs to their owner. We recognize that this is merely "fair use", appropriate credit is given and any restrictions observed. The CIC asks you to do the same.

All material submitted for posting becomes the sole property of the CIC. All decisions about what is post, and how, are vested solely in the CIC. We'll attempt to honor your wishes to the best of our ability.

A collection copyright is asserted to protect against any misuse of original material.

PRIVACY

Operating Jasper Jottings, the "collector-in-chief", aka CIC, recognizes that every one of us needs privacy. In respect of your privacy, I will protect any information you provide to the best of my ability. No one needs "unsolicited commercial email" aka spam.

The CIC of Jasper Jottings will never sell personal data to outside vendors. Nor do we currently accept advertisements, although that may be a future option.

DISCLAIMER

This effort has NO FORMAL RELATION to Manhattan College!

This is just my idea and has neither support nor any official relationship with Manhattan College. As alumni, we have a special bond with Manhattan College. In order to help the College keep its records as up to date as possible, the CIC will share such information as the Alumni office wants. To date, we share the news, any "new registrations" (i.e., data that differs from the alumni directory), and anything we find about "lost" jaspers.

QUALIFICATION

You may only subscribe to the list, only if you have demonstrated a connection to Manhattan College. This may require providing information about yourself to assert the claim to a connection. Decisions of the CIC are final. If you do provide such personal information, such as email, name, address or telephone numbers, we will not disclose it to anyone except as described here.

CONNECTING

Should you wish to connect to someone else on the list, you must send in an email to the list requesting the connection and please address your email to connector@jasperjottings.com. We will respond to you, so you know we received your request, and send a BCC (i.e., Blind Carbon Copy) of our response to your target with your email address visible. Thus by requesting the connection, you are allowing us to share your email address with another list member. After that it is up to the other to respond to you. Bear in mind that anything coming to the list or to me via "@ jasperjottings.com" or my john.reinke@att.net address is assumed to be for publication to the list and you agree to its use as described.

Should some one wish to connect with you, you will be sent a BCC (i.e., Blind Carbon Copy) of our response as described above. It is then your decision about responding.

We want you to be pleased not only with this service. Your satisfaction, and continued participation, is very important to all of us.

REQUESTING YOUR PARTICIPATION

Please remember this effort depends upon you being a reporter. Email any news about Jaspers, including yourself --- (It is ok to toot your own horn. If you don't, who will? If it sounds too bad, I'll tone it down.) --- to john.reinke@att.net. Please mark if you DON'T want it distributed AND / OR if you DON'T want me to edit it.

Or, you can USMail it to me at 3 Tyne Court Kendall Park, NJ 08824.

INVITING ANY JASPERS

Feel free to invite other Jaspers to join us by dropping me an email “recruiter @ jasperjottings.com”.

PROBLEMS

Report any problems or feel free to give me feedback, by emailing me at john.reinke@att.net. If you are really enraged, or need to speak to me, call 732-821-5850.

If you don't receive your weekly newsletter, your email may be "bouncing". One or two individual transmissions fail each week and, depending upon how you signed up, I may have no way to track you down, so stay in touch.

SUMMARY

For address changes, please address your email to administrator@jasperjottings.com 

For reporting contributions, please address your email to reporter@jasperjottings.com 

For connection requests, please address your email to connector@jasperjottings.com

For having invites sent to other Jaspers to join us, please address your email to recruiter@jasperjottings.com 

For events, please address your email to events@jasperjottings.com 

For email to be shared, please address your email to editor@jasperjottings.com 

For email that is NOT to be shared, please address your email to reinke@att.net 

For problems, please address your email to john.reinke@att.net

Spammers

The following link is an attempt to derail spammers. Don't take it.

<A HREF="http://www.monkeys.com/spammers-are-leeches/"> </A>

Curmudgeon

FINAL WORDS THIS WEEK

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/walterwilliams/ww20040218.shtml

Goodies cost
Walter E. Williams (archive)
February 18, 2004

=== <begin quote> ===

The first concept an economics student learns is that for every benefit there's also a cost -- or, as my longtime colleague and friend Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman has put it, "There's no free lunch." While the person who receives the benefit might not pay or even be aware of the cost, as sure as night follows day there is a cost paid by someone.

<extraneous deleted>

There're no two ways about it: There are benefits from all the costly federal, state, and local regulations imposed on American businesses. But we must also acknowledge that our federal, state and local regulatory agencies have no jurisdiction in India, China, Southeast Asia, Mexico and Latin America. That means for many products and services, people who are far less productive, in a physical sense, than we are can beat us in the global marketplace.

We all can agree that there's no benefit that's worth any cost. If that weren't true, we'd do damn near anything that has a benefit, and that would include mandating a 5-mile-per-hour speed limit. Why? The benefits would be enormous in terms of the tens of thousands of highway fatalities and injuries avoided. We don't have a 5-mile-per-hour speed limit because we've decided that its benefit is not worth the enormous cost.

As said earlier, competition reveals costs and least-cost methods of production. One need not take a position one way or another on the worthiness of the benefits of regulation to acknowledge that there are costs associated with them. But I think that intelligent decision-making requires that we take their costs into account. It's not intelligent to stick our heads in the sand and deceive ourselves by pretending that others are to blame for our lack of competitiveness in some areas.

=== <end quote> ===

As I have said before our government is our worst enemy. It hides true costs, transfers them from the rich to the poor (yup that's right ! you will buy bill gates some Viagra.), and oppresses the citizens in the process. Read Unintended Consequences for the removal process.

And that’s the last word.

Curmudgeon

-30-

GBu. GBA.