Queens Tribune Epaper

www.kissusa.com

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“Freedom of the Human Spirit” in

Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

Tribune Photo By Ira Cohen

For 40 years the Queens Tribune has been exploring the

lives of the residents of this growing borough. From our

founding in 1970 to our coverage today, this newspaper

has continued to seek out the stories that touch us all.

For this special celebration, we have asked 40 of our

former staffers and associates to come back to us for one

special edition – to share memories about their time, to

recall some of their favorite stories and to reflect on the

spirit of Queens, embodied in part by sculptor Marshall

Fredericks’ “Freedom of the Human Spirit” bronze

sculpture from the 1964-65 World’s Fair that still stands

in Flushing Meadows today.

Fredericks once described the people who would see

his piece as “great multitudes of people, of all ages, and

from all walks of life” who would see that “we can free

ourselves… from the material forces which try to restrain

and hamper us.”

For 40 years, the Tribune and its staff has sought to do

no less. To that end, we devote this issue to those explorers

who ventured into uncharted newspaper territory to tell

the story of the greatest borough in New York City –

Queens.

Our Spirit Soars

The Queens Tribune (USPS 964-480) is published weekly every Thursday for $12 per year by Tribco, LLC, 174-15 Horace Harding Expwy., Fresh Meadows, NY 11365. Periodical Postage Paid at Flushing, NY.POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Queens Tribune, 174-15 Horace Harding Expwy., Fresh Meadows, NY 11365.

Cover Design By Tania Y. Betancourt

Not For Publication.....................................Page 7

1970 – Gary AckermanOur Founding Father.................................. Page 10

1971 – Alan ManheimSeeing Visions.................................. Page 121972 – Hank SheinkopfA Good Friend.................................. Page 13

1973 – Mark WeissRetail Revolution.................................. Page 141974 – Alan GershunyHousing For All.................................. Page 151975 – Bob CitelliLights, Camera, Queens!.................................. Page 161976 – Jeff TarloFantastic Flushing.................................. Page 161977 – Rich SandomirSummer Of Sam.................................. Page 181978 – Jedd MoskowitzGoodfellas Gone Bad.................................. Page 201979 – David OatsOpen Doors.................................. Page 231980 – Regina VogelFrom The Streets.................................. Page 251981 – Robert ManasGrand Dame Of Queens.................................. Page 261982 – Mitch AlbomScandal Rocks The City.................................. Page 27

The Tribune is not responsible fortypographical errors beyond the cost of

the space occupied by the advertisement.Michael Nussbaum

Executive V.P./Associate Publisher

Founded in 1970 by Gary AckermanPublished Weekly

Copyright © 2010 Tribco, LLC

Michael SchenklerPublisher/Editor-in-Chief

Shiek Mohamed, Production Manager

Marcia Moxam Comrie, Contributing Editor

Reporters: Sasha Austrie, Harley Benson, Joseph Orovic,Kaitlyn Kilmetis, Domenick Rafter

Editorial Intern: Catherine Manzione

Photographers: Ira Cohen, Michael Fischthal, Lee Katzman

Contributors: Tom Allon, Melissa Hom, MichaelVonDerLieth, Barbara Arnstein

Art Department: Tania Y. Betancourt, Sara Gold,Rhonda Leefoon, Candice Lolier, Barbara Townsend

Webmaster: Shiek Mohamed

Assistant to the Publisher: Ria MacPherson

Queens County'sWeekly Newspaper Group Brian M. Rafferty, Executive Editor

New York Press AssociationNational Newspaper Association

An Award Winning Newspaper

Regina VogelQueens Today Editor

Classified Ad Representatives: Nadia Hack,Peggie Henderson, Fran Gordon, Marty Lieberman,Chris Preasha, Lorraine Shaw, Sheila Scholder,Lillian Saar

Ira Cohen, Photo Editor

Merlene CarnegieTom EisenhauerDonna LawlorTony Nicodemo

Shelly Cookson,Corporate & Legal Advertising

Maureen Coppola, Advertising AdministratorAccounting:

Leticia Chen, Phyllis Wilson, Alicia Sierra-Vicente

Account Executives

Elizabeth Mance: Administrative AssistantMitch Kronenfeld: Classified Manager

Queens Tribune (718) 357-7400E-mail Address: [email protected]

174-15 Horace Harding Expwy.Fresh Meadows, N.Y. 11365

www.queenstribune.com

Gil SpadoniHelene SperberEarl SteinmanShari Strongin

Table Of Contents1983 – David KeismanA Rising Star.................................. Page 251984 – Gabe EscobarCrack War Escalates.................................. Page 30

1985 – Marty Lipp...The Harder They Fall.................................. Page 311986 – Tom ZambitoMeet The Mets.................................. Page 321987 – Lisa ColangeloBoro Puppetmaster.................................. Page 331988 – Marsha Schrager Ander Our National Shame.................................. Page 35

1989 – Tom AllonThis Trash Stinks!.................................. Page 361990 – Tom McCarthyGay Bashing.................................. Page 381991 – Mickey ZHere Comes The Judge.................................. Page 391992 – Mike NussbaumIn The Seat Of Power.................................. Page 401993 – Barbara ArnsteinBorder Wars.................................. Page 421994 – Marcia GelbartGlorious Decay.................................. Page 421995 – Sarina RofféFalling From The Sky.................................. Page 431996 – Matt HigginsReturning To The Pulpit.................................. Page 45

1997 – Jeremy OlshanChoking It Down.................................. Page 46

1998 – Liz GoffWhere Do You Live?.................................. Page 48

1999 – Marcia ComrieMaking Our Skin Crawl...................................Page 49

2000 – Tamara HartmanBrutal Execution.................................. Page 502001 – Dominic NunziatoThe Long Walk Home.................................. Page 512002 – Shams TarekArt Revolution.................................. Page 532003 – Steve McGuireFly Our Friendly Skies.................................. Page 54

Taking Cautious Steps.................................. Page 562005 – Aaron RutkoffPreserving Character.................................. Page 572006 – Azi PaybarahDownfall Of A Leader.................................. Page 592007 – Ellen ThompsonA New City Grows.................................. Page 602008 – Juliet WernerCitywide Asian Voice.................................. Page 632009 – Peter SloggattOutbreak Epicenter .................................. Page 64

Our Magic Hour.................................. Page 78

www.cuny.edu/decadeofscience

www.melrosecu.org

Not 4 Publication.com by Dom Nunziato

By MICHAEL SCHENKLERI’m not the father . . . but I raised the kid.The father, Gary Ackerman, gave birth to the Tri-

bune 40 years ago – yes, the Congressman is a multitalented guy – he even sued the NYC Board of Educa-tion for a Paternity leave while birthing the Trib; but that’sa story for another time – it’s true, remember to ask me.

It was 1970 – 40 years ago — andas you’ll read on these pages, Garyand a handful of brave colleaguesbegan the Flushing Tribune, amonthly newspaper from a singledesk in the rear of a Main Street realestate office.

A year later, in May of 1971, theTribune moved its offices to a morespacious storefront at 46-25 KissenaBlvd. in Flushing. Within a year itwould expand to another storefrontnext door, which it shared with its newprinting and typesetting arm, Multi-Media, Inc. And as1971 became 1972, the Tribune launched the first of itsregional editions in Forest Hills and announced that itwas changing its name to the Queens Tribune, sayingthat “The second-largest county in New York State andthe sixth largest in the nation needs its own paper.” Anda college friend of Gary Ackerman by the name of MikeSchenkler began a series of Tribune contests. Althoughthe contests are only very occasional now, I have been afixture at the Trib for the past 30 years.

In 1972, in an extensive Tribune expose, reporterHank Sheinkopf revealed the squalid living conditions inold houses on 137th Street in Flushing. Ramshackle,boarded-up and burned-out houses were the rule in whatlooked like a scene from the Ozarks during the Depres-sion. Sheinkopf would go on to blaze trails as one of thenation’s leading media advisors serving an impressive listof clients including President Bill Clinton. He’s still spin-ning around.

The Tribune began 1973 by entering its third year asa weekly, rather than a bi-weekly paper.

The National Newspaper Association gave the Tri-bune a special award for its 1975 fifth anniversary, souve-nir bicentennial edition — third place in the entire nationfor bicentennial coverage. President Gerald Ford presentedthe award in Washington, D.C.

Robert Moses, New York’s master builder, wrote afull-page exclusive column for the Tribune on his con-cerns about the upcoming celebrations of the nation’sbicentennial in 1976.

“Cousin” Bruce Morrow of rock ‘n’ roll radio famebegan a regular music column for the Tribune. A localweather column was started by a Queens teacher, IrvingGikovsky, who later went on to fame as television weath-erman “Mr. G.”

Vice President Nelson Rockefeller came to Queensto speak before the county’s Republican Committee at adinner at Antun’s restaurant. Tribune photographer JoeUllman photographed the event, marking his 1,000thassignment for the paper. The year of the nation’s bicen-tennial started off with New York Magazine calling theTribune’s special bicentennial supplements a “gold mineof information on old Queens.”

The Tribune endorsed Jimmy Carter for president inlate October. Carter, standing with Governor Hugh Carey,Mayor Abraham Beame and Borough President DonaldManes, smilingly accepted the Trib’s endorsement frompublisher Gary Ackerman at Antun’s restaurant in QueensVillage.

In February 1977, Tribune founder and publisher

Gary Ackerman put to rest months of speculation andformally announced his candidacy for the post of council-man-at-large for Queens.

Ackerman stepped down as editor of the paper inorder to run for the Democratic nomination, and DavidOats was named executive editor of the Tribune. I servedas Ackerman’s campaign chairman.

In 1978, the Tribune became thefirst newspaper in the city to obtain afull one-on-one interview with the newmayor. Ed Koch sat down with Tri-bune editors and reporters for an ex-tensive question-and-answer session inhis still-bare office at City Hall on hisfourth day in office.

MY 30 YEAR JOURNEY BEGINSIn 1979, Gary Ackerman stepped

down as Tribune publisher and wassworn in as State Senator. That’s when

I, a New York City school principal, took over running thepaper, after school, part-time.

Three years later, this writer, the Tribune’s secondPublisher, became Ackerman’s partner, and left the schoolsystem to run the Tribune full-time.

And the long strange trip continued — a trip of com-munity journalism based on the principle that all news islocal and community advocacy is not only the right butobligation of those charged with bringing neighborhoodnews to the neighborhoods.

In 1981, a young musician who wanted to be a writertook his first job as a journalist with the Queens Tribune.This former Tribune managing editor would go on to setrecords on the NY Times Best Seller list. Mitch Albom,author of “Tuesdays With Morrie,” like so many others,got his start with this paper.

In 1983, Gary Ackerman won a special election toreplace Ben Rosenthal in the Congress of the UnitedStates.

In 1985, Borough President Donald Manes pro-claimed Queens Tribune Week in honor of th isnewspaper’s 15th birthday. Manes cited the “dedication,commitment and hard work of its publisher, editors andstaff.”

In the same year, I married my wife Lillian, a formerTribune art director I had met at the paper.

In 1987, this columnist and this column’s predeces-sor, “QUIPS – Queens In Politics,” was recognized by theNew York Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contestin the “Best Column” category.

Next, was a time of growth for the Tribune. TheEast Coast saw its first four-color community newspaperpage as the Tribune continued its tradition as industryinnovator, introducing color to community journalism.

The launching of three editions of the new WesternQueens Tribune completed the community picture andcreated the first and only boroughwide Queens newspa-per chain.

COMMUNITY NEWS GOES PUBLICIn 1989, Ackerman and I sold the Queens Tribune

to a publicly traded media company News Communica-tions with me continuing on as Publisher while both ofus served on the Board of Directors of the public com-pany.

For its 20th Anniversary Edition, the Trib bound it-self inside of a glossy cover. This was the first time acommunity newspaper was stitched-trimmed and wrappedin a glossy – a practice that set the industry standard for

Queens Tribune 40th Anniversary Story

(continued on page 8)

Mayor John Lindsay stops by the first Tribune storefront to

meet with Publisher Gary Ackerman.

Ackerman celebrates his victory in a congressional special

election with Gov. Mario Cuomo and Mayor Ed Koch.

Mike Schenkler holds an editorial meeting with members of

the News Communications editorial board.

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special editions that endures 20 years later.The Tribune moved its offices from Kissena Boule-

vard to 174-15 Horace Harding Expressway in Fresh Mead-ows — the building that serves as its home today.

I was named president of News Communications Inc.,with overall responsibilities for the operations of it and itssister papers, Our Town, Manhattan Spirit and Dan’sPapers. The company moved its corporate offices fromthe west side of Manhattan to the Tribune Building onthe service road of the LIE making it one of the top 10Queens-based public companies.

Former Mayor Ed Koch began writ-ing a movie review column for the Tri-bune and other papers of the News Com-munications group.

The Queens Tribune celebrated its22nd anniversary with a record 116-pageissue that proclaimed Queens County asthe epitome of the classic Melting Pot,more than 100 nationalities calling thisborough home, and filling its streets withthe aromas, sounds and sights of the “oldcountry,” wherever the old country maybe.

In 1993 former Tribune advertisingsalesman John DiGiovanni was amongthe five people killed by the first terrorist bombing of theWorld Trade Center, reminding us just how personal thenews really is.

In 1994, the Queens Tribune, along with News Com-munications’ other publications, became the first NewYork City newspapers to be printed on 100 percent re-cycled paper. We challenged other city newspapers to fol-low suit.

Later that year, I won kudos from the Queens Cham-ber of Commerce when I was named their first Business-man of the Year.

Under my leadership, News Communications grewand by this time was publishing the nine-edition QueensTribune, four papers in Manhattan, two papers in theBronx, 11 titles on the south shore of Nassau County,and a weekly chain in southern Brooklyn. The Com-pany was now preparing a most ambitious launch –The Hill, a weekly covering the Congress of the UnitedStates.

Yes, it was an exciting period of corporate growth,but the real memories were the news stories that were theheart of the Queens Tribune:

The Tribune exposed the dangerous friable asbestosat Terrace on the Park resulting in a clean-up of the build-ing and dismissal of the franchisee.

The Tribune claimed victory in its 10-month, eight-part battle with the U.S. Postal Service to preserve thenames of Queens neighborhoods in addresses.

Former Tribune reporter Kendra Webdale was killedby a schizophrenic who pushed her beneath the wheels ofan oncoming Manhattan subway train – several years later,Kendra’s Law was named in her memory.

And there was Avery Mendez, a homeless man whotold the Tribune that his Thanksgiving wish was for awarm place to sleep and a meal, only to be found the dayafter Thanksgiving on his Flushing streets dead . . . ofwell, homelessness.

The Tribune continued to innovate, and by the mid90’s was publishing three annual glossy-bound specials:the Official Guide to Queens, the Best of Queens andan Anniversary Edition.

Almost 15 years ago we launched the Web’s firstcomprehensive community news site in the Metro area.

The Trib Online at www.QueensTribune.com thrivestoday with well over two million unique visits eachyear.

As the Tribune entered the new millennium, it wel-comed a new partner in the news, as the PRESS ofSoutheast Queens made its debut – offering in-depthweekly coverage to a previously underserved area of ourborough.

THE TRIBUNE RETURNSTO ITS ROOTSAs 2002 drew to a close, the owner-

ship of the largest weekly newspaper inQueens changed hands as the QueensTribune was acquired by an investmentgroup headed by myself and founderCongressman Gary Ackerman.

Committed to the same principlesof community journalism which markedits growth, the new, old Tribune owner-ship remembered the past and blazed for-ward towards the future.

This writer was recognized for the sec-ond t ime by the New York PressAssociation’s Better Newspaper Contestin the “Best Column” category.

The Tribune began a monthly glossywrapped stitched and trimmed magazine issue one ofwhich you hold in your hand – or view on screen.

The year 2006 began with a new and exciting acqui-sition for our Tribune publishing company.

In 1838, America’s poet, Walt Whitman was a jour-neyman printer whose addiction to the written word wasonly equaled by his passion for people. Whitman put thetwo together when, at age 19, he established a newspa-per in the town of Huntington. He gathered the news,put it in words, set the type and, from behind theblacksmith’s shop, he pulled each impression of The Long-Islander by hand. And when it was done, he hitched awooden wagon to his horse Nina, and peddled his paperalong a route from Huntington to the south shores ofpresent-day Babylon, gathering news for his next editionalong the way.

Today, 172 later, we have the privilege of publish-ing Whitman’s Long-Islander, the second oldest weeklyin New York State, serving on the Board of Directors ofthe Walt Whitman Birthplace Association in Hunting-ton and working in Queens and on Long Island to fur-ther the tradition of one of the greatest American chroni-clers in our history. The acquisition and the legacy ofWhitman, has given me new insight into publishing his-tory and perspectives on the legacy of a newspaper.

Today, as the Tribune celebrates its 40th Anniver-sary, I look back with pride at its many scoops, victoriesand accomplishments.

And to me, an educator turned journalist, among thegreatest reasons for pride are the scores of bright, cre-ative, curious and talented journalists who received theirtraining at the Queens Tribune.

And so for this edition, we reached out to our gradu-ates — our alumni — who were spread far and wide andinvited former Tribbies – one for each of our 40 years —to share their memories of covering the news of Queensfor the Queens Tribune.

Our legacy can be found in brief on the pages thatfollow. Our commitment will continue to be found eachand every week on the pages of the Queens Tribune.

Thanks for the memories . . . and those to come.Please send your comments to me at:[email protected]

40 Years: Thanx For The Memories

Walt Whitman founded the Long-

Islander in 1838.

(continued from page 7)

Gary Ackerman, longtime editor David Oats and Mike

Schenkler.

After 40 years of the Tribune, college buddies Schenkler

and Ackerman remain good friends.

Publisher Mike Schenkler greets newly elected President

Bill Clinton.

The Queens Tribune is read by decision makers across the

city.

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Thank YouWe want to thank our customers for their patience as

we worked tirelessly to restore power to everyone affected by the most destructive storm to hit New York City

and Westchester County in decades.

We know how difficult this time was for you, and appreciate your understanding.

Thousands of employees worked around the clock to restore power to our customers, neighborhood by

neighborhood, block by block. Utility crews from Michigan, Ohio, Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Kentucky

and Massachusetts came to help us get your lightsback on as quickly and safely as possible.

As always, we urge customers to report power outages immediately at 1-800-75-CONED (1-800-752-6633) or conEd.com.

Our 14,000 employees take great pride in serving our customers. Thank you again for

your patience and understanding.

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BY JOSEPH OROVIC

February 1970: Armed with $500

from his mother and living in a City

housing project, a young Gary

Ackerman sat in the back of the then-

Shalda Real Estate office, at a desk he

rented for $50 a month, and began the

Flushing Tribune.

It was 1969 when a 27-year-old

school teacher finished teaching his

eighth grade social studies class and

rushed to Main Street in Flushing

where he’d seen an ad in a window

that said “desk space for rent.” It was

there, in the back of the then-Shalda

Real Estate storefront, that for $50 a

month – which merely included an

old metal desk and a limpy old four-

drawer file cabinet – that the Queens

(then Flushing) Tribune was born.

Starting out as a monthly, volun-

teer-staffed community newspaper,

the first issue hit the streets in Feb-

ruary 1970 with news stories close

to the hearts of the people of Flush-

ing, who were then (and sometimes

now) mostly undiscovered by New

York’s many citywide daily newspa-

pers.

The Tribune heralded itself as a

place where stories near and dear to

community residents could find their

place in print. It was also a spot that

local advertisers, who could not af-

ford the still-enormous prices to ad-

vertise their merchandise to millions

of people, could find a place to mar-

ket their goods to 50,000 doorsteps

at an affordable price.

The first issue was eight pages.

The Flushing Boys Club, operating

from the back of Hy Segal’s dry clean-

ing store and looking for a perma-

nent home, made the front page.

Jack’s men’s and boy’s clothing store

boasted that it could outfit any man

or boy regardless of his size. It also

told the story of a new plan for the

decentralization of the Board of Edu-

cation which was soon to come and

now has gone. In addition, it prom-

ised local residents a place to find the

score of their son’s high school bas-

ketball game, a space to promote the

church bake sale and it covered local

politicians whose decisions helped

shape local everyday life but whose

names never found their way into the

big time press. The paper would take

bold stands and would fight for the

community. Local people could write

letters for the whole neighborhood to

read.

The publication grew while still

having an all-volunteer army – except

for the hundreds of paid youngsters

who soon brought the monthly-

turned-weekly newspaper to 50,000

doorsteps in Flushing alone. In ad-

dition, the Tribune’s fabled “Beauti-

ful Baby Contest” found its way into

national prominence, featured on

Archie Bunker’s All in the Family.

The paper, currently printed in

nine local community editions and

covering most of Queens, pioneered

local urban-crusading community

journalism in a way not envisioned

previously. The paper’s demise was

predicted by the editors of many dai-

lies that are no longer in print.

Successful beyond anyone’s wild-

est dreams, that tiny paper has

evolved into the huge success that you

now hold in your hands and read,

hopefully with delight.

Fortunate to have been there at its

conception and birth, relishing in the

fact that for 40 years its promise has

been met, I now look forward as the

most professional of staffs take on

more promises to keep.

Many thanks to the hundreds of

volunteers and staff, some of whom

have made news and history them-

selves, and all of whom over the years

have made the Trib the quality jour-

nalistic product that it is today.

After leaving a career in education, Gary started the Queens

Tribune in 1970, was elected to the New York State Senate in

1978, and then to Congress in 1983, where he still serves the

people of Queens today. He is still a part owner of the Queens

Tribune.

Our Founding Father:

1970: Gary Ackerman

Ackerman Opens Doors To The Trib“We started it at a time when every-

one said, ‘This is not a good time to

start a newspaper,’” Ackerman said.

The major dailies, of which there

were nearly a dozen, faced tough times.

But the then-27-year-old felt there was

a need for a more nuanced look at

Flushing.

“There was a tremendous need in

the community for a medium in which

people can communicate what was go-

ing on, what was happening. Daily

newspapers were moving more and

more in a direction of what I call mega-

lopolis coverage,” he said.

This acute focus on neighborhood

issues drove the launch of the Tribune.

“Queens is the only borough of the

City of New York where the federal

government recognizes the communi-

ties,” Ackerman said, noting the postal

service’s use of neighborhood names

in mailing addresses as opposed to

Manhattan for example, which gets a

blanket “New York City.” “We had that

separate sense that we were kind of in

our own neighborhood. But you didn’t

read about our local schools, local

events, in the dailies.”

Starting off as a monthly, the all-

volunteer staffed paper reached the

doorsteps of Flushing residents via

school kids who delivered 50,000 cop-

ies of the inaugural issue door to door.

The early days were not without

their tribulations, as

Ackerman recounted

various speed bumps

along the way. Among

them, there was the

power loss on a swelter-

ing mid-August night

that forced the staff to

migrate their equipment

onto the sidewalk, their

typewriters and machin-

ery juiced by an exten-

sion cord from a neigh-

boring business.

Today, 40 years later,

the paper has grown and

expanded into the larg-

est community weekly in

the borough. Ackerman

didn’t imagine it’d get

this far.

“It’s like a grown up

child, you can’t tell it what to do. I’m

proud the paper has spawned a whole

industry now,” he said, pointing to the

numerous weeklies that now compete

The first edition of the Flushing Tri-

bune.

Gary Ackerman steps down as editor to run for of-

fice.

with the paper. “I thought we were go-

ing to wind up with three desks in the

real estate office,” he added with a

laugh.

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BY CATHERINE MANZIONE

June 18, 1970: Bayside resident

Veronica Lueken will hold the first in

a series of vigils at St. Robert

Bellarmine Church in Bayside tonight

after allegedly being asked to establish

a shrine and hold Rosary

vigils by the Virgin Mary

herself.

Lueken said she was

given specific instruction

by the Virgin Mary to

hold these vigils every

eve of Catholic feast days

at St. Robert Bellarmine

church in front of the

statue of Our Lady of

Grace, despite all pos-

sible weather conditions.

Lueken is married to

local construction engi-

neer Ar thur Lueken,

has five children and

has l i ved in Bays ide

most of her l i fe as a

housewife . But , what

seemed like an ordinary life became

a little more complex when Lueken

reported having apparitions of the

Virgin Mother.

Lueken said she first received mes-

sages from heaven when she heard of

When I was asked to write about the

40th anniversary of the Queens Tribune,

the thought that came to my mind is,

boy I’m getting old! When Henry

Levy, Gary Ackerman and I founded

the then Flushing Tribune in February

1970 we were in our 20s. But I wrote a

piece for the 35th anniversary of the

Tribune, so what’s so different about

the fortieth? Does five years change a

person’s life? Does five years change

your understanding of life, death, age

and time passing? The answer in my

case is a resounding, “yes.”

In January 2007, my wife Nancy

had a routine physical examination

which showed she had an unusually

high white blood cell count. It was

determined after visits to Sloan

Kettering, the Mayo Clinic and NYU

Cancer Center that Nancy had a rare

form of leukemia. For 17 months she

endured a constant barrage of doc-

tors, medicines, injections and ex-

perimental drugs all in a vain attempt

to stop the deadly disease. She died

on Nov. 8, 2008.

Her memorial service was attended

by over 500 people and Gary Ackerman

was one of the several friends who

spoke. He stood and said how difficult

it was for him to speak on this occa-

sion. He spoke of Nancy’s beauty and

goodness and her outspokenness. He

called her stature and demeanor aris-

tocratic and after all those special

words, he turned and looked at me in

the first row and said, “And we always

wondered, ‘why did she marry HIM?’”

Laughter erupted and even I had a

grin on my face. But I knew why she

married me and why, after 36 years of

being together, I was so devastated by

her loss. She loved me and I loved her.

After Nancy’s death I felt that life

was a difficult burden to bear. But my

children and family and wonderful

friends all supported me and each

day brought a sense of needing to

live, needing to move on, needing to

love. I learned that nothing in life is

forever, we need to embrace each day

we’re given.

The Queens Tribune is 40 years old

and this anniversary is very different

than all the others. Death takes a toll

but on Feb. 15, 2010, exactly 40 years

after the first Tribune publication,

Norah Butelli Manheim was born;

our first grandchild. My son David

Manheim and Linda Butelli are the

proud parents and my daughter

Lauren is expecting twins in July. So

life moves on in its strange and fasci-

nating way. And by the way, beautiful

Norah lives in Astoria, one of the first

neighborhoods to receive the Queens

Tribune.

One of the founders of the Tribune, Alan continued a career

as an educator while serving as managing editor of the Trib.

He is currently retired from teaching would like to serve as

an occasional Manhattan correspondent.

Seeing Visions:1971: Alan Manheim

Veronica’s Followers

Flood To Her Doorstep

the assassination of U.S. Sen. Robert

Kennedy and smelled a sudden odor

of roses. Lueken took this as a sign

from Saint Theresa of Lisieux that she

was present. The second vision occurred

April 7, when Mary appeared to Lueken

and told her that if she

constructed the shrine and

held the vigils that the

Blessed Mother would ap-

pear to her and all who

have traveled to the

church. Since then,

Lueken has reported see-

ing Mary several more

times until the final con-

struction of the shrine was

completed.

These “apparitions”

caused a large controversy

in the Bayside community

with local residents and

members of the clergy

calling Lueken and her vi-

sions “false.” Some resi-

dents claim she is a phony

and her claims caused an outrage

against the church and community.

However, despite the controversy,

thousands of people were reported to

attend the vigils, some traveling from

across the country to attend.

Thousands came to

Bayside to see Veronica

Lueken, who claimed to

have been visited by the

Virgin Mary.

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Hank was 22 when he became a reporter for the Trib, and

he has since moved to a 35-year career as a political con-

sultant, working on Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election cam-

paign and some 600 other endeavors, domestically and

internationally.

A Good Friend:1972: Hank Sheinkopf

Oats Steers The Trib

Walking down the street in New

York these days, you hear the angst

in the voices of passersby. Jobs are

scarce. Crime is up. The government

has no money. Political leaders are

overwhelmed.

New Yorkers’ complaints today seem

quaint when I think back to the 1970s,

when the Queens Tribune printed its first

words. Grimy streets and dangerous

subways gave birth to the iconic rough

and tumble image of the City that per-

sists to this day in the imaginations of

Midwesterners and foreigners. Bank-

ers were not worried about the size of

their bonuses, but whether they would

be mugged for their wallets. Our

government’s fiscal issues were defined

not by deficits but by bankruptcy.

Queens always had it a little better

in those days. Nicer streets. Suburban

homes. But for some reason, it always

got off worse. When the famous snow

storm blanketed the City and almost

sent Lindsay into early retirement, our

streets were the last to be cleared. It’s

been a constant struggle over the last

40 years to get the same attention as

its neighbors to the west and south.

It was during those days that Gary

Ackerman gave a cub reporter with

some crazy ideas named Hank

Sheinkopf a few bucks to cover the

borough. I wrote about cops, crime,

city jails, dirty streets, unsafe parks,

and learned to drink at Pep

McGuire’s across from Borough Hall.

The Trib used its pages not only as a

tool to inform, but a forum to fight

for the oft-forgotten resident of

Queens. We fought for the people of

Sunnyside, Kew Gardens and Bayside

and everywhere in between, giving a

voice to the voiceless.

In the subsequent years, journal-

ism has changed as much as the city

itself. The clack and crank of typewrit-

ers have been replaced by the hum of

hard drives and blinking lights of

modems. But the job of the commu-

nity newspaper never changes. There

are still community board meetings

and school rallies that need to be cov-

ered. Online papers and blogs have

challenged the role of a weekly paper,

but the Trib continues to find stories

where no one else bothers to look.

When I see how the Trib still mat-

ters today, I am proud for my contri-

butions and all the other reporters

that have followed. No matter what

else changes, there will always be a

need for the work they do. So in 40

years, when the Trib is beamed di-

rectly into my head, I won’t mind. It’s

already in my heart.

BY BRIAN M. RAFFERTY

Nov. 2, 1972: David Oats was, by

all accounts, charming, focused, dedi-

cated and a friend to all who knew him.

His first byline appears in the Queens

Tribune on Nov. 2, 1972.

As a kid, David rode his bike around

Flushing Meadows Park. Then one

day there were fences up, so he snuck

his way in and found somebody to

complain to.

That somebody was Robert Moses,

and this chance encounter started a

decades-long friendship, with David –

a student of history and a dreamer of

enormous magnitude – picking the

brain of the mastermind behind so

much of New York City’s infrastructure.

Shortly after Gary Ackerman

opened the Tribune, in walked David,

eager to learn. He worked for years for

peanuts, getting to know the business

from old professionals and young kids

straight out of college, many of whom

had either been at or were headed to

stellar careers in other locales.

But David stayed here. His heart

was in it.

In 1977, when Ackerman decided

to run for office, Gary stepped down

as Executive Editor, and handed the

position to David, who by this time had

been the longest standing employee of

the newspaper.

Various changes and differences in

opinion made David leave the Tribune,

but he would come back several times,

after spending time editing another

paper or working on pet projects.

A protector of the park he biked

through as a kid, David sought to get

a third World’s Fair located in Queens,

and had a very clear vision of what were

and were not acceptable uses and ap-

propriate care of his park.

Though the World’s Fair never ma-

terialized, David kept a watchful eye on

his baby, calling when the light atop the

towers went out, writing diatribes against

the Parks Dept. for allowing cars to park

on the grass during the U.S. Open – and

making sure that the history and sanc-

tity of the park were maintained.

He also continued to write on and

off for the Tribune, and I was lucky

enough to work with him on a couple

of pieces, including a massive anniver-

sary edition from 2007 honoring the

350th anniversary of the Flushing Re-

monstrance. The document that signi-

fied the birth of religious freedom in

the Western Hemisphere came home to

Flushing, and David, who helped make

it happen, was there to welcome it back.

Less than a year later, David was

dead.

His presence is still felt by all who

knew him. He looms large in spirit

above the park he sought to protect,

and this spring a bench near the

Unisphere and small rose garden will

be dedicated in his honor.

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Sept. 12, 1973: Queens’ shoppers

celebrated today as the ribbon was cut

at Queens Center Mall, heralding the

beginning of a massive retail expan-

sion for the borough and the first mall

of its kind in New York City.

Instead of having to travel to Man-

hattan or Long Island for their favor-

ite name brands, Queens’ residents can

now enjoy the luxury of having all their

favorite brands in their borough.

Abraham & Straus and Ohrbach’s serve

Congratulations on the 40th An-

niversary of the Queens Tribune – the

heart and soul of Queens County.

While I’m sure some will reflect on

this occasion in terms of the number

of issues published, the number of

pages printed, the circulation growth

and maybe even the incredible num-

ber of advertisers that have sought

exposure through the Trib, for me, a

long time community activist, I

choose to focus on the Tribune in its

role as a neighborhood “soap box” –

a platform for those individuals and

civic organizations that would other-

wise have had little chance to take

their vision, mission or points of view

to the community at large.

From my start as the President of

the Windsor Park Tenants Associa-

tion, the Queens Tribune was recog-

nized as a vehicle for taking tenant

concerns to the surrounding commu-

nity. As tenants, we took our citizen-

ship seriously and we understood the

important role well maintained rental

properties played in attracting young

residents to the neighborhood – resi-

dents who often planted seeds in

Windsor Park and either stayed in the

complex or moved to other parts of

the borough. The Queens Tribune gave

us a place to voice our concerns about

landlord policies and practices with

an eye toward their impact on

tenant’s quality of life and ultimately

their impact on the entire neighbor-

hood and the borough of Queens.

To garner the support of all

Queens residents and the political

and legislative communities, we

maintained a direct line of commu-

nications with the reporters at the

Queens Tribune and we benefited al-

ways from the paper’s fair and accu-

rate coverage of what turned out to

be some of the most critical landmark

court decisions governing landlord-

tenant relations.

Whether it was a fight to keep a

local public school from closing, a

battle to keep Department of Sanita-

tion trucks out of our parks, a drive

to convert a closing library into a se-

nior center, the Queens Tribune was

there – to listen, investigate and re-

port.

In my role as a tenant and civic

leader, I learned that the strength of

a community can best be found in its

people, its institutions and most im-

portantly in the spirit that guides the

progress of both. The Queens Tribune

has in the past, and continues today

to bolster each of these community

assets and for this reason, deserves

the respect and admiration of the

entire borough of Queens.

Mark, a founding partner of Harbor Group Communications

and the former president and CEO of the Rowland Corpora-

tion, had also served as president of the Windsor Park Tenants

Association.

Retail Revolution:1973: Mark Weiss

Queens Center Mall

Opens Its Doorsas the store’s anchors.

In the years since its opening, the

Queens Center saw major swings in

stores, but kept its popularity – so much

that a major expansion opened in 2004.

The mall’s $275 million expansion

brought dozens of new stores to

Queens, including H&M, and ex-

panded old favorites like JC Penney,

the GAP, Nine West, Bath and Body

Works, and Victoria’s Secret. Add a

food court with treats from all over

the world, and Queens Center Mall

became a destination all its

own.

When measured by sales

per square foot, Queens Cen-

ter Mall is the nation’s most

profitable, ringing up $935 in

sales per square foot. The for-

mula, company officials said,

was to increase the total

square footage from 620,000

to nearly one million.

With 175 stores (up from

69), and 794 addit ional

parking spaces, mall officials

plan to attract a wider swath

of shoppers than have tradi-

t ional ly headed out of

Queens, back.

The Queens Center Mall opened in 1973 and

has gone on to become the highest grossing mall

per square foot in the country.

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HEALTH CARE INSURANCE REFORM:

This week,

President Obama signed the new

health care insurance reform act.

Starting This Year:

• Your insurance company can’t drop your coverage when you get sick

• Children may remain on their parents’ health plan until they are 26 years old

• Your children’s coverage can’t be denied because of pre-existing conditions

• Your insurance company can’t place lifetime limits on your coverage

• Your insurance company’s ability to place annual caps on your coverage is

severely restricted

• Small businesses will receive tax credits of up to 35% of health care

premiums for this tax year

• Medicare beneficiaries about to hit the doughnut hole will receive $250 rebates

• Preventive care under Medicare and new private plans will be free of charge

• Americans who are uninsured because of pre-existing conditions will

immediately have access to affordable coverage

A message from Congressman Gary L. Ackerman

Paid for by Ackerman for Congress, Bob Barnett, Treasurer

YEAR ONE

And there’s much

more to come.

Shortly after the birth of the Flushing Tribune,

I volunteered my services as a reporter and col-

umnist. That I can remember, the first story I ever

wrote for the paper concerned the rumor that E.J.

Korvette’s was going to open a store in Down-

town Flushing. Although I enjoyed reporting the

news, I really loved writing a column called “One

Man’s Opinion.”

And while the Flushing Tribune was ostensibly

a local newspaper, the column was mostly devoted

to national issues and politics. I’ve been asked to

share some memories from those days.

There are three that really stick out.

The first involves a controversy when a local

school board decided to remove the book “Down

These Mean Streets” from the school library. Gary

and I differ on some issues, but not at all in our

obsessive, compulsive belief in and reverence for

the First Amendment to our Constitution. We

authored an editorial that strongly criticized the

school board for its actions and took particular

aim at a local Rabbi (I can’t remember his name)

who was a member of the board and had voted to

ban the book. I guess we both thought that the

“teacher” should have known better.

The following week we received a Letter to the

Editor from the Rabbi in which he threatened to

excommunicate us using an ancient ritual from

Deuteronomy. I remember that our first reaction

was shock at the thought that Jews could actually

be excommunicated. And then we laughed.

During the Watergate scandal I wrote perhaps

13 columns, pretty much week after week, exco-

riating President Nixon for his crimes against the

Constitution. I particularly remember the one I

wrote in the form of an open letter to my three

sons (who were not even old enough to read it)

wherein I explained what had occurred and why

I had come to the conclusion that the President

needed to resign or be impeached and removed

from office. I believe that I may have been the

first columnist (albeit it was a column in the Flush-

ing Tribune) to call for the President’s resignation

or impeachment.

And then there was the column I wrote about

generational change that was awarded Best Col-

umn of the Year by the New York Press Associa-

tion. I’m not sure, but I think the award certifi-

cate still hangs on the wall at the Tribune’s offices

today. Funny, it was one of the most non-serious

columns I ever wrote.

All in all, it was a great experience and a lot of

fun

My congratulations to the Queens Tribune for

four decades of exceptional local journalism.

Alan was an early contributor to the

Queens Tribune, served as Executive

Director of the NYC Bd. Of Stan-

dards and Appeals and has spent a

career dedicated to public service.

Housing For All:

1974: Alan Gershuny

Queens Residents Resist Public Housing Facility

BY KAITLYN KILMETIS

May 28, 1972: New York City Mayor John Lind-

say set in motion the wheels of compromise in the

widely-contested low-income housing development

debate in Forest Hills.

After considerable prodding from State Sen.

Emanuel Gold and Queens Borough President

Donald Manes, the Mayor appointed Queens Attor-

ney Mario Cuomo to conduct an independent study

to determine if some type of compromise can be

reached between the City and a coalition of enraged

Forest Hills residents passionately opposing the con-

struction of a massive low-income housing facility

in their neighborhood.

The controversy surrounding the project began

in the fall of 1971 after Forest Hills residents criti-

cized the project, which would house 840 families

in twin 24-story towers.

On Sept. 5, 1972, Manes announced that a com-

promise had been reached. Cuomo had drafted a

plan to convert the facility to a “cooperative low

income housing development” and also increase

the number of buildings by one and halve the fa-

cil it ies height from 24 stories to 12 stories.

Cuomo’s recommendation was adopted by Mayor

Lindsey and received the support of many public

officials.

Later that month, community members voiced

their vehement disapproval of Cuomo’s compromise

in a public hearing.

Two months later the Board of Estimates voted

overwhelmingly to approve Cuomo’s plan over the

angry heckles of Forest Hills residents who picketed

outside City Hall. The decision, reached after 11

hours of heated debate, was hailed as a valuable com-

promise that set a precedent for the battle against

low-income housing facilities, leading “affordable

housing” to emerge as the battle cry for any devel-

oper looking to construct facilities in Queens.

Lights, Camera, Queens:

Old Paramount Site

A Reborn Film Studio


Oct. 24, 1978: What was once the

U.S. Army Pictorial Center was reig-

nited as a full-fledged motion picture

studio in Queens with the production

of the Wiz, which hit movie theaters

today.

Moviegoers were thrilled to learn

that the Kaufman Astoria Studios was

back in business for the first time in

30 years.

The studios were opened in 1920

by Paramount Pictures so that actors

who couldn’t leave town had a place

to work and shoot nearby. However,

in 1942, at the beginning of WWII,

the U.S Army took over the studio

and started using it as a place to pro-

duce newsreels as an effort to support

World War II and named it Signal

Corps Photographic Center.

When the war was over, the studio

stood vacant and was labeled as “sur-

plus property” by the Army. The Fed-

eral government offered the property

to New York’s City University to be

used by LaGuardia Community Col-

lege. However, due to insufficient bud-

gets the $4.5 million development

plan could not take place.

The soundstage has been the home

of two huge Marx Bros. Films, The

Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers, and

has been the site for the production

of more than 120 silent movies.

A $50 million makeover of the

Kaufman Astoria Studio came in

1982, the year of the cosmetically-

challenged leading men: a cross-dress-

ing Dustin Hoffman starred in Tootsie;

a long-necked, flat-headed alien

starred in “E.T.”, and “Diner’s” lead-

ing man was Mickey Rourke.

In 2008, another $22 million expan-

sion was announced to add a 44,000-

square-foot stage and support area.

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BY JOSEPH OROVIC

June 1979: The Flushing Fantas-

tic II created a sea of humanity on

Main Street, as about 200,000 people

attended the street festival.

At a time when Flushing’s eco-

nomic and social prospects dwindled,

with porn shops moving in and mom

and pop shops shipping out, Jo-Ann

Jones and Downtown Flushing Devel-

opment Corp.’s Aaron Weiss set out

to revitalize the area through the arts.

The neighborhood was undergoing

a change of face, with a growing Asian

population that was – at times – a

source of tension.

Weiss and Jones actively embraced

the new members of the community,

and strove to integrate their culture in

Fantastic Flushing:

Community Upstarts

Spark Revitalization

the annual Queens Day Festival at

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Even-

tually, the idea blossomed into some-

thing greater.

The result was the Flushing Fan-

tastic International Street Festival.

The day-long event featured a parade,

the usual battery of food and games,

as well as cultural events highlight-

ing the area’s diversity.

The success of the event spawned a

rebirth in Flushing, and created a

closely-knit group of merchants and

locals. The reverberating good vibes

led to the creation of organizations like

the Flushing Council on Culture and

the Arts, which begat the restoration

and use of the Flushing Town Hall,

which continues to this day.

Happy Birthday, Queens Tribune.

May 40 be just the beginning of many

more years of major community service.

I joined the Trib in 1972 from

Queens College, where I had co-

founded a student newspaper,

Newsbeat. Both Gary Ackerman and

Newsbeat used the same typesetter and

printer. Gary asked me to join the

staff and I agreed. The Trib was a phe-

nomenal learning experience for me.

I was Managing Editor and later Ex-

ecutive Editor.

Yes, we used typewriters and type-

setting equipment, kind of like out of

the dark ages. Thank God there were

no dinosaurs around. We worked out

of two storefronts on Kissena Boule-

vard in Flushing. We had a small edi-

torial staff of Gary, two reporters and

I. Many contributors helped make our

lives easier. The staffs, both editorial

and business, were great to work with.

As I write this piece so many names

and faces flash in front of me. But most

of all, we were respected journalisti-

cally throughout the State.

Many of our staffers went on to do

amazing things. So many stories: like

when we got credentials to the Nixon

inauguration in 1973 and press passes

to the Democratic National Conven-

tion and saw Jimmy Carter chosen to

make the run for the Presidency. The

lunch we had for Mayor John Lindsay.

The day, while listening to the police

radio, Gary notified me that my father’s

car was just stolen. The raffle lady, who

tried to sell raffles to Gary. He had her

convinced that he was a twin, since he

made use of both storefronts.

I remember when I was called by

Norman Lear’s staff because they

wanted Archie Bunker from “All in

the Family” to know what was hap-

pening in Flushing. They even de-

signed their own Flushing Tribune with

its own reporter, Harley Benson.

There was never a dull moment

at the paper. We broke many impor-

tant stories when I was there. When

people had problems they came to

us. When they had things to publi-

cize, they knew we would take care

of them. Regina Vogel made Queens

Today, a section that made everyone

so proud and she is still doing a

dynamite job.

So many stories, so little time and

space. I remember in that Summer

of the Son of Sam we tried to out-Post

the New York Post, using huge red

headlines to attract attention.

Now the portion of my piece,

which by far is the most difficult, talk-

ing of my friend and co-worker: David

Oats. He was one of our first contribu-

tors, always bringing material about

Queens and his love: Flushing

Meadow Corona Park. He always had

a way with him that you just had to

listen to whatever he had to say and

make room in the paper for it. Soon

he was offered a post with the Trib. He

was always there for everyone. He

made the Tribune a better place to

work. When I was Executive Editor,

David was appointed Managing Edi-

tor, an excellent choice. When I left

the Trib, David was appointed Execu-

tive Editor. There was no other choice.

After I left the Trib, I kind of lost con-

tact with David, something I regret.

What he truly wanted was a New York

World’s Fair that was not to happen.

Guess we blew it, David. They should

just rename the park after you.

The more I write, the more I re-

member. Maybe I should write a

screen play, maybe not: just don’t

want to leave anyone out.

It is truly a wonderful thing this 40th

anniversary. May it continue forever. So

where’s the cake? Do I get a piece?

Since leaving the Trib as Executive Editor in 1977, Jeff

edited several newspapers and magazines, including Health

Care Week and Vending Times, making a major career change

in the late 1980s – to classical music retail. He now oversees

the classical music department of J&R Music World in lower

Manhattan, the largest classical music section in the nation.

1976: Jeff Tarlo

An assistant editor of the Queens Tribune in its early years,

Bob moved to California, where he held a number of senior

posts in Silicon Valley before starting @Sales & Marketing,

providing help to start-up high-tech companies.

1975: Bob Citelli

According to Dictionary.com:

Community is defined as "a social

group of any size whose members re-

side in a specific locality, share gov-

ernment, and often have a common

cultural and historical heritage."

While there was no definition for

community newspaper found therein,

it is easy to recognize that the Tribune

has touched all the bases within the

meaning of the word over the decades

it has successfully served Queens.

What makes a community newspa-

per truly successful? Some would say

it is the business staff and certainly,

Mike Schenkler and his team have

done a remarkable job of sustaining

this publication over the years, par-

ticularly more recently when the

Internet has driven many papers off

the newsstands and out of business.

Drawing upon my own experiences

as a staff member and writer some 30

years prior, I am certain it is more than

just a great sales team. After all, any

publication can subscribe to a news

service and pull down syndicated copy,

report it as news and try to sell adver-

tising around the content. Perhaps a

few even succeed in doing so.

What has made the Tribune suc-

cessful over the years is the quality of

its organization, its people and the

surrounding neighbors and neigh-

borhoods it serves.

Starting internally, the Tribune has

been a launching pad for young

graphic artists, journalists and car-

toonists seeking to cut their teeth on

a real publication and start their ca-

reers. Several of my associates dur-

ing my tenure at the Trib were cer-

tainly able to accomplish this, my-

self included. The management at

the time, led by now-Congressman

Gary Ackerman, became a magnet for

talent, attracting gifted individuals,

many from challenged home envi-

ronments, and giving them the

chance and the playing field on

which to succeed.

Outside the walls of our offices,

we all shared in a government in tur-

moil. The City of New York was in

the midst of a perilous financial cri-

sis. Streets were unpaved, garbage

was uncollected, schools were cutting

back, and hospitals, fire and police

stations were at risk of closing or be-

ing closed. The Tribune served its

neighbors and neighborhoods well

during these times and continues to

do so today.

The Tribune has been diligent in

its defense of people, citizens who

might not otherwise have their story

told, defending school administrators

unfairly being ousted, students lobby-

ing to save no cost/low cost tuition at

CUNY, or drawing attention to can-

didacies for underdogs seeking

elected office who could be counted

on to serve the people of Queens well.

Finally, the Tribune helped bring

a sense of history to the Queens com-

munity at large. We were the paper

of record when it came to all things

Bicentennial and David Oats, him-

self a part-time historian and then

Managing Editor, culled local stories,

drawings and photographs from his

sources providing definition to

names and events dating far back

into the history of Queens, New York

and our nation.

Time and the Tribune marches on.

Congratulations to the current staff

and Mike Schenkler for keeping the

proud tradition of a great community

paper alive all these years.

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BY KAITLYN KILMETIS

Jan. 30, 1977: After a Saturday

night date, early Sunday morning

Christine Freund and her fiancé John

Diel sat in their Pontiac Firebird be-

fore departing for their next location.

Suddenly, the sound of deafening

shots, fired at close range, rang out

through the Queens neighborhood.

Diel suffered only superficial injuries.

Freund, 26, was shot twice. She died

hours later at the hospital.

Police soon determined the gun-

man had used a .44 Bulldog in the at-

tack. Based on the evidence, the

NYPD connected the attack to three

other shootings that had taken place

in Queens and the Bronx since July

1976, leaving an 18-year-old woman

dead and five other young people in-

jured.

On March 8, Virginia Voskerichian,

a 19-year-old Forest Hills resident was

shot on her way back from classes at

Barnard College. She attempted to use

her textbooks to shield her face to no

avail; Voskerichian was killed instantly

in the attack.

Days later, the NYPD held a press

conference where police officials and

Mayor Abe Beame informed the pub-

lic they had evidence that the same .44

Bulldog had been used in all the

shootings. Panic spread rampantly

across the borough, along with the rest

of the city, as residents feared a serial

I came to the Queens Tribune

through the back door: as a high

school typesetter. A very fast one, but

a very bad one, I might say. My Multi-

Media co-worker, Betty, was far more

accomplished, but I was pathetic, and

so, it should be noted, was the even-

then-ancient Compugraphic system.

We typed the stories onto a paper

tape that resembled very narrow toi-

let paper and fed it into a computer,

which regurgitated the article in a

form that could be pasted up. Betty

and I could count on a busy day when

we had to type up Regina Vogel’s

community l ist ings and Robert

Elkin’s voluminous sports reports.

A year or so after I started work-

ing there, I became the features edi-

tor of the Queens College paper,

Newsbeat, and I segued from typeset-

ter/employee role to client/customer.

A year after that, I became the paper’s

editor-in-chief, so it became my re-

sponsibility to pack up the written

copy, pick up the great and noctur-

nal typist, Barbara Johnson, in the

wee hours of Saturday mornings,

drive her to Multi-Media, case the

storefront for any burglars (such was

her worry and paranoia), then return

Sunday mornings to oversee my staff,

or at least keep them from playing

too much roller-chair hockey in the

office or go wild with food fights.

Things were really overseen by

Melanie Tarlo and Meryl Wittenberg;

if not for them, there would have

been no Newsbeat. Late Sunday, it

was another traditional responsibil-

ity to drive to Joe Wolf ’s godforsaken

printing plant in Williamsburg, where

I slipped the finished mechanicals

under a garage door that was open

slightly to accommodate my delivery.

The next morning, or sometimes the

afternoon, about 10,000 or so copies

were delivered to a loading bay, and

I loaded up my Dodge Dart and

started delivering.

Simultaneously, I had become a

reporter for the Queens Tribune, and

for some reason (perhaps being that

nobody else wanted the job) was

named managing editor, or some-

thing like it, during the summer of

1978. (Did I get paid for that? I don’t

recall.) Through these years, I be-

came attached to the ebullient David

Oats, whose enthusiasm for local news

(and most prominently, anything

about the ‘64 World’s Fair) was infec-

tious, as were his stories about becom-

ing friendly with Robert Moses. Al-

ways looming over the Tribune/Multi-

Media empire, was Gary Ackerman,

whose eventual electoral victory as a

Congressman (which occurred well

after my last days in his employ) is

less vivid to me than his earlier and

epochal campaign for councilman-at-

large against the incumbent Eugene

Mastropieri.

Being a journalist for the Tribune

meant doing just about anything,

short of selling ads. I was reporter,

editor, photographer, newspaper de-

livery person (driving a beaten-up

van to the post office) and gofer to

the homes of photographers Joe

Ullman, the most polite man on

earth, and Carl Schaum, whose resi-

dence had what can only be called as

a memorable odor. Some would call

it a stench.

Only two stories stand out: the

first was an expose of a street in

Flushing that we called Queens’ ver-

sion of “Tobacco Road.”

The second was being the photog-

rapher when Gary attended President

Carter’s signing of loan documents to

the nearly bankrupt New York City.

Gary got on one reception line that

led up to the second floor of City Hall

and photographers got on a second

line. If our luck held, I’d get up to the

second floor when Gary did. But the

dignitaries’ line moved slowly; mine

moved quickly. I waited as long as the

Secret Service would allow, but an

agent plunked his hand in my chest

and told me to leave. Just as I was

about to disappear through a door, I

heard Gary shout, “Richie! Richie!” I

was probably 30 or 40 feet away, and I

said to the agent, “That’s my boss. Can

I get back there?” I reasoned that Gary

would shake the president’s hand for

as long as it took for me to get back in

position. He let me, but as I unscrewed

my lens cap and tried to focus, the

clearly annoyed president leaned over

to Mayor Koch and said, ‘“Who are

these guys?” Koch replied, “What do

you expect, they’re from the Queens

Tribune!” The caption for the result-

ing blurry photo read: “Heads of

State.”

I am certain that my years at that

Flushing storefront, with nourish-

ment from the Good Food Deli across

Kissena Boulevard contributed to the

confidence that would, a dozen years

after my college graduation, lead me

to employment at The New York Times.

This current Sports Media and Business columnist of The

New York Times got his start in the newspaper business as a

typesetter at the Tribune while in high school. He moved on

to reporter and later editor in the days of the 1978 Blackout

and Gary Ackerman’s first successful bid for public office.

Summer Of Sam:

1977: Rich Sandomir

Serial Killer Breeds Fear Across Boroughkil ler on the loose. Dark-haired

women, who fit the description of a

majority of the shooter’s victims, dyed

their hair blonde and young people

remains cloistered in their homes. The

media spurred concern with constant

sensationalized coverage of the case.

A month later, on April 17, two

more young people, a man and a

woman, were shot and murdered.

Blocks away from the Bronx street

where the murders took place, a

handwritten note, addressed to an

NYPD captain, was recovered. In the

frightening letter, the killer identi-

fied himself as the “Son of Sam” and

made multiple mentions of the bor-

ough, including a declaration that

the women in Queens were the pret-

tiest of all.

On May 30, the killer reached out

again with a hand-written letter to

Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin.

The Daily News published parts of the

eerie letter, causing alarm to continue

to plague the city.

On June 27, Son of Sam shot Sal

Lupo, 20, and Judy Placido, 17, in

their car after a night out in Bayside.

Both survived with minor injuries.

In his last attack, on July 31, the se-

rial killer murdered a 20-year-old

woman and wounded her 20-year-old

boyfriend in a Brooklyn park. A woman

who had been in the park earlier told

police she had could identify a myste-

rious man in the park that night, who

she believed to be the killer. After a

number of fortuitous leads pointed the

NYPD in his direction, police arrested

David Berkowitz for the six murders

and eight attacks that terrorized New

York City during 1976 and 1977.

Berkowitz confessed to the murders

and added that he was ordered to kill

by commands from his neighbor’s de-

mon dog. He pleaded guilty to the

murders and was sentenced to 365

years in prison in the Attica Correc-

tional Facility.

www.douristower.com

www.nyc.gov/housing

www.liaf.org

www.liu.edu/cwpost/summer

We offer special congratulations to our alumni for their vision and leadership:

Founder GARY ACKERMAN ’65

Publisher/Editor-in-ChiefMICHAEL SCHENKLER ’66

Associate Publisher MICHAEL NUSSBAUM ’69

James Muyskens, President

Queens College Salutes the

Queens Tribuneon its four decades of

community-oriented publishing.

www.qc.cuny.edu

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Goodfellas Gone Bad:

$5 Million Robbed

From JFK Hangar

Fresh out of college, Jedd came to work for the Tribune in

1973 as a reporter and is currently still attached to founder

Gary Ackerman – he serves as the Congressman’s Chief of

Staff.

1978:

Jedd Moskowitz

My first job out of college was a

reporter for the Trib. This was in 1973,

just a few years after the Trib was born.

As the new guy on staff, I got the most

exciting assignments – covering inter-

minable Community Board meetings,

chronicling out-of-sync traffic lights,

counting the crowd of last-minute fil-

ers at the Main Street Flushing Post

Office at midnight on April 15. (The

latter was a favorite story of Trib

founder and Congressman-to-be Gary

Ackerman, who personally recorded

the event in detail each year. Never-

theless, the charm of photographing

angry people mailing bulky envelopes

at the stroke of midnight escapes me

to this day.)

The one story I remember with

some clarity, though with few of the

details, centered on newly-installed

Criminal Court Judge Richard

Brown, who had the poor judgment

one day to be presiding when some

confused defendant thought it would

be a good idea to whip out a gun and

take a few shots at His Honor.

The future Queens DA was un-

harmed, finding quick protection by

ducking down behind the bench. (“I

didn’t have far to go,” I seem to re-

call Judge Brown quipped.)

Indeed, it was my phone interview

with the Judge – my first conversa-

tion as a “real” reporter with anyone

of some distinction – that is fixed in

my mind. Judge Brown was charm-

ing, friendly, and patient with a raw

journalist trying to figure out which

way to hold the pencil. (This was

many years before MS Word.) He

made light of his personal predica-

ment, without dismissing the sever-

ity – and real personal danger – of

what had occurred.

It’s no surprise to me that Dick

Brown has remained a fixture our ju-

dicial system, and I smile a little in-

side whenever I read an account in

the Trib of the Judge’s work.

BY DOMENICK RAFTER

Dec. 14, 1978: Federal law enforce-

ment swarmed a black van yesterday in

the Canarsie section of Brooklyn they

believe was the getaway van from

Monday’s robbery at the Lufthansa Air-

lines cargo hanger at Kennedy Airport,

the largest cash robbery

ever committed in the

United States. Federal in-

vestigators searched the van

for fingerprints and discov-

ered a muddy shoeprint

near the van that may point

to a suspect.

In the heist on Dec 11, at

least five robbers made away

with over $5 million in cash

and over $850,000 in jewels

that were being stored in the

cargo hanger of Lufthansa

Airlines, Germany’s state air-

line. The money, which con-

sisted of both foreign and

U.S. currency, was being

flown from Frankfurt, Germany for

transfer to Chase Manhattan Bank and

the Federal Reserve in Lower Manhat-

tan.

Thereafter known as the “Lufthansa

Heist,” the robbery and its chaotic af-

termath became part of Queens folk-

lore, solidified the borough’s reputa-

tion as a major hub of Mafia activity,

and was famously portrayed in two

television movies and a blockbuster

Academy Award-winning film directed

by Martin Scorsese: “GoodFellas.”

The heist marked the climax of mafia

activities in the borough. The sloppy

repercussions of the heist spearheaded

by usually meticulous mobsters triggered

the beginning of the end of mafia domi-

nance. The Feds caught a break when

the getaway driver, Parnell “Stacks”

Edwards, ignored orders to destroy the

getaway van and instead visited

his girlfriend in Canarsie, leav-

ing the van illegally parked,

which tipped off law enforce-

ment. Edwards would pay for

his mistake with his life only a

few days later.

Over the course of the next

six years, one by one, suspects

in the case were murdered by

mastermind mobster Jimmy

Burke or forced into witness

protection. According to in-

formant Henry Hill, an asso-

ciate of Burke, the mob boss

became paranoid after the

FBI found the van and began

to plot to kill anyone who

could implicate him in the crime.

Burke was eventually arrested and

convicted of killing one of the men;

Richard Eaton, in January 1979, leav-

ing his body hogtied in a refrigerator

truck in Brooklyn. He died of lung can-

cer in a Buffalo, New York hospital

while serving a life sentence for Eaton’s

murder. Burke was never convicted for

any other the murders he may have

committed or been an accessory to.

To this day, the Lufthansa heist re-

mains the largest cash robbery in the

nation’s history.

The Lufthansa heist

was chronicled in

Martin Scorsese’s

“GoodFellas,” star-

ring Ray Liotta as

mob turncoat Henry

Hill.

www.qc.cuny.edu

http://mulan-restaurant.com/

http://mulan-restaurant.com/

IT’S HARD GETTING BY IN NEW YORK . . . AND ONLY GETTING HARDER

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www.standwithbuildingworkers.org

F

B

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Reading your column this week

brought back some very vivid Trib and

Ackerman memories from “disasters”

gone-by.

Gary is correct in stating that the

only missed Tribune deadline in the

paper’s history was due to a snow-

storm in early 1978. But at least I’m

proud to say it wasn’t for want of try-

ing. The blizzard that hit the city was

reminiscent of the famous ‘69 storm

that blanketed and shut down

Queens, and almost destroyed Mayor

John Lindsay’s political career when

Manhattan’s streets were cleared but

Queens remained unplowed for days.

(Only the 1969 Miracle Mets victory

helped boost Lindsay to an almost

miracle-like re-election later that

year.)

I remember enjoying the vast whi-

teout of ‘69 – but the ‘78 storm

seemed as big and presented an al-

most impossible task on deadline

night. A hearty group of Trib staffers

stayed until the paper was done (with

paste-up and “computers” that were

“modern” to us but dinosaurs by

today’s standards).

The paper was completed – but

there was one problem. Our printer

(Joe Wollf ’s International press in

Long Island City) was so snowed-in

they could not get their doors or

gates open. Hence, we had a paper –

but no printer. I wish we had saved

the original boards of that edition –

the only one that never saw the light

of ink.

Unable to walk to my home on

Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing, I re-

member staying at the Trib office for

almost two days, but grateful to the

Good Food Store across the street on

Kissena Boulevard, which was able to

open, and a crew of volunteer photog-

raphers who braved the cold and snow

to provide the pix for the next-pub-

lished Tribune.

Then there was the Blackout of

1977. Again, I had fond memories of

New York’s first great Blackout in No-

vember 1965. It was a frighteningly

beautiful night for the city – full of the

same grace in crisis spirit we saw in

2003. But the ‘77 Blackout was a very

different story. At the Tribune, we were

in a dual-mode.

At that time we were not only at-

tempting to put the paper out, but also

much of the staff was happily moon-

lighting on another task – getting the

Trib’s founder and publisher Gary

Ackerman elected to public office. He

was running for the first time – for a

now-discontinued position of Council-

man-at-Large.

This was a major, boroughwide elec-

tive post (later ruled unconstitutional

by the courts – another story). It was

an energetic, grassroots, exciting cam-

paign in which the paper was very

much a vehicle.

After a day of work at the paper, I

went out with one of my reporters/cam-

paign workers for relaxation at

Baciagalup’s Restaurant on Main

Street in Flushing to talk about the

campaign and also the Trib’s coverage

of the Son of Sam case that was terror-

izing Queens and the City in a time

later to be known as “The Summer of

Sam.” At about 9:30 p.m. on that July

13 night, the lights flickered in the res-

taurant, and then went dark.

As you recounted in your column,

at first it’s all very

local to you – until

Larry Reich and I

went out the doors

and saw it wasn’t

confined to

Baciagalup’s. All of

Main Street was

dark and transistor

radios were able to

break the news that,

once again, all of

New York – and be-

yond – was out.

I remember it

was only a few min-

utes before we also

realized that this

was not going to be

another placid New

York night as in ‘65.

We watched as

within seconds, the

plate glass windows

of a fashionable

men’s clothing

store on the corner

of Main & Kissena

were shattered and

looters were pulling

everything from the

store. Then, min-

utes later, the

sounds of shattered

glass were heard at

the large appliance

store across the

This column is republished from out 35th Anniversary edition. David Oats,

who was the heart and soul of this newspaper for the better part of two

decades, died two years ago. No anniversary edition would be complete

without him, so we are recounting his tale here.

1979: David Oats

street. And on, and on. Frustrated by

not having any cameras with us we

walked the darkened streets back to the

blackened Trib storefront where we at-

tempted to coordinate some kind of

coverage of that dark night.

It was a very hot and humid night

(no moonlight as in ‘65) and the City

was already paralyzed in fear by the

mysterious, bloody rampage of the Son

of Sam. In fact, it’s said that many ac-

tually believed he, whoever he was,

caused the blackout. In the end, the

early scenes we saw in Flushing were

repeated – in huge scale – all around

the tense city. All the lights were not

turned on until about 10:30 the next

night. But there had been 3,400 ar-

rests, 558 cops injured, 851 fires and

$1 billion in damage. A nightmarish

night that makes our most recent

blackout of ‘03 stand as a model of civic

pride.

But the early light of the next morn-

ing (still without electricity) Gary, my-

self and some other staffers were try-

ing to make the best of our time to

come up with ways to get an original

story out of this – and get Gary in the

news. In a flash, so to speak, it came.

They were saying a lightning bolt

hit the big Con Ed plant up in

Westchester, causing the blackout. Paul

O’Dwyer, then the City Council Presi-

dent, doubted this scenario and saw it

as a big Con Ed cop-out for other ma-

jor failures. So we decided to drive to

the plant upstate. Gary went to a local

store and, when everyone else was

searching for batteries, flashlights, etc.,

he was looking for a kite.

The idea was to get into the facility

and have Gary fly the kite, á la Ben

Franklin’s famed lightning experi-

ment, and tell Con Ed to “Go Fly a

Kite!” with their blackout excuse.

Needless to say some incredulous

guards turned us away, but we got the

shot of Gary, the kite and the plant in

the background and our “Ackerman to

Con Ed: Go Fly A Kite” headline on

the next Tribune front page. To think,

from this, future great newspapers and

Congressmen are born.

Fresh from our victorious journal-

istic-political coup upstate, we re-

turned late afternoon to a still power-

less Queens. We decided to pick up a

few other reporter-campaign volun-

teers to ride around the borough with

The Queens Tribune clearly disputed Con Ed’s claim that

lightning caused the massive 1977 blackout.

Gary in his old red, white and blue

van which was our rolling campaign

headquarters. We stopped to pick up

one of our people at his home in

Fresh Meadows to join our

boroughwide jaunt.

Now this was a quiet, residential,

one-family home street on a day

where everyone is trapped at home

and there is really no sound or activ-

ity. Except for the red, white and blue

“Acker-Van,” as we called it – blaring

John Philip Sousa marching music

from a loudspeaker on top and a

huge car-top sign for ACKERMAN

AT LARGE.

As we pull up, some young children

playing in the street are fascinated by

the arrival of this blackout day diver-

sion. The circus had come to town!

Residents were looking out their win-

dows at the unusual scene as we waited

to pick up our worker. Then, Gary de-

cides it’s hot – we ought to all be wear-

ing the Ackerman t-shirts we had just

made up. So Gary gets out of the van,

and proceeds to take his shirt off to

change into the t-shirt.

The little kids stared in wonder-

ment at this large man from the red,

white and blue truck – loudly blaring

Sousa marching music – apparently

undressing in the street. The bemused

residents are also watching from their

windows. In the middle of a blackout

afternoon! And then, quite unexpect-

edly, Gary raises his arms to put on

the shirt – and his pants fall down!

Quickly pulling them back up,

Gary smiles and waves at the kiddies

and neighbors, and we all pile back

in the van, which in music and signs

loudly proclaims to anyone within

seeing and hearing distance –

ACKERMAN AT LARGE!

Needless to say, Gary lost that elec-

tion. The position was later abolished.

But the fact that Gary was wearing an

extra large pair of boxer shorts that day

may have saved the whole political and

newspaper history of Ackerman and

the Trib from ending on that blackout

day with a case of public lewdness. In

fact, Gary went on the next year to be-

come elected to the State Senate and,

eventually, the hallowed halls of the

U.S. Congress. And the Trib went on

to reach a ripe maturity.

As the old cliché goes – only in

America.

David Oats (l.) and Steve McGuire (r.) spend the day with one their all-time

heroes at Shea Stadium.

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Open Doors:

Groups Band Together

To Defend Immigrants

BY JOSEPH OROVIC

August 5, 1999: Borough Presi-

dent Claire Shulman shot back against

a Queens-based anti-immigration

group, objecting to its closed-border-

promoting ad campaign.

ProjectUSA’s wave of billboards

and anti-immigration sentiment

sparked a debate over the value of

Queens’ foreign-born citizens, who in

many ways have always represented a

faceless borough.

The group, led by Craig Nelson,

asserted the consistent waves of new

immigrants deteriorated America’s

quality of life, “threatening the foun-

dation of our country” and leading to

overpopulation.

The campaign worked as vari-

ous immigrants’ groups reported

a rash of anti-immigration sen-

timent spreading throughout

the borough. But the billboards

also sparked a backlash.

ProjectUSA’s campaign uni-

fied what were splintered ethnic

groups. Various organizations

banded together through the

help of community activists such

as Brian Pu-Folkes, who created

New Immigration Community

Empowerment. The group

bridged together various ethno-centric

organizations to raise awareness of

immigration’s benefits to the commu-

nity. It also hoped to educate immi-

grants about common difficulties they

face, and strategies to overcome them.

Shulman aside, other local elected

officials also fought against

ProjectUSA’s message, forming the

Special Committee on the Dignity of

Immigrants. Spearheaded by now-in-

carcerated Assemblyman Brian

McLaughlin, the committee’s call was

to catalogue and report on systematic

and societal abuse of immigrants and

recommend remedies to common

problems.

The ProjectUSA billboards helped unify the

diverse immigrant communities.

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March 25-31, 2010 T

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All the best on 40 years of outstanding

Journalism and Commentary.

Congressman

Gregory Meeks6th District

Paid for by Meeks for Congress

From The Streets:

Run-DMC’s Fat Beats

Help Shape Hip-Hop

Run-DMC was Queens. Plain and

simple.

From the laceless shell-toes, to the

fedoras, to the gold rope chains, they

ran rap from their Hollis headquar-

ters.

From “Sucker MC’s” to “King of

Rock” to “Walk This Way,” they are

arguably the most influential group in

the long and storied history of hip-

hop music and culture.

And Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell

was their backbone. He was their mae-

stro. He was their foundation.

He has been dead now for nearly

eight years. And we still don’t know

why.

Jam Master Jay, a 37-year-old mar-

ried father of three, was executed in a

recording studio on Merrick Boule-

vard on Oct. 30, 2002. Though there

seems to be a litany of suspects and

motives, there have been no arrests.

And Jay’s wife, Terri, still has no an-

swers.

It’s quite difficult to imagine hip-

hop without Jam Master Jay. He in-

spired countless with priceless style,

deft cuts and infectious beats. Listen

to “Mary, Mary.” Study “Peter Piper.”

He made you look at vinyl differently.

Now, vinyl is an endangered spe-

cies. The younger generations know

about the iPhone and iPods. The kids

know about downloading and file

sharing.

But they probably don’t know too

much about Jam Master Jay. They

don’t know about the mark he left on

music, or the void

he left when he

passed.

They should,

though. Everyone

should learn about

Jason Mizell, a hero

from Queens, New

York.

As an English major at York Col-

lege, the most important piece of in-

formation I learned in my education

classes was to have a skill other teach-

ers might not possess – drama, jour-

nalism, debate, etc. I joined the

school newspaper, Pandora’s Box,

and met Gary Ackerman and com-

pany at the Tribune, where Pandora’s

was typeset and designed. Within

months, I became a computer type-

setter, working on the “new, state of

the art” Compugraphic equipment.

Upon graduating with absolutely

no teaching prospects, I stayed on

at the Tribune as a “mechanical

paste-up artist.” Within a year I was

Production Manager and later took

over the Queens Today section when

then-editor Jeff Tarlo left the Tri-

bune. I did some freelance work – as

page designer for the Arts Chronicle

or news writer for ARMTOC News –

in addition to my Tribune responsi-

bilities.

When a teaching job became

available in 1980, I became a part-

time Tribbie and started working at

Grover Cleveland High School in

Ridgewood. After six months, I was

Regina started with the Trib in 1973 as a typesetter, and still does the Queens Today section

for the Tribune. She has also been a NYC high school teacher for the last 30 years.

1980: Regina Vogel

offered the position of newspaper ad-

visor and high school journalism

teacher, which has kept me in the

wonderful field of journalism.

Almost 30 years have passed and

I am now at John Bowne High

School in Flushing, president of

New York City Scholastic Press As-

sociation and a judge for a national

scholastic press association.

Although I am no longer a full

time Tribbie, I continue to contrib-

ute articles and, thanks to my begin-

nings at the Queens Tribune, my in-

terest in journalism has never faded.

Hip-hop pioneers

Run-DMC left a

major stamp on mu-

sic, and rose from the

streets of Hollis.

www.qcc.cuny.edu/qpac/

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I joined the Queens Tribune in 1979,

fresh out of college, and quickly dis-

covered that community journalism

was not that much different than work-

ing on a school newspaper. Sure, the

community being covered was a lot

larger and more diverse, but the rules

were the same. We did a decent job in

the two-plus years I managed the pa-

per under the late David Oats, rede-

signing it in 1982 to give it a fresher,

news-magazine look. I’m amazed how

long some of those changes lasted:

The typefaces, the page labels, the

masthead (logo to the rest of you) are

still present in today’s Trib, although

to be honest I don’t remember the

slightly crooked ‘i’ in that 28-year-old

logo. Go on, look closely. See it?

My years at the Tribune went by in

a flash, punctuated by all-too-brief

journalistic firecrackers and filled in

with long runs of snooze-news re-

quired to fill the empty spaces be-

tween the ads. At least that’s how it

seems after 30 years. I remember

things only in snippets.

– The day I spent in the lobby of

what was then called Booth Memorial

Hospital awaiting word of the fate of

a police officer shot in the line of duty.

– Photographing a Jets game at

Shea from the field (alongside real

sports photographers) so I’d have a

library of photos to use with the

weekly Jet scores.

– The day I was first on the scene

of an oil fire at a suspected toxic

dump site in College Point.

– Scratching Gary Ackerman’s red,

white and blue campaign van. Sorry

Gary.

– The cable television franchise war

– yes, Virginia, there was a time be-

fore cable – and the feature story I was

assigned to write that painted a small

Queens entrepreneur’s cable plan as

superior to those of much larger, es-

tablished cable companies. Look up

the career and sad fate of Donald

Manes, former Queens Borough Presi-

dent, for the end of that story.

Most of all, I remember the fun and

satisfaction of helping high school and

college students write their first news

stories and all the talent, great and

small, that passed though the Trib’s

doors in those days. Today you’ll find

them writing bestsellers, running a

business news desk in California,

heading an investigative news team in

Manhattan and overseeing Long

Island’s largest daily newspaper. None

of these people got paid for their ef-

forts; they did it for the love of jour-

nalism and the desire to improve their

craft. My greatest satisfaction came in

helping them along the way.

After serving as managing editor of the Trib, Robert went on to a

print trade publication and then served for more than two de-

cades as senior news editor at a specialty newspaper. He is cur-

rently an independent writing and editing professional.

Grand Dame Of Queens:1981: Robert Manas

Boro Prez’ Office

Regains IntegrityBY BRIAN M. RAFFERTY

Nov. 4, 1986: Acting Borough

President Claire Shulman, who was el-

evated to her rank after embattled

Beep Donald Manes stepped down

from the role shortly before his sui-

cide, was elected Tuesday to serve a

full term as Queens Borough Presi-

dent.

With the support of the Democratic

Party, Shulman received an over-

whelming majority of the votes in

Queens, drawing an end to the legacy

of corruption that tainted the office

and beginning a new chapter at Bor-

ough Hall.

In the years following her first run,

Shulman ruled Queens with an iron

will, putting her stamp on a series of

development projects, including the

new vision for growth in Western

Queens, the expansion of medical fa-

cilities and the empowerment of com-

munity boards.

During her tenure, Queens saw

35,000 new public schools seats and

vast economic expansion, including

the construction of the Citibank build-

ing and the expansion of the Queens

Center Mall.

The development of the Air Train,

the location of a massive Food & Drug

Administration headquarters in South-

east Queens and the revitalization of

Arverne are a handful of the achieve-

ments she helped engineer during her

time in office.

Term-limited out of her post in

2001, Shulman did not stray far from

the public spotlight. Sitting as a ma-

jor player on many local business and

not-for-profit boards, she continued to

work with various aspects of the

Queens community to help steer its

economic, cultural and physical

growth.

Still heavily invested in the future

of Queens, Shulman has most recently

taken on a role spearheading the re-

development of Willets Point.

Shulman, a registered nurse by

trade, got into civic life as a school PTA

volunteer in Flushing. Working to ad-

vocate for her school’s students, she

drew the attention of Donald Manes,

who brought her in to work with the

community boards, a role that defined

her future. By 1972 she was leading the

borough CBs, and by 1980 she had

been promoted to Deputy Borough

President, a post she held until Manes

resigned.

www.mainstreetradiology.com

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NOTICE OF FORMATION ofPopular Cu l ture Trad ing ,LLC. Arts. of Org. filed withSecy. Of State of NY (SSNY)on 02/05/10. Office Loca-tion: Queens Co. SSNY des-ignated as agent of LLC uponwhom process against it maybe served. SSNY shall mailcopy of process to: THE LLC38-03 205 Street Bayside, NY11361. Purpose: any lawfulpurpose.______________________________________________________________________PROBATE CITATION File No.2006-3479-/ SURROGATE’SCOURT – QUEENS COUNTYCITATION THE PEOPLE OFTHE STATE OF NEW YORK,By the Grace of God Freeand Independent TO: To theheirs at law, next of kin, anddistributees of Diana Dawsona/k/a Diana E. Dawson de-ceased, if living, and if any ofthem be dead to their heirsa t l aw , nex t o f k in ,distributees, legatees, execu-tors, administrators, assign-ees and successors in inter-est whose names are un-known and cannot be ascer-tained after due diligence.Kim Dawson Hall ClarenceDawson Chante Martin Apetition having been dulyf i led by Dolores SamuelsWalters, who is domiciled at2314 Newton Road, Albany,Georgia 31701 YOU AREHEREBY CITED TO SHOWCAUSE be fo re theSurrogate’s Court, QueensCounty, at 88-11 Sutphin Bou-levard, Jamaica, New York,on 8th day of April, 2010 9:30A.M. of that day, why a de-

LEGAL NOTICELEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE

cree should not be made inthe estate of Diana Dawsona/k/a Diana E. Dawson latelydomiciled at 114-08 180th

Street, St. Albans, Queens,NY 11434 admitting to pro-bate a Will dated June 6,1987, a copy of which is at-tached, as the Will of DianaDawson a/k/a D iana E .Dawson deceased, relatingto real and personal prop-erty, and directing that [X]Letters Testamentary Issue to:Dolores Samuels Walters FEB8 2010 (Seal) HON. ROBERTL . NAHMAN Sur roga teALICEMARIE E. RICE ChiefClerk Arnold Simon, Esq.Attorney for Petitioner (516)495-7373 Telephone Num-ber 88 Froehlich Farm Boule-vard, Woodbury, NY 11797Address of Attorney [Note:This citation is served uponyou as required by law. Youare not required to appear, ifyou fail to appear it will beassumed you do not object tothe rel ief requested. Youhave a right to have an attor-ney to appear for you.]______________________________________________________________________NOTICE OF FORMATIONOF LIMITED LIABILITY COM-PANY. NAME: 60th AVENUEREALTY LLC. Articles of Or-ganization were filed withthe Secretary of State of NewYork (SSNY) on 09/09/09.Of f i ce loca t ion : QueensCounty. SSNY has been des-ignated as agent of the LLCupon whom process againstit may be served. SSNY shallmail a copy of process to theLLC, 142-12 60th Avenue.

Flushing, New York 11355.Purpose: For any lawful pur-pose.______________________________________________________________________Notice of formation of MOTI-MAHAL TRADING LLC. Ar-ticles of Organization filedwith the Secretary of State ofNew York SSNY on 11/13/2009 . Of f i ce loca ted inQueens. SSNY has been des-ignated for service of pro-cess. SSNY shall mail copy ofany process served againstthe LLC 120-06 101ST AV-ENUE, S RICHMOND HILL,NY 11419. Purpose: any law-ful purpose.______________________________________________________________________Not i ce o f fo rmat ion o fDEKALB PORTLAND LLC.Articles of Org filed with Sec-retary of State of NY (SSNY)on 1/5/2010. Office location:Queens Co. SSNY designatedas agent of LLC upon whomprocess against it may beserved. SSNY shall mail pro-cess to: c/o IncorporatingServices, Ltd., 99 Washing-ton Ave, Rm 805A, Albany,NY 12260. Purpose: any law-ful activities.______________________________________________________________________SUPREME COURT OF THESTATE OF NEW YORKCOUNTY OF QUEENS INDEXNO.: 30320-09 DATE FILED:11/12/09 SUMMONSNYCTL 2008-A TRUST ANDTHE BANK OF NEW YORK,AS COLLATERAL AGENTAND CUSTODIAN FORNYCTL 2008-A TRUST, Plain-t i f f s , - aga ins t - V ICTORGASKIN; BRIDGET GASKIN;UNITED STATES OF

AMERICA; NEW YORKSTATE DEPARTMENT OFTAXATION AND FINANCE;CITY OF NEW YORK ENVI-RONMENTAL CONTROLBOARD; “JOHN DOE # 1”through “JOHN DOE #100”,the last 100 names being fic-titious and unknown to plain-tiffs, the persons or partiesintended being the owners,tenants, occupants, personsor corporations, if any, hav-ing or claiming an interest inor lien upon the premises,described in the complaint,and if any of the aforesaidindividual captioned defen-dants, if any, be dead, theirrespective heirs-at-law, nextof kin, executors, adminis-trators, trustees, devisees,legatees, assignees, lienors,creditors, and successors ininterest, and generally al lpersons having or claimingunder, by, or through any ofthe aforesaid individual cap-tioned defendants, if any, ifthey be dead, whether bypurchase, inheritance, lienor otherwise, including anyright, title or interest in andto the rea l proper ty de -scr ibed in the compla intherein, all of who and whosenames and places of resi-dence are unknown to theplaintif fs; Defendants. TOTHE ABOVE NAMED DEFEN-DANTS: YOU ARE HEREBYSUMMONED to answer thecomplaint in this action, toserve a copy of your answer,or, if the complaint is notserved with the summons, toserve notice of appearance,

on the plaintiffs’ attorneywithin twenty (20) days afterthe service of this summons,exclusive of the date of ser-vice (or within thirty (30) daysafter the service is completeif this summons is not per-sonally delivered to you withinthe State of New York), andin case of failure to appear oranswer, judgment wil l betaken against you by defaultfor the relief demanded inthe complaint. Plaintiffs des-ignate Queens County as theplace of trial. The basis ofvenue is the location of thesubject property. Dated: No-vember 9, 2009 LEVY & LEVYAttorneys for Plaintiffs 12Tulip Drive Great Neck, NY11021 (516) 487-6655 BY:JOSHUA LEVY, ESQ. File No.859690 TO THE ABOVENAMED DEFENDANTS: Thefo rego ing Summons i sserved upon you by publica-tion pursuant to an Order ofthe Hon. Lee A. Mayersohn,a Just ice of the SupremeCourt, Queens County datedFeb. 24, 2010 and filed withthe complaint and other pa-pers in the Queens CountyClerk’s Office, Jamaica, NY.The object of the action is toforeclose a tax lien and torecover the amount of thetax lien and all of the interest,penalties, additions and ex-penses to real property k/aBlock 11777, Lot 16. DatedFeb. 25, 2010. LEVY & LEVY,Attys. For Pltf. #77410______________________________________________________________________Notice of Formation of FoundIn Time LLC. Arts. of Org.

filed with Secy. of State of NY(SSNY) on 1/7/2010. Officelocation: Queens County.SSNY designated as agent ofLLC upon whom processagainst it may be served.SSNY shall mail process to:The LLC, 2611 28th St., #1,Astor ia , NY 11102, Attn:Ar thur V inc ie , reg is teredagent upon whom processmay be served. Purpose: anylawful activity.________________________________________________________________________

VILLA HOMES LLC a domes-tic Limited Liability Company(LLC) filed with the Sec ofState of NY on 10/9/09. NYOf f i ce loca t ion : QueensCounty. SSNY is designatedas agent upon whom processaga ins t the LLC may beserved. SSNY shall mail acopy of any process againstthe LLC served upon him/her to The LLC, 7-34 LeggettPl., Whitestone, NY 11362.General Purposes._____________________________________________________________________

Notice of formation of FractalGroup Holdings, LLC, a lim-ited liability company. Ar-ticles of Org. filed with theSecretary of State of NewYork (SSNY) on 10/02/09.Office located in QueensCounty. SSNY has been des-ignated for service of pro-cess. SSNY shall mail copy ofany process served againstthe LLC to: United StatesCorporat ion Agents , Inc. ,7014 13th Ave., Suite 202,Brooklyn, NY 11228. Pur-pose: any lawful purpose.

I found my career in the garbage.

Okay, it wasn’t exactly the gar-

bage, it was the bottom of a shopping

cart in a market on Queens

Bouelvard. That’s pretty close to the

garbage, right? I mean, when people

leave stuff in there, they’re not com-

ing back for it. And what they left,

that day, was a copy of the Queens Tri-

bune. And being broke at the time,

meaning any free reading material

was more than welcome, I picked it

up and leafed through it.

I can’t say I honestly remember the

stories in that edition, but they were

interesting enough to get me to turn

the pages. And then I saw an ad, a

small one, a house ad, seeking writers

who might have some “spare time.”

I was not, to be honest, at the time,

a writer. I was a musician. Which

meant spare time was something I

had plenty of.

So I called. And I volunteered. And

they gave me my first journalistic as-

signment, a council meeting of some

kind, in which parking meters were

discussed. I didn’t know a thing about

reporting – unless you count having

read “All The President’s Men” – so I

mimicked what I saw in newspapers:

the who, what, when, where and why

of, well, parking meters.

And when the next edition of the

Queens Tribune came out, there was my

story, on the bottom of the front page.

A Detroit sports journalist who made an international name for himself with such books as “Tues-

days With Morrie,” Mitch’s first writing gig was right here at the Queens Tribune.

Scandal Rocks The City:

1982: Mitch Albom

Ex -PVB Head Indicted In Bribery ScandalBY DOMENICK RAFTER

May 8, 1986: The former Director

of the Parking Violations Bureau was

indicted by a federal grand jury on

charges of racketeering, conspiracy

and mail fraud. He was accused of tak-

ing a bribe to be a partner in a Times

Square real-estate firm to influence his

decisions on awarding contacts to col-

lect violation fees.

The former director, who resigned

in January, was just the latest official

nabbed in a blossoming scandal strik-

ing the city’s Parking Violations Bu-

reau. The scandal began ballooning

when former PVB deputy director

Geoffrey Lindenauer was arrested in

January 1986 and began cooperating

with the government and has become

the largest scandal to hit the city gov-

ernment in decades.

The scandal threatened to engulf

Queens native Gov. Mario Cuomo,

who was facing re-election in Novem-

ber against Republican Westchester

County Executive Andrew O’Rourke.

Cuomo was hoping for a landslide

re-election to boost prospects of a

presidential run in 1988. Though

Cuomo was not directly involved, he

had connections with individuals

who have been indicted or fingered

in the scandal.

The citywide scandal, termed “City

For Sale,” went beyond the PVB. It in-

cluded contracts to wire the city for

cable television, towing, the Taxi and

Limousine Commission and even as-

sortment of judges.

The scandals would bring down

two borough presidents, leaving one,

Stanley Friedman of the Bronx, in jail

and leading to the suicide of Queens

Borough President Donald Manes. It

also paralyzed Mayor Ed Koch’s third

Okay, so it was a

slow news week.

Okay, so I started in the garbage.

Okay, whatever. Seeing that article,

with my byline, knocked me over the

waterfall and down into the rivers of

writing; the simple, earnest joy of

moving what you see through your

brain and onto paper. I have been

here ever since.

I have now written books, and

movies, and plays, and have gone on

to a bigger newspaper. But I still

have that first copy of the Tribune. I

hope I always will. And whoever left

their copy in the shopping cart, I’d

like to thank you for my life, even if,

technically, you were littering.

term. Although Koch wasn’t person-

ally fingered in any wrongdoing, his

mayoralty was tarnished because he was

accused of either ignoring or being

oblivious to the scandals. Koch ran

for a third term in 1989 but was de-

feated in the Democratic primary by

Manhattan Borough President David

Dinkins, who narrowly beat the man

who prosecuted many of the “city for

sale” convicts; United States Attorney

Rudolph Giuliani.

Giuliani’s role as prosecutor

brought him wider name recognition

in the city, and made him a hero to

voters tired of cronyism and corrup-

tion. Giuliani went on to beat Dinkins

in 1993 and serve eight years as mayor.

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It was February 1983 when I offi-

cially joined the Tribune family. As

the 25-year-old Director of Govern-

ment Operations to the New York

State Senate Minority Leader I was

certainly in a job beyond my years.

The bigwigs thought I was smart. I

knew I was just a political junkie who

didn’t know what else to do with my

life. I worked for the Legislature and

ran political campaigns seven days

a week, 24 hours a day, 52 weeks a

year. I never complained. I loved it.

So when state Sen. Gary Ackerman

ran for Congress, in a special elec-

tion against pollster Doug Schoen

for the seat left vacant by passed con-

gressman Ben Rosenthal, Gary’s mi-

nority leader Fred Orenstein asked,

“What can I do for you?” Ackerman

replied, “Give me Keisman for a

month to help work on my cam-

paign.” (Okay, yes, he first hit him

up for money.)

And so it began – in the largest

political headquarters known to

man, an old furniture showroom

next to the Stratton Restaurant on

Queens Boulevard – I walked into

the world of Gary Ackerman and

Mike Schenkler, partners in politics

and partners at the Queens Tribune.

The first, second, and third pub-

lisher were standing in the same

room. Life is funny that way.

The senator left for Washington

and Mike was finally left to run the

Queens Tribune largely unencumbered

by Gary. I walked into the world of

community newspapers.

I became the advertising director

for what was already the largest com-

munity newspaper in Queens.

Sounds glamorous. It wasn’t. Our

office was located in a small strip mall

on Kissena Boulevard. In retrospect

it can only be described as a nico-

tine-filled, smoke-infested dump. It

was, though, charming.

And out of this dump Mike

Schenkler taught me the newspaper

business; and for a while we made

history in our little world.

My timeline at the Tribune is ac-

tually a little complicated. I came and

went more than once. Two tours of

duty. But so did many

people who have worked for Mike.

But history we made. We were the

first community newspaper in New

York City to circulate boroughwide.

We were the first newspaper to pub-

lish using a four-color format. I sold

the ad that paid for that first color

front page, Norman Rockwell’s, The

Golden Rule. The ad was for a

schlock store flea market on Main

Street, called Busy Bee. I watched

the paper come off press at a vin-

tage, grimy print plant in the New

York City meat market at 2 a.m.

standing next to Mike Schenkler. I

know, some of you have never seen

his legs nor believe he has them.

Most have only viewed him from

behind his desk, sitting there before

they arrived and still there when they

left at whatever time. Many thought

he might be a centaur. The memo-

ries and stories could fill volumes.

Most are better off told at the bar and

left out of print.

But what we really showed them

was that you could publish a quality

community newspaper, advocate po-

litically, maintain your integrity,

have an impact on your community

and make a handsome profit while

laughing your ass off.

By the way, Mike Schenkler and I

didn’t always laugh. As a matter of

fact there where years we didn’t even

speak, but age, births, deaths, a heart

attack and good fortune have a way

of cleaning your glasses and clear-

ing your mind.

And so, as the third publisher

of the Queens Tribune (1991-1993,

said so on my business card), I con-

gratulate Mike Schenkler. If they

didn’t make guys like him you, you

wouldn’t have anyone to talk about

and you wouldn’t have newspapers

like the Queens Tribune. I am a ben-

eficiary of his hard work and accom-

plishments.

Hey Mike, on this 40th anniver-

sary of your newspaper you, and all

of us who have come, gone, come

again and stayed, have a lot to be

proud of. Congratulations to you and

the staff.

David is currently the founder and publisher of the Manhat-

tan Times, the bilingual newspaper of Washington Heights

and Inwood. He is also a New York Press Association Foun-

dation board member.

A Rising Star:

1983: David Keisman

Cuomo Emerges On Top,Queens Guy Now Gov.BY KAITLYN KILMETIS

Nov. 2, 1982: Jamaica native Mario

Cuomo narrowly defeated Republican

businessman Louis Lehrman to ascend

to the position of New York State Gov-

ernor, after a neck-and-neck compe-

tition was ultimately decided by only

a few percentage points.

After a childhood in Queens, re-

ceiving both a bachelor’s and law de-

gree from St. John’s, Cuomo entered

the political arena in the 1970’s after

representing a collection Forest Hills

residents who vehemently opposed

the development of a public-housing

facility in their neighborhood.

After defeats in the 1970s for the

posts of Lieutenant Governor and

Mayor, finally in 1978 Cuomo was

elected Lieutenant Governor under

Governor Hugh Carey. In 1982,

Cuomo, who held a brief stint in pro-

fessional baseball when he was

younger, defeated Ed Koch, his former

mayoral rival, in the Democratic pri-

mary to be Governor and went on to

conquer Lewis Lehrman in the gen-

eral election.

Subsequently, Cuomo was re-

elected in 1986 and 1990 with record-

breaking margins of victory in each

election. During his time in office,

Cuomo was an extremely popular

leader who created hundreds of thou-

sands of jobs, enacted large-scale eco-

nomic development initiatives and

improved state and city infrastructure.

In addition to his strong Italian

roots, Cuomo is famed for his staunch

opposition to the death penalty, his

long-standing pro-choice sentiment

and a collection of other liberal-lean-

ing views. He also gained notoriety

after years of whispers that he would

seek the Democratic Party nomination

to run for the U.S. presidency, al-

though ultimately he never chose to

do so.

In Cuomo’s fourth term run in

1994, the he faced defeat at the hands

of Republican George Pataki, in a vic-

tory that was part of a larger narrative

dubbed as the Republican Revolution.

The New York State governorship was

one of a long list of formerly Demo-

crat-manned posts that fell to Repub-

lican opponents, eventually leading

to the GOP gaining control of both

the House and the Senate in the mid

1990’s.

Since the loss, Cuomo continues

to write political books, practice law

and speak at engagements across the

nation.

Although Cuomo has bowed out of

the political spotlight, another Cuomo

is currently making waves in New York

politics. Mario’s son Andrew is cur-

rently the NYS Attorney General and

it has been widely speculated he will

follow in his father’s footsteps and run

for New York State Governor in 2010.

Media outlets have reported Andrew

Cuomo will announce his candidacy

in late March.

A recently-released Siena Research

Institute survey indicates Cuomo has

a nearly 40 point lead over potential

opponents Rick Lazio and Steve Levy,

so it may not be long before another

Governor Cuomo leads the state.

Mario Cuomo rose to prominence as

an attorney, a mayoral candidate and

eventually governor.

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March 25-31, 2010 T

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Douglaston Development and Levine Builders

Congratulate the

QUEENS TRIBUNE

On its 40th Anniversary

Thanks for covering Queens for the past 4 decades!

www.douglastondevelopment.com www.levinebuilders.com42-09 235th StreetDouglaston, NY 11363

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It was a good job, especially for

someone desperate to plant a foot

in journalism. The title was News

Editor and the off ices were on

Kissena Boulevard, just two bus

rides from my house in Jackson

Heights.

I should have never gotten it.

Like all great tales from Queens,

it wasn’t what you knew but who re-

membered you from PS 69 and IS

145. Howie Goodman knew I had a

Master’s in Journalism (he didn’t

know it was useless). He also knew

Marty Lipp, who, with no experi-

ence in journalism and no Master’s,

had still been named Managing

Editor. Goodman proved true to his

name and passed mine along as a

job candidate. Lipp, perhaps view-

ing the Master’s degree with suspi-

cion, gave me a test, which I must

have passed because he then gave

me the job.

Almost exactly 25 years ago to the

day, you would have found me sit-

ting by the window, at a steel-gray

desk, and working on a blue IBM.

Next to me you would see Lipp, his

agenda open and our day outlined

in his incredibly microscopic hand-

writing. The large blue table next to

him, a natural barrier between us

and the ad people, was where we laid

out the paper.

Ours was not memorable jour-

nalism, or at least not the kind that

two and a half decades later survives

even in my own mind. But that was

neither the aim nor the point. Our

journalism was eminently practical

and, given how green we were, am-

bitious. Oddly, given that this was

a weekly, we almost always seemed

to write on deadline. Ours was a

routine defined by rituals. Mondays

were generally for reporting, Tues-

days for deadline writing and lay-

out, Wednesdays for opening the

mail (and there was lots of it). The

proof of our labor was delivered in

bundles on Thursday mornings.

The end of the week was the begin-

ning of the following week.

The Queens Tribune ended up giv-

ing me the practical instruction the

worthless Master’s never provided,

and I have often told people that the

weekly in my home borough is where

I really went to journalism school.

After a career that took him through the Hartford Cou-

rant, the Washington Post and the Pew Hispanic Center,

Gabe is currently the Metro Desk Editor at the Phila-

delphia Inquirer.

Crack War Escalates:

1984: Gabe Escobar

Rookie Cop Murdered

On Drug Lord’s Order

BY KAITLYN KILMETIS

Feb. 26, 1988: Less than a year into

the start of his career in the NYPD,

Officer Edward Byrne sat in a patrol

car in South Jamaica to protect the

home of a witness. Suddenly, a man

tapped on Byrne’s passenger side win-

dow. When Byrne was distracted by the

man, another man approached the car

at the driver’s side and shot the 22-

year-old officer five times in the head.

The four killers were all appre-

hended and convicted. The murder

was ordered from jail by Queens drug

lord Howard “Pappy” Mason. Mason

was convicted for ordering the mur-

der of Officer Byrne and sentenced

to life in prison. Mason’s partner

Lorenzo “Fat Cat” Nichols was also

accused of taking part in the crime,

although he was never formally

charged for Byrne’s murder, he was

sent to prison for other charges, in-

cluding ordering an attack on his

parole officer, which resulted in the

officer’s death.

Byrne’s ghastly murder gained na-

tional media coverage, serving as a

microcosm for the fierce wars being

waged across the nation between pub-

lic officials and drug dealers. Presi-

dent Ronald Reagan called to offer

the family condolences and George

H.W. Bush carried Byrne’s badge dur-

ing his 1988 presidential campaign.

Rather than encouraging fear and

chaos, the murder led to an NYPD

crackdown on the drug trafficking in

the area and the incarceration of a

high-ranking leader in the Queens

drug trade. Southeast Queens has

since cleaned up considerably.

Each year officers assemble at the

South Jamaica spot where Byrne was

killed to remember the fallen officer.

In 2008, 20 years after the murder,

hundreds of officers gathered to pay

their respects.

Tributes to Byrne can be found

across the city from Edward R. Byrne

Avenue to Pol. Officer Edward Byrne

Park. Additionally, a major U.S. De-

partment of Justice initiative titled the

Edward Byrne Memorial Justice As-

sistance Grant Program allows states

and local governments to fund a broad

range of activities to prevent and con-

trol crime and to improve the justice

system.

More than two decades later, Byrne

remains a symbol for the price paid

to restore order on South Jamaica’s

streets and in neighborhoods across

the nation.

www.douglastondevelopment.com

www.levinebuilders.com

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Senate Majority LeaderMMMMMalcolm A. Smitalcolm A. Smitalcolm A. Smitalcolm A. Smitalcolm A. Smithhhhh

Congratulations

to the Queens Tribune

on 40 years of covering the

news of Queens

District Office205-19 Linden Blvd.,St. Albans, NY 11412P: 718-528-4290F: 718-528-4898

Albany OfficeRoom 907 LOBAlbany, NY 12247P: 518-455-2701F: 518-455-2816

Manhattan Office250 Broadway, Suite 1930New York, NY 10007P: 212-298-5585F: 212-298-5610

Email: [email protected] | Website: www.nyssenate14.com

I always think of the mice.

When I was managing editor of

the Tribune in the 1980s (as a child

prodigy of course), its twinned offices

were in a shopping center on Kissena

Boulevard, shoehorned between a pet

store and a supermarket.

The “newsroom,” which consisted

of two desks, was right up against the

glass window facing the parking lot

and myself and Gabriel Escobar, our

city editor, were – to our occasional

concern – splayed out in plain view

like the Christmas displays at Saks.

For Gabe and I, these were our first

jobs in journalism. We were like kids

who had been handed the keys to the

car, but hadn’t really learned how to

drive yet. So, of course, we were full

of the fuel of youthful energy and car-

omed out each week to race against

the big boys and make the paper as

great as our ink-filled dreams.

But as busy as we were, we couldn’t

help noticing the goings-on just out-

side our oversized window. Mostly it

was the unspectacular stuff of life in

Queens. The well-fed looking for

something to eat. People looking

back and forth across the row of store-

fronts, a pained look on their faces

that said life was an equation they just

couldn’t quite get to add up.

Once a month or so, Gabriel would

give me the high sign and I’d join him

at his desk and we’d watch the deliv-

ery of a big flat box filled with little

white mice, which were presumably

going to be meals for the huge snakes

they kept at the pet shop next door.

Watching the crowd of twitchy mice

carried unceremoniously through the

parking lot, blissfully ignorant to their

fate, Gabe and I always stopped our

own bustling activities and watched, a

small salute to the sniffling mice for

their honorable sacrifice to the food

chain – at least as practiced in pet

shops specializing in exotic reptiles.

The monthly ritual of our dead

mice walking also served to temper

our hubris. While we were trying to

convince ourselves that we were the

best things to hit journalism since

Edward R. Murrow, the mice were our

regular reminder of our place in the

world – while we were combing

Queens to find foodstuffs for our grow-

ing newspaper, the next storefront

over was just as busy filling their niche

of commerce, turning pink-eyed puff-

balls into endless lines of snake poo.

After serving as editor of the Tribune, Marty left to write

for and edit the Staten Island Advance, returned to News Com-

munications to be editor and publisher of Our Town, worked

for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for 10 years

and is currently Communications Director for Harlem

Children’s Zone, an educational and social services agency.

...The Harder They Fall:

1985: Marty Lipp

Manes Celebrates Win,

Party Is Short-Lived

BY DOMENICK RAFTER

Nov. 5, 1985: Promising to focus

on better schools and crime reduc-

tion in his fifth term, Borough Presi-

dent Donald Manes declared victory

last night over Republican challenger

Barbara LeGoff, winning a stunning

84 percent of the vote to LeGoff ’s 16

percent.

Manes’ victory comes despite a

rough year for the borough president

and Queens Democratic Party chair-

man. He was criticized last spring for

his support to build a domed football

stadium adjacent to Shea Stadium in

Flushing Meadows Corona Park in an

effort to attract back the NFL after the

New York Jets left Shea Stadium to play

in New Jersey in 1984.

First elected in 1970, Manes rose to

be the political boss of Queens Demo-

crats. He often ran unopposed despite

the Republican Party still being fairly

competitive in Queens County in the

1970s and 1980s. Manes’ wasn’t so

lucky in picking winners in elections

outside the borough. In 1977, he en-

dorsed Queens native Mario Cuomo

for Mayor, but he lost to Ed Koch. Five

years later, Manes’ threw his support

behind Koch for Governor, but Koch

was defeated in the Democratic pri-

mary by Cuomo. Manes strongly sup-

ported Brooklyn Rep. Elizabeth

Holtzman in her 1980 Senate race that

she narrowly lost to Al D’Amato and

he campaigned for the losing 1984

national Democratic ticket that in-

cluded Queens Congresswoman

Geraldine Ferraro.

Manes’ political fortunes took a

nosedive almost immediately after his

1985 re-election campaign. A series of

scandals quickly caused Manes’ career

to unravel. His political associates

ended up under investigation for tak-

ing bribes, and faced questions over

his selection of a company to wire the

borough for cable television

As the scandals and investigations

reached a fevered pitch, a bizarre situ-

ation developed. In the early morning

hours of Jan 10, 1986, Manes was

found in his car on the Grand Central

Parkway, his wrists slashed. Although

he initially blamed carjackers, he later

admitted to trying to kill himself. A

month later, Manes resigned as bor-

ough president and on March 13,

1986, Manes ended his own life by

plunging a knife into his heart in his

Jamaica Estates home.

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Mike Schenkler wanted to know

why a Brooklyn boy like me would

want to work in Queens. I muttered

the first thing that came to mind. I

already know Brooklyn. I want to

learn about a new place.

Truth was, I was a few months out

of college, living at home with my

parents, and needed a job.

What followed were some wild years.

At the 106th Precinct in Ozone

Park, detectives had taken to inter-

rogating suspects with stun guns. My

first byline was a profile of the new

commander of the “Stun Gun” Pre-

cinct months after he took over.

Then, Queens Borough President

Donald Manes plunged a steak knife

into his chest, exposing a vein of po-

litical corruption in New York City

that few knew existed. In Howard

Beach, a black man named Michael

Griffith was hit by a car and killed

while running from a mob of white

teens. I covered the protest marches

that followed, standing beside Al

Sharpton as he bit into a slice at New

Park Pizza in one of his early forays

as an activist. I recall politely being

told I would not be allowed in to

Griffith’s funeral in East New York.

I covered the election of Queens’

first black congressman, Alton

Waldon, a brief tenure that followed

the death of Joseph Addabbo Sr.

I had little experience when I ar-

rived at the Tribune, just a few clips from

my college paper. But I learned quickly,

writing headlines, assigning stories,

taking pictures. We

worked on typewrit-

ers out of an office

on Kissena Boule-

vard, next to a pet

store where every

Wednesday they de-

livered a fresh batch

of live mice for the reptiles, a weekly

highlight.

I met some special people – Mike,

Marty Lipp, Lisa Colangelo – whom

I continue to keep up with today.

I tested myself every day, trying to

compete against the New York dai-

lies, feeling victory when they lifted

details from our stories.

I’ve written about criminals work-

ing in nursing homes, court-ap-

pointed attorneys stealing from the

elderly, cargo thieves, the Mafia. I’ve

traveled to the Mexican border to

document a money-laundering trail

that begins in New York and New Jer-

sey. After a 22-year hiatus, in Septem-

ber 2009 I returned to covering

Queens, at the Supreme Court, most

notably covering the trial of em-

battled Sen. Hiram Monserrate.

Very often I hear from college

grads that want to break into journal-

ism. Most want to work on a daily

newspaper the minute they walk off

campus. But I tell them they should

call Mike Schenkler, see if he’s got a

job for them, learn to do everything.

I received a great education at the

Queens Tribune, better than any I would

have received at a journalism school.

Meet The Mets:1986: Tom Zambito

Amazin’s Win Game Six,

Sox Hang Heads In Shame


Oct. 25, 1986: I sat in the loge level,

third base side, under the overhang,

practically in fair territory. As the team

was introduced the crowd in the field

level surged forward, pointing to the

sky. I didn’t see the parachutist until

he was practically on the ground.

It was Game Six. If the Mets lost,

the Red Sox would run onto OUR

field, breaking the 1918 curse and des-

ecrating our home.

As the game wore on, we began to

grow concerned that this may actually

happen. That perhaps we had used up

every come-from-behind win we had

left in us. Maybe, just maybe, we would

figure out how to snatch defeat back

from the jaws of victory as had been

our trademark the last two seasons.

But this was not to be the case.

It was 5-3 Red Sox going into the

bottom of the 10th. Wally Backman

and Keith Hernandez were quick outs,

leaving just Gary Carter to keep the

game alive. The scoreboard flashed

congratulations to the Red Sox for be-

ing World Series Champions. This sim-

ply could not be so. I was only 17, and

this would have been the most crush-

ing defeat I could ever imagine.

Carter wouldn’t let it end. He hit a

single which was followed by another

single from Kevin Mitchell. When Ray

Knight came up, he hit a two-strike

single to center, scoring Carter and

moving the tying run to third base.

That was enough for the Sox, who

pulled Calvin Schiraldi for the veteran

Bob Stanley to face Mookie Wilson.

On the fifth pitch of the at-bat, with a

2-2 count, Stanley’s pitch went wide, tak-

ing Mookie off his feet and sending the

ball past Rich Gedman and to the back-

stop. Mitchell came streaking home to tie

it, and Knight advanced to second.

The place exploded. The game was

ours. The Series was ours. The game

may have been tied at the moment, but

we just knew. The collective energy of

Shea Stadium swelled, knowing fully

well what was about to happen. It was

going to be great, whatever it was.

Stanley threw four more pitches,

but Mookie kept alive, swatting off foul

after foul.

And on the tenth pitch, Mookie hit

“a slow roller up the first base line.”

Veteran first baseman Bill Buckner

trotted forward, put his glove some-

where near the ground and looked up

to see where Mookie was. As he looked

up, the ball rolled right under his

glove. Mookie was safe. Knight ran

around from second and jumped onto

home plate into a sea of Mets.

And again, the place exploded. And

I was there.

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March 25-31, 2010 T

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Boro Puppetmaster:

Manton’s Leadership Keeps Boro Powerful

BY DOMENICK RAFTER

Sept. 25, 1986: U.S. Rep. Tom Manton (D-

Sunnyside), the first-term congressman who previ-

ously represented Sunnyside, Woodside and

Maspeth in the city council for 15 years, was selected

to be head of the Queens Democratic Party, replac-

ing the late Borough President Donald Manes, who

resigned in January and committed suicide in March.

Manton soundly defeated Councilman Morton

Povman (D-Jamaica Estates) to win the post after

securing the support of black Democratic leaders.

Manton, a former NYPD officer and IBM mar-

keting executive, rose to power after being elected

to the city council in 1969. In 1984, he ran for the

seat vacated by Geraldine Ferraro, who was chosen

to run for Vice President on a national Democratic

ticket with Walter Mondale. Manton defeated three

other candidates in the Democratic primary to win

with 30 percent of the vote. He faced Republican

Serphin Maltese of Glendale, who would later serve

in the State Senate, in the general election, win-

ning by a small 53-47 margin.

Manton’s elevation to party chairman was seen as

an attempt to repair divides within the party and close

the door on recent scandals that brought down Manes

and shook up the administration of Mayor Ed Koch.

Manton quickly found his niche as a political

boss. In 1989, he endorsed Richard Ravitch for

Mayor over incumbent Ed Koch, making Queens

the only borough Democratic Party to not endorse

either Koch or eventual victor David Dinkins.

Manton faced a stronger-than-expected challenge

from former Bob Dole staffer Dennis Shea in the

1992 general election, winning by a smaller-than-

usual 14-point margin. During the 1990s, Manton

oversaw a wide patronage network that often received

the ire of Republicans at a time when the GOP was

losing prominence in the borough they were once

competitive in. Manton yielded influence even be-

yond the borough’s borders, playing a key role in

the election of Manhattanites Gifford Miller and

Christine Quinn as Speakers of the City Council.

In 1998, Manton abruptly announced he wouldn’t

run for re-election. Manton’s handpicked successor,

then-Assemblyman Joe Crowley (D-Woodside), suc-

ceeded him without strong opposition.

Manton continued to lead the Queens Demo-

cratic Party after he left Congress until his death in

2006 at age 73. He was succeeded as party chair-

man by Crowley.

I interviewed for my job at the Queens Tribune

in May 1987, just a few weeks before I graduated

from Queens College. I'd like to think I got it

based on the fact that I had been editor of the

college paper for two years. Or maybe that I had

a nice collection of internships under my belt.

Or was it my infectious enthusiasm?

"You didn't ask about the salary," Tom Zambito,

my boss at the Tribune and now my colleague at

the Daily News, fessed up long after I was hired.

But I think Mike and Tom (a Brooklyn boy) both

also liked the idea of hiring a Queens kid for the

gig. After all, I had already lived in three differ-

ent neighborhoods, and attended school and col-

lege in the borough.

The job was a challenge but it was fun. I worked

with Tommy, Marsha Schrager and other young

reporters hungry to learn the trade. We regularly

beat the dailies on local and citywide stories.

The city was still reverberating from the mu-

nicipal scandals and the suicide of disgraced Bor-

ough President Donald Manes. Racial tensions

were high - a group of white youths chased a young

black man onto the highway in Howard Beach.

Every day brought a new challenge. After the

Howard Beach verdict was read, I went from

courthouse to Cross Bay Boulevard for commu-

nity reaction only to feel their disdain for the

media - first hand. I wrote about a cemetery strike,

where caskets were lowered into refrigerated trucks

instead of the ground.

There was the heartbreaking story of Avery

Mendez, the homeless man who died in the cold

shortly after talking to us. And there were endless

chances to explore local parks, zoos and museums.

Here's what I remember about that old Kissena

Boulevard office - wood paneling, the clickety-clack

of typewriters and visits to the adjacent pet store

to stare at blue seahorses. It was grungy, exhaust-

ing and a lot of fun. I wouldn't change a thing.

Serving for two years at the Trib just after

graduating Queens College, Lisa went on to

newspapers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania,

but returned a decade later and is still work-

ing as a reporter - now covering Queens for

the New York Daily News.

1987: Lisa

Colangelo

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March 25-31, 2010 T

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The days at the Queens Tribune and

Mirror were a cherished time in my

journalistic career. As a recent college

graduate, I was armed with a map of

Queens, telephone book to hunt for

contacts and a cluttered storefront to

work from. Mike Schenkler was at the

helm.

It was a time when smoking inside

an office was commonplace, and past-

ing up a paper was a literal term.

When I began telephones had cords,

you checked spelling with a dictio-

nary and photos were developed in a

dark room.

I remember buying a small elec-

tric typewriter for the office because

I didn’t want to work on the manual

one they gave me. The year was 1986

at the Queens Tribune.

There were no computers, cell

phones; let alone ones that took pic-

tures, movies or hooked up to the

Internet. Everything moved slower.

There was no way to e-mail stories or

travel down the information super

highway. The only highway I traveled

was the Long Island Expressway to

the office on Kissena Boulevard.

Many experienced reporters be-

gan at this paper, and bylines around

the country belong to those who

started in these humble beginnings.

Schenkler knew the way to write a

story was never through the obvious

angle. His keen judgment guided me

to dig deeper, and helped us to con-

tinue to gather recognition from

Queens residents, the journalistic

community and award committees.

The Tribune shaped my ability to

cover a national story from a local

angle. Covering the murder of

Michael Griffith in Howard Beach,

and the subsequent cries of racism

were a maturing experience for me.

My initial naïveté of a small-town re-

porter at a weekly paper grew into a

mission for truth. I retraced the steps

of the murder, followed up local

scuttlebutt, was present when they

dug up the sewers searching for an

alleged knife and sat in the court-

room when the verdicts were read. It

was all very enlightening.

This was our backyard, and we cov-

ered this story in depth with consid-

eration to our neighbors. We were able

to dig deeper and find better sources

than some of the high-powered, highly

paid journalists of that time.

Today, 22 years after my departure

from the Tribune, I still am in contact

with Mike Schenkler. It wouldn’t sur-

prise me at all if this informed, un-

pretentious and hard working pub-

lisher is still guiding the paper for

the next 40 years. Congratulations to

all those who have shaped this fixture

among the Queens community.

After the Tribune, Marsha produced Newsweek on,

worked as an editor and reporter at the Record Newspaper

group for several years, was a reporter at the Staten Island

Advance and most recently worked at the Nassau Herald.

Our National Shame:1988: Marsha Schrager

Race Eyed As Motive

In Howard Beach Attack

BY DOMENICK RAFTER

Dec 20, 1986: Three black men

were became the target of what many

are labeling a racial attack on Satur-

day night in Howard Beach. One man

was killed while fleeing and another

seriously injured in the attack.

The incident began when the three

black men, Michael Griffith, 24, Cedric

Sandiford, 36, and Timothy Grimes,

20, became stranded after their car

broke down in Broad Channel. They

made their way up to Howard Beach

where they encountered white teenag-

ers in a car on the corner of 157th Av-

enue and Cross Bay Boulevard.

After a verbal altercation that in-

cluded racial slurs, the three black men

entered New Park Pizzeria and were

later approached by three of the teens

who were in the car, as well as a gang

of seven or more friends, who pro-

ceeded to chase the three black men

north on Cross Bay Boulevard toward

the Belt Parkway. The situation esca-

lated and Griffith ran onto the Belt

Parkway ramp to escape and was struck

and killed by an oncoming car, while

Sandiford was caught and brutally

beaten. Grimes escaped unharmed.

The incident rocked the city and

made national news. Mayor Ed Koch

condemned the incident and some me-

dia outlets compared it to a lynching.

Gov. Mario Cuomo appointed a spe-

cial prosecutor, Charles Hynes, who

has since gone on to be Brooklyn DA,

to prosecute the perpetrators. At least

12 teens from Howard Beach and

nearby Ozone Park were charged in the

incident, with nine being convicted or

pleading guilty to charges ranging

from second degree manslaughter to

second degree rioting. Al Sharpton led

protests in the neighborhood in the

days and weeks after the incident.

The incident also divided the

neighborhood, with some accusing the

three black men of coming into posh

Howard Beach looking to steal cars or

break into homes. Others, like Father

Kenneth Leona, the then pastor of Our

Lady of Grace in Howard Beach, told

his congregation the day after the in-

cident that the racism and violence

that struck the neighborhood were sins

and “all the beautiful Christmas lights

in our neighborhood cannot hide that

type of darkness.”

In the nearly quarter century since

the incident, Howard Beach has

struggled to shake the reputation that

December night created for them.

Similar, though less serious, incidents

occurred in 2005 and 2007, sparking

bad memories for many.

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SUMMONS AND NOTICEOF OBJECT OF ACTIONSTATE OF NEW YORK SU-PREME COURT: COUNTYOF QUEENS ACTION TOFORECLOSE A MORTGAGEINDEX NO.: 27464/09 HSBCMORTGAGE CORPORA-TION (USA) Plaintiff, vs. LUISPINEDA, ANGEL PINEDA,CHASE MANHATTAN BANKUSA N A, LR CREDIT 10 LLC,MORTGAGE ELECTRONICREGISTRATION SYSTEMSINC. , AS NOMINEE FORSTANLEY CAPITAL MORT-GAGE COMPANY, NEWYORK CITY ENVIRONMEN-TAL CONTROL BOARD,NEW YORK CITY PARKINGVIOLATIONS BUREAU, NEWYORK CITY TRANSIT ADJU-DICAT ION BUREAU,Defendant(s). MORTGAGEDPREMISES: 105-41 92NDSTREET, OZONE PARK, NY11417 SBL #: BLOCK 9161,LOT 42 TO THE ABOVENAMED DEFENDANT: Youare hereby summoned to an-swer the Complaint in thisaction, and to serve a copy ofyour answer, or, if the Com-plaint is not served with thisSummons, to serve a noticeo f appearance , on thePlaintiff(s) attorney(s) withintwenty days after the serviceof this Summons, exclusiveof the day of service (or within30 days after the service iscomplete if this Summons isnot personally delivered toyou within the State of NewYork). In case of your failureto appear or answer, judg-ment will be taken against

you by default for the reliefdemanded in the Complaint.The Attorney for Plaintiff hasan office for business in theCounty of Erie. Trial to beheld in the County of Queens.The basis of the venue desig-nated above is the location ofthe Mortgaged Premises .Dated this 25th day of Febru-ary, 2010, Steven J. Baum,P .C . , A t to rney ( s ) Fo rPlaintiff(s), 220 NorthpointeParkway, Suite G, Amherst,NY 14228 TO: LUIS PINEDAand ANGEL P INEDA,Defendant(s) In this Action.The foregoing Summons isserved upon you by publica-tion, pursuant to an order ofHON. LEE A. MAYERSOHNof the Supreme Court of theState of New York, dated the24th day of February, 2010and filed with the Complaintin the Office of the QueensCounty Clerk, in the City ofJamaica. The object of thisaction is to foreclose a mort-gage upon the premises de-scribed below, executed byLUIS PINEDA and ANGELPINEDA dated the 14th dayof November, 2007, to se-cure the sum of $585,000.00,and recorded at InstrumentNo. 2007000594162 in theOffice of the Clerk of theCounty of Queens, on the30th day of November, 2007;which mortgage was duly as-signed by assignment datedthe 7th day of October, 2009,and sent for recording in theOffice of the Clerk of QueensCounty; The property in ques-tion is described as follows:

105 -41 92ND STREET ,OZONE PARK, NY 11417 SEEFOLLOWING DESCRIPTIONBlock 9161 and Lot 42 ALLthat certain plot, piece orparcel of land, with the build-i ngs and improvement sthereon erected, situate, ly-ing and being in the Boroughand County of Queens, Cityand S ta te o f New York ,known and designated on acertain map or plan of lotsentitled, “Map of Lots ownedby the Ozone Real Estate andimprovement Company, Lib-erty Heights, Fourth Ward,Borough of Queens, City ofNew York, surveyed May 27,1907 by S. H. McLaughlin,Civil Engineer and City Sur-veyor, and filed in the Officeof the Clerk of the County ofQueens, at Jamaica, NewYork, as Lot Numbers 47 and48 in Block numbered 22,April 6, 1908, now Register,as Map No. 1010, and moreparticularly bounded and de-scribed as follows: BEGIN-NING at a point on the East-erly side of 92nd Street (for-merly Bigelow Avenue) dis-tant 95.32 feet Northerlyalong the same from the cor-ner formed by the intersec-tion of said Easterly side of92nd Street with the North-erly side of 107th Avenue( fo rmer l y Da l r ymp le Av -enue); RUNNING THENCEEasterly at right angles to theEasterly side of 92nd Street,100.09 feet; THENCE North-erly parallel with the Easterlyside of92nd Street, 40.00feet; THENCE Westerly at

right angles to the Easterlyside of 92nd Street, 100.09feet to the Easterly side of92nd Street; THENCE South-erly along the Easterly sideof92nd Street, 40.00 feet tothe point or place of BEGIN-NING. TOGETHER with anEasement or Right of Wayover and upon the mostSoutherly 5 feet 5 inches ofthe premises immediatelyad jo in ing hereon on theNorth; SUBJECT to an Ease-ment or Right of Way overand upon the most North-erly 3 feet 10 inches of thepremises herein describedin favor of the premises im-mediately adjoining the pre-mises herein described onthe North which 9 feet 3inches shall be used as adriveway and passagewayfor private automobiles tothe ga r age wh i ch a reerected in the rear of therespect ive premises . Pre -mises known as 10S-4192ndStreet , Ozone Park, NewYork HELP FORHOMEOWNERS IN FORE-CLOSURE NEW YORKSTATE LAW REQUIRESTHAT WE SEND YOU THISNOTICE ABOUT THE FORE-CLOSURE PROCESS . PLEASE READ I T CARE -FULLY . SUMMONS ANDCOMPLAINT YOU ARE INDANGER OF LOSING YOURHOME. IF YOU FAIL TO RE-SPOND TO THE SUMMONSAND COMPLAINT IN THISFORECLOSURE ACT ION,YOU MAY LOSE YOURHOME. PLEASE READ THE

LEGAL NOTICELEGAL NOTICELEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICELEGAL NOTICELEGAL NOTICE

SUMMONS AND COM-PLAINT CAREFULLY. YOUSHOULD IMMEDIATELYCONTACT AN ATTORNEYOR YOUR LOCAL LEGALAID OFFICE TO OBTAINADVICE ON HOW TO PRO-TECT YOURSELF. SOURCESOF INFORMATION AND AS-SISTANCE The state encour-ages you to become in -formed about your optionsin foreclosure. In additionto seeking assistance froman attorney or legal aid of-fice, there are governmentagencies and non-profit or-ganizations that you may con-tact for information aboutpossible options, includingtrying to work with yourlender during this process.To locate an entity near you,you may call the toll -freehelpline maintained by theNew York State Banking De-partment at 1-877-BANK-NYS(1-877-226-5697) or visit thedepar tment ’ s webs i te a tWWW.BANKING.STATE.NY.US.FORECLOSURE RESCUESCAMS Be careful of peoplewho approach you with of-fers to “save” your home. There are individuals whowatch for notices of foreclo-sure actions in order to un-f a i r l y p ro f i t f r om ahomeowner’s distress. Youshould be extremely carefulabout any such promises andany suggestions that you paythem a fee or sign over yourdeed. State law requires any-one offering such servicesfor profit to enter into a con-tract which fully describes

the services they will per-fo rm and fees they w i l lcharge, and which prohibitsthem from taking any moneyfrom you until they have com-pleted all such promised ser-vices. § 1303 NOTICE NO-TICE YOU ARE IN DANGEROF LOSING YOUR HOME Ifyou do not respond to thissummons and complaint byserving a copy of the answeron the attorney for the mort-gage company who filed thisf o rec lo su re p roceed ingagainst you and filing theanswer with the court, a de-fault judgment may be en-tered and you can lose yourhome. Speak to an attorneyor go to the court whereyour case is pending for fur-ther information on how toanswer the summons andprotect your property. Send-ing a payment to your mort-gage company will not stopthis foreclosure action. YOUMUST RESPOND BY SERV-ING A COPY OF THE AN-SWER ON THE ATTORNEYFOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORT-GAGE COMPANY) AND FIL-ING THE ANSWER WITHTHE COURT. DATED: Feb-ruary 25, 2010 Steven J .Baum, P.C., Attorney(s) ForPlaintiff(s), 220 NorthpointeParkway, Suite G, Amherst,NY 14228 The law firm ofSteven J. Baum, P.C. and theattorneys whom it employsare debt collectors who areattempting to collect a debt.Any information obtained bythem will be used for thatpurpose.

I never figured out what exit to get

off the LIE to get to the Queens Tribune

office, but I did learn most of what I

know about community journalism and

New York politics from Mike Schenkler

and his colleagues at the Trib.

It was 1989 when this Upper West

Side kid first ventured to a place just

10 miles from midtown Manhattan

(but worlds apart), and New York was

still a place that seemed ungovern-

able. I was editing a relatively new

community newspaper, The West Side

Spirit, and one day I was informed

that we were now part of a public

company (News Communications)

that had just acquired the largest

weekly newspaper in Queens.

Thus began a very surreal ride into

the rocky waters of New York publish-

ing and the daunting task of growing

a newspaper chain in the ultra-com-

petitive metropolitan area. Along the

way, I learned more than I ever cared

to know about the close connection

between politics and publishing.

But through it all, we had a lot of

fun and managed to produce some

great journalism and journalists.

Mike Schenkler and I hatched a

citywide political gossip page called

New York Confidential that broke nu-

merous stories that were picked up by

the dailies and TV news on a regular

basis. We were the first to report that

an ambitious U.S. Attorney named

Rudy was responsible for the extra-

dition of Joe Doherty (which Giuliani

denied). And today, one of the alumni

of NY Confidential is covering City

politics for The New York Times.

Speaking of former Mayors, we

also ran a weekly movie review col-

umn by Ed Koch, who never missed

a week for more than a decade doing

what he often told people was his fa-

vorite post-mayoralty job.

For most of the 1990s, Mike

Schenkler and I, as President and

Vice President of News Communica-

tions, a perennially money-losing

public company, felt like I imagine

the captain and first lieutenant of the

Titanic did: we were always too busy

bailing water and trying to keep the

ship afloat to realize that we were in

the middle of the ride of our lives.

And as a testament to Mike’s tenac-

ity and business smarts, the issue you

hold in your hand, the Trib’s 40th An-

niversary, is a reminder that good guys

do sometimes finish first. Here’s to 40

more years educating and entertain-

ing the fine people of Queens County.

Tom was a writer and editor at the West Side Spirit when

the Spirit’s parent company, News Communications, pur-

chased the Trib. Tom worked very closely with Mike Schenkler

in directing the editorial coverage of News Communications.

Tom is now the president and CEO of Manhattan Media, which publishes

Our Town, the West Side Spirit and other weekly newspapers.

This Trash Stinks!

1989: Tom Allon

Large Garbage Barge

Denied Entry Into BoroBY CATHERINE MANZIONE

Aug. 24, 1987: What seemed like a

never-ending journey for the infamous

Mobro 4000 barge holding 3,186 tons

of garbage has finally come to an end

after six months and 6,000 miles, when

it landed in Brooklyn today.

After space issues prevented the

garbage from being unloaded in the

Islip landfill, the barge started mak-

ing its way to Morehead City, N.C., on

March 22, in hopes of dumping the

garbage. What seemed like an ordinary

process turned into a fiasco when the

garbage was denied entry into North

Carolina because of improper permit

issues and concern that the garbage

could contain hazardous waste.

The trouble didn’t stop there; the

barge and tugboat “Breaking Dawn”

were denied entry into a total of six

states and two other nations, includ-

ing Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,

Louisiana, and Texas, Mexico, Belize,

and Bahamas. After spending some

time floating in the Gulf of Mexico, the

Breaking Dawn finally made its way

back to the New York harbor on May

16.

Although it was back in the harbor,

the problem still continued when New

York argued that it did not want to take

the garbage back and have it dumped

there. More controversy occurred when

Queens Borough President Claire

Shulman fought to keep the garbage

from docking in the harbor. Shulman

worried that the barge contained haz-

ardous waste and feared that the waste

would be stuck in Long Island City the

whole duration of summer. Shuman

has also attacked Islip Town Supervi-

sor Frank Jones, arguing that Queens

should not be held responsible for gar-

bage that wasn’t ours.

After a series of back-and-forth dis-

putes over the course of another

month, Shulman was thrilled to hear

that City Environmental Commis-

sioner Thomas Jorling would step in

and order the garbage to be trans-

ported to the incinerator in

Bensonhurst, Brooklyn and from there

have its ashes moved to Islip munici-

pal landfill in Hauppauge.

The MOBRO garbage barge sits with

nowhere to go.

www.crystalwindows.com

Congratulations to the

Queens Tribune on Four decades

of outstanding

community journalism

Congressman Congressman Congressman Congressman Congressman GARY ACKERMANGARY ACKERMANGARY ACKERMANGARY ACKERMANGARY ACKERMAN

Paid For By Ackerman For Congress, Bob Barnett, Treasurer

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BY KAITLYN KILMETIS

July 2, 1990: Queens resident Julio

Rivera was viciously murdered on a

Jackson Heights playground in the

summer of 1990. The 29-year-old man

was stabbed repeatedly with a claw ham-

mer in a gruesome attack perpetrated

because of his sexual orientation.

Three men were convicted in the

attack that shook

the borough and the

city’s LGBT com-

munity.

In the past de-

cade, it seems history

has repeated itself on

more than one occa-

sion, as other inno-

cent members of the

LGBT community

were attacked due to

their sexual orienta-

tion.

In 2000, 19-year-

old Bayside man

Steen Fenrich’s dis-

membered remains

were found in a tub in Alley Pond Park.

It is believed his stepfather murdered

him years earlier due to the fact he

was openly gay. His father committed

suicide soon after being questioned by

authorities.

Next, in 2001, Edgar Garzon was

savagely attacked outside of a gay bar

in Jackson Heights. His attacker beat

the life out of Garzon with a baseball

Where are the Tribs of 40 yester-

years?

Its first three years as a monthly

and 37 years thereafter as a weekly

provide a basis for calculating a pub-

lishing run of about 1,960 issues

(3x12 + 37x52)… and still counting.

Are those 1,960 melted away or

vaporized a la François Villon’s snows

of yesteryear?

Having had a hand in about 90+

Trib issues, I rage against their shar-

ing the oblivion to which the 15th

Century poet consigned a dozen no-

table ladies of bygone times with his

rhetorical-question refrain.

No, the 1,960 issues have not

melted away nor turned into vapor.

They, or at least their pre-com-

puter iterations, are in bound vol-

umes awaiting the researches of jour-

nalists and historians.

I know about these hernia-induc-

ing volumes because I had to heft

more than a few of them myself while

perusing back issues for past stories

on subjects I was then currently cov-

ering.

Now, of course, the Trib archives

are digital. I know a smidge about

that too.

I was among those cave dwellers

who took part in the transition from

the hole-in-a-wall Kissena Boulevard

office (so ill-lit one could barely see

the typewriter keys) to the bright and

airy Horace Harding Expressway of-

fice, where soon emerged PCs – all

with keyboards easily visible.

More than just preserved on pa-

per or in digital media, the Tribs of

40 yesteryears are woven into the fab-

ric of life in Queens. Allow me to cite

a few such threads, which I had the

privilege to help weave in the early

1990s and which you can still encoun-

ter today if you look close enough.

You visit your regular bank and

find it has been “rescued” (aka taken

over) by another. The Trib of Dec. 13-

29, 1990, reported an early version

of this now all too similar tale.

As you turn on your cable TV, your

eyes glaze over and cross at the over-

whelming galaxy of channels and in-

teractive options. The Trib of Oct. 3-

9, 1991 previewed the beginning of

it all in full-page detail.

You are troubled by companies

going out of business and jobs being

lost. The Trib of Nov. 15-21, 1991,

gave full page coverage to

Stroehmann’s shutdown of the land-

mark Taystee bread factory near

Flushing Meadows Corona Park and

the loss of 420 jobs. It came in the

wake of thousands laid off at local air-

ports and on the heels of word that

Long Island City’s Russell Togs was

seeking bankruptcy.

You are discouraged that no end

appears in sight to the killing of

American soldiers in distant lands.

The Trib of Feb. 28 – March 6, 1991

began an award-winning series of in-

depth stories on the first two Queens

soldiers killed in Gulf War I and the

aftermath of mourning.

Your State Senate District has just

had a special election. Reapportion-

ment of Queens legislative districts to

achieve, among other goals, en-

hanced minority representation was

minutely explored in a series of Trib

articles in the early months of 1992.

You enjoy the “let’s party” feel of

the St. Patrick’s run-up, and the romp

on the day itself, but begin to gag at

some of stuff trying squeeze by un-

der cover of green. The Trib of March

12-18, 1992 (my last feature piece as

associate editor) went in search of be-

ing Irish in Queens. The genuine ex-

perience was found in a little white

frame Woodside house where a nun

from Belfast served the Lord by serv-

ing her fellow immigrants, helping

them cope in their new land.

Stories such as these are not van-

ished from the face of Queens. If you

look carefully, you can trace them,

like lifelines near the corners of the

eyes and mouth of a beloved who has

grown old with you.

Of course, Villon’s snows of yester-

year imagery addressed the earthly

impermanence of the individual, de-

spite beauty or celebrity, as illustrated

by the ladies about whom his ironic

verses sang.

Pray tell me, in what land, where

is, his circa 1461 poem began. There

followed his litany of fabulous fe-

males: Flora, Heloise, Queen

Blanche, Joan of Lorraine, et al.

But, by contrast, we do know in

what land the Tribs – past, present,

and future – reside: the Borough and

County of Queens, N.Y.

Additionally, in a very special yet

no less real sense, Queens resides in

the Tribs.

Its stories, event calendars, edito-

rials, opinion columns, reader fo-

rums, and sundry other features help

Queens residents discover and redis-

cover, define and redefine, make and

remake their community. More than

a mere reflecting mirror, it is the

looking glass through which its

people can step to find and create

their own wonderland.

Here’s to the Tribs of 40 yester-

years... and of 40 tomorrow-years!

In retirement, former 1990-92 Tribune editor Tom

McCarthy is the correctionhistory.org webmaster.

Gay Bashing:

1990: Thomas

McCarthy

Borough Ripped Apart Over Nefarious Attack

bat or a lead pipe. Years later, when

apprehended after fleeing abroad,

the killer was sentenced to 22 years

in prison.

Most recently, in October 2009,

College Point resident Jack Price was

brutally beaten by two young men,

who allegedly repeated homophobic

slurs throughout the attack. After a

brief hospital stay,

Pr ice recovered

from a broken jaw,

severa l broken

ribs, two collapsed

lungs and a lacer-

ated spleen. The

two attackers were

charged with a hate

crime this January.

At a solemn

march in College

Point as a show of

solidarity for the

borough’s latest vic-

tim of violence

based on his sexual

orientation, the

names Julio Rivera, Steen Fenrich and

Edgar Garzon were repeated, as recol-

lection of their murders remain burned

into the memory of the borough and

the City’s LGBT community.

Although, the mood was somber,

attendees noted the great leaps the

borough’s gay community has made

in the past few decades. Hundreds

came out to decry the hate crimes com-

mitted, including a collection of

LGBT groups created in the wake of

these vicious attacks on the LGBT com-

munity. Additionally, the gathering

was led by the borough’s first two

openly gay City Council Members

Danny Dromm (D-Jackson Heights)

and Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside).

The election of Councilmen Jimmy

Van Bramer (l.) and Danny Dromm

reflect a growing acceptance of and

solidarity behind Queens’ LGBT

community.

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March 25-31, 2010 T

ribune Page 39

Wow...a 40th anniversary...

All those years ago, papers like

the Queens Tribune were connecting

us just fine without tweets, texts, or

using “friend” as a verb. The Trib

has not only aged gracefully, but

Mickey Z. is probably the only person on the planet to

have appeared in both a karate flick with Billy “Tae Bo”

Blanks and a political book with Howard Zinn. He is

the author of nine books—most recently Self Defense

for Radicals and his second novel, Dear Vito; he is a

regular writer for Planet Green; he can be found on

the Web at MickeyZ.net.

Here Comes The Judge:

1991: Mickey Z

Brown Takes Helm

At DA's Office

it’s also stayed current and vital.

It’s been a long time since I’ve

written for the Trib but I remain a

proud alumnus of this Queens in-

stitution.

Happy No. 40, QT.


June 1, 1991: Richard

Brown was born in the

Flatbush section of Brooklyn,

but was raised in Cambria

Heights. He attended PS 147

and Andrew Jackson High

School before shipping off to

Hobart College in upstate

Geneva, N.Y.

He graduated from New

York University School of Law

in June 1956 and was admit-

ted to the New York State Bar

that same year.

"My last year in law school

I did an internship at the

United States Attorney's Office

in the Southern District, and

I spent virtually every day

there after school hours work-

ing on cases," Brown recalled.

"My sense is that that's when

my interest in the justice sys-

tem peaked."

Brown spent nine years in

several legal positions for leg-

islative leaders at the New York

State Senate and Assembly,

and went on to become New

York City's Legislative Repre-

sentative in Albany under

Mayor John Lindsay, where he

managed the City's Albany of-

fice and supervised its legislative pro-

gram.

Lindsay appointed Brown to the

Criminal Court bench in September

1973. He served in Manhattan for less

than two years before being ap-

pointed as Supervising Judge of the

Brooklyn Criminal Court. In Janu-

ary 1976, Brown was designated as

an Acting Justice of the Supreme

Court of the State of New York, and

in November 1977 he was elected a

Justice of the Supreme Court in

Queens.

Among the myriad arraignments

over which Brown presided, he

counted the August 1977 arraignment

of the "Son of Sam" David Berkowitz

as one of the more memorable.

"The courtroom was just absolutely

packed," Brown recalled. "You had the

parents of some of the victims present.

It was a very tense atmosphere. I re-

manded him without bail, obviously,

and directed that a psychiatric exami-

nation be had; so that case certainly

stands out."

At the end of 1978, Brown once

again heeded the call to Albany and

spent two years as counsel to then-Gov.

Hugh Carey. Brown returned to the

Supreme Court bench in 1981, and

in 1982 was designated by Carey as

an Associate Justice of the Appellate

Division, Second Department, where

he spent the next 10 years.

On June 1, 1991, Brown left the

judiciary behind and accepted then-

Gov. Mario Cuomo's appointment as

the DA of Queens County, succeed-

ing John Santucci who retired from

the post during his fourth term. Brown

was elected to a full four-year term as

District Attorney at the general elec-

tion held in November 1991.

"To take over an office like this is

an extraordinary opportunity," Brown

said.

DA Richard Brown has been serving Queens

since 1991.

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BY KAITLYN KILMETIS

January 8, 1986: Astoria Council-

man Peter Vallone Sr. was appointed the

New York City Council's first Speaker.

The appointment surprised many, who

predicted the position

would go to Brooklyn

Councilman Samuel

Horwitz, who Brooklyn

and Manhattan Democrats

were strongly backing.

Vallone gained the

position after Manhattan

Councilman Robert J.

Dryfoos defied the

Brooklyn and Manhattan

Democrats to whom he

had pledged his support

and voted in favor of

Vallone. Dryfoos' last

minute vote gave Vallone

an 18-to-17 vote edge

over Horwitz.

The newly-created position seats

Vallone second only to the Mayor in

terms of power in New York City poli-

tics. The Council Speaker is elected

by the Council members. His or her

primary responsibility is obtaining a

consensus on major issues, but in re-

ality he was able to dictate what legis-

lation would make it to the floor of

the City Council.

Vallone gained the position after

In The Seat Of Power

Boro's Peter Vallone Sr.

Becomes First Speaker

12 years as representing Queens as a

councilman.

Vallone served as Speaker of the

City Council from his appointment

in1986 until 2002. He is applauded

for the many lasting im-

pacts he left on the coun-

cil, namely the revisions

he helped make to the

City Charter in 1989.

Also, in the mean-

time, Vallone had waged

two unsuccessful candi-

dacies - one for Governor

in 1998 and another for

Mayor in 2001.

Currently, Vallone

teaches, practices law in

Astoria and has pub-

lished his biography

Learning to Govern: My

Life in New York Politics,

From Hell Gate to City

Hall. The Vallone legacy continues to

impact New York City polit ics .

Vallone's son Peter Vallone, Jr. gained

control of his father's City Council seat

following Vallone Sr.'s retirement.

The Vallones remain a constant fix-

ture around Northwest Queens and

Peter Vallone, Jr. is currently serving

his third term in office, despite the

vote from the public to install term

limits - which forced his father out.

I have been a part of the Queens

Tribune in many manifestations. While

I have been the Associate Publisher

since joining the Tribune in 1990, I

have had a long-running relationship

that began with Gary in 1972. Like Gary

Ackerman and Michael Schenkler, I

also left a teaching career (Vietnam did

this to us all) in 1971 to become an

assistant to then-mayor John Lindsay.

As the Queens rep for Forest Hills

I was thrust into the Forest Hills Co-

Op controversy over the development

of minority housing in Forest Hills. A

young lawyer by the name of Mario

Cuomo worked his diplomacy and

later moved on to Albany, becoming

Governor. I worked with then-mayoral

assistant Richard Brown who was ap-

pointed by the Mayor to oversee the

community issues surrounding this

project. Under the auspices of the Ur-

ban Action Task Force I met Gary and

his crew reporting the daily bouts be-

tween community and elected officials.

I left government in 1978 and

worked with Gary and Michael

through the 80s on numerous politi-

cal campaigns. Multi-Media was a fa-

vorite then as it is today for political

printing. Whether it be for Presiden-

tial campaigns or state efforts, I was

in a position to help build the

muscle of multi when there were few

competitors in our community.

In the late 1980s I was

asked by a family friend to seek out

a local newspaper that would be for

sale to a public company looking

beyond Manhattan to expand. Jerry

Finkelstein, then Chairman of News

Communications, met with Gary and

Michael and over a few years and ci-

gars, a deal was hatched to buy the

Trib .

Michael was the Publisher during

a time that I was looking for a place

to hang my hat and explore other

business ventures. I would stop by the

office on Kissena Boulevard in the

morning to share coffee and a dozen

doughnuts with Mike and the staff. I

guess I became a fixture and after a

short while Michael asked that I join

up and try my hand at publishing.

The Tribune has afforded me the

luxury to maintain my worldly con-

tacts and exploits over the past 20

years, but most important is the home

that the Trib has been for my family

as well. My kids have grown up under

the umbrella as well as my wife, Dale.

I am proud to have been a part

of the past 40 years in one way or

another. I look towards the future

with some hesitation on our indus-

try, but Michael is teaching me the

web. I am on Facebook and I will

get back to Linkedin if I can remem-

ber my password.

A former staffer in the Lindsay administration, Mike joined

the Trib in 1990 and has expanded the paper’s business

reach exponentially.

1992: Mike Nussbaum

Peter Vallone Sr. was

named Speaker.

www.bensbest.com

www.thedouglastonmanor.com

Notice of Qualification of 66-15 HOLDINGS, LLC. Author-ity filed with Secy. of State ofNY (SSNY) on 03/04/10. Of-fice location: Queens County.LLC formed in Delaware (DE)on 12/10/08. SSNY desig-nated as agent of LLC uponwhom process against it maybe served. SSNY shall mailprocess to c/o Rego RealtyLLC, PO Box 748120, RegoPark, NY 11374-8120. DEaddr. of LLC: c/o The Corpo-ration Trust Co., 1209 Or-ange St. , Wilmington, DE19801. Arts. of Org. filed withSecy. of State of DE, John G.Townsend Bldg., 401 FederalSt., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901.Purpose: Any lawful activity._____________________________________________________________________Notice is hereby given thatan Order entered by the CivilCourt, Queens County on 3/15/10, bearing Index Num-ber NC-000160-10/QU, acopy of which may be exam-ined at the Office of the Clerk,located at 89-17 Sutphin Blvd.,Jamaica, NY 11435, grantsme the right to: Assume thename of (First) Khristopher(Midd le ) Yan l i ang ( Las t )Young My present name is(First) Yan (Middle) Liang(Last) Weng aka Yan L. WengMy present address is 84-1290th Street, Woodhaven, NY11421 My place of birth isChina My date of birth isJune 10, 1981_____________________________________________________________________Wonder Years Services, LLC.Arts. of Org. filed with Secy.of State of NY (SSNY) on 2/3/10. Ofc location Queens Cty.

LEGAL NOTICELEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE.

SSNY designated agent ofLLC upon whom processagainst it may be served.SSNY shall mail process toPauline Sims, 44-35 ColdenSt #7L, Flushing, NY 11355.Purpose any lawful purpose._____________________________________________________________________SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONSIndex No.: 29962/09 Date offiling: SUPREME COURT OFTHE STATE OF NEW YORKCOUNTY OF QUEENS WELLS

FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIA-TION, AS TRUSTEE UNDER POOLING

AND SERVICING AGREEMENT DATED

AS OF AUGUST 1, 2005 ASSET-BACKED PASS-THROUGH CERTIFI-CATES , S E R I E S 2005-WHQ4,P la in t i f f , - aga ins t - UN-KNOWN HEIRS, DEVISEES,DISTRIBUTEES OR SUCCES-SORS IN INTEREST OF THELATE JOSEPHINE CHAN-DLER, IF THEY BE LIVING ORDEAD, THE IR SPOUSES ,HE IRS , DEVISEES ,DISTRIBUTEES AND SUC-CESSORS IN INTEREST, ALLOF WHOM AND WHOSENAMES AND PLACES OFRES IDENCE ARE UN-KNOWN TO PLAINTIFF if liv-ing, or if either or all bedead, their wives, husbands,he i r s -a t - law, next o f k in ,distributees, executors, ad-m in i s t r a to r s , a s s i gnees ,lienors and generally all per-sons having or claiming un-der, by or through said UN-KNOWN HEIRS, DEVISEES,DISTRIBUTEES OR SUCCES-SORS IN INTEREST OF THELATE JOSEPHINE CHAN-DLER, IF THEY BE LIVING ORDEAD, THE IR SPOUSES ,HE IRS , DEVISEES ,DISTRIBUTEES AND SUC-CESSORS IN INTEREST, ALLOF WHOM AND WHOSENAMES AND PLACES OFRES IDENCE ARE UN-KNOWN TO PLAINTIFF bypurchase, inheritance, lienor otherwise, of any right,title or interest in and to thepremises described in thecomplaint herein, and therespective husbands, wives,widow or widowers of them,if any, all of whose names areunknown to plaintiff; NEWYORK CITY ENVIRONMEN-TAL CONTROL BOARD;NEW YORK CITY PARKINGVIOLATIONS BUREAU; NEWYORK CITY TRANSIT ADJU-DICATION BUREAU; NEWYORK STATE DEPARTMENTOF TAXATION AND F I -NANCE;; STATE OF NEWYORK; UNITED STATES OFAMERICA; “JOHN DOES”and “ JANE DOES” , sa idnames being fictitious, par-ties intended being possibletenants or occupants of pre-mises , and corpora t ions ,other entities or persons whoclaim, or may claim, a lienagainst the premises, Defen-dan t s . TO THE ABOVE -NAMED DEFENDANTS: YOUARE HEREBY SUMMONED toanswer the complaint in thisaction and to serve a copy ofyour answer, or, if the com-plaint is not served with thissummons, to serve a Noticeo f Appearance on thePlaintiff’s attorney(s) withintwenty (20) days after theservice of this summons, ex-clusive of the day of service,where service is made bydelivery upon you personallywithin the State, or withinthirty (30) days after comple-

tion of service where serviceis made in any other manner,and in case of your failure toappear or answer, judgmentwill be taken against you bydefaul t for the re l ief de-manded in the complaint.NOTICE YOU ARE IN DAN-GER OF LOSING YOURHOME If you do not respondto this summons and com-plaint by serving a copy of theanswer on the attorney forthe mortgage company whofiled this foreclosure proceed-ing against you and filing theanswer with the court, a de-fault judgment may be en-tered and you can lose yourhome. Speak to an attorneyor go to the court where yourcase is pending for furtherinformation on how to an-swer the summons and pro-tect your property. Sending apayment to your mortgagecompany will not stop this fore-closure action. YOU MUSTRESPOND BY SERVING ACOPY OF THE ANSWER ONTHE ATTORNEY FOR THEPLAINTIFF (MORTGAGECOMPANY) AND FILING THEANSWER WITH THE COURT.YOU ARE HEREBY PUT ONNOTICE THAT WE ARE AT-TEMPTING TO COLLECT ADEBT, AND ANY INFORMA-TION OBTAINED WILL BEUSED FOR THAT PURPOSETO THE ABOVE-NAMED DE-FENDANTS: The foregoingsummons is served upon youby publication pursuant to anOrder o f the Honorab leDiccia T. Pineda-Kirwan ofthe Supreme Court of theState of New York, signed onFebruary 15, 2010, and filedwith supporting papers in theOffice of the Clerk of theCounty of Queens, State ofNew York. The object of thisaction is to foreclose a mort-gage upon the premises de-scribed below, executed byJOSEPHINE CHANDLER GRE-GORY CHAVOUS to AMERI-CAN DREAM MORTGAGEBANKERS, INC. in the princi-pal amount of $231,400.00,which mortgage was recordedin Queens County, State ofNew York, on July 6, 2005, inCRFN: 2005000379038which mortgage was assignedto ARGENT MORTGAGECOMPANY, LLC by assign-ment dated June 1, 2005 andrecorded in CRFN:2005000379039 in the Of-fice of the Clerk of the Countyof Queens on July 6, 2005.Thereafter said mortgage wasassigned to the Plaintiff byassignment of mortgage datedOctober 28, 2009. Said pre-mises being known as and by168-44 119TH AVE, JAMAICA,NY 11434. Date: January 25,2010 Batavia, New York Vir-ginia C. Grapensteter, Esq.ROSICKI, ROSICKI & ASSO-CIATES, P.C. Attorneys forPlaintiff Batavia Office 26 Har-vester Avenue Batavia, NY14020 585.815.0288 HelpFor Homeowners In Foreclo-sure New York State Law re-quires that we send you thisnotice about the foreclosureprocess. Please read it care-fully. Mortgage foreclosure isa complex process. Somepeople may approach youabout “saving” your home.You should be extremely care-ful about any such promises.The State encourages you to

become informed about youroptions in foreclosure. Thereare government agencies,legal aid entities and othernon-profit organizations thatyou may contact for informa-tion about foreclosure whileyou are working with yourlender during this process.To locate an entity near you,you may call the toll -freehelpline maintained by theNew York State Banking De-partment at 1-877-BANKNYS(1-877-226-5697) or visit theDepar tment ’ s webs i te a twww.bank ing . s ta te .ny .us .The State does not guaranteethe advice of these agencies._____________________________________________________________________4311 23 AVE. LLC a domesticLimited Liabil ity Company(LLC) filed with the Sec ofState of NY on 1/5/10. NYOff ice locat ion : QueensCounty. SSNY is designatedas agent upon whom processaga ins t the LLC may beserved. SSNY shall mail a copyof any process against the LLCserved upon h im/her toGiulio Sottovia, 251-45 VanZandt, Little Neck, NY 11362.General Purposes._____________________________________________________________________SUMMONS AND NOTICEOF OBJECT OF ACTIONSTATE OF NEW YORK SU-PREME COURT: COUNTYOF QUEENS ACTION TOFORECLOSE A MORTGAGEINDEX NO. : 23827/09CITIMORTGAGE, INC. Plain-t i f f , vs . MAHITIMA BAA,ALBERT KELLY , JANENJUGUNA Defendant ( s ) .MORTGAGED PREMISES :22-19 NAMEOKE AVENUE,FAR ROCKAWAY, NY 11691SBL #: BLOCK: 15658 LOT:25, FORMERLY PART OF, 24TO THE ABOVE NAMED DE-FENDANT: You are herebysummoned to answer theComplaint in this action, andto serve a copy of your an-swer, or, if the Complaint isnot served with this Sum-mons, to serve a notice ofappearance, on the Plaintiff(s)attorney(s) within twenty daysafter the service of this Sum-mons, exclusive of the day ofservice (or within 30 daysafter the service is completeif this Summons is not per-sonally delivered to you withinthe State of New York). Incase of your failure to appearor answer, judgment will betaken against you by defaultfor the relief demanded inthe Complaint. The Attorneyfor Plaintiff has an office forbusiness in the County ofErie. Trial to be held in theCounty of Queens. The basisof the venue des ignatedabove is the location of theMortgaged Premises. Datedthis 9th day of March, 2010,S teven J . Baum, P .C . ,Attorney(s) For Plaintiff(s),220 Northpointe ParkwaySuite G, Amherst, NY 14228 TO: MAHITIMA BAA, ALBERTKELLY, and JANE NJUGUNA,Defendant(s) In this Action.The foregoing Summons isserved upon you by publica-tion, pursuant to an order ofHON. LEE A. MAYERSOHNof the Supreme Court of theState of New York, dated the9th day of March, 2010 andfiled with the Complaint inthe Office of the QueensCounty Clerk, in the City ofJamaica. The object of this

action is to foreclose a mort-gage upon the premises de-scribed below, executed byMAHITIMA BAA dated the15th day of July, 2008, tosecure the sum o f$464,000.00, and recordeda t In s t rument No .2008000315624 in the Of-fice of the Clerk of the Countyof Queens, on the 7th day ofAugust, 2008; which mort-gage was duly assigned byassignment dated the 31stday of August, 2009, and sentfor recording in the Office ofthe Clerk of Queens County;The property in question isdescribed as follows: 22-19NAMEOKE AVENUE, FARROCKAWAY, NY 11691 SEEFOLLOWING DESCRIPTIONBlock 15658 and Lot 25 for-merly p/o 24 ALL that certainplot, piece or parcel of land,with the buildings and im-provements thereon erected,situate, lying and being inthe Borough and County ofQueens, City and State ofNew York, known as Lot 25 inBlock 15658 (formerly knownas part of Lot 24 in Block15658) on the QueensCounty Land and Tax Map,and being bounded and de-scribed as follows: BEGIN-NING at the corner formedby the intersection of theSoutherly side of NameokeAvenue and the Easterly sideof P inson St reet , d i s tant45.00 feet Easterly along theSoutherly side of NameokeAvenue to the true point ofbeg inn ing ; RUNNINGTHENCE along the Southerlyside of Nameoke Avenue, dis-tant 35.00 feet ; THENCESoutherly and part of the dis-tance through a party walland at right angles to the lastmentioned course, a distanceof 50.00 feet; THENCE West-erly and at right angles to thelast mentioned course, a dis-tance of 35.00 feet; THENCENortherly and part of the dis-tance through a party walland at right angles to the lastmentioned course, a distanceof 50.00 feet to the South-erly side of Nameoke Avenueand the point or place ofBEGINNING. P remi sesknown as 22-19 Nameoke Av-enue, Far Rockaway, NewYork HELP FORHOMEOWNERS IN FORE-CLOSURE NEW YORKSTATE LAW REQUIRES THATWE SEND YOU THIS NOTICEABOUT THE FORECLOSUREPROCESS. PLEASE READ ITCAREFULLY . SUMMONSAND COMPLAINT YOU AREIN DANGER OF LOSINGYOUR HOME. IF YOU FAILTO RESPOND TO THE SUM-MONS AND COMPLAINT INTHIS FORECLOSURE AC-T ION, YOU MAY LOSEYOUR HOME. PLEASE READTHE SUMMONS AND COM-PLAINT CAREFULLY. YOUSHOULD IMMEDIATELYCONTACT AN ATTORNEYOR YOUR LOCAL LEGAL AIDOFFICE TO OBTAIN ADVICEON HOW TO PROTECTYOURSELF. SOURCES OF IN-FORMATION AND ASSIS-TANCE The state encouragesyou to become informedabout your options in fore-closure. In addition to seek-ing assistance from an attor-ney or legal aid office, thereare government agencies

and non-profit organizationsthat you may contact for in-format ion about poss ib leoptions, including trying towork with your lender dur-ing this process. To locate anentity near you, you may callthe toll-free helpline main-tained by the New York StateBanking Department at 1-877-BANK-NYS (1-877-226-5697)or v is i t the department’swebs i te a tWWW.BANKING.STATE.NY.US.FORECLOSURE RESCUESCAMS Be careful of peoplewho approach you with of-fers to “save” your home. There are individuals whowatch for notices of foreclo-sure actions in order to un-f a i r l y p ro f i t f rom ahomeowner’s distress. Youshould be extremely carefulabout any such promises andany suggestions that you paythem a fee or sign over yourdeed. State law requires any-one offering such servicesfor profit to enter into a con-tract which fully describesthe services they will per-fo rm and fees they w i l lcharge, and which prohibitsthem from taking any moneyfrom you until they have com-pleted all such promised ser-vices. § 1303 NOTICE NO-TICE YOU ARE IN DANGEROF LOSING YOUR HOME Ifyou do not respond to thissummons and complaint byserving a copy of the answeron the attorney for the mort-gage company who filed thisforec losure proceed ingagainst you and filing the an-swer with the court, a defaultjudgment may be entered andyou can lose your home.Speak to an attorney or go tothe court where your case ispending for further informa-tion on how to answer thesummons and protect yourproperty. Sending a paymentto your mortgage companywill not stop this foreclosureaction. YOU MUST RESPONDBY SERVING A COPY OF THEANSWER ON THE ATTOR-NEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF(MORTGAGE COMPANY)AND FILING THE ANSWERWITH THE COURT. DATED:March 9, 2010 Steven J .Baum, P.C., Attorney(s) ForPlaintiff(s), 220 NorthpointeParkway, Suite G, Amherst,NY 14228 The law firm ofSteven J. Baum, P.C. and theattorneys whom it employsare debt collectors who areattempting to collect a debt.Any information obtained bythem will be used for thatpurpose._____________________________________________________________________Notice is hereby given that anOrder entered by the CivilCourt, Queens County on 3/15/10, bearing Index Num-ber NC-000146-10/QU, acopy of which may be exam-ined at the Office of the Clerk,located at 89-17 Sutphin Blvd.,Jamaica, NY 11435, grants methe right to: Assume the nameof (First) Oluseyi (Middle)Comfort (Last) Abatan Mypresent name is (First) Oluseyi(Midd le ) Comfor t (Las t )Olowolab i aka Olusey iOlowolabi My present ad-dress is 2929 Beach ChannelDrive, Far Rockaway, NY11691 My place of birth isLagos, Nigeria My date ofbirth is July 06, 1979

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DOCKET NO: NA-13482-3/09

SUMMONS - CHILD ABUSE CASE

FAMILY COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORKCOUNTY OF THE QUEENS

In the Matter of a Proceeding UnderMARIYCHEL AVELINODESTINY BAUTISTA

Article 10 of the Family Court Act

DIONISIO BAUTISTARESPONDENT

IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

NOTICE: PLACEMENT OF YOUR CHILD IN FOSTERCARE MAY RESULT IN LOSS OF YOUR RIGHTS TOYOUR CHILD. IF YOUR CHILD STAYS IN FOSTERCARE FOR 15 OF THE MOST RECENT 22 MONTHS,THE AGENCY MAY BE REQUIRED BY LAW TO FILEA PETITION TO TERMINATE YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTSAND TO COMMIT GUARDIANSHIP AND CUSTODY OFYOUR CHILD TO THE AGENCY FOR THE PURPOSESOF ADOPTION. ALSO, THE AGENCY MAY FILE BEFORETHE END OF THE 15-MONTH PERIOD, IF SEVERE ORREPEATED CHILD ABUSE IS PROVEN BY CLEAR ANDCONVINCING EVIDENCE, THIS FINDING MAYCONSTITUTE THE BASIS TO TERMINATE YOURPARENTAL RIGHTS AND TO COMMIT GUARDIANSHIPAND CUSTODY OF YOUR CHILD TO THE AGENCY FORTHE PURPOSES OF ADOPTION.

TO: DIONISIO BAUTISTA

A Petition under Article 10 of the Family Court Acthaving been filed with this Court, and annexed heretoYOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to appear before this Court at151-20 Jamaica Avenue, Jamaica, NY 11432Part 10

On APRIL 13TH, 2010 at 2:15 o-clock in theFORENOON, of that day to answer the petition andto be dealt with in accordance with Article 10 of theFAMILY COURT ACT.ON YOUR FAILURE TO APPEAR as herein directed, awarrant may be issued for your arrest.BY ORDER OF THE COURTHON. JUDGE MARIA ARIASJUDGE OF THE FAMILY COURT

Dated: FEBRUARY 25, 2010

FURTHER NOTICE Family Court Act (statute symbol)154( c) provides that petitions brought pursuant toArticles, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10 of the Family Court Act, inwhich an order of protection is sought or in which aviolation of an order of protection is alleged, may beserved outside the State of New York upon aRespondent who is not a resident of domiciliary of theState of New York. If no other grounds for obtainingpersonal jurisdiction over the respondent is limited tothe issue of the request for, or alleged violation of, theorder of protection. Where the Respondent has beenserved with this summons and petition and does notappear, the Family Court may proceed to a hearingwith respect to issuance or enforcement of the orderof protection.

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The main character of my recent,

popular short story "A Feast to See

and Hear" (in "Amazon Shorts" at

Amazon.com) is a restaurant re-

viewer. Every one of the many res-

taurant reviews I wrote for the Queens

Tribune helped inspire the story's

creation, as they led me on a very

educational tour of the multi-faceted

world of Queens cuisine. My other,

also popular "Amazon Shorts" story,

"You May Grow Up To Be a Fish," is

about a reporter. All the articles I did

and the people I interviewed for the

Queens Tribune helped inspire that

one.

The interviewing skills the Tribune

helped me develop have boosted my

writing career in all kinds of ways.

My career has involved writing up a

war hero, interviewing cast members

of "The Simpsons," internationally

acclaimed authors, and artists and

writers of "Spider-Man" for national

magazines. My newspaper interview

subjects have included chefs, chore-

ographers and clowns, doctors,

drummers and dog-trainers. I had

my own humor column in the na-

1993: Barbara Arnstein

tional magazine Gallery, and wrote

the "On The Street" section of

Newsday.

My published work includes po-

etry, and I bring a poetic outlook to

my articles whenever possible. Hap-

pily I was able to include some in a

recent play review for the Tribune,

in this rhythmic excerpt describing

the plot of Neil Simon's "Rumors":

"Disaster follows hilarious disaster,

as platters clatter, crystal crashes,

and relationships fracture…" In my

recent article describing some exhib-

its at the science museum in Flush-

ing, Queens, I wrote: "Walk away

from a wall while your shadow stays.

Try to touch metal and your fingers

meet air..." My Queens County Farm

Museum article begins "Everything

you could want from a farm is there.

Ducks? Definitely. Goats? Got 'em?

Sheep? Sure. Cows? Of course…

Unlike the apples you see in the su-

permarkets, theirs still have trees

attached to them."

My husband and I and our two

cats live in a beautiful neighborhood

in Queens, full of wonderful people.

Barbara is a former staffer and current contributor to the

Queens Tribune, and is also a published author and respected

poet.

BY JOSEPH OROVIC

Sept. 1, 1986: The RKO Keith's

Theater in Flushing was shuttered by

developer Tommy Huang, a year

short of the 60th anniversary of its

opening.

The theater had remained open

to the public, enjoying historic des-

ignation by the National Register of

Historic Places, as well as landmark

status from the City. It had been

home to numerous vaudeville acts

and a cultural hub in the borough

for decades.

Glorious Decay:

Once A Flushing Jewel,

RKO Rots At Main St.

Huang, one in a string of devel-

opers playing hot potato with the

Keith's, introduced plans to create a

mega mall on the site, causing a last-

ing furor over the state and treatment

of the theater ever since.

Ignoring community outcry, con-

struction crews quickly stripped away

the historic lobby to make way for the

new development. What was once

dubbed the "Jewel of the Flushing

Community" had quickly fallen into

complete disrepair.

Within a decade, Huang's com-

pany had filed for bankruptcy, but

his legacy of ownership had quite lit-

erally seeped into the floors. A State

investigation found hundreds of gal-

lons of heating oil had been know-

ingly spi l led onto the basement

floor, after Huang assured the Fire

Dept. the old boilers had been prop-

erly emptied.

The property changed hands in

2002, when Brooklyn developer

Boymelgreen took over. The company

struggled matching its ambitious

plans to the community's desires.

Along the way, two grassroots

groups formed to guide and battle

out-of-character development ideas,

as well as malfeasance on the part of

developers.

After years of revised plans and

stuttering starts, Boymelgreen report-

edly handed over the theater to

Venator Capital last year. The

company's principal Sam Suzuki has

yet to announce his plans for the site.

Marcia left the Tribune to work for The Hill, in Washington,

D.C. and later the Palm Beach Post. She is now a staff writer

at the Philadelphia Inquirer.

In the spring of 1993, I tried to

do what my graduate school profes-

sors advised: Apply to a small, rural

daily newspaper where you can learn

journalism basics - from covering the

police beat to sitting through lengthy

zoning board meetings and determin-

ing what's news. But with a tight job

market, I wound up instead at the

Queens Tribune, a weekly newspaper

five minutes from where I grew up.

Here, I learned about those jour-

nalism basics, in addition to under-

standing and appreciating more

about the community in which I was

raised.

As a reporter and then editor at

the Tribune, I got to come up with

story ideas, work with other young,

ambitious reporters, and meet com-

munity leaders. Along the way, I took

a particular interest in our public

schools and education system, cov-

ering the controversy at the time over

Rainbow Curriculum. With citywide

opposition spearheaded by School

District 24, I spent considerable time

getting to know civic leaders from a

part of Queens that seemed very dif-

ferent than my own.

Lesson learned: I didn't have to

go to a rural town to learn about di-

versity.

Growing up in our own Queens

neighborhoods, we create bound-

aries that are too often broken only

to visit Manhattan or Long Island.

There's a whole world in our own

borough that is a city unto itself. I've

learned that and never forgotten.

After one year at the Tribune, I

accepted another newspaper job with

the same publishing company. That

job took me on an unexpected three-

year detour to Washington, and ex-

posure to a political world that I'd

never dreamed of being that close

to, so early in my career.

Second lesson learned: Don't be

afraid to just let life happen.

It is anybody's guess as to where I

would have wound up if I had not

had my start at the Tribune - but I

have no regrets that I did.

1994: Marcia Gelbart

BY KAITLYN KILMETIS

June 6, 1993: At 2 a.m., after an

extensive journey - from Thailand to

Kenya and around the Cape of Good

Hope - the Golden Venture, a ship con-

cealing a massive secret, hit aground

at Rockaway Beach. The ship's crew,

smuggling 286 illegal immigrants

from China, forged a mutiny; in their

attempt to flee the ship, 10 people

drowned.

After the discovery, the ship's pas-

sengers recounted the harrowing tale

of their trip around the world. The

survivors were taken into custody by

the Immigration and Naturalization

Service and held in prisons through-

out the U.S. while applying for po-

litical asylum.

In the end, around 10 percent of

Border Wars:

Golden Venture Crash

Exposes Illegal Aliens

the stowaways were granted asylum,

minors were released and a large por-

tion of the survivors were deported.

For some survivors, the case dragged

on for years. Finally, in 1997 the last

52 survivors were released by Presi-

dent Bill Clinton.

The man who orchestrated the

Golden Venture trip was a Chinese

gangster named Ah Kay. Due to his

cooperation, he served a relatively

light sentence. Also, his accomplice

Cheng Chui Ping was convicted for

trafficking illegal immigrants and

money laundering and received 35

years in federal prison.

The discovery of the Golden Ven-

ture served to confirm the fact that

hordes of illegal immigrants were

infiltrating New York City in any

and every way

possible.

Addi t iona l l y,

it shed light on

the human traf-

f i ck ing industry

across the world.

The story also gave

names and faces to

the victims of the

unimaginable con-

ditions to which

il legal immi-

grants, regarded

merely as human

cargo, are sub-

jected to on their

journeys to the

United States.

10 people, immigrants looking for a new home in the U.S.,

died when the ship Golden Venture struck a sandbar off

Rockaway Beach in 1993.

The landmark RKO Keith’s Theater in

Flushing, has suffered nearly a quar-

ter century of neglect.

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March 25-31, 2010 T

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Falling From The Sky:

BY DOMENICK RAFTER

Nov 12, 2001: A quiet oceanfront

neighborhood turned into a nightmare

on Monday morning after a fully-

loaded jetliner fell from the clear blue

sky, slammed into Newport Avenue,

destroying at least three homes and

killing five people in the neighbor-

hood as well as all 260 passengers and

crew on board the plane.

The jet crashed only minutes after

it took off from John F. Kennedy In-

ternational Airport bound for Santo

Domingo, Dominican Republic. The

crash is the second worst accidental air

disaster in U.S. history, after the May,

1979 crash of an American Airlines

jumbo jet at Chicago.

Flight 587 was not the first air di-

saster to strike Queens, home to two

major airports.

On June 24, 1975, in the middle of

an early summer thunderstorm, East-

ern Airlines Flight 66, a Boeing 727 on

final approach to JFK from New Or-

leans, got caught in a downburst and

crashed into Rockaway Boulevard in

Rosedale, just short of the runway, kill-

ing 112 people. The crash scattered

debris and bodies on the road and in

the marshland surrounding it. Only 12

people survived the crash. Among those

killed in the crash was Wendell Ladner,

who played for the New York Nets.

An epic tragedy was averted on July

30, 1992, when TWA Flight 843, a

265 Killed As Jet Crashes Into RockawaysLockheed L1011 jet leaving JFK for

San Francisco, aborted takeoff, skidded

off the runway and burned. All 292 on

board people miraculously escaped

with their lives.

Conspiracy theories st i l l f loat

around the crash of TWA Flight 800

off the Coast of Suffolk County on July

17, 1996. The Boeing 747, which took

off from JFK bound for Paris and

Rome, exploded in mid-air and

crashed into the 10 ten miles from

Smith Point Park, killing 230 people.

LaGuardia was the site of two fatal

air disasters in three years. The first,

USAir Flight 5050, a Charlotte, N.C.-

bound Boeing 737 skidded off the run-

way into Bowery Bay on Sept 20, 1989,

due to pilot error, killing two people.

The more serious crash of USAir Flight

405 on an icy March 22, 1992, killed

27 people after cartwheeling into

Flushing Bay on takeoff from

LaGuardia bound for Cleveland. Flight

405 was ruled to have crashed due to

icing on its wings. These two incidents

led to questions over whether or not

the airport’s runways were adequate

enough to handle contemporary jet-

liners.

My time with the Trib was exciting

and always filled with a sense that the

borough’s politics were over my head.

Yet, my job there launched me on a

career path where politics is deeply

entrenched in everything I do. When

I joined the Queens Tribune as Man-

aging Editor, I was in the initial years

of a career change. I was an idealistic

reporter with good investigative skills

and a track record as an award win-

ning journalist. I had a good com-

munity newspaper background but

felt overwhelmed with the learning

curve of the Queens beat.

I had moved back to New York

only a year before with three children,

and New York politics was new to me,

much less Queens. Yet I felt invigo-

rated when I met with people like

Eliot Spitzer, who sought me out in

his first unsuccessful bid for Attorney

General, and then-Police Commis-

sioner Bill Bratton, who arrived at the

Trib offices with a security detail. I still

have a photo of then-Senator Daniel

Patrick Moynihan and myself hang-

ing proudly in my office.

I think my biggest challenges at

the Trib were keeping up with Mike

Schenkler’s political savvy, writing

editorials and coming up with new

and innovative cover designs – tasks

I never really mastered. We had

great reporters and I hated having

to cut their excellent cutting-edge

Sarina served for nine years as the founder and director of the Sephardic Heritage Project

and most recently served as Chief Operating Officer for C & A Marketing.

1995: Sarina Roffe

stories to fit the available editorial

space. We covered everything from

Queens cemeter ies and Har r y

Houdini, to the history of street

names and crime stories.

After leaving the Trib, I began a

new adventure, switching to the other

side of the editorial desk to work in

public relations for then-Mayor Rudy

Giuliani. I became extremely active

in Democratic Party politics, both in

Brooklyn and New York State.

I love the feeling I have when I

walk the halls of Congress and inter-

act each day with those who collec-

tively hold the nation’s power in the

palm of their hands. And much of it

started at the Trib.

www.papazzio.com

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March 25-31, 2010 T

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Brooklyn 92 LLC. Arts. of Org.filed with Secy. of State of NY(SSNY) on 1/28/10. Ofc loca-tion Queens Cty. SSNY des-ignated agent of LLC uponwhom process against it maybe served. SSNY shall mailprocess to 1692 Gates Ave,Ridgewood, NY 11385. Pur-pose any lawful purpose._____________________________________________________________________XYZ VENTURES, L.L.C. Art.of Org Filed Sec. of State NY10/29/09 Off. Loc.: QueensCo. SSNY des igna ted asagent whom process againstit may be served. SSNY tomail a copy of process to:THE LLC c/o XYZ VENTURES,LLC, 10906 Westside Av-enue, NY, NY 11368. Pur-pose: Any Lawful act._____________________________________________________________________Notice is hereby given that al i cense , se r i a l number1238068 for an “RestaurantWine License” has been ap-plied for by the undersignedto serve Liquor at retail in therestaurant under the AlcoholBeverage Control Law at H TCa fé L td DBA Ea t&GoIstanbul, located at JFK Ter-minal One Building 55, Ja-maica, NY 11430 for on pre-mises consumption_____________________________________________________________________HL PROPERTIES 92299H,LLC a domestic Limited Li-ability Company (LLC) filedwith the Sec of State of NY on12/22/09. NY Office loca-tion: Queens County. SSNYis designated as agent uponwhom process against the LLCmay be served. SSNY shallmail a copy of any process

against the LLC served uponhim/her to Hsiang-Jui Hsu,138-26 62nd Ave., Flushing,NY 11367 . Genera l Pur -poses.______________________________________________________________________Not i ce o f fo rmat ion o fLowery Street Media, LLC.Articles of Organization filedwith the Secretary of State ofNew York SSNY on 12/08/2009 . Of f i ce loca ted inQueens County. SSNY hasbeen designated for serviceof process. SSNY shall mailcopy of any process servedagainst the LLC P.O. Box 4685Sunnyside, NY 11104. Pur-pose: any lawful purpose._____________________________________________________________________Not i ce o f Fo rmat ion o fDreygo 160 LLC, Art. of Org.filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) 1/14/10 . Of f i ce loca t ion :Queens County. SSNY des-ignated as agent of LLC uponwhom process against it maybe served. SSNY shall mailcopy of process to c/o DreygoDevelopment LLC, 34 -1338th St., Long Island City, NY11101. Purpose: any lawfulactivities.______________________________________________________________________Not i ce o f fo rmat ion o fD’Arienzo Family LLC Arts.of Org. filed with the Sect’yof State of NY (SSNY) on 12/17/2009 Off ice locat ion:County of Queens. The streetaddress i s : 70 -04 Kesse lStreet, Forest Hills, NY 11375.SSNY has been designatedas agent of the LLC uponwhom process against it maybe served. SSNY shall mailprocess served to: The LLC,

70-04 Kessel Street, ForestHills, NY 11375 Purpose: Anylawful act._____________________________________________________________________Action for divorce Jae HoonKwon aka James Jae Kwon v.Kyoung Sook Lee You arehereby summoned to answerthe complaint in this actionand to serve a copy of youranswer, or to serve a notice ofappearance on plaintiff’s at-torney within thirty (30) daysafter the publication and incase of your failure to answerappear, judgment wi l l betaken against you by defaultfor the relief demanded inthe notice set forth below inthe complaint. The object ofthis action is to obtain a judge-ment of divorce dissolving themarriage between the par-ties on the grounds that are inaccordance with Sub (2) ofthe Sec 170 of the DomesticRelations law. Hong KyungChoi, Esq. Attorney for plain-tiff 141-25 Northern Blvd.#A30, Flushing, NY 11354.______________________________________________________________________SUPREME COURT OF THESTATE OF NEW YORKCOUNTY OF QUEENSCITIBANK, N.A., Plaintiff, -aga ins t WILHELMINAMITCHELL , WILL IAM A .MITCHELL , RONALD L .MITCHELL, NEW YORK CITYPARKING VIOLATIONS BU-REAU, NEW YORK CITY EN-VIRONMENTAL CONTROLBOARD, NEW YORK CITYTRANSIT ADJUDICATIONBUREAU, CRIMINALCOURT OF THE CITY OFNEW YORK, QUEENS SU-

PREME COURT, CAVALRYPORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLCAS ASSIGNEE OF CAVALRYSPV I, LLC, AS ASSIGNEE OFPROVIDIAN, UNITED STATESOF AMERICA, NEW YORKSTATE DEPARTMENT OFTAXATION ANDFINANCE, CEASAR M.MITCHELL, A/K/A CESARMITCHELL, if he be livingand if he be dead, the respec-tive heirs-at-law, next-of-kin,distributes, executors, admin-istrators, trustees, devisees,legatees, assignees, lienors,creditors and successors ininterest and generally all per-sons having or claiming un-der, by or through said defen-dant who may be deceased,by purchase, inheritance, lienor inheritance, lien or other-wise any right, title or inter-est in or to the real propertydescribed in the complaint,Index No. 12184/09 SUPPLE-MENTAL SUMMONS WITHNOTICE Defendants To theabove-named defendants :YOU ARE HEREBY SUM-MONED to answer theamended complaint in thisaction and to serve a copy ofyour answer , or , i f theamended complaint is notserved with this supplemen-tal summons, to serve a no-tice of appearance, on theplaintiff’s attorneys within 20days after the service of thissupplemental summons, ex-clusive of the day of service(or within 30 days after theservice is complete if thissummons is not personallydelivered to you within the

State of New York); and incase of your failure to appearor answer, judgment will betaken against you by defaultfor the relief demanded inthe complaint. To: CEASARM. MITCHELL, A/K/A CESARMITCHELL NOTICE YOU AREIN DANGER OF LOSINGYOUR HOME If you do notrespond to this summons andcomplaint by serving a copyof the answer on the attorneyfor the mortgage companywho filed this foreclosure pro-ceeding against you and fil-ing the answer with the court,a default judgment may beentered and you can lose yourhome. Speak to an attorneyor go to the court where yourcase is pending for furtherinformation on how to an-swer the summons and pro-tect your property. Sending apayment to your mortgagecompany will not stop thisforec losure ac t ion . YOUMUST RESPOND BY SERV-ING A COPY OF THE AN-SWER ON THE ATTORNEYFOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORT-GAGE COMPANY) AND FIL-ING THE ANSWER WITH THECOURT. The forego ingsupplemental summons isserved upon you by publica-tion pursuant to an Order ofthe Honorable ALLAN B.WEISS, Justice of the SupremeCourt of the State of NewYork, Queens County, datedthe 10th day of Novmeber,2009 and duly entered in theoffice of the Clerk of theCounty of Queens, State ofNew York. NOTICE OF NA-

TURE OF ACTION AND RE-LIEF SOUGHT The object ofthe above captioned action isto foreclose a Mortgage tosecure $50,000.00 and inter-est, recorded in the Office ofthe City Register of QueensCounty on May 1, 2001 inReel 5859, Page 2422, cover-ing premises known as 194-39 113th Road, St. Albans, County of Queens, City andState of New York Premiseslying and being in the Bor-ough Of Queens, being at apoint on the northerly side of113th Road (formerly HaydonStreet), 390 feet easterly fromthe corner formed by the in-tersection of the northerly sideof 113th Road with the east-erly side of 194th Street (for-merly Kenmore); being a plot100 feet by 30 feet by 100feet by 30 feet. Block 10989,Lot 113 Dated: Rego Park,New York December 30, 2009SWEENEY, GALLO, REICH &BOLZ, LLP. By: Rosemarie A.Klie, Esq. Attorneys for Plain-tiff 95-25 Queens Boulevard11th Floor Rego Park, NewYork 11374 (718) 459-2634_____________________________________________________________________Notice of formation of L EMalone Consu l t ing , LLC.Arts. of Org. filed with Sec.of State of NY (SSNY) on 6/1/2006 . Of f i ce loca t ion :Queens Co. SSNY design. Asagent of LLC upon whomprocess against LLC may beserved. SSNY shall mail a copyof process to: 125-28 QueensBlvd, Ste 701, Kew Gardens,NY 11415. Purpose: Any law-ful purpose.

Mike Schenkler was clearly unim-

pressed. He tugged on his salt-and-pep-

per beard for a good while before re-

turning to his favorite activity – taking

a scalpel to a cub reporter’s fresh copy.

“Okay, kid, just don’t screw this up.”

And so began my tenure as a 20-

year old reporter for the Queens Tri-

bune. Schenkler gave me a shot spear-

heading his new baby in 1996, a col-

umn called the Action Desk that would

advocate on behalf of Tribune read-

ers. I didn’t know the first thing about

writing, but he was willing to let me

fake it, so long as I could solve a prob-

lem along the way.

The hours were grueling. In the

morning, I worked at Community

Board 8, in the afternoon I headed

over to the Tribune, and then off to

night classes at Queens College.

David Oats was the editor back

in those days, a genius who would

begin every conversation the same

way: “Haaaaay.” Dave’s infectious

smile and wanton disregard for dead-

lines inspired and corrupted the

newsroom. Sometimes we sat at a

computer for hours to pen a series

of articles, and with each install-

ment, we rotated our names in the

byline, “just like Woodward and

Bernstein used to

do.” Well that’s what

Dave would say, and when you’re 20,

it’s easy to believe.

We jetted around the borough in

my ’86 Maxima to see the Action Desk

problems firsthand. Arverne. South

Jamaica. Maspeth. Bayside. There

were so many problems I still can’t

let them go. Gus Barry from

Hamilton Beach who wanted to live

in peace without a steel bridge run-

ning through his backyard.

The Tribune won the New York

State award for community journalism

in the first year of the Action Desk. We

didn’t solve every problem of course

– there are limits to what a self-righ-

teous newspaper can accomplish. But

when we fell short, at least we offered

an ear when no one else would listen.

I’m okay with how life turned out

since leaving the Trib. I went on to

become Mayor Giuliani’s press secre-

tary, I finished up law school at night,

and I even married a wonderful

woman, Michele. But the greatest pro-

fessional pride in my life remains the

Action Desk, and the break I was given

at the Tribune.

Now I just wish Schenkler would

stop calling me “kid.”

Matt, after starting the Tribune’s Action Desk with Mike

Schenkler, went on to work for Mayor Rudy Giuliani as his

press secretary, became Chief Operating Officer for the

Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and is currently

an executive vice president with the New York Jets.

1996: Matt Higgins

BY DOMENICK RAFTER

Aug 1, 1997 : U.S. Rep. Floyd

Flake (D-Jamaica) announced his res-

ignation from Congress today begin-

ning a scramble for the seat he

struggled to win in a special election

11 years ago. Flake said that he would

leave Congress some time before the

end of the year to focus on his minis-

try duties at Allen AME Church.

Gov. George Pataki will call a special

election to fill Flake’s seat when his res-

ignation becomes official and at least four

names are being mentioned as a poten-

tial replacement including Assemblyman

Gregory Meeks, Assemblywoman Bar-

bara Clark, City Councilman Archie

Spigner and State Senator Alton Waldon

Jr. who briefly held the seat in 1986.

Flake and Walton jockeyed in 1986

to be the first African-American elected

to Congress from Queens. The sixth con-

gressional district became open when

longtime Democratic congressman Jo-

seph P. Addabbo (D-Ozone Park) died

of cancer on April 10, 1986. Walton,

then a state Assemblyman, received the

Democratic nomination for the election

that was held on June 10, 1986. Waldon

faced off against Flake, who ran as an

Independent and three other nominees

including former State Senator Andrew

Jenkins, whom Walton replaced in Al-

bany. Walton barely beat Flake, winning

the election by 278 votes.

Walton’s congressional career would

not last long; Flake immediately an-

nounced a challenge to Walton in the

September Democratic primary and

ousted him by a seven-point margin.

Flake defeated former NYPD officer and

GOP candidate Richard “Bo” Dietl of

Ozone Park in the general election and

served five terms in Congress.

In Congress, Flake often irked lib-

eral Democrats by supporting conser-

vative Republicans on some pieces of

legislation, including on social issues

like abortion. Flake had a history of en-

dorsing Republican candidates for of-

fice, including Mayor Rudy Giuliani

and Gov. George Pataki.

In 1990, Flake and his wife Elaine

were indicted on alleged fraud and em-

bezzlement charges, but a judge dis-

missed much of the prosecutor’s case,

forcing the dropping of all charges.

Since his resignation from Congress,

Flake became involved in community

development in Southeast Queens and

mentoring of prominent local Demo-

crats like former State Senate Majority

Leader Malcolm Smith and U.S. Rep.

Gregory Meeks. In 2010, his political

stepping away from Aqueduct Entertain-

ment Group’s bid to develop a “racino”

at Aqueduct Racetrack has been linked

to the eventual dismissal of the bid.

Returning To The Pulpit:

Jamaica Congressman

Leaves House For Church

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The week begins on Thursday.

Bundles of the new issue sit in the

parking lot anxious to be unleashed

upon the borough.

A rare calm and momentary satis-

faction fill the office until the start-

ing gun is fired in the form of two

words blared over the intercom: “Cof-

fee Truck!”

Incomprehensible reprimands ex-

plode from the corner office. Some-

body in classifieds gets fired. Some-

one in as sales gets hired.

We page through the paper trying

not to spot the inevitable typos: “Great

story on the borough president,” I say.

“But for future reference, it’s Claire

Shulman, not Tiger Schulmann.”

A week of work is then discarded

never to been seen again until this

issue is bound in a series of black

tomes that line the bookcase.

Schenkler beckons. By the time

I escape his office, it’s already Fri-

day afternoon and we still don’t

have any clue what next week’s front

page will be.

I start to stress a little: I’m 24

years old. I’m the editor of a weekly

newspaper, and I barely know what

I’m doing.

But Queens is the nexus of the

universe, and by Monday there is no

shortage of tales to tell: Grandma

Selma Moses gets searched at the

movies for “outside candy.” The

Postal Service threatens to pull adver-

tising from the paper if I continue our

crusade to restore the names of

Queens neighborhoods to our ad-

dresses. There’s a pothole on Francis

Lewis Boulevard the size of a lunar

crater. Somebody stole Helen Mitro’s

hairbrush.

The Post and Daily News will steal

these stories, without giving us credit,

but there’s no better form of flattery.

Tuesday we start putting down the

pages and I try not to be over-

whelmed by both the editorial and

managerial frustrations: Where’s the

Action Desk? That restaurant review is

too short. She’s a fine reporter, but

you have to talk to her about personal

hygiene.

Wednesday is deadline night. We

still need another story for Page 3.

That photo is awful. We needed that

six hours ago, why are you still on

the phone? Redo the front page-

Gary’s boutonniere should be six

times this size.

We finish by 6 or 7- occasionally

10 or 11.

Nice work. So what do you have

for next week?

Jeremy served as a reporter and managing editor at the Trib,

and has been published by most of the city’s dailies. He is

currently a reporter at the New York Post.

1997: Jeremy OlshanExclusive Tribune Story

Exposes Terrace Asbestos

BY KAITLYN KILMETIS

Jan. 16, 1997: The borough’s famed

catering facility Terrace on the Park

may be treating its customers to far

more than a breathtaking view of the

New York City skyline. In an exclusive

scoop the Queens Tribune uncovered

evidence that the Corona facility is

laden with asbestos.

Asbestos is a substance

widely-used before the

1970s for a number of

housing needs. It was not

until the 1970s that health

officials established a con-

nection between the mate-

rial and respiratory infec-

tions, as well as cases of

lung cancer, rectal cancer,

intestinal cancer and stom-

ach cancer.

A source familiar with

the banquet hall said the Parks Depart-

ment has been aware that the facility is

“crawling” with asbestos. He also added

that staff is instructed to wear protect-

ing clothing and masks due to the

known asbestos risk.

The source also confirmed that

most of the asbestos was the sprayed-

on variation – one of the most dan-

gerous forms of the substance – and

that a majority of the asbestos is found

on the ceiling of the kitchen.

Choking It Down:

In the initial expose, Terrace on the

Park and Parks Department officials

denied the prior knowledge of the

problem and assured reporters no as-

bestos inspections had ever taken place

at the building; although anonymous

sources disputed this claim.

In the days following the article’s

release, the Parks Depart-

ment decided to complete

an emergency survey of the

facility.

The next week, Tribune

reporters produced photo-

graphic proof of the exten-

sive asbestos problem. The

same week, the Parks De-

partment shut down a

kitchen in the catering hall

so the poisonous substance

could be removed.

The Tribune’s art ic le

prompted a full clean-up of the toxic

mess. The controversy also led to the

concessionaire Continental Hosts,

who ran the facility since 1967, to

relinquish their control of the facil-

ity.

Nowadays, Terrace on the Park is

under new management and the asbes-

tos problem has been eliminated; the

Flushing-Meadows Park facility re-

mains one of the borough’s most popu-

lar event destinations.

The Queens Tribune

broke the story about

dangerous asbestos in

Terrace On The Park

catering hall in 1997.

www.veranda-restaurant.com

www.zaharenia.vpweb.com

www.queenslibrary.org

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How do you cram almost 17 years

of your life into a quarter page of

words?

It’s a daunting task that Michael

Schenkler has assigned me. But as

usual, what Mike wants Mike gets. So

here goes:

We were a team. Tom McCarthy,

Michael VonDer Lieth, Craig

Schiffer and yours truly; we made up

the Tribune editorial department in

the early 1990s, racing from one as-

signment to another covering every

corner of Queens to fill the award-

winning pages of the Tribune.

Tom McCarthy, the patriarch of

the editorial staff, filled pages of the

paper with politics and coverage of

social issues as only Tom could.

A crusty newshound with a heart

of honey, Tom climbed through a

fence at JFK Airport to expose breaks

in security, he made us laugh with

his “truth about Santa” story and he

let me tag along to an Astoria cam-

paign rally for Michael Dukakis –

and, to my great delight, he included

my name on his byline.

Tom, that byline was one of the true

milestones in my life as a reporter.

Michael VonDer Lieth covered

crime. He also took a mean fire

photo, often climbing buildings to

snare the most spectacular “smoke

and flame” photos in Tribune history.

When Michael left the paper in

1992, I inherited the police beat –

the first female reporter to tackle the

task. It was a labor of love that took

me to some of the most dramatic

crime scenes in Queens’ history.

Craig Schiffer spent his nights

thinking of ways to aggravate me.

And he spent his days doing it, since

I was the first “chick” to share the

newsroom with these three amigos.

At the helm was David Oats.

David’s knowledge of Queens and his

abil ity to remember events and

people added a flavor to the Tribune

newsroom that won awards.

David Oats was a great educator,

easily sharing his knowledge of

Queens with his reporters. With his

passing two years ago, the borough

lost a gem in its crown.

I remember the day I picked up a

copy of the Tribune and discovered

that Mike Schenkler had included

my byline in his weekly column. I

remember I thought my head would

explode – it was that exciting and it

meant that much to me.

Many people share in the success

of the Queens Tribune but none so

much as Michael Schenkler, who un-

derstands the people of Queens, the

issues that matter most to them and

the way the world is impacted by this

borough.

Thanks, Michael, for giving me

the opportunity to share almost 17

years of my life with the Queens Tri-

bune.

Liz is a veteran news reporter who currently writes for the Queens

Gazette.

Where Do You Live?:1998: Liz Goff


August 1998: The Queens commu-

nity was outraged when the mailing

system eliminated specific neighbor-

hoods and began identifying each zip

code with one broad

swath of the borough.

The U.S. Postal Ser-

vice decided to cluster

individual areas into

one of three large

chunks – Flushing, Ja-

maica or Long Island

City – based on the

first three numbers of

the zip code. All zip

codes beginning in

113 belonged to Flush-

ing, the 114 zip code

was designated as Ja-

maica, and 111 became

Long Island City.

This caused an up-

roar in Queens’ communities, where

many people felt as if they were stripped

of their neighborhood identity.

“All my l ife I have l ived in

Woodside” said Dorothea Osborne.

“Now I am constantly telling people

on the phone that, ‘I am not a

Flushingite.’”

Bayside residents threatened to ig-

nore letters or advertisements that do

Queens Fights To Retain

Its Zip Code Identities

not contain their correct

neighborhood’s name.

Residents weren’t the only ones

complaining, as elected Queens offi-

cials also felt the change was com-

pletely unnecessary,

especially if the old

way has been working

for years now.

“The Post Office

has stripped us of our

communities,” said

t h e n - A s s e m b l y m a n

Mark Weprin. “We are

very pleased with all

the support we have re-

ceived, but all the sup-

port in the world isn’t

worth anything if we

can’t get the Post Of-

fice to change their

procedures.”

The new system was

suppose to make the mailing system

flow easier and have mail reach people

quicker, but only caused more confu-

sion and mix ups with the mail.

People were receiving each other’s

mail and nothing was being delivered

on time. The Tribune waged a fight

against the Postal Service’s changes for

about a year, until the system was

dropped in August 1998.

Wishing All Our Customers A Happy

& Healthy Passover

215-01 73rd AVENUE • BAYSIDE

718.631.2110 • Fax: 718.631.2956

Holiday Dinner Menu

SIDE DISHESAPPETIZERS

Choice of One

15 lb. Roasted Turkey

6 Roasted Chickens

4 lbs. Sliced Brisket of Beef

2 lbs. Brisket of Beef &3 Roasted Chickens

Choice of OneMAIN COURSE

Buddy’sBuddy’sWE WILL BE CLOSING MONDAY, MARCH 29TH PASSOVER EVE AT 4PM

WE WILL REOPEN ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7TH AT 11AM

Please Note: Our utensils are NOT changed for the Holiday.

$239

95

serves 12 guests

$129

95

serves 6 guests

$189

95

serves 9 guests

KOSHER DELIRESTAURANT & CATERERS

CARVED TURKEY add’l $10 • Delivery $10

Farfel MushroomsRoasted PotatoesSweet Potato PuddingString Beans AlmondineVegetable Medley

4 qts. Chicken Soup12 Matzo Balls1 qt. GravyCole SlawCranberry Pineapple Compote

Choice of Two

PACKAGE INCLUDES

12 Pieces Gefilte Fish

12 Pieces Stuffed Cabbage

3 lbs. Chopped Liver

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March 25-31, 2010 T

ribune Page 49

My time wasn’t so much with the

Queens Tribune as it was at the Queens

Tribune.

I was brought on board to help

birth the mighty Queens Tribune’s lat-

est baby, the PRESS of Southeast

Queens. It was decided that this new-

est offspring wouldn’t be given the

ubiquitous mother paper’s name with

a regional designation such as

“south.” It would have its own name

and separate identity and I became

the face of that paper.

From the very beginning I realized

that Mike Schenkler, my publisher,

was a special kind of guy, but not in

all the ways one would think. Yes, he

has a heart of gold and is one of the

smartest people I know. And had he

not made it as a public school teacher

and publisher, he could well have

toured the world as a comedian, but

more in the George Carlin mold than

Alan King.

Mike is distinctive in another way,

too, though. He comes from the old

school in that he dispenses with

today’s restrictive politically correct

protocol, which he considers stifling

to creativity. He believes in saying

what he believes and in the way he

thinks it; but not in a way that is

meant to hurt. Just in a way that

speaks the truth and makes you blush

as you struggle against the laughter

percolating in your throat.

The first few times I heard him I

was simply stunned. His vice president,

Michael Nussbaum, had come in that

morning and said he wasn’t feeling so

well. “Without missing a beat, Mike

responded, “Must’ve been the sex we

had last night.” Nussbaum, obviously

used to Schenkler’s way with a quip,

simply responded, “Must’ve been.”

I soon got used to Mike’s ways and

would simply give him dirty looks to

show my disapproval as I tried not to

laugh. But I realized almost immedi-

ately that my dirty looks tickled him

even more, so I resorted to simply

ignoring him.

But that didn’t work for long ei-

ther. I soon started laughing at his

shenanigans – no more of which I

dare repeat here! But the important

thing is that he’s right about making

us laugh at people’s foibles and laugh

even harder still at our own.

It loosened me up and made me

enjoy my workday a lot more. And it

made me a more interesting writer.

But he’s more than that too. I have

enjoyed his political analyses both in

the newsroom and in his weekly col-

umn. Nobody has a better grasp of

the issues than Mike does and no one

explains it better to the young report-

ers still in college or fresh out.

Happy 40th, Queens Tribune!

Marcia is a freelance writer, blogger, faculty advisor to

York College’s Pandora’s Box and associate publisher of the

PRESS of Southeast Queens.

1999: Marcia Comrie


Sept. 28, 1999: There have been a

total 37 confirmed cases of West Nile

after the first outbreak in the country

occurred Aug. 23 when two patients

were admitted to a Flushing hospital

in Queens after complaints of fever,

confusion, and weakness. Dr. James

Rahal, Director of Infectious Disease

at New York Hospital Queens then re-

ported both cases to the New York City

Department of Health who then began

to look into the virus.

With the virus spreading rapidly in

the last month, Queens’ residents have

been living in fear. Although surround-

ing areas like Nassau and Westchester

have also had confirmed cases, Queens

seems to be where the majority of the

confirmed cases are. As of today, 37

cases and four deaths have been re-

ported from West Nile in New York City.

Of the four deaths, all have occurred

among people age 68 years and older.

People can contract the virus when

a mosquito infected with West Nile has

bitten a person. Birds infected with the

virus would then carry it from one

mosquito pool to another, spreading

the disease until they die.

Most patients with the virus have

been over the age of 50, who have

spent a lot of time outside, but the vi-

rus can be given to anyone of any age.

Though its has been more than a

decade since the first West Nile out-

break in Queens, eevery year there are

areas of the borough sprayed to help

fight the virus.

People are told to take precaution

from the virus by applying mosquito

repellant, wearing long sleeve shirts,

long pants, and staying indoors dur-

ing the early evening hours. People

should also get rid of any excess water

in flower pots, trash cans, buckets,

swimming pool covers, and pets water

bowls. These precautions can prevent

the attraction from mosquitoes out-

doors and prevent them from laying

eggs in wet areas.

Making Our Skin Crawl:

New West Nile Virus

Takes Lives In Queens

West Nile Virus was known to be car-

ried by mosquitos, which breed in stag-

nant water.

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Wendy’s Massacre:

Workers Slaughtered

In Flushing Execution

BY MICHAEL CUSENZA

May 24, 2000: John Taylor and

Craig Godineaux entered the Wendy’s

on Main Street, Flushing looking to

rob it and leave no witnesses. The duo

bound and gagged the restaurant’s

seven employees, bagged their heads

and shot each one execution style,

then made off with $3,200.

In the seven years following that

fateful night in May of 2000, DA Ri-

chard Brown wrangled with one of the

most haunting and legally contentious

cases of his career, setting a standard

for death-penalty cases in the process.

“I was in the basement of the

Wendy’s restaurant that night,” Brown

said. “It was a night that I shall never

forget. That which took place was

among the most brutal and horrific

crimes that I – indeed, this entire City

– had ever seen.”

Godineaux pleaded guilty to sev-

eral counts of first-degree murder and

was sentenced to life in prison the

following January. It was determined

he was mildly-retarded, which kept

him off of death row.

Taylor, however, was given the

death sentence in November of 2002.

It had been almost four decades since

the state last executed a person, and

a 1995 law reinstated the death pen-

alty.

The State Court of Appeals deemed

the law unconstitutional in the People

v. Stephen LaValle, in June 2004.

The older I get, the greater appre-

ciation I have for the things that stay

true in life - spring does come again.

Tax day will make me uneasy even if

everything is filed and paid. Queens

is a vibrant and beautiful borough

filled with millions of stories worthy

of telling. And the Queens Tribune is

standing guard of the journalistic tra-

ditions I hold dear, reporting the

borough's news with the diligence and

honesty it deserves.

Before Tribune Publisher Mike

Schenkler would seriously consider

hiring me back in 1999, we met for

lunch and over a civilized plate of

pasta, politely traded Queens pedi-

grees, enjoyed a little chatter about

the state of the borough, and then

took our corners, held the ropes and

prepared for a fight. He wanted me

to explain my vision for the future

of the newspaper.

That's when I relaxed. That answer

was easy. I pulled out a yellowing piece

of newspaper I had clipped when I

was in high school, many moons ago.

It was a column called QUIPS (Queens

In Politics) that I had saved for its

unique creativity in both revering and

poking fun at my beloved profession.

It was a column written by Mike

Schenkler in the Queens Tribune.

In this particular QUIPS, Mike

instructed readers in the jargon of

journalism, including: "By-line: The

name of the reporter responsible for

the mistakes; Obit: A comprehensive

story of a person's life that you didn't

print in time."

As I explained my vision for the

Tribune, it included taking up the

task of telling Queens news like the

newspaper my mother wrote for did

- the daily Long Island Press. And I

Tamara served as managing editor of the Tribune from 1999-2003 and

as executive editor of the PRESS of Southeast Queens from its birth in

2000 until 2003. She is currently enjoying freelance adventures in life

and writing.

2000:

Tamara Hartman

felt it had to have a space for regu-

lar, intelligent commentary to dig

into the political scene and the chal-

lenges of life. If he hired me, Mike

would have to once again take up

writing a weekly column. He did,

and Not 4 Publication was born.

During my four-year watch as

Managing Editor, the Tribune cov-

ered an amazing wealth of stories -

the West Nile Virus, the Wendy's kill-

ings, Sept. 11th, the Power Plant

battle, toxic waste in Southeast

Queens, School Board 29's com-

puter scandal, Fort Totten's turnover

and the blackout are just a few.

And we added a strong human

voice to the paper through Not4Pub.

Whether he was telling stories of his

daughter's reaction to life and ter-

rorism or shouting about term lim-

its, Mike has used this space to edu-

cate, enlighten, and shake things up.

But as the Trib celebrates its 40th

year, I also want to add a note of

praise for the people of the Trib - the

Tribbies, as we call them. The talent

that gravitates to, educates, reports,

types out, lays out, proofreads, de-

signs, and touches with care and con-

cern each page of this paper every

week is simply outstanding.

So much has changed in the

world of journalism in the 20 years

since I started my career. World

events now travel at the speed of the

Internet and too many newspapers

flounder in its wake … slowly sink-

ing and dragging high standards in

journalism down with them. It is

comforting to know that one of those

true things in life is that there is a

Queens Tribune hard at work for its

readers, and there are Tribbies who

still believe in the news.

The Court vacated

LaValle’s death sentence due

to a constitutional defect in

the statute’s deadlock jury

instructions – thereby invali-

dating the entire sentencing

portion of the State’s capital

punishment statute.

The overruling of the de-

cision threw Taylor’s sentence

– at the time the last man left

on death row – into turmoil.

The Capital Defender Of-

fice, which filed an appeal on

Taylor’s behalf, cited that the

LaValle ruling must apply to

all prior cases as well, and the

defendant’s sentence should

be changed to life without pa-

role.

The Court agreed, and vacated

Taylor’s sentence with a 4-3 ruling. He

was ultimately resentenced to three

consecutive life terms, a bitter pill for

Brown to swallow.

Stil l , the ever-compassionate

Brown centered his thoughts around

the victims’ families.

“I told them that while I under-

stood the depth of their feelings about

the decision … it was a decision that

I – as an officer of the court sworn to

uphold the law – was required to fol-

low,” Brown said. “I had promised the

families – and the surviving victims,

as well – when we first met that I

would see this case through to its con-

clusion and that in doing so we would

follow the law – and that is what we

have done.”

John Taylor was sentenced to death for

his role in the massacre, but his death

sentence was overturned in 2004. He

is now serving three life sentences.

Craig Godineaux escaped a death sentence af-

ter a court determined him to be mildy-retarded

and is currently serving five life sentences.

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March 25-31, 2010 T

ribune Page 51

The Long Walk Home:

Our Nation Is Attacked By Foreign Terrorists

My first official cartoon ran in the

Trib the weekend the Giants were in

the Super Bowl in 2001. The 2010

Super Bowl just passed, so I'm be-

ginning my 10th year with the Trib.

After all this time I still look for-

ward to opening the Trib on Thurs-

In late 2000, a budding sports cartoonist from Rego Park

named Dominic Nunziato sent the Tribune a humorous car-

toon depicting Olympian Michael Johnson setting a world

record for being able to cross Queens Boulevard before

the light changed. He has been a weekly contributor to

QConfidential and Not 4 Publication ever since. His work

can be found online at www.spoil-sports.com.

2001: Dominic Nunziato

days and seeing my cartoons in print.

Congratulations, Mike, and thanks

for making my dream come true.

P.S. I'll probably never leave the

Trib because my daughters would kill

me if they couldn't go to your awe-

some annual holiday party!

BY KAITLYN KILMETIS

Sept. 11, 2001: On a sunny Sep-

tember morning, the busy routine

took place as usual - commuters

quickly dashed to their buildings,

children began their day with the ring

of a school bell and employees rode

their elevators up to their office's floor

- unti l the moment

when the city, and life

as we knew it ,

screeched to a sudden

halt.

At 8:46 a.m., a

Boeing 767 crashed

into the North Tower of

the World Trade Cen-

ter at roughly 460 miles

per hour. As the nation

tuned in to witness

what was originally per-

ceived to be an acci-

dent, at 9:03 a.m., an-

other plane collided

with the World Trade

Center, this time into

the South Tower, right

before the country's

eyes. The nation was under attack.

As debris-covered Queens resi-

dents made the long trek home from

Manhattan, largely on foot over the

Queensborough Bridge, the throngs

of people attempted to grasp what had

just occurred as ash rained down from

above and the smell of the fire and

fear thickened the air.

By the end of the day, it was clear

four planes were hijacked by a team

of 19 terror i s t s - two of which

crashed into the World Trade Cen-

ter, one of which flew into the Pen-

tagon near Washington, D.C. and

the last, which crashed into a field

in Pennsylvania after

passengers and flight

crew fought to regain

control of the a ir -

craft.

Months later, it

would be calculated

that in total 2,973 lives

were lost as a result of

the attack. The single

greatest loss of

firefighters was from a

New York City Fire De-

partment was in

Maspeth. The

Maspeth Fi rehouse,

home to the FDNY's

HAZ MAT Co. 1 and

Squad 288, lost a total

of 19 men on Sept. 11.

Across the borough, families and

friends of victims struggled with their

losses. For months, a period of na-

tional mourning took place as news-

papers and television broadcasts re-

played images of the attack on loop.

Americans remained alert and fearful

that another attacks was in the works.

In retaliation, the United Stated

launched the War on Terrorism; in-

vading Afghanistan in search of the

Taliban, the group held responsible

for harboring Islamic extremists re-

sponsible for the terrorist attack.

Nearly nine years later, the country

remains heavily entrenched in a war

in the Middle East, primarily based

in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Pentagon was repaired within a

year of the attack but construction at

the World Trade Center site has lagged

on due to economic hurdles. The new

WTC plan includes five new skyscrap-

ers, a national September 11 Memorial

& Museum, a World Trade Center

Transportation Hub, a Retail Complex

and a Performing Arts Center. It is un-

clear when the project will be finished

but it seems nearly impossible the City

will meet its Sept. 11, 2011 deadline.

Much like the attack at Pearl Har-

bor and the assassination of John F.

Kennedy, the September 11 attack re-

main a defining moment in the Ameri-

can consciousness. Not yet a decade

from when the attack occurred, images

of the planes hitting the building, sto-

ries of heroism and tales of sorrow re-

main deeply engrained in the heart of

the borough and the nation alike.

The Maspeth home of HazMat

I and Squad 288 was dealt the

heaviest blow of any firehouse

on Sept. 11.

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March 25-31, 2010 T

ribune Page 53

The captain of this swift boat,

Michael Schenkler, has asked this

unapolagetic veteran to say a few

words about how serving here has af-

fected his life. My 18-month tour at

the Tribune hasn’t provoked any par-

tisan attacks by conservative political

groups, put my integrity in question

by bloggers or caused my bid to be-

come U.S. President in 2004 to fail (it

failed for other reasons, thank you).

But being a Tribbie did lay some im-

portant foundations for a later jour-

ney to the ‘other side’ that would im-

mediately prove symbiotic: handling

press for some of the very public fig-

ures often covered in these pages.

I was hired in the summer of 2002

by Tribune Managing Editor Tamara

Hartman and PRESS of Southeast

Queens Managing Editor Stephen

McGuire – both working elsewhere

now – to be the primary reporter for

the PRESS, which is basically like the

Tribune but the beat is mainly South-

east Queens and you get to write

about a lot of church events and jerk

chicken.

Being a general assignment re-

porter made the job delightfully un-

predictable and exciting. I walked the

projects and talked to hustlers, then

worked the boardrooms and pressed

directors. I reviewed restaurants and

concerts, books and plays. I followed

the trail of murderers and robbers,

mosquitoes and floods. I chronicled

events large and small, public and

private.

Thanks to the Trib, I know the

meaning of the foreign-language

phrase: “Before a 501(c)3 can build a

Pre-K facility it may have to respond

to an RFP by the DOE and file a

ULURP application with the DCP.” I

also learned a little of what it’s like

to be on public assistance with no

health insurance, no food to eat and

no place to sleep.

And as a past reporter myself, I

know a lot about what my colleagues

in the whole news game go through

as they live the daily cycle of assign-

ment: coffee-report-cigarette-type-

coffee-deadline-cigarette-file-beer-re-

alize you missed something-whiskey

(note to reader: the various drugs so

affectionately described here are hy-

pothetical examples and in no way

represent my, or any other particular

individual’s habits, that I can clearly

recollect).

Mike, I don’t know what kind of

diet you’re on, or what you’re feed-

ing the Trib, but you both look great

for 40. Keep up the great work.

After leaving the Tribune, Shams has held a series of press

positions for members of the City Council and State Senate,

and has worked behind the scenes in a number of political

ventures.

2002: Shams TarekArt Explosion:

MoMA’s Move To Boro

Was Exciting, But Brief

CATHERINE MANZIONE

June 29, 2002: The world-re-

nowned Museum of Modern Art

(MoMA) moved all of its exhibitions

into Queens until 2005 as its 53rd

Street building in Manhattan is reno-

vated. Dubbed MoMA QNS, the Long

Island City site will be a multi-use fa-

cility housed in a redesigned building

that was once part of the Swingline

staple factory.

MoMA QNS will serve as the base

of the Museum’s exhibition program

and operations until the museum

moves back to Manhattan and will pro-

vide MoMA with 160,000 square feet

of new space for exhibition galleries,

study centers, workshops, storage, of-

fices, and a café/bookstore.

The deal was first discussed in 1998

when MoMA announced its 75th anni-

versary, $650 million expansion plan.

At the time, MoMA was considering

using the site simply as storage space.

NYC allocated $65 million, more

than $22 million of which came from the

City’s Cultural Affairs Budget, leaving a

major deficit for the local arts groups

that typically rely on that funding.

Queens Borough President Claire

Shulman made it clear that although she

supports the new project, she is a little

taken back with just how much of a do-

nation the city had decided to pony up.

“It is discouraging that the city has

pledged to fund approximately 10 per-

cent of the museum’s expansion plan,”

said Shulman, “while calling for dra-

matic cuts in Queens’ cultural pro-

grams and institutions.”

Councilman Walter McCaffrey cited

the dormant MoMA Queens space ad

“MoMA in a Coma.”

After negotiations with the City,

MoMA opened up a portion of the

building as exhibition space, but when

MoMA reopened in Midtown, all of the

exhibitions went back with it, leaving

Queens just a memory of the MoMA

that had once been.

Art lovers check out the works on dis-

play at MoMA QNS.

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SUMMONS AND NOTICEOF OBJECT OF ACTIONSTATE OF NEW YORK SU-PREME COURT: COUNTYOF QUEENS ACTION TOFORECLOSE A MORTGAGEINDEX NO.: 22161/09 WELLSFARGO BANK, NA SUCCES-SOR BY MERGER TO WELLSFARGO HOME MORTGAGE,INC. P la in t i f f , vs . KENIAALMONTE , MELVIN CO-LON, Defendant(s). MORT-GAGED PREMISES: 173-26105TH AVENUE, JAMAICA,NY 11433 SBL #: BLOCK10235 LOT 315 TO THEABOVE NAMED DEFEN-DANT: You are hereby sum-moned to answer the Com-plaint in this action, and toserve a copy of your answer,or, if the Complaint is notserved with this Summons,to serve a notice of appear-ance , on the P la in t i f f ( s )attorney(s) within twenty daysafter the service of this Sum-mons, exclusive of the day ofservice (or within 30 daysafter the service is completeif this Summons is not per-sonally delivered to you withinthe State of New York). Incase of your failure to appearor answer, judgment will betaken against you by defaultfor the relief demanded inthe Complaint. The Attorneyfor Plaintiff has an office forbusiness in the County ofErie. Trial to be held in theCounty of Queens. The basisof the venue des ignatedabove is the location of theMortgaged Premises. Datedthis 8th day of March, 2010,

S teven J . Baum, P .C . ,Attorney(s) For Plaintiff(s),220 Northpointe Parkway,Suite G, Amherst, NY 14228 TO: KENIA ALMONTE ,Defendant(s) In this Action.The foregoing Summons isserved upon you by publica-tion, pursuant to an order ofHON. DUANE A. HART ofthe Supreme Court of theState of New York, dated the18th day of February, 2010and filed with the Complaintin the Office of the QueensCounty Clerk, in the City ofJamaica. The object of thisaction is to foreclose a mort-gage upon the premises de-scribed below, executed byKENIA ALMONTE andMELVIN COLON dated the15th day of April, 2004, tosecure the sumof$317 ,695 .00 , and re -corded at Instrument No.2004000574346 in the Of-fice of the Clerk of the Countyof Queens, on the 15th dayof September, 2004; Theproperty in question is de-scribed as follows: 173-26105TH AVENUE, JAMAICA,NY 11433 SEE FOLLOWINGDESCRIPTION Block 10235and Lot 315 ALL that certainplot, piece or parcel of land,with the buildings and im-provements thereon erected,situate, lying and being inthe Borough and County ofQueens, City and State ofNew York, bounded and de-scribed as follows: BEGIN-NING at a point on the South-erly side of 1 05th Avenue(Sidney Avenue) distant 495

feet Westerly from the cor-ner formed by the intersec-tion of the Southerly side of1 05th Avenue with the West-er ly s ide of 177th Street(Haldimand Street) as saidavenue and street are laidout on a certain map entitled,“Hillside Gardens, Jamaica,Fourth Ward, Borough ofQueens, New York Ci ty”Erladeen and Crowell, CivilEngineers and City Survey-ors, March 1919 and filed inthe Office of the Clerk of theCounty of Queens on August19, 1919 as Map Number3740 and from said point ofbeg inn ing ; RUNNINGTHENCE Southerly parallelwith 171h Street, 100 feet;THENCE Westerly paral lelwith 105th Avenue, 25 feet;THENCE Northerly parallelwith 1 77th Street and part ofthe distance through a partywall, 100 feet to the South-erly side of 1 05th Avenue;THENCE Easterly along saidside of 105th Avenue, 25feet to the point or place ofBEGINNING. P remi sesknown as 173-26105th Av-enue, Jamaica, New YorkHELP FOR HOMEOWNERSIN FORECLOSURE NEWYORK STATE LAW REQUIRESTHAT WE SEND YOU THISNOTICE ABOUT THE FORE-CLOSURE PROCESS . PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY.SUMMONS AND COM-PLAINT YOU ARE IN DAN-GER OF LOSING YOURHOME. IF YOU FAIL TO RE-SPOND TO THE SUMMONSAND COMPLAINT IN THIS

FORECLOSURE ACTION,YOU MAY LOSE YOURHOME. PLEASE READ THESUMMONS AND COM-PLAINT CAREFULLY. YOUSHOULD IMMEDIATELYCONTACT AN ATTORNEYOR YOUR LOCAL LEGAL AIDOFFICE TO OBTAIN ADVICEON HOW TO PROTECTYOURSELF. SOURCES OF IN-FORMATION AND ASSIS-TANCE The state encouragesyou to become informedabout your options in fore-closure. In addition to seek-ing assistance from an attor-ney or legal aid office, thereare government agenciesand non-profit organizationsthat you may contact for in-format ion about poss ib leoptions, including trying towork with your lender dur-ing this process. To locate anentity near you, you may callthe toll-free helpline main-tained by the New York StateBanking Department at 1-877-BANK-NYS (1-877-226-5697)or v is i t the department’swebs i te a tWWW.BANKING.STATE.NY.US.FORECLOSURE RESCUESCAMS Be careful of peoplewho approach you with of-fers to “save” your home. There are individuals whowatch for notices of foreclo-sure actions in order to un-f a i r l y p ro f i t f rom ahomeowner’s distress. Youshould be extremely carefulabout any such promises andany suggestions that you paythem a fee or sign over yourdeed. State law requires any-

one offering such servicesfor profit to enter into a con-tract which fully describesthe services they will per-fo rm and fees they w i l lcharge, and which prohibitsthem from taking any moneyfrom you until they have com-pleted all such promised ser-vices. § 1303 NOTICE NO-TICE YOU ARE IN DANGEROF LOSING YOUR HOME Ifyou do not respond to thissummons and complaint byserving a copy of the answeron the attorney for the mort-gage company who filed thisfo rec losu re p roceed ingagainst you and filing theanswer with the court, a de-fault judgment may be en-tered and you can lose yourhome. Speak to an attorneyor go to the court where yourcase is pending for furtherinformation on how to an-swer the summons and pro-tect your property. Sendinga payment to your mortgagecompany will not stop thisfo rec losure ac t ion . YOUMUST RESPOND BY SERV-ING A COPY OF THE AN-SWER ON THE ATTORNEYFOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORT-GAGE COMPANY) AND FIL-ING THE ANSWER WITHTHE COURT. DATED: March8, 2010 Steven J. Baum, P.C.,Attorney(s) For Plaintiff(s),220 Northpointe Parkway,Suite G, Amherst, NY 14228The law firm of Steven J.Baum, P.C. and the attorneyswhom it employs are debtcollectors who are attempt-ing to collect a debt. Any

in fo rmat ion obta ined bythem will be used for thatpurpose._____________________________________________________________________MQUEST TAX & ACCOUNT-ING, LLC, Articles of Org.filed N.Y. Sec. of State (SSNY)29th day of January 2010.Of-fice in Queens Co. at 65-15242 nd S t ree t , Su i te 2F ,Doug la s ton , New York11362. SSNY des ig . ag t .upon whom process may beserved. SSNY shall mail copyof process to 65-15 242nd

Street, Suite 2F, Douglaston,New York 11362. Reg. Agt.Upon whom process may beserved: Spiegel & Utrera,P.A., P.C. 1 Maiden Lane,NYC 10038 1 800 576-1100.Purpose: Any lawful purpose._____________________________________________________________________Notice of Qualification of EM-PIRE GRILL DISTRIBUTINGLLC. Authority filed with Secy.of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/02/10. Of f ice locat ion :Queens County. LLC formedin Delaware (DE) on 01/26/10. Princ. office of LLC: 20-11Franc i s Lewis B lvd . ,Whitestone, NY 11357. SSNYdesignated as agent of LLCupon whom process against itmay be served. SSNY shallmail process to c/o Corpora-tion Service Co., 80 State St.,Albany, NY 12207. DE addr.of LLC: 2711 Centerville Rd.,Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE19808. Arts. of Org. filed withSecy. of State of DE, Div. ofCorps., John G. TownsendBldg., 401 Federal St. - Ste. 4,Dover, DE 19901. Purpose:Any lawful activity.

LEGAL NOTICELEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE LEGAL NOTICE.

The story of the Tribune is the

story of Queens.

This newspaper embodies the

hopes and dreams of its readers and

keeps them informed about their com-

munity in a way no other publication

in Queens (or the entire City) can.

In its 40 years, the Trib has been

a teacher, a voice, and an instrument

of change for the residents of

Queens, whether they have lived

here all their lives or just arrived at

Kennedy Airport.

Its investigative pieces, special is-

Steve worked with the Tribune from 1999 to 2004, and went

on to a specialty trade paper, Medical Marketing & Media,

from which he landed the role of Communications Manager

for drug giant Pfizer.

Fly Our Friendly Skies:

2003: Steve McGuire

JFK To Serve As Hub For Boro-Based Airline

sues and coverage of poli-

tics has informed, enlightened, enter-

tained and been an advocate for the

betterment of the borough.

I couldn’t imagine a Queens

without the Tribune. It would be like

Shea Stadium without the Mets,

108th Street without the Lemon Ice

King, or the L.I.E. without traffic.

The Trib is where I got my start

and I will always consider it home.

Join me in wishing the Tribune a

happy 40th and continued success

for a long time to come.

BY DOMENICK RAFTER

Sept 20, 1999: Though he’s from

Utah, airline entrepreneur David

Needleman has eyed JFK Airport as

the hub for his new airline venture

called JetBlue. Now the US Dept. of

Transportation has given JetBlue an

unprecedented approval of 75 daily

takeoffs and landings at JFK, effec-

tively making it the airline’s hub, not

far from the company’s headquarters

in Forest Hills.

JetBlue will be the first major air-

line to be based in the New York area

since TWA left Westchester County for

St. Louis in 1992. JetBlue’s decision

will bring more domestic service out

of JFK, which has ceded much of its

domestic routes to LaGuardia during

the last decade and become a mainly

international arrival and departure

point.

JetBlue took to the air five months

later on Feb 11, 2000 with its first

flight leaving JFK for Fort Lauderdale,

Fla. In 2003, JetBlue moved its head-

quarters into the Forest Hills Tower at

118-29 Queens Blvd., the large beige

office tower that sits across the Jackie

Robinson Parkway from Queens Bor-

ough Hall on the corner of Queens

Boulevard and near the busy Kew Gar-

dens interchange

Known for being one of the first

airlines to offer personal television ser-

vice in every seat, JetBlue was one of

the only airlines to prosper

after the Sept. 11 terrorist at-

tacks. JetBlue grew rapidly in

its first decade, opening a

second hub in Long Beach,

Calif. in 2001 and later es-

tablishing secondary hubs in

Boston, Orlando and Fort

Lauderdale as they expanded

their Caribbean operations.

As JetBlue grew, it became

one of Queens’ largest em-

ployers. In 2004, JetBlue be-

gan service to LaGuardia Air-

port and added Newark Air-

port in 2005, Stewart Airport

in the Hudson Valley in 2006

Jet Blue cuts the ribbon at its terminal at JFK in

2005.

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and Westchester County Airport near

White Plains in 2007. The airline suf-

fered a black eye when on Feb 14,

2007 a JFK to Cancun flight was held

on the tarmac at JFK for over nine

hours during a snowstorm. It took four

days for JetBlue to return to normal

service and the incident led to the

company establishing the first “Pas-

senger Bill of Rights” for customers,

an idea that found its way to the halls

of both the state legislature and Con-

gress.

In 2009, JetBlue announced it was

considering moving its corporate head-

quarters – and 800 jobs – out of Forest

Hills to Orlando, after their lease ex-

pires in their current office space in

2012. However in March 2010, the air-

line announced it would stay in Queens,

moving its administrative offices instead

to Long Island City.

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Taking Cautious Steps:

Boulevard Of Death Sees Big Improvements

BY JOSEPH OROVIC

Nov. 30, 1995: The City initiated

a Hazard Elimination Engineering

Program to analyze and mitigate pe-

destrian deaths on Queens Boule-

vard.

The major traffic artery had be-

come so notorious for claiming lives,

There are some lessons you just

don’t forget. At the Queens Tribune,

the newspaper where I began my

journalism journey back in 2001, I

learned many that stuck with me.

Never leave a community board

meeting early, for example. Never

take any “fact” at face value. Public

documents are your friends. Bring

the boss Starbucks and he’ll be happy

all day.

Yes, in my five years at the Trib, I

learned plenty. But one lesson in par-

ticular will always stand out.

It had been a particularly tough

week. Late nights. Lots of breaking

news. I had written a slew of stories

and had edited what felt like hun-

dreds of others. I must have looked

tired, because at around 8 p.m. on

deadline night, the publisher Mike

Schenkler actually walked over and

asked, “Long week, kid?” I told him

yes, lots of news changing at the last

minute, lots of long hours and tire-

less digging. Nothing seemed to

come easy. He just sort of smiled his

all-knowing Mike Schenkler smile

and responded, “Those are the best

weeks. The harder it is, the more it

matters to people. And that’s really

why we’re doing this. So the week was

hard?” He stopped and grinned.

“Good.”

I’ll never forget that moment, be-

cause in one sentence Mike captured

what the Queens Tribune is all about

– digging as hard as possible, re-

fusing to take no for an answer and

fighting harder than anyone

thought possible to uncover the sto-

ries that are important to the people

of the borough I grew up in.

Whether it’s a political scandal, a

hard look at education policies, a

pothole that

just can’t get

fixed or a devel-

oper looking to

pull a fast one

on an unsuspecting neighborhood,

the Trib is there, covering the news

from all angles thoroughly and com-

pletely.

Every story is important. No news

is too big, no news is too small. No

issue is too difficult to tackle. The Trib

has long been a paper for the people

– advocating for them while inform-

ing and entertaining them. And the

best part is, the Trib isn’t doing it to

brag about itself or win awards. It’s

doing it solely to be a voice of truth

for the people of Queens. And that

resonates with every employee who

has ever had the pleasure of working

there.

I consider myself unspeakably

lucky to have learned my craft at the

Tribune. The selfless work ethic I

learned on the Horace Harding Ex-

pressway stuck with me when I be-

came editor of the Trib, when I be-

came an investigative journalist at the

New York Post, and now at my current

job as public relations manager at the

New York Public Library. Always work

hard for the good of the people, no

matter how hard. That’s what the Trib

was founded on 40 years ago, and

that’s what it still preaches today. The

borough is better off for the good

work it does. And I’m much better off

for having worked there.

Happy anniversary, Queens Tri-

bune! Thank you for taking a chance

on me almost a decade ago! Keep up

the good work, and here’s to a fu-

ture filled with really, really hard

weeks.

Angela left the Trib to work as a reporter at the

New York Post, and recently accepted a position to

manage public relations for the New York Public

Library.

2004: Angela Montefinise

killing 35 pedestrians in three years,

it was dubbed the “Boulevard of

Death” by local headlines.

The plan’s main strategy called for

the use of red light cameras to deter

speeding motorists from crossing in-

tersections at the worst possible mo-

ment. The plan also added a three-

foot metal fence to the middle of the

boulevard, and performed engineer-

ing studies that would increase safety

at the borough’s most dangerous in-

tersections.

In the time since, Queens Boule-

vard has yet to lose its stigma as one

of the City’s biggest pedestrian killers,

though numbers can attest to its in-

creased safety. While the three-year

mid-90s stretch saw 35 pedestrians

killed, only five died between 2005 and

2007.

Cars have become faster, and the

streets are more crowded from an

increase in commercial and resi-

dential development. But increased

traffic enforcement, red light cam-

eras, and a barrier stretching along

nearly the entire boulevard have

helped lower the number of fatali-

ties.

And there are, of course, the ever-

present large yellow signs, offering a

grizzly reminder: “A pedestrian was

killed crossing here. Be alert. Cross

with care.”

A new set of roaming targets have

recently begun using the boulevard:

cyclists. With increased eco-aware-

ness and high gas prices, more New

Yorkers are using their bikes to get

around. And what better thorough-

fare than Queens Boulevard, which

slices across the borough near its cen-

ter?

Efforts to implement bike lanes to

increase safety, however, have failed.

In the 1990’s, Queens Boulevard received the notorious nickname of “Boule-

vard of Death” because of the number of pedestrians killed while crossing the

busy 12-lane thoroughfare.

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Preserving Character:

BY JOSEPH OROVIC

June 16, 2004: Mayor Mike

Bloomberg set zoning reform in mo-

tion with a surprise announcement on

the steps of Borough Hall.

“The longer we go without zoning

review,” he said, “the harder it is to

stop a process of neighborhood char-

acter change that nobody wants.”

A slew of out-of-character develop-

ment was flooding the residential areas

of the borough, with Queens’ suburban

neighborhoods watching McMansions

explode across their area. The answer

was a new R2A designation, which

sought to keep smaller residential areas

free of multi-story behemoths.

Bayside stood as the battleground for

the new R2A zoning, as its Councilman

Tony Avella (D-Bayside) spearheaded

To R2 or Not To R2 Becomes Boro Question

The construction of out-of-character

homes led to an urgent call for mas-

sive rezoning.

As the untested, know-nothing

reporter I was when I began here, I

made more than my share of mis-

takes. I was the sort of rookie reporter

(from suburban Chicago, no less!)

whose profound lack of experience

and practical knowledge would be

hard to top. Before I met Mike

Schenkler at his office for a job in-

terview, I had only set foot in Queens

to board airplanes.

I might slip in a kind word or

two about Schenkler and the scrappy,

vibrant, hardnosed news operation

he has sustained for three decades

with a rotating menagerie of weird

newsroom creatures and oddball

rookies like me.

After a two-year stint at the Tribune, Aaron left to be come an online editor for the Wall Street

Journal, a post he has held for the last five years.

2005: Aaron Rutkoff

Of course, there were many days

when Schenkler played grand inquisi-

tor or unflappable skeptic - a role he

clearly loves - peppering me with

pointed questions at high volume to

expose the shortcomings of my work.

And on those days, if I had the energy

to do more than mutter afterwards, I

probably didn't say too many nice

things about the man.

But there is a method to the mad-

ness at the Queens Tribune, a system

that makes the newspaper and those

who work for it so strong. To enter

the labyrinth of Queens and learn as

you go, to deal with Mike Schenkler

every day and write a story that sur-

vives his scrutiny, to face and eventu-

ally meet the high demands of this

job - these are the geologic pressures

that create a dynamic newspaper and

transform know-nothing turds like

me into journalistic diamonds.

Well, maybe not diamonds -

maybe some sort of semi-precious

gem. But you get the idea: rookie re-

porters here start out as costume jew-

elry - real fakes, like I was - and end

up becoming the genuine article.

I am sure life at the Trib has car-

ried on without me and things have

been much the same after I left. I

know this, though: I'll never be the

same after working here. Thanks

for taking a risk on a rookie like

me.

the reform from his Zoning Subcom-

mittee chair. The designation faced ini-

tial doubts by residents and Commu-

nity Board 11. Their objections, at best,

would be mitigated to an advisory role.

The new designation was ultimately

approved, and set off a slew of

rezonings. In just over a year after

Bloomberg’s announced support of re-

zoning, five neighborhoods - Bayside,

Springfield Gardens, Kissena Park,

Cambria Heights and East Flushing -

all fell under the auspices of the new

designation.

But the timing of Bloomberg’s an-

nouncement called into question his

sincerity. A large block of voters would

be pleased by a Mayor actively seek-

ing to address their issues. But many,

like the Queens Civic Congress, fought

for follow-through on the

administration’s part.

The rezoning itself proved some-

what effective in stymieing overdevel-

opment, though variances and en-

forcement continue to be common

complaints.


SUPREME COURT OF THESTATE OF NEW YORKCOUNTY OF QUEENS IndexNo.: 23064/09 Date Sum-mons F i l ed : 08/26/2009Plaintiff designates QueensCounty as the place of trialThe basis of venue is: CPLRsection 509 AMENDED SUM-MONS WITH NOTICE plain-tiff resides at: 621 53rd StreetBrooklyn, NY 11220-2811Gui l i ng Chen P la in t i f f , -against- Jiazheng Chen De-fendant. ACTION FOR A DI-VORCE To the above namedDefendant YOU ARE HEREBYSUMMONED to serve a no-tice of appearance on thePlaintiff’s Attorney(s) withintwenty (20) days after theservice of this summons, ex-clusive of the day of service(or within thirty (30) daysafter the service is completeif this summons is not per-sonally delivered to you withinthe State of New York); andin case of your failure to ap-pear, judgment will be takenagainst you by default for therelief demanded in the no-tice set forth below. Dated:December 4, 2009 Ameri-can Law Groups , PLLCAt to rney ( s ) fo r P l a in t i f fZhijun Liu, Esq. Address: 136-17 39th Avenue, Suite 3GFlushing, NY 11354 PhoneNO.: (718) 395-8899 NO-TICE: The nature of this ac-tion is to dissolve the mar-riage between the parties,on the grounds: **DRL ‘170subd. (4)- Abandonment Therelief sought is a judgment ofabsolute divorce in favor ofthe Plaintiff dissolving themarriage between the par-ties in this action. The natureof any ancillary or additionalrelief demanded is: 1. ThePlaintiff has full custody ofthe infant issue, Jodie Chen(born on June 17, 2007, ofthe marriage. 2. The Defen-dant shall pay basic child sup-port._____________________________________________________________________Notice is hereby given thatan Order entered by the CivilCourt, Queens County on 2/3/09, bearing Index NumberNC-001237-10/QU, a copyof which may be examined atthe Office of the Clerk, lo-cated at 89-17 Sutphin Blvd.,Jamaica, NY 11435, grantsme the right to: Assume thename of (First) Ericca (Middle)Tatiana (Last) Johnson Mypresent name is (First) Ericca(Midd le ) Ta t i ana ( Las t )Ingraham aka Ericca TatianaJohnson, aka Ericca JohnsonMy present address is 111-15200th Street, Saint Albans,NY 11412 My place of birth isBrooklyn, NY My date of birthis May 29, 1987_____________________________________________________________________Not i ce o f fo rmat ion o fS INGINGROOSTER , LLC .Articles of Organization filedwith the Secretary of State ofNew York SSNY on January4, 2010. Office located inAlbany. SSNY has been des-ignated for service of pro-cess. SSNY shall mail a copyof any process served againstSINGINGROOSTER, LLC 41-08 Greenpo in t Ave .Sunnyside, NY 11104. Pur-pose: Restaurant_____________________________________________________________________Notice is hereby given thatan Order entered by the CivilCourt, Queens County on 3/10/10, bearing Index Num-

ber NC-000131-10/QU, acopy of which may be exam-ined at the Office of the Clerk,located at 89-17 Sutphin Blvd.,Jamaica, NY 11435, grantsme the right to: Assume thename of (First) Amel (Last)Chader My present name is(First) Amel (Last) CherifatiMy present address is 105-15101st Road, Ozone Park, NY11416 My place of birth isAlgeria My date of birth isMarch 18, 1971_____________________________________________________________________Notice is hereby given that anOrder entered by the CivilCourt, Queens County on 11/24/09, bearing Index Num-ber NC-001093-09/QU, acopy of which may be exam-ined at the Office of the Clerk,located at 89-17 Sutphin Blvd.,Jamaica, NY 11435, grants methe right to: Assume the nameof (First) Manveer (Last) SinghMy present name is (First)Shivdeep (Last) Singh Mypresent address is 76-27 85th

Road, Woodhaven, NY 11421My place of birth is India Mydate of birth is 6/10/1990_____________________________________________________________________Notice is hereby given thatan Order entered by the CivilCourt, Queens County on 3/4/10, bearing Index NumberNC-000083-10/QU, a copyof which may be examined atthe Office of the Clerk, lo-cated at 89-17 Sutphin Blvd.,Jamaica, NY 11435, grantsme the right to: Assume thename o f ( F i r s t ) Wenq i(Middle) Annie (Last) OuyangMy present name is (First)Fe i yang ( Las t ) Zang Mypresent address is 80-09 35th

Avenue, Apt # D-10, JacksonHeights, NY 11372 My placeof birth is China My date ofbirth is October 23, 1991_____________________________________________________________________Notice is hereby given thatan Order entered by the CivilCourt, Queens County on 3/16/10, bearing Index Num-ber NC-000144-10/QU, acopy of which may be exam-ined at the Office of the Clerk,located at 89-17 Sutphin Blvd.,Jamaica, NY 11435, grantsme the right to: Assume thename o f ( F i r s t ) George(Midd le ) Cha im (Las t )Chaimov My present name is(First) George (Last) ChaimovMy present address is 150-5677th Road, F lush ing , NY11367 My place of birth isRussia My date of birth isFebruary 02, 1973_____________________________________________________________________Not ice o f Format ion o fQueens 111-02 LLC. Art. ofOrg. filed Secy. of State of NY(SSNY) on 01/06/2010. Of-fice location: Queens County.SSNY Designated as agent ofLLC upon whom processagainst it may be served. SSNYshall mail copy of process to:The LLC, 111-02 NorthernBlvd., Flushing, NY 11368.Purpose: any lawful activity._____________________________________________________________________

Notice of Formation of AristaPhysical Therapy WellnessPLLC, a professional servicel imi ted l iab i l i ty company(PLLC). Arts. of Org. filed withSecy. of State of NY (SSNY) on3/3/10 . Of f ice locat ion :Queens County. SSNY desig-nated as agent of PLLC uponwhom process against it maybe served. SSNY shall mailprocess to: 30-16 30th Drive,Astoria, NY 11102. Purpose:

practice the profession ofphysical therapy._____________________________________________________________________Notice of Formation of IRD3LLC, a domestic LLC. Arts. ofOrg. filed with the SSNY on02/18/2010. Office location:Queens County. SSNY hasbeen designated as agentupon whom process againstthe LLC may be served. SSNYshall mail a copy of process to:The LLC, 103-11 120 Street,Richmond Hill, NY 11419. RegAgent: Kissoonlall Ramkaran,103-11 120 Street, RichmondHill, NY 11419. Purpose: AnyLawful Purpose._____________________________________________________________________SUMMONS AND NOTICEOF OBJECT OF ACTIONSTATE OF NEW YORK SU-PREME COURT: COUNTYOF QUEENS ACTION TOFORECLOSE A MORTGAGEINDEX NO. : 32284/09CITIMORTGAGE, INC. SUC-CESSOR BY MERGER TOABN AMRO MORTGAGEGROUP, INC. Plaintiff, vs.S U R E N D R A NKANAGALINGAM, JESILDAK A N A G A L I N G A M ,Defendant(s). MORTGAGEDPREMISES : 3105 74THSTREET, EAST ELMHURST,NY 11370 SBL #: BLOCK1145 - LOT 29 TO THE ABOVENAMED DEFENDANT: Youare hereby summoned toanswer the Complaint in thisaction, and to serve a copy ofyour answer, or, if the Com-plaint is not served with thisSummons, to serve a noticeo f appearance , on thePlaintiff(s) attorney(s) withintwenty days after the serviceof this Summons, exclusiveof the day of service (or within30 days after the service iscomplete if this Summons isnot personally delivered toyou within the State of NewYork). In case of your failureto appear or answer, judg-ment will be taken againstyou by default for the reliefdemanded in the Complaint.The Attorney for Plaintiff hasan office for business in theCounty of Erie. Trial to beheld in the County of Queens.The basis of the venue desig-nated above is the location ofthe Mortgaged Premises .Dated this 11th day of March,2010, Steven J. Baum, P.C., Attorney(s) For Plaintiff(s),220 Northpointe Parkway,Suite G, Amherst, NY 14228 TO: SURENDRANKANAGALINGAM andJESILDA KANAGALINGAM,Defendant(s) In this Action.The foregoing Summons isserved upon you by publica-tion, pursuant to an order ofHON. JOSEPH G. GOLIA ofthe Supreme Court of theState of New York, dated the5th day of March, 2010 andfiled with the Complaint inthe Office of the QueensCounty Clerk, in the City ofJamaica. The object of thisaction is to foreclose a mort-gage upon the premises de-scribed below, executed byS U R E N D R A NKANAGALINGAM andJESILDA KANAGALINGAMdated the 4th day of April,1995, to secure the sum of$178,000.00, and recordedat Liber 4111 of Mortgagesat Page 2426 in the Office ofthe Clerk of the County ofQueens, on the 24th day ofApril, 1995; which mortgage

was duly assigned by assign-ment dated the 27th day ofDecember, 2001, and re-corded on the 6th day ofJune, 2002, in the Office ofthe Clerk of Queens Countyat Liber 6415, Page 1160;the plaintiff is also holder ofa mortgage in the amount of$112,972.51 executed byS U R E N D R A NKANAGALINGAM andJESILDA KANAGALINGAMwhich mor tgage was re -corded June 6, 2002, Book/Page: 6415/1164, County(or City Register of): Queens;the mortgage was subse-quently modified or consoli-dated with the mortgage re-f e r red to in Book/Page :411112426 by a Consolida-tion, Extension and Modifi-cation Agreement executedby SURENDRANKANAGALINGAM andJESILDA KANAGALINGAMon the 6th day of June, 2002in Book/Page: 6415/1177 toform a s ingle l ien in theamount of $277,000.00; theplaintiff is also holder of amortgage in the amount of$9 ,019 .22 execu ted byS U R E N D R A NKANAGALINGAM andJESILDA KANAGALINGAMwhich mor tgage was re -corded January 4, 2006, In-s t rument Number :2006000003395, County (orCity Register of): Queens;the mortgage was subse-quently modified or consoli-dated with the mortgagesreferred to in Book/Page:6415/1177 by a Consolida-tion, Extension and Modifi-cation Agreement executedby SURENDRANKANAGALINGAM andJESILDA KANAGALINGAMon the 4th day of January,2006 under Instrument Num-ber: 2006000003396 to forma single lien in the amount of$274,600.00. The propertyin question is described asfollows: 3105 74TH STREET,EAST ELMHURST, NY 11370SEE FOLLOWING DESCRIP-TION Block 1145 and Lot 29ALL that certain plot, pieceor parcel of land, with thebuildings and improvementsthereon erected, situate, ly-ing and being in the Borougho f Queens , County o fQueens~ City and State ofNew York, bounded and de-scribed as follows: BEGIN-NING at a point on the East-erly side of 74th Street dis-tant 421 feet Northerly fromthe corner formed by theintersection of the Easterlyside of 74th Street with theNortherly side of 32nd Av-enue as said Street and Av-enue are shown on the FinalTopographical Map of theCity of New York for Bor-ough of Queens; RUNNINGTHENCE Easterly parallel with32nd A venue and part of thedistance through a party wall,100 feet; THENCE Northerlyparallel with 74th Street 22feet; THENCE Westerly againparallel with 32nd Avenueand part of the dis tancethrough a party wall, 100 feetto the Easterly side of 74thStreet; THENCE Southerlyalong the Easterly of 74thStreet 22 feet to the point orplace of BEGINNING. Pre-mises known as 3105 74thStreet, East Elmhurst, NewYork HELP FOR

HOMEOWNERS IN FORE-CLOSURE NEW YORKSTATE LAW REQUIRES THATWE SEND YOU THIS NOTICEABOUT THE FORECLOSUREPROCESS. PLEASE READ ITCAREFULLY . SUMMONSAND COMPLAINT YOU AREIN DANGER OF LOSINGYOUR HOME. IF YOU FAILTO RESPOND TO THE SUM-MONS AND COMPLAINT INTHIS FORECLOSURE AC-T ION, YOU MAY LOSEYOUR HOME. PLEASE READTHE SUMMONS AND COM-PLAINT CAREFULLY. YOUSHOULD IMMEDIATELYCONTACT AN ATTORNEYOR YOUR LOCAL LEGAL AIDOFFICE TO OBTAIN ADVICEON HOW TO PROTECTYOURSELF. SOURCES OFINFORMATION AND ASSIS-TANCE The state encouragesyou to become informedabout your options in fore-closure. In addition to seek-ing assistance from an attor-ney or legal aid office, thereare government agenciesand non-profit organizationsthat you may contact for infor-mation about possible op-tions, including trying to workwith your lender during thisprocess. To locate an entitynear you, you may call the toll-free helpline maintained bythe New York State BankingDepartment at 1-877-BANK-NYS (1-877-226-5697) or visitthe department’s website atWWW.BANKING.STATE.NY.US.FORECLOSURE RESCUESCAMS Be careful of peoplewho approach you with offersto “save” your home. Thereare individuals who watch fornotices of foreclosure actionsin order to unfairly profit froma homeowner’s distress. Youshould be extremely carefulabout any such promises andany suggestions that you paythem a fee or sign over yourdeed. State law requires any-one offering such servicesfor profit to enter into a con-tract which fully describesthe services they will per-fo rm and fees they w i l lcharge, and which prohibitsthem from taking any moneyfrom you until they have com-pleted all such promised ser-vices. § 1303 NOTICE NO-TICE YOU ARE IN DANGEROF LOSING YOUR HOME Ifyou do not respond to thissummons and complaint byserving a copy of the answeron the attorney for the mort-gage company who filed thisfo rec losu re p roceed ingagainst you and filing theanswer with the court, a de-fault judgment may be en-tered and you can lose yourhome. Speak to an attorneyor go to the court where yourcase is pending for furtherinformation on how to an-swer the summons and pro-tect your property. Sendinga payment to your mortgagecompany will not stop thisfo rec losure ac t ion . YOUMUST RESPOND BY SERV-ING A COPY OF THE AN-SWER ON THE ATTORNEYFOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORT-GAGE COMPANY) AND FIL-ING THE ANSWER WITHTHE COURT. DATED: March11, 2010 Steven J. Baum,P .C . , A t to rney ( s ) Fo rPlaintiff(s), 220 NorthpointeParkway, Suite G, Amherst,NY 14228 The law firm of

Steven J. Baum, P.C. and theattorneys whom it employsare debt collectors who areattempting to collect a debt.Any information obtained bythem will be used for thatpurpose._____________________________________________________________________Notice of formation of NewYork Strategies, LLC Arts. ofOrg. filed with the Sect’y ofState of NY (SSNY) on 3/1/2010 Office location, Countyof Queens. The street ad-d ress i s : 174 -15 HoraceHarding Expwy; Fresh Mead-ows, NY 11365. SSNY hasbeen designated as agent ofthe LLC upon whom processagainst it may be served.SSNY sha l l ma i l p rocessserved to: The LLC, 174-15,Horace Harding Expwy, FreshMeadows, NY 11365 Pur-pose: Any lawful act._____________________________________________________________________Name: ZEIF HOLDINGS, LLCArt. Of Org. Filed Sec. OfState of NY 02/12/10. Off.Loc.: Queens Co. SSNY des-ignated as agent upon whomprocess against it may beserved. SSNY to mail copy ofprocess to THE LLC, 223-3956 th S t ree t , Bays ide , NY11364. Purpose: Any lawfulact or activity._____________________________________________________________________Notice is hereby given thatan Order entered by the CivilCourt, Queens County onthe 4th day of March, 2010,bearing Index Number 87/2010, a copy of which may beexamined at the Office of theC le rk , loca ted a t 89 -17Sutphin Blvd., Jamaica, N.Y.11435-3710 in room 357grants me the right to As-sume the name of: Apple(F i r s t ) Mahmud (midd le )Khan (last) My present namei s : Mohammad App leMahmud Khan My presentaddress is: 194-10 Hollis AveSt. Albans, N.Y. 11412 Myplace of birth is BangladeshMy date of birth is August 22,1978_____________________________________________________________________Notice is hereby given thatan Order entered by the CivilCourt, Queens County on 1/26/10, bearing Index Num-ber NC-001197-09/QU, acopy of which may be exam-ined at the Office of the Clerk,located at 89-17 Sutphin Blvd.,Jamaica, NY 11435, grantsme the right to: Assume thename o f ( F i r s t ) Hanseu l(Middle) Susan (Last) Chae-Schmocker My present nameis (First) Han Sul (Last) Choiaka Hanseul Susan Choi Mypresent address is 198-2332nd Avenue, Flushing, NY11358 My place of birth isSeoul, Korea My date of birthis May 03, 1973_____________________________________________________________________Notice is hereby given thatan Order entered by the CivilCourt, Queens County on 3/10/10, bearing Index Num-ber NC-000132-10/QU, acopy of which may be exam-ined at the Office of the Clerk,located at 89-17 Sutphin Blvd.,Jamaica, NY 11435, grantsme the right to: Assume thename of (First) Anjika (Last)Fr iedman- Jha My presentname is (First) Anjali (Last)F r iedman- Jha ( in fant ) Mypresent address i s 64-33211th Street, Oakland Gar-dens, NY 11364 My place ofbirth is NewYork NY Mydate of birth is April 09, 2002P

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March 25-31, 2010 T

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After leaving the Trib and stints at the New York Press and the

New York Sun, Azi has settled in to be one of the most prolific

political bloggers in New York at the Observer’s Politicker.

Downfall Of A Leader:2006: Azi Paybarah

FBI Raids Brian

McLaughlin’s Offices One of the first things I was told

about contributing something for the

40th Anniversary for the Queens Tri-

bune is that I’ve missed my deadline.

Perfect.

When I first walked into the Tribune’s

office in 2003, I interrupted the editor

who asked me why I thought I wanted

to be a reporter. “I KNOW I want to be

a reporter,” I informed her, and then

let her finish her question. She then

walked me into Michael Schenkler’s

large corner office. I hadn’t read the

paper before the interview, but did

glance at one of his columns which

spoke about this friendship and sup-

port for Gary Ackerman. Only later was

I to realize how often that sentiment

ran in his weekly columns.

I was walked over to a desk and

told I had 10 minutes to write a story

based off a press release from the

mayor’s office. It was about cleaning

up Queens Plaza. I was nervous, wrote

a sentence, erased a sentence, and did

that for about eight minutes.

Schenkler walked by my desk, un-

plugged my computer monitor and

walked away. What a test! I plugged

it back in, ignored the polite intro-

duction from another reporter sitting

next to me who didn’t know I was au-

ditioning for my dream job and

nearly decked the assistant editor who

walked over to me, introduced him-

self and told me my time was up.

I carried my computer disk (no

emailing this stuff) to that first edi-

tor, and told her not to bother read-

ing it, since I only wrote one sentence.

She said, to my surprise, I had passed

the first part of the test: hand in what-

ever you have ON TIME. Your edi-

tor can work with it if you have time.

I went home knowing I’d failed

and starting drinking and plotting

my way to journalism school. Before

crying myself to sleep, I got a phone

call from someone at the newspaper.

Could I start tomorrow?

I did, and rarely missed a day in

my three years there. I didn’t always

agree with Schenkler on his news

judgment and editorials. He hated

some of the stories I wrote. I hated

how much I got paid. But I got in

early and stayed late and tried learn-

ing how not to mess up as much as

the week before.

Only after working at an alt-weekly

(New York Press), a daily (The New York

Sun) and a niche on-line weekly-hy-

brid (New York Observer and The

Politicker) did I realize that I learned

how to do all those different kinds of

writing at the Trib.

I still haven’t forgiven Schenkler

for being more right than me.

BY DOMENICK RAFTER

March 2, 2006: Federal officials

raided the Flushing office of Assem-

blyman Brian McLaughlin (D-Flush-

ing) and the Manhattan offices of the

Central Labor Council, New York

City’s arm of the AFL-CIO of which

McLaughlin serves as President.

McLaughlin’s office, on

Depot Road across from the

Broadway LIRR station was

raided early in the morning

on March 2 in an apparent

investigation into

McLaughlin’s involvement in

rigging the bidding process

for the City’s electrical con-

tracts. McLaughlin held a

leadership position in Local

3, the International Brother-

hood of Electrical Workers,

which dealt mostly with street-

lighting, a position McLaughlin is ac-

cused of using to deliver lucrative con-

tracts to his favored companies.

McLaughlin announced he would not

seek another term in November just a

few weeks ago.

McLaughlin didn’t face charges

until months later, but his powerful

position within the county Democratic

Party and as head of the Central La-

bor Council proved to be a temporary

black eye for the borough’s Democrats

and labor supporters. McLaughlin re-

signed as President of the Central La-

bor County in October 2006 and left

the State Assembly seat he had held

for nearly 14 years a few months later.

McLaughlin’s overwhelmingly

Democratic district that

stretches from Whitestone to

Richmond Hill was never re-

ally in jeopardy of being lost

to the Republicans. His suc-

cessor, Rory Lancman, won

both the primary and general

elections by astronomical

margins despite Republicans

trying to tie him to

McLaughlin. McLaughlin

had previously run unop-

posed in five of his seven

campaigns.

McLaughlin later pleaded guilty

and was sentenced to 10 years in

prison in May, 2009. He proved to

be important to snagging other cor-

rupt off ic ials in the borough.

McLaughlin was named as a secret

witness in federal probe into influ-

ence-peddling by Assemblyman An-

thony Seminerio (D-Richmond Hill)

that forced him out of office in 2009.

Brian

McLaughlin

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A New City Grows:

Willets Point Makeover

Finally Gets Approval

Ellen served as an editor at the Long-Islander Newspapers

and then attended Northwestern University’s Medill School

of Journalism for a master’s degree in magazine editing. She

is now a contributing writer for culture and lifestyle maga-

zines including Inked, NYLON and NYLON Guys.

2007: Ellen Thompson

I’ll never forget Mrs. Gomez’s

scent.

It was while I was covering the

crime beat that I met Gomez. My

editor at the time, Brian Rafferty,

had assigned me to create a series on

soldiers who had been killed in Iraq.

Each time a report came in from the

Department of Defense that a

Queens soldier had been killed, I

would pin down their family’s ad-

dress and head out. Looking back,

I’m not sure what got me to my feet,

except for the slim chance that I’d

be able to shine a light on what the

war was doing to our neighbors and

possibly bring a sense of closure to

those families affected.

I showed up at Gomez’s house in

Corona not sure if I would make it

through the front door. One: I was al-

ways nervous when I approached the

homes of fallen soldiers, and Gomez

had just lost her 23-year-old son, Jose.

Two: there were already a team of re-

porters beating down the door.

But once inside, I made my way

to the weeping mother. Her English

was not as strong as she would have

liked it to be so she had another rela-

tive translate for her. At this point, I

learned that Gomez, who worked

long hours in a perfume factory to

support her family, had not known

her son was on a tour. She believed

he was in Texas receiving training

and schooling, at least that is what

he would tell her.

While the other reporters in her

cramped home were surrounding a

photo of Jose and talking to other

relatives, Gomez led me towards her

son’s bedroom. She explained how

everything was kept exactly how Jose

had left it and wanted it upon his

return. The tears welled in her eyes

as she pointed out each prized pos-

session. And then she turned and

hugged me; her face nestled on my

shoulder, tears seeping into my

jacket. In an attempt to gain my com-

posure I took a deep breath.

I knew I was there for a person in

need.

BY JOSEPH

OROVIC

Nov. 13, 2008:

The Willets Point

Redeve lopment

Plan gained the

approval of a

former opponent,

allowing it to pass

the City Council

and setting into

motion a contro-

versial makeover

of the Iron Tri -

angle.

The thumbs-up

from City Council-

man Hiram

Monserrate (D-Co-

rona) opened the door to a full City take-

over of the land, whether it be through

negotiated acquisition with private own-

ers, or eminent domain.

Willets Point had been the focus

of numerous revitalization rumors

until Mayor Mike Bloomberg had

eyed the area soon into his tenure.

The City substantiated a need to re-

v i ta l ize the area by deeming i t

“blighted,” conditions opponents of

the plan sa id were the local

government’s own doing.

The redevelopment calls for a mix

of residential, commercial and educa-

tional uses, as well as park space. The

Economic Development Corporation

estimates it will inject $25 billion over

its first 30 years.

The City’s plan stuck in the craw

of local business owners, who said

the approval process overlooked

their companies and workers. Many

faced relocation deals they said

hurt bus iness , as the c lus ter of

shops fed off the sharing of cus-

tomers.

The plan also attempted to retrain

a workforce of auto techs via a joint

venture with LaGuardia Community

College, with mixed results.

But it was the City’s potential use

of eminent domain to overtake the

land of “stalwart” landowners that

promised a lengthy legal battle.

Still, the EDC has started prelimi-

nary infrastructural work on the rede-

velopment plan and maintains it is

actively negotiating with the Iron

Triangle’s business owners.

A rendering of a reborn Willets Point across from the new

Citi Field.

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Citywide Asian Voice:

Liu Wins, Crossing Another Hurdle

BY JOSEPH OROVIC

Nov. 3, 2009: John Liu became the

first Asian-American to hold citywide

office when he defeated sparse Repub-

lican opposition in the race to be the

City Comptroller.

The victory added to a list of firsts

that included being the first Asian

American elected to any City office.

After first winning a seat on the City

Council in 2001, Liu held office for two

terms, serving as Chairman of the

Transportation Committee and over-

seeing a bevy of changes big and small

in his district of Flushing.

Among the largest changes was the

creation of Flushing’s Business Im-

provement District, a much sought-af-

ter concept to help the neighborhood’s

businesses grow and collaborate.

Liu used his position on the Trans-

portation Committee to also work with

the Dept. of Transportation in an ef-

fort to mitigate Downtown Flushing’s

traffic nightmares. The plan recently

fell through, as it was scrapped by the

DOT.

Liu’s election opened the flood-

gates to a host of Asian-American citi-

zens both running and holding seats

within the district. Both Ellen Young

and Grace Meng followed Liu’s elec-

tion to the Assembly seat that mirrors

his district (albeit they followed Jimmy

Meng as the first Asian Americans to

hold state office). Pharmaceutical mag-

nate Peter Koo eventually took Liu’s

seat.

After deciding to forgo the third

term the Council offered itself, public

debate opened over which Citywide

seat Liu would fill – Public Advocate

or Comptroller. The former actuary

chose the latter.

In a Democratic primary that fea-

tured three members of the Council’s

Queens delegation – David Weprin,

Melinda Katz and Liu – the race

came down to a runoff between

Flushing’s counci lman and

Brooklyn’s David Yassky. Liu pulled

through a run-off victory and cruised

to an easy Election Day win, begin-

ning tenure as Comptroller still in its

infancy today.

Werner went from the Tribune to Politicker.com, the New York Observer’s politics Web site. She

has been a researcher for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart since May.

2 0 0 8 : J uliet W erner

As a reporter at the Queens Tri bune

I was privy to a fair number of inter-

views. At a certain point, I realized

that Brian Rafferty was greeting ev-

ery candidate with the same standard

question: “You find us okay?” I came

to suspect that it was Brian’s way of

simultaneously offering a pleasantry

and gauging a person’s sense of di-

rection.

I don’t know what I expected my

first day at the Tribune to be like, but

I don’t think I expected to be sent out

on a story as soon as I set foot in the

door. A Brooklyn resident, I was com-

pletely new to the borough. And so

when Brian told me he had a story

for me, my first thought was – how

will I find it?

I still remember my relief when he

led me to the back of the office and

pointed through the venetian blinds

to show me where I was headed:

Francis Lewis High School, visible just

beyond the Tribune parking lot. Out

on assignment, covering the JROTC

reviewing ceremony, I met John Liu,

then a Flushing councilman, now the

City Comptroller.

As I wandered the sports field in

the hot June sun, shaking hands

and taking notes, I honed in on the

story I wanted to tell. It wasn’t just

about this thriving subculture and

its award-winning

drill team; it was

about a graduating

senior en route to West Point and

his mother who was experiencing

a mixture of pride and nervous-

ness.

As a reporter you don’t always

know immediately where you re go-

ing the instant you start. While at the

Tribune, I learned the value of plow-

ing ahead. In the process, I filled

notebooks, I fil led gas tanks, I

learned the difference between the

Grand Central and Jackie Robinson

Parkways. And it was fun. Happy

40th.

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BY JOSEPH OROVIC

May 15, 2009: Swine flu claimed its

first victim within Queens’ borders. As-

sistant Principal Mitchell Weiner of IS

238 in Hollis died of the disease just as

it temporarily paralyzed large chunks

of the borough’s educational system.

The virus left the City’s healthcare pro-

viders scrambling to buffer what

could’ve been a major outbreak of the

Peter Sloggatt is Associate Publisher of Queens Tribune’s sister

group, Long Islander Newspapers in Huntington, NY, publish-

ers of: The Long Islander, The Record, Northport Journal and Half

Hollow Hills Newspaper; as well as publications for the legal in-

dustry: Queens Bar Bulletin, Brooklyn Barrister, New York County

Lawyer, Attorney of Nassau County and Suffolk Lawyer.

Outbreak Epicenter:

2009: Peter Sloggatt

Swine Flu Panics Borough’s Families

I suspect that the majority of those

sharing memories for this special an-

niversary edition are recalling their

earliest days in journalism. Not me. I

came to the Tribune a seasoned old-

timer. Actually, it was more like I

transitioned in, having been “ac-

quired” in 2006 when the Tribune’s par-

ent company purchased a Huntington,

L.I.-based chain of weeklies whose

flagship paper, The Long-Islander, was

started by Walt Whitman in 1838.

My career with The Long-Islander

went back 20-plus years, a figure I’ve

been throwing out there for so many

years it must be nearing 30 by now.

When the papers’ acquisition was still

in the negotiation stage, I met pub-

lisher Mike Schenkler for lunch and

showed him around downtown Hun-

tington. A gem of a village on Long

Island’s North Shore, Huntington is

the capital of the Island’s cultural

scene, with a vibrant downtown filled

with shops, restaurants, and, well…

more restaurants.

Mike had been looking to expand

the Tribune’s operations; The Long Is-

lander was on the market. Its long his-

tory and the Walt Whitman legacy

caught his eye, but I suspect it was

those first visits to downtown Hunting-

ton that sealed the deal. Huntington

is a place where you can’t walk the

streets without seeing someone you

know. You can’t help but love the

charming shops, the small-town atmo-

sphere, and, oh, all those restaurants.

We had our roles, Mike and I. Mine

was closer to the one Walt Whitman

played in 1839 when he would gather

the news, write the stories, compose

the type and strike copies one sheet at

a time on a hand press.

But Walt Whitman hardly consid-

ered himself old-fashioned. He was a

trend-setter who challenged conven-

tion. He was an innovator. And it was

that side of Walt Whitman that Michael

brought to our relationship. He intro-

duced our black and white weeklies to

the world of color with the launch of a

then-largely-unknown virus.

An onslaught of swine flu cases be-

gan popping up around Queens, which

had become the outbreak’s epicenter.

St. Francis Preparatory School drew

widespread attention, as hundreds of

students had been reported to have flu-

like symptoms. PS 177 followed suit as

40 teachers and 80 students called in

sick in a single day.

The Mayor’s response garnered

criticism. He encouraged New Yorkers

to continue with their daily lives and

to stay home only if they felt the bug

coming on. Eventually, the City im-

proved its methods, offering flu shots

to all City school children in following

academic year.

The City’s Dept. of Health esti-

mated 750,000 to 1,000,000 residents

came down with the flu that spring.

The outbreak also outlined the bor-

ough health system’s inability to

handle major events. Hospitals were

flooded with angst-ridden patients,

wondering if they were infected. It also

underscored “safety net” Jamaica

Hospital’s viability in such a situation,

in a borough that had three major hos-

pitals close in the prior nine months.

themed, monthly news magazine,

Long Islander LIfe. Today we print in

color every week. And realizing that

Huntington is clearly a town of

foodies, he pushed us to launch the

Foodie section, featuring news and

reviews we now call the dining capital

of Long Island.

If Walt Whitman were alive today

he surely would be Twittering and

keeping friends up to date through

Facebook. Indeed, social media was a

big part of another Long Islander

project, DineHuntington Restaurant

Week which was launched to rave re-

views last October.

Walt Whitman’s distinct personal-

ity traits have found a balance in the

newspaper he founded 172 years ago.

It’s not unlike the balance that exists

between a group of suburban weeklies

and the largest circulation weekly in

the most diverse and vibrant borough

in New York City.

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