Pride on Display

Did we catch you at the 25th Annual Bronx Puerto Rican Day Parade? See our photos of the festivities. 

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New Bronx Family Feud?

100 PERCENT

By Robert Press

Martinez for The 78^th Assembly Seat

The Chairman of the Committee of 100 Democrats, State Committeeman from the 78^th A.D., and our good friend Mr. Ricardo “Ricky” Martinez has announced that he will be running for the 78^th Assembly Seat. This was found out by us at the Bronx Puerto Rican Day parade when current 78^th Assemblyman Jose Rivera snubbed his State Committeeman to photograph his daughter's opponent Mr. Mark Gjonaj in the 80^th Assembly race while Mr. Gjonaj was speaking to the crowd. 

We spoke to candidate Ricardo “Ricky” Martinez to find out exactly why he decided to run this year against a man who he called at one time his mentor. Mr. Martinez said that his friendship with Assemblyman Rivera goes back to when he used to go out with the assemblyman's daughter now Assemblywoman Rivera. Mr. Martinez said that while he and many others have been very loyal to the assemblyman that the assemblyman has not as proven by his actions, the latest being redistricting his son Councilman Joel Rivera into the 78^th Assembly District so Jose can pass the assembly seat down to his son when his son is out of a job in 2013. Candidate Martinez continued that the the 78^th A.D. is not a kingdom that gets passed down to the next generation.

Many people and political insiders have said that they thought Ricardo “Ricky” Martinez would run for the assembly seat in 2010, and have encouraged him to run this year. Now that word is getting out that he is running, Martinez said that his support is growing every day. Candidate Ricardo “Ricky” Martinez said that Assemblyman Rivera knew that he wanted to run in 2010, but that he was diagnosed with an early stage of cancer that he has survived and is now ready to run for the assembly seat. By the way Rivera, who we were told is 75, allegedly has health problems so it would be easy for him to say that he has to retire in midterm so his son could run in a special election. However if that were to happen we have been told that there is another person close to the current Democratic County Leader (that took control of the county leadership away from Rivera) who was redistricted out of the 78^th A.D., but has moved back into the new 78^th A.D. and could be waiting for such an opportunity.

Ricardo “Ricky” Martinez is running on a platform of “The Community and the People First.” Mr. Martinez, unlike the current assemblyman, is in favor of term limits for all elected positions. “If there are term limits for the President and the City Council, why are there no term limits for statewide offices.” Better education, more and better jobs, better housing, better transportation, are only a few of candidate Martinez's goals, and he said that some of those in office often think of themselves or their family first and Assemblyman Rivera is a perfect example of that.

Staying on the subject of Assembly races we have been told that incumbent 80^th State Committeewoman Diane Cerino will not be on the petition of the current assemblywoman but will be on the petition of Mark Gjonaj for the 80^th Assembly District. We now have three assembly races in the 78^th, 80^th, and the open 87th assembly districts that we will be watching. In two weeks we will get out our crystal ball to predict the winner in the 13^th Congressional race that is on Tuesday June 26th, which has now turned into a real battle. 

If he is reelected Congressman Rangel may need to take several weeks or even months to recuperate.

Lastly go to my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com to see photos that I took of the Bronx Puerto Rican Day parade along with the details of how the parade went. It looked like a washout for a few minutes as the rain started to pour, but the sun quickly came back out after the brief shower. Thousands marched, and thousands more enjoyed those who marched with the cars and floats.

If you have any comments about this column or would like to have an event listed or covered in this column or on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.

Fiber For Dessert

Consumer Lifestyle

By Randi Press

Fiber provides numerous health benefits. Not only does it help keep you feeling fuller for a longer period of time, but it also promotes regularity and heart health. However, if you are like most, you are falling short of the recommended intake of 25-30 grams of fiber per day. 

The problem is usually the fact that foods on the high end of fiber are usually on the low end when it comes to taste. But with GNU Foods three new dessert-like bars in their Flavor + Fiber line, Blueberry Cobbler, Carrot Cake and Blondie, you can have your fiber and taste all-in-one. 

In addition to having 12 grams of fiber (48 percent of your daily value) all three bars are completely all natural, contain 6 whole grains, have a soft baked chewy texture and best of all, taste just like their namesake! Right down to the soft and plump blueberries in the Blueberry Cobbler bar, the warming spices of nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice (not to mention real shreds of carrots) in the Carrot Cake bar, and the melt in your mouth white chocolate chips in the Blondie bar. 

They are available for purchase as a single bar, 5 pack or 15 pack at www.gnufoods.com. Enter to win a package containing all three flavors by visiting our blog at http://consumerlifestyle.blogspot.com.

Driving us mad

Wakefield Area News

By Mary Lauro

BRONX, NEW YORK, June 4- Owning a car in the Bronx is a real problem. Frequently, there is nowhere to park. The reasons are many but among them is that many families own more than one car. Some own several; one for each driving age child. A private home with a two-car garage takes one parking space for the driveway and two parking spaces for the other two cars the family owns. Multiply that by the number of homes on the block and you understand why you sometimes have to park three of four blocks away from your home. At night the problem is magnified.

Then, of course, there is alternate side parking which we believe is the number one cause of heart attacks in the Bronx. While the Mayor worries about sugar consumption in oversized sodas, he neglects the unhealthy effects of alternate side parking. And, incidentally, its phantom necessity.

But, for the elderly and the disabled, the chief cause of stroke, heart attacks and early death is the muni meter. They look innocent enough, but they are lethal. They force those who have difficulty walking to walk back and forth, first to put money in its greedy face and then to place the receipt on the dashboard. In the winter, with snow on the ground, in the spring with the rains and in the summer thunder storms, that walk back and forth becomes a route to knee and hip surgery thus increasing the burden on Medicare and Medicaid, to say nothing of how it steals money more slickly that an experienced pickpocket. Surely, there should be a law against muni meters.

However, there may be a knight in shining armor that plans to joust with the muni meters. His name is Councilman Jimmy Vacca who has introduced a bill in the City Council to use the muni meters to buy “parking time.” What this means is that when an hour's parking time is not consumed at the first stop, the driver can move the car to another area and use the same receipt to show he has paid for the time. This plan may be entirely too sensible for the Mayor to approve.

For the disabled, it means that when the cars moved to a new location, they don't have to get out and walk back and forth again. For them and for the strong and healthy, it may save a few nickels since they will not lose the time they had purchased and did not use. But that is precisely why our Mayor, whose pastime, it seems, is to nickel and dime us, may veto this bill which we understand has been cleared in the City Council.

Wow! Wouldn't that be wonderful? And it also would be wonderful if our representatives in government took time out to dream of these small ways that would simplify life for us rather than spend time trying to put pie in the sky.

Regarding the parking problem, we think some surcease can be achieved by more angle parking which would double parking space. Many streets, especially one way streets can accommodate angle parking at least on one side. Angle parking will also assist in calming traffic. The speed limit in city streets should be no more that 20 miles/hr.

Finally, regarding alternate side parking, our city leaders should stop the madness and face once and for all that Sanitation does not and cannot clean all the streets designated for the day. Alternate side should be reduced to one or two days a week. That should lower blood pressure.

Preston Bids Farewell to Graduating Seniors

BRONX, NY, June 1, 2012- On June 2^nd, Preston High School held its 62^nd annual Commencement Exercises. The 123 members of the Class of 2012 gathered on the South Lawn under sunny skies to receive their diplomas.  

Class salutatorian Deanna Ibrahim welcomed the invited guests with an address that paid tribute to her class’s unity and resilient spirit in the face of adversity as she acknowledged the poignant loss of several members of the Preston community in recent years. Weaving into her speech appropriate quotations from familiar Disney films such as Alice in Wonderland, The Lion King and Mulan, Ibrahim explained life lessons that applied to her class’s experiences and recalled favorite memories of their four years at Preston. Ms. Ibrahim will be attending Bard College in the fall.

Keynote speaker was Annalea Canzoniero Ricci, who received this year’s Distinguished Alumna Award. Mrs. Ricci, PHS ’62, was recognized both for her long career as an outstanding science educator and for her ongoing support of Preston High School and its mission. Several years ago she and her husband Ken established the Mary Ricci Memorial Scholarship to honor her mother-in-law. This scholarship provides yearly tuition support that enables a deserving, hard-working young woman to remain at Preston until her graduation.  

Among graduates being recognized for their achievements were Kelly Simpson, recipient of the Divine Compassion Award for Integrity, Generous Service and Exemplary Leadership; Clarisa González, recipient of the Helen and Anton Wagner Memorial Award for Outstanding Service and Compassion in School and Community; and Stephanie Ashly Cabán, recipient of the Sr. Mary Carmella Stapleton Alumnae Association Award for Exemplary Preston Spirit. Mrs. Linda Youngren, Dean of Studies, announced to the audience that the 123 members of the Class of 2012 had earned a remarkable total of more than $11 million in scholarship awards from their various colleges and universities.

Commencement exercises concluded with a rousing call to action from class valedictorian Sofia Ahsanuddin, who urged her classmates to strive to become metaphorical “linchpins”—small but absolutely essential components of a larger entity.  Citing author Seth Godin, she challenged the class to become people who “can steer, innovate, provoke, lead, connect, and make things happen.”  Ms. Ahsanuddin will be entering the eight-year-long B.A./M.D. program at CUNY’s Brooklyn College, administered in conjunction with SUNY Downstate Medical Center,  in the fall.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, the graduates gathered on the South Lawn to participate in the traditional “tossing of the caps” to celebrate their graduation.

Preston High School is a private, Catholic, college preparatory school for girls located in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx. It is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and charted by the New York State Board of Regents. For more information about Preston High School, contact Jennifer Geideman at (718) 863-9134 x143, or email  HYPERLINK "mailto:jgeideman@prestonhs.org" jgeideman@prestonhs.org.

Manhattan College Captures MAAC Championship

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, June 4- In the early weeks of the 2012 college baseball season, few Manhattan College rooters would have expected their favorites to be facing the two-time defending NCAA champions, South Carolina, in the first game of the NCAA playoffs on June 1st.

During the off-season, Kevin Leighton, the coach who headed a resurgence of the Jaspers during the past half-dozen years left the college to accept the vacant head coaching position crosstown at Fordham University. He was succeeded at Manhattan by Jim Duffy. Duffy, a standout player at Seton Hall, served as an assistant baseball coach at his alma mater for seven years.

The year started very disappointingly for Duffy and his players as the Jaspers only won one of the first 15 games they played. At that point, things changed. Manhattan won 32 of the remaining 43 contests to capture the MAAC regular season title, the MACC Championship Tournament and enter the NCAA Tournament with a 33-25 mark. 

Duffy explained the change, “We just worked really hard, strung together some wins and battled back and figured out what worked.”

Manhattan’s 18-6 record in the MAAC earned it the regular season title for the fourth time in the last five years, missing it only in 2010. The Jaspers were victorious in the conference championship for the second straight year. The only other conference title won by Manhattan was in 2006.

The team was exceptionally comfortable in its own home field, a public park, Van Cortland Park, as it was the only Division I club to go undefeated at home, 18-0, during the 2012 season.

Manhattan dropped its first game in the double elimination MAAC championship, which took place in Troy, New York.  The Jaspers then relied on their submarining righty Taylor Sewitt to go all the way to the title.

The senior from Highland Mills, New York won each of Manhattan’s final three contests. He began by hurling a nine-inning shutout. On the following day, he pitched the last two innings without surrendering a run and earned the win after the jaspers came from behind. In the final game he won with an 11 inning relief appearance victory over Canisius. His tournament mark was 22 innings of scoreless pitching during which he threw 296 pitches. His efforts earned him the award as Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week.

Manhattan’s reward for winning the MAAC title was a trip to Columbia, South Carolina for the first round of the National Tourney. In the opening contest, the Jaspers were scheduled to meet the two-time defending national champion University of South Carolina Gamecocks.

Sewitt, Manhattan’s starter, entered the game with a scoreless streak of 33.2 innings. Sewitt and South Carolina starter Colby Holmes hooked up in a sterling pitching duel in which neither hurler gave up a hit or a run in the first five innings.

Sewitt’s scoreless streak ended at 39.1 innings Adam Matthews doubled in two of the gamecocks with two out in the sixth. Two more scored in the inning to put South Carolina ahead, 4-0.

Joe Rock of Manhattan singled to left with two out in the eighth. The hit was the first given up by Holmes. The winning pitcher left the game after the eighth having surrendered only one hit and one hit batsman while fanning nine.

Manhattan relievers gave up three runs in the eighth to conclude a 7-0 victory for South Carolina.

The next opportunity for the Jaspers in the double elimination tourney was a Saturday contest against Coastal Carolina. The game was tightly contested during the first five innings as the score stood 1-1.

The Carolina tide covered Manhattan as the Chanticleers scored 10 runs during the next three innings to end the season for the Jaspers.

Although the Jaspers lost both games at the NCAA in South Carolina, Duffy and his players can savor the pride of a MAAC regular season and tournament title and the opportunity to represent the Bronx on the national collegiate baseball stage.

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Pharmacy Burglarized

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Pharmacy Burglarized: PHARMACY BURGLAR: Cops are asking for the public’s help in trying to catch a man who broke into a Riverdale pharmacy. Surveillance vide...