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Monday, December 31, 2012

Dead son's mother hopes tragedy will curb guns

 
By Michael Horowitz


BRONX, NEW YORK, December 31- Civic activist Marlene Smith, whose son, Rohan Simpson, was gunned down in street violence in 1986, hopes that the tragedy of last Friday's murders of 20 innocent children in Connecticut will lead to enactment of laws that restrict the use of weapons of mass destruction on the nation's streets.

“We've had street violence in the nation's inner cities for years, and little has been done to stop the sale of weapons of mass destruction that have been used to kill young people in our neighborhoods,” Smith stressed.

“It is a tragedy when people, especially young people, are innocent victims of murders that cut their lives short before their time,” Smith added.

The civic activist asked, “How many more innocent people have to die before our country passes laws that limit the spread of weapons of destruction in our neighborhoods? How many more tragedies will we have to endure before we, as a country, are brought to our senses, as far as the premature deaths of our young people are concerned?”

Echoing Smith sentiments, Rev. Robert Smith Jr., the long-time pastor of the Church of the Savior, stressed, “We need to limit the Second Amendment, which is the rationale for people to own guns. We are no longer the frontier society that we were when our nation was founded.”

Rev. Smith (no relation to Marlene) added, “We're no longer a burgeoning country; we're a technological society. We need to do something to honor the memories of the children and the school professionals who lost their lives in Newtown, Connecticut.”

The minister stressed, “My heart is broken from what happened in Connecticut. We, as a nation, are shedding tears for the angels who were taken from us. Their parents had dreams for them that will never be realized.”

Rev. Smith noted, “In the midst of the tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, our hearts were lifted by the heroism of the six adults who sacrificed their lives at the school to save the lives of children who were under their care.”
The minister added, “The crazy young man who committed these insane murders seemed to suffer from a pathology that mass murderers have shared in recent decades. We need to find ways to keep high-powered weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of people like Adam Lanza.”

 








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An unfettered look

Wakefield Area News


By Mary V. Lauro

BRONX, NEW YORK, December 31- This year the League will celebrate its one-hundredth year of serving the Wakefield community. In 1913 it was larger than it is today. It extended on the South all the way to Gun Hill Road. We know little of its past except that it was born in a bar. Bars in those days were like town halls, where issues of interest were discussed.

The primary goal of the founders of the League was to preserve Wakefield's integrity. That integrity included a quasi-suburban atmosphere of mainly one, two and three-family homes, interspersed only now and then by an apartment building; largely a family oriented community surrounded by flowering gardens in the summer and children sleighing or, building snowmen in the winter. Crime was practically unknown. It remained that way to mid-century.

Through the years, Wakefield's integrity has been the only goal of the League. Politics was never an issue. We worked along with whomever represented us in the official world. But we did expect our elected officials to work for us. We have never appreciated being ignored.

There is always something special about the past; even its sadness is looked upon with yearning. Most of us in Wakefield were a lot poorer then.

It is true we had little for people to steal, but it is also true that we did not lock our front doors at night. Some of them were French doors (glass paned).

What did happen? How did it happen that we not only locked our doors, we put iron bars on our windows, so that today, though still lovely, Wakefield is a mess of fancy iron works. Children who live in these houses would be astonished to learn that children, less than a half a century ago, thought burglary only happened in the movies. They were "cat" burglars, intent on stealing from the rich who lived in high-rise luxury apartments.

When did it happen that gold stars or crosses were no longer safe around one's neck? In what year did a boy's leather jacket become reason to mug him? The master criminal mentors (the Mafia) killed their own, not children or someone's great grandmother. Those were the days when banks were robbed, not bodegas.

Indeed, from being the second lowest in crime in the City during the 60s, twenty-five years later, the 47th Precinct rise to 23rd highest. Why? The question still haunts us. Indeed the question spawned a number of community organizations that grew in size and influence, but, alas, alas, eventually died.

It cannot be denied that Wakefield's complexion changed from white to shades of brown. But that did not happen everywhere in the City. Yet it is everywhere in the City that crime rose and it is everywhere that our unease is keenly felt.

We have known that human kind is flawed. Myth has it that Satan was once an angel. But that occurrence, like so many on our earth was a rarity. But it seems, yes, it seems that something has been broken in the moral compass of our people. Everywhere one turns, there is new evidence of some malfeasance. We read of dishonest politicians or those who think they are above the law. We read of business practices, which belong in hell, and of workers who could easily join them. We read and learn of a justice system that has difficulty defining right and wrong, fueling the attitude of the young and newcomers that the smart thing to do is game the system. This last is most disheartening. It is, unfortunately, a plague in Wakefield.








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Sunday, December 30, 2012

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Blitzed in the Bronx

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Blitzed in the Bronx: Syracuse Plows Over West Virginia in Snow Bound Bowl (Photos by Gary Quintal) By Howard Goldin BRONX, NEW YORK, December 30- The last wee...
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Blitzed in the Bronx


Syracuse Plows Over West Virginia in Snow Bound Bowl
(Photos by Gary Quintal)

By Howard Goldin
BRONX, NEW YORK, December 30- The last week of December and the first week of January are the culmination of the college football season. Those are the weeks in which the final bowl games are played and the final rankings of teams are determined. Since December of 2010, Yankee Stadium in the Bronx has become a bowl venue.
On December 30, 2010, Bronx native Doug Marrone led the Syracuse Orange to a 36-34 victory over Kansas State in the first football contest at Yankee Stadium and the first bowl game at Yankee Stadium since 1962. Last year, Rutgers defeated Iowa State.
This year’s session featured Syracuse, in its last year as a member of the Big East, and West Virginia, in its first season in the Big 12. Both colleges played in Yankee Stadium in 1923, the first year of collegiate football in the original Yankee Stadium. Syracuse defeated Pittsburgh, 3-0, in the first game on the gridiron at the stadium on October 20, 1923. One week later, the Mountaineers took part in the second contest in the first year of the stadium on 161st Street. They battled Penn State to a 13-13 tie.
In addition to both teams place in the history of Yankee Stadium, each also has a strong connection to the other. Their rivalry began in 1945. The football squads have competed on the gridiron in every season since 1955. Defenseman Will Clarke of West Virginia told reporters last Wednesday that neither team expected any surprises as “Both teams are familiar with each other.”
Each team entered the Pinstripe Bowl with a mark of 7-5. Syracuse won five of its last six contests. The Mountaineers did not fare as well in the highly competitive Big 12 as the Orange did in the less dangerous Big East. West Virginia won four of nine in its first Big 12 conference season. Four of its opponents were top 25 ranked at the time they faced the Mountaineers. It ended the regular season with five losses, two by one point, in its last seven contests.
Syracuse, with light snow falling, took an early advantage. The first and only score of the first quarter was a 25-yard field goal kicked by Ross Krautman of Syracuse. The Orange scored the first nine points in the second quarter on a safety by Cameron Smith and a 33 yard touchdown run by Prince Tyson-Gulley.
The first points recorded for West Virginia came at 3:38 of the second quarter on a 32 yard touchdown pass by Geno Smith to Stedman Bailey.
Syracuse continued the offensive onslaught in the second half, outscoring West Virginia 26-7. Tyson-Gulley scored two additional touchdowns, a 67 yard run and a 10 yard reception of a pass by Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib. Tyson-Gulley gained 208 yards on the ground and another 56 yards on five receptions. He earned the game’s MVP award for his outstanding performance. Marrone praised the MVP. “Prince has been a player that really worked hard, played with injury, has really come a long way in our program and I couldn’t be prouder of him…He’s a well-deserved MVP.”
The Orange defense was also major factor. It, along with the weather, stopped arguably the best senior quarterback in college, Geno Smith and also severely limited the West Virginia ground game.
Middle linebacker Siriki Diabate, who moved to the Bronx at the age of 13, spoke for the defense three days before the game, “we want to play against the best. We love that challenge. I think we’re ready for them [Mountaineers].” Diabate made a fine contribution with five tackles.
Diabate’s opinion was reinforced by the words of defensive coordinator Scott Schafer after the game, “I think that our kids were anxious to play this team again. They met the challenge. It’s not easy to win three in a row.” Syracuse has been victorious in the past three games of the lengthy rivalry after losing the previous eight.
West Virginia, seventh in the nation, with 518.6 yards gained per game was held to 285 while the Orange gained 511. Coach Dana Holgorsen of West Virginia admitted, “Anytime you get out-rushed by 330 yards (369-88), you’re going to have some problems.”
Marrone, a Bronx native, whose grandfather was an usher at the original Yankee Stadium, was victorious in both games he coached at the new ballpark. He joked, “I should play more games in the borough of the Bronx.”







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Friday, December 28, 2012

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Bronxite to Play Football in Yankee Stadium

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Bronxite to Play Football in Yankee Stadium: By Howard Goldin BRONX, NEW YORK, December 28- On Saturday, Siriki Diabate will be one of more than 100 student-athletes who will be on th...
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Bronxite to Play Football in Yankee Stadium



By Howard Goldin
BRONX, NEW YORK, December 28- On Saturday, Siriki Diabate will be one of more than 100 student-athletes who will be on the gridiron of Yankee Stadium to participate in the 2012 New Era Pinstripe Bowl. The significance to the 21 year-old may be more than to any other athlete on the field that day.
In 1991, Diabate was born in the Ivory Coast in Africa. Siriki came to the United States when he was 13 along with his mother and sister to join his father who had arrived years earlier. The family settled at 176th Street and Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx.
The 13 year-old had difficulty in initially adjusting to his new home, “It was really tough. I didn’t speak English.” Another difference between the teenager and his peers in the Bronx was that Siriki played soccer rather than the popular American sports, baseball, basketball and football.
The youngster first learned the fundamentals of football at Roberto Clemente State Park. He joined a youth group coached by the recreation director of the park, Bobby Morris. His skills improved and he further improved as a member of the football squad at Herbert Lehman High School. The defensive lineman showed great versatility in his senior season by making 71 tackles, carrying the ball 47 times, recording two receptions and returning kicks twice. He was team captain that year.
He had great success on the gridiron at Nassau Community College. The team captain led his team to an 11-0 mark during the regular season, fourth place nationally in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) in 2010. His exploits earned him Co-Defensive Player of the year in the Northeast Football Conference.
In January 2011, Diabate transferred to Syracuse University. A visit to the upstate university convinced Diabate that he was in the right place even though he was recruited by several other colleges. Diabate and Syracuse coach Doug Marrone had a lot in common as both were products of the Bronx and both were graduates of Lehman and now both were at Syracuse. On Wednesday, Diabate told reporters, “We joke about that all the time. Coach tells me how much better a player he was at Lehman.”
In his first season at Syracuse, 2011, the lineman recorded 24 tackles. This year, Diabate’s numbers climbed. He had 91 total tackles during the regular season. Five wins in the last six contests earned the Orange a bowl bid at the historic venue on 161st Street.
Diabate expressed his emotional feelings regarding playing his final college game at Yankee Stadium. ”I can’t put into words what it means to me. It’s a blessing. It’s so special.” Diabate never played a football game at Yankee Stadium. When Syracuse competed in the 2010 Pinstripe Bowl, Diabate remembered, “I watched as a fan.” Diabate does have childhood memories of the ballpark, “I watched the Yankees religiously on television. When I came to a game, it was very exciting. I used to take the #4 train.”
Having many friends and family attend the game will increase its meaning to the young man, “Everybody who watched me get to this point will be there. I tried to get as many tickets as possible. I got 14, but close to 50 or 60 will come to see me.”
Weather forecasts are now calling for several inches of snow on Saturday, the day of the game. Diabate dismissed the weather as a factor, “Snow, sleight, rain, bring it on!” He then regaled reporters by telling them of the first time he saw snow as a public school student in the Bronx, “I got in trouble as I ran out of the classroom to look out of the window when I saw the snow.”






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Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Help Cops Grab Groper

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Help Cops Grab Groper: BRONX, NEW YORK, December 28- Police are asking for the public’s in trying to catch a man who robbed and sexually assaulted a woman in For...
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