Sound Shore

The members of the New Rochelle’s Union Baptist Church, whose building was lost to a ferocious Valentine’s Day fire, continue to regain their footing. On Sunday, June 5, they will host a 5K walk-a-thon beginning at 8 a.m. at Wildcliff Manor in New Rochelle. Admission is $20 in advance and $25 on the day of the walk. Since the fire, the church has raised $46,000 of its $250,000 goal. ShopRite Supermarkets, which is co-hosting Sunday’s walk, has contributed $6,000. For more information, go to www.ubcnr.org.

The New Rochelle Humane Society will celebrate its 100th anniversary in a little more than a week with a bash complete with deejays, stars (like members of the cast from “The Sopranos”), a silent auction, a raffle, plenty of food and Jilli Dog, billed as the world’s only poker-playing dog. The event will take place at the Wykagyl Country Club in New Rochelle from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. on June 9.

The organization, which takes in more than 500 dogs and 700 cats every year, began celebrating last week with a visit from Mayor Noam Bramson, centered, pictured here with Bocker the Labradoodle and members of the Humane Society’s board of directors on May 25.

MAMARONECK — Bowing to community opposition, the owner of a shuttered Italian restaurant in Rye Neck has yanked his plan to replace it with a car wash — and is considering a new restaurant for the site instead.

Robert Caputo withdrew his appeal before the village Zoning Board in early May after neighbors complained that such a business would snarl traffic and endanger pedestrians, particularly school-bound children.

The car wash was to be built at the site of Caputo’s failed Limoncello restaurant at 974 E. Boston Post Rd.

“He did not want to continue pursuing a project that would upset the neighbors — even if he could show that their concerns were not justified,” Caputo’s lawyer, Joseph Messina, said.

The owner is now “rethinking his options” for the site, including opening a restaurant, but has not finalized plans, Messina added.

Caputo bought the Ye Olde TollGate site several years ago and tried revitalizing a cash-strapped steakhouse there before closing it and opening Limoncello in fall 2009. That restaurant failed as well, closing in December.

Dan Natchez, a Mamaroneck-based environmental consultant who opposed the car wash, said there are other more suitable uses, including a restaurant or offices. Another idea is to allow two neighboring businesses, a fitness center and a hardware rental store, to expand into the property.

“We are not trying to be obstructionists,” Natchez said. “We desperately want to be proactive and help him find something that makes sense” for that property.

Caputo could not be reached for comment.

PHOTO: The closed Limoncello restaurant at 974 E. Boston Post Road in Mamaroneck on March 29, 2011. The restaurant’s owner has withdrawn his appeal to build a car wash on the property after dozens of neighbors spoke out against the plan. (TJN archives)

Attention residents of New Rochelle: From now through Labor Day, your garbage and recyclables must be outside and ready for pick-up by 6 a.m. on the morning of your collection day. Also, beginning Wednesday, June 1, plastic containers classified as No. 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 must be recycled along with 1 and 2 plastic containers, in accordance with the county’s Source Separation law. Most food packaging, medicine and shampoo bottles and beverage containers fall into the aforementioned categories. Coded pails, buckets, rinsed flower pots and other plastic products no larger than 2.5 gallons qualify, too.

For more information, visit this page of the city’s site.

Cathy Schirmer sent us this wonderful picture of her father, Jack Burke, in the Memorial Day Parade in Pelham over the weekend. Her cousin took the picture. She writes, “This is the 65th parade for my Father – World War II Veteran. I wish I had thought to send it to you yesterday, in hopes that it could make the paper, but I didn’t think of it until today. I still wanted to share this amazing photo with you.”

The newest member of the City of Rye Police Department has completed his training and has reported for duty.

Police Officer Jonathan Klein graduated Friday from the Westchester County Police Academy’s Basic Police Recruit School, which consists of 20 weeks of training in law, police operational procedures, social science, self-defense, firearms, first aid, and physical fitness. He will now begin a period of field training that will last several months.

Klein, 22, a lifelong Harrison resident, is a graduate of Harrison High School and was formerly employed at the Doral Arrowwood Golf Course. He follows a family legacy in law enforcement; his grandfather, Albert Klein, retired in 1995 as Chief of Police of the Town of Harrison.

He has been assigned to this Rye’s field training program, a structured curriculum designed to familiarize newly hired officers with the community and departmental procedures under the guidance of experienced officers.

Good Tuesday morning. Here’s a glance at opinion content published over the holiday weekend in The Journal News:

Saturday, May 28
Westchester County government: Commentary
May Krukiel and Carlla Horton of the Westchester Women’s Agenda are strongly critical of County Executive Rob Astorino’s proposal to merge the county’s Office for Women with the Youth Bureau in a Community View.

Sunday, May 29
Marriage equality: Editorial
We call on the Legislature to make marriage equality a reality in New York. Such an effort failed in the state Senate in 2009 — we conclude public opinion merits is success in 2011. We write:

… Proponents of same-sex marriage are hoping for better in 2011, inasmuch as public opinion, along with the political and legal landscape, have changed since lawmakers last considered the issue. Public support for gay marriage in New York has shown a steady creep in the direction of fairness: a recent Siena Poll had proponents leading opponents, 58 percent to 36 percent; supporters led 56 percent to 37 percent in a recent Quinnipiac Poll. About the time the Senate came up short two years ago, the margin was 51 percent to 42 percent favoring gay marriage, according to a Marist survey.

(more…)

Harrison High School scored its highest ranking ever in this year’s challenge index – No. 1 in Westchester County.

Since 1998, the Newsweek and now the Washington Post has ranked high schools on how effectively a school prepares its students for college by offering them a challenge.

Harrison also ranked among the top high schools in New York State, the region and across the country:

Harrison High School was also raked 4^th in the state; 8^th in the East Coast region; and 71^st in the nation.

The Challenge Index is based on the number of Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), or Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) tests taken by all students at the school in 2009-2010 divided by the school’s total number of graduates.  The High School Challenge encourages high schools to offer as many students as possible the choice to participate in AP, IB or AICE courses and exams.  Of the approximately 27,000 U.S. public schools only 7 percent or 1,900 managed to reach that standard and be placed on the list.

“We are proud of our high school’s standing in the Washington Post Challenge Index. It demonstrates our commitment to challenge and to provide opportunity to all of our students, and most importantly to prepare them to face the rigor of college. We have been and continue to remain committed to excellence for all the students who attend Harrison High School,” said Superintendent Louis Wool.

In announcing the 2011 rankings, The Washington Post points out that they count the number of exams given, and not just the outcomes on these tests. “AP, IB and AICE are important because they give average students a chance to experience the trauma of heavy college reading lists and long, analytical college examinations,” the Post said in an announcement.

Harrison’s high expectations for its students’ and commitment to providing access to college level AP classes has resulted in a 505 percent increase in AP Scholars from only 20  in  2003 to 121 this year, and the highest percentage of graduates (92 percent) accepted to four-year colleges in school history.

“Our experience demonstrates that when you hold high expectations for children and both support and challenge them, they rise to meet them,” Wool said.

This year, for the first time, the Richard Kemper Foundation held two memorial essay contests—its customary one for Mamaroneck High School students and a new one for participants from Scarsdale and Rye Neck high schools.

This year’s contest winners were MHS junior Ilana Gratch for her essay, “Navigating the Road to Patriotism”; and RNHS sophomore Tild Maliqati for his essay, “Racial Profiling.” Each received $250 cash prizes.

In addition, Scarsdale High School student Lina Kheir won honorable mention for her essay, “Silencing Russian Journalism.” And MHS student Anna Hill won for creating the best poster promoting the essay contest (pictured).

The foundation is named after Richard Kemper, a Mamaroneck High School graduate who died fighting in World War II. Visit the contest’s website to read the winning essays.

At 2 p.m. today on Editorial Spotlight, health advocates discuss how New York lags in establishing a “health insurance exchange,” as required by the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The exchanges provide a “marketplace” for individuals and small groups to compare and join health plans. Blair Horner of the American Cancer Society of New York and New Jersey, Bill Ferris of AARP and Elisabeth Benjamin of Community Service Society explain best practices for setting up the exchanges, and how state legislators’ lack of action could leave New York out of the running for federal grants.

Watch LIVE at www.lohud.com/editorialspotlight, and join the discussion by engaging the “CoverItLive” feature. To view the discussion later, go to www.lohud.com/ editorialspotlight and click “videos” and choose the video from the menu.