Yorktown Police and county Humane Law Enforcement officials are looking for the individual responsible for shooting a Mohegan Lake family’s cat with an arrow.

“Sammy,” a 6 or  7-year-old house cat was found by its owner with an arrow through its front leg around 5 p.m. Sunday. The owner, Marietta Del Mastro, said Sammy was last seen early that morning. After Del Mastro took the cat to Katonah-Bedford Veterinary Center, vets found Sammy had also been shot with a metal pellet from an air gun in the same leg. Both the arrow and pellet were removed, and Sammy was in good but guarded condition today.

Police investigating the case are seeking public help in identifying possible suspects. Confidential calls may be made to the Westchester SPCA’s 24 Hour Hotline number 914-941-7797 or the Yorktown Police Department at 914-962-4141.

More photos after the jump…

Yorktown Councilman Nick Bianco was one of several people reading selections from “The Things They Carried,” a ficitonalized Vietnam memoir by Tim O’Brien at the Jefferson Valley Mall Saturday.

The readings were part of a program called The Big Read, which runs through February and March.

A slate of art exhibits, film screenings and discussion groups is planned. For complete details go to artswestchester.org.

Just got this from Jim VanDevelde over at Lakeland district office. Kudos to Lakeland-Copper Beech!

Great news. On February 3, Lakeland Copper Beech Middle School was named a School to Watch. This is an outstanding achievement.

This selection followed a long year of self-study, activities involving self reflection and examination by the school staff on the school’s philosophy the Middle School and submission of an application to the N.Y.S. Middle Schools Association to become a School to Watch. LCBMS was then selected for a visitation, which is the second phase of the application process. The visitation team consisted of middle level educators from across NYS.

Author and gourmand Tony Bourdain has been exploring the Hudson Valley on his show, No Reservations. Bourdain stopped by Verplanck to sample the blue crabs with some local fisherman in a segment that aired Monday night on the Travel Channel.
Here’s a link to the showpage:

travelchannel.com

Bourdain also met up with Bill Murray for a meal in Yonkers.

Yorktown Highway Superintendent Eric DiBartolo is on tonight’s Town Board agenda twice as a stand-off drags on  between him and new Supervisor Susan Siegel over the unfinished Legacy Ballfields.

The $6 million project is the first item, up for discussion at 7:30 p.m.

DiBartolo has stepped back from the project after the Town Board stripped him of his duties as director of labor operations last month. A compromise does not appear close.

“I didn’t put the town in this situtaion,” DiBartolo said.

He accuses officials of spinning the issue so that it appears he is refusing to do his job, denying that is the case.

“I didn’t go to them and say I wasn’t doing Legacy Ballfields, he said. “They eliminated the position.”

Siegel has argued DiBartolo’s public commitment to the project was the linchpin to securing county funding and that the labor operations position was unrelated.

A review of the town’s records pertaining to the project indicates the town, but not DiBartolo, is contractually commited to providing the labor and materials necessary to the project.

DiBartolo’s appointment to the labor post came after two intermunicipal agreements between the town and county dating to 2006 were found lacking, specifically regarding materials and prices, former Town Attorney John Buckley said recently.

“It was only in 2007, in the fall when push came to shove, that Eric stepped up and said we can still make this happen,” Buckley said.

DiBartolo’s appointment came two months after the most recent agreement on file. That would support his contention that the appointment was tied to his work on the ballfields.

“She’s trying to shame me into it,” DiBartolo said of Siegel. “It’s not going to happen.”

A discussion is also slated for 10 p.m. on two highway positions DiBartolo is seeking to fill. State law permits him to fill budgeted positions. The Town Board has the option of reopening the budget, but a reluctance to do so already prevented officials from taking back the $17,000 pay increase DiBartolo received as labor director.

The meeting is at Town Hall, 363 Underhill Avenue. The complete agenda can be found at yorktownny.org.

Photo: DiBartolo, a Westchester County deputy fire coordinator, works the scene of a house fire in Cortlandt Tuesday. (Joe Larese/The Journal News)

The New York State Restaurant Association honored the owners of the Ossining-based Brasserie Swiss for their 32 years of service. Swiss natives Rolf and Verena Baumgartner opened the chalet-style eatery in 1978 serving up fondues, spatzil, wienerschnitzel and a variety of other foods.

Read the article I wrote about Baumgartners in 2003 when they were celebrating 25 years of service after the jump.

The state Attorney General’s Office has now filed a lawsuit seeking to shut down the Peekskill-based waste management company, Karta.

For years, Karta and the Department of Environmental Conservation have been at odds over myriad violations the state agency claims Karta has broken. This latest action stems from hundreds of violations of a 2006 consent order between Karta and the DEC signed. The AG’s office has now stepped in on behalf of the DEC to obtain penalties and close the Lower South Street plant.

Meanwhile, Karta and Peekskill are working out a settlement concerning the city’s purchase of the property.

Read more about this today on lohud.com, The Journal News and here.

New Yorktown Supervisor Susan Siegel issued a statement today revealing the price tag for a new desk and chair for councilmen to use outside her office at Town Hall.

The bill? $57.88.

The two-page announcement was issued in response to Freedom of Information requests by Karen Peters, wife of Don Peters, Siegel’s predecessor as supervisor.

Additionally, the release states, seven new chairs for Siegel’s inner office cost nothing as they were obtained from IBM’s TJ Watson Research Center by Councilman Vishnu Patel, a retired Watson researcher.

“While I welcome all FOIL requests, I was sort of taken aback by the rather trivial nature of some of her requests,” Siegel says in the statement. “Since taking office, my focus has been addressing the issues left unfinished by the previous board, including the Comprehensive Plan, the tree ordinance, the dog park, storm water management, energy conservation, pending leases, and the need for a capital improvements plan. Furniture and cell phones have not been high on my list of priorities.”

Yesterday I had a front page article looking back on the spate of tragedies that have hit Yorktown in just the last few years.

For a while now, the idea that a town could feel jinxed has struck me, not because people truly think that or that Yorktown is somehow unique in its suffering. Unfortunately, it is not. But in the face of such loss, if enough people begin to feel that way—not think it, but feel it—there seemed to me to be a kind of truth in that feeling that was worth exploring.

Not one of these individuals will ever be forgotten. In fact, the community will come together quite publicly on Feb. 28 to remember Katelyn Lonergan and Marc Napolitano, the victims of a Jan. 10 crash upstate, at the gazebo off Veterans Road. Such gatherings and similar efforts are important to the process of healing, of moving on while keeping the memory of loved ones alive.

For those coping with loss, that is the challenge they face long term.

“These families, they don’t know what to do so they do nothing,” Jeffrey Veatch, father of the late Justin Veatch, told me. “They don’t know what to say. Sometimes they say nothing. It’s important for people to keep that recognition going.”

Link to story: Tragedy too frequent a visitor to Yorktown

The “To Haiti With Hope” benefit concert will take place at 8 p.m. this Friday at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 137 N. Division St.

Read press release below:

A diverse group of Peekskill residents are  leveraging  the city’s reputation as the cultural and dining hub of the region to provide much needed relief to the people of Haiti – devastated by one of the worst natural disasters to ever hit the western hemisphere. To Haiti with Hope is a collaborative effort of local artists, community leaders, restaurants, and the city’s faith community to provide both support and funding for relief efforts. This city-wide fundraising initiative will take place on Friday, February 12 and culminate with a benefit concert at historic St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in downtown Peekskill.

The City’s best restaurants will be donating ten percent of all proceeds from patrons who plan to attend the benefit concert.  Participating restaurants include The Division Street Grill, Reuben’s Mexican Café, 12 Grapes Music and Wine Bar, The BeanRunner Café, and Trattoria Valentia.

A cross-genre, who’s who of the area’s burgeoning music scene will be performing at the benefit concert. Serving as Master of Ceremonies is Dutchess-Di, who demonstrated her diva-bona-fides when she rocked the City at its Third Annual Jazz and Blues Festival this past summer.  The evening’s other diva, jazz vocalist Alexis Cole, will be performing with her father, pianist/vocalist Mark Finkin, who’s coming all the way from Saratoga Springs to support the event.  Representing the classical side of things will be the Chamber Players of Croton, whose recent standing room only concert in Croton won the group much acclaim.  Peekskill stalwart Brotha Doug will be playing piano and singing inspirational gospel songs, while Newburg keyboardist/electronic musician Neil Alexander, who often performs with his group NAIL at the Bean Runner Café, will be doing an electronic ambient improvisation using keyboards and laptop, and will also be joined by Cole on a jazz selection.  Regional coffee house favorite, bassist Fred Gillen Jr. will also be singing his originals with his band.

“When human suffering of this magnitude shows itself, it’s our duty as citizens of the world to do something about it,” said Alexis Cole, an award-winning jazz vocalist who resides in Peekskill. “What better way than to bring the talents we are so fortunate to be given and use them to provide some hope?”

The benefit concert will be held at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church at 8pm, Friday February 12. The church, built in 1892 with a capacity for 350, is a neo-gothic architectural landmark in the City and is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. St. Peter’s has a strong reputation for social action, hosting both a monthly community feeding program as well as the City’s only choice food pantry.

“The City of Peekskill has a reputation for the arts and St. Peter’s has a mission to care for our brothers and sisters in Peekskill and beyond,” said Rev. Carlye J. Hughes, Rector of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. “It’s make perfect sense for us to come together in this time of great need.”
The benefit concert at St. Peter’s is a free-will offering and attendees are asked to make contributions to St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. All proceeds will go to the Episcopal Relief and Development Fund, which as a partner with the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti, is already engaged in immediate and long-term relief efforts in Haiti.

Restaurant patrons who plan to attend the concert need to self-identify to their server letting them know they plan to attend the benefit. Diners are encouraged to make reservations early enough to ensure they can find seating at 8pm at St. Peter’s Church.