Yorktown and Cortlandt region

Fire fighters from Yorktown and Lake Mohegan respond to a fire at 1730 Central Street in Yorktown May 31, 2010. One person taken to the hospital from the scene.

June 6 is the date when the Danish Home in Croton commemorates a Danish national holiday.
The Grundlovsdag festival marks the passage of the Danish constitution. Authentic Danish food will be served,
such as open-faced sandwiches, frikadeller (Danish meatballs). Danish pastries and products will be on sale at the Danish Home, and there will a wide variety of entertainment. The event is free and open to the public.
A story-teller will give readings of Hans Christian Andersen, and guitarist David Starobin will play classical music. The event will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the seniors’ residential facility at 1065 Quaker Bridge Road.
A scene from the festival in 2008.

The county legislature has taken up the idea of selling Yorktown’s Hilltop Hanover Farm.

The measure was proposed Monday and quickly set aside. It will likely be referred to committee when the legislature meets next on June 7.

“I fully understand that people are trying to maximize revenue, but selling that farm is not the way to go,” said Legislator Michael Kaplowitz, D-Somers.

Kaplowitz, along with former County Executive Andrew Spano, championed Hilltop Hanover’s $3.1 million purchase in 2003.

At issue is 60 or so acres, mostly on the west side of Hanover Street in the Croton Heights section of town, that remained after the county designated 120-plus mostly wooded acres of the farm to the west as parkland.

It was Board of Legislators Chairman Ken Jenkins, D-Yonkers, who proposed the county take steps to sell the farm. He cites a $500,000-plus annual operating cost and the opportunity to reap needed revenue in the face of a $166 million budget gap.

“If we’re in a period of economic distress, we should be looking at whether that is an appropriate investment of the people’s money,” Jenkins said.

County Executive Rob Astorino is open to the idea.

Yorktown Supervisor Susan Siegel said the town was not notified that the legislature was even contemplating the farm’s sale.

Read the full story on Sunday in The Journal News.

Photo: Kaplowitz and former County Executive Andrew Spano announce the county’s purchase of Hilltop Hanover Farm in 2003. Dave Kennedy/The Journal News

Rep. John Hall, D-Dover Plains, will mark Memorial Day at ceremonies in Yorktown, Poughkeepsie and Wappinger Monday.

At 9:30 a.m., Hall will join the Dutchess County War Memorial Committee for a ceremony at Dutchess County Memorial Park in Poughkeepsie. From there he will head to Yorktown’s VFW Hall on Veterans Road at noon. The final event is at Brexel/Schlathaus Park for the Town of Wappinger Memorial Day Ceremony at 2.

Teatown’s Erin Smithies-Baker holds the 18 pound female snapping turtle that was hit by a car and whose shell was badly damaged.

She and Lisa Kelly, also of Teatown, helped the turtle recover and they were releasing it at a Cortlandt pond. Click here to see more photographs from our area. ( Joe Larese / The Journal News )

The Ossining Board of Education revised its 2010-2011 budget after the $102.3 million proposal was defeated May 18.

This latest version calls for a more than $500,000 decrease and includes cuts to administration, operations and maintenance and teaching assistant hours. Voters head to the polls June 15 for the revote on the $101.8 million budget that represents a 1.45 percent spending increase from this year.

For more on the story, go here.

YORKTOWN — Three teens face criminal charges after they threw a water balloon from a moving car at an occupied school bus, breaking its windshield, police said.

Marcus P. Eagel, 19, of Underhill Avenue, Yorktown, Patrick J. Collins, 19, of Krystal Drive, Somers, and a 17-year-old Yorktown boy whom police would not identify are due in Town Court on June 24 to answer misdemeanor charges of second-degree reckless endangerment and fourth-degree criminal mischief.

The incident took place May 21 around 1:50 p.m. when police received a complaint from the Baumann Bus Co. that one of their school buses carrying students on Crompond Road had been struck by an unknown object that broke its windshield and caused the driver to swerve in the road.

Officer Michael Pietraniello responded and determined that the three teens had thrown the water balloon at the bus from a moving car. Police did not say who was driving the car or what school the students on the bus attend.

The three were arrested less than two hours after the incident. No students were hurt.

If you missed it, check out Thursday’s story on a community forum held in Peekskill Wednesday night in the wake of a brutal beating that left Hispanic laborer, Julio Serrano with severe injuries, including a ruptured kidney that doctors removed, multiple brain hemorrhages and broken facial bones and ribs.

Four suspects have been charged with first degree gang assault, a felony, and police are investigating whether a hate crime was committed.

At the meeting, that saw close to 100 community members, some talked about how the incident was not racially motivated and that it occured because of the city’s youth hanging out on the streets late at night with nothing better to do. Some Hispanics though argue that Serrano was targeted because he is Hispanic and that there has long been a divide between Peekskill’s Black and Latino residents.

What do you think? Continue the conversation here and read more on the story here.

The Fox Lane girls lacrosse team defeated Yorktown 17-11 to win the first girls lacrosse title for Fox Lane.Fox Lane’s Sydney Stern (16) fires a shot for a second half gaol in front of Yorktown’s Kelly Harris (15) during girls lacrosse playoff game at Fox Lane High School in Bedford May 27, 2010. Fox Lane won the game 17-11. ( Frank Becerra Jr. / The Journal News)

To see more photos from the game click here.

Iona Prep in New Rochelle held it’s 91st Commencement Exercises tonight on the Iona College Campus.  Graduates at the school come from all over Westchester county and beyond. Photo above: The graduates mug for a photo as photo at left, Sean McArdle laughs after giving a playful punch that landed on his friend Johnny Gialanella’s chin, as they wait for the start of the Iona Prep graduation, at Iona College in New Rochelle May 27, 2010. ( Mark Vergari / The Journal News )

See more photos at our Graduation page on LoHud.com by clicking here and check out a future EXPRESS publication for more photos.