By Dee Richard
May 7 was the annual Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade Awards Dinner-Dance at Terrace on the Park. This year's dinner was in the penthouse, a smaller but more intimate room probably due to a lesser attendance. The economic crunch is affecting events. Let us hope it is temporary.
This year's honorees were Maj. Gen. William Terpeluk of the United States Army Reserve at Fort Totten in Bayside. Terpeluk is the parade's grand marshal. Dee Richard, columnist and photojournalist for TimesLedger Newspapers is Woman of the Year, Michael Ricatto of Better Leadership America is Man of the Year and Community Board 11 Chairman Steven Newman received the Community Service Award.
Jim Rodgers, the parade chairman; Ralph Barba, Bob Bishop, James Fitzgerald, Kay Glover, Carolyn Karoff, Vic Mimoni, Ishak Sirota and David Stein, his board of directors; and the volunteers should be congratulated, but they still have to produce the country's largest Memorial Day parade.
It will be held on May 26 and start at 2 p.m. at the corner of Jayson Street and Northern Boulevard. It will end in St. Anastasia's school yard at 4:30 p.m. For more information, call 718-279-3200 or visit www.memorialdayparade.org. It is not to be missed, so mark your calendar.
At the dinner were Debbie Markell, Jerry Iannece and Paul Vallone all running for Tony Avella's (D-Bayside) 19th City Council District seat. Any one would make an excellent council member, but a lot can happen between now and 2009. Some may drop out while others might join, but let the 2008 races finish before speculating on 2009.
On Thursday evening, there was a fund-raiser for Anthony Como at the St. James Restaurant on Metropolitan Avenue in Forest Hills. Como is a candidate for the 30th City Council District, the seat Dennis Gallagher gave up before his term was over, thereby necessitating a special election.
Como insists he will win, as he has the backing of both state Sen. Serf Maltese (R-Glendale) and the Queens County Republican Party. Tom Ognibene feels he will win based upon his 10 years experience in that seat. Bill Driscoll of the Parkside Group, however, feels equally sure his candidate, Elizabeth Crowley, will win. I would provide a more in-depth coverage of Crowley, but I have not been made aware of any event she has had.
I received a voice mail from state Assemblyman Tony Seminerio (D-Richmond Hill), who said, “My son John, after testing the waters, has decided he will not run at this time.” That makes it easier for Crowley. We will have to be content watching Como and Ognibene slug it out.
Also, do not forget that Queens Theatre in the Park is holding its upcoming gala May 20 at the theater. This one will have a cocktail party, show and desert. This is another event that is a must for your calendar. For more information, call 718-760-0064.
Jeff Rosenstock, his team and the committee are to be congratulated on providing Queens with first-rate entertainment. I am on that committee, but due to my involvement with the parade, I am afraid I was not as much help this year as in the past. I apologize. Queens is a great place to be: There is so much interesting stuff happening.
According to good friend and neighbor Bob Waters, while walking his dog, he came across a few cars in our neighborhood (Beechhurst/Robinwood) with their tires and wheels removed and left on scissor jacks. The vehicles, a Lexus and a Mercedes, each had the two street-facing wheels removed. Apparently, there has been a rash of such incidents lately and it appears a van with two or three guys with an air compressor lug wrench makes it possible for them in just a minute or two at night to remove wheels. Waters thought it would be helpful to pass this information on to you and your neighbors. Thanks, Bob.
That is it for this week.
I look forward to hearing from you with information on people, parties, politics or gossip.
I also like receiving your voice mail at 718-767-6484, faxes at 718-746-0066 and e-mail at deerrichard@aol.com.
Till next week, Dee.
