By Dee Richard
The days are rushing by and we are receiving holiday party invitations by the droves. Unfortunately, everyone is still trying to squeeze most of the parties in on Thursdays. Most Thursdays have at least four parties scheduled. Oh, well, it’s Ho! Ho! Ho! off to the parties we will go! We will try to give them our best shot for coverage.
This past week, we covered Michael DenDekker’s fund-raiser at Dante’s in Astoria. One of his interesting guests was Vito Lopez, of the Bronx. Cathy Nolan and Jose Peralta, along with a number of others, showed their support for DenDekker by attending.
Dan Halloran had a fund-raiser at Verdi’s in Whitestone. One of his guests, Serf Maltese, was teasing guest Frank Padavan by saying, “Frank, I understand you’re going to run for your Senate seat again.”
Padavan replied, “I understand you’re going to run for county chairman again.”
Whereupon both men laughed and then good-naturedly agreed to pose for a photo. At the end of the evening Dan said his committee was pleased with the results of the fund-raiser.
The Little Neck-Douglaston Lions Club held its annual bash at Leonard’s of Great Neck. It had great attendance. The star of the show was a black Labrador named Seymour. He was one of the seeing-eye dogs the Lions acquire and present to needy people each year.
Debbie Markell held a jewelry party in her home in Whitestone Saturday. I have been invited to at least four of them so far. They appear to be the modern equivalent of the Tupperware parties of years gone by, but they are fun and ladies never have enough jewelry.
The Robinwood Property Owners Association had its holiday cocktail party at Trattoria Neo in Whitestone. It was a rather new place and I had never been there before. I must say I have never had such mouth-watering hors d’oeuvres. Check it out, as it seems to be a great place to have a small party.
A change of pace: While in a Verizon store the other day, I heard a familiar voice behind me. When I turned around, it was Joyce Shepard. After we exchanged greetings, we suggested having lunch together. In the past, we were angry with each other and hadn’t been speaking for quite a while.
As it turned out, neither of us seemed to remember why we were angry in the first place and decided to get together as life is too short to stay angry with anyone.
A rather sad note: We received an e-mail the other day informing us that an old friend, Stevie Geitheim, Nettie Mayersohn’s sergeant-at-arms at her Stevenson Democratic Club, had died this past week.
Stevie called me religiously to remind me of the monthly club meeting and to inform me who the guest speaker would be. We always would chat for a few minutes and I found him to be a pleasant man. It’s so sad because he was a decent man. He was devoted to Nettie and the Stevenson Club. I will miss our monthly phone calls. Rest in peace, Stevie.
From early reports on the results of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the sales totals of each were better than expected. Was it because the economy is getting better or because the sale prices were too low to resist?
On Sunday morning, while waiting to be picked up, I was watching C-Span. That particular segment was all about the proposed Canadian oil pipeline to Texas. From what I heard, it sounded like a good idea from many different aspects. It would provide jobs and give the economy a needed boost. The electrical, plumbers and operating engineers unions were in favor of the project. The Canadian representative said his company was “shovel-ready” to go.
The president said he wanted to hold off on approval until 2013. This will be the year after the 2012 election. The president wants to get re-elected and doesn’t wish to antagonize either the environmentalists who are against it or the unions who are for it.
I guess that’s why you would classify the president’s position as being between a rock and a hard place. It would make more sense to support the unions, as they are greater in number than the environmentalists and are in greater need for employment for their membership. Decisions are never easy.
