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Changing of the Guard

Barbara Bacarella, a crossing guard on Bell Boulevard for four years, is starting anew as a guard at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament School, also in Bayside.

“I love Bell Boulevard,” said Bacarella, 58.

At dismissal hours, she routinely helps children from local schools like P.S. 41 and Sacred Heart School make their way across streets.

“I’m going to miss them all,” she said.

She recalled finding a stray cat in a nearby parking lot who was following her. After she put it back in the lot, it followed her again, so she decided to keep it.

“He chased me again,” she said. “I said, ‘now you got to come home with me.’”

She decided to call the cat “Belly” after the boulevard. – Jano Tantongco