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I N S BROOKLYN’S ONLY COMPLETE U • The making of an Improbable W L O P Theater experience N • Brooklyn Philharmonic celebrates 50 Nightlife Guide • Lady chefs speak out CHOOSE FROM 36 VENUES — MORE THAN 140 EVENTS! 2003 NATIONAL AWARD WINNER Including The Bensonhurst Paper Published weekly by Brooklyn Paper Publications at 26 Court St., Brooklyn, NY 11242 Phone 718-834-9350 © Brooklyn Paper Publications • 16 pages including GO BROOKLYN • Vol.26, No. 44 BRZ • November 3, 2003 • FREE ‘Judge cheated us’ Parents slam jurist over lead-poisoning settlement By Deborah Kolben That decision could mean a difference of ments filed with the state Office of Court upset, because two of the banks Judge The Brooklyn Papers almost $300,000 for D-onna, according to Administration, Hutcherson earned at least Hutcherson selected were commercial Parents of a brain-damaged 9-year- her attorney. $1,000 in interest income from each of banks, which pay less interest, and the old girl are fuming over the way a Even more irksome to Donna Bostick HSBC and Signature in 2002. banks were located not in our neighbor- / Tom Callan / Tom Brooklyn judge handled a $290,000 and Richard Samuel, the girl’s parents, was But that was not revealed in court. hood, but across the street from the court- settlement for their daughter. that Hutcherson ordered the money be di- “The judge’s conduct creates an appear- house where the judge works,” the couple wrote in a letter delivered to Chief Admin- While both parties in the lead poisoning vided among three banks — HSBC, Sig- ance of impropriety,” said Howard Benjamin, suit agreed to a structured settlement, a fund nature Bank and Independence Bank — all a Manhattan attorney who handles judicial istrative Judge Ann Pfau. that would make payments to D-onna Bo- located miles from the couple’s Crown ethics cases. “Why do it this way without any Court Street attorney Michael Rosenberg, The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn stick until she turns 35, Brooklyn Supreme Heights home and within one block of the explanation and without disclosing that he who represents D-onna, filed a motion this D-onna Bostick, center, with her parents, Donna Bostick and Richard Court Judge James Hutcherson ruled that a Downtown Brooklyn courthouse. has substantial funds in two of those banks?” week asking Hutcherson to recuse himself Samuel, are claiming a judge is cheating her out of thousands of dollars. lump sum be delivered on her 18th birthday. According to financial disclosure state- “We were really shocked and extremely See JUDGE on page 7 Tax focus for Clues sought Gentile-Russo in Ridge By Deborah Kolben his 43rd district seat against Re- for the vacated council seat in The Brooklyn Papers publican Pat Russo. Gentile will February, narrowly beating out also appear on the ballot as the four opponents in a non-partisan Running for political office hit-run candidate of the Working Fami- special election to serve out the is beginning to feel like old lies party; Russo has the backing rest of Golden’s term. hat for Bay Ridge Coun- By Jotham Sederstrom of the Conservative and Inde- In local political forums and The Brooklyn Papers cilman Vincent Gentile. pendence parties. interviews, Russo, an attorney Facing his third election in a Gentile lost his state Senate and political newcomer who in- Friends of a Bay Ridge woman year, the perennial candidate and seat last November to rival Mar- vestigates welfare fraud for the who was seriously injured in an early former three-term state senator is ty Golden, a Republican, who state, has continually bashed morning hit-and-run on Oct. 19 are up for re-election Tuesday after was the district’s councilman. Gentile for not keeping cam- asking any witnesses to the near- just eight months in office. Jumping right back into the paign promises. fatal accident to contact police. Democrat Gentile will defend political fray, Gentile made a bid “He claims to be a tax cutter, but he voted for each and every Augusta Vargas, 24, was walking home single tax that was part of the from the Bay Ridge Avenue R train around budget even though Republicans 4 am when a black sedan or small truck with in the City Council, and like- tinted windows minded Democrats, broke away nearly plowed in- Gavel races from pressure from the leader- to her as she ship,” Russo told The Bay Ridge crossed over to Paper this week. Fifth Avenue During the special election from 67th Street. campaign earlier this year, Gen- Despite reacting to judge Dems tile blasted Mayor Michael quickly and try- Bloomberg for raising the city’s ing to jump out property tax 18.5 percent and of the way, the By Deborah Kolben published a picture of the may- The Brooklyn Papers vehicle clipped or’s Upper East Side townhouse Vargas, knock- Until this year, judicial candidates were likely the last bal- on campaign literature with the ing her to the Augusta Vargas lot items on the minds of most voters as they stepped up to slogan: “With an $8 million ground about a townhouse, Mayor Bloomberg the polls. block away from the basement apartment But thanks to a highly publicized Brooklyn judicial bribery scan- can afford a property tax hike. We can’t.” she shares with a friend. dal and subsequent investigation by District Attorney Charles Hynes “The doctors said had I not turned my into the buying of judgeships, there should be a lot more voters pay- With the score still unsettled, Bloomberg has thrown his sup- head when I jumped out of the way that ing attention to who is running for Supreme Court in Brooklyn. I’d probably be either dead or a vegetable Because Brooklyn is so heavily Democratic, a spot on the party’s port behind Russo and gave him the maximum allowable dona- — or on life support,” Vargas told The judicial slate has almost always guaranteed a spot on the bench. But Brooklyn Papers from her hospital bed tion of $2,750. the Democratic Party and its leader, Assemblyman Clarence Norman this week. According to city Campaign Jr., came under fire this year for the backroom way in which it choos- The 24-year-old employee of YRB, a Finance Board records, Russo is es its judicial candidates. Manhattan-based magazine dedicated to un- In response to the criticism, the party opened up the process, if See GENTILE on page 7 Callan / Tom derground hip hop music, is recovering at only a little, but not before the labor-backed Working Families Party Lutheran Medical Center in Sunset Park, placed an advertisement in the New York Law Journal seeking a ju- where last Sunday she underwent five hours dicial slate of its own. INSIDE THE PAPER of surgery. “Wanted: a few good judicial candidates,” the advertisement read. Classifieds . GO 6-8 She was scheduled to go under the knife Among those who saw the ad and applied was Judge Margarita 8 pages GO Brooklyn . follows page 4 Papers The Brooklyn again Thursday to reconstruct her shattered Lopez Torres, an 11-year civil court judge passed over twice by the Home Improvement . GO 8 left knee. Vargas also suffered a fractured Democratic Party, including this year, for its nomination. Parent . page 4 right arm and right leg in the collision. Her Lopez Torres claims she got on the bad side of the party leaders Police . page 2 Real Estate . GO 6 left hand was sliced to the bone. when she refused to follow the rules of Brooklyn political back Sign of the season “My bone was hanging out,” Vargas said. scratching by declining to hire someone referred by Assemblyman Online at Just in time for Halloween, a masked dummy turned some heads sitting outside the Villiage 247 “She’s really scattered,” said Josie Vito Lopez (no relation). The Bushwick assemblyman has denied he restaurant at 247 Smith St. in Boerum Hill. See GO Brooklyn for Halloween events. See HIT&RUNon page 7 ever pressured her to make a hire. www.BrooklynPapers.com Lopez Torres, the only Hispanic woman on the civil court bench Hear our editors and reporters discuss the news every week in EDITORIAL ROUNDTABLE See TORRES on page 7 Ballot questions primaries Officials: Keep park patrols By Deborah Kolben week, Assistant Chief Joseph Fox, commanding offi- hanced police visibility in the park is necessary to By Jotham Sederstrom the grip Democrats historically have had on New The Brooklyn Papers cer of Patrol Borough Brooklyn South, opted to keep ensure that public confidence and park use is not affected,” the letter reads. The Brooklyn Papers York City, and Brooklyn, in particular, by eliminat- the extra officers on until early November. Elected officials whose districts adjoin In a letter to Fox, City Council members Bill “Prospect Park is made safer by neighborhood use. ing party labels from all ballots for city elected of- Brooklyn Democrats could be in for a rude Prospect Park are pleading with the police DeBlasio, Yvette Clarke and David Yassky said A seldom-used park is a less safe park. The NYPD’s awakening if a controversial referendum for fice. If passed, the charter amendment could go department to keep beefed up patrols in the they were afraid that the recent spate of highly visibility in the park encourages use and, therefore, non-party elections in New York City gets into effect by 2005. park year round. publicized violent attacks in the “emerald oasis” makes the park safer, in perception and reality.” the nod from voters Tuesday. “You don’t know what you’re going to be get- The additional detail was slated to expire in Octo- would keep park-goers away.