Newsday A15 Long Island Office 235 Pinelawn Rd., Melville, NY 11747-4250 New York City Office 2 Park Ave., New York, NY 10016-5695 On the Web Author is now in a real bind An e-mail directory is avail- able at www.newsday.com BY BILL BLEYER Home Delivery [email protected] 1-800-NEWSDAY Newsroom 843-2700 Until now, Edward Rene- Place an Ad 843-3000 han Jr. has been known as the Letters to the Editor E-mail author of six highly regarded [email protected] history books and former head of the Theodore Roosevelt Association. CORRECTIONS Yesterday, in a Garden City courtroom, he found himself Harbor Isle is a hamlet cast in a new role: accused just to the west of the Vil- thief. lage of Island Park. Its loca- Renehan was charged in tion in relation to the vil- Nassau County Court with lage was misidentified in a stealing an important story yesterday. The story Roosevelt letter owned by the also mischaracterized the association and possessing a number of residents in sup- forged document designed to port of the project. The ma- cover up the theft. jority of residents who com- Prosecutors say that be- mented at a public hearing tween March 2005 and July in November supported the 2006 Renehan stole, from the project. Lastly, the name of association’s headquarters in the site’s former tenant was Muttontown, a letter written Cibro Oil. in 1918 by TR about the death of his son Quentin in World The federal appeals War I. The letter has since NEWSDAY PHOTOS / ALAN RAIA court that struck down a been returned to the associa- Historian and ex-Theodore Roosevelt Association head Edward Renehan Jr., below, was New York State law on air tion. charged yesterday with stealing a TR letter, above, and possessing forged documents. passengers’ rights is based Prosecutors say Renehan in Manhattan. A story yes- tried to sell it through the of the 26th president and TRA terday gave an incorrect lo- Swann Galleries auction board member, said “it sounds cation. house in Manhattan. At the completely at odds with the time, he was the association’s Ed that I have known.” Newsday strives for the highest acting executive director. Renehan was released with- level of accuracy and fairness and Renehan’s attorney, Peter out bail by County Court is committed to promptly correct- Brill, of Manhattan, provided Judge John Kase. His next ing errors. Readers can report problems or concerns about con- a glimpse of his defense, say- court date is April 21. tent in the paper or on News- ing Renehan was diagnosed Renehan, 51, faces up to 7 day.com through the Internet by last summer with bipolar dis- years in prison after being logging onto www.newsday.com/ order about the same time his charged with third-degree corrections, or by telephone at mother died. News of his in- grand larceny, third-degree 631-843- 2700 or by mail at 235 dictment shocked historians criminal possession of stolen Pinelawn Rd., Melville, NY 11747, and some Roosevelt family property and second-degree Attention: Corrections. members. criminal possession of a “He has my sympathy,” said forged instrument: a letter pur- TR biographer Edmund Mor- portedly signed by his prede- THIS DATE IN HISTORY ris. “And the Theodore cessor, John A. Gable, transfer- 1513: Spanish explorer Roosevelt Association has my ring ownership of the letter to Juan Ponce de Leon congratulations on regaining Renehan. sighted present-day something irreplaceable.” William Wallace, deputy George Washington and one with the case. Tweed Roosevelt, a great bureau chief of the Nassau by Abraham Lincoln. They After yesterday’s arraign- Florida. grandson of TR, said that if district attorney’s Govern- were apparently filched from ment, association president 1836: The first Mormon the charges are found to be ment and Consumer Frauds the association’s collection James Bruns said the associa- temple was dedicated, in true, they would amount to “a Bureau, said “the investiga- at the Theodore Roosevelt tion wants to retrieve the Kirtland, Ohio. major betrayal of trust. Theft tion is continuing” to deter- birthplace site in Manhattan. three letters sold by Swann 1945: During World War of important historical docu- mine whether other artifacts Renehan consigned those let- “plus recovering other items II, Gen. Dwight D. Eisen- ments by a trusted employee were stolen. ters to Swann Galleries in that may be in the defendant’s hower told reporters in is disgraceful.” In a separate case, the Na- Manhattan, where they were possession.” New York-based magazine tional Park Service is prob- sold for almost $100,000 Brill said he didn’t think Paris that German defens- editor Philip Roosevelt, a first ing the theft and sale of over the past few years, ac- Renehan had any other es on the Western Front www.newsday.com cousin three times removed three letters, two written by cording to sources familiar items. had been broken. 1958: Nikita Khrushchev became Soviet premier in addition to First Secre- tary of the Communist Party. Spate of Nassau fires strains Red Cross 2008 27, MARCH THURSDAY, NEWSDAY, 1977: 583 people were BY BRANDON BAIN The American Red Cross in months remaining in our fiscal “We’ll never shortchange killed when a KLM Boe- [email protected] Nassau County has responded year,” said Nassau’s Red Cross those who need assistance, so ing 747, attempting to to 115 local emergencies since spokesman Sam Kille. if we don’t replenish these take off, crashed into a Four fires in four days have July 1, most of which were The fiscal year ends on funds we’re going to have to added to the financial strain house fires. The organization June 30. The Nassau Red look at shifting funds from Pan Am 747 on the Ca- on the Nassau County chapter responded to 81 emergencies Cross currently has a $2.2 mil- one place to another,” Kille nary Island of Tenerife. of the American Red Cross, of- the previous fiscal year. lion annual budget, which is said. “We really need Nassau 1998: The Food and Drug ficials said. Since July 1, the Nassau Red generated partly from resi- residents to realize that we Administration approved The latest fire yesterday Cross has also provided near- dent donations and the health are not a government agency. the drug Viagra, made by morning left a Hempstead ly $140,000 in relief to more and safety courses they offer. We’re the local chapter that Pfizer, saying it had family homeless, requiring than 600 residents. On Saturday at Eisenhower helps people locally.” helped about two-thirds temporary shelter at a nearby “We’ve exceeded budgeted Park, the Red Cross will hold For more information on motel for two adults and two funds for disaster relief due to an its first-ever Cross Walk for the American Red Cross in of impotent men improve teenagers. Clothes, food and increased number of disasters Disaster Relief, a 5-kilometer Nassau County go to nas- their sexual function. the motel bill totaled $1,450. this year and we still have three walkathon. sauredcross.org.