WESTCHESTER’S OLDEST AND MOST RESPECTED NEWSPAPERS Vol 12 Number 4 www.RisingMediaGroup.com Friday, January 23, 2015 Police Make 20 More Arrests in 2015 Election Could Change Yearlong Heroin Investigation Control of County Board Legislator Michael Smith Legislator Bernice Spreckman By Dan Murphy budgets with no property tax levy increase. The big election in Westchester in 2015 For Republicans, and Kaplowitz and Per- will be for the County Board of Legislators, ez, the math is easy: Hold on to all of your seats in which all 17 seats are up for grabs and the and you will have the same 9-8 coalition major- outcome will determine which party will have ity next year. a working majority, and control of the board in Democrats need to pick up one of the 2016. Republicans legislative seats, or run another Currently, Democrats hold a 10-7 ma- Democrat against Kaplowitz and Perez. Both jority on the board. However, the decision of Kaplowitz, who is chairman of the board, and Democratic Legislators Michael Kaplowitz and Perez are popular legislators and well known in Virginia Perez to form a coalition government their districts. with the seven Republican county legislators If Kaplowitz doesn’t face a serious Re- Six more arrests have been made in a yearlong investigation into the sale of heroin in north- denied Democrats their majority over the past publican challenger in the fourth district in ern Westchester, including: Artis Smythe, Alprentice Scott, Tara Roberts, Robert Sayegh, Daniel Bagot and Lenny Brothers. two years, and resulted in a consensus govern- the northern Westchester towns of Yorktown, ment that has worked with Republican County Somers and New Castle, he will win re-election Twenty people were arrested last week ing charges in either state or federal court. The Executive Rob Astorino to pass two bipartisan Continued on Page 5 on charges of selling heroin in northern West- suspects facing federal charges are accused of chester – the latest series of arrests to occur being suppliers of larger quantities of heroin under a previously undisclosed initiative to and face up to life in prison, if convicted. combat the distribution and sale of heroin in Astorino and Commissioner George the north county area. Longworth thanked the federal and local Sportsmanship Should Be Responding to a surge in heroin use and agencies for committing manpower and re- related overdose deaths in 2013, a multi-agen- sources to the initiative. They also expressed Part of High School Athletics cy task force of officers was formed in early gratitude for the prosecutorial support of the 2014 by the Department of Public Safety, sev- Westchester District Attorney’s Office and the en northern Westchester police departments U.S. Attorney’s Office. and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The “The law enforcement community re- goal of the Westchester County Northern Nar- solved to increase the already substantial cotics Initiative was to target street-level deal- resources that were being expended to com- ers, as well as their suppliers. bat the heroin trade,” said Longworth. “This “The deaths of young adults in northern multi-agency task force has quietly taken Westchester from heroin overdoses in the last scores of drug dealers off our streets along year or so were a tremendous tragedy for their with some of those who supply them.” families and their communities,” said County The task force was comprised officers Executive Robert Astorino. “These deaths from the Bedford, Buchanan, Croton-on-Hud- were a stark reminder that the fight against son, Peekskill, Yorktown, Mount Kisco and the distribution and sale of heroin is literally a Ossining Police Departments as well as mem- fight for the lives of our children.” bers of the Westchester County FBI Violent Since its formation a year ago, the task Crimes Task Force. The 125 arrests were the force has made more than 125 arrests across results of thousands of hours of investigation, northern Westchester of persons who were including intelligence gathering, surveillance, selling heroin on the street or from their undercover buys and wiretaps. homes. Most were charged with felony counts According to Longworth, heroin was be- UConn basketball star Saniya Chong is an alumnus of Ossining High School. of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled ing sold all across northern Westchester. substance with intent to sell, and third-degree “Some people may think heroin is only criminal possession of a controlled substance. an inner-city problem, but is not,” he said. By Dan Murphy ago and now attends the University of Connecti- During last week’s operation, county, lo- “Heroin is being sold on tree-lined streets. It The Ossining High School girls’ varsity bas- cut, the pre-eminent girls’ college basketball pro- cal and federal officers took an additional 20 is being used by – and sold by – young people ketball team has quickly become a dynasty – and gram. a legendary team in Westchester. Winners of two The problem that some players, parents and suspects into custody who will face drug-deal- Continued on Page 8 straight Class AA State Championships, the Os- coaches in Westchester have with Ricci and his sining Indians and Coach Dan Ricci, should be hoops program is that they simply don’t take proud of its accomplishments. their foot off the gas during games, and “run up For the past 20 years, Ricci has amassed a the scores” against their county high school op- Westchester Real Estate record of 311 wins and only 128 losses, with the ponents. help of star players like Saniya Chong, who led There are two different ways to “run up the Sales Continue to Rise the Indians to the State Championship two years Continued on Page 5 4th Quarter Shows Increases in High-End Sales Op-Ed: We’re in a War to Defend Freedom of Speech “I’d rather die standing up than live on my knees.” Charlie Hebdo Editor Stéphane Charbonnier Penthouses at the Ritz Carlton in White Plains have sold for $5 million and $10 million. By Dan Murphy the real estate market in the lower Hudson region Fourth quarter real estate figures from 2014 of New York continued strong throughout 2014, show a continued strong market in Westchester including its fourth quarter. Realtors participating County, with hi-end sales leading demand. Two in the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service, Jim Maisano reports, from the Hudson Gateway Multiple List- a subsidiary of the Hudson Gateway Association ing Service and from Houlihan Lawrence, both of Realtors, reported 14,169 closed residential By County Legislator Jim Maisano Amendment absolutist as you can get and fully come to the same conclusion: The Westchester transactions during 2014 among the four coun- I just read a thoughtful post on the Ameri- support a wide interpretation of First Amend- real estate market remains strong, with suitable ties of the MLS’ core service area: Westchester, can Thinker website that sparked me to offer ment rights. I do not believe any government inventory and a stable and slow-steady increase Putnam, Rockland and Orange. This was the some observations about freedom of speech is capable of fairly regulating freedom of ex- in prices. highest number for any year since the 2008-09 and the executions in France of the Char- pression. The HGAR report states: “The recovery of Continued on Page 8 lie Hebdo journalists. I’m as close to a First Continued on Page 8 PAGE 2 - HARRISON RISING - FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2015 CLAY Introduces New ‘TechNoBody’ Debuts Jan. 23 Golf Club Fitting System At Pelham Arts Center A rendering of the golf club fitting system. CLAY Health Club and Spa recently un- Known in the industry as the “bodybuild- veiled the world’s most advanced custom golf- ing golf professional,” Manavian has dedi- club-fitting technology. CLAY, a new luxury cated his life to systematically improving ath- health club, has just upped its golf game by letic performance at all levels. His expertise developing its full-swing club and body track- in utilizing cutting-edge technology, including ing system with the addition of more exotic GEARS, to assess the bio-mechanics of a golf golf shafts, sensor-fitting tools, and the latest swing differentiates him from any other pro- club heads from Nike, Cobra and TaylorMade. fessional in the field. CLAY is the world’s only health club to Manavian is an authorized instructor in house this comprehensive sports lab, which the Stack and Tilt Network and is the author now offers the most progressive golf-club- of Atomic Golf. fitting technology currently available. In addition to using its world-class swing GEARS is the full-swing club and body analysis technology to optimize a player’s cus- tracking system at CLAY used by PGA pro- tom fit, CLAY is the only facility in the world fessionals, club fitters and club manufactur- to use GEARS to measure other physical neu- ers to measure and analyze every nuance of a romuscular systems, according to Manavian. swing – from address to follow-through. Play- The sports performance expert explains The “TechNoBody” art exhibit includes this work by Victoria Vesna. ers wear a motion-capture suit, featuring more that GEARS is also used to analyze and im- than 30 sensors placed on the body and club, prove any athlete and his or her sport – like The Pelham Art Center will present “Tech- to alter the physical and intellectual worlds in sig- and eight ultra-HD cameras capture more than baseball, tennis and rowing. NoBody,” curated by Patricia Miranda, from Jan. nificant ways. Modern digital technologies extend 600 images per hit to accurately assess the “It’s like an MRI for your game,” he said.