CLONES CRY: WAIT ’TIL NEXT YEAR By Gersh Kuntzman full cooler of ice water on their manager, Andy Stewart. of his family in the crowd — had been ineffective in his for The Brooklyn Papers “I’ve seen this on TV all the time, but it’s never hap- three prior at-bats, so he laid down a picture-perfect bunt. After losing 7-2 in Pennsylvania Tuesday, it was pened to me,” Stewart said. “I love it!” He eventually scored on Milver Reyes’ two-out single. do-or-die for the Brooklyn Cyclones Wednesday Many of the Cyclones remained on the top step of the The Cyclones had put themselves in Wednesday night’s night at Keyspan Park — and they died. dugout, watching what a championship looks like. do-or-die situation with a horrible 7-2 loss the night before “Sure, there’s a sour taste in all our mouths right now in Williamsport. The Crosscutters scored five runs in the sec- So it was the Williamsport Crosscutters — not the home- town Cyclones — who were spraying Champagne in cele- because everyone’s goal is to get a ring,” said first-base- ond inning, and the Cyclones were pretty much done for the bration of an 11th-inning, 4-3 victory and a two-game man Ian Bladergroen, who played all but one of the Cy- night. They threatened once, loading the bases in the 7th, but sweep of the New York-Penn League championship series. clones’ games this season only to fracture his thumb on a Brett Harper popped up to end the rally. / Gersh Kuntzman “Man, this feels so great!” said Cutters pitcher Kurt quirky play in the third inning. “But this was a great sea- “Of course we’re all hanging our heads now,” said Cy- Shafer, who’s barely of drinking age, yet was the first man son and in a few days, we’re all going to remember that clones pitcher Tanner Osberg, looking around the somber on the field with Champagne, kicking off a raucous celebra- and feel better about what we accomplished.” Clones locker room. “But those heads will be held high tion. Brooklyn fans initially booed — a bush-league move, The game-winning rally started like so many in a few days. We made it to a place that every other team many observers thought — but quickly cheered the new Williamsport rallies before, with a single by Anthony in the league wishes it could get to. What a great season.” Papers The Brooklyn champs as they whooped it up on the infield and dumped a Bocchino. The Brooklyn native — who had 80 members The week’s complete Cyclones coverage: page 10. Rashad Parker walks off the field after 7-2 Game 1 loss Tuesday night. BROOKLYN’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER Including The Downtown News, Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill Paper and Fort Greene-Clinton Hill Paper Published weekly by Brooklyn Paper Publications at 26 Court St, Brooklyn, NY 11242 Phone 718-834-9350 © Brooklyn Paper Publications • 18 pages including GO BROOKLYN • Vol.26, No. 37 BWN • September 15, 2003 • FREE Last 9-11 hero buried Vial of blood is only remains By Patrick Gallahue the Church of St. Bernard, in Bergen Beach. The Brooklyn Papers Hundreds more friends, family and city offi- cials came to pay their respects to Ragusa, 29, A vial of blood donated by Red Hook Fire- who was raised just blocks away. fighter Michael Paul Ragusa was buried Mon- Despite the two years that have passed since day in place of his remains, which were never 9-11, the memories of the tragedy weighed recovered from the World Trade Center site. heavily on the ceremony. His was the last of the 343 funerals for fire- Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who / Tom Callan / Tom fighters who perished at the World Trade Cen- joined Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Fire ter site on Sept. 11, 2001. Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta at the Sept. Under a cloudless sky and against a breeze 8 ceremony, recalled the moment when the two coming off Jamaica Bay, in a display that has buildings collapsed and he was told that as become all too familiar since 9-11, but which many as 600 or 700 firefighters and police offi- has not been seen in some months, thousands cers may have been killed. The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn of firefighters formed an honor guard outside “The numbers were staggering, and I Judge Gerald Garson smiles as he leaves courtroom on Tuesday. thought how can we do this?” he Mango / Greg said at the funeral. “How can we bury so many people?” Since the attacks, he, Bloomberg and both their commissioners have attended hundreds of funerals for Smiling judge Papers The Brooklyn the emergency workers and some of the civilians lost on 9-11. Firefighters stand in silence as Ragusa’s Engine 279 drives past on East 69th Street. “I remember them in the rain, in the snow,” Giuliani said of the tic moment” to many New Yorkers to see the life-threatening car accident to attend a friend’s / Greg Mango / Greg countless memorials. last firefighter honored. wedding. His generosity was also strongly not- loses Round 1 Three days before the commemo- “One is too many,” he said. “Three hundred ed, as well as a mischievous streak. His mother, ration of the terror attacks, a vial of and forty-three is almost too much to bear.” Dee Ragusa, recalled that he once took a car that By Patrick Gallahue Garson, who said nothing in blood that Ragusa had donated to a Ragusa, who was working out of Engine 279 his older brother had rented — before he had a The Brooklyn Papers court, smiled as he made his way bone marrow center was placed in a in Red Hook on 9-11, was remembered as a loy- driver’s license. But, she said, he then used it to al friend and car enthusiast who once signed drive his younger brother to school. down the corridor afterwards, a Papers The Brooklyn casket in place of his remains. Defense attorneys were thwart- bevy of reporters tailing him. Casket of Firefighter Michael Ragusa is carried off. Bloomberg said it was a “cathar- himself out of the hospital just one day after a See FUNERAL on page 9 ed Tuesday in their attempts to He also broke his silence, telling have corruption charges against WABC-TV news: “For 43 years Judge Gerald Garson dismissed. I’ve been a successful lawyer, and Lawyers for the indicted Brook- a very respected lawyering judge. lyn Supreme Court justice protest- I’m innocent in this case. I intend ed the charges with claims that to go to trial. I intend to be vindi- District Attorney Charles Hynes cated.” had overstepped his jurisdiction by Garson’s legal team also filed a bringing criminal charges to what, separate Article 78 Tuesday to they say, essentially amounted to challenge the more recent bribery an ethical violation, they said, indictment. That action will come which should be under the domin- before the court on Sept. 25 and at- ion of the state Commission on Ju- torneys would not discuss the mer- dicial Conduct. its of that claim. Garson was arrested in April, In what, at times, was an almost and a grand jury indicted him a slapstick back-and-forth, Judge / Greg Mango / Greg / Greg Mango / Greg month later on charges of “receiv- Mango / Greg ing reward for official misconduct in the second degree.” Last month, he was hit with a new indictment of “bribe receiving in the third de- gree,” as well as two new counts of The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn official misconduct. Papers The Brooklyn The bribery indictment alleges With the second anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks upon us, proposals for a memorial at the 69th Street Pier, in Bay Ridge, were revealed this week. Story, page 9. that Garson understood that in ex- change for the gifts, favorable treatment would be bestowed upon lawyer Paul Siminovsky, including access to the judge’s robing room, ex parte advice and preference in the assignment of lucrative re- Prospect Park ceiverships. Siminovsky, who was also ar- rested, has been cooperating with prosecutors. Callan / Tom Garson was also arraigned on to lose 26 cops the bribery charges on Tuesday and Defense lawyer Ronald Fischetti pleaded “not guilty” on his behalf. By Patrick Gallahue about park safety is running high. Attorneys Fischetti and Diar- Papers The Brooklyn The Brooklyn Papers The program reassigns officers from muid White had filed what is Judicial victim Frieda Hani- Patrol Borough Brooklyn South to pa- Prospect Park, which last week was known as an Article 78 proceeding, mov at court on Tuesday. trol areas such as Prospect Park and a legal measure used to challenge the scene of a horrific midday attack Coney Island that are more heavily traf- Mango / Greg actions taken by government agen- on a 33-year-old woman, is about to ficked during the warmer months. cies, to dispute Hynes’ jurisdiction Fisher presented a number of dif- lose 26 of the police officers that pa- Under the program, which has been over the charges of official miscon- ferent scenarios of what might con- trol its grounds. in operation since the early 1980s, duct that Garson faces. stitute “official misconduct” and The Summer Park Detail, which pro- Prospect Park this year received 26 ad- “receiving reward” to clarify the While Queens state Supreme vides extra patrols from May to mid- ditional officers. attorneys’ respective positions. Court Justice Steven Fisher did not October, is set to expire just as concern On Sept.