We’re coming to the end of National Blood Donor Month. As a blood recipient, I want to thank Pat Hefferman and all those others who have for years rolled up their sleeves and given blood. Hefferman, seen below at yesterday’s celebration of National Blood Donor Month at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, has donated more than 11 gallons of blood over 26 years.

If you can give, contact:

• Hudson Valley Blood Services/New York Blood Center at 800-933-2566


• Good Samaritan Hospital, 255 Lafayette Ave., Suffern. The hospital runs its own blood bank. The room is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Walk-in donors are welcome. To make an appointment, call 845-368-5178.

The first impulse when we heard about how Wall Street contributed to the economy hitting the skids was to dock their billions of dollars in bonuses.

But now we’re seeing the proof that doing so would only make matters worse, even if it gave us some measure of revenge for the impact on our investments.

According to state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, cash bonuses paid out to Wall Street employees dropped by 44 percent compared to those paid out in 2007.

That’s going to mean a dramatic drop in state income tax revenue, although Gov. David Paterson says that loss won’t add to the state’s deficit because the amounts had already been projected.

Following that logic, deeper cuts in bonuses would only have hurt the state more, with even less income tax revenue collected.

So, rather than collecting a total of $32.9 billion in bonuses as they did in 2007, Wall Street types took home a total of just $18.4 billion for 2008.

Poor babies.

Ever wonder about all the campaign promises that get made as candidates criss-cross America or even more important, after they get elected?

The folks at the St. Petersburg Times and their TampaBay.com Web site are tracking promises made by Barack Obama — 509 to be exact — to see how he’s doing in making them reality. They’ve set up PolitiFact.com to showcase their findings.

OK. He’s only been president for a week, a day less if you’re one to worry about the oath of office do-over. But there’s already movement.

The tally so far: Promises kept, 5; Compromises, 1; promises broken, 0; stalled, 1; in the works, 14; No action, 488.

They also check out claims made in chain e-mails circulating on the Internet and in statements made by public officials, White House staff and others, testing their truth as best the St. Pete editors and reporters can determine it.

It’s interesting reading. Drop by here for a look.

OK, it’s not dangerous to me, but it is to my cat.

Last night, I was loading the dishwasher when I got distracted and turned away. I then promptly squeezed in the detergent, shut the door and pressed the magic button. I heard a thump, thump, thump. A dish out of alignment? A stray spoon?

I opened the door to fix whatever was out of place, and our 7ish-month-old kitten, Alex, came flying out at about 60 mph.

Yes, I washed my cat in the dishwasher.

She is fine (she got her head stuck this morning exploring a glass of orange juice, so she seems no worse for the wear, nor any brighter.)

I, however, am traumatized.

Is there a lesson there? Probably for Alex, but I don’t think she’ll learn it until she’s graduated from kittenhood. Until then, I will look in the dishwasher, oven, fridge (yes, she has) etc. before I shut them.

Looking back over a couple of weeks’ worth of newspapers, I couldn’t help but think back to meeting pro wrestler Paul Fuchs of Sloatsburg, who was found dead at his parents’ home earlier this month.

It was in 2007, when he and two other Suffern High School alumni — Scott Wright and Kevin Clark — were visiting the Camp Venture Select Day Habilitation Program in Stony Point.

The trio, all of them professional wrestlers, were there to promote a benefit for Venture and for Suffern’s High School’s Touchdown Club, which supports the school football teams.

Fuchs, who went by the name Paul E. Normous, was just that. But he was clearly a gentle soul.

He told me how he was chasing a dream of making it to the big time with World Wrestling Entertainment, the successor to the old WWF. He had one shot, but didn’t get a contract.

Then there was a setback, one that makes you think twice about just how fake the wrestling action is.

An opponent had come off the ropes making a spin move, he told me. “I didn’t get out of the way. His knee landed on my face. If people think this is fake,” he said, “those must have been fake screws in my fake face.”

He was coming back from the injury, still on that quest, hoping the benefit show at his alma mater might attract enough attention to get another call from the WWE.

He was still chasing the dream when he got a bit part in “The Wrestler.”  They even mention him by name.

But the day it opened was the day the quest ended, where it began, back home in Sloatsburg.

Irving Feiner of Nyack, who stood up for free speech, civil rights, open politics, and tax reform, has died. He was 84. Feiner didn’t hold public office, he didn’t set policy. But he made strides on important issues, and worked to hold his community, and its leaders, to the highest standards. And he wrote one heck of a Community View.

In 2001, he ran unsuccessfully for county executive on the Working Families line, because he couldn’t abide by that high office going unchallenged. He had some fun, using his acerbic wit and underdog status to skewer his opponent and Rockland politics in general. But he also forced County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef into real talk on real issues. Irv considered a run again in 2005, to put issues front-and-center. Here’s what he said in a May Community View:

No, I am too old. At 81 you think a lot about longevity. Recently, I read and studied the ancient Chinese philosopher, Soong Ming Tzu, who convinced me that the secret to longevity is “ecstatic enjoyment and supreme happiness.” Come to think of it, I ecstatically enjoy, and nothing make(s) me more supremely happier, than busting politicians.

Busting politicians, testing the First Amendment free speech rights as a university student, spending the sunset of his years crunching numbers and rallying for property tax reform — that was Irv Feiner. By the way, he busted opinion editors too. I will miss him.

A memorial service will be at 4 p.m. tomorrow (Sunday) at the Nyack Center, the corner of Broadway and Depew in the village.

Today marks the three-year anniversary of “Black Friday,” when deadly fires in the Bronx and Brooklyn took the lives of New York City firefighters. The Bronx fire killed 37-year-old John Bellew of Pearl River, a father of four, and Lt. Curtis Meyran of Malverne. Four were injured, including Jeffery Cool of Garnerville.

The firefighters were forced to jump from the fourth floor as flames shot around them — trapped in a carved-up apartment, with walls put in unexpected places. The building’s two tenants, the landlord and the building owner’s attorney were charged with second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment. Prosecutors contend that their actions of illegally subdividing the apartment to squeeze in more people led to the fatalities. The trial is ongoing.

The issue of illegal apartments, and breaking building codes, is a big one here in suburbia as well. It is a dangerous practice for firefighters who expect on thing — a hallway or room — and find a wall. In 2007, Moleston Fire District moved to have a public hearing on removing the village of New Square from its jurisdiction, a dramatic move to call attention to a plethora of violations. As a March 2007 editorial explained: ”(Firefighters) have time and time again found themselves entering what they believe is a single- or two-family home for it only to turn out to house a business, or extra apartments or illegal living space on a third or fourth floor. These are real dangers for firefighters who can’t anticipate a floor plan, or may be met with chemicals used in a basement manufacturing facility.” The issue there has improved, but in every town, illegal conversions are a risk to firefighters’ safety.

Testimony from the Bronx fire trial (taking place in state Supreme Court in the Bronx and reported by various New York City media) is heartbreaking. Cool recounted the heat, and the chaos, in a Jan. 13 court appearance. “You could see it burning through on us. It was starting to get like hell in there. It was hell,” he said during testimony, according to NY1. (Here’s a link to the story that includes video of Jeff Cool.)

Cool was able to lower another firefighter and himself some with the rope he had purchased at a trade show, but still fell a great distance and broke about as many bones as a person can. He has retired from the FDNY due to his injuries.

Did you know that today is National Mentoring Recognition Day? Neither did I, until I received a letter from Gillian Ballard, who runs Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rockland County. As she point out, mentoring is just the right Rx for aiding communities, volunteering and joining in that spirit of service President Barack Obama highlighted in his Inaugural speech, and in his own actions the day before. (Today, we have an editorial about how you are volunteering, helping, making that good-faith payment to “the price and promise of citizenship.” Read here.) And, if mentoring sounds like a good place to start, there are plenty of opportunities in Rockland. Look here for information on Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rockland or call 845-634-2199. And folks, please post your ideas for volunteering on this blog entry, or in the forum chat at the end of today’s editorial — look for the headline, “So, what do you do?” Help others find ways they can join in helping our community prosper.

Here’s Gillian’s letter:

Today, Thursday, January 22nd is the acknowledged nationwide “Mentor Recognition Day”. This occasion honors individuals, whose acts of kindness and generosity help vulnerable children in our community succeed in their lives, and which effort has now become a recognized movement across the country.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rockland County would like to extend heartfelt thanks to Mr. Scott Milich, owner of Starbucks Coffee Shop, New City. Through his cooperation, our organization was able to set up a public awareness table to offer not only its thanks to our community-wide volunteers but also to enroll its youth from single parent homes in need of a role model.

Cooperative spirit is an inherent attribute and intrinsic to our new President’s comments regarding communities coming together to improve and help the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves.

Thank you to the staff at Starbucks for providing delicious pro bono coffee, thank you Scott for your invaluable support and thank you Rockland – our very own county – rich in a tapestry of diverse and multi-variable community spirits!

Most sincerely,

Gillian E. Ballard
Pres. /CEO

The Rockland County American Legion will continue a 58-year-old tradition on Sunday, Feb. 1, at the Marian Shrine in West Haverstraw, saluting the sacrifice by four chaplains serving aboard the troop transport USS Dorchester when it was torpedoed and sank during World War II.

The Dorchester was making a dangerous crossing from Newfoundland to Greenland, an area patrolled by German submarines, when it sank with 902 aboard early on Feb. 3, 1942.

Of those, 230 survived, in part because of the calm leadership exhibited by four clergymen of differing faiths, who comforted and ministered to the troops while distributing life vests. When there were no more to give out, the four — a rabbi, a priest and two protestant ministers — took off their vests and gave them to others to spare their lives. Survivors reported seeing the four men, their arms links, slipping beneath the waves with the ship, a converted luxury liner.

Each year since 1951, the chaplains have been remembered with a memorial service in Rockland, conducted by the Rockland County American Legion and this year hosted by the Leo Laders American Legion Post 130 of Thiells. This year’s interfaith observance will begin at 9 a.m. at the Shrine, on Filors Lane.

For information on this year’s ceremony, contact Four Chaplains Memorial Chairman Michael Brophy at 845-238-8161.

To learn more about the chaplains and the sinking of the Dorchester, visit here.

We learn the following from PolitickerNY.com, a blog that bills itself as “inside politics for political insiders: Ryan Karben, former state assemblyman, transferred $7,600 from the Hudson Valley Environmental Action Fund, a PAC he created, to his Assembly campaign committee.

But, he has no “immediate plans” to run for office, he talls Jimmy Vielkind of Politickerny.com. And to Vielkind’s query about Karben trying to get his old seat back, now held by Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, Karben said “no.” Karben stepped down in 2006, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family, and has never addressed allegations that he made improper advances toward male staffers.

I put in a call to Karben this morning after reading it. “It’s a non-event,” Karben said flatly. He explained how the law allows such transfers, and how “PAC funds can’t be used for anything that deals with me personally.” He said that he is still involved in political life and public affairs … “it’s a way to be involved in the community.” And he’s not running against Jaffee.

So, what is Karben going to do, and why does he need a campaign committee? He says:

“I’m going to continue to deploy resources to change public policy for the better.”

I also asked Jaffee for comment. Here’s what was e-mailed back:

“I’m focused on working with my colleagues to close a multi-billion dollar budget gap and standing up for Rockland during budget negotiations, so the last thing on my mind is political speculation.”