Bronxville and Scarsdale region

Kraft Avenue: A 44-year-old White Plains man was arrested for rummaging through a Yonkers woman’s pocketbook in her car while she walked her child to St. Joseph’s School last Wednesday, Bronxville police said Monday. The woman’s 3-year-old child was in the back seat of the car as Thomas Delano of 69 Abbeyville Lane tried to loot her pocketbook at 8 a.m., Bronxville Police Chief Christopher Satriale said. Bronxville Detective Richard Anderson caught Delano at the suspect’s White Plains home Friday at 11:25 a.m. He was charged with attempted petty larceny, a misdemeanor. Police said Delano was apparently not aware that there was a child in the back seat of the car as he searched for items to steal.
The Yonkers woman told police she took one child to the school door and as she returned spotted the man in her car. A 41-year-old friend of the victim spotted him, too, Chief Satriale said. The victim’s friend wrote down the license plate number of the suspect before he drove away. She gave it to the police. Delano was arrested by Bronxville police in September 1997 in the same area for stealing from a car, Chief Satriale said. He was arraigned on the new charges and released on $100 bail. — Will David

Midland Avenue: A 27-year-old Harrison man was arrested for driving while intoxicated in Bronxville, police said Monday. Arrested was Brian Meehan of 51 Park Ave., Bronxville Police Chief Christopher Satriale said. Meehan told Bronxville police Officer Lauralee Ulrich that he had four drinks in a half hour before she stopped him, Chief Satriale said. Officer Ulrich stopped Meehan because she spotted him driving erratically on Midland Avenue at 2:24 a.m. Saturday in a 2006 Chevrolet SUV and almost struck her police cruiser. He failed a blood alcohol test. He was charged with two counts of driving while intoxicated, both misdemeanors and with a violation for making an unsafe lane change. He was also charged with unlawful possession of marijuana, a violation, because a small amount was found on him. On Sept. 13 2005 he was convicted of driving while intoxicated in New Jersey, police said. Meehan was arraigned in Bronxville village court on released without bail. — Will David

A Queens woman was arrested after stealing almost $4,000 from her Scarsdale boyfriend’s checking account to use for herself, village police said Monday.
Arrested Friday was Natashia Belletty, 42, of Queens Village. She was arrested at her job at Macy’s Department store in Herald Square in Manhattan. Belletty has been under investigation since the end of last year by village detectives, Scarsdale Detective Lt. Bryant Clark said. She stole 12 checks totaling $3,000 from her 65-year-old Scarsdale boyfriend, Lt. Clark said. She also used five fund transfers totaling $980.15 to pay for her cable and cell phone bills, Clark said. The thefts began last spring, police said. Belletty is charged with third-degree grand larceny and third-degree criminal possession of stolen property, both felonies, third-degree forgery and third-degree criminal possession for a forged instrument, both misdemeanors.  She was arraigned in village court and released on $2,000 bail. — Will David

Post Road: Scarsdale police arrested a Yonkers man and then a Mount Vernon man in two separate and unrelated drunken driving cases on Post Road Saturday.
“They were almost simultaneous,” said Scarsdale Detective Lt. Bryant Clark. Village police stopped Lloid Whea of 92 Cox Ave. in Yonkers on Post Road at 3:57 a.m. Saturday for driving through a steady red light. He failed field sobriety test, Lt. Clark said.  Whea later failed a blood alcohol test. Whea had a .19 blood alcohol level. The state limit is .08. He was charged with two counts of driving while intoxicated, both misdemeanors, and a violation for passing a red light. As police were investigating Whea, Michael Green, 32, of Mount Vernon, drove by on Post Road at a high rate of speed. One Scarsdale police officer jumped into his cruiser and stopped Green. Green had slurred speech and there was a strong odor of alcohol on him, Lt. Clark said. He was arrested for driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor. He was also charged with speeding. Once in the village jail, police discovered that Green had secreted nine bags of crack cocaine in his rectum. A bag of marijuana was also found in his pocket, police said. Green was further charged with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a felony and unlawful possession of marijuana, a violation. — Will David

The Yale Westchester Alumni Association has postponed a program with an award-wining author and Yale professor until later this month due to inclement weather forecasted for Tuesday.

The program hosted by the alumni association will feature National Book Award Winner and Yale Professor Carlos Eire who will speak about his experiences as a child during revolutionary Cuba and becoming an orphan in America at the age of 11 in the early 1960s.

Eire, Riggs Professor of History at Yale, is known for his scholarly work on the religious and intellectual history of the West. He won the National Book Award for his first memoir about his Cuban-American experience, “Waiting for Snow in Havana.”  His most recent work, “Learning to Die in Miami,” is a continuation of that story.

The event will be held on Monday, Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m. in the Scott Room of the Scarsdale Library, 54 Olmsted Road. It is open to the public, but attendees are requested to register in advance.

For more details and to register, go to www.yalewestchester.org and click the “Events” tab or contact Rich Fabbro at 914-391-3707.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo introduced legislation Monday that would cap annual increases in local property taxes at no more than 2 percent annually, unless local residents vote to override the cap. Budget experts say that a tax cap will surely force big cuts by schools, because so much spending is mandated by — but not necessarily funded by — the state and federal governments. What is your take on the issue?

Here’s a look at opinion content published in The Journal News on Saturday, Jan. 29, Sunday, Jan. 30 and today, Monday, Jan. 31:

Saturday, Jan. 29
Egypt: Commentary
Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Trudy Rubin assesses the unrest in the Middle East and what it may mean for the development of a Palestinian state.

Gun safety: Commentary
In a Community View, Karen Leitner of White Plains argues in favor of legislation introduced by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-Long Island, that would target high-capacity ammunition clips, like the one used by Jared Lee Loughner in Tucson, Ariz.

Sunday, Jan. 30
Pensions: Editorial
We comment on a report from our Albany Bureau about that details the number of double-dippers — state employees who collect salaries and pensions simultaneously — and argue that New York’s policy makers are overdue in creating a defined-contribution pension system. We write:

Today’s Albany Bureau report on double-dippers — that is, state employees collecting salaries at the same time they are collecting pensions — is the kind of expose that makes public-employee union leaders cringe and taxpayers call their real estate agent and movers.


It also helps clarify, once again, why New York’s public-employee pension system, a grab bag endlessly stocked by taxpayers and generously dispensed by favor-currying politicians, needs to be scrapped, not merely tweaked.


The report by Bureau Chief Joseph Spector, with assistance from Journal News/LoHud.com database editor Cathey O’Donnell, details how some 2,100 state employees collected salaries and pensions last year, with 35 of them taking home more than $200,000. …

The Editorial Board will host two LIVE Editorial Spotlight interviews this week on LoHud.com:

• At 1 p.m. Tuesday, candidates for the Westchester County Board of Legislators’ vacant 12th District seat discuss their candidacies and the issues. Democrat MaryJane Shimsky and Republican Nicholas DeCicco are seeking the office, vacant since Thomas Abinanti was elected to the state Assembly.

• At 1 p.m. Thursday, Westchester Residential Opportunities officials Geoffrey Anderson, executive director; Marlene Zarfes, fair housing director; and Laura Neil, communications director, discuss fair housing in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam. WRO released a study last week that revealed discriminatory conduct in all three counties.

Watch the sessions at http://www.lohud.com/editorialspotlight. To submit a question or comment, engage the CoverItLive blogging feature on the right side of your screen.

Lauren Farfel, 15, and Anabelle Brecker, 15, both of Scarsdale, check expiration dates on donated food as they were among about 120 teenagers who took part in the UJA-Federation of New York’s food drive in White today. Photo by Seth Harrison

The drive, which coincided with the UJA’s Super Sunday Phone-A-Thon fundraiser, was held at the UJA’s White Plains headquarters. All the donated food will be delivered to the Bronx Jewish Community Council’s food pantry. Look for coverage in tomorrow’s edition of The Journal News. View additional photos from the UJA food drive.

Caroline Botvin of Scarsdale competes in the pole vault during the Westchester County Track and Field Championships at the Armory in Manhattan today. Photo by Seth Harrison

Hundreds of area track and field athletes competed in the 2011 Westchester Track and Field Championships at the Armory in Manhattan today. Look for coverage at Lohud.com and in tomorrow’s edition of The Journal News. View a gallery of photos from the 2011 Westchester Track and Field Championships.

Meredith Rizzo of Bronxville and Kristen Walsh of North Rockland compete in the High School Girls’ Metropolitan 4×800 meter meter relay during the 2011 Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden Jan. 28, 2011. Bronxville won the event. Photo by Seth Harrison

Harbert Okuti, representing the Westchester Track Club, second from right, finished in second place, behind Stephen Hass in the New York Road Runners’ Men’s Distance Challenge 2 Mile during the 2011 Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden Jan. 28, 2011. Photo by Seth Harrison

Local high school and professional runners competed in the 104th edition of the Millrose Games at the Garden. Look for coverage at Lohud.com and in tomorrow’s edition of The Journal News. View a gallery of photos from the 2011 Millrose Games.

The Scarsdale Forum (TVCCEF) will hold its membership meeting on Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Scott Room of the Scarsdale Library. The Scarsdale PT Council will be honored  at a welcome reception prior to the meeting at 7:30 p.m.

The Scarsdale Forum will present:
-“The Building Blocks of a Scarsdale Education,” on curriculum strategy and initiatives for school grades K-2 by Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Lynne Shain.
-Jill Spieler, President of the Board of Education, will deliver a “State of the Schools” address.
-Michael V. McGill, Superintendent of Schools and Linda Purvis, Assistant Superintendent of Business, will also be present.
-A preview of the 2011-2012 school budget will be discussed as well as the proposed statewide tax cap and its ramifications for Scarsdale if passed.

The Scarsdale Forum is a 106 year old civic club dedicated to improving life in Scarsdale. The Forum studies issues before the village and county governing boards and provides input via reports and recommendations.  Scarsdale residents are encouraged to join and participate in the process.

For more information, visit www.ScarsdaleForum.com, e-mail office@scarsdaleforum.com, or call 914-723-2829.