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By Bill Parry

TimesLedger Newspapers

A senior at Long Island City High School was awarded a full-tuition scholarship to Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I., as the top prize at the Careers through Culinary Arts Program New York Awards Breakfast at the Pierre Hotel earlier this month.

Elmhurst’s Yi Jing, 18, a product of the school’s Culinary Arts and restaurant Hospitality Management Academy, captured the full-ride worth $128,364. Three of her classmates also won partial scholarships.

“My dad was an inspiration,” Jing said. “He works in restaurants and at a young age, he made delicious food for me on his days off. It is something I would like my future family to experience.”

The C-CAP Cooking Competitions for Scholarships are hosted around the country and teach invaluable skills of discipline, commitment and drive to underserved teenagers at risk of leaving high school without a job or college prospects. The students were graded by a panel of judges on presentation and taste, but scholarships were also awarded based on their transcripts.

“I applied to Long Island City High School because they had a culinary program,” Jing said. “After all these years, I’ve become more confident in my own skills. Instead of shying away from opportunities, I now embrace them believing that new opportunities mean more knowledge. LICHS and C-CAP have given me my first job and even prepared me for interviews. I am very thankful.”

She also has a greater appreciation for the teamwork that is needed in a large commercial kitchen.

“At a young age, I admired the executive chef and sous chef for being able to oversee the whole kitchen and making original menus,” Jing said. “Now, however, I realize that each member of the kitchen needs to be appreciated. The kitchen is composed of a team not just one person. Not one person can complete each aspect by themselves. The kitchen only works efficiently as a whole.”

Her classmates at LICHS, Jaycee Fernandez, Daniel Flowers, and Christian Ochoa were awarded partial scholarship worth $5,000 to $6,000. Mariah King, a senior at August Martin High School in Jamaica, was the only other winner from Queens taking home a $1,000 scholarship.

Jing must now decide if she wants to study nutrition at Johnson & Wales University or restaurant and hotel management. She wants to gain more experience in the kitchen and other aspects of the industry before she decides what part of the business she wants to enter.

“It’s a known fact that there are not as many females who work in the kitchen or in the food industry compared to the amount to the amount of men,” Jing said. “When I enter the food industry, I want to be a leader. I want to oversee certain parts of the restaurant or hotel and be in management. Becoming someone who is looked up to by others would be a dream come true.”

Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4538.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Angelica Acevedo

TimesLedger Newspapers

When Demian DeViccaro and Ken Stubbolo first had the idea of creating a lacrosse team in Queens to recruit high school boys about seven years ago, they had no idea it would grow to become what it is today.

With more than 150 kids — ranging from the third-graders to high-schoolers — the Bombers Lacrosse Club is making a name for itself in Queens.

“It’s a community thing. It’s about being around people and their kids and I’m also watching my kid grow up — what better place to be than hanging around him,” DeViccaro said.

DeViccaro, the director of the Bombers and a Queens native, said that recruiting high school boys and training them in lacrosse so that they could receive college scholarships was their main goal at first.

Once his own son started to get older and he wanted to introduce him to the sport, DeViccaro found that the drive to and from Long Island along with what he believes are expensive fees gave him and his partner the idea to start a youth club.

They soon built a relationship with other lacrosse teams across the five boroughs, including Brooklyn Lacrosse Club, Brooklyn Crescents, Lacrosse Club of Rockaway and Docs New York City Lacrosse. “Docs New York City is one of the founders of lacrosse in the five boroughs,” DeViccaro said. “So we’re kind of following their lead, they’ve been doing it a lot longer than I have.” Two weeks ago, they officially kicked off New York City’s first lacrosse league.

DeVicarro acknowledges that because of this exposure, the Bombers now have a girls’ high school team and are training more girls. He’s also working on establishing a middle school girls team.

Although the group has been around for a few years, DeViccaro admits it isn’t easy to maintain it — especially considering this isn’t his full-time job. His partner, Stubbolo, is more of an advisor and financial backer, being that he also has a full time job.

“He’s where I get all my information from because I didn’t grow up playing lacrosse; I grew up playing baseball,” DeViccaro said.

Parents of the Bombers’ players step in and help DeVicarro, who is a broker at the New York Stock Exchange by day. Lauren Ackerman, one of the parents of the team, is in charge of collecting sponsors.

“We have a sponsorship program because everything we do here is pretty much grassroots,” Ackerman said. “Businesses, parents, friends, family, anyone, can sponsor a team or a child to play, so there’s different levels each with different benefits.”

Ackerman has two kids in the club, one boy and one girl.

In fact, her daughter, Brianna Ackerman, is the only girl on the 10U boys’ team. This is her first official season, but she’s been playing with the boys since last spring.

Brianna, 11, said she “feels special” being the only girl in the team.

“I love lacrosse because it’s very active, you can play with different people and it’s a lot of teamwork and strategy,” she said.

According to DeViccaro, the only real challenge they have found has been securing fields in Queens to use for practice. He said that because they’re a nonprofit, that is where most, if not all, of the money from the registration fee goes toward.

When asked about DeVicarro’s concerns, Parks Department spokeswoman Meghan Lalor, said that the Bombers haven’t applied for a permit this year, but that they would be “happy to continue the conversation with him.”

“Parks does not have an official lacrosse field in Queens,” Lalor said. “The Bombers applied for a permit in 2017 and were denied because of this reason.”

In response to this, DeViccaro said that they don’t need a lacrosse field for practices.

“I explained this to them and they said lacrosse is really not a Queens sport,” he said. “There are no cricket fields in Queens, yet they permit baseball fields and soccer fields out for cricket.”

Despite this, the Bombers continue to expand.

Now a travel team, DeViccaro emphasizes that he’s been able to offer the Bombers a lot of what they would get in Long Island for less.

“When you look outside and you look at what Long Island is charging, I’m charging only a fraction of the cost,” DeViccaro said. “I don’t turn kids away. My partners help me get sponsorships through companies and local stores so I can help some kids out.”

Jonah Resnick, 10, who is on the 10U team, said he loves the sport because it gives him the chance to play with friends.

“When we win, we celebrate and when we lose, it’s okay. We’re not going to make fun of each other. We’re not going to scream at the other team. We’re just going to try our best next time to do better,” Jonah said.

John Simendinger, a Long Island native now in college, coaches the 8U and 10U teams. He started playing for the Bombers as a junior in high school and believes it’s important to bring the sport to Queens, since it can offer more scholarship opportunities in the boroughs.

“After I was done playing for three years — I love lacrosse and I love Demian — I wanted to continue doing something with the Bombers,” Simendinger said. “It’s good to see a few of the kids who started out with kindergarten stuff grow over the years. It’s all about having fun.”

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Naeisha Rose

TimesLedger Newspapers

A Rosedale woman has been charged with murder for allegedly causing the death of her 11-month-old step-grandson, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.

Shanica Callaghan, 29, was charged with murder, assault and endangering the welfare of a child in the September 2017 death of Jeremiah Callaghan. Brown said the baby died as a result of abusive head trauma consistent with the baby being violently shaken.

On Aug. 31, 2017, at 6 p.m., Callaghan and her husband, Clinton, took baby Jeremiah and the couple’s three biological children to Brookville Playground, according to the charges. The couple returned home around 7:30 p.m., and the child appeared healthy, Brown said.

Callaghan claimed that while she was alone with Jeremiah in the house, she changed his diaper, gave him a bottle, and that when she burped the baby, he began to vomit and had difficulty breathing, according to the charges.

Brown said the baby was then rushed to Jamaica Hospital in cardiac arrest and was placed on a ventilator. He was transferred to Cohen Children’s Medical Center and died Sept. 6, 2017.

An autopsy later showed the baby suffered a traumatic brain injury with subdural hemorrhages, extensive retinal hemorrhages to both eyes, a detached left retina and extensive spinal cord damage, according to the charges. The findings and cause of death are consistent with Abusive Head Trauma from violent and repetitive forces of being shaken, in addition to blunt force trauma to the baby’s body and head, the DA said.

“The defendant and her husband — the baby’s grandfather — had gained custody of the toddler after his mother began abusing drugs,” Brown said. “In a heart-breaking turn of events, the baby boy [who] today should be learning how to walk and talk is dead and buried. His skull was fractured and there was bleeding on the brain and other horrible, unimaginable injuries. The defendant now faces the possibility of spending the rest of her life behind bars.”

Callaghan is currently waiting arraignment in Queens Criminal Court. If convicted, she faces up to 25 years to life in prison, Brown said.

Reach Gina Martinez by e-mail at gmartinez@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4566.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Naeisha Rose

TimesLedger Newspapers

The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing Tuesday about a proposal to designate two Far Rockaway locations built in the early-20th century as historical sites.

The public had the opportunity to testify in person or provide written testimony to the LPC at 1 Centre St. in Manhattan on the ninth floor at 9:30 a.m., according to LPC spokeswoman Zodet Negron.

The two buildings, a firehouse and a police station, were put up for consideration as preserved landmarks in March.

After Hurricane Sandy in 2012, much of Far Rockaway needed to be redeveloped and surveyors from the LPC researched the history of buildings in the area and identified the firehouse and police station as worthy for designation.

Firehouse and Engine Companies 264 and 328/Hook and Ladder 134, located at 16-15 Central Ave., is one of the buildings up for deliberation.

The second facility up for designation is the 101st Precinct Police Station — formerly the 53rd Precinct — located at 16-12 Mott Ave., which is five minutes away from the firehouse, according to the LPC.

The Renaissance Revival-styled firehouse, locally called “The Big House,” was built from 1911 to 1913 by architectural firm Hoppin & Koen.

Frances Hoppin and Terrence Koen designed the three-structure firehouse with limestone at the ground floor, three segmental-arched vehicle bays, red brick cladding on the upper stories, a cast stone entablature and a brick parapet, according to LPC.

The precinct is a combination of the Renaissance and Colonial Revival styles and was designed by the Police Department’s Superintendent of Buildings Thomas O’Brien, according to the LPC. It was built from 1927 to 1928.

O’Brien started his career as a carpenter before joining the police force in 1898 as a patrolman and was eventually promoted to sergeant and lieutenant, but spent his spare time taking night classes in architecture at Cooper Union in the East Village.

The police station features a Renaissance palazzo, and the ground story has arch openings and a terra cotta cornice. The main entrance has original bronze lamps below a carved tablet containing the city’s seal.

The second floor of the precinct has a Dutch/English cross bond from the Colonial Revival style. A one-story garage was made in granite and terracotta facing Mott Avenue.

After Far Rockaway was absorbed into Greater New York City in 1898, the Rockaway Peninsula became a commercial center and experienced a surge in population growth, resulting in a need for the two structures for emergency situations.

Reach reporter Naeisha Rose by e-mail at nrose@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4573.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Merle Exit

TimesLedger Newspapers

November 11, 1918, marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War. To commemorate the historical event, Friends of Maple Grove, along with Boots and Saddles Productions, are sponsoring the “1918 WWI Cavalry comes to Maple Grove” event on Sunday.

The encampment of the WWI living historians will be part of the free event, set for April 29 from 10:30 am to 3 p.m., where you can meet the horses, saddled and equipped for what was known as the Great War.

“Since we have found a number of [World War I] veterans buried at Maple Grove, we decided to honor this milestone event in history and honor our veterans,” historian Carl Ballenas said. “We started with a, 1914 Tea (Start of the Great War was July 28, 1914) featuring music of the time period before the coming of war.”

But that’s not all. Maple Grove, located at 83-15 Kew Gardens Rd., has more events planned to commemorate WWI throughout the year.

“Our Second Saturday Walking Tour (of each month) is now making more mention of the veterans,” Ballenas said. “For Memorial Day we will honor the veterans with a service on May 26. The musical choral group, Schola Sine Nominae, will do a concert at 7 p.m. at the center to honor the veterans and soldiers.”

The center will host a photo exhibit and lecture led by Jo-Anne Raskin — a board member at Friends of Maple Grove — Sept. 15 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. In November, there will be an armistice concert. The final event of the year honoring World War I will include a film viewing of the 2005 movie, “Joyeux Noel,” according to Ballenas.

As a Richmond Hill historian, Ballenas has made it his mission to find the biography of each soldier whose name appears on the Buddy Monument in Forest Park.

“It was a huge undertaking but we have two huge binders with photos and newspaper articles,” he said. “We discovered that a few of them are buried at Maple Grove Cemetery, including Maj. Charles Baird, who died in 1918; George Montgomery Coleman, who died aboard the Gypsum Queen in a rescue attempt off the coast of France; and Maj. Charles Cook, who was also a noted archeologist. This work on these soldiers will be part of the WWI display in September.”

For further information, call (347) 878-6614.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Naeisha Rose

TimesLedger Newspapers

The New York Police Department will roll out its neighborhood policing program for the 105th Precinct Monday in Bellerose, but residents south of the police station are taking issue with the initiative being presented in the northern part of the district when the complaints regarding aggressive police tactics have been on the southern end of the precinct’s coverage area.

The April 30 introduction of the program at the Queens High School of Teaching, located at 74-20 Commonwealth Blvd., left community members upset at a Cambria Heights Civic Association meeting earlier this month.

“The NYPD is a brand,” said Jon Logan, a Cambria Heights resident. “A lot of the inquiries or the challenging questions will come from the residents down south.”

Logan said the major point of contention for residents on the southern side of the precinct was the meeting being moved from Queens Village to the school in Bellerose without much of an explanation.

“We have been speaking with the commanding officer, Inspector Jeff Schiff, for quite some time about this…and where it is going to happen,” said Logan.

Logan said he is pro-cop, pro-law enforcement, but also pro-common sense and has been attending 105th Precinct Council meetings for the past two years.

The precinct coverage area stretches from Glen Oaks in the north to Springfield Gardens in the south, and the headquarters are located at 92-08 222nd St. in Queens Village.

“Initially, at a couple of meetings that I attended it was going to be at a church or a hall on Springfield Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue, very close to where the Community Board 13 office is,” said Logan. “Suddenly there was an invitation — only a flier — at a community board meeting saying that it was going to be at the Queens High School, which was a surprise to me.”

The invitation only designation has since been changed after complaints were made, according to Logan.

The community board’s office is at 219-41 Jamaica Ave. in Queens Village.

At a January community board meeting, some concerns were raised about whether or not the officers would be residents from the area and what their duties would be.

“We don’t have a relationship with our local police where we can have some influence over the policy of how we are policed,” Logan said. “No. 2… what are their roles? Are they going to be crime fighters, or are they going to be community liaisons?”

The NCO program seems to be a bit of both.

“The cornerstone of today’s NYPD is Neighborhood Policing, a comprehensive crime-fighting strategy built on improved communication and collaboration between local police officers and community residents,” said Lt. John Grimpel. “Neighborhood Policing greatly increases connectivity and engagement with the community without diminishing and, in fact, improving the NYPD’s crime-fighting capabilities.”

Grimpel went on to say that past policing left little to no time for true community engagement before.

“In recent years, the Patrol Services Bureau has systematically reorganized its patrol methods to achieve the goal of establishing Neighborhood Policing in every precinct citywide by 2019,” said Grimpel, an NYPD spokesman.

City Councilman I. Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans), who was at the civic meeting, is looking forward to the NCO program, but also agreed with the Cambria Heights residents that the rollout should have been on the southern end of the precinct.

“It’s a great thing,” said Miller about the program. “If ever there was a precinct that needs neighborhood policing, it’s the 105th, but what I find disturbing is that they are rolling it out in Bellerose.”

Miller reiterated Logan’s sentiments and said “that the people who have concerns live on the south side” of the precinct.

Miller said he would work on getting a second NCO meeting on the southern side of the precinct.

“We are going to make sure that [an NCO meeting] comes down here,” the councilman said.

Reach reporter Naeisha Rose by e-mail at nrose@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4573.

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Gina Martinez

TimesLedger Newspapers

FLUSHING — A hiker stumbled upon a dead body in Kissena Park Tuesday afternoon, police said.

The discovery was made near 161st Street and Booth Memorial Avenue, police said.

When officers arrived, they found the body of a 20-something, Hispanic man unconscious and unresponsive with trauma to the head. EMS responded to the scene and pronounced the victim dead at the scene, police said.

The medical examiner will determine the cause of death. Police said the investigation was ongoing.

Kissena Park is no stranger to crime. Last July, 29 year-old Charles Tobin was charged with rape after allegedly attacking two women on two consecutive nights in Kissena Park, According to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

Following the incident, Councilman Peter Koo (D-Flushing) and the Parks Department announced there would be three new, full-time security guards patrolling Kissena Corridor Park and Kissena Park in Flushing.

— Gina Martinez

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Source: Times Ledger

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By Naeisha Rose

TimesLedger Newspapers

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz declared April 20 “Life Day in Queens” at a flag raising ceremony attended by nearly 70 people last Friday to help raise awareness about organ donations for National Donate Life Month.

The event took place at Jamaica Hospital in Richmond Hill and was in collaboration with LiveOnNY, an organization that works to educate individuals about organ donation, help those in need of a transplant and provide support and comfort to donors and their loved ones, according to the nonprofit.

“It is a remarkable thing to come here year after year and listen to families stories,” Katz said. “One person can save at least eight lives and can make 50 others have a better quality of life.”

One of the families at the hospital was the Vega family from Bay Shore, L.I.

At the ceremony, Giraldo Vega reminisced about his son Anthony, who died in 2009 when he was 11 years old after dealing with years of surgery to treat hydrocephalus, a condition where there is excess fluid in the brain that puts pressure on it.

As Vega spoke about his son’s love for music, his younger son Ruben, 17, held up a picture of his big brother who had died a decade ago.

“Since he was a baby he loved to sing and dance,” Vega said about Anthony. “You could always expect a show. He loved to perform.”

After Anthony died on April 19, 2009, his father learned of other families whose family members were suffering as they awaited an organ transplant. Despite his own grief, he wanted to help those families heal.

“If Anthony could save one life — one family from losing their son, daughter or family member — what better way to give a performance of a lifetime? Our decision to donate his organs not only saved one person’s life, but three,” Vega said.

Ruben intends to honor his older brother by becoming an organ donor himself.

“It makes me feel good that he is saving lives after he passed away,” Ruben said.

Earlier in the week an organ donor at Jamaica Hospital donated a liver and two kidneys, which helped save a life.

“I got a call that said essentially if we didn’t go forward with this doanation, there’s a gentleman that would have died from liver failure,” Jamaica Hospital Chief Operating Officer Bill Lynch said.

LiveOnNY Chief Executive Officer and President Helen Irving said that New York City broke historic records in lives saved from transplants in 2017.

“There were 876 patients saved from a life-saving transplant,” Irving said. “It doesn’t matter if someone is on the registry, but it’s when we get that phone call that we recognize that there is someone who can potentially be an organ donor.”

Reach reporter Naeisha Rose by e-mail at nrose@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4573.

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Source: Times Ledger