The Hudson Independent: News for Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, NY

Community Activists Seek More Positive Interaction with Village Police Departments

Chiefs from Greenburgh and Sleepy Hollow
address forum hosted by committee

Rick Pezzullo
For the Hudson Independent

Improving community relations with local police departments was the thrust of a recent forum hosted by the Community Activists Committee of the Tarrytowns.

Approximately 30 residents were on hand at the Community Opportunity Center on Wildey Street in Tarrytown to question Sleepy Hollow Police Chief Jimmy Warren and Greenburgh Police Chief John Kapica (in photo by Rick Pezzullo)  about police procedures, particularly the alleged targeting of minority youth.

“We’re not here to be antagonistic. We’re not here to accuse. We’re here to build a better relationship with the police,” Donald Whitely, who organized the forum, said. [Whitely is a member of this newspaper’s editorial board.]

However, some audience members charged that police were guilty of racial profiling and treating youth differently based on where they lived. 

Being at Home at Bellas on Broadway

A family restaurant where comfort food is just the beginning

Linda Viertel
For The Hudson Independent

How did Tarrytown get so lucky as to have a 28-year-old signature restaurant, known for comforting home-cooked food, a welcoming atmosphere and friendly service?

The answer is Constantinos “Gus” Bellas (in family photo with youngest grandchild, Luke), 84, his son and co-owner, John, and their staff, who know most of their customers by name, what they like to eat and when. Daily specials abound, the food is fresh and cooked to order, and customers are treated like old friends. Everyone goes to Bellas, but few know the history behind the institution.

Be Our Guest: Getting a Word in Edgewise

A writer from the South continues her family’s tradition
of telling stories at the dinner table.

DeLauné Michel

There seems to be a lot of talk lately about the different ills that family meals can cure, but every time I read about this, all I think is, “What about just wanting to hear each other’s stories?” Because now that I am a mother, and am raising two small sons — a 4 year old and a toddler — with my husband here in Irvington, it is very clear to me that telling stories at the dinner table is part of the way that we form a self. 

In the French Catholic world where I grew up in South Louisiana, there was only one event more important than Sunday Mass, and that was the dinner hour. It was the highlight of the day, partly for the food – my Momma’s incredible Creole cuisine – but mostly for the conversation. Or should I say storytelling. Because that’s what it was: long, funny and illuminating stories. And God forbid you didn’t have one. 

Culinary Adventures

Jerry Eimbinder

Improve your knowledge of Indian cuisine by attending one or both September classes conducted by Navjot Arora, chef at Chutney Masala in Irvington. Indian cuisine basics will be covered at 7 p.m. Sept. 23 at Irvington High School, and the class will be introduced to sprouted mung bean salad, chicken curry gobhi aloo (cauliflower and potatoes) and chapati, a whole-wheat, tortilla-like bread. On Sept. 24 at noon in the restaurant, attendees for a “Meet the Chef” program will sample Chutney Masala salad, chicken tikka masala, saag paneer and other native Indian dishes. Registration and tasting fees apply for both programs. Call Inter-Village Continuing Education, 693-6300, ext. 2224 or 591-5500.
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Recovering During the Recovery

You may qualify as a first-time home buyer, even if you’re not

Sol Skolnick
For The Hudson Independent

You haven’t read all 688 pages of H.R. 3221, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008? Well, the fact that you have a low level of tolerance for “governmentease” — that approximation of the English language that is used in Federal legislation — or you choose not to carry this tome in your beach bag will not be held against you.

However, if you are considering purchasing a home, or you own one, then there are elements of this legislation that you will want to know about.

I Love NY Apples

And the time is ripe for picking

Beth Hanson
For The Hudson Independent

Westchester is a great place to grow apples. More than a century ago The New York Times noted that apples raised in the county were plentiful and were “recognized as of extraordinarily fine quality in the European markets.”

Brothers Owen and Russell Gomory, 8 and 3, of Sleepy Hollow, enjoy the fruits of their apple-picking labors on a trip to the orchards of Stuart’s Fruit Farm in Yorktown Heights.

Westchester also happens to be a great place to live, so since the early 1900s the once abundant apple orchards have gradually made way for growing towns. A few hard-working orchards are hanging on, though, and a relatively short drive will take Hudson Independent readers to one of several local farms where you can pick your own.

Point/Counterpoint

Should a Super Stop & Shop be Built on Route 119?

Point:
‘Size Does Not Matter’

Jacqueline Miller

There are numerous reasons why the proposal to build a Super Stop & Shop on Route 119 should be rejected. Perhaps the main one is that, in my opinion, the Stop & Shop chain is mediocre at best. As far as I’m concerned, it defies logic and a sensible business plan to have a supermarket of this quality planned for a community of discriminating tastes and affluence.

Washington Irving Offers an Alternative Recess

An innovative recess program, funded by a Project SAVE grant, will begin this fall at Washington Irving Intermediate School in Tarrytown. The pilot program, a collaboration between the school and the Family YMCA, with participation by The Hudson Independent, is part of a comprehensive anti-bullying program that the school is implementing.

Irvington Coach Retires

It isn’t every teacher or coach that gets a day to call his own but not so Bill Dyer, Irvington High School’s retiring math teacher and football and golf coach. Dyer, who coached for 15 years in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s and who retired this year from the Irvington School District after teaching for 32 years, finished with an overall record of 80-38-2. His teams won five league championships and he was named Coach of the Year five times.

Sleepy Hollow Students Benefit from Film Center Grant

The Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville recently received a grant from the Arnold E. & Olga C. Feldman Fund through the Westchester Community Foundation, to further the center’s education programs within the public schools of the Tarrytowns. The $15,000 grant will be used for students and teachers from Morse Elementary School, Sleepy Hollow Middle School and Sleepy Hollow High School for the 2008-2009 school year.

Over the past six years, more than 1,600 students have engaged in the center’s programs at no cost to Sleepy Hollow families or the schools.