GENERALLY SPEAKING: Brooklyn Memorial Day Parade needs your help

The 144th annual Brooklyn Memorial Day Parade, the oldestMemorial Day Parade in the country, which takes place here on Thirdand Fourth Avenues, needs your financial support. According toparade Chairperson Peter De Angelis, also the general chairpersonof the sponsoring United War Veterans of Kings County, withoutadditional funding it will be a much smaller parade. Among themajor expenses for the parade are the cost for bands, and buses totransport participating sailors and marines from the ships dockedin Manhattan for the city’s annual celebration of Fleet Week. Wellknown local entertainer Frankie Marra is leading the charge toencourage people to donate to the parade. He recently donated$1,000 and has offered to pick up checks and bring them to theParade Committee personally. Marra’s email isfrankiem45146@aol.com. Donations made payable to the United WarVeterans may also be sent to Brooklyn Memorial Day ParadeCommittee, P.O. Box 090233, Brooklyn, NY 11209. The next meeting ofthe parade committee is on Tuesday, April 12, at 11 a.m., in theFort Hamilton Post Chapel Day Room.

Miss Brooklyn 2011, Christina Moore, a Bensonhurst resident,helped kickoff the American Cancer Society’s 13th annual Bay RidgeRelay for Life which includes Dyker Heights and Bensonhurst. SallyCooper, regional vice president for the American Cancer Society,welcomed everyone to I.S. 187, 171 65th Street, on March 29 andannounced this year’s Relay will take place on June 18 on theAthletic Field at Fort Hamilton High School from 12 p.m. to 9:45p.m. The theme of the Relay is Celebrate, Remember and FightBack! Over the past 12 years, the Bay Ridge Relay has raised over$1 million. Guest speakers at the kickoff included Dr. Robert Luca,Amy Procida, Stephanie Bramante, Ruth Miller, Councilmember VinnieGentile and Mark Bramante, vice president of Community EducationCouncil 20. Moore, an I.S. 187 alumna who is currently attendingWagner College, will be competing for the Miss New York State titleat the St. George Theater on Staten Island. The state beauty andscholarship pageant will run from June 13 to 19. If Moore wins, shewill be off to the Miss American Pageant in Las Vegas.

In an effort to boost his sagging poll numbers and countercriticism he has been getting from municipal unions, Mayor MikeBloomberg has self-financed a TV, radio and direct mail campaign.One of his TV ads highlighting his business acumen shows himalongside Pat Condren, the executive director of the Bay RidgeFifth Avenue and 86th Street Business Improvement Districts (BID).Condren is a past president of the Third Avenue MerchantsAssociation.

The Bay Ridge Community Council’s picnic committee held aworking session at the Gjoa Sports Club to plan for the familypicnic it’s hosting on May 1. According to the picnic organizers,the event open to the public will be held on the bluff overlookingthe Narrows inside the Fort Hamilton Army Base. BRCC President AlexConti presided over the group which included past BRCC presidentsDean Rasinya and Jane Kelly, and committee members Frank Lombardi,Al Asfazadour, Vinnie Bocchino, Terry Rosen, Linda Allegretti,Irene Hanvey, Linda Orlando, Janet Gounis, Marie Cosentino, MariaMakrinos, Eleanor Sabbagh, Renee Dorsa and JosephineGiammarino.

As an active member of the Fort Hamilton Citizens ActionCommittee, we joined Congressmember Mike Grimm, Brooklyn BoroughPresident Marty Markowitz, Councilmember Vinnie Gentile, Fran VellaMarrone, John Quaglione representing State Senator Marty Golden andfellow committee members Chairperson Bill Guarinello, VicePresident Mike Long and Treasurer Craig Eaton for a pressconference just outside Fort Hamilton Army Base. Elected officialsas well as area community leaders are concerned about reports theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants to move its North AtlanticHeadquarters Command out of Fort Hamilton to Varick Street in lowerManhattan.

St. Patrick’s Men’s Club is sponsoring its second annualCommunion Dinner on Saturday, April 9 after the parish’s 5 p.m.services. The dinner will take place at JT’s Restaurant on ThirdAvenue near 97th Street. Guest speaker will be Brooklyn DistrictAttorney Charles Hynes. The next day, St. Patrick’s will hold itsannual Taste of the Ridge in the school auditorium, 97th Street and4th Avenue, from 3 to 5 p.m. There will be sample dishes includingpastries from some of the best known restaurants and bakeries inBay Ridge. Admission is $12.00 per person. For more information,contact Anne Strafaci at 718-238-2600.

One of the featured cast members on the hit TV show Glee isformer Bay Ridge resident Telly Leung who attended McKinley JuniorHigh, Stuyvesant High School and is a graduate of Carnegie MellonUniversity’s School of Drama. Leung has appeared in severalBroadway productions some of which include Wicked, Godspell,Rent, Miss Saigon and Flower Drum Song.

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To reach Ted General via the Internet, his email address is:

General@journalist.com