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Written by: Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 25 July 2013

Created: 25 July 2013

Last Updated: 26 July 2013

Hits: 6003

I was at first surprised and now dismayed at the increasingly hostile comments we are receiving at Scarsdale10583 in response to opinion pieces, news and profiles published on the site. Though we are an educated and opinionated community, we are also among the most fortunate. Our median income outstrips most villages in the state and the country, we have a fine school system, wonderful community resources like the Scarsdale Pool, recreation camp and sports facilities and a Village government and emergency response teams that are at-the-ready to answer any of our needs.

By any measure we are lucky to live here. Yet, reading the comments we receive there is little acknowledgement of what's good and abusive condemnation of what's perceived as bad. Whether it's teachers' salaries, real estate taxes, electric service, or even a new dog store, some of our readers don't mince words when crafting their comments and usually do not add their names to their posts either.

In the past few months, comments have become increasingly bitter – and often include attacks on our contributors, neighbors, those who work in the Scarsdale community and Scarsdale10583.com itself.

While we value your opinions we are concerned about the overall tone of your comments and ask you to keep the following in mind:

• The site is offered to you, our readers, at no cost to you. You are free to read it and free to read selectively. If you don't care for an article, there's no obligation to give it your time.
  
  
• To the commenter who recently wrote, "This publisher has come up with a great cash cow," we can assure you that four years since we began publication, we are still looking for that cow. We are creating this community forum for you and hope you can do your part to keep it civil.
  
  
• We are a community website, covering items of interest to the Scarsdale community. If someone from Scarsdale is in the national news we will cover it as well. In order to be relevant, we need to publish information about the town and local residents.
  
  
• The articles that are most controversial are naturally the most widely read, often receiving ten times the attention given to articles on Village meetings and charitable events. Therefore, those of you who have asked us to refrain from publishing news about people like the "marijuana mom," have been outvoted by your peers who gave this story 5,700 hits.
  
  
• To answer this comment that was received recently: "Dear Editor of this Site, Just an observation...the types of stories which do NOT work well on this site are OPINION pieces. Your opinion on Sanderlin or the school budget isn't any more relevant than anyone else's and you are seeing that many residents are clearly expressing that they share a different opinion. As a "journalist" you probably should stick to reporting the facts and let the reader form their own varying opinions, which could be expressed in the comments if a reader so chose. Very hard to be a commentator and a reporter of news." Again, the opinion pieces are among the most read articles on the site. And, why would we publish this site if we could not voice our views? We are interested in your views as well. Next time you have a comment, rather than dash off a flip, anonymous comment, please draft a letter and send it to us at scarsdalecomments@gmail.com for publication. Please stand by what you have to say by including your name and street address.

Rest assured that all comments are reviewed before publication and we will be judicious about omitting comments that are insulting or damaging to our contributors, neighbors and community. Our goal is to foster an environment for a constructive and healthy exchange of ideas and we are asking you to do your part to maintain the tenor of Scarsdale10583.

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Published: 17 July 2013

Created: 17 July 2013

Last Updated: 17 July 2013

Hits: 5234

Scarsdale resident and volunteer firefighter Jon Thaler is asking residents to monitor their power usage during the heat wave. He reports that the Scarsdale Fire and Police Departments are "responding to electrical problems related to high usage – including power wires in flames, exploding transformers and downed power lines. "

He are his suggestions for how you can be more "green" and reduce your energy usage:

• Lower usage of air conditioners – especially when you are not at home
• Usw fans rather than air conditioners
• Unplug chargers when they are not in use
• Shut off lights and appliances
• Use large appliances at night rather than during the day
• Run the dishwasher only when it is full
• Using LED or fluorescent light bulbs

These measures will decrease the burden on the power grid and hopefully diminish the risk of additional power outages.

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Published: 10 July 2013

Created: 10 July 2013

Last Updated: 10 July 2013

Hits: 9980

Westchester Reform Temple (WRT) welcomes two new members to the administrative and clergy teams this summer. Alan Halpern is the new Executive Director and Sara Abrams will assume the role of Assistant Rabbi working alongside Senior Rabbi Jonathan E. Blake, Assistant Rabbi David E. Levy, Senior Cantor Jill Abramson and Associate Cantor Mia Fram Davidson.

"Westchester Reform Temple is now entering its 60th year, and continues to embrace innovation and tradition side-by-side. I am thrilled to welcome two outstanding new members of our staff who will strengthen our synagogue and extend our reach within our congregational membership and wider community."" said Rabbi Blake.

The community will have their first opportunity to meet the new WRT team members during Shabbat Evening Services this Friday, July 12, at 6:15 pm. Rabbi Abrams will deliver the sermon for the evening and Alan Halpern will be on hand during our reception following the service. "This is a wonderful and informal way to meet Rabbi Abrams and Alan," said temple president, Helene Gray. "They bring experience, energy and warmth to WRT. We are excited to have them be part of our community."

Sara Abrams comes to WRT from Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles where she has served as a rabbinic intern at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills and as a chaplain at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica. Rabbi Abrams's educational background encompasses her passion for teaching, learning, inquiry, and spirituality. In addition to her rabbinical ordination, Rabbi Abrams holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Hebrew (University of Wisconsin-Madison), a Master of Science in Education (Hunter College) and a Master of Arts in Religious Studies (University of Colorado) and is also a certified yoga teacher. Through Judaism, a love of God, Torah, and Israel, Rabbi Abrams seeks to assist others in nurturing a clearer and calmer approach to daily life and in fostering a deeper connection to the Divine. She is thrilled to be a part of the WRT community.

Alan comes to WRT from Temple Israel in Dayton, Ohio where he served for 11 years as executive director and sh'liach tzibbur (prayer leader and cantorial soloist), providing both administrative and musical leadership for the congregation. Alan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University and a Masters in Business Administration from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He has worked as a management consultant in strategy, marketing and operations and led the business development and marketing functions of for-profit companies. Alan's wife, Julie, will join him here in New York in 2014 after their younger son graduates from high school. Their older son is a sophomore cello performance major at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.

Westchester Reform Temple is located at 255 Mamaroneck Road, in Scarsdale, N.Y. For more information: call 914-723-7727, email office@wrtemple.org, or visit www.wrtemple.org.

Scarsdale Synagogue Temples Tremont and Emanu-El (SSTTE) has appointed Rabbi Wendy D. Pein as its first Director of Congregational Learning. In this newly created position, Rabbi Pein's responsibilities will encompass both managerial and hands-on leadership of the synagogue's religious school, and also work closely with Senior Rabbi Jeffrey C. Brown on programs designed to educate congregants of all ages on the Torah, and the rituals, history and traditions of Reform Judaism. As head of the synagogue's religious school, Rabbi Pein succeeds Rebecca Schubert, who recently retired after 27 years.

"We are fortunate to have someone of Rabbi Pein's stature and background become part of our synagogue's outstanding professional staff, and we are grateful to Debbie Finn and Ellen Miller-Wachtel, who chaired our search task force, for attracting her to our congregation," said Ellen Baken, SSTTE's president. "Her deep experience, along with her energetic and passionate approach to teaching, is focused on communicating the relevance of Jewish thought and practices, providing our community with a valuable perspective as we meet the challenges of life in the 21st century."

In welcoming Rabbi Pein, Rabbi Brown said: "The overriding goal of our synagogue is to help ensure that our congregants, their children and our wider Jewish community are able to learn about and practice the customs, ideas and insights of our faith in ways that are exciting and enduring. Given her background and capabilities, I am confident Rabbi Pein will prove a great colleague for Cantor Becker and me, and to the rest of the synagogue's professional staff. Working together, our team will be better able to foster the innovation and continuity necessary to teach our children well, and better engage their parents and other adults in our community."

Immediately prior to joining SSTTE's professional staff, Rabbi Pein served as the Westchester coordinator and educator for Chai Mitzvah, a countywide initiative that re-engages Jews in synagogue and Jewish communal life. As a member of the Westchester Board of Rabbis, she also helped develop five "Introduction to Judaism" courses now offered throughout the area by rabbis from Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Reconstructionist congregations.

Rabbi Pein – who holds a bachelor of arts degree from Stanford University and was ordained a rabbi by Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in New York – began her career in 1997 as an assistant rabbi at Temple Israel of New Rochelle. Following that, she became an instructor at the headquarters of the Union for Reform Judaism and simultaneously served as visiting rabbi at Temple Beth Israel in her hometown of Scottsdale, AZ. For the following five years she served as associate rabbi at Congregation Emanu-El of Westchester in Rye, NY, before moving to Texas to become senior rabbi of Congregation Adat Chaverim, a 150-family synagogue in Plano. Married with two children, Rabbi Pein now lives in Harrison, NY.

Scarsdale Synagogue Temples Tremont and Emanu-El is a Reform Jewish congregation committed to creating, with and for its 500 member families, a covenant community of shared lives and real relationships. For further information, contact: Gary Katz, Executive Director, at (914) 725-5175 or by email at GaryKatz@sstte.org.

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Published: 03 July 2013

Created: 03 July 2013

Last Updated: 03 July 2013

Hits: 5896

Andrea Sanderlin, who put Scarsdale in the national spotlight in May, was freed from prison on Monday July 1 when she posted a $500,000 bond as bail. Sanderlin was arrested in May after officers from the DEA discovered she was running a large pot-growing business and selling the plants. However, according to news reports, the $500,000 bond she posted as bail was backed by a group of acquaintances who she barely knew, including a train engineer, a secretary and two workers at a hair salon.

Sanderlin was indicted on two charges; manufacturing and possessing marijuana with intent to distribute and maintaining a drug-involved premises. She pleaded not guilty and will return to court in mid-July.

Sanderlin lived in a rented home on Saxon Woods Road in Scarsdale, ostensibly paying $10,000 per month. The house is now back on the market for $13,500 per month and the landlord is seeking a new tenant for the large home that was built in 2009. Though no one knows where she will relocate with her two daughters, Sanerlin's connection to Scarsdale could soon be severed when she moves out of the home.

The parents of Lauren Spierer a 20 year-old Edgemont girl who has been missing since June, 2011, have filed a lawsuit claiming that the three students who last saw their daughter contributed to her "disappearance, injury and death." The complaint names Corey Rossman, Jay Rosenbaum and Michael Beth and alleges that they were negligent in supplying her with alcohol and failing to see her home, leading to her injury and likely death. According to the suit, "Spierer's abandonment in an intoxicated and disoriented state in the early morning hours of June 3, 2011 in an area known for criminal acts contributed to her disappearance, and presumed injuries and death." The suit was filed in Monroe Circuit Court, a federal court in Indiana, the state where the Indiana University student went missing.

This is a civil suit that seeks compensation for damage. The three men have not been named as suspects in the case; however they have not been forthcoming about what happened that night and Spiere's parents, Robert and Charlene Spierer, hope that the suit will pressure the men to shed some light on what may have happened to their daughter.

June 3, 2013 marked two years since Spierer vanished. Intensive and widespread efforts to find her have been unsuccessful.