Editor’s note: Welcome to Rocklandia, our (relatively) new column designed to inform you, dear reader, about stuff (news, stories, people, politics, public safety, music, movements, wild animal versus human interactions, etc.) going on in Rockland County, from a Nyack-centric perspective. Here at Rocklandia, we love conversation and feedback. Please email us with thoughts, stories, ideas, food recs or anything else at alex@nyacknewsandviews.com.
So much going on already this month — the school year is kicking into full swing, my wife, son and mom are celebrating birthdays, and the race to develop Artificial Intelligence may be bringing us closer to Judgment Day before Arnold can get the call from Starlink, er, Skynet to travel back in time to save John and Sarah Conner.
My dad buddies and I recently revisited James Cameron’s prescient, Guns n’ Roses-soundtracked masterpiece. And guess what? Totally holds up and was even scarier, psychologically speaking, than when my 12-year-old self caught it on the big screen with my cool Uncle Bart.
But I digress. And in the interest of time and avoiding a descent into too much doom gloom, let’s get to some local news!
The Lineup:
- Nyack 9/11 Hero Awarded Medal of Freedom
- News Speed Run
- Food for Thought
- Musical Outro (a Red Bandana banger!)
Legend Grows for Nyack’s Man in the Red Bandana
Please take some time out of your day to read tireless lohud reporter Nancy Cutler’s exhaustive coverage of Nyack hometown 9/11 hero Welles Crowther’s growing legend.
Cutler writes about how Crowther’s heroism still inspires, 25 years later. A few fascinating tidbits:
- Crowther’s mom, Alison, recently became friends with a woman whose husband worked with Welles in the World Trade Center. The husband recounted seeing the volunteer Nyack firefighter with a group of people evacuating the north tower before it was hit. This means he could have simply continued down and probably would have survived. But after the tower was hit, he chose to head back into the heart of the wreckage to help others navigate out of the chaos and burning metal.
- The friendly couple who revealed this story have a son named after Welles.
- Crowther is credited with saving at least 18 souls from imminent death on 9/11.
- Just a couple of years ago, somebody anonymously sent Alison a beautiful oil painting of her son.
- A week before 9/11, Welles had contemplated leaving his finance job to become a full-time firefighter for the FDNY. In 2006, the city made Crowther an honorary member of the FDNY.
- The Man in the Red Bandana is the rare story that effortlessly crossed political lines. Welles is lauded by both MAGA and anti-MAGA
“His story encompasses the spectrum,” Alison told lohud.
“After all these years,” she added, “people are still loving him.”
On Tuesday, President Trump awarded Crowther with a posthumous Medal of Freedom in Washington, DC.
Cutler also dives in the less inspiring (actually pretty damn tragic) story of how health care for first responders who are suffering from 9/11-related illnesses are now receiving diminished service from the government since U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. came on board and gutted staffing. Meanwhile, the average age of these victims has risen up to 63 and the list and intensity of their maladies increases.
Click here for all of Nyack News and Views‘ 9/11 coverage as we hit the 25th anniversary of this world-altering tragedy.
Stay tuned.
Funding Secured for Firefighter Housing and More Leftovers
This is where we do some quick hits on stories people may have missed and drop in on some local multimedia.
Speaking of first responders, Assemblyman Patrick Carroll, with help from speaker Carl Heastie, secured $950,000 to help renovate a convent that will be used for housing dedicated to volunteer firefighters in Nyack. Mayor Joe Rand trumpeted the funding after plans to include this money as part of state grant fell through, much to the chagrin of Rand’s vocal group of social media critics.
County investigators are looking into potential ballot fraud by a young Republican political operative named Aidan Rowan. According to Rockland Business Journal: “Sources say at least one former Stony Point woman, who moved from the town to New Jersey, told the Sheriff’s department she had not signed the ballot that had been submitted with her ‘signature.'”
A roundup of 9/11 memorials coming up on the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, according to lohud. The Nyack event at Memorial Park starts at 6 pm on Friday, September 11.
On September 6, the guy who almost single handedly kept farming alive in Rockland County, Pat Crospey, died at the age of 88, according to lohud.
Food for Thought:
A few foodie thoughts on our way out the door.
- We’re a little late on this, but RIP Kantina Kita after about a year in business — we hardly knew you! (Their original spot, Kantina, remains open in Sparkhill)
- Welcome to Early Bird Coffee and More, the new cafe on South Broadway, highlighted recently by Hudson Valley Magazine.
- Lohud lists a bunch of places to get sandwiches in Westchester and Rockland counties. (perhaps in response to Rocklandia’s definitive list of the Top 5 sandwiches from August?).
- The only place on the list I’ve been to is Scott & Joe’s, which we featured on our list. Glaring omission for Rockland: Alta Irpina and there mout-wateringly good Italian pork sandwiches, which has been maddeningly closed for daily operations for a while now. What’s going on?!?!
If you have any information (or recommendations or Top 5 lists or a good recipe), please email Rocklandia: alex@nyacknewsandviews.com.
Exit Music
Because every good show needs some good exit music to send you on your way! Please be in touch, this DJ takes recommendations: alex@nyacknewsandviews.com. See you next time! (Probably, hopefully in two weeks)
Check out this Welles Crowther-inspired banger from Dropkick Murphy’s:
