Week of December 20

December 19, 1874 – 150 YEARS AGO

Rockland County Journal

CHRIST CHURCH SPARKILL

       The bestowal of praise where the meed is well deserved, is always a happy act. In this day and generation praise is a commodity more likely to be squandered than wisely spent; so used, the poet’s line is significant—

       “Praise undeserved is scandal in disguise.”

       But we shall not, we are certain, err in bestowing the full meed on Mr. and Miss Chesebro, of Palisade, whose loving, earnest, and constant labor during this year, for the welfare of the Sabbath-school of Christ Church, Sparkill, now meets its own reward. Those who view the tasteful book-case in the church, with the well-chosen and neatly-covered volumes in orderly array, will be reminded of the pleasant and varied entertainments last summer, the proceeds of which are there so happily and admirably invested. Nor can they help remembering that those enterprises owed a large part of their inspiration and success to the zeal and energy of Mr. and Miss Chesebro; nor do we in saying this withhold a warm appreciation of the services of those ladies and gentlemen who contributed to the general triumph. But, after all, words are but air; and though

        “The love of praise, howe’er concealed by art,

       Reigns more or less, and glows in every heart,”

       still the labor itself has no doubt been full of sweetness, and the brother and sister desire nothing more than the happiness they have secured in a darling hope fulfilled. Yet believing in the good old maxim of “Honor to whom honor is due,” we pen these words, and yet more that the young, for whose pleasure and profit those volumes have been gathered, may know and bear in remembrance the kind hearts that have gained for them a boon without money and without price.

       The Sunday-school proper numbers upward of fifty happy little hearts, and as usual at the approach of the annual celebration of the Christmas holiday (so liberally provided for by the members of Christ Church), the kind heart of the Pastor summons to the festival children from far and near, numbering at this time more than double its usual attendance.

December 18, 1924 – 100 YEARS AGO

Pearl River News

GIRL MISSING TWO MONTHS IS BLACK-HAND CAPTIVE — Father Tells of Threats — Helen Palarazzi Left Suffern Home after Mysterious Telephone Calls

       Helen Palarazzi, 19 years old, of Suffern, missing from her home since October 10 last, is believed to be captive of a Black Hand gang in New York City.

       This became known last night through a leak in New York and Chief of Police Lunney of Suffern received confirmation from the girl’s father Terry Palarazzi, proprietor of Villa Maple, an inn at Suffern.

       The father reported the mysterious disappearance of his daughter at the time she left home but did not tell the police of threats that had been made to him over the telephone because of his fear of the Black Hand.

       Last night he admitted to Chief Lunney that the life of his wife and daughter had been threatened as far back as July last.

       Palarazzi said he had received a mysterious telephone communication and a demand for $1,000. He was told the Black Hand made the demand and if it were not complied with first Mrs. Palarazzi would be taken away and then her daughter.

       Palarazzi was also told his place would be blown up. Subsequently he received other threats over the telephone but said nothing to the authorities as he feared for his life.

December 18, 1974 – 50 YEARS AGO

The Journal News

NYACK WARNS OWNER OF “EYESORE” CAR

[Image: Nyack’s billboard on wheels—the bane of the Village Board. Journal News Staff photograph by Art Sarno]

       A car being used as a billboard on wheels near the corner of Routes 59 and 9W has so annoyed Nyack village officials that they have told its owner to move it today or pay the village to have it towed.

       The car, decorated with blue and red lettering covered with a light layer of dirt, and featuring a sign on its roof advertising auto tune-ups, had been recently moved by the owner, but not moved enough, according to village officials. They say the car has been on the highway for a year.

       The Nyack Village Board agreed unanimously at a recent meeting to tell owner

Szilard Berenyi that he move the car, said James Cicaloni of the village building and zoning department.

        “It’s been an eyesore since the day it was put there. You’re not allowed to put an advertisement on someone else’s property and that’s just what the owner has been doing,” Cicaloni said, noting the car has been occupying both village and state land.

       When Berenyi, who was unavailable for comment Tuesday, put the car where it now stands, he may have been unaware that it’s right in the middle of a village street according to Cicaloni.

       The name of the street is Cleveland, Cicaloni confirmed Tuesday after studying an old village map, and while it doesn’t look like a well-used roadway, it is still village property.

       Cicaloni said that billboards are not permitted in the area, but that this is a special case because the billboard is actually a car and must be treated as an unlicensed motor vehicle.