Catch my radio show, “High Noon” tomorrow at 12 noon on WVOX radio. That’s 1460 on your AM dial.

Along with my trusty sidekick Buddy Waller, I’m going to be talking about the Jeanine Pirro flap and other things political with phone-in guest Mike Edelman, a Republican consultant and cable TV commentator.

By the way, if you’re out of normal listening reach, don’t worry. We’re also streaming online at www.wvox.com. Remember, that’s “High Noon” at 12 noon.

Today’s column was about a contretemps over a large, steel statue of the Headless Horseman that the village of Sleepy Hollow wants to assemble on a traffic island off Route 9, near the Old Dutch Church and cemetery. I’m not going to rehash the details in this blog, so go ahead and read the column if you want to find out why some residents of the neighborhood don’t want the thing installed at that particular location.

The subject of Washington Irving and his classic tale, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is irresistable, which no doubt explains why CBS radio called me this moring to go on the air and talk about the statue flap.

Irving, who lived at “Sunnyside,” just down the road , makes it clear in the introductory paragraphs of his story that the ghostly tale about the skinny schoolteacher, Ichabod Crane, and the Headless Horseman was set in our neck of the woods. He makes numerous references to “Greenburgh,” the “Tappan Zee,” “Tarry Town” and the “sequestered glen” of Sleepy Hollow.

It’s not disputed that Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. lays first claim to the story. To attract tourists, the village even changed its name from North Tarrytown to Sleepy Hollow in 1997.

What may not be widely known, however, is that the village of Kinderhook in upstate Columbia County also can take some credit for Irving’s creation. Irving often visited the upstate village, which was the hometown of President Martin Van Buren, and apparently wrote the story there.

Irving supposedly drew his characters from real Kinderhook denizens. Ichabod was based on a local schoolmaster named Jesse Merwin; Brom Bones was a guy by the name of Abraham Van Alystyne and the Van Tassels were fictional versions of an important Kinderhook family, the Van Alens.

Ruth Piwonka, Kinderhook’s historian, told me she assumed all of the above is true, but it’s not something she personally feels is all that important to the village’s heritage.

‘Sure, I have a feeling that Irving must have met people at that time who were characters or personalities he evoked in one way or another,” she said. “But I’m sure he met others in other places as well, and they also gave some inspiration to him.”

Kinderhook has embraced Irving’s story in two obvious ways: The story is read out loud at Halloween celebrations and the local high school is called Ichabod Crane High School.

I asked Piwonka if the village would kike the statue of the Headless Horseman that some residents of Sleepy Hollow aren’t too excited about.
“Don’t ask me,” she said.

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Nearly three weeks ago, a fire ravaged the New Rochelle home of Dick Pond, a kindly octagenarian and legendary host of elaborate holiday decorations that delighted children for generations. (See my Sept. 19 column)
Pond is so beloved in the Larchmont Woods neighborhood that young and old are pitching in to rebuild his house which was nearly destroyed when an electric blanket shorted.
According to Jim Killoran of Habitat for Humanity, about 500 people in the last 15 days have pitched in to help with the reconsturction. Killoran told me that they hope to put a new roof, windows and siding by the end of this week. The goal is to complete the project in time for Halloween, a signature day for Mr. Pond’s decorative impulses.
Killoran said it was “unbelievable the numbers this man has touched in his life, a straight shooter as you know, a blessing in so many ways.”

That’s what the tawdry Al and Jeanine Pirro story has—sex, lies and videotape.

Longtime Pirro observers caught the irony in the news that federal investigators were looking into whether Jeanine illegally “bugged” Al to see if he was cheating on her. Catching each other in the act of being themselves, to borrow the old line from the TV show, “Candid Camera”, seems to run in the Pirro family.

Nearly eight years ago, Al secretly videotaped a conversation he had with Anthony Pirro, his nearly forgotten brother and accountant who was implicated in the income tax fraud case that sent both of them to jail for short stretches of time. Anthony was apparently unaware that a hidden camera was recording his words and actions.

It was a legal gambit, at least in this state. The morality of it was another question.

In any case, Al prodded his hapless brother with questions about the “whys” and “wherefores” of the tax filings in a desperate attempt to use the performance as evidence to help exonerate him from the federal tax fraud charge.

At one point Al ask, “Did I ever instruct you to prepare false returns?”

“No,” Anthony replied.

It didn’t work. The feds thought the whole thing might’ve been staged. More importantly, the judge ruled the tape inadmissable…and the Pirro boys were out of luck.

I don’t think Jeanine was wire-tapping Al’s conversations. But she could’ve learned a thing or two from her husband, a master of deception. One hopes Al didn’t secretly videotape any possible meetings with a supposed paramour on that boat. That would be hardcore, self-incriminating and pretty revolting.

Just a wild theory. But it occurs to me that Al Pirro’s recent speeding problems and the revelation that the feds are investigating his wife, the former district attorney, might actually be related.
Jeanine Pirro denies she illegally wire-tapped Al, an act the feds are apparently looking into. But she does admit that she had him followed in order to see if he was having an affair.
That means Al has probably been tailed and he probably knew it, too.
See? Put two and two together. Could it be that Al was trying to shake private gumshoes that his suspicious wife hired, and that’s why he was driving at a high rate of speed… to shake them loose?
Anything seems possible in this strange tale. Stay tuned.