Today’s column was about the county’s touring shred mobile, which destroys personal documents belonging to residents who fear identity theft.
Several people have called to ask when the vehicle is coming to, or near, their town.
Here’s a phone number to call at the county consumer affairs department—995-2155.

Can things go any worse for erstwhile DA Jeanine Pirro? First the voters gave her the thumbs-down for attorney general. Now she can’t even play a lawyer on TV.

The suits who rule on television syndication rejected Pirro’s pitch for a daytime reality program called “Celebrity Jury,” in which she was to be featured as a small-claims court judge presiding over a five-member jury of C-list notables. What a shame! I’d have thought this was a can’t-miss idea…

The jury was most intriguing. It was to include Charo, “L.A’. Law’s” Corbin Bernson and a former boy-actor (it doesn’t matter which one) from “The Brady Bunch,” his real-life wife whoever that is and somebody named Jacqui or Jacquee or Jack-A. Go figure.

Like I said, it’s too bad the show wasn’t picked up. They could’ve had a jury pool, too…a collection of has-beens and never-wases from which to select each show’s panel. Here’s a working list of obscure people, some of whom, I realize may be long dead, but what the heck. Feel free to make your own suggestions:

Nipsy Russell
Screech from “Saved by the Bell”
Jaye P. Morgan
Charles Nelson Reilly
Dee Snyder of Twisted Sister
Robert Goulet
Charlie Callas
The naked guy from “Survivor”
The guy who played Re-Run.
Todd Bridges
Totie Fields
Jamie Farr
Rula Lenska
Edie Gorme
Buddy Waller
Slim Whitman
Randolph Mantooth
Arnold Stang
Junior Semple

President George Bush chided Wall Street to be more transparent when it comes to the salaries and golden parachutes of corporate CEOs, but he might want to send a similar message to Congress.
I’ve tried like hell to get information about Sue Kelly’s pension benefits after serving 12 years as the represenative of the 19th Congressinonal District. So far, I’ve been given a run-around.

Sunday’s column was about a coming exhibit, “An Overlooked Hero” at St. Paul’s Church in Mount Vernon which will honor the contributions made by Col. John Glover in the American Revolution. Glover saved George Washington’s bacon more than once, but he really saved the day at Pell’s Point when he stopped the British from cutting off Washington’s army as it retreated to White Plains in October of 1776.

A reader got on my case today because I forgot to mention that Glover has been remembered in other ways. Glover Field in Pelham was named after him.
OK, happy now?

Yesterday’s column about Donald Trump’s signs on the Taconic Parkway which lead to The Donald J. Trump State Park, which does not exist at the present time, really riled the populace.
Here’s a sample of the some of the e-mail I’ve received.

E-MAIL NUMBER ONE
“One of the most annoying aspects of the Taconic signage is…. people think FDR Park is renamed for Trump. I thought I was in a Trump -free zone but I can look out my back door and see the complex on rt6 and Barger. and travel 200’ and see the Taconic signbehind my lovely new Taconic barrier at rt !32..”

E-MAIL NUMBER TWO
“Phil: I loved your 2/1/07 article on the Donald and those ridiculous signs on the Taconic Parkway. But then, I always love your articles. I really enjoy them and usually agree with every word. Oh gee, don’t let my husband know I said that!
Seriously, I believe in my nasty little heart that the signs are up to advertise, not a park with grass and trees, but for Trump Park Residences, now being built on Barger Street, just off Route 6 in Yorktown. They’re condos for seniors, priced “from the $400’s”. I think that should really be written $499’s. It started out with another name, then all of a sudden, we drive by and the new huge sign has Trump in the name. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m not a bit surprised. Make of that what you will.
Thanks for all your great columns. I look forward to reading every one.”

E-MAIL NUMBER THREE
You should also take a look at the high income development in Shrub Oak at Barger St. and Rt. 6 which was developed by Cappelli but when they had trouble selling the units at the ridiculous prices they want 400k – 1.2mm, they got Trump to put his name on it and it became Trump Park Residences. His mug is prominently displayed on a billboard at the intersection for all to see. It’s gross! No one is unhappy that Trump is involved because his name lends a certain cache to the place, making it more marketable and the surrounding property value can only increase. The neighborhood also got sewers gratis for backing the Cappelli venture, but Trump’s unabashed, in-your face, look at me attitude is a quite a turn off.”

E-MAIL NUMBER FOUR (a personal favorite)
“Re today’s column about the signs posted to advertise the still-a-borning Trump State Park, a sharper picture of the self-aggrandizing mogul can be gotten by examining his recent $10,000 gift to subway hero Wesley Autrey.”

While Mr Autrey also probably will find a use for Trump’s “donation,” especially in light of his being the father of two young daughters, I am rather chagrined by arbitrariness of the mogul’s “largess.” One wonders whether Trump, after seeing, hearing or reading about Mr Autrey’s split-second rescue of 20-year-old Cameron Hollopeter, deliberated as to how he could bask in this heroic stranger’s glory. And what price does such basking command? Did Trump think, “A hundred-thou? Nah, too much. Five-thou? Makes me look too cheap. Ten thou! Yeah, that’s really cost-effective: exactly the right balance between expense and good press.”

Hi Phil:
Your comments on Trump are on the money, but they left me speculating if Mother Fatso, that corpulent cartoon character who goes by the name of Rosie O’Donnell is a confederate of yours.

Some bits of news worth reporting…

First, I received a phone call the other day from Nick Bianco, town attorney for Yorktown, who told me that the Yorktown Town Board passed a resolution that states that the town may only take private property through eminent domain if the land is put to a traditional public use. That would include roads, bridges and other things of a utilitarian purpose.

In other words, the town will not seize property and hand it over to private developers of hotels, condos, big box stores, etc.

Bravo to Yorktown! Other municipalities should take notice.

Also, another piece of news arrived from the Institute of Justice, the nonprofit legal organization in Washington, D.C. that has been fighting so-called “private use” eminent domain all over the nation, and was on the losing end of the Kelo v. New London case heard before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a press release, the Institute quotes a study entitled “The Taking of Prosperity” written by Thomas Garrett and Paul Rothstein for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Mo. They say as follows, ”(T)he taking of private property from one person and giving it to another for economic development…is unlikely to create a net benefit to society. It is more likely to creat economic inefficiences and to reduce economic growth.”

The authors contend that the threat of eminent domain for private use can be no better than a zero-sum game. The main beneficiaries, they write, are the developer, the property manager and the politicians who, at election time, boast about economic development.
Garrett and Rothstein argue that rabid government intervention in the private marketplace creates more harm than good because people, knowing that their property rights are in limbo, will have a disincentive to make the best economic use of their property. Potential residents and businesses may also avoid towns that “have a record of taking private property for economic development.”