Update 12-2-08

Hi,

Several class notes, and some news stories about the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream.

First, from Paul Zegler:  i apologize for not responding sooner...but when you hear my story you'll understand..."cursed"...or "waiting for guffman"...not a mockumentary..."really living it"...10 days before the play i'm doing -- "west side story" -- opens the director's husband dies in his sleep...very sudden...no warning...very sad...the director is grief stricken...and rightfully so...takes his husband's ashes to his hometown, eureka, ca...for the funeral....he's gone...half the show isn't even blocked...the choreographer takes over...he's got the passion...but not the cast...which for the most part is very green...we stumble to the opening Friday...the day before i had eaten a broiled pork chop in a rush...and part of it got caught in the opening between my esophagus and pouch...which used to be my stomach before my surgery...it was like a drano commercial...it was blocked...nothing was going down...sips of water were rejected within seconds of being swallowed...i felt ok...i could breathe...no problem...went to sleep hoping the problem would resolve itself...woke up Friday...opening nite...my stomach was still blocked...called my surgeon...told he was in surgery...dah...would hear back...asap...2 hours later...he calls and says come to the hospital's ER immediately...he'll set everything up...get in my car...stomach still blocked and getting more uncomfortable all the time...it's 2 pm...6 hours before opening...by the time i get to the hospital...it's 3:30 pm...usual LA traffic...triage nurse checking me in says..."there's no way you'll make an 8 pm opening"...turns out the ER's been swamped with a heavy load of trauma accidents...i'll just have to wait till there's a free bed...i get on my cell phone and call the stage manager to say that i will not be able to do the show...first time i've ever missed a show in over 40 years...damn...the stage manager says the director will do the part with the script in hand...i sit waiting in the ER as my cell phone battery fades out...finally...8 pm and i'm being wheeled into the OR...told the doctors and nurses that i should be opening right now...and i start singing the prologue to them...da-dah...da-dah...dadaah...they all break up laughing...finally i'm told.."time to go to sleep"...i do...surgery was a success...scope pushed blockage into pouch...wake up at 8:45 pm and was home by 1 am....feel great...wait there's more...the director...while playing my part slapped the actor playing the lead -- tony -- ...did it the wrong way...slapped him in the ear...and popped his ear drum...that's nothing...i come back for Saturday nite's show...the actor can't hear out of one ear but he's a trooper...we do show...during the big dance number...the actor playing one of the smaller parts -- gladhand -- gets real nervous...starts sweating and hits the floor having a seizure...the choreographer jumps in with script in hand and reads the part...he wasn't bad...by the way the actor...rushed by ambulance...to the hospital was fine and was released Sunday morning...wait there's more...Sunday we have 2 shows...2 pm and 7 pm...everyone is there...and ready to go...during the first show the actor playing the second lead -- bernardo --...who in his bio states he's a fight choreographer...hurts his left foot during a fight scene...he's limping but he does the second show...during the second show...the guy hits the same foot...same place during the fight scene...gets stabbed...dies...and is carried off...now he's really hurt his foot...he cannot walk...so bad that he's carried on stage to take his curtain call...all this with a musical director who's taping himself so he can see what he looks like conducting...Leonard Bernstein would turn over in his grave if he heard this group playing...the actor playing tony had more pain and less hearing after the show and went to see a doctor first thing Monday morning...well that was my opening...
   
    Next, from Eric Hilton:  I also hope everyone had a very happy and safe Thanksgiving.
        To Robert Fiveson and Jay Tuerk:  I just wanted to tell you how much I have always wanted to fly and purchase an ultralite.  But due to the high danger factor, many of my family and friends who own aircraft have steered me away from these planes.  One of my friends helped design and build the Gyrocopter that was used in one of the James Bond films, and he said it is one of the most difficult things to fly.  My hat -- helmet -- is off to you two, and I'd like to see more photos of your aircrafts.  As a side note:  should you want to upscale one notch, both the Gulfstream Vl and the Sikorsky 76 are currently drastically reduced for quick sales.
   
    And Emily Kleinman Schreiber:  I'd like to talk just a little about the Alumni Association, especially about the election of its officers.  One major difference between our elections and the ones for public office is that our leaders aren't sure there will be others to step into their roles when the time comes for them to step down.  We're only in the second two-year term, and, already, two of our officers have indicated that they really don’t want to remain in their positions.  I've been assured that it’s not a lack of caring, but rather time constraints and familial responsibilities that are making it difficult for them to attend all of the meetings.  But did anyone else offer to take on the duties of those positions?  Unfortunately, no, so these kind people have stayed on -- for now, anyway -- and I'm glad to have them on board.
        What I'm trying to say is that this Alumni Association is now productive and growing, but our pool of willing and able future officers and trustees isn't.  We need more alumni to say “yes” when this term comes to an end.  Another dimension that I hoped would be evident by now is having representation from all six decades.  Right now, the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s are represented, and at one meeting an alumna from the ‘80s did join us.  But there’s nobody from the ‘90s or 2000s.  If you're in that category, or your relatives, friends, or neighbors are, I urge more of you to get involved.
        I'd also like to speak a little about vision.  Back in 2005, when Bernie O’Brien gently talked me into taking on the founding of an alumni association for South, I wasn't sure I could do it.  After I sent out messages to all 48 graduating classes via Classmates.com, suddenly there were many South Alumni who were interested in being the Alumni Association founders.  I think we had close to 30 people at our first meeting, but now, if we have a dozen, I'm happy.  My vision still remains and that is to have South’s Alumni Association in place and functioning long after I'm gone (one way or the other -- preferably sitting on my rocking chair, knitting booties for my great-great-grandchildren).  Would someone among you please tell my sons to start “working” towards that end?
   
    [Rich -- Note:  the next Alumni Association meeting is this Thursday, December 4th, at 7:15, as usual in South's library.]
   
    Leading indirectly into the Wal-Mart news stories, a comment from Robert Fiveson:  I think the addition of live links to the weekly newsletter really brings added dimension.
   
    Leading more directly to the stories, a comment from Judy Hartstone:  For some reason, there's still an element of, "Hey, that's my shopping center!"
   
    The first story, from Newsday, 11-28-08:  Hundreds of bargain-hungry shoppers stepped on a fallen Wal-Mart worker, who died Friday morning after the crowd knocked down the store's front doors -- and the worker -- during the "utter chaos" of a Black Friday shopping melee, Nassau County police said.  "A throng of shoppers... physically broke down the doors" at around 5 a.m. Friday and knocked the 34-year-old part-time worker to the ground as the crowd pushed its way into the store at the Green Acres Mall.  Police identified the worker as Jdimytai Damour of Jamaica, Queens.
        "This crowd was out of control," said Nassau Police Det. Lt. Michael Fleming, whose squad is investigating the death. He characterized the melee as "utter chaos," and said an estimated 2,000 people had gathered in line around 5 a.m. as the store was preparing to open.  Asked at a news conference whether the store had enough security given the crowds that Black Friday shopping typically attracts, Fleming said no.  Four shoppers had minor injuries.  People in the rear of the line began pushing, cascading the people in the front into the doors, which were knocked off their hinges.  Hundreds of shoppers who then streamed in literally stepped on the worker who later died.  Fleming said the worker, who has not been publicly identified, was a temporary worker sent by an employment agency. Police did not rule out criminal charges in the case, though Fleming said it would be nearly impossible to identify individual shoppers.  But, he said, authorities were reviewing surveillance video.
        The complete article:  http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-limart1129,0,5952099.story
   
    The second story, from The New York Times, 11-28-08:  The throng of Wal-Mart shoppers had been building all night, filling sidewalks and stretching across a vast parking lot at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, N.Y. At 3:30 a.m., the Nassau County police had to be called in for crowd control, and an officer with a bullhorn pleaded for order.  By 4:55, with no police officers in sight, the crowd of more than 2,000 had become a rabble, and could be held back no longer. Fists banged and shoulders pressed on the sliding-glass double doors, which bowed in with the weight of the assault. Six to 10 workers inside tried to push back, but it was hopeless.
        Suddenly, witnesses and the police said, the doors shattered, and the shrieking mob surged through in a blind rush for holiday bargains. One worker, Jdimytai Damour, 34, was thrown back onto the black linoleum tiles and trampled in the stampede that streamed over and around him. Others who had stood alongside Mr. Damour trying to hold the doors were also hurled back and run over, witnesses said.  Some workers who saw what was happening fought their way through the surge to get to Mr. Damour, but he had been fatally injured, the police said. Emergency workers tried to revive Mr. Damour, a temporary worker hired for the holiday season, at the scene, but he was pronounced dead an hour later at Franklin Hospital Medical Center in Valley Stream.  Four other people, including a 28-year-old woman who was described as eight months pregnant, were treated at the hospital for minor injuries.
        Detective Lt. Michael Fleming, who is in charge of the investigation for the Nassau police, said the store lacked adequate security. He called the scene “utter chaos” and said the “crowd was out of control.” As for those who had run over the victim, criminal charges were possible, the lieutenant said. “I’ve heard other people call this an accident, but it is not,” he said. “Certainly it was a foreseeable act.”  But even with videos from the store’s surveillance cameras, which were being examined, and the accounts of witnesses, Lieutenant Fleming and other officials acknowledged that it would be difficult to identify those responsible, let alone to prove culpability.
        The complete article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/business/29walmart.html?_r=1&hp
   
    A related story, on another incident at the Mall, from an Internet blog written by someone named Chris Connolly:  The Sunrise Multiplex multiplex was built on the site of the old Sunrise Drive-In.  When it opened in December of 1979, it had six screens, which was quite radical back then.  Each theater was enormous and very well appointed.  Over the years, the owners -- not sure who they were or are presently -- added more theaters and divided up some of the original ones.  The theaters were set up in along a long corridor.  For a while -- early to mid 80s) -- this was THE place to see a movie if you lived on the western south shore of Nassau County on Long Island.  The first movie I saw here was the first "Star Trek" movie.  Also saw "Airplane" and "Starman", as well as countless others.  But the theater's proximity to some less than desirable neighborhoods just over the Queens line in NYC began to have its effect on it.  The last movie I saw here was Scorcese's "After Hours" in 1985.  The Sunrise Multiplex had this late night movie which started at or around 12:30.  So that was the time we saw this.  We sat through the movie and as we were leaving, the place was understandably deserted.  What we did notice was that a large plate glass window was gone.  For some reason, we didn't think anything of it.  Well, the next day, we found out that while we were watching "After Hours," a full scale riot had occurred involving patrons watching a movie called "Krush Groove".  In addition to guns being displayed, a patron was thrown through the plate glass window.  I never saw a movie there again.  In 1990, at least one person was killed during a gun battle which occurred during a showing of "The Godfather, Part III". I was not surprised.  I'm not sure how this theater is holding up these days, but I don't think it can be good.
   
    [Rich -- For people who haven't been back to Valley Stream recently, the Wal-Mart is pretty close to where the First National supermarket and Shlucker's were, and probably less than a quarter mile from the Sunrise Multiplex.  Green Acres Mall has such a great national reputation that it's no wonder the present residents of the community changed its name to Mill Brook.
        Also note that some of these links don't stay active for more than a few days.  This seems particularly true of news stories in The New York Times.  I think, after a couple of days, the site asks you to pay for access to older stories.  But I usually copy the stories and keep them in my files for a week.  So if you can't get to a story you want to read, please ask me if I still have a copy of it.]