Rockland

New City Library has a new service – library-owned eReaders. It is available to New City and West Nyack cardholders only.

The eReaders circulate for a two-week period and are available on a first-come basis with no reserves. Each reader will be genre specific with titles preselected for children, adults and young adults. These readers are in the circulation department.

The library is at 220 N. Main St. For information, call 845-634-4997 or visit www.newcitylibrary.org.

Here’s an opportunity, from the Rockland County BOCES:

For Rockland BOCES community members who have an interest in history, volunteering to be a judge for the regional History Day competition just may be the perfect fit.

History Day is a national program promoting the study of history, while providing a forum at which middle and high school students compete for excellence in one of several categories including documentaries, exhibits, historical papers and web sites.

The regional competition will take place on Saturday, March 17,  at St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill. This year the topic is “Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History.”

To volunteer to be a judge, contact Cathy Clancy at 845-627-4855 or e-mail Cclancy@rboces.org.

To learn more about National History Day and judging, visit the New York State History Day website www.nyshistoryday.org.

Children with special needs or learning disabilities have enough challenges – so the Rockland Independent Living Center has been offering them an after-school program to provide one-on-one homework assistance.

The free program is offered at the center’s offices, 873 Route 45 in New City. Parents will need to arrange transportation to and from the center.

The sessions are held two days per week: from 3 to 5 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays. The homework helpers are volunteers from colleges, high school peer tutors, as well as senior citizens. Healthy snacks will be provided at each session.

To schedule an appointment, call Donna Ehrenberg at 845-624-1366 ext. 113.

The Rockland Independent Living Center is a consumer-directed, cross-disability advocacy and service organization dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for persons with disabilities.  Learn more at www.rilc.org.

If this strikes the right tenor with you, speak up.

Voices in all ranges are needed by the Hudson Lyric Opera for its special performance of “The Seven Last Words of Christ,” an oratorio by Theodore Dubois.

This ambitious, community-based group is doing quality work and welcomes singers to join it in for this production. Rehearsals start March 7 at the Trinity United Methodist Church in Stony Point. The performance is set there on March 31.

The oratorio consists of seven parts, representing the seven last words of Christ.

For information, call 845-709-2273  or email  info@hudsonlyricopera.org. The website is www.hudsonlyricopera.org.

The state Parole Board has rejected early release for Robert McCain, who murdered teenager Paula Bohovesky of Pearl River in October 1980.

The Parole Bord ruled releasing McCain at this time would not be appropriate, according to a state transcript of the board hearing and decision.

McCain and Richard LaBarbera were convicted of killing Bohovesky, 16, a senior at Pearl River High School and an aspiring artist, actress and musician, was walking home from her after-school job at the public library.

McCain and LaBarbera had been drinking at a local bar when they saw Bohovesky walk by. They both blame the other and have denied their own culpability.

They were sentenced to 25 years to life and both have been denied parole since 2006, when they became eligible for early release.

Read more at www.lohud.com decision and come back Friday to www.lohud.com and The Journal-News for the decision and more.

From left, Suffern’s Deja Smith, Nicole Liddy and Clarkstown South’s Laura Castaldo reach for a rebound during their basketball game at Clarkstown South. South won 36-25.

See more photos of Suffern at Clarkstown South basketball

The state Office of General Services Commissioner RoAnn Destito will hold a forum at the Haverstraw Town Hall at 3 p.m. today.

Destito is expected to discuss Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget.

Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski and Sen. David Carlucci are also planning to attend.

This dog, photographed Monday at the Hess gas station on Route 9W in West Haverstraw, is ready to watch Eli Manning and the rest of the New York Giants run roughshod over the New England Patriots on Feb. 5.

(Photograph courtesy of Audrey Brotzman).

Injured West Haverstraw volunteer firefighter Ken Patterson moved closer to home today when he was transferred to Helen Hayes Hospital for rehabilitation for injuries suffered in last Monday’s townhouse explosion.

Patterson suffered broken bones and ribs, a back injury and serious burns to his face and head when leaked gas from a ruptured line blew up the townhouse at 52 Zarriello Lane.

Patterson, fellow volunteer firefighter Jerry Knapp and two Orange and Rockland Utilities workers were on the front steps when the explosion occurred. They reported being knocked back up to 40 feet by the power of the explosion.

The explosion at the Village Fairgrounds II development remains under investigation. FGC Communications of Cortlandt Manor has been accused of digging without required flags and other markings showing the location of underground utility lines.

A Haverstraw Ambulance Corps crew was scheduled to pick up Patterson at Westchester Medical Center this morning for a trip to Helen Hayes Hospital. Patterson was at one time listed as serious in the Intersive Care Unit at Westchester Medical Center.

Patterson, 48, nearly died fighting a fire almost a year ago on Jan. 14, 2011, when he was inside a home on Westside Avenue that had been illegally converted and he became disoriented while searching for potential victims. He ran out of air inside the burning building and issued a mayday call. Another firefighter, Andrew Kolesar, heard the call, found Patterson in the building and rescued him.

Knapp, 57, an accomplished firefighter with a degree in fire protection, suffered a concussion, a fractured cheekbone, first- and second-degree burns to his head, and bad bruises to his leg.

Photos: Ken Patterson, upper right, and Jerry Knapp, lower right

Piermont Police Chief Michael O’Shea will serve as president of the Police Chiefs Association of Rockland County for the years 2012 and 2013.

The association oversees several countywide law enforcement units, such as the Rockland Narcotics Task Force, the Rockland Intelligence Center, the Rockland Computer Crimes Task Force.

The chiefs work with the local departments as well as county government and Rockland District Attorney’s Office.

The association also works on issues such as emergency response communication systems and sets policy for cooperating work among the county’s 10 departments.

Other officers named for the next two years were Haverstraw Police Chief Charles Miller as vice president; Stony Point Police Chief Brian Moore as recording secretary; South Nyack-Grand View Police Chief Robert Van Cura as treasurer; and retired Orangetown Police Chief Homer Wanamaker as sergeant at arms.

The association’s legal counsel remains Robert P. Lewis of Mann Mann and Lewis in Nyack and labor attorney is Lance Klein of New Rochelle.