Second Alleged Douchebag Turns Himself In

A second suspect in the brazen mid-Christmas mass theft has turned himself in to authorities:

A man suspected of helping a real-life Grinch swipe $20,000 in parishioner donations from a Queens church during a Christmas-morning Mass turned himself in to police yesterday and returned $6,000 in cash.

Dennis Almodovar, 24, walked in to the 109th Precinct station house with his lawyer yesterday morning and was questioned for several hours before being charged with burglary.

The lawyer also turned over the money, said prosecutors, adding that the rest of the missing donations were nonnegotiable checks that can be replaced.

Where’s My Princess?

If I hear “Shoomy shoomy pwetty Princess” one more time, I swear I don’t know what I’ll do:

Max, Lucky, Princess, Rocky and Buddy were the five most-popular dog names in 2005, according to a Health Department review of dog licenses that was released yesterday. The same names took thetop five spots the previous year.

Mixed breeds came out on top of the list of popular breeds, followed by Labrador retrievers, pit bulls and Shih Tzus.

Although the Health Department issued 101,274 dog licenses last year, that figure represents only a small portion of city dogs. Many owners never bother to get their dogs licensed, even though that’s required by state law.

In other dog-related news, Councilmember Peter Vallone, who is good at proposing excessive and/or unconstitutional legislation, is now looking to crack down on one of those top breeds:

Pit bulls will be an endangered species in the city if one lawmaker gets his way.

Calling them potentially lethal weapons, City Councilman Peter Vallone renewed his call yesterday to ban pit bulls from the five boroughs.

“I am an animal lover,” said Vallone (D-Queens). “But I have always thought they should not be allowed on our streets. They have been bred to be violent.”

. . .

Vallone, whose two daughters own a Bichon Frise, pointed to several incidents in which children suffered serious injuries after being attacked and bitten by pit bulls.

He wants the state Legislature to change the law so cities like New York can ban specific breeds. Although he wants to bar people from owning or breeding pit bulls in the five boroughs, current owners would be exempted.

Vallone said it’s too early to say how a ban would affect thousands of homeless pit bull mixes that end up in city animal shelters every year.

Daniel Morales — Congratulations, You’re Still In The Running For Douchebag Of The Year!

Yesterday everyone was wondering who the fuck would steal from a church during Christmas mass. Today we find out who would do such a thing:

Cops arrested a suspect yesterday in a Christmas poor-box heist at a Queens church, and were looking for another sticky-fingered Grinch.

But the whereabouts of $30,000 in checks and cash stolen from St. Mel Roman Catholic Church in Flushing remains a mystery.

Daniel Morales, of 246 Bergen St., Brooklyn, was charged with burglary. Detectives released no details of the investigation while they tried to close in on a second man.

Earlier, the Rev. Christopher Turczany urged parishioners to cancel Christmas checks they’d donated and make new contributions.

“We were just about breaking even. This interrupts the positive cash flow. That’s what’s really difficult. We are choking financially,” he said.

“We’ll get through this. Many people have offered support.”

And It’s Not Like Jersey City Isn’t Already Really Happening*

You can certainly see why officials expect such an unprecedented population boom in years to come when the economy here is so conducive to growth:

The cost of doing business in New York is a whopping $35.3 billion more than the national average, an alarming new study shows.

New York businesses are paying significantly more than their out-of-state counterparts in state and local taxes, as well as for health care, energy and workers’ compensation, said the report, released yesterday by the state Business Council’s Public Policy Institute.

. . .

Taxes pose the greatest burden for New York’s businesses. Previous studies have shown New Yorkers pay the highest combined state and property taxes in the nation.

New York businesses pay $8.1 billion more in property taxes, $14.4 billion more in income taxes and $2.8 billion more in corporate business taxes.

New York businesses also pay nearly $7 billion more in energy costs, $1.7 billion more in health care and $1.3 billion in additional workers’ comp, compared with the national average.

*At least I thought I heard that.

If Anything Will Help Us Get Over The Terrible Events Of That Day, It’s Rudy Giuliani

Because it’s not like it’s crass or anything to shore up the 9/11 widow constituency for a potential 2008 run:

Supporters of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani have started discussions with relatives of 9/11 victims about backing him if he runs for president in 2008, some family members told The Post.

The conversations have taken place in recent weeks, according to some victims’ families, who described the talks as “casual.”

Marian Fontana, who lost her firefighter husband on 9/11, said she got an invitation to go to a Giuliani exploratory committee dinner last week from a former firefighter working with Giuliani’s committee. She described the invite as “last-minute.”

Fontana said she was appreciative of what Giuliani did after 9/11, but would want to know a lot more about any candidate’s stand on a variety of issues.

“I feel like I’m not ready to endorse,” said Fontana, who added, “I could see why [Giuliani supporters] would want to reach out to family members.”

But wait, there’s more:

But some relatives who are anti-Giuliani are already planning “Swiftboat”-type attacks against the ex-mayor — modeled on the negative campaign against John Kerry in 2004 by his fellow Vietnam vets. It seems likely that 9/11 kin could help Giuliani counter that criticism.

Some 9/11 family members have been deeply critical of Giuliani, blaming him for communications failures the day of the attacks.

Others have faulted his administration for allegedly not doing enough to protect rescue and recovery workers from polluted air at Ground Zero.

For the most part, those family members who have spoken with Giuliani supporters are family members who have maintained a relationship with Giuliani in the years since the attacks and were already fans of his.

A Giuliani spokeswoman declined comment.