The Power Of Slush

Alleged Sanitation truck sends wave of slush crashing into storefront, destroying front window:

First they heard a ferocious rumble coming down Jewett Avenue; then came the crash of glass and a spray of ice.

The force of a splash from what witnesses believe was an orange Sanitation truck barreling downhill toward Forest Avenue yesterday just before 10 a.m. destroyed the front of the tiny Port Richmond exercise studio.

Tragedy was only averted because the oversized cardboard sign in the window of Get in Gear at 513 Jewett Ave. blocked the half dozen people inside from the flying debris, and the lucky fact that nobody was outside when the giant wall of slush rose onto the sidewalk and slammed into storefronts, neighbors said.

“Glass came in; two of the women screamed,” said owner John Pepe, motioning to show how close he had been standing the window when it shattered.

By the time he ran outside to try and figure out what had happened, Pepe said the truck was already more than a block away: “He was going so fast, he probably did not even know what happened.”

Bad Old Day Return Watch: Staten Island Secession

In a move that could push Philadelphia and Jersey City up one spot to contend for “fifth borough” bragging rights, a new secession movement is apparently brewing on Staten Island:

In a move that is certain to reignite old passions among Staten Islanders, State Senator Andrew J. Lanza is planning to introduce legislation to call again for his borough to secede from the rest of New York City.

Mr. Lanza, a Republican who represents about two-thirds of Staten Island, said in an interview on Wednesday that he was motivated to draft the bill because of residents of the island continued to feel unduly burdened by taxes and less-than-stellar city services. He said Staten Island residents have complained for years that they felt overlooked by the rest of the city, particularly on city services and mass transportation.

The 2,115-page bill, which Mr. Lanza said he would introduce in January, comes about 15 years after a spirited public debate on the issue and a referendum in which Staten Islanders voted by a 2-to-1 ratio in a referendum to split with the rest of the city.

Lately It Seems No One Has Any Principles Whatsoever

It was on for 14 months — why give up now? Oh, right:

After growing his “protest beard” for 14 months, [Staten Island Judge Phil] Straniere, presiding judge of the Civil Court, had it shaved off yesterday at Liberty Barber Shop, West Brighton.

No, New York state judges have not suddenly gotten the cost-of-living pay raise they’ve been deprived of for the past decade — the reason Straniere decided to grow his beard in protest over a year ago.

Nor does it look like they will any time soon. While the state Senate has in the past OK’d a pay hike for members of the judiciary, the Assembly has always blocked it because the measure hasn’t included upping legislators’ salaries as well.

“And in this economic climate it doesn’t seem likely,” reasoned Straniere, as he sat in barber Tahir Taravari’s chair.

Besides, he said, “I was getting tired of my protest beard. It didn’t work.”

Add to that the fact that voters traditionally prefer clean-shaven candidates — although Straniere opted to keep his mustache, which he has had for 40 years — meaning they’re more electable.

“I think Benjamin Harrison was the last Republican elected with a beard,” quipped Straniere, who admitted he was also tiring of the jokes about cough drops — think the Smith Brothers — and Christmas — think Santa Claus.

Lies, Damn Lies, Statistics And Spin

On the one hand, sure, just 11 out of 190 of those arrested in Belmar this summer were from Staten Island. On the other hand, fully 11 out of 190 of those arrested in Belmar this summer were from Staten Island:

It turns out most of Belmar, N.J.’s unruly troublemakers don’t come from Staten Island after all.

After Belmar Mayor Ken Pringle famously sparked a furor this July by writing a screed about “SI girls behaving badly” and “guidos,” his own police department’s crime statistics ended up telling a very different story about Islanders’ behavior in the Jersey Shore town.

Just 11 of the 190 people arrested in Belmar between May 29 and Sept. 1 hailed from Staten Island, according to a published report.

One of those arrests — an incident where a Staten Island woman allegedly attacked another patron at a bar popular with the borough’s visitors — spurred Pringle to write about “Staten Island girls” in the “Belmar Summer Rental News.”

“As the Staten Island girl was pummeling the Boonton girl’s face, she used the hand she was still holding her drink glass in,” Pringle wrote in the newsletter. “Now, we’re not sure if the glass was stuck to her hand cause of all the hair spray or if this is a technique Staten Island girls learn in Brownies, but we are thankful she left her brass knuckles and straight razor in her other purse.”

The remarks sparked a firestorm of public opinion — Pringle soon apologized, then toured the borough’s cultural landmarks in an attempt to mend fences.

Pringle didn’t return a phone call yesterday seeking comment about the police stats.

Earlier.

See What Happens When You Don’t Follow “The Rules”?

You attract the wrong kind of guys:

Cops say a New Jersey man wooed a 30-year-old woman from New Dorp Beach online, but then, after she paid for lunch at the end of their date, stole her credit card.

Jared W. Winans, 28, of Old Tappan, is accused of using the card to make about $100 in purchases in New Jersey and Massachusetts.

The ill-fated date started on May 21, and ended at about 12:30 p.m. the next day at the Applebee’s restaurant in New Dorp, according to court papers.

She paid the check, though it’s unclear if the two ever went on a second date, a law enforcement source said.

A few days later, the woman noticed her credit card missing, and filed a report. The investigation led to Winans, who made several small purchases a day after the date, the source said.

The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau got involved not long after, the source said, because Winans puffed up his dating résumé by falsely claiming to be a cop.