A bit of history in the making. The Forest Hills tennis stadium owned by the Westside Tennis Club will be opening for a tennis tournament on July 4th thru July 7th featuring the top sixteen women and top sixteen men in the world called the New York State Open. The stadium is be refurbished and will be used in the future for concerts.

Clearing up some confusion on Homeowner Service Line Protection Program, I would like to give some information regarding water main and sewer main breaks in front of your house. People seem to think they have enough insurance provided by homeowners policies, however, they are only covered from the sidewalk to the house. The DEP offers insurance for water and sewer mains from the street to the house. Recently a break on my block caused flooding and on 76th and 77th streets there were at least two breaks that were costly to homeowners.

It looks like O’Neills Restaurant has a tentative opening date of June 14th, and from what I’ve seen it looks beautiful and has a large catering hall. We wish our friends there lots of good luck in their opening.

I want to thank Frank Manetta for his inspiring talk on Fire Prevention at our last meeting and for providing smoke alarms for those in attendance. Also at the meeting was Councilman Eric Ulrich to present a check to the Broad Channel Fire Department who were wiped out from hurricane Sandy. The funds were collected by the good people at the Silver Barn.

There seems to be a new scam that I would like to make you all aware of when you send cards. Don’t ever put money in them. They have found a way to lift them out of the mailbox by using glue traps lowered by a fishing line. Destroyed mail has been found lying next to mailboxes.

Congratulations and good luck to our new Police Captain of the 104th Police Precinct, Christopher Manson.

Father Peter Purpura from Our Lady of Hope was spotted at Juniper Valley Park one spring evening. He was back home from Italy to attend a family wedding. It just so happened that two high school games were going on with players that were on the same team at OLH now opposing each other on high school teams. Everyone was happy to see him as word got out that he was there.

The 2012 Report Card by New Yorkers For Parks on Large Parks in New York City gave our own Juniper Valley Park the number one spot. We have to thank our Parks Department, the many Juniper Park volunteers and Bob Holden and the Juniper Park Civic Assoc. for helping to maintain and keep our park the most beautiful in the city.

West Point Cadet Jack Rosenhammer, OLH class of 2004 and grandson of Juniper Park Civic Member Ursula Rosenhammer, was named to the Dean’s List for the Fall 2012 Semester, having maintained a 3.0 average in all courses. Jack graduated from Xavier High School and will be commissioned as second lieutenant in the U.S. army upon graduation at West Point in 2015.

The following came in from John Palladino: In December of 2008 the 1958 graduating class of P.S.49 met at Joe Abbracciamento's to celebrate their 50th anniversary. The event was such a success that the class has held two more parties. We have been able to contact a majority of the 100 graduates, who are now 65 or 66 years old, yet, some have remained very difficult to find. If anyone can provide and leads for finding the following former Middle Villagers, I would greatly appreciate your help: Diane Apostolakes; Linda Baum; Harlan Brooks; Jean Cole; Mary Diogo; Christopher Gregor; Sherry Hart; Richard Hoffman; Tony Hsu; Debra Kanter; John Leung; Peter Papazoglu; Barbara Ritchie; Asla Turken; Bruce White. Thank you. John Palladino pal81@optonline.net

The following came in from Benjamin Schiff: Secular Franciscan installed – Fr. Herman Czaster, spiritual director (center) of the Secular Franciscan Fraternity of the St. Adalbert parish, Elmhurst, welcomes new member Deacon Thomas Page, who lives in Maspeth after “Rite of Admission” ceremony held recently at St. Adalbert’s Church. Looking on are Constance Watz, Local Minister and Carmela Cangialosi, Formation Director. During the ceremony Deacon Page promised to live the Gospel life fully in the spirit of St. Francis and St. Claire within the support network of a fraternity of men and women.

Graham Luongo, a standout 8th grade student at PS/IS 49 in Middle Village has been named the 2013-2014 Board of Trustees Scholarship Winner at prestigious Fork Union Military Academy, a historic college preparatory boy’s boarding school in Virginia (www.forkunion.com). Graham competed against a superbly qualified field of other applicants from around the country, all vying for top honors. His exemplary academic career, combined with his ongoing involvement in community enrichment and extra-curricular activities made him the obvious choice for this scholarship. Graham will begin his high school career at Fork Union Military Academy in August of 2013, and the scholarship will pay 100% of his tuition, room and board costs, and uniform expenses. Congratulations to Graham Luongo and his family.

Congratulations to Frankie Chiodi, former OLH student graduating from St. Francis Xavier. Frankie will be attending Quinnipiac University in Connecticut this fall.

The Our Lady of Hope Pee Wee Girls captured the title in the St. Margaret's John J. Forte March Madness Tournament with a 12-9 victory over St. Margaret's in Middle Village.

Nicholas Lynaugh and Danny Miller graduated from Regis High School. Nicholas will be attending Fordham University and Danny will attend Binghamton U.
An episode of the HBO TV series, “Girls,” was filmed on the south side of Juniper Boulevard North on May 20, 2013. This is season two of the popular series and when it's shown on TV you'll see scenes of Juniper Valley Park.

We wish to thank Matt Crescio of Community Beverage in Elmhurst for his generous donation to the JPCA. Matt has always been a great friend to the JPCA and we thank him for his continuing support.

The 50th Anniversary of Our Lady of Hope School was a great success at Leonard’s Restaurant on Friday evening April 12th. Thanks to the committee a wonderful time was had by all who attended. See just a few of the photos from the fun filled evening.