The Journal News from White Plains, New York • Page 4

RegionHealth www.thejournalnews.com 4A Saturday, August 21, 2004 The Journal News Chelsea Piers inspires proposal Westchester executive seeks multiuse sports complex in Valhalla 1 I jrT- I I i 1 1 1955: King's College is founded. 1994: King's College closes its Briarcliff campus and moves operations to New York City, while it works out plans to move to Orange County, and buildings fall into disrepair. 1996: Tara Circle, an Irish cultural organization, hits financial difficulty in planned acquisition of the Briarcliff site after continued controversy, later opening in Yonkers. 1998: Barrington Venture, a Chicago-area developer for senior-citizen housing, proposes the creation of new residences on the site and the demolition of the lodge. 2003: Arson destroys the oldest section of the lodge, days before the removal of asbestos was set to begin as part of demolition plans, and.

the entire structure is then torn down. Timeline 1902: Carpet executive Walter Law, an English immigrant of Scottish ancestry, builds the resort that would be called "the St. Moritz of America." 1907: A north wing is completed, followed by another in 1909. 1915: Silent film "Seven Sisters" is made there. 1926: Olympic ski jump trials held in front of the lodge.

There was no snow on the ground, so some was brought in by train from the Adiron-dacks. 1926: Thomas Larkin, the mayor of Yonkers, drops dead of a stroke on the 13th tee of the golf course. 1932: Tennis pro Bill Tilden plays there. 1937: The resort closes, and Briarcliff Lodge becomes the Edgewood Park School. ff The Briarcliff Lodge opened its doors to paying guests for the first time Celebrity retreat ftp Tt A li I Courtesy Bill Burton on June 26, 1902.

lives on it as a rallying cry for historic preservation. "Buildings are a way of defining place," he said. "This community lost a big part of itself when this was destroyed. Communities should take pride in buildings they have and fight to save them." Carol Haddad, the former president of the Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society, said the book made an important contribution to the historical record. "It's exciting for someone to pull it all together in writing, instead of having it all in bits and pieces," she said.

"We were one of the few villages totally owned by one man, Walter Law, and the lodge was a tremendous asset to the community. People from all over the world came there, and it's a very important part of our history." All that history exists only in documentary form, thanks to the work of an arsonist in the fall of 2003. Briarcliff Manor police Lt Donald Gorey said the fast-moving blaze, battled by 100 firefighters from seven communities, has been officially declared an arson, and the investigation is still open. The fire occurred just days before preliminary work to demolish the lodge was to begin a decision fought by Yasinsac and others who wanted to save the structure. There are no immediate development plans for the 58-acre site off Scarborough Road.

After King's College closed its campus there in 1994 and moved its operations to a Briarcliff Lodge, destroyed by arson, preserved in book Robert Marchant The Journal News The Briarcliff Lodge, a 225-room hotel where movie stars and moguls played in high style, no longer exists. But a photographic record of the renowned resort, which laid the foundation for the village of Briarcliff Manor in the early 1900s, now lives between the covers of a new book. Rob Yasinsac, an amateur historian and photographer who specializes in capturing the ruined and abandoned historic buildings of the Hudson Valley, pored through stacks of archival material to tell the story of one of the grandest getaways ever to open its doors to the leisure set His book of photographs, "Briarcliff Lodge," published by a company specializing in local history, became available this week at area bookstores and gift shops. Quite a story unfolded at the hilltop resort, where an ambitious Englishman named Walter Law devoted his considerable energies to creating a model community and resort around the turn of the 19th century. The lodge was the lavish spot where Babe Ruth worked on his golf swing, President Franklin Roosevelt dined, movie muscleman Johnny Weissmuller honed his physique for Tarzan flicks and guests could make long-distance phone calls from every room a technological marvel in its day.

What began as a fashionable spa and hotel in 1902 continued as a school and a Christian college in later years, until a fire and the wrecking ball destroyed it last year. Joe LareseThe Journal News Rob Yasinsac stands Tuesday near what was the entrance of the former Briarcliff Lodge in Briarcliff. Kirkless said this week. The property now stands idle, its former glory delineated by a chain-link fence marked with signs ordering trespassers to keep out Rich in history if not luck, the Briarcliff Lodge now evokes Jazz Age splendor only in the history books. Reach Robert Marchant at rmarchanthejoumalnews.com or 9146666578.

transitional site in Manhattan, an Irish cultural organization, Tara Circle, aimed to buy the property, but community controversy erupted and the plan fizzled. The current proposal by the owner of the property, Barrington Venture, to create a residential facility for senior citizens in 315 units has not materialized, and the company is rethinking its options for the site, Barrington executive Joan -WW' fmZl Yasinsac visited the lodge when it was still standing, a ghost town surrounded by the suburbs in the late '90s. "Just seeing the architecture and this building sitting here in ruins, it blew my mind," recalled Yasinsac, a 27-year-old Tarrytown resident "It was like being inside a sunken ship like the Titanic, with the old wood-paneled walls and many of the fixtures still intact Most of the original architecture was still there, and it was really picturesque. The scene of ruins makes for great photographs." He said the history of the old resort and its later incarnation as a college was worth preserving, even if the structure itself has faded into oblivion. "This was the start of Briarcliff Manor, right here.

This was the heart of it You came to Briarcliff Manor, you were coming to the lodge. It was a world-famous resort, and part of a dynamic community," said Yasinsac, who works as a guide at Philipsburg Manor, a historic site that includes a working Colonial farm in Sleepy Hollow. Eileen O'Connor Weber, a Briarcliff Manor native, went to the lodge as a young girl and later attended the girls school there. "It was so elegant, that" the word for it" said Weber, 86. "The garden was like a fairyland, it was so beautiful.

The food was famous, and all the millionaires came up from New York for the whole summer, by yacht or driven by chauffeur." Weber recalled the sight of a limousine rolling up to the entrance of the lodge and a footman opening the door for its occupant his suit exactly matched to the color of the automobile, a shade of plum. "I thought that was very glamorous," she said. Besides the book's purpose as a chronicle, Yasinsac also envisions Use with caution The Food and Drug Administration says it will prepare new warnings for some antidepressants used by children because of findings that link the drugs with suicidal behavior. Share of antidepressant drugs used by Individuals under 18 years old 19.4 4.8 Other 22.3 Celexa I Zoloft 1 I 1 5.6 17.7 Effexor -i'A XR generic Prozac 8.5 Wellbutrin SR 11.1 Lexapro 9.9 Paxil Paxil CR Source: Pfizer Inc. AP lack of FDA approval there is little evidence that any other than Prozac work for pediatric depression, thus deepening concern about even potential risks.

The FDA in March urged close monitoring of patients for suicide warning signs, especially when they first start the pills or change a dose. The reason: The drugs may cause agitation, anxiety and hostility in a subset of patients unusually prone to rare side effects. Now, FDA and Columbia University psychiatric specialists have re-evaluated 25 studies involving more than 4,000 young people and eight antidepressants. There were no completed But, when all the results were lumped together, young antidepressant users were about 1.8 times more likely to have suicidal thoughts or behaviors than patients given dummy pills, according to analyses released yesterday. Visit a Car Wash listed below get a complimentary copy of The Journal News with a paid Car Wash every Sunday in August! Glenn Blain The Journal News WHITE PLAINS A portion of the county's Grasslands Reservation in Valhalla would become the home of a multiuse sports complex with new soccer and baseball fields under a proposal being floated by Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano.

The county government, under Spano's proposal, would lease 60 acres of undeveloped land in the northern portion of the Grasslands campus to a yet-to-be-selected developer who would then construct the sports fields and other venues and run it as a commercial enterprise. "It's a scaled-down version of Chelsea Piers," said Deputy County Executive Larry Schwartz, referring to the massive sports and entertainment center on Manhattan's west side. Schwartz said the county's plan, which is still in its nascent stages, would focus mostly on playing fields for soccer, baseball and football. But, he added, the complex could also contain a sports training or rehabilitation center, snack bar and sports camp. Specifics about the complex will not be known until a developer is chosen, but the county will not al low a health club, ice rink or driving range to be built on the site, Schwartz said.

A request for proposals from developers will be circulated next week and the county hopes to make a decision on the project by the end of the year. "There is a need and a demand for ball fields in the county," Schwartz said. "It is very hard to get fields at a time that is convenient for kids and adults to play. This is an opportunity to have a lot of fields in one place." Yet, the potential size of the complex and the crowds it could generate county officials estimate the facility could draw more than 100,000 people a year have sparked concern that the Valhalla site, which is adjacent to Westchester Medical Center and near some residential neighborhoods, may not be proper for such a use. Legislator Rob Astorino, R-Hawthorne, chairman of the Board of Legislators' Parks and Recreation Committee, acknowledged the need for additional sports fields in the county, but said Spano's plans will need to be looked at carefully "I am not so sure this area makes sense," Astorino said.

Mount Pleasant Supervisor Robert Meehan, a Republican, said he was not aware of Spano's plans and said they would have to be reviewed by the town's Planning Board before any development could move forward. Schwartz said the sports complex is an extension of Spano's "Legacy" project, which calls for the construction of athletic fields coun-tywide. Legacy projects have included the construction of baseball fields in Peekskill, a baseball field on the Scarsdale-White Plains border and an all-weather soccer field at the Saxon Woods county park. Spano, a Democrat, had initially hoped to use the so-called "north 60" of the Grasslands campus for a biotechnology center. However, the county determined that the project was not economically sound and abandoned it Reach Glenn Blain at gblainthejournalnews.com or 914-694-5066.

Iron shortage may be factor in Alzheimer's Knight Ridder Newspaper OAKLAND, Calif. Iron deficiency may play a role in Alzheimer's disease, according to an Oakland, Calif, researcher. The finding could be a big step in understanding and ultimately delaying or preventing the disease. A shortage of heme, a specific type of iron, starves brain cells to death, said biochemist Hani Atam-na of Children's Hospital and Research Center. Though this doesn't prove an iron deficiency causes Alzheimer's, Atamna believes it may be possible to slow down, or even delay, the onset of the disease, which is the most common cause of dementia among people age 65 and older.

An estimated 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease. Care is estimated at $100 billion per year. This discovery may be a key piece to the puzzle of how Alzheimer's disease destroys brain cells and causes progressive I i i if FDA to issue stronger warnings on children's use of antidepressants West Nyack Car Wash "Brushless" 357 Route 59, West Nyack, NY 10994 (845) 353-2256 Magnotta's Car Wash Detail Center 340 Central Avenue, White Plains, NY 10606 (914)948-2000 Voted 7 Car Wash in Westchester www.magnottacarwash.com Route 22 Car Wash Brewster Town Center, Routes 322 22 "Professional Car Wash Detail Center with Fresh Water Rinse Not recycled for a Cleaner Brighter Finish" Brewster, NY 10509 (845)279-9010 Our Town Car Wash Quick Lube 522 Route 303, Orangeburg, NY 10962 (845)359-6647 Congers Auto Spa "Your One-Stop Express Lube, Car Wash, and Detail Center" 240 Route 9W, Congers, NY 10920 (845)268-2994 Mt. Ivy Car Wash Ivy Road, Pomona, NY 10970 (845) 362-1010 i 5 i V- 'J (J- New reports support links between drugs and suicidal behavior Lauran Neergaard The Associated Press WASHINGTON Federal health officials are preparing stronger warnings for some antidepressants used in children after new analyses back a possible link to suicide. Exactly what those warnings will say, and which drugs will be affected, hasn't been settled, according to Food and Drug Administration documents released yesterday.

The agency will ask its scientific advisers next month for help in deciding. "While there remains a signal of risk for some drugs in some trials, it is important to note that the data are not black-and-white in providing a clear and definitive answer," FDA psychiatric drugs chief Dr. Thomas Laughren wrote the advisory panel this week. The controversy erupted last year, when British health authorities declared that most popular antidepressants might sometimes increase the risk of suicidal behavior in children and teenagers. They declared all but one Prozac unsuitable for depressed youth, but stopped short of a pediatric ban.

The drugs of concern include Effexor, made by Wyeth of Madison, and Remeron, made by Organon of Roseland, N.J. Only Prozac is FDA-approved to treat pediatric depression, and a taxpayer-funded study this week showed that Prozac plus talk therapy was more effective for depressed teenagers than either approach was alone. The latest FDA analyses don't link Prozac to increased suicidal tendencies. But while doctors widely prescribe antidepressants for children which is legal despite the MT. Maya Car Wash Quick Lube "A Unique State Of The Art Facility" New Ownership and New Attitude" "Across from The Red Rooster" 1559 Route 22 Brewster, NY 10509 (845)279-9010 She Journal News Howyouknow www.thejournalnewt.com While supplies last.