The Journal News from White Plains, New York • Page 7

I) i i 2 1 1 'ill mi i I i 5 1 Mideast fighting Iraqi officials v. i internet saiety lv Rising number of Internet safety Taking action Hats off to official for standing up to nuke board, 4 accuse Syria of News and commentary from the Lower Hudson and beyond cnnaren exposed inciting violence, 3 i 5 to online porn, 6 J. She Journal i Monday, February 5, 2007 Community news as it happens LoHud.com Program focuses on tolerance HENRY VARNUM POOR Honoring the Crow House mm Ernie Garcia The Journal News ARMONK The Rev. Charles Colwell regularly swims at the Tarrytown YMCA with a friend who is a dwarf, and he doesn't like the poolside reactions. "People avoid him.

It's unbelievable to me," said Cjolwell, who yesterday spoke at the North Castle Public library on the importance of reaching out to people. In his lecture, "Beyond Tolerance: Meeting The Colwell said people must move out of their comfort zones to reach out to people they don't understand or know. As president of the Irvington-based Center for Jewish-Christian-Muslim Understanding, Colwell emphasized the importance of having followers of the three faiths reach out to one another to foster greater understanding locally and throughout society. "How do we meet the other without preconditions?" asked Colwell before the lecture, adding that there is a great personal benefit in reaching out to strangers. "The payoff is that our understanding of God will be expanded." Colwell came to Armonk at the invitation of the library, which is expanding its public events.

Fran Davies, programming director at the library, said there has been a lot of interest in diversity and tolerance among the library's trustees and supporters. The discussion will continue at the library next Please see TOLERANCE, 2B ll tern i i IS 1 4rw WlKSjife iimmmSIiii Til-'iii iiiftrm ill bJ Photos by Kathy GardnerThe Journal News Arthur and Ellen Ruth Wagner, who have just purchased the Henry Vamum Poor house, have agreed not to renovate it for a year to allow the Friends of Crow House to raise funds to buy it. i i i) A 1 SNA I --T" lwfiflffillffliffliyrfiiMriillli-lri i. n'iiMMrOTiM New City home bought for 1 1 5M could be preserved as a work of art Laura Incalcaterra The Journal News NEW CITY hen Henry Varnum Poor set out in 1920 to build his home off South Mountain Road, Saving Crow House Get information about Grow House or make a donation by logging onto www.infowes or by calling Take a virtual tour of Crow House by logging onto om. about 6 acres.

Arthur Wagner said he would not demolish or change the property for about a year to give preservationists time to raise money and buy it all back from him. "I just felt I can't be, myself, that important a person that I would destroy what really is art," Wagner said. Arriving at Crow House is like discovering something out of a children's folktale, with its arched doorways and circular stairs, a mix of low and high ceilings with dark and thick-wood beams, and hand-crafted furniture. Experts said Poor's home was a standout because of its design and because he was able to marry art and architecture by infusing the structure with ceramic doorknobs and tiled windowsills, sinks and toilet, and with stone and ce- Please see POOR HOUSE, 2B he turned to the land itself for materials and inspiration. Advocates say the painter and potter's Arts and Crafts house was one of his most important works and warrants preservation, but they will have to work hard to raise the funds necessary to save it.

Poor spent a portion of 1920 and 1921 building the dwelling, dubbed Crow House, which sits tucked among trees and a stream. Last week, a New City man purchased the property for $1.15 million. It includes Poor's main house and studio, a secondary studio and several smaller buildings on III- Vfei I nit )l II MVvrrini fil tw. VlJ. i fr; i I i I'Vr I I if jggjX 'S3 v-- I I Dave KennedyThe Journal News Dan Liberati of North Castle, sitting in his living room, is finding it difficult to make ends meet.

He hasn't gotten a pay raise from Metro-North in five years because of protracted contract negotiations. Rail workers hurting after long pay freeze Caren Halbfinger The Journal News Dan Liberati doesn't blame the railroad for his financial woes. The fact that the Metro-North Railroad foreman hasn't gotten a raise in five years because of a protracted labor dispute is only one reason among many that Liberati is now forced to downsize from his cozy North Castle home. Of course, as the disagreement between a coalition of railroad unions and the railroad wears on, edging toward the possibility of a strike in August that no one really wants, it's the reason foremost on his mind. Liberati, 53, who works in the railroad's structures department, said he and his fellow union members aren't holding out just for more money.

Part of the problem, Liberati said, is that under the terms proposed by Metro-North, union members wouldn't see any of the 3 percent raise that management has proposed they receive for 2005. That's because Metro-North wants them to start contributing 3 percent of their gross wages toward their pensions. Until now, the railroad has contributed 7 percent of the weekly salary for employees with 19 years of service, and 3 percent for those with less time, while the union members had made no contributions. Another wrin- Please see WORKERS, 2B iSLii I MVv; -nf LTffil, "W-' 1 it It Poor designed his own bathroom fixtures and painted both the fixtures and the glazed tile throughout the rooms in the upper level of the home. A sturdy nude welcomes bathers to the shower.

The Friends of Crow House hope to raise funds to buy the house back from Wagner and make it into an artists residence and museum. Private schools will have to pay for state's standardized tests Randi 1 I Weiner 'J Inside Education York has encouraged its schools to take the exams; other individual schools have opted in or out depending on their timetables and interests. "We choose to give the (state) assessments for two reasons," said Nadine Alperin, principal of Reuben Gittelman Hebrew Day School in New City. "First so our teachers can see individual student and class and grade areas of strength and where we need work, and then to be able to compare our students with those in Beginning in September, private schools will have to sign up their children for the state's public school identification database if the children want to take New York's standardized tests. And no surprise to anyone involved in education that means they'll probably have to pay for a service they had been getting for free.

Private schools have always had the option to give the state's standardized tests, and several of them do. The Archdiocese of New math, but that changed this year when federal education policy changed its requirements. Now all public school students in third through eighth grade take the tests. In order to better keep track of student data, the state created a computerized data system to track test and student information. The system was unveiled this year.

Under the database system, each of the state's public school students gets an identification number. Not only are test scores gional Information Center acts as the local testing clearinghouse for Rockland, Westchester and Putnam public schools. "It's an opt-in system, and we haven't decided to opt in or not," said Jacqueline LoFaro, spokeswoman for the archdiocese's Department of Education. "There are negotiations with Albany. (The archdiocese) wants to control some access to information." For years, New York has given fourth- and eighth-grade students standardized tests in English and filed under that number, so are race, gender, economic status, language facility and special-education classifications.

The state uses the information to track district compliance with federal law and to generate a picture of New York's public school student body. School districts worked with their local Board of Cooperative Educational Services all of which support the RIC to get their children registered and paid costs through their BOCES fees. Please see EDUCATION, 2B the public schools. Our parents want to see that as well." The Archdiocese of New York is negotiating with the state Education Department and the Lower Hudson Regional Information Center over the change. The Re.