New York Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

CITYWIDE
STUDENTS, PARENTS SEEK TUTORING OPTIONS
Hundreds of parents and students from around the city went to the Tweed Courthouse yesterday afternoon to find out about free tutoring options under the No Child Left Behind act. About 180,000 city students are eligible for free tutoring, which is available to financially needy students at failing schools.
The director of supplemental educational services at the Department of Education, Betty Arce, said she expects more students to sign up this year. She said she also expects higher attendance because of incentive programs and the providers’ plans of following up with the parents of children who don’t show up. Families have until Friday to sign up for tutoring with 47 private companies, including Kaplan, Catapult Learning, and All Ivy Tutors.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
MTA DIRECTOR DISCUSSES FARE HIKE
Death, taxes, and now, it seems, higher subway fares seem inevitable, if yesterday’s testimony by the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s executive director is any guide. The director, Katherine Lapp, spoke before a hearing of the state Assembly committee responsible for the MTA yesterday. At the meeting on Staten Island, Ms. Lapp asked for state aid to forestall budget deficits not in 2005, but in 2006.
“My plea to you is to help us fund the capital plan,” Ms. Lapp said to the three committee members present. When asked by reporters if a fare hike was a certainty, Ms. Lapp said, “The MTA has been discussing an increase in the yield we get from fares and tolls for the last year, understanding that there are big deficits in ’04 and ’05.”
The only way for the MTA to close a $436 billion gap in its operating budget for next year will be to tighten its own belt and raise fares and tolls to generate 5% more in revenue, MTA officials have said. The MTA board has promised it will not raise the $2 base fare, which means the money must come from bridge and tunnel tolls, commuter rail tickets, and MetroCard discount cards. The plan, if approved by the MTA, would raise the price of 30-day cards to $76 from $70 and 7-day Metro-Cards to $24 from $21.The MTA plans hearings in November.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
KLEIN URGES UNIVERSITIES TO CHANGE TEACHER TRAINING
Schools Chancellor Joel Klein urged university leaders yesterday to change the way they train new teachers. In a speech to the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities, Mr. Klein said, “I need you to begin to think very, very differently about how we think of urban education in our schools.” He said America’s urban public school systems are “broken.”
He said universities have to put training new teachers – especially in math, science, and other content-rich areas – at the top of their agendas. At the same time, Mr. Klein said cities should figure out ways to reward performance and boost the salaries of math and science teachers, who are especially in demand.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
BROOKLYN
MAYOR ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CENTER
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women has awarded the city a $1.2 million grant to develop a Family Justice Center in downtown Brooklyn, which would provide “one stop” protection and legal services to battered women, Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday.
“This will be a place where victims of domestic violence will be able to get an ear, a shoulder, and a helping hand,” said Mr. Bloomberg, who made the announcement with Kings County District Attorney Charles Hynes and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly at the 67th Precinct in East Flatbush.
The Family Justice Center would protect battered women and their children and provide legal and counseling services at one location.
“We anticipate when it is fully operational a year from now it will help up to 7,000 adults and 14,000 children a year,” said Mr. Bloomberg. He said the city is scouting a location for the center, to be established as soon as possible.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
BROOKLYN WATERFRONT REZONING PROCESS BEGINS
The Department of City Planning announced the start of a review process for the Greenpoint-Williamsburg waterfront rezoning yesterday. The city’s plan calls for the rezoning of 184 blocks, including two miles of waterfront, and the creation of 8,250 housing units.
There would be 49 acres of open space along the waterfront, including a 27.8-acre park between North 9th Street and the Bushwick Inlet. A waterfront access plan would require new developments to provide access to the water to create a continuous waterfront walkway. Residential development will be focused near the water, while zoning in areas further inland would be mixed-use. Areas that now have clusters of industrial facilities would remain zoned for manufacturing. The proposal will next be reviewed by Community Board 1.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
QUEENS
PASTOR FACES CHARGES OF EMBEZZLEMENT
The former pastor of a Jamaica church surrendered yesterday to face charges that he, his administrative assistant, and her husband embezzled half a million dollars in church funds. Charles Betts, 68, of Brandon, Fla., was arraigned on charges of second-degree grand larceny and first-degree falsifying business records. He could face up to 15 years if convicted, according to the Queens district attorney.
Reverend Betts allegedly embezzled $165,000 from Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church through writing fraudulent checks and racking up credit card bills. He is the third suspect to be charged in the case. Mr. Betts pleaded not guilty and posted $50,000 bail. He is scheduled to return to court on November 30.
“The defendant led the congregation for over two decades and the charges reflect a profound and shameful betrayal of trust,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. Rev. Betts’s attorney, James Walker, said his client did not steal the money. Mr. Betts said in a statement that he would “vigorously defend this case and fight for my innocence.”
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
CAROUSEL TO BE ADDED TO HISTORIC PLACES LIST
A circular chase of 44 carved wooden horses, a lion, a zebra, and two chariots will be ensured a long life today, when the Forest Park Carousel in Queens is entered onto the state and national registries of historic places. The carousel was built in 1903 by a German immigrant and master woodcarver, Daniel Muller. Each wooden animal was intricately carved and painted. Muller built only 12 carousels; the only other one still operating is in Sandusky, Ohio.
After the first carousel at Forest Park burned down in 1966, a private company, Restaurant Associates, replaced it in 1972 with the Muller carousel, which was owned by Connecticut architect Victor Christ-Jane. For just $1 a ride, the carousel brought joy to thousands of children until 1984, when the machine broke down. It lay dormant until 1989, when the Richmond Hill Historical Society refurbished it and eventually donated the ride to the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation.
Today’s ceremony will begin at 11 a.m.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
POLICE BLOTTER
FEW RESULTS IN INVESTIGATION INTO DEATH OF INMATE
The investigation into the death of an inmate on Rikers Island yielded few results yesterday, and after a preliminary autopsy, a spokeswoman from the office of the medical examiner said they needed more tests to determine a cause of death. Tyrece Abney, 21, was beaten to death Sunday afternoon by three inmates in a common area at Rikers; after a female correction officer attempted to intervene on Abney’s behalf, three other inmates joined the melee. No weapons were used and Abney was pronounced dead at the prison clinic. Abney was nine days from being sentenced for intent to deal crack cocaine, according to a spokesman from the Bronx District Attorney. He had pleaded guilty and had faced a potential 25-year sentence.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
LONG ISLAND
DELAY IN TRIAL OF ACCUSED MURDERER
RIVERHEAD – Opening statements in the trial of a Long Island electrician accused of killing the estranged millionaire husband of a woman he later married were postponed for a second time yesterday. State Supreme Court Judge Robert Doyle, after meeting for most of the day in his chambers with lawyers from both sides in the case, told jurors that because of “various legal issues” he was postponing opening statements in the trial of Daniel Pelosi until October 12.
Mr. Pelosi, 41, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Theodore Ammon, a Manhattan investment banker found brutally slain in the bedroom of his East Hampton mansion in 2001. Mr. Pelosi is being held without bail in the Suffolk County Jail. Last Wednesday, just moments before jurors were to be led in for opening statements, Assistant District Attorney Janet Albertson stunned the courtroom by alleging Mr. Pelosi had admitted to two inmates in the jail that he was responsible for Ammon’s killing. Defense attorney Gerald Shargel filed a motion yesterday to suppress the testimony of the jailhouse informants. The judge scheduled a hearing on the defense motion for Thursday.
– Associated Press