CITYWIDE

‘IMETTE’S LAW’ ROILS PRIVACY ADVOCATES

Proposed legislation that would require city bars to install security cameras at their entrances has upset privacy advocates, pitting those touting increased public safety against those who advocates for civil liberties. The proposed “Imette’s Law,” put forward by a state Assembly member, Felix Ortiz, on March 9, and named after slain graduate student Imette St.Guillen,24,won’t help solve crimes, the attorney for the New York City Nightlife Association, Robert Bookman, said. The director of the Constitutional Litigation Clinic at Rutgers School of Law, Frank Askin, said, “It’s another aspect of Big Brother that’s intruding into people’s private lives.” Proponents of the legislation – including some bar managers and owners – say security cameras help protect their property and safeguard their patrons from violence. “People think twice about doing things if there’s a security camera,” the manager of the Creek Lounge on Mulberry Street, Will Ford, said.

– Special to the Sun

CIVIL RIGHTS OFFICIALS PROBE DISCRIMINATION CHARGES IN NYFD

Federal civil rights officials, who already are investigating allegations of racial discrimination in the New York Fire Department’s hiring practices, have widened that inquiry to look into charges of discrimination against women, a federal spokeswoman said.

– Associated Press

IN THE COURTS

KILLER OF WANDERING GIRL’S MOTHER GETS 32-YEAR SENTENCE

A man who killed his ex-girlfriend, tossed her body in the garbage and left her 4-year-old daughter wandering the streets of New York was sentenced yesterday to 32 years in prison. Cesar Ascarrunz, 32, pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter and reckless endangerment, admitting he killed Monica Lozada-Rivadineira and left her daughter, Valery Belen Saavedra Lozada, barefoot and alone in the middle of the night in the Middle Village section of Queens.

– Associated Press

PROSECUTORS: 18 MANHATTAN DRUG GANG MEMBERS INDICTED

The enforcer of a violent gang who used his pistol “early and often” has been indicted in the drug-related murders of two men and the attempted murder of a third, prosecutors said yesterday. Ramon “EZ” Pequero was charged with first-degree murder in the death of rival drug dealer Tyrell Williams in August 2001 and with second-degree murder in the slaying of Al Cruz two days later, the Manhattan district attorney, Robert Morgenthau, said.

– Associated Press

BANNED MUSLIM SCHOLAR ASKS AGAIN FOR PERMISSION TO ENTER U.S.

A Muslim scholar suing the U.S. government over its refusal to give him a travel visa asked a court yesterday to allow him to enter the country temporarily while the case is awaiting trial. Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss citizen who now teaches at the University of Oxford in England, had his U.S. visa revoked in 2004, shortly before he was scheduled to move to Indiana to accept a position at the University of Notre Dame. The American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Mr. Ramadan, said the State Department excluded the professor under a provision of the Patriot Act that allows the government to bar entry to any prominent foreigner who has used his status to endorse or espouse terrorism.

– Associated Press

STATEWIDE

PRINCIPALS UNION ASKS BOARD TO DECLARE IMPASSE ON CONTRACT TALKS

The union representing the city’s school principals asked a state labor board yesterday to formally declare an impasse on contract talks with the Bloomberg administration. Principals have been working without a contract since June 30, 2003. “It was our thought and our hope that over these past few months we were moving in the right direction,” the president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, Jill Levy, said. She said that it became obvious yesterday that the two sides would not be able to reach an agreement without outside intervention. The union represents about 5,500 school administrators. “No impasse exists,” a spokesman for the mayor, Jordan Barowitz, said. “History is clear: The best contracts for all involved are negotiated at the bargaining table, not through third-party intervention.” If the Public Employment Relations Board declares an impasse, it will assign a mediator to bring both sides to an agreement.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MANY BISHOPS BENDING LENTEN RULES FOR ST. PATRICK’S DAY CELEBRATIONS

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee is among dozens of bishops – from Green Bay, Wis., to Arlington, Va., to Chicago, to Boston – granting one-day dispensations from Lenten rules that prohibit Roman Catholics from eating meat on Fridays to observe the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In many cases, the bishops are asking for a similar day of penance in exchange for relaxing the rules this Friday. Many bishops offered the same deal the last time St. Patrick’s Day fell on a Friday during Lent – in 2000. The Archdiocese of New York has always extended a dispensation when the calendar lined up because St. Patrick is the patron saint of the archdiocese, a spokesman, Joseph Zwilling, said.

– Associated Press

PUB OPERATOR ADMITS SMUGGLING IRISH WORKERS INTO U.S.

BUFFALO – A pub operator has admitted helping smuggle illegal aliens from Ireland into America by hiring people who worked or drank at her bar to pick them up in Canada and drive them across the border. Bridget Campbell, 37, of Depew, faces sentencing June 9 after pleading guilty to smuggling charges in U.S. District Court. Federal prosecutors said Ms. Campbell admitted arranging for at least 30 people from Ireland to illegally cross into Buffalo from Fort Erie, Ontario.

– Associated Press

ALBANY

ASSEMBLY PASSES OPEN GOVERNMENT BILLS

The Democrat-led Assembly passed several bills yesterday that lawmakers said would help make government more open to the public. One measure, sponsored by a Democratic Assembly member, RoAnn Destito, would require attorney’s fees be paid to those whose requests for records under the state Freedom of Information Law are denied without justification or wrongly delayed. The bill is being sponsored in the Senate by Republican John DeFrancisco.

– Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

HOME ATTENDANT ARRESTED FOR ROBBING WOMAN WHO WAS FOUND DEAD

A home health care attendant, whose elderly charge was found dead last week, was arrested for stealing from her employer, police said. Tanya Campbell, 29, of Maple Street in Brooklyn, was arrested March 10 and charged with grand larceny, police said, although she may be part of an ongoing investigation into the death of her charge. Phyllis Weiner, 89, was found dead on March 6 on the 10th-floor landing of the stairwell inside her East 57th Street apartment building. Her walker and some jewelry were found on the landing above her, where she reportedly lived with her 94-year-old husband.

– Special to the Sun

BROOKLYN MOTHER CHARGED IN CHILD’S INJURY

Police arrested a Brooklyn woman early yesterday morning after her 2-year-old daughter was admitted to the hospital with a critical head injury on Tuesday. Police said Antonia Ramirez, 30, of Central Avenue in Bushwick, was charged with assault and reckless endangerment of a child after the unresponsive toddler was admitted to Brooklyn Hospital. Meanwhile, three other children were removed from the home and put into the custody of the Administration for Children’s Services, police said. Ms. Ramirez does not have prior arrests, domestic incident reports, or an ACS history, police said.

– Special to the Sun

MANHATTAN

ELECTRONIC WALKERS REMOVED FROM TWEED COURTHOUSE

The two electronic sculptures “Bruce Walking” and “Sara Walking” that have become familiar sites on the steps of Tweed Courthouse in Lower Manhattan were taken down yesterday, 17 months after they started walking in place. The electronic pedestrians were part of a nine-part public art exhibit called “Julian Opie: Animals, Buildings, Cars, and People” that also included sculptures of farm animals in City Hall Park. One of the electronic walkers is headed to the Aldridge Museum of Contemporary Art in Ridgefield, Conn., where Mr. Opie will reprogram it into an electronic dancer called “Sara Walking (Sparkly Top).” The other will go back to Mr. Opie, who is based in London.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

QUINN DOESN’T RULE OUT PARADE MARCH

With less than 48 hours to go until the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, last night had not ruled out the possibility of leading a delegation down Fifth Avenue. Ms. Quinn, the first female and openly gay speaker, has been arrested for protesting the parade for not allowing gay groups to march. She has, however, been in talks with parade organizers for more than a week with the hope that they will offer a compromise, possibly by allowing gay pride buttons or stickers. “We continue to believe that a compromise can be reached over the next day that will allow Irish gay and lesbian New Yorkers to march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade openly acknowledging their identity and heritage,” Ms. Quinn, who is Irish, said in a statement yesterday. Sources said Ms. Quinn, who is one of the most powerful city government officials, is leaning against marching because organizers are not offering concessions. Parade organizers could not be reached for comment.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun