DAY 5: LETâ€S PAUSE FOR THE PAWS

By Sally Deering

http://sallydeering.wordpress.com

(Liberty Humane Society cares for homeless animals post Superstorm Sandy.)

(Weehawken, NJ) Surviving Superstorm Sandy is like riding “The Time Machine” and landing in 1974 during the gas shortage. As of 12 noon today, motorists began lining up for gas rationing. And although weâ€re moving in the right direction, thereâ€s still so much to be done to get back that ‘normal†feeling.

As we pick up the pieces, letâ€s not forget our furry little friends – the dogs and cats that were lost because of the storm and those that have been rescued and housed in shelters — many with no electricity. If youâ€re an animal advocate, nowâ€s the time to reach into your wallet and make a donation or volunteer some time and show some love to these needy animals.

The Liberty Humane Society (LHS) in Jersey City has announced that all of the animals they are caring for have made it safely through the storm, thanks to their dedicated staff, on-site volunteers and storm foster families. But the LHS shelter still has no power, and that means they canâ€t make adoptions because they are unable to open to the public and process the necessary paperwork.

If you can open your home to an animal (cat or dog) to decrease the stress on space, the LHS staff and the animals would be sincerely grateful. And theyâ€re asking foster families who fostered dogs through the storm to keep them a bit longer. Itâ€s so much better than keeping the dogs in the

Cat volunteers are welcome in the cattery and the staff can use help cleaning. If you volunteer, bring a flashlight or lantern. You might even want to bring a book and let one of the kitties nap on your lap. If you are a certified dog walker, youâ€re welcome to come by and walk dogs. The LHD will be open to volunteers from 9-2 every day until the electricity is restored.

(photo courtesy LHS)

If you can make a donation nowâ€s a good time. Just go to www.libertyhumane.org.

In Ocean City, Superstorm Sandy forced many residents to flee their homes and some were not able to bring their pets. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) sent its Water Rescue Team to the scene with its rescue trailer, two rescue boats, and animal capture and transport equipment. Working alongside friends at the ASPCA, IFAW’s team continues to conduct land and water rescues of stranded animals.

All IFAWs rescue and relief efforts are made possible through donations. If youâ€d like to help IFAWs continued rescue and shelter of animals, go to www.ifaw.org and make a donation.

Letâ€s do what we can for helpless animals that depend on us. In the words of Mahatma Ghandi, “The greatness of a society and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.”

Sally Deering is an award-winning writer.

Contact her at SallyDeer@gmail.com; follow her on Twitter @SallyDeer.

 

The post Sally Deering’s Blog Superstorm Sandy first appeared on River View Observer.

 

(Weehawken, NJ) Itâ€s Friday, four days since we Jerseyans woke up to the nightmare of Superstorm Sandy and still 1.4 million New Jersey residents and businesses are without electricity. One harrowing scene after the other is broadcast on TV and the Internet and those of us with power are not only living through this, weâ€re seeing what our neighbors just a few miles away are dealing with, and itâ€s devastating. 

There has been so much heartbreak throughout New Jersey, but seeing sections of the Jersey Shore floating in the Atlantic was the saddest. Seaside Heights is gone, just gone. Atlantic City lost sections of its beach and boardwalk and little Asbury Park which has been going through a renaissance took some hard knocks, too.  To us Jersey folks, ‘The Shore†is a living scrapbook of our childhood memories, teenage romances; days away from the urban landscape with friends and time with our kids and their kids who will follow us in our sandy footsteps. Seeing these popular shore places torn to bits has given all us Jerseyans a heavy heart.

Iâ€m going to guess thatâ€s one of the reasons Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi are putting on a show tonight at 8 pm.  Hosted by Matt Lauer, Bruce and Jon will be performing live at 30 Rock in New York for a live telethon aired on Bravo, CNBC, E!, G4, MSNBC, Style, SyFy, USA and NBC.com.to raise money for the American Red Cross. (To donate, go to www.redcross/org.)

Springsteen and Bon Jovi love their home state and are and doing what they do best to help their fellow Jerseyans (and others) get back on their feet. But itâ€s not just celebs doing their part.

 

The sister of a friend in Bayonne was helping an elderly woman, giving her some groceries on her front stoop when a guy pulled up in his car and yelled from his window, “Hey, come here, I got something for you.” My friendâ€s sister walked to his car and the driver handed her a block of cheese, salami, bread, and other groceries to give to the elderly woman. True story.  

 

Since Tuesday, Sts. Peter and Paul Church on Hudson Street has opened its doors to Hobokenites so they can charge their cell phones and laptops via the churchâ€s generators. The churchâ€s staff, which a friend described as gracious and warm, is even offering coffee and sandwiches.

 

Also in Hoboken, several restaurants including Karma Café on Washington Street were giving away food to hungry Hobokenites. And the beautiful Loewâ€s Jersey City movie palace in Journal Square was offering charges for laptops and cellphones for Jersey City folks who sat right down on the sidewalk in front of the theater to charge their batteries.

 

Sometimes all it takes is a little kindness from strangers to calm our feelings of sadness and anxiety as we pick up the pieces and carry on. For those who have some free time to volunteer and help other Jerseyans get back on their feet, thereâ€s a hotline you can call 1-800-JERSEY-7 (1-800-537-7397.) A little kindness to strangers can keep us connected in ways that go beyond a battery charger.

 

 

 

 

 

The post Sally Deering’s SUPERSTORM SANDY first appeared on River View Observer.

When Walt Disney wrote to a Minnesota man on November 29, 1935, he never dreamed what that letter would be worth one day. Typed on his “Silly Symphony” letterhead, with a large Mickey Mouse in orange and black, it is today something of a holy grail for Disney collectors.

For six years, Disney’s “Silly Symphony” cartoons won Academy Awards and brought about the birth of among many other characters, Donald Duck. Signed with his cartoonists’ pen, Walt Disney’s letter, with its Mickey Mouse envelope, is estimated to sell in the Nov. 12th
Yonkers auction of Cohasco, Inc., for $3,500-$5,000.

Six hundred other lots of collectibles in the auction include:

The world’s largest private collection of U.S. Capitol Building
memorabilia. Capturing the heart of a collector, 575 items every one
showing the famed structure, were gathered over decades. The one-of-
a-kind collection even includes a shoe, a miniature piano, and a bell,
all depicting the Capitol Building. This year marks the 150th
anniversary of the arrival of the model for the Statue of Freedom,
which sits atop the Capitol dome (pre-sale estimate, $2,000-$4,000).

A letter from New Orleans writing of the “dreadful gale of wind”,
certainly a hurricane, in 1837. Part of a 245-item archive of life in
New Orleans and the Old South, the original letters and documents
describe the lost world of steamboats, cotton trading, plantations,
great wealth, the early frontier, sugar, tobacco, and slavery
($48,000-$60,000).

“The Pamphlet That Shaped A Nation,” a 26-page booklet printed in
Spring 1776 by the same man, John Dunlap, who printed the Declaration
of Independence on the night of July 4th. Included in the Library of
Congress’ online presentation, “Creating the United States,” only
three other original examples of this pamphlet are known ($1,500-
$2,500).

Advertising booklet for one of the very first hybrid cars, the 1905
Gas-Au-Lec of Peabody, MA. Combining gas, steam, and electricity,
only four cars were ever built ($110-$140).

Description of the fabled, “Letter From Jesus,” in an English
schoolboy’s notebook of 1698-1702. According to tradition, King Abgar
wrote to Jesus, asking for help in curing his illness; he received a
reply, and was visited and cured by one of Jesus’ disciples ($400-$600).

An 1816 letter of a plantation overseer, ordering striped fabric for
slaves’ clothing ($90-$120).

And many other unusual historical items, in thirty-four categories.
Including the most valuable and unusual lot which is just that: an
empty lot, but with a secret. Hiding in plain sight in downtown
Yonkers, just behind the auction house, is one of the most ancient
African- American historical sites in the country. Forgotten for
years, it dates to 1682, surpassing even the Manhattan Burial Ground
by about eight years. While not in any auction, the Liberation Lawn
harbors over thirty specific points and periods of African-American
history, a high number for historical sites of any kind. These points
include: the formal entry tended by slaves of the richest couple in
old New York, George Washington’s 1776 encampment, land impacted by
the very first freedom law of its kind in America over 75 years before
the Emancipation Proclamation, rare written documentation of the
Underground Railroad on site, and much more.

City plans call for this Liberation Lawn, adjoining the Philipse Manor
Historic District, to be strip-excavated, then flooded with cement,
for a garage and condo. Efforts of local citizens to preserve
Liberation Lawn are ongoing. Its secrets were rediscovered by a
rather astonished Bob Snyder, Cohasco V.P., who published them in the
Yonkers Historical Society’s Quarterly. Snyder remarked, “That so
many key chapters in history occurred on one modest piece of land is
extraordinary. It’s highly likely that the number of historical
discoveries about Liberation Lawn’s role in slavery and freedom in
America will continue to grow. But we’re racing the clock.”

About Cohasco, Inc.: Established 63 years, Cohasco is a dealer in and
auctioneer of manuscripts, books, antiquarian materials and
collectibles. Over the years they have handled the sale of numerous
prominent collections, in a range of fields, from colonial to
Confederate, medieval to modern. Recent highlights included the
lamps that illuminated Lincoln’s wedding, an archive of the Duryea,
America’s first “mass-produced” automobile, and the Bible owned by
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s mother, setting a world record price for
a twentieth-century Bible.

For more information, please contact Bob Snyder at:

Cohasco, Inc.
ESTABLISHED 63 YEARS
P.O. Drawer 821
Yonkers, NY 10702

Phone: (914) 476-8500
Fax: (914) 476-8573
E-mail: info@cohascodpc.com
Website: http://cohascodpc.com

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