Fly on the Wall : The third man? | Sale days | Message from war zone on anniversary of attack | R.I.P. Scarsdale resident Joseph Hofheimer

Fly on the Wall

The third man?

Bronxville Metro-North train station, 6:25 a.m., Sept. 11, 2007. A lonely commuter takes on the air of a film noir character as he heads through the predawn gloom. Moments later, normalcy reasserts itself as John Tietjen of nearby Cedar Knolls peruses the paper awaiting the 6:44 to Grand Central.

Sale days

At Mount Kisco Sales Days on Sept. 8 naturalist Adam Zorn of Westmoreland Sanctuary in Bedford Corners plays with a friend while nearby sweet smells attract shoppers to the booth of Clean Ridge Soap Company.

Message from war zone on anniversary of attack

On the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Hartsdale homeowner Joyce Cheng-Hopkins brought a somber message from a distant war zone to the weekly luncheon of the Rotary Club of White Plains.

As United Nations assistant high commissioner for operations in the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, she spoke of dismal lives, of forced idleness and little schooling for 1.7 million Iraqis who have taken refuge from the war in urban slums of neighboring Syria and Jordan. She described her agency’s $200 million humanitarian effort to relieve their plight in Arab countries “at the breaking point” in handling the refugee influx.

In Iraq, where lack of security forces the UN agency to resort to “remote-control management,” another 2.2 million Iraqis displaced by war occupy 22 camps, she said. They cannot afford to join the exodus of refugees, whose “net outflow” is 2,000 per month.

Visiting refugee families crowded into one-room Damascus apartments, “It’s tragic to see such well-trained people sitting idle,” Cheng-Hopkins said, “For them, the worst tragedy is their children” who are barred from attending schools.

“If these kids do not go to schools, where do they end up? In madrasas,” the Islamic fundamentalist schools that have bred global terrorists, Cheng-Hopkins said.

For Western countries, paying for those refugees’ education is “an investment in global security,” she told her somber audience of Rotarians.

R.I.P. Scarsdale resident Joseph Hofheimer

In an unfortunate turn of fate, Joseph Hofheimer, longtime benefactor of White Plains Hospital Center, went into cardiac arrest in a room full of health-care professionals at the second annual benefit for the Nurse Apprentice Program at Morton’s Steakhouse in White Plains Sept. 10.

The 83-year-old Hofheimer was former chairman and member of the board of directors of White Plains Hospital Center.

Hofheimer became a member of the hospital’s board in 1975 and served as chairman from 1982 to 1986. He aided the hospital in raising more than $125 million over the past 30 years.

The Nurse Apprentice Program for which the benefit was held is aimed at addressing a severe nursing shortage crisis by guiding high school and college students on a path to nursing careers through internships, scholarships and programs in career exploration.

This past spring, Hofheimer was honored for his 42 years of service as a member of the board of trustees of Blythedale Children’s Hospital. During that time, he served as board chairman and as chairman of the investment and development committees.

Hofheimer’s life ended serving the hospital he loved, surrounded by friends, colleagues and beneficiaries of his generosity.

Donations in Mr. Hofheimer’s memory can be made to the Joseph Hofheimer Memorial Fund at White Plains Hospital Center.

What’s in a name?

For the record, these new business names are listed in this week’s On the Record section.

Fifth most-interesting new business name:

The Casual Palate, Wallkill.

(For the gourmand with severe commitment phobia.)

Fourth most-interesting new business name:

Market Market, Rosendale.

(Where, where? Rosendale, Rosendale.)

Third most-interesting new business name:

Metalkill Music, Wallkill.

(Too late. The 1980s hair bands took care of that already.)

Second most-interesting new business name:

Y-Not Cookies, Tivoli.

(Y-yes, our philosophy exactly.)

The most-interesting new business name:

Campaign Tile, Poughkeepsie.

(Comes in blue or red, but no foot-tapping on the tiles.)

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