February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
A vote before the full council is expected to follow later in the year.
Carvill, 51, was killed last year in Baghdad while serving in the New Jersey Army National Guard.
Once renamed, 59th Street at Woodside Avenue will also become known as “Frank Carvill Way.” The renaming bill before the City Council was drawn up by council member Eric Gioia.
TREATY TURNS 2
The controversial revised extradition treaty between the U.S. and Great Britain has marked its second birthday. But it has yet to be ratified by the U.S. Senate.
The treaty was signed March 31, 2003 by then U.S. attorney General John Ashcroft and British Home Secretary David Blunkett. It was passed to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in April of last year but has not come up for a hearing in the intervening twelve months.
While the treaty does not specify any nation or conflict, Irish-American organizations, including the Ancient Order of Hibernians, fear that it could be used against Irish nationals, or even U.S. citizens, in the context of Northern Ireland.
AOH national president Ned McGinley said that Hibernian leaders were lining up a series of meetings in the coming weeks with members of the foreign relations panel and the U.S. State Department in an effort to halt the treaty’s final ratification.
CALLING ALL SENIORS
The newly opened Irish Center in Queens has started a program for seniors. The center is hoping to attract Irish and Irish American seniors from the New York metropolitan area for a program of events that will begin at noon.
“We appreciate all of the sacrifices made by our seniors and it is a pleasure to open up the doors to give them the attention they richly deserve,” the center’s Fr. Colm Campbell said.
The Irish Center is at 1040 Jackson Ave., Long Island City, and can be reached at (718) 482-0909 or info@newyorkirishcenter.org.
FORTRESS SHANNON
The number of U.S. troops passing through Shannon airport is still advancing. More than 95,000 servicemen and women on 690 flights have passed through the County Clare airport so far this year. This is a threefold increase over the same period last year.
A record total of 158,549 military personnel stopped over in Shannon in 2004. But that mark could be eclipsed in a matter of weeks at the present rate of movement.
Since the beginning of 2002, more than 45O,000 troops have stopped at Shannon, most of them heading to, or returning from, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.