Rockland Blogs: Nyack Firefighters Rally, Living in Denial, Healthy Oil

Here's a roundup of popular blogs from Westchester readers, published recently.

Leave your thoughts and opinion here, or head to the individual blogs to join the discussion. 

From Nyack-Piermont Patch: Nyack Firefighters Rally to Help Families of 19 Fallen ‘Hotshots’ in Arizona

To members of the Nyack Fire Department, the faces of the 19 Arizona firefighters who died fighting a massive wildfire on June 30 aren’t much different from those of the volunteers who turn out for emergency calls right here every day.

The deaths of the “Granite Mountain Hotshots”  - an elite team specially trained to battle wildfires - stunned the nation, which has not seen such a loss of life among crews battling wildfires since 1933. For firefighters, it was a tragedy of almost unimaginable proportions – only surpassed in recent times by the loss of 343 firefighters in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center.

“We can’t even imagine what their families are going through,” said Nyack volunteer firefighter Mike Packes. “We were talking about it, and we decided that we had to do something to help them.” 

Read the rest of the blog post here.

From New City Patch: Living in the State of Denial

Continuing to vanish into the thin air are the past and forgotten Pyramid's Palisades Promises. The Journal News has a comprehensive article in its July 31, 2013 issue on the Palisades tax certiorari settlement in which we read:

Clarkstown taxpayers are trying to gauge the impact of a $20 million tax refund to the Palisades Center, and wondering how lower taxes from the mall in the future will affect their own property taxes. “There will be an uproar over this,” predicted Gerry O’Rourke, president of the Congers Civic Association. “The bottom line is it’s coming out of taxpayers’ pockets.”

Click here for the full blog post.

From Nanuet Patch: Hi-Tor's Pets of the Week: Clawd and Prince 

Two handsome three-year-old brothers have been in our shelter for almost four months. 

Clawd, a grey domestic short hair is more reserved than his brother. He prefers a more quiet environment because of his shyness. Once he has warmed up to you, he is comfortable with showing affection. Prince, a black domestic short hair, is much more outgoing.

Get the details on adopting these cuties here.

From Pearl River Patch: Is Your Cooking Oil Healthy? 

A Guide to Choosing Cooking Oils

By Joan McDaniel

Fat - A food-energy source. Fat has received a bad reputation in the public's eyes for many years. There are good fats and there are bad fats. Oxidized or artificially produced fat such as; polyunsaturated vegetable oils margarine, and shortening (Crisco)  are bad and any amount and all natural fats are good.