Friday, 06 January 2017 10:41

In The Neighborhood

In The Neighborhood
Ray O’Conor, author of the book, “She Called Him Raymond: A True Story of Love, Loss, Faith and Healing,” dons his “smart glasses” at a worktable inside the Saratoga Springs Public Library, where he is flanked by a laptop computer, a pair of three-inch binders and a trusty thermos. “Today I’m working on a section of the screenplay that involves the occasion on which Helen – who is my mother, and one of the two main characters in the story - and Raymond, the aspiring young aviator she meets by chance in New York, are going to her mother’s tenement apartment in Hell’s Kitchen so he can ask for her hand in marriage. “The reason I got the notion to do this is I’ve been doing a lot of reading presentations of the book and almost without exception someone in every audience says, ‘I love the story. I think it would make a great movie.’” O’Conor goes through some notes provided him by his friend Scott McCloud, a retired former head of the English Department at Ballston Spa High School, and who is one of a dozen or so people who have offered to read through the screenplay and offer suggestions. “I spoke to some people in the film business in Hollywood. No one has optioned the story yet but there was enough interest to encourage me to undertake writing the screenplay. It probably will take a couple of years. I’ve been working on it since about this time last year.” O’Conor is also a multi-tasker of words and story ideas. “I’m working on another book: the story of the guide who took my friends and I to climb to Mt. Killimanjaro in Tanzania a little more than four years ago. The man has an extraordinary story. His name is Protus Mayunga and he lives in the Catskills now with his wife and his five kids. I’d like to take another trip to Africa with him to visit the town he grew up in. I want to take my time with the story, to make sure it’s done right.”
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  • New York State Police The New York State Police announced that it issued 5,576 tickets during this year’s St. Patrick’s Day enforcement initiative. The campaign began on Friday, March 15, and continued until Sunday, March 17. During the campaign, funded by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, State Police utilized sobriety checkpoints, additional DWI patrols, and underage drinking and sales to minors detail. State Police also ticketed distracted drivers who use handheld electronic devices. State Troopers arrested 132 people for DWI and investigated 199 crashes, which resulted in 25 people being injured and no fatalities. As part of the enforcement, Troopers also…

Property Transactions

  • BALLSTON Heather DiCaprio sold property at 473 Garrett Rd to Justine Levine for $288,000 Sharon Willman sold property at 99 Jenkins Rd to Charles Lemley for $165,000 CORINTH George Montena sold property at 422 Oak St to Stephen James for $142,250 Mark Makler sold property at 313 Oak St to Sabrina Sinagra for $195,000 GREENFIELD Landlord Services of Upstate New York sold property at 1935 NYS Rt 9N to Cochise Properties LLC for $210,000 MALTA  Linda LaBarge sold property at 35 Snowberry Rd to Qu Haozheng for $270,000 Dennis Mitchell sold property at 60 Village Circle North to BGRS Relocation…
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