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| Leiby Kletzky |
About a month ago on a Monday night I was looking at the news and noticed that a young boy was missing in Boro Park, one neighborhood away, (about 10 minutes by car). It caught my interest because of all neighborhoods, this one is very safe. Little Leiby Kletzky was on the way home from a day camp, doing the trip solo for the first time. He was 8 and most kids can pretty well figure out their neighborhood by eight. Also, it is known that the community would help if one got lost. He should have been able to ask any stranger and be brought right back to his home. During the day on Tuesday the search intensifies with several thousand people looking for Leiby. By that time it was fair to assume that something was very wrong and the tension began to build. This was every parent's nightmare. Local Authorities and the FBI began an intense search. By Tuesday night around 10pm I figured the worst happened. Everyone in Brooklyn was playing this out in their own lives. Early the next day Eric, my godson called to say that he was found dead, and that he had been cut to pieces and discarded in a dumpster.
The FBI raided a home at 5am and discovered remains of the body along with the killer who confessed to the crime. Levi Aron a middle aged man, had taken the child when the boy asked for help and a day later poisoned and killed him, then chopping the body up and discarded all but the boys feet which were left in his freezer. The gruesome crime paralyzed the Orthodox Jewish community. At the funeral on Wednesday evening with thousands in attendance, it started to rain and then to everyone's surprise a rainbow appeared. At the time I was at my counseling service about 10 miles away and the rainbow was so strong that people went to the window to look at it. His dad at the funeral said that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. It is faith that sustains us.
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| Leiby's Funeral |
That Levi Aron was Jewish made matters worse. Up until this event no one in their community had ever done anything like this. Their community is built on trust and a high value for life. This heinous murder violated the very fabric of their society. No longer would there be an open ended trust that made their community safe and a good place to live. Now fear has entrenched even this community.
Several weeks later on the Brighton end of the boardwalk, about a mile from the park a young man shot two people on the boardwalk. One girl, 16, died and the other young man in his 20's lived. This created a new fear on the boardwalk making people uneasy about visiting Coney Island. Two Sunday's later police raided a beach party right off the park which again created more tension. The young man who was shot just happened to come to my counseling service. I guess it is a small world.
Coney Island is Still Moving ahead...
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| Soring Eagle Ride in Coney Island |
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| Paul's Daughers Coney Island |
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| Cyclone's Stadium |
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| Fishing Pier |
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| Sunset From Fishing Pier |
Even with this incident, Coney Island had millions of visitors this summer. On one Thursday evening the boardwalk was packed with people in the park, a game at the stadium and a huge concert down further from the stadium. A lot of changes have been made and more are to come. There are things that I cannot mention yet but will when the time is appropriate. The dust is far from settled.
Another interesting addition were the food stands along Stillwell Avenue. Even though they competed with the Grill House they offered some pretty amazing ethic foods.
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| Ethnic Food on Stillwell |
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| What you can do with a planton |
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| Arepas - Sweet Corn Cakes from Peru |
On a lighter side, while on the fishing pier I saw a new invention. A young man had tied a kite to a fishing pole and had it sailing in the sky. He set his pole to have a slight drag and the kite did just fine. It was a good use for a fishing pole on a day when the fish were barely biting.
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| See the Kite tied to a fishing pole |
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| The Inventor of Kite Pole |
