NY Post: Flunk My Kid by Chuck Bennett...

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July 16, 2007 -- Staten Island mom Deanna Hassell wasn't shocked when her son flunked the seventh grade. What shocked her was his promotion to the eighth grade.

"Are you kidding me? Is the Board of Education kidding? How does a kid with a 60.53 average pass?" she asked.

"He should be held back! If children are not getting the education they need now, when they get to high school, they are going to drop out."

So, the 35-year-old full-time mother of three has taken the unusual step of demanding that Schools Chancellor Joel Klein order her son to repeat the seventh grade.

All year, Hassell warned her 13-year-old son, Anthony Raimo, that he would be left back unless he buckled down.

Anthony paid her no mind. He never did homework. He clowned around in class. He missed 55 days of school - more than one out of four - simply because he refused to go.

Still, none of it stopped him from squeaking by at IS 51/Edwin Markham School in Graniteville.

In a fortuitous twist for Anthony, the new criteria to end "social promotion," which went into full effect this year, actually worked to his benefit. For the first time, seventh-graders were promoted on the basis of just two end-of-the-year tests - not their year's worth of schoolwork.

He scored a 2 out of 4 on tests in both math and reading. Out of a maximum of 800 points, he got a 608 in reading - 599 was passing. In math, he got a 643 - 610 was passing.

"Ha, ha, I passed. I told you so," Anthony recalled telling his mom.

He doesn't even have to go to summer school.

"The message is you don't have to go to school. You take the two tests, and if you pass, that's it," Hassell said.

She called administrators at IS 51 demanding to know how her son could not be left back. After all, he failed every class but math, chorus and gym.

An assistant principal told her their "hands are tied" because Anthony passed the standardized tests, Hassell said.

Principal Emma Della Rocca did not return calls for comment.

The Department of Education said principals have discretion in holding back students who are not ready for the eighth grade.

Robert Tobias, who was director of assessment and accountability for city schools from 1988 to 2001, warned against forcing kids to repeat grades.

"It sounds to me like this kid is bored. Holding him back could be the worst thing to do because it would exacerbate the problem," said Tobias, who now studies testing policy at New York University.

Hassell, however, believes repeating the seventh grade will be the best lesson for Anthony.

"I don't deserve all this. This is embarrassing," Anthony said

Hassell said, "Without an education, he is going to be nothing. He's going to end up being stuck [working] at McDonald's."

cbennett@nypost.com

NY Post: 'PS' I Love You: $80M in Gifts Go To Schools by Angela Montefinise...

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July 15, 2007 -- Public schools are cashing in.

The New York City school system netted about $80 million in private donations in Fiscal Year 2007.

About $34.2 million came in through the Fund for Public Schools, a non-profit organization and the biggest provider of private money to the $15 billion school system.

A variety of grants from non-profit groups accounted for the remaining $46 million, education officials said.

The Fund for Public Schools, which counts Caroline Kennedy as a board member and is chaired by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, generated $11 million less in 2007 than it did the year before. But fund officials said that's because last year's tally was buttressed by an a single extraordinary gift - $15 million from The Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation, according to fund CEO Stephanie Dua.

The fund, launched by the city in 1982, has experienced a resurgence in the last few years. In 2000, the fund took in $2.7 million. By 2004, the take was up to $55 million.

In the fiscal year that concluded June 30, the fund received over 700 gifts, including big donations from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and The Broad Foundation.

It also accepted 577 donations of under $25,000 totaling $1.6 million.

Private donations are key to the system, according to Dua.

"The future of New York City depends heavily on our ability to educate our students to be productive, engaged citizens who are well-prepared for post-secondary education and the workforce of the 21st Century," Dua said. "We cannot deliver on this promise without involvement from all sectors."

angela.montefinise@nypost.com

NY Post: Rocked Pale Male Soars On by Heidi Singer...

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July 15, 2007 -- Celebrity hawk Pale Male is alive and well and perching on the same Fifth Avenue building where a laughing goon cruelly pelted him with rocks and spit Friday.

"He's fine - he looks very good," said a relieved Lincoln Karim, who caught the bird-brained construction worker on video tormenting the city's most famous feathered resident.

But Karim is furious that the worker, identified as Antonio Torrado, was able to slink away from the scene before police arrived at the posh building at 1040 Fifth Ave.

And he's planning to offer a $1,000 reward for information on Torrado's whereabouts.

Torrado's construction company bosses agreed to detain him, but obviously didn't try too hard, Karim said.

"They said, 'He's only working with us one month; we fired him,' and he slipped away," said Karim. "This is unforgivable."

Neither Torrado nor his former bosses could be reached yesterday.

Karim said he'll give the state Department of Environmental Conservation a few days to track the worker down. Failing that, he intends to put up reward posters and flyers around the area, hoping one of Torrado's fellow workers will come forward.

Pale Male has survived worse, including a nasty flap in 2004 with a building co-op board that destroyed his long-time nest at 927 Fifth Ave.

heidi.singer@nypost.com

Newsday.com - Jimmy Breslin: Weapons Caused Her Greatest Pain -

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The moment she saw the car pulling up on her street, 229th Street in Rosedale, on this summer night in quiet Queens, she stood at the dark screen of her two-story attached house and watched the car, with one man inside, without any feeling at first and then she felt the beginnings of anxiety.

Inside the car, the lone man put on an Army officer's hat. Then he stepped out and stood in the street and pulled his officer's jacket down. In his right hand was full of death. But while she could not see this, there was a dark loss in the air, and it added to the rising disturbance of her nerves.

"I hope he's not coming here," Simona Francis remembers saying to herself. She is a pretty 42-year-old who had spent the day assisting the handicapped.

The man in the Army uniform now was walking from the car. When he got on the sidewalk, she called out, "Keep on walking."

He did not hear her, and he could not see her as she stood in the darkness of the front room of her house with her face behind the dark screen door.

The man in uniform only had to take a few steps to be at the walk leading up to her door. "Keep on walking," she said.

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Welcome to Pottersville: Frank Rich: Don’t Laugh at Michael Chertoff...

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Another gem from Frank Rich...

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, President Bush's fallback choice for secretary of Homeland Security after Bernard Kerik, is best remembered for his tragicomic performance during Hurricane Katrina. He gave his underling, the woeful Brownie, a run for the gold.

It was Mr. Chertoff who announced that the Superdome in New Orleans was "secure" even as the other half of the split screen offered graphic evidence otherwise. It was Mr. Chertoff who told NPR that he had "not heard a report of thousands of people in the convention center who do not have food and water," even after his fellow citizens had been inundated with such reports all day long.

NY Post Exclusive: Pol 'Beat, Threated, Terrorized' Me in Sick Sex Attack by James Fanelli and Angela Montefinise...

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July 15, 2007 -- She never laid eyes on him before, and she never wants to again.

The bruised and broken brunette accusing City Councilman Dennis Gallagher of a demonic sex assault vowed in exclusive interviews with The Post to "prosecute him until he's behind bars."

"I'm beat up and bruised all over," the 52-year-old woman - a grandmother who works as a cook at a Queens Catholic church - said in the first of two interviews Friday and yesterday near her Queens home.

She said she has bruises all over her body, especially on her back, and showed a reporter nasty purple scabs and contusions on her knees and bruises on the outside of her calves.

"The bruises were worse five days ago," she said. "They are just starting to heal a little bit."

"I'm just hoping that other women come forward," said woman, who still cares for her 35-year-old mentally retarded son at home.

The woman, whose identity is being withheld by The Post, said the terrifying ordeal began innocently last Sunday night, when she met a female friend for dinner at Middle Village watering hole Danny Boy's.

The married, 43-year-old Republican councilman approached them at 5:30 p.m., she said.

Her pal, who is friendly with Gallagher, turned to her and asked, "Don't you know who your councilman is?"

"I said, 'No, and I don't particularly care,' " the accuser recalled.

Gallagher laughed at that and strolled away. The two women continued with their dinner.

The women and Gallagher did not cross paths again inside. The alleged victim however said she encountered the lawmaker - now visibly drunk - outside the bar about three hours later.

What happened next is something the woman refuses to disclose, saying that prosecutors have instructed her not to discuss details of that outside meeting or what it led to.

What she will say is that a brutal sexual attack occurred.

"I was beaten. I was threatened. I was terrorized," the woman said yesterday, adding that Gallagher warned her not to go to the police.

"He threatened me," she said.

Law-enforcement sources said the victim told authorities that after leaving the bar, she got into Gallagher's vehicle and they went to a small office above his district office at 78-25 Metropolitan Ave. in Middle Village.

After the alleged attack, the woman went home and called police, authorities said last week. She then went to a hospital and was examined.

She told The Post that police took photos of her battered body. The next afternoon, on Monday, police searched Gallagher's office for DNA evidence.

The 5-foot-6 woman has been active in recent days, walking her dog every few hours and pushing a child on nearby park swing set, despite the half-dollar-size wounds on her knees.

At one point, she wept as she talked to a Post photographer.

And she said she was determined to get justice.

"I just want to heal and forget about it, but I know I can't until he is behind bars," she said.

She called the 5-foot-7, 180-pound Gallagher "arrogant" and "threatening."

He's "a heavy drinker," she said. "Just because he's a politician doesn't make his threats different than anyone else's . . .

"I promise you: I'm going to prosecute him until he's behind bars."

She said she expects Gallagher - a former state Crime Victims Board investigator who describes himself as a "religious, civic-minded, patriotic Republican" on a City Council résumé - to be arrested this week.

"They're waiting for more DNA," she said.

The Queens District Attorney's Office, which is investigating her allegations, declined to comment.

Law-enforcement sources confirmed that DNA evidence is still being gathered and that an arrest is possible. Police were reportedly looking specifically for blood and women's articles when they searched his office.

"I don't ever want to see him again," the woman said.

"I'm a married woman with a handicapped child. I have to protect him."

Gallagher submitted to a DNA test last week. His lawyer, Stephen Mahler, said his client "denies any criminal wrongdoing," and likened his situation to that of the Duke University lacrosse players falsely accused of rape.

His accuser, a mother of two and grandmother of two, scoffed at the comparison.

"He's sick," she said. "He's a sick man."

The church cook vowed to "get more monsignors and more priests" to vouch for her character.

Gallagher, who has two boys with his wife, Donna, has a reputation among some former staffers and neighborhood leaders for drinking and behaving inappropriately with women.

Known as "Pinky" in some circles because he turns a light shade of red when he drinks, Gallagher "always hires good-looking girls," according to one ex-staffer.

Gotham Gazette: Poor Grades for a School ‘Contract'..

Gotham Gazette. July, 2007: Poor Grades for a School ‘Contract’...

As the fight to get more state money for New York City public schools wended its way through the courts for more than a decade, educators, parents, politicians and others occasionally stopped to fantasize: What would we do with all that money?

Now, with the 14-year-suit having reached a somewhat anticlimactic conclusion and the city set to receive an additional $3.2 billion from the state over the next four years, New Yorkers are learning the answer to that question, and some education activists do not like it. Complaining that they have been shut out of the process, many want the city to spend more to reduce class size and improve middle schools – and less on testing and charter schools. The dispute, aired at hearings throughout the city in early July, is about money to be sure, but it also concerns setting priorities for the nation’s largest school system and how success – or failure – should be measured.

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NY Daily News: Fat Nick Points to Prison Pics to Prove He's No Racist...

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He was convicted of a hate crime for beating a black man in Howard Beach - but Nicholas (Fat Nick) Minucci says his prison photo album proves he's no racist.

"Look at the pictures, look at the pictures!" he implored in an exclusive interview with the Daily News. "Do I need to say more?"

The Polaroids show Minucci, 21, mugging with his fellow jailbirds. What he wants people to notice is that the other men are black.

He says that, unlike police, prosecutors, politicians and much of the public, the inmates at the maximum-security lockup in Dannemora, N.Y., know he's not a bigot.

"They embraced me when I got here," he said. "I go to the visiting floor and they call out, 'Hey, Fat Nick, Fat Nick is on the floor.'"

On Tuesday it will be a year since Minucci was sentenced to 15 years in prison for bashing Glenn Moore on the head on June 29, 2005.

He's Slim Nick now, having lost 75 pounds behind bars, and is serving his time in a general-population cellblock with 250 other men near the Canadian border, 330 miles from his Queens home.

The passage of a year has not dampened his insistence that he's innocent.

"You see what they did to me?" he said on the telephone as his grandfather Dominic Minucci showed the Daily News the jailhouse photos.

"Why did they do this to me? They got me in this fix. Why did they do this to me?" he asked desperately.

He seems confident he can still persuade the world Moore hurt his head when he fell during a confrontation with Minucci and his buddies.

And he still defends his use of the N-word during the fracas.

"That's just me, that's the way I talk," he said.

Again he returns to the subject of photos, noting his seventh-grade class picture proves he grew up with blacks and that he uses the slur as a term of endearment.

"Everybody knows this was politics," he said of his conviction, referring to his belief that the mayoral election spurred authorities to gang up on him.

The beating of Moore drew protests from the Rev. Al Sharpton and others, and invited comparisons to a deadly assault on black teens by whites in Howard Beach in 1986.

Minucci was driving around in a Cadillac Escalade when buddy Frankie Agostini - now known as "that rat" to Minucci and his family - told him he was almost robbed by three black men.

Minucci, Agostini and pal Anthony Ench started combing the darkened streets until they found Moore, then 23. They chased him, stole his sneakers and other gear, and Minucci beat him on the head with a bat.

Agostini, the son of a retired city detective, cut a deal and avoided jail. Ench later pleaded guilty for a three-year sentence and is free.

Both testified against Minucci, who has an estimated 10-1/2 years left on his sentence for assault and robbery as a hate crime and other charges.

In prison, the 10th-grade dropout attends school three hours a day, studies for his GED, works out and spends time playing cards and watching television alone in his cell.

"I'm good, I'm good," he said.

The hardest part of hard time is being apart from his family, especially his grandfather, who is too elderly and ill to make the six-hour trip every six weeks with Minucci's mother, sister and uncle.

"I want to come home and be with my family," Minucci moaned. "I want to put this behind me. Worst-case scenario, I'll be 34 when I get out."

Ever the optimist, though, the former Fat Nick is sure the worst won't come to pass.

"It will never happen," he said, certain that his conviction will be overturned on appeal.

After all, he said, he only has to look at those Polaroids of him mugging with his AfricanAmerican friends to be sure he couldn't have done what a jury said he did.

"Look at those pictures," he urged once more. "Do I need to say more? Racist? Look at the pictures!"

sshifrel@nydailynews.com

NY1: Governor's Education Point Man Meets With Parent Leaders by Michael Meehan..

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Governor Eliot Spitzer's point man on education met with some school parent leaders in the city Thursday. NY1 Education reporter Michael Meenan was there and heard the concerns parents want passed on to the governor.

Dr. Manuel Rivera is Governor Eliot Spitzer’s top adviser on education issues, named to the post right after Spitzer took office in January.

On Thursday the former chief of schools in Rochester, Boston and several other large cities came to town to meet with a citywide council of elected parent leaders to hear their concerns about this city's Department of Education.

"We need to have parent involvement in order to make this school system better. They might not think that, but that's the only way it’s going to be better because parents are the first teachers,” said parent leader Robert Reed.

But what was really on the minds of these parent leaders is how to spend a billion dollars in new aid, $700 million from the state, and $300 million from the city. The money is the first installment in what are being called "contracts for excellence” resulting from a court finding that the state has been under-funding city schools for decades.

"We just feel that the money came down and things just happened and the people that fought for it, really didn't participate in the reward and that's the part that is hurtful when our children are the consumers in the system and there's no accountability,” said parent leader Maria Daponte-Dougherty.

Of the billion dollars, the city DOE can spend three quarters any way it wants, without state approval. Rivera said that does not mean there should be no oversight.

"People want to know where that funding is going and to what extent is it going to the needs of the most needy students and is it in fact going to those programs and practices that yielding the best results?” said Rivera.

Rivera says when it comes to the spending, his boss the governor has one bottom line.

"These contracts for excellence are intended to get better results for children,” said Rivera.

Parents we spoke with said they thought they got a good hearing.

"I have that feeling that he's sincere and will take back our information to the governor,” said parent leader Muba Yarofulani.

It remains to be seen if Albany will take into account these concerns when deciding whether or not to approve the city's plan to spend this new state money.

– Michael Meenan

NY1: City Holds First Town Hall In Series On How To Spend Education Money by Michael Meehan...

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In September, city schools are going to get a lot more state money, after Albany agreed it's been shortchanging city schools for a long time, but agreement's in short supply when it comes to how the Department of Education should spend the new cash.

NY1 Education reporter Michael Meenan filed the following story.

Monday night in the Bronx was the first in a series of town hall meetings to get the public’s input on how the city should spend up to a billion new public education dollars – $700 million from the state and $300 million from the city.

"Smaller classes very important,” said public school parent Jennifer Fray. “I think, 30, 30-something kids in a classroom is ridiculous."

Class size reduction is at the heart of a political tug of war on how to spend this new billion dollars. The money is the result of a 14-year legal battle, called the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, or CFE, that forces the state to make up for decades shortchanging city schools.

"Ultimately, ultimately after teacher quality, lowering class size is the second most important factor in helping children,” said United Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten.

The state law, which allowed this new city school money, requires the DOE to come up with a five-year plan to reduce class sizes. Robert Jackson, who helped spearhead the original lawsuit, now chairs the City Council Education Committee. He says the DOE plan he was briefed on gives principals too much choice about whether or not to reduce class sizes at their schools.

"We're not saying, ‘do it all in one year.’ Five years is a long time in a child's education,” said Jackson.

But the Department of Education says it does have a good plan to spend the new money and class size reduction is at the heart of it.

In fact, one DOE official said high schools on average have 25 students per teacher.

"We're building buildings that will bring the class size down, working with schools with larger classes to lower class sizes,” said Garth Harries of the DOE.

The DOE says its first priority is getting competent teachers in classrooms before ordering smaller classes.

"We want to be sure we do this in a smart way, that's aligned with the priorities,” said Martine Guerrier of the DOE.

NY1: DOE Announces Program Allowing Some Students To Bring Phones To School by Michael Meehan...

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July 12, 2007 - Some high schools students may be able to bring their cell phones to school in September - despite a citywide ban.

The Department of Education announced Thursday that 18 schools will participate in a pilot program allowing students lockers outside of schools to safeguard their phones and electronic devices.

The lockers will first be offered to 25 percent of the student body at schools like Port Richmond and McKee High School on Staten Island.

But, some people NY1 spoke with doubt the program will work:

"Do they honestly think that the kids will put their cell phones in the locker? That's not going to happen,” said one student. “And, on top of that, not everyone is going to get a lock.”

“I don't really think they should they should put in the locker because you never really know when your family member or something could happen to you when your in school,” said another. “You could be in the bathroom and nobody's around, and you can call 911 from the bathroom."

The move comes following complaints from parents who believe students need their phones for safety reasons.

NY1: Famous Upper East Side Hawk Injured By Construction Worker...

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Watch video - Report: Famous Upper East Side Hawk Injured By Construction Worker
July 14, 2007

Pale Male, the Upper East Side's famous red-tailed hawk, reportedly was attacked by a construction worker Friday.

The New York Post says the bird was perched outside a high floor of a building at 85th Street and Fifth Avenue Friday when the worker started dropping rocks on him from the roof.

The paper says Pale Male was hit and likely wounded by at least one rock.

According to the Post, the worker has been fired, and police are investigating."

NY1: Teen Accused Of Attempted Sex Assault Turns Himself In...

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July 14, 2007 - A teenager wanted for allegedly trying to sexually assault a 7-year-old girl in Queens turned himself in Friday night.

Dillon Fattori, 18, was arrested Saturday on charges of attempted criminal sex abuse of a child, and endangering the welfare of a child.

'The defendant is accused of luring a young child off of a public street during daylight hours in order to molest her,' said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown in a statement. 'Such an allegation makes the defendant a threat to children and a clear and present danger to society. The charges will be vigorously prosecuted.'

Police say the girl was riding her scooter last Friday night in Bayside when Fattori pulled her off it and took her into a backyard.

Police say a neighbor became suspicious when a dog began barking. Fattori ran off when the neighbor screamed, say police.

If convicted, Fattori faces up to 15 years in prison."

New York Times Blog Video: 4 Million Styrofoam Trays a Week by Sewell Chan...

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Or 850,000 a day. That’s how many pass through the lunch rooms of New York City public schools when classes are in session.

Parents Against Styrofoam in Schools, a grass-roots association arising out of Public School 154 in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, wants the Bloomberg administration to re-examine the extensive use of the trays. Styrofoam, or polystyrene, is a petroleum-based material that can take centuries to decompose. About 20 American municipalities have banned or restricted use of the packaging, including Suffolk County on Long Island. The anti-tray forces took their case to City Hall on Tuesday in a protest captured in this video:

The stunt was organized by Councilman Bill de Blasio, a Brooklyn Democrat. Eric A. Goldstein, a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council said, “The D.O.E. is wasting taxpayer dollars and generating unnecessary pollution and waste every day it serves food on costly, throwaway polystyrene trays.”

Among the other places that have laws or restrictions on polystyrene food packaging are San Berkeley and Oakland in California and Portland, Ore. A similar ban is under consideration in San Francisco.

Dawn Walker, a City Hall spokeswoman, said of New York’s intentions: “At present the Department of Education is looking into the matter. We are committed to looking at alternatives.”

The landfills will get a little relief this week: The school year ended today, a half-day.

Related articles:

Brooklyn Daily Eagle De Blasio Asks Dept. Of Education To Stop Using Styrofoam Trays

CITY HALL — Council Member Bill de Blasio, D-Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens, joined public school parents and students recently to ask the city’s Department of Education (DOE) to stop using styrofoam trays in the public schools.

Green Brooklyn: Stop Using Styrofoam Trays In Our Public Schools!

Lawmaker Floats Ban on Styrofoam - July 10, 2007 - The New York Sun by Elizabeth Solomont :

A state senator, Liz Krueger, has introduced a bill that would ban Styrofoam products in the food service industry.

The bill, which would apply to restaurants, fast-food chains, supermarkets, and other vendors, would require businesses to phase out Styrofoam products within one year.

City schools throw away 150 million Styrofoam meal trays a year.

'Picture Styrofoam, and you picture a product produced from petroleum that takes up to 500 years to fully disintegrate,' the senator said in a statement.

Star-Gazette.COM: NYC lawmaker wants to ban Styrofoam - ...

ALBANY - A Manhattan lawmaker Tuesday introduced legislation that would ban most Styrofoam products in the state within a year, citing environmental concerns.

Styrofoam is a brand name for products that are made with polystyrene, a liquid compound manufactured from petroleum. It can't be recycled and takes centuries to decompose.

According to bill sponsor Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, Americans throw away about 1,400 tons of Styrofoam every day.

"Picture Styrofoam, and you picture a product produced from petroleum that takes up to 500 years to fully disintegrate," Krueger said. "We have a real problem with needlessly creating too much waste. If we have the ability to create affordable alternatives we should make that leap."

The bill would give supermarkets, restaurants and other food-service providers a year to find environmentally friendly alternatives to the Styrofoam products they use. The state Department of Environmental Conservation would be charged with coming up with a list of such products, which could include various biodegradable plastics. Under the bill, the cost of the alternatives recommended by the DEC would have to be within 15 percent of the cost of their Styrofoam counterparts.

But one industry official said Styrofoam serves a valuable purpose, especially in supermarket meat departments.

"We find that with raw food products, by using Styrofoam there is no leakage, and therefore no health hazard of cross-contamination (like salmonella in chicken) that might be present with other types of products," said Jim Rogers, head of the state Food Industry Alliance. He said he hadn't seen the bill and wouldn't comment on it directly.

While the packaging may keep steaks juicy, many environmentalists warn that styrene, a chemical abundant in Styrofoam that has been linked to cancer, can leach into food stored or reheated in a Styrofoam container.

One environmentalist said he thinks the bill has little chance of passing, but it does open up an important discussion.

"Styrofoam is garbage, from the cradle to the grave, and that's an inappropriate use of petroleum," said William Cooke of Citizens Campaign for the Environment. "We're at the point now where we have to critically look at our petroleum use, and you need the assistance of the manufacturer, the retailer and the consumer together. Styrofoam is the poster child for all this."

Styrofoam bans have already been enacted in Oakland, San Francisco, Portland, and about 100 other towns and cities across the country, but none are statewide, according to Krueger.

"Many municipalities have enacted various versions of this law, and some of the nations largest food-service providers have already moved in this direction as well, based not on new laws, but their own free will and conscience," she said.

There is no companion bill in the Assembly, meaning its chances of being enacted into law are slim.

NY Post: 'Girl-Grab' Fiend Gives Himself Up by Perry Chiaramonte...

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July 14, 2007 -- The creepy perv who attempted to force himself upon a 7-year-old girl in Queens last week - only to be scared off by a dog - turned himself in to cops yesterday, authorities said.

Dillon Fattori, 18, was charged last night for allegedly grabbing the young girl off a Flushing street and taking her to a backyard where he tried to sexually assault her last Friday.

He is charged with attempted sexual act on a child, attempted sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child, police said.

Police said Fattori originally coaxed the girl by telling her that he wanted to show her birds and worms in the yard.

As the little girl screamed for help, Blue, a pit bull-boxer mix, was in a nearby yard and started barking, which brought his owner, Heather Fretes, outside.

She screamed, 'Hey what's going on,' which scared off the attacker."