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Brigitte Lahaie

Brigitte Lahaie (born Brigitte Lucie Jeanine Van Meerhaeghe; 12 October 1955) is a French radio talk show host, mainstream film actress and former pornographic actress. She performed in erotic films from 1976 through 1980 and is a member of the XRCO Hall of Fame.

Early life and background
Brigitte Lucie Jeanine Van Meerhaeghe was born in Tourcoing, France. She left home for Paris when 18 years old, where she started working as a shoe salesgirl. Soon, she was noticed for her physique and accepted a proposal to pose in the nude for erotic magazines.

Porn
She started working in the adult film industry in 1976, one year after the legalization of hardcore pornography in France, as "Brigitte Lahaie" and various other stage names. In her first film she was a body double for some of another actress' scenes.

Lahaie eventually played in more than one hundred erotic films, most of them hardcore, directed by among many others, Claude Mulot, José Bénazéraf, Gérard Kikoïne, Claude Bernard-Aubert, and Francis Leroi.

She chose to be listed as "Brigitte Lahaie" in most of them, her surname a transfer to French of her Flemish name "vanmeerhaeghe", in which "haeghe" means "hedge", since "la haie" is "the hedge" in French.

Horror
While she was still working in the adult-movie industry, Jean Rollin, who had directed her in the porn film Vibrations Sensuelles (Sensual Vibrations) in 1976, noticed Lahaie's "distinctly different personality," as he later recalled, and thought she had "incredible charisma." He offered her a role in his 1978 mainstream film, Les Raisins de la Mort (The Grapes of Death), the first gore film produced in France, with Marie-Georges Pascal in the leading role. He then made her the protagonist of his next film, Fascination, in 1979.

Mainstream
Lahaie appeared in I as in Icarus (1980), which starred Yves Montand, playing a stripper, in For a Cop's Hide (1981), which starred Alain Delon, in the role of a nurse. She continued to also make softcore and Nazi exploitation movies as well as "video nasties" during this time. In 1987, she played a singer in Michel Denisot's television special "La Plus Belle Nuit du Cinéma" ("The Most Beautiful Night of the Cinema"), transmitted from the Zénith.

The same year, she recorded and released the single "Caresse tendresse" ("Caress tenderness").

According to a 2018 article in Sight & Sound about Jean Rollin, Lahaie plays in his La Nuit des Traquées (Night of the Hunted, 1980) the woman suffering from amnesia with "devastating effect," while she is credited with "lovely, open, untutored performances" for her work in Les Raisins and Fascination.

Lahaie acted in several other mainstream films, including Henry & June (1990) and Calvaire (2004).

Books and radio
Throughout her career, Lahaie published several books, mostly autobiographical, as well as some novels. In the 2000s, she was often featured on the Les Grosses Têtes radio program, broadcast on RTL, while she was also, from 2001, the host of Lahaie, l'Amour et Vous on Radio Monte Carlo, a daily talk show from 14:00 to 16:00 that dealt mostly with love and sex. The show ended in 2016, with the station praising her work on the subject of sexuality as "unique" in terms of success and longevity.

Personal life
Lahaie has no children.

She is a fan of equestrianism, an interest reportedly first inspired when she saw the film White Mane as a teenager. She commentated live on the equestrian events at the 2012 London Olympics for RMC.

Sexual violence and consent
In the aftermath of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the subsequent Me Too movement, one hundred women in France signed, on 9 January 2018, a public declaration in which they denounced what they claimed was a return to "puritanism" that "actually serves the interests of the enemies of sexual freedom, the religious extremists, the worst reactionaries." Lahaie was a co-signatory of that declaration, along with other celebrities such as Catherine Deneuve, Ingrid Caven, and Catherine Millet. Lahaie went on a TV debate the same evening, where she stated that women could have an orgasm when being raped. A few months later, in May, Lahaie stated, in interviews and on television, that her comment was "taken out of context," that she "does not regret [it]", and that she never supported non-consensual sex or violence of any kind against women.

title: Brigitte Lahaie


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Howard Beach, Queens

Howard Beach is a neighborhood in the southwestern portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered to the north by the Belt Parkway and Conduit Avenue in Ozone Park, to the south by Jamaica Bay in Broad Channel, to the east by 102nd–104th Streets in South Ozone Park, and to the west by 75th Street in East New York, Brooklyn. The area consists mostly of low-rise single-family houses.

Howard Beach is located in Queens Community District 10 and its ZIP Code is 11414. It is patrolled by the New York City Police Department's 106th Precinct. Politically, Howard Beach is represented by the New York City Council's 32nd District.

Early development
Howard Beach was established in 1897 by William J. Howard, a Brooklyn glove manufacturer who operated a 150 acres goat farm on meadow land near Aqueduct Racetrack as a source of skin for kid gloves. In 1897, he bought more land and filled it in and the following year, built 18 cottages and opened a hotel near the water, which he operated until it was destroyed by fire in October 1907. He gradually bought more land and formed the Howard Estates Development Company in 1909. He dredged and filled the land until he was able to accumulate 500 acres by 1914. He laid out several streets, water mains and gas mains, and built 35 houses that were priced in the $2,500–$5,000 range.

The Long Island Rail Road established a station named Ramblersville in 1905 and a Post Office by the same name opened soon thereafter. A casino, beach, and fishing pier were added in 1915 and the name of the neighborhood was changed to Howard Beach on April 6, 1916. Development continued and ownership was expanded to a group of investors who sold lots for about $690 each starting in 1922. Development, however, was limited to the areas east of Cross Bay Boulevard near the LIRR station now known as Bernard Coleman Memorial Square (then Lilly Place). The rest of Howard Beach consisted of empty marsh land except for the area to the south of Coleman Square, centered around Russell St. and 102nd Street, which consisted of many small fishing bungalows that dotted alongside Hawtree Creek and Jamaica Bay. This area of Howard Beach would retain the name "Ramblersville." Despite its close proximity to the Howard Beach station at Coleman Square, the LIRR would establish a station a quarter of a mile south down the line at Hamilton Beach in 1919.

After World War II, Queens and Long Island went through a major suburban building boom leading to the marsh land west of Cross Bay Boulevard to be filled in. This led to the development of many Cape-Cod and High-Ranch style houses on 50 by and 60 by lots. This area was developed as "Rockwood Park" to the north and "Spring Park" to the south, together comprising what would be known as "New Howard Beach", while the area east of the boulevard became known as "Old Howard Beach." In the early 1950s farm land north of Rockwood Park was developed with the building of many red-bricked two-story garden style cooperative apartments along with some six-story co-op and condo apartment buildings. A number of private two-family houses were also built in this neighborhood, which was named Lindenwood. The various neighborhoods continued to be developed through the 1960s and 1970s as Cross Bay Boulevard became the area's main shopping district. During the 1990s and 2000s, there was further high-scale development as many of the area's old houses were torn down and replaced with upscale million-dollar mini-mansions.

Hate crimes
In 1986 and 2005, two highly publicized hate crimes took place in Howard Beach.

On December 20, 1986, one African-American man was killed and another was beaten in Howard Beach. The incident heightened racial tensions in New York City. The dead man was 23-year-old Michael Griffith, a Trinidadian native living in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. He was killed December 20, 1986 when he was hit by a car after having been chased onto a highway by a mob of white youths who had beaten him and his friends for being in their neighborhood.

On June 29, 2005, local white men in Howard Beach attacked three African-American men with baseball bats. One victim was injured seriously enough to be hospitalized, and the police arrested two of the perpetrators in the case. Nicholas Minucci claimed that the victims had attempted to rob him. On June 10, 2006, Minucci, 20, who had uttered a racial epithet during the baseball bat attack, was found guilty of robbery and the racially motivated assault of Glenn Moore. On July 17, 2006, Minucci was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Hurricane Sandy
As Hurricane Sandy approached New York on October 28, 2012, city officials ordered the evacuation of residents of Zone A (low-lying, susceptible to storm surge) neighborhoods, which included Howard Beach's Hamilton Beach area. Most of the rest of Howard Beach lay in Zone B, whose residents were urged to voluntarily evacuate. Many residents decided to stay and ride out the storm, citing the relatively minor damage caused by the previous year's Hurricane Irene.

Sandy made landfall on October 29, dragging inland a ten-foot-high storm surge from Jamaica Bay that flooded all of Old and New Howard Beach, plus the neighborhoods of Broad Channel and the Rockaways, along with some sections of Lindenwood and neighboring Ozone Park. The storm knocked out power to Howard Beach for three weeks. The flooding damaged most houses in the neighborhood, all of the stores along Cross Bay Boulevard, the Howard Beach–JFK Airport subway station, and the IND Rockaway Line trestle that carries trains over Jamaica Bay into Broad Channel and the Rockaways.

After Sandy, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the New York City Office of Emergency Management provisionally re-classified Howard Beach, along with the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Gerritsen Beach and Red Hook, as Zone A neighborhoods. On April 5, 2013, the Howard Beach post office reopened after extensive repairs.

Geography
Like many New York City neighborhoods, Howard Beach is composed of several smaller neighborhoods – Howard Beach, Old Howard Beach, Hamilton Beach, Ramblersville, Spring Park, Rockwood Park, Lindenwood, and Howard Park (Old Howard Beach, Ramblersville, Howard Park, and Hamilton Beach are sometimes all grouped together as "Old Howard Beach", instead of being referred to by their proper names). Howard Beach proper is a small peninsula bordered by the Belt Parkway and Conduit Avenue on the north, Jamaica Bay on the south, Hawtree Creek on the east, separating it from Hamilton Beach, and Shellbank Basin on the west, that separates it from Cross Bay Boulevard.

Cross Bay Boulevard is the main commercial strip of Howard Beach; to the north it turns into Woodhaven Boulevard after Ozone Park. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, the Boulevard was made up almost exclusively of locally owned shops and restaurants. Starting in the 1990s, chain stores and restaurants began moving in, and now many well-known franchises have sites on the boulevard. Entertainment venues on Cross Bay Boulevard, such as the Kiddie-Park and Cross-Bay Lanes, were popular until their collapse in the 1970s and 1980s. The Joseph P. Addabbo Memorial Bridge (named for a deceased member of the United States House of Representatives who once represented the district that includes Howard Beach) carries the boulevard over Jamaica Bay, connecting mainland Queens to Broad Channel.

Bernard Coleman Memorial Square (colloquially known as Coleman Square) is a small plaza near the Howard Beach – JFK Airport station. A memorial was erected here to servicemen from Howard Beach who died in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.

Hamilton Beach
Hamilton Beach is a middle class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. Its boundaries are the 102nd Street Creek to the north, the IND Rockaway Line tracks and JFK Airport to the east, Hawtree Creek to the west, and Jamaica Bay to the south. Hamilton Beach is one of the few communities in New York City that has its own volunteer fire department. Hamilton Beach is frequently referred to as West Hamilton Beach. East Hamilton Beach was on the east side of the Long Island Rail Road tracks, but the area was taken by the city for expansion of Idlewild Airport (now JFK Airport) in the 1940s. Hamilton Beach bears no relation to the Hamilton Beach Company other than the name. The company is named after a Mr. Hamilton and a Mr. Beach.

Until the mid-1950s there was a Hamilton Beach station on the Long Island Rail Road's Rockaway Beach Branch. The station closed on June 27, 1955, in connection with the LIRR's sale of much of the branch's right of way to the New York City Transit Authority. Hamilton Beach is a small community that has one long strip (104th Street) with ten dead-end blocks connected to it. It is surrounded mostly by water. There is one way into Hamilton Beach by car and two ways in by foot. It is accessible by a boardwalk that stretches from the A train station at Coleman Square to 104th Street, or by the Hawtree Basin pedestrian bridge, which is between two of the ten blocks. This bridge connects Hamilton and Old Howard Beach. Hamilton has a small park at the southern end, which includes a 200-foot baseball field, a handball court, a small jungle gym area and beach. Gateways Hamilton Beach Park, just south of 165th Avenue, is the last stop for the Q11 bus. When unincorporated, Hamilton Beach was once an area with dirt roads, cottage or shack-type houses (bungalows), and no sewer system. Since the early 21st century, Hamilton Beach has been "building up", and new houses are under construction on almost every block.

Lindenwood
Lindenwood is a section of Howard Beach, developed in the 1950s and 1960s on landfill property. Lindenwood is considered to be part of New Howard Beach (the newer side, as opposed to Old Howard Beach). It is primarily made up of six-story, orange- or red-brick apartment buildings, constructed in the early to mid-1960s; smaller co-op "garden-apartments" (four-unit red-brick buildings) constructed in the 1950s, which can be seen from the Belt Parkway; and two-family homes (some attached) built in the 1960s. The "hi-rise" apartment buildings are co-op (red bricks) or condominiums (orange brick). Heritage House East and West (84-39 and 84-29 153rd Avenue) were among the first condominium apartment buildings in New York State. Additional townhouses near the Brooklyn border were built in the 1970s, 1990s, and 2000s. The highrises used to be considered very family friendly. But since then, many of the apartment building playgrounds have been converted into sitting areas and no longer allow even dogs. Lindenwood's residents tend to be of mostly ethnic Jewish and Italians, along with some ethnic Hispanics.

In the middle of the neighborhood is P.S. 232, an elementary school built in the early 1960s (and now known as the Walter Ward School, named after the neighborhood's late longtime City councilman) and the Lindenwood Shopping Center, which consists of a supermarket and about 20 stores. In the early 1970s, a second supermarket called the Village was located behind the shopping center. After failing, the building became a mall, flea market, bingo hall and private school before finally becoming a walk-in medical center. There is also a second small strip mall on Linden Boulevard, adjacent to the Lindenwood Diner.

When the Jewish population was more numerous, they had a synagogue named Temple Judea in Lindenwood, located on 153rd Ave and 80th Street. The building was converted into apartments when the temple merged with what was then the Howard Beach Jewish Center in Rockwood Park. The neighborhood used to have two pool clubs, one on 88th Street and 151st Ave. These buildings were converted to walk-up apartments in the early 1970s. Another, across from 232, was redeveloped in 1980 into townhouses, adjacent to a branch of Queens County Savings Bank (formerly Columbia Savings Bank). There used to be a tennis bubble on 153rd Ave and 79th Street, that had been developed around 1980.

Old Howard Beach
Old Howard Beach is a section of Howard Beach that lies between Shellbank Basin and Hawtree Creek to the east of Cross Bay Boulevard. Coleman Square, Wetzel Triangle and Frank M. Charles Park are located in Old Howard Beach. The area is locally referred to as "Old Howard Beach" since it was the original place in which founder William Howard built his famous hotel, and later the area's first houses in the 1920s. The current housing in Old Howard Beach consists of several different types of houses. Those located near the former Howard Beach General Hospital (built in 1962) are mainly 1950s and 1960s detached two-family homes, while the areas near Coleman Square, Frank M. Charles Park, and Shellbank Basin contain primarily single-family homes. The Q11 bus serves the neighborhood.

Ramblersville
Ramblersville is a section of greater Howard Beach, being a small neighborhood of about a dozen blocks between Hawtree Creek and JFK Airport. It is nearly surrounded by waterways leading into nearby Jamaica Bay. It is bordered by on the north by 160th Avenue, on the west by Hawtree Creek, across which is Old Howard Beach; on the east by the New York City Subway's Rockaway Line (, beyond which is Bergen Basin and the airport; and on the south by the 102nd Street Creek. Crossing the creek, 102nd Street reaches Hamilton Beach at Russell Street. The size of the neighborhood is about 1000 ft on each side, and it notably lacks the rectangular street grid of the surrounding neighborhoods.

Ramblersville, which once considered itself independent of New York City when the city was first unified, is purportedly the oldest neighborhood in what later became known as Howard Beach. A 1905 article from The Washington Post said that all the houses were built on stilts and the population was one-thousand in the summer and a dozen in the winter. In 1962, the neighborhood's private water mains were replaced by the city; the neighborhood had 130 families at the time.

In 2001, The New York Times reported that the neighborhood "resembles a cozy fishing village with its pebbled streets and wooden bungalows built on pilings... [T]all grass... surrounds many of its marshy fields."

Fishing was a large industry in the tiny neighborhood. Ramblersville still has streets named Broadway, Church, and Bridge. Just north of Ramblersville is 159th Drive, also known as Remsen Place, named after Jeromus Remsen, a Revolutionary War officer. This area, near the current subway station, was known as "Remsen's Landing" at the time. Before the Howard Beach development was named in 1916, the entire area was commonly known as "Ramblersville", including Hamilton Beach to the south on Jamaica Bay, and Old Howard Beach to the west. The Howard Beach – JFK Airport subway stop was originally the "Ramblersville Station" on the Long Island Rail Road.

Ramblersville is the smallest neighborhood in New York City in terms of real estate per square foot.

Rockwood Park
Rockwood Park is a section of Howard Beach that mainly consists of single family homes and is considered to be a more upper class section of Howard Beach. It is part of what is commonly referred to as "New Howard" by many residents. The area is situated between 78th and 92nd Streets (these are north–south streets) and 156th and 165th Avenues (the east–west streets). The Q41 and Q21 serve Rockwood Park. To the west of 78th Street, the last street in the neighborhood, lies Spring Creek Park in which lies the border between Brooklyn and Queens.

The area remained primarily undeveloped during the first half of the 1900s. After the Second World War marsh land west of Cross Bay Boulevard was filled in, which led to the building of many Cape Cod-style houses in the area, followed later on in the 1960s and 1970s by high ranch-style houses. Becoming known as a more upscale section of Howard Beach led the area to become the home of many known mob figures, most notably Gambino crime family boss John Gotti who lived on 85th Street. Starting in the late 1980s and through the 2000s, Rockwood Park began to go through another building boom. Many of the area's old Cape Cod-style houses were demolished and replaced with upscale million dollar mini-mansions. Another famous resident was folk singer Woody Guthrie, who lived at 159-13 85th Street with his family after moving from Coney Island.

Demographics
Based on data from the 2010 United States census, the population of Howard Beach was 26,148, a change of -1,973 (-7.5%) from the 28,121 counted in 2000. Covering an area of 1471.79 acres, the neighborhood had a population density of 17.8 PD/acre. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 76.8% (20,069) White, 1.6% (413) African American, 0.1% (28) Native American, 3.5% (923) Asian, 0% (5) Pacific Islander, 0.2% (62) from other races, and 1% (249) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 16.8% (4,399) of the population. , half of the population is Italian or of Italian descent.

The entirety of Community Board 10, which comprises Howard Beach, southern Ozone Park, and South Ozone Park, had 125,603 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 81.7 years. This is higher than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are youth and middle-aged adults: 22% are between the ages of 0 and 17, 28% between 25 and 44, and 28% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 9% and 13% respectively.

As of 2017, the median household income in Community Board 10 was $73,891. In 2018, an estimated 19% of Howard Beach and South Ozone Park residents lived in poverty, compared to 19% in all of Queens and 20% in all of New York City. One in ten residents (10%) were unemployed, compared to 8% in Queens and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 56% in Howard Beach and South Ozone Park, higher than the boroughwide and citywide rates of 53% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation,, Howard Beach and South Ozone Park are considered to be high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying.

Politics
Howard Beach is part of the 15th State Senate district, represented by Joseph Addabbo Jr., and the 23rd State Assembly district, represented by Stacey Pheffer Amato. It is part of District 32 in the New York City Council, represented by Joann Ariola.

Following redistricting in 2012, the neighborhood is split between the 5th and 8th congressional districts. The 5th District covers the parts of Howard Beach east of 104th Street and the 8th District covers the rest of the neighborhood west of 104th Street. These districts are represented by Gregory Meeks and Hakeem Jeffries respectively,.

Police and crime
Howard Beach, southern Ozone Park, and South Ozone Park are patrolled by the 106th Precinct of the NYPD, located at 103-53 101st Street. The 106th Precinct ranked 26th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. The rate of car thefts is high because of the area's proximity to the Belt Parkway, a major travel corridor. , with a non-fatal assault rate of 32 per 100,000 people, Howard Beach and South Ozone Park's rate of violent crimes per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 381 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole.

The 106th Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 81.3% between 1990 and 2018. In 2018, there were 6 murders, 16 rapes, 183 robberies, 246 felony assaults, 133 burglaries, 502 grand larcenies, and 97 grand larcenies auto recorded in the precinct.

Fire safety
Howard Beach contains a New York City Fire Department (FDNY) fire station, Engine Co. 331/Ladder Co. 173, at 158-99 Cross Bay Boulevard.

Hamilton Beach is served by the West Hamilton Beach Volunteer Fire Department, which has Engine 2 (Brush Unit), Engine 4, Engine 6, Ambulance 947 & 947-1, and two Chiefs vehicles, as well as a water pump.

Health
, preterm births are more common in Howard Beach and South Ozone Park than in other places citywide, though births to teenage mothers are less common. In Howard Beach and South Ozone Park, there were 97 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 14.2 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide). Howard Beach and South Ozone Park have a low population of residents who are uninsured. In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 8%, lower than the citywide rate of 12%.

The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Howard Beach and South Ozone Park is 0.0068 mg/m3, less than the city average. Twelve percent of Howard Beach and South Ozone Park residents are smokers, which is lower than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers. In Howard Beach and South Ozone Park, 27% of residents are obese, 19% are diabetic, and 34% have high blood pressure—compared to the citywide averages of 22%, 8%, and 23% respectively. In addition, 21% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%.

Eighty-three percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is less than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 77% of residents described their health as "good", "very good", or "excellent", about equal to the city's average of 78%. For every supermarket in Howard Beach and South Ozone Park, there are eight bodegas.

The nearest major hospitals are Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn and Jamaica Hospital in Jamaica.

Post offices and ZIP Code
Howard Beach is covered by the ZIP Code 11414. The United States Postal Service operates two post offices nearby: the Station A post office at 160-50 Cross Bay Boulevard and the Station B post office at 102-12 159th Avenue.

Education
Howard Beach and South Ozone Park generally have a lower rate of college-educated residents than the rest of the city. While 28% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, 23% have less than a high school education and 49% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 39% of Queens residents and 43% of city residents have a college education or higher. The percentage of Howard Beach and South Ozone Park students excelling in math rose from 33% in 2000 to 61% in 2011, and reading achievement rose from 37% to 48% during the same time period.

Howard Beach and South Ozone Park's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is less than the rest of New York City. In Howard Beach and South Ozone Park, 18% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year, lower than the citywide average of 20%. Additionally, 82% of high school students in Howard Beach and South Ozone Park graduate on time, more than the citywide average of 75%.

Schools

 * PS 146 The Howard Beach School
 * PS 207 The Rockwood Park School
 * PS 232 The Walter Ward School
 * St. Helens Catholic School K–8 (Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn)

Before the public elementary schools changed to K-8 schools, residents of Howard Beach that attended PS 207, PS 232 or PS 146 then went to Junior High School 202 (Robert H. Goddard Junior High School) for grades 7–8. It is located on the northwest corner of Conduit Boulevard and Lafayette Place, and a footbridge crosses over Conduit Boulevard, allowing students from southern Howard Beach to attend the school. Some 9th graders also attended JHS 202.

For grades 9–12, residents could attend their zoned school which is John Adams High School in nearby Ozone Park. Others attended specialty high schools such as Beach Channel High School in Rockaway Park, or Catholic high schools such as Christ the King, St. Francis Prep, Stella Maris or Archbishop Molloy.

In July 2020, Our Lady of Grace Catholic School made the announcement that it would no longer be operating, as the Diocese took over the property and decided to close the educational component due to financial strain as an indirect result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Library
The Queens Public Library operates the Howard Beach branch at 92-06 156th Avenue.

Transportation
The New York City Subway's Howard Beach–JFK Airport station, on the IND Rockaway Line was formerly a Long Island Rail Road station on the Rockaway Beach Branch. Frequent fires on the trestle to Broad Channel forced the LIRR to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the 1950s, which allowed New York City Transit to purchase the line in 1956. The station provides a connection between the and Howard Beach JFK AirTrain route. Prior to the AirTrain JFK's opening, the Port Authority provided a free shuttle bus to the terminals at JFK Airport.

Local bus service in the neighborhood is provided on the. All of these routes are operated by MTA Bus Company. There are also the express buses.

Notable people
Notable current and former residents of Howard Beach include:

 * Vito Antuofermo (born 1953), former boxer and actor
 * Marco Battaglia (born 1973), former American football tight end in the National Football League.
 * DJ Skribble (born 1968), DJ, producer, remixer, radio personality and TV actor.
 * Vitas Gerulaitis (1954–1994), professional tennis player
 * Keith Gottfried (born 1966), former General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and senior member of the administration of President George W. Bush, spent much of his childhood as a resident of Howard Beach.
 * John Gotti (1940–2002), Gambino crime family head, was a resident of 85th Street in Howard Beach.
 * Victoria Gotti (born 1962), John's daughter, who starred in Growing Up Gotti
 * Woody Guthrie (1912–1967), folk music legend (son Arlo Guthrie's music is frequently copyrighted to "Howard Beach Music, Inc.")
 * Rick Hearst (born 1965), soap-opera actor
 * James Maritato (born 1972), professional wrestler
 * George Martin (born 1953), defensive end who played in the NFL for the New York Giants
 * Joseph Massino (born 1943), Bonanno crime family boss and known as the "Last Godfather"
 * Joey Ramone (1951–2001) and his brother Mickey Leigh (born 1954) lived in Howard Beach as children.
 * Pia Toscano (born 1988), top 10 contestant on American Idol Season 10.
 * Karina Vetrano (1986–2016), Howard Beach resident who was murdered in Spring Creek Park.

In popular culture

 * A 1989 TV movie was made based on the 1986 racial incident entitled Howard Beach: Making a Case for Murder.
 * In the 1989 Spike Lee movie Do the Right Thing, in a riot scene near the end of the film, a chant rises up: "Howard Beach! Howard Beach! Howard Beach!" This immediately follows a scene wherein a young black man is killed by police using excessive force to break up a fight.
 * On The Chris Rock Show, comedian Chris Rock proposed renaming Cross Bay Boulevard after Tupac Shakur, asking the predominantly white residents of the neighborhood to sign a petition.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Howard Beach, Queens


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Suburban Commando

Suburban Commando is a 1991 American science fiction action comedy film directed by Burt Kennedy, produced by Howard Gottfried, and written by Frank Cappello. The film stars Hulk Hogan, Christopher Lloyd, Shelley Duvall, and Larry Miller. Additionally, a young Elisabeth Moss briefly appears in her film debut.

The film was originally titled Urban Commando, and was intended for Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger. When these two opted to make Twins (1988), the script was bought by New Line Cinema as the follow-up to another Hulk Hogan film, No Holds Barred.

In the film, an extraterrestrial warrior botches a part of his mission. He is subsequently instructed to take a vacation, and causes damages to his own control systems while reacting in frustration. He crash-lands on planet Earth, and finds himself stranded there until his spaceship recharges itself. He unintentionally gets his new landlords involved in conflicts with his foes.

Plot
Interstellar warrior Shep Ramsey (Hulk Hogan) is on a mission to capture intergalactic despot General Suitor (William Ball). The general has kidnapped planetary ruler President Hashina. Shep boards Suitor's flagship but is unable to rescue Hashina, who is killed by Suitor. Wounded by Hashina in the process, Suitor transforms into a berserk reptilian creature (Frank Welker). Shep barely escapes, but is able to blow up the ship as he does so.

Due to his failure to save the President, Shep's superior officer suggests that he is "stressed out" and should take a vacation. Annoyed, Shep accidentally smashes his control systems and is forced to crash-land on Earth, where he will have to stay until his spaceship has repaired itself. Shep has little knowledge of Earth's customs, and his temper and sense of justice cause problems with everyone he meets, especially a mime artist he tries to help in various comical fashions.

Charlie Wilcox (Christopher Lloyd) is a weak-willed architect working for the fawning and hypocritical Adrian Beltz (Larry Miller). His wife Jenny (Shelley Duvall) unsuccessfully encourages him to stand up for himself and unsuccessfully tells Charlie to ask Beltz for a raise. In order to help out financially, she rents out Charlie's hobby shed as a vacation cabin, which Shep leases. Shep's appearance and behavior make Charlie nervous, and he begins to spy on his guest. He soon discovers Shep's advanced equipment and begins experimenting with it, not knowing that the power sources are traceable. Its whereabouts are tracked by Suitor's men, who send a pair of intergalactic bounty hunters after Shep. Shep also requires several rare crystals to fix his ship, the closest samples of which can be found in Beltz's office. Charlie helps Shep get into his boss's office during a company party before the bounty hunters corner them. After winning a furious fight, Shep and Charlie head home to repair the ship.

After the bounty hunters' defeat, Suitor, who has escaped the destruction of his ship, arrives on Earth. He takes Charlie's family hostage, forcing Charlie to lead him to Shep. To protect Charlie and his family, Shep decides to use a "lose to win" tactic by setting his ship to self-destruct and surrendering to Suitor, in exchange for releasing the Wilcox family. Suitor then begins torturing Shep, enjoying himself before he intends to kill the warrior. Finding his courage, Charlie returns to help Shep and injures Suitor, who then turns into his monstrous form. Physically outmatched, Shep stuns Suitor with some electrical wires, and he and Charlie manage to escape the ship's explosion, which destroys Suitor for good.

Shep leaves Earth using the bounty hunters' ship. He takes Beltz's secretary, Margie, with him, hoping for a quiet family life. Charlie in turn has become bolder from his experiences; he appears in Beltz's office the following morning, shouting at his boss in front of witnesses, and finally quits his thankless job. Later, Charlie solves his final problem by using one of Shep's weapons to destroy an annoying set of traffic lights that never changed at the right time, receiving cheers from the other motorists.

Cast

 * Hulk Hogan as Shep Ramsey
 * Christopher Lloyd as Charlie Wilcox
 * Shelley Duvall as Jenny Wilcox
 * Michael Faustino as Mark Wilcox
 * Laura Mooney as Theresa Wilcox
 * Larry Miller as Adrian Beltz
 * Dennis Burkley as Deak
 * Branscombe Richmond as Biker
 * William Ball as General Suitor; his mutant form is played by Vincent Hammond, Frank Welker provided the uncredited vocals for Suitor's true form as aforementioned
 * Jack Elam as Colonel Dustin "Dusty" McHowell
 * Elisabeth Moss as Little Girl
 * Tom Morga as Mime
 * Jo Ann Dearing as Margie Tanen
 * Roy Dotrice as Zanuck
 * Tony Longo as Knuckles
 * The Undertaker as Hutch

Box office
The film opened with $1.9 million. Overall, the film grossed a total of $8,002,361 in the United States. With a budget of $11 million, the film was a commercial failure.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 15% based on 13 reviews.

Roger Ebert noted, "This is the second feature starring Hulk Hogan, the man who looks like a comic strip hero. Hogan's range is limited, but not as limited as the movies he's appeared in. Despite the fact that his public image is often aimed at children - there's a whole line of Hulk Hogan toys - his first film, No Holds Barred (1989) was surprisingly violent, sexist and blood-soaked. Now here's 'Suburban Commando', which is at least innocuous, but which gives the Hulkster so little to do that his fans may wonder why he bothered." Michael Wilmington opened his review for it in the Los Angeles Times by saying that all the main personnel were "likeable" but that "all that likability combined, or even cubed, doesn't create any pressing reason to pay admission to "Suburban Commando" - unless you're an obsessed movie completist or a sudden cloudburst drives you to shelter." Stephen Holden of The New York Times, noted that despite the fact that it "has little narrative continuity, it is well paced and has an amusingly sour performance by Larry Miller as the kind of boss you love to hate."

title: Suburban Commando


text:
Chetham's Library

Chetham's Library in Manchester, England, is the oldest free public reference library in the English-speaking world. Chetham's Hospital, which contains both the library and Chetham's School of Music, was established in 1653 under the will of Humphrey Chetham (1580–1653), for the education of "the sons of honest, industrious and painful parents", and a library for the use of scholars. The library has been in continuous use since 1653. It operates as an independent charity.

The library holds more than 100,000 volumes of printed books, of which 60,000 were published before 1851. They include collections of 16th- and 17th-century printed works, periodicals and journals, local history sources, broadsides and ephemera. In addition to print materials, the library holds a collection of over 1,000 manuscripts, including 41 medieval texts.

Chetham's Library is an Accredited Museum under the Arts Council England Accreditation scheme. The whole of its collections are Designated as a collection of national and international importance under the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council Designation scheme, now administered by Arts Council England.

Paintings featured as a part of the library's fine arts collection include portraits of William Whitaker, the Reverend John Radcliffe, Robert Thyer, the Reverend Francis Robert Raines, and Elizabeth Leigh. The collection includes An Allegory with Putti and Satyrs, oil on canvas, attributed to 16th-century artist and Netherlander Vincent Sellaer.

One of the most substantial collections pertains to Belle Vue Zoo and Gardens, Manchester's most renowned entertainment attraction and zoological centre, in operation from the 1830s to the 1980s. The collection contains thousands of posters, programmes and photographs, as well as the financial and business papers of the owner, John Jennison; large numbers of items in this collection are available in digitised form online. A 2014 grant of £45,000 obtained by Chetham's Library allowed curators to make the collection available to online users, via digitization projects.

Access
The library is open to readers free of charge, Monday-Friday 09.00-12.30 and 13.30-16.30 by prior appointment. Tours of the library for visitors are bookable online via the library website.

Catalogues and finding aids
Catalogues of printed items and of archives and manuscripts held at Chetham's Library are provided online.

History
The manor house of the Lord of the Manor, in the centre of the medieval town of Manchester, stood on a sandstone bluff, at the confluence of the River Irwell and the River Irk. In 1421 the rector of the parish church, Thomas de la Warre (Lord of the manor of Manchester), obtained a licence from Henry V to refound the church as a collegiate foundation. He donated his manor house for use as the college of priests' buildings for the collegiate church (later to be the cathedral). There was accommodation for the warden, eight fellows, four clerks, and six choristers.

The Manchester Free Grammar School for Lancashire Boys was built between the church and the college buildings between 1515 and 1518. The college was dissolved in 1547 by the Chantries Act and sold to the Earl of Derby. It was re-founded as a catholic foundation by Queen Mary and again disbanded by Protestant Queen Elizabeth I. In 1578 the collegiate church was re-founded by charter as Christ's College and re-occupied by the warden and fellows. In the Civil War it was used as a prison and arsenal.

In 1653 the college buildings were bought with the bequest of Humphrey Chetham, for use as a free library and blue coat charity school. At that time there was no facility for independent study in the north of England and Chetham's will of 1651 had stipulated that the Library should be "for the use of schollars and others well affected", and instructed the librarian "to require nothing of any man that cometh into the library". The 24 feoffees appointed by Humphrey Chetham set out to acquire a major collection of books and manuscripts that would cover the whole range of available knowledge and would rival the college libraries of Oxford and Cambridge. In order to protect the newly acquired books from rising damp the Library was housed on the first floor and, in accordance with the provisions of Chetham's will, the books were chained to the presses (bookcases). Twenty-four carved oak stools with S-shaped hand-holds (which are still in use) were provided as seats for readers.

In 1718 the feoffees offered the Manchester poet and inventor of a system of shorthand, John Byrom, the post of Library Keeper. Byrom, who was an avid collector of books, declined the offer but after his good friend, Robert Thyer, became Librarian in 1732, frequently acted as an agent for the library, purchasing books at London auctions. Byrom's library, which included the manuscript of his poem "Christmas Day" (which became the Christmas carol, "Christians Awake") and some 2,800 printed books, was presented to the library by his descendant, Eleanora Atherton, in 1870.

The books were originally uncatalogued and placed in the presses in size order. The first catalogue wasn't produced until 1791, and then was written in Latin and only listed the size and subject of each book. The practice of chaining the books was abandoned in the mid eighteenth century when gates were erected to prevent theft. Chetham's was the meeting place of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels when Marx visited Manchester in the summer of 1845. Facsimiles of the economics books they studied can be seen on a table in the window alcove where they would meet. The research they undertook during this series of visits to the library led ultimately to their work, The Communist Manifesto. Therefore, the library acts as a site of historical importance for visiting communists.

Additions were made to the buildings by J. E. Gregan (1850s), Alfred Waterhouse (1878) (grade II listed), and J. Medland Taylor (1883–95). Manchester Grammar School was extended along Long Millgate in 1870. Manchester Grammar School moved to Fallowfield in the 1930s, and after standing empty for many years the original building was destroyed during the Second World War, leaving only its new block. This became part of Chetham's School of Music in 1978. The old college building, which became the music school in 1969, still incorporates Chetham's Library and is Grade I listed. A fragment of a 17th century cross was relocated to the library's gardens in 1913, and is listed at Grade II.

Librarians
Past librarians include Robert Thyer (1709–1781), who became Librarian in 1732. Peter Hordern (died 1836) was librarian and also the minister of St Clement's Chapel, Chorlton. Thomas Jones held the position from 1845 to 1875; during his time, the size of the library more than doubled (from 19,000 volumes to 40,000 volumes). He also produced a two-volume catalogue of the library's collection in 1862 and 1863.

title: Chetham's Library


text:
Roscrea

Roscrea is a market town in County Tipperary, Ireland, which in 2016 had a population of 5,446. Roscrea is one of the oldest towns in Ireland, having developed around the 7th century monastery of Saint Crónán of Roscrea, parts of which remain preserved today.

Roscrea is a designated Irish Heritage Town due to the extent of important historical buildings that are preserved in the town. Amongst the most notable buildings of interest are the 13th century Roscrea Castle and Damer House on Castle Street. Within the town are the remains of the ancient Romanesque doorway and gable-end of St Cronan's church. The Round Tower and the High cross of the ancient monastery are also located nearby. Also of interest in the town are the remains of the 15th century Franciscan Friary and Monaincha and Sean Ross Abbeys. One of the most famous books produced by the monastery is the 8th-century Book of Dimma currently on display at Trinity College, Dublin.

Location and access
Roscrea is located in North Tipperary, situated very close to the border with County Offaly. It is located in Ireland's Mid-West Region in a valley between Devil's Bit mountain to the south west and the Slieve Bloom mountains to the north east. It is 44 mi from Limerick City in the west and 76 mi from Dublin City in the east. It is at the crossroads of the R445 regional road and the N62 between Athlone and Horse and Jockey.

The Slieve Bloom Mountains reach as far as Roscrea.

Historically, Roscrea was noted as being on one of the ancient highways of Ireland known as the 'Slighe Dala' (meaning parliament way) which stretched from Tara in the east to the city and port of Limerick and the port of Tarbert. It is possible the route formed much of the old N7 route now the R445 which originally passed through the town.

Transport
Roscrea is well connected by bus routes. Bus Éireann route 12 links Dublin and Limerick with connections available hourly. A private bus contractor, JJ Kavanagh and Sons, provides extra bus services to Dublin and Limerick.

Local Link Tipperary operates bus service 854 between Roscrea railway station and Nenagh with intermediate stops in Shinrone, Cloughjordan, Moneygall and Toomevara. The service operates three times a day in each direction seven days a week.

Roscrea railway station is on the Limerick–Ballybrophy railway line between Ballybrophy and Cloughjordan. At Ballybrophy it joins the main Cork-Dublin line. At one time there was a branch from Roscrea to nearby Birr in County Offaly. Roscrea railway station opened on 19 October 1857.

A January 2012 national newspaper article suggested that Iarnród Éireann was expected to seek permission from the National Transport Authority to close the Limerick–Ballybrophy railway line. An enhanced timetable was operated between February 2012 and January 2013 before services were downgraded again.

Features
2 mi from the town is a Cistercian monastery, Mount St. Joseph Abbey, and a boarding school for boys, Cistercian College.

Buildings of note
The Round Tower in Church Street is a national monument in state ownership. In addition there are several other buildings and structures in Roscrea listed on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage including,
 * Damer House, listed as being of special architectural, artistic, archaeological, historical and social interest.
 * Roscrea railway station is listed as being of special architectural and social interest.
 * The railway signal box is listed as being of special architectural interest.
 * Former Quaker meetinghouse listed as being of architectural and social interest.
 * The 19th Century Fancy Fountain now located in Rosemary Square is listed as being of artistic, social and technical interest.

Early history and medieval period c. 550 – c. 1500
Roscrea has historically been an important trading town. The settlement grew around an ancient church or monastery, founded by St. Cronan in the late 6th century. The town is situated strategically in a gap in the hills on one of the great ancient roads of Ireland, the Slighe Dála. It became an important ecclesiastical centre evidenced by the beautiful west gable of a Romanesque church, a 12th-century sculptured High Cross, and a round tower also built during the 12th century. The round tower has a doorway 15 ft from the ground and is the oldest surviving part of the ancient monastery. The usual conical cap is missing as the tower was shortened by around 6 m when it was used by snipers in the 1798 rebellion. The 8th century Book of Dimma, which belonged to Roscrea monastery, is preserved in Trinity College, Dublin. It contains a copy of the Gospels and a Missa Infirmorum, and is enclosed in a shrine of bronze with silver plates ornamented with Celtic interlacing.

In 1812, the Romanesque church was demolished with the exception of the west gable and its stones used for the erection of the current St. Cronan's parish church of the Church of Ireland at the same site. The church was designed by the Roscrea architect James Sheane and restored under the supervision of Sir Thomas Newenham Deane in 1879. Records show that John Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist movement, preached in Roscrea on 26 June 1750. Roscrea was one of the main settlements in the ancient and medieval Munster kingdom of Éile (commonly anglicised as Ely) and was briefly a diocesan see in the 12th century, before the superior power of the O'Briens ensured that the Roscrea was incorporated into the diocese of Killaloe.

King John I of England (reigned 1199–1216) is credited with having erected a castle at Roscrea in 1213, of which a circular tower and some sections of wall are still extant; such castles were built as part of a policy to consolidate the Norman conquest of the midlands. In 1209 King John's officials established twelve shires or counties in Leinster and Munster, one of which was Tipperary, covering areas of English settlement such as Roscrea. Within county Tipperary there were fourteen baronies; Roscrea was the chief town in the barony of Ikerrin; baronies became obsolete after the Local Government Act (1898), which set up county and borough/town councils. From the mid-14th century (particularly after the Black Death) and 15th century native Irish influence the areas outside of the English Pale revived, strengthened by the intermarrying of the Norman aristocracy with the native Irish aristocracy.

The building of a castle at Roscrea was the subject of dispute between the king's representatives and the bishops of Killaloe until 1280, as the castle was built on church land without the bishop's permission. Though the castle was built as a royal castle, it was often in the hands of the Butlers as they controlled the surrounding lands and was close to Nenagh, where the Butlers had one of their principal castles. The castle was rebuilt in stone between 1276 and 1281, probably as part of King Edward I's orders to secure safe storage and transport of mined silver from the Silvermines to the west of Nenagh. Large-scale mining of silver ceased at the Silvermines in the early 14th century following disputes with local people and as a result of Gaelic resurgence in the area. The later rectangular gate house, known as Ormonde Castle, was built by James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond sometime before 1450[15] and still stands today. There are also references to a gaol in Roscrea Castle during the period c. 1280–1315.

There is no surviving reference to the granting of a royal charter for the founding of Roscrea and it is likely that the town began to grow around the castle in the 13th century, adding to the existing ecclesiastical settlements. There are references to 'the burgesses of Roscrea', two mills and a town oven, which is accepted as proof that Roscrea was a medieval town. In 1315, when Sir Edmund Butler was created 1st earl of Carrick (he later distinguished himself during the Bruce Invasion of Ireland), he was granted the castle and manors of Carrick and Roscrea, along with the attached lands. The castle remained in the Butler earl of Ormond's possession until it was sold by the 2nd duke of Ormond in 1703. The earls of Ormond had good relations with the local Éile (Ely) O'Carroll family, the ancient Gaelic lords of the area, and intermarried with them. The earls were largely absent from Ireland between c. 1464–1514, being engaged in the Wars of the Roses in England, and left the running of their lands to junior members of their extended family. Today the Catholic church of St. Cronin is built close to the site of a ruined Franciscan friary, which was founded by the O'Carrolls about 1477. Some portion of the walls of the old Friary has been retained in the modern church building.

Early modern period to 19th century
The expanding power of the O'Brien earls of Thomand from the West and the Fitzgerald earls of Kildare from the east caused a weakening of Butler authority and to Roscrea being controlled by the Gaelic lords of Éile, the O'Carroll's, for several decades. Despite attempts of the Butlers to re-conquer northern Tipperary in the 1530s a manuscript in the National Library, probably dating from the time of the Irish 'Reformation Parliament' of 1536–37 describes Roscrea as being then by 'Irishmen wasted, and not valuable'. The whole of northern and western Tipperary freed itself from Butler power after the death of the 9th earl of Ormond in 1546 and Roscrea remained virtually uninhabited for some years. The O'Carrolls fought wars with the Butlers in 1556–57, 1560–61 and 1564–66 but it was not until 'Black Tom' Butler, the 10th earl of Ormond, returned home from England that Roscrea was again under the control of the Butlers. During this time Roscrea lay on the northern edge of the County Palatinate of Tipperary (a territorial area administered from Kilkenny in which legal jurisdiction was held by Butler Earls of Ormond, rather than the King, but with royal permission). One of the benefits was that the Earl appointed the local judges and sheriffs to administer the law in Roscrea and gave the town some protection during this turbulent period. The plantations of King's County (now Offaly) and Queen's County (now Laois) from 1556 and the failure of the two Desmond Rebellions (1569–1573 and 1579–1583) saw the Gaelic lands to the north, west and south of Roscrea increasingly fall into New English hands.

The friary at Roscrea, which had escaped dissolution, was finally suppressed in 1579. The conclusion of the Nine Years' War (1594–1603), again lost by the Gaelic Irish, brought some stability to Ireland however the commencement of the plantations from 1606 set the scene for the great 1641 rebellion. The development of the town was affected by the Ormond succession dispute which broke out in 1614. During this time Roscrea was leased out by the earls of Ormond first to Gerard fitz Lewis Bryan and then Sir George Hamilton Sr. and Jr. The castle was taken by Owen Roe O'Neill in 1649 during the Irish Confederate Wars (1641–1653) and was recaptured by Cromwellian troops in 1650. The castle, town, lands and friary of Roscrea were granted to Sir Francis Peisley in 1659 for 21 years. The town was not caught up in the Williamite Wars (1689–91) and though orders were issued to have the castle demolished to prevent it from falling into rebel hands in the future they were later rescinded. In 1703 the 2nd duke of Ormond sold the town to Robert Curtis, the Tipperary Palatinate was abolished by the Dublin parliament following the defection of the 2nd duke to join the English Catholic monarchy in exile in Louis XIV's France in 1714. John Damer purchased the town in 1722 and soon after building Damer House within the walls of the castle. During the 18th century Joseph Damer (created Baron Milton in 1762 and later created the Earl of Dorchester in 1792) owned Roscrea but the titles died out on the death of his son the 2nd earl of Dorchester in 1808. Damer House and the castle became a military barracks and in 1811 was garrisoned by permanent cavalry (1 officer, 21 privates and 16 horses) and permanent infantry (8 officers and 345 privates). When Damer's daughter died in 1828 the Damer estates (possibly over 40000 acre of land) were inherited by his grand-nephew John Dawson 2nd earl of Portarlington. Dawson died in considerable debt in 1844/5, Court of Chancery records from 1863 describe the estate of Roscrea in 1844 as comprising 2248 acre worth £3,882 in rent yearly. The town was then sold for £20,000 to the Irish Landed Estates Court which eventually sold the town in a succession of land sales from the mid-19th century, including the town and two town parks of Roscrea in 1858. Most of the town was sold to R.S. Palmer in March 1859 and July 1860. It is from this time that much of the modern town of Roscrea was constructed.

Roscrea Poor law union was declared in 1839 and covered an area of 242 sqmi; 37 'Guardians' oversaw the operations of Union. The Union was responsible for a population of 61,374 in 1831 – it covered Bourney, Borrisnafarney, Killea, Killevinogue, Rathnaveoge, Roscrea, Agahancon, Cullenwale, Dunkerrin, Ettagh, Kilcommon, Kilmurry, Roscomroe, Shinrone, Borris-in-Ossory, Doanmore, Eirke, Kyle and Rathdowney until after boundary changes following the famine in 1853 (spellings of placenames are repeated from original records). A new Roscrea Union workhouse was erected on a 6 acre site around 1.5 km outside of the town on the Templemore road adjacent to Corville. The workhouse could accommodate up to 700 'inmates' and was declared fit for the reception of paupers in March 1842; it received its first admissions during May 1842. During the famine, an additional 200 people were accommodated in the workhouse and a fever hospital was built on the site around this time. A large graveyard, probably containing the remains of hundreds of people who died in the Great Famine, was situated behind the workhouse to the south of Kennedy Park. The workhouse was partially demolished and altered, it became a fever hospital and a 'County Home"for the 'aged and infirm". It was closed in 1985/6 and demolished c. 1991.

Demographics
The population of Roscrea appears to have reached its height in the 1830s (see below), but appears to have hit an all-time high in the 2022 census of Ireland. In 1885 a wool merchant from the neighbouring town of Birr reported to the House of Commons Select Committee on Industries (Ireland) that in the early decades of the 19th century 1,000 men were employed in Roscrea as weavers and wool combers, but that by the early 1880s this number had dropped to just 2.

Historical and Current Population of Roscrea:

In 2022, there were 5,515 people residing in Roscrea. In 2022, according to the CSO, the town is 72.4% White Irish and 2.7% Irish Traveller, 14.9% White of any other background, 0.3% Black, 2.05% Asian, 0.9% any other racial background, and 5.5% not stated.

Annalistic references
See Annals of Inisfallen (AI)
 * AI761.1 Kl. Suairlech, abbot of Bennchor, and Daniél, abbot of Ros Cré, fell asleep.
 * AI952.1 Kl. Repose of Orthanach, abbot of Ros Cré.
 * AI1009.3 Muiredach Ua Maenaig, abbot of Ros Cré, went on his pilgrimage.
 * AI1012.5 Repose of Loingsech son of Lonán, abbot of Ros Cré.

Commerce
The main employer in the town is Glanbia which makes and distributes meats product all over the world. In 2008 Glanbia sold off its pork operations. The 2 former Glanbia plants in Roscrea are now part of the Rosderra Irish Meats Group. It still uses the Glanbia brand under licence. This enterprise grew out of the Roscrea Bacon Factory, established in the late 1800s as one of the first cooperatives in Ireland, with legal underpinnings established by local soliciter Charles J Spain. Taro Pharmaceuticals was a sterile pharmaceutical injectables manufacturing plant in the town that employed approximately 30 people. The plant has since closed. FRS Network is a large employer with over 100 people employed across its varying divisions. Some people travel to Nenagh to work in the Procter & Gamble factory there. Some make lengthy commutes to Dublin or Limerick for work. Shannon Development has a business park near Ashbury in the town. This houses local businesses like Walsh Printers and JS Hygiene (Upholstery cleaning). The other business park is at Benamore on the Dublin road. Dunnes Stores developed the site of the maltings into a large retail unit. The new Tesco supermarket was built in close proximity to the Round Tower, leading to queries about compliance with planning rules.

Education
The town is home to several educational institutions. Primary Schools include St. Cronan’s National School, Scoil Eoin Naofa, Scoil Íosaf Naofa Corville, Sacred Heart Primary School, Dunkerrin N.S., Lismackin N.S. and the school for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities St Anne's. The solitary secondary school in the town is Coláiste Phobal Ros Cré. This school was formed when the Sacred Heart Convent, the Christian Brothers School and the Vocational School amalgamated to form one public school in 1999. Just outside Roscrea is the Cistercian College. This is a private school located on the grounds of the Mount St Joseph Cistercian Monastery. Third-level courses, accredited by FETAC are provided at the Colaiste. The nearest Third-Level Institute is Tipperary Institute in Thurles.

Rugby, Soccer, Martial Arts
Roscrea Rugby Club has been twinned with Holybush in Wales for over 50 years. There are also some football (soccer) teams in the town – Killavilla Utd F.C., Roscrea United F.C. and Streamstown Celtic F.C. A martial arts club Premier Martial Arts Academy has introduced the sport of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA to many of Roscrea's youth and continues to offer a vital alternative sporting outlet to the area. O.s.a premier taekwondo have been operating a taekwondo academy in roscrea for over 25 years and have produced over 50 black belts and many national and European champions.

GAA
Roscrea GAA has won few trophies in its history. The local Gaelic football club is Inane Rovers. Roscrea Hurling Club were the first-ever All-Ireland club Hurling Champions in 1971.

Other sporting facilities
Roscrea has an 18-hole parkland golf course (Roscrea Golf Club est. 1894) and also tennis facilities. There is an athletics club, a badminton club and many more sporting clubs. A swimming pool and leisure centre complex opened in September 2009.

Voluntary and community groups
Roscrea is home to a Scout troop, Roscrea Scout Troop, founded in 1971, covering all sections from Beaver Scouts to Rover Scouts. The troop is part of the Slieve Bloom Scout County in the South-Eastern Province in Scouting Ireland.

The international speaking organisation, Toastmasters also have a branch in town. Recently, Roscrea Active Citizenship Association was set up, with the stated aim of bringing together all the organisations of the town.

Notable people

 * Daisy Bates (born Margaret Dwyer), in Australia a journalist, activist and amateur anthropologist.
 * Kevin Carroll, world-renowned prosthetist; made Winter the dolphin's prosthetic tail (of Dolphin Tail & Dolphin Tail 2 movie fame); recipient of the Roscrea People of the Year International Award.
 * Michael A. Hess (born Anthony Lee), son of Philomena Lee; lawyer in the United States.
 * Marty Maher, US Army instructor (and subject of the 1955 film The Long Gray Line).
 * William Maher, maternal grandfather of boxer Len Johnson.
 * John Moyney, soldier; a recipient of the Victoria Cross.
 * Harry Read (1888–1972), represented Ireland in rugby union and first class cricket.
 * George Thomas, a soldier and "Raja of Hansi", in India.

title: Roscrea


text:
François Péron

François Auguste Péron (22 August 1775 – 14 December 1810) was a French naturalist and explorer.

Life
Péron was born in Cérilly, Allier, in 1775, the son of a tailor (not a harness maker as is frequently asserted). Although intended for the priesthood, due to the Revolution, Péron reluctantly joined the 2nd Allier Volunteer Battalion in 1792 and helped defend besieged Landau. In the following year he was wounded and taken prisoner by Prussian forces near Hochspeyer in the Pfalzwald. Imprisoned in the fortress of Magdeburg he was not repatriated to France until 1794. Having lost the sight of an eye, Péron was invalided out of the army. For two years he was Town Clerk in Cérilly before gaining a scholarship to study medicine in Paris. While in Paris, Péron changed interests towards zoology, spending time at the Muséum d'histoire naturelle. In 1800, after an unhappy love affair, he sought to join Nicolas Baudin's expedition to Australian waters as an anthropological observer. Instead he was appointed as a trainee zoologist.

During the voyage, which charted significant stretches of the Australian coast between 1801 and 1803, Péron clashed repeatedly with Baudin. When Stanislas Levillain and René Maugé died, Péron rose to prominence as the sole remaining zoologist. (Baudin had already lost numerous officers, sailors, savants and artists who deserted in Mauritius.) With the aid of the artist Charles Alexandre Lesueur, Péron was largely responsible for gathering some 100,000 zoological specimens—the most comprehensive Australian natural history collection to date. Although he died before he could fully study his specimens, Péron made a major contribution to the foundations of the natural sciences in Australia and was a prescient ecological thinker. He was also a pioneer oceanographer who conducted important experiments on sea water temperatures at depth.

As a Corresponding Member of the Société des observateurs de l'homme, Péron wrote a great deal about the Tasmanian Aborigines of the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, on south-eastern Tasmania. Within 30 years almost all were dead through disease and war. The Australian historian Edward Duyker has shown that he has been unfairly accused of polygenism and racism, mainly because of a mistranslation of extracts from one of his scientific papers.

Baudin died before he could return to France, and it was Péron who began writing the official account of the expedition: Voyage de découvertes aux Terres Australes. In doing so, he committed a great injustice to his former commander's memory by magnifying his faults and frequently distorting the historical record. In the wake of the resumed fighting between France and Britain, Péron also drafted a secret Mémoire sur les établissements anglais à la Nouvelle Hollande, which advocated a French conquest of Port Jackson with the aid of rebellious Irish convicts.

Péron died of tuberculosis in his hometown of Cérilly in 1810. He was just thirty-five years old. The task of completing the official account of the expedition fell to Louis de Freycinet.

Taxa named in honour of Péron
Several species of reptiles, amphibians and mammals were named in honour of Péron:

 * Litoria peronii (Tschudi, 1838) – Péron’s treefrog (Hylidae)
 * Limnodynastes peronii (A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1841) – striped marsh frog (Limnodynastidae)
 * Carlia peronii (A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1839) – Timor rainbow skink (Scincidae)
 * Hemiergis peronii (Gray, 1831) - lowland earless skink (Scincidae)
 * Acalyptophis peronii (A.M.C. Duméril, 1853) – spiny seasnake (Elapidae)
 * Lissodelphis peronii (Lacépède, 1804) – southern right whale dolphin (Delphinidae)
 * Phyllorhiza peronlesueuri (Goy, 1990) – a jellyfish (Mastigiidae). The specific epithet also honors Charles Alexandre Lesueur of the Baudin expedition.

Taxa described by Péron
In the 1807 first volume of Voyage de découvertes aux Terres Australes, Péron described a number of frog species collected on his travels, but most are considered incertae sedis today i.e. Rana pollicifera and Rana pustulosa in Anura, Hyla ianopoda, Hyla nebulosa, Hyla ocellata and Hyla rubeola in Hylidae : Pelodryadinae, and Bufo leucogaster and Bufo proteus in Myobatrachidae. Hyla cyanea was synonymised with Litoria caerulea (White, 1790) - White's treefrog, but Hyla citripoda does survive as a valid species, Litoria citropa (Péron, 1807) - Blue Mountains treefrog.

See also Category:Taxa named by François Péron.

Publications
—— Observations sur l’anthropologie, ou l’Histoire naturelle de l’homme, la nécessité de s’occuper de l’avancement de cette science, et l’importance de l’admission sur la Flotte du capitaine Baudin d’un ou de plusieurs Naturalistes, spécialement chargés des Recherches à faire sur cet objet, Stoupe, Paris, an VIII [1800].

—— Voyage de découvertes aux Terres Australes, exécuté par ordre de sa Majesté, l’Empereur et Roi, sur les corvettes le Géographe, le Naturaliste et la goëlette le Casuarina, pendant les années 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804, L’Imprimerie Impériale, 3 vols and atlas, Paris, 1807–17; vol. i, Historique, 1807; vol. ii, Historique [completed by L. de Freycinet], 1816; vol. iii, Navigation et géographie [by L. de Freycinet], 1815; Atlas historique [by C. A. Leseur & N. Petit], 1817.

—— A Voyage of Discovery to the Southern Hemisphere Performed by Order of the Emperor Napoleon, During the Years 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804, printed for Richard Phillips, Bridge Street, Blackfriars, by B. McMillan, Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, 1809.

Péron, F. [and de Freycinet, L.], Voyage de découvertes aux Terres Australes, fait par ordre du gouvernement, sur les corvettes le Géographe, le Naturaliste et la goëlette le Casuarina, pendant les années 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804, 4 vols and atlas, Paris, 1824.

—— Voyage of Discovery to the Southern Lands, by François Péron, continued by Louis de Freycinet, 2nd edn 1824: Book IV, Comprising Chapters XXII to XXXIV (trans. C. Cornell; introduction by Anthony J. Brown), Friends of the State Library of South Australia, Adelaide, 2003.

—— Entdeckungs-Reise nach den Süd-Ländern ausgefürt auf Befehl Sr. Majestät des Kaisers und Königs, auf den Corvetten dem Geographen, dem Naturalisten und der Golette dem Casuarina, während der Jahre 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 und 1804 (trans. Ph. W. G. Hausleutner), J. G. Cotta’schen Buchhandlung, Tübingen, 2 vols, 1808–19.

Péron, F. A. [and de Freycinet. L.], Entdeckungsreise nach Australien unternommen auf Befehl Sr. Majestät des Kaisers von Frankreich und Königs von Italien mit den Korvetten der Geograph und der Naturalist, und der goelette Kasuarina in den Jahren 1800 bis 1804 (trans. T. F. Ehrmann), Verlage des Landes-Industrie-Comptoirs, Weimar, 2 vols, 1808–19.

Péron, F., ‘Discours préliminaire d’un travail sur les Méduses’, Procès-verbaux des séances de l’Académie, Classe des Sciences physiques et mathématiques, tome iv, séances du 21 novembre 1808, 28 novembre 1808 et 19 décembre 1808, pp. 136, 140, 147.

—— ‘Inventaire général de tous les objets relatifs à l’histoire de l’homme recueillis pendant le cours de l’expédition ou remis à M. Péron, naturaliste zoologiste du Gouvernement dans cette expédition, et présentés par M. Geoffroy et lui à Sa Majesté l’Impératrice Joséphine le 9 prairial an XII [29 May 1804]’ in Copans, J. and Jamin, J. (eds), Aux origines de l’anthropologie française: Les Mémoires de la Société des Observateurs de l’Homme en l’an VIII, Le Sycomore, Paris, 1978, pp. 195–203.

—— ‘Mémoire sur le nouveau genre Pyrosoma’, Annales du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, tome 4, an XII (1804), pp. 437–46, planche 72.

—— ‘Mémoire sur les établissement anglais à la Nouvelle Hollande, à la Terre de Diemen et dans les archipels du grand océan Pacifique …‘, présentation, édition et notes de Roger Martin, transcription du manuscrit avec le concours de Jacqueline Bonnemains, préface de Joël Eymeret, Revue de l’Institut Napoléon, No. 176, 1998, I, pp. 1–187.

—— ‘Mémoire sur quelques faits zoologiques applicables à la théorie du globe, lu à la Classe des Sciences physiques et mathématiques de l’Institut national (Séance du 30 vendémiaire an XIII)’, Journal de physique, de chimie, d’histoire naturelle et des arts, vol. 59, 1804, pp. 463–80, planches i, ii.

—— ‘Notice d’un mémoire sur les animaux observés pendant la traversée de Timor au Cap Sud de la Terre de Van Diemen’, Bulletin des sciences de la Société philomatique, no. xi, 8e année, tome iii, no. 95, pluviôse an 13 [December 1804–January 1805], pp. 269–70.

—— ‘Notice sur quelques applications utiles des observations météorologiques à l’hygiène navale’, Journal de physique, de chimie, d’histoire naturelle et des arts, vol. 67, 1808, pp. 29–43.

—— ‘Observations sur la dyssenterie des pays chauds et sur l’usage du bétel’, Journal de physique, de chimie, d’histoire naturelle et des arts, vol. 59, 1804, pp. 290–9.

—— ‘Réponse de M. Péron, naturaliste de l’expédition de découvertes aux Terres Australes aux observations critiques de M. Dumont sur le tablier des femmes Hottentotes’, Journal de physique, de chimie et d’histoire naturelle, tome lxi, 1805, pp. 210–17.

—— ‘Sur la température de la mer soit à sa surface, soit à diverses profondeurs’, Annales du Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, tome 5, an XIII (1804), pp. 123–48 [English translation: ‘Fragment from Peron, with notices from other voyagers, on the Temperature of the Sea, at great depths, far from Land’, American Journal of Science, vol. xvii, 1830, pp. 295–9].

Péron, F. and Lesueur, C.-A., ‘Observations sur le tablier des femmes Hottentotes, avec une note sur l’expédition française aux Terres Australes, et une étude critique sur la stéatopygie et le tablier des femmes Boschimanes, par le Dr Raphaël Blanchard’, Bulletin de la Société zoologique de France, vol. 8, 1883, pp. 15–33.

—— ‘Des caractères génériques et spécifiques de toutes les espèces de Méduses connues jusqu’à ce jour’, Annales du Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, tome 14, 1809, pp. 325–66.

—— ‘Histoire de la famille des Molluques Ptéropodes’, Annales du Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, tome 15, 1810, pp. 57–69, 2 planches.

—— ‘Histoire du genre Firole: Firola’, Annales du Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, tome 15, 1810, pp. 76–82.

—— ‘Histoire générale et particulière de tous les animaux qui composent la famillle des Méduses’, Annales du Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, tome 14, 1809, pp. 218–28.

—— ‘La conservation des diverses espèces d’animation dans l’alcool’, Journal de physique de chimie, d’histoire naturelle et des arts, vol. 71, octobre 1810, pp. 265–88.

—— ‘Notice sur l’habitation des animaux marins’, Annales du Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, tome 15, 1810, pp. 287–92.

—— ‘Notice sur l’habitation des phoques’, Annales du Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, tome 15, 1810, pp. 293–00.

—— ‘Sur les Méduses du genre Equorée’, Annales du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, tome 15, 1810, pp. 41–56.

—— ‘Tableau des caractères génériques et spécifiques de toutes les espèces de Méduses connues jusqu’à ce jour’, Annales du Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, tome 14, 1809 [1810], pp. 325–66.

title: François Péron


text: Category:Pope County, Minnesota

title: Category:Pope County, Minnesota