Central Park

(1983)

Thursday at 11:30 a.m., on the Bridle Path near 90^th Street and Fifth Avenue, Hermes, the European leather-goods house, will present a six-year-old chestnut gelding to Mayor Koch, Commissioner Stern, and Central Park Administrator Elizabeth Barlow for use by the Mounted Parks Enforcement Patrol.

Jean-Louis Dumas-Hermes, Chairman and President of Hermes, will name the quarter horse "Mr. Ed," in honor of the Mayor as a part of the firm’s "Salute to New York City." Hermes is opening its first shop in New York on East 75^th Street.

(1984)

William Ackerman hasn't missed a day of work in 30 years. So it wasn't too suprising when he, and about 190 other Parks Department employees, didn't miss the agency's first perfect attendance awards ceremony, held today in the Brooklyn War Memorial.

(1985)

It’s not often that you get to flank Betty Boop, dancing butterflies and a steam-breathing dragon while on your tour of duty. But that’s just what six Mounted PEP Officers did yesterday morning as they rode in the 59^th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Mounted PEP Director Sandra Schlicher, Supervisor Kevin Jeffrey and Officers Anthony Cordero, Steven Washington, Bridget Brody and Benjamin Wasser served as Parks representatives in the parade. They carried an American Flag, a New York City Flag and, of course, the Parks Department banner.

(1988)

With help from The Nature Conservancy, a number of rare and endandgered species of plants and wildlife in the city's 26,000 acres of parkland will be preserved for years to come, according to Natural Resource Group Director Marc Matsil.

(1995)

All eyes were sparkling with glee on Saturday, November 18 at the Thomas Jefferson rec center in Manhattan during the 1995 Citywide Fencing tournament, organized by Beth Jordan, Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Recreation, in conjunction with the East Harlem International Fencing club. Thirty-three New Yorkers ages 9 and up competed in four different divisions. In each division, first, second and third prize medals were awarded. All participants received t-shirts. The event was sponsored by Patsy's Pizzeria.

(1996)

Thanksgiving Day is a slow day for parks in general. Certainly not the kind of day that you expect to see a plane fall out of the sky but that’s what happened to Urban Park Ranger Squad Leader Lorraine Salgado and her partner on Turkey Day.

"Myself and Officer Noelba Pesante were patrolling in Wagner Park at 1:40 in the afternoon and we saw a plane (a small two-person prop plane) passing by," Salgado said. "It was flying pretty low and it was sputtering, getting lower and lower. I knew it was going to go into the water. When I saw the splash. I ran out of the South Cove, got into the vehicle, alerted the Harbor Patrol.

When they reached the scene they saw an amazing thing—a plane in the water and two dry people on land.

"They were lucky enough to land close to the pier, so they could just walk along the wing and onto the pier," marvelled Salgado. "Dry as a whistle both of them."