Maspeth Lions host First Annual Bocce Tournament

All proceeds from event go to charity

By Jessica Meditz

jmeditz@queensledger.com

Lance Lovejoy, Jack Leone, Vincenzo Gattoni, Joe Cucchiara, Mike Vastarelli & son, Joe Papavero.

Cigar smoke and Frank Sinatra songs were in the air in Frank Principe Park last Sunday.

The Maspeth Lions Club gathered on the court in anticipation of their First Annual Bocce Tournament.

The game of bocce that folks know and love today stems from Italy, hence why you may hear exchanges of “Come stai?” on the court. 

The game involves eight colored balls, typically red and green, and another smaller white ball, called the “boccino.”

At Sunday’s game, a younger player asked about the rules — to which another player replied, “You throw the ball and hope it gets closer to the other ball.” 

“We chose bocce because anybody can play the game. Young, old, you don’t have to be in the greatest shape; you can play outside on a nice day…it’s nice,” said Joseph Papavero, president of the Maspeth Lions Club. “A big thank you to Councilman Bob Holden and the Parks Department because the courts were redone just in time for the tournament.”

Aside from the game itself, another highlight of the event was the food donated by local establishments, including Frank’s Deli, Mario’s Meats & Deli, Iavarone Bros., Rosa’s Pizza, 69th Street Beer Distributors and Jim Von Eiff State Farm Insurance.

In addition, the bocce tournament was sponsored by Maspeth Federal Savings, Papavero Funeral Home, Maspeth Contracting and E3TECH, LLC.

All the proceeds from the event went to charitable causes both near and far — from the St. Stanislaus Sports Program to the Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief Fund.

In addition to raising funds for charity, the Lions took the time to enjoy the day and see it as a bonding experience.

“I used to play bocce all the time when I’d go upstate in the Catskills for 20-something years and we always had a tournament. It’s something I play with my kids too,” said Mike Aylward, a member of the Maspeth Lions Club.

“I’ve been a proud member of the Maspeth Lions Club for 30 years and I love it,” said Robert Marchese, membership chairman. “This is a fantastic turnout and to raise money for charity, this is a great event and project.”

After all was said and done, only one team walked away victorious from the tournament — this time it was the father-son duo of Jack and Mark Leone.

“We’re thankful to be a part of the Maspeth Lions Club, and we hope to be here again next year.”

Queens GOP contributing to its own demise

Curtis Sliwa is going to have a hard time overcoming the name recognition, momentum and overwhelming voter registration disadvantage in his race against Eric Adams for mayor.
You know what is going to make it even harder? If Republicans in Queens keep holding fundraisers for his opponent.
Councilman Eric Ulrich, the last Republican elected official in Queens, was one of the hosts of a recent fundraiser for Adams at Russo’s on the Bay in Howard Beach that carried a $1,000 donation just to get in the door.
The first host listed for the event, Anthony Como, is a former Republican councilman who once held the seat occupied by Councilman Bob Holden.
The person who sent us the flyer said they were told the event would be “intimate and discrete.” We guess Republicans in Queens don’t want word getting out that they are actively raising money for the Democrat in the race.
We were also told by our source that the event raised well over $100,000 for the Adams campaign.
We guess the jockeying for influence with – and perhaps even a job in – the Adams administration has already begun, party loyalty be damned.
Speaking of Ulrich, a couple of weeks ago we wrote about the race for his seat in south Queens. Ulrich is the last Republican elected official in the borough, and if the seat goes to a Democrat, every elected post in Queens will be held by a Democrat.
While most voters in Queens, like the rest of the city, are registered Democrats, the borough has always had significant Republican strongholds in parts of the borough, such as northeast Queens, south Queens, and the neighborhoods of Maspeth, Middle Village and Glendale.
The prospect of Queens being an all-blue borough would have been unimaginable even ten year ago. We wrote about that a couple of weeks back, and loyal reader Larry Penner shared his thoughts on the demise of the Queens GOP. Here’s what he wrote:

The ongoing fight for control of the Queens County Republican Party is like two hyenas fighting over the carcass of a dead animal, in this case the remnants of the once-relevant Queens Republican Party.
This is the latest chapter of a periodic civil war whose origins can be traced to the 1980s among the remaining handful of GOP party activists. Take a trip down memory lane to understand why today’s descendants of the organization spend more time fighting each other than offering Democrats any serious competition.
Late Richmond Hill Republican Club leader Wilfred Dalton was a major force in politics for several decades up until the 1980’s. Any serious city, state or federal GOP candidate would stop by his clubhouse seeking support.
Former presidents Teddy Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan all spoke at the clubhouse.
In 1976, former governor Nelson Rockefeller still controlled the New York State GOP. During the Republican Presidential Primary that same year, the GOP establishment rallied around President Ford.
Dalton endorsed former California governor Ronald Reagan, successfully electing pro-Reagan delegates to the national GOP Convention.
In 1980, the GOP establishment was split between George Bush and Bob Dole. Proving the second time is a charm, Dalton teamed up with others and again elected pro-Reagan delegates, pushing him to the nomination.
Until the 1980’s, Queens Republicans routinely qualified candidates for all congressional, State Senate, Assembly and City Council seats. They would offer Democrats serious competition.
After the 1982 reapportionment, Democrats eliminated the districts of Queens GOP Assembly members Rosemary Gunning, John LoPresto, John Flack, Al DelliBovi and John Esposito.
John Gallagher gave up his Assembly seat in 1972 to run unsuccessfully against Democratic congress member Lester Wolff. Doug Prescott briefly recaptured this seat in the 1990s, but eventually lost, leaving Queens with no GOP Assembly members.

GOP state senators Frank Padavan and Martin Knorr voted for this reapportionment plan, since it continued to protect their own gerrymandered districts.
In 1977, Republican Rabbi Sheldon Farber won a special election to fill a vacant seat against Democrat State Assembly member Gerdi E. Lipchutz, despite a 4-to-1 Democrat-versus-Republican voter registration advantage. This temporarily gave the Queens GOP a record three State Senators.
Farber declined to run in 1978, as he knew the odds were against him winning a full term in what traditionally was a safe Democratic State Senate seat.
Despite overwhelming Democratic Party enrollment in Queens County, creative gerrymandering by the GOP-controlled State Senate after the 2000 census continued to preserve the seats of both Republican state senators Serphin Maltese and Frank Padavan.
Eventually Democrats beat Maltese in 2008 and Padavan in 2010.
Before the surprise election of Bob Turner, the last Republican congress member from Queens was Seymour Halperin. After the 1970 reapportionment, he declined to run against Democrat Lester Wolff of Great Neck in 1972 when both were merged into one Queens/Nassau County district.
In 1982, Republican John LeBoutellier briefly recaptured this seat for one term. In 2011, Bob Turner won the 9th Congressional District in a special election defeating David Weprin to replace Democrat Anthony Weiner.
As a result of his district being gerrymandered out of existence, he ran and lost in the 2012 Republican Primary for Senate rather than seek reelection in another district.
James A. Lundy was the last GOP Queens borough president. He served from January 1952 to December 1957. Nat Hentel was the last GOP District Attorney. He was appointed by Governor Rockefeller and served one year in 1966.
During the 1990s under Republican mayor Rudy Guiliani, the GOP elected Tom Olgibene, Mike Abel and Alfonse Stabile from Queens.
In 2009, the GOP elected Dan Halloran, Peter Koo and Eric Ulrich. Koo changed his enrollment to Democrat in 2012. Halloran was sent to prison on political corruption charges.
Today, the last GOP public official from Queens is Ulrich. He may go down in political history as the last registered Republican public official from Queens.
In 2017, Councilman Bob Holden was elected on the Republican and Conservative party lines, but rejoined the Democrats after taking office, although he still routinely runs on the Conservative Party line.
Crossover Democrats who would vote Republican continue to move out of the borough or succumb to old age. There has been no successful GOP outreach to new Caribbean, Hispanic, Asian or other immigrant groups.
Attempts to reach middle-class African-American homeowners in former GOP neighborhoods has also failed. For decades, once the GOP loses any incumbent City Council, Assembly, State Senate or congressional representative, they are seldom ever able to reclaim the district.
Both Queens GOP factions should be thinking about the future instead of their own respective egos. Otherwise, the ever-dwindling number of Queens Republicans will continue down the path to political extinction.
The numbers just don’t afford Republicans the opportunity to elect anyone to public office, thus making them irrelevant in the General Election. Many Assembly districts no longer have active GOP political clubhouses.
Hundreds of Queens Republican county committee positions are vacant. There are few volunteers to circulate nominating petitions which are required to place candidates on the ballot or assist candidates in running campaigns.
In many cases, candidates are just placeholders on the ballot. They have no funding or volunteers and just go through the motions, knowing in advance they will lose by large margins.
As a result, they are unable to mount any serious challenges to incumbent Democratic officials. Democrats have a free pass every November.

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