Boys’ basketball loses a close one in sectionals

In Sports, Sports - Ravena, The Ravena News Herald

February 27, 2025

By Melanie Lekocevic

Capital Region Independent Media

RAVENA-COEYMANS-SELKIRK — The Ravens boys’ basketball team lost a heartbreaker Wednesday against Ichabod Crane in the first round of Section 2 sectionals.

The loss ends the season for the Ravens.

The game was close most of the way through, with the Riders taking a 28-25 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The team finished the third quarter with a six-point lead over the Ravens.

In the fourth quarter the Ravens staged a comeback, taking a 53-52 lead in the final two minutes of the game.

But the Riders would not be denied and put another five points on the board in the final seconds, winning the game 57-54.

The loss ends the 2024-25 season for the Ravens. RCS finished with a 5-16 record.

The Riders will advance to the next round of play and will take on Catholic Central in the quarterfinals in Guilderland on Sunday.

Horses of Unbridled: The real rescue story of Creative Design

In Columns, Columns - Ravena, Horses of UNBRIDLED, The Ravena News Herald

April 14, 2023

By Susan Kayne

For Capital Region Independent Media

CD, or Creative Design, now lives a life of safety and security at Unbridled Thoroughbred Foundation. Contributed photo

“Changing Your Life One Story At A Time” is the registered trademark of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book series. Creative Design is the registered name of a Thoroughbred mare living in Sanctuary at Unbridled. Her barn name, or nickname, is CD. She entered the protective care of Unbridled in December of 2021.

On Feb. 18, 2023, CD celebrated her 18th birthday. She was born in 2005, in Florida. Her sire (father) is Stravinsky, he was a champion in Europe. He is also the sire of Appomattox, who lives just a few stalls away from CD. Express Star is the name of CD’s dam (mother). She was a great racehorse, a stakes winner of over $450,000. She also produced major stakes winners who earned millions of dollars while racing and sold for millions more when in production.

At the time of her birth, and throughout her racing career, CD was owned by Peter Vegso, the publisher who grew the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books into an international empire. To date, the series has sold more than 90 million copies, and includes “Chicken Soup for the Horse Lover’s Soul,” two titles co-authored by Vegso.

CD is a home-bred of Vegso, he purchased her dam, Express Star, in 2000 in California from the estate of the late Marshall Naify, a mogul who made billions in the business of movie theaters.

At the time that Unbridled rescued CD, she was owned by O’Dwyer Livestock, a horse meat trading feedlot in Bowie, Texas. Her real identity had been exchanged for #6027, a barcoded USDA label. Sorted, weighed and tagged for slaughter, CD was cleared for shipment to Mexico. For CD, this meant she would be loaded onto a massive trailer crowded with horses packed in like sardines to travel across the border.

Once in Mexico, she would be unloaded, chased up a concrete chute in which she could not turn around, locked into a concrete box at the end of the chute, and repeatedly stabbed in the back with a puntilla knife until her spinal cord snapped and she collapsed. At that point, while conscious, she’d be hoisted up by her hind leg and bled out by gravity. This is how tens of thousands of American Thoroughbreds and horses of all breeds are killed in Mexico.

When the deadline to load for shipment to slaughter loomed over CD, it wasn’t Vegso or anyone of her many past connections who stepped in to save her life. Rather, it was a patron in Virginia who saw CD fighting for her life amid a sea of panicked horses. They all needed a lifeline.

The arresting raw beauty of CD caught her eye, and she reached out by phone, email and text with a plea to save #6027. Message after message read, “There is something about this mare, please, please help her, she is out of time and in the pen to load.”

The team at Unbridled leapt into action to safeguard the mare. With her freedom purchased and a stall in the sanctuary, #6027 was assured a home to call her own. The Jockey Club and DNA testing confirmed her identity, and her journey in service to the Sport of Kings.

Creative Design, fondly known as CD, was rescued by Unbridled Thoroughbred Foundation. Contributed photo

CD carried the colors of Vegso in all of her races. From the age of two until five, she raced 22 times at eight different racetracks, and won four races earning $113,552. In her final start at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 10, 2010, she finished in last place.

Within three months, she was impregnated by Bernardini, who stood for a $60,000 breeding fee at Jonabell Farm in Kentucky. Later that same year, CD was cataloged in the November Breeding Stock Sale at Keeneland. She was sold to Reynolds Bell, Agent, for $210,000.

After leaving the ownership of Vegso, CD changed hands several times. Between 2011 and 2022, the foals produced by CD sold for over $500,000. Three of her foals are currently racing. They have earned over $200,000. Her last five registered foals, including a filly born in spring 2021, are recorded to the breedership of Three Lyons Racing LLC, a Kentucky-based entity owned by Matt, Michelle and Matthew Lyons.

In 2021, after giving birth to a filly by Klimpt, the Lyons family bred CD back to Enticed, with whom she was last mated on June 1, 2021. When she did not stay pregnant, she disappeared until she resurfaced in the O’Dwyer slaughter yards.

This is the real story of Creative Design, and perhaps with a little luck the first chapter in “Chicken Soup for the Horse Lover’s Soul – Part III.”

Susan Kayne operates the horse rescue organization Unbridled Thoroughbred Foundation, on the border of Albany County and Greenville.

Capece named MS principal

In News, News - Ravena, The Ravena News Herald

May 23, 2022

By Melanie Lekocevic

Capital Region Independent Media

Newly appointed middle school principal Denise Capece. Contributed photo

RAVENA-COEYMANS-SELKIRK — There’s a new principal in town.

Denise Capece was appointed to a two-year probationary appointment as the principal of RCS Middle School. The probationary period runs from July 1 of this year to July 12, 2024.

She will earn a salary of $113,000 a year, according to the May 18 resolution appointing her to the post.

Capece replaces former principal Laura Buzas, who resigned in 2021 due to medical reasons.

Capece was initially named the interim principal in August 2021 after Buzas went on medical leave through December 2021.

Buzas eventually resigned from the position due to medical reasons and Capece continued in the interim post as the district launched the search for a permanent replacement in February. The online application period opened March 31 and continued through April 14.

But as things turned out, the district did not have to look further than its own interim principal.

As part of the selection process, Capece was interviewed for the principal’s position by a team of RCS teachers, support staff, parents, and building and district leaders, according to the district website.

The RCS Board of Education unanimously made the appointment official at the May 18 meeting of the board.

“I want to congratulate Mrs. Capece on her appointment as principal for the middle school,” BOE President Teddy Reville said at the board meeting. “I think that throughout the last year she has done a really good job. We have kind of strung her out with three months here and four months there, and I think we finally can unleash all of the potential and good things she has to offer the district. I am really excited to see what she is going to do.”

The appointment was met with applause from the audience.

Capece has over 13 years of leadership experience at both the building and district levels, according to the district website.

She worked in several Capital Region schools and districts, including the Stillwater school district, Capital Region BOCES, Hamilton Fulton Montgomery BOCES and Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES.

She worked as both a special education teacher and an administrator.

With her new position, Capece is looking to achieve three specific goals, according to the district website. She is looking to increase and improve communication between the school and families, increase family and community involvement, and improve academic outcomes for all students.