Community

NEARLY ALL the Miami Marlins rushed over to the dugout railing and playfully pretended to listen when Joey Cora sat down to speak about filling in for suspended manager Ozzie Guillen. Shortly after Guillen addressed the team in the clubhouse Wednesday and apologized for saying he admired Fidel Castro, it was business as usual for the players. To a man, they had his back. "It's really a hard time for him and his family," closer Heath Bell said before the Marlins lost to the Phillies, 7-2. "We felt bad for him. You have to understand that occasionally guys make mistakes.

BETHLEHEM - One city's loss is another city's gain. And I'm not just talking about what Oakland Raiders fans lost when free-agent cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha signed on Friday with the Eagles. I'm talking about the city of Oakland and its surrounding communities. Don't get me wrong, because I know that many athletes walk their talk about sharing their good fortunes and giving back to the community. I would never belittle anything that anyone does to help his/her fellow person because anything is great and no amount is too small, but some people have a greater call for philanthropy.

WAKE FOREST sophomore point guard Tony Chennault, who played at Ss. Neumann-Goretti High, will transfer at the end of the spring semester, according to Demon Deacons coach Jeff Bzdelik. Chennault said he wanted to play closer to home. He started 31 games this season as Wake finished 13-18, 4-12 in the ACC. "This was a tough decision to leave my teammates at this point in my career, but at the end of the day I have to do what's best for me and my family," Chennault told the Wake Forest sports information office.

I'D LIKE TO THANK the Daily News for its recent series bringing attention to the issue of illegal ATVs and dirt bikes, which have replaced graffiti as the major blight of lower-income neighborhoods. Why spend the time and money tagging up a wall? You don't know who will see it, and it'll probably get removed in a few days anyway. But roaring down the street, scaring children and setting off car alarms on an ATV or dirt bike gives immediate recognition. Plus, it has the added assurance that you won't get caught.

No to Hagel The last Republican-in-name-only brought in by a Democratic president to run the Pentagon and to give the chief bipartisan cover to starve the military (every Democrat's dream) was Bill Cohen, who served under Bill Clinton ("New team for security challenges," Tuesday). After four years under their feckless leadership and general lack of interest, our nation suffered the most deadly attack since Pearl Harbor. In fairness to Clinton, there was a relative calm in the world then, and Cohen was smart enough not to harbor oafish points of view, unlike Chuck Hagel, President Obama's nominee for defense secretary.

WANT TO MEET people, make new friends - maybe even start a little romance in your life? Ruth Harvey had the secret: Get off your duff, get out and do things. Do things that you enjoy and get to know people who enjoy the same things. And they will introduce you to other people, and pretty soon you have a network. Bars and nightspots are OK if you like that sort of thing, but try burning off paint from the hull of a tall ship, as Ruth did back in the late '80s on the Gazela. "So while you're down there burning off paint, you're having a conversation with someone and you realize you have something in common," she said.

Harran Williams' rise to the top of New Jersey's exclusive hurdling community has been nearly as fast as Williams himself. When it seemed that few outside the Camden city limits knew the password to get into the club for hurdling's elite, the Delran senior busted down the door. Beginning with the South Jersey Track and Field Carnival on April 30, Williams has shaved four seconds off his best time in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, and at last weekend's state Group 2 meet in South Plainfield, he avenged losses from the sectional meet to win state titles in the 110 high hurdles (14.27 seconds)

For the first time, the city's vast inventory of 9,000 vacant properties for sale will be just a mouse click away. The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority (PRA) is rolling out a new online site for viewing all of its vacant land and buildings, as well as the holdings of the Public Property Department and the city-run Philadelphia Housing Development Corp. The official launch will be in June. Technicians are working out the bugs, but the site will be accessible through the main PRA page (www.phila.gov/pra)

LINWOOD, N.J. - There's "Breaking News" on the website of James M. Kauffman, board-certified endocrinologist, but it is not the news all of Linwood seems to be expecting. "Now accepting Tricare. New patients welcome," according to the site. One year after his wife, Shore radio personality and veterans advocate April Kauffman, 47, was found shot to death in the bedroom of their home in this leafy community just over the bridge from Margate - a year after the prosecutor at the time confidently suggested the case would be solved - there has been no arrest, no breaking news.

Hey, Philly. Airfares to Boston are going to get cheaper - a lot cheaper. JetBlue Airways announced today it will begin five daily nonstop flights between Boston and Philadelphia on May 23, with "low fares and an ideal schedule for the business traveler. " JetBlue will offer a special $17.76 one-way "independence" ticket for travel between May 28 and June 19, if booked at www.jetblue.com between now and midnight tomorrow, Friday, Dec. 14. A check of JetBlue's website showed fares as low as $64 one-way for other days, once the service begins.