Page 6 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • January 21, 2009 Ridgewood Carla Killough McClafferty, author of “In Defiance of Hitler: The Secret Mission of Varian Fry,” will appear at the Ridgewood Public Library’s Belcher Auditorium on Wednesday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. The event is open to the public and admission is free. McClafferty’s book tells the gripping story of Ridgewood Village library to host Varian Fry author hometown hero Varian Fry’s daring World War II mission to rescue Nazi refugees. McClafferty’s appearance, sponsored by the Friends of the Ridgewood Library, will include a talk and book signing. Books will be available for sale at the event. A portion of book sales proceeds will benefit Ridgewood Public Library youth services. McClafferty grew up on a farm in Arkansas. Her path to becoming an author is unique since her first career is as a registered radiologic technologist. She began writing after the death of her youngest son, Corey. Her first book, “Forgiving God” (Discovery House Publishers, 1995) deals with the issues she faced after the death of her son. She then turned her attention to writing middle grade non-fiction books. Her first book in this genre was “The Head Bone’s Connected to the Neck Bone: The Weird, Wacky and Wonderful X-ray” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2001). Her second book for young readers is “Something out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2006). In addition to her books, McClafferty has been published in magazines for adults and children, including “Cricket” and “ASK.” She has presented workshops and keynote addresses across the nation and is a frequent speaker at schools, and at teachers’ and writers’ conferences. She is currently the regional advisor in Arkansas of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She lives in North Little Rock, Arkansas with her husband Pat. They have two surviving children, Ryan and Brittney. The Ridgewood Library is located at 125 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood. Call (201) 670-5600, extension 125 for additional information. SHARE luncheon Twenty-four residents of SHARE, a senior housing community in Ridgewood and members of their Board of Trustees were entertained at the Annual Holiday Luncheon hosted by the Women of Emmanuel. Pastor Linda Hart Green welcomed all. Following the luncheon a Christmas and Songs of the Season sing-a-long was led by Marjorie Lewis, with Pastor Judy Wheeler on piano. Emmanuel Baptist Church is located on Hope St. and Ridgewood Ave. in Ridgewood. Call (201) 444-7300 for information. The Ridgewood Police Department is investigating two recent car thefts. One car was taken from a driveway, where the owner had left it to be picked up as a donation. The other car was stolen from a locked garage and later surfaced in Paterson after having been involved in a collision. The first car, a black 1999 Lexus, was taken from a driveway on Sterling Place. The owner had called to donate it to The Special Kids Foundation and had removed the license plates, but the car vanished from the owner’s driveway. When he called the foundation, he was told that they had not picked up the vehicle. The detective bureau is investigating. The second incident involved the disappearance of a Cars stolen; one taken from locked garage red Ford Mustang convertible from a locked garage on Knollwood Road. The residents discovered the car was missing when they returned from vacation. The keys to the vehicle were also missing from the location where the keys were left, inside the house, but there were no signs of forcible entry. A man employed to take care of the Ridgewood family’s pets said the car was removed on or before Dec. 23, but reportedly had no idea who took it. The red convertible was abandoned after a hit-andrun accident in Paterson. Ridgewood Detective Doug Henky is investigating and asks anyone with information to contact him at (201) 251-4537.