It's Easy to Drown at Rockaway Beach

Experts say that non-swimmers who enter the water at Rockaway Beach, where drownings happen regularly, fail to respect the fact that they're in the open ocean. And if, like 19-year-old Nepali immigrant Rudra Jung Guring, who drowned at Rockaway on Wednesday, they have been drinking alcohol, their body temperature plummets in the freezing water.

With the beach not yet open for the season and no lifeguard on duty, Guring cut school with a group of teens on that hot spring afternoon and headed to Rockaway.  The group was horsing around near the end of a jetty at Beach 67th Street when Gurung slipped beneath the surface, bobbed back up a couple of times, then disappeared.

Because the group he was with put off making the 911 call, due to their fear of getting busted for underage drinking, Gurung's rescue was delayed by critical minutes.

After responding NYPD and FDNY divers pulled Gurung's body out of the water, he was transported to St. Johns Episcopal Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The area where Gurung drowned is known as a surfing beach, regarded by the pros as off-limits to all but the strongest swimmers.

The most common causes of drowning at Rockaway are swimming before lifeguards are on duty or after they've gone home for the day, or swimming while impaired by alcohol. Rip currents are hard to spot from the shore, and the rip can easily sweep away an alcohol-impaired swimmer.

To be safe at Rockaway this Memorial Day weekend, don't ignore those red flags indicating closed beaches; stay near the lifeguard, and ask what the conditions are that day. Don't go into the ocean if you don't know how to swim. In fact, don't even stand at the shoreline by yourself.

Although, effective this Saturday, New York City beaches will be open from 10 AM to 6 PM daily through beach season, be aware that Rockaway Beach is not expected to be fully staffed with lifeguards until the end of June.

More from NBC NY.

Affordable Bay Ridge Studio

Third floor apartment at 125 96th Street, between Marine and Shore in Bay Ridge.

Clean, recently-painted, with natural hardwood floors and kitchen and bedroom alcoves that make the place feel bigger.  Bank of four big windows overlooking leafy back yard offers sweeping view of the northern sky.

Four big closets and a full bath.

Elevator, laundry room, live-in super, attached garage (additional rent.)

Smoking and pets are probably a no-go.

Easy walk to subway, bus, Walgreen's, Met Food and 3rd Avenue shopping and dining venues.

Take over stabilized lease at $1,300 a month.

Call Angela Manieri at 347-752-1978 for more information and to schedule a viewing.

Free Regina Opera Concert at Bay Ridge Branch Library

Tenor Aaron Halevy

At 6:30 PM on Thursday, June 9, the Brooklyn Public Library will host a free one-hour "Regina Opera in Concert” performance at the Bay Ridge Branch, 7223 Ridge Blvd. at 73rd Street in Bay Ridge (R to Bay Ridge Avenue/B-4, B-9, B64 to Ridge Boulevard.)

Performing a program of Italian traditional songs and selections form opera and popular music will be Regina soloists soprano Elena Jannicelli-Sandella; tenor Aaron Halevy, and guitarist Kirill Ulanove, with accompaniment by flutist Richard Paratley and pianist Maxine Feldman.

For more information about Regina Opera, visit the website, e-mail info@ReginaOpera.org or call 718-259-2772.

Supporters include the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs/ City Council; New York State Council on the Arts/Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC); City Council Members Carlos Menchaca and Vincent Gentile; Con Edison; Investors Foundation; Raymour and Flanigan; Peter and Gail Salvatore Foundation; Weichert Realtors - Franzese Group; Law Office of Robert L. Howe, Esq., and Ezra Jack Keats Foundation.

Dan's Trump's Man

New York City's only Washington Republican, former Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan, elected last year in New York's 11th Congressional District to serve out disgraced Michael Grimm's term, wants to be Donald Trump's man in New York City.

The Staten Islander, who calls the Queens native a "personal friend", recently told a Staten Island crowd that while Trump may not be their first choice, he's the only hope of keeping Republican arch-nemesis Hillary Clinton out of the White House.

No surprise that Staten Island is Trump Country, with 80% of the Borough's Republican vote going to Trump in the April 19 Primary.

While Donovan, who calls himself a "moderate", tries to distance himself from Trump's obnoxious positions on Muslims, immigrants and women, he says he believes the flag-waving billionaire would still make a better president than Clinton.

Donovan even predicts that Trump could take the majority Democratic vote in New York City in the November General Election.

That's not what the polls are saying, though.

The article from the Observer.

Bay Ridge Democrats at the Bridgeview

At 7:30 PM tomorrow, Thursday, May 26,  local Democratic club Bay Ridge Democrats will meet in the banquet room of the Bridgeview Diner, at 9011 3rd Avenue in Bay Ridge.

At this must-attend monthly meeting, the club will vote to endorse a slate of candidates running for office in November.

Commodore Barry Club's Annual Trip to Philadelphia

At 8 AM on Sunday, May 29, members of the Bay Ridge-based Commodore Barry Club will meet up at Dunkin' Donuts, at 9243 4th Avenue in Bay Ridge, for the Club's annual road trip to Philadelphia. (There will be an additional pickup at My Deli on Clove Road in Staten Island.)

Club members, after attending the 11 AM mass at Old St. Mary's Church at 252 South 4th Street in Philadelphia, will lay a wreath at the tomb of Commodore Barry, behind the Church, then travel on to the Commodore Barry Irish Center at Emlen and Carpenter Lane for a reasonably-priced luncheon and traditional Irish music and dancing.

Checks made out to the Commodore Barry Club of Brooklyn can be accepted as payment. For pricing information and to reserve a seat on the tour bus, contact Mary Nolan at 718-833-3405.