The Barn Blog

   

Peter Tocco, local resident and barn goer lead a presentation on the Martial Arts. Peter has been training in the Martial Arts for over thirty years has attained the rank of 6th degree black belt in Goju Ryu karate.  Peter’s training has taken him across the Unites States and abroad as both a martial arts competitor and as a self defense instructor for several federal law enforcement agencies and specialized military units.  Peter was also the owner and chief instructor of the House of Karate II Dojo (school) where he taught children, teens and adults for over five years before professional commitments made it impossible for him to maintain his teaching duties.

Peter spoke to us about many aspects of the various martial arts including their origin, differences and modern day development. He focused on practical applications, the physical and spiritual impact, and selecting the best style for ones needs.  There was a question and answer session and some impressive demonstrations. We ended with some board breaking where besides Peter, three volunteers broke boards with their hands.

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Mike Palumbo attended his first barn night a month ago and he immediately offerred to host an event. Mike was a police officer for a number of years and then became a lawyer. So he was able to share his unique perspective with us. He began the talk with a general discussion of estate planning, a topic of particular concern to those of us with again parents. We talked about wills, irrevocable trusts, gifting and various strategies for passing on inheritances and protecting assets. Then Mike shared some practical information about DWI and DUI law. What to say and not to say to the police officer. When to take or refuse the breatholizer test. The presentation ended with a lively discussion about prostitition and how police in Westchester are setting up sting operations for both prostitutes and men who frequent them. All in all it was an informative talk and we all left with a lot more knowlege of the law than when we arrived.

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