Bethpage-Tribune_1974-03-21

              BETHWGE EIHPA8E H I
8T B9
BETHPAGE PUS LIS
| 47 POWELL AV
I BETHPAGE NY 11714
also serving ISLAND TREES
OLD BETHMGE PLAINVIEW PLAINEDGE SEAFORD
Thursday, March 21,1974 10 cents par copy
VET MEDICOS: Congressman Angelo D. Ronacallo, (R-Third
District) toured the Medical Facilities which are available for the
treatment of Veterans at the Northport Veterans Hospital recently.
The hospital facilities are also used in conjunction with the Medical
School located at the SUte;4jW««*»tty••••*• Stony Q e ^ . twtth the
medical personnel both practicing Medfclne at Northport, and
teaching it at Stony Brook. The purpose of the tourwwto promote
thev Medical and Edutr«««M>«lf»cUltie» at> the Hoapltal- <«*»ch 5»re
available to serve the needs of the Veteran in the bi-county area. (L
to R): Representative Roncallo, Dr. Harry Fritts, Chief of Medical
Services at Northport Hospital, and Department Chairman of
Medicine at Stony Brook, and Dr. Lumia, Assistant Chief of Car­diology
at Northport Hospital.
Put down that paper, scavenger!
Town Councilman Joseph J.
Saladino, Chairman of the Town
Board's Standing- Committee on
Environmental Control, has
issued a warning to newspaper
scavengers that they are
violating the law and are subject
to fines by taking bundles left at
curbside by residents par­ticipating
in Oyster Bay's
newspaper recycling program.
The reminder comes after
complaints by residents that cars
are cruising neighborhohod
streets at night in search of
bundled papers. The complaints
have been substantiated by
records of the Division of En­vironmental
Control, the Town
agency responsible for over­seeing
the program. These
figures reflect a drop of 103,735
pounds... .or 33 percent.. .between
the amount of newsprint
collected in February of this year
and February, 1973.
"Only those persons or
agencies formally authorized by
the homeowner or recognized
charitable organizations that-have
received written permission
from the Town's Public Works
Commissioner may remove the
newspaper bundles," Saladino
said. "All others are subject to a
maximum fine of $75 and / or ten
(10) days in jail."
Oyster Bay's Newspaper
Recycling Ordinance provides a
penalty of $25, per household, for
the illegal removal of papers; the
Town's Garbage, Litter and
Waste Ordinance includes a
penalty of $50 and / or ten (10)
days imprisonment for such
offenses.
Saladino noted that the En­vironmental
Control Division has
notified local police precincts
that scavengers have been
operating illegally.
The Town currently conducts
newspaper recycling in portions
of Old Bethpage, Bethpage,
Syosset, Massapequa, Hicksville,
Oyster Bay hamlet, Locust
Valley, Jericho and South Far-mingdale.
Margiotta calls Newsday a liar
Assemblyman Joseph M.
Margiotta, Nassau Republican
leader, has branded as an "un­mitigated
lie" a story in March 14Ah's
"Newsday" which indicated that
he attempted to use his position to
get preferential ticket treatment
for GOP party benefactors and
VIPs for the Frank Sinatra
concert.
"Newsday's" source for the
story is an unmitigated liar and
'Newsday's' reporting of it is still
another example of their
irresponsible reporting of the
news, particularly as it concerns
Republicans," he said..
Plainedge seems to pass first test
of Board's public disclosure policy
by Richard Wood
At the Plainedge Board
of Education's February 7
meeting, Trustee Michael
Gimino introduced a
resolution calling for
expansion of the board's
public agenda and public
disclosure of all items
contained in the board's
confidential report.
Passing by a close 4-2-1
vote, it had all the ear­marks
of being a land­mark
ihove.
Tife SpiSrSI's Thursday,
March 14 meeting was the
first opportunity for the
new philosophy to be
translated into practical
use.
From all appearances it
seems to be working well.
In great contrast to the
superficial one-and two-page
agendas usually
distributed at board
meetings, a detailed
seven-page agenda was
available at the March 14
meeting. However, the
most noticeable difference
was not so much the ex­panded
paperwork, but a
renewed attempt at
communication by the
board itself.
School Board President
Franklyn J. McGrath
made every attempt to
explain the various items
in the agenda, while his
colleague board members
took turns reading
resolutions and offering
worthwhile commentary.
Most significant was
McGrath's response to a
letter received by the
board from two Plainedge
High School coeds, Nancy
Post and Joan Gibson.
The girls had requested,
via their letter, an in­creased
allocation of the
district's interscholastic
sports budget in girl's
sports. Essentially, the
two girls, who, in­cidentally,,
were present at
the meeting with a number
of supporters, suggested
that girl's varsity sports
be given equal priority
with boy's varsity sports.
McGrath handled the
matter wih honesty,
sincerity and diplomacy,
freely discussing the
various aspects of the idea
with the girls and finally
reassuring the girls that
the matter would be looked
into by the administration.
Following the school
attorney's report,
presented by LeRoy
VanNostrand, McGrath
volunteered a non­technical,
but full ex­planation
to the 40 persons
in attendance of a
relatively minor case
brought against the
district by a^ ev
employee.
Similarly, MLcGrath
provided a full explanation
of a 4 percent pay raise
being granted by the
district to principals,
assistant principals,
directors, coordinators,
business managers and
the superintendent of
buildings.
7-PAGE AGENDA
The agenda itself for the
first time listed the names
of those individuals going
on maternity and health
leave, those named as
permanent substitute
teachers, and those
granted appointments as
(Continued on Page 10)
'Equalization' may only liberate
more $$$ from local taxpayers
"I denied the allegation on
Wednesday when NEWSDAY
reporter Bradford. W. O'Hearn
"first called Robert McDonald, my
Executive Assistant. I
vehemently deny ihvstoty again
today. It is absolutely not true. I
have never sent a list of names to
anyone at the coliseum for the
Sinatra concert, or any other
event," Margiotta said.
"In addition to my denial,
Arthur Scharf, Executive
Director of the coliseum, also
denied the story as did Lance
Elder, as aide to Scharf-/,,,
Forecasting a loss of state aid
to Nassau County's school
districts and to local towns and
villages, Abe Seldin, chairman of
the Nassau County Board of
Assessors, has demanded that
the New York State Board.of
Equalization and Assessment
stop their plans to lower
equalization rates presently used
by the State to evaluate the base
property value of local com­munities
in Nassau.
Seldin stated that, "The ire*
effect of the lower equalization
rates proposed by the board will
be to increase the base value of
Nassau's communities causing a
sharp reduction in state aid."
The equalization rate is the.
relationship between the real
value of property and its taxable
value. The State Equalization
Board is assigned the duty of
setting the rates for about 30
different purposes .including the
distribution of state aid to school
districts and to local
municipalities.
. Following the distribution
formula utilized by the state, the
amount of state aid decreases as
the basJpSalue of the co^ munit j ,
as denoted by the e ualizat:- -*
rate, increases. Under the L..' /
rates proposed by the New York
State Board of Equalization
school districts and local towns
and villages could lose as as
much as five percent in state
funds n c * year. "The e«.d result,"
stated Seldin, "w«"'.d be a
sizeable tax increase ior local
homeowners."
Seldin attacked the proposed
rates on the grounds they were
based on an "inaccurate and
questionable" sampling process
and that under current laws the
rights of the citizens of Nassau
County were being violated. Such
action would make the deter­minations
of the Board in relation
to Nassau unconstitutional.
"The method utilized by the
Board was employed to save time
and money and does not
represent a cross-section of the
Nassau community, "asserted
Seldin. "Only one percent of the
commercial and residential
parcels in the unincorporated
areas were examined while over
seven percent of the properties in
the incorporated villages were
sampled. These were combined
by some quesstimation process \i>
arrive at the rates, " he con­tinued.
"The reason for the large
disparity in the samples is that
the Board. must also establish
separate rates for incorporated
villages.Rather than doing a
credible job county-wide, they
used the villages figures and only
a token survey of the unin­corporated
areas."