Bethpage-Tribune_1980-05-29

              BETHPAGE OLD BETHPAGE PLAINVIEW
:£THP1-GE. LIB
17 POWELL *
BETHPAGt NY 117 14
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ISLAND TREES PLAINEDGE SEAFORD
VOL. 14 NO. 50 For The Week of May 29 - June 4,1980 20 cents per copy
FIGHTING FOR LOWER TAXES 100 YEARS AGO AND
TODAYY Estelle Wenig gets view from Rick Jagels [left] fighting
for lower-taxes for Old Bethpagers 100 years ago at Old Bethpage
Restoration Village taxpayers meeting and from Dougles J. Hynes,
Nassau County Special Counsel for legislative liaison [right]
fighting for lower taxes for Old Bethpagers currently in Albany.
Something Smells At The Potential Campsite
by Estelle Wenig
Every community seems to
have its fair share of problems --
but during the past several weeks
Old Bethpage seems to be having
"slightly more" than its fair
share of difficulties.
During the early part of May,
Old Bethpage residents as well as
the Board of Education were
furious at Nassau County's
proposal to erect a campsite
adjacent to the Town of Oyster
Bay incinerator located on Round
Swamp Road. They were further
angered when machinery ap­peared
at the site, just a few days
before they were scheduled to
express their views before the
Nassau County Board of
Supervisors meeting. One of the
most important hazards that
these residents had intended to
make the supervisors aware of
was the possibility of leakage of
fumes from the highly com­bustible
methane gas that seems
to prevail at every garbage
dump.
Just this past week, it was
reported that over 100 beautifully
full grown oak trees were com­pletely
destroyed from the un­derground
seepage of methane
gas from the Town Landfill in
nearby Bethpage State Park.
State officials fear that the gar­bage
fumes will further endanger
the 20 acres of woods located in
the park. Added to this, officials
are now suspecting that cancer
causing vinyl chloride and other
pollutant might be leaking into
the air from the landfill due to the
chemicals and other waste
products that were disposed of
here. Hooker Chemicals is
suspected of having disposed of
up to 800 tons of chemicals in­cluding
vinyl chloride at the
landfill from 1968-1979. Town
officials have six months to carry
out a ventilation project that
could cost as much as $800,000.
(Interestingly enough. $800,000 is
the exact amount authorized for
the erection of the campsite at
approximately the same
location).
What further puzzles Old Beth­page
residents is why the cam­pers,
headed by Charles Sciarini,
President of the Nassau Com­mittee
for Camping, Inc, did not
oppose the location of the cam­psite.
Surely, campers would not
favor a campsite location filled
with rodents, methane gas, in­cinerator
smoke and odors
caused from the incinerator and
landfill.
Another very real problem
facing Old Bethpage residents
similar to other, communities
throughout Nassau County is the
massive tax shift from com-merical
to residential peoperty.
Recently. The Bethpage school
district lost $750,000 in revenues
caused by Grumman's
reassessment. Speaking on
taxes., Nassau County Special
Counsel for legislative liasion,
Douglas Hynes said that he
currently is working in Albany to
promote suburban interest in the
legislature. Hynes indicated that
the present State Assembly is
comprised of "city-oriented
members" and that he is
presently fighting for legislation
to alleviate the growing threat to
the "continued well-being of our
suburban way of life." Hynes
concluded by saying "Death and
taxes may be inevitable. But it is
not inevitable that we be taxed to
death."
PAUSE TO REFLECT: Oyster Bay Town Councilman Salvatore R. Mosca [right front] was among
those who attended an early morning Memorial Day Service at St. Martin of Tours R.C. Here, he
pauses on the steps for a moment of reflection with [left to right front] William Gillispie, Bethpage
Fire Commissioner; Dorothy Rabas, President of the American Legion No.86 Ladies Auxiliary;
Margaret Morgan, Gold Star Mother; Fr. John Murray, Pastor of St. Martins; [left to right rear]
William Galloway, Past Commander of the Bethpage V.F.W.; Charles Schwartz, Chairman of the
Bethpage Memorial Day Committee; William Fortang, Commander of the V.F.W.; and Robert King,
Parade Coordinator and a member of the American Legion. Photos, of the Parade appear in the
centerfold.