Bethpage-Tribune_1985-03-07

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Island Trees Plaiiiedge
also serving
Seaford OldBethpage Plainview
VOL. 19 NO. 48
On County
Nassau County District Attorney Denis Dillon today
released the findings of a continuing investigation into land­fills
in Nassau County. The DA said his office has produced
evidence clearly showiog that private carting companies are
transporting garbage from New York City and dumping it. ih
Nassau County. The primary disposal site for the city gar­bage
is the controversial Town of Oyster Bay landfill in Old
Bethpage. To a lesser extent carters are also dumping city
garbage at landfill operated by the Town of North
Hempstead.
Dillpri said, "A special Grand Jury will begin hearing
evidence regarding the illegal dumping. I'm exposing this
information now in order to prevent the further use of
Nassau landfills as a disposal site for New York City gar­bage,
it is anticipated that the Grand Jury investigation will
explore all possible reasons motivating private carting com­panies
to bring New York City garbage to Nassau County
landfills. The Grand Jury will also investigate the failure of
officials in the towns to prevent illegal dumping at ihe land-
. finsTrhis isespeciallyTmpoHa^^^^^ in Oyster Bay due" to the~
critical shortage of landfill space available at the Old Beth-page
site,"
The District Attorney's investigators have followed*
videotaped and photographed private carters as they made
garbage pickups in the city and transported their loads to the
Old Bethpage site. The two towns haye ordinances which
prohibit carters from disposing of out-of-town garbage at
the town landfills. Our investigation was prompted by the
receipt of confidential information that private carting
companies were disposing of New York City garbage at the
Town of Oyster Bay landfill. The Old Bethpage site has been
the focal point of considerable controversy throughout the
past year. There have been reports that hazardous and toxic
substances have been deposited at the landfill resulting in the
contamination of the area's water supply.
The Town of Oyster Bay has estimated that the average
daily volume of refuse deposited at the Old Bethpage site is
850 tons. At this stage of the investigation it is impossible to
definitively calculate the amount of New York City garbage
being deposited at the landfill. The City of New York has
three landfills available for the disposal of garbage. Private
. carting companies must be licensed by the city's Department
of Consumer Affairs before they can legally transport refuse
in the City. The carters must have that license before they
can use the city landfills. Most of the carting companies
bringing New York City garbage to Nassau County do not
have current city licenses.
The District. Attorney said the preliminary findings of this
investigation are significant because they indicate that:
1. Town landfill operators are not enforcing their own
ordinances which prohibit dumping from sources outside of
the towns.
2. The town landfills, which are already stretched to their
full capacities, have to a possibly substantial extent been
filled with garbage and refuse from outside sources which
the towns were not supposed to accept. In other words, the
actions of private carters in dumping outside garbage at
town dumps and the failure of the towns to safeguard the
landfills has caused the limited landfill space to be used more
quickly than would otherwise have been, the case.
3. Town taxpayers have subsidized private carters who
were able to dump outside garbage at town landfills.
4. Most disturbing is the lack of safeguards as to what
garbage and refuse the town landfills accept. A superficial
check of incoming garbage trucks would have indicated that
the source of certain trucks' contents was outside of town
limits and, in some cases, in New York City. For example,
local r/esidents who live on streets near the Oyster Bay land­fill
site have complained that garbage falling off of trucks
entering the landfills clearly originated in New York City, by
virtue of writirig and markings on various types of discarded
(Continued.on page 8)
Week of March 7 - March 14,1985 20 cents per copy
Board Examines Aviation
lUnseum Rehab Program
Led byjts majority leader, Hempstead Town
Presiding Supervisor Thomas S. Gulotta, the
Nassau County Board of Supervisors recently
conducted a hearing to examine a proposed $5.7
million dollar appropriatiori for the rehabilitation
and reconstruction of the Nassau County Cradle
of Aviation Museum in Mitchel Field.
Pictured hearing the testimony of one of the
Resumption of
Disability Benefits
As many as 77,000 dis­abled
New Yorkers whose
federal disability payments
have either been terminated
or denied may be helped by
recent court decisions and
the 1984 Social Security
Disability Benefits Reform
Act.
It is very important for
.individuals whose disability
benefits were terminated at
any time since June 1, 1976,
to cb.ntact their Social
Security office immediately.
Such persons now have the
right to request new reviews
of their cases and restora­tion
of their benefits. If a
person's benefits were
stopped, they should visit
(Continued on page 8)
nearly 30 witnesses who testified in support of the
program are (1-r): GlenXove Mayor Vincent
Suozi; Robert McDonald, Executive Assistant to
the Board of Supervisors; Supervisor Gulotta;
and Hannah Komanoff, Supervisor of the City of
Long Beach. The hearing was held in one of the
pre-World *War II hangars that currently serve as
the Museum's home.
Apply Early For New Exemption
Last week on a special
Cablevision program about
the new alternative veterans'
exemption, Abe Seldin,
Chairman of the Nassau
County Board of Assessors,
urged all veterans interested
in the new exemption to
inquire and apply early and
not wait until the May 1
deadline. Since January I,
the Department of Assess­ment
has mailed out more
than 25 thousand applica­tions
and fact sheets about
the new exemption and the
inquiries keep coniing.in.
Applications for the
ahernative exemption are
now available through the
Department of Assessment
Veterans' Division by call­ing
(516) 535-2333 or by vis-amg
the Department of
Assessment at 240 Old
Country Road in Mineola.