Bethpage-Tribune_1987-07-30

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4 C O P ' tS
Island Trees Plainedge
also serving
Seaford Old Bethpage Plainview
VOL. 32 NO. 13 July 30,1987 to August 5,1987 20 cents per copy
Crime Pays
Nassau County District Attorney Denis Dillon
has forwarded checks totalling more than
$242,558.00 to Nassau County and New York
State, representing payments under the Forfei­ture
Law. The money represents the proceeds and
profits of criminal activity in Nassau County that
was seized by the DA's Forfeiture Unit. Nassau
County is receiving a check for $180,354,52 and
the New York State Division of Substance Abuse
Services is receiving a check for $62,204.38. In
October of 1986 the Nassau DA's Office for­warded
checks totalling more than $563,000.00 to
the County and the State representing forfeiture
payments.
Dillon said, "The Forfeiture Law passed by the
State Legislature greatly expands the scope of
forfeiture in New York. It is hoped that by confis­cating
the fruits of crime from criminals we can
deter some who might think of the consequences
of their action."
The DA said the latest payment brings to
$805,558.00 turned over to the County and State
from the Nassau County Forfeiture Unit. Cur­rently
the Unit is litigating several cases involving
more than $10 million as the alleged proceeds of
criminal activity in Nassau County. These matters
are now before the State Supreme Court or
County Court.
Scholarship Winner
Anthony P. Antonucci, Jr. (C), of Plainview,
winner of a 1987 Grumman Science and Engineer­ing
Scholarship worth $24,000, receives official
certificate of award from Norman N. Lewin, vice
president and chief engineer of Grumman Air­craft
Systems Division, as Antonucci's father,
Anthony, Sr., looks on. Young Antonucci, vale­dictorian
of his class at John F. Kennedy School,
plans to study computer science at Cornell.
Under the Forfeiture Law the State receives 50
percent of all drug forfeitures. The County also
receives 50 percent. Non-drug forfeitures all go to
the County, with some funds for law enforcement
and some for the General Fund.
Dillon said his office is also continuing to seize
cars and other vehicles from individuals convicted
of felony drunk driving. He said this was a tre­mendous
deterrent in the battle to stop drunk
driving.
Bethpage School District and
BAD A Receive $20M0 Grant
Nassau County Executive Thomas S. Gulotta and Town
of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Colby announced today
the awarding of $20,000 in a special anti-cocaine grant for
the Bethpage Adolescent Development Association,
(B.A.D.A.), and the Bethpage Union Free School District
for a two-year demonstration project.
"The best way to prevent abuse of cocaine, as well as
alcohol and other drugs, is to educate our school-age child­ren
and to provide intervention services for them while their
problems still are small," Mr. Gulotta said.
The grant, under contract to the County's Department of
Drug and Alcohol Addiction, provides $20,000 a year far a
twoyear period, retroactive to January I, 1987, and running
through December 31, 1988.
This special demonstration project, which focuses on
prevention and education, is for innovative new initiatives, a
new component to the currently operating program, or for
funding of a cocaine/crack specialist in this existing pro­gram.
Applications were offered to ail of Nassau's school
districts, school-based programs, and community based
substance abuse programs.
The County's goal in providing this $20,000 in a special
grant, according to Mr. Gulotta, is: (1) to respond to the
current cocaine/crack epidemic, and the ongoing problem
of substance abuse, among school-age children; (2) to
encourage schools and their local substance abuse treatment
program to cooperate more closely.
Finals of TOBAY Games
The public is cordially invited to come and watch the
finals of the 10th Annual Tobay Games, which, for the first
time, are being held in the evening. The Tobay Games has
become one of the most popular events of the Town's
summer season, but until this year, the finals were always
held during the day, which made it difficult for working
parents to watch their children compete.
Sponsored by the Town's Bicentennial Historical Com­mission
and Department of Parks, the Tobay Games feature
track and field events for youngsters ages 5 to 14. Those who
win events at their home parks will participate in the finals,
which will be held at Theodore Roosevelt fClemorial Park,
Larrabbee Avenue, Oyster Bay, on Monday, August 3.
The evening's festivities will get underway at 6:30 PM with
a rookie league softball game. At 7:30 PM, the finals of the
Tobay Games will start. Events include a relay race, 50-yard
dash, obstacle course, physical fitness, long jump and Fris-bee
throw.
All participants in the finals will receive T-shirts. In addi­tion,
first, second and third place winners in each age group
for each activity will receive medals.
The raindatc for the finals will be Monday, August 10.
Vacations Are For
Helping Others
ByKimRuhJ
Bethpage home town girl Ingrid Birnbach spent this year's
spring vacation in a land of sun and palm trees - and poverty
and disease.
Birnbach and twelve others visited the island of Haiti on a
trip conducted by Villanova University's Campus Ministry.
In order to pay her way, ingrid solicited sponsorship from
friends and relatives, and along with donations from various
Bethpage organizations, she managed to raise $1,200. Some
Ingrid Birnbach
of her supporters were: Photonews Employees, Bethpage
Rotary Club, St. Martin of Tour Church and Bethpage
Columbiettes. Her group, which consisted of professionals,
a priest and several students, were taken to orphanages,
hospitals, schools and missions.
One highlight of the trip, Ingrid said, was the dedication
of the new school that Villanova students had helped finance.
The students raised $17,000 during two Hunger Awareness
Weeks and a Balloon Day on campus.
The new Haitian school is part of a system of 145 schools
teaching 15,000 pupils. The system was built by Holland
native Father Lawrence Bohnen to help combat the island's
80% illiteracy rate.
The schools provide one meal a day besides an education.
"Today's meal is beans and corn, tomorrow's is corn and
beans," Father Bohnen said. "It's the biggest diner's club in
the world."
"The children receive a scoop of food ... which they carry
back home to share with their families," Birnbach said. "For
many it will be the only meal of the day."
When the children go home, it is often to a one-room
shack made of cement or wood. Father Bohnen showed the
group two "slums", called "Boston" and "Brooklyn" (collec­tively
known as Cite Soleil), which consist of such houses.
"Usually a family of five or more stays in each shack,"
ingrid said. "Many times they must sleep in shiils because
there is no room for all to lie down at once, in this one room,
approximately 10' by 12', they eat, sleep, cook, give birth
and die."
Disease and malnutrition are commonplace among the
island's poor. Birnbach and her group spent two days work­ing
with Rich Ludwig, a retired dentist from Wisconsin who
gives medical attention to the people of "Brooklyn".
Ludwig sends all serious cases to a nearby clinic. He
handles all other services himself, from delivering babies to
treating diseases to distributing food and clothing.
Although people such as Father Bohnen and Dr. Ludwig
(Continued (with photos) on page 5]