Bethpage-Tribune_1987-03-05

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Island Trees Plainedge
also serving
Seaford Old Bethpage Plainview
VOL. 31 NO. 45 March 5,1987 to March 11,1987 20 cents per copy
New Law Requires Fingerprinting of
School Bus Attendants
Senator Norman J. Levy
(R,C-Merrick), continuing
his efforts to ensure the
safety of school children
who ride New York State's
school buses, announced
that his legislation, which
will strengthen qualifying
procedures and require the
fingerprinting and compre­hensive
screening of ail
school bus attendants
throughout the State, has
passed the Senate.
Levy, who sponsored the
State's law requiring finger­printing
and increased
screening of ail school bus
drivers, said that the mea­sure
is necessary to further
safeguard children from
incidents involving child
abuse, including sexual and.
other physical abuse, by
school bus attendants.
Under Levy's.bill, school
districts would be mandated
to require all school bus
attendants to be finger­printed
and be subject to the
same increased criteria for
employment as bus drivers.
Currently, under the
Levy law requiring bus driv­ers
to be fingerprinted,
school districts are permit­ted
to require fingerprinting
and increased screening of
school bus attendants, but
are not required to do so and
this^ legislation is necessary
to ensure that all school dis­tricts
provide this important
safety measure.
"If a check of criminal
history reveals that a bus
Gulotta GOP
attendant had a previous
conviction for crimes such
as sexual assaults, drug
abuse, endangering the wel­fare
of a child or an *incom-petent'
person, in addition
to other felonies, this person
would be disqualified from
working as a school bus
attendant," Levy said.
"Our school children are
our most precious commod­ity
-and this bill will help to
ensure that our children aire
protected from the sort of
sordid characters who
would commit these vile
assaults," Levy said, con­cluding,
"and I will press for
enactment, into law, during
the 1987 Session."
Long Island Is Site For Games
Governor Mario M.
Cuomo, for the third year
announces, that the New
York State Games for the
Physically Challenged will
be held on May 28-31. The
program is offered by the
Office of Parks, Recreation
and Historic Preservation at
Nassau Community College
and the Nassau iPounty
Parks Department (Mitchel
Athletic Complex) in
Uniondale.
Invited to compete are
physically challenged ath­letes,
ages 8 through 21, who
are amputees, blind, deaf,
spinal cord injured, have
cerebral palsy and les autres
(the others). Each entrant is
eligible to compete in a total
of four (4) events in swim­ming,
equestrian, table ten­nis,
track and field and
slalom.
In addition to the sche­duled
events, demonstra­tions
will be given on a var­iety
of adapted sports.
There is no charge for this
event, but pre-registration is
required. For applications
or more information, write
or call:
New York State Games for
the Physically Challenged
P. O. Box 247
Belmont Lake State Park
Babylon, NY 11702
516 669-1000 Ext. 294
Railroad Electrification
By Matt Rufrano
the first Long Island
Rail Road electric
trains out of Bethpage
will be carrying com­muters
from the Beth­page
station to Penn.
Station in New York.
According to Don
Malone, spokesman
for the LIRR, this is the
first step in the electri­fication
of the rail­road's
Main Line. The
details are currently
being worked on which
will first have a few
trains originating from
Bethpage. Commuters
frora,IBethp#ge to
Penn. JStation will not
have to change at
Hicksville or Jamaica.
As each section of
track is electrified
between Bethpage and
Ronkonkoma the
electric service will be
extended to include
these stations. At pres­ent,
Mr. Malone could
not say when the Farm-ingdale
station would
be electrified. The
entire line, however, is
scheduled to be in
operation -by Dec.
1987.
Guest I Happy 75th Anniversary
Club President Kevin
Galloway has announced
that Nassau County Execu­tive
Thomas S. Gulotta will
be welcomed as the "Special
Guest of Honor".at the nest
meeting of the Theodore
Roosevelt Republican Club
of Bethpage.
The meeting will take
place on Monday evening,
March 9, 1987, at the Amer­ican
Legion Hall on
Washington Street, begin­ning
at 8:00 P. M.
George F. Youchmann,
Executive Leader of the
Bethpage GOP Organiza­tion,
commented that "As
residents of the Town of
Oyster Bay, the members of
our Club have often read
(Continued on Page 8)
To The Girl Scouts of
America
Colby Will Not Seek
Reelection
Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Joseph Colby
announced today that he will not seek the Repub­lican
nomination for Supervisor, thereby ending
his eleven years of leadership of Oyster Bay Town
government.
In a letter to Nassau Republican Chairmen
Joseph Mondello, Colby discussed two major
goals that he cares deeply about. **...our progress
on resource recovery has been remarkable." The
Town has received proposals from two highly
qualified vendors and we are fast approaching the
point where, after brief negotiations with the pre­ferred
vendor, this project will be in the permit­ting
process." He noted that the first Town-owned
gold course at the Bruce Estate in Woodbury is
already in the public bidding stage. "Thus, all
necessary legislative actions on these projects will
have been completed and both projects will be
#MerWay by theeitd of the'year."
Colby assumed the office of Supervisor in 1977
and, subsequently ran in five successful elections.
PubUshed reports indicate that a poll recently
conducted by the Nassau Republican Party shows
that Colby continues to be an electable candidate
for Supervisor.
Colby said he made his announcement at this
time so that there would be ample opportunity for
the Republican Party to choose a candidate to
succeed him.
The Supervisor said, "I am gratified by the
accomplishments achieved by Town government
during my administration and express sincere
deep thanks to the Town employees who made
these accomplishments possible."
Fire Damages
PEOPLE Facility
On Monday, February 23, 1987, shortly after 1:00 a.m., a
fire seriously damaged the facility of the PEOPLE Counsel­ing
Program (BADA, Inc.) at 936 Stewart Avenue.
Fortunately, a passerby spotted the fire in its early stages
and quickly alerted the Bethpage Fire Department which
responded within minutes and was thus able to prevent the
damage from being more extensive.
The enclosed porch of the facility, however, which served
as a reception area and utility room for the youth program,
was virtually destroyed by the fir?. The rest of the facility
suffered only smoke and water damage, thus allowing the
gency to remain open for business. No one was in the build­ing
at the time of the fire.
Fire marshals determined arson to definitely be the cause
of the fire. A witness saw an individual running from the
scene around the time that the fire started. Investigations are
currently being conducted by the Nassau County Fire Mar­shal
and the Eighth Precinct Police.
Anyone with information connected to this incident are
encouraged to contact the Nassau County Fire Marshal or
the Eighth Precinct.
PEOPLE, the Bethpage Adolescent Development Asso­ciation,
is a not-for-profit youth counseling and drug abuse
treatment and prevention program servicing the Bethpage
community. All contributions and donations are tax-deductiie
and gratefully accepted.