Bethpage-Tribune_1970-03-12

              Island Trees Serving Bethpage - Plainview - Island Trees - Plainedge - Sedford
Vol. 4 No. 21
Oki Bethpage
Thursday, March 12, 1970 10c per Copy
From
The Publishers Desk
* » * A ^ A
Bethpage Against Drugs
The
by Mary McCutcheon and Betty Regan
turnout for this drug people would take serious con-program
was overwhelming..
Bethpage is Alive and Concerned.
Sunday night's program on drugs
brought almost one thousand
people into the Bethpage High
School auditorium. Parents,
teachers and students were
present Some wondered how
large a problem existed in our
town, others searching for an­swers
to protect their children.
Acting Chairman of BADA, Mr.
Louis Orfan opened the meeting
by thanking the co-chairman of
the Steering Committee Mrs. Jan
Krol and Mrs. Georgette Pirette
for their diligent Work in making
this program a success. He then
introduced the first guest Mrs.
Channa Friend.
Mrs. Friend, Chairman of the
Nassau County Drug Abuse and
Addiction Commission presented
a panel of well educated and
experienced men in their field:
Inspector James Henderson
head of the Nassau County
Narcotics Division stated that.
already 530 children have been
arrested in Nassau.County for
drug offenses this year; if the
trend continues an estimated
2,500 are expected by the end of
the year. This is a far cry from
1962 when the total arrests for the
year was 70. Henderson stated he
hoped that most of the young
sideration of the fact that after
the first criminal arrest a child is
prevented for the rest of his life
from positions that require a
license such as lawyer, doctor,
teacher etc. He added police
arrested 549 pushers in Nassau
County alone, 32 heroin pushers
were arrested on one street
corner - - Bethpage has an ex­tremely
serious problem, just as
does other towns in Nassau he
said.
. Inspector Henderson invited
anyone defying restriction of
marijuana to speak to hfm
because experience shows that...
experimenting with marijuana
leads to hard core drugs..He in­formed
the audience that there is
a new dialing system known as
Narcotics Anynymous (533-5146).
Just call-no names are asked.
Inspector Edward Proctor was
the next speaker. He is connected
with the Juvenal Aid Bureau
which was formed in 1963 to help
the child who has fallen by the
wayside. Inspector Proctor
stated...Now at 12 the youngsters
are entering into the drug traf­fic.
.
Proctor declared that parents
should know their children and
watch for any radical change in
habits such as: school-drop in
(Continued on Page 5)
THE POWER OF THE MINI-TRUCK: Hempstead
Town Presiding Supervisor Ralph G. Caso sits in
driver's seat of one of two new minature garbage
trucks acquired by the town's Sanitation Division.
Sanitation Comm. William J. Landman explains their
role. New vehicles will facilitate garbage collection
operations in traffic-congested areas where county
sewer installation work is underway. Already in use,
the versatile "load runners" will continue regular
service to residents in areas where sewer construction
projects make it impossible for regular - size garbage
trucks to travel their assigned routes.
Bethpagers Jam High School
To Discuss Student Newspaper
Take 750 people, give them
strong opinions, throw in cross­currents
of age and religion, and
put them together in a crowded
auditorium, and wait for things to
explode.
That was the situation Tuesday
night at the Bethpage High
School auditorium, where
students, parents, and staff met.
in open session to discuss school
newspaper policy with the Board
of Education. All the ingredients
for a bitter confrontation were
there, but when the meeting was
adjourned two hours later, the
consensus was summed up by
Board President Joe Dawson,
who called the meeting "an or­derly
and fruitful . com­munication."
The meeting was called to
permit "dialog" about several
articles that appeared in the Feb.
.issue of the "Eagle's Cry", the
Bethpage High School
student newspaper. Two articles
had caused special protest. One
(Savior in Fun City") satirically
examined possible contemporary
reactions to a Christ returned to
earth today. A second ("Rock
Enters New Era") explored
elements of sex and rebellion in
rock'n' roll music from the 1950's
to today.
Things started off hotly enough
at the meeting. As Dawson began
to explain the ground rules, he
was interrupted by a man who
wanted the meeting to begin with
the "Star-Spangled Banner."
This was greeted by tremendous
applause, but it appeared that a
large segment of the audience
was cheering for spite.
After the anthem, Dawson read
a unanimous Board statement. It
expressed the Board's disap­proval
of certain articles, and
maintained that the Board had
instituted action to make certain
the problem not recur.
—Audience—participation"
followed Dawson's statement,
with applause and occassional
cat-calls adding emphasis to each
speaker's remarks. While it was
clear that the students were
virtually unanimous in support of
the paper, adults.in the audience
apparently represented a wider
spectrum of opinions.
The first issue raised was that
of control. In response, to a
woman questioner, Dawson noted
that taxpayers pay for the paper,
which he considers "official"
because it is widely distributed in
the high school.
Dawson added that the purpose
of the meeting was to discern
community opinion so that the
sensibilities of the community
would not be unduly offended by
future articles.
Few adults speakers agreed
with the declaration of one youth
that "money doesn't give con­trol."
But opinions varied con­siderably
about what that control,
should be.
by Thomas Cullem
One point of view was voiced by
Mrs. Joan Cable. Calling the
students "blameless" and their
writing "tremendous", she
maintained that the "blame lies
with the administrators."
Mrs. Cable explained that she
had come to the meeting to try to
establishstandards. She argued
that a policy was necessary
because of the young age of many
student readers, and contended
that the fault rested partially
with the Board for lack of com­munication:
"There should have been a
statement made for students and
adults before tonight", she
asserted; '•
Dawson responded that the
Board's statement had been
given previously to a daily
newspaper, but that it had not
been published.
Earlier, Board , member
Anthony La Faso noted that his
basic concern was the language
used in the articles. He argued
that "you can't offend the sen­sibilities
of families", since a
student newspaper is not ab­stracted
from its community. He
also advised students that a
"valid message" could be lost by
using the wrong words.
Discussion persisted on the
"Savior" and "Rock" articles.
Said one man, "I personally took
very much offense at the 'Savior'
article" He claimed his religion
had been made a mockery of, and
he demanded an apology from
the writer of the article, and from
the newspaper's editor-in-chief
and moderator.
While several speakers
seconded this basic argument,
another group defended the
. article as ah attack on social and
religious hypocrisy. Though
many of these people conceded
that the wording of the article
might have been offensive, one
person pointed out that "saying
something effective usually is
offensive."
Mark Aronson, editor-in-chief
of the "Eagle's Cry", created the
night's biggest sensation.
Aronson read a letter praising the
"Savior" article, a letter he
claimed was sent by the Rev.
Dennis G. Sullivan, Coordinator
of Religious Education for the
Diocese of Rockville Centre.
Reaction to the "Rock" article
seemed more clearly along age-lines.
While Eugene Murphy,
moderator of the newspaper, said
he regretted one or two strong
words in the article, a few
students claimed that the use of
such language might convince
parents to stop "hiding things"
from their children.
Many people also attacked an
unsigned handbill passed out
along with reprints of the
"Eagle's Cry" after masses this
weekend at St. Martin of Tours
R.C. Church (ed. note: the
Church does not appear
responsible for this). The" flyer
contained an unfavorable
synopsis of several articles, and
urged the community to "tell the
Board of Education how we feel
and...unite to stop this cancer in
our community and schools."
Claiming that "you've got
intellectual vigilantes", Murphy
attacked the "slanderous, un­fair,
almost treacherous letter",
while another man contended
that the anonymous flyer was
"appropriately printed on
yellow."
Some people remained
discontented at meeting's end.
Board member Hugh Coyle
maintained that the "Savior"
article off ended him when he first
read it, and that it still did. He
also expressed disillusionment
with young people, who ^Fve
worked with...for 40 yean."
A man in the audience also
commented that "if we had
payed less attention to (the
students), we'd all have been
better off."
But representatives of all
points of view seemed more or
less satisfied by the meeting.
"It. turned out beautifully",
said Murphy. "I expected
parents shouting at parents,
administrators, teachers...I'm
glad the kids expressed them­selves,
and that their parents
listened."
Said Mr. Cable:
"People in the community
should have the right to meet
with the board to express their
opinions. I am happy that we
were able to talk about a very
emotional issue without
polarizing the community."
Students
Respond
(Ed. note: Last week, deadline
pressures -prevented, us from
presenting the opinions of
students editors and ad­ministrators
regarding the Beth­page
High School newspaper
controversy. Unavoidably then,
our article, "Parents React to
'Eagle's Cry' ", was one-sided.
To correct that unfortunate, if
understandable, situation, the
TRIBUNE compiled the
following article from interviews
Monday and Tuesday with those
in responsible positions on the
"Eagle's Cry.")
The "Eagle's Cry" should be
aware of community feelings, but
its content should be determined
by It.
This was the apparent con­sensus
of students and advisors of
the Bethpage High School
newspaper in response to
protests by some parents and
teachers concerning articles
printed in the Feb. issue.
The major points stressed were
(Continued on Page 4)