Bethpage-Tribune_1971-10-07

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Island Trees Serving Bethpage - Plainview - Island Trees - Plainedge - Seaford
VOL. 5 No. 48 Thursday, October 7,1971
Old Getnpage
10c par copy
Purcell Submits TOH Budget;
Aid Cuts Cause Small Tax Rise
MENTAL RETARDATION shouldn't doom a child to
a lifetime of loneliness. At the Association for Retarded
Children and the Association for the Help of Retarded
Children (two agencies supported by the United Fund
of JLong lBl«»4)yiwQwlaiiiy' twAltiled youngsters receive
love, understanding, and specialized training to assist
them to live happy and fruitful lives. You can help, too,
by supporting the United Fund.
Educators Support
Tobay Drug Control
Adeline Petito, head of the
Drug Abuse & Control Agency for
the Town of Oyster Bay, was
assured of strong support by the
Town educators in the fight to
combat drug abuse among
teenagers.
The majority of the superin­tendents
and administrators of
the eleven school districts
warmly expressed approval and
offered every cooperation in a
recent luncheon discussion at
Holiday Manor in Bethpage.
One of the administrators
commented that the agency's
constructive program is a timely
addition to the educational
system. "It is offered at a time
when most school districts are
losing State Aid and are finan-cilly
hobbled by serious.austerity
programs."
It proved a fruitful meeting for
the agency. Dr. John Gawrys,
Director of Pupil" Personnel
Services of the Plainview
Central School District No. 4,
indicated that he plans to in­troduce
the Town Drug Abuse &
Control Agency programs in his
school districts in late October.
In her appeal to the school
body, Mrs. Petito asked them to
join forces and pool resources to
eliminate drug abuse in the
schools. Highly trained leaders in
preventive education in drug
abuse will be included in the
Agency's speakers bureau.
Parent-teenage discussion
meetings in which the adults are
not related to the young people,
will conduct "gripe groups" in
which both sides can air their
views.
"These planned discussions on
uptight situations between adults
and youngsters do not
necessarily have to be on a drug
subject. It will be a program
geared to family life in an effort
to find the symptoms which could
lead to frustrations in any age
group," Mrs. Petito said.
The luncheon guests included
Dr. Anton Notey, Executive
Director of Central General,
Smithtown General and Doctor's
Hospitals. He endorsed the
Agency's programs and offered
his services as a volunteer
consultant including hopsitals
and professional staff.
The Drug Abuse & Control
Agency is being supervised by
Director James C. Arvanitis of
the Department of Recreation
and Community Activities.
For the first time in three years
Hempstead Town residents face
a slight increase in the general
town tax, according to Presiding
Supervisor Francis T. Purcell.
"Despite a major reduction in
state aid and mandated salary
increases for town employees I
was able to hold the increase in
the general town tax rate to just
10 cents." stated Purcell. "This
small increase will enable us to
maintain the essential services
Hempstead Town residents
expect, while moving ahead in
several important areas, in­cluding
the development of new
and expanded parks," he added.
In the general fund, which
affects every taxpayer in the
from $29,494^
$21,554,554.15. The
was $19,170,530.52.
The increase will i
additional $7 a year
the owner of the average I
Hempstead, which is as
$7,000.
"This is an increase of ju
13 cents a week in the general
town tax and represents one of
the biggest bargains available
today," noted Purcell. "For U
than the price of a cup of coffee a
week we can insure that Hemp­stead
Town will remain one of the
finest places in the nation to
live," he continued.
The general fund increase can
be directly traced to a loss in
state aid - $1 million in 1971 and
the anticipated loss of another
million dollars in 1972. This ac­counts
for 50 percent of the tax
rise. Increased salaries and
fringe benefits add the remaining
50 percent.
"Even though there is un­certainty
over what course we
will be able to take following the
end of President Nixon's wage
freeze., I must budget for the pay
increases which were negotiated
last year," said Purcell. "Despite
the expected end of the freeze
next month, I am maintaining my
Fuchs Reappointed To JWV Office
The reappointment of Leonard
Fuchs of Bethpage, New York to
his 12th term as National Boy
Scout Chairman of the Jewish
War Veterans of the United
States was announced this week
by Jerry Cohen, National
Chairman.
". IFuchs has held office in
J.W.V. for 25 years beginning
with post offices in Post 191,
White Plains and Levittown Post
640. He was the founder of the
Nassau Suffolk District Council
Serving two terms as its com­mander
after serving the Nassau
County Council its predecessor.
He has held National Office
since 1954 after serving as a
member of the Department of.
New York Executive Committee.
A member of the Boy Scouts of
America for over 30 years, Fuchs
started as a Boy Scout reaching
the rank of Eagle. He has been
Assistant Scoutmaster, Scout­master,
Neighborhood Com­missioner
Assistant District
Commissioner and is presently a
member of the National Jewish
Committee.
Fuchs, also Chief of Medical
Services for Civil Defense, is a
member of the Bethpage Civic
Committee and managed Little
League for many years.
The Jewish War Veterans of
the United States is the t/^est
active veterans organization in
the United States.
own freeze on the salaries of
elected officials, department
heads and deputy department
heads. They will not even get the
raises of less than 25 cents an
hour that our other employees
may expect when the national
freeze ends."
A public hearing will be held on
the budget in October, with the
exact date to be announced later.
Some of the other specifics of
the town budget:
The part town fund, for such
services as Building Department,
Department of Planning and
Economic Development,
Registrar of Vital Statistics;
Board of Zoning Appeals, will be
held at its current tax rate of 11.8
:oejnts._ ^ This.. mgrjto^ the third
which affects all residents of the
unincorporated areas of the town,
has not been increased. A total of
$12,642,497 was appropriated for
1971. ! 13,303,234 has been
budgeted for 1972.
Purcell was able to reduce the
townwide lighting district tax by
1.2 cents, reflecting the favorable
ract he was able to negotiate
for repair and maintenance of the
morethan 26,000 pole''mounted
lights in the town.
The presiding supervisor
trimmed $3,388,750 from the
department request for the
townwide Parks District, but was
still unable to prevent a slight
rise in the broadbased tax rate,
from 88 cents this year to 99 cents
in 1972.
The highway fund, divided into
four parts, reflects an increase
from $10,784,820 to $11,004,337.31.
The increase is due mainly to
mandated increases in salaries
and fringe benefits. The tax rate
in the highway fund Part 1 will
increase from 80 cents to 84 cents.
In highway funds 2,3, 4, however,
there will continue to be a zero
tax rate.
In other broad-based taxing
districts, Purcell was able to hold
tax rate increases to a bare
minimum. Refuse disposal will
go from 57.2 cents to 60 cents;
refuse and garbage collection
will increase from 83 cents to 92
cents. Not all of these tax rates
apply to all town residents.
The total tax increase for an
average taxpayer whose home is
assessed at $7,000 is ap­proximately
50 cents a week.
"We have spent many long
hours pouring over these
figures," stated Purcell. "That
we have exercised the greatest
possible economy goes
withoutsaying,, for I certainly
realize that it would have been
more expedient to hold the tax
line in this election year.
However, I also realize that I
cannot short change our
residents on important services
and must present the facts as
they are," Purcell concluded.
Library Displays
First Novel
"Someone Great",an exciting
first novel by young Plainview
Author Robert Grossbach, is now
on display at the Plainview-Old
Bethpage Public Library.
The novel, which Library
Journal described as, "...a
sprightly, often gay, but finally
poignant tale", describes the life
of Stuart Schechtman, a sen­sitive,
bright youth of great
promise whose life, after drop­ping
out of college, peters out
with a dead-end job and an empty
marriage. '
The Library Journal review
continued, "the brief-as-lightning
scenes, which flash back and
forth from Stu's earlier years to
the present, and an amazing
economy of language are so
picturesque and pointed as to
delight even the most saturnine."
Robert Grossbach, a
microwave engineer at Narda
Microwaves Inc. in Plainview,
began his career as a novelist by
taking a creative writing course
at the New School after having
collected Bachelor's and
Master's degrees in Engineering.
He plans to continue his
engineering career and has
already embarked on a second
novel.
Grossbach has lived in
Plainview for the past three
years with his wife and two sons.
A Chapter Closed
"Bill" Doyle, as he was known in Bethpage was
buried today at St. Charles Cemetery. Mr. Doyle
leaves his wife, Harriet and his children Kathleen and
Michael. He is also survived by a grandson, William.
He was a charter member of the VFW Post 4987, a
member of the Bethpage Fire Department, a member
of the Bethpage Kiwanis and a 4th-degree member of
the Knights of Columbus, Michael J. Hartigan Council.
He was a Fire Commissioner for 10 years, Past
President of the Kiwanis Club and active community
leader before his illness two years ago.
"Bill" will be missed by all.