The-Leader_1979-02-22

              FREEPORT
BAlDWiN
ROOSEVELT
MERRICK
LIERASIAH
NASSAU CTY HISTORICAL UUSEUU
EISENHOIER PARK
BAST HEADOI. N ? 11554 FREEPORT'S
ofiiimt
NEWSPAPER
»
<*3rd YEAR, No. 43 FREEPORT. NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 22,1979 PRICE 2 0 * PER COPY
Atlantic Ave. Rezonirig Reserved
new
THEYKEEPIFIT. Member* of th« 8«)l0f Gym Program at the FrMport ftocreatron Center poMfor
the camera. These «ame men beJong to the Sea,Gulls aoftbaH and volley t>all teems. -Amona those
photpflraplred are Joe Halpln. Chariea Maltr, Jerry Shapiro. U n Burger. Mac Kay ff man, Ted Woods,
John Negri, MIke Smiles, Joe Klein, Him Grimstead, Joe Hallhan, Sal Ungo. Bob MartlnrTom
Patrice, Tom Sulflvan, Charles Rlzzo, Lou.Flano and BemleSlegel. Program t)lredor-Uul»e Wbach
Is easily rBcoghlzahlaBtandrno In the middle of the gentlemen gymnasts. •"•• v --
Local SchbbI fiocird To
Organize Coalition Of Districts
_^ • . • • ' ; : - , . . . by Meredith Man/tras
The Freeport School Board has taken the first steps toward of-ganizing
a-coalition of school districts to put pressure on the state
legislature to approve Governor Carey's proposed plan for state aid to'
education. The districts in the coalition would be those <rhich would-gain
stateaid if ihe proi>osal passed. In past years, state aid plans were
presented, the districts who -
would have gained increased aid
did little . to wort for their
passage, while the districts
standing to lose aid lobbied
iiit^sely.
"The^listricls who will lose aid :
have- already started sending
letters and maiihg visits in
protest," Freeport Board of
. Education member Sara .HoU^_
said in announcing the-jTroject at
the February 13 school board.
meeting. "We have a better-many
districts are eligible, for
increases."
^:.lndii d jn g FreepoBui27-.pf.New-_
York's, school districts would
receive an increiase in state aid
under this year's proposed plan.'
The plan is designed to- give less
: aid. to property-ridi districts and
' to increase aid to property-po«
districts. Aid to 179 -districts
.woold be reduced and IS districts
'wDoId receive no aid at aH. Kfany
-Nassau and So&>Ik districts win
lose aid if theplan is passed by.,
the legislature. '
. "We tried-»Offletlun|rKke:thts:
two-years .ago and got Bttle
response,"- .HoOy . oommeiited,
,.","hnf thifc.tiw.
at the Atkinson fifth' and sixth
grade center. School drug coun­selors.
Miller said, see 45 young­sters
a week. some, of whom are
seen several times a week.-In'
addition there..are six "rap"
groups of 12-13 students each and
awaitinglist. • '
Begun in 1971 as a drug
education prognun^for ' 1 1 ^ __
from kindergartjaiHJffough high^^
school in i^poase to the rising '
use of hard diTigs at that time, the
FreeportF.p.
Has Busy Week
FBFFPORT . Witjjin six days,
' four residential fires caused one
death and destroyed or nearly
gutted four houses in this village.
. Monday morning, February 12,
a fire in a vacant house at SO Roo-'
sevelt Avenue caused. approx­imately
SIS.OOO -in damages.
Termed sqspicious, the fire is
under investigation by the. Nassau
County Fire Marshal. ' —
A Friday morning blaze at 77
Grant Street also gutted the in­terior
of that house. According to
"police, the owner, Marie Biggs,
suted that an outlet had sparked
-whcfl her^^ughter plugged jn^'
haifarjer-" 7- ^'
The, most tragic of the fires oc-
"aired Saturday morning. Feb-ruary
17. i i - i J ^ Smith Street.
ViHoge Boonf Still
Studies Shopping Center ' -^
. FREEPORT - The N-illagc B«wrd of Trustees has again reserved de-ciskmon
an apjglicaiion from two KKal businessmen to rcrone property
on the south side of Atlantic Avenue between South Main Street and
Bedell Street. Morris Sussman. of Shaw Plastics in Freeport's Indus-tn'il
Park, and Gcorga,Bellisjs.a Freeport resident and owner of an in­dustrial
business in the village as
well as a new IDW of stores on At
Untie and South Ocean Avenues
have petitioned the board to
change the zoning of the piece of
land from Residence "A" to Busi­ness
"A." in order to build retail
establishments there.
The public hearing Tuesday
night, February 13, was the sec­ond
one for the petitioners. It was
oti an application amended.to in­clude
an expansion of the prop- _
erty and revised plans designed
to meet the objections raised by
area tesidenu at the eariier hear*
' ing on September 18.
Gerald.. Halpern. attorney for
the owners/petitioners, explained
that his investigation shows that
the New Ypric State Department
of Transportation Is platming to
- widen and reconstruct the At'
lanttc Avenue-South Main Street
Intersection. DOT's plans call for
acauiring property along the side­walks
on the easterly side of the
'intersection and the northwest
comer, Halpern said. They would
provide a wider roadway to in-
\ crease the turning radius at that
comer. An island would also be
constructed to separate east-'
. bound and westbound traffic. He
said (he construction, which is
due to go out to bid in the near
• future, is designed to increase
safety at Jhe comer and expedite
. traHffaiclp felronw . stated that, although.
~his~'nient*s pi uposed-buildings
would not, take up any greater
area than in the earlier t>lan on_
the smaller site, traffic from thc^
site would exit on Bedell
gianged
years in response to changes
drug use patterns. "I think we've "** - . .— — —.. '^=-'——»-.t__.^
hadAlotof success^' said_Millcn__'?!*??f?''°<'y^** ^]^?^^JP ^ TW»ntic Avctwc-casl of Bedell
jthehouse at the time new site wouia exit on
70-year^ra~Saily—MorclIai_Street and enter from curb cuts on
"a great'deal oTtFe mnovatjve
program in Freeport has been
copied and used by other dis­tricts."
- - -
"A whole new set of circnni-stances
in 1979 requires new
approaches,'^ Miller explained.
For example, in the last few years
we have bcxoroe involved with
casies of parents openly tuing
drugs at home — a pr^lem in
deaSng with students." As a
-Qownsiairs lusi tioor rcar.uca-"
room by Deputy Fue Chief Sarro.
Damage to the house was con­siderable
althou^ the blaze was
und^r control within 30 minutes
after the Freeport Fire Depart­ment
responded. Fire sources say
that a cigarette wai suspected as
causing the blaze.
' On Sunday. February 18, fire
hit Smith Street again, when the
Nunez bouse at 37 Smith Street
^-•»ttwt*««.S~3 _Sou!h.M«l.n Streetj-south
of Atlantic A ^ u e . TTie vii-
Jage's Planning Commission has
given its approval to these
plans.
Against Rezoning
Among those who spoke
against the proposed rczonlng
was William HaUorsen, who dteil
the heavy traffic on Atlantic
Avenue, the dangers at the inter­section
and the residential nature
of the neighborhood.
Mrs. Wright of Atlantic
Avenue expressed concern that
trash and garbage from the park­ing
lot could litter residents'
yards,'
A Bedell Street rcsideni. Dave
Viescr. said the rezonlhg would
be dangerous to the neighbor­hood's
many youngsters who arc
often in the streets and who walk
to the Recreation Center. Present
trafflcrhe said, is a hazard which
would be greatly increased by the
proposcci shopping center. Vieser
also objected to the infrinccmcnt
of business in a rcsidcmlarncigh-borhood.
Calling the application "spot
zoning.' Atlantic Avenue res­ident
Frank Smith repeated the
objections he had voiced at the -*
first public meeting. He said he
spoke for' the -area's residents. -
who opposed the rezoning.
A Ray Street resident said the
shopping center would incieasc
traffic even on his block where, he
-complained, there is already too
_.mucn traffic.
~—Obiections were al»o^oiccd4>v—
Yincc Greco, of Bedell Street.
who objected to "spot zoning"—
and feared that the Business "A"
zoning would pi^Tmit the opening
of another rcsuurant-on the site;
Kay Bendaspcaking on behalf of
nFASCAfllM^A'^gniT _
(Com. on Page 3)
Questions Arise On Two Guys
heard feom a couple disttictsevoi
-—thoogfKlhe^etter was seai^only-
- two d^rs ago..- - *
. Program Described r- fHOe^ta ooe mangoaiu dgarette
During the; meeting, William.. fa j puHu: pLice is subject i o a
Miner,. DnwCoonfatttor of the pwuHy of S500 fine or three
teflBlt^lherchangein-the-laws—iiuflcred - $15,000 damage. .-Ac-applying
tp aarajnana, there b a cord'mg to the p<4tce, an elect'
great deal of mtsuadcrstanding rical cause is suspected.
itnse;; MMef teeftestanea^^'^T^ Freepot«-»tf<
of "parents smofcmg .with their volnntecis also respoiided to a
•chilSeir - amt—of "-^yocagstgra-- mutual aid utll I'um Lcng Deach.-
smofciag openly. AUhoogh Ajpproximafel^.40 men andftve
eSSicBdD-ol posses^ooTif as pieces of equipment helped fight
. FREEPORT - Democratic can­didates
for clectioo Co (he Village
Board aiuounced this past week­end
they oppose "development
of a Two Guys store io Fre^wrt.'*.
VUlage Trustte'. Wayne - Jordau,'
.whoJv running, for:.re^ledioojt,
referred to information the^ Board
bad just obtained regardfaig Two
'Jays' financial-sittiation. Jordan
-of-the-BoadjoLZtosteesl
Freeport School DistricK pre­sented
a teriew of the district's
drag education program.' This
coocentrales on students at the
junior and sesiar high sduxils,
but also offers a weekly program
iaoaSia. in jallj- "J daa'tknow
anywhere "wiire • th» has • been-enforced."
MSHet said.
A. growing problem 'fa' the
(Cpnt.ooPage6) -. .> .
an extensive blaze in a laxury a*
Mrtnwtrt hm«^ tm Sjtnrrtay,
February 17. Faulty wiring might
have canscd the fire, whicfa men
from Freepoii'j Eopnd.. Cbro;
paiiy.. Hose S. Hose 2. Truck
Company, and Floodlight fboght
from 11 am to 6 pm, on a 6ttter
cold,day..'.• . " • • * " ••.^,".-
^- Liler> Jordia toidTHE LEAD^-
£S..tbat , the informatiga .was^
brought to the Board's attention,
Tuesday. February 13, by Trustee
Al Sirlin. Since that time, the
Board has not had a regular meet-ing.
Mayor William H. White said
he pfaotoftatied .copies of the
isformatioa, a n a r t j ^ from the
.Wall Street Journal, and dis­tributed
them- to Board members
last Thursday. Bemuse of the
variotu Monday bbiidays, the ;
next scheduled miieting 'of the
.ViUage Board will be March S . : . .
. • Referring to the article, Jordan _.
"said' it 'roentk»j«I' a^possible"
JakMiver of the Two Guvs com-j
pany by oafWtbe sfociholders.^
-who is on reieord as wanting to
dose down roost of the company's
iitores-Qptside of Hew Jersey.»
luliht ue
OK- -fisaocialiy • aow.'-' >Jordan -^
said,- "be' war coocerned wht
pbsslbleiastibiUty. Jordan said
the articled "also referred, to aa '
SEC; tavestigatioo oTlbc com- .
pnayv-sMsething the boanf had
oofbeenawi^reof.. •••••:'--
-Mayor White told THE LEAD­ER
ttut while the Board had
not yet had a meeting on the
'•'''•'" (Conl. oiirt»ifle 12) • • '