The-Leader_1987-06-11

              bflicial
Newspaper
Village of
Freeporl
•
Freeport
School District
•
Baldwin
School District
we
LEABER
§ FREEPORT.NEWYORK. JUNE 11,1987
0.1
ffi S3rd YEAR, No. g—
PRICE 2 5 * PER COPY
Freeport Electric Rates Going Up
FIrsf Increase Since 1975
N e w S m o k e A l a r m s Less rhan Requested of PX
Save Baldwin Family
8-Year-Ofd Caughf As He
Jumps From Affic Room
BALDWIN - The Coffey family of Walnut Streefi
Baldwin, may be alive today: because' of smoke alarms
they recently installed in their home.
The rest of the family was asleep early Monday
mdrning, June 1, but James, 56, was not and, just as
the smoke alarms, sounded
FREEPORT - The New York State Public Service
Commission (PSC) has approved an increase of rates
for customers of Freeport's-municipal-electric-utility,
but the increase is nearly $600^000 less than requested
back in October of last year.
On Octobet 21, 19S6 Freeport filed for its first rate
hike since 1975. That ear-at
6:41 am, he began to'
smell smoke. v .
Coffey woke up his son,
Robert, 30, who had been
sleeping in the basement.
Then the two heard Terry,
8, Coffey's- graiidson, who.
' had been sleeping in the
third floor attic, yelling
for his grandfather to help
him: TGet me cut, get-me
out,* cried the youngster.
. But the heat and smoke
of the fire were too
intense -for ihe two adult
Coffeys arid ihey couldn't
get to Terry through the
house. They ran out to the
garage to get a ladder,,
which they placed- on. the
side of the house. Robert'
then climbed.onto the first
' floor roof and yelled out
to'the eight year oldj who
'tnanaged to get to a win­dow.'
- .
Then Robert Coffey told
Terry to jump and. he
would catch him, which
the youngster did
) The Baldwin - Fire
Department responded to
the scene, with .'seven
pieces of equipment and
50. firemen, under the
.direction of Chief John
'Bto-wn. The" fire was
brought under . control
around 7 am.
Robert and Terry
Coffey, and Margaret
Coffey, 54, were
transported by Fire
Department Rescue crew
to . , South Nassau
Comihunities Hospital,
where they were treated
for smoke inhalation .and
released.
No other injuries were
reporteil. ,
According (o the police
report ..the . fire, which
started in the second floor
bedroom, was possibly
caused byi a burning
-cigarette.' Damage to the
second floor and the third
successfully. " '-floor attic ^yere total.
2 Women Report Nighf Attacks
of 20 Randall Avenue,
where' the rape occurred
' •*^- victim, —*•- "
FREEPORJ - Two sex
ual assaults were* reported
in Freeport on Friday,
June 5.
. The fint, a rape, oc­curred
early in the mornr
ing; the second, a robbery
and sodomy, that night.
The rape victim, a 34-
• year-old Freeport woman
was allegedly walking on
North Main Street around
5 am, when she wa5 sud­denly
grabbed from be-
..hind'.and pulled into -a.
parking field .at the rear
The 'victim, who was
treated and later released
from • Nassau,,- County
Medical Center, described
her attacker as a -black
male in his 30's, about
S'8* tall and of medium
build.
The second incident
occured at about 10:30
pm, when the victim, a
•26-year-old female from
Freeporjv .wM.-walltJng oii
tJConi. enVii* >)'•'•'•- -'"'
32 Drug Arrests
Made In May
FREEPORT - Village
police' reports show 32
drug-related arrests.during
the month of May and
Freeport Mayor Dorothy
Storm has. sent congratu-lations_
to the meihbers of >
the Freeport Police De­partment-
on their. "on-go-mg
battle against drugs.*
Arrested and charged for
selling cocaine ' was Gigt
SmeidOi 22, of 107
Broadway.
Freepofters.arrested the
' month on charges of .'pos-sessioii
of cocaine were
Alonzo Whefters, 20, of
108 Liberty, Park Drive;
Leon Bryant, 43, of 208
Babylon Turnpike; Nathan
Hinson, 23, of- 98 Shon-nard
Avenue; . Jerry
Thompson, 33, of 113
Coirimercial Street; Al­fredo
Guzman; 32, of 145
Randall Avenue; and
Randy Quill, 31, of 123
Washburn Avenue. .
Arrested on charges of
selling" .' marijuana were
James- Jones, 26, of 42
Rutland Road, and Regi­nald
Key. 16, of 42 We^,
berfield Avenue, both
Freeport.
-Village residents'arrested
. for possession of mari-^
juana were Kodel.Lucas,
16, of 68 Dehnhoff Av­enue;
Tyrone Gaines, .27,
of 250 South Main Street;
Ajab Woodson, 18, 150
North Ocean Avenue;
Christopher Roche, 20,
350 Randall Avenue;
Willie Ballard. 23, 72 In­dependence
Avenue; Gre­gory
Johnson, 22,'7 Wal­lace
Street; McQueen
Butler, 24, 146 Broadway;
Malcolm Sprowal, 17, 1Q7
Shonnard Avenue; and
Edwin . Beemish, 17. 400
v.- V.'v-(CoW.'m'l''»ft''tl)i'''
lier increase favored the
residential user, with th'e
commercial and industrial
customers-receiving much
steeper rates...
. These new- rates, how­ever,
increase the business.
users a.smaller percentage
than residential con­sumers,
though the dif­ference
is much less than
' Freeport asked for. .
'. Residential-, users ..will
receive approximately a
10% increase; commercial
users, a 6% increase, for'
an oveiaU. rate hike of
8.3%. Requested last Oc­tober
was a 21% increase
. for residential ° users, as
opposed to an 8% hike for
commercial customers.
When Freeport asked for
the r^te hike back in
October, William Cominos,
General - Manager of the
village's Electric Utility,
explained that the pro­posed
. rates woiild more
properly distribute rate
responsbility between the
residential and the com­mercial
users.
_Puring the -past 12
years, Cominos also said
in October, there had beeff
increased operating- costs,
absorbed by the village
itself.
'A sound fiscal policy
and responsible manage-
-inent,* said Cominos at the
time of the. utility's re­quest
to the PSC, 'requite
that rates for electric ser­vice
be adjusted to pro­duce
sufficient. operating
revenue - -to offset, in­creased
expenses 'and to
provide a fair and re­sponsible
returff."
The increase requested
would have given "the'
utility an . estimated
$1,593,700 annually; the
increase granted by the
PSC will result instead in
an estimated S980,9S2 an­nually.
Cominos calls the PSCs
action "terriblQ," but has
advised the village to ac-
.cept it because "further
•dickering ' would, only
prolong rate relief."
The smaller increase
granted by the PSC, say's-
Cominos, will 'result 'in
(Cent, on Page 10]
HISTORICAL MURAL. Afttr four r"" .of *°rlii '>>< SSth AnniTinur
Muni C^mmitU* an lock &t th« b)*sk wall ia th* Fntpati lUtntUoa
CtnUi't lobby tnd know that it will MOU hold Ihi 20th cf nttny pltM
o( wtut Fnaua SIrtil'* two-Mctioa muni dtpictiof tht ViUif •*> ^ -
tory. Tht muni wtU b« QSTtUtd on October XA during Ihc t>l^ dumtr
cclcbnlmi Freeport's ineorpontioo la 1892 u a ViHifft. DUpItyinf a
reduced renderiai of the mural are committee memben (i. to r.)
Hempetead Town Counulwonaa Ant>e CuCln, Marian KnotUtr, Stne
Kieoljno, Chairwoman Wilma Buchanan, Mayor Porothy Storm, Rudi
sutler, Carol Lorejoy and Carol Sparaco. Misiinf from the photo ts
Mike Oce;a. Ccnkxibutiona for the ITth-lUh u'nlui^ta 'tetlioii'ct .the
mural may be tent to P.O. Box 14, Frecpert: • '.-. •,,',,