The-Leader_1987-11-19

              : •fBEEPOR T W
~UL LIBRAR?
. 0 '^'^
.?.-^
Ofticial
flewspaper
Village of .
Freeporl
•
Freeport
School OislricI
•
Baldwin
School District
mtPORT
BALDWIN LEAMR
53rd YEAR, NO. 32 FREEPORT, NEW YORK November 19,1987 PRICE 2 5 * PER COPY
4
Drug parade sends strong message
Freeport says NO
by Sue Morgan
photo* by Tira Stanzel
' FREEPORT SAYS NO TO DRUGS, in a parade, abova. and tha
parents of Jam** Rtddick, Innocent target of a atray buHat from
a drug dispute; lend poignartca to the pott parade ceremoniaa.
Clear, blue skies-and weather'
astonishingly mild for mid-
November imiled on the camar-aderie
and enthusiasm evident ^t
the first annual "Freepoit Says
'No'to Drugs" Parade Saturday.
Marchers from schools, com-mum'ty
organizations and church
groups were in a. festive mood as
they waved to onlookers along
the Merrick Road parade route.
Wearing buttons and carrying
baUooiu, banners, posters and
signs conveying the community'^
solidarity in its war on drugs, they
gathered in Freeport^ George F.
Emi^ Memorial Irtel() to.hear,
speeches and .'music reiterating'
Freepoit's strong stand against
drugs.
As emcee of the'cereinomes,
Freeport Superintendent of
Schools Dr. John Bierwirth told
the crowd, close to 1,000-strong,
"I hope this will signify that this
community is determined to lid
ourselves of drags now and
forever."
Raising her eyes to the clear
skies. Mayor Dorothy Storm
said, "Today God is indeed;
looking down on us," and she
offered specialthanks to the Task
' Force on Drugs and its head,
Tedd Levy, for theit'etfoits in
' organizaing the day\ events.
The Parade emphasized th^
positive, the Mayor said, that
"yes, it is good to say 'I got a hug'
tbda'yT not a drug." and she
vowed, "Let there be no mistake,
Freeport has declared war on
drugs."
The crowd cheend for the
"Imperialistic Three," a tap
group of Dodd Junior High
School students Mike Mayes,
Kyle Williams, Sammy Thomas
and Mark Venzen, who per­formed
a rap against crack writ­ten
by Kyle.
A singer and daticet from
Operation Get Ahead also enter-'
tained the crowd.
"I'm happy to see so many of
. our little people and,our youth
todjy, for'they are'bur future,"
said Dr. E. Mitchell Mallette of
Freeport's Greater Second Bap­tist
Church.
Dr. Mallette asked for a
moment of silent prayer in
memory of James Rjddick, killed
by a stray bullet from the gun of
an. alleged drag courier last
month. The parade had been ded­icated
to the slain youth.
Speaking to the crowd, James'
tatbei.George Riddicki declared,
' "We loved our son deeply with
' all our hearts, and we say 'no* to
drugs.'' - ,
James' mother. Maty, iuked
"all people to c^l on one other
person to fight drugs, and well
have alot of people fighting
drugs." •
As sh'e'concliided, 2,000 bal­loons
wxre launched and drifted
over the field to the East pro­pelled
by the breeze.
Dr. Bierwirth announced the
winners of the banner contest in
conjunction with the parade. The
Asbestos dumped
Jn Baldwin
See page 7.
Lions Club garnered first place,
with the Freeport High-School-
Key Qub, t i e First Presbj-terian
Church, ^Freeport HOC and
Freeport Head SUrt receiving
honorable mention.
Honorable mention was also
^ven to floats constructed by the
Word of Life Minbtties and
Fitepoit^ prl scouts.
Concluding the ceremom'es.
Dr. Bierwirth urged, ""Next time
you see somebody whois going to
use drugs, go to a party or see a
ffiend you know who uses drugs
tell them to stop and tUhk." . .
The, led by Dr. Bierwirth. the
crowd roared out iu message
three times: "Freeport Says 'No'
to DrugsL*
Village and schools stunned by insurance hike
, Like many municipalities and'
school districts aaoss. Long
Island, the Villsige of Freeport
and the Freeport School District
art fadog a dramatic and iioex-pected
increase in insurance costs
for their employees. , i
Notification was received ia
tate October from the Empire '
' Health Plan, which insures, pat-tidpaiiu
in New Yotk.StateT
health insurance program, of a 62
percent rate hike, translating to
' increased expenditures of
S700,000 for the Village next year
and ^75,000 for the Freeport
School District between January
' and June, 1988. t h e School Dis­trict's
increase will mean an addi-
- tional S9SO,000 for the 1988-89
budget, equivalent to about S I.2j
00 the tax rate.
Of the increase for the 'Village,
SS28,000 will come from the g«n-cial
fund, financed through
property - taxes. The' balance
would be'fiinded by the budgets
of the electric and water depart­ments
for their employees, which
cbuki entail utility tate hikes as
well. '
During the months of January
and Februaiy, prior to the
enactment of its 1988-89 budget,
the Vilage faces unforseen
expciuliturts of $60,000 to cover
the steeper rates,- which go into
effect January t.
While the Village's total
budget increase last year resulted
in raising the u x rate by 24 cents
per JlOO of assessed valuation, an
additional 58 cents per S100 must
be riised during the coining
budget solely to cover the unan-tidpated
insurance hike.
Calling the increase a "catas­trophic
blow," Mayor Dorothy
Storm told the Leader, "We had
no way of knowing this would
happen. It^ just so unfair," and
- she predicted "a dramatic impact
on the tax rate.".-
Mayor Storm said she had
. contacted the New York State
Conference of Mayors in Albany
asked them to get involved, and'.
had met with the Nassau County
, Village Officials Association last
week, hoping to mount a com­bined
effort with schools, librar­ies
the Town of Hempstead, Nas­sau
County, and employee
reprcMntalivesoftbeCSEAand .
the PBA to suy the implementa­tion
of the increase, which will be
effective January 1.
' State rtptesentatives had done
a"$e!lingiob"thatlhepl»n would
be less costly. Mayor Storm said.
She indicated the program bad
'been satisfactory until this point,
but added, "we're certainly not
satisfied now."
She said the letter from Empire •
Health Plan had also wtrned that
those withdravnng from the pro­gram
would be penalized' il they
decided.to rejoin tatet,' which .
"further iiteensed us," she said.
Dr. John Bierwirth, supetio-tendent
'of Freeport'V schools,
told-the Leader, "What really
infuriates me is the timing of the
increase, and on » broader level,
that every time the people in the <
State Plan come up with an ides
to save IU money it seems to
backfire."
"Never in our pessimistic, cyni-cal/
noments would we think the
State would let this get so out of
control," Dr. Bierwirth s^d.
He continued that he would be
discussing the increase with
Freeport's Council of PTAs at its
pre-budget meeting with the
School Board and would ask
them to mount a letter writing
campaign to Governor Mario
Oiomo and State legiilators.'
A letter (o be sent by Mayor
Storm and Dr. Bierwirth to the
Governor ailed the increase -
"both shocking and frightening."
Tbey cited the district's.
' increase in the cost ofhealthissu-ranee
for 1988-89 as equal to the
total amount of money spent in
the .schools during 1987-88 on
textbooks,, instnictional equips
ment and the entire intcrscholas-tic
athletic program.
. In ur^ng the Gov-emor to take
action, they wrote, "If costs are
not brought under control
immediately we will be faced with
a choice of burdening our tax-pajers
with very sharp increases
in their already substantial tax
burdens or major cutbacks in
essential community and educa­tional
!er\-ices."
S.M.