The-Leader_1989-08-17

              Freeport • Baldwin
THE LEADER 55lh Year. No. 33 Fretpon.N.Y. 11520 Omcialnewspapei of ihc Village of Freepon-Freeponind Baldwin School Districu Thursday. August 17.1989 25c
Vandalism in Freeport
NYNEX strike continues
~'. pAoebySmaGriMno'
FBEEPORT FIRE-DEPARTMENT ChUf Julius BDaon «nd « Highway D*pattimnt offlcUl
dbcuM way* of •xUnguWiIng i biaz* at th* Vlllagi T^arahr Station on Albany Avtnus on
Augu«t8.S«»niof»phQto«onp»fl«13. ' : , .:/,.;^:S„^. -:'.. .,: _.—•-..
Station fire bums over 14 tiours
The Freeport Fire Department
u^s forced to respond to blazes at
the Village Transfer Staiion on
Albany A\-cnuc three times on
August 8 and 9.
According to Department
Chief Julius ElUson. 75 firefigh­ters
responded to the trash sta­tion
on Au^tut 8. at 4 p.m.. 9>-ith
five pumpers, a snorkel truck.
and two rescue \Thiclcs. The men
worked for o\-er three hours in an
attempt to extinguish the piles of
paper and wood, but ihey uhi-nuiely
realized that this could
not be accomplished in one trip.
The firemen left the sceoe at
approjumately 7:30 p.m. know­ing
they would soon be back.
Chief Ellison said, the piles of
trash stiU smouldering.
The firefighters responded to
the second call at 9:30 that c%^n-ing.
a complement of 25 men
rushing to the transfer sution to
try to quell the blwe once again.
Due to the amount of trash at the
siation. howc%rr. this once again
pros^ to be an impossible mis-sioiu
according to Chief Ellison.
**As soon as the stuff under­neath
gets enough air." he laJd.
"it goes up again."
The third and final call was
Ukcn at 5 a.m. on August 9.
Twcnty-ri\T of Freeport's Hnest
rtspotxkd atKl were able to extii>-
guish the fire in just over one
hour.
Injuries
One nrcfightcr was taken to
South Nassau Communities
Hospital after a nail in one of the
trash piles pierced his fool, while
another was taken to Nassau
County Medical Center for
smoke inhalation. Two other
men were treated for smoke inha­lation,
as vitW, and att were later
relcased-
Officials ha«- not yet deter­mined
the cause of the bla^e. but.
according to Chief Ellison, arson
has been ruled out as a
possibility.
According to Da%id Lo\xjoy
of the Department of Publk
Works, the Village Transfer Sta­tion
is used to store much of the
paper, wood, building materials,
and newspapers brought b> area
residents until it is hauled to a
To^^•n of Hempstead rubbish
plant for disposal.
jecanoe (?) and Freeport too!
ptm» by 8»M Cram
WET AND WILD: Comp«tHor« rae* for th« finish Qnt during Uw Frttpon Chamber of
.Cocn|P»>c>f>Qf#al.<;yyW>0<i.>?*Y«fcB»c»«totSut>d«]fcS»»p»y
by Andrew S. Ripps
In the wake of broken-down
negotiations betvk-een the striking
Communication Workers of
America and the NYNEX Cor­poration,
two separate inciderices
of s-andalism in Freepon have
shown definitive ties to the tele­phone
company's situation.
according to officials.
"We think ii nuy be the com­pany
tNYNEX> doing the van­dalizing
to discredit the union
members." CWA Executive
Board ReprcsentaiivT George
Bloom said. Mr. Bloom also
asserted'th«Tmblidty provided
to the media by NYNEX since
the strike began has been falsi
and slanted.
New York Telephone spokes­man
Bruce Rcisman. howe^•er.
termed the allegations as
-far-fetched."
**Wc regard that as a false.
irwpondtie statement," he said.
"h's one 6f the most ridiculous
things I have heard since this
whole thing began."
Although there has been no
official police activity with regard
to the vandalism, officials remain
coiKtmed about the damage
being done and the effect it has
had on area phone services.
T>ic incidcms of vandalism m
the village included the slashing
of four New York Telephone
truck tires on August 7 and the
destruction of phone wires m a
cross-connection box in an apart­ment
garage on Randall Avenue
on August 8. Phone service was
returned to the o%er 100 residents
of ihe building t»o days after ihc
latter incident
Latest offer
The CWA. along *ith the
International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers, represents
(he 60,000 workers v.ho struck
NYNEX and itsiwosubsidianes.
New York Telephone and New
Englaivl Telephone, on August 6
The main controversy bcf»e«n
the parties has been the efforts by
the parent company to shift part
of the cost of medical insurance
ovtT the empIo>-cc$.
The latest offer by NYNEX to
the workers, according to Mr
Bloom, called for emplojrc pa>-
ments of S1.500 per j-ear to cover
part of medical coverage costs.
Pajinents for this covrrage
would be deducted from each
emplo>-ec's salar>. he said, bui
would not cause the proposed
pay raise to become moot The
pay hikes offered by NYNEX
were five percent for the first
year, and two percent (ot the
second and third yeari of the
thrte-v-car coniraa
The New York Telephone Cen­tral
Office on Guv Lombardo
Avenue employi 340 CWA
(CSn=njM on MQ« 8]
Village to receive refund
Freeport Utilities General
Manager William Cominos
announced recently that the vil­lage's
electric department had
received a refund check of
$36,107 dtw to almost eight years
of overcharging' by oil supply
companiet.
According to Mr. Cominov
the refund payment represented
higher-than-normal prices payed
for crude oil bet»-een August.
1973 and Jinuar>. 1981 He
sutcd that all of the inonc>
returned wtU go back to the vil-tage'i
electrxnty customers, both
residential and commencal.
reducing the fuel adjustment
charge in electricity for August,
Sepwmbcr. and Oaoher.
"All 11 took was a 25-ceni
lumpand lOminutesof my time
to get some • rtroncy • back for
Freejrtrt.' Kc tasd. The refund
application i*ai submitted ;n
1987
Freeport first received notifica­tion
that the application had been
approved by the Department of
Enefgyin May of this year Free-port's
application «-as or)e of t^*o .
approved by the department. Mr
Cominos said. 2dding that addi­tional
refund checks are also
expected
"The Department (of Energy!
either found the oil companies lo
be doing something illegal or
unethical or both." he stated Mr
Cominos also astcned, however.
that he j not sure whether or not
the oil company the village pres­ently
employs wji ,n* olved m the
ovtfthatgmg.
The crude oi] purchased b>
Freeport each jtar is used lo
create electncity for the village.