Petito Introduces Resolutions Proposed Long Island TV
For Plainedge Community Center ° uflef Names M ™ °' Y Bd
Town Supervisor Michael N.
Petito this week introduced a pair
of resolutions aimed at establishing
a Town Community Center
in Plainedge. The proposals call
for appraisals of property, about
three ac res, on the South Side of
Boundary Avenue just east of
Hicksville Road to determine the
possibility of Town purchase of
the land to commence the Town's
first all- purpose Community
Center. Petito, who has
championed the center concept
for several years, expressed
hope that a decision on a site for
the proposal could be reached
shortly.
In a statement to the Board,
the Supervisor said: " I am most
anxious to move ahead with this
Center in Plainedge to correct
a recreation gap in that community.
We must determine the
fair cost of land acquisition in
this area and today's action will
enable us to reach that decision."
Petito pointed out that a large
number of residents in the
greater Plainedge area could
avail themselves of the Center
for recreational, cultural, civic
and social activities.
Board Held Hearings On
Ordinance Amendments
A group of prominent Long
Islanders have joined together
in support of an application, currently
awaiting hearing by the
Federal Communications Commission,
which would provide
Nassau and Suffolk Counties with
a television station.
Theodore Granik, long time
radio - television producer and
personality, is President of the
Corporation applying for the UHF
license. The station would be
located in the Patchogue area
with a signal blanketing all of
Nassau and most of Suffolk.
Granik announced that an advisory
group was being developed
to enable the station's management
to provide the utmost in
local news and service programming.
Currently, the group consists
of Harold V. Gleason, of Mas-sapequa,
President of the Long
Island Division of Franklin National
Bank and President of the
Long Island Association; Ray
Heatherton, Community Relations
Director of the Bank; Dr.
R. Gordon Hoxie, Chancellor of
C. W. Post College; Reverend
Edward Molloy, Director of
Radio- TV for the Catholic Archdiocese
of Rockville Centre; Paul
Town send, Publisher of the Long
risand Commerical Review, Jane
des Grange, Director of the Suffolk
Museum; Jim Clifford, President
of Huntington Coach Corporation
and Hilton Soba, Treasurer
of the Long Island Festival.
The Town Board held public
hearings on Tuesday on 25
amendments to Town ordinances
at its meeting with no oppositions.
The Board unanimously adopted
the amendments.
Councilman Marino said,
' These proposed amendments
are a major step in the program
of strengthening and improving
ordinances which have been put
on the books over a period of many
years."
He pointed out that a major
accomplishment in the upcoming
changes will be to designate the
Town Clerk as a License Commissioner
and to reduce violation
penalties from the realm of misdemeanor
to " offense". The
latter, he said, conforms Town
law to State statutes which will
become effective on Septemberl.
The proposed changes, after
public hearings and adoption,
recommended by Town Attorney
Bernard F. Mc Caffrey, is a
step in the codification of Town
ordinances and their printing ina
modern legal format. Today
they are printed or typed in
various forms which make reference
work difficult.
The ordinances under consideration
include: Regulation
of use of streets, highways, sidewalks
and public places; Tow
cars; Rehabilitation of clams and
harvesting worms; Baseball;
Regulation of excavations in
streets or highways; No trespassing
and related regulations;
Renting of boats for the taking
of fish, shellfish or birds ( ducks)
from Town waters; Taking possession
and transportation of
sandworms, bloodworms from
Town lands.
Also Hawking and peddling;
Waste disposal; Regulating and
licensing of junk dealers; Shellfish;
Shrimp; Town Public Parking
District; Taxicab and
limousine; Dumping of refuse
and garbage; Repeal of existing
fireworks - explosive ordinance
and adopting a new one - " Explosive
Ordinance" and Restricting
trade on Memorial Day.
Marino Challenges
Petito to Debate
Prepare For " Operation Anti- Sneeze'
Town Supervisor Michael N.
Petito this weekdirectedall Town
Departments to participate in an
all out war on ragweed which will
be conducted during the coming
weeks. In disclosing his plans for
the operation, Petito called for
all available personnel to inspect
areas of the Town for ragweed
growth and then follow a two-point
policy: if the weed is found
on Town properly, it will be
sprayed with a chemical formula
and if found on private property,
notify the owner of its presence,
and if not removed or sprayed
in five days the Town will perform
the job and bill the owner.
Petito said his program would
be part of a larger plan begun
earlier this year to combat air-pollution
and other sources of
breathing distress in the Town.
The Town Building Department
has been requested to examine
all vacant lots and notify owners
to destroy ragweed concentrations
while the Highway and Parks
Department will perform similar
actions in park areas and woodlands
under Town ownership.
The program was especially
necessary this year in view of
the heavy rainfall that has occurred
to date during 1967 which
has greatly increased ragweed
growth, according to Petito.
He added that telegrams have
been sent to officials in the adjoining
Towns of Hempstead,
North Hempstead, Huntington and
Babylon as well as the County of
Nassau. Petito stated that the
problem of ragweed must be met
on a regional basis or else efforts
by Oyster Bay could be negated
by pollen coming from adjacent
areas which may not be meeting
the problem.
Councilman Ralph J. Marino,
the Republican- Liberal candidate
for Oyster Bay Town Supervisor,
has challenged his Democrat opponent,
Michael Petito, to declare
whether or not he agrees
with the position taken by County
Executive Eugene Nickerson on a
proposal before the Constitutional
Convention calling for the
elimination of town and village
boards.
" Democrat Nickerson has
gone on record as favoring this
plan, which would take control of
zoning out of the hands of our local
officials," Marino stated. " Petito
has usually played follow-the-
leader after Nickerson takes
a stand, and I would like to know
if he now agrees with the proposal
that cuts right into the heart of
local government and authority."
Marino explained that the plan
calls for electing all town and village
officials from wards, instead
of the present system ofat- large
elections.
" At present, village and town
boards are elected at- large,"
Marino said," and, therefore, all
board members must be responsive
to all of our residents needs
and desires. With the Tammany
wards system, what happens when
someone wants to put a gasoline
station next door to you? Of
course, the representative from
your ward votes against it, but the
other members of the board could
vote for it with immunity from
retaliation at the polls. I dont
think the people of Oyster Bay
want a system in which their
zoning is controlled by people
over whom they have no control,"
Marino stated.
Petito Calls Planning
Proposal Unsatisfactory
Taxpayers Saved Three Million
By Accepting 800 For Adoption
Nassau taxpayers have saved
$ 3 million over the past five
years by placing nearly 800
children in adoptive homes,
County Executive? Eugene
Nickerson announced this week.
Most of the children helped
have been one year of age or
under.
The county executive appealed
for more families to apply.
Fewer than 100 children eligible
for adoption remain on the rolls
of the Department of Social
Services.
Adoptions climbed from 118 in
1962 to 176 in 1966. This year's
estimated total is 200.
Under State law, the county
must keep homeless children in
foster homes until they reach
18 years of age. The average
Interested Students Asked To
Prepare For Academy Tests
Congressman James R. Grover
Jr. urged high school seniors and
graduates who are interested in
entering the United States Coast
Guard Academy to make
necessary arrangements to take
the required tests by October 28.
Grover said: " The Coast
Guard Academy in New London
is unique among our service
academies in that appointments
are made without geographic
quotas or any other quota system
and are based solely on a nationwide
competitive approach. Congressmen
do not have appointments
to the Academy but I
urge all young men who meet
the scholastic, physical and
moral requirements and who have
an interest in a Coast Guard
officer career to enter the competition."
The Competition begins with
the December 2 College Entrance
Examination Board tests. Arrangements
for these tests can
be made through the applicants'
schools by October 28. Applications
for the Academy must
be received by December 15 at
the Academy in New London,
Connecticut.
Candidates must be single,
between 17 and 22, in good physical
condition and high school
graduates. Those who will be
graduated from high school by
July 1, 1968, may enter the
competition.
Library Offers Free
Him Showings
" The Kremlin", a color film
of the art treasures of Czarist
Russia and " The Great Un-fenced",
a film about Western
Australia, will be shown at the
Bar Harbour Building of the Mas-supequa
Public Library on Tuesday,
August 22 at 8 p. m.
cost of food, shelter and clothing
is $ 120 per month, exclusive of
doctor bills.
Once adopted, the cost of their
upbringing is assumed by the
parents.
If the 791 children adopted since
1962 had remained on the tax rolls
until their 18th birthdays, it would
cost at least $ 20,000,000, an official
report claimed.
School District 23
Sets Tax Rate
The Massapequa Board of Education
this week established the
1967- 1968 combined school and
library tax rate at $ 6.47 per
$ 100 of assessed valuation. This
includes $ 6.04 for school purposes
and $. 43 for the library.
The school tax rate is up $. 23.
The total Massapequa Public
School budget for 1967- 1968 is
$ 16,608,753 and the library budget
is $ 465,854.
Reg strati on Dates
For New Students
Registration of junior and
senior high school students
entering the Massapequa Public
School District for the first time
will be held on Friday, September
1, from 8: 00 a. m. to 1: 00 p. m.
and on Tuesday, September 5,
from 8: 00 a. m. to 11: 00 a. m.
Registration* will be held at
Parkside and McKenna Junior
High Schools and at Berner and
Massapequa High Schools.
Charging the Town Board with
engaging in a major deception in
presenting a series of inconclusive
reports as a Master Plan.
Democrat Supervisor Michael N.
Petito this week called on the
Board to take immediate action
to recover $ 78,000 paid to Seymour
Stillman for such a Plan.
Petito criticized not only the
quality of the reports but again
took issue with the manner in
which the Stillman contract was
paid, pointing out that the contract
contained provision
for automatic monthly payments
of $ 3,250 per month for 24 months
without any provisions to show
what work was being accomplished.
The Supervisor vigorously
opposed the Board's appointment
of Stillman in the Spring
of 1965 and signed the contract
only when legally forced to do
so by the Board majority.
The Supervisor characterized
the map and fifteen interim reports
submitted as vague, containing
a minimum of projection
and useless to the Town
in preparing its zoning and planning
for the next generation.
Town of Oyster Bay Councilman
Angelo Roncallo said that
the Town Board had a bipartisan
citizens advisory lay committee
assisted in the project.
Town Hockey Team To Hay
In Rangers- Sponsored Hockey League
The Oyster Bay Town Board
has, authorized the formation of a
Town hockey team to participate
in the New York Rangers- sponsored
Metropolitan Ice Hockey
League.
Councilman Ralph J. Marino
said this is the first and only
Town on Long Island to develop
a program that is aimed at producing
home- grown hockey players
while providing youngsters
with a worthwhile winter sport.
A town sponsored hockey program,
which began on the local
level throughout the Town last
year, will give interested youngsters
the opportunity to develop
hockey skills that might enable
them to participate on college,
Olympic, semi- professional and
professional hockey teams, said
Marino.
The team which will be called
the Tobay Gulls, will consist of
Town players between ages of
16- 19.
Oyster Bay joins the East Division
which already lists Com-mack,
New Hyde Park and the
Long Island Athletic Club as
members of that Division. The
teams will play a 22- game schedule
beginning the last week in
October and running through late
February. All Gull home games
will be played at die Long Island
Arena in Commack with
several contests slated for the
new Madison Square Garden.
Marino added that the Town
Recreation- Department's hockey
program, which started last year
witii league play for various age
groups, will act as a farm system
for die Gulls.
Those interested in further
information or try - outs, are
urged to contact the Recreation
Department at 921- 5875.
' Mind' Lesson Topic
" Mind" is the subject of the
Lesson- Sermon to be read in all
Christian Science churches
throughout the world this Sunday,
including The First Church of
Christ Scientist Massapequa at
4550 Merrick Road, Massapequa*
OBSERVER, Thursday, August 17, 1967 Page 3
