Gardening On The Island
By The Long Island Nurserymen's Association
New Jersey may call itself " the
garden state" but Long Islanders
take special pride in their lawns,
and could well pun themselves into
being called " Lawn Island."
You may complain about the need
for mowing, but you are always
gratified by the results.
The weatherman, who takes a
beating no matter what he does,
has an important influence on
when and how you mow. If the
summer continues to be as wet
as this spring has been, the grass
will grow rapidly, need mowing
frequently, and can stand to be cut
as short as two inches — or even
an inch and a half if you have a
Merion Kentucky bluegrass lawn.
Your problem may be only themat-ter
of finding time to mow between
rains.
If, on the other hand, the skies
have exhausted their water supply,
and we find ourselves with
a drought again, the mowing picture
will be reversed. The grass
should not be mowed too frequently
or too short, because
during a long dry spell with hot
sunshine, it will burn and turn
brown, as happened a few years
ago to many of Long Island's
beautiful lawns. A mowing height
of three inches will do much to
preserve the moisture that is
available or supplied by your
hosing sessions, and there will
be less chance of losing it to
sunburn.
Whether this summer turns out
to be wet or dry, you will do well
to consult your Long Island
nurseryman about your lawn fertilizing
program. Me may have
soni' 2 valuable suggestions that
will protect your green carpet
and keep it in beautiful good
health.
Now is the time to take a good
hard look at your trees. The past
six years of drought may this
year, for the first time, show the
toll they have taken. If the trees
do not look healthy, and you find
that the tips of their branches are
brown and dry, consult your
nurseryman immediately about a
fertilizing program that could
perhaps save them. Effects of
drought often do not show up until
five years after the drought occurred,
and even though we might
have broken the spell this year,
it could be too late to repair the
damage without taking drastic
measures under expert guidance.
This is a month, too, when insects
will be in full force inyour.
home grounds. The use of protective
sprays is advisable only
if the sprays are chosen by someone
who knows what is safe to
use, and how and when to use it.
It is not a job for the amateur.
It can also be a frustrating experience.
One of the increasingly popular
methods of keeping the outdoor
living area comfortably free of
pests, and at the same time protecting
your plants, is the use of
bug- lights. There are several
good types of insect- attracting
lamps for outdoor use. They are
readily available at garden centers
and plantsmen's outlets.
Their virtue lies in the fact that
they attract flying insects and
kill them. If you install an efficient
bug- light early inthe season,
you have summer- long protection
from flying pests, since
there will not be anewcropbeing
born in mid- summer.
Gardening is one of the most
popular hobbies in today's world,,
But increasingly, it needs advice
from " the man who knows" as
new products come onto the
market with extravagant claims
and inadequate p r e - testing. Your
Long Island nurseryman is your
garden's friend.
Capitol Report
By Repjames Grover
The United States government
manages to defy all natural laws.
In our government, everything
that goes up stays up— taxes, expenses,
the number of employes
and so on and so on.
Remember the fuss that President
Johnson made only a few
years ago about cutting the number
of federal workers? That's
the fuss he raised when he wasn't
busy turning off lights at the
White House and, in general, saving
enough money so that we
could rack up one monumental
federal deficit after anomer. According
to the Joint Committee
on Reduction of Non- Essential
Federal Expenditures, civilian
employment in the Executive
branch of the federal government
as of last March was 2,919,739,
up more than 30,000 over March,
1967. A number of federal departments
showed hefty increases
but the most interesting jump
came in the Department of Agriculture,
which went from 107,000
employes in 1967 to 109,000 in
1968. Maybe all those farmers
who are leaving the land are going
to work for the government.
1 am currently investigating
reports that overstaffing of U. S.
embassies overseas is responsible
in part for our imbalance of
payments problem. Embassy
staffs are certainly no place for
featherbedding.
Congressman Sam Steiger of
Arizona ran into an unusual situation
recently while looking into
government work on pollution. He
found about 1,000 separate federal
projects under way. These
were being managed at 192 installations
under the supervision
of nine departments and agencies.
Congressman Steiger tried to
find out how the government was
spending the $ 4- billion it now
devotes to research and development
but could not get figures on
how many laboratories are inthe
pollution fight, where they're located,
how many they employ and
what these employes are doing.
Many members of Congress
have had some fun at government
expense by unearming unusual
projects being financed by your
tax dollars. You know the kind—
research into the love life of
Alaskan huskies or the Influence
of Aztec Poetry on Elizabethan
Ballads, all financed by fancy
grants. This sort of thing maybe
funny, but it's also costly, and
the average taxpayer only began
to work for himself about a month
ago. Up to mat time, he was
working to pay taxes.
A Hoover- type commission, to
look into government spending
and needed efficiencies, is long
overdue. Perhaps, now that the
President no longer needs to look
toward government spending as
a means for winning votes we
can launch this sort of investigation.
In government, it's the taxpayer
who al way > pays and pays
and pays.
MAID- 0- RAMA
DOMESTIC
DAYWORKER
Trustworthy and efficient,
driven to your
home and called for at
the end of a full 8- hour
day.
PY 6- 3636
Armed Forces
Air Force Sergeant KennethR.
Pine, son of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth
Pine of 36 Ripple water Ave.,
Massapequa, has received the
Air Medal at Tan Son Nhut Air
Base, Vietnam.
Sergeant Pine, a communications
specialist, was decorated
for meritorious achievement
during aerial flights. He was
cited for his outstanding airmanship
and courage on successful
missions under hazardous conditions.
The sergeant, a 1963 graduate
of Plainedge High School, attended
Rider College In Trenton, New
Jersey.
* * *
Technical Sergeant Harry R.
Eaton, son of Mrs. Mildred Eaton
of 931 Fulton St., Farmingdale,
has arrived for duty at Ching
Chuan Kang AB, Taiwan.
Sergeant Eaton, a security
police supervisor, is assigned
to a unit of the Pacific Air
Forces. He previously served
at Wright- Patterson Air Force
Base, Ohio.
The sergeant is a 1953 graduate
of Farmingdale High School.
* * *
Coast Guard Cadet Richard K.
Defeo, 19, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Frank M. Defeo of 50 Cherokee
St., Massapequa, will participate
in the annual summer training
p r o g r a m at the Coast Guard'
Academy, New London, Connecticut.
He will serve aboard either
the training bark Eagle or on one
of die Coast Guard's modern cutters
during this phase of training.
* * *
Seaman Recruit Richard A.
Goetz, USN, 19, son of Mrs.
Dorothy Steidel of 2 Larkin St.,
Farmingdale, is undergoing nine
weeks of basic training at the
Naval Training Center, San
Diego, California.
Coast Guard Cadet William A.
McDonough, 19, son of Mr. William
A. McDonough of 149 Primrose
Ave., Massapequa Park,
will participate in the annual
summer training program at the
Coast Guard Academy, New London,
Connecticut.
He will serve aboard either the
training bark Fagle or on one of
the Coast Guard's modern cutters
during this phase of training.
* * *
Army Private Frank Trifaro,
18, son of Frank P. Trifaro, 84
Clinton Ave., Farmingdale, completed
eight weeks of advanced
infantry training at Fort Jackson,
South Carolina.
* * *
Coast Guard Cadet Robert L.
Pokress, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Jackson B. Pokress of 508 Atlanta
Ave., North Massapequa,
will participate in the annual
summer training program at the
Coast Guard Academy, New London.
Connecticut.
He will serve aboard either the
training bark Eagle or on one of
the Coast Guard's modern cutters
during this phase of training.
* * *
Army Private First Class David
A. Messier, 20, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Robert N. Messier, 9
Ridge Road, Farmingdale, was
assigned as a dispatch clerk to
Headquarters Detachment of the
9th Infantry Division's 9th Signal
Battalion in Vietnam.
Robert J. McCann, 19, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. McCann,
17 Frankel Road, Massapequa,
received his Army commission
as a second lieutenant upon completion
of the Reserve Officers'
Training Corps program at Can-isius
College, Buffalo.
As a military graduate, he
earned a Regular Army commission
in infantry and will report
for active duty at Fort Denning,
Georgia.
Lt. McCann received his B. SB
degree from the college.
* * *
Private Nicholas M. Cimino,
20, son of Mr. and Mrs. Matteo
J. Cimino, 186 Fallwood Parkway,
Farmingdale, completed an
artillery fire direction control
course at the Army Artillery and
Missile School, Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.
Albany Open Line
by Alex Rankin
i
The state Legislature this year
taxed the people heavier than before,
spent more money and wrote
more laws to further restrict
citizens of the state.
For any number of the specifics
contained in those three
generalities, the voters maycon-demn
a good many of the legislators
to oblivion - perhaps at
$ 150 a day on the board of some
state agency is history is any
guide in this matter - onElection
Day in November.
But wait - they did take on step
toward redemption.
So far, it must be added, the
step is only on paper.
It has to do with the fact that
in the first two of the three broad
generalities, the Legislature has
for years been little more than
a rubber stamp for the governor.
And this paper steps holds out
the possibility of a change inthis
status.
Thirty minutes before it adjourned,
the Legislature created
a " Joint Legislative Committee
on Legislative Fiscal Analysis
and Review.*' The blew life into
it with an $ 150,000 a year appropriation.
On paper it could well be the
best $ 150,000 they ever spent.
It holds the promise of less
spending by the state, and perhaps
lower taxes.
State Senator John H. Hughes
of Syracuse, who represents, Onondaga,
Chenango and Madison
Counties, has been talking about
such a committee for years. No
one listened. There was good
reason for them not to listen,
because any committee with the
power to conduct an indpendent
survey of state spending and desire
to spend, or to discover if
the v a r i o u s departments and
agencies of the state are in fact
doing with the money what the
Legislature intended for them to
do, is not going to be a rubber
stamp for the governor.
The goals of this committee include:
* A review of the " character
and form of fiscal data received
from the executive branch."
The legislature is a rubber
stamp precisely because in the
past it has had to take budget
information from governors at face
value. It does not have the time
or the staff to dig through the
mass of bureaucratic red tape,
the volumes of unwritten ways of
doing things, to be able to judge
the g o v e r n o r ' s proposals for
spending and taxing accurately.
• An evaluation of the legisl
a t i v e " structures and procedure
for budget determination
and the consideration of methods
for the systematic review of its
appropriations to a s s u r e that
legislative i n t e nt is being carried
out."
" Makte recommendations to
assure " that the budget process
be clearly set in an historical
and predictive context that reveals
both the past growth and
probable future demands of the
v a r i o u s programs of s t a te
government."
This paper hope has one other
significant fact. Four of the 16
members do not have to be state
legislators.
Hughes and others have for
years said such a committee
should include private citizens,
people who pay taxes, sotheycar.
be in on the process.
The whole thing is on paper.
No one has been appointed to
the committee and beyond that,
there is no indication as to how
easily this committee will overcome
practical politics.
In the past practical politics
has precluded any meaningful
cuts in the budgets governors
every year throw on legislators'
desks.
This is because the legislative
leaders are in the awkward position
of having to fight for the
governor's spending programs
in party caucuses if they are to
be effective leaders - that is,
be able to get things from the
governor, while at the same time
preserving party unity, getting
the required number of votes together
to pass tough legislation.
In the past, unity has been best
served by keeping the common
Assemblyman or Senator largely
ignorant on budget matters. If
he is ignorant, he won't ask any
embarrassing questions, s t a rt
any untidy party revolts.
Hughes started one this year.
He is largely responsible for the
fact that there is no 20 percent
surcharge on the state personal
income tax this year - as the
governor wanted.
It was a very untidy thing. The
state went for 15 days without a
budget and things got so bad that
Gov. Rockefeller ironically sent
up special messages warning the
Legislature not to be " fiscally
irresponsible."
It was right out of Alice in
Wonderland.
Sergeant George E. Regan Jr.,
son of Mr. and Mrs. George
Regan of 104 Lambert Ave.,
Farmingdale, is on duty with the
4258th Strategic WingatU- Tapao
Airfield, Thailand.
The sergeant was assigned at
McCoy Air Force Base, Florida,
before arriving in Thailand.
He is a 1964 graduate of Farmingdale
Senior high School.
* * *
Seaman Apprentice Dennis R.
Bushelon, USN, 19, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Richard R. Bushelon of
157 Ontario Ave., Massapequa,
is serving aboard the attack aircraft
carrier Forrestal off the
coast of Virginia.
* » *
Airman F i r s t Class Dante
Marrazzo Jr., son of Mr. and
Mrs. Dante Marrazzo of 28 Lois
Lane, South Farmingdale, is a
member of a unit that has earned
the United States Air Force Outstanding
Unit Award.
Airman Marrazzo, a security
policeman in the 49th Tactical
Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem A ir
Base Germany, will wear the distinctive
service ribbon to mark
his affiliation with the unit.
4 * *
Marine Private James J. Gal-vin,
19, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert
J. Galvin of 543 Parkside
Blvd., Massapequa, was graduated
from eight weeks of recruit
training at the Marine Corps Recruit
Depot at Parris Island,
South Carolina.
Technical Sergeant Gerard
Frank, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred
C. Frank of 73 Baltimore Ave.,
Massapequa, is on duty at Bien
Hoa Bay in Vietnam.
Sergeant Frank, a communications
technician, is a member
of the Pacific Air Forces. Before
his arrival in Vietnam, he was
assigned to the 52nd Civil Engineering
Maintenance Squadron,
at Suffolk County Air Force Base.
Airman Kenneth J. Zimmer,
son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter F.
Zimmer of 105 Ocean Ave., Massapequa,
has completed basic
training at Amarillo Air Force
Base Texas. He has been assigned
to the A ir Force Technical Training
Center at the U. S. Naval
Station, Port Hueneme, California,
for specialized schooling as
a construction specialist
Airman Zimmer, a 1966 graduate
of Massapequa High School,
has studied at Suffolk Community
Commercial College, Seiden,
New York.
Army Prcvate First Class Walter
R. Papenhausen, 21, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Walter Papenhausen,
32 Cottage Drive, Massapequa,
was assigned to the 539th
Supply Company near Cam Ranh
Hay, Vietnam, as a supply clerk.
His wife, Barbara, lives at206
N. Utica Ave., Massapequa.
Farmingdale OBSERVER Thursday, June 27, 1968 Page 5
