Bethpage-Tribune_1974-08-08

              BETHP/GE ulL. t-Vtkh. I ui
BETHPAGE LIB
47 POWELL AV
BETHPAGE NY I 1714
«
OLD BETHB4GE
also serving ISLAND TREES
PLAINVIEW PLAINEDGE SEAFORD
VOL, 8 NO. 38 Thursday, August 8,1974 10 cents per copy
Lbcal Woman
Denied Post
by Shari Miller
: in a - decision made Monday
night,, the Bethpage Fire
Department made it clear to the
community that many firemen
still feel that the fire department
is "for men only." Ms. Elisa
Rossi, a Bethpage resident who
had applied for admission to the
Fire Department, failed to
receive the required two-thirds
vote for approval. The vote was '
53-48 in her favof; 14 more yes
votes are required for approval.
Ms. Rossi is a registered nurse
in the cardiac care unit at Central
General Hospital in Plainview,
who had hoped to assist in rescue
and ambulance work ' in the
department. Only a few fire
departments on Long Island.have
iaraale members. However, the
Bethpage Fire Department does"
have in their ranks two medical
School Tax Final
The Nassau County 1974-75
School Tax Roll showing an in­crease
in assessments of
$25460,885. for a total of
: $3,506,500,910. became official
today according to the Chairman
' bf: the: Nassau County Board of
t Assessors 'Abe Seldin.
"The .723 percent increase in
i assessments over last year* is
r reflective of the dramatic
i reduction in building activity in
1 Nassau County and the entire
Metropolitan Area," stated
Seldin. "The number of building
I permits issued show a significant
decrease in the construction of
I both new homes and businesses
(and an over 60 percent decline in
permits for the refurbishing and
(Continued
technicians, two registered
nurses, and nineteen emergency
medical technicians, all of whom
are male.
The Bethpage Fire Chief, Sal
Greco, refused to comment on
both the vote and the all-male
constituency of the department.
Fireman Ed Marczewski said,
"It is unfortunate because she's
more than qualified...the fact
that there were five other ap­plicants-
all male-all of whom
were accepted that same night
speaks for itself that it is a case of
discrimination."
Ms. Rossi, when contacted at
home, said, "I really didn't want
to. tnak iuch a big thing out of
this...it really a shame because
y I wanted tp do it for the
benefit of the community and
nothing else.".
expanding of existing struc­tures."
In addition to new construction
and additions to - existing
buildings, increases in the
assessment roll can be attributed ~
to several factors,
The lowering of the equaliza­tion
rate is a constant drain on
our rolls," asserted Seldin. "The
State Board must be convinced
that the methods they use to
arrive at the rate are not ac­curate,
as it relates to Nassau
County. This will be one of our
main goals for the coming year,"
continued Seldin.
Of the 62 school districts in
Nassau County 58 increased their
assessments and 4 decreased.
on Page 8)
Fight
Organized Crime
Nassau County Executive Ralph' G. Caso has proclaimed Aug. 26-
Sept. 2 "Long Island Cerebral Palsy Fair Days." Above, famed
clown Emmett Kelly looks for mention of his circus, one of scores of
features of the eight-day extra-vaganza. 20-acre event will be held on
Hofstra University Fair Grounds in Uniondale.
by Shari Miller
"Government programs for the '
control of crime are unlikely to
succeed all alone. Informed
private citizens...can make a
decisive difference in the
prevention, detection, and
prosecution of crime..."—
National Commission On the
Causes and Prevention of Crime.
"Specialists alone cannot
control crime...Controlling crime
is the business of every
American...Direct citizen action
to- improve law enforcement has
become an absolute necessity."—
The President's Commission On
Law, Enforcement and Ad-to
the formation of various
citizen's groups whose goals are
to aid the local law enforcement
officials in the ongoing battle
against criminal activity.
Organized crime is a spreading
disease affecting every business
and consumer community in the
United States. Long Island, like
most fast-growing business
centers of the nation, has been
touched by this growing blight.
In June, 1970 a group of eleven
businessmen from Nassau and
Suffolk Counties,under the
leadership of Warren Spellman of
Holiday Manor in Bethpage,
formed the Long Island Com­mittee
for Crime Control, Inc.
The idea had been born early in
1968 to undertake the formation
of the first such organization in
the bi-county region, and the first
private crime council to be
formed in the nation for 16 years.
The Long Island Committee for
Crime Control has, devised a
community-based action
program to result in three
general services: information for
local businessmen; investigation
by law-enforcement. agencies;
and legislation through contact
with government officials.
The Committee compiles and
maintains identification files of
known organized criminals in the
local area, their business in­terests
and known criminal
associations. By maintaining files
which are fully-documented from
official records, the Committee
acts as a central clearing-house
for semi-professional criminal
intelligence for the business
community.. The Long Island
Committee for Crime Control
does not engage in investigation:
they seek to establish a
cooperative rapport between the
businesses they represent and
Federal, State, and local law
enforcement agencies.
The Committee's most
beneficial function is that they
can provide service to
businessmen who may be in­volved
with organized crime
through infiltration, intimidation,
WARREN SPELLMAN, President of the Long Island Committee for
Crime Control.
or coersion who are reluctant
about reporting to law en­forcement
agencies due to fear of
involvement, personal and/or
economic retaliation. The Long
Island Committee for Crime
Control will guarantee
b u s i n e s s m e n complete
anonymity while building on the
information provided to them.
Reports are made to local law
enforcement Agencies'by the
committee as a whole, thereby
completely protecting the
businessmen. An individual can
thereby act against organized
crime without any fear of per­sonal
danger to oneself or one's
family.
The Long Island Committee for
Crime Control currently operates
under the auspices of the Law
Enforcement Assistance Ad­ministration,
which was founded,
on the realization that crime
cannot be effectively combatted
without the cooperation of the
private sector of the population.
There are 16 similar citizens'
groups in the nation which
operate under the LEAA. The
oldest is the Chicago Crime
Commission, which was created
in 1919 in response to a wave of
violence and terrorism plaguing
that-city*-vThe Chicago. Com­mission
has exposed countless
criminals-both in and out of
legitimate business~and has
published a guide to criminal
identification entitled "Hood's
Who." The Chicago Crime
Commission has served is the
model for Long Island's own
watchdog group. Through the
National Association of Citizen
Crime Commissions, the Long
Island Committee exchanges
programs with similar groups in
other areas.
Warren Spellman, President of
the Long Island Committee for
Crime Control, is not a newcomer
to the area of crime - fighting.
Throughout his business career,
Mr. Spellman has sought to play
a role in combatting criminal
activity as a private citizen. He is
currently Chairman of the Board
of the National Association of
Citizen Crime Commissions. He
was originally appointed a
member of the Nassau Criminal
Justice Coordination Council in
1969 by Eugene Nickerson and
was reappointed to the council,
which he presently serves on, by
Ralph Caso in 1970. He is an
active member of the Crime and
Delinquency Council of the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce in
Washington, D.C. He is a
member of the Board of Direc­tors
of the Organized Crime
Section of the National
Association of Chiefs of Police
and is the only civilian ever to be
appointed to that position.
Mr. Spellman feels . that the
most important aspect of the
Committee's operation is that
they can act as a go-between for
businesses and law enforcement
personnel. According to recent
reliable estimates, the crime
expense in the nation is now up to
$51 billion per year. Of this
amount, about $20 billion goes
directly into the pockets of those
responsible for organized crime.
The "crime industry" is now the
largest in the country by dollar
volume. Mr. Spellman and his
associates feel that only through
grass-roots efforts can any
progress towards the ultimate
eradication of organized crime be
achieved.
Recently, the Long Island
Committee for Crime Control
was instrumental in instituting
an investigation which led to the
"busting-up" of a major loan-sharking
operation in Suffolk
County. This operation had been
(Continued on Page 81