Bethpage-Tribune_1970-04-02

              Mipage Public Library
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Island Trees
— ^
Vol. 4 No. 24
Serving Bethpage -- Ploinview - Island Trees - Plainedge - Seaford
Thursday, April 2, 1970
Old Bethpage
10c per copy
Board Busts 'Bussing'
By Tom Cullem and Mary McCutcheon
According to Board member
Sol Fink, the Bethpage students
were to study computer
, programs at Wyandanch, while
Wyandanch students were to
School Board meeting, held study art courses here. Although
Tuesday night, March 31, at the Fink mentioned busses as a
Administration Building — L1 "• i_'«-._
. "Bussing and integration"
went the rumors, as some 60
taxpayers in varying degrees of
anger and distress livened up an
otherwise routine Bethpage
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE L-R- Looking over plans for a new
three story office building off Central Avenue at the south west
corner of the Oyster Bay Expressway in Bethpage are: Frederic G.
Weidersum architect, Frank Briggs, Senior Vice President for
Building (Equitable) and Edward Glazer, Deputy Supervisor, T.O.B.
Leaning on shovels—L-R- Howard S. Turner, President of Turner
Construction Co., Edward A. Rabie, Senior Vice President for
Personnel (Equitable) and TOB Councilmen, Wai-renf-**. Ooollttle'
and Phillip Healy.
Break Ground Here
For Equitable Office
- —i 1 nnntrast and t
Ground was broken this week
for a new three-story office
building to be erected by The
Equitable Life Assurance Society
of the U.S. on a 4% acre site at the
southwest corner of Oyster Bay
Expressway and Central Avenue.
Company officials said the
attractive, fully-airconditioned
structure will represent "a
logical extension of Equitable's
program to cope with the growth
of its operations."
Edward A. Robie, senior vice
president and personnel director,
declared that Equitable will
occupy the entire building. It will
provide space for 350 employees,
who will administer part of the
company's extensive Group
insurance operations.
Mr. Robie said: "We hope to
hire more than 200 workers from
the immediate area during the
summer months and give them
training in a temporary office so
that they will be ready to launch
an efficient operation, when the
building is completed on October
1, 1970."
Frank H. Briggs, senior vice
president in charge of buildings,
said: "This will be a handsome
structure. Though smaller than
many of the Equitable-owned and
operated office buildings across
the country, it will be an ap­propriate
addition to these
ranks."
Mr. Briggs reported the steel
framed, fireproof building will be
comprised of solar bronze glass
. . curtain walls with porcelain
enameled insulated panels
supported by vertical, dark
bronze aluminum mullions. A
precast concrete roof facia and a
sloping exposed aggregate
concrete base will provide a
strong visual contrast, this
will be enhanced by the
surrounding concrete mall,
landscaped with trees and
shrubs. The building will have an
interior area of about 53,000
square feet.
Mr. Briggs said canopied en­trances
will be situated at the
north and south sides of the
Stewart and Cherry Ave.
The object of the group's
complaint was a proposed ex­change
program between Beth­page
and Wyandanch, a
predominantly black school
district. The project, sponsored
by the Bethpage High School
Human Relations Club, would
have required parental approval
for six Bethpage students,
would, have used dub tran­sportation,
and would have been
for a threerday period.
At 12:20 a.m., after an
executive session, the; Board
announced that it had cancelled
trie program.
The Human relations Club
involves some 20 students, with
an unpaid moderator.
Parents at the meeting
protested both the idea of bussing
and the Board's alleged
"deviousness" in handling the
matter.
Vice-president Hugh Coyle
- " 'J--* in President
„o „
possible means of transportation,
Dr. Roper Larsen, Supt. of
Schools, pointed out that Human
Relations Club would provide its
own, non-public transportation.
Amid comments that "no child
of mine will be bussed out of
town" and "six could be 60, or 600
next time," Coyle said that he
had originally opposed the plan,
but had relented when he heard
the three-day limit. He added
that he had hoped the Club would
'lost interest in the project. ,
Fink disputed Coyle's con­tention
that the Board wanted the
. Club's interest to. 'if«M*ei»«way."
while trustee Anthony JksJPViso
warned against "blowing things
• out of proportion."
LaFaso explained that he
originally objected to the project
because he could see no
educational value to it. He
changed his mind, he said,
because theClub thought it would
gain worth#hile communcation
Vice-president Hugh uoyie Wwiittnh wWyy^inuduaofulcwh. ^«st udents. He
chaired the meeting in President urged parents to let;students go
Joseph Dawson's absence. Coyle anead fyth the program,* since
. _•__j *v,„t the Roard had (j,ey considered it worthwhile.
"•- — ~ livelier a«
JOSepil Uclwom. ^ „ „
explained that the Board had
vetoed an Administration proposal
last year to bus students into
Wyandanch for a four-to six-week
period. Then, in September, 1969,
the Administration relayed a
north and soutn smes w u» ' fV»e Human
building, and there will be ad-—-request from the Human
jacent on-site parking facilities Relations Club. The Board ap-
for in excess o~fe 4A0n0n cnatrrcs . ~* ——»«"»* "f the
"Among those taking part in the
ground-breaking were Oyster
Bay Deputy Supervisor Ed
Glazen, Councilmen Edmund A.
Ocker, Philip J. Healey and
Warren M. Doolittle.
Howard S. Turner,-president
and chief executive officer of
Turner Construction Co.,
» represented the general con­tractor,
along with G. M. Allen,
vice president.
Representing the architects
and engineers were Frederic G.
Wiedersum of Valley Stream,
and Albert H. Voorneveld,
project manager.
Mr. Robie said: "Equitable is
growing on Long Island. This is
necessary in part because we just
don't have any more room to
expand in Manhattan. We moved
into a new 42-story Home Office
building nine years ago and some
time ago grew out of the
available space.
"While we have had agency
and cashier's offices on Long
Island for many years, we took a
substantial step in utilizing the
island's labor market in
November, 1968, when we placed
a divisional claims office em­ploying
135 persons in Garden
City. Next we set up an office for
(Continued on Page 2)
neiauuns ywu. -
proved the general concept of the
request at that time, which in­volved
a three-day exchange with
small numbers of Wyandanch
students.
, Coyle noted that nothing more
had come of the proposal until a
week ago, when a specific
number of students (six) was
finally mentioned
ley tunaiunw .-
Discussion "became livelier as
one man advised the Board to
"stop beating around* the bush. .
.you're bringing blacks in," while
another compared letting
students "do what they want
academically' with the use of
drugs in the schools.
Charles Hearl, a Board
member, noted that the program
would be presented in an up­coming
bulletin. Dr. Larsen
warned that it would not be in the
April issue, since there was no
finalized project to talk about. As
he pointed out later, if plans were
finally mentioned. nnoott ffminaailiizzeead,, uthieeirce «o.r .i»f W...y,_a.n -
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilltlllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIItllllllliiillllllllllllllllllll
Architects's rendering of new three-stoi „ office building in oeihpage
to be erected by the Equitable Life Assura.i^e Society of the U.S. The
structure, designed by Frederick P. Wiedersum Associates, Ar­chitects-
Engineers of Valley Stream is scliw" <*d for completion in
October 1970 on a four and three-quarter a. >te at the south west
corner of Oyster Bay Expressway and Central Avenue.
danch did not go along with' the
idea, there would be no program
to inform people about.
LaFaso added that there need
not be a record in the official
Board minutes of their general
approval of the project. He stated
that such a limited exchange
program would only require
Board sanction of existing ad­ministrative
policy. According to
Dr. Larsen, such policy allows
one-or two-day exchanges with
many school districts on Long
Island.
Joseph Krol, who had earlier
served as the apparent
spokesman for the group, con­tended
that "our Board hardly
ever knows what's going on."
Describing the Human Relations
Club as "nice phraseology," Krol
asserted-that- "minority groups
thousand people- Will be down
here if that's what you want."
"We're not looking for a show
of force," responded Coyle.
"We're looking to run a school
district."
Discussion continued along
these lines for about an hour.
Tribune reporter Tom Cullem
commented that the meeting was
becoming a "spectacle," and
recommended a more reasoned
discussion. Apparently confused
with a reporter for the "Eagle's
Cry", the high school newspaper,
he.was challenged-for his right to
speak^at the meeting.
By 9:30 p.m., the overflow
crowd urged the Board to "give it
(the program) to us exactly as it
is," claiming the Board had not
informed them of the situation.
Also, though apparently
amenable to a one;-way program •
(from Bethpage TO Wyandanch
only), they demanded an im­mediate
decision by the Board.
Coyle declared that the Board
wanted to discuss the issue first
in executive session. He
promised that people would be
informed if an exchange program
were set up.
The Board then turned to other
matters and the crowd gradually
dispersed.
After the early morning
executive session, LaFaso spoke
the consensus of the Board.
Despite the educational and
social advantages the program
might have for its participants,
LaFaso claimed that its positive
aspects had been offset by public
misunderstanding.
The Board acknowledged the
need for greater communication
with the community to avoid such
misinterpretation, On the other
hand, they urged the public not to
respond * emotionally nor -main­tain
a narrow point of view when
students were trying to do
something constructive.
Along with Coyle, Fink, Hearl
and LaFaso, trustees Lee Hilton
and Kestutis K. MLklas attended
the meeting.