Bethpage-Tribune_1970-12-31

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Island Trees Serving Bethpage - Plainview - Island Trees - Plainedge - Seaford Old Bethpage
Vol. 5 No. 9 Thursday, December 31, 1970 10c par copy
Removal of Board Member
Leads To Bitter Meeting
SOLVING A PROBLEM - Nassau County Executive-elect
Ralph G. Caso and his newly-appointed housing
coordinator, Raymond Malone of Freeport, explain the
scattered-site housing plan to reporters at town hall
preSS C o n f e r e n c e . (See Story Page 5)
Caso's Housing Administrator
Boasts Long Experience
Nassau County Executive-elect
Ralph G. Caso's choice for the
new post of county housing
coordinator is a man who in the
five years he has headed the
Hempstead Town Housing
Authority has developed more
low income, senior citizen
housing than any other town in
the state.
Raymond H. Malone, 55, of
Freeport has been a member of
the town housing authority since
its inception in 1963. During that
time, the authority concentrated
on providing much needed
housing for the town's senior
citizens whose fixed incomes are
particularly hit by rising costs.
The town has 297 senior citizen
units occupied, 508 under con­struction
and 298 scheduled to
start in the spring. The authority
also has provided 35 units for
families with low incomes.
"I feel that Ray Malone is the
perfect man to do the job I want
dune at the county level," Caso
explained. "He will work with
housing authorities in our towns
and villages to coordinate my
concept of blended housing
scattered throughout the coun­ty."
Caso gives a great deal of the
credit for the town authority's
success to Malone: "He's the one
who did all the advance work,
explaining to community groups
the reasoning behind a project
and answering their questions.
The greatest fear people have
about new housing is the
unknown and the false rumoW
that generate from premature
announcements."
In private life, Malone, a
captain in the Army during World
War II, has been an executive
with the Army Times Publishing
Co. and also advertising director
for its Military Market Magazine.
He was raised in Freeport where
he has served as chairman of the
village's Zoning Board of Ap­peals.
He has been a member, of
the Freeport Planning Board «ind
an officer of the Southwest Civic
Association. He also belongs to
the Holy Name Society at Holy
Redeemer Catholic Church.
Malone is a past president of
the Nassau and Suffolk
Association of Housing
Authorities.
He and his wife, Amelia, have
five children, Renee, 26; Eileen,
23, a lieutenant in the Air Force^
Raymond Jr., 20; Stephen, 18,
and Meg, 10.
'Cut the Noise1
Urges Ginsberg
State Assemblyman Martin
Ginsberg (R-Plainview) pre-filed
a bill this week in the Legislature
calling for the establishment of a
Slate Commission to study the
effects of noise on the human
body and come up with recom­mendations
for the setting of
various noise level limits.
"Medical studies have clearly
(Continued on page 8)
By Thomas Cullem
Island Trees School Board
Trustee James Tucci, ordered to
vacate his position by the State
Education Commissioner,
complied with that directive at a
Board meeting -Tuesday.-nightA
The action followed a meeting
on state education aid with
Assemblyman Stanley Harwood
(see below).
Extra chairs were set up in the
auditorium of the Michael F.
Stokes Elementary School, as a
crowd of 40 watched and parr
iiiSipai?^ '-v. ^series, of angry.
Board and Audience factions.
Before leaving his seat on the
Board, Tucci reported he would
appeal the Commissioner's
ruling to the State Supreme
Court.
The outgoing trustee repeated
his contention that the com­missioner
did not have legal
authority to remove him. Tucci
also challenged the Com­missioner's
finding that his
holding positions on two boards
within the same district was
"incompatible."
, Tucci is a member of the Island
frees Library Board. His
removal followed over a year of
litigation, which started when a
group of residents filed suit
against him, arguing that
membership on two boards was a
potential conflict situation.
Tucci claimed that the Com­missioner's
hypothetical
examples of conflict did not
pertain to Island Trees. He
stressed the Commissioner's
admission that there is no
statuatory prohibition to dual
membership and maintained that
no actual case of conflict had
been proven.
The Commissioner's use of the
word "incompatible" suggests
that he felt it was the nature of
the offices involved, and not
Tucci as an individual, which
caused the alleged conflict.
But Tucci was apparently
angered by the decision
nonetheless and later said he was
being pushed out of office by,
political opponents. He also
claimed he was being singled out
for removal, alleging that of
many people holding dual offices,
he was the only one ordered out.
Finally, the Seaford resident
declared that the Commissioner
had bypassed the voters.
Although aware he was a school
hoard member, the voters had
elected him to the library board,
Tucci contended.
reasoned, no "unelected" official
should be allowed to removedm.
The Commissioner, Ewald
Nyquist, was selected by vote of
the State Regents, who are
elected to 15-year terms.
Thanks For Tucci
Board members Mrs. Florence
Cullem and Anthony Lancelotti,
identified with Tucci as the
minority, thanked him for his
services on the Board. Lahcellotti
endorsed a statement by "Mrs.
Cullem. who claimed the ouster
spiracy", Berke countered this
claim with the attorney's opinion
that no special meeting was
needed to fill the post. He said the
letters were merely to inform *
residents of the Commissioner's
decision. Finally he promised
that no choice would be made
before Jan. 6, the deadline for
applications to the post.
If an appointment is made, the
new trustee would serve in an
interim capacity until an election
in May. Should Tucci win his
case, the appointee would be off
If they voted him ,in, he
School Superintendent Leo
Miller also personally thanked
Tucci; citing his experience as an
accountant as an example of
special qualifications he had
brought to the Board.
The only other Board member
of the remaining six to speak was
Board president Lawrence
Berke. He explained that the
Board would have risked a
contempt citation if it had not
complied with the Com­missioner's
directive.
Lancellotti then moved to put
off filling the vacant Board seat
until Tucci's court case is con­cluded,
which he predicted would
be a matter of a few weeks.
According to the Board at­torney,
the district has 30 days to
fill the,vacancy, starting as of
Dec. 11, the date of the order.
After that time, he noted, the
Commissioner would have the
option to appoint a new member
himself.
Lancellotti's motion was
seconded by Mrs. Cullem, but
was defeated when trustees
Robert Evans, Mrs. Lillian Rosa
and Lawrence Zeis joined Berke
in opposition to it.
Last Saturday, this majority
had met in executive session to
discuss the vacancy. Although
Berke stated no decision had
been' made at that time, he
acknowledged that the four
members had sent out a district-wide
flyer announcing the'
vacancy and seeking candidates
for it.
Tucci and his supporters
contended that the mailing
contradicted the Board's
statement, since the letter said
the appointment would be made.
While the Board majority said no
decision about this had been
reached.
On the other hand, they argued,
if a decision to fill the vacancy
through appointment had in fact
been made, it was illegal, since
the Board had given insufficient
notice for a "special meeting."
Amid a cry or two of "con-
Other Action
•The Board met with
Assemblyman Stanley Harwood.
They urged him to press for more
state aid and a severe ceiling on
real estate taxes.
Asked his opinion about
Commissioner Nyquist's
powers,. Harwood said he would
again prefile a bill this year to
allow judicial review of all the
commissioner's decisions.
•The Board approved the use of
Title I federal funds to provide
better instruction in English for
non-English speaking students.
Along with other programs
outlined by the administration,
this would use about ¥> the total
money available.
•Evans and Mrs. Rosa agreed
to chair the district's insurance
committee, without a chairman
since September. The ap­pointments
followed charges by
former Board member Don
Ferris that Berke, one-time
chairman of the Insurance
Committee, had ignored evidence
of a possible "cover-up" on the
part of one of the district's in­surance
brokers, now under
indictment in another case.
Ferris claimed that Berke had
not only ignored evidence he had
presented, but distorted the facts
to help defeat Ferris in an
election last year.
Berke denied that he had had
the power as Insurance chairman
to conduct the investigation. He
then asked the two Board
volunteers to pursue Ferris'
claim that the district might have
lost several thousands worth of
premiums.