Bethpage-Tribune_1972-02-10

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Island Trees Serving Bethpage Plainview - Wand Trees - Plainedge - Seaford
Thursday, February 10, 1972
Old Bethpage
10c per copy
SOCIAL EVENT for diner owners in Nassau and
Suffolk Counties was the annual installation dinner of
the Nassau-Suffolk Diner-Restaurant Owners
Association. heldJa^lf^fMij^^
•ii wu m i l ! n n i i i T i w i r a ^ W B W W W M P P i ^ ^ P'
festivities are (left to right) Mr. and Mrs. Thomas
Mavroudis of the Pantry Diner. Rockville Centre,
outgoing President and new Director George
Maliangos, and Mr. and Mrs. James Maliangos of the
Embassy Diner, Bethpage.
HELP Program Aids Firemen
Hempstead Town Presiding
Supervisor Francis T. Purcefi
called this week upon fire of­ficials
throughout New York
Stat.e to establish an equipment
loan program patterned after one
being operated in Hempstead, the
stale's largest township.
In a speech prepared for
delivery Monday before the Fire
District Officers of New York
State, Furcell said: "It is now
lime for local government to take
steps to reduce some of the
burden on our volunteers, to use
our resources to make their jobs
safer and less/exhausting."
The meeting of the fire district
officers is pari of the annual
convention of the State
Association of Towns being
conducted at the Americana and
New York Hilton Hotels.
Furcell noted, in his talk in the
Imperial Ballroom of the
Americana Hotel, that "the
tireless services of Hempstead
Town's 5,800 volunteer firemen
save the town's taxpayers $30
million a year. Thai's the amount
it would cost if we had to pay for
the fire fighting services now
provided on a voluntary basis,"
Furcell said.
Such an expenditure, he said,
would "nearly double our town
budget. 11 would increase our tax
rale by $30 a thousand and add
about $210 a year to the tax bill of
the average homeowner."
Hempstead's program, dubbed
H.E.L.F. (Hempstead Equip­ment
Loan Flan), involves the
town and local industry in*
providing millions of dollars
worth of specialized equipment
and expert operators to local fire
companies to assist in around-the-
clock emergencies.
"As a township, Furcell said,
"we have trucks, pay loaders,
bulldozers, tractors, pipe
detectors, portable fencing and
other such equipment available.
From our local power company,
our oil terminal operators and
local contractors we have
.available other heavy machinery
and oil spill equipment-specialized
tools and equipment
that are just not practical for our
community fire departments to
purchase and keep on a regular
basis."
Furcell said a program such as
H.E.LP. is necessitated by the
size and complexity of
emergencies involving modern
shopping centers, industrial
complexes, office and apartment
buildings.
Coach To Speak
Jim Garrett, newly-appointed
chief defensive coach of the New
York Football Giants, will speak
on "The Relevance of Athletics to
the College Campus" in the C.W.
Fost College Auditorium on
Tuesday, Feb. IS, at 8 p.m.
Admission to the talk, .which is
sponsored by the college's
Student Government Association,
is $l for the general public
Voting Regulation
To vote at a fire district
election a person must be a
registered voter in the town '
under permanent personal
registration and must have
resided in the fire district for ,
30 days next preceding the five »
district elections, and there is jj
no special registration i
provided for fire district I
election. 1970, Op. Atty. Gen. 1
(Inf.) Nov. 18. I
Fire Suit Goes to Attorney Gen 'I
Controversy continued to beset
the Bethpage Fire District this
week, as fires and confusion
prevented coverage of a Com­missioner's
meeting, and as new .
developments unfolded in a two-month
old election suit.
The meeting, which reportedly
was to be controversial, was
adjourned by 8:30, the time this
reporter was told it would begin.
In addition to this confusion, the
session was interrupted by a fire
alarm some 15 minutes after it
began.
Since minutes of the meeting
will not necessarily be available
until the next Commissioners'
meeting (in March), little can be
said about it.
According to one observer, a
few people showed up, but did not
speak. -Another claimed that the
time confusion had affected
many people who might other­wise
have shown up! Since both
these sources may be more than
usually biased, we will await the
minutes for further coverage.
Meanwhile, a supporter of
Chief Andy Steinmuller reported
that their suit against the Fire
Commissioners has been in the
state Attorney General's office
for the past month.
According to Steinmuller's
campaign manager, Ed Marc-zewski.
they hope the Attorney
General can make a decision.
However. Robert Glasser, at­torney
and spokesman for the
Fire Commissioners, said he was
unaware the Attorney General
was consulted.
Steinmuller filed the suit after
he lost by six votes to incumbent
Otto Bertschi in a December
Commissioner's election. The
case was dismissed by the
Supreme Court in Mineola on the
grounds that "this court is. .
without juridsiction in this
proceeding."
While Marczewski hoped a
recent town law ruling by the
Attorney General would aid
Steinmuller's case (see box),
Glasser replied that the Com­missioners
would readily fight
the case there.
Bertschi refused comment on
the issue, and Steinmuller
claimed he could not speak
because of a Commission ruling.
Glasser denied this, explaining
that the Chief could speak to the
press as an individual, but not as
a representative of the Depart­ment
or the District.
Steinmuller, whose term ex­pires
in April, promised a "big
story" at that time. For now,
Marczewski spoke for him,
repeating the major objections
attested to in their suit. The most
important of these are sworn
statements that Bertschi
removed two Steinmuller poll
watchers the night of the election,
and that 124 of the nearly 800
votes cast were improperly
registered or processed.
Marczewski pointed to a sec-lion
of town law which, he claims,
states that only permanently
registered voters can take part in
fire elections. Glasser disputed
this, claiming that the' law is
vague and that Bethpage con­ducts
its elections more carefully
than many other districts.
"The man is a sore loser", said
Glasser of Steinmuller, con­tending
that the Chief did not
complain about election
procedures until after the elec­tion.
For example, Glasser declared'
that he had made up special
affidavits for 18-yr. old voters
who might have been ineligible
for permanent registration in
October. The attorney claimed
that Steinmuller knew about the
affidavits, but did not ask that
they be used to "challenge"
votes. Steinmuller said he did not
know about the affidavits prior
to the election.
Glasser also challenged the
steinmuller' ctttnp "to prove
allegations that the Com­missioners
were punishing his
backers by what Marczewski
Offshore Drilling
called "petty harassment."
Steinmuller promised, details
when his term expires.
Glasser noted the Com­mission's
willingness to
cooperate in • any official in- -
vestigation of its business
practices. These had come under
some attack in a "name-withheld"
letter published in last
week's TRIBUNE.
While acknowledging the rjght
to .a pen-name in a letter, the
attorney argued that the charges
were not worth answering if the
Commissioners could hot face
their accusers. "A man who
prefers to be anonymous does not
deserve a response", he said.
Finally, both Glasser and
Marczewski expressed fears that
Department and the Fire mstrfct
are two separate entities (see
letter, p. 4).
Ask For State Hearings
To Explain Dangers
Telegrams sent out over the
weekend to Long Island
legislative leaders asked for
State Hearings on Offshore oil
drilling.
Thomas Macres, Jr.,
Executive Director of the
Committee on Resource^
Management, requested the"
hearings terming . them
"necessary for the protection of
Long Island's, environment and
economy." Joining in the request
was Nassau County Comptroller
Angelo R. Roncallo who, last
October, sponsored an informal
offshore oil conference in Hun­tington.
Roncallo said all sides had been
invited to his meeting. "Con­servationists
attended and
permitted themselves to be
questioned. Interior and industry
refused to attend. They would not
face Long Islanders at an open
meeting. The official hearings
now being held in Boston, where
my office and' C.O.R.M. are
represented, have shown why.
"The Boston hearings have
forever stripped the veneer from
the blandishments of Interior and
industry. The veil of mystery has
finally been removed.
Massachusetts residents now
know the real dangers involved"
he added.
Macres stressed the need for
similar hearings on Long Island.
"The offshore oil question", he
said, "can finally ^ be resolved
'only in the public arena. Will a
law banning drilling within three
miles of our shores protect our
beaches and bays; our wetlands
and shellfish; our sport and
commercial fishery? Will such a
law even inconvenience the
petroleum industry? Will
requiring oil companies to pay
for costs of clean-up and
damages ever replace resources
lost forever? Would such an
approach be any more
reasonable than offering to
provide additional ambulance
service to remove the injured
from accidents at a dangerous
intersection? Might it not be
better to eliminate the hazard?"
asked Macres.
"In Boston",. Macres con­cluded,
"where distinguished
scientists not in the employ of the
oil industry spoke out, the public
was afforded opportunity to
realize the enormity of the
situation. "Long Island", said
Macres, "must never become
Santa Barbara, East."
Town Councilman Joseph J.
Saladino, who journeyed to
Boston two weeks ago to attend
legislative hearings on offshore
oil drilling, asked his fellow
members on the Oyster Bay
Town Board to join him this week
in approving a resolution voicing
the Board's opposition to any oil
drilling operations off the Long
Island coast.
"A strong possibility exists that
there is oil under the waters off
our shores," Saladino said. "The
petroleum industry is looking into
the potential of drilling for oil in
this area and the Department of
the Interior has not given the
people a definitive answer as to
where it stands on the issue.
"A resolution by our board
would be the first in Nassau
County and it would help call
attention to the situation and let
the Oyster Bay residents know
that their local government is
aware of the danger and is
moving to counteract it."