Bethpage-Tribune_1972-01-20

              BEftPAGE FUBU6
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Island Trees Serving Bethpage Plainview - Island Trees - Plainedge - Seaford
Vol. 6 No. M
Thursday, January 20, 1972
Old Bethpage
10c per copy
Photos - In • The - News PllTCell PrOpOSCS U . S.
Department of Aging
Kathy Antonucci. 7, of 1 FLAMINGO LANE. BETH-PAGE,
developmental program participant at famed
CP Center for Living, Roosevelt, enjoys surprise visit
from Nassau Cerebral Palsy Association president
Harold Jay Greenberg (c) of Hewlett Harbor and
Baldur Peter of National Institute of Architectural
Education during gentlemen's recent visit to Center's
14-acre complex.
OLYMPIC IIONOHS: As two members of the Hankers' Division of
the Long Island I . S. Olympic Committee (James C. Oinkelacker.
(right) president of the Long Island National Bank; and (ius Maisel
(left) vice-president of Franklin National Bank) and Henry Boucha
(center) Captain of the 1972 I'. S. Olympic Hockey Team look on.
Kdwiii II. Mosler. Jr. (second from right) New York State Chairman
of the I'. S. Olympic Committee, thanks VYally Livingston. Captain of
the Nassau County All-Stars for his team's participation in au
exhibition game, last mouth, against the 1972 C. S. Olympic Hockey
Tram which raised S3.WMI for the I . S. Olympic Fund. The Bankers'
group hosted a reception for the hockey players and members of the
Nassau County Parks Department who arranged the game in the
rink at Cantiague Park.
Hempstead Town Presiding
Supervisor Francis T. Purcell
today called for the
establishment of a cabinet -level
Department of the Aging to
coordinate and administer all
federal government programs
dealing with the aged in America.
At a press conference in Town
Hall, Hempstead, Purcell said he
will meet Jan. 19 in Washington
with Dr. Arthur Fleming, whom
President Nixon appointed
chairman of the recently con­cluded
White House Conference
on the Aging. The meeting will
take place at 3 p.m. in the office
of Congressman Norman Lent of
East Rock a way.
In. a white paper detailing his
propose*, -Poreelt->ntrteQ that' that
20,000,000 citizens 65 or over
constitute 10 percent of the
national population. Of that
figure more than 6,000,000 are
living in poverty. In fact, Purcell
said, the aged constitute 25
percent of the nation's poor.
"What is disturbing," he ad­ded,
"is that of the $7 billion
committed to fight against
poverty from 1965 to 1969, not one
program was funded specifically
for the aged.. .If 25 percent of the
people in poverty share
characteristics that are unique to
them as a group and no special
program is initiated to help them,
one can justifiably assume that
these six million people have
been written off," Purcell said.
It is not surprising that senior
TOB To Dedicate
Bethpage Senior Housing
The Town of Oyster Bay will
dedicate its third senior citizen
housing project on Saturday,
January 22, according to Town
Supervisor John W. Burke.
The already occupied complex,
located at 7 Burkhardt Avenue,
Bethpage. consists of five gar­den-
apartment type units and a
community and recreation center
building. There are 37 apart­ments,
20 of the efficiency type
for single occupancy and 17 one-bedroom
apartments for two
persons. The project is con­veniently
located adjacent to a
supermarket shopping center
and is two blocks from the Long
Island Railroad station.
The dedication ceremonies will
commence at 11 AM in the
project's community room.
Officials of the Federal Depart­ment
of Housing and Urban
Development are expected to join
Supervisor Burke. Town Housing
Authority Chairman Jesse
Harmon and other Town officials
at the ceremonies.
The project, costing $862,945.
(Continued on page 6)
citizens are not profiting from
federal programs. Purcell said,
when one considers that the aged
poor are eligible for more than 70
aid programs administered by no
less than 12 federal departments
and agencies. The problems of
the poor are considered by 11
different congressional com­mittees;
causing further con­fusion,
he said.
The only effective method for
eliminating the haphazard and
fragmented approach to solving
the problems of the elderly is to
create a new Department of the
Aging to be responsible for' all
federal programs dealing with
the elderly, Purcell said.
The proposed department
would -have'eight major sections:
Public Health, SocM Services.
Housing, Education, Tran­sportation,
Accounting, Legal
and Federal Pension Agency.
A key to the plan is the
establishment of eight regional
information centers throughout
the United States to aid senior
citizens in their quest for in­formation
on federal programs
and services. - •
AH eight would be tied in with a
computer link which would
enable all clerks to obtain
records on any senior citizen
anywhere in the country.
In a supporting document. Dr.
Melvyn M. Katz, Associate
Professor of Psychology at
Hofstra University in Hemp*
stead, states:
". . .The fact remains that we
have become a youth oriented
culture with a gradual erosion of
the values that at one time sought
to emphasize care, concern and
responsibility for the aged. This
progressive disenfranchisement
of the aging, as a vital part of our
nation's resources, is keenly felt
by the older person."
"The consolidation of diverse
aging services into a single
Department of the Aging would
present the elderly with an
enhanced visibility in a people-oriented,
rather than a function -
oriented governmental body
whose goals would include an on­going
commitment and
responsiveness to the individual
and collective needs of the
aging "
The proposal to create a
cabinet - level Department of the
Aging was presented to the White
Conference on the Aging by
Murrae Feingold, chairman of
Hempstead Town's Older
Americans i Volunteers Com­mittee
and a consultant on the
aging to the Hempstead Town
Board.
Purcell noted however that less
than a dozen of the several
hundred resolutions adopted by a
similar conference a decade
earlier ever became law. "This is
why we are taking the step of
presenting a detailed proposal to
Dr. Fleming," Purcell said. "We
also intend to pursue and
promote the idea with govern­mental
leaders in Washington."
Library Offers New Service
For Homebound, Handicapped
Direct library service to the
handicapped and homebound will
be initiated in January by the
Island Trees Public Library. The
service is part of a County-wide
program made possible through
the cooperation of the Nassau
Library System, public libraries.
and interested public and private
agencies.
The new service will enable the
handicapped and homebound
patron to borrow books and other
materials by mail or delivery
service. A flyer to explain the
new program. "It's all yours...",
is available at Island Trees
Public Library and other public
libraries. It is being distributed
also by numerous County and.
local agencies, churches and
service organizations.
The new loan program will be
made available to any person
who is unable through illness or
injury to avail himself of normal
library services. The conditions
may be temporary or permanent
and no age group will be ex­cepted.
To register for the special
homebound services or to obtain
detailed information, individuals
may apply by mail or phone to
the Island Trees Public Library.
Homebound persons living in
Nassau County outside a library .
district may write or phone any­one
of the following libraries:
East Meadow. Great Neck.
Hewlett-Woodmere. Hicksville
and Levittown.
A concerted County-wide effort
is being made to locate han­dicapped
or homebound people
who »ish to avail themselves of
the service. The handicapped and
homebound - or friends or neigh­bors
~ are urged to send their
names to the Island Trees Public
Library.
X mail-order catalog of books -
fiction and non-fiction in various
categories - is scheduled for
distribution in February 1972.
Free services to the blind are
also available through the Island
Trees Public Library.
Coming - Next Week
"Salute To Levittown"
Home Show Issue