The-Leader_1984-05-24

              , Ollicial
Newspaper
Village of
Freeporl
•
Freeport
School District
•
Baldwin
School Dislricl
THE WaierfronfA
^
iLeader
LEAMR
FREEPORT. NEW YORK. MAY 24^984 .„;„ . . i . - T - / 'i>i>'>*
491hyEAR, No.S
FREEFOHT UEIIO.IIAL HBRAR?
F R P T ' H T 11520
PRICE 2 5 * PER COPY
Mayor Visits About S
Fires Keep I I I K I
Vamps Busy
'^SS^Oazes Damage Bu/H/ngs
In Freepoi¥WBM3win
BALDWIN/ FEEEPORT - Woiting fires in two commercial buildings
kept Baldwin and Freeport volunteer firefighters busy this past week.
Although both fires caused substantial damage to the contents of the
.building, neither blaze resulted in seiicosbjuries. ;
Of the two." the one on Merridc Road In Baldwin is ccmsidercd "ct
suspicious origin," according to
Criiicizes Three Niembers
Of Clfizem' Commiffee
FREEPORT - Village Mayor William H. White has recently relumed
from a trip to Albany during which he discussed the future of the Free-port
Municipal Stadium with State legislators.
The legislature has pending before it the Village's Home Rule re­quest
to allow the iuca] municipality to "sell, lease exchange and con­vey
certain lands previmisly ac­quired
by the Village for public eral group or/and individually
park and recrealional purposes an" written-^ reporia and summaries,
-^^^^^no^longer-nsed fui vuch~pnF were submitted. ~~
Baldwin, Freeport
FREEPOBT/BALDVnM
Thousands of local residents are
expected to line the streets of
these two communities on
Memorial Day Monday, May 28.
as thousands of uthers parade
in tribute to those who sacrificed
their lives b times of war and
amed conflict.
In both Freeport and 1
Th^^iradesireipqnscnedjiyjhe^^^!?^^
fire department personnel
sources.
The Baldwin blaze was
reported shortly before 2 am on'
Sunday morning. May 20.
firefighters were met with tteavy
black smoke laden with acrid
fumes from the burning ndls of
imported bbrics.
poses."
At the end of last supimtr's
stock car racing season, the Vil­lage's
ten year contract with
Caropi Enterprises, to use the
stadium as a speedway, came to.
-an end. Mayor .White, who bad
previously said he would not want
to renegotiate another contract
with Campi, advised against it
and the Board took no acUon.
Following several Board meet­ings
at which residents and non-
By the lime, the reports were
on Mayor White's desk the
majority and minority sides had
again flipped.
Only three people — the
original minority of Fran Camp­ion,
Carol Woods and Hari;
Pollack.— signed what was to l«
the majority report. A separate
report, however, by Jim Reed,
who had not been at the meet­ing
when the vote «••• taken,
look the poslUon Ihatw.^^ ,«dhim
^ii^rfljhe-difficulV-MMl—asMenUspok«wm ihejisueT^be—E^rconUnueToTBiTSeaTw
"" . .- --L , _ recrealional puiposes and
In FreepOTt, the parade wiH
kick off at Freeport High School
- at 10 am and foflow Merrill Read
eastward to the Freeport
Me6iorial libraiy, where spoaal
ceremonies win be held.
World War I veteran Frank
Oirley win be Grand Marshal,
with Walter Guest, Dr.
Hammond, and Dr. Mervin
livingslon Schloss, Honorary
Grand Marshals.
Past Commander of the Legion
Charles Jackson is again the
village's Memorial Day Ob­servance
Chairman.
Atthe library or in case of rain
in the auditorium of Freeport
High School — Stale Senator'
-Norman-J.-Levy-will-be-guest-speaker.
Baldwn Parade
Units marching in the Baldwin
Memorial Day Parade. will
assemble at 9 am on North Grand
Avenue. After marching to Silver
Lake -Parkrthe . pande wiU
disperse and special ceremonies
win be held. These are expected
-to begin at 11 am.
Sp^ul guests at the cere­monies
oill include Sute Su­preme
Owrt Judges James M.
Nieboff and Leo McGinly, both
Baldwin residents. Also invited
have been State Senator Card
Berman and Assemblyman
Gregory Becker."
Grand Marshals of the parade
will be Charlie Bnjnner, Harry
Anderson, and Jake PelUt, the
only Bving charter member of the
BaiiSwin American Legion Post.
stoiy masonary building on the
south side of Merrid Road, just
west of Rockwood Avenue.
First arriving units were met by
-JoDg-strelches-of-hose-needed ttr
readl the fire and because two of
the department's pumpers were
out of serrice at the tiine of the
blaze, all Freeggrtonits were
committedjo-tSe fire scene. As
a "Signal 10" in a^ antique aj^_^j|_^nSrl'reepert Fire Chief
furniture re-finlshing'-cstabfisR? Lester
mentv
The fire was fought by the
Baldwin Fire Department and
brought under control within
approximately 30 minutes.
However, several units remuned
at the scene for overhaul.
Damage was extensive as far as
the contents, but moderate to the
building itself. .--
The Nassau County Fire
Marshal is conducting ah investi­gation
of the fire. The investiga-
_lat termed--the—^lire—<rf—»'-
"suspicious" ori^n with a contin­uing
investigation. According to
fve officials, the blaze apparently
started in materials lined up on
the west wall of the building.
Freeport's working fire (the
second "Signal ten" for Freeport
in as many weeks) came at about
7:50 am on Wednesday'evening,
May 16, at Dakota International's
new biUIding on Lee Place, just
south of Merrick Road. The alarm
was actually turned in, by radio
via Unit 214 (Hose 4), which was
passing the scene on return from
a driU and spotted smoke coming
frorr the building.
< .se 4 immediately attacked
' c fire, while calling it in on the
radio. Simullaneousb. the sptink-
'er system in the building was
a...ivated and Wetls-Fargo turned
in the alarm to the dispatcher.
As Freeport Fire Department
IConl.cnPaoelS) units arrived at the scene, the
Fieldsa-caUed for mntual
aid firom Merrick aiid that depart­ment
sent a pumper to cover
Freeport during the blaze.
The fire cauMd titUe stnictaral
damage to the building itself, but
the contents were badly
damaged. Firefighters had a
difficult overhaul due to the heavy
water and lire-laden rdb rf
textiles. In.fact, one fire chief
classified the incident as a "30-
minute fire with a three hour
.overhaul."
tire' ifiiiu remained at the
%ixne until at least lli30 pm,
making sure that all fire-was
extinguished and to guard against
a re-tendle.
According lo fire oflidals, the ;
cause of the blaze is under
investigation, but is considered
accidental, not suspicious.
D.V.
Police Patrols
On Milburn
BALDWIN - The Nassau
County Police Department wiU
be in t e n s i ng their patrols on
Milburn Cdurt in Baldwin in an
effort lo deter vandalism and
fcniering by teenagers in the
wooded area of this residential
street.
The action is a result of *
request from State Senator
(Cent, on Page 14)
Board voted lo ask for Home
Rule te^slation. "The request
passed the Stale Senate, but was
botiied up in committee in the
Assembly.
The Home Rule message pres­ently
in the legislature is a stomd
one, passed-more recently by
the ViDage Board.
Last year. White had appointed
a committee to look into possible
future uses of the stadium. The .
committee met for more than
nine months, am'idst charges and
counter-charges by some of its
members and a judicial appeal
under the Freedom of Information
Act to see aU municipal docu­ments
pertaining to the stadium.
On April 4. the 14-member
commission committee fintlly
voted uii.lis u;in.lutiunnrtffThe~
sudium's future. Two secret
ballots were uken. The first
vole^ — which apparently sur­prised
even those members of the
. committee who favored retain­ing
the stadium U an entertain­ment
and/cv recreation com-'-
plex — was five to four, with tHe"
majority in favor of keeping the
stadium and the minority in favor
of commercial development. Sev­eral
minutes later, a second
dosed vote was' taken and iu
results seemed even more defi­nite,
six to' three. In favor of
retaining the stadium.
Commitlee chairman John Di-
Grazia had ruled the vole was in
order alshoogji not all.the c»ro-miltee
members were present.
Two weeks later, on April 18,
another meeting was h;td, al-
' though the April 4 meeting had
been announced as the final
meeting of the committee.
At the April 18 meeting, scv-
. . »P«-
cificaOy suggested certain sports
activities. Jerry Gerstman, who
had previously voted lo retain
the-stadium, also submiUed a
written report delailinghls view.
Separate repoms were also
sent lo Mayor White from com­mittee
members Richard Dina,
Kay Benda and Louise Simpson.
None agreed with what had ap- -
peared to be the majority vote on
April 4. favoring strictly a family
entertainment use. The individual
reports spoke of use for high tech
industry, electronics and com-municaliohs
and, in Mrs. Simp­son's
report, affordable hmtsing
for mixed income brackets and
businesses Ur provide .for the
needs of residents of the area.
"Apprenuy, all but one of the
other committee members signed
a jrepott prepared by Jt^nDi-
Grazu calling for commercial
redevelniment of the site.
A week later. Campion, Woods .
and Pollack issued a releaite '
dcharging that the Mayor and Di-
"Graria had "forced members of
the Committee to recant their
previously staled consdenticws
posiliont of retaining the sta­dium.''
This charge. White denit!<^and
at the Village. Board meeting of •
Monday night. May 21, he used
the occasion of s question from
a resident about the sutus of the
stadium lo bring the mauer out.
White sa'id 5iat because "the
mailer now rests with Albany," _
he is not able lo speak wt "on "
the months of haggling and silly
charges aired in ptivale, public
and through the media,"
He thanked DiGrazia, noting
(Cont.onP»o'«2b)' '