The-Leader_1984-12-06

              OllizisI
Hewspapei
•Village ot
Freeport
Tnm r REEFORT l.ltlMOniA!. LJ_r:nArn'
m
Freeport
School District cr
. JO
Baldwin
School Dislriet Ig
LEAMR
FREEPORT. NEW YORK. DECEMBER 6 , 1 9«
'49th YEAR. No. 33
' . '*
PRICE 2 5 * PER COPY
Hospital Status is "Up In The Air"
- - « . • jji^l J ^ jT" I '•yt'^o E. Hall Hospital
M l l b U r n rIOOClCOIltf Ol Maymay Not Cut Services
Plans Cause Concern
Holiday Festival
At Rec. Center
Residenfs favor or Oppose
Project As If Affecfs Them
FREEPORT - UilThunday, November 29ih. tevcril doctors associ­ated
with Lydia E. Hall Hospital in Preeporibegan to call Uiek paUenia
who had been scheduled for lurgery at the Freeport medical facility.
The patients were iold that new dates would have to be arranged for
thera at another hospital. One paUcnl'a parent called THE lEADER.
It was only about a month ago that a large percentage of the hospi­tal's
nursing staff mounted
FREEPORT • The Annual
Holiday Festival, sponsored by
the Freeport Chamber of Com­merce
in cooperation wUh the
Village Recreation Pepartment,
will be held Sunday,. December
16, (I am-S pm, at the Fteeport'
Recreation Center.
There is no admission fee to the
Festival.
The Recreation Department's
Drssia Workshop wil! present the
children's play, "Foxy," at
llJOam.
Santa and Mrs. Claos will
arrive by F/«eport Fire Depart­ment
engine at l2t3Q pm and stay
until 3 ^ pm with gifts for
youngsters up to age 10.
Free ice skating will be of­fered
in the Indoor skating tink
1:30^3:30 pm. It is recommended
that skates be brought from
home as there are a limited num­ber
of rental skates. Children
ages six and under must be ac­companied
on the ice fay parents.
At 4 pro. Cowboy Joe Phillips
will present a horse and dog aa.
Throughout the day there will
be free refreshments for chil­dren
including a speda! treat
from Carvel.
The Freeport Seniors will hold
a Craft Gift Bazaar offenng
reasonably priced itandmade
items for gift giving.
The Heritage Manufacturing
Company of Brooklyn Avenue
has donated a ZO-foot tree Ca the
Festival. Festival goers may
create their own tree decoration
at the Ornament Booth and
help trim tfie tree.
The day will also include a
songfesl.
Village Court Fines
More Violators
FREEPORT - Several illegal
occupancies of one-family bouses
were on the calendar of the Vil-
• lage Coitttl last week,
John Greggo, owner of 42
Spottsmafl Avenue, was fined
$300 by VilUge Court Judge
Ralph. Franco sitting hi \^Ilage
(Cont.onPas>3l])
byJcsnOalsnty
BALDWIN - Since 1960, improvements along Milbum Creek, which
runs southward and somewhat cast of Broc^ide Avenue, have been
proposed, redesigned, and postponed. Throughout the 24 years, how­ever,
e\-ery project has received mlaed community reaction. Those resi­dents
who suffer from tegulait flooding have petitionMl the Town of
Hempstead and Nassau County
for relief. Those resident* not
dramatically affected have
pressed for the status quo.
According to engineer Gregory
de Bntin of the Consulting firm
of A. James de Bruin, increased
land development as well as
completion of nonheni Oood
control ptojecta have now neces­sitated
renewed attention 16 the
Milbum Creek watershed area —
a prt.ject whidj in terms of
enpneeiing should have come
first in Oood control priorities.
On Wednesday and Thursday,
November 28 and 29, at Baldwm
Senior High School, representa­tives
froin the de Bruin firm,
and Nassau Coon^ representa­tives
Herbert Rusinoff, WBHam
Woller and Charles Koch set op
displays and answered questions
relative to the proposed $12-
StS million Qood control project.
Baldwin and Freeport residenta
whose property is immediately
affected were notified by letter,
.but many residenta from the
ut* as weO aa interested com-'
mnni^ residents attended the
"open house."
By Thursday evening, resi­dents
had organized and agreed
to meet at the high school and,
at approximately 100 pm, over
60 were present and a decision
was mtie to change the informal
metitod of presentatkm to a for­ma]
presentation for the large
group.
According to Gregoiy de
Bcuin, the Milbum Creek pro­ject
has been neccsjiuted by
severe flooding in northern areas,
primarily in Unioadale and
Roosevelt. Large charts pointed
oat the watershed area and de
Brain mentioned nine completed
noriheni prqjecta which now bare
dosed bulkhead tltat prevent
water flow into Minmrn Creek.
De Bniin noted that at presentt
(he completed flood eootrol
jecu have only served to creal«
a short-lived job action to protest
the firing and suspension of '
several of their leaders in tlieir
fight for higher pay and better -
conditions.
Many of the nunes quickly
returned to the hospital. In place
of others, THE LEADER was
told, Dr. Cari Neumann — the
hospital's owner — and Sheldon
Klahr — its Chief Adniinlstc-vor
-^ were hiring nurses on a day-to­day
basis from agencies.
Last week, the hospital again
became the subject of stories In
the daily newspapers aa both
Newsday and liie Daily News
wrote ^ Neumann's plans to
cutback hospital services.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Informa-
Uon reached THE lEADER last
week too late for tiiat edition.
ftetenUy, the slttiation is still
very Quid.)
According to Newtday'a head­line
last Friday, "Hospital Said
To Consider Cutbacks,'* but (he-
News seemed more definite as
- it headed, "Freeport hosp
cuts back."
Apparently, by this Tuesday,
December 4, the truth seemed to
lie somewhere in between.
Last week, according to at least
three doctors contacted by. this
newspaper, Neumann had threat­ened
to cut back la 30 beds
(from a 218-bed hospital) and lay
off all personnel except for head
nurses, assistant head nurses
and supervisors.
Last Thursday, when the
hospital's administration made
Ihb threat there were 120 p»-
ticnla In the hospital. According -
to Bill Fagtl, of the New York
State Department of Health
which is now mut>iu>ring the
hospital on a dally basis, the cen­sus
had drcpptd to M on Sunday
and was 74 on Monday and 77
on Tuesday,
Last week, according to the
doctors, they bad been told that
while the hospital would continue
its emergen^ room services, it
would accept no new admissions
norperform surgery.
This Tuesday, several doctors
said this was not the case. The
hospital Is or would be admitting
new patienjs; surgery would be_
" performed. PiBenl care, they
said, would not suffer and, in
fact, as the daily census (number
of beds in use) fluctuates or
increases, more staff would be
brought back.
This somewhat agrees with
Fagel's facts, gathered be said
by his department's represent*-
(Cont.onPasalO)
"small floods" in northern
neighborhoods. If the bulk-beads
were opened, the Oeek
would not be able to accom­modate
the tremendous flow of
water projected at 2100 gallons
per second.
To rectify the problem, the
Milbum detk plan calls for
constroction of double seta of
underground pipes measuring .
22 feet wide, the elimination
of the extiling creek, and the '
creation.of a "dummy creek."
After four or five preliminary
des^ns were r e j ^ ^ by' the _
engineer* for various reasons'
(indading one along Brookside
Avenue in Freeport which
would have been too expenshre
and would have impinged pri­marily
on private property)
the engineers settled on the,
present plan. This plan would
create a long chain of under­ground
pipes (comparable to
5ie volume conlrd of a ^ foot
creek) aa well as a man-made
creek, and a 400 by 400 foot
detention basin jtist north of
Sunrise Higbway." The plan
would cause (he removal of over
lOOO trees, and would result In
a new visible creek wttii tides
of crashed stone and chicken wire
which engineers say wioold lh»
be landscaped. The detention
basin could bold from two-end-one-
half to six feet of water
and would be xurronnded by
a concrete walk, -fencing and
would hare access IhroMii
Broc4side Avenue. The spedSa
of Uie engineering of the pipes
3^w „ J ! ^ « „ ^ i^^M^ A VISITOR FflOM THE NORTH POLE. Santa Claua found «targe wel-water
under Sanrwe Higbway to j ^ , n - ccmmlilee el Freeport'* Elk* Plaza when he arrived by Free-
Milbam Pond and eventually to ^ ^ p,^, 0ep«rtm«ni,llre (ruek last weekend for a special vl»lt. Even
the Bay area were aonjewhalcon- Hemp»te*l Town PrMldlng Supervisor Thomaa Quioll* (4in r„ front
fuaed. . row) was there, {olnlng Village Deputy Mayor Dorothy Storm (stand'
Apparently, an ondergronnd mg, |.) m letting Santa know that Freeport tsa great RI*C« to visltlll
pipe from the existing Free- tocal bualneu people, community leader* and realdent* ~ young and
port Waterworks caiues a gravitf eld — were on hand to Invite Santa to return to-lh« Elk* Ptau every
pmblem foe pipe* wMch run weekend until OirlMm**, 12 nooo-8 pm, to ell the local youngster*
iCt>M onP»B«12) will have an opportunity «o««« him.