2012-06-07

              Who will be
Father of the Year?
page 5
www.freeportbaldwinleader.oom
3*g*******CR LOT0032A**C029
FRPT MEMORIAL LIB
144 W MERRICK RD
FREEPORT NY 11520-3726
77th Year, No. 23 Freeport, N.Y. 11520
U.S. SENATOR CHUCK SCHUMER sails down the
Woodcleft Canal during his visit to Freeport this week.
A congressional oversight hearing to review the Magnuson-
Stevens fishing regulations will take place this fall, said United
States Senator Charles E. Schumer at a press conference held on
the Nautical Mile on Monday.
"This hearing will finally give a national voice to'the concerns
that have been raised by Long Island anglers for years that faulty
science and excessively strict quotas are decimating this indus-try,"
said Senator Schumer. "It's long overdue for Long Island
fishermen to be heard on Capitol Hill."
The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Management Act, reauthorized
by Congress in 2006, mandates the use of annual catch limits and
accountability measures in an effort to end overfishing. The law
also seeks to provide for a widespread market-based fishery man-agement
program that limits access to certain species of fish.
However, Long Island fisherman have complained that the law
relies on faulty science and excessively strict quotas. In particu-lar
the fishermen believe that many of the nation's fishing stocks
have been rebuilt and are healthy, but the 10-year timeline man-dated
by the law continues to limit quotas.
(continued on page 7)
The Community Newspaper Thursday, June 7, 2012 750
Congressional
hearings coming
on fishing regs
Freeport Village Board:
Controversial
television coverage
resolution is
approved 3-1
by Mark Treske
The lengthy struggle over the issue of tele-vising
village board meetings reached a culmi-nating
phase at the June 4 village board meet-ing,
as an amended version of Resolution
18/44 was approved by a 3-1 vote, with Mayor
Andrew Hardwick in opposition and Trustee
Bill White absent.
An amendment was proposed by Trustee
Carmen Pineyro before the vote and approved
3-1, which changed the phrase "The public
comment portion of the meeting shall not be
included in any cablecast..." to "...will be
included in any cablecast..."
Strong disagreements remain on the issue,
however: Mayor Hardwick objecting to a
clause allowing certain matters still to be edit-ed
and language threatening certain mayoral
prerogatives concerning what will be recorded
and who sets the agenda at village board meet-ings;
trustees have objections to past instances
in which he claims their remarks have been
edited and the mayor's refusal for several
weeks to allow a discussion and vote on the
resolution. This culminated recently when
representatives for both sides appeared in
court and it was decided to allow the matter to
be discussed and voted upon.
Numerous members of the public were rec-ognized
to comment or ask questions on the
proposal:
Alan Jay asked whether technical capabili-ties
were an issue, and Mayor Hardwick
revealed that a new system has been pur-chased
and is being installed that will be able
to record the meetings in their entirety. A
somewhat spirited debate arose over who was
responsible for this decision.
Another resident asked Trustee Pineyro why
the amendment was proposed, and she insist-ed
that it was important that meetings also be
available on TV for those not Internet connect-ed.
A question about a clause requiring board-
- approved resolutions allowing certain com-munity
events to be broadcast brought an
objection from the mayor that the machinery
of government would be slowed down.
Peggy Lester and Ellen Frey stressed the
importance of having all public comment
available both on TV and online.
Cheryl Falk asked, "What are you afraid of?"
and accused the board of "a poor attempt at
micromanagement," prompting another discus-sion
of editing past and present. Former Deputy
Village Attorney Steven Malone offered thanks
to the court for forcing a discussion on the mat-ter,
and former mayoral candidate Anthony
Miller offered thanks to the board for its relent-less
effort in forcing a discussion.
Kelly Martinez expressed displeasure at the
attempts to prevent discussion on the resolu-tion;
the mayor brought up the manner in
which, he said, trustees brought the measure
up at the last minute.
More than one speaker criticized running of
the meetings: Dr. Renee Charles compared the
board to a "dysfunctional family," and school
board trustee Mike Pomerico urged the board
not to allow anyone at the lectern more than
four minutes - one speaker "was there for 14
minutes -1 know, I timed it."
The mayor was not without his defend-ers:
Annette Dennis declared "Mayor
Hardwick has brought government to the
people," and suggested that a clause requir-ing
board approval for certain program-ming
might be a move to prevent
scrutiny of certain things allegedly
done under previous administrations,
(continued on page 7)
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