Westbury Times

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Vol. 110, No. 32

THEWESTBURYTIMES.COM

July 20 - 26, 2016

SPECIAL SUBSCRIBER OFFER INSIDE

$1.00

Miles For Murphy

Billy, Ron, Eva and Freddy Rodriguez run to the finish line.

Local resident runs 50 miles for Navy SEAL who died in combat BY BETSY ABRAHAM

BABRAHAM@ANTONMEDIAGROUP.COM

Freddy Rodriguez likes a challenge. He’s done obstacle course races and endurance events, and celebrated his 25th birthday with a 14-mile 25-pound weighted march from his home in Carle Place to Long Beach. In 2012, when he found out about a four-mile run to honor Lt. Michael Murphy, a Navy SEAL and Medal of Honor recipient who died in combat in Afghanistan, Rodriguez knew he wanted to get involved. But Rodriguez said the four-mile run in Ronkonkoma seemed more like an end point. After a little research, Rodriguez found out that Murphy spent a lot of

time at FDNY Ladder 53 Ladder 43. Rodriguez decided to run from the firehouse in Spanish Harlem to the end of the four-mile run in Ronkonkoma, a 50-mile journey spanning New York City, Nassau and Suffolk counties. For even the most skilled runners, 50 miles in one shot is an audacious goal. But Rodriguez said it was nothing compared to what Murphy went through. “Compared to what he and his men went through with training and defending our way of life, this pales in comparison,” said Rodriguez. Murphy, a Patchogue-native, was the leader of a four-man SEAL reconnaissance unit

see MURPHY on page 6

Healing Wounds With Communication New website promotes police-community relations

Police violence seems to fill the news lately, and with the latest incidents in Baton Rouge, Minnesota and Dallas, it seems as if the tensions between police officers and community members are reaching a tipping point. Rather than sit back and watch tensions continue to escalate, Westbury resident Arthur Dobrin decided to do something to help promote positive police-community relations. With the help of the Ethical

Humanist Society of Long Island (of which he is leader emeritus), Dobrin created Communities and Police Talk, a website that seeks to create an outlet for residents to voice their concerns with the police department, while allowing the police the opportunity to educate the community on pertinent information. “There needs to be a way in which police can really hear what the community is saying and to improve its procedures, and which police are able to let the community know what their end of the responsibility needs to be,”

Dobrin said. “Empathy is needed on both sides and communication is the way for that to happen.” The idea for the website was sparked last year, after Dobrin attended the Civilian Police Academy run by the Nassau County Police Department. After graduating from the course, Dobrin said he wanted to bring all the information he had learned about police procedure to the

The site was created by Westbury resi-

see POLICE SITE on page 4 dent, Arthur Dobrin.

Teaching Children to Live Peacefully in a Diverse World Still Enrolling Nursery - 1st Grade Limited Spaces Available. Call Now to Schedule a Tour!

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BY BETSY ABRAHAM

BABRAHAM@ANTONMEDIAGROUP.COM

550 Post Avenue, Westbury, NY 11590 • 516-333-3178 • www.westburyfriends.org


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