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Friday, November 10, 2017
Vol. 77, No. 45
PUMPKIN PICKING
Local group sues in court over Grumman/Navy plume BY GARY SIMEONE
As part of a slate of autumn traditions and its celebration of Halloween, Dutch Lane Elementary School hosted a pumpkin patch for its pre-kindergartners and kindergartners. Under the supervision of their teachers, the students went outside and picked a pumpkin with their peers. Above,Dutch Lane Elementary School faculty members and pre-kindergartners with their pumpkins.
Photo courtesy of Hicksville Public Schools
They call themselves Long Island Pure Water Ltd., and they are made up of mostly Bethpage residents. The group of over 40 people plans to commence a federal suit against the Navy and NY State DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation,) regarding their failure to act on the radioactive plume that is threatening Long Island’s groundwater system. James Rigano, an attorney who is representing the LIPW group, said that the organization is seeking to accomplish three things. “First, they want the State DEC to act promptly and perform an investigation into the amount of radiation that has leaked into the groundwater,” said Rigano. “They also want the Navy to pay for this investigation and lastly for LIPW to perform their own investigation and remediation, which they say will be done in a matter of months.” The group is made up of various experts in their field, including former Water Department workers, scientists, and hydrogeologists.
“They feel that the Navy and DEC have largely ignored this issue and that something needs to be done immediately to stop the spread of this three mile long and two mile wide plume,” said Rigano. Rigano, who is an environmental attorney, said that he was approached about a year ago from the group, asking if he would sort through data from the DEC and Navy that was never made available to the public. “This data was proof of real radioactivity in the groundwater in Bethpage. I spoke to a few scientists and they concluded that this was more than naturally occurring radioactive isotopes. This was man induced radioactivity that is currently flowing southward from the former Grumman/Navy facility.” In June, two monitoring wells beneath Bethpage High School registered elevated levels of radium. State DEC officials at the time said in a statement that the source of the radium could be naturally occurring, and that the drinking water in the school’s was safe with no threat to students.
Hicksville resident who founded MADD LI chapter dies
BY GARY SIMEONE
A prominent Hicksville resident who helped form the first MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) chapter on Long Island passed away on October 25th. Celia Strow, who was 81 years old, died after battling breast and bone. Celia, along with her husband, Marvin, founded the MADD Long Island chapter in 1980, after their daughter, Janice was killed by a drunk driver at the age of 22. “When they formed the chapter in
1980, there was only one other MADD chapter in the country,” said Judy Levine, who is Marvin and Celia’s daughter. “My mom was a mentor to so many people and really an amazing person with all of the work she did.” Levine said that even while raising four kids, her mom found the time to head the non-profit organization and work as a nurse at Central General hospital in Plainview and administrator at Grace Plaza Rehabilitation Center in Great Neck. As a spokesperson for MADD Long
Island, Celia accomplished a number of things, including successfully lobbying in Albany to raise the legal drinking age to 21 and helping to get a measure passed to lower the legal limit on blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to .08 Levine said that her parents were motivated to form the Long Island chapter after finding out that the drunk driver who killed their daughter would only serve jail time as part of a work release program. “They were out every night speaking at schools and organizations about the
dangers of drunk driving,” said Levine. “They didn’t want anyone else to have to go through what they went through.” In addition to her husband, Strow is survived by her three daughters, Judy Levine of Wantagh, Joanne Keston of Randolph, New Jersey and Lisa Mallon of Fairfield, Connecticut. She also is survived by her a sister, Lee Rait, who lives in Plainview. Funeral services were held at Sinai Chapel in Fresh Meadows on Sunday, October 29th.
NS Synagogue participates in Tashlich PAGE 11 Bethpage wrestlers in hall of fame PAGE 3