Friday, August 16, 2019
Vol. 79, No. 33
GETTING READY FOR FALL
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New bills will help curb bike ‘ride-outs’ BY GARY SIMEONE
Members of the Division Avenue High School band enjoyed band camp August 5-9. See page 8
Overdose Awareness Day
The Town of Oyster Bay is partnering with Drug Free Long Island, Bikers Against Heroin and Nassau County for a Bike Ride from Syosset/ Woodbury Park to TOBAY Beach in recognition of National Overdose Awareness Day. The Bike Ride will take place on Friday, August 30 with motorcyclists invited to ride from Syosset/Woodbury Community Park down to TOBAY Beach, at which a special ceremony will be held in memory of those who have lost friends and family to overdose. Town of Oyster Bay Super-
visor Joseph Saladino stated, “It is so important that we work to unite our community to educate, advocate, and empower to raise awareness against the deadly effects of heroin and remember our loved ones who lost their lives to the opioid epidemic. I am proud to partner with Drug Free Long Island, Bikers Against Heroin, and Nassau County for this event, which truly helps shine a light on this ongoing issue effecting our communities.” Motorcyclists are invited to gather at 5:00 p.m. at
Syosset-Woodbury Community Park, from where they will depart at 5:30 p.m. for TOBAY Beach, which is located on Ocean Parkway, just east of Jones Beach. A special ceremony of remembrance will then commence at 6:15 p.m. at the beach. Drug Free Long Island will supply a large dreamcatcher in which residents can place a picture of a loved one lost and/or card in their memory. For more information, please call Drug Free Long Island at (516) 203-7486 or email info@ drugfreeli.org.
A dangerous trend for kids has emerged this summer riding their bicycles and scooters on some of the County’s major thoroughfares. They are called ride-outs, where kids bait drivers on the road by darting in and out of oncoming traffic and swerving at the last minute to avoid collisions. As a result of these so-called ride-outs, Nassau County legislators have proposed two separate bills to help curb the trend of this dangerous type of activity. County Legislator John Ferretti Jr, who represents 15th district, said that the proposed bills would raise the required helmet age to 18 and impose penalties for kids who are participating in these ride-outs. “The first bill is really a result of the increase in bicycling accidents nationwide,” said Ferretti. “There have been seventeen deaths alone in New York City this year from people riding a bike.” The second bill would allow police to confiscate bicycles of people who are riding them in a dangerous fashion and make it a misdemeanor for anyone over the age of 12 participating in the ride-outs. “For a first time offense, we would impose a fine of $100 on the parents of children over the age of twelve who engage in this type of behavior,” said Ferretti. The legislator said that there has been an increased number of calls from aggravated motorists to the local police department about the ride-outs, but that there is little the police can do. “This is a really big issue that the police departments have been dealing with these past few months. As it stands now, they’re not really able to enforce anything as there’s no statute on the books dealing with these ride-outs.” He said that a charge of reckless endangerment could be enacted but that it probably wouldn’t hold up in the court system. “We really need a law on the books that deals directly with this type of behavior,” said Ferretti. In order for the two bills to be passed, they first need to be brought in front of the Nassau Committees legislature and then go before the full legislature. The third and final step would have the Nassau County executive signing off on the bills before they’d be passed into law. Ferretti said he expects the whole process to take a couple of months and that he hopes the bills would take effect sometime in October. “My hope is that no kid is charged with a misdemeanor, and that the measure will act as a deterrent to this type of behavior. A meeting about the new trend of ride-outs and the proposed bills is scheduled for Thursday, August 21st at the Levittown Library.
Town offers arts & crafts for toddlers PAGE 6 Athletic Administrator award PAGE 4