BALDWIN'S STUDENT ARTISTS SHINE!
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THREATENING WEATHER didn't keep Freeport from enjoying last weekend's Nautical Festival. Kids young and old enjoyed the carnival rides!
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photos by .Judy Ammerman
by Douglas Finlay While grass-roots organizations and environmentalists gather in number to fight the proposed construction of a wind park using windmills off Jones Beach, four-year-old Hauppaugebased Winergy Power LLC has been quietly researching and developing a technology that could eliminate the main source of contention among these groups. The company is set to initiate a Wind turbine pilot program in the channel off Orient Point that, if successful, could be implemented some 15-20 miles off Jones Beach and make the aesthetic problem of viewing windmills off shore moot. Venture capital firm JP Morgan Chase Partners, LLC, is expected to provide funding of up to $4 billion to actualize the project if the initial pilot program is successful. "The technology is a mobile platform the wind turbine sits on that can be set up virtually any-
where," remarked Dennis Quaranta, president of $ Winergy Power. ^' The current Florida Power and Light proposal f will require 440-foot wind turbines to be placed in 60-feet of water some three-to-four miles off ( Jones Beach because it is the ideal - and only -' . depth in which turbines can be placed. Such-/ placement will cause what many environmental- '^ ists consider to be a visual blight on the nation- ^ ally renowned seashore. "The purpose of this project is to bring the s wind turbines far out, to get them out of the view , shed and away from the fishing fields," he con- ', tinued. The pilot project, off the shores of Long v \ Island's North Fork between Orient Point and; Plum Island, is designed to show residents what wind turbines look like off shore. "We are starting slowly," said Mr. Quaranta, "and are not yet at the point where we can take them off the shores of Jones Beach."
The deadline fast approaches for children, wives and friends to nominate a "Freeport Father of the Year" for 2006. All nominating letters must be received by Friday, June 9. They may do so in a letter of approximately 300 words or less mailed or brought to The Leader office at 1840 Merrick Avenue, Merrick, or e-mailed to lmedit@optonline.net by or before Friday, June 9, at noon. The contest is sponsored by The Leader, your community newspaper. Many .valuable prizes are given by local merchants and businesses: a $25 gift certificate from The Schooner; a gift certificate for a bottle of champagne from Atlantic Bayview Wines and Liquors; a $25 gift certificate from Vincente Jewelers; a $25 gift certificate from Rachel's Waterside Grill; two dozen doughnuts from Dunkin' Donuts; one dozen bagels from Bagel Cafe; a complimentary haircut for dad from Dave's Barber Shop and a one-year subscription to The Freeport-Baldwin Leader. Call 378-5320 for more information.
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