________________ LONG BEACH _______________
HERALD Also serving Point Lookout & East Atlantic Beach
Surfing for foster children
Veterans parade for 16th time
Many topics at council meeting
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Vol. 34 No. 29
JUlY 13 - 19, 2023
$1.00
Rip currents are county theme for July tion in the county — Rip Current Awareness Month. Blakeman was joined by Rich Rip currents are powerful, Nicolello, presiding officer of the narrow channels of fast-moving County Legislature; Darcy Belywater headed away from shore ea, the county commissioner of that aren’t easy for recreational parks, recreation and museums; swimmers to spot. Nervous and Josephine De Moura. swimmers who find themselves Blakeman cited what he caught in a rip curdescribed as “a terrent often try to rible statistic”: swim against it, More than 60 people which only increasin the United States es their risk of have drowned in rip drowning due to cur rents already fatigue that quickly this year. “So, we turns into exhaushave to know how to tion. negotiate our way Garden City resiout of rip currents,” dent Josephine De he said. “That’s Moura lost her what we’re doing daughter, Alexan- BRUCE BlAkEMAN here today.” dra, that way on County executive Blakeman spoke Aug. 4, 2019. Alexanabout the dangers dra, a standout gymof the ocean and nast at Garden City High school how to be safe, and signed an who went on to compete at executive order giving July its George Washington University, new recognition. De Moura then was on vacation with some spoke about her daughter. friends in Cabo San Lucas, Mexi“Her natural instinct was to co, when she was swept from a fight against the current, and sandbar. She tried to fight the rip she tired out not knowing what current, but couldn’t. to do and drowned,” she said. “If Nassau County Executive I can save one family from the Bruce Blakeman came to Nicker- devastation that my family and I son Beach on July 5 to tell Alex- are going through, it is my misandra’s story and to announce sion. Knowledge is power.” the month of July’s new designaContinued on pAge 11
By BRENDAN CARPENTER
bcarpenter@liherald.com
Courtesy City of Long Beach
Acting City Manager Ron Walsh, right, and the Long Beach school district announced the deployment of cameras on school buses to make their stops safer by ticketing reckless drivers.
Coming soon: tickets, fines for passing stopped buses By BRENDAN CARPENTER bcarpenter@liherald.com
While heading home from school, students and school bus drivers rely on the buses’ stop signs to make each stop safe. Occasionally, a driver on the road, heading toward a stopped bus or coming up from behind it, may not see its stop arm deployed — or may recklessly ignore it — and instantly create a dangerous situation for youngsters getting off the bus who have to cross the street. The City of Long Beach and Long Beach Public Schools announced a new effort to combat the scofflaws at a news conference on Monday outside Lido Elementary School and Long Beach Middle School: New cameras on district buses. The city and the district partnered with
BusPatrol, a Virginia-based school bus safety company, to install the Wi-Fi-enabled cameras. When a driver drives past a bus’s stop signs, the camera will take a video of the vehicle, including an image of the license plate, and the driver will be issued a ticket. “There’s about 3,600 students in the Long Beach School District,” Steve Randazzo, BusPatrol’s executive vice president of government relations, said. “That’s about 3,600 lives that can potentially be more protected through the use of advanced technology on the school buses. We’re just so proud to be the Long Beach community’s technology and safety partner.” The cameras are powered by artificial-intelligence software called Ava, whose “brain,” Randazzo explained, is activated when the bus Continued on pAge 12
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e have to know how to negotiate our way out of rip currents.