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Valley Stream Herald 09-07-2023

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______________ VALLEY STREAM _____________

Sit back and relax.

District office opens in V.S.

Hofstra seeks conference repeat

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Vol. 34 No. 37

SEPTEMBER 7 - 13, 2023

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County exec steps up school safety measures

Juan Lasso/Herald

In response to the uptick in gun violence and overdose opioid deaths, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman joined county Police Department Commissioner Patrick Ryder to unveil a series of new school safety tools and protocols to reduce the risk of active-shooter threats.

Bruce Blakeman and Patrick Ryder stood on the steps of Valley Stream Central High School, holding up a backpack. No, this wasn’t one of the many school supply giveaways that take place this time of year. Instead, the Nassau County executive and Nassau County Police Department commissioner wanted to show a “go-bag.” Filled with emergency response gear to deal with everything from school shootings to drug overdoses, these backpacks have been placed “in every county police vehicle and given to our village police department” stocked with emergency tools from a tourniquet to stop life-threatening bleeding, to Narcan, a lifesaving medication used in opioid overdoses. These backpacks are yet another tool in a growing arsenal of existing school safety measures and protocols Blakeman said are critical in creating “an atmosphere of safety” at Nassau schools. “There is no higher priority than the safety of our CoNtINuED oN PagE 18

A neighborhood reckons with an increase in violence By JUAN lASSo jlasso@liherald.com

Elizabeth Rios told her two kids to stay quiet and hunker down as she heard the sound of gunfire outside her Ocean Avenue home on Aug. 21. A few paces away, a hail of bullets ripped through a crowd of young people, several of them teenagers, who Rios said were out partying at 8:30 p.m. on the packed street. As eight bullets whizzed past, the crowd scattered in a cloud of panic from the event space at 85 Ocean Ave. known as Dopie’s World. Young people rushed out, spilling into the

parking lot, and climbing over fences to find cover. Police arrived to find the rental hall nearly deserted, according to the report. Three of the five people struck by bullets were teenagers, and one, who was struck in the shoulder, was 12. The only person killed in the shooting was a 20-year-old Brooklyn man who died of his injuries in a nearby hospital shortly after the shooting. Even as basic questions about the identity and motive of the gunman remain unanswered, the resulting violence came as no surprise to Rios, who said something disastrous

like this seemed bound to happen. “I’ve lived here since 2017, and it wasn’t always like this. Ever since these parties started up, it’s not peaceful anymore,” said Rios, who’s reluctantly grown accustomed to what she described as the rowdy nightlife outside her home. She added the combination of the event space across the street and the neighboring smoke shop is a magnet for young people. “There’s been hundreds of young people, teenagers, taking over the street like they own the place and raising hell,” said Rios. “It’s also not the first time

I’ve seen them drinking alcohol.” The morning following the shooting, investigators said alcohol and liquid marijuana were illegally sold to underage partygoers at the venue, which was advertised on social media. A fact completely unknown to the party space’s owner, Deborah Young, who said the event,

was originally planned as a respectable end-of-summer-celebration, according to a report from Newsday. Young could not be reached after multiple requests for comment. Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said the rental hall has hosted sanctioned parties, and albeit drawing the ire of CoNtINuED oN PagE 23


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