OUR TOWNS
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BROOKHAVEN
State, town seek composting enforcement
[email protected]
State
and
Brookhaven
Town officials yesterday
called on state environmental
authorities to crack down on
compost facilities suspected
of illegally mulching trees and
other debris.
Assemb. Steven Englebright
(D-Setauket) and state Sen.
Kenneth LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) said they may introduce legislation that would
SEARCH
FOR MEN
IN BEER
THEFTS
from facilities in communities
such as Yaphank, East Patchogue and Manorville. The
town has sought unsuccessfully for a court order to shut
down a Middle Island facility
that he said has created 30- to
40-foot high piles of debris.
“It affects all the neighbors.
We’ve had numerous fires at
this facility in the past,” Romaine said, referring to the
Middle Island site. “There’s
places all over the town that
we have received complaints.”
CRIME&courts
HEMPSTEAD
Man surrounded, stabbed
outside restaurant Sunday
A 38-year-old man leaving a
restaurant in Hempstead with a
friend early Sunday was surrounded by as many as 10 “unknown suspects” and stabbed
14 times, police said.
Nassau County police said
the wounds all were superficial
and that the victim, whose identity was not released, suffered
no internal injuries.
The victim’s friend was able
to flee, unharmed, police said.
The incident occurred outside the El Mariachi Loco Restaurant on Fulton Avenue at
3:21 a.m., Nassau police said.
No one at the restaurant answered phone calls.
Police said the victim was
surrounded by up to 10 suspects and was “stabbed and
struck with belts.” He managed
to break from the assault, police said, but fell to the ground
on North Franklin Street.
Hempstead Village police
said the victim told officers
that one person stabbed him.
Village police said the incident
occurred at two locations, Centre Street near North Franklin
Street and on North Franklin,
outside a chicken restaurant,
where some of the victim’s belongings were found on the
street.
The victim was taken to Winthrop-University Hospital in
Mineola, Hempstead police
said.
Nassau detectives are asking
anyone with information to call
Crime
Stoppers
at
800-244-TIPS. All calls will be
kept confidential.
grammed concentration.
Calabrese is scheduled to be
arraigned today in First District Court in Hempstead.
— ELLEN YAN AND JOHN VALENTI
— ELLEN YAN
EAST MEADOW
FRANKLIN SQUARE
Cops: Arrested DWI driver
had 5-year-old passenger
A motorist who failed to signal and stay in his lane was arrested during a traffic stop in
East Meadow yesterday after
officers found him driving
while impaired with a 5-yearold passenger, Nassau police
said.
Officers saw the girl in the
back and a female passenger in
the front after pulling over
James J. Calabrese, 38, of Deer
Park on westbound Hempstead
Turnpike about 4:45 a.m., police said.
Three packets of Suboxone,
a drug used to treat opiate addiction, were found in his 2004
Suzuki, which was impounded,
police said.
Calabrese, of 45 Livingston
St., was charged with driving
while ability impaired, aggravated driving while intoxicated
under Leandra’s Law, three
counts of first-degree aggravated unlicensed driving, two
counts of third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation, operation of a vehicle without interlock court order and three traffic violations. Leandra’s Law
makes it a felony to drive
drunk with a child under 16
years of age.
A police spokeswoman said
she did not know whether Calabrese was charged with DWI
Man sought after Citibank
armed robbery yesterday
James J. Calabrese, 38, of Deer
Park was arrested in traffic stop.
because of drugs or alcohol and
did not know whether the Suboxone was prescribed.
Information on the court
order for the ignition interlock
device was also not available,
the spokeswoman said. Judges
often order interlock devices to
be installed in vehicles of DWI
drivers as part of their sentences. They test drivers’ breath for
alcohol and stop the engine
from starting if the blood-alcohol level rises above the pro-
An armed suspect robbed a
Franklin Square Citibank yesterday, Nassau County police
said.
Police said the man entered
the bank at 670 Franklin Ave.
about 9:10 a.m. and demanded
money from the teller.
The suspect, who had a handgun and wore a dark mask, got
away with an undetermined
amount of cash. Police said he
left through a rear door, heading north toward the Franklin
Gates shopping center.
The five employees and five
customers in the bank at the
time of the robbery were unharmed.
The suspect is described as
between 5 feet 7 inches and 5
feet 10 inches tall and wearing
a gray hooded sweatshirt and
gray sweatpants and gloves.
Police ask that tipsters call
Nassau County Crime Stoppers
at 1-800-244-8477. All callers remain anonymous.
— DARRAN SIMON
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NEWSDAY, TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 2015
— JOHN VALENTI
A DEC spokesman did not
respond to a request for comment.
Compost and mulching facilities generally are regulated
by the DEC, which grants permits limiting how much debris
can be processed. The DEC
loosened some restrictions
after superstorm Sandy in
2012.
Brookhaven Supervisor Edward P. Romaine said officials
are concerned about potentially dangerous mold and spores
newsday.com
Police are searching for
two men who they said stole
cases of beer worth about
$1,600 from the NYCB Theatre at Westbury in February.
The thefts were from an
external walk-in refrigerator
at the facility on Brush Hollow Road and occurred between 9:40 a.m. and 6:46
p.m. on Feb. 22, Nassau
County police said.
Police said the suspects
fled in a silver or gray vehicle.
One suspect was described as being of average
build with a mustache and
goatee, and police said he
wore denim pants with an
eagle on the right rear pocket, a dark-colored jacket and
a red knit cap.
The other suspect also
was of average build and
wore denim pants, black
boots and a black winter
coat with blue and white
stripes, police said.
Police are asking anyone
with information to call
Crime
Stoppers
at
800-244-TIPS. All calls will
be kept confidential.
grant the state Department of
Environmental Conservation
greater enforcement powers
over mulching. Englebright
said court decisions have limited what the DEC can do.
“They should have the ability to regulate the activities of
mulching and have the same
kind of administrative permitting rigor that would be applied for solid waste material
of a more conventional sort,”
Englebright said. “They don’t
have that right now.”
NCPD
BY CARL MACGOWAN
LaValle said he believes
DEC officials are reviewing
regulations. “The DEC really
needs to, in my judgment,
keep one step ahead of the individuals maintaining these
sites,” he said. “I do believe
agencies have to move quickly
because people’s health is at
stake.”
Gail Lynch-Bailey, president
of the Middle Island Civic Association, said the mulch facility
in her community produced
“unbearable” odors.
“It really is such a nightmare for everyone living next
to it,” she said. “Last summer,
people had to leave their
homes.”