By Barbara Morris
Before starting on an update of past events, for those awaiting an opportunity to have a special evening out, you may want to note on your calendar that the Federated Blocks of Laurelton plans a 29th Anniversary Dinner Dance, on March 31. The celebration will be held at Antun’s, 96-43 Springfield Blvd., Queens Village. The cost is $60 per person. For more information call: 525-1152.
That having been noted, let’s try to catch up a bit on what has been going on.
The death of a Long Island woman who was killed by an attack dog in California has concerned many people in our area since some irresponsible owners of dogs have trained them to be vicious. Please remember the following advice given by experts in animal behavior:
• Never approach a strange animal, and never try to reach over a dog’s property boundary to pat it.
• Do not look an aggressive dog in the eye.
• If you are holding a newspaper or book, do not raise your arm as if to throw it at the animal, but instead, toss it away from you casually, in order to try to spark the “fetch instinct” in the dog.
• If riding a bike, dismount and keep the bike between you and the dog.
• If possible, climb onto the hood of an automobile and stay there until help comes.
• If all else fails, lie face down on the ground with your hands clasped, covering the base or your skull and neck.
• IF YOU ARE BITTEN, SEEK IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE; give a description of the dog and have someone in authority try to locate both the dog and dog owner.
Please understand, it is not a breed that is vicious — it is a person who trains the animal to attack, without being responsible about controlling the animal, who is at fault.
In other matters, the 105th Precinct is slated to have five new schools — three on the grounds of Creedmoor, one on Jamaica Avenue and one on Merrick Boulevard at 234 Street. Even without these new schools, special attention is now being required to ticket drivers who double and triple park while transporting students.
Soon to add more problems to one of 105’s highest crime areas will probably be another air cargo facility at JFK.
We have been promised a police Task Force building in Rosedale. As taxpayers who would like to get “the biggest bang for our bucks,” we are asking those in our legislative and executive offices for an expansion of those plans -an added floor or two — to house a new precinct. Our officers perform yeoman efforts for our communities on a regular basis, all too often without well-deserved appreciative recognition. After 22 years, we need a new precinct, but some officers have told me they feel the only way that will be accomplished is after some of them are killed while doing their job. I can only pray that doesn’t happen — and beg for help. Please join us in our plea to those who could make a new precinct an actuality: the mayor, members of the City Council, Police Department officials, the borough president, our neighbor, Deputy Mayor Rudy Washington, and present or prospective legislators and executives who might be willing to lend a reasonable ear, especially in this election year!
We also need help for the Department or Parks and Recreation, Commissioner Stern has improved our city’s quality of life manifold, in spite of the verbal attacks made against him by some. He has brought natural beauty into our lives and the lives of future generations, in spite of previous years of neglect, vandalism and other crimes, budget cuts, and most recently the Asian Long Horned Beetle which devours the trees that help clean our atmosphere. Wouldn’t it be nice if the people who have served us to well are told, at least once in a while, how much we appreciate what they are doing?
Assemblyman William Scarborough is another person who deserves credit. He holds very interesting community outreach meetings of the 29th A.D. Issues Task Force, the last Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to noon at the St. Albans Family Life Center, 172-17 Linden Blvd.
