In the year 2000, when 11-year-old Christopher Adam Scott was killed by a car while riding his bike down a walkway at 46th Avenue and the Clearview Expressway, we expected the tragedy to result in changes that would protect children using these dangerous
It never happened. Now another child has died in an accident that is all too similar. Last week 8-year-old Joseph Baik was struck by a car and killed when he rode his BMX bike into the intersection at Cloverdale Avenue and the Horace Harding Expressway in Oakland Gardens. Like Christopher, Joseph entered the roadway from an adjacent pedestrian overpass. Police say the Grand Am hit the boy so hard that he was tossed 20 feet in the air.
The danger of these crosswalks was obvious four years ago. It is inevitable that children will ride off the crosswalk into the path of oncoming traffic. A number of solutions were proposed, but none were implemented. Everyone agreed that something should be done, but nothing was.
The delay is inexcusable. Changes must be implemented immediately to protect other children from needless injury and death.
The American dream
As a young man Kurt Weishaupt fled the Nazi Holocaust, narrowly escaping death in a concentration camp. When he reached the shores of America, he was determined to pay back his debt to humanity. He did so in spectacular fashion.
Weishaupt was living in Germany when Hitler came to power. He first fled to Milan, Italy and later to nice, France, where he met his wife. There Weishaupt and his wife were placed in a concentration camp before being put on a train en route to Africa. They escaped and eventually boarded a boat headed for America. Even then he was nearly captured by German submarine officers who boarded his ship at sea in search of Jewish refugees.
On his 80th birthday, Weishaupt, a longtime resident of Flushing, explained his world view. “There is a wisdom of the ages. First with years of hard work, then by providing security for your loved ones and your children's futures. Finally, the most satisfying phase, when showing gratitude for all you have been given.”
If showing gratitude is indeed the most satisfying phase of life, then Weishaupt must have died a truly happy man. We can think of no man who was more generous with his wealth and his time than this beloved philanthropist. On June 30, at the age of 90, Weishaupt died at New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens in Flushing after suffering a stroke.
Weishaupt said surviving the Nazi ordeal was nothing less than a “miracle.” Since he landed on the American shores at the age of 27, countless people have benefited from that miracle. Weishaupt made his fortune a stamp maker and wholesaler. As a member of the Flushing Rotary and chairman of the board of the Gift of Life organization, he helped to bring children from impoverished countries to America for life-saving surgery.
Those who knew Weishaupt best say his humanitarian spirit and generosity knew no bounds. In addition to the Gift of Life, he was active in many organizations, including St. Mary's Children's Hospital, the Salvation Army, the Ronald McDonald House, the American Cancer Society, the Flushing Y, March of Dimes and the United Jewish Appeal.
Quietly, with little fanfare, Weishaupt and his wife lived the American dream. They came to this country with nothing but the shirt on their backs. They worked hard and built a successful life. Through it all they never forgot to share their blessings with the less fortunate.
