A Day at the Park

Today I met up with my friend Nicole and her two children to walk around Caleb Smith State Park Preserve here in Smithtown. With the temperatures hanging around the 50s, it was a perfect day to explore the park, and with it slated to close on April 1, it was an opportunity we couldn’t miss.

As most of you know, there are many New York Parks that may close on April 1 and others where services will be reduced. There are some numbers being quoted regarding how much it costs to run each park and the money taken in. However with Caleb Smith just completing the renovations of the Nature Museum at the end of 2009, the numbers for this park aren’t a true reflection of the money it can bring in an average year.

I’ve been a member of the Friends of Caleb Smith State Park Preserve for a few years now, and I’ve witnessed the members raise money through membership, events, grants and sponsorships to help with the museum's renovation. Now all this money will just be flushed down the drain, including our tax money. New York state workers have been paid to work on the museum and materials have been bought. The museum looks great with its nature themed rooms, interactive exhibits and a medallion of Chief Wyandach restored to its rightful place over the fireplace mantel. If the budget cuts are approved, the gates will be closed. There will be no educational moments in the museum, no walks in the fresh air along the trails and no fishing. There will be one less escape from the traffic and hectic days of Long Island.

Last week Nicole and I attended a rally at Hecksher State Park that was organized by Suffolk County legislator Wayne Horsley. The event was attended by hundreds of park goers, New York State employees and local politicians. Nicole and I were also very happy to see Michael J. Fitzpatrick the assemblyman from our district who has been very helpful with the museum at Caleb Smith. Seeing so many people voicing their opinions and politicians listening to their constituents was definitely inspiring.

However, the Friends meeting this past Wednesday was not as promising as the rally. Basically everything is on hold until April 1. As a matter of fact, an event with a professional fly fisherman had to be canceled due to the money we would have lost if we canceled closer to the event. It’s difficult to imagine this park being completely closed to the public. And this is coming from someone who isn’t actually a nature girl, but I believe everyone needs to connect with nature every once in awhile.

Of course, there are still things we all can do. We can sign the online petitions, and we can write our state representatives. I have posted some links below, because if you visit our state parks and you vote, your voice should be heard!

http://www.nynjtc.org/issue/new-york-budget-proposals-would-close-some-state-parks

http://www.ourstatepark.com/

http://www.nysenate.gov/press-release/join-fight-save-our-parks

The Volunteers of Hauppauge

My first experience with the Hauppauge Fire Department was in Hauppauge High School when my fellow classmates who were junior volunteers would be sitting in class and their beepers would go off. They would dart out of class and across the lawn to the station house right next to the school. It was kind of funny but at the same time kind of cool. Of course, we all joked that they only volunteered to get out of class every once in awhile.

The night of February 26th I found myself in a situation that wasn’t that cool or funny. A little before 8:00 PM the carbon monoxide detector in my apartment went off, and I quickly called 911. After getting off the phone with the operator, my mother and I didn’t even have a chance to get our coats and boots on before a member of the Fourth Precinct was at the door, quickly followed by my neighbor who is a volunteer with the Hauppauge Fire Department. As my mother, landlord’s family and I stood outside, our neighbor was quickly followed by a truckload of his fellow volunteers. Mind you the station house is diagonally across the street from us, but I’m still amazed at how these volunteers are in the middle of an everyday activity and then just drop everything and get to the station in record time. Plus, the members of that house were quickly followed by another truckload from the fire house down by the high school. By the way, we had quite a bit of snow earlier in the day leaving the roads a bit slick that night.

As the driveway filled up with firefighters, my landlady and I were joking about being outside with our coats thrown over our pajamas and no makeup on. But as the volunteers entered the apartment and main part of the house and their carbon monoxide meters started beeping, the seriousness of the event started hitting me especially when I looked at my landlords’ two children. There was a second when I thought we wouldn’t be able to go back in the house. The readings were higher in the apartment than they were upstairs, and there was talk of checking the furnace. It was then that my landlord asked if pulling the snow blower inside the garage while it was still running would cost a problem. As you can imagine, the answer was “yes”. Two firefighters entered the garage and the numbers were extremely high. From there all doors in the garage and house were quickly opened and fans were set up to help circulate the air.

I was amazed at how quickly the problem was resolved. I think we were only outside for about a half and hour or so. I was thinking about how first I thought it might be a false alarm and how I joked about my appearance, but then realized that this was a serious matter. Thinking how grateful we all were that the fire department responded and resolved the matter so quickly, I realized how fortunate we were. I thought about those who aren’t as lucky as us to have time to put on their coats and boots before they go outside and are in the cold in pajamas and bare feet, or those who think they may lose everything. How grateful they must be to have such a dedicated group of individuals who are willing to put their life aside to help their neighbors out, to save lives and to minimize the damage that can occur from fire or carbon monoxide.

For almost 80 years the members of the Hauppauge Fire Department have been serving the community of Hauppauge, Long Island. Besides being trained for routine fires, the members also receive training for hazardous material incidents, high rise fires, terrorist and bomb incidents, plane crashes, extricating crash victims and rescuing individuals trapped in building or underground collapses. For the men and women of the HFD, all of this is “just another run around the block”, and I can attest to the fact that the residents of Hauppauge are grateful for their dedication and proud to call them our own!

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SIDEBAR: A combination smoke alarm/carbon monoxide detector alerted us before a more serious problem occurred. CO poisoning can cause mental confusion, vomiting, loss of muscular coordination, loss or consciousness and ultimately death. Make sure to test your detector and change batteries on a regular basis. (Most people do so when they set their clocks back or forward.) If your detector goes off or you experience the symptoms above, leave your house immediately and call 911 from a neighbor’s house. We were instructed by the fire department to leave windows and doors closed to help them locate the problem. And yes, I know, I did call 911 from my apartment. When I first moved into my apartment about 15 years ago, my original landlords’ detector went off. It turned out to be a false alarm as that particular unit needed to be re-set periodically. With it being by a window, it was filling with CO from the cars outside. With a prior false alarm and knowing no one was sick, I made the call from inside. However, your safest bet is to call from a neighbor’s house.