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Friday, November 30, 2018
Vol. 93, No. 48
HEALTH, WELLNESS AND BEAUTY GUIDE
BLUE WAVE IN NASSAU
SUOZZI SAYS NO TO PELOSI
PAGES 31-34, 39-42
PAGE 10
PAGE 6
Town bans med marijuana sites from going retail North Hempstead passes first of 3 laws aiming to control dispensaries BY JA N E LL E CL AUSEN The Town of North Hempstead passed a law banning medical marijuana dispensaries from operating as retail stores at a crowded meeting last Tuesday night, the first of a trio of laws intended to control marijuana sales in the town. Town officials said they are not against medical marijuana, understand the need for it and this law will not ban it. Rather, they said, the laws aim to prevent dispensaries from clustering in their town and come in response to both public concerns and statements from companies suggesting they want to “mainstream” marijuana. “We’re in this together,” Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth said. “We’re listening to our residents, we heard the comments that you have made, we’re going to continue to fight for what’s in the best interest of our community and the future of
our town.” The move comes as New York State considers legalizing recreational marijuana, following the release of a six-month study showing the benefits outweigh the negatives and Democrats taking both houses of the New York Legislature. The board adjourned a public hearing for a second law, which would amend the zoning code to limit how many marijuana dispensaries can be in the town and where to Dec. 18 because it must first be reviewed by the Nassau County Planning Commission under state law. According to the proposal, dispensaries could only be located in industrial districts or hospital zones and could not be within 1,000 feet of schools, day care centers and places of worship or within 500 feet of a residential district. Only two dispensaries could be within the town, according to the legislation, and they would have to Continued on Page 59
PHOTO BY GRACE TAN
Friends and families enjoyed spending a morning on helping people in need on Sunday, working together to assemble 1,200 Thanksgiving meals for families in need.
Community rallies to make 1,200 Thanksgiving dinners BY JA N E LL E CL AUSEN The weekend leading into Thanksgiving was dotted with a handful of orders going wrong for the Rotary Club of Great Neck’s annual turkey drive, whether it was where they would go or what they would get.
Roger Chizever, the organizer of the event, said it involved quite a few phone calls, text messages and trips to get what was needed – as well as several volunteers to bag all the food up. But in the end, he said, what matters is that 1,200 families were getting full Thanksgiving meals. “We always persevere, no
matter what gets thrown our way,” Chizever said. More than 100 volunteers of “all ages” gathered at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy to assemble bags of meals, according to Lakeville Elementary School fifth-grader Eileen Li, who wrote about the event, and “everyone had a job to do.” Continued on Page 59
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