Serving New Hyde Park, Floral Park, Garden City Park, North Hills, Manhasset Hills and North New Hyde Park
$1
Friday, May 7, 2021
Vol. 70, No. 19
N E W H Y D E PA R K
MOTHER’S DAY GIFTS & DINING
OFFICIALS REACT TO REOPENING
TOWN EXTENDS OUTDOOR USES
PAGES 29-36
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PAGE 8
Ryder does slow burn on legal marijuana
VOLLEY-BALLERS
Says state legislation to complicate handling driving while impaired BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said the state legislation that legalizes the adult use of marijuana in New York will complicate county police operations. In late March, New York lawmakers approved a bill that allows New Yorkers to possess and smoke marijuana if they are over the age of 21, but the need to establish an Office of Cannabis Management and a comprehensive regulatory framework means that sales are expected to begin some time in 2022. The state claims that tax collections from the adult-use cannabis program are projected to reach $350 million annually and that the new industry could create 30,000 to 60,000 jobs across the state. Ryder, speaking to members of the Lakeville Estates Civic Association and general public during a zoom call last Wednesday
night, said that the Police Department has always been challenged in handling impaired driving as a result of drugs. Ryder said the resources the department has for drunken drivers differ from cases of impaired driving due to drugs. “How we’ve done it with drugs has always been a challenge for us, because there is no Breathalyzer,” Ryder said. “So we would have to use what’s called the drug recognition expert. We only have six of them in the entire county. It takes months to train somebody to become a drug recognition expert.” Ryder said that the legislation only makes instances like that more difficult to deal with, from a law enforcement perspective. Just the scent of marijuana or seeing a legal amount in a driver’s car does not mean that the driver is impaired. Another aspect that requires modification is the use of law enforcement canines. “Our dogs, which we trained Continued on Page 50
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HERRICKS SCHOOL DISTRICT
The Herricks varsity girls volleyball team was named Nassau County Conference AA2 champions in April.
Buckley student wins essay writing contest BY R O S E W E L D ON A sixth-grader at the Buckley Country Day School in North Hills has placed first in the state in an essay contest held by the Securities Industry
and Financial Markets Association’s SIFMA Foundation. Madeleine “Maddie” Garbus, an 11-year-old resident of Manhasset, entered in the middle school division of the fall 2020 InvestWrite essay
contest after playing its accompanying Stock Market Game in her teacher Patricia Russac’s class at Buckley. On April 13, Madeleine was asked to sit in on a Zoom conference with Continued on Page 50
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