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Image provided by: Suffolk Cooperative Library System
Wandering through the men's department at Macy's the other morning I came across some attractive Tommy Hilfiger tweed jackets on sale for $250, a fairly reasonable price, I thought. The jackets were hung from a display rack at the edge of an aisle. The label on the outermost jacket read 42 regular, my size. I slipped the jacket off its hanger and started to insert my right arm into its sleeve. Whoa, not so fast - the jacket was chained to the display rack. A middle-aged saleswoman approached. dangling a set of keys that might have been worn by a jailer and offered to unchain the coat. She sank uncom- fortably to her knees and worked a series of keys through half a dozen locks before finding the one that would release my jacket. Struggling to her feet and breathing a little heavily, she freed the jacket from its chain and handed it to me. \I promise not to steal it,\ I quipped. She did not appear to think that was funny. I shipped the jacket on and saw with dismay that the sleeves came down to my fingertips. \Sorry. this won't do,\ I said, and handed back the garment. The saleswoman began the arduous procedure of locking it up again and I walked out of the store. On the one hand, it's rather insulting to go into a store and find everything of value chained against theft. What does that say about the store's opinion of its customers? That everyone who comes through the door is a potential thief? But the matter is more complicated than that. In reality, the stores are also protecting themselves against theft by their own employees. So, in the end, the store insults everybody, customers and staff. A chain through the sleeve of a Tommy Hilfiger jacket is merely an acknowledgement that we live in a world of rampant thievery. Nor, as we have learned in the few years of this bright new century, is stealing on Long Island confined to shoplifting - witness the wholesale pilfering of the Roslyn School District to the tune of $11 million and counting and the misappropriation of $80,000 by the former superintendent of the Three Village Central School District. The brazenness of thieves in Roslyn, where the staggering total of 74 school district credit cards were in unauthorized circulation among friends and family members of district officials, nearly went unnoticed. For years, the district's credit cards were being used for private purchases in retail stores. Finally, in October 2002, as the New York Times reported last week, a clerk in the Home Depot store in Seiden became suspicious over building matenal purchases charged to Roslyn Schools that were being delivered to a construction site in Center Moriches. The anonymous clerk's tip ultimately led to the unraveling of a scheme of theft that included, among numerous others. the district superintendent, the assistant superintendent for business and her son, the man who was buying material from Home Depot for use in his own business. He was arrested last week. Most big stores follow a policy of zero tolerance against shoplifung. That's how they protect them- selves. Get caught sneaking out the door with a t- shirt or a ladies' handbag and you're in real trouble Mon whoo Who dp ot melon ae n we 0 Locked jackets, shoplifting and misappropriations Signals A chain through the seeve of a Tommy Hilfiger jacket is merely an acknowledgement that we live in a world of rampant thievery. BY JOHN MCKINNEY But large institutions do not react to cnmes the same way Fearing bad publicity. the Roslyn school board initially covered up the thefts by its employ ees. The Three Village school board bought out the contract of Superintendent Sonedecker and allowed him to resign The clerk who blew the whistle on Roslyn w as truly disinterested. Clearly, it was not his or her money being stolen. And yet. this person had a sense that something was amiss and thought perhaps it should be looked into It was an act of good citr zenship. Here is a person from whom Macy's would have nothing to fear Budget knife slashes asset too valuable to lose Between you and me Besides giving them a pride of place, it taught them to appreciate the natural world around them and their place in the order of things. BY LEAH S. DUNAIEF Few courses in school are life-altering experiences. For all three of my sons, one such course was the Marine Sciences summer program initially taught by Dr. Ernie Emst down at West Meadow beach in Old Field. A Ward Melville offering that was started by Dr. Emmie Emst for the students during the summer between their ninth and tenth grades, the classes - like their teacher - were an informal affair. The kids biked down to the beach in the mornings wearing their bathing suits undemeath their shorts. They returned famished, their hair disheveled, their clothes caked with mud, their sneakers waterlogged and their eyes dancing. They always carried home some remnant from the beach - like an empty horseshoe crab shell or a razor clam shell or even an old automobile inner tube - and added these to their \treasure\ pile. Best of all, they carried back a growing appreciation of the wetlands and the rich marine life that hatched and grew in those warm and sheltered waters, When my husband and I would go down to the beach with them on the weekends, they would proudly point out what was to be seen on the sand and in the water, from fiddler crabs to baby shrimp. Besides giving them a pride of place, it taught them to appreciate the natural world around them and their place in the order of things. We on Long Island live in a many splendored, beautiful place, but we have to leam to see what's around us. There's secing and then there's seeing. Able now to consider the whole pic- ture of my children's growing up years, I believe that course taught them a lot about biology and ultimately a reverence for life. All three became staunch envi- ronmentalists. Eventually all three majored in biology. Besides being of enormous interest - and value, the course was fun. I know for a fact that they spent time tubing down & the estuary and into the Sound. They met | new friends just as they were about to move into the high school. And they filled their summer with purposeful effort. They cherish the memories of those sun-filled and learning-filled days at the beach. This school year would have been the 50th anniversary of that program. But instead, a tight school budget forced the cancellation of that class. Now 1 know everyone in the district proba- bly has a favorite program that they would like to see spared the budget knife. This program is mine and I would speculate that it doesn't require all that much in the way of materials. Nature provides those. It requires a knowledgeable, passionate instructor. The classroom has been maintained by the Ward Melville Historical Society. A cost-benefit analysis is dramatically skewed to the plus side. I am not alone in respectfully urging the restoration of this meaningful summer class. Titus R phi E TIMES BEACON RECORD - aio pusushen * ' Leah S. Katherine Consorte We welcome letiers, photographs, comments and story EXECUTIVEEDITOR Robart Louner ideas. Send your items to PO Box 707, Setauket, NY Marie Murtagh Peter C. Mastrosimans 11733 or email to timesnpt@tbrnewspapers.com. Or drop by _ EDITOR Charles Morgar: our news office at 67 Main Street, Northport. The opaions Patricia Proven Kathy O'Sullivan of our columnists are not mecessarily those of the paper. LEISURE EDITOR Patricia Proven every Thursday. PRODUCTION EDITOR “mm Address: PO Box 707, Setauket, NY 11733. Ayzea Cutler ° Telephone: (631) 751-7744 | Web » timesofnorthport.com SPORTS EDITOR PHOTOGRAPHY ONLINE EDITOR Robert O'Rourk John Springer
