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Image provided by: Suffolk Cooperative Library System
111th Year- Issue No.8 Your Hometown Newspaper Since 1884 March 9, 1995 Pr· sunollk County Weights and Neasures lnve,tlgators have accused seven gas stations, Including this one on Montauk Highway in Bayport, of using 'bait-and-switch' tectics on their customers. · Suffolk County News/Anthony J. Howard Gasstation rip off charged by AnlhonJ J. Howard said Charles Gardener, director of Weights and Measures. Twenty sbc of those instances were captured on videotape. Next time you drive into a full~rvice gas station and say \fi.D'er up, unleaded\ make sure tbe attendant does. That is the advice of Suffolk Couniy's Department of Citizen Affairs, which bas accused 10 gas stations of ripping off customers by pulling a \'bait and switch\ scam. Following a year-long investigation by the Bureau of Weights and Measures, seven Suffolk gas stations have been hit with felony charges and three more with administrative sanctions. The criminal cases have been turned over to the District Attorney's office for prosecution. The stations facing criminal and civil charges were visited at least twice, to determine that a pattern of fraud existed, Gardener said. Investigators also wanted to eliminate the possibility of human error. ~That is why we went to many of the statiollS more than once,\ Gardener said. Accordi.Jlg to Gardener, the investigation started a year ago in response to consumer's complaints that stations were fill- ing their tanks with a higher, more expensive grade of gaso- line than was requested. In some cases, station attendants gave cusoomers less gasoline than they were charged for. Investigators with an unmarked van and sUIVeillance video cameras visited 50 gas stations and were defi:auded 35 times, Please tum to page 26 Smoking wrangle smolders on by Hank Shaw Almost a year after the Suffolk County Legislature began debating a ban on smoking in restaurants, the spitting match between the anti-smok- ing coalition and the restaurant indus- . try lingers on - six weeks after the ban took effect. Legislators Tom Finlay (R-Bay Shore), Nora Bredes (D-Stony Brook) and Paul Tonn.a (R-Huntington)have all either introduced or are set to intro- duce further modifications to the smok- ing ban, which took effect January l. The proposals come just weeks after two other attempts to modicy the law failed. Word of the amendments before Tuesday's meeting brought out nearly the same group of lobbyists, mom-and- pop restaurant owners, doctors, high school students and activists that have appeared at every hearing since last spring. After five hours of non-stop tes- timony, the legislature again failed to move on the one proposal on the table. That proposal is Finlay'!! second attempt to alter the ban; his first was defeated in January, as was an attempt by Legislator Angie Carpenter (R-West Islip) to place a one-year moratorium on the ban's enforcement. Finlay's new amendment will specifically exempt bar areas of restaurants from the no- smoking rule. The ban prohibits smoking in all establishments that derive more than 60 percent of their revenue from food service. Taverns are specifically exempt from the ban. The new ordi- nance affects other businesses like bowling alleys, day care centers and health clubs, but the opposition stems Please turn to page 9 5686 Sunrise Highway • Sayville, NY 11782
