TWF 291: Lost Dog in Freeport! (Update: Found!)

UPDATE:  According to multiple online sources, the dog was found.  Awesome news!


Hello, friends,

I saw this yesterday and meant to get it to a wider release, but couldn't.  The holiday season is no time for a lost pet to be out in the cold.  If you see this lovely pupper, named Luna, call her parents.  DO NOT CHASE her, just report the location.  If you can, maybe keep eyes on her?

Best wishes for the holidays!

TWF 290: Holiday/Christmas Tree Lighting, Saturday, December 1, 2018, 5:00 PM at the Sunrise Highway Triangle!

Hello, Freeport!

This is the first of (probably) many short, but helpful articles telling you what Holiday events are going on.  Because a lot of my life is a combination of, "I'll post it when I find out about it," and, "Sometimes I have stuff going on that keeps me from getting posts done, sometimes - like today - these posts will come out with short notice.  On the upside, if you don't know what to do with your kids this weekend, have no fear!

Just like the above image says, the Village of Freeport is hosting a Holiday/Christmas Tree Lighting at 5:00 PM on Saturday, December 1st, 2018, on Sunrise Highway at the Triangle between Church and Main Street.  While these directions are...Vague, let's say?  I still think I was able to locate it on Google Maps.  I might have the wrong location, though, so don't be afraid to double-check me!

For more information, call the Recreation Center at 516-377-2314

TWF 289: Polls Open Until 9:00 PM, Election Day 2018!

Hello Freeport, and the rest of the world!

This is your yearly reminder that, in fact, you have a say over your government!  In fact, it's a right!  YOUR right!  That you should USE!  (Yes, today I am abusing capslock, a bit)  I realize I'm getting this out a bit late (I was voter number 274 at my polling place, for what it's worth!), but busy days are busy.  And you're probably busy, too!

So, here's some helpful information to answer most of your likely questions!

Here's a guide to help you figure out how to vote!

 - "What if I'm not sure that I'm registered to vote, or where I'd even go to do it!"  Don't feel bad, you're not alone.  Nassau County's Board of Elections Website has you covered, just check in here to see your registration status and polling place!

Now, it is too late to register in New York State (we don't have what's called "Same Day Registration," and in fact have some pretty terrible registration laws...), but even if you haven't voted in an election or two, New York isn't too bad about keeping you registered, so don't be afraid to take a minute and check!

 - "What if I can't get there?!"  Especially with bad weather like we have today, it can seem really difficult to get to the polls, especially after a long day at work.  My suggestion is to look to Facebook first, and see if any of your friends are offering rides.  If that fails, look to apps like Uber and Lyft - if they are operating in your area, they may be giving free rides to polling places.  If all else fails, though, get on a waterproof coat and hoof it!


 - "I'm not sure who is running!"  As we've discussed previously in this publication, Freeport is something of a Gerrymandered community, so it's understandable that you might not be sure who is running in which part of town.  You might be planning to vote for a candidate that, it turns out, isn't on your ballot because you're in the wrong district for that position!  Nassau County's BOE maintains a list of candidates, but it's honestly quite confusing unless you're used to reading spreadsheets.

My advice in this situation is to - yes - take a minute to scroll through the spread sheet and match up the various districts you live within to the candidates thereof.  Also, while it's not always fair to match up the behaviors of a party-in-general with those of an individual candidate, for the big-name races you can probably expect that their lower-ticket party-members will probably support that candidate's agenda.  In Freeport, specifically, there are State Legislature races of significant interest given Earlene Hooper's defeat in the primaries, so don't think that there's nothing of local importance on the ballot.  This is just as much for your state-level government as it is your federal representation!  (Pst.  This also includes redistricting in 2020, so maybe we can un-Gerrymander things a bit)



 - "What if I'm afraid to get there late?"  The law, as I understand it from having seen many an election in my not-quite-youth-anymore, is that once you are on line to vote, you can NOT be denied the right to vote.  As long as you are in line by 9:00 PM, you can't be forced off of the line.  You have your right to vote, so don't be afraid if you get out of work at 8:30 and get at the polling place by 8:50.


 - "What if something goes wrong when I vote?"  The most common problem I've seen reported by Freeporters so far is that there have been some concerns with people not being on the voter rolls.  This is a potentially serious problem, but there are many other possibilities such as voter intimidation (either directly or through posters left deliberately-close to a polling place with hate speech, etc), or other ballot spoilage issues.

If this happens to you, BE CALM.  First of all, in case there's some kind of administrative problem, ask for an Affidavit/Provisional ballot.  That way, they can get your vote down with a sort of, 'we'll check into this problem and if it clears, count it' promise.  Contact the Voter Protection Hotline at 1-866-OUR-VOTE, and listen to some advice the ACLU has provided.  Don't let this go, don't wait, make the call and get the process working in your favor.


 - "Am I just voting on candidates?" - That depends on your district, but ALWAYS, as a rule of future Election practice, check the back of your ballot for any ballot initiatives that might be relevant to your district, town, or county.  Many states, for example, have public referendums on whether or not Marijuana should be legal recreationally.  These are ballot initiatives, and they would be on the back.


Happy voting!!  Remember:  You're a citizen of a Representative Republic.  It's not necessarily ideal, but if you want to keep it, vote.  Otherwise, you may lose even that.



Jesse Pohlman is the writer/editor of The Weekly Freeporter, a non-partisan enterprise, and does not endorse any candidates as a rule.  If, however, you'd like to read his thoughts on the over-arching theme of and verdict for the 2018 election, you may do so at this link.

TWF 288: Absentee Ballots In New York State! (How to vote if you can't be in town!)

Hello, Freeporters (and everyone else!)

Election Day is Tuesday, November 6^th, and if you're registered, you all need to vote  It's the most fundamental right we have as Americans, people have died for it, and you know all the reasons to do it.  After all, you read The Weekly Freeporter, and surely other things, and are therefore pretty well informed, right?

“But, Jesse, what if I can't? What if I have to be out of town?  What if I'm scheduled for surgery?"

Well, there's actually an answer to that, and – as I found out while researching for a friend – it's not at all too late (as of 10/30/2018!) to put a plan into place! See, while New York State has a myriad of problems, it's actually pretty good about absentee ballots, provided you are already a registered voter.

According to the New York State Absentee Voting website, the procedure for getting an Absentee Ballot (which you can send in to be counted if you aren't in town!) are as follows:

• First, you must fill out an application. (You can get a printable .PDF format version at the above website which will detail all the specifics)
• Second, assuming you live in Nassau County, you must take it to the Nassau County Board of Elections 240 Old Country Road, #5 Mineola NY, 11501. (If you live in Suffolk County, that information can be accessed at their website by clicking this link. ) If you don't have an application printed out, you can get an application at the Board.
• Third, and this is key: You MUST bring the application in-person up until the day before the election. It is already too late to MAIL the application in. Bring as many forms of identification as you feel you may need (preferably 2).

Assuming all goes well, once your application is approved you will get an absentee ballot that you can fill out and mail in. At least, that seems to be the case; the websites in question are a little less clear about what to do with an absentee ballot, but that's where you, dear reader, demonstrate your intelligence by being very clear in asking questions. Remember, the people working for the county are here to help you exercise your right to vote. As long as your are polite to them, they'll be happy to help!

If you go this route, please leave a comment or write a message with how the procedure went!

Jesse Pohlman is the writer of the not-so-weekly-these-days The Weekly Freeporter. He also writes various novels, available on Amazon's Kindle.

TWF 287: Noting Lee Zeldin's Deceptive Campaign Mailers Upon Second Offense.

Greetings, Freeporters,

Reminder: The Weekly Freeporter does not endorse candidates for Freeport-related races.

Lee Zeldin is an incumbent Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New York's First District in the lower seat of our national legislature. This makes him a man with extraordinary power and, with it, an extraordinary responsibility: To be honest to the people of the country, in keeping with his Oath to defend and preserve the Constitution.

He has, now twice, failed at keeping his Oath, and we cannot overlook this' mistake'.

Why 'Mistakes About The Date' Matter

As reported by David M. Schwartz at Newsday, Lee Zeldin recently sent out a mailer to many of his constituents which sought to inform them on what day they could vote. This could happily be considered “Voter Outreach,” expect that Zeldin actually sent out the wrong date. But, this is just a mistake, and mistakes happen, right? Well, as Newsday noted and Adam Peck from Think Progress confirms in excruciatingly sharp detail, this isn't the first time Zeldin has done this.

Doing this once might be considered a mistake; misprints happen, typos slip through editors, and sometimes people just write the wrong day. Okay. Fine. Once. But, once you've made that particular screw-up, you sure as hell don't make it again, because you don't get to play the, “We were careless and we're sorry” card, again, okay?  You did it in 2016 and got caught and shamed for it; you're doing it again in 2018?

Lee Zeldin must be doing this deliberately.

I won't go too deep into national politics, but Georgia Secretary of State & Republican Candidate for Governor is suppressing over 53,000 voter registrations, most of whom are Black – among other things he's doing. North Dakota's Republican-led legislature is disenfranchising Native Americans en-masse.  In Arkansas, PBS reports a Democratic candidate for Secretary of State was left off of the ballot in one county.   Let's just say this fits a trend, and if you really want to discuss or defend that trend, then you've got a lot of questions to answer, and let's go back to the local focus that The Weekly Freeporter aims to provide.

The truth is, Lee Zeldin can try to claim a mistake was made all he'd like; he can even offer to pay any FEC fines or even send out correction letters. (Yes, he should be forced to spend campaign funds to send a mailer to every single resident in his district to apologize for the mistake and make a correction) What he's done by sending out the wrong date was to deliberately mis-inform some voters who won't get or see that any correction. They'll go on thinking the election is the wrong date. They might even show up to vote and get told they missed it, and given the three-or-so week window since then, they might not even be sure where they first heard the wrong date, from.

This hypothetical Citizen, this patriot who had their vote stolen, might have wanted to vote for Zeldin! She might have just wanted to vote for Cuomo for governor. That's the imaginary person's decision; the point is that this person could even come across this very article when looking for an explanation, and might say, “Why did this guy get away with this?”

Why SHOULD this guy get away with it?
 - Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

So To Sum It Up...

Listen, I'm not trying to be specifically political, here. I'm not arguing any stance other than, “It should be noted that Lee Zeldin has, twice now, misinformed voters as to the date of the election; it is not credible to simply assume this was the result of a genuine error, given that they were called out for it publicly the first time.” I'm also arguing that Zeldin should be required by FEC law to provide a correction for a second mistake – and, given that he almost certainly isn't, we need a change to election laws to fix this.

Thank you for reading!

Jesse Pohlman is a freelance writer who spent nearly thirty years of his life living in Freeport.  He also writes sci-fi and fantasy novels, mostly available on the Amazon Kindle.

TWF 286: Does The Earlene Hooper Saga Continue With Write-In Campaign?

Freeporters,

I hope you're all having a fantastic Thursday, and that you're keeping those suffering from Hurricane Michael in your minds as that storm rolls through the south, reminding us all of how Hurricane Sandy hit us.

Earlene Hooper is a name synonymous with "Freeport Legends," if for no other reason that she has been involved with myriad contentious issues with Village residents.  I've already chronicled this history multiple times (I encourage you to give it a read), but the two greatest conflicts she had with Freeporters in general remain, A; her adamant refusal to allow the Freeport Armory to be transferred to the Village Of Freeport, and, B; her extraordinarily surprising attempt, in collaboration with then-Freeport Mayor Andrew Hardwick, to convince Freeport to house a garbage incinerator.

I know I recycle this image a lot, but they made a whole frikkin' video about this thing.

I've spoken before, both on this very blog and even in-person at an event hosted by Adelphi University (I had the true honor of sharing a stage with Anthony J Miller, of the Freeport School District Board of Education!  Squeee!) about how New York State hasn't come close to escaping the gerrymandering that so many states embrace to limit voter turnout.  Freeport is, for those who don't know, split across multiple districts (on many levels of government...), meaning our full voice doesn't get to vote for any one leader, but rather many chunks of our populace are lumped in with those from many other communities also sometimes split into parts, all to create safety for incumbent politicians.  That's what makes Taylor Raynor's victory against Mrs. Hooper so impressive; while Freeporters might have been natural allies, she had to contend with many other small constituencies to win.

Is Hooper Running A Write-In Campaign?

Today I want to let everyone know that Earlene Hooper's time in politics is not necessarily over, for better or worse, because after her defeat in the democratic Primary for New York State Legislative District 18 at the hands of Taylor Raynor, rumors (from who I will happily concede is a credible source) are flying on Facebook trying to claim that she is planning on running a write-in campaign.  However, I'm going to assess what truth I can find in this concern.

First of all, Google is my friend; I searched for news articles having to do with Hooper running a write-in campaign and...Came up empty.  I next searched for any sort of website tied to Hooper running a re-election campaign.  I...Also came up empty!  I searched Facebook and Twitter, the top-two word-of-mouth machines necessary for such a campaign for active accounts and...Still, nothing.  Ballotpedia didn't chart anything about a write-in, either.  The only thing I found still up-and-running was her official NYS Assembly page, and that didn't look updated at all.

Now, maybe there is information that I'm yet to be aware of; or, maybe there was an effort, since-abandoned.  After all, I am not on any e-mail list Hooper may have accumulated over the years, and since I cannot find any active accounts (I mean, not even an official Twitter account? Or am I missing it?) for her, I can't be sure if I'm simply blocked or otherwise excluded from viewing it.

The Conclusion...

Let's be honest:  Write-in campaigns are long shots, anyway, often undertaken for farcical reasonsand made complicated by spelling errors and general electioneering trickery.  Lisa Murkowski, a U.S. Senator representing Alaska, is the most famous example of one working.  However, it took a massive political effort to effectively communicate with and mobilize volunteers to recruit voters who would be prepared to successfully cast a write-in vote.

The complete absence of any visible, easily-accessible social media presence, as well as a thorough lack of a serious campaign website for social media efforts to guide volunteers and donations towards, indicates that even if Mrs. Hooper were to decide at the last minute to try for a write-in campaign, she simply won't have the resources in place to succeed.

With that said, as always, The Weekly Freeporter as a publication does not endorse candidates, and we urge you to vote for who you think will best support your community.  Thanks for reading!


Jesse Pohlman is a long-time Freeport resident who sometimes just likes to share what he's thinking about it.  He's also a science-fiction and fantasy writer you can check out on Amazon!

TWF 285: LI Cares Provides Veterans' Resources And More!

Greetings, Freeporters!

First off, I just want to thank the many of you who took it upon yourselves to share the last topic I covered, the potential bias-attack which happened in Freeport. The story got picked up by the Long Island Herald's Nadya Nataly, to boot, but we're still looking out for who was responsible.  (Oh, and Earlene Hooper lost her primary, too!  But we won't go into that...)

On a much more positive note, today I'm covering something simple, cut up and dry: Military Appreciation Tuesdays sponsored by (if I'm reading this document right) LI Cares! Except maybe it's not that cut and dry, so I'll talk about why!

I didn't want to make this article into more than it already was:  Promoting and signal-boosting a flier letting Veterans know that on Tuesdays, Veterans are being offered a five days' supply of food from LI Cares and the Harry Chapin Food Bank. Their location is at the Nassau Service Center, 21E Sunrise Highway, and that's what the flier says!

...Except that I went to LI Cares' website and was hit with the stunning realization that, honestly, there's a lot here that doesn't get talked about very much, at least not with regards to the digital walled gardens on the internet. It's more than just a place that offers food; it offers full-fledged nutritional advice, as well as opportunities for people to volunteer (Maybe you need a PIG Project, Freeport student?) and to help raise funds for. There's a lot one could pick up on as a way to help out, or receive help, as necessary. If you're doing well, consider donating!

Anyway, take care and best wishes!

Jesse Pohlman is an author from Freeport, New York and he occasionally likes to talk about positive things in his old home-town.  Do YOU have a charitable event you'd like to see promoted?  Are you putting on a public service type of activity?  Let us know!

TWF 284: A Call For Help w/a Bias Crime in Freeport!

Greetings, Freeporters,

I hope you had a refreshing holiday, but unfortunately I have to tell a terrible tale, today. Just before Labor Day Weekend, a very good family was the victim of a subtle vandalism that verges, in my humble opinion, into the "Bias" or “Hate Crime” territory – and it happened right here, in Freeport. The silver lining to this situation is that you – yes, you! - may be able to help fix the problem.

Celia and Patricia (last names redacted) who live on Miller Avenue (not too far from my old home, actually!), are fond of flying their rainbow flag next to their American one. For those who don't know, the rainbow flag is a symbol of the LGBTQ+ rights movement – shorthand for Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, and others. On August 29^th, early in the morning, a strange man who none of them knew walked up onto their porch and snatched their rainbow flag down and tossed it into the bushes.  The below still image was taken from a video re-posted at the bottom of this article:

Take a moment to think that even in 2018 there is clear and deliberate discrimination taking place in our own community. Freeport Police have already been contacted by the family as well as their neighbors, but if you're wondering what we can do to help, here it is – we can signal-boost the story and, hopefully, one of you dear readers will know who is responsible. For, you see, Celia shared a picture – and even some video- of the deed being done with me (and the rest of Facebook). I asked her if it would be alright for me to write an article to draw attention to the incident using her pictures, and she agreed.

The good news here, besides the fact that this family isn't backing down, is that if you can recognize who did it, it would be greatly appreciated for you to call the Freeport Police and inform them of your tip. The WORST case scenario, if you recognize the person, is that you mis-identify them; there would be no harm done in the long run, because they would be cleared. Afterwards, you can reach out and we can all meet up and talk about it, but the key thing is to help detectives at FPD make progress.

(Editorial Note:  I will include video once we can ensure the source file's security is appropriate for the victims)

TWF 283 - Ethan's Lemonade Stand Hits Freeport, August 12th, Supporting Freeport Educational Foundation!

Hello, Freeport!

I recently came across this little poster, and it encouraged me to dip back into my roots and talk about some Freeport-related stuff.

So, let's break it down:  Ethan's Lemonade Stand can be found on Go Fund Me, a charity crowd-funding website. This is apparently the third annual event put on by Mrs. Juanita Francois, with all proceeds going to the Freeport Educational Foundation.  I'll let FEF tell you about itself:  "The mission of the FEF is to change the lives of the children in the Freeport Public Schools by funding innovative educational programs that provide extraordinary learning experiences."  With that in mind, it's operated primarily by the Freeport Public Schools Board of Education (or, at least a prior incarnation of it).  It's an organized effort to basically raise money to help Freeport students, and that's a great cause!

And I'm not saying that just because I spent nigh-on five years being a part of Freeport's educational success stories.

So, let's talk about the event in question, and - again - I'll let the organization speak for itself!  "In the past all of the proceeds have went to Alex's Lemonade Stand and also The Prostate Cancer Foundation. This year I've chosen Freeport Educational Foundation (FEF), which is a local organization. On Sunday, August 12th, 2018  from 11am to 4pm, at 28 Elinor place, Freeport NY 11520, I will be hosting my 3rd annual Lemonade Stand. Come join us as we will have raffles and of course LEMONADE! "

On the downside, I have no idea what the parking for this will be like, but even if you can't make it, you can definitely still contribute via GoFundMe - it's actually a pretty brilliant way to integrate your fundraising.  With that said, hey!  Lemonade!  And fundraising for a good cause!  What more could you want?  Anyhow, I just wanted to shed what little light I could on this group and the fundraiser in question.


Jesse Pohlman is a writer, educator, and general person born and raised in Freeport, and still a lover of the Village Of Freeport.  If you enjoy reading, why not pick up one of his novels?  They're available digitally and cheap!

TWF 282 - The Freeport Weatherman (No, not really) Predicts Another Storm.

Hi, again.

Look, I know you don't want to hear about the incoming weather, anymore.  Spring has sprung and all of that, and you wanna be done with the snow.  You'd probably rather save yourself the click on this Accuweather link explaining it all more scientifically than your local blog-writer ever could, right?

Let's just get down to brass tacks:

In case you're wondering:  Yes, Long Island is in that 12-18 inch band that'll hit us by Wednesday night.  That's significantly more snow than we got with regards to the previous two storms, most of which had melted off of our sidewalks by the end of the day.  It's being called Nor'Easter 4, but as one Twitter user, Robbie, explained:

#Noreaster4 ??? Everyone realizes #Foureaster is dangling right in front of them as the much better hashtag???

— robbįe? (@rj_batch) March 20, 2018

Basically put another way by Mary Flaherty, whose name is quite alliterative by the way:

Yesterday, I was supposed to only be getting 1-3 inches of snow. Now I'm getting 1-3 inches PER HOUR. #Noreaster4

— Mary Flaherty (@Nightinghawk) March 20, 2018

So, you know the drill.  Now for me to re-post some common winter safety tips:

- Try to stock up on anything you need before the snow gets heavy.  It goes without saying that if you can't drive safely, if you can't move well, then you are at risk of getting injured while walking around, or crashing your car if you risk driving.  I know it's kind of an old motif, but get your "bread and milk" now.

 - Keep your pets and beloved animals inside!!!  They won't be able to move through two feet of snow any better than you will, and if the temperature is cold out, they can get sick or even freeze to death.  Have some compassion.  If you can, put out a large styrofoam box/cooler/something, stuffed with a spare blanket or two, for local stray cats/animals to take shelter in; in these days, compassion is a must.  If you've got some spare pet food, put that out - staying warm burns calories.

 - Help your neighbors clear the snow from their sidewalks if you can.  If possible - and I mean unless you absolutely cannot - clear out a 3-feet circle around your nearby fire hydrants.  (via TJ Johnson.)  Make sure to dress warmly, wear sturdy and stable boots, and take your time shoveling!

 - If the power goes out, be careful with candles! Nobody needs a fire!

 - Keep a cell phone handy; a battery-powered radio is a good idea, too.  If you need to report a non-life-threatening emergency, call the Nassau County line at 1-888-684-4274.  For medical emergencies ONLY, use 911.

 - Get your car off the road!  Park your cars in your driveway, if you can. (Via FFD member Robert Volpe).

 - Try to have cash available!  In the event that there is no electricity to run credit cards or operate ATMs, you'll want to have money around if you need to pay for anything.

Jesse Pohlman is the editor/producer/whatever of The Weekly Freeporter, which is in Retirement Mode and mainly only covers issues that effect all of Nassau County/Long Island.  If you're a science-fiction/fantasy fan, he also writes those kind of novels, available through Amazon.

TWF 281 - Major winter storm "Quinn" coming to the Long Island region, 3/08/2018

Hello folks!

I didn't want to fail to comment on this coming storm, but I'm taking care of some family business so it's not going to be a long post.

Starting later tonight, around 10pm according to Accuweather.com, it's going to start snowing quite significantly.  The storm is supposed to carry on until Thursday morning.  School cancellations are possible, and will likely be listed on the school's webpage, www.freeportschools.org.

Refresher On Severe Weather Tips

Freeport, we've survived a lot worse than this storm guy (Sandy, anyone?).  However, this isn't a push-over, either.  Just yesterday we received a few inches of snow, plus a great deal of rain.  Make no mistake - This effects our water run-off technologies, in the form of storm drains.  If you're familiar with the Dunkin Donuts on Atlantic Avenue (My local favorite), you know how it is an unfortunate victim of this problem:  Heavy rain will clog up its drainage system.  Heavy rain plus cold temperatures could freeze it, along with other drains around town and even around Long Island.

In short:  Flooding is most definitely possible in any snowstorm.

More importantly, there will be a lot of snow, possibly in the 1-2 foot area.  Cars don't like this.  People can barely walk through it, with a lot of effort.  With that in mind, I want to refresh some of our infamous winter weather tips.  If you have a tip to put forward, let us know!  (Editorial note:  I have no idea what's up with this formatting.)

- Try to stock up on anything you need before the snow gets heavy.  It goes without saying that if you can't drive safely, if you can't move well, then you are at risk of getting injured while walking around, or crashing your car if you risk driving.  I know it's kind of an old motif, but get your "bread and milk" now.

 - Keep your pets and beloved animals inside!!!  They won't be able to move through two feet of snow any better than you will, and if the temperature is cold out, they can get sick or even freeze to death.  Have some compassion.  If you can, put out a large styrofoam box/cooler/something, stuffed with a spare blanket or two, for local stray cats/animals to take shelter in; in these days, compassion is a must.  If you've got some spare pet food, put that out - staying warm burns calories.

 - Help your neighbors clear the snow from their sidewalks if you can.  If possible - and I mean unless you absolutely cannot - clear out a 3-feet circle around your nearby fire hydrants.  (via TJ Johnson.)  Make sure to dress warmly, wear sturdy and stable boots, and take your time shoveling!

 - If the power goes out, be careful with candles! Nobody needs a fire!

 - Keep a cell phone handy; a battery-powered radio is a good idea, too.  If you need to report a non-life-threatening emergency, call the Nassau County line at 1-888-684-4274.  For medical emergencies ONLY, use 911.

 - Get your car off the road!  Park your cars in your driveway, if you can. (Via FFD member Robert Volpe).

 - Try to have cash available!  In the event that there is no electricity to run credit cards or operate ATMs, you'll want to have money around if you need to pay for anything.

TWF 280: Nor-Easter/Bomb Cyclone heading for Long Island, 3/2/2018

Hello, world!

Hope you're all having a great time.  This is just another voice to echo the calls for caution in the coming days.  As per Accuweather.com, a significant storm is heading to the neighborhood.  They contend, "Winds as strong as predicted can knock down trees, cause damage property and make loose objects into projectiles. Walking, standing or driving through areas where there is a canopy of trees may be very dangerous during the storm."  By Friday, Accuweather predicts that it will be about 35 degrees with a significant risk for a thin layer of snow.

Clearly, this is not a storm to be played with.

Citing the National Weather Service, the Village of Freeport's Office of Emergency Management issued this warning at approximately 10:00 PM:

"FREEPORT'S OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT IS ISSUING THIS WEATHER NOTICE TO FREEPORT RESIDENTS, THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2018

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A COASTAL FLOOD WARNING IN EFFECT FROM

7:30 AM FRIDAY MORNING TO 11 AM

8:30 PM FRIDAY EVENING TO 11:30 PM

8 AM SATURDAY MORNING TO 11 AM AND

9 PM SATURDAY EVENING TO 12:30 AM SUNDAY MORNING.

ALSO A HIGH WIND WARNING 11 AM FRIDAY MORNING THROUGH 6 AM SATURDAY MORNING.

WINDS EXPECTED TO BE 25 TO 45 MPH WITH GUSTS UP 60 MPH

RESIDENTS SHOULD PLAN ON MOVING PERSONNEL PROPERTY AND THEIR CARS TO HIGHER GROUND DURING THESE TIDE CYCLES. WITH THE HIGH WINDS PLEASE TIE DOWN ANY LOSE ITEMS IN YOUR YARD

FREEPORT EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT IS MONITORING THIS IMPENDING EVENT AND WILL KEEP EVERYONE UPDATED AS NEEDED.

ADDITIONAL STORM RELATED INFORMATION MAY BE FOUND ON TV OR NOAA RADIO ON RADIO STATION 1690 AM ON FREEPORT’S EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT’S RADIO STATION 24/7."


What that basically means is that the southern end of Freeport can expect significant flooding, especially during high tide.  We can also expect some significant wind damage on Long Island, in general, with the potential for power outages.  Then there's the rain which may turn to snow!  What fun!

If you need to stock up on any goods, do so between the times listed above, in particular between 11:00 AM and 8:30 PM.  This will be early enough in the day that you won't get caught in the snow, and the risk of flooding is reduced.


The Weekly Freeporter is a freely available, but no-longer-weekly publication by Jesse Pohlman, who also writes science-fiction and fantasy novels you can pick up on Amazon.  It typically only comes out of retirement for weather/safety purposes.