Fisher - Price, Mattel & Brookhaven
What do they have in common? They are poisoning our children with lead! Fisher-Price and Mattel are importing toys painted with deadly lead from Communist China to increase profits. Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, with the majority blessing of the Suffolk County Legislators, re-opened the Suffolk County Trap & Skeet Gun Range – a place where lead is measured in tons - located only 50 feet from a children’s bus stop and 300 feet from the homes of Yaphank residents. Patrons of Southaven as a whole are also placed at risk. Before opening the gun range, Town of Brookhaven Supervisor Brian Foley allowed county trucks filled with soil scraped from the “fall zone” of the range and loaded with lead (an area where lead pellets fall to the ground after being shot at an airborne target) to deposit their loads in the town landfill. This unhealthy decision was based on an old DEC permit for previous lead removal from elsewhere in Southaven Park, and did not apply to this most recent lead pollution removal operation from the Trap & Skeet Gun Range.
This “fall zone” lead was the only lead removed from the range, and it is estimated that as much as seventy tons of lead still remain embedded in the surrounding wooded areas within the Pine Barrens which are, and have been, used as a Sporting Clays course. This lead is impossible to remove without destroying the vegetation in which it exists which would be illegal under State Conservation laws. So instead it is left there to eventually degrade and seep into the vast aquifer which exists below it threatening to poison Long Island’s drinking water which is drawn from that aquifer. Lead can enter the body by breathing it in as a dust or vapor, by ingesting it, and to a lesser extent, by absorption through the skin. On the shooting range it tends to enter via all three routes. Every time a firearm is discharged, a spray of lead erupts into the air around it, while heavier particles contaminate the ground. The natural, or desirable, level of lead in human beings is ZERO, so ANY lead ingested or inhaled by humans can be dangerous.
Fisher-Price & Mattel, to their credit, issued an immediate recall of China’s poisoned toys.
Steve Levy on the other hand is appeasing the shooting lobby for political gain while ignoring the safety of our children, the people of Yaphank, the residents of Brookhaven and Long Island.
Diane G. - Yaphank
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Executive Steve Levy, Supervisor Brian Foley and involved elected decision makers,
The following is an incident my wife and I felt you should all be aware of. A shooting incident occurred involving our hay bale wall protest regarding the RangeGunTrap & Skeet sometime July 4th evening or early July 5th morning on our property located along Howie Carpluk Road located in Yaphank. On the way to work on the morning of 7/5, we noticed one of the signs included in our hay bale sound wall protest appeared to be shot at. Close up it was very obvious that someone had, and we also noticed that the gun blasts carried through our backyard fencing material. We immediately called for the police and a report was filed. The officer confirmed that the 2-3 shots were from a shotgun. Luckily no one was hurt and we’re glad that our dogs were in the house. We just did an interview with a detective, and he is working on our case thankfully.
Our concerns continue to date. On Sunday, 7/15/07, at approx. 5:45PM a white SUV pulled over, a young guy got out kicking our signs down and yelling obscenities at us. Monday morning, 7/16/07, at approximately 12:30AM, 2 people were observed by a neighbor going through and dumping our garbage can all over the street and leaving in a dark colored pickup. We have recorded both events with COPE and have to wonder what they may be looking for. The community has documented a very long list of incidents that seemingly coincide shortly after any form of protesting or public speaking against the gun range. This list includes the haarassment of two members of our youth committee(two eleven year old children) after they spoke in front of our town board and county parks committee about their concerns about the gun range.
We now ask those decision makers who voted in favor of re-opening this dangerously unhealthy gun range, is this what you had in mind for residents and children in a once growing neighborhood. Brian, when we asked you about Yaphank before purchasing our dream home, as a friend and volunteers for you of 8 plus years, could you have envisioned what has now happened to us? That we would be forced to live with the challenge of trying to live our lives as normal as we can considering the unhealthy circumstances and constant worry that our active protesting of the now re-opened gun range could become dangerous?
We are very concerned and hope that you also are,
Doug and Joanne - Yaphank
