Some of the news from around Long Island this week.
Here's a look at some of the news that happened around Long Island this week.
Baymen Ask for Historic Recognition
East End baymen say they are an endangered species, and they want protection before they go extinct.
Daniel G. Rodgers, a Riverhead attorney representing about a dozen baymen in East Hampton Town, sent a letter to the Preservation League of New York State on Wednesday requesting "baymen and their skills" be added to the list of historic and cultural resources in need of saving.
The request comes on the heels of a decision in Maryland last month to add "watermen" to the Endangered Maryland List for 2012.
A Hofstra pre-med student is taking steps toward ending what he feels is discrimination against him by a longtime ban against blood donation by gay men.
Michael Heroux says his homosexuality has unfairly landed him on a "blacklist" due to a regulation by the ederal Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability.
In the wake of a , local officials are now left trying to figure out how to prevent a fire of that size and scale from happening again - and should a fire break out again, that adequate water is available in the sparsely populated hamlet.
On Wednesday, the Pine Barrens Commission - made up of town, county, and state officials that oversee the preserved 100,000-plus acres - decided to bid out for a fire management plan, looking for qualified parties to conduct controlled burns.
Bamboo Item Pulled From Huntington Agenda
With a resolution to regulate residential bamboo usage heading for probable defeat Tuesday by the Huntington Town Board, the item was pulled from the agenda by Councilwoman , the sponsor of the legislation.
Seemingly surprised and obviously agitated after other board members questioned her proposal —namely Eugene Cook — Berland pulled the item and accused Cook of miscommunication.
Spencer Reis graduated from Tuesday.
His principal, James Murray, conferred Spencer's degree at the Plainview freshman's mid-day funeral. Hundreds of his classmates and a grieving community wept openly at the gesture. The honorary diploma was altogether fitting, because Murray and other educators and friends who spoke Tuesday said they learned far more from Spencer than they could ever impart to him.
A standing-room crowd of more than 700 people bid farewell to at the . Speaker after speaker told how the 14-year-old who loved animals and sports and clowning around impacted their lives. They recounted his infectious smile and the way he thanked people for the smallest of tasks, even as he lay dying from the effects of cancer.
