Crossing a frozen Great South Bay in February of 1955

          One Saturday in the winter of 1955 some friends and I were going to go to the Movies, but we thought we had a little time and the Great South Bay was frozen over so we decided to walk across the ice and see how far we could get, we obviously had no sense of time. We of course didn't realize then how dangerous it was, but we did get to the island just across the state channel from Gilgo Beach where we saw a hunter's cabin after looking at it we decided we better get back we were late for the movies. While we were returning across the ice an airplane buzzed us then we saw red light flashing from the shorelines in seems that someone saw us crossing the ice and called the police. We were almost to the shore when one of the older brothers of one of my friends came out to meet us and told Kathy where to walk. She fell though the ice, but got herself out with her legs now wet. I think we would have made it all the way without incident if it wasn't for our "rescuer". But we did get home safely even if we did miss the movie. Amityville Police Chief William Kay gave us a talking to, but we were home safe. All the local and City Newspapers Newsday, Long Island Press, Daily Mirror, Daily News, The New York Herald Tribune came to take pictures and do stories on us.

The Natural World of Racism

I remember a lot Anti-antisemitism as well as anti-black comments growing up on Long Island. My father was an Irish-Catholic living in Protestant Scotland that is why he came to this country where he hoped there would be a little less prejudice and always said don’t put anyone else down for you could be next. I don’t understand people who came from ancestors that suffered prejudice could turn around and do it to others.

I believe there are two kinds of people on this planet those that are openly racist and those that at least try to hide it.  I think it is a matter of survival to protect your family and to extend that to your race, ethic group, nationality, and even into religion or beliefs.

Humans have learned to control other emotions that they might have, why can’t they learn to get along with people that are not like them.  The United States has many different kinds of people with different cultures that mix is what makes America great. It might not look like it now, but I think all human societies will evolve into one great global Society.

  

Great South Bay adventure in April of 1955

Article from Newsday April 6^th 1955 issue

The writer took a lot of writer’s License in writing this story and got some of the facts wrong. Botz did not live on Carlton (Carleton) Ave, but on Bordette Place. We did not bring the rowboat around to the cabin and it was not washed out to sea. We did lite some grass torches, but had been spotted before we lite them and it was day light when we lit the torches. We had spotted the Coast Guard they heard our yells for help. Another thing is that Rex Botz’s dog was not with us this time. They did get some of the facts right  

It was my luck that in April when I was talking to a couple of friends Botz and Woody who also lived near us. I told them about the hunter's cabin and they decided that they wanted to see it. So we took a row boat out to the first island and walked across a sallow between the islands finally getting to the hunter's cabin after looking around we returned to the boat only to find that someone had taken our oars and anchor it was getting late so we went back to the cabin. We started a fire in the potbelly stove found some canned soup and went to bed in the cabin's bunk beds. Our families of course became alarmed, it seems that Woody's Father took his cabin courser out to look for us and came up to the cabin, but we were all asleep. So not hearing anything he left. The next morning, we decided to walk back to the boat when a Coast Guard boat picked us up. We almost got a helicopter ride but it couldn't land for the island was just marshland, a helicopter ride would have made it almost worth it. My father said he wasn't worried because he could see our row boat and he figured that we were on the island.  Actually we should have taken the boat around the islands to the cabin, but we didn’t so I go my second adventure of the year. All the Newspapers came for more pictures and stories. The Herald Tribune also did a human interest story with pictures of kids jumping off the docks.