14 The QUEE NS Courier • march 7, 2013 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com KINDERGARTEN KID: ‘I’M OUTTA HERE’ BY MAGIE HAYES [email protected] Five-year-old Angelo Geremia pushed open his school doors, walked home in the pouring rain with no coat, and nobody noticed. “I just don’t understand what happened,” said his mother, Georgina Geremia. “Something upset him to make him leave, and no one was watching him.” Geremia got a call on Wednesday, February 27, from her neighbor who told her that little Angelo was outside his house at around 10:15 a.m., screaming to be let in. She estimates it took him about 20 minutes to walk from his school, P.S. 229, to their home on 62nd Street. An extra ten minutes that he was trying to get inside leaves 30 minutes that the five-year-old was unaccounted for. Geremia had to call the school and tell the principal herself that her son had walked out. “I asked what can the principal do to guarantee that this won’t happen again. She told me she can’t guarantee it won’t,” she said. For the roughly 1,400 kids in P.S. 229, there is one security guard and no cameras. How the kindergartner got out of the school is still not clear. He said he went out the front door, but school officials said he went out the back door. He also said he was upset he got a time-out, but school officials said he left after a trip to the bathroom. However, at any given moment, an aide should be watching the students, Geremia said. Geremia said the school’s principal, Dr. Sibylle Ajwani, was apologetic. But there has been no answer as to what consequences are coming for the aide who dropped the ball, she said. “If something would have happened to him, then what?” she asked. “Somebody went to work that day and just didn’t do their job.” The Department of Education and P.S. 229 did not return calls for comment. THE COURIER/Photo by Maggie Hayes School officials did not know that Angelo Geremia, 5, left school in the middle of the day and walked home. LIRR riders say no reason for fare hikes BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA [email protected] MetroCard holders are not the only ones pinching pennies now that fare hikes are in effect. Starting on Friday, March 1, monthly, one-way, round-trip and 10-trip tickets all went up an average of 8.2 to 9.3 percent for Long Island Rail Road riders. For Nina Rahn, a Bayside resident who commutes to her retail job in Manhattan about four times a week, the fare hike adds up to around $50 more per month. “I didn’t get a raise at work, so it’s like paying another bill,” said Rahn. She is also shelling out more cash to ride the bus to and from the train station since MetroCard fares also recently increased. Rahn said that if she’s paying more, she wants to see improvements, such as extra trains or fewer signal problems, but those things likely won’t happen. “Where does the money go?” she said. Corona residents seeking breathing room BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO [email protected] Corona residents filed a $10 million lawsuit against a neighboring grocery wholesaler who they say is making their everyday lives toxic. According to the lawsuit, which comes from about 23 residents, Moreno Produce — also known as Nuevo Mexico Lindo Su Abarrotera Central Corp. — is being accused of endangering the health, welfare and safety of the residents and interrupting their peace and quiet. Residents say tractor trailer trucks spend hours parked outside with the engines on, sending toxic fumes into neighboring homes. At night, even though the truck engines are shut off, the refrigerator motors remain running all night, disrupting sleep in nearby homes. “The motors would vibrate and rattle pictures off the wall,” said Peter Zirbes, the lawyer representing the residents. These “unreasonable and dangerous” ways of conducting business began two years ago, Zirbes said, and has continued as the business has grown. The idle trucks also block traffic and have occasionally caused damages to residents’ vehicles, residents charged. Its employees have also allegedly made “rude, abusive and sexually suggestive comments,” and have threatened some residents with physical violence, the lawsuit said. “We are looking for some compensation because the residents have been put through this for two years,” said Zirbes. “They are entitled to have peace in their neighborhood.” Among those in the lawsuit are children who have inhaled the toxic air and cannot safely play outdoors with the fear of being hit by a truck or forklift, the lawyer said. In the meantime, Moreno Produce has been hit with a “temporary restraining order,” which states the trucks are not allowed to stop for more than 15 minutes during the day, Zirbes said. The residents hope to reach a balanced agreement. An attorney for Moreno did not return calls for comment.
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