FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com March 24, 2016 • THE COURIER SUN 3 TWO STUDENTS BRING GUNS TO JAMAICA SCHOOLS IN SEPARATE INCIDENTS By Eric a Siu dzins ki and Alan Burton [email protected]/@QueensCourier A Queens teenager was arrested on March 17 after bringing a loaded gun to his school. According to The New York Times, the unidentified 15-year-old brought a .38-caliber gun to York Early College Academy in Jamaica, Queens. Staff were alerted after a student overheard him threatening another student with the gun. Administrators called the police, who arrived around 9 a.m. to arrest him. As of the afternoon of March 17, the teen was in police custody and charges were pending. It is unclear where or how the teen obtained the weapon. York Early College Academy is a sixth- through 12th-grade preparatory high school where students can attend classes for college credit as early as their junior year. This was the second gun incident in Jamaica in a week, after an 11-year-old brought his grandfather’s loaded pistol to his elementary school on March 15. The elementary school, P.S. 40, is just down the block from York Early College Academy, where the March 17 incident occurred. The 54-year-old Jamaica grandfather was arrested on March 15 after his grandson was caught with a loaded handgun at school, authorities said. The handgun contained a single bullet and was discovered in the grandson’s backpack at school, according to a statement given by police on March 16. Officers from the 103rd Precinct were called to the Samuel Huntington Elementary School (P.S. 40), located on Union Hall Street in Jamaica, at 1:15 p.m. when staff discovered the black 9mm Hi-Point in the boy’s possession. It was fellow students who had tipped school security officers off about the gun in the backpack, which the 11-year-old had hidden behind coats in a classroom closet. Police learned that the grandfather, Kenneth Miley, who lives just a couple of blocks away from the school, kept the gun in his room beneath his bed. The grandfather’s lawyer, Richard Kopacz, says the gun doesn’t belong to his client and that “he found it in the backyard,” according to the published reports. Facing 15 years if convicted, Miley told police he found the gun and was planning on dropping it off at the station. Two additional rounds of live ammunition were discovered beneath his bed. The grandfather was ordered held on $30,000 bond over $25,000 cash bail after appearing in court Wednesday on charges of criminal possession of a weapon, endangering the welfare of a child and reckless endangerment, police say. According to court records, the boy told police he was adept at loading and unloading the gun. The 11-year-old has not been charged. School officials say students’ families have been notified of the incident. “This is incredibly disturbing and nothing is more important than the safety of all students and staff,” said city Education Department spokeswoman Toya Holness. According to the New York City Police Department, four guns have been seized in New York City schools this school year, including the two this week. Nine guns were confiscated in the 2014-15 school year. Woodhaven residents are adamant that Select Bus Service plan for major roadway just won’t work By Suzanne Monte ver di [email protected]/@QueensCourier It’s just not a good fit for Woodhaven. Members of the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association (WRBA) continued their campaign on March 19 to rail against the proposed Select Bus Service plan for Woodhaven Boulevard. Repeating calls made at its most recent meetings, attendees blasted the Department of Transportation’s proposal to create a bus rapid transit system for Woodhaven and Cross Bay boulevards that would create stations on center medians, designate a bus-only lane along the entire length of the corridor and prohibit left turns onto Jamaica Avenue. WRBA President Martin Colberg noted that local transit advocates such as the Riders’ Alliance have come out in support of implementing SBS along the corridor and in other areas of Queens. He noted, however, that what’s right for one area isn’t necessarily appropriate for another. “It’s great to have advocates for WRBA board member Vance Barbour discussing the SBS proposal something, groups to fight for a cause,” Colberg said. “But they have to make sure that they have people that are part of that organization that are from the community. Someone from St. Albans can’t tell me how good of a service the plan is gonna be for Woodhaven Boulevard if they’re not from Woodhaven.” Neil Giannelli, representing state Senator Joseph Addabbo, told attendees that the senator recently met with DOT officials to discuss SBS. “The senator met with DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and Borough Commissioner Nicole Garcia last Friday,” said Giannelli. “SBS is still in flux. They were explaining to the senator how the money was being allocated out of all this money. And this isn’t just SBS here: there’s a number of plans across the city, across Queens. Nothing’s been chiseled in stone. We still have the ability to apply pressure.” Members of the board and audience members began to banter with Giannelli about the plan’s rising cost and how the DOT has pushed back the projected completion date more than once. Giannelli proceeded to stress the importance of community groups like the WRBA organizing and giving their input on the plan. “We have to turn out; we have to show up; we have to let them know Photo by Suzanne Monteverdi that we cannot have people boarding buses in the middle of Woodhaven Boulevard. It doesn’t make sense. Children, senior citizens, nobody. You can’t cross two lanes of traffic to get on a bus,” he said. Colberg reminded residents with concerns about SBS to visit SaveOurStreets.nyc to sign the petition asking the city to reconsider the proposed changes. “This petition is not saying that we’re fighting change. We love change in Woodhaven. It’s gonna happen anyway, right? But we need to make sure it’s the change that’s gonna work for us,” he concluded.
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