4 THE COURIER SUN • APRIL 23, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.couriersun.com FRANK CHARLES PARK REPAIRS A HOME RUN FOR HOWARD BEACH COMMUNITY BY ANGELA MATUA editorial@queenscourier.com @AngelaMatua Howard Beach residents hoping to enjoy America’s pastime at Frank Charles Park will experience a whole new ballgame when visiting the ballfi elds. The National Park Service (NPS) made repairs to the fi elds on April 8 through 10, including leveling the infi elds, fi lling in ridges that formed between the diamonds and the outfi elds and repairing the outfi elds. Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder received numerous complaints from the Hamilton Beach community and Michael Baker, manager of the X-Bays Softball team in the Queens Metro ASA Softball league. Baker said he has experienced problems with the fi eld since he started playing on it eight years ago. The X-Bays team, which was formed in 2009 and plays on the fi eld from April to August, has never seen the ballfi elds being maintained. “The fi eld has been in quite bad shape for years,” Baker said, “more so after Hurricane Sandy. After the storm it was like a beach. We’ve gotten a lot of heat from other teams in the league about how atrocious it was, so I fi nally said enough is enough.” Baker emailed Goldfeder’s offi ce and was surprised by the Assemblyman’s quick response. “He responded within 15 minutes,” Baker said. “I fell off my chair. It was phenomenal.” Goldfeder’s offi ce contacted the agency that owns and operates Charles Park, NPS’s Gateway National Recreation Area, and requested they make the repairs. He also asked the agency to provide the team with equipment including shovels, rakes and infi eld clay so players could make minor game day repairs. “These improvements will help prevent injuries and make games more enjoyable for players, families and the entire community,” Goldfeder said in a press release. “I’d like to thank the National Park Service for their quick response and partnership with the neighborhood.” Baker and his co-manager Anthony Galetto would spend two to three hours every Saturday fi xing the fi eld and prepping it for Sunday morning, especially after it rained, Baker said. “It became quite a nuisance after years and years and years,” Baker said. “Now it’s just such a pleasure. When it rains, it rained fairly hard last night and it’s holding up so well. We’re just very pleased.” The X-Bays played their fi rst game of the season on the new fi eld on Sunday, April 12, and are currently 4-0. “We couldn’t have asked for a better start on our repaired fi eld,” Baker said. Bandits wanted for towing away air pumps from Queens gas stations BY ROBERT POZARYCKI rpozarycki@queenscourier.com @robbpoz Police are searching for the airheads who stole self-serve air pump machines from 17 gas stations in Queens and Brooklyn since December. In each caper the suspects used a hook and chain attached to a vehicle to yank the coin-operated devices from their pedestals, authorities said. Each of the air pumps contained hundreds of dollars in quarters and police believe the crooks got away with more than $40,000 in change combined. A dozen of the thefts occurred in Queens, and security cameras captured one of the incidents which occurred at 6:35 p.m. on March 21 at the Sunoco gas station located at 128-24 Rockaway Blvd. in South Ozone Park. Two men, described as white or Hispanic, were spotted in the video. Police said one of them, who was Ozone Park. They returned to the location 130-11 North Conduit Ave. in South wearing a white shirt and blue jeans, on March 1 at 3 p.m. and stole the Ozone Park. They returned twice was observed operating a blue Honda replacement air pump, valued at $1,000. more to this location — at 9 p.m. on Accord. - On Dec. 30, at about 10 p.m., the Jan. 28 and again at 10 p.m. on April The other Queens air pump thefts are bandits stole an air pump containing 1 — and removed the replacement air as follows: $200 from the Getty gas station at 70-21 compressors. - At 4 p.m. on Dec. 29, the crooks 73rd Pl. in Glendale. - On Jan. 13, at about 6:59 p.m., the removed an air pump containing $800 - At 8 p.m. on Jan. 12, the suspects crooks removed an air pump valued in change from the Citgo gas station removed an air compressor valued at $2,000 from the Sunoco gas station located at 91-02 South Conduit Ave. in at $2,500 from the BP gas station at at 162-35 North Conduit Ave. in Springfi eld Gardens. - At 12:20 a.m. on March 8, the bandits removed the air pump from the Global gas station at 49-25 Van Dam St. in Long Island City. - That same morning, at 2 a.m., the crooks yanked away the air pump machine from the Exxon gas station at 59-51 Long Island Expy. in Long Island City. - At 8:26 p.m. on March 16, the suspects removed the air pump machine from the BP gas station located at 100- 07 Rockaway Blvd. in Ozone Park. - At 9:26 p.m. on March 20, the perpetrators removed an unknown amount of change from the vacuum air machine at the Eagle service center located at 49-05 Astoria Blvd. in Astoria. - Among the fi ve Brooklyn locations in the pattern was the Exxon GPN Boulevard gas station at 1193 Myrtle Ave. in Bushwick. The crooks removed the station’s air pump machine, valued at $700, at 9:08 a.m. on the morning of Feb. 2. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website or can text their tips to CRIMES (274637), then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confi - dential. Screenshot via NYPD THE COURIER / Photo by Angela Matua
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