Only a Little Girl, and She Was Burning...Those Agonizing Minutes

"Help mc . . . please help mc . . . I am only alittle girl and I am burning!"

Shortly after this dramatic call for assistancevvas received by telephone, West Sayvillc-Oakdalefiremen and police sped a critically burned WestSayville child to Southside Hospital Sunday morning.

Her condition remained critical yesterday. Burnscover about 40 percent of her body and arms. Shesustained them when her pajamas caught fire whileshe was attempting to warm milk on the kitchenstove for her four-year-old half-brother.

The victim of the accident is eight-year-old Lor-raine Rogers of 28 Andrea Lane in West Sayville. Atthe time of the near-tragedy she was alono in thehr.usc with her half-brother , Guy Worzel. Her step-father and mother , Mr. and Mrs. Robert Worzel ,were at Davis Field in Bayport where Mr. Worzelis a flight instructor. A sister, 17-year-old DianeRogers, was at church.

This is the way police and firemen reconstructthe events:

Shortly before 10 a. m. the girl 's pajamas burstinto fiames at the stove. She ran screaming into thebathroom , turned on the water and jumped into the

tub. Meanwhile, four-year-old Guy managed to dialDie telephone operator.

Mrs. Florence Santanicllo, the operator , pluggedinto the line and heard a childish voice shouting"fire!" She attempted to learn the address but theyoungster was shouting and crying and then shetelephoned the West Sayville Fire Department.

According to a tape recording of the messagesreceived at the fire house, Mrs. Santaniello saidshe had a small child on the line. He was reportinga fire. Darrell Leigh Manuell , the houseman , brokein at that point while sounding a general alarm. Thechild's response was garbled.

Then the burned girl came to the phone. "Helpme," she sobbed, "help me, I'm burning . . . oh, helpme." Leigh-Manuel repeatedly asked for the ad-dress. She said she lived on Andrea Lane. "When heasked again for the house number, she cried:

"Help me . . . please help me . . . I am only alittle girl and I am burning!"

Then , and only then, the terrified youngster gavethe address . . . 28 Andrea Lane. Leigh-Manuell dis-patched men and apparatus to the scene and told thechild. "Okay, wc are coming right down, honey. Now

you get out of the house. Get the children out of thehouse." The girl sobbed . . . "no . . . not the house. . . I'm on fire," and then the message ceased.

The' firemen arrived promptl y and entered thehouse to find the girl badly burned and in a stateof shock. First Assistant Chief Nicholas Paglia andPtl. J. F. Blake of the Suffolk County Police Depart-ment, assisted by Second Assistant Chief HerbertBower, carried her to a police patrol car whichsped the injured girl to the hospital.

The tape recording of messages received at fireheadquarters shows that Mr. Leigh-Manuell andAssistant Chief Paglia , as well as Mrs. Santaniello,spent several agonizing, minutes attempting to learnthe address from the seriously burned girl. Severaltimes she apparently gave the number but the mes-sage was garbled by her sobs. When the house num-ber was finally received it took the firemen buta few minutes to reach the scene.

Yesterday it was reported at the hospital thatLorraine's condition was still critical; indeed thatshe was entering the most serious phase of herfight for life, a time when the danger of infectionis acute.

Ex-Diamond Ace in New Setting?

Winter 's deep freeze disappeared , at least temporarily, Sunday afternoon asbright skies and 60-degree temperatures h ̂ raided a change of seasons. Joseph Sudatoand Pat Reilly, both of Bohemia , were in .lined to rush matters while strolling alongSayville's Main Street. They stoked up on ice cream. (Photo by Rozycki).

Probe Cosa Nostra Lin k

Riverhead — Caesar Seotto,who once played a smart gameof baseball for the old SayvilleField Club, is currently beinginvestigated by the SuffolkCounty Grand Jury . . . but notbecause of his past prowess onthe diamond.

The 54-year-old Islip man ischarged by police with beingcne of . Suffolk's leading book-makers and an associate of John(Sonny) Franzcsc, a Cosa Nostrafigure . Seotto has been convict-ed four times on bookmakingcharges since 1947 and has beendescribed by police as a majorfigure in a bookmaking ringwhich operates from Babylon toPatchogue and nets more than?10,0Q0 a week.

Senile's role in the currentinvestigation of Cosa Nostraactivities was disclosed Mondaywh in 52-year-old Alexander C.Bcig, a textile mill operator ofGrundy Avenue, Hoibrook, wasreported to have refused to talkto the \ grand jury about hisalleged associations With Seottodespite the fact he had beengranted immunity.

Berg vvas taken before CountyJudge George F. X. Mclnerneywho ordered him to tell whathe knows to the grand jury orface contempt charges. The Hoi-brook manufacturer then re-turned to the grand jury room.

A grand jury stenographertestified in open court beforeJudge Mclnerney that Berg had

refused to name a man he wasplacing bets with when arrestedby police on December 30th.Seized with him in a police raidon that date w ere Seotto andtwo others.

The charges against Mr. Bergwere dismissed in First DistrictCourt in Commack Tuesday byJudge Floyd Sarisohn after As-sistant District Attorney PatrickJ. Canning said he had cooper-ated with the district attorney 'soffice.

Although Seotto never livedin Sayville , he was well knownin the community in the 1930sas a baseball player on one ofLong Island's outstanding semi-professional clubs. He was acrack infieldcr and a good hit-ter.

Ten Teens Held for Wrecking Girl's CarTen youths vvere seized hy

police last Thursday night oncharges of threatening a 19-year-old girl , assaulting hermale companion and damagingher car , after the vehicle andone in which some of the ac-cused teen agcrs were ridingcollided.

Police reported that the hoysforced her ear off Uie road andthen proceeded lo wreck it.They were arraigned in FirstDistr ict Court Friday beforeJud ge Morton Wcissman

According to police , lite acci-dent occurred at 9:20 p. m. atthe intersection of Middle Coun-try Road and Hawkins Avenue in

Lake Grove. The girl , Miss Em-ma Jean Sanford , 19, of EastNorthport , became frightenedand drove away. The teen agcrschased her car for two miles ,forcing her car off the road ,she complained. One teenagerstruck Miss Sanford's compan-ion , Oscar Bradwcll , 21, of Cen-tereach with a bottle, policesaid, and another smashed thecar windows. Four were placedunder arrest by police at thescene.

The remainder were taken in-to custody at the Sixth Pre-cinct after demanding releaseof their friends and allegedlyslumping in the roof of the

girl s car and pouring sand inthe gas tank. Ail were charged

with malicious mischief exceptEdward J. Sullivan. 16, of 19Dorchester Street , Lake Ronkon-koma , who vvas charged with as-sault for allegedly throwing thebottle which struck Mr. Brad-well.

Frank Colaizzo , 18, of 18 Wal-ters Road , Lake Konkonkomavvas identified as the driver cfthe car containing the accuseuyouths. Arraigned with himwere Edward J. Kahnis , 17, of31 First Court , Lake Ronkon-koma: Thomas Gugligmclli , 18,of Wl Konkonkoma Avenue andPeter Quinn , 16, of 18 NinthStreet , both of Ronkonkoma,and Lounic A. Mason , 19, of

Farmingville . All were held in$500 bail.

Sullivan and Frank SalmonJr. ot 56 Samuel Street anelCaesar LaFala , 18, of LakeShore Drive , all of Lake Ron-konkoma , were held in $1,000bail.

Michael W. Adamko , 19, of88 Kirk Avenue and RobeitGreene , 16, of 11 Gail Drive ,both of Lake Ronkonkoma , werereleased in $200 bail.

Judge Wcissman said theeight who were held in custodybecause they were unable topost the required higher bondswere placed in higher bond be-cause they have prior police records. If convicted , each of theaccused teenagers could be.sentenced to a year in jail amia S50O line.

This is Islip Town:All 230,880 of Us

' Islip Town remains in the ; lead in the populationrace in Suffolk County with 230,880 inhabitants listed onJanuary first , acp^rding to the annual estimate announcedyesterday by tffe Long Is-land Lighting Company.

Islip's population has Increas-ed by 57,92^, since the

^ federalcensus In /JOGO, whcii;: 172,959residents vierC ; Ust^tLJiy t\_egovernment .IJLCd niscarchshows that the towiu's citizens,, -increased in numbers by- 10? '-'170 In 1964 but this increaseplayed second fiddle to that ex-perienced in neighboring Brook-haven .where 11,800 new resi-dents-Were listed. Brookhavcn 'spercentage growth, over 1963was put at 8.09, the highest inNassau-Suffolk.

The current figures for thecounty's 10 towns arc listed asfollows: Islip. 230,880; Babylon181,950, Huntington 162,520,Brookhaven 157,730, Smithtown83.910. Southampton 32.820,Riverhead 16,940, Southold 14,-780, East Hampton 10,480 andShelter Island 1,460.

Broohkavcn led the county in

growth last year with 11,800nevv residents, followed by Islipwith 10,170, Huntington 6,300,Smithtovvn 5,850, Babylon 5,240,Southampton 1,200, Riverhead740,' East Hampton 240.'tSc-uth-olcf 190 and Shelter Island-_30.

The Nasau-Suffolk populationwas put by LILCO at a whop-ping 2,308,530, a 17.37 percentincrease , since 1960. Suffolk'stotal of 893.470 represents again of 226,686 in four years,an increase of 34 percent , andoutstripped Nassau 's 8.84 per-cent -boost of 114,889 to a totalof 1,415,060.

In -964 Suffolk had both thelargest numerical and percent-age increase . . . 41,760 peoplecompared lo Nassau 's 23,520.Both counties, however, are nowgrowing at a decreasing rate ofincrease. Nassau , with an aver-age growth rate of 1.86 percentsince 1960, dropped to 1.69 per-cent for 1964. Suffolk's averagerate of 7.16 percent fell to 4.90percent.

Seek V*-Mile School BusingHazards Are Cited

A proposal: that the one-milelimit for - busing elcrficntiiryschool ..children , be reduced tothreebquarce^fof a mile may besubmitted ttib taxpayers : of theSayville'SSChocrt District at --th j .district's annual meeting in May,itf developed this week.?;•.Impetus for the idea is .com-ing chiefly from residents of theIndian Head development in! thenortheast section of the com-munity whose children are-vvalk-j ng to the Sunrise Drive School.

Representatives of the Mon-tauk-Broadway Civic Associationvvere to discuss the matter withschool authorities this week anelare expected to bring it to theattention of the Board of Edu-cation at its monthly meetingnext Thursday ni ght.

In the past , similar proposalshave not been acted upon bythe board but proponents have

been advised to submit petitionsi calling foi'- fifv^otebat the! ahpualbmeeting. The- present districtpolity—eqai'valent'-to-'miniraumsrequired by the State Education- .Department—calls Sor transpor-'btac.bn fd^kindcrga^n-tiirougliv.sixth gr9de pupils vvBp live morethan one? mile from tthc schoolto which they are assigned,.atwo-mile ; standard for seventhand eighth graders , and threemiles JJor high school students.

Residents of the Indian Headscctie.1 east of Broadway Ave-nue ente traffic hazards broughtaboiil by increased use of thats.n_ ct since the opening of theBilly Blake discount house onSunrise Highway and becausesome of the residential streetswest of Broadway, leading to¦ the school property, arc not yetequipped with sidewalks.

If a vote on this issue Is im-

meidiatcly forthcoming, it will<*<ve the..spdUsb t̂ , the,-au,iiual meeting "with tjie electionof three tneroborfcoj.lfie .ictoardof j fducation-1 Vacancies; \vill oc-cur in 'QjC positions held byPercy Hoek ^and Arthur 3upHer,both, of whom are concludingthrcc-^car terms, and for* theunexpired term of John Bein-tema , who resigned recently.

The board is eicpected to ap-point John Reinsrria of 135 Roll-stone Avenue, West-.Sayville, tofill the Beintema vacancy at nextweek's meeting. Mr . Kcinsma isexpected to run in May 'foT (hebalance of the term.

Liquor DrawingNot Illegal,Court Declares

Riverhead — A legal fight bya Sayville liquor dealer to up-set the State Liquor Authority 'ssystem of processing new pack-age store applications came acropper in Supreme Court hereMonday.

Justice John P. Cohalan Jr.ruled that SLA drawings to de-termine the order in which1,177 nevv applications would boconsidered were not illega l lot-teries as claimed by LawrenceA. Daub , who operates a pack-age store on Railroad Avenuein SayviUe.

Mr. Daub , who maintains thatlotteries arc forbidden by statelaw, is expected to bring anappeal to the Appellate Divis-ion.

The Liquor Authority con-ducted two drawings in Januaryto set up a priority system forapplications implemented byGov. Rockefeller 's liquor reformmeasure which vvas adopted lastAugust. It. in effect , ended theSI.A's long moratorium on newpackage stores. It provides for1.177 new ones in the state , 177of which arc scheduled for Suf-folk Countv.

Justice Cchalan ruled , "Thereis no case authority that sup-ports the claim that the clementof chance as to the numericalorder in which the applicat.j nsare to be processed constitutesa lottery .'' The drawing, he com-mented , i.s "a mere processingincident. "

Islip—Legislation has been in-troduced in Albany to turn overtown-owned ' Byron Lake Parkin Oakdale to the newly createdpark district which encompass-es the eastern end of Islip Town,it was announced Tuesday at ameeting of the Town Board.

If the enabling legislation ispassed and signed by Gov.Rockefeller it will open the wayfor (he district to operate andimprove Byron Lake Parkthrough a Special district taxand limit its use to residents ofthe district. Among the im-provements being planned is a.swimming pool, one of a scriesscheduled for construction invarious parts of the town.

The town board reviewed fiveapplications for gasoline servicestations sought on Veterans Me-morial Highway. Three were ap-

Continued on pace 8

Park DistrictMay Take OverOakdale Area

Sayville firemen were calledto the foot of Candec Avenue onSunday evening to extinguish aminor blaze in the wooden en-closure near the waterfront inthe lslip Town park. They re-ported to police that the fireappeared to be the work ofyoung arsonists.

FIRE SUNDAY EVENING

The main attraction at a spaghetti supper sponsored by the Oakdale auxiliaryof Southside Hospital goes down the dra n as 10-ycai-old John Bralich of ChateauDrive tackles the subject. Observers are Mrs. Arthur Faria and Mrs. Harold Lanchan-tin. (Photo by Rozycki).

John DiMartino , newly elected presid ent of the Montauk-Broadway Civic Asso-ciation , catches up on paper work with tie assistance of MrS. Louis E. Bare, left ,recording secretary, and Mrs. Judith Wool .y, corresponding secretary. Standing areSal Mancuso, vice-president , and Lawrence Collins, treasurer. (Photo by Rozycki).