Following the injury of several children due to broken glass, the Town of Hempstead closed Acorn and Wolcott Pools for four hours each this past weekend and have cleared out the areas each morning to prevent any further accidents.

Several patrons of the two pools have expressed concern over the broken glass, citing several instances of children being cut both in and around the pools. Sherri Mangus, whose son's finger was cut when he did a handstand in the pool last week, stated, "This is a very unsafe situation. It's one thing that it's unsightly looking but the amount of glass outside, around the pool is unbelievable." She added, "It's not just that there's a broken bottle or two, it's like a field of glass."

The Town of Hempstead, which runs all the pools in Levittown and the surrounding communities, has determined that the glass is coming from bottles being thrown over the fence at night, most likely by teenagers who hang out in the area. The Town Parks Department has attempted to clean the area on several occasions, only to return the next day to find more glass.

Following the determination about where the glass was coming from, the parks department contacted the Nassau County Police Department, according to the Town of Hempstead Press Secretary, Mike McConnell.

"We've increased our inspections of the pools, the pool bottom, the deck and we've contacted the Nassau County Police Department and asked them to increase their presence in the area and to keep an eye out for anyone who might be engaging in that type of activity," said McConnell.

Town of Hempstead Councilwoman Linda Reed explained that on Saturday, because there had been such a problem, the town closed down Wolcott for four hours to clear out the pool and as soon as they reopened that pool they got a call about Acorn and had to close that pool for four hours. "It wasn't even little, tiny slivers," said Reed. "They were pulling out big pieces from the kids the night before. I guess they were drinking or doing whatever they were doing, and they actually took their beer bottles and they were actually throwing them over and smashing them so they would hit the cement and then just scatter into the pool."

The pool staff has begun going into the pool every morning, before the water has been disturbed, and removing any glass from the night before. They will continue to go into the pool every morning and vacuum it out to pick up any glass. "We're not going to just let this go, we're right on top of it," said Reed.

The original theory that some residents had come up with was that the glass was in the bottom of the pool and was painted over or that the glass was smashed into the pool while the paint was drying, because there were reports of blue paint on the shards. This theory was discarded because the pools had not been painted this year and there was not a problem last year. Reed stated, "It is definitely not painted in." The only suggestion about how the blue paint got on the glass was that the force of the bottle smashing caused the paint to come off on the glass.

Broken bottles are not the only problem that the town has been facing since school has been out. Reed pointed out that a stop sign that had just been replaced two weeks ago was knocked down and stolen again this week. These are just some of the problems that have arisen recently.

Reed has contacted the POP unit and is trying to set up a meeting with them to discuss the situation. She stated, "We're going to work very closely with the police department and try to remedy the situation because there is a problem, it's a problem with the kids that hang out there."

"It's not acceptable and we're not going to accept it. Between our parks department and the police department we're just going to let them know we are out there and we're not going to tolerate it," said Reed. "If we catch the kids that are doing it they are going to be prosecuted. We're not going to give them a slap on the wrist. They will be prosecuted because we won't tolerate this type of behavior."

Reed concluded, "This is a family community, let's start being a family."