A few years ago, ABC Television News called the intersection of Albany Avenue and Great Neck Road in North Amityville one of the seven worst drug spots in America. "The corner" was the scene of numerous shootings, drug addicts and stabbings. It was not a happy sight.

What has happened over the last few years at "the corner" is a positive symbol of what the community, working with government and the private sector, can do to turnaround an area. At the scene of what was a drug-infested disaster, now sits new economic development. Rite Aid has opened a brand new drug and convenience food store. Fully stocked, the facility is a first-class addition to North Amityville. Across the street a new structure houses Tutor Time, a childcare center, a substation of the Suffolk County Police Department and a place for a new EAB Bank branch scheduled to open in the fall. And on another corner stands a gasoline station.

Two weeks ago ABC-TV was asked to come and witness the miracle at "the corner." After all, they had brought notoriety to the location in the earlier story¬by the way, a negative notoriety which no one in the community protested. It was a very bad scene and community leaders knew it. Today, that has all changed and it seems to me that ABC television couldn't care less.

With Richard Schaffer, supervisor of Babylon, community leaders from the North Amityville Community Economic Council (NACEC), other government officials and business leaders looking on, a ceremonial ribbon was cut to open the new Rite Aid store. ABC-TV was nowhere to be found. It seems that good news does not even travel. When "he corner" was a drug hangout, it was negative news and traveled like a prairie fire. Turning the drug scene into economic revitalization was not important.

Why is it that the media is so quick to cover negative stories? Good news should be more celebrated than the stories about bad things. Could it be that negative stories sell newspapers and positive ones do not? I doubt that, because to the credit of Newsday, it ran a beautiful story on the redevelopment of what used to be called "the corner" and now is called in its new form, "NACEC Plaza."

Now that three of the corners have been developed, a fourth corner is still on the market looking for a tenant. None of this could have happened without New York state, Town of Babylon, the Federal Government and community leaders all coming together to eradicate the drug-infested "corners." Patricia Bourne, the Long Island Housing Partnership Community and Economic Development coordinator in Babylon, put it best when she said, "The team of government, community residents and business leaders have been able to revitalize this area and bring to North Amityville new jobs and needed services."

Wouldn't it have been nice for Peter Jennings and ABC-TV to have been present for the turnaround? After all, their negative and true report about "the corners" contributed directly to the dramatic turnaround. They could have taken some credit for themselves, while giving credit to a community and local government which would not tolerate crime and drug infestation.