The Fourth of July tends to be a holiday where people engage in certain risky behaviors, i.e. drinking and driving and the setting off of fireworks. Being 21 years old, it could be assumed that my friends and I are prime candidates to partake in these potentially hazardous behaviors. Instead of engaging in these activities, we decided to play a pickup game of softball at the Hollywood Park baseball field in Plainview. Please keep in mind that all the participants were from Plainview and many lived in the neighborhood immediately surrounding the park.

I would have to say that playing a game of softball on a softball field constitutes one of the least disturbing activities 21-year-olds could do to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday. However, much to our surprise a Nassau County Police Officer approached us in only the third inning of our game. He asked to see our "permit." Not knowing anything about needing a permit to play one game of softball on a holiday, we told the officer that we did not have one. The officer pointed out a sign on the far side of the park stating that there is to be "no ball playing" in the park. The officer proceeded to inform us that a resident had called the police to report us playing on the field. Needless to say, we were shocked. There we were, a group of 20 college kids playing a softball game and someone called the cops on us? I can assure you that as a group we were being respectful of the neighbors, keeping our noise level down and minding our own business. But for someone to call the police on us, you have to be kidding.

Would this person who phoned the police rather have seen us drinking beers somewhere and then getting in our cars and driving around? Would this person who called the cops rather have seen, or for that matter heard, us setting off loud, obnoxious and, most importantly, dangerous fireworks? We are talking about softball here, a fun, friendly game of softball. I do not think this diatribe that I am writing now can properly capture the dismay that I had at what transpired.

It is my strongest opinion that this instance is not isolated and speaks to a greater problem that Plainview is facing presently. There is such contempt for the teenage and college-age kids in our community that people are often blinded to reality. As a group, on July 4, my friends and I posed absolutely no threat whatsoever to the surrounding neighborhood. In fact, by playing softball rather than engaging in potentially harmful activities we were providing a de facto benefit to the community. But because someone out there saw a group of young guys congregating near their house and they thought well we must be up to no good, so they phoned the police. What a stupid thing to do. What a waste of time and taxpayer money. I have lived in the Plainview-Old Bethpage community my entire life and I still consider it my hometown. I just wish my friends and I were more welcomed in the place we grew up.

Jonathan Weinstein

Plainview JFK High School

Graduate Class of 2002