The tragic plane crash in Rockaway on Monday morning drew attention from all over the world. Wave editors and the publisher, Susan Locke, were besieged by requests for radio and televisions interviews via telephone all day long and into the night. One of The Wave editors got a telephone call from Sidney, Australia at midnight, asking for a five-minute interview for its morning show and that call was followed by one from Wales. Many of the calls came from American newspapers and stations as well. All wanted "local color and a read on the mood on the peninsula, something they could not get from government press releases and televised statements. The Wave has indeed become Rockaway More...

The Broad Channel midget football team experienced some thrills and chills over their past two games. On November 4th, the Shamrocks sailed by the Seaford Stallions, 31-6. On November 11th, the undefeated Levittown Red Devils beat the Shamrocks, 13-0. The win and loss leaves the Shamrocks with a 7-2 record. That is good enough for second place heading into the playoffs. More...

Talking about airline safety in the wake of the horrendous jet airliner crash in Rockaway last Monday is a little like closing the barn door after the horse has run. The possibility that a plane could crash onto the peninsula has been in our consciousness for many years. During the Doppler radar fight, we editorialized on that possibility, yet even we did not believe that it would ever happen. Dozens of planes pass over our heads each day. They pass over Bayswater and Arverne, Edgemere and Far Rockaway as well as over Belle Harbor. That has been going on for years, and the fact is that nobody but the environmentalists (who want to close the airport to save the seagulls) and the usual groups that gripped about the noise. Only when the Concorde passed over did anybody look up to see that majestic and noisy bird. Now, everybody looks up. Yesterday, as we stood on Beach 130 Street, watching the conflagration, the only planes in the air were Air Force F-15 Eagles and F-16 Hornets flying high cover over the peninsula. Rockaway has never been as safe from something dropped from the sky as we were at that moment. We will never be as safe again unless the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) moves to change the pattern of flight from Kennedy airport. We would recommend that the planes coming from Kennedy towards the ocean turn right and fly along the bay to Breezy Point and then turn left our over the Atlantic. If they follow that flight path, the planes will not pass over land. Having said that, we understand that we are not experts on flight mechanics and we are not sure that the big jets, the heavies, can make that kind of turn coming off the runway without putting the aircraft and its passengers in danger. The FAA, however, has that expertise. If the barn door is not shut and shut soon, we might lose more than the horse. Is it time for the FAA to act. More...

Dear Editor; More...