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False story seen as another hit to Mastic's image

BY PATRICK WHITTLE AND CHRISTINE ARMARIO | patrick.whittle@newsday.com
christine.armario@newsday.com

8:25 PM EST, March 5, 2008

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Parents, students and civic leaders in the Mastic area said a 17-year-old's fabricated story that she was sexually attacked on her way to William Floyd High School is another black eye for their community -- and it happened just as the area is making strides to clean up its image, they said.

Police said this week that the student, who they did not name, completely made up the story to avoid taking a test for which she was not prepared. The revelation came less than two months after two local school girls really were victimized, according to police.

The incident adds to the negative perception of one of Suffolk County's blue-collar communities, said Debbie Crosby of Shirley, whose daughter attends William Floyd High School.

"The last thing we needed was another thing," she said. "Everyone looks at Mastic-Shirley like it's this horrible place and it's really not."

Yesterday, a day after the police revelations, civic leaders gathered outside William Floyd High School to announce plans to construct a public parking lot on a piece of vacant land across the street from the school. The land has been a hot spot for students cutting class and a refuge for homeless people and criminal activity, officials said.

The county transferred the land to Brookhaven Town for $1, town officials said.

A private developer plans to build a Dunkin' Donuts on an adjacent parcel, which was the site of one of the earlier alleged sexual assaults. The project is part of the town's revitalization plan for the Neighborhood Road and Mastic Road commercial corridors. The parking lot will serve the Dunkin' Donuts and nearby businesses.

Brookhaven Supervisor Brian X. Foley said the plan to develop the two properties is an example of the community "taking back, block by block, areas that for years have languished."

Bob DeBona, president of the Mastic Beach Property Owner's Association, welcomed the two redevelopment projects but said the fabricated sexual assault is more negative news that Mastic doesn't need.

"When I turn on the news, if I don't see Mastic Beach, I've had a good day," DeBona said.

"It was bad for us," Crosby said about the false report. "We took a hit and we take a lot of hits but they've got to pick on somebody."

But other residents, such as Delia McKernan, president of the Smith Point Beach Property Owners Association, said the fabrication was an isolated incident that should not reflect poorly on the community.

"I think we need a little more intervention for the young," she said. "What makes a teenager want to get caught up in that kind of negative attention?"

Attempts to reach William Floyd district officials failed.

Suffolk Det. Lt. Michael Diffley said police canvassed the neighborhood, spoke with homeowners and businesses and reviewed previous police reports in the area after they received the girl's statement. Following several re-interviews, inconsistencies in her story began to emerge, and it came out she'd been trying to skip a test, police said.

Police decided not to charge her and instead refer her to counseling.