Errant golf balls a problem at apartments

I live in a senior apartment complex across the street from the West Sayville Country Club at Charles R. Dominy County Park on Montauk Highway, and we are bombarded with errant golf balls. Most of the golf course has protective netting, but there's none on a section about 200 feet long across from us. One ball came through my downstairs window and other tenants' windshields have been cracked. We collect the balls and take them across the street to officials, but still, no action.

-- Rose Van Guilder, West Sayville

Duck, Ms. Van Guilder. We don't expect changes any time soon.

We called Mark Smith, spokesman for Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, about this and he said he would look into it. As months passed, we asked several times for an update, but he hasn't responded.

So we contacted Suffolk County Parks Commissioner Joseph Montuori, and he's not convinced netting is necessary in that section. Sure, you and other tenants have taken buckets of stray balls to his office, but he says the way the golf course is designed, balls shouldn't be headed in your direction.

"Where the gap is, it's really not where people would hit the ball," Montuori said. The existing netting protects vehicles driving past on Montauk Highway, he said.

We told the commissioner that we had seen a dent on the side of the apartment building that a tenant said was caused by a golf ball, and we can't understand why anyone would ask for netting -- which would obscure a clear view of the golf course -- unless there's a problem with balls flying over.

"If that's what's going on, we'll study it," he said. "We like to be a good neighbor."

Stay tuned.

Playground pole poses danger

There is a protruding shaft on the playground at Nickerson Beach Park in Lido Beach. The danger of a slip and fall and serious injury to a child is very real. After I complained to the park office this summer, they covered it with an orange cone and told me a work order had been put in. Two weeks later, I informed Nassau County. The situation has now lasted over a month.

-- Russ Birdsall, Freeport

Pole gone!

The exposed pole, or shaft, was the result of a missing circular step at the playground. The county replaced the part this month.

Public works spokesman Michael Martino said the Department of Parks, Recreation and Museums had ordered the part before we made an inquiry.

It was on back order through late July and August and was installed in early September, he said, the week it arrived.

Nassau residents with concerns involving county parks should call 516-572-0200.

-- MICHAEL R. EBERT

It took longer than expected, but a fork-in-the-road in Farmingdale has a repainted road marking -- one that Nassau County promised us last winter.

In early January, we wrote about Judy Stone of Old Bethpage and her concerns with a "dangerous" fork at Quaker Meeting House Road and Round Swamp Road. Eastbound drivers on Quaker Meeting House wanting to go north on Round Swamp must cut across westbound traffic -- which has no yield or stop sign. In addition, letters were missing from a painted YIELD marking on the road surface.

We checked old satellite images and determined there used to be a YIELD sign for westbound drivers. Within a few days of our inquiry, the county's Public Works Department installed a new sign and told us the road marking would be repainted in the spring.

But when September arrived, Mrs. Stone emailed us to report the paint job hadn't been done.

We immediately called Michael Martino, the county's public works spokesman, to ask about the delay. The paint job was completed the same week.

"The constant onslaught of severe weather from throughout the winter right up until Hurricane Irene has affected many projects throughout Nassau County, including this one," Martino said in a statement.

Drivers with concerns about maintenance of Nassau County roads can call 516-571-6900.

-- MICHAEL R. EBERT