from Sailing school closed for missing drug, alcohol tests on staff

NEW ROCHELLE — The New York Sailing School was ordered to close Friday because it has not enrolled in a federally mandated drug and alcohol testing program, U.S. Coast Guard officials said today. The Coast Guard also condemned a 30-foot, wood-hulled boat used by the school to ferry students from Echo Bay to the sailboats used for instruction. According to a press release, the boat had “numerous structural deficiencies.” Investigators turned up the violation when they were looking into the July 25 death of a student, 30-year-old Eoin Curran, who was swept overboard in Long Island Sound during a severe storm. Curran, a Brooklyn resident originally from Ireland, was not wearing a life jacket. The law requires that the boat carry life jackets for each passenger, but not that the passengers wear them. The Coast Guard has labeled the death accidental. To reopen, the New Rochelle-based school must enroll in a drug and alcohol program required for transportation companies. The requirements for marine employers include pre-employment, random and post-accident tests for staff, according to a Coast Guard web site. The release said the owner, Janusz Machnica, had not enrolled in a drug and alcohol testing program and “has no recollection or records to prove any drug or alcohol tests have ever been conducted upon himself or any of his employees.” The failures were turned up by multiple visits by Coast Guard investigators to the school since Curran’s death, the last on Wednesday, according to the release. The school’s suspension was ordered by Capt. Linda Fagan, the Coast Guard Captain of the Port of New York and New Jersey. The Coast Guard said it would have to specifically rescind the order before the school could resume operations. During the July 25 squall, both Curran and the instructor fell overboard. Authorities said the instructor was able to get back on board and a flotation device was thrown to Curran, but he was unable to grab it and the instructor and other students lost sight of him in the storm. Machnica could not be reached for comment.

On January 6, 2010, little Sophia Lopez of the Bronx was diagnosed with HLH, a rare blood disease. Sophia has already endured an unsuccessful round of chemotherapy, and now at just 6 months old, her only hope for survival is a bone marrow transplant from a donor. Her parents were devastated to learn that neither of her two brothers could be her lifesaving match, and now they must depend on a perfect stranger to save their daughter’s life. Finding an ideal bone marrow donor will be challenging; Sophia is of Puerto Rican descent, but Latinos make up just 10% of the national registry and are very genetically diverse.

A registration drive was held today in Pelham Bay, sponsored by DKMS America, an international bone marrow donor center that operates bone marrow drives all over the United States.

Read more from the Post here.

…the testing for a match is simple and painless. A cotton swab is rubbed in the mouth of the donor, and then checked against a national data base that includes all of those looking for a bone marrow transplant. If there is not a match for Sophia, the bone marrow drive will still be a success because a match may be found for another patient in need.

Please consider becoming a bone marrow donor. More information from DKMS can be found here.

Thanks in advance and please reblog.

(via neighborhoodr-eastvillage)

A father trying to teach his 13-year-old son how to drive was killed in The Bronx.. [on Aug18].. when the youngster accidentally mowed him down, police said.

(via livesophia)

rememberthatonetime:

Remember that one time were driving over the Throgs-neck bridge and Allie was talking about how it would be scary if we went over, out of nowhere she goes “It wouldn’t want to die in the ocean the fishes will lick me”