Edwatd Zeltner's column "Over the River" focused on items of interest to Brooklyn and Long Island residents. He led this day with a complaint from New York State troopers upset that Governor Dewey had vetoed a bill that would give them one day off a week. They claimed they were on duty 153 hours a week, seven days and six nights, with only one night off on a 15-hour pass. Regulations did not allow their families to live in the districts where they worked. When sleep and travel were deducted, the men had only a few hours to see their wives and kids. In the summer they did not get a three-day monthly pass. Their starting salary was $900 a year (a little less than $10,000 in 2009 dollars), the lowest of any peace officers in the US. About one-third of the 900 state troopers were World War Two vets. Zeltner thought something should be done about this.
He also referenced a previous report on a terminal leave pay bill languishing in Congress. The vets were hoping to stir the public to get some action.
Nassau County had a rabies problem. To date 28 people had been bitten by rabid dogs.The health comissioner was urging that dogs be immunized and had been rounding up any they find off leash. Meanwhile one of the unleashed dogs, a St. Bernard, broke through a jailhouse window but came back when the cops whistled.
Zeltner put out a call for a leukemia survivor to provide a transfusion for a two-year old fighting for his life at L.I. College Hospital in Brooklyn.This was thought to offer hope for a cure.
He reported that because of a lack of a central post office in Queens, a letter mailed to an address across the street would take longer to reach its destination than one mailed from Chicago. It would be routed to Manhattan and then back to Queens with several intermediate stops on the way.
The Knot-Hole club was having its annual dinner for the Brooklyn Dodgers after a three year hiatus. It was taking place at the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn Heights.
The Hospitalized Servicemen's Committee in Brooklyn was soliciting donations to buy Easter plants for the vets.
A group of classical music fans was up in arms over the use of the Academy of Music for a jazz concert sponsored by the Elks on April 22. Some reportedly were buying blocs of tickets in the hope that the musicians would end up playing to an empty house but without hurting the charity.