Jones Beach July 4th fireworks show still fizzles

The Jones Beach Fourth of July fireworks show has been canceled - again.

Gov. David A. Paterson tried to revive the show on Monday, a month after its cancellation for money and staffing problems, a spokesman said.

State parks officials even told business owners around Jones Beach that the show could return, and soon after many believed the show was back on, said Kathy Heinlein-Risi, president of the Captree Fleet, which was organizing charter boats to watch the fireworks show from the water.

But by Tuesday evening, administration officials decided it couldn't be done, said spokesman Morgan Hook.

"We've turned over every stone," Hook said. "The money is just not there."

The cancellation should bring more attention to the Fourth of July pyrotechnic show over the Great South Bay near Patchogue, organized by Fireworks by Grucci. The Captree Fleet and other businesses have begun making arrangements around that show.

A more insurmountable problem than funding was staffing, said Assemb. Steven Englebright (D-Setauket), who followed the discussions. The number of state park police and rangers, who patrol Jones Beach and other state grounds, has fallen from 117 in 2004 to 85. The agency has gone without a police academy class for three years.

Corporate sponsors had stepped up to pay for the Jones Beach show, but officers couldn't be trained fast enough to provide adequate security, Englebright said.

"I think [the administration] came close to going to a thumbs-up," Englebright said. "But at the final moment of decision, I think they felt there would be a real downside."