PSEG tramples on smashed headstones in North Woodmere

When two friends were taking a walk in North Woodmere, the last thing they expected to encounter were smashed headstones in a PSEG worksite.

North Woodmere resident Tal Mandler and Deborah Gregor, from Hewlett Neck were walking past Mandler’s home on Flanders Road on Aug. 16. They discovered crushed rocks that appeared to be pieces of burial stones — including one with a Jewish star.

Gregor said that they picked up that piece and other stones that had carvings of segments of words, which included “…oved” and “…ther,” which they presumed to be “beloved” and “father or “mother.”

“Several weeks ago the electric poles that span the bank were updated and a bed of crushed rocks were laid to facilitate the utility trucks,” Gregor said. “Her house backs onto Hook Creek and we walked on these crushed stones, Tal looked down and saw a white stone with a carved Jewish star on it. This was shocking to find.” 

Mandler said that PSEG-Long Island had performed work to the electrical line that runs in the back of her house that sits on Hook Creek.

“In order to reach the pole the crew have to lay a rose bed so the trucks can drive down the bank,” she said. “They happened to lay these crushed rocks down.”

In her near 30 years of living in the Five Towns, Mandler does not recall seeing anything similar to this.

“It was really surprising and shocking to see these crushed rocks,” she said. “The thing is I really wanted to know where this comes from. It’s just unacceptable, these are rocks that you would see in a cemetery or synagogue.”

Gregor said that whatever the explanation is, this shouldn’t have happened.

“I don’t know where they buy their material or if this was an innocent mistake,” she said. “But for the life of me, I can’t understand how Jewish tombstones become gravel in a road bed.”

PSEG-Long Island said it is looking into this matter.

“A contractor performed this work for us and they purchased the fill from a local supplier and we are actively working with the vendor to determine how that fill was sourced,” PSEG said in a statement. “We are performing a site visit and will continue to investigate the work that was done by the contractor here to determine if it meets our standards.”