1971-08-19

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WHERE THE HISTORY OF YOU* .- . ^ u K U t D WEEKLY
An Offiriaf Newspaper of The Incorporated Village of Farmingdale — Serving Greater Parmingdale. Bethpage and Melville
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VOL. 8 N O . 5 2 Second Class Postage has been paid at Farmingdale, N. Y. 11735 • Published'by THE OBSERVER, INC., Box 146, Farmingdale, N. Y.- T h u r s d a y , AligUSt 1 9 , 1 9 71
School Budget Accepted
Library Downed Again
Schools Are off Austerity- An other Library Vote Unlikely
Farmingdale school district voters, in their inscrutable wisdom, accepted
yesterday the school budget, which calls for a tax increase of over $ 70.00 per year
to the average home owner, and defeated the library budget, which would have
raised taxes by something like $ 1.20 per year. The vote on the school budget was
2822 in favor and 2196 opposed. The library budget went down with 2563 negative
and 2428 affirmative ballots. The total turnout numbered 5053.
A GREAT DAY for picnicers was last Sunday, when the Far­mingdale
Republican Club did just that - hold a picnic. Some 1100
people came to the Chateau in Wyandanch, among them, as our
picture shows, Michael Binning, 6, of 7467 Lockwood Avenue. He is
helping Larry Grella, who as co- chairman of the event was primarily
responsible for feeding the hungry masses, to prepare the new and
fresh corn for cooking. ( More picture*; on the back page).
This was the third round of
voting for both the school and
library budget. Of the newly
enfranchised young voters
between 18 and 20 years of age,
345 had registered and 249 ac­tually
cast their ballot.
According to one estimate,
approximately 2000 young people
between 18- 20 live in the Far­mingdale
school district and
were eligible for registration and
subsequently lor voting.
As it turned out, the presence of
the 249 new young voters did not,
at least in the case of the school
budget, spell the difference
between acceptance or rejection.
In accordance with a resolution
previously adopted by the school
board, the Farmingdale school
district is immediately off
austerity.
The budget adopted on Wed-nf
• ' Jav calls fr- r expenditures in
the amount of $ 23,115,928, an
increase of slightly over $ 1.5 mill,
over last year's budget. The new
school tax rate will be $ 13.11 in
the Town of Oyster Bay part of
the district, and $ 20.41 in the
Town of Babylon part. Compared
to the budget which was defeated
twice before, the budget now
adopted is lower by $ 111,800. This
cut resulted in a decrease in the
originally proposed tax rate of
approximately 12 cents per $ 100
assessed valuation.
While the school ad­ministration
can now go ahead
with the implementation of its
educational program for the new
school year, the library board
finds itself at a dead end.
According to law, the library
must return to the last operating
budget if a proposed new budget
is not accepted. This return to the
last budget actually means a
Bus Co. Quits Farmingdale Route
Stage Coach Lines Stop Service to Bethpage and Hicksville on August 22
Public Transportation in Nassau County, already decimated by the
foldi. ng of other bus companies, will experience another set- back on
August 22. The Stage Coach Lines, Inc. have just announced
discontinuance of their services on the following routes: Massapequa
- Hicksville - Farmingdale - Bethpage- Hicksville; Hicksville - Beth­page
- . Massapequa; and Bellmore - North Bellmore - Levittown.
Services will stop after midnight of Sunday, August 22.
Stage Coach Lines have been Executive and the Board of
operating these routes under a
Temporary Certificate of Public
Convenience and Necessity since
August 1970 when Mid- Island
Transport Co. went into
bankruptcy.
In his release announcing the
end of services, John R. Carter,
President of Stage Coach Lines,
Inc. had this to say
Supervisors in a plan to
guarantee for continuance of
operations without curtailment of
service and without increase in
lares. Again at the end of June
and the first part of July, we
attempted to interest the Nassau
County Executive and the Board
of Supervisors in the same
proposition, after apprising them
" Despite our best efforts, () 1 worsening conditions."
On the heel of the an­nouncement
by the Farmingdale-based
Stage Coach Lines comes a
warning from Bee Line Inc. of
Rockville Centre: unless
something is done by the Nassau
County administration - and soon
- Bee Line as well as another
major bus company, Schenck
Transportation, will be forced to
cut back service
Bee Lines' Executive Vice-president
James F. Conway
points to a study published by
Nassau County Planning Com­mission
which included the
following paragraph:
" A viable bus transit system
has the inherent flexibility that a
fixed road bed system could
never hope to achieve. Compared
to previous alternatives the
relative cost of Obtaining massive
improvement via this method is
extremely low."
County Executive Ralph G.
Caso reacted sharply to Convay's
and Carter's statement. Claiming
that the County has come up with
a marketing program to bolster
the faltering routes, Caso said:
" I believe that Carter and
Conway are trying to hold a gun
to the county's head with this
tactic. Their approach has to be
construed as insincere when
judged in light of the continuing
plans to help their operation."
operations on these routes are not
producing enough revenue to
cover out- of- pocket costs, and
this is having a severe adverse
effect on the total financial
picture of this Company. Sound
business judgment dictates they
cannot and must not be con­tinued.
" We have been aware of these
losing operations for some time.
Last March we attempted to
interest the Nassau County
New Student
Registration
Registration for new
residents and transfer
students in all grades and all
schools in the Farmingdale
district will be conducted this
Friday, August 20, in Weldon
E. Howitt Junior High School
from 9 a. m. to 2 p. m.
Parents registering their
children should bring report
cards from the previous
school and proof of residence
in the Farmingdale school
District
Support for the President
Caso Orders Immediate Wage Freeze for County Workers
President Nixon's new economic policies were
favorably received by the County Executive, by
the Town of Oyster Bay and by Industry.
Regarding Mr. Nixon's proposal County
Executive Ralph G. Caso stated:
Drastic and dramatic action has been taken by
President Nixon. If sanity and stability are to be
restored to our economic situation, it is necessary.
He must be supported in his effort to accomplish
this.
" Accordingly, I am ordering further con­tinuation
of the job freeze in Nassau County and an
immediate wage freeze on all county employees
for 90 days in keeping with the President's edict."
The Long Island Association of Commerce and
Industry offered the following statement:
" There is general unanimity within the Long
Island business community of support for the
program outlines Sunday evening by President
Nixon.
" While ( he medicine prescribed is not univer
sally looked upon as 100 percent palatable, it is
obvious that the control placed on the economy at
this time is both necessary and desirable.
Hopefully, we can expect nothing but good and
stabilizing results from this action. It can be ex­pected
that business leaders will give overall
support to this program and abide by the
restrictions set forth in President Nixon's speech.
" It can be hoped that in the months immediately
ahead, the economy will have a chance to re- orient
itself into a more realistic growth pattern that will
have long range beneficial effects for all.
Likewise, it will be hoped that beginning within the
next 90 days, it will be possible to establish guide
lines in the areas of wages and prices which can be
realistically followed to keep the economy on
course."
The Town of Oyster Bay so far has issued no
Official statement on the new economic proposals
and decisions. Further guidelines are awaited
before any measures will be taken to implement
the program. Sources close to Town Supervisor
John w. Burke describe him as " generally in favor
of the president's action"
return to the budget that was in
effect during the fiscal year
1966/ 67. Since then, all budget
proposals were rejected by the
voters. Theoretically the library
could still operate on the 1966 67
budget in the year 2000.
Theoretically the library could
also go back to the voters once
more. Such a course seems
highly unlikely, however.
Speaking for themselves' library
trustees Callahan and Jacovsky
stated that they consider it highly
unlikely that a board majority
could be mustered that would
favor another round of balloting.
Had it not been for the fact that
the school board called for a third
vote and thereby offered the
library the opportunity to hitch a '
free ride, even this library budget
vote might not have been,
Jacovsky declared.
He regretted the fact that ihe
library is apparently still paying
the price for past controversies
and saw as a hopeful develop­ment
the fact that the library
budget was rejected by the
smallest margin in its long string
of defeats.
Library Establishes
Book Memorial Fund
The Farmingdale Public
Library has established a book
memorial fund in the name of
Lyman Van Nostrand, who died
last week in Bennington, Ver­mont.
Donations to the Library in
his name will be used to buy
books in subject areas where his
varied interests lay.
Mr. Van Nostrand, a life long
resident of Farmingdale, was
formerly co- owner and prprietor
of the Farmingdale Grocers
Store on Main Street. He was a
staunch suporter of the public
library, particularly through his
wife, Myra Van Nostrand, who
was a charter member of the
Board of Trustees, serving from
1952 to 1967.
Youngsters to Hold
Dystrophy Carnival
Youngsters from the Far­mingdale
area are planning a
carnival against distrophy to
raise funds for research and
patient service programs of
Muscular Distrophy Associations
of America. John Reitan, son of
Mr. and Mrs. James Reitan will
serve as ringmaster at 33 Park-dale
Drive, assisted by Robert
Palasciano, Gary Glass and
James Reitan. The carnival
begins at 1: 00 p. m. and will
feature such games as bowling on
the green, bottle drop, marble
shoot, pie toss and tennis ball
toss.