1971-06-10

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FARMINGDALE P r ^ ftVER Wc
WHERE THE HISTORY OF YOUR COMW
An Official" Newspaper of The Incorporated Village of Farminr ', J
. V O L . 8 N O . 4 2 Second Class Postage has been paid at Farmingdale, N. Y. 11735 • Publ* , V
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J E D WEEKLY
Atlale. Bethpagc and Melville
J.. Box 146, Farmingdale, N. Y. Thursday, June 10, 1971
FARMINGDALE'S FINEST: Mrs. John Cottone, who has served as
president of the Farmingdale Auxiliary of the Association for the
Help of Retarded Children for five years, is presented with a
proclamation by Oyster Bay Town Councilman Salvatore Mosca at a
recent testimonial dinner held in his honor at the Holiday Manor,
Bethpage. Looking on is Frank Gelish of the Farmingdale Youth
Council. Mosca presented the proclamation to Mrs. Cottone on behalf
of Town Supervisor John W. Burke and the Town Board.
Three Cheers: School
Bill Passed in Albany
Governor Rockefeller's Signature Expected
At 2.40 p. m. last Sunday the feat was accomplished: A bill to grant
relief to school districts who lost taxpaying property to tax- exempt
public entities passed the Senate in Albany after it had found ac­ceptance
also in the Assembly. Except for the expected signature of
the Governor, this law is now on the books.
This relief measure was
precipitated by the take- over of
taxpaying Republic Airfield by
the tax exempt Metropolitan
Transportation Authority, which
threatened to eventually cost the
Farmingdale school district
about $ 1 million in revenue. The
effect of this loss would have been
an additional school tax burden of
$ 20.00 for every man, woman and
child in the Farmingdale district.
Passage of this legislation
culminiated a community- wide
effort, organized and
spearheaded by Superintendent
of Schools Dr. William Kinzler. In
Senator Ralph Marino, who
sponsored the legislation in the
upper house, and in Assem­blymen
McCarthy and Philip
Healey, who pushed it in the
lower house. Dr. Kinzler found
willing and energetic allies.
With the Legislature racing
toward adjournment the outcome
of these efforts became a real
cliff hanger. The bill originally
introduced by Sen. Marino was
reworked in the Assembly with
the result that it had to go back to
the Senate for a revote.
The bill provides for state
reimbursement to the school
district the equivalent of the tax
which would be paid on property
School and Library
Budgets Go Down
Spinetta and Gelish, Callahan and Foucek Win Board Races
An uncertain trumpet was sounded on school election day in Farmingdale. No
trend was discernible in the eight different contests to be decided by the voters.
The school budget and the library were decisively defeated, the Youth Council
budget and the transportation budget unquestionably accepted. And if labels and
philosphies played any part in selecting two candidates for each the school board
and library board, then those considered to be of liberal persuasion cornered the
market: The liberal candidates Robert M. Callahan and Rose Foucek were
victorious in the library board races and another Liberal, Frank Gelish, shared
the sweet smell of success in the school board races with conservative candidate
Roy Spinetta.
representing 7 per cent or more
of the school district's revenue
for a period of 15 years.
As net effect of this legislation
a first figure of $ 250,000 has been
mentioned. When and how this
money will be paid is as unclear
at present as the correctness of
this figure itself.
Unclear also at present is the
immediate, if any, benefit to the
school budget and tax rate.
A total of 5833 residents, out of
approx. 12.000 registered and
something like 27,000 eligible,
actually cast ballots. The school
budget went down with 3522 No to
2170 Yes votes. The library
budget lost 3242- 2435.
On the winning side, the budget
for the Farmingdale Youth
Council garnered 3115 ac­ceptances
and 2544 rejections,
while the question as to whether
or not the Board of Education
should enter into a three year
contract for pupil transportation
collected 2777 affirmative and
2504 negative answers.
The results of the contests for
school and library board seats
are as follows:
School Board
Gelish 2852
Enteen 2332
Martyna 2501
Spinetta 3075
Library Board
Callahan 2897
Aleshin 2440
Parcels 2491
Farmingdale Soldier
Finally Comes Home
Ginsberg Doctor Bill
Approved by Assembly
Legislation has passed the New
York - State Assembly, which is
one more step in Assemblyman
Martin Ginsberg's fight to
alleviate the critical doctor
shortage in the state.
The Ginsberg bill, passed
unanimously, would permit
Americans who study medicine
abroad to quality for internship in
hospitals in New York State upon
proper graduation from a
recognized medical college
overseas.
After a 28 month long stay in
Vietnam - ten of which spent
involuntarily in a military
compound in Long Binh Chief
Warrant Officer Michael
Nicholau, 21, finally will come
home. Home for Michael is
Farmingdale, where he was
raised, went to the High School on
Lincoln Street and finally
enlisted into the Army.
Nicholau's nightmare began
last summer, when he and seven
other soldiers were charged with
murdering 21 South Vietnamese
civilians while on a helicopter
search mission.
The army was now forced to
drop its charges after further
investigations brought to light
that the two helicopters com­manded
by Nicholau had run out
of gas on that particular day and
had to make a landing at least 20
miles from the scene.
We talked to Nicholau's
mother, Mrs. Joanne Sobotincic
of Farmingdale, who un­derstandably
is torn between her
bitterness towards the Army and
her happiness over her son's final
exhonoration:" Michael could
have never done a thing like
that," she said, " on the contrary,
he has many medals to prove that
he more than went out of his way
when it came to rescue civilians.
Nicholau who has earned two
purple hearts among other
medals has had enough of the
army. Mrs. Sobotincic who talked
to her son last weekend over the
telephone, was told by him that
he would be home within two
weeks.
In the meantime, Nicholau's
lawyer, Mason Hampton Jr. of
Lynbrook, who was instrumental
in finding the evidence which
finally cleared Nicholau and his
men, plans to file a $ 1,000,000
lawsuit against the government
in Nicholau's behalf, charging
malicious prosecution and
defamation of character.
Foucek 2888
The library board, up to its full
strength of five members, will
now be able to avoid the
deadlocks which resulted from
the one seat vacancy and the 2- 2
philosophical split. Liberally
oriented trustee Irwin Jacovsky
is joined by reelected trustee
Robert Callahan and the trustee-elect
Rose Foucek. Conservative
trustees Joseph Crocco and
Warren Altmann, who is also
board president, will find
themselves in the minority.
Altmann will also lose his board
presidency, which most likely
will return to its previous holder
Callahan.
Immunity Bill
to Become Law
Legislation sponsored by
Assemblyman Philip Healey,
granting immunity from libel and
other possible legal reprisals to
teachers and school ad­ministrators
who report minors
suspected of narcotics violations,
has passed the State Senate.
Having already been accepted in
April by the Assembly, it now
only needs the Governor's
signature to become law.
Healey expressed gratification
with the outcomeof his battle for
this particular bill which he
considers a vital part of the
overall fight against drug abuse.
The Governor's signature under
this bill would seem to be a
foregone conclusion since he
himself added a Message of
Necessity to the bill, thereby
enabling the Senate to waive the
required three day waiting period
between receipt of proposed
legislation and action thereupon.
The defeat of the school and
library budget will necessitate
speedy action by both boards
since the law mandates a budget
when the next fiscal year starts
on July 1. If no budget is adopted
by that date, the austerity budget
prescribed by the state will go
into effect.
The Board of Education will
meet this Thursday, June 10, to
decide its course of action. Two
choices are open to the board-either
resubmission of the jwst
defeated budget or presentation
of another, obviously reduced
budget. The probable date for
voting the second time around
would be Wednesday, June 23.
Crime Did Not
Pay This Time
Three young men held up the 7-
11 Supermarket on 85 Merritt
Road in Farmingdale at 12: 30
A. M. of June 9th. Twenty minutes
later, they were apprehended on
Route 135 in Plainview,
Patrolman William Chlystun had
heard the robbery report on his
radio and intercepted the get­away
car.
The police identified the three
men, all 20 years old, as Wing
Devonshire, 456 Bay view Ave.,
Amityville; Gary Skates of St.
Albans and Charles Hill of
Jamica. There were charged
with robbery first degree.
According to the police report,
the three men held up Thomas
Shea of South Farmingdale just
as he was closing the store. They
were armed with a revolver.
Their take was $ 143.- in cash. The
money was founded when
Patrolman Chlystun made his
arrest.
John Hallahan Will Just
Have to Wait Some More
Michael Nicholau
It was the place, but not the
time to select a mayor. The most
important item on last Monday
night's village board meeting,
which was held in executive
session, was to appoint a mayor
to fill out the remaining ten
months of the term of mayor
Joseph Zureck, who has resigned
for reasons of ill health.
The heir presumptive to mayor
Zureck's seat, trustee John
Hallahan, was present as were -
trustees Krasnow and Carman.
Missing, because he had to be out
of town, was trustee Drugan.
Since one rarely, if at all, votes
for himself, trustee Hallahan had
announced that he would abstain
from voting. After all, the vote
was to make official what exists
already in practice - that deputy
mayor Hallahan becomes a full-fledged
mayor.
That left only two out of four
trustees eager to cast their ballot.
In no possible way could they
muster a majority and wisely
decided to postpone voting on
mayor Zurueck's successor and
the successor to mayor Zureck's
. successor for the next board
meeting.