The-Leader_1985-05-09

              ,
• . • • •
• Ollicial
Newspapei
Village of.
Freeporl
•
. Freeport
Sthool District
• .
Baldwin-
School District
c
• X
u
o
>
• •
?
O
<
m
•
tor
I II
Ul
::
*"*^^«^'«i^H^.UB.
FREEPORT. NEW YORK. MAY 9,1985
sistYEAR. No;3 '
Ffierponr MsiionrAi, iiBURr .'-''''" ':
K HEURICK RD
FRESFORT JJ y ll^oQ- (,
'•• PRICE 2 5 * PER COPY
Sd.fiafchvin Libnuy Passes; SchooT
To Resubn^-MkUune^
FREEPORT - The Freeport school district's annual budget has been
tnnftH dnwn atlhe-poBs-by-eBly-35-voifr-Th'^""rumt fn Wrilnfifliy:
Village Bodrd
Hears Complaints
Fire Dfsftoys Religious If ems
BALDWIN -: Members ~of the Baldwin community, including its
-religious leaders, school board members and school administration,
and political parsonages, have been joining the congregants of the
Sotith Baldwin Jewish Center as they individually and together view
what many sources are considering an act of arson and anti-Semitism'.
. The charred and burnt books, blackened prayer shawls, and firag-
' ments of an American flag ^were
in two piles on the soot-filled car- The fire destroyed more- than
pel rf .the reli^us sanctuary. , ^ - ^ y " * ! ' " ' ' ^ ^ , ^ h i «~"I» » - ""'""oua. .«.acn»
. just feet away ftpm: the_usual,7,»V "i'red «"« very sou! of the ^ ^ ^ -oui-the. 8 om twice- -
-resting place of the mdirt sacied •«»|?^"«^r. « r commumly - ? t ^ ^ p „ b V « ^ s f o n • ~
6f objects, Uie Teii^le's Toiah. which —. w many respects — » ™<»»npnD"esession.
The acrid smeU of sinokt filled «? nUying around Uie congr?ga- . c,t.iMw„.. ^ r w ,„
tion. School Board member . • " SchUdkraut, of Ocean
r™,„i„ RolJ"* Jordan was Uierc Monday. -Aveji^uejasked^outjheremoval
,^°,y""afl«iiioSrto express. his own °l ?.^g" ™ ."l= northe«t comer
FREEPORT - yniage Board
meetings are almost beginning to
' follow ai.pattern: the shorter the
legislative session, the'longer the
public meeting'. •*
Ag^, this, past Monday'
evening, May 6, the Board was
able to'whiz through the every
week voting session of the meet­ing,
but several issues raised by
groups of or individual residents
May 8, was bVl tor the budget and 716 against it in a vote that, was
' nearly 300 more than in last year's success^l passage of the budget.
The.school board, has decided to bring the same budget back before
the voters as soon as possible.
The budget's defeat apparenUy
was caused by a last minute,
unsigned, typewritten flyer,- dis"
tributed by hand the night be­fore
in several sections of the vil­lage.
The one page flyer, for which
no one appears to be taUag
credit, called the Freeport School'
Boanl's annual budget mailing
"tnisleading" and "designed to
get you to support a swollen and .
wasteful budget.''
'theair. .
.While-the j f a i s au
Arson Squa^ and Fire Marshals
investigate the fire which oc­curred
this past weekend. May
4-5, youngsters are in their nur­sery
daues in another part of Uie
temple's building, at 2959 Grand
. Avenue, Baldwin; office secre­taries,
and Sisterhood members
are in the offices working on their
usual projects; and Babbi David
Arzt is busy...hot just with his
usual activities as spiritual
leader of the congregation, but
consoling individual members
who are heartbroken or fright­ened
by tlje seemingly deliberate
act of religious hatred.
feelings of borrow and sorrow;.
'Superintendent of • Schools
RpUand Jones joined him. Mem­bers
of the Interfaith' Clergy
Council and the Interfaith Coun­cil,
a lay group, were quick :to
telephone Rabbi Aizt or to stop
by.
Among those who attended an
emergency meeting of-the con­gregation
Monday night. May 6,
were Hempstead Town Presiding
Supervisor Thomas Gulotta,
who expressed his own revulsion
at the deed and volunteered to
(Cont. on Page 8)
THE DAMAGE REMAINS as police. Arson Squad and Nassau County
Fire Marshals continue their thorough investigation of this past week­end'!
'I^B a< South Baldwin .Jewish Center, Grand Avenue, Baldwin.
Two pyres of religious items — prayer.books and prayer shawls —
were blazing when the fire was discovered by the caterer returning to
the Temple Sunday morning, at about 3:45 am, following a night's
work. The May 5th fire has been called suspicious, a.case of arson, and _ "^'g".^^'^' ekoUiilteff ihTt she
h>. h^ni9»u>i<.Hhu.nmaii<iin>nii.<;/>miilr art Tha books and nraver resignauon, expiammg inai sne
of Henry and Merrick. The sign,
which was originally erected
without a permit, was to have
been removed, but is still there,
although covered with black
plastic..
Mayor Dorothy Storm agreed
that the situation is "not the end
result" desired, but Explained
there appears to "be difficulty in
the physical removal of the sign.
"We are still trying," she said,
adding thai she is "giving them
[the ownersl the benefit of the
doubt."
Sdiildkraut also asked about
equipment belonging to Scala-mandre
and still on the village's
Stadium'property, although the
lease between that company and
the village has been cancelled.
• Mayor Storm said she had been
told there was litUe left there and
that would be off by next'week.
Schildkraut then asked what
had happened to Mr. Stram, who
had been appointed Superinten­dent
of the villagers Electric
Utility and left after a short
while. .
Mrs. Storm ' explained that
Stram had resigned after .eight
weeks because his fanuly'IndTc^
mained in Connecticut and he
found the situation - difficult:-
She add^.that a seanji for a
new superintendent bad not yet
started because "they were
waiting a month to See if Bill
Cbminos, (former Assistant
Superintendent recenUy named
Acting Superintendent] worked
out." Beyond that Mrs. Storm
would not discuss Stram's
Th'e parts of the annual mailing
which is referred to gives the
"Antidpated Average Tax Rate'
Increase" for the school district
budget as~$r67rin a paragraph
headed in. large type by^ the
words "ESTIMATED TAX
RATE;" while at the same time
gives the Estimated Tax Rate for
the Freeport Memorial libraiy.
in a paragraph marked with a
large headline "UBRARY TAX
RATE," as S1.93 for this year,
and $1.87 for 1984-85.
The fiyer, headed with the
words "TAXPAYER ALERT"
objects to using the tax increase
amount for the scfaod - district,
while using the total accumulative
tax for the library.
The libraiy budget, however.
did pass Wednesday, with a vole
of 818 iji.favor and SS&against.^
In the only other vote.-Sdiool
Board trustee Dorothy Fox, run­ning
unopposed for reelection,
drew 945 votes.
the school budget vote break-,
down, polling district by district,
was:' at Archer Street School -
136 yes, 146 no; at Atkinson
School - 168 yes, 112 no; at
5ayview Avenue-.School - 128
yes, 184 no; at ColuhibusAyemie
School - 94 yes,'46 no; ai Family
Community Service Center (re­placing
the now-closed Cleveland
Avenue School polls ) - 36 yes^
~2 no; at Gibfyn School - 124 yes, '
225 no; and an absentee ballot
votftof5'yes, 1 no. .. .
Meeting in special session that
evening, the school board voted
to put the same budget badi up
sometime in mid-June, .'.'to let
'the community decide whether.
this is a fair budget."
Superintendent-of Schools Dr.
John E. Bierwiith said an open
letter to the community: will be
sent out next week and an addi­tional
message would be coming
from the board before- the next
vote.
;OtvlE BUILOtjJMK
m:^
hii:ii-has
been labeled by some as an anti-Semitic act. The books and prayer ..^^^„,^ „ „ , ,„ ^^^ ^^^^ ^j^
shawls were heaped In two plies, one between the two aisles, the other
onlhe"bema" (altar) Itself. (See story, starting page 1.)
(A LEADER photo)
(Conl.orTPage 20)
"COME BUILD OUR PLAYGROUND," urges members of Freeport's
Bayview School community (above). After months of preparation,
construction Is finally underway for the school's Creative Playground.
Materials and tools necessary for building are ready and waiting for
volunteers. Sixty-people are needed today, Thursday, May 9 and Fri­day,
May 10. Over 200 people will be needed on both Satureay, May 11
and Sunday, May 12. Construction will be continuous from 8 am until
dark each day. Any time anyone can volunteer to work will be appre­ciated.
The success of this project is now solely dependent on volunteer
turnout.