The-Leader_1985-09-26

              - i l l -
Qtliclal
Nenspapei
, Village of
Freeport
•.
Freeport
School District
•
Baldwin
School District
FREEPORT. NEW YORK. SEPTEMBER 26,1985 . *
sistYEAR. No.23 ^KEEPORT IvtEMORIAL LIBRARY
FREEFOHT UEKORIAL LIEHA.R-'
» MERRICK RD
PRICE 25* PER copy
Feuding Continues In Freeport GOP
Baldwin Library
Expldins Furchase
Cries Of Unify Marred '
By Legal Action
FREEPORT - The intra-party feuding in Freeport's local Republican
Party does not appear to be over, although Eieoitive Leader Raymond
• Malone has won another term.
Malone's victory occurred at the first. Committeeman's Council
meeting following the recent Republican primary. But "total peace"
was marred by serving of legal
Village Fetes
Grover Family
Trustee Explains ^ank
Acquisition Proposal
FREEPORT - Al Grover, and
hw sons, AI, Jr. and Dante,
waved their way from Freeport
High School to the Freeport"
Recreation Center iWs past
Sunday, September 22, as they
look part in a parade in their
honor.
The- day had been dedared
"Grover Day" by Freeport Vil­lage
Mayor Dorothy Storm and
the parade along Menick Road,
was followed by a reception at
the Rec Center.
"Grover, accompanied first by
his son, Al Jr. and later by Dante,
'had made the 3.000 mile trans-
Atlaiitic crossing from Nova
Scotia to Portugal in a 26-foot
"Groverbuilt" skiff with diesel-nin
Evinrude motors.
The trip, with only one stop •
in the Azores for refueling,
established a world record and
was made even more difficult by
the encountering of a hiirricane
and two severe storms.
. Sharing the spotlight with
Al, Al Jr. and Dante, were his
other ihree children and his
wife, Rosemarie."Attie" Grover,
all of whom kept the Grover fam-
- ily's waterfront business going;
kept day-by-day, even hiair-by-
- hour records of the trip; and
served as liaison with the media.
They also sweated out the more
than 24-hour period when the
sUff hit the hurricane and was un­able
to communicate with other
vessels or land.
At the reception Grover was
the recipient of several presenta­tions,
including a proclamation
from the village, presented by
Village Mayor Storm, and a
plaque which she gave him on
behalf of the. people who were
present at the reception and who
purchased tickets for $7.50.
Also presented to Grover were
a letter from President Reagan
arranged for by Congressman
Norman F. Lent, who also had a
proclamation for Grover; a certifi­cate
from Hempstead Town Pre-
:byJoanOelaney
BALDWIN - Leonard Melman, president of the Baldwin Library
Board of Trustee, and Walter Haber, director of the Library, came be­fore
the Baldwin Board of EducaUon on Wed'feesday, September 18, at
a special public meeting wh()se agenda was for library officials to out-line.
their decision toacquiiieOie European American Bajik.
The bank building, adjacent to 11!"
the" library, had become available
for purchase last June.
Although- the- library is a
separate entity,. whose policies
are dedded by its own tnutees.
for purposes of taxation or land
purchase the library must work
through the school district. In
fact, the library building and
property is owned by the school
district. . .
According to Melman. the cost
would be: $434,000 for the pur­chase
of the property as well as
acquisition costs, $319,000 for
new construction to tie the Iw^o
buildings together, and $106,000
for renovations to both the old
and new building as well as mov­ing
costs, for a total of $860,000.
Melman briefly outlined the
history of the library's need for
space stressing the need for more
shelf and storage space, quiet
reading and research space. He
noted that in recant years the
library has hot been able to
render to the community the serv­ices
it requires, much less expand
those services, as have many
other libraries. Although a
referendum was turned down
three years ago by the voters, pri­marily
— Melman said — be­cause
it was thought to be too
expensive, many residents have
supported the idea of expansion.
According to Melman, when
the bank property became avail­able,
many patrons assumed the
library would attempt to'aa^uire
the space. An informal petition
available for patrons' signatures
has produced over 3.000 names in
support of the acquisition.
Haber explained an architect's •
preliminary renderings, which
show a tie-in construction be­tween
the two-buildings with en­trances
and exits at that tie-in
point to both Grand Avenue and
thellarking lot. It would be in this
area that a general drculaflon
desk would be located. This type'
of lie-in would be most' eco­nomical,
said Melman, as it
.would result-in one library with
better traffic flow, fewe'r prob­lems
with thefts at numerous
exits, and would not require
additional staffing. The acqui--
sition and renovation would open
up traffic flow, eliminate duttei-and
enable the library to'accom­modate
the patrons even at peak
tiines. If the two buildings were
kept separate, Melman said,
additional personnel would be
required to service and supervise
both buildings. .
The plan calls for maintaining
existing ents as emergency
exits for safety reasons.
Gained would be 6,000 square
feet of property {4,500 in the bank
and 1,500 square feet in the tie-in
area), and approximately 15
parking spaces.
As shown in Che renderings,
the bank area would house the
children's department. A series
of ramps as well as stairs would
- connect the two buildings, which
are on different levels making
. both buildings accessible to the
handicapped as is required by
law. (Presently with grant
monies, the library is proceeding
with construction of a bathroom
. on its existing first floor to be
accessible to the handicapped.)
In discussing the impact on the
taxpayer, Melman stressed that
the increase would be moderate
with the exact figure dependent
upon the length of the bond as
dedded by the school district. As
an example of a possibility, Mel­man
noted that the rule of thumb
papers on re-elected committee^
man Eddie Monroe;
The discussion within the
party structure beg'an at the end
of last year, when a past GOP
Executive Leader, Fred.Hager,
sought the Republican nominaton
for mayor. Hager won the nom­ination,
wresting it from Mayor
Dorothy Storm, who had recently
been appointed to fill out YTilliam
H. White's term" upon" his resig­nation.
.Storm had already de-,
dared sht wanted a tenn'of her
own. and she and Hager each
heading a separate slate, came
before the first caucus, under a
new state law, of all registered
Republicans in the zone.
While Hager won that round.
Storm's forces look the_ caucus
results to court and a hew caucus
was mandated, a caucus Storm
then won. . - -
Hager and his slate, oh the
Hoine Rule Party line went on
to oppose the Storm people in
the general eleacUon in March,
but Storm and her fellow-candi­dates
won.
Following the election, Malone
gave out nominating petitions to
all but 13 of the then seated
Republican - committeepersons.
The 13 were Hager supporters,
induding Hager himself, and two
of his co-runnihg.males: Eddie
Monroe and Charies Mehrmanh.
The primary was held Septem­ber
10 in 25 of the 26 election dis­tricts.
Thirty-five of the victorious
commiteeperson candidates were
alleged to_bc_ Malone support­ers;
12 to be.oh-the.HagirJeani
side. Three positions were tied
and declared' vacant by the
Republican Comm'issioner on
the Nassau Cbuflty Board of
Elections, allowing the Commit­teeman's
Coundl to make the •
selection.
The newly elected members
of the Freeport Republican Com­mitteemen's
Coundl met:Satur­day
morning, September 21, at-the
Exempt Fuemen's HaU. The .
business of the meeting was to
nominate and elect an-Executive
Leader to serve for a two year
term. The meeting was dosed
' (Com. on Page 12)
(Con*, on Page 9 1 .
RIDING THROUGH FREEPORT. Waving at friends and fellow-resi­dents
lining Merrick Road during Sunday, September 22's parade
honoring Al Grover, members of the Grover family say a "thank you"
for the villaae's "welcome home" celebration. Al Grover, Sr. (I.);
Al, Jr. (c.j; and Dante Grover (r.) ride on a float made of a Grover­built
l}oat, similar to the one the Grover's used In establishing iheir
. recent world record trans-atlantlccrossing. (See storyylhls page.)
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