The-Leader_2006-01-26

              Pennies tor Ponies
• Freeport Pride Is 35!
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71st Year, No. 4 Freeport, N.Y. 11520
The Community Newspaper
Thursday, January 26, 20O6
HONORING DR. KING: Mayor Bill Glacken; Deputy Mayor Renaire Frierson; Hempstead Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby and Belle Sylvester, a member of the village's Commission on Human Rights; along with Ron Ellerbe, Freeport school board trustee; Julius and Joysetta Pearse, along with Pam Jusino, the music director for the First Presbyterian Church's Cherub Choir, were surrounded by some of the children and adults who performed in the program.
Village officials participated in several events in January celebrating the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Freeport Memorial Library was the setting for the annual program sponsored by the Village's Commission on Human Relations. School board Trustee Ron Ellerbe introduced the speakers includ­ing Julius Pearse, co-founder of the Coalition for a Better Freeport, the
: organization that presented the first Martin Luther King Celebration at Freeport High School in 1982. Mr. Pearse is also the co-founder, with his wife, Joysetta, of the African Atlantic Genealogical Society, which endeavors
'• to help African-Americans trace their family roots. Also on the program were Mayor Bill
; Glacken and Deputy Mayor Renaire Frierson. Mayor Glacken spoke about his
• years of working for Illinois Senator Paul : Douglas when the mayor was a student at : Georgetown University in Washington, : D.C. "Senator Douglas either sponsored '[ or supported every major civil rights and
social welfare program passed by
• Congress during the 18 years he held that ; office from 1949 until 1967. In fact, ' Senator Douglas first proposed the legis­lation that would later be used as the basis for the landmark 1964 Civil Rights
i Law in 1949, during his first year in the
Senate," stated the mayor.
The mayor said he was honored to have worked for Senator Douglas first in the Senate and later in the National Commission on Urban Problems, the forerunner to the federal Housing and Urban Developmetit Department.
Several young people performed at the event, including the Children's Chorus from Frepport's New Visions School, the Cherub Choir from the First Presbyterian Church and Tanisha Mitchell, who was accompanied on the piano by Ling-Yu Hsiao. The program ended with a selection of traditional spir­ituals from the Greater Second Baptist Church Choir, which then lead the audi­ence in a moving rendition of "Lift Evei y Voice and Sing."
Deputy Mayor Frierson, who serves as chairperson of the Nassau County Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration Awards luncheon, spoke at that event, reminding the audience that Dr. King worked for justice through peaceful means. She explained that Dr King relied on his faith to sustain him in difficult times. The annual luncheon hon­ored three individuals with the Dr Martin Luther King Award and recog­nized the scholastic and artistic talents of six young people.
ATTENDING THE AUCTION AT ODIN'S were, from left, Freeport Fire Chief Joe Kestner, Bay St. Louis Assistant Fire Chief Louis Pendergrast, Lieutenant Mike Vindicoff, Freeport School District's Mike Singleton and Freeport's director of the Emergency Management Office, Rick Holdener, who also heads the Katrina Hurricane Relief Task Force.
Freeport boosts Bay St. Lquis
An auction m IH-LPOH IUII b\ ihe Katrina Hurricane Relief Task Force raised more than $6,000 for the con­struction of a building in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, a small seacoast city that was devastated by floods after Hurricane Katrina.
The auction, conducted on a Sunday m January at Odin's Tavern on Atlantic Avenue, netted approximately $8,000 from sales of almost a hundred items ranging from baskets of candy and chil­dren's games to a washing machine and premium tickets to baseball, football and hockey games.
The Freeport School District's Interim Executive Director Mike Singleton, representing the district.
helped organize the event and said "We were very happy with the turnout andi the amount of money raised. It was| very inspiring to see the way the com-| munity turned out to support others in| need." ^ |
Rick Holdener of the Katrina| Hurricane Relief Task Force said that| $24,000 so far has been raised in| Freeport to help fund construction of| the relief building/community center in;| Bay St. Louis. |
Attending the event were two fire-| fighters from Bay St. Louis, Assistant;! Fire Chief Louis Pendergrast and| Lieutenant Mike Vindicoff, whojj described the devastation their city| incurred i