Observer_1989-10-25; East Rockaway/Lynbrook Observer

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T//E GOOD NEIGHBOR NEWSPAPER
V. .
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OBSERVER Sinct 1967 by Mailed Subscription
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VOL 36 NO. 40 Wednesday, October 25,1989 35c PER COPY
James A. Duncan Honored Superintendents^
Conference Day East Rockaway Board Report
EAST ROCKAWAY POST OFFICE. Letter carrier James
A. Duncan was awarded 30 year service pin and a letter
of Commendation from Thomas P. Prendergast Superin-tendent
Postai operations for completing 30 years of faithful
service to the United States Government and the Postal
Service. Mr. Duncan has also been serving the Village of
East Rockaway in the Volunteer Fire Dept. where he is
the Fire Chief. Mr. Duncan is a true asset to East Rockaway
Fire Dept. and the United States Postal Service.
Gene Torberg Fireman
& Founder of Museum
by Mildred Roemer
When Gene Torborg was
a trustee of the Village in the
sixties, he was one of the few
who urged that the old
building be saved from the
bulldozer. Others in the
group included Mayor Cha-rles
Krull, Village Attorney
W. Wesley Hill, Mr. and
Mrs. Lyman Davison, and
architect Douglas Wilke. At
the time Gene was an active,
dedicated fireman as was
Doug.
On Sunday, October 1st,
Gene was honored at a
ceremony in Gregory Hall
celebrating his 50th year as
a fireman. The only firefigh-ter
who lived to top that was
the late Del Denton, who
was still on the "active" list
in his nineties. Hope Gene
makes it up there too!
Ye historian "heard tell"
that one of Gene's ancestors
was among the Hessian sold-iers
who were hired by the
British to fight in the Amer-ican
Revolution, Later most
"jumped ship" and become
loyal citizens.
Gene's wife "Flossie," as
well as Gene and their child-ren,
all attended the local
East Rockaway schools. It is
said that Flossie received a
citation for never having
missed a day in Grammar or
High School. Don't know if
any of the Torborg children
made that record! Maybe
one of their nine grandchild-ren
will. The children, are
Terry, Janice, Gene, and
Douglas. Gene, Jr. and Dou-glas
are both ex-Chiefs of the
Fire Department, following
in their father's footsteps.
The Village of East Rock-away
has been made safer
because of the Torborgs.
During the 1990 season of
the Museum, visitors will be
able to go into the "fire
room," push a button on a
handy cassette player, and
hear Gene's voice describing
the history of the
department.
For the third consecutive
year, the School Districts of
Lynbrook and East Rocka-way
will come together for
a staff development program
on Superintendents' Confer-ence
Day. According to Dr.
Bern Seiderman of Lyn-brook
and Mr. Robert Parry
of East Rockaway, the Elec-tion
Day seminar will
explore the theme "Cultural
Literacy: New Paths to Tra-ditional
Goals. "The keynote
speaker will be Dr. Joseph
Kett of the University of
Virginia who collaborated
with E.B. Hirsch, Jr. on the
recent best selling book,
"Cultural Literacy."
Educated at Holy Cross
and Harvard University,
Professor Kett recently pro-posed
that there should be
a nationwide standardiza-tion
for American Youth.
He contends that U.S. stu-dents
are losing their educa-tional
competiveness,
because they do not have a
body of knowledge in com-mon.
He points to research
data that shows in term of
what they know about the
world today, American stu-dents
are about on the level
of those from Thailand-surpassed
by more advanced
Japanese and western
Europeans.
Professor Kett maintains
that there are large gaps in
what young Americans
know about geography,
literature, politics and the
principle of democracy. He
and his co-author stress that
students, because they do
not share a common ground
all across the county, are
unable to learn quickly, to
build upon a solid base of
knowledge, or to rise as a
body to new heights of
accomplishment and
innovation.
The book "Cultural Liter-acy"
had a bombshell effect
in American educational
circles, where it has been
frequently condemned and
Professor Kett referred to as
inherently sexist, racist and
elitist. The Professor shrugs
off these criticisms and
argues for the reestablish-ment
of strong disciplines in
the American educational
programs - in math, science,
humanities, history and
literature.
Members of his audiences
may not always agree with
the controversial Professor
Kett, but they express no
doubt with the man's skills
as a speaker and his disarm-ing
wit continues to charm
the crowd. They admit the
professor gives them a sense
(Continued on Page 7)
The regular meeting of the
Mayor and Board of Trus-tees
was held on October 16,
1989.
The Village officials have
been continuing its opposi-tion
to the proposed instal-lation
of a Sludge Dewater-ing
Facility being installed in
Bay Park. Officials have
been attending meetings
regarding this proposed
installation and expressing
the opposition to the facility
on behalf of the residents.
The Mayor announced that
later in the meeting the
Board would be authorizing
an agreement between the
Village and Nassau County
Community Developement
for a grant in the amount of
$100,000. He stated that
$50,000 in funding would be
used toward the installation
of handicap ramps at major
intersections of the Village
and $50,000 in funding
would be available to eligible
senior citizens requesting
rehabilitation repairs to
their homes.
Chief Gipson reported
that for the month of Sep-tember
there were 10 general
alarms, three still alarms, 2
investigations, 39 rescue
calls, one mutual aid rescue,
12 training sessions, I
parade.
Mrs. McNulty reported
that the Beautification Com-mittee
has been busy with
the up-and-coming events
scheduled. She stated that
Clean-Up Day will be on
November 4th with partici-pation
by Scouts, East
Rockaway Trade Associa-tion,
Key Club and many
others. She stated that they
are requesting residents to
recommend merchants who
qualify for a Beautification
Award Presentation and
that plants would be given
to residents "cought in the
act" of cleaning their yards.
Mrs. McNulty also reported
that the 3rd Annual Tree
Lighting at Legion Place
would be held on December
4th and urged all to
participate.
Mrs. Keon reported on
the participation in the com-ing
Clean-Up Day and
Legion Place Tree Lighting.
In addition, she indicated
that the Trade Association
is also looking into the
possible lighting of approx-imately
10 trees along Main
Street between Baiseley
Avenue and the American
Legion during the holiday
season through participa-tion
by merchants and pos-sible
fund drive. She also
invited anyone interested to
attend the next meeting to
be held at the Asgard Res-taurant
on November 2nd at
noon.
Meeting adjourned at 9:45
PM.
Hempstead Earns Top Honors
Hempstead Town Presid-ing
Supervisor Joseph N.
Mondello, along with
Supervisor Gregory P.
Peterson, have announced
that the Town of Hempstead
has earned two "Good
Government Awards" from
the Nassau Citizens Budget
Committee.
"This administration has
made every effort to hold the
line on spending, while, at
the same time, preventing
the diminution of the excep-tional
level of services that
Hempstead Town residents
have come to expect and
enjoy," said Presiding
Supervisor Mondello. "We
in town government are
pleased to be recognized for
our efforts which have
enhanced the distribution of
budget information to the
public."
In a letter to the town, the
Nassau Citizens Budget
Committee praised "the
strengths of Hempstead's
capital procedures," which
they listed as:
1. A fixed asset inventory.
2. Assets are reviewed in
terms of goals and
objectives.
3. The request form
requires enough information
to make informed purchas-ing
decisions.
4. Cost saving alternatives
are evaluated.
5. A repair and major
maintenance schedule is
followed.
6. Planning assistance and
financial advice are sought.
In evaluating Hempstead
Town's operating proce-dures,
the Budget Commit-tee
commended the town's
preparation and presenta-tion
of "A budget message
and other information of
interest to residents and
board members," and the
fact that technical terms
used in the budget are ade-quately
explained.
Specifically, the town was
awarded a "Good Govern-ment
Award", with merit,
for its capital procedures
"Because of the excellence of
(Continued on page 11)
Lester Forest Named
Small Business Person
SMALL BUSINESSPERSON OF THE YEAR. Nassau
County Executive Thomas S. Gulotta, (center), congratu-lated
Lester Forest, (second from left), who was named
"Small Businessperson of the Year" by the Lynbrook
Chamber of Commerce. The Nassau County Council of
Chambers recently honored Lester at their Annual Small
Businesspersons of the Year Breakfast. Looking on were;
Bob Barra, Coordinator, N.C. Council of Chambers; Sylvia
Chertow, President of the Nassau County Council of
Chambers; Hempstead Town Clerk Daniel Fisher.