Editorial
Tragedy Averted
The Farmingdale Fire Department and the Eighth
Precinct of the Nassau County Police should be
complimented for quick action during Monday evenings
response to the gas leakage on Merritt
Road and Fulton Street.
In a matter of minutes after the alarm was
sounded, the area was roped off and provisions
for resident evacuation was underway.
The firemen and police risked their lives to
prevent a disaster like the one that happened in
Queens County awhile back.
They deserve your praise.
Board Approves Purchase
As we forecast last week, the Town Board
on Tuesday voted to acquire the 16 acre parcel
on Motor Avenue and Heisser Lane. The next
step calls for designs and plans for the development
of the recreation site.
Residents in the surrounding area should now
express their views on what they would like to see
on the site. Your letters of suggestions should be
sent to either the Town Board or to the OBSERVER.
In this way, a plan for the park development
could express the opinion of everyone who is interested.
Heart Month
More than one- half of all the deaths in the
nation are attributed to heart disease.
To emphasize the magnitude of the heart
disease problem, Governor Rockefeller has proclaimed
February as " Heart Month" in New York
State to emphasize the magnitude of the heart
disease problem.
' c Fortunately,'• the Governor said,'' research has
made many advances in the detection, treatment
and rehabilitation of the cardiac patient so that
more and more people stricken with heart disease
are now leading full, productive lives."
Terming New York " a pioneer in the heart
research field" he cited as " very fruitful" a pilot
heart disease study among a select group of
males at the Cardiovascular Health Center.
Daler Dateline by Karl Kramer
If you have been at Farmingdale
High lately, you might have walked
out in a cold sweat, not because of
an extremely hard exam but from
the heating system that controls
the temperature in our rooms. It
is hard enough trying to finish
three history essays in fifteen
minutes and having to " sweat it
out" but I am sure that the students
and sympathetic faculty
members agree that 85 degree
heat doesn't help any.
The Donkeys are coming. No
they are not another " new" rock'
n' roll singing, sensation, but real
animals. What will they do at
Farmingdale on Thursday, February
9? They will try to aid the
seniors and the juniors in which
has known to become the funniest
thing in basketball since the Harlem
Wizzards. Our Seniors will
put FHS juniors to the test in a
rival game which promises to be
packed with excitement and surprises
from start to finish. Remember
that date, February 9.
Team members include captain;
Jan Volpe and student council
official Barry Lantz.
* i wspm*
^ armtngftak QDIusmirr
Published every Thursday by
THE OBSERVER, INC.
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Frank J. Klesh - Caroline B. '< lesh.
Editor and Publisher
Vol. 4 No. 24
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LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
To The Editor:
In view of the contemplated
purchase by the Town of Oyster
Bay of the 16 1/ 2 acre site owned
by a Mr. Kurtz in South Farmingdale,
for the construction of
a swimming pool and other recreational
facilities, the following
news item, which appeared in
the January 26th, 1967 issue of
a daily newspaper should be of
great interest to all of the hard
pressed taxpayers of the area.
The opening paragraph of the
article states, " Supreme Court
Justice Howard T. Hogan has put
a $ 507,795. price tag on a 38
acre sandpit in East Meadow
that Hempstead Town and Nassau
County have acquired for park
and drainage purposes."
The site of the property is
Newbridge Avenue, North of Jerusalem
Avenue, the news article
further states.
At the price set by Justice
Hogan, the coast per acre comes
to $ 13,363.
Compare this with $ 825,000.
now being considered by the Town
of Oyster Bay for the 16 1/ 2
acre site which comes to $ 50,-
000 per acre, or about $ 36,000
per acre higher than the award
made by Justice Hogan for the
sandpit site.
The property is located on the
North- East corner of Heisser
Lane and Motor Avenue and is
described on the Nassau County
Land and Tax Map as being
in Section 48, Block 518, Lot
306, and was assessed in 1963
for approximately $ 47,000, and
in 1967 for approximately $ 89,-
000.
In June of 1963, Mr. Macedonia,
Oyster Bay Town Comptroller,
furnished the Village
Board of Trustees an estimated
cost of the entire project of
$ 1,200,000, with the land cost
estimated at $ 425,000.
A year or so later, Mr. Mc-
Donough, Deputy Town Comptroller,
furnished the Village with a
revised cost of the project of $ 1T
775,000 with the land cost e s timated
at $ 575,000. Now, less
than three years later, the cost
of the land alone has risen to
the astronomical figure of $ 825,-
000 an increase of $ 250,000 in
less than three years.
At a public meeting in 1964,
in the Farmingdale Village Hall,
Councilman Carl Gruenewald,
Chairman of the Standing Committee
on Parks and Recreation,
warned the taxpayers present and
the members of the Village Board
of Trustees that they had better
not delay in the purchase of the
property for the $ 575,000 asking
price, as the owner had several
prospective purchasers whom he
was holding off closing with until
the Town and the Village came to
some decision as whether or not
they intended to purchase.
Now, three years later, the
owner has still not sold the
property. Evidently the prospective
purchasers must have decided
that even at $ 575,000 the
price was too high.
While the Village of Farmingdale
is no longer involved
in the proposition, having withdrawn
because the entire project
was too costly and would
have resulted in a considerable
increase in the Village tax
rate, I thought it might be
well for the taxpayers of the
South Farmingdale area to take
a second look at the costs.
The estimated cost of the project
in 1963 was $ 1,200,000. One
year later, in 1964, the estimated
cost had jumped to $ 1,775,000.
Now three years later, what will
the cost be? Possibly $ 2,500,000.
William A. Wesche
r ~ i
People, Places
& Politics
. By Caroline Bunting Klesh— » -^—*—*—*,
Joseph Molino of Sullivan Road Farmingdale who for many years
has been a gad- fly of the village by pointing out things he felt were
wrong and by running for election will move to Colorado in June.
He has bought a home surrounded by hundreds of acres in a very
scenic location.
* * *
Stuart R. Gordon of North Massapequa has been appointed to
Senator Robert Kennedy's staff to handle local problems in Nassau
County. He has already begun to work on some very interesting
projects.
* * *
Pat Schriro received a letter of thanks from the United States
Committee for UNICEF acknowledging Farmingdale's gift of
$ 1,328.65 as a result of Farmingdale World Children's Day. " You
and your colleagues are certainly to be congratulated on the educational
content you were able to inject into the program, the scope
of community involvement and the sheer work you put into it. It is
a modern project.
Backed by the Majority Members of the Nassau County Board of
Supervisors, bills have just been introduced in Albany to repeal that
section of the Public Authority Law of 1965 which obligated Nassau
County as well as New York City and Suffolk to pay the full cost of
operation and maintenance of the L1RR Stations within their
boundaries. Prior to assumption of the Railroad control by the
Metropolitan Commuters Transit Authority, approximately
$ 600,000. a year was Nassau's contribution to the Railroad to keep
down the commuters' fare rates".
A Kiwanis- Key Club Project entitled, " Narcotics and Youth" will
be shown in high schools. Key Clubs are high school boys clubs
sponsored by Kiwanis International consisting of leading boys in each
High School. The " Narcotic and Youth Program" is a play which
will be presented at school assemblies depicting the evils of narcotics
and what could happen to a high school boy or girl who begins
using narcotics. The play was written by former County Judge Michael
M. D' Auria, who is New York State Chairman of the Key Clubs.
Board Approves
Bus Routes
The Farmingdale Village
Board of Trustees passed an
application for a bus route into
Farmingdale through Copiague
by the EBT Co. ( Educational
Bus Transportation Company).,
following a public hearing on
Monday night. Letters of approval
were submitted by the
Long Island Association and by
George F. Hauck, Assistant
Dean of Students of the State
University Agricultural and
Technical College at Farming-dale.
The Board also received a
letter from Clara Leigh Inc for
a bus route from Amityville to
Farmingdale. A public hearing
has not been set on this matter.
The Board set Grievance Day
for Tuesday, February 21 when
questions on assesments and applications
for veterans exemptions
may be made. The Board
will sit from 6 to 10 p. m.
The Board also set Saturday,
March 4 as registration day for
the village elections which will be
held on March 21. Both days
the hours will be from 12 noon
to 9 p. m.
This year Mayor Joseph Zu-reck
and Trustees Norman Kras-now
and John O. Wagner Jr.' s
terms will be up. This will be a
five year post in order to have
the trustees election fall on an
off year. Last year the terms
were changed from a two year to
a four year term.
P. O. Issues Customer
Bill Of Rights
Postmaster Leo J. Morgan
called attention of Farmingdale
mailers to the new " Postal Customer's
Bill of Rights" to help
meet President Johnson's government-
wide goal of improving
the quality of federal services to
the public.
According to Morgan customers
are entitled to the following:
A neat, clean counter on
which to transact business; Service
by a well - groomed, neat
window employee; A friendly
greeting that expresses a desire
DATEB00K
Page 4
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 4
8: 30 p. m. YMCA benefit performance
" How To Succeed in
Business Without Really Trying",
Massapequa High School
8 p. m. Mardi Gras Party, Spanish
American Club, Farming-dale
Public Library South
Farmingdale Public Library
South Farmingdale Branch.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5
3 p. m. Installation of officers
of the Sons of Italy, Boundary
Ave. South Farmingdale
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7
8: 30 p. m. Knights of Columbus,
Farmingdale Council, Morton
and Garity Place
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8
8 p. m. Farmingdale Committee
For Exceptional Children,
Parkway Oaks School
11: 30 a. m. Luncheon meeting
Family Problems, Farming-dale
Methodist Church
to assist; Knowledgeable, well-informed,
interested window personnel
to help with postal needs;
Prompt, alert and efficient service;
Competent and correct information
on inquiries; An attitude
that reflects helpfulness,
patience and congeniality; The
courtesy and tact that would be
expected from a friend; Polite
referral to another window or
individual, when necessary, to
give the appropriate service and
a feeling, upon leaving, that the
post office is glad to serve and
help at all times.
Morgan urged Farmingdale
residents to assist in this effort,
by stating their needs clearly,
and having money and any necessary
filled- out forms ready for
transactions.
The Postmaster explained that
demands on window personnel,
who must deal with a wide variety
of information, forms and varying
services, are usually very
heavy, and postal customers can
assist them in meeting the new
service goals by being as brief
and business- like as possible.
Farmingdale OBSERVER Thursday, February 2, 1967
