PAGE 6 THE OBSERVER NOVEMBER 28, 1968
Million $$
A ppropriation
For Handicapped
Paragon Oil Sponsors
Citizenship Awards
There is no one more deserving
of our interest and
assistance than the child who
is born with a physical,
mental or emotional handicap,
yet we have all done
too little in the education and
treatment of these children.
As of now, less than half
of the Nation's 5 million
handicapped children are receiving
special educational
services.
The United States Congress
has recently shed a ray
of light and a spirit of hope
to these unfortunate children
and their suffering families
in the enactment, on September
30, of the Handicapped
Children's Early Education
Assistance Act, to be
administered by the U. S. Office
of Education.
The new law, for which
$ 1 million has been appropriated
for fiscal year 1969, $ 10
million for 1970, and $ 12
million for 1971, will provide
for the establishment of
from 75 to 100 model centers,
geographically distributed
throughout the United States,
designed to develop successful
approaches in assisting
preschool- aged, handicapped
children. Unquestionably, at
least one of these centers will
be located in the New York
area.
It would provide educational
service for handicapped
children from birth to age 6,
consultative help to parents
and would stimulate community
awareness of the value
of early intervention to
prevent unnecessary debilitation
and dependency in later
adult life.
There is good reason to
believe that meaningful improvements
can be made in
the handicapped child's intellectual,
social, and motivational
development with the
intervention of a professionally
designed program.
Professor Bloom of the
University of Chicago has
noted that at age four a youngster
has already developed
J0 percent of his total intellectual
capacity as an
adult, and 80 percent of his
aduu capacity by age 8.
Bloom's conclusion is that
after 8, regardless of his
environment, the child's mental
abilities can be only altered
by 20 percent. This reinforces
the belief that the
" man is formed by 7".
As long ago as 1939, Dr.
Harold Skeels took 13 mentally
retarded infants from an
orphanage at ages 1 and 2,
placed them in an institution
for mental defectives,
but provided these babies
with mental stimulation in
the wards of the institution
by giving them 1- to- l relationship
with older girls and women.
He retained in the orphanage
11 infants who were not
as markedly retarded. After
two years he re- examined
these two groups. The children
who had received early
education and increased their
IQ's by 28 points, while the
11 children who remained
without early stimulation in
an orphanage dropped 26
points.
Dr. Skeels' experiment
was sensational— so sensational
that no one would believe
it. Years later, when
subsequent studies further
advanced this fact, Dr. Skeels
decided to follow up his two
groups after 21 years. The
results showed that all of the
13 children who had increased
their IQ's as a result of early
education were self- supporting
as adults. One- half of the
11 children who remained in
the orphanage without early
stimulation were in institutions
as permanent public
charges.
The new Act, which I supported
in Congress, will
bring us into a new era of
educating handicapped children.
The focus of this program
is that it is a model
and demonstration program,
not a service program. It is
intended to provide effective
guidance to States and
local school systems and to
colleges and universities, as
they develop services and
personnel training programs
for preschool handicapped
children.
A handicapped child must
have a maximum chance to
live a full life, fulfill his
potential, and make a positive
and meaningful contribution
to this Nation.
MeCourt & Trudden
FUNERAL DIRECTORS
• Modern Spacious Chapels • Moderate Prices • Friendly Service
ESTABLISHED 1927
385 MAIN STREET, FARMIHGDALE
( Opposite Post Office) also Richmond Hill Chnpel
CHopel 9- 1303 at 130- 02 Liberty Avenue.
Senor students representing
115 high schools in Nassau
and Suffolk Counties will be
honored for outstanding scholastic
and citizenship achievements
at the Eleventh Annual
Paragon Oil Student Incentive
Awards luncheon at the
State University, Farming-daleonSaturday,
N0vember30.
The awards program, spo-sored
by the Paragon Oil
Company Division of Texaco
Inc., has honored more than
1000 students of Long
Island public, parochial and
private high schools since it
was established in 1958.
Principal speaker at the
luncheon will be Dr. Charles
W. Laffin, Jr. president of the
State University at Farm-ingdale.
The ceremony will
be attended by more than 400
persons, including the students
to be honored, their
parents, school officials and
community leaders.
The award winners selected
by the facultities of their
schools, as best exemplifying
the spirit of good citizenship
and academic Accomplishment,
will receive a certificate
of honor, accompanied
by a $ 50 U. S. Savings Bond.
Standards for the awards
have been established with
the cooperation of school administrators
and a committee
of leading members of
the Long Island Secondary
Principal's Association.
The awards to the 64 winners
from Nassau schools
will be presented by Nassau
County Executive Eugene H.
Nickerson and those to the 51
Suffolk students by Suffolk
County Executive H. Lee
Dennison.
• • • • • * •
Hugh M. Wilson, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Hugh M. Wilson
of 332 Grover Avenue,
East Massapequa Park, is
one of 814 freshmen enrolled
at the University of Tampa
this fall.
Wilson is a graduate of
Berner High School.
Massapequa Boasts
Symphony Concert
Ben B. Miller
First violinist with the
Massapequa Symphony Orchestra,
Ben B. Miller, of
East Meadow, has never
missed a rehearsal or a concert
in the twelve years
the orchestra has been in
existence.
The concert to be held on
Saturday evening, December
7th, in' the Massapequa
High School Auditorium, featuring
by coincidence a violin
soloist, Regis Pasquier, on
his first American tour, will
be Mr. Miller's last concert
with the Massapequa Symphony.
He and his wife will
move shortly to Florida
where Ben hopes to play with
a symphony orchestra in the
Miami area. He is a " gold
star" member of the musicians'
union, Local # 802.
A resident of Bast Meadow
for seventeen years, Ben
came from Minnesota originally
and has had a varied
musical career. He began in
1813 and played in silent
movie theatres — " Nickelodeons"
— and vaudeville
theatres. As one of " The
. lames Boys," later known
as Paul Whitenian s Orelies
tra, Ben played in several
musical comedies, notably
" Little Jesse James."
Then, as a member of a
quintet, he played in the dining
rooms of some of the finer
hotels in New York City.
Popular music claimed him
again, and for many years
he was a member of the
" Ambassadors" orchestra.
For the past twenty years
Ben has played with symphony
orchestras exclusively.
In the Long Island area he
has also played with the
Adelphi and Nassau- Suffolk
Symphony Orchestras.
Although he retired from
full- time positions eight years
ago, Ben continued to give
individual lessons on the
violin. The Millers have
two children. There are
five grandchildren, all of
whom are musical, and four
play instruments.
A reception following the
December 7th concert will
be given by the Board of
Directors of the Massapequa
Symphony Society and the
Symphony Guild members
for the members of the
orchestra so that an appropriate
farewell can be given
to their faithful first violinist
for twelve years, Ben B.
Miller.
Your Lottery Ticket
Worth $ 250,000
. . . Maybe
ALBANY, November 21,
1968 — A lucky New York
State lottery ticket buyer next
week will become a quarter
of a million dollars richer.
Tax Commissioner Joseph
H. Murphy announced today
that the first phase of drawings
for $ 355,000 in Sup «
prize awards will be held at
noon, Monday, November
25, in Building — A, State
State Campus, Albany. Fifteen
tickets will be drawn from
a bonus pool of 15,000 tickets.
As in all previous lottery
drawings, the amounts of
prizes are determined on the
basis of a horse race.
The post position and final
drawings will take place the
following day at noon in the
45th Street Lobby of the Pan
Am Building, New York City.
Assisting at the drawing will
be the seven finalists of " Miss
Summer Festival 1969" contest.
Also attending will be
Federal, State and local government
officials.
Commissioner Murphy
pointed out the public is invited
to attend the drawing.
The holder of the post position
number for the first
place horse will win $ 250,000
which is to be paid at the rate
of $ 25,000each year for ten
years. The other 14 wining
tickets will be worth $ 7,500
each.
Eligible for the Superprize
drawings are about 7,500 tickets
which weredrawn " blind"
at the rate of 200 per million
ticket sales from March
through October, 1968. Also
eligible are about 7,500
winners of consolation prizes
from tickets sold in the
months of March, to and including
October 1968.
Earlier this week there were
1,011 winners of a total of
$ 1,214,650 in the regular
monthly October lottery.
WINS CRUISE
TO CARIBBEAN
Tom Corcoran, of Cedar
Motors, Farmingdale, and
his sons, are shown cruising
the Caribbean during the
last week in October. They
were among the more than
400 SAAB dealers who recently
participated in a nation
wide contest which offered the
cruise as a sales incentive
prize.
L. I. TRUST COM PAW
DECLARES DIVIDEND
A regular quarterly dividend
of 30 cents per share,
payable January 1, 1961) to
stockholders of record on
December 16, 1968, was declared
at a meeting of the
Board of Directors of Long
Island Trust Company on
November 21, 1968. The announcement
was made by
Frederick Hainfeld Jr.,
chairman of the board.
CP HOLDS GIFT FAIR
A bazaar and gift fair will
be sponsored by the Cerebral
Palsy Auxiliary of the
Massapequa at the McKenna
Junior High School on December
5, from 6 p. m. to 10
p. m.
Purchases may be made
below wholesale.
There will be no 2%
sales tax charged, according
to Mrs. John Laboz/. a.
