Editorial
What Now ?
A highly publicized school and library controversy
came to a climax on Wednesday.
News media all over Long Island looked to
what would happen on the controversial and injected
issue of the proposed dissolution of the
predominately negro Wyandanch school district
and what effect it would have on District 22.
The 2,200 students in that district, it was rumored
would be distributed to neighboring districts if,
and this is a big if, the proposal ever became
a reality. Some District 22 taxpayers felt that
they would be one of the school districts involved
In absorbing some of the students.
During this frenzy, the school board advertised
for transportation bids. Only one bid was received.
The bid came in very high. Last year it came in
considerably lower than in previous years because
the same bus company operator, we understand,
had lost out on a large contract in another district,
and in order to save his losses and to assure
himself of some business, any business for that
matter, he came in what many people termed as a
ridiculously lower price. His bid price was considerably
higher than anticipated. Trustee Bernard
Lang expressed shock at the high figure at a Board
Meeting. He immediately called for an investigation
by the District Attorney as well as by the
State Attorney General. During this time, the board
had to come up with an estimated transportation
figure in the budget. To many, this was falsely
construed as additional monies to transport students
in and out of the school district from
Wyandanch. Questions relating to this subject
were asked at Board meetings. Some of the
questions even went further. Racism entered the
picture. Rumors were spread. and unsigned literature
was distributed throughout the school
district. Lang's resounding defeat and low vote
total on Wednesday tells the rest of the story.
School District 22 has previously gone through
similar experiences. Several years ago, three
candidates ran on an ' economy ticket* when a
large expansion program was on the ballot. Within
less than one year, the three so- called ' economy
candidates' got all the facts and turned out
to be responsible trustees. We hope that history
will repeat itself. No one wants an austerity
budget and the hardships it would impose on
students as well as parents. That's for sure.
The school board will soon sit down to review
the defeated budget. Where the cuts, if any,
will come, no one knows.
We hope that the emotion and the distortion
of facts as evidenced in this election will not
repeat themselves now that the candidates issue
is settled.
The overwhelming vote against the school budget
should in no way be construed as a mandate from
the people for economy. From every sampling
of public opinion, The Observer took, it was
clearly a vote of hysteria based on the fear that
Farmingdale would be educating negro students
from Wyandanch.
In the debacle of what many term an uninformed
vote, two fine trustees were lost.
Published every Thursday hy
THE OBSERVER. INC.
MYrtle 4- <>. H. 7
Prank J. Klesh - Caroline B. Klesh
Editors anil Publishers
r „ Vol. 5 No. 38
I lit- 1'. triniiif. daV Observt'i s M I U . J
P- fmlogdalS Po. i OtHcV, FeSlSSSu." iCw'v " i , s s Ttu'T • « » "•
office at 33 Merritt Road. " » » " MUIe. New York, with publisher
Subscription Rute $ 4 per yeur
Member of the Ne * York 1' ress Associutii
National Advertising Representative
American Ntwspai er Representatives. In,-.
• Atlanta • Chicago « Detroit . l. c. s Angeles • New York
• Pi.*- *. n M" i , , n * ?& b*** » » M'JJ, Kunmnndale N. Y. 1L7JS
I- his publication Will not be responsible for errors ,, \ i « lv » « i « i
beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. IByJ „£,| frtV. 5"'"
— « ^- » « — « -*—•
Page 4
Armed
Forces
Army Private First Class
Stephen F. Plunkett, 21, son of
Joseph J. Plunkett, 17 Cinque
Dr., Farmindale, was assigned as
a radio relay and carrier wave
operator with the 36th Signal
Battalion near Long Bing, Vietnam.
Second Lieutenant John J.
Cloos, son of Mrs. Margaret
Cloos of Farmingdale, has been
graduated at Sheppard Air Force
Base, Texas from the training
course for U. S. Air Force accounting
and finance officers.
Lieutenant Cloos is being assigned
to Laredo Air Force Base
Texas, for duty with the Air
Training Command.
The lieutenant earned his B.
S. degree from Fordham University,
where he is a member
of Beta Alpha Psi.
He recieved his commission in
1967 upon completion of Officers
Training School at Lackland Air
Force Base, Texas.
Army Private First Class
Leonard G„ Schmitt, 18, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Leon J. Schmitt,
18 Hitchcock Lane, South Farmingdale,
completed a microwave
radio equipment repairman
course at the Army Signal School,
Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.
Seaman Apprentice George
Marrazzo Jr., USN, 19, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Marrazzo of 209
Birch Ave., S., Farmingdale has
been graduated from nine weeks
of Navy basic training at the
Naval Training Center, Great
Lakes, Illinois.
Seaman Apprentice Phillip
Floria, USN, 19, son of Mr. and
Mrs. Dominick Floria of 7 Woodland
Ave., Farmingdale, has been
graduated from nine weeks of
Navy basic training at the Naval
Training Center, Great Lakes,
Illinois.
Seaman Apprentice Kenneth J.
Raffaele, USN, 20, son of Mr.
and Mrs. John C. Raffaele of 26
Sullivan Road, Farmingdale, has
been graduated from nine weeks
of Navy basic training at the
Naval Training Center, Great
Lakes, Illinois
* * *
Airman First Class Anthony
J. Sicari, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Emanuel J. Sicari of 115 Yoakum
Ave., Farmingdale, is on duty
at Phan Rang Air Base, Vietnam.
Airman Sicari, a security po-licemena,
is assigned to a unit
of the Pacific Air Forces.
The airman is a 1966 graduate
of Farmingdale Senior High
School.
The Combat Infantryman
Badge, mark of distinction for
the fighting soldier, was a-warded
to Specialist Four Joseph
R. Carosella, 20, at Long
Giao, Vietnam.
Spec. Carosella, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Benjamin Carosella,
23 N. Front St., Farmingdale,
is a scout observer in Troop C,
1st Squadron of the 11th Armored
Cavalry Regiment.
* * *
Stephen Jordan Jr., 23, son
of Mrs. Mary Jordan, 32 Madison
St. S., Farmingdale, was
promoted to Army Specialist four
March 11 in Korea, where he is
serving as a bandsman with Headquarters
Company and Band, Support
Command of the 2nd Infantry
Division.
Seaman Apprentice Walter J.
Arnold Jr., USN, 20, son of
Mr. and Mrs, Walter J. Arnold
of 32 Taylor Drive, Farmingdale,
has been graduated from nine
weeks of Navy basic training at
the Naval Training Center, Great
Lakes, Illinois.
As We See It
By Hillard P„ Boss and
Charles Gerston
Over 7000 voters went to the
polls on May 8, and overwhelmingly
expressed their
views but for what?
Most of the voters felt that
they were, in someway, expressing
their views on a referendum
dealing with the issue of busing
with Wyandanch. In this respect,
those who made a calculated effort
to mislead the voters succeeded
brilliantly - utilizing a
grass root campaign which professional
politicians could do well
to emulate. Voters were observed
flocking into Weldon E. Howitt,
asking school officials, " Where
do I vote against Wyandanch?
Others admitted that they had
never voted in any previous e-lection,
and asked strangers for
assistance in voting against
busing."
As Paul Newman remarked in
the motion picture Cool Hand
Luke, " What we seem to have
here is a communications problem."
The Superintendent of
Schools, the Board of Education,
the Supervisory Principal of Suffolk
County Supervisory District
which includes Wyandanch, the
Supervisory Principal of the Nassau
County Supervisory district
which includes Farmingdale, the
District Principal of the
Wyandanch Public Schools, the
Farmingdale Observer, News-day,
and The Long Island Press
have all said that the so- called
" Wyandanch situation" is nothing
more than a petition by the
NAACP in behalf of a handful
of Wyandanch taxpayers. The
Long Island Press, as a matter
of fact, in writing on Wednesday
of the state hearings in Albany,
specifically mentioned that
Farmingdale was not included
in the hearing, concerning the
proposed dissolution of Wyandanch.
Yet, in spite of these facts,
the voters chose to believe an
anonymous mimeographed handout,
a " Whisper Campaign"
which whipped the community up
into a hysterical frenzy of fear,
and a handful of right wing radicals.
18 Long Island school budgets
went down this year; few of
them however, were defeated as
badly as the Farmingdale Budget.
And, more significantly, few, if
any went down for the same
reason.
No, Wyandanch was not the i s sue.
Farmingdale was, - and will
continue to be the issue until
the majority of our voters are
prepared to accept the kinds of
conclusions and recommenda -
tions that appeared in the Ker-ner
Report on Civil Disorders.
That report, while condemning
violence and mob rule, dramatically
documents the conclusion
that " white institutions created
the ghetto, white institutions
maintain it, and white society
condones it." The reactions of
the voters of Farmingdale on
Wednesday adds further weight
to the Kerner commissions conclusion.
If we become hysterical
over a phoney issue which
the majority of Wyandanch residents
themselves oppose, how
could we expect to achieve racial
harmony.
It boils down tothisMWeareall
sickened by the racial turmoil
of the past 4 summers. These
riots are symptoms of a disturbed
society. When we have a
headache, we know how to treat
the symptons; when we have a
sore throat we know how to treat
the symptoms What price are we
willing to pay to treat the symptoms
of our disturbed society?
1 20 Teenagers Volunteer
To Assist Handicapped
120 Farmingdale teenagers
have volunteered their services
in lending assistance to over
1,000 handicapped friends and
neighbors by participating in the
fourth annual Rainbow Tab Day
of the United Cerebral Palsy
Association of Nassau County to
take place on May 10 and 11.
Tag Day volunteers in the area
will be coordinated by Mitchell
Saposnick of 7 Baldwin Street,
Farmingdale. As president of the
Key Club, he also served as
Farmingdale's chairman last
year. Assisting in arranging and
scheduling the teenagers'assignments
will be Gary Bennett, vice
president of Key Club, and Christine
Grippo, present Student
Council Treasurer at Farming-dale
High School.
The volunteer " Taggers",
wearing gaily- colored rainbow
sashes, will invite pedestrians
to drop a contribution in Pot O'
Gold canisters provided for the
occasion.
Working with the Key Club
members, will be students from
the Interact Club, Girl Leaders
Club, the Honor Society, the Omi-cron
Omega Sorority, Cadets of
Nassau Composite Squadron V,
Civil Air Patrol, and a group
from the student body of Farmingdale
High School.
Proceeds of the Rainbow Tag
Day fund- raising project will go
to the support of the $ 2 million
Nassau Cerebral Palsy Treatment
and Rehabilitation Center,
located in Roosevelt and rated by
medical authorities as the finest
facility of its kind in the world.
Tag Day teenage volunteers
will be directed by Jay Schleich-korn.
Old Bethpage Village
Receives $ 101,000 Grant
Restoration and preservation
of two structures in Old Beth-page
Village was assured for
Nassau County with the grant
of $ 101,000 from the New York
State Historic Trust.
The funds will be used for
the Peter Cooper home, called
the Cooper- Mott House, and
Noon Inn. The grant is one
of the first given to local municipalities
for a restoration project
such as Old Bethpage Village
.
" These two fine restorations,
which are part of the Nassau
County Historical Museum project
of Old Bethpage-- a pre- civil
war village re- creation, will
give pleasure to the millions
of residents and visitors to
Nassau County in this decade
and the years to come, " Nassau
County Executive Eugene Nick-erson
said.
As authorized by the National
Historic Preservation Act of
1966, the Trust has initiated a
State- wide survey of historic
sites and historically and architecturally
important buildings.
It grants funds to those buildings
which the Board members
feel are qualified for aid. In
almost every instance, these properties
need improved public facilities,
better furnishings and
the best methods of interpretation.
The Cooper- Mott House, which
was located at the corner of Clinton
and Front Streets in Hempstead,
was purchased by Peter
Cooper in about 1814for $ 762.50.
He apparently lived there until
1818 when he moved to New York
City. The house changed hands
several times and in 1850 was
sold to Benjamin B. Mott. The
house was owned by members
of his family until it was sold
last year to the Hempstead Urban
Renewal Agency, who then transferred
it to the County of Nassau.
Farmingdale OBSERVER Thursday, May 9, 1968
