1971-05-20

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WHERE WHERE TTHHEE HHIISSTTOORRYY OOFF YYOOUURR CCOOMMMMUUNNIITTYY IISS RF' A \ < ,
An Officiaf Newspaper of The Incorporated Village of FarminRdale — Serving Great-
, * * *
V o l . 8 NO. 3 9 Second Class Postage has been paid at Farmingdale, N. Y. 11735 • Published by THE OBSERVER, 1. '^ 9/* . ngdale, N. Y
/ lelville
Thursday, May 20,1971
There Are Four Candidates
For Library Board Now
Last week there was none, this week there are already four. Candidates for trustee of the Far­mingdale
Library, that is. Incumbent board member Robert M. Callahan announced his candidacy
for reelection to another five year term and was quickly challenged by Raymond E. Parcels of 89
Sunset Ave., who announced that he is running for the very same seat. Announced candidates for the
one year remainder of the seat vacated by Carl Gorton are Mrs. Rose M. Foucek and Nicholas B.
Aleshin.
BICYCLE SAFETY: The Annual Lite- A- Bike Campaign jointly
sponsored by the Corp. George Benkert Post No. 516. Veterans of
Foreign Wars, Farmingdale, and the Accident Prevention Bureau of
the Nassau County Police Department was held last Saturday. Ed
I hum a, chairmai of the bicycle safety program for the post, is shown
at the right pointing out one of the proper places for a front light, and
Post Commander Jack Monroe, left, points out another spot for a
front light. The safety minded boys are left to right, Bryan Monroe,
Bob Birkenthall, Ken Walther, Jeff White and Jeff Adams. Officer
Paul Galgan looks on.
Photo: Jack Pokress
In announcing his candidacy
for reelection incumbent trustee
Callahan declared:
" I have been a Library Trustee
of the Farmingdale Public
Library for a period of time
which goes back almost to the
founding of the Library, 18 years
ago.
" During this period of time the
Library has grown from a small
institution occupying a rental
store on Main Street with a book
collection of about 5,000 volumes
to its present two facilities: one
on Main Street and one in South
Farmingdale, with a book
collection now in excess of
School Budget Is Target of
Broadsides from the Right
The " Silent Majority" is considered to be found
somewhat right of center. This may very well be so --
but silent this majority is not. Not in Farmingdale at
any rate, at least not where the school budget is con­cerned.
After acceptance of the proposed $ 23,227,728
budget by the Board of Education, with board member
Roy Spinetta as the lone dissenter, the District
Educational Body for Taxpayer's ( DEBT) opened its
fire.
Being opposed to the what it
considers to be a liberal majority
of the school board, DEBT would
therefore be firing from the right.
And DEBT is not firing blanks,
either.
In an obvious reference to the
fact that this budget is calling for
a tax increase of about 11 per
cent, DEBT asks in a widely
distributed newsletter: Have you
received a 12 per cent pay raise?
Guess who did? And it supplies
the answer: The teachers.
The teachers' salary increases
amount, according to the figures
published by DEBT, to $ 770,000
and would therefore come close
to being one half of the total
budget increase of $ 1,612,747.
The budget summary
published by the Board of
Education permits no
verification of this figure. What it
shows is an even higher figure for
estimated regular day school
i n s t r u c t i o n expenditures,
$ 1,120,876 higher, to be exact.
Other major expenditure in­creases
shown in this budget
summary are for unallocated
charges (+$ 350,745) and tran­sportation
(+$ 211,412). The
largest decreases in expenditures
come from reduced debt service
($ 62,112) and lower cost
estimates for plant operation and
m a i n t e n a n c e (-$ 21,330),
reflecting primarily the savings
from the proposed partial
shutdown of Main Street school.
In voting against the adoption
of this school budget, board
member Roy Spinetta argued
that larger reductions could have
been effected. He reiterated his
position ihat by utilizing Main
Street school as a kindergarten
school an additional $ 150,000
could have been saved, without
loss of educational services and
without need for zoning changes
for grades 1- 3. He also pointed out
that in the area of administrative
personnel the staff could be
reduced by two assistant
elementary school principals.
As the budget is now ready to
be voted upon it calls for an in­crease
in the tax rate of $ 1.30 to
Candidate's Forum
At Howitt Jr. H. S.
The Farmingdale Council of
Parent Teacher Associations will
again hold its annual " Can­didate's
Forum" at the Weldon
E. Howitt Junior High School
Auditorium on Thursday
evening, June 3, at 8: 15 p. m.
All citizens are urged to take
advantage of this opportunity to
hear the candidates for the
Farmingdale School Board
and the Farmingdale Public
Library Board air their views
and policies as to why they are
running for their respective
positions.
There will also be an op­portunity
to take part in the
question and answer period.
$ 13.22 per $ 100 assessed valuation
in the Oyster Bay part of the
school district and an increase of
$ 2.40 to $ 20.59 in the Babylon part.
Based on an assessment of $ 6,000,
which is more or less the
average, this increase would
translate into $ 78.00 per year and
home.
The days for approval by the
voters will be June 8 and 9. with
registration set for Saturday,
May 22 from noon to 10 p. m. and
Wednesday, June2from 3p. m. to
10 p. m. The registration will in
both cases be at the boy's gym of
Farmingdale High.
The system of registration for
voting in Farmingdale's School,
Library, and Youth Council
elections is " permanent"
registration, that is, a voter
maintains his registration if he
has voted or renewed his
registration for these elections in
the two years prior to this elec­tion.
Registration or voting for
any other local, state or federal
election has no bearing on the
registration status or eligibility
to vote in these matters.
A newsletter, published by the
Board of Education, will be
mailed to all residences giving
details of the school budget and
transportation proposition prior
to the voting date. The register
( of qualified voters) will be open
for inspection by any qualified
voter of the school district bet­ween
9 AM and 4 PM during the
five days immediately preceding
the Annual Meeting, except
Sunday.
A copy of the proposed budget
for 1971/ 72 may be obtained at
521 Conklin Street, Farmingdale,
or at the principal's office of the
nine schools of District No. 22 at
any time during the period seven
days preceding the Annual
Meeting, between the hours of 9
AM and 4 PM, Monday through
Friday.
120,000.
" Our local library here in
Farmingdale has recently been
through a period of turbulance
brought on by an attack aimed at
the very roots of the concept of
service rendered by a public
library. I believe that recent
events in the community and the
attitude expressed by ths
majority of people whom I know,
have indicated that the attack
has now abated and that the
library has survived intact.
" I believe that we can now go
forward to a continuation of the
kind of high level service for
which we were justly proud in the
past and to an intensification of
the modernized services now
expected of a public library.
" I believe my service in the
past has been effective in making
Farmingdale one of the better
Libraries in our area and I look
forward to participation in re­establishing
and deepening a
vital and forceful service for the
people of our district."
His newly arisen opponent,
Raymond E. Parcels, has resided
in Farmingdale for seven years,
is married, with two children, one
of school age attending Wood­ward
Parkway Elementary
School. He is a member of St.
Luke's Lutheran Church, Far­mingdale.
He is employed as a
Systems Supervisor in the New
York Data Center of Cities
Service Company, New York
City. Parcels is a graduate of the
New York City public schools,
served two years in the U. S.
Army and received his business
education at New York
U n i v e r s i t y , International
Business Machines Corporation,
and the Minneapolis Honeywell
Corporation. He is also the editor
of the Newsletter of District
Educational Body for Taxpayers
( DEBT).
In his " Declaration of Can­didacy"
Mr. Parcels states:
" As one whose vocation in life
is dealing in logic and arriving at
reasonable solutions to the
complex problems facing the
business community of today, I
have found it extremely difficult
if not downright exasperating
over these past years, that there
is such a consistent contradiction
between what Mr. Callahan says
he actually votes on the issues.
" In bringing out into the open
Mr. Callahan's public record, I
am trying to focus the public's
attention on what I feel is the
main issue of this campaign,
namely the trustee himself,
Robert Callahan; and his
relatively poor administrative
performance as a trustee and
former library board president.
" The onus of responsibility for
the plight of the library today
must be placed squarely upon his
shoulders. His constant mis­reading
of the taxpayers'
thinking as to why they have
refused to pass a tsx ap­propriation
for the last three
years is his most glaring
weakness.
" First he blamed a former
trustee for creating too much
turmoil at the library. When that
reasoning failed to hold water, he
claimed the library tax ap­propriation
was being dragged
aown to defeat along with the
school budget. That theory was
destroyed last year when the 1-
ibrary held a separate election
and the tax appropriation was
defeated again.
" The truth of the matter is that
the people are fed up with the
policies of the library, many of
which were instituted by Mr.
Callahan without the slightest
iota of common sense judgment.
To be very blunt, Mr. Callahan
has been nothing more than a
rubber stamp for the library
director.
" I think the people of District
22 deserve a lot better
representation than this, and if
elected I intend to see that they
get it."
Mrs. Rose M. Foucek of 43 Mill
Road, Farmingdale, has an­nounced
her candidacy for the
position of Trustee of the Far­mingdale
Public Library. This is
for the vacancy that now exists
on the Board - the unexpired term
due to end on June 30th, 1972.
A resident of Farmingdale for
the past 15 years, Mrs. Foucek
has been a conscientious
volunteer in many community
groups. She has been an active
PTA participant at East
Memorial School, Mill Lane Jr.
High School, and Farmingdale
( Continued on I'age 12)
his policy positions are, and how
School Musicians Score at Contest
The purpose of this Festival is
to grade each performing
organization. Each such group
prepares four selections from a
particular level of difficulty.
These selections are listed in the
NYSSMA Manual in six grade
levels; Grades I and II being
Farmingdale Public Schools
Music Department was
represented by four major
performing organizations at the
Annual New York State Music
Association Spring Contest
Festival, which was held in the
Woodmere- Hewlett Schools on
May 14 and 15.
primarily set aside for the
elementary groups and Grades V
and VI for high school groups.
The Howitt Junior High School
Concert Band under the direction
of James Wasko was awarded an
" A" in Grade V music. The
Howitt String Orchestra directed
by Ronald Boykin was given a IV
" B" rating. The Mill Lane String
Orchestra under the direction of
Peter Touforde received " A" for
their efforts in Grade III music.
The Albany Avenue Band
directed by Brad DeMilo gar
nered 118 out of a possible 120
points for their " A" rating in
Grade I music.