1971-04-01

              FAfiMINGDALE 0B? r
M
%*% V WEEKLY
An Offieiaf Newspaper of The Incorporated Village of FarmingdaJe . Serving Greater Far. ^ yaRc and Melville
A 10c
WHERE THE HISTORY OF YOUR COMMUNITY
VOL. 8 NO. 32 Second Class Postage has been paid at Fartningdale, N. Y. 1 1735 Thursday, April 1, 1971
Cause of Blaze Remains Mystery
200 Vamps Fought the Fire
No Effect On Taxes Seen
As darkness settled Saturday evening over Farmingdale the sky was
ablaze with the fire that destroyed the gymnasium of Weldon E. Howitt JHS
and saw 200 firefighters and 24 pieces of apparatus in action.
Photos: Negri Camera
School Tax Picture Decidedly Dim
Even With Restored State Aid Tax Hike May be Coming
Once more the threat of an increase in school taxes seems to be
imminent even though the state budget, while not increasing state
aid to education, is apparently showing a continuance of this aid at
last year's level.
This is the impression one
could get from the mass meeting
held last Friday night by the
Farmingdale Board of Education
at Weldon E. Howitt JHS,
Ostensibly this gathering was one
more in the series of meetings
protesting the take- over of
Republic Airfield by the
M e t r o p o l i t a n Transport
Authority. Practically im­mediately
the meeting was
turned around, though, to a
discussion of the broader
financial picture.
Trustee A. Terry Weathers,
school finance chairman and
current president of the New
York State School Boards
Association painted, a dim pic­ture.
At the time the meeting was
held indications were that the
governor's budget would call for
a decrease in state aid to
education. The formula used then
could have, according to
Weathers, meant a School tax
increase of up to $ 150.00 per
household.
Rem onst rat ions by the Nassau
County Republican delegation in
Albany seem to have averted, at
least for the moment, this
danger. The cuts have been
restored - but no new money has
been added. Weathers, in con­sidering
this possibility, still
warned that this would not be
enough* to prevent school taxes
from increasing and that such a
feat could only be accomplished
by the apparently impossible
expansion of state aid to
education from its present level
of up to $ 860.00 a year per pupil to
to $ 1,050.00
In the discussion period
following the reports by
Weathers and Superintendent ol
Schools Dr. William Kinzler, the
public left no doubt that while it
agreed with Weather's position
that the state has to come to the
aid of education on a larger scale
and that a complete revisionof
the methods of financing
education is needed, it would not
support a local school budget
calling for tax increases once
more nor would it accept the
slate's inability or unwillingness
to increase its aid as an excuse
for a larger budget.
The discussion brought out an
interesting fact - although at this
time nobody was in a position to
confirm this as a fact: The
monies from the State Lottery,
which are advertised as going to
education, are not necessarily
used for this purpose.
The legislation that created the
lottery specified only that the net
receipts from the lottery would
go into the general fund and
while they may be used for
education via the general fund
there is nothing in the law that
would make such use mandatory.
( See also the editorial on page 8)
( Continued on page 11)
So far there are no clues as to what caused the fire
Saturday evening that totally destroyed the gym­nasium
of Weldon E. Howitt Junior High School. And
no dollar estimate as to the damage. The only things
known are that a potential catastrophy was averted by
the quick and full scale reaction of the Farmingdale
Fire Department, and that there will be no additional
tax burden because of the blaze.
The first alarm was sounded at
6: 05 p. m. on Saturday and within
ten minutes the first firemen and
apparatus were on the scene.
Eventually some 200 men and
24 pieces of apparatus were
either actively engaged in
fighting the blaze or held in
reserve should additional help be
needed. The overall direction of
the fire fighting was with the men
of the Farmingdale FD under its
chief Charles M. Karp.
The Farmingdale FD had nine
pieces of equipment in service.
The East Farmingdale FD
responded with six pieces of
apparatus, South Farmindale
with three, Bethpage with two,
and Hicksville, Plainview,
Levi Mown ana Wyandanch with
one each.
The fire was declared under
control about two hours after it
began and the last men left the
scene at about 1: 45 a. m. Sunday-although
the fire watch was kept
until Monday.
What caused the blaze? Nobody
knows- and may not know for
another week or two. In­vestigators
from the Nassau
County Fire Marshal's office
swung into action immediately,
starting their search for clues
even while the fire was still
raging and continuing their work
now, sifting through rubble and
charred pieces, tracking down
clues and rumors.
Although it was Saturday
Weldon E. Howitt JHS was not
completely shut down, As a
matter of fact, the gymnasium
was used by the Farmingdale
Youth Council for one of their
activities and was only cleared at
about 3 p. m.
Then the school custodian
inspected the gym as well as the
rest of the building and finally
locked up for the weekend at
about 4 p. m. After that the school
district's security force took over
which watches over this and
other school buildings until 7 a. m.
Monday. And, according to
reports from the school ad­ministration,
this security patrol
checked out Weldon E. Howitt
JHS between 4 p. m. and 6 p. m.
While there is no official
statement as to the cause ol the
blaze, the Fire Marshal's office
seems to have an indication ol the
direction of its investigation. And
while there is no proof that the
fire was started deliberately,
there is no proof to the contrary
either.
School superintendent Dr.
William Kinzler praised the
firefighters will all the eloquence
at his command, pointing out that
only their quick and highly
professional reaction prevented a
potential catastrophy. Not only
could the school itself be saved by
containing the fire to the gym- a
job that was greatly aided by the
fact that the gym haa firewalls
all around clear up to and with a
parapet beyond the roof- bit all
danger to the surrounding houses
could be averted.
The quick response of the
Farmingdale FD was. besides
greatly aided by the equally
quick and professional response
of the other fire departments in
Farmingdale s hour of need.
The gym, of course, is a total
loss. And until the engineering
firm of Knappe & Johnson has
finished its survey and given its
report on the extent of the
necessary reconstruction no cost
estimate can be made. This much
appears to be sure, however: A
complete rebuilding job will have
to be undertaken. Wheiher or not
some of the walls may be left
standing is still a matter of study.
The Board oi Education and ihe
school administration are at
pains, though, to underscore that
there will be no great financial
loss involved. The school was
insured and no big appropriation,
resulting perhaps even in a tax
hike, will be needed.
There is, therefore, some
solace to be received from this
unhappy event. And additional
solace can be found in the fact
that there will be only a very
minimal effect on the curriculum
and the educational progress in
Weldon E. Howitt. The fact that
spring is in the air will enable the
school to transfer most of its
physical education activity to the
outside. And if it should rain the
more or less theoretical aspects
of the phys ed program can be
transferred to other rooms.
Besides the gym only six class
rooms are out of commission for
( Continued on page 11)
Ecological Meet
Called by Grower
R.
will
Congressman James
Grover, Jr. of Babylon
sponsor a conference on Great
South Bay April 16 at the
LaGrange Inn in West Islip.
Mr. Grover said the four-hour
session would be at­tended
by representatives of
federal, state and local
government and spokesmen
for local groups who are
concerned about continuing
pollution of the bay and its
deterioration. " This meeting
is another step in a continuing
effort on my part to protect
the estuarine resources of
Long Island's southern
shore," Mr. Grover said. " It is
my hope that we can reach a
consensus on a coordinated
plan of action before further
damage is done to our
wetlands resources."
The conference will be held
from 1 to 4 P. M.