1975-09-04

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* BE U I . HISTORICAL MCI
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^ 4 Prize Winning Weekly Serving The Greater Farmingdale Area Since 1920< ffi
y4 » Official Newspaper far the Village of Farmingdale
VOL. 56 NO. 42 Second Olnss Postage Paid
in KarminftdiiU-, N. Y. 117.15 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1975 Copyright 1<) 7S t » V
IsUintl— Wi. le Publication, Iiu-. price 15^ - $ 5 per year
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SEASON'S END: Summer came to a chilly close on Labor Day, leaving the normally packed Tobay
beach almost empty. Wearing a wool sweater and feeding cookies to the gulls in Gay Kinnison of North
Massapequa. Although the air was cool and the waves driven by a stiff breeze, bathers said the water
was warm. But, there were few to venture into the surf. [ Post photo by Bob Starrett]
Testimonial For McKenna
Reservations are now being
accepted for the retirement
dinner honoring Farmingdale
Village Clerk- Treasurer James
McKenna at the Crest Hollow
Country Club on Jericho Turn­pike
in Woodbury in October 30.
Tickets are available at the
Village Hall at $ 12.50 per person.
Information may be obtained by
calling the Village Hall at 249-
0093.
Jim was born in 1909 in New
York City, living in the " Hell's
Kitchen" area at 38th Street and
10th Ave.
His mother died when he was
ten years old and he was placed
in the care of the Sisters of St.
Dominic. He arrived in Far­mingdale
on October 2, 1919 as a
resident of the Nazareth Trade
School, an orphanage located on
the grounds where Weldon E.
Howitt Junior High School now
stands.
While at this home, Jim was
taught the printing trade and the
art of playing the trumpet, the
latter he used extensively for a
period of 25 years traveling the
eastern coast with some top
musicians and bands. He wound
up his musical career as a
member of the " Futurists Or­chestra,"
led by John DeJesu,
Village Testing New Street Lights
On September 3 at 9 a. m. on the
east side of Main Street, north of
Conklin Street, 250 watt high
pressure sodium lights were
installed. The purpose of the test
installation is to determine if the
Village can reduce its lighting
costs without reducing the output
of light. Test lighting is being
installed by Pullen Maintenance
of Syosset at no cost to the
Village
in addition to the dollar savings
the contractor guarantees 24-
hour maintenance of outages,
and an outlined washing and
relamping program which will
also give more output of light.
This new program is made
necessary not only because a cost
savings is indicated, but also
because LILCO has indicated
that it is only a matter of time
before they give up maintenance
of street lighting, the Mayor and
the Board of Trustees are
therefore being farsighted in
authorizing this test.
playing airthe major hotels and
night spots in New York City and
Long Island.
In 1936 he entered the aircraft
industry as a stock records clerk
with Seversky Aircraft. In 1938 he
transferred to Kirkham
Engineering and when the cor­porate
title was changed to
Liberty Aircraft Products, he
was appointed Chief Cost Ac­countant,
eventually, transferring
to the Wing Division of Liberty as
Chief Manufacturing Cost
Analyst. He remained with
Liberty until the plant closed in
1958. Jim then joined Grumman
Aircraft Engineering Corp.
After 3 months Jim was ap­proached
by Farmingdale
Village Board members to
ascertain if he were interested in
being an understudy to Village
Clerk William Wesche, nearing
retirement age. Being intrigued
with the idea of municipal service
he resigned from Grumman and
was appointed as a Deputy
Treasurer to Treasurer Chester
Burhaus in June 1958, and about
1960 he was appointed Deputy
Village Clerk, still assisting
Treas. Chester Burhaus.
At the time of Bill Wesche's
[ Continued on page 8]
School Budget
Vote Thursday
Farmingdale's voters, both those registered for
special school elections and for general elections, will
have a second chance to vote the school district off
austerity next Thursday, September 11. Board of
Education President Robert I. Weiss, opened Tuesday
night's regular meeting with a plea for public support of
the budget.
Under a new state law, which became effective
September 1, any voter registered for a regular primary
or general election would also be eligible to vote in the
special school district election. Board members urged
voters to register for the school election in order to save
time in cross checking registration lists. School
registration will be held today and on Monday, Sept 8
from noon until 10 p. m. at Howitt Jr. High School.
w^ , -__ , Although' the amount of the
Burglars lake
700 lb. Safe Eighth precinct police are
seeking some very strong
burglars who entered the Ho Wah
Restaurant on Fulton Street,
Farmingdale, early Monday
morning and carried away a 700
pound safe containing between
$ 5,000 and $ 6,000 in cash.
Police said the cement bottom
safe was found about 3: 15 p. m.
Monday by Nassau Police Officer
Joseph Kraus in a parking lot
?~ behind the National Bank of
North America branch in New
Hyde Park.
According to police, in order to
remove the safe from the
restaurant, they had to move it
from the basement, up a flight of
stairs, through the restaurant
and out a back door. When it was
found, the safe contained some
personal papers and about $ 25 in
pennies and quarters.
Change Street
Name For week
The Mayor and the Board of
Trustees of the Incorporated
Village of Farmingdale have
authorized the temporary
changing of the name of Wesche
Drive to " Knights of Columbus
Way" for the period of October 12
to 18.
The occasion will mark the
opening celebration of the
Bicentennial year.
budget defeated last June will
remain the same at $ 28,863,057 in
the Sept. 11 vote, the tax rate
increase proposed will be
decreased by 34 cents in Oyster
Bay and fifty cents in Babylon. If
the budget had been approved on
the first vote in June, the tax rate
sayings adjustment would still
have been made and passed on to
the taxpayers.
During the public participation ,
portion of Tuesday night's
meeting, the board pointed out
that even the austerity budget,
with state law mandated cuts in
all sports," extra auricular ac­tivities,
school supplies, etc.,
would still carry an increase of
24.3 cents per hundred dollars of
valuation.
The board made it clear that
they had no power to change the
state education laws as to what is
or is not eliminated from the
district budget. They stated that
the charges made for in­structional
supplies did not in­clude
textbooks and the charges
were arrived at by dividing the
number of students in the dif­ferent
grade levels into the
amount anticipated for use at
that level. Secondary students
will be charged $ 12.50,
elementary students $ 0.50 and
kindergarten $ 5.50 because they
only attend half day sessions.
Asked what would happen if the
bills were not paid for supplies,
members of the board and school
administrators said that they had
different options open to them.
They could keep a list of those
paid and only issue supplies to
those students, or they could
I Continued on page 8)