1967-08-24_Post

              * . •'• -I. H* I ?HJJ , „y
Editorial Battle Front - Library Budget Issue
"SEE LIP;
, W.T.
Pg. Six
FP
R-16
OCT.(&>
A
Serving The Greater Farmingdale Area Since 1920
The Official Newspaper for The Village of Farmingdale
VOL. XLVII NO„ 37 Second Class Postage Paid
at Farmingdale, N.Y. 11735 Thursday, August 24,1967 Copyright 1967 by
Island-Wide Publications, Inc. PRICE 10<?-$4 per year
FACES IN THE NEWS
Mrs. Patricio Annelli (Standing) and Mrs. Mary Gertonson are
seen on Main Street recently, where they were obtaining
names for a petition which will be sent to Washington, D.C.,
in behalf of the Americans For Victory in Vietnam Committee.
111 mum kW
NOW TAKING SHAPE at the corner of Conklin Street and
Franklin Place in Farmingdale is the new St. Kilian con*
vent building being built at the cost of $350,000. The
multi-level structure has been a long planned dream of
Father Raphael.
k
A CANDIDATE'S COFFEE BREAK. . .North Hempstead Su­pervisor
Sol Wachtler's campaign as the Republican candidate
for County Executive brings him to Farmingdale to meet fellow
Koffee Klatchers Councilman Frank Hynes, ( c ) , and George
Meyerhoff, (r.).
F'dale Votes On
Library Budget
This Tuesday between
E. Howitt Junior high
opportunity to approve the
The two previous library votes
were held on May 3rd and June
10. At the May 3rd election the^
library budget was defeated 2630*
to 2192, a margin of 438 votes.
In the June 10th election, the
budget was defeated by a margin
of 57 votes, 2753 to 2696.
Because of the slim margin of
defeat at the second vote and re­sponding
to considerable pub­lic
pressure for a revote, this
third public decision will probab­ly
draw the most votes and re­ceive
more attention than the two
previous public votes.
The $352,865 budget request
carries a tax rate of .374 per
hundred assessed valuation for
Oyster Bay town residents and
.61 for Babylon homeowners.
In a statement to the POST,
the library has announced that
if the budget should be defeated
the following measures would
have to be taken: Hours would
have to be curtailed because of
insufficient funds to pay enough
staff members to serve the pa­trons
72 hours a week. Programs
would be discontinued because
there would not be enough money
to cover even the minimum costs
that they would involve. And the
meeting room of the library would
be closed to such groups as the
Campfire Girls, Boy Scouts, Lit­tle
League umpires, Sportsmen's
Club and others because there
would not be enough funds to pay
for the necessary maintenance.
The budget calls for $352,865,
the same amount submitted to
the voters on May 3. This budget
which is $29,740 more than the
current operating appropriation
will cover the cost of holding
the special election as well as
restoring services which have
had to be curtailed.
Delay Decision
0a Gorton Case
Carl E. Gorton, a trustee of
the Farmingdale Library has at­tempted
many times to attain
access to library records for
use in evaluating library pro­grams
and expenditures of li­brary
funds. When the Board
of Trustees passed a resolu­tion
limiting inspection of rec­ords
during business hours, Gor­ton
decided to submit a petition
to the State Supreme Court in
Mineola, asking that he not be
restricted in his inspections.
This past Monday (August 21)
State Supreme Court Justice Wil­liam
R. Brennan, Jr., reserved
judgement on Gorton's case of
"no limit" inspection. Gorton told
the POST that this particular is­sue
is no longer of purely local
interest but has become an event
of state-wide Importance which
could have strong Implications
on future New York Library pro­cedure*
the hours of 12:00 noon and 10:00 P.M. at Weldon
school Farmingdale voters will have their third
1967/68 Library budget.
Friends Of Library
Urge Budget Passage
The Friends of the Farmingdale Library, an
auxiliary branch of the Farmingdale Library,
has issued a statement in regard to the upcom­ing
library budget vote. The following is the
group*s reasons why they believe that the budget
should be passed next Tuesday.
"During the past years there
have been many instances of ex­treme
st groups attacking li­braries
and schools. Their me­thods
vary but their aims are
unmistakable-to exchange their
judgement for those of the people
of the community in the selection
of library material. Their
approach may center on porno­graphy,
Communism or such
basic economic issues as the
budget. Their methods are the
exploitation of half-truths, in­sinuation
and if necessary,
character assasination. The
Friends of the Farmingdale Li­brary
would like to bring certain
facts to the attention of the com­munity.
To dramatize his candidacy,
Mr. Gorton stole a book from the
Farmingdale library. Nassau
County thought the action ser­ious
enough to indict him for
petty theft. Mr. Gorton declar­ed
that a portion of a book at
the library contained porno­graphy
which should not be al­lowed
to fall into the hands of
minors, yet Mr. Gorton distribu­ted
5000 copies of the question­able
material, and through his
actions made it available to every
teen-ager in Farmingdale. Mr.
Gorton says an adult section
should be established at the l i ­brary,
yet the library has and
has always had an adult sec­tion.
When Mr. Gorton was ask­ed
to name one book which he
would recommend placed in the
adult section, he could not.
The response to Gorton's
charges by community leaders
has been overwhelming. Six
clergymen have participated in
a public forum and stated that the
article attacked by Gorton is not
obscene. Every responsible com­munity
leader - including those
associated with our schools,
civic groups, the clergy, busi­nessmen
and political leaders -
has come out in favor of the
budget. Gorton's vilification pro­grams,
consisting of verbal,
written and physical abuse, has
not intimidated them. All we
ask from you is your support
with a positive vote on August
29th."
A Summertime Picnic Party
Mrs. Alexander Stoyan, at left, Assistant Director of The
Farmingdale Public Library, offers a hot dog to hungry
Monique Calabro, age 6%, while Michael Kowalchik, age
8, waits patiently for his turn. The picnic party spon­sored
by the Farmingdale Kiwanettes was given on the
last day of the library's special reading program. John
Rothman, the library's reading consultant and Mrs. David
Eysmann, at right, President of the Farmingdale Kiwan­ettes,
look on.