Observer_1987-03-18; East Rockaway/Lynbrook Observer

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VOL. 34 NO. 11 Wednesday, March 18,1987 30^ PER COPY
Village To Appeal Court Ruling
DONATION. The East Rockaway Fire Department
recently received a donation from the Savings of America
Bank to further its work in the community. East Rockaway
Fire Department Chief James Duncan (left) receives a check
from Joseph Riccardi, branch manager, and Rose Ward,
operations officer at the East Rockaway Savings of America
branch, located at the corner of Main Street and Baisley
Avenue.
Mayor William P.
Gcier has announced that
the Board ot Trustees of the
Incorporated Village of
Lynbrook agreed to file a
"Notice of Appeal" on a pre-liminary
injunction ruling
by Nassau County Court
Judge Edward McCabethat
restrains the Village from
issuing any further sum-monses
to Michael Florio,
owner of the Avalon Service
Station located at 1676
Rockaway Avenue and
F'eninsula Blvd. for viola-tion
of village code.
The Village had issued
summonses to Florio for
Alumni Showcase Their Fossils
Rumor has it that a 1950's
rock-and-roll group, frozen
in time, style and attitude for
over thirty years, has been
thawed out just in time to
make a surprise appearance
at the "Fabulous Fifties"
Cocktail Party of the East
Rockaway High School
Alumni Association on Sat-urday,
April 11, 1987, from
8 p.m. to midnight at the
American Legion's Colonial
Room on Main Street in
East Rockaway.
Known variously as the
"Fossilized Rocks" (for their
fresh approach to music)
and the "Petrified Rocks"
(for their stage presence),
this tired but not retired
alumni vocal group is
expected to perform their
v e r s i o n of ' ' C a l i f o r n ia
Drearain", entitled "Nine-teen
Fifties Summers", plus
several standards from the
fifties.
In a publishing coup, the
East Rockaway Observer
has received an exclusive
and is printing for the first
time ever the lyrics of "Nine-teen
Fifties Summers":
THOUGH THE YEARS
HAVE FLOWN
AND MY HAIR IS
GREY
NINETEEN FIFTIES
SUMMERS,
I JUST WANT TO SAY,
WERE THE BEST OF
TIMES
TO BE ON THE BAY.
NINETEEN FIFTIES
SUMMERS
IN EAST ROCKAWAY.
STOPPEDAT AT H E W -
LETT POINT
AT THE END OF DAY.
THROUGHTHEGOLD-EN
SUNLIGHT
I SEE HER COME MY
WAY, THOUGH THE
YEARS HAVE FLOWN
AND MY HAIR IS
GREY.
NINETEEN FIFTIES
SUMMERS
IN EAST ROCK A WAY.
Outfits from the 50's era
are encouraged to be worn
on April 11, so dig out those
poodle skirts and peg pants
if you are so inclined ~ or
can still fit into them.
The cost per person will
be $18.00, which includes a
hot buffet and a DJ to pro-vide
music to "rock around
the clock" long after the
"Fossilized Rocks" ("Fos-siles",
for short) have col-lapsed
back into their chairs.
There will be cash bar and a
raffle with cash prizes. As
the saying igoes, "you could
get lucky."
If you plan on attending
this major fundraising
event, please mail your
check in the amount of
$18.00 per person made
payable to the East Rocka-way
High School Alumni
Association to Paula De-
Pietro, 15 Denton Avenue,
East Rockaway, NY 11518.
violation of section 252-
45(A) (45) relating to the
prohibited uses of his pro-perty.
Florio has been
operating an auto body
repair business at his scrvice
station since 1980 in viola-tion
of village code. The Vil-lage
of Lyn brook had out-lawed
additional auto body
shops in 1977.
After receiving the sum-monses,
Florio began a
court action to restrain the
village from issuing him
summonses and enforcing
the code claiming he had
been permitted by other
administrations to operate
an auto body shop at that
location.
The Village's appeal states
law that reflects that when a
non-conforming use of a
premise is sold that the new
owners mustsConfoVm to the
then present code of the vil-lage
upon purchase. When
Florio bought the property
in 1980, the code outlawing
auto body repair had been in
Florio continued to operate
the premises in violation and
was f i n a l l y served
summonses.
The use of the station as
an auto body repair shop
was brought to the attention
of the present Geier admin-
Scholarship Information
The Dorothy Schure Old
Westbury Campus of the
New York Institute of Tech-nology,
acknowledged as
one of the nation's most
beautiful college campuses,
is situated on 700 acres of
rolling countryside jn Old
Westbury, Brookville and
Old Brookville that once
was the homestead of some
of A m e r i c a ' s richest
families.
Beginning next fall, a stu-dent
from East Rockaway
or Lynbrook can attend
NY IT'S Old Westbury cam-pus,
the new, 515-acre cam-pus
in Central Islip or the
Metropolitan Center in mid-
Manhattan on a $5,000,
four-year undergraduate
scholarship being awarded
by the East Rockaway/-
Lynbrook Observer and
and NY IT.
The original buildings
and grounds of the Old
Westbury campus, which
welcomes its first students in
the fall of 1965, were the set-ting
for an opulent life style
that is legendary and part of
American social history. On
these acres -now devoted to
education and research -the
elite of the land raised tho-roughbred
horses and prize
Angus cattle, played polo,
held debutante balls and
lived in manor houses that
epitomi/ed great wealth.
The centerpiece of the
campus is a parcel of 280
acres that was part of the
530-acre Whitney estate,
created by William C. Whit-ney
in the I890's from his
fortune in railroads, oil and
tobacco. The campus was
enlarged through acquisi-tion
of the other adjoining
"Gold Coast" properties,
including the estate of steel
magnate Winston F. C.
Guest, a third cousin of the
late Winston Churchill, and
the Gerry. Simonson and
Graham estates.
The Guest estate, a neoc-lassic
Georgian manor
house on 130 acres, is now
the de Seversky Conference
Center of NYIT. The Gerry
residence houses NYlT's
Computer Graphics Labor-atory
and its Admissions
Office. The Simonson resi-istration
by residents of the
surrounding area who com-plained
to the village about
the large amount of junk,
vehicle wrecks and automo-bile
parts on the property,
two trucks parked iii front of
residential homes in the area
and the overall unsightly
condition of the property
including damage tq the
fence abutting the village
park at that location.
Mayor Geier stated that
this specific code was placed
on the books in 1977 for a
purpose...to allow it to exist
beginning in 1980 shows a
total disregard for our local
laws.
Agricultural Yearbooks
Ay ail able
dents is occupied by the
Department of Buildings
and Grounds.
Several of the buildings
on the Whitney parcel have
been transformed into class-rooms,
laboratories, or
office space for faculty and
administration. They were
built either by William C.
Whitney, who died in 1904;
his son Harry Payn Whit-ney,
who died in 1930, " iiis
grandson, Cornelius V.
Whitney, who sold the bulk
of the estate in 1959.
William Whitney left an
estate of $23 million-in 1904
dollars -when he died at age
62. He left, according to
Town & Country of Febru-ary
1891, "Ten separate,
enormous, ducally appointed
homes and hundred of thou-sands
of acres of land."
The map/ine noted that
" t h e Whitney's benign
thumbprints are all over
New York City...They figure
importantly in the arts, med-icine,
education, sports,
communication, transporta-tion,
finance and politics."
William Whitney was
also dedicated to tho-
(Continued on Page 9)
Congressman Norman F.
Lent (R-East Rockaway)
has announced that a
limited number of the 1986
Department of Agriculture
Yearbook are still available
to residents of the Fourth
Congressional District.
"My supply is dwindling,
but if you act now you can
still obtain a copy of this
handsome hardcover book,"
stated Congressman Lent.
"The information contained
is of vital importance to our
nation, for research is the
cutting edge that keeps us at
a competitive advantage
with our trading partners. 1
urge all residents of the
Fourth Congressional Dis-trict
to take advantage of'
this offer."
This year's hardcover
Yearbook, entitled "Research
for Tomorrow," discusses
the reasons for and results of
a g r i c u l t u r a l research,
attempting to find answers
to the challenges of society
and agriculture face today,
and certainly will confront
tomorrow. Its 336 pages are
filled with fascinating com-mentary
and illustrations
that make this year's edition
valuable as a research tool.
It will also make interesting
reading for anyone con-cerned
about the future of
the American economy.
"Anyone interested in
obtaining the 1986 Depart-ment
of Agriculture Year-book
should write to me at
2280 Grand Avenue, Suite
300, Baldwin, New York
11510," stated Congressman
Lent. "You may also call my
office at (516) 223-1616 and
1 will be glad to send a copy
to you."
Yearbooks are available
free of charge to residents of
the Fourth Congressional
District but supplies are
limited. Reserve your copy
today!
TURNING BACK THE CLOCK. "Decked out" in crisp,
summer white, with parasoles and hats. East Rockaways
ladies gather at the railroad station to welcome home their
husbands, sons and sweethearts from the battlefields over-seas.
Many of our brave men fought while the ladies at home
rolled bandages and knit for the Red Cross for the "war to
end all wars." This photo was taken from a post card that
was given to the Grist Mill Museum by Shirley Wood. Note
the lad wearing knickers, who was probably feeling dejected
that he was not being honored among the homecoming
heros. Scrap Books on display in the Museum during the
summer months trace a graphic history of East
Rockaway's past.