Observer_1988-04-13; East Rockaway/Lynbrook Observer

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VOL. 35 NO. 14 Wednesday, April 13,1988 35c PER COPY
LYNBROOK VILLAGE trustee Leo "Bud" Lanning and
his wife, Dorothy, were honored by the Good Government
Party at a dinner upon his retirement from the Lynbrook
Village Board and relocation to South Carolina. Bud &
Dorothy are shown here at the Party, which was attended by
approximately 100 people, with, from left to right. Village
Justice Jack O'Connor, Mayor William P. Geier, Trustee,
Norman L. Dreyer and Trustee Stephen T. Grogan.
(Photo by John Cribbin).
"Wherever did the name
'HUCKLEBERRY FROLIC
come from?" is a question
often asked by visitors to the
Grist Mill Museum. The
answers have been vague,
for only small bits of infor-mation
have come to the
staff. However, when a
Fourth Grade Class in Cen-tre
Avenue School was
asked to do some research
by teacher Donald McHugh
back in 1970, the name was
m e n t i o n e d and Mr.
McHugh thought it might
be an interesting title for a
fund-raising event for the
Museum. It was, but the
mystery of its origin was not
cleared until another Fourth
Grade Teacher in Centre,
Thomas Carty, stumbled
upon some enlightening
information.
Mr. Carty digs for the
written and printed words of
the past juat as deeply as
archeologists dig for trea-sures
in the earth. Here is
excerpt of his findings:
" W a s h i n g t o n Race
Course, the name that suc-ceeded
to New Market
(today Garden City), was
also famous for their Huc-kleberry
Frolic held there
once a year."
The date for this article
was October,1846. It went
Huckleberry
Frolic
1846
By Mildred Roemer
on to state that the program
included "horse-and-mule
races, roving-comedians,
fire-eaters, etc. plus "wild
beasts from the Desert of
Arabia and the Mountains
of Siberia."
The articld concluding by
saying th^t the affair often
became quite rowdy!
One might assume that
the "Huckleberry" part of
the name came from the fact
that wild huckberries grew
like weeds everywhere.
Commuters from the city
used to say that when the
local trains slowed down or
stopped for water, pas-sengers
could scoop up
handfuls of the tasty berries.
Ye old historian had heard
that from her grandfather.
As foi- the "Frolic or Fair" is
was believed that it had been
a gathering of farmers and
their wives getting together
to display and win prizes for
their livestock, handwork
and baked goods. It has
been rumored from time to
time, by oldtimers that Near
. Rockaway had adopted the
name for such an affair
around the Grist Mill-h
o p e f u l l y without the
"rowdiness."
Now it is up to Mr. Carty
to keep digging until
learn "the end of the story."
Trustee Lanning Resigns
by Annette Ling
The Board of Trustees
Meeting of the Village of
Lynbrook held on April 2,
1988 at 8 PM at Village Hall
was highlighted by the pres-entation
of a plaque to retir-ing
Trustee Leo "Bud" Lan-ning
and Organization
Night when the official
appointments of the village
were announced.
The Board announced
that the request for a Special
Exception made by Four
Center Realty (Tennis Time)
had been denied.
Mayor Bill Geier pre-sented
a plaque from the res-idents
of Lynbrook to retir-ing
Trustee Leo Lanning
who is going to South Carol-ina
with his wife. Mr. Lan-ning
read his letter of resig-nation
to the Mayor and
Board and received a stand-ing
ovation from those
prmnt.
^ The Mayor issued a Proc-lamation
designating the
week of April 10th to the
16th as Lynbrook's National
Building Safety Week. Supt.
of the Building Dept. Bruno
Arena made a few remarks
about the importance of safe
building codes to all.
Mayor Bill Geier issued a
Proclamation designating
the week of April 3, 1988 as
Lynbrook's FISH Week in
honor of the area organiza-tion
that does so much to
help Seniors and others get
to the doctor. Mayor Geier
praised the fine volunteer
work of the organization.
The Board accepted a
donation of $75 from the
Lynbrook Lions Club for
the Easter Egg Program at
Greis Park.
Next on the agenda was a
Public Hearing regarding
Lynbrook's request to the
Nassau County Consortium
for a block grant for com-munity
development. Last
year. Mayor Geier mentioned
that the village received only
$ 15,000 for work rehabilitat-ing
the senior facilities and
parking area at Greis Park.
This year the village
requested $85,000 for parti-tions
to be installed for
separate meetings now held
in the one large community
center building and ramps
for the parking field for
Seniors. The village also
requested $20,000 for reha-bilitation
of the Atlantic
Avenue business area. The
B o a r d a p p r o v e d the
application.
A P u b l i c Hearing
amended the wording of the
Local Law regarding
required frontage (Local
Law 252-14E explaining
that "Grandfathering" Sin-gle
ownership and separate
ownership was to be allowed
if property did not conform
to the present requirement
but had been in single or
continuous ownership prior
to the change in the law
regarding required frontage.
The Local Law 252-64
Minimum Setbacks was
amended to require all
homes or property on a
block or street to conform to
the required setbacks so that
all would be in conformity.
No stopping signs will be
posted at the intersection of
Ocean Avenue and Robert-son
Rd, to help alleviate
traffic at the request of
Police Chief Lauriano.
The dates for the sale of
surplus equipment (a dump
truck) for the D.P.W. was
set for the Board Meeting of
May 16th. The dates for
accepting Bids for Mainte-nance
and Repair of Police
and Fire Department vehi-cles
was also set for the
Meeting of May 6th.
There was a routine
transfer of funds approved
for the D.P.W. from one
account into another and
Treasurer was authorized to
move funds from one
account into another.
The Board approved the
application for a Grant
under the DWI from Nassau
County in the amount of
$5,292 and a Grant for
$13,962 in an agreement
signed with Nassau County
for Seat Belt Law Enfprce-
(Continued on Page 12)
Lynbrook To Vote May 4
Lynbrook residents will
go to the polls on Wednes-day,
May 4 to vote on a pro-posed
$24.5 million 1988-89
school budget, and fill three
seats on the Board of Educa-tion.
Although negotiations
are in progress, the antici-pated
tax per $100 assessed
valuation is $34.94 for Class
One. Much of the increase is
due to the new mandated
asbestos regulations that
will result in the cost of more
than $100,000 next year and
the huge rise in the totally
jnandated health programs
that will cost the district an
additional $648,000. Also,
the district must continue
the replacement of fuel
tanks at a rate of $126,00.
Other increases include
facilities and operations for
the district's seven buildings
with higher costs for salar-ies,
equipment and supplies,
fuel and utilities, and repairs
and upkeep of grounds-curriculum
development
and s u p e r v i s i o n for
expenses related to the
administration of district
wide instructional projects
and programs for handi-capped
children. These ser-vices
for youngersters with
learning disabilities are
authorized by State Law
and include tuitions paid to
BOCES and other schools
providing instruction for
these pupils.
According to Superin-tendent
of Schools Bern
Seiderman, although this
year's mandated several
high cost items, "unfortu-
East Rockaway Schools Receive Aid
The new state budget
includes $74,061 in new state
aid for East Rockaway pub-lic
schools. Assemblyman
Arthur J. Kremer has
announced.
"As always, the Legisla-ture
has protected the inter-ests
of Long Island school
districts," Kremer said. "The
proposed Executive Budget*
Would have reduced school
aid to Nassau County school
districts by more than $16
At least our future genera-tions
may safely state that
there were Huckleberry
Frolics around the Grist
Mill Museum for many
" years. Don't miss this year's
BIG,one on June 18th.
million. Instead of a loss,
we've managed to provide
additional aid that will allow
the East Rockaway schools
to continue providing qual-ity
eduction without undue
burden on the taxpayers."
The additional aid will
bring total state funding for
East Rockaway schools to
$3,204,065.
The budget also includes a
special grant of $15,000
which Assemblyman Kre-mer
obtained for the school
district. That funding will
allow the district to upgrade
library book collections at
each of the three schools in
the district.
Kremer added: "It's
becoming more and more
difficult to obtrain addi-tional
aid for Long Island
schools because the school
aid formulas rely heavily on
property values to deter-mine
how much state fund-ing
each school district
needs. Land values on Long
Island have been rising fas-ter
than most of the state for
several years now, and the
trend is making it harder to
obtain additional aid each
year."
The funding is included in
the state's Aid to Localities
budget which has already
passed the Assembly and
was expected to pass the
Senate before the Legisla-ture
adjourns for its spring
recess.
nately, they do not directly
contribute to the educa-tional
programs that should
have the highest priority in
the expenditure of our
budget." However, he adds,
"Despite these unfinanced
mandates, the Board of
Education and Central
Administration are deter-mined
to minimize the costs
to the community and have
spent untold hours in devel-oping
a prudent student-centered
budget for appro-val."
Dr. Seiderman stresses
the Board's desire to avoid a
bond issue, although "virtu-ally
every other school dis-trict
in our area has utilized
the bond as a major source
of revenue," because, he
explains, "the Lyn Board
continues to take the posi-tion
that a long range plan
designed to replace and
improve buildings ulti-mately
presents less of a tax
burden to local citizens."
Dr. Seiderman points out
that members of the Board,
the professional staff, and
residents of the Lynbrook
School District are aware of
the continued positive pro-gress
that the schools have
maintained toward Excel-lence
in Education. During
the past two years, all three
elementary schools have
won national and state
recognition and just recently
Lynbrook was named
among the top 25 highest
scoring school districts in
the country by long-time
education writer Charles H.
Harrison. In Mr. Harrison's
p u b l i c a t i o n , ^'Public
Schools USA," which com-
(Continued on Page 12)