Editorial
Last weeks editorial entitled ' Two Wrongs'
kept the telephones in both OBSERVER offices
buzzing all week long. The callers were either
most complimentary 6* emotional to say the least.
As is the case in a controversial issue, there
were many who missed the point. They felt that
we must be John Birchers since we came to the
defense of a Bircher, Carl Gorton, on one count.
To be treated like a human being, whether you
are right or wrong has always been important.
We believed that Gorton an elected official was
treated rather badly.
We completely disagree with any extreme group,
whether they be Birchers or leftists.
Over the years we have remained consistent
about the freedom of the right to read: for the
professional librarian and his responsibility in the
selection of books.
However, for years we have jumped to the
defense of the underdog when his rights in a
democracy wer e threatened . We Ve f o ught intoler ance
whether it be anti- Japanese- American, anti- Se-metic,
anti- Catholic or discrimination against
colored people.
It seems that those people forget the nine
months of writing against the John Birch Society
and against the idea of taking off the shelves
The Last Temptations of Christ by Nicholas Kan-zantakis.
We favored the reactivation of the Friends
of the Library at that time. We helped get out the
word. Now we are a little fearful of the Friends of
the Library's bent to censure Gorton and not be
more realistic about the man. He is a trustee
elect and duly elected for five years. We think
he should be given a chance to be a friend of the
library, he is the type of person who very weU
could be.
In volunteer work in District # 22, we have
often played the role of a diplomat and at the
time si the Citizens Advisory committee which
followed the SOS fight against the economy
candidates, we worked diligently to allow the so-called
economy people be educated as the need,
of the Farmingdale Senior High School, Mill Lane
nad Northside school buildings and shut up the
SOS people at public meetings and allowed the
economy people to make the motions in favor
of terrazzo floors, and the statistics and the
building of the much needed school buildings.
They were won over.
Bravo to the Farmingdale Senior High School
Study In. They were intelligent, orderly and a
respectful group of young men. Their dialogue
or discussion with Gorton was very good indeed.
Both treated each other with more respect
than their elders. Enough said.
Space limitations did not permit us to publish the
scores of letters to the editor. For the most part
we chose to use the shorter ones or those which
were the more legible.
Letters to editor should be confined to 200 words
or less and should be signed. Anonymous letters
are never given consideration for publication.
letters
To The Editor
The Observer Editors:
Congratulations on an excellent
job of timely news coverage
of the Farmingdale Library
Story. It is not often that we see
a weekly newspaper scoop " the
daily newspapers, radio and
Television coverage which this
story generated. This can only
be attributed to your farsightedness
and a real " nose for News'*.
My plaudits on a job well done.
Herbert M. Goldstein
Announce Mill Lane
Honor Roll
« * mr* fi* i
< Jff armingi- al* © bfimw
Published every Thursday by
THB OBSERVES, INC.
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the view of The Observer. ,
Dear Sir,
In the current controversy over
the removal of a certain magazine
from the Farmingdale Public
Library, three things regretably
stand out:
1) The absence of any comment
from a spokesman from either the
Police Department or the District
Attorney's Office. If the magazine
is obscene, as Mr. Gorton
claims it is, its presence in the
library is a violation of law. Now
is the time for the legal authorities
to clear up this matter.
2) The comments in your editorial
and in various letters relative
to the John Birch Society.
It is not a secret society, yet
unfortunately, very little information
about the organization is
published in the press or available
on TV, radio, etc. Many
people have a pre- conceived notion
about what the society stands
for, yet I wonder how many citizens
actually looked into the matter
before they were so quick to
criticize.
3) The comments of some
readers who seem to advocate
placement of any type of literature
in the Library, even if such
material is obscene. How can
we wonder then why our society
is morally degenerating.
John J. Tarpey Jr.
Students who have achieved
honor roll status at Mill Lane
Junior High School include:
GRADE 7: Diane Abato, Patricia
Beck, Barbara Bender, Barbara
Bodofsky, Gregory Boyce,
Joanne Cottone, Steven Conn,
Linda Cohen, Terry DelPercio,
Larry Eisenberg, Steve Fine,
Gerry Fox, Sue Ann Garfinkel,
Nancy Geller, Patricia Greening,
Karen Hasey, Richard Hause,
Joyce Heilig, Mitchell Held,
Karen Hesse, Robert Janco, Barry
Katzben, Margaret Kreischer,
Nadine Kutcher, Lynn Levitt, Dale
Licata, Nancy Logan, Wendy Ma-genheim,
Barbara Mansfield, Mo-na
Margarita, Ellen Meltzer, Susan
Metzger, Lawrence Nadler,
Eliot Ohlstein, Roni Pel/ man,
Robert Pleva, Michael Ranzen-hofer,
Loretta Reid, Marsha Res-nick,
Robert Rowman, Barbara
Sager, Richard Schneider, Steven
Schuster, Barry Schwartz, Fran-cine
Schwartz, Vicki Schwartz,
Ellen Seeberger, Jeffrey Seigel,
Barbara Sicuranza, Donna Tiede-mann,
Barbara Valinoti and Steven
Wieber.
GRADE 8: Richard Adams,
Barbara Albers, Linda Ciesco,
Richard Civil, Ileen Crestol,
Mary DePrano, Janet Dodds, Joseph
Fioccola, Carol Friend,
Dear Editor:
I would like to express my appreciation
to the voters of District
# 22 for their most gratifying
display of community interest.
I hope that this same interest
displayed on May 3rd will continue
with unabated zeal through
the coming year. It is only by
our attendance at board meetings
that we can see how, and why
our community functions. Our
Trustees do not give of their
valuable time in secret but in
open forum. They want you to
be informed and the only way
we can be informed is to make
a concerted effort to attend as
many public board meetings as
possible. There were over 5,000
citizens who made the effort to
get out on May 3rd to express
their opinion, yet only a small
fraction of these voters attended
the public board meetings in
the past year.
Let us all continue our interest
in our community by acti
v e l y supporting our elected
trustees.
Russell Pulvino
Dear Editor:
I wish to take exception to
your editorial dated May 11,
entitled Two Wrongs. You state
that Mr. Gorton came to the
board meeting seeking harmony.
It is my opinion that his purpose
was the exact opposite of this,
as he showed by his refusal to
comply with board procedure.
Mr. Gorton in his address to the
board, opened his remarks with,
" I am number one and foremost
a Christian." This in itself is an
inflammatory opening which, in
effect, whether Mr. Gorton intended
it or not, accuses a 11 those
not of the Christian faith of supporting
what he calls pornography
Mr. Gorton went on to say that,
" I am anAmericancitizen, which
gives me certain rights, one of
which is the stopping of crime to
which I am a witness." Most
of us living in this community
are also American citizens, yet
we would not take the law into
our own hands as Mr. Gorton
has seen fit to do. As to stopping
the " commission of crime"
to which he is a witness, he is accusing
of criminal negligence all
of those who have made this magazine
available to the public.
Ralph Gismondi, Diane Godfrey,
John Holmes, Judith Jorgensen,
Debra Karlan, Richard Kassler,
Raymond Kremer, Lorraine Le-bits,
Barbara Lefsky, Marguerite
Luck, Eve Meyerson, Rhonda
Monkowitz, Barbara Reiss, Robert
Riedel, Jean Ryan, Catherine
Rugino, William Sonntag, Ar-lene
Tedesco, Lisa Tilford and
Deborah Woodford.
GRADE 9: John Aleshin, Christine
Ambroslo, Christine Ammir-ati,
Jay Berkowitz, Margery Bu-doff,
Dennis Calano, Charles Car-dillo,
Janice Castellano, Kitty
Chin, Karen Dauler, Janet Donnelly,
Jay Fleitman, Susan Fried-elson,
Sharon Goodman, Linda
Goor, Donna Griffin, Jim Hanney,
Steven Hill, Robin Kolker, Ronald
Kornfeld, Susan Kramer,
Martin Leopold, Phyllis Launer,
Stephen Levin, Linda Miller, Carol
Molnia, Barbara Pasek, Peter
Pavarini, Celeste Phillips, Frances
Piccione, Carolyn Pines, Linda
Rappaport, Mark Reiner, A-drienne
Robb, Ra/ elle Ross,
James Sagarin, Brenda Schefer,
Frederic Scheussler, Judith Silverman,
Steven Skavroneck, Howard
Solow, Valerie Spina, Christine
Steiner, Gary Vogelsberg and
James Wright.
DATEB00K
FRIDAY, MAY 19
10: 00 a. m. to 4: 00 p. m. Fort
Neck Garden Club plant sale
at Bohacks's, Massapequa.
10: 00 a. m. to 4: 00 p. m. Colum-biettes
of Farmingdale rummage
sale at 286 Main Street.
8: 30 p. m. West Point Cadet Glee
Club at Massapequa High
School auditorium.
SATURDAY, MAY 20
10: 00 a. m. to 5: 00 p. m. Art Festival
at Main Street School.
SUNDAY, MAY 21
5: 00 p. m. Testimonial Dinner for
Town Councilman Angelo Ron-callo
at Elks Club, Massapequa.
MONDAY, MAY 22
8: 30 p. m. Main Street PTA
Mothers Night program at
school. Dr. Nicholas Massa,
guest speaker.
8: 30 p. m. Farmingdale Vietnam
Assistance Committee meeting
at home of June Sullivan, 81
West Oak St., Farmingdale.
WESNESDAY, MAY 24
8: 00 p. m. Plainedge Library
Board of Trustees Meeting at
library.
8JD0 p. m. Farmingdale Auxiliary
ofAHRC installation of officers
at K of C hall.
8: 30 p. m. Plainedge Council of
PTA's - installation of officers
and School Board Recognition
night at Plainedge High School.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
This would seem to include the
publishers and editors of the
Paris Review, our library board
of trustees, the United States
Postal Authorities, not to mention
the reading public who makes
possible the success of literary
quarterlies.
Therefore, your statement regarding
Mr. Gorton's harmonious
intentions would seem to have
been made in error.
How can you make claim to a
liberal attitude and yet be the
author of so biased and misinformed
an editorial?
It is unfortunate that it takes
a situation such as this to bring
to the surface the true belief of
a medium responsible for informing
the Farmingdale public.
Where were you when Carl Gorton
" confiscated" the quarterly
from the library shelf in early
April? Where was your timely
editorial then? Or do you not
consider that this illegal action
warranted public attention?
Your voice was not heard then;
therefore it is not worthy of being
heeded now.
Helen W. Meyer
To the Editor:
As a Farmingdale High School
Senior and a recent participant
in the student " study- in" discussing
Carl Gorton's controversial
positions, I would like
to extend these remarks concerning
libraries and censorship.
The purpose of a library is to
provide its patrons with a center
for the communication of ideas
and an interplay of various beliefs.
The widest possible rang
of material should be available:
from the classics to the best
sellers in literature, from the
radical to the reactionary in
politics. A vital part of this
service is the extensive program
of library- sponsored groups,
from the Chess Club to the showing
of John Birch Society films.
None of these activities should be
cancelled, as suggested by Mr.
Gorton, for economical reasons.
If he were to do away with the
Spanish- American Club, would he
also take the Birch films elsewhere?
I personally feel both
belong, for they represent vital
forces of educational value to
our community.
In relation to Mr. Gorton's affair
with the Paris Review, we
find an explosive situation. Mr.
Gorton claims to be defending
us from immoral material that
is destroying Christian morality
and the free American system.
Yet the American system provides
for individual initiative and
choice, with the protection from
as much external imposition as
possible. The real danger to
our society begins when an individual
attempts to pressure his
own private ethical concepts upon
every free citizen. Such anarchistic
censorship eventually
destroys this freedom, and, as
Clare Booth Luce, a leading Conservative
says, " tends to totalitarianism."
She adds that " the
less the government interferes
with the private thoughts and actions
of the individual, the better."
As for morality, and pornography's
effect upon children,
let it suffice that censorship,
like charity, should begin in the
home. It is the duty of the church
and, most importantly, the parent
to instill concepts of morality
in the child - not the community.
To remain a nation of individuals
we must encourage private
conscience. To establish public
pulpits of moral dogma is to destroy
that one gift that elevates
our nation above totalitarian
Communism - the freedom of
choice. Thomas Sico
( Continued on Vage 12)
Page 4 Farmingdale OBSERVER Thursday, May 18, 1967
