Capitol Report
Observer Garners New York Press Award
By Rep James Grover
You don't have to be a Congressman
to know that mail service,
in spite of the willingness of
postal employes, on Long Island
is terrible. And it's not the best
kept secret in the world that part
of the reason is the use of the
Post Office Department as a
political grab- bag for the party
in power.
Just before the current Congressional
session opened, I
called upon Lawrence O'Brien,
the Postmaster General, to act
upon some of the fine promises
he made several years ago, when
he took office. At that time,
O'Brien promised to take the department
out of politics and improve
efficiency.
Now I'm too much of a realist
to expect O'Brien to take the entire
Post Office Department out
of politics. All that I asked last
month was that he lay off politicking
with the second Congressional
District and gives us the facilities
and the manpower we need
to get the mail delivered. His answer
was a classic. If we improve
service in the Second Congressional
District, he said, we'd
have to improve it everywhere.
We cant consider individual
problems. In one fell swoop, Mr.
O'Brien made improvement of
mail delivery sound like something
shady — like spot zoning.
It appears that we wont be able
to look forward to any action in
the near future on improvement
of mail service, not until next
year at least. Those two r e spected
columnists, Robert
Novak and Rowland Evans, report
that our non- political Postmaster
General has been named by
President Johnson to handle the
Democratic Presidential campaign.
That means that O'Brien wont
have too much time to count
stamps or write nasty letters
to crank Congressmen. He'll be
working on campaign strategy
with the President and will be
beefing up the Democratic National
Committee. You can't get
much more non- political than
that, now can you?
And the patronage pony express
which O'Brien runs will go just a
bit more downhill while Larry
and Lyndon campaign for the
Presidency.
Board Seeks Quick Meet with MCTA
Mrs. Lucile Goulding, President
of the District 22 Board
of Education sent a telegram
on Wednesday to Dr. William
J. Ronan of the Metropolitan
Commuter Transportation Authority
stating that it was imperative
to set a time and place
for a meeting with the school
district regarding current negotiations
by MCTA for Republic
Airfield.
A letter with this request had
been sent on January 29.
ALBANY,
By Alex Rankin
The Joint Legislative Committee
on Crime lit the fire last
week under the State University,
the multi - billion dollar taxpayer-supported
college system spread
out across the state.
But so far, the re has been more
heat than light.
There were carloads of
charges and headlines at the
first hearings in New York City,
but no new ideas on how to stop
the spread of the use of marijuana
and LSD by young students.
" Are you aware of the movies
you could show students onthis?"
a senator on the committee asked
John Toll, president of the State
University College at Stony
Brook, L. I.
This drew giggles and rolling
eyes from the bearded, longhaired
professors and students
of Stony Brook in the audience.
They were there because the
committee had subpoenaed them.
It drew a blank stare from Toll.
In fact most of Toll's testimony
might be called a blank.
He began by telling the committee
he thinks the campus drug
problem is the biggest problem
he faced last year. He said he
talks about it all the time, to the
faculty, to the students, at meetings
and dinner speeches off the
campus.
But when a senator bore in
and repeatedly asked Toll for
specifics, what he had actually
been doing to prevent the spread
of narcotics on the campus, he
had none. All he had was generalities.
The specifics are that last
month 17 students and non- students
living in dorms built by
taxpayers were arrested in a
raid and charged with the felonius
sale of narcotics.
Toll told the committee that
an estimated 20 per cent of the
more than 5,000 students at Stony
Brook have used drugs.
Here is one reason why Toll
couldn't come with specifics*
The OBSERVER publications
added further to its newspaper
laurels last Friday when it won
another award to a growing list
of first, second and third place
New York Press Association a-wards.
A series of stories which appear
d in both newspapers but was
entered by only the Farmingdale
OBSERVER, was given a second
place in the Best News Story
in a tie with the Farmingdale
Post. The award was for
the running story about Library
Trustee, Carl E. Gorton.
According to the judge, Dr.
Wayne Rowland, Chairman of the
Department; of Newspapers,
Syracuse University School of
Journalism, " One of the most
difficult stories to handle fairly,
objectively, and in the best
interest of the community is
one where personalities, pride,
and emotion are involved. In
this instance, the story of a
John Birch Society member
elected to the local library board
set off fireworks. " The judge
went on to say that two newspapers,
( the Observer and the
Farmingdale Post), " covered the
running story thoroughly, fairly
and interestingly. Editorial comment
and letters to the editor,
while not a part of the news
story exactly, nevertheless indicate
that the paper fulfilled
its role as a source of information,
forum and constructive
critic. This was a running story
of the type which taxes the editor's
patience and makes him
look to the Biblical axiom that
t h i s , too, shall pass away'".
The stories appeared in both
OBSERVER newspapers, but was
entered in the contest by only
one of its publications.
Fou years ago The Farming-dale
Observer won two first
places including first for " Best
News Story". Last year another
first place was won for " Best
Single Advertising Idea".
TOB Names Advisory Group
For John Burns Park
Town Councilman Philip B.
Healey this week named a seven
man temporary Advisory Committee
for the John J. Burns
Park.
The Committee will be responsible
for assisting in the development
of various recreational activities
at the John J. Burns Park
as the park becomes available,,
The Committee will consistof:
Charles N. Noble, Athletic Director
of the Massapequa School
System will serve as chairman;
Last summer the new Narcotics
Control Board held a
three- day meeting on the use of
narcotics by college students. All
college administrators from
across the state were invited.
Toll toll the committee that
the acting associate dean of students
at Stony Brook had attended
the conference, the first
of its kind.
But his own dean of students
followed him to the witness chair
and said no one from Stony Brook
had attended the meeting.
Toll thinks narcotics is his
major problem. Apparently.
Why is this whole subject important?
Why get all lathered up
about a little LSD freak- out or a
marijuana party on campus?
Here is why:
Thousands of high school students
applied to Stony Brook last
year for admission. Only a few
got in. There wasn't room for
more. Stony Brook has a brilliant
academic record because
it has drawn good teachers and
because it draws its students
from the top of the pack.
Toll was at great pains to tell
the committee that the great majority
of students at Stony Brook
are hard at work taking advantage
of their opportunity. He even invited
the committee to come out
to the campus and look in on the
library. " It's filledevery night,"
he said.
But how about the 20 per cent
who are in their dorms gassed
out of their brains on marijuana?
So what about the thousands
who didn't get in, who could take
the place of that 20 per cent and
fill the library every night even
more?
With thousands on the outside,
even the bearded minority
shouldn't be tolerated. It's a
waste - both to them and to the
ones who can't go to Stony Brook
and other State University colleges
because there is no room
for them.
Lawrence J . Flynn, Director CYO
at St. Rose of Lima; Frank J.
Tufariello, Metropolitan Commissioner
Babe Ruth League;
Frank G. Pizzerelli, Commissioner
of Mustang Football
League; Arden Nelson, a teacher
and boating enthusiast; Dr„
Harris Canarick, Vice President
of Harbor Green Estates
Civic Association and Phil Al-fmo,
Commissioner of a Softball
League.
Gerard Trotta, Superintendent
of the Parks and William Brown,
Supervisor of Parks will act as
resource personnel for this Committee.
'• A series of meetings will be
held to plan the various sports
activities at the park," Healey
said. A final report will be r e leased
in several months.
Work is expected to start soon
on developing the John J. Burns
Park to accommodate diversified
sports and recreational activities.
* • • Servicemen
Captain Eugene R. Landini, son
of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Landini
of 58 E. Carmans Rd., Farmingdale,
is attending the Air University
academic instructor
course at Maxwell Air Force
Base Alabama.
The captain is a communications
instructor for the Air
Training Command at Keesler
Air Force Base, Mississippi.
* * *
Alan J. Skelly of 90 Alhambra
Road, Massapequa was commissioned
as Second Lieutenant in
the United States Army, having
participated in ROTC as well
as was graduated from Hofstra
University on Sunday.
* * *
Marine Lance Corporal Edwin
Hollwedel Jr., son of Mr. and
Mrs. Edwin Hollwedel Sr. of 160
N. Kings Ave., North Massapequa,
reported for duty at the
Marine Corps Air Station, Iwa-kuni,
Japan.
He has been assigned to Informational
Services Office
where he will perform duties as
a press information man.
. A graduate of Farmingdale
Senior High School, Lance Corporal
Hollwedel entered the service
in May 1967.
* * *
Seaman Apprentice Paul Rigo-lini,
USN, 18 son of Mr. and
Mrs. Fred R. Rigolini of 43
Birch Ave., Farmingdale, has
been graduated from nine weeks
of Navy basic training at the Naval
Training Center at Great Lakes,
Illinois.
* * *
Seaman Apprentice Joseph E.
Smith, Jr., USN, 18, son of Mr.
and Mrs. J. Smith of 30 Lin-wood
Ave. Farmingdale, has
been graduated from nine weeks
of Navy basic training at the
Naval Training Center at Great
Lakes, Illinois.
* * *
Marine Corporal Stephen De-
Florio, son of Mr. and Mrs.
DeFlorio of 220 North Iowa Ave.
Massapequa, and the husband of
the former Miss Laura J. Ama-trudaof
36Radcltffe Ave., South
Farmingdale, is serving with the
First Marine Aircraft Wing in
the Republic of Vietnam.
* * *
Fireman Apprentice John T.
Buono, USN, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Rudolph Buono of 19 Hampton
Road, North Massapequa, reported
for duty aboard the self-propelled
barracks ship, USS
Benewak in the Mekong Rivet-
Delta of South Vietnam.
* * •
Army Private First Class
Mark C. Puchacz 20, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Edward A. Puchacz, 17
Euclid Ave., Massapequa, was
assigned as a rifleman in Company
A, 2d Battalion of the 4th
Infantry Division's 8th Infantry
nearPleiju Vietnam.
Private John Cunningham, 22,
son of Mr. and Mrs. John B.
Cunningham, 285 Illinois Ave.,
Massapequa Park, completed
eight weeks of military police
training at the Army Training
Center, Fort Gordon, Georgia.
During the course, he was
trained in civil and military law,
traffic control, map reading, p r i soner-
of- war control and self-defense.
He received his B. A. degree
in 1967 from Hofstra University.
* * *
Seaman Apprentice Donald G.
Jacobsen, USN, 18 son of Mr.
and Mrs. George T. Jacobsen of
13 Shawnee Drive, N., Massapequa,
has been graduated from
nine weeks of Navy basic training
at the Naval Training Center
Great Lakes, Illinois.
• • •
Cadet John E„ Verardo, son
of Mr. and Mrs. John E. Verardo
Sr. of 133 Walnut St., Massapequa
Park, has been named to the Commandant's
List at the United
States Air Force Academy.
Cadet Verardo, a member of
the class of ' 70, was selected
in recognition of his outstanding
military performance. He will
wear a silver wreath designating
the honor accorded him by the
academy commandant of cadets.
The cadet will be commissioned
a second lieutenant and
awarded a B. S. degree upon his
graduation from the academy,,
He is a 1965 graduate of Ber-ner
High School.
* * *
Army Specialist Four Henry W.
Bailey n, 23, whose parents live
at 246 Van Cott Ave., Farming-dale,
received the Good Conduct
Medal at Ft. Hood, Texas while
assigned to the United States
Army Garrison Special Troops.
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^\ What Happened ^ - ^ t j
rjfrjJAt the School S S i i ? ^
Board Meeting? i& i^ iL
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School District 18
The sidewalk situation, or lack
of them, on Hicksville Road was
the subject of discussion at the
School District 18 Board of Education
meeting on Thursday.
The School Board wrote a letter
to the Town of Oyster Bay to
take some action now on the
sidewalks when the road is in
for reconstruction.
( On February 1, this newspaper
ran a front page story
about the Town Board urging
the State Department of Public
Works to include sidewalks in
the Hicksville Road future plans.-)
In other matters, the Board
was reassured that the South-edge
School renovation and addition
would be completed this
week. There had been a long
delay in installation of plumbing
facilities and working spaces in
the science rooms.
Hope was also expressed that
the new administration building
would be completed by March 1.
The heating system is presently
being tested and if approved,
some new tile flooring will be
installed, a second coat of wall
paint will be applied prior to
moving in of the furniture.
Eli Macropaulous, High School
Social Studies Chairman, was
appointed the new Summer High
School principal and Henry
Farmingdale OBSERVER, Thursday, February 15, 1968
Montagni was reappointed the
summer elementary school principal.
The Board will hold an Education
meeting on Thursday,
February 29 instead of Thursday,
February 22, Washington's
Birthday.
School District 23
A group of parents were present
at the District 23 Board of
Education meeting last Thursday
to question the junior high
school graduation policy.
Due to the fact that last year's
ninth grade graduations were held
at both the two junior highs and
the two senior high schools, some
parents pressed for a ninth grade
graduation exercise for the present
class. This was prompted
by the Board's decision last
spring to discontinue 1968 9th
grade graduations, since 9th
graders are now housed in either
Massapequa or Berner High
Schools and not at junior high
schools.
Parents were pressing for a
ceremony claiming that these
youngsters were " being skipped
over" due to the Board's policy.
Since last year's eighth graders
had an informal ceremony
during the school day, parents
saught a more formal ceremony.
The Board will take the matter
under advisement.
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