Editorial
District 22 pupils were still walking to school on
Thursday morning despite rumors that the bus
strike was nearing an end.
Last Friday, drivers of the Long Island Bus
Company decided by vote to have Local # 1 represent
them as a bargaining agent. On Saturday,
salary negotiations began in earnest.
The drivers, who were getting$ 96.50 were asking
$ 112.50 a week. The bus company's offer was a
35£ an hour increase with an additional 5£ an hour
in September 1968 and another 5£ in September 1969.
On the surface this would have brought both parties
to a near- agreement point. Management however,
we learned, was negotiating to reduce the 45
hour week to 40 hours. This caused the present
stalemate.
A group called DEBT is circulating mimeographed
literature throughout School District 22.
Many questions are posed and many conclusions
are drawn. One gets the impression that everything
is wrong within the district.
The February 10 referendum is blasted. The
Superintendent is hit. So is the architect and
everyone else, including the Commissioner of Education.
Then more questions are posed and innu-endos
left hanging. Example: ' Can the School
Board give the people an ironclad guarantee that
if we approve the extra $ 988,000 and expand the
High School, the children of District 22 will be
the beneficiaries and will not be transferred to
other districts like Wyandanch*.
We suggest that residents, and DEBT members
attend an informational meeting on Monday, February
5 at 8: 30 p. m. at Weldon E. Howitt Junior
High School.
Our guess is that the DEBT literature will die
of natural causes.
Registration for the February 10 vote is being
held Saturday from 10 a. m. to 10 p. m. at Weldon
E. Howitt Junior High School. Those registered
should have been notified by mail.
February has been designated by Governor
Rockefeller as " American History Month" in New
York State in a proclamation lauding the annual
national history- essay contest sponsored by the
Daughters of the American Revolution.
" It is of the greatest importance that our future
citizens, whose leadership role will decide our
Nation's course, should be familiar with all the
great events, the great statesmen, the national
heroes who have made the United States of America
what it is today."
" No country has a more inspiring history
than our own. It is appreciated and studied by
students of other countries all over the world,"
the Governor said.
College News
Daniel Kahn, 11 Birch Circle,
Farmingdale, and Donald
Gregory, 61 Ejutehorn Street,
Bethpage are actively engaged in
furthering the interest of die
evening student at Hostra University.
Kahn, who expects to receive
his degree in electronic
engineering in 1973, is presently
a design technician for Sanders
Associates. Majoring in personnel
management, Gregory
is President of the Society for
Advancement of Management at
Hofstra.
The newly formed Evening Student
Organization was developed
to " serve as the repository of
Evening Student opinion and to
act as an agency for bringing
relevant suggestions to the attention
of the University
administration," according to
the organization's constitution.
< 3farmui0fmle © Iismu' T
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Page 4
Miss Janis Magnuson of 19
Yoakum Ave., South Farmingdale,
is among students named
to the fall Dean's List of the
Westchester Berkeley School,
White Plains.
She is a 1967 graduate of
Farmingdale Senior High School.
Cerny To Address
Women's Club
Richard Cerny who had served,
in the Peace Corps for two years
will be the featured speaker at
the Women's Club of Farming-dale
meeting to be held on Thurs.
February 1 at 1: 30 p. m. at the
Lutheran Church meeting room.
Cerny had served in Nigeria
and entitled the program, " The
International Scene". He is now
a member of the faculty of the
State Agricultural and Technical
College in Farmingdale.
AHRC Readies
Fashion Show
The Farmingdale Auxiliary of
the Association for the Help of
Retarded Children will hold their
fourth annual dinner and fashion
show at the Holiday Manor,
Hicksville Road, Bethpage, on
Wednesday, February 21, 8: 00
P. M.
Elected President
Dr. Violet Brexler, a member
of the faculty of the Business
Education Department of the State
University Agricultural and
Technical Institute at Farming-dale,
has been elected President
of the Alpha Xi Chapter
of Delta Pi Episilon at Hunter
College. Delta Pi Episilon is a
national honorary graduate fraternity
in business education.
To Fete Congressman Grover
Congressman James R. Grover
J r . will be feted at a Dinner Dance
of the Colonial Hill Republican
Club to be held at the Huntington
Town House, Jericho Turnpike,
Huntington on Friday, March 8.
Dotebook
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3
10 a. m. to 10 p. m. Registration,
• District 22 referendum at Weldon
E. Howitt.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4
8: 30 p. m. " The Cultural Explosion
in American Jewry",
Inter - congregation series,
Israel Community Center.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 5
8: 30 p. m. - Informational meeting
February 10th referendum
Weldon E. Howitt.
8: 30 p. m. Columbiettes of Farmingdale
Council of Knights of
Columbus meeting, Council
home Morton Street and Garity
Place, Farmingdale.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7
8 p. m. East Farmingdale Civic
Association meeting, last
Memorial School.
Capitol Report
By RepJomes Grover
President Johnson, if his State
of the Union Message is to be
taken at face value, has so insulated
himself from the public
mood and from the signals coming
from Capitol Hill, that he no
longer understands the true state
of the union.
In spite of the year- long Battle
of the Bulging Budget which took
place in 1967, the President still
felt constrained to warn Congress
that he will be offering an increased
spending program and
that he still wants a tax increase.
Many analysts regard the State
of the Union Message as a political
document. And the tipoff on
the President's problems is that
Democrats as well as Republicans
were unenthusiastic about
many of his proposals. Once
again, the P r e s i d e n t was
prom is ing us an unbalanced budget.
If we gave him a tax increase,
then the budget would be unbalanced
by $ 8- billion, instead of
$ 20- billion, he said. And all that
he asks is that we increase the
income tax so as to take another
penny from every dollar. This, of
couse, is in addition to all the federal
excise taxes, the present
federal income tax, state income
taxes, s a l e s t a x e s , properly
taxes, special district taxes, etc.
The President bowed, in his
message, to various segments of
the population. He promised this
year to pay renewed attention to
the eradication of crime. That's
a move that comes better late
than never, from a man whose
appointees to the Supreme Court
have participated in decisions
which handcuffed law enforcement
agencies, whose attorney
generals urged civil disobedience
and whose Vice President was
one of the darlings of campus
protestors.
Among other things, the President
promised new programs to
attack poverty, to provide better
housing, to rebuild cities, to improve
education and to provide
health services. Many sociologists
are already of the view that
much of the unrest in campus and
in the ghettos is due to the unfulfilled
promises of immediate
accomplishment and for the
righting of social wrongs by the
Great Society.
What this Congress would have
preferred is a realistic message
which set attainable goals within
the financial reach of the taxpayer.
T h i s was not such a
message.
Gardening On The Island
By The Long Island Nurserymen's Association
The first springlike day in February
is likely to stir die gardener's
blood and produce a
strong urge to snatch up the
pruning tools and hack away.
This is a noble purpose and die
time is right — but only for
some shrubs and trees.
Pruning does a number of beneficial
jobs: It can promote more
vigorous growth, more prolific
flowering and fruiting, and
healthier branches in an old plant.
It can also shape shrubs more
attractively, and keep them from
killing themselves off widi too
many shaggy twigs that take food
from more sturdy branches. And
pruning is essential for removal
of diseased portions of a plant,
so that the disease cannot spread.
In general, dormancy is the
preferred condition for pruning
diose shrubs and trees that will
benefit by reshaping and thinning.
But many familiar shrubs popular
on the Island are valued for
their early spring blooms, which
will be sacrificed if diey are
pruned at this time of year. Included
inthis- groupareforsythia,
lilac, and Japanese flowering
quince. Pruning on these shrubs,
which will bloom this spring on
last year's new growth, should
be withheld until die flowers
have faded. Waiting until this
later time has the added advantage
of guiding you in knowing
what to remove, because you can
readily see the faded blooms.
Nevertheless, if these early-blooming
shrubs are reaching a-cross
your driveway or paths,
all is not lost if you cut them
back to relieve the traffic situation.
The branches you remove
now can be forced into bloom
indoors merely by putting them
into a container of water.
In pruning, the safest general
rule is " if in doubt, don't
do it." When you are certain
of the growth habits of your plant
materials, and know that they
need pruning before spring, get
out your tools and get to work.
When you are not certain, ask
your local nurseryman or garden-
center man for his expert
advice.
Once you have chosen your subjects
for pie- spring pruning and
have determined how far back to
cut which branches, you must
choose your weapons. If you
are the owner of a good set of
tools, you have undoubtedly taken
care to keep them in good condition.
So you will want to use
the correct tool for each job,
in order not to ruin it. For soft
green wood up to an inch in
diameter, choose a hand pruner
for cutting easily reached
Farmingdale OBSERVER
branches, and long- handled lopping
shears for those diat are
more inaccessible. Hedge shears
should be used only for hedges.
And if you have had some practice
with a pole pruner, you will
find it useful for high branches
tJiat would otherwise be out of
reach entirely when you stand
on the ground. The pole pruner,
however, is not recommended
for the inexperienced, nor is the
pole saw.
A good book on pruning is an
asset if you know what varieties
of shrubs and trees are flourishing
on your property. And if you
don't know what they are, now is
a good time to ask your nurseryman
to identify them for
you. Not only for pruning times
and practices but for general
maintenance and fertilizing,
proper plant identification takes
the guesswork out of gardening.
Among the popular Long Island
plants diat need to be pruned
before growth starts in the spring
are yew, arborvitae, and established
rose bushes. According
to the type of rose, the bush should
be pruned lightly, moderately,
or dratically. Drastic pruning is
cutting back almost to the ground,
and light pruning is cutting out
only dead wood and weak, straggly
growth.
Climbing roses of all types
need to have their twiggy growth
removed completely, and the r e maining
strong canes cut back to
half of their length. Shrub roses
need to be shaped for symmetry,
removing broken branches and
any that contribute nothing to the
shape of the bush; and last year's
shoots should be cut back to half
their length. Exceptions to these
generalities are the climbing Hybrid
Tea roses, which need a
minimum of pruning — just e-nough
to remove dead wood and
weak twigs; dwarf Polyandiaand
Floribunda roses, which also
need little pruning but occasionally
have very low- growing weak
twigs that should be removed entirely;
and Ramblers, which
should be pruned just after their
flowers have faded. As distinguished
from " climbers",
Ramblers bear small flowers in
large clusters, and have numerous
strong shoots growing from
die base of the bush.
Done at the proper time, pi lining
is essential to sturdy, attractive
plants. Improperly
timed pruning can kill die plants
entirely. So if you are uncertain
about which of your plants
should be pruned now before
they begin new growth, ask your
local member of the Long Island
Nurserymen's Association.
Thursday, February I, 1968
