Editorial
District # 22 is again the center of Long Island
news and pretty soon the national television news
networks will catch on that Farmingdale has a
thread of news stories which may very well
have national significance.
In recent weeks, our office seems like that of a
detective agency as we trace down leads and do
research. The opportunity for in- depth and detailed
reporting as a service to the community has never
been greater. We believe that only by publishing the
facts of the news in Farmingdale and the facts from
research can the community be sufficiently a-lerted
to the dangers it encounters. The dangers
are both physical as well as philosophical.
As Nassau County Police Commissioner, Francis
Looney, who happens to be a neighbor, told
the Observer this week that these threats need
constant surveillance and vigilance. These are not
crimes of passion that are quickly over. The
reasons behind them are deep rooted philosophical
ones that call for continual police investigation and
surveillance. He was speaking also of the bomb
reality in Nassau County Executive Eugene Nick-ersons
car as well as the tip on an alleged bomb
placed in Carl E. Gorton's car as well as the
five death threats to five leading residents in
this area.
The atmosphere is further charged by the need
to help the predominately Negro neighboring Wy-andanch
school district. The Board of Education
did the right thing in voting to assist Wyandanch.
Former School Board Trustee, Bernard Lang,
who voiced his belief that all children should
receive equal educational opportunity cost him
his seat on the school board. He had the courage
to say that it was'morally indefensible'that other
children should not be deprived of a good education
without Farmingdale school board members
doing something about it.
Opponents of the Wyandanch issue will now
say, " We told you so," after the District 22
Board of Education passed a resolution to give
assistance to Wyandanch. They should realize
that the Board went on record to give of their
knowledge in the areas of State and Federal
finding curriculum etc. etc. In short the kind of
advice you'd expect from a neighbor or friend.
Rumors were rampant during the first Farming-dale
school budget vote that the transportation
budget had been considerably increased due to
the school board's plan to bus Wyandanch students
into the Farmingdale schools and to bus
Farmingdale students into Wyandanch. The transportation
budget was large, because the only
transportation bids received were by one bus company.
The State Attorney General and District
attorney were alerted about the bus bidding practices.
The transportation budget was later reduced
when a realistic bus bid came in largely due to
luck since the bid came from the bus company
which had served Massapequa last year and had
lost the contract in District # 23 this year.
We believe that not only should the Farmingdale
Board of Education help Wyandanch but any members
of this District who have a special skill
or knowledge should do likewise. In addition, we
should do everything possible to make life happier
for our own Negro families, many of whom are
now attending school and library board meetings.
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Published every Thursday by
THE OBSERVER, INC.
MYrtle 4- 6367
Frank J. Klesh - Caroline B. Klesh
Editors and Publishers
Vol. 5 No. 48
The FarminKdale Observer is entered as second class matter at the .
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opinion* Ol the writers and do not necessurily represent the view of the
Observer.
Letters To
The Editor
To the Editors:
I am proud to renew my subscription
to the Farmingdale Observer,
a publication which has
courageously permitted the voice
of reason, justice and democracy
to be heard in this community
at a very important time.
I frequently read the other
local publication. Of late they
have been giving aid and comfort
to those who value •' economy'*
over quality education and who,
ironically, cling fearfully to the
status quo. . . . at all costs!
Yes, I find it valuable to read
" both sides of the coin." If we
are to make responsible decisions
based on valid judgments,
there must be a genuine exchange
and evaluation of ideas.
A basic responsibility of all
educational services in the community,
whether libraries, textbooks
or teachers, is to put at
our disposal the whole world of
ideas — expose us to all areas
of fact, thought and opinion. . .
thus enabling us to become truly
informed human beings, who can
think and act accordingly.
Where ideas flourish, wonderful
things can happen. . . . and
will!
Joan Bergman
475 Pacific St.
Massapequa Park
College News
Peter P. Malanchuk, of 3 N.
Crescent Drive. Farmingdale,
received an M. A. degree in history
from Indiana University.
* * *
Miss Marie Seymour, of 20
Radcliff Lane, South Farming-dale,
has received a scholarship
from the New York State College
of Home Economics at Cornell
University, for 1968- 69.
Marie will be a freshman this
fall.
* * *
Miss JanetLynnGoetzof2Lar-kin
St., Farmingdale has received
a scholarship from the New York
State College of Home Economics
at Cornell University, for 1968-
69.
Janet, will be a senior this fall.
* * *
Buddy Krumenacher and Tom
Walsh, of Farmingdale, members
of the Ball State, Muncie, Indiana,
Lacrosse Club, have received
A11- Midwest Lacrosse Association
Club honors. The selections
were made by a vote of the association's
coaches.
Krumenacher, a junior, made
the team as an attack while Walsh,
a freshman, played midfield.
* * *
A. DavidShulman, of 100 Jervis
Avenue, and Hung Yuet Yee of 14
Ivy Street, Farmingdale received
PH. D. degrees at graduation exercises
held at Polytechnic Institute
of Brooklyn.
Anna Marie Ward, of 7Colonial
Drive, Farmingdale, received the
degree of Bachelor of Arts with
a major in French from C. W.
Post College.
William James Maceluch, of
50 Birch Ave., Farmingdale, r e ceived
the degree of Bachelor of
Arts with a major in General
Business from C. W. Post College.
Alan Francis Abramoske, of
40 Doud Street, Farmingdale, r e ceived
the degree of Bachelor of
Science with a major in Engineering
from C. W. Post College.
* * *
Arthur Louis Deissler, of 381
Secatogue Avenue, Farmingdale,
received the degree of Bachelor
of Science with a major in Industrial
Management from C. W. Post
College.
* * *
Henry James Reilly of 10 Walnut
Avenue, Bast Farmingdale,
received the degreee of Bachelor
of Science with a major in Accounting
from C. W. Post College.
School Board Offers To Assist Wyandanch
( Continued from Page 1)
that if the person drowning were
Mrs. Dratt, he wouldn't bother
to save her, knowing her thinking.
A taxpayer, Arnold Di-
Silvestro critized the Board
for arbitrailly offering the services
of Farmingdale without
first consulting the opinion of
residents. He said that board
members could help on an individual
basis but that Campbell's
resolution sounded like the board
was speaking for the entire community.
He praised the opinions
voiced by Spinetta and Mol-lineaux.
Warren Altmann, newly- elected
Farmingdale Library Board
Trustee, asked whether Wyandanch
School board members had
been present at the meeting. Mrs.
Goulding said that they had not,
but that they had met the night
before. The results of that
meeting had been classified as
' privileged information', according
to Mrs. Goulding.
It was learned that Wyandanch
District Principal, James Lewis
J r . stated that instant integration
by merging the Wyandanch district
following dissolution
would end significant educational
progress being made. Lewis,
a Negro, who has served as
District Principal for one year,
cited the recruitment of a stronger
teaching staff, the formation
of remedial educational programs
and the promise of
$ 475,000 in state and federal
aid. The district is 86% Negro,
he said.
The State Education Department
and New York Univer -
sity have issued reports branding
the education in Wyandanch as
inferior. " Wyandanch with the
area, " It gives the false impression
of the superiority of whites
and the inferiority of blacks".
A new program of individually
prescribed instruction in mathematics
will be offered to primary
level students in Wyandanch.
The program will include
at least 500 of the dist
r i c t ' s 1,600 primary pupils.
Parents will have the option of
deciding whether they want their
children to participate or not.
The program will use 5,000
mathematics instruction materials
including films, graded
texts, play money and abacuses.
The program is now being carried
out on an experimental two-year
basis in 88 school districts
across the nation, according to
Lewis. An official of the research
firm who conceived the
idea, Dr. Robert Scanlon, said
that the test program, involving
8,000 students in all parts of
the United States has already
resulted in increased school attendance;
improved teacher attitudes
in both ghetto and non-ghetto
urban areas.
A daily newspaper this week
carried a story that about 25
persons demanded that Wyandanch
school members resign
because of ' gross neglect and
indifference to the district.*
School Board President, Ernest
B. Reynolds said that a much
larger segment of the community
would have to sign such a
- petition, before the demand is
taken to the six- member board.
Mrs. Jaqueline Taitte, headed
up the group seeking resignations.
A Mrs. Anne Thomason , a
member of the group, charged
that the school board does not
have the confidence of the community.
She said that they
would bring the matter to New
York State Commissioner of Education,
Dr. James E. Allen.
Last spring DEBT, a Farmingdale
group publication, charged
that the District # 22 Board
of Education had already planned
to bus in Wyandanch students
to Farmingdale and had included
funds in the transportation
budget. The DEBT group urged
defeat of the budget and the
budeet was defeated the first
time around. In the resubmission,
the transportation budget
was curtailed, largely due to the
receipt of more favorable bids.
The Board of Education denied
that Wyandanch had anything to
do with the transportation budget.
A petition was presented! to the
school board asking that Farmingdale
not ever absorb the
Wyandanch school district and
never bus in or out Farmingdale
school district children. According
to Trustee A. ^ erry
Weathers and other reliable
spokesmen, Lang, who had publicly
admitted that he favored
equal educational opportunity for
all and was a former member
of the NAACP and said that
he would join again, was probably
defeated for just this reason.
Capitol Report
By Repjames Grover
Second Congressional District
One of the President's many,
many study groups, the Crime
Commission, in its 1967 report
listed the annual cost of crime
to this nation at more than $ 21-
billion. Since the Commission
was working with figures for
1965 and before, it's safe to
assume that the annual cost is
now more than $ 25- billion.
The whole problem of crime
in this nation has more direct
impact on Americans than even
the problem of VietNam. For
the first time in our history,
Americans fear to walk alone
at night in our large cities or
in our parks. They are being
taxed more and more for police
protection and for courts and
their insurance costs go even
higher, if indeed the insurance is
not canceled.
The Crime Commission's report
on the cost of crime broke
down this way: cost of crimes
against persons, property, and
other forms of lawbreaking, $ 15-
billion; public law enforcement
and court costs, $ 4.2- billion;
private costs of crime, such
as guards and insurance, $ 1.9-
billion. This does not measure
the cost of crime in fear and in
the distress of its victims.
In the face of this growing
threat of crime and with cries
of alarm from throughout the
nation, we are faced with a
Supreme Court whose decisions
lean in favor of protecting the
rights of the criminal. Our top
federal law enforcement officer,
Attorney (< en. Ramsey
Clark, speaks more like a sociology
professor than a lawman.
Sen. Eugene McCarthy, a
top figure in the race for the
Democratic Presidential nomination,
tries to make points by
criticism of FBI Chief J. Edgar
Hoover.
Congress, reacting to the
Supreme Court's liberalism,
just passed anti crime and safe
streets bills which the President
signed with reluctance. Congress
has also acted on legislation
designed to upset the
court's decisions on confes -
sions and wiretapping.
1 don't think it's unfair to
criticize the permissive at
titude towards crime which
some of our top officials have
shown. Our people want safe
streets, secure homes, a
guarantee of their physical
security whereever they may go,
and a society that operates within
the structure of the laws.
That, 1 submit, is not too much
to ask.
Richard Edward Assennato, of
11 Kent Street, Farmingdale, received
the degreee of Bachelor
of Arts with a major in Political
Science from C. W. Post College.
William Joseph Leeming, of 637
Fulton St., Farmingdale, received
the degree of Bachelor of Arts
with a major in ( ieneral Business
from C. W. Post College.
Page 4 Farmingdale OBSERVER, Thursday, July 18, 1968
