Editorial
Retired Judge Willis B. Carman made the presentation
of the " Man Of The Year Award" at
Brotherhood Sunday ceremonies held at Weldon
E. Howitt Junior High School. He said " It has
been the custom over the years to recognize
outstanding work in the. community by
a man or woman. This year the award was given
to a policeman, a good policeman, who has shown
himself to be a man of integrity, patience and
understanding. This policeman has gained the reputation
of never having drawn a gun. He kept the
peace with the strength of his personality and tact."
Carman continued to say, " Boys and girls loved
him at school crossings. They obeyed his instructions
because they cared about the man who gave
them. Carman then presented the plaque to Alex
Mayerhofer, a policeman for over 40 years and a
resident of 360 Staples Street, Farmingdale'.'
In the early 192 0' s Mayerhofer was engaged
on the police force by The Incorporated Village
of Farmingdale. He was the second police officer
hired, the first being Arthur Powell who had been
engaged in 1920 on Saturdays and Sundays during
the summer months because people worried over
the speeding vacationers who sped through Farmingdale.
At that time the speed limit was eight
miles per hour.
In 1939 when the Farmingdale Village police
force was taken over by Nassau County, Mayerhofer
continued to serve as policeman,
Datebook
FRIDAY, MARCH 1
9 p. m. Republic tax problem rally,
Joint Civic and Taxpayers
Council of the Town of Babylon,
Town Hall, 200 East Sunrise
Highway, North Linden-hurst.
SATURDAY, MARCH 2
9 pan. " Hoe- Down," Ladies Auxiliary
Farmingdale Hawks
Midget Football Association,
Massapequa Jewish Center,
SUNDAY, MARCH 3
2: 30 p. m. St. Kilian Boys Basketball
team vs Our Lady of
Lourdes team, Conklin Street
court
1 to 6 p. m. Long Island Judo'
Tournament at Farmingdale
High School
3 p. m. Robert R. Coles to speak
on " Long Island Indians,"
Farmingdale - Bethpage Historical
Society, South Farmingdale
branch library.
MONDAY, MARCH 4
7: 30 pjn. District 22 CAC meeting
on Assessments, Weldon
E. Howitt
8: 30 p. m. District 22 Board of
Education meeting, Weldon E.
Howitt
8: 30 p. m. Our Lady of Lourdes
Rosary Altar Society meeting,
guest speaker, Rev. Gerald
Minogue from Pius X Seminary,
school auditorium, Massapequa
Park
8: 30 p. m. Meeting and nominations
for Outer Guard, Colum-biettes
of Farmingdale Council,
Knights of Columbus, Council
Home.
TUESDAY, MARCH 5
All Day - Knights of Columbus
Day in Farmingdale as proclaimed
by Mayor Joseph Zu-reck.
9: 30 p. m. Open House and film,
" The Papal Challenge,"
Farmingdale Council of
Knights of Columbus, Council'
Home, Morton Street and Ga-rity
Place
8 p. m. Farmingdale Baseball
League clinic for umpires and
Little League personnel, South
Farmingdale Branch Library.
9: 45 a. m. Farmingdale Home-makers
Council, trip to
Hickory Farms, meet at Farmingdale
Methodist Church.
WEDNESDAY MARCH 6
8: 30 p. m. Joint Legislative Committee
of Motor Vehicle Traffic
and Highway Safety of State,
Berner Jr. Sr. High School
Light on For Education in support
of State Aid bills, Turn auto-mo
bile lights on in daytime driving.
8 p. m. Card and Bunco party,
American Legion Ladies Auxiliary,
Legion Hall, Eastern
Parkway, Farmingdale
8: 30 p. m. Card and Bunco party,
Women's Division of the Farmingdale
Republican Club, St.
Thomas Undercroft
THURSDAY, MARCH 7
7: 30 p. m. Town of Oyster Bay
Republican dinner in honor of
Angelo D. Roncallo Garden City
Hotel.
8: 30 p. m. Program on Drug Addiction,
residents of Topic
House speakers, Farmingdale
Senior High School PTA,
Farmingdale Senior High
School
FRIDAY, MARCH 8
10. a. m. - 12: 30 p. m. Farming-dale
Baseball League, Ladies
Auxiliary, Bowling Luncheon,
County Line Bowling Alley
^ armttigtatle fflhmtw
Published every Thursday by
THE OBSERVER, INC.
MYrtle 4- 6367
Frank J. Klesh - Caroline B. Klesh
Editors and Publishers
Vol. 5 No. 28
Tne Kurmingda! e Observe, s entered as second .. IHSS matter- at the
StSSnf& t& gt Road?' » « * • • « * « « w Yortc. with S K & J S
Subscription Rate $ 4 per year
Member of the New York Press Associatic
National Advertising Representative
American Ntwspaper Representatives. Inc.
• Atlanta • Chicago • Detroit • LOR Angeles • New York
Mailing Address Box 492, Farmingdale N. Y. 1 1735
This publication will not be responsible for errors in advertising
btyonu the cost of the space occupied by the error, HyJiti'ed articles
are the sole opinion:, of the writers and do not necessurjly represen
the view of The Observer
Letters To
The Editor
Dear Frank and Caroline:
I wish to extend my personal
congratulations « on the awards
you recently won from the New
York State Press Association.
Your diligent and honest reporting
of the news of our Town
has again been recognized by
your associates in the journalism
field.
I hope that the OBSERVER
will enjoy continued success for
many years to come.
Michael N. Petito
Supervisor Town of
Oyster Bay
Dear Caroline and Frank:
A bit belatedly, let me offer
my congratulations on the New
York Press Association awards
given to the Observer.
Herb Goldstone
Director of Public
Information Nassau
Democratic County Committee
Dear Editor:
In assessing the effectiveness
of our work for 1967, we are
made aware of the essential part
of the various communications
media played in educating the
public and motivating individuals
to take part in our health activities
and to support financially the
association's objectives.
It is entirely fitting at this
time that we give you your fair
share of credit for doubling the
record for free chest X- rays;
for promoting the county's first
free breathing test, for helping
fill the audience at our symposium
on air pollution; for swelling
the ranks of our volunteer helpers;
for encouraging applicants
for pulmonary function training;
for drawing people from all over
to the first County- wide Smoking
Withdrawal Clinic; and in general,
for making people care
more about clean air, the hazards
of smoking, and respiratory diseases.
All of the above programs
were made possible by donations
to the Christmas Seal Campaign.
Through your good offices in
telling the public about them, the
association will gain continued
support for these essential health
services.
s / F. E. Simonson
Franklin E, Simonson
1967 Christmas Seal Chairman
Page 4
Interact Sponsors
Successful Dance
The Interact Club of Farming-dale
High School sponsored one
of the best attended and most
successful dances in the school's
history last Saturday when over
600 students were treated to three
hours of music by two groups, the
Translucent Windowsill and the
Druids. The Druids, who had
previously played at several
nightblubs and parties made their
first appearance in Farmingdale.
The Translucent Windowsill were
made up of six Dalers: Mike
Iovine, Charlie Pierro, Jim
Longo, Richie Marascia, Frank
Mirabel la, and Al Scotto.
GOP Auxiliary
Slates Party
The Women's Division of the
Farmingdale Republican Club
will hold a Card and Bunco party
on Wednesday, March 6 at 8: 30
p. m. at St. Thomas Undercroft.
Participants are asked to bring
their own cards.
Tickets may be obtained by
calling Marge Pfoh at CH 9- 8803
or Marge Meyerhoff at CH 9-
6236.
Rabbi Teicher, Delegate
To Convention
Rabbi Paul Teicher of the
Farmingdale Jewish Center, will
attend the Annual Convention of
the Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative
Rabbis at Kiamesha
Lake, New York, on March 24-
28.
The key add « ess will be given
by the new Israeli Ambassador
to the United States, Yitzhak
Rabin.
As We See It
By Hiliard P„ Boss and
Charles Gerston
Recently, a friend of ours was
considering moving from Valley
Stream to a community further
east so as to be closer to his
place of employment. Our suggestion
that he consider Farmingdale
was firmly turned down.
" You've got a Birch problem
out there," we were told. " I
don't want any part of it." Reactions
like this are not uncommon.
No one wants to become
part of a factionalized community.
There have been too
many instancer of divided communities
occurring inour country
already.
However, Farmingdale is not
unique. Ultra- patriotic and right
wing organizations have been increasingly
active in attempts to
screen textbooks and remove
books considered objectionable
from school and public libraries.
Books have been commonly attacked
on the grounds that they
are " favorable to Communism,"
" Arouse sentiments contrary to
the American way," or are
" obscene and undermine sexual
morality." The extremists have
provoked campaigns against
school and library board officials,
administrators, and even
against teachers themselves.
In Pleasantville, Iowa, a
campaign of interference and
harassment directed against the
town school system was led by a
clique of John Birch Society
members and their allies. The
result was the forced disgust by
more than half of the town's
33 teachers. At the end of the
year, the Town Board had to offer
a $ 350 bonus simply to persuade
the remaining teachers to stay in
Pleasantville for another school
year.
Let us review the facts as they
occurred in Farmingdale. Four
years ago, the leader of the local
John Birch cell launched an attack
on the Farmingdale Public
Library for carrying on the
shelves a book he considered
" blasphemous, obscene, and
anti- religious." Not content with
disapproving the book himself,
'
he wanted to deny others the
right to read it, and to denounce
the library staff for having
stocked it. The book was " The
Last Temptations of Christ."
The author, Nikos Kazantzakis,
has written many well known
books, among them " Zorba The
Greek." The book which was
denounced locally was so highly
regarded in literary circles that
Kazantzakis missed winning a
Pultizer Prize by one vote
for having written it. He is
ranked amongst the world's
greatest authors.
Last year the Birchers attacked
" The Paris Review," a
well - received literary journal
that is subscribed to by half the
libraries in New York, and incidentally,
many public and parochial
schools as well. This year
the ploy will apparently be textbooks.
In last year's October issue,
the " Library Journal" wrote,
" Since Farmingdale is a highly
typical American community,
with conditions thaty may well
be duplicated in hundreds of other
towns and small cities, its plight
is potentially of significance far
beyond local concerns. The two
elements that make this plight
possible could be duplicated almost
anywhere.... a not really
very large group of lower m iddle-class
voters susceptible to anti-intellectual
appeals, and one determined
agitator who is apparently
immune to both embarrassment
and reason."
The John Birch Society already
has one member on the Farming-dale
Library Board. There is no
question but that they are going
after the schools next. Unless the
voters want to turn Farmingdale
into another Pleasantville, Iowa,
they had better find out who the
Birch- backed candidates will be
before school elections next May.
Of course this may be difficult
to do because of the Birch
strategy of not announcing their
candidacy until the last possible
moment when it is too late to pin
them down to the real issues.
People, Places
& Politics
• By Caroline Bunting Kleshm0* 0* **
There'll be no village elections in Farmingdale on Tuesday,
March 19. Reason for this is that the Mayor and village trustees
no longer are up for reelection every two years. The term of office
had been extended to a four year term basis.
Next March, however, Police Justice John E. Gillies will be up
for reelection. Other village officials won't have to run until 1970.
* * *
Have you ever found an arrowhead? Wouldn't you like to know
who might have used it? Was there such a stone as an Indian
paint pot? You will learn many interesting facts about Long Island
Indians when you attend the Sunday, March 3 meeting of the Farm-ingdale-
Bethpage Historical Society, at 3 p. m., in the South Farmingdale
Library.
* * *
Town of Babylon citizens overwhelmingly rejected the planned
aviation and transportation center at Republic in a poll concluded
on Saturday by the ' Do Citizens Count?" committee.
Of the 3,853 persons filling out questionaires, 3,410 said they
were opposed to the state's plan for the establishment of the center
at Republic Field and Zahn's Airport.
The citizens questioned also overwhelmingly called for a referendum
on the project and for full compensation for any tax loss should
the referendum be denied.
* * *
Many people in the area were very pleased to hear about
the almost sure possibility of Joseph Colby being appointed by
the GOP in April as Assemblyman to take the place of Francis
McCloskey, who was reported in line to accept a position on the
State Lottery Commission. In fact some leading Democrats were
even ready to renounce their leadership and committeemanship
to form ' Democrats for Colby'
According to McCloskey he had never been offered any Lottery
position and has no thought of resigning. The only job he
wants is that of Assemblyman and he will definetly run for reelection.
* * *
Condolances to Town of Oyster Bay Frank Hynes, whose mother
passed away this week. Hynes is Republican leader of Farming-dale.
* * *
, W6"!! 31 y o u m a * tove read » « 5% to 90% student absences
in District 22 are legal and not illegal.
Farmingdale OBSERVER, Thursday, February 29, 1968
