Editorial Letters To The Editor
Campaign
By far the most heated election issue this
coming Wednesday in Farmingdale involves a
proposal by the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People to dissolve the pre-dominetly
negro Wyandanch school district.
A group of taxpayers seem to feel that this will
have an affect on their district.
The issue has become bitter and has even dominated
the annual budget hearing last week as well as
the PTA candidates forum. Actually, the whole
matter is not within the province of District 22
school officials. Unfortunately, the subject Lis become
a major campaign issue. Even to the extent
of racial overtones under the guise of " we do not
want to spend money for busing in and out of the
school district".
Lang And Jones
The two incumbents, Bernard Lang and Mrs.
Josephine Jones have been pressured by the opponents
to take stands on an issue over which
they have no control. We don't think this is fair.
In this case, the main concern is whether these two
candidates are qualified to be reelected. Very
few can deny the dedicated years of service that
the intelligent and responsible Bernard Lang has
given to the school district %
Lang is a man who exemplifies the kind of leadership
and personal committment that aresuch rare
commodities in public life. In his concern for children
outside the district, who are attending schools
under segregated conditions, he is showing his a-wareness
that where educational deprivation exists,
all education suffers. People who value a man of
courage cannot afford to lose such a man as Bernard
Lang from the Board of Education.
No one can deny his contributions in upgrading
the curriculum in the school system. We
heartily endorse his reelection as well as that
of Mrs. Josephine Jones whose opponent Roy
Spinetta has been practically an unknown until this
election.
Mrs. Florence DeHaan, who had previously
given years of service on the Board of Education
prior to her defeat several years ago, has not
done her past record any good by her inflamatory
remarks about her opponent, Bernard Lang..
Tilford
Incumbent Library candidate Paul Tilford, a
dedicated public servant, should be returned to
office over his challangers Warren Altmann and
Arthur James.
Yes' On Budgets
We urge a yes vote on the school, library and
youth council budgets. We hope that Farmingdale
will not vote on hysterical racial prejudice.
JfarmtUB& ale ( Nuttnwi
P u b l i s h e d every Thursday by
THE OBSERVER, INC.
MVrtle 4- (>: » () 7
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I'ne Purtningda't Obwivei
Vol. 5 No. 37
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Page 4
To the Editor:
While a generalization cannot
be made from a single instance,
generalizations can be disproved
by single exceptions. There
are so many exceptions to the
false statements nnde by DEBT
and its supporters that what they
print and those who are supported
by them must be rejected.
In an early issue, DEBT said
that the school district promised
a tax reduction of two cents.
Instead, it has been well publicized
that the approved referendum
on the high school additions
would result in a tax
increase which would be two
cents less than what the increase
would be if the referendum
were not approved.
In their recent release, DEBT
said that Board members spent
$ 35,912.32 in 1967. The
truth is that expenditures of the
Board of Education is a title
and part of the budget code. These
funds are not spent for board
members, who get no comLDen-sation,
but cover the salaries
or fees of paid employees of
the district which include the
district clerk, treasurer, the
attorney, the auditor and many
others.
We should vote for candidates
of integrity and proven service.
I urge you to vote for Mrs.
Josephine Jones, Bernard Lang,
and Paul Tilford.
George R. Schriro
Dear Editor:
As a former School Board
Trustee who did not seek reelection
due to my heavy business
commitments, I feel duty
bound to speak out concerning
this year's election for School
Board Trustees in District 22.
I have worked with and closely
observed the encumbents, Mr.
Bernard Land and Mrs. Josephine
Jones, during two of my three
years on the Board. Meeting three
or four times a week gave me a
true insight into the type of Trustees
and the work accomplished
by Bernie Land and Josephine
Jones. I can honestly say that at
all times the paramount interest
of the encumbents was for " quality
education" for all the students
of the district. It would be difficult,
if not impossible, to enumerate
the many programs and
projects inaugurated due to the
outstanding abilities and hard
work of these two fine people.
To say that I have agreed 100%
with Bernie and Josephine would
be untrue. No School Board Trustee
agrees at all times with his
fellow board members. The qualities
which, in my opinion, make
an excellent School Board Trustee
are the ability to think for
oneself, conscientious hard work
and a true understanding of the
needs and problems of our district.
Josephine Jones and Bernard
Lang have such qualities.
I support Josephine Jones and
Bernie Lang's candidacy and urge
the residents of District 22 to
vote for their re- election.
Vincent J. Simone
Former School Board Trustee
Dear Editor:
I like my many friends in
Farmingdale and the Massape-quas
to know that I will vote
for Mrs. Jones and Bernard Lang
and Paul Tilford in the coming
elections.
I decided on these candidates,
because Mr. Gorton is campaigning
against them. Mr. Gorton has
tried and is still trying to divide
the community by the use of distortions
and falsehoods, a strong
assertion that I have to substantiate:
Never before was the political
adherence of a candidate for the
library board mentioned until Mr.
Gorton broke this observance
by stressing his membership in
the Birch Society in his preelection
interviews. Now poor
Mr. Gorton seeks sympathy, because
he feels " subjected to
arrogant and malicious disrespect"
which he erroneously relates
to his opponents' dislike
of his political adherence.
Mr. Gorton proved his suspiciousness
and enmity against
the other members of the library
board from the beginning by his
never parting from his tape recorder
during his dealing with
them. With the consent of my
fellow members I asked Mr.
Gorton twice in a friendly way
to let us work together harmoniously
for the best of the library.
Mr. Gorton refused such a cooperation
twice.
Mr. Gorton was so upset about
the obscene portions of the Paris
Review that he distributed thousands
of copies of the disapproved
article all over our school dis-.
trict.
Mr. Gorton by repeatedly
stressing his Christian faith does
not seem to allow for any other
foundation of ethics. He is still
living in the medieval age of the
Crusades.
Mr. Gorton has called the other
members of the library board
" liberals" with the sneaky intimation
that it means subversives.
Mr. Gorton was reported by the
cleaner of the library to have
tried to sell him cleaning soap
for the library. When the soap
was found to be too expensive
by the cleaner, Mr. Gorton
answered him: " What do you
care? The library pays for it."
In spite of Mr. Gorton's question,
whether the cleaner would
swear to this statement in court,
Mr. Gorton never took him to
court.
Mr. Gorton did not have the
courage to answer a negro's
question what he thinks of Dr.
King. As usual he justified his
derogatory remarks with the
information of dubious sources,
but refused to apologize, when
he was told of their incorrectness.
I cannot vote for people who
join forces with such a man, and
who impute ulterior motives to
every opponent.
I also oppose Mr. James candidacy,
because it can only have
the result to split the vote.
During my work with Mr. Tilford
I have learned to know him
as a reliable, honest, unostentatious
but firm worker for the
good of our community.
Albert N. Meyer stein, M. D.
Dear Editor:
I firmly believe that our community
has been aroused by certain
scare tactics about a situation
that does not involve us
and that, ultimately, will more
than likely not be decided by
the Board of Education. Therefore,
all the worthwhile accomplishments
of the incumbent candidates
have been overlooked because
of a concern by many
people in the district over the
busing of children to or from
Wyandanch, a situation which
should not be an election issue.
Mrs. Jones has carried on
her work as chairman of the
Insurance Committee, High
School Expansion Committee
and has chaired the Board negotiations
during Civil Service Employees
Association negotiations.
Our curriculum meetings, held
by Mr. Lang, were most informative.
He spent many hours on
written and oral presentations for
our negotiations with the Classroom
Teachers Association and,
in addition, has held the position
of Vice- President for two
years.
I will be unable to attend the
PTA Candidates Forum on
Wednesday because of a committment
my husband and I must
fulfill-- it will be the first in
many years that I have missed.
There are two major questions
I would like to ask of the
two " new" candidates: I must
question the interest in an education
which has developed suddenly
by Mrs. DeHaan after a
four- year absence. This, to me,
does not indicate sincere concern
directly related to our
educational system. In regard
to Mr. Spinetta's statement on
vocational education, I wonder
if he fully realizes the tremendous
cost to the taxpayer of any
such program and the fact that, to
offset this cost and still provide
our students with this type of
education, we utilize the
services of schools specializing
in this area at considerably less
cost than instituting our own
program. Thus, it is necessary
for the voters to consider what
they have now and why the aspiring
candidates are really running.
It is my hope that the voters
of the community will also seriously
consider the amount of
time devoted by Board members
to Board of Education matters.
It is a time- consuming task and
only those with dedication to
students, community and education
can give of this time.
We have, in Mrs. Jones and
Mr. Lang this dedication of service.
I assure you that your
school district is in good hands..
I urge that everyone divorce the
Wyandance situation from the
election, and I also urge your
support of Mrs. Jones and Mr.
Lang
Lucille Goulding
( Continued on Page 9)
As We See It
By H i I lard P Boss and
Charles Gerston
There's an old saying that goes
" If you scream anything loud
enough and long enough, people
will believe you." We're betting
against it! We're betting that the
people of Farmingdale will realize
that DEBT is using plain
racism in bringing up the phony
issue of busing with Wyandanch.
We're betting that the people of
Farmingdale will realize that
Carl Gorton and the John Birch
Society are behind DEBT. We're
betting that the people of Farmingdale
will realize that candidates
De Haan, Spinetta, and Altmann
are among the founders of
DEBT, so that when DEBT announces
their support for the
Three Musketeers ( after careful
study, of course) it's kind of like
the Communist Party announcing
their support for Marx, Lenin,
and Stalin.
DEBT'S manipulation of facts
and figures have been exposed
before in this column, by the
Board of Education, and by the
Superintendent of Schools. They
and the candidates they back are
waging the dirtiest campaign we
have ever witnessed for any public
office.
For example, consider these
items. The '^ excess space " which
according to DEBT we have for
2000 students just doesnt exist.
The $ 300,000 increase for transportation
has absolutely nothing
to do with inter- district busing.
The Board of Education has unanimously
voted against busing a
single Farmingdale studentto Wyandanch.
Superintendent Kinzler
did not inspect Wyandanch
schools. John Lewis, District
Principal of Wyandanch schools,
as well as the overwhelming majority
of Wyandanch residents,
feel that the dissolution of their
schools would be disastrous to
their students. Birch- backed candidate
Florence De Haan helped
to raise money for the Carl Gorton
Defense Fund, and testified
in his favor when he was brought
up on charges of discrimination
before the State Human Rights
Commission. Mrs. De Haan, dur-ing
her last stint on the School
Board had an absentee record of
33% before the voters threw her
out of office. Library candidate
Warren Altmann is a close personal
friend of Carl Gorton, the
John Bircher already on the library
board. I- ast year he helped
to distribute literature calling
for the defeat of the library budget
and supporting Gorton. Arthur
James, though not in the DEBT
crowd, is running for the library
board by both opposing censoring
of books and favoring keeping
books off library shelves.
As we were saying, the real issues
are very simple. Bigotry,
Birchism, and Baloney. That's
why we're betting on the voters
of Farmingdale against DEBT,
De Haan, Spinetta, and Altmann.
Farmingdale OBSERVER, Thursday, May 2, 1968
