Friday, December 20, 2019
Vol. 79, No. 51
$1
SERVING PLAINVIEW, HICKSVILLE, AND LEVITTOWN
LOOKING FOR LOVE?
High school wrestlers sign pledges to take down drugs BY GARY SIMEONE
Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino and Councilwoman Michele Johnson with some “purrfect” new friends. The Town of Oyster Bay’s Animal Shelter has announced that it will waive adoption fees for pets for the remainder of the year. Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino stated, “Residents interested in making this a ‘purrfect’ holiday season can adopt cats or dogs free of charge at our shelter throughout the month of December. Our dedicated shelter staff is ready to assist residents find the right companion for their family.”
Through December 31, general adoption fees of $84 per pet will be waived. All usual adoption services will be provided, including the spaying or neutering of the animal, vaccination and microchipping. “Our animal shelter has a wonderful reputation of providing great care to the pets temporarily housed there while waiting for their new homes,” Councilwoman Michele Johnson said. “Come on down to make a new ‘fur-ever’ friend
this holiday season.” The Town of Oyster Bay Animal Shelter is located at 150 Miller Place in Syosset. The shelter is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. To view photos of some of the animals available for adoption, or to link to the shelter’s Facebook page, visit the Town’s website, www.oysterbaytown. com or call (516) 677-5784 for more information.
It was a historic day on Monday, December 2 at a varsity wrestling match between Macarthur and Levittown Division High School. The wrestling teams became the first on Long Island to sign the ‘Wrestling Takes Down Drugs’ pledge to help raise awareness of the dangers of drug addiction in our communities. A total of 88 wrestlers, as well as coaches from both teams, pledged to avoid opioids and other addictive drugs while they vowed to focused their attention on the 2019-2020 wrestling season. The event was sponsored by the Friends of Long Island Wrestling, who helped to get the Wrestling Takes Down Drugs program up and running. “This is the first commitment from a Nassau County team in any sport to avoid the temptation of drug abuse,” said Pascal Perri, co-founder of the Friends of Long Island Wrestling. “Fortunately it won't be the last because as it stands, there are 18 more schools committed to signing the pledge sheet for the current season." According to Kevin Murphy, a board member of Friends of Long Island Wrestling, the idea for the program was started in his hometown of Lynbrook, where he is a wrestling coach at the high school. “We started off in the high school two years ago, on a much smaller scale,” said Murphy. “Kids from the team would walk around school with T-shirts promoting the positive attributes of wrestling and at the same time raising awareness of the opoid epidemic." That spawned the idea of an event at the school to raise awareness of drug abuse in the community, but Murphy said the school was too small a venue to host something of that scale. “We wanted to have our inaugural Wrestling Takes Down Drugs day in Lynbrook, but it was too small a location, and we ended up hosting at Nassau Community College last February,” said Murphy. “The Nassau County Police Department got involved, along with former UFC middleweight champion and Long Island native Chris Weidman. It was a really great turn out and a really great day for the community.” In the last few years, Long Island has been in the midst of a growing opioid epidemic. Hundreds of people have lost their lives to drugs like heroin and the synthetic fentanyl, which is purportSee page 15
Good Shepherd Christmas Tree Lighting PAGE 8 Wisdom Lane gives back for the holidays PAGE 2