________ Franklin square/elmont _______
HERALD $1.00
Fire tears through businesses
Four charged in crime scheme
Wounded Warrior concert Sept. 25
Page 3
Page 4
Page 15
VOL. 23 NO. 39
SEPTEMBER 23 - 29, 2021
‘We should join up’ Franklin Square veteran, 99, remembers service in World War II later moved to Floral Park with her late husband. Today she lives in the Franklin Square retireFlorida. North Africa. Italy. ment home Plattduetsche Home That was the route that Elea- Society. nor Rizutto of Franklin Square, Before the war broke out in 99, took when she served in the 1939, Rizutto was studying to U.S. Army during become a nurse. World War II. After graduating Rizutto is one of from a three-year nine veterans — nursing program and the only in Brooklyn, she woman — set to said, it was obvious take a one-day trip to her and a group t o Wa s h i n g t o n , of fellow nurses D.C., on Oct. 3, what their next organized by ste p should be: Honor Flight Long joining the war Island, a nonprofit effort. that has flown over “I had just grad240,000 veterans to uated from nurses’ the nation’s capital ELEANOR RIZUTTO training and the since 2005. war broke out,” World War II veteran, “This special Rizutto recalled. Honor Flight gives Franklin Square “So a group of us nine of our ‘Greatdecided to join up.” est Generation’ She described the Americans an opportunity to decision nonchalantly: “We were contemplate their military young, and we thought, there’s a memorials, meet representatives war, and we’re nurses . . . we of their service branches, com- should join up.” miserate with fellow veterans The hospital where Rizutto and exchange World War II sto- was working before the war ries,” said Bill Jones, the presi- organized a group of soon-to-be dent of Honor Flight Long members of the 37th General Island. Unit, a hospital unit comprising Born in New Jersey, Rizutto CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
By ROBERT TRAVERSO rtraverso@liherald.com
Courtesy Franklin Square School District
STUDENTS IN FRANKLIN Square are required to wear masks, per New York state law.
Family sues F.S. school district over mask mandate By ROBERT TRAVERSO rtraverso@liherald.com
The mother of a 10-yearold student at John Street School, in Franklin Square, filed a federal lawsuit earlier this month, demanding that her daughter, who suffers from asthma and anxiety, be exempted from the statewide mandate requiring students to wear masks in school. The lawsuit, which asks for an injunction that would allow the girl to attend school unmasked this fall, charges that the school mask mandate put into effect by the state Department of Health, under the direction of Gov. Kathy
Hochul, is unconstitutional and violates the student’s due process rights. “This denial violates Sarah’s fundamental rights,” the lawsuit argues. “Sarah and her family have constitutionally protected rights to a medical exemption from a state regulation that can cause Sarah harm.” Court documents show that the student’s pediatrician wrote a medical exemption and verified that wearing a mask for the entire school day was not safe for the girl. The school district rejected the request earlier this month. New guidance issued by the Health Department this month allows school dis-
tricts to grant exemptions from the mandate to certain students if they can produce documentation from a medical provider. “People with medical or developmental conditions that prevent them from wearing a mask may be exempted from mask requirements,” the department’s update stated. Sujata S. Gibson, the attorney representing the family, filed an emergency motion on Sept. 8, asking that a hearing be held to argue that the district must accept the student’s medical exemption. Gibson told Newsday that the student planned to attend school this year but was “very nervous” CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
W
e were young, and we thought, there’s a war, and we’re nurses . . . we should join up.