_________________ FREEPORT _________________
HERALD $1.00
Inn B Tween at the library
Freeport native receives award
Honors, and turkeys, at school
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Vol. 86 No. 51
DECEMBER 16 - 22, 2021
Tight bonds unite two fire departments he was applauded because he made his remarks in German. “I had the pleasure and priviFreeport Fire Department lege of presenting a plaque to Chief Executive Ray Maguire them on behalf of the village,” and a delegation of village fire- Maguire said in a phone interfighters made a special trip to view, “but Chief [Don] Rowan is Walldorf, Germany, in mid-Octo- really the main guy with Germaber. ny.” It wasn’t the first According to fortrip between the two mer fire chief Don cities involving their Rowan, the trips fire departments, between Walldorf and it won’t be the and Freeport have last. This trip was t a ke n p l a c e f o r special, however, decades, with great because it was supmutual benefit on posed to have hapboth sides. The two pened in May 2020. municipalities have The delegation leadbeen official sister er was supposed to cities since 2003, but have been Freeport the relationship was Mayor Robert Ken- DoN RoWaN first established nedy, and the occa- Ex-fire chief between the Freesion was to have port Fire Departbeen the 1,250th ment and the anniversary of Walldorf. “Freiwillige Feuerwehr” (volunThe coronavirus pandemic teer fire department) in Walldorf canceled that trip. Not until this about 50 years ago. October, upon the dedication of a “One of our members was stanew fire department building in tioned in Germany during the Walldorf, could a replacement ’60s, I believe it was 1968,” Rowan trip be arranged. Kennedy had a said, “and there was a family scheduling conflict, so Maguire over in Walldorf that had family went on his behalf. in Hempstead. Ex-Chief Alan When Maguire presented a Grosser would go over and pay a plaque and other gifts to Wall- visit to them.” dorf Mayor Matthias Renschler, Continued on page 14
By REINE BETHaNy rbethany@liherald.com
W
Courtesy Freeport School District
MoRE THaN 50 students played in the Caroline G. Atkinson Intermediate School band, directed by Justin Friedman, at the winter concert on Monday night.
Freeport music goes from strong to stronger amid Covid By REINE BETHaNy rbethany@liherald.com
Freeport Public Schools arts programs took a major hit when the coronavirus pandemic shut down in-person classes for more than a year. Music skills, in particular, are hard to maintain remotely. But the student productions since reopening last summer show that the district’s young musicians are rapidly regaining lost ground. After the schools closed for in-person learning in March
2020, the normally busy Freeport High School Select Chorale, under the direction of Monique Campbell Retzlaff, had had only one major performance — a virtual national anthem that was aired live at a Boston Celtics-Washington Wizards game. But the chorale has been out and about this fall, starting with a live performance at the 18th annual Air and Space Gala at the Cradle of Aviation Museum. On Oct. 31, the group once again sang the national anthem, live, for the
Jets-Bengals game at MetLife Stadium, as it had done several times pre-pandemic. The regular winter concerts in December are back, too, with masks and social distancing. These concerts include hundreds of students from fourth grade up, participating in individual shows mounted by each of the four elementary schools and by the intermediate, middle and high schools. In 2020, the winter concerts were silenced, but this year Continued on page 12
e actually fight fires with them. It’s like an extended family for us.