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CommUNitY UPDAtE
Vol. 32 No. 8
City makes Juneteenth a paid holiday instead. Council Vice President Karen McInnis said she was proud of The Long Beach City Council the city for taking the step. approved a resolution Tuesday President Abraham Lincoln night to designate Juneteenth — issued the Emancipation Proclaa celebration of Black freedom mation on Jan. 1, 1863, declaring — an official city that more than three holiday, following a million slaves living number of Long in the Confederate Island municipalistates were free. The ties in recognizing Civil War ended May the day that slaves in 9, 1865, but it took Texas finally more than a month learned they were for word to reach the free after the Civil for mer slaves in War — June 19, 1865. Galveston, Texas, The council also when Union Army unanimously authoGeneral Gordon rized City Manager Granger and his Donna Gayden to JAmEs HoDGE troops moved in and enter into an agreemade the announcement with the city’s Chairman, ment. Civil S e r v i c e Martin Luther King Long Beach’s resEmployees Associa- Center olution included tion and the Comthese words from the manding Officers Union Army: “The Association to add Juneteenth to people of Texas are informed the list of paid holidays, at no that in accordance with a Proclaadditional cost to Long Beach. mation from the Executive of the City Council President John United States, all slaves are free. Bendo said that city employees This involves an absolute equalinow have paid holidays on Lin- ty of rights and rights of propercoln’s and Washington’s birth- ty between former masters and days. Beginning next year, slaves.” Bendo said, they would give up The announcement by Union Lincoln’s Birthday and have a troops touched off days of festipaid holiday on Juneteenth Continued on page 3
By JAmEs BERNstEiN Jbernstein@liherald.com
t
Courtesy Long Beach Public Schools
Helping self-esteem bloom Lido Elementary School has introduced the Beautiful Me program this school year as a way to enhance confidence and happiness among girls. As part of the Hance Family Foundation’s SelfEsteem Rising suite, the curriculum supports the district’s social and emotional learning activities.
Hit-and-run takes the life of ‘selfless’ E. Atlantic Beach man By JAmEs BERNstEiN jbernstein@liherald.com
Mike Agurkis, of East Atlantic Beach, was the kind of man who was always doing something for other people, his daughter, Amanda Agurkis, said last week. He helped neighbors during Superstorm Sandy in 2012. He helped his ex-wife and his former mother-in-law by chopping wood, even while he was in a
wheelchair. On Jan. 29, he died helping someone else — a stranded motorist on Route 878, the Nassau Expressway, just south of Kennedy Airport. According to his daughter and New York City police, Agurkis, 51, was on his way home at about 8:30 p.m. when he spotted a stalled minivan. True to form, he stopped and asked the driver if he could help. Agurkis hooked jumper cables to the minivan’s
battery, and while the van took the charge, he chatted with its driver. Suddenly, a blue van slammed into the minivan, which struck Agurkis. Amanda Agurkis said she learned that her father lay on the ground, and that the driver of the van walked over and asked what had happened. The minivan driver told him to call police. Instead, the van driver Continued on page 3
his is important, because a lot of people don’t know what Juneteenth is.