__________________ Merrick _________________
HERALD
CoMMUNItY UPDAtE Infections as of June 23
8,271
Infections as of June 21 8,267
Grand Avenue holds ceremony
Merrick Avenue students move up
Rotary Club gets new leadership
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$1.00 Vol. 24 No. 27 $1.00
JUlY 1 - 7, 2021
OBITUARIES
Remembering an EMS hero Andrew Moreno dies at 41
second assistant chief, served with Moreno for nearly 20 years. “He was a fixture in the Andrew Moreno dedicated his department,” Resnik said. “Even life to service. The longtime vital after he moved out East, he member of the Bellmore-Mer- would still come to major funcrick Emergency Medical Squad, tions . . . You were used to seeing who worked at ground zero after him.” the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist “He really kept pushing us attacks, died June forward and 3. He was 41. A moved us progrescause of death s ive l y, ” C h i e f was not given. Matt Lubliner Moreno was a said. “He tried to former chief and do a lot with the lifetime member community — a of the Bellmorelot of community Mer rick EMS, outreach and which he joined in involvement. It’s a 1995. He was also big loss.” a member of the “Now it’s one U.S. Coast Guard more person that Auxiliary in Oriwas a fixture of Courtesy Bellmore-Merrick EMS ent and, when he the old BellmoreFoRMER BEllMoREmoved out East to Merrick that’s no S o u t h o l d a n d MERRICk EMS Chief l o n g e r t h e r e, ” away from Bell- Andrew Moreno. Resnik added. more-Merrick, he Fo r a s h o r t continued to rush to emergen- time even after he moved to cies with the Riverhead Volun- Southold, Moreno continued to teer Ambulance Corps, joining it serve as acting assistant chief of in 2014. There he served as vice the Bellmore-Merrick EMS. president of the board of trustWhile a member of the ees. department, he sometimes “He was just a very dedicated helped supply and maintain Bellguy,” said Scott Resnik, a fellow more-Mer rick’s technolo g y former chief of the BellmoreMerrick EMS. Resnik, now the Continued on page 9
By ANDREW GARCIA agarcia@liherald.com
Courtesy Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District
Congrats, grads! Olivia Roberto, far left, Jessie Fenton, Samantha Mack, Sadie Marine and Kalmyk LoCasto were among the Calhoun High School seniors to graduate June 13. Story, more photos, Page 3.
Singer with local roots makes a return to the stage By JoRDAN VAlloNE jvallone@liherald.com
Bellmore native Gabrielle Ross took to the stage at Mulcahy’s Pub and Concert Hall in Wantagh last Friday. It was her first return to the local scene alongside her band, Whatever We Are, after a long performance hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic. Ross was joined by her bandmate Ian Biggs, a Connecticut
native. Chris Barone and Flavio Lira played drums and bass, respectively. (Whatever We Are doesn’t have a permanent drummer or bass player; instead, various musicians sit it depending on where the band performs.) Ross and Biggs both began their musical careers as solo artists, and Ross, who’s now in her early 30s, said she has been performing at Mulcahy’s since she was 15. Roughly four years ago, the duo wrote and recorded the
song “Limbo,” and have been performing together since. Joining forces was a clean start for them artistically, allowing for their own styles to blend, they said, a point that is emphasized in their music. Their musical style is diverse — “genre bending,” according to Biggs — and features a blend of pop, rock and country, among other genres. They write all of their own music. Continued on page 4