Oyster Bay Herald 08-20-2021

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HERALD $1.00

Vaccines for county workers

Robot makers share secrets

Enjoying the beauty of the bay

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Vol. 123 No. 34

AUGUST 20 - 26, 2021

Montesano wants Cuomo ‘accountable’ ernor being held accountable for his actions. We had plenty of time to wrap up this investigaState Assemblyman Michael tion before the governor officialMontesano is voicing his opposi- ly stepped down.” tion to Speaker Carl Heastie’s Other lawmakers continue to decision to suspend urge the Assembly the Assembly’s to press on with an impeachment inquiimpeachment prory of Gov. Andrew ceeding, in the hope Cuomo once he offiof barring Cuomo cially steps down on from holding state Aug. 24. office in the future.

In a memo All six Republicans, released last Friday, and nine of 15 DemHeastie concluded ocrats on the Senate that the State LegisJudiciary Commitlature lacked the tee agreed that the clear authority to Assembly should impeach an elected release a public official who volunreport on its findtarily steps down. ings.

Heastie said that “The Speaker of a t t o r n e y s h a d ASSEmBlymAN the Assembly should advised the Assem- michAEl at least release our bly’s Judiciary Comfindings to the pubmittee that the state moNTESANo lic to show them Constitution does Glen Head what we found,” not give the LegislaMontesano said. ture that power.

“They are entitled to “I am completely against this much more, but they at least premature cancellation of the deserve that.” impeachment investigation, Assembly leaders say they are which was done without confer- still working to finish multiple ring with the minority confer- investigations into Cuomo’s ence,” Montesano, a Republican alleged sexual harassment of from Glen Head, said. “The people of New York deserve the govContinued on page 3

By ANNEmARiE DURkiN adurkin@liherald.com

i

Herald file photo

U.S. REp. Tom Suozzi presented a Purple Heart to the family of the late Sgt. Leander Willett, a Harlem Hellfighter, in November 2019.

‘American success story’ will receive Congressional Medal By lAURA lANE llane@liherald.com

Harlem Hellfighter Sgt. Leander Willett was in the front-line trenches in France for 191 days during World War I, fighting with the all-Black 369th Infantry Regiment. He engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Germans, and was bayoneted and attacked with mustard gas.

Eventually, though, Willett made it home to Oyster Bay,

where he raised five children.

He lived the rest of his life with debilitating lung ailments, including severe asthma, as a result of his service, and died at age 61, in 1956.

Neither he nor the other Hellfighters were ever formally recognized by the federal government for their service.

Leander’s granddaughters Lynne and Debra Willett, formerly of Oyster Bay, contacted U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi in 2018, and asked for his help to

rectify the oversight. In November 2019, Suozzi surprised members of the Willett family by presenting them with a Purple Heart. They had gathered at the North Shore Historical Society, in Glen Cove, to preview a Harlem Hellfighter exhibit.

Suozzi went on to sponsor a bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the 369th Inf antry Re giment. T he Continued on page 15

am completely against this premature cancellation of the impeachment investigation.

August 20, 2021 — OYSTER BAY HERALD

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Code changes to enhance and protect the bay adurkin@liherald.com

During the Oyster Bay Town Board meeting on Tuesday, there was a public hearing to consider changes to an existing provision that dictates the licensing of town-owned underwater lands for the benefit of the environment in restoring the bay.

The proposed amendment to the code would provide the town, with the recommendation of the Department of Environmental Resources, the ability to issue licenses as the Town Board may deem appropriate, to permit aquaculture, the cultivation of aquatic organisms in a controlled environment, in marine waters within the town’s jurisdiction, according to Town Attorney Frank Scalera.

“This change in the ordinance and the pivot towards aquaculture will put us in line with other municipalities on Long Island like the Town of Islip, the Town of Brookhaven and Suffolk County, who all have robust agriculture programs and licensing programs,” Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino said. “We look to those municipalities as a model of where we can look to go.”

Additionally, with the proposed amendment, the Town Board expects to now hold license holders responsible for any environmental damage of the bay’s bottom and the shellfish, an important distinction not currently included in the town code.

“The changes to the licensing process [will] include many safeguards that will actually enhance and protect our environment,” Saladino said.

While the Town Board hopes the proposed changes to the town code will have a positive impact on the marine environment of the bay, some are worried about

Town of Oyster Bay Town Board

heather JohnSon, executive director of Friends of the Bay, commended the town board on Tuesday for their role in providing protection to Oyster Bay Harbor and implementing new environmentalist strategies. the vague definition and parameters of the new changes.

“The new license program cannot be considered routine,” said Robert Wormley, a member of the North Oyster Bay Baymen’s Association. “The town should go back to the drawing board and flesh out a program with defined limits and geographic scope. Floating gear, productivity surveys, large areas of cultivation and harvest methods, [all part of the proposed amendment] create a lot of controversy. These issues can be appropriately dealt with by developing best management practices upfront, building them into the code as administrative guidance developed through a public process in the context of a secret type one action review process.”

The update to the town code is the

most recent in a string of actions by the town to protect the environment, especially when it comes to its marine life. In 2019, Oyster Bay opened a new shellfish hatchery with the goal of populating Oyster Bay Harbor with 2 million more clams and oysters, generating both economic benefits for the shellfish industry and environmental benefits that include improved water quality, since each shellfish filters gallons of water per day.

“The town has taken several important steps in working towards a healthier estuary including opening a hatchery, which we’re very pleased to see is being expanded,” Heather Johnson, executive director of Friends of the Bay, said. “The town also identified the need for additional shelter sanctuaries, and drafted a guideline for water resources management

strategy. Shellfish sanctuaries, with no harvesting or transplanting from them, are one of the key ways to ensure there will be stock in the bay for the future.”

This year, the town plans to plant roughly 10 million seedlings, 10 times the amount planted just two years ago. By growing these seedlings to a more sustainable size, the survival rate for clams and oysters has increased to a rate of 60 percent. Those that don’t survive or are not harvested still provide benefits to the environment as a food source for other marine life in the bay.

“We can all agree that now is the time to rethink how agriculture can be practiced in a way that respects the Oyster Bay heritage, contributes to restoration of water quality and continues to provide a livelihood for commercial harvesters,” Johnson said.

“Protecting our environment, providing for a more progressive and scientific process has been one of our highest priorities in terms of town policy,” Saladino said.

While the board did not vote on the proposed changes to the town code, members asserted that they would be a step in the right direction in marine environment protection in Oyster Bay. “Clearly, we’re environmentalists,” Saladino said. “The accomplishments this administration and our town workforce has made over the past four years are immense, and it’s a long list . . . we want our [licensing] program to be way better than Nassau County’s and other municipalities, and continue . . . to work on a process that’s inclusive, that allows for more types of aquaculture than the town has seen.”

Now is the time to consider changing the codes or improving them, he added.

Assembly will review the evidence continued from front page nearly a dozen women, and plan to send the findings to state and federal prosecutors, and to make their findings public.

“The Assembly Judiciary Committee will continue to review evidence and issue a final report on its investigation of Governor Cuomo,” Heastie and committee Chairman Charles Lavine, a Democrat from Glen Cove, said in a joint statement.

Section 24 of Article VI of the state Constitution states: “Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than removal from office, or removal from office and disqualification from future public office,” leading some lawmakers to believe the pursuit of impeachment after Cuomo is no longer in office would have no legal standing.

Nonetheless, in addition to possible impeachment and criminal charges, there are calls for additional punishment for the governor if he were to be criminally convicted. Legislation proposed by Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara and State Sen. James Skoufis would keep an

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Courtesy Michael Montesano

State aSSembly Speaker Carl Heastie issued a memo last Friday announcing the suspension of impeachment investigations of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

State aSSemblyman michael Montesano has said he opposes suspending those investigations.

impeached governor from collecting a pension. In 2017, the state Constitution was amended to require any state employee who is convicted of a felony to forfeit

or her pension. Cuomo is set to receive a $50,000-a-year pension for life despite his resignation.

And a bill that has been proposed

before, but is resurfacing in light of the accusations against the governor, is calling for the name of the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge to be changed back to the Tappan Zee Bridge. In 2017, when the younger Cuomo renamed the newly rebuilt bridge, there were complaints from local community members and even some lawmakers. Now, with Cuomo set to resign, Assemblyman Mike Lawler, who introduced the bill, said it was time for the Cuomo name to be removed from the bridge.

Others are continuing to demand justice for Cuomo’s reported victims. “The Assembly’s decision to call off its impeachment investigation is an unjust cop-out,” Lindsay Boylan, a former aide to the governor and one of the 11 women who accused him of sexual harassment, said in a tweet. “The public deserves to know the extent of the governor’s misdeeds and possible crimes. His victims deserve justice and to know he will not be able to harm others.”

OYSTER BAY HERALD — August 20, 2021

by annemarie Durkin

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Mill Neck’s audiological center under new direction

August 20, 2021 — OYSTER BAY HERALD

BY JULIA REMICK

DR. ASIAH MASON, CEO, far left, Dr. Tanya Linzalone, AuD, CCC-A, Rev. Dr. David H. Benke, chair of the board of trustees and Dr. Thomas Recher, of Mid Island Audiology, PLLC, celebrated the opening of the new audiological center at Mill Neck Family of Organizations with a ribbon-cutting.

llane@liherald.com

Mill Neck’s audiology center, the Center for Hearing Health, which reopened on June 24, is housed in a different building and has a new audiologist, Dr. Thomas Recher, of Mid-Island Audiology. He has partnered with the Mill Neck Family of Organizations to provide audiology services on the Mill Neck campus.

Mill Neck provides support and services for deaf and hard of hearing individuals, including education, employment and habilitation programs. The 86-acre campus houses the Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf, Mill Neck Manor and the Audiology Center.

The Center for Hearing Health, now known as the Audiology Center, was previously operated by Mill Neck under the direction of Dr. Susan Antonellis, with staff employed by the Mill Neck organizations.

Recher, an independent private practicing audiologist, will now operate the center.

Chris Oddo, the director of community outreach at Mill Neck Family of Organizations, said the change was probably due to financial reasons. She added that the new center is in a nicer building.

“We consider this a partnership, we really do,” Oddo said. “There’s so many connections in so many ways, and we truly believe in Dr. Tom’s ability to work with the people that we serve as well as the people we will serve.”

Audiology is a service, Oddo continued.

The Audiology Center also offers other services to deaf adults that need support from finding a job to living independently.

“Some need support one-on one at home,” she said. “That is housed in this building as well.”

Recher’s decision to join Mill Neck was built upon a personal connection. While studying audiology in school, Recher met his wife, Jen Viscardi, whose parents are both deaf. Recher’s mother-in-law, Jean Viscardi, attended Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf in the 60’s.

Recher said Jen, and her parents provided him with an understanding of the deaf community that surpassed what he learned from school. Recher and Jen always went to the apple festivals at Mill Neck Manor, the Long Island Audiology Program in Great Neck and the Long Island AuD Consortium ________________

Courtesy Mill Neck Family of Organizations

hearing aid repair. at Adelphi University.

There is a display with a plaque and When Recher met with Mill Neck’s CEO and board of trustees to determine if he photo honoring Manuel and Claire Barron was a good fit, they told him that they for their donations for the Cochlear loved the family connection he had to Mill Implant Suite, which opened in 2019 within the Center for Neck.

Hearing Health.

“Also knowing The new Audiology the kind of way Mid Island Audiology Center Center, Oddo said, that I do business, has also been dedilike if you look me 40 Frost Mill Road cated to the Barup online I do the Building #7 rons, who attended right thing,” RechMill Neck, N.Y. the ribbon-cutting er said. “And that (516) 530-8299 ceremony. kind of really helps Oddo said that them strengthen Recker brings with their mission as well because they can continue focusing him an additional caveat: He’s a cochlear on what they’re doing and I can really help expert, so people will not have to go to keep this smooth, running nice and clean Manhattan for cochlear services or to the hospital where they received the implant. and with the right mindset.”

Recher has operated his own practice since 2014 with locations in Wantagh and Hauppauge. He said he now spends a few hours a week at Mill Neck.

The audiology center offers a variety of services, including hearing conservation, wax serum management, tinnitus rehabilitation and hearing aid services such as COMMUNITY UPDATE

oyster bay _______________

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MAIN PHONE: (516) 569-4000 ■ WEB SITE: www.liherald.com/oysterbay ■ E-MAIl: Letters and other submissions: llane@liherald.com ■ EDITORIAl DEPARTMENT: Ext. 327 E-mail: oysterbayeditor@liherald.com Fax: (516) 569-4942

“Getting to the hospital can be difficult,” Oddo explained. “To come here in this lovely, peaceful environment is so much better.”

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Recher also spoke of the Mill Neck campus, saying it is quiet and removed from street noise, which helps to relieve patients’ anxiety.

And patients’ appointments are intentionally spaced, so that no one is rushed.

“I really believe that we go to the next level when we’re fitting somebody with hearing aids. There’s a whole gamut of how we’re approaching it and how we’re looking into their lifestyle, who they are and where they come from,” Recher said.

“When people come here they come here for an experience. They’re not just coming to get their hearing checked.”

New infections since Aug. 18

3,082

Total infections as of Aug. 12 3,007

nd! la Is g n o L , s o b b a h S Good Friday, August 20 Candle lighting: 7:28

Torah reading: Ki’Seitze Shabbos ends at 8:35

Five Towns times from calendar of The White Shul in Far Rockaway

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The Oyster Bay Herald USPS 416660, is published every Friday by Richner Communications, Inc., 2 Endo Blvd. Garden City, NY 11530.

Periodicals postage paid at Garden City, NY 11530 and additional mailing offices. Postmaster send address changes to Oyster Bay Herald, 2 Endo Blvd. Garden City, NY 11530. Subscriptions: $50 for 1 year within Nassau County, $60 for 1 year out of Nassau County or by qualified request in zip codes 11709, 11732, 11765, 11771. © 2021 Richner Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Proud supporters of Zionism, the national liberation movement of the Jewish people.

Ac c o m p a ni e d by bas s i s t Covid vaccines available for county workers Bryce Sebastien llane@liherald.com

Danny Mixon is a prolific songwriter, pianist, songwriter, bandleader and producer who played in Charles Mingus’ band and regularly with Betty Carter. He has performed with such greats as Lionel Hampton, John Hendricks, Joe Wil iams, Frank Foster, Liza Minnelli, Ben Vereen and Savion Glover.

Julia Remick/Herald

county employee DaviD Pitti received his first dose of the vaccine at the Legislature. the safety of others.”

While Pitti received his first vaccine dose at a room on the second floor of the legislative building, two other county workers waited their turns. The room, transformed into a clinic, had individual pods that were divided with privacy shields for employees to receive their doses.

Curran said she moved forward with

MONDAY NIGHTS STARTING AUGUST 23RD JAZZ NIGHTS

the idea after seeing Covid-19 cases rise with the emerging delta variant.

Bennett said his patients are asking when they can get the booster to protect them against the delta variant.

“Medical advice is to get the vaccine, regardless of the small percentage of people who have side effects,” he said. “We should be public spirited and do this for our community.”

North Shore Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Invites You To Two Events This Saturday! our second annual

health fair

2 SHOWS 7:OO-8:00 PM & 8:30-9:30 PM

at La Bussola

saturday, aug. 21, 2021 10am – 1pm

featuring Danny Mixon

services available

Accompanied by bassist Bryce Sebastien

1. vaccines administered the Medstation

Danny Mixon is a prolific songwriter, pianist, songwriter, bandleader and producer who played in Charles Mingus’ band and regularly with Betty Carter. He has performed with such greats as Lionel Hampton, John Hendricks, Joe Williams, Frank Foster, Liza Minnelli, Ben Vereen and Savion Glover.

2. General vitals exam the Medstation 3. skin cancer screening by dermatologist dr. eve lupenko of Greenberg dermatology. advance registration is required for this service. to schedule your free skin cancer screening, please call connie Pinilla at 516-521-8274.

MONDAY NIGHTS STARTING AUGUST 23RD 2 SHOWS 7:OO-8:00 PM & 8:30-9:30 PM

no cost for services!

be ready for school with our

backpack giveaway

saturday, aug. 21, 2021 2pm – 4:30pm

drive through and pick up a free backpack and school supplies.

400 backpacks available–first come, first serve. styles appropropriate for all ages.

backpacks donated by empire bluecross blueshield Services provided by HealthPlus HP, LLC a licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, an association of independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans.

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Both events will take place at: 450 Glen Cove Ave, Glen Head, at the drive-thru front entrance of North Shore High School. For information, call 516-521-8274.

The North Shore Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is grateful to our generous sponsors

the spivack family north shore Kiwanis Padilla barbershop the cP team at bhhs laffey Marsha silverman

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David Pitti, a Nassau County facilities and plumbing employee for 32 years, received his first dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at the county legislative building on Aug. 5. He was the first employee to be vaccinated as part of the county’s new vaccination program.

Oyster Bay doctor Andrew Bennett said he supports the county’s efforts. “Any way to get the maximum number of people immunized is good,” he said. “Making it easy for them to get the vaccine is a good idea.”

Less than 10 percent of his patients have not received the vaccine, he added.

They say they are concerned about long term side effects or that they don’t trust the government. “We ask everyone to get it,” he said.

The program aims to vaccinate more county employees and their families by offering the vaccine at county buildings. “While many of our employees are vaccinated,” said County Executive Laura Curran, a Democrat from Baldwin, “we want to make it even easier for those who have not been vaccinated.”

At first, Pitti said, he didn’t know what to expect and hesitated to get the vaccine.

After seeing the hospitalization rate shoot up, he changed his mind.

“Now feels like the right time to do it,” he said, “for the safety of myself and for

Vaccine clinics are at police precincts, the Sheriff ’s Department, the Department of Public Works, the Fire Marshal’s Office, the Department of Social Services and Public Safety.

Curran said 1,000 professionals, including members of the department of health and medical reserve volunteers, would administer shots of either the Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

Nassau is leading the state with 83.1 percent of adults over 18 who have received at least the first dose, Curran said.

To encourage employees to be vaccinated, those receiving their second dose will be entered into a $200 raffle, sponsored by Stew Leonard’s. There will be six winners, one for each vaccine clinic location. County workers are also eligible for up to four hours of paid leave during the workday to be vaccinated, Curran said.

Breaking down the statistics to show the difference in cases and hospitalizations between the unvaccinated and vaccinated could help persuade unvaccinated people to get their shots, he said.

If there is a high demand for vaccinations, Curran said the program would be expanded.

It follows an initiative she announced on Aug. 3 to vaccinate employees and their families at local businesses. Since then, Curran said the county has received dozens of inquiries from businesses.

OYSTER BAY HERALD — August 20, 2021

By Julia Remick

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August 20, 2021 — OYSTER BAY HERALD

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EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES

COMMUNITY UPDATE Friday, August 20

Wednesday, Aug. 25

Movie at the Library Gold Coast Public Library Annex, 50 Railroad Ave., Glen Head, 2 to 4 p.m. Watch “Bull Durham” (1988) at the library.

Baseball devotee Annie Savoy takes loose-cannon pitching prospect Nuke LaLoosh under her wing. But she’s unable to shake Crash Davis, the veteran catcher brought in to give Nuke some on-the-field seasoning. A breakthrough film for all three of its stars and an Oscar nominee for former minor leaguer Ron Shelton’s quotable screenplay, Bull Durham is a freewheeling hymn to wisdom, experience, and America’s pastime.

Curator’s Corner: The Liberation of Paris Beginning at 11 a.m. join Dr. Thorin Tritter to talk about a large photograph in the museum’s fifth gallery that shows the liberation of Paris by American forces on August 25, 1944. Dr. Tritter will speak about the photograph and the dramatic shift in the war on this date 77 years ago. This event will take place virtually over zoom. Register online at hmtcli.org.

Thursday, August 26

Live Music: Rusty String Band

Sunset Serenade: Livestock

Every Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. through the end of August, residents can head to Sea Cliff Beach to enjoy live music by the water.

Every Thursday for the rest of the summer, the Sea Cliff Civic Association will host a free concert series in Clifton Park. Begining at 6 p.m. spectators can head to the park and enjoy live music every Thursday until Sept 2.

Downtown Sounds: Head Over Heels Every Friday for the rest of the summer, the Glen Cove Downtown Business Improvement District will host a free concert series in Village Square at the intersections of Glen, School and Bridge streets. Begining at 7:30 p.m. spectators can head to the square with their lawn chairs and enjoy live music every Friday until Aug. 27.

Saturday, August 21 Deep Roots Farmers Market 100 Garvies Point Road, Glen Cove, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The weekly farmers market offers a selection of locally grown vegetables and eggs, fresh baked bread, honey, seafood and more.

The Butterfly Bruises: Poetry by Palmer Smith Beginning at 3 p.m. join poet Palmer Smith at the Locust Valley Library as she reads from her collected works, “The Butterfly Bruises,” a collection of 80 poems and several short stories, focusing on mediation with miscommunication, childhood, Northern vs.

Southern American culture, and other themes. “The Butterfly Bruises” will make you question what it means to

l l l l l

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

North Shore Land Alliance hosts Paint Night in the Garden Begining at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 21, you can head to the Roosevelt Community Garden at 59 E. Fulton Avenue in Roosevelt to learn about the community garden while relaxing and painting a masterpiece. Materials will be provided by the North Shore Land Alliance. Tickets are $35 per adult and $15 per child and can be purchased online at www.northshorelandalliance.org/rcg. For more details, contact Andrea Millwood at andrea@northshorelandalliance.org or 516922-1028. be living and communicating in the world today. This event will take place outdoors near the Scout Hut area.

by supporting the modern artists of their time.

via zoom, as he introduces and teaches you about some crazy and fun animals!

Sunday, August 22

Monday, August 23

Tuesday, August 24

Tea In the Garden at Planting Fields

Monday Jazz Night at La Bussola Ristorante

Oyster Bay Cruise Night

Beginning at 11 a.m. enjoy summertime in bloom at Planting Fields by having a small variety of flavorful teas paired with individually bagged cookies outside in the Cloister Garden and aside the West Portico. Guests will also have the opportunity to encounter one of the site’s unique architectural spaces that is part of the exhibition, Everett Shinn: Operatics, the 1915 Tea House in the Italian Garden. The space features murals and furnishings commissioned from Shinn by the Coes, who built a legacy of artistic patronage

At 40 School St., Glen Cove, at 7 p.m. featuring pianist Danny Mixon, accompanied by bassist Bryce Sebastien, La Bussola Ristorante is putting on a Monday Jazz Night, to continue every Monday for the forseeable future. There will be two shows each week, at 7 p.m. and at 8:30 p.m., each an hour long.

Victoria Crosby’s Final Elvis Tribute Show

The Bayville Free Library is hosting a celebrattion for the end of Summer Reading with a fun and exciting virtual animal show. Join Jason Reilly at 5 p.m.

HAVING AN EVENT?

Every Tuesday evening during the summer, the streets of Oyster Bay are filled with classic cars and spectators for Oyster Bay Cruise Night.

Restaurants, shops, snacks and beverages, ice cream and shopping surround the collection of fun and interesting cars. Additionally, live music fills the streets with a band at every cruise night. Also, weekly raffles and giveaways for children.

Each show starts at 5:45 p.m. and runs until dark.

The Glen Cove Senior Center Rose Shoppe Boutique is open Mon - Fri, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Oyster Bay Town Board will meet on Sept. 14 at 10 a.m.

Glen Cove Downtown Sounds free concert series continues every Friday at 7:30 p.m.

The North Shore Board of Education will meet on Sept. 2.

The Village of Sea Cliff Board of Trustees will meet on Sept. 13 at 6 p.m.

Items on the Community Update pages are listed free of charge. The Herald welcomes listings of upcoming events, community meetings and items of public interest.

All submissions should include date, time and location of the event, cost, and a contact name and phone number. Submissions can be emailed to jnossa@liherald.com

Curran gears up early for fall campaign jbernstein@liherald.com

Laura Curran has apparently decided not to wait until after Labor Day, the traditional beginning of fall political campaigns, to kick-start her drive for a second term as Nassau County executive.

Curran, 53, a Democrat, held a rally on a sweltering Saturday afternoon outside the Theodore Roosevelt Executive and Legislative Building in Mineola, where bottled water was handed out with blue campaign signs.

The county executive announced her intention to run for re-election in May. After her 20-minute speech to about 100 supporters Saturday, Curran acknowledged that it is early to campaign.

“The election is three months off,” she said. “But it’s important for people to know where we are going. We will be persistent to build back” after the pandemic.

Curran said her fall campaign would focus on “fully funding” law enforcement, expanding access to mental health, developing multi-year plans for a balanced budget, supporting small businesses and promoting job growth.

Her opponent in the fall campaign will be Hempstead Town Councilman Bruce Blakeman, 65, a Republican who lives in Atlantic Beach. Blakeman has run for several offices before, including for a seat in Congress.

Blakeman has said his campaign will be all about taxes.

Curran, who lives in Baldwin, worked as a reporter for The New York Daily News and New York Post and as an editor at Herald Community Newspapers and was a Baldwin Board of Education member before winning a seat in the County Legislature.

In 2017, she defeated Republican Jack Martins to become the first woman to be elected Nassau County exec-

Christina Daly/Herald

Laura Curran spoke to about 100 supporters outside county office building on a sweltering Saturday afternoon. utive.

On Saturday, Curran was endorsed by John Durso, president of the 250,000-member Long Island Federation of Labor.

“I’m proud to lend my support to someone who is one of us,” Durso told the crowd. He said the federation’s support for candidates has not always been unanimous. “But this time,” Durso said, “it’s Laura.”

Her friend and neighbor, Naala Royale, owner of a Rockville Centre restaurant, told the crowd that Curran “lives in a normal house, walks her dog and sometimes holds press conferences on her front lawn. For us, that’s

Laura.”

In her speech, Curran outlined a series of programs on which her campaign would be based. One program includes fighting crime. She noted that she, Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder and other officials recently broke ground on a new $54 million, 89,000-square-foot police academy on the Nassau Community College campus in Garden City.

She emphasized that Nassau was recently named the safest community in the United States by U.S. News and World Report. “That doesn’t happen by accident,” Curran said. It came about as the result of work by her administration, the police department and residents.

But her veto of a bill earlier this month to give first responders the right to sue under the county Human Rights Law when they face harassment disappointed police union leaders, including Nassau Police Benevolent Association President James McDermott. Curran cited a new opinion by the office of state Attorney General Letitia James questioning the constitutionality of the bill.

Under her administration, Curran said, the county had received its first positive bond rating from Wall Street in 15 years. Moody’s revised its outlook on the county to positive from stable while affirming its A2 rating, citing three straight years of improved financial results.

Curran also said the county had recently reached a critical milestone in the Bay Park Conveyance Project with the County Legislature’s unanimous approval of a design-build contract with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Western Bays Constructors Joint Venture. The $439 million Bay Park Conveyance Project is designed to restore the ecosystem and water quality in the Western Bays by conveying treated effluent from the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant to the Cedar Creek Water Pollution Control Plant’s ocean outfall pipe through underground tunnels.

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OYSTER BAY HERALD — August 20, 2021

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7

LVCSD Robotics team share their creations

BY ANNEMARIE DURKIN adurkin@liherald.com

The Locust Valley Robotics team held a demonstration at the Locust Valley Library on Aug. 10, sharing what they’ve created in the past year. Students demonstrated their robots’ capabilities, gave an overview of the program and even allowed participants to drive the robots.

The program began in 2000, but took a small break starting again in 2009 with the FLL program. It then expanded into the Explorer program and then expanded into FTC [First Tech Challenge] soon after.”

The teams participated in the FTC program for grades 7-12, which challenges students to design, build, program and operate robots to compete.

“For these guys, the competition’s just amazing, I mean you gotta be there to see it,” said Alan Stella, a physics teacher at Locust Valley High School and the team’s coach. “This past year was all virtual because of Covid, so we’re really hoping we get to compete in person again soon.”

The playing field for the FTC competition is a 12 by 12 area, typically with four robots competing on it at once. Teams put their robots to the test, completing various tasks — whether it’s picking up items and placing them in another area, or shooting objects at targets, there’s always some sporting aspects.

The students have competed across

Annemarie Durkin/Herald

MEMBERS OF THE Locust Valley Robotics team demonstrated their robots’ capabilities at the Locust Valley Library on August 10.

Long Island and seen much success.

The Explorer program is set up for second, third and fourth grade students; the FLL Challenge program for fourth through eighth graders; and the FTC program includes students in seventh grade up to seniors in high school.

“I like that we get to build robots completely from scratch,” Rowan Shenoy, an eighth grader at Locust Valley Middle

School said. “We get to make our ideas into what we think is the best way to solve a solution, and there’s never only one way to solve it.”

The Locust Valley Robotics teams are part of FIRST Tech Challenge, teams which were created by FIRST, an acronym “For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology.” FIRST’s goals are to get students interested in STEM and

STEAM programs. In 2019, FIRST had over 679,000 students competing in their programs and awarded over $80 million in scholarships.

“Each year we have a different theme and based on that theme they kind of give us a couple of different challenges to complete with the robots that have points attached to them,” said Alicia Amina, a senior at Locust Valley High School, and member of the robotics team since 2016 There are different roles for the members of the team to choose from. Programmers: children that will gravitate very heavily towards the ability to program the robot and are interested in learning code. Engineers: those who wish to map out the plans and ideas for the robot. And mechanical engineers: members who take on the role as the fabricator, who bring the ideas to life.

“In the program as a whole, I really like what FIRST stands for,” Amina said.

“There is a strong sense of family and community. We try to reach out to the younger children of the community and connect with them and show them all the stages of what engineering really is.”

“I do the programming aspect of the build and I work very closely with the engineering teams to find out what they’re doing, and what I need to change in my program,” Shenoy explained. “And I made the link concepts and pseudocode to make sure that I know what I’m going to do,”

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OYSTER BAY HERALD — August 20, 2021

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LegisLator Joshua Lafazan was honored by Mill Neck Family of Organizations CEO Dr. Asiah Mason.

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“Advocating for people with disabilities has been amongst my top legislative priorities, and I will continue to fight to ensure that people of all different abilities have equal protections under the law,” Lafazan said. “I am so grateful to have been honored by the Mill Neck Family of Organizations, an organization that does so much to empower our Deaf and hardof-hearing neighbors to achieve their full potential.”

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zan, who is a Mill Neck Family of Organizations board member, has worked closely with the organization to enact reforms aimed at better serving the county’s Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. The first bill he passed in office, which requires American Sign Language interpreters to be present at all emergency-related news conferences in Nassau County, has ensured the presence of interpreters at Nassau’s public health briefings held throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Subsequent actions include efforts to combat hiring and workplace discrimination by adding hearing and other auxiliary aids to the definition of reasonable accommodations in the county’s Human Rights Law.

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OYSTER BAY HERALD — August 20, 2021

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High school football camps kick off Aug. 23

By TONY BELLISSIMO tbellissimo@liherald.com

Three months and three weeks after Massapequa, Garden City, Manhasset and Wantagh captured Nassau football championships, all 53 programs in the county will start preparing for a new season Aug. 23.

All scrimmages, two regular-season games, one round of playoffs and the Long Island championships were eliminated this past spring as the 2020 season was delayed six months. It’ll be back to the eight-game grind and eight playoff teams per conference this fall.

Conference IV, which has 13 teams, will begin the season one week before the rest of the county and all but three of its schools won’t have the benefit of a scrimmage. A handful of games, including West Hempstead at Malverne, are set for under the lights on Friday, Sept. 3. A full schedule will kick off the following weekend, with the majority of games taking place Saturday, Sept. 11.

Garden City, which has captured five straight Conference II titles, is the only defending county champion seeded No. 1 in its respective conference. Massapequa is No. 2 in Conference I behind Oceanside, Manhasset, the reigning Rutgers Cup champ, is ranked sixth in Conference III, while Wantagh is seeded second behind Plainedge. With Wantagh’s jump to III, North Shore earned the No. 1 seed in IV.

Cyclones were in Conference II last season.

10 Games To Watch Sept. 18 Sept. 24 Oct. 2 Oct. 2 Oct. 9 Oct. 9 Oct. 23 Oct. 23 Oct. 23 Oct. 30

Notable coaching changes

MacArthur at V.S. Central Plainedge at South Side Carey at Elmont Massapequa at Oceanside South Side at Wantagh Clarke at Seaford Carey at Baldwin MacArthur at Garden City Wantagh at Plainedge Calhoun at Mepham

Garden City opens against an unfamiliar opponent. Baldwin, in Conference II for the first time, visits the Trojans on Sept. 11. Massapequa travels to East Meadow, Manhasset visits Bethpage, and Wantagh hosts Valley Stream North.

Five teams switch conferences

Of the five programs taking on new conference rivals this September, more than half joined Conference II: Baldwin, Herricks and Glen Cove are seeded No. 9, 10 and 13, respectively. It’s the first time Baldwin will not play in the top conference. Wantagh is back in its longtime stomping grounds of Conference III, which includes South Side again after the

For the first time since the late 1980s, someone other than Stephen Carroll is leading Baldwin as its head coach. Frank Chimienti, former head coach at Valley Stream Central and an assistant at Freeport for the past five seasons, has taken over the helm and is thrilled about the energy displayed by the Bruins during summer workouts.

“It’s not like I’m taking over a program in need of a rebuild,” Chimienti said. “Baldwin has such a great tradition and there’s a lot of talent around.”

Making their head coaching debuts in September will be Frank Baglivo at Clarke and Kevin O’Hagan at East Meadow.

A former assistant under Rob Perpall at Seaford, Michael Corcoran returns to lead the Vikings.

OcEaNSIdE quarTErBack charLIE McKee won the Thorp Award last season, given to the top player in Nassau County.

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WHAT’S UP NEXT DOOR AND AROUND THE CORNER

August 20, 2021 — OYSTER BAY HERALD

HERALD NEIGHBORS

Photos by Karen Millindorf/Herald

A NICE CROWD gathered to support Oyster Bay Main Street Association’s fundraiser.

Oyster Bay Main Street’s ‘Beauty by the Bay’ fun for all

M

embers of the Oyster Bay Main Street Beautification Committee were on hand at a fundraiser on Aug. 4 to meet and greet the community. The fundraiser event, "Beauty by the Bay," was held at the stunningly beauti-

ful Cooper Bluff in Oyster Bay. Main Street volunteers shared information about future initiatives encouraging residents to become involved. Great music was shared and a few lucky winners won some raffles.

MEMBERS OF THE Oyster Bay Main Street Beautification Committee, including Meredith Maus, executive director, Danielle Olesen, Domenica Askeland and Diana Hauser hosted a fundraiser event "Beauty by the Bay" at Cooper Bluff in Oyster Bay.

THERESA ORLOWSKI AND Maryann Santos, of Oyster Bay, enjoyed a competitive game of cornhole.

Harlem Hellfighters will receive another honor House of Representatives passed the Harlem Hellfighters Congressional Gold Medal Act in June, and the Senate did so last week, with a bill sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

Suozzi held a news conference at the 369th Regiment Armory in Harlem on Aug. 13 to announce that President Biden would likely sign the bill the week of Aug. 23.

“I told the Willett family that I would fight to get [Leander] a medal,” Suozzi said days after the news conference.

“Only two other African-American groups, the Tuskegee Airman and the Montford [Point] Marines, got the medal. I want to make the Harlem Hellfighters as known as the Tuskegee Airmen.”

For Debra Willett, the moment was bittersweet. “I really, in all honesty, can’t explain the many, many emotions that I felt on that day and continue to feel,” she said, “every time I think or am reminded of the sacrifices he and the Harlem Hellfighters made for our country.”

Special recognition

The Hellfighters’ origins

During World War I, there was no shortage of bigotry and hate against nonwhite Americans. White soldiers refused to fight alongside Black men, prompting the U.S. Army to assign Willett and other Black soldiers to the French Army in 1918. Roughly 40 of those men were from Oyster Bay, Locust Valley, Sea Cliff and Glen Cove. The 16th Division of the French army welcomed them, offering the Black soldiers helmets and weapons.

“They were treated so poorly by us, as far as their race, but they did everything they could to fight for their country,” Suozzi said. “The 369th was the most active regiment in World War I.” The Hellfighters never lost any ground, and none were captured by the

Herald file folder

Lynne, LefT, and Debra Willett found their grandfather’s name, Sgt. Leander Willett, on a list of Harlem Hellfighters at the North Shore Historical Museum. enemy. But some 1,400 died, more than in any other American regiment. According to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, in Washington, D.C., the “Black Rattlers,” as they were originally called — their uniforms sported a rattlesnake insignia — became known by the Germans as the Hellfighters, for “their courage and ferocity.”

And they did more for France than fight. The musicians in the regiment were credited with introducing jazz to Europe.

Public Notices

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LEGAL NOTICE OYSTER BAY-EAST NORWICH CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT 1 McCOUNS LANE OYSTER BAY, NEW YORK 11771 NOTICE TO BIDDERS Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central School District hereby invites the submission of sealed bids from reputable and qualified refuse removal companies for furnishing Refuse Removal in the Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central School District for the period beginning September 15, 2021 to August 31, 2022. Bid Proposal Forms and Bid Specifications may be obtained at the Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central School District Administration Building, 1 McCouns Lane, Oyster Bay, New York 11771, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday beginning on August 20, 2021, with a deposit of

$50.00, refundable in accordance with General Municipal Law § 102 to cover the cost of preparation, handling and distribution. To pick up in person, deliver a letter of request on your business stationary along with a business check or bank cashier’s check for $50.00 made payable to Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central School District. The letter must authorize the carrier to pick up the forms and personal identification may be verified by School District staff.

Any deviations from the terms and conditions set forth in the specification must be listed on a separate sheet attached to the Bidder’s Proposal.

In all cases not indicated by the Bidder as a deviation, it is understood that the terms and conditions set forth in the bid specifications shall apply. Bids will be received until 10:00 am on September 2, 2021 at

the Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central School District Administration Building, 1 McCouns Lane, Oyster Bay, New York 11771, at which time and place all bids will be publicly opened and read aloud. Bids will remain firm for a period of forty five (45) days following the date of the opening and shall thereafter remain firm unless the Bidder provides written notice to the School District Administration Office that the bid has been withdrawn.

The School District reserves the right to consider experience, service and reputation in the rubbish removal field, as well as the financial responsibility and specific qualifications set out herein of the prospective bidder, in considering bids and awarding the contracts. The School District reserves the right to reject any or all bids in

whole or in part, when in its sole discretion it deems that it will serve the best interests of the School District to waive technical defects, irregularities and omissions; and to select in its sole discretion which of two or more identical bidders shall be awarded the contract.

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“France was so happy to have an additional 3,000 soldiers,” Lynne Willett said, “and a jazz band on top of that.”

The Hellfighters were the first combat unit from New York to return home.

Although they had not been permitted to march in a parade held for departing soldiers before they left the U.S., a victory parade was organized for them on Feb. 17, 1919. According to the museum, they marched up Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, accompanied by music from their jazz bandleader, James Reese Europe.

But then life returned to normal for Willett and the other soldiers, who lived with racism and inequality. “Unfortunately, [I feel both] pride in my grandfather’s accomplishments and sorrow and hurt in the way the African-American soldiers had to fight another battle for equality when they came home,” Debra Willett said.

Amy Driscoll, of Locust Valley, the director of the North Shore Historical Museum, is committed to honoring the Hellfighters, and ensuring that they are remembered. She said she planned to compile a comprehensive list of every member of the 369th Infantry Regiment.

“We’re hoping descendants will contact us,” Driscoll said. “Oyster Bay and Locust

The Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’s highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievement and contributions, is given to those who have “performed an achievement that has an impact on American history and culture that is likely to be recognized as a major achievement in the recipient’s field long after the achievement.” The medal will be designed and struck by the U.S. Mint, and displayed at the Smithsonian Institution and at events associated with the Hellfighters.

Willett was 18 when he was drafted.

According to Lynne, the family said her grandfather never spoke about the war.

After he returned he worked delivering coal, including to President Theodore Roosevelt at Sagamore Hill.

“And he was an amateur boxer and was once [in] the opening fight at the Golden Gloves at Madison Square Garden,” Lynne said. “He was a quiet man, and his family always came first.”

She said she was touched when the family received the Purple Heart in 2019, and felt the same way last week at the armory in Harlem. “My sister and I looked at each other like, ‘Is this really happening?’” she recalled. “It was a surreal feeling when we got the Purple Heart, and I had the same feeling at the armory. It was a joyous occasion all the way around.”

Suozzi said the bill would have been passed sooner had it not been for the coronavirus pandemic. “I have a great sense of satisfaction that I’m correcting a historical injustice,” he said.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture has pledged to help create an educational program focusing on the Hellfighters, Suozzi added.

“The Harlem Hellfighters served our nation with distinction, spending 191 days in the front-line trenches, all while displaying the American values of courage, dedication and sacrifice,” Gillibrand said in a statement. “The Harlem Hellfighters Congressional Gold Medal Act honors these brave men, who, even as they faced segregation and prejudice, risked their lives to defend our freedoms. I look forward to President Biden signing this bill into law.”

Lynne Willett said she remained in awe that her grandfather was being recognized at last. “My grandfather was an American success story,” she said. “I am so overwhelmed with this whole thing.”

Oyster Bay-East Norwich schools on Instagram Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central Schools is expanding its social media presence, making it easier for the community to stay connected. Follow OBEN on Instagram at @ obencsd to see photos from the latest events, as well as news and updates from the district.

OYSTER BAY HERALD — August 20, 2021

Valley have had a Black population for over 100 years, so it makes sense that some could have been with the Harlem Hellfighters.”

continued from front page

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OPINIONS

n the early morning of April 28, I tiptoed into my dew-coated backyard in Merrick to watch as an orange sun slowly migrated upward, sending its rays streaming through the hundreds of flower-covered branches on the three cherry and two apple trees that my wife and I planted nearly 20 years ago when we first moved in.

It is a glorious moment that I await each year, when I can stand and breathe in the sheer beauty of those life-sustaining flowers, all white and pink.

Each is such a tiny, SCOTT seemingly insignificant thing. CollecBRINTON tively, however, these flowers constitute a powerful force.

This is the natural world reborn in what was once a virtually lifeless suburban backyard. When my wife and I moved in, our yard was all lawn except for a handful of hydrangea, holly and Japanese yew bushes, two scrawny dogwood trees and one ornamental cherry around the edges.

In the early years in our home, we ripped out about half of the lawn to make way for many more trees, bushes and flowers, a number of them native species. We wanted to recreate, in a sense, the back-

yards that we knew as children. I grew up in rural Yaphank, in Suffolk County, surrounded by a dense forest of white pine and oak trees. My wife was raised in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, but spent many days in her family’s village of Rajdavitsa, amid cherry orchards full of wildflowers.

We wanted trees through which squirrels and birds could scurry and construct their nests. We wanted a natural habitat.

Two decades later, I’m proud to say that we have one. The cherries that we planted are more than 20 feet tall, and the apples, over 30 feet. All were purchased as one-foot bare-root saplings for a couple dollars each from the Arbor Day Foundation. We also planted four arborvitae, three maples, two white pines, two dwarf Alberta spruces, a Japanese maple, many more hydrangeas and hollies, boxwoods, barberries, red osier dogwoods, butterfly, raspberry and blackberry bushes, forsythias, fountain and maiden grasses, euonymuses, lilies, lilacs, hostas, black-eyed Susans, peonies and purple cone flowers, among others.

Where once there was no wildlife, now we have bees and butterflies and birds — red cardinals, blue jays, European starlings, grackles, house sparrows, Baltimore orioles and my wife’s favorite, mockingbirds. We’ve even had birds build nests in

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our trees, including a robin and a mourning dove. I love that. There are also squirrels, which eat our apples and, occasionally, our tomatoes, as well as raccoons and opossums here and there.

This year we certified our yard as a Wildlife Habitat with the National Wildlife Federation. We started the simple process by answering a few quick questions: Does your yard provide shelter and food for wildlife? Is there a water source from which wildlife can drink? Are you committed to natural yard maintenance, without the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers?

Then you pay a fee — certification is a fundraiser for this nonprofit environmental organization.

Finally, NWF sends you a beautiful green metal sign, which we staked in our front yard’s center bed for all our neighbors to see as they’re out walking their dogs or jogging by.

The sign sends a message that our yard is a safe place for wildlife.

Between 1982 and 2001, 34 million acres of open space, an area the size of Illinois, were lost to development — roughly four acres per minute, or 6,000 acres a day. More than 10 million of those acres were covered over to make way for houses, buildings, lawns and pavement between 1982 and 1997, according to the U.S. Forest Ser-

here once there was no wildlife, we now have all that we hoped for.

vice, which projects that America will lose another 26 million acres to development by 2030.

Each of us has a choice: We can leave our yards as lawn and pavement, or start planting to restore at least some of what has been lost. Collectively, we could reshape suburbia from a traditionally wildlife-averse landscape to a habitat that welcomes wild creatures of all shapes and sizes.

The family from which we purchased our home were the original owners of the house, which was constructed shortly after World War II. It was among the first homes built in the area. The couple, in their early 80s when we bought it from them, spoke of a time when farmland stretched from the block just north of us to Merrick Road.

That plot is now a shopping center. South of our home was covered by wetlands — what people in the mid-20th century thought of as swamp. It’s now all homes, the wetlands filled in to construct row upon row of split-level ranches, many double or triple their original size.

We cannot undo the past. We can, however, commit to a more sustainable future.

To learn more about how you can certify your yard with the National Wildlife Federation, go to nwf.org.

Scott Brinton is the Herald Community Newspapers’ executive editor and an adjunct professor at the Hofstra University Herbert School of Communication. Comments about this column? SBrinton@liherald.com.

All you can eat? Amid a tenacious virus, not so much.

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f there’s one thing that is quintessentially American, it’s the all-you-caneat, stuff-yourself-till-you-die buffet.

Now, as the Delta variant spreads, shutting down buffet venues across the country, many folks are missing the opportunity for unrestrained gorging, which is a kind of sport coast to coast.

This is a small grievance, to be sure, considering the misery that Covid has wrought, but it’s one of the pandemic lifestyle changes that bite.

Like not being able to see your doctor in person or having RANDI to move your book KREISS group online or canceling your plans to see friends or family. With Covid unbound, we have to carefully consider whether to dine out, unless it is a well-spaced outdoor setting.

Dozens of buffet restaurants have gone belly up, and the rest are struggling to create safer dining opportunities. Not that buffets have ever been the healthy go-to choice for a meal. The basic idea is that you can abandon any reasonable eating habits you may have acquired and just shovel in as much food as you want to with-

out anyone saying “enough.” In fact, some folks have taken to competing at a few of the big buffet emporia to see if they can get kicked out for eating too much. No such thing. You. Cannot. Eat. Too. Much.

No one wants to be reminded that there has always been a direct path from the buffet line to the IV line in the E.R. We Americans want our super-sized meals, damn the glucose and cholesterol readings. If you dine out at a traditional restaurant, it gets awkward to order three desserts, but a buffet makes it not only possible but easy.

Now, with Covid, buffet restaurants are struggling to survive, except in the South, where Texas, Georgia, Louisiana and Tennessee vie for the best attendance award. There is guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “Avoid offering any self-serve food or drink options, such as buffets, salad bars and drink stations. This limits the use of shared serving utensils, handles, buttons or touch screens and helps customers to stay seated and at least 6 feet apart from people who do not live in their household.”

Right.

In Florida, where masks are a sign of weak-minded liberalism, many buffets are

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still in business. Oh sure, there may be a server behind the dessert bar, helping you to the pie, but you’re jammed in with a million other unmasked people.

Historically, Las Vegas has always offered the biggest, cheapest buffets. If you were willing to leave your life savings at the roulette table, the hotel was willing to feed you into a coma. The Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace was the ultimate food experience for thousands of tourists. According to a review, it served more than 3,000 people a day across nine stations, featuring hundreds of items including nigiri sushi, dim sum, rotisserie chicken, 12-hour roasted American wagyu, paella, lobster bisque, snow crab legs, chicken and waffles, gnocchi, pizza, deviled eggs, pho, miso soup, Penang curry, cheeseburger sliders, soba noodles, poke, foie gras PB&J, oysters on the half-shell, shrimp and grits, pozole, tofu, General Tso’s chicken, avocado toast, peppercorn-crusted prime rib and more.

According to its website, Caesar’s has reopened its buffet after making renovations and (one would hope) installing safety measures to avoid serving up a superspreader for dessert.

n Florida, masks are a sign of weak-minded liberalism, and buffets survive.

I don’t want to come off as a buffet snob.

I’ve put in my time at the bacon station at many breakfast buffets. On the road, a cheap hotel buffet was an acceptable choice. You could always find something to eat.

Here on Long Island, private tennis, golf and social clubs drew new members to their opulent buffets. I loved being a guest at these places, which offered delicious food and the all-you-can-eat ethos, although with more savoir faire than a Golden Corral.

Buffets have been so abundant and ubiquitous that people learned to brainstorm the most effective methods of getting the best choices of expensive cuts of meat and seafood without wasting stomach space on the dinner rolls. My own son-inlaw nailed down the tactical approach to buffets years ago: Eat protein first. Don’t bulk up on salad. Go to the lobster and the shrimp and hold off on the carbs. No one ever made any profit on his buffet dinners.

Now most buffets are the stuff of nostalgia. My most memorable one was a lunch for President Ronald Reagan when he and Nancy visited Temple Ohr Torah in North Woodmere. The centerpiece was a bust of the president, done in chopped liver.

Copyright 2021 Randi Kreiss. Randi can be reached at randik3@aol.com.

OYSTER BAY HERALD — August 20, 2021

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Restoring a lost habitat in our backyard

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HERALD

HERALD EDITORIAL

Laura Lane

U.N.: Climate change is real, and it’s getting uglier

August 20, 2021 — OYSTER BAY HERALD

OYSTER BAY

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o the climate deniers, we say this: Wake up.

July was the hottest in the past 142 years, since humans started recording climate data, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. July had previously been the hottest month ever recorded in 2016, 2019 and 2020.

What we are seeing now is climate change play out in real time, as predicted by scientists dating back to the 1960s and the administration of President Lyndon Johnson. As a nation, we have largely ignored the crisis, pretending it wasn’t happening, hoping the scientists had got this one wrong. They didn’t. We can see that now.

We can see it in the massive wildfires that have consumed swaths of the American West and southern Europe. California and Colorado may be on fire, but so are Italy and Greece.

No fewer than nine wildfires are now ravaging California. Exacerbated by extreme drought, the Dixie Fire has burned since July 13 and scorched more than half a million acres in Plumas and Butte counties. Need we say more?

The climate crisis is particularly worrisome for Long Islanders. We, after all, live on an island surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Long Island Sound, which are predicted to rise because ice shelves in Greenland and Antarctica are melting into the seas, causing water levels to rise, inch by inch, foot by foot, over decades.

The 195-member United Nations International Panel on Climate Change recently released its sixth Assessment Report, offering the consensus findings and opinions of thousands of the world’s leading climatologists. The warnings are dire.

When the IPCC began its work 33 years ago, it built some small level of doubt into its reports that maybe, just maybe, humans weren’t the cause of the Earth’s rapidly rising temperatures. Not anymore. In its most recent report, issued only weeks ago, the IPCC stated, “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.” As a result, the report continues, “Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred.”

Climate change works like this: We humans burn fossil fuels — coal, oil and natural gas — to generate electricity and heat our homes and businesses. We also burn gasoline — which is made from oil — to power our cars, buses and trucks.

That produces lots of carbon dioxide, the main driver of climate change, which traps infrared heat that is radiated into

How to reduce your carbon footprint ■■Vote■for■elected■officials■who■support■alternative■energy■and■policies■ intended■to■reduce■carbon■dioxide■ emissions.

■■Travel■less.■The■staycation■became■a■ thing■in■2020.■Let’s■hope■it■stays■that■ way■in■the■future.■No■one’s■saying■don’t■ travel■beyond■your■own■borders.■Just■ think■about■limiting■such■travel,■and■

space from the Earth’s surface, warming the entirety of the planet.

On average, human activities send 40 billion tons — tons — of carbon into the atmosphere each year. And here’s the thing: Despite our growing knowledge and awareness of the climate crisis, that volume of carbon continues to increase.

Between 2014 and 2016, amid negotiations over the Paris Climate Agreement, carbon emissions leveled off, giving us some hope that perhaps we might be headed in the right direction. But those emissions started to rise again in 2017, the year President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, and they continued to increase in 2018 and 2019, before falling last year during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, when everyone stayed home, according to The World Counts, a website that

when■you■do■go■far,■purchase■carbon■ offsets.

■■Buy■green■energy■credits■from■your■ power■company■or■install■solar■panels.

■■Drive■smaller■vehicles,■particularly■ fully■electric■or■hybrid■models.

■■Eat■less■meat.■Consider■going■meatless■at■least■once■a■week.

tracks carbon emissions.

That we could, in fact, reduce our emissions dramatically during the pandemic should be cause for hope — not celebration, but hope. We are capable of limiting, even reducing our carbon output. We can seek and find alternatives to the old ways if we resolve to do so.

The continued warming of the Earth through the middle of the century is all but inevitable, according to the IPCC report. Ensuring that climate change does not continue past that point is, however, possible.

“Strong and sustained reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases would limit climate change,” the report states. Now, not later, is the time to commit to those reductions.

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OPINIONS

he Smithtown School District will restrict the use of 34 BrainPop instructional videos in classrooms because they introduce topics like Black Lives Matter and human sexuality.

The restriction is in response to a couple who complained at the district’s July Board of Education meeting that the videos were biased against conservatives and “no more than a call for revolution, for our young people to protest,” according to Newsday.

A BrainPop spokesperson responded via ALAN email that “we created the video on SINGER the Black Lives Matter protests to provide parents and educators a resource for explaining the protests and movement in kid-friendly terms. The video, which features a cartoon robot named Moby, “doesn’t call for or encourage a revolution.”

BrainPop videos discuss over a thousand topics in math, science, social studies and English. They are used in almost three-quarters of U.S. school districts. Not coincidently, there were also complaints about BrainPop at a July school board

meeting in the Three Village School District. A speaker charged that the videos had “BLM all over it, along with Pride and videos that say if you’re white, you’re basically an oppressor.”

You can watch the nine-minute offending BrainPop Black Lives Matter video on You Tube.

In the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump carried every election district in Smithtown, some by over 30 percentage points, earning Smithtown the nickname Trumptown, New York. Smithtown also returned Lee Zeldin to Congress. Zeldin, one of the most conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives, voted against establishing a commission to investigate what happened in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, supported Trump’s claims that the election was somehow stolen from him and asked the Supreme Court to overturn the result.

In May, Smithtown voters elected three conservative candidates affiliated with the pro-Trump group Long Island Loud Majority to the Board of Education.

While it’s unclear whether the group represents a majority of Long Islanders, it is definitely loud when disrupting school board meetings, at which members often

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he campaign in Smithtown against diversity efforts first drew attention in January.

LETTERS People have a right to choose To the Editor: Re Jerry Kremer’s column “The political losers are killing your neighbors” (Aug. 5-11): I am amazed, and want to know what planet Kremer comes from.

First it was Trump derangement syndrome, and now it’s Republican derangement syndrome. He says the so-called health haters should be treated the same way as people who were arrested on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6.

Kremer speaks of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who flipped-flopped from day one, saying you have nothing to fear from Covid-19, starting with no masks. Then it was masks. Then it was two masks.

Kremer mentioned conservative Fox host Tucker Carlson, who rails against vaccines. Last time I looked, we had freedom of speech in this country, but apparently, only if you agree with the left, according to Kremer.

Then there’s Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whom Kremer tries to smear because he did an amazing job during the coronavirus pandemic while other governors fiddled. Notice that Kremer never mentions California, New Jersey and New York, all states controlled by Democratic administrations, which were disaster areas during the pandemic.

attack staff and student speakers. They have also been accused of propagating anti-Semitic tropes. During the school board campaign, the group circulated a newsletter attempting to connect opposition school board candidates with George Soros, a progressive and a Jew who has been targeted by anti-Semitic forces in Europe.

The Smithtown campaign against Black Lives Matter and diversity efforts first drew public attention in January, when parents complained about the speaker at the district’s Family Literacy Night. Broadway actress Diamond Essence White read a children’s book called “Not Quite Snow White.” White, who is Black, is an outspoken supporter of Black Lives Matter. Smithtown Superintendent Mark Secaur apologized to protesting parents for the invitation to a “polarizing” personality.

After the Long Island Loud Majoritybacked candidates were elected to the school board, the district’s assistant superintendent for instruction and administration, who had guided its diversity and equity efforts as a member of the district’s Equity Team, resigned. She had been criticized by parents and LILM,

which argued that diversity and equity were really subterfuge to promote critical race theory.

The push to take over local school boards is part of a long-term strategy of the conservative group American Legislative Exchange Council to reshape American education and society by taking control of local governing bodies. Opposition to critical race theory has replaced opposition to the 1619 Project as the main mobilizing point for conservatives across the country.

In response to the assault on CRT and the 1619 Project, the Zinn Education Project is organizing teachers to pledge to “teach the truth” and participate in Days of Action. It also provides sample lessons.

In Smithtown and other Trump-supporting communities across the U.S., however, school boards and frightened administrators apparently don’t want teachers to “teach the truth.”

Dr. Alan Singer is a professor of teaching, learning and technology and the director of social studies education programs at Hofstra University. He is a former New York City high school social studies teacher and editor of Social Science Docket, a joint publication of the New York and New Jersey Councils for the Social Studies. Follow him on twitter at https://twitter.com/AlanJSinger1.

FRAMEWORK by Christina Daly

Governor Cuomo sent elderly patients to their deaths by executive order, placing them in nursing homes while a hospital ship stood empty and the Javits Center was vacant of patients. Nor is there mention of former President Barack Obama’s 60th birthday bash, a super-spreader event in the making, as the liberals would say. Democratic politicians and supporters flew in on private planes, causing a huge carbon footprint, but people like me are the problem.

So, yes, politicians are killing your neighbors by trying to suppress people’s right to choose and make their own decisions about themselves and their families.

MICHAEL APPICE Westbury

Pulling out is a mistake To the Editor: I voted for Biden with enthusiasm, but in May wrote to the Herald opposing his decision to withdraw the last remaining 2,700 American military from Afghanistan — citing the setback it would be for women and girls there. Remember that it is now 20 years without major Taliban presence. A whole new generation of Afghans has evolved, with the internet creating a more democratic environment through social communication. Afghani-

At the annual clam-eating contest — Island Park

stan has changed and policy should have changed too.

Our American presence there is not for nation-building, but the Afghans have been building their own nation. They just needed what we had made available and now have pulled out from under them.

For the decades since the end of World

War II, we have left tens of thousands of our military personnel in Germany and Japan. We could afford to leave 2,700 for another unspecified number of years.

BOB PRAVER Glen Cove

OYSTER BAY HERALD — August 20, 2021

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L.I. school board tries to ban Black Lives Matter

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August 20, 2021 — OYSTER BAY HERALD

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