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MEN’S
Vol. 34 No. 27
Family fun at the St. Agnes Bazaar
looK INSIdE YoUR HEAlTH
Men’s Health
Page 3
JUNE 29 - JUlY 5, 2023
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Alex Anderson
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The Anderson aanderson@andersonagenc yrvc.com Agency 530 Merrick Rd., Rockville
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Centre
Congrats, Class of of 2023 2023 Congrats Class
Courtesy Teddy Batkin
THE gRAdUATES oF South Side High School celebrate by tossing their mortarboards in the David S. Mack Sports Complex at Hofstra University. Story, more photos, Page 6.
Rockville Centre veteran turns to community for help By dANIEl oFFNER doffner@liherald.com
Nick Martinez Jr. grew up in Rockville Centre, attended South Side High School and was a member of the Cyclones wrestling team. When he graduated in 1989 at age 18, Martinez was recruited by the U.S. Marine Corps. He trained at the military recruitment depot on Parris Island in South Carolina, and his platoon was deployed to the Middle East. It was a very different time, with the Cold War with the Soviet Union coming to an end and Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait leading the U.S. and its allies into
combat for the first time since Vietnam. Martinez served for five years and was honorably discharged in 1994, but was injured in combat, and returned home with a problem that would go undiagnosed for more than 20 years. Doctors discovered that he had damaged his spine, and in February 2006 he underwent fusion surgery. The procedure involved removing fragments of bone and placing three rods and several screws in his spine. Since it was a wartime injury, he filed a claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs, but was informed that his benefits would not cover it.
I
consider all of my wrestlers as part of my family. MIcHAEl dAVEY
Former South Side High School wrestling coach “They basically denied it,” Martinez said. “They said, ‘It’s a Social Security disability issue, because you’re a civilian now. If that happened during the time that you were in the service, it had to be proven at that time.’” Although his disability cover-
age helped with a portion of the cost, Martinez ended up paying for most of the procedure — which was not entirely successful, and left him unable to do physical labor and earn a living wage. Now 52, Martinez relies on his monthly disability benefit checks to help him pay for rent, food and medical expenses. For
the past three months, however, he has not received a check. It took him several attempts to reach Veterans Affairs about his payments before he received a letter detailing how “delays in printing and mailing correspondence due to supply chain and staff shortages” were responsible for the delay. Continued on page 24