HERALD $1.00
Nassau gets hurricane-ready
Page 4
Page 6
Vol. 33 No. 24
discount
1111028
BP gas station is robbed
10000*
$
117 117573 65691
______________ VALLEY STREAM _____________
JUNE 9 - 15, 2022
Schools worry about safety Central High School students offer their thoughts after Uvalde missioner Patrick Ryder told attendees at a Garden City school safety seminar last month. “The Schools are supposed to be active shooter kills who they have safe and open places for young to kill, and usually they kill themminds to grow. Open is one thing, selves after.” but safe? The typical police response After a gunman time for an emergenkilled 19 children cy call in Nassau is and two adults at an between three and elementary school in five minutes, Ryder Uvalde, Texas, some added. Within that students, parents space of the few critiand even teachers cal minutes between are asking that quesalerting police of a tion, fearing one day, shooter and waiting that tragedy could be for their intervena reality right here, tion, school safety close to home. measures play a vital Schools are left to role in staving off tackle the increasing the gunman’s attack. threat of gun vioObstacles and prelence among young ventive strategies people on and put in place — locked around their camdoors, moving quickpuses. But even with ly to safety — can a robust security delay and frustrate a infrastructure and Josh NixoN gunman long enough safety plan in place, Senior, for police to respond many communities Central High School and ensure as few — like those served casualties as possiby the Valley Stream ble, the commissionCentral High School School Dis- er said. trict— worry if that will be Valley Stream attempts to do enough to stop another Uvalde. that with some innovative safety “Most shootings are over in technology, hall monitors and two to three minutes,” Nassau County Police Department ComContinued on page 15
By JUaN lasso jlasso@liherald.com
t
Courtesy Alfonso Castillo
ChristoPhEr aNd alfoNzo Castillo decided to bring the Free Blockbuster concept to Valley Stream, turning an old newspaper box into a place neighbors can borrow movies on DVD and VHS.
Rules of Free Blockbuster? Be kind! Rewind! By KariNa KoVaC kkovac@liherald.com
Before the rapid rise of video streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu, movie watchers of the 1990s and early 2000s recall fond memories of perusing the aisles of their neighborhood Blockbuster in search of a movie. They’d take it home on a DVD — or for anyone who really goes back, a VHS tape. Those days are long gone
for the once wildly popular video rental franchise, at least officially. The last remaining Blockbuster store in existence is tucked away in a central Oregon strip mall 170 miles east of Portland. B u t B l o ck bu s t e r h a s returned to Valley Stream — well, sort of. Christopher Castillo may be too young, at 11, to know when videocassettes reigned supreme. But his 44-year-old father, Alfonso Castillo, definitely remem-
bers. And both hope others will feel a little nostalgia, too, as they revive the classic viewing format by opening up one of a number of free libraries of VHS tapes across the country. The “Free Blockbuster” movement, as it’s called, was started three years ago in California by Brian Morrison, an ex-Blockbuster employee who turned an abandoned newspaper vending box into a collecContinued on page 15
here is a lot that school officials and community leaders can do, but it is truly up to everyone as a whole to create a safe environment.