_________________ WANTAGH ________________
HERALD Second-graders are poets
MacArthur still undefeated
Gillespie is honored
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Vol. 71 No. 22
MAY 25 - 31, 2023
$1.00
Composer visits Wantagh Erik Morales listens as students rehearse his world premiere high level,” Morales said. “For a composer, it’s always a treat to hear our music being representMembers of the Wantagh ed in the highest possible way. High School band received a real When the students are enjoying treat as they prepped for their it, you can hear that in the spring concert: The renowned music.” composer whose music they Morales visited Wantagh have been practicing High to hear the stuled them through a dents rehearse the special rehearsal. piece for the first Musician and t i m e, a n d C h r i s composer Erik Cockren, who leads Morales guided the the ninth- and 10thband through the g rade bands, exre h e a r s a l a d ay plained the pressure before the May 18 of rehearsing the concert, as the wind CHRIS piece in front of ensemble performed CoCKREN Morales before the the world premiere premiere. of Morales’ “Hunt- music teacher “These are the ress of the Fiery kids that really love Air,” under the direction of the the band, and this is like meeting high school’s band leader, Dan a sports star,” Cockren said. “For Aviles. the composer has a vision, and The band had the opportunity he’s trying to match the vision, to meet one of the finest compos- and he only has an hour and a ers in the world and get a deeper half to get the message across, look at why and how he wrote and the kids have to get as many the piece. Morales has collabo- corrections in as they can.” rated with bands in the Long Freshman Olivia Scherer, 15, Island area, and Aviles, who took and senior Natasha Meagher, 17, over the high school’s wind who are both members of the ensemble five years ago, contact- wind ensemble, discussed their ed Morales last summer. emotions going into the concert. “It’s a hard piece of music, “This is definitely the hardest but this band is capable of performing hard music at a very Continued on page 4
By KEPHERD DANIEl kdaniel@liherald.com
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his is like meeting a sports star.
Tim Baker/Herald
Pizza at the library Charlotte Hamel, 10, left, and Emma Sherman, 10 — friends who live in Wantagh — happily partook in the Wantagh Public Library’s second annual Best Pizza Contest on May 19.
‘Human error’ caused mailing issue, voter card printer says By MICHAEl MAlASZCZYK mmalaszczyk@liherald.com
Anyone receiving a voter mail check card erroneously identifying them as a registered Democrat, there are a few things to know. First, it was caused by human error. Second, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman does not want any blame to be leveled at county Democrats. According to Blakeman, a Republican, over the course of the past couple of weeks, the county has fielded many calls from disgruntled voters claiming that they received these cards that misidenti-
fied their voter registration. There also were claims that other details like township and Assembly district were also incorrect. But there is no conspiracy, Blakeman said. Instead, it was a simple mistake acknowledged by Phoenix Graphics, the vendor used by the county elections board to print and distribute these cards. “The voter check cards were sent out with information on a card about people and where they’re supposed to vote, what district they’re in, and what their registration was,” Blakeman told reporters at a recent news conference. “In this circumstance, everyone was identified as a Democrat. Not RepubContinued on page 2