_________________ WANTAGH ________________
CoMMUNItY UPDAtE Infections as of July 1
2,104
Infections as of June 23 2,103
$1.00
HERALD
How to protect beach-nesters
New parlor whips up sweet treats
MacArthur H.S. graduates
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Vol. 69 No. 28
JUlY 8 - 14, 2021
Wantagh native headed to Tokyo First-time Olympian will leave with Team USA on July 18 By KAtE NAlEPINSKI knalepinski@liherald.com
Courtesy Marc Lebryk
ANDrEw CAPoBIANCo, 21, who’s originally from Wantagh, right, will head to the Tokyo Olympics with Team USA later this month. He will compete in three-meter synchronized diving with his partner, Michael Hixon, and in the individual three-meter event.
A springboard diver who’s originally from Wantagh will compete in the Tokyo Olympics this month. Andrew Capobianco, 21, earned a spot on Team USA last month when he and his partner in three-meter synchronized diving, Michael Hixon, won the event at the Olympic trials at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis. He secured a spot in a second event in Tokyo by finishing second in the individual three-
meter competition. “Now it’s kind of sunk in,” Capobianco said last week, “and I’m just really excited for the experience.” He said he was grateful to be with his family at the trials. “I know they’ve put so much into this dream of mine,” he said, “so we all had a great celebration afterward, and we were able to look back at all the great times that we’ve had leading up to this point, and all the people that have helped me get here.” C a p o b i a n c o ’ s f a t h e r, Michael Capobianco, said that Continued on page 23
Recovering local finds solace in home decor business By KAtE NAlEPINSKI knalepinski@liherald.com
Wantagh resident Nicholas Sarnelli’s bedroom is reminiscent of a curiosity shop. Nineteenth-century pipes and pocket watches are scattered across his dresser, an antique Singer sewing machine and an old box camera sit on the floor, and a book filled with yellowed newspaper clippings about World War II rests on his nightstand. Sarnelli, 32, who lives with his father on Jerusalem Avenue, said he collects these curiosities from local flea markets and antique stores, often at markeddown prices. He has always been
drawn to “all things peculiar,” he said. Some of these items, as well as many others in Sarnelli’s workspace in his garage, have been or will become the subjects of his artwork: antique-style lamps, light fixtures and home decor sold through a business he calls Out of the Dark Into the Light. Sar nelli started crafting lamps and other interior decor around Halloween 2018, after a friend showed him an image of a lamp made from a Crystal Head vodka bottle shaped like a skull. “He made one first, and then I saw it and I said, ‘I can make it better,’” Sarnelli said. By that
winter, he had produced several lamps using old bottles. “He is deeply intrigued by his own work,” said Nicholas’s father, Baldassare Sar nelli, who’s known as Benny. “He’s on his own planet when he’s in his garage. When he’s in there, he’s the happiest person in the world. He’s probably produced close to 300 lamps.” The name of his business doesn’t just refer to his line of work. In November 2018, Sarnelli was diagnosed with Stargardt macular dystrophy, which causes degeneration of part of the retina that is responsible for sharp vision. He can still see clearly now, he said, but he struggles to
make out small words. And the disease is incurable, his father said. It will worsen over time, and eventually lead to blindness. Shortly after he was diagnosed, Nicholas said, he fell back into drug and alcohol addiction, which he had struggled with for 15 years. “I had a really hard time,” he acknowledged.
According to a Nassau County Police Department report, he was arrested in February 2019 in connection with a robbery that had occurred three months earlier in Wantagh. He was convicted of third-degree robbery, a felony, and spent a year and five months in prison before being released earlier this year. Continued on page 5