_________________ WANTAGH ________________
September 15, 2022
Empowering a brighter future
HERALD Higher Education
Inside
Vol. 70 No. 38
Masks no longer required on lIRR
Town remembers 9/11 victims
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SEPTEMBER 15 - 21, 2022
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Finally, a school year free of the pandemic By MICHAEl MAlASZCZYK mmalaszczyk@liherald.com
Herald file photo
WANTAgH SuPERINTENdENT JoHN McNamara, center, and Seaford superintendent Adele Pecora, fourth from right, were among those who gathered for disaster training in 2018.
This school year could be the first since 2019-20 in which the coronavirus pandemic is no longer a dominating factor for students, teachers and parents, according to local school officials. Public schools in Wantagh and Seaford, as well as those across the country, were profoundly affected when the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic in March 2020, and they continued to deal with the impact of the pandemic for the two school Continued on page 5
Leaders decry latest discovery of antisemitic graffiti By MICHAEl MAlASZCZYK mmalaszczyk@liherald.com
Politicians, religious leaders and residents said they are united in their fight against antisemitism after swastikas were recently discovered at Cedar Creek Park in Seaford. The swastikas were found in the park’s bathrooms on Sept. 3, clearly etched into the bathrooms’ paper towel holders, officials said. This is not the first time that antisemitic symbols have been discovered in the Wantagh-Seaford area. In July, Max Williams, a 23-year-old Jewish resident, stumbled across antisemitic
graffiti and racial epithets at Forest City Community Park in Wantagh. Swastikas and satanic symbols were found in that same park in April. In addition, in February 2018, a swastika was found outside a woman’s house on Brent Drive, and in 2011, a swastika and hateful messages were discovered on a footbridge spanning the Wantagh Parkway from Beltagh Avenue. Antisemitism has been on display across Long Island as well. This year, flyers were posted a ro u n d Ro ck v i l l e C e n t re, Oceanside and Long Beach, promoting a conspiracy involving the Jewish members of Presi-
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e are fighting against all discrimination and fascism.
REV. WASYl HRYNKIW
St. Vladimir’s Catholic Church dent Biden’s cabinet. The Nassau County Legislature claimed that this was the work of the neo-Nazi g roup the Goyim Defense League. Nassau County police officials said they were investigating the Cedar Creek Park inci-
dent as a bias crime. No suspects had been identified as the Herald went to press, and it was not known whether those involved had any connection to the Goyim Defense League or any other neo-Nazi organizations. While it also remains unknown who committed the acts earlier this year at Forest City Community Park, the inci-
dents could be connected, and could possibly be an attempt to intimidate the Jewish communities of Wantagh, Seaford and neighboring towns ahead of the Jewish High Holy Days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, officials said. The antisemitic acts drew an immediate and harsh response Continued on page 4