Wantagh
HERALD Citizen
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VOL. 68 NO. 39
SEPTEMBER 24 - 30, 2020
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We’re all in this together
By TIMOTHY DENTON tdenton@liherald.com
The Wantagh Memorial Congregational Church will hold an evening vigil on Saturday to mark International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. The commemoration was created in 2013 by U.N. Resolution 68/32, and the local event will take place on the church’s back lawn. The rules of social distancing will be observed, and masks will be required.
In addition to the day’s original purpose, “One of the primary reasons we wanted to hold the vigil this year was to try to help heal the deep divisions we see in American society,” said the Rev. Ron Garner, the church’s pastor. “The pandemic has aggravated and intensified people’s feelings of despair,” Garner said. “People’s regular lives are disrupted, their children are sometimes exhibiting signs of stress, and they end up feeling disconnected and
depressed.” Garner said he couldn’t remember a time when society was as polarized as it is now. The Congregational Church has a longstanding opposition to weapons of mass destruction, he said. “Our congregation is in the process of becoming a Just Peace church,” Garner added. “We see the abolition of war as part of our mission as CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
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Pastor reaches out to heal society’s divisions
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Church to hold anti-nuke vigil
2020-2021
Courtesy Wantagh Memorial Congregational Church
THE REV. RON Garner, pastor of the Wantagh Memorial Congregational Church for the past 10 years, will lead a vigil for the abolition of nuclear weapons on Saturday on his church’s back lawn.
All of us at the Herald Community Newspapers were frightened by the coronavirus pandemic when it reached Nassau County last spring. Some of us were sickened by Covid-19, and some were even hospitalized. But we had a job to do. We were, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo called us, “essential workers,” relaying vital information people needed to know to stay healthy and survive this potentially deadly disease. S o we d i d what we knew how to do — reported the news, day in, day out, for weeks on end. Suddenly, we were no longer a weekly newspaper. We were a daily, publishing the news online at liherald.com and in our daily newsletter. Hundreds of thousands of people came to our website for the latest news. The pandemic stretched us to our limits, but we never broke. We were with you throughout, and our pledge is to remain with you until all of us return to normal life — or whatever our lives will be in the new normal. Producing the news, however, is a costly endeavor. We must pay the salaries of reporters, editors, photographers, graphic
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