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Columnist Harold Peterson dies
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VOL. 68 NO. 40
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Church holds candlelight peace vigil personal. “Forty years ago, I was a young second lieutenant stationed in Germany as part of the Seventy-five years ago last divisional security detail at a month, on Sept. 2, 1945, morning- Pershing III missile site,” Garcoated and uniformed officials ner recounted last Saturday from the Empire of night, at a candleJapan huddled light prayer vigil in together aboard the observance of the battleship USS MisInternational Day souri, anchored in for the Total ElimiSagami Bay. They nation of Nuclear had come to meet Weapons, sponsored representatives of by the United the Allied powers Nations. and to sign the The church instruments of surd r aw s m e m b e r s render, formally endf ro m a c ro s s t h e ing World War II — a South Shore area, war that by some including Wantagh, estimates had cost Seaford, Bellmore as many as 100 miland Massapequa. lion lives. “A s I g a i n e d It was a war of seniority, I was given firsts, including the THE REV. RON higher security first deployment of clearances,” Garner atomic weapons. GARNER continued, “and I The bombs dropped Pastor, had access to more by U.S. forces on Wantagh Memorial documentation Hiroshima and showing just how Congregational Nagasaki remain destructive these the only two such Church weapons are.” weapons ever used Garner, an active in war. member of Veterans for Peace, For the Rev. Ron Garner, pas- served for 11 years as an infantry tor of Wantagh Memorial Con- officer, and learned during that gregational Church, the issue of time how many would die in a nuclear weapons remains highly CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
By TIMOTHY DENTON tdenton@liherald.com
A
Bridget Downes/Baldwin Herald
ALL FOUR TEAMS drew big cheers from a large crowd at last Saturday’s Beyond the Badge benefit in Baldwin Park.
Police benefit draws big crowd Beyond the Badge up to bat against suicide By J.D. FREDA jfreda@liherald.com
In September 2019, New York City Police Department Detective Chris Panetta, 42, and his wife, Nassau County probation officer and college professor Michelle Panetta, 34, created Beyond the Badge NY, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating the stigma associated with mental health struggles in the law enforcement community, and combating the rise of suicides in the ranks. That month, they hosted a charity softball game in
Baldwin Park in honor of those who had died, their families and officers who felt as if life had dealt them an 0-2 count. The event last year drew a few dozen players and spectators combined, including two teams comprising a mix of active police officers and law enforcement supporters. Last Saturday, Beyond the Badge NY returned to Baldwin Park for its second annual Strikeout Suicide charity softball game, and this time there was a crowd of several hundred, with four teams
drawn from the ranks of the Nassau and Suffolk County Police Departments, the NYPD and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police, playing on adjacent fields — 60 officers in total. This year the event featured merchandise stands, a DJ and food. The opening ceremonies included the Nassau County Police Emerald Society Pipe Band and remarks by Michelle Panetta. “We realized that there needed to be a change, and change comes with us,” she CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
s I gained seniority . . . I had access to more documentation showing just how destructive [nuclear] weapons are.