Wantagh
HERALD Citizen
WHS closes for two weeks
Fire on the second floor
Eateries thrive while it’s warm
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NOVEMBER 12 - 18, 2020
VOl. 68 NO. 46
Key Club and Kiwanis clean up Wantagh students spend morning at Jones Beach, picking up litter By J.D. FREDA jfreda@liherald.com
Courtesy Wantagh Schools
No classroom necessary Wantagh Elementary School Principal Dr. Randee Bonagura helped students with problem-solving activities designed to make them use both their brains and their bodies.
On an unseasonably beautiful 73-degree afternoon last Saturday at Jones Beach, the Wantagh Kiwanis and Wantagh High School Key Club joined forces on the boardwalk to do a bit of cleaning. Sponsored and organized by the Kiwanis, 39 members of the Key Club, which focuses on community service, roamed the walkway and the beach in front of the West Bathhouse and Gatsby on the Ocean restaurant, collecting litter. Inspired by a similar Key Club project six years ago, students hauled away a total
of 235 pounds of trash. “Jones Beach is a place that people in our community visit year-round, and we wanted to help make it as clean as possible,” Wantagh High School senior Julia Froese (pronounced fro-shee), a co-president of the club, told the Herald on Sunday. “While there are so many other places that need our help, Jones Beach was one that we wanted to clean up, since there’s always a large amount of foot traffic there. In addition, leaving trash on the beach area puts sea life in danger.” Froese and her fellow students arrived at the park at Continued on page 3
South Shore residents and officials voice opinions on election By J.D. FREDA jfreda@liherald.com
At press time on Monday, former Vice President Joe Biden had tallied over 75 million votes in the presidential election — more than any other candidate in history — besting President Donald Trump’s 70 million-plus votes, the second-most in history. Only two states remained to be decided, Georgia and North Carolina, according to the Associated Press. A call for either candidate in either state, however, would not affect the outcome of the election. Biden had 290 electoral votes secured, the AP was reporting.
If he were to win Georgia — an increasingly likely outcome — he would end the election with 306 electoral votes. A candidate needs 270 to win the presidency. Locally, Suf folk County Republican Andrew Garbarino appeared to have secured the seat in New York’s 2nd Congressional District, succeeding longtime Republican U.S. Rep. Peter King, of Seaford. Incumbent Sen. John Brooks, a Democrat from Seaford, was re-elected in the 8th District, running unopposed. Residents of Wantagh, Seaford and the surrounding communities were keen to finding out how the presidential election
would affect their day-to-day lives. “It’s a different feeling from when I travel from home in Seaford to work and then back,” said Celia Carlson, 41, a counselor at Intermediate School 125 in Woodside, Queens. She said she could feel the disappointment at the results of the presidential election in her hometown, but more positive vibes in Queens. “In New York City,” Carlson said, “they’re kind of feeling how I’m feeling: excited. There’s a buzz.” On election night, she said, she wasn’t feeling very hopeful, with Trump edging Biden in some key states. Then, after seeing the vote totals for Biden rise Wednesday morning, she said
she became “cautiously optimistic.” As Biden secured more Electoral College votes, Carlson became increasingly aware that many of her neighbors weren’t happy. “Many people are hurt, and I understand that,” she said. “We have to understand that. That’s how it felt four years ago for the other side.”
Jay Mooney, 57, of Wantagh, said he stayed up until about 3 a.m. after election night. He said he was confident that Trump could continue building on his solid start. “I woke up just a few hours later and I was astounded,” Mooney said. Despite supporting Trump, however, he asserted Continued on page 10