Serving New Hyde Park, Floral Park, Garden City Park, North Hills, Manhasset Hills and North New Hyde Park
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Friday, April 23, 2021
Vol. 70, No. 17
N E W H Y D E PA R K
LIVING 50 PLUS
2 RACEHORSES DIE IN BELMONT FIRE
PAGES 25-32
PAGE 2
OPTIMISM FOR DOWNTOWNS PAGE 8
Victim of acid attack
Funds raised for Sewanhaka grad BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z More than $200,000 has been raised to cover medical bills for a Hofstra student who was attacked with acid and severely burned on March 17 in Elmont. The victim, Nafiah Fatima, as she is identified on a GoFundMe page, is a 21-year-old Hofstra student and a graduate of the Sewanhaka Central High School District. The GoFundMe page was created by Shazia Anjum, who was permitted to tell her story to the public. On March 17, around 8:30 p.m., Fatima and her mother parked their car outside their Elmont home on Arlington Avenue and were about to walk inside when an unknown man ran up to her and threw acid on her face. Footage of the incident was caught on a neighboring house camera. According to the page, the attacker, who has not been identified by police more than a month later, used a “dark brown acid known to cause blindness Continued on Page 37
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE LAKEVILLE ESTATES CIVIC ASSOCIATION
Members of the Lakeville Estates Civic Association gathered in Manhasset to condemn hatred against the AsianAmerican population. See story on page 4.
F.P.-Bellerose board prez to retire Jaclyn O’Donohue, Amanda Talty will vie for seat held by Laura Ferone BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z Three new faces and one familiar one are running for two seats on the Floral Park-Bellerose Board of Education in elections on May 18. Board President Laura Fer-
one, district officials said, is retiring after 14 years on the school board, leaving a vacancy. Jaclyn O’Donohue and Amanda Talty are running against each other for Ferone’s seat. Incumbent Trustee Douglas Madden, who has been on the board since 2017, is running for re-election against challenger Beth Kierez. O’Donohue, a registered nurse, has been active in several local organizations, including as president of the
Wednesday Mother’s Club, Liz’s Day board member and co-leader of her daughter’s Girl Scout troop and son’s Cub Scout den. “I believe that if we come together as parents and as a community, we can make a big change not only for the future of our children, but for the future of our fantastic village,” O’Donohue said in a Facebook post. Talty, a product of the Elmont and Sewanhaka school districts, is the president and CEO of the
Tourette Association of America. She is also a mother of two and the recording secretary for the district’s parent teacher association. Talty, in a Facebook post, said she wants to work toward bringing a team-teaching model to inclusion classrooms, taking advantage of public-private partnership opportunities, and establishing a clear curriculum review and renewal cycle to ensure the district’s Continued on Page 38
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