Director Tony Scott

February 21, 2014 By Lee

By Lee Landor

[Note: This biography was originally published on A&E Television Networks’ Biography.com site in August 2012.]

Quick Facts

Name: Tony Scott
Occupation: Director
Birth date: July 21, 1944
Death date: August 19, 2012
Place of birth: North Shields, Northumberland, England, United Kingdom
Place of death: Los Angeles, California
AKA: Tony Scott
Full name: Anthony David Scott

Best Known For

English film director Tony Scott was best known for his first box-office success, Top Gun, as well as later films like True Romance and Enemy of the State. He was the brother of Ridley Scott, also a famed producer and director

Synopsis

Famed film director Tony Scott, born in North Shields, England on July 21, 1944, followed in the footsteps of his older brother, Ridley Scott, and took an interest in the world of film. He began by joining his brother’s commercial production company, and directed many television commercials and shows. Eventually, he began directing feature films and produced several box-office successes, including Top Gun, True Romance and Enemy of the State. Despite his success, Scott was never nominated for an Oscar or other film award. He committed suicide by jumping off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles on August 19, 2012.

Early Life

Famed English film director Tony Scott was born Anthony David Scott on June 21, 1944, in North Shields, Northumberland, England. He was the youngest of three sons born to Elizabeth and Col. Francis Percy Scott, and looked up to and followed in the footsteps of his older brother, Ridley Scott, who also became a noted film director and producer. Ridley cast Tony in the short film Boy and Bicycle, his directorial debut, in 1960. After that, Tony went on to attend several art schools, but turned his attention back to film in 1967, when his brother founded Ridley Scott Associates, a television commercial production outfit.

Over the two decades that followed, Tony directed thousands of television commercials for his brother’s company and took over when Ridley developed his feature film career. In the 1970s and early ’80s, Ridley’s feature films met considerable success, which directed Hollywood’s attention to Tony.

Film Career

In 1982, MGM Studios hired Tony Scott to direct the vampire film The Hunger, which starred David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve, and introduced Willem Dafoe, but ultimately failed to generate positive attention. Although it would later become a cult favorite, at the time of its release, the film had disappointing box-office sales.

As a result, Scott was unable to find work as a feature film director until several years later, when producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson asked him to direct Top Gun. In addition to being the Scott’s first blockbuster—which placed him ahead of his brother and made him a Hollywood A-list action director—the film was among highest-grossing films of 1986, generating more than $176 million. It also launched lead actor Tom Cruise into fame.

Scott worked Bruckheimer and Simpson again in 1987, directing the film Beverly Hills Cop II, which starred Eddie Murphy and Brigitte Nielsen, and was among that year’s highest-grossing films.

Scott continued to direct films that became box-office success throughout the 1990s and 2000s. One film that was considered a box-office failure, but nevertheless one of Scott’s most notable films, was True Romance, written by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary. The cast comprised several well-known actors, including Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Christian Slater, Christopher Walken and Samuel L. Jackson.

Scott’s highest-grossing film of the ’90s was 1998’s Enemy of the State, starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman.

Recognition

Along with his brother, Tony Scott ran Scott Free Productions and worked on numerous commercials and television shows, in addition to his feature films. He collaborated with actor Denzel Washington on five different films, and throughout the duration of his career, with numerous other well-known Hollywood stars, including Robert Deniro, Wesley Snipes and Benicio del Toro.

Despite his films’ box office success, Scott was unable to acquire critical respect. He was never in the running for an Oscar, and critics often criticized his films for emphasizing style over substance, according to an August 20, 2012 article in Newsday. The article quoted Scott’s explanation in 2007 of how he gained perspective by mixing up things between commercials, television and film. “I like changing the pace of my life, changing my discipline,” Scott said. “It gives me ideas for how to see the world differently.”

Death

Scott, who was married to Donna Scott and had twin sons, jumped off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles, California, around 12:35 p.m. on August 19, 2012. Los Angeles police pulled his body from the water several hours later. Investigators found a note containing contact information in Scott’s car, which was parked on the bridge. They also found a suicide note at his office.

Scott’s death shocked and puzzled the world; a successful member of the Hollywood elite, Scott had been working on a sequel to Top Gun in the months before his death. He had also just finished working on a four-hour A&E Television Networks miniseries, titled Coma, along with brother Ridley Scott and author Robin Cook.

He may not have won any awards, but Tony Scott certainly earned the respect of fellow Hollywood directors, including Ron Howard and Jon Favreau, both of whom used Twitter to express their sadness upon learning of his death. “No more Tony Scott movies. Tragic day,” fellow director Ron Howard wrote on his Twitter page after learning of Scott’s death. In a similar post, director Jon Favreau wrote: “Such sad news about Tony Scott. Heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.”

Additionally, Tom Cruise expressed his sorrow in a statement: “Tony was my dear friend, and I will really miss him,” Cruise said. “He was a creative visionary whose mark on film is immeasurable. My deepest sorrow and thoughts are with his family at this time.”

Hundreds turn out for Callahan’s funeral

February 13, 2014 By Lee

Copyright LIHerald.com
A funeral mass was held for James Callahan III at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in West Hempstead on May 31, 2011.

By Lee Landor

[Note: This article and its accompanying photos originally appeared on LIHerald.com on May 31, 2011. This content is the rightful property of Richner Communications, Inc.]

Hundreds of people filled the pews at the St. Thomas the Apostle Church in West Hempstead last week to pay their last respects to James Callahan III, who died May 26, several weeks after he was diagnosed with cancer and suffered a stroke.

Friends and family members said they were overwhelmed by the outpouring of support they received, and thanked the various elected officials and public servants who attended the May 31 funeral mass of the late Malverne deputy mayor, who was also the commissioner of the county’s emergency management office.

As Callahan’s wife, Patricia, walked in behind the casket to the altar with her children, Thomas, Katherine, Elizabeth and Christina, people began to sob, drowning out the soft organ music that played in the background. More tears were shed when Patricia decided to follow the eulogy her brother, Joseph Canzoneri Jr., had given with one of her own.

“The emptiness I feel today cannot be described adequately by words,” she said. “Jimmy and I shared every aspect of our lives together. We were truly best friends. We were partners intellectually and in managing our household and children. I have no regret today as I stand before you because Jimmy and I shared a very special love, one that caused us to say ‘I love you’ multiple times throughout every day.”

Copyright LIHerald.com
Hundreds of people turned out to pay their last respects to the late Malverne deputy mayor and commissioner of the county Office of Emergency Management.

Patricia went on to say that her husband had shared his life with many people and touched many lives. “We have all lost today — not just me and my children,” she said. Out of respect for Callahan, she added, she must share her family’s loss with everyone.

At the Malverne Village Board’s June 1 meeting, it was clear that Callahan’s death had a far-reaching effect. Almost everyone who spoke at the meeting — including the board members, department heads, civic leaders and village residents — had something to say about the late deputy mayor.

“It was an honor and a privilege to work with Jim,” Mayor Patricia McDonald said. “He was wonderful at guiding this board. … When I look to my right and Jim’s not here, it’s very surreal. … It will take a very long time for it to sink in.”

Trustees Michael Bailey, Joe Hennessy and John O’Brien, and village Attorney James Frankie, each spoke about their experiences working with Callahan in his 12 years on the board. “His knowledge … was inspiring,” Bailey said. Hennessy called Callahan an “attribute” to the village and O’Brien described him as “the quintessential public servant.”

Frankie said Callahan’s presence on the board was of great help to him personally: prior to taking on the role of commissioner for the county’s emergency management office, Callahan was a partner in a Baldwin-based law firm. “Unless you worked with him, you have no idea how bright he was,” Frankie said. “He made all of our jobs easier.”

While he loved his work, both in the county and the village, it was his family that Callahan put first, according to Hennessy. He recalled something Patricia Callahan had said at the funeral mass about notes — with messages like “I love you,” “I miss you” or “I’ll call you soon” — Callahan would leave hidden around the house for his children to find when he went on business trips.

“I think if you really want to know about Jim Callahan, that says it all,” Hennessy said.

Paul Jessup, head of Malverne’s Department of Public Works, said that he and Callahan became close in the 11 years they worked together. Even when they socialized, he said, they were getting work done. “Jim always gave 110 percent,” he said. “He was the only one I could call at 3 a.m. and know he was sitting in his office.”

On behalf of the Malverne Public Library, Cathy Wellikoff read a note expressing condolences to Callahan’s relatives. “None of us have been able to shake this feeling because he’s a neighbor and someone we see on T.V. and we feel close to him,” she said. “The tragedy of it is beyond our ability to comprehend and accept.”

Callahan, who was 42 when he died, had been re-elected to his fourth term as a trustee on the Malverne Village Board on March 15. County Executive Ed Mangano, who attended the funeral mass, swore Callahan in to his seat on April 4. Less than a week later, Callahan suffered a stroke. He was hospitalized for six weeks, during which time he was diagnosed with cancer.

Mangano was among the numerous county officials who attended Callahan’s funeral mass. Acting Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter was there, along with dozens of uniformed officers and county fire marshals. Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray also turned out for the funeral.

Copyright LIHerald.com
Dozens of town and county officials lined up outside the church to watch as the casket of James Callahan III, the late commissioner of the county Office of Emergency Management and Malverne Village deputy mayor who died May 26, was placed inside the hearse.

Outside the chapel, in a line down the center of Westminster Street, which was blocked off by police cruisers and fire trucks, dozens of county and town leaders stood with their hands over their hearts. They watched as Callahan’s casket was brought out and a county bagpipe ensemble began to play a piece. As mourners filed out of the church, three county helicopters in a “V” formation flew overhead, giving the sign that it was time to load the casket into the hearse.

The elegance of the funeral mass, procession and burial at Holy Rood Cemetery in Westbury were a testament to the respect people had for Callahan, and for the love and support they provided his family during his illness and after his death, McDonald said. Many who shared their feelings about Callahan said they were only giving back for what he had given the village and county in his professional roles and personal character.

“What I have often marveled about is how he did it so humbly,” Patricia Callahan had said in her eulogy. “He never boasted or bragged, he was wonderfully selfless in the things he did for so many people. He was happy being in the background and never sought recognition for his kindness.”

Patricia had maintained her composure until she began to speak of the lesson her late husband’s death has taught her. “It is up to all of us here today to fill the tremendous void left by Jim’s absence,” she said. Her voice caught in her throat, but she continued to speak, determined to deliver an important message. “I think we all now realize how fragile and precious our lives are,” she said. “Please spend that time on the things most important — your family, good friends and don’t worry about the small stuff.”

Read the full obituary.

Mother of autistic boy levels charges of bullying at Malverne school

February 13, 2014 By Lee

Copyright of LIHerald.com
Joel Luna Menjivar is a gifted musician who excels in his math classes, but has trouble socializing.

By Lee Landor

[Note: This article and its accompanying photos originally appeared on LIHerald.com on Jan. 18, 2012. This content is the rightful property of Richner Communications, Inc.]

Bullies at the Malverne middle school have kicked, taunted, chased and harassed autistic eighth-grader Joel Luna Menjivar, according to his mother, Ana, who called the Herald in a desperate attempt to get help.

School administrators have given Luna Menjivar plenty of lip service, but taken little to no corrective action, said the Guatemala native, who is not a fluent English speaker. She said the problem has persisted throughout her son’s time in the middle school, but in recent months it has escalated. Two incidents in particular, both occurring in the Howard T. Herber Middle School cafeteria, stand out for her because they resulted in either physical injuries or trauma. In one case, she said, a student struck Joel in the face with a glass bottle and in another, a student tried to pull down his pants.

“He did not take it off … because Joel run away,” Luna Menjivar said, “but I don’t know where is the one-to-one [aide], where is the security, where is everybody, where is the teachers? For 20 or 25 minutes he [was] very scared.”

Joel speaks English well and can communicate at a relatively high level despite his autism, but he is still a special-needs student who has trouble socializing, his mother said, adding, “He is a good boy, he listens, he is respectful.” She praised the Malverne school district, its special education program and its teachers, who have helped her son achieve high grades. Joel is particularly gifted in math and takes an honors class. Luna Menjivar’s daughters, Angie, 11, and Giovanna, 8, also do well in school. But while the classrooms are safe places, Joel is subject to bullying in the hallways, the cafeteria, outside and after school, she said.

She and his father, Bernardo Luna, said they have reported to school authorities each incident their son has told them about. At one point, Luna went directly to the Malverne Police Department to file a report. The department sent a detective to Herber to investigate, but referred the matter back to the school. “We really can’t do anything if we don’t witness it,” Chief John Aresta told the Herald, adding that when it comes to children being bullied in school, the police generally have little power. Herber’s dean of students, Dan Nehlsen, did, however, tell police that the student responsible for that incident would be suspended, Aresta added.

The incident with the bottle was never reported to police, but had it been, it would be considered assault with a weapon and the department would have taken action, according to Aresta.

Superintendent Dr. James Hunderfund said that Joel’s parents never reported the bottle incident to the school. Instead, seeing that the “child looked disturbed,” a school psychologist spoke with him and discovered what had happened. Administrators took immediate action, Hunderfund said, adding that school initiated a superintendent’s hearing and issued the responsible student an “extensive penalty” that was “beyond typical action.”

“The situation was addressed very conscientiously and immediately,” Hunderfund said. “We follow policy, we take very seriously any form of bullying, we have an absolute anti-bullying policy and we do have anti-bullying programs in the school, including character education, and we don’t tolerate it.”

Copyright LIHerald.com
Ana Luna Menjivar, right, demanded that the Malverne school district protect her son, Joel, 14, from bullying. Her husband, Bernardo, and daughter Giovanna, 8, said they feel helpless.

Hunderfund said that through behavioral-modification and character-education programs, which include assemblies and guest speakers, “treatment of others and values are very well-reviewed with students in the curriculum and practiced every day.” But, he added, Joel’s situation is unique — he already has constant adult supervision, yet he is still subject to bullying.

The district, however, is not authorized to provide one-to-one aide services “24/7,” which might be what Joel needs, the superintendent said. So the district suggested taking Joel out of the typical school setting and putting him in a placement school instead. His parents refused the offer, which left the district between a rock and a hard place, Hunderfund said.

Still, it’s the district’s job to keep not only Joel, but all students, safe, according to Luna Menjivar. “I’m very frustrated, very angry,” she said. “It’s too much. The school is making too [many] mistakes and I’m not happy right now.”

The bullying has affected Joel’s every action, she said: He has trouble eating and sleeping and he is constantly nervous, finding it difficult to speak at times and often wringing his hands. Although he is not reluctant to tell his parents about bullying incidents, his cognitive disability sometimes impedes him from doing so, which then makes it difficult for his parents to report an incident to the district.

Concerned for her son’s well-being, Luna Menjivar said she has reconsidered the special placement. “I don’t want him to go to the [Malverne] high school,” she said. With the Herald’s help, she was able to secure a meeting with Hunderfund in which they would discuss Joel’s options.

“No matter what happens with this situation, I want to get to the bottom of the problem,” Hunderfund said, adding that, if needed, he would even invite his wife, who speaks Spanish, to the meeting for translation help. “I’m frustrated because I want the school district to move forward and not be bogged down with individual circumstances. … And I understand the parents and their frustration, and I’m glad to look at every incident they’re referring to.”

Hunderfund was expected to meet with Luna Menjivar this week.

While special placement might be a good solution in Joel’s case, it does not solve the district’s problem, said Mor Keshet, coordinator of the bullying prevention center of Long Island’s Child Abuse Prevention Services. “If this has been an ongoing series of events — and it appears to be so — and there is a chronic pattern of behavior from either one child or a group of children, then it really speaks to the overall school culture,” she said. “And that is certainly something that the school can and needs to address.”

It is important for the district to put in place a comprehensive safety plan for all of its students, not just those like Joel who are protected, according to Keshet. “I’m certain that the school knows, being that this is a repeated behavior, who the students are that are doing it,” she said. “Those students need support — a very different kind of support — in helping them learn and understand what the implications of their choices are and how they can make different choices that don’t hurt and humiliate another child.”

Developing a comprehensive safety plan, designating a number of adults in each school building as “safe adults,” offering staff development and creating dialogue with parents would help the district address its problem, Keshet said. “That’s really the kind of language that these parents need to be empowered with,” she said.
Parents and children affected by bullying are encouraged to email the CAPS Bully Helpline at bullyhelpline@capsli.org.

Local pantry asks pols for funds

February 13, 2014 By Lee

By Lee Landor

[Note: This article and its accompanying photos originally appeared in the Queens Chronicle on Jan. 24, 2008. This content is the rightful property of the Queens Chronicle.]

Despite the biting cold, more than 200 people stood in a line that spilled down the driveway and onto Lefferts Boulevard on Saturday morning.

They were waiting for their weekly “pantry bags,” provided by the River Fund, a nonprofit direct care service organization and food pantry that has been operating quietly for the last five years at 89-11 Lefferts Blvd. in Richmond Hill.

Now, Executive Director Durga Das is making some noise.

“We’re putting a business plan together,” Das said, “and writing grants for the councilmen and the senators.”

A true product of the 1960’s peace movement, Das said he never wanted to be “part of the system.” But he has been forced to venture into it as need has increased and funding has remained stagnant.
“It’s a frustrating and difficult time,” Das said. “I think it’s completely that the need is getting crazy. That’s why we’re putting out a business plan to get something larger, but still in the same area.”

The River Fund provides services for the Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park communities, as well as parts of Forest Hills, Jamaica and Brooklyn.

“It’s staggering to me how many new people are coming in [for food],” Das said, putting the number at about 150 since November. “I think it’s food insufficiency or people’s bills and their rent and jobs.”

Because of the growing need, he has reached out for funding assistance to local elected officials, including City Council members Joseph Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) and Tom White Jr. (D-South Ozone Park), state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans) and Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica).

“We’re very grassroots. We’re all volunteer based,” Das said, laughing about his new fund-seeking endeavor. But the goal — moving into a 10,000 to 15,000 square foot building and creating an after-school program — has kept him focused.

Das vowed never to lose sight of his purpose and the premise of the River Fund’s existence: providing physical, emotional and spiritual support to the hungry, homeless and poor, to low-income seniors and to children and adults living with HIV/AIDS.

Last year, the River Fund served 56,563 people in Queens and Brooklyn and has projected that by the end of 2008 it will serve 64,500.

“We get every variety … from grandparents to people who are working to people who just lost their jobs to people who are on public assistance,” Das said.

The River Fund was started by Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati, a Brooklyn native who lived on the streets during her adolescence until she was taken in and turned her life around, dedicating it to being a spiritual teacher and serving those in need. She has expanded it into a national organization, with chapters all around the country.
The New York chapter has eight programs, including mobile outreach like the once-weekly Street Relief Program at Rufus King Park in Jamaica.

Since opening in 2003, the Richmond Hill location has grown tremendously, with about 50 volunteers, 11 grants and 45 sponsors, including the Children’s Aid Society, the Food Bank for New York City, the Monteforte Italian Bakery and the recently opened Trader Joe’s in Rego Park.

As part of its attempt to start a program dedicated to healthy lifestyles advocacy, the River Fund has also partnered with some health food organizations, such as Natural Organics and Nourish America — which provided more than 400 bottles of vitamins for children.

Das, 59, grew up in South Ozone Park and has lived in Queens his entire life. He said it is his duty to give back to the community, which he began doing in 1990 by baking cookies for those with HIV/AIDS. “I understand the mentality,” Das said. “I think it’s part of my background, my heritage to [be affiliated] with [this] stuff.”

Although Das said he would “never want to qualify why we do this,” he explained that this became his greatest responsibility and duty. As a child, Das watched as his mother stood in food lines and worked to make ends meet. In the 1970s he met Bhagvati, who became and remains his spiritual teacher. During the AIDS epidemic of the mid-1980s, Das, who is gay, lost two partners. He then realized that this was his calling.

The River Fund’s policy of turning no one away has made it a useful resource for fearful or undocumented locals, who have a place to turn to when in need.

The food pantry is open on Saturdays from 9 to 11 a.m. at 89-11 Lefferts Blvd., and at Rufus King Park on Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to noon. For more information visit the Web site, www.riverfund-ny.org.

Sole Vaccarello survivor to fight parole

February 13, 2014 By Lee

By Lee Landor

[Note: This article and its accompanying photos originally appeared in the Queens Chronicle on Nov. 20, 2008. This content is the rightful property of the Queens Chronicle.]

For many, the year 1994 seems a distant, vague memory. Most people do not recollect all of the major events that took place that spring 15 years ago — like the May 6 opening of the Channel Tunnel between England and France, or the May 10 inauguration of Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s first black president.

Few remember that on May 10 that year an annular eclipse of the sun cast a shadow across much of North America. But relatives of the Vaccarello family of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn have crisp memories of that spring when they were enshrouded in their own cloud of darkness, cast by an eclipse that suddenly befell their world the night of May 1. For some, the tragic event that occurred that night is a hazy, remote memory. For 28-year-old John Vaccarello it is a vivid and recurring nightmare.

Copyright Queens Chronicle
From left, John Vaccarello with Maria, Giovanni, Caterina and Concetta in a photo taken shortly before the car crash the claimed his mother’s and sisters’ lives, and severely injured his father.

It was the night his parents and sisters were hit by a speeding car that tore down Cross Bay Boulevard at 70 miles per hour with its headlights off and a drunk driver behind its wheel. After it blew a red light at 163rd Avenue, the 1982 Lincoln Continental slammed into Giovanni Vaccarello, then 51, his wife, 45-year-old Caterina, and daughters Maria, 18, and Concetta, 17.

Only John, the family’s youngest child, was spared: the 13-year-old remained in the party room at Russo’s on the Bay in which his relatives had just finished celebrating the 25th wedding anniversary of his aunt and uncle. His parents and sisters exchanged their goodbyes with other relatives and left the catering hall. They were crossing the street when 55-year-old Abraham Meyers, an Ozone Park janitor, plowed into them.

The force of the impact threw Giovanni and Concetta about 60 feet across the divider and into the opposing lane. Meanwhile, the car dragged Caterina and Maria about 200 feet, killing them instantly, before it veered onto and climbed the divider, bashed into a pole and ricocheted back onto the road. Giovanni suffered a heart attack and broke his leg in three places, and Concetta suffered severe head injuries. Both were taken to Jamaica Hospital where Giovanni was listed in critical but stable condition and where Concetta died several hours later.

Some 1,500 mourners filled Our Lady of Guadalupe Roman Catholic Church in Bay Ridge the morning of May 6, 1994, as Mass was celebrated for Caterina Vaccarello and her daughters. As reported in The New York Times the next day, “They sat in somber silence until, shaken by the sight of 18 pallbearers bringing three white-draped coffins down the aisle, their muffled communal sob rippled toward the altar.”

In stable condition at the hospital, Giovanni Vaccarello did not attend the Mass, but earlier that morning he visited a local funeral home to say his final goodbyes to his wife and daughters.

The day of the funeral, a grand jury indicted Meyers, whose blood-alcohol level that night had been .23 percent — more than twice the legal limit, which in 1994 was .1 percent — on three counts of depraved-indifference murder (today known as second-degree murder), reckless manslaughter and vehicular manslaughter. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

After the sentencing, on Jan. 26 1995, Giovanni Vaccarello told the New York Post, “I wish I could put my hands on him for two minutes. I’d break him in little pieces. I’d make him suffer the way I’ve suffered. I lived for my family. My greatest source of joy came from them.” Shrugging at the penalty Meyers received, Vaccarello said, “It’s better than nothing. But don’t forget, each life of mine cost him only five years.”

Relatives of Vaccarello, who died in 2007 after a year-long battle with cancer, did not forget. His son John, with whom he had been very close, and niece Maria Chieco, 27, have vowed to do everything in their power to keep Meyers in jail for the rest of his life.

The week of Dec. 8, Meyers, who turns 70 on Dec. 3, will meet with a parole board for the first time since he was incarcerated at the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York on Feb. 17, 1995. According to the state Department of Correctional Services, the earliest date on which Meyers can be released is April 24, 2009.

But John Vaccarello and other family members will fight to prevent Meyers’ release: they are meeting with an officer from the state Division of Parole on Friday, Nov. 21 to explain why Meyers’ freedom should be denied. According to Chieco, the family has long been counting down to and preparing for this day.

Relatives have written heartfelt letters, gathered newspaper clippings, collected photographs and rallied community support: they managed to obtain 1,300 signatures on a petition calling for the parole board to deny Meyers’ release. Additionally, many relatives will attend the meeting on Friday.

All of that is designed to convey the family’s point: “Is 15 years in jail really a lesson?” Chieco asked, noting Meyers’ long criminal record. Since moving to Queens at the age of 17, the South Carolina native had many run-ins with the law. At the time of his 1994 arrest, Meyers had been without a valid driver’s license for 27 years. Prior to that, the convict had his license suspended 26 times.

According to published reports, Meyers was arrested nine times between 1960 and 1978 for various crimes, including assault, driving while intoxicated, driving without a license, reckless driving, drug possession, grand theft auto, resisting arrest and promoting gambling. It was reported that police said they could not be certain whether Meyers had ever actually gone to jail.

In addition to keeping the repeat offender off the streets, Chieco said denying Meyers parole will spread awareness and send a clear message to the public about drunk driving and its repercussions, just as the Vaccarello family’s tragic loss had, on its own, sent a message to state legislators.

In the March-April 1995 edition of Transportation Alternatives magazine, an article titled “Throwing the Book at Killer Drivers” reported that on May 10, just nine days after the incident, the Assembly Codes Committee met in Albany for a discussion about the Scofflaw Act of 1993.

According to its sponsor, Assemblyman and Codes Committee Chairman Joseph Lentol (D-Brooklyn), the law was created with the express purpose of saving lives by catching reckless drivers before they kill. Starting just six months after it was enacted, the law had already failed to live up to the expectations of its sponsors and the Vaccarello tragedy was further proof that Law 511 just wasn’t working.

Since then, legislators have worked to make the laws more stringent, using deterrents, such as heavy fines and long jail sentences, and more severe punitive action.

If Meyers is denied parole at his December hearing, he will serve an additional two years before becoming eligible for parole again. Each time an inmate is denied parole, he typically becomes eligible again after 24 months — a process that can continue for the duration of his life.

John Vaccarello will also live the rest of his life in a prison of his own: while he has freedoms and rights, and can go and come as he pleases, a part of him will forever be trapped in the memory of that devastating spring night in 1994. But his won’t be an entirely lonely jail cell, according to Chieco, because the entire family will be trapped right there with him.

“To really grasp how the tragedy … changed our lives, you need to understand our family dynamic,” Chieco, whose mother was Giovanni Vaccarello’s sister, wrote in a statement for the parole officer. “We were cousins, best friends, brothers and sisters.”

A peek inside the life of a drag queen

February 13, 2014 By Lee

By Lee Landor

[Note: This article and its accompanying photos — coming soon! — originally appeared in the Queens Tribune in the summer of 2007. This content is the rightful property of the Queens Tribune.]

It was the typical frenetic pre-performance prep: curling irons, wigs, makeup cases overflowing with 10 shades of lipstick, blush and mascara, jewelry boxes lined with sparkling trinkets, gowns and costumes hanging from clothing racks, loud music and last-minute routine rehearsals. New to the scene were duct tape, falsies and razors.

It was a humid Friday night in Jackson Heights at the Club Atlantis on Roosevelt Avenue and Lorena Saint Cartier’s 15th Anniversary as Queens’ legendary Diva. She and her fellow female impersonators, who she trained and inspired, were preparing for their show in the basement of the club at 2 a.m.

Dressing Up
The 40-year-old Lorena, born Lemuel Lopez in the Dominican Republic, was celebrating her lengthy career as what is more commonly known as a drag queen – a career she unexpectedly fell into a decade and a half ago. Lorena was a renowned dancer and choreographer, teaching Afro-Caribbean dance and classical ballet to students in Harlem, throughout the five boroughs, in Long Island and New Jersey. Her work in the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre earned her a glamorous reputation in the gay community and elsewhere. And, despite her distance from the gay bar scene, it was widely known that she was a gay man.

She never imagined that her identity as a shy, gay, male accounting student from the DR would transform as it rapidly did: Lemuel became a woman, an artist, an entertainer – a Diva.

On New Year’s Day in 1992, Lorena shed her inhibitions and worries of potential shame. She dressed in drag, got on stage and performed as a woman for the first time. She has since come to know herself as that – a woman.
Prior to that night, and following much hesitation, trepidation and indecision, Lorena was essentially inducted into a community that would become her new family – the female impersonators of New York City.

She would later earn the title of Queen of the Country after winning the national drag queen beauty pageant in 2002.

Not Always Easy
But unlike life on the stage, reality wasn’t all glitz and glam – it was fraught with struggle confusion, rejection and pain.

As her fame in the gay community grew and her talent was sought after by every gay bar owner in the City, Lorena increasingly lost sleep and lived less of her own life. “I was living for the audience,” she said recently in a small café on Roosevelt Avenue. “I felt like a stewardess – all my life is in a suitcase.”

Lorena became nocturnal, hosting events and performing shows in the early morning hours, sometimes returning home after 5 a.m. She’d shower, then head out again for grocery shopping at 24-hour supermarkets, watch late-night soap operas and fall asleep mid-morning. Waking up at around 5 p.m., Lorena would begin her day with breakfast prepared for her by the many friends and diva trainees that constantly paraded in and out of her Woodhaven apartment. Then, the nightlife would begin again.

For 10 years she lived this way, performing six nights a week, taking no vacations and barely seeing her family. “My life was doing the show, going to sleep and preparing for the show,” she said.

Though Lorena loves her job, she knew this was no way to subsist. She retired for six months and took some time to find herself again. She ate and slept at normal hours, visited with family, regained a social life and “learned to live again,” she said.

The gay bar scene beckoned for her. Calls and bookings kept coming her way and she decided to return to the Queen lifestyle – this time in moderation. She now performs between three and four shows a week, shows for which she feels better prepared and which she can more easily enjoy. She has also learned how to say no to the desperate pleas of yearning fans.

Coming Of Age
Not only has Lorena learned self-respect, she’s obtained it from society. In recent years, the drag scene has gained some credibility, according to Lorena. “Before, if I was walking at seven o’clock at night [down Roosevelt Avenue, people thought] I was a prostitute,” she said. “Now I got the chance that I can walk and people say hi to me. People see us and they see that we’re nice people, we just have a different way to express ourselves.”

Feeling embraced and accepted has aided Lorena’s career, she said, as it has helped open doors for her and present her with opportunities. More importantly, it has ended her lifelong struggle with self-identity. “We’re wonderful human beings, we’re helpful, we are creative people, we like beautiful things,” she said. Finally, Lorena added, the straight community realized this and began welcoming the divas.

The diminished discrimination has lifted the drag and gay scene spirit and this is what Lorena is most happy about. “We’re changing,” she said, “and people are seeing that, especially here in the Spanish community.”

Luckily, Lorena’s family has always been supportive of her lifestyle. Though her parents had high hopes of medical or law school for their son, they’ve come to terms with his choice to live as a performer and as a woman.
Except for a heart-breaking and utterly painful rift between Lorena and one of her siblings, which began when she started doing drag and lasted five years, she has always been close with the members of her large family, particularly with her nieces and nephews. According to the Queen, it is her mother, now 81, who she aims to please most.

Lorena’s skinny frame, bashful eyes and husky voice are nowhere near as dead a giveaway as would be expected from a drag queen. This has played to her benefit throughout the last 15 years: she’s avoided all plastic surgery, with the exception of silicone implants in her cheeks.

Narrow-shouldered (and even more narrow-hipped) and at a height of no more than 5-foot-6, Lorena could pass for a woman with relative ease. Her own long, dark curls frame her face and pouting lips soften her jaw line, but it’s not enough: times have changed and plastic surgery is in. Now, according to Lorena, is it more difficult than ever to recognize that hiding beneath the pounds of makeup, heavy wigs and feathered gowns is a male body.
Competing with the younger and newer queens, who’ve been implanted everywhere from their foreheads and breasts to their hips and calves, has become a challenge for Lorena. She’s debated the decision to undergo plastic surgery for several years now and has yet to find her stance on the issue. It is, after all, to permanently live as a woman.

On the inside Lorena is a woman, and to her that is all that matters.

Flushing Marine Julian Ramon latest Queens casualty

February 13, 2014 By Lee

By Lee Landor

[Note: This article and its accompanying photos originally appeared in the queens Tribune in July 2006. This content is the rightful property of the Queens Tribune.]

Yolanda Ramon spent the last seven months crossing days off the calendar, waiting for her son Julian, who set out in December for his second tour of duty in Iraq, to return home.

The concerned mother’s calendar-marking came to an end July 20, when Cpl. Julian A. Ramon, a field radio operator who joined the Marines in 2003, was killed in combat in the al-Anbar province of Iraq, becoming the borough’s 14th military casualty in the War on Terror.

Ramon’s story is one of courage and dedication. Throughout his 22 years, he was true to himself, his family and his country, and gave his best to all three, receiving 11 military awards in the process. When the Marine was killed, the Queens community lost a man of true honor and passion.

“After high school, he joined the Marines because he wanted to make money for college. He wanted to work as a lawyer,” said his mother in their Flushing apartment on 45th Avenue. “I understand now that he died. I waited for him to call me, maybe he didn’t die; maybe there was confusion. I miss him so much, because he’s my life. He’d call and say ‘I love you, mommy, I’ll help you, mommy, don’t worry, mommy.’”

Yolanda and her youngest son, 16-year-old Juan, said they last saw Ramon in December, when they celebrated the holidays together before he set out for his second tour of duty. While in Iraq, Ramon called his family once or twice a week, and during recent months, they said he was becoming battle fatigued.

“He wouldn’t want to get us down or worried about him, so he would just act strong, but eventually he just couldn’t hide it anymore,” Juan said. “The last three months, he was saying ‘mommy, I’m tired, I don’t know what to do,’” Yolanda added.

While worrying about her son, Yolanda always reassured Ramon that she was praying for his well being and reminded him that he would soon be home. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, and would have returned to his base at Camp LeJeune, N.C., in September. Ramon would have completed his duty with the Marines in April of next year.

Holding a picture of her son in her lap, Yolanda held back tears as she described her eldest son as outgoing and personable. “He was a good guy,” Juan said of his brother, explaining that the two were close. “We talked about practically everything, stuff that I couldn’t tell anyone else. When he went into the Marines, I was proud. I was like, ‘you gotta do what you gotta do.’”

That was not the case initially for his parents, Yolanda and Luis, who were more apprehensive about their son joining the Marines. The family moved to Flushing from Colombia when Julian was 4 years old. He graduated from John Bowne High School in 2002, and worked at Wendy’s and a nearby OTB with the goal of attending John Jay College to pursue a Criminal Justice degree.

The Marine had hoped to support his family, according to his mother, so that his parents would no longer have to work. After some convincing from friends, he joined the Marines, promising to begin college when he returned from duty. “Just give me time,” he told his mother during a phone conversation. Remembering her son’s words, Yolanda covered her face and began sobbing. “She brought him into this life,” Juan said trying to comfort his mother, “and now she has to put him in a casket.”

During his service, Ramon received 11 awards, including a Combat Action ribbon, an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal and three Sea Service Deployment ribbons.

“Corporal Ramon has entered the ranks of our nation’s honored war dead, who have left us with a debt that we can never repay,” said Queens Borough President Helen Marshall. “May he rest in peace.”

The wake will be held July 27 and 28 from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Quinn-Fogerty Funeral Home at 162-14 Sanford Ave. in Flushing. A mass for Ramon will be held at 10 a.m. July 29 at St. Michael’s Church at 136-76 41st Ave., Flushing followed by a burial at Long Island National Cemetery on Wellwood Avenue in Farmingdale, Suffolk County.

Oh-so-sweet frozen treats on Malverne street

November 27, 2013 By Lee

Family opens new ice cream shop with a taste of nostalgia

Copyright LIHerald.com
Diane Angelis and her husband, John (not pictured), opened an ice cream shop named Scooop in Malverne. Their three sons, from left, Nicholas, Alexander and Evan, take turns working shifts.

By Lee Landor

[Note: This article and its accompanying photos and videos originally appeared on LIHerald.com on August 11, 2010. This content is the rightful property of Richner Communications, Inc.]

When you walk into Scooop, Malverne’s new ice cream shop, it feels like you’ve walked into a scene from Now and Then, the 1995 movie that made many a little girl wish for a time machine to travel back to the early 1970s.

The family-owned Scooop, which Malverne residents Diane and John Angelis opened in place of Crystal Ice on Aug. 1, is a throwback to that era, depicted so well in the film as a time when ice cream sodas were the rage and kids could ride bikes all over town, swinging AM radios from their handlebars.

There’s no question that summery, care-free, youthful vibe will go a long way toward achieving Diane’s goal of making the shop Malverne’s favorite hangout. And it doesn’t hurt that the place, which is decorated with old family toys, stays open until 10 p.m. every day until Labor Day.

Copyright LIHerald.com
Scooop offers a wide selection of toppings for its ice cream flavors, sundaes, banana splits and milkshakes.

But if the inviting signs and colorful decor aren’t enough to draw in customers, the selection certainly is. Patrons can choose cones, cups, sundaes, banana splits, ices, shaved ice, soft-serve, floats, milkshakes and fat-free yogurt. While children need little convincing to go to an ice cream shop, they get a bonus for coming into Scooop: chalk-board tables where they can doodle and scribble their heart’s delight.

For adolescent girls, there’s always the other incentive: the Angelis’ three teenaged sons who take turns working shifts. Until school starts, Evan, 21, Nicholas, 18, and 14-year-old Alexander are serving up scoops with their mom, who is loving every minute of owning the shop.

“What’s not to love?” Diane asked on a recent hot August day. “I love Malverne, I love the people, the community. It’s so tight-knit.” That’s what brought the Angelis family, who owns a number of restaurants throughout New York City and parts of Long Island, including Nick’s Pizza in Rockville Centre, to Malverne from Queens 13 years ago.

And Diane’s not the only one who loves Scooop. Her children love it, neighbors and friends love it and even Malverne Village Mayor Patricia McDonald loves it, according to Diane, who said people have been coming in regularly since the store’s opening. And everyone’s got suggestions: stay open year-round, serve soup in the winter, offer frappes and dessert, sell candy and so on. The shop already offers coffee and sells cakes, and Diane has already ordered two benches and a new awning to make the place more inviting, but she welcomes all suggestions, as she’s still unsure of what her next steps are.

Thinking ahead, Diane is planning to add frozen yogurt to the menu and stay open at least through holiday lighting. She’s also working to put together contests for kids to make ice cream even more fun. But there are still many details to figure out. Buying the store in mid-July and having it open and running barely two weeks later, the Angelis family had to move quickly. Although they’re still in the very early stages of running this business, they’ve managed to create an atmosphere of familiarity that makes patrons feel as though the shop has been around for decades.

“It was very sudden,” Diane said of the decision to buy the store. “At first I said to my husband, ‘I don’t know if I want to do this’ — I was scared. But what made me decide was the thought that a stranger could come in and buy this place.” By opening the place herself, Diane felt she would be contributing to that sense of community that defines Malverne. She would also be helping to recreate for her children and those of the neighborhood what she had as a child: growing up, Diane would frequent Jahn’s Restaurant and Eddie’s Sweet Shop, where ice cream cost mere pennies and hours were passed laughing with friends. The bottomline, Diane said, “I just want it to be a happy place.”

Scooop is open from noon to 10 p.m. seven days a week, although hours will change once school starts. Although the shop does not have a website yet, patrons should keep an eye out for a Scooop Facebook page. Until then, Diane welcomes everyone to drop in and check it out.

Lakeview person of the year: Sherwyn Besson

November 27, 2013 By Lee

Lakeview’s leader of men mobilizes community

Copyright LIHerald.com
Suit Our Sons was one of the Save Our Sons Network’s most successful programs. Besson taught his son, Isiah, how to knot a tie.

By Lee Landor

[Note: This article and its accompanying photos and videos originally appeared on LIHerald.com on December 30, 2011. This content is the rightful property of Richner Communications, Inc.]

This article is last in a series of nine written throughout the course of a year as part of an investigative series, which won first place for best in-depth series in the New York Press Association’s 2011 Better Newspaper Contest. Read the previous article.

In the dozen years he’s live in Lakeview and the seven he’s taught at Malverne High School, Sherwyn Besson has witnessed what he describes as the deterioration of his community.

Nights in Lakeview had brought gambling, drinking, drug use and fighting. Some parents stopped paying attention to their children’s education, as Besson sees it, and, as a result, students were content with performing below average. People became detached and passive.

“I saw the degradation of Lakeview taking place,” said Besson, 43. “It was slow. It was subtle, so you really couldn’t pinpoint it. Why wasn’t this community rising above crime? Why wasn’t it rising above all the challenges it was facing, from cleanliness to the nuisances? It just became dire: I saw our kids dying in this very, very acceptable way, and that wasn’t acceptable to me.”

With the help of several community leaders, Besson, a native of Trinidad who came to New York in 1988, formed the Save Our Sons Network, an organization devoted to helping boys become strong men. He held the group’s first meeting in March, and in the nine months since, he has successfully mobilized members of the community — particularly men — and started a movement uniting people in a quest to accomplish one overarching goal: instilling in the youth a sense of value and virtue.

“There has definitely been [an awakening] in consciousness in the community, where we’re starting to see a lot of men step forward and become leaders,” said Besson, a part-time business teacher at the high school. “Although we’ve seen changes in the boys’ behavior, we still have a long way to go. I look at my community’s youth as my children, and I want my children to aspire to more.”

Besson has been inspired by his own son, 11-year-old Isiah, to develop programs for Save Our Sons, or SOS, which is now a state-recognized nonprofit organization. Those programs cover everything from sexting and respecting women to dressing for success, and Besson carries them out with help from neighbor and friend Brian Meacham, Lakeview NAACP President Bea Bayley and several other local parents.

“We realized that we have to work with other civic organizations to make improvements; we just couldn’t do it by ourselves,” Besson said. “For young black boys, the pathology is really dangerous, and very few organizations are working to change that pathology of from-the-cradle-to-the-jail or to-the-grave kind of pipeline. We want to shut that down and put our boys in schools where they can become really productive … citizens who can be doctors, who can be lawyers and more than just your run-of-the-mill young urban person. … It’s possible, but the community has to be a partner with these young boys.”

The only way to really make that happen, Besson added, is to give the children role models — male role models, something Lakeview was lacking. That absence weighed heavily on Besson’s mind, and when he discussed it with Bayley, the idea of the SOS Network was born.

“Someone had to take the initiative and set an example and actually educate people as to what’s the right thing to do and how to go about it,” Bayley said. “On face value, it’s easy to say, ‘Men need to do this or do that,’ but do they have the skills and the tools to do it? I believe [Besson has] encouraged some other men who may not have realized the deficit. Seeing women work in the community, and women forming groups, and women always out there in the forefront, I guess they didn’t realize what impact it was having until somebody actually put it in their faces.”

The SOS Network has not only awakened men in the community, it has also provided significant help to women. According to Besson, 33 percent of Lakeview households are headed by single mothers, and many of them have attended the group’s events, seeking advice on how to motivate their boys to become more civic-minded and academically involved. Besson, a widower who remarried last year, and fellow SOS leader Meacham, a father of four, give those women credit for their efforts, but call on men to step up to the plate. “I believe fathers are the most important thing that society has to offer,” Meacham said. “… I put a lot of responsibility on fathers, and I put a lot of blame on fathers.”

In order for the SOS Network to reach its goal of raising socially, emotionally and intellectually developed boys, it must teach their fathers to be responsible men, according to Besson, who was raised in a family full of coaches and teachers who inspired him to become an educator.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1993, Besson, who has two stepdaughters with his wife, Ulisha, went on to earn two master’s degrees, one in business and information management from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University in Brooklyn and the other in education from the College of Saint Rose in Albany. He taught in New York City schools until his first wife died in the late 1990s.

Then, he said, “I found the Malverne opportunity and I grabbed it, and I’ve been there since.”

Copyright LIHerald.com Lakeview resident Sherwyn Besson is the Malverne-West Hempstead Herald's Person of the Year.

Loving his new home and community, Besson was unwilling to watch crime and apathy destroy it. “We want to keep the history of Lakeview, which was, essentially, a really strong black, middle-class community with values and a very strong sense of community,” he said. “We want to maintain that and improve upon what we have.”

Bayley hailed Besson’s determination as not only inspirational, but contagious. “He’s a gem in our community,” she said. “He has his whole heart in it, and he’s trying whatever he can. He’s not going to quit. He’s not a quitter; he’s not just about his own children. He’s doing it for everybody, for the good of everyone.”

There was never any doubt, according to Meacham, that progress and success would follow his friend throughout his endeavor. “Sherwyn is the star behind this,” he said of SOS. “A lot of the young people know Sherwyn from school. They know his character, they know his heart. His desire is for the good of these kids, whether it’s outside of the school or in academics. So I believe Sherwyn’s relationship with the young people … drives them to come to us and seek our help. He’s a man of character, that’s one thing for sure.”

Humble and focused only on teaching the boys and men of his community to be positive and productive, Besson attributes his dedication to his idealism. “I am a prisoner of hope, like most people who believe that man is virtuous,” he said. “I’m going to stick with it because I live here and I don’t want to be a victim of crime or any other ill in the community because no one stepped up. So I do what we need to do to change the direction of the community.”

Editor’s note: On Dec. 7, Sherwyn Besson filed suit against the Malverne school district alleging employment discrimination. The Herald made its Person of the Year selection before learning of that suit. We based our selection solely on his outstanding work in the community. Whatever its outcome, his dispute with the school district in no way diminishes his impact on the young men of our community and it is for that work that we recognize him.

Read the previous article in the series: ‘Malverne school district racial discrimination suit causes rift’

Malverne school district racial discrimination suit causes rift

November 27, 2013 By Lee

Some fight to keep the focus on the students

Copyright LIHerald.com
The racial discrimination lawsuit brought against the Malverne school district by three black employees is causing a rift in the community.

By Lee Landor

Note: This article and its accompanying photos and videos originally appeared on LIHerald.com on December 21, 2011. This content is the rightful property of Richner Communications, Inc.]

This article is eighth in a series of nine written throughout the course of a year as part of an investigative series, which won first place for best in-depth series in the New York Press Association’s 2011 Better Newspaper Contest. Read the previous and next articles.

Divisiveness tends to rear its ugly head in the Malverne school community, but some people are refusing to allow it.

The racial discrimination lawsuit that three black employees recently brought against the Malverne Union Free School District will undoubtedly have a polarizing effect, according to Bea Bayley, president of the NAACP Lakeview chapter. Bayley is among many who, believing bigotry has run rampant in the district, were not surprised to learn of the suit, which was filed in federal court in Central Islip earlier this month.

In fact, the allegations of discrimination — which include threats, retaliation and the use of slurs — have already created a rift between those in the Bayley camp and others who consider the charges, true or not, to be isolated and not representative of the district.

There is, however, one thing about which people on both sides of the argument can agree, and it is that having to focus on racial tensions instead of the business of education is shameful.

“A person who does a good job should be able to go to work free from all of that,” Bayley said. “The children should be allowed to have teachers who don’t have to think about that, and the parents should be reassured that they’re going to a school where people care about people.”

Joyce Berry, president of the Howard T. Herber Middle School PTA, said she does not want people, within or outside the Malverne school district, to forever associate it with its grievous racial history. “We need to move forward,” she told the Herald. “I’m tired of hearing about the racial thing. Let’s worry about the education of our children.”

The school community should also consider its children’s incidental education, Berry said, noting that kids are perceptive, particularly when it comes to things they have no business knowing. Berry learned about the lawsuit from her 11-year-old son, who attends sixth grade at Herber. “My son came home from school and said, ‘Ma, did you hear we’re being sued?’” she said. And I said, ‘Sued? What are you talking about?’ The kids knew what was going on. … That’s pretty sad.”

But Malverne’s racial tensions are not easily hidden — at least not at the high school, where students have been vocal about what they believe is inequality in the district’s hiring policies. In April, about a dozen current and former students attended a Board of Education meeting to express their opposition to the administration’s decision to lay off a beloved teacher.

Telia Waldo, a senior at the time, started a petition to show student support for Betsy Benedith, who was an assistant principal at the high school and is now one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Waldo, 18, said that the petition, which had more than 250 signatures, accomplished nothing.

“I’m happy about the lawsuit,” said Waldo, who graduated in June and now studies music at Five Towns College. “I feel like … Malverne as a district is getting what it deserves because there’s too many undercover racists in this district and it’s time to get rid of them.”

That is what Janet Morgan, a retired Malverne teacher who sued the district for racial discrimination in 1992, has been saying for more than two decades. “Malverne has continued to be what it has always been: racist,” Morgan, who now lives in Georgia, told the Herald. “It’s a hopeless situation.”

The district suspended Morgan in 1988 after she assigned her eighth-grade social studies class an essay about the dismissal of a football commentator from his job after he made racial comments about black athletes, and failed to turn over her grade book when ordered. She sued the district, which eventually settled and allowed her to return in a different position. Morgan wrote and published a book, titled “At the End of the Bus Ride: A Teacher’s Tale,” about her experiences at Malverne and other school districts where she had taught.

Bayley has also said that racist beliefs have “permeated the school system” for too long and that it was only a matter of time before someone spoke up. “It was bound to happen sooner or later,” she told the Herald. “Somebody was going to be tired enough of the nonsense to stand up, and that’s what happened. … These three took matters into their own hands and said, ‘Enough is enough.’”

Bayley, Morgan and Waldo insist that discrimination has been present and tangible, but, according to Berry, they should concede that it is neither representative of the district nor indicative of widespread discontent among parents, teachers or students. “It’s the same people that are pulling the racial card,” she said. “Sometimes they get carried away with the racial thing.”

Assertions that racism exists in the district are in and of themselves the problem, according to several people who shared comments on the Herald’s online story about the lawsuit. “This is EXACTLY the reason that a large number of white parents in the district would prefer to send their children to private schools,” wrote one. “The racial garbage that the Lakeview community brings to the schools interferes with providing children with a good, solid, learning environment.”

Another commenter wrote that “reverse discrimination” is the reason more than 700 Malverne children, particularly of high school age, attend private schools. She went on to say that Benedith and her fellow plaintiffs, Sherwyn Besson and Kenneth Smith, “are just playing victim to make a quick buck off the taxpayer’s back.”

Instead of bickering over whose racism is worse, people should let the issue alone altogether, according to Berry, who said that she and many others in the district work hard to highlight the achievements of students and the progress of the district. Still, those things are often overshadowed by controversy and criticism.
“I think about 180 kids made high honor roll and honor roll at the middle school. That’s amazing,” Berry said. “But we don’t see that. These kids are working so hard to get where they want to get, but we don’t hear about that.”

Malverne schools Superintendent Dr. James Hunderfund, who was named as a defendant in the lawsuit, along with the district itself, high school Principal James Brown and two other administrators, said the suit is “without merit,” but would not comment further.

The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Steven Morelli, said his clients want to send a message to the district and have their case tried before a jury.

“I don’t care,” Berry said. “I don’t need to hear it. My kids don’t need to hear it. … Let’s remember the good things that Malverne does. Why do we always have to hear the negative?”

Read the previous article in the series: ‘Malverne school district sued for discrimination’
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