A ‘bittersweet’ goodbye: Century-old barns at Lakewood Stables razed

By Lee Landor

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

“How do you feel about seeing the pony barn come down?” 14-year-old Casey Duff asked her friend in a mock video interview as the pair watched the demolition of the century-old barn at Lakewood Stables last week.

“I’m not sad,” replied her friend, 15-year-old Eva Elemson. “It’s new beginnings.”

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Copyright LIHerald.com
A backhoe slammed into the main barn at Lakewood Stables, demolishing it in a matter of minutes.

It seemed that many of the equestrians who joined the teens at the West Hempstead facility on April 20 shared their sentiments, including Lakewood Stables’ owner, Alex Jacobson.

“Bittersweet,” Jacobson said of his feelings as he watched a big yellow backhoe demolish the barn. “It’s great to see it finally come down. It’s taken a long time to get it down, but I’m real hopeful for what’s to come.”

For more than a year, Jacobson, who purchased the stables in 2006, has been planning a complete renovation of the property to turn it into a state-of-the-art equestrian center that allows year-round use. The new facility will incorporate an indoor riding area, office and retail space and enhanced boarding for horses. “These were no habitats for horses anymore,” he said. “After a hundred years and no improvements, this was way too long in the making.”

As he watched the barn being taken apart, 74-year-old equestrian Bob Douglas grew sentimental. “It’s kind of a sad day to see this place come down — I spent my youth here,” Douglas said. “But we’re going to have a new and better barn.”

With the demolition of the pony barn, clubhouse and main barn, which housed most of the facility’s 20 horses, construction of the new buildings can finally get under way. Jacobson said he will begin erecting foundations in the coming weeks, and expects to have a new steel building up and running by summertime.

“I’ve been in construction long enough to know that there’s always delays, but we’re building a state-of-the-art facility and a lot of it’s modular construction, so it’s going to take as long as it takes,” he said. Gesturing at the barns, he added, “It took a hundred years for this, so I’m sure that it will happen sooner than later.”

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Copyright LIHerald.com
Bob Douglas, 74, examined the debris of what was once the clubhouse. He has been a regular at the facility for 52 years.

For the duration of the renovation project, the horses will be kept in Hempstead Lake State Park. “We’ve set up a complete turnout area with stalls and a temporary home for these animals,” Jacobson explained. Trail rides and lessons, and after-school and summer school programs, will be postponed until the new facility is completed, but Lakewood Stables will continue boarding horses at the temporary state park setup.

Some avid riders, like Douglas — who saddles up his 25-year-old Appaloosa, Cheyenne, as often as twice a week — can’t wait for the stables to get back to business so they can get back to riding. “I’ve been riding here since 1952 [as] a 15-year-old boy … and I still have a horse here,” he said. “There’s a lot of nice people here. This is a family atmosphere. We all ride together on Sundays — it’s a lot of fun.”

During a 15-minute break between the demolition of the clubhouse and the main barn, Douglas, a Franklin Square resident whose 7-year-old grandson takes riding lessons at the stables, walked across the property, surveying the debris. “There’s a lot of memories in this place,” he said. “Sometimes older is better than newer, but the atmosphere is still going to be here, so no problem.

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Equestrians watched quietly as the main barn came down.

Rub-a-dub-dub, what’s in the tub?

Copyright LIHerald.com Malverne resident Dawn Wladyka drained her tub of the brown water she has become accustomed to, but this time found that it had left behind a mucky residue.

Copyright LIHerald.com
Malverne resident Dawn Wladyka drained her tub of the brown water she has become accustomed to, but this time found that it had left behind a mucky residue.

By Lee Landor

[Note: This article and its accompanying photos originally appeared on LIHerald.com on Feb. 9, 2011. This content is the rightful property of Richner Communications, Inc.]

Most people don’t think twice about running a bath or filling a glass with tap water: They simply turn on the faucet and, voilà, out comes clear, colorless water. On rare occasions, you might have to let the water run for a minute to clear out sediments or rust particles that accumulate in the pipes.

That is not the case in some areas of Malverne, where the water, no matter how long many residents let it run before putting the stopper in the tub or filling a glass, remains various shades of brown.

It has been that way as long as anyone can remember. For Dawn Wladyka, it has been six years. For Tom Grech, 10 years. But until recently, most residents believed their brown water was unique to them, to their homes, to their pipes. They didn’t realize it was a widespread problem until late last month, when Grech took to the Internet to gripe about it.

“On a lark, I put something on Facebook,” he recently told the Herald. In just four days, Grech’s Facebook group, “I Love Malverne but hate the brown water (from LI Water),” grew to include 130 members and hundreds of posts.

Grech is now trying to mobilize his fellow Malvernites in a stand against water supplier Long Island American Water, the company that he and other residents believe is to blame. At the very least, they want some answers.

“I’m not going to make it a federal case,” Grech said, “but I am definitely going to hold them accountable.”

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Copyright LIHerald.com

While it has long been a nuisance, the problem appears to have worsened in recent months, according to Wladyka, a mother of three young children who enjoy taking baths. The water is more discolored than ever and now leaves a residue in the tub after it’s drained, she said, adding that this is where she draws the line.

“It used to be, ‘Oh, it’s just Malverne water.’ Kind of a complacency,” Wladyka said. “I felt like we were beaten down. You try to do everything you can … but you just deal with it.”

Until recently, that is, when Wladyka began to run a bath for her youngest, who, for the first time, made a face and refused to go in the brown water. “I reached a boiling point,” Wladyka said. She took photos of the water and posted them on Facebook. Shortly thereafter, Grech’s group was born.

Wladyka is certain that the problem is neither in her pipes nor with her water heater. Like many others who have shared their stories on Facebook, she has hired plumbers and others to determine whether something is wrong with her plumbing and has been told time and again that there is no problem.

Malverne resident and former Deputy Mayor Don Pupke said he firmly believes “the common problem is Long Island [American] Water.”

The company opened a new iron filtration plant on the Malverne-Lynbrook border in late October, promising to remove more iron from the water. Iron, according to LIAW President Bill Varley, is what turns the water brown. The recommended limit for iron is .3 milligrams per liter of water, according to the New York State Department of Health, and accompanying concerns include rust-colored staining of fixtures and clothes.

According to LIAW’s own water quality report, its water contains .75 milligrams per liter of iron, but “Higher levels of iron may be allowed by New York State when justified using treatment by the water supplier, as is the case with Long Island American Water.”

Additionally, Varley told the Herald last week, “Iron is not a health hazard — it’s strictly an aesthetic problem. Granted, it’s a nuisance. We know that, and we appreciate it.”

That is one reason the company opened the iron filtration facility. But the plant never came online. Varley explained that the paint in the plant’s new tanks has not yet cured completely, forcing the company to continuously flush the system, which is why residents are seeing more discolored water.
Then why, Pupke asked, has the company been telling residents to check their pipes and water heaters? Why, he wants to know, hasn’t LIAW informed its customers that the plant is not yet online?

“Shame on me for not coming to the mayor and saying, ‘Guess what. That plant we cut the ribbon on a couple months ago — it’s still not in service,’” Varley said at a Feb. 2 Board of Trustees meeting, which he attended to discuss the matter. He told trustees and residents that it could take anywhere from a week to two months to get the plant online.

Although Varley would not comment on why customer service representatives had suggested the problem might stem from pipes and water heaters, he told the Herald he regrets his failure to address the issue. “I should have proactively gone out and communicated,” he said. “It’s a shame — we just spent $7.5 million [to open the plant] and people think nothing’s changed.”

Grech, who called the company’s approach to the matter “disingenuous,” said that LIAW created more problems than it would have with some outreach. But he plans to continue to hold meetings, write petitions and obtain independent tests of water samples throughout the village.

“We’re going to band together as a community and tell Long Island American Water that it is unacceptable,” Grech said, adding that he expects to see the company step up, provide answers and take action. But, he added, “I don’t want promises — I want guarantees.”

The Malverne Civic Association is expected to hold a meeting to discuss the matter with Varley and other LIAW representatives on Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the basement of the Malverne Public Library, at 61 St. Thomas Place.

The end of an era: The Courtesy Hotel comes down

By Lee Landor

[Note: This article and its accompanying photos originally appeared on LIHerald.com on May 12, 2011. This content is the rightful property of Richner Communications, Inc.]

At long last, the Courtesy Hotel has come down.

The notorious West Hempstead hotel lay in piles of rubble last week following its demolition, which marked the end of a decade-long fight to rid the hamlet of the seedy, crime-ridden building.

Hundreds of community residents, cameras in hand, joined civic leaders and town, county and state legislators at around 11:30 a.m. on May 12 on a vacant property adjacent to the hotel to watch as a backhoe tore it apart.

Dozens of media outlets showed up to document the long-awaited demolition. People cheered, congratulated one another and exchanged stories about their unwanted encounters with hotel patrons. They recounted the history of the Courtesy and how it blighted their community — bringing in prostitution, drugs and other crimes, posing a threat to the safety of area residents, increasing crime and diminishing home values.
But they also celebrated the potential growth in West Hempstead once a new development — the Alexan at West Hempstead Station — is constructed on the site.

Copyright LIHerald.com After years of complaining, the residents of West Hempstead finally got to see the demolition of the crime-ridden Courtesy Hotel.

Copyright LIHerald.com
After years of complaining, the residents of West Hempstead finally got to see the demolition of the crime-ridden Courtesy Hotel.

“My face is tired from smiling,” said Rosalie Norton, president of the West Hempstead Community Support Association and a leader in the fight to close the Courtesy. “[I’m] delighted, exhilarated — I mean, every adjective you could think of. This is, like, the culmination of a very long journey for the residents of West Hempstead. I can’t be happier for all the … efforts they put into it because this isn’t one individual, this is a group of people living in the community who came together that wanted the same thing and we fought for it.”

Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray echoed Norton’s sentiments, saying it was high time the hotel was demolished. “Today is a victory all around,” Murray said. “I’m so excited for the residents of West Hempstead. At long last we’re going to get this absolutely blighted source of criminality out of our neighborhood. West Hempstead has suffered for a long time with this hotel.”

Mindy Bekritsky and her 26-year-old daughter, Tammy, are among the residents who have counted down the days to the Courtesy’s demise. “It really put a crimp in people’s lifestyles,” Mindy said. “I’m glad — it’s really good that it’s finally going, although I would have liked to see it implode or something.”
The Bekritsky family has lived in West Hempstead for 11 years. Within three months of moving into the neighborhood, Mindy recalled, they learned about the infamous hotel.

“It was my son’s bar mitzvah and I was looking for hotels for family members to stay in,” she said. So she checked out the Courtesy. “I walked in — it was very sleazy — and I told the guy at the counter, ‘I’m looking for a place —,’ but he shook his head before I even finished the sentence and said, ‘Honey, I don’t think this is the place you’re looking for.’ I got myself out of there as fast as I could.”

According to Tammy Bekritsky, the crime and other nefarious activities associated with the hotel were not confined to its premises. “You always had people in cars trying to pull people in, and condoms on the street corner,” Tammy said. “You just didn’t want to step foot in this part of town.”
When she came home from college on weekends and vacations, Tammy said, she couldn’t even take the public bus that traveled near the hotel, fearing for her safety. “You’re growing up here,” she said. “You don’t want this kind of danger level here.”

The danger is now gone, according to Murray, Norton and Town Councilman Ed Ambrosino, who has also been active in the fight to close the hotel. They expect the development that will rise in its place to be a catalyst for community revitalization. The developer, Mill Creek Residential Trust, is replacing the hotel with a 150-unit, four-story complex that features market-rate rental apartments.

Maria Rigopoulos, a managing director of MCR, said it would take about two years to complete the complex, but that the company expects its first units to be finished in the fall of 2012, when it will begin leasing units. Residents, she added, should not expect to see much vertical activity on the site until much later this year.

Copyright LIHerald.com Hundreds of West Hempstead residents gathered to celebrate the demolition, an event they had been awaiting for more than a decade.

Copyright LIHerald.com
Hundreds of West Hempstead residents gathered to celebrate the demolition, an event they had been awaiting for more than a decade.

Hundreds turn out for Callahan’s funeral

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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.”

Callahan-Funeral-2-350

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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.

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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

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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.”

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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.

Oh-so-sweet frozen treats on Malverne street

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

 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.

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’
Read the next article in the series:

Malverne school district sued for racial discrimination

By Lee Landor

Note: This article and its accompanying photos and videos originally appeared on LIHerald.com on December 12, 2011. This content is the rightful property of Richner Communications, Inc.]
This article is seventh 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.

“It is not hard to figure out that you are being discriminated against when your supervisor calls you a nigger and routinely reminds you that you are a black woman.” So opens the statement in a lawsuit brought against the Malverne Union Free School District by three black employees alleging racial discrimination.

Betsy Benedith, a former Malverne High School assistant principal whom the district let go in June despite student protests, has accused Principal James Brown, who is African American, of treating white employees more favorably in order to avoid the appearance of impropriety that favoring blacks might create.

Copyright LIHerald.com The suit claims Malverne High School Principal James Brown favored white teachers and discriminated against former Assistant Principal Betsy Benedith.

Copyright LIHerald.com
The suit claims Malverne High School Principal James Brown favored white teachers and discriminated against former Assistant Principal Betsy Benedith.

Sherwyn Besson, formerly a full-time business teacher at the high school, claims he was subjected to increasing discrimination, resulting in the loss of his position and its replacement with a part-time position. Besson further alleged that his two children were subjected to retaliation for his complaints of discrimination.

Kenneth Smith, who taught math at the high school for five years, claims the district discriminated against him in his course assignments and access to professional development, classroom equipment and economic opportunities. The final act of discrimination, he said, was his transfer from the high school to the Howard T. Herber Middle School.

On Monday, the Herald broke the story after acquiring a copy of the 38-page civil action suit, filed Dec. 7, which details the favoritism, inequity and acts of retaliation the three colleagues claim to have suffered throughout their careers in the school district.

“We think that we have a meritorious claim,” the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Steven Morelli, told the Herald on Monday. “We feel that these individuals have been singled out based upon their race in an adverse way. It’s a situation where there seems to be something going on in Malverne when it comes to minority teachers.”

The suit names as defendants the school district, Brown, Superintendent James Hunderfund, who is white, and two white high school administrators, Assistant Principal Vincent Romano and math department Chairwoman Rosalinda Ricca. It lists alleged disparities in Brown’s treatment of his assistant principals, giving more responsibility and opportunity to Romano while excluding Benedith from memos and, thus, important decisions.

It describes alleged retaliation for Besson’s vocal criticisms of Hunderfund, including threats to shut down the entire business department, and recounts Ricca’s alleged preferential treatment of white teachers over Smith and the “discriminatory and retaliatory efforts of the administration”

Copyright LIHerald.com Superintendent James Hunderfund and the Malverne school district are being sued for alleged racial discrimination. Teacher Sherwyn Besson, right, is one of the plaintiffs.

Copyright LIHerald.com
Superintendent James Hunderfund and the Malverne school district are being sued for alleged racial discrimination. Teacher Sherwyn Besson, right, is one of the plaintiffs.

to remove him from the high school. According to the complaint, administrators transferred Smith to the middle school because of his students’ poor performance on one Regents exam question.

The defendants “created a hostile work environment, subjected [the plaintiffs] to an atmosphere for adverse acts and treated them disparately because of their race and good-faith opposition to discriminatory practices,” the suit reads.

“Though we have not yet been served with the suit, and were therefore unaware of it, we believe the claim is without merit,” Hunderfund said in a statement. “As this is a pending legal matter, we can provide no additional comment.”

Morelli said that the district might not have been served with the suit yet, but that it would be sometime this week.

“I know it’s been going on for a long time,” Morelli said, referring to the district’s turbulent racial history, which began with its forcible integration in 1965. “Based upon what I’ve heard, there’s a past. This should bring it to a head, we hope.”

Benedith, Besson and Smith are seeking compensatory emotional, physical and punitive damages. But what they really want, they say, is justice. “We hope to send a message,” Morelli said. “We hope that the school district will take notice and do something about this.”

Read the previous article in the series: ‘Forum furor’
Read the next article in the series:

Forum furor: Morellos meet residents miffed by charter proposal

Copyright LIHerald.com Dino Delaney spoke about the Malverne school district’s turbulent racial history at a community forum where area residents discussed a potential Lakeview charter school.

By Lee Landor

Note: This article and its accompanying photos and videos originally appeared on LIHerald.com on September 7, 2011. This content is the rightful property of Richner Communications, Inc.]
This article is sixth 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.

Malvernite Jodi Morello said she, her husband, Matt, and several colleagues are just a group of teachers trying to help improve the quality of education available to local children. She tried to explain this to about two dozen people at a forum she and Matt held last week at the Lakeview Public Library, where they discussed their proposal to bring a charter school to Lakeview.

Jodi may as well have been talking to the walls. Many of those in attendance said they refused to believe that the Morellos’ sole motive for making the proposal was to provide an alternative for Malverne and Lakeview parents who send their children to Malverne public schools or to private and parochial schools. Several people accused the Morellos of wanting to secure jobs for themselves by opening their own charter school. Others called them racists.

“We were met by an audience packed primarily with school board politicians and special-interest groups protecting either their voting constituency or their perceived community power and influence,” Matt wrote in an email to the Herald. “If these individuals were truly interested in helping students instead of each other, they wouldn’t fight to restrict education choices. Money and power exist in maintaining the status quo. I’m starting to think that educating children is the last thing on their collective agenda.”

The discussion at the Aug. 30 forum often strayed from the subject of education, as a few audience members went off on historical, racial and geographic tangents. Many claimed that the Morellos must understand the history of Lakeview, particularly as it relates to the Malverne school district, before they can introduce the idea of a charter school.

After giving them a brief history lesson, West Hempstead resident Dino Delaney, who was born and raised in Lakeview and attended Malverne schools, told the couple that they can’t expect to bring a proposal such as this into the community and be welcomed with open arms. “Scars [run] deep in the community,” he said. “Everybody wants to be part of change, but people are suspicious.”

Delaney went on to say that the Morellos’ proposal smacks of an “agenda to privatize and take resources away from the public school.”

Several times, Matt Morello explained the financial structure of a charter school to the audience, saying it would have little effect on the public schools’ resources. Each student who leaves a public school to attend a charter takes about 75 percent of his tuition with him. The number varies for special needs-children. Charters receive state and federal funding, but rely primarily on private donations: The burden to generate start-up and other funds lies primarily on the charter itself, Matt said.

Hazel “Scottie” Gourdine-Coads, a local activist who was awarded the New York state NAACP’s highest award last year, said that taking children out of Malverne schools would be “a detriment,” ruining the public schools and lowering property values. She acknowledged that problems exist in the school district — both social and educational — saying there is still “a long way to go,” but added that a charter school simply isn’t the answer.

Lifelong Malverne resident Hope Orfano said the district has come a long way since the turbulence of the 1960s. People have worked hard to improve the schools and quality of education, she said, and bringing a charter into the mix will be the “breaking apart” of the district. Orfano praised the school district, which both she and her husband attended all the way through high school and where her two young children are now enrolled.

“’To know someone is saying ‘you’re broken’ is insulting,” Orfano said.

Lakeview resident Phyllis Wright, who served as a principal in the Malverne school district and on the Malverne Board of Education, made several suggestions to the Morellos for how to go about handling their proposal. She told them to attend board meetings and make known their feelings about the quality of education in the district. Wright also spoke to the Morellos’ assertion that it is an “indictment” of the school district that a large percentage of Malverne residents send their children to private schools. If the problem is in Malverne, she said, that’s where the Morellos should take their proposal; bringing it to Lakeview makes little sense.

Orfano also asked that the Morellos bring their ideas for improvement to the district before going off and creating a different school. Bringing a charter in instead of fixing a problematic school district is like building a new house instead of fixing a broken washing machine, Orfano said. In response, Matt Morello said that you can’t continue to fix a broken washing machine for 40 years. At some point, you buy a new machine.

As to the idea of attending board meetings, Matt said he doesn’t believe progressive ideas will be taken seriously. “Unfortunately, school boards are often platforms for greater political ambitions,” he said, “and not venues for serious exchanges about education.”

The forum also failed to produce the meaningful exchange about education that they had hoped for, Matt said. “As far as I’m concerned, an actual discussion about starting a charter school never actually happened,” he said, adding that he hears every day from parents who say they are interested in discussing the idea of a charter school. “I have a core of avid supporters who only want to better the education in a great community.”

As for the Morellos’ next steps in proposing the charter, Matt said, “Stay tuned.”

Read the previous article in the series: ‘Charter school proposal sparks heated debate’
Read the next article in the series: ‘Malverne school district sued for racial discrimination’