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A Few Clouds A summer of family fun
Local chambers plan socially distant events
As summer nears in Wantagh and Seaford, the Chamber of Commerce in each hamlet is planning a series of outdoor, socially distanced events to allow neighbors to spend time together.
Seaford Public Library inspires children to read
The Seaford Public Library’s children’s room was busy with young readers and families coming and going on May 4 for the library’s Children’s Book Week.
A mother’s love is ‘Simply Magic’
Seaford mom writes book inspired by daughter
This Mother’s Day will hold more meaning for some, as vaccinated relatives reunite after a year of absence and families honor the matriarchs who kept their spirits up through the coronavirus pandemic. Seaford mother Danielle Scopinich says that she could have not gotten through the pandemic without her daughter Ava. She recently wrote a children’s book called “Simply Magic” about her relationship with Ava, 8, a second-grade student at Seaford Harbor Elementary School.
Supporting a fallen classmate
James’s Angels keeps a warrior’s memory alive
James Lodato left an impact on his classmates with the jokes he told, his love of baseball and the unfettered joy with which he lived the last year of his life. When he started second grade at Forest Lake Elementary School in the fall of 2017, James was diagnosed with a rare soft-tissue cancer called alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. He died the following May. Last month, the Wantagh community dedicated a new baseball field to James at the elementary school, naming it the James Lodato Field of Dreams. The opening coincided with another community project. Isabella and the rest of Girl Scout Troop 3105 dedicated their Bronze Award project to him, naming it James’s Angels. Throughout the school year, they collected toys and gifts that they donated to the John Theissen Children’s Foundation last month.
In Seaford, wildlife up close
Earth Day at Tackapausha draws a crowd
Children and their families gathered at Tackapausha Museum and Preserve last Saturday, where employee Sam Hammel introduced them to a variety of the preserve’s residents, including a screech owl named Nutmeg and a python named Pat. All the animals he showed the crowd were rescuees, each with its own stories of how it ended up at the Seaford museum and preserve.
Making friends through food
A Facebook page titled, “Quarantine Cook Off,” not only sets stomachs rumbling, but also builds friendships. From Wantagh and Seaford to as far afield as Jupiter, Fla., and Kansas City, strangers are sharing what they’re cooking for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s a community of food lovers that has led to contests, friendships and potential potlucks (once it’s safer to hold them).
Combating hate through education
At the start of the roundtable, Jeong-eun Rhee, a professor at Long Island University Post’s College of Education, Information and Technology, began by calling out Long Island schools for being “the most segregated in the country.”
Seaford couple combats increase in police suicides
Chris and Michelle Panetta lost their close friend Nick Mencaroni, a New York City police officer, to suicide in January 2019. Now the Seaford couple is striving to raise mental health awareness and reduce the rising number of deaths by suicide among first responders.
Petition calls for swim meets to resume this summer
More than 1,500 people have signed a petition on Change.org calling on Nassau County and the Towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead to host swim meets this summer at their outdoor pools.
Helping their neighbors, for Pete’s sake
Growing up, sisters Jeanne Rodrigues and Beth Escobar remember their father, Pete Haller, praying for the homeless before family dinners in their New Hyde Park home.
State study: Public water is best option
According to a recent study ordered by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and conducted by the state Department of Public Service, the municipalization of New York American Water’s Long Island infrastructure is not only feasible, but also in residents’ best interests.
Pop-up vaccination site comes to the Seaford School District
About 140 employees of the Seaford School District were able to get the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccination one recent Friday at a pop-up site set up by Walgreens at the Seaford Manor School.
Editorial
The many advantages of Covid-19 inoculation
Last year, the guidance we received from the government was straightforward: Wear a mask, keep your distance from others and stay at home if you’re able. Now, with millions of people being vaccinated . . .
Op-Ed
‘Woke’ claims, anti-racism and the road forward
News sources are filled with reports of claims about “woke” universities and corporations, complaints about critical race theory and anti-racism training sessions . . .
Randi Kreiss
Gotta get up, get out and do something bold
As poet Mary Oliver asks, “What will you do with your one wild and precious life?” In our (almost) post-pandemic lives, the question presses us for an answer.
Jerry Kremer
Saying farewell to a president who put Hofstra on the map
I take note of the impending retirement of Dr. Stuart Rabinowitz, the president of Hofstra University. Having been a trustee of the university for almost 30 years, I have come to understand . . .