_________________ FREEPORT _________________
HERALD Also serving Roosevelt
Vol. 90 No. 21
Former detective is sentenced
Helicopter lands at Roosevelt High
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MAY 22 - 28, 2025
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$250.9 million school budget was approved until July — opposed the board’s decision to place superintendent Fia Davis on paid The $250.9 million Freeport administrative reassignment school district budget passed for reasons that have not yet on Tuesday night, with 586 vot- been made public. Alice Kane, a ers saying yes and 195 saying former assistant superintendent, is serving as interim no. The spending plan does not superintendent. At a board meeting last increase the district’s tax levy. month, JordanA proposition on Awalom said she the ballot authorizhad “serious coning the use of $2.5 cer ns” about the million from the financial oversight capital reserve during this year’s fund for maintebudget process, spenance projects also cifically citing passed, by a vote of what she described 597 to 129. as excessive expenThe Freeport ditures for special Memorial Library education. She was budget of roughly removed as chair $7 million was ANtHoNY of the Finance approved by a wide Committee, a decim a r g i n a s we l l , HARDwICk sion for which she with 616 residents board trustee stated there was in favor and 159 “no explanation.” opposed. “Decisions like this not only Board of Education candidates Beverly Jouissance and undermine trust,” Jordan-AwaAlphonso Hardwick both ran lom said at the time. “They also unopposed for trustee seats pre- damage the board’s credibility viously held by Sharon Jackson when it comes to financial oversight.” and Maria Jordan-Awalom. Jouissance gar nered 498 The new trustees votes, and Hardwick had 492. Both new trustees bring Jackson and Jordan-Awalom — who will continue to serve Continued on page 4
By MoHAMMAD RAFIQ
mrafiq@liherald.com
Alice Moreno/Herald
Community gathers to walk dogs for mental health With wagging tails and open hearts, families, elected officials, and four-legged friends turned out to Cow Meadow Park for the Spring Fling Dog Walk for Mental Wellness, raising over $10,000 for Long Islanders in need of behavioral health support. Maya Johnson, left, and Zara Watson with enthusiastic pup Chase. Story, more photos, page 10.
Freeport accused of illegally seizing thousands of vehicles By MoHAMMAD RAFIQ mrafiq@liherald.com
A federal class-action lawsuit has been filed against the Village of Freeport, after it was accused of illegally seizing thousands of vehicles since 2016. More than 5,000 plaintiffs have joined the lawsuit, initiated by attorney Andrew Campanelli on May 15 in New York Eastern District Court, which also claimed that the village illegally sold more than 200 of the confiscated vehicles. In addition, the suit alleged that the village received over $934,000 in “kickbacks” from towing companies.
According to Campanelli, Freeport uses its network of fixed license plate readers — nicknamed the “Ring of Steel”— to automatically flag cars entering the village that have either expired registrations or three or more outstanding parking summonses. He claimed that the prog ram — when accounting for impound fees and tickets issued — brings in a total of $4.1 million a year for the village. Since the Ring of Steel was first instituted in late 2015, the village has viewed hundreds of millions of license plates, impounding many thousands of vehicles, issuing tens of thousands of Continued on page 9
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nce I heard from God, I said, OK, it’s His will, put my name in the hat.