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HERALD Also serving Roosevelt
older adult art exhibit on display
Students perform Shrek on stage
Giblyn’s annual Ride for life
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Vol. 91 No. 25
JUNE 18 - 24, 2026
$1.00
Adopt-a-Cop initiative receives local support By JUSTIN HABERMAN Herald Intern
Justin Haberman/Herald
Village leaders, including Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy, Nassau County politicians and local first responders came together to support Freeport’s Adopt-a-Cop initiative.
As police departments around the country continue to search for ways to develop trust and connect with the younger generation, the Village of Freeport has found a solution with the Adopt-a-Cop program. Throughout the year, the program allows police officers to directly engage with fourth grade students in their classrooms, allowing children to develop connections with officers, hopefully long before they ever need to dial 911. Each fourth grade classroom in the village is assigned one or more police officers through the initiative. More than 400 students from all six elementary schools in the village gathered at the Freeport Recreation Center on June 10 to hear about the program as the Freeport Police Department showcased their different resources. The exhibit featured the mounted unit with police CoNtiNued oN pAge 2
Gun safety event at Eisenhower Park post-shooting By JoSEPH D’AlESSANDRo jdalessandro@liherald.com
On Gun Violence Awareness Day earlier this month, a field of small orange heart signs surrounded a temporary statue in Eisenhower Park of a young girl hiding beneath a school desk, each heart representing one of the 130 lives lost to gun violence in the U.S. every day. Orange is the color of gun safety. More than 100 activists who gathered in the park on June 5 wore the color as they shared information with gun violence survivors and spoke about their personal experiences.
Janet Klein Goldstein, an advocate for gun violence victims, is a leading member of the New York chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. She invited local elected officials to the event to remind them of the life-ordeath stakes of le gislation intended to enhance gun safety. “We want them to hear the voices of survivors,” Goldstein said. “We want to honor the victims of gun violence, and that’s why we invite them here.” Goldstein and her Moms Demand Action colleagues regularly take their advocacy on the road, heading to Albany to push for “common sense” legis-
lation, she said. “We were in Albany three or four times these past seven months, and we advocated for two bills that the gover nor signed into law just recently,” Goldstein said. “A third one she signed into law [days] ago, and she’s signing the fourth into law as we speak.” The bills include prohibitions against manufacturing firearms in New York state that are easily modified into rapidfire weapons, holding software companies that may operate in the state accountable for 3D printed weapons, and Francesco’s Law, which requires New Yorkers who own firearms to
lock up all weapons if a person under age 18 is in their home. “I think it’s sad that we still have to do this,” Amanda Geist, of Merrick, said of the gathering. “The consequences of gun violence are very real and very evident. It really shouldn’t be a debate anymore … it is absolutely heartbreaking for families and for survivors, and I
admire the courage it takes to continue and to channel that into activism.” Event organizer Stephanie Draine and George Graydon are the founders of Life After Loss Ability-Navigate-Depression-Recovery-Empowerment, or ANDRE, a nonprofit that focuses on helping gun violence CoNtiNued oN pAge 5