Bellmore
HERALD Cinema owners anxious to reopen
Rubin headed to U.S. open
Mepham grad wins $3,000
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Vol. 23 No. 36
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SEPTEMBER 3 - 9, 2020
Athletes, parents rally for fall sports Protesters argued that recreational sports leagues that were active throughout the summer agarcia@liherald.com, tbellissimo@liherald.com showed that games could be Last Friday, chants of “Let played spikes in Covid-19 cases. them play!” rang out from the The seven-person superintenNassau BOCES Administrative dents committee, which voted Center in Garden unanimously for City, where, two the postponement, days earlier, a comdid not believe safemittee of Nassau ty could be guaranschool superintenteed, however. dents had voted to “I believe other postpone high sections will follow school sports until and pull the plug, January. but I can’t speak More than 100 for anyone else,” high school athsaid Pat Pizzarelli, letes, parents and Section VIII’s execstate and local reputive director of resentatives gathathletics. “We felt ered at the rally, strongly enough to calling on Section make this decision VIII, the governing now. We took the body for Nassau cautious route, but County high school we believe it’s in athletics, to reverse NiColE dEVliN everyone’s best the decision. Senior, interests. There are “This is about Calhoun High School too many unmore than just knowns. sports,” said Jill “It’s just not Levine, a mother of John F. Ken- time to allow kids to play nedy High School athletes and a sports,” he continued, “and my rally co-organizer. “This is all first and foremost concern is the about having the right to play safety of our student-athletes.” and following the rules, which On Aug. 27, the Superintenwe’ve been doing for months and months.” Continued on page 3
By aNdREW GaRCia and ToNy BElliSSiMo
i
Alyssa Seidman/Herald Life
GENERal MaNaGER aNGEla LoCicero poured a drink at the Brokerage’s bar from behind a Plexiglas divider. Stickers reminding customers about pandemic guidelines are posted throughout the Bellmore club.
Covid-19 mandate no laughing matter for comedy clubs By alySSa SEidMaN aseidman@liherald.com
Governor’s Comedy Clubs — including the Brokerage in Bellmore — welcomed customers and comics back for laughs earlier this summer following temporary Covid-19 closures, but a new state mandate is now pulling the curtain on certain live entertainment venues that reopened in Phases 3 and 4. “Restaurants and other onpremises food and beverage
establishments that have a license through the [State Liquor Authority] are only allowed to offer on-premise music if their license certificate specifically allows for such activity,” New York state’s website reads. “Exotic dancing, comedy shows, karaoke, etc., are not permissible cur rently re g ardless of phase.” On Aug. 23, comedians rallied outside Governor’s Comedy Club in Levittown to protest the mandate, and request-
ed that Gov. Andrew Cuomo reconsider his decision, calling it “arbitrary.” “How can it be that sitting and eating at a restaurant is safe but listening to a comic behind Plexiglas at the same time is not?” said comedian and former Bellmore resident Vinny D’Agostino. “From the start of this entire pandemic, we have been told to follow the science. What started out as ‘flatten the curve’ has turned into . . . the arbitrary Continued on page 4
t’s really not fair that Suffolk County is going to be doing what they love every day . . . and we’re going to be stuck waiting until January.