No shellfishing this weekend
School sports postponed
LVCSD ready for first day
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VOL. 122 NO. 36
SEPTEMBER 4 - 10, 2020
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Legislators focus on county map By LAURA LANE llane@liherald.com
Courtesy Office of Nassau County Legislature Minority Leader Kevan M. Abrahams
MINORITY LEADER KEVAN Abrahams, center, was joined at his news conference focusing on the redistricting process by, from left, Legislators Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, Arnold W. Drucker, Josh Lafazan and Debra Mulé.
The Democrats in the Nassau County Legislature are asking for changes in how the county’s legislative map is drawn. They may be a little early, since redistricting will not be considered until 2023, but ensuring equal representation for every resident is on their minds, they say, and since they are in the minority, it probably is never too soon to at least start a discussion. “I can’t believe it’s almost 10 years since we did this,” Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, a Democrat from Glen Cove, said. “One map last time had me and Judy Jacobs in the same district. The one that ended up being used had me with Wayne Wink, but I got lucky. He ran for town clerk. I love my job, so I’m hoping for the best. I hope I can stay around.” The Democrats held a press conference on Aug. 12 at the Theodore Roosevelt Executive & Legislative Building to announce their ideas about fair redistricting. They said they would like to CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Roy Gier, ex-chief of Oyster Bay F.D., dies at 55 By LAURA LANE llane@liherald.com
The Oyster Bay Fire Department was Roy E. Gier’s second home. Once a member of the department’s Teddy’s Boys D r i l l Te a m , h e c o m p e t e d against other fire departments, and the team won year after year. For Gier, it was all about honoring his beloved OBFD, where he was part of a brotherhood that family and friends say he treasured. His fellow firefighters said he would do anything for the department and the community as well. The ex-chief died on Aug 30, at age 55, succumbing to heart f ailure after being ill for months. As the purple bunting was affixed to the firehouse, his lifelong friend Doug Flynn,
also an OBFD member, paused. He still couldn’t believe that Roy was gone, he said. Then Flynn apologized, saying he was in a fog. Gier, bor n and raised in Oyster Bay, belonged to three fire departments during his lifetime, North Bellmore, Syosset and Oyster Bay, which he came to serve in the early 1990s. He battled Suffolk Count y w i l d f i r e s, w a s a f i r s t responder at the Avianca plane crash in Cove Neck, where he helped save scores of the 158 passengers, and also helped his embattled community after the nor’easter, called the 100 year storm. His roots were in Oyster Bay, and like other youth in the hamlet, he played football and ran track, as a member of Oys-
Courtesy Janice Menke-Gier
ROY AND JANICE Menke-Gier at an OBFD event. ter Bay High School’s teams. Gier was popular, a talented athlete and always had leadership qualities, F lynn said.
They had been best friends since the third grade. Gier’s mother, Linda, said her son was the first to smile. “He was amiable and a happygo-lucky guy,” she said. “He felt things deeply but couldn’t say them, so he wrote letters telling me how much he appreciated his family.” He was the oldest of four children. When his father, Roy D. Gier, died in 2003, Gier became the protector of his youngest sister, Linda Beth Gier.
“My earliest memories of Roy are when I was very young, probably three. He took me to the sump to watch him play ice hockey,” Linda Beth recalled, then she laughed. “He’d come in at 6 in the morning singing that it was time to get up while holding a blow dryer. He was always joking around.” Gier was also his adopted daughter Claire’s protector. His wife, Janice Menke-Gier, said that she had adopted CONTINUED ON PAGE 3