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How to report on the weather
Enjoying summer in Bayville, L.V.
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VOL. 127 NO. 25
JUNE 20 - 26, 2025
1299265
HERALD $1.00
Mapping graves, honoring heroes Eagle Scout project identifies vets buried in St. John’s Cemetery By WILL SHEELINE wsheeline@liherald.com
Danica Reorden/Herald
Zachary Hertlein encouraged friends, family and fellow scouts to help honor the veterans who are buried in St. John’s Church Cemetery in Cold Spring Harbor.
For years, Memorial Day on the North Shore has included a quiet but powerful tradition — American flags planted at the graves of veterans in local cemeteries by members of the Quentin Roosevelt American Legion Post 4 and the former Oyster Bay Boy Scout Troop 299. But as the legion post prepares to close and its membership continues to shrink, one local teenager has stepped in to ensure that the tradition endures. Zachary Hertlein, 18, a rising senior at Oyster Bay High School and a member of Troop 43 in Sea Cliff, is working toward the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest in scouting, with a project that honors Cold Spring Harbor’s fallen service members in a distinctly modern way. Hertlein is creating a detailed, GPS-coded map of every veteran’s grave in St. John’s Church Cemetery to ensure that no one is forgotten during Memorial Day CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Lifelong friends are top two seniors at Oyster Bay H.S. By WILL SHEELINE wsheeline@liherald.com
Rose Lindstrom and Michael Olivero, of Oyster Bay, are longtime friends who have known each other since first grade. They have spent years excelling in academics, extracurriculars, athletics and leadership in the Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central School District. Now Lindstrom, the valedictorian of Oyster Bay High School’s class of 2025, and Olivero, its salutatorian, will take the stage at June 18graduation to reflect on their journey. Lindstrom, 17, who will attend Yale University this fall,
and Olivero, 18, who is bound for Boston College, voiced their pride in receiving the top honors. “I was so excited to hear that we were both valedictorian and salutatorian,” Lindstrom said. “This has been something that was a big aspiration of mine for so long, so hearing that all of my hard work finally paid off was really rewarding, and also to share this title with Michael is amazing, because we’re also great family friends. We go way back.” Olivero shared a favorite family anecdote about their longtime academic rivalry. “In first g rade,” he recounted,
“Rose went home one day to her mom, and Rose’s mom asked, ‘Is there anyone smarter than you in class?’ And Rose said, ‘Michael Olivero — he has the highest reading level.’” According to both students, their mothers even bet $100 on which of the two would end up valedictorian and salutatorian, although as the Herald went to p re s s t h e m o n e y h a d n o t changed hands. Though their academic paths diverged slightly — Olivero leans toward the social sciences, while Lindstrom focuses on math and art history — they share a passion for learning, and balance an impressive list
of extracurriculars. Olivero served as president of the Student Council and the National Honor Society, and copresident of the school’s Model United Nations — alongside Lindstrom. He also captained the varsity football and lacrosse teams and played trumpet in both the wind and jazz ensembles.
Lindstrom is editor in chief of the school newspaper, The Harbor Voice, captain of the varsity tennis team and a volunteer ski instructor for people with disabilities, working with the Adaptive Sports Foundation. “I love to ski, so I volunteer with this wonderful organizaCONTINUED ON PAGE 9