Serving Great Neck, G.N. Plaza, G.N. Estates, Kensington, Kings Point, Lake Success, Russell Gardens, Saddle Rock and Thomaston
Guide l Section • October 28,
A Blank Slate Media Specia
$1.50
Friday, October 28, 2022
Vol. 97, No. 43
2022
GUIDE TO 2022 TOWN DEMS OFFER BE WARY ON ELECTIONS OWN BUDGET HALLOWEEN PAGES 25-32
PAGE 2
Vote nears in heated library board races
PAGE 11
PITCH PERFECT
Culture war issues raised as five candidates vie for two seats BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z
Five people are running for two seats on Great Neck Library’s Board of Trustees in a heated raced in which national culture war issues have been raised over who controls the selection of books and nominees for board seats. The races have not only been contested in a candidate forum but online and in impassioned letters to the editor. Voters will go to the polls on Oct. 31 to decide on the two races that many have said will determine the direction of the library district, whose four branches include all of Great Neck and north New Hyde Park. Current Board President Liman Mimi Hu is running for re-election for her seat on the board against challenger Jessica Hughes. Hu was elected to the board in 2018 in a divisive and active race. Hu has served on the board of directors for the Great Neck Chinese Association and as a member of the Saddle Rock Elementary School’s PTA. Hu also has her Juris doctorate from New York University School of Law and a bachelor of arts in economics and physics from Wesleyan University. Hu lauded the board’s accomplishments since she joined, including hiring a permanent library director, returning the library to the Nassau Library System and reaching a union contract with staff members.
Hughes, the vice president and associate general counsel at Nationstay Mortgage Company, LLC, received a bachelor of arts in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. Several years later she received her Juris Doctor degree from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. She has been an executive board member of the E.M. Baker PTO since 2018 and spent time on the Great Neck North Middle School’s PTO and was a Special Education PTA delegate for the school last year. Hughes, during a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Manhasset-Port Washington, spoke on the need to amend a “divisive board” and touted the ability to be an openminded trustee that prioritizes the community it serves. “That is really what will benefit this board,” Hughes said. “That kind of thinking present at these meetings where there is discord and the ability to take a step back and bring everybody back to the point that is most important, which is how will this conversation further the needs of our community.” After individuals filed a legal complaint over the way its Board of Trustees filled a board vacancy late last year, the trustees submitted their own complaint claiming they acted within their authority. Hu acknowledged that the library Continued on Page 46
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GREAT NECK SCHOOL DISTRICT
The Great Neck School District’s Faculty Recital last week featured dozens of talented participants.
E.W. lawyer charged in Jan. 6 insurrection BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z
rection at the U.S. Capitol, according to the federal prosecutors. O’Kelly, 66, is charged with Nassau attorney and former East Williston school board trustee John felony charges of assaulting, resistO’Kelly was arrested Thursday for ing, or impeding law enforcement his actions during the Jan. 6 insur- officers and interfering with law
enforcement officers during a civil disorder, along with related misdemeanor offenses, officials said. The Long Island Federal Defenders Office, which represented Continued on Page 47
Visit thegreatnecknews.com or theisland360.com for the latest in breaking news.