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Friday, October 28, 2022
Vol. 7, No. 43
PPortWashingtonTimes t Washington Guide l Section • October 28,
A Blank Slate Media Specia
2022
GUIDE TO 2022 TOWN DEMS OFFER BE WARY ON ELECTIONS OWN BUDGET HALLOWEEN PAGES 25-32
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E. Williston man charged in Jan. 6 riot
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KINDNESS IS KEY
Lawyer, ex-school board member O’Kelly center of letter controversy BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z Nassau attorney and former East Williston school board trustee John O’Kelly was arrested Thursday for his actions during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to the federal prosecutors. O’Kelly, 66, is charged with felony charges of assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement 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 O’Kelly during his arraignment, did not immediately return a request for comment from Blank Slate Media. O’Kelly previously had a controversial letter published in Blank Slate Media’s six newspapers following the election of former President Donald Trump which was viewed by many as antisemitic. The letter, published in December 2016, lauded Trump’s victory over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton despite the efforts of “anti-Christian, anti-U.S. globalists, led by George Soros.” O’Kelly described Soros as a “Rothschild banker,” referencing the notable European Jewish banking family that
many conspiracy theorists and antisemitic groups claim controls the world’s governments. The attorney went on to say that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Christianity and nationalism clash “with the bankers’ plan for an international, atheistic, totalitarian world order.” He said both leaders strive to achieve “peace and prosperity” compared to “the bankers want[ing] war and debt.” He also claimed Soros was “an agent of the international bankers” and called for him to be “charged, arrested, tried, convicted and imprisoned for his actions, including his funding of Black Lives Matter and Move-On.Org.” O’Kelly said Soros put President Barack Obama in the White House, calling the former commander-in-chief “another anti-Christian, anti-American globalist.” Blank Slate Media Editor and Publisher Steven Blank apologized for publishing O’Kelly’s letter, which prompted the company to refrain from running others containing derogatory and offensive language about marginalized groups. Kelly, following the apology, said his criticisms of powerful Jewish figures should not be viewed as insults and that he was opposed to “censorContinued on Page 47
PHOTO COURTESY OF PORT WASHINGTON SCHOOLS
Port Washington students celebrating Unity Day. Unity Day is an annual event that promotes community building through kindness, acceptance of difference and inclusion.
Irma Ave. project sees potential compromise BY ST E V E N K E E H N E R Developers told residents they would work with them to create a “financially reasonable situation” for a proposed four-story senior liv-
ing facility at 12 Irma Ave. during a meeting Monday night. The emotional two-hour discussion at the Port Washington Public Library seemed headed to a stalemate. But that changed when
the residential opposition asked to confer privately. Afterward, the two parties came together and laid the groundwork for a potential compromise. Continued on Page 47
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