Serving Williston Park, East Williston, Mineola, Albertson and Searingtown
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Friday, July 5, 2019
Vol. 68, No. 27
GUIDE TO SUMMER
SEEKING TO SUE POLLUTERS
SUOZZI, RICE BACK IMMIGRATION BILL
PAGES 29-60
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PAGE 9
Bittersweet graduation at Mineola H.S. Day of celebration, mourning of student BY TOM M CC A RT HY
PHOTO BY TOM MCCARTHY
During the presentation of diplomas, Principal Whittney Smith shook hands and took photos with each student.
In a sea of red and white gowns, Mineola High School celebrated the accomplishments of the class of 2019 on Saturday at the 128th commencement ceremony. The event was bittersweet as the class commemorated the memory of Christian Melendez, a classmate who died during the school year. An empty seat for Melendez was on the stage. After a rendition of “the StarSpangled Banner” by student Josephine
Jones, class President Miguel Velasquez welcomed the attendees at LIU Post’s Tilles Center. “Remember all the support you’ve had throughout the years at Mineola and spread that positivity throughout the world,” Velasquez said. He concluded his speech with a musical rendition of “Rise Up” by Cassandra Monique Batie and Jennifer Decilveo. Following Velasquez’s presentation, salutatorian Alexa Buongiovanni Continued on Page 67
National Grid halts gas hookups on L.I. BY TOM M CC A RT HY
ed natural gas pipeline project. According to National Grid, the The president of Lynbrook’s rejection is stopping it from proChamber of Commerce has writ- cessing applications for gas serten a letter to the governor ask- vice on Long Island and in New ing the state to approve a reject- York City.
The East Williston Board of Trustees announced at a June meeting that gas service requests would no longer be processed in the village until the Northeast Supply Enhancement project was approved. The halt is affecting all of Long Island. The project to provide additional capacity to customers in Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island is a pipeline
proposed by Transco that would deliver natural gas from Pennsylvania through New Jersey, then underwater through Raritan Bay and Lower New York Bay to about three miles offshore the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, where it would connect with existing infrastructure. On May 15, the state Department of Environmental Conservation rejected the project due to
developer Transco’s “inability to demonstrate the project’s compliance with all applicable water quality standards.” The transportation system involves 23.5 miles of underwater pipeline, of which some 17.4 miles would be in New York state waters. In his letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the chamber president, Stephen Wangel, described the Continued on Page 74
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