Serving The Willistons, Albertson, Herricks, Mineola, Roslyn Heights, and Searingtown
$1
Friday, August 18, 2017
Vol. 66, No. 33
GUIDE TO PRIVATE SCHOOLS
E.W. SCHOOLS RANKED 7th IN N.Y.
MARTINS OPPOSES ‘SANCTUARY’ LAWS
PAGES 31-42
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Firefighters in W.P. burned by mailer Local fund drive seen as undercut by national nonprofit’s campaign BY N O A H M A N S K A R A national nonprofit’s fundraising campaign is smoking out the Williston Park Fire Department’s annual fund drive, the fire chief said. Residents received a mailed fundraising pitch from the Volunteer Firefighter Alliance, based in Bulls Gap, Tennessee, about a week after Williston Park firefighters sent their annual fundraising request to every home in the village, Chief Richard Sais said. Alan Bohms, the alliance’s executive director, said the timing was just an unfortunate coincidence. But Sais is concerned that residents will give to the national group without realizing the money won’t help their local firefighters, he said. “They’re going to ply on people’s sentimentality to give and it’s not going to help us,” Sais said. The Williston Park department mailed a flier seeking donations to
its annual fund drive on Aug. 1, Sais said. A resident brought the Volunteer Firefighter Alliance’s mailer to his attention on Aug. 8, he said. The mailer asks the recipient to sign and return a “thank you card” that will go to a firefighter somewhere in New York. It also asks for donations to the alliance’s “national effort to retain our current volunteer firefighters, recruit new volunteers, and help our volunteer fire departments raise funds for new firefighting equipment.” Sais said the mailers have been spotted across Nassau County. The Volunteer Firefighters Alliance started serving northeast Tennessee firefighters in 2014 and took its programs national in March, Bohms said. The 501(c) (3) nonprofit is sending the mailers once a month for three months to help that growth, he said. Continued on Page 58
PHOTO COURTESY OF BILL GRESALFI
Ready to roll Mineola Junior Fire Department members Andrew Kerkorian and John Paul Valente pack a hose bed during a recent training exercise. See story on page 22.
E.W., Herricks ranked in state’s top 10 districts nual ranking. The Great Neck, East Williston and Herricks school Three North Shore school districts respectively ranked districts are among the top 10 second, seventh and eighth in in the state and the top 100 New York on the data analysis nationwide on Niche.com’s an- website’s annual Best School
BY N O A H MANSKAR
Districts list. Nationwide, Great Neck placed 13th, East Williston placed 56th and Herricks placed 63rd. Herricks’ statewide ranking Continued on Page 59
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