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Image provided by: Suffolk Cooperative Library System
BABYLON PUBLIC LIBRARY VOL. 4 4 NO. 8 THURSDAY, February 2 5 ,2010 50 CENTS South Bay School destroyed by fire by Marissa Cox, Caroh n James andLenaPcnnino The smell o f fire permeated the air for blocks, arid even more than ten hours after a blaze destroyed the South Bay Elementary School m West Babylon* the smell hung heavy m the air But it was closer inspection o- the building that tonhrmed the extent otthe blaze and the complete devastation it caused to a building that students w « e tn return to on Monday following a weeks vacation Water seeped fiom the fire-tom roof and poured down the side n! the charred walls and into the hallways Only last week filled with school children, those halls were now mimeised in blackened Sheetrock and mortar, wiies pipes and other debris I he fire broke out late at night, Ihucs, Feb 18. The West Babvlon Fire Department received a call that the file al u ms had gone off and Chief Pete McArdle was first on the sane He was quickl) joined by Chief (Continued on page 5) West Babylon community comes together to find answers, solutions by Carolyn James, Lena Pennino and Marissa Cox At Our Lady of Grace R.C. Church in West Babylon, there is room at the Inn. The church has opened its doors to house the 300 students and staff o f South Bay Elementary School following the fire that destroyed the school last week. Our Lady o f Grace (OLG) campus, originally designed to house a Catholic school that never opened, has 24 classrooms, 20 o f which the West Babylon School District will be using in a lease agreement that is to run at least through June, said school officials. More than 300 students started classes there yesterday; teachers and administrators spent Monday moving in furniture, setting up bulletin boards and making the rooms cheerful and welcoming. The focus o f the district’s plans was to keep students and teachers together during the proefess. Long-range plans for rebuilding the school have to be put on hold until the Babylon Chief Fire Marshall Gil Hanse completes his investigation. Then the building is put into the hands of the insurance company, said a school official. Following that investigation, a determination as to how the district will proceed can begin. Students needed to bring only a pencil, hand sanitizer, tissues, water and baby wipes on Tuesday; the district promises to provide the other needed materials. Although the parish will have to alter its schedule, on the whole, the move won’t cause too much disruption said Father Vincent Rush, pastor of Our Lady of Grace. Most o f the classrooms are used for afternoon and evening events, so the district will find other sites in case it needs to hold evening events. On Monday, as teachers and staff were moving in, Father Rush, and Superintendent of Schools Anthony Cacdola were there to lend a hand. “It’s going great,” said Father Rush in talking about the hustle and bustle going on all around him. “As best as can be expected,” said the Superintendent who was there ready to work, dressed in sneakers, jeans and a sweat shirt for the event. (Continued on page 5) Pen pal project brings students from Lindenhurst and Hanoi together For the past 6 months, 48 fifth-grade students at Edward W. Bower Elementary school in Lindenhurst participated in a pen pal project with students at Truong Vuong secondary school in Hanoi, Vietnam. The project is being coordinated by Lindenhurst Rotarian Maria Bohrer and Debra Mauro, both reading specialists at E. W. Bower Elementary school, and Lindenhurst Rotarian Dermot McGrath. Students from the two schools are learning about the history and culture o f their two countries and have been sending emails and photos to their new friends. This Christmas, the Truong Vuong students sent gifts and beautiful handmade Christmas cards to their pen pals who reciprocated by sending a huge box of gifts to their pen pals at Truong Vuong. This was just in time for the annual TET Lunar New Year celebration in Hanoi, which is like the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s celebrations in the United States all rolled into one. The Year of the Tiger, 2010, is significant because it marks .the 1000th anniversary of the founding of Hanoi. Word about the program appeared in the Vietnamese newspapers and consequently is spreading rapidly throughout Vietnam. On Feb. 6, Maria Bohrer and Dermot McGrath were invited by the Vietnamese Ambassador to the United Nations to attend the Annual TET Lunar New Year Party at the Vietnamese Mission to the U.N. in New York. They had a wonderful time mingling with U.N. staff members, dignitaries and honored guests. They discussed the close relationship that is developing between the United States and Vietnam. In photo, left to right, are M aria Bohrer, ambassador; Bui The Giang, deputy perm anent représentative, Mission o f Viet N am to the United Nations; his wife and Dermot McGrath. Below, E. W. Bower Elementary school teachers M aria Bohrer and Debra Mauro with Dermot McGrath and the pen p a l students.
