High Tide
Happy Hanukkah.
The eight-day festival begins
on Sunday, December 18.
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Wow! It’s a pretty underrated fact that Rockaway produces some amazing swimmers. Tess Howley set national records at Sacred Heart High School and remains an Olympic-hopeful and will attend the University of Virginia starting in the fall of next year. On the boys’ side, a new bullet in the water has emerged. Sean Green, just a sophomore at Molloy High School, recently became the youngest swimmer to break the 15-minute mile this year with a 14:57.83 finish. According to SwimSwam.com, “That is the fastest mile by a 15-year-old dating back at least as far as 2001, the furthest that the USA Swimming database goes back reliably. Using the all-time top 100 lists, though, we can reasonably deduce that he is possibly the youngest swimmer ever to break 15 minutes.” Like we said, wow! Sean is the son of Keith and Katie Green of Belle Harbor.
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Rick Horan is selling tickets again. The Graybeard is doing his annual full-court press to get people to buy Pot-o-Gold raffle tickets which support The Graybeards, the non-profit which has done so much for Rockaway through the years. Last year’s winner-take-all raffle was like Rockaway Powerball as the pot surpassed $250,000. There’s a limit on ticket sales this year, so don’t miss out. If you or you and a couple of friends want to play (and help a great organization!) you can contact The Graybeards directly or call Rick Horan at 917-345-3700 and he’ll get a raffle ticket to you. A ticket is $100.
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So, in one of the wackiest elections we’ve heard about in years, Stacey Amato is leading Tom Sullivan by one vote in the NY State Assembly race. More than 30,000 ballots were cast and at last count Stacey was leading by one vote. The Courts are involved and after a decision on Tuesday, The Board of Elections must contact 94 voters to affirm/ cure votes that are in dispute. How long will this take? Will they find the voters? Are they in Florida? Are they alive? Will more lawsuits happen? It’s a mess. We bet the Assembly Seat will be open until well after others are sworn in in January. In some states, they literally flip a coin to settle things! Sounds reasonable!
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The Sand Bar, abandoned since Sandy, and the adjacent arcade building were demolished last week to make way for a mixed-use apartment building. We hope the oceanfront location will induce the owners to build something the neighborhood will approve.
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Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. is inviting talented Queens high school seniors interested in pursuing higher education to apply for African American Heritage Scholarships, to be awarded by the Borough President’s African American Heritage Committee during Black History Month early next year. Deadlines, applications, and other info can be found at: queensbp.org/AAHCScholarshipApp/
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On Tuesday, December 20 there will be a groundbreaking ceremony at Arverne By The Sea for a long-awaited Challenge Prep middle school. We will have additional info about the school in upcoming issues.
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On Wednesday, authorities cracked down on the van selling marijuana by the Beach 108th ferry landing in recent months. Due to selling without a license, the seller was arrested and the van was impounded.
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If you pass by Memorial Circle in Rockaway Park, those wreaths for the holidays didn’t magically appear. Mike Honan, a Friend of Memorial Circle, recently let us know that local resident Flip Mullen contributed those wreaths as a holiday memorial for Rockaway’s fallen servicemembers.
