HALF HOLLOW HILLS Copyright © 2016 Long Islander News
Online at LongIslanderNews.com
VOL. 18, ISSUE 28
NEWSPAPER THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2016
2 SECTIONS, 28 PAGES
DIX HILLS/MELVILLE
Veterans Receive ‘Overdue’ Honor By Janee Law jlaw@longlslandergroup.com
John Schrank was among nearly 1,000 Vietnam veterans honored at the Vietnam Veteran Commemoration Ceremony on Sunday. “It was quite moving,” Schrank, of Dix Hills, 68, a veteran staff sergeant in the Air Force, said. And it was also “long overdue,” he added. “When I came back from Vietnam nobody thanked anybody, a lot of guys didn’t even want to say they went to Vietnam because we were hated for our government's mistakes,” Schrank said. “They made the policy, we enforce it as Americans and we took wrath of hostility when we came back home.” So, now when the Vietnam veterans come across each other, they make sure to welcome each other home. “When one veteran sees another veteran, we always say ‘welcome home’ because, for the longest time, nobody did,” Schrank said. “We (Continued on page A7)
Photo courtesy of Linda Schrank
INSIDE
John Schrank, of Dix Hills, who served as a Vietnam staff sergeant in the Air Force from 1966-1970, said the commemoration ceremony was moving and long overdue.
DIX HILLS
SPOTLIGHT
Toad The Wet Sprocket Marks Anniversary
Man Guilty Of Attack On Mother, Brother Father recounts discovery of the attack By Jano Tantongco jtantongco@longislandergroup.com
A Suffolk jury has convicted a 21-year-old Dix Hills man of manslaughter in the second degree and assault in the first degree for attacks he made on his brother and mother in 2014, authorities said. Charles Okonkwo Jr. faces up to 15 years imprisonment on the manslaughter conviction, and up to 25 years on the assault conviction, when he is sentenced on Sept. 16. Okonkwo was also acquitted of a second-degree murder charge.
Jurors deliberated for around four hours over two days before returning the verdict Friday afternoon. The trial started on Aug. 1 before State Supreme Court Justice Mark Cohen. Suffolk police arrived at the Okonkwo home on Norman Court on July 19, 2014 after Charles Okonkwo Sr. discovered the aftermath of the attacks. On Monday, Charles Okonkwo Sr., 64, recounted the day in an interview at his home. He said he arrived home after a stay at the hospital to find younger son Bradley, 15, dead in his own
bed, and wife Chinwe, 54, lying in a pool of her own blood in the garage. Police later arrested Charles Okonkwo Jr. and charged Charles Okonkwo Jr., who was found driving the family car “a short distance” from the house. “I think every day of the day that shattered my life,” Charles Okonkwo Sr. said. (Continued on page A7)
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID HICKSVILLE, NY PERMIT NO. 66