Wishing Vernon grads luck
Seniors use their green thumbs
Ice cream for GCH workers
Page 6
Page 2
Page 8
VOL. 122 NO. 27
JULY 3 - 9, 2020
LVHS grads socially distanced By LAURA LANE llane@liherald.com
Courtesy LVCSD
Locust Valley High School g raduates experienced a unique graduation on Monday, but some components of the day remained the same. Seniors wore caps and gowns and were accompanied by their families, though this year guests were limited, and as the graduates made their way to their seats outside the high school they did so socially distanced. There were four graduation ceremonies, and each included speeches, praise for the gradu-
GRADUATES SAT WITH their guests at the Locust Valley High School graduation, next to lawn signs that they were invited to take home.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
Town RFP could cause shakeup in bay hatcheries By MIKE CONN mconn@liherald.com
The Town of Oyster Bay sent out a request for proposals last month that could cause some major changes in the ways shellfish are grown and harvested in town-owned areas on the bottom of Oyster Bay. Currently, commercial shellfishing company Frank M. Flower & Sons Inc. leases 1,500 acres in the Long Island Sound in which it farms clams and oysters. The lease is set to end in 2024. Under the town’s RFP, only 800 acres would be available for private firms, with a provision
that no single bidder can lease more than 700 acres. One hundred of the 800 acres would be reserved for smaller operations, said George Baptista, the town’s deputy commissioner for the environment. Baptista said what happens to the 700 acres would be determined by the Town Board. The town, he explained, currently charges $40 per acre each year, and the RFP would increase that to $200. The RFP, he said, was sent on June 12, and responses are requested by July 26. “The opportunity is now to look at different methods to foster competition,” Baptista said,
“and we wanted to find a licensee that can accomplish a friendly, environmental method of aquaculture in the bay and get a more sustainable fee for the town.” James Cammarata, an attorney with Frank M. Flower & Sons, said the firm was examining the RFP, and planned to respond to it. He declined to comment further. The area around the acres Flower has leased is available to those who have shellfishing licenses, if the waters are certified to be clean enough for harvesting. Among these fishermen are members of the North Oyster Bay Baymen’s Association,
who have been in a dispute with Flower & Sons for years. Bill Painter, president of the association, said he was most concerned with the environmental impact of Flower & Sons’ harvesting methods. The company’s main means of harvesting clams, Painter said, is hydraulic dredging, which involves shoot-
ing water at high pressure into the bottom of the Sound to break it up, so a mechanical dredge can move through it and gather the clams. This kind of dredging, Painter added, is not safe for the environment. It causes excess sediment to blow out onto the surCONTINUED ON PAGE 16