The TIMES of Middle Country
Serving CentereaCh
Volume 11, No. 11
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Selden
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northern lake grove
July 2, 2015
$1.00
‘Made in America’
also: Golden Gatsby highlights, ‘artie Techie’ show in Huntington, ‘cinderella’s Glass Slipper’ at the ScPa
PaGe B1
Photo by Giselle Barkley
Presenting the Class of 2015
Hundreds of Middle Country students can now call themselves high school graduates. Above, a soon-to-be Newfield graduate waits to receive her diploma at the high school’s commencement on Saturday. See the graduates’ names and more photos on pages A7–A11.
Matz makes history
Ward Melville High School graduate hits mound for first time with Mets
Back cover
Scientists take to shores to save horseshoe crabs activists, politicians, volunteers taking closer look at declining population of LI’s ocean life By alex PetroSki
Horseshoe crabs have been on Earth for almost 500 million years, but their future is uncertain. Researchers like Matt Sclafani, a marine educator from the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Riverhead, said he believes that the species is in an alarming decline. “It’s a very important issue for a lot of reasons,” Sclafani said during a horseshoe
crab monitoring session at West Meadow beach in Stony Brook on Monday night. Horseshoe crabs are a valuable species to human life, Sclafani said. Their blue blood is used for pharmaceutical purposes. Fishermen use them as one of the most effective sources of bait that exists. Sclafani called Delaware Bay the epicenter for horseshoe crab spawning activity, with Long Island coming in
Photo by alex Petroski
North Shore activists take to the waters to learn more about the area horseshoe crabs.
as a close second as one of the most important areas to the species on the East Coast, he said. Sclafani and his team of vol-
unteers take to the local shores when the tides are low, usually in the middle of the night, to count and tag horseshoe crabs HorSeSHoe continued on page a5