Serving Port Washington, Manorhaven, Flower Hill, Baxter Estates, Port Washington North, Sands Point
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Friday, August 5, 2022
Vol. 7, No. 31
Port WashingtonTimes BEST OF NASSAU COUNTY
CANCER SWIM ACROSS SOUND
LAFAZAN MAKES CASE FOR CD3 NOMINATION
PAGES S1-S52
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Swear-ridden rant highlights trustee meeting Tensions high as microphone nearly hits Manorhaven village attorney BY ST E V E N K E E H N E R A microphone almost struck the head of Manorhaven’s village attorney after a speaker spiked it during a contentious Board of Trustees meeting on Wednesday marked by obscenities. After an hour-long executive session, the board had just returned when hostilities erupted. The trustees had left to talk about a resolution regarding the improper sale of wetland-protected property to a resident by the village. The approved resolution gives the village the authority to take whatever steps are needed to prevent it from happening in the future, according to the meeting’s agenda. They will take legal action to enjoin the current owners and any other parties involved to reverse the deed and transfer the land, as well as take other appropriate remunerative steps. The property owner, Scott Balterman, and his father, Randy Balterman, expressed their frustration with the board for directing Scott Balterman to purchase the wetland-protected property. “My son’s bulkhead had fallen into disarray and washed into the bay. Turns out we didn’t know the last 10 feet of the land was owned by the village,” said Randy. “They said in order to proceed [with a permit to replace
the bulkhead], you have to buy the land from the village.” Scott bought the required property in May. But Genevieve LoPresti, the new village attorney, discovered this month that the site was wetlands. Mayor John Popeleski said this has made an already challenging issue even harder. Randy continued by labeling the town leaders’ conduct as “despicable.” He said that by subjecting his son’s family to a trying situation, they lacked care and decency. “I’m 63 years old, and I own a lot of property in Nassau County and I’ve been in front of a lot of village boards,” said Randy. “I have never seen such an injustice in my life. And there’s nobody that can say, ‘well, we want it this way or we want it that way.’ Everything is beyond the back door.” The tense atmosphere in the room was already rising. Then, Anthony Soldano, a friend of Scott Balterman, spoke. “Why didn’t you look at this last year? Why are you causing these people all kinds of problems and money and trouble?” he said. “Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, this is a f***king scam.” As Soldano concluded, he threw the provided microphone on the ground and stormed out of the room. Continued on Page 39
PHOTO BY STEVEN KEEHNER
The Shchepaniak family in front of Plandome Country Club. Polina Shchepaniak, 9, from Ukraine, underwent life-saving heart surgery recently.
Lviv to L.I.: Ukrainian girl gets another chance at life BY ST E V E N K E E H N E R
her homeland in Ukraine. “All eight years were in fear that Eight-year-old Polina Shchepan- Polina has been sick,” said Kateryna iak was preparing for a heart opera- Shchepaniak, Polina’s mother. “It’s tion in March to correct a congenital hard. It can be like high temperacondition diagnosed during her first tures, like stomach flu. Since she was little, it can be hard. Every time she few weeks of life. Then came Russia’s invasion of was sick, we must give her antibiot-
ics because of the heart. It was scary for us.” Fortunately for Polina, now 9, the Gift-of-Life, led by two Manhasset Rotary members, stepped in. The Gift of Life arranged for Polina and her family to come to the Continued on Page 39
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