Newsletter for the Alumni and Friends of Hicksville High School - Hicksville, New York

Dear Readers,
We hope you enjoy our latest HixNews issue. As you read Wendy Elkis Girnis' article about Military Nurses,  you will notice she did not include Vietnam nurses or those who served in Iraq or Afghanistan. We hope our readers can supply first-hand accounts of those military heroes. If you were a military nurse or wounded or served in Iraq or Afghanistan, please send us some memories for our November issue. We will publish after Veterans' Day but we would still like to include those memories. Article contributions, suggestions, and news are always welcome. We would love to hear from you, too! Don't hesitate to get in touch with us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
- Your HixNews Team

Introduction

Welcome to the third part of our look back at the past through the stories of Hicksville’s diners. Last month’s article ended on a sour note: it was 1958, and New York State had unveiled its misguided response to the increased traffic generated by the Mid-Island Plaza: widen Broadway and flatten whatever is in the way. The first phase of work, the road north of the LIRR tracks, was imminent. The next phase – demolishing buildings on the west side of Broadway between the tracks and Old Country Road -- would come later.

I should mention that the “dining car” restaurant that you see on the right side of this picture is NOT the Empire. It is an old incarnation of the Broadway Diner.

In consequence, Archie Kyriacou had relocated his Empire Diner, and afterwards he was not pleased about the result. To better understand why, let’s go back to the 1950s now, and look at the junction of Broadway and Jerusalem Avenue at John Street. I apologize to you all for the poor quality of the image which follows. It was taken in 1956 from the Professional Building by Harold Kelly, and it seems to have suffered over the ensuing years – but at least we still have it.

The Diner That is Not on the Corner

Kyriacou had thought about the new site for his Empire Diner. It would extend into West John Street from the southwest corner of John Street and Jerusalem Avenue, which I’ve circled in the picture. Without the visibility and automobile access of a corner site, the Empire could not thrive as it had in the Triangle, when it was on another well-chosen site, from which it was ripped too soon because of officials in Albany.

In 1958, however, incorporating the little 50’ wide corner plot into his diner’s site would have to wait. Florence Wallace had lived in the house on that plot since her youth. Now, she was old, and nearing death. Kyriacou would have to acquire her little parcel of land later, from her heirs. She passed away a month after the diner opened on its corner-less new site, and soon the lengthy process of probate was begun.

Every Man Has His Limits

Archie Kyriacou appears to have been a well-liked, capable, successful, and upstanding man in many ways, but he slowly became pathologically impatient with the pace at which Miss Wallace’s estate was probated. That corner meant a lot to him: before her death, he had offered $20,000 for it -- at the time, nearly enough to purchase three new Levitt homes. Now he saw no reason why he could not buy it immediately. Her heirs wanted to sell it. They did not want to live there, and even if the house were in good repair, it would not generate significant rental income. No one else wanted to buy it, but if they did, he would outbid them. He would buy it eventually. Until he could, he would gladly pay the heirs $3,500 for the privilege of demolishing the house and cleaning up the grounds, and still pay them the full amount later when the purchase happened. He just wanted to be happy again.

Instead, every day when he looked over his customers, he wondered. How could they enjoy food and companionship when the ambience of the room was ruined by that derelict house, which loomed over their tables from outside the windows? He got angry when he thought about would-be patrons who had passed by without seeing the diner – for motorists traveling some routes, the house and its foliage hid the diner from sight.

Heading Over the Edge

Eventually, he thought – or someone suggested -- that maybe it wasn’t a probate issue. Maybe the heirs were at fault. Maybe they wanted to get a little extra money and avoid taxes by renting the old house after all. Desperate to move things along, and worrying more and more, he “reasoned” that no landlord could rent out a burned-out shell of a house. And so, one night he started a fire, just in case.

Afterwards, he may have thought that his arson had achieved its purpose: no one repaired or tried to rent the damaged house. On the other hand, the end of probate still was not in sight. Kyriacou seemed no closer to owning the corner, and the house was more of an eyesore than before. Summer went by; autumn went by. The Empire would soon celebrate its second Christmas on the new site, and the empty little house was still there, hogging the corner to no one’s benefit.

As December came, his frustration became unbearable, and he lashed out – not against any person, but against the empty house itself. He devised a Plan B, which turned out to be his old Plan A, but with an extra order of gasoline on the side. The result was not at all what Archie Kyriacou had wanted:

Initial news reports said that a Nassau County policeman had been on duty at his assigned post, the John Street Police Booth. Let’s look at that intersection again, this time focusing on the booth, which I’ve circled – well, ellipsed. The news reports pointed out that it was only “steps away from” the house.

Before being sedated heavily for medical reasons, severely burned Patrolman Charles Beck had been able to relate that he’d observed two “boys” (later described variously in news reports as teenagers, men, vagrants, etc.) enter the deserted house. He attempted to investigate, but as he opened the house’s door, he was hit by an explosion that burned away most of his uniform. He might survive his burns, but it was unlikely that Beck would ever be able to work again.

There was a fortunate but puzzling aspect to his tale: no bodies or survivors were found in the house. What had happened to the two people who entered it just before him?

Facts and allegations dribbled in over the next several days. Then Archie Kyriacou was arrested and charged with second-degree arson, pending Grand Jury deliberations. He admitted pouring gasoline into the house through a window, but he denied that he had set it on fire. He added that he was very upset about the injuries to Patrolman Beck, whom he considered a close friend. Reporters confirmed that Kyriacou had requested, and had been granted, a private hearing with the judge who would be handling the charges, but what the two had discussed remained confidential.

An Unavoidable Hiatus

The Grand Jury would make little progress while Patrolman Beck underwent skin grafts and plastic surgery. The case vanished from the headlines. Kyriacou, although hypothetically still under investigation, did not hide from view. He resumed doing what he did best, not in Hicksville, but in nearby Syosset:

Belated Resolution

In March 1965, news about the case was rekindled, so to speak, when Patrolman Beck filed a lawsuit against Kyriacou, hoping to be awarded $1,000,000 as compensation for his suffering. Badly disfigured, he stated that since recovering, he had been able to work only part-time as a taxi driver, earning on average $35 per week to supplement his pension, while accumulating more than $30,000 in medical expenses. No mention was made of any disability payments from NCPD-related sources. He also took the opportunity to deny rumors that he had been part of an arson plot with Kyriacou, and he stood by his earlier statements.

Later, when the suit was before the court, the diner owner testified on his own behalf. He said that he and Beck had indeed conspired to burn down the little house. They together had poured three gallons of gasoline around the interior, after which Beck was to ignite the blaze. Despite Beck’s denials, the fire investigation showed that he had in fact been inside the house prior to the explosion – he had left his NCPD flashlight in an upstairs room.

Armed with better knowledge of how much gasoline had been deployed, investigators revised their theory of the explosion. The house’s windows were closed tight; gasoline was rampant and began to vaporize. When Patrolman Beck opened the door, something on his person – a static spark, a lighted match, whatever – detonated the vapors in the sealed house, the way that spark plugs detonate similar vapors in the sealed cylinders of an automobile engine.

Charles Beck had been thought an innocent victim, but no longer. He abruptly dropped the lawsuit without explanation. Kyriacou’s lawyer announced that the charges against his client, which previously had been upgraded to first-degree arson, and could have led to a 40-year prison term, had been revised in accord with new developments. Kyriacou had agreed to plead guilty to a single count of felony arson and pay a fine of only $1,000. He would not be incarcerated.

In the years that followed, Archie Kyriacou seems to have put behind him the once-overwhelming frustrations about the little house next to the Empire Diner. In the end, he retired to Suffolk County, but his ties with Hicksville had remained strong. Like those of fellow Greek immigrant Harry Dounelis, who had owned the Hub Diner, his remains were laid to rest in Plainlawn Cemetery.

Coda: Doubly Scandalous Hicksville

Out of compassion, or at least pity, Charles Beck was not charged with any crime. He still was desperately in need. Why, after fighting to survive and finally initiating the lawsuit, did he give up on it so easily? Perhaps his decision had something to do with a different ex-Patrolman Beck, who was then mired in a different local scandal.

The year before, Hicksville had been stunned by news of a Queens-Nassau “Housewife Prostitution Ring,” which had many connections with organized crime, some of them running through Long Island motels and night clubs. The madam-in-charge conducted business from her family home on Genesee Street, a few blocks west of Hicksville High. The newspapers enjoyed reporting that the husbands of some women in her “stable” baby-sat their little ones whenever their wives “got called into work” on short notice. The ring’s success – it grossed about a quarter million annually – depended on inside information about the NCPD, supplied from files at Police headquarters by Patrolman John Beck, George’s brother (who had resigned, giving as cause his displeasure at having undergone a “disrespectful” interrogation). Recently, news items about each scandal had started mentioning the other one, just to play up the fact the Department had picked two bad apples from the same family tree. George Beck may have dropped the lawsuit in hopes of limiting further damage to the Beck family.

Besides, now that his brother John was known to have links to organized crime, the odds of George’s winning the suit were nil – any judge who found in his favor would be viewed by the public as being in bed with organized crime.

That’s it!

Appendix: List of Images and Their Sources

By Wendy Elkis Girnis, Class of '77

November 11th is Veterans Day.  On that day, we honor all military veterans who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces.  Interestingly enough, if you ask someone to describe a veteran, chances are they will describe someone who is male.  Just recently, I attended my husband’s college reunion and was reminded that it isn’t only men who serve, but women too.  His Niagara University graduating class had many of their female nursing students serve in the Vietnam War. Then I read the book, “The Women” by Kristen Hannah.  All of that got me thinking about our women veterans, especially the nurses. 

The Beginning

Throughout the history of our country, especially during times of war, women have tended to the wounded.  In July 1775, George Washington requested one female nurse for every ten men.  The women were paid $2 a month. This was actually the first organized nursing unit, even though it did not have training and was not considered part of the military. 

During the War of 1812, wives, sisters, and mothers served as nurses who tended the soldiers’ wounds. Twenty-three of these Civil War Nurses Memorial Statuenurses are buried in Section 21 at Arlington National Cemetery including;

Anna Platt, who was the first nurse buried at Arlington

Adelaide Spurgeon,  received an invalid's pension for her service

Caroline Burghardt, the youngest nurse, received an invalid's pension

Sarah E. Thompson, after her husband was killed, became a nurse.  She also gave lectures on her experiences

 Emma Southwick Brinton is one of three nurses at Fredricksburg, VA.  Received an invalid's pension.

During the beginning of the Civil War, in 1861, two women made their marks on the nursing profession, Clara Barton and Dorothea Dix.

Clara Barton Monument AntietamClara Barton contributed a lot to the nursing and care of soldiers.  During the Civil War, Barton delivered much-needed supplies to Union Clara Barton photograph Mathew B Brady 1866 soldiers.  She assisted surgeons and tended to the wounded without formal medical training, earning her the nickname “Angel of the Battlefield.”  Barton also helped to reconnect more than 20,000 soldiers with their families. Clara Barton Monument Antietam
After the war, with permission from President Lincoln, she opened the Office of Missing Soldiers.

Dorothea Dix also transformed nursing. Once Congress authorized female nurses to work in Army hospitals, Dix became the Superintendent of Women Nurses for the Union Army.  She had extremely high standards, but those standards helped advance the role of war nurses and nurses overall.  Dix was also an advocate for formal training for nurses and pushed for better healthcare for the mentally ill, which helped to Dorothea Dixrestructure hospitals here and abroad. In 1862, a formal nurse training program began at the New England Hospital for Women and Children. The training program at the New England Hospital was a one-year program that included 12-hour lectures that were required of all nursing students. The first trained nurse, Linda Richards, graduated in 1873.  The first African American nurse, Mary Eliza Mahoney, graduated in 1879.

By the time the Spanish-American War rolled around in 1898, Congress gave authority to the Surgeon General to appoint women nurses.  They were paid $30 a month. 1,500 contract nurses signed up and were assigned to the Philippines and Cuba. Some of those 1,500 also included NativeSpanish American War Nurses American women.  Not only did they treat combat wounds, but they also treated diseases like malaria, yellow fever, and dengue fever.  By the war's end, Anita Newcomb McGee, the only female acting assistant surgeon in the Army, had drafted legislation to establish the U.S. Army Nursing Corps. This legislation forever changed nursing. 

The Nurse Corps

The Army Nurse Corps (ANC) was officially established in 1901.  The ANC was to support the Army Medical Department.  These were the first women in the Army. Then, in 1908, Teddy Roosevelt signed the Naval Appropriations Bill establishing the Navy Nurse Corp (NNC). The Naval Medical School Hospital in Washington, D.C., received its first 20 women. Unfortunately, room and board were not included, so the women had to foot the bill. The ANC and the NNC had reserve units so that nurses would always be available in times of need. The Airforce Nurse Corp (ANC) began on July 1, 1949, when Army flight nurses were transferred to the Airforce.

Since then, women have served as nurses in the military. In 1917, 20,000 women nurses were signed up by the Red Cross.  These women served in American units.  Although kept away from the battlefields initially, they were eventually moved closer.  By 1920, they were given the relative rank of officer, but it wasn’t until 1947 that nurses received permanent commissions.  Men weren’t admitted to the ANC until 1956. 

A Dangerous Profession

Nurses serving faced many dangers.  During WWII, the Japanese invaded the Philippines, forcing the US military to be pulled back to  Bataan and Corregidor Island.  The nurses served in harsh conditions.  Open-air hospitals, sleeping in foxholes during bombings, and even donating their own blood for those inNurses of Bataan need.  In 1942, when the Japanese captured Bataan and Corregidor, 77 nurses were taken prisoner.  Known as “The Angels of Bataan,” they took care of the prisoners while dealing with food and clothing shortages.   They were finally repatriated in 1945.

Altogether, 59,000 nurses were serving during WWII. Of those 59,000, there were 479 African American nurses due to the quota system. The first Black unit of 30 nurses was the 25th Station Hospital Unit. They were deployed to Liberia in 1943 to treat the Black troops. Due to low morale and disease, the unit was recalled in late 1943. The nurses were then dispersed between the South Pacific and England.WWII Recruitment Poster

On June 6, 1944, D-Day, the Allies invaded the coast of Normandy, leaving 2500 men dead and scores wounded within the first 24 hours.  Soon after, nurses were deployed and set up field hospitals to help with the thousands of wounded men.   

First-Hand Accounts

The Library of Congress interviewed veterans for their Veterans History Project. One nurse interviewed was ANC First Lt. Ruth M. Dorsman, about her time helping the wounded in dangerous conditions after the invasion of Normandy. In her own words:

“Many times, shells and bombs landed dangerously close to our hospital—but fortunately, there were no direct hits,” she said. “We had no lights or heat in our living areas, and some nights could be pretty cold. Our water tank was kept full of drinkable water. We bathed in a helmet-full of cold water. Our toilets were slit trenches or a hole in the ground.” “I would not change those days in the Army for anything. I was proud to serve my country, and I’m proud to be an American.”

Another nurse interviewed was Marian Charlotte Jones.  She spoke of her memories of serving after D-Day.

“Things I’ll never forget—the total destruction of whole towns,” said Jones. “Nothing left but a pile of rubble. The stench of rotting flesh. The booming sound of the 155-millimeter guns in the field behind us so loud it shakes the ground. The joy of a letter from home or a box of homemade cookies that you share … periods of unbearable homesickness.”

In Memoriam

Military nurses have also lost their lives.  Some died from disease or accidents, and some died while performing their duties. The nurses were either in the Army Nurse Corp, Naval Nurse Corp, or Airforce Nurse Corp.  

4 ANC and 19 NNC nurses died in WWI

200 ANC, 11 NNC, and 14 AFN nurses died in WWII

1 ANC nurse and 29 NNC nurses died in the Korean War

9 ANC nurses and 1 AFN died in Vietnam

4 female nurses died in the Iraq War

 As you might have noticed, I did not include any information about Vietnam nurses or those who served in Iraq or Afghanistan.  I hope our readers can supply first-hand accounts of those military heroes.  If you were a military nurse or wounded and want to recognize a military nurse even if they weren't from Hicksville, we would love to hear your story to print it for our Veterans' Day Issue. 

Resources

https://www.nps.gov/articles/philippinesmilitarynurses.htm

https://www.nps.gov/articles/armynursecorps.htm?utm_source=article&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=experience_more&utm_content=small

https://www.health.mil/About-MHS/Military-Medical-History/Historical-Timelines/Nurses

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/nurse-pows-bataan-and-corregidor

https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/3718960/civil-war-pioneers-meet-some-of-americas-first-female-nurses/

https://civilianmedicaljobs.com/civilian-corps-news/civil-war-pioneers-meet-some-of-americas-first-female-nurses

https://www.health.mil/News/Dvids-Articles/2024/06/04/news472895

https://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/72-14/72-14.HTM

https://pearlharborwarbirds.com/pearl-harbor-nurses/#:~:text=There%20were%2082%20Army%20nurses,according%20to%20Army%20Nurse%20Corps.

https://e-anca.org/History/Fallen-ANC-Warriors-OIF-OEF

https://www.history.com/news/nursing-women-civil-war

https://www.archives.gov/research/military/korean-war/nurses.html

https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/communities/navy-medicine/navy-nurse-corps/the-history-of-the-navy-nurse-corps.html

https://www.usuhs.edu/research/centers/tsnrp/research/funded-study/65196#:~:text=The%20subject%20of%20the%20study,to%20form%20AFNC%20in%201949

https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196161/winged-angels-usaaf-flight-nurses-in-wwii/#:~:text=It%20is%20a%20tribute%20to,about%20flight%20nurses%20during%20WWII

Images

Nurse Treating Civil War Soldier- http://www.civil-war-facts.com/Interesting-Civil-War-Facts/Civil-War-Nurses-Facts.html

Clara Barton Monument at Antietam - Photo by Wendy Girnis 

Clara Barton Photograph - Mathew Brady 1866

Dorothea Dix - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/dorothea-dixs-tireless-fight-to-end-inhumane-treatment-for-mental-health-patients

Nurses Memorial - https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Blog/Post/12997/Remembering-the-Sacred-20-at-Arlington-National-Cemetery

ANC Sacred 20 - https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Blog/Post/12997/Remembering-the-Sacred-20-at-Arlington-National-Cemetery

Angels of Bataan - https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=24228

Graduation Ceremony Bowmen Field - https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/army-nurse-corps/

MASH, 121st Evacuation Hospital, U.S. Army, 45th Infantry Division - https://www.metrolibrary.org/archives/image/2020/05/45th-infantry-army-nurses-121st-evacuation-hospital

Spanish American War Nurses - https://www.flickr.com/photos/nlmhmd/52764724648

Hi everyone,

I'm Bruce Scherzinger, the current webmaster for hixnews.com. Maybe you've been curious just how I became affiliated with this newsletter and website. Well, there's definitely a story there.

First of all, my wife's maiden name is Eileen Goldstein, HHS class of 1977. Her good friend and fellow HHS classmate, Maureen (Monahan) Schumann, worked alongside me in the early 1980s at Magnavox Govt and Industrial Electronics Corp (MAGIEC, pronounced "magic!") in Fort Wayne, IN. Maureen and I became fast friends. At the time, she was engaged to be married. She had a photo of Eileen on her cubicle wall that always caught my eye when I visited her there. I recall saying at every visit, "I really need to meet that gal!". Maureen assured me that I would since Eileen would be her maid of honor, and I would definitely be getting invited to her wedding.

That summer, I was on a motorcycle camping trip with my father in southern Ohio. I had left the care of my two cats in the hands of another great friend in Fort Wayne. Have you ever been away and had an eerie feeling that something is wrong back at home? Well, I got that feeling and figured it must be something happened to my pets. So, I packed up my camping gear and headed back to Fort Wayne.

I arrived home to discover the kitties were just fine, but also that Eileen was in town visiting Maureen, and there was a party at a mutual friend's home that evening. Well, I invited myself to the party, and that's where and when Eileen and I met. We instantly hit it off and left the ongoing game of Uno to go outside, walk around, and talk to get to know each other. There was an undeniable mutual attraction there. We must have walked for an hour or more.

Over the rest of her stay in Fort Wayne, we got together every afternoon/evening after I got off work. We had dinners, both out and at my apartment where she cooked for me (lasagna, I think...another story there). We'd be up until 3 am or later (earlier?) just talking and getting to know each other better. By day 3, I knew she was "the one," and on day 4, I suggested the idea of us marrying. Sort of a proposal, but not really presented that way. Her reaction was not surprising; she thought I was nuts! But she didn't say no...or yes, for that matter.

Upon her departure, I did one of the silliest things I think I've ever done. I met her at Maureen's apartment as she was getting in Maureen's family's car to head back to New York and presented her with a FULL DOZEN long-stemmed roses, which she apparently kept in the back seat with her for the whole trip. Certainly, this confirmed to her that I WAS nuts (about her)!

After she got back home, her boyfriend, Mike, paid her a visit and could sense something different about her. He conjectured, "Did you meet some tall, blonde guy in Fort Wayne or something?" She must have been unable to lie to him and told him "yes," at which point they apparently got into a big argument (not surprising). He left her apartment very angry with her, at which point she called me back and hung up after 2 rings, our pre-arranged signal that I should call her back. I did, and Eileen was in tears over her encounter with Mike. She came to me, a guy she'd only known for 5 days, for solace.

That was the official beginning of our courtship, a long-distance relationship that would run up $600+/month phone bills for me. We talked daily for a week or so, after which we had to back off to a couple of times a week. This was in late July 1982 and went on until September, by which time we had decided we would become engaged to be married. We worked out that I would travel to her apartment on Staten Island that October (Halloween weekend) where I would meet her father to ask for her hand in marriage. Yeah, I was raised that way. I didn't present her with a ring then since I wanted her to pick it out. But I believe we began our ring shopping during my visit, though I truly do not remember where we ended up buying it.

We had discussed which one of us would move where, and at first, I figured I would relocate to the NY/NJ area. I scheduled another trip to NY to go on job interviews after arranging a few, including one with another Magnavox office at Forth Monmouth, NJ, as well as others with Sikorsky Helicopter in Connecticut and Singer-Link in Binghamton. I got offers from all three, but all were for less than I was already making in Fort Wayne; go figure. Additionally, after spending just a short week in that area, I developed a pounding headache. I suspected it was due to the air quality, which at that time was very bad.

With no leave left to spend on job interviews, I had to return to Fort Wayne. The relocation discussion resumed, and ultimately, Eileen agreed to move to Fort Wayne to give it a shot. This meant she'd be giving up her first job out of college at the State Hospital on Staten Island, a decrepit place that should frankly have been condemned. I insisted that she also get rid of her old, beat-up Chevy Bel-Air. Little did she know I'd already bought her a brand-new car back in Fort Wayne.

So I drove back to Staten Island towing a U-Haul trailer with my mother's Buick, packed up her things, and headed back to Fort Wayne in a light snowstorm. We got to my apartment mid-evening when Eileen saw her new car, a manual-shift Dodge 024, which I promised to teach her to drive. I proceeded to unload the trailer, which I completed before hitting the hay, all of this just more proof that I was nuts.

Eileen ended up not finding any degree-related work in Indiana and had to settle for retail management, which was not the ideal situation. So, I ended up taking a job in Dallas, where the same thing happened. We had bought our first house there at a peak in home prices, immediately after which some of the largest semiconductor and insurance companies relocated their headquarters elsewhere. This caused a glut in the housing market and a quick decrease in the value of our home, which we ended up selling at a 30% loss 2½ years later when we moved to Northern Virginia.

We've lived in NoVA since then, 1986, where we raised our 3 children and owned 3 more homes. We both went through numerous job changes and ultimately thrived in this area, despite several very traumatic and difficult family catastrophies.

Years passed, family moved around, and most of Eileen's family ended up in Central Florida. During one family visit, Eileen met-up with Stefanie Cedar Shames, another HHS classmate of hers. As one would guess, a lot of catching up happened during their visit, and they remained in contact through social media.

Then, one day, Stefanie called Eileen to tell her about hixnews.com, whose primary content contributor, Bob Casale, had recently passed away and whose other "staff" were getting up in age. The site was in a temporary hiatus stage; the newsletter had stopped being emailed. Stefanie asked Eileen if she knew anyone who could possibly help revive the newsletter. I am sure my hobby-based expertise in that domain had been discussed during that Florida visit. Eileen posed the idea to me, and I thought it would be fun. After all, I am still completely nuts!

This all transpired back in early March 2023, when Stefanie had already recruited Marc Malamud (another HHS 77 classmate) to spearhead the hixnews.com rejuvenation. Marc's expertise was in graphics art, whereas mine was/is in building functional websites. So, we became the new hixnews.com website team.

I proposed several changes to cut the cost of maintaining the site, which Marc and I implemented immediately. I also proposed moving the site onto a Content Management System (CMS) platform, specifically "Joomla!", and doing a quick-and-dirty migration of the old Microsoft FrontPage-produced HTML pages/files to the new platform. That effort took me less than one week, and the site was up and running under a new webhosting subscription.

Then, we had to re-create the newsletter mailing list. That was tricky since all we were able to muster from the old site was a spreadsheet of email addresses. The old mailing list service was no longer accessible, and I had not yet acquainted myself with how Bob Casale had been doing things. Fortunately, there was a little money raised from a GoFundMe, and we could purchase a license for mailing list software (Mailster) that plugs into the Joomla! platform. We added all the email addresses we had to the new mailing list and sent out the initial notice announcing the new website. A lot of those emails bounced, which significantly reduced our ability to get the word out. Over time, people caught on and began registering for website accounts, the benefit of which was fresh contact information.

The new website is hosted on a much more capable and maintainable platform. It has been a learning experience for the rest of the website team, but they have risen to the challenge admirably. We've also been able to regain/retain contributions from some of the writers from the old hixnews.com days. The newsletters have a bit different "flavor" than those of Bob Casale's era, but that's due to the evolution of the Internet and privacy issues. The following changes are most notable in this regard:

• No longer posting birthdays and anniversaries (though the ones posted on the old site are still online).
• Email exchanges between newsletter subscribers are no longer posted.
  • You can now start and hold discussions using the commenting system built into the site.
• No longer posting "people looking for people."
• The site implements "email cloaking," which means Internet robots cannot scan the site content and get to it.
• Our mailing lists are subscription-only, which prevents spamming to the degree possible with open site registration.

On behalf of the entire website team, I hope you have been enjoying seeing new life breathed into hixnews.com. If you have any recommendations, please let us know by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Yours truly,
Bruce Scherzinger

Etcetera for October 2024

 Editors' Note: You will find a new feature at the end of every article. It says, "Comment on this article." You will need to register as a member and sign in to leave a comment on an article. 

*In Memoriam

John J McKiski Jr. "Fester" from the Class of 1977 passed away on September 23, 2024.

*Homecoming 2024 - November 2, 2024 Banner Parade at 2:30, Fair 10-3, Kick-off 3pm

*Hall of Fame

Thank you to Steve Schein, Class of 1965, for emailing us that our listing for the Hicksville High School Hall of Fame did not include Steven Skrynecki. He was nominated by Steve Schein and selected, and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame at graduation ceremonies in 2014. Thank you to Assistant Principal Sabaa Daly for confirming the information for us! Ron Wencer added that Steve Srynecki had risen from Patrolman to Nassau County Chief, then eventually "retired" to a less demanding job as Chief in Southampton.  Here's his published obituary from 2022: https://www.27east.com/southampton-press/southampton-town-police-chief-steven-skrynecki-dies-following-long-illness-2043690/

This is a "Save the Date" for the Class of 1975's 50th Reunion next year.  We have an active, private Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/67266179651 (Hicksville High School Alumni Class of 1975) that will have the most current information. The group needs approval to join and is currently at nearly 500 members.