16 THE QUEENS COURIER • ANNIVERSARY • JULY 2, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com 30th ANNIVERSARY Two tragic flights that rocked Queens Only a few years before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, The Courier extensively covered two major airplane disasters that rocked the borough and the nation. On July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800—which took off from Kennedy Airport bound for Rome—exploded over the waters of the Atlantic Ocean a few miles off East Moriches, NY. All 230 people on board were killed, and special police and fi re units from Queens were dispatched to participate in the search and recovery effort. “Among the wreckage we found were seat cushions and plastic cups labeled TWA,” P.O. Mike McKenna told The Queens Courier. Four Queens residents who were on the plane when it went down lost their lives that night: Sandra Aikens- Bellamy, 49, of St. Albans, a TWA fl ight attendant; Vera Feeney, 53, and her daughter, Deirdre Feeney, 17; and Grace Melotin of Corona, also a TWA fl ight attendant. The Courier continued to follow the story including the funeral services for the victims as well as the ensuing investigation, which ruled out any criminal wrongdoing. Two years later, tragedy struck again as Swissair Flight 111 left John F. Kennedy Airport en route to Switzerland, but it never made it to its destination. The plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Nova Scotia and all 229 people on board died. The crash claimed the lives of many Queens residents and sent shockwaves and grief across the borough. One of those victims was 32-yearold Ingrid Acevedo, a director of public relations at UNICEF, who grew up in Jamaica Estates. “She was young, beautiful and dynamic,” said Anne Marie Kane, a colleague at UNICEF. Acevedo, a graduate of St. Francis Prep in Fresh Meadows, joined UNICEF in 1995 and was on her way to Geneva to put together a workshop for her organization. “Just working with her, you could tell she was at the happiest time of her life. She had a ton of friends. This not only affects the people that knew her but anyone who knows someone like her,” Kane said. Brother Robert Kent, a teacher at St. Francis Prep, remembered Acevedo as having a “bubbling personality.” “I recall her sitting in the fi rst row, third seat and even as a freshman she was involved in volunteer work. She was always very generous,” Kent said. Mayor Rudy Giuliani with Queens Borough President Claire Shulman Queens helps elect two profound leaders “Queens Does It For Rudy.” That was the front-page headline in the edition of The Queens Courier that followed Rudolph W. Giuliani’s 1993 victory over incumbent Mayor David Dinkins. Giuliani became the mayor of New York City when he narrowly defeated Dinkins by a 50.7 to 48.3 percent margin, and Queens was largely credited for helping Giuliani get the win. Queens voters gave Giuliani 110,000 more votes than Dinkins. “You gave me your vote and I accept the responsibility that goes with it,” Giuliani said during his victory speech. “My administration will be universal in its concern, sensitive to our diversity and evenhanded in every way possible. You know, nobody, no ethnic, religious or racial group will escape my care, my concern and my attention.” Giuliani’s campaign focused on quality of life, crime, business and education, and after he was elected, he vowed to be an activist mayor who focuses on every community in New York City. The former federal prosecutor Bill Clinton oversaw a 57 percent drop in crime across the city, and the city’s economy rebounded as tourists began returning to a safer, stronger New York. Queens also had a role in the election of Bill Clinton as the nation’s 42nd president. The then-governor of Arkansas made a campaign stop in Fresh Meadows in the spring of 1992, meeting and greeting potential voters at the Future Diner. He would win the nomination, which he accepted at the Democratic National Convention that July at Madison Square Garden, and would go on to defeat then-President George H.W. Bush in the November election. Nearly a year after his triumph, President Clinton returned to the Future Diner for a town hall meeting on national health care reform, a cause championed by fi rst lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. According to Hernando Cormona, a waiter on duty during both of the president’s visits, he ordered a turkey club sandwich each time. The Courier extensively covered the sex scandal involving President Clinton in 1998 which led to his impeachment trial the following year. The paper reached out to every member of the Queens congressional delegation and published an editorial slamming the impeachment proceedings as a glorifi ed coup attempt. Ultimately acquitted at trial, Clinton fi nished out his two terms in offi ce and relocated to New York with Hillary Clinton, who was elected New York’s junior senator in 2000. Chances are the Clintons will be returning to Queens a few times between now and the 2016 election, as Hillary Clinton makes her own run for the White House.
QC07022015
To see the actual publication please follow the link above