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4 The QUEE NS Courier • november 13, 2014 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com DAIRY QUEEN ARRIVES IN QUEENS BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA ctumola@queenscourier.com/@CristabelleT Dairy Queen opened in Corona this month, bringing its famous soft-serve treats back to the borough for the first time in decades. The DQ Grill & Chill Restaurant, at 37-39 Junction Blvd., is one of four locations in the city, joining DQs in the Bronx, Staten Island and Manhattan, which just debuted in May. At least one Dairy Queen existed in the borough prior to the 1980s, according to corporate headquarters, but the Corona eatery is currently the only location in Queens. The restaurant serves more than just dessert. As its name suggests, it has both a “grill” and “chill” side. Its menu features familiar sweets, including Blizzards, and lunch and dinner items, such as burgers, sandwiches and salads. Since the Dairy Queen opened on Nov. 11, everything on the menu has been selling, according to assistant manager Gary Holmes. “Once you order something for dinner, you’re going to have something for dessert,” he said. Hungry diners looking for a deal can enjoy Dairy Queen’s “$5 Buck Lunch,” which includes crispy fries, a drink and a sundae for dessert. A week after its opening, which was first reported by DNAinfo, the crowds have been decent, but the restaurant would like to see more customers. “We are new to the area. We’ve been pretty good,” Holmes said. THE COURIER/Photo by Angy Altamirano “But we could always do better.” Bid to preserve historical cemetery in Fresh Meadows BY ERIC JANKIEWICZ ejankiewicz@queenscourier.com @EricJankiewicz Preservation groups and a local politician are trying to save a colonial-era burial ground in Fresh Meadows from fading away. The Brinckerhoff Cemetery was designated a landmark in 2012 by the city. But the small plot of land is privately owned by Linda Cai. “If we didn’t fight for the cemetery this could have been developed and the grounds desecrated,” said Yolanda Dela Cruz-Gallagher, president of Friends of the Brinckerhoff Colonial Cemetery. “And we could have lost the historical essence of our forefathers.” Dela Cruz-Gallagher and her preservation organization are raising money to buy the property. The current owner is asking for $150,000. “We have no money,” Dela Cruz- Gallagher said. “And so we’re asking the public for support.” Councilman Rory Lancman offered to allocate money from the city council budget to secure the land, but he has held off on doing so until the community decides who will be ultimately responsible for maintaining the site. “Buying the cemetery is the easy part,” Lancman said. “We need to make sure that an organization with the infrastructure can shoulder the responsibility of upkeeping and maintaining the cemetery.” Lancman, whose coverage area includes Fresh Meadows, said that his office was in the process of looking for an organization that would be able to take care of the colonial cemetery. He didn’t reject Dela Cruz-Gallagher’s organization as a candidate, but he also didn’t want to make that decision without the community’s support. “I’m not going to make the decision unilaterally,” Lancman said. “We need to sit down with the community and figure it out.” Dela Cruz-Gallagher and other Queens historical groups believe there are over 70 tombstones in the cemetery, but none of them are visible due to the overgrowth of weeds and a lack of maintenance. Surveys of the area are prohibited since the cemetery is private property, so no one is certain about the conditions of the tombstones. The 18th-century graveyard is named after a prominent immigrant family from Holland that settled in Fresh Meadows. “I believe that the property would be in better hands with the Friends of the Brinckerhoff Cemetery than the current owner,” said Mitchell Grubler, chair of the Queens Preservation Council. “It’s a property that’s had a lot of invasive growth, vegetation. Over the course of time, that needs to be managed.” The Queens Preservation Council doesn’t have any plans to financially support Friends of the Brinckerhoff Colonial Cemetery. But Grubler said that doesn’t mean they won’t help in the future. In 2012, when the site was designated Photo courtesy of Landmarks Preservation Commission as a historical landmark, former City Councilman James Gennaro lobbied hard to win the site’s landmark status, according to earlier reports. Gennaro also said that a nonprofit group with the financial ability should buy the property. While Dela Cruz- Gallagher’s preservation group is a nonprofit, they aren’t close to the $150,000 needed to buy the property. “These are the people who fought side by side with George Washington. It has a lot of historical significance,” Dela Cruz-Gallagher said. “We need to get this property as soon as possible before everything there is lost.”


QC11202014
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