By Bob Harris
Around 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 2, Herskovits heard smoke detectors blaring and then noticed flames coming out of his neighbor's home on 73rd Terrace in Flushing. He knew that his neighbor, Mr. Solomon, had illnesses and could not leave by himself. While still in his pajamas, Ross ran into the burning house and carried Mr. Solomon out in his arms. These certificates honor him for his bravery.Herskovits graduated from Queens College and has a secondary school social studies certificate. He is currently looking for employment in a New York City high school.While the community was honoring a young man for his bravery, it was mourning the passing of Flushing Meadows Corona Park activist David Oats, who was only 58. He was a journalist who was editor of two fine Queens weekly newspapers, the Tribune and the Courier. I knew Oats for what seems like forever. I have written for both of these papers and have brought high-school newspapers to be printed by Multi Media, which is the printing arm of the Tribune, so our paths crossed now and then.Oats founded the Flushing Meadows Corona Park World's Fair Association and was its chairman until he passed away on Feb. 5.As president of the West Cunningham Park Civic Association, I have worked to protect Cunningham Park from unneeded development such as a gigantic swimming pool and an ice-skating rink. To protect my park from overdevelopment, I also had to protect Flushing Meadows Corona Park. We did stop a Grand Prix racing track in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, but they did put Shea Stadium, the tennis center and now a sports complex in the park. I will reserve deciding if they are putting too much in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, although it is very big and has lots of unused space. But shouldn't a park have vacant space?Speaking of vacant space in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, civic leaders like Patricia Dolan of the Knew Gardens Hills Civic Association were surprised to learn that a bridge into Willow Lake had burned down and was never replaced. Repairs have now been made and a few tours of the lake were recently made, but it is off limits to the public for fear someone will torch the bridge again. I have to get there one day. Oh, one of our developers was stopped from building apartment houses over Willow Lake several years ago.Tribune Publisher Mike Schenkler said that “Oats became the park watchdog É Queens has lost someone that cares as much about this borough as anyone in its history.” Columnist and photographer Liz Goff wrote a fine column about him in the Tribune on Feb. 14. The TimesLedger wrote that “Oats worked on several projects that have become iconic in both the park's and Queens' history, including the 1964 World's Fair, the introduction of the US Open to Queens, the construction and expansion of the Queens Museum of Art, the 2012 Olympics campaign and, more recently, bringing the Flushing Remonstrance back to the borough for the 350th anniversary of its signing.” He is survived by his wife Corinne and his sister Virginia Ernst.
