Today In History: Parents Pulled Students From Whiporwil Over Carcinogens

Patch is taking a look back in history at what's happened in Hauppauge on May 12:

1980: Hauppauge parents of nearly 750 students attending Whiporwil Elementary School pulled their children out of school on May 12 in protest against Islip Town's refusal to close the Hauppauge Landfill on Blydenburgh Road. The nearby dump had tested positive for traces of vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen.

Read more on this historic event here.

Today: The landfill is still open, although it is limited to accepting construction and demolition debris for $45 a ton. Whiporwil Elementary School was closed as a school and transformed into

Two preschools, and l, now rent space from school district to run out of the former Whiporwil Elementary School.

1974: Police arrested Hauppauge resident Charles Pfister, 32, as he was accused of being a co-conspirator in helping manufacture and sell hallucinogenic drugs, including LSD and "angel dust." 

Read more here about his arrest here.