Boosters to hold annual fund drive On Saturday, Nov. 21, the Calhoun High School Sports Boosters will hold their annual fund drive beginning at 10:30 a.m. All those who would like to participate should meet in Calhoun's west cafeteria starting at 9:30 a.m., where a bagel breakfast will be served. All students, parents and teachers are welcome and needed to make this event successful. The boosters ask the community to continue its upport for students by donating to this fund drive. Checks can be made payable to "Calhoun Sports Boosters" and are preferred, but cash is also welcome. Return envelopes will be left for mail-in donations for those who are not at home. Throughout the year, the Sports Boosters sponsor various events, including Homecoming, pep rally, parade, Battle of the Classes and Spring Fling. Boosters also donate to community and district events, including the "Midnight Madness" post-prom party for senior students. Calhoun Sports Boosters is there to support students in any way that it can, and to promote sportsmanship, school spirit and good will throughout the community. E-mail sportsboosters@optonline.net for further information. Any questions, call Phyllis at (516) 546-0994 or Debbie at 379-1661. more

For more than a week, Calhoun High School senior Tyler Seaman has looked for the right words to tell his classmates how he feels about them. On Thursday after press time, he was preparing to stand in front of his fellow students, teachers and parents, and share a speech of thanks. In return, students and faculty were preparing to take to the Calhoun auditorium stage to sing, dance and perform in the school’s first student-faculty talent show to benefit the Chordoma Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to finding a cure for this extremely rare form of cancer. more

Even energetic, gorgeous, talented and sexy people have to rest sometime — and that's just what the cast of Broadway’s “Burn the Floor” did recently at the Malverne home of two of their … more

Instead of sweets and treats this Halloween, a Great Pumpkin Run was held at Jacob Gunther Elementary School in North Bellmore this year. The brainchild of phys.-ed. teacher Jim Mulvey, the run had the students in each class dash around a pumpkin patch set up in the gym during their recess period, and then pick out pumpkins. An oversized pumpkin, "Jacob the Great Gunther Pumpkin," was on display in the lobby for a guess-the-weight contest. The student whose guess was closest took it home. more

I've recently written a series of articles chronicling what it's like to be arrested for drunk driving in Nassau County. Though I've had the participation of the district attorney's office, Nassau County police and a number of defense attorneys, as well as input from many readers, one voice has been noticeably absent. Until now. more

Saul Lerner, the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District athletic director, recently resigned his post as coordinator of the Nassau County Boys' Basketball Committee because, he said, the Section VIII Athletic Council rejected a proposal of his to fine-tune the seeding process that ultimately determines teams' playing schedules. In 2006, Lerner was the architect of an ability-grouping system that determined a team's conference by its record. Previously, teams were assigned to conferences without much regard to their records. Rather, officials used what they called the "snake," in which teams were seeded and then laid out on a grid that wound back and forth in serpentine fashion. more

The question of who will be Nassau's next county executive, Democratic incumbent Tom Suozzi or Republican challenger Ed Mangano, was still hanging over residents' heads as the Herald went to press on Tuesday. As the Board of Elections was taking time to recount ballots, community members took the time to talk about the outcome of local elections, and concerns about their neighborhoods and wallets. "The only thing I'd like to see gone is that tax, that energy tax, that 2.5 percent. That's bad," Marylou Swensen, a resident of East Meadow for 38 years, said. Though she declined to say who she voted for on Nov. 3, she said, "It's not fair. They screw up, and we have to pay for it. It's wrong, and that's my opinion." more

Frank Carney, a 16-year-old from Bellmore, was arrested on Nov. 6 and charged with committing a hate crime in Merrick, police said. According to authorities, a dark Nissan pulled up in front of a 22-year-old man walking on Alice Avenue in Merrick. Two people got out of the car, one armed with a knife, and began to chase the man, yelling anti-gay slurs. more

Anthony Badalamenti, the personal trainer accused of severely beating his girlfriend's 6-year-old son with a belt in their Merrick apartment last October, was given the maximum sentence of seven years in prison last week. Jessica Muniz, the boy's mother, was sentenced to two years, according to the District Attorney's Office. Badalamenti, 31, was convicted by a jury of three counts of second-degree assault, two misdemeanor counts of fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and endangering the welfare of a child. Muniz, 30, pleaded guilty to the same charges. more

The Herald was there for North Shore Animal League's 4th Annual DogCatemy Award Celebrity Gala, presented by Purina ONE. more