"Four DWIs [is what] it took before that woman killed my child," said Deena Cohen, president of the Long Island chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Cohen was speaking before an assembly of about 50 students at Seaford High School, arranged by State Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr., a Republican, and Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, a Democrat who is up for re-election. Cohen’s 21-year-old daughter, Jodi, was killed by a drunk driver 20 years ago. "I need you to understand the importance of [not] drinking and driving and drugging and driving," Cohen told the students. "The pain never goes away, ever ... The pain is still here. The 20-year number did something to my head. Jodi is gone almost as long" as she was alive. Tears were welling up in students' eyes as Cohen spoke. more

A 74-year-old woman died on Saturday in a fire that destroyed a Bellmore home. Barbara Goldfarb was found unconscious in her second-floor apartment in a home at 2025 Henry St., just south of Natta Boulevard, on Sept. 19, shortly after 9:35 p.m. when she had activated a MedicAlert to call for help, police said. Smoke and fire were streaming out of a second-floor window of the brick ranch-style home when the Bellmore Emergency Medical Services responded, Nassau County Police said. At the time, local fire department members were participating in the annual Sixth Battalion Parade and Drill in Massapequa, following a drill team tournament at the Four Towns Training Center in Merrick during the day. more

Months of negotiations between community liaisons and NextG Networks, the company that installed 35 cellular antennas on telephone poles in Merrick, were recently halted by a lawsuit filed against NextG, the Town of Hempstead and Metro PCS. Patrick Ryan, an attorney for NextG, abruptly postponed a Sept. 1 meeting with civic leaders and government representatives after members of the Merrick Gables Association filed the $100 million suit in New York State Supreme Court, according to Joe Baker, president of the South Merrick Community Civic Association. NextG spokesman Robert Delsman said, "NextG does not offer public comment on matters in litigation." The meeting was to be one of several held since June to potentially look at relocating certain antennas based on suggestions of community members who were disturbed to find the metal boxes affixed to poles about 10 to 20 feet from the ground. The antennas began appearing in the summer on town rights of way, often close to schools and people's front yards. By many accounts, the antennas were often installed late at night or early in the morning, with little or no notice to homeowners. more

With comfortable temperatures in the mid-7Os, under partly sunny skies, children throughout the community returned to school on Sept. 9. The usual few teary-eyed kindergarten parents and children were met by well-organized and welcoming teachers and administrators at local elementary schools, with returning students ready if not willing to get back to classes in the Bellmore and North Bellmore Elementary School Districts. The middle schools and high schools also reopened their doors on Tuesday. more

Volunteer firefighters from the North Bellmore Fire Department quickly extinguished an Aug. 28 house fire on Siems Court in North Bellmore. The fire reportedly broke out at 3:17 p.m. First on the scene within four minutes, Chief Randy Meierdierks immediately called for additional units. No one was inside when firefighters arrived, according to a department spokesperson, but a male homeowner was outside. Firefighters had the blaze under control within 25 minutes. Thirty-five volunteers worked together to squelch the blaze, with the last of them leaving the block just after 5 p.m. more

Eight years ago to the day, hundreds of people had gathered at Lido Beach Park and watched the clear, sunny sky in the distance fill with black clouds of dark smoke from the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. more

Just a nice little musical video from Long Beach. more

Tom Leavy's stop watch read 1:49 as the pack of girls approached, running at breakneck pace on Calhoun High School's brick-red track on a recent Friday morning. "One fifty-eight, Alex!" shouted Leavy, the Calhoun girls' cross-country coach. "That's a good pace. 2:06, 2:14, 2:15. That's it, Emily. Attagirl." Leavy, who started Calhoun's girls' cross-country team in 1974, is celebrating nearly half a century in coaching this season. As the girls rounded the corner, pulling away into the distance, he commented, "The girls who ran all summer, that's showing, and the girls who didn't run, that's showing, too." No matter whether his runners finish first or last around the track, Leavy has a kind word, a smile and often a joke for them. And that, team members say, goes a long way toward explaining his continued success as a cross-country and track coach. Last fall, the cross-country team, with 30 members, finished second in its conference. This year, the runners say, they're shooting for first. Led by Ava Fitzgerald, a junior who qualified for the state meet in her freshman and sophomore years (she placed 22nd at the Section 8 state qualifier last November), the team has high hopes in 2009. more

Pat Maher edged out Stephanie Ovadia in the primary election last week for the Democratic nomination in Nassau County’s 13th Legislative District. According to results released by the Board … more

An ad hoc group of students and high school parents converged on the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District Board of Education meeting Sept. 2 to call on district officials to reconsider their 2007 stance against synthetic-turf football fields at Calhoun, Kennedy and Mepham high schools. Roughly 250 parents and their children attended, with young people donning Merrick Police Activity League, Merrick-North Merrick Little League, Bellmore Braves and Calhoun football jerseys. In response to recent calls for artificial turf, Board of Education President Diane Seaman announced at the meeting that the district was forming a committee to explore ways to improve the high schools' football fields. She noted that the committee would look not only at synthetic turf, but also at ways to upgrade maintenance of the current grass fields. more