JANUARY
Cathy Overton was named the new director of the Baldwin Public Library. She replaced Barbara Hopkins, who retired at the end of 2004 after 18 years at the post.
FEBRUARY
On Feb. 15, the Friends of Chris and the Baldwin PTA hosted a blood drive to find a bone marrow donor for Chris Markert, a Baldwin resident suffering from leukemia. The community held several drives to help Markert throughout the year.
Baldwin schools received good marks from New York state on many levels for district-wide improvements. According to a state report, 76 percent of 2004 graduates received Regents diplomas, a substantial increase from the previous year. Additionally, 93 percent of 2004 graduates were accepted to colleges, and the class of 2004 had 58 Advanced Placement scholars.
MARCH
On March 30, three men were sentenced to 15 years in jail for the murder of Baldwin resident Michael Modica. Modica asphyxiated on his lawn after Robert Corapi, Ibrahim Amasha and Jason Donovan attacked him and bound him with duct tape during a home invasion.
APRIL
Chaos Inc., the high school robotics team, sprang into action this year and had some solid success. The team's creation, Max, took home the Rookie All-Star Award at the Long Island Regional FIRST Robotics competition in March, and advanced to the FIRST National Championship in Atlanta.
On April 18, Legislator Joseph Scannell threatened to ally himself with Republicans if County Executive Tom Suozzi followed through on a plan to move the Nunley's carousel, part of the former Baldwin amusement park, to Oyster Bay. Scannell later backed down when Suozzi promised to explore other options.
MAY
Baldwin approved the year's library and school budgets on May 17. The $94 million school budget passed by a margin of 1,317 to 1,090, and the $3.3 million library budget was approved 1,304 to 971. Anne Hannon was elected to the Baldwin school board and Christopher Villanti to the library Board of Trustees.
JUNE
The Sanitary Districts were an issue all year. In June, a town meeting led by Councilman Anthony Santino took a contentious turn when County Assessor Harvey Levinson arrived. Levinson, who would run for Town Supervisor in November, favored dissolving the districts and returning garbage services to the Town of Hempstead, and several residents who agreed with him spoke up at the meeting. But Michael McDermott, the assistant general supervisor of the district, called Levinson "a coward" and accused him of planting supporters in the audience.
JULY
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kathy Weiss retired on July 1. Her replacement, Dr. Robert Britto, came to Baldwin from the Bridgeport, Conn., school district. Originally from Providence, R.I., Britto began working to implement his philosophy of "effort-based learning," which encourages students to review their work in order to improve it. The following month, Assistant Superintendent Edward Cigna also retired.
Laura Mallay of Hempstead ran for the position of sanitation commissioner for the district. Mallay said she was willing to dissolve the special district and let the Town of Hempstead handle Baldwin's garbage, but she was defeated in the election by incumbent Jerry Brown of Baldwin.
AUGUST
$2.7 million in county funds was assigned to Baldwin's Silver Lake and Lofts Pond. The waterways had fallen into disrepair over the last few decades. The project got under way the following month.
SEPTEMBER
Aaron Clark of Baldwin, 16, was sentenced to 15 years to life for stabbing and murdering his mother, Gail, in October 2004. Gail Clark, a New York City Corrections captain, was stabbed after an argument with her son about his girlfriend's spending the night.
Nassau County comptroller Howard Weitzman conducted audits of many of the county's special benefit districts, including Sanitary District Two, which includes Baldwin, South Hempstead and Roosevelt. The audits had been announced in March. On Sept. 21, Weitzman announced that the district was wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on unnecessary supplies and needed clearer policies and oversight for its spending. District officials maintained that the audit was overwhelmingly positive, and that Weitzman was playing up the negatives for political gain.
When the high school football season began on Sept. 22, few would have dared to predict how far the Baldwin Bruins would go. But the team started the year with upset wins over the two top-ranked teams in Conference I. From there it rolled to the school's first undefeated regular season in 53 years, thrilling students and community members in the process. The Bruins won the Nassau County Conference I championship for the first time ever, and narrowly lost to William Floyd High School in the Long Island Championship. Many players, particularly running back Ricky Manigat, were honored for a remarkable year.
The Baldwin Public Library celebrated its grand reopening on Sept. 25 with music and fanfare, and by fully resuming its community programs. New construction more than doubled the square footage of the library, and new sections such as Young Adult Literature were added. Nineteen new computers and space for computer training made the facility more state-of-the-art. Baldwin residents had approved the $5.53 million bond for library improvements in January 2001. Construction lasted more than three years, although the library was partially open during that time.
After years of arguments that often turned very bitter, the Baldwin Harbor community took a vote on special districts and canal maintenance for the Grand and West End canals. The vote was delayed for weeks due to questions about its legality, and then further delayed after many voters had to wait for their ballots and found errors on them.
OCTOBER
Many members of the "Fighting 69th" Battalion of the New York National Guard came home from Iraq. Baldwin's returning veterans included Staff Sgt. John Kinsedahl, who was welcomed back by the children of the Bethlehem Lutheran Church Nursery school, where his wife, Kimberly Wilson, is pastor. The life of one Baldwinite who did not return from Iraq - Spc. Wilfredo Urbina, who was killed on Nov. 29, 2004 - was commemorated over the summer when a section of Rose Boulevard was named for him. Urbina was 29 and had spent six years as a fire department volunteer.
Long Island was drenched by record-setting rains, including almost a foot between Oct. 10 and 15. More than four inches fell on Friday, Oct. 14, resulting in one of the busiest days the Baldwin Fire Department has ever had.
When the ballots were counted on Oct. 18, the canal improvement measures failed to pass. The owners of about 55 percent of the land along the canals voted in favor of the propositions, but that did not approach the two-thirds required by county law. The residents who supported the moves may continue their efforts.
NOVEMBER
Democratic Legislator Kevan Abrahams of Hempstead, whose district includes north Baldwin, garnered 85 percent of the vote in defeating Dale Anthony Edmonson on Nov. 8. Town of Hempstead Councilman Anthony Santino was also returned to office for another term.
On the morning of Nov. 24, a pair of undercover Nassau County police officers noticed a group of five men who they believed were preparing to rob the Bank of America on Grand Avenue. The result was a short high-speed chase, which ended when the suspects crashed their car into a tree on Marion Place, and a manhunt that tied up traffic for hours and caused dozens of schools to enact safety measures. Two of the suspects were found that day, and a third was arrested the following week. The others remain at large. The suspects have been accused of participating in nine other robberies in Nassau this year, including those of the Freeport casino ship and the North Fork Bank in Baldwin in October.
DECEMBER
Ricky Manigat, the Baldwin Bruins running back who helped the team rush to the county championship, was honored with the Tom Thorp Award as the best high school football player in Nassau County on Dec. 5. His teammate Aaron Weaver took home the Dragon Award as the county's best wide receiver.
In December the entire team was honored by state and local officials.
