But mostly it was just a year. It had tragedy in abundance, but also joy and promise and good weather and unlikely recognition and old friends and new friends and family...
...In it, Billy Crystal won a Tony award for his one-man staged valentine to his family and his childhood in Long Beach, "700 Sundays." The play, which is now a best-selling book, is destined to cause a generation of commuters to slow down on the 500 block of East Park Avenue as they try to figure out which house was his.
...In it, the Long Beach police did what no other department on Long Island has been able to do: break the back of the local narcotics economy. Will it last? Maybe not. Does it matter? More than anything.
...In it, a group of beach kids got on the ice and beat a team from Buffalo, of all places, to win the New York state championship in front of more fans than the Knicks can manage.
...In it, the superblock... oh, please no mas....
Here, in capsule form, are some highlights from the last 12 months of the Herald. Reporting is by Chris Munzing, Kate Salute, Joe Kellard and Doug Miller.
Joining charitable organizations across the country and around the world, residents of the barrier island did everything they could to help the victims of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck south Asia on Dec. 26, 2004.
"There hasn't been a response like this since Sept. 11," said Geraldine Cotter, parish secretary at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Point Lookout. "We all have our little problems here at home, but these people have been truly devastated."
Also in January, the new Milan's restaurant opened at 180 W. Park Ave., offering a menu similar to previous Ted Milan restaurants in the city, including Milan's noted Chilean sea bass, his French-dressed double pork chops and Thursday lobster night.
What it failed to offer was Ted.
Milan claimed he was forced out of the partnership of the new Milan's, and sued to either recoup part ownership or to prevent this business from bearing his name.
The restaurant's owners, Pre Khanija of Old Bethpage and Sunder Luthra of Hicksville, chose the latter option, and the restuarant now gets along without him.
The month ended on a scary note. Ken Novak, commissioner of the Long Beach Auxiliary Police Department, was severely injured Jan. 15 when the car he and his wife were traveling in was rear-ended in the Oil City section of Oceanside.
Novak and his wife, Colleen, were returning from a night out when Novak stopped at his business, Novak Auto Corporation, to retrieve some paperwork. Novak said he paused at a stop sign at the bottom of Daly Boulevard, at Hampton Road, when a car crashed into him from behind.
"The guy must've been coming down the hill behind me," Novak said in a phone interview from his hospital bed. "He didn't even slow down -- he just slammed into us at full speed."
February
Monte Cesta became the first big game caught in the county-wide illegal housing safari.
Cesta, 44, who owns a number of multi-family homes in Long Beach's North Park neighborhood, was arrested by Long Beach police and charged with multiple building violations. (A bench warrant had also been issued by the city for Cesta's unpaid traffic violations.) He pleaded not guilty, was released on $2,500 bail and is due back in court Feb. 8.
The Long Beach Polar Bear Club was out in force Sunday, taking to the beach for their annual Make-A-Wish Foundation Super Splash fund-raiser, a collective dip in the Atlantic Ocean.
More than 5,000 people crowded the sand and the boardwalk at Riverside Boulevard on a balmy February afternoon, with temperatures reaching the 50s, to watch the young and the young at heart hit the waves.
Co-founder Pete Meyers said that the Polar Bears raised more than $88,000, and that donations were still coming in days later. "We haven't even gotten to the checks yet," he said. "It was a cool day. We ran out of sweatshirts, and every cent of profit goes to Make-A-Wish."
In somewhat drier news, the Long Beach Planning Advisory Board formally urged the city manager to reject the Army Corps of Engineers' proposed overhaul of the city's beaches, and urged local and state officials to "fight like hell" for a revamped version of the plan that offers better protection for the city's oceanfront.
The comments were included in a formal report that was presented to the city manager Jan. 13. A copy was obtained by the Herald.
The report says that it is the opinion of the board, which includes citizen volunteers from throughout the city, that the project will benefit Point Lookout on Long Beach's dime, and that it will significantly erode the quality of the beach experience in Long Beach by fixing problems that do not exist.
"There is no immediate crisis forcing Long Beach to unconditionally accept the 'take it or leave it' plan from the USACE," the report reads. "Long Beach's situation is significantly different from that of Point Lookout, which does have an erosion problem. We are concerned that in combining the two projects, the needs of the 35,000 residents of Long Beach will be subordinated to the needs of a few thousand residents of Point Lookout and Lido."
March
March was, very simply, a month of champions.
After 21 years of coaching some of Long Island's greatest high school wrestling stars, including seven state champions and dozens of county champs, Paul Gillespie was inducted into the New York State Wrestling Coach's Association Hall of Fame this weekend.
Gillespie said his induction into the hall can be accredited to working hard with his wrestlers during 18 years coaching at Long Beach, and three years at Oceanside High School.
"I've put in a lot of hard work and so have the kids for a long time," Gillespie said. "It's an honor to be inducted. I never expected this."
Yet another breathtaking performance by Nicole Harris helped the Long Beach senior stake a claim to the New York State girls' gymnastics championship last Saturday afternoon at Ward Melville.
Sixteen days after she won the Nassau County crown, Harris set a state record at the meet with an all-around score of 38.350, surpassing the previous mark of 38.225, set by Allie Southard of Nanuet two seasons ago. Suffolk's Lindsay Kovary of Whitman and Arielle Sucich of Kings Park finished second and third, respectively, with 38.1 and 37.875.
"Taking nothing away from the other girls, it was just a great effort on Nicole's part," Long Beach Head Coach Bill Muirhead said. "The competition was tremendous. She hit a beautiful routine on bars and that set the tone for the day. Her scores on the first two events gave her a nice cushion."
With a packed house of more than 2,000 screaming fans behind them, the Long Beach High School boys' hockey team took the New York state championship in the Small School Division, defeating perennial upstate powerhouse Cheektowaga, 5-3.
Head Coach Joe Brand said that the biggest factor in the Marines' win was the home crowd. "It was as loud and excited a crowd as you've ever seen," Brand said. "They were all a part of it. There was not one incident, not one problem. It was so classy. The kids played so much harder to not let that crowd down. To all those people who came down, we can't thank them enough."
Brand said his guys just wanted it more.
"That was as physical a game as I've ever seen. They knew that [sophomore center Joey Diamond] is our guy, and they just took runs at him every time he was on the ice. One of our guys, Boris Safaniev, made it his job to make sure that didn't happen and ended up taking two of their guys out of the game.
"We only have one or two big guys, but toughness? I'll take our guys, pound for pound, every time."
April
After weeks of delayed votes and public hearings, the Long Beach City Council voted to approve the development of the Superblock.
In other political news, Denis G. Kelly, the maverick Democratic city councilman who has spent most of his political career flustering his detractors and supporters alike, said that he would not challenge Republican Denise Ford for her seat on the Nassau County Legislature.
Meanwhile, Scott Nigro stepped down as leader of the Long Beach Democratic Party. He will be replaced on an interim basis by Steven Polcer, the deputy chairman, until a new leader can be selected.
Ralph Tuccillo was named chief of the Long Beach Fire Department, after former chief Scott Kemins's term expired . Tuccillo spent the previous two years as the department's first assistant chief.
Tuccillo brings 18 years of firefighting experience in Long Beach to the department's top position.
And our favorite story of the year: A national survey of real estate agents ranking the country's best places to live noted last week what the people of Long Beach have known for years: That white sandy beaches, a low crime rate, and friendly atmosphere make Long Beach a great place to live.
May
If you were a U.S. citizen, over 18, able to read this and not in any serious trouble, then in May you were a candidate for the Long Beach Library's Board of Trustees.
Just about everyone in town had an equal chance of winning a five-year term on the Long Beach Library board, as Trustee Ruth Burian announced she would not seek re-election, and nobody filed a completed candidacy petition to run for the seat by the deadline.
"Well, it's kind of exciting," said Estell Sealine, former president of the Long Beach League of Women Voters. "We've never had this happen before."
The race was ultimately won by Kathleen Dwyer.
And Joshua S. Ketover, an attorney, was elected leader of the Long Beach Democratic Party May 4. The change in leadership, at one of Long Island's strongest Democratic organizations, came after former Councilman Scott K. Nigro stepped down after about a year as leader.
And For the sixth year in a row, voters in the Long Beach School District approved the proposed spending plans for the schools and the public library. The proposed 2005-06 school budget of $97,681,755, which boosted spending by more than 6 percent and the tax levy by almost 10 percent, was approved by a vote of 2,101 to 1,728. The $2.7 million library budget was also approved, 2,301 to 1,450.
School board President Patrick Gallagher and Trustee Ruth Kaleko were both re-elected in a three-way race for their two board seats.
Accross town, The Long Beach City Council voted 3-0 to approve a new five-year contract with the Long Beach Police Benevolent Association (PBA), with Democratic Councilmen Lenny Remo and Denis Kelly abstaining.
A 90-foot-tall cell phone tower disguised as a flagpole will be installed on the roof of the West End Firehouse, on West Park Street at Indiana Avenue. Cellular telephone companies will rent bandwidth on the tower, generating $105,000 in one-time revenue for the city as well as monthly rent income of about $10,500.
JUNE
A divided City Council voted to approve the city's $66,549,009 2005-06 fiscal year budget by a 3-2 vote Tuesday night, and council President Jim Hennessy said he expected the city would have a projected surplus of $500,000 at the end of the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.
Denis Kelly, the longest-tenured City Councilman, did not receive the backing of his party for another term in office at the June 1 Nassau County Democratic Convention in Uniondale.
Just a few months after stepping onto the tee box with a 3-wood in their hands, for the first time in some cases, it is safe to say that the 10 members of the inaugural girls golf team at Long Beach High School proved they belonged there.
"We all did much better than we thought we would," said senior and captain Cody Kramer. "And our play has gotten so much better from the beginning of the year."
The beginning of the year was the beginning of entire girls' golf program at LBHS. The idea became reality after several of the team's members asked Athletic Director Arnold Epstein about the possibility of starting a team, and wouldn't take no for an answer.
Parishioners at St. Ignatius Martyr Roman Catholic Church were greeted by a new face at the pulpit with the installation of the Rev. Monsignor Donald Beckmann.
"The main thing that I'm looking forward to is getting to know the community, the people and finding out about the values of these parishioners," Beckmann told the Herald. "I want to see what the people think before I come in with new plans or ideas."
The drowning of Yuhang Gao, 15, of Flushing shook the Long Beach community, just one day before lifeguards began full-time duty on the city's beaches.
July
What should have been a joyous Fourth of July weekend on the barrier island was ruined when 7-year-old Katie Flynn of Lido Beach was killed by a drunk driver on the Meadowbrook Parkway early Sunday morning.
Flynn, the daughter of Jennifer and Neil Flynn of Lido and the granddaughter of Denise and Chris Tangney of Long Beach, was killed when the limousine in which she was riding with her family was hit by a truck traveling at high speed and in the wrong direction on the parkway. The crash also claimed the life of the limo driver, Stanley Rabinowitz of Farmingdale.
David Malone pleaded guilty to second-degree murder charges Wednesday morning, for the Sept. 13, 2004, killing of his wife, Diane, in their Alabama Street home while their three children slept nearby.
In front of a packed courtroom that included members of his family as well as his late wife's, Malone, 36, was asked by Nassau County Judge William Donnino if he had killed his wife.
Malone replied, "I stabbed her, your honor."
Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Travis Youngblood's extended Long Beach family remembered the young southerner who was killed by a remote-controlled car bomb in Hit, Iraq, on July 21.
August
Giju John, a 16-year-old from Flushing, Queens, became the city's second drowning victim of the season, disappearing from the rough waters at Neptune Boulevard beach at 6:41 p.m. and remaining missing despite a massive rescue effort.
His body was recovered shortly after noon the next day, at Roosevelt Boulevard.
It was the first time in 10 years that a swimmer drowned in Long Beach while lifeguards were on duty. The previous death occurred a decade earlier almost to the day, Aug. 10, 1995.
The city's Planning Advisory Board's chairman announced he is looking to create a citizens' advisory commission that will establish a city policy and act as a lobbying arm regarding the constant air traffic over the city.
Damian Sciano, an engineer with Consolidated Edison, has served as chairman of Long Beach's Planning Advisory Board for about 18 months and has acted as the city's liasion between the administration and Sacardi and Schiff, the planning firm the city hired to write its next master plan.
While sorting through photos of her daughter's wedding, Kathy Calabrese pulled out a photo of her in-laws and noted how her son, Robert, was outgoing and had countless friends, but had a special affinity for his elders.
"His number one priority was his family, and he had a strong bond with his grandparents on his father's side," Kathy said Tuesday, a week after a Bayshore man, Mark Orlando, 34, was sentenced for 25 years to life for her son's murder. "He was very good with elderly people in general."
At the Aug. 18 sentencing, Kathy, a teacher's assistant in the Long Beach School District, asked Nassau County Judge David Sullivan to give the maximum penalty to Orlando, who was convicted of second-degree murder on June 15. "Mark Orlando is a devil and my son was an angel," Kathy told the court. "My family will never be the same, but we will go on for each other because our love is never-ending."
September
The most bizzare story of the year kicked off the fall, as David Gross, a Nassau County District Court judge and Long Beach resident, was arrested by FBI agents and charged with being part of a massive money-laundering conspiracy involving his re-election campaign, along with 14 co-defendants that include three reputed members of the Genovese crime family.
According to a statement issued by the U.S. attorney's office, Gross, 43, a Democrat, engaged in conspiracies to sell stolen merchandise and money laundering.
First elected in 1999, Gross was nominated for re-election in November's election by the Democrats and the Working Families Party. He received nearly 3,000 votes.
A Nassau County grand jury returned two murder charges against Martin Heidgen, the man accused of killing 7-year-old Long Beach Catholic Regional School student Katherine Marie Flynn and her limo driver, Stanley Rabinowitz, in a drunk driving crash on the Meadowbrook Parkway July 3.
Nassau County District Attorney Denis Dillon announced that a grand jury formally charged Heidgen, 24, of 14 Oceanview Ave., Valley Stream, with two counts of murder in the second degree - classified as causing death by showing depraved indifference - a class A felony, three counts of assault in the first degree, a class B violent felony, two counts of reckless endangerment in the first degree, a class D felony, and two counts of DWI, an unclassified misdemeanor.
The Long Beach City School District continued its phase-in of healthier food choices in the cafeterias where children eat at least one meal a day for 10 months out of the year.
The 2005-06 school year is the third in a four-year program to wean students off their traditional lunchroom fare of pizza bagels and greasy fries to a more health-conscious menu. The several years this will take has been carefully calculated. "We don't want to shock them," joked Norma Console, director of food services.
And a jury deliberated for nearly 72 hours before declaring a mistrial in the case of Herve Jeannot, the Deer Park man charged with murdering Robert Calabrese, the son of a Long Beach police officer, in Island Park last December.
The trial, which began Sept. 6, was deadlocked at a vote of 10-2 in favor of a conviction, and Nassau County Court Judge David Sullivan declared a mistrial on Sept. 29.
October
"Isn't it great to be Irish?!"
The voice came from a middle-aged guy balancing a case of Corrona's on the handlebars of his bicycle. He was calling out to a passerby who was not in the least bit Irish, with her brown hair, tan complexion and almond eyes.
It mattered not. "Everyone is Irish on Irish day," the guy yelled.
It was Irish Day in Long Beach, specifically the Long Beach Division of the Ancient Order of Hibernian's day-long party in the West End celebrating St. Brendan the Navigator.
Each year, 1.3 million high school students enter the National Merit Scholarship competition, but only 16,000 make it as far as the semifinals. This year, two are Long Beach High School students.
Long Beach High School seniors Lynda Bachman and Ryan Rodgers recently learned that they were part of an elite group of students recognized for their superior performance on the qualifying test and their exceptional academic promise.
City officials collectively got to exhale when it became clear that despite eight days of pounding rain and reports of hundreds of flooded homes, not a single person was killed or injured in last week's storms.
"We were on call Friday night and got a lot of reports of flooded basements, but nothing serious," said acting Assistant Fire Chief Scott Kemins. "We turned off the electric in a few homes, but that's it."
Calling it the largest police action of its kind in city history, the Long Beach Police Department on Tuesday announced the felony arrests of 41 people in a sweep that they claim has cut off the drug pipeline through the North Park neighborhood.
The sweep involved more than 75 undercover drug buys, many of them secretly videotaped, and resulted in the confiscation of more than $100,000 worth of cocaine, crack cocaine, marijuana, mushrooms and pills from the underground economy. In addition, about $12,000 in cash was seized.
The police also recovered three loaded weapons and five late-model automobiles, two of which were discovered -- upon searches by the Nassau County Police Department's Canine Units -- to have been fitted with trap doors and hidden storage compartments.
November
The Long Beach Democrats reclaimed on Tuesday what many in their ranks long assumed was a birthright, winning all three available seats on the City Council to capture a 3-2 majority and ending two years of Republican rule.
Newcomer Denise Tangney became the first woman since the 1970s to win the most votes in a council election, capturing 4,692 in unofficial returns. She narrowly eclipsed her incumbent running mate Leonard Remo, who garnered 4,575 votes. Both won four-year terms. Robert Tepper, another first-time candidate, finished third with 4,347, earning a two-year term.
The Democrats beat a Republican ticket led by incumbent Mona Goodman, who tallied 3,929 votes; Valerie Buscemi, who had 3,790, and Raymond Ellmer, who had 3,552.
And the most improbable winner in the 2003 election made it two in a row, as Denise Ford once again defied conventional wisdom to retake her Nassau County Legislature seat.
Two years ago, this widow of a New York City firefighter tore out the heart of the Long Beach Democratic party, unseating Michael Zapson, a former Long Beach City Council president. This year, she was targeted for removal by Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, who hand-picked the Long Beach Democratic chairman specifically to manage this race and actively campaigned for Ford's opponent, attorney Robert Solomon.
December
The month began with a bang, or several, actually. Long Beach Police arrested Isaih Smith and charged him with the random shooting of North Park activist Sammy Sloan.
Smith's arrest was a joint effort of the Long Beach Detective Division, the Street Crimes Unit and the New York City Police Department's 105th Precinct, Long Beach police said in a statement. Smith was arrested at the home of a family member in Laurelton, Queens.
According to police, Smith was chasing John Humphrey at around 7 p.m. on Nov. 22 on the unit block of East Market Street, when Humphrey randomly sought shelter at one of the houses on the block. While Humphrey was on the porch of the house, ringing the doorbell, police said Smith fired four shots at him with a 9 mm handgun, one of which penetrated the wall of the house and hit Sloan, who was inside, in the groin.
Smith was charged with second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, first-degree criminal use of a firearm and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He was arraigned in Long Beach City Court and held without bail.
The new year promises to be a contentious one on the labor front. While the Long Beach Uniformed Firefighters' Association was awarded a new contract, the Classroom Teachers' Association is still without one, and matters have grown sour.
In early December, the Long Beach Board of Education voted unanimously to reject an independent arbiter's non-binding contract recommendation that sided with the district's teachers' union.
And just to keep things interesting, the City Council ended its term the way it started - at each others' throats. Long Beach's City Council Democrats accused the council's GOP majority of using the final meeting of its administration for its a round of petty grudge-settling by not reappointing two Zoning Board of Appeals commissioners, Leoncio Torres, the board's only Hispanic member, and Stuart Banschick, and by "promoting" more than two dozen city employees right before the Republicans lose power.
