Patrick Engle came to the aid of his fifth-grade classmate when he realized Brendan Shea was choking during lunch in the school cafeteria. The boys had just begun to eat when a third classmate told a joke and made them all laugh. A carrot lodged in Shea's throat. Then things got scary real quick, said Shea.
Using the Heimlich maneuver, Patrick saved the boy. For his effort, he was honored by state Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr. (R-Merrick).
Battle brews for
county exec.
After two years of preliminary bouts on Nassau's fight card, the position of county executive was up for election in 2001. In 1999, Democrats fought it out to a 10-9 decision in the 19-seat county Legislature, and 2000 saw district-by-district pugnacity over the six-member Hempstead Town Council end in strong, 5-1 Republican comeback victory.
This year, not only was there the county executive title fight between Republicans and Democrats, but there was heavyweight brawling before either party's contender got to the main event.
Slippery robber strikes
An elusive robber who might have held up 19 banks so far, including one in North Bellmore, hit the Merrick Fleet Bank in January and made off with an undisclosed amount of cash, authorities said.
The robbery at 15 Merrick Ave. occurred the day after the suspect had tried and failed at a bank heist in Bay Shore in Suffolk County and in Massapequa Park, and hours before he attempted but failed to rob a bank in Oceanside. In all, the suspect hit four banks in two days.
According to Detective Sgt. Gary Schriffen of the Nassau Robbery Squad, the suspect had evaded capture since November 1999, when he began his string of bank robberies. He is so slippery that to date, bank surveillance cameras have been unable to film him clearly. His getaway car, described as a dark auto, has been spotted only once in Suffolk County.
Residents decry
town cleanup
During 2000's final weekend, residents of the Bellmores and Merricks were blanketed with close to a foot of snow. While most main roads were passable by Sunday afternoon, many side streets were in terrible condition until as late as mid-week, making driving hazardous.
Despite its budget woes, the county cleared its roads, residents reported. Many town streets, however, remained completely or partially snow-covered until as late as Wednesday after the near-blizzard, which hit Saturday, Dec. 30.
Cell-tower antennae
to stand
The North Bellmore Civic Association lost its fight last week to prevent a cellular provider from adding nine antennae to a Jerusalem Avenue tower.
In all, the tower will hold 27 antennae. Already, it supports 19, nine of which are owned by AT&T and nine by Sprint. Two more cellular providers were planning to seek antennae at the site, John Mulligan of the civic association had heard, although he could not give their names.
Fond farewell to
Robin Karp
Over the past decade or so, the name Robin Karp had become synonymous with the Chamber of Commerce of the Bellmores.
Karp served as the chamber's executive director and, from behind the scenes, helped guide the non-profit organization from average chamber to one of Nassau County's largest, most powerful business groups, boasting more than 350 members.
In January, Karp announced that she was leaving her post to serve as legislative aide to the new Hempstead Town Council. She now a community liaison for Councilman Gary Hudes (R-Levittown), president of Gennaro Jewelers on Bedford Avenue and a former Bellmore Chamber president.
FEBRUARY
Empty base
declared safe
Since the fall of 1999, U.S. military officials had repeatedly said cleanup of the former North Bellmore Army base was winding down. In 2001, it was complete, they said.
Peter Koutroubis is Base Realignment and Closure Commission coordinator for the deserted North Bellmore base at Maple and Liberty avenues. Koutroubis said that after several excavations to remove hazardous materials there, he was ready to declare the site safe.
The remaining question is: What will become of the base?
County eyes
N. Bellmore revamp
Bellmore Village along Bedford Avenue stands as a model of revitalization, with new red brick sidewalks, wrought-iron benches, sculpted lampposts and a dozen antique storefronts. Everything about the Village invites shoppers into this quieter, simpler downtown.
However, the Village's phenomenal comeback (shop vacancy rates have dropped from 35 percent to zero percent in five years) had merchants in our parts of the Bellmores wondering: What about us?
North Bellmore business owners might just get their long-standing wish to bring downtown revitalization to their own territory. In January, county Legis. Norma Gonsalves (R-East Meadow) said she had plans drawn up for a street-beautification project in the vicinity of Kugler's deli.
Regents requirements changing
As the state department of education continues to raise the bar of expectations, requirements for high-school graduation are no exception to the golden rule. With just four months left in the school year, students, parents, teachers and administrators faced the fact that to graduate from high school this year, students must past Regents exams in math and English with a grade of at least 55.
Over the next four years, the state will phase in Regents exam requirements in all major subject areas, and passing grades will increase to 65. It is not necessary for all Regents exams to be taken and passed in 12th grade; in fact, most students may have begun taking Regents exams as early as the eighth grade. But under new state standards, they must pass the English and math tests by the end of their senior year.
Pull over and say cheese
Smile, you're on county-cop camera.
In the wake of recent allegations that two of its police officers committed sexual abuse, Nassau County considered installing video cameras and audio recorders in patrol cars, hoping to protect citizens from bad cops and the county from fraudulent lawsuits.
New teams mark
Island sports scene
The parking lot surrounding the Nassau Coliseum was as full as it can get on Jan. 13, and a rare sold-out crowd filled the arena inside. Heroes of an era when the Coliseum was the center of the hockey universe stood on the ice to honor Bill Torrey, the architect of Long Island's Stanley Cup winning teams. The cheers of more than 16,000 people had to be familiar to the long retired, suit-wearing stars, but it was a rare treat for the current, cellar-dwelling team.
Playoff standings and attendance figures were not the only differences between Long Island's pro hockey starts of today and yesteryear. The team that raised the Cup over its heads was housed in a Coliseum that was one of the newest venues in the league. Today, the Islanders skate in the second oldest arena in use by any NHL team.
MARCH
At last, Tempo
gets a break
Barry Wilansky sat nervously in November 2000, wondering whether Tempo Group would survive.
The North Merrick drug-treatment clinic, for which Wilansky serves as executive director, hadn't yet received a $100,000 payment for its 1999 contract with Nassau County. That left Wilansky to question whether Tempo would ever get paid for any of its county contracts.
Today, Tempo's survival prospects look better than they did in the fall. In March, after continued pressure from county Legis. David Denenberg (D-Merrick), Nassau at last paid its 1999 contract with the agency, which treats more that 500 drug-addicted students from throughout Bellmore-Merrick.
A touch of green
where cement rules
Richard Schary's favorite color
must be green.
First the North Bellmore resident proposed a hiking trail through a 10-mile stretch of green space from Seaford to Bellmore to Wantagh and North Wantagh. The plan would connect a string of state, county and town parks. In December 2000, local elected leaders quickly threw their support behind the proposal and are working to make it a reality.
In March, Richard called for a roughly five-mile greenway through Nassau's Hub, the bustling business district around the county's Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale. The path would make the Hub more accessible without using a car and become a focal point for pedestrians.
Charged in
Bellmore teen's rape
A 24-year-old Inwood man was out on $5,000 bond in March after he was charged with raping an 18-year-old Bellmore woman earlier in the month, police said.
Jose Rivera of Cerro Street was arrested by officers from the Bureau of Special Operations on Feb. 27 in the alley in the rear of 1213 Station Plaza in Hewlett, where he worked as a maintenance man, officials said.
The rape occurred at 5 a.m. Feb. 10 in a Bernard Street home in Inwood, and the woman and Rivera were acquaintances, according to investigators.
Hed: Doubling commuter benefits
Long Island commuters may soon be able to save hundreds of dollars more per year thanks to newly proposed legislation that could more than double federal mass transit benefits.
The Commuter Benefits Equity Act of 2001 was introduced in the U. S. Senate by Sen. Charles Schumer of New York and is designed to save hundreds of dollars per year in transportation costs while also reducing traffic and air pollution. Officials hope the legislation will give commuters an added incentive to get off the road and on the train.
Newbridge
roadblock lifted
Nassau County put final touches in December 2000 on phase one of a roughly $7-million revamping of Newbridge Road from Grand to Jerusalem avenues. For this first part, the county paved the thoroughfare and installed sidewalks and new drains from Grand to Bellmore avenues.
The effort, which began in the fall of 1999, covered only two-thirds of the road targeted for rehabilitation. The section of Newbridge from Bellmore to Jerusalem, phase two of the project, was left with crumbling pavement and no sidewalks.
The trouble was, the Long Island Power Authority wouldn't push back electrical poles to make way for the project north of Bellmore. LIPA said the county should move them at a cost of $900,000.
That roadblock was lifted in March when LIPA agreed to move the poles at its expense. The agreement followed months of negotiations between the electric company and county.
Superintendents
state their case
For years, Long Island superintendent and school board members have asked for more autonomy in how they spend their state aid. And that's just what Gov. Pataki granted when he announced his proposal for the 2001-2002 state budget. However, it's not quite what the superintendents had in mind.
Under the governor's proposal for next school year, 54 percent of state aid would fall into the unrestricted category, which he calls flex aid, giving the local administrator the freedom they have craved. Normally, that would have them dancing in the aisles, but few found reason to celebrate once they realized some of the implications that came with it.
Political revolution
in Nassau County
Tom Gulotta's decision not to seek reelection as the county's chief executive had Republican and Democrat Party officials and voters looking at a new campaign landscape in March, which Nassau residents continued to hold the hope they've always had: that politics takes a back seat to good governance as the county struggles to ascend from its fiscal pit.
After 24 years in elective office, 14 as county executive, Gulotta said that he'd like to undertake new and exciting challenges.
Saving Roosevelt
High School
Reports that the state would decertify the failing Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School and send its students to the Baldwin, Bellmore-Merrick, East Meadow and Oceanside districts had swirled for six months as of March, making people fearful and angry.
Education Commissioner Richard Mills did little to relieve residents' concerns that month when he issued a report to the Board of Regents that kept decertification as an option for Roosevelt High. People in and out of Roosevelt had hoped the commissioner would take that plan off the table.
Mills did. however. add an option that would allow Roosevelt to remain whole. For this plan, the state Legislature would remove Roosevelt's school board and take complete control of the district. Until now, the community had elected its own board under state supervision.
APRIL
Dogs take county crown
The Bellmore-Merrick varsity hockey team, the Bulldogs, owned a county crown after sweeping through the playoffs. They were the only Nassau team to ever go undefeated in the regular season and playoffs.
Heralds take home
the gold
2000 was a banner weekend and a banner year for the Herald as the community newspaper group heard its name called 12 times at awards ceremonies in Albany last weekend in the New York Press Association 2000 Better Newspaper Contest for journalism excellence.
The Bellmore Herald took home first place for Community Leadership, the state's highest award, and an honorable mention for political coverage.
Nassau's finest
women are honored
As part of Women's History Month, 11 of Nassau County's most outstanding women were recognized, including Bellmore's Zelda Jonas, a Nassau County Supreme Court Justice.
All were cited for their contributions to the quality of life of women, their families and the community by Nassau County Executive Thomas Gulotta.
Accident waiting
to happen
On the evening of March 16, Linda and John Taft of North Merrick heard the crack of two cars colliding across the street. It was a familiar sound for the Tafts. There have been many accidents and near misses outside their home during the more than 13 years they've lived there, the couple say. At least two to three a month, according to Linda Taft.
This accident, however, hit home for the Tafts
