Mepham 3 sentenced
For some who were closest to the case, the sentences meted out to the three Mepham High School football players who admitted to sexually abusing three younger teammates at a Pennsylvania camp in the summer of 2003 brought only more pain. For others, they offered a sense of relief.
In Honesdale, Pa., Wayne County President Judge Robert Conway reportedly ruled that the oldest of the attackers, Phil Sofia, who was a senior and a team co-captain, would be sent to a wilderness boot camp. Ken Carney, a junior, would remain in residential treatment center in Pennsylvania, where he would receive rehabilitation counseling. And the youngest, Thomas Diasparra, who was 15 at the time of the attacks, was given probation and was sent home to his family in Bellmore-Merrick.
RadioShack arrest
Following a second armed robbery of a Merrick RadioShack, police arrested a Brooklyn man after a high-speed car chase through Nassau County and Queens in January.
Police arrested Teddy Blair, 31, of Brooklyn, after he and three other men, armed and wearing ski masks, entered the RadioShack on Sunrise Highway on Jan. 14.
Cabbied arrested for rape
A West Hempstead man who worked as a taxi driver for a Merrick cab company was arrested and charged with raping and robbing a 30-year-old woman on Jan. 17, and leading police on a 20-mile chase. The chase resulted in damage to two police cars and a guardrail on the Southern State Parkway.
The cab driver, whom police identified as Christopher Willard, 26, of Oakford Street, was arraigned and held on $225,000 bail at the Nassau County jail in East Meadow.
Coaches lose positions again
Art Canestro, the former Mepham High School junior-varsity football coach, had a hard time in January explaining to his 4-year-old daughter why he couldn't coach baseball in the spring.
Canestro, 36, loves baseball, and his daughter is fully aware of his passion for the game. She saw how distraught he was after learning from Central District Superintendent Dr. Thomas Caramore on Jan. 23 that he wouldn't be allowed to coach baseball at Mepham, his alma mater, where he once played.
Canestro was one of five coaches supervising the Mepham High School football camp at which three JV players were sexually assaulted by three varsity player in August 2003.
Coaches out for good
In January, Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District Superintendent Dr. Thomas Caramore made clear his position on a proposal by residents to reinstate the five coaches who were in charge of a summer camp at which three Mepham High School junior-varsity football players were sexually abused.
Under no circumstance, Caramore said, would he recommend to the Board of Education that the coaches be reappointed. The five lost their jobs in the fall of 2003.
Caramore's statement drew applause from several members of Bellmore-Merrick Parents for Change, a group that formed after the football camp to hold school officials accountable for the abuse.
At the August 2003 camp, three members of the varsity football team molested three JV players with a broomstick, pine cones and golf balls.
Champs again!
Talk about a winning streak! For the eighth straight year, the Kennedy High School varsity cheerleading squad captured the Nassau County cheerleading title in 2004.
Character committee convenes
The second meeting of the Central High School District's Committee on Promoting Character, Civility and Social Responsibility convened Jan. 13. The session was the first time that committee members got the chance to express their thoughts and concerns. As expected, the dialogue quickly turned intense, even spirited, but it reportedly remained civil.
And committee members noted that they came away from the meeting feeling hopeful that within six months they would reach a consensus on a number of critical policy recommendations.
The committee formed in the wake of the Mepham High School football hazing scandal.
February
State aid shortfall
In February 2003, Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District officials were reeling after the state announced that it planned to cut the district's $20.5 million education aid package by $4 million. It was the largest such reduction in any Nassau County school district.
In 2004, the Central District's aid outlook was brighter than 2003's, said schools Superintendent Dr. Thomas Caramore. But, he noted, it still wasn't bright. The district was projected to receive an increase in state aid of roughly $100,000. That figure, however, was $800,000 less than Central officials thought they would get.
State aid is critical, school officials said, because it helps reduce a district's budget, pays for student programming or reduces local property taxes. The aid comes from state income taxes. When aid falls short, officials said, they're forced to cut programs or raise property taxes.
Drycleaner cleanup
The environmental firm hired by Merrick's Busy Bee drycleaner said it had largely completed its study of possible chemical contamination at the Merrick Road business, and it planned a cleanup on the site in the spring.
The drycleaner, however, would only clean up its property. If there was contamination at nearby homes, representatives of the business said regulatory agencies like the state Department of Environmental Conservation had to perform tests and clean up those sites.
Meanwhile, homeowners near the drycleaner said the cleanup was taking too long, and they were worried about chemical contamination on their properties. Representatives of Busy Bee's environmental firm, Roux Associates, met with the DEC Feb. 13 to review results of tests it performed in December.
The DEC has required Busy Bee to clean up the site since 2001. At the time, the drycleaner volunteered to perform the cleanup.
A tearful anniversary
One punch landed just above Scott Konezny's left eyebrow with such force that the assailant's Kennedy High School class ring left a bright red imprint on Konezny's forehead. Another punch, or two - or more - cracked Konezny's nasal cartilage in half. Two other hard smacks blackened his eyes. Another split his lip wide open.
Konezny, a Kennedy High School senior at the time of the assault, remembered getting punched at least eight times before he blacked out in the driver's seat of his car, which was parked in Kennedy's lot. He believes the assailants kept hitting him even after he lost consciousness.
No doubt, the attack was terrifying. Feb. 28, 2004, was two months to the day since between five and 10 of Konezny's fellow Kennedy students beat him, he said, "nearly to death."
Konezny sued some of the attackers and the Central High School District, claiming it failed to provide adequate security in the Kennedy parking lot. Konezny settled with all parties.
March
Herald investigates
Taxi licensing
The story disturbed Rhonda Barsel, but it didn't shock her.
A Merrick taxi driver, Christopher Willard, of West Hempstead, was arrested and charged with raping a young woman while on the job in Bellmore. An investigation by the paper revealed that Willard had been arrested for drug possession. And he didn't hold a valid town of Hempstead taxi license at the time of the alleged rape.
For more than three years, Barsel and her husband, Richard, had called on state and local elected officials to toughen taxi licensing requirements. And the Barsels, of Hewlett Neck, formed Parents Against Irresponsible Drivers to lobby for striker tax safety requirements.
The Herald investigated how the Town of Hempstead licenses cabbies, and compared its practices with those of New York City and the Town of North Hempstead. What the Herald uncovered was a lack of statewide uniformity in licensing requirements. Among the three municipalities that the paper examined, New York City was strictest, followed by North Hempstead and Hempstead.
A night to heal
The Rev. James Barnum, pastor of Bellmore Presbyterian Church, noted the small wicker basket to his left and invited people to write their prayers sand missives to God on tiny pieces of paper and drop them there.
It was an emotional moment during a 45-minute service to help comfort the Mepham High School community, which in 2003 was rocked by revelations that three varsity football players sexually abused three members during a training camp in Pennsylvania.
The Bellmore-Merrick Interfaith Clergy Council organized the prayer service to begin the healing process, which all agreed would take some time. About 100 people attended the ceremony.
Little League
switches divisions
With the arrival of spring, children pulled out their gloves and bats from the garage to prepare for the upcoming baseball/softball season. They were excited. But at least some Little League parents were concerned.
The parents were unhappy with a plan developed by last year's Merrick-North Merrick Little League Board of Directors that rearranges certain division so the most skilled players were in the Major League, while those who were less proficient played in the Minors. Others said the change would give more children a chance to play, rather than sit on the bench.
Mepham civil cases filed
Attorneys for the three victims in the Mepham High School football sex-abuse scandal built a civil case against the Bellmore-Merrick Central District around two central themes.
In late March, the attorneys announced lawsuits against the district, Superintendent Dr. Thomas Caramore, Mepham Principal John Didden, the five football coaches, the three perpetrators and their parents The attorneys did not specify a dollar amount they were seeking, but said they wanted "fair compensation for the victims and their families."
The lawyers, Michael Rubin, Robert Kelly and David Woycik, contended that district officials knew about the past hazing, but did not properly address it. Their failure to act, they said, led to a permissive atmosphere at the Mepham football camp in Pennsylvania in August 2003, which resulted in the three varsity players sexually assaulting their clients with a broomstick, pine cones and a golf ball.
The attorney also said district officials allowed a known bully, Ken Carney, to attend the football camp, despite warnings form parents that Carney had threatened another student shortly before the camp. According to the attorney, Carney turned out to be the "ringleader" in the attacks.
April
Strikeout or home run?
The Merrick-North Merrick Little League's decision to rearrange its divisions left at least some people in the community wondering whether local baseball was becoming too competitive. Others, however, said the change was for the best.
Mitch Zyman, the Merrick-North Merrick Little League president, believed the new arrangement would benefit the children, allowing them to play with children with the same ability. Marshall Silverman, a member of the Little League Board of Directors whose 11-year-old son was asked to move up to the Majors, kept his son in the Minors. He believed moving his son up with the older boys at the top of their skill level would have been unsafe. He believed older boys pitch faster and harder.
Despite praise for the new system, Ed Metzger, a former Merrick-North Merrick coach of eight years, believed the league was realigned to promote competitiveness.
Mepham coaches can't teach
Former Mepham High School football coaches Kevin McElroy and Art Canestro had a surprise announcement for the half-dozen reporters who had gathered for an impromptu news conference at the Brookside School. Effective immediately, they could no longer teach at Mepham.
They were ordered by Central High School District Superintendent Dr. Thomas Caramore to perform desk duty until further notice at the Brookside School, which is an administration office in North Merrick.
The move came two weeks after a Pennsylvania grand jury criticized the five coaches who ran a training camp in Preston Park, Pa. - including McElroy and Canestro. The report said the coaches "lacked commonsense accountability when it came to managing or running the camp," at which three varsity players sexually molested three younger teammates with a broomstick, pine cones and a golf ball over the course of a week.
More civil suits looming
The Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District was put on notice that they might get slapped with five more lawsuits stemming from the Mepham High School football sex-abuse scandal.
Former Mepham football coaches filed notices of claim against the Central District for wrongful termination, denial of civil rights and defamation. Filing a notice of claim is a prerequisite to a lawsuit.
A Pennsylvania grand jury report, issued in March, chastised the coaches, but found no evidence to charge them with a crime. The report made clear that the coaches didn't know about the attacks while at the camp.
Heralds garner 13 awards
New York Press Association judges recognized Herald Community Newspapers staffers for their commitment to quality community journalism, calling them to the podium 13 times at awards ceremonies in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. for NYPA's 2003 Better Newspaper Contest.
Herald papers captured two of the top spots. Among them was coverage of education, with the Merrick Herald staff, including Senior Editor Scott Brinton, Editor Nick Buglione, and reporters Hector Flores and Laura Lane, receiving first-place honors. The paper's entry featured stories on the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District's reaction to America's war in Iraq, and the sex-abuse attacks suffered by three Mepham students at a Pennsylvania football camp in the summer of 2003.
Roof resolved
The Merrick Library Board's decision to lower the roof in plans for a new $10 million library had many residents pleasantly surprised. The move, neighbors of the library said, restored their faith in the Library Board, which they said was fair in negotiations over the roof's height.
The new roof had been a source of debate in the community, with many residents living near the library admonishing the Library Board. They said the board had promised that the roof would measure no more than 39 feet high at its peak. But when plans for the new library came to light, the roof turned out to be 60 feet high at the top of a cupola, and more than 50 feet high in many places.
board agreed to reduce the height of the secondary roofline from 50 to 44 feet. Also, the cupola was dropped from 9 feet tall to 7 feet.
Stopping sexual predators
Andrea Brucia, whose granddaughter, 11-year old Carlie Brucia, was recently raped and strangled in Florida, spoke before the New York state Assembly Republican Steering Committee, Long Island prosecutors, law enforcement officials and community activists, who convened at the Nesconset Library in Smithtown to discuss newly proposed legislation aimed at strengthening Megan's Law.
The law currently requires the state Division of Criminal Justice Services to post information about all Level 3 sex offenders, those who are considered most likely to repeat past offenses, on its Web site.
The Brucias, along with the state Senate and Assembly Republican caucus, would like to see all offenders, no matter their risk level, posted on the CJS Web Site. Assembly Democrats, however, have held up the measure.
N. Merrick getting face-lift
County Legislator Norma Gonsalves, a Republican from East Meadow who represents North Merrick, said that the county set aside $63,000 to $70,000 to draw up plans to revitalize parts of the Jerusalem Avenue business zone, beginning at Pat's Farms on Merrick Avenue and extending to a strip mall about a half-mile west.
Improvements are to include new lampposts, sidewalks, decorative brickwork, benches, and trash cans.
The Legislature planned to spend $55,000 to carry out the revitalization project. And Gonsalves believed there would be a good possibility that the county would provide additional funds for the project in its budget next year.
Taxi license concerns
Members of the public got the chance to voice their opinions on a Town of Hempstead proposal to do away with temporary taxi licenses during an April 13 public hearing at town hall. And nearly 10 cab company owners from across the South Shore turned out to testify against the plan.
Temporary cabbie licenses give taxi drivers the ability to operate a cab for a month before criminal background checks are performed on them. A Herald investigation revealed that a Merrick cabbie with a record of driving under the influence of drugs was issued a temporary town license. He was supposed to meet with the town about his record, but never did. Four months later, police arrested the cabbie and charged him with raping a customer while on the job.
Cab company owners who argued for temporary licensing said that without it, they'd have a hard time finding enough drivers for their cabs. Their fear is that forcing cab companies to wait a month while background checks are performed might leave them short-staffed.
