The scores come from standardized tests given in fourth and eighth-grade last spring. Long Beach Middle School eighth-graders experienced a .2 percent drop, from 78.5 to 78.3. The numbers are the percentage of students who either met or exceeded the test standards.
Helen Cheliotes, the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Adult Learning Services, said that she was happy with how Long Beach students performed.
I think that we did fairly well, Cheliotes said, adding that the average for Nassau County was 77 percent. You always want to get to 100 percent. And we-re always working for 100 percent.
The fourth-grade numbers saw a more significant drop of 2.8 percent, going from 94.1 to 91.3 percent of the kids either meeting or exceeding state standards.
City Councilman Lenny Remo said in October that flurry of fund transfers within the city budget indicated a poorly planned and unrealistic budget, but acting City Manager Charles Theofan said that the transfers are necessary and are to be expected in a tight fiscal year.
The budget is a living, fluid document, Remo said. But three months into a good budget, you shouldn-t need to be making as many transfers as we are.
Remo cited council majority-approved fund transfers, including $152,000 moved into temporary salaries in the sanitation department at the Oct. 5 council meeting, and $24,040 into regular salaries in street maintenance and information technology at the Oct. 19 meeting, as proof that the current budget was put together to serve a different purpose. Remo voted against both transfers.
We-re being proactive, not reactive, said Council President Hennessy at the time. Lenny-s playing politics, and we just don-t have time for politics. We-ve offered solutions, and the only solution offered by [Remo and fellow Democrat Denis Kelly] is to raise taxes. And that-s not something that-s on the table. Period.
And the city-s finances are a disaster, Hennessy continued. But it was under [the previous administration-s] watch that this all happened. We have a lot of issues, and I-m willing to work with everyone on the council.
Despite the overcast skies and chilly temperatures, the mood at the Long Beach Breast Cancer Coalition (LBBCC) memorial garden on the Park Avenue median at Roosevelt Boulevard was warm in October, as members of the coalition and the community came to tie pink ribbons to remember those lost to the disease, and to honor those who-ve survived it.
The event, in its sixth year, saw more than 50 people come out. Each attendee was given a pink ribbon, or more than one if they needed it, to tie onto a bush or tree branch in the garden. The garden, which is to be refurbished in the spring, is dedicated to the memory of Sue Rosenbaum, one of the founders in 1992 and the first president of the LBBCC, who died from the disease 11 years ago in October.
In attendance were Rosenbaum-s husband Mark, and their daughter Jessica. It-s nice that this is here and we can remember her, Mark said. And to all the other people, it gives them a lot of hope because they see how many of us are affected by this disease. More and more people are coming forward and raising awareness.
Six city residents were arrested in the North Park section of Long Beach on Oct. 27 in two separate drug raids conducted by the Long Beach Police Department-s Narcotic Task Force, and four more individuals were arrested on Oct. 28 as part of the investigation, police announced in late October.
Large amounts of crack cocaine and marijuana, worth approximately $50,000, as well as a .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun reported stolen from South Carolina, $6,000 in cash, assorted drug paraphernalia and a Cadillac believed to have been used to transport some of the drugs were seized in the raids at 46 E. Market St. and 122 E. Fulton St.
Lamar Taylor, Yusef Cruse, Takisha Rainey, Elijah Deloach, Rance Smith, Johnnie Herron, Tarence Wilson, Kareem Nowell, Teron Green, and William Smith were all charged.
November
Chris DeFilippo, a 25-year veteran of the Long Beach Fire Department and the commanding officer of the uniform force since 2001, died Nov. 2 from lung cancer at the age of 43.
DeFilippo joined the department in July of 1979 before taking a two-year leave to serve in the United States Navy. Upon returning to Long Beach, he moved quickly through the ranks of the department, eventually serving as captain from 1987 to 1990.
In 1993, one of DeFilippo-s dreams came true as he was elected Second Assistant Chief. He rose to chief of the department in 1997, where he served until 1999 when he was appointed Deputy Fire Commissioner. He held the position until 2001 when he was appointed Commanding Officer of the Uniform Force, a position he held until his death.
Chris was a dedicated member of the Long Beach Fire Department, current Chief Scott Kemins said at DeFilippo-s funeral service. It was truly his second family, and he will be missed and never replaced.
Two Long Beach teens were arrested and charged with attempted murder in separate incidents in November after police say verbal arguments led to gunshots.
Antwan J. Brown, 18, of East Market Street surrendered to Nassau County Police after allegedly shooting a man and a woman in Island Park.
Brown fired shots from a .357 Magnum at a 19-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman as they exited the front doors of Club Heat, at 3942 Long Beach Road in Island Park, at about 3:55 a.m. on Oct. 24, according to Lt. Detective Gregory Detwiller of the Fourth Precinct. Brown-s mother was charged with hindering prosecution in connection with the case.
Lachance Bryant, 19, of Long Beach was arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder and other charges after allegedly shooting a man in the upper back and buttocks on East Penn Street the day before, according to Long Beach Police Sgt. Bruce Meyer.
Bryant, who was also charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and first-degree criminal use of a firearm, was involved in a verbal argument with the 33-year old victim earlier that day on Eat Fulton Avenue, Meyer said.
The victim, whose name police are not releasing, was admitted to South Nassau Communities Hospital. His injuries were not life-threatening. Meyer said the weapon used was a small caliber semi-automatic handgun.
Rep. Peter King of Seaford, the Republican congressman representing Long Beach, cruised to another easy victory on Election Day, as did state Sen. Dean Skelos and Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, in what was a big night for incumbents all around.
Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) held off a challenge from Democratic candidate Josh Ketover, a personal-injury lawyer from Long Beach.
Weisenberg (D-Long Beach), who has held his 20th Assembly District seat since 1989, cruised to victory over his Republican opponent, Gary Spitz, a deputy county attorney from Long Beach. Weisenberg collected 65.2 percent of the vote to his opponent-s 34.7 percent. I represent the people, and it-s a privilege and an honor to serve my neighbors and constituents in Albany, Weisenberg said as the vote count was winding down. Weisenberg may have lost some support from his Democratic base because he publicly endorsed Skelos.
A 25-year old Wantagh man died in November after losing control of his motorcycle and crashing into a telephone pole on Lido Boulevard.
Omar Ortega, of 573 Sandhill Road in Wantagh, was traveling westbound on his 2000 Suzuki motorcycle when, police say, he lost control of the bike, struck a curb and hit the pole on the north side of the six-lane road, just east of Greenway Road. The Point Lookout/Lido Fire Department responded to the accident scene, where Ortega was pronounced dead, police report.
I-m not even surprised anymore, said one Lido Boulevard neighbor at the time. They need to do something about all of the speeding and the accidents that happen here.
Legislator Denise Ford has held public meetings to discuss the future of the dangerous road, but no final decision has been made.
December
Robert Calabrese, 24, of Long Beach was killed in Island Park in early December after being shot several times in the back of the head.
Nassau County Police arrested and charged Michael Orlando, 34, of Bay Shore and Herve Jeannot, 23, of Deer Park with second-degree murder.
Police said that Calabrese, a mortgage broker, placed bets for Orlando on football, basketball and other sporting events. Eventually, Orlando-s debt to Calabrese grew to $18,000.
Police said that Orlando called Calabrese and told him he would pay his debt in Island Park. Orlando then allegedly lured Calabrese to a secluded area on Broadway. When the two men got out of their respective cars, Jeannot snuck up behind Calabrese and shot him, police said.
Calabrese was the son of retired Long Beach police officer Robert Calabrese and Kathy Calabrese, a teacher-s assistant at East School. Calabrese was a standout wrestler at Kellenberg Memorial High School in the 1990-s, winning the state Catholic High School Athletic Association-s 125-pound championship in 1997.
The City of Long Beach-s bond rating was placed on a watch list by Moody-s Investers Services in December. Acting City Manager Charles Theofan said at the time that he was encouraged that the city-s bond rating did not go down, despite the financial difficulties of the city.
Councilman Lenny Remo, however, said that the fact that Moody-s has not increased the bond rating for the city is an indictment of the budget itself.
A 16-foot-tall navigational buoy tore loose from its offshore mooring and washed ashore near Grand Boulevard in December, delighting local beachcombers and becoming an instant tourist attraction.
Known as a J-1 buoy (for Jones Inlet marker buoy) the navigational aid bobbed 1.5 nautical miles off the coast of Point Lookout in its previous life, pointing ships toward Jones Inlet. A violent storm and its accompanying nine-foot waves pulled the buoy off its mooring, a Coast Guard official said.
Daniel F. Kearney, a former Democratic Long Beach city councilman, will begin a one-year federal prison sentence after the holidays, his lawyer confirmed in mid-December.
Kearney pleaded guilty Nov. 22 in U.S. District Court to embezzling nearly $150,000 from Local 79 of the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) while he was secretary-treasurer from 2000 to 2002. He was sentenced to one year of confinement and two years of probation, fined $100 and barred from holding a union office for 13 years. Kearney-s attorney, Peter Tomao of Garden City, said Kearney also paid restitution of $149,330.12, made possible by the refinancing of his Arizona Avenue home.
He admitted what he did and he-s sorry for letting people down, Tomao said. He-s accepting his punishment and is ready to do it and put this behind him.
One of Long Beach-s most famous sons, Billy Crystal, focused his comedic and performance skills on his childhood, family and hometown in his new one-man show, 700 Sundays, which has become one of the holiday season-s hottest tickets.
The show highlights Crystal-s life as a kid in Long Beach, colored by the death of his father, Jack, when Billy was 15. The title of the show is the number of Sundays Crystal and his father had together.
The show also highlights the many idiosyncrasies of Crystal-s Jewish family, his immersion in the New York jazz scene and his journey to adulthood.
I am thrilled to come home and bring this story of my family to Broadway, Crystal told Playbill magazine. As an artist, I-ve never felt as complete as I have developing and performing this show. This is not a history of my career, it is about periods of my life and people in my life that helped make me a man.
Acting City Manager Charles Theofan was officially appointed city manager by a 3-2 City Council vote in late December, over strong dissension from Democrats Lenny Remo and Denis Kelly during a meeting that started ugly and threatened to boil over.
The discussion of Theofan-s appointment quickly turned into a shouting match among Kelly, Remo, Hennessy and council Vice President Tom Sofield Jr. Kelly suggested postponing the appointment and keeping Theofan on as acting city manager until he found housing, but the Republican coalition of Hennessy, Sofield and Mona Goodman approved Theofan-s immediate appointment.
The next day, the city announced that Theofan had signed a lease for an apartment on Shore Road.
