THE SOUTH SHORE STANDARD • JULY 1 - 7, 2011

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ATL. BCH. BRIDGE TO UNDERGO $11M IN REVOVATIONS

RELIEF COMING FOR LOCAL MADOFF VICTIMS

BY SUSAN VARGHESE

BY SUSAN VARGHESE

Standard Associate Editor

Standard Associate Editor

The Atlantic Beach Bridge is planning to undergo up to $11 million in renovations over a twoyear span. The renovations would completely rehab and renovate the electrical and mechanical guts of the bridge, according to Nassau County Bridge Authority Manager, Vincent Grasso. Grasso noted that they had about six bids from major construction companies and chose the lowest bid from Posillico Construction. The bid is about $9 million, but could run to $11 million with order changes and contingencies, Grasso said. The money to finance the project is coming from over $10 million in municipal bonds, and $1.5 million out of cash reserves. Grasso noted that they refinanced old bonds at a much better rate, so, commuters don’t have to worry about a fare increase just yet. “We actually pushed off a fare increase even further, in addition to a better rate on the bonds that we just refinanced, we got

Local victims of the Madoff Ponzi scheme may finally receive some relief. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy [D-NY4] recently co-sponsored bipartisan legislation, H.R. 757, the Equitable Treatment of Investors Act, in an effort to protect Madoff victims. The legislation is currently in committee and according to McCarthy it would prohibit things such as claw backs from investors unless the investor had knowledge of the fraud or was a registered investment professional by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). “Claw backs” are when the government sues Madoff victims in an effort to retrieve profits that they withdrew from their investment accounts. In a written statement, McCarthy noted the problem with the claw back process is that “most of these investors would not have known that their profits were falsified by Madoff, yet they are now being punished again.”

Pre-Prom Elegance Lawrence High School seniors at pre-prom last Sunday, June 26. Pictured from left to right: Sarah Golan, Mirit Elyahu, Miriam Vainblat, Dylann Fujimoto, Ally Mastorides, Alexandra Baum

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$600K Missing from Woodmere Synagogue BY SUSAN VARGHESE

Standard Associate Editor

Congregation Aish Kodesh in Woodmere is short over $600,000 after former synagogue treasurer Isaac Zucker, 47, allegedly embezzled the money and then disappeared for a few days. Zucker, a Woodmere resident, was arrested on Tuesday at a Holiday Inn near the Long Island MacArthur Airport for grand larceny in the second degree. He was arraigned at the First District Court in Hempstead on Wednesday. Zucker pleaded not guilty to allegedly stealing $612,000 since February 2008, according to police documents.

A representative from the congregation said that Zucker hadn’t been heard from since June 24 and found Zucker’s crime to be a complete surprise. “He [Zucker] was a very trustworthy guy. He was a security lawyer by trade, a very friendly guy. He had all of the earmarks of a trustworthy guy. Impeccable credentials, so it was a total shock.” Azriel Ganz, a spokesperson for the congregation noted, “The operating account looked fine, checks were paid, it all made complete sense. Literally, if you looked at the statement, it was fine. We didn’t know that checks were being diverted, and that the endowment account was repeat-

Congregation Aish Kodesh and accused embezzler Isaac Zucker (Photo Inset)

edly being swept into his account.” Ganz said that they discovered it within a few days and by June 16 they “had a really good sense of what was going on.” Ganz added that virtually all of the money in their endowment fund was embezzled. “We had to raise a significant amount of money over the weekend because there was very little left in the treasury. We’re currently trying to recover the money. Nevertheless, the synagogue will be fine. We raised over $200,000 over the weekend by explaining the urgency of the situation and appealing to our members.” Rabbi Moshe Weinberger said in a written statement, “We are

shocked and heartbroken over the news of the apparent fraud perpetrated on our shul. We are cooperating with authorities, and taking steps to determine the magnitude of the crime, recover the monies taken from the shul, and insure that all our current and ongoing fiscal obligations are met on a timely basis. We are confident that with the help of the Almighty and the support of our members, we will continue to thrive as a congregation and place prayer and Torah.” As of Thursday afternon, Zucker was being held at Nassau County Correctional Center on $300,000 bond or $150,000 cash. Zucker is due back in court on Tuesday.

Air Noise Riles Residents By SCOTT P. MOORE

Standard Staff Reporter

99 BOTTLES OF BEER A Local Brew Guide

By JONATHAN WALTER Standard Staff Reporter

The Fourth of July is upon us and nothing pairs as well with barbeques and fireworks like a cold beer. There are plenty of different places in The

Five Towns to find beer that offer a variety of prices, quantities and styles. All it takes is a helpful guide to determine which store is right for your holiday beer needs.

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The roar of complaints by residents near John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport was comparable to the aircraft noise they have become all too familiar with. Deferred questions and a lack of answers left many residents upset by the end of Monday evening’s meeting of the Town-Village Aircraft Safety and Noise Abatement Committee (TVASNAC) at Lawrence Village Hall. “If you’re looking for WWF SmackDown!, you’re in the wrong place,” joked Kendall Lampkin, executive director of TVASNAC, as residents and officials filed in. Residents’ tempers reflected the wrestling show by the end of the meeting when officials from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), New York Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) and the New York/ New Jersey Port Authori-

ty could not answer questions posed over aircraft noise at nearby JFK. Lampkin kicked off what he called a “momentous” meet-

Kendall Lampkin, Executive Director of TVASNAC.

Photo by Scott P. Moore. ing by noting the guests invited were from both the Port Authority and FAA, allowing residents to speak to both sides involved with aircraft arriving and leaving the airport. Lampkin also suggested the idea of a Joint Aviation Noise Information Serivce,

or JANIS, to allow for all parties to inform the public. Paul Laude, an FAA spokesperson in attendance, said he would suggest the idea. “Inwood gets flights before anybody, anybody else — we’re right at the foot of runways 13 and 31,” said Hezzie Cibere, the Inwood committee member. Cibere noted that cargo planes use these runways because they are the longest and the planes are the heaviest. Cibere suggested raising the $250 fine issued to airlines for flying too low. A Port Authority representative said the fine was put into law before present-day air noise legislation, leaving the amount frozen by the federal government and leaving the Port Authority without any power to try change it. “At night, when the cargo planes go off — our concern is the same as Inwood’s,” said Saul

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C l a s s i f i e d s B 6 • E d i t o r i a l s A 6 • M o v i e s B 4 • S p o r t s B 7 • Wa t e r G u n s B 3 • We a t h e r B 2


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