THE SOUTH SHORE STANDARD • APRIL 15-28, 2011

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Put On Your Easter Bonnet Page B1

Vol. I No. V

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APRIL 15-28, 2011

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Area Gas Prices Hit New Highs Woodmere Chase Bank ATMs Hacked By S USAN V ARGHESE

Standard Associate Editor

Money can be stolen from a bank account without ever losing an ATM card, as hundreds of dollars were stolen from Woodmere Chase bank account holders this past week. The victims, who have accounts at the Chase branch on Railroad Avenue, have since gotten their money back, but their questions have been left unanswered. Avi Fertig, a Five Towns resident and one of the victims explained, “I got an email alert Sunday morning telling me that my account was in overdraft. Sometime not too

long after that, my wife got a phone call telling her that the account was compromised over the weekend — $1,100 taken out from an ATM. Whoever had her information had three different withdrawals of $400, $600, and $100 on Saturday and Sunday.” Fertig noted that when his wife went into Chase, they said it happened to a lot of people. We weren’t missing our cards — it happened to my wife’s card specifically. They told her to cut it up and they’d send her another one…somehow they [suspects] had our pin number.”

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PREMIUM AT $4.29 IN HEWLETT By SUSAN VARGHESE

Standard Associate Editor

Two Small Goats Having moved to The Five Towns just in time for Passover, Shoshana and Mish Mish, two new local goats, are enjoying a steady stream of visitors and admirers. “They like to play, they’re friendly and better than dogs. They don’t smell and they’re Kosher,” noted the owner. “I want my kids to understand that burgers don’t grow on trees...meat comes from somewhere and there’s a life beyond computers.” The goats’ owner bought them on Craigslist two weeks ago, and they’re a year old. Many area villages permit horses, goats, sheep, and the like if you have enough room for them.

It may be time to start pinching pennies, as the price of gasoline seems to be rising with no end in sight. Nationally, the Energy Information Administration expects regular-grade gasoline to average $3.91 in the early summer, a forty one percent increase from last summer, when it was $2.76. However, Long Island has already exceeded the expected national average, according to AAA’s daily fuel gauge report, the current average for regular gasoline in Long Island is $3.98, and it was $3.00 a year ago. The 98-

Photo Credit: Jonathan Walter

Central Woodmere Suffers Blackout Car Accidentally Snaps Utility Pole

By JONATHAN WALTER Standard Staff Reporter

A car crashed into an electrical pole on the corner of Irving Place and West Broadway on Wednesday, knocking out power to a large area of Woodmere

A large part of Woodmere was put in the dark as power was knocked out early Wednesday morning when a car accident knocked out an electrical pole on the corner of West Broadway and Irving Place. An officer at the scene said that the accident occurred at approximately 2:40 a.m. and that the driver was not under the influence of any substances. The driver was not injured in the crash and was not issued a citation. “The driver just lost control of the vehicle,” the officer said. LIPA spokesman Mark Gross said the driver hit the guide wire attached to the electrical pole

and it caused the pole to fracture in two locations. The 33 kilovolt transmission circuit and the 13 kilovolt distribution circuit attached to the pole then wrapped together, which resulted in an interruption of service to 2,113 total costumers, mostly in Woodmere, but also a small number in Cedarhurst and Hewlett. The majority of the affected LIPA customers had their power restored by 1:00 p.m., but 341 customers remained without power until LIPA was able to install a new pole around 5:00 p.m. The areas most affected by the power outage ranged from Franklin Place to Woodmere Boulevard and from some businesses on the south side of Broadway, all the way to West Broadway and had police offi-

cers directing traffic at all of the intersections with traffic lights inside of the affected areas. “It’s just part of the job,” an officer directing traffic at the intersection of Woodmere Boulevard and Central Avenue said. Besides the loss of power, the outage also affected many residents who had their appliances blown by electrical surges. The surges brought a lot of business to local appliance stores. “We were extremely busy yesterday,” Sandy Tau, owner of AHC Appliance said. “Unfortunately there were people who had power outages go through their appliances and it happened at a very bad time with the holiday upcoming. We are

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cent difference may not seem like a lot, but for many, the price of gasoline is rising at an alarming rate. “It’s outrageous. Last week, I paid $3.69 on Friday, on Monday I paid $3.79, and then $3.95. I don’t have choice, my car used to be $40 to fill up, now it’s $66 for a mid size four cylinder. The buses aren’t going where I need to go and they’re too much of an imposition. I feel stuck,” said Roberta Warren, a Woodmere resident. Another Five Towns resident said, “You try and plan your trip so they’re more eco-

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Local Police Auxiliary One of The County’s Best By AUSTIN SYKES

Standard Staff Reporter

If money can’t buy happiness, than at least it can buy residents of the Five Towns the largest and fastest growing – and now, award winning – Auxiliary Police Unit. Known as “the eyes and ears” of the Nassau Police, Auxiliary Unit 109 is a voluntary extension of Nassau P.D.’s Fourth Precinct. Comprised of over 20 men and women living and working all over The Five Towns, these residents protect the villages and towns day and night, rain or shine. They do all of this for free. “We have a doctor, we have a lawyer,” Unit 109 Captain Danny Gluck said. “We have an accountant, we have business owners. We’ve got an NYPD officer. We’re made up of a nice group of young men and women – young guys that are still in school – 18, 19, and we’ve got guys that are retired. And we’re always looking for more.” The unit can be found in marked squad cars, complete with flashing red and blue lights and a siren wailing. Other times, they’re seen in a bright yellow rain-coat, standing in the middle of clustered intersections, directing residents to where they need to go. The Unit operates entirely on private donations and funds from local governments

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Underdogs are Victorious Most of Hewlett’s SKA Sonics Hockey Team before their victory against the HAFTR Flames, see story on page A8

C l a s s i f i e d s B 6 • E d i t o r i a l s A 1 0 • E v e n t s B 2 • M o v i e s B 2 • S p o r t s A 8 • We a t h e r A 2


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