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Vol. II No. LXXVII | www.StandardLI.com | News@standardli.com | Ph.# 516-341-0445
SEPTEMBER 21-27, 2012
YOUR FIVE TOWNS HOMETOWN PAPER
MANGANO PROPOSES $2.79 BILLION BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2013
EXPANSION LOAN FOR LCFD LOOKS TO BE ON TRACK By Raimundo Ortiz After nearly 20 months of stops and starts, the Lawrence Cedarhurst Fire Department’s quest to build a two-story, two-bay extension facing Washington Avenue appears on track to get started. According to Ben Weinstock, Deputy Mayor of Cedarhurst financing the project was the major hurdle. The LCFD, Village of Cedarhurst, and Village of Lawrence were all working together to find a loan for the $2 million project and as of last week were deciding between an offer from the Village of Lawrence and an offer from a private lender affiliated with LCFD attorney Joseph Schettino. Although both villages seem intent upon using the private lender’s loan, no paperwork has been signed so the status of the financing has not been fully resolved. The loan from the Village of Lawrence was $2 million over 15 years on a fixed rate for three years that would float after the third year. This was not ideal for the Village
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FREE EVERY FRIDAY
By Danielle Puma
Great to be a Scout! (From back, left to right) Tyler Walter, Rohonnie Prashad, Bill Parkinson, Barrie Cota, Mike Stuparich, Chris Kerins, Kenny Howard, Michael Stuparich Jr., Michael Cafaro, Sam Cota and Alex Nieves. Cub Scout Pack 20, one of the oldest packs on Long Island, is open to 1st grade through 5th grade boys from the Hewlett-Woodmere School District and the Lawrence School District. The kids work on various activities and go on overnight trips, including museum sleepovers. For more information, contact Mike Stuparich at (516) 455-4493.
Photo by Raimundo Ortiz
Lawrence Students Strut Stuff In Annual Homecoming Parade By Danielle Puma The Lawrence High School Key Club hosted their annual Homecoming Parade on Saturday. The pa-
rade began at the Lawrence train station and was led by Mr. Norm Deitch, the Grand Marshall.
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Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano recently proposed his $2.793 billion budget for 2013 to legislators. This will be the third year in a row that there will be no increase in property taxes. The budget will reduce spending for a second consecutive year in Nassau County. County Executive Mangano and the Republican Legislative Caucus have cut over $290 million from Nassau’s budget. “This budget protects families and seniors while also paving the way for continued economic growth by holding the line on property taxes for a third year in a row and by restricting spending so that we never have to return to the poor fiscal policies of the past. […] The progress we have made over the past two years ensures we never return to the days in which Nassau taxed too high, spent too much and reformed too little,” said Mangano. Last year, Mangano proposed a $2.63 billion budget for 2012. Nassau County Legislator Fran-
cis Becker said he supports Mangano’s proposed budget for 2013 because it addresses the county’s problems.
Ed Mangano “Right now I’m very supportive and it’s the third year in a row with no tax increase. The Democrats left us with over a $300 million deficit. The county is addressing the problems that we have been having for many years -- and that includes addressing issues of the constant merry-go-round tax grievance problems in the county,” said Becker. Becker said he has not yet had the chance to review the proposed budget, but has read
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Marty Rosen: 35 Years Living Large in the Batting Cages By Raimundo Ortiz Marty Rosen, the owner of 5 Towns Mini-Golf and Batting grew up in love with baseball, and he especially rooted for the Brooklyn Dodgers. The walls of his small office at the batting range on 570 Rockaway Turnpike are adorned with photos of Jackie Robinson, Pee-Wee Reese, Duke Snider and the rest of the Dodgers. “I was a big, big fan of baseball as a kid and a big Brooklyn Dodger fan,” said Rosen. “I lived through the 1951 heartache of Bobby Thompson hitting the shot heard round the world. I was nine when that happened and it had a big impact on me.”
In the early 1970s a friend who owned a miniature golf course in Huntington, which was where Rosen was living, approached him about building a batting range. Rosen, who has baseball in his blood, loved the idea and they built one on Jericho Turnpike. A few years later, another Lynbrook-based pal of Rosen’s floated the idea of setting up another batting range on the South Shore. “We needed a busy road like I had on Jericho Turnpike,” said Rosen. “One day I took a ride down here and toured around and found this location which became 570 Rockaway Turnpike.” Getting the place built was no
Tuesday Evening Ushers In Yom Kippur Holiday By Raimundo Ortiz Yom Kippur, literally meaning the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. On Yom Kippur many Jews fast, pray for hours in their synagogues, and reflect on the major changes in their lives that they committed to make on Rosh Hashanah. The holiday begins at sunset Tuesday and runs 25 hours through sundown Wednesday. Yom Kippur is the day in which the fates of everyone in the world are sealed by God, and a culmination of the Days of Awe, where repentant Jews seek forgiveness for their sinful ways and pledge to live better lives. Jews take it as a final op-
portunity to repent and try their hardest to be in God’s good graces, so they can enjoy the “sweet year” they prayed for on Rosh Hashanah. The long fast and the constant prayer can make Yom Kippur seem like a solemn and dreary day, but some rabbis like Nochem Tenenboim of Chabad of Hewlett think the holiday should be seen as celebratory, because it offers a chance to remove all earthly distractions such as food, drink and work and focus solely on re-connecting with God. The significance of Yom Kippur is so great that even folks who rarely if ever
easy task. “It took all of ’77 and part of ’78 getting this all built. We didn’t open until late in ’78 because we had tons of problems with the electric company. They had issues on another job and we basically got short shifted.” When the 5 Towns Batting Range was finally open for business, it consisted of only 10 batting cages, all of which were baseball only. Softball pitching machines did not even exist yet. Slowly but surely, Rosen
The welcoming sign in front of 5 Towns Mini-Golf and Batting, proudly boasting its 35 years of service to the community. Photo by Raimundo Ortiz
was able to add attractions. In 1990, he added a miniature golf course. In 1998 the game room was expanded from a small room that doubles as a tiny Dodgers shrine to a much larger area that extends outdoors. In 2002, Rosen build a “Wild West” paintball facility, that offers up cowboy-themed targets for adults and kids alike to splatter with paint. The paintball area took up the remaining property available and since then 5 Towns Mini-Golf and Batting has generally looked the same, save for some sprucing up at the beginning and end of each season.
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Winners! Hindy Birnbaum (middle) of Lawrence fanning out the $1,000 worth of vouchers she won in the $1,000 Cedarhurst Shopping Spree, sponsored by the Cedarhurst Business Improvement District. Cedarhurst Trustee Ari Brown pulled her name from a box containing over 3,000 tickets at the Cedarhurst BID Board Meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 11th. Ms. Birnbaum’s ticket came from raffle box at Orly (439 Central Avenue). On Hindy's left and right are her two sisters Frumit (left) and Chavy (right). "I thought I had zero percent chance of winning this, I even gave my e-mail address from like 15 years ago." Birnbaum was so stunned that her name was chosen that she nearly hung up the phone thinking it was a prank.
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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 8 • G a s a n d M i l k T r a c k e r s B 8 • M o v i e s B 4 • R e a l E s t a t e B 2 • S p o r t s A 6 • We a t h e r B 8