Manhasset Times_2023_05_05

GUIDE TO MOTHER’S DAY

PAGES 25-28

SANTOS TARGETS G.N. NORTH STUDENT KAPLAN TO RUN FOR SANTOS’ SEAT

Ex-attorney arrested for alleged theft

Manhasset’s DiGirolomo charged with illegally practicing law

BY ROBERT PELAEZ

A disbarred attorney from Manhasset that was convicted of stealing $675,000 from clients in 2021 was arrested last week for allegedly practicing law without authorization and stealing more than $21,000 from a client, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s office.

Alfred DiGirolomo, 67, pleaded guilty to three counts of grand larceny in the second degree in December 2020 for stealing $675,000 from two clients and pleaded guilty to one count of grand larceny in the second degree on April 4, 2019, for stealing nearly $230,000 from a separate client.

He was sentenced to prison on March 22, 2021, and was ordered to pay $680,000 of restitution by civil judgment, according to officials. He was disbarred in April 2019.

An investigation by the Nassau County District Attorney’s office revealed that DiGirolomo allegedly worked with a client who hired him in 2016 from April 2019-February 2021. He also allegedly requested $5,000 in attorney fees on separate occasions later in 2019 despite already being disbarred, officials said.

“Less than two months after pleading guilty to grand larceny charges and losing his license to practice law, this

defendant allegedly solicited purported attorney fees from an existing client and defiantly continued to provide representation,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a statement. “The defendant allegedly falsely told his client that he resolved the underlying matter, stole more than $21,000 from him, and ultimately caused him to receive a notice of default on the case for failing to appear at multiple court dates.”

DiGirolomo also allegedly made false claims to his client that he was able to negotiate a settlement resolving a civil matter for more than $11,000, according to the district attorney’s office.

The investigation revealed the plaintiff in the civil matter did not agree to settle and DiGirolomo’s offer of settling had been rejected, officials said.

He was arraigned on Tuesday and charged with third-degree grand larceny and practice of law by an attorney who has been disbarred, suspended, or convicted of a felony. If convicted, officials said, he faces anywhere from 2-1/2 — 7 years in prison, officials said.

Efforts to reach law enforcement officials for further comment on the matter were unavailing.

DiGirolomo fraudulently coordinated a funding agreement between two clients

DeSena running for re-election against Kaiman

BY CAMERYN OAKES

in November, according to the Nassau County Board of Elections.

serving in an elected position.

“I look forward to comparing my record of cutting taxes, increasing transparency, and fighting to reform our Building Department with Mr. KaiContinued on Page 45 Continued on Page 46

North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena will be vying for her seat again as she faces former Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman, a Democrat,

DeSena is a registered Democrat who caucuses with Republicans. She was elected to office in November 2021, which marked her first time

PHOTO BY ROBERT PELAEZ

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announces a deal between the county and Las Vegas Sands on Wednesday. See story on page 6.

Gounaris eyes more district improvements

Herricks board prez files for re-election

BY BRANDON DUFFY

Herricks Board of Education

President Jim Gounaris said if elected again, he would continue making the district better for residents and being a representative for all their voices.

Scott Strauss running for county Legislature

Former Mineola mayor in bid to replace Nicolello

BY ROBERT PELAEZ

Former Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss is seeking the seat held by outgoing Presiding Officer Rich Nicolello on the Nassau County Legislature, according to filings from the Nassau County Board of Elections.

Strauss, Northwell’s vice president of corporate security, is running on the Republican and Conservative lines against Democrat Neeraj Kumar. The winner will take control of the 9th Legislative District, currently held by Nicolello, who announced he would not be running for re-election earlier this year.

The 9th Legislative District includes New Hyde Park, Garden City Park, Mineola, Williston Park, Albertson, Roslyn Estates, Munsey Park and Plandome.

Strauss served four terms as Mineola’s mayor after first being elected to the position in 2010. He also held the reins in the village during the COVID-19 pandemic and other infrastructure achievements while minimally raising taxes on

residents.

Throughout Strauss’s time, he has overseen part of the implementation of Mineola’s master plan, which began in 2004.

Park renovations, downtown streetscapes, paving, recently opened parking and four transit-oriented mixed-use buildings are among the improvements made to the village’s business district.

Immediate efforts to reach Strauss for comment were unavailing.

Former Great Neck Library President Weihua Yan is running on the Democratic line against incumbent 10th District Legislator Mazi Melesa Pilip.

Other incumbent legislators seeking re-election include Democrats Siela Bynoe, Carrie Solages, Debra Mule, Delia DeRiggi Whitton, Arnold Drucker and Josh Lafazan. Lafazan is also running for the state’s 3rd Congressional District’s 2024 election.

Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams (D-Freeport) announced last month he would not be running for re-election to

the Legislature. Democrat Scott Davis and Republican Michael Lucchesi are running to fill his seat on the legislature.

Abrahams, who was elected to serve the county’s 1st District in 2001, expressed his gratitude to his constituents and Nassau residents for allowing him to serve as a leader for more than 20 years.

He did not provide a specific reason for not seeking re-election to his seat.

“It has been a great privilege and an honor to serve my constituency and advocate for change,” Abrahams said in a statement. “I am grateful to all my colleagues for their support throughout the years and to my constituents for allowing me to continue to represent them for over two decades.”

The 1st District includes the communities of Freeport, Roosevelt, Uniondale and East Meadow.

Abraham’s district, under newly approved legislative maps, has a larger number of enrolled Republicans than the current one, but still has more than Continued on Page 45

“I have been a representative of all the people who live here,” Gounaris said in a statement to Blank Slate Media. “Their voice, their eyes, and their ears. I have always been dedicated to serving all the residents and will continue to do so as a trustee always remembering that the finances we manage belong to the residents and it should be treated accordingly.”

Gounaris, a Manhasset Hills resident, is running alongside incumbent Trustee Henry Zanetti in the May 16 school board election. He is facing challenger Bhajan Ratra for a threeyear trustee term.

Gounaris was previously president of the board from 2013 to 2015. He is currently serving his fourth term on the board as a trustee after winning re-election in 2020. He was appointed president last year, taking over for Zanetti. He currently works at Great Neck Public Schools as the director of food and nutrition services.

Gounaris is also running for the North Hempstead Town Board on the Republican line this November. He faces Democrat Christine Liu for the 4th Councilmanic District seat, which is being vacated by Council Member Veronica Lurvey, who running for receiver of taxes.

Prior to his time on the board in 2011, Gounaris was a member of the district’s PTA and booster organization while serving on multiple districtwide organizations, he said. One of his original goals when he sought out the trustee post was increasing transparency to Herricks residents.

During Gounaris’ time on the board, capital improvements at Herricks have included a renovated cafeteria at Herricks High School, library upgrades across the district, Google Chromebooks for students on a 1:1 ratio and new artificial turf and track at the high school.

Much of the capital improvements were done in part by a $25

million bond issue that the district approved in 2016.

More recently, the district unveiled a newly renovated auditorium at the high school.

Gounaris was also involved in hiring Superintendent Tony Sinanis, who replaced former Superintendent Fino Celano after his retirement last year, and said he has been helping him understand “the greatness of our district.”

“Knowing that the most amazing aspect of our district is the people who live here, people who are kind, tolerant, respectful, empathetic and most of all, grounded in our philosophy that every student matters and giving them the best education is of the highest importance,” Gounaris said.

On issues in the district, Gounaris said one of the challenges the board always has to face is security “in all aspects of the word.” On top of physical security on district grounds, students and staff should feel welcome in a place that has no room for intolerance, Gounaris said.

“Parents need to know that we are all welcome in this community and Continued on Page 46

Herald Courier: Brandon Duffy 516-307-1045 x215 • bduffy@theisland360.com

CLASSIFIED

Sue

: Deborah Flynn 516-307-1045 x218

Manhasset Times: Robert Pelaez 516-307-1045 x203 • rpelaez@theisland360.com

Roslyn Times: Cameryn Oakes 516-307-1045 x214 • coakes@theisland360.com

Williston Times: Brandon Duffy 516-307-1045 x215 • bduffy@theisland360.com

Port Washington Times: Cameryn Oakes 516-307-1045 x214 • coakes@theisland360.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ISLAND 360 ARCHIVES

Herricks Board of Education President Jim Gounaris.

PHOTO BY SARAH IBRAHIM

Former Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss.

Olga Lucia celebrates three decades

Manhasset-based doctor started career as optometrist in Colombia before working in permanent cosmetics

BY CAMERYN OAKES

Olga Lucia Permanent Cosmetics is celebrating 30 years in business and the evolution that owner Olga Lucia has implemented over the decades to help people feel good about themselves.

Olga Lucia Permanent Cosmetics is located at 1129 Northern Blvd., Suite 301, in Manhasset. She has been at this location for nine years.

Services she offers include permanent makeup, scar camouflaging, scalp tattooing and areola reconstruction. The newest technology she is now offering is microchanneling, a technique that utilizes needles to deposit serums into the skin that can help with scars, redness, wrinkles and skin rejuvenation.

Lucia started her career as an optometrist in her home country of Colombia. As an optometrist, she learned about the struggles with makeup and her patients’ eyes.

Often, Lucia would clean contact lenses for patients and notice makeup needed to be cleaned out. Patients would also warn her about their eye makeup, asking her to be careful not to smear it.

This is where Lucia’s curiosity started about permanent makeup, as a way to help people protect the health of their eyes but also to save them time and feel good about themselves.

She decided to shift from optometry and began her work in permanent cosmetics in 1993.

Lucia immigrated to Queens in 1994 where she began working as a makeup

artist and esthetician. She said she was gifted with artistic abilities, something she was born with, but wanted to use to help people by combining it with her passion for medicine and health.

“We can do beautiful work,” Lucia said.

Lucia wants to help others, and that bleeds into the main goal of the work that she does. Many of her services are

catered to people who have experienced trauma to their bodies, including burn victims and breast cancer survivors. She said the work she does is to make people feel better about their bodies.

“That’s the beautiful part of this,” Lucia said. “People want to look good about themselves.”

Lucia said that her interest in offering her services to people who have experienced physical traumas immediately began when she started her career in permanent cosmetics.

She said this is what adds to the importance of her work as it helps people feel complete after enduring mental and physical traumas that one wears on their body.

“When you have to go through all this trauma, removing your breast or getting scars, the scars really affect you emotionally and mentally and you get depressed,” Lucia said. “And that’s how you’re going to behave in front of your people, in front of your friends, in front of your children. When you have something that can make yourself feel better, it’s a big change.”

Lucia shared a story of a patient who had undergone a breast reduction that damaged one of her areolas. With the scar in a private location, the patient told Lucia that seeing the scar in the mir-

Continued on Page 45

PHOTO BY CAMERYN OAKES

Olga Lucia Permanent Cosmetics celebrates 30 years in business.

North High School student’s talent show act seen by parents to national audience

Santos condemns drag performance Criticizes G.N.

BY ROBERT PELAEZ

Republican U.S. Rep. George Santos condemned a Great Neck North High School student’s drag performance during a talent show over the weekend.

North High School’s “Coffee House” talent show included a male student dressed in drag, singing and dancing. Santos, the target of multiple investigations into his personal, professional and financial background, told News 12 that exposing other students to drag performances in school is inappropriate.

“I’m not taking a dig at drag culture and the art of drag,” Santos told News 12. “I’m saying that there are some things that are appropriate and some things that are not and I just don’t believe drag should be in school.”

Great Neck Board of Education President Rebecca Sassouni told Blank Slate Media that the student’s family was in attendance along with other students and their families during the performance. People recorded the performance, which briefly ended up on Santos’ social media.

“How that ends up being anything worth the attention of a United States congressman and national media at-

tention strains credulity,” Sassouni told Blank Slate Media.

Sassouni said the student performer had his parents’ consent and that the school district “supports all of our kids in the Great Neck Public Schools and their ability to perform, to be safe and to express themselves.”

She also said the “Coffee House” events will continue to go on.

Videos and photos surfaced in January of Santos allegedly dressed up in drag at a party in Brazil. Some who claimed they knew Santos in Brazil said it was the congressman depicted in videos and photos from the event, though Santos had somewhat denied the claims.

“The most recent obsession from the media claiming that I am a drag queen or “performed” as a drag queen is categorically false,” Santos tweeted earlier this year. “The media continues to make outrageous claims about my life while I am working to deliver results.”

But Santos later appeared to acknowledge that he had dressed in drag in Brazil while maintaining he was not a drag queen.

No, I was not a drag queen in Brazil, guys. I was young and I had fun at a festival. Sue me for having a life,” Santos previously said.

PHOTO BY BRANDON DUFFY

George Santos

Nassau, Sands announce agreement

Bid to build casino, entertainment center in HUB advances with lease subject to Legislature’s OK

BY ROBERT PELAEZ

County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced a lease agreement between Nassau and Las Vegas Sands to develop a casino and entertainment resort at the site of the Coliseum and surrounding 72-acre site known as the Nassau Hub on Wednesday.

The agreement, subject to approval from the Republican-controlled county Legislature, would permit the Sands to develop a $4 billion resort that includes a casino, hotel, live entertainment venue, community centers, restaurants and more.

Upon approval by the Legislature, Blakeman said, Sands will provide Nassau County with $54 million.

The county executive expressed his confidence in legislative approval and said the revenue this proposal could generate has significant potential.

“My friends that I’ve talked to in the casino industry have told me that this could become the highest-grossing casino in America,” Blakeman said. “Let me stress, that we want to use that money for good things, to stabalize our tax plan, make sure we don’t have to raise taxes, to make sure that we have quality construction jobs that will last for at least the next five years.”

When the casino opens, Blakeman

CULINARY PERFECTION

IS COMING TO Sands New York

Where would you like to dine tonight? At one of New York’s trend-setting establishments like Rao’s, Jean-Georges, or estiatorio Milos? Or possibly the culinary creations of celebrity chefs like Lorena Garcia and Tetsuya Wakuda will be more to your palette’s delight. Whatever exceptional culinary experience you can imagine, you’ll find it at the Sands’ planned Long Island destination resort.

Combined with the local restaurant scene, the Sands New York culinary experience will transform Long Island to a must-experience dining destination. Plus, Sands New York’s fivestar concierge service will be directing visitors to local restaurants, bars and attractions, benefitting the entire region.

said, Nassau is guaranteed $25 million in revenue with escalation costs. That figure increases to $50 million a year with escalation costs once the operation has been running for three years.

Aside from legislative approval, Sands also must obtain zoning approval from the Town of Hempstead and file an application with the state’s licensing board for the casino.

Blakeman also exuded confidence in the Sands obtaining that license from the state board because he believes Long Island “is entitled” to one.

“I believe we have the best shot to get a license here in Nassau County and I am just so excited for the people in Nassau County that we have the opportunity to keep taxes down, to keep our community safe and to create jobs,” he said.

Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Rob Goldstein said Blakeman “fought hard” in negotiations to assure that a proposal would not go forward if it did not have a first-class resort.

Goldstein told the approximate 100 residents and labor union representatives that Sands’ goal is to become integrated in the Nassau community and that the hotel will be “the best hotel in New York.”

“We will deliver the job you expect and you want in this community and

you won’t be disappointed,” Goldstein said.

Aside from the $54 million payment to the county, Blakeman said, Sands will also pay $5 million in recurring rent until the gaming license is obtained, at which time the recurring rent will increase to $10 million annually.

The Town of Hempstead, he said, will be receiving “significant revenue with a guarantee for the proceeds [Sands] receives and the taxes that are shared under the licensing agreement.”

Sands Vice President Ron Reese told Blank Slate Media in January that 80% of the gross gaming revenue goes to the state and 20% goes locally.

The local percentage would be split up between both Nassau and Suffolk County along with the Town of Hempstead, with Suffolk receiving 10% and Nassau and the town each receiving the remaining 5%.

The Sands will also be providing the Nassau County Police Department $1.8 million each year with escalation costs for police improvements, Blakeman said.

Reese also told Blank Slate Media that the hotel will be at least 800 rooms and the live performance venue will have a 5,000-7,500 seat capacity. Blakeman said the agreement includes a

PHOTO BY ROBERT PELAEZ

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, right, Las Vegas Sands CEO Ron Goldstein, middle and former New York Governor and Las Vegas Sands Vice President David Patterson, left, announce the lease agreement of the Nassau Coliseum and the surrounding 72 acres known as the Nassau Hub.

Flower Hill appoints new trustee

AJ Smith fills in for Brian Herrington, who resigned after work promotion requiring travel

BY CAMERYN OAKES

Flower Hill swore in new Trustee AJ Smith, who will be filling the seat left by Brian Herrington, during the Board of Trustees meeting Monday night.

Herrington resigned after receiving a promotion that requires him to travel, Mayor Randall Rosenbaum said during the meeting.

Herrington served on the board for 10 years, starting as a trustee and ending his tenure on the board as deputy mayor.

To fill the vacancy of deputy mayor, Trustee Frank Genese was appointed to the position.

The board also continued its public hearing on the landmark designation of the Elderfield Preserve. The property is located within the village but is owned by Nassau County.

The Elderfields Preserve is a four-acre parkland with a main house that includes the original 17th-century home on the property, one of the oldest structures on Long Island, according to the county Parks Department.

At an April 3 Board of Trustees meeting, Nassau County Deputy Attorney Anna Gerzon told the board that while the county is not against the village protecting the preserve, the village landmarking a preserve managed by the county sets a bad precedent. This would be the first county property landmarked by a village.

Rosenbaum countered by saying that he sees it as a good initiative that Flower Hill would be the first to landmark a county property. He said during the meeting that he sees it as a positive whereas

the county views it as additional work. If the village designates the Elderfields as a landmark, the management of the preserve will

Ne C k Pe N i N sula

serve.

Rosenbaum said that the county’s proposal for the property is much stronger than the village’s landmark designation, which adds additional covenants to protect the preserve. Protections include the prevention of the sale of the property and aesthetic changes.

Gerzon said the deed would prevent a future sale of the property. This means that any sort of arrangement that transfers the property in any way, including leasing the property, would be prohibited.

“Our plan was to initially landmark to protect the property, but there were enough holes in there and I think [the county] filled up those holes to make it a lot better,” Rosenbaum said.

The board did not vote on the manner but will continue the public hearing at the next meeting.

The board also held a public hearing for a new local law that would extend building permits for new homes to 18 months. The current law requires homes to be built within 12 months, which Village Administrator Ronnie Shatzkamer said has been difficult to achieve due to the scarcity of building materials.

The board did not vote on the law as it was the first public hearing held for it, but they will resume the public hearing at the next meeting and potentially vote on the manner.

not change and the county will continue to own it.

The county has been working with the village to adopt a proposal that is beneficial to the pre-

WWI: The home FronT

How did our Long Island communities pull together when local men were drafted and shipped abroad? When the farmers left, who grew all the food, both for us and for the soldiers? What did the suffragists do during the war? And who were the farmerettes?

Docent Tours: Join a small group for a 75-minute tour of this outstanding exhibit that will amaze and inform you!

Located at the historic Sands-Willets House in scenic Port Washington. Handicap accessible, 12+, May – November. Pre-purchase tickets at www.cowneck.org - No walk-ins.

Open Exhibit (no docent): May 27, June 24. View the exhibit at your leisure from 11:30 am until 2:30 pm (last entry 1:45). Cash tickets at the door or pre-purchase online. $12/ticket.

The board will convene again on June 5 when they will continue the public hearings for the Elderfield Preserve and the local law extending building permits.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Flower Hill appointed new trustee AJ Smith to the board due to a vacancy left by Brian Herrington.

Residents oppose casino proposal at town meeting

BY BRANDON DUFFY

North Hempstead residents asked the town board Tuesday night to oppose the proposed Las Vegas Sands casino citing concerns over increased crime and gambling addictions in the area.

Also during the meeting, the town board passed two resolutions declaring May Jewish American Heritage Month and Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

“Don’t unleash this epidemic on Nassau County, our community or our youth when you have this information in advance,” said resident Kim Riordan. “Those who turn a blind eye to this trainwreck waiting to happen will never be forgotten.”

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced last week a lease agreement between the county and Las Vegas Sands to develop a casino and entertainment resort at the Nassau Hub, which includes the Coliseum and a surrounding 72-acre site.

The agreement is subject to approval by the county Legislature.

Riordan cited a March Newsweek article that lists “gambling disorder” in the same category as heroin and opioid addictions, according to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistic Manual.

Riordan was joined by Alison O’Brien Silva, Vasu Krishnamurthy and Scott Carroll,

members of the Say No to the Casino Civic Association, a group of community members across the county united in opposition against the casino.

Silva said the board may not have voting rights on the Hempstead-based issue but have powerful voices to help stop the issue. In 2015, then-Supervisor Judy Bosworth sent a letter to the Nassau Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation alongside members of

Civic group to hold vote on casino

BY BRANDON DUFFY

The Lakeville Estates Civic Association will be conducting another vote with members for their thoughts on the Las Vegas Sands’ casino and entertainment proposal.

The association, which represents the greater New Hyde Park area and recently absorbed the Garden City Park Civic Association, discussed concerns on the proposal with a Sands representative during their April 19 meeting.

tertainment venue, community centers, restaurants and more.

Upon approval by the Legislature, Blakeman said, Sands will provide Nassau County with $54 million.

Prior to the meeting, civic President Bill Cutrone said the initial poll found 89% of members voted “no” when asked if they were in favor of the proposal.

the town board and Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray to halt plans on a video gambling parlor at the vacant Fortunoff building at The Source mall in Westbury

Before the proposal was pulled, the Village of Westbury and two towns filed a lawsuit against the corporation to stop the purchase of the former Fortunoff site.

“Let’s blow away the smoke and mirrors,

Continued on Page 46

After the meeting took place, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced a lease agreement with Sands for the development of a casino and entertainment resort at the 72-acre site known as the Nassau Hub.

The agreement, subject to approval from the Republicancontrolled county Legislature, would permit the Sands to develop a $4 billion resort that includes a casino, hotel, live en-

1388 OLD NORTHERN BLVD., ROSLYN

In a letter to the association, Cutrone said if the vote is favorable for the development, he would recommend members sit on an advisory board that Sands created for community input and guidance on sports, veterans, small business and traffic. Additionally, the civic would insist Sands put in writing a deadline for proposed infrastructure projects, including the proposed track and field structure, senior center and veteran facility.

If members vote against the proposal again, Cutrone said the association would in-

Continued on Page 46

RENDERING COURTESY OF LAS VEGAS SANDS

A rendering of the Las Vegas Sands’ casino and entertainment venue proposal.

Kaplan files to run for Santos’ seat

Ex-state senator joins crowded field seeking to replace beleaguered 3rd District congressman

BY ROBERT PELAEZ

Fomer Democratic state Sen. Anna Kaplan has joined next year’s 3rd Congressional District election, seeking to oust incumbent U.S. Rep. George Santos.

Kaplan, who represented the state’s 7th Senate District from 20192022, filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission Monday, according to filings. Kaplan, who has not yet commented on the launch of her campaign, joined the growing Democratic field of challengers that includes Nassau County Legislator Josh Lafazan and attorney Will Murphy vying to reclaim the district.

Kaplan is an Iranian immigrant whose parents sent her to the United States for her safety and was an active member of the Great Neck community before her time in government. She was elected to serve the Town of North Hempstead’s 4th District as a councilwoman in 2011.

In 2016, she sought election to the House of Representatives but lost to current Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) in the Democratic primary. Kaplan defeated former Flower Hill Mayor Elaine Phillips in 2018 to represent the 7th Senate District.

In 2022, she lost to Republican

Jack Martins, who previously served the 7th Senate District.

Lafazan ran against Robert Zimmerman, whose name has been included in lists of other potential candidates for the election, in the district’s Democratic primary last year. Zimmerman won the primary but lost to Santos in the general election

Murphy, 39, is a legal studies professor at St. John’s University, according to his campaign biography. Born in Mineola, Murphy now lives in Farmingdale with his wife, Megan and his 3-year-old son Connor.

Santos made his announcement to seek re-election last month, despite his lack of support from local and state Republican groups. A press release on Santos’ stationery described the controversial representative as “a dependable conservative vote in Congress and a fearless champion of conservative values.”

The announcement came in the midst of federal and local investigations into Santos’ personal, professional and financial background. The congressman was caught lying about his education and work experience on a resume he submitted to Republican groups ahead of last year’s election.

Nassau County Republican Committee Chairman Joseph Cairo, Nas-

sau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena, newly elected state Sen. Jack Martins and newly elected U.S. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito have been vocal in expressing their complete lack of support for Santos going forward.

Efforts to reach the Nassau County Republican Committee for com-

ment were unavailing.

“He’s disgraced the House of Representatives and we do not consider him one of our congresspeople,” Cairo said at a press conference earlier this year.

The House Ethics Committee launched a formal investigation into Santos last month and will scrutinize his most recent congressional cam-

paign, officials announced.

The committee will determine if Santos failed to properly disclose information and statements to Congress, engaged in sexual misconduct with someone seeking employment in his D.C. office and violated potential federal conflict-of-interest laws.

Santos’ official congressional Twitter account said the newly elected representative “is fully cooperating” in the investigation, but the congressman would not comment on the matter.

Republican Kellen Curry has also filed to run in next year’s 3rd District election and discussed the need to bring transparency back to Long Island and Queens.

“What we’re really focusing on right now is making sure that we draw attention to the current state of leadership,” Curry said in an interview two weeks ago. “Quite frankly, nothing happens if we don’t have leadership that we can believe in.”

Curry, a Queens resident who lives just outside the 3rd District, is an Afghanistan war veteran and former vice president at J.P. Morgan. Curry completed two tours of duty in Afghanistan and currently serves in the Air Force Reserves, according to his campaign website.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KAPLAN’S OFFICE

Former state Sen. Anna Kaplan filed to run for Congress on Monday, according to election documents.

Smile Farms opens Garden City campus

All produce to be donated to Mercy Hospital’s Gamily Care Program for food insecure

BY CAMERYN OAKES

Smile Farms unveiled its 12th campus Tuesday morning, located at Catholic Health’s Mercy Behavioral Health Center in Garden City.

Smile Farms is a nonprofit that employs adults with developmental disabilities at their 12 farm campuses throughout Long Island and the New York Metropolitan Area.

The organization was started by Jim McCann, founder and chairman of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. to mitigate the challenges of disabled individuals facing high rates of unemployment, including his own brother.

McCann partnered with Independent Group

Living Home in Moriches, New York to open the first Smile Farms campus in 2015.

The newest campus at the behavioral health center includes five raised gardening beds that will be home to crops including lettuces, tomatoes, cucumber, herbs and garlic.

All produce grown at Smile Farms at Catholic Health will be donated to Mercy Hospital’s Family Care Program, which provides food to people who are food insecure.

The event unveiling the new campus was opened with a prayer led by Father Kevin Creagh, who blessed the garden beds to bring nourishment to their community.

Catholic Health CEO Patrick M. O’Shaughnessy

said that it is exciting to unveil the garden in May as it is also Mental Health Month, pairing perfectly with the behavioral health center’s initiative of providing treatment for people with mental health conditions, mental illnesses or substance abuse issues.

The garden will be maintained by the center’s patients and O’Shaughnessy said this will help in providing patients with a great purpose. He said their efforts in the garden will assist other patients who are food insecure and will receive donations from the garden’s bounty, providing an example of patients helping out other patients.

“Today we are connecting two vital issues at the forefront of healthcare, mental health and food

insecurity,” O’Shaughnessy said.

He said this campus is an example of the butterfly effect, meaning that the small actions enacted there will have resounding effects.

While Smile Farm’s main initiative has been to provide employment for people with mental disabilities, Smile Farms Managing Director Diana Martin said this will be the first campus that will include individuals with mental health conditions.

“That’s a new area for us and we are very excited to be expanding into that space,” Martin said.

She said that gardening is a gratifying and healing hobby for so many people and she is looking forward to it empowering the patients at Catholic Health to then empower others.

Brewington to recieve M. D’Innocenzo Award

BY CAMERYN OAKES

Civil rights attorney Frederick K. Brewington will be the first recipient of the Michael D’Innocenzo Award for Outstanding Contributions to Constructive Public Dialogue, presented by Hofstra University’s Center for Civic Engagement.

“Frederick Brewington has been an advocate in the public sphere and in the courts, for the voting rights of Long Island’s minorities. He also fights for affordable housing and has been a leading voice and organizer against discriminatory policing,” Phil Dalton, director of the university’s Center for Civic Engagement and associate professor of writing studies and rhetoric, said in a press release.

“When he isn’t in the courts, he’s working with various local organizations to champion their causes and on college campuses, educating students on various issues. He has elevated the public

discourse on many important issues and has effected important change in the process.”

The award was founded in honor of D’Innocenzo, who died in November 2021 at the age of 86, with the purpose of continuing his legacy. He was a Hofstra history professor, founding member of the Center for Civic Engagement and a Blank Slate Media columnist with his column “Out of Left Field.”

D’Innocenzo also co-founded the Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, activist organization that educates individuals on peace, nonviolence and human security issues, according to its website.

Community members who have made outstanding contributions to constructive public dialogue were eligible to be nominated for the award. Contributions could be “noteworthy public advocacy for marginalized viewpoints, the public

pursuit of common ground on an important public issue or work fostering forums for the free, open and safe exchange of ideas,” according to the press release.

Brewington was selected by the university’s Center for Civic Engagement advisory board among seven other nominees from throughout Long Island.

The award will be presented at Hofstra’s annual end-of-year dinner at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

PHOTO BY CAMERYN OAKES

Representatives from Smile Farms and Catholic Health receive citations from local government officials at the unveiling Tuesday morning.

PHOTO COURTESY OF HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY

Civil rights attorney Frederick K. Brewington will be the first recipient of the Michael D’Innocenzo Award for Outstanding Contributions to Constructive Public Dialogue.

Port woman named dean of Queen College

dean since 2022.

Kabuto said she is “proud and excited” to be named dean and will prepare graduates to work in diverse urban communities.

“Having served the Queens College community for almost two decades, I am deeply committed to the equity-minded and inclusive mission of the college,” Kabuto said in a press release. “I look forward to fostering a progressive community of learners and leaders grounded in social justice, advocacy, and the School of Education’s conceptual framework that centers on Equity, Excellence, and Ethics.”

In her role as dean, Kabuto will be responsible for enhancing the school’s profile, visibility and effectiveness, developing plans and managing the school’s faculty, budget and academic program planning.

“She will also work to foster a high-quality environment of academic teaching, research and intellectual achievement, and create and strengthen partnerships within and outside the college as a strong advocate,” according to the press release.

Kabuto is a tenured professor and previously served as chair of the Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education She is also president of the Center for the Expansion of Language and Thinking.

BY CAMERYN OAKES

Port Washington resident Bobbie Kabuto was appointed dean of Queens College’s School of Education, a highly regarded teacher-training program in the City University of New York system, where she has taught since 2006 and served as interim

“I am so pleased that Dr. Bobbie Kabuto will become Queens College’s permanent dean of the School of Education,” Provost Patricia Price said. “The quality of her vision and leadership have been apparent from the outset of her time as interim dean, and I only expect these to strengthen

Continued on Page 46

Woman sentenced for $600K yacht club theft

BY CAMERYN OAKES

A Glen Head woman was sentenced to up to six years in prison for stealing more than $600,000 from an Oyster Bay yacht club over seven years, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.

Anna Maria Restrepo, 59, pleaded guilty to

second-degree grand larceny, a felony, Jan. 13. She was sentenced April 27 to three to six years in prison and given a civil judgment order for $608,886 on behalf of the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club and a civil judgment order in the amount of $14,449 on behalf of American Express.

Restrepo was hired as the yacht club’s boat

Continued on Page 45

A Glen Head woman

sentenced to up to six years in prison for stealing more than $600K from

PHOTO COURTESY OF QUEENS COLLEGE

Bobbie Kabuto was appointed as dean of the School of Education at Queens College.

PHOTO COURTESY OF GOOGLE MAPS

was

an Oyster Bay yacht club.

OUR VIEWS Editorial Cartoon

Trust but verify Sands Las Vegas deal

We may be exaggerating a little when we say that the past week was “yes” to a casino and “no” to housing in Nassau County.

But there is an element of truth on both counts with important implications for Nassau’s future.

The “no” to housing came when Gov. Kathy Hochul removed from the state budget her housing plan intended to address a shortage of 800,000 housing units in the state.

Hochul’s plan called for a 3% increase in housing units over three years, the possibility of the state stepping in if the 3% goal was not met and the use of transitoriented developments to achieve that objective.

Town supervisors, including North Hempstead’s Jennifer DeSena and village officials, responded to the plan as if alien spaceships had landed at Roosevelt Field. They said the threat of the state stepping in amounted to a loss of local control that would end the suburban dream.

Which was kind of the point — to remove local officials’ total control over zoning.

We believed it was for good reason.

From 1950 to 1970, Nassau County’s population grew from 672,765 to 1.43 million people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But since 1970, Nassau’s population has declined by 32,306.

So much for local control.

The shortage in housing in Nassau and beyond has caused rents and housing prices to soar on Long Island and in New York City, preventing middle-class families, single young professionals and aging residents, among others, from finding places to live at reasonable prices.

Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist, recently estimated that middle-class families earning $70,000 a year pay a “housing tax” that amounts to 25% of their income.

The local officials maintained that they were better positioned to oversee growth in housing than state officials.

If that is the case, now is the time for them to prove it. But we wouldn’t recommend anyone holding their breath.

By contrast, the proposal for a casino in Nassau moved a large step forward.

County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced that Nassau had reached a lease agreement with Las Vegas Sands to develop a casino and entertainment resort at the site of the Coliseum and surrounding 72-acre site known as the Nassau Hub.

The agreement would permit the Sands to develop a $4 billion resort that includes a casino, hotel, live entertainment venue, community centers, restaurants and more.

The agreement still needs the OK of the Republican-controlled county Legislature and the Sands must obtain zoning approval from the Town of Hempstead and the state licensing board’s blessingof the casino – which is by no means guaranteed.

Upon approval by the Legislature, Blakeman said, Sands will provide Nassau County with $54 million — whether or not the casino is eventually built.

If the casino is approved and opens, Blakeman said, Nassau is guaranteed $25 million in revenue with escalation costs. That figure increases to $50 million a year with escalation costs once the operation has been running for three years.

If the Sands is unable to obtain the gaming license, Blakeman said, Sands would still have to pay the $54 million to Nassau County and construct other aspects of the proposal aside from the casino

In addition to the $54 million payment to the county, Blakeman said, the Sands will also pay $5 million in recurring rent until the gaming license is obtained, at which time the recurring rent will increase to $10 million annually.

“My friends that I’ve talked to in the casino industry have told me that this could become the highest-grossing casino in America,” Blakeman said. “Let me stress that we want to use that money for good things, to stabilize our tax plan, make sure we don’t have to raise taxes, to make sure that we have quality construction jobs that will last for at least the next five years.”

This sounds like a very good deal for Nassau. It would provide an economic shot in the arm and generate both shortterm and long-term revenues as well as thousands of construction jobs for five years and permanent hospitality jobs beyond.

But a note of caution is warranted given what’s taken place at the HUB going

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back more than a decade.

In 2007, then New York Islanders owner Charles Wang sought to invest $3.74 billion in a plan to transform the Nassau Veterans Coliseum and the surrounding area into a modern suburban area.

The base of what was known as the Lighthouse project was a newly renovated Coliseum for the New York Islanders to play in.

Surrounding the Coliseum would be houses, offices, restaurants, and various stores, as well as Long Island’s first fivestar hotel. There would also be an athletic complex, conference and exhibition facilities and a minor-league baseballballpark.

But the Town of Hempstead would not approve the plan. in July 2010, Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray announced a plan to downsize the project.

Then Nassau County Executive Ed Manganoand the developers said the town’s plan made the project “economically unviable for both the developer and owner of the site.

The decision not to build resulted in the beloved New York Islanders leaving for Brooklyn.

Some believe Hempstead’s opposition to the Lighthouse project was based on guess what? Yes, housing. The concern, some said, was that Democratic voters might move in and challenge the town’s Republican dominance.

Sands Las Vegas appears to have learned a lesson from Wang’s failed plan.

They made it very clear that there would be no housing for anyone, including the construction workers who would build it and the hospitality workers who would staff it.

Following the defeat of the Lighthouse, Mangano proposed a plan for the county to borrow up to $400 million to rebuild the Coliseum. County voters turned it down.

Mangano then sought the aid of Forest City Rattner, developers of the Barclays Center, which would take the Islanders from Nassau to Brooklyn, to develop a plan for the HUB that included the renovation of the Coliseum. Forest City Rattner were also included in selecting a company to develop it.

Forest City Rattner then helped select themselves to do the work. The plan called for a downsized arena, restaurants and retail.

Only the Coliseum got renovated. Forest City Rattner would later sell its interests in the arena, the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and the New York Nets to a group headed by Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov.

What could go wrong?

Well, for one, Prokhorovov got on the bad side of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Prokhorovov would later flee to Israel.

In June 2020, the Coliseum shuttered its doors after the company owned by Prokhorovov defaulted on $2.2 million in rent after months of events were canceled amid COVID.

Nassau Live Center took over the operation of the Coliseum, assuming $100 million in debt incurred by Prokhorov’s company.

Las Vegas Sands now says they are not sure what they will do with the Coliseum.

We say all this not to oppose the project but just to give a word of warning. The county Legislature and the Town of Hempstead need to do their due diligence and make sure the county dots its i’s and crosses its t’s.

Hofstra University, which sits adjacent to the site, and civic associations have opposed the project.

Hofstra’s trustees said in a letter published online that the project could generate potential “traffic congestion, crime, economic harm to local business” and would have a negative impact on the school community.

Yes, if the project is successful, it will increase traffic to the area and more people could mean more crime. But there is an answer to that – more police.

The proposed agreement calls for the Sands to provide the Nassau County Police Department $1.8 million each year with escalation costs for police improvements.

The 72-acre site in the heart of Nassau is too important to languish forever and Blakeman is right about the need for more revenue.

The county Legislature and Town of Hempstead should proceed cautiously. But proceed.

Yvonne Farley

Childhood fragments, a search for meaning

Disparate fragments from my childhood years often visit unannounced with neither rhyme nor reason. They’re not dreams. They represent reality and, after all these many years, likely contain seeds of some transcendent meaning.

For example, there was time that my younger brother was harassed by the neighborhood bully. At 8 years old, I was never one to look for a fight. I made an exception. I smacked the boy in his mouth, which put an end to his intimidating my little brother. Not very progressive of me, I know.

Does the recurrent resurfacing of this fragment into my consciousness signify anything more to me than a memory? Could it have anything to do with my being a cancer survivor, 14 years and counting, and battling that bully back every day since?

Blogger Laura Haugen writes, “I have been most moved by writing that tells a story in fragments, often ones that are weighted with emotion and significance to the life of the narrator.” She goes on to say, “Only after each fragment has been picked up, polished, and assembled in place, jagged edge to jagged edge, does the meaning reveal itself.”

The fragments I disclose here oc-

curred in my hometown Newark, N.J., before I turned 10 years old. For some geographical perspective, I grew up in the same urban neighborhood that novelist Philip Roth lived in as a child and used as a setting for his novels such as “The Plot Against America.”

Never far from instant recall are Sunday mornings when I walked down the block from our home to the corner bakery to pick up freshly baked rye bread and rolls. Nowadays I can easily summon the olfactory rush that was that bakery’s every greeting.

The fragments of my childhood that reappear today are of an assorted variety: soothing, troubling or bewildering.

Among the more troubling fragments were the unforeseen episodes of public grieving; in particular, the open wailing of neighborhood women after the death of their loved ones. There were many such instances. I’ll share two.

The grandmother of a friend who lived two houses down, wept loudly through the night after her husband passed; her piercing cries filling the wee hours of the morning, from midnight until the break of dawn.

If possible, even more penetrating was the time our downstairs neighbor, the landlady who became a family

friend, sobbed in intermittent bursts of excruciating agony all day long after she learned that her daughter had tragically taken her own life.

I knew little about death and nothing about suicide. No grown-up was eager to clue me in. I could only piece together what happened by listening to the hushed tones of the big people around me referring to a leap from a building.

As readily as I can still capture the aroma of fresh baked goods, I can hear the mournful cries of bereaved women

on my block, perhaps vocal proxies for others who lost loved ones and who were more reserved in their grief. Residing in an urban setting, with neighbors living close by one another, everything was less private than in the more cloistered suburbs where we moved years later.

I had the good fortune to live within a mile of a small amusement park — Olympic Park. My favorite rides were the Wild Mouse, a mini-roller coaster, and the electrically powered bumper cars. There was a swimming pool always teaming with smiling and splashing kids of all backgrounds. The rumor was that one ought to stay out of the pool to avoid contracting polio, which seemed at the time to be the first conspiracy theory I was exposed to, but it turned out to be true.

As I stepped into the line to await my turn on the bumper cars, I was captivated by a peculiar image. The scene reminded me of something out of a fantasy scene that film director David Lynch and Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch might have conjured and collaborated on.

As I stood waiting, I observed a nun driving solo in a bumper car. Chaos reigned all around her. Teenaged boys and girls ramming into one another, ges-

turing, giggling, and shrieking.

No one dared bump Sister, though, as she calmly completed her laps like a seasoned Indy 500 competitor out for a test drive, habit unruffled. The invisible oval lane that she repetitively circled remained unobstructed, as others collided all around her. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She appeared composed and content, reminding me of a mobile halo providing a spiritual arc of protective light around the entire arena.

At the time and in succeeding years, I’ve often wondered if bumper car Sister might have preferred to mix it up and dish it out, take a few good bumps and give a few back. But she just kept circling the laminated floor, almost levitating it seemed, unperturbed by the ensuing pandemonium.

Has anything coherent been assembled by my chosen fragments? Do the jagged edges now fit together to reveal any transcendent meaning? Bullies, bread, bereavement, and bumper cars?

Maybe bumper car Sister is the glue; floating on air, keeping a watchful eye, Mona Lisa smile and habit firmly in place, knowingly, as if to simply say: “Hang on. There will be bumps. See you on the other side. Meet you at the corner bakery?”

New York issues that cannot be ignored

Public opinion polls have been indicating that the most important issues for New Yorkers are crime and migrant asylumseeking.

Those concerns, however, do not appear to be hitting the radar screen of leftist legislators who represent us in Albany and Washington.

Democratic legislators in the State capital, for instance, have been ignoring the fact that major crimes increased in New York City last year by 22%.

Unable to bring themselves to admit that their so-called penal reforms have contributed to the surge in crime, they ignore the cries of victims to substantively adjust the bail laws. (The minor changes in the state’s budget deal are not expected to have any meaningful public safety impact.)

Here are a few cases of ideological denseness that prove my thesis:

On April 18, a 20-year-old was shot in the head outside the Bronx office of Assembly speaker Carl Heastie.

Later that same day, a Bronx policewoman was hit in the head with a glass bottle and subsequently rushed to a hospital.

Film footage revealed that the officer’s assailant, a 45-year-old with a very long list of arrests, quietly walked up to her and smashed her. “God told him to do this,” he later told police investigators.

What was Speaker Heastie’s reaction to these two incidents in his political backyard? “We must stop focusing on the symptoms of crime and treat the disease,” he said.

Huh?

I’m guessing he means the disease is guns on the streets. But a bottle is not a gun.

Heastie is so wrapped up in his ideological fantasies, that he cannot grasp that the 2019 lenient penal reforms he supported have emboldened criminals.

For example, 327 shoplifters were “arrested and rearrested more than 6,000 times” in the city last year, The New York Times reported.

Why are these shoplifters so brazen? Because they know they will suffer no consequences for their criminal activities and will be back out on the streets hours after they are arrested.

Heastie’s constituents don’t agree with his soft-on-crime policies. A New

GEORGE

York Post poll of his Assembly District revealed that 57% of voters want the penal reforms revised.

A 55-year-old constituent told the Post, “It was bad in the ’80s. I feel like it’s creeping back to that era. If a person is accused of a friggin’ violent crime, they are supposed to go on bail or be denied bail depending on the severity of the crime. I don’t support the way it is now. This is bigger than

Heastie.”

Then there is the recent outburst of Congresswoman Alexandria OcasioCortez after the announcement of a tentative contract agreement between Mayor Eric Adams and the Police Benevolent Association.

Without a contract since 2017, city cops have not had a raise in seven years.

And the longtime starting pay of $42,000 for NYPD officers fresh out of the academy has been the lowest in the region.

The eight-year agreement, if approved by the PBA membership, would start rookies at a competitive $55,000 annually. It also includes retroactive pay and raises of 3.5% this year and 4% in 2024.

The new pay scale for cops was too much for AOC, a leading “defund the police” advocate.

She blasted the mayor: “We are now at a point where officially most officers are paid more than a teacher with a master’s degree serving the same kids involved in the same incidents.”

AOC’s claim is blatantly false.

Teachers with a bachelor’s degree earn $61,000 their first year in city schools. The starting salary for a teacher with a master’s degree is $68,000.

The congresswoman went on to complain that the mayor is “defunding our public schools, defunding our public pools, defunding our parks [and] defunding our libraries” to fund the police department.

That statement is also false.

If there are any cuts in government services, it will be due to the growing costs of the migrant crisis—which the mayor has said is “destroying the city.”

“The national government,” Adams said, “has turned its back on New York City…. Every service in the city is going to be impacted by the asylum crisis.”

Yes, AOC, Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand, Congressman Jeffries, as well as Democratic leaders in Albany, have been out to lunch on this problem.

And if these Progressive pols do not come to their senses and tackle the migrant and crime issues, New York will become what it was in the 1970s— ungovernable.

Here comes your 19th nervous breakdown

The term “nervous breakdown” carries with it sinister suggestions of mental collapse, psychosis, and catastrophe. We are witness to many high-profile athletes who have nervous breakdowns that make the news.

We recently watched young tennis superstar, Naomi Osaka, the highest paid female athlete in the world, have a breakdown at the French Open and walk away from tennis. In her case, the details were both grim and revealing. She refused to go to a post-game interview after the first round and was promptly fined $15,000 by the French Federation of Tennis. To this, she promptly walked out of the championship. That is comparable to Frank Sinatra or Elvis Presley

walking out on a sold-out performance one hour before showtime.

In an Instagram, Naomi Osaka admitted that she had always been shy and had been suffering with depression ever since she had beaten Serena Williams at the US Open one year prior to that. Her depression was induced by a displeased New York crowd that was pulling for a Serena Williams win. It’s not good news to be sensitive if you’re a super star and Naomi Osaka is sensitive.

A breakdown refers to the way our defenses can shatter when faced with too much stress. You may recall the famous Rolling Stones song of 1966 entitled “19th Nervous Breakdown.” If not, here is one stanza:

“Well, it seems to me that you have seen too much in too few years,

And though you’ve tried, you just can’t hide, your eyes are edged with tears.

You better stop and look around, Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes, here it comes.

Here comes your 19th nervous breakdown.”

feeling too much anxiety or loss. Many defenses are part of familiar nomenclature.

Here are a few defenses and how they work:

Compartmentalization. This is having the ability to put worries behind you for a while to carry on business. Bill Clinton was going through an impeachment, but he was still able to compartmentalize this and carry on his duties as president.

graduate from college. They regress into passivity and failure rather than face the next stage of maturity.

ILLUSTRATION BY TOM FERRARO AND BERRY VILLEGAS

These are excellent lyrics because they show that when one has seen too much at too young as age, your defenses become rigid, remain childlike and lead to a shattering, tearful, anxious break-

down. Many gifted or talented youngsters are in this predicament since they have seen too much and have done too much at too early an age. It is almost inevitable that they break down. Chronic stress like this precludes a normal childhood of play. The youngster does not have a chance to grow up slowly and this means that their defenses become rigidified and overused and this leads to trouble.

Nervous breakdowns mean your defenses do not hold up. You now might ask what exactly defense mechanisms are. Our defenses are almost always unconscious and used to keep us from

VIEW POINT

Gas lighting: Gas lighting is a frequently used term which means that a narcissist projects guilt onto someone else rather than admit that they are the culprits all along. The term “flying monkeys” is taken from the film “Wizard of Oz” and refers to the way narcissists enlist others to do their bidding.

Reaction Formation: Reaction formation is commonly seen as a form of behavior when a person acts friendly and pleasant to someone who is being abusive to them. They are actually angry but use reaction formation to pretend to be happy and nice instead.

Regression: Regression is reverting to a previous stage of development. When people get hungry or tired, they will often regress to more childlike whining behavior. Regression is often seen in students who are about to

Dissociation: Dissociation is the temporary but drastic modification of character or identity to avoid distress. Although rarely seen in clinical settings, this condition is demonstrated in films like “The Three Faces of Eve.” I have treated a few multiple personality patients who dissociate quite often, and it is amazing to see them change behavior, facial appearance and tone of voice this way.

Psychosomatics. Nowadays this is a relatively common defense where the person converts a psychological or emotional state into a bodily symptom such as headaches, back pain or hives. America’s epidemic of psychosomatic illness is one reason CVS is always so busy and why pharmaceutical companies make so much money .

Humor, suppression, displacement, denial, rationalization and altruism are all examples of defenses we use every day to cope with the many challenges of life. Some of these are more effective than others and sometimes when one advances in career or gains fame like poor Naomi Osaka, their defenses break down and that’s when the psychoanalyst gets the call.

Vote in school board and library elections

Meaningful, not superficial, Holocaust education is now mandated in the New York State school curriculum. There is no exhibit or curriculum that explores how it was possible to get enough humans to murder 6 million that does not show some of the children’s books and methods of “othering” that set the stage for the fear, hostility, resentment, anger and, most significantly, the dehumanization that made such atrocity possible.

So it is all the more concerning that our schools and libraries have been under attack by those who would ban books, censor speech, orchestrate scripts, even threaten the lives and livelihoods of teachers, administrators and librarians in order to prevent the rising generation from not only seeing how that process of dehumanization unfolds, but sow the same fear, hostility, anger and denigration of “others” that turns humans into savages.

And what is more, it is even happening in our communities where the Holocaust is our heritage.

Those who detest public education used to attack schools for the taxes we pay. These past couple of years, though, the focus has been on culture wars — attacking our schools as incubators for “indoctrination” and “grooming” children toward “deviant” lifestyles rather than critical thinking and innovation, and skills and the self-confidence our children will need to successfully navigate the world. In some places, school boards have been literally invaded, and

school board members harassed and even threatened with physical violence, under the oxymoronic banner of “Parents Rights.”

Whose parents? Whose rights?

What exactly are “parents rights,” that is, beyond a political slogan that has proved so winning for Republican candidates from Glenn Youngkin in Virginia to Bruce Blakeman in Nassau County?

In practice “parental rights” basically puts one parent’s values over others, one child’s “feelings” over others who are made to feel inferior, “other” being of less value and status. Literally, one parent can raise an objection and have “Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation” banned as pornographic after a Vero Beach, Fla., parent objected.

And now they are coming after other books about the Holocaust including Jodi Picoult’s Holocaust novel, “The Storyteller,” and Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel, “Maus.”

Tennessee is banning teaching about the Holocaust.

Holocaust curriculum is intended to engender tolerance, understanding and empathy, and counter bigotry, prejudice wherever it may be, whoever hate may be directed against. (Recall the wonderful film, “Freedom Writers.”)

The American Library Association cited 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022 , the highest number since ALA began compiling data 20 years ago and double the number in 2021. https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallenged-

books/top10

Let’s understand the source and the true intent of these assaults on public education. Going back to Reagan, it was about attacking teachers whose unions tended to support Democrats and tenure which shielded teachers from political and cultural intimidation. But to garner the necessary mass of support, the attack was strategically conflated with school prayer and channeling taxpayer money into parochial schools (choice!), violating the Establishment Clause in the Constitution that separates church and state. (Now Texas is passing laws requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed and time in the day set aside for prayer and Bible study.)

But radical right-wingers, like Steve Bannon leading the charge, see young

people (Gen Z) as a rising sea of voters who overwhelmingly are accepting of people of other races, religions, ethnicities, identities; demanding action to address the existential threat of climate change and sensible gun safety regulation; opposing police brutality; standing up for women’s reproductive rights and who overwhelmingly support environmental, social, political, economic and criminal justice. They trace the source of what they have categorized as “woke” to public school culture that, like here in Long Island, teaches respect for diversity, fosters inclusion and equity, and gives young people the skills and independence to think critically, question and find their own answers. (No coincidence that the Republican National Committee is now looking for ways to suppress voting by college students and raise the voting age to 21.)

And that’s what they want to stamp out – look over the list of banned books – ones that highlight environment (“Lorax”), stories about children who manifest differences from the majority in their community; that foster empathy (“Charlotte’s Web”); heroes who show courage to be who they are and stand up to bullies; young people who have to deal with sexual abuse.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey just ousted the state’s top early education official over a teacher resource guide that promotes inclusion of different kinds of families and acknowledges the reality of racism in the nation’s history.

That’s the “woke” that Florida Gov.

and presidential wannabe Ron DeSantis wants to pull out by its roots, and instead plant the seeds of hate, bigotry, superiority and entitlement.

While having the audacity to declare “education not indoctrination,” DeSantis is passing a law designating Nov. 7 when all Florida students will receive instruction on the “evils of communism, and communist dogma, Marxist socialism.”

Lest you think these forces are far away, think again. Texas has been dictating what publishers put into textbooks; Florida forced the College Board to change its AP African American Studies curriculum. Our school board meetings have had their share of parents demanding certain books be banned.

Long Island has had the top performing schools in the nation and our graduates among the most successful, precisely because the mission, the culture of our public schools has been to provide each and every student the confidence, the sense of acceptance and self-worth, along with the resources to fulfill their full potential.

School and library elections have become way more than about budgets, taxes, and which trustee candidate is the more popular. It is about the soul, the values of our community, the society we shape, nurture and grow.

And it’s why who we elect to our school and library boards are so critical, and why the upcoming school and library elections on Tuesday, May 16 (7 am-10 pm) are so very crucial.

DR. TOM FERRARO Our Town

KAREN RUBIN View Point

EARTH MATTERS

Combatting climate change before it’s too late

While humans are busy debating, doubting and even denying anthropogenic climate change, the rest of the living world is scrambling to adapt quickly to a rapidly changing climate.

At the Northeast Natural History Conference this year, biologist Thor Hanson described how anole lizards in Turks & Caicos are ingeniously adapting to more intense storms with their larger toe pads and enhanced upper body strength to hold on tighter to twigs.

Sadly, most animals and plants aren’t able to adapt as quickly as these hurricane lizards and in the short timeframe I’m writing this, lives are lost forever to extinction. Have you looked up the current extinction rates?

Chances are you haven’t, as most people are more invested in their dayto-day distractions than tuning into this global existential crisis, the human caused 6th mass extinction of Life on Earth.

First, we need to recognize that we caused this crisis with our behaviors (habitat destruction, deforestation and pollution). Second, we need to mitigate harm by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and restoring health to ecosystems.

We’ve made a difference for the better before. Success stories include the ban on DDT that brought back bald eagles from the brink of extinction and the gradual recovery of the ozone layer by banning certain refrigerants.

So why aren’t we able to stop burning through ancient, fossilized plant materials (fossil fuels)?

Humans have generated an estimated 1.5 trillion tons of CO2 pollution from combustion of fossil fuels. The Inconvenient Truth is that this mess could’ve been prevented if it wasn’t for strong financial stakeholders denying the science.

Thousands of scientists have warned that human-made CO2 emissions are changing the climate.

As early as the mid-19th century, Eunice Foote and John Tyndall showed

how CO2 traps heat. But in the last few decades, scientific data has been deliberately drowned in doubt and denial fueled by greed and gaslighting.

Transition Town Port Washington recently hosted an event called Gaslit: How Gas Industry Lies Have Cost Us and What You Can Do About It, at the Jeanne Rimsky Landmark Theater on Main Street in Port Washington.

You can visit the recording from this event through their website https:// www.transitiontownpw.org. To shed some light on the dark forces of delusion, research scientist and climate advocate Anshul Gupta emphasized the misinformation campaigns that aim to confuse consumers.

In search for Truths, I’ve decided to venture into deep time with you. Evolutionary biology puts things into perspective, I promise. Our humble human life measured in years and decades seems so insignificant compared to geologic time measured in millions and billions of years.

Yet, my life of course feels rather significant to me, today. And you, of course, matter too. And what we do today, actually matters tremendously in geologic time to all current and future beings.

Never before has one species altered the landscape and atmosphere in such dramatic ways as humans have. Except perhaps for tiny microbes that forever changed the course of life on Earth with their activity.

A little over 2 billion years ago cyanobacteria altered the atmospheric composition in the Great Oxidation/Oxygenation Event. They were able to harness energy from sunlight and released oxygen as a byproduct.

CO2 is the currency of Life that connects respiration to photosynthesis. Plants make use of our exhale, and with the help of sunlight convert CO2 into carbohydrates that serve as the building blocks for all plant and animal life. For most of human history CO2 levels were relatively constant, or below 280 ppm. The last ten thousand years

HILDUR PALSDOTTIR Earth Matters

were marked by climate stability and relatively predictable conditions, perfect for the development of agrarian civilization.

The Industrial Revolution is the measurable point when CO2 starts rising and the burning of fossil fuels led to an exponential rise in CO2 levels. We’re now at 420 ppm.

Human activity has raised the atmospheric CO2 content by 50% of its value in 1750. And this increase is experienced as Global Warming, or Global Weirding as some people call it as weather events are becoming more intense and unpredictable.

And contrary to industry claims, natural gas isn’t the solution. Fracking is

far from natural, it requires disruption of sediments that disturbs millions of years of evolution. “Natural gas” while cleaner than coal and oil is still “dirty” and dangerous to public health every step of the way.

We’re at a tipping point and we must stop emitting greenhouse gasses and be creative about capturing Carbon and returning it to the ground.

You can do your part today by reducing your personal emissions and by voting for officials who enforce and fund the New York Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (https://climate.ny.gov/) that promises 40% reduction in emissions by 2030. Clean energy solutions are easy, affordable and safe.

This graph, based on the comparison of atmospheric samples contained in ice cores and more recent direct measurements, provides evidence that atmospheric CO2 has increased since the Industrial Revolution. (Credit: Luthi, D., et al.. 2008; Etheridge, D.M., et al. 2010; Vostok ice core data/J.R. Petit et al.; NOAA Mauna Loa CO2 record.)

FROM THE DESK OF MICHAEL

Upcoming Port School District budget vote

Dear Port Washington Community,

Our vision for the Port Washington School District encompasses a vibrant, diverse and inclusive community that believes in the potential of every learner. We expect that all of our graduates will become knowledgeable and responsible individuals who will thrive in, and contribute to, their world. We aspire to give every student the opportunity to pursue and explore their natural curiosities and to be challenged and supported with varied experiences that lead them to become fulfilled, life-long learners.

This year’s ballot includes the

Board of Education’s proposed 20232024 school budget in the amount of $184,265,295. This amount is a 5.39% increase over the current year’s budget. The proposed tax levy increase is 2.63%, which is below the tax cap limit for Port Washington. The approved budget maintains our schools’ existing academic, extracurricular, support, performing arts and athletic programs. The proposed budget reflects the district’s Vision, Mission and Portrait of a Graduate by educating the whole child and providing a well-rounded, equitable educational experience for ALL.

Thank you for your continued support and engagement in our ef-

PW School District Superintendent

forts to provide an exceptional educational experience for all students in the Port Washington School District. We are committed to ensuring that our graduates are well-prepared for their futures and we are grateful

for the trust you have placed in us to achieve this goal. We look forward to working together with our community to advance our vision and mission, and we welcome your feedback and involvement as we strive for excellence in all aspects of our district.

The administration and school board encourage all eligible voters in our community to exercise their right to vote on the proposed budget and Board of Education Trustee election on May 16.

Superintendent Michael J. Hynes, Ed.D. Board of Education President Adam Smith

HYNES

MICHAEL HYNES

Opposed to proposed Locust Valley liquor store

As the New York State Assemblymember representing the north shore of Long Island, I am writing this letter in opposition to a proposed liquor store in Locust Valley. North Shore Naturals LLC has applied for a license to establish and operate the store at 15 The Plaza in Locust Valley.

The hamlet of Locust Valley is a quaint

and very small residential community. Part of the uniqueness and desirable character of the neighborhood is in the non-repetitive aspect of the businesses located within the community. Currently, there is an established liquor store located 637 feet away from the proposed store named Marquis Liquors at 29 Birch Hill Road in Locust Valley. Among other

liquor shops located in proximity to Locust Valley, are eight active liquor stores operating within 2.7 miles of the proposed location.

Locust Valley, as well as the surrounding communities, is well served by the existing liquor stores. I have sent a letter to the New York State Liquor Authority respectfully requesting that it deny this application. I be-

READERS WRITE

lieve that establishing another liquor store in a community whose residents take pride and celebrate its small-town charm will be detrimental to that very characteristic.

Charles D. Lavine Member of 13th Assembly District

Vote for Sassouni to maintain G.N. schools

Nearly 25 years ago, my wife and I made the decision to leave the granite canyons of Manhattan life with an eye to return to the suburbia of our childhoods. With a new daughter on the way, and plans for more children, we searched for a community that would provide us with an environment that would enrich their lives, academically, physically, and spiritually. After looking at a number of communities on both sides of the rivers, we settled on Great Neck to make our home.

Over the many years, we have been excep-

tionally happy with our decision, and a large part of that satisfaction has stemmed from the education the kids obtained in the Great Neck school system. From Baker Hill elementary to North Middle and High schools, the talented teachers and curriculum provided both a broad and deep range of knowledge, supported by the district’s dedicated and motivated administrators. Guiding this educational system is a school board whose collective wisdom and efforts strive to achieve excellence for its more than 6,500 students.

The keystone of the board is its leader, Board President Rebecca Sassouni. I first met Rebecca when our children were entering both elementary school and the afternoon Hebrew school at our synagogue, Temple Israel. Over the years, I have had the honor to work alongside her when she was active in several committees, including doing the heavy lifting for the congregation’s participation in the annual Israel Day parade in New York City.

I also witnessed her diligence during our time on the synagogue’s board of trustees. Re-

becca has brought this same commitment to her efforts on the school board. Over the years, I have repeatedly seen her steadfastness when it comes to children – personally with her own family, and with the school system entrusted to her care. I can think of no better candidate as a leader to continue the strong work that enables Great Neck to house one of the best school systems, not just in the United States, but the world.

Harold Citron Great Neck

Don’t punish all gun owners for sins of a few

Iwrite regarding the letter from Lois Schaffer in the April 21 issue of the New Hyde Park Herald Courier.

The long letter complains about assault rifles and no such firearm exists. We are talking about semi-automatic rifles.

In 1903 the Remington Firearm Company introduced its first semi-automatic centerfire

rifle with a detachable magazine. It was so successful that in 1907 Winchester introduced its first semi-automatic centerfire rifle with a detachable magazine.

For just over 120 years, any honest American has been able to purchase such a device. An AR-15 rifle is no different.

The Herald has an agenda that is very un-

pleasant in my view. That is to disarm the American people. That pesky Second Amendment is hated by the Herald organization and the Bill of Rights be damned!

Please know that millions of law-abiding Americans use their semi-automatic firearms every day for lawful purposes.

They will not be punished for the actions of

criminals and deranged persons. Any attempt to do so is doomed to failure.

James G. Collins Floral Park Long Island Director New York State Rifle and Pistol Association

Preserve quality of G.N. education, vote Sassouni

On May 16 the Great Neck Board of Education is holding an important election. Rebecca Sassouni, trustee and president of the board, is seeking re-election as trustee. I strongly believe Rebecca Sassouni’s service record merits re-election and I urge all eligible voters to vote for her.

It is no accident that the Great Neck School System is rated at the very top of the rankings for school districts in our state as well as in our nation and has been so rated for many years. It is no wonder that families looking for a residence in which to raise their kids flock to Great Neck where public educational services meet high quality standards and are broad

and deep for all students.

Clearly, in my opinion, Board President Sassouni has earned re-election, but there is much more to say about her record of accomplishments in our educational community. As a parent, Rebecca Sassouni for many years played a leadership role in parent-teacher organizations.

After being elected to the board in 2017 she was elected by her colleagues to the post of president in 2021 and 2022. As a trustee she chaired a public committee to advise the board. I was on that committee for two years and, as a former Board of Education trustee, I had a firsthand opportunity to witness the skill and sensitivity with which Rebecca handled that

widely diverse group. Now Rebecca Sassouni has the task of replacing our retiring present superintendent.

As a board trustee many years ago, I was involved in the selection of William A. Shine as superintendent, a noble visionary who mapped out a new path for Great Neck. He loved the schools and they loved him back. His name is emblazoned forever on the wall of South Senior High. I can’t forget his comment to me that he thought love, support and confidence were the basic foundations that should be in the program for all our kids as they proceed through our rich educational system.

As I see it, that process is exactly what the present and recent superintendents as well as Rebecca

Sassouni have been implementing while running the Great Neck School System. I am sure that when Dr. Shine (recently passed) is gazing from above upon our schools, it is with a smile of satisfaction.

I am confident that Rebecca Sassouni will continue to get it right.

I urge Great Neck residents to vote to re-elect Rebecca Sassouni as a move to ensure continued outstanding performance of Great Neck’s school system, one of our community’s greatest assets. Vote for Rebecca Sassouni on May 16.

Leon Korobow Great Neck

Why not fast 24/7 LIRR service to LIC, Hunters Pt.?

Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Chairman Janno Lieber and Long Island

Rail Road President Catherine Rinaldi recently announced the return of 24/7 service to the Port Washington branch Mets-Willets Point station. Why not do the same for both the Hunters Point and Long Island City stations? Neighborhoods served by these two stations continue to grow with thousands of new residents, businesses and office workers. The LIRR currently runs a handful of trains AM rush hour in one direction westbound from Ja-

maica station to Hunters Point and LIC stations and eastbound in the PM rush hour.

Why wasn’t service been added in both directions for rush hour, along with hourly off- peak? The New York City Transit Hunters Point No. 7 subway station is just down the block from the LIRR Hunters Point Station. Two stops on the No. 7 in less than five minutes and you arrive at Grand Central Terminal. There are easy connections to both street level and the 42nd Street Lexington Avenue station NYC Transit for the No. 4,5 and 6 subway lines. Contrast

that with attempting to reach street level from LIRR Grand Central Madison Terminal — 15 stories below ground. It requires eight or more minutes upon arrival at Grand Central Madison before you can access the NYC Transit 42nd Street Lexington Avenue Subway Station.

The LIRR Long Island City station is within walking distance to both the No. 7 Flushing Vernon Blvd. Jackson Ave. station (one stop less than three minutes from Grand Central Terminal) and the LIC NYC Economic Development Corporation private ferry

landing, with connections to 34th Street and Pier 11 adjacent to Wall Street and the Financial District.

Larry Penner Great Neck

(Larry Penner is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously served as a former Director for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 New York Office of Operations and Program Management).

Letters Continued on Page 33

Ex-LI officials share thoughts on housing, political landscape

BY BRANDON DUFFY

Former Long Island offi cials spoke Wednesday night on a number of pertinent issues in the state during an education forum with the Long Island Builders Institute.

The institute held a “State of Politics” discussion for their members at The Bristal in Jericho, including former Nassau County Executive Laura Curran and former U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi of the state’s 3rd Congressional District, two Democrats, and former state Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan and former state Sen. Michael Venditto, two Republicans.

Venditto fi lled in for Peter King, who was recovering from surgery to remove a malignant tumor.

Formed in 1941, LIBI’s members build most of the at least 5,000 new homes produced in Long Island annually, according to their website. The event showed LIBI members how to “understand the politics involved in how governments work and how it makes decisions,” CEO Mike Florio said in a statement.

The four said they disagreed with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s original housing compact for Long Island which was removed from the executive budget while suggesting diff erent ideas on fi xing the

SHELTER ROCK TENNIS CLUB

is pleased to announce that Miguel Cobbs has joined our club as our new Tennis Director. Miguel was previously the Director of Racquet Sports at Cherry Valley Country Club for 11 years and prior to that he was the pro at the Village Club of Sands point for 8 years. He played #1 singles at Wayne State University and was ranked #8 in the mens Open in Florida. Miguel brings with him over 24 years of teaching experience, developing and implementing successful programs for juniors of all skill levels.

Please follow us on Facebook and Instagram - Shelterrocktennisclub.com

Also visit our website to take a tour of our club. We are accepting new memberships for the coming 2023 season including special rates for 45 and under!

Call Mike Losito/ General Manager at (516) 484-0100 for more information.

100 LONG

ISLAND

issue.

Hochul’s plan called for a 3% increase in housing units over three years, the possibility of the state stepping in if the 3% goal was not met and the use of transit-oriented developments to achieve that objective. The plan was intended to address a shortage of 800,000 housing units in the New York metropolitan area.

“The only way you really get housing done is you have to incentivize it, promote homeownership and promote subsidies,” Flanagan said. “It was wellintended but I don’t think it was good for Long Island.”

Rockensies named Nassau IDA chairman

BY BRANDON DUFFY

William Rockensies was elected chairman of the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency during the Thursday night board meeting in Mineola.

Rockensies, of West Hempstead, takes over for former head Richard Kessel, who announced earlier in the month he was stepping down from his role with the IDA, which promotes business growth and grants tax breaks to development projects.

Taking Kessel’s spot on the Board of Directors is Marco Troiano, of Malverne, who was appointed to the IDA April 24.

Board members are appointed by the county executive and approved by the county Legislature for the volunteer, non-compensated positions. Members then vote on positions, including chairman and secretary.

TRIBUTES AND MEMORIES

operator of ADS Electrical in Port Washington until his death.

Aidan moved to Port Washington not long after arriving in America and there he met and fell in love with Mary Lennon.

Aidan and Mary married in 1995 and together they raised two loving sons, Owen and John.

Aidan was a devoted and loving husband, father, brother, uncle and friend, with a very dry wit and infectious belly laugh.

On any given day, when not working on electrics, Aidan could be found on the golf course, driving around town and Long Island in his classic green MG, or barbecuing in the back yard for any number of friends and family. Aidan was a prodigious reader and loved to travel and do the Times crosswords, all of which made him an unbeatable pub-quiz competitor.

Aidan was looking forward to retiring with the love of his life, Mary and making time for more travel and visits with family.

AIDAN SCOTT

9/14/1958 – 4/16/2023

It is with great sadness that we announce the unexpected passing of Aidan Scott of Port Washington, NY.

EXPY

MANHASSET,

NY 11030 | (516) 484-0100 WWW.SHELTERROCKTENNISCLUB.COM

The middle of three sons of Anne Scott, Aidan was born in Carrick on Shannon on September 14th, 1958. Aidan earned his electrician’s degree from Anco College, Ireland and in 1986 he moved to New York to follow the American dream.

Aidan started his own business, in 1989 and was a highly respected and successful owner /

Aidan was traveling in Ireland with his wife Mary, after attending his niece’s wedding in Donegal, when he suffered a medical emergency and died. Aidan is survived by his wife, Mary, together for 34 years, sons, John and Owen, grandson Aidan, Mother, Anne and his brothers, Noel and Declan. He will be deeply missed by all who knew him.

A cremation service took place in Dublin, Ireland on April 20th. Donations, if desired, can be made to Cancer Research. A celebration of Aidan’s life will be held in Port Washington later this year for his extended family and friends.

PHOTO BY BRANDON DUFFY

Former Long Island officials speak to members of the Long Island Builders Institute from The Bristal in Jericho.

Continued on Page 42

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NASSAU COUNTY INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY

Nassau County Industrial Development Agency Chairman William Rockensies. Continued on Page 34

YOUR GUIDE TO THE ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND DINING

Madison Theatre at Molloy University serves double duty

BY ANNABEL HOFMANN

The Madison Theatre at Molloy University provides an important combination of high-quality entertainment along with a hands-on learning experience for fine arts students at the school.

The theater was started in 2011 “to bring in arts and education to the community as well as the students and on the campus,” said Kathleen Marino, general manager of The Madison Theatre. “And since then we’ve tried to bring a variety of acts to the campus and the South Shore of Long Island.”

Because of the theater’s affiliation with the university, students get insider access to the shows and acts that

come to perform.

“We are able to spotlight the Molloy students, and we get to give them a capacity where they can work with Broadway professionals while they’re going through school,” she said.

“Their goal is to be on Broadway, so we get to help them get there.”

The theater’s artistic director, Angelo Fraboni, has been there since The Madison’s founding. Before coming to Molloy, he had an illustrious Broadway career himself, including playing every male cat in the famous musical “Cats.”

“He actually is one of my favorite parts of working here because he makes the world a very small place,” Marino said. “He knows everybody.”

These connections enable The Madison Theatre to host names that

wouldn’t be possible without Fraboni.

“It’s really cool because his friends come to play here,” she said. “He brings big, huge Broadway names all the time, and that’s great because it gives the local community a chance to see all these big names like Kelli O’Hara, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Judy Kuhn.”

His extensive experience and countless connections are invaluable to the theater students at Molloy.

“He knows everything about theater. It’s incredible. His breadth of knowledge on theater is indescribable,” Marino said. “[Fraboni] interacts with the students all the time. He’s great. He’s definitely a mentor for a lot of students.”

The Madison Theatre at Molloy University puts on a variety of profes-

sional and student plays, musicals, dances, concerts, comedy and more.

“What we try to bring is like a lot of different cultures’ shows here,” she said. “Every year we try to do something that is definitely a different demographic to bring new people here – to bring everyone’s culture here.”

This variety includes Asian acrobatics, Cuban music, flamenco dancing and more.

“We try to appeal to everyone,” Marino said.

One upcoming show she is particularly excited about is called “Coco in Concert,” which will be on Oct. 6.

“It’s the movie ‘Coco,’ and there’s going to be a be a live flamenco band here,” she said. “They’re going play the score of the movie while the movie plays – so the whole movie will play,

but it’s going to be to live music, and I think that’s going to be really cool.”

Because of the venue’s smaller size, with just a 575-seating capacity, each show feels more intimate and personal. Marino also emphasized that you do not need to go to Manhattan to experience excellent entertainment.

“I think the best thing about [the theater] is we’re bringing really highclass, high-quality entertainment for a fraction of the cost, for everyone to see,” she said.

The theater, located at 1000 Hempstead Ave. in Rockville Centre, runs shows beginning in January and carrying on through the middle of May. More information about the venue and ticket availability can be found online at madisontheatreny.org

PHOTO PROVIDED BY MOLLOY UNIVERSITY

Giadi Valentini – an Italian singer and songwriter – has performed at The Madison Theatre at Molloy University.

The unconditional love and undying patience moms exhibit as they raise their children is worthy of more than just a single day of appreciation in May. Moms do a lot for their families, and though that's something to celebrate every day, Mother's Day merits upping the ante in regard to showing Mom how much she's loved and appreciated.

This year, families can work together to ensure this Mother's Day is a day for Mom to relax and bask in all the extra attention she deserves.

· Serve breakfast in bed. Mom might be on breakfast detail on hectic weekday mornings, but Mother's Day marks the perfect time for spouses and kids to take over those responsibilities. This year, keep the cereal in the pantry and go the extra mile by preparing a homemade breakfast and serving it to Mom in bed. Present the meal with a small bouquet of flowers and some reading material and then let Mom eat in peace and quiet if she so prefers.

· Turn the en suite into a spa. Nothing complements a relaxing breakfast in bed better than a subsequent dip in Mom's own private spa. Transform the en suite or another bathroom into Mom's personal soaking space. Clean the bathtub, light some candles around the tub and bathroom, turn on some relaxing music, dim the lights, and then invite Mom in to soak in a freshly drawn hot bubble bath.

· Keep Mom out of the kitchen. Keep the relaxing vibe going by making sure Mom doesn't have to lift a finger in the kitchen. Make sure all the dishes are washed before Mom comes downstairs for the day and let her know you've already ordered lunch from a local restaurant. Even if Mom loves to cook, a day off from kitchen detail can make Mother's Day that much more relaxing.

· Book some time in the great outdoors. If the weather allows, visit a nearby park as a family and go for a walk. Nature has its own way of helping people relax, so some time outdoors in the spring air can keep the peaceful vibe going into the afternoon. If the family includes young children, choose a park with a playground so Mom can relax and watch the kids play from a nearby bench.

· Book a dinner reservation. It might require some advance booking, as Mother's Day reservations can be hard to come by, but a night at Mom's favorite restaurant can be the perfect conclusion to a relaxing day. If Mom's more of a homebody, whip up a homemade meal and let Mom relax with a glass of wine as you prepare a feast.

Mother's Day is the perfect time to plan a day of relaxation for mothers who do so much for their families throughout the year. Some simple planning can ensure Mom gets the R&R she deserves.

Mother's Day

COME CELEBRATE WITH

MOTHER’S DAY BRUNCH SEATINGS 11AM - 1PM |

ALL DESSERTS COME BAKED FRESH FROM OUR VERY OWN BUTTERCOOKY BAKERY, NEXT DOOR

DINNER SEATINGS 2PM-7:30PM

Please make your reservations! Call 516-502-2478 or go to opentable

OFFERING OUR ALA CARTE MENU ALONG WITH OUR CHEF’S SPECIAL MOTHER’S DAY MENU KIDS MENU AVAILABLE

• HEART SHAPED COOKIES

• HEART SHAPED CAKES

• DECORATED CUPCAKES

• CHOCOKATE BASKETS (FILLED WITH COOKIES)

LI Music, Entertainment Hall to honor Harry Chapin

The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame will hold a special film screening and charity food drive event at 2 pm on May 6t at the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame (97 Main St., Stony Brook) featuring the documentary film “Harry Chapin: When In Doubt, Do Something” which celebrates the extraordinary life and activism of LIMEHOF inductee singersongwriter Harry Chapin from Huntington Bay.

While most people know Chapin for his music, including his classic song “Cat’s in the Cradle,” LIMEHOF is on a mission to educate the public about the significant legacies of its inductees who often contributed much more than is commonly known to the community and world around us.

Chapin, who was inducted into LIMEHOF in 2006, is an excellent example as someone who was involved with a wide range of charity organizations including co-founding WhyHunger in 1975 and Chapin also founded Long Island Cares in 1980.

Today the organization is headquartered in Hauppauge, NY with food pantry locations throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties including Freeport, Lindenhurst, Huntington Station, and Hampton Bays.

The event is free with the purchase of a general admission ticket. The Q&A portion with the filmmakers will be hosted by LIMEHOF Vice Chairman and the longtime host of the Sounds of Film Radio Show Tom Needham.

“This remarkable documentary showcases Chapin’s unmatched musical contributions, as well as his steadfast dedication to addressing hunger,” Needham said. “Chapin’s life and career serve as a

testament to the ability of music and advocacy to bring about positive change in the world.”

The event is also part charity food drive as there will be collection boxes and LIMEHOF is asking that attendees bring food donations for Harry Chapin’s Long Island Cares organization whose CEO Paule Pachter is featured in the film and will be participating as a panelist.

“I always believed that at some time in our history that there would be a documentary film made about Harry’s life and dedication towards ending hunger which was his passion during his short life of 38 years,” Pachter said. “Newsday named Harry one of the most important Long Islanders of the 20th Century. His passion towards ending hunger along with performing half of his annual concerts to raise funds to address hunger and food insecurity has been recognized many times since his passing in 1981, and many schools reference Harry when discussing hunger, poverty, and social justice. I was honored to be asked to be a part of the film to discuss the founding of Long Island Cares and how we work to continue his legacy.”

As a dedicated humanitarian, Chapin fought to end world hunger. He was a key participant in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977. In 1987, Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his humanitarian work.

That medal is currently on display along with other Harry Chapin artifacts at the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame.

For more information about LIMEHOF and upcoming events visit https://www.limusichalloffame.org/museum/

The documentary film “Harry Chapin: When In Doubt, Do Something” celebrates the extraordinary life and activism of LIMEHOF inductee singer songwriter Harry Chapin from Huntington Bay.

Fri 5/05

Krisi Ardito live at The Tap Room in RVC @ 6pm Tap Room, 47-51 N Village Ave, Rockville Centre

Tom Wardle @ 7pm Sands Point Golf Club, 130 Middle Neck Rd, Sands Point

Sat 5/06

Long Island Fairy Festival at Sands Point Preserve @ 10am / $85-$100

The Peter and Jeri De‐jana Foundation pre‐sents The Long Island Fairy Festival at the Sands Point Preserve! Sands Point Preserve, 127 Middle Neck Road, Sands Point. info@sand spointpreserve.org, 516-571-7901

Caissie Levy

@ 8pm / $41-$61

Caissie is in her eighth Broadway show, Tom Stoppard’s Leopold‐stadt, starred this past year in Sarah Silver‐man’s The Bedwetter, and the Tony nominated Broadway revival of Caroline at Studio 54. Jeanne Rimsky Theater, 232 Main Street, Port Washington. Richard@ landmarkonmain street.org, 516-7676444

80s vs 90s - Cinco de Mayo @ 8pm / $15

Mulcahy's Pub and Concert Hall, 3232 Railroad Avenue, Wantagh

Wizard Academy @ 11am / $28

Do your kids love magic? Join us for a delightful show �lled with magic and wiz‐ardry! Jeanne Rimsky Theater, 232 Main Street, Port Washing‐ton. Richard@land markonmainstreet.org, 516-767-6444

Storybook Stroll: "The Bad Seed" by Jory John

@ 10:30am / $15

Open your ears to a modern tale as we stroll the Gardens and, later, create a unique take home craft. Old Westbury Gardens, 71 Old Westbury Road, Old Westbury. tickets@ oldwestburygar dens.org, 516-333-0048

Wednesday May 10th

Through the Lens: Port Washington and the Gold Coast @ 7:30pm

Port Washington Public Library, 1 Library Drive, Port Washington. susantiff18@gmail.com, 516-680-2711

The Photography Club of Long Island (PCLI) invites you to join them at the Port Washington Public Library in the auditorium on Wednesday, May 10, at 7:30pm for a presentation by author and photographer, Roy Schneider. Schneider will discuss his book, "Port Washington & The Gold Coast: Through My Lens" and enlighten attendees on his approach to landscape photography. Roy is a masterful visual storyteller and has focused his lens on his beautiful hometown of Port Washington as well as the rest of Long Island.

Sun 5/07

Billy J. Kramer: Billy J Kramer Live- Mersey Beats at the Landmark on the Main @ 3pm Landmark on Main Street, 232 Main St, Port Washington

Dodge Homestead 'Spring Fling'

Saturday, May 6, 1-4 p.m. (Rain or shine) @ 1pm

Step back in time with the Cow Neck Penin‐sula Historical Society. This family-friendly event takes place on the grounds of historic Dodge Homestead (circa 1721), now a house-museum run by the Society. 58 Harbor Rd, 58 Harbor Road, Port Washington. small kaps@gmail.com

Our Generation A Tribute To The '60s & '70s: Our Generation

The Musical Tribute To The 60's & 70's @ 1pm Salt Shack, 100 Ocean Pkwy, Babylon

Nate Charlie Music @ 7pm EGP, 2823 Long Beach Rd, Oceanside

Miranda Sings Featuring Colleen Ballinger @ 7:30pm / $35-$45

The Paramount, 370 New York Ave, Huntington

Jewish Learning Series @ 12:30pm

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Collective Soul

@ 8pm / $29.50-$69.50

The Paramount, 370 New York Ave, Hunting‐ton

Mon 5/08

Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show Breed Judging @ 8am / $27.50

Arthur Ashe Stadium, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Flush‐ing

Wed 5/10

Matt Fraser - Americas

Join the Mid Island Y JCC and a host of guest presenters for interesting and relevant lec‐tures and discussions related to Judaism and Jewish Culture. Mid-Island Y JCC, 45 Manetto Hill Road, Plainview

Top Psychic Medium @ 8pm / $19.50-$89.50

NYCB Theatre at Westbury, 960 Brush Hollow Road, Westbury

Thu 5/11

Tue 5/09 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Suffolk Celebrates Israel

@ 5pm / $10

Join us to celebrate Is‐rael at 75 and Lag BaOmer! 74 Haup‐pauge Rd, 74 Haup‐pauge Road, Com‐mack. membership@ syjcc.org, 631-4629800

Deanna Hudson: Babes In Business EventSand City South @ 7pm

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Sand City Brewing, 150 S Well‐wood Ave, Lindenhurst

belVita "Thrive Thru"

Pop-Up Event @ 9:30am

BELVITA CELEBRATES LONG ISLAND MOMS WITH “THRIVE-THRU” POP-UP EVENT, JUST AHEAD OF MOTHER’S DAY - FREE Coffee and belVita Breakfast Bis‐cuits Roosevelt Field, 630 Old Country Road, Garden City

Mud and Merlot @ 7pm 17 E Main St, Bay Shore, NY 11706, USA, Bay Shore

Theo Von @ 8pm

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Gold Coast Arts pre‐sents an author talk with Susan Isaacs! @ 7:30pm / $45

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George Santos’ time in Congress will pass

The narcissistic behavior of George Santos was on full display last week as he cast the final — and what proved to be deciding — vote towards passing the Republican bill to raise the nation’s debt ceiling. With four Republicans having already voted nay, the count on the partisan measure stood at 216–215 just before Mr. Santos took to the floor and cast his yea vote, which resulted in thunderous applause.

One can only imagine the selfgratification Mr. Santos felt as he quenched his obsession for attention while never once considering how his actions embarrassed the residents of New York’s 3rd Congressional District—again.

Since assuming office early this year under false pretenses, Mr. Santos

has refused to resign despite intense media attention and calls from local residents to do so. As a registered Republican and a lifelong resident of New York’s 3rd CD who travels for work to Washington, DC, on a regular basis, the situation is personal and cuts deeper that if Mr. Santos was from, say, the lost city of Atlantis – which, who knows, may be his next claim.

Our nation’s history is littered with occasions when our political leaders have acted improperly, nefariously and even criminally. While others before him have done far worse, Mr. Santos has nonetheless perpetuated a harmful con on the 750,000 residents of New York’s 3rd Congressional District. Despite this latest event there are reasons to be optimistic on our future congressional representation.

It is becoming clear that two grassroots efforts are forming within our district. One is a unified effort that

is based on a strong desire to correct a mistake and a realization that no help is coming from Washington, DC. As witnessed by his vote on the debt ceiling, Republican leadership has no incentive to expel Mr. Santos. Rather, his removal will need to originate at the local level from within the party he duped. This is happening with great attention.

Second, there is also a growing focus across the political aisle. Nothing motivates the base of one political party more than an unfortunate event affecting the other. It presents an opportunity to seize power. It also creates a healthy sense of fear as opposing leaders recognize the event could have just as easily happened to their own party.

Yes, both parties are much more

focused on New York’s 3rd District now than they were prior to last Election Day. As a result, our district will have better candidates to choose from in the future. This is a good outcome from a disappointing event: better candidates, better choices and better results for New York’s 3rd District and for Congress as a whole.

In the meantime, our district will muddle through what could be an 18-month charade, and the nation will surely survive Mr. Santos. The longterm forecast for our district having a representative who is worthy of its constituents is much brighter now as Mr. Santos’ time in Washington, DC, will pass.

Tabari is wrong on books, wrong for school board

On Tuesday, May 16, the Great Neck Public School District will hold its election for the school board and school budget. As of this writing, only one board member has an opponent. A candidate named Niloufar Tabari is running against Rebecca Sassouni, who is the current president of our school board and has been on the board since 2017.

I don’t know anything about Niloufar Tabari’s reasons for running, apart from the fact that she has four children in our schools, and has been involved in SEPTA and the PTA. However, I recently viewed a video of Tabari speaking at a school board meeting on October 20th, 2021, at E.M. Baker. The video is posted on the Great Neck Public schools’ YouTube channel, and anyone can watch it.

In this video, Tabari zeroes in on a book that she feels was inappropriate for her children to read. The book is called If You Come Softly, by Jacqueline Woodson. It was picked as an ALA Best Book for Young Artists, a Bulletin Blue Book Ribbon Book, and received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. Woodson, the author, has received the National Book Award, among other honors.

Tabari claimed in her speech that this book teaches children that “all white people are racist.”

Tabari’s shocking allegation made me want to read the book myself. So last night, I sat down to read this book. It’s a beautifully written tragic love story about a Jewish girl and a Black boy who fall in love. The bulk of the book is about their love story, and while aspects of race are brought up and certainly have an impact, that is not the main thrust of this book.

I read the book carefully, and nowhere does it suggest (as Tabari claimed) that “all white people are racist.” In fact, it shows just the opposite: it shows kindness from white characters, and an effort on the part of the main white characters to understand the struggles of the characters who are Black. Yes, racism comes up in the book, and has significant impacts on the plot and characters, but there is absolutely no suggestion that “all white people are racist.”

Tabari also claimed in her speech that the book portrays the main character’s Jewish family as “racist” and she explained what she considers the “real reason” for a Jewish family to disapprove of such a relationship: “This is not racist, as is implied; this is about religious beliefs, and preserving a rich culture that is thousands of years old,” Tabari says.

First of all, the book does not even

portray the main character’s family as disapproving. There is a single scene in which her sister indicates concern, but not disapproval. The main character’s parents don’t even know about the relationship until it tragically ends, and then they lovingly try to soothe the girl’s grief. The family does not come across as racist in this book.

As I read the book, I found myself wondering whether Tabari even read it at all. She finished her speech by claiming that this book is inappropriate for her children, because it would teach them that there is something wrong with their Jewish culture. “It is not right to diminish one people, the Jewish people, in order to teach about the hardships of another people,” Tabari says. “It is also not the place of our school system to tell our kids how to preserve our Jewish culture.”

It is absolutely untrue that this book does any of these things. It does not portray all white people as racist, nor does it “diminish” the Jewish people or make claims about how to preserve Jewish heritage. It concerns me that someone would run for school board who would make such sweeping claims about a piece of literature without seeming to have read it. Moreover, Tabari should be aware that the job of the school board

is not to police the books the teachers teach. Curriculum is overseen by our state and by our highly trained educational professionals.

If a parent feels uncomfortable with a book, that’s okay—they have a right to feel that way. But their discomfort cannot dictate what books are taught to our children. Make no mistake: this is how

book bans start. And unless you’ve been living under a rock, it’s clear that book bans are making a comeback in our country, thanks in no small part to the kind of rhetoric Tabari displayed at the school board meeting in 2021.

Making false accusations about books—and about messages that books and teachers want to impart to our kids—is not only wrong, it’s dangerous. It feeds into an atmosphere of distrust, deepening the divisions in our community. We are a diverse, vibrant school district and all voices should be represented in the materials our students are taught.

The fact that there are books about characters who have different identities than our own kids is a good thing—our children need to be exposed to people and cultures that are different from their own. That helps build social consciousness and empathy.

I will be wholeheartedly voting for both Rebecca Sassouni and Joanne Chan for school board on May 16th. Both value diversity and inclusion in our district, and the important role that highly trained educators play in setting our school curriculum.

Wendy Wisner Great Neck

Sassouni has earned another term on G.N. ed board

Iwrite in support of Rebecca Sassouni for the Great Neck Board of Education. Ms. Sassouni has masterfully guided the Great Neck Public School District through a period of tremendous change, uncertainty, and stress. Since the pandemic began three years ago, the district has been inundated with government

mandates, policy shifts, and acrimony. Ms. Sassouni is not an ideologue. She does not fit neatly into a political box. Rebecca has spent countless hours listening to the concerns of all interested parties and guiding the board to wise decisions based on facts and law, not emotions or politics.

Ms. Sassouni makes herself available to address concerns at every opportunity, as anybody who has attempted to reach her can confirm.

It is important to note that Ms. Sassouni’s professional experience as an attorney is an invaluable asset to the board. Rebecca’s knowledge of educational policy and family rights

adds an important dimension to the board’s decision-making process.

It should also be noted that 99% of the work Ms. Sassouni does is not visible or newsworthy. It’s the continual series of small decisions on things like budget, hirings, maintenance and other boring topics that together create a functioning school district.

Having your district in good hands on the small things is as valuable as the less common larger issues.

Rebecca Sassouni has earned an additional term on the Great Neck Board of Education.

Neal Picker Great Neck

Jim Toes Manhasset

Jim Toes, President and CEO, Security Traders Association

PHOTO BY WENDY WISNER

Why I support Rebecca Sassouni’s re-election

The way I see it, the Great Neck community is quite lucky that Rebecca Sassouni even wants to serve on the Great Neck Board of Education. And yes, I am writing to urge you that you vote for her on May 16, 2023.

See, I think we, the voting public, should choose our public servants, who volunteer their time, wisely. We need to encourage the qualified and dedicated ones. That is how we can encourage more of those well-educated ones who have public service in their blood to decide that they want to donate their precious time to the thankless job of public service—especially in these crazy times.

In my personal experience of knowing (and serving along with her) throughout the past 25 years, Rebecca Sassouni well fits that coveted mold.

For one thing, Rebecca has the distinction of serving as school board president during much of the unprecedented pandemic. I, for one, think anyone who volunteered to serve in that role in any community in the country deserves a medal.

Folks in that role had to make countless snap decisions (many of which were governed by numerous mandates from the state and federal government) holding the lives of the community’s children in their hands. That is the unfair burden that we placed on their shoulders when we elected them.

Now you or I might disagree with one or several decisions that any of these school boards around the country made about this or that. But that is not the point.

While most of us were in hibernation in the safety of our living rooms during the shutdown, Rebecca showed up and gave of herself to do what she thought was the best for the children.

And that would be enough to deserve our gratitude and our vote. Before and after the pandemic, the Great Neck School district remains the envy of communities around the state and nation.

And, if we don’t credit, the school board president, for at least some of the reason for that distinction, we are being unfair to ourselves and to her. Note that the pandemic experience is not the only reason I think that Great Neck is lucky to have Rebecca on the school board. Rebecca is well-educated and has served on more community organizations than I care to count.

As I alluded to, she has public service in her blood. She is also one of the fiercest advocates that I have ever met in community life. And if you want someone who will advocate for your children’s best interest as a student, you would be hard-pressed to find someone better than Rebecca Sassouni.

Except that you are lucky to have already found her. So good for you and us—why would you ever consider letting her walk away. (That would be our loss, not hers).

Finally, given that we seem to live in times, when folks seem to judge elected officials through the lens of their tribe’s identity politics, I am here to report that I have witnessed Rebecca working well with all manners of ethnic groups in Great Neck from making sure that the Mashadi community was in-

cluded in a presentation she was giving about Great Neck’s history to including the Great Neck Chinese Association in SHAI’s education programs (she has served as president of the Sephardic Heritage Alliance Inc.).

Personally, I shudder when I consider the frightening prospect that, under different circumstances, I might have found myself serving in a position like a school board that Rebecca has done (so admirably) during such troubled and divisive times.

I would not want to put up with everything that goes along with such a position these days. But I am sure glad that Rebecca Sassouni is. Let’s show our appreciation by voting for her on May 16.

Raymond Iryami Great Neck

Rockensies named Nassau County IDA chairman

Continued from Page 22

Rockensies thanked Kessel for his time on the board and for helping him adjust to his role over the past year when he was first appointed as a director.

“For being a volunteer position Richard went above and beyond that and put more than enough time into

this board,” Rockensies said.

Kessel, 72, was appointed to the board by then-Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, a Democrat, in 2018 and supported by Bruce Blakeman, a Republican.

Rockensies is currently the director of the construction services division at Melville-based H2M Architects

and has served on the board since April 2022, when Blakeman appointed him.

Prior to H2M, Rockensies was commissioner of engineering for the Town of Hempstead. He also was a civil engineer in the Village of Freeport’s Department of Public Works.

Troiano owns three Nassau-based

businesses, including Troiano Fuel Oil and Air Conditioning Co., Xanadu Landscape Development Corp. and restaurant Il VillagioTrattorio.

Other members of the IDA include John Coumatos, Reginald Spinello and Victor LaGreca. Board Member Raymond Pinto serves as secretary.

Coumatos owns Bethpage-based

B.K. Sweeney’s Parkside Tavern and has been on the board since 2012. Spinello is a former Glen Cove mayor, IDA and Community Development Agency chairman who has served since April 2022.

LaGreca is currently the president of Local 298 AFL – CIO.

What is Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS)?

Have you noticed that a website address starts with the letters and symbols of http:// or https://? What is the difference and why should you care? HTTPS secures communication and data transmission between a user’s web browser and a website. HTTPS is the newer, more secure version of HTTP.

HTTPS helps to secure websites that send or receive sensitive data. Simply put, any website that requires login credentials or involves financial transactions should use HTTPS to ensure the security of users, transactions and data. This includes personal or business information exchanged by online banking services, online retailers and healthcare providers.

A malicious actor can easily impersonate, modify or monitor an HTTP connection. HTTPS protects against these vulnerabilities. As a result, it ensures that no one can tamper with these transactions, securing users’ privacy and preventing sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands.

Small and medium-sized business managers should be mindful to check for the secure HTTPS when accessing websites for banking, shopping online, and SAAS (software-as-a-service) programs. We highly recommend coaching all employees to look for this, as well. Human error is behind the majority of IT breaches and is avoidable with proper training and reinforcement. Contact Sandwire Technology Group for information on affordable cyber security training for your company.

Business&RealEstate

Section 8 a safety net for those in need

There are so many misconceptions and a tremendous lack of accurate information concerning Section 8 vouchers. These vouchers keep families and singles in safe homes and rental apartments. The program was created by the Housing Community Development Act of 1978.

The Housing Choice Voucher program, also known as Section 8 today, provides assistance to those qualified low-and-moderate-income families and singles to be able to lease spaces in the housing market. Key factors to be considered are gross annual income and family size. These funds act as rental subsidies in conjunction with those qualified participants to pay an equitable and fair amount of their income, no more than a maximum of 40% of their adjusted monthly takehome pay toward their rent share.

NYCHA (New York City Housing Authority) was created in 1935 to provide decent, affordable rentals for low-middle-income New Yorkers and administers the largest Section 8 program in the U.S. Approximately 85,000 Section 8 vouchers and over 25,000 owners currently engage successfully in the program. The NYC Housing Preservation & Development and NYS Homes and Community Renewal also facilitate Section 8 programs in NYC.

NYCHA is home to approximately one in 16 New Yorkers across 177,569 units within 335 housing developments through public, Section 8, and

PACT/RAD programs. More can be researched by going to NYC Section 8 Voucher info for complete information on the program and required qualifications.

Nassau County has a Section 8 Voucher Program similar to the NYC programs. However, after 30 years of consistent service, as of Nov. 30, 2022, the program no longer was handled by the Nassau County Department of Housing via NYS Homes and Community Renewal. Then the Town of North Hempstead and Hempstead Town Section 8 programs were administered by the Community Development Corporation of Long Island, effective Dec. 1, 2022. Any programs that were already in effect were not altered whatsoever and the funding continued uninterrupted.

The current number to call for assistance is (631) 471-1215. For more information go to: Section 8 Info There are also grant programs for those who want to purchase but do not have the available funds for closings. If you live in the home for at least 10 years, the money becomes a grant and you do not have to repay the funds.

I must dispel some erroneous and incorrect facts about Section 8 programs. Those families and singles seeking assistance who qualify are being supported by New York State and/ or the U.S. government. Landlords are guaranteed consistent payments electronically transferred monthly into

PHILIP A. RAICES

their corporate accounts without any interruption. I ask any landlord, do you have or ever had any of your tenants guarantee their rental payments each and every month without fail? The answer is most assuredly “No!” These government-secured programs allow the prospective tenants to work and in certain situations earn up to $100,000 with adjustments to the amount they will receive depending on family size. I am currently assisting a family who has a Section 8 Voucher and working with a landlord in Great Neck. He has met the prospective tenant and is very happy with them. The tenant happens to be going to law school but has a total of five in her family. Most important, rental payments

will go directly into the landlord’s account on a monthly basis without any issues or interruptions. No excuses about forgetting, lack of a stamp, no envelope, no computer or internet service or whatever excuses tenants normally provide.

The other issues with tenants that landlords accept outside the Section 8 Voucher programs are: What happens when their finances change due to the loss of a job or failure of their business? What if an adult passes away and the rent cannot be paid? Landlords should be much more open to considering Section 8 Voucher families. Landlords do not have to worry about income or credit since the prospective tenants aren’t responsible for their rent, but there are exceptions to the rules and regulations of the law. Here are two additional links to find out more information and become more educated and informed as to the huge benefits of the Section 8 Programs and exceptions: Section 8 Government Programs https://www.hud. gov/topics/housing_choice_voucher_ program_section_8

Landlords need to step up to the plate, and pay it forward by helping those in serious and sometimes desperate need of housing who have qualified Section 8 Vouchers. Rental inventory is at historic lows, and there is a severe shortage of affordable units. Improvements in availability do not appear to be coming down the pike anytime soon. Landlords should

not be afraid or turn down Section 8 Vouchers (or enhanced Vouchers) as it is an important facet of our housing market.

Fines can be quite severe. Newsday, reported several weeks ago that a major Long Island firm got caught saying that the landlord wasn’t considering a voucher applicant. If you feel you have been discriminated against currently or in the past during your search, you can call and report your complaint to HUD at 1-800-669-9777.

Continue to Donate to the Ukrainian Crisis and save a life or the

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Philip A. Raices is the owner/Broker of Turn Key Real Estate at 3 Grace Ave Suite 180 in Great Neck. He has 40 years of experience in the Real Estate industry and has earned designations as a Graduate of the Realtor Institute (G.R.I.) and also as a Certified International Property Specialist (C.I.P.S) as well as the new “Green Industry” Certification for eco-friendly construction and upgrades. For a “FREE” 15-minute consultation, value analysis of your home, or to answer any of your questions or concerns he can be reached by cell: (516) 647-4289 or by email: Phil@TurnKeyRealEstate.Com or via https://WWW.Li-RealEstate.Com

FCA’s new marketing, comm. director

Family and Children’s Association (FCA), a leading health and human services not-for-profit organization on Long Island, recently named Lonnie Ostrow marketing and communications director. FCA president and CEO Jeffrey L. Reynolds made the announcement on behalf of the organization.

“We are thrilled to welcome a marketing and communications professional of Lonnie’s broad experience and formidable talents to FCA. Over the course of his career he has demonstrated a keen ability to use time-honored and cutting edge marketing strategies to support organizational goals in a creative and effective manner,” Reynolds said. “Lonnie’s expertise will help guide and support our current and future initiatives as we move forward to tackle the evolving challenges of Long Island’s underserved communities.”

As marketing and communications director, Ostrow will be responsible for managing FCA’s robust marketing strategy, including the traditional and digital cam -

paigns that support FCA’s seven divisions and its development office.

Among Ostrow’s priorities are oversight of FCA’s website refresh and management of its dynamic social media presence while growing its subscriber base and expanding its video content to highlight its programs and people.

Prior to joining FCA, Ostrow was the Director of Marketing and Communications for the American Friends of Bar-Ilan University in New York City. There he oversaw the marketing and communications infrastructure for the fundraising arm of the university, a world leader in medicine, cybersecurity, science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Ostrow’s unusual career path provided him with plentiful opportunities to expand his knowledge, travel the world and put his considerable entrepreneurial skills to good use. He has a 20 plus year relationship with the bestselling author Barbara Taylor Bradford, serving as her director of public relations/marketing and her personal

assistant, managing her book tours, handling all press inquires, creating and managing her email data base and multiple social media platforms.

Ostrow served as director of marketing, promotions and licensing for IGPC, an agency that designed and produced postage stamps for nations around the world. This unique position enabled him to work with some of the world’s best-known pop-culture icons. His people skills and creativity resulted in living postage stamp tributes for the likes of Barbra Streisand, Kirk Douglas, Sylvester Stallone, Jackie Chan, Michael Jordan, Maya Angelou and The Bee Gees.

Ostrow is a graduate of Adelphi University. He earned certificate degrees in graphic design and web design, social media, blogs, wikis and podcasts. He is the author of the 2016 bestselling novel, “Poet Of The Wrong Generation.”

He lives in Merrick.

For more information about FCA, visit FCALI.org.

Real Estate Watch

Earth Day at The Waldorf School Town hosts CarFit program for seniors

North Hempstead Council Member Peter Zuckerman was proud to join representatives from the American Occupational Therapy Association, AAA Northeast and the Town’s Department of Services for the Aging on April 27 for a CarFit program.

The program was offered free of charge to individuals, including those who reside outside of the town, who

are age 60 and over at Clinton G. Martin Park in New Hyde Park.

CarFit is a program designed to help seniors achieve a better fit with their vehicle for optimal safety and comfort while driving. A 12-point CarFit checklist was reviewed with participants while in their own vehicle, including adjusting mirrors to reduce blind spots, seat belt use and steering wheel tilt.

On Wednesday, April 19 The Waldorf School of Garden City participated in a schoolwide afternoon of collaborative environmental activities, with older and younger grades along with teachers and administrators partnering up for debris clean up, invasive species removal, art projects, cooking and more to recognize Earth Day.

The fifth grade raked leaves to help with campus clean up.

The ninth and fourth grades teamed up to clear bamboo from the nature trail on campus.

The seniors joined their first grade buddies to paint signs for the new bunny garden, where vegetables will be planted for the wild bunnies to snack on.

Town to host vet services info day

North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena and the town’s Veterans Advisory Committee today announced a free Veterans Services Information Showcase to be held on Tuesday, May 9, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Clinton G. Martin Park, located at 1601 Marcus Ave. in New Hyde Park.

“I am very proud that the town will be hosting this veterans’ event, as it will serve as a great opportunity to connect veterans and their families with services and resources available to

them,” Town Supervisor DeSena said. “Our town has a very robust and active veterans’ population, and through our Veterans Advisory Committee and our other programs like Project Independence, we are constantly looking for new ways to support these brave men and women who sacrificed so much for our freedoms. I am excited about the new possibilities and relationships this event will bring between our veterans and the organizations that are dedicated to supporting them.”

The Veterans Services Information Showcase will feature a number of groups and organizations dedicated to helping our veterans. Among those in attendance will include:

the Northport VA Center, Bravo Foxtrot United Veterans, Nassau County Veterans Service Agency, Warrior Ranch, United Veterans Beacon House, Here to Help Military and Families, Northwell Military Liaison Services, Veterans Health Alliance of Long Island, Long Island State Veterans Home, Army Rangers Lead the Way Foundation, North Hempstead American Legion and VFW Posts and Nassau County Clerk’s Office. This event is free for all to attend, and light refreshments will be served. To RSVP, call 516869-7604.

North Hempstead Council Member Peter Zuckerman and New York State Assemblywoman Gina Sillitti are cosponsoring a Narcan training program at the Shelter Rock Public Library on May 11 from 7-8 p.m.

The program is designed to educate the public on how to recognize the signs of an opioid overdose and how to respond with the administration of Narcan, a medication that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

The training will be conducted by Dr. Edward Rubin and Alex Rubin, who will provide attendees with the knowledge and skills needed to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose.

Attendees will be provided free Narcan kits by Central Nassau Guidance and Counseling Services, Inc. following the event.

Opioid overdoses continue to be a

major public health concern across the country and the number of overdose deaths has increased dramatically in recent years. According to Central Nassau Guidance and Counseling Services, Inc., drug overdoses are now the top cause of death for individuals under the age of 50. Narcan has proven to be an effective tool in reversing the effects of an overdose and saving lives, but it is only effective if administered properly and in a timely manner.

“The opioid epidemic has had a devastating impact on communities across Long Island and throughout our country, and we want to do whatever we can to help address it. I am proud to offer this training to our residents,” Zuckerman said. “It is our hope that by educating our community about opioid overdoses and Narcan, we can help save lives.”

“Community Narcan training events are an essential tool in the fight against the opioid epidemic. By providing our community with the knowledge and skills to recognize and respond to an overdose, these events have the potential to save lives and prevent needless tragedy,” Sillitti said. “But more than that, Narcan training is about empowering individuals to take action and make a difference in our communities. By coming together to learn and practice this life-saving skill, we can create a culture of awareness, support and hope for those struggling with addiction.”

Registration for the Narcan training is open to the first 100 participants. Residents can register online for the free training at bit.ly/Narcan-Training-5-11 or by calling the Shelter Rock Public Library at 516-248-7363.

Officials to host Narcan training School taxes due on May 10

North Hempstead Receiver of Taxes Charles Berman reminds residents that the last day to pay the 2022-2023 school taxes – second-half bill without a penalty is Wednesday, May 10. Second-half of the 2022-2023 school tax payments must be postmarked by the U.S. Postal Service on or before Wednesday, May 10 to avoid penalty.

Online tax payment information is shown on the reverse side of your bill. Online payments may be made by check (ACH) or credit card at: northhempsteadny.gov/tax-payments.

A $1.75 processing fee for online check payments will apply. If paying with an online check through your bank, please schedule the payment prior to the deadline and be sure to include your account number (located in the upper right-hand corner of the tax bill), bill number and/or your section, block and lot.

A $3.95 fee applies for debit card transactions.

The online credit card payment processing fee is 2.30% of the tax amount per transaction. New York General Municipal Law requires people paying their property taxes by credit card to also pay the fees associated with the payment transaction. The town receives no portion of the service fee; that fee is retained by the payment processing vendors. Accepted credit cards are American Express, Mastercard, Discover or Visa.

When paying in person, you may pay your bill at 200 Plandome Road, Manhasset, New York 11030, during normal business hours, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. (The office is not open on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays). The

tax office will also be open until 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 10. You may also pay at the following sites with check or money order only on the dates and times specified. Please bring your entire bill with you when paying in person.

Second-Half 2021-2022 School Tax – Local Collection

Sites

Wednesday, April 26 at 10 a.m. — 12 p.m. – Clinton G. Martin Park, Marcus Avenue & New Hyde Park Road, New Hyde Park

Wednesday, April 26 at 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. – Broadway Park, Broadway & County Courthouse Road, Garden City Park

Thursday, April 27 at 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. – Great Neck Social Center, 80 Grace Avenue, Great Neck

Thursday, April 27 – 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. – Michael J. Tully Park, Evergreen Avenue, New Hyde Park

Friday – April 28 – 12 p.m. –2 p.m. – John D. Caemmerer Park, Wentworth Avenue, Albertson

Anyone making payments by mail should include the remittance stub(s) with their check or money order in the return envelope. They are also asked to write their bill number(s) on the check(s), include the payment stub(s), and make checks payable to: Charles Berman, Receiver of Taxes and mail to the Receiver of Taxes at PO Box 3001, Manhasset, New York 11030.

For more information or if you have additional questions, please call 311 or 516-869-6311.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE TOWN OF NORTH HEMPSTEAD Council Member Zuckerman with representatives from AAA at the town’s CarFit event.

PHOTO BY DYLAN PODLINSKI CLASS OF 2024

Picture of WSGC Earth Day

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Ex LI officials discuss housing thoughts on political landscape

Continued from Page 22

Curran, who said she originally ran for county legislator in 2013 because Baldwin wasn’t living up to its potential development-wise, said she believes it takes a lot of stakeholder management through leaders and community groups to garner more buy-in.

“I think her intention was very good, but if they had spent a little time on the ground on top of already talking to mayors and other officials, they could have avoided a lot of those landmines and have had some more success,” Curran said.

The former executive also added the lack of necessary infrastructure to withstand a sharp increase in housing.

Suozzi discussed his previous efforts as county executive to increase housing in the area, including “cool downtowns”, and building up to combat suburban sprawl.

“Local governments often aren’t sophisticated enough to do this planning by themselves for the long term,” Suozzi said. “We should be

providing grants, hiring planners and hiring engineers to help them along the way.”

The four also discussed the political agency Long Island’s elected officials have and how the influence of New York City may affect the area.

“It’s important to understand New York City is one government,” Suozzi said. “They have one government that does schools, sewers, fire, police, you name it. Nassau County has at least 450, Suffolk County has at least 550 different entities between villages, fire districts or school districts for example.”

Venditto shared that when was first elected he got a firsthand look at the perception other officials have of Long Island.

“I was unpleasantly surprised learning about what folks around the state think of us Long Islanders,” Venditto said. “Some may think it’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ and the Hamptons. They don’t understand that we’re comprised of blue-collar communities, blue-collar people that put their boots on every day to go to work.”

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Nassau, Sands officials announce agreement

Continued from Page 6

“workforce housing” component regardless of whether or not Sands obtains a gaming license, though there will not be a housing project or development.

If Sands is unable to obtain the gaming license, Blakeman said, Sands would still have to pay the $54 million to Nassau County and construct other aspects of the proposal aside from the casino. The community benefits Sands will provide, he said, would decrease if the gaming license is not obtained.

Blakeman also said the fate of the Nassau Coliseum would be in the hands of Las Vegas Sands, though he said he informed company officials of its’ significance to Long Island, specifically Nassau County.

“I’ve told them that I think the Coliseum is iconic,” Blakeman said. “I think that it’s a beautiful building…I’m hopeful that they find a use for the Coliseum, but again, that’s going to be within their discretion.”

The process leading up to the agreement included a handful of public meetings where residential input was taken into consideration. While attendees at Wednesday’s press conference cheered for the progress made, there have been some groups and entities that have opposed the casino, including Hofstra University, which neighbors the Nassau Hub.

Hofstra filed a lawsuit against the Nassau County Planning Commission last week, claiming a meeting they held surrounding the lease trans-

fer violated executive session rules by improperly meeting, prematurely voted to close public comment and held a meeting before the lease negotiations were completed.

Hofstra has opposed the entertainment center proposed by Las Vegas Sands at the site of the Coliseum. A letter from Hofstra trustees published online in March said potential “traffic congestion, crime, economic harm to local business” would have a negative impact on the school community, which is directly adjacent to the area.

“The Nassau Hub is an entirely inappropriate location for a casino,” officials said. “There are other locations in and around New York City to site a casino that are not in such proximity to multiple educational institutions where so many young people live and learn.”

Despite Hofstra’s opposition to the plans, a pair of other local colleges have expressed support for the idea, with Nassau County Community College and Long Island University announcing they will aid Sands in its plans.

The partnership between the two colleges will allow students to advance their two-year associate’s degree into a four-year bachelor’s degree, officials said. The program, according to Sands officials, would be beneficial to graduates seeking to pursue a variety of hospitality roles.

A nonpartisan group of Nassau County residents called “Say No To The Casino Civic Association” has also been vocal in their opposition to the Sands proposal, citing concerns of decreased property values, gambling addictions in the young community and crime rates.

Buckley names new head of upper school

Buckley Country Day School is pleased to announce the appointment of Dean Schlanger as Buckley’s new head of upper school for the 2023-24 school year.

Schlanger will join the Buckley community in September after a successful sixteen years as the principal of Manhasset Secondary School serving grades 7-12.

Schlanger started his career in education as a middle school guidance counselor in the Levittown School District and then the Herricks School District. He went on to become the assistant principal and then principal of the high school in the Hauppauge School District.

During his tenure in Hauppauge, he was also a lecturer at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in the School of Professional Development.

Schlanger grew up in Philadelphia — as an Eagles fan! — where he attended GW Carver High School of Engineering & Science. He then graduated from Hofstra University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master of science in education, with a focus on counseling. Schlanger continued his education

and earned two additional degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University: a master of science in education and a doctorate in educational administration.

The search committee, led by Buckley’s longtime Head of School Jean-Marc Juhel, reviewed many applicant dossiers for the position of head of upper school and had prepared for a more protracted process.

After interviewing Schlanger, however, it became clear to the search committee that they had found the educational leader the school had been looking for.

“Dr. Schlanger brings years of demonstrated successful experience working with students, faculty and families to Buckley,” Juhel said.

“He possesses the kind of acquired intuition that comes from the depth and breadth of experience. Yet, his growth mindset is evident and compelling. He is an expert at building engaged communities and fostering a school culture defined by academic excellence and student wellness.”

Schlanger will officially start in his new position at Buckley on Sept. 1.

DeSena running for re-election

Continued from Page 1

man’s, who during his time as supervisor, raised taxes, increased debt, and saddled the Town with many long-term issues we are still dealing with to this very day,” DeSena said previously in a statement to Blank Slate Media.

Kaiman announced his bid on March 7, alongside Councilwoman Veronica Lurvey for town receiver of taxes, incumbent Councilmembers Peter Zuckerman and Mariann Dalimonte and newcomer Christine Liu on the Democrat Party ticket.

“I’m looking at this as moving forward and applying what I am and what I have become to this new world of local government. which has evolved over the years since I was last town supervisor,” Kaiman previously told Blank Slate Media. “It’s about coming into this with fresh eyes and we have a really good team of people with experience on this ticket.”

Kaiman, a Great Neck resident, currently serves as Suffolk’s deputy county executive, a position he has held since 2017. Suffolk Executive Steve Bellone has served in his current role since 2012 and is term-limited from running for the position again in this year’s elections.

Kaiman previously ran for New York’s 3rd Congressional District last year. He finished second in the August Democratic primary behind Robert Zimmerman, who was later defeated by Republican George Santos in the general election.

Lurvey will be leaving her current seat as a council member to run for town receiver of taxes. She will be running against Flower Hill trustee Mary Jo Collins.

The current receiver of taxes Charles Ber-

man, a Democrat who has served in the position since 2010, is not seeking re-election.

Lurvey has represented the town’s 4th District as its council member since January 2019. She was appointed to fill the vacant seat and then elected for a four-year term in November 2019. Prior to her work in local government, Lurvey was a practicing attorney for more than 15 years at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

Lurvey is no longer a resident of the 4th District after new redistricting maps were finalized last year.

Lurvey’s public service efforts began before she took office. She co-founded and became copresident of North Shore Action, a non-partisan community action group that advocated for social issues, including anti-gun violence, mental health issues and environmental protection.

Mary Jo Collins, the Republican candidate running for town receiver of taxes, has served on the Flower Hill Board of Trustees since June 2020. She was re-elected for another term as trustee in March.

In tandem with her work in public service, Collins has worked on Wall Street for 40 years predominantly in fixed income.

She previously told Blank Slate Media that some of her notable work has included repaving and updating drainage on Middle Neck Road, modernizing the village’s records, additional parking spaces in the village and increasing transparency between the village and its residents, something she helped achieve in collaboration with the rest of the board.

The town’s 2nd District council member Zuckerman will be seeking re-election, chal-

lenged by Albertson water commissioner Edward Scott.

Zuckerman has served as the town’s 2nd District council member since January 2014 when he was appointed to the position. Previously he was a trustee for the Village of East Hills for 11 years, where he grew up and now lives with his family.

In tandem with his career in public service, Zuckerman also is a practicing attorney. He is a partner in the Uniondale-based firm of Peter Zuckerman, Attorney, P.C.

Scott, the Republican candidate and retired NYPD officer, has served as the Albertson water commissioner since 2021. He also served as president of the Albertson Square Civic Association.

Liu, a community liaison for state Assemblywoman Gina Sillitti (D-Port Washington), will be running for the seat left vacant by Lurvey.

She is facing Republican candidate James Gounaris, president of the Herricks Board of Education. He is also the director of food and nutrition services at the Great Neck Public Schools.

Dalimonte, the 6th District council member, is running for re-election and will be challenged by Republican candidate David Franklin.

Dalimonte, a 4th-generation Port Washington resident, has been the district’s council member since 2020. Prior to her work in public office, she was also executive director of the Greater Port Washington Business Improvement District, director of development of now Residents Forward and served in various Home School Association positions.

Franklin, the Republican candidate, is the deputy commissioner for the Nassau County

Woman sentenced for $600K theft

Continued from Page 11

yard bookkeeper in May 2009 and later promoted to boat yard office manager. She was responsible for the yacht club’s record keeping, paying the club’s credit card and ordering office supplies.

Restrepo stole more than $600,000 from the yacht club between 2010 and 2017, mostly using the credit card numbers of two of the club’s employees, the DA said.

She made fraudulent credit card charges through PayPal and then directed the money to her personal PayPal account, making more than 460 unauthorized fund transfers from January 2013 through February 2017, according to the district attorney’s office.

Restrepo falsified the yacht club’s business records and altered transactions to appear as though they were made to legitimate vendors,

allowing the scheme to go undetected for years.

The funds were disbursed using a PayPal Debit Card more than 880 times. Withdrawals and transactions took place in Costa Rica, The Seneca Casino Hotel in Niagara Falls, and the Turning Stone Resort in Verona, N.Y.

She also made unauthorized charges at various restaurants and retail stores, and additional transfers were made from her PayPal account directly into her bank account, according to the Nassau DA.

She opened an American Express card in the name of one yacht club employee without his permission or consent in July 2016, as well as an account in her own name.

“Entrusted with the club’s credit cards, this defendant exploited that unique access to siphon $600,000 of club funds into her own

bank accounts and used the money for personal expenses and made withdrawals at several casinos and resorts,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly.

“The defendant was previously convicted for a similar fraud scheme just months after she began working for the yacht club. Instead of starting fresh the defendant’s greed only intensified, and now she will spend years in prison as a result of her actions,” the DA said.

Restrepo was previously convicted of firstdegree falsifying business records, a felony, in May 2009. She had stolen more than $100,000 as a fiscal manager for the Glen Cove Child Day Care and was sentenced to a conditional discharge.

Restrepo was arrested for her most recent offense on March 9, 2017.

Ex-Mineola mayor runs for Nicolello’s seat

Continued from Page 2

21,000 registered Democrats compared to 10,000 registered Republicans, according to the data. Republican legislative incumbents include Howard Kopel, John Giuffre, Michael Giangregorio, Thomas McKevitt, William Gaylor, John Fer-

retti and Rose Marie Walker.

Nicolello, in a March statement, said being a legislator has been “a long commitment and it takes its toll on a family.” The long-serving legislator lauded the Nassau GOP for having a “a lot of talent” as it looks for someone to succeed him.

After serving in Nassau County for nearly three decades, Nicolello has spent the previous six years as the Republican leader. Abrahams last month said he was grateful all of the debates between him and Nicolello did not “undermine” their friendship and wished him well.

North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena is running for re-election.

Parks, Recreation and Museums Department. He previously was the Port Washington police commissioner for nine years.

Franklin ran in 2020 for New York State Senate’s 7th District, losing in the general election to Democrat Anna Kaplan.

Election Day will be on Nov. 7. All candidates are subject to change, according to the Board of Elections.

30

years of business for Olga Lucia

Continued from Page 3

ror every day when she showered was affecting her personally.

She said this is why her work is so important, because it’s helping her patients feel better about themselves not necessarily for external validation.

When Lucia completed the areola reconstruction, she said her patient hugged her and expressed how much she loved the work as she no longer saw the scar that had bothered her every morning when she looked in the mirror.

Because of this effect, Lucia said she has become more invested in her work in camouflaging scars and alleviating physical traumas.

“When you can change people’s lives, it is very rewarding,” Lucia said.

She said the loyalty of her patients is something she is greatly appreciative of as it is beneficial to her business and her craft.

“I am very blessed to have the opportunity to see my people 20 years later and that I can see my work 20 years later,” Lucia said.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE TOWN OF NORTH HEMPSTEAD

Ex-lawyer stole from client: DA

Continued from Page 1

in February 2016, officials said. The agreement was for client one, a married couple in a federal workers’ compensation case, to obtain a $100,000 loan with interest from client two. DiGirolomo made the agreement without the married couple’s knowledge, according to officials. The married couple did not receive any of the money from DiGirolomo.

In October 2018, DiGirolomo allegedly stole another $125,000 in a real estate transaction from the second client. The payment had been sent on Oct. 10, 2018, and was intended for the client, but officials said that by the end of that month, DiGirolomo had spent the money for his own purposes and the account had a zero balance.

Further, in June 2019, DiGirolomo received a $650,000 settlement check in connection with the workers’ compensation case involving the married couple. He signed the couple’s name on the check, without their consent, and deposited it into one of his business accounts, according to officials.

Lakeville Estates to hold casino vote

Continued from Page 8

form county legislators and the reasons for it.

Members spoke with Sands representative Mike Rendino, a Nassau County resident, about their concerns, which included safety, security

and traffic.

Cutrone said the civic reached out to Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder, who said he does not see the proposal as a reason for an increase in crime or prostitution. The association also said surrounding communities

of Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, CT., did not expect an increase in crime after inquiring with the local police department.

Voting will be open for civic members until May 4, Cutrone said.

Port resident named Queens College dean

Continued from Page 11

as she transitions into the permanent position.”

Price added: “Dean Kabuto brings a fresh perspective tempered by her 17 years of service to the college. Based on the feedback gathered by (executive search firm) Witt/Kieffer across all stakeholder groups, Dean Kabuto rose to the top of an outstanding group of national finalists for the position.”

As chair of the Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education, Kabuto guided faculty through the tumults of the pandemic by helping transition to remote teaching and then back to the classrooms.

In this position, she managed the department’s budget, coordinated grant-related partnerships and organized curriculum updates. She also welcomed an 11% increase in undergraduate enrollment for the major.

Kabuto received a bachelor’s of science in biology with a concentration in education from the University of Richmond in Virginia, a master’s of science in education and later a Ph.D. in reading, language and cognition from Hofstra University.

Kabuto’s research has resulted in 23 articles in scholarly journals and 13 chapters in books, focusing on reading, literacy and bilingual learners. She has written two books and edited or co-

edited five.

She received the 2019 United Kingdom Literacy Association/Wiley Research in Literacy Education Award for her article “Family Narratives of Biliteracy,” published in Literacy.

“We are delighted that Professor Kabuto has accepted this appointment,” Queens College President Frank H. Wu said. “The School of Education is a large and dynamic part of our institution and it holds central importance to our mission as a public institution. She has both the scholarly depth and proven administrative skill and initiative to lead it.”

Residents oppose casino at town meet

Continued from Page 8

the revenue Blakeman is celebrating is nothing more than a regressive tax squeezed like a wet rag from the most vulnerable among us,” Silva said.

When the casino opens, Blakeman said, Nassau is guaranteed $25 million in revenue with escalation costs. That figure increases to $50 million a year with escalation costs once the operation has been running for three years.

Aside from the $54 million payment to the

county, Blakeman said, Sands will also pay $5 million in recurring rent until the gaming license is obtained, at which time the recurring rent will increase to $10 million annually.

DeSena, who did not say whether or not she supported the proposal, agreed with the women’s points that the recent influx in online gambling has had a negative effect on young adults and urged them also bring their concerns to the state level. She also said she would meet with Silva on

the matter, as Silva requested.

In unrelated town news, the town board authorized the creation of a dog run at Roslyn Road and Lee Avenue Park, located in both East Williston and Mineola, once funding has been secured.

The project, organized by girl scout Bree Janicek, is working on her gold award in honor of her friend, Anthony Leva Jr., of East Williston, who died from cancer in 2021 and originally had a goal of establishing a dog run for his eagle project.

According to the agreement between the couple and DiGirolomo, the attorney was entitled to 30 percent of the recovery, amounting to approximately $195,000, and trial-related expenses of approximately $5,000.

DiGirolomo then used $130,000 of that settlement check to complete restitution in the earlier case. He was automatically disbarred and precluded from the practice of law because of his felony plea on April 4, 2019, according to officials.

Gounaris touts district progress

Continued from Page 2 that feeling provides a unique sense of comfort, calm and belonging,” Gounaris said. “Ensuring this is my major goal.”

Gounaris added that he is asking for residents to support him to ensure Herricks’ continued excellence and so that he can maintain his advocacy for everyone in the community as he’s done for over a decade.

“For 12 years I have had the honor of serving as a volunteer in the most amazing place,” Gounaris said. “Every decision I have made and voted on has always been in the best interest of our entire community. My track record of transparency is evident in all that has taken place during my tenure, and it will continue.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF JESSICA TAYLOR Lakeville Estates Civic Association President Bill Cutrone.

SHAI celebrates Norouz with music, art, food

On a beautiful, sunny, cold Sunday, the Sephardic Heritage Alliance, Inc. (SHAI) welcomed in spring by celebrating a cultural Norouz celebration in New York City at a new, state-of-the-art venue, Lavan Midtown.

March 19 was an evening of celebrating SHAI’s mission of enhancing and preserving our beautiful Persian and Jewish heritage, ushering in the new season, while showing solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Iran. Over fi ve hundred guests of all ages enjoyed a multi-sensory evening of history, culture, art, music and dance.

Committee members

Erika Goldstein Kashi, Tania Eshaghoff Frieberg, Marjan Greenblatt, Mojgan Lancman, Edna Khalili and Jackie Harounian created a fresh, fun, evening to remember. Frieberg curated the art show

using the latest technology of projection mapping and featuring over 40 artists ranging from well-known Iranian artists to local artists of all ages.

Stephanie Ohebshalom opened the event singing“Barayeh,” followed by Mehram Rastegar playing the kamancheh. A beautiful Norouz message was delivered by President Kashi. World Entertainment Dance by Anna Pipoyan wowed and entertained the audience. Lederman Caterers provided delicious cuisine. A magnificent traditional Hafsin table was displayed in the center, and this was designed by Rahloo Khalili and Dalia Baratian.

The beauty of the event was that the entire community participated and was engaged in this evening. It was a night of art, culture, joy, self-expression and solidarity

with our brothers and sisters in Iran who are fi ghting to be able to share in these very same basic rights. Everyone left with a smile, their calligraphy in Farsi by Majid Khosrow Shahi and a goldfi sh.

A special thank you to our committee, Lavan, Lederman Caterers, DJ Iman, Arick Sebag, and our sponsors, Saeed Amirian, Tania Frieberg Eshagoff, Nazee Moinian and the Moinian Group, for making this such a memorable and enjoyable way for all generations to celebrate spring. SHAI truly took us to the next level in what our community needs and wants for our future growth as a community.

SHAI also was able to celebrate Norouz locally in Great Neck at the Great Neck Library where we featured a Hafsin table.

Music was a big part of the Norouz celebration.

Town, Girl Scouts tree initiative

Town of North Hempstead Council Member Veronica Lurvey is proud to announce that the town has formed a partnership with the Girl Scouts of Nassau County to create a tree grove at Michael J. Tully Park. This project is yet another in a string of environmental initiatives spearheaded by Council Member Lurvey aimed at strengthening the resiliency of our local environment here in North Hempstead.

Council Member Lurvey has long been a proponent for introducing tree groves in town of North Hempstead parks, and she was thrilled when The Girl Scouts of Nassau County contacted the town as part of their Tree Promise Service Project, which is funded by a grant from National Grid. The goal of the project is to enhance the beauty of the local parks while promoting environmental sustainability.

The environmentally friendly initiative involved

planting trees to create a tree grove at Michael J. Tully Park. A group of trees planted separately from existing woodlands, known as tree groves, are designed to enhance the local environment in a variety of ways:

cutting greenhouse gas emissions by absorbing carbon dioxide, which in turn reduces the gas buildup in our atmosphere enhancing our air quality by diminishing the number of toxic pollutants that we breath in improving our water quality by providing a filter effect that removes pollutants and sediments from rainfall, which seeps into our waterways and ground water moderating the impacts of storm water runoff providing ample shade structures that are utilized by both humans as well as the animals the live in the surrounding habitat

“We are delighted to partner with the Girl Scouts of Nassau County on this project to beautify our parks and preserve our environment,” said Council Member Lur-

vey. “I am thrilled that our young leaders of tomorrow are working diligently with local government to make important contributions that promote resiliency and sustainability throughout the greater North Hempstead community.”

This project goes hand-in-hand with Council Member Lurvey’s vocal commitment to improving the town’s tree canopy. She recently revamped the town’s Tree Code and re-established the town’s Tree Advisory Committee.

As part of the Tree Promise Service Project, the Girl Scouts also had the opportunity to learn from Bonnie Klein, the town’s horticulturist, about the importance of trees and how to care for them. This educational component will help ensure that children learn about the importance of environmental sustainability.

For more information on the Girl Scouts of Nassau County visit: www.girlscoutsnassau.org.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY ERIKA KASHI

SHAI welcomed in spring by celebrating a cultural Norouz celebration on Sunday, March 19.

Herricks musicians All-Eastern Herricks students win peer awards

Herricks Special Education Parent Teacher Association recently hosted the 2023 Student Peer Awards.

Students, family members and staff were invited to the ceremony that was held in the Herricks Middle School cafeteria. Herricks Superintendent Tony Sinanis opened the event that celebrated 12 Herricks students for their kindness and compassion to their peers with different learning abilities.

Awards were presented to the following students representing each of the district’s schools:

· Millie Adhvaryu-Valente from Denton Avenue Elementary

· James Haddock from Herricks Middle School

· Panagiotis “Peter” Katehis from Herricks High School

· Camryn LaRock from Herricks High School

· Abby Mannino from Searingtown Elementary

· Harshee Patel from Denton Avenue Elementary

· Eduardo Santana from Herricks High School

· Zohra Sohail from Herricks High School

· Willow Umlauf from Center Street Elementary

· Daisy Van Groningen from Herricks Middle School

· Cocona Wang from Searingtown Elementary

· Allen Xiang from Center Street Elementary

The district wishes to congratulate all the Student Peer Award recipients and extend special thanks to the SEPTA for hosting the event.

Herricks High School had eight students selected to perform at the 2023 Eastern Division Honors Festival that was held in Rochester, New York. The Herricks students who participated in the mid-April event were:

· Riddhe Ahluwalia for soprano

· Kristina Apostolatos for alto

· Franciscus Chang for the oboe and English horn

· Aaron Chu for violin

· Devon Lee for cello

· Dylan Lee for bass

· Jeylin Lee for viola

· Ethan Thway for bass clarinet

The event was sponsored by the National Association for Music Education and hosted by the New York State School Music Association. The Herricks students performed among the more than 200 students selected from school music programs across the state. Approximately 700 students were participants from schools across the East Coast. Students rehearsed and performed with renowned conductors including Dr. James Tapia of Syracuse University (All-Eastern Symphonic Band), Rachel Lauber of the Eastman Community Music School and University at Buffalo (All-Eastern Symphony Orchestra), Jason Max Ferdinand of the University of Maryland (AllEastern Mixed Chorus), Brian Powell of Montclair State University, NJ (All-Eastern Modern Band), Dr. Kristina MacMullen of University of North Texas (All-Eastern Treble Chorus) and jazz tubist Bob Stewart conducting the

All-Eastern Jazz Ensemble.

“This was a wonderful opportunity for our students,’’ said Director of Fine and Performing Arts Anissa Arnold. “Our students worked collaboratively with other young musicians from schools outside of New York and gained valuable experience by working with renowned master conductors concluding with stellar performanc-

es.”

NYSSMA, the New York State School Music Association, is the largest state affiliate of the National Association for Music Education. The Mission of the New York State School Music Association is to advance music education across New York State for its membership and students in member school programs.

Tri-M Jr. Chapter new members

Herricks Special Education Parent Teacher Association recently hosted the 2023 Student Peer Awards.

Herricks Middle School Tri-M Jr. Chapter recently inducted 19 new members and four continuing members. TriM introduces student musicians to the world of student leadership with a connection to music.

Candidates for Tri-M are selected based on scholarship, character, leader-

ship and service. These students excelled at solo NYSSMA and met further requirements such as musical-based community service to earn them their induction.

Herricks adviser Alicia Brown, spoke proudly at the induction, about how these students grew into their leadership roles throughout the year, especially

while assisting with the All-County and NYSSMA festivals.

Mrs. Brown is eager and excited for these students to continue to act as role models and serve the school community and beyond by sharing their passion for music.

PHOTO COURTESY OF HERRICKS PUBLIC SCHOOLS

PHOTO COURTESY OF HERRICKS PUBLIC SCHOOLS

PHOTO COURTESY OF HERRICKS PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Herricks Middle School Tri-M Jr. Chapter recently inducted 19 new members and four continuing members.

Great Neck South tennis star Albert Hu seeks to win county, state championships

BY

There is normally a progression in sports when you play postseason tournaments; steps you have to take each season or each year to get better until finally scaling the top of the mountain.

For Great Neck South tennis star Albert Hu, the progression toward county singles champion has been linear so far.

As a freshman in 2021, Hu finished third at the Nassau County individual singles event.

Last year, Hu advanced to the final before losing to eventual New York state champ Stephan Gershfeld of Hewlett.

So, a third, a second this year ought to bring the big trophy to Hu’s house, right?

“I’m trying for that,” he said in a recent interview. “Last year I was really proud to get second, because I played really well in the semis. Just trying to keep getting better.”

Hu, a lefty with a ferocious forehand and strong all-court game, has been a mainstay in local tennis since he was a freshman, when he arrived on the Great Neck South varsity and immediately became the No.1 singles player.

“He was clearly by far our best player, I knew that as soon as I saw him play,” said Great Neck South coach Joshua Dugan. “His pace, his power, his knowledge and tennis IQ, he does everything so well.”

Hu is looking to play a full high school season this spring after missing time last year with groin and wrist injuries; despite not getting as many matches, he reached the quarterfinals of the state championships.

This season he’s compiled a 4-2 record through matches of April 28.

“I don’t really like team sports, but I love playing high school tennis because you’ve got people cheering for you and the whole team gets into it,” Hu said. “There’s definitely a lot more pressure playing (high school tennis), because every match you’re playing is

for the team, not just yourself.”

Hu doesn’t always hear the cheers, though.

“It’s funny but if I’m winning by a lot or losing by a lot, I hear my teammates and the crowd,” he said. “But if it’s a really close match, I’m totally focused and don’t hear anything.”

Hu said he started playing tennis around age 9, and started to get serious about the sport in middle school. Hu began working with coach Maurice Trail at Robbie Wagner Tennis Training Center in Glen Cove in late 2018.

“His mental game has developed

the most out of anything,” Trail said. “He doesn’t go away in matches, no matter what the score is. He’s gotten much more mentally tough and really learned how to compete well.”

“And he’s one of the most coachable kids I’ve ever worked with,” Trail added.

Hu said while his forehand is his greatest strength, even more so as a lefty sending unfamiliar spins to his opponents’ backhand, he’s been working to beef up his serve and make his backhand more of a weapon.“I need to make my serve a little more unpredictable, and win

points a little easier with it,” he said. Dugan said that he’s seen great improvements each year from Hu, and that having him at the top of the lineup “just makes it so much easier for everyone else, knowing Albert is up

top and is giving us a great chance at that point every time we play.”Hu has continued to play USTA tournaments when not playing school tennis, with the goal of playing his favorite sport in college. He said he and his fam-

ily took a tour of Johns Hopkins and Swarthmore over the recent school break, but that he doesn’t have a favorite college right now.In the meantime, he’s hoping to take that final step to county championship glory.

“There’s definitely a lot more pressure playing (high school tennis), because every match you’re playing is for the team, not just yourself.”

ALBERT HU

GREAT NECK SOUTH TENNIS STAR

MICHAEL J. LEWIS

PHOTO BY JOSHUA DUGAN

Great Neck South junior Albert Hu has been the Rebels’ No.1 singles player for three years, and reached the quarterfinals at states last spring.

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