I have read your article in the Great Neck News titled “Kreitzman leads Able bus effort.” Please be advised as follows:

I am a World War II veteran who was a captain; I did 30 missions over Germany!

I have seven me dials and three citations including the lead airplane over the bombing of Berln with 1,000 planes.

I have lived in Great Neck for 70 years. I cannot use my car anymore so I have to ride the bus. The elimination of the buses will affect me terribly.

Please tell the “Liers” (female for lawyers) who are constantly making laws to change things! I will fight!

Abraham Hertzberg

Great Neck

Now that the Town of North Hempstead Board of Zoning and Appeals has granted its approval, sometime in the next few months the residents of Great Neck will be called upon to make a critical decision that will have a major impact on the quality of life and future of our community. 

I am referring, of course, to the public referendum on the plan and bond issue for a desperately needed renovation of the main branch of the Great Neck Library. 

Designed in the late 60’s, and built in 1970, the building is in terrible shape and totally inadequate in terms of contemporary library design and technology.  All you need do is pay a visit to the Port Washington or Manhasset libraries to understand just how lacking our facility is. 

The truth is that we have the largest library collection on Long Island, the largest circulation of any library on Long Island, the most extensive branch system of any library on Long Island, and perhaps the most antiquated and shabby library building on Long Island.

After many years of deliberations and planning, the board of trustees of the library has come up with a sensible, reasonable and affordable plan to renovate the main branch. We’re not talking about a “Taj Mahal,” but rather a functional, efficient, environmentally-friendly building that will meet the community’s needs for years to come. The cost is approximately $23 million which translates into a library tax increase of about $100/year for a house appraised at $1 million.

Undoubtedly, there will be opponents of the project who will say that in the digital age there is no longer a need for libraries and others who will decry its cost in these tough economic times. 

A modern library is more than just a collection of books and our library system in Great Neck provides a wide range of services and programs. The new building will allow for the library to offer even more, especially in the areas of computers and other technology and maybe, most important, greatly expanded and improved children’s facilities and programming. 

And the cost of our project is comparable or less than similar ones undertaken by other Long Island communities, almost none of which maintain the expensive branch system that we do.

What this really comes down to is a decision point as to what kind of community we want to be. Great Neck has always been known for the quality of our schools, parks and library. 

Do we want to continue on a path of mediocrity, letting the jewels of our community wither away? 

Yes, we are a changing community with a much more heterogeneous population with each new group having its own needs. 

The library is one place where all the communities of Great Neck come together and it has done a magnificent job in providing resources and materials for everyone.  Now is the time when a first-class library is needed more than ever and we must all work together to make it happen.

I am proud to working with the Committee for a 21st Century Library in Great Neck, the group which will be leading the advocacy for the project.  The chairman and lead spokesman for the referendum campaign is Andrew Greene, immediate past president of the Board of Trustees of the Great Neck Library, and he is joined by all the other past presidents. Mischa Schwartz, another past president, and his wife Charlotte, are running the day-to-day campaign operations.  To succeed, however:

We need people from all segments of the community to get involved in this campaign; join the committee and come to our meetings;

Help spread the message about the referendum and the concern over the future of our community to all your friends and family; convince them to get involved too;

Consider making a contribution to the committee to help us pay for the production of materials, advertising, mailings, etc.  There are no public funds available; we have to fund this campaign ourselves.

If you have any questions or would like to get involved, make a contribution (contributions should be made out to the Committee for a 21st Century Library in Great Neck and mailed to 35 Arleigh Rd, Great Neck, NY 11021 or just have some good ideas, please contact Charlotte and Mischa Schwartz at 516/466-6076 or Mcschw66@aol.com.

I cannot over-emphasize how important this is to the future of Great Neck.

Steven Markowitz

Great Neck

A letter in your March 11 edition criticized Rep. Carolyn McCarthy’s vote against a budget amendment that would have cut funding for women’s health care.

The writer stated, “Carolyn McCarthy does not vote for bills that defunds (sic) abortion or Planned Parenthood.”

In her histrionic rant the author went on to equate support for Planned Parenthood with support for murder and eugenics and went on to say Rep. McCarthy “chooses to end life each and every time she votes in favor of Planned Parenthood.”

First, let us acknowledge that Planned Parenthood does provide access to abortion services. They also provide birth control services, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, low-cost gynecological care for indigent women, men’s health services and patient education. And the best way to prevent unwanted pregnancy in the first place is by educating people.

You want to put a stop to abortion? Then eliminating Planned Parenthood is the last thing you want to do.

As for Rep. McCarthy’s stand on life, she’s been fighting for years to save lives by trying to reign in the proliferation of guns in this country.

Or is preserving life ex utero less important than preserving life in utero?

Shall we ask the parents of Christina Taylor-Green?

Jeanne Falabella

Mineola

Wheatley School cast members say they wondered whether they could sing their way through the demanding operatic score of “Les Miserables” when the spring musical project was first announced.

But that was before they met their musical director, Cosmo Mallardi, who had a bit of on-the-job experience from playing in and conducting the orchestra of the “Les Miserables” national traveling entourage for a decade.

“It’s quite a feat putting on the show with a high school. They’re really good and as opening night approaches, the enthusiasm level rises,” Mallardi said, smiling.

Mallardi’s hoping the cast’s enthusiasm peaks when the curtain rises on performances in the Wheatley School auditoriium on April 7, 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m. and a matinee on April 9 at 2:00 p.m.

A graduate of the master’s program at the Yale School of Music, Mallardi was originally playing bass with the road company of the Broadway epic based on the novel about class struggle and a failed Paris revolution by Victor Hugo. He conducted the company orchestra for more than three years, including a week of performances at New York’s Imperial Theater in 1997 while the show was being revamped.

“I never got tired of it. It’s that kind of show that can breathe and be a little bit different every time,” Mallardi said.

It’s the show’s operatic structure that Mallardi knew would necessitate adjustments for the high school vocalists.

“It’s really a hybrid,” he said of ‘Les Miserables.’ “It’s got rock. It’s got orchestral. And fortunately, we can get that here.”

So after an extended hiatus, it feels like he’s back doing the same show he played in and conducted for through a long road run that eventually became too long for him.

“For me, it’s been a real treat. It’s brought back a lot of memories for me,” Mallardi said

The actors in the Wheatley cast are making the vocal adjustments while appreciating their musical director.

“He pays a lot of attention to detail. He’s worked on the show and that helps a lot,” said senior Christine Ames, a veteran of four years of productions at the school, who plays Eponine

“The time he’s dedicated to the show is amazing. I didn’t know I could sing operatically,” said Doug Aliano, who plays Javert, the arch-protagonist police investigator of the piece.

There’s also a difference in the fact the story they’re enacting is based on historical events in 19th century France.

“We’re singing a song. And we’re doing history, said senior Kenneth Kriheli, who plays the star-crossed protagonist Jean Valjean. “The historical part colors everything.”

The actors also must adapt to singing operatic lines in both range and cadence, with virtually all the lines expressed in song.

“We’ve never done a show likes this before. Vocally, it’s very different,” Ames said. “You have to have a conversational tone to it.”

Cast members said Mallardi has enabled them to make the necessary adjustments.

“He pays a lot of attention to detail. He’s worked on the show and that helps a lot,” Ames said, noting that Mallardi has helped teach the cast the style of singing required.

“The time he’s dedicated to the show is amazing. I didn’t know I could sing opera,” Aliano said.

Cast members also have to make quick physical and emotional adjustments through sudden scene changes.

And Lauren DiGennaro, director of the challenging stage production and a special education teacher in the district, contacted Mallardi because his parents knew DiGennaro’s husband’s parents, and they put the two in touch. And when they spoke, the timing was ideal.

“I had just been saying I’d like to do a high school production of ‘Les Miserables’,” Mallardi recounted.

So the prospect of doing a student version of the production, complete with moveable barricades, became a reality.

“This was the year to do this show. I believe in fate,” DiGennaro said.

Despite the difficulty in relating to characters in such extreme emotional and political circumstances DiGennaro said the cast “all got right into it.” And she lauds Mallardi’s efforts in coaching them through it.

“He has the patience of a saint. And what he offers them is completely professional. I’m going to remember this one,” she said.

It promises to be a memorable effort, on both vocal and a logistical terms.

Tickets to the show are $10.00. Senior citizens are free. It’s suggested that tickets be purchased online at www.ewsdonline.org or by calling call 516-336-9333 to order tickets.

Residents of Great Neck, New Hyde Park, Williston Park and East Williston should be concerned about potential legislative actions of neighboring Queens Democratic state Assembly member David Weprin and colleagues.

Weprin is in the process of introducing a bill in Albany as part of his annual campaign to reinstate the commuter tax for non New York City residents. This would force Great Neck, New Hyde Park, Williston Park, East Williston and other Nassau County residents to pay for New York City infrastructure improvements.

His proposal, which if enacted would have resulted in any revenues generated split equally between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the City of New York, sounds great, but missed the potential consequences of his position. Remember that this is on top of the MTA Mobility Tax 0.34 percent Payroll Tax including net Self Employment, Drivers License Fee of $1 for each six month’s of validity including learner’s permit, Auto Registration Fee of $25 per year on registration and renewal of motor vehicles $27, Taxicab Tax 0.50 cents per taxicab ride imposed on taxicab owners $85, Auto Rental Tax Additional tax of 5 percent on the cost of automobile rentals and supplemental regional petroleum business tax enacted in May 2009 by the state Legislature.

All of these supplement the older Mortgage Recording, Petroleum Business, Motor Fuel Excise, Sales and Corporate Franchise taxes already in place. The average New Yorker isn’t really aware of paying many of these taxes during day to day financial transactions.

He and others miss the potential consequences of this legislation. Will our own state Assembly member Michelle Schimel lobby her colleague Assembly member Weprin to reconsider his proposal? Will she convince her colleagues including state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to defeat this proposal? Constituents will be following this story as it unfolds.

In today’s global economy, boundaries which end at the city line between NYC, Nassau County and others mean very little. We are all neighbors and thankfully there has never been a Berlin Wall between us.

The United States is in economic competition against other nations. Within the USA, residents of the Northeastern states compete against other state coalitions based in the South, Rocky Mountains, West and other regions.

Our Metropolitan New York area comprising NYC, Long Island, northeast New Jersey, Hudson Valley and parts of southwestern Connecticut are in competition against other metropolitan areas around the nation and world. I work in New York City. My wife and I travel around the five boroughs enjoying shopping, dining, going to the movies, visiting museums and taking advantage of the diverse different neighborhoods.

Each weekday several thousand Great Neck, New Hyde Park, Williston Park and East Williston residents travel to jobs in NYC — the economic engine of our region. Many others enjoy sporting events, the theater, museums, restaurants and shopping.

A growing number of NYC residents have become reverse commuters to jobs in the same communities. Other NYC residents shop, dine and visit our neighborhoods. It is naive to believe that NYC can survive economically in today’s ever changing technology and global economy without Long Island and the rest of Metropolitan New York. The suburbs around the Big Apple are equally dependent on the success of NYC.

Democratic state Assembly Speaker Silver only needs 75 votes plus his own for passage of this new tax.

With Democrats controlling 59 of 61 seats in NYC, Silver starts off with 59 votes including his own. It will be interesting to see how Republican Assembly members Nicole Malliskatos (60th — Brooklyn/Staten Island) and Lou Tobacco 62nd (Staten Island) will vote.

All Silver needs is 17 more out of the remaining 30 fellow Democratic Assembly members who make up 99 of the 150 members of the state Assembly. Silver can afford to allow Assembly member Schimel (16th) and Harvey Weisenberg (20th) both from Nassau County along with 11 other colleagues including Fred W. Thiele, Jr. (2nd), Steven Englebright (4th), Robert K. Sweeney (11th) and Charles D. Lavine 13th all from Suffolk County; Amy R. Paulin (88th), Sandra R. Golef (90th) and Mike Spano (93rd) all from Westchester County; Kenneth P. Zebrowski (98th) and Ellen C. Jafee (95th) both from Rockland County and Kevin A. Cahill 101st from Dutchess/Ulster County from potentially competitive suburban districts political cover by letting them vote no.

Silver is too wise to concede this issue so it can be used by any Republican challenger in 2012 to these members of his caucus.

Others such as Phil R. Ramo (6th) Suffolk, Earlene Hooper (18th) Nassau, J. Gary Prelow (87th), George S. Latimer (91st) and Thomas J. Abinanti (92nd) all from Westchester and Aileen M. Gunther (98th) Sullivan/Orange County all represent districts which Republicans will never be competitive. As a result, they could all vote for a commuter tax on their own constituents without any fear of political repercussions.

Republican state Senate leader Dean Skelos only has a one vote margin should he desire to defeat reinstitution of a commuter tax on non NYC residents. If either GOP Staten Island Sen. Andrew Lanza or Bay Ridge Brooklyn Sen. Marty Golden join the Democratic state senators – this legislation might actually pass both chambers.

Remember that all 22 of 24 NYC based Democratic senators from NYC will most likely vote in favor. Only Democratic Senators Suzi Oppenheimer (37th), David Carlucii (38th) and Andrea Stewart-Cousins (35th) who collectively represent a significant number of constituents who commute from either Putnam, Rockland or Westchester County to NYC might vote against this bill. Just like their suburban Democratic Assembly colleagues, they may not want to concede this issue to any potential Republican challenger in 2012.

Residents of Long Island and NYC in the end have much in common. We should work together as neighbors and not adversaries.

Reintroduction of a commuter tax on one set of nonresidents could trigger an economic tariff war among neighbors. With the financial crises on Wall Street followed by our economic recession, thousands of commuters residing outside of NYC including many from Great Neck, New Hyde Park, Williston Park and East Williston lost their jobs.

As a result, the reintroduction of any non NYC resident commuter tax will not bring in the same level of revenues as was the case during the 1990’s when it was last in place. It could result in a retaliatory commuter tax by Nassau County, other impacted suburban counties, New Jersey or Connecticut on NYC residents. At the end of the day, everyone could lose.

Larry Penner

Great Neck

Thank you for the Our Views editorial, “A Sense of Decency.”

It was so gratifying to know that others were as moved as I by Keith Ellison and the story he related about Mohammed Salman Hamdani, who died trying to rescue people on 9/11.

It is unfathomable to me that we have not learned from the history you cited in reminding readers of the Army-McCarthy Hearings of the 1950s in which Senator Joseph McCarthy used HUAC to accuse Americans of being enemies of the state.

The Dark Ages of those times need not be revisited, and I agree wholeheartedly with your analogy.

I hope we do have “a sense of decency” and can retain the ideals of a society that has been so enriched by the immigrant populations that have made us a great nation.

Naomi Feldheim

Great Neck

In her fair-minded article on the subject, Jessica Ablamsky quotes the opinions of assorted politicians about the shortcomings of Ed Mangano’s fiscal plan but a retrospective might be appropriate.

At the end the last century, during the tenure of the unlamented Gulotta Administration, financial matters went over the cliff in Nassau County.

Then with the election of Suozzi in ‘01, we were told that a new era of well being and fiscal rectitude had dawned on the county. Things began promisingly but as days became weeks, months and then years; murmurs of doubt began to emerge and the good cheer receded.

Yet the naysayers were called alarmists and we were assured all was well. Finally, the storm clouds gathered menacingly in ‘09 and next all hell broke loose.

Then Suozzi was tossed out amid much gnashing and finger pointing. So where were the NIFA wise men?

Like poor little Snow White, they were apparently in an extended coma.

Now Mangano is in office but the NIFA gang, roused from their slumber, assert that his budget is unbalanced.

According to these clairvoyants and over his vociferous protests, drastic action is required. So say hello to freezes, furloughs and layoffs.

Predictably, the loyal opposition hasn’t wasted any time ventilating their chagrin and disappointment.

And guess what? Mangano has now become the bogeyman in this little drama.

According to Mr. Abrams (D-Hempstead) “Mangano is partly to blame for the severity of the cuts due to his defiance of NIFA. Many of these proposals could have been implemented a year ago.”

Really? Extending that logic, had these proposals been implemented during prior administrations, all would be sweetness and light right now. Sure.

Next Mr. Wink (D-Roslyn) “questioned Mangano’s commitment to cutting the county workforce.”

In due course we’ll surely be told that all these comments are simply high-minded efforts to advance the process and hardly ax grinding partisanship.

Why of course. When the average voter refuses to accept incompetence and holds politicians to account, regardless of party affiliation, things will change in Nassau County. Otherwise anticipate the same old song year after year.

Tom Coffey

Herricks

The decision by the state Senate to rescind more than $8 million in grants that had been promised to towns and villages in Nassau County speaks volumes about the corrupt way that business is done in Albany and the character or lack thereof of former state Sen. Craig Johnson.

Last fall the incumbent Johnson, a Democrat, lost to Republican Jack Martins by 471 votes in the closest senate race in the state. Johnson’s stinging defeat was one of the major reasons why the Democrats are no longer the majority in the state Senate. Immediately following the election the senate rescinded more than $8 million in funds that had been committed to local causes including schools, parks and fire departments.

The decision to rescind the grant money promised by Johnson has left the Town of North Hempstead, the Village of New Hyde Park, the Village of Williston Park and other local governments in a very difficult position. In most cases the grant money comes as reimbursement for projects that are completed and paid for the municipalities and school districts. Martins said he will try to recover some of that money but given the fiscal crisis in Albany that won’t be easy.

Although the Senate Democrats have tried to justify pulling the funds, it’s clear it was an act of political revenge.

“The senate majority knowing they had lost the majority,” said Martins, “pulled the $8 million in funds to the 7th Senate district.”

Where is the former senator and why hasn’t he protested the Senate’s actions?

So far Johnson has had nothing to say about the grants that have now disappeared even though he had plenty to say about the money that he had secured during his campaign.

It gets worse. Martins said he is having trouble tracking the unfulfilled grants because Johnson did leave any records behind. Martins said the documents recording the financial pledges “have been discarded.”

A spokesperson for the Senate Democratic Conference attempted to make this act of political revenge look like fiscal responsibility.

“Given the need to bring government spending under control,” Travis Proulx said, “if funds are not approved and in use at the time their sponsor departs the Legislature, those grants end. Taxpayers want and expect accountability …”

He added that Martins will now have the opportunity to determine how capital funds are spent.

What he didn’t say was that most, if not all, of the money promised by Johnson was coming from a slush fund created by the state Legislature in a system that has come to be known as “back-door borrowing.”

These funds are handled by two independent public authorities – Empire State Development and the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York. These are state-created entities with their own boards of directors and their own bank accounts.

This allows the state to go into debt without getting approval from the voters. Legislators are able to secure money for their pet projects – some worthy and some clearly not – while cutting funding for education and public safety. For example, while the state was weighing cuts in school funding and closing parks, $1 million was approved for the Tioga Downs racetrack, a private business with $28 million in revenue last year.

The corruption in Albany is a bipartisan endeavor.

No one knew how to use this slush fund for pet projects better than former state Majority Leader Joe Bruno, a Republican.

As he fights the rampant corruption in Albany, we urge Gov. Cuomo to put an end to the slush fund and backdoor borrowing.

That will not be easy, but at least the governor can make certain that the legislature honors its commitments.

A Blank Slate Media Editorial

In a surprise move, Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano announced on Tuesday that he will drop his lawsuit against Nassau County Interim Finance Authority, the board that took control of county finances after concluding that the county had a $176 million deficit in its 2011 budget.

“The County Executive and I have had conversations with [NIFA] Chairman Stack which we hope portend a productive and mutually cooperative effort on behalf of Nassau County,” County Attorney John Ciampoli said in a statement. “Earlier today I had a very promising discussion with NIFA’s counsel regarding review and administration of contracts. We have already begun to mobilize staff to get the job done.”

NIFA’s board voted in January to impose financial controls after determining that the 2011 budget had a deficit that under the law required them to assume control. Mangano said the county budget was in balance, and filed suit to block the takeover.

“We felt strongly that this administration should have the same rules applied to it as were applied to its predecessor,” Ciampoli said. “We advanced a case, based upon the law, that would have allowed Nassau County’s Elected Government to do the job they were elected to do, and we asked the Court to recognize the fact that under ordinary accounting rules and past practices, the budget was balanced and Nassau’s recovery from failed past policies was under way. Unfortunately, Justice Diamond did not agree.”

Ciampoli said Mangano is working hard to address Nassau County’s problems, which exist as a result of court decisions and the actions of his predecessors.

“The County Executive is aggressively and tirelessly working to address the problems of Nassau County under the circumstances that exist as a result of the Court’s decision, and the problems that he inherited. It is my sincere hope that our former adversaries are as committed to the people of Nassau County as this administration is, and that we will be able to work together to correct the errors of the past and to meet the challenges ahead,” according to the statement.

Democratic legislators had been calling on Mangano to drop the lawsuit and work with NIFA.

In the wake of Mangano’s $181 million plan to reduce the deficit identified by NIFA, local legislators sounded off.

On behalf of the Nassau County Democratic Caucus, Minority Leader Diane Yatauro (D-Glen Cove) called on Mangano to eliminate non-essential patronage positions across the county and associated fringe benefits, vacant positions which pad the budget, the county executive’s $2.5 million mail budget, $2 million in outside legal contracts, all non-emergency take-home vehicles, and reduce general expenses in the office of constituent affairs and the budget contingency.

“We Democrats unanimously opposed Mr. Mangano’s original 2011 budget,” Yatauro said. “He used unrealistic numbers and unreliable revenue sources to persuade our taxpayers that the county’s economic condition was rosy. He knew then that officials from the Nassau Interim Finance Authority had grave doubts about the soundness of the county’s financial outlook. Unfazed, the county executive continued to spend money on hirings, retaining politically connected law firms at a costly rate, and unleashing a torrent of political mail at taxpayer expense to convince residents that he was properly managing our finances.”

In the face of budget cuts, county employees will face a “considerable challenge” in fulfilling their core mission, said Nassau County Legislator Wayne Wink (D-Roslyn).

On Wink’s list of concerns is the possible merger of the 6th police precinct with the 2nd police precinct. The 6th precinct stretches from Great Neck through East Hills, while the 2nd precinct covers Hicksville, Plainville and reaches north into Levittown and Bayville.

Wink said Mangano proposed consolidating precincts last summer without substantiating resulting savings, and the entire 6th precinct area should be concerned about the effect of boundaries that stretch from Queens through Suffolk.

“I find it troublesome that I am again hearing that part of the plan is closing a police precinct,” said Nassau County Legislator Judi Bosworth (D-Great Neck). “I’m concerned that it’s the 6th. If it is, I would have to know what the rationale is, what the details are, how it might affect public safety, but not having information makes it difficult.”

Bosworth said most of her information is coming from reports in the media.

“At this time we need to work together to identify the problems and identify solutions,” she said. “This is certainly something that we have to take very seriously.”

Budget cuts will “cause a lot of pain,” said Nassau County Legislator Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park).

“There’s a lot of people out there suffering hardships already,” Nicolello said. “We really have no alternatives. We have to make cuts. No one is unconcerned about the effect these cuts are going to have. There is going to be a decrease in services. The key is to do this in as intelligent a way as possible so as to minimize the harm on services.”

Putting their skills to the test, students from The Wheatley School robotics team, the “Cybercats,” competed at Hofstra University Saturday, in the School-Business Partnerships of Long Island Long Island FIRST Competition with team safety captain member Alan Czemerinski winning the individual safety award.

Saturday was the final day in the regional tournament, which spanned three days, consisting of over 47 teams in total from all over Nassau and Suffolk county.

The David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex at Hofstra was filled with thousands of spectators showing their excitement by energizing the room with cheers as they watched the different robotics teams compete.

The FIRST Robotics Competition is a national program that challenges teams of students and their mentors to design and build a 130-pound robot in a six-week timeframe using a standard “kit of parts” and a common set of rules.

After six weeks, the team is required to submit their projects and are unable to view it again until the week of competition. The Cybercats received their kit on January 8.

In 1999, the school-business partnership founded Long Island FIRST for the purpose of developing a Long Island Regional FIRST Robotics competition. The Long Island Regional has grown from 8 teams (school districts) in 1999 to over 47 teams in 2010.

The Cybercats placed 30th, halting their chances for a spot in the national tournament next month in St. Louis, but that didn’t stop the team from having a great time, and taking home a safety award.

“We would have like to have done better,” elected team MVP Andrew Chen said. “We had fun, and it was a good experience with some tough competition.”

Team safety captain Czemerinski showed off the safety poster propped up at their pit station, explaining the importance of the poster and how he won his award..

“The officials gathered all of the team safety captains and told them to be in the lookout for teams who are instilling the best safety awareness.”

“I sat down with teammate Joe Kim and explained to him what I wanted on the poster and he designed it for us.”

This is only the Cybercats third year in the competition, since it was helped founded by team advisor Joseph Fina, a teacher at the Wheatly School.

Originally students at Wheatly had the ability to take three years of computer science and take the AP test Junior year, according to Fina. After their junior year however, those same students as seniors, had no more computer science classes to pursue. Fina wanted to change that.

“We sat down with the department about three years ago and wanted to extend the program and offer students another opportunity,” said Fina. “It was a huge undertaking.

The class formed being called the Computer Science Senior Seminar, and was originally slated to offer a curriculum of computer programming, game design and even website design. Only seniors can take the class, but do not require the prerequisite of an AP computer science course.

Fina said that after a short time the robotic building aspect of the course took over and that has been the main theme ever since.

“It’s a great way to expose high schoolers to engineering,” Fina said.

Team member Steven Davidson noted the team had only been around for a few years.

“We’re still a young team,” said Davidson.”Mainly our team is made up of members from the computer science classes we took over the years.”

Herricks High School senior Neil Pathak is going to back Los Angeles this year, and fellow senior Shaym Venkateswaran is going with him as they represent the school’s science research program at the Intel International Science Fair in early May.

And there’s a good chance they’ll get to visit Universal Pictures Studios in between making research presentations and listening to Novel laureates on panels at the science fair.

The two seniors are among 24 Long Island students selected to go to the prestigious annual international competition from May 7 through May 14.

For Pathak, who presented a project at the Intel science fair in Los Angeles last year, it’s definitely not old hat.

“I think it’s great. It’s really a phenomenal experience,” Pathak said. “It’s very humbling.”

Pathak found himself listening to a panel of Nobel laureates and even asking one of them, a Harvard chemistry professor, a question. He doesn’t remember the professor’s name.

This year Pathak has a very specific objective. He wants to gain more information from representatives of scientists from pharmaceutical companies about practical aspects of implementing his project idea – to develop a daily regimen of radiation and chemotherapy using an injected chemical cocktail that selectively attacks cancer cells. The dual therapy, Pathak said, is “more potent than conventional therapies.”

And he knows that pharmaceutical companies are also cruising the science fair for bright young students with practicable ideas for new approaches to existing problems. So he wants to speak to pharmaceutical scientists to discuss the potential for the drug-delivery system he conceived “for going to the next step.”

Those companies also present special awards to deserving young scholars, but just being there is the whole point as far as Pathak’s concerned.

“Just talking to them is the most satisfying part of this,” he said, “gaining insight to what will work.”

Both students developed their projects with research scientist mentors at Stony Brook University Laboratories over the past two years.

Two summers ago, Venkateswaran did research on cell culturing in a test on an environmental carcinogen. More recently, he has addressed engineering a biomaterial to fill a body cavity after surgery, a biomaterial that would biodegrade as it receded to enable healthy body cells to regrow and fill the cavity.

“It shows great promise in driving regeneration,” Venkateswaran said of the bio-gell made of what he called “a completely new polymer” called Pluronic F87. He became acquainted with the polymer as a research assistant at Stony Brook.

The material would be an interim solution for a patient who has undergone a lumpectomy on a breast. Venkateswaran said there are currently “no materials available today to enable restoration of the body.”

Pathak’s parents are both physicians and he said he intends to do something in the medical and research fields. Venkateswaran said he wants to become either a surgeon or an anesthesiologist.

Venkateswaran said going to Intel World, as it’s known, is “something I’ve aspired to do and to meet so many people from around the globe and see the research being done today.”

The two young science scholars were among 11 Herricks High students who came through the first round of the Long Island Science and Engineering Fair. They had all prepared papers and delivered 12-minute presentations to a team of three scientists judging the competition.

“The toughest part is being able to defend your project when it’s being poked at by professional scientists,” Venkateswaran said.

Pathak agreed that was the “most daunting” part of the competition and said the scientists’ questions were “challenging.”

Both students will reprise their presentations in Los Angeles in May, with the potential of placing among the top four students in their respective disciplines.

Since Pathak’s project is in chemistry and Venkateswaran’s project is in engineering, they’re not competing against each other

Pathak’s project is an amplified version of the project that made him a semifinalist in the Intel Talent Search competition earlier this year. Venkateswaran’s project is on the practical use of that biodegradable filler as a transitional material to permanent healing.

He said he’s excited at the thought of talking to “real scientists” about his project and other scientific subjects in Los Angeles.

The two students are the latest in a long line of Herricks science scholars who’ve made the Intel International stage, according to Renee Barcia, director of the Herricks science research program.

Barcia calls the Intel fair “the Olympics of science research” and a rare opportunity for two young medically-minded Herricks students to converse with scientist pros and like-minded peers as they put their projects on the line once more.

This time they may be facing judging panels that include Nobel laureates, which figures to be a rigorous audience.

But that’s part of the challenge for the young scientists.

And there is that chance, according to Barcia, that they’ll all be able to relax with a behind-the-scenes tour of other creators’ ideas on the Universal Pictures Studio tour.

State Sen. Jack Martins faced a political one-two punch last week with the mailing of two flyers to 33,000 residents in Martins’ 7th senatorial district that targeted him for not opposing the so-called Millionaire’s tax and a protest outside his Garden City office accusing him of reneging on his pledge to support a bipartisan redistricting commission.

A slick, full-color flyer was mailed by a Strong Economy for All Coalition, a group that represents several unions and community groups. The flyer carried the headline, “Maybe I were a millionaire, Senator Martins would look out for me too,” above a picture of a small child putting coins in a piggy bank. It was followed by a second one headlined, “In these tough economic times, who is Senator Martins protecting?” featuring a man in a tuxedo fanning dollar bills in the foreground and workers, an elderly person and a young boy in the background.

Martins dismissed the direct mail and radio publicity campaign by a statewide coalition of unions and other community groups targeting Martins for not opposing elimination of the so-called Millionaire’s Tax and also saying he favored making cuts to education.

“To say that we are putting the interest of millionaires ahead of the interest of our children and our senior citizens is an outright lie,” Martins said. “These special interests are looking for the state to tax people to pay for their own special interests.”

Local radio spots also aired by the group that represents the United Teachers Federation, New York State United Teachers, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, Communication Workers of America, New York City Central Labor Council, the Labor Coalition, Coalition for the Homeless, Citizen Action for New York, and the New York State AFL-CIO.

Michael Kink, executive director of Strong Economy for All Coalition, said the campaign targeted 20 Republican and Democratic legislators who had supported doing away with the millionaire’s tax and slashing education aid, targeting those who they had the best chance to appeal to, based on their overall political profiles.

Kink said the group aimed to appeal to legislators with “some reputation for moderation, for compromise and trying to find a firm middle ground.”

Martins also was targeted because of widespread support for the millionaire’s tax among 7th state Senate District voters, according to Kink.

“He’s a new senator. The majority of the people in his area are in favor of the millionaire’s tax. Because of the overwhelmingly populartiy of this in a fiscal crisis. When you have an $11 billion budget gap to fill, you cannot do that with tax reductions,” Kink said, adding that the ads sought to “galvanize” public opinion on the issues.

While Kink said he thinks the ad campaign mobilized people to contact their state legislators, he conceded that the campaign failed, in light of the announced budget deal, which preserves the main points of Cuomo’s proposed state financial package. But he still thinks it was worth the effort to raise public awareness – although he declined to reveal how much the coalition spent to send its message.

“I know people don’t like to get mail in their mailbox all the time, but we got good feedback,” he said. “The fact is this is harsh budget. It’s going to hurt schools. It’s going to hurt kids.”

From the coalition’s perspective, Kink said there were other ways to get this state budget done as the top one percent in income statewide watch their assets “soar.” Elimination of the tax, which will bring in an estimated $1 billion to state coffers this year, would bring in an estimated $4.5 billion to $5 billion next year

“What we’re going to end up with in this budget is Donald Trump paying the same tax rate as the janitors in his buildings,” Kink said, noting a 6.85 percent flat tax rate will apply to state residents at all income levels.

Martins said the state Senate version of the budget is similar to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s version, with each originally proposing approximately $2.8 billion in cuts to Medicaid and $1.5 billion state education aid. Martins said the state Senate version restored $280 million in education cuts to its version of the budget. It also restores Medicaid supplemental prescription coverage “so that we don’t disproportionately affect senior citizens on fixed incomes.”

“We work within the parameters of the governor’s budget. Although we try to restore funding where we can, the bottom line this year was that we weren’t going to raise taxes and we would have a budget within the revenue we anticipated this year,” he said.

Cuomo was committed to ending the higher tax rates on households making more than $200,000 or $500,000 annually, Martins said, so that was never really on the table. But he said the Senate budget did put some funding back in education.

“Not only did we restore funds to education, the issue of the extending the [millionaire’s] tax was never even an issue,” Martins said, adding that in the middle of a recession, “It’s not a time to hurt small businesses buy raising their taxes.”

But he also suggested that school districts would weather the financial storm, noting that Great Neck school district, where the annual school budget is $170 million, the school district will only lose 0.9 percent of its current budget in the projected state education aid formula and Port Washington would lose 0.6 percent.

“Obviously nobody wants to see a reduction. But these school districts are not going to be crippled,” Martins said.

Martins acknowledged that his office received a number of phone calls about the flyers and the radio spots, which he said has afforded his staff to call people back and “set the record straight.”

He slammed the strategic intent of the coalition’s ad campaign.

“It’s bad that these groups try to manipulate public opinion in this way,” Martins said.

Martins also rejected cricitism from a group headed by former Democratic state Senate operative Bill Samuels who held a rally outside Martins’ Garden City Park headquarters on Saturday to criticize him for honoring his campaign pledge to support a bipartisan state redistricting plan.

Martins suggested Samuels’ group is proposing its own partisan redistricting program as a stalking horse for Cuomo.

“The legislation they are pushing disproportionately gives the governor too much influence in the legislative redistricting process. It isn’t bipartisan. It isn’t independent,” Martins said.

Martins also accused the group of trying to “hurry to jam the process into three months,” when the legislator still has until the end of 2011 or 2012 to complete work on it begun two years ago.

“We’ve got to remove politics from this process,” Martins said, reiterating his support for a bipartisan approach. “It has to be independent and it certainly has to be nonpartisan.”

Former New York City Mayor Edward Koch has criticized the Republican majority in the state Senate for wanting to require a constitutional amendment to implement redrawing legislative districts. Koch said the proposal was a ploy to evade the pledge they made during the past election campaign to support his redistricting proposal.