Based on the progress of their students, elementary school teachers are enthusiastic about a new approach to learning recently initiated in the Herricks Union Free School District.

During a glowing progress report presented at a Herricks School Board meeting in New Hyde Park on Nov. 4, a group of six educators gave the recently implemented Fundations program high grades based on early results and student response.

“This September was like none other because the children came into our classrooms so well prepared when we were doing writing activities,” said Pam Blank, a Center Elementary School first grade teacher for 12 years. “Never before have we seen anything like this. Even our more struggling students were able to get more words on the page, which is a credit to kindergarten teachers and to the Fundations College Writing Program which is really an amazing combination.”

Fundations daily classroom lessons, implemented last year for kindergartners throughout the school district, focus on carefully sequenced skills that include print knowledge, alphabet awareness, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, decoding, vocabulary, fluency, and spelling. Critical thinking, speaking and listening skills are also practiced.

Taught through second grade in HUFS general education classrooms, the program serves as a prevention measure for students to help reduce reading and spelling failure.

Assessing students each day through the Fundations methods, Blank said she and other teachers are able to quickly see if early education students are proficiently using such things as upper case letters to begin sentences, or periods and question marks at the end of sentences.

“Believe me, this is really unusual for this time in first grade to be going in-depth in this. We are expecting our students to be able to do this and they can do it because they have a really great foundation that has been given to them in kindergarten,” said Blank

Through constant assessment and observation, Blank said teachers are able to prove that what they are doing is working. She and other teachers are delighted that the school board has adopted the program.

“When we see them now in second and third grade it blows are minds,” said Searingtown School teacher Heather Evers. “This is really the first year we have seen the effects of a student being in Fundations for two years, so these third-graders have come into their classrooms knowing all of this. … It has been a really great experience.”

Students diagnosed with specific areas of weakness or a language disability work in small group settings up to 30 additional minutes three to five times per week.

“Nothing is perfect and nothing works all the time for students who still need more, and it’s a very small percentage here in Herricks,” said Evers. “For a student who is not meeting the benchmarks … that’s telling us they need a smaller group and need to go at a smaller pace.”

Rather than completely replace core curriculum, Fundations provides the research-validated strategies that complement installed programs to meet federal standards and serve the needs of all children.

The Fundations reading and spelling program provides a research-based program defined treatment for Response to Intervention. RTI is a process that assesses learners’ needs and provides early effective instruction to struggling readers.

“I think of RTI as almost a preventative science. Now I have all of this information and I can really identify which students are in need of support before they experience great difficulties,” said Michele DePace, a reading teacher at Denton Avenue Elementary School.

Also speaking in favor of the program was Denton Avenue Elementary School Principal Mel Haley and teacher Robyn Tsiokos, and Liza Binetti of Center Street Elementary School.

School board members were pleased with the results presented to them.

“There’s nothing more amazing than seeing teachers excited about a program,” said Herricks School Board Trustee Peter Grisafi.

Also at the public meeting:

•The board recognized Meena Yoo of Herricks High School for an essay submitted to the “Celebration of Suburban Diversity 2010” which won first place.

•The board recognized Herricks High School senior diver Nicole Honey for breaking a Nassau County record with a score of 543.10. The previous record stood for 20 years.

•The board accepted the guarantee of the $1.3 million EXCEL grant from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York to be used for capital improvements to various buildings as per the terms listed in the agreement between the state and the Herrick’s school district.

•The board accepted a gift of funds from the Herrick’s Art Boosters Association in the amount of $350 to be used to acquire the necessary permit for the Herricks Student Art Show scheduled for June of next year.

•The board accepted a gift of finds from the Herrick’s Art Boosters Association in the amount of $1,150 to be used to purchase a digital camera and Art Document DVD’s, and to send Searingtown 4th grade students to the Hillwood Museum and CW Post College.

On one recent Friday morning, a group of 30 elderly women are seated in chairs in a room at the Herricks Community Center, raising their arms and stretching to the accompaniment of Elvis Presley singing “All Shook Up.”

When they were done, they joined other senior citizens from the area in the cafeteria just down the hall as part of the seniors nutrition program.

The exercising and the nutrition programs are part of a full schedule of activities for Herricks Seniors Citizens, Inc. that includes a weekly gathering each Wednesday, and various classes and outings for a community organization that is observing its 45th anniversary this year.

“It’s a social senior group,” said Ann Forster, Herricks Seniors coordinator. She said the group’s general objective is “getting them out of the house and into a social environment where they meet people.

What happens when they get older is that they don’t want to meet new people.”

The 64 active members of the group, who mostly come from New Hyde Park and Albertson, pay $1 a week in dues, according to Forster. The weekly Wednesday gathering comprises a variety of activities – last Wednesday they held a Halloween costume contest and live musical entertainment – but most of the members gravitate to playing card games. The group also invites speakers once monthly to their Wednesday gathering.

The group’s outings also are scheduled for Wednesdays. Forster said the next trip will be a tour of the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City in the first week in December with Village of Garden City historian John Kordes as guide through what is reputedly the smallest Gothic cathedral in the world. The group will have lunch at the bar association headquarters afterwards.

The group annually attends the Hick’s Flower Show in March, followed by a luncheon lunch

The county funds an aerobics class on Tuesday mornings and a yoga class and a painting class on Tuesday afternoons, and line dancing on Mondays, according to Forster, who also serves as head of the Herricks Nutrition Group and East Williston AARP.

The nutrition group, which serves lunch for the seniors on Monday, Tuesday and Friday also is funded by the county.

Exercise classes on Wednesday and Friday are funded by the school district.

The group also has special luncheons to observe its anniversary – they just celebrated two weeks ago at the Pompeii Restaurant in Hempstead – and also holds annual Christmas and end of summer luncheons, according to Forster, who started coming to keep in shape, but discovered a new social outlet in the process.

“When I retired, I came to Herricks for their exercise programs,” Foster said. “I didn’t know anybody when I came here. I’ve met so many friends and met so many people. It’s wonderful.”

With the Democratic party winning the major three elections statewide for governor, comptroller and attorney general, the Nassau County Republican Committee was still victorious on Election Day by winning all but one seat that was available for a state or county judgeship position.

The Republicans claimed eight seats in five different judgeship elections, while Helen Voutsinas was the only Democrat who won with a victory in the race for Nassau County 2nd District Court.

“Nassau Republicans had a great night,” said Anthony Santino, a spokesman for the Nassau County Republican Committee in a Newsday story. “It was a solid grass-root effort by the Republican organization, from the leaders on down, to get voters to the polls for the election.”

In a race watched particularly closely, Edward McCarty III defeated incumbent John Riordan for Surrogate Court Judge. McCarty III, 64 from Bellerose Terrace, edged out East Williston incumbent John Riordan 175,559 votes to Riordan’s 170,730 votes. The Surrogate Court hears cases involving the affairs of people who have died, including the probate of wills and the administration of estates. It also handles adoptions.

“‘Winning the Surrogate Court is a very critical position,” Santino said. “That is something we’re very happy about.”

McCarty has been a Nassau County Supreme Court judge since 1992. He was also a District Court judge and an assistant district attorney for 13 years.

Riordan, who was the Surrogate Court judge for the last 10 years, was a Nassau County District Court judge in the Town of North Hempstead from 1994 to 2000. He also worked as an attorney for 24 years at three different law firms including Wingate & Cullen from 1984 to 1993, Ferris Bangs Davis Trafford & Syz from 1937 to 1984 and Montfort Healy McGuire & Salley from 1969 to 1973. Riordan was also a tax accountant at Arthur Andersen & Co. for two years.

The East Williston native is a former member of the village’s planning board and he also was a former member of the East Williston Fire Department.

In other judgeship elections, Republicans Daniel Palmieri, Andrew Crecca, W. Gerard Asher and Norman Janowitz won the four seats that were available in the state Supreme Court for a 14-year term where no justice may serve beyond the year in which he or she turns 70 unless they are certified as a retired justice by the Administrative Board of the Courts. Janowitz claimed the last seat by receiving 339,706 votes, which was 20,000 more votes than the nearest Democratic candidate Sondra Pardes.

Republican Merik Aaron won the election for Family Court judge by defeating his opponent Adam Small by 19,000 votes.

In the Nassau County 4th District Court judge race, Republican Margaret Reilly beat Joseph Terino Jr. by more than 24,000 votes.

The only Democrat to win a judgeship election was Helen Voutsinas, who earned one of two seats in Nassau County’s 2nd District Court with 98,256 votes. Republican David McAndrews received the most votes in this election with 102,189, while fellow Republican Eric Bjorneby lost to Voutsinas by 4,000 votes.

Phone calls and e-mails to the Nassau County Democratic Committee were not answered by the party.

Those who hope to fulfill the dream of owning their first home were given an edge today when Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano announced a new program that will provide down payment assistance.

“There are few things more gratifying in life than owning your first home,” said Mangano. “One of those things is being able to help others realize that dream. Nassau is doing just that with the HOME program.”

The 2010-2011 HOME Down Payment Assistance Program will help first-time buyers who qualify with up to $20,000 in assistance towards a down payment. One requirement for those who apply is to contribute a minimum of $3,000 toward the down payment. The program is being run in conjunction with the Long Island Housing Partnership (LIHP).

“The Long Island Housing Partnership is pleased to continue our partnership with Nassau County in providing down payment assistance to first time homebuyers,” said LIHP President Peter Elkowitz. “I would like to thank County Executive Mangano for the opportunity to implement this worthwhile program and we look forward to working with Nassau County on bringing the American Dream of home ownership to the residents of the county.”

“Everyday it becomes more difficult for families and seniors to make ends meet in Nassau County,” said Mangano. “Government and the private sector need to make purchasing a home easier and more attainable for first-time buyers.”

Those who are interested in the program should contact the Nassau County Office of Community Development, or visit the agency’s web site at www.nassaucountyny.gov/communitydevelopment.

The Village of Mineola will be facing a major governmental vacancy if the result in the 7th state Senate District race holds up and Mayor Jack Martins takes a seat in Albany – and candidates are already jockeying for position.

Assuming Martins prevails, he would resign as mayor, and the remaining four-member board would choose a successor who fill the vacancy, according to village attorney John Spellman. That appointee would serve until March, when Martins’ term of office concludes. The board would likely choose a replacement from among themselves, but they could appoint any village resident to fill the post.

Village of Mineola Deputy Mayor Lawrence Werther would temporarily fill the office until the board of trustees chooses a replacement for Martins, but Werther said last week he wants to make it more than temporary.

“I will be running for mayor,” Werther said. “I’ve served this village for eight years. I would love to serve the village in this capacity.”

He’s likely to have some competition.

Former mayor John Colbert, Martin’s predecessor, is reportedly interested in running.

Commenting on Colbert’s possible entry in the race, Werther said, “If he decides to run, I’ll run on my record versus his record anytime.”

One Village Hall insider suggested that Trustee Paul Pereira could be a strong candidate for the position because of the large Portugese-American voter base in Mineola.

Pereira himself declined to comment on his intentions, noting that Martins’ election as state Senator remains unconfirmed as ballots are still to be recounted.

“There’s no real urgency yet,” Pereira said.

Trustee Thomas Kennedy expressed a similar sentiment, saying, “We’ll get to it, obviously.”

Rumors apparently are rampant about other potential mayoral candidates.

“I’m hearing a lot of things out there. I don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Trustee Paul Cusato, who declined to enumerate.

The board of trustees would have license to appoint any village resident to the position. But considering their appointee would serve only three months before standing for election, it is possible that Werther could simply serve out Martins’ term until runs for the office.

Martins said he expected the board would choose someone “capable of taking the village forward” and suggested that the board may already have a consensus choice.

“I would assume that they’ve already discussed it and that they know where they want to be,” he said.

Martins, who has served with Werther on the board over the past eight years and appointed him deputy mayor, said he’s been “a great member of our board.”

But he declined to endorse anyone as his prospective successor.

The East Williston Village Board is looking to modify penalties in its local statutes as it simultaneously seeks to establish an auxiliary police force to enforce its local laws.

The board will hold a public hearing at next month’s meeting to amend some local statutes that provide for jail time as penalties for relatively minor offenses.

“We felt that’s something that we, as a board, felt didn’t belong in the code,” Deputy Mayor James Daw.

After the meeting, Daw said there were as many as 10 local statutes that he felt needed to be changed to eliminate jail penalties. He declined to enumerate any of the local laws at issue, saying that he did not recall any of the specific statutes that he felt required review.

“It’s consistent with our policy of being non-confrontational with things like this,” Daw said. “I was looking through the statue book and I realized we should update the provisions.”

The move follows Daw’s recent effort to add more local statutes to East Williston code to curb incidents of anti-social behavior among adolescents in the community.

Meanwhile, the village board has been consulting with its counterparts in Williston Park, and is prepared to establish its own auxiliary police force that will work in cooperation with a similar unit already functioning in the neighboring municipality.

Village of East Williston Trustee John Ferro said the village is “now ready to go” with an auxiliary police force that will be affiliated with Williston Park’s existing force. The village has three candidates for the police force and is seeking several more, according to Ferro. The training period is six months long.

“There’s a lot of duplicative costs we won’t incur,” said Trustee Michael Braito. “It’s a win-win for everybody.”

In the context of policing the appearance of the village, Daw said there are bio-degradeable leaf bags available at Village Hall for resident who want to have their leaves picked up. The village carting company will pick up the bags from the curb at no additional cost to the village.

“It’s a very a good way of getting rid of the leaves. It looks like our plan to get in sync with other villages around here is working,” Daw said.

In other developments:

• Robert Shannon, president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Willistons, will join the village planning board to fill out the unexpired term of the late Sam Mitchell. Mitchell died earlier this year.

• Ray Gaudio was appointed chairman of the airplane safety and noise abatement committee.

Trustee Ferro will serve as the board’s liaison to the committee.

The Mineola School Board delayed a decision to put a second school consolidation bond for $6.1 million up for a vote last Thursday night when what seemed to be a pro forma approval of a requisite resolution clearing prospective construction at the Jackson Avenue School became a stumbling block to putting the bond up for balloting.

The pro forma resolution, asserting that the size of a new multi-purpose room to the Jackson Avenue School did not require environmental impact review, became a point of contention when board member John McGrath pointed out a discrepancy in the size of those additions in supporting documents. One document described it as a 2,500-square foot addition, while another put it at 3,300 square feet. In combination with a 9,000-square foot addition for an eight-classroom addition to the school, that could mean the added space would exceed 10,000, potentially prompting an environmental evaluation.

“Because of the discrepancies, I have a hard time voting ‘yes’,” said McGrath, who said he was poised to vote against the bond vote anyway.

McGrath said he wanted an assurance from H2M, the architectural firm overseeing the project, that the size did not raise any environmental issues with the nearby Mineola Park.

Mineola Superintendent of Schools Michael Nagler pointed outs that the board had passed the identical resolution prior to approving the $6.7 million school consolidation bond proposal that recently failed.

“This is the same SEQRA [State Environmental Quality Review Act] resolution that we passed six months ago with no challenges. I don’t understand what changed,” Nagler said.

McGrath moved to table the SEQRA resolution, board member Irene Parrino seconded it, and board president Terence Hale provided the third vote to support the motion 3-2. Board vice president Chritsine Napolitano and board member William Hornberger voted against tabling it.

Parrino said afterward that she would likely have voted against putting the $6.1 bond proposal up for a vote.

Before McGrath’s expressed his misgivings about the square-footage discrepancy, Nagler gave a summary of what the $6.1 million bond involved. He explained that the two-part proposition offered a first option of a $4.4 million bond for the expansion of Jackson Avenue and a second option of a $1.7 million bond to expand the Hampton Street School for grades pre-K through 2, eliminating the Willis Avenue School from the mix. Without the second option, the Meadow Drive School and Willis Avenue would house grades pre-K through 2.

Nagler explained that the second option would only be enacted if the first option passed, noting there would be no additional cost to keep the Willis Avenue facility, the district’s largest and newest building.

“We do have a perfectly good building here. You don’t have to spend $1.7 million to switch,” he said.

During a public comment period, a few residents said they favored the $1.7 million option, but didn’t like the idea of spending $4.4 million for the Jackson expansion. But that expansion would be needed to accommodate grades 3 through 5 at Jackson and keep eighth graders at the middle school. Many residents objected to the initial $6.7 million bond option because it would have shifted 5th graders to the middle school and 8th graders to the high school.

Ann Marie Regan, a member of the Community Committee on Consolidation, said that group’s preferences were not expressed in the options offered by either bond configuration.

“We said Willis was not a viable school for the children. We were told Hampton was a tight fit, but it would work,” she said.

Regan said the CCC has also favored clustering grades in common schools starting in grade three, rather than the first three elementary grades.

“I think we should only close one school,” one woman said.

But the meeting ended without definitive action on the intended business of formally putting up the second $6.1 million bond proposal up for a vote in February, toward the objective of closing two schools. But the non-vote will not delay a prospective February ballot on the bond proposal.

“I’m disapointed because I think we’re going to have the same answer as we did prior to this,” Napolitano said afterward, adding that additional space on the Jackson Avenue would not be an impediment to passing the SEQRA resolution.

The impact of the decision the school board took nearly a year ago, and the default option that would also close two schools – Cross and Hampton in that order over the next two years – still looms if the second bond proposition isn’t approved.

For more than a year, Town of North Hempstead officials had been looking at ways to promote its local communities to non-residents and help businesses in the area succeed.

Then Regina Gil, the founder and executive director of the Great Neck Arts Center, had an idea – the town would host an annual Gold Coast International Film Festival like the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. The event would be held every June and bring in a roster of dynamic films that could generate a large audience to the North Shore of Nassau County.

After promoting the event to Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman and the town board, Gil learned that everybody loved the idea and the first annual Gold Coast International Film Festival was set for next year from June 1 to June 5 throughout the Town of North Hempstead.

“This event will be a great draw and focus on the Town of North Hempstead,” Gil said. “The town is a kind of elegant and beautiful resource that is one of the best kept secrets in New York. This event will bring visitors and film buffs in the film industry here and generate tremendous excitement for the Town of North Hempstead.”

Ian Siegel, executive director of the Town of North Hempstead Business and Tourism Development Corporation, said he has met with various community chambers of commerce’s promoting the film festival and has gotten good responses. Siegel said similar film festivals usually generate between 40,000 to 50,000 people and this type of attendance would help local businesses.

“There has been an overwhelming positive feedback that people want this festival to happen,” Siegel said. “The goal of this event is for it to create a residual impact where people who attend the festival will hopefully continue to come back to the town whether it is to go see a movie, have dinner or shop at local businesses throughout the year.”

The Town of North Hempstead has partnered with Clearview Cinemas to screen about 25 to 30 films at different area cinemas. The screening venues for the film festival is Great Neck Squire Cinemas, New Hyde Park Herricks Cinema 4, Roslyn Cinemas, Manhasset Cinemas and Port Washington Cinemas. Special screenings will also take place at Adelphi University, Hofstra University, the Nassau County Museum of Art, and the Great Neck Arts Center.

Siegel said the town has over $1 million budgeted for the event, but is relying upon sponsorships from companies and businesses within the town to help pay the cost. Siegel said the town has hired a professional sponsorship expert to talk with businesses about participating in the festival. He said the town is also applying for national and state grants that could support the festival.

“The sponsorship expert is key in getting the proper value for all of our sponsors who sign up for the festival,” Siegel said. “The expert knows exactly the right fit for every sponsor’s business which should help spread the news about the festival.”

The film festival will feature a variety of films including feature length films, short films, foreign-language films, independent films, documentaries and other types. Siegel said the films will be screened by invitation only from 9 a.m. to midnight and prices to see a show will be similar to a regular movie.

“People will have an opportunity to see films not released yet,” Siegel said. “The films that will be shown at our festival are not the traditional blockbuster movies that come out during the summer. They will be smarter films that people of all ages will be able to see. We want people to have excitement when they go to the movies and also enjoy everything that the Town of North Hempstead has to offer.”

Special events at the film festival will include a red carpet before the screening of the film, opening and closing night parties, a family film day and a question and answer sessions with notable actors, directors and producers. There will also be an awards ceremony for the best narrative feature, best documentary feature, best short film best of New York shorts tribute and a tribute event to a noted film industry personality.

“We plan on having extra amenities and features that don’t come with seeing the traditional film,” Siegel said.

Siegel said the town plans on creating a community guide that will be given out to anybody who purchases a ticket for a screening to tell them where to shop and eat when they are here. Siegel said buses will transport people from one town to another to see the attractions that every community has to offer. Siegel said the movie theatres are also walking distance from the Long Island Rail Road for anybody who may be traveling from Manhattan to the film festival.

Siegel said the festival will provide an opportunity for the town to highlight why it is a special place for residents and non-residents.

“We want town residents and anybody who lives outside the community to come here,” Siegel said. “We will showcase this community to the outside public and show them why this is a great place to live, do daily activities and retire. We are looking forward to showcasing everything that the town has to offer to the public.”

For more information on the Gold Coast International Film Festival, visit the festival’s web site at www.goldcoastfilmfestival.org.

Absentee ballots in the contested race between Democratic incumbent Craig Johnson and Republican challenger Jack Martins in the 7th state Senate District are to be counted starting on Veterans Day, as Nassau County Supreme Court Justice Ira Warshawsky ordered both sides on Wednesday “to proceed with all deliberate speed” to complete the process of tabulating results.

Sources report there were approximately 3,600 absentee votes cast in the race, with Martins leading Johnson by a slim 415-vote margin based on initial returns.

Warshawsky told lawyers for the candidates and the respective parties’ county election commissioners to return to court on Friday morning with the canvas results from all of the election districts in the disputed race. The canvas consists of culling the number of votes counted by each electronic machine that recorded results from paper ballots to the number of paper ballots issued to voters at each polling station.

The judge also ordered that the Nassau County Board of Elections start reviewing and counting 724 affidavit ballots and the military ballots submitted, saying that he was counting on the attorneys to keep the names of those who voted confidential.

All emergency ballots – ballots that could not be recorded by the new electronic machines – were expected to be counted and recorded sometime Wednesday.

The intransigence of both sides in the case mirror the bare-knuckles battle between the candidates, with the state senate majority on the line.

Attorneys for the Democrats argued that informal canvassing of machines in some districts already showed irregularities, and a complete recount is the only solution.

“We can’t have a true count until we go into the ballot box to determine whether the count was accurate,” said Steven Schlesinger, Johnson’s attorney.

Republican attorneys said there wasn’t enough proof to warrant the full hand recount of the nearly 85,000 cast in the race.

Peter Bee, Martins’ attorney, said Johnson’s case “does not assert there were errors, but merely that there may have been errors.”

A visibly exasperated Warshawsky tried to encourage cooperation between both sides, saying, “I don’t see what delay does for anybody.”

The Johnson-Martins case is being heard in Warshawsky’s court because of a complaint he heard from 21st Assembly District resident Michael Montagne on Election Day that his vote wasn’t counted in the 13th election district due to an electronic machine breakdown. The judge ordered ballots from two machines in that election district – the one that broke down and the one that replaced it – to be counted.

Attorneys on both sides interjected arguments related to the separate Johnson-Martins case as the judge considered the Montagne issues.

Warshawsky assured Peter Bee, Martins’ attorney, that his decision on recounting the votes from the two machines did not represent a “template” for considering the Johnson-Martins case.

Bee said he planned to argue that the court had no jurisdiction to order a full recount, saying that the court could only rule if statewide standards had been “breached” or if there was evidence “that the wrong guy got elected.” Bee suggested alternatively, the Republican and Democratic election commissioners might simply agree to recount ballots from the 13th district machines.

Thomas Garry, representing Democratic county elections commissioner William Biamonte, said he would only agree to a recount of all 272 machines that recorded results in the 7th state Senate District.

“As far as this court is concerned, I have two election commissioners who can’t agree on auditing a machine that broke down. That’s intolerable,” Warshawsky said.

John Ryan, GOP elections attorney, said the Democrats were resisting counting absentee ballots until a recount was held. Garry pointed to the need for a full canvas of the election districts. Warshawsky ultimately endorsed both proceeding with the absentee verifications and count as well as the canvas.

A random statutory county-wide audit of 3 percent of the new machines, including at least one machine from each district, will proceed.

Garry pointed out that both sides had been arguing against the reliability of the electronic machines in a separate case prior to the election. He added that there were “massive amounts of problems” with the machines in the election prompting “a whole host of doubts as to whether Mr. Martins or Mr. Johnson won the election.”

“Doubt is in the mind of the beholder,” Ryan countered.

After the court session, Schlesinger said that an error of four votes counted, not counted or counted twice in each of the 272 election districts would represent more than 1,200 votes.

“No one’s tested this technology. No one’s tested this [software] program,” he said.

Last week, Martins said he expected to receive a slight edge in the absentee ballots and expressed confidence that the outcome of the race would not change.

William Biamonte, Nassau County Democratic Elections Commissioner, doesn’t understand why Republicans are resisting a recount if they’re confident they’ve won.

“We have an election that there’s a couple of hundred votes deciding this so it seems the only reasonable thing to do is to have a full recount,” Biamonte said. “It hurts nobody. There have enough problems, discrepancies more than enough issues to say that there should be a full number recount.”

BIamonte claims that 80 machines broke down in the seventh district polling places alone, aside from “hundreds” of other problems.

Ryan said the irregularities are “a creation in the mind of William Biamonte,” adding that there were no “systematic breakdowns of machines.”

Biamonte said a 3 percent count would leave a 97 percent chance of not finding anomalies in the results.

Ryan said the Democrats are hoping that there are many uncounted emergency ballots – ballots that could not be fed into the machines.

“These are new machines and we have no experience with the machines,” BIamonte said. “I think it’s a test of the whole system.”

One thing that Charlie Boyd vividly remembers about his service as a Marine during the Korean War is the weather.

“It was cold. It rained for months. You didn’t get your clothes changed,” said Boyd, commander of Williston Park VFW Post 1688.

As a replacement in the legendary First Division of the U.S. Marines, another stark recollection is the grim fighting he participated in during the aftermath of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chosin_Reservoir“>Chosin Reservoir campaign in late 1950.

The Marines’ mission once they struggled to reach the 38th parallel line – the latitude line that ultimately became the border between North Korea and South Korea – was to hold that line in what has been called America’s forgotten war.

“We fought our way up to the 38th parallel and that was it,” Boyd said. “The big thing for us was to hold the line. When the Marines told you to hold the line, you didn’t run.”

By the time he joined the fighting in the spring of 1951, the Marines and other UN forces faced attacks from the Chinese in an offensive involving 500,000 enemy troops until June. The war then turned into an artillery slugfest, according to Boyd, which didn’t make it any less lethal for the troops on both sides.

“Both lines were set up so close, we got slaughtered,” he recalled.

Like many war veterans, Boyd isn’t very forthcoming in talking about the war or his service record as a sergeant in the http://www.marines.com/“>Marine Corps.

“I was just another Marine,” he said.

But the 79-year-old veteran is still doing service, driving fellow vets to the Northport Veterans Hospital each Thursday for medical treatment. It’s a mission he’s been on for the past 14 years. He said he plans to hand it off to someone else when he hits 80 next year, but he’s said that to himself before.

“When I was 75, I said, ‘I’m going to quit this’,” Boyd recounted, but the Northport dispatcher, a woman 10 years his senior at the time, dissuaded him because, as he recalls her saying, “There’s no one else to do it.”

Part of what’s kept him going is the satisfaction he gets from helping other veterans. “I feel great when I help them. They wouldn’t have any other way to get there,” he said.

He also spends some of his time singing as a solo act or playing trumpet in a group called the Commanche Raider Band at nursing homes and volunteer Fire Department events. And he belongs to the Citizen Emergency Response Team.

He’s also a former youth counselor and usher at St. Aidan’s R.C. Church in Williston Park.

And next year, Boyd will be taking on a new set of responsibilities as VFW county commander.

The loud, grinding noise and acrid smoke produced by three generators atop the Verizon cell switch facility in Garden City, disrupted the lives of Mineola on 13th Street residents for nearly a year until, tired of trying to fight City Hall, the cell phone company and insomnia, the residents finally took the telecommunications giant and one of the municipalities to court.

The suit against Verizon on behalf of those residents by attorney Joseph Sullivan seeks punitive damages and includes a motion to stop Verizon from operating what is a vital facility for its regional cell phone service. The situation reached a tipping point when Verizon ran the generators for five straight days, starting the Thursday before Memorial Day. A notice of claim against Garden City preceded it.

“I feel like a prisoner in my own home. Now I’m retired, I want to enjoy my home and I can’t,” said Rui Salsinha, a nine-year resident of the block and the only one who pays property taxes to Garden City.

Fed up by the five days of constant din, Salsinha abandoned his bedroom in the rear of his house that faced the Verizon facility and now sleeps in a front bedroom formerly used by his son, who has made their basement his bedroom. And Salsinha said he still heard the noise “and sometimes, there’s a funny smell,” a smell the former commercial fisherman associates with diesel fuel, presumably from the generators.

That’s why his two adult daughters are afraid to bring his grandchildren to play in the backyard.

Readings taken by an audio engineer retained by residents during the recent five-day audio siege revealed that noise from the generators exceeded 85 decibels, well above levels permitted under the code of Garden City, a village known for strict enforcement of its statutes.

Two houses down the same side of 13th Street, Linda Navarro recounted how her 12-year-old daughter, Juliette, also had to relocate her bedroom from the back of the house to the second floor, and still suffers with erratic sleeping patterns, managing to get only four or five hours of sleep nightly.

“She wakes up two or three o’clock in the morning and sleeps downstairs or in the basement,” Navarro said.

The real concern is the frequent headaches Juliette has been experiencing, accompanied by numbness her face, Navarro said. After submitting her to an EEG test, a neurologist diagnosed her problem as migraine headaches caused by stress and lack of sleep.

“Every night, I take pills because I can’t sleep. It makes me tired at school,” said the youngster, who also was slated to undergo an MRI exam.

As her symptoms persist, Juliette’s grades in school have slipped.

“It’s like a monster in the backyard. It’s very rude what they did to us,” her mother said.

And Linda Navarro recalled the recent death of her 91-year-old neighbor, Maggie Kittle, who was in failing health and said to her one day, “In my last days, I can’t even sleep anymore.”

A 40-year resident of the block across the street, David Campbell wondered aloud whether Verizon had secured permits for the generators and air conditioning units it retrofitted onto the facility.

“When it’s running, I close up everything and go in the back room with the TV,” he said.

Late on Friday evening, the end of the second day of the five-day noise barrage, Susan Coyne, the Navarro’s neighbor, finally called the Garden City police and the Nassau County police. She and her husband, who is suffering from mesothelioma, had reached a breaking point.

“We couldn’t stay in the bedroom. It was bad,” she recalled.

What ensued added insult to the injury the residents felt they’d been suffering.

The Nassau County Police officers who responded said they would file a report, and furnished a copy to the residents – but said the source of the problem was in Garden City’s jurisdiction.

Facing a distraught crowd of 13th Street residents gathered on the sidewalk outside the facility, a Garden City Police officer reportedly said, “I know everything about what’s going on. If you want something done about this, you have to call your mayor, Jack Martins.”

At that point John Fereira, who has been among the most vocal residents on the issue at Mineola board meetings, said he replied: “Why don’t you call the mayor of Garden City?”

Fereira said the police officer got out of his car and threatened to arrest Fereira if he didn’t move from the apron of the driveway leading into the parking lot of the Verizon facility.

“This place has got to go. We have to close it down,” Fereira said he recalled thinking. The lawsuit against Verizon and the motion to shut down the switch facility followed.

But the facility is much too important for Verizon to risk shutting it down.

Verizon Wireless spokesman David Samberg describes it as a “very important location for the operation of the [wireless] network,” serving a “significant geographic area” on Long Island.

The air conditioners were added to keep additional equipment in the facility cool as Verizon’s customer base expanded and the generators were added to make sure everything kept running.

“It’s the redundancy. So sometimes these facilities are so important, this back-up system has a back-up system. You have to keep that building cool, and the equipment itself generates heat,” Samberg said

Recounted the litany of complaints about the facility, he said Verizon is still seeking a solution as it faces a court fight.

“The first complaints were about the look of the construction. Then the construction was too loud. Then the complaints were it was too loud because of the generators we were testing.” Samberg said.

“We‘ve been testing and trying to find ways to muffle the sound. We were working on this before and we’re continuing to work on it now.”

Percent Votes

5TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Gary Ackerman (D) 62% 64,568

Dr. James Milano (R, C) 37% 38,186

Elizabeth Berney (TRP) 1% 676

4TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Carolyn McCarthy (D) 54% 88,828

Francis X. Becker, Jr. (R, C) 46% 77,483

7TH SENATE DISTRICT

Craig Johnson (D) 50% 40,626

Jack Martins (R) 50% 41,041

17TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT

Tom Devaney (D) 38% 14,313

Tom McKevitt (R, C, TRP) 62% 23,513

16TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT

Michelle Schimel (D) 58% 22,210

Scott Diamond (R, C) 42% 16,068

21ST ASSEMBLY DISTRICT

Patrick Nicolosi (D) 42% 14,625

Edward Ra (R, C) 52% 17,899

Mimi Pierre Johnson (WF) 4% 1,519

TOWN OF NORTH HEMPSTEAD

RECEIVER OF TAXERS

Charles Berman (D) 54.75% 32,925

Jeff Bass (R, C) 45.24% 27,210

10TH DISTRICT SUPREME COURT JUSTICE

William De Vore (D) 12% 276,178

Robert Spergel (D) 11% 265,833

Ralph Costello (D) 12% 280,877

Sondra Pardes (D) 12% 281,475

Andrew Crecca (R, C) 13% 312,749

Daniel Palmieri (R, C) 14% 316,380

Percent Votes

10TH DISTRICT SUPREME COURT

JUSTICE CONTINUED

W. Gerard Asher (R, C) 13% 304,480

Norman Janowitz (R, C) 13% 298,598

SURROGATE JUDGE

Jon Riordan (D) 49% 170,730

Edward McCarty (R, C, TRP) 51% 175,559

FAMILY COURT JUDGE

Adam Small (D) 47% 161,725

Merik Aaron (R, C, TRP) 53% 180,193

2ND DISTRICT COURT JUDGE

Bonnie Chaikin (D) 25% 96,243

Helen Voutsinas (D) 25% 98,256

David McAndrews

(R, C, TRP) 26% 102,189

Eric Bjorneby (R, C, TRP) 24% 94,439

4TH DISTRICT COURT JUDGE

Joseph Terino, Jr. (D) 36% 31,508

Margaret Reilly (R, C, TRP) 64% 55,544

NEW YORK STATE GOVERNOR

Andrew Cuomo 62% 2,156,647

Carl Paladino 34% 1,703,951

Warren Redlich 1% 44,697

Kristin Davis 1% 22,774

Jimmy McMillan 1% 39,850

Howie Hawkins 1% 56,867

Charles Barron 1% 20,716

NEW YORK STATE COMPTROLLER

Thomas DiNapoli (D) 50% 1,964,258

Harry Wilson (R, C) 47% 1,853,898

Julia Willebrand (GRN) 2% 95,813

John Gaetani (LBT) 1% 26,807