Nassau County Legislator Dennis Dunne, the Republican incumbent in the 15th Legislative District, is running to serve a fourth term. He is facing Rich Ahrens in the Sept. 11 Republican primary.

Dunne said that the reason he has been in office for so long, and the reason he is running to stay in office, is to fight for a better quality of life for the residents of Levittown and the surrounding communities that the 15th district encompasses. A lifelong resident of Levittown, whose mother still lives in the area, Dunne said he hopes to continue to fulfill his promise to the people by helping lower taxes for all residents, including seniors, so they can afford to stay in the area.

Dunne said that one of his greatest achievements was the cancer research study he and members of the community performed in 1999.

"We had a cancer scare in Levittown," Dunne explained, "and the whole community came together to go door to door and hand out these survey [fliers]. This is such a terrific community that everybody gets involved."

Dunne explained that when the surveys were examined by the Department of Health, they found that there was no abnormal cancer rate in the area; a relief to all living in Levittown.

"This is a real family community," he said. "That study stands out the most for me because it was such a great community involvement."

He added that some time later, when he attended a local senior citizen prom, one local resident told him that he "saved [her] life" thanks to a county mammography van that he planned to have visit Levittown.

"That's what it's all about," Dunne said, "if we saved one life, it worked." Dunne added that he has always been an advocate for mammography and prostate screenings, and that having the support of the community behind him all the way has always been helpful.

Dunne stated that he organized the efforts to clean up local sumps to leading to the renovation of the grounds into fields for community children to utilize.

Dunne was behind the effort to clean up the sump at McLanen Field and Center Lane Green, making the area a soccer field for children. Dunne also worked toward having the grounds at MacArthur cleaned up so the school could have a larger campus.

Dunne, in an effort to provide more safety for school children, worked toward having a traffic light installed at Hill Lane and Gardners Avenue, and two lanes put in by the parkway entrance near MacArthur, in addition to a traffic light by Island Trees School.

"I feel that I spend taxpayers' money conservatively and properly," Dunne said. "I want to continue fighting for our piece of the pie."

Dunne is currently working to receive Operation Downtown funds to fix up strips of stores on Division and Carman Avenues and said he would continue these efforts if re-elected.

"These stores have been neglected," he said. "I [also] want to beautify other sections of my district.

"We have been doing many things environmentally also," he said, explaining that while cleaning the sump by Jerusalem Ave., over 10,000 goldfish were found and transferred to the Herricks sump so they would have a better chance of survival.

"I want to continue looking out for children, seniors and all residents of the community," he said, "[including] our fire academy. We had to take out some money for our volunteers and we should do everything we can to take care of them because they take care of us."

Dunne also said that he would continue to help seniors be able to afford to stay on Long Island. "I'd like to try to keep them here. That's a tradition of our Republican party; [to focus on] our senior citizens, our youth; things that are very important to us."

He said that since he has been a resident of Levittown his whole life, he feels he can relate to the members of the community and understand their true needs and that he enjoys working closely with residents in an effort to keep Levittown the great community it is today.

"It's a great job because you're able to help people," he said of being a legislator. "I love what I do because every day, you're able to help somebody."