The following is a list of top stories, compiled by the editor, which occurred throughout 2004. Full stories can be obtained by logging onto www.antonnews.com and clicking on the Levittown Tribune archives.

While the Israel Community Center (ICC) is unfortunately used to finding signs of vandalism in or around their playground and building, they were recently victims of one of the greatest hits in recent history. And the center is not alone, as other religious institutions, including St. Bernard's, Good Shepherd and Temple Sholom, as well as schools in the community, have also had hits of vandalism.

Murray was first appointed supervisor following the resignation of Rich Guardino. She has been making history since her 1998 election as the first woman (and first Levittown native) to represent the 19th District in the State Assembly. Similarly, she was the first woman and attorney to be elected to the position of town clerk. She made history again in November 2003 when she was the first woman to be elected supervisor in the town's 360-year history. Murray was recognized for setting forth an aggressive agenda to preserve the town's superlative fiscal standing and improve the quality of life enjoyed by all residents.

Local resident Barbara Hammershoy woke up early on the morning of Jan. 21, 2004 to an annoying headache and the smell of fumes. Both she, a math teacher in the Levittown School District and her son, a student at East Broadway, had the day off. Luckily Adam, who at one point that morning had wandered down to the family's basement, heard a strange beeping sound and ran up to inform his mom. Hammershoy went over to the basement door and immediately realized that it was the carbon monoxide detector going off, which she couldn't hear upstairs with the basement door closed. As soon as she realized the source of the beeping, she and Adam ran outside and called authorities.

On the morning of Jan. 23, 2004 the local community, together with elected officials and store executives, welcomed the newest Pathmark Supermarket at 3901 Hempstead Turnpike in Bethpage, the former site of the Pergament Home Center. The store decided to relocate from its former home in the Nassau Mall, which closed its doors the night of Jan. 22, after having been there for over three decades.

As Nick Mormando so fondly tells the story, it was Feb. 4, 1954 when he purchased North and South Levittown Lanes. Levittown was sprouting up all around the bowling center: each just 16 lanes with pin-boys, now 36 lanes, computerized scoring, food service counters, bars and all the amenities people have come to expect in bowling.

The issue at hand was whether or not the BZA should grant a variance allowing the St. Thomas Malankara Orthodox Church to provide off-street parking for its membership. Two weeks later, the board announced its decision to not grant the variance. Last month, the NYS Supreme Court reversed the BZA's decision. Now the BZA is looking to once again have it reversed.

On Tuesday, March 9 residents of the 12th Assembly District elected Republican Joseph Saladino to be their representative in the Assembly. Saladino succeeds former Assemblyman Steve Labriola, who vacated the seat in January after being elected to the town clerk's office in the Town of Oyster Bay. Massapequan Saladino, who received 3,501 votes, defeated William Funk, also of Massapequa, who received 1,689.

During a somber ceremony at Eisenhower Park March 11, 2004 President George Bush, flanked by former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Governor George Pataki, County Executive Tom Suozzi, Ian Siegel, president of the Nassau County 9/11 Memorial Foundation, Arlene Howard, mother of the late George Howard, and Janet Wexler-Magee, wife of the late Charles Magee, helped break ground at the site of a future memorial that will honor hundreds of Nassau County 9/11 victims.

The Levittown Fire District, with the assistance of Senator Kemp Hannon, is in the process of completing Traffic Signal Pre-emptors along Hempstead Turnpike in Levittown. There is a small unit attached to the traffic signal, that is the pre-emptor. The pre-emptor is designed to receive a signal transmitted from the fire apparatus at a distance of approximately 2,500 feet away, as long as the emergency lighting is turned on. When the signal is received, the traffic signal will turn green to allow traffic to flow with the fire apparatus. This will then enable the traffic to flow out of the way of the fire apparatus and the fire apparatus to better respond to the emergency situation.

The Island Trees Wrestling team won their first county championship since 1984, defeating Plainedge 36-13 in the final. The Bulldogs defeated Jericho 49-21 in the 1st round. In the quarterfinals, the team defeated Clarke 49-20. In a rematch of an earlier league match the Bulldogs defeated Bethpage 31-24 to advance to the final. In the final, Plainedge came in as the favorite, but the Bulldogs punctuated wins all throughout the championship for the county title.

La Rosa Brothers Deli has fallen victim to graffiti hits recently and establishment owners, Sal and Angelo La Rosa, are concerned that they will once again see an increase in such vandalism, with which they are unfortunately far too familiar. About a year and a half ago, the deli, on Wolcott Road in Levittown, was often a location not only popular for graffiti, but other vandalism such as broken beer bottles and damage to its grounds and gardens.

The district was named to the "Best 100 Communities for Music Education in America, 2004." The unveiling of the survey results was part of "Music in Our Schools Month." The survey was conducted jointly by the country's top organizations devoted to music and learning. The American Music Conference joined Music Educators National Conference, the Music for All Foundation, the National School Boards Association, Yamaha Corporation of America and VH1 Save the Music Foundation in creating the survey and interpreting the results.

At the March 31, 2004 meeting of the Island Trees Board of Education, the board passed a resolution appointing James Parla as the new superintendent of schools effective July 1, 2004. Parla will be replacing Superintendent Richard N. Segerdahl, who will be retiring in June after having served as superintendent for the last 20 years.

Since taking office as the Assemblyman for the 12th District in a special election held March 9, 2004 Joseph Saladino has continued his efforts to keep taxes down, preserve the environment, protect the safety of children and improve the quality of education for students of the district, which includes areas of Island Trees, North Wantagh and Seaford.

John Theissen's Children Foundation, founded and run by local resident John Theissen, is hosting a Casino Night benefit again this year for its Back to School Program. The event was held last June and was a great success. The Back to School Program will help needy children from low-income families across Long Island by providing them with new clothes and new school supplies for the upcoming school year. Approximately 200 local children in kindergarten through high school will be provided with items. Each child will receive new clothes to wear, including everything from socks and underwear to shirts and pants and new shoes. The supplies will include, but are not limited to, backpacks, spiral notebooks, pencils, pens and other classroom necessities.

With the recent influx of incidents of vandalism and malicious mischief that have accelerated in the community, the Levittown Chamber of Commerce and its board of directors have decided to take action. Many Levittown businesses have fallen victim to perpetrators of senseless acts to the tune of hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. In an effort to help stop, or at least bring awareness to, such criminal acts in the community, the chamber has initiated a new program, titled "On Alert."

To end the profitability and combat the growth of the illegal conversion of single-family homes to multi-family dwellings, Nassau County Assessor Harvey Levinson unveiled an initiative that will reclassify any illegal multi-family dwelling from Class I (residential) to Class 4 (commercial) property for taxation purposes. On average, the commercial property tax rate is 2 1/2 times higher than the residential rate.

This year, the Division varsity team finished its season with a 20-4 record. This record was good enough to earn the league A-3 League title. This was Division's 23rd league title in the past 26 years dating back to 1979. Not only did the Dragons win the league title, they made it to the fourth round of the Nassau County playoffs for the third straight year.

Richard N. Segerdahl, superintendent of the Island Trees School District, was honored at a retirement party on May 27, 2004 that was held at the Crest Hollow Country Club and attended by over 200 well-wishers. The final event of the evening was orchestrated by district administrators and Condela. After a light-hearted introduction by administration, Condela shared a board resolution which will be read at the June 30 board of education meeting. The resolution attempts to summarize the influence Segerdahl has had on the district and concludes as follows: "RESOLVED, that in recognition of his commitment to the entire Island Trees community, the Island Trees Middle School will be rededicated the Richard N. Segerdahl Middle School, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this rededication will take place on Saturday, October 23, 2004 during Homecoming Weekend."

The night was celebratory for many reasons - the school year was coming to an end, students made outstanding academic and athletic achievements and the Levittown school budget passed on the June 9, 2004 revote. The yes votes outnumbered the no votes in all nine polling districts in an astonishing 1,400 difference. Levittown's school budget for the 2004-2005 year totals $145,082,285, increasing spending by 5.9 percent over the current budget.

The Levittown Kiwanis Club hosted its Eighth Annual Father's Day 5K Run. Approximately 150 runners participated in this year's run, which started and ended in the parking lot behind Tri County early Father's Day morning. While most participants came from Levittown and surrounding communities, the run also drew athletes from other states and overseas. The overall winner of the run was Robert Howard, who crossed the finish line in 17 minutes, 42 seconds.

For those Nassau residents without a medical plan that covers prescription drugs, the cost of prescription drugs can be crippling financially. However, thanks to a discount plan established by Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman, help is on the way. Weitzman, together with Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, unveiled the NassauRx program, which will enable all residents of Nassau County to get a discount on commonly prescribed prescription drugs including brand names and generics.

The Levittown Board of Education meeting commenced with the swearing in of two members by the school's attorney, Jonathan Heidelberger. Secretary Gina Interdonato was voted to serve a second term, while newcomer Roseanne Gullans will replace Paul Granger as a trustee.

The snack stand at McLaren Field located on Loring Road was broken into. The Levittown Central Baseball hosts the Babe Ruth/Cal Ripken 8-Year-Old All-Star Tournament at this field. There are teams that come from all over the state to play in this tournament.

The snack stand was recently stocked with all the items that we sell at this tournament. The individuals who broke into the snack stand took all the hot dogs, rolls, frozen pretzels and threw them all over the field. They stole Power Aids, cans of soda and other items that we sell. The board of directors, league parents and the children are very sad and troubled by this thoughtless and malicious crime.

Levittown Superintendent Dr. Herman Sirois opened up August 11's regularly scheduled board of education meeting by mentioning that the district is slated to receive a $33.4 million state aid package for the 2004-2005 school year. This extra aid is $1.3 million more than the district received last year. Sirois mentioned that this figure was included in original budget calculations. The 2004-2005 budget represents a 5.9 percent increase over last year's budget, which results in a tax levy increase of 9.8 percent. Sirois said he wanted to avoid a severe increase for Levittown residents.

Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray, Councilman Gary Hudes and members of the town board proudly joined M.D.S. Enterprises and some new homeowners at the ribbon cutting ceremony for Victorian Homes at Levittown. Victorian Homes is a 32-unit senior co-op development. The town worked with M.D.S. Enterprises in a public-private partnership to provide affordable homes for area seniors. In addition to affordable sales prices, the public-private partnership allows for what amounts to significantly reduced property taxes.

Residents living in the area surrounded by Gardiners and Wantagh Avenues south of Hempstead Turnpike in Levittown have been experiencing some concerns in recent months as the number of burglaries that have occurred in that area seemed to increase. According to some neighbors, robberies just in that section of the community have skyrocketed since the end of spring. Officials in the 8th Precinct of the Nassau County Police Department do admit that while there were more than a few incidents in May, eight to be exact, that the number has steadily decreased since then.

The Levittown Kmart, one of the few Kmart establishments left in the area after a string of local closures early last year, was sold to The Home Depot, Inc. late last month. The Levittown location is one of 18 stores across the country the company agreed to sell to The Home Depot in recent months. The Levittown establishment, the last operating Kmart in Nassau County, is scheduled to close sometime in October.

For over 40 years, the nonprofit organization Yours, Ours, Mine Community Center has been providing the Levittown community with a broad range of human services. Now, they're turning to the community for help.

The center, located at 152 Center Lane, thrives upon its aspirations of improving the quality of life for residents living in the Levittown community. By offering community-based activities such as day care, senior care, after school programs and various out-reach, counseling and treatment programs, YOM hopes to optimize individuals' day-to-day living and contribute to more productive and meaningful lifestyles.

With the Labor Day weekend over, it is now time for the high school students to return to college. It is also time for the high school graduates to go to college. This year, the Blue Dragons have 12 graduates who will be playing college baseball. Of these 12, six will be receiving baseball scholarship money totaling $102,600 for this school year alone.

The ceremony on Saturday morning, Sept. 11, hosted by the Town of Hempstead at Point Lookout, gave those who breathed in the fresh ocean air of a late summer morning the opportunity to reflect on one of the nation's darkest days and recall the memories and heroism of those who perished.

As part of his community bus tour in June, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi held a public meeting with Levittown residents, outlining his vision of development of a "New Suburbia." New Suburbia was first mentioned back in March, when Suozzi made his State of the County Address, referring to it as "an idea that marries the dream of the white picket fence, single family homes, a baseball field down the street, low crime, low unemployment, and local control, with a new vision for growth in selected areas that improves the quality of life, pays for government services, strengthens communities and addresses traffic congestion." Ian R. Siegel, special assistant to the county executive said that the only future plans for the area include the possibility of pursuing a transfer of jurisdiction of the Polaris Field park. However, he also said that if the town does not want ownership, that will not happen.

Republican incumbent David McDonough is seeking election for the third time in the 19th Assembly District. In addition to politics, this Merrick native has created affiliations with several civic organizations.

Although he is a newcomer to politics, Jay Breakstone is quite familiar with the election process. He has been a Bellmore School Board member for over nine years, including being elected twice as president.

On a chilly October Saturday, over 200 members of former Island Trees Superintendent Richard Neil Segerdahl's extended family gathered on the front lawn of what was formerly known as Island Trees Middle School. Friends, alumni, current students, co-workers, and public officials rededicated the building that day, Oct. 23, 2004 as Richard N. Segerdahl Middle School.

In an afternoon trip to the Levittown Senior Center on Newbridge Road, Governor George E. Pataki signed a landmark Assisted Living Bill into law, providing senior citizens with greater consumer protection and improved long-term care options. Over 100 senior citizens packed the community room at the center on Tuesday, Oct. 26,2004 sporting bright orange shirts handed out by AARP representatives that stated "Protect Assisted Living Residents." Supervisor Kate Murray made the opening remarks, acknowledging that the day was great for senior citizens across the state, as well as the Town of Hempstead. According to Murray, the township is the largest in the country, boasting 760,000 residents.

During his second appearance in Levittown on Tuesday, Oct. 26, Governor George E. Pataki joined Senator Kemp Hannon in paying a special visit to the Levittown Fire Department. The two elected officials were in attendance for the unveiling of an emergency vehicle equipped with protective gear in event of bioterrorism. This new equipment was procured by state grants secured by Hannon. This equipment, unlike any other on Long Island, distinguishes the Levittown Fire Department as a leader of public safety.

According to Nassau County Police, 18-year-old Allison Walker of Levittown was killed in an auto accident that occurred on Friday, Nov. 5 at 10:47 p.m. The police report stated Walker was a passenger in a 1992 Nissan Sentra operated by 18-year-old Curtis Bella, also of Levittown. Walker graduated from Division Avenue High School in June 2004 and was studying to be a teacher at Nassau Community College.

In a service held each year at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the Levittown/Island Trees Veterans Council, along with Levittown community members, took a few moments to remember the sacrifices made by veterans and current soldiers in the past and today. The ceremony was held on Veteran's Day at the Levittown Veterans Memorial Park and was attended by Legislator Dennis Dunne, Sr., Councilman Gary Hudes and Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray.

Levittown resident Arnold Johnson, who has lived in the community for over 40 years, believes that anyone who uses the intersection of Wantagh Avenue and Miller Place/Cotton Lane in Levittown knows of its danger. For over two years, Johnson, now joined by other members of the community who live in the area, has been petitioning Nassau County to install turning lanes at the intersection.

On Saturday, Oct. 23, 2004 the removal of a black tarp unveiled the renaming of Island Trees Middle School as Richard N. Segerdahl Middle School. School administrators, elected officials, civic organizations and residents all turned out to honor the former superintendent of the district. Now, over a month later, a group of residents and homeowners have become vocal in their opposition over the school's name change. According to current Island Trees Superintendent Jim Parla, even a November board of education meeting turned into a raucous affair over the issue.

Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murry and Councilman Gary Hudes paid tribute recently to the Levittown Lightning Girls U-10 Soccer Club for winning the 2004 New York State Nassau County Division 1 Championship.

The Generals traveled to Johnson City where they competed in a high-powered New York State invitational. The Generals were named Nassau County Champions in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.