Movie night in Brentwood 'up'lifting for town

The Town of Islip is inviting parents and children to an outdoor movie Friday evening in the Brentwood park where last year a 13-year-old boy playing basketball was hit by a bullet.

The 7 p.m. gathering in Timberline Park - which will feature the Pixar film "Up" - is intended to celebrate Brentwood and Central Islip community members who rallied as a surge of violence swept through their neighborhoods.

"Our parks are our parks," Islip Supervisor Phil Nolan said. "They're the community's parks and no one else's. It's a community standing up and saying that people are not going to be cowed. They're going to enjoy their neighborhoods, they're going to enjoy their parks."

Wilson Batista Jr., 13, the victim of a gang shooting in June 2009, lost an eye and suffered brain damage.

Then, others lost their lives: A grocery worker was killed in a bodega robbery. A 15-year-old was shot in front of his best friend's house.

And in February, four deadly attacks rocked Brentwood and neighboring Central Islip, including the slaying of a 19-year-old and her toddler son.

Last spring, residents flocked to a series of public meetings to rail against public officials they said had abandoned them - and to encourage their neighbors to stand up and fight.

The hearings led to increased police patrols and a commitment from the FBI to shift more resources to investigating gangs on Long Island.

A slide show to be projected Friday before the movie will memorialize some of the victims, document the meetings where residents spoke out, and celebrate the peace march that wound through Brentwood and Central Islip in May.

Town officials said they will offer free refreshments and encouraged residents to bring their own chairs.

Suffolk police, who assigned additional patrols to the town-owned park after Wilson's shooting and again this year, will be on hand for the event, Nolan said.

Islip Town has added surveillance cameras and repaired fences there.