LI BRIEFS

ISLANDWIDE/Pesticide spraying to fight West Nile set for Thursday

Another round of pesticide spraying to treat mosquitoes that might carry the West Nile virus begins Thursday, including aerial treatment in parts of Holtsville and Patchogue, the Suffolk County Department of Health Services said. Nassau health officials announced ground-spraying efforts Thursday and Monday in Great Neck and Kings Point.

Spraying is scheduled through Friday morning, weather permitting, Suffolk officials said. Aerial spraying is from 8 to 11:30 p.m. Thursday in an area of Holtsville and Patchogue bounded on the south by Sunrise Highway, west by Waverly Avenue, north by the Long Island Railroad and east by Old Medford Road, according to the news release. The rest of the schedule in Suffolk, all ground spraying:

• Fire Island Pines, Water Island and Ocean Bay Park, 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. Thursday.

Ground-spraying in Great Neck and Kings Point will be from 7 p.m. Thursday to 5 a.m. in areas east of Middle Neck Road and west of Middle Neck Road on Monday from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m.

More Suffolk information is at 631-852-4939, and Nassau's West Nile Virus Spray Hotline is 888-844-8657.

- GARY DYMSKI

Long Island MADD offers Leandra's Law cards

Following last Sunday's effective date for mandatory ignition interlock on the cars of any person convicted of DWI under Leandra's Law, Long Island MADD has said it will issue wallet-sized Leandra cards.

Tom McCoy, who heads the Huntington Station-based Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said the group hopes that by making people aware of the hiked penalties, they will think twice before driving drunk.

The card features Leandra Rosado, 11, killed in a car driven by an alleged drunken driver in October, with a plea by her father not to drive drunk. The other side notes the ignition interlock, and that a DWI conviction where a child under 16 was in the car is a felony, with a sentence of up to 4 years, if the child is injured, 15 years, or killed, 25 years. For the free card, e-mail LongIsland.ny@MADD.org.

- SID CASSESE