LI BRIEFS

NORTH MERRICK/Nonprofit to teach CPR, defibrillator use

Forever 9 -- The Robbie Levine Foundation will teach adults to save lives using cardiopulmonary resuscitation and an automated external defibrillator during a training program in North Merrick.

The CPR and AED event, hosted by the Community Parent Center, the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District and Nassau Legis. Dave Denenberg (D-Merrick), will be held on Tuesday at 7 p.m., in the Brookside School Boardroom, at 1260 Meadowbrook Rd. in North Merrick.

Robbie Levine, 9, of Merrick, died of cardiac failure during a Little League practice in 2005. That same year, his parents, Jill and Craig Levine, created Forever 9 -- The Robbie Levine Foundation in his honor. The nonprofit raises money to purchase defibrillators and provide CPR training for schools and youth sports groups throughout Long Island and New York City.

For more information, contact the foundation at 516-379-2868 or email RBLForever9@optonline.net.

-- AISHA AL-MUSLIM

LONG BEACH/DiNapoli to audit summer operations

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office announced Thursday in a letter to Long Beach officials that it will conduct an internal audit of the city's policies and procedures related to controls over cash transactions for summer operations, a potential major source of revenue for the barrier island.

City Manager Jack Schnirman wrote the comptroller's office in February requesting the audit. "As a new administration, we have serious and significant concerns regarding the city's internal controls and cash controls, particularly as they relate to our summer seasonal activities," he wrote.

Council president Fran Adelson said the audit means "help is on the way." The letter came three days after city officials publicly announced a projected $10.25 million deficit for the current fiscal year.

Adelson said the state audit will help "assure the residents that we're paying attention and looking at the revenue we take in for the summer."

Schnirman said there were concerns in the past that city revenue from various summer operations wasn't properly handled, but he would not go into detail. "There have been suspicions, but we'd like another set of eyes to verify," he said. The audit could go back several years.

In the next few weeks, he said, auditors from the Division of Local Government and School Accountability will be reviewing the city's receipts, journals, ledgers, bank statements and deposit slips and the way the city handles, safeguards and deposits cash.

According to the letter from chief examiner Ira McCracken, at the end of the audit, the state will provide recommendations to "help improve your city's operations."

-- CANDICE RUUD

HUNTINGTON TOWN/Brownfields to be discussed at meeting

The Town of Huntington plans to hold a public meeting Tuesday on redeveloping brownfields in Huntington Station. The Brownfield Opportunity Area meeting, hosted by the town's Community Development Agency and the Economic Development Corporation, will be held at 7 p.m. in the Big H shopping center at 809 New York Ave., behind Famous Footwear.

The meeting will begin the second step of a process that began in 2009, when the town began to study and analyze brownfields in Huntington Station under grants totaling $340,000 it received in 2008 and 2011 from the state's Brownfield Opportunity Area program. The study area covers 640 acres in Huntington Station around the Long Island Rail Road station, town spokesman A.J. Carter said.

-- JENNIFER BARRIOS

MERRICK/Quality-of-life issues, policing on agenda

Nassau County Legis. Dave Denenberg (D-Merrick) is hosting two meetings on community policing and quality-of-life issues in his district, which includes Bellmore, North Bellmore, Merrick and parts of Freeport, North Merrick and Wantagh.

Guests include commanding officers from the Nassau County Police Department's first and seventh precincts. The police will discuss recent burglaries, staffing, crime, traffic enforcement, neighborhood issues, problem-oriented policing and the goals of law enforcement. Most of the meeting will be reserved for questions and answers.

One meeting will be held on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the Merrick Library, 2279 Merrick Rd. The other will be on April 18 at 7 p.m. in the North Bellmore Library, 1551 Newbridge Rd.

For more information, contact Denenberg's office at 516-571-6219.

-- AISHA AL-MUSLIM

WEST ISLIP/Movie features LI man's boat race

When Rob Forman of Bay Shore raced his 42-foot sailboat across the Atlantic Ocean last summer, the Jacqueline IV crew took more than 100 gigabytes of digital video and pictures. The movie they made from those images will be shown at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the West Islip library.

"We had a great race, which was a lifetime experience," Forman said.

Three sailboats with Long Islanders aboard competed in the 3,423-mile Transatlantic Race 2011 from Newport, R.I., to southwest England.

Forman began racing on the Great South Bay in 1969, moved on to the Around Long Island races and then took on 11 Newport-to-Bermuda races. Before crossing the Atlantic, he had completed more than 50,000 miles of ocean racing.

In his account of the race, Forman writes, "After a year of planning we had completed the race in 19 days, 21 hours and 29 minutes . . . We finished as a closely knit team who had shared a life time experience . . . We became one of a small number of sailors who had completed a transatlantic race. This was the 29th such race dating back to the first one in 1866."

Forman said they saw a "staggering" amount of marine life. "We almost always had sea birds with us. We saw a number of whales of different types. We had dolphins with us every day except two."

As they sailed, he said, "There were many periods of light winds . . . There were other times when we surfed down the front of waves . . ."

There were 26 boats in the race. Forman's finished third in its class. Princess Anne awarded the prizes. "It was the first time that I have received a sterling silver trophy in all of my years of sailboat racing," he said. "Following the awards ceremony, we had a black-tie owners dinner, which Princess Anne and her husband attended."

Forman said plans for a 2015 Transatlantic Race have just been announced, and he plans to compete in that, too.

-- BILL BLEYER

FREEPORT/Village to honor 13 women today

The Village of Freeport is holding a celebration to honor Women's History Month Friday at the Freeport Recreation Center.

They plan to honor 13 women who are "very involved in the Freeport community," including business owners, doctors and those who feed the homeless, said Lamou Keita, director of public relations for Freeport. The event recognizes women who exhibit excellence, commitment, strength, dedication and "have had an impact on the Freeport community," Keita said.

The celebration will include an awards ceremony, entertainment, vocal performances and light refreshments.

"I really believe that it is good to lift people up whenever we can, we don't do enough of it," Freeport Mayor Andrew Hardwick said. "We have to celebrate one another, we have to make it important and make it special. It's good to embrace people and thank them and say they are special. This keeps things positive and at the end of the day you have a better community."

The event begins at 6 p.m. at 130 E. Merrick Rd. Admission is free and all are welcome.

The following women will be recognized: Susan Axelrod, chief executive of Love and Quiches business in Freeport; Soh Yong Lee Segredo, singer and founding member and director of the Multicultural Peace Mission Choir; Donna Ceravolo, executive director and chief executive of the Girl Scouts of Nassau County; Renee Crump-Dedmon, principal of New Visions School of Freeport; and Marnie Katzman, executive director of the Long Island Arts Council of Freeport.

The other awardees are: Cynthia Krieg, longtime trustee of the Freeport Historical Society and Village of Freeport historian; U.S. Army Lt. Col. Marie Houanche, trilingual registered nurse, educator and activist and lecturer; Ann Jackson, a youth leader; Barbara Jacgnow, one of the last clam diggers, lifelong Freeport resident and business owner; Carol Mackey, editor-in-chief of Black Expressions book club; Pamela Robinson, a community activist who serves those in need; Belle Sylvester, a leader in the development of the Freeport Community Concert Association; and Dr. Perla Tate, an ob-gyn in Freeport.

"It's good for people to lift one another up; that's really what we should be doing for people," Hardwick said.

-- LAUREN GRECO

ISLIP/Former 'Idol's to perform at school

Long Island's "American Idol" contestants Robbie Rosen and Leah Laurenti will perform and meet with fans at a special concert at Islip Middle School Saturday.

The event will focus on drug and alcohol prevention, and local advocacy groups will provide information outside the auditorium. Free drug testing kits and a "Shed the Meds" drug disposal program will also be available on site.

"Idols for Prevention" will benefit the Islip Drug Education Awareness Coalition and the Suffolk Coalition to Prevent Drug and Alcohol Dependency Inc.

Judy Cummings, executive director of the Suffolk coalition, said the event is to raise awareness about the widespread use and dangers of drugs and alcohol.

She said families that come to the event for the performance can use the information provided to start a conversation at home.

"It's a night of thorough entertainment," she said. "But also with some great subliminal information. We feel that information is power and the better prepared parents are with information, the better they will be with handling drug and alcohol issues that might occur."

The concert will take place at 7 p.m. at Islip Middle School, at 211 Main St. in Islip.

Tickets are $20 for adults; $10 for students, seniors and children; and $30 for VIP, which includes preferred seating, a drink and snack and the meet-and-greet after the concert. Attendees without VIP tickets can meet the singers after the show for an additional $5.

For tickets, contact Barbara Chicollo at 631-366-1717 or Barbara@preventionli.org.

-- ERIN GEISMAR

WEST BABYLON/5th-graders learn circus skills

Fifth-graders at Forest Avenue Elementary School in West Babylon traded dodgeballs for "devilsticks" Wednesday, part of the weeklong National Circus Project.

The educational outreach program involves circus professionals coming to schools and using the physical education period to teach moves one would see in a circus, such as balancing and juggling.

On one end of the gym, students balanced themselves on top of each other. On the other side, a group used small sticks to navigate a devilstick -- a baton -- as part of a passing routine.

Learning these circus skills helps the students outside of the gym, said Lou Beekhuizen, a program specialist for the National Circus Project.

"Juggling helps reading and math, because you're using both sides of the brain," Beekhuizen said. "It helps them concentrate."

It also allows students to develop new friendships.

"You really see the fifth-graders coming together," said physical education teacher Mike Royola, who has been teaching for 12 years. "They're leaving on a good note."

Each skill the students learn is determined by the specialists, Beekhuizen and Al Calienes, who goes by "Renaldo," his clown name.

Friday night, the fifth-graders will put on a show with what they learned, with their family, friends and younger schoolmates as the audience.

-- ALESSANDRA MALITO